Rugrats: This episode is just called Baseball

Rugrats

         Season 1 "Rugrats" is a strange beast and really was it's own thing to what the show would do in peak seasons 2 and 3.  One of the episode formats that seemed to die after season 1 was the ones where Tommy would be somewhere, go off on his own and random stuff just happens. Tommy goes to a restaurant, causes chaos, nobody notices and then he goes home.  Tommy goes inside a mail bag causes chaos at  the post office then goes home,  Grandpa Lou takes Tommy to the grocery store, Tommy has a goal to get Reptar cereal, causes havoc and leaves with the cereal.  That kind of goes away after season 1.  

                As I want to write about a baseball theme at the start of baseball season (when this is being published) I  wanted to write about  season 1, Episode 5b : Baseball. I like the title, it's simple, snappy, easy on eyes.  I will write about it's more famous partner episode in the future. This episode aired on September 8, 1991. 

            I do love how Rugrats episodes could start with something looks totally like something else then becomes what it really is. A pretty much small example of how the show was about imagination of the babies as they saw the world then the world itself being shown.  Also that Tommy's toy boat is a Gillian's Island reference. Grandpa Loud is listening to K-OLD radio, because old people like radio or something.  He wins a phone in radio contest with the best question I've ever heard. The prize is tickets to a baseball game.  He's going to take Tommy and Stu to the game. 

          Because of the episode's format and like many season 1 episodes, it's very simple in what it's doing.  I do wonder if Lou and or Stu decided to buy Tommy teamwear, or they already had that stuff. Tommy has a balloon with the team mascot on it, and he's not interested in the sport of baseball.  (Darn youth of Today, focused on their fancy balloons instead of baseball, sad)  He saves it from floating away. That was once just to make sure that the episode is messing with us.  

         There's also the baseball from the radio contest named Bucky Majors. He has heavy bats , this is to show that he's either very strong or pumped full of steroids, it is 1991. He also batted hard enough to shred a baseball. Tommy's balloon ,this time does float away and Tommy has one mission.  I do like the timing of the baseball announcer with the balloon. Tommy goes to see the mascot, maybe he has a new balloon and ends up on the baseball field. Stu and Lou are distracted and think a stuffed bear is Tommy. (Typical) 

         He ends up in a popcorn thing and funny enough the man doesn't notice his thing is heavier. I do admire that they didn't so a silly score on the baseball game and kept it 1-0 through before the 9th inning.  Tommy's balloon apparently doesn't want to go in the sky so he's able to follow it around and not really being noticed. If Tommy was a spy he could take 3 governments in a day. Stu and Lou fell asleep and were awakened by Tommy pressing an organ's peddle. 

          Didi comes home and she gets the note that the guy are the game, to turn on Channel 2 to see the game to hope to see them in the stands.  Well she gets a different viewing as Tommy grabs his balloon but then falls, he ditches the balloon for the baseball that was hit and Bucky Majors ends up catching a baby and a ball. (It's out!)  Didi faints. Stu and Lou realize that the baby he caught was Tommy. Spike has my favorite reaction to seeing Tommy, he licks the TV screen. Then it ends with press stuff and Lou talking to Bucky about real baseball and stuff. 

            This episode doesn't have much Tommy talking, it's very light on him saying anything. He says bear alot, some mutterings, some woah, and ahs, but nothing really being said from him. He doesn't even say balloon.  He also doesn't go around and unintentionally mess up anything this episode either. The only real chaotic thing was walking on the peddles. The biggest thing in the episode is Tommy falling from the sky and thankfully being caught. 

It's OUT!  Copyright Paramount

          I do like the depiction of a baseball game here. There's the announcers who do seem to have to find ways to fill time, but aren't really there for the show to make any out loud funny jokes. I do like their interaction and slight awkwardness. Bucky Majors is a straight forward baseball player, but he does seem humble if only slightly exaggerated.   The idea of a baseball game going innings without a run is a thing that happens. That is pretty fun.  

        Stu and Lou really only lose attention of Tommy because they assumed he was still there, but they kind of forgot he had a bear with him? Where'd they think the bear went?  Later they fell asleep at the game, so yeah. There's actually not a lot of Stu and Lou talking this episode either.  Lou gets the most lines, but yeah our main characters don't talk much here. The best part was when they wake up and Stu asks questions and Lou's reaction.  It's a very watch and look at it episode to see stuff. Tommy and Spike's connection is shown at the start in the bath and later at the end where Spike likes the TV. Didi faints he's like hey it's Tommy and likes the TV. I also liked when Didi comes home he was rolling around on the floor waiting for Tommy to return. 

            It's a fun, simple episode.  They made a light plot work very well here, and it's a fun baseball episode.   

        That's it for now, tune in next time when we try to reenact this episode, hmmm going to be hard. 

                

        

"The Talk" is coming to an End

TV NEWS   CBS  Soaps Talk shows 

        CBS has announced that daytime show "The Talk" will be coming to end in December.  The show launched in 2010, after replacing daytime show "As The World Turns" which ran from 1956 to 2010. It was part of a moment where networks were clearing out soaps.  The Guiding Light was canned in 2009 and replaced by a revival of Let's Make a Deal . ABC would go on to replace two of it's soaps the announcing in 2011.  

        The Talk  was made as a lower cost alternative to making soap opera programming and gave CBS a networked daytime talk show.  In concept, the show was  CBS doing their own version of The View , a few women around a table talking about stuff.  Though, as that show became more political "The Talk" was less political but did talk about issues.  Overtime, it shifted hosts and focus, experienced controversy and weathered the pandemic.   An interesting thing it did more in 2021 was add male hosts to its panel, making it different than "The View".

            Soaps seemed to be on their way down, even more. NBC had moved their only soap Days of Our Lives to the streaming service Peacock in 2022 to make room for more news. Then a surprise news item popped up in  March 2024, CBS had already renewed Young and the Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful, but there was news that CBS was developing a new daytime soap.    

        That's a surprise because the last new soap that premiered on network TV was 1999's Passions  which ended in 2007, when NBC decided to have another another hour of The Today Show.  The Gates was the title, a soap opera about a wealthy black family.  Of course, that did mean some more speculation.  CBS had just renewed two soaps so those weren't going, this didn't say Paramount Plus, and that meant , either a game show is going or "The Talk" and then thinking, would CBS can the game shows or the weakest link- The Talk? 

            Now it seems that "The Talk" is the one that's going.  CBS hasn't announced officially more about the soap, but December end for "The Talk" seems to make it feel like a January soap premiere. This does make an interesting change as this was a soap being worked on by Procter and Gamble 15 years after a soap being made by Procter and Gamble was canceled , now the talk show that replaced that is being replaced by a soap. It's also an interesting move to make a new soap when speculation was the there could come a time ABC and CBS would either cancel their last soaps or move them to sister streaming services. 

            Days of Our Lives fans did find something nice about new daily streaming episodes, no more having to worry about the network breaking away for either actual breaking news or random things that aren't really news, but the network feels they need to do even though they have a news streaming channel that could cover that. CBS soap fans (and game show fans) have the trouble of times when CBS does the same. Of course, with Paramount+ a viewer could watch there too, and gives P+ another hour of drama daily.

          If that's the time slot holding, "The Talk" airs on CBS at 2pm ET/ 1c,  1 or 2pm  in the Mountain Time zone,  1pm in the west.  After ABC destroyed its 2pm ET slot after the end of "One Life to Life" and a failed talk show took its place, they put "General Hospital" there and gave an hour to local stations. Some stations like ABC owned stations on the East still air GH in the OG slot of 3pm ET, but in some markets General Hospital airs at 2pm/1c at the same time as "The Talk".  Now this could cause a soap race, but maybe not.  NBC did make "Days of Our Lives" flexible in where stations could air it, and that could let markets decide where the show could run and not be affected by running up against another soap. CBS could give this show a flexible slot to allow their stations a space to air it either earlier or later than GH in markets. Though CBS might feel "The Gates" would be a different audience grabber than GH.   That will be interesting to see. 

               The idea of a daily soap in "The Age of Streaming" (TM) isn't a bad one. Compared to a talk show, since we know all network shows end up on streaming, this allows a daily drama to be also on a streaming service and where as a talk show like "The Talk" relies on being current to a point, meaning an episode could become outdated on things quickly, soaps don't.  

          It is nice that CBS is trying something different instead of going with another daytime news department based show. They've done something different in late night and now trying a new daytime idea, or more returning to old format once thought to be on the decline. 

 

The Simpsons: Homer at Bat Deserves the Love

The Simpsons 

       I've written about a weak episode of the Simpsons that centers around baseball, now I am going for one that isn't weak. This one is kind of about softball , which close enough.   That's season 3's  "Homer at Bat".  I am also surprised at how there's not a lot of episodes the series has done with baseball/softball. There are at least more than 2.  It also happens to be a second baseball or softball  related plot of season 3. 

             In this episode, the nuclear plant has a softball team because reasons.  Homer had a secret weapon  that  he says will turn the team around.  He's made a special bat that was made from a part of a tree that was struck by lightning and he made a bat.  

          The episode starts kind of showing that the softball games between apparently the police and the plant aren't taken too seriously and have lots of beer.  Homer is able to knock the ball out of the park with his magic bat.  Bart and Lisa are impressed, and  the team starts to win in montages form.   There some fun visual moments in there like the power plant being ahead 33-7 , which um Charlie Brown wishes he had that 7.  

         Mr. Burns has found out the team has done well and made a large bet with another rich guy who also has a power plant, they both bet a million dollars.  The interaction there was fun and the episode gets absurd that Mr. Burns who a) can easily bet a million dollars without worry b) has a successful team  has decided that he needs to make sure his team does win by getting some ringers.   

       For those that might not know , a ringer in sports is someone put in a sporting event , illegally or unfairly.  Like if a high school baseball team used a college player.   Mr. Burns' plan is to hire MLB players and have them be fake employees to play on the team. Thankfully, or unthankfully? Smithers helps him find more alive baseball players.  This episode is a treat for baseball fans who are deep into knowing players.  

            He's got José Canseco, who during this episode's writing and airing was still on the Oakland A's (to the future people the A's used to play in Oakland, unless they still do in the future who knows?) he would soon be playing for the Texas Rangers. He later would admit to taking steroids.  Mike Scioscia,  at the time had been playing for the Dodgers since 1980 and would retire later the year this aired. Ozzie Smith, who ways playing for the Cardinals at the time.  Don Mattingly, who was playing for the Yankees. [ I make it sound like he would play for another team or something]  Steve Sax, who would soon be playing for the White Sox. These were introduced with Smithers finding them and talking to them. I like what they had the baseball players doing when Smithers does find them. Like Steve Sax in a jazz band, Ozzie Smith was at an Elvis tour, etc. This episode decided to use some budget here, they also got Roger Clemens, who was playing for the Red Sox  and has been accused of using steroids.  Wade Boggs, at the time was playing for the RedSox, he'd move on the Yankees the next year. Ken Griffey, Jr. ,who was playing for the Mariners at the time, and Darryl Strawberry, another Dodgers player- at the time. I do like how they went for bench of baseball players and probably went hard on the budget to get them to actually voice them. This is a baseball fan episode. 

The Dodgers or Yankees wish they had this star power at this low cost/ Copyright 20th Television

         Homer and the others are disappointed, rightfully, that Burns will use the baseball players instead of the plant workers. Now Burns also takes an active role in the team. There are some funny moments in this as he is going through the motions to make it pretend that he really is considering anyone but the plant workers.  Mike Scioscia's subplot of he actually really wanted to work at the plant is great and makes a great pay off later. R.I.P  Wonderbat. 

        Mr. Burns should learn not to do a "What could go wrong" type thing.  Steve Sax gets pulled over by the police, Mike Scioscia gets radiation poisoning,    Ken Griffey, Jr. drank too much of  Mr. Bruns' Brain and Nerve tonic,  José Canseco ends up having to save a woman's baby, cat and piano from a fire. The escalation there was great.  Boggs gets into a bar fight with Barney and gets knocked out. Using Ossie Smith's touring Elvis' place earlier was a great way to then have him get tricked into seeing an attraction and falling into a void. The hypnotist thing from earlier affected Clemens into thinking he's a chicken. Mr. Burns gets mad at Mattingly because of side burns and tells him to go home. Everything that happened was done well  Including moments that were used earlier being used as a connecting reason why. 

            That means Mr. Burns has to use the original team, minus Homer, because Darryl Strawberry didn't get affected by anything and he was the one sucking up to Burns earlier too.  It does make you feel bad for Homer, since he was the one who inspired the team in the first place and he was part of what made them get good attention , even from Mr. Burns, and he's not playing here.  

Mr. Burns and Mr. Smithers are short or Darryl is tall/ Copyright 20th Television

        Also it's funny that an amateur team playing another amateur team that has one major league player are tired at 43 runs.  Mr. Burns decides to pull Strawberry for Homer, because Homer is right handed. He wants to confuse a left handed pitcher. Poor Homer gets hit in the head, but he wins the game.  

   Episode ends with a Terry Cashman credits with him doing a parody of his song "Talkin' Baseball" 

            This is a great episode and deserves the praise it gets.  A baseball fan, especially of that era, can love it, with how far out they went with having actual baseball players. I like how the baseball players also seem to have their own characters going on in this.  Having José Canseco be a man who was willing to keep running back into a really long burning fire to rescue pretty much a woman's entire home is pretty funny.  Having  Mike Scioscia be a guy who wanted to look away from baseball and be a nuclear plant worker and work hard there and on.  

            Though to be fair, I myself, enjoyed the plot before the ringers come in a little more. Homer inspiring others to join the team and having a great run going to the championship is a great plot. So it is a little sad he gets put in the backseat, and when he gets a chance to bat he gets hit in the head. It's funny moment, but still kind of sad that he didn't to swing one right out there and win the game that way.   Mr. Burns makes the episode work with the ringers. He and his old fashioned or out of date thoughts play well to the whole he's old thing. His going so hard to work on a bet that is worth a million dollars, pocket change to him, is also very fitting to a man who is greedy.   His interactions with the baseball players were funny. 

            It's a solid episode  and lots of fun and a great rewatch, so yeah it does deserve its praises.  

That's it for now, tune in next time when we put famous baseball players in our sponsored baseball team.   Go Sheep! 

                 

            

The Simpsons: The Boys of Bummer is a Bummer

The Simpsons 

        The title of this post isn't very creative, and neither is this starting sentence. Since it's baseball season's start why not do something about Simpsons and baseball?  Why not also write about an episode people say is a bad one?   "The Boys of Bummer" is  from the 18th season, it's the 18th episode, and aired during the 18th month.... uh it aired in April 2007, the same year as the movie came out.  

        This episode, as stated, is not well regarded, but maybe is aged better as other episodes have come out?   Conceptually, the episode follows the absurdity that some people take sports or this case children's sports way too seriously.  It starts with a high where Bart catches a ball a little league game and the team wins the game. That means they get to the championship.  The episode shows Bart mooning and crowd and they don't care, and the other plays are able to freely egg people. They also seem to enjoy getting egged.  It's a good way to show how again, people  can take sports very seriously and would let a sports star do what they want if their team is winning.  

        The other plotline is Homer lays down on a bed and ends up becoming a mattress salesman.  There's  a championship that looks to be held in a very large baseball stadium and has a large attendance. The town is riding high on wanting to win. Then Bart makes a mistake and costs the team a win and now the entire town is mad at him.    

         Lisa tries to help him get over his loss, which is nice, but not sure that helps him get over a bunch of people in town being mad at him.  Bart has ended up going mad and writing "I hate Bart Simpson" all over the town. He ends up jumping from a water tower. 

            Homer's plot ends up having the Reverend and his wife swap mattress with Homer and Marge  and it helps them, but Marge and Homer aren't sleeping very well on the new mattress. [and other things]  

It's not memory foam, it won't remember a thing/ Copyright 20th Television

        Marge, rightfully, calls out the town for being mean to Bart then they get the bad idea to do a fake rematch game to have Bart make the catch.  They lied to Bart too get him to play and yeah catch time, oh never mind. Bart misses the ball and they keep doing do-overs.  I do find it amusing he ways Bart misses the ball.  Then he does catch it 78 tries later.  Then it skips ahead 60 years to the future and Bart remembers the catch yeah something. 

The person who wrote this episode?  Copyright 20th Television 

       Uh oh, I don't hate episode.  I don't think it's great, but I can kind of think it had an idea there.  The idea that some people can  take sports too seriously- especially youth sports. There's been cases of parents getting into fights at youth games, for example.  I also think it shows how people can go from praising someone  for sports accomplishments then turning against them when they fail.   If you feel the Simpsons should do that with humor, then yeah there's not a lot of that in this episode. 

         Is it mean to Bart? Yeah.  If anything, you can say the episode gets a visceral reaction because it plays it straight of how people can quickly turn against someone for any reason and that's unpleasant. There was no other reason why people should get mad at him, there was nothing he really had done otherwise, and the town was not bothered when he mooned them earlier.   If Bart had been doing things to be more unlikable this episode it could have helped that prove a point of  why the town getting mad at him would at least be more not justified but at least less brunt.   Also I do like that Lisa, Homer, and Marge don't turn against Bart,  defend him at times, and try to help him. 

         I think the episode is weak, but not horrible. The Homer plot is somewhat there, I do like that they really don't  have Marge and Homer devolve into fighting each other  or something really bad happening. They at least kept this part more light-hearted. 

             If  you don't like this episode, well I'm not defending it and really can agree that it's not good. I don't think it's horrible, I think it was trying to do something, but messed up a little bit on how it was executed. 

        That's it for now, tune in next time when I take baseball way too seriously and write mean messages like "You didn't play well at all" to players. 

Easter: Peter and the Magic Egg

Easter 

           Peter and the Magic Egg has a connection to some of the big Christmas specials like "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" , "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town" , and "Frosty the Snow Man"  for the 3 examples. As those were written by Romeo Muller.  He even worked some Easter specials for Rankin-Bass.   This special wasn't from Rankin-Bass but Muller, our connection here, did write this. 

            It's a simple syndicated special that first aired on March 23, 1983. 

  it's also a story in a story going on.  Like talking animals are like "Woah uncle Amos is tell 'Th Story" which story?  Also Uncle Amos is s talking egg, because um ok.  The egg man was voiced by Ray Bolger,  whom you may know from the 1953 TV series "The Ray Bolger Show"  or as the Scarecrow in the 1939 film "Wizard of OZ".  This would be his last animated voice work. 

        He says on that very farm years ago, and back when the animals were just animals. There's questions that I have and an now concerned. I see the same animals that were running to see talking egg man, but they are just normal. I have questions.  (Was the talking egg, once just a normal egg?)  

I'm not even sure how the egg got a beard 

        There are some humans called the Doppler Family (not the Super Max Doppler family) there's Papa who is a farmer, and Mama is his wife.  They were going to lose to their farm to a oh great the Tin Man has become a landlord, sad.   His real name is Tobias Tinwhiskers and apparently they owe money to him. I'm concerned on why they borrowed money from a tin man. This special has questions that it will not answer. 

            Under the eggs the farmer couple finds a baby, there's a note that says call him Peter Paas, who must be the Peter in the title. (Good work)  Mama is like don't question where the baby comes from and Papa is like a normal person wondering what's going on here? (I wish I knew) 

The Last Episode of the Brady Bunch Was Weird

The Brady Bunch 

        March 8, 1974, The Brady Bunch aired its final episode on ABC. This was a case of they really didn't know if this was going to be the last episode while filming it, but, really now? I am a big fan of the series, but I can say that some episodes weren't very strong or good.  I do think the fifth season, the final season, also seems to be the weakest and oddest of the entire series.  There's even an episode that was trying to be a pilot to get out of here. 

        For the cousin Oliver dis-likers, yeah this is the season he shows up. I will add that he doesn't do anything to make the show bad, he's alright, if anything, it's because season 5 and the show was tired. Oliver didn't kill the show.  All of this is weird for someone who is a fan to say, but we're doing it. 

         The final episode doesn't have that feeling of finality, again because someone there was confident enough to think we can get a new season, we're awesome!  Also even ending in March wasn't uncommon for a season of this series, so it ending on March 8 didn't give a sense of it wasn't going to be back. 

         There's one person you don't see in the final episode at all, that's Robert Reed, you know Mike Brady. He didn't like the episode at all.   Reed had many times argued over scripts and things as writing shows has people and human emotions and ideas. This one apparently was like "I refuse"  to even touch it.   He didn't even like storm off and never return he was also watching the episode get filmed, so that's dedication of something.   There are sources that say he didn't the episode was good quality television, which I mean,  it's not a very good episode,  but odd line to draw here.   Or he didn't like the idea that hair tonic was written to cause someone's hair to turn orange, thinking that was unrealistic. I am concerned too.  (something here) 

       It's time.  "The Hair-Brained Scheme" , season 5, episode 22. 

    The episode starts with Greg is getting ready to graduate,  but that's not the plot of the episode, because that's really only there for the comedic drama of what happens to Greg before that big milestone.  The plot is about Bobby ordering hair tonic to resell.  Bobby paid for 12 bottles for $1 each (oof 1974 money) and the company says why not sell it for $2 a bottle.   Cindy has also been inspired and is going get rabbits to mate -not joking, to sell rabbits, she buys the rabbits from the pet store, where people can go also buy rabbits, so she can sell baby rabbits to people who could also go the pet store and buy rabbits.  

            Bobby decides to enlist Oliver into his whatever this is and now Bobby will have to sell more bottles to be a millionaire.  They go to Greg, (you remember Greg , right?) and he doesn't want to play in whatever this is and tells them to go away.  (how true people react to salesmen)  Cindy's new plan is get two rabbits from the pet shop, let them make babies and sell the babies back to the pet shop. Oh..  also someone taught Cindy where babies come from apparently.  

            Carol Brady is like just kind of here this episode. She's like hey my son bought hair tonic, well it's his stupid way of spending money, oh well.  Oh my daughter has bought rabbits, oh well, I wish I was with Mike, he's been standing outside our house for some reason.  She's very accommodating this episode.   Bobby isn't good at selling this hair tonic, he insults a woman, bothers a man with no peddlers sign on his house, and a bald man.  He should be happy that they didn't think he was wearing a toupee.  

            Bobby wants to quit. Carol decides that Bobby shouldn't quit.  I think this time, Bobby should have quit, he's selling dodgy magazine hair tonic, well I mean trying to sell, this isn't like playing the trumpet or something. I think there are good reasons to quit. Show don't play that music here, this isn't a good moral in this case.   The context if a line saying "The Great Ones Never Quit" whilst Robert Reed quit the episode was that written in there out of spite? Were they calling him out? (Things are happening)  Did Thomas Edison quit? There's an elephant that wished he quit.  Also there's a few people who wished he did. 

Did Robert Reed Quit? Well? / Copyright Paramoun 

         I will say that I don't think the episode is bad through the whole thing, it's being goofy here , but nothing that really makes it awful.  Carol and Bobby's moment was pretty nice, even if she's like please don't quit selling the dodgy hair tonic.  Even as someone who is a Bobby fan, I do feel they had a better plot in the background of Greg getting ready to graduate, him giving Peter his jacket is nice. Would have been better to have a plot about maybe Greg getting nervous about the whole thing and stuff happening. 

        Greg feels bad for Bobby and decides to buy hair tonic. The three brothers moment was pretty fun.  Bobby really wants it to be proven that Greg didn't buy it out of pity instead of just accepting the money and letting Greg go on with his day. He wants Greg to put some on. 

   Bobby puts it on his eldest brother's head, then freaks out and runs away. The episode doesn't give away what happened at first. ( I wonder if Greg is bald now) Then it shows he has orange hair, which is the most amazing hair dye ever , how fast it did it. 

        The episode turned into "Lol, what if Greg's hair turned orange?".  Which I'm sure the real red heads enjoyed.  Oliver has turned away from Bobby and will work with Cindy instead.  I will say this is the first and only episode where the word "sex" is mentioned. All with a joke where Oliver makes Carol flustered trying to explain why male rabbits don't have babies. (how very un-PC) 

Cool it Oliver, you can't say sex on a TV G show, wait huh? /Copyright Paramount

            Carol doesn't want her eldest son to kill her youngest son. So she finds away to help things.  Oh the scammy hair company was a shady? I'm shocked. Also Carol was like I knew they were shady, but she was earlier saying Bobby shouldn't quit things like selling the shady company's hair tonic.  Greg has to go to the beauty salon to get fixed.  Episode is like "Lol, Greg has to go to the beauty salon  and sees two girls from school there."  He also makes up to the girls that's his mom is actually bald.  

I've covered my eyes to hide my lie/ Copyright Paramount 

             Also, guess what Juliet , of the rabbits named Romeo and Juliet, is a boy rabbit.  Which is the least tragic twist characters with those names have experienced.  The two plots help each other out as Bobby has to pour out the hair tonic and accidently pours it on the rabbits and makes them orange. The pet shop ends up buying the fake orange rabbits. 

          I'm sure someone would have not really enjoyed the idea of orange/red hair being seen as awful probably wouldn't have enjoyed the episode from that aspect.  Greg getting green hair also could have worked, I'm saying that because that was even a suggestion of how it could have been worse for Greg? But it also can be passed as saying that Greg was worried about his hair getting ruined or something, and if it wasn't safe tonic.  I don't think the episode was bad because of that and I don't think it was going after red heads in general.  

       There is some weirdness to the plot. Carol shows skepticism about the hair tonic, but thinks it's alright her son can sell it, then when Bobby decides to quit, she's like woah. I get the message of "don't quit" it doesn't fit this episode when it probably was for the best for him to take his loss and quit. Then she's like I knew they were shady when she finds out they were taken down by the FDA. Episode didn't know what do with Carol there at all.  Maybe there were things set for Mike and that ended up being Carol's lines. Maybe Mike was supposed to be the one to encourage his son to not quit because that seems like something he'd say, and then have it go back to Carol when she's the one to find out the shady company was actually shady.   Otherwise, pick a lane episode. 

          I don't know why the episode mentions Greg's graduation where it really does nothing for the plot, except give an urgent recent as to why he wants his hair to go back to normal quick. That could even be swapped for really anything else and still fit.  It doesn't make the episode feel more grand or give it a sense finality -even for a season finale- where if the show was going to come back, what happens to Greg? Or , I mean, what would the show have done? 

            I do  think the episode isn't that good, but not an awful episode.  It fits with how the show worked, with a goofy plot that seemingly decides to go with at least Bobby didn't sell that stuff to some random person, after all. The Cindy and the rabbits part kind of just happens without questioning it too much, there is the fun that the two plots did come together, but kind of worrying that someone wanted the hair tonic to sell people fake orange rabbits.  

         Maybe Reed did overreact or was very bothered by hair tonic being demeaned, or red heads....  It's not even the strangest Brady Bunch plot. I don't know.   Funny enough, for how much Oliver has been maligned, there's really nothing he adds or takes away from the episode. If he wasn't there nothing changes. I guess the mention of sex doesn't happen, but sure.  

That's it for now, tune in next time when we wonder how the episode would have gone if Greg had gone bald.          

        

        

Weekendering: The Weekenders: Season 4: Episode 5: Tino's Dad

The Weekenders  Disney 

                                          Episode 5: Tino's Dad 

Series Finale 

     So it has come to this, the final episode of the entire series.  "The Weekenders" started on ABC on February 26, 2000 and ended after 39 half hours on February 29, 2004, on Toon Disney.  Yeah, season 4 really is that short only 5 half hours with 3 of them having 2 segments, 1 full length Halloween episode and this one.

        As part of the end, I think it's fitting to run with a thread that appeared a few times in the series- Tino's Dad.  Tino's Dad is coming for the weekend and there's the set up of conflict where Tino's dad has planned the entire weekend, but Tino wishes that his dad and him could just do stuff together without other people.

            There's also a plot where the group wants to watch a comedy show but the price of tickets are big money. That means they are going to get jobs. Tino's not going to tell his dad how he just to spend time with him so going to rush Saturday with that list and try to do his own things on Sunday. The other three are going to do some work to get money for the tickets. 

            The pizza shop seems to have become way more unhinged this season, was the stress getting to the poor guy? Is he alright? Help? It's alright to cry buddy.  

        There's a Tino's Mom and Tino moment now, she hasn't seen the man in eight-years either and is nervous.  Now, we the viewer get out first ever image of his Dad. Well he has... well Tino got his hair. Tino is more sun tanned because he's in California.  Tino's Dad also fears bugs. We all shall fear bugs, we are the open for our day of reasoning soon, the bugs will rise up, huh what? Sorry. His Dad is also apparently a clean freak, so I think there's one sign of why they got divorced. 

         So far, I think it's interesting to see how they portray T-Dad , yeah I'm tired of writing that out,  because we don't know much about him. I do like the  the mom and dad are amicable with other -not forced- but they have a respect for each other.  

                Carver and Lor help clean up an attic and Mrs. Weems is still there to help them while living her memories with the objects. She was also just messing with them and that's great!   Tish has gone to tutor Carver's little brother, and another kid that she didn't know about before! 

More after the jump 

Weekendering: The Weekenders: Season 4: Episode 4: Laundry Day/ Penny McQuarrie

The Weekenders Disney 

Previously,  You are listing to the best radio station the station that ROCKS [here] 

Episode 4a: Laundry Day 

        Lor wants her friends to help her with laundry day, as part of her every six months she has to do it, it takes 2 days. They really don't like the idea of helping because this is a strenuous job.  She asks maybe they could help her get out of it.  Lor thinks the best idea is take them to a laundromat and leave them there to get clean while she wonders off. This is not the best plan. 

        Tish is worried, very worried, and Lor said what could do wrong? Something will go wrong.  Tish keeps yelling at Lor that she's asking for trouble, and Lor keeps saying it's alright.( Run Tish Run for home. ) Something went wrong, the Laundromat has closed.  Then the next day, the group comes over again and Lor finds out that she should read all the terms and conditions. If you don't watch your loads, stuff gets donated. 

         They have to go to the Helpers Helping The Help-less rummage sale. Uh oh, the plot says some clothes have sold.  Tish is just having too much power fun in this episode, it's kind of funny. Anyway then the episode goes Yada Yada and we see that Lor has to do work for Mrs. Dawong at HHTH, Lor had to tell her Dad about what happened, so something happened here.  Her brothers did get some random clothes, I guess something happened here.  

         Yeah the ending just decides its tired of itself and skips on to Lor learning a lesson. While I do think we were robbed of a fun clothes hunting around the town journey , I guess I have to admire they went for a realistic idea of oops things didn't go very well sometimes.  Especially since it was Lor should have really watched her family's stuff in the first place type of thing.  Tish was also a highlight in the episode as much as she kept warning  was funny.  The random pizza ninja moment and the piggy bank funeral just were funny and just of nowhere. Maybe that's why they yada'd the ending there.  It's a fun episode though, and a better outing for Lor than one where she's trying to impress Thompson , for another time.   7.3/10. 

Weekendering: The Weekenders: Season 4: Episode 3: Radio Free Carver/Dinner Party

  The Weekenders   Disney 

Previously,  Lor decides to write a will, and leaves you nothing [Here] 

Episode 3a: Radio Free Carver 

            The episode skips right into Sunday,  did we use the wrong tape?  I'm scared.  The pizza shop is also a little confused  and Carver seems excited about being a radio jock on KQXR radio.  Which is funny since that's actual radio station in Boise that also happened to play rock, like Carver says this station does. I'm still lost though. He gets to go on the radio every Sunday and talk. (Why not this Sunday?) 

        Also if you are liking something Tino's mom cooked, don't ask what it is.  It's time for Carver's radio appearance. He was confident until he had to actually radio and then it goes  bad.  We get a Next Friday, ooh different. Carver has been avoiding his friends all week. (Nice of him to bump into them when we see him again) Also odd how other kids make fun of him also this many days later. Sometimes the show's format does kind of have weak points. Carver is really down. 

            Of course the friends have come in to help him. They try different ideas to help him. This goes as well expected. He decides he wants to quit. He meets the radio DJ who knows that he's going to quit.  He tells him about a guy named Rudy who messed up and quit and maybe he should try again and practice.  He gets his chance to try again and it worked. 

         A simple idea. This episode starting on Sunday then going to the next Friday was something different for the show, but they also showed  a weakness the format has.  That doesn't take away from the episode itself. I like Carver stories because they can take his personality and show how his over confidence can be his un doing.   

          It's a good episode that works simple and gives good moments 7/10. 

More after the jump

Weekendering : The Weekenders: Season 4: Episode 2: Brain Dead/ Lor's Will

The Weekenders  Disney 

           Before I start the season, I've already kind of did. The first episode of season 4 was "Nevermore" a Halloween themed episode, and I've written about that episode around a Halloween.  (Here) 

      Let's get to season 4.  The series seemed to be on the move through its time it started on ABC then with season 3 it ran on UPN.  Season 3 ended on December 2, 2001.  Things had happened by this point outside of this show.  Disney had decided to purchase Fox Family Worldwide, which included Fox Kids, the Fox Kids block was set to end in 2002, along with that  Disney decided that One Saturday Morning  on ABC was no longer their main draw. They were premiering new shows and now even new cartoons on Disney Channel instead.  It was rebranded as ABC Kids in fall 2002.  ABC Kids did premiere a new series that feels like they had a contract and couldn't change the spot, that would be Filmore [also a good show]  This show was running on UPN. The  Disney One Too block name was dropped and became no named block, but UPN was almost done too.  Disney decided to move  The Weekenders  to Toon Disney, which probably was they were done with it and wanted to burn it off.  It's not even Disney Channel. 

        The final season only has 5 half hours and they seemed to take forever to air it as "Nevermore" aired in 2002, and the rest of the episodes -minus the final episode- in late 2003, then the finale in 2004.  This means this show has  39 half hours.  We are on the journey of the final season. 

 Basic premise of the show in case you want to jump into season 4 without reading about seasons 1,2 and 3  is 4 friends hanging out and doing things on the weekend. The show mostly takes place from Friday afternoon to Sunday night. The episodes are about middle schoolers named Tino Tonitini, Lor McQuarrie, Carver Descartes, and Tish Katsufrakis who hang out and life lessons on the best days of kid life.


The episodes are mostly self contained, but may call back to the past things if they want to. So, now let's dip into season 4.  

Episode 2a: Brian Dead 

            Tish has gotten a B in her grades. (It's over, there's no hope, turn around)  She seems to have accepted it and taken it pretty well. The teacher is even concerned. The others don't seem to be taking it well. This is kind of different to see her not be all be annoyed by this.  They are worried that Tish will lose her characteristic. (The show has become self aware run, run run!)  Even the parents mention they all have a trait.  

           Thanks to a dream she starts to worry about if she's not "the brain" what she would be. ( Pinky?)    The next day she works on finding a new thing.  Bluke has all the jokes here. The panel seems to agree that Tish should be the exotic foreigner. Ooh. I think don't think she likes this idea. (Never ask a panel or hinge your thoughts from a guy who made one of  his answers "Hello, I am Bluke") 

            Her parents like the look, but knows that she hates the look.  Her parents decide to help her and tell her a story about her test as a 3-day alive baby. We get to see Tish annoy a doctor. The test  said she was the dumbest baby in the world and said her name should be Goosh. That's some test there.  They took her home and found she was smart and changed her Petratishconvnya [spelling] which means girl with one nose. She gets what they mean from the story that they didn't want her to be known for one thing (except having one nose, apparently). 

            She goes back to normal. She tells her friends that she's going to be herself.  She then tells her friends they are all more than one thing. 

    Pretty good episode, I like how it's not Tish going and being worried about her grade for the episode. It's focused on the idea of being known for one thing and letting other characteristics be hidden or pushed aside. It's also layered where the show works that way too. The main group has their characteristics and the show never let one characteristic take out another. Including Tish who is very smart, but also has interests beyond academics, she loves arts, she sometimes gets caught up in herself, and more. 

         It's a good message and it's an entertaining episode.   8/10.   

More after the jump 

Weekendering: The Weekenders: Season 3: Episode 12: Croquembouche/Imperfection

The Weekenders  Disney 

Previously,  Tino's unperfected Step Father Test doesn't work [Here] 

Episode 12a: Croquembouche 

            This episode has a name you'd hear on Martha Stewart's 90's show, that's  Croquembouche pronounced like croak- am- boo-ssh. [Also glad that spell check knows this word]  Which is French cake.  They are in a foods of the world competition, first price is free admission to every museum in their town for year. (Interesting prize)  Tino wants to give the oral presentation but the others want to choose someone in a system of voting. (Weak)  Then Carver wins. I don't think Tino is very happy.  Tino's mom figured it out pretty quickly. (She's read ahead again) 

        Tino also finds out they don't want to do a Napoleon theme either.  Unhinged losing his mind Tino is fun Tino.  The next day, after Tino stormed away the other three are feeling down with out him. I think he psyopsed them.  Meanwhile, Tino is down too and doesn't want to go. Dixon comes in because now Tino gets double teamed. (I'm scared) Dixon also finds away to make Tino see things differently.  He does it in a scary way too wow! 

        I think Bluke is confused. Anyway, it's competition time for the gang, but not yet for them to present.  Ruby was  before them and put on an amazing report and  Carver is now nervous. Tino shows up and now they want Tino to do the presentation, but Tino does a pep talk for Carver and encourages him to do it.  

        We didn't find out if they won. Well that's sad.   Episode was fun. Again, unhinged Tino is fun, I don't care what anyone thinks it's just fun when he's unhinged.  Dixon and his Mom both proving their power is too much in a well done way.  It even makes sense why the others would pick  Carver he have a big confidence in himself and the idea that Tino gets in his mind they were turning against him fits his character too.  Fun episode. 7.5/10.  

More after the Jump 

Weekendering: The Weekenders: Season 3: Episode 11: Clown/Testing Dixon

The Weekenders Disney 

       Previously, Tish is a star for a few minutes [here]  

   Episode 11a: Clown 

             

            Tino is a afraid of clowns, especially even more thanks to a movie. He's not doing to well  and his friends are trying to figure out how to help. Even the pizza shop has decided to join the theme of the episode. Even the mall had deiced, also lot of Tino rolling going on this episode. 

        This episode is weird.  Whilst Tino has held himself up in his room, the friends try to figure out how his fear of clown started and she mentions that he was kissed by his aunt who has a clown like appearance. This episode is weird.  They decide the best idea is to have Tino go to clown school to help him get over his fear of clowns. The idea of exposing yourself to the think you fear to get over the fear. (Don't try this with death or the oddly specific fear of being eaten by 28 rabbits)  We also find out that Lor is afraid of cauliflower. 

            Tino agrees in a surprise, and the friends have decided to also join him, but he says needs to fight this on his own. The others find other classes that fit circus fun. Tino gets a clown name of Scream-o.  There's a strange moment where it seems Tino goes into some weird clown trip out.  The next day, the other three have somehow stopped their circus classes and apparently Tino has embraced clowning.  

      He says he can live with clowns, but hasn't fully gotten over his fears.  Then it's over.

            That's a good ending where it shows something different where he's not totally over his fear but has at least contained it a bit, that's a nice reaction for something that happens over a very short time, in this show's format. 

         This episode also seems to just go for it's plot dropping the viewer into it then showing him being in fear and some running gags. The part with the clown school doesn't come into nearly 7.5 minutes (without theme song) into the episode. So we do miss out on seeing how the three did just cutting to them saying they all failed.  

          Though the idea of showing Tino being afraid of clowns and really going far with that does seem to be longer than needed to get the point, it wasn't a un-fun episode though. It had some funny moments, like Tino sticking his head out of the bus window and the friends rolling him, etc.    7/10 

A Charlie Brown Watch: "Snoopy Presents: Welcome Home, Franklin"

Peanuts 

         I will yell from a hill that I am not a fan of the "Snoopy Presents" title set up for these things, but they will do it anyway just to taunt me personally.  It's time for another Peanuts special made by current partial owner Wildbrain for Apple TV Plus. (Apple TV Plus , At least we aren't Paramount Plus)  Like some of the other modern Apple TV Plus era specials they've decided to give specials with a geared focus on characters, this time Franklin. 

         This one called "Welcome Home, Franklin" came out on February 16, 2024 [doing these dates so it's historically known or something].  First, let's mention another comic strip for a bit here and  that would be "Jump Start" , that's a currently (as of this writing) running comic strip written by Robb Armstrong.  that first came out in 1989.  The two main characters of that strip are Marcy and Joe , Marcy being named after Marcie from Peanuts and Joe from Snoopy's alter-ego name "Joe Cool." Charles Schulz and  they did  strike up some repour with each other.

           The 1994 special "You're in the Superbowl , Charlie Brown" you might have heard Franklin given a last name of Armstrong,  after uh Armstrong.  Now he's was brought in to be part of the writing of this special about Franklin.  [source]    

          A quick back story about Franklin and his introduction. In 1968 (not a fun year) just days after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.  a school teacher in Los Angeles named  Harriet Glickman wrote Schulz about the idea of him adding a black character to the comic strips.  [Source]  Through some correspondence back and forth  he decided to introduce a character named Franklin. Franklin first appeared on July 31, 1968. 

              Franklin was added to the world of Peanuts and his first showings when he goes to Charlie Brown's neighborhood was a sense that it was very strange which I mean, he's not wrong.   Anyway, I'm going to talk about the special now.

           There's something odd about a Peanuts special doing a 4th wall break where a character directly a) freezes time b) and then even doing an almost "you might be wondering how I got here?" thing.  I'm now more sad we didn't get a record scratch.  Franklin mentions that his father is in the military and that he had to move once again.  

 

August 1, 1968 / Copyright Peanuts 

        Which does fit with the comic strip in when Franklin was introduced his Dad was in Vietnam, which if any one tries to say Peanuts never did contemporary things, it did, it was never locked in a time bottle it just didn't over do it either. 

more after the jump 

Into the Twilight: I Have a vast collection too (The Collection) (2002)

The Twilight Zone 

       We're back to 2002's version of The Twilight Zone for the reason of why not? Which is half this blog.  

 This time I've chosen episode 37 (or if you get the hour long versions where it's two segments episode 19b) and this one fits well with one of original series favorite things dolls and or things that have to do with dolls. Dolls!   This episode is called "The Collection" .  

            Jessica Simpson (that's how you know this episode aired in 2003) plays Miranda who has come to a home to baby sit a girl named Danielle (that's how you know this episode aired in 2003)  who is wearing a lot of pink. The parents are going somewhere and they have a whole book for Miranda about Danielle which has sections for things like her allergies, acceptable foods, approved TV programs (ironically not this one) , and phobias which have a section and well that's something. she has more than one.  

Did I forget anything else in the book, like where you like to go at 4pm ? 

           Danielle takes Miranda to her room which is also very pink, and the girl seems to like horses and dolls. [Show is really is stretching the belief here]. Miranda looks at the dolls in a case and Danielle says they aren't for playing with. Doesn't say why because reasons, I'm sure that won't come up later. 

Barbie Movie 2 based on her  

            When one of the dolls falls, Miranda wants to fix it up right, but Danielle insists that she does it, then she opens the door the doll bit her?  In my list of phobias being bitten by a doll is there. Miranda doesn't believe that the doll bit her. Then Danielle says that she thinks Shelly is mad at her, that's the doll that bit her. (That or Shelly is hungry for human flesh, feed her!) The reason is the she thinks Shelly is mad because she wants to play with Miranda instead. (Alright, I'm going to head out now) 

        Miranda is not just any baby sitter [she's Jessica Simpson] she's also studying child development and make child care her career.  (or care-eer)  She thinks that Shelly is "Shelly" a made up name the girl is using to express her own feelings. Danielle says she had a friend but she moved away, and she spends time with Shelly and the other girls. Girls= dolls.  

            Danielle mentions another doll named Katie who is a afraid of the dark [Which one is Goosbumps?] also Buffy mentioned! (That's how you know this was aired in 2003) Whilst Danielle is plot away, Miranda looks in her book from child development schooling to find a chapter about lonely children who make up imaginary friends and stuff.  Shelly is gone. Now the two of them go on Shelly hunting. 

                  Miranda doesn't believe that a doll can break glasses and really do other things living things do. Danielle says that she is like all the doll's mom or something. Danielle figures out that Miranda thinks that she's not talking about the dolls and thinks that she did something.  They do find Shelly. (I'm glad that's over) 

Shelly seems like she wants to finish the job 

      

                I think I would believe a kid when she repeatedly says a doll has to be put back, now the other dolls are gone. Miranda somehow thinks there was a long moment where she wasn't inches away from Danielle for her to move the dolls? Ok then.  Does look her patience ran out too.  (What was your job today, crew guy, oh I had to put random dolls all over the set, and pose them, oh)  

Hey! We're having a meeting here, go away! 

             We do get a creepy shot of dolls kind of hanging around like crows. Shelly knocked over a vas, and now Miranda did see a doll move. Oh we got a classic horror movie phone line has been cut, then even her cell phone battery is gone. She finds the fridge magnets now say Leave and a page torn from her college book, (rude don't they know those books are expensive!) The episode "Living Doll" Miranda but she's not dead.  She wakes to the dolls dragging her, she gets up and it's more funny than scary here she yells at the dolls calls them "Stupid Bitches" and starts beating them with a stuffed unicorn. (Where's her Emmy?) 

Playtime is over! 

  

             She finds Danielle who is being un helpful and freaks out over the fact Miranda has her stuffed unicorn. We find out that Shelly was a real human person and all the dolls were real human people. Was the unicorn a real unicorn? I have questions now. I wouldn't ask questions I'd leave, there's no reasoning, I'm out. (oddly this a new meaning to kidnapping) Miranda finds out the dolls were trying to help her. (and she called them stupid, mean)  Why she realizes this she should have just ran.  

            Well Miranda is over. It cuts to Danielle's father yelling on the phone at an agency that provides child care and he's mad that the sitter ran out , and that's the third one. (not a very observantly questioning man is he?)   The mom puts the dolls back and says her daughter is a wild child and that's why the sitters keeping running off. (Ok then)  Danielle get sup and walks over to her dolls and she says they are grounded forever and wonders why they all hate her.( I can think of 1 reason)  Also Miranda's been added, love her face there it's perfection. 

Miranda's revenge is this horrifying face 

         This episode isn't great.  I think it drags a bit at the start where kind of get the point that Miranda thinks Danielle is making up stuff and doesn't obviously believe in living dolls or ones that are able to move.  The part where the episode gets interesting is right when Miranda sees the dolls perched on the couch and rest of the living room giving this eeriness and creepy vibe. You can also tell she kind of changed her mind about thinking about the dolls and maybe they are somewhat able to move on their own.  There's also some parts that probably weren't supposed to be funny, but I found to be like the part where she beats up the dolls with the unicorn and before that the idea of these dolls pulling her was something. 

        When something says leave, run!  I do find it an interesting detail that the parents seem to have all these details and regiments on their daughter but don't notice how she keeps losing baby sitters and adds extra dolls?    I think the episode does a good job at feeling unsettling though, the awkwardness of Danielle shows through. You can also see her thinking, she automatically wants to call Miranda a friend and how she talks about the dolls like they are real people. 

            It's fun a twist, not an overall impressive episode, but there's still some fun to watch and it's not boring , at least.   

         That's it for now , tune in next time when we turn this guy into an action figure, or I mean in-action figure heh.