Began the morning with breakfast and two Minnie's Bow-Toons shorts on Disney Plus. When the propeller of a little boy's remote control airplane breaks off, Minnie learns that the solution to fixing it is "In Plane Sight." "Bow Bot" is a little bow-tying robot Daisy buys to give them a day off...but then it overloads and makes a mess in the store.
Since it continues to be gale-force windy and cold, I called Uber. The one going to work arrived in 9 minutes and got me to work just in time. The one going home arrived in far less than the 7 minutes she claimed. No problems getting where I was going either way.
No trouble at work either, other than having to stop and put away a few cold items when I was trying to do other things. We were dead for most of the morning, and even when it did pick up a little around 11, it was nowhere near overwhelming. Either everyone was out enjoying the last holiday Monday off until May, or they did all their shopping over the weekend.
Switched to PAW Patrol while I got changed and did a few chores. "The Pups and the Big Freeze" end up calling Everett the Husky when Mayor Goodway is caught in a snow bank, a branch has to be removed from the train tracks, and the streets need to be cleared and salted. "Pups Save a Basketball Game" when Mayor Goodway begs them to create a basketball team to beat Mayor Humdinger's team. Marshall's afraid to play when he keeps tripping over his paws, but he doesn't have a choice after Humdinger's cheating ends with two pups out of the game.
Decided to join my customers and go out and enjoy the day, wind be damned. It was cold, but also sunny and bright...and I'm tired of sitting around inside. Was hoping to find mouthwash or the new Orange Cream Coke Zero and Blackberry Dr. Pepper flavors at Dollar General. I did see the Blackberry, but not in Zero. I left with nothing. Got a chicken gyro from Crown Chicken and Gyro instead.
Ate my lunch and moved the jazz and soundtrack CDs to their new books while watching the first two episodes of Roots. The entire mini-series is currently on Tubi. I remember hearing about this as a kid, but I never saw it until now. Thought it would be interesting for Black History Month. Kunta Kinte (LeVar Burton) is a teen African warrior brought over to the US on a slave ship in 1765. He's part of an uprising aboard-ship, but that's squelched. When he does arrive in the US, he's purchased by John Reynolds (Lorne Greene) and is placed under the eye of Fiddler (Louis Gossett Jr.) and given the name Toby. Kunta is determined to escape and return to Africa, even if it means compromising Fiddler's position as head of the slaves. Even when Reynolds beats him, Fiddler assures him that he should remember his name and keep trying to get home.
I can understand why this was such a monumental hit in 1977. An all-star cast brings a harrowing story of survival in some of the worst parts of American history to life. This is rough stuff. The N word is tossed around with abandon, and given the place and time, I think it goes without saying that women and minorities do not fare well. You'd never guess this was LeVar Burton's first role from how wonderful he is. Other stand-outs include Ed Asner as the conflicted captain in charge of the slave ship, Gossett Jr. as the mentor for Kunta who can turn from tough to servile on a dime, and Lloyd Bridges as Asner's thoroughly reprehensible first mate.
Not for kids, and despite the gorgeous costumes and outdoor shooting, the language and abuse may make this a hard watch for those who can't handle physical abuse well. If you can deal with the violence, this is worth checking out for that incredible cast alone.
Took a shower, then switched to Buzzr for Match Game. Looks like they've returned to Match Game Syndicated. This time, it's the first week with Bart Braverman, Eva Gabor, and Bill Daily, which they have shown on the channel many times before.
Moved to YouTube to finish the night with more game shows that premiered on cable. Cable game shows have their roots in the unaired pilots for How Do You Like Your Eggs? Bill Cullen hosts this interactive game that has people in the Columbus area using their cable set to vote for the answers on certain subjects. Two married couples have to figure out how they voted. It's a cute idea, sort of a cross between Family Feud and the later interactive Trivial Pursuit. Too bad that, according to the Bill Cullen biography, the owner of the cable company decided he preferred a more old-fashioned kiddie host show.
By the time the Canadian revival of Jackpot! aired on USA Network in 1985, cable had gone from a few scattered Midwestern lines to big business available in half of all households. I used to watch game shows on USA all afternoon, Jackpot! included. One person would be up on a pedestal, guessing riddles with dollar values assigned read by a group of people across from them. If they missed someone's riddle, that person would be up to bat. They could keep building the jackpot, or go for it if it was big enough. Biggest winner at the end of the week got a trip.
I have vague memories of this being a fun show, and that is borne out here. The set is colorful (if a little on the cheap side), but the riddles are between cute and hilarious, and it's cool to see that jackpot growing. Considering it ran into trouble with competition and executives who wanted a more straightforward question and answer show during its original 70's run, I'm glad it got a second chance here.
I didn't just watch game shows on USA as a kid. Having seen the success of Nickelodeon's game shows, The Disney Channel took a crack at their second game show with Teen Win, Lose, or Draw. It's played the same as the adult versions of the time, only with teen celebrities helping out and a more informal setting in front of someone's garage. We enjoyed seeing young people our own age run through a game we actually owned. We had that Win, Lose, or Draw Junior game the announcer held out for years. Mayam Balik (more than a year before her breakout show Blossom) and Danny Ponce of The Hogan Family are the celebrities here.
The most popular game show on cable in the early 90's was also a revival. Supermarket Sweep let people run "wild in the aisles" and brought a lot of viewers to Lifetime who otherwise wouldn't have had the slightest interest in their drama-of-the-week movies. The episode I have here is from early in the Lifetime run, when David Ruprecht still wore weird sweaters and the only bonuses were the big ones people grabbed from random spots and a list Dave gave out.
Family games continued to be popular well into the new millennium. Family Game Night was an early hit for the Hub (what's now Discovery Kids). Two families play wild mini-games based on Hasbro board games like Yatzhee! and Bop It. No wonder this wound up being a four-year hit, and by far the most popular of the Hub's game shows. It's hilarious to watch the families play these huge games. Check out how intense the two moms who are last women standing in the Bop It-agon game get!
Relive your own fond memories of cable's most beloved game shows and enjoy a genuine piece of cable TV history!
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