The Frog And Pig Split For Ratings. Color Me Not Amused One Bit

Pig and FrogI really shouldn’t care a whit about this, but it’s bugged me that the media has fallen over themselves to make the Kermit-Piggy “divorce” a story as if it’s a real thing. Yuck. Who’s the main sponsor of this show anyway, Ashley Madison? Anyway, why the hell does something as crappy as divorce need to be introduced into a family-friendly set of characters as the Muppets?

Yeah, yeah, Sesame Street has done the reality thing as a means to explain some real world situations such as death and prison to its young audience. But in the case of this upcoming ABC show, it smacks of nonsense that’s only there to add a whiff of modern-day “reality” show nonsense to what should have been more of a throwback to the original variety show. Ugh.

On the other hand, I guess I should have seen it coming as both Kermie and Piggy have had someone else’s hand up their butts for decades.

Speaking of Sesame Street, the HBO deal? Great for subscribers to HBO but terrible for anyone not getting more than basic cable. Between that (so long, low income viewers!) and the shows possibly being chopped to half an hour thanks to modern short attention spans, you have to wonder what was being thought about other than money when all is said and done. Of course, that money thing seems to be partially thanks to online streaming wrecking certain home video revenue streams for good. But I guess thinking of (all) the children doesn’t pay the bills unless you deal with the devil in one way or another. Ah well.

I won’t be watching the new Muppet show anyway (the concept is s total turn-off to me) and I haven’t watched Sesame Street in years. Well, okay… I lied. Out f curiosity I did recently check out the close to 30 parodies they’ve made over the last few seasons and all are hilarious. Although, I do question the idea of making parodies of mature shows that aren’t for kids at all (Boardwalk Empire, Mad Men, Game of Thrones) because the parodies work TOO damn well.

I guess I should be glad there’s no SS parody of The Wire… yet.

DVD Review: Here’s Edie – Early 60’s Time Capsule Makes A Mostly Glorious Return To Earth…

Here's EdieI had an English teacher in high school who was obsessed with Edie Adams to the point that he actually stopped a fight in class by singing part of a Muriel Cigars commercial that made the two girls fighting stop and stare at him as if he were completely insane. Of course, by then I’d seen some reruns of The Ernie Kovacs Show on PBS and had a whisper of an idea of what he was going on about. However, I also recall bumping into him during a lunch break (he was outside smoking a Muriel Air Tip, of course) and hearing tales of a TV series starring Edie that no one else I asked seemed to have a clue about.

It turns out what I thought was one man’s fantasy life getting a wee bit too real was actually a real TV variety show. MVD Visual is about to unleash Here’s Edie, a 4-disc set of her 21 half-hour specials unseen anywhere since they first aired. After spending some quality time this past weekend with this incredible lady and her talented friends, I can very safely say that fans of classic variety TV will absolutely want this one in their collections… Continue reading

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Trailer 1: Your Tuesday Fix Is On The Way…

Hmmm… I’d say this looks upcoming ABC series that’s drawing a ton of attention from Marvel maniacs looks a bit like a mash-up of Heroes meets the X-Files with a smidgen of a police or detective procedural show, but set in the Marvel Universe. That all of course means it has the potential to go a few ways under the right hands. Under the wrong hands it’s an expensive and painful to watch train wreck, but I think we’re over that stage when it comes to Marvel’s licensed properties. Then again, if Nicholas Cage needs some work, I can see him making a cameo as Ghost Rider just to scare fans into making sure they don’t skip the cameo he gets lest they drive the ratings down and get their show canned. Hell, I bet Marvel can use the show to foist all sorts of last-rate characters back into the Marvel Universe just to test the patience of the loyal Marvelites who won’t stop watching even if they see a glimpse of Howard the Duck’s shadow on a wall in a future show’s trailer or TV spot. OK, OK, I don’t think the show will go THAT low, but you never know what the “House of Ideas” has on that back burner…

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Promo: Seems Highly Interesting, Everything Looks Dynamic…

Forget the first ten seconds of tease above, as I’m betting we don’t see any of the first-stringers from the Marvel movies on the show at all during Season One. This frees them up for the money-grabbing they’ll do in feature films and also helps lessen any potential continuity errors in future films. That said, a cameo or two would be cool from a certain group of Four Fantastic folks who should be getting a re-reboot attempt at a film soon enough. of course, I could be all wrong and we’ll see a hero of the week popping in just to get the fans glued to the TV for every episode in droves, but I think Joss Whedon can get it done without all the super-powered assistance. As usual, We. Shall. See. I’m still flipping a coin and deciding whether or not to watch the show or wait for the INEVITABLE home video version that packs in more features and less stupid pop-up ads for other shows, live feedback crawls or whatever other junk ABC and Marvel pack onto the screen that distracts from the action and storytelling…

ABC & Marvel Say: “Don’t Yield, Back S.H.I.E.L.D.!” I Say “Hold On A Minute, Chief…”

Hmmm. I get the feeling that this would do much better as a pay cable series as opposed to being on ABC for a few reasons smarter comics fans can figure out, but let’s see if the disguise Disney/Marvel is putting up works. Sure, Arrow is doing fine on the CW, but I have a few issues with network and commercial cable TV in general (too many damn commercials, those stupid pop-ups that obscure the screen, censors and some parent groups being able to dictate content and so forth and so on, shows getting canned after less than a season once the ratings level off and the non-fans and curious are weeded out, et cetera) to get my hopes higher than a “Meh!” when all is said and done.

I’ll wait for the longer trailer to pop up on YouTube later tonight or tomorrow, as I’m sure as hell NOT going to pump the ratings up on a show they’re trying to get more people to watch (Once Upon A Time) just to see a longer clip. I have more interesting things to do at that time of the night (like finish some games I need to review). Of course, it’s GOT to be better than that action-packed but awesomely awful and hilarious Nick Fury flick with David Hasselhoff, right? RIGHT??

We shall see, I guess… And someone get Steranko on the horn! I think this is a HYDRA plan gone haywire…