WB Archives' assertion "Hanna-Barbera's other stone-age family" on the back cover of the recently released complete series DVD set of "Korg: 70,000 B.C." sums up this little known 1974 live-action Saturday morning show well. The neanderthal clan is hardly modern, and there is nary a dinosaur (talking or not) or wooly mammoth shower in sight.
For my part, I told the good folks at WB that they had me at Hanna-Barbera. Watching the episodes motivated having my cats endure shouts of "CAPTAIN CAVEMAN," a really funny mash-up between Scooby-Doo and The Flintstones that I hope is on WB Archives' short list to release.
The fact that Korg is highly educational does not detract from its entertainment value. These tales of the titular character, his spouse, three kids, and uncle Bok depict what is believed to be the daily life of a cave-dwelling human and his clan. Consultants from the New York's American Museum of Natural History and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County contributed to the show.
Any physical resemblance to the Baldwin clan is coincidental.
Although series narrator Burgess Meredith provided a disclaimer at the end of each episode that the plots were based on theories derived from artifacts from the period, the depiction of Korg's et al daily lives may not have been accurate, I considered the overall tone reasonably accurate.
The pilot episode was a very good depiction of a prehistoric version of "MacGyver." The family used physics and the materials at hand to rescue some of its members after a small earthquake caused rocks to block the entrance to the cave.
Less impressive (but inadvertently funnier) elements of the pilot were the family's sons inventing the teeter-tooter, and setting the record that Bobby and Cindy Brady strived to beat several thousand years later, and really cheesy effects. I also laughed when a rock wall rippled when a character touched it, and a narrated bat attack did not show one single such winged creature. Additionally, the family did not venture very far in that offering.
The production values dramatically improved in the second episode. That one addressed the necessity of hunting and respectfully showed the family's logic-based superstitions.
Another early episode in which a blinded hunter from another clan forced Korg's teen son to guide him home provided a good kid-friendly story about the challenges of living to see another day in that truly survival of the fittest world.
This show really is one that kids from three to ninety-three can enjoy. It also meets my long-abandoned criteria for buying DVDs of being a good show that is not heavily syndicated.
Anyone with questions regarding "Korg" or "Captain Caveman" is welcome to email me.
This review may get my home pelted with cage-free organic eggs, but watching Shout Factory's complete series DVD set, which is being released on January 8, 2013, of the 13-episode 2009 animated comedy "The Goode Family" prompted anger that the series did not last longer. A Christmas wish is that it be revived in the same manner as "Family Guy" and "Futurama."
I do not intend to offend anyone but wish to communicate both that "Goode" is an excellent show and that my personal experiences show that that series expertly lampoons a very influential segment of the American population.
Mike Judge, who brought us the cult classic film "Office Space" and the anti-"Goode Family" hit series "King of the Hill," produced this show about fanatically liberal and progressive couple Gerald and Helen Goode. These folks make Green Party members seem like Tea Baggers.
"Goode" is incredibly awesome and does an even better job at depicting folks to whom I refer as beret wearing poseurs than Judge did regarding providing a look at redneck life in "King."
For the record, I consider myself a moderate and reasonable individual who strongly believes that this nation needs a viable moderate and reasonable political party but ain't holding my breath waiting for that to occur.
I will add that Whole Foods' macaroni and cheese is a contender if I
ever need to choose a death-row meal, that I prefer the high quality snacks at Whole Foods to more mass-produced products (including the two boxes of Twinkies in my freezer), and that I interrupted writing this
view to shop at LL Bean's website.
The main difference regarding "King" and "Goode" is that rednecks seem to have a much better sense of humor about themselves than extreme liberals. As I demonstrate below, "Goode" is spot on and has a wonderful sense of humor regarding fanatical environmental and social conscious views.
The pilot, which centers around wife Helen trying to bond with teen daughter Bliss about sex, includes a scene in which Helen shops at the Whole Foods clone "One Earth." A hilarious shot in that scene shows the price of seemingly identical apples increasing dramatically as their level of organicness supposedly increases. Of course, Helen purchases the most expensive ones.
The scene ends with a highly embarrassed Helen earning evil stares from the checkout cashier and other customers because she forgot her reusable bags. Rather than use paper bag, Helen juggles (and drops) her purchases in her hands.
This scene reminded me of driving across the entire city of Denver during rush hour with a friend, who is very active with the Green Party, to get lettuce at a Whole Foods because he refused to shop at a traditional grocery store.
Of course, my friend refused to get a bag any time that we shopped during the visit. This once involved him juggling (and dropping) items.
Similarly. Trader Joe's cashiers always insist on cramming my paper bags so full that they inevitably break. I have also had requests for plastic bags, to better keep frozen items cool, met with looks that suggested that I made an unwelcome sexual advance.
Closer to home, there have been a few times when another friend's car has come incredibly close to running out of gas late at night because he refused to buy gas from Mobil Exxon because he disagreed with some of their corporate policies.
Another episode has husband Gerald Goode campaigning for a Public Broadcast Radio (PBR) station in his community. He succeeds to learn that this NPResque organization is just as ruthless as openly commercial radio stations. A PBR representative trying to explain that a 30-second corporate sponsorship message differs from a radio ad is hilarious.
I regularly listen to NPR and attended a wonderful live recording of that network's "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me." However, I have patronized many "corporate sponsors" because I wanted their products independently of their support for public broadcast.
I also love the "Car Talk" guys' references to their "shameless commerce" division.
Additional terrific episodes include one in which Gerald inadvertently acquires a group of immigrant day laborers and Helen accidentally exploits a third-world refugee. Judge follows this one up with Helen and Gerald getting inner-city kids pummeled by posting their artsy photos in their school.
An additional great theme is the subversive acts of Bliss, who is the Marilyn Munster of the group, and her redneck maternal grandfather. Seeing this pair gleefully throw out disgusting and embarrassing items to torment a visiting guru who lives on items from garbage cans is fall on the floor funny.
An episode in which Bliss and Grandpa operate a joint fake ID business is equally funny. They recognize that her friends can drive at night and that his friends can buy beer.
The bottom line is that this is an excellent show that is rarely, if ever, syndicated that is well worth owning. The deleted scenes and unaired scripts are nice bonuses.
Anyone with questions or comments regarding "The Goode Family" is welcome to email me.
The recently released DVD set of the complete series of the 1983-85 Saturday morning cartoon series "The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show" makes a good supplement to the DVDs of classic Peanuts specials such a "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and the equally awesome "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown."
Similar to the great holiday specials mentioned above, "Snoopy" mines material from the "Peanuts" comic strip that the Mr. Rogers of the comics world Charles Schultz wrote for decades.
The simple but hilarious concept of the strip was the daily life of a extremely cute and imaginative beagle, his bird friend, and neighborhood children who experienced the highs and lows of elementary school life and regularly offered highly insightful comments about the world around them.
The series quickly fully recovered from pilot error in the form of the first episode not being especially amusing and consisting of far too short segments that did not capture the true spirit of the Peanuts world.
The second episode was much better if only because it consisted of longer segments and mined better material from the scripts. The show truly hit its stride by the third season.
One of the best lines from the series came courtesy of Peppermint Patty who remarked that Charlie Brown must be rich because his father was a barber. Patty reasoned that all barbers were wealthy because they made a pure profit after paying off their scissors and combs.
A witty segment in which Rerun, the baby brother of bullying older sister nickel psychiatrist Lucy and bullied middle child and security blanket dependent Linus Van Pelt mused on being disappointed by life at the age of one also captured the spirit of both the strip and the show.
A third great segment also related to Rerun, who did not wear a beret or blindingly bright pants or shout "Hey Hey Hey" on entering a room. This one had Linus taunting Lucy by reminding her that she was already unhappy about having one brother and now had two of them.
A fourth classic moment had Linus getting his comeuppance in the form of Snoopy stalking him and then flinging him about by his blanket.
Snoopy additionally got to shine in perhaps the best few minutes of the entire series. This one had Charlie Brown's little sister Sally bringing Snoopy to school as a visual aid for a report on animals.
Snoopy's presence prompted Sally's unseen second grade classmates to shout out hilarious remarks, such as "what kind of animal is that" and "he looks like a moose." Needless to say, the short-tempered Snoopy did not suffer those fools gladly.
The best remark from the toddlers was "here moosie moosie." For those of you who are tempted to try this at home, I can share that my cats did not appreciate that rudeness any better than Snoopy.
The bottom line is that this is a must-have set for members of the Peanut generation and their kids. You Joe Cools out there will like it if only to better understand what "South Park" has been mocking for nearly 20 years.
Anyone with questions regarding "The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show" is encouraged to email me.
