Fall TV Season: Charlie's Angels Looks. . .Bad

The original and true Charlie's Angels

I'm a big fan of cheesy 70s TV shows, especially the ABC "jiggle" era, since it was the beginning of my pop-culture awareness. I was 10 in 1976, which is about the time I started buying 45 records, and cluing in to Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, ABBA, and Charlie's Angels. There is something special about the era, and the products of that era that can't be recaptured for people who weren't there (though the brilliant-but-cancelled Swingtown came close).

Charlie's Angels, the original TV show, wasn't by today's standards a great show. There was a looseness and a languidness about 70s TV dramas. Today's dramas probably have two to three times as much script as they had in those days. And you can't say the acting was terrific (though Kate Jackson was a pro), but it was serviceable, and better than it had any right to be. What the original Charlie's Angels had was an intangible but obivous magic. It captured lightning in a bottle, with a cast that clicked spectacularly, and an energy that is undeniable. When Farrah Fawcett left the show (after one short season) in a tragic contract dispute, they captured the lightning again, amazingly enough, with the casting of Cheryl Ladd as Fawcett's character's sister. It should have failed. The writers didn't even try to be clever with that one, but Ladd fit right in as if nothing ever happened.  Jackson still crackled with her "smart one" routine, and Jacklyn Smith's "streetwise" character got fleshed out more. It was all going great.

The later, fake Charlie's Angels

But when Jackson left, the show became a shadow of its former self. Neither Shelley Hack nor Tanya Roberts clicked at all, and the show sputtered out after five years. After that, there were abortive attempts at a TV reboot, and then two feature films featuring Drew Barrymore, Lucy Liu and Cameron Diaz. The movies were successful commercially, but not critically. That in itself isn't any different from the TV show, which never got critical respect.  But the movies had little to do with the series beyond the setup, and an attempt at continuity with the original (Smith appeared in part two). I never really understood how there could be three Bosleys (David Doyle, Bill Murray and  Bernie Mac) in that continuity, but whatever.

The biggest problem was, the movie Charlie's Angels made the girls into superheroes, sort of a trio of kick ass James Bonds. In fact, the movies seemed to be a blend of 007 and The Matrix. The 70s series was just a group of very pretty women who used to be cops, who were now private investigators. They weren't gifted karate pros, or supernaturally spritely waif-fu experts. I'd hoped, when I heard that the show was being rebooted, that they'd take it back to its roots, but spruce it up with modern storytelling. Looks like they went the movie route. Pity. It looks like it's going to suck. It looks like it will follow Bionic Woman, Knight Rider and V into the remake abyss.

Barack Obama: Born in the USA!

Well, now. This ties a bow on the "birther" issue, and takes it away from the nutters. The issue is now officially the joke some of us already knew it was. And President Obama gets to bank the proceeds for his reelection campaign. Keep zooming in on pixels, birthers!

[From Obama's Campaign]

“You’ll Like This”



This week, Jerome Corsi released a new book that his publisher says will be a bestseller "of historic proportions." The title is "Where's the Birth Certificate?" —yes, really.



There's no way to make this stuff completely go away. The only thing we can do is laugh at it—and make sure as many other people as possible are in on the joke. . .

Read more at: BarackObama.com

Hat tip to: AmericaBlog

Rick (Don't Google Me Bro) Santorum: McCain Doesn't Understand Torture

Yes, it's another Rachel Maddow clip. But it's a good one. It's on a subject I meant to mention yesterday*: namely, Rick "Frothy Mixture" Santorum, and his contention that John McCain doesn't understand torture. John--tortured for five years in Viet Nam--McCain. Unbelievable. And he hasn't apologized.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

* It should be noted that I fell down on my blogging responsibilities, because I discovered that Angry Birds (the original version that won't play on my Samsung Transform) is available to play on Google Chrome on the PC! I got stuck flinging stupid birds for hours. . .

Blast from the Past: Blondie's Rapture

What with Saturday's big, anticipated Rapture and all, I just can't get this old Blondie song out of my head. I'm an atheistic agnostic myself, so I figure the chances that the Rapture is actually going to happen to be about 0.0000000001% at best. And the odds are even smaller that the post-rapture "tribulation" period is going to go as it does in the dreadful apocalyptic book series Left Behind by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins. The way I see it, if all of us naysayers actually witness an actual Rapture event--followed by all that wacky biblical prophecy--there will be no need for a Tribulation Force of newly converted believers, fighting armies of the Anti-Christ's followers. Sorry, but I think most of us are gonna be fundamentalist believers at that point. For now? I'm going to snicker and laugh a lot, and continue to think of Debbie Harry when I think of Rapture.

News of the Weird: Chinese Exploding Watermelons

Image from source, Take Part

I can't remember the last time I ran a News of the Weird post, and here I have two in a row. But just look at that photo! That watermelon did that. . .to itself!

[Excerpt]

Ka-Boom! Growth Hormone Makes Chinese Watermelons Explode



If there was any doubt remaining that privileges afforded by modern technology are occasionally abused, bursting watermelons in China should clear it up. . .
 
Read more at: Take Part

News of the Weird: Ice Cream Truck Grossout

Image from Raw Story

I'll have a whole new reaction when I hear the Ding, ding, ding of the ice cream truck. It won't be a Pavlovian drool, it'll be more like a hurl!

[Excerpt]

Drunken Philly ice cream truck driver used freezer to store urine: police



When police in suburban Philadelphia pulled an ice cream truck over on the highway, suspecting the driver was drunk, they couldn't have imagined it would result in such a bizarre crime report. . .
 
Read more at: Raw Story

All that Glitters is. . .Newt?

Annnnd, it looks like Newt Gingrich's last (semi) realistic run at the Presidency. It's sort of a shame that the craziest of the bunch seem to be burning themselves out early. But then, who knows. Newt may decide to fight a losing battle for a while yet. Rick "Frothy Mixture" Santorum (more on him later) may not have a fatal wound yet. Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann (dumb and dumber?) haven't yet declared (or undeclared). So there still may be some fun to be had. And maybe this glitter thing will become a trend?



Found at: Joe.My.God.

Arnold Schwarzenegger's Sad Little Sex Scandal

Accch! Nein! Marrria! It wuzn't mai fault! Yah! I wuz brainwashed! Yahh! I wuz jus' tryin' to take vacation to MARS--and tings of dat nature--and this TOTAL RECALL place must have messed with my mind! Or. . .CYBERDYNE, yah! It wuz another Ahnuld, frum da FUTCHA!

Actually, I wouldn't give a rip, if Arnold was just your average movie star with a sordid secret. But in his runup to politics, and during his campaign and run as governator, he played the "family values" card a little too often. So, his little gossipy misadventure is thus newsworthy. I feel bad for the family, but wonder how Maria didn't notice her employee's little 10-year-old with the big square head.

[Excerpt]

Mother Of Arnold Schwarzenegger Love Child Revealed

Mildred Baena is the mother of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s love child, RadarOnline.com and Star magazine have learned exclusively in a joint investigation.



Baena, 50, worked as a housekeeper for Arnold, Radar and Star have learned. . .

Read more at: Radar Online

Jon Stewart Schools Bill O'Reilly

Jon Stewart takes Bill O'Reilly to task on The O'Reilly Factor on FOX "News," regarding the "Common" non-troversy. Enjoy.

The 2012 Chart: Trump's Out! Huckabee's Out! Who's In?

Okay, this little checklist is sort of off the top of my head. I think I got everybody and their status, at least so far. There are probably candidates who have either not surfaced, or escaped my notice. I'm pretty sure I got all of the declared candidates. . .at least the ones who even halfway count. There are some lessor lights that I didn't include (and wow is that saying something with this bunch!). But I do feel like I'm skipping somebody with the red Xs. I'll think on it. No matter though, since I'll be updating this little chart as things change!

SNL: The Ambiguously Gay Duo Live Action!

Image found at PopBytes

In a largely underwhelming episode of Saturday Night Live, hosted by Ed Helms, there was a notable exception. It isn't so much that the skit itself was sidesplittingly hilarious. It was funny, but more notable for what it was and who was in it, that any single joke.

For years, SNL ran Robert Smigel's Saturday TV Funhouse, a series of wacky cartoons. One of the prominent recurring bits was The Ambiguously Gay Duo, a superhero team that is clearly gay, but unstated. The villains are so preoccupied trying to prove that Ace and Gary are gay, they neglect their nefarious schemes. Ace and Gary were voiced by Steve Carrell and Stephen Colbert.

After an absence of some years, The Ambiguously Gay Duo was back this weekend. Only this time, Ace and Gary are zapped by a ray that brings them (and the villains) into the real world, where they are portrayed by Jon Hamm and Jimmy Fallon! Helms, Colbert and Carrell were villains. It wasn't the funniest skit they've produced, but it was certainly one of the more surprising. When's the last time SNL surprised you?

. . .Wherever You Are: CNN Anchor, Sports Celebrity Both Come Out as Gay

The closets are getting a little more bare, people! Two high-profile men, one from CNN and one from the world of sports have come out of the closet. This will be met mostly by shrugs of indifference, or rounds of virtual "attaboy" back pats. But there will be choruses of "Why do they have to flaunt it? Why do they have to [ahem] shove it down our throats? We don't make a big deal about being straight!"

Which is both wrong (in countless ways, people "flaunt" their straightness), and secondly unnecessary. Straight is the default in most people's minds. There is no need to trumpet a default state. The purpose of coming out is to allow a person to live honestly, without having to try to keep up a fiction of being in that default state. It is also important for those closeted individuals to have positive examples--role models if you will--to see that they're not alone, and that being gay isn't the end of the world.

[Excerpt]

In his book, CNN anchorman Don Lemon comes out as a gay man, even as he acknowledges the risk

CNN anchor Don Lemon has come out as a gay man in his new book, a disclosure he knows comes at a risk.


While Lemon’s memoir, titled “Transparent,” also covers his journalism career, he’s prepared for much of the reaction to focus on more personal matters, which include growing up without a father and his revelation that he was sexually abused as a child. . .

Read more at: Washington Post
 
 
 
 

 

[Excerpt]

A Sports Executive Leaves the Safety of His Shadow Life

Last month, in a Midtown office adorned with sports memorabilia, two longtime friends met for a private talk. David Stern, the commissioner of the National Basketball Association, sipped his morning coffee, expecting to be asked for career advice. Across from him sat Rick Welts, the president and chief executive of the Phoenix Suns, who had come to New York not to discuss careers, but to say, finally, I am gay. . .

Read more at: New York Times

"The Donald" Won't Be "The Prez"

How about a caption contest???

And after that... 'Nuff said.

Blast from the Past: Howard Jones

One of my favorite 80s acts was Howard Jones, a performer who had a lot more hits than you probably remember. Most of his hits are relics of the era. But there are a couple of gems in there that are pretty timeless. All of them are still enjoyable. Take a listen.

George Will Declares Newt Gingrich is Not a Serious Candidate

My question for Mr. Will: "Are ANY of them serious?"

Donald Trump Reacts to Mike Huckabee's Decision Not to Run

Boy, I tell ya. I made fun of Mike Huckabee being tubby, and being a cornball clown amongst the many clowns in the potential 2012 GOP car. I forgot about Donald Trump. I honestly think The Donald will also not run, or if his ego forces a run, that he will flame out spectacularly. But I'd personally rather not see it. Despite the fact that it would give me a lot to blog about, I think this country embarrasses itself enough with Sarah Palin tweeting, Michele Bachmann spewing forth inaccurate craziness, Ron Paul jibbering his jabber, Rick "Frothy Mix" Santorum's general ickiness. . .I could go on and on. The point is, politics is nutty enough without this pompous ass at center stage.

Mike Huckabee Not Running for President

Well, there is one less outsized personality in the GOP Presidential Clown Car. And the smaller ones are probably happy about that (Mike seems to have gotten a little bigger of late, doesn't he?). I learned this news on FOX "News" Sunday, where Huckabee was using his cornball "charm" to run through the list of the other potential and declared candidates. . .and wow, is that field a mess.

I guess we're going to have to get used to Republicans on our teevee machines, especially on the Sunday political shows. They were packed with GOPers today.

Are All Religions Equally Crazy?

"Excuse me, miss. I'm Adam. Have you seen a guy
named Steve anywhere?" Image from AlterNet

Good morning! Why aren't you in church? I'm kidding. outside of funerals and weddings, I haven't been to church since ninth grade. See, I had the good timing to be taking weekly confirmation classes at a Lutheran church during about exactly the same time when I was a) recognizing my sexuality and b) taking freshman earth science. The intersection of these three things combined to form a hell of a lot of internal dialog, as you might imagine. Mostly what it inspired was a whole bunch of "outside the box" thinking.

Long story short, I did not get "confirmed" into the Lutheran faith along with my friends, because I didn't believe what I was being taught. It quite simply struck me as absurd. And I wasn't going to play along to get along. "Faking it" seemed a worse "sin" than actual disbelief. And any worry about sin quickly faded after that.

The wacky things that threw me off the faith path were mostly in Genesis and Leviticus. There's stuff in there that even the most literal fundamentalist can't really believe. But most of us have heard the standard Christian (and by extension, Jewish) stuff for so long, even the loopiest stuff starts to seem normal, or at least we don't think about it much. But to an outsider, just how crazy do virgin births and 900-year-old people sound? Exactly.

[Excerpt]

Are All Religions Equally Crazy?

Does any religion make more sense than any other?



Atheists, by definition, don't think any religion has any reasonable likelihood of being true. And yet, for some weird reason, we're often asked to choose between them. Believers often accuse us of ignoring more moderate and progressive religions while we trash the low-hanging fruit of hard-line fundamentalism. . .

Read more at: AlterNet
 
Thanks to StupidMonkeyPlanet for the link

V and Brothers & Sisters Cancelled

One of these women is really a lizard person. The other
was on V. Kidding! Image from TVLine

If you are a tv watcher, this time of year can be a little nerve wracking. There are shows that are perennially "on the bubble", new shows that barely squeaked through the season that you really like. Or even long-running shows that maybe aren't getting as many viewers this year. I'm doomed to lose favorite shows every year, because my tastes run to programming that doesn't attract mass audiences. You know, science fiction, horror, supernatural stuff. If it's on HBO or maybe The CW, it can get renewed with anemic ratings. But not on the big networks.

I had high hopes for V, ABC's remake of the classic 80s sci-fi series. Morena Baccarin played an effectively creepy alien baddie, and the show had energy and momentum. But it also had some really odd CGI effects, and a serialized storyline that didn't grab casual viewers. I was thrilled that it got a second season, and am not surprised--though I'm sad--that it won't get a third.

Brothers & Sisters is a different story. It's a long-running soap opera of sorts, a very good fit to Desperate Housewives, which it follows. It has Sally Field, who cries a lot yes, but is a great actress. The show is loaded with good actors. I suspect that the decision to end the show had more to do with contract negotiations and behind-the-scenes problems. But this show I really will miss. I think the producers knew it might come to this, with the season finale feeling a lot like a final episode. Turns out, it was.

[Excerpt]

Breaking: ABC Cancels Brothers & Sisters, V, Mr. Sunshine, Four Others



Friday the 13th turned out to be doomsday for Brothers & Sisters and V: ABC has axed both shows. The Alphabet net also pulled the plug on rookie series No Ordinary Family, Off the Map, Better With You, Detroit 1-8-7 and Mr. Sunshine. . .
 
Read more at: TVLine

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