TVSquad

I'm a sucker for cartoons of the 40s and 50s, whether it's Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, or those two squirrels that just wanted to have a nice life where everyone left them alone (their names escape me at the moment). I also like the great pseudo-documentary cartoons that you often saw, like the one after the jump.

It's Television From Tomorrow from MGM and Tex Avery. It shows what the typical household is going to look like in the future (the future meaning now - this was released in 1953). Specifically, it shows what the television of the future was going to look like. It's not serious, of course, but it's very clever and really fun. I like the big guns that pop out of the top of the television, and I think that complicated knob on the front of that one TV accurately predicts the complicated remote controls we have today. Oh, and the 4 out of 5 people who own TV sets? That could have been drawn today.

Can you guess who the narrator is?

[via Boing Boing Gadgets]

Hey gang, here's a few shows I plan on checking out this summer. Some are old, some are new.

Creature Comforts [Mondays at 8:00 p.m. on CBS]: What can I say that I haven't said already? It's a charming little animated show that pipes the everyday conversation of normal human beings through animated animals. It's such a simple idea, but at the same time it demonstrates how we probably have more in common with one another than we realize.

Ice Road Truckers [begins June 17 at 10:00 p.m. on the History Channel]: This new series focuses on truck drivers who risk injury and death while driving their big rigs across frozen lakes. It's one of the world's most dangerous occupations, and one I wasn't even aware existed until hearing about this new series a few months ago.

Big thanks to my pal Wild Bill for smacking me upside the ol' noggin' about this documentary.

Star Wars was the first movie I remember seeing in the theater, even though I was only seven months old when it was released (I saw it in 1980 when it was re-released to coincide with the release of The Empire Strikes Back).

I'm sure Star Wars fans have know about the History Channel's upcoming Star Wars: The Legacy Revealed for some time now, but if not, here's your heads up: the special airs May 28 at 9:00 p.m., then repeats at one in the morning.

What the hell does Star Wars have to do with history. you ask? Well, that's what this documentary is all about. It will delve into some of the subtle and not-so-subtle mythological and historical parallels that run throughout the original trilogy, including Napoleon, Hitler, King Arthur and Greek legends.

Starting in 1913 and ending in 1967, Time Inc provided a series of newsreels to theaters called "The March of Time." The series chronicled significant world events using photos, filmed elements and dramatic reenactments. When theaters stopped showing newsreels in the early fifties, Time Inc continued to make new documentaries and news stories for television. In the end, "The March of Time" covered more than 70 million feet of film.

Thought Equity Motion and the HBO Archival Collection recently teamed up to make all of the footage from "The March of Time" series available online. Unfortunately, it's only available to media professionals, but you can see a "trailer" of sorts here. It's nice to see this footage maintained, rather than simply fading away in a vault somewhere, plus it's a reminder of a time not terribly long ago when going to the movies or watching TV was more of an event than it is today.

In all of human history, no object is as revered as the mighty can: holder of both liquid and solids, aluminum liner of truck floors in most Southern states, and able to double as a phone or a bong whenever the situation calls for it. Where would we be without the can? I'll tell you where: at the store trying to mop loose soup into our grocery bags with a sponge, crying out to whomever will listen: "why isn't there some kind of receptacle that will hold this soup?"

On March 8 at 10:00 p.m., Man-Made: The Can premieres on the National Geographic Channel. The episode promises to delve into the history and making of the cylindrical items, and also promises not to be boring, even though it's a show about how cans are made. In all of recorded history, the phrase "hey, wanna know all there is to know about cans?" has never been met with an affirmative response. At least not that I know of.

This Tuesday, February 6 at 10 p.m., HBO will air a documentary that attempts to chronicle the history of gangs and gang violence in Los Angeles. Bastards of the Party, directed by former gang member Cle "Bone" Sloan, pinpoints the origin of gang formations as far back as the 1940s, when blacks began moving from the south into mostly white areas of Los Angeles, a fact unknown to many who assumed it was the turbulent '60s and '70s that gave rise to the gang culture. Of course, that era will also be chronicled in the documentary, along with the escalation in violence that continued throughout the '80s and '90s.

Sloan, who now works in the film business, became a member of the Bloods at the age of 12 and learned about the history of the gangs from older gang members, and also read about that history while in jail. This isn't the first documentary to cover this subject, and it certainly won't be the last, but what will make it worth checking out is seeing it through the eyes of someone who actually lived it.

PBS will air a four-part documentary on Wednesday, January 10 and Wednesday, January 17 at 9pm titled China from the Inside. The documentary will delve into both the history and current political landscape of China from all perspectives. It will also examine how women are treated in the country, problems with air and water pollution, religion, and the government's slow response to the AIDS epidemic. The four parts of the documentary are:

1. "Power and the People"

2. "Women of the Country"

3. "Shifting Nature"

4. "Freedom and Justice"

China is quickly becoming a major player on the world stage, but little is known about it. The creators of this documentary hope to shed some light on a country that still remains a mystery to many. I love the idea, and hopefully it will be as in-depth as they claim it to be.

Every elementary student knows that April showers bring May flowers, and that Mayflowers bring pilgrims. However, do we really know all there is about the journey these religious hat-loving folk took to the new land? Well, no, we probably don't, because history is always murky and unclear. However, if you're interested in that fateful journey upon the fabled ship, the History Channel is airing Desperate Crossing: The Untold Story of The Mayflower, a 180-minute look at what it was like for the people aboard the ship, and what followed when they finally landed on Plymouth Rock.

Most of us know a kind of Cliff's Notes version of the Thanksgiving story: pilgrims left England to escape religious persecution, landed here, made pals with the Native Americans, ate some turkey, and watched the football game. This special, however, looks at the hardships the pilgrims faced on the four-month journey that killed half the crew. The special will feature reenactments based on authentic documentation from the actual events. The special will air on the History Channel on November 19 at 8 pm, and will repeat throughout the week.

I'm just old enough to remember watching Schoolhouse Rock on ABC, and getting all those catchy but educational songs stuck in my head. The series of shorts that popped up between cartoons on Saturday mornings was conceived by Thomas G. Yohe and based on the simple idea that rock lyrics stick in kids' minds easily, so why not make them educational? The series has become one of the defining pop cultural icons of Generation X, and YesButNoButYes has a brief history of the series and the men and women behind it, complete with video clips. The piece mentions Jack Sheldon (the "I'm Just a Bill" guy) lent his voice to an episode of Family Guy, but it forgets to mention he was also the voice of the "Amendment To Be" in an episode of The Simpsons: "There's a lot of flag burners / who have too much freedom / I wanna make it legal for policemen / to beat 'em." It's a great bit of TV history, definitely worth checking out.

The cool thing about portraying time travel, whether it be in books, movies, or television, is that no one has figured out how to do it in real life so you can pretty much just make it up as you go along. It's not as if there are people at home who have actually time traveled yelling at the screen: "Damn it! That's not how we did it when we went back in time and used Marie Antoinette's head as a soccer ball!" That is, however, a line from my new screenplay about time travelers who go back in time for the sole purpose of kicking around severed heads. It's called The People Who Go Back in Time and Kick Severed Heads Around.

Mr. Peabody and Sherman was one of my favorite cartoons when I was a kid. I even have stuffed animals of the two characters somewhere in my apartment. But I still greet this news with more than a little aprehension.

Rob Minkoff, the director who did The Lion King and Stuart Little, is going to direct a big screen version of the cartoon. But the above article doesn't say whether or not its going to be animated or live action. I would assume live action, the way they do big screen versions of all old cartoons nowadays (The Flintstones), probably a mix of live action and animation (Stuart Little, Scooby-Doo).

All I ask is that they don't screw it up. Then again, maybe the fact that they're even considering doing a big screen version of the show has already ruined it.

[via TV Tattle]

(S06E24)

Bart: Mom, you won't believe this, but something you said the other day really got through to me. And now, I'm going to teach some kids a lesson.

Marge: I choose to take that literally.

Bart (from outside): Death to Shelbyville!

Homer: Yes, Bart's a tutor, now. Toot on, son! Toot on!