Happy Summer! Pete & Pete Tackle Freedom and the American Way

I promised I would do reviews of The Adventures of Pete & Pete, and I am delivering! If you remember my previous post about this beloved Nickelodeon show, or are a fan of my Slushenminer pin shop on Etsy, you know that I am a big fan of the brothers Pete. It's a show that still makes me laugh, and we all need more laughter in our lives right now.

In audio commentary on the Season 2 DVD, the creators, Will McRobb, Chris Viscardi, noted that the tone of the series was a mix of weird and sentimental. And they joked that that was the kind of thing people can turn their back on really easily. I get that to an extent. The show wasn't for everyone, and some people don't remember it at all. I find "weird" to be extremely funny, and the sentimentality gives it soul. 

The episode I'm reviewing first is Season 2, Episode 1 "Grounded For Life." It has plenty of weird, and plenty sentimental. Being that the 4th of July is right around the corner, I thought it would be perfect to start with this story line which is centered around Independence Day, healthy (read corrupt) American competition, and Freedom. 

Some notes before the synopsis: 

• While Little Pete has episodes in Season 1 centered around his character, he has more B story lines than not. This episode is a defining moment for Little Pete in the series; building his character, showing that he's growing up, and preparing the audience for more Little Pete-centric episodes. The third season gets even more Little Pete Episodes. Big Pete is always the narrator, even for his own episodes, "Grounded For Life" is no exception.

• This is the first episode featuring Nona F. Mecklenberg, played by Michelle Trachtenberg. This episode features Nona solo from her family - aside from her dog Nimbus. Famously, her father would be played by Iggy Pop in future episodes.

• There's new footage for the show's opening credits, specifically for the title cards of Dad (aka Don Wrigley, played by Hardy Rawls) and Little Pete (played by Danny Tamberelli). This footage is sourced from this episode and the credits would remain the same until Season 3. 

• The music in this episode is sooooo gooood. They probably use every track on the stock music record. It's familiar sounds you've heard on classic tv and movies. It ranges from tragic, to thrilling, to cheerful. It's used to such great affect for the emotions of each scene. Also, the song played during the end credits, "Waiting For October" by Polaris is a very uplifting 90's jangle-pop song. Polaris does the opening credits theme for the entire series, and they do many other memorable songs that are featured in the show. Their only full length album, Music from the Adventures of Pete & Pete  is amazing. It wasn't released until 1999, three years after the show ended.

Now, with no good segue, here is the synopsis - peppered with my thoughts, as always - of "Grounded For Life."

S2E1 - air date September 4, 1994 

The episode starts with a stoic introduction by the all-knowing narrator Big Pete, played by Michael C. Maronna. Posing in front of an illustration of our fore fathers, Pete describes how they "forged the great experiment" of creating America, much like how Little Pete forged his own great experiment of putting the humidifier next to the dehumidifier on the lawn.

Resulting in an explosion that scorches the front lawn, Little Pete is punished by his father who loves his dear lawn of "Sweet Kentucky Blue" - just like a red-blooded American man does. And like an American Don loves competition. He has an ongoing bet with neighbor, Mr. Lerdner, who is as scummy as his name suggests. Every year they see who has the best lawn by July 4th, and whoever loses has to mow the other's lawn for the rest of the summer. Lerdner has won for the past five years in a row. He's your typical evil prep, with enough money and smug insanity to have his own lawn flamingo surveillance system and a secret lair to review the footage.

The 4th is only a week away and this is a huge setback. Not only did this frivolous stunt hurt Don's chances at winning, he is betrayed by Little Pete's reaction. "Who cares about your stupid grass." Don is furious at the flagrant disrespect for him as a parent and for his personal interests as a human being. That his son wouldn't try to understand his passion, or even apologize for the mess, is beyond disappointing, so he puts Little Pete through a series of punishments.

Even after having to replant the seeds one by one, being made into a human sprinkler, and forced to administer a deep tissue Swedish massage to the afflicted lawn, when faced with the question, "Do you care yet?" Little Pete answers with an impassioned "No!" Big Pete knows that all Little Pete cares about is freedom. At this point, Little Pete has made a very Little Pete split second decision to run for the Canadian border. 

At the Manitoba peninsula, Little Pete - ever the smooth-talker - poses as Dirk Wayne, lotion salesman. Don is able to locate Little Pete's whereabouts through picking up police radio through Mom's metal plate in her head - as you do - but before they can make a move, the mounty has already escorted Pete home by horse.

In the chaos of Little Pete being dragged away by his father, Nona F. Mecklenberg, a new girl in town happens upon the scene. It's the last person Little Pete sees before he gets seriously grounded. (I know this sounds really grim but trust me it's very cute and funny and no one gets hurt.) 

After a very dramatic scene reminiscent of a movie about a soldier breaking rank, Little Pete is sentenced to a one month grounding. This means he'll be missing the town fireworks display, something that is of immediate concern to Little Pete, and the implications are not lost on Don. If Pete won't show remorse for taking something away from Don, Don is going to take something away from Pete. 

Meanwhile, side characters and complete polar opposites, Nona and Mr. Lerdner clash as Nona's dog Nimbus walks onto Lerdner's lawn. Lerdner, with no class what so ever, sprays Nimbus with a hose, causing Nona to spout one of my favorite lines from a child actor, "What are ya, A serial killer!?"

After warning her that dog urine kills grass faster than acid (probably not true), Nona goes on a pretty great diatribe about how much she hates Wellsville. Nimbus is so traumatized from the move that he hasn't peed since before they arrived. She finishes by saying that dog's have 1/3 the size of a human's brain but they're over 100% nicer.

 
Don has turned the house into a full fledged prison. He even pats down Pete's friend Artie (aka the Strongest Man in the World, played by Toby Huss) before a supervised conversation with Little Pete. The most memorable line for me personally is one resulting from this conversation. Little Pete wants Artie to tell him about the outside, pressing him to talk about the asphalt again. Reluctantly Artie says, "When it rains, it smells like summer." Which is something I completely understand, and I think the writers of this show have always done such a great job highlighting the mundanely magical parts of life. This kind of poetry can be seen in other episodes, such as "Sick Day" where Little Pete sees things about the house that are different when he's home alone on a weekday.  I digress.

"I thought you would ... DIG it"

Artie gives Little Pete an ant farm for inspiration. Little Pete thinks this is for companionship, but Artie hints at escape. Little Pete finally figures it out, and starts digging a tunnel in the basement with a "24 gauge paperweight" of the Statue of Liberty. His goal it to dig to the new neighbor's yard (neutral territory) by 4th of July. 

Digging the tunnel has it's challenges, but Big Pete has his back, personally disposing of the excess dirt. He even gets in touch with his artistic side:

One of the best throw-away moments is when Little Pete finds Jimmy Hoffa's wallet in the tunnel.

"Hmm... Hoffa!"

Nona, homesick enough to begin covering her new house with 4x6 photos of her old house's bricks, hears Little Pete in the tunnel talking to his tattoo, Petunia, and goes to investigate.

Nona introduces herself to Little Pete. She says the F in her name stands for Francis, but she will legally change it to either Flame or Forklift. They are truly kindred spirits. Both of them are in need of a friendly voice, and it's so dang beautiful how these two kids got together! They discuss the rejection they've received, and their disdain for their lot in life.

The conversation gets cut short when Don notices Nona being a weirdo talking to his lawn. Mom (aka Joyce, played by Judy Grafe) is correct in saying Nona is probably just lonely, but Don figures he better make her scram just in case. When confronted, Nona tells Don a "botanical fact" that talking to your grass makes it grow.

He acts skeptical to this idea in front of her, but under the cover of darkness Don gets up close and personal with the lawn, whispering sweet nothings to it. Little Pete is subjected to hearing this in the tunnel, and writes his dad off as a "Nimrod." 

At this point the tunnel is causing the grass above it to die, which is not good for Don's sanity or the secrecy of Little Pete's escape rout. Fortunately Nona is on top of it, and paints the grass green perfectly to fool Don into thinking his grass is still alive - and the sexy talk is working wonders. Lerdner is not happy with Don's progress and he has a very scary POV shot with his own lawn, threatening the blades of grass with death.

Lerdner comes up with a sabotage plan because he got a bout of insecurity and thought he would lose for some reason. The water spigot on the Wrigley property has always been leaky. Lerdner uses this against Don by making the leak worse, luckily on a night Don wasn't getting freaky with the ground. He'll never suspect a thing. What Lerdner doesn't know - and it's questionable if he would have even cared - is that Little Pete was still in the tunnel, and the excess water caused a collapse.

It's pretty scary stuff, Little Pete could have drowned or been suffocated for real. But this is still a kids show so he's defeated but ok. Nona is the one to discover the scene in the morning, turns off the spigot and checks on Pete. Don wakes up to a completely muddy lawn, and attempts CPR in a grotesque expression of grief. 

This day is July 4th. Don knows that he's lost the war with Lerdner but he's not going to let that ruin his own Independence Day. Big Pete confronts Don in the station wagon. He asks why Little Pete is still grounded despite the war being over. Don says, "The point is respect; respect for my inalienable
right to a perfect lawn. And Pete still has to learn his lesson."

With his tunnel caved, watching his family leave for the fireworks without him, Little Pete's hopes are crushed. That's when Nona busts in with a rousing recitation of the poem on the Statue of Liberty, sparkler in hand.

Then they show some B-roll of pre 9/11 Statue of Liberty over Big Pete's narration.

1994

Little Pete is once again inspired to dig, now with the goal to finish before the end of the night.

Meanwhile at Throneberry Park, Don, Joyce, and Big Pete try to have a good time without Little Pete at the Fireworks show. Don is the one who breaks after being reminded of Pete at every turn.

"Awww! Pete would have loved this!"

At the end of his tunnel, Little Pete ceremoniously released his ant farm into the dirt, proclaiming their freedom. Now he has to put Lady Liberty to use.

Little Pete is free.

Once they've gotten properly acquainted, Nona and Pete try to right some wrongs. They encourage Nimbus to relieve himself on Lerdner's lawn. After several attempts Nona finally pulls out a Polaroid of Nimbus's favorite pee spot. This inspires him to let go - and it's a hot and steamy one. 

During this time Don had been eagerly driving to pick up Little Pete and take him back to the fireworks. He's happily singing the lyrics to his own version of Yankee Doodle "Daddy" when he sees Pete has escaped on his own.

"I'm a Yankee Doodle Daddy, a Yankee Doodle do or.... DIE!!!"

Little Pete knows he's in for it, with Don threatening a Christmas day release. When the fireworks start going off right then and there, father and son are taken aback.

In that moment they set aside their differences.  Don says, "I can't deny you your freedom. It goes against everything America stands for." Little Pete interjects, "Your lawn is important to you. I'm sorry I screwed it up." In that moment bearing witness to the fireworks meant more than ever before.

The lawn war ended in a tie due to cheating on both sides. Little Pete was charged with mowing both lawns for the rest of the summer, but as Big Pete narrates, "it was a small price to pay for freedom."
[Cut to Little Pete mowing over one of Lerdner's surveillance flamingos].

What did we learn:

• All-American guys like Don are going to be played by the white collar guys every time if they don't get wise to the game. 
• While the walking polo shirt uses his money to use technology against us, we're running around blaming our own kin for our problems and letting pride get the best of us. 
• Torture never results in legitimate confessions. 
• You might consider running away to Canada, but they don't want you. 
• Prison sentences are too long for non violent offenses, certain sentences need to be commuted. 
• While people might make up fake facts to try and validate discrimination against others, we have to speak up and call them on their bullshit. 
• Moving to a new place can be traumatizing. It's hard to cope when you don't have a friend, so reach out. 
• The words of Lady Liberty should ring true in all our hearts. 

I plan on doing a summer theme all summer long. I really need something positive to spread right now and one of my passions has been this show. There are plenty of summer-centric episodes of Pete & Pete, and I'm not doing them in any particular order, just in the order I want to do it. Who knows, maybe I'll eventually review every episode. For now it's just the fun summer time stuff. Stay tuned!

Hi! Pete & Pete Fan Here...

The Adventures of Pete and Pete is quite possibly the most influential children's show of my youth.  At some point, maybe when I was eight, I figured out how to use the recording device on my boombox. So of course, one Saturday afternoon, I held the boombox up to the TV and recorded the audio of several episodes of Pete and Pete. Because you couldn't see any of it from my audio recording, I added helpful narrations. During the opening credits - with Polaris performing their iconic song Hey Sandy - I spoke the names of the characters as they were introduced. In fact, when I introduce Dad by saying "Dad", you can hear my own dad yell "What?" from the kitchen. DIY ingenuity was a major theme in The Adventures of Pete and Pete and it was inspiring to me as a kid.

I'm grateful that I exist in a version of the universe where The Adventures of Pete and Pete was a show on Nickelodeon that lasted three glorious seasons in the early 90's. To give a quick synopsis, it's a show about two brothers, both named Pete, and their usual, yet not so usual, lives in the American town of Wellsville. They deal with middle and high school issues: bullies, strict teachers, parents, girls, friends, summer jobs, rules, social conflict - the typical fare of kids shows. However, if you take these basic stories and add superb camera work, clever set design, fine-tuned comedic timing, and a non-conformist flavor, you have the smartest live action kids show ever made.

Pete and Pete taught me about classic TV and movie tropes while turning them on their head. It taught me about rebellion and sarcasm, but also hope and friendship. It was about being different but also being kind. It was about creative insults, but also putting aside resentments and having fun.

It took the wholesome and hilariously outdated ideals from the TV shows of the Baby Boomer generation, and perverted it with a mix of Gen-xer cynicism and a Millennial "kids can do anything!" attitude. But it wasn't just a show with kids in sunglasses shaking their heads at their parents (which is 50% of Clarissa Explains It All. Don't @ me).

The story lines were filled with high stakes, and the child actors were extremely sincere with their performances. They played against their adult counterparts as equals, so you could watch a childhood drama, such as fighting over bed time, play out like a prison resistance.

Down to the music, lighting, and camera angles, the episodes took queues from film noir, gangster flicks, action movies, super hero comics, classic horror, and 1950s family sitcoms.

The characters in Pete and Pete were made up of familiar family members, trusted friends, not so trusted friends, and your typical neighborhood super hero. The show had it's villains too, who were neighbors, parents, teachers, classmates and teenagers a like. I almost forgot that I wrote a post about my favorite bully encounters from the show way back in 2011. Here's a link.

The show also featured characters reminiscent of a Sesame Street-type cast of neighborhood fixtures, such as a mail woman, bus driver, crossing guard, and even your underwear inspector.

In other children's shows these characters would be introduced to teach you about civil society and occupations. In The Adventures of Pete and Pete their dedication to these jobs were taken to a higher level; on the one hand making fun of the idea that this occupation purely defines this individual, but on the other hand presenting the message that being passionate about something is fulfilling and cool. And they were able to cast rock stars and actors your parents would recognize, which added a kooky twist to a wholesome crossing guard character or a parent.

Iggy Pop

The show truly respected the intelligence of it's viewers. A bus driver having a nervous breakdown doesn't sound kid-friendly (and maybe it wasn't) but done with the right comedic timing and care, you have fun for all ages. To this day I can watch any episode of Pete and Pete and belly laugh.

I could wax poetic about Pete and Pete all day, and I am playing with the idea of going back and reviewing each episode. But I'm also interested in designing fan merch for the show.

When I was in college I got my first silk screening kit and The Adventures of Pete and Pete DVDs for Christmas. So I made my own Pete and Pete themed t-shirts. I just gave them away to my friends.

I still have the two on the bottom right if anyone is interested.

A decade later, I find myself hopping onto the enamel pin bandwagon, and took those designs to lapel pin form.

Buy it here!

I'm starting off with this one pin: a cup of Orange Lazarus from the episode Field of Pete, an episode about corruption, addiction, power (possibly nuclear), and little league baseball. My shop name is called Slushenminer, based off my last name - Miner - and a slushy drunken slur from Teddy Foresman, "Buzz off slushenheimer." (Because German-sounding names are funny.)

I have more pins in the works! I love this show, and I want to create obscure references that I can share with other like-minded individuals. (Please, no one sue me).

San Junipero: All My Questions

I'm late to the game watching the Emmy Award winning episode of Black Mirror, San Junipero, that aired over a year ago - and I have a lot of questions.

Just to give some quick background: San Junipero is a virtual reality party/vacation town for anyone who is dying, sick, or otherwise unable to experience an active life. They are allowed to hang out in this virtual space for scheduled periods of time to let loose and do whatever they want in a variety of decades. If you're definitely going to pass away you can set it up so your mind is linked to San Junipero, and then you can live there forever.

Questions:

Is San Junipero designed as a generalized concept of Heaven, and how much can you actually customize it?
We get the impression right away that this virtual reality experience is set in very specific years. The main characters choose to live in primarily 1987. The assumption is that anyone who is using the system chooses to live in a time when they were once young. No one in San Junipero looks like they're under 21 or over 35. That either means no one wants to or they don't have the option to spend their fun fantasy time (or their eternity) as a 10 year old or a 40 year old. I don't blame them.

I also get the impression that you can choose ANY year you desire to live in, and the system will strictly adhere to that year's clothing, media and music. Not sure how much leeway you get, considering in reality people don't change their wardrobe every year or stop listening to older songs. In San Junipero you just blink and the clothing has changed on your body, so you don't have to live as mortals do, saving clothing at a rate you can afford. But as far as music goes in the 1987 version of San Junipero: can you at least privately listen to songs from the 1960s, or music from the future that we all know exists? Or for the sake of creating the perfect time capsule are you relegated to listening to the same set of hit songs from that year until you decide you're sick of it and what to change time periods? Which brings me to my next question...

You can change time periods as a visitor of San Junipero, but once you're a resident (and therefore deceased) can you continue to change your settings?
This distinction is not made clear, but it's also not clear how the settings for time period and also pain threshold (eek) are set anyway. We don't see a San Junipero console, all we see is a little round censor placed on the temple, and a remote control with one button. Maybe most of the settings are just linked to brainwaves and you can control it with your mind in a way that we can't comprehend at this point in technology's history. If our consciousness is all that's controlling it, then why can't the disembodied consciousness of someone in San Junipero spend eternity visiting all the different time periods?

How many time periods are there actually?
The earliest year we see is 1980. In this future world that year might be serving the oldest citizens using it since the software was made. Assuming that these people were in their 20's in the 1980s, the software must have been made around 2040-2050. I don't know the most recent decade you can go in San Junipero either. But...

What about people who want to live the rest of their lives in 1940? 
Is there a market for that in 2040? Or do people from the future know living that far back kind of sucked? But if you can't get sick or hurt, why the hell not? I know there has to be some kind of limit though. The amount of effort put into designing the costumes and structures, and storing all the TV, movies, music, and video games, it might not be worth it to cater to an errant person from the future wanting to live like their great grandparents. In any case, an unpopular time period would be too underpopulated to be any fun. But having little human interaction might be your thing anyway.

Are there any fake individuals in San Junipero?
You know, to take up space or serve the visitors? I was wondering what the bartender's deal was. Is he a slave of sorts, or just a guy who wished to be a 1987 bar tender in perpetuity? Are there people paid to plug in just to be waitstaff.... or spies! Oh my God, someone write fan fiction about it and develop this world!

Is the fun beach town of San Junipero really the only setting or are there other climates you can live in?
Aside from a brief shot at the end of rolling hills that said 'Oklahoma' to me, all we see for a setting is this hip beach town where it's always warm and comfortable aside from some rain here and there. But what about people who love the snow? Or people who love New England in the fall? Those climes don't sound like 'San Junipero', they'd have to be set somewhere else. Is there another VR experience called 'Oak Dale' for people who love fall, and all they do is wear sweaters and drink Pumpkin Spice Lattes all day (and I guess it's gotta be at least 2003)? If this doesn't exist and everyone has to do San Junipero or bust, is that why the Quagmire exists? It's a club of sorts where you can enjoy the punk/alt music of the era while engaging in hardcore S&M. They allude to this as a dark place that people go to "feel something" when they're sick of San Junipero's squeaky clean scene. It seems like you can go there to get hard drugs with no consequences, and almost die on a loop.

Yorkie outside the Quagmire 

Was the Quagmire created by the designers because they new (or figured out later) that it was necessary? Kelly was able to make a custom house for herself but I don't imagine that the entire Quagmire could be created by the visitors or residents despite their perceived ability to customize their environment. Or maybe they can, and they did! If it was user created that would be interesting because it would call into question what people do with near limitless imagination, as well as the level of observation and maintenance of the company that facilitated the building of it. Would they care if the residents built a Sex Cauldron? Did they sit back and go, "Ok...fun... we'll allow it." It all brings me back to the question, what if your preferred lifestyle just doesn't fit in and there's nothing you can do about it?

If there are some resident's who are so sick of San Junipero that they hang out at the Quagmire all day getting suffocated with a plastic bag, then is San Junipero Heaven or no?
All I could think about while watching was how A) if this is the only town you could live in, wouldn't a good portion of the population hoping to die and go to virtual reality heaven be turned off of participating? Or is it so special and rare that you can participate in this at all, that most people go along with it? And B) even if you thought this was your idea of heaven, wouldn't you eventually go murderously insane? Especially if you had to be set in one time period for eternity.

But even if after passing on you could go to whatever time period you wanted and dress however you want, and never feel pain, and never have to pay for drinks, and be in the best version of your body, don't you still have the humanity left in you to get bored? Like really really bored. And then you get this Westworld kind of situation where people go rogue and start stabbing each other and try acting out their most evil fantasies. Even though no one is in danger of dying in San Junipero, wouldn't that be distressing to the experience of others?

Is there any kind of policing? 
Kelly mentions something along the lines of a "redlight" which might be like flagging a user for inappropriate content. I'd like to know how bad it can get before someone is removed for bad behavior. Do those people get shut off, banned, or if they paid to live there for eternity, get cordoned off in some kind of San Junipero jail or mental institution?

There was some talk about being able leave at any time, but I have my suspicion that this is only for visitors. If you could decide to quit as a permanent resident, (aka truly end your life) then wouldn't the idea of that option loom over you? In your darkest moments would you question going through with it and die a second death? You see characters in the episode look sad, dejected, disappointed, longing. Sure, some of these people are probably the ones with a human body to go home to and fret about the real world, but who's to say the consciousness of the dead version of you would be different? Care free no matter what? If you can still have those emotions how can nice weather, no paper cuts, and free booze ever maintain your happiness forever? With the human consciousness maintained there is no way San Junipero is heaven. It's a second universe, and at worst a prison.

What if something destroyed the system they're all uploaded to?
I guess that would be the end of it then. Oh well.

Conclusions:

- Under the assumption that you can only live in San Junipero and it's climate; you can jump from year to year, but the earliest you get is 1980; and everyone in existence is 25; it might not be the right experience for everyone.
- Too many time periods would get messy for designers.
- Too few time periods would be boring if you truly desire a time period predating your own, or are spending eternity within only 60 years to play with.
- They should make Ski Town for the snow birds.
- Westworld style hosts??
- People can't stay sane without being a little kinky and violent so the Quagmire exists, and might actually prevent people from ax-murdering everyone at the arcade by letting off steam.
- Never being able to die ever, AND being promised eternity with a permanent death of your choice are both maddening concepts.
- Maybe I'm just pessimistic but I cannot imagine this is a solid idea in reality, but a fabulous TV show!

Too Funny To Fail: Regrets Be Damned

The documentary selection on Hulu was the impetus for me to start Consume + Consume. Now after a long hiatus of watching docs on Hulu (because I have access to more TV than I did when I lived on the cheap in 2011, and Hulu used to be free) I'm back reviewing a Hulu original doc, Too Funny To Fail. Directed by Josh Greenbaum, this 2017 documentary details the ups and downs of producing The Dana Carvey Show in 1996. Robert Smigel (SNL's TV Fun House, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog), set the tone when he admitted his feelings for the show consisted mostly of regret.

The story of this show is like a Shakespearean tragedy, filled with a rise, a healthy amount of hubris, and a steep fall. Propelled by his success on SNL, Dana Carvey set out to do something very ambitious. In a time when Americans would stop dead in their tracks to watch Dana do impressions of George Bush, and he was a contender to replace Letterman, Dana wanted to create a sketch show that would showcase new talent with creative ideas about comedy. It looks like it's from the same vein as other offbeat sketch comedy shows made by amazing and wonderful people, like Kids In The Hall, Mr. Show, The State, The Ben Stiller Show, The Upright Citizens Brigade, and The Andy Dick Show. So how could it be the big regretful failure that it's being framed as?

Dana Carvey and Steve Carell

Well, every show I just listed was either on HBO, Comedy Central, or MTV. Dana Carvey had ABC, which was already family friendly sitcom town, but on top of that, was bought by Disney during production. Risks were taken, ratings were abysmal, sponsors wanted out. The average American watching ABC in 1996 plain old did not get it. 

When you read the cast list, it's mind blowing to think ALL of these cast members were part of a show considered such a record-breaking failure. They had Steve Carell, Stephen Colbert, and Robert Smigel, with writers Louis C.K, Charlie Kaufman (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), Jon Glaser, Dino Stamatopoulos (Moral Orel ), Spike Feresten (The Simpsons), and Robert Carlock (30 Rock). While these are huge names today, the Dana Carvey Show was the first real TV gig for these relative unknowns. 

Little Baby Louie C.K

The cast and writers had freedom with Dana Carvey's name attached to this project, but at the end of the day the use of their freedom didn't mean diddly.  It was subversive comedy; the type of thing that might fly with Millennials today but was too weird for Baby Boomers. It was gross, politically incorrect, and wacky - but wacky in a random way. During the airing of the first episode an unprecedented wave of viewers turned off ABC seemingly all at the same time. And then the hate mail came in.  

A bold choice for the start of this show was a sketch that truly told the audience exactly what they were in for. It was a sketch that may be considered the iceberg that sunk the ship. It was a classic beloved Dana Carvey bit of impersonation, the type of act that everyone was expecting, but warped it into a grotesque precursor to a Tim and Eric style vignette. I don't want to give all the details away, but see below images for reference:

The Dana Carvey Show, 1996

Tim and Eric: Awesome Show Great Job!, 2010

I never saw the show when it aired. I was a bit young, but about a year later I was watching Steven Colbert and Steve Carell on to The Daily Show, and absorbing all the Dana Carvey era SNL I could in syndication, without any knowledge of his failed sketch show to taint it.  

Watching clips from this documentary, I can see the influence this program had on comedy despite being cancelled after seven episodes. I'm not saying that Tim and Eric is anywhere near ABC material now that twenty years have past. They call Cartoon Network/Adult Swim home, which is perfect for this style of anti-comedy. It doesn't reach everyone, but it reaches their audience and they have creative freedom; something the Dana Carvey Show ultimately didn't have with ABC. 

 SNL alumn Bill Hader makes an appearance in the documentary as a true Dana Carvey Show super fan, revealing that as a teenager he recorded every episode on VHS. It did manage to reach some people in it's short run. After it was canceled, Colbert and Carell would move on to The Daily Show and obviously become household names. The cartoon The Ambiguously Gay Duo which premiered on the Dana Carvey Show would be moved to SNL where Colbert and Carell would continue to voice Ace and Gary, and Smigel would continue to write. Louie CK would be a successful stand-up and produce his own show, while Jon Glaser would continue to star in offbeat comedies like Delocated and play characters on Girls and Parks and Rec.

While Smigel and others lament their decision to air certain sketches, it's hard to reconcile that they were in fact bad decisions when it's so clearly genius and hilarious, and the writers and actors are so successful now. It was truly ahead of it's time. 

Steven Colbert and Steve Carell doing their career defining sketch as waiters who are disgusted by food.

While watching you can't help but grin every time the "failure" is mentioned, because you know about the happy ending. The idea that there was at one time a hardship for these comedians is just a funny anecdote. It seems like a blip in their history that didn't negatively effect them in the ways that they thought it would, and isn't that funny? I'm not saying this takes away any kind of gravitas, it's not that kind of documentary. But you will be on the edge of your seat, laughing, and holding on to every word, enthralled by the stories that helped shape comedy as we know it today. 

I Made This Brilliant Animated GIF...

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Season 3 Twin Peaks fans know what I'm talking about.

A Clue For Sarah Palmer's Current State

***Spoilers ahead for Twin Peaks S3E14 or earlier***

What's the deal with Sarah Palmer? It's a question that's been brewing since the first trailer for season 3 aired, showing her shopping the liquor aisle of a store. Viewers logically assumed this meant she's an alcoholic now. Who wouldn't be after what she's been through?

But after fourteen new episodes of Twin Peaks, we know for sure that Sarah isn't just an alcoholic who's gone off the deep end. We all saw her sit quietly and drink at home in one of Lynch's many drawn-out meditative scenes, and that seemed to reaffirm our idea that she had a drinking problem and now leads a sad, lonely life.

Then in S3E12 we finally see the full scene from which our sad alcoholic vision of Sarah was born from.

"Jerky freak-out" has become one of my favorite fan-made phrases to come out of the show.

We can tell that Sarah might have some kind of dementia mixed with a bit of paranoia and maybe ptsd. Or she's possessed and barely holding onto her sense of self. How did she become possessed?

In S3E13 she's doing the same drinking in front of the TV shtick.

I noticed that both times we see Sarah watching TV at home she is:
a) drinking
b) watching violence (first it was lions attacking a water buffalo, then it was an old-timey boxing match)
c) the movies are in black & white. The animal documentary was probably in night vision, not black & white film, but it still had no color either.

Twin Peaks S3E2

Twin Peaks S3E13

It's all very symbolic of her new self. We can see it come together in the now infamous scene from S3E14, where she takes off her face to reveal a black & white nightmare. Then she bites the throat out of a dude.



The vision of a hand in her face is symbolic of what Gordon Cole once said about "the spiritual mound." He identifies it as the ring finger. In this case that finger is decidedly black. She is rotten to the core. Sarah Palmer is a full-blown demon now. How did it come to this? Did we miss something? It could all be events that occurred off screen before Season 3 begins, but I believe there was proof of her direct link to the spirit world in the last episode of Season 2.

This is the last scene in the Twin Peaks universe timeline before we see Sarah Palmer in season 3:
(skip to 1:18)



Under the care of Dr. Jacoby, Sarah is lead to Major Briggs to give him a message. In a distorted and deepened voice she says "I'm in the black lodge with Dale Cooper." At this point in the episode there are a few people in the Black Lodge with Dale Cooper. BOB, Windom Earle, Annie Blackburn, The Arm, Mike, Leland, Laura Palmer - and all their doppelgangers! Who's to say which one was using Sarah as a mouthpiece?

Sarah's burden on Twin Peaks was that she could see BOB. It always seemed to happen right when she was about to get some peace for once, and then bam! Sarah was in a tizzy again. Since she had such an ability, Leland would drug her while he was under BOB's control so he could commit his horrid acts. Before each drugging kicked in she would see a white horse, which is a symbol that has come up numerous times.

from the original run of Twin Peaks

from Fire Walk With Me

from Twin Peaks: The Return

In Season 3 one of the woodsmen says "the horse is the white of eyes." I haven't completely figured this one out, but it's all linked for sure.

The scene from the last episode of season 2 is of course after Leland's death. There is no one left to drug her. Because of this she might be more susceptible to spirits using her as a conduit, and it's gotten out of hand at this point. Even Phillip Gerard can use drugs to stave off his alter ego, Mike. As the Giant once said, "Without chemicals, he points."

Considering this is the absolute last scene with Sarah Palmer before Season 3, with no indication that Sarah went back to normal per se, we can assume that whatever was inside her in that moment didn't leave.

Putting a Sound Through the Black Lodge Machine

What is that noise? And why aren't more people talking about it? This strange creaking sound can be heard through out Fire Walk With Me and can also be heard in the new season of Twin Peaks. We can tell that it signifies mischief from the Black Lodge, but how did Lynch and Badalamenti create the sound themselves?

Watch below to find out:




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