Headed out to run errands after the cartoon ended. I've been coughing like crazy for over a week now. I have no idea why. I otherwise feel fine. Went to Dollar General first and picked up a birthday card for my sister Anna (it's Sunday), toilet paper, two more of those moisture eliminators, and an Oreo Coke Zero when my throat got dry. Grabbed cough medicine at CVS, along with Christmas ornaments for Amanda and Lauren.
Strolled across Oaklyn and down to West Clinton for lunch. Opted for a spinach-feta pastry, a raspberry "chuffin" (a cinnamon roll baked in a muffin pan), and an unsweetened peach iced tea for lunch at Common Grounds. They were really busy, too. I was barely able to find a seat. It seemed to be mainly college students chatting or working on laptops.
Took the laundry downstairs when I got home, then put on The Monkees. "The Audition" has the guys trying to audition for a big-time producer after they fail to get an invitation to his office. What they don't know is, he's looking for them when his secretary plays a tape they made of Mike's "Sweet Young Thing." The guys do everything they can to get into him, while he does everything he can to find the band with that great sound. The episode ends with a genuinely interesting interview discussing a series of riots in LA over curfew that Micky Dolenz witnessed in real-life. (And Davy Jones makes an equally-good point that no one will listen to him, as he was under 21 - barely 20 - at the time.)
Pulled out the dolls' boxes to dress them for November after the episode ended. Samantha, Molly, and Josefina wear the outfits they originally came in. Molly is in her argyle sweater and blue skirt with saddle shoes, Sam's in her mauve checked dress with black boots, and Josefina is in her red and brown print skirt. I have a hard time squeezing Felicity into her blue and yellow brocade dress (the outfit the most recent version of her doll came in), but she looks so pretty in the silky turquoise and gold print that it's worth it.
Jessa's in the original "modern" magenta leggings and denim vest from 1995 and the AG flower print long-sleeved T-shirt from 2004 with Springfield Collection denim sneakers. Ariel wears the beaded flared jeans from the 2004 meet outfit with a blue and teal square-necked peasant blouse and the tan boots Whitney originally came in. I love that soft red flower print dress with the attached cardigan I found for Whitney at the Cottage Resale Shoppe two years ago. It's so soft and comfy, I wish it came in grown-up sizes (without the attached cardigan). Kit's thick brown knitted cardigan and plaid wrap skirt came off eBay. Barbara Jean looks elegant for school in her black and magenta mini-dress with the white top, black velvet collar, and soft red-violet jacket, with black velvet strap shoes borrowed from Jess.
Listened to the Rolling Stones greatest hits albums I picked up last month while I worked. Hot Rocks 1964-1971 is the better of the two and is in slightly better shape. You can't argue with some of their best and most famous work, including "Gimmie Shelter," "Satisfaction," "Paint It Black," "Under My Thumb," "Jumpin' Jack Flash," and a live "Midnight Rambler." Despite the scratches, I'll hang onto this one.
Not only do I think More Hot Rocks (Big Hits and Fazed Cookies) isn't as good of a collection, the albums and their covers were in terrible shape. All four the albums were rather badly scratched, but this one had skips, too, and the covers had obviously gotten wet at one point and were badly stained. Despite having a few good songs (among them "She's a Rainbow" and their version of "Not Fade Away"), this isn't worth keeping. I'm going to leave it with the trash tomorrow and be more careful about buying records from overpriced antique shops in the future.
Brought the laundry upstairs to put it away, then had dinner while watching Match Game '78. They're really skipping around now. Richard Dawson finally left by this point, replaced here by cheerful David Doyle and ever-rhyming Nipsey Russell. I'm a bit surprised Gene couldn't figure out the top answer for "__ of Steel," even though he was around when a certain superhero in a red cape and S first debuted.
Finished the night at YouTube with game shows revolving around movie and TV trivia. Movie trivia shows apparently go back to radio, where any station could ask its audience questions about the latest hit film at the neighborhood theater. One of the earliest on TV was Bank on the Stars, which had contestants trying to remember what happened in clips from recent films. I dug up an early episode of its second run hosted by Bill Cullen.
Most movie and trivia game shows tended to be simple, cheap affairs, like The Movie Game from 1969. Contestants teamed up with two celebrities to answer movie questions. In the second round, the celebrities would act out clues to a person or movie that the contestant would have to guess. Dick Martin and Dan Rowan at the height of their Laugh-In fame are joined by Greer Garson and a young Sharon Farrell. Nothing earth-shaking, but the game play was fun.
The Hollywood Game was designed for summer night's viewing. This is basically movie Jeopardy, with the contestants answering questions from categories and the fourth round involving them guessing an answer and betting on the response. The bonus round had contestants guessing nine pictures in a category. An obvious imitation Jeopardy, with Bob Goen hosting, likely intended to be summer prime time filler. No wonder this would be the last nighttime game show until the short-lived Big Deal in 1996.
Beat the Geek on Comedy Central in 2001 was a lot more fun. Three contestants answer questions tossed out by "geeks," men and women who specialize in certain facets of pop culture such as movies, TV, or Simpsons episodes. The second round has the contestants and the Geeks facing off against each other answering trivia. If the contestant answers more questions correctly than the Geek, they get the Geek's medal. Winner faces off in a category against a Geek. Yeah, if you know pop culture like these guys, you'll probably get as much of a kick out of this as I did.
Comedy Central wasn't the only cable channel who tried to get in on the movie trivia games...but AMC and PAX struck out with their chintzy efforts. The Movie Masters on AMC in 1989 had Gene Rayburn in his last show hosting a panel answering movie trivia questions for home viewers. PAX's The Reel to Reel Picture Show from 1998 was based on (and made to sell) a Canadian board game. This time, a contestant and a celebrity worked together to answer a series of questions from randomly chosen subject. The bonus round had them answering a question that revealed a clue to a famous movie or person. Winner got a trip, or they were supposed to. The company that produced the show went belly-up after five weeks had been filmed. No one got paid (including host Peter Marshall), and most didn't get their prizes.
MTV was far better-equipped to handle pop culture trivia games. Their first game show, Remote Control, had three college kids strapped into recliners answering TV and music trivia. The last kid standing (literally, given the other two are dragged into the walls) finishes the show by guessing which singer performs in a series of quick music video shots. The series was developed and hosted by Ken Ober, playing a geek living in his mother's basement with his strange friends (including a very young Adam Sandler). This was a big hit in the late 80's and remains a blast to watch today, especially if you know anything about 80's music or TV trivia.
The syndicated Couch Potatoes from 1989 was very similar, only here, two teams played on a bright-colored set made to resemble a living room of the time. Marc Summers is the host asking TV trivia questions, with Joe Alaskey as his announcer neighbor. I remember getting a kick out of this when I caught it on USA later in 1989, and the amusingly informal game play makes it still really fun to watch today.
Beat these pop culture geeks and test your knowledge of movies and TV with these tough trivia shows!
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