Top Ten
It appears I'm using all my best material elsewhere. That's a shame. This is supposed to be my primary creative outlet for writing. And now look. No post in weeks. And to make matters worse, I'm just using recycled material for this post. Here's a post that I made on Halifaxlocals outlining my "favourite" TV show characters. I'm a child of the 80's apparently. So for those of you who haven't yet seen it, here it is:
-Mr. Belvedere. While this could have easily fallen into the trappings of a typical "fish out of water" scenario, the brutal honesty and uncompromising storylines kept this sit-com fresh and real. Belvedere's relationship with Wesley provides a pedophilic subtext never before seen on television. And even fifteen to twenty years later, the idea of being upper-middle class and having a butler, rather than being wealthy-class and having a butler still resonates with viewers.
-Alf. Definitely Alf. Sure he was an alien, but he displayed qualities more human than most people I know. Inside, Alf was a tragic character, forced to hide behind a facade of humour and irreverence.
-One of the dads in "My Two Dads" (Joey) but NOT the other dad (Michael)
-Jason and Princess from "Battle of the Planets" (Screw Mark, that guy was a jerk). Jason--tortured soul, rebel, damn good looking; it's become a cliche by now, but remember, he was the FIRST. And Princess--she was the first cartoon girl I ever fell in love with. How could I not include her?
-Jonah of "Danger Bay" You thought Wesley Crusher was the biggest teenage knob on TV? Think again! But just like Crusher provided coutnerbalance to Cpt. Picard, Jonah provides much-needed realism to a show that would have otherwise been dismissed as a vehicle to display Dr. Robert's ego--an ego of often messianic proportions.
-Any character portrayed by the always charismatic Alan Thicke, except for Jason Seaver in Growing Pains (although he did a very capable performance in GP: Return of the Seavers)
-The second mom on Fresh Prince of Bel-Aire. The underrated Daphne Reid breathed new life into the character of Vivian Banks and revitalized a fading show.
-Louie Chiccone of "Seeing Things". The way he would fugue out and get those visions was sublime. Canadian drama at its finest.
-Nick Slaughter of "Sweating Bullets". It's like a low-budget Magnum PI, but thanks to the rugged good looks and method acting of Rob Stewart (as Nick), the show is a more than satisfying watch.
-James Bradford of "Three's A Crowd"/"Three's Company". Without Vicky's father James around to interfere in hers and Jack's lives, Three's A Crowd would have faded instantly from memory. Fortunately, James provides the much needed tension to make this John Ritter vehicle work. And Robert Mandan fits the role of Bradford to a T.
-Mr. Belvedere. While this could have easily fallen into the trappings of a typical "fish out of water" scenario, the brutal honesty and uncompromising storylines kept this sit-com fresh and real. Belvedere's relationship with Wesley provides a pedophilic subtext never before seen on television. And even fifteen to twenty years later, the idea of being upper-middle class and having a butler, rather than being wealthy-class and having a butler still resonates with viewers.
-Alf. Definitely Alf. Sure he was an alien, but he displayed qualities more human than most people I know. Inside, Alf was a tragic character, forced to hide behind a facade of humour and irreverence.
-One of the dads in "My Two Dads" (Joey) but NOT the other dad (Michael)
-Jason and Princess from "Battle of the Planets" (Screw Mark, that guy was a jerk). Jason--tortured soul, rebel, damn good looking; it's become a cliche by now, but remember, he was the FIRST. And Princess--she was the first cartoon girl I ever fell in love with. How could I not include her?
-Jonah of "Danger Bay" You thought Wesley Crusher was the biggest teenage knob on TV? Think again! But just like Crusher provided coutnerbalance to Cpt. Picard, Jonah provides much-needed realism to a show that would have otherwise been dismissed as a vehicle to display Dr. Robert's ego--an ego of often messianic proportions.
-Any character portrayed by the always charismatic Alan Thicke, except for Jason Seaver in Growing Pains (although he did a very capable performance in GP: Return of the Seavers)
-The second mom on Fresh Prince of Bel-Aire. The underrated Daphne Reid breathed new life into the character of Vivian Banks and revitalized a fading show.
-Louie Chiccone of "Seeing Things". The way he would fugue out and get those visions was sublime. Canadian drama at its finest.
-Nick Slaughter of "Sweating Bullets". It's like a low-budget Magnum PI, but thanks to the rugged good looks and method acting of Rob Stewart (as Nick), the show is a more than satisfying watch.
-James Bradford of "Three's A Crowd"/"Three's Company". Without Vicky's father James around to interfere in hers and Jack's lives, Three's A Crowd would have faded instantly from memory. Fortunately, James provides the much needed tension to make this John Ritter vehicle work. And Robert Mandan fits the role of Bradford to a T.
posted by Evil Robot Boy at 1:46 AM
12 Comments:
I have childhood memories of "playing" battle of the planets (sadly was always relegated to the role of keyop) - also had a huge crush on desslock, the evil blonde/ blue skinned quasi-german leader on star blazers (was a huge nerd! oh wait... )
oh, & my sister thinks you're joking ;)
Behind every joke is a half-truth. Although in this case, I don't think there was much truth at all. I loved Battle of the Planets when I was five, but the animation was lacking and the characters one dimensional (although Jason was perhaps one and a half dimensions). But I stand by my other picks--clearly the creme de la creme of television from my youth. And notice all of the can-con! I must admit though--had I given it more thought, I probably would have been able to come up with a better gender balance. I could have easily included in my top ten list Jessie from "Saved By The Bell", Renee from "Snow Job" (another great and underrated Canadian gem!), Vicki from "Small Wonder", and (of course) Sara from "Too Close For Comfort". So much great tv, so many memories.
holy... my childhood was ALL about the Fiery Phoenix and the good ol' Whirlwind Pyramid. now those are some superpowers - a plane that explodes into flames and a pimped-out cheerleader squad. brilliant!
I can't believe no one has mentioned
the incredible show that was "V".
Am I the only one? When my dorky
friends would re-enact the show, I
insisted on being Diana, the bitchy lizard queen, always.
Any other lizard people?
Yo,
the "V" comment was from me, Rebecca
I was never allowed to watch V. It was on too late, or it was too scary or something. But then there was this time when I was 8 and I had to go to the hospital and the night nurse was totally cool and let us stay up late and watch it so I totally got to see it on a tiny 6-inch black and white TV screen and it almost made it worthwhile to spend the week stuck in a hospital bed post surgery with tubes coming out of my stomach. I was like, some kind of scary tube stomach monster kid! What a great week for television that was. V, Dukes of Hazard, The Shining, Jaws, Night Rider. CHiPs was probably on too. Of course I was too stoned to remember any of it. Stupid Valium.
Hello from the GTA suburbs....
When I was about 6 I tried making a helmet (out of cardboard) that looked just like Princess from "Battle of the Planets." I don't remember if I succeeded, but I do remember jumping off the couch into pillows and pretending to do some stunts.
But a much more important matter - is Alan Thicke's rating affected by the theme songs he wrote? Please advise.
Hey Sizzle!
Hmmm. I really should take Battle of the Planets of this list. This was supposed to be a challenge to myself to justify shows/actors that completely sucked and make them sound awesome. I mainly have good memorys of BotP, and clearly lots of other people do to. Okay. Jason and Princess are out, and the typewriter from Murder She Wrote is in!
As for Thicke's theme songs...didn't he write just about every theme song for every show he was ever in? He's sure done a lot of them. Including shows he never appeared in. I'd have to say that Facts of Life and Diff'rent Strokes were career highlights for him. And apparently he's written songs for Christina Aguilera and Pink, among others. "Hi, I'm a creepy late 50's knob that nobody likes. I wrote this song that is from the perspective of an early 20's woman...interested in singing it?"
If Battle of the Planets the show I'm thinking it is (Casey Kasem did the lead guy's voice?), my sister had a MAD crush on the 1/2 boy 1/2 robot dude. Oh, and I wasn't allowed to watch V either.
That was the show. Keyop (aka sizzleteen :) was the boy/robot/clone guy. He was okay, but that stuttering kind of got to me after a while.
Oops. It was Kat who always had to be keyop, not Carol. I'm confusing myself.
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