A WICKED CRAVING FOR A FRIBBLE: OMG, this is wicked awesome fun for the weekend -- via UBM, a 1997 audio recording of the "Wicked" skit from Chicago's Second City by Rachel Dratch and Tina Fey, which I was fortunate to see in person back in the day.
(As I've said before, I always thought Dratch would be a star, but have no memory of Fey being there at all. Scott Adsit, who now plays Pete on "30 Rock," and Will Ferrell accomplice Adam McKay were the others who seemed to be most on the rise.)
Saturday, October 6, 2007
BECAUSE I CAN GET A QUICKER RESPONSE FROM YOU THAN FROM BILL SAFIRE: Are there commonly accepted terms to describe the three component parts of the chicken wing? There's the drummette, the thing in the middle, and that mostly-useless part on the end ... but there have got to be more official names than that, right?
AN EVENING ON THE COUCH WATCHING A MOVIE WITH A FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS SPONSOR, TRYING TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO GET MY ARM AROUND IT: Because Spacewoman wanted to hurry through the episode and go to bed, to stick to my first pledge, I had to go back and watch all of the commercials at the end. I never really thought about it, but 30 commercials is a lot. Anyway, I wanted to buy so much stuff from those wonderful advertisers that I couldn't narrow this inaugural sponsor-appreciation post to just one. I'll pick three:
- Re/Max. All realtors are going to show you the same houses, and all competent ones are going to tell you to unclutter your place and bake some cookies before your open house. Since there's not much difference, you might as well go with the company whose name means, depending upon your dialect, "again/most" or "about/a guy's name."
- Sleep Train Mattress Centers. Because nothing puts me out faster than powerful locomotives? I once rode the Sleep Train all the way out to the Squalling Baby Relaxation Spa, where I drank some hot Don't Freak Out My Period Is Late Chamomile Tea and got a Mama's Family massage. Heavenly. Anyway, all aboard.
- Betty Crocker Warm Delights. Shouldn't all desserts sound like euphemisms for lady parts?
Friday, October 5, 2007
NEXT, THEY'LL BE ADDING VANESSA HUDGENS AS THE NEW GIRL: We clearly need a spoiler thread for FNL, so here one is. A few non-spoiler thoughts (though the comments are a free-for-all zone).
- Was it just me, or did the whole of the opening sequence ring a bit High School Musical 2? I half expected a big musical number led by Julie and Matt and musing on how all the Panthers came to work at the same pool.
- The re-edited credits sequence was clearly a "can we be a little less bleak" network note (shots of football replacing abandoned businesses and deserted oil fields), but why not fix part of the problem for the show and let viewers link names to faces, epsecially of the younger cast members?
- Permission to smack upside the head whoever had the idea for the JC Penney halftime recap? I assume it will be granted.
- Can we make Brad Leland (Buddy) a regular? I think he's been in every single episode, and he's always great.
- Why can you only buy a Tim Riggins jersey from NBC? I'm sure there's a market for Matt Saracen and Smash Williams jerseys.
- Coach and Julie in the car? Awesome.
- The Tyra/Landry plotline? Well, that's for the comments.
BRUCE 1O1: Your assignment this weekend is to read this Bruce Springsteen Primer from the Onion AV Club. Whether your a fervid fan, a newcomer, of god forbid, a naysayer, this is a great, great intro to the Boss, augmented by excellent audio and video clips (and its a great distraction for those of us who are facing elimination on Saturday or humiliation on national TV at the hands of our rivals on Sunday night).
I WAS LIVING IN A DEVIL TOWN: Hey, do you have plans tonight? OF COURSE YOU DO. Tonight you're going to have a few friends over, and their names are Coach Taylor, Mrs. Coach, Julie, Saracen, Smash, Tyra, Lyla, Landry, Tim, Jason, Grandma Saracen, Buddy, Gail Stanwyck, Cougar Neighbor, Annoying Neighbor Son, Lesbian Mayor, Murderball, and Racist Coach. Clear schedule, full Tivo, CAN'T LOSE.
Because this show teeters on the edge of cancellation, I'm going to make two pledges this season. First, I am going to watch all of the commercials. You hear that, advertisers? I'm yours, even if it's John Mellencamp for Tamax Lightdays. Second, every week that this show is on, I'm going to use the soapbox that this blog provides to promote one of the products advertised on the show. How can an advertiser resist the allure of the free use of the ALOTT5MA marketing juggernaut?
Oh, and I know that the episode has been out on iTunes for a while and that there is some catastrophic development. Please don't spoil in the comments here -- I'm sure there will be another thread after the episode airs.
Because this show teeters on the edge of cancellation, I'm going to make two pledges this season. First, I am going to watch all of the commercials. You hear that, advertisers? I'm yours, even if it's John Mellencamp for Tamax Lightdays. Second, every week that this show is on, I'm going to use the soapbox that this blog provides to promote one of the products advertised on the show. How can an advertiser resist the allure of the free use of the ALOTT5MA marketing juggernaut?
Oh, and I know that the episode has been out on iTunes for a while and that there is some catastrophic development. Please don't spoil in the comments here -- I'm sure there will be another thread after the episode airs.
THIS CONTINUING HARM: As I noted on Wednesday, the radio version of Amos 'n' Andy dominated the airwaves in the 1920s and 1930s, attracting tens of millions of listeners every night. Yet not all listeners liked what they heard. A leading black newspaper, the Pittsburgh Courier, editorialized against the show's stereotyped insults of African Americans and initiated a petition drive to get the program cancelled. The drive failed, but it cast a shadow over the show's runaway success.
Moreover, when Amos 'n' Andy's creators, Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll, tried to expand their franchise to other media, they ran into more popular resistance. In 1930, RKO produced a full-length Amos and Andy film, Check and Double Check, in which Gosden and Correll played their creations, in blackface makeup and with their usual heavy dialact. Watching the movie today, one shudders at the actors' appearance, which is made even more ludicrous by the presence of several real African Americans, including Duke Ellington and his band. Apparently, fans and critics in 1930 felt a similar discomfort, for there would be no more Amos and Andy movies. In 1934, Gosden and Correll lent their voices to a pair of Amos and Andy cartoons, Rassling Match and The Lion Tamer, but these, too, sank into well-deserved obscurity (in fact, they're not even mentioned in Melvin Patrick Ely's history of the A 'n' A phenomenon).
Although Amos 'n' Andy still thrived on radio through the 1940s, as television began to catch on after World War II, Gosden and Correll decided to adapt their characters for the small screen -- but this time with African-American actors, recruited during a highly publicized two-year search. In this fascinating clip from 1951, Gosden and Correll introduce the new cast to a studio audience, commenting on how well the black actors embody the characters they'd created decades before. Some of those performers, however, did not appreciate getting acting lessons from Gosden and Correll; Alvin Childress (who played Amos) reportedly complained about the absurdity of "a white man teaching a Negro how to act like a white man acting like a Negro." Still, Amos 'n' Andy boasted the first all-black cast in TV history, providing unprecedented opportunities to African-American performers, and Gosden and Correll fully expected that black and white viewers alike would welcome this chance to follow their old friends into a new medium.
But within weeks of the show's premiere, the NAACP was demanding its cancellation, arguing that the program "tends to strengthen the conclusion among uninformed and prejudiced people that Negroes are inferior, lazy, dumb, and dishonest." Critics especially detested the prominence of George "Kingfish" Stevens (played by stage and film comedian Tim Moore), a longtime supporting character who became far more central on TV, and whose defining traits were constant malapropisms, shameless greed, and an abiding eagerness to fleece the gullible Andy (as seen in the episode "Kingfish Sells a Lot," YouTubed here, here, and here). Although CBS kept the show on the air for two years, the protests eventually took their toll; by 1953, Amos 'n' Andy had been cancelled, and by the 1960s, with the civil rights movement in full swing, it had even been withdrawn from syndication.
Today, many fans, both black and white, insist that the TV version of Amos 'n' Andy was unfairly maligned, and DVDs of the programs are easily available, even on Amazon. Check out some of the YouTubed clips for yourself. Was Amos 'n' Andy funny or offensive (or both)? Was it any worse in its portrayal of African Americans than, say, Sanford and Son, The Jeffersons, or Good Times? Are there still elements of its characterizations and stereotypes in any TV shows today?
Next week: detectives and gangsters, jazz and swing, and Mickey and Bugs.
Moreover, when Amos 'n' Andy's creators, Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll, tried to expand their franchise to other media, they ran into more popular resistance. In 1930, RKO produced a full-length Amos and Andy film, Check and Double Check, in which Gosden and Correll played their creations, in blackface makeup and with their usual heavy dialact. Watching the movie today, one shudders at the actors' appearance, which is made even more ludicrous by the presence of several real African Americans, including Duke Ellington and his band. Apparently, fans and critics in 1930 felt a similar discomfort, for there would be no more Amos and Andy movies. In 1934, Gosden and Correll lent their voices to a pair of Amos and Andy cartoons, Rassling Match and The Lion Tamer, but these, too, sank into well-deserved obscurity (in fact, they're not even mentioned in Melvin Patrick Ely's history of the A 'n' A phenomenon).
Although Amos 'n' Andy still thrived on radio through the 1940s, as television began to catch on after World War II, Gosden and Correll decided to adapt their characters for the small screen -- but this time with African-American actors, recruited during a highly publicized two-year search. In this fascinating clip from 1951, Gosden and Correll introduce the new cast to a studio audience, commenting on how well the black actors embody the characters they'd created decades before. Some of those performers, however, did not appreciate getting acting lessons from Gosden and Correll; Alvin Childress (who played Amos) reportedly complained about the absurdity of "a white man teaching a Negro how to act like a white man acting like a Negro." Still, Amos 'n' Andy boasted the first all-black cast in TV history, providing unprecedented opportunities to African-American performers, and Gosden and Correll fully expected that black and white viewers alike would welcome this chance to follow their old friends into a new medium.
But within weeks of the show's premiere, the NAACP was demanding its cancellation, arguing that the program "tends to strengthen the conclusion among uninformed and prejudiced people that Negroes are inferior, lazy, dumb, and dishonest." Critics especially detested the prominence of George "Kingfish" Stevens (played by stage and film comedian Tim Moore), a longtime supporting character who became far more central on TV, and whose defining traits were constant malapropisms, shameless greed, and an abiding eagerness to fleece the gullible Andy (as seen in the episode "Kingfish Sells a Lot," YouTubed here, here, and here). Although CBS kept the show on the air for two years, the protests eventually took their toll; by 1953, Amos 'n' Andy had been cancelled, and by the 1960s, with the civil rights movement in full swing, it had even been withdrawn from syndication.
Today, many fans, both black and white, insist that the TV version of Amos 'n' Andy was unfairly maligned, and DVDs of the programs are easily available, even on Amazon. Check out some of the YouTubed clips for yourself. Was Amos 'n' Andy funny or offensive (or both)? Was it any worse in its portrayal of African Americans than, say, Sanford and Son, The Jeffersons, or Good Times? Are there still elements of its characterizations and stereotypes in any TV shows today?
Next week: detectives and gangsters, jazz and swing, and Mickey and Bugs.
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