colonial

Visiting family today and found them discovering MeTV Toons, where they were watching an episode of "Wacky Races." Looking at the credits, it was listed as a joint production between Hanna-Barbera and Heatter-Quigley, the latter an outfit that produced game shows like the original "Hollywood Squares," "High Rollers" and "Gambit." Turns out the original idea for Wacky Races was to have H-B produce the cartoons and H-Q create a wraparound game show before, between and after the cartoon, where children placed wagers on who would win the next race. The game show idea was scrapped as it "encouraged children to gamble." The poor kid that would have ended up in debt betting on Dick Dastardly each and every race. I'll admit it -- watching the reruns when I was 6-7 years old, I was kind of sad that Dick and Muttley never won. Always wished there was an episode where Dick is forced to run a clean race and ends up winning, only to decide it's not fun to play fair and goes back to his cheating ways.

I did see Paul take a bodyslam from Lex Luger at a Meadowlands house show .... this was the show that featured Lawrence Taylor in Luger's corner.

¡Otro bombazo internacional! ¡Chris Jericho aparece para atacar a Místico! #ViernesEspectacularCMLL (youtube.com) Chris Jericho shows up at Arena Mexico Friday night, attacks Mistico.

Jamie Kellner, the TV executive who made the decision to cancel WCW programming on the Turner Networks in 2001, has died at age 77. Jamie Kellner Dies: TV Executive Who Helped Launch Fox & The WB Was 77 (deadline.com) I saw that Kellner was contacted to appear on Vice's WCW series but turned it down. And with all the questions about whether he is to blame for the demise of WCW (he appears, from an outsider's view, that he is more of a scapegoat than anything), he was a legendary TV programmer who helped launch Fox and The WB -- shows like The Simpsons, 90210, Gilmore Girls and Dawson's Creek were launched under his tenure.

Deadline is reporting that Teila Tuli, the sumo wrestler who competed in UFC 1 and then became a popular character actor, died Thursday at 56. Credited as Taylor Wily, he appeared on the Hawaii 5-0 revival for 10 years and popped up on both the MacGyver and Magnum reboots.

Didn't Scott Steiner do King of Trios there with Petey Williams and Jordynne Grace?

(1) Ritchie Magnett v Terry Brunk (Sabu) in Hawaii - YouTube 20-year-old Sabu working Polynesian Pacific Pro in 1985.

Cannon Films Promo Reel '86 - Half of These Didn't Get Made! (youtube.com) I was 12 when this promo reel was released. I would have watched the heck out of all those films based solely on how Don La Fontaine nails each trailer, even though half of them make no sense. JOHN TRAVOLTA IS GOING TO STAR IN A CANNON FILM! WE HAVE NO CLUE WHAT IT WILL BE, BUT WE'LL GET SOMETHING OUT THERE!

https://www.tmz.com/2024/05/25/golfer-grayson-murray-dead-pga-tour/ Grayson Murray won the Sony Open in January and made the cut at both majors this year. He withdrew from this week's tournament Friday because of illness and was found dead this morning.

IIRC, Spurlock never released a food log listing what he specifically ate and drank during his month-long "McDonald's diet" and critics alleged what he was claiming about how the diet was affecting his health didn't add up. (When he said during his sexual misconduct confession that he was an alcoholic, that had more than a few people think he was washing down his Extra Value meals with vodka and scotch instead of Coke.) Some early food bloggers were publicized doing their own McDonald's diets after the film was released and showed that they actually lost weight, albeit they were regularly working out and staying active.

Deadline is reporting that documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock has died at 53. Pretty much vanished several years ago after admitting to sexual misconduct but, at one point, if you asked the average Joe to name someone who directs documentaries, it would have been Morgan or Michael Moore.

Tag Team Weather w/AEW's Anthony Bowens - YouTube And now with the weather forecast, here's Anthony Bowens. AEW wrestler Anthony Bowens discusses 'Dynamite' show at Mechanics Bank Arena on May 22 - YouTube And after the weather, poor Anthony has to answer 4-5 variations of the same question from the anchor.

Looks like Floyd Mayweather's quixotic attempt to lead a full-time NASCAR team has come to an end. Two of The Money Team's owners took the 50 number, split from Floyd and formed Team AmeriVet (a new owner runs a financial services company called AmeriVet Securities). Ty Dillon will race for the team Sunday. TMT was formed in 2019, ran about 2-3 races a year, couldn't find sponsors and were a non-factor on the track.

Buff Bagwell & Big John Dalton vs Sir Matthew & Lord Gaston (c) | Tag Team Title Match (youtube.com) Buff Bagwell wrestling in 2024.

No one played a sexist, angry a-hole on TV and film than Dabney Coleman ... What’s Great About Buffalo, New York - Dabney Coleman, 1983 “Buffalo Bill” (youtube.com) Need to re-watch "Buffalo Bill" again ... one of the most underrated TV shows of the 80s. The Slap Maxwell Story (ABC, 1987-88) Scene from the Pilot Episode (youtube.com) A show I need to watch. ... heard nothing but good things about it. Recess School's Out A Little Secret (youtube.com) Also forgot (until just now) that he voiced Principal Prickly on Disney's "Recess." He was great in that role.

Shaq did sign to co-host a game show for ABC this summer, so he's still open to other media deals. WBD will also run a few NASCAR races next season and, for some reason, I'd love to hear Shaq and Barkley call a race.

First Look at Protagonist Pictures' Newly-Announced 'Press Your Luck' (hollywoodreporter.com) Paul Walter Hauser looks like Michael Larson, the guy who memorized the PYL game board and took the show for quite the spin in 1984. Curious to see how they take a two-part episode of PYL and turn it into a feature film. Presumably the focus will be more on how batpoop this guy was before and after the show ... Michael Larson - Wikipedia First heard about the potential for such a film back in 2000 (!) with Bill Murray as Larson.

Serena Deeb reminds me of Brad Armstrong or Dean Malenko -- someone who comes off on TV as dull as dishwater, but is the complete opposite behind the scenes. Her RJ City interview was surprisingly good -- never saw this side from her before (funny, "giggly," a tad on the goofy side) -- yet she can't seem to tap that personality on TV. And her recent fashion makeover (now dressing for interviews like she's ready to go to a night club or the opera instead of just getting out of yoga class) suggests AEW wants to present her as an elite part of the women's division. I definitely understand why they are keeping Toni heel for now -- wait until Hayter, Britt and the like return but, unless it's in the opponent's hometown, I can't see anyone booing Toni at this point in the game.

Unseen Home Video: WWF Wrestling at a Wisconsin Fieldhouse (October 28, 1990) (youtube.com) A YouTuber finds a VHS tape containing a little over an hour of fan-cam footage from a 1990 WWF house show in Marshfield, Wisconsin.

Arkady Aura is the new interviewer. She signed with AEW a while back.

From what appears to be a January SmackDown taping ... Cedric Alexander vs. Gable Steveson (Dark Match) (youtube.com)

My 12-year-old has been asking me to take her to an anime movie off and on for the last year. She knows my late wife's parents won't take her to one this summer when she visits them (Grandma still thinks she likes "Paw Patrol." However, my daughter is fine with most Disney, DreamWorks, etc. fare.) My parents don't understand any of it, and the local theater -- the one that likes to screen the latest films from Steven Seagal and Dolph Lundgren -- doesn't know what anime is. So when "Spy x Family Code: White" premiered at a neighboring town's theater this weekend, I opted to take her. She knew the anime and the film was PG-13. The theater is an AMC in a decrepit mall (has a Belk, Books-A-Million, Bath and Body Works and a bunch of flea markets. There's also two day care centers). Bought the tickets in the "Screen 1-6 Zone," then walked across the hall as the film was on Screen 11. If you want snacks, you go back to 1-6 (we didn't snack). We went to the theater once before, pre-COVID, to see "Arctic Dogs." My daughter has since apologized profusely for asking to see this film, which was an atomic turd. Honestly, I enjoyed it. It helped that my daughter went through all the basics with me about the characters, then the narrator repeated everything she said on screen (we saw the dubbed version -- my daughter said she "can't handle subtitles yet.") There was a little bit of everything -- action, silly family fare, "Fisher-Price film noir", etc., and there was enough going on to keep the audience interesting. My daughter loved it and couldn't stop talking about it, particularly the action scenes. One of the coming attractions was another Crunchyroll film called "Haikyuu!! The Dumpster Battle," which is set to premiere May 31. I never heard an audience laugh loudly at a film's title in my life.

Akebono was getting a lot of attention in some U.S. media outlets as early as 1992 when he was closing in on his promotion. I swear I recall the Washington Post interviewing his family in Hawaii. And outlets like SportsCenter and George Michael Sports Machine would mention sumo from time to time on its telecasts. As far as Yokozuna the wrestler, his Wiki mentioned that when Samu and Fatu had their first WWE TV match as "The Samoans" in 1992, Gorilla Monsoon mentioned that a "much larger Samoan" would be joining them soon, so it sounds like there was a thought of Yoko working as Kokina Maximus (or something similar) when he debuted. Found the French-language version of said match (Samu/Fatu vs. Jim Brunzell/Phil Apollo), but I'm not sure if the match ever aired for U.S. viewers.

I believe Osprey mentioned after leaving New Japan FT was that he would be open to working from time to time with NJ depending on his schedule. I read that as he wouldn't work full tours or tournaments, but could work, say, the January 4 show or something like Dominion.

Watched part of the first night. Had to turn it off halfway through as my daughter and her friends got sick from food poisoning at a neighbor's sleepover -- had to pick her up mid-way through the Usos match. -- Loved Lynch-Ripley. The sequence leading to the electric chair drop from the outside was impressive. I was expecting a Hart-Austin double turn as the match went on, and Lynch did lean heel during the bout. Time to strap a rocket to Ripley and let her shine on her own. Lynch having portions of her book on her tights cracked me up. -- The tag team ladder match was fine -- happy for R-Truth having his WM moment -- but the last-minute (I believe) decision to essentially have two separate ladder matches for both sets of belts soured it for me. The Aussies quickly became an afterthought after winning the SD belts. -- The lucha tag was an afterthought for the two Eagles players showing up, though I liked their cameo. Still, them showing up out of nowhere grinded the match to a halt. -- Given the weather and such, I would have given the seconds for both teams, I don't know, matching jogging suits to wear. Never been a fan of wrestlers not scheduled to compete showing up in their spandex outside the ring. It's like, say, LeBron James, sitting on the bench in his uniform with a torn ACL. -- The "Battle of the Usos" was what would have happened if we watched the Young Bucks fight on super slo-mo. Not sure what in the world "Yeet" means, but I got Hack Myers flashbacks hearing those chants.