This show is my guilty pleasure.
The 5th season was great, as the brought back so many of the great personalites from the previous season, which made that season great as well.
I am curious what the next season will bring. If they will bring back vetrans again, or go with a new cast.
I used to watch the show The Amazing Race, but strangely the people personalities were not shown off as well, as they different team had very litle time to interact with each other. Also, the lack of alochol avoided a lot of the stupid (though sometime entertaining) conflicts which often fuel Redneck Island.
Tuesday, April 12, 2016
King of the Nerds
This show has come to an end, and it's a pity as it was one of about 5 shows I regularly watched (with exception of 4 other animated shows I watch: The Simpson, South Park, American Dad and Robot) Chicken.
The winner of season two Kayla seemed like she really deserved to win, with her incredible mix of nerdiness, brains and being solidly in touch with reality.
It was really great to see Curtis Armstrong in something after all these years. He was kind of a staple of teen comedies in the 80s. Thanks again to Seth MacFarlane for adding him to the cast of American Dad.
I would love to design my own Nerdvana, as I have a lot of ideas.
The winner of season two Kayla seemed like she really deserved to win, with her incredible mix of nerdiness, brains and being solidly in touch with reality.
It was really great to see Curtis Armstrong in something after all these years. He was kind of a staple of teen comedies in the 80s. Thanks again to Seth MacFarlane for adding him to the cast of American Dad.
I would love to design my own Nerdvana, as I have a lot of ideas.
Batman (1966)
 | |
| I don't know who made this spectacular montage. |
For me, as was mentioned by other fans in the documentary included the DVD release of the TV show, as a kid I took the show seriously. Many years later, when one of my classmates told me the show was a comedy, I was shocked and took some time for introspection to figure out if that was really true.
But the way Adam West played the role could easily be taken either way. For adults, it was certainly a comedy, but for kids, he talked with such unflappable integrity, that you felt a sense of honor that you wanted to uphold.
I think the way the role was originally written, and from viewing Adam West's screen test, the writers originally intended the show to be serious. They merely followed Adam West's lead as he found the show to be ridiculous and played the character as campy, which lead the writers to follow suit. Still, the show may have been successful even without the camp.
If the TV show "Back to the Batcave" is accurate (questionable) Adam West felt the script was humorous and played it that way.
For me, the greatest star of this show was the Batmobile. It had every imaginable (and unimaginable gadget, as well as looking very cool.
Thursday, March 20, 2014
Strange New Shows
At this point, there are only three new shows that I am watching "King of the Nerds", "Toy Hunter" and "Fangasm"
King of the Nerds often has some great "nerd" references and incredible guest stars. Still, there are times when the challenges/ Nerd Offs are completely based on luck, so it is less about the contests effort or skill. So many times, as with any reality show of this type, the most skilled or interesting contestant gets knocked off. The first season's winner won after being voted the king by the other players, which completely thwarts the idea of a competition. Being that she hadn't done anything win that crown. She didn't even compete in any of the Nerd Offs.
I am not a huge fan of the reality game show "vote one guy off" concept, as it and often causes the program to lose interesting characters. It's so foolish to have contestants knocked off in the first episode as that contestant sometimes seem interesting but are not around long enough for us to find out.
Fangasm was great, I really appreciated the format, since there was no "vote off" and no contestants left the show. I was really amazed at Andrew, as he appeared like he would be socially awkward, but turned out to not be especially awkward and had a lot a great characteristics.
Toy Hunter is kind of a mixed bag for me. Some times he find some old toys that I really find interesting, usually those I had as a kid. There are other times where he find toys that are really old, and I had never heard of before. And other times he find toys from lines I have no interest in what so ever, such as He-man or Transformers.
I still watch American Dad and the Simpsons, as well as South Park Still waiting to see if Robot Chicken comes back or if The Boondocks will be renewed. I occasionally watch Family Guy, but I have no interest what so ever in Bob's Burgers or the Cleveland Show.
I have also been watching "Redneck Island" which I have no real explanation of why I was fascinated with that show. Still, I was extremely impressed with Catherine Long who was always sweet (though not seemingly fake), never angry or nasty. She is a kind of person who it would be great to have around at any time.
Everyone keeps telling me I should watch Game of Thrones or Walking Dead, but I have no interest in either of those shows, especially Walking Dead as I don't like grotesque things, including zombies.
King of the Nerds often has some great "nerd" references and incredible guest stars. Still, there are times when the challenges/ Nerd Offs are completely based on luck, so it is less about the contests effort or skill. So many times, as with any reality show of this type, the most skilled or interesting contestant gets knocked off. The first season's winner won after being voted the king by the other players, which completely thwarts the idea of a competition. Being that she hadn't done anything win that crown. She didn't even compete in any of the Nerd Offs.
I am not a huge fan of the reality game show "vote one guy off" concept, as it and often causes the program to lose interesting characters. It's so foolish to have contestants knocked off in the first episode as that contestant sometimes seem interesting but are not around long enough for us to find out.
Fangasm was great, I really appreciated the format, since there was no "vote off" and no contestants left the show. I was really amazed at Andrew, as he appeared like he would be socially awkward, but turned out to not be especially awkward and had a lot a great characteristics.
Toy Hunter is kind of a mixed bag for me. Some times he find some old toys that I really find interesting, usually those I had as a kid. There are other times where he find toys that are really old, and I had never heard of before. And other times he find toys from lines I have no interest in what so ever, such as He-man or Transformers.
I still watch American Dad and the Simpsons, as well as South Park Still waiting to see if Robot Chicken comes back or if The Boondocks will be renewed. I occasionally watch Family Guy, but I have no interest what so ever in Bob's Burgers or the Cleveland Show.
I have also been watching "Redneck Island" which I have no real explanation of why I was fascinated with that show. Still, I was extremely impressed with Catherine Long who was always sweet (though not seemingly fake), never angry or nasty. She is a kind of person who it would be great to have around at any time.
Everyone keeps telling me I should watch Game of Thrones or Walking Dead, but I have no interest in either of those shows, especially Walking Dead as I don't like grotesque things, including zombies.
Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? (1991-1995)
While I had caught sporadic episodes of the game show "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?", I have just recently gotten some videos of the show and been able to watch many more episodes.
Of course, Greg Lee (agent in charge of training new recruits/host) does a wonderful job. He is always cheerful and encourages the audience to cheer for the performances given, raising up the level of excitement of the audience. I would say hands down, he is the best game show host ever.
The first round is absolutely awesome, with a huge variety of question formats, with questions that are relevant and pertinent to geographical locations. There are some times when the questions are given with one give-a-way bit of info (i.e. it's in the north) and two other bits that are quite difficult to discern. That detracts from the geographic aspect of the challenge.
The second round is always kind of a disappointment, as it is merely a game of concentration, which kind of detracts from the game, as the person who was best at answering questions and with the most geographical knowledge has no advantage in this round, as this round is mostly luck.
And Rockapella is awsome, not only in the music they supply, but also in their little musical call outs during the second round the loot or such is found. And of course their particpation in the skits greatly adds to the show.
Also, I have to mention the Chief (Lynne Thigpen) who also does a good job, but I often get the impression that her segments are prerecorded.
I get the impression that each scene was done in one take, as some of the gumshoes' reactions are a bit off, or not particularly appealing for television. Still with Greg Lee, Lynne Thigpen and Rockapella, I think this show must have been AMAZING to watch in person for the studio audience.
Some of the cultural information is fascinating, most often given in explanations by the Chief.
The third and final round is always a point of contention with me, as the time limit is so short that any mistake means the gumshoe will lose that round. Also, the African map contains so many countries that it ridiculously difficult, While the South American map is quite easy (for some one who knows geography). The European map includes a large portion of Russia, which the gumshoes have to run over, wasting a lot of precious time. I wish the gumshoes had at least a minute to complete this round, or were able to either move the group of marker's closer or carry more than one marker at a time. Also, while I feel that is is beyond most people's geographical knowledge, there is no map that includes the Caribbean islands, which does them (the islands and the chance to educate) a disservice.
I would prefer to see the maps broken up in to geographic regions, rather than continents. Such as: East Africa, Southern Africa, The Middle East, Western Africa.
So far, in the episodes that I have watched Osaka has been in two questions. Both times, the questions were so obscure "Japan's second largest city (who would know that?) I couldn't really blame all the contestants for getting the questions wrong (which they did, all of them). Strangely, when Osaka appeared in the second round, it has a number of nondescript landmarks (the post office?) and a place called Takuten Park, which I had never even heard of, even though I changed trains every day for 5 years basically right in front of it.
On a side note, I have no interest in "Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego?", which seems odd, as I am a big fan of animation. First, that series drifts a bit from the question format of the original game, and greatly dilutes the educational aspect. Strangely enough, "Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego" is one of the only times where Carmen Sandiego is prominently featured as a character. In most other iterations she appears in image only and all her speaking lines are from "recorded" messages.
And I don't understand why there is only a "Carmen Sandiego: Adventures in Math" game out now. I know that the whole Carmen Sandiego concept is based on "education", but there are plenty of math games out there, but a dearth of geography games.
Of course, Greg Lee (agent in charge of training new recruits/host) does a wonderful job. He is always cheerful and encourages the audience to cheer for the performances given, raising up the level of excitement of the audience. I would say hands down, he is the best game show host ever.
The first round is absolutely awesome, with a huge variety of question formats, with questions that are relevant and pertinent to geographical locations. There are some times when the questions are given with one give-a-way bit of info (i.e. it's in the north) and two other bits that are quite difficult to discern. That detracts from the geographic aspect of the challenge.
The second round is always kind of a disappointment, as it is merely a game of concentration, which kind of detracts from the game, as the person who was best at answering questions and with the most geographical knowledge has no advantage in this round, as this round is mostly luck.
And Rockapella is awsome, not only in the music they supply, but also in their little musical call outs during the second round the loot or such is found. And of course their particpation in the skits greatly adds to the show.
Also, I have to mention the Chief (Lynne Thigpen) who also does a good job, but I often get the impression that her segments are prerecorded.
I get the impression that each scene was done in one take, as some of the gumshoes' reactions are a bit off, or not particularly appealing for television. Still with Greg Lee, Lynne Thigpen and Rockapella, I think this show must have been AMAZING to watch in person for the studio audience.
Some of the cultural information is fascinating, most often given in explanations by the Chief.
The third and final round is always a point of contention with me, as the time limit is so short that any mistake means the gumshoe will lose that round. Also, the African map contains so many countries that it ridiculously difficult, While the South American map is quite easy (for some one who knows geography). The European map includes a large portion of Russia, which the gumshoes have to run over, wasting a lot of precious time. I wish the gumshoes had at least a minute to complete this round, or were able to either move the group of marker's closer or carry more than one marker at a time. Also, while I feel that is is beyond most people's geographical knowledge, there is no map that includes the Caribbean islands, which does them (the islands and the chance to educate) a disservice.
I would prefer to see the maps broken up in to geographic regions, rather than continents. Such as: East Africa, Southern Africa, The Middle East, Western Africa.
So far, in the episodes that I have watched Osaka has been in two questions. Both times, the questions were so obscure "Japan's second largest city (who would know that?) I couldn't really blame all the contestants for getting the questions wrong (which they did, all of them). Strangely, when Osaka appeared in the second round, it has a number of nondescript landmarks (the post office?) and a place called Takuten Park, which I had never even heard of, even though I changed trains every day for 5 years basically right in front of it.
On a side note, I have no interest in "Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego?", which seems odd, as I am a big fan of animation. First, that series drifts a bit from the question format of the original game, and greatly dilutes the educational aspect. Strangely enough, "Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego" is one of the only times where Carmen Sandiego is prominently featured as a character. In most other iterations she appears in image only and all her speaking lines are from "recorded" messages.
And I don't understand why there is only a "Carmen Sandiego: Adventures in Math" game out now. I know that the whole Carmen Sandiego concept is based on "education", but there are plenty of math games out there, but a dearth of geography games.
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
I had been blogging about all the strange old TV shows I watch back on TV.com, but they have recently decided to eliminate their blogs, so I have decided to post my thoughts on those TV shows here.
I rarely find anything new on TV that I want to watch, as most new shows just don't capture my interest. But sometimes find old shows that are no longer on the air, which I find interesting enough to watch.
I would like to post my old blogs from TV.com, but I am unsure how that would work. Also, I imagine there would be a problem with the dates, as the blogs would probably show the current date, even though they were written a long time ago.
I rarely find anything new on TV that I want to watch, as most new shows just don't capture my interest. But sometimes find old shows that are no longer on the air, which I find interesting enough to watch.
I would like to post my old blogs from TV.com, but I am unsure how that would work. Also, I imagine there would be a problem with the dates, as the blogs would probably show the current date, even though they were written a long time ago.
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