Origin of a Classic: The pilot movie for Cagney & Lacey (1981)

 This is where it all began, in October 1981.

CBS had bought Cagney & Lacey, the last project from Filmways, which would be absorbed by Orion about a year or two into the series run.

2nd generation actress Tyne Daly and M*A*S*H co-star Loretta Swit were the leads in the pilot. As we documented when reviewing the series many moons ago, when the series began, Meg Foster was cast as Christine Cagney, but after a quick cancellation that was reversed, Sharon Gless moved over from House Calls to assume the role of Cagney. The fan support for the series helped it survive two cancellations, but not a 3rd.

Now, let's go back to the beginning.

In memory of Loretta Swit, who passed away earlier this week. No rating out of respect.

What Might've Been: Saints & Sinners (1962)

 Seems that in the pre-Monkees period of the 60's, NBC was having trouble finding a hit on Mondays.

In 1962, after flopping with an adaptation of Michael Shayne two years earlier, NBC acquired Saints & Sinners, another Four Star drama, this one headlined by Nick Adams (ex-The Rebel) in what would be his last series gig. Adams played reporter Nick Alexander, who was given tough story assignments.

Unfortunately, Saints was another dud for Four Star & NBC, which also flopped with the Dean Jones sitcom, Ensign O'Toole, the same year.

In this sample, Nick's on the entertainment beat, connecting with an actress who left Hollywood under questionable circumstances. Barbara Eden (ex-How to Marry a Millionaire, 3 years away from I Dream of Jeannie) and Janet Waldo (The Jetsons) are among the guest stars.

On a different night, this might've been a hit.

Rating: B.

We all know Donald Trump's paid doctors lied about his physical health. Questioning his mental health should be next after this latest gaffe

 In a little more than 2 weeks, Donald John Narcissus Trump will be 79 years of age, physically. Mentally? That's another story.

England's King Charles flew to Canada earlier this week to assure the country that it won't be annexed by Trump and the US any time soon. In Trump's warped mind, he thinks the Canadians are considering the prospect of annexation. No, they're not, jackass.

Which brings us back to why he wants Canada & Greenland in the first place. Likely, it is due to his bizarre fascination with foreign leaders like Russia's Vladmir Putin.

As Farron Cousins explains, mainstream media needs to finally stop glossing over the obvious defects in Trump's brain, and address them.

The Orange Troll doesn't like the sound of the word, "no", no matter how many times he hears it. Too bad, but since reality is a stranger to this Bizarro President, what is it going to take to make him understand?

Rockin' Funnies: Amish Paradise (1996)

 "Weird" Al Yankovic got in trouble with the late rapper Coolio over this next item.

Less than a year after Coolio released "Gangster's Paradise", off the "Dangerous Minds" soundtrack, Yankovic came up with "Amish Paradise", the 1st single off "Poodle Hat". Coolio wasn't digging, since there was a misunderstanding when Yankovic tried using the usual protocols. The two would ultimately settle their issues well before Coolio passed on.

Florence Henderson (ex-The Brady Bunch), who had a recurring gig on Dave's World, is the guest star in "Amish Paradise".

As we all know, Yankovic finally mastered his rap skills with "All About The Pentiums" 3 years later.

A MAGA scumbag insults the former president, and the current one gets blamed for it

 When former President Joe Biden was diagnosed with an "aggressive" form of prostate cancer last week, I think it was, even current president Trump was moved to offer his support.

Of course, it didn't take long for Orange Narcissus to change his tune, thanks to one of his moronic supporters.

On Memorial Day, some piece of human trash using the name DC Draino posted on social media the usual anti-Biden screed claiming the 2020 election was stolen, et al, and Trump jumped on it, and retruthed it on Truthless Social. As Farron Cousins reminds, the election wasn't stolen at all, and as for the accusations of an autopen, well, while Dumb Donald won't admit to it, he has used an autopen himself in the first 4 months plus of his administration.

DC Draino, real name Rogan O'Handley, is a MAGA influencer and former lawyer specializing in entertainment law. You have to figure he may know enough about the law to defend himself against any likely lawsuits headed his way. The media spin suggests Trump getting blamed just for recycling O'Handley's lies. Well, guess what? O'Handley got what he wanted, which was the president's attention. What he's also getting is a pair of Weasel ears for lying about the former president, just because MAGA can't let go of 2020.

I'm not one to wish ill on anyone. The only reason that Orange Narcissus is back in office is because the Democrats fumbled the ball when trying to retain the White House. Like many, I am praying for Biden to recover from prostate cancer. A faux "Christian" like Trump, of course, won't admit to it, but he secretly is, too.

Musical Interlude: Family of Man (1972)

 From The David Frost Show comes this gem, as Three Dog Night performs the Paul Williams-co-authored "Family of Man":

Williams would release his own version a couple of years later.

Today, Three Dog Night is still on the road, but Danny Hutton is the only original vocalist still with the band. He recruited his son, Timothy (not to be confused with the actor of the same name), to join the band, which was in town last fall.

Insight Sundays: Eye of The Camel (1973)

 The focus shifts to South America in this 1973 installment of Insight. Gregory Sierra (Sanford & Son) leads an ensemble that includes Nehemiah Persoff, A. Martinez (The Cowboys), and Henry Darrow (ex-The High Chaparral).

On The Shelf: Archie raises its price and introduces a new villain

 Well, after a 2 month delay due to issues involving parent company Diamond Distributors, Dynamite's crossover miniseries with Space Ghost & Jonny Quest, SpaceQuest, finally arrived in stores.

Joe Kelly & Sebastian Piriz, the same team behind Quest's earlier series, are at the helm for this one, marking the first time Kelly has written Space Ghost since his epic miniseries for DC more than 20 years ago.

The story begins in 1965, which, as toon experts know, is a year before Space Ghost made his TV debut. It's another time travel story, but Kelly has to know that there are other topics he can use for Quest. Suffice to say, "stranger in a strange land" can get old in a hurry. We'll see where this goes.

Rating: B.

Archie Comics has raised the price of its books to $4.99 per copy, in this case a desperate attempt at goosing sales.

Unfortunately, they still refuse to write longer stories outside of their miniseries.

The latest Betty & Veronica: Friends Forever outing, "Spy Girls", revisits a plot likely used previously in a digest book. Tania Del Rio returns to Archie to write the lead five pager, marking the debut of Medusa Doom, daughter of Mad Doctor Doom, who was recently brought into Archie continuity. The earlier adventure, which starts with "Agents B & V" wearing domino masks with their jumpsuits, follows, and reintroduces readers to Evelyn Evernever. Riverdale fans have seen her as an adult, but this is her first comics appearance in decades. Seems she, too, pines for Archie, much to Betty & Veronica's consternation. The teaser at the end suggests that maybe, just maybe, Archie's final rescuer is a certain witch, if that red sleeve says anything. If you've read the story when it first came out, let me know.

The issue closes with a reprint of a Man From U.N.C.L.E. spoof with Archie & Betty from the 60's.

Word I'm hearing is that delinquent writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa has abandoned the company altogether to pursue his Hollywood dreams. His loss, not Archie's, in this writer's opinion.

Rating: B-.

Other stuff: Used bookstore/performance venue Paper Moon has outgrown its 4th Street home, and is relocating to Brunswick Road next month in a bigger building so they can do more concerts and open mic nights. Best of luck to Josh Gruft and his staff. Josh posted on Reddit himself to fill folks in.

Alex Segura has wrapped his Green Hornet-Miss Fury miniseries at Dynamite, leaving the door open for a sequel. We like, and may get the trade paperback. However, over at Mad Cave, his 2nd Dick Tracy arc also wrapped, with a shock reveal in the final panel of The Blank. All I'm going to say is that Segura and co-writer Nick Borges did it for shock value, and took their cues from Warren Beatty's feature film adaptation 35 years ago. No, it's not Breathless Mahoney again, but someone closer to Dick. (No, not Tess, either). The series returns in August after a summer vacation.

Musical Interlude: Allentown (1982)

 "Allentown" was the 1st single off Billy Joel's 1982 album, "The Nylon Curtain", and a musical illustration of life in the working class Pennsylvania town, post-World War II.

Joel has had to cancel his remaining concert dates to a recent diagnosis revealing he has a brain disorder affecting his hearing & vision, among other symptoms. Joel was to play at Citi Field, Yankee Stadium, & Met Life Stadium this summer, which was being hyped on local radio.

Best wishes & prayers for a speedy recovery.

Memo to "fans": When your team loses, just let it go

 Earlier this season, Houston pitcher Lance McCullers, Jr. received death threats against himself & his family from unhappy fans after an Astros loss.

This morning, Boston reliever Liam Hendricks wrote on Instagram that the same thing happened to him after the Red Sox lost to the Mets, 5-1.

Chalk up the death threats to fair weather "fans" who are either drunk, or just plain upset that they bet on the game, and lost, or both.

We've seen death threats issued against football players, too, in recent years, largely for the same reasons. Keep in mind, too, that this was before sports betting became an accepted thing with pro leagues. It's just a game, kids.

Back in the day, even Off Track Betting knew gambling could get out of control, especially in New York City, hence their slogan for their downstate branches, "Bet with your head, not over it". It certainly holds true today in all sports, as well as in the lottery.

The threats against ballplayers will continue until the teams and/or leagues step in to police it, and that itself will prove to be an arduous task, but it has to be done, for everyone's sake.

Notes from around town

 I wasn't kidding when I dubbed Rensselaer County Sheriff Kyle Bourgault "The Singing Sheriff" after he was elected in 2023. Bourgault has been a country singer before he became sheriff, and now, he's finally finding time to play.

Bourgault and his band will headline at the Brunswick Community Center on August 19 as part of the town's summer concert series.

Now, let's see if he gets booked to play in Troy, like at any of the city venues, like Mojo's, Nighthawk's, or even Bruno Stadium.....!

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Meanwhile, the Powers Park concert series for 2025 has been announced:

July 12: The Refrigerators.

July 19: Tame The Rooster.

July 26: Lucid Street.

August 2: Neon Avenue.

August 9: Legacy Music Group R & B tribute.

August 16: Run For Cover.

August 23: O'Neill, 3 pm, Ginger Geezus, 5:30 pm.

Dates subject to change due to weather.

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David Gerard and the Troy Foundry Theatre are going well off the beaten path for their next production.

"Antonio, or, What I Would", will play May 31 & June 1 at Universal Preservation Hall in Saratoga. It's the troupe's debut in Saratoga.

======================================================

Controversial pastor John Koletas and Grace Baptist Church are leaving Troy for Pittstown, and putting up the 4th Avenue parish up for sale on Facebook.

Folks commenting on reddit have suggested that Koletas is moving the church to avoid further scrutiny from city officials, given some of the nuttier things he's done over the years, including raffling off guns. I'm told that in order to enter the church, you have to touch the "swine", and there's a picture of a cold hot dog on a table. Koletas, an out and proud racist, may have something else to hide, hence packing up and leaving Troy.

Seeing as how RPI bought First Baptist Church on 3rd Street, and converted it into a frat house, why not see about doing the same in the 'Burgh? It can't be any worse than what's been done already, right?

Musical Interlude: Black Gold (1993)

 Soul Asylum had some modest success with "Black Gold", released in January 1993 as a single off "Grave Dancers Union". George Wendt (Cheers) appears as a gas station attendant pushing a car singer Dave Pirner is sitting in.

Wendt, 76, passed away on Tuesday. RIP.

Dunce Cap Award: Care to guess?

 In their obsessive-compulsive quest to deport undocumented migrants, the Trump administration thought they'd try a little entrapment by pretending to set up a fake military base in New Mexico.

As Farron Cousins explains, this plot was virtually dead on arrival.

Team Trump just refuses to work by the book. Blame that, of course, on Trump's head troll, Stephen Miller, and, reportedly, he'd been getting some advice from former Florida Misrepresentative Matt Gaetz, who's not exactly a brain surgeon himself. 98 cases have already been dismissed, as Farron notes, and the rest likely will follow suit, and retried as misdemeanor cases, as they're meant to be.

We found someone in the New Mexico area with an expert opinion.

"Oh, it was doomed to fail. I'm not even that crazy."

Of course, we're sending a whole case of these to Washington, unless the president is willing to share his collection:

Just follow the law, and do it right, and we won't have this discussion again, though I suspect we probably will.........

Round 1 to the Yankees, but where's the narrative?

 The Yankees won 2 of 3 from the Mets in the first half of the 2025 Subway Series, clinching the series with a 6 run 8th inning outburst against the Mets bullpen, capped by a grand slam from Cody Bellinger.

If you followed the media's narrative over the past week, they made it sound like it was a referendum on Mets outfielder Juan Soto ankling the Yanks in the offseason to come to Flushing. It really wasn't the be all and end all of this series. Not even close.

In reality, this was about the city's two teams, both in first place in their respective divisions as the series began, with the Yankees seeking a little revenge for getting swept by the Mets in 4 games last year. Sure, the Yankees had the last laugh, as they reached the World Series, only to be dominated, like the Mets, by the eventual World Champion Dodgers, but the scandal crazy media in NYC needed a villain for the series, and Soto filled the bill for them.

[Of course, if you want the real villain, it'd be Soto's agent, Scott Boras Badenov, but that's another story.]

On Friday, the perpetually spoiled Yankees fans turned their backs on Soto in right field, even though he tried to be cordial and professional. However, on Sunday, Soto took additional heat for not even running full tilt on a ground out, one so obvious that he decided he'd at least make some effort, but he was out by about two strides.

Check the highlight reel:

Now, the Mets could do the Yanks a solid by beating Boston before returning to Citi Field to welcome Shohei Ohtani and the Dodgers on Friday. The Subway Series, part 2, comes later this summer.

Insight Sundays: Fat Hands & Diamond Rings (1967)

 A lawyer (Barry Sullivan, ex-The Tall Man) faces one of his most challenging cases in this fable of moral & ethical ambiguities. Ted Cassidy (ex-The Addams Family), Howard Morris (ex-Your Show of Shows, The Andy Griffith Show), Harold Gould, Ned Glass, Martin Milner (ex-Route 66, one year away from Adam-12), and Celeste Holm round out the ensemble cast of this drama.

When Dawn detergent was introduced (1973)

 Procter & Gamble introduced Dawn dish detergent in 1973, initially as a complement to Joy and Ivory Liquid. Dawn has become the company's #1 dish detergent, due largely to the fact it can also be used for other purposes, such as removing oil from wildlife.

In this 1973 spot, an African-American couple welcome the husband's boss (Albert Reed, Chase) to dinner, and, well, it's about the after-dinner work.....

Janet MacLachlan played the wife doing the dishes. Reed also had supporting roles on Good Times & The Secrets of Isis.

What Might've Been: Eischied (1979)

 Eischeid was one of David Gerber's last projects for Columbia Pictures Television, along with the equally ill-fated David Cassidy: Man Undercover, the latter a spin-off from Police Story. Joe Don Baker ("Walking Tall") had the title role for his only series gig. 

Unfortunately, NBC fumbled by putting Eischeid opposite Dallas. Ballgame over.

In this sampler, Eischeid must clear Captain Finnerty (Alan Oppenheimer) of a murder charge. Jim Backus and Shelley Berman guest star.

In memory of Baker, 89, who has passed away. No rating out of respect.

How Pepsi brought a couple together (1981)

 One of the better ads in the "Pepsi Generation" ad campaign of the early 80's was this gem from 1981. It's a middle school dance, and a young boy is being encouraged to ask a girl to dance with him, especially seeing as how she doesn't have a date (or so it'd appear). Turns out she's a wee bit taller, so, she has to take her shoes off to dance with him.

This is the longer version.

Oh, this was SO adorable.

Celebrity Rock: Ringo (1964)

 Bonanza star Lorne Greene scored a mammoth hit on the country charts in 1964 with "Ringo", a tale about a lawman's final meeting with an old friend turned outlaw.

An Allan Sherman fan channel posted the video.

In his career, Greene also recorded vocals for the Bonanza theme, and his last known recording was in the mid-80's animated musical, "Heidi's Song".

Notes from around town

 Back in January, WTEN meteorologist Steve Caporizzo had announced his retirement, taking effect at the end of June. The Pet Connection segments during the 5:30 pm news will continue, however, after June 30.

Now comes word that WRGB senior anchor Liz Bishop, who started as a weekend sports reporter all the way back in 1973 as a graduate of UAlbany, is hanging up her microphone, too.

Bishop, currently co-anchoring the 10 pm news on sister station WCWN, was inducted into the NY broadcasting Hall of Fame in 2016. Her retirement leaves WTEN/WXXA's John Gray as the last of the old guard anchors still working. WRGB will honor Bishop with a special on May 30, which may be her last night.

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Eight months ago, a teenager from Canada was arrested for a swatting hoax at Bethlehem High School.

Apparently, enough time has passed where some other jabroni thought it'd be a good idea to make pseudo-terroristic threats to schools in the 518, as we're more than a month away from graduation.

Doane Stuart School, and the accompanying Nurses College Charter High School, in Rensselaer, Myers Middle School and KIPP Community School in Albany, were closed today out an abundance of caution WNYT is reporting that Hackett Middle School also received threats. Police in both Rensselaer & Albany are currently investigating.

Some people just don't want to get the message.

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For years, Spencer's Gifts was a staple at Crossgates Mall.

Now, a new Spencer's, complete with a new logo, is poised to open in downtown Troy, occupying space in the former Trojan Hardware building that is home to other business tenants.

A sign in the window reads, "Coming soon", but no date has been announced for the opening. The new shop will stand alongside Star & Sparkle, a shop dedicated to the supernatural, among other things.

Pete Rose is reinstated, and eligible for baseball's Hall of Fame

 Pete Rose, whose career ended with his banishment from Major League Baseball in 1989 due to his gambling on baseball, and on his own team, was reinstated, along with "Shoeless" Joe Jackson and the rest of the Black Sox of 1919, by Commissioner Rob Manfred, who announced additionally that from this point, "lifetime" bans will end with the passing of a banned individual. Rose passed away last fall.

ESPN offers more:

It wasn't so long ago that president Trump had stumped for Rose's reinstatement, though his motives weren't exactly honest. He just wanted something else to take credit for, and you know he will.

There are those who feel Manfred made a mistake, because this would open the door for accused cheaters like Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, and Roger Clemens to finally get into the Hall as well. Time will tell.

Free music in the hometown 2025

 If you're waiting for Albany's Alive at 5 to begin its season, why not cross the river to Troy for some free music?

We'll start with Ryan's Wake on River Street.

Ryan's Wake logo

Tomorrow: Maggie's Clan

May 21: The Accents.

May 28: Beadle Brothers.

June 4: Yacht Lobsters.

June 11: Troy Music Revue.

June 18: Unforgettable Fire (U2 tribute band).

And as the Ryan's Wake series ends, Rockin' on The River begins with a 4 show schedule. Concerts are scheduled on an every other week basis.

June 25: Skeeter Creek w/Chris Sanders. Rain date is July 7.

July 9: Ginger Geezus w/Deb Zep Duo. Rain date July 16.

July 23: Side B w/Shannon Tehya & Hunter Frost. Rain date July 30.

August 6: Lucid Street w/Ky McClinton Duo. Rain date August 13.

As soon as Powers Park's summer lineup is available, we'll post it here.

Just call him the Orange Grinch

 We'll start with Farron Cousins as he discusses Donald Trump's latest harebrained scheme.....

For years, the GOPers falsely claimed there was a war on Christmas, but now, it seems they'd be on board with the Orange Grinch and his 100% tariffs on Mattel.

But I think we know who wouldn't be on board, and that would be WWE, which has a licensing deal with Mattel dating back to 2009. Today's action figures don't come cheap to begin with, but jacking up prices of WWE action figures (i.e. Bron Breakker, Tiffany Stratton, Rhea Ripley) will make a lot of kids very upset if their parents can't afford them.

The idea behind this is that Trump wants all products to be made in the USA, instead of being outsourced to China and elsewhere. Once again, that has the stench of his head troll, Stephen Miller, giving him bad ideas. And this is the nuttiest of bad ideas.

Watch. It won't take long before Trump backs off again on the tariffs, and his brand of bullying is getting tiresome.

Musical Interlude: Little Bit o' Soul (1967)

 Music Explosion was a 1-hit wonder with 1967's "Little Bit o' Soul". With their beat, you'd think they'd have had more, but, nope.

60 Minutes was just nominated for an Emmy. Guess who's having another tantrum?

 President Pampers (Donald Trump) isn't telling the truth about his billion dollar lawsuit against CBS & 60 Minutes over an interview with then-VP Kamala Harris last year. Trump knows CBS didn't edit the footage to make Harris look respectable in the eyes of voters. No, there's another reason, which the Vicar of Vanity won't cop to.

You'll recall that the Big Orange Onion was also scheduled to appear on 60 Minutes that same night. As anchor Scott Pelley shared, Trump initially agreed, via Steven Cheung, then backed out at the last second. As they say today, Pelley and the producers had receipts to prove that Trump had, in effect, wimped out.

Therein lies the real heart of the matter. Trump got called out on national television by Pelley, and can't deal with that. Harris is a target for his jealous rage.

Farron Cousins explains:

The truth hurts, doesn't it? Of course. As Farron asserts, the lawsuit should not go forward because it is, on its face, frivolous as a means of placating the ego of the First Narcissist.

There are two ways this can go. If Trump moves forward with the suit, it will get laughed out of court, as it should. CBS could countersue, claiming defamation. And if the FCC, under Trump drone Brendan Carr, tries to intervene, that only adds to Trump's troubles.

This is what happens when you have a nearly 80 year old man, whose public persona has been reduced to that of a man who is emotionally disturbed, holding the highest office in the country, and acting like he needs to be someplace other than Washington.

A first for America: The new Pope is one of us

 In one of the quickest Papal conclaves in human history, Robert Prevost, 69, of Chicago was elected as the new Pope earlier today.

The conclave began Wednesday, and ended just after 6 pm in Vatican City (Noon EST).

Robert Prevost, the new Pope. Photo courtesy MSN.

Prevost will officially be christened Pope Leo XIV, and is the first American-born Pope.

His predecessor, Pope Francis, had his run-ins with president Trump, and we'll soon see if Pope Leo will cause some headaches for the fraudulent "Christian" in the White House (or vice versa).

On The Shelf: Free Comic Book Day '25, part 2

 Marvel's annual Voices special edition has a decided African-American beat this year, as it leads off with Ironheart and Black Panther in back-to-back solo shorts, the latter of which is reprinted from Marvel's Voices: Legends. Their Latino Ghost Rider, Robbie Reyes, is heard from, and we have a glimpse of the wedding (!!!) of long time villains and friends Mystique & Destiny. See, DC? You can do a same sex marriage, and Marvel's done it twice in the last 15 or so years, both involving X-Men-related characters.

I don't know if DC has done it with Midnighter & Apollo, so...!

Rating: B+.

Image's annual Energon Universe entry again features GI Joe, Transformers, & Void Rivals, same as last year, but in a different order. In fact, the first two are involved in a crossover in the first story, written by Joshua Williamson. Daniel Warren Johnson writes & draws the Transformers middle feature. For serious fans.

Rating: B-.

Archie's Comics Spectacular is the usual mish-mash of 1 new 5 pager written by Adrian Ropp, plus a Deadpool parody squaring off with Pureheart the Powerful (Archie) by Ian Flynn & Steven Butler, and it seems they're testing the waters with a reboot of a 60's obscurity, Young Dr. Masters, who is dispensing advice to Archie & friends in 2 shorts. Most of these were probably in the deluxe digests found at Walmart and elsewhere.

Rating: A-.

Greg Weisman is back with a new Gargoyles miniseries starring Demona, and this preview sets up the series rather nicely. However, given Dynamite's problems of late, including late shipping titles tied into the issues besetting its parent, Diamond Distributors, I don't give this much hope of finishing.

Rating: B.

Back to Marvel. Unlike Fantastic Four, the only reason they're rebooting Amazing Spider-Man to #1 yet again is just to lure in new readers. Sometimes, it isn't worth it. Seems they think people are turned off by the higher numbers in the series, but DC has a couple of books well past 1000 issues, with a few more closing in. Meanwhile, the other webspinner, Miles Morales, is back in the Ultimate Universe. Ok, fine.

Rating: B-. Just not into it.

Video game hero Mega Man is back, and it seems the writers borrowed an idea from Batman: The Animated Series, as some reformed villains talk about how Mega Man has changed their lives for the better. "Almost Had 'Im" doesn't connect the same way as "Almost Got 'Im" did 33 years ago, though.

Rating: B+.

The latest from Oni/EC is Blood Type, spinning off from Epitaphs From The Abyss, which is ending. The other reprints in this tome come from Cruel Universe & Cruel Kingdom, and we reviewed the former previously. Seems EC & Oni believe they can make a vampire book work, seeing as others are doing it. 

Rating: B.

Mad Cave has updated Speed Racer for today's generation, and entrusted the writing to David Pepose, who could probably use the work if Dynamite craters before his updated Captain Planet even hits stores (the series is 2 months late). Meanwhile, Mark Russell has been tasked with Racer X, who gets his own book in September (Speed Racer 1 is out in August). Seems Rex Racer's story is getting updated, too. We'll see.

Rating: B-.

Mad Cave also has The Phantom, with former DC writer Ray Fawkes writing the book. Fawkes' Ghost Who Walks is an amalgam of Tarzan, Batman, & The Shadow. Don't believe me? Check it out. You'll be glad ya did.

Rating: A.

Tariffs on movies?? That's Donald Trump's idea of "revenge" on Hollywood

 Before he even entertained the idea of being president, Donald Trump did commercials, most famously allowing himself to be embarrassed on national television by the Manning brothers while shilling for Oreo in 2009. He made cameos in "Home Alone 2: Lost in New York" & "The Little Rascals", and appeared in Bobby Brown's video for "On Our Own" from "Ghostbusters 2".

The Apprentice & Celebrity Apprentice failed to win Emmy awards during their runs. See what this is leading to, kids?

Because he never got any recognition in Hollywood, even for a mere cameo in a movie, the Big Orange Onion is threatening tariffs on foreign films being imported to the US, according to one article I read.

Farron Cousins breaks down why Trump isn't getting his "flowers" from the film industry.

Basically, it comes down to this:

"WAAAAHHHHH! Hollywood hates me! WAAAAHHH!!"

When it comes to celebrity endorsements, Trump surrounds himself with has-beens like Jon Voight, Sylvester Stallone (not quite a has-been yet), Kid Rock, Mel Gibson, Hulk Hogan, and so on. Trump wants the rub from being associated with them. That's not exactly going to win younger fans over, though.

During his first campaign for President, more than 30 years ago, Bill Clinton knew he needed the youth demographic, so he sat in with Arsenio Hall's band. He invited MTV to produce an inaugural ball in 1993. Barack Obama would sit down with Jimmy Fallon and "slow-jam" the news of the day. Kamala Harris thought doing Saturday Night Live, and standing alongside Maya Rudolph would net the youth vote. The GOP smear campaign negated that. On the GOP side, George HW Bush actually gave his blessing to Dana Carvey on SNL.

This all points back, again, to whatever inferiority complex Trump carries within him as he approaches his 79th birthday on Flag Day next month. I know I've joked about his needed to meet with a psychologist, but the truth is, he definitely needs one to help him process his inner turmoil. Yesterday.

On The Shelf: Has Dynamite jumped the nostalgia shark? Plus, a look back at Free Comic Book Day '25

 9 years ago, DC launched Wacky Raceland, a reboot of Wacky Races for the 21st century, albeit in a more post-apocalyptic setting.

Unfortunately, the series was scuttled after 6 issues due to poor early sales and reviews. Despite Leonardo Manco's outstanding artwork, this was a case of a misplaced dystopian vision.

Fast forward to now, and Dynamite's Giant-Size Wacky Races. Billed as a 1-shot, it is a pilot for a possible series, if enough people buy into the concept. Which is actually worse than what DC envisioned in 2016.

Arch-villain Dick Dastardly is barely seen, though at the start, per Ivan Cohen's script, Muttley is driving his own car, a call-back to the days when Muttley could do his own thing independent of Dastardly. Penelope Pitstop is repackaged as a former child star turned champion racer. Peter Perfect is not what he seems to be, and it appears that he got the worst end of the deal, worse than Dastardly, if you can believe it.

Suffice to say, that's $5 I'm not getting back, nor am I investing in this again. I think maybe I'd best hunt up a DVD of the 1968 series.....!

Rating: C-.

The 3rd of Mad Cave's Gatchaman 1-shot specials spotlights Ryu, the pilot of the Phoenix, as he goes it alone against pirates and giant robots. It's all about gaining confidence in oneself, since everyone's perception of Ryu is as the pilot, and nothing more. Nothing could be further from the truth.

One-shots with Joe & Jinpei will wait until later this year, as the 3 already out will be collected in a trade paperback due next month.

Rating: A.

Now, fasten your seatbelts, it's time to look back at Free Comic Book Day.

Just because there's a new Fantastic Four movie coming in July, it's not a rational enough reason for Marvel to reboot the book to #1 for the bazillionth time. Marvel is just hung up on the now-obsolete notion that people will still flock for first issues.

Ryan North's tale has the FF being "summoned" by some alien kids who look like refugees from Men in Black (the animated series and the movies), but need their help because they're in over their heads (the kids, that is).

The back-up previews the 50th anniversary of Giant-Size X-Men, and starts a time travel arc involving Ms. Marvel. While artist Adam Kubert does his usual fine work, writers Jackson Lanzing & Collin Kelly came up with something that may require a deeper dive if you haven't been following the X-books for a while. Ack! Finally, Chip Zdarsky writes and draws a short feature with Wolverpool & Deadverine??? I know "Wolverine-Deadpool" was a big hit, but this is a case where biting the hand that feeds you actually hurts. I know my brain does.

Rating: B--. Had to take points off for that last short.

DC offers a flip book, All In 2025 Special Edition, to showcase Superman Unlimited and the Absolute line of books. Trust me. There will be an Absolute Justice League by this time next year, if not sooner. Dan Slott, long associated with Marvel, writes Superman Unlimited, which looks like it's so far, so good.

Rating: A-.

Titan's latest Conan The Barbarian crossover event is Scourge of The Serpent, which, in addition to a stand-alone miniseries, will have chapters running through Savage Sword of Conan, and, maybe the regular Conan monthly. For true fans.

Rating: A-.

They didn't have trucks in the Dark Ages. That was before musician Post Malone came up with Big Rig, a black & white tale that is, well, all over the place. Malone and co-author Adrian Wassel's story is just flat weird. The graphic novel previewed in this tome is already out. Don't know if that's also black & white, but making it full color would do justice to artist Nathan Gooden's work.

Rating: B-.

The other rockin' graphic novel from Vault takes its name from one of Def Leppard's legendary 80's albums, Hysteria. Co-written by Def Leppard's own Phil Collen, it is a tale of an indie rocker who inherits her father's estate, and a guitar with a dark secret. Just plain weird.

Rating: B-.

Titan Comics' other entry is Diablo: Dawn of Hatred, another black & white item, this one drawn beautifully by Daniele Serra from a script by Cullen Bunn. There are some odd parallels to the Gospels, and I'll leave it at that.

Rating: B.

NBM previews a forthcoming graphic novel bio of comics legend Will Eisner. Eisner enjoyed a career revival in the 80's & 90's with a series of graphic novels that showed he still had the master's touch. If you're not familiar with Eisner, you should be when you get the graphic novel when it comes out in July.

Rating: A-.

We're closing out part 1 of our review with the weirdest crossover that Dynamite has ever come up with, as the Powerpuff Girls meet the ThunderCats. Unlike, say, for example, Reese's peanut butter cups, these are two iconic series from the 80's (ThunderCats) and 90's (Powerpuff Girls) that just don't fit together. Just because Dynamite has the license to both doesn't give them license to give readers heartburn in print.

And, given Dynamite & Diamond's myriad of problems of late, Lord only knows how long it'll take to finish this series.

Rating: C-. Bear in mind, this is coming from a ThunderCats fan.

Part 2 of our review is coming Wednesday.

Notes from around town

 Yes, we do have morons in the state GOP.

Matt Slater, an assemblyman from Westchester County (i.e. Yonkers, White Plains), is sponsoring a bill that would effectively change high school sports as we know it.

This issue has to do with a perceived disparity between public & private schools, in that private schools, such as Christian Brothers Academy, both in Colonie & Syracuse, and Shenendehowa in Clifton Park, have an unfair competitive advantage over public schools.

The root of Slater's lame argument stems from Somers High losing a sectional football final to CBA-Syracuse in 2021 by a single point. Somers, as readers of this blog and Tri-City SportsBeat may know, has beaten Section II teams in state play over the years, such as Burnt Hills. The Tuskers have won the last three state Class A titles, so why is Slater whining over a simple game?

He's a Republican looking for a cause to get behind and to get attention. As Chris Churchill asserts in today's Albany Times-Union, Slater's bill likely isn't going anywhere, because it's just a small, petty issue.

Translated:

Private schools have an open enrollment outside their districts, which is why CBA, Shen, Catholic Central, et al, can have student-athletes from, say, Troy or Cohoes or Niskayuna playing for them. That's the part Slater doesn't get.

I've heard of making a mountain out of a molehill, but making a molehill out of an ant hill?? Yeah, that's today's GOP in a nutshell.

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Behind all those TV & radio ads for Destination Kia/Nissan, James Morrell, Jr. & his wife, Megan, are dealing with some traumatic issues that now have legal consequences.

Patrick Tine is reporting in today's Times-Union that the Morrells, the son & daughter-in-law of Destination & Albany Broadcasting owner James Morrell, Sr., stole 5 memorials in memory of Shaker graduate and ex-Marine Nicholas Camilli, who passed away in the fall of 2023 when his motorcycle collided with a car driven by the elder Morrell. The younger Morrells believed that the memorials were on county property, not private property, and never contacted Camilli's grieving mother, Angela Colloca, about moving the memorials.

Contrary to the Destination ad campaigns, it's not even close to being "kooky", but sad.

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We wrote last week that Magic 100.5/AM590 had discontinued Madison Wealth Managers' Sunday reruns to give morning host Jaime Roberts a full 5 hour Sunday berth (7 am-noon). However, a commercial with Dan Polansky plugging both the Saturday & Sunday broadcasts are still running. Hmmmmm.

Insight Sundays: Mummy (1968)

 No, this is not a horror story. This 1968 episode of Insight focuses on a young mom (Arlene Golonka, Mayberry RFD), and her struggles with her children.

No rating. Just a public service.

In WWE, it is the season of the turk. Again

 One of the worst rites of spring is when WWE, or, more specifically, corporate parent TKO Holdings/Endeavor, begins pruning talent.

On Friday, 15 wrestlers were let go between WWE & NXT/Evolve, mostly for financial reasons, with TKO adjusting its ledgers.

WWE:

Braun Strowman (Adam Scherr). It was only about a year or two ago that Strowman had returned, but he was derailed by injuries the 2nd time around.

I think Paul "Triple H" Levesque thought that since he had a younger, faster man that could run around the outside of the ring (Bron Breakker), Strowman would be sort of redundant.

Dakota Kai: Former NXT women's tag team champion, but injury prone after getting called up in 2022. She actually shared on social media earlier this week that she wasn't injured, but that, as you can guess, WWE Creative didn't have anything for her, since Damage CTRL had been essentially dissolved.

Shayna Baszler: 2-time NXT women's champion. 3-time WWE women's tag team champ with 2 different partners. The last of the MMA Horsewomen on the WWE roster, and there's already speculation that she could reunite with old friend Marina Shafir in AEW.

Katana Chance (Kacy Catanzaro) & Kayden Carter. Former NXT & WWE women's tag team champions. Like Kai, creative had nothing for them of late.

NXT/Evolve:

Gallus (Joe & Mark Coffey & Wolfgang). Former NXT UK & NXT US tag team champions. Most recently player-coaches in Evolve, and had prepped the People's Sell-Out, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, prior to Wrestlemania last year.

Oro Mensah & Jakara Jackson. The two were 1/2 of the Meta-Four stable, but that group amicably dissolved on Tuesday, perhaps knowing in advance what was coming. They seemed to be hinting that Jackson's tag team partner, Lash Legend, could be called up to the main roster.

Riley Osborne. Left floundering after the initial dissolution of the Chase U faction in NXT, and had been appearing on Evolve of late. Wife Bea Priestley (pka Blair Davenport) was cut late last year.

Eddy Thorpe (Karl Fredericks): After challenging for the men's singles titles in NXT over the last several months, Thorpe was let go. I suspect he's likely heading back to New Japan Pro Wrestling, from whence he came.

Gigi Dolin. 2-time NXT women's tag team champion was on the doorstep of a 3rd run, this time with Tatum Paxley, both in NXT & TNA, but came up short. She'd stepped up her game since coming off the DL and an ill-advised storyline with Arianna Grace last fall.

Cora Jade. Roxanne Perez's on-again, off-again tag team partner & BFF was not seen since Perez abandoned her at Stand & Deliver 4 weeks ago. Her problem has been staying healthy. At one point, she'd been dating Bron Breakker, but that ended months ago.

Javier Bernal. "Big Body Javy" was a jobber on NXT before going on the DL last year. Of late, like Osborne, Mensah, & Gallus, he'd been on Evolve. His departure leaves his lady, Tatum Paxley, all alone. For now.

Will there be more releases? We don't know, but we'll be watching.

Back when fathers & sons bonded over cereal (1969)

 Kellogg's was a sponsor, I'd think, of The Courtship of Eddie's Father during its 3 season run (1969-72), so it made sense, then, to have stars Bill Bixby & Brandon Cruz make some commercials for Special K cereal.

Co-star-series creator James Komack appears in the first of the two ads.

Can Marco Rubio handle two jobs? Kash Patel couldn't, so......!!!

 Donald Trump took some bad advice----again----from Loopy Laura Loomer, and was ready to give Mike Waltz the boot as National Security adviser. Instead, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio being named national security chief on an interim basis, Waltz will instead be lined up for the UN Ambassador's role that was originally meant for Elise Stefanik.

Photo courtesy Yahoo!

Earlier this year, after being named FBI Director, Kash Patel was given a 2nd role in the administration on a temporary basis, and lost it within weeks. Waltz's standing as security chief was compromised because of his role in Signalgate 1 (There's a sequel involving Pete Hegseth, his wife, and a lawyer.), and with Loomer in Trump's ears, someone was going to take a fall other than Hegseth, who everyone else wants gone.

But, how long will Rubio be able to wear two hats?  What happens if he becomes compromised?

Back to Waltz. He'll likely be confirmed for the ambassadorship to end that drama, and given a chance to redeem himself in a role he's likely more suited for. Time will tell.