Friday Jukebox 2.13.15

Valentine's Day is tomorrow. So why not "The Look of Love" by ABC, from 1982? The original ABC, not Another Bad Creation, the boy band.

Whodunnit? Episode 2 Review: Anchor Aweigh!

Don't read this, because it contains possible spoilers. So if you want to read, proceed in...






Three...





Two...





One!



On Saturday night, Gennady 'GGG' Golovkin turned Matt Macklin into a 'good boy.' On Sunday night, the killer in the second Whodunnit? episode eventually turned another guest into a 'good boy'--or shall I say--'good girl'!

As you may see, another guest in the mansion has 'perished.' But it all starts with the investigation into Dontae's charbroiling, precipitated when he touched a door in which it was possibly ignited by a flammable substance, causing Dontae to run in flames towards the pool. Thus he cooled off, but Giles declared to the remaining 11, that Dontae died of third degree burns. And so the investigation proceeded. Groups of three or four were split once again, and there was friction. The main friction was between Kam, Dana, Adrianna, Ulysses and Sasha. Ulysses at first didn't want to include Sasha or Adrianna because they probably had good evidence to support to them, thus the suspicion of Ulysses as a killer (could be a probability).

Lots of clues were found leading to Dontae's demise, including a flag with a message and the crest of the manor, depicted on a flag which was revealed with a spray of butane. Also the pendant. Could a female guest secretly give Dontae that gift? That was on my mind when I saw that. The pajamas could also cause some sort of spontaneous combustion to the body, because clothing could cause fires you know, and could do so if the body temperature reaches around 120 degrees (Fahrenheit). All of which lead to Dontae's body, char-broiled like a Carl's Jr. burger. This episode should have been sponsored by Kingsford, which is fitting because this is a big week here in the states for cookouts!

So, with that in mind, at the dinner table is the remaining 11 and Giles. Giles shockingly told Ulysses that he's spared, resulting in the pretty boy living another day (pissed me off). To add insult to injury, Giles also announced that Kam was spared as well. Only nine left, but two would pull a 'scared' card. The first was Dana, and she cried so hard. The other was between Melina and Adrianna. I was hoping Melina would get it, but Adrianna would also draw the 'scared' card, which only leads to one of the demises of the two southern belles.

Late night, Dana was reading the Bible and praying that the killer doesn't strike her. However, it appears an invisible spirit drew Adrianna from her room. She was eating a bowl of cereal and dropped it. This invisible spirit chased Adrianna from her room where she tried to escape the property by driving a golf cart out. Sadly the path that she tried to escape was derailed when she eventually ran into what is believed to be a land mine. It exploded, sending Adrianna flying from the cart. Adrianna, an anchor-reporter at KWTV (CBS) Oklahoma City, is the third to 'perish' from the property, resulting in ten guests left. Five men, five women, even strength Whodunnit?, just like an ice hockey match.

Adrianna's demise reminded me of this scene from the carting scene from the first Jackass movie:

I think the land mines were actually planted there. Perhaps someone wanted Adrianna dead simply because it is an ABC show, and she works for a CBS affiliate. Could the killer work for NBC or Fox? Who knows? Keep watching the next few Sundays!

As for the scorecard...

ELIMINATED
13. Sheri (electrocution, blunt force trauma)
12. Dontae (third degree burns)
11. Adrianna (explosion)

Remaining: Dana, Cris, Geno, Don, Lindsey, Ronnie, Ulysses, Kam, Sasha, Melina

Whodunnit? Tonight on ABC!

A beauty queen, a former PI, a cardiac nurse, a former NFL cheerleader, a bounty hunter, even an anchor reporter at a CBS affiliate (ironic since this show is on ABC) are among the contestants on ABC's Whodunnit?, premiering tonight on ABC.

I will give this show a try, because who knows what will happen. Will we see grenades used? AK-47s? Who knows.

Anthony E. Zuiker (@zuiker on twitter), the creator of the CSI: franchise is behind this variant of the game Clue. If you like CSI:, give it a try. Avoid spoilers until it is time for the show to come on.

They're Back!

The Chaser are back for another season of The Hamster Wheel on ABC1 (Australia) later this month. What is the Hamster Wheel? It is the Chaser's show dedicated to the flaws in the media, where not only they attack newspapers as well as televsion, where they attack their own network (ABC) as well as their rival (SBS) and the commercial networks (7, 9 and ten), but media outside of Australia as well, including here in the United States.

Here's a promo for the new season of the Hamster Wheel:

The NEW Charlie's Angels Cancelled.

Is this not a surprise to me at all? Link.

In Case You Missed It...

The final scene from AMC's finale two weeks ago. I managed to catch it.

The Chaser is Back!

The best comedy troupe in the world is back with a new project!

OLTL, AMC Cancelled. An In-Depth Analysis.

Agnes Nixon would be heartbroken to see her two soaps getting the axe by ABC on Thursday.

Impact players: Susan Lucci (Erica Kane, AMC, left), and Erika Slezak (Victoria Davidson Banks, OLTL, right)

The news came out on Thursday that both One Life to Live and All My Children are history after some point in September, according to officials at ABC. Both are produced in-house by ABC. In it's place, two reality shows, unlike NBC when Passions and Another World were cancelled a few years back, decided to give back it's hours to local affiliates. CBS did the same thing in 2009, almost, but when As the World Turns and Guiding Light got the axe from CBS, the network got two replacements: The Talk, a talk show in the style of The View, and the network TV return of Let's Make a Deal, with Wayne Brady as host, now in it's second season, with a third season of episodes on its way this fall. OLTL went on the air in 1968, and AMC two years later, in 1970. Agnes Nixon, the creator of both shows (still presently living), was a writer at AW, ATWT and GL in the 1950s and 1960s.

So where does the soaps world leave with now? Only four choices remaining.  Regardless of the cancellations of OLTL and AMC, still leaves General Hospital (1963) as the oldest still running. Days of Our Lives (1965), and The Young & the Restless (1974) are still active soaps to this day. So is The Bold & the Beautiful, who replaced Capitol as CBS's 30 minute soap in the spring of 1987.

My question remains is this? Will this new move for ABC daytime be good or bad? For some, especially those OLTL and AMC fans (my mom watches AMC), it will be heartbreaking to see them gone. But for me, who cares? As a male, I don't have the time, because I have the Internet and places to go to!

So why is ABC (and NBC) passing up on game shows, but CBS isn't? You see, the networks are wanting the local affilates to get time for them by airing early newscasts, syndicated shows for local ad revenue. The same could be said years back in the '80s when NBC and CBS had those powerful daytime game show lineups, and some affiliates decided that airing shit like Phil Donahue, or other syndie programming (or locally produced talk shows in large markets) instead of stuff like Scrabble, Classic Concentration, Hot Potato, $25,000 Pyramid, or Card Sharks, could give them more local ad revenue than network programming.

Also there is some questioning about the move by ABC and whether or not affiliates would want to take advantage of airing these shows or pre-empting for syndie and/or local produced shows. That is the burning question that is on the station programming directors in the months to come. Also, who knows what will be on the mend for syndicated programming in the fall now that Oprah is going off the air (thank God!). The natpe convention is in June in LA, and who knows what will be pitched for the fall. Stay tuned!

On This Day 6 January

25 years ago today (1/6/86)-three game shows premiered during a "crossroads" season of sorts of the game show genre at the time (1985-86). One was a revival, another introduced a UK host to US television and another offered the first million dollar prize!

The first one that I want to mention is the US debut (?) of UK game show host Bruce Forsyth. Here's a guy that hosted the UK versions of Card Sharks and The Price is Right among others. His US series called Hot Streak premiered on ABC on this day, and ran until April.

Another game show that premiered on this day was the first and the only one at the time with the "richest prize in television" of one million dollars (and I do remember vaguely). I am talking about The $1,000,000 Chance of a Lifetime, which catapulted Jim Lange to return as a game show host since Name that Tune was cancelled after the 1984-85 season. The show, with the letter and puzzle guessing elements, had the feel of Wheel of Fortune. The format and elements of the show changed during season 2, with $1 million not just in cash, but also prizes were added, including Mazda cars and trucks (a couple season two episodes are on YouTube), and the addition of Karen Thomas as Lange's sidekick for that second season. The show, which spawned nine millionaires throughout its run, ran in syndication until September 1987.

Finally, on this day in 1986, after 4 1/2 years on hiatus, Goodson-Todman's Card Sharks returned, but this time on a new network, with Bob Eubanks at the helm as host (he also was busy with The New Newlywed Game at the time), and two new dealers, new to the franchise. Like the Jim Perry NBC daytime version (1978-81), the Money Cards was the endgame, until a month into season 2. That is when the car game for this and the syndicated version (hosted by Bill Rafferty of Blockbusters and Every Second Counts fame) were added. A week dedicated to teens called "Young People's Week" featured a trip to Hawaii (in season 2 and the lone season of the Rafferty version). In the final season of Eubanks' run, a "range game" was the car endgame, involving the audience poll members. That aformentioned CBS daytime version was cancelled in March 1989, and ironic that production moved over the following week to the revival of another G-T show, Now You See It, which lasted about a few months at that timeslot CS occupied during its run on CBS daytime.