TVSquad

While it has persevered for almost four decades, Sesame Street's heart and soul is very much a product of the 1970s. There was nothing like it when it first hit the public television airwaves in 1969; while other children's programs took place in mystical and magical lands, Sesame Street took place in a regular inner city neighborhood. Okay, it was an inner city neighborhood where monsters and people lived together, but it's that partial realism which set it apart from other programs, and, perhaps subconsiously, gave kids a sense of community and belonging.

The Simpsons: Testify is a brand new album that will hit stores on September 18. The new album features original songs from season ten through eighteen, with such musicians as "Weird Al" Yankovic, David Byrne, Jackson Browne, and, of course, the Simpsons clan and the many residents of Springfield.

The album will feature music from some of the show's recent parodies of big musicals from such episodes as "Yokel Chords," "My Fair Laddy" and "The President Wore Pearls." The album also includes Ricky Gervais' ode to Marge from the episode "Homer Simpson, This is Your Wife."

Soon, Larry the Cable Guy will be as synonymous with Christmas as Frosty and Rudolph.

Okay, perhaps not, but the redneck comedian is hosting a Christmas special on VH1 this year. Mr. Cable Guy will co-executive produce the musical/comedy special, a twisted take on the old Andy Williams Christmas specials. In fact, one of the musical guests they hope to get is Andy Williams himself. Hint: check Branson, MO.

I'll admit I've never been a fan of Larry the Cable Guy, though I certainly don't fault anyone who can find success with whatever brand of comedy they choose. Still, a Larry the Cable Guy Christmas special with guests like Andy Williams and Tony Orlando makes me wonder exactly what the demographic VH1 is going for these days. Whatever it is, I'm not it.

The special will most likely air sometime in early December. It tapes in Las Vegas this August.

So the other day Bob and I were making moonshine behind my garage when I told him about this funny video I stumbled across a couple months ago (video is at the end of the post).

"You should post it on TV Squad," he told a shovel because he was too drunk to know it wasn't me.

"You're right, I should," I replied.

I have to say, I expected something a little more challenging from the folks at mental_floss. This TV theme song quiz was pretty easy (I scored 100%).

Okay, I'll admit that I got a couple of them correct through a process of elimination. If you had walked up to me and started playing the theme to What's Happening?, I wouldn't have been able to tell you what it was. I was too young to remember What's Happening?, but not too young to remember the syndicated spinoff What's Happening Now?, although I don't know how the theme to that series went, either, which is probably for the best. God knows I've spent many a night slamming my head in the oven door to erase any memories of The New WKRP in Cincinnati, also.

Anyway, go take the quiz and then come back here and let me know how you did.

[via TV Filter]

Of course, one "Great American Singing Bee" was already on NBC many, many years ago, but this is different.

The Great American Singing Bee is a new game show from producers Phil Gurin and Bob Horowitz, who will each produce different versions for American and UK television audiences. Contestants will be given lyrics to songs and asked to sing the missing words. This is very similar to an old family game called SongBurst, which was based on pretty much the exact same idea.

Huh.

I apologize for being a little late with this news, but it took my brain this long to accept that this was actually true. Yes, Yahoo is planning to launch a new online video project called "Odd News Underground" featuring a singing news anchor. Yahoo isn't saying who the anchor is, but insist the person is someone people will recognize.

I guess I can give Yahoo credit for trying to make the news even more laughable than it already is, and sure, with a name like "Odd News Underground" the new Web program probably isn't going to focus on real news, but I certainly hope they don't think this is an original idea. I've placed a video from the '90s after the jump that shows at least one man had this idea already.

Anyone want to guess who this singing news person is going to be? I'm hoping it's Matthew Wilder, personally.

[via Lost Remote]

Most people recognize the name Duke Ellington, but very few know the name Billy Strayhorn. The documentary Billy Strayhorn: Lush Life, which will be featured tonight on the PBS series Independent Lens at 10:00 p.m., hopes to change that. Strayhorn composed many of Ellington's hits, but his quiet demeanor kept him in Ellington's shadow. Also, he was an openly gay black man living in the '40s, a time when most remained closeted for fear of violence or worse.

Bennett? I think I broke it!

Sorry, punchline to an old joke, couldn't help myself. Anyway, Tony Bennett, whose albums have made the charts in every decade since the 1950s, will sing a series of duets this evening with the likes of Barbara Streisand, Elton John, Christina Aguilera, John Legend, Diana Krall, k.d. lang and Michael Buble. Tony Bennett: An American Classic, which celebrates Bennett's 80th birthday, airs tonight at 8:00 on NBC and is directed by Rob Marshall, who also directed Chicago and Memoirs of Geisha. The tribute will include big production numbers and stories about Bennett from folks such as Billy Crystal and John Travolta.

Call me old fashioned, but I'd rather just see Tony on stage by himself singing his hits and a few standards without all the extravagance and folderol, but what the heck, it's good to acknowledge that he's still influencing artists from different generations.