Tuesday, February 09, 2021

Sticky Situation at Home

Slept in a little today and didn't get moving until past 11. Threw on Sheriff Callie's Wild West while I had breakfast. Ella the cow owner of the milk bar can't resist snooping into anything, even her birthday present. "Ella Sneaks a Peek" at her present and gets into trouble when it literally runs away with her. Callie discovers a "Tunnel of Trouble" when milk disappears from Ella's Milk Days fair, despite The Milk Bandit seeming to be in prison.

Bluey has her own adventure at the "Movies." Dad takes the girls to see their first film, an animated musical about a monkey who feels out of place. Bluey's nervous about the thunderstorm in the finale, until she realizes how much she relates to that singing monkey. Dad's having a harder time keeping Bingo in her seat.

(And honestly, if my sisters and brother and I behaved the way Bingo did at the movies, we would have gotten into major trouble. The closest any of us came was spilling popcorn and the time I got up and wriggled to "Everybody Wants to Be a Cat" during a re-release of The Aristocats. Mom was mortified. Maybe that's why she was usually the one who took us to the movies, or her and Dad together. The only time I remember Dad taking us solo was when we saw Goldeneye. Not only were we a lot older by then, but he slept through most of it.) 

Switched to Match Game '75 as I cleaned up and started making Peanut Butter Fudge. Shy jazz chanteuse Julie London and grumpy Ed Asner joined in to make jokes about their answers to the "Hook ___" Audience Match in the first episode and whether or not Gene's perfect teeth are real in the second. (Gene rather vehemently protests that yes, his teeth are real, insisting on a kind of scary close-up.) 

Tried to mix the marshmallows into the fudge as I switched to Hart to Hart. "Hart Shaped Murder" has Jennifer trying to figure out who destroyed or tried to steal the chocolate hearts she gave to the members of her charity committee. Meanwhile, the Harts and their butler Max are dieting...but they can only resist the "special" box of chocolates someone sent them for so long...

Not only did the fudge refuse to set, but the Roku box reset on me half-way through the episode. I finally gave up, shoved the fudge in the fridge, and went online. Had no more luck with renewing my food stamps. I need to print out my last couple of pay stubs, but I can't get into the Acme website. I thought I had the password listed, but nothing I've tried will come up...and I can't reset the password unless I know the original password. 

Gave up on that too by 3:30 and opted for a late smoothie lunch instead. The Tattletales episode was one I'd seen before. Gary and Barbara Crosby came back to win for the blue section, over comedian Milt Kamen and his wife Margot and songwriter Sammy Cahn and his wife Tita. Whammies flew fast and furious on Press Your Luck, and so did turns. The new champ won 10,000 in cash with only one Whammy.

Worked on writing for a while after that. Gary Burghoff is so angry at Richard Dawson's deception, he attacks him, pounding him until he has a bloody nose. Anson is upset, too. He's not allowed to be with his wife Laurie while on-board. All of this gives Goodson the chance to take his sword back and demand that Gene and the others be thrown overboard...until Richard calls to their crews...

Broke for dinner at 6:30. Had leftovers while watching Match Game '74. Sweet Janet Finn became the show's all-time winner at that point in an episode that had Charles playing up the drama before showing his Head-to-Head card...and nearly giving Gene, the panel, and poor Janet heart attacks. She was defeated in the next episode by a pretty Italian lady who spoke several languages, all of which delighted Gene and Richard.

Started Chocolate-Raspberry Muffins as Match Game PM came on. Elaine Joyce, Dick Martin, and Marcia Wallace joined Gene and the regulars for jokes about what Dolly Pardon is in pain after she plays and how the ladies from the typing pool are like the Seven Dwarfs. Martin ends up trying to help the winner pick up 10,000 with the Head to Head "Off and __," while Brett isn't overly happy that she matched Joe Santos of Rockford Files (who was a nice guy but not terribly good at playing the game). 

The champ just continues to win on Sale of the Century. The other woman bought a TV-VCR pair in the beginning, but the champ came back and started beating her after that. Jim Perry had to drop a trip to Santa Barbara to a dollar to get her to buy it. She won the Speed Round decisively, but didn't have as much luck with the Bonus Round this time.

(And incidentally, the fudge still hasn't set. I shoved it in the freezer in the hopes of getting to to solidify at least a little. The muffins came out much better. They're an eggless recipe that somehow still manages to come out moist every time.)

Finished the night with the original 1976 version of Sparkle. I go further into this tale of a sister singing group whose fame ends in tragedy at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog. 

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