Reviews
 Keep It Simple
Van Morrison
Roger McGuinn @ the Huntington IMAC, Long Island, NY - April 4, 2008
Emily Saxe @ the Allen Room/Jazz at Lincoln Center - April 5, 2008
Another Country
Tift Merritt
Be Your Own Pet
Get Awkward
Paul McCartney – The McCartney Years (DVD)
Juno – Music from the Motion Picture
Various Artists
Yes - Their Definitive Story
Day and Night Driving
Seven Mary Three
InterMedia Arts Center 2/2/08
Huntington, NY
|
If you’re old like me, then you remember the glory of Saturday morning. In the sixties and seventies, Saturday morning television was so good that most kids wouldn’t go out to ‘call on’ their friends until 11:00 or so, when the cartoons and kids shows started to wind down. Then it stopped. Kids in the eighties just didn’t have the same wonderful array of programming. For a while, it looked like Saturday morning television would make it safe for kids to go outside and play. Regarding kids television, creativity and inventiveness were a thing of the past, until Pee Wee Herman took his own inspiration from the shows of old and created a TV show for the ages. Unfortunately, his show didn’t last too long…opening up an opportunity for Weird Al to attempt something similar.
This three-disk collection compiles thirteen episodes together in one place, and the ‘variety’ is quite impressive. Weird Al is a unique character, and his outsized personality is perfect for Saturday morning. Like Pee Wee’s show, the set is lively and colorful, with plenty of surprising special guests, such as Alex Trebek (!), John Tesh (!!) and Fabio (!!!), not to mention a predictable batch of nuts like Emo Phillips and Judy Tenuta. Hanson performs (yes, they DO play their own instruments, and they are good, too), as do Barenaked Ladies, Immature and others, including Weird Al’s band playing live versions of the song parodies that made him famous in the first place. The remarkable thing here is that the bands actually perform LIVE!
The “Fatman” cartoons are a regular feature of each show, which features Weird Al as an overweight crimefighter, with his sidekick hamster Harvey. A hysterical fake TV-show-in-a-TV-show that combines Sesame Street puppetry with Mister Rogers-style pandering fattens out the skits, along with film clips and claymation, and they are welcome relief from the storylines. Al’s manic personality can get annoying, especially when the strident ‘messages’ of each show (“Bullys are bad,” “Don’t Make Promises You Can’t Keep”) wear you down, but just when it starts to get on your nerves, Dick Van Patton appears wearing a tutu…It’s moments like this that keep you glued. The show doesn’t always translate to adult sensibilities, but the package has a manic pace that should appeal easily to kids. Best of all, it’s on DVD, so you don’t have to wait until Saturday morning.
DVD Grade: B+
Tom Ryan
 
|
Hit Network
More Music Reviews
More Movie Reviews
More Book Reviews
More Concert Reviews
Powered by Millennium Communications Inc.