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Time picks the 10 worst spin-offs of all-time
We've talked about this a lot here at TV Squad: what are the worst spin-offs of all-time? Joanie Loves Chachi always makes such a list as does AfterMASH. So it's no surprise that both shows made Time's list of the 10 worst spin-offs of all-time. In fact, AfterMASH is in the number one slot.Other shows on the list are good examples of bad spin-offs too, including The Ropers, the Three's Company spin-off that was rather unnecessary; Joey, the Friends spin-off that just couldn't recapture the magic of the parent series; and Baywatch Nights, which always amazed me with the fact that Mitch Buchannon never mentioned to the other lifeguards at his day job on the beach that he was fighting monsters and evil spirits in his night job.
I'm impressed that they not only picked the Spenser: For Hire spin-off A Man Called Hawk but placed it so high on the list, at number three. That really was a disappointing show. Some characters are just more effective in supporting roles.
Out of the Blogosphere
What's happening on other blogs via the interweb.
- Doc Jensen has some new theories concerning Lost over at Entertainment Weekly.
- Time's James Poniewozik weights in on Recount and The Andromeda Strain (he liked one and hated the other).
- Oh, for Pete's sake, it was a person's voice!
- Ausiello over at TV Guide has some info about Supernatural.
- Here's the latest on that possible strike (yes, another one).
- Will Al Franken's past come back to haunt him in his Senate race?
- And now, the music of Katie Couric.
TV vegetables allowed to talk about religion again
Wow, that might be the oddest sentence I've ever written.
A while back it was reported that NBC was editing out the religious aspects of the Veggie Tales cartoons they were airing on Saturday mornings. But now, Time's James Poniewozik reports that the network has had a change of heart and will actually put the religious themes back into the shows. The Parents Television Council broke the news earlier this week.
Like Poniewozik, I'm not a fan of the PTC (I think some of their ideas are dangerous), but I agree that NBC is doing the right thing here. I mean, I'm not a big fan of editing or censorship, no matter what side of the political or social spectrum you fall on, and I thought it was bizarre when it was revealed that NBC was taking out the religious aspects of the episodes. I've never seen the show, but when they took the religion out, what was left? Was it just a bunch of vegetables running around?
Time honors Jane Wyatt
Earlier this week we told you that actress Jane Wyatt had passed away at the age of 96, and now Time magazine's Richard Corliss writes a beautiful, long appreciation of the actress.
Most TV fans only seem to think of her as the mom on Father Knows Best, and even then, as Corliss points out, many of them are confusing her with the actress who married Ronald Reagan, Jane Wyman. But she had an amazing depth to her body of work that not only spanned several decades in the movies, but an impressive stage resume as welll, including Clifford Odets' Night Music, Dinner At Eight, The Fatal Alibi (from Agatha Christie's The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, and Lillian Hellman's The Autumn Garden, where her costar was James Lipton from Inside The Actor's Studio(!)
But this isn't just a rattling off of her credits. Corliss had a personal connection to Wyatt after meeting her in 1987, where they got into a discussion of politics and race. It's well worth reading.
Out of the Blogosphere
Remember the classic M*A*S*H episode told entirely from the point of view of a wounded soldier? Ken Levin co-wrote that episode, and writes about it on his addictive blog.- TV Barn's Aaron Barnhart talks to Harry Shearer about Dan Rather, the media, and more.
- This is what's great about the web: every day, you learn someone you didn't know had a blog actuallyone. Like Time TV critic James Poniewozik.
- Remember when MTV used to show music videos all day long? EW's PopWatch blog talks about Pitchfork Media's list of 100 Awesome Music Videos.
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