It's A DC World, Yeah Batman!

          It is a quiet weekend, the one before school starts. My son is a freshman, and so after a wonderful visit with my 3 girlfriends, I went off to Zia Records in Phoenix, Arizona. Zia Records is this wonderful store. It reminds me of the 1970's in So. Oregon where I grew up.  In the 1970's So. Oregon was all head shoppes, communes, pot smoking and hippies. I know normal people lived there, I knew a few, but they were not as vivid to me at 16 as the hippies. There was incense, lots of incense and tie dye shirts. People went to So. Oregon to live off the land. Rock and Roll was strong, so was soft Rock.  We listened to Led Zepplin and Creedence Clearwater Rival on vinyl record albums.  I don't remember referring to them as vinyl, I have only heard that recently.  We just called them albums. I remember swimming in The Smith River, diving off smooth rocks and seeing fish swim beneath  you. Anyway I digress.
http://img509.imageshack.us/img509/9647/batman2ih7.gif
             Well when I go to Zia Records it all comes back to me. They have a store with vinyl records, music CD's, movies, books and comic books. There are mugs with the Beatles on them and incense lots of incense.  The comic books are all over in boxes on shelves.  You can buy  new or used, movies 3 for $10.  It is like a cornucopia of entertainment.  It was one of my inspirations for the blog. It is like feeding the senses.

               When I was there I was thumbing through the comic books and found this old comic book primer on The Batman. It was called, The Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told, created by Bob Kane. Now I grew up with The Batman in 2 forms, DC Comics, and Batman on TV with Adam West (Batman) and Burt Ward (Robin). I have included that famous and toe tapping theme song from the TV Batman on the end of the blog. Yeah!  So in Zia they had this book that had the about the Batman. I would say that is The Batman before 1983.  It was wonderful to read as it was recopied the original comic from 1939!!  It is a confusing tale of werewolves and vampires.


              The story is called Batman Vs. The Vampire. When you read it, the evil villian is the Monk.  He  walks around like a cross between Friar Tuck and little Red Riding Hood. When exposed he turns into a werewolf. Now Bruce Wayne(Batman sans costume) is engaged to Julie, and she is kidnapped in this story and taken far away across the sea.  Batman introduces his Bat plane and batarang in this story. Now in what I am sure was Europe, Julie is asleep in a castle. Batman finds her with 2 teeth marks on her neck and thinks vampires!  It seems in this early version that vampires and werewolves are linked. I think the story goes if a werewolf bites a human it becomes a vampire? Either that or Dala, who is Monks' attractive and yet evil minion, is just a vampire. But when Batman kills the Monk and Dala they are safely ensconced in their coffins. He kills them both with silver bullets. I guess in 1939 they had not worked out the whole difference between vampires and werewolves. I am just not sure. Anyway the art work was wonderful and since that was one of the first Batman stories, it was great.

               DC Comics had a comic called Detective Comics, and that is where The Batman appeared, issue #27.  Now before I write a single word more please know that I AM ONLY A FAN AND DO NOT PROFESS TO BE AN EXPERT. However, learning about early Batman is as good as finding out your mother had an affair with the towns richest man, and you are not really related to the gas station manager, sitting downstairs in the chair with a beer, watching football.  Not that there is anything wrong with that, I am just saying, it is that good.

              The anthology of Batman stories has in its center, the original story of Batman came to be. Now I am sure you have seen Batman Begins (2005) with Christian Bale and Michael Caine as Alfred the Butler. Interestingly I usually prefer the written version of things and this is no different.  In comic form Bruce Wayne's rich and philanthropic parents are still killed, he still has to watch, and he still dedicates himself to avenging their deaths.  In fact he is obsessed, driven to find his parents killers. In a story called The First Batman, it goes into how Batman picked his alter ego.

            After years of mastering ways of scientific deduction, perfecting his body strength and training  himself in criminal investigations Bruce Wayne is finally ready. He later finds Lew Moxon who ordered his parents death, only because of an accident Moxon can't remember a thing.  When he finally does his guilt gets to him, he runs into traffic and is killed himself.  During the story one of the most fascinating things was that the costume adopted by Batman is actually a replica of a Batman suit his father wore as a costume to a party. The same costume he wore when criminal Lew Moxon, came to have a bullet removed. His father foiled the process and Lew Moxon was arrested.  So he blamed Bruce Wayne's father for his unfortunate incarceration. The costume was lurking somewhere in Bruce's unconscious mind.

            I loved that Batman's journey was one that started in emotion. It was because of his emotions he was driven to do this work.  It evolved over time, as most things do, and he became a superhero.  Batman does not kill people, another aspect I did appreciate.  Well guess what?  He originally did, he threw them into vats of acid, carried a gun, strangled them, threw them off buildings. In the 1989 Batman  movie he threatens the Joker and then ties his leg to a statue where he is pulled to his death.  In Batman Begins he kills someone in Penguins army of freaks by burning them with his jet engine. So there are grey areas. 
           

            So of course I took it home and am devouring it as we speak.  I love comic books, especially old ones, so this was a real treat.  Also I just found out that Christian Bale went personally to visit the victims of the Colorado shooting of the premier of Batman.  What a classy thing to do.  So here's a shout out to Christian Bale.  Now you can listen to the wonderful Batman Theme, da da da da da da Batman!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jgE-lrfZ3k

Animation Rules!!

          Lets talk cartoons!! My son Nick was born in 1997.  It had been a long time since I was a kid, and having him gave me a 2nd childhood.  Along with my great adventures at Sea World, the San Diego and Phoenix Zoos, I rediscovered cartoons.  Nickelodeon was a new experience for me. With a myriad of new cartoons among the most popular were; The Rug Rats, Sponge Bob Squarepants, Avatar, Cow and Chicken, Courage the Cowardly Dog (loved it), Fairly Odd Parents, and Jimmy Neutron. My 2 favorites were Danny Phantom and Invader Zim.

           Invader Zim (voice by Richard Steven Horvitz) is the story of a small green insect like alien with large pink bug eyes. He came to Earth to observe the "pig smelly"people, that is earthlings to you and me. He was to find their weaknesses in order to take over the planet. Zim sabotaged the first attempt, Operation Impending Doom 1 all by himself, by attacking his own allies and planet.  So he was banished to a planet called Food Courtia, as a serving drone. Imagine, living forever in a world of food service, sort of like hell, without the tips.

             Zim is part of a race of aliens (called Irken) where the hierarchy is literally dependent on height.  The Irken leaders are called the Almighty Tallest (Wally Wingert and Kevin McDonald), and they rule the smaller Irkens.  They begin an the Assigning.  This is for the Operation Impending Doom II.  This is a process where they choose the best and the brightest to go to different planets, become part of the society, and access their weaknesses. So later they can take over the planet.  Zim sees it on TV and escapes from Food Courtia and goes to the Assigning.  The Almighty Tallest, totally surprised to see him, give him an impossible journey to the outer uncharted area with a second hand robot name GIR (Rosearik Rikki Simons).  After travelling a long time Zim stumbles on Earth. The Tallest were surprised he survived. So Zim is on a mission on Earth.

            I love the character of Zim who makes his earth home in between two other houses in the suburbs.  Then he changes himself and GIR into more like ordinary earth beings.  So Zim now has hair instead of feelers, and GIR is wearing a green dog costume with a zipper.  Here is the fun part.  His home goes up over night and no one seems to complain or do anything.  Even though he attaches devices to the houses on either side of his to suck out their electrical energy to his home.  The neighbors look on, but it seemed ok to them. Even when he put up a fence with garden gnomes no one complains. Hmmmmmmm  He makes parent robots that greet him each time he comes home.

          This cartoon is quirky. Zim decides to learn about earth by going to school (spelled skool in the cartoon).  It is there he meets Dibs (Andy Berman). Dibs is a UFO fanatic that knows Zim is an alien, yet seems not to be able to convince the other children.  One of my favorite scenes is where the leader of Food Courtia, Sizz-Lorr recaptures Zim to take him back.  He comes through the roof of the school takes Zim and Dibs is screaming, "Do you believe me now?" One of the students looks at Dibs and notices the bird poo on his clothes, he points and says, "Dibs has bird poo on his shirt!"  The whole focus becomes Dibs and his poo, Zim is unnoticed.  Talk about rolling laughter!!


           This cartoon has it's own following. In fact in Los Angeles, there is a Invader Con July 28-29. The fans of Invader Zim are as quirky as the cartoon. It was on 2 seasons, and came back 2006 on Nicktoons.  This leads me to my favorite Nickelodeon cartoon Danny Phantom. 

           When my son was  8 this was his favorite too.  That tells you my age mentally.  Danny Fenton has ghostbusting parents, Jack and Maddy Fenton.  The live in this converted brick building with all kinds of satellites dishes on the top and a mission command on the inside.  Jack is a bumbling ghostbuster who has built all kinds of gadgets and guns to blast ghosts. He and Maddy's greatest achievement is the ghost portal. It goes between the human world and the Ghost Zone, the areas ghosts live in. Maddy is really the brains behind the ghostbusting duo.  She would rather study and dissect the ghosts than blast them.

              The story is that at 14 year old Danny pushes the "on" button when he and his friend Sam are messing around it. The portal mixes ectoplasm with his DNA.  The song goes "his molecules got rearranged." The other ghosts call him the halfa.  He now changes into a ghost boy, Danny Phantom. His image is mirror to his normal image. His hair goes from black to white, his eyes go from blue to green.  At first he has no control so he is all over the place. Later he is a super hero first for humans, and then to the spirit world also. All while keeping it a secret from his parents. His powers grow and he adds ray blasts, wailing and cryokinesis.

 

             I usually like high school stories, which is the world Danny Fenton lives in.He goes to Casper High School. Get it? Casper the friendly ghost?  Ok, my age is showing.  His best friends are Sam Manson (Grey Delisle), and Foley Tucker (Ricky D'shon Collins). They help him  keep his secret and fight the ghosts. All three friends are basically geeks.  Sam is the girl who is a friend and eventually will become his girlfriend.  She is goth, rich (though she hides her wealth) and vegetarian. She is smart and sassy, a real individualist.  She is my favorite character in the show. His friend Tucker is the tech guy. He is lighthearted and when not inventing gadgets, is chasing girls.  Danny has a 16 year old sister named Jazz(Colleen O'Shaughnessy). She finds out Danny's secret early on, and at first tries to help him. She finally stops when she messes everything up for him. She still is an ally when needed.  The high school, the popular jocks and the teachers give a great backdrop to the stories.
 

    
            There are many great ghosts, starting with the Lunch Box lady (Kath Soucie),  who hates any kind of change, and tried to get revenge on Sam for getting a vegetarian menu served at school. Ember (Robin Kimissel) the Rock singer, tries to control every one with her music. She is sarcastic and seductive. She teams up with other ghosts in her attempt at control.  My favorite ghost is the Box Ghost (Rob Paulsen).  He fights with cardboard and anything boxy, which just makes me giggle. His line is "Beware, I am the Box Ghost!"  He is sort of a buffoon.  There are many other ghost villains, the worst enemy of Danny is Vlad Masters/Vlad Plasimuis.  He like Danny has ghost powers. Jack gave them to him years earlier, which put him in the hospital.  He now has a great chip on his shoulder. He knows Danny's secret, and keeps it from his mother and father, while manipulating and fighting Danny.  He is incredibly rich and went to college with Maddy and Jack. He is in love with Maddy, and blames Jack for stealing her away. So he is a constant thorn in the Fenton families' side. 

           So now Nick is older, doesn't care about Invader Zim or Danny Phantom anymore.  Yet in the wee hours, I have them safely tucked into the DVR.  I actually watch them.  I suggest you do the same. Invader Zim is also on Netflix, both are on Nickelodeon. Speaking of animation, I am going to move into many different areas of entertainment from superheros to Horror flicks, comics to comedies.  I love the world of entertainment as you can see. It provides laughter, and relief from life's toils. Thank you to those of you who are reading my blog, I promise to continually improve it.

Green Acres is the Place to Be

              Last night I woke up about 3:00 am. I just couldn't sleep, it was hot, and the dog was scratching.  I was just restless. So I got up, made some Sleepy Time tea and sat down in front of the DVR.  What to make me fall asleep, hmmmm......Maybe an installation of Green Acres, that is right. Green Acres from 1966 with Eddie Albert famous Actor for Oklahoma, Falcon Crest.  For those of you really old, he did  Roman Holiday with Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck. Now that is film history. His co-star in the show was the Hungarian beauty Ava Gabor.  Of course Green Acres is on METV.  The channel of the wonderful hits from the past.

               The premise of Green Acres (for those who did not experience the treat), is that Oliver Douglas (Eddie Albert), NYC attorney has always dreamed of leaving the city.   All his life he has wanted to be a farmer.  To work with the land, grow crops and be a contributor to the nation's food economy. Ok, he says it better.  Mr. Douglas (as he is so lovingly called in the show), bought Mr. Haney's run down farm to renovate and turn in to a functioning farm. He drags his uptown wife Lisa (Eva Gabor) to the farm, with the understanding she try it for 6 months. If at that time she still did not want to stay, she could go back to New York.  As the wonderful wives of the 1960's did, Lisa went to the farm outside Hooterville.  The show is set in the world of another show I loved as a girl Petticoat Junction.  The world includes, Hooterville (that Lisa Douglas calls Hootersville), Pixley, Stankwell Falls, and Crabwell Corners. Just the town names are enough to get you giggling. The opening song is wonderful and I am including it at the bottom of the blog for your listening pleasure, courtesy of You Tube.

                The show has a zany cast of eccentric characters starting with Mr. Haney(Pat Buttram).  The seller of the broken down Haney Place. Mr. Haney charges a fee for everything he does.  He is really nothing but a junk dealer, with an old truck that has everything from farm equipment to can openers on it.  One of the episodes I watched, a man came in to his junk/antique store, and had to pay a fee of  $.05 to rent a bottle opener for 3 minutes to open his root beer($.10 for soda). He continues to con Mr. Douglas through out the series.

                Mr. Haney is accompanied  day laborer Eb Dawson (Tom Lester), general store owner, Sam Drucker (Frank Cady), and county agent Hank Kimball (Alvy Moore) but my favorite characters are Fred and Doris Ziffel (Hank Patterson and Barbara Pepper).  The Ziffels have a "son" that appears frequently in the show, his name is Arnold Ziffel (Arnold the Pig).  Arnold is a pig.  A real life white swine that behaves like a human.  I watched an episode last night in which, Mr. Ziffel is standing a the door talking to political pollsters, and then a bus honks in the background. To this Mr. Ziffel says, "Arnold the bus is here, hurry up or you will be late for school."  Then the white pig scurries out the door, carried in his snout a strap with textbooks in it, as he hurries to the bus. I laughed so hard I thought I would cry. Now we come to the funniest part of the show.

                  Everyone in the show but Oliver Douglas lives in an alternate reality, one l call crazyville. Mr. Douglas appears frequently angry at the crazy antics of the people around him. One example of this is that everyone treats Arnold as if he is human. Interestingly, Arnold can sign his name and turn on/off the tv.  Mr. Douglas frequently goes into speeches about the nobility of the American farmer in his suit and tie. The tires frequently fall off his tractor(which seldom works). Lisa Douglas tries to adapt to Hooterville culture. With her broken English and mangling of the English language. She can only cook hotcakes,so they eat them all the time. Lisa calls them hotscakes. In the beginning the are so bad that one episode the batter is used as mortar in the fireplace.  Eb starts calling Mr. and Mrs. Douglas, "mom and dad" sometimes.  Mr. Haney always shows up with just the thing Mr. Douglas needs for his farm, at just the right time.
  
                The first year or two Lisa is wearing a different rich nightgown and cover, each day. She eventually abandons this for a wonderful stylish dress with pearls and earrings like she was dressing in Manhattan. Likewise, Mr. Douglas wears a three piece suit and tie for his farm.  Through out the show the farm does get slightly updated. However, it is mostly drab, falling down and Mr. and Mrs. Douglas sleep on separate cots in their bedroom.  It never really improves in 6 seasons. The Douglas' have to climb the telephone pole to make phone calls. The show is full of slapstick comedy, that will make you roar.

               There is a cross over from Petticoat Junction (another 60's show I love on METV) which features The Shady Rest Hotel Run by Kate Bradley (Bea Benedaret) and her three teenage daughters, Billie Jo (Meredith McCray), Bobbie Jo (Lori Saunders) and Bettie Jo(Linda Kaye). Uncle Joe (Edgar Buchanan) lives with them and is always looking for a great business deal/scheme. He mostly sits in the rocking chair on the porch, sleeping. The hotel residents get to Sam Druckers Store on the Hooterville Cannonball, that acts more like a city bus than a train.  The engineer is a scatterbrained Floyd Smoot (Rufe Davis). The Beverly Hillbillies (another 60's sitcom) exists in the world of Hooterville as a TV show, go figure?? In fact they put on a play based on a episode.  It was quite funny.  Green Acres was actually a spin off of Petticoat Junction.

                Now after watching the 2 episodes I recorded, I was more awake than ever. So I am not sure that is a good suggestion for insomnia.  The tea I am sure helped but I had great dreams of talking pigs when I went back to my bed.  Arnold invaded my sleep!!  I love METV, and if you can get the channel I highly suggest a visit on a regular basis.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mbk81X6WHA4----the theme for Green Acres

You're Either in or You're Out!

            I preface this blog by saying, it is about entertainment which is my joy!!It is meant to be fun!  With that in mind, as Tim Gunn, my very favorite fashion guru would say, I am having a "Wow moment". That is right, Project Runway is back.  I dream about sewing wonderful Avant Garde fashion.  My sewing machine sits lonely waiting for companionship.  My talent is non existent, though my desire is great.  I will someday conquer my fears of inadequacy turn it on, pull out a pattern (of which I have dozens of) and sew.

 

           Until then I will be more than happy to watch Project Runway, side with my favorite designer and watch their trials and tribulations. This is the 10th year of Project Runway. I discovered them the second year, and was a huge fan of the woman who won season 2, Chloe Dao. I became a  Project Runway devotee.  One of the most miraculous recoveries I saw was the winner of season 9, Anya Ayoung Chee.  During one of the challenges she lost all her monies over $100. She was able to scrounge up $2.00 and change, and some left over fabric from some one. She won the challenge.  Anya had 4 months of sewing before Project Runway, and she won. That for me was like a touch down in the last 10 seconds of the Super Bowl, with the scores tied. It was exciting.

              Like a lot of you my favorite character is Tim Gunn.  Though the designers change, Tim Gunn can always be found impeccably dressed, and genuinely helpful. His famous "designers, make it work", echos in my mind when I am faced in my own life with a dilemma. "Chop, Chop, Chop, go, go,go", as he pushes the designers to finish their creations in the nick of time.  He appears conservative, yet on the edge of flamboyant. He is a wonderful mentor to the designers, and is absolutely beloved.

              Then there are the judges, Michael Kors, Nina Garcia and the creator of Project Runway Heidi Klum.  I have to say about Heidi, that she won me over on The Tonight Show years ago when she was wearing for Victoria Secret this amazing bra that was full of diamonds and gemstones.  She was funny, good humored and seemed like someone you would love to hang out with. It has proven the same for me all the years I have watched, whether she is pregnant Heidi(which she has been a few times) or non pregnant Heidi.  She has that great kiss of death to the newly ousted designer, "auf weidersehen", as she kisses each cheek. Michael Kors wonderful designer calling your dress "boring", or beautiful Nina Garcia calling your clothes "sad',  has got to be disheartening.  There is always one famous guest judge to pick over the designers creations  the hopefuls show up with. 

             So tonight, is the first night, of many wonderful nights watching the bizarre and the talented parade their clothes down the runway.  Tonight Project Runway opened their first judging after real runway show. It was wonderfully shot outside in NYC with a ton of fans watching the designers, and the famous judges. The three top were Melissa Fleis of San Francisco, CA.  Her look was edgy, youthful and very black. Christopher Palu was from Massepequa, New York. His little black dress was undefinable, but he had this dress that was to die for. Michael Kors called the technique "fabric manipulation" and Christopher transformed it by sewing it into distinction.  Ven Budhu made this beautiful white pant suit with a pink bustier with a perfectly formed pink rose in the front.  Christopher Palu won the first challenge. Kooan Kosuke was barely safe with the judges fearing his designs appeared cartoony or like a joke.

               Beatrice Guapo from Marina Del Rey, California was the first to go home with a perspective Michael Kors stated, "doesn't tell who you are as a designer".  The guest judges were Patricia Field and Rory Gilmore's mother, Lauren Graham. Which made me very happy.  I was comforted at the end of the show that all was right in my small part of the world, and I wait in anticipation for the next installment of Project Runway!!

Nancy Botwin is back!!

              So last night was Sunday again, and at the end of by busy day, I grab a Coke, put my feet up and laugh my head off. There are 2 shows that have comeback to thrill me on Sundays.  Weeds is my first love. It is last Season for Weeds, the quirky comedy about housewife Nancy Botwin (Mary Louise Parker), the pot dealer from Agrestic, California. Joining her in the duo for Showtime is the second season of Episodes. I love Showtime, they my favorite channel with NC17 shows.  These are the two premier features right now.

               Weeds a is wonderful darkish comedy about Nancy Botwin California suburbanite, after her husband Judah Botwin drops dead from a heart attack. She is left with no skills, no money, and has to care for her two sons, Shane(Alexander Gould)  and Silas(Hunter Parrish).  Her brother-in-law Andy Botwin (Justin Kirk) moves into "help" her care for her family, but really is a 3rd kid.  Nancy takes to selling pot to generate income.  The show has a phenomenal beginning cast with shady accountant Doug Wilson(Kevin Nealon), and difficult to be around friend Celia Hodes (Elizabeth Perkins). Doug is one of Nancy's best customers and one of Agrestic's movers and shakers. Celia is focused on what people think about her, she is an uptight, manipulative suburban housewife and is married to Dean(Andy Milder).  She has a plump, lesbian daughter Quinn(Haley Hudson) that gives her plenty to complain about and  helps create some great Chaos. In the first few years Nancy has sex with a drug dealer who is her competition in Agrestic. So clearly she has a knack for creating enemies. This includes her supplier, Haylia (Tonye Patano). Haylia turns on her when Nancy sleeps with her son Conrad (Romany Malco) and then goes into business with him growing pot in a house, cutting Haylia out of the her business. Nancy loses everything again, burns down the town, kills her FBI boyfriend and flees to the coast.That is just in the first couple of years.

                  Nancy then marries the Mexican equivalent of Tony Soprano, Esteban Reyes (Demian Bichir),and has his baby.  During this period adolescent Shane has not coped well, he has become well, antisocial.  Which is evidenced when he murders Estaban's sister, Pilar (Kate Del Castillo).  In Shane's defense, he believes he is protecting his mother. Silas the older teen/young adult develops a love/hate relationship with Nancy that lasts until really this year. Andy is secretly is in love with Nancy and is generally a slacker.  He eventually sleeps with Nancy's sister Jill(Jennifer Jason Leigh) who really hates Nancy, but has become a regular on the show. Doug reappears at the coast and is now one of the family.  After murdering Pilar, the family flees first to Seattle and then cross country. Nancy finally takes the blame for Shane's murder and cops a plea for manslaughter and goes to prison. While she is gone, They boys, Silas, Shane, Andy and Doug, go to Amsterdam. Where they sit up a life for themselves. Baby Stevie Ray Reyes goes to Jill and Jill decides that Stevie Ray is now her baby.

                 Ok all of that and I have really only glossed over the plot.  Nancy gets released from prison, the boys come back (except Stevie Ray) Nancy gets back into the biz. She finally gathers together the whole family, including Jill, Stevie Ray(now played by Ethan and Gavin Kent) and her sister's children. This year starts where the family is celebrating the purchase of a home/compound for all members of the family and Nancy is shot in the head.  The one thing I love about Nancy Botwin she has a guardian angel like Arnold Schwarzenegger.  No matter what happens, Nancy comes out right side up. So of course after a short coma, she comes back in almost full force. Now though Nancy is redeemed. Oh, she knows she was a pot dealer, but now she gives it to the cancer patients in the hospital for free.  This is the final season, so God knows what trouble will be fall the family. Shane is in the police academy and instead of killing Nancy's shooter, he arrests him. It turns out The FBI agents son who blames Nancy for his fathers death and decides to get even.  I would go more into detail but frankly you need to watch the show.  It reminds me of the old show called Soap, where before each episode they would go through a synopsis of the each characters deeds and misdemeanors.  All of this drama in 30 minutes, can you believe that?

               If that were not enough, it is followed by  Episodes. The new comedy starring Matt LeBlanc (formerly of Friends), As Matt LeBlanc. This is the story that takes two talented, happily married British writers, Sean and Beverly Lincoln(Stephen Mangan and Tamsin Greig) and thrusts them into the LA scene.  Sean and Beverly have a successful British show, and Hollywood wants to turn into an American sitcom.  Once in Hollywood the studio changes almost everything about the show and puts it on the air.  The Brit writers separate at the end of the first season when Matt LeBlanc sleeps with with Beverly Lincoln.  This season he is sleeping with the studio head's blind wife.  Matt still likes Sean Lincoln and considers him a friend though Sean can barely stand Matt.  I am hoping actually that they put Sean and Beverly together, but I am sure they will not do this until they drag them through every other scenario.

               There are other great shows on Sunday, this is my cover for now.  Sundays are really fun days on TV.  It is the night I finish up early so I can throw on the sweats and become a couch potato.  If I feel really guilty I finish the dishes and dust while I watch. Most of the time I just sit.

Family Guy and American Family Values

              I was introduced to Family Guy through my son who came home from school and said his friends were watching this show that was really funny.  It is an animated TV show.  I watched it one time, and told him he could not watch it again  On my own I started to watch Family Guy. I was slightly intrigued.  It is that same feeling you get when someone is slightly repulsive, and you kind of envy their ability to say and do  things you feel, yet would never say or do.  Finally it became a family affair.  I want to specify my son was 12 years old, and now is quite a bit older.

               The Griffin family lives in fictious Quahog, Rhode Island.  Peter Griffin (voice by creator Seth McFarlane) is an Irish Catholic, blue collar guy, with an I.Q. of 72, that's right a whopping 72!!! Peter brags about being slightly retarded.  Overweight, slightly retarded, and head of his family, Peter is married to  Lois(Alex Borstein).  Lois is the daughter of wealthy parents, the Pewterschmidts, she and Peter have 3 children, Meg (Mila Kunis), Chris (Seth Green) and Stewie (Also Seth McFarlane), my favorite.  They also have a dog that goes between being an intellectual, alcoholic human and a real dog. His name is Brian (Seth McFarlane).

                Family Guy is really, one of those shows that is so bad it is good.  Meg, the teenage daughter is almost invisible to her family.  She is disliked and disrespected at worst. She is awkward, chubby, and fits in really well with the lesbian crowd at her school.  One boyfriend she had was so normal they had a doctor in to examine him to see what was wrong with him. Why else would he date Meg.  Imagine it, the neighbors and the whole town was watching at the Griffin's house for his diagnosis.  When he was declared normal, Lois made out with him on the sofa, and Peter suddenly found his daughter attractive.  Ok, so it bordered on the creepy.

                Chris the teen boy is also awkward, fat like his father, and yet tolerated, even popular at times. My favorite child is the 1 year old Stewie. Stewie goes between being a baby, and a man in persona. He is also sometimes gay like and sometimes straight. His voice sounds a little Rex Harrison. I think I read that it was intentional to sound like that. He sounds sophisticated, educated (amazing for a 1 year old) and has a time machine he designed in his bedroom.  He has a football shaped head, and has a love/hate relationship with Lois. In fact in one episode he tried to kill her.  Sometimes it appears his family understands him and sometimes they do not. His best friend is Brian the talking man/dog.  Brian is an alcoholic who fancies himself intellectual, and wants to be a writer. He dates women, Jillian Russell, voiced by the famous Drew Barrymore.  He also slept with Lauren Conrad.  Yet Brian is a dog for most  purposes, and when it rains he asks permission to potty on a newspaper in the house. He has always had a secret crush on Lois Griffin.

                Family Guy has great side kicks, one being the ever horny next door neighbor pilot  Glenn Quagmire(Seth McFarlane). McFarlane also does voices for Tom Tucker, news anchor, and Carter Pewterschmidt, lois' father.  Seth Green also does  pharmacist Neil Goldmans voice, and Alex Borstein also does the voice for reporter Tricia Takanawa, and Lois' mother Barbara Pewterschmidt.

               Family Guy was followed by another Seth McFarlane hit,  American Dad.  It is about Stan Smith (voice by Seth McFarlane), a  republican CIA agent, and his scatterbrained wife Francine Smith (Wendy Schaal). Stan found an alien at the CIA that was taken in Roswell. Roger (also Seth McFarlane) is the alien and lives in the Smith's attic.  He loves to dress up as characters, and operates a cheers type bar in his attic.  They have 2 children.  Their daughter Hayley( Rachel McFarlane), is a liberal hippy, now married to stoner Jeff Fischer (Jeff Fischer).  Their teenage son is Steve (Scott Grimes) he is the antithesis to Stan's macho, sports loving real man persona. Steve wears glasses, hates sports and is socially nerdy. They have a talking goldfish named Claus (Dee Bradley Baker).  He was an German athlete, whose brain was implanted into the goldfish.  The family  lives in the fictious town of Langley Falls, Virginia. They have gay neighbors, and Patrick Stewart does the voice for Stans' boss, Deputy Director Avery Bullock.

               Both of these shows are satirical, politically humorous and at times like slapstick comedy. They are like anti-family values!!  America's quintessential dysfunctional families.   As I said they are both hits and though Family Guy was cancelled at one time, it came back, and now has been on for 10 years.  You can find a lot of both shows on Netflix, and Hulu, they are worth the view. Seth McFarlane, really hit home runs with these programs.  I love both of them, they are my guilty pleasures.

The is just so much to say......

           So lets talk Sunday night. It may be my lazy day for coasting around  the house in a comfortable pair of sweats,  and drinking copious amounts of coffee, but it is also a wonderful night of television.  Such a smorgasbord of shows that my TiVo is whirs with excitement.  Shows on cable (including my faves Showtime and HBO), run their shows in waves during their seasons.  So as one series is ending, another begins, there are always new flavors and varieties.

            At this point on Sundays two shows I adore on Showtime have just ended a couple of weeks ago, Nurse Jackie and The Big C. Nurse Jackie (Edie Falco)is a woman I truly am in love with.  She is surly of character, drug addicted, very flawed, and yet basically has a good heart and is kind to her patients. She is a leader of the working class, and completely skilled in operating around management, well until this year.  Last year poor Jackie hit bottom, split from her husband Kevin( Dominic Fumusa), and had her ex-lover Eddie (Paul Schulze)  trying to befriend her husband.  Jackie struggled to get the drugs she needed. The new season starts as Jackie is in rehab, trying to make an honest recovery.

             Though I have heard Edie Falco sees her performances as dramatic, the performances are very funny.  Cynical and tough Nurse Jackie moves sarcastically through her life.  The supporting characters really provide humor.  Peter Facinelli (who is doing great work in The Twilight Sagas as Dr. Carlisle Cullen),  plays a doctor in this show too.  He is the bumbling and socially inadequate Dr. Cooper.  Dr. Cooper has a type of turrets where, when he nervous, he grabs the nearest nurses' breasts. He is becoming endearing.  Jackie's best friend Dr. Eleanor O'Hara (Eve Best), is very rich and very British.   She has been pregnant all season and recently just gave birth. She was artificially inseminated, which concerns her, as she believes Cooper may know her donor. O'Hara has mostly tried to be a force for good around Jackie (though she has practiced tough love when needed), as has Administrator Mrs. Gloria Akalitus.  She is Jackie's enabling boss, demoted this season to floor nurse.  The supporting cast is marvelous, Zoey (Merritt Wever) who is a new novice nurse, from the community college, and is now Jackie's roommate. Thor (Steven Wallem) and Mo Mo (Haas Sleiman) play male nurses to round the out the emergency room staff. I just can't wait for season 5.

             The Big C is stranger each year.   Cathy Jamison(Laura Linney) is an uptight school teacher who has discovered she has cancer, stage 4 melanoma. Personally, I think Cathy in her original form would have been too rigid and formal for my personal tastes.  She has now had an affair, and confuses her family with her weird behavior. Cancer seems to have made her incredibly human, selfish and actually someone I could more relate to. I don't know what that says about me. 

              She is married to Paul (Oliver Platt) who last season had a heart attack and recovered to begin his own weird journey as a motivational speaker. They have a 15-16 year old son named Adam (Gabriel Basso). The last few seasons he has been left to his own devices(mostly sexual).  Cathy has a brother who chose to drop out of society. Sean Tolke(John Benjamin Hickey) was homeless until Cathy gave him a house across the street to live in.  The second season he got pregnant with none other than Sex and the City's, Cynthia Nixon (Rebecca). The baby died in womb and Rebecca went off on her own again. Sean had a relationship with a husband and wife this year, and seems to get a lot of sexual action. Cathy made friends with one of her students that lives with the Jamisons, Andrea (Gabourey Sidbe) She is really my favorite character, besides Sean. She seems to have more common sense that most of the adults.  This year she was assistant to Paul, until she told him to "put it where the sun don't shine".(paraphrase)

               This year Susan Sarandon (Bull Durham, Rocky Horror Picture Show) guest starred as a motivational speaker, and later was hit by a bus.  This show puzzled me, until I realized they are covering the 5 stages of death, one each season; denial, anger, bargaining, depression and then acceptance. This year was bargaining.  Cathy the main character, is really unlikable, though you want to feel sympathy for her. I guess I have judged Cathy in her journey.  Her husband  Paul Jamison,  is a character you can like and have compassion for.  He now has a successful career in motivational speaking and is coming in to his own.  He was rather like a sad, limp man the first couple of seasons.  Adam discovered God, and got disapproval from Cathy.  He used religion as a way to cope with his parents illnesses and his life.  So Cathy's husband and son find their own strengths as they go forward.  Cathy and Paul separate this year, Paul says, "I don't know if I can do another 40 years of this."  (again with the paraphrase)  Originally Cathy did not tell her family she had cancer, they were left out as she floundered around and looked erratic. The writing is good, the story is clever, and I watch each week. I am not sure if I really like show. I will watch it next year to see what happens to these characters.


          I could go on, but I think I will save the many shows I love on Sundays, for future blogs; Army Wives, Drop Dead Diva, Weeds, Dexter, Episodes, Walking Dead, and many more. This blog would become at least a novella.  Though I am dying to cover Army Wives.  I am loving the casting that goes into these programs.  Let me say just this. Years ago I used to watched a show called Life goes on, with Kelli Martin, and Patty LuPone.  Well this week Army Wives brought Kelli and Patty together again, as mother and daughter. I will cover it more on  my next blog, but it is like dessert.  You know the really rich kind that you don't often indulge in, but when you do it is bliss.  So that is all for now, I am working on getting a site set up for this blog. I will have more information later.  I am also wanting to have theme weeks, the first being the horror genre.  So keep watching this blog this is only the bare beginning.