Tuesday, May 05, 2020

Good Time Matches

Kicked off a sunny morning with breakfast and Buzzr. Split Second had two ladies playing a young man. The woman champ and the guy were tied at the end of the regular rounds, but she killed at the final speed round and opted to return and try for the car again. Blockbusters pitted a man against a mother and a son. The former had finally won his second round when the show ended.

Switched to You Were Never Lovelier on the Roku TV Time Musicals app. I go further into this romantic vehicle for Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

You Were Never Lovelier 

Thought I'd try something while the movie was on. With flour in short supply, I thought I'd try making cake mix cookies until supplies are closer to normal. Inspired by a recipe on Pinterest, I turned a butter golden cake mix into Snickerdoodles. They came out quite nicely, very rich and chewy.

Packing for my move was next on the agenda. I managed to squeeze my rock collection CDs into one smaller box. The entertainment books went into one of the largest boxes...and it wound up being much too heavy. I had to take a few out. Also packed up the board games and outdoor toys from the closet in the living room. I likely won't need them until Lauren visits in August.

Watched Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood while I worked. "Jodie's Mama Travels for Work" triggered a lot of memories for me. Jodie Platypus' mother, a dentist, has to go away for three days to clean children's teeth in another town. She leaves three paper rings with things to look forward to while she's away. "The Tiger Family Babysits" for Teddy and Leo, Jodie's twin toddler brothers, while their nana is at the market. Dan figures out how to distract them from missing their grandmother with his stuffed animals.

(I know exactly how Jodie felt during that first short. My stepdad was a commercial fisherman who would often be gone for weeks, and sometimes as much as a month at a time. We missed him just as much when he was gone. Yes, Jodie, grown-ups do come back, and you can call them, like Dad used to do with us.)

Ran a bunch of 80's My Little Pony episodes while eating a quick lunch. North Star's curiosity accidentally allows a group of famous fairy tale characters "Through the Door" and into Ponyland. The ponies love their new friends...but Meghan discovers that their stories have vanished without them. Meanwhile, a monster may have escaped from the door as well.

We're introduced to the First Tooth Baby Ponies, who are frustrated that they're stuck babysitting for the Newborn Twins. They take them to get ice cream, only to learn that the ice cream shop is closed. Ponyland's two ice cream manufacturers start "The Ice Cream Wars" when one accuses the other of stealing their recipe. The ponies have to find out what really happened to the recipe and amuse the Newborn Twins.

By the time of "The Prince and the Ponies" near the end of the second season, the First Tooth Babies are quite tired of the attention the Newborns are getting. Matters aren't helped when the older ponies attend a party at the Palace de Branfor in their honor. The older babies crash the party, hoping that something terrible would happen to the twins...but they weren't planning on their wish being granted, nor on helping a young prince escape the dungeon and reclaim his throne.

As soon as I finished lunch, I went outside. I found a jump rope hanging on a hook in my living area closet when I went through things in there. Tested it out with a jump (really more like a skip) around the park. Despite it having clouded up by then, I wasn't the only one out. I saw two little girls on skateboards and an older couple enjoying a stroll. I skipped and admired the gorgeous scenery. Everything is so bright and green and gorgeous here now, like the world was painted with Technicolor. It goes a long way to cheering up a rough time for everyone.

Went straight inside and into writing when I got in. Gene stirs up the water enough to show Queen Betty what happened to King Allen. He's still a prisoner in the wicked Queen Malade's dungeon. She's getting tired of him ignoring her advances and refusing to reveal where his wife is, though...

Finished the night with the next Match Game marathon. Good Times was one of the most successful of the many spin-offs of All In the Family in the 1970's. At least four of its cast members appeared on the show. Esther Rolle, the warm matriarch around whom the show was originally written, appeared on a memorable week in 1975. Johnny Brown, with his jolly grin and killer Carol Channing impression, turned up on an equally fun week later that year. Mike Evans, the original Lionel Jefferson on The Jeffersons, appeared on the show in 1974.

No one on Good Times appeared more on the show than the "Black Prince" himself, Jimmy "J.J" Walker. Like Gary Burghoff, he first turned up in 1974 and continued making appearances through  1981, even after his show was canceled. Jimmy was probably the only person on Match Game who loved attention even more than Brett, often riling the crowd in support of his answers or yelling at them when they booed him. He could be a lot of fun, often running out or making jokes when something fell flat; once, he covered for Charles when he was late to a taping in 1976.

Here's the full marathon, so you can match wits with the Evans family and their friends, too! Tomorrow's marathon focuses on one of the last of the semi-regulars, the lovely and dainty southern belle Mary Anne Mobley.

Salute to Good Times on Match Game 1974 - 1981

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