Some of you know this already but I just gotta say, I love my mood-themed playlists. Over the last few months I’ve had plenty of new tunes come in and enrich my playlists. And as time goes by and one’s perspective changes – the criteria for these mood-themed playlists evolves…

I was talking about the ‘Survivor’ playlist on Diff’rent Strokes ages ago. I challenged Jade to re-create some of my ‘mood-themed playlists’ like ‘Survivor’ and ‘Bitch’ – only to learn that what we both look for in angsty tunes could be quite different given that Jade doesn’t have “bitch please” moments.

The ‘Survivor’ playlist itself is built on empowering, inspirational and ‘get-over-you’ type songs. The lyrics take precedence, regardless of the genre and style of music. There are currently 269 songs on this playlist, here are some of my favourites…

SHOW & TELL TOP SURVIVOR SONGS:

Also on the ‘Survivor’ playlist…
‘Lil Star’ by Kelis
‘My Song’ by Mutya
‘I Know’ by Destiny’s Child
‘The Queen of Starting Over’ by Beverley Knight
‘Happy’ by Leona
‘Scarless’ by Paulini
‘Come To Me (Peace)’ by Mary J. Blige
‘Happily Never After’ by Nicole Scherzinger

J’aime à me dire que le racisme, c’était mieux avant.

Avant que Michael Jackson ne devienne blanc et que Michael Jordan ne victimise les Croates, le seul référent de mes chers concitoyens de base en matière de négritude, c’était Arnold & Willy.

Un subtil mélange, quota oblige, entre Racine et Oliver Twist, misérabilisme et angélisme.

Outre le pitch improbable de cette fable égalitariste, cette ode à la tolérance, cette vente forcée du métissage, ce sont principalement les dégâts collatéraux engendrés par cette négrophilie soudaine – digne de l’engouement des badauds devant une animalerie à l’approche des fêtes de fin d’année – qui me ramène à cette ambiguïté quasi théologique envers Barack Obama.

La cour des miracles vote aveuglément pour une bête de foire, ce qui lui permet de croire sans essayer de comprendre.

Mais, enfant, ma hantise était plus simple : comment passer inaperçu sans être invisible ?

Inspirer une peur médiatique, en espérant qu’elle soit un jour cinématographique ou accepter toutes les amitiés même celles des fans de Francky Vincent, j’ai le culte entre deux chaise, il faut choisir ou plutôt capitaliser.

Les faits sont là. Dans les années 80, si tu étais noir en province, tu pouvais être Arnold Jackson, mais certainement pas toi même et tout cela en toute bonne foi.

J’aurais voulu courber l’échine, faire preuve d’intégration lorsque les amis du colonialisme sympa me dépossédaient de ma personnalité pour satisfaire leur bon plaisir cathodique. Mais j’aime trop botter des culs à la chaîne – et avec le sourire – pour ça !

Il n’y a rien de plus compliqué que d’admettre la nature presque repentante d’un acte de violence gratuite à la vue d’une sexagénaire boitillante venant vous assener un énième – comme si vous n’étiez pas là – il est bien mignon le petit noir, comme celui de la télévision !

La même vieille dame se vengeant dans les urnes prétextant un foyer d’insécurité galopante dans son écran. Moralité, il y a des euthanasies qui se perdent.

Voilà à quoi servaient les skinheads, faire tampon comme SOS Racisme, afin que j’assouvisse sereinement et en toute légitimité mes pulsions meurtrières prétendues contre un racisme qui s’assumait.

La bonne époque où l’on avait de vrais ennemis, où l’on ne s’en créait pas à coups d’hémoglobine pour un bout de quartier, en location qui plus est.

J’avais hâte sans le savoir qu’arrive enfin la mode des Rachid Taha, Faudel, Khaled et qu’enfin les divorcés atteintes d’une quarantaine bien passée, les working girls d’écoles de commerce jamais terminées et les filles de coiffeuses nées dans une boîte de nuit puissent se convertir en toute quiétude républicaine.

J’ai connu des gens qui ne voulaient plus être noirs, ici, je leurs rétorquais donc qu’ils pourraient être quelqu’un, plus tard, mais ailleurs.

Pour l’heure, j’étais coincé avec une armée de gens bien sous tout rapport moral, ne pensant jamais à mal, mais pensant tout de même et dont la compassion à mon égard n’avait d’égal que leur passion pour collectionner des bibelots.

J’aillais être à ma place sur une étagère poussiéreuse entre les boat people et un morceau du mur de Berlin. À bientôt Barack…

Not since the “I can’t believe it’s not butter” ads with Fabio have we seen such trickeration in the marketing of food.

Pizza Hut has been running these commercials in which the surprise is that you’re eating Pizza Hut food and not the food of the restaurant you’re sitting in. The ad campaign started with Tuscani pasta and now also includes wings from “wing street.” People walk into a restaurant, order (from what I imagine is set up as some sort of special menu) and then huzzah! they’re elated that they’re actually eating Pizza Hut and it’s not horrible.

Not that Pizza Hut is listening, but if it were, some thoughts:

Pizza Hut,

a) you better not charge me the menu price for the restaurant I’m actually in, and

b) it’s our anniversary, I made reservations for this place and we’re eating Pizza Hut pasta. This is a problem. Fix it.

I’m not usually a fan of surprises. The kinds of surprises I like are limited. Here’s a contrasting pair. You guess which one I’d like.

A letter from Citibank explaining that recent financial restructuring means my student loan balance has been forgiven.

A guy in a Pizza Hut trucker hat running out of the kitchen at the restaurant at which I’m eating, screaming “You’ve been punk’d!”

It’s like this, Hut (can I call you “Hut?”). If your approach is “if we told you it was The Hut, you’d think it sucked, so we lied to you, with the hope that we could avoid the stigma of such a presumption,” well, I think your ad council sucks.

But I guess it takes diff’rent strokes to feed the world, Hut. What might be right for some, may not be right for me.¹ And I suppose I shouldn’t judge you for aiming for the market of people who love putting unidentified objects in their mouths just because I like to keep my ingestion honest.

Pizza Hut: it’s not just on purpose anymore.

_____________

¹They’ll have theirs, you’ll have yours and I’ll have mine.  And my stomach will be fine.

As fans of Diff’rent Strokes and The Jeffersons know, modern, Upper East Side high-rise apartment buildings symbolized luxe living in the late 1970s.

If you could call one of these behemoths home, it showed that you had really made it.

The Jeffersons‘ building, at left, was at 185 East 85th Street, off Third Avenue. Remember George and Weezy bounding out of that checker cab and into the lobby in the opening credits? 

Arnold and Willis Jackson moved into the penthouse in the building below, 900 Park Avenue, to live with soon-to-be adoptive father Mr. Drummond. The circular driveway the limo lets them off at in the opening credits is a lot smaller in real life.

The Upper East Side high-rise went out of style by the 1980s—as a place to stage a TV show, that is. Sitcoms like The Cosby Show (10 St. Luke’s Place) and Kate and Allie (somewhere in the Village), took place in cozy brownstones.

What’s Happening Movie Poster

Originally uploaded by Giant Ideas

Before Diff’rent Strokes and The White Shadow, there was Rerun and the gang on WHAT’S HAPPENING?

Check out the Minisode!

I have to confess that I have entirely mixed feelings about the movement in France to ban the burqa. I totally agree that the burqa makes women into “prisoners” and is a primitive custom and is an affront to Western values like secularism and common sense and (especially) boobaliciousness.

At the same time, banning clothing is also an affront to Western values. Perhaps the burqa subjugates women, but the same charge could be (and has been) made against half the t-shirts in my wardrobe. Perhaps women are forced to wear burqas by their relatives, but is this so different from schools that force kids to wear uniforms, clubs that force men to wear jackets, or restaurants that force patrons to wear shirts and shoes? And if we let the government ban clothes, what will we let them ban next? Drugs? Guns? Machinima porn?

Anyway, those who are serious about banning the burqa are guilty of not appreciating its comedic value. Why, back when I worked in Hollywood, I had the idea of an entire cycle of burqa-themed short films.

One, for instance, involved a group of ninjas returning from an assassination and a group of burqa-ed women returning from the mosque, who bumped into each other on the sidewalk, after which one member of each ended up leaving with the wrong group. Hilarity ensued.

A second involved two kids who wanted to go into an adults-only establishment, so one sat on the other’s shoulders while they hid under a burqa. Hilarity ensued.

And a third was about a group of bank robbers who hid under burqas to disguise their identities, but who accidentally visited the bank at the same time as an overbearing sheikh, who mistook a robber for one of his harem and dragged him back to his palace. Hilarity ensued.

There were more, each funnier than the next. One involved a burqa and Carrot Top and Andy Dick, one a burqa and a “Soup Nazi,” and one a burqa and a child-molesting neighbor. It wouldn’t be unfair to describe them as art.

And do you really want to put yourself in the position of banning art?

According to TMZ.com, Shannon Price, the wife of  “Diff’rent Strokes” star Gary Coleman, 41, was arrested after smashing some of Coleman’s property in their Utah home.  Price, 23, was booked on misdemeanor charges of domestic violence and disorderly conduct charges, the Web site said Thursday. 

Coleman, 4-foot-8, was apparently not injured in the incident. Price, 5-foot-7, wed Coleman in August 2007, shortly after they met on the set of the 2006 comedy “Church Ball.”  The couple have both endured legal woes, as Coleman plead guiltly last December for hitting a man with his truck outside a Utah bowling alley following a dispute over pictures the man snapped with his cell phone.

Was having an im conversation about Pink Floyd that went to videos of Pink Floyd, and by the end of the conversation we had somehow moved to disturbing child molestation scenes in film and television.  Here is the ‘video conversation’ that we had.  Unfortunately I don’t have the transcript of the text because I’m sure it was just as moving:

It started with this video about smoking pot and banging from the movie More with the soundtrack by Pink Floyd.

Quickly shifted to this live performance of Green is the Colour by Pink Floyd from 1970.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTPQI3cm0Bo

Another great live performance, I think from the same show?

Then it took a completely random turn to that episode of Different Strokes where Dudley and Arnold end up in the back of a bicycle shop with a child molester.  Do you remember that episode?  I still have nightmares!  The weirdest part is that the studio audience is laughing!  A lot!  If that were filmed today, the studio audience would not be laughing.  I would, but they more than likely wouldn’t.

Then I thought of that really fucked up scene in Happiness where the guy drugs his kid’s friend and rapes him, and the next day he’s in a hospital bed with ass pain.  However, I could NOT find the whole clip, only part.  And these other one’s too.

And finally, we ended the discussion with some Pakistani Animation (maybe it’s called Pakistanimation?  that flows much better) about the ‘other side’ of being a kid.  (The backside, if you will.  At least I think that’s what they’re getting at in the title.)

Seems like only yesterday that Gary Coleman was making around $30,000 an episode saying “Whatchoo talkin’ ’bout, Willis?!” on Diff’rent Strokes. Now, the money’s all gone due to bad advice and bad investments. Coleman’s now doing commercials for Cash Call. I hope his statement about money and relatives is tongue-in-cheek.

Try to watch without laughing or weeping.

it’s funny how a diff’rent theme song can take an orginally mildly uncomfortable sitcom centered around a rich, old white man adopting two black children and bring it to a whole new level of subdued perversion with homoerotic undertones.

many thanks to jordan for sharing this delighfully creepy video.

We know how it ends for everybody.

So Kottke linked to this video where the title-sequence of Diff’rent Strokes had the music replaced with something far creepier:

Wow. That totally changes the premise I think.

YouTube Thursday!

* 1988 Inside Edition report on Super Mario. Don’t miss the cameo appearance by a marginally less evil Bill O’Reilly.

* The Diff’rent Strokes titles recut as a horror sequence.

* Star Wars/MacGyver mashup.

This shows the effect that music has on visuals…

So I broke down a couple weeks back. Turns out a friend of mine in radio made the final push and I cracked. I signed up for twitter. That’s right. I signed up to let everyone know what I was doing every second of the day. (Or every second I had a device capable of accessing the internet.)

I held off for as long as possible seeing as how I thought no one cared what I did minute after minute. I mean, in any given day whilst being unemployed I could give you the rundown of what I do right here.

11:45am wake up
11:46am go to the bathroom
11:47am fire up the computer.
11:49am Hopefully check emails about jobs I’ve applied for. Only to receive Facebook emails about What Disney Princess would my ex girlfriend be.
11:52am Go eat breakfast, turn on Sportscenter
12:00 back to the computer making my daily rounds. Facebook.com Perezhilton.com Barstool Sports.com and Yahoo.com
1:00pm (hopefully there was some decent stuff to read killing an apparent hour to my day.) Think about taking a shower.
1:01pm not taking a shower.
1:02pm start the online search for jobs.
2:00pm Get distracted by email from friend with a dog running into a wall, or a splendidly crafted A-Rod joke.
2:30pm Fire up the ole’ World of Warcraft.
4:00pm contemplate lunch. Eat Peanut M&M’s instead.
4:05pm now with Baseball season starting, fireup ESPN.com Gamecast of the Red Sox game. (put on in background)
4:10pm Online job search again.
5:00pm ask mom what’s for dinner.
5:10pm Contemplate another shower.
5:11pm Don’t take said shower.
5:30pm Start refreshing the Facebook and other social media sites, cause my friends are all off work.
7:00pm Watch Jeopardy.
7:31pm Hit my brother, bother one of the cats, generally annoy and bother those around me.
7:32pm PS3/Wii time
8:00pm start watching shows on TV, or turn on Hulu.com and catch up on shows I’ve missed.
9:00pm Realize that TV these days sucks. Head back to the internet for some fun.
10:00pm Most of my friends have started to doze off, refreshing of social media slows.
11:00pm Realize I’m not getting to sleep any time soon. Start up How I Met Your Mother season 1, 2, or 3.
11:15pm Start a search of the internet for something to keep me occupied. (read:pornWorld News)
3:00am Turn on Lord of the Rings, or Harry Potter and finally fall to sleep.

Done.

That is my entire day almost in it’s entirety.
Seriously, if you feel the want or desire to follow me on twitter, or you think I’m wildly attractive, and charmingly witty, then by all means… follow away.

PS. that also gives out my real last name, so if you are equally as attractive and non-crazy, please feel free to do a little stalking. I won’t mind.
(sidebar: However, if your said hotness is less than said crazy-ness please forget I said anything. In fact, that’s not even my last name. I don’t know who that dude is.
In addition if you are unaware of said crazy hot scale, please allow my friend Barney Stinson to elaborate…
I’m sure I’ve posted that before. Or at least sent it to all my guy friends on Facebook at least twice.)

I mentioned before that I have been watching a lot of TV on Hulu.com. It’s just a website that hosts tons and tons of TV shows and movies in one convenient location. Did you miss Lazy Sunday or Dick in a Box from SNL? Maybe you’re too old, and you missed all of Doogie Howser M.D. or Charles in Charge? They’re all here. Some in all of their 80’s glory.

Speaking of 80’s glory… how bout these…
When Scott Baio of Charles in Charge drops his “L’s” when talking to the Chinese food delivery guy. In the 80’s racism was still funny. (Of course as I’ve noted before, all of this changed when 90210 aired, and let all of us who were raised by the TV set know, that it was in fact NOT ok to be racist. Thanks 90210.)

What about when Hot Hot Hot Chelsea Noble, Doogie’s former babysitter, came back to visit Dr. Howser and wanted to make out with him??? Don’t remember? Neither did I, until I watched the episode and did an extensive IMDB search to find who she was…

One Hot Babysitter

Of course then I came to realize she’s the same lady who met this douche….

That’s right, I think Kirk Cameron is a douche. And it was only after watching the E! True Hollywood Story that I came to this conclusion. It’s widely known that Kirk himself was at the downfall of Growing Pains. One of my favorite tv shows EVER! Apparently, Kirk found God and didn’t think that playing Mike Seaver was very respectful… blah blah blah… YOU TOOK GROWING PAINS FROM ME!!!

However, congrats on the salvation thing and great success on your movies.

As one may be able to tell, I watch a lot of tv, now and in the past. Television these days is great. I love it. I have a lot of show I follow on a consistent basis. But there is one thing I miss. Some of my younger readers may not know exactly what I’m about to talk about, but I really miss “A Very Special Episode.” The 80’s made valiant attempts to teach younger viewers and their parents the dangers and pitfalls of real life. Most of life was not lived with a supplied laugh track. And when real life problems were broached in the 80’s, producers made sure that those at home were to know it was coming. And it always went a little something like this….

Probably the most famous of all “Very Special Episodes” was from Diff’rent Strokes and the child molester. I contemplated putting in some video but decided, not only was it really creepy, but it was entirely too long. If you really feel the need to see what I’m talking about, feel free to hit up YouTube and search “Diff’rent Strokes and Bicycle Man.” While that officially creeped me out I’ll leave you with this gem from Diff’rent Strokes.

I think the closest we ever had to “A Very Special Episode in the 90’s was Saved By The Bell’s Jessie’s Song in 1990. I truly believe that had this show every rocked some primetime, we would have heard…

“Join us Monday night for A Very Special Episode of Saved By The Bell, where Jessie turns to drugs while trying to get by in school.” And this would have been the promo…

So awesome. So, so awesome.

Of course, taking caffeine pills wasn’t the biggest of Jessie Spano’s worries. Not being a gigantic whore in Las Vegas was.

Until Next Time…

email me…
SarcasmAsAWeapon@gmail.com

The podCraft will profile podcast and other online media makers. It is a podcast only program presented and produced by Jade Gulliver who is the Content Producer for JOY 94.9 as well as one half of the comedy magazine show, Diff’rent Strokes. The show is produced with the assistance of JOY 94.9.

We are currently in the development phase of the program and hope to have our first podcast available in late April. In the mean time we’ll be posting updates about what you can expect coming up on the podcast. We are in the process of confirming a couple of incredibly popular podcasters for our first few shows and look forward to giving you all the details on those in the next week or so.

Diff’rent Strokes was by almost any measure a classic sitcom of the early 80s.  The premise, an extremely wealthy white man adopting two black kids from the projects, set the stage for many of the celebrities we see today going to Africa and adopting black babies.  (That’s a joke folks before anyone bites my head off).

Anyway, on to the tale of the tape…

Relevance: While the premies sounds ultra-dramatic, Diff’rent Strokes was a comedy 90 percent of the time (more on this later).  The roles of Arnold and Willis have defined Gary Coleman and Todd Bridges for their entire lives (for better and worse it seems).

Legacy:  Go ahead and say it: ‘What you talkin’ bout Willis?’  Now that we got that out of the way, let’s also credit Diff’rent Strokes for bringing us the next phase of Janet Jackson’s career (as Willis’ sometimes girlfriend).  You hardcore TV buffs also probably remember Mrs. Garrett started on Diff’rent Strokes before moving on to her own spinoff show, The Facts of Life.  Oh, and do you really think Webster was getting a greenlight if Arnold didn’t become the phenomenon he did?

Craft:  If you want to know what a top of the line 80s sitcom looked like, you could do worse than watching a season of Diff’rent Strokes.  It was so good in fact…

Crossover:  The First Lady (Nancy Reagan) appeared on a ‘very special episode’, encouraging kids to “Just say No” to drugs.  As I’ve alluded to earlier (but I’m sure you all remember anyway), Gary Coleman was EVERYWHERE for a while in the 80s.  I would actually be quite shocked to find a white kid of my generation who knew nothing about Diff’rent Strokes, now that I think about it.

Apollo:  You know I had to go here.  Arnold and Dudley make friends with the neighborhood bike shop owner.  They go home with him.  Next thing you know, they’re taking pictures.  Next thing you know, Dudley ain’t got no shirt on, and he’s hopping around on this cat’s lap!  I’m openly baiting you to go to YouTube and find this.  As an adult, it’s every bit as funny/creepy as it was to me as a child. 

The countdown continues in April…

During a court hearing Thursday in which he pleaded guilty to eleven felony counts, Bernie Madoff told his victims that he was “truly sorry.” The victims hope the judge imposes the maximum penalty on Madoff: having Jon Stewart yell at him on “The Daily Show.”

Warren Buffett said this week that the current financial downturn is “an economic Pearl Harbor.” Buffett warned that things will get even worse when the economy is turned into a movie starring Ben Affleck.

Among the crew on this week’s launch of the space shuttle Discovery is Joseph Acaba, who becomes the first person of Puerto Rican descent in space. Unfortunately NASA had to delay the launch several days, because somebody stole the shuttle’s hubcaps.

According to those who knew him, the Alabama gunman who killed ten people in a rampage on Tuesday was well-liked, and friendly with everyone he knew. At least, until he started shooting them.

On Tuesday, protestors disrupted a meeting of the Los Angeles Unified School District, discussing whether to send layoff warnings to teachers. Instead of being arrested, the protestors had to put their heads on their desks and think about what they did.

Nadya Suleman’s publicist has quit following numerous disagreements with the so-called “Octo-Mom.” Suleman is not concerned, as she plans to hire eight new publicists that she can’t possibly afford.

The Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii is protesting a recent “Saturday Night Live” sketch about disgruntled Hawaiians having to deal with mainland tourists. The rest of the country is protesting any “SNL” sketch in which the main character is played by Kenan Thompson.

Jay Leno announced Monday that his April 7 show in Auburn Hills, Michigan will be free for anyone from the state who is unemployed. The show is part of a plan to make sure everyone in Michigan finds a job by April 7.

Chris Brown and Rhianna are reportedly back together and are collaborating on a new single. Rihanna will also be featured on Brown’s upcoming album “Chris Brown’s Greatest Hits.”

On Monday Michael J. Fox praised President Obama for lifting the ban on federal funds for stem cell research. Fox is so excited about the ban being lifted that he can’t stop shaking.

Ashlee Simpson has joined the cast of the upcoming remake of “Melrose Place.” Simpson’s role will consist of moving her lips while an old episode of the show is played in the background.

Eddie Doyle, who for thirty-five years worked at the Boston bar that inspired “Cheers,” has been laid off. Doyle will now move on to a much less successful job: working for the doctor that inspired “Becker.”

General Motors has ended its longtime support for the documentaries of Ken Burns. The company felt that it was hypocritical of them to support quality products.

The Maytag Corporation is voluntarily recalling about 1.6 million refrigerators because of an electrical problem that could create a fire hazard. When told the news, the Maytag Repairman immediately committed suicide.

The owner of the Sears Tower has announced the building will soon have its name changed to the Willis Tower. In addition, a nearby building will be renamed the Gary Coleman Tower, so it can ask the Willis Tower what it’s talking about.

Employees of a Pennsylvania pet store expecting a shipment of tropical fish and salt water got a man’s dead body instead. The employees plan to hold a dignified and proper funeral for the man just as soon as they find a big enough toilet.

Four children in Arkansas were released from the hospital after drinking windshield wiper fluid that was served to them by the owner of a day care center, who mistook it for Kool-Aid. In the owner’s defense, the wiper fluid has more nutritional value than Kool-Aid.

German prosecutors have charged a retired Ohio auto worker who was reportedly a guard at a Nazi camp with more than 29,000 counts of accessory to murder. The man hopes to beat the charges by hiring a really smart Jew lawyer.

Helg Sgarbi, dubbed “the Swiss gigolo” by the German media, was sentenced to six years in prison Monday for defrauding Germany’s richest woman of 9 million dollars. Sgarbi seduced her with his rugged neutrality.

And finally, Tullio Pinelli, who worked as the main screenwriter for legendary director Federico Fellini, died last week at the age of 100. Critics called the death drawn out and senseless, but still totally worth it for the nudity.

a lot of people around my age (25-35 for the most part) have an affinity for things from the 80’s that were in truth really awful, but we enjoy b/c it’s a reminder of our childhood and as kids we didn’t realize that the music and tv shows we watched were actually, as sean connery might say, “crap”.  but, i’ve noticed something about 80’s sitcom theme songs – they are incredibly inspirational.  seriously, i think i’ll make a mix to play every morning to motivate me.  they’re so cliche and ridiculous, as were the shows, but just give a listen and tell me you don’t think you can change the world afterward.

starting out is the growing pains theme song.  it’s my favorite b/c as a kid, my ma had this “music ministry”, she basically sang in churches & at weddings & funerals & made some records and she sounded exactly like the woman singing.  in fact, i thought it was her when the show started.  i said it was at school and got punched.  side note:  tracey gold was so cute.  she certainly didn’t need to starve herself.  poor kid stars.

i have a vhs tape from when family ties was on nick at nite called “the many loves of alex p. keaton”, as they were airing a valentines themed marathon.  that’s badass.  nothing like a little right wing love, eh?  indeed.  side note:  justine bateman was really cute.

this is one of my favorite songs to sing to irritate people.  though, usually the irritation turns to jubilation as everyone realizes that the concept of a tough nyc guido and his punk kid being a nanny for a stuck up waspy connecticut rich lady and her horny ma is pure genius.  a brand new life around the bend, indeed.  side note:  alyssa milano is wicked friggin’ hot.

the embedding is disabled on this one, so click the link.  this is probably the best intro to a sitcom ever.  it really is the best elevator music i ever heard.  side note:  keisha knight pulliam turned out to be really hot.

cheers is one of a long list of tv shows set in boston with only one character with a friggin’ boston accent.  it’s annoying.  have you ever been to or within an hour of boston?  people don’t talk normal.  ESPECIALLY at a bah!!!  but, it was a great show with a great theme and a great cast…none of which happened to be attractive.  but, crystal gale did a version of it and her hair was really hot.  you might know her as the person on will ferrell’s shirt as ricky bobby when mauled by a cougar.

my favorite version of this song was performed by dave chappelle, questlove from the roots and john “i’m a massive tool” mayer on the chappelle show.  but, due to embedding disabilities, we’ll stick to the original.  it’s diff’rent strokes, y’alls!  side note:  dana plato was cute, but i think by this time in the show had left due to being a massive coke fiend.

the facts of life.  cloris leachman became the substitute old lady in the last season.  as a kid, i thought that the dude who played justine bateman’s bf on family ties was the butch girl from this show, but i was clearly confused.   side note:  kim fields was hot on that show with queen latifah.  no, really.

it don’t get more inspirational then the damn perfect strangers song.  balky escapes the eastern bloc and comes to america to find his dream in the wonderous world of reaganism & trickle down economics!  hooray!  standing tall on the wings of my dreams, like a weird slavic perhaps some type of hebrew man doing the dance of joy.  i don’t remember if they had cute and/or hot ladies on the show.

i didnt’ watch charles in charge for some reason.  so why include the theme?  b/c nicole eggert is friggin’ crazy hot.

and one more.  let’s go with just the ten of us.  is the dude who did the dirty dancing soundtrack singing this?  or is it michael mcdonald?  anyways, guess what – side note:  jamie luner was wicked hot.

life was so much simpler – video game graphics were awful but we didn’t know, movie special effects were terrible but we didn’t know, the president was the antichrist but we didn’t know (if we were of european descent and middle class).  good times!

Gah! First this, and now this. Maybe next they’ll give it vinyl siding and a Mansard roof.

Not surprisingly, the Trib’s poll says 95% will still refer to it as the Sears.