Brought to You by the Number 40

40 years of Sesame Street.

When I was a little guy back in the mid-late 70's, Sesame Street was a major part of the day. In fact, here in Canada, we got a double dose of it - I remember you could watch it on CBC and it had some animated sketches in French... then change the channel over to PBS when it was done, and you'd get the original American version (sometimes the same episode, sometimes a different one) with some animation voiceovers in Spanish instead.

Aside from those early second/third language lessons (which were a heck of a lot more entertaining and did a better job of sticking with me than that annoying and vaguely grotesque live action show with the hobo clown that TV Ontario used to run as a means of inflicting French on us little Anglophones), I'll credit to Sesame Street for helping to teach me (or at least positively reinforce) my letters and numbers and various factoids.

Over the years, the show's taken a lot of heat from people claiming that its short sketches have created a couple of generations of kids with the attention spans of fruit flies. But anyone who's ever watched a child become utterly absorbed in something they love or that's new knows this theory is bullshit. I wasn't effected by Sesame Street in this way in the least during my formative years, nor were any of the other kids I grew up with. The flashiness and rapid-fire pace of Sesame Street was offset by more sedate programs like Mr Dressup and Mr Rogers' Neighbourhood, not to mention life in general beyond the tube which included books. If there's a finger to be pointed for an alleged generational short attention span, it should be pointed squarely at parents who didn't make time to give their kids a little more variety in terms of viewing material or life experiences, or who didn't take time to bring home a couple of Richard Scarry or Doctor Seuss books from the library.

But getting back to the magic of Sesame Street, part of the attraction was the assortment of weird and colourful characters. My favourites were Kermit the Frog and Oscar the Grouch. Kermit had the personality, and as for Oscar, sure he was a bitch, but my imagination exploded whenever that green monster was doing a sketch as I tried to figure out what his secret home within the garbage can looked like. Mr Snuffleupagus was okay too, but I was always trying to figure out if he was some kind of freaky wooly mammoth with a tail, and any enjoyment I got at watching him heave his bulk around while wearing a top hat and singing was subdued a bit by the annoyance factor of Big Bird.

I'll tip my hat to the show's creators for their selection of human characters too. Sesame Street presented a neighbourhood full of people of different ethnic backgrounds and walks of life. I enjoyed watching Mr Hooper and Gordon and Maria interacting with the muppet characters. Others, like Bob (and I'll give him credit for being the frontman for the Children's Charity Lottery here in BC) were okay, but for some reason don't stand out in my memory as well.

And, of course, there were the special guests who would join certain episodes. Again, many of these are a blur (it's been a while since the 70's) but I do remember Buffy Sainte-Marie coming to the Sesame Street neighbourhood once, and appearing in the episode where they went to Hawaii.

I have to admit though, it wasn't the full episodes that really made a big impression on me so much as some of the individual sketches or songs. "C" is for "Cookie" by Cookie Monster is, of course a classic. Anything with Kermit was cool. I still remember the Ladybugs 12 song very distinctly. And an obscure one that has always stayed with me, especially because of its SF element, was The Lonely n Song.

Ultimately, the biggest role of Sesame Street, in my opinion, was that it laid much of the groundwork (in addition to the sketches on SNL that caught the eye of the adult audience) for Jim Henson to launch his work of genius, The Muppet Show. But November 10th is about Sesame Street, so rather than getting off track, I'll stick to giving the original program its due.

Happy 40th Anniversary, Sesame Street!

Leftovers from the Bottom of the Trick or Treat Bag

Well, Hallowe'en may have been over for more than a week, but I'm not entirely ready to get dragged into the Christmas season yet. Here's one last stab at the spooky season: pix of a couple of our genre-themed jack'o'lanterns from this year:

First off, one of my wife's contributions. It took her about 3 hours to get the detailing right, but in the end it was worth it... kids who came to the door gasped: "That's no pumpkin! It's a space station!"

Not sure if this out-does her Dalek from last year, but it certainly kicks ass. Now how is she going to top herself next year?

For my part, I tend to stick to simple faces. Nothing too fancy in the way of detailing. This year, though, that was just fine in terms of SF-related pumpkin styling. I took some inspiration from the new Hallowe'en TV special Monsters vs Aliens - Mutant Pumpkins from Outer Space and carved Wicked Jack. Luckily - for him - he didn't make a grab for my candy!

I hope all of you had a safe and happy Hallowe'en.

Now, how many sleeps until we get to trick-or-treat again?

Doctor Who, Barrister & Solicitor

CBC's reporting the man who played the 10th Doctor Who will be starring in a new sitcom on NBC called Rex Is Not Your Lawyer. In it, David Tennant plays a Chicago lawyer who stricken by panic attacks in court. To avoid the unpleasantness, he coaches his clients to represent themselves.

Now, I like Tennant, but does anyone actually think this show has more than a snowball's chance in hell at lasting a full season?

V - Very Much in Need of Work But Still Watchable

Warning: Spoilers!
(spoilage factor: about the same as the hamster in the original TV movie)

The remake of V was one of the TV shows I was eagerly anticipating over the summer months. Another SF show to shake up the cop-heavy evening TV roster these days (although one of the lead characters is an FBI agent! Ugh.) is a good thing. And while I remember the original V being reasonably good when it hit the air back in the 80's, sometimes, as BSG has shown us (although it's inspiration was a crap-fest, so there was nowhere to go but up in that case), a remake with a new twist or two on the storyline can be a breath of fresh air in the world of entertainment (aside from The Bionic Woman, that is).

The new version that aired tonight was reasonably entertaining and has the potential to fill a season or two. But it was far from perfect.

My biggest beef was the TV interview scene where journalist Chad Decker (played by Scott Wolf) folds like a cheap deck chair when alien commander Anna (Firefly's Morena Baccarin) gives him the "only ask the nice questions or the show's over" routine. Ah, no. It would be believable for a cub fresh out of journalism school to be intimidated and fall for that, but not a seasoned reporter who's been around long enough and done enough to earn a spot on a major TV station, especially one who's news director trusted with the assignment of covering the arrival of the aliens. Oh sure, the scene makes an attempt to be credible by having Decker say something to the effect of "that's not how we do things around here", and after it's over he grouses about it, but the bottom line is no self-respecting journalist would fall for that kind of blackmail. I've been a reporter and I can tell you that in reality, that scene would have played out in just the opposite way: seconds to air and Anna bats her big brown eyes and gives the my-way-or-the-highway schtick. One of three things would then happen: 1) the reporter would shrug and say something like "let's see where the conversation takes us" or "let's see what happens" and then proceed to ask whatever he'd intended to all along, including the tough questions (very likely); 2) the reporter might lie and say "okay" and then ambush the alien with the rough stuff mid-interview (less likely, but plausible); or 3) the reporter sticks to his guns and insists he's asking whatever questions he wants to, and the story -rightly so - goes from "polite sit-down interview with Commanderette Zircon" to "what are the aliens trying to hide?" - and he might even tell her quite bluntly that this would be what would happen if she didn't agree to sit down and answer all the questions, the good and the bad, as he asked them. Scenario 3 is also very, very likely.

I was also somewhat annoyed at universal healthcare being used as a tool of the Visitors to win over the unsuspecting human population and put the Earth one step closer to the shadow of their nefarious schemes. Fact is, this offer would utterly fail to influence most of the developed world. Most industrialized nations have some form of universal healthcare. The Americans are among the few holdouts. Most of the rest of the world that doesn't have it wants it, and the clumsy attempt by the writers to imply that it might be sinister, or, heavens to betsy, an alien notion, will probably be lost or laughable to audiences outside the US. This is cheap theatrics at its worst. At a time when Americans are debating whether to do the smart thing and adopt some form of universal healthcare to ensure people get the help they need, this sort of snide association with bad guys cheapens the discussion. Makes me glad to be in Canada where if Visitors tried to entice us with that offer we'd probably reply: "Oh. That's nice. Not a bad idea. We already have it though. Tommy Douglas and all that."

Then of course there's the whole "they've been here conspiring against us in secret for a long time now!" sub-plot that's been done to death and is completely unnecessary. Simplicity, guys! Simplicity! This really doesn't have to be the X-Files to work! Although, since they do seem to be determined ot make this a major crutch of the plot, I did like Morris Chestnut's Visitor-in-disguise character, Ryan, and the choices he has to make. In a way he reminded me of the Simon aboard the fleet in the recent BSG movie The Plan, however the advantage of the Cylon is that his plot was able to explore this dilemma succinctly and effectively in occasional scenes during a 2-hour feature, while the Visitor may have to hash his issues out over an entire season or two, which runs the risk of becoming tiresome.

Lastly, killing-off Alan Tudyk in the pilot was lame. I don't say this as an irate Firefly fanboy (although, while not a Browncoat, I do quite enjoy the exploits of Serenity's crew). The fact is that the man's a good enough actor that it would have been a treat to see him play an alien double-agent.

On the up side, Baccarin's (I hate to say it) serenity is very effective at making her character intensely creepy (especially since we know pretty much what these planet-leapin' lizards are up to). And I'm interested to see how the series plays out and what sort of deviations they'll make from the original.

Of course, the real question is, when will Marc Singer and Michael Ironside make an appearance and start kickin' ass and taking names?

Smashing Pumpkins with the Monsters

Dreamworks' Monsters vs Aliens: Mutant Pumpkins from Outer Space attacked the airwaves tonight, and while it wasn't as screamingly good as the MvA movie was this summer, it was good enough to warrant a spot on the annual Hallowe'en TV special roster.

The story opens with a UFO dumping some sort of goo onto a pumpkin patch just before Hallowe'en. Ginormica, BOB, Dr. Cockroach, Link and Insectosaurus (or whatever the big guy's called now that he's fluttering around on wings, Heimlich-style) are called in to save the day when the gourds sprout limbs, attitudes, and a hunger for junk food and go on the rampage. Hilarity ensues.

Or, at least it's supposed to. Mutant Pumpkins was cute, and it certainly tried hard to bring the movie's style of humour into this half-hour production, but most of the jokes fell a little flat.

Don't get me wrong, it wasn't a bad follow-up. The bit about the slight against BOB's mother had me howling. It's just that there weren't quite enough jokes that worked.

This installment did keep with the tradition of referencing plenty of other films. Most were pretty obvious, but, without giving anything away, I have to wonder if the final scene was a deliberate allusion to the execrable 50's flick Invasion of the Star Creatures for those of us who really know our cinematic cheese, or perhaps to The Thing from Another World if they were trying for something more well known and vastly more watchable.

As you would expect, the special also delivers on a good fight scene, and the animation is top-notch.

In the end, Monsters vs Aliens: Mutant Pumpkins from Outer Space was enough of a treat to make it worth watching next year.

Like Giants in the Playground

I'm feeling a lot like Babylon 5's John Sheridan these days when I flick on the TV and I'm forced to watch Canada's big TV networks fight it out with the cable companies. It's "like giants in the playground".

Each fires volley after volley of propaganda at the other (sometimes back-to-back) for weeks on end as each tries to convince the public that their side is right. It's like watching the Vorlons and Shadows tear into each other. Cable companies keep gouging consumers. Meanwhile, the broadcast companies don't give a shit about viewers and, contrary to what they claim, have been killing off local programming and automating or closing local stations for years (the supper hour news doesn't really count as "local" when only 10-15 minutes of content are local news; these stations haven't produced other local programming for a long time: you sure as hell won't find them producing their own kids shows like The Hilarious House of Frightenstein, or Buckley 'n Beave, or The Uncle Bobby Show anymore). The reality is, neither of them really gives a damn about what the consumers want - they just want our money.

Makes me feel like barking "Now get the hell out of our galaxy! Both of you!"

Simpsons Back on Track with New Hallowe'en Episode

Without giving too much away, I can say I'm pleased with The Simpsons for Treehouse of Horror XX. For the past couple of years, I've been pretty indifferent to their annual spookfest - something was just lacking... the energy, the humour, the intelligence. For a long time, the Hallowe'en episodes were always the best of the year, and over the life of the series, the best the writers had to offer - period. Lately I'd become indifferent to them and I was worried I might have to cut them from my Hallowe'en tradition.

But this year they got back on track. The opener was weird enough to work, and while Dial "M" for Murder - Hit # for the Operator was a little weak, the second segment that took a whack at 28 Days and I Am Legend was brilliant, and the closer with the Sweeny Todd-esque play in Moe's Tavern had its moments.

Let's hope the Simpsons can continue to serve up the Hallowe'en treats in the years to come.