Happy 100th!

Time flies, huh?  We can't quite believe that we've hit 100 posts already.  It may go without saying how happy we are to do this for ourselves but we're thrilled that you guys have (hopefully) gotten some enjoyment out of it too.

That said we're looking for some feedback.  Anything you want us to add?  Don't bother with stuff you think we should take away.  We just won't do it.  But feel free to tell us what you dislike anyway.  And don't get us started on the Blogger comments.  It sucks.  We know it.  Blogger seems to just ignore it.  Until we are able to move to our own site (someday!) commenting on our respective Facebook pages is working so far.  And soon we'll probably have a OMWGeekery FB page too!

We'd love to make this more interactive with our friends.  In fact just yesterday one of Tracy's friends asked if she'd ever seen Top Gear and thought it'd be fun to hear her impression of it.  As it's a great show and is currently streaming on Netflix, I bet Tracy will oblige.

We're getting off track.  But really, challenge us!  Send us in new directions.  Get us to venture out of our Whedonverse.  And since we've now evoked the great and powerful Whedon:

HAPPY 100th from Tracy and Alisa

Thanks for all your support, and keep reading! Imagine what we'll do for our 300th post!

This! Is! Once More with Geekery!

Today in Pop Culture History: "And Now For Something Completely Different!"

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5 October 1952: The "Inner Sanctum" radio mystery program went off the air. All told it broadcast over 500 episodes, and host Raymond Johnson injected a campy and ironic tone to horror that just might be showing up again tonight on "American Horror Story." Some highlights of the show include guest star Boris Karloff reading Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart" and the trademark organ and creaking door intro.

Uppers

5 October 1969: "Nobody expects the Sp--. . . Oh bugger!"

"Monty Python's Flying Circus" debuted on the BBC today. The pop culture impact of this sketch comedy show is impossible to adequately represent, so I'll just ask you to leave your favorite quotes in the comments, and give you this:

You're welcome.

5 October 1990: The Contemporary Arts Center of Cincinnati and its director was acquitted on charges of obscenity for showing a Robert Mapplethorpe exhibit that included sexually graphic photographs. Considering the year such charges were brought and heard by a court of law, I wonder if this item doesn't actually belong in the "downers" category. At least they were acquitted, and the controversy pointed towards debates about public money in the arts that are still rehearsed today. I think Toby Ziegler said it best, "In Europe and Japan they're spending between 1.5 and 3 billion on the arts, and Congress thinks 105 million is indulgent? . . . There's a connection between progress of a society and progress in the arts. The Age of Pericles was also the Age of Phidias. The Age of Lorenzo de Medici was also the Age of Leonardo da Vinci. The Age of Elizabeth was the Age of Shakespeare." Think Mapplethorpe ain't Shakespeare? How do you know?

Today in Pop Cutlure History: We lose a Pearl and gain a Brat Prince

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3 October 1970: Janis Joplin was found dead in Los Angeles, at the age of, you guessed it, 27. Not only was she a charismatic blues stylist, her personal style was hugely influential. Tattoos, hippie hair, bohemian style-she made it all cool. There have been many attempts to make a biopic of Janis; hopefully the latest with Zooey Deschanel attached will take.

Upper

Stuart Townsend is the superior Lestat. Clearly.

3 October 1941: I don't usually do birthdays because there are so damn many of them, but I'm making an exception for Anne Rice, born today. Despite the religious randomness of the past few years, she will always have a special place in my heart for The Vampire Chronicles. Without Lestat and Louis, there would be no Angel, Edward, Damon or Stefan. Cheers, Anne!

HIMYM and 2 Broke Girls - Didja watch?

Didja watch How I Met Your Mother?  If you had you would have seen:

Kal Penn as Robin's court-mandated therapist.  Huh, it's casting stunts like these that would make 

you think Penn has a movie coming out with someone from HIMYM.

Barney's still wearing the ducky tie from last week!

Didja watch 2 Broke Girls?  No? I don't really blame you.  But if you had you would have seen:

Nick Zano keeping my attention by looking all hot and beardy with glasses and a nerd tee (you can't see it but it's a pi shirt). Thank you for showing up, Zano. I shall give this struggling show one more chance.

The Morning After - Terra Nova

Hmmmm...Aside from the Ab-asaurus pictured above, this show is still lacking.  (Also the makeup team should go easier on the ab-defining makeup, it was a little too obvious.)  I can't quite put my finger on it but Terra Nova is just not wowing me like it should.  Last night's episode, Instinct, was fine but I find myself liking very small things about the show instead of the bigger stuff.  I like that Mr. and Dr. Shannon have a relatively realistic relationship and that he didn't do anything stupid with his jealousy of the scientist guy.  I like that uber-military guy, Taylor isn't all business all the time.  He even had a couple of little jokey bits last night.  However I didn't like that two actiony sequences that could have been shown were not (catching the male & female of the unknown species and the pied piper-esque departure of said species).  We're slowly (too slowly) getting to know some of the people at Terra Nova but not enough.  Can't we get to know one of Dr. Shannon's nurses?  Aren't there more little kids around?  Speaking of kids, can we develop the Shannon's older kids beyond their respective crushes?  The kids go to school, the parents work, but is there fun stuff for them to do beyond guided safety treks through the jungle?  They have all that cool tech so does that mean the kids have game systems?  Give us more than them wandering around the open market!   

Instead of developing the characters, last night focused on flying, horny dinos.  These pterosaurs things were mean and noisy and honestly, one step above a Sci-Fi, er, SyFy, tv movie.  The effects are seriously lacking on an effects-heavy show.  That does not bode well.  C'mon, Terra Nova!  You can do better.  I know you can. 

"Graduation Day, Part Two" (Buffy 3.22): Pomp, circumstance, and a really big snake

"Congratulations to the class of 1999. You've all proved more or less adequate. This is a time for celebration, so sit still and be quiet." 

Hard to improve on Principal Snyder's nearly-last words. No matter the season, this series does a finale right. Let's get started with the Buffy guide to saying goodbye to your high school. Literally.

DO sublimate.
This is advice that the series has offered before and will again. Because sex is usually so fraught on the show (unless you're Oz and Willow this episode . . . the van is rockin' so don't bother knockin'), people, demons, whatever, have to find other ways to express themselves, especially Buffy and Angel. They've tried Tai Chi, sparring, and suicidal speechifying, but in this ep it's blood-sucking that gets the job done. Since Faith jumped off the side of her building, taking her rapidly diminishing supply of Slayer blood with her, Buffy's only choice is to let Angel feed on her, accompanied by appropriate music, slow-mo photography, and one very suggestive straddle.

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And a grateful nation thanks her.

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Breaking Dawn, take notes. 

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Last one. Note the leg.

My intrepid co-watcher Jenn deems this scene sexier than tearing down the house with Spike in season 6. I concur.

DON'T blow off senior day activities.
Though the Mayor is more than a little unhinged by Faith's coma courtesy of Buffy, he's still going through with his plans to ascend. Buffy, along with most of the shows in the Whedonverse, is committed to arguing for the strength-in-numbers model of superhero-dom. The Scoobie Gang gains a few hundred more members when the inner circle drafts the rest of the senior class as first responders to battle the Mayor with flame throwers and his vampire henchmen with stakes. It's a really touching moment.

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The future is effing YOURS, class of '99!

DO hit them where they live.
Though Buffologists have spent many an hour parsing Faith's cryptic comments to Buffy in their shared fever dream*, the really important advice is to remember the Mayor's human weakness. His affection to Faith is a double-edged sword. Or dagger, as the case may be. Though Buffy is able to exploit Dick's desire for vengeance and lure him to the booby-trapped library, emotional attachment is also what devastates her at the episode's (and season's) conclusion when the love of her life walks away into the distance and onto his own spin-off. So you need relationships to survive, but they will simultaneously destroy you from the inside out. Thanks, Joss.

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Pictured: My human weakness.

*Is "counting down from 730" a reference to Dawn's appearance in season 5? Does the reference to "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" foretell Buffy's death?

DO remember the fallen.
As any fan of Whedon's will tell you, he doesn't mind killing people off. In fact, he seems to sort of like it. Though the deaths are only going to get more gut-wrenching as our re-watch continues, a moment to memorialize one of mine and Jenn's favorite characters, Larry.

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From a jackass pirate in "Halloween" . . .

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To a no longer closeted or jackassy jock in "Phases" . . . .

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To a member of Giles's ersatz Slayers in "The Wish"

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To a go-to Demon fighter in "Graduation Day." (With bonus Jonathan!)

RIP, Larry. You're a white-hat in any universe.

With the end of season 3, Jenn and I have decided to start a re-watch of Angel concurrently with Buffy. Trust us, it'll be really fun around "Pangs." So tune in next week for Buffy 4.1 and Angel 1.1!

TV Shows Premiering This Week

 Yep, there are still more shows that haven't made it to the air yet and this will continue through November (ahem, Bones).  Only a few notables this week though:

Last night:
9pm
   Dexter* (SHO)
10pm
   Homeland* (SHO)

Tonight:
9pm
   House (Fox)

Wednesday:
10pm
   American Horror Story**

Thursday:
10:30pm
   The League

Saturday:
8pm
   Rules of Engagement (CBS)

* I would be watching these but the pay cable channels (HBO, Showtime, etc.) are just so dang expensive!  I miss them terribly.

**I will be watching this, though it'll be the next day.  I do plan on posting about it.

Today in Pop Culture History: Three Premieres and an Aquittal

Uppers
3 October 1955: The "Mickey Mouse Club" premiered, giving birth to the "Mouseketeers," singing and dancing children with stardom on the brain. Of the original Mouseketeers, the most famous is Annette Funicello, who went on to make a slew of teenybopper romances with Frankie Avalon, and the classic  film Back to the Beach. However, more pop culturally relevant for people of a certain age (mine) is the sixth season of the 1990s revival of the MMC, which unleashed upon an unsuspecting world both Justin Timberlake AND Ryan Gosling. Also Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. But Gosling! Could you die?

3 October 1960: The premiere of "The Andy Griffith Show." Pop culturally notable for giving "Ronnie" Howard his first acting job.

3 October 1961: First episode of "The Dick Van Dyke Show." The comedy was fairly groundbreaking for the realistic way it portrayed the relationship between Rob Petrie and his wife, played by Mary Tyler Moore (vs. something like "Ozzie and Harriet," which also premiered on this day in 1952). Just to give you a sense of how low the bar was for breaking ground, though, the couple still slept in separate beds, and there was a national uproar when Moore wore capri pants rather than a dress or skirt. However, there is no "Modern Family" without this show.

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"I'll cash in on your wretched disfigurement."

3 October 1995: An L.A. jury found O.J. Simpson not-guilty of the murders of his ex-wife Nicole and  Ron Goldman. However, proving that Simpson knifed the wrong waiter, he was found liable in a civil trial brought by Goldman's family in 1997. Pop culture connection (and upper): "Seinfeld" would lampoon Simpson's lawyer and the infamous "glove defense" with recurring character Jackie Chiles in the episode "The Caddy." "It's lewd, lascivious, salacious, outrageous"

Somewhere In Between
3 October 1981: Irish nationalists imprisoned in Belfast ended hunger strikes that had claimed ten lives. Pop culture connection: A 2008 film about the hunger strikes, aptly titled Hunger, stars Michael Fassbender as Bobby Sands, the leader of the protest. If you love Fassbender you should check it out, but fair warning, he makes Christian Bale's body in The Machinist look positively plump. It's too horrifying to even link to.

A Very Special Potent Notables

This couldn't wait until Friday.  I'm way too excited.

Arnett and Bateman confirmed it on Twitter:

@arnettwill Will Arnett

I'm peeing with @batemanjason at the moment..and we can confirm that we are going to make new AD eps and a movie

@batemanjason Jason Bateman

It's true. We will do 10 episodes and the movie. Probably shoot them all together next summer for a release in early '13. VERY excited!

You've just crossed over into . . . the Today in Pop Culture History Zone

Uppers
2 October 1950: The "Peanuts" comic strip began its 50-year run. The strip was influential in terms of style (the four-panel gag strip was its thing) and also due to the many television specials it spawned. People of a certain age (mine), can't think of Halloween without Linus's demigod, the Great Pumpkin, nor of Christmas without the pathetic "Charlie Brown Christmas tree." Aside from popularizing the Freudian argument that children were just as monumentally neurotic as the "mwah mwah mwah" spouting adults, it made this moment possible:

2 October1955: "Good evening." On this day, "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" premiered. The show went on to be nominated for multiple Emmys and featured dozens of notable guest stars and cameos. One of the most famous episodes, at least if you ask Quentin Tarantino, is  "Man from the South," featuring Steve McQueen,  Peter Lorre, and a very reliable lighter.

2 October 1959: "The Twilight Zone" premiered. The series, created by Rod Serling, popularized horror and sci-fi for a larger American audience, not only through the episodes themselves, but by hiring writers like Harlan Ellison and Richard Matheson. The famous episodes are legion, and include "The Shelter" and "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street" (commentaries on the Cold War).

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2 October 1985: Rock Hudson, a bona fide screen idol whose films with Doris Day helped create the modern romcom, died of an AIDS-related illness at 59. His death, and the resulting disclosure of his homosexuality, did much to de-stigmatize the disease. Friend Morgan Fairchild said that Hudson "gave AIDS a face."