The Lookback: Two of a Kind and Little bit of T.G.I.F

Sitcoms  The Flashback

       It's time for us to get back into another bread and butter topic but something we've not touched in sometime-- A Short lived sitcom. There's a context to this sitcom that we must explain.

       First  let's talk about T..G.I.F on ABC. The block is well know for giving hit series from "Full House", "Family Matters", "Sabrina the Teenage Witch", "Boy Meets World", and more.  It was a highly successful block for ABC  who has thought to even bring it back twice. The original block was doing very well until about 1997-98 season this is where things took a turn.  Rewind back to 1996, ast this point TGIF had removed two veteran shows from focus to add in series to refresh the line up a little, this brings us "Sabrina the Teenage Witch"  It fit with new owner, Disney, idea to give the line up from a family show block to a more teen block.  Also Clueless  but that died. (We may talk about that one day)  This change allowed to end two series "Step by Step", and "Family Matters" which were going down in the ratings (with age) canceled.  These shows didn't want die so easily and another network had their eye on them ,CBS. (Yes I did that pun and don't feel ashamed about it.)

           Back to 1997, CBS had launched a new block to compete with a slightly weakened T.G.I.F with the CBS block party.  Which,also allowed "Family Matters" and "Step By Step " to continue to live.  To be fair, the Block party did hurt T.G.I.F but it was more like a double sided sword where they stabbed T.G.I.F and let some blood out and slowly died while the block party got injured more and died after year.   T.G.I.F had tried the whole "hey this show works for us, so let's make more of that" with "You Wish" (one day will cover that maybe) and "Teen Angel"  to work on Sabrina's supernatural greatness, these shows failed and T.G.I.F for rest of the season was 2 shows.

   To 1998.  Where they kind of lost it , but we may have to talk more about T.G.I.F later.   In 1998 they had tried a new show with some star power , The Olsen Twins.  If you don't know this, the Olsen twins were big in the 1990's they starred on "Full House" and then branched off into movies, and specials, and series to the point of over exposure.  ABC had thought that maybe bringing them back to TV on their network would help  so much faith in this program they put it as the launch show at 8pm/7c.  Leading into vetrans, Boy Meets World, and Sabrina the Teenage Witch.  This brings us to our topic  "Two of a Kind".

            More after the jump because we went long here.

Garfield: Garfield on the Town

 The Flashback Garfield

     We are back to writing about Garfield, everyone's favorite lasagna eating cat, and another TV special. Since this is how this blog rolls, we aren't doing them in order and already did the last special , now it's time for the 2nd special "Garfield on the Town".  "Garfield on the Town" has a "Peanuts" connection (this happens alot) with Lee Mendelson and Bill Melendez  were producers for it though you won't get any Peanuts character style this time. Of course Phil Roman directed it.  It was originally aired on CBS on October 28th 1983.   It won a prime time Emmy in 1984 beating "A Disney Christmas Gift", "It's Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown", and "The Smurfic games". Being the first ,but not last Garfield special to win an Emmy.  Alright let's start.


     

            Garfield doesn't want to get out of bed and walk on the cold floor (we are all like Garfield)  , then Garfield and we get a theme song by Lou Rawls.  Odie and Garfield mess up the house and Jon scolds them and especially points out Garfield saying that the cat is being hyperactive.  So, Vet time. (eek) Garfield accidentally falls  out of the car and Jon apparently doesn't notice. (He's a bright bulb)  Garfield walks  around town (roll credits?)  and gets told by lady cats to buzz off. Meanwhile, Jon calls the pet hospital  to see if Garfield ended up there after all.


       Garfield wonders the back alleys and runs into a cat with a gold tooth (I don't know) and they start a cat rumble ( I think , it's more West Side Story cat rumbling). He thinks he won but then there are more alley cats. (more Alley cats in the alley, I'm surprised) Garfield runs while the horde of cats chase him and he finds an old run down building to run inside.  Then he meets a cat, that turns out to be his mother.

awww/ Copyright Jim Davis 

    It's the next morning and his mother tells him that used to be a kitchen of the Italian restaurant where he grew up.   The special gives us a back story into how Garfield likes lasagna and other Italian food  which is a nice touch.  His mother shows him his family or cousins. They are "mousers", cats who eat mice  which Garfield doesn't like personally.  Anyway, those Alley cats from earlier show up and his family decide to fight the gang of cats and an old fashioned rumble starts and they win!  His family decides he should go home because he's not suited to this life and he bids his mother a farewell.

awww 2 / Copyright Jim Davis 

        Just by timing somehow, Garfield finds Jon driving by  and chases the car then Odie notices and everyone is reunited.
 
    Another fun fact: This special was the only Garfield special co-written by  Lorenzo Music (the voice of Garfield) the other writer being "Garfield" creator , Jim Davis.
   It's  simple special but one with a lot of heart , I can see why it won an Emmy. It has touching moments between Garfield and his mother and the end with Garfield, Jon, and Odie. The music in the special is wonderful with the final song enough to bring some tears. I think it's fine special and can see why it's a Garfield classic.  Give this one a watch.

A DCOM that's on the Brink.

Disney Channel  The Lookback 

    We dip back into Disney Channel Originals movies with a look at the 1998 movie , "Brink!"  It starts Erik von Deeten who we have run into before on this blog when we talked about "Christmas Everyday" and will run into again in the future because that's how our word works.  (We also ran into him when we talked about "So Weird")

         So, this is our look at the 1998 Disney Channel , wait we are repeating ourselves, on the with the movie!

          Erik plays our main character named Andy or Brink! (roll credits?) and he's on a hurry while his friends wonder why he's taking so long. They want to go to the beach and since they missed the bus and buses apparently take for ever on weekends they skate there.  Also it's nice to have a Fastball song in Disney Channel movie, remember Fastball?  They make it to the skate park and skate. "Brink"and his friends, Peter, Jordy, and Gabriella, are not just your average in-line skaters they call themselves soul skaters (that means they also sing R&B) meaning they don't do it for the money they do it for the fun. ( I Wonder what might happen in this movie later?)  There's another group of skaters who are called Team X-Bladz (woah starting with an X and ending with Z this is peak 90's Extereme!)  led by a boy named Val who also has surfer hair because California.  They are the antagonists to this movie because that's what we need.
             

 Well I can't make the Rocket power joke since this came out first/ Copyright Disney 

         If you don't understand skating lingo or if you do you might not understand half things said in this movie. (Kind of joking)  I didn't know bladers and skateboarders didn't get along.  Brink tricks some skateboarders to bother the X-Bladerz. Now, it's the first day of school (also this movie gave the line :why can't we be Mormons?)   The X-Bladerz get back at them at school for the incident the day before and now they continue the  back by putting worms in Val's sandwich. (mmm worms)  Val decides to challenge them skate race at school which is against the rules. (What could go wrong?)  Andy (we are going to interchange with the Brink name a lot) accepts because of course he does.  Does give us nice racing action though, so I'll allow it.
               

ACTION! /Copyright Disney

        Andy stops the race to help one of the X-bladerz who gets injured which is nice of him. He ends up being suspended.  His father plays the role of the guy who just doesn't understand his teenage son. (that's fun)  Also, the family is having some money woahs because the father, Ralph, got hurt and hasn't been able to work. Brink overhears his parent's talking about it. Val and his people minus Boomer, the boy who got hurt before, talk to the soul skaters about an open slot they have for a competition. The soul skaters laugh but Val says he wouldn't pick any of them anyway.  Val says it's great being a sponsored skater.
                     

nice car/ Copyright Disney 

     
       Now, Brink may have taken  hearing the word "money" as a sticking point because he goes to secretly audition for the X-Bladz open slot.   They do add him to the team and he doesn't want anybody to tell that he's part of their team and he's only there until Boomer is back on his feet.( Now I wonder if this goes wrong, well you know it will.)  He's now a sponsored skater. Brink tells his family that he wants to work  and talks about sponsored skating but Ralph doesn't take to the idea because it's skating. Guess what he's going to keep a secret from his family then?

          copyright Disney 

         Brink's double life starts as he  starts training with the X-Bladerz  and then spending time with his group too.  Ralph doesn't make it better because he got Brink a job working at a dog grooming because of course and doesn't like skating.   We get a montage of the stressful day Brink expreinces done to the song , "Give" by the The Suicide Machines. (This movie is getting into the alt-rock hard)   It's to play everyone's favorite game:  Guess what goes wrong?!  Yes! Brink's friends find out that he is the new X-Bladz member.

The shade make him more sun safe/ Copyright Disney

more after the jump

Scooby Doo 50 : Finally, They Caught the 13th Ghost

Scooby Doo 

       Scooby Doo celebrates it's 50 year this year. This series began with "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?" that aried on CBS in 1969 then it exploded in popularity that it later received more series and later movies. Toys and prodcuts were made and sold well, it became big.   Hanna-Barbera  even tried copying themselves with making shows that kind of copied the formula of Scooby Doo.   The characters have had a long lasting effect in our media so here at Joshuaonline, we are going to be taking a look each month at a piece of Scooby-Doo media in commemoration.

   
            Back in 1985 it's December  and a couple of children (let's say a boy and girl) are watching the final episode of "The 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo" and not knowing it was the last episode.

       Almost 34 Years later :  Warner Brothers Animation releases "Scooby Doo and The Curse of The 13th Ghost"   finally a finale.

           Personal story time: I grew up watching my Scooby Doo Media on Cartoon Network (and possibly TNT)  and remember watching the 13 th Ghost of Scooby Doo , swearing they did catch all 13, even thinking with 13 episodes they did catch them all but nope.  (Pokemon Fail) I do love that series though.

        The 13th Ghosts of Scooby Doo was the 7th series and to explain it  in short talk.  Scooby Doo had  kind of fallen out of popularity by the 1980's the series had been seen as kind of predictable and over saturated.  That did stop them from making Scooby Doo series instead they tried new things like adding Scrappy , removing everyone that wasn't Shaggy (don't do the joke , don't do the joke) and Scooby.  They did add Daphne back to the series for the 6th series "The New Scooby and Scrappy Show" in 1983.   So this series has All those plus a boy named Flim-Flam (why would you name your child that?).  Anyway, this series decided to something different to make Scooby Doo hip! fresh! amazing! new! wow! to the audience. This time the ghosts are real! (I may use this line again)

       For you Scrappy haters out there (mean), this is the last series with him in it.  The series ran from 1985 for 3 months on CBS  worked on by the man who created the 90's animation hits "Animanics, Tiny Toon Adventures, and Pinky and The Brain" ,  Tom Ruegger.   (He also created Histera! which needs to be loved you!)   So, 33 years later , Warner Bros , who now was the rights to Scooby announced they were going to release a new movie that will finally wrap up the 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo.


     Our fake children are now in their 40's  are jumping with joy.  Let's begin.  After the Jump because we talked too much.

The Lookback: My Smurfy Valentine

The Flashback Valentine's Day 

       I think this is the first time I've done something Smurfs related (though I may be off) but I think it's time both ways.  There is a Valentine's Day episode of the 1980's TV series called "The Smurfs" that ran from 1981-1989 on NBC (in the United States). This is the 4th Smurfs special that came out over all related to the 1980's series and it aired on February 13th, 1983.

Let's take a look at this special. 

          So the smurfs like Valentines' Day because of course they do and Cupid is real because of course he is.  friendship.   Smurfette wants to have a true Valentine love and asks Cupid like Santa, to grant her wish.  Gargamel is continuing his plans to capture smurfs because that's what he does.  Since this show is called "Smurfs" you know he can't kill the smurfs (until the series finale I guess then have at it)  they play a prank on him with an exploding valentine.  Cupid tries to make Garagamel fall in love (with whom?)  but he says that Garg's heart is hard and only someone like him would make him fall in live. (Lady Garagamel?)  G-mel finds  Smurffette's letter to Cupid and is going to use that to his advance.   Anyway a witch named Chlorhydris is looking for a cat ,but needs a cat to fulfill a prophecy.  She already knows Garagamel has a cat.

meow/ Copyright H&B 

    Smurfette gets a letter back from her "true love" ( gee, I wonder who could have sent that) and it says get ready in 1 hour and meet him.  When she does and gets captured by Garagamel because of course.  It's not just an average Valentine's day there's also a total eclipse of the sun that is going to happen. (Turn around bright eyes)  That fits in with the witch, Chlorhydris, plans too.  The other smurfs figure out Smurfette was taken by Garagamel. Meanwhile, the witch lady wants Gargamel's cat, Azrael, and is offering gold  and since he likes gold he doesn't mind the offer.

I'm Cupid/ Copyright H&B 

    Guess what his cat is the right cat (who knew?!)  Also Garagamel doesn't get his gold and thrown into the a dungeon with the cats the witch rejected. Her wish is to make a world without love. (woah no love. Garagamel gets out and wants to stop the witch and make a wish to have the smurfs.  Smurfette runs into Cupid and tells him what Chlorhydris wants to do with her wish.  He reunites her with the other smurfs and they work to stop the plan.
           

aww tru love/ Copyright H&B 

          The eclipse starts and cupid stops the plan by making Chlorhydris and Garagmel fall in love and Smurfette makes a wish to have everybody go back to where they belong.

True love/ Copyright H&B 

           It's smurfy fun of a special. I think  it's interesting to show Valentine's day more than just romantic love. I think it's kind of clunky because it felt they like mashed up some plots together and made the special. I thought it was going to be Garagmel was trying his normal get the smurfs plot then it turned into here's a witch she wants to get rid of love.  Random eclipse going on there , it kind of works out in the end though.   

  That does it from us tune in next time we wonder What is love? Baby Don't Hurt me because what is love anyway? 

      

Now a Look A Charlie Brown Valentine

Peanuts   Valentines' Day

 
     Much like the Christmas special, the Valentine's Day special gets a sequel too!  They went with the classic naming scheme of  A Charlie Brown Valentine instead of  something something, Charlie Brown.   This special came out in 2002, and was one of the first new specials to air with the new network of Peanuts rights , ABC, and it was the first special to premiere on TV after Charles Schulz death.    ABC usually pairs it with the broadcast of "Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown" to fill their hour.


      Unlike, the last special this one has less of  dower tone to it. (That doesn't mean that Be My Valentine is a bad special)  It focuses more on the other big thing in the Charlie Brown love world his love for The Little Red Haired girl , so I'm typing LRHG again.


   It doesn't start with that plot though. It has some vignettes to start us off  like Snoopy writing Valentines on his typewriter in the middle of the night. Peppermint Patty wondering about Valentines, and Snoopy and Lucy with romance story talk,  with Sally added in for fun. It takes up the first 3 minutes and 30 seconds before the titles.

    Charlie Brown's focus is LRHG and spending scenes focusing on her.  Marcie and Charlie Brown shippers unite!  This special has something for you yes Marcie wants to give Charles a Valentine because she does like him. (This has been mentioned before in the comics and other specials.)  She goes to Charles' house and asks him if she likes him and  he doesn't give her answer that works. Peppermint Patty also gives Chuck a Valentine (this is for the Charlie Brown x Peppermint Patty shippers out there).

Love is in the air /Copyright Peanuts 

     Lucy and Schroeder do their classic segment. Charlie Brown practices giving his Valentine to LRHG  but mailed it anonymously instead because of course.  Charlie Brown  buys a cheap box of chocolates for LRHG. More Lucy and Schroeder stuff, and Sally trying to give things to Linus.  This special has a Eudora appearance too!  My main point is this special seems to have a mixture of vignettes with a kind of center plot with Charlie Brown talking constantly about the Little Red Haired Girl.    I do question how Charlie Brown can fit in a mail box.

Lucy knows the market /Copyright Peanuts 

      Charlie Brown tires to call the LRHG and ends up getting Marcie (shipping mood explodes)  and Peppermint Patty is there and he ends up going on to a dance with Peppermint Patty. (woah double ship)  Charlie still hopes can he score a dance with LRHG.  He didn't get to dance with her. He get to dance with Peppermint Patty and Marcie (ship away!)

Interesting design for LRHG /Copyright Peanuts 

     This is an alright special it feels like they stuck together a lot of short things but they kind of made it feel like a cohesive plot. I guess it's because there is so much materiel of Charlie Brown dreaming of the Little Red-Haired girl.  It's not a match to the original but it was a fine one.

The Loud House : Home of the Fave/ Hero Today, Gone Tomorrow

The Loud House Nickelodeon 

 alsp
         This is going to be it for our Loud House looks for a while , time for us to mozy on to some other things. (If you reading this some time in the future then thank you for visiting, and also dis regard this part of the post, thankyou)

          It's taken us awhile to get the plot of "Who's the favorite", I mean they kind of maybe not really did touch on this idea in "Ties that Bind" so it's here again. But instead of one of the kids going and wondering who the parents' favorite is it's something else instead.

  This is "Home of the Fave"

               Lynn Sr. takes Luan and Lola out shopping with him and the episode shows another strong bond that Lynn has with Luan by them and their love of jokes. Lola doesn't seem to be enjoying this and Lynn notices this. He jumps to one conclusion and thinks that Lola believes that he favors Luan over her.  That sets up our plot for the rest of the episode. (Catalyst powers activate, why did I just write that? I quit.)

aww young Lynn Sr/ Copyright Viacom 

         So he does the logical step and does spends time with Lola (in a dress) and it's nice sweet and fun montage. So that's the episode everything is solved Lola doesn't ---- what oh there's more of the episode left.  Lola takes a nap and Lynn Sr. runs into Lynn Jr. and he ends up thinking that Lynn Jr. now might think he favors Lola over her so, he does the logical step and spends time with her. Montage time, and now he thinks Luna thinks that he favors Lynn Jr over her so he does the logical step and spends time with her. Montage time.  (Some guy who works above me for this blog just for this part so I can do this bit:  Umm can we hurry this up and stop repeating ourselves?)
             

Reading is fun/ Copyright Viacom 

 
      So the same thing happens with different Loud kids from Lana to Z (or Lucy  in this case). Then Luan says that he made her favorite dinner and gets paranoid and makes all their favorite foods (at least for this episode). Also Rita quit this episode.   He decides not to sit with any kid so they don't think he favors them then acts more paranoid. (Some guy again : You're doing it again)  Eventually he screams and runs out of the house. (Never to be seen again)  He tells his kids that he was worried about them seeing him as playing favorites. He finds out that none of kids think that he favors them and they know  he loves them then a huh. Oh Rita's back, and now the pets conspire maybe he plays favorites with them.

       A fine episode. Lynn Sr. really cares about his kids and loves them equally so he really hopes they know that and it was sweet. It was nice to see him doing some bonding, it must be hard with all those kids to do that sometimes.  I'm glad it wasn't an episode that it could have been with them fighting over who the favorite is or something. A nice way of taking a familiar plot and doing something different with it.  I gave this episode 80% out of 100. (8/10 for those non mathy people)
 
   After the jump there's more.

TVLOOKFALL 2019 : What's New, What's Renewed, What's Ended?

TVLOOKFALL 2019 ABC  CBS CW  FOX  NBC 

It's our annual list of network TV moves either shows being renewed or canceled /ending. Also what's new? For disclosure, we are going to count reboot or one of those shows that are returning after ending as new , just to keep this list consistent.

Also to be determined is our list for shows that haven't been officially given a status so, it's constantly changing. (red font shows are shows that have moved to or are summer series meaning they are in a different rule)  This is list will be updated to check back often check the date stamp below, to show when we last updated it.  Save the link too.

Last Update: May 15th  at 8:20am MT

ABC

Renewed

America's Funniest Home Videos (2 seasons)

American Idol

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D
American Housewife
The Bachelor

Bachelor in Paradise
Black-ish
Bless this Mess

The Conners
Dancing With the Stars
Fresh off the Boat

Grey's Anatomy  (2 seasons) 

How to Get Away with Murder 

Modern Family (for final season)
The Goldbergs

The Good Doctor 

A Million Little Things
The Rookie
Schooled 

Shark Tank
Single Parents
Station 19

New Series 
 Don't
For Life
 Mixed-ish
United We Fall

Reality/Summer shows  (Determined in their own time) 

Celebrity Family Feud (Summer Series) 

Child Support 

The Gong Show

Grand Hotel

Match Game 

The Proposal 

To Tell the Truth (Summer series) 

Canceled 
The Alec Baldwin  Show
The Fix
For The People
The Kids Are Alright
Speechless
Splitting Up Together 

Take Two 

Whiskey Cavalier

CBS 

Renewed 
60 Minutes
48 Hours
The Amazing Race
Blue Bloods

 Big Brother 

Bull
Celebrity Big Brother 

Criminal Minds (final season) 

FBI 

God Friended Me
Hawaii Five -0
Madam Secretary (ending after season 6) 

MacGyver
Magnum P.I
Man with a Plan 

Mom (2 Seasons)
NCIS

NCIS: Los Angeles 

NCIS: New Orleans 

The Neighborhood
Ransom  (summer series)
SEAL Team
Survivor
SWAT
Young Sheldon  (2 Seasons) 
Undercover Boos 

New Series 
All Rise
Broke
Bob Hearts Abishola
Carol's Second Act
Evil
FBI: Most Wanted
Tommy
The Unicorn

Summer and reality series (Determined in their own time) 

Blood & Treasure 

Instinct 

Canceled 

The Big Bang Theory
The Code

Code Black 

Elementary
Fam
Happy Together

Life in Pieces 

Murphy Brown
The Red Line

Salvation

CW 

Renewed 
The 100
All American 

Arrow  (For Final season) 

Black Lightning 

Burden of Truth 

Charmed

DC's Legends of Tomorrow 

Dynasty 

The Flash
In the Dark 

Legacies 

The Outpost

Penn &Teller :Fool US
Roswell, New Mexico 

Riverdale 

Supergirl 

Supernatural  (Ending after season 15) 

Whose Line is it Anyway? 

New Series 
Batwoman
Nancy Drew
Katy Keene

Canceled 
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend 

I-zombie 

Jane the Virgin 

FOX

Renewed 
9-1-1
Beat Shazam (summer series)
Bob's Burgers

Empire  (Ending after season 6) 

Family Guy
Gordon Ramsay's 24 hours to Hell and Back
Hell's Kitchen
Last Man Standing 

The Masked Singer
Masterchef
Masterchef Junior
The Orville
The Resident 

The Simpsons (2 seasons) 

So You Think  You Can Dance

New Series
Bless the Hearts (animated)
Deputy
Duncanville (animated)
The Great North (Animated)
Next
Outmatched
Prodigal Son
90210 (August) 

Canceled 
The Cool Kids
The Gifted 

Gotham
Lethal Weapon
Love Connection

The Passage 
Proven Innocent
Rel

Star

NBC

Renewed 
America's Got Talent : The Champions
American Ninja Warrior

The Blacklist
Blindspot (final season) 

Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Chicago Fire 

Chicago Med

Chicago P.D

Ellen's Game of Games
Good Girls 

The Good Place
Law and Order SVU
Little Big Shots
Manifest 

New Amsterdam
Superstore
This is Us (3 seasons)
The Voice 

Will & Grace
World of Dance

New Series 
 Bluff City Law
Council of Dads
Indebted
The Kenan Show
Lincoln
Perfect Harmony
 Sunnyside 

Probaly Canceled 
Abby's

A.P Bio

The Enemy Within
The Village 

Summer/Reality Series (TBD) 

America's Got Talent

Genius Junior 

Making It 

The InBetween 

The Titan Games 

Canceled 
I Feel Bad

Marlon 

Midnight, Texas

Reveire 

Trial &Error