This week… in 1987 it’s Diane’s last call on Cheers while The Cosby Show gives us a first look at A Different World. In 1997, we discover The Fifth Element and save some smile time for The Simpsons Spin-off Showcase. 2007 feels like 28 Weeks Later as the zombie series gets a sequel, cars have a weird week on reality TV, and David Jafee has a weird PS3 debut.
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Overcast | RSS
Get the latest episode of Thirty Twenty Ten Games Edition, only on Patreon!
I know how this is going to sound, but…it’s kind of unfortunate that Hanson’s just got kinda brushed over in this episode. “MMMBop” is nothing special, but after their one hit, Hanson would just kinda…keep going. And eventually they turned into a pretty great band. My favorite song of theirs is “Thinking ‘Bout Somethin’,” and its video (with its Blues Brothers homage and Weird Al) always bring a smile to my face:
I’m going to turn 30 this week….
I was born Mother’s Day May 10th, 1987. My mother told me that the doctor thought I was a girl, because girls were supposedly more relaxed and had lower heart rates than boys prior to birth. The water broke on the 9th, but since I was so mellow, I ended up staying in for a whole extra day, so my mother went out to shop for more baby clothes, and got me a extra pink onesie for “just in case”, even though she had a gut feeling (pun intended, Dave) that I was going to be a boy.
Also, she had nicknamed me “Spud” while I was in utero….I guess, because I looked like a potato? So, Chris isn’t the only person with a food nickname.
Yo Michael Jackson’s Ghosts is great music wise. The effects are good, (other than 1 or 2 cgi spots) and as for “scary” factors, it’s a bit like when WWE of the modern age tries to do anything hardcore from the attitude era (you can tell they’re holding back a bit.) Overall though, just like Moonwalker I’d recommended at least a one time watch. Arguably it’s the “longest music video ever” but it’s sort of up to debate. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pW9JYCK0GxI
Not only was I the one person watching Acceptable TV every week, but I own it on Amazon video. It was taken down a few years ago and is no longer available ANYWHERE nor was it ever released on DVD. You couldn’t even find it as a torrent until one surfaced in 2015. It has some brilliant sketches and should be seen if you’re a fan of Community or Rick and Morty.
Semi-off-topic but since it came up, I am incredibly excited for Valerian. The comic it’s based on, Valerian et Laureline, is one of the more successful French/Belgian comics ever. It’s gorgeous, endlessly weird and just philosophical enough to be interesting. As a bonus, Pierre Christin (who drew it) did a lot of the production art for Fifth Element, so it’s clearly something that had a lot of influence on Besson’s SF vision. There’s also a Franco-Japanese cartoon a la Cities of Gold which is on Crunchyroll.
Was the Family Matters episode the same one with the 3D effect? I remember that TGIF had us use 3D effects especially on Sabrina.
ABC had a whole week of 3d for their sitcoms. Only reason I ever tuned into Ellen to see her 3d thing. It was in the intro and then me and my younger brother watched the rest of the episode hoping for more. Nope.
Oh, one other thing: 28 Days Later Aftermath isn’t really a movie. It was a tie-in comic published by IDW that got a DVD release as one of those shit-tastic motion comics that were big 10 years ago.
I haven’t gotten through the whole episode yet, but I wanted to comment on the Lisa Bonet/Cosby thing. This is the second time Chris has attributed Lisa Bonet moving to A Different World as being “banished” by Cosby because of Angel Heart. Given everything we know about Cosby now it puts everything from back then in a different light (Cosby Show and A Different World were two of my favorite shows from back then, but they’re forever tainted now), but in this case I don’t think it tracks.
A Different World was a show that starred Lisa Bonet and revolved around her character. I don’t think that’s a punishment or banishment in any shape or form. It was a huge boost to her career. Whatever the fallout between her and Cosby due to Angel Heart, i don’t think that show was a consequence.
Rather, look at a year later, when Bonet got married to Lennie Kravitz and then became pregnant. She left her own show after the first season (A Different World went on with the supporting cast, similar to how Valerie became Valerie’s Family after Valerie Harper was fired), and then returned sporadically to the Cosby Show later. “Denise” left college, came home for a bit, and went to Africa to find herself while Lisa Bonet had her baby. Then when “Denise” returned to the Cosby Show, she had a husband and step daughter Olivia (Raven Simone). Then she was ultimately fired in the last season after a final falling out with Cosby.
I love the first 2/3s of Fifth Element, up until the Opera scene. Then it turns into generic action schlock and 22 year old me thought the Fifth Element being love was the stupidest thing ever. The soundtrack though, is amazing, and I used to listen to it while playing Descent all the time!
Someone already nailed the fifth element diva song, a hot Mormon mom from utah and it happened more than 8 years ago. https://youtu.be/bgo0CDL6bd0
I have a funny anecdote about Fifth Element. My sister named her cat Leeloo after Milla Jovovich’s character from the movie. One time we were driving around town and saw a car with a giant Batman symbol decal on the back windshield, and my sister kind of derisively says “Psh, nerd.” To which I responded “Sarah, you named your car after a character from a B rate sci-fi movie, you do NOT get to call someone with a Batman sticker on their card a nerd!”
There’s an episode of Futurama called “A Bicyclops Built For Two” that makes a lot of great Married… With Children references. Of course, Katy Sagal is the voice of Leela, and in the episode she thinks she’s found the only other alien of her species in the universe. She moves to her supposed homeworld and agrees to marry him, and the episode turns into an extended Married… With Children parody, with Leela dressing and talking like Peggy while the other cyclops, Alkazar (voiced by the incomparable Dave Herman, AKA Michael Bolton from Office Space) asks to be called “Al” and turns into an Al Bundy-esque slob. The kicker is that the episode ends like the Married… With Children finale, with Leela’s wedding with Alkazar being called off at the last moment when Fry and Bender discover that not only is Alkazar not actually a cyclops but a shape shifting alien, but he’s also been cheating on Leela with various other weird looking aliens.
On The Ex, I actually really like this movie. Besides being one of the (apparently) few people that actually likes Zach Braff, I though the movie was overall pretty funny. But more than that, the resolution to the movie’s central problem is remarkably progressive in how it handles family structure. The core conflict comes from Zach Braff’s inability to get along with a guy from work (or do well at his job at all), as well as Amanda Peet’s struggle to manage the newborn baby at home. And the way it all gets resolved is we realize that Zach Braff’s character is just better at dealing with the baby and enjoys it more, whereas Amanda Peet’s character misses her job as a lawyer. So they agree to swap roles, with Braff being a stay-at-home dad and Peet working to provide for the family. The way it all demonstrates that while a more traditional family structure works for some people, forcing it can make matters worse when that’s just not the personalities involved. I was pretty flabbergasted at how well it demonstrated that point, it being one of the only mainstream movies outside of The Incredibles to really deconstruct traditional gender roles in a family unit.
Am I the only one who despised the Simpsons Spinoff Showcase? I thought it was fucking terrible and the worst non clip show of the great run of the Simpsons to me. Would figure a few more people would share my opinion but alas.
I had a lot to say about the fifth element and how i like everything about it except the ending and how i discovered every woman i met who liked the movie loved the opera singing scene. But… I just feel like I’m typing into the nothingness. Like no one reads these, cares or that my comments add nothing and have no real or significant impact. okay bye.
I know the album was only mentioned in passing but, MELVINS.
That is all.
A mention of hockey is basically my bat signal and being from Connecticut and all, I needed to talk about the Whale!!
A few things about the Whalers. Their logo is probably the best designed in all of sports. The use of negative space to create an H is beautiful and there’s a reason hipsters rock it to this day. Here is John Hodgman gushing about it’s design (https://youtu.be/OTZkzdD77Bk). On a more personal note, the actual designer, Peter Good, is based out of my hometown. He’s incredibly nice though kinda miffed about the whole thing since he doesn’t get residuals from the NHL, who still sell merch with the logo.
Furthermore, Whalers fandom largely still exists 20 years on. Forums are always littered with unsourced rumors about the Whalers coming back any day now. As recently as this year there were news articles about pouching the New York Islanders, since it looks like they’re getting kicked out of Brooklyn (sorry Dave), or pouching the Carolina Hurricanes back.
I know I’ve rambled for a bit but I could go on for ages about the Clusterfuck that was the Whalers departure. Instead here is Casey Kasem saying Bitch as Chris requested (https://youtu.be/SdNlDjcbiV8?t=37m55s)
I remember the Sam-Dianne break up very well, but I’m pretty sure that’s from the syndication rather than from the first run. Cheers was part of the line-up of 80’s sitcoms that followed the Disney Afternoon where I lived so I probably saw the entire run of Cheers and Nightcourt multiple times. Looking back though; I completely did not get most of those adult oriented sitcoms and was probably way too young to being watching them.