Not too long ago, we received a text message from a “reader” that asked us a simple and to the point question. The text message just read “Do you ever watch TV?”
First of all, we can’t state if this text message is something that is in line to this news service as this I don’t normally solicit any input to what we do through text. Emails for sure, but not text messages. Nevertheless, we will go ahead to reply to this curious mind that exists within the 747 area code.
To give you a simple answer to that simple question is “Yes”. However, it’s not in the same method as anyone else would within this domestic society.
As some of you may know, I am a media archivist. This isn’t something that can be called a “side hustle”, although it appears to be conceived that way. What I do is to catalog various videotapes I have received over the many months and years reviewing the content that was recorded on these tapes. What I do look at varies in content. Some of it can be home videos featuring subjects that are akin to a traditional home movie, such as families on vacations, meeting for holiday based events, kids fooling around with the camera, and with the occasional home made “sex tape”–a subject worthy enough for its own column. And there are the occasional recordings of feature films either recorded through an off-air TV source, or from a copy extracted from a commercial pre-recorded tape.
But what I look for is television programs that were for the most part, recorded off the air for either a later viewing or for something that was worth keeping. This method of time shift viewing (a name that media experts adapted) started as early as 1976 for the first Sony Betamax owners. A year later, the first VHS machines came on the market where folks were able to record a favorite program to view at a more convenient time. When (or if) the recorded program was viewed by the person who set up the recording, it would be eventually erased to use the tape again for the same purpose. If it was saved, it was either done with an intentional purpose, or the tape was tossed aside nearly forgotten.
These are the tapes I tend to deal with as many of the programs I have seen that were recorded from the late 1970’s well into the early 2000s. Some are monumental events, such as presidential debates or Princess Di’s wedding coverage. Others are sporting games either regular season or playoff matches, or maybe some kind of awards program. (Oscars, Emmys, etc.) But what I look for is obscure episodes of a series that was short lived. There are titles that only ran a selected number of episodes, only to have the network cancel the show. Syndication of TV reruns were usually not done if the series has less than 100 episodes. If a series created only a handful of episodes, that program would fall into oblivion, never to be seen again. No syndication packages, no home video releases, and no streaming anywhere!
And this is where I come in where I will watch an episode of a series long forgotten, to only make it available to anyone that holds the desire to view the program, either for research, reference, or for general amusement, although I tend to give access for the first two reasons.
Not too long ago, I watched an episode of the TV sitcom titled The Duck Factory. This was a series that starred Jim Carrey in his first leading role as a cartoonist who gets his big break working at a failing animation studio. It also featured character actor Jack Gilford as a fellow cartoonist, and Don Messick as a voice actor. Messick was in reality a cartoon voice guy who did a lot of stuff at Hanna-Barbera. The series itself ran on NBC in the spring and early summer of 1984 for only a dozen or so episodes. The show itself was amusing, but far from becoming a “classic”. It aired at the time when the TV networks were starting to have their audience erode due to the rise of cable TV. It won’t be for another ten to fifteen years when the “big three” (later “big four, five, and six”) would see cable TV as a real threat.
There are other titles, but The Duck Factory was just an example. So when I do watch TV, it’s usually based on a work assignment rather than for something I look at to “zone out!”
And does watching videos via YouTube count as “TV”? Yes and no, depending on who or what you ask. Smart TV devices will allow you to watch YouTube content via a big screen set, while it’s possible to view traditional TV channels once limited to a cable TV set up on a mobile device. So if one desires to view the latest antics presented by Mr. Beast on a 72” screen, or to catch a ball game through a hand held smartphone sporting a 7” screen, then that’s watching TV.
Well, I’ver got to get back to my work going through a load of videotapes I should have looked at already, even if I an attempting to catch of with viewing programs some 40 years after the fact! As they say, better late than never….!
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The Actors’ Gang Theatre of Culver City presents Tim Robbins in TOPSY TURVY, a musical take of a Greek tragedy and classic vaudeville that speaks upon a crisis and the aid from the gods to assist.
Set within a universe of the then and now, a Greek chorus is set among some sort of a disorder in the guise of a mysterious infirmity set among its people. Pandemonium is let loose, but only the gods of myth or mayhem are summoned to bring among to its people calm and sensibility, only to have such peace interrupted in the form of a frantic vaudevillian-esque troupe of players. They are at hand not only to bring humor, but to show that such a tragedy can bring healing. And that healing is created through the human spirit.
Tim Robbins, star of stage and screen, created this single act theater piece when he faced isolation while living in London, U.K. during the height of the pandemic. With an original music score composed by Robbins and Mikala Schmidt, he, along with a group of other performers as the chorus that consist of (as listed in alphabetical order), Fazeelat Aslam, J. Claude Deering, Willa Fossum, Stepanie Galindo, Scott Harris, Charlotte Hacke, Chas Harvey, Ayinde Howell, Mariana Jaccazio, Adam J. Jefferis, Molly Kirschenbaum, Mary Eileen O’Donnell, Luis Quintana, Adele Robbins, Tip Scarry, Megan Stogner, and Guebri Van Over (with Melina Fink, Maga Shukar, and Jimmy Berry serving as understudies), this troupe performs as they speak and vocalize upon the elements as faced, and how these mystic and sensible beings can come toward the aid of the humans that coincide, dividing themselves from the frantic mishaps that leads toward udder upheaval.
The musical score presented shows more of the calming effect. The musical accommodation consisting of Dave Robbins on guitar and percussion, Mikala Schmitz and Danice Pinner on cello, Megan Stogner on Melodica, Willa Fossum on piano, and Guebri Van Over of flute, bring more perspective to this production as presented, bringing what is depicted on stage to more modern times rather than the days when Greek culture was more profound in the western world that was known. Rynn Vogel’s costuming shows forth within the Greek chorus’ wardrobe as well as the vaudevillian troupe as witnessed. The latter is more 21st century than what could be found in the days known as “the ancient era”.
This entire production that holds the subtitle as “A Musical Greek Vaudeville”, is far from being another side show with second rate acts that sing, dance, and tell bad jokes. It’s more of a side where comedy does meet tragedy, all there with the sense of rising to the occasion no matter what.
And that is what this production does! It rises toward graveling from a state of miscontrol to a feeling of the soul’s reactions. Whatever one may see things, it always left to a Greek chorus telling it like it is, all within the sense of elegance and anima. It’s not “topsy turvy”, but depicted as an image in full along with a steady musical balance.
TOPSY-TURVY-A MUSICAL GREEK VAUDEVILLE, performs at The Actors’ Gang, 9070 Venice Blvd., Culver City, until June 8th. Showtimes are Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights at 8:00 PM, and Sunday matinees on May 26th and June 2nd, at 2:00 PM. Post show discussions take place with the cast and crew after each performance on May 24th, 31st, and June 7th.
For more information and to reserve tickets, call (310) 838-4264, or online at http://www.TheActorsGang.org
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