Aww, thanks, Lisa...I'm blushing after that last story. It wasn't too hard for me to settle on the 180 films I finally included on filmicability. But I would like to do just a little more thinking and maybe make it an even 200 American Movies Movie-Obsessed Americans Should See. I'm sorta bothered by it not being a round number. But I have to say, I'm loving that post. It could easily be expanded into a book in about a week or two for me. So, ummm...anybody know any publishers?
Anyway, enough. Really off point here, but, man, I had a great experience today. Wanna hear about it? Okay, so I was walking in the West Village, when I see this tall bald guy get out of one of those, y'know, van-cabs they have? And he walks out and talk to a couple of guys covered in all this technology and stuff. So, I see this tall guy and his hair's totally shaved off, and I says to myself "Hey, wait, is that some old friend of mine? Who IS that guy?" Then I saw the hatchback of this taxi-cab/van open, and some guy in a jumpsuit is fiddling with knobs on this huge console back there.
Then it hit me!!! "I can't believe it! It's Cash Cab!!!!" Ben Bailey! CASH CAB!!! Right in front of me!!! Then I looked around and thought "Maybe...maybe I should go down and maybe hail this sucker. I could use a coupla grand."
But I just couldn't help reacting any other way but to talk to them. I wasn't shy at all, 'cause Ben's so personable on the show. I mean, he sorta has to be, meeting all those people like he does. So, I go up and gently inturrupt his meeting with his collaborators. Then I congratulated all of 'em on a great show! They were glad to hear it, very receptive, y'know...So I broke the ice by telling Ben about including Cash Cab on my list of my 100 favorite TV series of all time. I told them it was at 80 or so (79, actually).
The director guys said "We wanna move up the list." Ben said "Up, up up!"
"Well, now, don't worry, you're only on one five games shows on there, so that would put you in the top five of all time, which ain't too bad, y'know?" And they agreed, especially after I told them the best ones on the list (but they were a little unreadable when I told 'em that Match Game was the only other quiz show I've revealed on the bottom fifty. They got a far off look and went "Ohhhhhh, Match Game...right..." They didn't disagree, I like to believe. And then I told them all about the Nose...gave em the URL, y'know?
"Flaming Nose?" Ben said.
"Yeah, it's a nod to Lucille Ball, who's listed as "Our Oracle." They liked that, remembering the nose-flaming episode (so they'll remember that URL). Anyway, basically I gave them my congrats again and went on my way, glowing but now quickly pinched, wishing I woulda had enough dang monkey sense to try and catch the blasted cab so..so I could win me a sweet $2K or so. Hey, maybe I can double back a few blocks...yeah, sure! I'd tell 'em to take me to Jersey--maybe Parsippany, just 'cuz I like sayin' it. Two hours later, got me $110 grand or somethin'. BHOO-hoo-hahahhahahhhh!
But I thought that was stupid, especially after I doing that evil laugh, y'know? Word of advice: don't do a Jekyll-and-Hyde laugh like that at lunch hour in NYC! Really. I mean, people think you're crazy! Anyway, I did kick myself 'bout not getting to catch Ben's cab. But just a teeeny-tiny li'l kick. After that, I just felt so dang lucky to meet those guys!
Ah, here are a few obvious fans stepping into the cashmobile. Kevin, Jessica, and Jeremy, I think, in back--and Jeremy, notice he knows the what the deal is before the lights even come on--I mean, that guy's a fan. Well, all these guys love the show--watch it every chance they get, too, with a big bowl of nachos or some rice cakes or whatever, y'know...
Okay, we're gettin' up there! Some very personal picks highlight #80 to #71 today:
80) Great Chefs of the World (1982-1996) The first of three cooking shows on my list is certainly the most sophisticated of the three, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t fun. The concept of this USA (and later PBS) show was simple. Narrator Mary Lou Conroy—one of the most soothing voices ever heard--would usher us into a great eatery in Chicago, or Paris, or Napoli, and the camera would catch the restaurant’s chef concocting their signature dishes. The guidance through the process would bounce back and forth between the chef and the narrator, and it really made complicated cooking seem manageable and fun. Expertly edited and scored with barely audible background music appropriate to the locale, Great Chefs, in its mercifully quiet way, always has me riveted to the screen. Visit the show website at www.greatchefs.com--excellent cooking reference material!
79) Cash Cab (2005-present) A completely original idea for a game show. Driver/host Ben Bailey bombs around New York, picking up passengers and surprising them (I wait eagerly every time for the varied weird reactions to this shocker) with the opportunity to win cash as they reach their destination. It’s got an inventive time element--you get three wrong answers and then you’re outta the cab, whether you’ve gotten where you’re goin’ or not—as well as a sliding scale of challenging questions, a witty host and a wide array of contestants, all playing out this drama as the picturesque backdrop of New York City rushes by the cab’s windows. I love it! My only complaint: poor people who really need free money rarely hail down cabs. But that’s nit-picking, now, isn’t it? After all, these ladies claim to be poor...
78) Space:1999 (1975-77) Now I KNOW I’m gonna get raked over the coals for this—no Star Trek on the list but I do have Space:1999? What am I thinking? Well, naturally, I respect Star Trek, but it always put me to sleep (something about the background beeping on the bridge and the pastel colors are quite lulling). Sorry, guys. The syndicated Space: 1999, though, holds me enthralled despite its preposterousness--the moon breaks away from Earth’s orbit and floats away? Come on…! Given its years of production, it has to have been at least an FX influence on Star Wars, which would make it a landmark in and of itself. Watching it with my childhood friend Juan Salazar (who marked it then as his favorite show and collected all the very cool toys connected with it), I liked its Brit flavor (it was produced by Thunderbirds creators Gerry and Sylvia Anderson), its 2001-inspired effects (by Alien and Empire Strikes Back soon-to-be veterans Brian Johnson and Nick Allder), its effective scoring by Barry Gray (rockin’ theme!), its top-notch set and costume design, its thoughtful writing (particularly in its first season), and the cast, led by husband-and-wife team Martin Landau and Barbara Bain (reuniting on TV post-Mission: Impossible) and British character actor Barry Morse. Also, they’re lots of great UK guest stars popping up like Roy Dotrice, Margaret Leighton, Brian Blessed, Joan Collins, Christopher Lee, and Peter Cushing. What’s not to like? Again, sorry…(head bowed down now…)
77) Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist (1995-2000) It’s weird. This Comedy Central show, leisurely paced with a singular quietude about it and minimally animated in something called “squigglevision,” has a supremely relaxing effect on me. If I ever find myself in some sort of unmanageable mood, I know I can go to Dr. Katz and feel alright—which means it matches the experience of therapy perfectly. Katz's voice, the music cues, the clinking sounds of forks on plates as the character's eat, Katz's hilariously precious little folk tunes... it's all like listening to the ocean for me. Jonathan Katz, of course, plays the title character who counsels a wide array of comedians—Steven Wright, Laura Kightlinger, Ray Romano, Joy Behar, and on and on--as they do their routine on his couch. At home, he deals with his lay-about son Ben (voiced expertly by H. Jon Benjamin) and at work he struggles with his consistently underwhelmed receptionist Laura (Laura Silverman, Sarah’s sister). In the annals of animation, there’s rarely been a character I love more than the childlike Ben (his attachment to his favorite stuffed animal, a bull named “Bully,” is always a highlight). Likewise, there’s never been an animated character I wanted to have sex with more than Laura. Say what you will—she’s smokin’.
76) Tush(1980) Another obscure Turner-based show premiered in 1980 when WTBS was still known as WTCG. Bill Tush, the start-up station’s one-time late-night comedy newscaster and early-morning host of Academy Award Theater (a baby version of TCM that should also be on this list, dang it—well, now it’s entry #101), was the host of this free-for-all comedy revue that launched the careers of former SNL writers Bonnie and Terry Turner (creators of 3rd Rock from the Sun and That 70s Show) and former SNL member Jan Hooks (whose always been a darling of mine). Bill would come out a door situated in a long, creepy, door-lined hallway and act as ringmaster for this craziness that included running skits like “Captain Space” (where everyone had big water bottles as space helmets), inspirational gospel show host Tammy Jean Pickett (a Jan Hooks highlight—one IMDB denizen sites a gut-busting line: “And remember, it only costs 15 cents to send us a check for a hundred dollars”), and the blooper-prone Tri-Cities Action News team, led by Tush himself. My favorite memory of the show involved white-bearded, Atlanta-based actor/playwright Eddie “Levi” Lee as he played out a dead-on imitation of Kenny Rogers, complete with a choppy, fantastically funny medley of Rogers’ hits. Unfortunately this masterpiece of TV comedy has been largely lost to the ages, sitting now only in the ancient VHS collections of some devoted fans (even Tush says he doesn’t have copies). But you can still see some of Tush at www.billtush.com and on YouTube, where I hear there are some “Captain Space” episodes floating around. Check ‘em out! In the meantime, here's three clips for you, including a funktastic musical break with James Brown!!!
75) The Joe Franklin Show (1950-1990) I thought about putting The Ed Sullivan Show in at #75, but at the last minute I nixed it because I realized I’d never really seen but one or two full episodes—just clips and compilations. So I did the next best thing, and I think I made the more original choice in doing so. Joe Franklin was a contemporary of Ed’s whose long-running (the longest running TV show ever, next to The Tonight Show!!!!), New York-based talk show was featured on WOR for many a year. It stands as an idiosyncratic alternative to Sullivan, with Franklin playing fawning host to an often motley but adorable set of B- and C- and sometimes A- and Z-list celebrities and newcomers (still, a lotta famous people first appeared on the show, including Woody Allen and Barbara Streisand). Many TV nuts will recall Billy Crystal’s loving and accurate imitation of the memorably dry Joe Franklin on Saturday Night Live. But unless saw it for yourself, you might not believe this show was for real. Well, it was, and it was wonderful TV. I count myself proud to be best friends with Brian Matson, whose 80s-era doo-wop group were guests on the show! Lucky duck…if only I could show you that...oh, well...Spinal Tap and Arthur Prysock will have to do.
74) Father Knows Best (1954-63) Some people like Leave It To Beaver more. I like that show, too, but no 50s/60s era family sitcom oozed more sheer class than this affectionate series headlined by two great actors, Robert Young and Jane Wyman, portraying (take note, Simpsons fans) Springfield parents Jim and Margaret Anderson. They doted adoringly over their three kids: Betty (whom dad deemed “Princess”), played by the achingly beautiful Elinor Donahue, Bud (the real comedy heart of the show, played by Billy Grey), and young, cute Kathy (nicknamed “Kitten”). More than in Beaver, where the kids seemed more of a burden than a joy to their parents (which, admittedly, was funny), Father Knows Best seemed to operate on a surplus of love and understanding, which endeared it forever to my mother and I, who watched it religiously over dinner. Beautifully photographed in black-and-white, it ran for 9 years (not including its run as a radio show!) and was shipped off at the height of its popularity. Trivia note: it’s the only show I know of that was produced, at various times, for ABC, CBS and NBC--and deservedly so. Recently, and finally, released on DVD! Here's a whole episode of the show, all about Bud getting a set of bongo drums so he can snag some girls! Perfect!
73) The Goodies (1970-81) One year after the 1969 premiere of Monty Python’s Flying Circus came this oddball variation, a mash-up of Python and The Monkees. By 1974, the Pythons had called it quits for TV and shuffled off to the movies. But The Goodies stuck around on Brit tubes until 1981! Yet absolutely no one remembers this chaotic circus spearheaded by Tim Brooke-Taylor, Bill Oddie, and Greame Garden. The series wasn’t skit-based; it was, like The Monkees, about our heroes as they got themselves in and out of bizarre situations that largely were excuses for a series of over-the-top sight gags. I remember first running across The Goodies when I stayed home sick one day from school. As I was forcing down some chicken noodle soup and waiting for Sesame Street to come on, up popped the most bizarre and out-of-hand comedy show I’d ever witnessed. I laughed that flu right outta my body, I gotta tell ya. But try as I might, I could never find the show ever again on the PBS affiliate I was watching. I mused over it for years, thinking that maybe it was some sort of fever dream I’d had. But then, in the 1990s, I ran across a patently insane Goodies book called The Goodie’s Disaster Movie (which I let some guy borrow and never got back, dammit). Upon my recent move to New York, I joyously located a three-episode DVD that confirmed I wasn’t slipping into chicken-poxed madness all those years ago. I still found it stupendously funny, particularly the episode “Kitten Kong,” where the Goodies adopt a white kitty, only to somehow see it grow to enormous, city-terrorizing size. The lame-o, dated special effects and Benny Hill-styled fast motion sequences made me almost pee my pants, I was laughin’ so hard. Do yourself a favor and add some years on to your life by finding and buying The Goodies post-haste! Here are two great scenes: one is a spoof of an Arthur C. Clarke show on Bigfoot! And, of course, I have to put the climax to "Kitten Kong," with its groovy soul music score, on here.
72) Mythbusters(2003-present)Mr. Science for the new generation. Discovery Channel’s monumentally entertaining reality/educational series has former special effects guys Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage leading a team of specialists to finding out if certain urban myths, movie stunts, and old proverbs have any basis in reality. I know that some fans are miffed at the abandoning of the urban myths angle, but let’s face it: there are only so many “baby exploding in a microwave” stories out there. I think it’s fascinating to see if Indiana Jones or James Bond stunts could actually be performed in real life, without the SFX hocus-pocus (movies form the basis of a lot of modern “myths”), or if you can “teach an old dog new tricks.” Anyway, the point of the show is the charismatic interplay between the Mythbusters team members, who alternate between sanguine sloppiness and outright genius. And, of course, let’s not forget a key element: its spellbinding direction and writing.
71) The Flintstones (1960-66) Almost every day when I was a youngster, my best friend Juan Salazar and I would walk over to his house, nearby to our elementary school, and laugh our heads off at this Hanna-Barbera-animated 60s classic. Fred and Wilma Flintstone and their neighbors Barney and Betty Rubble were either at odds or incahoots with one another as they made their rocky way through Stone Age life. It was, obviously, a take-off on The Honeymooners, but Gleason’s show didn’t have guests like Ann-Margrock (voice: Ann-Margret), Stony Curtis (voice: Tony Curtis), Cary Granite, Rock Roll (“The Bedrock Twich”) and The Way-Outs (voiced by, I believe, 60s band The Beau Brummels), nor did it have amazing gags involving a wooly mammoth as a vacuum cleaner or a prehistoric bird’s beak as a phonograph needle (“Eh! It’s a living.”). All the punny, caveman-based humor was priceless to Juan and I, too. And we treasured the animation—the excellent character reactions and hand movements and the endlessly repeating backgrounds! Then there was the heroic voice work by Alan Reed (Fred), Jean Vander Pyl (Wilma), Bea Benaderet (Betty) and the last great creations by cartoon vocalist extraordinaire Mel Blanc (as Barney and Dino, the Flintstones’ “dog”). We loved Harvey Korman’s snarky Great Gazoo, and the endless array of legendary HB talent like Daws Butler, Howard Morris and Don Messick. And the series’ wacked-out sound effects and incidental music (by Hoyt S. Curtin, with a staggeringly memorable theme by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera themselves) would always have us rolling. I haven’t watched it in years (the horrible, terrible, criminal live-action movies saw to that) but I bet I’d still laugh my butt raw if I rented it tomorrow. Here's the show's original intro, which is obviously the template used for The Simpsons opening:
And since we've been discussing commercials on the NOSE, here's the classic Winstons cigarette ads featuring the Flintstones! If you haven't seen it, you're reaction will be: "Whaaaaa? Nooooo!! My eyes! They're burning!" And that shot of Wilma and Fred at the end...have they been doing what I think they've been doing?! She's all seductive and everything. Most hilariously in this also very sexist ad (Fred and Barney go and smoke while the women work their rears off) is the fact that they use real photos of the cigarettes in the animation! Weird. And wow.
The Flaming Nose TV Blog features many links to related articles and sites, some of which we call out with "click here" notices and others which are embedded within the text and indicated by a different color. Don't miss these opportunities for added information and deeper appreciation of our posts!
The bloggers on The Flaming Nose have watched and worked in TV for many years, and gather here to celebrate our favorite medium. We love TV and know that you do, too!
Please leave comments here -- we'd love to know what you think!
