Let Me Make It Up To You

My apologies, we'v been falling down on the job a little bit posting the all important Question of the Week. Please accept this trivia extra with our love:

Tonight's trivia mentioned Darkwing Duck, the best known of the two Duck Tales spin off. The other?


Quack Pack! This animated series debuted in September 1996 and, unlike other Disney Afternoon shows, was aimed at teens aged 13 to 18. This did not work and the show only lasted for one season that comprised 39 episodes.

Quack Pack centers on Donald Duck and his nephews, Huey, Dewey, and Louie. The boys are shown as teenagers who speak in conventional (aka non duck) voices and participate in typical teenage activities.



Thanks, as always, to wikipedia.

No, This Cannot Be Unseen

Radar Love

Big Bird has a teddy bear named Radar, which is a nod to Walter "Radar" O'Reilly of M*A*S*H, who brought a teddy bear with him to war and was also lovably naive and innocent. Radar was given to Big Bird by Gary Burghoff (who played Radar on M*A*S*H) when he guest starred on the show. Later on, however, it was said that Big Bird got the bear as a gift from Mr. Hooper.

Need more? Enjoy the Muppet Wikipedia.

Kermit's Namesake

Extra trivia for yah, I just thought this was neat:

Theodore Kermit Scott Jr. was an American and professor of philosophy and also happened to be the childhood friend of Muppets creator, Jim Henson.

Kermit Scott grew up in Mississippi right alongside Jim Henson. They were said to have been close friends who spent a lot of time at the creek.

Henson eventually moved away from his hometown and lost contact with Scott. It was not until years later that Scott learned Henson had named one of his most famous Muppets, Kermit the Frog, after his childhood friend. Scott was reportedly "delighted" but never sought to gain publicity from the connection.

Carl & Lenny Together Forever

Carl Carlson (MPhys)
-Homer's co-worker
-Sometimes identified as Homer's supervisor
-Likes to call himself "an urban Lenny"
-Icelandic-African-American
-Buddhist
-Frequently said to be among the most attractive men in Springfield
-Suffers from Schizophrenia

Lenford "Lenny" Leonard (MPhys)
-Friend and co-worker of Homer Simpson
-Despite appearing in the First Church of Springfield, is a Buddhist
-Born in Chicago, he is also a war hero and a three-time juror
-Grandmother spent 20 years in a Soviet work camp, hinting that Lenny is at least half Russian
-Shown to be an adept guitar player
-Member number 12 of the Springfield chapter of the Stonecutters
-Had plastic surgery after upswing in the price of power plant stock
-Drives a green two-door hatch back; liscence plate reads "DUI GUY"
-His mother, who likes Carl and Moe more

Enjoy more at Simpsons Wikipedia.

Random Trivia Friday: Cartoons!

9 Legendary Cartoon Voices

Nancy Cartwright
Nancy Cartwright, AKA Bart Simpson, has also been the voice of Rufus on Kim Possible, Kip Kangaroo on Shirt Tales and, for a few episodes, Chuckie on Rugrats.

Billy West
For five shows, Billy West gave Stimpy a voice on Nickelodeon’s Ren and Stimpy; he’s been Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Pepe Le Pew and Elmer Fudd on various projects since the 1996 movie Space Jam; and he was the voice of Philip J. Fry, Professor Farnsworth, Dr. Zoidberg, Zapp Brannigan, Leo Wong and President Richard Nixon’s Head on Futurama. He’s also the current voice of Buzz, the Honey-Nut Cheerios Bee.

Eleanor Audley
Eleanor Audley is the voice of the psychic whose head is floating in the crystal ball at the Magic Kingdom’s Haunted Mansion. In addition, she supplied the voice for Maleficent in Sleeping Beauty and Lady Tremaine, the wicked stepmother, in Cinderella.

Verna Felton
Verna Felton is another voice actress the Disney company frequently employed. She was one of the fairy godmothers in Sleeping Beauty (Flora), Aunt Sarah in Lady and the Tramp, the fairy godmother in Cinderella, and the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland.

Patrick Warburton
Patrick Warburton has played Kronk from The Emperor’s New Groove, Joe Swanson, the cop on Family Guy, Brock Samson from the Venture Brothers, Buzz Lightyear in Buzz Lightyear of Star Command.

Daws Butler
Daws Butler is probably best known for being the voice of Yogi Bear, but he was also Elroy Jetson, Huckleberry Hound, Quick Draw McGraw, Snagglepuss, Peter Potamus and Wally Gator. He also provided the voices for both Cap’n Crunch and Snap of elf trio Snap, Crackle and Pop. For a time he held an actor’s studio out of his home, where one of his students was none other than Nancy Cartwright.

Tress MacNeille
Chip and Gadget, of TV's Rescue Rangers, were both voiced by the same person – Tress MacNeille. She now voices more than 17 characters on The Simpsons including Mrs. Skinner, Dr. Hibbert’s wife, Apu’s wife, the crazy cat lady, Lunchlady Doris and Plopper, and the pig from The Simpsons Movie. She was also Babs the Bunny on Tiny Toon Adventures and Dot on Animaniacs.

Information from the ever fabulous Mental Floss

It's Time to Meet the Muppets...

The Muppet Show took place at the Muppet Theater, and featured both on-stage acts and frantic backstage activity.

Kermit the Frog served as host of The Muppet Show, and was also the director, assisted by Scooter. The show's orchestra was conducted by Nigel, and musical acts ranged from solo musicians such as Rowlf the Dog, the always enjoyable Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem.


Because it was a puppet show, The Muppet Show had the advantage of being able to include an endless array of characters with only a small number of performers. Recurring figures included Sam the Eagle; Camilla the Chicken; Robin the Frog, (aka Kermit's nephew); and Link Hogthrob, the captain of The Swinetrek, among with hundreds of others, for example:

Beauregard
The lovable janitor at the Muppet Theater (who took over for George the Janitor). Although he tries to be helpful, his efforts result in disaster more often than not. Beauregard's appeared in The Great Muppet Caper as a taxi driver and brought Kermit, Fozzie and Gonzo to the Happiness Hotel.

Janice
The lead guitar player in the Electric Mayhem, Janice also portrays Nurse Janice in Veterinarian's Hospital, and appears in various other sketches. In Michael Frith's original sketch of the character Janice was intended to be a male character, a takeoff on Mick Jagger's emaciated frame. Her name is probably a reference to Janis Joplin.

Jim
The banjo player for the Country Trio, which performed in variety show appearances in the mid 70s and occasionally on The Muppet Show, Jim is based on Jim Henson. His band mates (Frank and Jerry) are likewise based on muppet performers.

Sweetums
A grotesque, hairy ogre, Sweetums who towers above his human and Muppet co-stars. His bulldog-like lower jaw, thick eyebrows, shabby brown shirt, and threatening expression belie his more or less genial nature. Sweetums first appeared on the television special The Frog Prince in 1971. In 1976, Sweetums joined the cast of The Muppet Show and had a featured part in The Muppet Movie. Sweetums' performer uses his right arm to either operate the mouth or the right arm: when the right arm moves, the mouth can't move on its own, and vice versa. The eyes and eyebrows move by remote control.

For all thing Muppet, be sure to visit the Muppet Wikipedia

Audio Round: Themes from TV Shows

1. Entertainment Tonight
2. Charlie's Angels
3. Taxi
4. Smallville
5. Unsolved Mysteries
6. Doogie Howser
7. Scrubs
8. Battlestar Gallactica

Again... links coming.. really...

na, na, na, na, Batman!

So The Dark Knight is kicking @ss and taking names at the box office. In hour, lets have some trivia about the campy TV series that started it all...

* The Batmobile was a customized 1955 Lincoln Futura, which had been used in the film It Started with a Kiss (1959).

* The Batcave set was built on the exact spot where the Skull Island Gate was located in the original King Kong (1933).

* The show aired from January 12, 1966 to March 14, 1968 on ABC for 120 episodes. It was one of few TV series to be seen on 2 different nights a week: 7:30 Wednesdays AND Thursdays. The episodes were generally two-parters: Wednesday's episode was a cliffhanger, resolved in Thursday's episode.

* Some of the 1966-7 episodes paired super criminals with one another, following in the pattern of the theatrically released version of the series, Batman (1966), which featured The Catwoman, The Joker, The Riddler and The Penguin.

* When playing The Joker, Cesar Romero painted over his mustache rather than shave it off.

* Burgess Meredith's role as The Penguin was one of the more popular guest roles, so much so that the producers actually had a script ready for him whenever he was in Los Angeles.

* The Shakespeare bust used to slide open the bookcase and expose the batpoles had an electric switch that couldn't open the bookcase but it did turn on a light behind the set to signal the crew to slide it open.
* In all the scenes of the villains' hideouts, the camera filmed at an angle, almost "crooked" (the shot is known as "canted"). This was because all the villains were also crooked.

* Aunt Harriet was written into the series to counter the rumors that Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson were gay. The producers felt that a female aunt would "round out" Wayne Manor.

* A Total of 352 "Holy" words were used by Robin from "Holy Agility" to "Holy Zorro".

* The National Safety Council brought up the safety issue in the Batmobile. They wanted to know why the Batmobile was not fitted with seat belts. The producers answered that question by having Batman and Robin "buckling up" before they tore out of the Batcave.

* Each main villain had their own theme music.

* Anne Baxter appeared as two different villians. The first one was the female magician Zelda, but her more famous appearance was as Egghead's paramour Olga, Queen of the Cossacks.

* When the series premiered, Alfred had been "killed off" a few years earlier in the comic book series. However, when the producers announced that they intended to make Alfred a regular character, he was brought back to life in the comic book as well.

* 84 different word overlays were used during the fight scenes from "Bam" to "Kapow".

* The first show to hold two spots in the weekly Neilsen ratings every week, a feat not duplicated until "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" (1999/I) over 30 years later.

* The Riddler was just a minor and forgettable villain in the comics. This series is responsible for turning him into one of the most popular villains in Batman's rogues gallery.

* This was one of the "in" shows to appear on if you were a big name in Hollywood, and many top names guested on the show, including many who didn't do much TV otherwise. Those performers who weren't cast as guest villains could frequently be seen popping their heads out of windows to exchange a few words with Batman and Robin when the latter would be climbing up a building wall.

* Of all the villains portrayed on the television series, Mr. Freeze had the most actors portraying him: George Sanders, Otto Preminger and Eli Wallach. Catwoman had three actresses as well -- Julie Newmar, Eartha Kitt, and Lee Meriwether (in the movie version).

* Batman creator Bob Kane noted that this series saved the Batman comic series from cancellation when the show revived the character's popularity. Despite this, most comic fans despised this series for stereotyping superheroes and comics as campy nonsense.

Random Trivia Wednesday: The Golden Girls

1. The idea came from a visit to an elderly aunt. The aunt’s neighbor was also her best friend, and he was amused at how they constantly bickered with one another, but yet they always remained pals.

2. When casting the show, Lee Grant was first offered the role of Dorothy, but she refused to play a woman old enough to have grandchildren. Even though the original production notes describing Dorothy listed her as “a Bea Arthur type,” it took some time before the producers got the bright idea of actually offering the part to actress Beatrice Arthur.

3. Bea Arthur (Dorothy) was actually a year older than the actress who portrayed her mother on the show.

4. When Rue McClanahan and Betty White were first hired for the series, it was with the intent of Betty playing man-hungry Blanche, and Rue the naïve Rose. However, both actresses felt that those roles were too similar to characters they’d recently played: Rue’s Vivian on Maude and Betty’s Sue Ann Nivens on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. They asked the producers if they could switch roles, and after the first table reading it was agreed that the change was a brilliant idea.

5. The pilot episode featured a flamboyantly gay cook named Coco (played by Charles Levin) who worked for the Girls. By the time the series was picked up, though, his part had been eliminated for two reasons: the writers noted that in many of the proposed future scripts the main interaction between the women occurred in the kitchen while preparing and eating food, and a separate cook would distract from that camaraderie and the character of Sophia had originally been planned as an occasional guest star, but Estelle Getty had tested so strongly with preview audiences that the producers quickly made Sophia a regular character and chief chef which made Coco superfluous.

6. A 2005 study by Simmons Market Research determined that more gays and lesbians watched The Golden Girls than the general population in any given week. The show did touch on homosexuality a few times: Blanche’s brother came out as gay in one episode and Dorothy’s college friend was a lesbian.

7. Estelle Getty was 47 years old before she first appeared on stage, so it was no wonder that she felt intimidated by her veteran co-workers. Since Sophia was a last-minute addition as a regular character, who would’ve thought that she would ultimately become the most popular Golden Girl? Part of her charm was the stroke that had damaged the part of her brain that censored her speech, which allowed the writers to give her some classic cutting lines.

8. As time went on, Estelle had some odd medical problems that ultimately led to a misdiagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease. Unfortunately, the medications she was given in error further exacerbated the problem. It wasn’t until the mid-2000s that she was finally diagnosed as suffering from Lewy Body Dementia.

9. A large part of the Golden Girls’ appeal was that they were all women over age 50 who were still actively working, volunteering in the community, and even dating and having sex. They showed the world that menopause didn’t automatically equal resigning oneself to knitting afghans and baking cookies.

Enjoy some class quotes at IMDB

Random Trivia Wednesday: Mr Rogers

Things You Didn't Know About Everyone's Favorite Neighbor

1. Koko, the Stanford-educated gorilla who could speak about 1000 words in American Sign Language, was an avid Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood fan. As Esquire reported, when Fred Rogers took a trip out to meet Koko for his show, not only did she immediately wrap her arms around him and embrace him, she did what she’d always seen him do onscreen: she proceeded to take his shoes off!

2. According to a TV Guide piece, Fred Rogers drove a plain old Impala for years. One day, the car was stolen from the street near the TV station. Within 48 hours the car was left in the exact spot where it was taken from, with an apology on the dashboard reading; “If we’d known it was yours, we never would have taken it.”

3. His daily routine included waking up at 5, praying for a few hours for all of his friends and family, studying, writing, making calls and reaching out to every fan who took the time to write him, going for a morning swim, getting on a scale, then really starting his day.

4. He was likely the most tolerant American ever. Mr, Rogers seems to have been almost exactly the same off-screen as he was onscreen. As an ordained Presbyterian minister, and a man of tremendous faith, Rogers preached tolerance first. Whenever he was asked to castigate non-Christians or gays for their differing beliefs, he would instead face them and say, with sincerity, “God loves you just the way you are.” Often this provoked ire from fundamentalists.

5. He was Color-blind both literally (He couldn’t see the color blue) and figuratively (as were his parents who took in a black foster child when Rogers was growing up).

6. Once while rushing to a New York meeting, and finding no available cabs, Rogers and one of his colleagues hopped on the subway. Esquire reported that the car was filled with people, who all simultaneously burst into song, chanting “It’s a wonderful day in the neighborhood.” The result made Rogers smile wide.

7. He was an Ivy League Dropout. Rogers moved from Dartmouth to Rollins College to pursue his studies in music.

8. He composed all the songs on the show, and over 200 tunes.

9. He was a perfectionist, and disliked ad libbing. He felt he owed it to children to make sure every word on his show was thought out.

10. Michael Keaton got his start on the show as an assistant– helping puppeteer and operate the trolley.

11. Several characters on the show are named for his family. Queen Sara is named after Rogers’ wife, and the postman Mr. McFeely is named for his maternal grandfather who always talked to him like an adult, and reminded young Fred that he made every day special just by being himself (which is the same way Mister Rogers closed every show).

12. Every one of the cardigan sweaters he wore on the show had been hand-knit by his mother.

The Fall Guy? What?

For anyone who had never heard of "The Fall Guy":

According to Wikipedia:
"The Fall Guy is an American television program produced for ABC and originally broadcast from 1981 to 1986. It stars Lee Majors, Heather Thomas, and Douglas Barr.

Lee Majors plays Colt Seavers, a Hollywood stunt man who moonlights as a bounty hunter. He uses his physical skills and knowledge of stunt effects (especially stunts involving cars or his large GMC pickup truck) to capture fugitives and criminals. He is accompanied by his cousin and stuntman-in-training Howie Munson, and occasionally by fellow stunt performer Jody Banks."

Trivia:
*The theme song, "The Unknown Stuntman", was sung by series star Lee Majors, and actually became a minor hit in the early 1980s. The lyrics of the theme song include the line, "I've been seen with Farrah," a reference to Lee Majors' ex-wife, Farrah Fawcett.
*The opening credits feature a man falling down onto what seems to be a glass floor. This stunt is from The Poseidon Adventure (1972) in which a man falls from a table onto the glass ceiling in the ball-room when the ship has turned upside down.
*Initailly, the TV execs were a little wary of doing a show a stuntman who moonlights as a private investigator. But when they were played a demo tape of Lee Majors singing "The Unknown Stuntman", they changed their minds.

Ducktales Intro

Because, if you're anything like me. you've had this stuck in your head since trivia:



In German
In Japanese
In Hungarian
In Finnish
In Dutch

Songs from This Week's Audio Round

1. Tenacious D - Land of the Lost (theme)

2. Theme to The Fall Guy (The Unknown Stuntman)

3. The Heights - How Do You Talk to an Angel

4. Sesame Street - The Pointer Sisters - Pinball Number Count
Or on YouTube

5. Jenny Lewis - Little Boxes (feat. Johnathan Rice)

6. Angelo Badalamenti - Twin Peaks Theme (Instrumental)

7. Let's Go To The Mall (From How I Met Your Mother)
Or on YouTube

8. Ducktales Theme (Dubbed in Hindi)