We don’t talk about it much anymore, because it’s like pointing out that the sun rose in the East, it’s just the immutable truth, but Jimmy Fallon continues to be brilliant on Late Night, late night in and late night out. His latest, The Evolution of Dad Dancing, is just the latest in what is now a multi-year string of genius, originality and unbridled fun.
(and, if you’re wondering, our Dad’s trademark dance falls somewhere in between the “Clap When You Want To” and the “Until You Hurt Your Back”)
Last week dear Jumped the Snark friend Eliot Glazer co-hosted a night of trivia in Brooklyn themed around the two great female-ensemble sitcoms of the late 80s/early 90s – Golden Girls and Designing Women. In between rounds Glazer and co-host H. Alan Scott played clips from each series, highlighting not just how smart, funny and fresh the shows still are, but also how they weren’t afraid to confront taboo issues of the time, including AIDS and homosexuality. These serious, socially conscious moments reminded us of another show from that era that wasn’t afraid to push the envelope. In fact, this show seemed to make taking on controversial issues its main agenda. And that show was 21 Jump Street. Yes, it’s wildly different from those double X chromosome comedies above, and does not hold up a fraction as well (we now wonder if it even held up in its time), but, looking back, 21 Jump Street was often going out there on a limb on the nascent Fox Network, bringing uncomfortable, sensitive but relevant issues to the forefront. We’re going to make an attempt to semi-regularly feature some of these moments, starting right now.
It’s really hard to believe that we were watching this show at six-years-old, first because it’s often slow, melodramatic and pedantic (as was the style of the time), and doesn’t star any cartoon ducks, and shouldn’t hold a six-year-old’s attention, and secondly because it frequently contains a great deal of mature content, an amped up after-school special on five-hour delay (but compared to Silk Stalkings, which we began watching regularly a couple of years later, this was Green Acres. Also, good parenting, Mom). Even if an episode didn’t tackle a controversial issue of the time, it probably involved some kind of drugs and/or violence, or why else would Johnny Depp and Peter DeLuise go undercover as the McQuaid Brothers? But the show frequently went beyond fake IDs and selling “dope” in the locker room, covering such topics at bigotry, racism, bullying, child abuse, class warfare and, in one single episode, HIV-AIDS and suicide.
In that episode, “A Big Disease with a Little Name,” Officer Hanson (pre-Jack Sparrow Johnny Depp and our first man-crush) is tasked with protecting Harley, a teenager with AIDS who continues to attend his high school despite protests from local parents and the hostile atmosphere fostered by his fellow students (also, unsurprisingly, Harley has an affinity for motorcycles). Hanson isn’t afraid to sit at the same table as the kid, unlike much of the student body, but he’s not exempt from the same kind of prejudice, fear and ignorance, as we see when he declines Harley’s offer of chocolate milk.
But, as was often the case, 21 Jump Street functioned as an educational tool, teaching us there are three ways to contract HIV, and chocolate milk is not one of them. And, as also was often the case, by the end of the forty-four minutes Hanson not only learned the lesson but took it to heart.
We don’t actually remember this episode from our childhood – perhaps it didn’t get much syndication play – but we do know we weren’t afraid of a little chocolate milk. Maybe we have 21 Jump Street to thank for that.*
Finally! We’re invited to join the vaunted Pizza Hut e-Rewards® Opinion Panel. We started to believe this day would never come. What an honor.
Unfortunately, we have to decline the offer. As humbled as we are to be considered for this tremendous opportunity, we just don’t think we can commit the level of time and energy that a responsibility like this requires and deserves. We would be doing ourselves, Pizza Hut and pizza lovers everywhere a disservice if we couldn’t offer one hundred and ten percent; it wouldn’t be fair to them and it wouldn’t be fair to you. So, Pizza Hut, thank you so much, and we hope this does not tarnish what we had and we can continue to stuff your “pizza” down our throats.
Just yesterday we mentioned how we much revere the World Champion 1986 New York Mets. And then this comes along. And just slays us. And no doubt made everyone else in the coffee shop wonder why we were staring at the computer screen, completely slack-jawed, on the verge of joyful tears. Our new favorite.
This is the most fun Stephen Colbert has had since he introduced Colonel Tuxedo’s Cat Meat Stew, the only premium cat meat stew endorsed by Stephen Colbert.
However, to be completely fair, in NYC the cost of a single banana is regularly $.50 or more, and you really can’t put a price on a keeping your banana free of bumps and bruises (well, you can apparently, and that price is $16). As Mike and Tom will tell you, there really is nothing worse than a mealy banana, and sometimes acquiring a better banana on short notice is not an option. So why not take proper precautions? There’s nothing cooler than practicing banana safety.
Today some of you ended up here by searching for the term “lorne michaels,” and it’s no surprise that query directed you to this blog, as rarely an SNL post goes by without a mention the father of the Not Yet Ready For Prime Time Players. But you already know about Lorne Michaels: creator of SNL, executive producer of Late Night, inspiration for Dr. Evil, point of obsession for Marc Maron, Canadian. So we tried to find something different, something new, and in doing so came across a sketch titled “Not Lorne Michaels.” Except, upon watching the sketch, we discovered that Hulu must have posted the wrong clip. The description says “Tommy Flanagan tricks Rosanna Arquette into her thinking he’s executive producer Lorne Michaels,” but what plays is an introduction from New York Mets pitcher Ron Darling, apologizing to the audience for the Mets’ epic game six victory in the 1986 World Series, an extra-innings affair that preempted SNL and resulted in the episode airing on tape delay two weeks later, new but not live. This fascinated us for three reasons: 1) we’re colossal Mets fans, and basically worship the 1986 team as if they are demigods, 2) we didn’t know their victory had an effect on something we love with almost as much reverence, and 3) a clip that is titled “Not Lorne Michaels” is also not the right clip. It’s almost as if Lorne was determined to get the last laugh, refusing to let anyone impersonate him. Either that or someone at Hulu just totally screwed up.
Keeping with today’s theme, we’re going to address the recent rumblings about Queen Latifah’s sexuality. Last month word spread across the blogosphere that Queen Latifah declared herself a lesbian at the Long Beach Pride Festival on May 19th. But she later denied those reports, explaining that her unity with the gay community does not necessarily equate with her coming out of the closet, and she refuses to comment further either way. And we respect her feelings on the matter and her preference to keep her private life private. But we don’t care either way; you be you, Queen. What do know, however, is that the girl can play ball, for whatever that’s worth.
Take a look at this classic highlight from the 1994 MTV Rock’n’Jock B-Ball Jam and draw your own conclusions. Or don’t. Or do and keep them to yourself. That’s your right too.
This is the first in what may be an ongoing look at some of the more melodramatic, socially conscious, politically charged, culturally relevant, righteously pedantic or potentially controversial moments from ‘Growing Pains.’ Today we take a look at the sixth episode of the show’s first season, “Mike’s Madonna Story.”
Kirk Cameron, America’s premier born-again Christian, has gone on record (with Piers Morgan, not Greta Van Susteren) that he opposes homosexuality. Whether he hates gays and believes God hates them too is up for debate, but he certainly disagrees with their lifestyle and believes they’re destructive to “our” Christian civilization It’s a bit jarring then that his television alter-ego Mike Seaver would make light of same-sex relationships, suggesting to his mother in this early Growing Pains episode that the reason that he did not have sex with a young slut (played by the late Dana Plato) is that he’s gay. Of course, the truth was that Mike was just too ashamed to admit that he was scared to go all the way (which is fine, kids!), but we find it weird that in 1985 they included this remark, especially that they used such a sensitive issue as a laugh line. But, perhaps, this was a time that was pre-gay panic, where something like this was not yet politically incorrect or possibly offensive and instead totally acceptable on ABC Saturday night at 8pm. We do know, however, that we never noticed – or perhaps more accurately, understood – the meaning of this reference until we saw this episode as an adult. We were probably five or six when we saw this episode (in syndication), and the concept of homosexuality went way over our very short heads.
Besides the surprising, now distracting, throwaway mention of homosexuality, this scene features the hallmark endemic to any great, quintessential Growing Pains episode, an extremely long, deliberate, wordy scene between two or three Seavers, often concerning some social issue, but usually about love or family or trust or respect, some kind important value. Most Growing Pains episodes actually break down into the same format, jokey opening, set up, conflict, and then a third act that may be comprised entirely of one extended scene. In fact, many of these scenes actually feel like little one-act plays, with dense, measured dialogue and careful, detailed blocking. Just look at this scene above and observe Joanna Kerns as she cuts across the room, then back to the kitchen counter, and then finally gliding over to the kitchen table. She reclines in no less than four places, all the while doing professional scene work with a carton of ice cream (note how she gracefully adds some granola crumbs to her dessert), while Kirk Cameron does his own prop work with a magazine and a baseball. It’s theater, it’s Death of a Salesman, on a hammy, corny 80s sitcom. It’s impossible to imagine a network airing a scene with this kind of glacial pace today, let alone viewers sitting through it. But that’s what Growing Pains did from week to week, and even if it seems positively antiquated today, it does strike us as somehow very brave, very ambitious (including the gay joke, even if it feels in bad taste now). It’s probably just how sitcoms were built then, and when you’re producing TV in a world of hammy, corny sitcoms replete long, melodramatic, sappy teaching moments, it’s hard to step outside that world. And in that world of long, melodramatic, sappy teaching moments, few did it better than Growing Pains. Even if we had no idea what “gay” meant.
But we have to wonder: would born-again Kirk Cameron approved of that joke? Would he be willing, perhaps enthusiastic, to use homosexuality as a punch-line? Or would he have been steadfast against any mention of the “sin” in the show, especially the suggestion, even as a goof, that his character is gay? We can only hope he’ll comment on this post and enlighten us.
The Final Four in the Ultimate Eugene Levy in American Pie Showdown is set! Following an explosive, dramatic, electric opening round we’re left with Jim’s Dad in American Pie, Jim’s Dad in American Pie 2, Jim’s Dad in American Reunion (a controversial win over Jim’s Dad in American Pie: The Naked Mile), and, in a stunning upset, Jim’s Dad in American Pie: Band Camp. Can the number six seed continue its cinderella run and shock the world by taking down the original Jim’s Dad? Will the older, wiser Jim’s Dad in American Reunion be able to overcome his younger, more agile, less gray self? The only thing that we know for sure is that when it comes to Eugene Levy as Jim’s Dad tournaments anything can happen.
Jumped The Snark 