This had to be one of the best weeks for my DVR ever. The Game Show Network has started showing the old black and white What's My Line at 3 AM weeknights. The Sundance Channel has gotten all Bravo and Logo-y with Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys, a docu-series about straight women who are best friends with gay men. Batman had two of the campiest episodes ever--Hizzoner the Penquin, wherein the wily bird runs for Mayor of Gotham City; and The Devil's Fingers, the highest-rated Bat-episode ever because it starred Liberace. And to top it all off, the BEST Big Bang Theory yet with Leonard, Sheldon, Penny, Raj, and Howard headed to the comic book store for a New Year's Eve party dressed as the Justice League of America. New regular Zack, Penny's current hunky substitute for Leonard, is drafted into playing Superman. The scene at the end was priceless with the comic book store owher dressed as Doctor Who No. 4 (Tom Baker) announcing the winner of the best costumed group as the JLA--and there are THREE JLAs.
Where to begin? WML is like taking a time machine back to the 1950s when Broadway and movie stars would drop by to fool the blindfolded panel who were in formal wear to play sophisticated parlor games. America knew what was playing on Broadway then and cared. Not like now when the only show people know about is Spider-Man.
The Sundance series is fun and growing on me. But the hot guys in the ads on the sides of the bus aren't even on the show and they are way hunkier than the regular subjects.
The Batman episodes were a hoot. In the Penquin show, the pompous waddling kingpin of crime runs for mayor of Gotham and the script satirizes Barry Goldwater, polls, TV commentators, debates, etc. At one point game show hosts like Dennis James and Allen Luden play political TV anchormen as the Dynamic Duo and Pengy fight a mob of crooks at a jeweler's convention. The commentators cover the bat-fight as if it's a political convention--get it?
The Liberace segments were beyond absurd with the swishy maestro romancing Aunt Harriet and flirting with a trio of gorgeous lady crooks.
Oh, and DADT was repealed. So it was a perfect week.
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For the record, that really is us on the side of the bus--just better photographed.
ReplyDeleteBut OMG now I'm going to have something to do during my insomniac nights/mornings, because there has never been anything more brilliant on TV than WML, with the possible exception of the original Hollywood Squares.
Thanks for the comment. I enjoy the show and look forward to more episodes. What I meant was I didn't see the guys with their shirts off on the bus ads in the TV show as well. How were your two weddings?
ReplyDeleteOf course Liberace would romance Aunt Harriet! An older, wealthier woman who would appreciate his "sophisticated" sense of style. That's what homos did back then.
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