Wednesday, January 18, 2023

Diagonosis Cold-Itis

Woke up around 8:30 this morning...and I felt awful. No fever or chills, and my stomach was fine, but my throat remained sore and my nose is still stuffy. I ended up calling out. I just couldn't face my customers sneezing all over them, even just for four hours. 

Went straight back to bed after that. I really must have been worn out, because when I opened my eyes and checked my bedside clock, it was quarter of 2! I read in bed and did my journal until almost 3. My blankets felt much too warm and cozy to get out of bed right away.

After I did finally get dressed, I grabbed something to eat, then put on Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. "Daniel Goes to the Hospital" to get an ear infection cleared out. He's nervous at first, but the nurse and doctor show him everything that'll happen when he's there, and his parents read a book about hospitals to him beforehand.

Doc McStuffins knows all about helping dolls with illnesses and boo-boos. "Kirby and the King" get stuck together after Doc's brother Donnie brings them upstairs while the glue on his paper monster is still wet. They have to work together to get Doc's attention. Doc brings her friend's bubble blower toy Bubble Monkey over when her brother is sick with a cold. He's not the only one. Bubble Monkey's sneezing all over the place, too, including on the other dolls. Doc tells her "Bubble Monkey, Blow Your Nose!" and get rid of that gunky soap. 

I had something to cheer me up today, too. My last item from my Amazon gift cards arrived. I decided to switch my DVDs to books, rather than binders. The binders are just too flimsy for all the DVDs I have. Moved all of the musical DVDs, including Lady Let's Dance! and another I bought for review next week, to the new book. 

Switched to Buzzr's Lost and Found marathon while I worked. Buzzr returned to black and white for two shows and a pilot from the 1950's. They already ran an episode of the 1955 summer replacement show Make the Connection back in 2021, but they must have come up with another one. This imitation I've Got a Secret shows how different people are connected to one another. Betty White, Gloria DeHaven, Bennett Cerf, and Eddie Bracken try to figure out how a lady can help a group of fathers with expectant wives and what comedian Fred Allen wanted from songwriter and band leader Meredith Wilson. It ends with everyone performing three songwriters' works.

Play for Keeps was a 1955 pilot for a trivia game that was almost identical to Winners Take All. Here, though, they get to choose which subjects to answer. Sonny Fox, later known as the host of the New York kid's show Wonderama, helps two women through their paces. (The champ, a female cab driver, was awesome.) 

Mel Griffith received early game show exposure as the original host of Play Your Hunch in 1958. This was sort of a variation on To Tell the Truth. Here, though, people would have to choose which of three objects or people, labeled x, y, and z, had something different about them or were different from the others. Unlike the bland Play for Keeps, I can see why this was a four-year-hit despite bouncing between networks and hosts. (Gene Rayburn took over when Griffith left to do his talk show; Robert Q Lewis finished the run.)

Moved to writing even before the show ended. Debralee asks if she really does look like the princess. The Nutcracker admits that she does, when the Princess is human. The Princess, however, is sweet and kind, if a bit...demanding...

Broke for dinner at 7. Ate while watching Match Game Syndicated. The last day of the week Kirstie Alley appeared ended with Gene wandering among audience members, finding people who were willing to match with Charles for $50. None other than famous syndicated columnist "Dear Abby" turned up the next week, along with Jack Carter, Barbara Rhodes, and Bill Daily. Bill revealed he'd gotten married in the interim between the end of the CBS show and the start of syndication, and that his pretty new wife was in the audience.

Wasn't up to more than Doc McStuffins after dinner. Doc's brother Donny thinks his fire truck Lenny is broken. Doc reminds him that he needs to constantly replenish his water supply on a hot day, and then he'll be "Engine Nine, Feelin' Fine!" Stuffy has "The Right Stuff" when he rips his tail, but doesn't want to go to Doc to get it fixed. Brave, tough dragons aren't supposed to need help. He learns a lesson in real bravery when his tail goes flat and Lambie finally convinces him to talk to Doc about it.

Doc's doll Dress-Up Daisy is smitten with handsome male fashion doll Dress-Up Declan and his spiffy wardrobe. She can't figure out why he dons scrubs to be "The New Nurse" and help Doc out when Hallie gets hurt, until he reminds her that men can be nurses, too. "Chilly's Loose Button" is hanging by a thread after he crashes with Lambie. He's afraid to tell Doc, but the others finally remind him that he won't get fixed if he doesn't tell her. 

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