In a followup to babsbunny's post about Canadian children's television , gothkat mentions perhaps the most famous series, You Can't Do That On Television. That got me looking for something and I found the site linked to in that last sentence. The FAQ is interesting reading.

I'd known it enjoyed popularity in the U.S. and that it had similarities to Laugh-In, even using some of the same music. I did not know that it wasn't so popular in Canada, nor that Ruth Buzzi, who had been a Laugh-In regular, was on the show in the very beginning.

What really got my attention, though, was this entry:

WERE THERE ANY SPIN-OFF SERIES OF YCDTOTV?

[...]
Roger Price and Geoffrey Darby made a clone of YCDTOTV for PBS in the Fall of 1983. It was called Don't Look Now, and was a live, one-hour show on six Sundays in October of that year. It was very highly rated (second highest rated kids show on PBS up to that time). It also made Nickelodeon very angry, but PBS decided not to pick up additional episodes.

YCDTOTV was only on Nickelodeon, which meant cable. I think I saw part of an episode at my grandmother's place once, but it wasn't until we got C-band satellite at home a few years later that I could see it regularly as cable simply wasn't an option well out of town. PBS being free air, however, was an option. I recall watching Don't Look Now on Sunday mornings that fall. (I'd like to know how there can be six Sundays in a month, though.) And then it disappeared and was forgotten - while I remembered that there was such a show, I'd forgotten the name of it. I've mentioned it to some and they seemed surprised there was such a thing. It's so obscure that even IMDB, which now includes TV programs, doesn't have listing for it.

I'm not sure how the two shows compared (YCDTOTV was likely better, benefiting from editing and experience by then), but they were pretty much the same show. YCDTOTV had green slime with the trigger phrase of "I don't know" and the firing squad skits. DLN had yellow slime with a trigger phrase of "Don't blame me" and walking the plank skits. I expect there were other similarities, but it's been a while since October of 1983.

I'm not sure about Don't Look Now, but I'd like to see You Can't Do That On Television air again. Not new episodes, mind, but the originals.

Current Mood: nostalgic

I remember reading a fictional story in TV Guide sometime in the 1980s about how one of the supposed major networks had trouble getting viewers to watch their admittedly shallow shows. Eventually some character suggested that rather than make better shows, which would be expensive and risky, they simply advertise them as "TV-lite" since they didn't demand much attention and let people do other things and still keep up with what little story there was. Thus they could do business as usual and ride the 'lite' bandwagon.

I now watch rather less television than I used to. I don't know what channel each network or station is on, but just a few. When I do watch, it's usually while I'm doing something else. While dressing in the morning I might have the Weather Channel on. If I'm exercising, I'll probably have a TV on. About the only program now that I make a point of watching, or at least checking on, is Nova - and I'll probably be walking on the treadmill for a good part of that.

I've looked at the TV Guide web site to see what's on and found that there's nothing much I really care to watch. If Nova isn't on, then maybe a M*A*S*H re-run if it's one of the better ones, or possibly Storm Stories if I haven't seen it before, which is unlikely. Maybe something on the History channel will be watchable. Most programming is actually annoying or even insulting ("I'm supposed to be entertained by this?"), and that's not even considering the commercials. It's TV-lite and I want something that requires a bit more than that. I want to be engaged in it enough to not notice how long or how fast I'm walking on the treadmill.

Minnesota or National Public Radio has invented a term for an effect of particularly interesting stories: Driveway Moments. A Driveway Moment happens when you're listening to something while driving and find it so interesting that after you get to your destination you stay in the car just to listen to the rest of the story. I haven't seen much of the equivalent on television. Every once in a while there is a Nova or something on the History channel or such that grabs my attention so that even after I've had enough time on the treadmill I'll sit and watch the rest. Those are exceptions.

I don't expect, nor do I want, something with a grand story arc that carries from episode to episode. I want something that if I miss one, it won't cause problems by making the next show not make much sense. I just want each show to stand on its own, be entertaining rather than annoying, and not be just more TV-lite.

Current Mood: blah

The hard drive I ordered arrived yesterday. I now have an unusual, for me, situation: I have a huge hdd but the box it goes in isn't here yet. Wal-Mart still only says "scheduled for delivery on March 20" and nothing like whether it even shipped or where it is sitting now.

Had a sample of Spring yesterday as the temperature climbed to 52 F. Today the high will only be in the 30s, and then it'll warm up again. Yep, it's March. At least this temperature swing isn't too bad. I'm hoping the ice on Hall Lake stays long enough for me to get a few pictures of it as it melts.

Weight control is not going so well. The good part is that I'm still under 220 lbs. The bad news is that I'm still over 215 lbs. Hopefully that can be taken care of this month. Current target: Get under 215 lbs, stay under 215 lbs.

The treadmill is nice, but TV isn't. So far the best thing one has been Storm Stories on the Weather channel, but that repeats after a while and how many tornadoes can you watch before they all seem the same? NOVA can be good, but that's only weekly. Maybe I need to find something to tape for treadmill time. Ideally it'd be about one hour long and commercial-free. However, watchable and an hour long are the important things. There's fast forward and mute for commercials.

The "Freedom Fries" thing? Remarkably silly, yes. What's even more amusing is watching the reaction to it. Where was this reaction when other inanities of Political Correctness were being committed? Oh, wait, I shouldn't mention things like that, it's okkay when one group renames things in inane ways, but not okkay if another group does. Uh huh. I'm laughing at both sides on this one. You just can't make this stuff up. Either side. Reality is terribly funny and funnily terrible all at once. I'm also amused (and bewildered) by how UN-related things are counted. Evidently 18 and 2 are the same number there - and these are supposedly well-educated folks?

Team leader at work didn't get a speakerphone right away but uses such. He got asked if color mattered. He said he didn't care. So they got him a cheap (75% off) speakerphone. Why cheap? Not many want a red phone. Not red, red. Bat-phone red. No, he doesn't keep it under a clear cover.

Current Mood: amused

CNN.com has a story about "Brilliant, But Cancelled" TV shows the Trio cable channel will be re-airing. While most are things I ignored at the time and the descriptions don't do much for me now, there is one that is curious.

Part of the reason is this quotation:

"Each show got roundly great reviews, distinguished itself as being somehow ahead of its time, and, since then, hasn't been rerun on other channels." -- Trio President Lauren Zalaznick

What's interesting about it is that it is incorrect. I suspect he meant "other networks." Also the articles says these shows didn't have enough episodes to live on in syndication (Police Squad, anyone?). Well, one escaped...

Ernie Kovacs Show (Originally aired December 1952-April 1953 on CBS) is one I've seen. And since I wasn't around in 1953, I saw it when it was aired by some local (Wausau, WI) station in the 1970s. I don't recall if I saw more than one episode but I'm sure I saw at least one full episode - and wanted to see more. And the musical bit Kovacs used for his famous Bathtub Scenes (the one part of his show that might be shown on other shows that mention Kovacs at all...) is something I can still recall.

I doubt Trio is on the local cable system, alas.

On a different note, I have yet to watch a TLC show about chariot racing that I think I taped. I'm not sure how much I will watch when I get to it. The comments on rec.equestrian (which I lurk some) said it seemed to focus too much on comparisons to auto racing (hardly a surprise give the way it was promoted.. oy) and not enough on how the horses were trained. There were a couple comments that the training was much more impressive than the racing itself. The example cited was loading into a trailer. While there are "easy loaders" and those.. not so easy.. this was on a very steep ramp, and one horse slipped rather badly, during a thunderstorm. The poster commented that many easy loaders wouldn't have put up with that. Maybe I'll see what's on that tape this weekend.

Current Mood: curious