TVSquad

If Jim Parsons wins the Emmy tonight for The Big Bang Theory, you better believe he'll be in a position to pick and choose the projects he does in the future. But here's one that I think would be fascinating, to quote Dr. Sheldon Cooper's favorite Vulcan scientist: Jim Parsons would like to appear on Friday Night Lights.

In a recent interview, Jim was asked about his favorite current show -- other than his own -- and he said it was Friday Night Lights. That's right, the NBC drama series about high school football deep in the heart of Texas! Somehow it's hard to imagine Sheldon in pads and a helmet. Maybe he could be the water boy? Or the genius offensive coordinator.

Porn movies are well known (so I've heard) for taking film titles and making them a little bit dirtier (so I've heard). Now Hustler is taking TV shows and creating a whole series of films based (or debased) or them. I'm kind of surprised that they're allowed to use Star Trek in the title of a film, like they have with This Ain't Star Trek XXX. I guess the "this ain't" part saves them from legal problems. There's also one called Not The Cosbys.

Other shows get pornified: Happy Days, The Brady Bunch, Gilligan's Island, and Hell's Kitchen, which seems like a weird choice for a porn movie that I don't want to think about. There's also something called Everybody Loves Lucy, which is really self-explanatory.

Zachary Johnson and Jeffrey Max are two effed up dudes.

Before they hit the "viralsphere" with Lasagna Cat, the production team and creative geniuses behind Fatal Farm created an incredibly twisted, brilliantly subversive, and unarguably hilarious series of "alternative intros" parodying the openings to classic sitcoms. No two intros follow the same theme or formula, except to say that they're all unequivocally... Messed. Up.

From blood and guts to go-carts and the hinting of pedophilia, each parody brings with it an innate ability to eviscerate any leftover nostalgia from the sight of, say, the Happy Days jukebox or the beginning chords of the theme to Cheers. (Believe us, you'll never think of Rhea Perlman the same way again.)

Strap in, sit back, and take an incredibly disturbing trip down Memory Lane, courtesy of your friendly tour guides at Fatal Farm:

... not what you think it is, probably. Last night NBC had The 50 Funniest Phrases of All-Time special, and here are the top ten phrases. For the whole list, click here.

The top 50 list is pretty good, but this top ten has several lame entries, eh?

1. "Yada, yada, yada" (Seinfeld)
2. "Doh!" (The Simpsons)
3. "How you doin'?" (Friends)
4. "Ayyyyy" (Happy Days)
5. "We are two wild and crazy guys!" (Saturday Night Live)
6. "Burn" (That 70s Show)
7. "Oh my God, they killed Kenny!" (South Park)
8. "Lucy, you've got some 'splainin to do" (I Love Lucy)
9. "Excuuuuuuuse Me" (Saturday Night Live)
10. "Homey don't play dat" (In Living Color)

Damn, I wish I had thought of this.

Artist and writer Dan Meth has created a series of cool pop culture charts at his web site, and the one on the right is a handy guide to sitcom homes. Sense a pattern? The shows in the top half all have kitchens on the left and living rooms on the right (how we see them via the camera angle), and the ones on the bottom have the living room on the left and the kitchen on the right.

I guess there are only so many things you can do on a sitcom, especially if it's filmed in front of an audience as many of these were.

January 15th, 1974. It was on this cold winter day (cold, because it was pre-global warming) 35 years ago that the American public was introduced to Richie Cunningham, Fonzie, Potsie, and the rest of the gang of Happy Days. A simple family sitcom, the Gary Marshall-created program would change the face of ABC, as well as television, for the ten years it was on the air, as well as beyond.

Happy Days came at a time when the family comedy was going through an upheaval. Gone were the days of simple shows like Leave it to Beaver and The Dick Van Dyke Show. In its place were shows like All in the Family which turned the typical family comedy on its heels. With Vietnam, a poor economy, and Watergate all weighing down on Americans at that time, the introduction of Happy Days gave viewers a chance to remember and laugh at some simpler times.

Here are the new TV DVDs, in stores tomorrow.

Hmmm...I thought A Colbert Christmas was released last week?

We also have Swingtown - Season 1, which can probably also be titled Swingtown - The Complete Series, much to the dismay of devoted fans. This is a good week for fans of Deadwood and The Wire, as they both get complete series releases that would make fantastic Christmas gifts for the fan in your family

• A Colbert Christmas
• The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog
• Deadwood - The Complete Series
• Gunsmoke - Season 3, Vol. 1
• Happy Days - Season 4 and Seasons 1-4
  
• Lost - Season 4
  
• Rawhide - Season 3, Vol. 2
• Shelly Duvall's Bedtime Stories - Complete Series
• Swingtown - Season 1
• The Wire - Complete Series

I recall a time when Ron Howard was diligently trying to distance himself from the two television icons that made him famous: Opie Taylor and Richie Cunningham (from The Andy Griffith Show and Happy Days, respectively). Now, thanks to Funny Or Die and in an effort to get his candidate of choice (Barack Obama, if you didn't know) elected, he is prepared to step back into those two roles. And to do so, he takes Andy Griffith and Henry Winkler with him.

I didn't really grow up with Andy Griffith, but it was quite the nostalgia trip to see Ron Howard and Henry Winkler as Richie and the Fonz again. Winkler seemed to just slip back into the character despite all the years.

Now that local groups have raised enough money, the Bronze Fonz statue will make its Milwaukee debut at an August 19 dedication ceremony. Henry Winkler will attend the ceremony, along with Happy Days co-stars Marion Ross, Tom Bosley, Erin Moran, Don Most, and Anson Williams. A few spots for the statue were considered, but the Fonz found a home on the city's RiverWalk.

This project has been in the works since last fall, when a Milwaukee tourism group announced its plan to raise funds for the statue. The dedication ceremony is invitation-only, but the public is welcome to attend a free frozen custard social following the dedication. Later that day, the Happy Days cast will throw out the first ball at a Brewers game and Anson Williams, better known as Potsie, will sing the National Anthem.

Television has often been a benchmark of current popular culture. Whether it's clothes, cars or furniture, people have always looked to TV to help them decide how to look and how to live. Here are ten great examples of how TV characters have "helped" us look our best.

Daisy Duke's Daisy Dukes (The Dukes of Hazzard)
No one knew it at the time, but when Catherine Bach slipped on those ultra-short denims, she was making an impression on more than the teenage boys who were watching. Years later, a brand new and very different generation embraced the Daisy Dukes, much to the delight of those teenage boys who were now old enough to know better.

As I sit in a converted dorm room at a college in Castine, Maine, waiting for either the start of my stand-up show or the sweet embrace of death to break up the monotony of my day, I find myself with gobs of time to explore some of the less-traveled corners of Wikipedia. After reading a 500 word analysis of what state Benson may have taken place in (really!), I moved on to the entry for "Jump the Shark." Gary Marshall is quoted there as admitting that even he felt a little weird watching Fonzie, leather jacket and all, jumping over that now mythic shark. He points out, however, that Happy Days remained a top-twenty hit for seven more years and produced more than 100 more episodes after it aired.

It occurred to me that had the internet existed in the 1970s, the backlash to the jumping the shark episode would have been immediate and crushing....

A roundup of TV people from in front of the camera and behind the scenes who have passed away.

• Gloria Cromwell: She appeared in a number of TV shows over the years, including Kate & Allie (she played Janet, their landlord), Ryan's Hope, Murder, She Wrote, Moonlighting, Hill Street Blues, The Golden Girls, Hunter, Cop Rock, Designing Women, Coach, L.A. Law, and many others. She was also in many films, including Say Anything, The Odd Couple: Together Again, The War of the Roses, and The Parent Trap II. She died on March 3 (age unknown).

Reunions are hot, you know? On February 12, for example, Oprah reunited (most of) the kids from The Cosby Show, with Bill appearing via satellite. Well, never one to let a good idea go to waste, NBC jumped on the theme. They recently had a Family Ties reunion on Today, so now the morning show is commencing tomorrow with a series of more "Together Again" features. Tune into 8:00 a.m. hour each day so you don't miss a thing!

What's going on at the other TV blogs via the internets.

• Kiefer Sutherland won't wear headphones.
• Which Happy Days episode was worse, jumping the shark or riding the bull?
• CNN: "the most trusted name in best political teams."
• Tom Bergeron is going to has a new show called Supper Club, where he will host a dinner party at the home of Universal Studios head Ron Meyer and talk about the environment. Huh?
• Microsoft might buy Yahoo, but Yahoo is definitely buying Maven, which does video for several sites, including CBS Sports and FOX News.
• Are you ready for Food Network: The Magazine?
• Letterman's writers might be back to work, but the strike blog goes on.

It looks like the "Bronze the Fonz" campaign worked. The archetypical Happy Days character will be getting his own bronze statue in the city where the T.V. show was set.

This isn't the first time a television character has gotten a statue. I live near New York City and I walk past the Ralph Kramden statue every time I take the bus. The cable channel TV Land has arranged for a half-dozen statues to be placed across America. TV Land is co-sponsoring the Fonzie statue as well.