Blast from the Past: Saturday Morning in the 70s, Pt. 1: Live Action

It has come to my attention that there is now no such thing as network Saturday morning cartoons. Sure, there are several channels dedicated to children's programming, but there is no longer "appointment viewing" on the big three (or four) networks. Having grown up in the 70s, this is just sad. Saturday morning was for

getting up early, grabbing a bowl of your favorite cereal, and plopping down in front of the TV for a stretch of hours. If you got up too early, you got a sermonette, or something equally dire. If you started too late, you got Fat Albert, which was okay, except that it was the last one before golf or football.

As it turns out, my era of kids shows was pretty much the golden era. Some of the most iconic programming came between 1968 and 1980. Before that window, there was little color television, essential for the experience, and after that window, all of the shows became little more than advertisements for toy lines. But right in the middle was primo kids' entertainment. But it wasn't all cartoons. Some of my favorites were "live action," often superheroes, other times surreal creatures. Here are the ones I remember best.

1. The Bugaloos (1970-72) - They're in the air, everywhere!
2. H.R. Puff 'N' Stuff (1970-72) - I'm pretty sure this was the result of the creators' acid trip.



3. Isis (1975-77) - Sort of the Saturday morning Wonder Woman, a counterpart to Shazam!
4. Shazam! (1974-76) - My favorite superhero, Captain Marvel (titled Shazam! due to legal reasons, and now--quite wrongly--his new name in the comics.



5. The Krofft Supershow Season One (1976-77) - Headed by "Kaptain Kool & the Kongs," this awesome program featured Electra Woman and DynaGirl, Dr. Shrinker, The Lost Saucer and Wonderbug (a ripoff of Speed Buggy).
6. The Krofft Supershow Season Two (1977-78) - A toned down Kongs now presided over Wonderbug, Bigfoot and Wild Boy and Magic Mongo. It wasn't as much fun.



7. Ark II (1976-79) - Kid sci-fi, with kind of a dystopian future. Heavy stuff for Saturday morning.
8. The Banana Splits (1968-70) - Another program that just might have been inspired by some sixties pharmacology.



9. Land of the Lost (1974-76) - Never a favorite of mine, but huge in my generation.
10. Big John, Little John (1976-77) - This is what happened to Cousin Oliver after he got The Brady Bunch cancelled.



That'll do it for this week's edition. Part 2 coming soon. Happy Monday!

US Air Strikes ISIS in Syria

Allegedly, this won't happen.

I've mostly avoided this subject, because I truthfully have no idea what is bad or what is good. Asea and adrift, sorry. But I thought I'd just mark the spot on the calendar. As of now, it's on.

[Excerpt]

U.S. airstrikes hit ISIS inside Syria for first time

American jets began bombing ISIS targets in Syria early Tuesday, raising U.S. involvement in the war-torn country and sending a forceful message to the terror group. The airstrikes focused on the ISIS stronghold of Raqqa, a U.S. official told CNN, though other locations were hit as well. They're the first strikes against the terror group inside the country since President Barack Obama's announcement this month that he was prepared to expand the American efforts beyond targets in Iraq. . . .

Read more (with video) at: CNN

President Obama's Speech on ISIL (or ISIS, or IS, or Whatever)

Image from source, MSN

I don't have an answer of what to do in Iraq and Syria. Do you? Of course, we didn't run for president either. Can you imagine? There are no good options, and you're up against a wall of criticism no matter what choice you make. No wonder presidents tend to age so rapidly in office.

Frankly, I wish we didn't have to do anything in the Middle East. Ever. How different life would be if President Reagan hadn't reversed President Carter's energy initiatives, hadn't ripped the solar panels off the White House, hadn't plunged us right back into dependence on foreign oil, with no plan to get off it. Jimmy Carter gets a lot of crap, some deserved some not. But he should get credit for that. Ronald Reagan has been deified, which he doesn't deserve, and gets very little criticism for his very real blunders. And then, of course, there is the fact that none of this would be happening if we hadn't invaded the wrong country, and created Al Qaeda in Iraq, which became ISIL/ISIS/IS. You know who you can thank for that.

So, before you jump all over the current guy, acknowledge the giant turdburger (s) on his plate, and who helped make them. And while you're doing that, also realize that the authorization for withdrawal of US troops from Iraq was signed by George W. Bush himself, and that the government of Iraq would not agree to leaving troops behind (I'm looking at you, John McCain).

[Excerpt]
 
Obama to launch airstrikes in Syria for first time

WASHINGTON (AP) — Opening a new military front in the Middle East, President Barack Obama authorized U.S. airstrikes inside Syria for the first time Wednesday night, along with expanded strikes in Iraq as part of "a steady, relentless effort" to root out Islamic State extremists and their spreading reign of terror. . .

Read more at: MSN
 

Sean Hannity's ISIS Expert: The Duck Dynasty Guy

Middle East Expert, Beardy McDufus. Image from Mediaite.

This has produced an audible, painful, head-shake and eye-roll from me. I just can't. . .

[Excerpt]

Phil Robertson Tells Hannity How He’d Combat ISIS: ‘Convert Them or Kill Them’
 
Duck Dynasty star Phil Robertson sat down with Sean Hannity tonight, and right off the bat they jumped right into ISIS. And Robertson shared his thoughts on how to deal with the terrorist group: “either convert them or kill them. . .”

[Ed.: I can't help but think, that's exactly the same policy ISIS has toward everyone else.]

Read more at: Mediaite

Rachel Maddow Discusses ISIS and Ferguson on The Late Show with David Letterman

Lars Larson: Images of Foley Beheading "Perfectly Fair" for GOP Ads

Lars Larson, FOX "News" guest, and irredeemable
cretin. Image from source, RawStory.

I'm actually very interested to see--though I can wait until my dotage, trust me--to see how a conservative Republican presidency is treated by the press, and the talking head class, post Obama. Particularly the Right Wing World part of the media world. Because, I still remember the days of George W. Bush, when it wasn't just frowned upon to criticize the President in a time of war, it was un-American, unpatriotic, and worse. Am I the only one who remembers phrases like, "why do you hate America?" out of the mouths of the Sean Hannitys and Rush Limbaughs of the world?

With our current president, all of that is of course out the window. There is nothing that can't be said, no mud that can't be flung. Remind me, are we still at war? Yes? Does that mean the GOP and its apologists are being supportive of the president's policies, or at least holding their tongues? Why, no they are not, are they? In fact, they'll take some of the ugliest, most awful war crimes, and use them for political advantage. I'm just curious if they'll pull another 180 if they ever reclaim the White House.

Oh, and by the way, I'd also like a little consistency in the faux outrages we seemingly are required to endure. The vacations and golfing thing? STFU. You know, I know, everybody knows that President Obama has had less recreational time than any other recent president. Again, STFU.

[Excerpt]

Fox pundit: Images from Foley beheading video are ‘perfectly fair’ for GOP campaign ads
 
Conservative radio host Lars Larson told Fox News on Tuesday that it was “perfectly fair” for Republican candidates to use images from a video of an American journalist being beheaded in campaign ads attacking President Barack Obama. A campaign video advertisement released on Monday by New Mexican Republican Senate candidate Allen Weh includes a frame from a gruesome video which showed the beheading of American photographer James Foley. The ad crops out Foley so only the disturbing image of the masked killer holding a knife is visible. . .

Read more at: RawStory

Blast from the Past: Superhero TV Shows!

OK, folks, the blog has gotten wayyyy too serious of late. So much politics, so much news. . . We need some fun stuff! My go-to fun time diversion has always been super heroes, in print, on film or on TV. And I was a lucky kid, growing up in the 1970s and 80s. Super heroes hit a couple of times in that time frame. Some were hits, some were not, but you can better believe, I watched them all.






#1 - Automan - Desi Arnaz, Jr. starred in this short-lived ABC series, about a computer whiz who invents a virtual reality super hero. He can only appear at night (when energy use is lower), and he comes with a cool "AutoCar" and a sidekick called Cursor. Now, remember, this was 1983, and hardly anyone knew what a "cursor" or "virtual reality" even were. And the special effects were pretty impressive considering a TV budget and no CGI.

#2 - Spider-Man - CBS had hit shows with The Incredible Hulk and Wonder Woman, so they tried another super-hero show, and it was. . .well, not a hit. It was aired only sporadically, and Spidey didn't look much different than he did on The Electric Company. Still, the cast was good, and it was nice that they tried.

#3 - Isis - CBS's Saturday mornings had a hit with a live action Shazam! (Captain Marvel) show, so they spun off a female super hero show called Isis. She was invented for TV, but became part of the DC Universe alongside Capt. Marvel. It was very preachy, with a moral lesson each week. But I loved it.

#4 - Electra Woman & Dyna Girl - On ABC Saturday mornings, there was a strange live-action show called The Krofft Supershow with Captain Kool & the Kongs. It featured a "futuristic" band (name in the title), and several short regular segments like Dr. Shrinker, WonderBug and this one. EW&DG was a rip-off of the old Batman show, with women heroes. It was bad. . .oh so bad. And for some reason, I watched every episode anyway.