Blog Archives
A Resurgent Glow from a Golden Era
It is being widely reported today that, “Girl Meets World,” the spin-off series to the Millenial ’90s favorite, “Boy Meets World,” has officially been greenlit, according to Yahoo TV’s Kelly Woo’s article, “‘Girl Meets World’ Is Officially Happening! Disney Channel Orders Series.”
Yahoo! TV/Eric McCandless/DISNEY CHANNEL – Ben Savage, Danielle Fishel, Rowan Blanchard, and Sabrina Carpenter in the series premiere of Disney Channel’s “Girl Meets World.”
The purpose of the post is first to celebrate this momentous occasion!
Second, take a close look at the picture above. The best friends hugging is nice, as is Cory’s/Mr. Matthew’s reflective contemplation of his daughter’s best friend dynamic (Cory and Shawn…Cory and Shawn…) from the eyes of a parent.
This show is going to be a fascinating journey (FYI – This is the point where each of us does, “The Fenny Call”)!
However, the best part of the screen shot is the look on Topanga’s/Mrs. Matthew’s face. Her heartfelt glare towards the love of her life (Monkey bars!) transcends whatever is happening in this scene and encapsulates the return of the cool-family friendly-TGIF show from the ’90s.
The return of wholesome, cleverly written and wonderfully acted television with pertinent subject matters and important life lessons will arrive soon enough. 2014 will see the return of Cory, Topanga and Mr. Feeny (at least in the pilot). Perhaps a cameo from Shawn? Plays with Squirrels…?
Even if it’s just one show, turning on any spotlight to shine greatness starts with a glow.
P.S. Girls of America: Turn off the “Real Housewives” of wherever and start doing your video research on the beautifully intelligent and independent (with a healthy side of weird) Topanga.
The Best Grocery Store in History
Last Saturday afternoon, I watched a few episodes of, “The ’80s: The Decade That Made Us” on the National Geographic Channel. The hour-long episodes featured iconic images shown over a soundtrack unquestionably unique to the ’80s. This was a decade that the show, in a myriad of ways, proved was truly a definitive ten years in American history, especially relative to how we are living today.
Fast forward and this brings us to the ’90s, which was the first offspring of the aforementioned decade. There were many wonderful things to celebrate and cherish from the nineties. Nickelodeon was a great channel of original programming, with a line-up stacked with shows like, “Salute Your Shorts”, “Hey Dude”, “Legends of the Hidden Temple” and cartoons like “Doug” and “The Rugrats,” to only name a few. There were some of the best sports movies, like “The Mighty Ducks” (one and two) and the “The Little Giants.” There were some of the best major motion pictures, sitcoms, music, shoes that light up and so on and so on.
This entry could literally be a laundry list of treasured favorites, but it won’t.
One of the forgotten gems of this decade was the 1990 revival of the hit 1960s game show, “Supermarket Sweep.”
Remember…
They say history repeats itself. Hopefully, it does so in a supermarket filled with television cameras, an enthusiastic audience, six contestants, an energetic host with dynamite sweaters and $5,000!
Top of the Ninth
“As a celebration of the magic of movies involving baseball, at least one scene from a different film will be posted each day for the next nine days…”
—From “Top of the First” March 28th
Being the new kid in town isn’t easy. This is especially true when you are not fluent in the language of the other kids: baseball. In this case, classifying the new kid as mildly conversational was a stretch a mile long. This serves as the opening conundrum for Scotty Smalls, or just “Smalls,” as in the universally known and cherished phrase, “you’re killin’ me Smalls!” After an awesomely cool speech from his Mother, Smalls got out of his honor roll bubbled room and explored his new terrain. Here is that rad speech for Mrs. Smalls (turn the volume up!).
“The Sandlot” is one of the best movies about baseball of all-time. It’s a cultural staple for an entire generation. Serving up not only favorite moments of nostalgia, the 1993 classic also paints the picture of a group of friends that experience summer the way it was intended way back in 1962. They played baseball all day and every day at their very own “sandlot,” they went to the carnival at night with a little too much “help from their friends,” scoped out the girls (Wendy Peffercorn!), caused a ruckus at the community pool, told epic tree house stories, celebrated the 4th of July the right way, got chased by the biggest dog in the world and had unforgettable nicknames. To serve as a refresher course, the names included: Smalls, Squints, Yeah-Yeah, Benny the Jet, Ham, Repeat and, of course, The Beast.
Below is the trailer and two classic scenes. Welcome back to “The Sandlot!”
“This pop isn’t workin’, Benny! I’m bakin’ like a toasted cheese-it! It’s so hot here!”
“You’re killin’ me Smalls!”
http://youtu.be/XlddDZkkxCc
One quick recommendation: At least read an introductory book about your new language before venturing outside as to be cognizant of important phrases and figures, such as the most famous person of that culture.
Jimmy's Daily Planet 