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STUFF From the mailbag, Joseph House writes: In 1999, you had Ripcord in your oldies section that included a sound-byte of the title song. One of the only vestiges of the show that existed. It was the prototypical skydiving drama, in many ways the same thing to skydiving as Jonny Quest was to action adventures. I saw the show as a kid, & it was how I learned about skydiving but I know more about the show from trivia & what IMdB stated about it than from my memory of watching it. It's one of those shows I was captivated by as a kid and would like to get a perspective of what to think of it now. It seems like a waste to drown it in the sea of obscurity. I'm surprised recordings of the show haven't been preserved by skydiving clubs for posterity. I suppose if a saw an episode, I may find out why it got consigned for extinction. But its mustard seed impact on aviation entitles it to a more dignified sendoff. It was cutting edge skydiving while skydiving itself was in its infancy and the filming of the episodes was history in the making. Somebody really fixed something that wasn't broke when TVP's idea of progress was to remove RC's theme song from its roster. Restoring it to its slot among the TV archives will be greatly appreciated. IMdB has pretty good details about the show. But it's all postings. No sound bytes or clips. A lot more fuss is made over Andy Griffith, Gilligan's Island, I Love Lucy, Leave it to Beaver, & The Flintstones than over Ripcord. Some of these are constantly recycled through all the oldies stations. Seems like too many of them show all the same shows, while some of the rarer gems like this one, 77 Sunset Strip and Sea Hunt, seem to be one week wonders at best. At least the latter 2 sometimes get shown. Thanks for reminding me of that page, Paul - you can find it here. I don't remember where the video clip came from or I'd recapture it. I loved that show as a kid as well, along with Whirlybirds, another syndicated show that took to the skies for adventure.
You have to check out Ken Levine's incredible blog and the story of his first time directing a sitcom, in this case Wings in 1995. This not watching TV except on DVD gets a bit frustrating when I see teasers for this season's The Shield episodes - I want to see this season's episodes Sooo badly. But there's no point in starting now, several episodes into the season. So I wait on pins and needles for the season 7 DVD set. And the last half-season of The Sopranos can't get here quickly enough. Don't tell me how it ends! Paul McKinnley wants to suggest these titles for DVD - Ruff 'n' Reddy, Heckle and Jeckle, Popeye, Crusader Rabbit, Mighty Mouse, Beany and Cecil, Honey West, Twelve 0'Clock High, The New Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Banana Splits, Shazzan, Maverick and the old Science Fiction Theatre. Good news Paul - the definitive Popeye collection is on the way. Check out the cool package design - not the modernized cartoony look you'd expect. What a great collection this is going to be. Out of your list, New Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and Shazzan (not to be confused with Shazam) could turn up, maybe this year, that is if Huck Finn still exists. Those are Hanna-Barbera titles and they've been aggressively releasing their library (thank you HB!). The Banana Splits apparently doesn't exist in its original form, only in hacked up, incomplete segments so it's on the unlikely list for now but still worth releasing in my opinion. What's holding up Mighty Mouse, Heckle and Jeckle, and Crusader Rabbit? Do Science Fiction Theatre and Beany and Cecil still exist in any great numbers? Maverick, I predict, will be coming to DVD this year but there's no release date. There's been a nice sampler with a handful of episodes out for some time. As for Honey West and Twelve 0'Clock High - your guess is as good as mine. If you're Catholic you might want to light a candle over those! Tuesday,
May 22, 2007 - 12:09pm
DVD
EXTRAS The producer of the Gunsmoke DVDs - Paul Brownstein - is the gold standard of the industry because, in addition to knowing the right people to interview and what to ask, he finds the lost gems hidden in the vaults - in this case syndication promos and rare talk show appearances. And he leaves in the interstitials where possible ("Gunsmoke will continue after station identification."). Look
at this list of extras for volume 2 alone: Another key component in Brownstein's productions - he gets the stars of the shows (in this case James Arness who played Marshall Dillon) to do introductions to the episodes. At first I thought this was an unnecessary bit - now I find it kind of interesting, it provides a bridge between the past and the present. For my money, these kinds of extras are a great deal more valuable than the mini-documentaries that are so popular. Tuesday,
May 22, 2007 - 10:34am
CHUCK
McCANN (PART
TWO) - Real Player
/ Quicktime You can find the entire article and conversation here. Monday,
May 21, 2007 - 11:16am
SUNDAY
YOU TUBE
Joan Crawford died almost exactly 30 years ago - on May 10, 1977. Here she is doing what she's not known for - singing in a movie from 1937, The Bride Wore Red. Of course, even Joan Crawford didn't do Joan Crawford as well as female impersonators and cabaret performers. The best was probably Charles Pierce, here from the mid-1980s:
Here's a excerpt from The Hollywood History of Camp (looks like something homemade to me) that touches gives you a bit of Crawford and Bette Davis at the end - as well as Mae West, Gloria Swanson, Marilyn Monroe and other movie star icons.
Sunday,
May 20, 2007 - 1:34pm
MAYBERRY'S
FINEST From
the press release: If you grew up down South as I did, during the early-1970s, there was an Andy Griffith line of canned foods and country ham. Seems to me if they want this line to be a success, you've got to have country ham (the kind that makes red eye gravy) and sausage. And grits, right? Mostly what I see are canned beans and biscuit/ muffin mixes, that kind of thing. I'd have gone for a more 1960's retro package design, this line looks like the same old thing to me with a picture of the Taylor family (Ain't Bee, Opie and Andy) on top. To be honest, I hope the stuff is good, as tasty as Glory foods at least. But then I don't eat a lot of canned foods or do much baking. Look for Mayberry's Finest in your stores and let me know what you think. Sunday,
May 20, 2007 - 8:30am
COMING
TO A TV NEAR YOU Then
the network plans to shake it up in January '08: Finally
settling into this shedule in Spring, 2008: All of this assumes the new shows will survive and the returning programs thrive. The Sarah Connor Chronicles will bring the characters from the Terminator movies to series TV. Sarah and her son are on the run from enemies from the future - sounds like The Invaders all over again. I'd watch it if it was good. Back to You will be the one to keep an eye on - it stars Patricia Heaton (Everybody Loves Raymond) and Kelsey Grammer (Frasier) as two news anchors who are constantly at odds. The guys behind Rescue Me (Denis Leary and Jim Serpico) are hoping you'll like their new one - Canterbury's Law, about a tough female defense attorney (ER's Julianna Margulies). Friday,
May 18, 2007 - 11:14am
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