Speaking of "And Now For Something Completely Different", I was just thinking the other day how interesting how complete the displacement from the original use of the catchphrase is. It's an example of what TVTROPES calls the Weird Al Effect, when the parody becomes better known than the original, but to a really remarkable degree: hardly anyone except from the people who were kids at the right time now knows that "And Now For Something Completely Different" was the catchphrase of Blue Peter. The original joke when the Pythons used it was that they were using it to precede going to to subject that would never have appeared on a kids' show like Blue Petter ("And now for something completely different--a man with three buttocks") yet now that is completely lost on modern viewers of the show. It's a remarkable case of displacement.
Or, indeed, how a famous American patriotic anthem like the "Liberty Bell March" is instead remembered -
even in the United States! - as the "
Monty Python Theme". I can't claim full credit for having made that observation, of course.
Someone on YouTube pointed it out. You might have heard of him
Though
I, for one, can claim to have heard the "Liberty Bell March" prior to and independently of its Monty Python connection. Indeed, I hadn't even
heard of Monty Python until I went into high school (at age 14). Said high school was populated with
exactly the kinds of nerds and geeks you'd imagine would be big Python fans. And indeed they were. Meanwhile, I was struck by Pink Floyd Syndrome ("which one is Monty"?). Eventually I was roped into watching
Monty Python and the Holy Grail at a friend's house. It
was funny, though obviously I couldn't help but be struck by a degree of
Hype Backlash (as
anyone would if they're informed that they're watching the funniest movie of all time).
Another great example of Python rather insidiously ingratiating itself into pop culture is the Spanish Inquisition sketch. No one can ever mention
any inquisition
of any kind without someone making the joke. Maybe
nobody expects
them, but
everybody expects people making a
joke about them!
You mean Blue Peter's catchphrase wasn't always "Here's one I made earlier"?
Glad you're still reading, Maltaran
I really like this idea. I'd love to see how a Brit team does it differently.
I suspect that each new Muppet would have a different regional accent. Perhaps an
Irish Muppet as well? Hmmm...
phx1138 said:
Like now?
Well done!
Hmm, interesting to hear about PBS. It's only fitting that a timeline featuring President Hubert Humphrey would see their funded at somewhat higher than historical levels.
That was my reasoning. There's a great deal of money that
isn't being spent on the overseas quagmire, and though NASA will be co-opting the lion's share, what will eventually become PBS should see some gains. It should go without saying that in addition to startup funding, their budgeted revenues are also higher than IOTL.
vultan said:
Honestly, for as much of a Jim Henson I am, I didn't really watch Sesame Street when I was little, so I don't have much to say specifically regarding that or really any of PBS' educational material. (Time to go on an extremely wild tangent, though- the Senator Pastore you mentioned faced his last reelection battle in 1970, defeating Catholic priest John McLaughlin in the general election... yes, the guy from The McLaughlin Group.)
I didn't watch much
Sesame Street, either - I never really cared for it. In fact, most of the PBS shows I
did like were geared to older children:
Ghostwriter and
Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego are two great examples. I'm sure I would have loved
The Electric Company...
if it were still on the air in the 1990s
vultan said:
And any good pop culture timeline deserves a good dose of Ebert and Siskel.
Indeed - and good on you for reversing the names!
vultan said:
Thanks, vultan
The local children's shows when I was growing up in Sacramento had the hosts "Captain Sacto" (Harry Martin) and "Skipper Stu" Nahan. They featured Loony Tunes cartoons, with live bridge sections with the hosts. These were on the commercial channels; I hardly knew the NET channel existed.
That actually isn't
too surprising - NET generally sought an
adult audience (hence the nickname "
University of the Air"), and had a spotty presence across the USA into the 1960s (they didn't even
use the name NET until 1963). And,
most importantly, the NET/PBS affiliate in Sacramento, KVIE, did not begin operations until 1959.
How are The Young Ones doing?
(Rik Mayall, Ade Edmonson et al)
Welcome aboard! That question will be answered in due time
Perhaps - but don't underestimate the power of seeing the Huxtables as a power couple in professional positions - this was not how African Americans were portrayed on TV by and large up until that time.
I agree - but I think there's an appeal to seeing people
achieve that success. The Huxtables were
already well-off at the beginning. Having Chet Kincaid
earn his success would be more meaningful, especially since he would be doing so alongside many real-life African-American families in this era. He's either inspiring that or reflecting it - or both!
phx1138
Actually pretty well, for Britain anyway, so far. [Yes I do mean Britain, read it and see why
]. A hell of a TL as Space_Oddity has put in masses of detail and some monstrous butterflies are casting shadows all over Europe and starting to affect the New World. He puts in a lot of gallows humour detail where you think 'they did what!' and masses of interaction between people which makes it bloody difficult to keep track of what's going on. If you ever have a fortnight or so try and give it a read. Think the TL is up to about 1560 something currently.
1561 - twenty-eight years after the POD. Without giving away any further details, I do recommend it to anyone who enjoys that period of history.
Wow, that update made me look up Fred Rogers and damn! He really seemed to be the nicest guy in the history of the universe! I mean, did he have any flaws? Like, smoking a cigarette or drinking a light beer once a year? I guess Eddie Murphy absorbed all the flaws for his Mister Robinson parody.
I've actually been thinking about this myself, ever since the update, but I believe that I have an answer: if you're at all familiar with
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, then you might recognize Mr. Rogers as an example of the elusive self-actualized individual; these are so uncommon that Maslow himself had trouble finding examples.
President Al Bundy said:
But you see, if your timeline made me look up Fred Rogers, then your TL is probably just that good. Keep up your good work!
Thank you very much for the kind words, and welcome aboard!
The most interesting thing I've come across about him (
via Cracked.com) was that he was friends with George Romero of zombie film fame.
And he
liked the movies, too! It seems that slapstick was his sole adversary...
