For years, I have had a love affair with the television show I Love Lucy. Lucille Ball is arguably the greatest comedian of all time.
I cannot hide my love any longer, and so I have created a new blog as a tribute to Lucille Ball! More specifically, the many faces of Lucille Ball. Allow me to explain.
In the course of her life, Lucille Ball was a woman of many faces. She was an expert in all areas of physical comedy, but what truly amazes me about her is how much emotion and comedy she can portray with her face.
My newest blog – I Look Lucy is my project to recreate the many looks on Lucy’s face. The joy, the pain, the surprise, the dismay, etc., etc….
I will also replicate any of pictures of Lucy’s faces, so send ‘em in: ilooklucy @ gmail
Who’s fiercer than Tyra Banks and Beyonce combined? RuPaul of course!
I thought T.V. broke the mold when they brought us Project Runway, but I had yet to see RuPaul’s Drag Race.
You couldn’t even spoof this show if you tried, because it is so outlandish, and in such a delightfully sweet way. What other show takes the two bottom contestants ready to be voted off the show and forces them to “lipsync for your life?” None other than Drag Race, honey.
You’ve heard of Tyra Mail on America’s Next Top Model, well every episode of Drag Race, RuPaul delivers “She Mail.” Brilliance!
You’ll be in tears from laughing so hard from this show. And girrrrrllll, it’s gonna get catty. Santino Rice, the cattiest in the history of all Project Runway designers, is a judge on this show. And that says it all.
So grab an Absolut cocktail, your best pair of heels, and run, don’t walk to your T.V. Cuz RuPaul’s Drag Race is in the house.
I know, I know, who doesn’t love The Secret World of Alex Mack? I certainly do.
I remember writing down in my fifth grade planner what T.V. shows were on what nights. Who knew what was for homework? And who cares? The Secret World of Alex Mack was always written in big, bold letters, right under The Wonder Years.
I love any storyline where the main character has fallen into spilled chemicals, and then produces wicked awesome powers from stewing in some yellow ooze. Cool. Did I mentioned that this character was a child who fell in the chemicals? Yes, my generation demanded only the highest quality of entertainment. She could do lots of things, she could shoot electricity out of her fingers. This came in handy for a lot of things.
The best of all of Alex’s powers however was when she could turn herself into water, even though because of bad special effects, she looked more like a puddle metallic silver. Whatever it was, it looked awesome. That would be my super power, turn into a giant glob of metal. Done.
What does this story teach us? Bathe in chemicals, you’ll get super powers.
Hilary Duff made a comment recently about how none of her fans even know who Faye Dunaway is. This was in response to Faye Dunaway’s near shock and surprise that a remake of the 1967 movie Bonnie and Clyde is being remade and Hilary Duff is set to play Bonnie Parker, the role Dunaway played years ago. Duff’s comment saddened me, does the younger generation not know about Faye Dunaway? In my humble opinion, one of the greatest actresses of all time? With the invention of YouTube? And the fact that our world has access to whatever entertainment they choose to watch, no matter what decade that entertainment happens to come from?
And then I remembered. When I was in the fourth grade, my favorite T.V. show was from the 1790’s: Happy Days. So there must be some hope for this world.
Even if you think it’s impossible to love Ron Howard more than you already do after seeing him on the Andy Griffith Show, you’re wrong, he will steal your heart all over again on Happy Days. Now most people believe this show fell apart the moment Fonzie jumped a shark, water skiing in Hawaii. In fact that’s where the term “jumped the shark” comes from. (When T.V. shows clearly should have been canceled, but that show is still on the air, that show has “jumped the shark”) The show really ended when Ron Howard’s character left the show. Ritchie Cunningham joins the army, and I stopped watching.
This show is an American institution. Who doesn’t want to grab a burger at Arnold’s or watch Fonzie jump over a line of cars on his motorcycle? That’s what I need in a good sitcom.
I also need a good sitcom to come up with it’s own insults, yes Battlestar Gallactica wasn’t the only show, and Happy Days came up with the term “sit on it.” Not the worst thing you can say to another human being, but once you hear it on this show you’ll become obsessed and die to hear it again. Joanie says it to Ralph, Ritchie says it to Potsie, Mrs. C. says it to…the Fonz?
Wow, I didn’t think anyone would live to say that. Although the Fonz is supposed to be a hoodlum, he is the most polite delinquent you’ll ever meet.
Ralph makes bad jokes, and Potsie sings.
Anson Williams, who played Potsie, even put out an album a while back. I’ve never heard it, I can only picture Potsie singing.
This show is just a classic and I have to believe that it has stood the test of time, I still love watching season to season of a show made about the 50s in the 70s.
You know a show is good if: It was based off the movie American Graffiti, it makes you want to move to Wisconsin, there is a character on the show named Pinky Tuscadero, and if it produced the kind of spin-off like Joanie Loves Chachi.
So, because my ten year old self loved and was obsessed with a show made in the 70’s, I have faith that there is some little girl out there whose favorite actress is Faye Dunaway. I know mine was.
I haven’t felt this emo since I went through that Dashboard Confessional stint in High School.
My So-Called Life was a little bit of an emotional roller coaster for me. I wanted to see the show because I love Claire Danes and because I have a soft-spot for 90’s television. Claire Danes also won a Golden Globe for her performance in this show, so I was interested.
Initially I couldn’t get into it. I felt like it was way too over the top. I mean trust me High School is a certain torture chamber that I can’t believe society subjects children to, but I mean sometimes watching this show I just wanted to slip some of the characters some Prozac. The only character that seemed remotely happy was Rayanne Graff and she had some major drinking problems.
I will say, by the middle of the series (which wasn’t very long, it was cancelled after one season) I was hooked. Then all of a sudden this storyline comes out of nowhere that completely horrified me, I won’t tell you what it is because surprises are the spice of life, but I just couldn’t recover.
I also have never heard the word “like” used so many times in my life. And believe me, I live in Hollywood, that’s twenty minutes from The Valley–I’ve heard it used a lot.
The last episode didn’t wrap a whole lot up, which sometimes happens, I understand, but the only explanation I can come up with is that the show must of been canceled before they could give their audience a satisfying ending. Or maybe they were going for torture, that’s cool, but it was torturous.
Bottom line: Claire Danes is a great actress, I’m glad this show did good things for her career. She deserves it.
I dunno maybe I’m being unfair to this show because I watched such an amazing show before this, Twin Peaks, and My So-Called Life couldn’t possibly live up to TP’s high standards. But for the most part, My So-Called Life = meh.
I wouldn’t call myself a trekkie, but I have always been a fan of Star Trek. I loved the original series, I have seen most of the movies, and I watched a lot of Star Trek: The Next Generation. It really ends there though, any Star Trek series after TNG just didn’t blow my skirt up a whole lot.
I saw the new movie that is about to come out on DVD Star Trek (Three-Disc +Digital Copy) [Blu-ray] (I am nearly wetting myself, I am so excited) and I absolutely love it! I went to the midnight showing, that is some serious stuff.
This past weekend I checked out a new Star Trek exhibit that just opened down the street from me in Hollywood. I was sort of hoping that it was the old Star Trek exhibit from the Imperial Palace in Las Vegas. No such luck, but it was awesome anyway. Did I mention they sold toy tribbles as souvenirs? Let me just vent for a moment. I still can’t believe they closed down that exhibit in Las Vegas. It’s not like they put anything else in it’s place, and now the only place that Trekkies can gather is at a convention. They even had a Star Trek ride in there, it was like Star Tours in Disneyland, but with Captain Picard.
I’m just glad they opened the exhibit that I went to on Sunday, it was full of Costumes from the show and the new movie. You could even sit on the U.S.S. Enterprise (well the set at least) from Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Here I am with Spock, that’s Mr. Spock by the way, not Dr. Spock. Dr. Spock is that famous child psychologist. Common misconception. Spock is one of my favorite Star Trek characters, he and Scotty are pretty much tied.
Me and James Tiberius Kirk. He’s just so pretty.
Me and my boyfriend lovin’ on the U.S.S. Enterprise.
Is that an uncharted planet? Let’s explore!
It was a pretty amazing trip, I just truly appreciate the entire Star Trek universe. Maybe there is a little bit of trekkie in me after all.
If we exclude the college years of this show (the college years bite the big one) Boy Meets World is a fun sitcom.
Everybody loved the characters on this show, and that’s what people watched it for.
You had Mr. Feeny, who was Cory’s teacher for years. All throughout Junior High, all throughout High School. He was even their principal at one point. He was everywhere, he even followed them to college. But again, this is where I tuned out of this show.
Shawn Hunter, Cory’s best friend, was the trouble maker. Early on in the series he puts a cherry bomb in a mailbox, and it was all downhill from there. The actor who played Shawn, Rider Strong, was in every tweeny magazine imaginable while this show was on. The ladies just couldn’t get enough of him, including my sister who had his poster up in our room right next to Jonathan Taylor Thomas, a place of honor some might say. Rider Strong’s headshot is also on the wall of my favorite Taco Bell in Burbank, CA.
Speaking of ladies men, Will Friedle, who played Cory’s brother Eric in the show had to beat women off with a stick in his prime. His character really evolved throughout the series. First he was just the good looking older brother that would occasionally tease Cory, and then all of a sudden his character just became stupid. Like unintelligent, that was his thing. The writers painted him as dull, but if you look back at the first few seasons, he wasn’t always like this.
Another character who changed a lot from the beginning of the series was ,Topanga, Cory’s love interest. When the series first started, Topanga was a granola mystical hippie. I LOVED it. Her favorite restaurant was the International House of Salads. Topanga: “I love IHOS.” She sort of lost this gimmick as the show progressed. And if you think Shawn and Eric were the show’s heartthrobs, you have not witnessed the eye candy that is Topanga. She was a pretty little girl who grew up to be a knock out. Danielle Fishel who plays Topanga is also really funny. Good looks and charm? You go Danielle.
Wait, a second, I haven’t even mentioned Cory yet. Cory Matthews, all around nice guy. Just plain likable. Just like a golden retriever puppy, how can you not love him?
The greatest character on this show is hands down the greatest nerd on earth, well next to Steve Urkel, Stuart Minkus. He was only on this show for the first few seasons, but he was by far the most amazing. Minkus is played by Lee Norris who played Chuckie Lee Torkelson on another favorite sitcom of mine-The Torkelsons. On Minkushe has a big giant brain, and is constantly being picked on by Cory and Shawn. But don’t feel bad for him, he dishes it right back. He ’s too smart to lie around and wallow in their insults, he has an evil genius quality about him.
These are the main characters of the series, but this show had excellent supporting characters as well. Cory’s parents were fun. Morgan, Cory’s little sister, was cute and then turned evil. The bullies on the show: completely non-threatening but you loved them anyway. One of those bullies played Pinsky on Salute Your Shorts. He can take my lunch money any day.
See what I mean about great characters? That’s why this show was on for seven years, not for it’s memorable story lines. Except when they went to Disney World, but then again what sitcom on TGIF (Friday night programming on ABC in the 90s) didn’t have a Disney World episode? I some times forget how much I love this show because of the college years, but it really was one of my favorites growing up.
It absolutely baffles me that this show has yet to be put out on DVD. Around Christmas time of the year 2005 I asked a store employee when they were going to be getting in The Wonders Years on DVD, and he assured me that it should be out in the next couple of months. That was four years ago.
This TV show was a staple of my childhood. I think it is safe to say that I have seen every episode of this show, I just couldn’t, and still can’t get enough of it. This is a story of Kevin Arnold growing up in the suburbs. I grew up in the suburbs-many different suburbs (my Dad was in the Air Force), so I definitely felt I could relate.
The similarities really didn’t end there for me though, I felt like many episodes really captured the awkwardness of growing up.
There was an entire episode dedicated to Kevin struggling in a math class, he was so embarrassed and even got angry with other kids who were excelling in the class. This hit home for me. When I was in Elementary school, I cursed the day math was ever invented. I was always frustrated in math class. I was also cursed with friends who were math whizzes, this was annoying because they always said things like: “I don’t get this stuff at all.” And then they would get A’s. The only thing more annoying than stupid people are people who pretend to be stupid. While Kevin was failing every test, his friend Paul was getting the best grades in the class. Kevin gets really ticked off with Paul when Paul decides to go study for their math test instead of playing basketball with Kevin. Let’s get our priorities straight Paul.
Speaking of Paul, Paul Pfeiffer is probably one of the greatest characters in television history. He was allergic to everything, even instant hot chocolate. Paul Pfeiffer was Kevin Arnold’s best friend, they were life long best friends. One episode they had a little bit too much of one another and had one blow-out of a fight. It all started when the too were trading baseball cards, Kevin just had to have Paul’s Willie McCovey. Paul just wouldn’t budge. “No, no, no. McCovey’s off the table.” Paul kept saying. Then things got ugly, one thing lead to another: Kevin’s cartoon bed sheets were brought up, Paul’s stuff animals sitting on his bed were shamelessly mentioned, and then Paul went for the jugular.
Paul: “Oh, yeah? Well, at least I don’t have the hots for Winnie Cooper!” There was no denying this one. Paul had gone too far. Their friendship was over. (well at least for a half an hour, this is television people!) Kevin and Paul don’t speak for an entire episode, being almost inseparable up to this point, this feels like a long time. Kevin hangs out with this really nice kid named Doug Porter, and is a total jerk to him. Though Kevin was the main character of this show, there were moments where he was just plain unlikable. Finally Kevin and Paul make up because the world was clearly out of balance without their friendship.
There was a rumor going around for years that Josh Saviano who played Paul on The Wonder Years grew up to become Marilyn Manson. Completely false, Marilyn Manson’s real name is Brian Warner. Rob Stone from Mr. Belvedere was also accused of being Marilyn Manson. The masses desperately want Marilyn Manson to have his place in 1980s prime-time. But, alas, no.
Winnie Cooper , like Paul Pfeiffer, was also a huge part of this show. She was the perfect woman in Kevin Arnold’s world, and they date on and off throughout the series. The pilot episode of the show ends in the two sharing their first kiss. Awwwww. They are hooked on each other from this point in the series on.
I cry like a baby every time I see the pilot of this show, and the last episode of the entire series. The thing I love about the last episode is the fact that everything doesn’t end up the way you think it will after watching this series for years. The last episode gives you a little glimpse into the future of the lives of all the characters. Some characters end up the way you think they will, like Paul, he goes to Harvard- big surprise. You wouldn’t even guess how some other characters turn out, and I like that because it doesn’t leave you with some bogus fairy tale ending. This series is perfection to me, it is my favorite series of all time. Now please, someone put it out on DVD!
Oh, and one last thing. Any show that has a Joe Cocker song as it’s theme song is alright in my book any day.
Long, long ago when I was just a young tyke I went mad for anything Strawberry Shortcake. She was my hero, her house was made out of dessert for pete’s sake!
Every time we made a trip to Blockbuster, there was only one video I ever rented, and that was a Strawberry Shortcake special that I watched over, and over, and over again.
I even owned a pair of Strawberry Shortcake roller skates, they were a must for cruising around the neighborhood. Anywhere I wanted to go, Strawberry would take me there.
I have sort of a horrifying childhood experience connected with Strawberry Shortcake, however. One of my Mom’s friends had made my sister a Strawberry Shortcake blanket when she was little, and to my pure joy, it was then passed down to me. That blanket was my pride and joy, I would always spread it on top of my comforter to showcase Strawberry in all of her glory. One strange day I discovered, to my horror, that Strawberry was no longer sitting on my bed. My blanket was nowhere to be found. I searched high and low. Every crevice, every corner, every nook, every cranny. But alas, no Strawberry.Where had she gone?
Years later I brought the subject up to my mom, reminiscing of my love, and how strange it was that it just somehow disappeared. “Oh that ratty old thing? I threw that away.” I was in shock. Did I not communicate to her, and everyone in listening distance how much this blanket truly meant to me?”
I have since forgiven my mother for her evil deed. I occasionally tease her that if I were ever to write a book about what horrible parents I have (my parents are both very loving people, my mom knows that I only kid), that this story would be the first chapter.
I see Strawberry around from time to time nowadays. She looks all hip and cool with her jeans, and that jacket she ties around her waist. But make no mistake about this, “ain’t nothin’ like the real thing baby. Ain’t nothin’ like the real, the original, Strawberry Shortcake. The Strawberry Shortcake with red yarn for hair. The Strawberry Shortcake with a giant pillow hat. The Strawberry Shortcake who battled The Peculiar Purple Pie-Man of Porcupine Peak. A Strawberry Shortcake with integrity.
If Bill Haverchuck wasn’t a fictional character, I would get down on one knee and propose. No one does the Rerun dance like he does, well, except maybe for Rerun.
Freaks and Geeks is one of the wittiest shows I have ever watched on television and sadly it only lasted a season. People don’t know good. Actually, I think it was just way ahead of it’s time, people are flocking to this show now that it’s out on DVD. Definitely a cult classic.
This show is brilliant because it forces you to remember those uncomfortable days of high school, and laugh at that pain a little bit. I once heard that the High School years are the golden years of your life. That’s as good as it’s gonna get?
I also realize watching this show that if I went to High School with this cast of characters, I would have loved, loved, loved high school.
I don’t know who I would’ve hung out with, the Freaks or the Geeks. Both groups are equally appealing.
The episodes of this show never end in cheezy, sitcom happy endings either. I appreciate that.
Judd Apatow directed many of the episodes of this show, and I still enjoy following his projects today. I love that he still works with a lot of the cast members of this show even to this day. My love for Seth Rogen started with Freaks and Geeks. He plays the highly sarcastic Ken whose softer side comes out later in the series when he falls in love with “Tuba Girl.”
Though this show was short lived (curse NBC executives) most of the actors have had very successful careers post-Freaks and Geeks. And three cheers for that. I will always love them first, as a band of Freaks and Geeks.
P.S. You think I’m a Freaks and Geeks fan? Check out Reel Artsy where Karen raves about Freaks and Geeks and talks about Rashida Jones on the show.
