Rant #2,321: The Final Countdown

We looked over the careers of the two actresses who played the iconic Marilyn Munster character on the classic spooky sitcom "The Munsters," so why not finish up today with our look at the character by talking about the next actress the play the role, who did it in a theatrical motion picture--

And in Technicolor, yet!

Debbie Watson was the actress' name, and she appeared as Marilyn in "Munster, Go Home!" in 1966.

I have heard two reasons why this movie was made. The first was that CBS wanted to use the film as a springboard for the proposed third season of the sitcom, which, for the first time, would be shown in color on the network.

The other reason that I have heard is that "The Munsters" had not yet debuted on European television, and this film would have ushered in the show to the continent.

Whatever the case, the film was made, and Watson was tabbed to play Marilyn Munster.

The second Marilyn Munster, Pat Priest, had become pregnant, and thus, could not play the virginal Marilyn in the movie, so Watson--a veteran of TV sitcoms, including a starring role on the short-lived "Karen" series--was inserted into the role on the big screen.

Watson was sort of a cross between Priest and her predecessor, Beverley Owen, as she was cute, perky, but kind of lacked the sexuality that Priest brought to the role.

But Watson--who was one of the last of the movie studio starlets, this time at Universal Pictures--was cast as the latest Marilyn, and if the series had, in fact, gone into its third year, she would have most probably played Marilyn in the new color format.

However, the movie bombed domestically, and this was one of the factors that convinced CBS that the show had run its course, and it was abruptly canceled, to live on in reruns in perpetuity as one of network television's cleverest sitcoms.

Watson ended up starring in some films--including "The Cool Ones" with Roddy McDowall--but she continued her popularity as a TV actress into the early 1970s, when she retired to raise her family. She has been married to record producer Richard Sanford Orshoff for 54 years (she married at 16 years of age), had a son, and recently turned 70 years old.

Of course, the Munsters saga has continued up to the present time, with a number of other actresses filling the role of Marilyn Munster, including Hillary Van Dyke in the horrid late 1980s reboot "The Munsters Today."

But to me at least, Pat Priest will always be THE Marilyn Munster who most clearly defined the role, being both sexy and completely innocent to the ways of the outside world. Owen was a bit too bland, and Watson, well, she is really just a footnote to the whole thing, to be honest with you.

Van Dyke ... to me, she doesn't even count.

"The Munsters" lives on in perpetual reruns, and there has been talk of numerous reboots that have kind of fallen by the wayside, including a version with an all black cast.

The show did come back very, very briefly as "Mockingbird Heights," a dramatic version of the story which lasted just one episode. That version finally gave us an explanation as to why Marilyn lived with the Munster family: she ran away from home when her mother was going to eat her!

I kid you not, and that is probably why that show was such a huge fatality.

So let's remember Marilyn Munster for what she was: the perfect counterpoint to the rest of the Munster clan.

And that closes the book on Marilyn Munster ... until the next misbegotten reboot occurs--

And you just know that it will.

Classic Rant #969 (May 23, 2013): Faster, Faster

Well, I done did it.

After resisting for months, I upgraded my family's bundle.

No, we did not have another child.

The bundle I am referring to is our Internet/phone/television bundle, so now we supposedly have the fastest speeds available for a residential customer.

We are up to 75mg on the Internet, so the speed is supposed to be so fast that it will blur me, or at least blow me away.

We now have digital phone, which means that the major difference is that we have to dial our area code while making calls within our calling area.

In other words, since we live on Long Island, we have to dial 516 plus the number rather than just the number when we are calling within our area.

But we were promised so many other phone features that I was floored.

(Not really.)

And as far as TV, we had the basic package, which I am told is no longer being offered. We were "behind the times" as they say, and now, we are ahead of the times. We have a couple of movie channels.

Well, I am on the Internet now, what are my impressions.

The computer connected to the Internet much faster, but admittedly, when I went to this site to begin my Rant, I don't think it moved any faster than normal.

My wife is on her iPad, and she didn't notice any discernible difference.

My son isn't up yet, so I don't know if he will see any difference on his laptop computer.

(He later told me he didn't see anything faster; in fact, he thought it went slower!)

I did turn on the TV, went to one of the Showtime Channels we now have, and the classic "Bikini A-Go-Go" was on.

Yes, I am satisfied. Already I am satisfied.

My family is a little unusual because we happen to have two different systems in our house. We have Dish Network in the living room, and Verizon in the two bedrooms.

The reason we have both is that my parents, who live beneath us, have Dish, and the whole house at one time was wired for Dish, going on probably near 20 years now.

When Dish pretty much dropped its entire local sports lineup, I was fuming, because I couldn't watch the Yankees or the Knicks, so I decided to keep Dish in the living room for the movie channels and get Verizon in the bedroom for sports. This also allowed my parents to keep Dish, which they like, and we have a very good plan with Dish anyway.

So, we aren't paying as much as other people who have one system, and we have the best of both worlds by having both.

Yes, you can say that I am a TV nut. I always have been. My mother says that when I was in the crib, I used to look forward to watching American Bandstand on our old Dumont black and white TV, and I would jump up and down in the crib to the musical acts on that show, which at the time was on daily.

Wow, I am old, aren't I? But I still love my TV.

And I have come to enjoy the Internet, too, as witnessed by the existence of this page.

And the phone ... well, I have never been much of a phone lover, but you have to have one, don't you?

So now my family and I are in "the high speed generation" ... until the next iteration of speeds on the Internet comes out, and we are left behind in the dust.

But for right now, we are fast, so watch out for us!

We will pass you by at any moment!

Rant #2,320: Stand Pat

Yesterday, we talked about the life of Beverley Owen, the first Marilyn on the classic TV show, "The Munsters."

Well, how about the actress that followed her into the role, the comely Pat Priest?

No, she has not died, thank goodness. She is alive and well and will be celebrating her 83rd birthday this year.

Priest will always be known as the longest-lasting Marilyn, the beautiful counterpoint to the rest of the Munster family's ghastliness.

As an adult watching the show, I have found her to have been a beautiful woman, and her portrayal of Marilyn was a bit more mature than that of Owen.

I think the producers knew that fact, and while Owen seemed to be a high school girl, Priest appeared to be a college coed.

Anyway, Priest has had an interesting, under-the-radar life since "The Munsters" ended, but her back story is pretty interesting.

She was born in Utah, but grew up around Washington, D.C., as her mother was the U.S. treasurer in the early 1960s, so her mom's signature was on all the paper money produced during that time.

As she grew up, Priest became something of a high society debutante, appeared in numerous local TV and stage productions, and her look gravitated her to modeling, which brought her to Los Angeles.

Over a period of a few years, she became something of a bathing suit pinup girl, posing for hundreds, if not thousands of photographs in bikinis and one-piece suits.

She became a cheesecake darling, but never ventured off that course for anything lower than that.

When Owen left "The Munsters" after just 13 episodes, the producers looked for a replacement actress who would seamlessly fill the role without too much disturbance, and Priest was it.

Her role, compared to that of the other cast members, was relatively minor, so Priest eased into the role with nary a blip, but again, as an adult, the producers kind of saw that they couldn't paint this particular Marilyn as simply a nice-looking young girl, and if you notice, her role was a bit more expanded than the role was with Owen, with a couple of episodes centering on her and her non-existent love life.

She continued to pose in swimsuits, but now, with her newfound fame, she posed in swimsuits to promote the revved up Munster Coach.

Anyway, when the show ended abruptly in 1966, Priest got something of a reprieve, as she was married and had become pregnant and would not have been able to fulfill her obligations to the role if the show had come back as had originally been planned.

In fact, another actress had already been chosen for the role, as Debbie Watson played Marilyn in "Munster, Go Home!" a theatrical movie which was supposed to usher in the series' third season, which was never to be.

After "The Munsters," Priest raised her family and acted sporadically. She had one very significant role on the classic TV sitcom "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" in that series' seventh season in 1976.

She played Lila, the even-prettier-than-Marilyn Munster and more mature sister to Betty White's Sue Ann Nivens' character, who relocated to Minneapolis. Nivens was nice looking, but simply could not compete with her sister, who she was always in competition with in getting and winning the interests of the opposite sex.

Priest also appeared in a few films during the period after 'The Munsters," including "Easy Come, Easy Go" with Elvis Presley and the exploitation film "The Amazing Two-Headed Transplant," and she did do lots of TV, including roles on "Bewitched" and "Perry Mason."

She married twice, had two sons, and by the 1980s, had retired from show business.

In recent years, she has been treated for lymphoma, and is currently in remission.

With the improvement in her health, beginning about 20 years ago, Priest began appearing at numerous nostalgia conventions, often times with Butch "Eddie Munster" Patrick.

And she keeps going well into her 80s, which is a good thing.

Priest was never a major actress on the Hollywood scene, but as Marilyn in "The Munsters," she is forever etched in stone as that character, and her performance in the role has been seen for the past 50-plus years in reruns of the show.

From debutante to swimsuit model to Marilyn Munster, Priest had an interesting career, and happily, she is still around to talk about it.

Classic Rant #968 (May 22, 2013): Money Honey

Everybody who was around at the time remembers when the Beatles made their debut on "The Ed Sullivan Show."

It was a cold February evening in 1964, an evening that really changed the world of popular music and culture.

I remember years later, in the fall of 1975, Howard Cosell tried to duplicate that feat with a band by the name of the Bay City Rollers.

They debuted on his variety show--which was called "Saturday Night Live," believe it or not--and they were supposed to be the next musical sensation.

Alas, they did have a few hits during their career, but both his show and the Rollers fizzled after a brief time.

There was a tie-in between the Scottish Rollers and their tartan apparel and the show, as the Rollers' hit "Saturday Night" was steaming up to the loftier heights of the chart at the time.

Well, it didn't last for the band, but they did have a few notable hits.

Continuing the teenybop tradition that the early Beatles exuded, that the Monkees further exploited, that David Cassidy and Bobby Sherman rode their coattails on and that "boy bands" since then have jumped on, the Rollers had a couple of hits during a career that basically lasted from 1975 to 1977.

They placed eight songs in the Billboard Hot 100 during that span, and right after "Saturday Night" was another nearly irresistible tune, "Money Honey."

Again, the song followed the formula of "Saturday Night," in that it was very repetitive, very simple, but quite a nice pop song.

The song went to No. 9 on the charts, and the Rollers seemed to be onto something good.

But like I said earlier, it didn't last very long.

"I Only Want to Be With You" and "You Made Me Believe In Magic" were two other hits they had, and then they were pretty much done.

They even came back as simply "The Rollers" at one point, but they were done.

I rediscovered the single "Money Honey" while looking through my record collection the other day, and I have to say that it is a really fine record, trashy in its own right, but one of those songs that you can rightfully say, "This is so bad that it's good."

Let me tell you, by 1976 or so, I was a firm FM listener, tuned into the top rock and roll station on the FM dial, WNEW-FM in New York.

They played the Grateful Dead, Genesis, Led Zeppelin ...

They did not play the Bay City Rollers.

But I kind of liked all the hype surrounding that band, and I liked their music.

It was catchy, jumpy and it was rock and roll and pop, two idioms that were taking a big hit around that time from the burgeoning disco scene.

I even sought them out on TV. I seem to remember that in these pre-MTV days, they were part of CBS's Saturday morning lineup, which solidified their placement as major heroes for the weenyboppers.

But heck, I was in college at the time, probably three times as old as the kids watching them on Saturday morning.

But I did like them, have some of their records in my collection, and "Money Honey" is probably my favorite song of theirs.

There really isn't that much more to say. The Rollers moved on, as did I. You rarely hear "Money Honey" on the radio anymore, even though it did hit No. 9 in 1976, the year of our Bicentennial.

I listened to it the other day, and yes, I still like the record.

And all these years later, I am not ashamed to say that either.

Rant #2,319: Scary Munsters (And Super Creeps)

Wow, since I got back in the saddle here, several Baby Boomer icons have passed away, and another one did the other day.

Add to the list of Pedro Morales and Peter Tork the very comely Beverley Owen, who died at age 81.

I listed her above as an icon, but really, she wasn't the icon herself--her role was the icon, if that is even possible.

Owen was the original Marilyn Munster on "The Munsters," the short-lived but oh-so-clever sitcom that ran on CBS for two seasons in the mid-1960s, but has lived on in reruns seemingly forever.

You remember the Munster family. There was Herman, played by Fred Gwynne, the numbskull-ish breadwinner of the family; Lily, played by the beautiful Yvonne DeCarlo, the mother of the clan; Grandpa, played by Al Lewis, the mad scientist; and Eddie, played by Butch Patrick, the wolf boy.

And then there was Marilyn.

Marilyn came from Lily's side of the family, and lived with the Munsters for some never-determined reason.

She was the outcast of the family, because she ... well ... let's just say she didn't have the looks that the rest of the family had.

But the way she looked opened up numerous comic possibilities for the show, because she was the one who often opened the door to the rest of the world when she opened the family's door at 1313 Mockingbird Lane--and once those at the door got past Marilyn--certainly named after Marilyn Monroe--well, were they in for a shock!

Owen--who in reality was a brunette and who wore a blond wig in the role--played Marilyn for all of 13 episodes during the show's first season, and abruptly left the series. The word at the time was that the actress--who had done other episodic television prior to her role on "The Munsters"--was uncomfortable with her role, and decided to leave.

But the real reason, which came out later, was that she was getting married, and wanted to be a full-time wife and later, mother.

The show almost seamlessly replaced her with luscious Pat Priest, and the rest is history.

Owen married, had two daughters, divorced her husband in the mid-1970s, went back to school and earned a degree, and pretty much stayed out of the limelight for the past 50 years or so.

Butch Patrick, in his tribute to her, admitted that in the early days of the series that he had had a crush on her, and I think most seven and eight year old boys like me must have had some type of feeling for the character--even though we certainly did not know what it was--whether the role was played by Owen or Priest.

Now in death, Owen joins Gwynne, DeCarlo and Lewis, and what a mad monster party they must be having now!

Classic Rant #967 (May 21, 2013): "The Doors" Is Closed

I just heard that Ray Manzarek, a founding member of the Doors, one of the classic rock bands of the 1960s, passed away. He was 74 years old and reportedly died of bile duct cancer.

It is his cascading keyboards that you hear on many Doors hits, including the seminal "Light My Fire," one of the greatest single records of that era.

The Doors were a different type of band than most of the acts that became popular during the 1960s.

Most of the bands that reached a high level were happy, poppy and their dark sides really didn't come out in their recordings.

The Doors wore their dark side firmly planted on their sleeves.

Led by Jim Morrison, the group--including guitarist Robby Krieger, who was the main songwriter, and drummer John Densmore--kind of sat on the fence between teenybop band and hard rock band during their existence.

With Morrison as lead singer out front, they fit right into the 16 Magazine paradigm. He was a good looking guy, with his sensuous look and long-flowing hair perfect to be slotted right alongside Davy Jones as a star for young girls.

But through their music and their actions, the Doors were much more than a teenybop band.

Although he was a good looking guy, Morrison's voice was not a classic teen idol warble. His voice was deeper, and had many dimensions to it.

He could do bubblegum, as in a song like "Hello I Love You," but he could be dark too, such as in "Riders on the Storm."

And it was all backed by Manzarek's crack keyboard work. His organ playing was really the backbone of that band.

When Morrison's drinking episodes and other nonsense caught up with him, and he passed away himself, the Doors kept on as a threesome, put out two albums, and it simply didn't work.

They broke up, but certainly not for good.

Manzarek had a solo career, put out a number of albums, but he, and the others, were so firmly linked to the Doors that public demand, and probably the lure of cash, got the Doors name out there on many occasions as a regrouped act, such as the New Doors of a few years back.

The Doors name also constantly was found on new albums, new greatest hits recordings, new live albums, even taking some of Morrison's poetic vocals and putting them to music.

Manzarek, much like Rod Argent did with the Zombies, took rock keyboarding to another level.

In these acts, that instrument was the real backbone of the recordings, not just another instrument in the mix.

I was a big Doors fan, although I don't put them into another dimension from other bands of the time.

They were different, with that dark side that they had, but they had that pop sensibility that was found on their singles. They were really able to show their "other" side on their albums, and their reputation has grown, seemingly every year since Morrison's death.

They are like the Marilyn Monroe of rock and roll; died so young, Morrison is sort of frozen in time.

Although Manzarek was in the background, his use of keyboards helped solidify Morrison's stature for the ages.

Manzarek will definitely be missed.

Rant #2,318: Goin' Down

As I wrote pretty extensively about the other day, we lost another Baby Boomer icon when Peter Tork died.

Now we know he died of the same tongue/saliva gland cancer he had battled several years ago.

So now, we have as many Monkees alive as we do Beatles.

Kind of strange.

And personally, the two Monkees who are still with us I interviewed in my past life as a celebrity interviewer.

I never got to Peter, or Davy for that matter.

It wasn't for lack of trying.

Peter was playing a solo show on Long Island maybe 35 to 40 years ago, and I thought that maybe I could get an interview with him.

With no leads to go on, I called the theater--I don't remember which one, but it was a dinner theater in  Nassau County--and I tried to get through to his management.

I never got through, and I never interviewed him, although I did see the show--as a regular paying customer. I remember that I was surprised at how spry and good sounding Peter actually was during that show, and how much he looked like he was having fun.

He was never my favorite Monkee--Mike was and still is--but I liked Peter.

He was the real ringer of the group, the only one of the four who really came in from the outside to snare a spot in the band.

Stephen Stills--who was turned down because his teeth were bad--recommended Peter, and the rest is history. But the show was supposed to be built around Davy, Mike was already under contract as a recording artist with Colgems precursor Colpix Records (as Davy was), and Micky was a Hollywood brat from the get go and had plenty of connections, so they were pretty much all in, but Peter wasn't.

He was the East Coast folkie who counted both Pete Seeger and Steve Allen (!) as major influences, and his "dumb" act won over the producers.

Certainly not his musicianship, which was pretty much negated during his entire time with the Monkees until he quit in late 1968.

To me, Peter was the true "everyman" in the group, because he came into it without any gloss at all. Micky and Davy had been kid actors, and Davy had been a huge rising star on Broadway in "Oliver!" Even Mike had that gloss, as he worked his way up the ladder in Hollywood for a few years before there even was a Monkees.

But Peter was the guy without the polish, and he seemed to enjoy what he was doing to an extent, even though he didn't like the fact that he was hired more as an actor than as a musician.

Later on, he was the co-composer of one of their best songs, "For Pete's Sake," and he played on lots of Monkees music. It is his piano that you hear on "Daydream Believer," and he played so many instruments on their recordings that it is really hard to believe that he could be hired simply as an actor.

I found out some things about him just a few years back that I didn't know. One of the things is relatively minor, but it kind of meant a lot to me.

Someone I grew up with and who I knew very barely told me a few years ago that she attended a then-recent bar mitzvah and she saw this man there who she looked at, felt that she knew, and puzzled about who it was, until the light bulb went off that it was Peter.

I then looked up Peter on Wikipedia, and I found out that his mom was part Jewish, so in a sort of way, he was part of the flock, although I never remember Peter ever talking about this, nor that it really mattered anyway.

But it did kind of matter to me ... heck, a Jewish Monkee! Who would've thunk it!

It was like when I found out that Jackie Cooper and Jerry Schatz of the Little Rascals were Jewish--it didn't mean a thing, but it kinda did, to me at least.

Anyway, Peter had his demons, which he battled, and evidently was victorious against. He was not a perfect person. I have also heard some stories that he often could be surly, distant, and nasty. I read an interview with him where he pretty much let it all hang out, and yes, he was pretty vicious.

But I think in his later years, he had come to terms with a lot of things, and at least when on stage performing, he seemed to be in his element, and he seemed to actually be enjoying himself.

In death, we try to make the person we are honoring into some type of god, without a scratch on the person.

Peter evidently had plenty of scratches, but he also seemed like a good healer, and while those scratches I am sure left some scars on him, he didn't seem to let that stop him from doing what he wanted to do, whether playing in front of thousands of Monkees fans or playing in a corner bar with his band Shoe Suede Blues with maybe 50 people in attendance.

He seemed to be a good person, a good guy, and people absolutely adored him.

When we lost him, a huge piece of my childhood went with him, and also a huge piece of my adulthood, too, as I have been a Monkees fan since 1966, going on 53 years solid.

They are my personal soundtrack, and when Davy went, that was another major person to me who was gone.

But with Peter, even though I never met him, I felt his loss even more.

Classic Rant #966 (May 20, 2013): All Powerballed Out

No, it wasn't me.

I wasn't the one who had the winning Powerball ticket for the record breaking sum of nearly $600 million.

Just one ticket was sold, to someone in Florida, who bought the ticket at a Publix in Zephyrhills.

Zephyrhills was once best known for its water, but with this situation, it will be best known for its gold.

No one has stepped forward, so no one yet knows if an individual won, a group won, or even an out of stater won.

People do go on vacation in Florida, so it isn't out of the ordinary to say that maybe somebody visiting won the huge pot.

But it wasn't me.

We play at work as a group, hoping to cash in on something.

Thus far, in all the years I have been playing through work, I think the most we have every won is $10, and yes, that is as a group, so we really didn't win too much.

But we still play, hoping for the best.

And yes, we deserve it ... we deserve to win, it just hasn't happened yet.

But maybe it will.

I cannot imagine winning so much money. It has to change your lifestyle even if you don't want it to.

You can pay off all your bills, and have plenty left over to do the other things you have wanted to do in life.

I am sure you have to hire a tax attorney to sort out how you can keep as much of your winnings as possible.

So you set up a charity to help others less fortunate than you are.

Which means pretty much everybody.

In my case, I guess we will continue to play again and again, hoping for some good luck, luck which has evaded us thus far.

It only takes "a dollar and a dream," and while our dollars are dwindling, we still have that dream.

But alas, like it is for so many others, it really appears to be nothing more than a dream.

But I guess it is nice to have that dream, although it is steeped in reality. The percentages are astronomically against winning, more so then, let's say, getting hit by lightning.

So nothing has changed for me as we go into this workweek. I will still go through the same peaks and valleys I always go through during a normal week.

But for someone or some group of people, their lives have officially changed.

Whether it will be for the better is yet to be seen.

Rant #2,317: You Better, You Bet

I am better, but not 100 percent as of this writing.

After getting bronchitis, I actually was better, went to work, started writing the blog here again.

And then I got hit, out of the blue, with the worst intestinal virus I can ever remember getting.

I was sick as could be, could not keep anything down while seemingly everything was coming out, if you get my drift.

It took me about three days to somewhat get over that, and here I am today, still with bronchitis and the virus, but feeling OK and getting better every day.

I was/still am very run down, and that is why this stuff finally got to me.

Honestly, I am going to try to slow down a bit, but knowing me, it just is not possible. There are too many things going on with me and around me and affecting me that there really isn't much I can do about it.

What did I do to occupy myself on the days I was in the house?

Well, on the days that I did not simply sleep the day away--and I mean, sleep pretty much the entire day away, from morning to evening--I watched some TV, which both made me sick at how bad daytime TV is and made me think that I cannot watch this for one more minute, so I have to get better so I can go to work and escape this televised ineptitude.

And with my naturally pleasantly warped sense of humor, I just thought about how the shows from yore would be so much different today if they ran new in 2019 than they were when they ran new in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.

Based on the political climate, the PC mentality we have now, the need to be enraged about something, here are a few shows that I surmise would have to be quite different today if they ran as brand new shows.

Father Knows Best: Well, dad really couldn't know best, because that would go against the grain of what many in today's world believe is true. Dad would have to be an alcoholic, Betty, the oldest daughter, would have to be a bit more mature than advertised, Bud would have to be a pothead and even Kitten would not be as innocent as she seemed to be, with lots of dark secrets. Only mom would be as straitlaced as possible, keeping the clan together in a seamless way.

(Wait--the real life group of actors portraying these characters actually were what you call "kind of screwed up" in real life. Robert Young WAS an alcoholic, and actually became blacklisted for a time in Hollywood for his behavior. He resurrected himself through this show, and the rest is history. Elinor Donahue WAS a bit too mature, and she was married during the length of this show's history, at the ripe old age of 17 or so. Billy Gray WAS one of Hollywood's first acknowledged potheads, and I believe he was actually arrested during the filming of the series for possession. And Lauren Chapin WAS during times of her life a drug addict and prostitute, until she found God, and became an evangelist. And Jane Wyatt WAS the straitlaced member of the cast, with cast members to this day stating that she was the glue that held everything together on that show. So I guess life really is stranger than fiction.)

All in the Family: Today, the Bunkers would absolutely, definitely be an African-American family, and yes, Archie Bunker would be the chief bigot. Edith would still be his subservient wife, but one with an attitude. Gloria would be Gloria, and Mike? Probably a white guy to appease those at the network who feel that you have to appeal to millennials.

(Wait--the short-lived Hauser Place sitcom on CBS in the early 1990s did show that the Bunkers had moved out, replaced by a black family, where the father was, in fact, a bigot. So again, I guess fiction is really stranger than fiction.)

Gilligan's Island: Well, in today's world, Gilligan would have to be gay; the Skipper would have to be a letch (or would that be Mr. Howell or both of them); the Professor would have to be the Don Juan of the island, switching back and forth, and sometimes at the same time, with Ginger, who would continue to be oversexed but would be able to act out her fantasies--as a transgender female-- and Mary Ann, who wasn't the innocent girl that everyone thought she was. That left Mrs. Howell, who was actually an old lesbian, hence Mr. Howell being a letch. He married her for status, but they went their own ways when it came to their hut.

(Wait--you just know that if a movie ever comes out as it has been talked about for ages, that the innocence of the original show would not be possible.)

Well, that's three shows that come to mind which probably would not run as they did way back when. I was also thinking The Brady Bunch and My Three Sons, too, but the possibilities for those sitcoms are so numerous that I will leave it to you to figure out all the couplings that would probably occur if those shows were new today--and which ones actually did occur, according to what we know 50 years after the fact.

As far as being "new today," I feel new, or renewed, so hopefully, I won't have to take another break from this blog.

So I welcome myself back, the time off gave us all a chance to breathe a little bit, and here I go again!

Have a good weekend, and speak to you again on Monday.

Classic Rant #965 (May 17, 2013): Singing In a Plane

I am sure you have heard about the woman who was removed from an American Airlines plane the other day because she wouldn't stop singing.

If you haven't heard about it, let me fill you in.

Evidently, a Los Angeles to New York plane had to stop at another destination before making it to the Big Apple because a woman who refused to stop singing had to be removed from the plane.

She was singing "I Will Always Love You," Whitney Houston's old hit song that was written by Dolly Parton, and she sang it over and over and over again.

A federal marshall was on board, and she was led off the plane in handcuffs.

She was spoken to off the plane, not arrested, but she had to make her own plane connections to get to New York.

The woman claimed that she could not stop singing because she was a diabetic.

I guess her sugar was out of whack.

Anyway, serenading her fellow passengers with that song probably was pretty bad. All reports are that she couldn't carry a note.

But it could have been worse.

Just think of the other songs she might have chosen for her one-song concert, and maybe by singing the song she chose she spared her fellow passengers from Excedrin Headache No. 657.

"You Light Up My Life" by Debbie Boone.

"Honey" by Bobby Goldsboro.

"You're Having My Baby" by Paul Anka.

"Feelings" by Morris Alpert.

Heck, she could have chosen "Macarena" by Los Del Rios and gotten everybody dancing.

So maybe the passengers and crew should have actually counted their blessings, because things really, really could have been much, much worse on that plane.

"I Will Always Love You" is bad, but there are worse, much worse songs she could have attacked their ear drums with.

Speak to you again on Monday.

Rant #2,316: For Pete's Sake

Yes, I came back a day early because we have just learned that Peter Tork, Monkees' bassist and really all around good guy in the music world, has passed away from undisclosed causes.

He was 77 years old.

As anyone who knows me knows, the Monkees were my own personal door-opener for the entertainment world, in particular, the music world.

When they came around when I was nine years old, I was 100 percent bought in to the concept, to the music, to the whole shebang.

And Peter was not my favorite.

But he was Peter on the show, the dumb one, the one who didn't get a lot of what was going on, but when they showed them singing and being musical, Peter had the biggest smile on his face.

And no, he wasn't dumb. In fact, in real life, he was far from it.

He simply took the persona of the dumb guy in the band, because he was the only one who could handle such a chore, and yes, it must have been a chore to act dumb when you were actually so smart.

This is a guy who could actually play about 20 instruments, a guy who knew music inside and out, and a guy who had performed on the New York City folk scene for a few years before there even was a Monkees, where he perfected the "dumb" character when things would go sour for him on stage.

He was recommended to the project by Stephen Stills, who could have gotten the part if his teeth were better, but he knew Tork pretty well, and he told the Monkees' producers, and the rest is history.

If things didn't happen that way, we could have had Crosby, Tork, Nash and Young, but that is not how it worked out.

Peter thought he was hired as both an actor and a musician, but he later found out that he was hired as an actor. He, like the rest of the Monkees, ended up rebelling at the notion that they were only there to sing and look good miming their instruments, and they did win out.

He wrote a number of excellent songs for the Monkees, including "For Pete's Sake" and "Do We Have To Do This All Over Again," and he actually was the co-lead singer of their hit song "Words," but he was thought to be the least adept singer in the act, and even when they began to play their own instruments on the records, he was held down much more than the others with the lack of lead vocals and lack of his songs appearing on LPs.

But he did work his way into the Monkees' fabric, and his piano is the one you hear on "Daydream Believer."

After the movie "Head" and the TV special "33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee," he was the first to leave the group, and he kind of faded in and out of consciousness pretty much for the next nearly 20 years, appearing here and there, living the rock star life, getting busted for hashish possession, swearing off alcohol, and becoming a teacher.

But when the Monkees dazzled a new generation by repeated airings of the show on MTV, he was there, front and center, with Micky Dolenz and Davy Jones. Numerous reunions followed, he left the act, came back, left again, came back, and when he was a Monkee, he seemed to be having fun.

But his love was the blues, and his side project, Shoe Suede Blues, was what he truly loved.

He had contracted a rare form of tongue cancer some years back, beat it, and not only was he cancer free for years, but the cancer actually changed his voice, made it more forceful while also making it easier to listen to.

I never got to interview him, but Peter was a man of his own convictions, he could be very vocal at times on certain issues, but when he was a Monkee, he knew what his place was.

And I really think he got to love that soft, cushy place too.

So while I am unhappy that I had to come back to this perch to report on his death, his was a life that really should be celebrated, because in his 77 years, he packed quite a bit into that time period, and he gave us lots and lots and lots of memories.

R.I.P. Peter. You done good.

Tomorrow

https://youtu.be/PO6D00t1uYk

Evolution Is the Secret

"Play with it. Improvise. Become more creative. Not because you have to, but because you want to. Evolution is the secret for the next step."

— Karl Lagerfeld, fashion designer 1933-2019

Loss of Clout, But Will Come Back Stronger

"I have had a significant loss of clout. I will have to make up for it with hard work and with extra effort."

— John Dingell, longest-serving congressman in American history

Rant #2,315: Sick, Sicker and Sickest

I suffered quite a setback late this past week related to my health.

I was feeling better, and while the bronchitis was still affecting me, I did feel a whole lot better.

Then, I contracted an intestinal virus--it has been going around work--and let's just say that I was coming and going so much that there was no way I was leaving my house.

I am still suffering from it, but hopefully, with an extra day to recover--Presidents Day--I will be fine on Tuesday.

But I am convinced that all of this has come about because I am exceedingly run down, so from here on in, I am going to simply take an indefinite leave of absence from writing the Ranting and Raving Blog.

I could be back in a day or two or three, or in a week or so, but I need to take off to get better. My health is not good right now, and it has opened up my eyes to the fact that I cannot push myself like I have during the current time, and I simply cannot do it anymore.

So skedaddle over here time and again, and see if I have gotten healthy enough to start up the blog again.

But for right now, I am taking an absence.

I will get better, I can guarantee you that.

And I will be back here, in due time, I can also promise you that.

So speak to you later for now.

And again, rest assured, I will be back.

Rant #2,314: Never Forget

A professional wrestling icon died on late Tuesday evening.

Say what you want about pro wrestling, but this guy, like Bruno Sammartino, was the real deal, an extremely important figure in the history of the sport in America and its popularity with minorities.

Pedro Morales, 76, was a seminal figure in pro wrestling in the late 1960s through the early 1980s, and as one of the great champions of the sport in the days that it was more regional than international, he, like Sammartino, was one of the personalities that set the groundwork for the WWE being what it is today.

Morales became a professional wrestler at age 17, and while there were many ethnics wrestling in the sport around the country, Morales appeared to be something special.

He worked his way up through the ranks, and eventually landed in what was then the WWWF, where Sammartino reigned supreme.

Working at his craft and building a huge audience, Vince McMahon saw the huge ethnic wave that was generated by the presence of Morales, and over a period of years, while Sammartino was still the top dog in the sport, Morales was weened to be the next champion--the first champion to reflect the newest audience that was engaging the sport, Hispanics, and in New York, specifically, Puerto Ricans.

In 1970s, Morales won the WWWF championship from the hated Russian, Ivan Koloff--actually, an Irishman whose character was a Russian bully--and this led to mass popularity in the WWWF for Morales, whose presence painted an almost nationalistic tone with many Hispanics, in particular Puerto Ricans who started to fill up Madison Square Garden and wave Puerto Rican flags when he would enter the ring.

He held the championship belt for over 1,000 days, until losing to Stan Stasiak in December 1973.

Morales later went on to win the World Tag Team title and the Intercontinental champion, making him pro wrestling's first three championship star, something like winning the Triple Crown in baseball.

And through it all, Morales became an outspoken wrestler, an icon to the Hispanic population. After saying "I reddy for any kine of action, Wince," he would often break away from speaking his broken English during his interviews when interviewer McMahon would say to him, "Please say something for our Spanish audience." And he did in Spanish.

He went on to become something of an icon to the non-Hispanic audience too.

He and Sammartino had become personalities that went beyond pro wrestling, so a clash was inevitable. What was now the WWF created friction between the two, and Sammartino and Morales culminated their clash while Morales was still champion during one of the first big stadium events that pro wrestling ever had, the Showdown at Shea Supercard in New York's Shea Stadium in 1972.

The two wrestlers fought to a draw, brought on by New York City's then-11 p.m. curfew that was enforced for this match.

After Morales finally lost his championship right before Christmas in 1973, he continued to wrestle, both for the WWF and other wrestling organizations, into the 1980s, and then abruptly retired without much fanfare at all.

He did some Spanish announcing for the WWF, but otherwise, he lived a quiet life away from the ring.

His name resurfaced in the late 1980s when it was announced that Morales had been picked up in a drug bust, but it wasn't him. Evidently, someone with the same name, and who incredibly looked very much like the former wrestling star, was charged in some type of drug deal, but it was not THE Pedro Morales.

However, his name was soiled forever with this link, and he kept a very low profile over the past 30 years or so, other than being named to the WWE Hall of Fame some years ago.

I was never a big Morales fan, because quite frankly, I liked the villains of wrestling, and Morales more times than not was the good guy, and a very good guy.

He not only represented himself, but Puerto Ricans and Hispanics everywhere.

I remember going to Madison Square Garden with friends to see wrestling, and we used to sit in what was called "The Puerto Rican Section," all the way up top at the Garden, and fans would bring huge flags and show off their own pride in Puerto Rico by waving them when he took the ring.

And you could not say you weren't rooting for Morales when you were sitting in those seats, because you were seemingly taking your life in your hands if you told anyone that you were rooting for his opponent.

Yes, people took Morales, and their Puerto Rican pride, very seriously back then, and you had to know how to act if you sat up in the rafters at the Garden during a wrestling match with "Peeeedro."

Now he joins Sammartino in the great wrestling ring in the sky, certainly as one of the seminal figures in what has become an international phenomenon.

Like with Sammartino, quite frankly, no Morales, no WWE.

Simple as that.

R.I.P.

Classic Rant #964 (May 16, 2013): The "Goldberg" Age of Television?

ABC has released its fall lineup, and this lineup of shows seems pretty ho-hum.

I mean, how many times can you reinvent the wheel?

However, one show, at least to me, stands out, and for a very good reason.

ABC has scheduled "The Goldbergs" for Tuesday nights, and this sitcom certainly turned my head when I read about it.

The show is sort of a "Wonder Years" for the 1980s, following a seemingly slightly dysfunctional All-American family in their daily lives.

However, based on the title, I would say this is very, very different from standard fare, because the use of that title implies that the family being looked at is Jewish.

When was the last time a Jewish family was the star of a network TV show?

You might have to look back at "Brooklyn Bridge," the ambitious but ultimately under-appreciated sitcom looking at a Jewish family living in Brooklyn in the mid-1950s.

It was on Saturday nights, and I don't think a lot of people knew it was on.

Getting back to "The Goldbergs," the show seemingly has nothing to do with the early TV sitcom of the same name. This is something new, and maybe it is about time, too.

There are Jewish characters on television--whether implied or obvious--but the Jewishness of these characters is often used as a plot device.

One recent example of this is "The Big Bang Theory," where Wolowitz's Jewishness comes up pretty frequently ... so much so that he married a non-Jewish character on the show.

Why couldn't he marry a Jewish character?

There have been many, many other instances.

How about "The Nanny," where Fran was obviously Jewish, but married her non-Jewish employer?

And on "The Wonder Years," the character of Paul Pfeiffer was Jewish, and there was even an episode aimed squarely at his bar mitzvah. But after that episode, his Jewishness was never spoken about again.

No one is asking "The Goldbergs" to be entirely about the family and their world as Jews. But the different nuances of being Jewish would be welcome on this show. 

I mean, there should not be a "Christmas Show," and if they are going to do a holiday show, then it should be a "Hanukkah Show."

One of the show's stars is George Segal, so at least there is some Jewish "authenticity" to it.

But what I found funny is that one of the other stars of the show has a last name of "Gentile," which I know he probably pronounces "Gen-teel," but, well, a "gentile" is someone who is not Jewish.

Ha Ha.

ABC obviously allowed the named "The Goldbergs" to be used for the initial shock value of doing so. Let's see what they do with it.

I think that it is about time a supposedly "real" Jewish family finds its way into a modern, network TV show, but the proof is in the pudding.

If it's a good show, it will float; if it stinks, well, it will sink faster than a store-bought potato latke.

You can see the trailer for the show at http://tv.yahoo.com/news/abc-series-trailers-back-game-betrayal-goldbergs-killer-203916425.html.

Rant #2,313: My Head, My Bed, and My Red Nose

Well, after a brief absence, I am back here where I should be, writing every weekday at the Ranting and Raving Blog.

What happened to me last week was something that had been coming for weeks, possibly months and years--my body finally broke down after a lot of pressure from all directions attacked it and would not let it go.

Let me tell you, there have been several things lately that have put me under a lot of pressure, and normally, you kind of just brush it off and go about your business.

But last week, I guess my body could not withstand anything more dumped on it, and by Tuesday evening, I had had enough.

Little did I know that I was getting good and sick.

I found that out the next day when I simply could not get out of the bed to go to work, and that continued not just on Wednesday, but also on Thursday and Friday.

On Wednesday, I went to the doctor, and found out that I had bronchitis--something that I had had before a couple of times during my life, the last time probably a few years back.

I remembered that the other times, I missed maybe a day from work, took all the pills I was given, and I was fine.

But this time was different.

I had a fever--101 degrees--and I had mentioned earlier to that day to my wife that I just felt so completely run down that all I wanted to do was ... well, nothing.

I guess I should have been careful for what I wished for, because I got what I wanted, but not the way I wanted it.

Anyway, from the doctor, I went to get x-rays, and I have to say that that kind of made me a bit nervous.

As I said, I have had bronchitis before, but I don't remember ever having to get x-rays in the past for it. The doctor said it was being done as a precaution, so I guess I might have been borderline for some type of milder pneumonia--and no, I never have had that malady.

But the x-rays proved to be just those of someone with bronchitis, so for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, I was pretty much a lump as I stayed home. Other than going to the doctor on Wednesday, I slept the entire day away, and on the other days, I tried to take it easy, or at least as easy as I can, which isn't much.

Saturday was my "breakout" day. I went food shopping with my wife, took my son to his bowling league, and later, got a haircut with him and did some shopping related to some things he needed.

It made me feel good to get out of the house, I can tell you that!

On Sunday, I also took a giant step, taking my son and wife to see my father-in-law in the Veterans home that is about 50 miles from where I live. Unbeknownst to us, his section was shut down because of illness, and I probably was not going in there anyway, and I wore a mask while I waited for my wife to make her visit (my son stayed with me).

And on Monday, the oceans truly parted, and I went back to work.

It was good going back to work, and pretty much now, even though I still have a couple of pills to go, I am about 85 percent back to normal. I still have a cough, I still feel that I have something in me, my insides are still a bit roughed up, but compared with last week, well, it is like night and day.

My sleeping pattern has been all messed up, and every night, I sleep some in the bedroom and some on a chair in the living room.

I am hoping that by the weekend, I will be at or near 100 percent, because while I do not get sick very often, when I get sick, I really do get sick.

So I am back here at the blog, too. I know that several people missed me, some people gave me good wishes and others were just plain nasty to me. But the latter group showed their true colors with their messages to me, which I have since deleted because they are as worthless as those who sent them.

Those types of messages will never see the light of day on this blog, I can tell you that.

To sum up, yes, I was pretty sick the past few days, and now, I am back on the road to recuperation.

And I am very, very happy to be back right here!

Speak to you again tomorrow.

Classic Rant #963 (May 15, 2013): It was 25 Years Ago Today ...

Today marks a stupendous occasion in my life.

Today, 25 years ago, at 4:15 a.m. in the morning, I became a father for the first time.

My daughter was born today in 1988, and she turns the "big" 25 today.

I cannot believe that I have been a father for a quarter century now.

I was 31 years old when I became a dad, and I remember the occasion as vividly as anything in my life.

I won't go into that much detail, but I can tell you that I was on Cloud Nine when she was born.

And no, we didn't know whether we were going to have a girl or a boy, and we were very pleased to have a little girl to call our own.

I remember that they monitored our soon-to-be-born daughter's heartbeat, and the doctors told us that she had the heartbeat of a boy.

So we were so surprised--and pleased--when we realized we had a girl.

And she had a darkest mane of black hair I have ever seen!

So much has happened in the intervening years, including the divorce between myself and her mother.

I hold no grudges, it was a union that simply didn't work out for the long term.

We have both moved on, both married again, and as you know, my wife and I welcomed a son into our little family in 1995.

Sure, I made mistakes as a father. The divorce put a chasm between myself and my daughter which exists, to a certain extent, to this day.

But I am very, very proud of my daughter, I really am.

She went to college, got her degree, and after a long period of time, she finally got a decent job, one that she can grow with.

She is always welcome in my home, although she rarely takes advantage of that open house.

I speak to her on the phone about once a week or so, and I see her several times each year.

She has her own life, and is very protective of it.

But she is my first born, and nobody can take that away from her, or me.

She is also the first grandchild on my side of the family, actually being just nine days older than my sister's first born, her first of three sons.

My daughter is also the first great grandchild. I know my grandparents cherished the few moments they had with her while they were alive.

Anyway, I simply cannot believe that it is 25 years to the day that I became a father, a mantle that I will bear for the rest of my life ... and one that I am very, very proud of.

I look at my daughter, as I do my son, and I see a lot of myself in each of them.

They are good kids, have to battle for what they have, and will get what they want eventually, but it isn't easy, not in this world we live in.

My daughter has enriched my life for the past 25 years, given me more of a purpose other than simply being a member of society.

When she first said "dad," and even before that, before she could say much of anything, I was hooked.

I looked in her eyes the first time, right after she was born, and I knew I had finally found my place.

Happy birthday to my daughter. I am sure she will see me today, even briefly, so I can wish her the best in person.

She helped to make my life complete.

Almost There

One more day, and I will be pretty much back to normal, so if everything goes according to plan, I should be back in the saddle here tomorrow morning.

Getting Better

Look for me to resume this column on Wednesday, February 13.

By that time, I feel that I will be running down the line from third base and ready to reach home plate in just a little bit.

I am still not there just yet, but let's just say that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel--

Finally!

Speak to you then.

Sick Day

To all of those who expressed concern, thanks for doing so.

And for those who sent nasty messages to me, well, your true colors showed again.

Completely uncalled for, but if it makes you happy, then smile a broad grin on your face.

It will just make you look as stupid as we all know you are.

Speak you to you again on Wednesday, February 13.

Until then ...

Sick Day

Sick Day

Rant #2,312: Honesty

Is honesty always the best policy?

Apparently, we live in a world today where our feelings are manufactured for us, and if they don't fit into that getting tighter PC mode, well, then we are open to bashing, thrashing and mashing from people who literally look to get offended at everything under the sun.

So is the current story about actor Liam Neeson, who, in promoting his latest movie, opened up about a time in his life where he wanted revenge--and the lessons he learned about himself in the process.

Neeson told a British journalist that some time ago, he became privy to some information from a female friend of his.

The woman confided in Neeson that she had been raped, and this brought Neeson to a boiling point.

The actor became so incensed about what the woman said had happened that he hung out around a British pub for a week, not to drink, but to find a black man to attack and murder, sort of payback in his mind for what allegedly had happened to his friend.

In the interview for the British Independent publication, Neeson--whose recent career has been defined by one revenge movie after another, including his latest movie, "Cold Pursuit"--admitted during the interview that he let his primal fears get the best of him, stating that he wanted to know every detail of the incident from his friend, including the race of the person who supposedly attacked her.

When the friend said it was a black man who had attacked her, that is all Neeson needed to set about to try to rectify the situation.

"I went up and down areas with a cosh [weapon], hoping I would be approached by somebody--I'm ashamed to say that--and I did it for maybe a week, hoping some black b----- would come out of the pub and have a go at me for something, you know? So that I could ... kill him," Neeson said.

"It took me a week, maybe a week and a half, to go through that," he explained. "It was horrible, horrible when I think back, that I did that. And I've never admitted that, and I am saying it to a journalist, God forbid. It's awful. But I did learn a lesson from it, when I eventually thought, "What the f--- are you doing?"

He added that his upbringing may have led to his thoughts about what "permissible violence" was during this time of his life.

Look, nobody is going to disagree here that what he said was chilling. Only in the movies--such as Neeson's revenge films and films like "Death Wish"--do we act out our impulses to this level, and get away with it.

Neeson, I presume, was trying to tell the journalist that he fully understood his characters in these revenge movies, because he essentially had "been there" himself, although happily, he never acted out on his impulses.

Give him kudos for admitting to this part of his life, even if it was to promote a movie, but as you can imagine, in the PC state of mind that we live in right now, people have gotten absolutely hysterical on social media about his admittance, calling him a racist, vowing to boycott his movies, and certainly much else.

Whether we like it or not, revenge is a human condition that we have all been in, but rarely do anything about.

We want to get back at those who we feel have hurt us, payback for what they did, no matter how major or minor.

But usually, that revenge plan stays in our heads, and kind of peters out over time.

Neeson did not say whether the woman who confided in him was just a good friend or perhaps even something more, but yes, he let his primal instincts nearly get the best of him.

That he, after a while, decided that this was not a good or prudent plan of action also shows that he is human, and that was that.

But certain people who have nothing better to do with their lives look to punish, look to get back at people because of their human feelings, and that is sort of a revenge motive too, to get back at a high-profile actor who admitted to a condition of the human condition.

Let's all take a step back and put ourselves in his shoes. Might we not all have wanted the same revenge that he wanted--and conversely, wouldn't we all, like Neeson, have pulled back from such a rage, seeing it as a useless exercise in futility?

Of course, his mention of a black man as the perpetrator of the rape, and as the type of person who he was looking for, has exacerbated the entire situation, but Neeson did not sugarcoat anything in his recounting of this situation. He could have easily left this part out, but he decided not to.

Whatever the case, yes, it was horrible, but Neeson certainly has guts in saying what he did,

Yes, maybe he should have kept these thoughts to himself, or put it into a different context, but he said what he said, and some people applaud him for his honesty, while others dump on him big time.

I was pretty shocked that he admitted to such an episode, but I applaud him for being so candid about it.

Let's stop getting hysterical about everything. Let's let the condition of the human condition play out.

The PC people would have us act as robots, spouting the party line, but as humans, we do have brains in our heads, and if we don't use them, we lose them.

Time will tell if Neeson's story plays out negatively, or actually is turned into sa lesson that we can all learn from.

Classci Rant #962 (May 13, 2013): Agents of Tease

I hope everyone had a nice Mother's Day.

We did, as we had a houseful of people, a big hero as the main dish, and everyone seemed to have a fine time.

Anyway, my wife and I have made it a habit to generally stay away from the TV networks and their programming.

We watch a few shows--she more than me, as I am usually preoccupied with sports--but we don't watch too much, because, quite frankly, what is on network TV today is utter trash that pales in comparison to what was on 20, 30, 40 and 50 years ago.

But we do watch ABC's "Once Upon a Time," a two-season Sunday night staple about the citizens of Storytown, a mythical place where fairy tale characters live in today's world, having been banished from their own land by an evil witch's curse.

(If you haven't yet seen this show, don't ask. Put out by the people who gave us "Lost," this show, too, is as convoluted as its predecessor, but it has a certain charm that is intriguing.)

Well, we watched the season finale last night, and that was all fine and good, but that is not why I am writing this Rant.

During a commercial break for this show, a short teaser was run about a new ABC show for the fall season, something called "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D."

If you are an old comic book collector like I am, and if you are a current move goer, which I am occasionally, you know that this teaser, which lasted maybe a minute, was far more exciting than this 60-minute episode of "Once Upon a Time."

"Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." is evidently going to be a TV show based on the organization which had its place in Marvel Comics during the 1960s, and has been revived in the Marvel superhero movies of the current time.

See what viewers saw at http://www.youtube.com/user/ABCNetwork?v=G5ODnz78XTI.

I think "S.H.I.E.L.D." first premiered with the character of Nick Fury way back when, but in the past 50 years, with real-life coverups and other derring-dos with real governmental organizations, this was revived in the movies, and played out very well in "The Avengers" film, which made oodles of money last summer.

Actor Clark Gregg reprises his role as Agent Phil Coulsen in the TV show, overseeing this secret law enforcement agency.

The problem is, Coulsen died in "The Avengers" film, so how will he be resurrected?

Will the movie be a prequel to what happened in the film, or is Coulsen actually not dead?

More importantly, will Marvel's stable of superheroes, including Iron Man and the Hulk, turn up on this show?

Just based on the promo, ABC could have a big hit series in the fall, or this could fall flat on its face, but let me tell you, it perked up my ears a bit, as usually during the commercials, I have to prop myself up to even pay attention to them.

But this one got my rapt attention.

If this is how the Marvel Universe is extending itself--and now that ABC is owned by Disney which owns the Marvel franchise, it evidently is doing just this--then it was pretty genius of them to promo this concept during TV's reigning high-concept fantasy show.

But I bet it took lots of people unawares, and yes, it threw me for a loop.

I guess we will just have to wait until the fall to see how this plays out.

I will see you next on Wednesday, as tomorrow, I am busy with business related to my son's education.

See you in two days.

Rant #2,311: Stuck In the Middle With You

Happy After Super Bowl Monday!

Thank goodness we are done with that game, although you know that the game will be evaluated up and down and all around for the next week or so, because people simply cannot get enough of it.

And the half time show will also be scrutinized as much or more than the game, because that is what we do. Heck, Lebron James doesn't get it, and he represents the world, so why should anyone get it?

What did my family and I do during the Big Game?

Well, I can tell you that we didn't watch it at all, and I do mean not at all.

We are not a football family, so we did other things.

My wife and I watched some movie on Netflix, nothing with nothing, I don't even remember the name of the movie, but it did keep me going for 90 minutes.

My son was on the computer, as he was during last year's Super Bowl and probably will be for next year's Super Bowl too.

But my son and I did do something different this year.

The Super Bowl half time show is a big showcase, and people look forward to it as much as they do the Big Game each year.

This year, we monitored the game leading into half time, because the WWE did something very, very novel and smart during this 20 minute or however long break it was between the halves of the most important football game of the year.

The WWE network had its own programming during this break, interrupting its own program schedule by inserting what they called "Halftime Heat," which began as the half time started and ended when the break ended.

This short show featured a six-man tag team--three wrestlers on each side--and what it specifically featured were six top wrestlers from the NXT brand of WWE, sort of an upper minor league for the WWE's main shows, Raw and Smackdown.

So, in a showcase basically being used, said WWE executive Paul Levesq--better known as Triple H, the creator of the current version of NXT--as a showcase for the future of the WWE, the top wrestlers from this brand pitted one team of three against another.

The featured wrestlers--Johnny Gargano, Tomaso Ciampa, and Adam Cole vs. Aleister Black, Velveteen Dream, and Ricochet, the good guy team which won the match--gave it their all during the short show, jumping and thumping their opponents all around the ring.

It was quick, it was fast, and it was over in a flash, but it served a purpose, or several purposes.

First, as Triple H said, it served as a showcase for the next wave of wrestlers who will eventually come up to the wrestling organization's top two shows, at least on the male side of the equation.

Second, it drew viewers away from the Super Bowl half time festivities, if for only a few minutes, as when it was over, the WWE fully expected that 99 and 9/10s of those who watched their showcase would go back to doing what they were doing before the showcase started, which means most would turn back to the Super Bowl.

The WWE Network was pretty much poo-pooed when it debuted a couple of years ago as sort of a Netflix of professional wrestling, but it now serves as a model for how what amounts as an entertainment organization can package its product for the masses on the Internet.

It features constant, 24-hour-a-day programming, it offers on-demand programming, it offers all the pay-per-views, and it offers new programs specifically designed for the network--and it has become an unmitigated success.

And yes, it is now in a position to offer such alternative programming during one of the most watched events on the annual TV calendar, and I will bet they are already looking at another such show for next year's Super Bowl half time show.

Sure, you can say what you want about professional wrestling, but it hasn't become the worldwide phenomenon that it has become without a lot of thought being given to it, and the WWE Network is certainly part of that out-of-the-box thinking that has gone into making the WWE--and all professional wrestling--the mainstream product that it is today.

My son and I have been subscribers to the WWE Network since its first hours, and the $9.99 a month we spend on it is money well spent.

I am not trying to be a commercial for the network, but what they offered viewers as an alternative to the Super Bowl half time show just shows how creative the network is and can be and will be in the future.

So congrats to the New England Patriots for another Super Bowl win, and kudos to the WWE Network for being so darn smart.