New Game Idea

Six Channels of Jason Marsden

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Its Basically "Six Degrees of Seperation" with Kevin Bacon but with the man of such steady roles as Eric's best friend on "Boy Meets World",  Rich Halke of "Step by Step", & Nelson Burkhard of "Full House".

This might be a more challenging game, but a look at his track record and it will lead to minutes and minutes of fun.  Become the ultimate TV nerd!

Close to Death of Yellow Fever

At the end of October 2011, Fox settled their contract dispute with the actors of “The Simpsons”.   The new contract extends the life of the show for two more years to make it 25 seasons broadcasting (28 seasons if you include the Tracey Ullman Show, which I do).

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First run of show:  1987 (shorts), 1989 (series) - present

Elton’s exposure of the show:  1987 - present

Like many of the fans who literally grew up with the series, I had stopped watching around the 10^th season and that’s usually around the time most people in my age range had as well.  Blame it on dating, school, cable, internet, or bad writing I didn’t really care watching the show in my early teens as I did when I was a child.  It may have had to do with the line-up surrounding the show then, but in my heart of hearts I figured the show would still be around no matter when and how old I got.  The Simpsons was like a childhood family pet in a sense that no matter where you went when you left home after you grew up, it would be there to greet you when came home to visit.

Sure there had been contract issues before and threats of replacing the actors or even ending the show.  If anything, despite the ups and down of the show, it seems to be a labor of love for the actors, Creator Matt Groening, Producer James L. Brooks, and long-time Showrunner Al Jean and they were willing to keep the train moving previous times before.  What scared me about this particular round of contract talks was Fox’s claim that the show was not making enough money in return for the cost it was to produce and cuts were needed.  Fair enough.  The actors seemed willing to do the cuts, provided they got a percentage of the back-end merchandising deals (why didn’t they have the sweetest plum before?) but the network wouldn’t budge and it looked like a real possibility that the show was going to end over a few (million) dollars.

Thankfully, everything got squared away and production rolls on.  Since the movie came out in 2007, I have been watching it more frequently, but still sporadic.  As my friend, comedian Jon Holmes would say (to the effect): “The show went from great seasons, to great episodes, to great lines.”  I think this is a great summary of the series.  On some recent viewings, some good things I have noticed were:

• Animation quality
• Topical humor
• Visual humor

As an animated show, The Simpsons has always been good about these things, but with the increase of commercial time (and decrease of show time), the show still packs some punches with it humor whether it verbal or non-verbal of the times I have watched it (again sporadic).  While the recent episodes are far from “Deep Space Homer”, an episode from a few years back with Bart showing his G.I. Joe “with insufficient armor” had laughing and going “good stuff”.

Some not so good things I have noticed were:

• “Family Guy” like storytelling
• Ten year old children sounding like 50yr old adults
• Hank Azaria voicing multiple antagonists with the same voice.

I think Simpsons has gone away from that style of constant asides recently (or maybe Family Guy has just gotten rid of storylines all together?).  But the most notable thing for me since my (sporadic) re-visiting of the long-running sitcom has been the aging of the character as heard in their voices.  It is as noticeable as Homer from season one to season two.  Maybe if I didn’t stop watching the show, it wouldn’t bug me as much, but I’ve come to realize that the actors are getting old and death is creeping up a little closer (for some more than others).

Quick note:  Nancy Cartwright, a Kettering, OH, did speak at my college, Wright State, when I was attending.  It was an emotional experience (one I’ll explore later) and she seemed to have no problem sticking around as a ten year old boy forever. 

She said this back in 2007.  Its 2011 now.  “25” seems like a good number to end on.  Eventually, the house pet at your parent’s house dies.   For me, The Simpsons, like a house pet, got taken for granted as something that would never go away.  Its something that was with you from the beginning.  But as the house pet gets older and you visit the parents occasionally, you begin to get a sense of the borrowed time and realize death is very real possibility.  I could be getting sentimental over nothing and the show could go on another twenty years, but my feeling is that I ought to enjoy what I got now before its put to rest for good – which I feel is sooner than later.

All reference information is made primarily from my memory, Wikipedia, and IMDB and will be stated as such unless otherwise noted.  All images will primarily be used from Wikipedia and cited under Creative Commons with the intent of review and fair use

“You Can Call Me Mike. Mike Seaver.”

I had this blocked out my life on reason or another.  A few months ago, I was at a bar with my Mom, and I had mentioned how my name really makes me standout and how people I have not had contact with in years will remember me instantly (my uncle’s first wife – who I have not seen since I was six – still has a place in heart for me, and wouldn’t you too?).  This lead my mom to point out that it was around that age where I had such detest for that name.  I would beg her to let me change or at least give me a nickname so that I can be referred to as someone else.  I didn’t want to stand out where everyone else had a “Michael” or “Dave” or “Jonathan”.  Because of having “Elton” I was getting the “Elton John” treatment.  Looking back, it was stupid to be work about that, but at six years young, I hated having people add “John” to my name. I got tired of it.  I wanted something new.

“What do you want to be called?” My Mom asked at that age.

“I want to be ‘Mike Seaver’.” was my response.

Why Mike Seaver?  Who is he by the way?

Mike Seaver was the eldest son to Dr. Jason Roland Seaver and Reporter Maggie Seaver on the ABC series Growing Pains. 

First run of show:  September 1985 - April 1992

Elton’s exposure of the show:  June 1986 (birth) – April 1992 (5yrs. 10mths.)

Syndicated run of show:  July 1987 – December 2010

Elton’s syndicated exposure / conscience taxonomy at work:  1990 – 1993

To be honest, I really can’t remember.  I not going to focus on the actor, Kirk Cameron, even though his conversion to Christianity really did change directions of the show (he did get their nanny, Julie Costello – played by Julie McCullough because of stint in Playboy), this is about his character.  But, like many actors, art and life tend to come as one in the eyes of many.  In my case, I noticed his face on the cover of all the teen magazines.  How he was a “teen idol” in the 1980s is like finding how many licks it would take to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll Pop; the world may never know.  But at five years, I noticed that he was getting the girls.  Mike Seaver was the confident, cool jokester.  Plus he had a buddy name “Boner”. 

He was also the big brother to Carol, Ben, and surrogate to Luke Brower.  I had a little sister at the time so he provided a great example of a brother who was caring as well as pranking.  In some respects, since I had a small family, Mike Seaver may have been the closest thing to a “big brother of sorts” I was a bigger fan of Bart Simpson at the time.  Plus I didn’t understand it, but I felt that the Simpsons more closely resembled my family in more aspects.  I hung on to Mike Seaver as the role model probably because he was not yellow.

So from four to six years old I would tell people, particularly in school to call me “Mike Seaver”.  I felt was who I ought to be based on what I saw for a half-hour (or sometimes three hours) a week.  My Mom brought that up because she had a letter from a private elementary school that she wanted me to enroll.  It was a letter from the results of an entrance exam and their assessment of me was they thought I had a mental disorder because I was telling everyone that I met to call me “Mike Seaver” (they even made it a point to state who Mike Seaver was for my Mom).

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All reference information is made primarily from my memory, Wikipedia, and IMDB and will be stated as such unless otherwise noted.  All images will primarily be used from Wikipedia and cited under Creative Commons with the intent of review and fair use.