Daily Archives: 5 July 2011

TV, Views

Rehab Television: More Harm than it’s Worth?

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On the latest episode of Celebrity Rehab, actress Bai Ling (a personal favorite of mine from her award-winning work in the sinister horror film Dumplings) refuses to take psychiatric medication before climbing onto the roof of Dr. Drew Pinsky’s drug rehabilitation center. What do the employees of the facility do? Do they call the police to get assistance with a possibly unstable self-admitted alcoholic posing a threat to herself and others on top of the facility? Of course not. That’s not good TV. They all start climbing on the roof one by one before Dr. Drew races to the back of the building upon hearing a crash.

I have to wonder what the actual intentions of broadcasting a program like Celebrity Rehab are. I’ll be one of the first people to admit that I watch a lot of reality TV for the trainwreck factor. People eating worms for $50000? Running through mud pits and being thrown in water by large foam sweepers? Struggling to make an outfit out of used chewing gum and newspaper in 6 hours? That’s just funny. But what is the entertainment factor in watching sick people trying to recover from dangerous conditions?

It’s not just the straight forward rehab shows that alarm me.

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Books/Print, Views

Vincent Price reads Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Gold Bug”

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What can make one of my favorite Edgar Allan Poe stories even better? Vincent Price reading it. I have to go take care of a bunch of business things this afternoon, but I’ll be back tonight with another meatier post.

Please to enjoy Vincent Price’s excellent reading of “The Gold Bug,” complete with bizarre prospector accent.


TV, Views

The Art of TV Animation: Ren & Stimpy

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When I was five years old, Nickelodeon launched its first original series of animated shows: Ren & Stimpy, Rugrats, and Doug. These shows aired on Sunday morning (most likely to reduce competition against the more traditional Saturday morning cartoon format) in a 90 minute block. I remember this so vividly because I would wake up extra early on Sunday morning, hoping my family would choose to go to the 7:30AM mass so we would all be home in time to watch Ren & Stimpy. Sure, it was normally the 10AM program, with the less interesting Rugrats and Doug* taking up the entirety of the 9AM mass, but if we went to 9AM mass, we missed the opening sketch of the important show. We eventually set the VCR to record Ren & Stimpy for my brother and me, but it wasn’t the same as rushing home to sit in front of the TV and watch it roll out live for the first time.

Recently, Netflix obtained the rights to stream Ren & Stimpy. It was a joyous day. My brother and I both tried to contact each other at roughly the same time to let the other know the exciting news. We’ve both streamed our way through the entire series once at this point, though I moved a little slower than he did. Why? Because the show, against my fondest recollections, was actually quite beautiful.

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