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If Max Caster does not appear on TV this week, this is why ... Richard Caster, ex-Jackson State and New York Jets tight end, dies at 75 (clarionledger.com)

Abadon speaks?! | Hey! (EW), 1/28/24 (youtube.com) Abadon: Academic Zombie was not something I'd expect to start 2024. But I'm good with it.

Watched the Rumble in its entirety and viewed AEW Collision on tape this morning. I mentioned while reviewing AEW Worlds End that there is a real difference between the WWE and AEW fan -- the latter gulps down everything newsworthy (hence AEW misreading the room on how the fans would react to Jericho) while the WWE fan and pretty much only knows the E. And it showed ... -- Zero reaction to Jordynne Grace entering the Rumble. She was one of the Top 3-4 performers in the match, but the casual WWE fan knows nothing about her. -- Fans pretty much sat on their hands for most of the men's and women's entries unless it's someone who gets lots of TV time and the like. Go to Collision, fans show immediate respect to Yuji Nagata, Serena Deeb, etc., and seem excited for everything. Yes, crowds are different, but I liked a show where fans gave a plop for just about everything. Women's Rumble was OK. Bayley winning was the right decision but, once Becky was eliminated, it was pretty obvious. As Coletti noted, Chelsea was the MVP. She reminded me of a side character in a Three Stooges short who's always getting punched and slapped and hit with pies yet is still trying to take charge. Think Emil Sitka in "Brideless Groom" (HOLD HANDS YOU LOVEBIRDS!). Heck, make Chelsea the pastor the next time the WWE wants to do an in-ring wedding. Jade held her own and the fans were impressed, but she looked limited in the ring and the ring post spot seemed odd. Also noticed Nia did about 90% of the work on the elimination. I'll give Nia credit -- she looks better both physically and in-ring and actually appeared confident in her ability. The R-Truth bit was beyond stupid. Managed to bury Sarah Logan and, as my 12-year-old daughter watched this (she caught some of the show while texting friends), she openly asked me if R-Truth's gimmick is that "he's in special ed classes." Kayden Carter looks like someone left Nyla Rose in the dryer too long. Got up this morning and pretty much forgot what happened during the Roman 4-way. It was that forgettable to me. Owens-Logan was decent, but I hated that ending. The trope of "wrestler is too stupid to hide the weapon" is tiring. Felt like a Dusty finish, but at least builds to something toward WM. And Logan is quite good for someone with so little experience. Men's Rumble seemed off. Some of the eliminations looked wonky (Omos, Bronson Reed. Jimmy Uso turning his back before taking the Bron clothesline for the elimination was weird). Bron looked like a star in the making, even with what appeared to be a limited moveset. Natural charisma and hurty looking moves. Surprised the announcers didn't say anything about his family lineage (yes, his father is a no-go given his behavior, but someone could have said things about "another Michigan champ" or "works like a gremlin.") Pat McAfee spot was pretty stupid. I would have slotted Montez Ford in that slot given he and Bianca have a reality show premiering soon. Referencing Big E's proposed meaty man tournament was cool. I had to mute the announcing several times during the show. Way too much "OMG" and 'CAN YOU BELIEVE IT" nonsense. And Michael Cole apparently getting aroused by Sarah Logan's antlers led to the rest of the women's Rumble being muted. Did like a focus on numbers during the Rumbles, as well as mentioning the length of title reigns and the like. I don't watch a lot of WWE, but the CGI animations before a wrestler came out, honestly, seemed dumb. And there's nothing unique about much fo the entrance music. There was a lot of sameness to the music and the "videos."

Meltzer reporting there will NOT be a Kurt Angle episode, but there will be ones on Chris Colt, John Tenta and Terry Gordy.

A YouTube page featuring TV pilots from the last few decades recently posted a 1996 pilot for ABC called "Southern Fried Ice" starring George "Iceman" Gervin and Art Donovan and featuring a special guest appearance by Eddie George. Southern Fried Ice - 1996 Unaired Pilot (youtube.com) This was around the time Gervin made those "Cooking With Ice" ads for Nike. Art doesn't ask how much anyone weighs.

Watched the PPV last night ... overall, it was fine. PRESHOW: -- Felt bad for Willow and Kris for their struggles trying to get the finisher done right. Mistakes happen and you learn from them. But once it was clear Willow was struggling with the finisher, someone in the back should have called an audible and have Willow use a secondary finisher, or even a roll-up, to end the match. -- Battle royal was OK. I got a laugh out of the other wrestlers buying Archer and Killswitch with tables and chairs before the match to try and win. At least it's original. -- Hook/Yuta was fine. Loved the German suplex war, didn't like the occasional unprotected weapons headshot. MAIN SHOW: -- First eight-man I'll treat as an exhibition -- simply a showcase for the remaining CC wrestlers to do their things and entertain the crowd. Garcia attempting the backdrop suplex on King again was a delight, and there's the potential of doing something with Garcia/2.0 vs. HOB down the line. -- Miro vs. Andrade was a bit of a drag given that the word was already out there that Andrade was returning to Connecticut. You knew going in how the match was going to end. Would have cut five minutes from the match. -- Storm/Riho didn't really seem to gel. I don't know how much Toni Storm weighs (and frankly don't care), but having Riho play Spike Dudley to Toni's Big John Studd seemed ludicrous to me. The bit with Luther catching Riho, then tossing her to Toni was funny, as well as Mariah May discovering her inner Rip Taylor. -- Swerve/Dustin should have ended with the concrete block spot. -- Somewhat surprised that AEW failed to read the room ahead of the second eight-man when the allegations/rumors first came out online. If this match happened in WWE, I doubt the fans would care much. But it's AEW, where the core fans gobble up the news and newz sites, social media, etc. Felt bad for Sting, who looked slow and disinterested as the match wore on, though I did like the interaction with Vladimir at the end -- that was a pleasant surprise. It also appeared a seed or two was planted regarding Starks and Hobbs, but was quickly forgotten given the issues with another wrestler. At this point, I'd rather see Hobbs/Takeshita challenge Starks/Bill for the tag belts. -- Hart/Abadon tried, and I thought it was Abby's best performance against a U.S. wrestler in a regular match (their work on Dark against Mizunami and Sakura are probably their best "regular" singles matches since their debut). But fans wanted the bells and whistles you usually find in TV matches featuring Abadon and Hart. No mist, no weapons, etc. And Hart's moonsault finish was a groaner. Not sure what you do with Abby moving forward -- the program with Hart was likely a thank you for their patience and hard work -- perhaps they finally get that Japan tour? -- Loved Copeland/Cage -- hard to believe two guys who are both 50 are still delivering the goods. Didn't mind the surprise at the end, but the whole storyline with Cage and Killswitch has been moving at a snail's pace. Now is the time to move forward on it. -- What a 2023 for Eddie Kingston. Probably the MVP for the promotion this year along with Cage and Danielson. -- Curious to see where Samoa Joe goes next with the belt. The Devil reveal was probably the lesser of 20 evils to end the storyline -- rather it be Cole than, say, Ziggler.

EWF La Sfida - FULL EVENT (June 4th 2005) (youtube.com) Not the full event ... but three matches from a super indy show in Italy from a group called "European Wrestling Federation." Among those featured in the matches are Spud (Drake Maverick) and Cannonball Grizzly (PN News). Per Cagematch, said show also featured a 2/3 falls NWA title match between AJ Styles and Petey Williams.

Watched "The Iron Claw" last night ... overall, it was great.

Coming home after watching "The Iron Claw," I needed a laugh and, believe it or not, the goofy signs on the hard cam got a chuckle from me. Sometimes, you just have to laugh. Loved all three of the CC matches. AEW should put a timer on the screen and in the arena to let people know how long a match has gone in CC matches, particularly if you are playing off the "20 minutes means a draw" gimmick. Good to see Rosa back, though she looked rusty and the finisher seemed botchy at first glance. Having Rosa start her comeback in her adopted hometown helped. The match also really didn't do much to promote or push Hart/Abadon, though Abby does face in peril well. The Acclaimed six-man was a mess at the end with the announcers ignoring the possible tights pull to Dasha's mic going out mid-announcement -- half-expected the ref to re-start the match. Billy no-selling or poorly selling everything was a groan -- maybe AEW can launch its version of the Champions Tour for him and his fellow seniors. Still love Max and Anthony, but it's time for the latter to get a singles run and the former to ... hmmm ... develop a "Max Raps the Headlines" bit for CNN's morning show or something. With Kevin and Nigel constantly screaming "DON'T DO THAT" and the like to wrestlers during matches, I eagerly await a post-match promo where a wrestler mentions that he thought about going to the top rope but, when he heard Kevin yelling "DON'T DO THAT," he realized that Kevin was right and changed his gameplan for the better.

Forget the year of the listing and what city it was, but I saw a TV Guide listing from back in the day on FB that showed upcoming airings of "Wrestling" and "Rasslin'". Curious where the latter was based.

Disney and Pixar have announced they are giving three Pixar films "proper nationwide theatrical releases" in 2024. SOUL -- January 12 TURNING RED -- February 9 LUCA -- March 22

Serena Deeb (@serenadeeb) • Instagram photos and videos Serena Deeb says she has been cleared to wrestle again after being out more than a year for what she called "three unprovoked seizures" that began last October.

The Season 13 campaign was on Kickstarter. Honestly, it's the law of diminishing returns. MST3K is great but there doesn't seem to be a business plan from Joel outside of "donate money and we may give you stuff." At least with Rifftrax, they seem to have a solid business plan with weekly releases and other bonuses -- they only depend on fundraisers to do a Rifftrax Live for Fathom Events. To the viewer, Rifftrax thinks outside the box while MST3K is stuck in a box. Almost have to wonder if Joel regrets not considering Rifftrax's online model first. As for the Season 14 fundraiser, the SAG strike didn't help matters since no one outside of Joel could actively campaign online (having Felicity and/or Patton might have helped). I also thought Joel's pitches sounded like he didn't care whether the campaign succeeded or failed. Curious if Joel would consider doing live shows again to riff movies.

Today I learned that, to keep the budget down, the Kroffts hired area high school and college basketball players to play the Sleestak on the original "Land of the Lost." One of those Sleestak? Bill Laimbeer.

With my 12-year-old visiting her mom's family in Alabama this week, this was another opportunity to check out a grown-up movie. And the local theater has new ownership (Epic Theaters), so the days of those oddball movies that got a screening here for tax purposes and whatnot (The latest Steven Seagal film, etc.) appear to be over. Checked out NAPOLEON. It's a two-and-a-half-hour movie, but it didn't feel like that. I enjoyed it, but it could be a bit schizophrenic at times -- best way to describe it is a historical epic that wants to be a big-budget actioner and Oscar bait at the same time, as well as the Cliff's Notes version of Napoleon's life and times. There were a few high schoolers in the theater, and ...

They did Laserblast, which was a pre-Full Moon pic from Charles Band, on the original series. Another pre-Full Moon from Band, The Day Time Ended, was part of the second Netflix season.

Film #4 for Season 14 is Jesse Ventura's ABRAXAS.

Hall and Oates Lawsuit: Daryl Hall Restraining Order Against John Oates (variety.com) There's something you don't expect to read every day ... Hall has a restraining order against Oates. Makes the Captain and Tenille divorcing seem quaint.

British character actor Joss Ackland died earlier today at age 95. Probably best known as the evil South African diplomat in Lethal Weapon 2 ... (1) Lethal Weapon 2 "Sometimes I Just Go Nuts" Scene - YouTube ... The Soviet ambassador in Hunt for Red October ... (1) The Hunt for Red October Andrei you have lost another submarine - YouTube ... and the old taxi passenger in a Pet Shop Boys film and music video ... (1) Pet Shop Boys - Always On My Mind (Demo "Movie Edit" Version) [HD, extended clip, remastered audio] - YouTube

John Cena's COYOTE VS. ACME has been shelved by WBD. No theatrical or Max release.

The week before All In at Wembley, Saraya appeared on a few UK morning shows, did a full media blitz for the British press and, along with Paul Wight, did a "compare UK and U.S. snacks" video for a YouTube page. Yes, Saraya is British, a good speaker and has the "riches to rock bottom and back" story that sells, but this is something AEW needs to be doing with their wrestlers regularly. The NHL airs on TNT -- why isn't Chris Jericho (son of an ex-NHL player) or even Anthony Bowens (whose father was "America's foremost hockey fight expert") dropping by the pre-game show to give predictions and whatnot? Why not make 1-2 AEW regulars part of a team of celeb prognosticators for March Madness (one could be a legend like Sting or Jericho, while the other could be MJF or Britt Baker)? Even if it's not TV, you could do something similar with the streaming crowd, those who watch everything on TikTok or YouTube.

From what I can tell, while WBD and CBS both own a 12.5% stake in the CW, they pretty much have no say in programming decisions. CBS pulled its CW affiliations on a few of its owned-and-operated stations earlier this year after the CW agreed to air LIV Golf (CBS has aired the PGA Tour for decades). Honestly, I would expect both WBD and CBS to sell the rest of their CW stake in Nexstar sooner rather than later. CW is aggressively picking up sports packaging -- they have deals for ACC football and basketball and will air NASCAR Xfinity races next year along with NXT. The CW of old, full of teen soaps and dramas, is long gone. Now it's a hodgepodge of reality fare, scripted imports, sports and "The Chosen." It's now the network for people who don't know what streaming is and how to use it. I'm not sure what NXT's ratings are now on USA, but I could actually see it fall once it moves to the CW.

So ... is Stu Grayson still part of the Righteous or not? He was there when they were feuding with DO, but he wasn't seen or mentioned during the mini-feud with MJF, and he wasn't seen or referred to when his "Ice Cream Men" buddies joined forces with Jake and Archer. Is he stuck in Canada?

My daughter is now 12 and recently asked if I could take her to a PG-13 movie. She said she wanted to see Five Nights at Freddy's. I said OK, and we saw it today. She liked it. I thought it was the drizzling poops. It's a scary movie without any scares, a thriller chiller minus the thrills and chills, twists you can see a mile away (particularly if you've played the games and read into the FNAF storylines). The animatronics and puppetry were done well, and how they showed how a child with autism behaves and acts was OK, but the filmmakers threw too much at the screen -- sometimes it was straight-up thriller, other times it's an ABC afterschool special, still other times it's an arthouse film from a director who doesn't know what an arthouse film is. This is not "Friday the 13th" or "Halloween" where ... Also ... Some other things ... Among the films we saw in the previews from FNAF was ... FNAF. The theater put a warning on the screen before the film that the movie could cause epileptic seizures given the use of strobe lighting in the picture. This was unique to the theater itself and I thought that was a nice touch. FNAF was showing on Screen 5 of an eight-screen theater. Screen 8 was sharing two films this weekend, leading to the marquee to provide us with this unfortunate but hilarious title ... PAW PATROL AFTER DEATH

My daughter is now 12 and recently asked if I could take her to a PG-13 movie. She said she wanted to see Five Nights at Freddy's. I said OK, and we saw it today. She liked it. I thought it was the drizzling poops. It's a scary movie without any scares, a thriller chiller minus the thrills and chills, twists you can see a mile away (particularly if you've played the games and read into the FNAF storylines). The animatronics and puppetry were done well, and how they showed how a child with autism behaves and acts was OK, but the filmmakers threw too much at the screen -- sometimes it was straight-up thriller, other times it's an ABC afterschool special, still other times it's an arthouse film from a director who doesn't know what an arthouse film is. This is not "Friday the 13th" or "Halloween" where ... Also ... Some other things ... Among the films we saw in the previews from FNAF was ... FNAF. The theater put a warning on the screen before the film that the movie could cause epileptic seizures given the use of strobe lighting in the picture. This was unique to the theater itself and I thought that was a nice touch. FNAF was showing on Screen 5 of an eight-screen theater. Screen 8 was sharing two films this weekend, leading to the marquee to provide us with this unfortunate but hilarious title ... PAW PATROL AFTER DEATH