Search This Blog

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Sunday Jukebox - Sweet Freedom by Michael McDonald

What goes through your mind when you hear the word 'freedom'?

No, seriously. Think about it for a second. What goes through your mind when you hear that word?

Perhaps you think of freedom in the sense that you have the freedom to go wherever you like, or buy whatever you like, or do whatever you do. Or, maybe you see freedom as being left to your own devices as to what you feel is best for you and your lifestyle. Some people are given too much freedom in their lives. Some, not nearly enough.

To me, I define freedom as a goal in life that all of us ultimately want. Nobody in life actually asks to be held down by something or someone. The fact that there are quite a few people in this world who are tied down because of a number of factors is very sad.

There are a number of factors that may compromise a person's ability to achieve true freedom in this world. They could be tied up in an abusive marriage where their lives would be at risk if they ever fled. It could be being stuck at a dead-end job with no way of things improving. It could be living in a place where one does not feel safe walking the streets because of criminal activity.

Even throughout history, we have had instances where people have had to fight for their freedom. All we really have to do is do a little bit of research on Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad to see just how many slaves managed to find their way to freedom back in the 19th century. The Underground Railroad is just one of the many symbols that could be used to describe the word 'freedom'.

There are other examples of objects and places that could also symbolize freedom. Taking the scenario above where I talked about someone being tied in an abusive marriage, there is a way out. There are hotlines and resources available for women and men to use (in fact, if you click on this previous blog entry that I did, you can visit some of these resources).



Perhaps one of the most recognizable symbols of freedom that many people might know is the Statue Of Liberty, which sits on Liberty Island in New York Harbor. The green tinted statue of a woman wearing a crown and holding a torch high in the air has been one of New York City's most visited monuments.

This October, Lady Liberty celebrates her 125th birthday. The statue was a gift to the United States from France, and was designed by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, and was officially dedicated on October 28, 1886. The statue is of a robed female figure designed to resemble Libertas, the Roman goddess of freedom. She carries the symbolic torch high up in the air, and underneath her arm is a tablet with the date that the American Declaration of Independence was crafted (July 4, 1776).

The Statue Of Liberty became a symbol of freedom for the people who immigrated to the United States via New York City, for the statue was one of the first things that they saw upon entering America. Over the years, new immigrants to the country exhibited their pure excitement and jubilation over arriving in the United States to a better life. One immigrant from Greece said this upon viewing the Statue of Liberty for the first time;

I saw the Statue Of Liberty. And I said to myself, 'Lady, you're such a beautiful! You opened your arms and you get all the foreigners here. Give me a chance to prove that I am worth it, to do something, to be someone in America.' And always that statue was on my mind.”

Doesn't that sound inspiring?

I guess it could be of some comfort that the shining light from Lady Liberty's torch guided the way for many people who were new to America, and sort of gave them that comfort that the freedom that they wanted for whatever reason was within reach.

The reason why I brought this up is because the lyrics of the song that I want to talk about today are kind of related to this. No, the song isn't really about the Statue Of Liberty, but the song's chorus could be one that kind of relates to the dreams of freedom that many have that many others take for granted.



ARTIST: Michael McDonald
SONG: Sweet Freedom
ALBUM: Running Scared Official Soundtrack
DATE RELEASED: June 14, 1986
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS: #7



Michael McDonald has had a rather lengthy musical career, although many people may not even be aware of it. At the age of 22, McDonald got his first big break by singing backing vocals for Steely Dan. He sang backing vocals on the band's albums between 1975 and 1980. During this time, McDonald was recruited to fill in for Tom Johnston, who was the lead singer for The Doobie Brothers, who had become ill while they were on tour.

McDonald's stint as the singer of The Doobie Brothers was so successful that he ended up joining the band on a full-time basis in 1976. For five years, Michael McDonald sang lead on a number of hits for the band including 'Real Love', 'Takin' It To The Streets' and 'What A Fool Believes'.

After The Doobie Brothers disbanded in the early 1980s, Michael McDonald decided to embark on a solo career. He had a few minor hits, but he managed to build up his resume by working with a lot of top-notch acts. He had a number one hit with Patti LaBelle with 'On My Own' in 1986, and he co-wrote songs for Carly Simon and Van Halen. In 1985, he won a Grammy Award along with James Ingram for the duet 'Yah Mo B There'. Even now, he writes and records songs, and with his cover versions of classic Motown hits, he has still managed to keep a profile in the music industry.



The song 'Sweet Freedom' (ironically enough released on Flag Day, an American observance that celebrates another symbol of freedom in the United States) was actually released on the soundtrack of a movie. The movie was 'Running Scared', and starred Billy Crystal and the late Gregory Hines. Both actors make a cameo in the music video for the song, as you've seen up above.

The movie itself actually depicted the two main characters seeking freedom of their own in some sense. Two police officers in Chicago have made the decision to relocate to Florida with the dream of opening up a bar in a tropical paradise.

Think Cocktail, only two years earlier and without Tom Cruise.

The reason they made the decision that they did was because of the fact that both of them were almost killed on the job, and because they feel as though their superiors didn't respect them as much as they should have. However, due to a twist of fate, they find that they have to take down the person who almost killed them. Before they retire, they must find a way to bring him down (while faced with the humiliating task of training their replacements) so they can go after their freedom.

Of course, that's all I'm going to tell you about the movie, because this isn't a Monday Matinee post. All I'll say is that in the end, the two detectives get their freedom, but not exactly in the way one might expect.



Anyways, back to the song, I think if one were to really examine the lyrics of the song, they would see the reason why I brought up the opening paragraph about freedom. As McDonald describes it, he talked about how he wasn't going to do any more running down the wrong road. He also kind of wanted to tell us that if we looked deep inside our hearts, we would find that the key to having the freedom we wanted was always inside of us, as long as we believed it.

I have to think that Mr. McDonald knows what he is talking about here.

I'm sure that change is a difficult thing for all of us to go through. Lord knows I have struggled with making the effort to make positive changes for myself. Why that is the case could be a combination of a fear of failure and a lack of self-esteem with just a little dash of disbelief. But I don't need a gourmet chef to tell me that recipe is one that can be toxic under certain conditions. Like any master of their trade, one must experiment with their surroundings. Perhaps by moving away to a different city, or taking up a skill, or going back to school. Sure, it can be rough going, but as the song says, freedom can be achieved provided that you believe in yourself that you will make it.

Just like all of those people who looked towards the light that Lady Liberty held in her hand for years and years did. They looked to the Statue of Liberty to lead the way for success, but in all actuality, they were looking deep inside themselves and telling themselves that this would be a sign that a better life was possible.

I guess I need to start believing that more often.

Shine sweet freedom, shine your light on me
You are the magic, you're right where I want to be
Oh sweet freedom, carry me along
We'll keep the spirit alive, on and on.








Saturday, September 24, 2011

Saturday Morning - Ri¢hie Ri¢h

Have you ever heard the phrase 'poor little rich boy' before?



Today's edition of the Saturday Morning blog post (which returns back to normal after the September switcheroo) features one young boy who could easily be described as being exactly that.



Do any of you remember the comic book character of Richie Rich? Richie Rich became one of the most well known mascots of the now defunct comic book company Harvey Comics.

By all accounts, Richie Rich looked like your typical, run-of-the-mill seven year old boy. He had two parents who loved him, as well as a pet dog, and lived a fairly happy childhood.

Did I mention that he happens to be the richest kid in the whole world?

I'm serious. His wealth could probably put all the Trump children, the Kardashian sisters, and Paris Hilton to shame.

His parents, Richard and Regina Rich are incredibly wealthy industrialists who ended up using all of their money to build a gigantic mansion. The mansion includes both human servants (with Cadbury being the butler that we see the most often) and robot servants (as in the case with Irona). Richie's dog is a rare breed of a dog called a 'Dollar-matian', appropriately named 'Dollar'.

Richie Rich has almost everything in the world that money could buy, and he could have almost any luxury he wanted. If he wanted an ice cream sundae, all of the ingredients would be freshly made. There was no need for him to go to an amusement park because he could have one built in his backyard. He had everything that most boys his age could only dream of having.

So, why would he then be called the 'poor little rich boy'?



The 1994 live action movie based on the comic and cartoon series does a better job at explaining Richie's plight than the comic books and show did, but to briefly summarize it, Richie's vast wealth has made him kind of a lonely kid.

I don't really like using the term lonely. With hundreds of servants and staff members at Rich mansion on any given day, Richie was certainly not a child that could be considered isolated. He was what you could consider a sort of latchkey child though.

In case some of you haven't heard of the term latchkey kid before, basically it's a child who more often than not is left to his/her own devices because they have parents who work so much that they are hardly ever home. In Richie's case, his parents worked almost around the clock in order to keep up their massive estate, and to make sure that Richie was provided for financially.

Unfortunately, what Richie really needed was to have his family there for him for emotional support, and to be there for him when he needed them. Sometimes, his parents got caught up in their work, whether it be for charitable purposes, or expanding their already rich empire. Sometimes, they had to fly out on a moment's notice to other cities and countries, leaving Richie behind with Cadbury and Irona.

As if that wasn't bad enough, the 1994 movie also showed that Richie had great difficulty making friends. Sure, in the comic book and cartoon series, Richie was great friends with Gloria, Pee-Wee, and Freckles, but on the movie, he really had to prove himself to them. Mainly because the kids weren't used to hanging out with someone who had as much money as Richie. Once they got to know him though, they saw him as being a great friend.

A lot of people stereotype rich kids as being spoiled rotten, or lazy, who feel a great sense of entitlement just because they have a lot of money, gold, silver, and gems.

That simply just was not Richie Rich.

Richie Rich was kind, trustworthy, and extremely generous. In fact, he would often attempt to buy Gloria luxurious presents (which she almost always refuses as she doesn't feel the need to be lavished upon). Compare that to his bratty cousin Reggie, who often played pranks on Richie and his friends. He also would treat his servants terribly, and acted as if he were better than everyone else. Something that Richie would never think of doing.



Richie Rich first appeared in Harvey Comics in September 1953, in a Little Dot comic book. It would take about seven years for Richie to get his own title. Yet, once Richie did, it soon became a huge hit. The original title ran for 254 issues between 1960 and 1991 (with a four year hiatus beginning in 1982 with restructuring in the Harvey Comics company being the main cause). But there were several other spin-offs from the original title starring Richie. Some of the more successful spin-offs were named after various units of money and assets, including Richie Rich Relics, Richie Rich's Dollars and Cents, Richie Rich Millions, and Richie Rich Success Stories, and most of these titles ran for at least two decades. Although Richie Rich comics have been published largely sporadically since the main title ended in 1991, a new version of the title is slated to be released in late 2011 or early 2012.

I'll admit that I read the odd Richie Rich title growing up, but for some reason, the comic book serial was one that I never really actively collected (unlike Archie Comics, which if you have read other blog postings over the past few months, I have a bit of an obsession with). Still, it was a decent comic book with some cute stories.



Even if Richie Rich DID sort of resemble Casper The Friendly Ghost. One of the rumours that went around my elementary school was that Casper was the ghost of Richie Rich (a rumour that was proven false when you consider that Casper was created back in the 1930s and the fact that his name in the Casper movie was Casper McFadden).

But I'll save that for the Casper entry (if I do a Casper The Friendly Ghost entry).

I did love watching the cartoon series of Richie Rich though. And to end this entry, I'm going to share the opening of the 1980 cartoon series with all of you.


Friday, September 23, 2011

Friday Night Videos: "Friday" by Rebecca Black

I hope all of you have enjoyed this special week where I switched things around a bit. I may end up doing it again in a few months time. But, don't worry, I'll provide all of you with advanced warning beforehand.

Tomorrow, we'll go back to the old schedule, so on Saturdays, it'll be back to discussing cartoons, and so on.

I must offer a bit of a confession for you all. I had planned the September Switcheroo for a while now, and part of the reason is because there was one subject that I really wanted to talk about for a while now.

By the process of elimination, you've probably figured out that every theme has been accounted for except for one. That would be the day that I would normally have the Sunday Jukebox.

For some reason though, I didn't think that it was appropriate to post on a Sunday. Not because it happens to be a song about sacrificial Satanic rituals and posting it on a day that is highly religious in nature. Nothing like that at all. Those who know me best would know that while I consider myself to be a spiritual person in nature, I am not religious.

No, the reason why I wanted to wait until a Friday to post this entry is because the song title happens to have the word 'Friday' in its title.

Certainly there are a lot of songs that could qualify for this honour. Dozens of them from artists such as The Cure, Katy Perry, Steely Dan, and Nancy Sinatra.

Instead, I chose the song that just six months ago, everyone talked about this song...and not necessarily in a good way either.



Prior to 2011, Rebecca Black was your typical thirteen year old girl who attended junior high school. Rebecca had a keen interest in music, and taking a tip from a classmate of hers at the time, decided to make a music video using the help of a record label, Ark Music Factory. For $4,000 (which Rebecca's mother paid), Rebecca got the choice of one of two songs that she could sing and make an accompanying music video.

To Rebecca's credit, one of the songs that was offered to her was a song about adult love, which she immediately rejected. After all, she was only a teenager, and hadn't experienced those feelings yet. She instead chose the other song that was immediately offered to her.

And, here's the song she ended up recording.

 
ARTIST: Rebecca Black
SONG: Friday
DATE RELEASED: February 10, 2011
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS: #66

When 'Friday' was first released onto the video-sharing site YouTube in February 2011, Rebecca Black was eager to share it with her friends and family. She had hopes that the video would help her launch a singing career, although Ark Music had told Rebecca's parents that she shouldn't expect to become famous because of the one video she shot.

During the first month of the video being posted on YouTube, it amassed about 4,000 views. Not a huge number, but certainly enough to satisfy Black. I know that sometimes I get a little giddy when I check the page views for this own blog because at least I know that people are reading my thoughts and feelings and hopefully getting something out of it.

Of course, I don't think Rebecca Black expected her little $4,000 video to become an Internet sensation. Especially one that was for all the wrong reasons.



The date was March 11, 2011. Four weeks after 'Friday' was first released on the Internet. Thanks to comedian Michael J. Nelson posting a link to the video on his Twitter account as well as a Tosh 2.0 blog post entitled 'Songwriting Isn't For Everyone', the views for Rebecca Black's music video skyrocketed.

By March 21, 2011, the video for 'Friday' had swelled up to 30 million views on YouTube and quickly became one of the most viewed videos on the video-sharing site since it was founded in February 2005.

You would think that this would be fantastic news for Rebecca Black. Thirty million views for a video. Most singers are lucky to even get one-eighth of that reception. Rebecca Black should have been on cloud nine.

However, quite the opposite reaction happened.

You see, on YouTube, there is a feature on every video that allows registered users to vote on whether they like or dislike a video. It's a pretty standard feature, really. It was only natural that people who viewed 'Friday' would take advantage of this feature.

Unfortunately for Rebecca Black, more people clicked on the dislike button than the like button.

In fact, of all the votes cast during the video's original posting, a reported 87% of them were dislikes. As if that wasn't bad enough, the comments that users left behind underneath the video ranged from vague sarcasm to outright cruelty. Most of them were the standard 'this sucks' caliber, but some of them were absolutely horrible. Some of them begged her to stop singing. A few of them attacked Rebecca personally, saying that she should develop an eating disorder to improve her looks and that they wanted her to cut herself.

To make matters even worse, the bullying and teasing wasn't just limited to the Internet. Rebecca Black suffered bullying and abuse at school by her classmates. In 2011, Rebecca decided to leave public school and go into a home-schooling program. She claimed that it was so she could have more time to develop her singing career, though one has to wonder if the bullying that she went through influenced her decision.

In May 2011, the comments for the 'Friday' video were disabled, and on June 16, 2011, the video was removed from YouTube with permission from Rebecca Black, as Black's family was involved in a legal dispute with Ark Music Factory at the time. The video was uploaded once again on September 16, 2011 under Rebecca Black's own YouTube channel, as you probably have seen up above.



Still, the criticism continues to surround Rebecca Black. Several people have stated that 'Friday' is the worst song ever recorded. Kind of a hard title to overcome, right? Not something one would want to be remembered for, right?

But here's the thing. Rebecca Black's 'Friday' ISN'T the worst song ever recorded. At least not in my opinion.

I mean, I won't sugarcoat this blog entry completely. I'm not in love with 'Friday'. I can't lie and say that I like it, because I have to admit it isn't that memorable. However, it's far from being the 'worst' I ever heard. I think a lot of the biggest critics of this song and video don't seem to realize that their perspective might be a lot different from that of somebody else. I mean, certainly it wasn't Grammy Award worthy, but it didn't warrant the nasty reactions that other people gave it (and her).

I have a low tolerance for bullies and people who purposely say hurtful things for the sole purpose of making someone else feel bad. It doesn't matter what a person does or if they do something that you don't particularly like. Sometimes there are some instances where the best thing to do is keep your thoughts to yourself.

I have no problem with criticism as long as it is constructive. Some people disliked the idea of Rebecca Black's song overusing the device known as Auto-Tune. I can't say that I blame them one bit in that regard, as the Auto-Tune was way overused. But I only say this because when you take away the Auto-Tuning, Rebecca Black actually doesn't sound too bad. She has another song out called 'My Moment', and there's no Auto-Tune, and I think I may like it better than 'Friday' because it is Rebecca just being herself without any aid.

And, while we're on the subject, Rebecca Black is only fourteen years old. People aren't born great singers, writers, bricklayers overnight. The best have to work at it each and every day. I'm sure that with constant practice and cultivation of her abilities and skills, Rebecca could end up surprising everyone. Maybe it won't amount to anything beyond 'Friday', but I'm willing to give her the shot to prove her critics wrong. It's possible that they may be right, but it's also entirely possible that they could be wrong about her.

I guess one of the biggest problems that I personally find with the mechanics of 'Friday' is the lyrics of the song. It wouldn't have mattered if Celine Dion had sang them. They weren't exactly Grammy award worthy.

(Of course, mind you, most of the music that came out this year hasn't exactly been stellar, but of course, this is merely my stance, and you can feel free to agree or disagree as you see fit.)

However, were the lyrics appropriate enough for a teenage girl to sing? Absolutely. I mean, certainly she had the option to sing a more adult song, but she refused because she simply didn't feel that it fit for her at that point in time, and really, I think that should be commended. With so many female teenage singers being encouraged by the current music industry to 'sex it up' and sing songs that are years ahead of them, I actually want to applaud her for taking that stance, and doing what she thought was the right choice for her.

And besides, Rebecca Black didn't write the lyrics for 'Friday'. It's hard to know exactly how much creative control Rebecca really did have on that song, though just based on the research that I have done on this song at least, I'm unable to find anything that suggests that Rebecca had any impact on the lyrics of the song whatsoever. My guess is that she was given the lyrics and was just told to sing her little heart out.

As I said before, criticism is fine as long as it is constructive. My opinion that Rebecca Black should lay off the Auto-Tune button and actually sing without the use of such devices still stands, but that's only because I think she sounds better without all those devices. I know that in some songs, Auto-Tune could be used sparingly and still end up being a hit (I'm thinking of Cher's song 'Believe' as a fantastic example of this), but when the whole song is utilizing it, that is a different story altogether. But that's fine, I'm sure that my comments would probably mean nothing to anyone involved with the making of 'Friday'. I'm just putting it out there to illustrate my point about constructive criticism.

Constructive criticism does NOT involve calling someone names, completely tearing apart their self-esteem and wishing them bodily harm or hoping they develop anorexia. That is just needless cruelty, and I for one am disgusted that people can act like this towards someone else. Not surprised, sadly...but disgusted. It doesn't matter how terrible you think that someone might be. It is unwarranted. It isn't as though Rebecca Black stabbed someone, robbed a charitable organization, or strangled a squirrel in front of a kindergarten class. She just released a simple music video for her friends and family to view, hoping that somehow it would help her appreciate music a lot more, and maybe start up a recording career as she grew older. It may not have been what the public wanted, but at the same time, I don't think it was worth making death threats against her.

And, I guess that's why I wanted to write this article. As someone who has been on the receiving end of bullying and deconstructive criticism, I can sympathize with what Rebecca Black had to go through. I couldn't even fathom having my struggles being broadcast all over television, the Internet, and other media sources. The fact that Rebecca Black is handling it as well as she has been has been nothing short of inspiring. I know it seems like an odd word choice to use in this situation, but really, Rebecca had to endure criticism from all over the world. Where many people would have crumbled or surrendered from the backlash, she seems to be taking it in stride. I can't say that it has been easy for her. I imagine that some days, she probably wanted to hide from the world.

The fact that she isn't, and the fact that she's standing up to her bullies by not letting the criticism get to her (at least in public view) is a great thing to see.



Whether Rebecca Black ends up carving out a career that lasts years, or whether she'll be a one-hit-wonder is not known at this time. She could be a success, or she may not. But with Rebecca Black making appearances in Katy Perry videos and her song being sung on the high-rated television program Glee, one might say that her infamy from having such a controversial song could end up netting Rebecca Black the last laugh.

Only time will tell, I suppose.

And that ends the September Switcheroo. I hope you all enjoyed this week of twists and turns, and know that things will return to normal beginning tomorrow. Have a great day, everyone, and thank you!

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Like Sands Through The Hourglass, So Are The Soaps Of Our Lives

It really is quite interesting the memories that can dwell so deeply inside a person's subconscious. Memories that were insignificant at the time that they occurred, but are suddenly brought back to the surface because of a particular event that happens.

I'd like to tell you a little story about my childhood and my family if you don't mind.

Years and years ago when my mother was a child, her family bought their very first television set. It was the first half of 1956. My mother had just turned ten years old the previous November. The television that my grandparents had bought for the family was nothing fancy. One of those black and white models with the rounded screen that looked no bigger than a standard computer monitor. At most, they could only get one or two channels, as that was all that they had back in 1956.

Still, it was a proud moment for my mom's family. With television becoming more and more popular every passing day, the fact that they had a television set gave them some security that things were looking up for them. My family never really had a whole lot of disposable income (on both sides of my family), so getting a television set was a big deal.

Almost immediately, my mother and my grandmother started watching daytime television whenever possible. Of course, my mother has school to attend at the time, so her daytime television viewing was limited, but my grandmother was a loyal fan of daytime television.

There's a reason why I wanted to be absolutely specific about the exact time when my grandparents got their first television set. In 1956 a brand new show debuted on CBS during the daytime television time slot that both my grandmother and mother used to watch religiously for years.



The program was a soap opera called As The World Turns. It debuted on television on April 2, 1956, and my grandmother watched the very first episode. It certainly wasn't the very first soap opera. Other soap operas such as Search For Tomorrow and The Guiding Light had been on the air for years (and in the case of The Guiding Light decades) before As The World Turns came along, but during the 1950s and 1960s, several more would be added to the daytime schedules of all three major networks.

Soap operas proved to be a very popular form of entertainment, especially towards a female audience (which made sense, given that most women during the 1950s stayed home during the daytime hours). During the 1950s, almost all of these soap operas were broadcast on television, but prior to this, many of them were broadcast on the radio. Many of these programs were sponsored and/or produced by companies that made soap products, such as Colgate-Palmolive, Lever Brothers, and Procter & Gamble (which explains why these programs were called soap operas).

Soap operas were an interesting show format. Unlike most prime time drama serials, which only lasted from September to May and aired a maximum of 25 episodes a season, soap operas ran consistently. Five days a week from Monday to Friday, a new episode would be produced with all new material. The shows were either centered around a couple of feuding families or a location in a community, and detailed the twists and turns that fell upon the people who starred in the series. Each day's events would flow into the next, with Friday episodes traditionally airing a 'cliffhanger' episode that would keep viewers on the edge of their seats until the following Monday, when the cliffhanger would (hopefully) be resolved.

In most cases, soap operas dealt with love and romance between couples, and certainly every daytime serial had a couple that people could root for or wanted to root for. These couples were often known as 'supercouples', and many of them immediately became fan favourites. Some well known soap opera supercouples included Victor and Nikki from The Young and the Restless, Josh and Reva from Guiding Light, Lily and Holden from As The World Turns, and Angie and Jesse from All My Children.



Perhaps one of the biggest supercouples of the entire daytime television genre was that of Luke and Laura, from General Hospital. Fans really seemed to gravitate towards the couple, even though when the couple got together, it wasn't under the greatest of circumstances (a drunken Luke had raped Laura). Regardless, the chemistry that the two had with each other seemed to register to viewers. The wedding between Luke and Laura aired on November 17, 1981, which also included a cameo from the late Elizabeth Taylor. That wedding ended up scoring huge ratings. An average of thirty million viewers tuned in to watch Luke and Laura say 'I Do', and to this day remains the highest rated episode of a soap opera ever.  Watch it below if you like.



Other topics that soap operas dealt with were fraud, affairs, crime, murder, and natural disasters. And just because a character was killed off didn't mean that they stayed dead. If you were to look at every soap opera that aired over the last thirty years, you'd be hard pressed to find one where they DIDN'T have a character come back to life after being declared dead. It was just one of the many tricks and trades that soap operas used. The storylines didn't have to make sense, or even be physically or medically possible. As long as the writing of the characters made sense, it could snow in the middle of August and viewers would buy it the characters made it believable.

For several decades, the American soap opera proved to be a very powerful force. With millions of viewers tuning in to see their 'stories' every weekday, advertisers cashed in by airing their commercials during each episode. Back in 1976, Time magazine described American daytime television as being 'television's richest market'. Because of the loyalty of fans who tuned in each day, added with the expansion of many daytime serials expanding from 30 minutes to 60 minutes, made daytime television more profitable to invest in than prime time series.

But that was during the 1970s. Something happened along the way that changed the course of daytime television into what it is today.

Just take a look at this. Twenty years ago for the 1991/1992 season, there were no less than eleven soap operas on the air.

CBS had The Young and the Restless, The Bold and the Beautiful, As The World Turns and Guiding Light.

ABC had Loving, All My Children, One Life To Live, and General Hospital.

NBC had Days Of Our Lives, Santa Barbara, and Another World.

As of September 22, 2011, only six remain. By the weekend, only five will continue airing. By early 2012, we'll only have four left.



Tomorrow marks the last airdate of the 41-year-old soap opera, All My Children. One Life To Live is slated to go off the air a few months later, in January 2012. While deals have been made to bring both All My Children and One Life To Live online so viewers can still watch, it could take months for such projects to be greenlighted. By January 2012, The Young and the Restless, The Bold and the Beautiful, Days Of Our Lives, and General Hospital will be the only soap operas still airing on television.

What happened? Well, lots of things.



I told you the story earlier about how my grandmother and mother grew up watching the soap opera As The World Turns. For many, many years, As The World Turns was their all-time favourite of all the soap operas. My grandmother watched the show religiously until she passed away in 1991. My mother was one of those viewers that watched As The World Turns from the beginning of the program to the very end, with the show going off the air in September 2010. To a lesser extent, my older sister watched soap operas as well, only my sister's favourite show during her teen years was Guiding Light (which went off the air in September 2009).

That's how many people got hooked on soap operas. It became a form of entertainment that mothers and daughters could watch together. In fact, a reported 30% of soap opera viewers are male, so some mothers and sons used to watch the 'stories' together.



(CONFESSION TIME: I got addicted to the soap opera 'Loving' when I was 11 and sick with the flu one week, and I still catch the odd episode of The Young and the Restless thanks to some college roommates getting me hooked on it.)

This was commonplace for about the first three decades of soap opera production. By the mid-1980s, however, more women started to head back to the workforce, and therefore were not home often enough to devote time to watching soap operas as much as they used to. Newer generations of viewers found it harder to keep up with the storylines, and the trials and tribulations of all of the different characters in the show.



The recent trend of creating reality programs such as Jersey Shore and Keeping Up With The Kardashians could also be to blame for the decline of soap opera viewership. With reality shows having a production cost much lower than that of daytime soap operas, some viewers turned to these shows to satisfy their need for dramatic programming. Add to that the rise of cable channels and more choices of programming for people to choose from, and this was another factor behind the decline of modern day soap operas.

Certainly these are all factors that have eroded the ratings for daytime dramas, but I thought I would ask another source about why they thought soaps were fast becoming a lost genre.

I asked my mother. Would you like to know what she said?

She said that while she remained loyal to As The World Turns until the day it was cancelled, she did say that the last two years of the show were a bit unwatchable. She said that the writing of such programs went downhill considerably and that the quality of the storylines was not as good as it had been. The stories jumped all over the place, and stories were more plot-based than character-based. Once I heard her opinion, it caused me to have an opinion of my own.

I always have said myself that some of the best stories I have read were character driven. In a lot of cases, especially for soap operas that were around in the 1970s, many of these shows relied on casting strong lead characters rather than plot devices. Characters were developed in such a way that the audience could either love them, hate them, or love to hate them. The more the audience reacted to a soap opera character, the better.

Certainly there have been some memorable characters on soap operas over the years. One of which comes from the soap opera that will be ending its run on network television.



Although my family hardly ever watched ABC soap operas (they were mostly a CBS soap opera family), they have heard of Susan Lucci. She played Erica Kane on the soap opera All My Children since the show's debut in 1970, and to say that her character hadn't been through a lot would be an understatement. With her having more marriages than Elizabeth Taylor, having two daughters with their own emotional baggage, and even going up against a giant bear, she definitely has that character appeal that soap viewers loved.

And, no, I'm not kidding about the bear. Here's proof.



As it turned out, Susan Lucci's professional career was a bit of a soap opera in itself. Her work was always considered to be some of the best in the genre, and it was enough for her to be nominated for the Daytime Emmy award for Best Actress. She kept getting nominated and nominated, but yet she never won.

That is until 1999, when Susan Lucci's nineteenth nomination proved to be the one that won her the award. The standing ovation that she received as she went to collect her award seemed to last forever, and you could see the joy in her eyes as she finally accepted her long-awaited award.



Regardless of whether Susan Lucci continues with the web-format of All My Children or not (last reports state she will not), she has made enough of a name for herself that people couldn't possibly forget her or the character she played.



One could also say the same about Kim Zimmer, who played Reva Shayne for two separate stints on Guiding Light.  Reva was one of those people who were thought to be dead, but came back to life.  Twice.  She went through people trying to kill her, being a princess of an island nation, and she was even cloned!  But mostly she was known as being the real vamp of the show, and as this scene from 1984 shows, viewers could find something to identify with in this real 'tart with a heart' character.



Loud.  Brash.  Easy.  Those were all words to describe Reva.  Yet, in that scene she was still that insecure young woman who wanted desperately to be loved and respected for who she was and not for what favours she could do.  She was a character that many probably wouldn't care for on the streets, but resonated a deep chord in viewers, who could maybe identify with the frustrations she was going through.  Characters who could instill such powerful emotions in viewers made for great television.

It's easy to dismiss a soap opera as being mindless fluff filled with romance and love scenes, but it was more than that. With over 200 new episodes filmed each year, the writers were challenged with coming up with new material every day, and actors had to memorize dozens of pages of dialogue a week. 



Many famous actors and actresses got their big breaks on soap operas. Certainly, you have big named actors and actresses who have starred on soaps. Ryan Phillipe was on One Life To Live, and both Meg Ryan and Julianne Moore starred on As The World Turns (Moore actually returned to the show just before it went off the air).

Other actors and actresses who have made it big since their soap days include Kelly Ripa, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Mark Consuelos, Eva LaRue, Michael Weatherly, Allison Janney, Marg Helgenberger, Eva Longoria, Morgan Fairchild, Taye Diggs, and the late Christopher Reeve, just to name a few.

Some already established actors and actresses have made cameo appearances or have had recurring roles in soap operas recently. I already mentioned Elizabeth Taylor as having made a cameo appearance on General Hospital, but recently, James Franco has shot a couple of appearances on that same show. Betty White appeared on a few episodes of The Bold and the Beautiful a couple of years ago. The Young and the Restless have had many guest stars playing themselves appearing on the show over their 38-year history. After doing some research, I know that Jewel, Katy Perry, and Il Divo have all appeared as guests on the show.



I think that while soap operas have struggled in recent years, there is still an audience for them. The Young and the Restless have been number one in the ratings since the late 1980s, and The Bold and the Beautiful is the most syndicated soap opera shown today, with the program airing in 42 countries alone. Still, with more soaps shutting down production year by year, the road back will be an incredibly rocky one.

A soap opera in itself, really. 

And as we bid farewell to All My Children from network television, at least for fans of that show, and the other ones that were cancelled, the memories will live on even if the genre is currently on life-support.




Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Wednesday Afterschool Cartoons: Jem And The Holograms

When I was a child growing up in Ontario, Canada, I was lucky enough to have been born during a time in which cartoon shows didn't just air on Saturday mornings.

Whenever school ended for the day (usually around a quarter to three in the afternoon), all one had to do was turn on YTV to see a whole block of animated programming right up until the six o'clock news.

It really was a great time to be a kid. Lots of shows and cartoons for boys and girls to view.

So I figured that I would use this opportunity to talk about a show that was designed for girls, marketed for girls, and where the stars were all girls.

And you know what? I think there's a lot that this show can teach the men reading this blog as well.

It really wasn't until I rediscovered this show recently on video-sharing sites that the show really did share a ton of valuable lessons for both males and females. Men and women could really learn a lot from this cartoon. There were episodes that dealt with the subjects of teenage runaways, drug abuse, and illiteracy, and the whole cartoon series was based on the concept of four young women running a foster home that the parents of two of the women started up. These four women would later form a girl group that would have a string of hit singles, and where profits for each album went towards the maintenance of the house, as well as taking care of the dozens of girls who lived at the home.



Jem debuted on television in October 1985, four years after the debut of MTV. Like MTV, Jem blended together animated music video clips with storylines. It was considered to be a wild idea at first, but when the show debuted, it immediately garnered a lot of success.  People all over the world tuned in to see the adventures of Jem and the Holograms. Although the series ended in May 1988, cable channels still air the show today, and the show could still be considered as relevant as it was back in the 1980s. In fact, Christy Marx (the creator of the show) has said that she would like to bring the show back with all new episodes, though nothing has come out of these negotiations as of September 2011.



The main storyline of Jem details the creation of the all-girl group Jem and the Holograms and their rise to stardom, but there were other key details that held the show together.

The show began at the funeral of Emmett Benton, the CEO/owner of Starlight Records, and head of the Starlight House (a home for orphaned girls that his late wife Jacqui founded). When Emmett passed away, the responsibilities of managing Starlight House fell on his eldest daughter, Jerrica. As for the future of Starlight Records, it was left to both Jerrica and Emmett's business partner, Eric Raymond. But when Eric Raymond tells Jerrica that he wants full control of Starlight Records to promote his new band, The Misfits, Jerrica is left feeling betrayed.

At the same time, Starlight House is falling apart. With help from Rio (Jerrica's on-off love interest), as well as her younger sister Kimber, Jerrica does the best she can to keep the house going. Her childhood friends, Aja and Shana (who were two of the first girls living at Starlight House) also pitched in to help, and some of the younger girls started up an 'Honour Jar' to help buy a new refrigerator for the home. Still, money is tight at the house to keep up with the repairs, and Jerrica knows that something had to be done.  But with Eric refusing to let Jerrica take money out of the Starlight Records bank vaults to fix up the house, Jerrica was unsure of what to do.

So when Jerrica receives a present of red star earrings, at first, nothing is made of it. But during a thunderstorm, a strange event occurs. A purple haired woman (who appears as a holographic image) suddenly appears inside of Jerrica's bedroom and tells her to follow the instructions in the earring box. Shocked, Jerrica, Kimber, Aja, and Shana decide to follow the instructions to the Starlight Drive-In, an abandoned movie theater. After the woman instructs Aja to drive through the wall, everyone believes it to be a really ridiculous idea.  Still, Jerrica convinces Aja to drive straight ahead.  When they do, they find that the wall is not real, and upon entering find themselves face to face with a gigantic computer with buttons and synthesizers attached to it.  This happens to be the 'home' of the mystery woman.



The woman's name is Synergy, and she happens to be a super-computer that Emmett Benton designed.  Synergy could create images of objects, change a person's appearance and conjure up a double of someone by using holographic illusions.  Jerrica's red earrings acted as a communication device between herself and Synergy, and she could use the earrings to transform from Jerrica to Jem no matter where she was in the world.   

In addition, Jerrica discovers that her father had also left her dozens of other gifts, including a full wardrobe of clothes, musical instruments, and a brand new car.

Basically, her father had left her a Price Is Right showcase.

As it turned out though, Jerrica ended up coming up with a brilliant idea. What if they used the gifts that Emmett had left them to their advantage? With the clothes and musical instruments, they could definitely pull off the look of an all-girl group, and play like one as well.  Kimber played piano as a young girl, Aja could play the guitar, and Shana was a master with the percussion instruments.  In addition, Jerrica and Kimber's mother was a singer and songwriter, so music definitely was in their genes.  The idea of forming a band was almost a natural thing for the girls to do. 

But the band needed some sort of edge to stand out in a crowd. Having plain Jane nice girl Jerrica Benton as the frontwoman of a band would not qualify. The band needed a lead singer that was wild. A lead singer that was full of charisma. A lead singer that could dress the part. A lead singer that wasn't afraid of anything.



By day, she was Jerrica Benton. By night, she was Jem, the pink-haired, glamourous lead singer of the Holograms.

And they made their debut just as Eric Raymond was promoting his band 'The Misfits' in a Battle of the Bands contest.



Needless to say, Eric was not impressed that the crowd seemed to favour the Holograms instead of the Misfits. The Misfits were even more angry, as they didn't like having to compete (especially since Eric had rigged the contest to ensure the Misfits would win for publicity purposes).



The Misfits were comprised of Pizzazz (the spoiled rotten lead singer), Roxy (the tough-as-nails, no-nonsense gal), and Stormer (the sensitive songwriter of the group who unlike her band members was genuinely kind and appreciative towards other people). They saw Jem and the Holograms as a major threat, though they'd never admit their own insecurities. They were too proud to admit those. Still, the sudden appearance of Jem and the Holograms must have had some impact on Eric, because Eric immediately felt threatened.

And Eric didn't even realize that Jem and Jerrica Benton were one in the same.

It was here that Jem had decided to issue Eric and the Misfits a challenge. A redo of the Battle of the Bands competition between the Holograms and the Misfits.  A competition that was not rigged. With a wealthy benefactor backing the competition, the prizes were huge. A brand new mansion, a movie contract, and full control of Starlight Records. This was a prize that the Holograms definitely needed because with Jerrica in control of Starlight Records, they could then use all the profits to repair Starlight House and take care of the Starlight girls.

Their road to stardom was rough enough being a brand new band just starting out. But Eric made their battle all that much worse. He hired thugs to break into Starlight House to intimidate Jerrica into withdrawing from the contest. But in the struggle, the Starlight House caught fire and burned to the ground. While everyone in the house escaped injury, they were left homeless as a result, making the stakes even higher. They had to win at all costs, or the future of the Starlight girls and Starlight Records would be bleak.



Certainly, the road to success was a rough one. Jerrica had to deal with Kimber not feeling like a part of the group, as well as pranks and tricks caused by the Misfits to keep Jem and the others away from even performing at the event. Luckily, Jem and the Holograms make it in time, and win the contest, securing the mansion for the Starlight girls to live in, as well as control of Starlight Records.

There was one other prize that was offered. The chance to star in their own music-themed movie project. And that happens to be the episode that I actually want to talk about in this blog, because it really is a great episode. While the episode does a great job in showing how good can triumph over evil, it also provides a wonderful life lesson for all to take in.

Although I have found the three parts for this 90-minute episode, I am unable to actually post them onto the blog itself. What I can do is provide the links to each of these three parts. The episode itself is entitled Starbright, but each section is split up. We have Falling Star, Colliding Stars, and finally Rising Star. I'll wait until you watch each part. Go ahead. I'll go grab something to eat while you watch.

Have you watched it yet? Good. I'm under the assumption that you have. Even if you don't we'll discuss it anyway.


Everything was going well for the Holograms. They had everything set in place for the movie, and with help from their new friend 'Video', they were well on their way to having success with their movie.

That is until Pizzazz and the rest of the Misfits got jealous of all the attention that the Holograms were given, and she decided to use her father's money to buy the movie studio where the movie was being filmed and produced.

This meant that Eric and the Misfits forced their way into starring in the Jem movie, despite the fact that the Holograms had won the prize fair and square. To say that Jem and the Holograms were very angry with the Misfits was an understatement. Nevertheless, they attempted to make it work.

Unfortunately, the Misfits acted like real divas. They wanted more scenes than the Holograms, and they were determined to take over the production. With Eric justifying their nasty behaviour, it wasn't long before the director of the film walked off the project. That made Eric take over the whole direction of the movie, which caused even more friction between the Holograms and the Misfits.

Meanwhile, the Misfits continued to wreak havoc. Spreading lies about Jem and the Holograms to the make-up artists who worked on the set was bad enough. When the Misfits ended up taking over entire musical production numbers, the stress of having to deal with them proved to be the last straw for Jem and the others to take, and they walked off the set along with Video.

Fate had other ideas, however, and something would happen back at Starlight House that would make the Holograms reconsider their choice. Ba Nee, one of the Starlight girls was diagnosed with a degenerative eye condition that if untreated would leave her completely blind before she reached her tenth birthday. There was a laser procedure that could end up saving Ba Nee's vision, but with the procedure costing a quarter of a million dollars, Jerrica knew that she would have to have Jem and the Holograms come back to film the movie, since Eric had previously drained the majority of money that Starlight Records had to promote the Misfits prior to Jerrica taking over.


So back to the production they went, where Eric and the Misfits delighted in making their jobs a living nightmare. When the word got out about the band only coming back to get the money to pay for Ba Nee's operation, Stormer at least showed some concern for the little girl. Pizzazz, Roxy, and Eric, not so much. This just made them even more obnoxious to deal with. By forcing Jem to take part in stunts without the proper safety precautions, and mistreating key staff members, their attitudes proved too hard to handle, and more staffers walked off the project because of it.

Despite all this, the project went on, and one of the film's scenes allowed Kimber to share screen time with the egotistical lead actor of the movie, Nick Mann. Although Nick acted no better than the Misfits, Kimber had a mad crush on him, and looked forward to the experience. The scene was quite a dangerous one to film, but with both Nick and Kimber having stunt doubles, it was supposed to have gone off without a hitch.

Unfortunately, the Misfits, along with a woman named Clash (who happened to be the cousin of Video) ended up distracting the special effects technician long enough to set off the explosives prematurely, putting Kimber in serious danger. Luckily, Nick's stunt double, Jeff, ended up saving Kimber's life in the nick of time, but this serious stunt caused Jem and the Holograms to walk off the project for a second time (and caused Kimber to rethink her feelings about Nick in the process).

This time, most of the crew joined Jem and the Holograms in walking off set, having had enough of the diva attitudes of the Misfits, as well as Eric.

The Misfits continued to wreak havoc on their own project, complaining about everything. They hated their make-up, they hated the costumes, they hated the set design. And the remaining staff members hated them and walked away from them, leaving them to try and splice together the footage they had to work with. Eric on the other hand had his own worries, especially after Video managed to get a video tape of Jem's accident to all of the studio unions (no thanks to Clash), causing a slew of fines to be added to the production costs.

As a result, the Misfits movie ended up being way over budget, and the finished project didn't really make much sense. Think of it as being ten steps below Spice World.

That's what selfishness can do. The Misfits were only interested in making a movie to get fame, and to overshadow the Holograms, and as a result were left with a project without any heart, soul, or staying power.

Jem and the Holograms on the other hand, showed just what a little respect and kindness could do. When all the staff members from the Misfits movie walked off, they agreed to help Jem and the Holograms film their own lower-budget movie. Jerrica owed it to Ba Nee to get the money needed to pay for her operation, and she really believed that a movie about a girl-group making it big was a message that could really strike a chord with their target audience.

And everyone was behind the Holograms all the way. They even agreed to work for free to see that the project went ahead as planned. The staff believed in the values and ethics that Jem and the Holograms had to give it their all...all because they treated them with the dignity, respect, and professionalism that they deserved.

The end result? A film that had heart and character. A film that was so good that people wanted to see it again and again. It didn't take long for the group to raise the money to pay for Ba Nee's operation, and one of the first things that Jerrica did was make sure that the Starlight girls got an advanced screening of the film.

You notice the difference here? The Misfits went about it the wrong way, and acted rather selfishly, and their end result wasn't worth the money they had spent. Jem and the Holograms, on the other hand, kept it simple, and treated their staff very well. They showed that they cared about the production, and had a very good reason for bringing the project forward.

Because they were people who cared.



People who care are people who share.  People who give so other people can live.

And really, isn't that a positive message that both girls and boys can take with them through life?