UnPrintable Pitfalls of Pungent Pits?

In the wee hours of this Saturday morn, the odd hours I’ve been keeping (a pandemic-related and exacerbated, chronic phenomenon) found me slowly prying open my sandman gritted over eyelids; the direct consequence of catching a few Zs during a Buzzr TV network scheduled, Password mini-marathon.

Lo and behold… that was just in time for me to be eye-witnessing that show’s impresario and iconic host, Allen Ludden, tossing it all to commercial; i.e.., turning over his respectable game show podium to the impudent, psychotic conman and parasite, Mike Lindell; that latter man still serially smooching sore loser, Donald J. Trump’s fetid, fascist fanny. Yep, he’d much rather be promoting emperor Trump’s Big Lie (re the 2020 elections) than be presiding over his own, oft forsaken pillow empire.

All wordplay aside… ever since sore loser Trump really, Really, REALLY did get trounced by Joe Biden, ignoraNus (<— NOT A TYPO) Mikey, has been compulsively siphoning off multiple millions of his corporate profits; i.e. just to bankroll what WAS, IS, and SHALL FOREVER BE his futile crusade to non-Constitutionally, Oval Office re-install dictator, dickhead Donny.

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Obviously, MAGA “magnate” Mikey hates everything that’s decency and democracy related.

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Yet, even in spite of Lindell’s zealotry, he has recognized that, from time to time, in order to fluff his pillow profits, he must eschew fluffing Donny. Ergo, of late, he’s been frantically, TV huckstering his sleepy time products; in this instance, all courtesy of the Sixties era, ad campaign; namely, à la the very Right Guard deodorant commercial vid, that tops off this post.

I do find it fitting that Lindell has opted to go this route. Hmm, might he be sensing that his nearly three-year-old, odious, odoriferous political posturing is in need of a massive, metaphorical double spritz? You know, to metaphorically fumigate his stinky partisan and corporate armpits.

However, what Mikey has utterly failed to grasp, here,.. is that even were we to combine Right Guard with each and every other deodorant brand sold throughout the entire multiverse, that could NEVER, EVER even begin to fully mask what, sure as $#!+, always wafts off of ALL fascist fecal matter.

Truth be told… at present, what Trump, Lindell and every other MAGA malcontent, maniac and moron all sit atop is the Mount Everest magnitude dung heap of their shared, anti-decency, anti-democracy agenda.

More to the point, no truly respectable, perceptive citizens (inclusive of moi) could ever cozy up to a TV sponsor (such as Mike Lindell) whose side hustle, on behalf of his cult leader, one Donald J. Trump, is to co-sponsor, the political downfall of the United States of America.

Needless to say… I would no more buy into Lindell’s pillow sales pitch than into his all-things-Trump grift. Hell, I’d net more comfort from resting my noggin atop a log or tree stump.

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Be humans Vaxxed OR Unvaxxed, We
can still shed and spread the batcrap
crazy contagious coronavirus which,
in turn, spawns new variants; which,
in turn, could, eventually, render the
available vaccines worthless; which,
in turn, will drag out the pandemic’s
needless suffering, illness and death!

HENCE… this easy as pie, cover your
nose and pie-hole/hole-up heads-up:

Stay Publicly / Properly Masked!
Stay Safe at Home!
Stay Healthy!

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Advertisement

Planet M-113 / Star Date 1513.1

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Those headlined, rather cryptic, Space / Time fun facts were gleaned from the log of James Tiberius Kirk, Captain of the original U.S.S. Enterprise 1701; mission details and relevant data securely cached within the “Memory Alpha computer mainframe”; also backed up by this Earthbound, longtime fan’s gleaming DVD; aptly labelled Season 1 / Episode 1 / Disc 1.

This first mission program is aka George Clayton Johnson’s screenplay titled, The Man Trap, which debuted / encored (respectively)…

• Old Earth Date: Thursday, 08 September 1966 at 20:30
• Just Last Night: Thursday, 08 September 2022 at 20:30

ASIDE: Time Warps do become extra special whenever two Julian Calendars perfectly align.

All of which did afford this Sci-Fi geek a golden opportunity to live / relive that Star Trek buzz; doing so in my dual role; (respectively) as a 20th century budding hippie and 21st century fuddy-duddy (self-deprecating humor?)

Yes, indeed, “both of us” are pleased to report that, on both evenings, the Sci-Fi escapism was… was… well… what can I say? It all was (still is) inescapable; precisely the panacea, which Captain Kirk’s sidekick, Ol’ Doc “Bones” McCoy, would’ve prescribed to chase away a bad case of the blues / blahs; all (dis)courtesy of the global pandemic and global warming, not to mention, the dual threat of a worldwide nuclear conflagration and an at the drop of a red MAGA cap, domestic coup.

Which brings us, now, to the Enterprise maiden voyage mission debriefing? In deference for any of my readers, who’ve yet to see this episode, I won’t get into a tell-all. However, it’d not be revealing too much to leave you with the following teaser…

From a technical standpoint, let’s deconstruct episode one’s opening scene; enhanced by five actors’ flawless choreography, the director’s clever camera angling and the film editor’s post production skills. All in all, a group effort that allows us, the viewers, to see thru three Trek characters’ eyes; i.e., how Dr. McCoy, Capt. Kirk and Crewman Darnell keep on experiencing (fantasizing?) (hallucinating?) unique, vastly different, visual perceptions of (shapeshifter?) character Nancy Crater.

Beyond that… my link to the Mission Debriefing Wikipedia Essay will get labeled SPOILER ALERT. In other words, avoid clicking onto it if you dare to boldly go where you’ve never gone before; to assertively “set sail” on your maiden voyage off to Episode One; to, at long last, experience the 56 years ago birth of Series Creator Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek Multiverse.

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Be humans Vaxxed OR Unvaxxed, We
can still shed and spread the batcrap
crazy contagious coronavirus which,
in turn, spawns new variants; which,
in turn, could, eventually, render the
available vaccines worthless; which,
in turn, will drag out the pandemic’s
needless suffering, illness and death!

HENCE… this easy as pie, cover your
nose and pie-hole/hole-up heads-up:

Stay Publicly / Properly Masked!
Stay Safe at Home!
Stay Healthy!

-30-

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Borg Queen Trump

Subtitle: Resistance is Futile?

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Perhaps you rarely, if ever, venture anywhere near the strange new worlds found within the Star Trek multiverse? If so, that’d place you amongst the few who’ve yet to view the The Best of Both Worlds; screenplay writer Michael Piller’s season three and four, two parter; still ranked by many fans as that franchise’s greatest story ever told.

To bring any non-Trekkers up to warp speed, a Wikipedia essay will both provide the storyline and “flesh” out who (what) the Borg are. By the by, I’m labeling this link SPOILER ALERT (my last-ditch caveat to anyone who might now be considering a first time viewing).

Of course, one needn’t be a Sci-Fi fan to know that Star Trek storytellers are renown for utilizing their futuristic narratives to draw parallels; to exquisitely expose / cast aspersions on the perpetrators / perpetuators of present day, indefensible, malignant societal scourges.

And, speaking of scourges, aka PTD’s (Politically Transmitted Diseases), let’s check out a few similarities to deplorable un-American present day, realities; namely…

How Donald J. Trump bears a striking resemblance to the Borg Queen.

Both entities are autocratic head cases. Externally they have folically challenged scalps and, internally, boast mucked up / scrambled brains. Worse yet, they command massive, ever-growing legions of cultists / drones; all hellbent on assimilating / enslaving each and every free spirit they encounter. In the end, all that’s left is their human wreckage; a retrograde society built, solely, upon the dismal, rickety foundation of mandatory, “resistance is futile”, no questions asked / allowed, mindless compliance.

Without giving away too much of The Best of Both World’s plot, eventually, acting Captain William Riker finds himself just about to issue his futile, last-ditch, save planet Earth / humanity orders; on the verge of commanding helmsman Ensign Wesley Crusher to kamikaze the U.S.S. Enterprise D into the enemy Borg cube / starship when… when…

Well, I did vow not to tell all…

Suffice to say, with heavy heart, I can apply such scenes to America’s glum 2024 “future”; predict that the never punished Donald J. Trump will run for his second term; where win or lose, humanity loses.

In other words… where Borg Queen Donny…

• In defeat, will order his “human” drones to burn down America
• In victory, will deploy his Space Force army to attack America

“The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard.”

Google Search • Read More Here (BTW, Space Force was Trump’s own cockamamie creation).
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Whatever the 2024 outcome, freedom lover Tom CANNOT and ABSOLUTELY WILL NOT live like that; all of which not only succinctly sums up my resolve… correction… my flat-out defiance of all things Trump… but could also, easily, become my own epitaph.

Indeed, once the rolled out Trumpian tanks near my hometown’s city limits; the very nanosecond that rumbling racket is within my earshot, that’d mean there’d be no hope left. At that juncture, futilely so, I’d block their path; i.e., lie right smack dab in the middle of Michigan Avenue; double daring that lead tank commander asshole to smash my atoms into the asphalt.

Call that my own William Riker Moment, too, for, obviously, my one, soon-to-be corpse could no more halt a tank than an Enterprise D head-on crash could ever halt a Borg Cube.

The only good part of such scenarios? Be screenplays Sci-Fi or Real Life, the well written ones can and oft do offer up unexpected plot twists; in the political context, that could be courtesy of a willy-nilly patchwork of Republicans who, for fleeting moments, might manage to muster the facade of decency, heroism and patriotism.

After all, on January 6 and 7, 2021, Vice President Mike Pence did flat-out defy Borg Queen Donald J. Trump; flip off his tyrant boss’s orders to unconstitutionally install him and demolish American Democracy; in essence proving…

Resistance Is NOT NECESSARILY Futile!

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Be humans Vaxxed OR Unvaxxed, We
can still shed and spread the batcrap
crazy contagious coronavirus which,
in turn, spawns new variants; which,
in turn, could, eventually, render the
available vaccines worthless; which,
in turn, will drag out the pandemic’s
needless suffering, illness and death!

HENCE… this easy as pie, cover your
nose and pie-hole/hole-up heads-up:

Stay Publicly / Properly Masked!
Stay Safe at Home!
Stay Healthy!

-30-

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Get Well Stephen Colbert (et al)

This IS Final(?) Jeopardy!

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Today’s Category: Late Night TV

Today’s Clue…

In ADDITION to Stephen Colbert, James Corden,
Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers & Jimmy Fallon all
hosting talk shows, they have THIS in common.

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Players, you have 30 seconds to express
your response in the form of a Question…

(Anyone opting to actually “compete”, should
think up that Question prior to scrolling down.)

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What is being fully vaxxed
YET, contracting Covid-19?

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TRUE Jeopardy Notation insists we punctuate our responses with a “?”, HOWEVER, there can be no question re the medical ramifications; i.e., while the vaccines are successfully preventing serious and deadly consequences, humans can STILL become coronavirus infected; STILL easily infect others.

And that STILL fully validates this layperson’s contention, from the very onset of this godforsaken plague:

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Only a WORLDWIDE MASK MANDATE can help ensure
we expeditiously snuff out & bury the coronavirus; i.e.,
avoid an apocalyptic scenario where one, maybe more
of its variants void the vaccines; to snuff out & bury us!

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There can be no question that sicko / psycho Donald J. Trump’s politicization of the pandemic has infected and spread throughout the vast body of his MAGA Maniacs / Morons / Malcontents (and beyond); thereby resulting in their all too damned common, cavalier attitude…

…their absolutely indefensible, “offhand, indifferent, casual, dismissive, insouciant, unconcerned; supercilious, patronizing, condescending, disdainful, scornful, contemptuous, couldn’t-care-less, devil-may-care” state of chronic insanity!

Quoted synonyms courtesy of the Oxford American Writer’s Thesaurus
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Upon closer scrutiny of this entire mess, matters pan out as the following, grave, glaringly obvious, public health threat…

• Bad enough… within the entertainment industry, ALL five of those mentioned TV personalities enjoy a vast circle of friends/contacts; far more so than average folks such as you and I do.
• Even worse… those friends/contacts also enjoy a vast circle of friends/contacts.
• Worst of all… it’s a near certainty that at some point, some of these infected people will come into contact with immunocompromised and unvaxxed individuals.

It’s at that juncture where the potential for needless suffering / dying enters the big picture.

Returning to the earliest of our pandemic days… we witnessed Colbert, Corden, Kimmel, Meyers and Fallon responsibly sheltering/isolating (e.g., doing their talk show shtick sans LIVE audiences; Zoom interviewing their guests.

More to the point… these hosts and guests, alike, had been just as witty, personable and entertaining as ever. Sure, I do get it, it’s no fun for comedians / entertainers to not cop that buzz; all courtesy of their applauding, cheering, hooting, whooping it up, LIVE audiences; HOWEVER…

In the end… the operative word becomes LIVE; as in keeping humanity ALIVE.

The time has come for these five entertainers to cease needlessly Jeopardizing humanity (case in point, Colbert’s covid has even spread to his house band’s impresario, Jon Batiste. Need I say more?) YES, I do need to say more. They must lead by example; demonstrate to the rest of humanity how to behave in a responsible, respectable manner.

In other words… Guys, PLEASE, set aside your egos; resume performing from your covid bunkers with only the bare minimum, production crew contingent. If this is any help, try harboring in your heads, hearts and souls the sentitments popularized by singer Vera Lynn; the lyrics which solemnly vow…

“We’ll meet again,
Don’t know where,
Don’t know when
But I know we’ll meet again some sunny day”

Song Composers Ross Parker and Hughie Charles • Complete Lyrics [HERE]
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Granted, my authoring a 700 word count blog, devoted to TV talk show hosts, may, superficially, seem silly. However, one cannot understate the beneficial impact this quintet (in particular Colbert, Meyers and Kimmel) has been making upon the national political discourse; how their speaking truth to power via “jokes”, serves a far more significant purpose.

Such courageous comedians are heightening the awareness / enlightenment of their Stateside audiences; the very people who, don’t normally pay close attention to the ever-present dangers; the grave threats to liberty and democracy; such as those posed by the STILL unpunished, insurrectionist and fascist X-Prez Trump and his entire freak show entourage.

Long pensive sigh… I now conclude this post, just as I’ve done for the past two+ years…

Now More Than Ever… PLEASE… EVERYBODY…

Stay Publicly / Properly Masked!
Stay Safe at Home!
Stay Healthy!

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APB: Fugitive Last Seen in Oregon

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Warning: Avoid Links to Evade Spoilers

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Even after a half century+, this now in his late sixties man still views producer and screenwriter Roy Huggins’ The Fugitive as my all-time favorite, nineteen sixties era TV drama. This won’t be the first time I’ve blogged about this superbly scripted and convincingly cast show and won’t likely be the last; mainly due to fresh, compelling, discussion angles frequently presenting themselves

When The Fugitive made its ABC (American Broadcasting Company) network debut, its Tuesday 10 p.m. slot was way past my bedtime. However, approximately midway thru its four-season run, I did manage to “grow into the show” (as it were) and, in a heartbeat, become a fast fan.

Who could not feel instant sympathy for the protagonist, Dr. Richard Kimble; i.e., considering how, while still in deep mourning, re the tragic death of his wife, Helen, he’d been wrongfully accused of being her murderer and, worse yet, convicted. True, his incarceration would only be brief, but that was due to his new “home” being situated on death row.

Only the en route to Indiana’s Big House, train derailment could pop open the handcuffs that conjoined Kimble and police Lt. Philip Gerard; offer the courtroom railroaded doctor an abrupt stay of execution; free him to pursue the actual killer (the one-armed man later identified as Fred Johnson), whom Richard had actually eye-witnessed fleeing the scene of the crime.

And, right then and there, the oft hot pursuit begins; Johnson fleeing Kimble; Kimble fleeing Gerard.

Even tho all of this intrigue does play out in TV land, with art renowned for frequently imitating life, the glaring ramifications could “only” serve to WISELY and WIDELY open my youthful eyes.

Most viewers could sense Huggins also taking a stand against real life imprudent jurisprudence and, via extension, showcasing capital punishment, already inhumane, in itself, as morphing into something even more contemptible, when (no spoiler re that link –>) judicial travesties condemn, to death, the falsely accused.

Hell, were such wrongful death jury trials ever convened, it’d be tough not to return a guilty verdict re each errant arresting officer, negligent crime scene investigator, overzealous district attorney and thoughtless juror.

Transitioning, now, to our second and last discussion angle….

Yesterday, the MeTV Network had aired Season 4’s Episode 28; Titled: The Shattered Silence; the very storyline that had ALMOST condemned Kimble to a “life” on the lam; i.e., till he EITHER died of old age OR Gerard wound up recapturing / dispatching him to death row’s doorstep. The following quotation will fill in the rest of the particulars…

“The [ABC] network was simply going to end the series with a regular episode without any kind of denouement, as network executives were totally oblivious to the concept that a television audience actually tuned in week after week and cared about the characters of a TV series. The timing of the broadcast was unusual. Rather than ending the regular season, the finale* was held back while suspense continued through the summer reruns.”

Fugitive Producer Leonard Goldberg / *original finale air dates 08/29 and 09/05/1967

Fortunately, the ABC (empty?) suits / bean counters, eventually funded the filming of the tie-up-the-loose-ends, two part episode, titled The Judgment; resulting in an advertiser’s bonanza; statistical data below:

“Part two of the finale was the most-watched television series episode up to that time. It was viewed by 25.7 million households (45.9 percent of American households with a television set and a 72 percent share), meaning that more than 78 million people tuned in.”

Wikipedia

Oh, btw, a reminder, just to keep viewers, new to the Fugitive Franchise, guessing; the airing of a finale does not, necessarily, guarantee a screenplay with a storybook ending.

However, for those of you, who are really, Really, REALLY content to settle for yesterday’s S 4 Ep 28, epilogue; i.e. when/where Kimble was last seen heading off into the Oregon hills; still desperately and doggedly hunting down the one-armed man Johnson, you’ll need to avoid watching The Judgment; slated to air on 4/11 & 4/18/2022 @2 a.m. Daylight Savings Time in the Eastern U.S. time zone (for some viewers, temporal adjustments will likely be necessary).

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Related Reading: The Fugitive’s Fascinating Facts

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Stay Publicly / Properly Masked!
Stay Safe at Home!
Stay Healthy!

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MeTV Axed Columbo! YIKES!

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The headline pretty much sums up the crime that went down last night; and on a Sunday, too!

The Big Q: Does the MeTV brass really, Really, REALLY know WHO they are going up against?

Word on the street has it that Lt. Columbo has already been moonlighting in another precinct; i.e, over at the Cozi TV network.

And this viewer suspects that the Lieutenant will wind up kicking MeTV ass; hauling in higher Nielsen Ratings than whatever shows his former “bosses” counterprogram.

BTW, my admiration for this series, in part, focuses upon how, in spite of the violent nature of the crimes this sleuth investigates, the screenplay writers had rarely resorted to gratuitous gore; i.e. they had, indeed, refrained from painting the town red / crime scene blood red.

Now, to borrow Columbo’s classic catch phrase…

Just one more thing…

MeTV, do you really expect Columbo fans to believe you cannot scare up a scant 90 minutes per week to keep us happy? I mean how about axing Svengoolie? Each of his hackneyed presentations of unscary, yawner flicks burns up 120 minutes.

Oh, and just one more thing…

You guys have made a huge mistake. While I fully realize that your decision to axe Columbo was based upon YOUR BELIEF that you’ve rerun this series so deep into the ground that it buried itself… well… let’s just say that if you ever apply that same logic to all the shows you rerun, similarly, you’d soon need to bury your entire network.

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Stay Publicly / Properly Masked!
Stay Safe at Home!
Stay Healthy!

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One Step Ahead of the (F)law

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The stanzas, below, synopsize the core storyline of Roy Huggins’ brainchild; a.k.a. The Fugitive; the Sixties era crime / drama series; originally airing Tuesdays at 10 p.m. over the ABC-TV network; these days, episodes playing out on Mondays at the ungodly hour of 2 a.m. over the MeTV network.

By the bye, by poem’s end, do “stay tuned” for my, in standard prose, analysis of how and why, as a bygone kid, I could so readily identify with a grown-up, fictional fugitive from justice.

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The Fugitive

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The off beaten path, Anytown homicide!
Doctor is shocked to learn his wife has died
Further stunned to be Cops’ suspect, prime
For, he saw Man, minus arm, flee the crime

While Doc can account, for his own whereabouts
His alibi, backed by none, stirs Cops’ doubts
With his fingerprints / mugshots now taken
He’s railroaded and feeling quite shaken

Soon at the mercy of hangman D.A.
And twelve jurors too easy to sway
The “Guilty!”, verdict the foreman doth state
Seals the Not Guilty. convicted Doc’s fate

Sentencing Judge prescribes chair with High Volts
But, train wreck derails plans; for Doc’s Death Row Jolts
Now, at large, he dyes hair, runs and hides
Flags down the buses, hops boxcars, thumbs rides

The folks he bumps into, wherever he goes
Also have down-on-their-luck tales and woes
Some shelter him well; others call cops to tell
He’ll pull up stakes, STAT; and then Run Like Hell

So, dual manhunts; daily duel, around the clock
Doc hunts down One-Arm; while Cop hunts down Doc
When clashes, face-offs oft go head-to-head
Who’ll get caught first? Who’ll live? Wind up dead?

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• As a tween / teen I could readily relate to The Fugitive because Dr. Richard Kimble (actor David Janssen) and I were both misjudged and harassed; both on the run from bullies; him fleeing police Lt. Phillip Gerard (actor Barry Morse); I fleeing Elementary and Middle School classmates (bad actors all).
• We both got morphed, against our will, into outcasts; forced into desolate, hopeless, social isolation.
• Years later, when these 150 episodes got rerun in syndication. I began to better identify with Kimble’s palpable despair re his need to trade off his professional career (pediatrics) for menial, dead end, low wage, thankless jobs. After all, circumstances beyond my control necessitated deferring my own professional aspirations (broadcasting); to do my time in Retail Hell; a metaphorical death sentence, eventually commuted to 30 years.
• Lastly, generally speaking, are not most of us doing our level best to stay one step ahead of that entity, akin to the relentless, death sentence enforcer Lt. Gerard; a.k.a. the Grim Reaper?

Beyond my above comparisons, we mustn’t overlook the simultaneous undercurrent coursing thru Huggins’ core storyline; which surfaces to serve as a consciousness raising message to society…

• The Death Penalty serves no other purpose other than indulging the mindless vengeance of latter-day cavemen; (mis)leaders, (f)lawmakers and their birds of a feather constituents! Capital Punishment has no place within any aspiring to civility society.

At present 24 of America’s 50 states still endorse capital punishment; namely, Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Wyoming.

All of which reminds the mindful…

How many of the convicted souls are absolutely innocent of all wrongdoing and, worse yet, how many have been put to death?

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Footnote: MeTV needs to reschedule The Fugitive to a prime time slot. While I’d watch this quality drama every day of the year, once per week would suffice to serve as a reminder to society that there’s still so much more of our work to do; so many wrongs we’ve yet to right.

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Stay Publicly / Properly Masked!
Stay Safe at Home!
Stay Healthy!

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Must See MeTV Tonight!

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This being Veterans Day in America, I’d like to express my undying gratitude to the selfless, courageous and heroic men and women, who we rely on to preserve, protect and defend our cherished freedoms.

As long as we’re speaking of heroes… in a similar, somewhat less serious vein…

Let’s cross-fade to a discussion re the classic sitcom, Hogan’s Heroes, which originally aired over the CBS TV network from September 17, 1965 until April 4, 1971.

“The show is set during World War II, and concerns a group of Allied prisoners of war who use a German POW camp as a base of operations for sabotage and espionage purposes directed against Nazi Germany”

Wikipedia [read more here]

However, it’s the storyline of Season 2 Episode 01, in particular, which I consider to be the most imaginative of this series’ entire, 6 season 168 episode run. And best of all, it’s all slated to playback in prime time, this very night over the MeTV network.

BTW, the reason for my recently heightened affinity for this program is quite understandable. These characters consistently make life hell for every Nazi who’d even dare to cross their path.

Nazis just like Donald J. Trump and the 74,223,369 Nazis who voted for him last November.

Beyond that…

Had the characters Colonel Robert E. Hogan, Corporal Louis LeBeau, Corporal Peter Newkirk , Staff Sergeant James Kinchloe, Sergeant Richard Baker and Technical Sergeant Andrew Carter been stationed in Washington D.C. on January 6, 2021, not one of Donald J. Trump’s seditious bastards would’ve gotten within one kilometer / mile of the U.S. Capitol. Hell, Nazi Trump’s Anti-American, “Stop the Steal” rally would’ve never gone down at all.

Typically, showtime for Hogan’s Heroes is 10 p.m., but due to time zone issues, the exact times will vary; so do consult your local listings.

This is Must See MeTV; soooooo… Tune In, Watch It and ENJOY!!

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Stay Publicly / Properly Masked!
Stay Safe at Home!
Stay Healthy!

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Flights of Fancy? NOT!

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Twenty years ago, Chris Carter, Vince Gilligan, John Shiban and Frank Spotnitz wrote a truly intriguing screenplay for the 03/04/2001, debut episode of The Lone Gunmen (TLG: an X-Files spinoff); a storyline that had, no less, foreshadowed the 9/11 attacks.

They had amply demonstrated how writing genius can unleash a vast array of intense, emotional responses from deep within us; i.e., whenever well-chosen words, cleverly crafted sentence structure and a knack for instilling suspense all conspire with superb cinematography and five-star acting skills.

Beyond that nuts and bolts deconstruction, of course, was / still is the heartbreak of 9/11’s death and destruction, itself, and… must there always be an “and”? Sorry to answer that affirmatively, but there’s still more…

Factoring in the narrowly averted, Trumpian overthrow of America this past January 6th; how it’s orange, autocratic architect is still at large, it’s not hyperbole for me to echo the adage, “no truer words were ever spoken” when referring to TLG character Bert Byers, a top tier government agent, offering up the following fatherly summation / counsel to his journalist son, John:

“I know you & your friends are fighting for the
American Dream. Just don’t expect to win it.”

Lone Gunmen Screenplay Writers Chris Carter, Vince Gilligan, John Shiban and Frank Spotnitz • Episode 1 • Air Date: 03/04/2001

Speaking of intense, emotional responses, my merely typing out that quotation (btw, from memory) tears at my heart, tears up my eyes AND redoubles my resolve for taking whatever NON-VIOLENT action is needed to say, “NEVER AGAIN!” to anti-American Donald J. Trump and every other Fascist bastard of his seditious ilk.

Beyond that, I had never fully realized the magnitude of my patriotism until witnessing America almost perish; right before my very eyes; and in real time!

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By-the bye:

For anyone who’d like to see this full episode, copy
these Search Parameters ~ The Lone Gunmen: Pilot
and paste them at YouTube. Run Time = 44 minutes

OR, click to my homepage’s blog Archive: July 2016;
TITLE: 99 Word Blog (#009) Writers Predicted 9/11

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Bye-Bye!

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Stay Publicly / Properly Masked!
Stay Safe at Home!
Stay Healthy!

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At Long Last UnLost?

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Earlier this a.m., courtesy of the MeTV network, this Sci-Fi aficionado found himself savoring some Sixties Era programming, at its finest; namely, Lost In Space; Season 3’s Episode 2, which is titled: Visit to a Hostile Planet.

That decidedly unfriendly planet, in actuality, turns out to be Earth; that unplanned stopover caused by repeated attempts to purge the Jupiter 2, interstellar spaceship’s malfunctioning engines of hazardous, atomic fuel impurities; all of which triggers a beyond the speed of light / hyperdrive generated time warp; which, in turn, sends the Space Family Robinson (plus pilot Major West and pissant Dr. Smith) into a spinning outta control, wild ride.

So, are these seven castaways, in reality, at long last, UnLost? Alas, it’s only upon landing when they, rather abruptly, discover the inconvenient truth that they’ve been hurtled approximately fifty years into Earth’s past.

Well, with the all too predictable exception of the despotic, narcissistic Dr. Zachary Smith, who, on cue, plots to conquer Earth (via the exploitation of space-age technology), the rest of the crew wisely understands the perils of remaining amongst these 1947 Era Michiganders; who do, indeed, deem the Jupiter 2, the very flying saucer that it appears to be and its silvery space-suited occupants to be hostile alien invaders, who (minus Smith) they are not.

So paranoia driven are these armed to the teeth, loaded for bear locals, that with no provocation, at all, they start taking potshots at their “enemies”. Of course, John Robinson, Don West and Robot B9 only escalate the tensions when they’re left little choice but to defend themselves; their space age weapons’ laser beams even starting a short-lived lumberyard fire.

All in all, props to the imaginative nature of this episode’s screenplay writers; namely, Peter Packer and series creator Irwin Allen. They did manage to successfully tap into the 40s and 50s era UFO craze; as well as capture the spirit of Orson Welles’s interpretation of H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds. Kudos, too, to director Sobey Martin for his dramatic flair, keen sensibilities and prolific work (on a multitude of Allen’s soundstages).

The concerted efforts of all the above mentioned LIS personnel, in essence, did briefly rescue Lost In Space, which by the third (and final) season, could’ve been aptly re-titled Lost In Inanity.

LIS’s problems actually began surfacing / snowballing soon after its debut season; starting with whomever Allen had delegated the task of creating frightening, out of this world looks for the extraterrestrial characters. My gawd, I’ve seen far more scarier Halloween masks / costumes than those televised, comical, plastic head coverings. And don’t even get me started on how actor Stanley Adams (portraying character Tybo), got stuffed into that giant carrot costume.

Beyond that, was Allen’s bad decision to let Dr. Smith (actor Jonathan Harris) morph FROM the loathsome evil saboteur / mercenary / villain TO the scared by his own shadow, sniveling, screaming, whining wimp. Also, the storylines dwelt on Smith and Will Robinson (actor Billy Mumy) far too frequently; thereby squandering countless opportunities for character development re the rest of the cast; consequently failing to, more regularly, showcase the talents of the unforgivably underutilized actors Guy Williams, June Lockhart, Mark Goddard, Marta Kristen and Angela Cartwright. And, snubbed, too, were the countless guest star actors who never got to see their names when the show credits rolled on by, at each episode’s end.

And, so long as we’re on the subject of endings…

The End

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Stay Publicly / Properly Masked!
Stay Safe at Home!
Stay Healthy!

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