RSS Feed

Tag Archives: ABC

AFV

The other day I happened to have on America’s Funniest Home Videos, which I rarely watch. My son sat next to me on the couch, constantly asking, “What happened? What happened, Mommy?”

There are only so many times I can answer, “He fell down, honey.”

America's Funniest Home Videos

America’s Funniest Home Videos

There was a time when I thought that America’s Funniest Home Videos wold run out of material.

Wait, listen to me before you judge. It was a past century, a very different time.

When the show debuted in 1989, the viewing audience sent in their videotaped bloopers. At that time, not every household could even afford a video camera. And not everyone who owned one captured something funny enough for the show. Then, in a cash grab, people went through their old 8mm film looking for comedy gold.

But, at some point, I figured people would run out accidents from the past to send in. And there was no way recent footage could keep up with the demand to keep the show on the air, right?

I didn’t foresee the birth of the smart phone. (If I had, I would be sitting here naked in a pile of money right now.) People overnight were able to capture absolutely every single second of their lives in a file of moving pictures. I mean, look at the tragedy of 9/11/2001. BOTH planes crashing into the World Trade Center were caught on tape.

Falling down has gone from being shot on film to recorded on video tape to saved in a file. No more worrying about that pesky trip to the post office to ship your bulky old black plastic VHS to California. Now you can just email the footage for free. The evolution of earning money for clumsiness in the last three decades is staggering.

AFV-nuts

Speaking of AFV, I have always wondered why the audience dresses up in suits and fancy dresses. Am I the only one that thinks that is bizarre? It is a show a show where people obtain groin injuries for others’ entertainment. Are the audience members planning to dine at a hoity-toity restaurant after? AFV is always promoting Disney. Couldn’t they just have some tourists from Disneyland file into the studio wearing their shorts and Hawaiian shirts and ball caps? (Confession: I have never been to a Disney theme park, but that is what I imagine the people all wear.)

Please check out my updated EVENTS page, as I have just added a few new ones for this year.

And speaking of events, I have a NEW CONTEST running where you can win a pair of passes to the GREAT LAKES BOOK BASH October 10th in Kalamazoo, MI. Winner provides own transportation and/or lodging. See contest for complete rules. Contest ends September 15, 2015.

What I Learned This Week – 2/8/15

This week I learned about the 80’s TV series The Facts of Life.

The Facts of Life aired on NBC from 1979-1988

The Facts of Life aired on NBC from 1979-1988

Entertainment Weekly, which seems to be trying to gain more readers by being the go-to pop culture binge one-stop, put an in-depth article about The Facts of Life on their website. You can check it out here: http://www.ew.com/microsites/longform/facts/

Actually, a lot of it I already knew, but just forgot. Tidbits, like that Nancy McKeon (she was always my favorite) was up for the role of Monica on Friends (Courtney Cox is the best Monica). Or that Mindy Cohn was not even an actor–she was just a regular girl at a private school giving show creators a tour of her school (she proved to be a very important quarter of the show). Or that Geri Jewell was the first actress with cerebral palsy with a recurring role on a TV series. Or that they tried to make a spin-off at the very end about students at Eastland again, featuring young Juliette Lewis, Mayim Bialik, and Seth Green. But, it wouldn’t have lasted, even if they did pick it up. Because it looked like a lot like the first season of The Facts of Life. Mostly taking place in the common room of a dormitory, which had proved unsuccessful previously. The show was its most successful and engaging when it centered on only Mrs. Garrett, the four girls, and the cafeteria.

The article mentions all the “special episodes” that occurred over the years, including racism, “abortion, adoption, drug abuse, alcoholism, rape, and suicide at various points”. But they forget to mention the episode where Tootie talks to the young prostitute in a New York City, and almost gets recruited herself. The prostitute was played by a very young Tammy Lauren, later known for playing Ginger Szabo on ABC’s post-WWII masterpiece “Homefront”.

In the 1980’s, The Facts of Life made me want to create a male version of the show.  I wanted to have Dick Clark as the head master, then all the trouble-making school boys would be played by all the young, male actors that I had crushes on at the time.  It would have been a hit with tween girl audiences.

If you want to reminisce about all things Facts of Life, including Andy, Pippa, George, and Beverly, check out the link above.

The paint fight is always my favorite.

My first book, The Wind Could Blow a Bug is NOW AVAILABLE!

PURCHASE as a Paperback or eBook on Amazon.com TODAY.

What I Learned This Week – 1/11/15

This week my husband and I decided the best part of the ABC show The Goldbergs is the end, when they show the creator’s home movies.

The Goldbergs

The Goldbergs

At first, I wasn’t very fond of The Goldbergs. The series premiere featured lots of yelling. I didn’t grow up in a house like that, and it turned me off. But it aired in such a convenient slot, right after The Middle (Which I enjoy, because, afterall, I was Sue Heck in school. Except I had glasses instead of braces.), and right before I would turn off Modern Family. Every week their seemed to be a nice little lesson, mixed in with a healthy dose of 80’s notalgia. Who can resist that? I mean, really…

It turns out that The Goldbergs was created by a guy named Adam F. Goldberg, and it is loosely based on his own family. Goldberg grew up in the 1980’s, and videotaped everything. The actor who portrays Adam in the series does the same. But the best part of the show is at the end, when they show you the actual family VHS home videos that the real Adam filmed, which usually closely mirrors what appeared in that week’s episode.

Last week’s episode was all about New Kids on the Block, who of course I adored. In the show, brothers Adam and Barry created their own video version of the New Kids’ “Hangin’ Tough”. Then, as the end of the show, you see the actual footage of real life Adam and Barry’s original “Hangin’ Tough” video. They were even placed side by side! So you had the 1980’s VHS version of real Adam and Barry copying the New Kids, then you had actor Adam and Barry copying real life Adam and Barry. It is enough to make my head spin.

If you don’t believe how awesome it could be, watch it on YouTube here:

My first book, The Wind Could Blow a Bug is NOW AVAILABLE!

PURCHASE as a Paperback or eBook on Amazon.com TODAY.

What I Learned This Week – 5/11/14

Posted on

This week a big, momentous achievement was reached in my goal toward self-publishing my own book.

I printed it out.

The longest story that I have ever written and printed, to date.

The longest story that I have ever written and printed, to date.

I know, that sounds really stupid.

In high school, I used to print out my stories all the time. But,

1. I didn’t have a computer at home to edit them on, so I had to use the hard copy.
2. My stories were short enough that I could print them out repeatedly.

My husband incorrectly assumed that because I printed out my story, that it was done. He questioned me when he saw I was immediately writing and editing on my newly printed pages.

No, it is not done. But, the achievement is in that it got to the stage where I needed to look at it on something other than a computer screen. And, I felt that it was worthy of “wasting” 115 pages of paper and ink to print it off. My husband is not a writer. He doesn’t understand my convoluted stages of writing, or the value I put on our limited supply of ink and paper.

I will revise, edit, and put away this draft, while I then proceed to do some preliminary editing on books 2 and 3 in the trilogy. Afterall, I need to make sure that the details and characters are consistent through all three books. Then, I will come back to book 1, update the file, and proofread it.

When I print it out the next time, I will tie my asbestos friend to a chair, hold her eyelids open, and force her to read it. And if she gives me any negative feed back, I will shock her with my dog’s shock collar.

But don’t tell her that.

Unfortunately, I also learned this week that 5 of the 12 TV shows I regularly watch will not be back next year. The following shows were cancelled this week. Some have links to other posts you can click through and read more about that show.

Star-Crossed
The Tomorrow People (This has consistently been one of my most popular posts for the last few months.)
Suburgatory
Super Fun Night
Enlisted

Most are not surprises, but I will miss them anyway. I believe that Star-Crossed and The Tomorrow People were The CW’s attempts at putting some of that special effect heavy, super-hero type stuff that plays well in the theater on their channel. And they were really well done. But, I think already having shows like Supernatural, Vampire Diaries, and The Orignals, The CW probably just couldn’t keep up the special effects budges on all those shows. The CW will have to stick to cheaper shows, such as Hart of Dixie. Which is a real shame. These two shows were like reading a short sci-fi teen romance novel each week, except better, because you could just watch it. They were the perfect shows for me. Or maybe I was the perfect audience for them.

The fact that ABC cancelled Super Fun Night isn’t shocking. ABC never really promoted it, and therefore it never found an audience. It was a nice little bit of escape on Wednesday nights that I enjoyed, along with actor Kevin Bishop who played Richard Royce. Now he will be off on his business trip to Berlin, indefinitely:(

I loved the first two seasons of Surburgatory, but it was just off this season and never regained it’s footing. I hope the series finale will find Ryan and Tessa reunited. In real life, that relationship wouldn’t work. But I think the actors both have chemistry and I like to watch it.

Ryan & Tessa breaking up on Suburgatory

Ryan & Tessa breaking up on Suburgatory

And it is possible that Ryan could show up on Suburgatory again, now that the actor who plays him, Parker Young, have more spare time, as the show he left Suburgatory to co-star in, Enlisted, has now been canceled by FOX as well. I was never a fan of the army setting, but the cast was great. Playing the other two Hill brothers were Geoff Stults (of the cancelled “October Road”, which I own the DVDs of both seasons) and Chris Lowell (who I just recently got to watch as Piz on the cancelled “Veronica Mars”).

Here is to hoping that all these fine actors find new shows in which to star in future television pilot seasons.

Oh, how cool would it be if they ALL ended up in the same show together!

Mind blown.

Watch Super Fun Night Tonight!

The season finale of Super Fun Night is on tonight on ABC at 9:30Pm/EST.

(I promise, this will be a short post.)

I didn’t fall in love with this sitcom right away. I had never seen Rebel Wilson in anything. I have to admit, it bothered me that her character of Kimmie Boubier breaks into song unexpectedly. And she talks in a breathy voice all the time. Apparently, this is her version of an American accent, because she is actually Australian.

The Cast of Super Fun Night

The Cast of Super Fun Night

But I kept watching because I liked her relationship with her roommates, Marika (Lauren Ash) and Helen-Alice (Liza Lapira). They are all quirky and dorky. They are not classy or refined. Marika is set-up as a butch type. Helen-Alice comes across as nerdy and shy, but is very outspoken with her friends. I relate a lot to Helen-Alice.

I think the title was supposed to come from them deciding to go out and try new things together, in the process, possibly meet men as well. But this ritual seems to fall by the wayside pretty quickly.

I was also bothered that Kimmie was supposed to be a lawyer. I saw it as too unbelievable. But, apparently, the show was created that way because Rebel Wilson herself has a degree in law. Still unbelievable.

There is also a character named Kendall, who is played by Kate Jenkinson. She adds a dose of b*tch to the show. She would be the villain to Rebel’s Kimmie. She provides balance to all the odd jokes I don’t quite get and the spontaneous singing. Except Kendall’s walls are slowly coming down to reveal that she is not all bad. On several occasions, she ends up hanging out with Marika and Helen-Alice. Kendall acts like it is a horrible experience for her. But it keeps happening.

Maybe I am more of a Kendall…

Why do I want you to watch?

1. I love Richard Royce.

Kimmie and Richard on Super Fun Night

Kimmie and Richard on Super Fun Night

He is played by British actor Kevin Bishop. I didn’t know him before this show, but apparently he was the boy in Muppet Treasure Island.

I totally ship Richard and Kimmie. Richard is goofy and nutty in the same way that Kimmie is. And he is cute and looks good with his shirt off. He is the funny, nice, cute guy we all hope really exists in the world and not just in sitcom scripts.

Kimmie has a boyfriend who is nice enough, but she should be with Richard.

THIS happened last week (Click to watch):

Click to watch!

Click to watch!

2. People need to watch the season finale so that it will get renewed, so that this doesn’t end up being the series finale.

At my press time, this show still has not been announced for a second season. And I feel as though its chances are very low of being saved.

A few weeks ago, Bob Saget guest starred as a client. This week’s guest star will be Charles Shaughnessy (The Nanny). As he is British, I am betting he will come in and play Richard’s father, who owns the law firm Richard, Kimmie, and Kendall work for. Since I watch the show for Richard, this should give him a bigger part tonight. It will be fun to see how Richard and his father interact with each other. Oh, and what if his father doesn’t like Kimmie, thinks she is too unprofessional, and wants to can her. Then Richard would have to step in and fight for her honor. *Swoon*

The series is executive produced by none other than Conan O’Brien. Episodes have been directed by Ken Marino (MTV’s The State, Reaper) and Fred Savage (you should know him!), and Michael Showalter (MTV’s The State) is also a writer. There are some good people behind the scenes here.

So, I beg you, watch the season finale. If you don’t like it, you won’t ever have to watch it again. And, if you DO like it, well, you can watch the rest of the episodes when it hits Nexflix or Hulu and be sad that there will never be any more episodes.

And I’m sorry, but this did not turn out to be a short post. I also told myself I would post it by 11:00AM EST. That didn’t happen either.

%d bloggers like this: