Headed out to run errands after the cartoon ended. It was too nice to be inside all day! While warmer and less breezy, it's also still dry. Perfect day to run some quick errands. I just needed laundry detergent at Dollar General. I was hoping they'd have brush heads for my electric brush at CVS, but no dice. I just used the bathroom there.
When I got home, I went straight into dressing the dolls for the heat of August. Kit, Molly, and Samantha wear their historically-accurate bathing suits from eBay. Ariel and Whitney sport bathing suits given to them by Lauren for Christmas. Jessa's purple tropical-print bathing suit and pineapple-shaped ukulele from 2007 was also an eBay find. I can't find a historically-accurate bikini for Barbara Jean, so she's dressed for a summer date in a purple and hot pink pineapple-print mini-dress with a white lace wrap.
Josefina and Felicity's stories take place during time periods where bathing wasn't considered ladylike. Felicity's in her lavender-striped "Traveling Dress" (later, her second meet outfit). Josefina wears her pretty floral-print Party Dress and the beige fringed moccasins I found her in.
Listened to CDs while I dressed the dolls. The Book of Mormon is a noisy and obvious religious satire as two young missionaries for the Later-Day Saints are sent to Africa to convert a tribe to Mormonism. One of the tribes women falls for the more charismatic of the two. When he fails to convert the tribe, his friend has to tell them a few...fibs...to convince them to join their cause. After the local General threatens the women of the tribe, the two guys have to confront them and convert the General, before they all end up missing more than their...parts.
Um, yeah. Some of the Broadway satire, including cracks at Les Miserables, The Lion King, and The King and I, is mildly funny. The slower songs and ballads are surprisingly sweet, especially "I am Here for You" on the friendship between the male leads and "I Believe" after one of the Mormons returns from the US. I'm afraid I'm just not a fan of South Park (this was written by the creators of that show), and I'm not big on religion, either. Most of the jokes are crude, obnoxious, or both, and the Lion King spoof song, with its cheerful bad language, is just annoying. This has its fans - it's still running on Broadway at press time - but I'm afraid I'm not one of them.
My main interest in The Dynamic Frankie Laine was the Oscar-winning theme from High Noon, "Do Not Forsake Me, O My Darlin'." The rest go further into country hits than I'm interested in. Of the remaining songs, "I Believe" and "Moonlight Gambler" are probably the best.
I had lunch while watching What's New, Scooby Doo? "Uncle Scooby and Antarctica" invites the gang to help return a penguin to his wild habitat. They discover the government laboratory where a brilliant scientist had been working...until he vanished. The others dodge a "Finned Fiend" fish monster to find him and calm his nervous assistant.
Headed out early after that. I decided to walk to the school instead of taking my bike. It was too nice of a day to rush. I made it there just as the kids were working on today's art project. The last week of the program has a carnival theme. Even the gym is decorated with paper striped "tents" and striped flag garlands. The kids drew clown faces on paper plates, then glued construction paper wigs and streamers on them. They were so messy with the glue, one of the women had to scrub the tables after they were done!
I had trouble with the art group after snack time, too. I suspect some of the boys had gotten tired of fighting over the Legos and decided to draw or write lists of their friends or classes instead. Not only did they crowd out the girls, but they'd pound the table, scream in my ear, or use five or six pieces of paper to make "books"...which, while creative and ambitious, also wasted paper that everyone needed to draw on. One of the girls cut paper, too, which just made a mess (that I had to clean up). I think I'm going to have to put my foot down tomorrow and say no cutting paper, no books, everyone just draws or makes lists on one piece of paper per kid.
Stopped for a drink and snack at Common Grounds Coffee House on the way home. Thought I'd try their Mint Chocolate Chip Mint Matcha Latte and a carrot cake pop. Yum! The cake pop was nice, moist, and just sweet enough. The matcha latte was amazing, with chocolate foam and real chips. I sipped it as I walked back to East Clinton.
Reluctantly finished out Remember WENN when I got home, after I took out the recycling and put the laundry in the washer. "At Cross Purposes" has Jeff in a dress for his role in Charley's Aunt...but it turns out to have a more practical use than the show. He and Hilary trade roles to avoid process server Cribby Menlow (Ray Ianncelli). Scott and Maple, worried that Cribby is after them for one of their past scams, end up in a dress and pants, too. (And leggy Hugh O'Gorman looks fine in a dress. Big, brawny Kevin O'Rourke...does not.) Everything seems to work out fine, until newsgirl Betty runs out with her big news about the bombing of Pearl Harbor...
Which takes us into the series finale "All Noisy On the Pittsburgh Front." World War II has finally hit the US. All of the men at the station try to join the services, but the only one who actually can is Scott. Victor is thrilled when he's assigned to run WENN and the new W.E.N.N...but he's also given a prime job in London. He and Scott finally put Betty on the spot regarding which one they really love. Eugenia asks Mr. Foley to marry her, while Hilary tells Jeff she's married to someone else.
And that...is that. While I'm glad AMC has finally started acknowledging this show's existence (it's on their streaming site and Plex TV, among others), I remain furious to this day about how badly it was treated, especially in its last season. Don't let that off-and-on final season or that unresolved cliffhanger put you off checking this out. If you're a fan of delightful wordplay, enjoyable ensembles, or other historical comedy-dramas released in the last 10-20 years, you'll want to drop by Studio A and give the cast of WENN another chance to be heard, too.
Worked on Hilary and the Beasts for most of the night. It's Thanksgiving, and while Mrs. Fox (Gertie) is up to her whiskers in pumpkin pie, everyone else is putting on plays and doing readings in the living room. Even though Hilary thinks Betty's script for their Thanksgiving pageant is silly, she still enjoys acting alongside Troll. Troll tries to ask her to marry him again after they finish, but Hilary insists that they focus on Betty and Scott reading their Bear Prince story instead. Maple and Miss Organ sing hymns, and even Eagle squawks along.
Switched to Match Game Syndicated during dinner and after I finally remembered to take the laundry back upstairs. For some reason, Buzzr leaped way ahead to 1980. Holly Halstrom joins in from The Price Is Right, along with Gary Burghoff. Holly and Charles both sport cowboy hats at one point. Charles' straw hat ends up with a lot of farmer jokes.
Finished the night with panel game shows. Panel game shows were among the most popular early in television's history. Shows like Who Said That? were wildly popular and cheap to produce. What's My Line was revived in syndication almost as soon as it ended on CBS. I have an episode here with June Lockhart as the Mystery Guest in honor of her 100th birthday this year.
Match Game and Hollywood Squares took panel shows into the 70's, where they became more licentious and less game-oriented. Now, people weren't just asking questions. They were cracking jokes, interacting with the contestants and the audience, and making the shows feel more like on-air parties than games. Barry and Enright attempted to rediscover that Squares magic in 1982 with Battlestars. The show had two separate runs, but never did find its footing.
Nickelodeon had more luck with Figure It Out in 1997. This was basically Junior I've Got a Secret. Panels made up of Nick stars at the time try to guess what a kid's incredible secret is. They may or may not get slimed dumped on them during questions. Honestly, this was pretty funny, and Summer Sanders was adorable as the host. No wonder it would return briefly in 2012-2013.
At any rate, join these wacky panels in guessing occupations, making wisecracks, and dodging slime!
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