Halloween: Harvest of Souls

Bloody Disgusting posted the following faux trailer for a

"what could have been" Halloween sequel from 1985.

Read more about the backstory made up for the film over at Bloody Disgusting.

F13:TS 25 - Why the show is important to me.

As part of my 25th anniversary celebration for

Friday the 13th: The Series, I thought it 

would be good to explain why this show

is so important to me.

I am not writing this to whine or elicit sympathy. I merely wish to put into perspective why I bonded with this show. I am in a much better place in my life now than I was 25 years ago. Really!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The show premiered in the Fall of 1987, when I had just entered my junior year of high school. My experience there was not good and it coincided with major home issues, involving a bitter family war zone and my sister's mental problems, and it all culminated in my parents divorce and my younger brother moving out with my father.

Now, I had some friends in elementary school and middle school, but after I entered high school, things changed. I had a cousin I was close to, but she didn't stay in school long. In my junior year, my brother entered as a freshman. We were close, but I knew he had a good group of his own friends and I didn't want to ostracize him from them and put him into the same near-solitude I had entered, so I kept my distance. For four years, I was a loner there, save for one friend from middle school who remained a friend throughout high school, but who, like my brother, also had her own friends.

Those four years I spent a lot of time alone, even though I was surrounded by hundreds of other teenagers. I just never fit in with any group. I sat at lunch alone, never eating, just reading, writing or doing homework. In any free time, I tried to just disappear into the masses so as to not bring attention to myself. Having other kids become aware of me invariably led to bullying. Back then, I justified others mocking me as my problem, since they were all 'normal'. It was just normal for them to point out my weirdness, and I just had to live with it and get through those long four years.

Loneliness is never fun. I am glad for my younger brother and my one friend, and my dog, for they helped me get through those years more than they realize. But, as I said, I ended up spending a lot of time alone. In the Fall of 87, I was laying in bed late one Saturday night, staying up for the premiere of this new show that had intrigued me, Friday the 13th: The Series.

I had no clue what to expect, but I assumed we would see Jason Voorhees in some form. Remember, there was no internet then to give us every bit of news and each plot point before the show saw the light of day. Back then you mostly had to wait until you actually watched the show.

What we got instead of Jason was the story of three people, strangers to each other, who were forced to live together and put their lives on the line each week. Evil had been unleashed on the world and they knew that if they didn't do all they could to stop it, no one else would.

Over the first two years, these characters grew, matured and formed a small family of their own, just the three of them. And I tuned in each and every week, vicariously living their adventures with them. I know, this may sound silly or vapid or even pathetic, but back then, it meant so much to me to have this show to look forward to at the end of every week. The long days of hiding in plain sight at high school were made bearable knowing I could visit Curious Goods and see Ryan, Micki and Jack on Saturday night.

Obviously, this connection helped me to bond with a short-lived, syndicated show in a way that might seem strange to others. But, there it is. These three people were my small group of friends, apart from any people or place I knew or dealt with in my real life. They were a safe haven that I cherished.

With the start of the show's third season, the show's dynamic changed with the loss of Ryan and the introduction of Johnny. This major change paralleled the changes happening in my life. I had graduated in June and was now working the graveyard shift. I wasn't able to catch the show every week and I felt a distance forming. At the end of that year, the show was cancelled. These friends weren't there every weekend. But, surprising to me, I began to make friends with some of the people I worked with. People who liked me for me.

Life went on, but I never lost the affection I felt for this show. To this day, watching an episode brings me back to a time in my life when reality wasn't great, but for one hour a week, a small black-and-white television transported me to happier place, and I will be forever grateful.

TNT's Dallas

I have been enjoying the TNT reboot of the classic prime time soap "Dallas".

The characters from the old show on the new include Bobby Ewing (Patrick Duffy), Sue Ellen (Linda Gray) and J.R. (Larry Hagman). All are great to see once again and the actors know their roles so well it is like visiting old friends, or enemies, since J.R. is one of the blasts from the past.

Old characters played by new actors are Bobby's son Christopher (Jesse Metcalfe) and J.R. and Sue Ellen's son John Ross (Josh Henderson). The previous versions of these characters were children, so the recasts aren't jarring. Both actors are good and play the new Ewing generation well, especially trying to find their own place in history.

New characters include Elena (Jordana Brewster) and Rebecca (Julie Gonzalo), the women tangled up with the young Ewing boys, and Ann Ewing (Brenda Strong), Bobby's new wife. All three ladies bring some fresh air to the show and their characters are intriguing. I am especially curious as to what secret Ann is hiding.

So far, the episodes have been great, with a good mix of the old and the new. We have been able to spend time at Southfork Rank - so glad it has stayed in the Ewing family, even if J.R. tricked his way into getting ownership. We have even been treated to some other faces from the past, including Ray Krebbs (Steve Kanaly), Lucy Ewing (Charlene Tilton) and Cliff Barnes (Ken Kercheval). Great seeing these folks, and it helps to make us feel like there is still a history and family continuing in Dallas. Hope to see more faces from the past next season, since TNT has already renewed the show for next year.

This Wednesday, starting at noon, TNT will be airing a marathon of episodes from this season, leading up to the season finale at 9:00 P.M.

I remember watching this show back in the 80s with my grandmother. She loved to see what J.R. was up to each week and the show remains a good memory for me. So happy the reboot has been done well and that we all get a chance to visit Southfork and the Ewings once again.

A Last Life to Live

After over 43 years of daily shows, it all comes down to one hour.

Today marks the final episode of ABC's "One Life to Live".

This show was always the "back up" show, when I was growing up. "General Hospital" was the big deal at my house, between my sister, my younger brother (for awhile, anyway) and myself. "One Life to Live" was the one we caught if we had time. Usually, it had started before we got home, so it was just a half hour, at most. But I still watched and got hooked, for a good number of years.

I stopped watching years ago and only last summer did I start up again, watching with my family. We are all kinda hooked on it, and if the show had been as good (and as cheezy-fun) as it has been lately, I bet it wouldn't be facing its demise today.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Viki Lord Buchanan, played by actress Erica Slezak  for 40 years,
had a speech on the show yesterday:

“The fans are so loyal, so passionate, so invested in their stories. I always ask how they started watching Fraternity Row. Some of them were stay at home mothers, taking a break before their children came home from school. Others were college students, with free time between classes. Many of them inherited a love of the show from their parents or their grandparents, who were long time fans themselves.

I remember the first time I tuned into Fraternity Row. I was hooked instantly. I needed to know what would happen next to these fascinating people. Would the hero and the heroine find their way back to true love? Would the villains get their comeuppance? Or would their crimes go unpunished? Would loving families overcome their obstacles? Or would their troubles prove too difficult to surmount?

Ultimately, that’s what soap opera is about: families. Close families, rival families. Even families that are unexpected, or the ones we choose for ourselves. And when a show is lucky enough to be on the air as long as Fraternity Row has been on, these families become extensions of our own. The audience might be upset when a favorite actor leaves, but they’re always willing to welcome a new one. Even when that new cast member is quite different from the one being replaced.

After all, this is a place where people come back from the dead, go off to grade school in the morning and come home from high school in the afternoon. Because for every new face, every new couple, every new family, there are long familiar faces. Some who have grown up before our very eyes. And a few more we hope to watch grow up. We know them so well. They’ve become our friends. We yearn for their happiness, especially when it’s hard won. We laugh as they laugh, cry as they cry and we can’t imagine doing without them. And when things are at their very worst on the show, that’s when we seem to enjoy them the most.

There’s just one thing we have to do to keep them in our lives: tune in tomorrow.”

Victoria Lord, on the ending of One Life To Live’s fictional soap opera Fraternity Row.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So, thanks for all the hours of entertainment.

You will be missed, no matter what ABC-TV thinks.

Here is the "One Life to Live" song, as sung by Kristen Alderson,

who played Starr on the show.

Holiday Flashback

Here's a holiday flashback for you: Wham! and Last Christmas, from 1984.

Dark Mansions

Yesterday, in my post of Halloween-themed pics, I posted a few "haunted houses". They got me thinking about an old TV movie.

Greystone Mansion, used as the estate in the film

Dark Mansions was a pilot for a proposed TV series, however it was never picked up and instead aired as a one-time ABC TV movie on August 23, 1986.

The show was an Aaron Spelling-Douglas S. Cramer production and was written by Anthony Lawrence, Nancy Lawrence and Robert McCullough, produced by McCullough and Jerry London and directed by London.

The telefilm starred veteran actress Joan Fontaine, Linda Purl, Michael York, Melissa Sue Anderson, Nicollette Sheridan, Grant Aleksander and Lois Chiles.

The plot: Shellane Victor (Purl) is hired to write a book about a wealthy ship-building family, the Drakes. At the family's estate in Oregon she finds that she is a dead ringer for a long-deceased member of the family. Soon, strange things begin to happen that mirror the events that lead to the previous woman's death. Will Shellane fall victim as well?

I remember the very day I watched this, way back in 1986. I had been looking forward to it, as it had sounded to me like a supernatural spin on Dynasty or Dallas, which were very big at the time. The day it was to air, I had gone to my grandmother's house with my mom. As the afternoon wore on, all the adults were making plans to go to Jai Alai or the dog track, something like that. I stayed behind at my grandmother's very rural home. It was no "dark mansion", but it was a bit creepy being there alone.

Watching the movie on her small, portable television set wasn't the best, picture-wise, but the whole experience added a level of eeriness to the show that it might otherwise have lacked. I remember liking it, but it only ever aired this one time and was gone, a footnote in television history.

I have found at least one not-very-positive review for the movie online, but there is virtually nothing else available for it. No pics, no videos, just a short clip of Anderson and Aleksander from the film. It truly is one of those forgotten, brief moments in TV land.

Anyone else remember Dark Mansions?

Reason #2 Why I Love TV

For my second post in this not-so-regular feature here, I am going back in time.




Reason #2 Why I Love TV: General Hospital.

This is better categorized as a "Why I USED to Love TV".


See, I was a GH fan for decades, from the mid/late 70s up until the early 2000's. I watched through a lot of ups and downs. But in the early part of the previous decade, the show lost its focus.


No longer did history, long-term characters and family matter. Instead, it was all about the mob. Granted, this was interesting. At first. But the show became all-mob, all-the-time. And to make matters worse, death became a quick-hit story plot device instead of something that mattered.


Long-term, important characters were killed off, either for monetary reasons or for supposed story advancement. But all that ended up happening (besides saving money in the budget, I suppose) was a bitter distancing of long-time fans.


After too much bloodshed and character assassination, I gave up. The show - whether it was the writers, producers, whomever - no longer cared about the fans who had been around so long. Budget took priority. The "hot" mob took center stage,  apparently permanently. And I, sadly, said adios.


But now I have read that the long-time head writer of the show was dumped and replaced with someone else. For the first time in a very long time, there is new blood in the writing room. I gave thought to revisiting the show I had watched so long. But, still I hesitated.


Then I started to read a few fan reviews. They seemed positive. Also, a long-time character (Dr. Monica Quartermaine) was being brought back. Things seem to be looking positive.


Of course, this comes at a time when it may just be too little, too late for the show. Daytime soaps are falling left and right, including the other two ABC shows, All My Children (off the air in September) and One Life to Live (off the air in January 2012.) There has been news that those shows will be moving online, in some format. And there are also rumblings that GH is poised for a similar fate, if and when it leaves the broadcast airwaves. Seems like a last-ditch way to try and hold on to the shows. But for some fans, better that than nothing at all.


All of that doom-and-gloom aside, we have DVR'd the last two episodes of GH. Will it be the show I remember? Probably not. But I am willing to give it a try, at least for old time's sake.


Maybe it will be like catching up with an old friend.  Hopefully it won't just be to say one final good-bye.

New Feature: Reasons Why I Love TV

Over at the great Michael May's Adventureblog, he did a post about 100 things he loves about TV. He was inspired by Siskoid's Blog of Geekery and his 100 things he loves about television.

I love their lists, and agree with a bunch of their choices. So, I wanted to follow suit but hesitated, for two reasons. 1: I was afraid I would forget things, people, moments - whatever - and I would hate that. And 2: I would take forever to get it done.

Instead, I have decided to turn it into a feature here. When I think of one of the things I love about TV, I will do a short post and share. Hope you enjoy them and hope they bring back some memories for you, as well!

Reason #1 Why I Love TV:

Start this off with something near and dear to me: Friday the 13th: The Series.



Michael May had this show at # 64 on his list, saying "That Friday the 13th: The Series was way better than the movies it got its name from." I think the show and the movies are enjoyable in their own rights, but I am just so glad he mentioned it!

Too many times it gets knocked for either being "that Friday the 13th show" or "having nothing to do with Jason." I truly think this is one of those times when a show's title was both a boon and a curse. Having that name certainly brought eyes to the show in the beginning. What horror fan didn't want to see what this was all about? And, to this day, it gets mentioned merely for that association with the Jason Voorhees' franchise.

But it was also hindered by that title. Being unrelated to the movies turned off lots of fans, people who didn't stick around to see what the show had to offer on its own merits. And non-horror fans just disregarded the whole thing based on that name alone.

I admit that I tuned in at first because I was curious. Friday the 13th on the small screen, every week? Interesting. But I fell in love with the characters, the setting, the premise - all of it - from that first episode. Jason wasn't there, but there was a new, strange, dark world there that fascinated me. And I was hooked.

The show should have gone on longer, but that is ancient history now. We have the three seasons and can enjoy them again and again now, thanks to the DVD releases.

Friday the 13th: The Series. The #1 Reason Why I Love TV.

Kristy McNichol by John Mapes

Musician John Mapes has an ode for the return of Kristy McNichol.

Click below to listen:



Cool song, but if Kristy is happy far away from Hollywood and the spotlight, then more power to her. She doesn't need to become one of the 70s/80s celebrities desperately clinging on to any shred of fame she can find. She was a star and that won't change.

Let her be happy now doing whatever it is she wants to do.

Movie Monday: April Fool's Day

April Fool's Day (1986)

[Deborah Foreman; Deborah Goodrich; Ken Olandt; Griffin O'Neal; Clayton Rohner; Amy Steel]

Plot: A group of college friends gather together at rich heiress Muffy's island mansion to celebrate their final year of school. They soon discover that each has a hidden secret, but as the secrets are revealed, those people end up dead. But are they r


eally dead, or just part of a very cruel April Fool's joke? The hostess supposedly knows what's going on, but maybe she's not the one orchestrating the deaths.


This is one horror slasher flick I had kept putting off over the years. I loved Amy Steel in Friday the 13th: Part 2, but somehow never ended up watching this film until this year.


It is good, definitely an 80s flick, but not as bad as some of the Friday or Halloween clones out there. That said, there is something missing. I feel like the writer was either lacking in some plot development, or that the director skipped over some scenes that could possibly have helped pull the whole thing into a more cohesive whole. Just felt, at the end, like it could have been so much more.


A fun flick, and definitely recommended for fans of 80s slasher/horror flicks and fans of Amy Steel herself. While she was better as Ginny in F13: Part 2, she is good here as well. How she never became a bigger movie star still puzzles me.

Day Twenty-Three: Favorite Music Video

Day Twenty-Three: Favorite Music Video
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Don't know if I have a favorite music video, but this is one from when I was first getting into music and MTV and I watched it a lot.



Mellencamp is still one of my favorite musicians. Great stuff.

Theme Thursday - Rhythm

Rhythm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When it comes to rhythm, me and my bud Fozzie Bear are in the same boat.



A sinking boat.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sarah Vaughan shows Fozzie B. and me some real rhythm.



That's class.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Snap! wants to school us too, even if we almost forgot their song.



We remember it now! Snap!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Damn! Even freakin' DeBarge has rhythm!



Fozz and I have better hair, though.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Jacksons trademarked rhythm, as Janet proves. I am no Jackson.



Not sure about Fozzie.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now Gloria is saying the rhythm is pissed and out to get us!



Run, Fozzie, Run!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wait, Fogelberg wants us to stop and listen to his tune.



Whew... Thanks, Dan. We needed this mellow moment to chillax.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Judds are happy to share their rhythm with us.



Fun music from some great pipes!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fozzie says this is just worth watching. Okay, Fozz, you humored me, so I shall watch.



Heh! I like it!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Johnny says he's got rhythm, and he wants us to Get Rhythm, too.



After all those videos, we got rhythm, we got music.

Who can ask for anything more?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you DO want more, go to Theme Thursday.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


~~~~~~~ Peace out! ~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

John Hughes

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So, yeah ... John Hughes died.

For a blog like mine, with such an emphasis on pop culture, I have to mention his death. And also because so many of his films are things I truly enjoy.

Mr. Mom

National Lampoon's Vacation

The Breakfast Club

National Lampoon's European Vacation

Weird Science

Ferris Bueller's Day Off

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

Home Alone

And those are just the films of his I really love! I didn't mention others I merely like. How many filmmakers can we say this about? That have had so many movies that a generation fell in love with?

And what makes them truly great, to me, is their rewatch-ability. We can watch them time and again and still laugh and enjoy them. That says it all.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So many other bloggers are highlighting Hughes. Here are a few:

The Daily What - Movie Montage

ALPHAVILLE

...:::kindertrauma:::...

boingboing

The Kind of Face You Hate

Monkey Muck

Retrospace

Nostalgic G

That Blue Yak

Cal's Canadian Cave of Coolness

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As a side note, as a teenager, I associated most with Allison Reynolds, Ally Sheedy's character from "The Breakfast Club". She was the outcast, loner weirdo, and that is how I felt for my entire high school experience.



Was definitely cool to relate to someone else, even if it was a girl, in a movie.

L.I.M Mr. Hughes. And thank you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Michael Jackson ...

(Image by Nate Beeler)

I debated doing a post on Michael Jackson's death, since it has been massively covered everywhere, to say the least.

But it has been on my mind, and when I started this blog I said it would be for me, mainly, to get the 'flotsam and jetsam out of my head'. So, this may get sappy, but now you've been warned.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I have been listening to his old music, watching old videos. Essentially, I guess I am dealing with the loss of the Michael Jackson from my childhood.

This quote from John Mayer in Time Magazine sums it up pretty well:

"There's just one Michael Jackson now. We don't have to reconcile the Michael Jackson we love with another Michael Jackson. In a way, he has returned to pristine condition in death. We can be free now for the rest of our lives to love the Michael Jackson we used to love."

Very well put, I think. (Read the rest here.)

I was saying something similar to my wife. I think, for many of us, we are grieving the Michael Jackson that was lost to us about 15 or 16 years ago. And we hadn't been able to do that until he died, since, obviously, it wasn't possible to mourn a man who was still alive. He was still out there, with the ever-present cloud of doubt. And wondering what would come next.

It wasn't possible to say good-bye to someone who wasn't gone.

But he is gone now. And I guess a part of me is sad for the Michael Jackson of the past. I am sad for his children, his family, his friends and even his fans. But I am also sad for the Michael Jackson who could have been.

In listening, really listening, to his music, I have a deeper respect for the musician he was. Some truly great songs in his catalog. He was an artist.

And his videos remind me of the time from my childhood when videos were a big deal! Not only did they showcase his dancing skills, but they also were innovative for the time. Mini-movies, sometimes.

Ah well, I don't really know where I am going with all of this. Like I said, just trying to reconcile it all in my head. Pop culture has always been a part of my life, and in the 80s, when I was a teenager, music was a big part of it. Michael Jackson wasn't my favorite, but he was heard a lot thanks to my brother and a cousin who were big fans. And really, was there any celebrity bigger than MJ in the 80s?

It helps me understand the media hoopla now a little better. Even if the King of Pop being mourned has been gone for a long time, he was called the King of Pop for a reason.

I hope his legacy is more than suspicion and doubt and bad jokes (of which I am just as guilty of). I hope it is his music, his charity and, most of all, his children. I truly hope they have the amazing life he would surely have wanted for them.



L.I.M. Michael

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Total Eclipse of the Heart: Literal Video Version

Thanks to The Daily What for this:



Now that is funny stuff.

Click on the video to go to YouTube and check out more Literal Videos.