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Friday, May 25, 2012

Killing All The "Right" People


Before I continue with today’s blog entry, I just wanted to remind you all of the contest that I’m holding in celebration of the first anniversary of the Pop Culture Addict’s Guide To Life.  It can be found in the entry dated May 24, 2012, but you can find the link if you go under ADDITIONAL LINKS.  Remember what the prize is...it’s the chance to assume almost complete control of my blog, as well as the chance for you to do a guest blog of your very own.  The contest ends JUNE 30, 2012, and please send all entries to popculturelifeguide1@yahoo.ca to be considered.  Good luck!

Now, onto today’s subject.

I’ll admit that there are some television shows that have aired over the years that for the most part, I’ve never cared for.  Whether it was the lack of chemistry between the cast members, the contrived plots, or the preachy writing, for whatever reason, the show just did not click with me.

But then you would see one episode of this show that you normally don’t like, and you would be blown away by how good the episode really is.  For a moment, you forget about the reasons why you hated the show in the first place because you’re so mesmerized by the subject matter of the episode, and how good the acting is.  After the episode airs, the show goes back to being mediocre in nature, but that one episode always stands out as a winner.

This blog entry talks about a show that had that reaction in me.  For the most part, I was always indifferent to the program.  For one, it originally aired when I was between the ages of five and twelve, so I was a bit too young to really understand it completely.  By the time I was old enough to watch the program in reruns, I wasn’t exactly blown away by it.  But, again, part of that could have been because the show was marketed towards a female audience, of which I am not.  But one particular episode of this program made me stand up and take notice, and it’s this episode that we’ll be discussing today.


That show is the CBS sitcom “Designing Women”, which ran for seven seasons between 1986 and 1993.  The sitcom detailed life inside the offices of an Atlanta interior design firm known as Sugarbaker’s.


The show’s original cast included Delta Burke, Dixie Carter, Annie Potts, and Jean Smart.  Meshach Taylor would join the cast midway through the show’s first season, becoming the only male regular cast member.  Over the years, Burke and Smart would leave the program for other projects, and the last two seasons featured Julia Duffy, Jan Hooks, and Judith Ivey.

Now, I don’t doubt that the show itself was groundbreaking for a number of reasons.  The show covered a wide variety of hot button issues, such as domestic violence, censorship, sexism, racism, and political discussions.  And the four original cast members of the show became huge names (or in the case of Carter and Burke, already were), and were given critical praise for their roles.

Yet, for whatever reason, I found that I couldn’t really find anything about the show that I absolutely fell in love with.  It wasn’t that I had absolute disgust for the program and wished for it to be cancelled.  It wasn’t like that at all.  But, I didn’t go out of my way to watch every single episode either.  I was more or less indifferent to the designing women.

That is until I watched one particular episode, which left me open-mouthed in astonishment.  The episode had clever and relevant writing for the time period, and powerful performances by all.

The date was October 5, 1987.  At that time, “Designing Woman” was already three episodes into its sophomore season, and was about to air its fourth episode.

The episode was entitled “Killing All the Right People”.

Do you know how the episode came to be named?  It was inspired by a comment overheard by series creator Linda Bloodworth-Thomason inside a hospital waiting room, in which someone made the following callous remark.

“The good thing about AIDS is that it’s killing all the right people.”


Keep in mind that back in the 1980s, AIDS was a huge deal in that not a lot of people knew a lot about the disease.  The first cases of AIDS began appearing in the summer of 1981, and back then, people automatically assumed that it meant an instant death sentence.


Today, we’ve made remarkable breakthroughs in regards to AIDS and treatments for people who have the disease.  New treatments have been successful in helping people who have been diagnosed as HIV positive live longer and more meaningful lives.  We still have a long way to go in regards to finding a permanent cure for AIDS, but we’ve come a long way in treating the disease, as well as learning how the disease is transmitted.

In 1987, however, many people were absolutely ignorant about AIDS, and many believed that it was contagious.  Back in 1987, people who had AIDS were subjected to acts of cruelty, violence, and ignorance by people who didn’t fully understand AIDS.  Linda Bloodworth-Thomason was particularly disgusted by the criticism and prejudice towards people who had the AIDS virus, and for good reason.  Linda’s mother had passed away from complications brought upon by AIDS after a blood transfusion infected her with the virus.  Linda was shocked at the amount of prejudice that gay men had to face from the public (back in the 1980s, gay men were among one of the first demographics where the virus first appeared in back in 1981).

And that was the story behind “Killing All the Right People”.


In the episode, the women of Sugarbaker’s meet with a young man named Kendall Dobbs (played by Tony Goldwyn).  Kendall has been a friend of the firm for years, and the women like and respect him very much.  The reason why Kendall is there is because he has a special request for the women. 

He wants them to design his funeral.

You see, prior to this episode, Kendall ended up contracting the AIDS virus, and despite the fact that he appears as though nothing is wrong with him, he is living on borrowed time.  The women of Sugarbaker’s are saddened by the news, but agree to help Kendall achieve his dream.


In the episode’s subplot, Mary Jo (Potts) is attending a PTA meeting which discusses the idea to distribute birth control options to students at school.  Most of the parents are opposed to bringing in condom machines into the schools, but Mary Jo is for the idea, arguing that they will not only prevent the spread of HIV, but also teen pregnancies as well.  But as Mary Jo is the only person in the meeting to have this stance, she is asked to argue her point at a public debate the following week. 

So, while Mary Jo is feeling a bit nervous about making her speech, Kendall meets with the Sugarbaker’s crew to make the final arrangements in regards to his funeral plans.  Julia (Carter) and Suzanne (Burke) are very warm and friendly to Kendall, and Charlene (Smart) even takes Kendall’s hand as she leads him to the sofa, a gesture that shocks even Kendall himself, as he admitted that some nurses wouldn’t even go inside his hospital room.  But Charlene and Mary Jo freely admitted that they had nothing to fear, for they read up on AIDS, and knew that they couldn’t catch it by simply grabbing someone’s hand.

Really, that’s a great life lesson right there...that you should never make judgments on anything until you get the facts behind it. 

It’s too bad that Imogene Salinger didn’t understand that life lesson.


Imogene Salinger just happened to be inside Sugarbaker’s at the same time that Kendall dropped by.  Imogene was a long-standing client of Sugarbaker’s, and was an acquaintance of Julia’s.  She couldn’t help but overhear the conversation that Kendall was having with Charlene and Mary Jo, and she felt that she had to say something.  She felt that Kendall’s situation was what he deserved, and that the disease had one thing going for it.  That it was killing all the right people.

That awoke the fury that was sleeping inside of Julia Sugarbaker, and Julia let Imogene have it.


Now this wasn’t much of a shock.  From doing my research on this show, Julia Sugarbaker called out people’s ignorance and stupidity with her razor-sharp tongue at least twice a season.  But the fact that Julia launched into such a tirade against Imogene really said a lot about Julia’s character.  Julia didn’t like bullies, and she wasted no time in telling them what she really thought.  And Kendall probably cheered Julia on silently while all this was going on, thinking that he was lucky to have such loyal friends who would stick by him despite the fact that he was dying of AIDS.

The little cameo appearance by Alice Ghostley was fantastic as well.

At any rate, Imogene was never seen on “Designing Women” ever again, and Kendall continued to work with the women to tie up the loose ends for his final design project.  But while the Imogene situation was dealt with, Mary Jo still had the debate to worry about, and she wasn’t sure exactly how to bring her points across.

When the PTA meeting began, Mary Jo pulled off a valiant effort to present her points, but kept getting cut off by the opposition.  Mary Jo was losing patience, and was sure that she would end up on the losing end of the argument.  But then Anthony (Taylor) walked into the meeting with Kendall tagging along behind him.  And when Mary Jo’s eyes fixated on Kendall, she got her nerve back, and she issued this eloquent statement.

“I think that it really shouldn’t matter what your personal views are about birth control, because, you see, we’re not – we’re not just talking about preventing births anymore, we’re talking about preventing deaths.  25,000 Americans have died, and we’re still debating.  For me, this debate is over.  More important than what any civic leader or PTA or board of education about thinks about teenagers having sex or any immoral act that my daughter or your son might engage in, the bottom line is that I don’t think they should have to die for it.

And with that, the crowd erupted with a thunderous applause, and Mary Jo smiled at Kendall one last time.

The last scene takes place at Kendall’s funeral, with all of Sugarbaker’s in attendance.  It was one of the most elaborate funerals Atlanta had ever seen, and everyone in that room was proud to have called Kendall a friend.

Just as Kendall was proud to have a group of friends who never gave up on him or left him, when so many turned their backs the other way.

I really loved this episode of “Designing Women”.  The message was a fantastic one for anyone to learn, and although a lot has changed in the 25 years since the episode aired, it still has its relevance today. 


It’s funny how before I watched this episode, I never really thought much of “Designing Women”.  But after watching this wonderful episode (which was nominated for several awards including two Emmy Awards), I might be tempted to watch other episodes in the series, just to see if they hold up as well.

Thursday, May 24, 2012

The First Anniversary Scavenger Hunt!



THURSDAY CONFESSION #21:  Today is the Pop Culture Addict’s Guide To Life’s FIRST ANNIVERSARY!

Although, it’s not really a confession as much as it is a revelation, but still, it’s something to celebrate! 

You see...here’s my real confession.  I never expected to do this blog for an entire year, because I didn’t think that it would take off.  And yet, here I am, averaging 150 page views per day, and having over 45,000 page views total in the 366 days since I kicked off this blogging project.  Mind you, compared to other prolific bloggers as Perez Hilton or Dan Pearce from Single Dad Laughing, these numbers are small potatoes.  But, you know, the fact that people other than myself are reading my own personal exercise in self-awareness and self-esteem building tickles me to no end.

To think that it all began on May 24, 2011.  Prior to that date, I wrote down my thoughts and feelings in the Notes section on my own personal Facebook page.  I didn’t do it every day (as I’ve done here), but I shared some personal stories about myself, and it made me feel better.  The only problem was that my Facebook page is set in such a way that only people on my friends list could see them.  I needed a more public venue to share my thoughts and my work.  So, it dawned on me...what if I created a blog to showcase everything that goes through my head?  And, what if I insert pop culture references into each blog entry so that people could be entertained while they read?

And, what if by talking about my struggles and how I overcame them inspired others to face their problems head on and realize that they aren’t alone?

So, on May 24, 2011, I started off this blog with a little introductory message, as well as the very first entry in the Pop Culture Addict’s Guide To Life.  It was an entry about the secondary Simpsons character Ralph Wiggum, and how he actually helped me learn so much about myself.  If you click on this link HERE, you can read that entry...the one that kicked off this whole journey.

So, because it’s this blog’s first birthday, I knew that I had to do something special.  You see, I wanted to find a way to thank everyone who has supported this blogging venture this past year.  I really wanted to come up with a unique contest idea to get people reading the blog, and to have a little bit of fun along the way.

Unfortunately, my name is not Oprah Winfrey, and I can’t afford to give everyone who has read my blog a Matchbox car, let alone a real car.  So, unfortunately for this year at least, the prize will not be monetary in value.

However, the prize is a good one, because it will allow you to have almost complete control of the blog for an entire week.

Yes, you heard me right.

THE WINNER WILL CONTROL MY BLOG FOR ONE WHOLE WEEK!

Now, there is one slight condition.  The Tuesday Timeline entry is NOT a part of the giveaway, as there’s a lot of research involved in selecting an event for the day.  However, the other six days will be controlled by YOU should you win!

Here’s how the prize will work.

There’s six theme days that you get to have control over.  Five of them will be YOUR TOPIC CHOICE.  The five days that you will choose the topic for will be...

MONDAY MATINEE
WEDNESDAY GIFT SHOP
TGIF – FRIDAYS
SATURDAY MORNING

SUNDAY JUKEBOX

For those five theme days, you choose the topic, and I will do up an entry on that topic.  It can be ANYTHING you want.  If you like Barbie dolls, I’ll do a Barbie entry.  If you want to see a blog entry on Van Halen, I’ll cover a Van Halen song.  It doesn’t matter if I love it, hate it, or haven’t seen it before.  If you want to see it, I’ll try my best to make it happen for you.

As for the Thursday Confessional, well...you get to control that too.  Because for that day, I’m going to have YOU write my blog for me. 

Yes, the Thursday Confessional for that week will be of your own creation.  You can write whatever you want on whatever subject.  Don’t worry about spelling or grammar.  It’s your space to do with whatever you like.  Consider it a “Guest Blog”, so to speak.

So, that’s the prize.  You get to control almost every aspect of my blog for one whole week!  Does that sound like something that you want to participate in?

If so, keep reading.  The questions that you have to answer will be posted below, as well as the deadline for the contest and where to send the answers to the contest.

So, what exactly is this contest going to be?


Well, have you heard of a 1979 movie called “Scavenger Hunt”?  It was a movie that starred Cloris Leachman, Richard Benjamin, Tony Randall, and Vincent Price, and the main plot of the movie was that a wealthy video game inventor passed away, and a group of his greedy relatives came to the funeral and will reading.  To their shock, they found that the only way they could inherit his multimillion dollar fortune, they had to compete in, and win a scavenger hunt.

It’s a very tough film to find on VHS, and there’s no DVD release as of yet, but I remember watching it on cable television one day, and I was easily amused by the movie.  If you can get a chance to watch it, I highly recommend it, just for the zaniness of it all.  In fact, if you type in Scavenger Hunt 1979 on YouTube, as of right now, the whole movie is available to watch in several parts!

So, like the movie, I’m going to have a scavenger hunt of my own.

I’m going to post a series of clues.  Some will be videos, some will be pictures, and some will be cryptic descriptions.  These clues will correspond with a blog entry that I have done in the past.  It’s up to you to look at the clues, and find the blog entry that matches the clues.  Here’s an example of what I mean.

For instance, if one of the clues read something like “Find the blog entry in which you’d find Snoopy making a Sno-Cone”, then you’d have to find the entry that talks about Snoopy Sno-Cone machines.  And, if you read yesterday’s entry, you’d know that I talked about them there.  It’s just that simple.

Your job is to find the items described in the clues somewhere in the blog.  Some of the answers can be found by using the search engine that I’ve included in the top of the blog, but some clues will be harder than others. 

There are SIXTEEN clues in all.  What I need from you is to write down either the TITLE OF THE ENTRY or the DATE OF THE ENTRY you found the clue in, and send it to this e-mail address.


Please don’t post the answers on this blog entry, or on Facebook.  I want everyone to answer the questions, but I don’t want the answers posted.  Some of the answers will be from a couple of months ago, but some will be from when the blog first began, so be mindful of that.

The deadline for all entries will be June 30, 2012  August 15, 2012.  

So, good luck to everyone participating, and I hope that you have fun!

Enough blabbering on now.  It’s time for the questions.  And this scavenger hunt kicks off with a set of cryptic clues.  Enjoy!

01 – I’ve done a bit of experimentation with colours in some blog entries, but there’s only ONE blog entry where I have typed the entire post in BLUE.  Find this post.

02 - The TUESDAY TIMELINE feature was first implemented in January 2012.  And, I’ve taken a look back at quite a few different years.  I want you to give me the Tuesday Timeline which features the OLDEST date that I have traveled back in time to.

03 – I’ve done entries on PUNKY BREWSTER, FAMILY TIES, and SILVER SPOONS...but there’s only ONE entry that I have done where stars from all three shows have made appearances.  Not bad for a show that was only three and a half minutes long.  Find this entry.

04 – Do you remember a song in which a man ends up meeting a woman in a supermarket on Christmas Eve that became a hit in 1980?  I did an entry on this song.  Find it.

05 – Rick, Vanessa, Robin, Alex, Binky, and Iggy are all campers at this fictional camp run by an SCTV alumni.  If you can find the entry where they celebrate “Christmas In July”, you’ll have the answer to this clue.

This next section will feature a photo that I have posted somewhere in one of the blog entries that I have done in the past.  Your job is to find the entry where the photo appears.  And, keep in mind, you can use the search engine incorporated in this blog to help you if you need it.

06 – Find the entry with this photo.


07 – Find the entry with this photo.


08 – Find the entry with this photo.


09 – Find the entry with this photo.


10 – Find the entry with this photo.


The last part of this scavenger hunt will have a half-dozen video clips.  Like the photos, you’ll have to find the blog entry where the video first appeared.

11 – Which entry did this video appear in?


12 – Which entry did this video appear in?


13 – Which entry did this video appear in?


14 – Which entry did this video appear in?


15 – Which entry did this video appear in?


16 – Which entry did this video appear in?


Remember, all entries should be sent to popculturelifeguide1@yahoo.ca and they must be received by JUNE 30, 2012. AUGUST 15, 2012.   Good luck!

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

The Frozen Treats Of My Youth




Do any of you remember the Snoopy Sno-Cone machine?

If you aren't sure of what one of these is, have a look at this commercial below.



Or, you can watch THIS LINK here to watch a funny clip from the popular CBS comedy “The Big Bang Theory” where the Snoopy Sno-Cone machine makes an appearance.

I'll just get this out of the way right off the bat. I owned a Snoopy Sno-Cone machine, and I loved it. I really can't remember when I got it. For some reason, I want to say that I got it for a birthday present when I was really small, because my birthday is in May, and May is closer to the summer months than Christmas.

Whatever the case, I can still recall the excitement and anticipation each time we brought out the Snoopy Sno-Cone machine. My mom or my older sisters would help me put ice cubes inside the machine, and then I would crank the handle to crush the ice into a fine powder. Then, we'd add the packet of Kool-Aid or Freshie into the mix to give the Sno-Cone some flavouring (I was always partial to cherry, grape, or lemon lime).



And then came the best part. The eating of the Sno-Cone. I reckon that I ate about a thousand Sno-Cones that summer.

Alas, all good things came to an end, and one day, my Snoopy Sno-Cone machine ended up losing a piece, and it became unusable. I was absolutely devastated over the loss of one of my favourite toys. It wasn't so much the fact that I would never be able to enjoy another Sno-Cone ever again that made me sad. I could get a Sno-Cone any time I wanted whenever a summer carnival came to town. It was more along the lines that something that I loved playing with was no longer available.

I'm tempted to go on eBay to check and see if there are any Snoopy Sno-Cone machines for sale. I know that I've seen some on there, but when people are bidding upwards of $150 for them, that's a price that I'm not prepared to spend! I suppose that I'm not the only one who has such fond memories of the Snoopy Sno-Cone machine, if people are willing to shell out a lot of money to buy one.

But, you know, all this talk about Sno-Cones makes me think about all of the cool summer treats that I used to eat. Well, that, plus all of the wacky summer-like weather we've had this past week. Mid-May in Ontario, Canada felt more like mid-August this year.

And, it dawned on me that before I got the Snoopy Sno-Cone machine, my mom would make homemade popsicles. Back when I was a really small child, money was tough to hold on to, and it wasn't in the budget for us to go to the corner store to buy a popsicle every day. So, she would get an ice cube tray, fill it up with orange juice or fruit punch, stick toothpicks inside the tray, and after a few hours, we'd have instant popsicles.



Here's the funny thing. I always liked the homemade popsicles my mom made me a lot better than the expensive store bought ones. I think a lot of that had to do with the fact that those popsicles were made with love and care every single time. I think that's why I liked them so much.

Actually, did you know that the first popsicles that were invented were homemade ones as well? And that at first, they weren't originally named popsicles?

We'd have to go back to the year 1905, in San Francisco. An eleven-year-old boy by the name of Frank Epperson mixed a white powdered flavouring for soda with water, and left it out on the front porch with a stirring stick inside. He completely forgot about it, and that night, the temperatures in San Francisco dipped down quite low. To Frank's surprise, he went to retrieve the drink and found that the drink was frozen to the stick.

Eighteen years later, at the age of twenty-nine, Epperson began selling his new creation at Neptune Beach in Belmar, New Jersey. Initially, he marketed the creation as the “Epsicle”, and originally filed the patent for the frozen confectionary item in 1924. But, there was just one problem with this. By this time, Epperson had fathered children, and when he ran the name by his children, they hated it! So, Epperson retooled the name, and came up with the “Popsicle” name, which was a portmanteau of the words “pop” and “icicle”.



In 1925, Epperson sold the rights to the Popsicle to the Joe Lowe Company of New York, and in 1989, Good Humor bought the rights to the “Popsicle” name, which by then, was a million dollar industry.

Today, Popsicles have expanded their brand to include other tasty treats. There's the Creamsicle, which is a vanilla ice cream bar that is dipped in a fruit-flavoured ice coating. A variation of this bar substituted ice milk instead of ice cream, and are called Dreamsicles.



TRIVIA: If you enjoy a Creamsicle, make sure you buy one on August 14. In the United States, August 14 is known as National Creamsicle Day.



There's also Fudgsicles (a personal favourite of this blogger), which are frozen treats that have a similar texture and flavour to chocolate ice cream. Over the years, several versions of Fudgsicles have been created, including 100 Calorie Bars, No Sugar Added Bars, Sugar Free Bars, and Triple Chocolate Bars.

They even have a new treat known as Slow Melt Popsicles. These are Popsicles that have a small amount of gelatin included in the mixture that prevent them from melting as quickly as a regular popsicle. I can attest to this fact because whenever I have to do a cold pickup for frozen foods and the popsicles happen to have sat out too long, the Slow Melt ones are still solid, while the regular ones are a smushy box of liquid.

(Of course, by this point, both are too warm to sell, so I have to claim them anyways.)

So, that's a brief history of the Popsicle, and other frozen treats that have been created over the years, and I find it interesting.

But, despite all of the wonderful innovations that have come out of the world of frozen fruit treats, I still maintain that the homemade popsicles and Sno-Cones that I used to make at home as a little boy tasted better than any old store bought popsicle. In fact, I'm actually starting to feel a bit nostalgic about homemade popsicles so much that I just might place a bid on a Snoopy Sno-Cone machine, or make my own homemade popsicles.

And, with this recipe that I found online, you too can make your own homemade popsicles.

And, yes, I'm posting a recipe that a four year old can do. It's my blog. I can do what I like in it. :)

Here's a recipe for Homemade Fudge Pops, courtesy of the official website of the publication “A Taste Of Home”. Enjoy!

HOMEMADE FUDGE POPS

INGREDIENTS:

¼ cup butter, cubed
½ cup all purpose flour
4 cups milk
1-1/3 cups packed brown sugar
1/3 cup baking cocoa
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
20 Popsicle moulds or disposable plastic cups (3 oz. Each) and Popsicle Sticks

PROCEDURE

In a large saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Stir in flour until smooth; gradually add milk. Stir in the brown sugar, cocoa, and salt. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened.

Remove from the heat; stir in vanilla. Cool for 20 minutes, stirring several times.

Pour ¼ cupfuls into Popsicle moulds or plastic cups; top moulds with holders or insert Popsicle sticks into cups. Freeze until firm.

Makes 20 servings.

(Oh, and for the record, each pop is worth 121 calories.)

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

May 22, 1992


Welcome to the twenty-second day of May! It's Tuesday, so we're going to take a look back at some of the most significant events to take place on this date in history.

I imagine that there are some of you who are having a birthday today, and to you, I wish you a happy one filled with joy, happiness, and birthday cake. You also happen to be sharing a birthday with the following famous people; Michael Constantine, Peter Nero, Richard Benjamin, Frank Converse, Bernie Taupin, Al Corley, Morrissey, Ann Cusack, Mark Christopher Lawrence, Naomi Campbell, Anna Belknap, Alison Eastwood, Sean Gunn, A.J. Langer, Ginnifer Goodwin, Katie Price, and Apolo Anton Ohno.

Now we're going to take a look at some of the significant events that have taken place on this date in history, beginning with...

1659 – France, England, and the Netherlands sign “Hedges Concerto” treaty

1807 – A grand jury indicts American Vice President Aaron Burr on a charge of treason; that same day, the British town of Chudleigh is almost completely destroyed by fire

1809 – Napoleon Bonaparte is repelled by an enemy army during the Battle of Aspern-Essling

1848 – Slavery is abolished in Martinique

1856 – Congressman Preston Brooks beats Senator Charles Sumner with a cane in the hall of the United States senate following Sumner's “Bleeding Kansas” speech

1859 – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is born

1872 – American President Ulysses S. Grant signs Amnesty Act of 1872, restoring full civil rights to all except for 500 Confederate sympathizers

1897 – Blackwall Tunnel underneath River Thames opens

1906 – Orville and Wilbur Wright are granted American patent #821893 for their “flying machine”

1915 – Eruption of Lassen Peak

1939 – Germany and Italy sign the Pact of Steel

1942 – Mexico enters World War II on the side of the Allies

1947 – The Truman Doctrine is signed

1960 – Most powerful earthquake ever recorded strikes southern Chile with a magnitude of 9.5

1980 – Namco releases the video game “Pac-Man” in Japan

1987 – Hashimpura massacre in Meerut city of India

1990 – Microsoft releases Windows 3.0

2002 – The remains of missing White House intern, Chandra Levy, are found in Rock Creek Park

2003 – PGA golfer Annika Sorenstam becomes the first woman to play the PGA Tour in fifty-eight years

2004 – Hallam, Nebraska is devastated by a powerful F4 tornado, with a width of 2.5 miles

2011 – The single deadliest tornado in America since record keeping began in 1950 strikes Joplin, Missouri, killing 161 people

Wow...volcanoes, tornadoes, earthquakes...May 22 seems to be the national day for natural disasters.

Today's look back through time doesn't have any natural disasters in it, but it does contain one of the most memorable television broadcasts ever shown.



And, we're only going to go back in time twenty years to May 22, 1992.

1992 was a year in which a lot of long-running series went off the air. “Growing Pains”, “Who's The Boss”, “MacGyver”, "The Cosby Show", “Jake and the Fatman”, “The Golden Girls”, and “Hee Haw” saw their final episodes air that year.

And in the world of late night talk shows, one man hung up his microphone for the final time.



On May 22, 1992, Johnny Carson hosted “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson” for the last time. Three days later, the hosting duties would be taken over by Jay Leno. And below, you can watch Carson's final opening introduction of that broadcast.



Here's the frustrating part about that date. When Johnny Carson hosted The Tonight Show for the final time, I was just eleven years old. And, unfortunately, when I was eleven, my bedtime was at 10:00pm, so I ended up missing the whole thing. In fact, I ended up missing practically Johnny's entire run on NBC. But after watching old clips on YouTube that feature the host in action, I knew that I had to do a spotlight on Johnny Carson. After all, he did host The Tonight Show for thirty years. There's a lot of ground to cover.





Johnny Carson was born in the town of Corning, Iowa on October 23, 1925, and moved with his family to Nebraska when he was eight years old. At twelve, he discovered a magic book at a friend's house and purchased a mail-order magician's kit. He called himself “The Great Carsoni”, and was paid three dollars for his first gig at the age of fourteen. Soon after, he began to perform at county fairs and company picnics, setting the stage for his future career.

In 1943, he joined the United States Navy, received V-12 officer training at Columbia University, and continued to perform magic. He even managed to post a 10-0 amateur boxing record while serving onboard the USS Pennsylvania!

Following his stint in the Navy, he attended the University of Nebraska, joined a fraternity, and began charging $25 for his magic appearances. He ended up graduating in 1949 with a bachelor of arts degree in radio and speech with a minor in physics.

Now, how's that for having a major that contradicts a minor?

Carson began his broadcasting career in 1950 at WOW radio and television in Omaha, Nebraska, and from there hosted a morning show called “The Squirrel's Nest”. One of his routines on that show was going up to the roof of the courthouse and interview the pigeons, hoping that they would coo all of the political scandals that were happening within.

Okay, so his hosting style was a bit zany in comparison to other hosts...but the public loved it.



Within the next few years, Carson would work at the Los Angeles based television station KNXT, and he ended up getting the gig which would propel him into stardom. Comic Red Skelton was a fan of “Carson's Cellar”, a low-budget comedy show that Carson started up at KNXT which ran between 1951 and 1953. He immediately hired Carson as a writer for his own show in 1953. Then one day in 1954, a freak accident during rehearsals caused Skelton to accidentally knock himself out cold just an hour before the show was to begin. His LIVE show.

So, Johnny Carson stood in for the host while he recuperated in hospital, and this ended up being the start of it all. The following year, Carson was asked to appear on The Jack Benny Show during the opening and closing segments, and Benny was heard to remark that Carson would end up having a successful career as a comedian.



During the next few years, Johnny Carson would end up hosting several quiz and talk shows. He became the host of game shows “Earn Your Vacation” and “Who Do You Trust?”, hosted a variety show simply titled “The Johnny Carson Show”, and was a regular panelist on “To Tell The Truth” until 1962. His stint hosting the show “Who Do You Trust?” was notable for a couple of reasons. One was the fact that the show soon became one of daytime television's most watched programs of the late 1950s, which surprised Johnny a lot because he felt that the move to daytime television would kill his career. And secondly, it was through that show that he would end up meeting a man by the name of Ed McMahon, a man who would inevitably become a huge part of Johnny's life for several decades.

Then came the offer of a lifetime while Johnny hosted “Who Do You Trust?”. In 1962, the then host of The Tonight Show was Jack Paar, and he had decided the previous year that he would be moving on to other projects.

TRIVIA: Jack Paar, himself, was the replacement host for the original Tonight Show host, Steve Allen.

Carson's success with “Who Do You Trust?” lead to NBC offering Carson the gig as host of The Tonight Show a few months before Paar would vacate the hosting chair. Carson initially declined the offer, because he wasn't sure he could handle the pressure of interviewing celebrities within a 105 minute long show for five nights a week.

But after Bob Newhart, Jackie Gleason, Joey Bishop, and Groucho Marx declined the offer to host the show as well, NBC asked Carson again to reconsider hosting. In March 1962, Carson did accept, but it would take six months for him to start, as he was still under contract with ABC until September 1962. So, Carson finished off his run of “Who Do You Trust?” while NBC substituted guest hosts such as Merv Griffin to run “The Tonight Show”.



Finally, on October 1, 1962, Carson, just days shy of turning 37 years old, took over as the third host of “The Tonight Show”. He was still apprehensive about the job at first, and the 1962/63 season was a difficult one in both the ratings as well as Carson's own hosting skills. But soon Johnny began to feel more at home, and by the end of 1963, he had overcome his fears and doubts, and ratings began to improve dramatically.



Assisting Carson in his show was Ed McMahon, who Carson insisted become his announcer and sidekick. And, really, when you stop and think about it, could you imagine anyone else delivering the “Heeeere's Johnny!” opening line better than McMahon?



(Well, aside from Jack Nicholson in the 1980 film, “The Shining”?)





And, Carson really put his own stamp on the show. He created and assumed the roles of several characters on the show including Floyd R. Turbo, Art Fern, Aunt Blabby, El Mouldo, and of course, Carnac the Magnificent. Oh look, here's a clip of Carnac in action below.



There's actually a whole list of these Carnac gags available for viewing. To see the list, click on the link below.


And, just before we get to the final show, let's add some more trivia about Carson's reign as host of The Tonight Show.

Did you know that The Tonight Show had a live band during Carson's entire stint as host? Well, when Carson began hosting the show in 1962, the band leader was Skitch Henderson, followed by Milton DeLugg. The longest serving leader was Doc Severinsen, who served in the position from 1967 to 1992.



Did you know that the theme song for “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson” was written by Paul Anka?

Did you know that Groucho Marx was Johnny Carson's first guest?

Did you know that Johnny Carson very rarely socialized with his guests before or after the show? In fact, when Orson Welles appeared as a guest, he remarked that he was astonished that Carson dropped by his dressing room to say hello to him before the show began, as he wasn't known for doing that.

Did you know that Carson's hosting style was considered to be so “cool” that he often would break for a commercial when the interview was not going as well as he thought? It's true. In fact, Baretta star Robert Blake once compared the experience of being interviewed by Carson to that of facing a death squad. Still, the publicity that celebrities would get from an appearance on the show was worth that risk.

Did you know that Carson very rarely laughed during interviews...only doing so when he was genuinely amused? Here's a clip of a 1979 interview with Dolly Parton that illustrates this.



Did you know that Johnny Carson's show helped launch the careers of several up and coming stand-up comedians? And, that if Carson liked the performance, he invited the comic to join him in the chair beside his desk for an impromptu interview? Very few comics got that privilege, so it was a dream come true. It happened to Ellen DeGeneres back in 1986. Take a look.



Did you know that in 1979, Carson took Fred Silverman and NBC to court over contract negotiations, and that this court case lead to the show being shortened to an hour in length?

Did you know that “The Tonight Show” would have guest hosts every Monday? Some of these guest hosts included Joey Bishop, Joan Rivers, John Davidson, Bob Newhart, David Brenner, McLean Stevenson, Jerry Lewis, and David Letterman.



Did you know that Johnny Carson instituted a permanent ban on Joan Rivers from appearing on the show ever again (which continued after Jay Leno took over as host)? The reason behind the ban came in 1986 when Joan Rivers left her permanent guest hosting position (a position that Johnny bestowed upon her three years earlier) to host her own show. It was alleged by Carson that Rivers never told him that she was leaving until after she started filming the show, a fact that Rivers denied. Regardless, the new show that Joan started was cancelled in 1987, and Carson, who never forgave her, placed the ban on Joan ever since.

Did you know that the broadcast of July 26, 1984 of The Tonight Show was the first program in American history to be broadcast in MTS stereo sound?

For thirty years, Carson interviewed celebrities, and entertained millions of people with his zany wit, his magic tricks, and his funny jokes. But, all good things had to come to an end, and Johnny Carson announced that he would be leaving The Tonight Show in 1992.

Carson's final episodes aired the week of May 18, and during the first three shows, Carson would show clips of past moments on the show, despite his insistence that he didn't like sentimentality.

Johnny Carson's final celebrity guests appeared on his May 21 episode. Those guests included Robin Williams and Bette Midler. And Bette's appearance in particular was incredibly moving. In fact, you can watch a clip of her appearance below, in which Carson was visibly moved.



Finally, on May 22, 1992, Carson's final show aired. There were no celebrity guests. No Carnac the Magnificent. There wasn't even a desk. It was Johnny sitting in front of the iconic curtain on a stool in front of an entire audience made up of family and close friends, saying goodbye to his audience, both on the studio, and on television. Here's a clip of the final words that Carson ever said on The Tonight Show.



It's been twenty years since Carson said farewell to The Tonight Show, and in the years since, Carson enjoyed his retirement. He made a brief appearance on The Simpsons in 1993, but aside from that, he never appeared on camera again. Carson passed away in January 2005, at the age of 79.

However, Carson's influence in the world of late night talk shows continues to be shown. David Letterman, Craig Ferguson, Jimmy Fallon, Jay Leno, and Conan O'Brien have all cited Carson as being a huge influence on them, and certainly if you watch any of their shows, they all seem to resemble Carson's own format.



Of course, Johnny Carson did it best.

That's our look back on May 22, 1992.