Dave Mackey Dot Com

That Time Of Year Again!

2012-01-29T22:25:00.000-05:00

For the past six years, we at davemackey.com (okay, it's just me...) have been dutifully covering the advertising offerings in the biggest football game of the year. We're going to do it again on Sunday, February 5, in the blissfully (well, as blissful as you can be when you have the league goons watching your every move) retitled "Seventh Annual davemackey.com 'Big Game' Ad Review".

For the seventh year in a row we will provide instant analysis and grading on the ads that occur during the Giants-Patriots game. Last time we did a Giants-Patriots game, the Giants won. The best ad that year was a Coca-Cola spot featuring Macy's parade balloons of Underdog and Stewie Griffin (the latter being a fictitious balloon - damn you, vile ad agency!) battling it out for a Coke.

Since the NBC Traffic Department is still scheduling the airtime I'm not going to venture what the exact schedule is going to be in years past. I'm just goinna let them run and see what happens.

The ground rules are the same as in years past. We rate all spots with the exception of movie trailers, which we believe to be a breed apart, and the NFL house ad. Only in-game spots are considered. No pre game or halftime stuff. No local avails are considered. Any ad with a DO NOT ATTEMPT disclaimer is automatically disqualified. That should kill any and all car ads right there as more and more of these spots, even showing a tame little sedan going down Main Street USA at 20 mph still will red-flag the lawyers into insisting on a DO NOT ATTEMPT super. And yes, we must acknowledge the presence of the League Goon who hands out the obligatory hats you can buy at the NFL Shop (URL not provided, search for it yourself you bastards) the minute the game ends. Game prediction: Giants 27, Pats 13. Go Giants. See you next Sunday.

Polly Wanna Blog?

2012-01-03T20:21:00.000-05:00

Go to the sidebar and click on "Polly's Piece of Peace" and you'll find the wonderful Polly Esther has some new stuff on her blog. I only see Polly once a year, at the ACPT, but she is one of the most fun people I know, Canadian or otherwise.

A Blog About Seymour Kneitel

2011-11-18T18:08:00.000-05:00

Ginny Kneitel Mahoney has created a new blog titled Seymour Kneitel 1908-1964, a tribute to her father, who was an animator for the Fleischer Studios and later one of the partners and director for its successor company, Famous Studios, a/k/a Paramount Cartoon Studios. Kneitel survived the deaths of the other two partners, Sam Buchwald (in 1951) and Isidore Sparber (1958), but himself passed in 1964 after years of heart problems. Check it out!

BESS MESS '11

2011-11-10T23:02:00.000-05:00

No love for Bess Myerson - or, for that matter, Gretchen Carlson - in the reconfigured Rose Walk in Atlantic City. Our annual visit to the gambling mecca coinciding with the NJEA Convention reveals no new plaques (the Walk stops at 1999), and still no return of the missing plaques for Myerson, who was Miss America 1945, and Carlson, Miss America 1989.

Notice that a garbage can is no longer covering up the blank space where Myerson's plaque had been. There is now a jump from 1944 to 1946. The only other place where there's a skip year is 1949-1951, because there was no Miss America 1950 - beginning in that year, the winner's title reflected the year in which they performed most of their Miss America-type service. Hence, the year AFTER they were crowned. Oddly, the 1950 and 1989 positions on the walk are represented by a blank spacer. Perhaps when the walk was put back together, there was meant to be a blank in the 1945 position rather than the non-existent 1950 position.

Wouldn't it be easy to take one of the existing plaques, make a cast of it, then make new text for both Myerson and Carlson and all the other winners who were crowned in AC? Then the whole story of the pageant as it existed in its Atlantic City era would then be represented.

Welcome Back, Irv Spector

2011-10-15T07:20:00.000-04:00

Paul Spector is planning on resurrecting his tribute blog to his father, noted animator and cartoonist Irv Spector (1914-1978). Spector was noted for a series of highly stylized cartoons at the Paramount Pictures Cartoon Studio in the early 1960's, which he wrote, storyboarded, and in many cases animated.

Paul Spector's blog has been dormant for the last two years until three days ago when he posted about his late cat Ollie. As such, we have moved the Spectorphile back into the stack of active blogs.

Crunching The Batting Title Numbers

2011-09-28T08:08:00.011-04:00

Going into today's final game of the season, one of the only things motivating Mets fans is the fact that Jose Reyes is in contention for the batting title, and would be the first Met to ever win the crown. His opponent is Ryan Braun of the Milwaukee Brewers.

Going into today's play, Reyes has 180 hits in 536 at bats for a batting average to five places of .33582. Braun has 187/559, or .33452. Here are tables showing possible outcomes based on up to 6 at bats for each player. Columns represent hits, rows represent at bats.

UPDATE: After a first-inning bunt single, Reyes took himself out of the game, in what was a much-criticized decision. Reyes finished at .337. Braun had to go 3-4 or better to win the batting title, however, he went 0-4, finishing at .332.

SNL Band Site Updated

2011-09-26T06:48:00.001-04:00

New pictures and information on SNL's new musical director, Eli Brueggemann as well as keyboardist Tuffus Zimbabwe. And we bumped everyone else's numbers up, as we always do. 32 years for Pendarvis now, which might be a record.

Earl Kress 1951-2011

2011-09-19T06:00:00.001-04:00

This is a sad day for animation fans. Earl Kress died early this morning at the age of 60, from a combination of cancers.

Over the years we had featured Earl's blog on our sidebar, a blog that we now know because of health he had to lay aside from time to time. (~~We'll be putting it back in our Hall of Fame soon.~~ Earl's blog is no longer available)

Kress had a diverse career. One of his first media jobs was as a puppeteer for a kids' show that aired on the four-station network that is now known as NJTV, which is now under the operational guidance of WNET. The puppets' human co-star was the former Miss New Jersey, Hela Young, who later became the hostess for the New Jersey Lottery and who herself lost a similar battle with cancer years earlier.

Cartoons came calling next. Friz Freleng gave Kress his first job in cartoons as a writer for the 1975 ABC series "The Oddball Couple", which was a Neil Simon-sanctioned takeoff on "The Odd Couple" featuring a neat cat and a slovenly dog who were roommates and best friends, with Frank Nelson and Paul Winchell. At 24, Kress found himself working alongside writers and animators who were at least 25 years his senior, if not more. Over the years Kress added several other animated series to his résumé, including "Transformers", "Pound Puppies", "Taz-Mania" and most recently "Baby Looney Tunes".

Kress was perhaps best known for his love of animation and his willingness to ply his considerable expertise to enhance several video and audio releases of animation. Kress wrote the liner notes for "The Hanna-Barbera Pic-A-Nic Basket", a 4 CD box set compilation of the best theme songs and sound effects from the studio's productions. He was a popular talking head on many DVD commentaries and with his friend Mark Evanier (here is his tribute to Kress) hosted panels of voice actors and actresses at San Diego Comic-Con International and other similar forums.

In Evanier's essay, he sums up the man that was Earl Kress quite nicely: "In an industry where jealousy and resentment sometimes seem as prevalent as nitrogen, Earl was utterly undespised. I don't know anyone who didn't like the guy. He was smart. He was funny. He had good, honorable motives for every single thing he did."

Rose Walk Renovation?

2011-09-03T17:36:00.000-04:00

On a recent trip to Atlantic City, I noticed some renovations taking place on the Miss America Rose Walk. Now, as you know, Miss America now calls that other gambling mecca home, and Atlantic City has been quietly erasing all vestiges of it being the home of a bathing beauty contest that blossomed into a scholarship program for deserving young women. A number of the plaques have been removed, revealing the 2x4 frameworks beneath, and it appears the stonework around them is being redone. Are the plaques coming back? And if they do, will it be all of them, including the two that have been stolen? (We didn't even bother to look in November 2010. The plaque of Bess Myerson was still gone when I looked a few weeks ago, along with those that surrounded it.)

My Hurricane Stories

2011-08-26T09:20:00.000-04:00

1985, Hurricane Gloria - I was at work during the brunt of the storm, such as it was. There were a lot of windows either boarded up or X'd over with masking tape. The hurricane came close to the Jersey Shore, but we did not suffer any damage to the radio station I was working at at the time. Our tower (and I don't remember if our new tower had been constructed at the time) continued to stand tall. We called it "the castrated feeble hurricane" thereafter.

1989, Hurricane Hugo - The hurricane affected me indirectly, because I was working at WOBM at the time, and the station organized a relief effort. Bekins/Sea Cure Moving donated their trucks and drivers to bring supplies down to South Carolina. I helped pack boxes. No, I didn't go down to South Carolina, because I had to stay behind and schedule the commercials for the station.

1992, Unnamed Noreaster - I spent most of that fall renovating a house that was flooded. Not a lot of happy memories for about a year or so afterward.

1999, Hurricane Floyd - I have no memories of that one, unfortunately.

The story of Hurricane Irene has yet to be written. I fear for the safety of friends and relatives close to the shoreline, and hope they can all find safe harbor. We are shoring up our house and making tentative plans to get out of Dodge if asked. Sunday should be the day. Several of our church committee chairs, myself included, made the unanimous decision to cancel services on Sunday. We'll report back later. Please stay safe.

Jerry Lewis Out As MDA National Chairman

2011-08-04T08:52:00.002-04:00

The Muscular Dystrophy Association issued a press release yesterday, tersely stating in two neat, short paragraphs that Jerry Lewis has "completed" his duties as MDA National Chairman, and stated in no uncertain terms that he would not be appearing on this year's telethon, which has been cut from 21-1/2 hours to a mere six, and will be mostly tape-delay segments with live local cutins.

"Completed"? Exsqueeze me? An awful nice way of saying "clean out your desk" as an armed guard watches over you to make sure you don't take a few pads of Post-Its with you.

WHEN IS THIS GOING TO END?

2011-07-27T14:27:00.000-04:00

LAST NO HITTERS - ACTIVE TEAMS
combined no hitters not counted
07/27/11 Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (Ervin Santana)
05/07/11 Detroit Tigers (Justin Verlander)
05/03/11 Minnesota Twins (Francisco Liriano)
10/06/10 Philadelphia Phillies (Roy Halladay - postseason game)
07/26/10 Tampa Bay Rays (Matt Garza - team's first)
06/25/10 Arizona Diamondbacks (Edwin Jackson)
05/09/10 Oakland A's (Dallas Braden - perfect game)
04/17/10 Colorado Rockies (Ubaldo Jiminez, team's first)
07/23/09 Chicago White Sox (Mark Buehrle - perfect game)
07/10/09 San Francisco Giants (Jonathan Sanchez)
09/14/08 Chicago Cubs (Carlos Zambrano)
05/19/08 Boston Red Sox (Jon Lester)
09/06/06 Florida Marlins (Anibal Sanchez)
05/18/04 Arizona Diamondbacks (Randy Johnson - perfect game)
09/03/01 St. Louis Cardinals (Bud Smith)
07/18/99 New York Yankees (David Cone - perfect game)
09/17/96 Los Angeles Dodgers (Hideo Nomo)
07/28/94 Texas Rangers (Kenny Rogers - perfect game)
04/08/94 Atlanta Braves (Kent Mercker)
09/08/93 Houston Astros (Darryl Kile - vs. METS)
04/22/93 Seattle Mariners (Chris Bosio)
08/26/91 Kansas City Royals (Bret Saberhagen)
07/26/91 Montreal Expos (Dennis Martinez - perfect game - now Washington Nationals)
09/02/90 Toronto Blue Jays (Dave Stieb)
09/16/88 Cincinnati Reds (Tom Browning - perfect game)
04/15/87 Milwaukee Brewers (Juan Nieves)
05/15/81 Cleveland Indians (Len Barker)
08/09/76 Pittsburgh Pirates (John Candelaria)
08/13/69 Baltimore Orioles (Jim Palmer)
NEVER San Diego Padres (team's inception, 1969)
NEVER New York Mets (team's inception, 1962)

Songs People Think Beatles Songs, But Aren't.

2011-07-15T16:08:00.000-04:00

I was all set to do a blog post about fake Beatles songs, but Gaylord Fields already trod that ground. (Once again WFMU's website proves indispensible!)

Dad

2011-05-30T20:17:00.002-04:00

Twenty years ago this evening, I bid my mother and father goodnight on a hot Thursday evening. Little did I know that the next morning, I would only be greeting one of them.

Dad smoked rather prolifically until the time of his first heart attack at the age of 52 on April 15, 1974. Tax Day. Although he quit smoking the damage had already been done to his pulmonary systen, A second heart attack followed in 1983, on, of all days, the Fourth of July. Dad by this time had sold his gas stations and had been working as a mechanic at a local car dealership. I don't quite remember how long he hung on until he retired, or more to the point, had to quit because of his health.

Yes, he taught us all the dad-type things, including how to reasonably play baseball (in spite of my ineptitude, we managed a second place win with our Red Sox team in '69) and some rudimentary golf lessons, including a few tours around the Twin Brook par-3 course, which sat dormant for about a decade before being resurrected into the great teaching facility it is today. But all the health problems that Dad had, mostly with his heart, were not lost on the four younger Mackeys, who have strove to take better care of themselves.

So when Mom told us that "I can't wake your Daddy up" on that hot Friday morning, May 31, 1991, we were at once shocked and unsurprised. Dad had gotten up out of bed in the middle of the night to watch television, but at one point turned off the TV, very neatly put the remote on top of the TV, sat down in the Berkline Rock-A-Lounger chair that was a door prize from "Card Sharks", and slipped peacefully into the next world.

Mom soldiered on for almost another nine years without her beloved "Daddy Dick", as she liked to call him. The profound effect he had on his four children lingers on, twenty years after he left us here to fend for ourselves. Thanks, Dad.

Apparently Not.

2011-05-07T23:22:00.002-04:00

LAST NO HITTERS - ACTIVE TEAMS
combined no hitters not counted
05/07/11 Detroit Tigers (Justin Verlander)
05/03/11 Minnesota Twins (Francisco Liriano)
10/06/10 Philadelphia Phillies (Roy Halladay - postseason game)
07/26/10 Tampa Bay Rays (Matt Garza - team's first)
06/25/10 Arizona Diamondbacks (Edwin Jackson)
05/09/10 Oakland A's (Dallas Braden - perfect game)
04/17/10 Colorado Rockies (Ubaldo Jiminez, team's first)
07/23/09 Chicago White Sox (Mark Buehrle - perfect game)
07/10/09 San Francisco Giants (Jonathan Sanchez)
09/14/08 Chicago Cubs (Carlos Zambrano)
05/19/08 Boston Red Sox (Jon Lester)
09/06/06 Florida Marlins (Anibal Sanchez)
05/18/04 Arizona Diamondbacks (Randy Johnson - perfect game)
09/03/01 St. Louis Cardinals (Bud Smith)
07/18/99 New York Yankees (David Cone - perfect game)
09/17/96 Los Angeles Dodgers (Hideo Nomo)
07/28/94 Texas Rangers (Kenny Rogers - perfect game)
04/08/94 Atlanta Braves (Kent Mercker)
09/08/93 Houston Astros (Darryl Kile - vs. METS)
04/22/93 Seattle Mariners (Chris Bosio)
08/26/91 Kansas City Royals (Bret Saberhagen)
07/26/91 Montreal Expos (Dennis Martinez - perfect game - now Washington Nationals)
09/02/90 Toronto Blue Jays (Dave Stieb)
09/16/88 Cincinnati Reds (Tom Browning - perfect game)
04/15/87 Milwaukee Brewers (Juan Nieves)
09/30/84 Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (Mike Witt - perfect game)
05/15/81 Cleveland Indians (Len Barker)
08/09/76 Pittsburgh Pirates (John Candelaria)
08/13/69 Baltimore Orioles (Jim Palmer)
NEVER San Diego Padres (team's inception, 1969)
NEVER New York Mets (team's inception, 1962)

Is this ever going to end?

2011-05-04T05:55:00.000-04:00

LAST NO HITTERS - ACTIVE TEAMS
combined no hitters not counted
05/03/11 Minnesota Twins (Francisco Liriano)
10/06/10 Philadelphia Phillies (Roy Halladay - postseason game)
07/26/10 Tampa Bay Rays (Matt Garza - team's first)
06/25/10 Arizona Diamondbacks (Edwin Jackson)
05/09/10 Oakland A's (Dallas Braden - perfect game)
04/17/10 Colorado Rockies (Ubaldo Jiminez, team's first)
07/23/09 Chicago White Sox (Mark Buehrle - perfect game)
07/10/09 San Francisco Giants (Jonathan Sanchez)
09/14/08 Chicago Cubs (Carlos Zambrano)
05/19/08 Boston Red Sox (Jon Lester)
06/12/07 Detroit Tigers (Justin Verlander)
09/06/06 Florida Marlins (Anibal Sanchez)
05/18/04 Arizona Diamondbacks (Randy Johnson - perfect game)
09/03/01 St. Louis Cardinals (Bud Smith)
07/18/99 New York Yankees (David Cone - perfect game)
09/17/96 Los Angeles Dodgers (Hideo Nomo)
07/28/94 Texas Rangers (Kenny Rogers - perfect game)
04/08/94 Atlanta Braves (Kent Mercker)
09/08/93 Houston Astros (Darryl Kile - vs. METS)
04/22/93 Seattle Mariners (Chris Bosio)
08/26/91 Kansas City Royals (Bret Saberhagen)
07/26/91 Montreal Expos (Dennis Martinez - perfect game - now Washington Nationals)
09/02/90 Toronto Blue Jays (Dave Stieb)
09/16/88 Cincinnati Reds (Tom Browning - perfect game)
04/15/87 Milwaukee Brewers (Juan Nieves)
09/30/84 Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (Mike Witt - perfect game)
05/15/81 Cleveland Indians (Len Barker)
08/09/76 Pittsburgh Pirates (John Candelaria)
08/13/69 Baltimore Orioles (Jim Palmer)
NEVER San Diego Padres (team's inception, 1969)
NEVER New York Mets (team's inception, 1962)

Baseball Season Starts TODAY...

2011-04-01T06:37:00.002-04:00

... for Mets fans, at least. I begin my 45th year or so rooting for the Amazin's today, and we also call your attention to the No-Hitter Count, which will be somewhat meticulously updated whenever the first hit is achieved by the other team, which is always. In this, their 50th season, still no no-hitter for Mets pitching. As always, we refer you to Dirk Lammers' No No-Hitters website for more exhaustive coverage. (Dirk's day job is as a writer for the AP on energy issues, so the fact that he has time to do this and muse over why gas is headed toward $5 a gallon is in itself incredible.)

Super Bowl Ad Replay

2011-02-06T18:12:00.005-05:00

Sixth Annual DaveMackey.Com Super Bowl Ad Review

The USA Today Ad Meter winners were the Doritos commercial with the pug (earning its creator a million dollars) and the Bud Light dog party ad. Third place was the VW Passat with Kid Darth Vader.

Super Bowl Ad Review Pre-Game Show

2011-01-29T10:37:00.002-05:00

UPDATED: FEBRUARY 5, 2011

With about a week to go, it's high time we summarized the commercial parade that will be sprinkled throughout Super Bowl XLV, which this year will feature the Steelers and Packers. We're going to do it by placement in game rather than alphabetical by advertiser, since that will make for a handy checklist. As you can see many advertisers' plans are still up in the air as advertisers still jockey for last minute airtime buys from the NFL and traffic schedules are finalized. Some ads have already broken on YouTube and Facebook pages and we've ranked those in advance.

We really haven't gone over the ground rules of the methodology of late, so for those just joining us, we rate the ads using a letter grading system on entertainment value and their ability to sell the items intended.

Commercials that include a "DO NOT ATTEMPT" disclaimer are automatically given the grade of F. Lawyers do not make commercials. Ad agencies do.

In a world where movie trailers are a breed apart, we don't rank them.

If your spot tries to be funny, but isn't, I'll mark it down.

And just a reminder that we will be again "Covering It Live" so just log on to www.davemackey.com just before game time and we'll break it all down for you in real time!

FIRST QUARTER
:60 Audi
:30 BMW
:30 Bridgestone
:30 Carmax
:60 Kia - One Epic Ride
:30 Pizza Hut - first time ever in Super Bowl

SECOND QUARTER
:60 Coca-Cola
:30 Teleflora - Faith Hill

END FIRST HALF
:30 Salesforce.com - Ads bracketing the halftime show were developed by Will.i.am and feature animated characters called the Baby Peas.

HALFTIME SHOW - Bridgestone sponsors. Music act is the Black Eyed Peas.

END HALFTIME SHOW
:30 Salesforce.com

THIRD QUARTER
:30 Best Buy - spot to feature Justin Bieber and Sharon Osbourne
:30 Disney Pirates of the Caribbean - to air right after Best Buy ad
:30 Careerbuilder - monkeys
:30 Cars.com
:30 Carmax
:60 Coca-Cola
:30 E-trade - babies
:30 HomeAway.com - The Ministry of Detourism
:30 Mars - Snickers continues last year's campaign with Roseanne Barr and Richard Lewis, two strikingly irrelevant comedians

FOURTH QUARTER
:30 BMW
:30 Bridgestone
:30 Cars.com
:60 Mercedes Benz - Tweet Race features a Mercedes powered by Twitter - B
:30 Skechers - Ad for Shape-Ups will air at the two-minute warning and will feature Kim Kardashian.

PLACEMENT NOT YET DETERMINED
:?? InBev/five spots, 2 :60 and 3 :30 for Budweiser, Stella Artois, and Bud Light, throughout game
2:00 Chrysler (spot to feature Eminem; pending NFL approval for what would be the first ever 2-minute spot in the Bowl, thought to be the single largest spot rate ever at a potential $12 million)
:30 General Motors (five spots: Chevy Cruze has real-time Facebook status updates - C; Chevrolet Volt has images of historical events - B; Cruze Eco - old people mishearing the car gets 42MPG - A-; Chevrolet Silverado - "do not attempt" - automatic F; Camaro - looks like a local spot, very clever - A)
:30 GoDaddy.com - Danica Patrick, Jillian Michaels, and ?????
:30 GoDaddy.com - new .co domain
:30 Groupon
:30 Hyundai
:30 Hyundai
:30 Hyundai - would expect at least one spot to be for their new overly expensive Equus luxury car. Confirmed spots will include Sonata hybrid and Elantra.
:30 Paramount Captain America
:30 Paramount Rango
:30 Paramount Super 8
:30 Paramount Thor
:30 Paramount Transformers
:30 PepsiCo Doritos
:30 PepsiCo Doritos - user created
:30 PepsiCo Doritos
:30 PepsiCo Pepsi Max - user created
:30 PepsiCo Pepsi Max - user created
:30 PepsiCo Pepsi Max
(There are five finalists for each of the two brands posted. Doritos commericials: "The Best Part" - B; "Pug Attack" - B-; "House Sitting" - C; "Birthday Wish" - C-; "Adam Eve" - B. Pepsi Max commericals: "Love Hurts" - B; "Zero Calories? Psshhh" - C; "First Date" - B; "Torpedo Cooler" - C-; "Elevator Girl" - C. Underlying themes - pain as punchline, and the liberal use of Ponichelli's "Dance of the Hours" as subtle underscore.)
:30 PepsiCo Lipton Brisk (Eminem again)
:30 Universal - Cowboys and Aliens
:30 Universal - TBD
:30 Volkswagen - One ad to feature Passat, one to feature Beetle

New on our Blogroll

2011-01-17T19:14:00.000-05:00

We've added a few things to the blogroll.

One of my friends from church, Jessica Krajdel, is studying in Chile, where it's summertime down there. She is blogging about it in "Chilling in Chile".

As an old radio guy I've always had the deepest respect for one of the great DJ's and game show announcers, Charlie Tuna. He has a great blog at www.charlietuna.com, right on his home page. Charlie is one of those who is still embracing the new technologies.

When my wife and I decided to take up ballroom dancing, we found a great early mentor in Brittany Matthews, who tells of her very personal odyssey in Confessions of a Ballroom Dance Teacher.

All are accessible from the right hand side of the page.

Now, on a sadder note.... a while ago, we had on our page a couple of blogs from a very erudite member of our church choir named Case Wagenvoord. He was the author of the book Open Letters to George W. Bush: Letters to W from his ardent admirer Belacqua Jones. You can order this book from amazon.com by just clicking on the link. Sadly, Case passed away a few weeks ago, and even though we had some issues with his language at times, we liked what we had to say. RIP, Case.

Super Bowl Ad Time Again!

2011-01-09T18:59:00.001-05:00

Yes, it is only 28 days until "The Big Game" and davemackey.com will once again have you covered with LIVE commentary on all the ads, plus your input. We had fun doing this last year on a real-time basis so we're doing it again this year. Set your calendars for Sunday, February 6, 2011 at 6:00 p.m. as the XLVth renewal of football's biggest game unfolds, complete with hopefully creative advertiser inclusions.

I understand there's already celebrity backlash to one planned ad that will use primates. Best Buy will be a newcomer to the Bowl. And you can expect the usual parade of Anheuser-Busch commercials, mostly for Bud Light.

Come join us for all the fun. Will anything top last year's extremely well-received commercial for Snickers with Betty White?

McCracken News Tidbits

2010-12-26T22:41:00.002-05:00

Just when you thought there were no words to mark the passing of mime performer Lorene Yarnell, here's Elizabeth McCracken with a whole bunch of them in this year's contribution to The New York Times' annual necrology feature.

And while we're talking McCracken, congrats to my pal of 20 years, Harry McCracken, on his marriage today to the lovely Marie Domingo.

Weight Loss Update

2010-11-26T07:29:00.000-05:00

It's been two years since I gave you an update on my weight loss program. Let's give you some background. I weighed close to 250 lbs. in October 2006, roughly about the time I met Tracy. My first wife had been gone a year and the next year was an orgy of meals out and badly executed home meals. Blew up like a balloon.

I looked at myself in a mirror four years ago Thanksgiving and thought I looked pregnant. Which is no kind of shape for a 45-year-old male to be.

I embarked on a weight loss contest with Tracy the following January, and by April was down 16 pounds to 234.

The following December, 197.

A month later, six more pounds miraculously shed. 191.

Fast forward almost two years, with an increased exercise regimen including lots of walking and ballroom dancing (thank you, Fred Astaire). Thanksgiving morning, 2010, I step on the scale, and lo and behold - 178. I have never weighed that little in my adult life, perhaps since the last year of college.

Am I going to keep going? Yes. When I went on my first weight loss plan, I thought 175 was a reachable goal, and now I'm within five pounds of that. I am setting my sights even bigger and hopefully by this time next year, I'll see 160.

Covering Charlie

2010-11-15T06:42:00.000-05:00

Charlie O'Donnell, who died on November 1, gave "Wheel of Fortune" 28 years of prize copy, everything from ceramic dalmatians to "ONE MILLLLLLLLION DOLLARS!"

Why, then, is Sony Pictures Television trying to erase his final performances on the show?

Game show fan friends have been watching "Wheel" quite closely lately. Some have even been to tapings and have noticed O'Donnell's presence, but the shows that have aired since O'Donnell's passing have had a different voice reading the copy, that of incumbent "Jeopardy!" announcer Johnny Gilbert. The show has even gone so far as to have Pat Sajak overdub his throws to "Charlie" and replace them with "Johnny". (Check the closed captioning and see if it still says "Charlie"...)

My guess on the situation is that much of "Wheel" is narrated in post, but if Charlie was there, then we should still be able to hear him. "Wheel" producers could rationalize that it would be too confusing to viewers to still hear Charlie after his death was widely reported, much in the same way "What's My Line?" viewers of 40 years ago could still enjoy syndicated episodes with Bennett Cerf long after he left us.

The show is searching for a new announcer, and so far the front-runner is former "Price is Right" announcer Rich Fields, who has already taped several weeks of shows.

Bess Mess '10

2010-11-04T23:52:00.001-04:00

Nothing ever changes.

Fox/Cablevision Dispute resolved

2010-10-30T22:05:00.002-04:00

And no, I'm not going to run to my TV to watch the World Series.

Happy 35th, SNL

2010-10-11T13:44:00.001-04:00

"Let us begin. Repeat after me. 'I would like...'"

"I would like..."

"'...to feed your fingertips...'"

"...to feed your fingertips..."

"'...to the wolverines.'"

"...to the wolverines."

35 years later, the show is still here. Happy 35th, SNL, and in celebration, we've freshened up the SNL Band Pages with a new year-by-year timeline and updated bios of all the regulars.

CRIPES, HERE WE GO AGAIN

2010-10-06T21:48:00.000-04:00

LAST NO HITTERS - ACTIVE TEAMS
combined no hitters not counted
10/06/10 Philadelphia Phillies (Roy Halladay - postseason game)
07/26/10 Tampa Bay Rays (Matt Garza - team's first)
06/25/10 Arizona Diamondbacks (Edwin Jackson)
05/09/10 Oakland A's (Dallas Braden - perfect game)
04/17/10 Colorado Rockies (Ubaldo Jiminez, team's first)
07/23/09 Chicago White Sox (Mark Buehrle - perfect game)
07/10/09 San Francisco Giants (Jonathan Sanchez)
09/14/08 Chicago Cubs (Carlos Zambrano)
05/19/08 Boston Red Sox (Jon Lester)
06/12/07 Detroit Tigers (Justin Verlander)
09/06/06 Florida Marlins (Anibal Sanchez)
05/18/04 Arizona Diamondbacks (Randy Johnson - perfect game)
09/03/01 St. Louis Cardinals (Bud Smith)
09/11/99 Minnesota Twins (Eric Milton)
07/18/99 New York Yankees (David Cone - perfect game)
09/17/96 Los Angeles Dodgers (Hideo Nomo)
07/28/94 Texas Rangers (Kenny Rogers - perfect game)
04/08/94 Atlanta Braves (Kent Mercker)
09/08/93 Houston Astros (Darryl Kile - vs. METS)
04/22/93 Seattle Mariners (Chris Bosio)
08/26/91 Kansas City Royals (Bret Saberhagen)
07/26/91 Montreal Expos (Dennis Martinez - perfect game - now Washington Nationals)
09/02/90 Toronto Blue Jays (Dave Stieb)
09/16/88 Cincinnati Reds (Tom Browning - perfect game)
04/15/87 Milwaukee Brewers (Juan Nieves)
09/30/84 Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (Mike Witt - perfect game)
05/15/81 Cleveland Indians (Len Barker)
08/09/76 Pittsburgh Pirates (John Candelaria)
08/13/69 Baltimore Orioles (Jim Palmer)
NEVER San Diego Padres (team's inception, 1969)
NEVER New York Mets (team's inception, 1962)

7,806

2010-10-03T13:50:00.001-04:00

No Mets talk until spring training, at least. Will be happy to see Omar and Jerry out the door, and hopefully management can get some good arms that will not only get the Mets to the playoffs and the World Series, but possibly also pitch a no-hitter next year in the Mets' 50th season.

We Remember Today

2010-10-01T07:24:00.001-04:00

2/10/1954-10/1/2005

9/11/01

2010-09-11T02:29:00.000-04:00

It was nine years ago today. I showered, dressed, kissed Nancy and Trisha goodbye, and made the drive from Toms River to Eatontown, where I was still working for Comcast Cable Advertising. It was a beautiful fall day, cool air and bright blue sky, with a half moon overhead that would slowly blend into the sky as it descended. I said good morning to my compartiots, Louise and Denise, and started printing out our log reconciliations from the Monday before. Tuesdays during a non-billing week were generally slow-type days, on which we could concentrate on polishing log templates or catching up on entering orders and then running avails.

A WABC-TV news anchor broke into the waning minutes of "Good Morning America" at about 8:55 a.m. to report that a plane had crashed into one of the World Trade Center towers. The news cameras trained on the towers. At 9:03 a.m. a horrified world saw another plane hit the other tower. At 9:42 a.m. came word that the Pentagon had been similarly hit. By 10:50 came word that yet another plane had crashed in Pennsylvania.

2 WTC collapsed at 9:59 a.m. 1 WTC a half hour later. Comcast sent everyone home as soon as they could get their work done for the day. I saw the smoke from the parking lot in Eatontown, ruining the beautiful blue sky day.

New York City, town of many nicknames, sadly earned a new one that day: Ground Zero.

Nearly 3000 people died in the carnage of all the combined incidents. Please pray for their survivors today.

BP Trouble?

2010-08-29T18:47:00.000-04:00

Hi, folks. Been a while since I have talked to you about my health. As you may or may not know, I have had some real health issues over the years, beginning with a diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes in 1996. Three surgeries for detached retinas in 1998. Hospitalizations in 2003 for high blood sugar and 2004 for heart issues. The last introduced me to my cardiologist, Dr. Douedi.

High blood pressure has been a fact of my life for quite some time but I think that we've finally come up with medications that have worked to bring it down. My last three BP readings have been in the 100-120 range systolic which is my target range. 140 is not normal for me, and I've run much higher than that for some time. Then, I got to thinking about my blood pressure kit. Mark Evanier discussed it in his blog last year. At the time the consensus was that the meters read 20 points too high. Do any of you - either Blog readers or Facebook friends - have any experience with this type blood pressure meter?

Also New on the Blogroll

2010-08-02T14:30:00.000-04:00

A couple of years ago at the big Tournament in Brooklyn we met this wonderful and very funny lady who likes to go by the name of Polly Esther. (I don't know if she'd want me to share her real name.) She is a performance artist and comedienne who lives in Toronto and has now been to the ACPT twice. Anyway, this year we wised up and caught up with her on Facebook, and now Polly's got her own blog called "Polly's Piece of Peace". Should be fun if it's anything like Polly is. Look for it to the right on the big ol' Blogroll.

New on the Blogroll

2010-08-01T19:56:00.001-04:00

I have added Deb Amlen to the blogroll. Deb is a very funny and very nice lady who has written a book called "It's Not PMS, It's You!" and has a very funny humor blog. Check it out often. Deb also makes crossword puzzles.

LET'S TURN THIS LIST UPSIDE DOWN

2010-05-29T22:11:00.003-04:00

LAST NO HITTERS - ACTIVE TEAMS
combined no hitters not counted
07/26/10 Tampa Bay Rays (Matt Garza - team's first)
06/25/10 Arizona Diamondbacks (Edwin Jackson)
05/29/10 Philadelphia Phillies (Roy Halladay - perfect game)
05/09/10 Oakland A's (Dallas Braden - perfect game)
04/17/10 Colorado Rockies (Ubaldo Jiminez, team's first)
07/23/09 Chicago White Sox (Mark Buehrle - perfect game)
07/10/09 San Francisco Giants (Jonathan Sanchez)
09/14/08 Chicago Cubs (Carlos Zambrano)
05/19/08 Boston Red Sox (Jon Lester)
06/12/07 Detroit Tigers (Justin Verlander)
09/06/06 Florida Marlins (Anibal Sanchez)
~~05/18/04 Arizona Diamondbacks (Randy Johnson - perfect game)~~
09/03/01 St. Louis Cardinals (Bud Smith)
09/11/99 Minnesota Twins (Eric Milton)
07/18/99 New York Yankees (David Cone - perfect game)
09/17/96 Los Angeles Dodgers (Hideo Nomo)
07/28/94 Texas Rangers (Kenny Rogers - perfect game)
04/08/94 Atlanta Braves (Kent Mercker)
09/08/93 Houston Astros (Darryl Kile - vs. METS)
04/22/93 Seattle Mariners (Chris Bosio)
08/26/91 Kansas City Royals (Bret Saberhagen)
07/26/91 Montreal Expos (Dennis Martinez - perfect game - now Washington Nationals)
09/02/90 Toronto Blue Jays (Dave Stieb)
09/16/88 Cincinnati Reds (Tom Browning - perfect game)
04/15/87 Milwaukee Brewers (Juan Nieves)
09/30/84 Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (Mike Witt - perfect game)
05/15/81 Cleveland Indians (Len Barker)
08/09/76 Pittsburgh Pirates (John Candelaria)
08/13/69 Baltimore Orioles (Jim Palmer)
NEVER San Diego Padres (team's inception, 1969)
NEVER New York Mets (team's inception, 1962)

Sitting Out The Next "Dance" For Good

2010-05-20T09:34:00.000-04:00

I am so done with "Dancing with the B-List". Tired of all the backstage romances that really clutter up the show, and the politics of casting the celebrities and pros to encourage this.

Show's run its course, why do another one?

And it would kill Betty White.

The Fix Is In

2010-05-19T12:36:00.000-04:00

Season 6 runner up Blake Lewis on how Lee DeWyze's ascension to the finals was all but cemented by an over the top production number engineered by Simon Cowell.

Jack Hannah and Freeloading Feline

2010-05-17T22:58:00.001-04:00

An important transitional cartoon for the Walter Lantz studio. Lantz was always on the lookout for castoff cartoonists from other studios, and when Walt Disney curtailed its shorts unit in the late 50's, it left a lot of talent looking for a home. Some went to work for Hanna-Barbera, but Jack Hannah - one of the last shorts directors at Disney, responsible for some screamingly funny Donald Duck and Humphrey Bear cartoons - found work with Walter Lantz for a few years. Hannah did some cartoons in the Doc series, the character originating with Alex Lovy a few years prior, as well as Inspector Willoughby, Woody Woodpecker, the Beary Family, and a character named Fatso Bear - a thinly-veiled knockoff of Humphrey Bear. This is his first Doc cartoon, "Freeloading Feline", which Hannah also wrote, and it's probably the funniest example of this character.

Hannah had been hired because Lantz was looking for someone with live-action TV experience to direct the wraparounds for the Woody Woodpecker TV show. Hannah brought with him some Disney colleagues such as animators Al Coe and Roy Jenkins and background artist Ray Huffine.

The credits of this cartoon reveal an interesting mix of old and new. This is animated by Coe and pioneering female animator La Verne Harding, who spent almost 30 years working for Lantz. Huffine does the backgrounds here with Raymond Jacobs, who left the Lantz studio after this cartoon (the other background guy at the time was Art Landy). Coe and Huffine got the most out of their Lantz experience: Huffine was with the studio until 1968 and Coe was still there at the studio's shutdown in 1972.

The music is by Eugene Poddany, who'd been working with Lantz since about 1956 or so to give Clarence Wheeler a break once in a while. Lantz at this time also brought back his classic 1940's music director, Darrell Calker. Poddany eventually became music director for Chuck Jones at M-G-M.

It's Crystal Clear

2010-05-13T09:31:00.001-04:00

With just two weeks to go before "American Idol" leaves the air for the season - not coincidentally coinciding with the last day of May Sweeps - it's all but on paper that Crystal Bowersox is your next American Idol. Crystal of late has begun evoking the early Jewel, right down to the less-than-perfect smile. She has worked very hard since her pre-teens to get to this performance level. She above all others is worthy of the crown.

Crystal really did good for herself in both her solo and duet performances on Tuesday, but somehow wound up in the bottom echelon of contestants Wednesday night. Tuesday, Crystal mined deeper meaning out of the goofy Kenny Loggins "I'm All Right" from "Caddyshack", and really shone in her face to face duet with Lee DeWyze, while the dizzying 360-degree camerawork of director Bruce Gowers seemed to favor neither contestant.

Last year we had Adam and Kris in the finals; year before that the two Davids. Last female in the finals was Jordin Sparks three years ago, who won. I'm hoping for Crystal and Lee in the finals. Lee has just been a house on fire the last few weeks and should be on the Nokia stage with Crystal on May 25.

Next week, we will have video packages of Lee, Crystal and Casey's return to their respective home cities, and two songs from each contestant. The following week I think the finalists do four songs each. It should be entertaining.

Last point: as long as we're talking winning "Idol" it does not necessarily mean that second place is the first loser. Look at Jennifer Hudson, Clay Aiken, Chris Daughtry, Adam Lambert... all post-Idol successes who didn't win the big prize.

The Lives They Lived: 2009 Edition

2010-05-07T00:29:00.000-04:00

Due to our St. John trip, we neglected to check the annual New York Times Magazine necrological feature and in particular the annual subject of one of my favorite writers, Elizabeth McCracken. Here is her write up of two people buried in their own way - one an underground explorer, the other a woman who spent 61 years in an iron lung.

A Sesame Street Flashback

2010-04-24T14:40:00.000-04:00

Did you know that's GRACE SLICK singing on this? 41 years I've been watching this and I never made the connection. This short appeared on the very first episode of "Sesame Street" on November 10, 1969.

Allen Swift 1924-2010

2010-04-18T15:56:00.001-04:00

Allen Swift, kids show host and voice actor, has died at the age of 86. The death was reported by animator Gene Deitch, who noted that Swift was "the last of my American buddies" and frequently visited Swift on trips to New York City from his home in Prague.

Deitch used Swift quite a bit in his cartoons. Here's a fun example, a 1962 Tom and Jerry cartoon called "Dicky Moe". Deitch made 13 T&J cartoons in Prague with varying results - it's said that the animators only watched about five of the Hanna-Barbera cartoons to get the characters down. But when Deitch played with the Tom and Jerry formula, the results were better than if he just stuck to the cat-and-mouse chases. Every so often he'd call in Allen Swift to do some dialogue in the otherwise silent cartoons and that made the cartoons so much more interesting.

(This is the English version. Leave it to me to link to a version that doesn't even have Allen Swift in it!)

In addition to being in cartoons, Swift also presented them, on a kids show for Channel 11 in New York, as "Captain Allen Swift", presenting a daily dose of Popeye cartoons. Swift's voice work eventually took him away from TV hosting and his replacement was that fine old Irishman, Captain Jack McCarthy.

The Carnac of Idol

2010-04-16T08:14:00.000-04:00

Maybe it's just because of the relatively weak pool of talent that was pushed through to the Hollywood round this year, but since the Top 12 shows began at the Idoldrome, I've become something of a genius in picking who is going home this week.

With the exception of the Michael Lynche "save" week (in which I picked Tim or Andrew to leave - I forget which), I've correctly predicted the departures of all of the contestants from the top 12 on down. And it's great for my pool at work, in which I picked Big Mike to win as a pre-emptive strike, given that the wonderful Crystal Bowersox has the top prize all but sewn up.

I just wish I had this foresight when I originally predicted who was going to be in the top 12 in the first place. Look at my crib sheet:

Boys: Aaron Kelly, Alex "Not Adam" Lambert, Tyler Grady, Todrick Hall, Lee DeWyze, Joe Munoz.

Girls: Katelyn Epperly, Ashley Rodriguez, Janell Wheeler, Lilly Scott, Siobhan Magnus, Didi Benami.

And I had Tyler Grady picked to win it all.

No Big Mike? No Mamasox? What was I thinking? Anyway, three of the top 12 I had picked are still alive. Next week, songs of inspiration.

Another Essential Mets Website, Plus Site News

2010-04-04T17:27:00.000-04:00

On the Blogroll we continue to have a great site for Mets minutae fans, "Mets by the Numbers" - run by Jon Springer. Jon's been doing this site since 1999 and features rosters by number, complete uni history of each player, etc. (Springer has another claim to fame - his father was the late cartoonist Frank Springer.) From either that site or the aforementioned No No Hitters you can go to any of a number of other entertaining Mets blogs. Some of these we won't directly link to as they run counter to our language policy, but try Mets Grrl, It's Mets for Me, Crane Pooled, and Yes, Joe, It's Toasted for starters.

Now, the site news. As you can probably tell we've changed our colors from blue to green. I am going to be trying to make the site less templatey (if that's a word). We now also have opinion boxes for each post. We've got three categories, from best to worst: "Good", "Meh", and "WTF?" Be sure to cast your vote on every post.

The No-Hitter Count Rolls On...

2010-04-02T10:15:00.000-04:00

Starting Monday, we will begin once more the annual baseball-season chore of advancing the Mets No No-Hitter Count at right by one every time the opposing team gets one hit or more per game, which is always. In 48 seasons, no New York Mets pitcher has ever recorded a no-hitter. (There was one combined no-hitter in spring training but it doesn't count.)

The No No-Hitter Count originated on Robair's now-defunct blog, something about eggplants. When he decided the blog was no longer worthy of his time, we transferred it over here to the much more established and almost impregnable davemackey.com. In the interim, a full-blown web site sprang up, inspired by this noble idea - Dirk Lammers' "No No-Hitters". Oddly enough, Dirk, who writes on energy matters for the Associated Press in his workaday life, lives in the last place you'd expect a Mets fan to be - Sioux Falls, SD. Dirk has done so much more with the concept than Robair or I ever could.

Like with the MDA Telethon, we don't want this to go on any longer. We would like to see some Mets pitcher step up to the plate (better still, the rubber) and put the nice round number up under the opponent's H in the line score. This year.

"Idol" Needs Women!

2010-04-01T08:26:00.001-04:00

What's with the ladies on "American Idol" this season?

With the exception of Crystal Bowersox (who is one of the most consistent performers this season) and maybe Siobhan Magnus (if she gets over her tendency to go for big notes), it's clearly not a strong female class this year as the first three eliminees (?) were all ladies - from left to right above, Paige Miles, last night's 10th place finisher Didi Benami, and Lacey Brown.

The last two American Idols have been male - David Cook and Kris Allen - and I'm starting to seriously think there's going to be a third, probably either in the person of Casey James or Michael Lynche.

Cartoon Brew In The Penalty Box

2010-03-24T22:29:00.000-04:00

As much as we enjoy the Cartoon Brew blog of Jerry Beck and Amid Amidi, we have to remand it to the penalty box for a recent image displayed quite prominently on that site. If you clicked through to the blog and saw the image in question (a popular cartoon character with extra added "equipment"), we profusely apologize.

Stuff You Can't Possibly Make Up

2010-03-24T16:21:00.000-04:00

I was with one of my fourth grade students today. We were going over a piece of music that had a measure with the notes A-G-E. I told him, "If you take the three letters of the notes in this measure, it spells a word that describes how old you are." The boy looks at me and gives me his answer - "Ten!" It took me a good five minutes to compose myself.

Popeye, The Ace of Space

2010-03-23T17:00:00.000-04:00

Now you know how much I love to see these with the ORIGINAL titles...

This is one half of the 3D print. There were only a handful of big-studio 3D cartoons. Warner Bros. had "Lumber Jack-Rabbit", Lantz had "Hypnotic Hick", and Famous had two - this and "Boo Moon".

Celebrity Sweepstakes

2010-03-22T07:40:00.001-04:00

Here is the first part of the final NBC network episode of "Celebrity Sweepstakes", a show that ran from 1974-1976 on network and until 1977 in syndication. The show, hosted by Jim McKrell, had an obvious horse-racing motif and a checkered production history. There were legal wranglings between the two production companies involved, Burt Sugarman Productions and Ralph Andrews Productions. By the time this episode aired, Andrews was in full control of the show. The other parts are available to you in the sidebar.

There were a few format changes by the time the show ended - the celebrities, in the earliest episodes of the show, wrote their answers to EVERY question, and the odds were set on the basis of the questions themselves, not on the categories. There was also a tote board shown periodically that indicated the correct number of answers for each celebrity. I like this format, however, since it plays a little faster than I remember it. There was also a theme music change for about a year or so - an sprlightly Alan Thicke composition incorporating the "First Call" bugle tune heard at racetracks replaced the Stan Worth theme song heard here. And one of the nicer things about this show was that all contestants kept their money, even if they lost. One episode featured the loser going home with about $11,000.

In starting gate #4 we see Carol Wayne, then married to Burt Sugarman. She was a little less ditsy than I remember her being on the show, but she always had a sweet nature about her.

New Blog

2010-03-17T23:41:00.000-04:00

http://themouseclique.blogspot.com/ carries the flame of the late Lloyd Thaxton, whose blog we discovered and linked to during the final years of his life.

Tom "T-Bone" Wolk 1951-2010

2010-02-28T17:27:00.004-05:00

The Music's Over blog is reporting that bass player and music producer Tom "T-Bone" Wolk, who played in the Saturday Night Live Band in the 1980's and 1990's, has died at the age of 58. Tom was also a member of Hall and Oates' backup band, along with guitarist G.E. Smith, who was musical director for SNL as well as Hall and Oates. Wolk was born in Yonkers, New York on December 24, 1951.

It's Wolk's insistent bass line introducing the Hall and Oates hit "Maneater" that draws comparisons to the bass player for the Motown house band, James Jamerson. Besides bass, he was also skilled on guitar, accordion, and organ. He played with and produced many other famous artists in a career that spanned almost 35 years.

Wolk and Smith joined the reconstituted Saturday Night Live Band in 1985 and brought a certain rock and roll style swagger to commercial breaks and other band appearances, so much so that after a year playing above the stage, producer Lorne Michaels brought the band center stage for the first time since the show's premiere in 1975 to give Smith and Wolk's performances more exposure. For his first several years on the show, Wolk shared the bass chair with Tony Garnier. Wolk left SNL after the 1991-1992 season and was replaced by a succession of talents: Paul Ossola, Tom Barney, and currently James Genus.

Tom "T-Bone" Wolk died Saturday night of a heart attack. Due to Wolk's passing, Hall and Oates have cancelled their expected appearance on tonight's "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" anniversary show.

Crossword Puzzle Tournament

2010-02-20T08:57:00.002-05:00

Visit The Puzzle Brothers for all the latest on the Crossword Tournament in Brooklyn this weekend.

Super Bowl Ad Review

2010-02-08T00:03:00.008-05:00

I am going to put a link in this message to our replay of the event. Thank you for watching our live coverage.

Fifth Annual DaveMackey.Com Super Bowl Ad Review

I'm quite pleased to announce that this year's Ad Meter winner was the second spot thrown in the game - the first quarter ad for Snickers that featured 88-year-old Betty White and 88-year-old Abe Vigoda on rival football teams. One of my fellow game show watchers remarked, "Finally! A game Betty White can't play."

Bill Watterson Speaks!

2010-02-05T09:38:00.002-05:00

This is said to be the first interview with the ultra-reclusive "Calvin and Hobbes" creator since 1989.

Cleveland Plain Dealer Interview

Super Bowl Ad Review Live Blog Reminder

2010-01-28T10:46:00.004-05:00

Even though CoverItLive.com crashed under the weight of all the live bloggers at the iPad introduction yesterday, I still have enough confidence in this product to give this a go for this year's Super Bowl Ad Review. We will be embedding videos, having polls, it will be like a party. If you like ads, THIS is the place to be on Super Bowl Sunday!

More importantly, this will be a test run for our live blogging of the finals of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament later in February. Please visit our sister site, The Puzzle Brothers, for more information about that.

Super Bowl XLIV Ad Review Pre Game Show

2010-01-24T06:44:00.011-05:00

USA TODAY has the complete list of spots.

It's two weeks before "A Madison Avenue Christmas" hits television screens, so it's high time we checked the broadcast log and see who's got what in Super Bowl XLIV, which hopefully will star the Jets and the Vikings.

Anheuser Busch In-Bev: Anheuser has bought five minutes of ad time, most of any advertiser as has been tradition. The majority of their avails should be going to Bud Light's humorous commercials, with Bud Light's new tagline "Here we go" at the center. According to Advertising Age, this may be an off year for Bud's Clydesdales, but Bud will have two spots, one a :60. Michelob Ultra (with Lance Armstrong) and Budweiser Select 55 (getting a :15) will be featured too. Wonder if Conan O'Brien's going to show up this year? Some of Bud's spots for this year have already been posted to their Facebook page.

Audi: A :30, 4Q for the A3 TDI will feature Cheap Trick.

Boost Mobile: One :30 will reunite many of DA BEARRRSSSSSS who participated in their 1985 "Super Bowl Shuffle" ad. NOTE TO CRAFT SERVICES: I don't see The Fridge among the participants. Bring a quarter of the food you were originally planning.

Bridgestone: Two :30's (1Q and 3Q) and halftime name sponsorship of The Who's performance. This company needs to be watched closely as over the last two years, two of their spots were red-flagged for "Do Not Attempt". To be fair, though, they did do that creative "Mr. Potato Head" ad last year. So they could run either way.

Cars.com: One :60, 1H.

Careerbuilder: One viral :30, 2Q. If you remember, a consumer-created ad for Doritos topped last year's USA Today Ad-Meter and won a million dollars for its creators. One ad up for consideration takes "Casual Friday" to a new and frightening extreme.

Chrysler: One :60 for Dodge that is said to present "a message of irreverence". What? Something FUNNY from a Detroit automaker? Whatever.

Coca-Cola: Two :60's, 1Q and 3Q. One of the spots will feature characters from "The Simpsons"; quite odd that this occurs in a year where the Super Bowl ISN'T on Fox.

Denny's: One spot which will highlight a special promotion at their restaurants. Chickens watching television.

Diamond Foods: Creative for their 4Q :30 has changed - it is now going to be a dual-purpose ad with both Pop Secret and Emerald Nuts, the latter of which has been in the Super Bowl before with its Robert Goulet ad.

Dockers: One 2Q :30 for khaki pants. For all you Khaki Hunters out there. (Dave's really reaching with a "Porky's" reference.) The ad will feature mostly men wearing no pants, singing about wearing no pants.

Dorito's: 3 30's, again consumer-created. That worked so well for them last year.

Dr Pepper: One 2Q :30 with Gene Simmons (the alive rocker, not the now-dead actress) promoting their super-delicious, gotta-drink-em Cherry flavor soft drinks. (You may leave the cases of Diet Cherry Dr Pepper on my doorstep. Directions to follow.)

E-Trade: One :30. Creative has traditionally featured the talking baby.

Electronic Arts: At least one spot. CBS has rejected the creative for their spot for the "Dante's Inferno" game.

Focus on the Family: One spot from the Christian group featuring Tim Tebow. Women's groups are protesting the spot's inclusion as the ad is said to be pro-life.

Godaddy: Two 30's (1Q and 4Q) again with spokesbabe Danica Patrick. As is our custom, we will evaluate their "unrated" (and generally unexciting) online content as well.

HomeAway: One :30 which will feature Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo as the Griswolds from the "Vacation" movies.

Honda: One :30 2H featuring the Accord Crosstour. The ad will feature an animated squirrel and the tune "Funky Stuff".

Hyundai: One 2Q :30 and one 3Q :30. One of their ads will look 10 years into the future, when Brett Favre is still winning football games at the age of 50.

Intel: One 4Q :30 with employees singing that damn annoying jingle.

Kia: One 3Q :30 for the American-made Sorento crossover which will feature a character from "Yo Gabba Gabba". Thanks for telling me, I wouldn't have known.

KGB: One 3Q :30 which will be in the vein of their past ads and featuring two of the Baldwin Brothers - but not Alec, who was pushing Hulu last year.

Mars: Snickers will have one :30 spot. Three years ago, the company aired a spot that featured two men sharing a Snickers bar simultaneously, ending in a kiss to which both men reacted with digust, triggering a backlash in the gay community. For some reason, we didn't review that spot that year. Now, we're so sophist that NOTHING ESCAPES OUR NOTICE. (UPDATE: The spot has Betty White in it. Sold.)

Monster: Last year's spot was a contest for Director of Fandemonium, sort of a do-nothing position with the NFL. Much like what Roger Goodell does. This year's spot will be different because Harry Kalas is not available to do the narration this year. We'll miss you, Harry. (UPDATE: Get ready for the violin-playing beaver.)

Motorola: One ad, possibly for the Verizon Wireless "Droid".

NFL: Two in house ads. We usually do not rate these.

Papa John's Pizza: The company is using a quarterback sneak to get into the Bowl by buying the ad time from the NFL rather than CBS. It will be a :30 for their present "Papa's In The House" campaign. The ad will feature PJ's founder John Schnatter delivering pizzas at a football game. The spot will be filmed at the Pro Bowl on February 1.

Pepsi: For the first time in 23 years, Pepsi is not advertising in The Bowl.

Qualcomm's FloTV: I think it's a TV channel that shows nothing but Polly Holliday saying "Kiss My Grits!" Wait, what? It's "personal television". (Sort of like MyNetwork TV.) Two :30's, one 1Q and other TBA. One has Jim Nantz and the other has will.i.am redoing "My Generation".

Teleflora: Will be back for its second Supes appearance. This year the nasty talking weeds will be voiced by Mr. Warmth himself, Don Rickles.

TRU TV: One 2Q :30 promoting its "Full Contact" reality show, behind the scenes of the NFL.

US Census Bureau: One spot. This is 2010, after all. Be counted! (The spot is based on a concept by Christopher Guest.)

Unilever: One ad introducing Dove for Men. NOTE: It's soap. Plain and simple. Dove Soap. If you want men to be comfortable in their own skin, as your ad will say, at least speak their language. "Honey, where's the soap?" "On the shower floor, Bubba."

Universal: One spot. "Wolfman"? "Robin Hood"? "Despicable Me"? (And remember, movie ads are never rated.)

Viacom/Paramount: Three 1H ads for ""Shutter Island", "Iron Man 2" and "The Last Airbender".

Volkswagen: Not seen since Super Bowl XXXVI or so, VW is back a 3Q :30 that will star Tracy Morgan.

Walt Disney Pictures: One ad, possibly for the "Alice in Wonderland" remake. Eat me.

Yum/Taco Bell: One spot. I don't expect the creative to be anything more than what they're usually capable of.

As we march toward February 7, keep watching this post for more updates.

Gus Arnheim Time!

2010-01-22T17:37:00.003-05:00

I like the young lady singing with the Gus Arnheim orchestra in this 1937 Max Fleischer "Screen Song" cartoon, "Whispers in the Dark". Whatever happened to June Robbins, apart from singing with Eddy Duchin?

It's been pointed out that Stan Kenton is playing piano.

Yum! Peanut Butter

2010-01-20T18:48:00.002-05:00

How about some peanut butter for a bedtime snack tonight? That was the conceit of this live commercial from a broadcast of the NBC game show "Say When!", hosted by Art James. However, that last little bit of the peanut butter at the bottom of the jar can come out a whole lot easier IF YOU BREAK THE JAR.

Problems With Site

2010-01-17T14:40:00.002-05:00

Hi folks. We admit that we're having some problems keeping a virus beaten down on this website. Please bear with us as we try to fix the problem.

Arnold Stang 1918-2009

2009-12-22T07:27:00.003-05:00

Entertainer Arnold Stang has died at the age of 91. His nebbish persona was a hit with movie and television audiences for decades. Even when you couldn't see him, you knew just what kind of body and face went with the voice. He began his voiceover career doing the voice of "Shorty" in Popeye cartoons, then also did "Herman the Mouse" for the same studio, and in the 1960's, Hanna-Barbera toplined him in "Top Cat", using a smoother variation of his voice to emulate Phil Silvers' Bilko routine. Here's a great example of Stang playing Shorty - the 1944 Popeye cartoon "Moving Aweigh" - please forgive the wrong main title card, music in the beginning, and the extremely annoying speed increase. This is one of the very first Famous Studios cartoons scored by Winston Sharples.

Arnold did have one interesting artifact in his career. He was teamed with a young European bodybuilder named Arnold Schwarzenegger for a 1970 film variously titled "Hercules in New York" and "Hercules Goes Bananas". Schwarzenegger's name was changed to Arnold Strong (to play off Arnold Stang) and his voice was dubbed since it was thought that people wouldn't understand his thick accent. Since I can't embed the whole movie here is a selection of clips.

Checking In With Lanny

2009-12-12T23:59:00.003-05:00

We've talked before about Lanny Morgan. Regrettably we haven't checked in on the guy lately. We're pleased to report, among other things, he has his own website now at www.lannymorgan.com, and he's got a new sound - a sextet, in fact - and his album "6" has been nominated for almost as many Grammy awards as its title indicates - five is still pretty impressive.

If you didn't click back to what we said about Lanny five years ago, it still holds: HE IS THE BEST SAX PLAYER YOU'VE PROBABLY NEVER HEARD OF.

And who you probably saw hundreds of times in the 1970's on television...

...as a member of the house band on "The Gong Show", always hanging out right over Chuck's shoulder. Even back then the cat could BLOW! And his four bar solos on the Gene Gene dance were NEVER enough. Good luck at the Grammys, Lanny!

The Facebook Effect

2009-12-02T19:43:00.004-05:00

I had no idea that opening a Facebook account - which I did on February 14 of this year - would cause a reduction in posts on this blog.

It's not that blogging is a lost art - perhaps it's that, as I've gotten more worldly-wise (read "older"), I'm not quite as cranky as I was when I started this blog and don't feel the need to comment on things that happen.

We could have done Tiger Woods' marital woes to a turn. I had a great line about "his wife has a better swing than he does", which I shared with a FB pal. But, I just let things sail by more.

We have a banner on top of the blog that we change every so often that says that we are guaranteed not to discuss x, y, or z, because every other blog talks about those people/things ad nauseum. Perhaps, at the end of the 00's, I'm taking Tom Kennedy's advice: it's not what you say that counts, it's what you DON'T say.

So stay tuned... I promise to be more faithful to my larger audience in the future!

Bopin' Hood

2009-11-17T23:09:00.001-05:00

Great 60's cartoon with animation from Irv Spector among others.

Bess' Plaque Gone For Good

2009-11-09T19:19:00.000-05:00

I received an email from someone connected with the Atlantic City shopping district. She explains that all of the Miss America plaques were accounted for when the Rose Walk was reconfigured during the construction of the new shops along that street. Since then two have been stolen, one being Bess Myerson's. The other one I don't know; I'll try to take a closer look next time I'm down there (I'm supposed to be back November 28 for the Brian Setzer Orchestra holiday show).

It is my understanding that the artwork/plates for these plaques is nowhere to be found so the plaques will not be replaced when they're lifted, which is a damn shame.

Action May Be Taken

2009-11-07T20:11:00.001-05:00

I notified the head of the Atlantic City Visitors and Convention Bureau and he has said he will look into the matter addressed in the previous post.

Bess Mess '09

2009-11-05T21:27:00.003-05:00

I didn't even have to take a new picture this year.

You will recall last year in this space, we bemoaned the disappearance of Bess Myerson's Miss America plaque on the Rose Walk and its replacement by a municipal garbage can. We spotted this on the Thursday of the NJEA Convention last year. The convention is still held in Atlantic City, while Miss America no longer calls the seaside town home.

Exactly one year later, the situation has not changed.

Bess Myerson was one of the more important Miss Americas. She is so far the only Jewish Miss America, and she later became a television personality in her own right, appearing as a model on quiz shows, then later as a valuable member of the panel on "I've Got a Secret" from 1958 to the program's cancellation in 1967. She's still alive, although semi-retired. Why, then, is her plaque gone from the Miss America Walk and a trashcan unceremoniously placed where Bess' rightful place should be? I mean, even Vanessa Williams has a plaque, and she posed for those dirty pictures.

I think this is the year I start digging for answers.

NOTICE

2009-10-28T00:39:00.001-04:00

Not every comment I receive gets published. You may have briefly seen a spam comment today. This is not allowed and I will sic my dogs on you.

Don Pardo Speaks...

2009-10-17T21:52:00.001-04:00

Here is one part of the archive interview of Don Pardo, specifically dealing with "Saturday Night Live", a program to which Mr. Pardo has returned this season, in spite of his announcement that he was retiring at the end of last season.

48 Years and Counting

2009-10-04T16:20:00.002-04:00

From the first pitch of today's game, it was apparent that a no-hitter would not be in the New York Mets' future in 2009. We will continue our daily game counting in 2010. The count, which was advanced a few weeks ago, stands at 7644.

What's more intriguing at this point is what the Mets will be doing to make change to their coaching staff for the coming year. Current manager Jerry Manuel said that changes, if any, would be announced tomorrow. Don't be surprised, however, if Manuel is one of the outs.

I Have To Flip All The Cards...

2009-09-12T16:45:00.000-04:00

I'm steadfastly convinced that with the personnel they currently have and at this juncture of a losing season, the New York Mets will not pitch a no-hitter this season. Therefore, I've advanced the No-Hitter count to its terminus for this season. See you next year.

OCC Band, Part Deux

2009-09-03T22:11:00.001-04:00

I am announcing my return to the Ocean County College concert band, now under the direction of Mr. Tony Tafrow. I will be playing baritone horn this time around. We start rehearsals next Tuesday and will have a Christmas concert in December. The music page will soon be updated to reflect this.

New Blog on our Blogroll

2009-08-21T15:43:00.002-04:00

We've added MetsBlog, a very informative and somewhat official blog about the New York Mets. Just came forth with the news 2 minutes ago that Billy Wagner, who just came back last night for the Mets after Tommy John surgery, has been claimed on waivers. We don't know by who yet. Bye Bye Billy... thanks for everything.

SNY Piece on Nonohitters

2009-08-17T10:02:00.002-04:00

This week's "Mets Weekly" did a short piece on Dirk Lammers' Nonohitters.com website. Dirk, who lives in South Dakota (a hard place to live if you're a baseball fan), was in New York for a game and was interviewed about the site and its many features. Watch for some familiar names to show up on screen at some point in the video.

The CBS Children's Film Festival

2009-08-10T14:16:00.003-04:00

Back in the days before federally-mandated children's programming, CBS was kind enough to expend some time each week for a presentation called "The CBS Children's Film Festival". Hosted by Fran Allison and Burr Tillstrom's famous puppets Kukla and Ollie, the show aired from 1967 to 1984. The show specialized in children's cinema from around the world. It must have been some coup for CBS to hire the services of Allison and the puppets away from their longtime home at NBC, where they appeared on and off from 1947-1966.

Phil of a Kukla, Fran and Ollie tribute site has been nice enough to put clips on YouTube of some of these films, many of which have become very hard to find over the years. These titles may sound familiar to people of my generation: "Skinny and Fatty", "Boy With Glasses", "The Magnificent 6-1/2", "On Snowhite" and "The Goalkeeper Also Lives On Our Street." Remember any of those?

Every so often, CBS would air a 1967 film from Czechoslovakia called "Lost in Pajamas" (original title "Tana a Dva Pistolnici"), in which a 10-year-old girl named Tanya (Dasa Pazderova) somehow leaves her sleeper train when a cow gets on the tracks and is stranded in the wilderness. There, Tanya meets up with two boys camping out overnight. I liked this one and always watched it whenever it was on. Unfortunately Dasa Pazderova didn't do too much more in the cinema, making only one other film, also in 1967. Here's a clip and if you click on the user name you will find more.

AI Live 2009 Tour

2009-08-08T16:09:00.005-04:00

As we did last year, we loaded up Tracy and the girls in the van and trekked down to Atlantic City for this year's version of the American Idols Live Tour. The 2009 edition featured winner Kris Allen and the nine runners up.

Loudest cheers (and female screaming) for runner-up Adam Lambert.

I was impressed with all the performances, we heard just enough of the lower-tier finalists - the Michael Sarver, Megan Joy type - to know why they couldn't go farther in the competition. But once we got to Lil Rounds, the performers started getting a little more face time with the audience. Lil was astounding. It's a shame the voting public was so done with her after about three weeks of the finals, because she was very impressive last night. The bottom six did a great first half closer of a lesser-known Frankie Valli song, "Beggin'".

Alison Iraheta, the night's youngest performer, blew me away. Belting out those songs at 17 isn't easy. She also came back out for a duet on Foghat's "Slow Ride" with Lambert.

I noticed a lot less fluff last year. Gone from this year's festivities was a presenting sponsor. No Pop-Tarts for you this year. There was also no halftime Guitar Hero competition. I missed neither.

The show promoters do need to make a longer reel to entertain audiences before the show. I must have seen the same Carrie Underwood, Daughtry and David Cook videos about half a dozen times each throughout the evening.

Can't say if I'll be back next year - all depends on the caliber of next year's field.

Cash for Clunkers

2009-08-01T11:01:00.001-04:00

I don't mind car companies using "Cash for Clunkers" as a way of getting people into their showrooms, but why do the auto companies make it sound like it was their idea? If you could think of such juicy incentives, maybe you guys wouldn't be all Chapter 11 on us.

Why The Mackey Family Needs A Reunion

2009-07-31T21:23:00.003-04:00

Tomorrow, in Verplanck, NY, the descendants of William Mackey will be gathering for a cousins' reunion. William Mackey (1878-1943) is my paternal grandfather. He and his wife Ida had ten children from 1902 to 1921, the last of whom was my father, Richard Mackey. My dad, as well as all his brothers and sisters, are gone (a few stray aunts and uncles by marriage remain). However, all those brothers and sisters save one (Tex) had enough children whose own children have been able to make possible a reunion that may number in the hundreds tomorrow.

Verplanck, NY is significant in Mackey family history because of the family business that once thrived there, the Mackey Yards brick foundry. Many houses in Verplanck, Peekskill and thereabouts were built with Mackey bricks.

The Original "K-Jee"

2009-07-30T21:47:00.003-04:00

I love posting YouTubes that are records because sometimes it's the only way to hear some of these songs. If you remember, one of the songs on the "Saturday Night Fever" soundtrack was an infectious instrumental called "K-Jee", recorded for the movie by the soul group M.F.S.B. However, I was a little surprised that the "SNF" version was not the original. A few years ago, while listening to XM radio's "IT" countdown of pop music, I stumbled upon the original "K-Jee" by a group called The Nite-Liters, from very early in 1971. It's a little less polished than the movie soundtrack remake and perhaps that's why I like it. The Nite-Liters were a group put together by Harvey Fuqua (producer who was at one time a member of the Moonglows), who co-wrote the song with Charlie Herndon.

Fre (as a) berg

2009-07-24T08:27:00.002-04:00

I'm not at the San Diego comic convention this weekend, but if I were, I would certainly make time today for the first-ever convention appearance of Stan Freberg. Simply put, Stan is one of the geniuses of our time. He's spent a lot of the last 50 or so years entertaining the world in many different ways. We laughed at him growing up, whether he was doing the voice of Pete Puma in a Looney Tunes cartoon, or working the puppets on "Time For Beany", with his comedy records and radio show, or even when he wasn't on camera, engineering one of many award-winning TV ad campaigns in the 60's. This blog post from Mark Evanier explains his career better than I ever could.

Evanier is moderating the panel, entitled "Two Funny Frebergs" (the other being his wife Hunter), which is today at 3:30 in Room 6A, but they're going to be making appearances in the autograph section throughout the weekend. If you're at the convention, take time away from the heroes in spandex suits and make time for one of my heroes.

Jack Paar's WC Joke

2009-07-22T14:34:00.002-04:00

Explaining a recent reference to "Wayside Chapel" on FB. Johnny Carson's immediate predecessor as host of "The Tonight Show" was Jack Paar, one of the more literate among the late night talkers. He hosted the show from 1957-1962, and this joke caused such a furor that Paar walked off the show the next night. This audio clip tells the story. NBC had censored part of this broadcast of February 10, 1960, covering over with a brief newscast. By today's standards, this joke is rather tame, but in 1960, network censors were upset.

The next evening, Paar walked on stage, talked for three mintues, walked off, and left Hugh Downs to run the rest of the show from the sofa. Paar returned to the show on March 7. This is audio only, no video is known to survive. This has just been posted on YouTube today.

Heart on "Fridays"

2009-07-18T11:39:00.004-04:00

Here, preceded by some of the show's comedy, is a live performance from Heart, from the short-lived TV show "Fridays". The show couched itself as a one-night-earlier, hipper version of "Saturday Night Live". It aired on ABC and among its more notable cast members were Michael Richards and Melanie Chartoff (EDIT: and Larry David, too... how could I forget him?). Heart, led by sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson, cover the Aaron Neville classic "Tell It Like It Is", with the Tower of Power horn section in very strong support (that very bushy haired guy on tenor sax is Lenny Pickett, who would later become music director for that other late night comedy program). The leather-jacketed, sunglassed man who introduces them "at five minutes before the hour on a very live and very hot Friday" is one of the show's writers/producers, Jack Burns. The show didn't last for more than a couple of seasons and was notorious for an Andy Kaufman incident in which he broke character during a skit and a brawl ensued involving both Richards and Burns. Enjoy this, it's a great performance.

Bye, Ken Levine

2009-07-17T13:39:00.003-04:00

Ken's blog is going into the penalty box for a while due to gratuitous profanity in recent posts. I love his blog, but right now it's a little too much on the raunchy side for me to comfortably link to it. Ken will be back.

Another All Star Snoozer

2009-07-15T06:45:00.002-04:00

Ho hum. AL wins again, Mariano closes it out, and NL fans are discouraged for another year.

But I'm heartened by the fact that the home field advantage that the AL has enjoyed for the past six seasons has only resulted in three World Series wins for the AL.

Billy Mays' Final Commercial

2009-06-28T15:32:00.003-04:00

NSFW

Beach Vacation

2009-06-27T08:08:00.003-04:00

Beginning tomorrow, I will be away for 11 days. There may not be too much in the way of new posts, and the Mets No-Hitter Count may not be updated as timely as I'd like - as always, Dirk's site is the first stop there. Think of him as DiamondVision, and me as an auxiliary scoreboard.

I am not bringing my notebook computer, but will have my BlackBerry and will be blithely checking my email on it. IN July, I'll be back. (Yes, always!)

Michael Jackson 1958-2009 and Farrah Fawcett 1947-2009

2009-06-25T20:47:00.007-04:00

Okay, Michael Jackson was a bit of a flake. Especially in later years. But absolutely no reason to characterize him as Jacko The Clown. I am very appreciative that the newsmedia, in general, have refrained from using this nickname in their news stories about his death today from a heart attack at the age of 50.

I would rather focus on his accomplishments as a songwriter and musician, and apart from the songs he made famous, this is perhaps my favorite of the songs he wrote. "Centipede" was the only record charted by his sister, Rebbie, who was eight years his senior. Michael sings backup on this along with one of his other sisters, LaToya. It was a big hit in 1985, and very frequently played on Y107 when I was working there and it was a hit music station, so I heard this song maybe four or five times a day. And it grew on me. The embed is to an audio capture, instead of the actual music video which unfortunately I cannot embed.

Now Farrah Fawcett. Spectacular embodiment of 70's beauty. Who didn't want to be Jill when playing "Charlie's Angels"? All flowing blonde hair, white teeth. And, as known to anyone who hung That Poster in their bedroom - me included - nipples. She did show acting chops later on, but in later years, like Michael Jackson, became a bit of a flake, as evidenced by a wild appearance on CBS' "Late Show with David Letterman" in 1997. Farrah had been fighting cancer for years, finally taking her today.

Whatever judgments you want to make about their personal lives, all we know is that two giants of entertainment have left us, cruelly on the same day.

One More Blogroll Addition

2009-06-22T23:43:00.002-04:00

Drew Carey now has a blog. He's one of the most tech-savvy guys in Hollywood yet is using plain vanilla Blogspot to create his blog, called "Drew From TV". You may know Drew from his long running sitcom, or "Whose Line Is Is Anyway", or his current pet project, "The Price is Right", for which he's just begun taping his third season as host. Drew's taking it to the fans big time - imagine Barker doing that.

Now You Don't Have To Watch

2009-06-22T21:00:00.002-04:00

The Gosselins have filed divorce papers today in Bucks County, PA.

That's all I have to say. From here on this is a Gosselin-free zone.

Changes To The Blogroll

2009-06-22T15:13:00.003-04:00

We are making a few changes to the blogroll. We have added a thoughtful blog from Case Wagenvoord, who is a member of my church choir. We have moved Pastor Adam's blog to the taxi squad, as Pastor Adam Tietje will be leaving our church and will be on active duty as a chaplain at Fort Campbell, KY. It's going to be pretty much Landy and Tricia's call on a new blog for the youth ministry.

And we have totally removed "This Week In Milford". Yeah, we get the point. Gil Thorp sucks, and we're done with it.

Bowling For Dollars... Pittsburgh Style

2009-06-13T21:10:00.002-04:00

Here's a taste of the Pittsburgh version of the venerable "Bowling for Dollars". The format was devised by Bert Claster, who specialized in creating formats then selling the production rights locally. Besides "BFD" Claster also marketed "Romper Room" in this manner.

Although people in my area would remember the New York "Bowling For Dollars" variously hosted by Bob Murphy and Larry Kenney, here is Pittsburgh handled by the late Nick Perry. Mr. Perry is notorious for the 1980 Pennsylvania Lottery scandal, in which he managed to rig a Numbers drawing by loading up some of the ping pong balls with paint so they wouldn't bounce as high in the air-powered mixing devices. By buying possible tickets with more limited outcomes (only the "4" and "6" balls were unpainted), Perry was able to clean up when one of those numbers - 666 - was drawn. Lottery officials noted unusual betting on that and other numbers, and an investigation resulted in a grand jury bringing charges against Perry. He did spend a couple of years of a seven-year prison term before being paroled. He died in 2003.

The Mets

2009-06-11T22:01:00.001-04:00

The Mets absolutely have to own the Yankees this weekend. No two ways about it.

The Gong Show All Star Special

2009-05-27T18:08:00.003-04:00

In 1977, NBC gave its daytime hit "The Gong Show" a one-time-only shot in primetime. My guess is that Chuck Barris and crew filmed about an hour and a half of material for the show and cut it down to an hour's running time. There are extra disclaimers at the end of the show heralding this.

Big show with lots of people, in the filmed intros and on stage. You want music? (Alice Cooper, the UCLA band, Harry James and his orchestra) Comedy? (Rindercella, Tony Randall, the Bait Brothers) Action? (there's a crew fight) This show has it all. I am embedding the first part and you can find the rest yourself by clicking through to the YouTube page.

New On Our Blogroll

2009-05-20T21:53:00.002-04:00

John K.

Need I say more? Check out his original johnkstuff blog and his new Funky HB blog. Hanna-Barbera filtered through the Kricfalusi eye.

John K. has actually visited my cartoon filmography pages, so that proves his discerning taste.

"Sign Of The Times"

2009-05-19T00:41:00.002-04:00

Petula Clark doing what she does best. This is a song from 1966. Petula, then 33, had just scored her second US #1 hit with "My Love", the latest in a string of collaborations with writer/producer Tony Hatch. "Sign Of The Times" is perhaps Petula's most boombastic hit, with loud brass (there's a bass trombone in there someplace) and big drums. A mod sound. Too bad the song only got to #11 on the Billboard charts. This should have been a top ten. She looks great in this video. In 2009, Ms. Clark is still performing in her mid-70's.

The Music Doesn't Sound At All on WABC! (Bong)

2009-05-18T08:04:00.000-04:00

Some Internet commentators are predicting that we could be seeing the end of the recent resurgence of music programming on otherwise all-talk WABC.

Since 1999, every Memorial Day has featured a program called "WABC Rewound", in which old airchecks (recordings from the radio or the station's audio board) of classic WABC personalities such as Dan Ingram, Ron Lundy and Cousin Brucie are "de-telescoped" - that is, the music being put back in, having been previously excised to allow easy critique on the air personality's performance. This allows listeners to hear the shows as originally intended. Classic-era WABC jock and longtime production director Johnny Donovan, Peter Kanze, "restorian" Rob Frankel and other station staffers were most instrumental in creating this presentation. However, the station announced this year that the former on-air presentation will not occur and that the show will become available on Memorial Day as podcasts.

Five years later, WABC premiered a Saturday Night Oldies show hosted by Mark Simone. The show is only minorly evocative of the old WABC presentation, since Simone does a lot of his own schtick like "fake breaks" and his constant reminiscing with a small cadre of callers. The show has also been supported by a message board on the musicradio77.com website. Now that site's webmaster, Alan Sniffen, as big a supporter of WABC as you'll find, has now publicly called for WABC to cancel the show. What's changed is the station's program director (no longer Phil Boyce, who supported these diversions into music) and positioning, now calling itself on air "WABC Radio Network" and now relying more on national or syndicated personalities rather than locally produced programming.

The next week or so should be interesting, but remember this: listening to AM radio today is about as quaint as listening to a gramophone. So be it.

Frank Hughes Retiring

2009-05-12T08:19:00.001-04:00

Here's a short video on the upcoming retirement of Frank Hughes, band director at Toms River North for the last 30 years. Although billed as his "final concert", tomorrow evening's band concert at North will not be his last school performance - that will be the Jazz Band concert on Monday, June 1.

I wish Frank well in his future endeavors. He's a very upstanding guy, and we've talked quite a bit about him on this blog over the years, both in his roles as TR North band director and Monmouth Park racetrack bugler.

Video is no longer available. Sorry.

Desperate Rascals

2009-05-04T16:25:00.001-04:00

Bree VanDeKamp, meet Alfalfa...

Pinball In Allentown

2009-05-02T11:22:00.002-04:00

It's unfortunately going to have to go on without the Mackey Bros. this year, but the annual Pinball Wizards Convention is underway in Allentown, PA, at the Agri-Plex. Go there and play all the pinball you can.

What The Puck?

2009-04-27T20:08:00.002-04:00

Whenever the great Hanna-Barbera cartoon characters are discussed, no one ever talks about Peter Puck. 36 years ago, the one- by three-inch cartoon superstar began appearing between periods of hockey games in both the U.S. and Canada (where he was a regular fixture on "Hockey Night in Canada", the Canadian equivalent of Monday Night Football). Peter did nine 3-1/2 minute essays explaining the rules of hockey and the nuances between major and minor penalties. I think it's pretty funny in one of the episodes where Pete mentions that fighting is not allowed. Yeah right. Here then is Peter Puck, Book I, giving the basic rules of the game.