Showing posts with label Facts of Life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Facts of Life. Show all posts

Sunday, January 9, 2011

FOXES

Here's a post back from the days when I had time to really write about movie's I watched. Ah, the days of sweet, sweet unemployment. :)FOXES is a movie I was forbidden to see in high school because some parent in the neighborhood told all the parents that it was about teen prostitutes. Well, FOXES (1980, directed by Adrian Lyne) has been sitting on my dvr for about six months - and I think I'm finally old enough to see this so-called "teen hooker" movie. As Donna Summer's "On the Air" plays, we see the foxes in their natural habit - bed. They are so NOT teen prostitutes. Whores maybe, but not hookers. Jodie Foster is Jeanie - the sensible one; Cherie Currie is Annie - the wild one with a dad who's a cop; Kandice Stroh is Deidre, who looks like she's 40; Marilyn Kagan is chubby virginal Madge, who we later learn is dating a older guy named Jay (future trouble-magnet Randy Quaid). These four Valley girls are the focus of the film, but we soon meet some of their posse including their younger skate-boarding friend Brad (Scott Baio) who thinks of himself as quite the ladies man and is always coming on to Annie. The foxes all think that school sucks and the boys in their lives are all punks (like Robert Romanus, who was Snake on FACTS OF LIFE, and Speed on DAYS OF OUR LIVES).Their parents are all self-centered and living in their our worlds. Jeanie's parents are divorced - her mother (Sally Kellerman) is having an affair with a married man and her dad manages a glam rock band named Angel. (Angel performs the theme song "20th Century Foxes").Let me point out that the film's Giorgio Moroder produced soundtrack features an array of artists on the Casablanca record label, including Cher, who's "Bad Love" is used as recurring background music. Various imagery of the band KISS is also seen.After Madge loses her virginity, the girls celebrate with a dinner party at her boyfriend's that eventually turns into a brawl - and the foxes wind up behind bars. After she's bailed out Sally and Jodie go at it - touching upon all their dysfunctions as a mother and daughter. Randy Quaid then yells at his 16 year old girlfriend Madge for trashing his place - "What are you gonna do, be a waitress at Denny's?!" He wants her to come back so he can beat her.Jodie hangs out with Scott Baio for day and they bond over all sorts of teen stuff. When they get back to her house, Annie calls - she's loaded!!! Jodie and Scott rescue her from the crowd of tough druggies that she's fallen in with. They attempt to sober her up - but she's on pills! Annie decides she's going to Oregon. Jodie shows her some "tough love" - but freaks out when she sees a patrol car she thinks it's her over-protective dad looking for her again.Annie's wandering around in a drugged out stupor when her pill-popping friends show up. Scott manages to distract them with his crowd-pleasing skateboard antics, but Annie ends up at Tony's Bar. She tries calling Jodie on a pay phone, but Jodie's busy driving her pick-up truck around Mulholland Drive calling "Annie!".A couple of drunken swingers named Daryl and his wife Bert pick her up and want to have their way with her–but they crash into a moving truck. As the ER doctors attempt to save her life, the entire cast shows up at the hospital, only to find out that "We've lost her." beep...beep...beep....flatlineThen Madge marries creepy Randy Quaid outside the ugliest church ever filmed and Jodie tells mom Sally Kellerman that she loves her as "On the Radio" plays once more and Jodie visits Annie's grave with the flowers from Madge's wedding. The End.

I wish it really was about teen hookers.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

THE DOUGLAS MICHAEL SHOW with Sam Pancake

I've know Sam Pancake (yes, it's his real name) for almost a decade now. We've worked together on several TV shows and films where he was an actor and I was an art department schlub. When I started producing projects through Velvet Candy Entertainment, I'd run into Sam and he would ask me when I was gonna put him in one of my shows. Well kids, that time is now! Ladies and gentlemen, today I welcome Sam Pancake, one of the stars of Velvet Candy's new hit web series PRETTY (created by the genuius named Steve Silverman), as my very special guest on THE DOUGLAS MICHAEL SHOW!
D: Sam Pancake - you are one of the hardest working people in showbiz. If you're not on TV, you're in a film or in one, two or three stage shows at a time, or a Prevacid commercial...or hosting karaoke night! What's your secret?
SP: My secret? Fear, my magic go-fast pills, and unstoppable sparkle.

D: I love those magic go-fast pills!!! In PRETTY you're playing Michael Champagne, father of pageant contestant Annette Champagne. I've seen you in so many films and TV shows, but is this the first time you've played a dad?
SP: Ummm...I know I had a baby daughter in an orange juice commercial in the late 1990's, though of course I was barely old enough to have a child then.

D: One of those teen-age juice-drinking Dads, I guess. What kind of research did you do for this role?
SP: I am from the South. Research complete.
D: That's hysterical. You've done tons of sitcom work from WINGS to FAT ACTRESS to LOVESPRING INTERNATIONAL. Is there a particular sitcom that you haven't been on that you wish you would have?
SP: LIDSVILLE, PHYLLIS and that one where the fat, slobby unfunny guy has a thin, hot wife and an overbearing laugh track. Oh, wait..

D: Imagine if Phyllis visited Lidsville!!! I love Cloris Leachman and Charles Nelson Reilly. Who are your comedy heroes?
SP: W.C. Fields, Lily Tomlin, Tracey Ullman, Kids in the Hall, Dame Edna, Lucy, of course, all the SCTV crew (but especially Catherine O'Hara and Andrea Martin), my girlfriend Meryl Streep, French and Saunders, Madeline Kahn and Cary Grant & Irene Dunne in "The Awful Truth," to name but a very few. AND all my hilarious friends and family, famous or otherwise!

D: Those are some funny people there. Aside from your comedy work, you've also done WITHOUT A TRACE, NYPD BLUE and THE WEST WING. How is working on serious shows like that different than something like PRETTY?
SP: You get paid a helluva lot more and it actually appears on the television, dear.

D: Ouch! I have to ask you about your hysterical impersonation of Lisa Whelchel. You've played her (and/or Blair Warner) for years know. What was the first time you donned that famous feathered wig?
SP: It's so cute you think I can remember things!! Umm...I'm guessing...1998?

D: So, after PRETTY, what's next for Mr. Pancake?
SP: The sweet peace of the grave---because I hope PRETTY runs until I die!!!!

D: From your lips to Maude's ears...Thanks for chatting with me Sam. See ya at the bar!

SP: Only if you're buying, tiger. Don't forget to check out PRETTY, y'all!

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

NBC Fall 1984 - Wednesday

Wednesday evenings on NBC in the fall of 1984 welcomed back peacock net favorites Michael Landon and Victor French (both of LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE) in a contemporary family drama called HIGHWAY TO HEAVEN.The series was a big hit for NBC - landing in the top 25 shows for its first three seasons and continuing until 1989. The show undoubtedly inspired the later CBS hit TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL.
At 9PM, one of my favorite guilty pleasures, THE FACTS OF LIFE was in the middle of its nine season run (1979-88). The show started as a spin-off of DIFF'RENT STROKES with chubby Mrs. Garrett (Charlotte Rae) and a gaggle of girls at the Eastland School including Molly Ringwald as Molly. In 1980 the show got an overhaul and only chubby rich snob Blair (Lisa Whelchel), chubby Jewish adopted chick Natalie (Mindy Cohn) and eventually chubby rollerskating Tootie (Kim Fields) remained. Joining them now was non-chubby tough tomboy Jo (Nancy McKeon). As the show evolved Edna's girls moved on from Eastland to Langley College. Mrs G. went from housemother to dietitian to running Edna's Edibles to a gift shop called Over Our Heads. When Charlotte Rae left the show, Cloris Leachman came aboard as her sister Beverly Ann. Along the way young George Clooney and cerebral palsy afflicted comedienne Geri Jewell made frequent appearances. There were also two NBC TV-movies: FACTS OF LIFE GO TO PARIS (1982) and FACTS OF LIFE DOWN UNDER (1987) which introduced annoying Australian student Pippa. An abysmal 2001 TV-movie called FACTS OF LIFE REUNION aired on ABC as an episode of THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF DISNEY. Don't ask. In real life, Kim Fields later became the star of the FOX hit LIVING SINGLE and Lisa Whelchel became a right-wing Christian whacko. Nancy McKeon shows up now and again on Lifetime and Mindy Cohn is alive and well.
IT'S YOUR MOVE, airing at 9:30 is notable for introducing us to Jason Bateman. Jason later went on to star in the likable VALERIE/VALERIE'S FAMILY/THE HOGAN FAMILY (1986-91) followed by a string of other short-lived sitcoms including the gay-themed SOME OF MY BEST FRIENDS (2001). He, of course, eventually found fame as the star of the hysterical FOX cult hit ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT (2003-2006) which he parlayed into feature films. Supposedly there is a AD film in development, which this fan thinks is a bad idea.
IT'S YOUR MOVE lasted only 18 episodes. ST. ELSEWHERE followed at 10PM.
There so much to say about this MTM-produced series that it would require its own post. (Maybe I'll get to that one day). Suffice to say that this medical drama, set at Boston's St. Eligius Hospital, was the best doctor show ever broadcast on US network television. You can keep your ERs, CHICAGO HOPEs and GRAY'S ANATOMYs, ST. ELSEWHERE has already been there and done that tens times better. The show was never a "hit", but it was a critical darling and constant award winner. It ran from 1982 to 1988 and it's powerhouse cast included veteran actors Ed Flanders, Norman Lloyd and William Daniels, and notable "newcomers" like David Morse, Alfre Woodard, Bruce Greenwood, Christina Pickles, Begley, Jr., Stephen Furst, Howie Mandel, Mark Harmon and Denzel Washington. To me, the recent NURSE JACKIE, is the only show that comes close to recapturing the feel of St. Eligius. Tomorrow: Thursday.

Monday, October 20, 2008

HOLY MISMATRIMONY! EMERGENCY 'NO ON 8' FUNDRAISER


Come Out and Join Us This Thursday September 23 at 8PM for a Special "No On Prop 8" Edition of THE MISMATCH GAME!!!

Laugh along as we send-up the classic TV game show and raise $$$ to combat the evil forces that want to make gay marriage illegal in California. Basically - they want to take away a right that we ALREADY HAVE! WTF? Can't these people deal with their own fucked-up lives and leave us alone? There's sure to be some timely politically charged humor as well questions about the latest celebrity bullshit. Madonna's divorce, anyone?

Hosted by DENNIS HENSLEY with an All-Star Cast including...
TED BIASELLI as Miss Piggy
DREW DROEGE as Karen Black
JOHN CARROZZA as Greg Evigan
MADELINE LONG as Shelley Winters
TOM LENK as Heidi Klum
NADYA GINSBURG as Cher
SAM PANCAKE as Lisa Whelchel
JACK PLOTNICK as Evie Harris
FELIX PIRE as Ricardo Montalban

DOUGSPLOITATION (that's me!) will also be there working the line and recruiting contestants! YOU can play on stage with the stars - and win fabulous prizes! There may be other special guests and surprises as well!

ONE NIGHT ONLY!
Thursday, October 23 at 8pm
at the Renberg Theatre
1125 N. McCadden Place, Hollywood, USA
(one block east of Highland, just north of Santa Monica Blvd.)

All proceeds go to benefit the ‘NO on 8’ Campaign to help secure Marriage Equality in California.

Tickets $25
Call 323-860-7300 or Buy tickets ONLINE at: www.lagaycenter.org/boxoffice

For clips and more, visit myspace