Stream of Consciousness Blogging with no socially redeeming value

I took my Little Sister to a movie on Sunday. (Big Brother/Big Sister Little Sister, not my biological little sister. She makes more money than I do, so she can pay for her own damn movie ticket.) It was a WORLD PREMIER - admittedly one with relatively minor stars, but it involved free tickets and free popcorn, so what's not to love?

Every so often, I find things like this entertaining, but it turns out my little sister is absolutely and utterly uninterested in celebrities. It is terribly refreshing that we have not once had to discuss Lindsay Lohan or the Olsen twins. The movie started late, and we were two rows behind Henry Winkler and one of the lesser Baldwin brothers, so I tried to unsuccessfully explain The Fonz to a 13 year old who had never heard of Happy Days. Then we saw the guy who was in that show with Bob Newhart - not the one with Suzanne Pleshette - the one where they had the inn in Vermont. Before that, he was in Bosom Buddies with Tom Hanks. I tried to explain the plot of Bosom Buddies, but that was a lost cause, and I don't think she really knows who Tom Hanks is anyway. She had certainly never heard of the other guy, who turned out to be Peter Scolari. I know this because I saw it in the movie credits.

When we saw Ron Howard, I knew enough not to try to explain Happy Days again, so I just said he was a big director. I know he has directed a bazillion movies, but when I saw him, I couldn't remember what any of them were. I said Forrest Gump, but I might have made that up. And I think it's great that he and Henry Winkler are still in touch after all these years, and he came to support him in his new movie. (which is A Plumm Summer, in case you are curious.) I thought it would really suck, but it wasn't bad, in a very G-rated sort of way. There was a painfully cute five year old, a sensitive misunderstood 14 year old, an alcoholic father, a frog-napping, and a happy ending.

Questions to discuss amongst yourselves:

1. Is it possible to explain the plot of any American TV show from the 70's and 80's without it sounding ridiculous? Which show from that era was the weirdest?

2. Do you think Peter Scolari resents the more impressive career trajectory of Tom Hanks?

3. Because it has been bothering me - but not enough to google it - what other movies has Ron Howard directed? Cocoon and Apollo 13 - that was him, right?

4. With which 70's/80's TV character do you most identify? Are you a middle child Jan Brady type? Mr. T? Chachi? JJ from Good Times? JR Ewing? Feel free to share who and why.

Comments

[Amelia]

Guess who was escaping work for 10 mins this am? Films: Willow, Backdraft, Ransom (which I quite like actually) Far and Away (nice pictures, shame about the script) and some other stuff.

Going to see World Premieres is one of the reasons living in LA (it's all LA to me as a foreigner) is cool.

And explaining the plot of any TV mini series to a 13 year old who didn't live through it is an exercise in embarassment. I've just got a DVD of Knight Rider.... the best part has to be looking at the 'computers'... with reels of tape!

[Roberta]

Greatest American Hero - can't remember the guy's name with the curly hair who played the lead but i can still remember the theme song - the show was about a normal guy who found a superman-type suit and when he put it on he had super powers....i know, it sounds lame.....but did i mention the theme song?

I identify with Rhoda from Mary Tyler Moore - loved her sense of humor & that she was the opposite of perfect Mary.....and i also loved Jim Garner's character in Rockford Files...again, it's about the sense of humor.....though both of these shows also had great theme songs.......

[HSY]

I most identify with MORK.

[Shelia]

HSY, You crack me up. I loved Mork and Mindy!

I identified with Buffy and Jody.

[Kathy]

The A-team. How do you describe that a van with a cigar-smoking officer, a body-builder, a mental case, and a womanizer were once both entertaining and cool? And they didn't even use computers!