The Eagles Blow the Cowboys Off the Field

Began a rainy morning with gingerbread pancakes for breakfast and the Unsung Sondheim CD I picked up off eBay a while back. This is another Versace Sarabande collection of unknown or lesser-known material by a certain composer that were either cut from a familiar show, intended for a project that never materialized, or one way or another never really got their due. My favorite song from this CD falls into the last group. Other the Oscar-winning Madonna number "Sooner or Later," the great music Sondheim wrote for the comic-book action movie Dick Tracy has never really been given its due. "What Can You Lose?" is a touching ballad sung by Madonna and Mandy Patinkin (as nightclub pianist 88 Keys) in the film; here, it's given a sultry run-through by Judy Kaye.

Headed out to work just as the CD ended. Work was busy for almost the entire afternoon. Though the Eagles had the Sunday night game against the Cowboys, other local teams played, including a big one between the Steelers and the Ravens. (Steelers barely won, 28-24.) It started raining pretty hard sometime around noon; while it didn't clear out our customers, it did slow things down a little bit. Fortunately, the rain stopped by 4 PM, allowing me to leave without a relief or getting wet on the way home. 

(Incidentally, the rain started up again less than 10 minutes after I made it in the door and has continued off and on for the rest of the night.)

Worked on my fanfic when I got in. To be honest, I think I'm going to re-write the opening of the pirate sequence. It lacks action, and Goodson needs more motivation for what I have planned later. I'm hoping to start with an action sequence after work tomorrow.

Broke for dinner at 7. Listened to the soundtrack from The Pirate Movie while I ate leftovers. There really aren't too many musical pirate stories I can think of. I've loved this wacky spoof of swashbuckler clichés, 80's movies, and Gilbert and Sullivan since I was little and it showed up on cable all the time. The "modern" music is very of its time; the peppy "Pumpin' and Blowin'" and upbeat finale "Happy Ending" are much better than the sappy power ballads in the middle of the movie.

Finished the night online after the Match Game syndicated premieres with the Eagles-Cowboys game and more game shows I used to watch on USA as a child. I didn't realize until I checked Wikipedia that college wasn't the first time I caught a version of Hollywood Squares. I used to enjoy the mid-80's show with John Davidson hosting when I was about 7 or 8. In fact, I probably would have gotten a kick out of the episode from 1986 I selected as a kid. A lady from the San Diego Zoo brought a live camel onstage for a question, Richard Simmons lead the audience in a vigorous work-out in the opening sequence, and Bob Hope made a surprise cameo in the finale. 

Hot Potato is more obscure today. Most episodes of this short-lived Family Feud imitation featured two teams of three people from a certain occupation playing each other. The episode I saw, for instance, pit three firefighters against three dental hygienists (and later, the hygienists against three waitresses). Host Bill Cullen asked them a question with a certain amount of answers. The two teams passed around the question until they gave all the answers. If one member of the team gave a wrong answer, they'd have to sit out until the round ended. The winners went on to a round where they had to guess which of two answers was the right one. They kept guessing until they either won $5,000, gave a wrong answer and lost their money, or said they wanted to stop.

I actually thought this one was really cute, especially the "smoking hot" sign in the opening. I heard later episodes replaced the workers with celebrities and wasn't nearly as much fun.

Cullen took over hosting The Joker's Wild in 1984 after Jack Barry died, and it's for this show that I remember him best. This is pretty much Jeopardy crossed with Gambit, only with slot machines instead of cards. As much as I enjoyed answering trivia along with the contestants, the fun really started when they spun the slots. You never know what would turn up, whether it would be money or that wild Joker.

Ended with one of my favorite game shows of all time, Tic Tac Dough. Boy, do I wish Buzzr would pick up this one. I went with an important episode from 1980, when a contestant became the all-time game show winner with over $250,000. He would go on later to win over $300,000 before he was finally defeated, a record that stood until the debut of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. 

If you grew up in the 80's like me and watched USA, here's four more fond blasts from the past (some with their original commercials!).

Tic Tac Dough (1980)

Hot Potato (1984)

The Joker's Wild (1984)

Hollywood Squares (1986)

Oh, and by the way, the game wasn't very good...but the Eagles still managed to blow the Cowgirls off the field 23-9 despite a rough start.