THE TKTV NEWSLETTER
Season 1, Episode 3 aired November 4, 1998

CONTENTS
1. Intro
2. Responses to Episode 2
3. New stuff on TKTV
4. "The Hughleys," are you sure you get it?
     -by guest writer Azaletch Tura
5. TKTV's favorite TV ad
6. Don't miss
7. Favorite quote of the week
8. TKTV's totally unrelated link

1. Intro

I hope everyone had a nice Halloween. I ate too much candy and way too many yummy pumpkin cookies. My friend Tanya invented them. She calls them "mookies" though, 'cause they were so soft they were a cross between muffins and cookies.

And I hope everyone enjoyed all the fun Halloween specials on TV. I got to see "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" which made me extremely happy. I also, thanks to my friend John (who is big fan of cop and hospital dramas, and will hopefully be a guest writer soon) started watching "NYPD Blue" and "Law & Order." I mean, I guess I knew they had to be good because of all the awards they've garnered over the years, but I was still impressed when I started watching. The frustrating thing, though, is that you know something has to be really wrong with Bobby on "NYPD Blue" since Jimmy Smits is leaving the show. Just like you would know that there isn't anything seriously wrong if he weren't leaving the show. Ah, what can you do....?

Ted Danson's new sitcom premiered last Monday on CBS. It's called "Becker," and Ted Danson plays a doctor with a gruff exterior but a heart of gold. He actually plays the part quite well. And wow, it's first time I've seen someone smoking on TV in a long time (he's trying to quit). For all you "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" fans out there, Terry Farrell is back on TV as the woman who runs the coffee shop Becker always hangs out in. Check it out next Monday at 9:30pm on CBS.

I really miss the spinning manhole cover that used to be the opening sequence of "Spin City." The whole music and montage thing is just not working for me. And it's strange, as one of the few shows set in New York that actually films in New York, you'd think they'd do more location shoots. I think "NYPD Blue" has more location shoots that "Spin City," and they film in L.A.!

Speaking of New York, what was up with Ben asking his roommate to call Felicity a cab? Everyone knows that you don't call a cab in New York, you walk outside and hail one. And on "DiResta," John DiResta is supposed to be a subway cop. Their opening sequence has all the first letters of people's names in colored circles like the New York subway system... but the colors aren't right. I'm pretty sure that all the letters they use are actual New York subway lines that have actual colors, but they just made up the colors for the opening sequence. How hard would it have been to get it right?

"Encore! Encore!" is gone. It might be back in December, but for now, I'm not sorry to see it go. Although I love Nathan Lane and Glenne Headly, they were both incredibly annoying in this unremarkable show.

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2. Responses to Episode 2

Remember that Mazda Protege Ad I loved so much? Well, it turns out that it's all a big rip-off. Here's the ad:
"Gina was a driving girl with geographic memory,
Karen dumped her boyfriend Jim, forget that slacker misery,
Charlie works in cyberspace, backslash dot com all day long,
Pamela, she couldn't sing, but kept a beat and kept it strong."
And here's what Coni had to say:
I didn't know if you knew or not since you made no mention of it in the newsletter, but the song in the commercial is taken from a real song by The Nails called "88 Lines About 44 Women". The words are slightly different plus the guy part is added since there were no guys in the song. Here is the part of the song that they took it from:

Reno was an aimless girl, a geographic memory.
Cathy was a Jesus-freak, she liked that kind of misery.
Vicky had this special way of turning sex into a song.
Camella couldn't sing, kept the beat and kept it strong.

Here is where I grabbed the lyrics to see how different they were:

http://www.lyrics.ch/query/get?s=63818
Thanks for letting me know, Coni!

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3. New stuff on TKTV

Dana's "Ally McBeal" site got a great review from "Entertainment Weekly." EW says that it's more thorough and more frequently updated than the official site. THIS is why we need fan sites. They even got her new URL correct! Check it out at:
http://cgi.pathfinder.com/ew/siteoftheweek/0,2028,8,00.html

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4. "The Hughleys," are you sure you get it? by Azaletch Tura, person, black person, sports fan, and fan of Chris Rock

In "The Hughleys," with executive producer Chris Rock, Darryl Hughley is a black man who has worked his way out of the ghetto (can we say "The Jeffersons?") and is now living in the all-white Los Angeles suburbs in a nice new house with nice new neighbors. Much like "Animaniacs," which has jokes for kids and adults, or "The Simpsons," which has jokes for kids, for adults, and for ivy-league graduates, "The Hughleys," (pronounced "Hue-glees"), has jokes for the people, black people, sports fans, and fans of Chris Rock.

D.L. Hughley has said in past interviews that this show is based on his life experiences. I don't doubt that, but I also see a huge influence from Chris Rock. At the end of the pilot episode, Darryl says to his friendly white neighbor Dave that he was worried that he might think of him as "the N word." Dave calmly says back "Well, I dunno Darryl, I think it's a little late for that, don't you? Besides, I already think of you as the N word... Neighbor." TK saw this as a slightly funny, mostly sappy, bonding moment between two men (Note from TK: I also thought it was great acting on the part of Eric Allan Kramer). What she missed, by not being a Chris Rock fan, was that the N word is an on-going issue for Chris Rock. Many times in the past the notorious comedian has been accused of being much too liberal with this very controversial word.

On a lighter note, in this week's episode, Yvonne was planning a trip to visit her grandmother. Darryl says that he has no need to visit that Voodoo-loving woman who doesn't like him anyway. Yvonne says that just because her grandmother is from Louisiana, doesn't mean she practices Voodoo. Darryl asks Yvonne to explain the doll that looks like him hanging in her grandmother's linen closet that looks like it's covered with chicken blood. This is a play off an old Chris Rock stand-up routine. There were these great promos on HBO for awhile showing him mouthing off to his grandmother and having her shrink him down to the height of four inches... incidentally the exact same height Darryl claims Yvonne's grandfather was by the time he died.

Also in this week's episode, Darryl thought that Yvonne was trying to con him into having a baby, which he said was the oldest trick in the book... just ask anyone in the NBA. Yvonne reminded Darryl that they were already married, and anyway she was no groupie and he was no Shawn Kemp. TK thought, oh giggle giggle, Shawn Kemp, he's gotta be some famous sports star, right? What TK missed (TK misses a lot, doesn't she?) is that Shawn Kemp has something like nine kids from seven different women. Us sports fans guffawed, but TK, who couldn't even remember what sport Shawn Kemp played, just giggled. (Note from TK: I never giggle.)

Okay, here's a joke that TK actually got, but I'm figuring a lot of other people didn't. In the pilot episode, Darryl's daughter chooses a white doll instead of a black doll. Darryl is upset and reminds her of what his mother used to always tell him: "My momma always said, if she can't use a comb, don't bring her home." I always heard this as YOUR comb rather than A comb, but the idea is still the same: if she can't pick her hair, then she isn't black enough to bring home.

So there are a lot of inside jokes, but unlike "Martin," they're not the whole show. I honestly don't think there are many people out there who aren't black who are going to appreciate much of "Martin." He's a funny guy and all, but all the jokes are aimed simply at black people (then again, I think the show is really aimed at black people). But again, anyone can enjoy "Animaniacs," anyone can enjoy "The Simpsons," and anyone can enjoy "The Hughleys." I just thought it might be fun to let you in on the some of the things you might be missing. Now if someone could just explain to me all those jokes in that Margaret Cho sitcom from 1994 "All-American Girl" I'd be all set.

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5. TKTV's favorite TV ad: ABC

So I figure no one has missed ABC's ad campaign. In New York, it's been on the sides of buildings, in subways, on the sides of buses, and on carts of street vendors, never mind on TV and in magazines. Big yellow signs with a typewriter font and funny things like, "If it weren't for the TV you wouldn't know where to put the couch," or, "If TV is so bad for you, why is there one in every hospital room, " or, "Before TV, two world wars. After TV, none. You figure it out." Okay, so I don't think I have the exact quotes right, but you get the idea.

When the campaign started in 1997 it was stupid and almost offensive, but they've found the right tone and now I appreciate it immensely. What I really like, though, is the little bits they put around the commercials of ABC shows. They show black and white pictures of the actors, often making funny faces, and some yellow saying like, "Stay here. Here is good." They make me smile. And I loved that the yellow became orange for Halloween and their tones for "I Love TV" (rip off of NBC, but good) changed to spooky tones. Even the way they show the upcoming schedule with the "now" and "later" buttons is working for me.

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6. Don't miss
For details and lots more fun TV to look forward to, see
http://www.tktv.net/upcoming.html

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7. Favorite Quote of the Week

From "Sports Night" October 27th, Jeremy asks Dan where he should take Natalie to dinner:

"Make it someplace that you like. Restaurants - they don't impress women as much as we think they do, and food always tastes good on the first date. You're not in Vegas, and you're not in L.A. - you are in the most magnificent city in the world - it's the city of Gershwin and Cole Porter, Damon Runyon and Fiorello LaGuardia. Surprise her, but make her feel comfortable. Make it different, but make her feel at home. But mostly, make it someplace that you like." -Dan Rydell

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8. TKTV's totally unrelated link

http://www.thesitefights.com/wepatrol/mil_bug.gif
You must see this cartoon about the Year 2000 bug. It's exactly how I feel about the whole mess. Please don't be one of those people who is going to remove all their money from the bank next November....

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