Awoke to a solid wall of mist for the second day in a row. Thankfully, I didn't have to go out in it right away this time. Had breakfast while watching Halloween Hall of Fame. This is one of three Disney Halloween specials my mother taped off Channel 29 (then an independent; now our local Fox station) and The Disney Channel in October 1988. Johnathan Winters is a security guard at the Disney Studios who discovers a jack o'lantern (also Winters) hiding in a crystal ball in the prop room. Seems Jack doesn't like how staid the holiday's gotten. Winters introduces segments of the shorts "Trick or Treat" and "Pluto's Judgement Day" and the featurette "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" to prove otherwise.
Switched to Split Second while cleaning up from breakfast. The young doctor really did well today, pushing ahead of both women and just getting the countdown round. He once again didn't find the car and said he'd return. I really only half-listened to Blockbusters while finally getting around to making the bed. I meant to do it on Tuesday, but ran out of time.
Went for a walk after Blockbusters ended. I needed to pick up a few things at Dollar General. Though the fog lifted by 11, it remained cloudy and humid. Not the prettiest walk I ever had, but I was really out of sponges. I wanted a green binder for my Christmas CDs, but all Family Dollar had last week was red. I bought a green binder and decided to use the red binder and a folder to hold my story notes. Their eggs were a $1.15, not as cheap as the last time I was there, but still cheaper than Acme. Found Jiff Natural peanut butter, canned pumpkin, and cooking spray for cheaper than the Acme had it.
When I got home, I put on Match Game '77 while I organized the two binders. Dick Gautier and Jo Ann Pflug join Fannie Flagg, Gene, and the regulars for one of the funniest weeks of the entire series. These two episodes introduced a sweet, soft-spoken contestant from Casablanca who prompted a lot of bad Humphry Bogart imitations from Richard and Gene.
Returned to Disney while I had a quick lunch, made Chocolate-Coffee Chip Cookies, and sorted through papers and other assorted debris that piled up on top of the crates with the file folders. Scary Tales Halloween featured sequences from animated films and shorts that revolved around horror or villains, or were spooky in some way. Disney's Halloween Treat was the expanded Disney Channel version of Scary Tales, with a few different segments and the additions of sequences from the Wonderful World of Disney show on the cat's contribution to horror and famous villains of (older) Disney animated films.
By the time the cartoon ended, the sun finally came out. It had turned into a gorgeous, sunny, and very warm day. I thought I'd go out for a walk and found most of the neighborhood kids sitting on Chloe's front porch directly across from my apartment. I had a really nice chat with them as they had mock fights with plastic lightsabers. I'm so glad I moved here. The apartment may be smaller, but the appliances are nicer, the shower is nicer, the rent is nicer, and the neighbors are better. This is a really tight-knit little street; many of these kids have been friends literally all their lives.
I talked to the kids for so long, I ended up only having the time for a short walk down Manheim and back up to Manor before returning for Tattletales. Rugged Glenn Ford and his then-girlfriend Cynthia wound up being the big winners today, over the more egotistical Gautier and Max Adrian. The Whammies flew fast and furious on Press Your Luck today, especially in the second round. It came down to the two women; in the end, the champ won a trip to Rome that was enough to allow her to win and come back tomorrow.
Found an orange envelope on the ground next to the door when I came in. Mom sent me a Halloween card! It's a really cute one with a stylized black cat witch. I texted her and told her I got the card and I loved it.
Began my next Match Game fanfic after the show ended. I'm hoping Pirates of Blank will be a lot shorter and less complex than Fairy Tale Blank turned out to be! It was inspired by the Gene Rayburn biography and several folks on the YouTube live chat mentioning that Gene was one of the few people who wanted Richard to stay with the show in 1978, even after he started acting disinterested and was clearly tired of the whole thing.
The story begins directly after the taping of Richard's final PM episode (they always filmed the nighttime shows last). Gene angrily tells Richard his behavior over the past few weeks was childish and unprofessional. Richard counters with his disapproval of the Star Wheel that took the spotlight off him and the fact that he'd wanted out for a year and a half. Family Feud is where his focus and his interest lays now. The ratings for Match Game never recovered from a disastrous time change the year before; it's a sinking ship.
Three other panelists from that final show overhear their quarrel and throw out their own opinions. Joyce Bulifant likes Richard a lot and thinks he's funny, but wishes he'd been a little nicer over the past few months. Brett Somers says "good riddance." She never liked him anyway. Charles Nelson Reilly has nothing against Richard personally, but agrees with Gene that he should have been more professional about leaving.
Jodie knocked on the door around quarter of 5. She apparently ordered spaghetti and meatballs from somewhere. Did I want some? Sure! I had it with farm-fresh zucchini and tomatoes sautéed in red wine vinegar. The tomato sauce turned out to be a lot spicier than I thought! I forgot Jodie can handle the heat.
Ate while watching Match Game '74. Patti Deustch makes one of her earlier appearances on the show, joining Bill Cullen, Betty White, Gene, and the regulars for jokes about what King Midas shows the duchess in his gymnasium and trying to figure out "___ Bat." Marcia Wallace found herself hoping to help a gentleman from Brookyn win $20,000 on Match Game PM.
Sale of the Century started out with the woman champ blazing forth, picking up all three Instant Bargains along the way. The other two got closer towards the end, with the man picking up a recliner on the Fame Game board, but they just couldn't catch her in the Speed Round. She ended up winning a trip to Hawaii on the Match the Prizes board.
Watched Alleujah! The Devil's Carnival after a shower. I go further into the feature-length sequel to The Devil's Carnival on my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.
Alleujah! The Devil's Carnival
Finished the night on YouTube with two Bernstein Bears Halloween or horror shorts. The first, "Trick or Treat," comes from the 2000's run. Brother Bear is convinced that the old lady with the spooky old treehouse is a witch, but Mama tells him she's just a nice lady. He gets the chance to find out the truth when Sister and their friends enter her house for Halloween goodies, and she ends up helping them get rid of bully Too Tall and his buddies. "The Berenstain Bears and the Spooky Mansion" is from the original 1985 series. This one goes the more conventional route of having the Bears stay in a "haunted" mansion inhabited by several animals who think they'll hurt them.
Oh, yeah, and the Eagles played tonight. I didn't see much of it...but to my shock, they came from behind to just barely beat the Giants 22-21. Granted, the Giants are doing even worse than they are right now, but a win is a win.
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