One Shot Posts: The Simpsons: Uh oh the 1990's

The Simpsons  

        My past posts on The Simpsons have been episodes I think might gems but also not from the early seasons. This one is not that.  This one is a controversial episode from season 19. I'm going to remark that season 19 came out in 2007 and 2008. "That 90's Show" aired in January of 2008,  and time is important for this post. 

           This episode doesn't seem to be well liked. I checked IMDB because I wanted to see how people on that site rank the episodes of season 19. This one isn't the lowest rated, but it's in that zone.  There's reviews from the episode I found from different places, from the time it aired and it also doesn't seem to be well received.  

          I'm not going to be saying people wrong or tearing the episode apart, but giving a look and also a look at some context of why this episode isn't beloved.  (No, Patrick, it's not because it's a season 19 episode) 

            One of the biggest things I've seen as something that brings the episode down is the continuity thing.  The episode has Bart finding Marge's memory box and the kids find out that Marge went to college, that's not the continuity thing that makes the episode less appealing to Simpsons fans. What does is that Homer mentions that he and Marge were a young couple in the 1990's.  

             The Simpsons has and is a current show, its main thing is that it takes place in current times (plus the months it takes to make an animated episode). The series started in 1989. (Yes, and earlier with shorts) That's not to say the show can't and hasn't done things that are timeless and feel timeless, but it is also interlinked with times. The show has never really fully locked the characters into the time the series started, since the characters don't really age.  We, on the other hand, sadly do.  

            This episode is a flashback episode, something the show did before this one and did after this one. The difference though, was that a flashback episode about Homer and Marge in The Way We Was (Season 2; Episode 12) from 1992 told a story of Homer and Marge met and fell and love in 1974. Which works for an episode that takes place in 1991-1992.  That would be hard to work in for an episode that takes place in 2007-2008 and still have the characters meeting in 1974.  Being a network show , and even more at the time this one aired, they wanted a targeted demographic. The broadest part is 18-49.  The youngest viewer in that demo, turning 18 would have been born in 1989 or 1990, if they had a January birthday.  It would also be coming in when 90's nostalgia was really starting to become a big thing, much like how late 60's/ early 70's nostalgia was  in play during the Simpsons' early days.  

           I don't think the continuity thing hurts the episode, because it is kind of understandable why there would be a 90's flashback in a show that started in the 90's , but was on long enough to where if it had ended earlier, there'd probably had been a 90's nostalgia fueled bring up the show to the point it might have been brought back in the 2010's.  I can see how someone would be bothered by the show doing this when the classic stories were the ones that they really attached and loved. 

               That doesn't mean that the episode is strong. Some of the episode is very much like "HEY IT'S THE 90'S REMEBER THE 90'S!"  That's many of the jokes the punchline is the 90's thing. "Heh dial up internet."  Homer, Carl, Lenny, and Officer  Lou are part of an R&B group, which kind of feels like them going with that time Homer was part of a doo-wop group in the 90's in a flashback episode in the 90's. (stop that) That's kind of a nice touch. 

This is how the 90's looked/ Copyright Fox 

        Homer finds out that Marge applied to college and has gotten accepted and finds out that college is expensive. Homer decides he going to work to help her pay for it and his Dad runs a laser tag spot. Marge goes to college. She also has 'The Rachel' haircut because 90's.  Marge has a professor named Stefane August who is like the professors a talk radio host would go after.  

Imagine wearing a jacket, sweater, and shirt/ Copyright FOX 

             The episode, really though, is using the flashback and the 90's to really kind of cover over that it's a basic plot the show has done before in some way.  Homer sees the professor  and that the man is handsome and that Marge seems to be infatuated on him.  Homer gets jealous and maybe he's justified, but it's not an episode that's trying anything new or interesting as a story, except using that hook of the flashback. That actually kind of hurts it more because you really know that Homer and Marge are going to end up together, so whatever happens here in the flashback doesn't matter and doesn't bring anything interesting to the table.     Going back to "The Way We Was" , there we also know Homer and Marge are going to get together, but it presents an interesting story about the characters as teens and why Marge ended up liking Homer and why Homer likes Marge.  

more after the jump

It's CW Affliaton Change Day

The CW  TV News 

           Today is Friday, September 1, 2023 and some more changes have happened at the CW. The network has been changing under its new ownership of Nexstar Media Group.  So far, that had been programming, leadership, and behind the scenes stuff.   Today marks another change to the network and that's how it's supplied in some areas of the country. 

   Back in May, CBS (the old C in the CW) announced that their 8 stations that had been part of the network since the 2006 launch would be dropping the network and going non-affiliated, from September 1st. 

     The stations affected in this were  WUPA-TV Atlanta,  KBCW-TV Bay Area, WKBD-TV Detroit, WPCW-TV Pittsburgh, WPSG-TV Philadelphia, KMAX-TV Sacramento, KSTW-TV Seattle, and WTOG-TV Tampa.  This meant in those markets  that Nexstar would have to find new affiliates for the CW network as CBS' plans were for non-affiliated stations.  Here's a look at those changes by market.

  

Atlanta 

      Atlanta is one of the areas where CBS owns a single station, but not a CBS affiliate. Instead, they owned a CW station that was a hold over from the days pre first Viacom merger that CBS ended up owning after the split.  WUPA-TV Channel 69 swaps from being CW69 to Atlanta 69 as a branding.  

   The CW will be finding a new home on Channel 17, PeachTree TV ,WPCH. This station is owned by Gray. For the historical note, WPCH was the station that Ted Turner bought and used later to launch TBS. This station will be affiliated with its first network ever.  It was also later owned by Warner as their only OTA station , but didn't join the CW (W being Warner) in 2006. 

      On WUPA, the station will replace the CW programming with 8pm local news (probably produced outside the market as before)  and 48 Hours  at 9pm.   Peach Tree TV is replacing local programming at 8pm and the local news at 9pm with the CW.   

      

BayArea (Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose) 

     
 In the Bay Area, the station KBCW TV will also be changing it's call letters to KPYX, and on air going from KBCW to KPIX+ after sister station KPIX-TV.   In speaking of KPIX-TV, the hours on KPYX-TV that held the CW will be replaced by 2 hours of news from KPIX at 8 and 9pm. Giving the area its only 8pm and 9pm newscasts.  Though, not CW leaving related the station will also be adding a morning newscast from 7-9pm: The Morning Edition from CBS NEWS Bay Area. 

           Nexstar didn't have to go far to find a CW replacement, they own local station KRON-TV "KRON 4" which airs My Network TV programming. They are switching to the CW , still branded as KRON 4.  They have replaced their 8pm and 9pm local news with CW programming. They are adding an 11pm newscast back to their line up along with 2pm news. 

Detroit 

     

   In the Detroit area, CBS owned WKBD is leaving the CW. They've changed their branding from CW50 to Detroit. Their primetime line up will include Family Feud at 8, and 48 Hours  at 9.  The CW will be moving to WADL-TV channel 38.  This station is currently in a sale to Mission Broadcasting to be run by Nexstar in the future, if approved. 

Philadelphia 

    
    In Philadelphia, WPSG is going back to a branding they had pre-UPN days and had been using on their CW logo "Philly 57".  They are replacing the CW with local news from sister station KYW-TV at 8pm and 48 Hours at 9pm. 

        Nexstar owns WPHL-TV "PHL 17"  and CW programming is moved there.  The station, like KRON-TV ran My Network TV after hours  so they are replacing off network sitcoms at 8 and 9pm.   

Pittsburgh 

   
   Like San Francisco/ Bay Area,  WPCW will be changing their call letters to be WPKD , in homage to sister station KDKA. Also they will be rebranded on air as KDKA+ . They will continue to air High School Football on Fridays, and will be adding an 8pm newscast in November, The 10pm news continues.  48 Hours will air at 9pm.  

      Nexstar doesn't own a station in Pittsburgh, but made a deal with Sinclair Broadcasting to have WPNT-22  - 22 The Point! air CW programming.  The station was airing My Network TV on normal timing (8-10pm) so the CW programming is replacing that.   

Sacramento 

     

   In Sacramento, KMAX-TV is changing from CW31 to KMAX 31.  The station is adding an 8pm newscast from sister station CBS 13 and  48 Hours at 9pm. 

       Nexstar owns  a station in the area, but they are dropping FOX programming from KTXL, instead, Hearst owned KQCA-TV channel 58 (MY 58) will be airing CW programming. The station aired My Network TV in the late hours and will continue to do that.   

Seattle 

    
    Like Atlanta, this is a market where CBS owns only a CW station, KSTW will be now Seattle 11 and airing Family Feud at 8 and 48 Hours at 9pm. 

        Nexstar, doesn't own a station here and they've made a deal with Sinclair to air CW programming on KOMO-TV's digital sub channel.   

Tampa Bay 

    

    Last, of the CW  stations , but not least. WTOG-TV is going to be Tampa Bay 44 . They are replacing CW programming with The Simpsons reruns at 8 and 48 Hours at 9pm. 

      Nexstar-owned WTTA , Great 38, will be now called CW Tampa Bay. Also with the CW programming being added, the hour long 8pm news from their sister station WFLA 8 will be moving to a half hour at 10pm, and Spanish language newscast Noticias Tampa Hoy  will be moving from 9pm to 10:30pm. Todo Tampa Bay moves to 11pm. My Network TV programming will still air after hours. 

  But, wait, There's More! 

        Non CBS related, but Sinclair station KOCB-TV Channel 34 in Oklahoma City will be leaving the CW network and instead Nexstar station KAUT-TV Channel 43 "Freedom 43" will be airing programming instead.   

    

The next age of the CW continues and interesting to see what else CBS will do with their independent stations. There is a chance that as regional sports cable networks seem to be getting hit hard, that they could pick up local teams

  

Sources: 

https://sbgi.net/the-cw-network-and-sinclair-expand-and-extend-affiliation-partnership/

https://www.paramountpressexpress.com/cbs-news-and-stations/shows/stations/releases/?view=108406-cbs-to-transition-eight-company-owned-stations-from-affiliates-of-the-cw-to-independents-on-friday-sept-1

https://www.peachtreetv.com/2023/08/30/atlantas-peachtreetv-becomes-cw-affiliate/

https://www.kron4.com/news/kron4-new-network-new-newscasts-live-sports/

https://www.nexstar.tv/the-cw-and-sinclair-expand-and-extend-affiliation-partnership/

https://www.nexstar.tv/the-cw-and-gray-expand-extend-affiliation-partnership/

https://kfor.com/programming/kaut-tv-will-carry-cws-primetime-entertainment-and-live-sports/

https://www.kcra.com/article/the-cw-on-my58s-launch-on-sept-1-kqca/44954850

https://www.tvtechnology.com/news/nexstar-stations-in-philly-san-fran-and-tampa-to-become-cw-affiliates

The Lookback: UPN Kids ( and a little more too)

UPN  The Flashback

        UPN, the United Paramount Network, was  launched in 1995 in January of 1995, but in that fall they also jumped into the ground other networks also did (minus NBC because it's 1995)  and did children's programming. This time we are talking about UPN's kids programming.  We kind of did that on this blog before, but we felt that post (which was combined with TNBC) was lacking and maybe UPN needed it's own story page. (Plus, it's good to try and improve things) 

        On Sunday, September 10, 1995, UPN Kids launched. You may notice I said Sunday and not like Saturday, a lot of these blocks start on Saturday or have Saturday programming, UPN did not. They were a Sunday Morning block. There are reasons for this that to be at thing.

 

    Most UPN stations were former independent stations, a lucky few were former Fox stations that needed   a network when Fox left them for better VHF stations or something (not sure how lucky they felt, oh that FOX thing is important for our story), others maybe just launched. Also in 1995, another network launched , The WB, and maybe a few stations were both UPN and the WB and that's a whole other mess. The good reasons for a Sunday block versus Saturday is that some of the new FOX stations that decided they were too good for children's shows even on Saturday (minus the ones the government said to air for the education reasons) a UPN station could air FOX Kids on Saturday (and weekdays).  In Milwaukee, for example, WITI was a CBS station that ended up with FOX, but decided that FOX Kids wasn't for them so the former FOX station,  WCGV-TV, aired FOX Kids, but WCGV was a UPN station.  Another reason, could be syndicated programming, there was still syndicated children's programming (though that market was dying by 1995) and stations had commitments (who knows how long UPN could last?) , and the finale good reason is Sunday is just less crowded than Saturday. 

        UPN Kids started as a Sunday only block and not just Sunday but a 1 hour Sunday block. (You can't say they over did themselves)  the planned time slot of the 10am hour. That makes it easy for us.  

The first program was "Space Strikers".  "Space Strikers" was a French cartoon brought to the US from  Haim Saban's company which also was an invested owner in FOX Kids.  "Space Strikers" is based on the novel  "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" but in Space. (yay!)  This show was was told as one story, meaning viewers had to turn each week to see where the story went next, which wasn't a long story, because it was 13 episode series.   The show also used early computer animation for the action scenes and also promoted the fun of 3D viewing. (alright then) 

more after the jump

Freeform's 31 Nights of Halloween 2023 schedule

Halloween Freeform

    It's that time of year again, as fall is almost upon us and the (hopefully) cooler weather. Freeform is back with their annual event of "31 Nights of Halloween" starting October 1.   The new movies included on Freeform for this season are Encanto , Zombies, and, Zombies 2 (from sister network Disney Channel). 

    All times ET/PT 

Sunday, Oct. 1

7:00 a.m. - "Mrs. Doubtfire"

10:10 a.m. - "Scared Shrekless"

10:40 a.m. - "Halloweentown"

12:45 p.m. - "Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween"

2:50 p.m. - "The Haunted Mansion" (2003)

4:55 p.m. - "Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas"

6:35 p.m. - "Hocus Pocus"

8:45 p.m. - "Hotel Transylvania"

10:50 p.m. - "Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation"

1:00 a.m. - "Decorating Disney: Halloween Magic"

Monday, Oct. 2

10:30 a.m. - "The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror"

11:00 a.m. - "Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween"

1:00 p.m. - "Twitches"

3:00 p.m. - "Twitches Too"

5:00 p.m. - "Shrek Forever After"

7:00 p.m. - "Hotel Transylvania"

9:00 p.m. - "Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation"

12:00-2:00 a.m. - "The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror" episodes

The CW Fall Premiere Dates

The CW Fall TV Look 2023 

    I'm a bit late, but adding the post about the CW's fall premiere dates  anyway. 

        The CW's fall premieres are slightly different in a few ways.  A change from the announced fall line up  is that  the series  All American, won't be on the fall line up due to the continuing writers' and actors' strike.  Since May, the CW has also picked up The Chosen, which started airing in July and is planned to run until Christmas Eve. That made their Sunday Night line up different from planned as well. 

     Inside the NFL makes its official moves to the CW and kicks off , September 5 at 8pm. Another series pick up for Tuesdays will be The Swarm which will air following at 9pm.  

        Along with All American not being on the fall line up after all, 61st Street and the I Am documentary series have been pushed to mid season. 

        New Canadian drama shows Sullivan's Crossing and The Spencer Sisters will be taking up Wednesdays starting October 4. 

     Unscripted series, FBoy Island will take Thursday nights as planned at 8pm ET.  

 Other CW mainstays that were around before the Nexstar purchase; Penn & Teller :Fool US returns October 20 at 8pm, on Friday nights.    The Saturday line up of Masters of Illusion, and World's Funniest Animals returns October 28.  Whose Line Is it Anyway? will air Tuesdays starting November 14 at 9pm. 

    The Monday night comedies already airing will be joined by a new comedy  Everyone Else Burns on Monday October 16 at 9:30pm. 

Here's the full line up all times are ET/PT/Denver/Saint Louis

Tuesday, September 5

8pm Inside the NFL (Season Premiere) 

9pm  The Swarm  (Series Premiere) 

Wednesday, October 4 

8pm Sullivan's Crossing (Series Premiere) 

9pm The Spencer Sisters (Series Premiere) 

Thursday, October 12 

8pm FBOY Island (Season 3 Premiere) 

Monday, October 16

8pm Son of a Critch (Original Episode) 

8:30pm Run the Burbs (Original Episode) 

9pm Children Ruin Everything (Original Episode) 

9:30pm  Everyone Else Burns (Series Premiere) 

Friday, October 20

8pm  Penn & Teller: Fool US ( Season 10 Premiere) 

9pm Inside the NFL (Encore Episodes) 

Saturday, October 28

8pm Masters of Illusion (Season 10 Premiere) 

8:30pm Masters of Illusion (Original Episode) 

9pm  World's Funniest Animals (Season 4 Premiere) 

9:30pm World's Funniest Animals (Original Episode) 

Tuesday, November 14 

8pm Inside the NFL (Original Episode) 

9pm Whose Line is it Anyway? (Season 12 Premiere) 

9:30pm Whose Line is it Anyway (Original episode) 

The Press release after the jump

It's Another Special, Charlie Brown: One Of A Kind Marcie

Peanuts 

            So Peanuts has made it to the big 50, that's right the 50th special.  Though that doesn't seem to be a big mark and the promotion isn't really like that either. This is another special in the era where Peanuts is doing things on Apple TV Plus. (Apple TV+ The other streaming service that exists)   This one again also goes with the "Snoopy Presents" name because sure alright. It's my now running motion to be slightly annoyed by that. The rest of the title, also means that that Charlie Brown is still pushed to the back for a different character. I'm not overtly bothered by that, but it does kind of get to be something as this seems to be the new way they go.  This one is about Marcie, a character I do like. 

               Snoopy Presents: One of  a Kind Marcie first came out on August 18, 2023.   I will still point out that these specials are animated nicely and look good, if only the issue about how they look is how glossy the tend to end up looking.  Or how some of the parts tend to look darker than what used to be a bit brighter, but will repeat that I'm glad the stewards of Peanuts , that being  Wildbrain, Sony Music Entertainment Japan, and the Schulz family at least have kept he hallmark style of how they looked and a 2D look and feel.  The music is at least a somewhat nice touch and feel to the idea. The character designs seem to still stick to more of the 1960's and 1970's designs more than advancing to even using the 80's and 90's clothing of some of the characters because I think they fear that. 

                It starts with Marcie reading a book and then Peppermint Patty calls her because Marcie is the caddy for Peppermint Patty in golf.  Peppermint Patty is in the school's golf tournament.  I'm also surprised that there's like a girl that looks like a mini Peppermint Patty clone.  It also has interrupting Snoopy... and Woodstock.  I will say Peppermint Patty and Marcie doing golf is something that is in the strips. They've also decided to have Peppermint Patty think Snoopy is a kid here because sure, it's from the comics, but she did eventually stop thinking that. 

She also thinks sandals are good golf shoes/ Copyright Peanuts 

              It is nice to see Marcie and Peppermint Patty's friendship here being done with them nicely, though it does remove some of the rough parts that is also their dynamic, which seems to be something these newer specials seem to do.  Then there's  a part where Peppermint Patty is looking at the school golf cup and the names on it and saying that she'll be on their next, then Marcie wonders where the caddies' names are, then P.P says why would they do that? Marcie calls the sport a team sport, and Peppermint Patty says "yeah, me. myself, and I" then Marcie seems to get mad and tells her why don't "me myself and I" pick up the bags then. Then the special cuts to Franklin being president of the school because OK. It's oddly done there to me, like hold on?  Also, also Lucy and Schroeder are in the same school as Peppermint Patty, Marcie and Franklin here because OK.  

VOTE! / Copyright Peanuts 

      I will point out I'm also very pedantic on Peanuts. Even knowing that specials and the comic strips didn't constantly follow each other, the specials at least followed the strips in the basics. Also, we had an election plotline before.    Lucy announces she's running for president (I'm scared) , Pig pen wants to run, and Peppermint Patty tells Marcie she thinks Marcie should run.  Marcie doesn't think it's a good idea. 

Feelings/ Copyright Peanuts 

more after the jump 

But First These Messages: Back to School

But First these Messages 

             August... Or September uh back to school.  Back to school ads seem to show up around July baffling some people. A lot of schools return in August so I guess it makes sense. When I was a kid, school usually started the last week of August.   That also seems to give something for the retail stores to do between the lulls of not having any holidays to content with and getting ready for Christmas. 

        This post is also a kind of revival of our  But First These Messages posts since they are kind of a different animal to the other kinds of posts I do here.  It's hard to link back to older posts since they are also Youtube heavy and when a video/channel is gone that video gone it's a mess.  I'm trying to bring back this segment, but maybe with a slight difference.  

        Back to school,  But First These Messages....

CNN Changes Programming Line Up: Including Primetime, Early Morning, and Saturdays

CNN TV News Cable TV News 

            The constant at CNN has been change, and again a programming schedule change. CNN has announced anchor changes and new programs that effect their mornings, daytime, and primetime, along with weekends. 

        Primetime, which had been in a state of a flux since Chris Cuomo's firing in December 2021, and now former anchor, Don Lemon, leaving primetime in 2022.  The 10 pm Eastern hour will be given to political correspondent , Abby Phillip, with 11pm being hosted by Laura Coates, CNN's legal analyst. 

           Phillip's program brings back an old name to CNN, CNN NewsNight , which CNN previously used until 2005.  Coates' program will be branded Laura Coates Live. 

        Now, the mornings.  Kasie Hunt has been named anchor of 5AM eastern program Early Start, and chief White House correspondent Phil Mattingly has been named co-anchor of CNN This Morning with Poppy Harlow. 

            Of note, Pamela Brown, CNN's chief investigative correspondent will anchor  a daily 3pm ET hour show, that show will be called The Bulletin . This means that CNN News Central from D.C will be cut to 2 hours. 

        Here's  the weekday line up in review, changed programming in Italics 

5-6am ET: Early Start  (new anchor)

6-9am ET: CNN This Morning with Poppy Harlow and Phil Mattingly  (new co-anchor)

9am-12pm ET: CNN News Central

12-1pm ET: Inside Politics with Dana Bash

1-3pm ET: CNN News Central

3-4pm ET: The Bulletin with Pamela Brown  (new program) 

4-6pm ET: The Lead with Jake Tapper

6-7pm ET: The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer

7-8pm ET: Erin Burnett Out Front

8-9pm ET: Anderson Cooper 360

9-10pm ET: The Source with Kaitlan Collins

10-11pm ET: CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip  (new program ) 

11-12pm ET: Laura Coates Live (new program) 

Now to the weekends.  Victor Blackwell, Christiane Amanpour, Manu Raju, and Chris Wallace will be hosting new programming.  

    On Saturdays, CNN This Morning will be cut one hour ending at 8AMET, to allow for a new show with Victor Blackwell at 8amET.   Chris Wallace will have a new live show on Saturday mornings at 10am ET,  and CNN International's  Christiane Amanpour will host at 11AMET. The 10am-12pm ET block replaces two hours of CNN Newsroom.  

Here's the Saturday line up , program changes in italics 

6-8am ET: CNN This Morning Weekends

8-9am ET: First of All with Victor Blackwell

9-10am ET: Smerconish

10-11am ET: The Chris Wallace Show

11am-12pm ET: Christiane Amanpour

12-4pm ET: CNN Newsroom with Fredricka Whitfield

4-8pm ET: CNN Newsroom with Jim Acosta

     On Sunday, due to Phillip moving to primetime, her slot on Inside Politics is being given to Manu Raju, CNN's Capitol Hill correspondent. 

     Of note, the weekly primetime show "King Charles" with Gayle King and Charles Barkley will be coming to the network as planned.  Alisyn Camerota seems to be the odd one out in the changes, she will be part of CNN's Sunday magazine show "The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper".  It is also interesting to see that Amanpour, who hosts a daily show on CNN(International ) which also runs on PBS, is getting more spotlight on CNN US.  Sadly, Saturday daytime gets news headline focused programming cut by 3 hours. 

The press release is after the jump