Barney at the Bar

I was just watching an episode of “Cheers” Frasier and Lilith brought their son to the bar and it looked like he was holding a Barney doll. That’s the children’s show dinosaur not Neil Patrick Harris on “How I Met Your Mother”. This surprised me because I did not think that “Barney” and ”Cheers” overlapped time line wise. I looked it up and “Barney” started in 1992 and “Cheers” ended in 1993. I knew I remembered seeing the last episode of “Cheers” when it originally aired and I would have been about 12 at that time so that makes sense. I would have placed “Barney” as starting a few years later then that but either way I would have been too old to be interested in it. Also the doll featured on the “Cheers” episode was always turned so the green stomach was not showing so there’s no real proof it’s the “Barney” at least as far as the lawyers are concerned, anyone else can tell by the shape of the purple dinosaur that “Barney” was visiting Cheers.

Loving Lucy for 60 Years

This past weekend Hallmark Channel was showing the “I Love Lucy” 60th anniversary marathon. I could not let an opportunity like that pass me by. First it’s cool to know that the show has been around that long it’s like the most classic of all the classic reruns. Also I have not actually seen all the episodes multiple times like some other shows I will see the popular ones on marathons but not all the random episodes that get less press because of this most of the ones that were on this marathon I had never seen before so even if the show is 60 years old the episodes were new to me. Another interesting thing about watching the show or anything that old is the glimpse in to the past that it gives us. I roll my eyes at the twin beds and am slightly annoyed by the 50s style gender roles because they are outdated now. When I was in high school and watching another marathon I remember my dad pointing out that the show was considered progressive at the time because Lucy and Ricky are an interracial couple. A show being around for that long also means it gets referenced a lot by other shows. There’s a specific “Golden Girls” episode where Blanche and Rose are watching a marathon of course that was probably just for the 40th anniversary. The show has staying power due to its quality there are plenty of shows that have come since that don’t stand the test of time and things that are much more recent but try to hard to be current so their references are harder to understand. Older shows did not really make that many references to the pop culture of the time or if they did the things they were referencing became as classic as they are and no one wonders about them. The jokes on the show are mostly based on the situations and not depended on insults and dialog like some modern shows. Also in some instances the crazy situations are more realistic then things that occur in more modern shows. Some of the themes transcend time. Like the husband and wife relationship which has changed in details over the years but the idea of fighting and scheming for each to try to get their own way remains a theme in a lot of shows. Also spending a lot of time with you best friend is a theme the started with Lucy and Ethel and continued to the future in most shows the female lead has a close girlfriend she can have on her side. So even after 60 years everyone still loves Lucy even those of us who have only been around for half that time.

Laugh Track

Whether we like them or not laugh tracks are an important part of TV history. Its something so familiar that sometimes it becomes unnoticeable and of course some shows had real studio audiences laughing (or those were the ones recorded for the laugh track)
I recently saw this segment about a laugh track machine on “Antiques Roadshow”

Watch the full episode. See more Antiques Roadshow.

You can read the transcript on the PBS website if the embedded video does not work
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/roadshow/archive/201001A13.html
I love how when the appraiser talks about the shows the laughs were recorded from he says 1953 up to “Cheers” its great how he mentions the specific show instead of just giving another date in the 80s or 90s when “Cheers” was on. The other thing about laugh tracks is when they were not used after learning I liked “MASH” someone asked me something about episodes that did not have the laugh track. I said they did not use it during scenes in the operating room and some episodes take place entirely in that room. Other episodes omitted the laugh track because they were dealing with serious subject matter. Of course the lack of canned laughter does not mean there were no jokes it was just up to the people at home to decide how funny they were. I think that’s what people don’t like about the laugh track they don’t want someone else to tell them what they should think is funny. In that sense its not really different from any other aspect of television the writers producers and advertisers all tell us what we should think is entertaining and of course if no one watches it a show will get bad ratings and be canceled but hype can compensate for lack of quality and lead to a show having more success then it deserves or just give it a chance to find itself and earn the laughter for real.


"Antiques Roadshow" side note the show premiered in England in 1977 so how ling before something that was new when the show started is old enough to be considered an antique featured on the show.

Empty Nest

On Friday I was watching “The Golden Girls” on Hallmark Channel this is not an unusual occurrence but on this viewing there were commercials for “The Empty Nest premier marathon all day Saturday!”  I debated with my self whether or not I should watch it I had seen the show in reruns as a kid but not as much as some other shows it may have just been something I watched when I was home sick from school.  I also realized that I had not seen it in at least 15 years so it would be like new.  Also I did not know the family lived next door to the Golden Girls when I had seen the show before. The show was a spin off and Golden Girls guest stared often.  I had seen the show enough as a kid to recognize the characters when they visit Golden Girls episodes.  So I figured it would be interesting to see the other side of their story. So I wound up having the show on most of the day but I did do other things so I did not watch all the episodes in the 6 hour block I had it on.  The show is good though and there was a specific joke about a credit card that I remembered from the last time I watched it so it there is definitely staying power in my rerun loving brain.  I also recognized the outfit Dorothy wore in her guest spot as one I had seen her in before in at least one “Golden Girls” episode.  The premise of “Empty Nest” is an older widower whose 20somthing daughters move back in with him. The show started in 1988 but that premise is something that is relevant again today (if it ever stopped being relevant).  That story creates a different kind of family sitcom with time capsule hair and fashion from the late 80s and early 90s one of the things I find interesting about older shows is the clothes it may make them dated but I like being able to identify a time period that way.  Another cool aspect of the show is the nurse Laverne who runs the fathers pediatric office like Radar runs MASH.  Overall I was glad I watched the marathon and appreciate the slightly more obscure retro shows just as much as the main stream ones. 

Double Jeopardy

Recently I watched an episode of “Cheers” in which Cliff competes on the game show “Jeopardy” and I realized that he is one of three sitcom characters I know of who have been on that game show or attempted to be on.   The others are Dorothy from “Golden Girls” and Fran from “The Nanny”.  There may be more instances of this in shows I have not seen but these are the three examples I am familiar with.  They all enter for different reasons Dorothy is obsessed with the show and wants to prove how smart she is Cliff knows a lot of trivia and Fran is the victim of a bet that is making fun of her for being dumb.  It’s somewhat ironic that Fran does the best of all of them, she winds up winning because of well timed questions about her favorite subjects of food and Barbra Streisand movies.  Dorothy takes the entry test and does well but is not chosen for the show because they say she is not likable enough she then has a dream sequence where Rose beats her on the show because the questions are about cows and farm life which are topics Rose knows similar to the way Fran won.  Cliff does well and is in a great lead until he risks it all in final jeopardy and does not know the answer.  The thing that I noticed when watching that episode earlier this week was how young Alex Trebek looks I did the math and the episode was probably filmed about 22 years ago so it makes sense that he would be older now and it also demonstrates how much a part of our culture the show is.  Back in the 80s and early 90s sitcom characters were trying to be on the show and now Ken Jennings is trying to beat a computer. I think I like the way it worked out for Fran the best of the three examples because when I watch the show there are sometimes categories that I am an expert in and get all the questions (once it was Seth Green and another time it was the SCIFI channel) so I find her ability to win when it got on her preferred topics to be believable and relatable.  Of course I might not know enough general trivia to qualify for the show but its still fun in theory. How long will the “Jeopardy” theme song be stuck in your head after you read this?

Commercial Break

I’m not sure if some commercials make vague references to old TV shows or I just see references that are not there because of all the trivia in my head.  The most obvious example of one that must have been done on purpose is a Toy Story themed post office commercial that features Hamm the piggy bank dressed as a postal worker.  This is a clear reference to John Ratzenberger who does the voice of Hamm and is best known as postal worker Cliff Clavin from Cheers.  This must have been an intentional in joke and it was a good advertising ploy because it got me to pay more attention to the commercial and remember it later to write this.  The most recent example that prompted me to write on this topic is a Geico commercial that features a radio call in show.  One of the callers identifies herself as “Peg from Mill Valley”.  The average person might not think anything of that but I recognize it as a slightly obscure MASH reference.  The character BJ Hunnicut had a wife named Peg who lived in Mill Valley California.  While she was referred to often Peg Hunnicut was not really a major character the casual viewer would remember off the top of their head. I am not a casual viewer so as soon as I heard the name and city combo I thought of her and wondered if it was a coincidence or an intentional reference.  Is the commercial writer a MASH fan putting it in as a joke or did they just happen to remember that name and that city and think they sounded good for the random caller without  realizing  what it’s from? There’s no way to know the answer to that but it still makes the commercial more amusing for me since I can read MASH connections in to it. 

“Man of Science Man of Faith”

      Yes it’s the first sci-fi geek edition of this blog it had to happen sooner rather then later.  I was thinking about the “Man of Science Man of Faith” theme in Lost and how it applies to other shows and mediums.  The concept was originally used to describe the differences between the motivations of Jack Shephard the doctor and “Man of Science” and John Locke the “Man of Faith” who believes in the mysticism of The Island.  Both characters have reason for the sides they take on this issue and their actions based on these beliefs drive a lot of the progression of events on the show.   

    I first realized the concept could be applied to other characters on different shows when I saw a live journal icon proclaiming Spock and Dr. McCoy from the original Star Trek to be “Team Science”.  This got me thinking that despite their differences those two characters would both fit in the “Man of Science” category leaving the role of the “Man of Faith” to Captain Kirk.  This brought me to the conclusion that Kirk is so much a “Man of Faith” he needs two “Men of Science” to counter balance it.  In some sense Kirk is the ultimate “Man of Faith” he breaks the rules cheats his way out of “No Win Scenarios” and does not worry about the consequences.  This leaves Spock to argue that something is “not logical” and McCoy to complain about the health risks that heroic acts can lead to.  It could also be argued that he needs a third “Man of Science” in Scotty to put the ship back together again after everything goes down.

     Then I came up with the opposite theory for Stargate Atlantis where Rodney McKay needs three faiths for his one science.  His “Gate Team” has John Sheppard whose military background makes him the stereotypical hero that charges in to situations without knowing what everything means and trusts that Rodney’s science will save them in the end even if he does not subscribe to it himself.  The other members of the team take faith more literally Teyla especially believes in the ancestors that built the Stargates and treats them as divine entities instead of aliens with advance technology that the “Men of Science” explain them as.  Ronon follows the “Man of Faith” in a way that combines the other two sometimes with military heroism and sometimes with religious connotations.  Rodney does not seem to notice that he is out numbered in the science category, although in some episodes Zelenka backs him up as a second “Man of Science”.  Despite the larger portion of the characters believing in the faith side the show itself tries to make science the final solution and uses it to explain what could otherwise be mystical occurrences. This is different from the ideals shown on Lost where despite not many character having faith in the mystical properties of The Island it turns out to be true and the cause of almost everything that happens to them over the course of the show.  

      In most instances there is only one of each and I think the most classic of these is Batman and Superman.  Sure they are comic book characters but the Justice League cartoon show qualifies it for my reruns. But they show the concept at its most basic Batman is the “Man of Science” and uses that science to fight crime and protect the city and relies on his intelligence instead of a super power.  Superman is the “Man of Faith” because in being not of this world and having powers he becomes something of an object of faith himself. He also believes the best of people and that he can genuinely make a difference and save the world despite how naive this viewpoint seems in comparison to the darker views in Batman’s world.  When these characters are compared to Jack and Locke the metaphor does not seem to fit because on the surface Jack Shephard seems to have more in common with Superman or more specifically Clark Kent.  This is because Jack and Locke are the exceptions to their own archetype.  Even though the concept of “Man of Science Man of Faith” is defined by them Jacks character type is the hero who in most instances would be the one to follow faith not science.  He is not as impulsive as other heroic “Men of Faith” like Kirk or the ironically named in this example John Sheppard of Atlantis, but he is the one that others look to as the leader and hope he can get them out of whatever situation The Island has presented them with.  Meanwhile Locke accepts the situations of The Island as what should happen and does not think a “Man of Science” should interfere.          

      These are just a few examples of how the “Man of Science Man of Faith” idea applies to sci-fi characters and how they interact with each other and their environments so I might expand on this topic again later if I think of more that I want to talk about.