Remember that Show: 2-28-06
Happy Mardi Gras every as we reach the end of another month waiting for this snow and cold weather to go away. I can’t wait to go to baseball games, is it spring yet?
I just looked outside and saw more snow so I guess not, but it is Tuesday and that means another edition of “Remember that Show.”
While thinking about what show I was going to do I went through the list of TV stations that I use to watch and then I remember hey wait what was on PBS. Then it dawned on me what show to do.
Welcome to Tuesday February 28, 2006 and “Remember that Show: Square One.”
“Square One,” what’s that you might say. Come one you remember the show that was dedicated to teaching math in a fun way.
This show ran on PBS from 1987-1992 and then was revived again for one season in 1995-1996. Also in 1999 old shows ran on the Noggin Network until 2003.
The show was comprised of sketches that taught a lesson in counting, geometry, fractions, estimation, and probability.
Some of the sketches were a MTV Style music video that focused on some math subject, Math Man a Pac-Man parody helped viewers learn to recognize common mistakes while solving math problems, such as forgetting to carry a digit, or making errors with negative numbers, late afternoon with David Numberman and David Letterman parody, Math Court (People’s Court), General Mathpital, Dirk Niblick Math Bragade and animated short, But Who’s Counting Game Show, and Piece of the Pie a family fued parody.
Wow! That was exhausting.
But the best part about Square one was how it ended with an episode of Math Net, yes a Dranet Parody, that solved crimes with math. I remember something about a diamond with the wieght of 20 nickles and one about a maltise pigeon. Each story was five episodes. You know George Frankly and Kate Monday later recplaced by Pat Tuesday. It was the best part of “Square One.”
People Who Entertain Me Award
As my last post suggested I don’t have “hero’s” or “mentors” but I do have people who entertain me and I decided to feature some of them here in my blog.
The first “People who Entertain Me Award” goes to my friend Jaime Fox.
Notice the spelling, it’s not the actor. But if you go to my MySpace page you’ll find her in my Top 20 with (the celeb) next to her name.
Why “the Celeb?” Because she just is. And is probably the only person I know who has reached a goal in her life.
But she has always entertained me since college. There were the months of “Night Caps” at the Hard Rock and Mondays at “Casa de Hoot.” There was abandonment when she left for Disney though, but she came back and there were more good times jammin’ out to Billy Joel’s Greatest Hits in the KIA.
There were many new phrases that were coined and used more often, like “Busty Rhymes” and of course “Tipsy McStagger” added to her other terms “vomitzva,” and “sippy-do.”
And it’s because of that we salute you Jaime Fox as the first recipient of the “People who Entertain Me Award.”
A quick story
People always are searching for people to look up too and be like. I always wondered why.
I mean shouldn’t we all just be individuals?
But no, we all need to be like someone. Because after all when you get asked to write a paper about your mentor or hero, you have to lie and pick someone. You can’t just right “I don’t have a mentor/hero because I want to be my own person.”
I know, I’ve tried.
So we are all forced to lie and thus we are like everyone else.
Fun at Work 
"Remeber that Show" 2/21/06
Wow time is moving fast and we are approaching the end of February and the temperature is frightful, then extremely warm then freezing cold once more. I can’t wait for spring.
So let sit around a nice fire and tell some stories, that’s your hint for what’s coming up in today’s “Remember that Show.”
Theme song plea…what no theme song?
Just creepy music.
Ok then welcome to “Remember that Show: Are you Afraid of the Dark?”
This show had more life then people realize. It air from 1992-1996 in the SNICK (Saturday Night Nick) with shows like “Roundhouse,” and “Ren and Stimpy.” In 1996 it was cancelled after five season and them three years later was brought back to life for 2 season’s form 1999-2000. So pull up your “big orange couch and remember”
The premise of the show was a group of kids dubbed “The Midnight Society” would meet in the woods and tell spooky stories around the campfire and whoever was chosen for the story would throw some kind of dust into the fire and then say the name of the tale. Then we would see a live action version of it.
The one that sticks out to me was this one where there was a claw and it had tree “toes” and they were for wishes, but the wishes always had a down side. It was pretty freaky and sometimes too intense for a younger audience.
Since the Midnight Society was only seen at the beginning and end of the show, Are You Afraid of the Dark relied heavily on guest stars, the most prominent of whom included Melissa Joan Hart (of Clarissa Explains it All), and Will Friedle (of Boy Meets World, and earlier, Nickelodeon's Don't Just Sit There!).
Also some of the original cast has continued to act. Vanessa Lengies played “Evangeline or Vang” in “…Dark?” but she also was on the NBC series “American Dreams” as “Roxanne,” Rachel Blanchard (Kristen) has been on “Clueless,” “War of the Worlds,” and “Joey.”
Luckily “Are you Afraid of the Dark?” is available on DVD so go out and catch up on this truly once great SNICK show.
Everyone have a great week. Hopefully, I’ll write more than one blog this week. We shall see. Until next week keep remembering and any suggestions for show are welcome.
Later Days!
"Remember that Show: Gimme A Break"
Well Happy Valentines Day or just Happy Tuesday to others, hey it’s Tuesday that means it’s time for another “Remember that Show” blog, what will I write about today? Hmm… Can you tell I’m not prepared today?
Wait I got it!
Hold on one second…
Ok music ready?
Yes.
Ok cue that theme song:
Gimme A Break, I sure deserve it.It's time I made it to the top.Gimme A Break, I'm looking forward, Get behind me, pull out every stop.
I want a happy ending, I'm tired of pretending,Won't let 'em get the best of me.Whoa whoa whoa,
Gimme A Break! The game is survival!Gimme A Break, and plan my arrival!Gimme A Break for heaven's sake!What happened to my piece of the cake?
Gimme A Break!Gimme A Break!Oh Gimme A Break!Gimme A Break!Hey Gimme A Break!
In case you couldn’t tell from the song welcome to Tuesday February 14, 2006 and “Remember that Show: Gimme A Break.”
Yes this NBC show ran from 1981-1987, now I was born in ’81 and I really just remember the later years of the show and the shows that are in syndication for years after. This show also shifted locations and was still able to survive.
The original plot was about a black housekeeper maintaining order of the home of a portly white police chief in this old-fashioned comedy set in the fictional town of Glen Lawn, California.
Policeman Carl's beloved wife Margaret had died only months before, leaving him with three, winsome daughters, ranging in age from cute grade-schooler to troublesome teen. Wisecracks and fat jokes abounded, but there was a lot of love as Nell tried to be friend and surrogate mother to the clan. Officer Simpson was a dopey police officer who was frequently seen, and Joey was a six-year-old orphan and junior-grade hustler who joined the household in the third season.
The Character of Joey was Joey Lawrence of “Blossom” fame. Like WHOA! Sorry had to do that. Then after the ’84 season actor Dolph Sweet had died leaving the show without a police chief.
So it was time for a change.
Nell Carters character of Nell Harper became caretaker of all the kids. So she was essentially mother and father to them. The new man of the house was Jonathan, who was played by Jonathan Silverman, anyone remember him. He had a short-lived sitcom on NBC a while back.
Any who, as the girls grew up and things changed once again. Nell takes Joey and Grandpa and her best friend Addy to New York where the show was set for its last few seasons.
There they discovered Joey's irresponsible father Tim, who turned over Joey's younger brother Matthew (played by Joey Lawrence's real-life brother) and departed, adding a second child to the shifting household. Marty was Nell's nutty New York landlord, who also owned the restaurant El Gaspacho downstairs, where he put on a phony Spanish accent and called himself "Esteban". Also a new buddy was added to the mix for Nell the character of Maggie O’Brien, who was played by Rosie O’Donnell.
Lot’s of people appeared in this show who we heard about through out the 1990’s. “Gimme A Break” was a great show with a great leading character. Unfortunately Nell Carter is no longer with us but she was one funny lady.
Ok I know the last sentence was kind of sad, but had to write it.
That’s it for this week.
Until next week!
Later Days!
"Remember that Show: The Wonder Years"
So as mass chaos continues in the city today for the Victory Parade for the Superbowl Champion Pittsburgh Steelers, I got to meet a lot of them last night at a victory party, they’re still on cloud nine and they should be.
It’s Tuesday once again, and I bring you this weeks “Remember that Show” blog.
Is the theme song ready?
Yeah?
Ok here we go:
What would you do if I sang out tune? / Would you stand up and walk out on me?/ Lend me your ears and I'll sing you a song/ I will try not to sing out of key, yeah /Oh, baby I get by with a little help from my friends/ By with a little help from my friends./ All I need is my buddies/ By with a little help from my friends/ By with a little help from my friends/ Whoa oh oh oh oh/ Said I don't know if that's what I'm sure do to, baby/ By with a little help from my friend/ Said I'm gonna make it with my friends/ By with a little help from my friends/ Whoa oh I'm gonna keep on trying/ By with a little help from my friends
No just sing that in your head with Joe Cocker’s voice and you know today’s is Tuesday and it’s time to “Remember that Show: The Wonder Years.”
This show ran on ABC from 1988-1993. As you remember the show was about Kevin Arnold (Fred Savage) and growing up in the 1960’s. We always heard the voice of the grown up Kevin as he provided the narration throughout the show. The voice was of Daniel Stern.
Kevin lives with his brother Wayne (Jason Hervey), his sister Karen (Olivia d'Abo), his father Jack (Dan Lauria), and his mother Norma (Alley Mills). Kevin grows up with his on and off girlfriend, Winnie Cooper (Danica McKellar), and his best friend, Paul Pfeiffer (Josh Saviano).
This was a very popular show for ABC because it was about family and growing up, even though it took place in the 60s it was very relatable with the problems that were presented and provided a look at a family through this turbulent times.
Kevin, as the theme song suggest, always had the help of his friends, on in particular Paul Pfeiffer, the nerdy best friend who many people said grew up and in real life is Marilyn Manson, not true though. There many misadventures were funny and yet sometimes really sad. And then there was Winnie, who kissed Kevin in the very first episode and they had an on again off again relationship through out the show.
Kevin always had fight with his brother Wayne which brought comic relief to parts of the show, but toward the end he faced some tuff times with friends being in the war.
“The Wonder Years” was a smart show, and other show seemed to try to duplicate it. NBC’s “American Dreams” comes to mind but nothing will ever be as good as the original. How come no one shows re-runs of this show anymore?
I shall end with the last monologue from the last episode:
Growing up happens in a heartbeat. One day you're in diapers, the next day you're gone. But the memories of childhood stay with you for the long haul. I remember a place, a town, a house like a lot of other houses, a yard like a lot of other yards, on a street like a lot of other streets. And the thing is, after all these years, I still look back, with wonder.
Ok, that’s it for today.
Until next week,
Later Days!
Our friend: The Yield Sign
It comes to my attention, well it always has, but just go with me, that people and Pittsburgh cannot drive or after they take there permit test however many years ago they forget what some of the signs mean. So today I discuss one of the most avoided signs, the yield sign.
See, isn’t that a nice sign?
Do you know what this sign really means?
Probably not, you might think it means hey I got to speed up and beat the cars that are all ready on the park way, or maybe you think it is a strange looking stop sign, or just maybe you think it means nothing, which I think most Pittsburgher’s think.
I drive the Parkway just about 7 days a week and I’m happy everyday when I make it to work and back without incident. So far I’ve only gotten hit from behind once and it wasn’t the car behind me fault it was the car behind them. That’s another story.
On my way home from high atop Greentree Hill I have to get on the Parkway go through the Fort Pitt Tunnels and then continue on the parkway until Squirrel Hill. On my way home there is a yield sign for cars coming onto the Parkway from 2nd Ave.
Now the Parkway is three lanes at that point and I am always in the far right lane because it takes me to my exit no worries. I’m also not one to weave to and fro to get one car ahead unless it is some crazy person going 30 MPH in a 55 and be honest who goes 55 on the Parkway?
Well needless to say these cars think they have the right away, but they don’t the definition of the yield sign is “This three-sided sign means yield the right-of-way. You must let all traffic and pedestrians near you go before you proceed. YIELD signs are red and white.” There is no reason that you should be flying onto the parkway trying to beat the car that is obviously going faster than you.
And if you cause the accident it is your fault and no one else. So think about this next time you see our friend: The Yield Sign.
