mysterysciencetheater3000

Consider this your way-too-far-in-advance sneak preview at a future DVD extra for a Mystery Science Theater 3000 set for Shout! Factory. On January 17, MST3K creator Joel Hodgson and original cast member and writer Trace Beaulieu gave a crowd at M.I.T. a peek behind the scenes of the venerable sci-fi comedy show with their lecture, "The Design and Speculative Technology of MST3K," which they filmed to use as a future DVD extra.

For the uninitiated, Joel was the original host, was shot into space by evil scientists (Dr. Forrester was played by Beaulieu) and forced to watch (sing it with me, MSTies) "cheesy movies, the worst we can find." To help him handle the torture, Joel built four robot friends, two of which, Crow (also originated by Beaulieu) and Servo, watched the movies and made fun of them with Joel. Together, Joel, Crow, and Servo cut the best silhouette in show business (at least to comedy and movie geeks like myself).

But then, if you're reading this, you probably know all of that.

Mad TV came along at a time in American television history when America had an excuse to get out of the house and live healthy and productive lives on Saturday night.

But eventually, the show evolved into a 60-minute scream fest of recurring characters spouting catchphrases over and over and celebrity satire that taught lessons about the proliferation of pop culture and ignorance. Important lessons, such as "Boy is Anna Nicole Smith dumb and fat!" and "Hey, is that Paris Hilton a whore or what?" Every episode felt like a hand was reaching out of the TV and rubbing a cheese grater across my face. Now 14 years after its inception, Fox has finally decided to pull the plug on Mad TV and let it die a slow horrible death instead of taking it out Old Yeller-style, the way God intended.

I'm sure at one point or another in every little kid's life, he or she has wanted to have a robot BFF. All the potential for wacky fun and scientific misadventures would make up for the inevitable human/binary language barrier, and, when I think about it, I still totally want a robot buddy. I mean, from my time on this Earth, of two things I am sure: Lists are fun and robots are awesome. So, despite the fact that my age numerically suggests I shouldn't be thinking about this sort of stuff, I am all over this list.

I should also note that, upon completion of this depressingly nerdy post, I am legally obligated to punch myself in the face for a solid fifteen minutes and then steal my own lunch money. Let's just get this over with, shall we? Here are the top eleven robot buddies from TV, in no particular order, because each robot is special in its own way. Also, I don't want any readers to kill me for not ranking to their liking.

Most people don't turn in to Fine Living Network for laughs, but all that's about to change on September 16, at least for as long as a new comedy series called Whatever, Martha! runs. Imagine, if you will, an entire clip show culled from The Martha Stewart Show.

Now, picture a couple of chicks sitting around and making fun of said clips. That's the concept for Whatever, Martha!, and if this idea reminds you of Mystery Science Theater 3000 -- sans puppets -- that's a good thing.

Fine Living has gotten Martha's blessing for the show. Heck, she's leading the laughs by allowing the clips to be used. Also the two women who'll be presenting the show and mocking her every half-hour are close to her: Alexis Stewart, her daughter, and Jennifer Koppelman Hutt, whose father -- Charles Koppelman -- is the chairman of Martha's media empire.

So, this is all in the family for the Stewart camp, and whatever jokes, cracks and observations made by the women will be with the Martha Stewart seal of approval.

We watch a lot of TV around this house -- hey, it's my job, man -- so the kids, ages 11 and 13, get to see a wide assortment of shows. Sure, there's a few I can't get them interested in (hard as I try), like Lost, Heroes, and Grey's Anatomy (probably just as well, with all the bed-hopping). Still, there are lots of shows I've had to recap or review over the years that they've gotten hooked on. Here are a few of our favorites.

1. House, M.D. There's something refreshing about an infectious disease specialist who walks with a limp, pops Vicodin like dinner mints, and has the bedside manner of a schoolyard bully. The kids and I can't wait to gather around the TV and watch the tortured doc hurl insults at colleagues and break into patients' homes looking for mysterious mold or a DNA sample. We like to place bets on how long it'll take somebody to start seizing and spewing blood. Last season broke the record when a drug-addicted rock star started puking blood during the first five seconds of the show. Sure, this show is rated PG-14, but it's still a family favorite around here. My kids especially love the scenes where the camera goes inside the cells and arteries of a patient (not). House, M.D. moves to Mondays at 9/8c, and returns with new episodes on April 28.

Last week's episode of The Office now ranks high on my list of Awkward TV Moments. It got me thinking about other all-time great awkward TV moments. Sure, we've all seen the episode where a disheveled Mary Richards shows up at the awards banquet wearing one fuzzy pink slipper. And the one where Frasier and Roz nearly do it on a cruise ship. But let's take a look at a few recent awkward TV moments.

1. Jan heaves a Dundee at Michael's flat-screen TV. Okay, we'll start with last week's episode of The Office, in which Michael coerces Jim and Pam into attending a couples-only dinner party at his and Jan's condo. The entire episode is one long awkward moment, from Dwight showing up with his former babysitter as his date to Pam realizing she'll be held hostage for three hours, thanks to Jan's poor culinary planning. But the topper is when Michael and Jan's love spat escalates into a huge fight, ending with her heaving one of his treasured Dundee awards at his new (and tiny) flat-screen TV. The cops show up after the neighbors report a disturbance, and Michael ends up going home with Dwight.

This letter brought back some memories for me...

Al writes, "Several years back...'90s I think, there was a show where they played classic old movies and the original dialogue was dubbed out and replaced with new dialogue. What comes to mind is the original Night of the Living Dead as one of the episodes. Do you know the name of this show?"

Whitney Matheson has an interesting topic over at the Pop Candy blog. She lists her 10 favorite props from the movies, and includes some items like Indy's hat from the Raiders of the Lost Ark movies, Darth Vader's light saber, and many items from Steve Martin's The Jerk. This got me thinking, what props from TV shows would I like to own? I have a few from Ed, including a name plate from the courtroom and a drinking bird, but I'd like more. My list is below, in no particular order.

Anything from The Dick Van Dyke Show: In particular, the typewriter in the office or anything from the Petrie's kitchen. Or maybe the ottoman Rob trips over!

Congratulations to Tony, Larry, Hollie, Terry and James for winning a copy of The Outer Limits Volume One on DVD!

Let's continue with the giveaways this week! In this post we're giving out three copies of the Mystery Science Theater 3000, Volume 11 DVD set. We'll give one copy away to five randomly chosen commenters to this post. Just post a comment below and make sure you confirm it. We'll randomly choose ten winning entries from all eligible comments.

Some basic rules and clarifications:

- To enter, leave a confirmed comment below.
- The comment must be left before July 13, 2007 at 5:00 PM Eastern Time.
- You can only enter once.
- The winning entries will be chosen completely at random.

And now we present you with the legalities of the contest. (Read them. Please.)

Mystery Science Theater 3000 is, without a doubt, my favorite television series ever. It's also a show that owes some debt to its fans. It premiered on Comedy Central (actually, it debuted when "Comedy Central" was still called "The Comedy Channel") when that network was still drifting unnoticed through the cable landscape. It was fans who recorded every episode and sent them around that helped to spread word of the show and keep it on the air for ten years, which isn't too shabby for a weird little puppet show shot in Minneapolis. While securing rights to all the movies riffed on the show makes it impossible for full seasons to be released, Rhino has been doing a great job puting together "best of" sets of the series, and the tenth volume comes out on August 29. Episodes will include Godzilla vs. Megalon; Swamp Diamonds; The Giant Spider Invaision; and Teenage Strangler. The set will also include songs and outtakes. Information comes from MST3k Info.

If you ask me what my favorite television show of all time is, I will answer, "ham sandwich." Then, after a long silence during which I'll realize I didn't hear you correctly, I'll tell you that Mystery Science Theater 3000 is my all-time favorite show. The series was given the boot in 1999, but despite that, if you listen to interviews with any of the cast members, they still get asked if the show will ever return with new episodes. It's been seven years, people, learn to let go. At any rate, most of the cast of that series have gone on to other projects, and head writer and second host Michael J. Nelson recently posted a hysterical essay about those "Juiceman" infomercials on his site. Apparently the juice-lovin' curmudgeon is an endless source of entertainment for Mike and his family. I haven't seen the infomercial in ages, but Nelson is right, his eyebrows do look like "mini versions of Ted Kennedy's hair."

Rhino Home Video has admitted that they made a mistake with the version of The Killer Shrews on the new Volume 7 DVD set of Mystery Science Theater 3000. There are about 50 seconds of movie footage and jokes missing from the start of the film. To get a replacment, send an e-mail to drrhino@rhino.com with your name, mailing address, and tell them you would like a replacment for disc 4 of Volume 7. More info at the official MST3K site below.