"Once upon a time, there were three little girls who went to the police academy... "
~Charlie Townsend (John Forsythe)
Charlie's Angels
Opening credits all 5 seasons
Who didn't watch Charlie's Angels when they were kids? I was 14 or so when this movie first aired, and it was good by 1976 standards, but it wasn't what made the biggest hit with friends and me, it was the way Farrah Fawcett-Majors wore her hair! We all returned to school the next September with variations on her famous haircut! Farrah brought a certain quirky glamour to her character, Jill Monroe, that was more playful then her fellow angels. The TV movie pilot for the show premiered on March 21st, 1976, and it was an instant hit with, America! It didn't hurt that one of the actors who appeared in the pilot was Tommy Lee Jones, of whom I was already a fan of, from his days on One Life To Live! Yep it was television magic for a while, but with the departure of Farrah Fawcett-Majors some of the sparkle disappeared and was never quite found again. The 5th, and final season, was unwatchable in my opinion. By the way, fun fact, the address of the Townsend Agency was, 8619 Sunset blvd, Los Angeles, California.
Meanwhile...
It's Wednesday, and I am weary, so I feel like jumping into the way-back machine, and ignoring the stupid. Charlie's Angels, The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, The Bionic Woman, Vegas, they were all big hits, and an excellent escape from the stupid of the mid-70's and early 80's. But there are a few current shows that do that for me in the here and now. Your Friends and Neighbors, and Widows Bay come to mind. Both can be found on Apple Tv. Your Friends and Neighbors has concluded it's second season, so let the bingeing begin, and Window's Bay will air it's season finale today. I sure hope it comes back. It's got horror, comedy, drama and intrigue all wrapped into a nifty mystery! It's so much fun to watch! If you haven't seen it, go, right now to Apple TV and binge this season. Trust me, it will hook you right in! It will also make you laugh out loud, scare you, and warm your heart.
Santa Claus Is Coming To Town, debuted on ABC, on December 13th, 1970, when I was 8 years old. I remember watching it with my mother. I loved it. It was such a gentle movie, as most children's programs do, but this it the one that that put the Christmas spirit in me for the first time. I am crazy about it to this day. No matter how crazy the rest of the holiday season gets, I aways feel just a little better revisiting the love story of Kris and Jessica Claus, and their example of how to love others. It just wouldn't be Christmas without this holiday Classic, from Rankin/Bass!
it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.”
―
George Orwell
“If freedom of speech is taken away,
then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.”
―
George Washington
“Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice
of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of
increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to
all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear."
[Special Message to the Congress on the Internal Security of the United States, August 8, 1950]”
―
Harry S. Truman
“This is slavery, not to speak one's thought.”
―
Euripides,
We are in a very dark time. President Asshole is not going to be happy until he ruins every corner of our lives. Every single day some nightmare, courtesy of Trump, will happen, sometimes several times a day, sometimes hourly. He is a petty little asshole, who is leaving my nerves fried. Culture and the arts is so important to the psyche, and the soul, and the well being that I worry about someone who just can't take it anymore, acting out. When folks reach the deepest points of despair, they fall to the principles of fight or flight. They express their feeling by hurting others in the attempt to make them feel their level of pain, or they turn it all inside, ultimately harming themselves. I am neither of those things. I am numb. Intellectually I know it's bad, but I don't feel panic anymore. Still, I get tired. Some days all I want to do is sleep, but when I am awake I am ready for the fight of just absorbing it all.
"Christmas is the gentlest, loveliest festival of the revolving year... and yet... for all that, when it speaks, it's voice has strong authority." ~W.J. Cameron There is some special holiday magic in the air, it's making me smile from ear to ear! The magic is coming from a most unlikely source... Reality TV! That's right, REALITY TV! If you have been reading this blog for a while, you know I do indeed watch my share of reality television. In fact, Alan, my husband, might say I watch more than my share, and okay, guilty. It's kind of a guilty pleasure, but to be honest, I have started to enjoy it less and less. I don't want to get in too deep aboutwhy, and what specific elements have begun to ware on me, I will save that for a different post, because right now I want to share only positive feelings, because I have finally found a reality program that truly spreads joy, and made me feel good about tuning in. If you are interested in such a show, tune into the new ABC reality show, The Great American Christmas Light Fight!
The show features different families from around America, who have such love for Christmas, and the holiday season, that they share it not just with family and loved ones, but with their neighbors and community as well, by decorating their houses and yards with twinkly lights, and holiday inflatables, and manger scenes, and every lovely decorative idea possible! Some include interactive decorations, some gather donations for charity, some share holiday heirlooms passed down for generations! Others re-purpose household items, while others feature decorations that are handmade or planet friendly! You, the viewer, are introduced to some truly joyous, loving, hardworking, creative people, and it leaves you definitely feeling the holiday spirit! The Great American Christmas Light Fight airs on Mondays, with 2 back to back episodes, and this coming Monday night, December 23rd, it will feature the only house in the Bay Area to compete! The Mize Family of San Rafael, in Marin County! When I heard we had some Bay Area friends to root for, I just had to pay a visit to the house, and see the artistry for myself! Let me tell you, I knew it would be lovely, but I wasn't prepared for just how amazing their holiday display was! Here, See For Yourself...
The Mize Family also included a wonderful old fashioned manger scene, kind of like the ones that graced lawns when I was a child. These scenes have gotten much more sophisticated over the years, but I really miss this kind. This part of their display really brought back some fond memories of the holiday decorations of yards on the street I grew up on. It was always a treat to see the decoration begin the day after Thanksgiving, and one particular yard had a manger just like this one! I miss the folks who lived there, all my old friends from the street who have grown up and moved away, so seeing this display made me quite misty eyed, in a good way, as I marveled at how many years have gone by! Sigh. :) Suddenly, while the air was a bit chilly, I was feeling really warm inside!
The prize for winning is $50,000 and a pretty nifty Christmas light shaped trophy! I can't imagine the Mize family not being victorious come Monday night, but I will update this post after the show!
Thank You Mize Family, And Good Luck Monday Night! Alan and I will Be Cheering You On!
:) Mood: Inspired/Happy/Nostalgic/Christmasy ~Me :) Note: The show is currently looking for new holiday homes to feature next season, here is the link if you would like to apply...
The Great American Christmas Light Fight... Apply Now
Dear ABC... Please create and air more reality shows like this one!
"You're being cryptic again. It's like soap opera sex. Lots of boring dialogue and when they finally go to bed, everything's dark and covered by blankets."
~Ragnar Tornquist
It's April 29th... FINALLY!
April has been the longest month of this year, I swear someone added a few extra days! Nah, I know, this April has the exact same number of days it always had, but I have to say, it felt a lot longer longer than usual! Why? you ask. Well, you see, I have been waiting for the relaunch of two of my favorite soap operas, and let me tell you, the waiting hasn't been easy! It's been a long hard fight for we soap fans, a true uphill battle if there ever was one! And it all started in the month of April 2 years ago, when Brian Frons, former head of daytime programming for ABC, made the ridiculous, overreaching decision to axe not just one, but two of the network's long running daytime dramas, All My Children, and One Life To Live. At the time it seemed like a permanent dark cloud had been set not just on my Monday thru Friday, but on the days of millions of other soap fans as well!
We asked nicely that the network reconsider.
They ignored us!
We gathered and signed petitions online, and the old fashioned way.
They ignored us!
The Hoover company supported us by pulling all their advertising from ABC daytime. (Don't forget to buy Mom a Hoover vacuum for Mother's Day by the way!)
The network not only continued to ignore, but indeed openly thumbed their nose at us!
ABC replaced our favorite daytime dramas with... uggg... a "lifestyle show" and a "cooking show."
The first of the soaps to disappear was All My Children, in September of 2011. It was replaced by the ridiculously named cooking show called... gulp... The Chew. Hosted by, and I stick by the following opinion, so-so chefs, Mario Batali and Michael Symon. I actually spoke with Chef Symon one evening over Twitter, when, to my dismay, he decided to laugh at my assessment of him. I backed my opinion by telling him exactly why I felt the way I did. Let's just use one example here. His 5 in 5 segment. 5 ingredient meals, you could, or should, be able to prepare in 5 minutes for under $5 dollars. First of all, in the 3 months I watched The Chew, he never, ever, finished successfully in that amount of time and as for the $5 part... it was iffy at best! Not impressive! If it doesn't work, have the courage to say so, and move on! Right? Then there came the insulting way Batali introduced each show by saying "there are two types of people... Italians, and those who want to be Italians." Chef Batali... I have never wanted to be Italian! And should we talk about the many, many times I saw the chef's touch raw food without washing their hands? I could go on about the other elements about the show that bugged me, but there is no need for it. I don't watch it, but some do. In my opinion ABC won't be cancelling it anytime soon, so why belabor the point... right? It's awful. The End.
Now, as if a ridiculous cooking show wasn't enough... the network decided to replace One Life To Live with the short lived lifestyle show... The Revolution. The reviews were awful, right out of the box. It was so bad it lasted a total of 6 months on the air. It was BAD! It was so bad that it never came close to garnering the kind of ratings One Life To Live did in the same time slot. It was a sad embarrassment for all involved. But the saddest part about the entire situation is that The Chew, and The Revolution replaced shows that had been on ABC for over 40 years! Yep, that's right, both were on ABC for over 40 years! It truly was insulting to the fans to think that one more cooking show, or one more lame lifestyle show could possibly replace a show we had watched, and cared about since, as in my case, a small child. You know how when something big happens, and years later you reflect on where you were when it happened... the day Elvis Presley passed away, my sister and I were in my room, watching One Life To Live on my portable black and white TV. It was August 16th, 1977. She was just a few months away from getting married, and she and her fiance had planned to get tickets to see Elvis perform later that year. It was going to be their wedding gift to each other. It was one of those moments I never forgot, nor did I forget what I was watching when the "Breaking News" chimed in.
Brian Frons, and ABC made a big mistake. We fans made our voices heard loud and clear. And then one day we got some unexpected news, something was about to happen that has never happened before. A couple people got together and said... "What if?" What if we can relaunch those two much loved shows online? Long story short. There was some rough going with that idea, and at one point we fans accepted the possible reality that it probably wasn't going to happen, then just after the first of the year came the news that it was A GO! Now, most of the casts of both shows are back. It's a new day, and as of today, Monday, April 29th, All My Children and One Life To Live are back! They can both be seen Monday through Thursday with new 30 minute episodes, and on Friday with the recaps on Hulu, Hulu Plus and iTunes.
I said at the time Brian Frons made that dumb decision that it would go down in entertainment history as one of the stupidest decisions ever made in daytime! And guess what... I was right! As for Mr. Frons, well, he was let go from ABC in January of 2012! Bye Bye Mr. Frons have a nice time in oblivion!
Sometimes Mondays get a bad rap, but I think this Monday will go down in history as a pretty good day!
Now, here is a clip from One Life To Live, featuring one of my favorite daytime characters, David Vickers, played by Tuc Watkins. In the clip David debuts in his big break into acting by doing a commercial for a certain type of health product. It's funny! Watch it! Get your day off right with a little humor. Life is too short, we need a little escape once in a while... right?
By the way, some really great actors have gotten their start in daytime, among them are, Judith Light. Julianne Moore, Christopher Reeve, Meg Ryan, Demi Moore, Kevin Bacon, Tommy Lee Jones, just to name a few. Soap actors are some of the hardest working people around, and they have made my life much nicer just by sharing their talent with the world. I am honored to be a fan!
Congratulations on your new start All My Children and One Life To Live! I will be there every single day!
"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it whether it exists or not, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedy."
-Mahatma Gandhi
Okay, I know, Santa will probably put me on his naughty list for this, and if so I will take my lumps but the thing is... IT'S JUST SO FUNNY... It REALLY, REALLY IS! To hear FOX NEWS go on and on about how critics everywhere have panned Sarah Palin's new reality show, "Sarah Palin's Alaska" made me a little giddy. As they openly mocked her, I not only enjoyed it for a moment or two, it made my whole day! I smiled for hours! But please, let me explain. I don't approve of folks bullying each other. I don't care for name calling, or talking behind someones back, because I know how it feels to have someone treat you like you are dumb or irrelevant. So please understand, it's not that I condone this treatment of Sarah Palin. The reason why I smiled all day was because everyone, including Sarah Palin, was given the opportunity to learn what FOX NEWS really thinks of her. You see, when you have the full information you can begin to make intelligent decisions. Like who you want to associate with. Who you want representing your ideas and ideals, and you also get the chance to learn who your friends really are.
What Sarah Palin will do with the information isn't really clear. I couldn't find a link to her response to the mocking. I thought I heard that she called them "lamestream" media as well, but I could be wrong. If you know a link to what her response is feel free to leave it in the comment thread. All this is interesting to me because, like most humans, I have had to let myself learn some lessons in life, some of which were quite painful. I have a couple scars from those lessons, but I thank GOD for them everyday because I am a smarter, more confident person for it. I don't know about Sarah, and the lessons she has let herself learn, but this week alone, both Sarah and her daughter Bristol have had a chance to not just learn, but to grow and unfortunately, both seemed to have made a decision to pass on the chance.
Deep down, Bristol Palin has to know that she hasn't really earned a spot in next week's finale of Dancing With The Stars. It has been confirmed that a number of conservative websites have been bragging about manipulating the rules and voting for Bristol in blocks. On one site I read a comment from a man who was bragging about voting for Bristol over 900 times! If that's true, ABC should know the truth, and if it has registered an inordinate amount of votes for Bristol, then it should make it known and act accordingly. Bristol had a real chance this week to show what she is about, and instead of addressing those claims, and appealing to her followers to vote fairly, she denied the claims of cheating, and then she, and her sister Willow engaged in homophobic comments on Facebook aimed at a commenter who didn't think much of her mother's new reality show, "Sarah Palin's Alaska." The behavior of Bristol and Willow is a clear indication of how these two girls have been raised. It gives the world an honest glimpse into what their values really are. Not just by how the girls behave but by how their parents respond to their actions.
Bristol has said she deserved the DWTS mirror ball trophy because she has come a long way, and she has I agree. She has also said that she deserves it because she is "relatable" to average people because she isn't "one of those Hollywood types." Bristol, dear, the show is called DANCING WITH THE STARS, hon, you, by definition, are NOT A STAR, so in reality, no pun intended, you don't qualify. But ABC made a decision to include you, and now everyone has to deal with what it meant to allow someone, who doesn't fit the definition of STAR, to compete. I feel like all those teabaggers, who decided to manipulate things on her behalf are the cruelest ones of all. By cheating, the teabaggers have robbed this young woman of the chance to grow as a person. The bigger message here is that hard work and talent really doesn't matter, as long as you have someone to help you buck the rules.
I used to enjoy Dancing With The Stars. I enjoy the artistry of dance. I love the ballet, and I love to bust a move myself once in a while. That usually amounts to me dancing around the house as I do my chores, it's not something I would take to the national stage to do. LOL. But I love watching DWTS to see all the different dances and enjoy the music. It always brings back dear memories of cuddling with my Elvis as I watched it. Elvis loved music, and he loved to cuddle, so that's what we would do on Monday nights, while Alan worked overtime. As soon as the theme song played, Elvis would settle into my arms and we would enjoy the show together. He actually watched the TV right along with me. He is gone now, and my two new fellas sit with me the same as he did, which is nice, but there was something about watching it with Elvis that I miss terribly. Now, add in the controversy from this season, and I don't know if could ever feel the same about the show. If Bristol Palin wins DWTS next week, because of politics, I think it will definitely be official, DWTS will have JUMPED THE SHARK! And, I fear, if Sarah Palin does make it to the White House one day, America will have JUMPED THE SHARK as well.
By the way, can someone explain to me how Sarah Palin can bash reality shows, and those who compete on them, and then sign a deal for one of her own, and praise Bristol for joining one? How does that work again?
Hey, just askin'.
I miss my Elvis every single day. And after next week, I will be missing Dancing With The Stars as well.
"Though it be honest, it is never good to bring bad news."
-William Shakespeare
Sigh.
I knew this day would come, but I kinda hoped it wouldn't. See, while I hate getting bad news, if I have to, then at least when Charlie Gibson reported it, it was a little easier to take. I felt sad yesterday, when he announced his planned retirement for the end of this year. His evening, World News Tonight, broadcast has been a part of my life for quite a while now, and I still have fond memories of Elvis settling down when he heard his voice, almost as if he understood the news. I don't know, maybe it was the sound of Gibson's voice that Elvis appreciated. Who knows. What I do know is that at the end of each of his broadcasts, he would say, "I hope you had a good day," and somehow, it always felt like he meant it. I will miss that.
Sigh.
By the way, if you are wondering about the title of this entry, it comes from one of the most interesting moments from this past year. It is Sarah Palin's response, to the question Charles Gibson had just asked her... "Do you agree with the Bush Doctrine?"
LOL... It seemed like such a simple, straight forward question. This was Palin's first real interview after she was chosen as John McCain's running mate. It told me all I needed to know! LOL. A true classic!
"With their qualities of cleanliness, discretion, affection, patience, dignity, and courage, how many of us, I ask you, would be capable of becoming cats?"
-Ferdinand Mery, Her Majesty The Cat
My boy hasn't been feeling well. There is something wrong with the right side of his nose. Last week he stopped eating, and drinking water. I tried everything. I even bought him his very favorite baby food, and gave him a little cut up chicken, something he has never turned down, but he would have none of it. He was interested in the food, but because he couldn't smell it, he wouldn't eat it. That's the thing about cats. You can put food in their mouths and force them, but it will be going against their natural instinct. I know better then to try and force him to eat, all that would accomplish would be stressing him out, which in turn would complicate his diabetes. Sigh.
So, with all else failing, we took him to see Dr. B. Elvis was dehydrated, and his nose was swollen, so tests were done. A chest ex-ray first, then a cardiogram. His heart wasn't sounding right to Dr. B. It was a long wait in the waiting room. When the doctor called us into his office, I didn't see my boy. "We have mostly good news," said the doctor. His heart looked ok, no evidence of heart failure, and all his other vitals were good, but he was quite dehydrated and needed fluids. He was too grumpy for the doctor to do a blood test, so he got a little dose of kitty Valium, and an IV with fluids, and he was all set to spend the night, with tests scheduled for the next day.
My boy was in the hospital from Thursday, until Saturday afternoon. My goodness I missed my friend. I missed his morning kiss and pat on my face, and his goofy little routines, such as his rearrangements of his stuffed animals, and his knocking on the back door when he wants to check on the garden. One of our very favorite routines is the way he asks for dinner, every night at 5:30 when Charlie Gibson appears on ABC World News Tonight. Apparently Elvis likes to stay informed while dining. LOL. On the other hand it might be that Charlie Gibson and Alan sound a little alike. I am not sure which. ;) Last night, he asked for dinner, and he ate a little, which made us very happy, but it wasn't during the news. It's a start.
Tomorrow, Tuesday, he has a follow up appointment, and we will have all the test results by then. Too many scary words are coming up. Cancer is the scariest one. According to the doctor there was significant damage on the inside of his nostril, but a lot of things could have caused that. Sigh. I don't know. Maybe he inhaled a bean or a seed. His little nose is so small... I can't imagine how he could have, but then this is probably the only cat in America who actually has a personal choice in who delivers the news! LOL. It's just one more thing that makes me love him.
Please keep your fingers and paws crossed for my boy!
-OndineMonet Elvis Berkeley, California April 20th, 2008 Afternoon
"How can you put on a meaningful drama, when every fifteen minutes, preceedings are interrupted by twelve dancing rabbits with toilet paper?"
-Rod Serling in Submitted For Your Approval, Public Broadcasting Stations, 1995
Tonight, the phone gets taken off the hook. Elvis gets feed and put to bed early, my cell phone is placed ever so gently under a stack of fluffy pillows, the computer is turned off, and everything else in our house goes as silent as we can get it, so that Alan and I can sit back and completely enjoy the season premier of the hit ABC drama, "LOST."
That's right, Carly does not live by politics alone! LOL. I do like a little pop culture thrown in for fun once in a while. While I wouldn't call myself a TV addict, there are a few TV shows I have found myself devoted to this year. I loved last season's FX original, The Riches, and I have been enjoying this season's Pushing Daisies, nothing much else has caught my eye. A favorite of mine for the last few seasons, Desperate Housewives, like most other network programs, has fallen to the on-going writer's strike, so there isn't much more to say unfortunately. For my humor and political fix, I have, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, to provide me with a little fun distraction 4 nights a week, and HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher on Friday's, but I have to say, I have missed the seeing new episodes of the network shows I had become fond of.
So, it will be nice to see LOST again, for however long it is around this time. I think I heard somewhere that only 8 episodes were taped before the beginning of the strike, so that might mean an even shorter season for the show. Sigh. But that's ok, it is always compelling, and always sexy and edgy, and doggonit... what the heck is the deal with that demon thingy anyway! LOL. Will Kate and Jack get together now that he has finally, FINALLY, admitted he is in love with her. And what about Sawyer? Damn... that man's got it going on! If I were Kate, who would I pick? Jack? Sawyer? Jack? Sawyer? Holy Toledo!! Can you imagine being stuck on a deserted island with those two? And that is only one of the storylines. LOL.There's also Hurley, and John, and, Ben and...
It drives me crazy, because it seems to ask more questions, then it answers. And because it is not on for a full season each year, I tend to get a little lost in the details, but every season premier night, like tonight, I pop the popcorn, grab the 4 chocolate dipped strawberries, and the diet soda, turn all the noise off, and let myself get lost right along with everyone else, because despite the irritations, and frustrations the show leaves me with, it is one of the best written shows to come along in a long, long time. When I watch shows like this one, and The Riches and Pushing Daisies, I just want to send out a big shout... "Come on people, pay the writers what they deserve, and get on with it!"
Hurley is my favorite character. He usually provides the comic relief, but his drama is fabulous as well!
Jack and Kate?
Or Sawyer and Kate?
"Libby" played by Cynthia Watros, was my favorite character from past seasons. I read over the summer that Watros will be reprising the role either later this season or early next. She is a great actress no matter what she is in. I have been watching her since her days as the wacky nutcase, Annie Dutton, on Guiding Light, back in the mid 90's.
Are you going to be watching LOST tonight along with me? :) Who is your favorite character? Which character would you like to see comeback? Jack and Kate or Sawyer and Kate? Which character do you find most compelling?
-OndineMonet NOTE: Please forgive my spelling errors, my spell check seems to be on the fritz. Sheesh!
