Streaming Video Power Rankings #89

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! Maybe you are still enjoying an extended 4-day holiday weekend. If so...I'm angry because I didn't have one. But I hope you are celebrating the American way--by streaming whatever you can in between football games.

1) Netflix: Kudos to the King of Streaming for premiering a lot of content this holiday week. I mean, much of it looks like garbage to me, but I admire the effort to unload a lot of new stuff when people will be home to watch it.

I should dock Netflix for my daughter watching Haters Back Off  while I was in the same room, but instead, I thank them for the fascinating Jim Carrey/Andy Kaufman documentary, the new Brian Regan special, and the old but always welcome Thanksgiving episodes of Cheers.

2) Hulu: Welcome to the home of Marvel Comics on streaming video! Sure, Netflix gets the headlines (for another few years), but Hulu debuted The Runaways this week, it quietly added Agent Carter (heretofore MIA from streaming), and will add FX's Legion season 1 next month.

Meanwhile, on the DC end of things, my kids sure are loving Teen Titans Go. I think it has made them forget about Disney Now.

3) Acorn TV: Honestly, Doc Martin is coasting at this point, but I still enjoy each episode and will watch it as long as it continues...which I think is one more season. Now that I have finished Series 8, time to move on to Count Arthur Strong and 800 Words.

4) YouTube: Tons of good stuff on here lately, as Sean MC  continues to bring it, plus that Andy Kaufman on Letterman compilation I mentioned last week is a great companion to the Netflix doc.

And I may not be smart to admit this, but I very much enjoyed the random episode of 1984 AWA All-Star Wrestling I watched when I probably should have been catching up on something else.

5) Pub-D-Hub: I always try to give extra credit to a service that offers a nice seasonal collection of content, and the Hub came through again with a Thanksgiving-themed section, though much of it was familiar and I wound up just watching an old Beulah episode.

6) The CW: Still behind on my "stories," but I made some progress this week. Hey, is anybody watching that new Dynasty?

7) Amazon Prime: Not only is it debuting The Big Sick, which is apparently a terrific movie, but it is just about that time of year I consider getting a month of Prime for the holiday shipping. Red Oak, here I come!

8) Warner Archive Instant: Major points for the Eight Is Enough I saw, and I even enjoyed the Dr.   Kildare with Cesar Romero as a crusty old town doctor. Wouldn't you know he'd turn out to have a heart of gold? The official Twitter account still hasn't done anything since October 22.

9) NBC: Thanks, NBC app/Roku channel, for making it possible to get a nice, clean uncut stream of the episode of Knight Rider we discussed this week on Battle of the Network Shows.

10) Brown Sugar: This week, I couldn't help but wish I were a current subscriber so that I could celebrate Thanksgiving the right way by enjoying the recent addition of 1974's Black Hooker.

TV Time Revisited (firom Classic Flix): Cartoons Go to the Circus

If you are looking for something longer to read on this holiday, here's a piece from the not-too-distant past that originally ran on ClassicFlix. In April, I commemorated the decline of Ringling Brothers & Barnum & Bailey by looking at classic TV cartoon excursions to the circus:

The announcement that Ringling Brothers & Barnum and Bailey is shutting down inspired a lot of discussion about the demise of the circus. While it's true that Ringling was, for years, the most iconic big top operation, the American institution will continue.

Of course, it also survives in classic television. In a previous column, I recommended Woody Allen boxing a kangaroo. Besides that memorable variety program, many sitcom and dramatic episodes centered on traveling circus troupes passing through town, while some entire series were devoted to the spectacle. Super Circus with Mary Hartline was a popular kids show spotlighting genuine performances, while programs like Circus Boy (starring a young Mickey Dolenz), The Greatest Show on Earth (with a young -- well, youngish -- Jack Palance) and oater Frontier Circus were fictionalized depictions of the lifestyle and its inhabitants.

Given the news about Ringling Brothers, though, I wasn't in the mood for stories about sad clowns struggling with the bottle or acrobats chasing ringmasters in jealous rages. I looked to the television cartoon to celebrate the circus. Much to my surprise, I found that the world of animation often sees the big top as a sinister place filled with danger and despair.

Casper the Friendly Ghost,"Keep Your Grin Up:" I am going to start by cheating a bit. That's right, folks, step right up and enjoy one of the timeless circus traditions: the bait and switch! In my defense, while the original Casper cartoons were not made for television, they were shown countless times on the small screen, so it's a legitimate starting point for our journey.

Unfortunately, it's not a joyous beginning despite an amusing premise: Casper tries to make a sad hyena laugh. The thing is this hyena is a caged animal being whipped and beaten by his handler for not guffawing on command. It's a little off-putting seen through a modern lens, but, man, even in 1955, this must have been a downer. Even before Casper enters the circus grounds, he gets bummed out when his appearance (or, being invisible, lack thereof) frightens the ticket seller and the rubber man.

The hyena is more pitiful than the lonely Casper, though we never quite know if he's depressed because he's being whipped or if he is being whipped because he's depressed. Our favorite friendly ghost decides to try to make the hyena laugh, and while his intentions are good, you can't help but think if he really wanted to help, he'd, you know, open the cage.

Casper tries everything to get a laugh, including juggling, imitating a seal, and borrowing the props of an act named "Burpo the Fire Eater." Does Ringling Brothers have a Burpo the Fire Eater? If so, I need to get tickets while I can. The young ghost does all but squirt seltzer down his pants, but nothing gets a smile from the downcast hyena. (I imagine Milton Berle is somewhere in the wings furiously scribbling notes for something he can use on the Buick Hour.)

There's a happy ending when the abusive trainer, startled to see a ghost, shrieks, runs out of his pants and off the screen into the audience who are apparently watching this very cartoon. The hyena starts laughing harder than I do at a Honeymooners episode, and only slightly less obnoxiously. There's a lot more pathos in this brief cartoon than I expected, but its limited view of the circus isn't a pleasant one.

The Perils of Penelope Pitstop "Big Top Trap": At the risk of trivializing mistreatment of animals, there are times while watching Pitstop that I feel like that hyena. There are only so many times I can hear Penelope yell, "HAILP! HAILP!" before I feel like dressing up as a peanut and squatting down in front of Jumbo. Yet "Big Top Trap" offers a compelling glimpse of the circus.

At the beginning, we see Penelope perform in the show. The horse she is standing on throws her into a cannon, which shoots her toward a cage containing a wild "Tasmanian cruncha beast." Fortunately for her, she is able to grab the pole a tightrope walker is using and balance herself to avoid dropping all the way into the cage. We can only assume the poor tightrope walker plummets to his death off camera.

When I was in college, I took a class on live performing arts in which the professor, on the day he discussed the circus, told us the single most dangerous routine was the horse act because of the unpredictable nature of the equines. Somehow he left out the part about combination horse/human cannonball/tightrope/cruncha beast numbers. I tell you, between the disappearance of this kind of thing and the inability to replace Burpo the Fire Eater, it's no wonder the circus ain't what it used to be.

Penelope is snatched by her nemesis, the Hooded Claw, and taken to a swamp to attempt to feed her to a carnivorous plant. Her miniature sidekicks in the Ant Hill Mob eventually help her make it back to the tent to complete her performance and save the day, which makes me think that audience must really be getting its money worth considering how long the show must be.

Sorry, Pitstop fans, but even Paul Lynde can't elevate this. The main character is just too dim. In this episode, the Claw, who has been acting as her attorney in his civilian guise while donning a mask and trying to bump her off to get her fortune for the entire series, gets tired of the routine and basically says, "Hey, by the way, I'm your arch-rival who's been trying to kill you," and Penelope refuses to believe him! She's not the brightest heroine out there, folks...but I will admit she is one heck of a circus performer, and she gets shot out of a cannon like nobody's business.

Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? "Bedlam in the Big Top": "Bedlam" is a word that doesn't surprise you at all when you encounter it in Scooby-Doo, much like "hi-jinks." Both elements are in abundance in this encounter, which features the gang investigating a reported haunting of a circus by a ghost clown. The owner tells the team that his performers are leaving en masse because they are superstitious and think the whole operation is destined for trouble. I love the fact that a ghost clown itself isn't what makes everyone leave, but rather the fact that they see its presence as a bad omen.

You don't need a Scooby snack to figure out it's not an actual supernatural entity, but an embittered baddie with a grudge scaring everyone away. Don't underestimate this erstwhile spookster, though; his potent hypnosis overwhelms Scooby and Daphne, making them believe they are performers capable of doing dangerous stunts like tightrope walking and unicycle riding.


Lucky for Scoob, Penelope Pitstop is nowhere around, so he emerges unscathed, but it's interesting to note the callous nature of the show's laugh track. Is Scooby's precarious footing on a high wire really reason for enthusiastic chortles? The lovable canine earns some real laughs at the end after solving the mystery; he and Shaggy surprise the others by making a surprise cameo in the strongman's act and mugging for the crowd in attendance.

The real takeaway is not the exposure of the ghost clown, but the anti-circus performer stance of Scooby-Doo. The show takes pains to establish that any civilian, albeit under a deep hypnotic spell, can do the same alleged skilled feats as a pro. Then Scooby and Shaggy undercut one of the veteran acts by going for cheap laughs at the climax of his routine. Wasn't there a union of some kind to bring heat on Hanna-Barbera for this disrespect?

The Flintstones, Dial S for Suspicion and Circus Business: Several years earlier, Hanna-Barbera had our favorite stone-age family appear in a sixth-season episode called "Circus Business." Fred expresses his interest in buying an ailing circus and is overheard by the anxious-to-sell owner, who apparently believes an idle statement made in public is a binding verbal contract and accepts Flinstone's income tax refund as payment for the whole business.

Much to Fred's chagrin, things are worse than he thought, as all the performers are walking out after not being paid. Pressured by the sheriff to deliver the entertainment as advertised, the Flintstones and the Rubbles do what anyone would do in such a predicament: attempt to put on a show themselves. Their efforts impress the real performers so much that they decide to come back and work for free, proving that circus folk are great people after all...or suckers. I'm not exactly sure what the message is here.

Several seasons earlier, we get another glimpse into the world of the big top in "Dial S for Suspicion" when one of Wilma's former boyfriends, a knife thrower, spots her at a circus parade and gives her passes to the show so he can check out Fred. The parade is another great lost tradition, right up there with Burpo the fire eater and Tasmanian cruncha beasts -- an unparalleled event in which the cast of the show marches down main street and agrees not to let the elephants rampage through everyone's property as long as they buy tickets. Well, that wasn't explicit, but it was kind of implied, no?

Fred happens to be paranoid about Wilma trying to kill him for the life insurance. One reason I love The Flintstones: You just didn't hear a lot of other cartoons utilizing the phrase "double indemnity" in those days. Fred thinks the sudden arrival of a knife throwing beau is part of Wilma's plan, and it's hard to blame him when she "volunteers" him to be the "target" in his act, and then suggests it be done blindfolded!

Considering Fred goes on to star in numerous spin-off shows and cereal ads, you can rest assured Wilma isn't really trying to off her hubby, but the circumstantial evidence is pretty strong for a while. I'm intrigued by the knife thrower, whose suspicious behavior and shady snicker make me wonder if, regardless of Wilma's intent, he really does mean to give Fred a "close shave."

The Yogi Bear Show, Acrobatty Yogi and Jangled Jungle: Let's close our look at the circus with one more double feature from Hanna-Barbera. Oddly, these Yogi and Snagglepuss shorts come back to back on the DVD. If they really aired like that, they must have caused some confusion among young viewers.

"Acrobatty Yogi" sees the bear run away from Jellystone and join the circus in order to woo his would-be love, Cindy Bear. Hey, we've all done something like that at one time or another. (I'll never have to wonder "what might have been" with Bertha the Bearded Lady.) He's offered a job as lion tamer, and I get a good laugh when he's told the first thing he needs to do is learn what to do with a chair, which he triumphantly folds out and sits in.

I don't quite understand why the impresario sees a talking bear and decides, "Hey, I'll put him in with the lion," but he knows how to run his business. Poor Yogi has to jump off a high wire -- it really does seem like anyone can walk those things -- to flee the crazed cat, and when Cindy tries to compliment him, he mocks her and says, "I might have been seriously killed," before taking off and returning to the relative security of Jellystone.

Next up, Snagglepuss is bored with his own routine at the circus. He's asked to step up, down, up, down, and so on, which makes him "feel like an elevator -- a yo-yo, even." The prospect of getting shot out of a cannon is what makes him quit (in the middle of a show, just like Yogi -- how unprofessional these guys are) and head for the jungle.

He thinks he's the king of beasts, but unpleasant encounters with a Tarzan type and a gorilla make Snagglepuss exclaim, "Arrivederci, jungle! Good-bye, even!" He rushes back to the relative safety of...the circus! So, Yogi finds the circus a terrifying, dangerous place, while Snagglepuss finds it a refuge from the horrors of the outside world? Is this juxtaposition a deliberate statement by Hanna-Barbera? An attempt to provide equal time to those who are pro- and anti-circus? Is it a reflection of the fact that the circus means different things to different people?

Either way, I believe our sojourn through television animation's depiction of the circus teaches us several lessons: It's not all fun and funnel cakes, the animals may be treated both better and worse than we suspect, and above all else, next time you attend a show, keep your eyes on the high wire at all times. There's always something going on up there.

Half-Assed Gourmet: Love that chicken from Popeye's, but the atmosphere...

This year, before a lot of you go bird wild on turkey, let me talk about MY kind of dining experience: a trip to a local fast food joint.

A few months back, I mentioned a visit to Popeye's  and how I was disappointed by the location's stingy ways. The new TV ad campaign for Smokehouse Boneless Wings amused and tantalized me,  so I figured I'd give the chain another shot at a different location.

One thing that stands out at Popeye's is the prices. Is it just that chicken is more expensive? Is fried coating/grease so expeensive? Is it the DOWN-HOME/YEE-HAW/RAGIN' CAJUN quality? The fact is if you don't get one of their specials, the regular chicken meals look kind of steep for fast food.

In fact, an ominous sign by the counter gave me a grim feeling as I read that sauces were for chicken tenders only and were 25 cents extra otherwise. Already, my suspicion of the chain's tightwad philosophy was confirmed...or was it?

I did indeed get the Smokehouse Wings, which comes as a 6-piece with a biscuit and a side for 5 bucks. Notice what's missing there? A beverage. We're off to a bad start. I actually anticipated this and considered takeout, but I spotted a self-service drink area. That's about the only thing you can get yourself at Popeye's, so I vowed to take full advantage. Uh, I did that under my breath, not out loud like some kind of super villain.

The food was fine. The Cajun rice was a little bland but a nice alternative to fries. The biscuit was OK. The wings were not really what I'd call wings--more like crispy chicken pieces--but they were tasty.

The accoutrements were the problem. I didn't care for the standard ranch sauce that came with the meal, and worse, there was no butter or jam or anything for the biscuit. So I went to the counter, clutching a handful of change and expecting to shell out for an alternative sauce. To my surprise, the cashier gave me not just one but TWO buffalo sauces at no charge. Maybe she liked the cut of my gib. More likely, that sign is there to deter people who are a pain in the ass about sauces but most workers roll their eyes at the fact that they make everyone beg for all the condiments.

She gave me a handful of stuff for that biscuit, too--two butter squares, one strawberry jam, one grape jam. Well, it was better than nothing, but the paltry butter was useless because it was semi-frozen and I didn't have a knife. The flimsy spork they gave me for the rice wasn't getting it done. I could squeeze the jam out, but it didn't cover much of the biscuit. I split it in half and decorated each side with a different jam, trying to pretend it was a delightful opportunity to sample several different flavors.

In the meantime, the buffalo sauce made me thirsty--I suppose the massive amount of sodium in everything contributed as well--so I made numerous trips to the beverage area while trying to ration the 4 thin napkins on my tray. 4 napkins for a wing meal? Of course there were no napkins anywhere on the "humanoid" side of the restaurant, and I didn't want to go back and ask for more napkins. Naturally I let my nose run all over the table and used my coat and pants as extra napkins.

I'm kidding about that last part--mostly--but let's add up the things I did NOT get with my order:

*Preferred sauces
*Condiment of any kind for the biscuit
*Knife to apply anything to the biscuit
*Adequate napkins
And remember, I had to buy the drink as an add-on.

The good news is that they threw a bunch of chicken-ish pieces in with the box of wings, so it felt like more than 6 pieces. Remember when Long John Silver's would throw in those "crumblies"  with the seafood boxes? Kind of like that except bigger and somehow more respectable because it's not Long John Silver's.

Overall, I enjoy Popeye's food, but this is clearly not an isolated deal at this chain. Maybe it's a better takeout experience than a dine-in. I just don't like having to go back up and ask for things that should be standard with the meal. if you don't want to load up my tray at the counter, just make it available in the dining area.

'Mooners Monday #34: Finally back to "Head of the House"

It's been a while since we started looking at "Head of the House," one of the better episodes of the series. When we left off last time, Norton had revealed to Alice how Ralph had boasted to a roving reporter about being the king of his castle. Alice ain't too thrilled about it, either:

I have to credit him in a strange way for not totally backing off. He stands firm and argues some more, even reiterating his stance when Trixie asks about it. I love when Ralph, as in this episode, gets all buddy-buddy with Ed after throwing him out because he wants to join forces with him against the women. It's all out in the open now, Ralph says, and he's glad.

This leads to one of the most famous scenes in the show's history: Ralph and Ed, determined to prove their supremacy over the womenfolk, getting "drunk" on the grape juice that they believe is wine. It's a silly situation, to be sure, but how can you go wrong with Gleason and Carney (who knew from experience, let's face it) playing smashed?

I don't know about you, but grape juice or not, these two seem like pretty cool guys to get drunk with. Ralph in particular is a lot chummier. They aren't the best singers in the world, but they bring a certain brio to their impromptu revelry.

Next week, we'll conclude our look at the episode with a glimpse of an outstanding minor character.

Streaming Video Power Rankings #88

1) Philo: What the deuce is Philo? It's a "cordcutter" bundle service that offers a bunch of non-sports channels for 16 bucks. It's not overwhelming by itself--the Turner channels are conspicuous by their absence--but it's a step in the right direction. In conjunction with another package and/or antenna, a lot of people who don't want ESPN and the like might save some money with this.

2) Acorn TV: I am loving Acorn so far. Enough to get it every month? Well, I don't know, but I definitely plan to keep watching 800 Words and Men Behaving Badly.

3) Hulu: My young son was blown away by the fact that I made a profile for him on Hulu and he could watch Teen Titans Go. Thank goodness I didn't have to make him a treehouse or something.

Also, the other night, I just sat down and watched a couple of old sitcoms because why not? It's nice to enjoy the ever-expanding back catalog every now and then.

I look forward to seeing Paul Resier's backstage-at-Tonight Show show There's Johnny, and I don't want to say I'm glad SeeSo is gone, but...I can actually see it now that it's on Hulu.

4) Netflix: I will not use this space to make a remark about Netflix's ever-decreasing back catalogue. This week, I'm interested in the new Jim Carrey/Andy Kaufman documentary. Mudbound is supposed to be very good. Longmire has a new season. The Punisher is up. It's a big week for Netflix.

5) YouTube: First, my man SeanMc uploaded a ton of videos this week after an absence of a few weeks.  Then I have a movie lined up to watch but get wrapped up in an upload of the complete Andy Kaufman on David Letterman collection. Brilliant, YT.

6) Warner Archive Instant: I can't keep them out of the top 10 after seeing the awesome Eight Is Enough I did this week, but...the official Twitter account is still silent since October 22.

7) Amazon Prime: Won some kind of bidding war to do a Lord of the Rings series. I give Amazon a lot of credit...because I don't subscribe and I don't want my $ to go to a big, expensive Lord of the Rings series.

8) Nosey: I appreciate the new Sally episodes, but still no Sgt. Julu appearances? What's up with that?

Also, a new batch of Jerry Springer is here, including this episode titled "Boxing Blowout: Viewers vs. Guests": Let's get ready to rumble! Time after time viewers sitting at home watching the show have told themselves, 'I could take that guest.'" They have? I can't help it. I think I'm gonna watch it this week.

9) The CW: Legends of Tomorrow is quietly entertaining its following (it has one, right?) each week.

10) Shout! Factory TV: I didn't actually watch anything on here, but I appreciated customer service's response when I asked about the lack of updates on the Roku version. She basically blamed Roku, so not a huge help, but at least she didn't say, "Hey, it's free, asswipe!"

Screengrab Theatre #6: Ringo on Laugh-In

Let's go back to when Ringo Starr went on Laugh-In to promote his upcoming appearance in The Magic Christian. The legendary Beatle was a big presence in the episode, appearing in many segments and alongside most of the regular cast (though, sadly, not with the other awesome guest stars).

Get a haircut, hippie



They just happened to pick Alan Sues to do an "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" joke



Guest stars get the honor of being bashed by Ruth Buzzi

Moments after this scene, NBC affiliates in 7 states "experienced technical difficulties"

Pity Ringo didn't share any scenes with Sheldon Leonard...

...but Ruth Buzzi did!



We missed a chance to see Ringo interact with the great Art Metrano?



I don't want to say that wallpaper is garish, but I almost didn't notice Pam Rogers in a bikini



Have I mentioned how EDGY the show was?

Finally, viewers were delighted to learn the program was brought to them in living color...until they saw Dan Rowan's jacket