Gonna Party Like It's SPACE:1999

From 2009...but updated today!

I've never been a real sci-fi geek, but I know what I like. In terms of films, I always preferred LOGAN'S RUN over STAR WARS. So freeze me in carbonite. On TV, I liked the original STAR TREK, but can say I've ever even watched any of the revivals. I just never found them that appealing. Sorry. I'm not saying they're bad, I just didn't feel the need to watch 'em. I also can honestly say I've never watched any of the BATTLESTAR GALACTICA shows - old or new. I know how the recent show is supposed to amazing and all that, and I may get around to watching it one day - but I just don't have the bandwidth right now. I did absolutely love V - at least the miniseries before it became a weekly, but the ABC revival didn't interest me much. I mean once you know that they're lizards, what's the point?

As a kid, I was quite a bit obsessed with the short-lived British import, SPACE: 1999. My recollections of the show are a bit cloudy, but I do recall that I loved the way it looked, but was a bit bored by the talkiness of the show. After all I was 11 years old at the time.

SPACE: 1999 ran for two seasons from 1975-77. In the show's storyline, there is a totally catastrophic nuclear/lunar accident that takes place on September 13, 1999 (16 years ago today!) that knocks the moon out of its orbit and flings the inhabitants of Moonbase Alpha into the far stretches of outer space. Then the fun begins!

The first season opening title sequence is one of the best in all TV history.

For some reason they decided to mess with greatness and create another totally awesome open sequence for season two. Still great, but not nearly as powerful as the first.

Then-married US TV stars Martin Landau and Barbara Bain (both of MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE fame) headlined the show in an attempt to make the show seem more "American".

The show was produced in the UK by sci-fi powerhouses Gerry and Sylvia Anderson (THUNDERBIRDS, UFO, etc.) and distributed internationally by Lord Lew Grade's ITC Entertainment.

Who doesn't get douche chills when they hear or see the famous ITC logo animation?

The syndicated series aired on Sundays at unusual time period of 6:30 PM on WPIX in New York for the two original seasons, with reruns airing in various time slots over the next few years.

Also starring were in season 1 was Barry Morse and the stunning Catherine Schell joined the cast as the fabulous shapeshifting alien Maya in season 2.

Guest stars included international names like Christopher Lee, Joan Collins, Peter Cushing, Judy Geeson, Ian McShane, and Sarah Douglas.
SPACE:1999 was visually the coolest TV show up till that time, with sets, costumes and special effects on par with feature films of that time period.

Apparently the Blu-ray transfers of the show are pretty great - will have to check it out someday soon.

Can 2 divorced men share an apartment without driving each other crazy?

With CBS airing a new version of THE ODD COUPLE starring Matthew Perry and Thomas Lennon beginning tomorrow night, here's a post from 2008 when I was just starting to watch season 4 of THE ODD COUPLE on dvd, and I declared that the show, in my opinion is the second greatest American sitcom ever. That's right, I said it.

After MARY TYLER MOORE, no other US sitcom is more consistently funny, well-acted or holds up as well over the years. Based on Neil Simon's Broadway play and adapted into a 1968 feature starring Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon. The TV version, starring Jack Klugman and Tony Randall premiered on September 24, 1970 and ran for five seasons in a variety of timeslots on ABC - usually on Thursday or Friday nights. The series was never a Top 10 hit, and actually was in danger of cancellation every season it aired. The first season is quite unremarkable, having been filmed with one camera and an added laugh track. The show really came to life in season two, when a live audience was added to react to the mis-matched antics of Oscar and Felix.

The show really took off in popularity in the late 1970s when syndicated reruns aired on local stations. Channel 11, WPIX air four episodes a night. Two in early evening and two at 11PM. I watched them all, repeatedly. And watching them again now on dvd is, to quote a friend of mine "a sheer delight".
What makes the show so great? Well, Felix and Oscar are such great, unique characters - and because of that, so many later sitcom characters borrow freely from them. You can certain see traits of fastidious Felix in Sheldon from BIG BANG THEORY and Niles from FRASIER. Oscar's grouchy brashness has influenced a whole generation of cranky comedy curmudgeons, notable EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND's Frank Barone. While the show lacked continuity in so many instances (don't get me started!), the interplay between the two leads and excellent supporting players make this the best thing Garry Marshall has ever been part of. While the show "jumps the shark" with celebrity guests (Monty Hall, Howard Cosell, Paul Williams, etc.), it makes up for it with clever plots that incorporate the guest stars into the world of Felix and Oscar. Since Felix is a portrait photographer and Oscar is a sportswriter, it makes sense that they encounter these folks in New York City. Why not? I once rode in an elevator with Howard Cosell. He had big ears. AND I was a contestant on the most recent version of LET'S MAKE A DEAL! (Even though that happened in L.A. and Billy Bush-yuck!-was the host, but Monty was there. See photo below)But enough about me. While I was watching the classic PASSWORD episode recently, with guests Betty White and Allen Ludden, I wondered if any other MARY TYLER MOORE alumni ever appeared on THE ODD COUPLE. With a little research I discovered that in addition to Betty White ("Herself" on OC,"Sue Ann Nivens" on MTM), there was Bill Quinn ("Dr. Melnitz" on OC,"Dr. Walter Richards," Mary's dad on MTM), Penny Marshall ("Myrna Tuner" on OC, "Paula" on MTM), Barbara Colby ("Monique" the drunk bartender on OC, "Sherry" the hooker on MTM) and the late, great Brett Somers ("Blanche Madison" on OC and "Aunt Rose" on MTM). Not bad, considering the shows aired on different network during roughly the same period.

Both actors won Emmy Awards for their roles. Jack in 1971 and 1973, Tony in 1975 - after the show was cancelled. The duo reunited for a misguided 1993 CBS TV-movie called THE ODD COUPLE: TOGETHER AGAIN. I guess ABC's miserable MARY & RHODA reunion movie was payback. Jack and Tony had become best friends in real life, and after Tony's death in 2004, Jack wrote a memoir about their relationship, called Tony and Me: A Story of Friendship. The book has been hailed as a touching portrait of a professional partnership that, in the end, became deeply personal. The book includes over 50 photographs, many from Jack and Tony's private collections, and a DVD of never-seen-before outtakes from THE ODD COUPLE.

In the 1980s, THE ODD COUPLE was revived - with an an almost all African-American cast. Demond (SANFORD & SON) Wilson is Oscar and Ron (BARNEY MILLER) Glass is Felix. THE NEW ODD COUPLE could have been a descent show if they didn't decide to recycle scripts from the original series that were already considered classics by fans of the show. Ironically another black version of a Neil Simon play, BAREFOOT IN THE PARK only lasted 12 episodes on ABC in 1970, also airing on Thursday evenings. I'm holding out for a new version of THE SUNSHINE BOYS with James Earl Jones and Samuel L. Jackson.

And now it's 2015 - and THE ODD COUPLE is back on Thursday nights - this time on CBS. Will the third time be a charm?

The Douglas Michael Show with Juul Haalmeyer

Here's a Juultide treat from 2009.SECOND CITY TELEVSION or SCTV in all it’s incarnations (in syndication, on NBC and on Cinemax) is remembered as one of the funniest TV series of all time.This outrageous Canadian sketch comedy import launched the careers of such greats as John Candy, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Rick Moranis, Catherine O’Hara, Harold Ramis, Martin Short, Dave Thomas, Joe Flaherty and a few others – including Juul Haalmeyer. Chances are if you've ever seen a SCTV sketch, you've seen Juul's work.Juul Haalmeyer was SCTV's resident costume designer, who was also featured on the show as the choreographer of Melonville's top dance troupe, the Juul Haalmeyer Dancers, a pathetically incompetent ensemble of variety show dancers made up mostly of writers and crew on SCTV. I consider Juul one of my comedy heroes and a unsung TV legend!!!Over the years, Juul also worked as a costume designer for many movies, TV shows, theatre and concert productions. He's done all the classics from ALL MY SONS to LONG DAYS JOURNEY INTO NIGHT, his designs have dressed everyone from Jack Lemmon to Alice Cooper, from Shari Lewis to Jethro Tull, from Dolly Parton to Anne Murray, from Bobby Vinton to Bobby Bittman! It is with great honor that I welcome my guest, Juul Haalmeyer!!!
DOUG: Hi Juul, first of all let me say thank you for all the laughter you and the folks at SCTV have given me over the years. The show is a true classic. I watched it from the very first episode (on WOR TV channel 9 in New York) to the very last Cinemax episode. In fact I subscribed to Cinemax just to watch SCTV! Now exactly when did you join the show?

JUUL: Well, unfortunately I didn’t do the first season because there just wasn’t enough money; and I thought that there was way too much material to get out per week for me to be able to handle. It just looked too scary and daunting and I thought I’m not going to kill myself over a show! That’s my biggest regret with SCTV because it did turn out to be the most rewarding and enjoyable experience of my career.DOUG: Well, thankfully you we able to join the show for season 2. I read somewhere that it took 100 hours a week to make one of the 90-minute NBC shows. Is that true?

JUUL :Yes it did, and sometimes more. It was a real slog, and after each three month cycle, you just had to scrape yourself off the floor and pray the next cycle would be easier. But it never was; it just kept growing bigger!DOUG: Bigger and BETTER-If you ask me! So who was your favorite character or player to design for?

JUUL: ALL OF THEM! The cast of course were all very special people and each one of their characters were very endearing. The challenge came in the situations they wrote for themselves as to how complicated the sketch would become from a wardrobe point of view. Could not have done it without the incredible help of Luigi, the head cutter at Malabar costumes, Eva Richter, who always had an impossible shopping list, and my mother, Trudy Haalmeyer, who cut and sewed everything on set.
DOUG: With all the crazy folks that passed through the doors of SCTV - was there any character that stands out as being the most creatively challenging? I somehow think John Candy as Divine must have been a case where you had to top what the real Divine was already wearing!

JUUL: Again, it was my support staff that saved my ass on everything; whether it was "Shake and Bake" (twenty nine period costumes in primary colours in three days) or Edith Prickley as Queen Elizabeth (the first with two days notice),Divine as Peter Pan, or Divine On Ice; You name it! The challenge was always the time frame within which we had to get it together, and again, my team deserves all of the credit.

DOUG: That Divine On Ice number - Santa Bring My Baby Back to Me is still one of the most hysterical things I've ever seen. And you and the boys are featured prominently in that segment. So, how did the Juul Haalmeyer dancers come about?

JUUL: Well, you can’t hire people to be as bad as we were, so when Lola Heatherton needed dancers she (Catherine O'Hara) remembered that I had done musical theater. But they would let me sing, turn the light off, and yank me offstage, because I just didn’t move well, as you’ve seen. It became a group of writers, sometimes cast, grips, propmen, whoever was available that day. God, it was fun though. Nice to know that anytime you need a bad actor, loud singer, or really lousy dancer, you can depend on someone on your crew to come through! Voila!

DOUG : Did you ever have any formal dance training?

JUUL: What are you smokin' dude?????? Of course not! I did take a Dancercise class one year to get some excess poundage off, which worked, at The Roland and Romaine Academy of Dance,but they always made me move to the back of the class because I always farted with the first bend down in the warmups!
DOUG: That's hysterical. What makes you think I was smoking something while watching SCTV? LOL. It's great that people all over the world are rediscovering the magic of Juul Haalmeyer!JUUL: I'm on Facebook now (I had never heard of it before), and guess what turned up? A Juul Haalmeyer Dancer fan club based in ICELAND! I hope they're not just now getting SCTV! I have gotten more notoriety from the bad dancing than anything I have ever done as a costume designer in the last 40 years.
DOUG: Iceland! How cool is that? Do you keep in touch with any of the cast members?

JUUL: Not really. It was great to see all of them at a very generous 'Benefit of Laughter' reunion show they did last year to set up an SCTV alumni fund for ailing participants of the show. I did get to work on the Disney film COOL RUNNINGS (1993) with John–which was a real privilege and an absolute blast. Ten weeks of poker and dominos in the sun!DOUG: Aside from the charity performance, do you think there would ever be a SCTV REUNION SPECIAL? And if so, would the Dancers come out of retirement?

JUUL: I don’t think that’s in the cards, with everyone’s careers as diverse as they are, but it would be nice. As for the dancers, I don’t think we can get enough day passes issued out of retirement homes at the same time to let all of the dancers come together again! Although I hear that Ellen Degeneres wants to challenge us to a Dance Off!

DOUG: LOL - I'd love to see you and Ellen go at it! So, what have you been up to since SCTV left the air? Are you still doing wardrobe these days?

JUUL: In a way. I still have my costume company, Homemade Tarts, and I rent out vintage clothing to the movies, but I don’t do any designing anymore; couldn’t handle the stress of it all. Back in those days they were all wonderful people to work for who appreciated your craft, but now the shows are mostly in the hands of bean counters, who just want to get it done as cheaply as possible, to heck with creativity. I stopped about nine years ago after I won an Emmy for NODDY AND FRIENDS, a childrens show for PBS.DOUG: That's awesome. Belated congratulations on that Emmy! And lastly, is there any truth to the internet rumor that you are going to be on DANCING WITH THE STARS?

JUUL: Ha Ha! That was a very clever and funny piece someone posted and I got over one hundred e-mails from people who actually believed it! Had a lot of fun with that one! Found the guy who wrote it and he’s just a big fan of the show.

DOUG : Well, you never know with internet rumors. Once something is out the in the universe, it could very well happen! Thanks again for being a guest and being so entertaining!
JUUL: Thank you, It’s been great talking with you!

ELO - The Electric Light Orchestra

With news that Jeff Lynne is working on a new ELO album. I thought maybe it was time for me to rerun this post from May 2009. Hold on Tight!
The Electric Light Orchestra is my all time favorite rock group. I can't explain why, I just knew the first time I heard an ELO record that it was what I liked. A lot. The seamless blend of rock n roll and neo-classical music just spoke to me. With their epic, cascading string sections and over-the-top vocal pyrotechnics, every song was like an aria. 30 years later, just seeing the Jet Records logo gives me goosebumps.

A product of the 1970s, the timeless songs of ELO are now being rediscovered by a new generation of music fans through covers, remixes, sampling and the seemingly endless use in on the soundtracks of films, ads and TV shows.

ELO, under the guidance of Jeff Lynne, recorded 12 studio albums and released 28 hit singles. At their peak between 1974 and 1981, ELO had 9 gold, platinum and multi-platinum albums.

The band also holds the unusual distinction of having the most Billboard Hot 100 Top 40 hits of any band in U.S. chart history without ever having a #1 single.

During the 70s and 80s, ELO was one of the biggest arena attractions, with spectacular shows that included a massive flying saucer stage set, fog machines and state of the art light and laser shows. I luckily got to see them perform twice.

ELO begin humbly in the earlier 1970 as offshoot of 60s UK band The Move. Roy Wood was behind the initial concept of a rock band augmented by a string section that included cellos, violins, horns and woodwinds . The resulting debut album The Electric Light Orchestra was released in the UK in 1971 (in the US as No Answer) - if you listen to it today, you can hear that they were struggling to find their sound.

After Wood left the group - Lynne stepped up to lead the band, with Bev Bevan on drums, joined by Richard Tandy on the Moog synthesizer. ELO released their second album, ELO 2 in 1973, and had their first U.S. chart hit, a rousing cover version of the Chuck Berry classic Roll Over Beethoven.

On the Third Day was released in late 1973, with the string-infused Showdown becoming a hit single.

With Eldorado, the band's fourth album, Lynne hired an orchestra and choir - and their sound had now fully evolved into symphonic rock. The first single off the album, Can't Get It Out of My Head became a U.S. Top 10 hit and the album became ELO's first gold album. This was the first ELO album I bought, it might have had something to do with the Judy Garland/Margaret Hamilton cover photo. The awesome burlesque-inspired Nobody's Child is my favorite track.

Kelly Groucutt (who recently passed away) joined the band as a bassist and vocalist for Face The Music and the hit singles Evil Woman and Strange Magic soon followed. The instrumental Fire On High, with it's creepy Satanic-sounding backward masking is a masterpiece.

. Other great tracks include Nightrider and Down Home Town.

1976's A New World Record gave the band 4 top 10 hits Livin’ Thing, Rockaria!, Telephone Line and a cover of The Move's metal athem Do Ya - making them international stars. Tightrope and So Fine are also outstanding songs.

1977’s Out Of The Blue, a double-album was a worldwide smash and featured global hits Turn To Stone, Wild West Hero, Sweet Talkin' Woman (which was released on clear purple vinyl) plus Lynne's greatest musical achievement, Concerto for a Rainy Day which culminates with the epic Mr. Blue Sky.

By 1978 ELO was one of the most popular acts in the world, appearing on TV shows like NBC's MIDNIGHT SPECIAL. 

Around this time future Pixar songsmith Randy Newman recorded a parody/homage to ELO titled The Story of a Rock and Roll Band.

Discovery in 1979 consolidated that worldwide success with the singles Shine A Little Love, Don’t Bring Me Down, and Last Train to London -which was re-imagined as a catchy pop hit in the 2000s by Atomic Kitten as Be With You.

In 1980 came the film soundtrack Xanadu. 

 Despite the film's poor box-office showing, the soundtrack went double platinum.At the time some ELO fans were mortified that the band was part of a pop music collaboration with Olivia Newton-John - but time has shown that the songs Lynne contributed to the film (and eventually the Broadway show) are as timeless and beloved as any of the tunes that came before. Don't Walk Away is possibly the best song Jeff Lynne ever wrote - and as performed by super hunky Cheyenne Jackson on Broadway - a true classic.

ELO took a turn towards rockabilly with the hit Hold On Tight from the sci-fi concept album Time.

Other standout tracks included Twilight, The Way Life's Meant to Be, Here Is the News and Ticket to the Moon.

The silly rockabilly ditty Rock ‘N’ Roll Is King was a hit from 1983's Secret Messages, though the title track is infinitely more satisfying. That same year Bev Bevan left ELO and joined Black Sabbath while Jeff Lynne and Richard Tandy contributed songs to the Electric Dreams soundtrack.

Lynne, Bevan and Tandy returned to the studio in 1985 for Balance Of Power–the final ELO album. The single Calling America was a minor hit. 

From 1987 onwards, Jeff Lynne became a highly sought-after songwriter and producer, collaborating with artists such as Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and Brian Wilson. With George Harrison, Roy Orbison, Tom Petty, Del Shannon and Bob Dylan, he formed the Grammy-award winning supergroup Traveling Wilburies.
Meanwhile, Bev Bevan in 1989 formed ELO Part II, with Louis Clark (Hooked on Classics). Former ELO members Mik Kaminski and Kelly Groucutt joined them for a second album, Moment Of Truth, in 1994. The remaining members continue to tour and record as The Orchestra.In 2000 Jeff Lynne released an 3-disc ELO box set, Flashback, containing–among other things–a new, unplugged version Xanadu. In 2001, Lynne released a new ELO album called Zoom. Richard Tandy was back, with George Harrison and Ringo Starr as guests.

In 2004 a tribute album wincingly titled Lynne Me Your Ears, this cover anthology featured ELO standards performed by artists such as Todd Rundgren, Sixpence None the Richer, and a host of others.

Another tribute to ELO, L.E.O., features songs are written in Lynne's style and mimic ELO's orchestration and production. The Pussycat Dolls even sampled Evil Woman in their hit Beep. 

Most recently, Surrender, a lost song from 1976 was released as a single, followed by Latitude 88 North, another lost song. So if you are looking for a lyrical escape from the sorry state of music in 2009 - turn back the clocks to a time when The Electric Light Orchestra changed what rock music sounded like and Roll Over Beethoven.