Category Archives: In Memoriam

2011/01/05 · 9:41 pm

In Memorium Nostalgia Corner: Bill Erwin

Well, it’s been a big week for Growing Pains news.  Unfortunately, this latest development is of the sadder variety, as we’ve lost another member of the Growing Pains family.  It was announced today that veteran actor, Bill Erwin passed away at his home on December 28th, at the admirable age of 96.  You may know him best as Sid Fields from Seinfeld, the old man whom Jerry volunteers to assist, a role for which Erwin was nominated for an Emmy.  However, long before Seinfeld, Erwin had already made an indelible mark on us from his many appearances on Growing Pains.  Over six seasons Erwin appeared on the sitcom eight different times as seven different characters, from Buzz the plumber to Lloyd the fumigator to the school janitor (he was the go-to old man for thankless blue-collar jobs, evidently).  He was like Bruce Willis in North, or Rachel Dratch in the first season of 30 Rock, there whenever the Seavers needed him, in whatever guise was most appropriate.  We’ve seen him in many roles since then, some he shot after, some he shot before, but, to us, he’ll always be the old man from Growing Pains.

And here he is as Bubs the mechanic, from the Growing Pains meta-episode “Meet the Seavers:”

And if you watched Home Alone over Christmas (like we did a couple of times) you might also recognize Erwin as the old man in the Scranton airport who refuses to give up his plane tickets to Mrs. McCallister:

TV and film just lost a good one, that’s for sure.

[btw, not to be confused with Bill Irwin]

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2010/12/30 · 9:16 pm

Winter Cleaning: ‘LOST’ Finale: The Neverending Story (And a Brief Discourse on Series Finales)

Note: We began this post the day after Lost’s series finale.  Unfortunately, do to a series of fortunate events, we became otherwise occupied, and soon a Lost finale review seemed rather dated.  But with the end on the year quickly gaining on us, we thought we’d finally finish that piece, perhaps all the wiser for having an extra half-year to let the series’ end sink in.

For most of Lost’s final season (and for the first five) we’ve offered little, if any, commentary, instead leaving the expert analysis to the experts. In fact, besides a couple of links and a few Jimmy Fallon videos we’ve only really spoken in-depth about the season premiere. However, much in the fashion of Lost, we feel compelled to call back to that post and close the circle.

However, before we delve into the finale, the series, and the nature of season finales, I think it’s necessary that we first outline our particular history with Lost. The show premiered during my senior year in college, the four-year period when I probably should have been OD’ing on television, at least on the Mr. Show DVDs, but instead foolishly focused on my studies, only making time for The Simpsons, Survivor, Friends for some reason at beginning and, thankfully, Arrested Development towards the end (talk about growing up).  Lost premiered during the fall of my Senior year, but I was far too wrapped up in my penultimate semester, and getting in as much Mario Tennis as possible, to pay it much mind (plus, it seemed like a risky venture to get involved with such an ambitious show that likely wouldn’t make it past its first season).  During winter break of that year, I did record a couple of episodes on VHS (the dark ages!), and found it interesting, intriguing and definitely full of potential.  But without the benefit of having seen the pilot, and understanding the context of those episodes, I was, in essence, lost.  So it wasn’t until the following summer when, on somewhat of a whim, I just went ahead and purchased season 1 on DVD.  And that basically changed my life.

Another 1500 words on our personal relationship with Lost, the nature of series finales and, finally, our thoughts on The End…

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2010/12/23 · 11:17 am

In Memoriam Emeritus: Chris Farley

Every year here at Jumped the Snark we like to commemorate the passing of Chris Farley, who left us on December 18, 1997.  We’re a few days late marking the 13th anniversary of that dark afternoon, but we don’t think Chris would mind terribly.  He’d probably just be happy knowing that he’s still making us laugh.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

Back in the late 90s when it seemed like a fun idea to customize the sounds on my Compaq Presario we used the audio from this clip as the welcome message.  Much better than the Windows 95 default greeting.

Thanks again, Chris.  We’ll be on time next year.

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2010/11/29 · 6:49 pm

In Memoriam: Leslie Nielsen

What’s to be said has already been said, and said better, so we’ll just leave you, and Mr. Nielsen, with this:

Thanks for the laughs.  Hopefully every time anyone makes a “don’t call me Shirley” reference you’ll get another set of wings.

(see, that’s one pair right there)

 

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2010/10/01 · 2:48 pm

In Memoriam: Stephen J. Cannell

Fuck. That’s about all we can say about this one.

Back in the late 80s, pre-Simpsons, there were exactly two shows on Fox:  Married with Children and 21 Jump Street.  The latter was brought to us by the legendary Stephen J. Cannell.  We were too young at the time to fully appreciate his already cemented TV legacy – creator of The Rockford Files, The A-Team, Greatest American Hero, Baretta, among others – but we knew that we loved his undercover cop drama, and we also grew to recognize the Stephen J. Cannell Productions logo at the end  of his shows as a symbol of quality programming.  In the 80s it ran neck-a-neck with “Sit, Ubu, sit,” for foremost production company tag, but we always found Cannell’s footnote to be the gold standard, a warm, fuzzy blanket, a comforting old friend.  And when we heard that crescendo and saw the typewriter paper flying at the conclusion of later favorites like The Commish and Silk Stalkings, we knew we were in the capable hands of one of the all-time masters, a TV titan.

We’ll leave the in-depth retrospectives and the analysis of his influence on current television to the real critics, those who have a better appreciation for the breadth of his career.  So we’ll just say thanks for the great stories and compelling characters, and we’ll always yearn to see you at your typewriter, finishing a script with a flourish.

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2010/09/29 · 5:50 pm

In Memoriam: ‘Lone Star’

Well, Fox, you’ve done it again.   Axed a show before it even had a chance to reach its bris.   Lone Star is officially dead.

But this feels somehow different.  This was not The Pitts, or Brothers, or even Kitchen Confidential.  This was a show that arrived with critical praise, almost unanimously hailed as the season’s “best new network show.”  It had a beautiful backdrop to match its beautiful young faces.  It had Jon Voight.  And, most importantly, it had an original, complex story.  While a lot of shows come and go, and a lot of them deserve to be banished (looking at you, Outsourced), this is certainly not the first series unfairly cut down before it’s time.  It joins a group of shows like Love Monkey and Action that share the unfortunate distinction of a premature demise, depriving the viewing public of quality television.  Lone Star is not the first and it won’t be the last.  But why then is this particular cancellation so troubling?

Read on: The end of network TV as we know it?

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2010/08/26 · 4:17 pm

In Memoriam: Will Forte (Sort Of)

Well, it’s the end of a weird, absurdist, hit-and-miss era, as Will Forte and SNL announced their amicable separation today, after 8 years of professional bliss and uneven comedy.

As for Will and this blog, it’s no secret that our relationship has not been so smooth.  We’ve often voiced our objection to some of the more outrageous, off the wall sketches that seemed to spring forth from the Forte womb, most often found in the 12:50am dead zone, or sometimes only in dress rehearsal (see: skeevy stalker Hamilton, the bizarre Falconer, and the lyrical stylings of Jackie Snad and Clancy Bachlerat, which literally consist of just random words thrown together in random orders).  In many cases we’d rather see Jason Sudeikis elevate a simple premise or a lame idea to something spectacular, rather than a Forte sketch that was just too far out there.

But, to his credit, Forte willingly flew too close to the sun.  Sure, he got burned a time or two (certainly in our eyes), but we have to respect his ambition.  And beyond the odd sketches and one-note “Weekend Update” characters, we have to begrudgingly admit that his MacGruber was often brilliant, and even more impressive, it never got old.  And while Forte’s George W Bush never managed to escape the shadow of the definitive Will Ferrell version, he really never had a shot, but he still soldiered on and made it work in its own way.  We can certainly salute him for that.

So, Will Forte, we’re going to miss you challenging us.  The show is going to be a little more dull without you (if that’s even possible.  Riiiiight???). We didn’t always like what you did, but we (usually) respected it.

In honor of Forte’s departure we’re going to leave you with what we consider his grand opus, a sketch from another planet; strange, baffling, completely dead in the water and with the impression that it was made on a dare, but, yet, oddly compelling.  Will Forte, for better or worse, this is your legacy:

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(on another note, can you believe it’s already been a whole year since that whole uproar over the firing of Michaela Watkins and subsequent hiring of Jenny Slate and Nasim Pedrad?  Time sure flies when you’re occasionally offered sharp and/or funny sketch comedy).

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2010/05/18 · 5:04 pm

Muppet Tuesday Nostalgia Corner In Memoriam: Jim Henson

As Entertainment Weekly so generously reminded me, this week is the 20th anniversary of the passing of Jim Henson.  It’s sad to think that he’s been gone for so long, but it’s a testament to his work that I was not quite seven years old at the time of his death and yet he had already made an inedible, lifelong impact on me.  He’s been gone for 20 of my 26 1/2 years, and yet in those first 6 1/2 he shaped the person I am years later.  I remember even then being aware of this death, and saddened by it, and worried that it meant the end of the Muppets.  In fact, it might have been my first experience with death; at least I can’t recall anyone passing before then.

And I still remember being moved by his memorial, which, per his request, was a celebration and not a dirge  And it still moves me to this day.

And to the credit of the Henson family and the Muppet family they soldiered on, and soon after the memorial they allayed my fears with a special television tribute to Jim, promising me and all the despondent, confused young fans that Muppets would live on.  The fact that they confronted his death head on was  somewhat difficult for a 6-year-old to comprehend, and somewhat overwhelming, but it was also somewhat appropriate, for Henson made entertainment for both children and adults alike, and I’ll always appreciate the honesty in which the Muppet team handled his death.  It was immensely sad, but also immensely inspirational.

For many years now my email signature has been a Jim Henson quote, “When I was young, my ambition was to be one of those people who made a difference in this world.  My hope is to leave the world a little better for my having been there.”  I think I first came across it when I read a Jim Henson biography at about 10 years old and it  resonated instantly, so when I was young that was my ambition too.  And it still is.

Because of Jim Henson I hope to leave the world a better place.  And if I can make a hundredth of the difference that Henson made then I’ll feel like I accomplished my goal.

Thanks, Jim.  20 years later you’re missed more than ever.

However, Henson wouldn’t want his Jumped The Snark in memoriam to end on such a treacle note.  And the good news is that it doesn’t need to: the Muppets are on the verge of returning to the spotlight.  We’ve missed a lot of Muppet news over the past month and a half, but things continue to look up for Kermit and the gang.  And luckily another one of our favorite Jim’s, Jim Hill, has taken the liberty of rounding up the latest Muppet developments over on his blog.  Things are looking up.

20 years later, and the Muppets are still going strong.  Jim would be proud.

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2010/03/12 · 5:05 pm

Sorta In Memoriam: Tom Westman (and a brief discourse on celebrities and moral turpitude)

And so begins my long overdue thoughts on Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains.  It’s a shame we have to start on such a sour note.

A few weeks ago my mom and I were talking about the Tiger Woods scandal (it was what she came up with after brainstorming topics for dinner conversation) and she asked me if there was some one in the public eye, a role model perhaps, that would really break my heart if they were exposed to be in some kind of scandal or lascivious activity.  I told her that as I’ve become an adult I’ve learned to let go of such things, that as a 26 year-old you can’t put another person, especially a public persona, on such a pedestal.  She suggested that we should hold these people to a higher moral standard, but I argued just the opposite, that with celebrities – actors, musicians, athletes, politicians – we should expect less adherence to a moral code.  These are people who are told they are great, they are special, and thus think they are exempt from common behavior, that they are above the law, both legally and morally.  Now there are, of course, exceptions, but too often their celebrity status goes to their heads, and they think the rules don’t apply to them.  And the bigger they are, the harder they fall, and the less we should be surprised when they do.  Sad but true.  So to answer my mother’s question, there was no one I could think of whom I believed in so deeply that any discovery of indiscretion would be utterly soul crushing (unless it was revealed that Tom Hanks has cheated on Rita Wilson with a harem of Golden Corral buffet attendants, but I can think of almost nothing less likely).

However, a couple nights later I sat down to dig into the premiere of Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains and I realized that I was mistaken.  There remained at least one person I felt that strongly about, whom I believed to be nearly infallible, with whom I couldn’t fault and would be shocked to learn of one.  And that man is former Brooklyn firefighter Tom Westman.  Yes, as a fellow Long Islander I’m biased.  But the way he so thoroughly dominated Survivor: Palau is really unparalleled in the show’s history, and he did so by a mixture of uncanny physical prowess and the utmost integrity.  In my eyes he played a flawless game, and perhaps became the last role model standing.

Read on: The one true Hero…

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