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.