TVSquad

Willie Aames has had it tough as of recent. After his time as a celebrity (including high-profile roles on Eight is Enough, Charles in Charge and the voice of Hank in the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon), he then spent some time as BibleMan (and if you ever saw BibleMan, you'd understand why that was a bad thing), had an argument with his trainer on Celebrity Fit Club, and tried to commit suicide after his wife left him. Now he's apparently selling some of his possessions in a garage sale in suburban Kansas City.

Why do I have the feeling that this is going to lead to him being on another reality television show like his Charles in Charge co-star, Scott Baio? They say there is no such thing as bad publicity, but I have to wonder.

The article lists some of the items he's selling, but it neglects to specifically mention the autographed picture of Scott Baio, the magic bow that shoots fire-arrows and the magic Bible.

As the last few hours of our scripted entertainment disappear like canned foods in a fallout shelter, any new entertainment on the horizon is good news (unless, of course, you're talking about ABC's Duel or the prospect of a Tonight Show that rises and falls on Jay Leno's wit alone).

Today's offer of putrefied pond water to us thirsty masses is StrikeTV.com. Wired.com is reporting that after the holidays, the striking writers will use the site to post "videos and other media supporting the strike." It's not much and, when you get right down to it, it's less "entertainment" than "snarky rhetoric," but hey, it's something.

As usual with YouTube when you are looking for one video, you end up finding another video that peaks your interest. And then another, and another, and soon the dawn of the next day comes around.

Thus was my situation. I was about to do a post on the Japanese anime classic Star Blazers when I found a more interesting piece of video that contained the opening introductions to a number of syndicated cartoons of the 1980's. And, even though I think that many Saturday morning cartoons of that era were pretty weak, I feel that this was when syndicated action cartoons reached their glory. I mean, who doesn't remember cartoons like Thundercats, M.A.S.K., or Voltron.

So, take a look at the video that appears after the jump and see if you can remember all of the cartoons shown. If you can, please let me know the name of the second cartoon shown in the video, as well as if one of the versions of Voltron is shown as well.

Yet another artifact from my childhood is coming out on DVD. I figure eventually I'll actually be able to live out the latter half of my life as a kind of rerun of the first part. This, my friends, is my dream. Anyway, one of my favorite cartoons from my youth is coming out on DVD in November, Dungeons and Dragons. The series ran for twenty-seven episodes from 1983 to 1986 and featured the voice talents of Happy Day's Donny Most and Willie Aames of Eight is Enough and Charles in Charge (you know, before he became Bible Man). Actually, maybe Aames left the show because all the sword and sorcery nonsense didn't fit with his Christian viewpoints. That's absolutely not true, but we should try spreading that rumor around anyway. The set comes out November 7 and will retail for $49.98, which isn't too bad for a full series.