Headed out to run errands first. I needed to drop off my write-in votes in the mail and grab Shout at Dollar General. Picked up the candy for the trick-or-treat bags there, too. Got to try Oreo Reeces Cups. Not bad. The top is white, and there's big crunchy bits inside the peanut butter that might be a little too big.
Spent the rest of the morning doing research on the local towns. I've lived in Camden County for almost 20 years now, and I don't know as much about them as I do Cape May or Wildwood. I looked up several local historical societies. I don't know if I really will ever write them, but it's interesting to see the historical photos in my Facebook feed.
Watched the original The Old Dark House from 1932 while I worked. Stranded at the title house during a huge storm, a group of people, including a chorus girl (Lillian Bond), her Scottish protector (Charles Laughton), a married couple (Gloria Stuart and Raymond Massey), and their urbane friend (Melvyn Douglas). The owners, Horace (Ernest Theisger) and Rebecca (Eva Moore) Femm, have secrets in locked rooms that they'd rather keep secret, including a 102-year-old father (Elspeth Dudgeon) and a very scary mute butler (Boris Karloff).
Yeah, this is the original old dark house movie. Though some of it does move rather slow, there's also some terrific spooky acting turns from Karloff, from Dudgeon (who is so good as the father, even the cast didn't realize she was a man), from Laughton, and Douglas as the unbelieving friend. Look around for this one if you want to see where a lot of haunted house cliches got started.
Switched to Bugs Bunny's Howl-oween Special while eating lunch. Bugs tries to outwit Witch Hazel, while Sylvester dodges a huge Tweety and tries to tell Porky the hotel they're stranded at isn't that friendly and Daffy and Speedy Gonzalez deal with one of Witch Hazel's spells. Not the strongest plot ever, but at least, unlike the Easter specials, they did choose cartoons that were horror-themed or set around Halloween to showcase.
Headed to the Thomas Sharp School after that ended. The kids were really antsy today. They could barely sit through Skippyjohn Jones before we took them outside, and they were really crazy in the halls around the bathroom. Good thing it was cloudy and still gale-force windy, but not raining like last night. I pushed the kids on the swings while their friends looked for the fire truck and dog-walkers going by. We listened to "You're Welcome" from Moana, "Let It Go" and "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?" from Frozen, "Golden" and "Your Idol" from KPop Demon Hunters, "The Train Song," "Do the Garbage," and "Candy Cane Crush."
Stopped at Crown Chicken and Gyro on the way home. Picked up a chicken cheese steak and fries. The fries are still good. The cheese steak was way too messy, with too much ketchup and mayo dripping all over. I think I'll stick to their fish sandwich next time.
Watched Match Game '76 as I ate. Saw the tail end of the week with Janice Pennington, then moved straight into the next week. Soap star Janice Lynde, one of the original stars of The Young and the Restless, made her only appearance on the show. She's joined by cranky Joey Bishop and eternally unique Patti Deusch.
Spent the rest of the night working on Maplepunzel. Pavla goes down to her dungeon, where Scott is being held prisoner. She's keeping him heavily drugged with Valerian and held by magic chains that tighten the more he struggles. He remains defiant, sneering at her obsession with status and insisting that he loves Betty no matter what. Eventually, she pulls a tight black hood over his head and tells her crow monsters that they can do what they want with him before she flounces off.
Finished the night watching game shows from Nickelodeon you might not remember. After the success of Double Dare in 1986, they jumped into the game show market in a big way. Get the Picture and Think Fast were crosses between Double Dare, Classic Concentration, and Dotto. Picture had kids answering questions to figure out what a connect-the-dot picture was. Fast had more to do with memory, as they had to remember where certain pictures were. The end game had them trying to remember which goofy person or item stuffed in a locker matched a locker on the other side.
Make the Grade was a little more imaginative, and though it did involve stunts, was closer to Nick's first pure quiz show. In this case, three kids answer questions arranged by subject (music, cats and dogs, science, history) and grade (kindergarten through 12th). "Fire Drills" lets them play a stunt. Winner takes the "Honors Round," answering 7 questions from three categories in 45 minutes. Fast-paced game play and difficult questions make this one of Nick's more interesting Double Dare imitations, and an old childhood favorite of mine.
Nick got more into its pure stunt shows. Wild and Crazy Kids from 1990 was just what the title implied. Three hosts (including a young Cuba Gooding Jr.) watched as kids or kids and their parents completed in stunt relay races in a certain location, Raging Waters in LA in the episode I have here. Legends of the Hidden Temple crosses this with history and a Double Dare-style bonus round. Two teams of kids answer questions about a legend related by talking African mask Olmec in the beginning of the show, then compete in stunts related to the story. Winners get to run through the title temple and find the missing object.
Brainsurge from 2009 was another rare Nick foray into quizzes. Kids play a series of mini-games and videos. Two kids are eliminated after each round, pulled back into the rather terrifying huge head behind them or sent down the "river of slime." The last kid standing has to figure out a pattern on a board. The creepy head notwithstanding, this was honestly pretty exciting stuff. I can see why they briefly revived this on Nicktoons in 2014. It's genuinely fun, enough to be nominated for a best game show Emmy in 2009.
Nick Arcade debuted during the height of the "console wars" of the early 90's. Two teams of two kids answer questions and guide "Mikey" around a computer-generated background (space, in this episode). The stunts here have them playing video games (including at least one real-life one) to earn points. The bonus round has the winning team playing in a computer generated version of the games to win prizes. The cast of Clarrisa Explains It All pits parents against kids in the episode I have here.
Get wild and crazy with some of the earliest forays into game shows at Nickelodeon!
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