I’ve been out of the loop on professional wrestling for what seems like forever now. I don’t know the major players; I don’t know the companies, and from the few drop-ins I’ve done over the years, you can basically have it. But I have the fondest memories, as a very small boy, of the syndicated Big Time Wrestling show, out of the National Wrestling Alliance‘s Detroit territory, which could always be counted on to keep an hour of boredom at bay on a rainy Saturday afternoon (“And Pampero Firpo coco-butts The Sheik! He’s killed him! He’s killed him! No, no wait! He’s getting up!”). And the early days of Vince McMahon’s WWF, when I was a teenager, were some of the best “TV theatre” around, with the hypnotic, hysterically funny “Rowdy” Roddy Piper a true artist at his craft.
Continue reading ‘The Triumph and Tragedy of World Class Championship Wrestling’ (2007): The unscripted side of pro wrestlingTag Archives: documentaries
‘Lucy & Desi: A Home Movie’ (1993): A familial look back at the fascinating, complicated couple
I hadn’t realized that this past April was the 35th anniversary of the passing of Lucille Ball, television’s greatest comedienne. Probably because that former standby of media information—the old “TV listings”—hadn’t reminded me. Since traditional linear network TV is now essentially a niche joke—the last form of mass communication that actually helped unify our popular culture, as opposed to the internet and streaming, which have completely Balkanized it—I seriously doubt there was any kind of effort on the part of her old network, CBS, to commemorate her death while celebrating her legacy (maybe they did something on MeTV…do people still have cable?).
Continue reading ‘Lucy & Desi: A Home Movie’ (1993): A familial look back at the fascinating, complicated couple‘The Roller Derby Chronicles’: 2 documentaries & tons of vintage game footage!
You know what sports I played as a kid? My TV, that’s what. And my favorite of all time was catching Big Time Wrestling coming out WXYZ, Detroit’s Channel 7. When Bobo Brazil, after breaking free of The Sheik’s camel-clutch hold, would give his skull-crushing “Coco Butt” to lay the Sheik out, well…why the hell would I want to go outside and toss around a ball and maybe miss that?
Continue reading ‘The Roller Derby Chronicles’: 2 documentaries & tons of vintage game footage!‘The Toys That Made Us’ (Season 1): Streaming series conjures Gen X nostalgia
It’ll make you feel like a kid again.
Continue reading ‘The Toys That Made Us’ (Season 1): Streaming series conjures Gen X nostalgia‘True-Life Adventures’: True Disney works of art
Tis the season to watch TV, since it’s getting downright frigid outside, and also because you couldn’t pay me to see most of the new movies out now in theaters (hey, Marty—I’ll settle that little argument for you: The Irishman and all the Marvel movies both stink equally…but at least they stink in 3D).
Continue reading ‘True-Life Adventures’: True Disney works of artSecret Stories of Hitler: ‘Swastika’ & TV documentaries highlight DVD collection
Mill Creek Entertainment has taken three Adolf Hitler-themed documentaries (one feature length, and two long-form TV outings), and put them together in a newly-monikered set, Secret Stories of Hitler.
Continue reading Secret Stories of Hitler: ‘Swastika’ & TV documentaries highlight DVD collection‘100 Years of Horror’: Vintage horror, sci-fi docuseries comes to disc
100 years of movie horror in 11 hours…sorta. Mill Creek Entertainment (with MultiCom Entertainment) has released 100 Years of Horror, the 26-episode syndicated TV series from 1996, hosted by horror icon, Christopher Lee.
Continue reading ‘100 Years of Horror’: Vintage horror, sci-fi docuseries comes to disc