SteveJRogers

Glad to hear someone stick up for Luger! There is a podcast that is rewatching the 1997 Raws, Nitros, Clashes, and PPVs (they started with 1996) and the hosts freaking hate Luger so much its pretty much a trope of the show. Especially when they open up for feedback (from Twitter, no email) and their fans egg them on with more hate on Luger (along with Buff Bagwell and Eric Bischoff) as one of the worst pro wrestlers ever.

Fair point.

No mention of this...thing's vastly superior inspiration, Hitchcock's The Birds?

Way to make me feel old, when a conversation about Gumby takes place, without a single reference to Eddie Murphy's classic SNL bits.

Oh, but it is...sadly, and no this isn't a Mike's Crazy Theory type of thing, but it really is considered part of the Batman film "canon" in the way Steel is considered part of WB's Superman "canon." Sure you can get around not watching it in several ways (no Batman, its not Selina Kyle, etc) but it was produced under the auspices of DC Comics and the Batman Family umbrella.

Oddly enough, that played into a major writers block I had for a masters course in mass communication. I'm not one that idolizes celebrities, or noted personalities, in the first place, so I don't place fictional characters as any sort of "worship" or "base a life philosophy' around. After all, the next person that writes (or performs in many cases), the character, chances are they will take said character in a direction that will go against everything that you held dear about that character. But the point is, I was faced with such a question, where the assumption that because I liked a character, made it seem I "looked up" to said character. I ranted to someone about this that probably my favorite Soprano character, Christopher Moltisanti, was a heroin addicted, pathetic wannabe gansta. No way did I "like" that character because I wanted to be that character or whatever the question was trying to say. I don't begrudge someone choosing a fictional character as their "role model" per se (welp, as long as its not someone who is truly evil personified...but you know what I'm saying), its just not how I'm wired, but I wonder how much those lines get crossed when you are talking about Villain Protagonists that do get insanely popular in mainstream culture. For example, I wonder how many of those who hated the Seinfeld finale didn't realize how that was a very appropriate way to end our look into these miserable people's lives. What else were they expecting? There is a reason for Seinfeld/David's no empathy rules for the series, because otherwise the ending wouldn't have worked if there was any sort of character growth over the years (and yes Time of Your Life (Good Riddance) was appropriate to use as a sendoff song). Of course with recent events, we can look at actors that may have believed their hype just a "tad" much, well my example being Bill Cosby using his "Phil Huxtable" personae as justification to speak out on behavior and cultural issues...but that's a tangent for a different TV 101 episode =

No mention of Tony Soprano? Dollars to donuts suggests he is where the modern television hero protagonists get a lot of their inspirations from. Not intentionally in many cases of course, but in a lot of ways many of the archetypes for dramas these days comes from The Sopranos. Speaking of HBO, how about Larry David's television version? Or perhaps Ari Gold of Entourage?

Great, Hooked on a Thurman is going to be in my head for a while... BTW, for some reason I have Ringo Starr's dialouge about the record on Four You and Me Babe in my mind after Pandy's dialouge towards the end...hey what about a Beatles month? Or a month about British music icons in movie roles month?

Caruso left NYPD after the first season because he got the movie bug. He did a few early Season 2 episodes to tie up lose ends with the character. His first movie outings, Jade and Kiss of Death (appropriately titled), performed so badly that he was considered box office poison for years.

Mary Poppins!

Here's one: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2375906/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 Scavenger Killers Take a little Natural Born Killers with a twist of American Psycho. Add some Tarantino-esque uber-violence with none of Tarantino's contextualization of it, along with Keystone Cop-esque bad law enforcement organization portrayals for this...thing. Saw it premiere at a film festival in 2013. It was the first year of a major North East based festival in it's permanent new home, which was held a small town's historic and restored art house theater. Well, this gore porn attempt at dark humor was so bad a good portion of the audience left the theater in the middle of it. The only way I figure the festival was allowed to continue into 2014 in the same town was I think the director of the festival, also the producer/director/writer of this "film" bought a majority share of the theater itself!

It might make a good Tranquil Tirades episode as a bad mix of Natural Born Killers and American Psycho, but one of his final films, Scavenger Killers, might be...ummm...interesting to watch.

Having listened to the Dick Tracy episode of Earth-2.net The Show, I hereby nominate Charles During! Some good choices; The Sting, Dog Day Afternoon (unless you want that saved for Pacino), North Dallas Forty.

This week's anarchism, no more two titles around the shoulders of the WWE Champion... SOOOOOOO...is the phrase "Oh, we'll never see Sting in a WWE ring" uttered anywhere in the shows in the can? =

Technically the 50th according to one of my sources! = BTW, according to that site I mentioned, it doesn't look like anything else happened at that taping that didn't air, it was part of a massive taping of a few weeks worth of Superstars.

TheHistoryOfWWE.com is a great resource for house show and TV taping results.

I know Python is very hit and miss, but SNL is hardly awash with hit after hit.... Neither was/is Doctor Who and Star Trek when you consider my original quip! =

Hmmmm...better bookmark This Side of Paradise for Search For Spock and Voyage Home disscusssion...

I'd do it more in terms of eras, and shoehorn discussions of the movies/post careers in those specific episodes. 1. 1975-1980 2. 1980-1984 (pre Lorne's return) 3. 1985-probably Hartman's last show 4. 1994?-2000s (not sure, probably Fey-Fallon debut) 5. Everything since 6. Misc on hosts, acts, Don Pardo, etc

LOL! Hey, nearly 40 plus years of churning out comedy on TV and film, clunkers are bound to happen... of course a good portion of said clunkers, including those two, did happen over the last 20 years...

Much like I felt when Edge of Forever replaced Bigger on The Inside I must say this about Monty Python week... AMERICA: Awwwwww...that's cute England with what you did there. Now, step aside, and we'll show you how it's done! In other words, a week covering Saturday Night Live with of course all of the ancillary movies (as well as discussion about various post SNL careers from movies to talk shows)

BTW, while I'm glad Bigger on The Inside is coming back in December, I wonder if I was the only one who took your palindrome date hint as being for May 15? Of course there is the pesky 20 there, but still 5/15/15.

Mike, your description of what you can do at your job is something that would cause me to say a certain phrase that I'm SHOCKED that you didn't pull out...

Don't sleep on Webster Hall guys. Pretty old and renown entertainment venue in NYC. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webster_Hall TNA has also done shows there, and from the looks of it, it is a lot like Hammerstein Ballroom/Manhattan Center, where it really isn't a club/restaurant more so than its a theater.

Personally, I find the whole Rumble Opener Package highly hilarious and all kinds of true irony based on how Shawn was IRL at this time, and what he'd be kayfabe character wise just 8 months from that point!