#rip don knotts

[duranduratulsa]

Now showing on DuranDuranTulsa's Television 📺 Showcase...The Andy Griffith Show: Alcohol And Old Lace (1961) on classic DVD 📀! #tv #television #comedy #sitcom #theandygriffithshow #alcoholandoldlace #andygriffith #RIPAndyGriffith #DonKnotts #ripdonknotts #RonHoward #FrancesBavier #elinordonahue #howardmcnear #HalSmith #60s #DVD

#tv #television #comedy #sitcom #the andy griffith show #alcohol and old lace #andy griffith #rip andy griffith #don knotts #rip don knotts #ron howard #frances bavier #Elinor Donahue #Howard McNear #hal smith #60s #dvd #duran duran tulsa's television showcase #duran duran tulsa #Spotify

[cornsword]

I used to lead the kind of lifestyle where the Super Mario Bros. Super Show came up in conversation a lot, usually focusing on one of three subjects that also represent 100% of internet discourse about the show:

1) Mario being played by pro wrestler and music video veteran Louis Albano

2) Sometimes legend of Zelda was on it and those cartoons are a source of more enduring affection than the show itself

3) The end credits song where Mario tells you how to “do the Mario,” which is supposed to be a sort of dance but in my wife’s words “that’s just describing Him Walking.”

I’ve never met someone else who wanted to talk about Luigi.

For those who don’t know, he was a Canadian named Jack Westelman, aka Danny Wells, and he’a one of those guys who was in two episodes of everything in the 70s. The Mario show was a smash hit but it was only his second breakout show, after playing the bartender Charlie on The Jeffersons. He’d go on to narrate the HBO produced show Crashbox and play the king on Potatoes and Dragons.

He also made movies and while he didn’t usually have big roles he was in a lot of real hits, including ding Gus, The Shaggy DA, and Private Benjamin. He was in a Mel Brooks movie (Life Stinks). He was in Magnolia.

For a while there he was the face of K-Mart when that was something you’d want to be and also kmart was a going concern…

He passed away in 2013, ironically declared the Year of Luigi. Think about him a little this week, raise a glass to Charlie Day, and pour one out for “the Old Luigi.”

#mario #luigi #year of luigi #luigi mario #danny wells #super mario bros super show #mario movie #super mario bros #super mario bros movie #magnolia movie #mel brooks #don knotts #live action luigi #rip #rip luigi

[attaboyluther]

OMG such sad news!

She sadly passed away yesterday at the age of 98, Jan 11, 2023, just three days before her birthday. 😢  RIP Angel ❤️ 

Carole Cook was most known for her appearances on The Lucy Show and Here's Lucy.

She also has a part in Mayberry-ish history as she played Don Knotts' human wife in THE INCREDIBLE MR. LIMPET (1964)- his first major starring role in a movie while he was still on The Andy Griffith Show.

#films #the incredible mr. limpet #don knotts #carole cook #1960s #r.i.p. #old hollywood

[papermoonloveslucy]

RIP RAQUEL WELCH

1940-2023

Raquel Welch was born Jo Raquel Tejada in Chicago, Illinois. Her father was from Bolivia, and her mother was of English descent.  As a young actress, her first role was playing a call girl in 1964′s A House is Not a Home starring Shelley WInters, Robert Taylor, and Cesar Romero. Her first TV appearance aired that same year. 

During the 1960s, Welch soared to international fame as a sex symbol and pin-up model, disproving the popular opinion that only blondes could be sex symbols. 

“Being a sex symbol was rather like being a convict. The mind is an erogenous zone.” ~ Raquel Welch

Although she never acted opposite Lucille Ball, her name did make its way into her sitcoms.  Welch was first mentioned in “Lucy Visits Jack Benny” (1968). The Carters take a vacation rental at Jack Benny’s Palm Springs home. Benny tells Harry that his room is more expensive but that it overlooks Raquel Welch’s patio. When he learns that she sunbathes every day, miserly Harry eagerly agrees to the extra expense. Welch had three films in release in 1968: The Biggest Bundle of Them All, Bandolero, and Lady in Cement. She was also a real-life resident of Palm Springs.  

In “Lucy and Johnny Carson” (1969), Harry plans to take Lucy and the kids to the taping of an educational TV panel show titled “The Origin of Money,” which Lucy says he drools over like he’s watching Raquel Welch take a bubble bath.

In April 1970 Welch hosted her own TV special “Raquel!” Her popularity led to her becoming one of the most mentioned people on television, especially on “Here’s Lucy.” 

In “Lucy the American Mother” (1970), Craig makes a film about Lucy. When she can't seem to act natural in front of the camera, Lucy suggests he get someone else to play his mother; someone like Raquel Welch, Carol Burnett, or Don Knotts.

In “Lucy Competes with Carol Burnett” (1970) ~ Carol and Lucy have a battle of wits to see who will win the Secretary Beautiful Pageant. 

CAROL (to Lucy): “Compared to you, Tiny Tim looks like Raquel Welch.”  

The two stars will again be mentioned In “Lucy and the Drum Contest” (1970), guest star Buddy Rich says he dreams about Raquel Welch. Listening to Craig play, he tells him to hit the cymbals harder. 

RICH: “You're not Tiny Tim tip-toeing through the tulips.”  

In “Lucy the Crusader” (1970), it is Craig’s 18th birthday. 

LUCY (about Craig's birthday present): “It's something you've always wanted.”  CRAIG: “Raquel Welch?”  

It turns out to be a stereo. 

In “Lucy and Carol Burnett aka The Unemployment Follies” (1971), Carol jokingly tells Lucy that 'Carol Krausmeyer' isn't her professional name when acting – it's Raquel Welch. She looks down at her bosom and says: 

CAROL: “Ok, someone let the air out.”

This joke refers to voluptuous Welch’s ample bosom. 

In “My Fair Buzzi” (1972), Harry tries to flatter the newly-transformed Annie Whipple (Ruth Buzzi) by saying his only regret is that he's already promised to Raquel Welch.  

LUCY & WELCH 

“Will The Real Mr. Sellers...” (1969) was a psuedo documentary telefilm about the making of Sellers feature The Magic Christian. Lucy and Raquel (who was also in The Magic Christian, with Ringo Starr, above), both had cameos as themselves, but not in the same scenes. 

“The AFI Tribute To Henry Fonda” (1978) ~ Lucy and Welch are both on hand to tribute Fonda. Welch never worked with Fonda. 

“Night of 100 Stars 2″ (1985) ~ Raquel Welch (above with then husband Andre Weinfeld) was joined by Lucille Ball, Lucie Arnaz, and 97 other luminaries on the stage of Radio City Music Hall. 

“The 61st Annual Academy Awards” (1989) ~ Raquel Welch was in the audience and Lucille Ball was a presenter, her final public appearance before her death. 

Raquel Welch continued acting into 2017. She died at age 82 after a short illness. She was married four times and had two children, including actress Tahnee Welch. 

#Raquel Welch #lucille ball

[oldshowbiz]

Keene at Noon featuring Moe Howard, Daws Butler, Don Knotts, Bea Benedaret, and Rip Taylor.

#Bill Keene #Keene at Noon #regional television #KNXT

[jamieroxxartist]

RIP today, Feb 24, 2006 – #DonKnotts, American actor (b. 1924) walked on.

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Knotts)

A #Painting I painted a couple of years ago:

‘#MrFurley, (#ThreesCompany, Don Knotts)’ 2016, acrylic & oil blend on canvas, 16"x20" by @ArtistJamieRoxx #JamieRoxx (www.JamieRoxx.us) This Sold Painting is Not Available.

[oldhollywoodfilms]

Don Knotts (left), Andy Griffith, and Jim Nabors on the set of The Andy Griffith Show.

#the andy griffith show #don knotts #andy griffith #jim nabors #gomer pyle #RIP #classic TV shows

[tcm]

Andy Griffith: An Underrated Movie Star By Susan King

Andy Griffith was one of the greatest actors of the 20th century. He didn’t make the impact of his peers Marlon Brando, James Dean and Paul Newman when they all burst onto the scene in the 1950s, but Griffith demonstrated he was an actor of depth, complexity and, at times, brilliance during his 50-plus year career. His depth is especially on display in his greatest role as Lonesome Rhodes, the odious hard-living, hard-loving Arkansas drifter who becomes a television sensation in Elia Kazan’s A FACE IN THE CROWD (’57).

A dark social commentary about power and the media, A FACE IN THE CROWD is as prescient today as it was 63 years ago. It wasn’t a hit upon release but has grown in reputation over the years. And, it’s head scratching to believe that Griffith wasn’t nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for his performance.

Perhaps he’s not uttered in the same breath as a Brando because Griffith achieved his greatest success on the small screen. He starred as the gentle widower Sheriff Andy Taylor in the beloved 1960-68 sitcom The Andy Griffith Show and as the folksy but brilliant and often cantankerous attorney Ben Matlock in the 1986-95 legal eagle series Matlock. Despite his popular, genial and understated turn as Andy Taylor (who many kids thought was the best father around), Griffith didn’t even earn an Emmy nomination.

Griffith originally wanted to be a singer or a preacher but ended up teaching at a local high school after graduating from college. But the lure of performing was too great, and he left the chalkboard behind to become a comic monologist. And he was funny. Check out his most famous routine, “What It Was, Was Football” from a 1954 The Ed Sullivan Show on YouTube. He’s so believable as the backwoods rube, audiences undoubtedly thought that was Griffith’s real character.

The year of 1955 was life-changing for Griffith. He became an overnight sensation after he was cast in the lead role as the naïve Air Force Private Will Stockdale in the live TV comedy No Time for Sergeants. He’s so mirthful as the good old boy that members of the crew can be heard laughing. Later that year, he made his Broadway debut in the stage version of No Time for Sergeants earning rave reviews and a Tony nomination. It was while he was the toast of Broadway that he was approached by Oscar-winning screenwriter Budd Schulberg (ON THE WATERFRONT, ‘54) about playing Lonesome Rhodes.

Griffith told me in a 2005 L.A. Times interview that Schulberg and his mother came to see the play and soon after Griffith met the writer at a bar. Ironically, Schulberg didn’t think Griffith could handle such a ruthless character. “We were sitting there talking and drinking,” Griffith recalled. “He told me, ‘you can’t play this role.’ I had never read the script or his short story on which it was based at that time, but I just kind of envisioned the character. I said, ‘I can’t provide it to you…but I can play it.’”

Kazan also had his doubts, but quickly changed his mind when Griffith did an impression of evangelist Oral Roberts “healing” the filmmaker. “At that moment, he and Budd could see that I had a little wild side – that is, I can create a wild side. So Gadge [Kazan’s nickname] used that. He used that part of me to find the emotions of evil, the various thousands of moods that this man had.”

Kazan and Schulberg, Griffith noted, “were trying to make the social commentary that the medium and the people who control it can control the thoughts of the country and how dangerous that can be,” Griffith said. The director told Griffith to drink some whiskey for this film’s conclusion when Rhodes is unveiled as a phony and a demagogue. “They brought me a bottle of Jack Daniels Black Label,” he said. “I would shoot a little bit and drink a little bit. I thought I was great. Gadge pulled the plug around 3 o’clock. The next day he said, ‘Andy, we have to shoot most of that over again. Today, just smell the cork!’”

The 1958 film version of NO TIME FOR SERGEANTS and another 1958 service comedy, ONIONHEAD just didn’t work and bombed with both critics and audiences. “I basically struck out in Hollywood,” Griffith told me in 1993. He returned to Broadway, earning another Tony nomination for the musical version of Destry Rides Again. Griffith admitted, though, the show wasn’t very good. So, he decided to do television. The pilot for The Andy Griffith Show, which also starred Ron Howard as his young son Opie, Frances Bavier as Aunt Bee and Don Knotts as the ultra-nervous deputy Barney Fife, aired on the popular The Danny Thomas Show. The show was quickly snapped up by CBS to develop into a series.

Knotts, who won five Emmys as Fife, wasn’t in the pilot. Knotts, who appeared with Griffith in NO TIME FOR SERGEANTS, called him and said, “Don’t you need a deputy?” “I was supposed to have been the comic, the funny one,” said Griffith. “It might not have lasted even half of season that way, but when Don came on, I realized by the second episode, he should be funny, and I should play straight to him. “

Despite the fact the series was the no. 1 show, Griffith wanted to stretch his acting muscles and the series ended in 1968. But Hollywood still didn’t know what to do with him. He signed a three-picture deal with Universal, but the first film ANGEL IN MY POCKET (’69) had a devil of a time trying to find an audience and the critics were not impressed. He struck out again and returned to the small screen. In between series work, TV movies and guest spots, Griffith appeared on the big screen, most notably in the sweet nostalgic comedy HEARTS OF THE WEST (’75) with Jeff Bridges and Alan Arkin.

He finally earned an Emmy nomination in 1981 for the TV movie MURDER IN TEXAS, in which he got the opportunity to show his dramatic chops as a wealthy Texan who thinks his daughter’s new husband isn’t exactly who he appears to be. His turn in Matlock gave him a renewed popularity. Griffith was doing guest spot on TV and had just released a hymns and spirituals CD when I interviewed him in 2005. Two years later, Griffith was perfectly cast in WAITRESS (2007) as Joe, the elderly and curmudgeonly owner of a small café who had a generous and kind heart. The role fit him like a comfortable glove.

Baby boomers felt they had lost a big part of their childhood when Griffith died in 2012 at the age of 86. Ron Howard summed up what so many of his fans were feeling: “His pursuit of excellence and the joy he took in creating served generations and shaped my life. I’m forever grateful. RIP Andy.”

#Andy Griffith #Sherriff andy #Matlock #A Face in the Crowd #Budd Schulberg #classic actor #old hollywood #TCM #Turner Classic Movies #Susan King

[agoddamn]

Di pets the whatever when Syndulla rides up to him, cute

>it's a Jar-Jar episode

What a fucking mistake I made not getting a drink for this

INSTEAD OF MOVING DOOKU IS MEDITATING ON A FUCKING SIT'N'SPIN

This clone's ram horn helmet design is cool. Is he Di's captain? Wonder if he patterned them after Di. Bet he's gonna be fucking dead by the end of this, like anyone else with an interesting design

The Trade Federation... isn't allied with the Separatists? Eh?

--you know what, Star Wars politics are a fever dream in the first place, whatever

Di's robes are so patterned. Didn't realize the Jedi had loud tunics

Ah, so he's Captain Keeli. Dual pistols like Rex.

I like that the flying species has a floating table, nice touch. Just terrifying for everyone else

RIP Captain Keeli, we hardly knew ye

I love how clone helmets fly off when it's dramatically appropriate. It looks like those things pop off if you so much as sneeze

Death is just so...cheap? in this show. I'm like "dang that sucks for those guys" but I've never seen them before, will never see them again, and they got about three lines between them, all of which were very Standard Good Guy dialog. It's like the writers are going "LOOK, AREN'T I TUGGING AT YOUR HEARTSTRINGS? LOOK IT'S SAD. ALSO THEY HAD CANCER"

Chuchi is very cute. I like that the Pantorans have their own visible style; not just palettes, but things like that gold bun-cover she had before and some background females had a variant of. The arc/ring design is also echoed in the moon goddess statue

"That blockade wasn't that bad. It's how I met you, after all" People died, Anakin

So why, exactly, can't the Jedi, a group under the jurisdiction of the Senate, investigate a crime against a Senator...? Isn't this exactly like Padme's situation in AotC?

You couldn't bring back Sinube but you brought back Detective Don Knotts. Whatever, writers

Are Pantorans...Kiwi?

"How do we find him??" "Yo, where's Greedo"

Why did Ahsoka assume the kidnapped girls would be on this ship? Why wouldn't they still be on Coruscant, the planet they were taken on? It's hard to move people you're hiding, especially involuntarily

Looks like it took a lot of effort for Ahsoka to pick Chuchi up

How do you practice the mind trick??

Ahsoka says that "it's not something you can turn on and off" of using the Force to find the girls, but isn't that...exactly what it is?? In the Sinube episode she just calmed down and focused, and she was looking for someone in a much more abstract manner there

This fuckin chairman and his kids are literally better fighters--and shots--than the whole damn clone army

I'm sorry but this is so BORING, none of this shit fucking matters

Jesus Christ it's another Mandalore ep next, I'm not doing this sober

#boots watches tcw

[askmalal]

At this years Valentines Day exchange.

Me: Okay. Secret Valentine exchange this year, as agreed. Gary, you go first.

The Great Horned Rat: Okay, sure. *opens envelope* It says: “IOU, one special time out in the Warp.”

Slaanesh: *winks*

Me: You then, little sister.

Slaanesh: Oh, fine. *opens box* “It’s a box of TUMS Extreme. For ‘treatment of stomach distress*

Tyrion and Teclis: *wink*

Hashut: *opens a note, reads it, weeps*

Khorne: WHAT IS IT?

Hashut: It says, “Your army will always be legal with me, you degenerate hat fetishist.” Malal.. *sniffles* You are the best big brother -ever-.

Nurgle: Daww!!!

Me: Wasn’t me... it was.. it was Neocho.

Neocho: I don’t believe you.

Tzeentch: *opens a large box and withdraws a copy of the Sears Catalog: Warp Edition* What the hell? *flips through it* Are you kidding me, man?!

Me: What is it?

Nurgle: *peeking over Tzeentch’s shoulder* All the pages have been torn out except for the section with “plus sized armor for big and tall daemon princes.”

Tzeentch: SOMEONE has circled entries for armored sleeves, pauldrons, bicep plates, etc in big red marker. “FOR SATURNALIA THIS YEAR” is written in red crayon.

Magnus: *winks*

Tzeentch: Watch you don’t get more nipple horns, sonny boy!

Khorne: *rips open a huge, heart shaped box* OHH! YOU SHOULDN’T HAVE, SECRET VALENTINE!

Malal: Skulls?

Tzeentch: Souls?

Angron: Horn polish?

Khorne: IT’S THE COMPLETE SERIES OF “ACCORDING TO JIM!” ON DVD!!!

Nurgle: Yeah, sorry mate. They didn’t have it on Betamax or Video Disc. Forget Laser Disc, too.

Hashut: What did you get, Grandfather?

Nurgle: “Toms of Maine” Natural Deodorant.

Me: Terrible. Doesn’t work.

Nurgle: Exactly. Somebody really knows me.

Ghost of Kurze: I know a little something about never bathing.

Malal: What are we getting Fuuko?

Ghost of Kurze: Spa Day. And brain bleach to forget that whole Khorne thing.

Khorne: HEY!!

Me: My turn, I guess. *unwraps*

Gary: What did Boudicca give you?

Me: We don’t do Valentines Day. Too close to the anniversary. Just, weird, you know. Plus we both saw the martyrdom and that sort of put us off. *unwraps more*

Perturarbo: I really hope you like it, Malal.

Me: Are you just going to smash it with a hammer?

Perturarbo: No. I promise. That joke gets old. Also, you could kill me with a word.

Me: True that. *opens box* Oh... you really earned some brownie points here, kid.

Perturarbo: Yes, Dark Father? You are pleased?

Me:Oh yes. I’m going to burn this thing alive over and over again.

Tzeentch: What is it?

Malal: Nuffle, take it out of the box for me.

Nuffle: Eerm...

Me:You want -I- should touch it?

Nuffle: *mutters, crosses the room and withdraws an orange stained blond toupe* Eewww!

Toupe: *screams* PRESIDENTIAL HARASSMENT!

Me: And just a hint of sapience. Oh... the pain it will feel. Oh, the horror. What do you want?

Perturarbo: Oh. Nothing. I live to serve.

Me: Out with it.

Peturarbo: Five minutes alone in a room with the soul of every person who thought “Brexit” was a good idea.

Me: Consider it done. Leave some for my Catachan Fire Toads.

Perturarbo: As you wish!

Nuffle: What do I get?

Malal: Our tolerance. Also, the complete Don Knotts movie collection. In Esperanto.

Nuffle: YAY! Togetherness!

Nurgle: Already a bad idea.

#malice #askmalal #horus heresy #malal #warhammer30k #warhammer40k #chaos gods #ask me questions #age of sigmar #warhammer the old world #gaming humor

[cuddyclothes]

Don Knottsferatu

#mayberry rip #don knotts

[duranduratulsa]

Now showing on DuranDuranTulsa's Television Showcase 📺...The Andy Griffith Show: Bringing Up Opie (1961) on classic DVD 📀! #tv #television #comedy #sitcom #theandygriffithshow #bringingupopie #andygriffith #RIPAndyGriffith #DonKnotts #ripdonknotts #RonHoward #FrancesBavier #ripfrancesbavier #elinordonahue #HalSmith #riphalsmith #60s #DVD #durandurantulsa #durandurantulsastelevisionshowcase

#tv #television #comedy #sitcom #the andy griffith show #bringing up opie #andy griffith #rip andy griffith #don knotts #rip don knotts #ron howard #frances bavier #rip frances bavier #Elinor Donahue #hal smith #rip hal smith #dvd #60s #duran duran tulsa's television showcase #duran duran tulsa #Spotify

[anotheruserwithnoname]

I hate doing RIP posts, but people I grew up watching on TV and in movies keep leaving us. Proving these sad events come in threes, comes the news (following the deaths of Peggy Lipton and Doris Day) that Tim Conway has passed away at the age of 85. I haven’t seen a cause, however he apparently had been diagnosed with dementia last year.

Conway’s work on the Carol Burnett Show was what I’ll always remember him for. He was a gifted physical comic and was a great ad-libber and the best part was his tendency to make his fellow actors break out into laughter - they often left these bloopers in the final broadcast because they were so funny. The best one, though, was never aired - during a skit Conway started improvising a story about conjoined elephants and kept building on it to ridiculous degrees. 

Outside the Carol Burnett Show his work tended to be less respected, though he made several popular films with the late Don Knotts in the 1970s, including the Apple Dumpling Gang and its sequel. He first came to stardom in the mid-1960s as one of the co-stars of the WW2-based sitcom McHale’s Navy, and in the late 1980s he gained newfound popularity with a series of direct-to-VHS comedy shorts in which he played a character called Dorf.

RIP, Tim. I’m sure you’re giving Harvey Korman giggle fits again as we speak.

#tim conway #carol burnett show

[adultswim2021]

Robot Chicken #18: “Operation Rich in Spirit” | June 27, 2005 – 12:00AM | S01E17

I can’t believe this, but I didn’t hate this episode! I didn’t laugh, either, but this episode was okay.

First big sketch is “Codename: The Abortionator”, a satire of violent Grand Theft Auto type video games where you can go around doing sociopathic shit. There’s one joke in this that I laughed at, where it advertises that you can have sex with your hot cousin or her mentally disabled friend. Baaaaaaasically a rape joke, but I laughed, lord help me. Robot Chicken will often do DARK ~tWiStEd~ humor, but it’s usually of a particular stripe, very boyish and usually involves a gory movie-like spectacle, but this gag transcends their usual sensibilities, I think. I respect it. Episode is off to an okay start.

There’s a bunch of short/channel change sketches that I appreciated. A scene where a guy sneezes and it causes his brains to blow out the back of his skull. There’s one where the nerd character is just dancing really well. I don’t know man, a basically saw most of the sketches in this and thought to myself “this doesn’t piss me off”. One short bit is about a women’s soccer player celebrating by going topless and then ripping the flesh off her torso so her top half is a perfect skeleton. It’s sorta great. Another sketch where a guy tries to escape a happy ending at a sleazy massage parlor wasn’t that funny, but I thought it was fairly well done animation-wise.

Other sketches I really have nothing much else to say about were strong by Robot Chicken standards. One where America and Japan both get into a war by way of the butterfly effect was fun. A sketch where a secret agent is at the wrong home economics class and they kill the teacher. I don’t know. Maybe it was the mood I’m in. Maybe all it takes is the absence of G.I. Joe/Transformers humor for me to be okay with Robot Chicken?

The last bit is a Scooby Doo parody, crossed with Friday the 13th. It’s not so bad. It does include the real Don Knotts & Phyllis Diller as special guest stars, which I like. The entire cast from the Scooby Doo live-action theatrical films voice their respective Scooby Doo roles, which I guess is sorta neat. I for some reason was really able to pick out Linda Cardellini’s voice as Velma and found out the rest from the wiki. Not particularly funny, but like I said with most of these sketches, they didn’t piss me off.

When I get done writing up Adult Swim episodes, I rank them on a giant list, and I decided for ease of ranking that I’d simply lump all the Robot Chickens together. They ARE individually ranked among one another, basically treating it like a whatever-way tie and using the strongest sketch as a tie breaker. But I liked this episode just enough that it very well might actually depart the rest of it’s brethren and be ranked a few notches above the rest of them. Maybe! 

CONTACTING GHOST PLANET...

Usually (not tonight) Robot Chicken takes a lot out of me, and I need to unwind with a pre-Adult Swim Space Ghost. Here that is:

Space Ghost Coast to Coast #15: “Fire Drill” | June 2, 1995 | S02E04

Listen: I forgot to say this for episode #14--I’ve previously pointed out that I use the on-screen numbering system that appears at the end of most episodes of Space Ghost Coast to Coast. Please note note there IS no episode #13, presumably because it’s unlucky. Thanks.

Fire Drill is a real watershed episode, and the creators of the show consider this to be the first episode to resemble the more modern iteration of the show. There’s a lot of stuff in this one that the first season of the show only flirted with briefly. An emphasis on awkward interview moments, weirdly contentious moments between Space Ghost and the guest, George Lowe basically just doing his own voice for Space Ghost as well as an extended use of both him and Donnie Osmand with their guards completely down, talking in what they assumed would be outtakes. Here Donny openly preps for the show, trying to remember the characters names and stuff (this could be seen as payback for Donny acting like a big shot knowing the nature of the show and trying to appear better than it). As for Space Ghost, they used audio of George simply complaining about not getting any thank you notes for sending gift baskets to the Cartoon Network.

I really can’t write about this one without just humorlessly listing all the funny bits in it, from “you’re bringing me down, man!” to Zorak yelling out “living in a shotgun shack” to disrespectfully finish David Byrne’s sentence. But this has one of my favorite endings ever: Space Ghost solemnly asks Donnie Osmand “where do we go when we die?” cut to Donny kinda nervously shaking his head slightly. Then there’s an alarm bell: “FIRE DRILL!”. The writers get down on themselves for their cop-out endings, but that’s a goddamn great one.

MAIL BAG

(this is in reference to yesterday’s mail bag)

ball-draining is better. simply is. Hey, Kids, Drain Your Balls, So You Don't Get Cancer - Tom Green.

First of all, I owe this person an apology, whom I referred to as Brandon. That’s because I thought it might’ve been president Joe Biden, who I’ve nicknamed that. Has my nickname caught on yet among the true patriots?? I’m waaaaittting

Also, a friend of mine pointed out that I did in fact tweet out the phrase “ball draining”, which is what they were referencing. It turns out *I* was the one that fucked up the reference myself before he did. I’m so sorry. I will never forgive myself. This is the last blog post I will ever do. Goodbye kids!!!!

#space ghost coast to coast #adult swim #adultswim2021 #robot chicken

[analogscum]

GIRL FROM STARSHIP VENUS (1975, d. Derek Ford)

Last year, I went to a screening of the ultra gory bizarro slasher classic Nightmare at the Drafthouse. The film was introduced by Mike Hunchback, a name that should be familiar to genre fans, especially in the tri-state area. During his opening remarks, Mike made a point that I thought was especially trenchant: when it comes to low-budget cinema, we must judge the film based on its merits. After all, not every film is trying to be Citizen Kane or Vertigo, so why should those be the water marks that every film has to meet? It’s something that I really try and hold true here at the site, giving each film I watch a fair shake based simply on what it set out to accomplish, and whether or not it succeeded in doing so. All that being said, I seriously think that today’s film, 1975’s Girl From Starship Venus, is the worst film I’ve watched for this site. I hated every second of it, I frowned throughout its entire 81 minute runtime (which felt more like 881 minutes), and seriously considered doing something I’ve never ever done in the history of ANALOG SCUM: giving up on a movie. Turning it off and never looking back. But I plowed through for you, my dear Scumbags. I’m not going to say it was worth it, because it wasn’t. So, if nothing else, take this review as a dire warning. Stay away.

We open in space. The music and the narration blatantly rips off Star Trek. I suppose this was supposed to be “charming.” A spaceship lands in the Picadilly Circus section of London. It looks like a silver pinball. It lands in a puddle, to the consternation of the commander. Then it lands in another puddle, because comedy. They refer to Earth as “Dom” and call all earthlings “Doms,” please don’t ask me why. They send out one of their own, named the Surveyor, who takes the form of a nekkid blonde buh-buh-buh-baaaaaabe. The Surveyor wanders around in the nude for awhile, and ends up at some seedy massage parlor where everyone else is nude as well. Two of the ladies who work there assume that her clothes have been stolen, I’m not sure how, because the Surveyor just stands there, totally mute and dead-eyed. The entire film, she and the commander on the ship are communicating telepathically, because it’s cheaper to make a movie where you record most of the dialogue in post. The Surveyor has the most comical German accent you’ve ever heard, she almost sounds like Elmer Fudd. Anyway, the ladies give her some clothes and a five pound note and tell her to beat feet, so she does.

She wanders around the Soho district, which was basically London’s equivalent to 42nd Street at the time, nothing but porno theaters and dirty magazine shops. For some reason, she’s able to talk now, because whatever. From here the movie establishes its tedious formula: she just walks around, reporting back to the ship in voiceover about what she’s seeing, and of course she doesn’t understand anything, so it’s sooooooooo hilarious. Every time she encounters a man, that man inevitably reacts with wild gesticulations and facial contortions straight out of a Tex Avery cartoon, as if they’ve never seen a woman before. It is exhausting. These old pervs make Don Knotts look like Daniel Day-Lewis. Eventually she meets a charming dressmaker (speaking of Daniel Day-Lewis…) who takes her in, solely because he’s a Good Samaritan, either that or he’s totally oblivious to the obvious signs that the Surveyor wants to engage in “refueling,” which is what she calls sex, and please kill me now.

The bulk of the movie is dedicated to a long sequence involving a lecherous old creep who picks her up at a wedding she’s crashed (don’t ask). They go to a strip club, where she drinks alcohol for the first time, and it turns her skin green, and her hair into an afro. He understandably freaks out, but then HE gets kicked out of the strip club, not the lifeless automaton who has suddenly turned a different color. No one seems to notice THAT. Apparently that wasn’t a deal breaker though, because they end up back at his place anyway. His flat is full of balloons, because he’s freak nasty. Were the makers of HBO’s Real Sex out there somewhere taking notes? Anyway, he’s like, you’re so dumb and weird that you must be a virgin, so let’s do this damn thing. But before they can, the commander puts up some kind of force field around her, so when he tries to slip it in, he gets shocked so bad he’s thrown across the room. He blames this on a “Japanese sex toy,” even though a minute ago he thought that she was a virgin. So he tries again, and of course it happens again, only this time he blames it on “women’s lib.” Again, please kill me now.

Some more stupid shit happens, and eventually she’s arrested for trying to steal a baby, because she was trying to figure out it it was “a deformed dwarf” or “a deformed midget.” Please make it stop. In the jail, a wacky German doctor tries to take her pulse, but of course she has none because she’s an alien or whatever, so the doctor goes apeshit and is screeching about how she’s about to die and tries to give her CPR, but the guards walk in and think that he’s sexually assaulting her, aren’t mistakes like this just the height of comedy? Anyway, the handsome dressmaker bails her out for some reason. Oh hell, I’ll tell you why: so they can fuck.

This is what the whole movie has been leading up to: because of the incident with the German doctor, the commander gives the Surveyor human feelings, which in this movie just means that she becomes uncontrollably horny. She keeps dropping, not even hints, just straight up propositions to this handsome dressmaker, but he’s totally oblivious, even when she invites him to take a bath with her. He thinks she wants him to cook her some eggs, because misunderstandings are hilaaaaaaaarious. So basically the last fifteen minutes of the movie are her totally naked and writhing around in pleasure before she and this dumb dumb finally do the deed, and the entire time the commander is like, hey stop that, this isn’t part of the mission, I’m a big dorky nerd who hates sex, and it goes on and on and on and on until finally the movie ends. Hallelujah.

So, in the spirit of judging a movie based solely on its merits, fuck Girl From Starship Venus. Fuck it straight into the sun. I despise this movie. The comedy is horrendous; I got more laughs out of Breaking the Waves. The acting is appalling; nothing but obnoxious over the top mugging mixed with dead eyed stares. Yes, there is a lot of nudity, but it’s almost impossible to enjoy with that grating, nerd-ass voiceover droning on endlessly on top of it. The music…actually isn’t bad. It’s on the fun side of cheesy. OK, so that’s one thing. Anyway, this movie has never come out on DVD or Blu-Ray. Girl From Starship Venus only exists today as a very rare VHS, and if you ask me, that’s how it should stay. Mankind doesn’t deserve much good these days, but we certainly don’t deserve the misery that is this movie. Given the choice, I’d happily take an anal probe.

#analogscum #girfromstarshipvenus #thesexplorer #derekford #1975 #sexploitation #comedy #softcore #exploitation #cult #cultmovies #vhs #vhsisnotdead #vhsishappiness #bekindrewind #feedyourvcr #tapehead #tapeheads #scifi

[annoyingtidalwavesalad]

The Cannonball Run 2 (1984).mp4 from Patrice De Bruyne on Vimeo.

Cannonball Run II est un film américano-hong-kongais réalisé par Hal Needham, sorti en 1984. Il s'agit de la suite de "The Cannonball Run 1" réalisée trois ans auparavant. L'histoire est toute aussi basique : Humilié d'avoir échoué au fameux Cannonball de l'année précédente, le père du cheikh ordonne à son fils d'organiser une nouvelle course automobile et de la remporter. Les fidèles cannonbalers et cannonbaleuses ainsi que de nouveaux concurrents répondent présent à l'appel de la prestigieuse chevauchée où tous les coups sont permis et qui peut rapporter un joli magot d'un million de dollars (ce que touche Burt Reynold par jour de tournage, tout comme pour le Cannonball 1). La séquence d'introduction est calquée sur le film précédent et quasi la même brochette d'actrices et d'acteurs est de retour... Burt Reynolds, J.J. McClure, Dom DeLuise, Victor Prinzim, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Morris Fenderbaum, Shirley MacLaine, Marilu Henner, Jamie Farr, Telly Savalas, Jack Elam, Richard Kiel, Arnold Charles Nelson Reilly, Don Canneloni, Alex Rocco, Tony Henry Silva, Slin Susan Anton, Jill Catherine Bach, Abe Vigoda, Jackie Chan, Tony Danza, Doug Mc Clure, Mel Tillis, Ricardo Montalbán, Frank Sinatra, George Lindsey, Tim Conway, Sid Caesar, Foster Brooks, Louis Nye, Don Knotts et Fred Dryer. Dernière apparition au cinéma pour Frank Sinatra et Dean Martin. RIP ! Pourtant de nouveau convié à participer au second volet, Roger Moore justifia son absence en affirmant qu'il ne trouverait plus aussi amusant d'incarner ce personnage parodique, néanmoins, le comédien avouera bien plus tard avoir regretté sa décision sachant que Frank Sinatra apparaissait dans le film. Contractuellement lié avec le studio Warner Bros, Jackie Chan fut contraint d'apparaître dans le second volet de la saga... Cannonball Baker a établi le premier record de New York à Los Angeles dans les années '20 avec un temps de 60 heures pour les 3000 miles. Lorsque le Congrès a castré les muscle cars à gros moteurs des années '60 avec des lois sur les émissions de smog et une limite de vitesse générale de 55 mph, Brock Yates a inauguré le très illégal "Cannonball Baker Sea-to-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash" en 1971. La star du Grand Prix des États-Unis Dan Gurney a ramené le temps de 60 heures à 35 heures 54 minutes et le cascadeur hollywoodien Needham qui avait déjà pris part à un Cannonball avec une ambulance sur vitaminée, a continué à faire les Cannonball Run et beaucoup d’argent ! Puis avec cette suite, dans laquelle l’ancien Hollywood 'Rat Pack' constitué de Sinatra, Martin, Davis et MacLaine sont réunis pour la première fois depuis Ocean Eleven (celui de 1960). Dans ce second opus, il y a toujours des blagues religieuses, des blagues mafieuses, des blagues sur les gros seins, des blagues de karaté, des blagues jaws et des blagues sur les flics... Il existe un troisième opus (le 3) à la série, mais c'est un total navet indigeste... Pour résumer, disons que c’est un long trajet assez court...