Sunday Morning Tuneage & Weekly TV (5/12/13)

Happy Mothers  Day to all the mothers who stop down to read this on a weekly basis.  It's going to be a slow, slow day here.  I'm off to a late start because the busy week has caught up to me.  It was a long working week with Thu - Sat being 41 hours alone.  And woke up this morning with a huge headache and feeling terrible.  So we're staying in all day - resting up for the week ahead.  It was a slower week for kids activities with just Caleb having two baseball games - one victory and one loss - and he did hit the first home run of the season for our team.  Sitting here thinking if I can even stomach a little food for lunch - maybe just a sandwich.  And listening to some tuneage . . . 

SUNDAY MORNING TUNEAGE

DEPECHE MODE - ENJOY THE SILENCE.  This 1990 single from "Violator" reminds me of a single they would have released in the early 80s.  Today, I've got the original version playing - it's been a while, since the '04 remix seems to get all the radio airplay if any.  This convinces me even more that I need to find a way to see DM live this Summer.

MANHATTAN TRANSFER - SPICE OF LIFE.  I was generally familiar with Manhattan Transfer before this single came out in 1983.  They had a few hits and existed on the fringe of mainstream and jazz music.  I like "Boy From New York City" and "Twilight Zone".  But this song was totally different.  This song was written by Michael Jackson collaborator, Rod Temperton and has a feeling of a song that was meant for Michael.   It's the type of song that I think could have made them a huge crossover group through the decade.  But they were still going to be true to their R&B and Jazz roots.  Reminds me of days walking the Maple Hill Mall.

LIONEL RICHIE - HAVE YOURSELF A MERRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS.  We're still closer to last Christmas than next Christmas.  And I'm dreading the upcoming Christmas, in general.  But Lionel's version of one of my favorites feels really good this morning.  I'm anxious to get to the Labor Day weekend when the Christmas music will feel more in place.

SOMETHING RANDOM . . . 

DEADLIGHTS OF 2013. . . forgot to include the great Jeff Hanneman - guitarist for Slayer - who passed away last week.  The man had some real talent on the guitar - some serious riffs that stick with me more than the actual song and lyrics of many Slayer tunes. .  . Jeanne Cooper was Katherine on my Summertime story, "Young & the Restless" but she's also the mother of Corbin Bernsen . . .  Bryan Forbes was the director of THE STEPFORD WIVES and a forgotten documentary on Elton John and Bernie Taupin . . . one of my huge, huge influences was Ray Harryhausen.  But even more than loving his work on THE 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD, MIGHTY JOE YOUNG and JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS - he was a great storyteller.  One of the best hours I've ever spent at Comic Con was with Ray Harryhausen, Ray Bradbury and Forrest J Ackerman.  The friends had the best stories and Harryhausen felt like the connection to a time that we'll never have back again . . . 

QUICK LIST (a random, uninformed list off the top of Shawn's head)

BEST FAMILY GUY EPISODES OF ALL-TIME

10.  SPIES REMINISCENT OF US (2009)  Instead of just a brief mention of a random film, this episode went all the way with a 30 minute spoof of SPIES LIKE US with Chevy Chase and Dan Aykroyd doing voices.  Just after Cleveland's departure and it's a decent change of pace.

9. PATRIOT GAMES (2006)  Tom Brady makes an appearance and there's a fun musical dance to "Shipoopi".

8.  I TAKE THEE, QUAGMIRE (2006)  We need some more Quagmire-centric episodes.  This is a hilarious one where he falls for Peter's maid, Joan.  And then eventually tries to fake his own death to get out of the marriage.  Best part - Peter on "Wheel of Fortune" guessing the letters - Z, 4, Q, Q, Q and the Batman symbol.

7.  FAMILY GUY VIEWER MAIL  (2002)  One of the early episodes with quite a few "Simpsons" influences.  But the three stories are such a departure from the norm it sticks out as one of their most creative.

6.  BACK TO THE PILOT (2011)  Is there a show that has acknowledge it's past better than this episode where they go back in time to view their Pilot episode from a current point of view?  Brilliant commentary on the show and how shows change.

5.  SOMETHING, SOMETHING, SOMETHING DARK SIDE (2010)  Direct to DVD before it hit the air and it lost a little something when it did.  The EMPIRE take off is played a little closer to the vest but still hilarious - and who came up with Giant Chicken as Boba Fett??  Nice.

4.  NORTH BY NORTH QUAHOG (2002)  After the canceled hiatus, they returned with this hilarious episode.  It's a wall to wall, don't feel sorry for us, plot of Hitchcock references and making fun of Mel Gibson.

3.  PETERGEIST (2006)  Overall not a superb episode but the movie parodies are about the best they've done - including POLTERGEIST and LORD OF THE RINGS.

2.  I DREAM OF JESUS (2008)  This is my favorite for a couple reasons - mainly the "Bird Is The Word" song but then for Jesus getting mad at everyone and vowing not to come back for 1000 years.

1.  BLUE HARVEST PART 1 and 2 (2007)  The parody of STAR WARS: A NEW HOPE is still the high water mark for the series.  The character choices are brilliant and there's a freedom to just be funny that isn't there in the future parodies.  Still the most watchable of the trilogy if you've got the time.

At its best moments, this show was never as good as "The Simpsons".  And maybe I'd put it on par with "South Park".  But it's been a solid entry in my Sunday night viewings for a decade.  I've recently gone back to start watching the early episodes again and I see where they've improved their formula greatly.  I don't get too excited for current episodes but as you can see from this list, there is a sweet spot of 3-5 years that the show was as clever as any animated show out there.  The worst episodes?  I don't know about whole episodes but the problem with the series is that the parts have become boring.  Recent episodes including "Bigfat", "The Giggity Wife", and "Friends Without Benefits" all from this season are among my least favorites.

NETFLIX PLAY NOW OF THE WEEK . . .  worthy of more than one watch is a great reason to have Netflix Instant Watch at hand.  The example of the moment is CABIN IN THE WOODS . . . the first season of COPPER is available now, I've been talking about this series since last year and I'm ready for next season coming up . . .  both seasons of Gordon Ramsay's KITCHEN NIGHTMARES is available - both fun and disturbing for those of us who like to eat out a couple times a week. . . 

Shawn's fave movies according to FLICKCHART

#71  -  Die Hard
#673 - Karate Kid, Part III
#810 - The Fast and the Furious

RANDOM PROJECT UPDATE -  The MARK TWAIN project.  My multi-year slow paced trip through the works of Mark Twain has been stuck a year on "Roughing It" - I'm really enjoying it but I don't seem to pick it up again until, like last week,  I'm stuck waiting in a doctor's office or waiting for an oil change.  It's the perfect book for reading a chapter at a time - especially since most of it was written as newspaper features.  There are so many crazy episodes along the way, I'm already casting an HBO mini-series for it in my head.

SHAWN'S TOP ALBUMS OF ALL-TIME (a tribute to the art of the album)

#36  Elton John - Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy (1975)

These are Elton's golden years - really, towards the end of the run of albums where he could do no wrong.  It's a great double album, and on top of that, it's a concept album about the early years of working together for Bernie Taupin and Elton.  Usually these long concept albums would run out of steam but the songs work well alone and as part of the greater whole.  There are some of his best songs - "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" and "Better Off Dead".  But it's the rare album that will be on the rest of this list in that most people will only know one song.  It doesn't have to be a popular selling album or have tons of singles to be one of the top albums of all-time.  It just has to have a collection of great songs.  

Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy

Better Off Dead

Tower of Babel

Previous Rankings

#37 - Nirvana - Nevermind (1991)

#38 - Marvin Gaye - Let's Get It On (1973)#39 - Michael Jackson - Thriller (1982)

#40 - Peter Gabriel - So (1986)
#41 - Beatles - Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)

THIS WEEK IN TELEVISION

MONDAY

90210 (CW)  The show ends after five seasons.  But that's four more seasons than I thought the reboot would get.  And the Goo Goo Dolls are there to send them off.

FELT (LOGO)  Couples have their therapy sessions taped to air on TV.  Except they are reenacted by puppets.  Hence the title, I guess.

TUESDAY
THE MINDY PROJECT (FOX)  Some good moves towards the end of the season have pointed to this finale.  Mindy chooses the Pastor Casey and I love the addition of Chole Sevigny as Danny's ex-wife.

SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE (FOX)  The 10th season of one of our favorite shows starts up tonight.  Last season was slightly a step back for me but I think I have faith in the producers to figure it out.  Dee and I will spend the rest of the Summer with this show - and no break for the Olympics!!

WEDNESDAY
FORBIDDEN PLANET (TCM)  Is the secret out yet that this is a version of Shakespeare's "The Tempest"?  In space.  A really cool film with a beautiful Anne Francis.

SPELLBOUND (TCM)  Classic Hitchcock that more people should know about.  Did an amnesiac commit murder?

THURSDAY
AMERICAN IDOL (FOX)  And after a season of dropping ratings and controversy and interesting twists.  But ultimately it was the season I tuned out for most of the season and I'll come back to see who wins and to sit through some outrageous group vocals.

THE OFFICE (NBC)  And while AI is ending a season tonight - the real attention needs to be on the end of this show after nine seasons.  For a 3-5 year span - this show was the "Cosby Show" and "Cheers" and "Seinfeld" of the network.  It was the show I had to talk about the next day with the folks at work.  I had so much doubt about the remake to start.  But was won over by Season Two.  It's definitely been downhill this season but I don't deny the greatness overall.  It'll be weird next season on Thursday for the show not to be there.

FRIDAY
SHARK TANK (ABC)  I thought I knew how this show worked but then I see that Dr. Doofenshmirtz from "Phineas and Ferb" is on tonight.  He's proposing a product.  But is this show now strictly a joke?

ACE IN THE HOLD (TCM)  One of the few Billy Wilder films that I don't know if I've seen more than once.  Kirk Douglas stars as a reporter covering a mine cave-in.

SATURDAY
DOCTOR WHO (BBC)  River Song is back to help the Doctor fight Whisperman and already the half season is over and we now wait until Christmas.  I know many of you haven't been giving this half season good reviews but I've found it very accessible for the average viewer and that's part of the evolution of the show over the years.

BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN (TCM)  Best way to spend a Saturday night.  With your friends, Colin Clive and Boris Karloff.

SUNDAY
NORTH AMERICA (DISC)  A seven part documentary focusing on North American animals and plants.  With all the docs that have focused on areas of the world that I'll never go - I like to see it come back home.

SIMPSONS (FOX)  Home, Lenny, Carl and Moe win the Springfield Lotery and Season 24 ends.  Bring on an amazing Season 25.  Yes, it isn't even what it was a few years ago.  But it's my Sunday staple for a quarter of a century.  Happy just to be able to say I've seen them all.

AND NOW A WORD FROM OUR SPONSOR . . .  I like these Mayhem commercials from Allstate although they may have run their course.  This one with the Cleaning Lady is hilarious for the vacuuming of the curtains and then the fish bowl.

And this Mayhem video with the woman in labor is awesome and doesn't air on TV - did it ever?

This Google Chrome ad is the best use of "Family Guy" in a ad campaign . . . 

"And it's one more beer,
And I don't hear you anymore
We've all gone crazy lately
My friend's out there
Rolling 'round the basement floor."  - Elton John


Someone save your life.  Stay hard.

sb