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Tuesday, October 23, 2012

October 23, 1983


The Tuesday Timeline entries are probably some of my all-time favourite entries to write because I learn so much about history, world events, and pop culture. And, I hope that all of you out there get as much enjoyment in reading these entries as much as I enjoy writing them.

Of course, before we get into the main subject of the blog, we will do what we always do on Tuesdays. We'll be taking a look back at the major events of today throughout history as well as some of the celebrity birthdays today.

So, let's get started with the October 23 events through history. On this day in...

1641 – The Outbreak of the Irish Rebellion of 1641 begins

1707 – The first Parliament of Great Britain meets

1812 – Claude Francois de Malet begins his conspiracy to overthrow French leader Napoleon Bonaparte

1850 – The first United States National Women's Rights Convention is held in Worcester, Massachusetts

1861 – American president Abraham Lincoln suspends writ of habeas corpus in Washington D.C for all military-related cases

1867 – A group of seventy-two Senators are summoned by Royal Proclamation to serve as the first members of the newly created Canadian Senate

1911 – An Italian pilot takes off from Libya to observe Turkish army lines during the Turco-Italian War in what is the very first use of aircraft in war

1915 – At least thirty thousand women march on New York City's Fifth Avenue for their right to vote

1917 – Lenin calls for the October Revolution

1925 – Legendary talk show host Johnny Carson is born in Corning, Iowa

1929 – The first transcontinental flight between New York City and Los Angeles takes place on the same day that Wall Street begins worrying about the decline in stock market prices, which would lead into the Great Depression

1935 – The Chophouse Massacre takes place in Newark, New Jersey

1944 – The Soviet Red Army invades Hungary during the second World War

1946 – The United Nations General Assembly convenes for the first time in a Flushing, Queens auditorium

1957 – Fashion designer Christian Dior passes away at the age of 52

1958 – The Smurfs make their very first appearance in the weekly comic magazine, Spirou

1970 – Gary Gabelich sets a land-speed record in the Blue Flame, a rocket-powered automobile fueled with natural gas

1972 – Operation Linebacker concludes after five months

1973 – President Richard Nixon agrees to turn over subpoenaed audio tapes of his Oval Office conversations during the Watergate Scandal

1983 – 241 U.S. Military personnel are killed in Beirut after a truck bomb detonates near a U.S. Marines barracks

1989 – The Phillips Disaster in Pasadena, Texas kills 23 and injures over three hundred

2001 – Apple announces plans to create a new device, the iPod

2002 – Chechen terrorists take control of Moscow's House of Culture theater house, taking 700 people hostage

There are also quite a few celebrity birthdays today. Celebrating today are Chi-Chi Rodriguez, Philip Kaufman, Stanley Anderson, Baby Jane Holzer, Pele, Brian Ross, Michael “Wurzel” Burston (Motorhead), Nick Tosches, Dwight Yoakam, Dianne Reeves, Martin Luther King III, Nancy Grace, Sam Raimi, Weird Al Yankovic, Doug Flutie, Robert Trujillo (Metallica), Al Leiter, Brooke Theiss, Grant Imahara, Zoe Wiseman, Steve Wilder, Jimmy Wayne, Cat Deeley, Ryan Reynolds, Josh Strickland, Meghan McCain, Briana Evigan, and Daphne Blunt.

So, what date in history will we be flashing back to?



We're going back to October 23, 1983, the same day as the terrible attacks on American troops in Beirut. I can only imagine that story made news all over the world, and many news stations covered the events as they unfolded.

It was also the day that a famous (or infamous depending on your preconceived opinion of her) newscaster lost her life. Certainly her life was filled with triumph and personal career victories...but her personal life was so screwed up that it seemed to take center stage. Her life was one gigantic real-life soap opera filled with more twists and turns than an episode of “The Young and the Restless”, and the drama surrounding her personal life overshadowed what should have been a stellar career in broadcast news.



This is the story of Jessica Savitch, who died on this date twenty-nine years ago, at the age of 36.

What made the death even more tragic was the fact that she died when things were finally beginning to work out for her. On October 23, 1983, she went out on a dinner date with her new beau, 34-year-old Martin Fischbein. Together, along with Jessica's beloved dog, Chewy, the couple rented a car and drove out to New Hope, Pennsylvania for a day in the crisp, autumn air. They dined at Chez Odette, a popular restaurant in the area, and left the restaurant at approximately 7:15pm. Less than a few hours later, the couple would be found dead after their car drove into the Delaware Canal and flipped upside down, essentially drowning both Fischbein and Savitch, as well as Chewy.

It was a tragic end for a woman who seemed to, in the words of former news anchor Mort Crim, attract tragedy like a magnet.



And to think that the early life of Jessica Savitch started off so innoculously.

She was born on February 1, 1947 in the town of Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, the eldest of three. When she graduated high school, she began attending college in Ithaca, New York. She worked at the radio and television stations on campus, and also landed a job at a newstalk station in Linwood, New Jersey. Graduating from college in 1968, Savitch worked at a variety of television stations during her early career including WCBS in New York, and KHOU-TV in Houston, Texas. From there, she took on a job at KYW-TV in Philadelphia as a local television newscaster, and also worked as a Washington correspondent for NBC News. In addition to this, she anchored the television show Frontline on PBS, and wrote an autobiography in 1982! Her career ambitions were huge, and she was determined to make a name for herself in the world of news.

However, Jessica's quest to become the next Barbara Walters was a challenge almost immediately. Although Savitch made history in the early 1970s by becoming the very first female news anchor in the South, it was clear that sexism was a constant factor that hindered Jessica's early years. Savitch even recalled one television network executive telling her that there was no way that a woman could be the news anchor for the eleven o'clock news, because that was when wives looked their worst and they would be jealous! Another colleague of hers flatly told her that “broads didn't belong in broadcasting”.

Despite the fact that equal rights were fought for during the 1970s, in the world of television news, sexism was still the way that networks ran.

And Jessica Savitch did everything she could to make sure that she had her chance to make it big in the world of broadcasting.



It took her about seven years, but by 1977, she had landed the coveted job of covering the U.S. Senate for NBC News, as well as anchoring the Sunday network news. And even after she landed that job, she was subjected to lots of criticism by network heads. Some believed that while her reporting skills were thorough, they were hardly considered to be professional, and others felt that she lacked the experience that most anchors had by not getting the opportunity to report from the correspondent trenches. However, even though network executives were skeptical about Savitch, she did have one thing in her favour. Audiences loved her, and were drawn to her personality. The fan reaction to Savitch was so positive that Jessica was often asked to fill in for John Chancellor or Tom Brokaw whenever they were out covering a news story overseas. It became rather clear that her professional life was going extremely well.

Her personal life...not so much.

By the time she was thirty-four years old, she had already been married twice, both marriages ending messily. Prior to her marriages, it was reported that she had a decade long relationship with news director Ron Kershaw, who had helped Savitch develop her skills as an anchorwoman. The relationship was a rather stormy one, surrounded by allegations of abuse, but at the time of the 1984 People Magazine article, the article referred to Kershaw as Jessica's close friend. Make of that what you will.

The first of Jessica's two marriages was one union that seemed to shock everybody within Jessica's circle of friends and colleagues. On January 6, 1980, she married advertising executive Mel Korn at the Plaza Hotel in New York City. Savitch was one month shy of turning thirty-three. Korn was just entering his fifties. Within months, the marriage was on the fritz. Korn's business failed, and Savitch began having an affair with gynecolegist Donald Payne. The marriage between Korn and Savitch dissolved by the first part of 1981, and in March 1981, Savitch and Payne got married.

Almost immediately after the marriage, Jessica soon discovered that she was pregnant, which should have delighted the young couple, but just four months later, Savitch lost the baby. There have been several theories about how the baby was lost. Some sources state that Savitch miscarried because of the stress that she was going under at her job, while others state that she actually underwent an abortion after her husband attempted suicide. I put both options up here because I honestly don't know what to believe. But this much I know for sure. In July 1981, Jessica Savitch did lose a child...and just a few weeks later on the first of August, her second husband committed suicide by hanging himself in the basement of their home. Savitch discovered the body.

So you can only imagine how devastated Jessica would have been. Colleagues soon noted that weeks after Payne's suicide, Savitch buried herself into her work, ignoring the world around her, and that she suffered nightmares for months. And the pain of losing someone so close to her soon seemed to affect her work as well. Take this clip of one of Jessica's freakouts while a commercial break was airing.



Things seemed to come to a head just a few weeks before her death. In August 1983, Savitch had gotten word that a new female anchor, Connie Chung, was coming to NBC. This would prove to be a bad thing for Savitch, as Chung was hired to replace her as the weekend anchor, her role minimized to about 45 seconds of airtime, anchoring the prime-time news capsule.



On one such incident just three weeks before her death, on October 3, she appeared on camera appearing to be slurring her words and ad-libbing her entire copy. Savitch later got through her second session without incident. She claimed that the poor results of the first report was due to a teleprompter that wasn't working properly, but some speculated that drug use was involved. Another explanation was that Savitch had been hit in the face by a sailboat boom which caused her to have a deviated septum that needed reconstructive surgery, and that she had simply returned to work too soon, as she was on medication to ease the pain.

Whatever the reason was, it seemed that the only thing that really fueled Jessica's drive for success was the ambition and drive to prove herself in a male-dominated world. She was up against so many challenges and was hit hard by several personal tragedies, but she kept going a lot longer than most others would have. It seems ironic that at the time of her death, things were flipped around for her. For once her professional life seemed to be taking a backseat to her personal life, and perhaps had she lived, she may have been able to balance everything out. Sadly, we will never know.



Coincidentally, there have been several books and movies released that touch more upon the life of Jessica Savitch. In 1988, author Alanna Nash penned the book “Golden Girl: The Story of Jessica Savitch”, which was the book that inspired the 1995 film “Up Close And Personal”, starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Robert Redford. It almost became a complete retelling of the book, but producers changed it at the last minute, stating that Savitch's life was too downbeat for a movie that was supposed to be a romance. But if you really want to watch a film about Jessica's life, there was a television movie made starring Sela Ward entitled “Almost Golden: The Jessica Savitch Story” that aired on cable channel Lifetime.

And that's what happened on October 23, 1983.

Monday, October 22, 2012

The Rocky Horror Picture Show


I think that some of the best memories of holidays are the traditions that make them all that more special.  You know what I mean, right?  The parties, the activities, the holiday specials, and the holiday treats that make holidays what they are.

I would think that when most of us think about holiday traditions, the vast majority of them would apply towards the Christmas season.  And that’s understandable as a lot of my family’s holiday traditions are Christmas related.  From hanging up the stockings, to watching Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer every December, to watching my father cursing and swearing every time he untangles the Christmas lights...those are Christmas traditions that I look forward to every year.

But that’s not to say that the other holidays are neglected when it comes to tradition.  I have annual traditions for every holiday on the calendar year.

When I was younger, I would stay up past midnight every New Years Eve to watch Dick Clark drop the ball in the middle of Times Square on television.  With Dick Clark passing away earlier this year, that tradition won’t quite be the same anymore, but I’ll likely still watch it just out of habit.  Easter was also filled with a lot of childhood traditions.  I still remember fondly springing out of bed with glee, following a trail of jellybeans, jujubes, and Cadbury Creme Eggs to my basket filled with chocolates from the Easter Bunny.

And, hey, on Valentine’s Day, it’s traditional for me to make fun of it whenever possible and aggravating couples by telling them that Valentine’s Day exists for the sole purpose of guys buying their gals a box of chocolates so that a month later, they can dump them for giving them a zit, or making them gain weight.

(Yeah, I really tried to like Valentine’s Day, and I don’t mind it as much as I used to, but why break with tradition, right?  J )

Anyway, the point that I am trying to make with this introduction is that traditions can be found in almost every holiday from Canada Day to Thanksgiving. 

Halloween is no exception.

Seriously, Halloween has some of my all-time favourite traditions.  Sure, dressing up in costumes and going door-to-door for fun size Snickers and Twix bars was one of them for a number of years, but once I hit my teens, I got too big to get away with it much longer.  So, I found other traditions.  I would eat all the leftover candy that we had on the first of November, and I would watch at least one scary movie the weekend before Halloween. 

One of my favourite traditions involves one such movie in particular.  It aired on MuchMusic every Halloween, and I would make sure that I watched it that day because it was just one of those movies that drew me in.  I’m not sure if it was the killer soundtrack, the wild costumes, or the whimsical, bizarre plot that kept my attention.  Perhaps it was all three.

Oh, I can’t wait any longer.  I have to show you what I mean!


I’m sure you’ve figured it out!  We’re doing the “time warp” again to 1975 for one of the biggest cult movies of the last few decades...a movie that is still screened in various movie theatres thirty-seven years after it was originally released!


Ladies and gentlemen, this is “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” blog entry!


“The Rocky Horror Picture Show” was the film adaptation of the British rock musical stage play, “The Rocky Horror Show”, written by Richard O’Brien.

TRIVIA:  Richard O’Brien starred in the movie in the role of Riff Raff.

The movie also featured the talents of Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, and Barry Bostwick, all three of whom ended up having hugely successful careers in film and television.  What was also great about the movie musical was that all of the actors who starred in the movie did their own singing performances.

Other actors who starred in the film included Patricia Quinn, Nell Campbell, Jonathan Adams, Peter Hinwood, Charles Gray, and Meat Loaf.


Yes.  That Meat Loaf.

So, I don’t want to spoil the whole movie because it truly is one that is really worth seeing to believe, but here’s how the whole thing kicks off.  After the introduction with the singing red lips, we are introduced to the hero and heroine of the movie, Brad Majors (Bostwick) and Janet Weiss (Sarandon).  And, dammit, they love each other!  But how much do they love each other?  This much!


I regret that I couldn’t find a video clip to insert into this blog, but at least I found the song!


Anyway, Brad and Janet are driving down a desolate road in the middle of a dark and stormy night when they blow a tire and are stranded.  Unfortunately, 1975 was before the invention of mobile phones and the GPS, so Brad and Janet were forced to do what so many others did back in those days...walk down the road until they found someone who could help them.

The path that Brad and Janet ended up taking took them to a gigantic castle.  Brad felt that it was good fortune for them because he believed that the occupants had a telephone that they could use to call for a tow truck.  Once they entered the door though, it turned out to be a decision that would inevitably change their lives forever.


Turns out that Brad and Janet ended up walking straight into an annual Transylvanian convention, and it is here that we first meet Riff Raff, his sister Columbia (Campbell), and Magenta (Quinn).  And it is here where we watch them do the time warp, again.

And then enters this lovely character...


Frank N. Furter...the sweet transvestite from transsexual Transylvania.  And gender confusion isn’t the only character trait that can be associated with Frank N. Furter, as people who watch the movie soon figure out.


At any rate, Frank N. Furter’s gaze soon meets with Brad and Janet, and he orders both of them to stay as his personal guests, almost by choice.  To ensure that they stay, he has Columbia and Magenta strip both of them to their underwear and takes them up to the upper level of the mansion where after handing Brad and Janet bathrobes fills them in on his mission.  You see, Frank has claimed to have discovered the very secret of life, and he introduces both Brad and Janet to his secret creation, a gold hot pants clad monster named Rocky Horror (Hinwood).  Brad and Janet seem a bit surprised and a little scared at first, but as you will see in the movie, at least one of them ends up getting close to the big guy...in ways nobody ever imagined.


But just before Frank has time to celebrate the “birth” of Rocky, the party is soon crashed by an uninvited guest...


That uninvited guest ends up being Eddie, a former delivery boy who ends up having a rather strange connection to Rocky Horror (Rocky Horror actually possesses part of Eddie’s brain).  He is also having a romantic affair with Columbia.  And, unfortunately for Eddie, his appearance in the film is all too brief, as he meets a fate so gruesome that I really don’t know if I have it in me to type out.

Besides, why spoil the movie?  In fact, I feel so strongly about making sure that you see this movie that I’m ending the plot description right here, right now.  It’s my blog.  I can do that.  But believe me, if you have not yet seen this movie, and you think you know how it all ends, take it from me, you really will be shocked at what happens to each of the main characters at the end.

Besides, I want to talk more about the cultural impact that this film has had since it was released.  Although the film saw a nationwide release in September 1975, the first cities to screen the film were London, England, and  Los Angeles, California, on August 14, 1975.  While the film did quite well at both advance screenings, it initially didn’t do very well when it was released nationwide.  In fact, compared to some of the other heavyweights of 1975 such as “Jaws”, “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest”, and “Dog Day Afternoon”, “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” was considered a flop.

It actually wasn’t until April 1, 1976 that the movie really began to take off.  That was the day that the Waverly Theater in New York City began screening the movie as a midnight screening.  Shortly after the film started screening at the Waverly, groups of people began to flock to the screenings.  Six months later, on Halloween night, hundreds of people began to attend the screenings in full costumes, shouting at the movie screen whenever their favourite characters did something that they approved or disapproved of.  By the time the 1970s ended, a reported 230 movie theatres began showing the movie twice a week on midnights, and over the next few decades, the intense loyalty of the fans of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” soon helped the film reach the number two spot in the most successful films of 1975.  Not bad for a movie that started off with barely any interest, huh?


One of the fun things that one can expect when they attend a screening of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” is the fact that they can be expected to have a night filled with fun, excitement, and the possibility of dancing on stage!  It turns out that there’s a whole list of things that people can do at a screening of the movie.  The more audience participation that takes place, the more fun a person usually has.  Just take a look at some of the samples of activities that people take part in during a typical showing.

For one, if you haven’t seen the movie in a movie theatre before, be prepared to take a lot of heat.  According to the hardcore Rocky Horror fans out there, if someone admits to not seeing the film in a theatre before, they are classified as “virgins”, and in some cases, they have the letter “V” drawn on their foreheads in bright red lipstick.  As if that weren’t bad enough, the “virgins” in the audience are subjected to hazing from the audience members who are considered “experts”.  “Virgins” can expect to be called out, made fun of, and are the first ones to be selected in various hazing rituals in front of the screen.  To the credit of most theatres, most of these are done entirely in fun, and most of the tricks aren’t that demeaning...but there are some particular theatres that are more hardcore and are a lot less sympathetic, so if you are wanting to do the Rocky Horror Picture Show experience for the first time, make sure you choose your theatre wisely!


Some screenings of the film also encourage the audience to bring props to use whenever a certain event takes place.  For instance, in the scene where Brad and Janet are walking in the rain, audience members arm themselves with water pistols and start spraying them inside the theatre to simulate the downpour.  During the toast scene, audience members toss rolls of Scott toilet paper and paper towels whenever they hear the words “Great Scott”.  There’s even a segment in which audience members throw playing cards whenever they hear Tim Curry singing the line “cards for sorrow, cards for pain”.

Really, you have to be expected for almost anything when attending a screening.

Of course, just hearing me talk about this movie and what happens at a screening, you might suspect that I myself have attended a couple of these screenings in my youth.  I could tell you...but then I’d have to kill you.  Instead, I’ll leave it up to you as to whether you think I deserve to have the scarlet letter drawn atop my forehead.

At any rate, for a movie to have influenced pop culture the way that “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” has (it inspired full episodes of “Cold Case” and “Glee”), it has to be a movie that is worth its weight in gold.  I know I certainly make a point to watch it every Halloween...and maybe even on a regular Thursday once in a while.



Sunday, October 21, 2012

Somebody's Watching Me - The Gordy Connection


This is the story of a young man from Detroit, Michigan who wanted to become a huge star in the world of music. Hailing from a family with known ties to music (including a rather influential record label), the drive to succeed was probably greater for him than most. It seems almost tragic that his biggest success was more or less a one-hit wonder that only seemed destined to be played at dance clubs every thirty-first of October.

Sometimes, you can't win 'em all.



But such is the story of Kennedy William Gordy.

Kennedy William Gordy was born on March 15, 1964. If that last name sounds familiar, it's because the name Gordy is synonymous with Motown Records. And, Kennedy William Gordy certainly has ties to the record company. His father, after all, is Berry Gordy, the founder of Motown.

TRIVIA: When Berry Gordy was naming his son, he took inspiration from a couple of famous men....John F. Kennedy and William “Smokey” Robinson.

So, here's the deal with Kennedy. Having been bitten by the music bug at a very early age, he thought about going into the recording industry as a singer. And naturally, one of the easiest ways that he could make his dream come true was to sign up with the record company his own father founded. But he didn't want to get the job through nepotism. He wanted to earn everything on his own without his father's help.

So Kennedy made the decision to seek out a recording contract with Motown Records behind his father's back to prove that he could land a contract on his own.

And you know what happened? He ended up doing just that.

To further distance himself from his famous family and go ahead with his singing career, Kennedy made the decision to go by a stage name rather than his real name. Motown Records decided to help him out by giving him the name of ROCKWELL, which Kennedy seemed to like, as he believed that he did exactly that...rock well.



Okay, so the name origin wasn't really all that cool...but the name of Rockwell's first (and biggest) hit was quite the opposite back in the day.



ARTIST: Rockwell
SONG: Somebody's Watching Me
ALBUM: Somebody's Watching Me
DATE RELEASED: January 14, 1984
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS: #2

Okay, so there's quite a bit to say about this particular song. First, when the song was being recorded, Rockwell was in the middle of a period of estrangement from his famous father (which could likely explain how he ended up getting the recording contract with Motown without his father knowing about it until after the fact).



At the time that the song was being recorded, Rockwell was living with his father's ex-wife, Ray Singleton (the marriage between Ray and Berry only lasted four years from 1960 until 1964). This arrangement could also have caused a bit of the problems between father and son, as Rockwell's mother was the other woman who came in between the marriage of Berry and Ray, although this is merely speculation on my part, and is not meant to be the whole truth, so don't take my word as gospel in that regard.

But while the relationship between Rockwell and Berry might have been a bit frosty at the time, surprisingly enough, Berry and Ray ended up having a more friendly arrangement. With Singleton helping Rockwell producing his debut album, she would occasionally play some of his demos for Berry to get his feedback...most of which was critically negative.

That is until Ray Singleton played the demo for “Somebody's Watching Me” for Berry and he ended up recognizing a familiar voice singing back-up in the main chorus.



That singer of course was Michael Jackson, a former Motown recording artist. Although Michael Jackson was in the middle of touring and promoting his 1982 album “Thriller” at the time that Rockwell was recording his debut, Rockwell and the Jackson 5 became very close friends. Michael and his brother Jermaine both contributed vocals to “Somebody's Watching Me”, which likely helped catapult the song to the #2 position in early 1984.

And the song itself was quite good in a creepy sort of way. With its electronically manipulated vocals at the beginning of the song, combined with organ music, it really did feel as though Dracula and the Bride of Frankenstein were having an 80s New Wave party at a haunted house. Even the music video was brilliant because it resembled a horror film. With references to Psycho, Edgar Allen Poe's “The Raven”, and other scary movies and books, the video is a smorgasbord of Halloween imagery.

Unfortunately for Rockwell, this song proved to be merely a one-trick pony. He did have a second single with “Obscene Phone Call” later on in 1984, but it barely registered on the charts, only peaking at #35. He attempted to keep his career going with two more albums, and released eight more singles between 1985 and 1991, but when the last few singles failed to chart, his recording contract was not renewed, and Rockwell's musical career was over.

So, what is the legacy of Rockwell? Well, not a whole lot from him personally...but he is hardly the only Gordy to have had success on the charts. You see, in 2011, Rockwell's half-brother Stefan and his nephew Skyler ended up forming a group and released their debut album which spawned a couple of huge hits. Of course, you might know them better as Redfoo and SkyBlu, the men behind this particular hit.



ARTIST: LMFAO
SONG: Sexy and I Know It
ALBUM: Sorry For Party Rocking
DATE RELEASED: September 16, 2011
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS: #1 for 2 weeks

Bet you didn't expect there to be TWO songs in this particular blog, huh? Well, the truth is that I couldn't find a whole lot of information on Rockwell, so I decided to make the Gordy connection so that I could make this blog longer. At least it ties in with the original topic anyway. They're both relatives of Berry Gordy, they both had hits on the Billboard Charts, they both have some sort of influence by Michael Jackson, and they both have incredibly scary music videos.

You see? It fits!

But here's one final scary point. In the mid-2000s, Rockwell's biggest hit ended up making a comeback of sorts in a series of advertisements by Geico. So, you can only imagine just how professional those particular commercials were.



Scary...

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Archie's Weird Mysteries


I’m sure that by now, most of you probably know that I have a bit of an obsession with Archie Comics.  And I make no apologies for it either.

In this particular blog, I think that I have made at least nine entries about Archie Comics as well as the characters that have appeared within the comics.  In fact, I’ll provide a list, as well as the appropriate links to each segment, just to further prove my obsession with Archie Comics is very much real.










Yes, you can say it.  I’m obsessed.  But, you know what?  I don’t care who knows it.  Part of the reason why I gravitated towards all things Archie was because the comic books helped saved my life growing up.  I know it sounds a bit dramatic, but it is one hundred per cent true.  I had a difficult time finding and keeping friends in my childhood, and I was a rather lonely kid.  But I knew that when I got home, I could always open up an Archie Comics Digest and enjoy the adventures of Archie and his friends in the town of Riverdale...a town where everyone was friends with almost everyone, and a town where respect and kindness were valued above anything else. 

It was a place that I really longed to be a part of when I was a child.  And even though Riverdale was a fictional place, I still felt as though I was a part of that loving community spirit that was present in each story.  I think that’s why I have continued reading the books for a quarter of a century now.  It’s not that I refuse to grow up or anything like that...rather it is because they were one of the things that were a constant positive influence on my life and times, and I have no shame in admitting that they are the one part of my childhood that I refuse to give up on.

I think you know where this is going.  Yes, this is another blog post on Archie Comics.  The tenth one I have done since I began this blog a year and a half ago.  Can I help it if Archie Comics provides many life lessons and interesting stories?

All right, what if I promise you that I will keep this blog entry Halloween themed?  How does that sound?

You know, there have been approximately 50 different Archie titles that have been released over the seventy years that Archie Comics has been in business.  Some of them are classic joke titles like “Archie’s Joke Book” and “Reggie’s Wise-Guy Jokes”.  Some titles are filled with danger and adventure, such as “Life With Archie” and “Archie at Riverdale High”.  And some titles barely registered with audiences like “Faculty Funnies”, “Archie’s R/C Racers”, and “Archie’s All-Canadian Digest”.

But very rarely did the Archie title venture into the genre known as science-fiction and horror movies. 

Sure, the “Life With Archie” and “Archie at Riverdale High” titles did have stand-alone stories that featured aliens, criminals, and unexplained occurances, especially during the 1970s...but once people hung up their hot pants and donned leg warmers, these kinds of stories seemed to fade away for more realistic tales.

At least that was the case until 1999, when a brand new cartoon series debuted on PAX television.


The cartoon was “Archie’s Weird Mysteries”, the first new animated cartoon series for Archie Comics in twelve years.  The show only managed to air original episodes for approximately four months (it ran from October 2, 1999 until February 21, 2000), but reruns aired in syndication well into 2001.  It’s actually slated to make a comeback to television on the American cable channel “qubo” sometime in 2012 (if it hasn’t already by the time I post this blog entry, that is).


The plot for “Archie’s Weird Mysteries” is one that is a bit hard to explain, but I’m going to give it my best shot.  Do you remember watching any of those really cheesy horror films from the 1950s and 1960s?  You know the ones I mean, right?  Any of those movies that feature giant blobs that will destroy the world, or space aliens that will destroy the world, or mutated dinosaurs that will destroy the world, or <insert generic B-movie monster> that will destroy the world?

Well, what happens when these B-movie monsters end up finding their way into the small town of Riverdale after an experiment in the Riverdale High science labs goes terribly, terribly wrong?  You end up having a series that spans 40 episodes that feature Archie and the gang trying their best to keep these movie monsters from making Riverdale their own personal playground.


Naturally, Archie Andrews is the main character of this series.  In this cartoon, Archie’s job is that of news reporter for the school newspaper, “The Blue & Gold”.  In each episode, Archie is usually found typing out his articles on a laptop computer, and serves as narrator at the beginning and end of each episode.  But Archie isn’t the only one that stands up to the various monsters.


You have Betty Cooper, who basically maintains the nice, sweet, girl-next-door image that she has portrayed over the last seven decades, Veronica Lodge, the snobby, rich girl who ends up competing with Betty for Archie’s affections, Reggie Mantle, the jock who has a love-hate relationship with Archie, and Jughead Jones, Archie’s best friend who maintains a friendship with Betty, a feud with Veronica, and a love affair with cheeseburgers from Pop’s Chocklit Shop.


Perhaps one of the coolest things about the show was that a secondary character ended up receiving a starring role for a change.  The only time I ever remember Dilton Doiley ever getting top billing for anything was with his short-lived comic book title “Dilton’s Strange Science”, so it’s refreshing to see him take on such a huge role in “Archie’s Weird Mysteries”.  Sure, he may be the stereotypical poindexter who spends more time playing chess than making out with girls, but at the end of the day, he is almost always the brains behind the operation.


There are other characters that also have recurring roles in the series, such as Mr. Weatherbee, Miss Grundy, and Jughead’s dog, Hot Dog.

So, just what sorts of monsters make appearances in the series?  And how are most of them created?  Here’s a partial list; swamp monsters, UFO’s, a man-eating worm, a tapioca pudding blob, the spirit of a deceased librarian, zombies, a giant beetle, and even a Mega-Mall of Horrors!

What makes it interesting is that almost all of the main characters of the series (except for Betty as far as I can tell) end up either becoming monsters or end up creating monsters!  Reggie somehow ends up having a robot doppelganger, Veronica somehow becomes fifty feet tall, Archie transforms into a monster after drinking a mutated energy drink, and Jughead accidentally creates a monster after accidentally spilling chemicals on a slice of pizza!

On one hand, the show had its perks.  It was a fun distraction and entertaining enough to be amused for thirty minutes...and for the most part, I have a bit of an interest in the genre known as “really bad horror movies”.  The minus side of this show was the animation.  Although it was produced by long-running production company DiC, there was something about the animation that made it very choppy. 



But all in all, it was an Archie show, so I suppose that I have some soft spot for it.  Heck, it inspired a comic book serial of the same name which ran for four years total, so in that regard, it was a success that one particular generation will always remember.

Friday, October 19, 2012

Ghost Whisperer


Before we launch into another exciting journey through pop culture past, I just wanted to take the time to explain why today's entry is written entirely in purple.

Today is October 19, 2012, and today just happens to be known as “Spirit Day”. I think that I touched upon how the day was created, but just to refresh your memory, I'll talk about it again.

In October 2010, a Canadian teenager named Brittany McMillan brought forth the idea of Spirit Day, a day in which people wore purple to show solidarity to show support for LGBT youth who have been victimized by bullying. The event was soon promoted by the GLAAD organization and hundreds of celebrities wore purple on this day to show their support.

The reason why purple is used? Well, if one were to take a look at the different meanings of the rainbow-coloured Pride flag, the purple stripe represents “spirit”. I actually had to look that up, because I wasn't even aware that each colour had a meaning to it, but it makes a lot of sense. After all, if a person's spirit is damaged, it can be quite devastating.

Now, while Spirit Day is meant to show support for bullied LGBT people, I want to expand this to show support for EVERYONE who has ever been bullied, because as many of you well know, I have zero tolerance for bullies. So, I am more than happy to show my support for this day.

And now, on with today's topic, which coincidentally also deals with the concept of spirits...though not exactly in the same fashion as “Spirit Day”.

You see, the word “spirit” is one that can have several meanings to it. I already talked about how the word spirit relates to “Spirit Day”. In that description, the word “spirit” could be a synonym for heart or soul. While today's blog topic does contain heartwarming shows that feature a lot of heart and soul, the definition of “spirit” in this sense doesn't quite fit.

There's also the bevy of alcoholic beverages known as “spirits” that make frequent appearances at parties, barbecues, and liquor stores all over the world...but as far as I know, there is very little reference to drinking in this particular show, so you won't see too many “spirits” in this particular show.

No, this show contains spirits of the dead kind.

I'm not sure exactly how many of you out there believe in ghosts, spirits, and the afterlife. I admit that I'm a bit confused about what to believe myself. I would like to believe that there is such a thing as an afterlife, but to be completely honest, I have no proof that such a place exists...and I have no proof that ghosts exist either. Of course, I imagine that some of you will likely pipe in with your opinions telling me that you have proof that ghosts and spirits do exist.

(Actually, if you do have a story to tell about having a close encounter with a spirit or unexplained haunting, please share your stories in the comments section. I would be interested in reading all about it! And, hey, I encourage reader participation!)

So, where am I going with this? Simple. In this entry, we're going to meet a young woman named Melinda Gordon who has the ability to talk to and communicate with the spirits of those who died. She can also help ghosts settle their differences with the loved ones they left behind and can also help the spirits cross over to the other side.



You see, Melinda Gordon is...the Ghost Whisperer.



Ghost Whisperer” debuted on CBS on September 23, 2005 and ran for five seasons, wrapping up its run on May 21, 2010. Former “Party of Five” actress Jennifer Love Hewitt signed onto the main role of Melinda Gordon, a married antique store owner who tries to balance her home life with the former lives of those who appear to her for help. The series also starred David Conrad, Aisha Tyler, Jay Mohr, Jamie Kennedy, and Camryn Manheim.



Ghost Whisperer” is based on the literary works of self-proclaimed psychic medium James Van Praagh (who also served as the co-executive producer of the series alongside Hewitt and John Gray). The show had reportedly been in development for almost two years before it was greenlit by CBS.



In the series, Melinda Gordon lives in the fictional town of Grandview, New York (believe it or not, the town square set that is heavily featured was a recycled set from the 1985 film, “Back To The Future”) with her husband Jim Clancy (Conrad). She runs the “Same As It Never Was Antiques” store with her best friend Andrea Marino (Tyler), and at first, life seems quite normal.



But Melinda also gets frequent visits from spirits who have not yet crossed over. In almost all cases, the spirits end up having some form of unfinished business on Earth, and they ask Melinda's help in order to help their loved ones understand that they are okay. Part of the conflict of the series comes from the fact that some of the surviving loved ones of those whose spirits Melinda can see don't believe in the spirit world, and many of them treat Melinda with bewilderment, hostility, and disgust. Usually by the end of the episode, Melinda will make a breakthrough between the dead and the living, and the spirits soon make their way to their permanent home in the afterlife.

It's also important to know that not all of these spirits have a score to settle, or have revenge on their minds. In many ways, there are many reasons why the spirits end up remaining earthbound instead of crossing over to the other side. Let's take a look at some examples from the first season episode guide, shall we?

  • In Episode 2, she helps a six-year-old boy who is unaware that he was killed when a train hit the car he was trapped in find his parents, all while dealing with the fact that the young boy has befriended a living boy on Earth.
  • When the ghost of a man helps Melinda save the life of a woman who attempted suicide, Melinda learns that the man is the spirit of the woman's dead fiance. The ghost refuses to cross over until he finds out who the person was that received his heart.
  • A woman who passed away during a routine pregnancy begs Melinda to help her husband stop blaming himself for her death.
  • Melinda helps the spirit of a confused comedian make amends with those he left behind.
  • Melinda helps an angst-filled teenage boy who died after finding out he was adopted, and she is asked by him to find his biological mother to find out why she gave him up.
  • Melinda meets the spirit of a deceased young boy who terrorizes his family, as well as all of the nannies that the family has hired, and Melinda has to find out the mystery behind the boy's death.

So you see, these are all examples of some of the plots that Melinda had to endure during the season's five year run. In most cases, these spirits end up having happy endings, but sometimes, they can cause more grief.



When Melinda gets premonitions of a plane crash at the end of season one, she and Andrea go out to warn the people of Grandview about the impending disaster. Andrea is especially worried about her brother, and sets out to try and find him. Just after Andrea leaves, the plane crashes just outside of the town square, killing everyone on board. Melinda is overwhelmed by the idea of trying to help two hundred spirits cross over to the other side, but her stress really rises when a devilish personality tries to convince the spirits to stay earthbound. On top of all that, Melinda comes to the devastating conclusion that Andrea was caught in the crossfire of the plane crash and was killed, her own spirit stuck in limbo between Earth and the afterlife. Melinda is forced to help her friend cross over in the second season opener.



With Andrea gone, the show shifted direction, and added some brand new characters to the mix. Delia Banks (Manheim) begins working at Melinda's store, and is unaware of her gift at first, but gradually learns of the truth. It takes her some time to accept it, but she decides her friendship with Melinda is worth enough for her to accept the truth. Delia's son Ned, also befriends Melinda, and is intrigued by her gift.



As well, we meet Rick Payne (Mohr), a professor who assists Melinda in helping Andrea cross over. We learn that his wife was killed in a crane accident, and that she happens to feature heavily in a third-season plot point (which I won't spoil for you, as all five seasons are on DVD and you really have to see the episodes yourself). And finally, there's Jamie Kennedy's character of Eli James, a man who came back to life following a near death experience in a fire, and gained the ability to hear ghosts. He and Melinda end up forming a friendship, and work together to help spirits cross over in the fourth and fifth seasons.

Oh, one more thing. There is a really freaky plot development that involves Melinda's husband Jim. I warn you ahead of time, it happens right around the fourth season, and the resolution of this storyline is quite out of the ordinary. Some fans may call this particular plot twist the moment that the show jumped the shark, but others may call it the best moment of the entire series. I'll let you be the judge.

At any rate, despite the fact that the show ended up getting huge ratings in its Friday night time slot its first few seasons, by the middle of season five, the cost of producing the series combined with the declining ratings caused CBS to cancel the show on May 18, 2010, three days before the final episode aired. ABC attempted to pick up the show for the 2010/2011 season, but the deal fell through at the last minute.

The move to cancel the show was a devastating blow for its fans, and even Jennifer Love Hewitt spoke out about the cancellation in January 2011 by issuing the following statement. “When you've taken people on a journey for so long, the least you can do is give them a goodbye. For a show that was about unfinished business, we didn't get to finish.”

However, one thing that I can say about Jennifer Love Hewitt is that she really appreciated her fans, and in a video that was posted in October 2010, Jennifer was extremely grateful, telling fans that she appreciated their support, and that the cast and crew of “Ghost Whisperer” would miss them just as much as the viewers would miss them.

Ghost Whisperer” was recently named as the second “most missed axed show” in a Zap2It poll. I can see why. It truly was a show that had heart, soul, and spirit.



Much like the participants of today's “Spirit Day”.