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Sunday, July 07, 2013

7



Today's blog post is brought to you by the number seven!

No, you haven't stumbled upon an episode of “Sesame Street”, but the theme for today's Sunday Jukebox is all about the number seven. And, it couldn't have come at a better time.

Okay, so let's state the obvious. Today happens to be July 7th...the seventh day of the seventh month. It's just a shame that I couldn't go back in time a few years so that the date could read as 07/07/07. Or, I suppose that I could have waited until 2107 to write this entry, but then I would be 126 years old, and I doubt that I'd even still be alive then.

Or, at the very least, practically none of you reading this will likely be around in 2107.



But, here's another interesting fact regarding the number seven that you probably would not have even realized right off the bat. This post happens to be the 777th blog topic that I have ever done!

Okay, so if you want to get technical, this is actually post #779. But one was a welcome post and the second was a technical difficulties post. Neither one of those count as far as I am concerned. So, just for the sake of argument, this is the 777th topic!

That's a lot of sevens, don't you think?

However, seven is one of those numbers that has proven to be very, very significant. There are many, many people who consider seven to be a very lucky number. I have one friend who lives in the United States who is so in love with the number seven that he has dozens of them posted all over his Facebook profile. And, that's cool! I say if one has a favourite number, one should hold it near and dear to their hearts.

CONFESSION: I have to admit that while I like seven, my own personal lucky number is 18. But, I suppose if you take eight away from one, you get -7...which is still just as good as a 7 in my book!

But, why is seven a luckier number than thirteen, or forty-two, or 7,672,771?

It's really hard to say. I don't think that there's really any definitive answer that can be given. But the number seven makes a lot of appearances in world history, pop culture, and even religious teachings, so maybe the frequent reappearance of the number makes it luckier than others.

I mean, think about it. Many religious people see the number 7 as a “heavenly” or “divine” number? And, why is that? Well, it's because many hold the belief that God created the world in seven days.

Coincidentally, there are seven days in a week. And as Jade will tell you down below, the days of the week are Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.



(And, no...Jade is NOT the featured band of the day. Consider this a bonus song.)

Earth happens to be surrounded by seven other planets. Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. It once had eight in the solar system, but Pluto decided that it didn't want to be a planet anymore and embarked on a solo career within the universe.



Going back to religious views, the number seven acts as a double-edged sword of sorts, as there happens to be seven deadly sins. If you ever watched the movie “Se7en”, you know that the sins are gluttony, lust, sloth, envy, pride, wrath, and greed.

On a happier note, there are also the “Seven Wonders of the Ancient World”. Of the seven, only one, the Great Pyramid of Giza, remains standing. The other six were the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Mausoleum of Halicarassus, the Colossus of Rhodes, and the Lighthouse of Alexandria.

As you've also noticed by now, in a standard rainbow, there are seven visible colours. You have red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.

And, in our world, we have seven different continents. Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, South America, Antarctica, and Australia.

And, if you've been keeping count at home, I just listed seven reasons why the number seven is so special!



From playing the “Lucky Seven” game on “The Price is Right” with seven dollar bills trying to win a car to spinning a slot machine hoping to win a jackpot of silver dollars by landing all sevens, the number seven is definitely a number that a lot of people hold dear to their hearts.

So, it only makes sense that today's blog topic will be all about the number seven.

Unfortunately, this is where my good luck ends. While I am able to find a clip to today's song, I am unable to embed it into this blog entry. You see, today's featured artist is one that doesn't exactly like to promote his stuff on video sharing sites like YouTube. In fact, he doesn't particularly like it when other people post his songs on YouTube either. Therefore, finding the actual music video of this song was next to impossible.

In fact, it was so tough of a challenge that the video of this singer, (who appropriately enough was born on the seventh of June, 1958) will have to be one that you have to click the link of in order to hear the song in its entirety.

I'll post a picture of the video though to make it appear as though there IS one there...just click below the picture to listen to the song.




(Yes, you're reading that correctly. “7” peaked at #7. How perfect is that? Granted, I'm sure Prince was probably wishing for another #1 hit...however, seven is still pretty good.)

Oh, and if you really want to watch the full music video, I actually found it on – of all places – Perez Hilton's official blog! Just click HERE to watch it.

And, I bet you're also wondering what the heck kind of title “Love Symbol Album” is. Well...it's actually not the real title of the album. Here's the album cover.



Okay, so you know that infamous symbol right? The one that looks like ? It was the symbol that Prince started calling himself shortly after this single was released? The one that got him mocked for pretty much the entire decade known as the 1990s? Well, there's really no way to know what the pronunciation of really is. I know Prince never revealed the real way to say , nor do I remember hearing anything about how to pronounce myself.

Wow...all of a sudden, I feel like typing in every single sentence.


Okay, that's seven of those symbols. I'll quit now.

The single was the third one released from the album, and it was the only one from the...um...symbol album...that reached the Top 10.  



There's really not a whole lot to say about the music video except that I am absolutely impressed by the impressive sword dancing performed by the lady in gold.  As it so happens, the lady doing the dancing is Mayte Garcia, a woman that was romantically linked to Prince for several years.  They married in 1996, but divorced three years later in 1999 (ironically another numeric Prince song title).

And, the single has quite a few more "sevens" linked to it...

The single was released on a 7" single.  The single was released on November 17.  The video was filmed on February 27, 1992.    The song samples the song "Tramp" by Otis Redding and Carla Thomas, which was released in 1967!  And, as mentioned before, it peaked at #7!

And, just to really mess with your minds here...Prince was 34 when this video was released...and 3+4=7!

I tell you...freaky, no?

As for what the song is really all about...well, I think that it's one of those videos and songs in which you can use your own imagination and make your own deductions over what the theme of the song is all about.  Obviously, the song makes reference to the number 7, and the lyrics of the chorus go as such...

All 7 and we'll watch them fall
They stand in the way of love
And we will smoke them all
With an intellect and a savoir-faire
No one in the universe
Will ever compare
I am yours now and you are mine
And together we'll love through
All space and time, so don't worry
One day all 7 will die

But is Prince talking about the Seven Deadly Sins?  The Seven Headed Beast that appears in the Book of Revelations?  Just surviving all seven days of the week so that you can end the whole shebang with the one you love?

Well, I remember seeing this video a long time ago on Pop-Up Video, and in one of the pop-ups, it revealed that the song was about a woman who he loved, but was not able to be with her because she had seven guardians preventing him from getting to her.  In order to free her, he had to slay all seven guardians - one day all seven will die.

Now, I know that Pop-Up Video can be quite goofy and in some cases, tasteless...but in this case, I think that it's the best explanation that I can think of that seems to fit both the song and video.  But really, only Prince knows the truth.  And, I don't think that he's telling...

At any rate, that's all that I really have to say about the number seven, and the song seven.

And since I have some time left...and since I want to continue on with the seven theme...I think I want to post seven Sesame Street clips that feature the number seven.

You can never have enough sevens, right?








Saturday, July 06, 2013

The Highs and Lows of Summer Carnivals

Summer is in full swing here in Canada. And for the most part, I am very excited to see it arrive.

I guess if there was one thing that I dislike about the summer is the humidity that seems to accompany the months of July, August, and half of September. I don't do very well with the hot and steamy temperatures of the summer months. If it weren't for the fact that I am still a little bit self-conscious of my body, I would definitely go outside half-nude just to get relief from the heat. But, as it stands, I do not have the body to even remotely consider that option, so for now, it's staying in air conditioned comfort as much as possible.

But even on the hottest days of the year, there were always ways in which one could cool off. And for this edition of the Saturday Smorgasbord, I'm going to share with you some personal stories about one place where I used to go to cool off and have fun all at the same time.

I know that normally I would be devoting the first Saturday of the month to a toy or a game...and there will be some references to both of these in this blog. But there's a lot more that I want to discuss within this blog entry.



How many of you remember going to a fair or a carnival during your youth? I know I remember going to several as a kid! Back in the days of the 1980s and early 1990s, summer carnivals were all the rage. It seemed as though another carnival would spring up every two weeks or so filled with attractions, rides, games, and concession stands.

And, for me, a summer just wasn't complete if I didn't find a way to go to the fair at least once.

Whether it was visiting Lake Ontario Park in Kingston (which unfortunately ditched their rides), or going to the Shriners Fair here in Brockville, or attending the Spencerville Fair in Spencerville, Ontario, it was something that I always looked forward to as a kid.

Mind you, nowadays, I doubt that I would go to a fair simply because the last time I rode one of those rides, I ended up getting violently ill. I suppose my resistance to motion sickness has not improved with age.

But this blog is all about the childhood memories that I have that were associated with the many carnivals that I attended as a child. And the way that I have this blog set up is similar to a like/dislike list.

While there were many things that I did enjoy about fairs and carnivals, there were also things that I did not particularly care for. After all, not all childhood memories were absolutely perfect.

So, purchase your tickets at the booth, and grab yourself some cotton candy and a churro. It's time to reminisce about the carnival!



LIKE: The sounds and the lights of the carnival

You know how bright and loud the city of Las Vegas, Nevada is with its slot machines ringing, and every building having at least five hundred thousand neon lights flashing outside? Well, I always saw carnivals as a minature version of Fremont Street. Everywhere you turned, there were brightly coloured lights, and people running around all over the place, waiting to get in line for their favourite rides. And, I suppose that like Las Vegas, you are also surrounded by games of chance...only instead of pulling a slot machine for silver dollars, you're spinning a wheel in order to win a water pistol. I'll be talking about this more in detail, but I always found it a fantastic experience to go to a fair...especially as the sun is setting.



DISLIKE: The cost of a roll of tickets

If I could, I would have spent the entire day riding on the various rides in the fair. Unfortunately, riding every single ride in the fair took up a LOT of tickets. A roll of tickets back in my day (and let's for the sake of argument say that you could get 20 tickets in a roll) cost twenty dollars (basically a dollar a ticket). That might not seem like a lot of money now, but back in 1988, it was a fortune. And when you also take into account that the best rides of the carnival would charge as much as FOUR tickets to go on a four-minute ride, the value just simply wasn't there. Lately, I hear that depending on the fair you attend, the cost of a roll of 20 tickets has doubled (or even tripled) in price, but the length of time you ride on the ride remained the same. My parents did make sure that I had enough tickets to go on at least five different rides while we were there, which was fantastic and incredibly generous of them given our limited family income at the time. Still, I just wish that the cost of going to the fair was a little less expensive so that we could have enjoyed ourselves a little bit longer. Sadly I don't see that changing any time soon.



LIKE: The Go-Gator (well, at least until I turned seven, anyway)

When I was old enough to begin going on rides, I remember that the options for me were very, VERY limited. I mean, yes, the merry-go-round is fun for all ages, but it was just there. The Berry-Go-Round bored me to tears. I had a slight fear of heights, so I couldn't take any ride that went up extremely high. And, while I loved going on the inflatable castle because of the bouncy factor, I couldn't really call that a “ride”. Though, given that the attraction was just two tickets a piece, it was certainly affordable.

But then there was the little roller coaster with the alligator head at the front. That roller coaster was something that I absolutely loved riding on. I know that the stereotypical roller coaster goes up several hundred feet, but this roller coaster stayed low to the ground, which given my fear of high places was an added bonus. I would ALWAYS ride up at the front of the coaster because I wanted to have the absolute best view.



DISLIKE: The ferris wheel (at any age)

It should come as no surprise that given my admission to not liking high places that I would place this attraction as one of my least favourite rides of any carnival. In my thirty two years on this planet, I have not gone on a ferris wheel once! I refuse to even sit down in one for two reasons. One, I have the fear of the the seat that I am sitting in coming loose and me plummeting to my death below. And, two, when they stop the Ferris Wheel at periodic intervals to let riders off, I worry that I will be at the very top of the wheel rotation and I will pass out from height-related vertigo. I seriously do not do well with heights, and I can't do the ferris wheel because of it. Nor can I do super high roller coasters, that ride where you sit down in those swings, or that Drop Zone ride that you might find at Canada's Wonderland or MarineLand.

LIKE: The Tilt-A-Whirl and The Scrambler (tie)

I had a really hard time selecting which of these two rides I liked best...so I decided that for this edition, I would choose both. I spent so many tickets on both of these rides growing up.

But it took me a really long time for me to go on them. When I was five, the height restrictions prevented me from boarding them because at that time, I was too short. Then the following year, I had a major growth spurt and quickly became one of the tallest kids in my class and was tall enough for them. Unfortunately, I grew up with one of the most overprotective mothers on the planet, and she absolutely refused to let me go on either ride even though I really, REALLY wanted to. I think I was almost nine years old before I was considered “old enough” to ride. Fortunately, my sisters were far less overprotective of me!



Part of the reason why I loved the “Tilt-A-Whirl” so much was because of its unpredictability. Depending on how many people were in the car, and depending on which way you leaned, you could spin a little bit, or you could spin continuously. And, I'm sure that everyone would agree that the more you spun around, the better the ride was. I loved spinning right round, baby, right round, like a record baby...



Ahem...sorry, where was I?



The Scrambler” was a more linear ride. You went around in a circle with the speed growing faster and faster each rotation. But I didn't care. I loved it. On a very hot day, riding the Scrambler was like instant air conditioning. The breeze blowing against your face was definitely a blessing in disguise in the battle against humidity. But there were three lessons that I learned when riding “The Scrambler”.

  1. Never wear a hat – it WILL blow off.
  2. Wear sunglasses to protect your eyes. You do not want bugs flying in there, especially with the neon lights attracting those suckers in the same way that a flower can attract a bee.
  3. If you're small in stature, NEVER sit on the far left of the seat...you WILL get crushed.


DISLIKE: The Crazy Dance

I so wanted to like this ride, I really did. When I saw this ride featured on “Problem Child 2”, I really wanted to have the chance to ride it (well, without Junior Healy cranking the ride settings to maximum speed, that is). I finally got my chance when the “Crazy Dance” was one of the new rides introduced at the Shriners Fair in 1995 or 1996. I was in my early teens at the time, and I was excited to finally ride on that ride.

Unfortunately, the expectations that I had for the ride were way too high. It wasn't nearly as much fun as I thought it would be. It was kind of boring, actually. I actually kind of wish that there was a Junior around to crank up the speed.



LIKE: Bumper Cars

Come on. Who DOESN'T love the Bumper Cars? I lived for the Bumper Cars! What better way to take out the aggression that you festered inside of you for waiting in line for your favourite rides by taking a padded car and smashing into everyone and everything in your path? I always made sure that I rode in the green or purple bumper cars, as they were my favourite colours. I wish I could find the picture of me driving a bumper car at Lake Ontario Park back in the summer of '96. It was absolutely perfect! But, since I can't, I'll tell you the story of the summer of '76 (of which I was not yet born), and how my dad and eldest sister rode on the Lake Ontario Park bumper cars, and they bumped a woman so hard her wig flew off and got caught on the front of their car. Can you imagine my dad and sister riding around in a bumper car with a hairpiece? Funny stuff. I wish I had been born to see that.



DISLIKE: The Fun House

Most Fun Houses were never that fun. I found them dull, boring, and it was rather embarrassing to try and run through that spinning tube at the end of the house. I kept falling flat on my face. Not fun at all. If the Fun House was like the Fun House in that retro game show “Fun House”, I would have spent the whole day there for sure.



LIKE: Sno-Cones

I didn't eat much fair food. One, it was overpriced, and secondly, it was never really as good as I thought it would be. I mean, there are only so many foods that one can deep fry until all of them begin to taste exactly the same.

The lone exception was the Sno-Cone, a delectable (and affordable) treat that I had to have every time I left the carnival to go home. And, the Sno-Cone almost always had to be cherry flavoured, though I could do grape in a pinch if cherry wasn't available.

Runner-up would be cotton candy, though I didn't like it as much as I did the Sno-Cone.

DISLIKE: The popcorn stand that sold popcorn that was usually incredibly stale and tasteless.

I mean, seriously...I think the popcorn that was discarded on the movie theatre floors had better flavour than fair popcorn – not that I made a habit of eating food off of the floor or anything...just making an analogy using a rather disgusting metaphor.



LIKE: The Fish Pond game

I was not the most skilled child when it came to motor skills...so playing carnival games for the oversized Ninja Turtle or Batman toys was not my strong suit. However, there was one game in which I excelled it. Of course, it WAS the one game in which everyone won a prize, guaranteed.

It was the fish pond (or duck pond). Every time you caught a fish, or selected a rubber duck, you won something. Most of the time, you ended up winning some el cheapo dollar store toy like an oversized comb, an inflatable crayon, or a whistle that only worked half the time. But I didn't care. I was such an easy child to please that I was happy with anything. Now, if the person caught the fish that was red in colour, or selected the duck that had a dot on the bottom of it, then you could win a larger prize. But in all the years that I played the Duck Pond/Fish Pond, that never happened to me. But, I ended up winning something, and that was worth it to me.

Runner-Up: Whack-a-Mole. Sometimes you won a prize, and sometimes you didn't. But whacking plastic moles over the head was always my idea of a good time!



DISLIKE: Any other game at the carnival

I never realized this as a kid, but many of those carnival games are rigged to the point that it is almost impossible to win. But yet, people still shell out tens and twenties in order to win their child an overstuffed toy that they could probably buy at Walmart for eight bucks.

I mean, has anybody EVER won that game where you try to cover up the red circle with five smaller metal discs? I don't know anyone who succeeded in that one. Has anyone ever won the giant prize by playing the game where you try to throw a ring over the one solo yellow bottle in a sea of other bottles? It's darn near impossible to land a ring on ANY of those things.

Even the games that weren't necessarily rigged were games that I didn't like playing. I hate the sound of balloons popping, so any of those “Pop-a-Balloon, Win a Prize” games were out of the question for me.


And, that's my list of likes and dislikes about the fair. What are some of yours?

Friday, July 05, 2013

Where Everybody Knows Your Name

Okay, so I'll be the first one to admit that I was having a little case of writer's block this Friday.

It isn't very often that I can't think of a decent topic to write about in this space, but I think that the excitement of snapping some shots of my town followed by posting said photos in a virtual scrapbook made me lose my train of thought for a moment. When it came down to writing my blog, I was stumped over what I should write about.

So, you know what I do whenever I get stumped on topics (and it's NOT an all-request day)? I pull out this baby.




BAM! I introduce you to my secret weapon behind this blog. People Magazine's “1000 Greatest Moments in Pop Culture 1974-2011”! I bought myself this book not too long after I began this blogging venture, and since then, I have referred to this book often. I have selected so many topics just by perusing this book alone.

I guess you could say that in some ways, this People Magazine retrospective is kind of like my own personal pop culture bible of sorts.

So, to choose today's television feature, I decided that I would randomly open the book to a specific page, and choose a section that had to do with prime time TV. The book begins with the same year that People Magazine began (1974), and runs until the year the book was published (2011). So with thirty-seven years of pop culture information to choose from, I knew that it was a fool proof solution.

So, I opened up the book randomly to page 77, which happens to be the section that talked about everything that happened during the year 1993. And, listed at number #512 was this entry...

IT'S A DOG EAT DOG WORLD, AND I'M WEARING MILKBONE UNDERWEAR”
Cheers” - and the wisdom of Norm – ends after 11 seasons and 270 episodes.

Of course! “Cheers”! I haven't done an entry on “Cheers” yet (which absolutely shocks even me as that show was HUGE on television!)

Oh well...I'm making up for lost time.




So, yes, “Cheers” (the creation of James Burrows, Les Charles, and Glen Charles) ended its run on NBC on May 20, 1993...but eleven years earlier, on September 30, 1982, “Cheers” debuted...rather horribly.

When “Cheers” started airing on television during the 1982/1983 television season, it debuted on the Neilson ratings at #74. Unfortunately, there were 77 shows on the schedule for that year, making “Cheers” a prime target for cancellation early on in its run.

Given that information, how the heck did it end up lasting for eleven years and 270 episodes?

Well, the opinions shared by critics of the time period literally saved the show from the axe. Though viewers weren't initially responsive to the program, television critics fell in love with the show from the pilot episode, and consistently gave it glowing reviews, which helped persuade some people to give the show a fighting chance. The show also had success at the Emmy Awards, with Shelley Long winning for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, and multiple production Emmy Awards for directing, writing, and title design.

And, how could you not give an award for title design? “Cheers” remains one of my all-time favourite sets of opening credits. Ever! Have a look for yourselves below!




God...thirty-one years later, and I still love that song.

And, when you consider that then-head of NBC programming Brandon Tartikoff stood by the show, and promoted it heavily after the first season's shows were filmed, it was inevitable that “Cheers” would one day rise to the top. And in the end, Tartikoff got his wish, as the show hit the #1 spot during the show's 1990-1991 season. So, not only did the show rise from the bottom to the top, but for the show to achieve such a feat on its NINTH season...why that was absolutely miraculous!

Truth be told, “Cheers” was in the Top 10 ranked shows from 1985 until the show was cancelled in 1993.

I think that part of the reason why the show was extremely popular was due to the brilliance of the cast that starred in “Cheers”. Although the show was frequently subjected to cast changes, no matter who was in the cast at any given time, they found instant chemistry with each other. Here's a picture of the original cast from 1982.




Starting at the top and going clockwise...

Carla Tortelli (Rhea Perlman) - a cocktail waitress at “Cheers”.  While she'll never win any awards for stellar customer service, she might win the award for most likely to get pregnant. Carla ended up having a total of EIGHT children – four of whom she gave birth to while on the show (to accommodate Perlman's maternity leave from giving birth to the children she had with Danny DeVito).

Norm Peterson (George Wendt) – a struggling accountant who spends most of his free time drinking at the bar. He was originally named George, and only had one line during the pilot episode, but the character was renamed Norm, and had a much bigger role.

Diane Chambers (Shelley Long) – the leading lady of the series, Diane is a graduate student who is forced to become a cocktail waitress at “Cheers” after she is unceremoniously dumped by her fiance. While she considers herself a member of Boston's upper crust and therefore only wants to associate with Boston's most elite and rich...there's something about Sam Malone that Diane simply can't resist.

Sam Malone (Ted Danson) – the star of the show and bartender/co-owner of “Cheers”. At one time, Sam had a promising career as a star baseball player, but his alcoholism ended that career goal. Therefore, it seems kind of...well...stupid for Sam to work as a bartender where he is constantly surrounded by booze. But alcohol addiction isn't the only addiction Sam has. He's also a player off the baseball diamond as he is constantly seducing every single woman he sees.

Cliff Clavin (John Ratzenberger) – like Norm, he is also a regular at the bar. Unlike Norm, he has a job as a postal worker, and he seems to possess a “know-it-all” attitude...which causes much frustration and anger between himself and the other “Cheers” patrons.

Coach Ernie Pantuzzo (Nicholas Colasanto) – the eldest cast member of the series, Coach is a friend of Sam, a former coach, and senior bartender on the staff of “Cheers”. While Coach is always ready to lend an ear, he isn't exactly the brightest penny in the roll. Often he gets involved in a situation in which his naivety almost causes the loss of the bar!




As the show progressed, the cast would lose Nicholas Colasanto (who passed away in February 1985) and Shelley Long (who left the series in 1987), but gained the cast members Kelsey Grammer (Dr. Frasier Crane), Woody Harrelson (Woody Boyd), Bebe Neuwirth (Lilith Sternim), and Kirstie Alley (Rebecca Howe).

And, for a show as successful as “Cheers” was, you know that the behind-the-scenes stories about the show and place where “everybody knows your name” had to be just as interesting and good. And, certainly after researching the show on imdb.com, I would agree with that statement.

Just have a look...

01 – Did you know that Fred Dryer and Julia Duffy were frontrunners for the roles of Sam and Diane? Obviously neither got the roles, but both would later go on to appear on “Cheers” in guest roles.

02 – Sam Malone was supposed to be a retired football player, but that was changed to an alcoholic former baseball player when Ted Danson won the part.

03 – Both John Ratzenberger and Kelsey Grammer were initially hired for just seven episodes...they ended up staying the rest of the series!

04 – The only three characters to have a contract role for the entire length of the series were Ted Danson, Rhea Perlman, and George Wendt (Ratzenberger initially started as a recurring character).

05 – The show probably would have gone on for several more seasons, but it was Ted Danson's decision to leave the show at the end of the show's eleventh season that caused NBC to pull the plug.

06 – Kirstie Alley had gotten pregnant during the show's tenth season, and writers were planning to write the pregnancy into the show by saying that the child was Sam's. Sadly, Kirstie miscarried, and the story was dropped.

07 – Every single lead actor and actress was nominated for at least one Emmy Award. Six ended up winning statuettes – Shelley Long, Ted Danson, Kirstie Alley, Rhea Perlman, Bebe Neuwirth, and Woody Harrelson.




08 – Kelsey Grammer would later star in the television series “Frasier”, which debuted in 1993. That series also lasted eleven seasons, which meant that Grammer had played the same role in two different series for a combined total of twenty years (remember, Grammer didn't join “Cheers” until season three).

09 – Norm's real first name was Hillary.

10 – John Ratzenberger initially auditioned for the role of George (which later became Norm, and which was won by George Wendt). But producers liked him so much that the part of Cliff Clavin was especially written for him.

11 – There was one episode that was filmed, but did not air on network television. The episode (Uncle Sam Malone) was specially produced for the U.S. Treasury to encourage the purchase of American savings bonds.




12 – Longtime writer of the series, David Angell, was one of the casualties in the September 11, 2001 attacks. He and his wife were on Flight 11, which crashed into the World Trade Center.

13 - “Cheers” was initially supposed to be set at a hotel...but when most of the scenes took place at the hotel bar, the setting was changed to a Boston pub.

14 – Nicholas Colasanto had a picture of Geronimo hanging in his dressing room. After his death, that picture was moved to the set of “Cheers”.




15 - “At Seventeen” singer Janis Ian was once offered the role of Carla Tortelli. She turned it down to record an album, which was a commercial failure.

16 – Kirstie Alley's character was originally written as an ice queen...but due to her rapport with the cast of “Cheers”, as well as Rebecca confesses that she has feelings for Sam while drunk, her character became a lot more zany and crazy, which audiences seemed to enjoy.

17 – Jay Thomas was cast as a love interest for Rhea Perlman's character. His character was named Eddie LeBec. However, his character was killed off shortly after making some rather unflattering comments towards Perlman...and Perlman just happened to be listening to every word! Can we say...whoops!

18 – Ted Danson would later go on to star in the CBS series “Becker”. Rhea Perlman would later guest star on an episode of the series.

19 – Carla's full name is Carla Maria Victoria Angelina Theresa Apollonia Lozupone Tortelli LeBec! Say that five times fast!!!

20 – Every single cast member from “Cheers” reprised their roles for at least one episode of “Frasier” - except Scientologist Kirstie Alley, who claimed that her beliefs clashed with psychiatry (Dr. Frasier Crane was a radio psychiatrist).




21 – Kirstie Alley stayed on the series one season longer than Shelley Long.

22 – Sam was incredibly vain when it came to his hair. In reality, Ted Danson wore a hairpiece because his own hair was thinning!

23 – Because of the 1988 writer's strike, several episodes of “Cheers” were never filmed, including the scheduled cliffhanger in which Sam Malone discovers that one of his former girlfriends was HIV positive.

24 – John Lithgow turned down the role of Dr. Frasier Crane.




25 - Most of the actors and actresses of "Cheers" reprised their roles in an episode of "The Simpsons".  One notable exception was Kelsey Grammer with good reason...he already had a semi-recurring role on the series playing Sideshow Bob.  The show also spoofed the classic theme song, which you can hear above!

26 – Actresses who auditioned for the role of Rebecca included Sharon Stone, Kim Cattrall, and Marg Helgenberger.




27 - When Shelley Long left the series, two separate endings were filmed to confuse the audience!  

Thursday, July 04, 2013

Blurred Colour Lines - Big Scandal in the Big Brother House

I want to take this opportunity to wish all of my American readers out there a happy 4th of July. It seems hard to believe that the United States of America is turning 237 years old today! Personally speaking, I don't think it looks a day over 169, but that's just me.



At any rate, happy birthday, America! And, to throw my support to the American Independence Day, I'm doing my blog in red and blue today.

(I would have also used white, but it doesn't really show up that great against a yellow background.)

Now, for this edition of the Thursday Timeline...well, I'll be honest with you. This diary entry is going to feature some fireworks, and it will open up some recent controversy that is going on within the world of network television...and one of television's most successful reality shows is smack dab in the center of it all.

This post combines one of my guilty pleasures with one of the things that I absolutely despise in this world. And, well...I have my own thoughts about the scandal. Comparing it with a similar scandal that took place just weeks earlier, it just makes me swallow things with an incredibly bad aftertaste lingering on.

But, let's start at the beginning of this blog entry, shall we?

July 4, 2013

I get a lot of ribbing for being one to admit that I am a huge reality television fan. Particularly from those people who constantly tell me that reality television isn't “real”.

Okay, so maybe there are some examples in which the definition of “reality” is slightly warped, depending on the show that you're watching. I highly doubt that I will ever be stranded on an island with seventeen of my closest friends, going to Tribal Council to vote someone off the island. I'm fairly confident that I will never find myself singing on stage in hopes that Adam Levine or Blake Shelton will spin their chairs around and give me a standing ovation. And, it is unlikely that I will find myself handing out long stemmed roses to twenty-five girls reeking of desperation in hopes of finding my future spouse.

So, why is it that I find myself fascinated by reality television? I don't think I can truly give out a reason for it except that I'm quite fascinated by human behaviour. Granted, a lot of these people put on a show of bravado and overinflated ego when the cameras are on...but when the cameras turn off, it's amazing just how many people can show their true colours when they think that nobody is watching.



I think that's why I am such a fan of “Big Brother”. The reality show currently airs in several different countries all over the world, including Canada, the UK, Australia, and of course, the United States. Since the year 2000, “Big Brother” has aired on CBS, and remains one of the network's most successful reality programs (other than “Survivor” or “The Amazing Race”).

Now, the way that “Big Brother” works is similar to the plot of the George Orwell classic “Nineteen-Eighty-Four”. You have between ten and sixteen houseguests locked inside a house for at least seventy days, but no more than ninety, and each week, at least one houseguest is evicted from the house via a vote (the first season America chose, the subsequent seasons were chosen by the remaining houseguests). The last houseguest standing will win a half million dollar cash prize.

The show is filmed by using cameras that are placed all over the house in every room. And for the episodes of “Big Brother” that air on CBS, the weekly events of the program are edited and censored for network television and pre-packaged into three separate episodes per week. The television clips showcase all of the competitions (Head of Household, Have/Have Not, Power of Veto, etc), as well as some of the most important developments that take place within the house (strategic plays, house battles). But again, the stuff that viewers see on television is heavily edited and censored, so we only get a little taste of what is happening in the house.

If you have the funds (and absolutely no life), you can subscribe to the live feeds brought to you by the CBS webcams that are placed in the house, where viewers who want to know everything that is happening in the house at any given time can check in on the house whenever they want. And, this is where things get a little sticky.

(NOTE: I have NEVER subscribed to “Big Brother” feeds. As much as I am a fan of the show, I do not have the time or the desire to watch a 24-hour-long episode of “Big Brother”. I am getting my info from various websites like Joker's Update, Zap2It, or even the official Big Brother Facebook page.)




This year marks the show's fifteenth season, and this year's theme is all about supersizing. The show has sixteen houseguests (one of the bigger casts the show has seen), lasts ninety days (the longest season ever), and instead of two people being nominated for eviction, there are three.

And, so far, this season has gotten off to a rather explosive beginning...and not for good reasons either.



Of course, I do have to say that there are some good points to note regarding this season so far. I do have my early favourites, though they are not many. I don't like the fact that the oldest houseguest of this season is just five years older than I am, but I do like the fact that this houseguest (Helen) is one of the houseguests that I enjoy watching, and I hope that she goes far. Judd's kind of quiet, but I do enjoy seeing him. I think Andy is pretty funny, and I think that Nick is definitely someone to watch out for, as he seems very intelligent. And, even though former contestant Rachel Reilly wasn't one of my all-time favourite players, her sister Elissa (who is one of the contestants for this season) is slowly winning my seal of approval.

Now, if you're keeping count at home...that's only five out of sixteen houseguests that I have on my like list. There are some people in the house that I am kind of indifferent to. I don't dislike them or hate them, but they really haven't made much of an impression on me. But, that's normal, as some people on these types of reality shows sometimes need a couple of weeks to really put themselves out there.

But some of the houseguests that are in the house have not exactly been the kindest, most understanding people out there. And, if you're just watching the show on CBS, you probably have no idea of what the controversy regarding “Big Brother 15” is all about. But, if you watch the live feeds, then you know that some of the houseguests have been behaving in a disgusting and foul manner. And, the way that CBS has handled the controversy leaves a lot of people out there (including myself) crying “double standard”.

I suppose I should explain.

Now, everyone knows that in the real world, there are some people out there in the world who are extremely closed-minded about others. And, “luckily” for us, this season of “Big Brother” seems to have a whole bunch of them all gathered up in one house.

Let's take a look at Jeremy, for instance. Now, watching the television broadcast only, you'd never know that he makes derogatory comments towards women and acts like a complete neanderthal. But he does. If you only watched the network broadcast of “Big Brother”, you'd never know that Spencer has made comments that are incredibly homophobic.



And if you did not watch the live feeds of “Big Brother 15”, you would never realize that the houseguests of Aaryn (above left), GinaMarie (above right), and David have made so many racist and homophobic comments towards their fellow houseguests that there is now a petition going around, begging CBS to eject at least one of them from the game.



Well, as of this writing, David is no longer in the game, being the first evictee of the season. But Aaryn and GinaMarie still remain in the game, and they are presumably still making pointed jabs at their competitors with a little dash of bigotry mixed in.

In fact, some of the comments that both women have made in the house were so blatantly racist and so incredibly disgusting that I refuse to write them here in this space. There are plenty of links online that you can find via Google if you really want to know the truth about what it is that they really said. Just be warned...it ain't pretty.

The only thing that you need to know is that in this case, their actions have netted both of them some karmic retribution. The modeling agency that represented Aaryn dropped her as a client because of the comments that she made, and GinaMarie has also lost her job as a pageant coordinator as a result of her own comments. And, both women will now have to deal with the fact that whenever their names are entered into a Google search, the word “racist” will forever be linked to them.

And neither one will realize the gravity of what has happened until they are evicted from the “Big Brother” house. Hopefully, both will also be served a nice slice of humble pie when they realize that their true colours shone through and earned themselves a nice little pink slip for their trouble.

But here is what is frustrating about this whole scandal. And, it's nothing to do with the houseguests. It's to do with the network that broadcasts “Big Brother” and chooses the cast for the season.

Now, granted, I realize that CBS probably wasn't setting out to cast the most racist houseguests in the history of the show. But since they have, the one thing that many expected would happen is that CBS would at the very least air part of the conflicts that were going on in the house. I realize that the offensive words would have to be censored out (and rightfully so), but we all expected that the network would at least air portions of the racial slurs that were uttered by the worst offenders.

But they haven't. If you're watching the show only on CBS, the worst fight that you would have seen was the one where some of the houseguests broke their promise to drink any alcohol until after the Have Nots regained their food privileges.

To CBS' credit, they have issued a statement saying that they don't condone the actions of certain houseguests, but at the same time, they have also made the decision not to even mention a snippet of what is even happening in the house. It's almost as if the show seems like they want to sweep every comment that Aaryn, GinaMarie, and anyone else who has used racial slurs or terms that are homophobic under the rug, choosing to instead edit them as sympathetic sweethearts, as opposed to bigoted and entitled people.

And, that's where I call shenanigans...especially in comparison to the Paula Deen scandal.



Everyone knows about the Paula Deen thing. Once upon a time, Paula Deen was the darling of “The Food Network”, charming audiences all over the world with her southern home cooking and tasty vittles. Her obsession with butter was well documented in the culinary world, as was her subsequent weight loss after being diagnosed with diabetes, but through it all she continued to ink a place for herself in the culinary hall of fame alongside legends such as Wolfgang Puck, Julia Child, Gordon Ramsay, Rachael Ray, and Lidia Bastianich...



...well, that is until Paula Deen made an off-the-cuff statement where she admitted to saying the “N” word, and admitted to making other similar comments that were rather...um...questionable. Now her contract with Food Network has been cancelled, and she has lost her sponsorship from Target, Walmart, Smithfield Hams, and JC Penney, among others...all in the time frame of one whole week.

And of course everyone knew all about the Paula Deen scandal. Before Paula Deen arrived at the soundstage where NBC's “Today” show is taped, “Entertainment Tonight” and other media outlets like TMZ already had broken the story, and many media sources basically raked her over the coals in about as much time as it takes to button up a shirt. There's a lot of debate going on over whether Paula Deen deserved this kind of treatment because of what she said, and while some people feel that she deserved everything she got, others are more sympathetic towards her, saying that it seemed more like a witchhunt. I'll admit myself that lately I think that the Paula Deen scandal has evolved into complete silliness (like, how much more misery can we pile on top of this woman), but at the same time, I don't think that her comments should be swept underneath the rug either. She made the comments, and is now facing the consequences for it by being made a public example.

So, why isn't the same treatment given to the “Big Brother” houseguests, who in my opinion have said far worse and more damaging statements than Paula Deen has? It's a complete double standard for CBS to seemingly excuse their bad behaviour by not making it as much of a public spectacle as the Paula Deen case.

But on that note, I think that's precisely one of the main reasons why I was always so fascinated by “Big Brother”. It's the fact that when the show ends, and the live feeds kick back on again, you get to see people for who they really are. Mind you, some people do try to mind their P's and Q's when they realize that yes, they are being watched by cameras twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week...but some just let it all fly out, without any regards for anybody or anything, as Aaryn and GinaMarie have displayed over the first two weeks of the program.

And, I suppose that's one of the many flaws towards having complete free speech. It's a right that everybody has, and it is a right that is held very dear to many people's hearts. But as I wrote about before, free speech has its hidden costs. And some people may have to learn the hard way of those costs.

In this case, both GinaMarie and Aaryn will now find themselves on the unemployment line because they exercised their right to free speech in a way that was hurtful to not only those they were living with in the house, but to an entire portion of the population in general.


I hope it was worth it, ladies.