Ernie Kovacs was a video magician decades before Criss Angel. Instead of merely fooling TV viewers with digital effects, Ernie tricked people into laughing at the strangest of jokes and most bizarre of images. In the early days of television, Ernie and his team figured out ways to bring the most fre »»
What happens when your toys turn against you? Normally it just means getting a fresh battery or rebooting them. But it’s not that simple when the Danger Room goes homicidal against the X-Men. This is the training chamber that is supposed to push the mutants to the next level. Normally it’s a nic »»
There ought to be felony charges against the network executive that killed Car 54, Where Are You? How did such a great comedy get snuffed before reaching 100 episodes? There’s such a rich texture to the comical exploits at the 53rd Precinct. Creator Nat Hiken had already suffered the beancounter a »»
Before he was reduced to a mubbling, shuffling fool on reality TV, Ozzy Osbourne was a threat to heart of America. After leaving Black Sabbath, Ozzy embarked on a scary solo career. He bit the heads off a pigeon and bat. He urinated on a national landmark. He was the new Anti-Christ on the Block for »»
Bob Newhart became a TV icon over the decades. The Bob Newhart Show is considered a classic of the ‘70s. Newhart played a Chicago psychologist with a cast of eccentrics needing his help. He returned in the ‘80s with Newhart. He became an author of “how to” books that buys a Vermont Inn and d »»
Americans were used to Roman themed movies and TV specials when they seemed to fall into three categories. Christian epics, poorly dubbed gladiator flicks and adaptations of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. The debauchery of Roman life was tamed down so not to offend prudish teachers and grandma. This »»
Someday they’re going to make a version of Yo Gabba Gabba! for kids. This Nick Jr. show is aimed straight for overgrown kids overwhelmed with pop culture fun. Can a five year old really understand the importance of Biz Markie laying down his beat of the day? What about the head Devo impersonating »»
There was once a time when Saturday mornings were exciting for kids. The TV shows were as healthy as bowl of sugary cereal goodness. They weren't educational or instructional. They were good mindless fun to help your brain recover from five days of school. Lancelot Link: Secret Chimp is the Saturday »»
Art school is a fine place for youngsters to explore their creativity. Instructors refine a student’s raw talent. The kids learn how push themselves so they’ll look like professionals when entering the real work of auditions and productions. There's a lot of sweat to make their dreams float. Vic »»
There will be an extra holiday between 4th of July and Labor Day this summer. Sandy Frank Day will be celebrated on July 31 when his remaining movies are released as part of Mystery Science Theater 3000: XXIV. Fugitive Alien and Star Force: Fugitive Alien II were the last two Japanese productions th »»
What can a snarky culture fiend do when a Mystery Science Theater 3000 title goes out of print? Hunt down a used copy online? Sounds easy until you notice the used price costs as much as mom swears she’s going to charge you for living in the basement. Thankfully the older titles are coming back in »»
What would happen if a mysterious virus swept across the globe that killed all the grown ups? Would kids maintain an orderly way of life and do their best to continue civilization’s course? Would there be a near utopia as youth proves the can overcome the elderly hatreds and work with fresh eyes i »»
Elvira, the Mistress of the Dark, revived her legendary Movie Macabre in the fall of 2010. The new movie series ran on the THiS network which mainly runs as a digital subchannel. This meant that a lot of her fans couldn't find her on the dial if they used a satellite TV service. Those that might hav »»
Back when there were record stores, there seemed to be two kind of folks buying albums. Completionists had to have every record put out by their favorite band. They hunted down every LP, EP and 45 with stray b-sides available. They’d import 8-Tracks from Mongolia to get that special mix. They were »»
Tom Cruise turned Mission: Impossible into a major motion picture in 1996. The hype made it sound like he was relaunching a TV franchise that had been off the air for two decades. But there had been a revival at the end of the '80s featuring Jim Phelps (Peter Graves) as the ringleader. Why the overs »»
After a sampler Blu-ray, Star Trek: The Next Generation's first season get the complete high definition treatment. While the series was shot on 35mm, all the special effects and editing were done in standard definition video. This meant to give 1080p action to Captain Picard and his crew, the entire »»
What is it about a nurses that makes them so tempting? Is it their caring bedside manner? Is it how they can make you feel calm as they stab a needle into your arm? Perhaps it’s their ability to administer a sponge bath that makes you feel so clean yet a touch dirty. Sure the reality of working as »»
Rocko's Modern Life is one of those Nickelodeon produced shows that you can watch without a small child in the room. The tales of an overwhlemed wallaby and his eager cow pal have only improved with age. Now the third season of Rocko is slated to be released on DVD on July 3. This is a perfect way t »»
Contrary to popular belief, there were Science Fiction movies in Hollywood before Star Wars. Nearly a year before The Force, kids across the country packed the hot new cineplexes to experience Logan’s Run. The movie featuring Michael York (Cabaret) and Jenny Agutter (An America Werewolf in London) »»
Supposedly there’s one golden rule in network television: Don’t kill the goose that lays the golden ratings. Laverne & Shirley. The series was in a golden spot on Tuesday night snuggled between Happy Days and Three’s Company. The show was always at the top including two straight years at numbe »»
How exactly do two kids from Maine end up in the world of the One Thousand and One Arabian Nights? In the case of Chuck (Jerry Dexter) and Nancy (Janet Waldo), they entered a cave and found a treasure chest with a pair of rings that when connected reads “Shazzan.” They put the rings on and touch »»
When a movie adaptation of a book hits the theater, fans are expected to wait a year or so for the sequel of the sequel novel. Kids getting out of a screening of The Hunger Games can’t run down to the videostore for Catching Fire. They could read the novel and imagine the upcoming film. But who wa »»
When you’re an adult, it just doesn’t seem right to watch cartoons on a kid channel. But during late ‘90s several of the animated shows running on Nickelodeon weren’t aimed completely at preschoolers. These were shows that could be viewed without the stigma of being tagged as an overgrown c »»
Studio executives can’t leave characters alone. They need to update things and make new product with recognizable characters that they own. Often this turns into a disaster such as the completely forgotten Leave It to Beaver movie or Knight Rider. Devoted fans watch for five minutes and ask that u »»
Bad cinema is a place where dreamers rise as low budget legends while movie icons are exposed as sleepwalkers. The roasts, rips and quips of Mystery Science Theater 3000 quickly exposed which names were worthy of honor and which were needing a hard dose of pity. The four films collected on Mystery S »»
New York City was not a gleaming city in the fall of 1975. Economic hard times had taken a toll on the Big Apple. Times Square was a scary neighborhood with businesses pandering to the prurient. The Yankees had a losing season. The city was on the verge of bankruptcy. According to the cover of the N »»
The shining dome of justice that is Kojak had been dimmed for nearly seven years. The classics '70s New York Cop show had been backburned after its first season DVD set was released in 2005. Things looked bleak until Shout! Factory revived the DVDs with Season Two back in September. They quickly fol »»
Tom and Jerry chased each other endlessly over the decades. But they weren’t always a duo act when it came to the mayhem. Quite often a bulldog named Spike would add into the mix. Spike acted as pure muscle. While Tom and Jerry were rather creative in their on screen antics, Spike was pure muscle »»
Did you know there was a time when Joan Rivers might have appeared on a TV show with nearly all of her original face? The queen of E!’s Fashion Police wasn’t always a creature of silicone, botox and non-biodegradable materials. She appears positively life-like on ”That Show” with Joan Rivers »»
Hazel was in color? My perception had been that Hazel was in black and white when it ran in a local UHF station with Father Knows Best, Dennis the Menace and Leave It to Beaver. Why would I remember it so wrong? The distant summer when Hazel was on in the mid-mornings, I watched the show on my grand »»
