Sunbeams illuminating a coastal forest in Port Orford, Oregon

Chuggnutt!

Category: TV

  • Clone Wars

    This is a total geek-out post. You’ve been warned.

    The kids and I have been watching the Clone Wars mini-series that was on Cartoon Network (we’re watching them on the computer, a few episodes at a time… it’s much more convenient that way), and enjoying it quite a bit. Hell of a clever idea, too, the way they put it together, with 3 minute segments/episodes.

    Anyway, I have to say that by far the best episode is Chapter 13, the “Mace Windu kicks ass” episode. This one little episode alone basically makes all this whole Star Wars prequel stuff worthwhile.

  • Deadwood

    Only two episodes in and I’m already liking HBO‘s new series, “Deadwood,” quite a lot. It’s quite a bit different from any other Western series I’ve seen on TV; they’re certainly pulling no punches.

  • Random Law and Order Plot Generator

    Here’s a funny link for tonight: the Random Law and Order Plot Generator. Enjoy!

  • We got some work to do now

    Watching the old “Scooby Doo, Where are You?” show, I’d always kind of wondered just where all these adventures are supposed to be taking place. For a long time my best guess was somewhere in the Midwest, but recently we caught an episode in which the gang was on their way to a rock festival, and when they stopped to ask for directions, said they were looking for Interstate 5. Well, I-5 puts them on the west coast, possibly the Pacific Northwest but more likely California.

    What? You were expecting something more serious?

  • Queer Eye

    With the addition of Bravo to our cable channel lineup, I’ve noticed that Queer Eye for the Straight Guy is suddenly on at our house quite frequently.

    Now, of course, I think there should be a new, similarly-themed series: “Straight Eye for the Queer Guy.” That kind of show would just write itself, I think.

  • Bye bye, UPN

    As reported on bend.com and confirmed on our local cable provider BendCable’s website, BendCable has dropped UPN entirely. Apparently BendCable didn’t want the competition from a new UPN-affiliate that’s scheduled to launch here in January 2004. So, they got pissy and as of now, UPN channel 12 is off the air.

    The only show I watch on UPN is Enterprise, so it’s not like I’m missing out on a lot of TV, but what bothers me is that this is the kind of stupid shit BendCable does. This is a provider that doesn’t even offer basic channels like FX or Comedy Central, and up until a few years ago didn’t even offer MTV.

  • Not Your Father’s Sesame Street

    When you have young children, you get exposed to a lot of children’s television programming, well beyond the Muppets and Sesame Street of yesteryear. Most of these are good, educational, well thought-out and well written shows, perfect for kids, but if you watch too many of them as an adult—as I do—you begin wish you could apply some grown-up sensibilities to them. I’m going to do that here.

    Read on if you like; if you’re not a parent, you may wonder just what the hell I’m talking about. (more…)

  • Air Time

    More on the California governor race. In order to be fair, federal rules dictate that all candidates have to have equal air time on television, and since there’s a huge disparity between the screen time someone like, say, Arnold Schwarzenegger has and someone like, say, Larry Flynt has, cable TV networks have made the decision to pull Arnold’s movies. There’s a story about it here.

    As you might imagine, I have several thoughts on this.

    First of all, nationwide cable TV networks are pulling Arnold’s movies? Seems unfair to punish the rest of the nation for the consequences of California’s governor race. I wonder how long it will take for some litigation-happy idiot outside of California to try to sue the SciFi Channel for this.

    But then, wouldn’t it be much more amusing (and California-like) if instead of pulling Arnold’s movies, they gave equal amounts of screen time to the other candidates? Then there would be nothing on California TV except candidates… imagine the horror:

    • Hours and hours of Diff’rent Strokes for Gary Coleman;
    • For Larry Flynt, there’d either have to be a Hustler Channel (is there one already?), or just show The People vs. Larry Flynt over and over again—though no doubt some Californians would vote for him thinking they were electing Woody Harrelson;
    • Arianna Huffington would be on the air flaming all the other candidates and progressively moving closer to a “gang audit” (in the immortal words of Dennis Miller) by various government agencies;
    • Porn. Courtesy of Mary Carey. This might not be so horrible.

    If you’re interested, the certified list of candidates is here (PDF). All 135 of them.

  • Ruh-roh

    Quick quiz: who around here doesn’t like Scooby Doo?

    Odd that a cartoon that first aired before I was even born can be so popular, yet it’s even a favorite of my three-year-old daughter, Kaitlyn. And of course, it’s on my list of favorite cartoons, too. Well, the “classic” stuff, anyway.

    Nostalgia. What’s it good for, eh?

    Anyway. My definition of “classic” Scooby Doo is pretty much limited to the original series, “Scooby Doo, Where are You?“. Some of “The New Scooby Doo Movies” are amusing (these aired right after the original series in the early ’70’s), but some are really bad (badly drawn/animated, badly conceived) and it’s hard to reconcile them into “canon” anyway. Anything after that I could just throw out— especially anything dealing with Scrappy Doo. Ugh.

    (Ironically, Kaitlyn loves Scrappy Doo. I wonder if she’ll grow out of that?)

    I’ve gotten a big kick out of the newer animated movies, though (especially the first of them, Scooby Doo on Zombie Island). They fit perfectly into my notion of what the Scooby “universe” should be, give or take. Well-done and modern art and animation, too.

    So, I was excited today to find out that there’s a new Scooby Doo cartoon series on TV— the first in at least 12 years— that seems to fit canonically into the Scoobyverse between the original series and the new movies: “What’s New, Scooby Doo?” It just came out last September on the WB. Looks to be the same animation artwork/style from the new movies. And it’s going to be airing on Cartoon Network starting the end of this month. Is that cool or what?

    (Jeez… I am such a geek… but I couldn’t resist.)

  • Screech

    A couple of weekends ago we caught a marathon of “I Love the 80s” on VH1 and spent what seemed like a good portion of the day watching it and laughing at all the quintessential ’80s things we remember. And it had to happen.

    1989.

    The year that “Saved by the Bell” debuted on NBC.

    You’re wondering why that matters. You’re probably thinking of not visiting my site again.

    This is significant because of a certain theory I have about that show.

    And I’m not talking about “The New Class” or “The College Years,” no way. (Although “The College Years” did continue with Zack, Screech, Slater, and eventually Kelly.) No, the original series is where it’s at.

    It’s only with the original series, anyway, that my theory comes into play.

    Here it comes.

    Bear in mind, this is a phenomenon that I not only experienced firsthand, but have witnessed affecting others as well. Basically, it stems from this: whenever “Saved by the Bell” comes on, you can’t NOT watch it.

    Doesn’t matter if you were aimlessly channel surfing, or watching a different show: if for some reason “Saved by the Bell” appears on your TV, you are compelled to watch it until the end. Invariably. I’ve even had people that I didn’t know watched the show confirm this. My theory? At best, there’s a subliminal element to the original series of “Saved by the Bell” that compels you to watch.

    At worst? I shudder to think.

    Some links for your gratification: