Instant Gratification Theater: What TV can learn from old episodes of "Vinny & Bobby"

One of my new favorite YouTube uploaders gave the world a treasure trove--OK, I'm using the term somewhat liberally--last week in the form of a series of off-air recordings of 1992 Fox sitcom Vinny & Bobby. The show is a failed spinoff of another failed spinoff, Top of the Heap, which was spawned from Married with Children. I was an Al Bundy fan back in the day, but I didn't care for the first spinoff, and I certainly don't have fond memories of the second one. I assumed it was terrible, and I hadn't thought of it in years despite seeing star Matt LeBlanc in other projects recently.

So naturally, I had to watch some episodes.

LeBlanc and co-star Robert Torti, tow young and single guys working in construction and sharing a Chicago apartment,  make a surprisingly amusing team, though in retrospect, it's understandable that LeBlanc was the one to finally make it big. His character is the more likable, regular guy type, while Torti's preening airhead is usually the one causing trouble.

Other familiar faces who show up include Joey Lauren Adams (one of the best things about this--where did she go, anyway?) and the late John Pinette, who plays--wait for it--a fat guy. You get to hear jokes right from his standup act! Fred Stoller is a regular after the first episode or two.

Is this a great show? No, and it certainly is of its time. It was an amusing way to kill some time on a weekend afternoon, though. Here's a few things that today's television might take from this long-forgotten gem--uh, long-forgotten...what's a better word...how about just "show"?

*Hooting and hollering: A huge staple of the Bundyverse is raucous audience reaction. By the end of Married, the crowd went nuts every time Kelly walked out wearing something skimpy, every time Al entered the room, every time Peggy said something risqué...I'm pretty sure even Ted McGinley's first appearance each episode elicited gleeful howls and whistles. Vinny & Bobby continues that proud tradition with heavy doses of both hooting AND hollering.

*Speaking of innuendo, apparently jailbait is funny: I missed the first episode and never quite understood the setup, but LeBlanc's character is a grown man--a young one, but over 18--taking community college courses. Joey Lauren Adams' Mona lives in the same apartment building--I think she's the landlord's daughter--and frequently comes on to him. Adams was 24, but I think her character is supposed to be 16 or 17. It's a weird situation, but LeBlanc's Vinnie is clear about the boundaries, even though Mona's general attitude garners plenty of hoots and hollers.

*Fat and thin=comedy. Pinette and Stoller make an amusing twosome in some scenes.

*Fat and Fat=more comedy. Pinette is paired with  Ron Taylor in the early episodes to give the leads some good old-fashioned fat guy comic background players. Taylor is even bigger than Pinette, which means they really aren't "background" at all.

*Topical pop culture references are the way to go: I saw several jokes about other contemporary TV shows. I laughed out loud when the rest of the gang is watching something and Bobby laments, "I can't believe we missed Jake and the Fatman for this."

Perhaps I really need to go back and watch Top of the Heap to really "get" this show, but I think for now I'm satisfied with my exploration of this little corner of that Bundyverse. I can only hope that the inevitable Married reunion brings back Vinnie Verducci and Mona, at least.

Instant Gratification Theater: Greatest Sports Legends on Amazon Prime

One of the biggest joys I had during my latest brief stint on Amazon Prime (I'd get the annual option, but I'm not a JOINER, man...Uh, and I'm cheap) was the assortment of Greatest Sports Legends episodes available on Prime Video. It's billed as a "season" because, well, because Amazon's video section is confusing as ever, but it's really just a batch of old shows.

But what a batch! GSL was a syndicated half-hour program that aired from 1972 to 1993 (according to IMDB, though I think it was available even longer in reruns) with a variety of hosts interviewing a variety of legends, with a smattering of highlights supplementing the chats. Amazon's selection is all over the place, but you get to see George Plimpton, Reggie Jackson, Tom Seaver, and more.

The interviews were often taped at country clubs and resorts, helping create a relaxed, amiable episode. You don't expect to see Willie Stargell interrogate Terry Bradshaw like Mike Wallace, anyway, and nor do you really want to see that. It's mostly a way to see a different side of an athlete (the footage of Joe Frazier singing "Proud Mary" on stage in his episode justified an entire month's Prime fee) and an excuse to look at some vintage footage.

One of the more unique episodes is the Bob Uecker profile, which is a mockumentary of sorts before the term was even a thing. The tongue-in-cheek presentation of Ueck as an actual legend is a riot and a must-see installment. It's funny in its own right and also a nice change of pace.

Some other episodes break format as well, like the profiles of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, which are more like mini-documentaries. Considering the subjects had died many years before, the lack of interview is understandable.

Any sports history nut will love these, but the collection is buried among all the other odd stuff on Prime, so I want to highlight it here. The fashions and the ambience alone make this a great time capsule. My only complaint: There should be more! They did hundreds of things, and I want to see the others.

Instant Gratification Theater: Recommended pop culture documentaries!

Adjust Your Tracking: The Untold Story of the VHS Collector: I saw this amusing documentary at VHS collectors on Shout! Factory TV. It's a compelling look at the subculture. Because the avid VHS fans seem to be horror fans, you get a lot about that genre and not much about others, but the film focuses on the individuals. Check out the dude who built his own mock video store in his basement.

I don't think this movie paints the most flattering picture of these collectors, but I don't think it judges them, either. These folks are really into VHS! I recommend this entertaining documentary, and it is especially watchable if you grew up in the era.

Electric Boogalo: The  Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films: Speaking of growing up in the 1980s! This is a fast-paced look at the outfit that brought us the American Ninja films and other epics and aspired for something like world domination. It's often too fast paced for its own good, but it is loaded with great stories, and I guarantee you will not be bored. One funny thing is that the actual brothers behind Cannon made their own documentary and rushed it out to beat this one to the market. I haven't seen that one, but I do recommend Electric Boogalo. It's available on Netflix.

I saw the following movies on Showtime, which has a weak library of feature films but a strong selection of pop culture documentaries:

All Things Must Pass: Colin Hanks' affectionate look at the rise and fall of Tower Records is not as..I don't know, transcendent as I hoped, but it's very well done. There are strong comments from the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Elton John, and (of course) Dave Grohl, but it's best hearing from some of the people who actually ran the franchise. Who would have thought we'd all be so nostalgic for stores that sold CDs for 18 bucks a pop?

Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story of the National Lampoon: Excellent at detailing the origins of the magazine and the impact it had on the culture, but it seemed to run out of steam when chronicling the publication's decline. Maybe the participants just didn't have the heart to delve into some of that as much. I still recommend this one, too.

Michael Jackson's Journey from Motown to Off the Wall: It's directed by Spike Lee, but don't hold that against it. This is a solid look at the pre-Wacko Jacko years, a reminder of the power the man had as a performer and talent before the tabloid stuff overwhelmed the creative stuff.

Instant Gratification Theater: Prime Time! Prime Time!

As I mentioned in this weekend's SVOD power rankings, I signed up for a month of Amazon Prime, and that includes Prime Video. Will I catch up on the critically lauded Transparent? The ambitious Mozart in the Jungle? The buzzy (well, at least it actually premiered) Crisis in Six Scenes?

Or maybe prestigious Amazon Prime licensed exclusives like The Americans or Justified?

Nahhhhhhh. At least, not yet.

No, right now I am exploring the goofy crap that appears on Amazon Prime Video. Here are some examples of things I saw on Prime Video this past week:

*The original cast of Real People doing a segment in which they read accounts of TV bloopers, one at a time, off cue cards into the camera.

*Eric Embry wrestling Cactus Jack to get to his evil manager, General Skandor Akbar.

*"Sentimental Journey," an odd 1976 short film starring Jimmy Stewart as an airline pilot

*A series of bloopers with Henry Winkler trying to remain in character and get his dialogue right at the Cunninghams' dinner table.

*Chaka Khan performing "I'm Every Woman" on The New Soupy Sales Show

*Willie Stargell "interviewing" Terry Bradshaw on an old episode of Greatest Sports Legends

*A 1979 episode of early cable TV effort The Nikki Haskell Show, featuring an interview with the guy who was just elected President of the United States of America and his then wife (unrecognizable here!)

That award-winning stuff can wait.

Instant Gratfication Theater: Was on PBS, then on Netflix...uh, and then not on Netflix anymore

One of the best ways to watch PBS programming, if  you can wait a little bit (more like if you miss it the first time because there is no video on demand component for public broadcasting on your provider, but let's move on from that), is via Netflix. No commercials, no pledge breaks, no muss...Only thing is, it ain't gonna last.

This post is a roundup of stuff I watched on Netflix because it was about to expire. One of these (I'll give you a subtle hint when we get there) actually STILL is on Netflix because I watched IT on the PBS Roku channel. OK, now I'm confusing myself.

Mel Brooks: Make a Noise: An excellent edition of American Masters with the usual blend of archival footage and insightful contemporary interviews. I gotta say, folks, I had some mild Mel Brooks Fatigue--not Mel Brooks material, per se, but specials about Mel Brooks--which is probably why I put this one off so long. I'm glad I finally got around to it.  It's a solid overview of his entire career and covers some things I hadn't seen in other recent specials, like talk about Get Smart.

Richard Pryor: Icon: This one doesn't quite transcend my Richard Pryor Fatigue.  Again, it's not that I'm tired of seeing Richard Pryor perform. It's just that it feels like there is a new tribute/documentary about him each year. No real depth or new insight, but if you're a fan, it's an easy watch if you get a chance.

The Black Kung Fu Experience: Doomed from the start. Why? I thought it was about African-American kung fu movies of the 1970s, the documentary started with some cool footage of African-American kung fu movies of the 1970s, but then it was "only" about actual dudes doing kung fu in real  life. It may well be a great piece of work, but I just wasn't feeling it after experiencing the letdown.

An Honest Liar: NOTE: THIS ONE IS STILL ON NETFLIX! I highly recommend this profile of noted debunker of paranormal frauds James "The Amazing" Randi. It chugs along as a compelling and informative biography of its subject, and then, wham, suddenly becomes about broader issues. It will catch you off guard in a good way if you go into it with as much ignorance as I did (to be fair, that is how I approach most subjects, not entirely by choice).

Instant Gratification Theater: Documentaries Return

It's been a while, but let me return to some quick takes on documentaries I watched on various streaming video platforms:

Eight Days a Week: The Touring Years: The Beatles are the best everything everywhere in all of history, so if you put a movie about them up on Hulu, I'm going to watch it. Add the pedigree of acclaimed director Ron Howard and a promise to focus on the live concert experience of the band, and you...eh, actually I didn't expect all that much. I expected to enjoy it, but I kind of feared a safe, middle-of-the-road approach that would be designed for a more general audience as opposed to the hardcores.

That's what the movie is. Despite the subtitle  and the announced emphasis on the Beatles as a touring act--I remember the early calls for fans to share any footage they had--Eight Days a Week veers off a bit into more general territory and becomes almost a watered-down version of the epic Beatles Anthology. Personally I would have rather seen more vintage footage. What is in here looks and sounds great, and really if you want to provide a sense of the group as live performers, here's a novel concept: Show us more of the group as live performers. No disrespect to the likes of Elvis Costello, but the real thing is much more effective than talking heads telling us about it.

That said, the documentary is professionally put together, though I could have done without pointless "modern" touches like colorization of archival footage (I was marveling at how good one of the clips looked, and then I thought, hey, wait a minute...) and bizarre cigarette smoke effects added to old stills. It's nice to hear from Paul and Ringo in new interviews. most importantly, it's the Beatles.

I imagine this would be a great experience in a theater surrounded by Beatlemaniacs. At home on Hulu, it's worth seeing but not at all revelatory. I still think I would be more excited by an official release of the Let It Be film, but I will (and did) gladly take something like this and enjoy it.

Crossfire: The Plot that Killed Kennedy: A low-budget documentary focusing on JFK assassination theories from the point of view of famed conspiracy theorist Jim Marrs. Back in the heady days of Oliver Stone-induced conspiracy fever, I devoured Marrs' book of the same name. I caught this documentary version during a trial of Amazon Prime many moons ago, but it's still available.

The movie isn't sophisticated, and it throws a lot of stuff at you without being as absorbing as the book, but it is entertaining. Marrs is a real character, and his guided tour of sorts through conspiracy facets of the assassination is a fun watch.

Instant Gratificaton Theater: Documentaries Part 2

A recent Showtime preview weekend offered me the opportunity to catch up on the channel's selection of original programming, feature films, and specials.

And I didn't really take advantage. But I did watch a couple documentaries!

Listen to Me Marlon: OK, so I only watched one documentary on Showtime. I heard great things about this idiosyncratic look at the life of Marlon Brando--I think I read the word "mesmerizing" in about 4 different places--but after about 8 minutes of Brando's voice (he "narrates" the film via archival audio), I had to bail.

"You know what? I'm just not in the mood for this," I thought. Maybe some other time, perhaps, but there are days when one just can't handle 100 minutes of Marlon Brando's ponderings.

The Death of "Superman Lives": What Happened?: This Kickstarter-funded account of the failure of the proposed Jon Peters (Executive Producer)/Tim Burton (Director) / Nicolas Cage (Star) late-nineties Superman flick is surprisingly thorough...maybe even to a fault. It's a fascinating story of one of the biggest and most notorious blockbusters never made, but I must admit that when the documentary delves into the intricacies of the proposed costumed designs, it lost me a little.

Still, this is as definitive a record of the whole tale as you'll ever get on film, aided by archival pre-production footage of Cage and contemporary interviews with most of the other principals, most notably Burton and Peters. I get a big kick out of seeing Peters appear on camera to address some of the wild claims Kevin Smith (one of the screenwriters initially attached to the project) has made for years. Peters seems full of it, perhaps, but at least he's enough of a sport to go on the record (and apparently play some power games on camera, as  you will see). And, yes, Smith himself is one of the interviewees and delivers just as you would expect.

Director/writer Jon Schnepp does insert himself into the narrative by appearing on camera so often and serving as a visible interviewer for no apparent reason, and the documentary has some rough edges. Still, the guy made a movie about "Superman Lives," and he put in pretty much everything anyone who cares about the subject would want  to see. For that, I think he deserves a pat on the back. The film may be a bit long and unpolished for non-fans, but it's a must-see for those who followed the saga of the aborted project over the years and always wanted to get the rest of the story.

Instant Gratificaton Theater: Documentaries Part 1

Over the next few...uh, whatevers, Instant Gratification Theater will  cover some documentaries I streamed in recent weeks.

Kareem: Minority of One (HBO Now): Remember when HBO Sports was the standard bearer in quality sports documentaries? It's sad the network basically ceded the position to ESPN (and now even Showtime and Epix are cranking them out more often), but maybe this incisive piece is a sign that HBO is still in the game.

This profile of basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar uses extensive archival footage and new interviews with Jabbar himself (and many others) to create a surprisingly emotional portrait of a man who had a reputation as being detached if not aloof during his career. The Hall of Famer really comes off as a complex individual but certainly human and likable, and by the end you are gratified to get the feeling he has come to terms with basketball and with himself and is in a good place in life.

The main flaw is that the movie pretty much skips over his entire post-NBA career, which is a compelling portion of the man's life. He has become a prominent author, social commentator, and historian. "Minority of One" focuses on his basketball life, for sure, but even some more talk about his unsuccessful attempts to get head coaching gigs would have been interesting.

Fortunately the documentary does touch on his acting career, including his all-time great performance as Roger Murdock in "Airplane." And I think the movie explains how the hell he wound up fighting Bruce Lee in "Game of Death," but to be honest, I still don't quite understand how that came together.

"Kareem: Minority of One" is a strong comeback effort from HBO and a valuable chronicle of the most underappreciated greats in sports history. Plus it gives Pat O'Brien another chance to remind everyone that he partied with all the cool kids in 1980s Los Angeles.

Cultureshark Remembers...all those TV shows that have left Netflix

R.I.P., all the older high-profile TV series that left Netflix in the last two months. They include:

*Mission Impossible
*Amazing Stories
*Knight Rider
*Hawaii Five-0 (seasons 1-10 of the original series)
*Miami Vice
*Dragnet (1960s version)
*Quincy
*Leave It to Beaver
*Magnum P.I.
*MacMillan and Wife
*Adam-12

Leaving this month: Family Ties and Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends.

I complained about this a while ago, but I held out hope that Netflix would renew some of its agreements with CBS/Paramount and/or Universal to retain some of these shows. After all, we've had scares before that turned out to be temporary blips with some of the Netflix library programming. Plus many CBS/Paramount and Universal shows remain on Netflix streaming.

However, enough time has passed that I think it's safe to say these shows are gone, and if they come back it's not a renewal of existing agreements, but a new deal of some sort. That's a shame because to me a big part of  the service's value is this back catalog television selection. Netflix has not added much of this lately, which makes the deletion of so much of it all the more alarming.

It's possible that it's not Netflix's decision to remove these shows. CBS has a new (and really lacking) streaming service, and Universal may be funneling more shows to Hulu as exclusives. Plus "Mission Impossible" is now on Amazon Prime. The thing is, Netflix is so opaque about this kind of thing that there is no way of knowing if this is a conscious strategy to de-emphasize older programming.

Let's thing back on the good times we had cramming as much of these programs as we could into our routines before Netflix pulled them. There's a good kind of "binge watching," and then there's the desperation binge watching stemming from the knowledge that the whole damn thing is leaving in a few weeks.

I will fondly remember scrambling to watch Mission Impossible before it expired, then discovering Hawaii Five-0 was leaving. I will look back with a warm feeling as I recall the strange relief I felt when they did expire, immediately followed by the anxiety caused by the realization that even more series were disappearing the next month. Ah, the joys of streaming video. It's been a great summer, Netflix!

Aaaaand there go the old shows...

Should we be worried about Netflix? I haven't been too concerned with Netflix's ongoing effort to become HBO. I would much rather it spend its money on acquiring OLD content, not producing tons of new shows, each of which lately sounds less interesting than the previous one. I understand the strategy, though, and I can believe it is tougher to get library content at a decent price these days.

But it's easy for me to be ambivalent about spending money on Adam Sandler movies and Lily Tomlin series when there's tons of other programming I want to watch. Make no mistake, there still IS. But this summer is worrying me.

"Mission Impossible," "Hawaii Five-0 (1968)," and "Knight Rider" left Netflix at the end of the month. That's two CBS shows and one Universal. In a few weeks, Universal's "Miami Vice" and the 1960s "Dragnet" will be gone. At the end of the month, we'll say good-bye to "Leave It to Beaver" and "Magnum P.I."

I'm not shedding tears over the loss of "Wings" and "Melrose Place," but they are two more long-running CBS shows that left Netflix at the end of June.  No, another season of "Glee" arriving in a few weeks doesn't satisfy me. Where are the new library deals? A big part of Netflix's appeal is access to commercial-free, unedited shows from the CBS and Universal vaults. I want to see these deals expanded, if anything, but right now there is no sign that anything is in the works.

I hope these shows come back in the near future. I believe "Mission Impossible" left and returned before. Netflix doesn't usually tip its hand on these kinds of things. We need to keep a close eye in particular on the CBS shows, which could show up on Amazon Prime or maybe on CBS' own lame subscription video on demand service, which could use a whole lot more content. Universal doesn't have its own dedicated offering yet, so I hope these shows will migrate to Hulu and/or come back to Netflix.

 I worry, though, that there isn't the outcry I've seen when other deals expire, possibly because these departures are staggered.  Does anybody else care?

I hate to say this, but...

Ever since I read that the entire series of "Seinfeld" was coming to Hulu for streaming, I have been eagerly awaiting the show's arrival. I wanted to know when it would drop (sorry, I hate saying that, but it seems really apt here). When I read it was June, I wanted to know when in June. Much to my disappointment, it was June 24, not June 1 as I first assumed, so I had an extra 3 weeks to get pumped up for the event.

Meanwhile, Crackle went to pot with an ill-advised redesign that made the channel unplayable on my Roku and intolerable when it did load. I had been following the 10 episodes per month of "Seinfeld" on Crackle, but, boy, was I ready to dump that experience for getting THE WHOLE SHEBANG all at once. No more frustration over Crackle repeating the same episodes! No more pining for certain episodes that never showed up there!

Today Hulu finally rolled out "Seinfeld," and it did it the way it ought to be done--all at once, all episodes, uncut versions. And I hate to say it, but...but...I'm feeling a little underwhelmed.

Now that I see all the episodes laid out in one place, I realize, jeez, I have seen an awful lot of these on Crackle in the last couple years. My quick scan for hidden gems didn't reveal too many that I haven't already checked out recently.

The good news is Hulu launches with ease, unlike Crackle, but the bad news is that, like Crackle, the episodes come with frequent commercial interruption. Still, I feel like an ingrate griping about this. For years I wished for one of the most iconic sitcoms to show up on a streaming video service (Granted, I wished it would show up on Netflix), and now that it's here, I get a slight twinge of "Eh." I feel like a representative example of our spoiled, instant gratification society. I don't even know what that means, but I still feel it.

I'm going to fight this off, though. I watched an episode today, and it was hilarious. That's the important thing, right? I can watch any episode anytime I want, even if I have seen it a bunch of times already. Maybe I'll just go through the show from the beginning. Maybe I'll jump around. Maybe I'll keep focusing on the old shows that are apparently expiring from Netflix this summer (that's a post for another day). I just wish I felt more excited about it.

Earlier this month, stories circulated about British shows leaving Netflix at the end of the month. Then it was clarified that only BBC shows would leave, and then only certain BBC shows.

It rang familiar since the same thing happened last year at this time. By the end of the month, Netflix and the Beeb renewed their deal, apparently for another year. Now the year is up, hence shows are expiring. It's all very confusing because many people can't distinguish between BBC British shows and non-British shows, and I can't blame them because that info isn't always evident.

Variety reports movement in the situation, but the report is a little deceptive. Let's break it down. Full credit to Variety, and you can get the article and everything else right here.

Fans of British television can rest easy. Following numerous reports that Netflix and the BBC were parting ways, the streaming service has clarified that many of its most popular Brit series are staying put.

Uh-oh! Notice that word "many"? It's subtle, but I think that'll be relevant later.

In response to headlines that beloved series “Doctor Who,” “Luther,” the original “The Office” and more were going to be dropped from the service at the end of the month, a Netflix spokeswoman tells Variety that such reports were false.

"Such reports were false"...in that those particular series are not leaving.

Among the shows that will still be available on Netflix are classic and current “Doctor Who” series, “Luther,” “Top Gear” seasons 17 through 20, “Torchwood,” “Wallander,” “Keeping Up Appearances,” and the original “Office” and “House of Cards” series.

Rest easy, British TV fans!

The deal in question did not involve series including “Sherlock,” “Happy Valley,” “The Honorable Woman,” “Call the Midwife” or other series not up for renewal. These series will remain on Netflix.

Rest easier, British TV fans! This is the kind of clarification media outlets should provide as soon as they report on expiring series, not after they report it.

Actually, this kind of thing is why Netflix is so vague about when contracts expire and when shows are leaving. As much as I despise not having that information as a consumer, I can understand the value of keeping the info close to vest. For one thing, it calls attention to the quantity of programming disappears from the service. For another, people get antsy at the thought of their specific favorites leaving, and it leads to some bad pub for a while. Negotiations could be ongoing, and it might hurt leverage for Netflix if an outcry occurs, which might in turn make it hard to retain the shows. That said, I still want more info, not less, and I'd at least like to know if there's a chance shows will be retained.


Here’s a list of BBC series staying on Netflix’s service:
Classic “Doctor Who”
“Doctor Who” seasons 1 through 7
“Copper” seasons 1 and 2
“House of Cards” trilogy
“Keeping Up Appearances” season 1
“Luther” seasons 1 through 3
“Monarch of the Glen” seasons 1 through 6
“North & South”
“Robin Hood” seasons 1 through 3
“The Buccaneers”
“The Office” U.K. seasons 1 and 2
“Top Gear” seasons 17 though 20
“Torchwood” seasons 1 through 4
“Wallander” seasons 1 through 3

This is what we like, specifics! Conspicuous by its absence is "Ripper Street," a show I saw some online comments about. Well, as far as I know, it is staying, too, but in looking it up, I learned that its third season was commissioned by Amazon Prime UK, has not been on Amazon Prime US (and in fact, seasons 1 and 2 are not on Prime, either, but are still on Netflix), and will air on BBC America in 2015. Does this mean season 3 will stream on Amazon Prime US, or will Netflix get it after the BBC America run? I don't know, and I don't expect Netflix to issue press releases trumpeting that fact, but I include it to illustrate how difficult it is to follow this kind of thing. Streaming services are way less transparent than broadcast or even cable networks about programming.

Let's get to the kicker at the end of the "Variety" article:

Fans should plan to enjoy “Fawlty Towers,” “Blackadder,” “MI-5″ and “Red Dwarf” before Feb. 1 when they will no longer be available.

Hey-ohhh! Nice little kick to the gut at the end there. So "such reports" weren't ALL wrong, eh, Netflix? it looks like some of the iconic series that fans fretted about vanishing really are vanishing. And where will they go? Will they go anywhere? Who knows?

Well, I know. All 4 of these series are on Hulu Plus. It would be nice if "Variety" mentioned that--you know, as a service to its readers who are looking for information, as opposed to regurgitating some PR from Netflix. I also think it's disingenuous to imply that no British shows are leaving Netflix at the end of the month, only to tack on a bit at the end that, oh, by the way, some of those shows you love? Yeah, they are leaving.

The difference between Netflix and Hulu

Well, apart from the annoying commercials that pollute Hulu programming...

Netflix added "Gilmore Girls" to its service October 1. By that I mean 7 seasons, 153 episodes of "Gilmore Girls" are available on Netflix for Instant Watching.

Hulu added "Gilmore Girls" to its service a few weeks ago. However, on Hulu, you only get 5 "Gilmore Girls."

No, I don't mean 5 seasons. I mean 5 episodes. Hulu added 5 episodes of this show. Why bother?

Netflix doesn't mess around with "Let's save some money and license the first 3 seasons," or, "Do we really need so many episodes of that show?" No, it almost always adds ALL episodes when it adds a series. In fact, the recent debut of 'The Roseanne Collection" stands out because it IS an incomplete series add, but even that is 50 or so episodes. 50 is a lot more than 5.

UPDATE: Hulu apparently removed even the 5 episodes it posted before. Maybe the show went up too early and lingered too long. Perhaps someone there realized how lame it was to have 5 scattered episodes of a program that ran 7 seasons. Now if someone can get them to work on the CBS/Paramount library shows...

Instant Gratification Theater: Sly Stallone goes OVER THE TOP

We all have certain gaps in our film scholarship. Some of us have never seen a complete film by Bresson; others may have yet to experience Ozu. But it's not just world cinema that can elude us. I for one am unashamed to admit that many seminal works of the Hollywood canon have gone unwatched here at Cultureshark Tower. Fortunately, Netflix is available to help fill in the gaps.

Case in point: Over the Top (1987) by Menahem Golan, released by Cannon and starring Sylvester Stallone. If you haven't seen this epic meditation on fatherhood, arm wrestling, and trucker caps, see it before June 1 because it is leaving Instant Watching at the end of the month.

I could dissect this film in the form of a conventional "review," but how arrogant would I be to dare attempt to cover ground that hasn't already been trod in countless other critical studies? Instead, let me offer a list of things that amuse me about "Over the Top":

1) Stallone seems relatively uninterested throughout the movie. I guess he really did do this just for the money. Somehow, though, his lack of intensity becomes part of the charm.

2) The child actor who plays Stallone's son Michael, David Mendenhall, didn't exactly tear it up here, but he had a prolific career doing animation voiceovers and has continued working to this day.

3) Sly's character, a big rig operator/amateur arm wrestling superstar trying to reconnect with his estranged son, is named Lincoln Hawk. Say what you will about "Over the Top," but Lincoln Hawk is an outstanding moniker. I wish there were a sequel just so that we could enjoy more Lincoln Hawk. Really, that name is too good to use on just one middling 1980s film. I'd like to think somewhere in a drawer, Stallone has a treatment centered on someone (not even necessarily this one) named Lincoln Hawk. Say it with me, out loud: LINCOLN HAWK.

4) One of the credited screenwriters (along with Stallone himself) is Stirling Silliphant of Route 66 and Naked City fame.

5) Pro wrestling legend Terry Funk appears, sadly not for long. Several years later, "Road House" would more fully utilize his talents.

6) Awesome scenes involving Lincoln Hawks big semi:
--He rams it through the entrance gate of his rich father-in-law's property.
--He teaches his 12-year-old son to drive it by just switching places with him, impromptu, on the open road and letting him do it.
--Best of all, when the father-in-law's hired goons kidnap Michael at a truck stop and zoom off in their own pickup, Lincoln, despite their significant head start, hops into HIS big rig and chases them down.

7) The climactic tournament is filled with guys flexing, grimacing, and grunting.

8) That tournament is DOUBLE ELIMINATION, meaning even if you get defeated, you have another chance. Symbolism, anyone?

9) "What I do is I just try to take my hat and I turn it around, and it's like a switch that goes on, and when the switch goes on, I feel like another person. I don't know, I feel like a--like a truck, like a machine."--Lincoln Hawk explaining his pre-match routine.

10) While we all know and love "Meet Me Halfway," Kenny Loggins' classic ballad that appears throughout the movie, it's arguably not the showcase song. 'In This Country" by Robin Zander of Cheap Trick opens "Over the Top" and is heard again in the immediate aftermath of the big match (you know there's a big arm wrestling match). while Larry Greene is heard over the end credits with "Take It Higher." All these  songs, incidentally, were written by Giorgio Moroder (music) and Tom Whitlock (lyrics), and so was Sammy Hagar's "Winner Takes It All," another single from the soundtrack. The only credited song not penned by that duo? Frank Stallone's "Bad Night."

Does this collection of 10 tidbits make you want to see "Over the Top?" Or have you already seen this iconic eighties hit? I am proud to finally be a member of the club. That's one more down from my bucket list. Next up, 'Floating Weeds!" Well, maybe after I finally get around to seeing all of "Cobra," that is.

Instant Gratification Theater: "Bedside" (1934): Pre-Code Fun from Warners

Warner Archive Instant has added quite a few Pre-Codes early in 2014, and not all of them are even available on DVD. George Feltenstein has indicated more Forbidden Hollywood is on the way, and if Bedside is a part of any such set, well, that set is going to be worth a look.

This 1934 Robert Florey drama is a ludicrous series of rapid plot developments, each one less credible than the last. It culminates in the most ridiculous scenario of all, then tries to redeem its main character, who spent the previous 95% of the film proving he is irredeemable. In short, "Bedside" is absurd.

It's also entertaining as hell and one of the most fun flicks I've seen since I signed up for Warner Archive Instant, and I strongly recommend it. If you have WAI, see it already. If you don't and you ever do the free trial thing, put it on your short list of things to sample.

Just look at the trailer for Bedside, which WAI has posted along with the main feature. Actually, don't look at it until after you see the movie--like many old trailers, it spoils much of the story--but bear in mind that it sells itself as a lot more risqué than it actually is. It plays up the "bedside manner" aspect, with Warren William apparently sleeping with all his female patients. Well, the movie itself has its share of racy moments, and William is no saint, but the movie is not at all  about that.

Instead, it focuses on the dishonest rise to prominence of William's med school crashout, who obtains a medical diploma under false pretenses and opens a practice in New York. He meets a shady press agent played by Allen Jenkins (I know, I know--SOLD, right?) and develops a reputation, but with one catch: He doesn't exactly DO anything. He charms his female patients into returning for multiple visits just so they can swoon in front of him, but he lets his "assistant," the unwitting former insurance company doc Wiley, do the actual work. All the while, he somehow manages to keep on Jean Muir as a loyal nurse/partner/girlfriend despite her realizing early on he's a fraud.

The plot contrivances and coincidences do pile up, but everything moves so fast in this 65-minute picture that it's tough to dwell on them. I did nearly reach the end of my patience, though, when William's character is forced into a situation where he is asked to perform brain surgery because no one else is available. Despite the fact that we--and multiple other characters--see that he has been getting sloshed at a gala, and despite the fact that he used this excuse earlier in the film, William somehow doesn't tell anyone, "Hey, I was just getting bombed out of my mind; I can't do freaking brain surgery!" Of course, if he did, we wouldn't have the dramatic denouement and the cheesy conclusion. Really, if you just enjoy the first, often dark 55 minutes of "Bedside," you can try to forget the awful, false last 10 and still end up with a great taste in your mouth.

The cast is almost perfect here. William is, as always, a delight as the roguish would-be doctor. Sure, he's an ass, but there's something compelling about him. Look at the way he winks as he tells Jenkins, who is suggesting ways to get him publicity, "I've always made it a point to be strictly ethical." It's hilarious. Jenkins is a riot, cooking up some great schemes to get his client in the papers. For his pat, he tells  William, "For 10%, I'd promote an epidemic."There's a fine montage that shows Jenkins at various public events, grinning with smug satisfaction as someone calls for the doctor over the P.A. system.

Even the smaller roles are well cast. Donald Meek is earnest as Wiley, and he manages even to pull off one of the more fantastic plot devices the movie makes him carry. David Landau is somewhat off-kilter as a morphine-addicted disgraced doctor who keeps causing trouble for William, but that works for the character. Renee Whitney scores in a minor part as "Madame Varsova," and lovers of old Hollywood will enjoy the likes of Henry O'Neill and Louise Beavers.

The only drawback for me was Jean Muir as nurse/love interest Caroline. Perhaps some of my discomfort is due to the fact that I have such a hard time buying Caroline's willingness to give the guy a second chance over and over again. But I just wasn't impressed with her work, and I found some of her scenes to be a little unsteady.

I have thrown a lot of negativity at "Bedside," so let me remind you again what a great watch it is. It involves drugs, pre-martial sex, fraud, greed, extortion, and a lot of general scheming and trickeration. 

Yeah, the Warner Archive Instant Roku channel IS improved, but...

I got an email the other day touting the new and improved Warner Archive Instant Roku channel. This wasn't a surprise for me since I had already stumbled upon it the night before, but it was an indication that Warners is proud of the changes.

The main improvement is the addition of a My Watchlist function at the top of the screen so you can make your own queue (you can't change the order, though, only add or delete titles from it). This does make it a lot easier to stash the stuff you want to watch and access it quickly. There are also expanded search capabilities, with decade categories and "most watched" rows as well.

Unfortunately, the navigation seems a little slower as your home page has to "load" for a few seconds after you go from your watchlist to the main page and vice versa. Still, this is a pretty cool change, and there is a snazzy new icon for the Roku screen as well.

Now, the cynic in me suspects the timing of this change. See, the new interface and watchlist function wasn't the only thing I noticed when I logged on to WAI the other night. Conspicuous by their absence were scores of movies that the channel just dropped. This was after many other titles had already been purged the week before.

You don't suppose the bells and whistles are here to help distract us from the fact that they've finally started to taketh away as well as giveth, do you? Well, I sure do, but the cynic in ME is pretty strong. Don't get me wrong, I still love the service and think the value is decent, but this IS more expensive than Netflix or Hulu Plus, and I'd rather have all those deleted movies back than a watchlist and some new graphics.

The Party's Over (or has it just begun?): Warner Instant dumps scores of titles

I have been an enthusiastic supporter of Warner Archive Instant since I added it last year, but part of me has always dreaded the inevitable onset of "churn," the dumping of titles from the service because--well, just because, I guess. It's not as if Warner Brothers has deals with itself that make the titles expire automatically. No, they are just pulling movies because they can. Maybe they want to continue to encourage DVD sales by establishing that a title's presence on streaming is not permanent.

Hopefully the movies will rotate back in, but I am a little disappointed because, as a Roku user, I had no idea that anything was leaving until I happened to log on to the website and saw a Leaving Soon category. Even then, it was pretty vague; there were 200 or so movies listed with no expiration dates. The next week, many of those, but not all, were gone. There is no specific info on when the rest will be leaving.

I should add that since the beginning of the year, Warner has really picked up the pace on adding new material to Instant Archive. Each week brings dozens of new and exciting movies, and I'm still impressed with the selection.

The lesson here is that on any Streaming Video on Demand service, you had better watch what you want to watch as soon as you can. For a while, though. Warner Archive Instant was not just "any" SVOD channel. It was different. It added something almost every Friday, and nothing ever went away. Too good to be true? Yeah, I suppose. But I still felt a loss of innocence when I saw that a few dozen movies I hadn't gotten to were no longer there.

Stuff I scrambled to see on Netflix before it expired

One of the "fun" things about having a Netflix account is finding out only a week or two ahead of time that something in your queue is gonna go bye-bye. Would it be nice to have more notice? Aw, Netflix thinks that's crazy talk!

These two movies expire next weekend, so check 'em out soon if you're interested:

44-Inch Chest: This British crime flick--well, sort of a crime flick, in that it has criminals and we see some crimes committed--didn't get great reviews, but if a movie with Ray Winstone, Tom Wilkinson, Ian McShane, John Hurt, and Stephen Dillane comes to Instant Watching, I'm at least gonna add it to my queue, all right? In fact, it's not a great movie. It's basically a bunch of cool character actors sitting around shooting the bull and breaking balls. But you're not paying 11 bucks to see it in a theater at this point, and if you look at it in that light, well, it's a pretty good way to spend 90 minutes on streaming.

Ray Winstone reminds me of a British Nick Nolte with his disheveled, raspy, mumbling performance as a cuckold who laments being dumped by his wife (the still-ravishing Joanne Whaley). So he and his gangster pals get together and talk things over. For a while they're even joined by an unwilling visitor--the French waiter who's been sleeping with Ray's wife.

Winstone gets the acting-0est part here, doing a lot of fretting and emoting. Wilkinson and Dillane are pretty much what you'd expect, and I don't at all mean that as a negative. McShane's character is gay, and I don't at all mean THAT as a negative; it's just that, in addition to being measured and calm, that is pretty much the character. You have to admire that in a flick with this kind of cast, the movie gives the scene-stealing outrageous part to Hurt, who is the crankiest, nastiest, most animated git in the bunch. He looks like he's having a great time.

Some artsy interludes aside, this doesn't add up to very much, but there are worse things to do than watch these guys banter. It's worth a look-see while it's still around.

Hey, Boo: Harper Lee and "To Kill a Mockingbird": Does this documentary sound familiar to you? It did me, as well, but it wasn't until I started watching it that I realized I had in fact seen it 3 years ago. In my defense, though, I didn't recognize it since it wasn't under its original title: "American Masters: Hey, Boo: Harper Lee and 'To Kill a Mockingbird'." See? Totally different, for all I knew.

Once I started watching it, I figured I might as well revisit it, and I was doing a few other things around the house while it ran, but it's a quality piece of work from filmmaker  Mary Murphy. It covers the background of the reclusive author and why she hasn't given an interview in 50 years, the creation of the iconic novel, the film adaptation, and even her friendship with Truman Capote and the rumors that he had something to do with the writing of "Mockingbird."

There aren't any "AHA!" revelations, but you do get a good look at an author who still has some mystique about her as well as some insight into one of the most scrutinized works of the 20th century. It's another winner from the "American Masters" series and, again, well worth checking out on Netflix.

Instant Gratification Theater: Warner Instant roundup

Some more of what I've been watching on Warner Arhive Instant:

Zero Hour: My good buddy Ivan gave this airplane-in-peril flick a shout-out a while back but mentioned the elephant in the room (fortunately not "Elephant on a Plane," which would be an entirely different film): The team of Zucker-Abrams-Zucker used this as the template for their classic disaster movie spoof "Airplane!" Indeed, it's impossible to see 'Zero Hour" without thinking of "Airplane!" but it's still a fine movie in its own right. The problem is isolating it to just its own right.

What jumps out at me is just how much ZAZ used of "Zero Hour." It's not just the broad outlines of the story, as I always assumed, but entire scenes, characterizations, even dialogue that they lifted for their comedy. It makes watching this and not giggling occasionally an impossible task. Yet the original is so well crafted that even with the blatant parallels, you find yourself wrapped up in Dana Andrews' struggles to land that plane in the face of adversity and his own traumatic past. At least I did. I give "Zero Hour" a strong recommendation. Yes, I also re-watched "Airplane" not too long afterwards, and I found it as funny as ever.

Disembodied: This wild jungle flick features Alison Hayes scheming and gyrating suggestively (not at the same time...but, well, actually, probably, yeah), Paul Kelly out of his urban "Naked City" element, and VOODOO! Need I say more? It's a fun B-movie that pretty much delivers what it promises. I wouldn't want to shell out full price for the DVD, but it's a nice watch on streaming video.

Skyjacked: I'm thinking this disaster flick also inspired "Airplane!" though I don't usually see people make that connection. Chuck Heston pilots a commercial airliner that receives an onboard bomb threat, and he and an ALL-STAR CAST must try to survive. Do they meet the hijacker's demands? Well, I'll say that it's a really fun disaster in the sky picture, and then there is a bit of a shift at a certain pivotal point. When "Skyjacked" becomes less disaster flick and more action/thriller centered more on Heston, it's not nearly as fun. Again, though, it's well worth a watch.

I can't get out of here without listing a bunch of the stars of "Skyjacked:" Clint Walker, Rosey Grier, James Brolin, Jeanne Crain, Susan Dey, Mariette Hartley, Nicholas "Spider-Man" Hammond, Walter Pidgeon...Need I say more? No, I needn't. If you're into these movies, you get about 3/4 of a really good one here. Again, well worth a watch on streaming.

Stuff I Scrambled to See on Netflix Before It Expired: American Grindhouse

Hey, folks, for a change, I'm doing you a solid and writing about something while it's still actually available. So do take advantage and see the 2010 documentary American Grindhouse. Directed and produced by Elijah Drenner, it's an entertaining and well organized history of grindhouse and exploitation cinema. I highly recommend you sit down and reserve an hour and a half for this if that sounds interesting.

Then again, any grindhouse aficionado might not find a whole lot that's new or revelatory in this documentary.   Still, I think the mark of a good movie of this type is that it inspires newbies to go see the films discussed...and it inspires experts to go see the fi;ms discussed again. On this count, "Grindhouse" succeeds; its enthusiasm and love of the material is infectious. hey, it would be great if more of the movies mentioned were on Netflix!

Robert Forster is both a credible and approrpriate choice to narrate the doc, but the more prominent voices are the many talking heads who are interspersed with vintage film clips, trailer excerpts, and footage of moviegoers and theaters. It's no surprise to see Trailers from Hell proprietors Joe Dante and John Landis here. Czar of Noir Eddie Muller is a welcome presence as well, and the resident representative filmmaker talking head is Herschel Gordon Lewis.

There are fun stories and great highlights of some of the landmark exploitation movies in history, and the narrative does a solid job of weaving that history with American cultural history and explaining the synergy. Make no mistake, though, this 80-some minutes will leave you wanting more. It is a fast-paced, enjoyable primer on the subject and a great Instant Watch...for another few days or so.