Gene Wilder Dead at 83

Well, crap. I knew he was getting old, and frail. And we hadn't seen him much lately. But dammit, mortality sucks. Gene Wilder is probably in my top five all time favorite performers. His late wife Gilda Radner ranked even higher. But Gene had far more success, and left so many marks in my pop culture database, this one hurts almost as much. Blazing Saddles. Young Frankenstein. Willy Wonka. Silver Streak. Stir Crazy. The Producers. His heyday may have been too long ago for Millennials and late Gen-Xers to remember, but even then, his Wonka character has been one of the most successful and versatile memes out there:

And the one quote that resonates so well as an answer to anyone bested:

But for me, there are those iconic roles in some of my favorite movies, not to mention appearances in oddball features like The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother, and many others. I didn't expect he'd probably be well enough to ever make new contributions to culture. But there's something about knowing that he never will that makes me very sad. RIP, Mr. Wilder. You will truly never be forgotten.

[Excerpt]

Gene Wilder, ‘Willy Wonka’ Star and Comedic Icon, Dies at 83

Gene Wilder, who regularly stole the show in such comedic gems as “The Producers,” “Blazing Saddles,” “Young Frankenstein,” “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” and “Stir Crazy,” died Monday at his home in Stamford, Conn. His nephew Jordan Walker-Pearlman said he died of complications from Alzheimer’s disease. He was 83. . .

Read more at: Variety

In Case You Missed It: Too Many Cooks!

Yeah, I know. I'm at the tail end of this one. That's what you get when you don't blog much on weekends, and you get busy after that. But I wanted this here anyway, because it's such a perfect encapsulation of my many pop culture touchstones; a stew of TV and movie tropes all stirred together brilliantly. Though, I'm quite sure it leaves people scratching their heads.

Suffice to say, the longer you watch, the weirder (and more trippy) it gets.
 

Casey Kasem Dead at 82

Image from source, HuffPo

These days, most of my Sunday* mornings begin with extreme frustration, because I--for reasons I can't articulate--tend to watch Meet the Press and one or two of the other political shows. But when I was a kid, it was a morning spent with anticipation. Because I was a pop culture junkie even then, and I'd be so excited to find out who was number one on American Top 40.

[Updated to add: Other write-ups have listed Saturday as the broadcast day, but I'm virtually certain in was Sundays, at least in Columbus, Ohio.]

Nobody sets their watch by radio shows anymore, unless they're ditto heads. But in the 70s and 80s, Casey Kasem was it, with his hours-long radio countdown of the day's hit songs, sprinkled with factoids, mini-interviews, and of course, long-distance dedications. The funniest of the latter was a woman's heart-rending dedication of Bread's Everything I Own, to her lost guitar. Kasem's show was so hot, it spawned countless imitators there for a while, with people like Rick Dees getting involved with his own countdown, as well as a shorter version for Kasem on TV.

Amazingly, though I was a media-savvy kid, it took me some time to realize that Kasem was a bigger part of my childhood than I knew at the time. Because I was a huge fan of his--unknowingly--on Saturday mornings too. His voice work on kids' cartoons was legendary, especially as the voice of Robin on Batman and The Super Friends, and of course as Shaggy on Scooby-Doo. As Casey started to fade from his peak as a pop culture phenomenon, his wife Jean became a blip on the radar. Her work as Nick Tortelli's eccentric wife on Cheers (and later its short-lived spinoff) briefly eclipsed her husband's career.

And now, sadly, Jean seems a bit loopy, throwing meat (?!) at people and screaming incoherently, and her husband has passed, after a long decline. It's a sad ending to such an interesting, quirky celebrity couple. But I guess you can't script your own ending like a dedication. RIP, Casey. And now, a story about a dog. . .

[EXCERPT]

Casey Kasem Dead: Legendary Broadcaster Dies At 82

Casey Kasem died Sunday morning at St. Anthony's Hospital in Gig Harbor Wash. on June 15. The legendary broadcaster was taken off life support at age 82. Kasem suffered from a progressive form of dementia known as Lewy Body Disease. . .

Read more at: Huffington Post

Adam Scott's Latest "Greatest Event in Television History": Bosom Buddies

In the past, Adam Scott--of NBC's Parks and Recreation--has created masterpieces that hit right in my pop culture sweet spot. He masterminded remakes of the opening credit sequences of classic TV series, Simon & Simon, Hart to Hart and Too Close for Comfort, complete with phony (and funny) behind-the-scenes "making of" documentary footage. And somehow, though this stuff is right up my alley, I keep being a bit behind the eight-ball on finding them. This time, I got it just a couple of days late though. So if you haven't already, enjoy!
 

Behind the Blogger: Pop Culture Potholes

I like to consider myself a pop culture guru. I have a talent for remembering the minutia of cast lists, TV schedules, the years movies or songs came out, third or fourth hits from bands people think are one-hit wonders. . . the lot. It's something of a useless talent, now that we have the Googles on the internets. I've been replaced by a smart phone these days.

But it's always been something of a sham, anyway. There is a huge list of pop culture that I've never sampled. Some of it proudly (oddly), and some I've just either never gotten around to, or never had any interest in. So here, in brief, is a list of pop culture that I've never taken part in.

Movies

- Any Godfather movie
- Citizen Kane
- Any Twilight movie
- Enter the Dragon, or anything from the martial arts ouvre
- Rudy or almost any other sports-themed movie
- Any Rocky or Rambo movie
- Annie Hall
- Any Acadamy Award Best Picture movie from 1976 to 1989, including The Deer Hunter, Amadeus, Platoon, Terms of Endearment and Gandhi 

Television

- The King of Queens
- The Nanny
- According to Jim
- The Sopranos
- Game of Thrones
- Madmen
- Monk 
- Walker, Texas Ranger
- Sons of Anarchy
- Breaking Bad- The Vampire Diaries
- And oddly for me, Smallville, Arrow, Charmed and Supernatural 

Books


- Any The Gunslinger Stephen King story (though I've read everything else)
- The Red Badge of Courage
- The Grapes of Wrath
- Gone With the Wind
- W.E.B. Griffitn, Tom Clancy or almost any other military-themed work
- Fifty Shades of Grey
- The Book of Mormon (I tried, but then "it came to pass. . ." 10,000 times)
- The Scarlet Letter
- The Catcher in the Rye
-  Diary of Anne Frank

How Did I Miss: Let's Have a Kiki

Image from (where else) Gaydar Radio

I was home alone on Christmas Eve. Don't feel sad, I'm married to a flight attendant, so I'm used to it. So, rather than yuletide revelry, I had Pizza Hut and a Glee marathon. Which wasn't bad. Especially since the run of episodes I had backed up on the DVR culminated with a Christmas-themed episode. Kind of perfect, and certainly fun.

It was the Thanksgiving episode that raised my eyebrows though. Usually, I'm multitasking while watching TV. I'm on the computer or doing some housework or something. But during this episode, I stopped, backed up the DVR and watched. Guest star Sarah Jessica Parker--looking for all the world like Carrie Bradshaw in a musical episode of Sex in the City--sends her New York posse over to Kurt and Rachel's absurdly large apartment, and comes in late. She calls as she's on her way, and recites an odd little soliloquy. Then, the apartment explodes in song, and the song is Let's Have a Kiki.



The song is mashed up with Turkey Lurkey Time, a bizarre choice, but it works. Totally in character for Lea Michelle's Rachel character. And I was oddly mesmerized. Now, understand that while I do have "the gay," for the most part I'm missing the musical theater gene. I'm more interested in Glee for the comedy, the characters, and the occasional song. But this one struck me as inspired.

The next day while reading my favorite blog, Joe.My.God., I saw that the number one song of the year was Let's Have a Kiki by the Scissor Sisters. Joe described the song as played out, the big song of the summer. And before Glee, I'd never heard of it. I may not have the musical bug, but I am a pop culture guru, and I'm a Scissor Sisters fan! I must be slipping. Here's the real version of the song, with a decidedly less PG vibe.

I don't know what it is about the song. It's not melodic. It's odd. But I find myself totally digging it. And wondering how it's possible that it totally got by me. I mean, I even figured out Gangnam Style before it was totally old news. But I missed out on the Kiki?

RIP Hostess Cupcakes & Wonder Bread

Image from source, Think Progress.

By now, you've heard the sad, sad news. Hostess, maker of Twinkies, HoHos, Sno-Balls, Suzy-Qs, Wonder Bread, Zingers, Dunkin' Stix, Cup Cakes, Ding Dongs, Fruit Pies and other tasty-but-bad-for-you treats, has passed away. As a child of the 70s, this is very sad new indeed, even if I've rarely purchased a Hostess product this century.

When I was a kid, Hostess and Dolly Madison marketed heavily to kids, in an era of much more limited media. We had three commercial channels on TV (especially Saturday mornings), we had the funny pages in the newspaper, comic books and that was about it. We got introduced to Twinkie the Kid and King Ding Dong along with all of the Kellogg's, Post and General Mills cereal characters. Since they were all animated characters, they blurred with our kids' programming. In the comics, they even had adventures with Superman and Batman! So, the Hostess company was really intertwined with 70s pop culture.

Image from New York Post.

My step-dad had a part time job at Kroger, and was able to liberate many products past their sell-by dates, and bring them home to us. That meant lots of fruits and veggies that needed the bad spots cut away. But it also meant a freezer full of wondrous things, and that included the Kroger version of Twinkies, Cup Cakes, HoHos and more. Nobody knew the difference when I pulled them out of my lunchbox, but I knew. By the time I got a paper route at 12 or 13, I was using my earnings to get the real thing: Hostess brands! There was also my Wise Cheez Waffies/Andy Capp's Hot Fries addictions, and my insatiable DC Comics lust, which was my eventual downfall as a paperboy, but that's beside the point. The point is, Hostess was as much a part of my childhood as The Super-Friends, The Six-Million Dollar Man, 45 records, Farrah Fawcett, ABBA and disco.

Image from MarsWillSendMore.
(Click to embiggen)

Much of the news has centered on a strike by union workers that effectively "killed" the company. But that doesn't tell the whole story. There were huge management salaries, and basic mismanagement for many years. Multiple bankruptcies. The company seemed close to death a couple of times before. So before you go finger-wagging at the unions, get the whole story. And be consoled by the fact that Hostess--as a whole, or in parts--will be revived by others.

You can pretty much guarantee that most if not all of their main snack cakes lines will be marketed by another company. Subsidiaries and offshoots may never come back, but who knows?  If you go to the Wikipedia pages for Kellogg's, Campbell's, Kraft Foods, Nestle, Hershey and others, you will find long lists of products you didn't realize were under one roof. You'll find brands that were bought and sold back and forth, consolidations, divestitures, spin-offs. Beatrice Foods at one time owned a bunch of popular brands, and they went under. Most of the product lines survived, still today produced by others. Kraft owns Nabisco, but it wasn't always that way. So, if the Hostess liquidation makes you sad, chin up. They'll be back. And, oh, it just hit me! Liquidation? Could that be the new variation of Twinkies, after fried? Liquid Twinkies! mmmmmmmmmmmmm

[Excerpt]

Hostess Blames Union For Bankruptcy After Tripling CEO’s Pay

Today, Hostess Brands inc. — the company famed for its sickly sweet desert snacks like Twinkies and Sno Balls — announced they’d be shuttering after more than eighty years of production. . .

Read more at: Think Progress

Stars to Watch: Lana Parrilla (Updated)

Wallpaper image from ABC.com (click to embiggen)

UPDATE (02/28/12):

I just thought I'd revisit this little nugget from May 2010. I'm not always right, but I was on this one. My favorite Swingtown star has become a sensation on ABC's Once Upon a Time in the dual role of Regina Mills and of course, the Evil Queen! I'll confess to liking OUaT quite a bit, even though I really only tuned in to see Lana Parrilla. Having only seen her in sweet (yet slinky) roles, I had no idea she could chew the scenery quite so well playing wicked!

ORIGINAL POST (05/29/10):

I'm feeling a little of the pop-culture vibe as I write this. I just watched last night's Miami Medical, the cancelled CBS medical drama.  It took a couple of episodes for me to notice that Lana Parrilla was one of the stars, since her character was so far away from the one I knew her from, that of Trina Decker on Swingtown.

Image (Molly Parker, Miriam Shor, Lana Parrilla) from GrooveEFortune

Swingtown was a drama on CBS last summer, an unusual piece of 70s pastiche with a dollop of taboo sexuality.  Parrilla was not the name "star" of the show, but there is no doubt that she was the most memorable part of it. I say this as a person of the gay persuasion who had much to be fond of with Grant Show, Jack Davenport, Michael Rady, Mark Valley and Josh Hopkins. But Parrilla was really something special.  The cast of Swingtown was extraordinary, and the way they captured middle America 1976 was only equalled by--possibly--the movie Dazed and Confused.  It's a crying shame that the show didn't get a second season pickup.  The cast has scattered to the winds (though only a couple have landed in hit shows), and will likely never be captured in quite that way again.

And it would seem that Parrilla is a little cursed when it comes to landing in a program with staying power. But she will, I'm fairly certain. She's awesome. She's beautiful, sexy, vulnerable and utterly believable.  Here's hoping that she lands on her feet in a new or established show that really puts her on the map. But I'm still hoping to see Trina Decker again, in some form, somewhere.  If they could put the Deckers into a spinoff with straight laced Janet (Miriam Shor), I'd be really excited.

CBS TV is 60 Years Old

Image from AOLTV

I have to say, this surprises me. It shouldn't, since I know that broadcast television started in the late 1940s, so 1951 sounds about right. But damn, I'm 45 years old. CBS was only 15 when I was born? I Love Lucy debuted on CBS in 1951, and was a hit right out of the gate, meaning that CBS was too.

When I was a kid--when there were still basically three networks and a couple of independent channels--it was ABC that was the network to watch. Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, Charlie's Angels. . .CBS didn't make as big of a dent. They were big with shows like Barnaby Jones, The Waltons, Gunsmoke and Cannon. But they started to get a little "hip" factor with The Incredible Hulk, The Dukes of Hazzard, Wonder Woman, Magnum PI, Simon & Simon and Dallas. And who didn't like The Carol Burnett Show? So, happy birthday, CBS, even if you did make too many years of Murder, She Wrote and The King of Queens.

[Excerpt]


CBS Celebrates Eye Logo Anniversary

For 60 years the CBS logo has been watching you watch TV. The iconic eye logo debuted 60 years ago on Oct. 20, 1951 and has been an ever-present fixture on the network. . .

Read more at: AOLTV

Blast from the Past: Ten Years Ago in Pop Culture

I started this edition of Blast from the Past after having watched hours of 9/ll remembrance and rebuilding. And the whole topic of what happened that day has been hit from just about every angle. Quite frankly, many of us are just emotionally wrung out by the whole thing. So, since this regular Sunday feature of mine has to do with fun things from the past, I thought I'd shine a light on what was going on in pop culture ten years ago. As much for the September 11th anniversary, as just for the curiosity.

Sooo. . .at the top of the pop charts was I'm Real by Jennifer Lopez and Ja Rule. The number one dance hit was I Feel Love by Depeche Mode.



And right now, I'm kind of wondering if I was even paying attention at the time. I don't know those songs at all! Okay, so what were the big movies that week? Well, Sunday, Sept. 9 was the Sunday that week, and the number one movie was The Musketeer. It starred Catherine Deneuve. I've never heard of it. The next one? Rush Hour 2 with Chris Tucker. I've heard of it, but wouldn't watch it on a bet. All righty then, we'll go with clips for number one and one of the only other ones on the list I liked, Jeepers Creepers with Justin Long (the Mac guy).



So we've found one thing I like. Okay. Television is a little harder, because the fall TV season doesn't start until late in September. But the number one show going into the 2001 fall TV season was a newbie called Survivor. It was followed by an older show, a medical drama called ER. Okay, now we're in my territory!

A Few Unanswered Questions About Lost

I liked the Lost finale at first, but the more I thought about it, the less fond I became.  Here are some of the reasons why. . .

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Blast from the Past: Previously on Lost: "What?"

This still cracks me up. And since the final episode of the sprawling Lost saga is airing tonight at 9:00, it is the last time the video will be relevant. Wait. What?

Gotta Have It: The Shining Cuckoo Clock!

Source: The Wow Report

Blast from the Past: Old Shampoo Commercials

As I said before, I've had a lazy Sunday. Unfortunately, "cold blogging"--trying to dive into posting things after a down day--is difficult work. Especially when the news (mostly about the economy) is so far out of my grasp.

So, how 'bout something silly and frivolous? So let's take a blast to the past, this time with shampoo commercials from the seventies and eighties. Get yourself squeaky clean, old school style!




#1 - Prell - One of my step mothers always used to use Prell, the very green shampoo. And this 1972 commercial is relevent today, with the husband trying to get his wife to save money by not wasting shampoo. Ummm, OK. . .

#2 - Head & Shoulders - From a long line of "what will people think?"-type commercials, Head & Shoulders tried to get people to worry about dandruff. To score with a golf instructor, apparently.

#3 - Faberge - And they told two friends, and so on, and so on. . .

#4 - Body on Tap - Yes, there was once a beer-based shampoo. But don't drink it! Couldn't find a commercial with that phrase, but it used to be the tag line, believe it or not.

Oscar Fever

The 80th Annual Acadamy Awards; The Oscars; The Gay Super Bowl is on as I type this, and I really couldn't care less. I love Jon Stewart, and hope he does a good job, but I haven't seen any of the movies nominated this year. What's more, I'm not interested in seeing any of the movies nominated this year.

Do you know what the most recent movie I've seen in a theater was? No, really, I'm asking because I can't remember. I know I saw Sicko (pictured with slight modifications here--yeah, that's my face) when I was visiting Columbus last spring. Since then, I really couldn't tell you.

My recent DVD purchases have reflected an interest in filling in some recent gaps in my movie-going: Shrek the Third and Spider-Man 3. And the not-so-recent: Election, Ruthless People, Jumpin' Jack Flash. The latter two being replacements for my long gone laser disc collection. I guess what I'm saying is, I can usually wait for the video.

I've also not gone in much for the current frenzy for celebrity happenings. At a time when it's more available than ever, thanks to the internet tubes, and Perez Hilton, I just don't freakin' care. Especially when the celebs featured most of all are of dim wattage.

Also tonight, the real reason for my Jamie/Michael Moore Sicko picture is that I'm illin.' I have a bad cold or a light flu, which is making me crabby. It may also make me post fewer things today, but so be it. Anyway, I hope you are having a grand time watching the Oscars tonight. I'll catch the highlights on YouTube.

OMG!! Which Celebrities Have The Gay?

Photo from source, WCBSTV

Heh, heh. . . I've published well over 1,500 posts since this blog began, and I've probably not focused on anything to do with "the gay" more than 1% of the time. But occasionally a story or link catches my fancy, and I feel the desire to share it.

My headline above is an allusion to those splashy Star Magazine or National Enquirer headlines (do they still do that?). The link below is a fairly extensive list of openly gay celebrities. No innuendo, no "is he, or isn't she?" So no salacious gossip to be had here. But it is interesting to see, just the same. Most of the individuals in the feature have only come out since the 1990s, with rare exceptions. And though it seems like an extensive list (there's even a sequel post on the page of 65 more), there are few surprises for a pop culture vulture like me.

But check it out. It's a list chock-full of amazingly talented, and amazing people.

[Excerpt]

Openly Gay Celebrities

Actor David Hyde Pierce, pictured here as police Lt. Frank Cioffi in the 2007 Broadway hit "Curtains," came out on national television. After winning a Tony Award, Pierce thanked his long-time parner. (Photo by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images) Look at the following photos to see celebrities who live openly gay lives.

Source: WCBSTV

Donny Osmond Acting Un-Mormonlike

Just a few posts ago, I commented that I'd like to lighten the mood around here a little. The political posts are important, and really interest me, but can really be a dark cloud. I want this blog to be a fun place to visit too.

In that spirit, I found this on Kenneth in the (212), one of my favorite blogs. It's a YouTube clip from Jimmy Kimmel's ABC show. It's the perfect medicine to lighten the mood, and falls neatly into my "kid of the 70s" pop culture sweet spot. Try as he might, Donny Osmond will always be "a little bit 70s" more than he's "a little bit rock and roll." And here, Donny gets his ya-yas out. It's pretty cute. Enjoy.

UPDATE: The video was removed, but I replaced it. If it's gone again soon, I'll try to replace it again. If not, sorry guys!

Evel Knievel Dies at 69

Photo from Wikipedia

I generally only post items that interest me in some way, be they political, pop culture, or unclassifiable. I can't say I was an Evel Knievel fan exactly, but you couldn't be a kid in the 1970s without being influenced in some way by his stunts and his persona.

Were it not for Evel Knievel, Fonzie (on TV's Happy Days, if you're too young to remember) never would have jumped all that stuff on his motorcycle--and ultimately a shark on water skis. So, when you're reading JumpTheShark.com, you have Knievel to thank for the inspiration.

Evel Knievel and Muhammed Ali were the icons of the 70s, at least to kids, all wrapped up in stars and stripes. I tie together in my memory those two icons, along with the bicentennial, the 1976 Olympics and all of those old Battle of the Network Stars specials. It was all a very innocent, kind of bland but kind of sweet period in American pop culture history. And Evel Knievel was a huge part of it.

[Excerpt]

Iconic Daredevil Evel Knievel Dies at 69

Evel Knievel's hard life killed him -- it just took longer than he or anyone else might have expected.

The hard-living motorcycle daredevil, whose bone-breaking, rocket-powered jumps and stunts made him an international icon in the 1970s, died Friday. He was 69.

Read more at: New York Times