While Fred Savage was growing up in front of our eyes on The Wonder Years, little brother Ben landed his own series, and will be back in your living room later this month.
Boy Meets World lasted 7 seasons (1993-2000), most of it spent on Fridays as part of ABC's TGIF block. The Boy in the title was Cory Matthews (Ben Savage), who faced up to the usual issues with growing up. What actually made the show work was that it wasn't a star vehicle, but rather, like the other shows in the block, an ensemble comedy.
The series also marked the return of William Daniels (ex-Knight Rider, St. Elsewhere), whose character of Mr. Feeny, the school principal, was also Cory's next door neighbor. The series also introduced viewers to the likes of Will Friedle, Ethan Suplee (later of My Name is Earl), and Danielle Fishel. As time wore on the storylines focused more on Cory's relationship with Topanga (Fishel), culminating in the two getting married in the series finale.
That leads to the sequel, Girl Meets World, launching later this month on Disney Channel, which was home to reruns of Boy for a few years before the rights moved to MTV2, where it currently airs weekdays in a lunch hour block with Saved by the Bell. Most of the cast will return, and Disney is putting out the full court hype press.
One of the more surreal, if not also absurd, plots on Boy involved pro wrestler Vader (Leon White), who appeared in two episodes. Seems that in this series' universe, Vader was a former student of Feeny's whose bullying ways were passed on to his son (Suplee). As you'll see, Cory finds himself in a handicap match vs. Vader & son, plus 1, until Feeny steps in........
At the time, Vader was with the then-World Wrestling Federation, after winning a couple of World titles with WCW. Have to believe Vader helped put together the wrestling sequence himself, working with 4 actors during the short match.
In a follow-up episode, Cory was split between a Sweet 16 dance with Topanga and accompanying his former tormentor to a show to see Vader wrestle. Vader would not return after that.
It fit with the block alright. Whimsical, often with life lessons to be taught.
Rating: B+.
Friday, June 6, 2014
Thursday, June 5, 2014
As the mourning parade passes by..........
They say death often comes in threes. In the course of the past week, it certainly has.
Award winning poet Maya Angelou passed over the weekend. The New York Daily News' front page headline the other day referred to Angelou as an "Angel of Harlem". Taking this in mind, we dedicate U2's 1988 hit, "Angel of Harlem", from the movie "Rattle & Hum", to Ms. Angelou:
I was hoping to find something other than a movie clip, but this was all that was available on YouTube.
On Wednesday, baseball lost one of its most enduring personalities. Don Zimmer, who spent more than 65 years in the game as a player, coach, manager, and executive, passed away at 83. Zimmer was Joe Torre's bench coach during the Yankees' last dynasty, which saw them appear in 6 World Series in 8 years, winning 4. His last job was as a senior advisor for the Tampa Bay Rays.
Finally, Ann B. Davis, whose television career consists mostly of two memorable supporting characters, left us. Well before she was cast as housekeeper Alice Nelson on The Brady Bunch (1969-74) and its subsequent sequels (save perhaps for the ill-fated variety show), Davis plays Charmaine Schultz, or, "Schultzy", on The Bob Cummings Show, also known as Love That Bob.
In this clip, Alice and Carol (Florence Henderson) have to deal with Peter (Christopher Knight) and his sudden obsession with Humphrey Bogart:
Rest in peace.
Award winning poet Maya Angelou passed over the weekend. The New York Daily News' front page headline the other day referred to Angelou as an "Angel of Harlem". Taking this in mind, we dedicate U2's 1988 hit, "Angel of Harlem", from the movie "Rattle & Hum", to Ms. Angelou:
I was hoping to find something other than a movie clip, but this was all that was available on YouTube.
On Wednesday, baseball lost one of its most enduring personalities. Don Zimmer, who spent more than 65 years in the game as a player, coach, manager, and executive, passed away at 83. Zimmer was Joe Torre's bench coach during the Yankees' last dynasty, which saw them appear in 6 World Series in 8 years, winning 4. His last job was as a senior advisor for the Tampa Bay Rays.
Finally, Ann B. Davis, whose television career consists mostly of two memorable supporting characters, left us. Well before she was cast as housekeeper Alice Nelson on The Brady Bunch (1969-74) and its subsequent sequels (save perhaps for the ill-fated variety show), Davis plays Charmaine Schultz, or, "Schultzy", on The Bob Cummings Show, also known as Love That Bob.
In this clip, Alice and Carol (Florence Henderson) have to deal with Peter (Christopher Knight) and his sudden obsession with Humphrey Bogart:
Rest in peace.
What Might've Been: It Pays to be Ignorant (1951)
It Pays to be Ignorant made the transition from radio to television in 1951, airing on NBC. However, the transition wasn't a smooth one, as the series didn't last very long.
Series creator and host Tom Howard had started the show on radio seven years earlier as a satire on shows as diverse as Doctor IQ and Information Please. It lasted 9 seasons on radio, but, as noted the TV run was short. In fact, if you add a 1973 revival to the '51 series, it still doesn't add up to the radio run.
Gilmore Box provides this open:
Stefan Hatos & Monty Hall (Let's Make a Deal) revived Ignorant as a syndicated venture in 1973, as noted above. Actor Joe Flynn (ex-McHale's Navy), who had made a few movies for Disney while doing guest roles on other shows, was tapped as host. Charles Nelson Reilly moonlighted from his daytime gig on Match Game, paired with Jo Anne Worley (Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In) and British comic Billy Baxter. That's the version I remember, but there are no clips on YouTube. The format was the same as the original, and it was a hoot. As memory serves, Worley sang the closing theme. Unfortunately, it lasted just 1 year. Baxter was never heard from again, and Flynn drowned in a swimming pool accident.
Rating: B.
Series creator and host Tom Howard had started the show on radio seven years earlier as a satire on shows as diverse as Doctor IQ and Information Please. It lasted 9 seasons on radio, but, as noted the TV run was short. In fact, if you add a 1973 revival to the '51 series, it still doesn't add up to the radio run.
Gilmore Box provides this open:
Stefan Hatos & Monty Hall (Let's Make a Deal) revived Ignorant as a syndicated venture in 1973, as noted above. Actor Joe Flynn (ex-McHale's Navy), who had made a few movies for Disney while doing guest roles on other shows, was tapped as host. Charles Nelson Reilly moonlighted from his daytime gig on Match Game, paired with Jo Anne Worley (Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In) and British comic Billy Baxter. That's the version I remember, but there are no clips on YouTube. The format was the same as the original, and it was a hoot. As memory serves, Worley sang the closing theme. Unfortunately, it lasted just 1 year. Baxter was never heard from again, and Flynn drowned in a swimming pool accident.
Rating: B.
Tuesday, June 3, 2014
Musical Interlude: Sweet City Woman (1971)
Like, good day, eh? The Stampeders are known here in the US for only one big hit, 1971's "Sweet City Woman", which topped out at #8, while going all the way to #1 in their native Canada. Yeah, bet you didn't know, eh? Once you discover the band's really from Canada, it's easy to deduce that they got their name from the famous Calgary Stampede.
Anyway, here's "Sweet City Woman".
Anyway, here's "Sweet City Woman".
What Might've Been: The Legend of Jesse James (1965)
Someone at 20th Century Fox felt that amidst all the Westerns, there needed to be one that used an outlaw as a protagonist. So, they figured, why not the most famous outlaw of them all?
The Legend of Jesse James was sold to ABC in 1965, and about the best thing going for it seems to be the swinging theme song. Christopher Jones landed the title role as Jesse, who, along with brother Frank (Allen Case, ex-The Deputy), lived with their mother (Ann Doran) when not on the road. Not sure if Mrs. James had any inkling of what her sons did for a living, though.
Dwighttfrye uploaded the series premiere, "Three Men From Now", with guest star Jack Elam:
Forgive the poor condition of the video, as that is apparently the only episode available now on YouTube. Fox didn't have much luck with some Westerns in the mid-60's. Mind, too, that this was the same year that Fox had sold Rod Serling's The Loner to CBS, and that also was a 1 year wonder. There were just too many Westerns on the air, just as there'd be a glut of crime dramas in the next decade.
Rating: B.
The Legend of Jesse James was sold to ABC in 1965, and about the best thing going for it seems to be the swinging theme song. Christopher Jones landed the title role as Jesse, who, along with brother Frank (Allen Case, ex-The Deputy), lived with their mother (Ann Doran) when not on the road. Not sure if Mrs. James had any inkling of what her sons did for a living, though.
Dwighttfrye uploaded the series premiere, "Three Men From Now", with guest star Jack Elam:
Forgive the poor condition of the video, as that is apparently the only episode available now on YouTube. Fox didn't have much luck with some Westerns in the mid-60's. Mind, too, that this was the same year that Fox had sold Rod Serling's The Loner to CBS, and that also was a 1 year wonder. There were just too many Westerns on the air, just as there'd be a glut of crime dramas in the next decade.
Rating: B.
Monday, June 2, 2014
Classic TV: The Monkees (1966)
With the Beatles and their musical brethren from England dominating the American pop charts, someone decided that there needed to be an American band with a pop sound similar to the Fab Four.
The Monkees were the result of a Hollywood casting call that led to two actors and two musicians forming the so-called "Pre-Fab Four". Ironically, one of the two actors, Davy Jones, was British himself. Drummer-vocalist Micky Dolenz had previously worked for Screen Gems on Circus Boy (under the name, Mickey Braddock), and, presumably, was still a contract player for the studio. Monkees turned his career around completely.
The series lasted two seasons, and each of the four (Jones, Dolenz, Peter Tork, & Mike Nesmith) got equal amounts of spotlight time. Dolenz & Jones, for another irony, did the bulk of the singing, especially in the first season. Oh, it could've gone longer, but the band imploded during season 2, and there were also disputes with the producers over any number of things. After the series ended, Jones & Nesmith released solo albums for different labels. Nesmith, who'd recorded under the name Michael Blessing before the series began, moved to the country charts and scored his biggest solo hit with "Joanne". Tork ultimately formed a new band, The New Monks, which didn't last long, in the early 80's. Dolenz, as has been documented over at Saturday Morning Archives, began a career as a voice actor, working for Hanna-Barbera between 1971-77. Oddly, he wasn't called when Jones was cast in an episode of The New Scooby-Doo Movies in 1972, and so H-B blew an opportunity for at least a mini-reunion.
But the band, sans Liquid Paper heir Nesmith, would regroup in the mid-80's and release a few CD's here and there, starting with 1987's "Pool It". After the series ended its run on NBC, reruns aired on Saturday afternoons first on CBS (1968), then on ABC (1972), before settling into syndication. MTV picked up the series in 1986 to mark the show's 20th anniversary, but now, the series doesn't have a cable home that we know of.
Here's a title card:
Rating: B.
The Monkees were the result of a Hollywood casting call that led to two actors and two musicians forming the so-called "Pre-Fab Four". Ironically, one of the two actors, Davy Jones, was British himself. Drummer-vocalist Micky Dolenz had previously worked for Screen Gems on Circus Boy (under the name, Mickey Braddock), and, presumably, was still a contract player for the studio. Monkees turned his career around completely.
The series lasted two seasons, and each of the four (Jones, Dolenz, Peter Tork, & Mike Nesmith) got equal amounts of spotlight time. Dolenz & Jones, for another irony, did the bulk of the singing, especially in the first season. Oh, it could've gone longer, but the band imploded during season 2, and there were also disputes with the producers over any number of things. After the series ended, Jones & Nesmith released solo albums for different labels. Nesmith, who'd recorded under the name Michael Blessing before the series began, moved to the country charts and scored his biggest solo hit with "Joanne". Tork ultimately formed a new band, The New Monks, which didn't last long, in the early 80's. Dolenz, as has been documented over at Saturday Morning Archives, began a career as a voice actor, working for Hanna-Barbera between 1971-77. Oddly, he wasn't called when Jones was cast in an episode of The New Scooby-Doo Movies in 1972, and so H-B blew an opportunity for at least a mini-reunion.
But the band, sans Liquid Paper heir Nesmith, would regroup in the mid-80's and release a few CD's here and there, starting with 1987's "Pool It". After the series ended its run on NBC, reruns aired on Saturday afternoons first on CBS (1968), then on ABC (1972), before settling into syndication. MTV picked up the series in 1986 to mark the show's 20th anniversary, but now, the series doesn't have a cable home that we know of.
Here's a title card:
Rating: B.
Sunday, June 1, 2014
Musical Interlude: King of Wishful Thinking (1990)
Go West made one last run at the charts in 1990, contributing "King of Wishful Thinking" to the soundtrack to the Julia Roberts-Richard Gere romantic comedy, "Pretty Woman". It had been 5 years since the duo debuted with "We Close Our Eyes", and you'd think they'd make the most of a second chance, but nothing came of a follow-up.
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