Posted on

How Sonny & Cher got their groove back

Sonny & Cher’s comeback: Sonny & Cher were world-famous and hugely successful in the 60s, but their career was on the skids in 1970. Despite their outrageous appearance, their lifestyle and music was squeaky-clean, and didn’t go over well with hippies. They resorted to playing lounge acts to hostile, middle-aged audiences, who heckled them. Cher started heckling back, Sonny scolded her, and she heckled him. The heckling became the best part of the act, and Hollywood noticed and gave them the “Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour.” [Cintra Wilson/Salon]

Posted on

Almost cut the cord

We tried out YouTube TV ($40 – free trial) and I thought we finally might be able to cut the cable cord by adding that service to our existing lineup. But YouTube TV won’t let you skip commercials on some shows so nope. We’re sticking with cable.

Posted on

How Mark Burnett Resurrected Donald Trump as an Icon of American Success

With “The Apprentice,” TV producer Mark Burnett mythologized Trump — then a floundering D-lister — as the ultimate titan, paving his way to the Presidency. [Patrick Radden Keefe] www.newyorker.com

An outstanding profile. Keefe notes that Trump and Burnett are kindred spirits. However, Burnett really is a successful businessman. Trump is a fraud, who arguably modeled his current image on Burnett.

Posted on

Seven characters you meet on science fiction/fantasy TV

The leader: Buffy

The scientist, who uses a lot computer screens: Willow

The one who knows the lore, who handles a lot of dusty old books: Giles

The comic sidekick: Xander.

The outlaw who’s allied with the good guys: Angel and later Spike

The muscle: Buffy, once again.

And of course, the Big Bad: A sympathetic villain whose story arc spans a full season or more. Examples: the Mayor in Buffy Season 3, Bulshar on Wynonna Earp.

A good Big Bad steals every scene he or she is in.

Roles of individual characters change over time, and are often combined in a single character. In Stargate SG-1, O’Neill was both the leader and the comic sidekick. Teal’c was both the outlaw and the muscle. In Buffy, Willow became a powerful witch. Doctor Who is leader, comic sidekick, outlaw, scientist and loremaster all in one.

Star Trek shows have similar but different roles. No Trek is successful without the Alienated Alien – for example, Spock, Data and Odo. Voyager was flailing until they brought on 7 of 9. (Credit goes to a friend on the Alienated Alien observation.)

Posted on

Ken Berry Dead: ‘F Troop,’ ‘Mama’s Family’ Star Was 85 [Hollywood Reporter]

RIP Ken Berry, who played Captain Parmenter on “F Troop” and also starred on “Mama’s Family.” He was 85.

He was an “agile song-and-dance man who was encouraged in show business by his U.S. Army sergeant … Leonard Nimoy.” He also starred on “Mayberry RFD,” a short-lived spin-off of “The Andy Griffith Show” that I remember quite enjoying, although I remember nothing about it.

Berry came to fame for portraying the greenhorn Captain Parmenter on ABC’s F Troop, which aired for only two seasons (65 episodes from September 1965 through April 1967) but lived on in syndication for decades.

A private, Parmenter was promoted to take command of Fort Courage in Kansas after his sneeze (which sounded like “Charge!”) propelled Union troops to an inspirational victory over the Confederates.

Berry’s goofball antics, which he dispensed with the dexterity of a trained dancer, supplied many of the show’s highlights. In a 2012 interview with the Archive of American Television, he said he came up with many of the pratfalls himself.

“It was something that I could bring to the show,” he said. “I would choreograph stuff. I would find things in the set or outside that I could use. [It got so that the F Troop scripts would say,] ‘Business to be worked out with Ken on the set.'”

Berry’s legions of fans included the great silent film star Buster Keaton, a master of physical comedy. “He once called me after the show had been on the night before and said, ‘That was a good gag you did last night,'” he recalled. “Wow, that was high praise!”

Here’s the opening “F-Troop” theme. I believe I can sing every word by heart.

Posted on

Before Game of Thrones and Nightflyers, George R.R. Martin’s work inspired a great Outer Limits episode [The Verge]

“Sandkings,” by George R.R. “Game of Thrones” Martin, is one of my favorite stories, and I loved the TV movie. It stars Beau Bridges, who is a national treasure.

“Sandkings” tells the story of a man who adopts a colony of alien insects as pets. Like an ant farm. The insects worship the man as a god. This works out well for the man. For a while.

And now “Sandkings” is available on Hulu, part of their streaming the 1995-2002 run of “Outer Limits.”