• Unique Definition · The music and dance show Soul Train has been purchased by a new packager who promises to bring new episodes to television. The New York Times’ TV Blog, TV Decoder, says that the show was never canceled…they just haven’t produced any new episodes for a few seasons. That’s a lot like claiming that someone whose contract wasn’t renewed wasn’t fired…they were just allowed to spend their working hours at someone else’s workplace. By the same logic, The Andy Griffith Show, which hasn’t produced a new episode since 1968, isn’t canceled, either; they’re just showing reruns for a while. Still, when I’m flipping through the channels and a vintage 1970s rerun appears, I’m liable to stop and watch a little of Gladys Knight, Stevie Wonder or Ray Charles.  But I  do think they should have done a retrospective of the show’s guests over the years rather than just parking it and sending out random reruns.  Longtime fans of a show like that deserve a little courtesy. · June 16th, 2008 at 10:36 pm (0)

Nov 21 2007

You Mean It’s Really A Song?

Tag: Advertising, Celebrities, Music, Television, YouTubePatrick @ 12:57 am

By now, you’ve probably seen the commercial for Fruit of the Loom with country star Vince Gill. In the spot, he sings a few bars of a song with the Apple guy and their duet is interrupted by Grape guy’s cell phone.

It turns out, believe it or not, that they actually wrote a lot more than just twenty seconds worth of lyrics. Here, for your enjoyment (or torment), is the full two-and-a-half minute tune. Keep in mind as you listen to what is otherwise a beautiful melody that they’re singing about underwear!

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No castle in the south of France,
but what we had were underpants
that made us feel like royalty…

I’d love to have seen the look on Vince Gill’s face when they first pitched this idea.


Aug 26 2007

What Am I Watching?

Tag: Celebrities, Music, TelevisionPatrick @ 8:54 pm

For the past forty-five minutes or so, I’ve been watching a documentary on Elvis Presley on TV Land.

The cable network has essentially gone nuts when it comes to the King of Rock and Roll, which isn’t surprising considering that Presley died thirty years ago this month.

But I’m not a big Elvis fan.  I like some of his songs well enough, but he died when I was 7, and while my mom adored him, I never paid that much attention to him.

What does surprise me is that I was so easily pulled into this show.  It’s not one of those pathetic made-for-TV movie biopics; this is a behind-the-scenes look at Elvis in concert with interviews from Elvis himself.  So it is interesting to hear what he had to say about his own fame.

It turns out that he never got over extreme stage fright before a performance, which is ironic, because he could have gotten huge cheers by just walking onto the stage.  It’s also interesting just how much Gospel music he sang backstage and in between performances.  It is clear that despite his problems with drugs, his personal faith was important to him to the end.

It’s a sign of a well-done documentary when you’ve watched almost all of it without even realizing that you were really that interested.


Jul 22 2007

“Soul Train” Derailed?

Tag: Music, TelevisionPatrick @ 1:58 am

What’s going on with Soul Train?

I’ve been noticing lately, when I’m passing by the show on weekends as I flip through the channels, that “television’s longest-running, first-run, nationally-syndicated program in television history” is showing classic episodes from the seventies and eighties under the title The Best of Soul Train, which is usually a good sign that a show is on its last leg. Continue reading ““Soul Train” Derailed?”




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