#Rick Schaffer

[smungus]

[amygdalae]

do u have any recs for any goth (or adjacent, or really anything tbh) artists that do primarily instrumental music? i need new music to listen to while im working but anything with lyrics makes it hard for me to focus :(

Two One Six is darkwave thats 100% intrumental from what I can tell, a lil bit samey but I like it! probably will most suit your needs

otherwise I just threw together an itty bitty playlist of instrumental songs from goth and adjacent artists (its just what I could think of off the top of my head just now so it's short, ill add to it if any more occur to me lol

edit: oh u said it can be adjacent or anything as well. check out rick schaffer's stuff from the Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines soundtrack too if u want

[prettywitchiusaka]

So, I finished the audiobook for MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios this past weekend. I enjoyed it, but didn't get as much spilt tea as I was hoping for regarding Doctor Strange.

In fact, they seem to skip over anything regarding the good doctor save for a few mentions here and there. They don't even devote a chapter to him in their Phase 3 section of the book FFS!!! I don't know, maybe it's just my copy of the book, but I feel like there were certain things they couldn't include because of Disney and/or Marvel trying to block them. Who can say?

There were two things of note regarding MoM I found interesting, though;

Apparently, Dan Harmon did an uncredited re-write for Multiverse. I don't know how much of his draft is in the final film, but that might explain some of the cynicism present in that movie. Don't get me wrong, I love Community (a show about how people are made better by being/growing with other people), and I think Dan's a great writer...it's just I feel that the further his career has gone on, the more nihilistic he's become and it reflects in his writing. Or maybe it's the writers he works with on Rick & Morty who reflect that, I don't know.

2. Apparently Michael Waldron and Jac Schaffer became friends during production of their respective shows and actually talked about how best to hand off Wanda from her show to his movie, breaking Marvel's Top Secret rule for each production…which is so strange to me.

Waldron actually talks about how he has great respect for Schaffer and didn't want to let her down. Now, he might just be talking out of his ass, I don't know. But if he's telling the truth, it sort of confirms my belief that Waldron is a decent guy in person (albeit an idiot), and his arrogance comes out in his writing. Or maybe @aeltri's right and Waldron knows how to play the politics game and played Feige and Schaffer for suckers.

[erikiara80]

I find the Martin/Richard Brenner mystery so fascinating, lol. There's another mention of someone named Rick in 1x03. I didn't think it was relevant, but maybe it is.

Hopper: Okay... A quick look around. Security guy: You have to get clearance for that. You can contact, uh... Rick Schaeffer* at the Department of Energy. Hopper: Maybe you've seen it on TV. We got a local kid that's missing. We have reason to believe he might have snuck in here. Security guy: Like I said, you have to speak to Mr. Schaeffer

*Schaeffer is a German surname btw. It is a variant of Schaefer, from schäfer ("shepherd") and of Schaffer, from a noun (meaning steward or bailiff)

Security guy tells Hopper that Dr Brenner runs the lab, but he doesn't say his full name. So I wonder if the mention of Rick here is a way to connect the two guys in this scene: Rick Schaeffer Brenner. Hmm

Later, Hopper shows Powell the article about Richard Brenner, but he calls him Martin.

And the only other time we see the name Richard Brenner is in 1x08, in The Boy who came back to life article. Richard Brenner, Head of the Narcotic Enforcement Division (from 1954-1971)

And then, the 12 Ricks in S4! Richard, Eddie (like Edward Creel), and 12. Ok. I love these details

[erikiara80]

You're finding many cool things!

Ok, I'll add some thoughts, because Reefer Rick also makes me think about Richard Brenner, who was first mentioned in two articles in S1.

There are many Richards in the show, and imo they're all references to the same guy. Richard Brenner. In S2, there is Richard Fryer (still laughing about that). The journalist who wrote about Terry's case. Interestingly, Martin is also mentioned in the article, but we see the name Richard next to Brenner and Terry's photo. Terry, whose brain was fried by Brenner.

Ricky, the clerk at Seven Eleven (!) in S3, surrounded by cigarettes. Cigarettes, weed...

Then Reefer Rick, who supplied drugs to Eddie. Richard Brenner was the Head of the Narcotic Enforcement Division from 1954 (the year Henry vanished)-1971 (the year Will and El were born)

You, and Robin in the show, also pointed out that Reefer Rick's last name is Lipton, like the tea. I think this is interesting for two reasons. What you found about Lipton Tea's founder, that there was a William Love in his life (I love it) And another connection to Brenner. In fact, someone noticed (sorry, I don't remember who) that in the crossword puzzle in 4x01, Tillerman's beverage is tea, a reference to Cat Stevens' album Tea for the Tillerman. And tillerman could be a reference to Brenner's father, who was captain of the USS Eldridge.

I think there are also other connections. Like this shot you posted

This could be foreshadowing of something in S5, like you said. But it also reminds me of this creepy shot in S1.

And this one in S2. Dick-> short for Richard. Dick Brenner? Lol, yeah

Then this

We hear this line, Down in Berlin town, when they show Rick's house. This makes me think of another Richard, with a German last name, who is mentioned in 1x03. Richard Schaeffer. At the lab, this is what the security guard named Patrick, like the boy who dies in Lover's Lake, says to Hopper:

Hopper: Okay… A quick look around. Patrick: You have to get clearance for that. You can contact, uh… Rick Schaeffer* at the Department of Energy. Hopper: Maybe you’ve seen it on TV. We got a local kid that’s missing. We have reason to believe he might have snuck in here. Patrick: Like I said, you have to speak to Mr. Schaeffer

*Schaeffer is a German surname, a variant of Schaefer, from schäfer (shepherd), and of Schaffer, from a noun, meaning steward or bailiff.

English variant: Shepherd, or Shepard. Like the guy who is killed in the UD in 1x04. What I find interesting, is that Brenner calls him son (he also calls Henry son in TFS) and that in 4x08, when El says that Brenner made her look for Henry, they show the flashback of that scene. So, maybe they want us to connect the name Shepard to Richard (Schaeffer) Brenner and him calling someone son.

Ok, I don't think Shepard was Brenner's son, but there's a lot to say about Papa Brenner and the many mentions of fathers and sons connected to him, in the show and TFS. And the fact that all started with Brenner's father? I was so surprised! I have so many thoughts (and a crazy theory about Brenner and his father lol) Maybe I'll make a post about that.

So, this is what I've found about Richard.

Now, back to Lover's Lake! My theory is that, since the names Rick-Richard and Eddie, like Edward Creel, mentioned in one of the articles about the massacre in 1959, are connected to the past, I think not only will something important happen to Will and Mike at Lover's Lake, but something (bad) has already happened there in the past to another couple, Joyce and Hopper and their family.

I think the hint is Will's drawings in S2. He draws the shape of Lover's Lake, and we see it in Joyce's room, twice. And the second time she is with Hopper, and they're mourning.

[fashinistagirlunit4]

gender diversity

Today the fashion industry is tentatively evolving to embrace gender inclusivity ,with brands such as Marc Jacobs, Karl Largerfield and Stella Mcartney.

Karl Largerfield unisex blazer co-ord

Other big fashion brands noted to be accepting this inclusivity are Gucci, with its genderless shopping section ‘Gucci MX’ and Adidas opening a gender neutral store in London. Many more are WILDFANG. Based In | Portland, Oregon, TomboyX. Based In | Washington, USA,Big Bud Press. Based In | California, USA,Riley Studio. Based In | London, UK,Kirrin Finch. Based In | New York, USA.

Adidas gender neautral store in London

Many Celebrities have started to wear gender neutral clothes such as Harry styles when he was the face of the Vogue magazine in 2020 when he scouted a custom-made, lace-trimmed Gucci ballgown dressed with a tuxedo jacket. Another Celebrity is Billy Porter at the 2019 Oscars when he defied fashion norms by stepping out onto the red carpet in an unapologetically fabulous gown. The custom creation by designer Christian Siriano included a sharply tailored tuxedo jacket overtop a full-skirted strapless velvet gown. A play on masculinity and femininity, the look challenged the rigid Hollywood dress code and was boundary-pushing in all the right ways.For the actor and singer, the fashion choice was deeply personal. Below, Porter reflects on coming to terms with his queer identity and how his fashion choices have became a powerful tool for self-expression and representation.

Billy Porter 2019 Oscars

We are now seeing a rise in the number of trans models featuring on runways and in ad campaigns For example before her appearance in popular show ‘Euphoria’ Hunter Schafer rose to fame as a model & walked for shows such as Miu Miu, Dior, Marc Jacobs & Rick Owens. Other trans Models such as Valentina Sampaio and Teddy Quinlivan have been the face of huge campaigns.

Hunter Schaffer

Harvard referencing:

Largerfield , K. (2023). Avertissement de redirection. [online] Google.co.uk. Available at: https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.farfetch.com%2Fshopping%2Fmen%2Fkarl-lagerfeld-x-cara-delevingne-single-breasted-tuxedo-blazer-item-18407956.aspx&psig=AOvVaw03-KFKazOrU-8CoZJpWk3s&ust=1685396709592000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CA8QjhxqFwoTCJjq5JP-mP8CFQAAAAAdAAAAABAI [Accessed 28 May 2023].‌

nss magazine. (n.d.). The store of the future is gender-neutral. [online] Available at: https://www.nssmag.com/en/fashion/23842/gender-neutral-stores-sneaker-adidas.‌

ICON (2019). ¿Quién es Billy Porter, el hombre que ha revolucionado la alfombra roja? El País. [online] 29 Apr. Available at: https://elpais.com/elpais/2019/02/25/icon/1551050532_584329.html [Accessed 28 May 2023].‌

nss magazine. (n.d.). The store of the future is gender-neutral. [online] Available at: https://www.nssmag.com/en/fashion/23842/gender-neutral-stores-sneaker-adidas.‌

[snalsupremacy]

2023 events

2022 events list

Again, these are not all of the events, just the ones i happen to come across with

- All of Sherlock Holmes is now officially public domain - Lil Nas X back at it again with... THE WIGGLES?! - Noah Schnapp, who plays Will Byers in Stranger Things, comes out as gay - US gov can't vote for a speaker of the house - McCarthy wins speaker of the house after 15 votes - Bolsonaro supporters storm the Congress and vandalize the whole place, are arrested on location -golden globes n stuff -JOJO LEAK JOJO LEAK ITS A BOY ITS A BOY -Lisa Marie Presley, daughter of Elvis Presley, dies at 54 -M3gan is a gay icon pass it on -AO3 down, 40 injured 15 dead -New FOB album - Velma show unsurprisingly sucks - Pink Sause on wallmart -Paramore back & new album coming soon - UK blocks scottish law that helped trans people and this might lead to their independence (pls) -TUMBRL ADDED POLLS! TUMBRL ADDED POLLS!! - #team snail worm deserved to lose the centopéia or however you say in english winning was RIGGED AND I CAN PROVE IT - Pete Wentz leaked Brendon Urie’s oncoming baby which leads him to breaking up Panic! At The Disco. Finally. - Holy fucking bingle! Trans Bi Lesbian It/She pronouns swiss hacker just leacked the US no-fly list, and plot twist, its very racist, what?! :3 - Justin Roiland is fired from Rick and Morty for being a bad person - Cecil from welcome to nightvale defeats Reigen in the Tumbrl Sexyman rematch pools! Idk who he is i just voted him bc i dont want reigen to win. -CECILSWEEP IS EVERYWHERE THE FINALS ARE SANS VS CECIL WHO WILL WIN - CECIL PALMER WITH THE STEEL CHAIR BEATS SANS TO PULP AT THE BACK OF PAPA JOHN'S!!! -The last of Us everywhere, seems to be a good game adaptation! glad to see more of those!

-Toby Fox scores the very first interview with creator of Yume Nikki, kikiyama with 9 yes or no questions and 1 "free response" question asking what they would get at a Denny's -FNAF movie officially starts filming - Marceline wins tumbrl woman - Just vote for vanilla extract and waive boys, just vote for vanila extract and wave - 7.8 earthquake hits Turkey and Syria, thausands of casualities - Spotted chinese (?) spy baloons (?) in America - Now theres a Tumbrl vanilla extract bottle, awesome - Hogwarts Legacy release discourse follows - Tear of the kingdom trailer out this is the most emotion link has shown in canon in 36 years - Youtube channel schaffrillas productions gets involved in car accident, Christopher Schaffer and Patrick Phyrillas pronounced dead on site while James Phyrillas in critical condition - Italian manwhore summer (Sanremo) - Netflix creating something thats gonna ruin password sharing people and everyone is mad - Brianna Ghey, 16 yo trans teenager, is stabbed to the death at a park -THE JOJOLANDS! AMAZING! MINDBLOWING! LIFE CHANGING! NEVER THE SAME! 10/10! -Succession will end in S4 -NEW MAGNAPINNA SQUID FOOTAGE HUNTING??

-New gen of TMNT (Mutant Mayhem)!! -Minesota lagislature makes trans health care (wait for it) LEGAL! - New mario movie trialer the babygirlification of Luigi continues -Willow project approved ‘_’ - More anti trans legislation. whats the news - Esc songs dropped the guy w the green top is already tumbrl’s top 1 jenn should have won etc etc -Gerard Way presenting in full office lady style. Tbh im just more impressed he did a show in tights. - Jojolands #2 out! Hot dog guy has a name now and Rohan canonically transcend the multiverse! - Taylor Swift eras tour congrats swifties - ICC issues arrest warrant to Vladmir Putin for war crimes -Trump to be arrested -Arab Cartoon Network hacked (Update: hacking was fake) - Tik Tok banned on government phones after spying accusations -New FOB album - The ladies from RWBY just kissed! mazal tov! - Justin Roiland case dropped - Kid in brazil attacks school teacher with knife - School shooting in US - Resident Evil 4 remake - Dobi dies in a glue trap -Trump got indicated, idk what that means but seems bad for trump which is good

-10 year anniversary of the Mishapocalypse - Ofc all your fave properties do an April fool’s special,, most notably Toby Fox’s “accidental foam pic” and Sonic The Hedgehog free murder mystery game that looks gorgeous?? they take the trophy this year -Kasane Teto gets her official voicebank for her 15th anniversary -wait... the DSMP is over..? it ended..? for real..?? WOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLL!!1!!11!!!!!11 - Dalai Lama [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] - Harry Potter HBO series... just what we needed ‘_’ - Misha Collins reveals Warner Brothers wanted him to stay out as bisexual after that one off joke last year - Out of touch thursday on 4/20 we did it boys - We DOUBLE DID IT BOYS! Elon Musk’s rocket explodes because he forgot to build a flame diverter?? Or did he not build one on purpose? Anyway no one was inside THANKFULLY - Movie markplier is working on is revealed to be..IRON LUNG?! - Elon Musk takes out all the unpaid blue check marks expecting the celebrity accounts to pay for them, instead #blocktheblue movements started in which you block all users with blue check mark, Musk then responds to this by awarding random popular users with check marks -Tucker Carlson fired, ill b real, I have no idea who he is -Don Lemon also fired, again, idk who he is - Ray Toro and Gerard Way on fnaf movie soundtrack?!? -Disney sues Florida governor Ron Desantis, woag.. I cant believe im saying this but it’ll be easier to make the governor leave than the rat theme park

-JASON DERULO JUST FELL OFF THE STARS AT THE MET GALA! 😱😱😱 - WGA on strike! -And may Eurovision posting begin! Im rooting for finland what ab y’all - Tony Hawk and chocolate guy collab?!?!?!?! -ABSOLUTELY BULLSHIT EUROVISION RESULTS KAARIJA IS THE REAL WINNER SWEDEN BE DAMNED -FNAF trailer drop -Barbie Movie trailer drop -IDubz apologises for content cop, better late than never ig -Succession finale - I saw that execution clip from generation loss cuz it cant be thaaat fucked up right? haha.... im traumatized -Seth Everman announces he will leave the internet in 200ish days -Ted lasso ends, and so, pride month begins.... -Hank Green got cancer

-Happy pride month guys! - Jojo musical adaption of Phantom Blood confirmed - Russian occupiers in Ukraine blew up the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Station -Across the spiderverse takes the internet by storm AS IT SHOULD - Fires in canada kinda spreads the smoke like all around and its all a gray haze over there -Kaarija and Bojan concert together doing a shit job at beating ther allegations happy pride month kings -Hank Green is bisexual, likes Brennan Lee Muligan, and found that out because of wreck it ralph cosplays i can’t believe this is real -Redit blackout? 196? im very confused, but the redditors are here and tumbrl are welcoming them WAY better than we did twitter users which i find fitting lol -Adrien and Marinette from miraculous lb finally kissed omg its been like 8 years?? insane -The Idol sucks - Shit submarine w 5 people goes missing and the more we find out the more inevitable it felt       • Oceangate...gate brings awareness to migrant ships who drown and kill hundrents of migrants       • Iron Lung game sell suddenly spikes       •Submarine found, it imploded, all passengers dead - Joes Biden (US president)'s son committed tax fraud -Mark Zuch and Elon Musk are going to fight?? -Military coup in Russia (failed) -Miranda sings revolutionizing the YouTuber apology genre by apologizing for groomer allegations via ukulele - wtf is a grimace shake - Happy pride month! US overruled law prohibiting homophobic discrimination based on religion!

-Nimona is out! I haven’t watched it yet but the reception is great! (Edit: watched it, its good) -Superman finally got his long deserved sailor moon style transformation. good for him. -AO3 down, 500 dead 756 injured (Update: AO3 is down due to DDOS attack, which is when a group overwhelms the website with requests. This seems to be made by a group who claims to be doing it for homophobic reasons tho they likely have uterior reasons) -SAG-AFRA joins WGA strike - Universal prunes trees outside their building to try and prevent WAG/SAG-AFRA picket line. However, these trees are city property and "tree law" (heavy fine for destroying gov owned nature) might be called into action - Happy Barbenheimer tho all who celebrate - MITSKI ALBUM ANNOUNCEMENT?! - Fnaf DLC smth smth eclipse - Elon Musk tries to change twitter to X ? - Good Omens season 2 finale so tragically good it re animated OFMD SPN and Hanibal into trending page

- Tik tok parody of every 90's euro disco song goes viral - New James Webb telesc ope picture shows a giant ? in space. poetry. - Forest fires in Hawaii destroying homes -Anti semetic hate crime against USP teacher in Amazonas - Tik tok tried to create their Goncharov (Zepotha) and it turns out to be a plot to promote a musician's new song - Planet of the bass music vide out!! - Trump might actually get arrested, mugshot and all - Who thought it was a good idea to make the actor portraying Bernstein in the new biopic wear a PROSTHETIC NOSE?? - India first country to land on south pole of the moon! - Someone tracked down spanish spn’s rogue translator, who claims he did not add that in, meaning in some version of spn destiel was canon - Riverdale ends with all of them in a polycule. Which honestly is the best possible ending - TRUMP MUGSHOT TRUMP MUGSHOT

-That mole do be interesting -Castiel 15th birthday WAIT 15?? A DECADE AND A HALF?? - Ladybug and Chatnoir are emo now. Like, literally. - WGA strike succesfully ends -The Pokemonx Miku collab is everything actually - WGA stricke officially ends wed 27/9 12:01 AM, the deal is finalized and the writer’s guild got most of what they wanted! yay uniuns!

- Israel-Palestine conflict breaks into full on war with many casualities on both sides -NOOOOOO BAKUGO IS ALIVE PUT HIM BACK IN THE GRAVE!! KILL HIM AGAIN!!

- Spock wins the AO3 polls unsuprisingly - youtuber SSSniperwolf doxxes youtuber JacksFilms -Merlin twitter account is active...why? -Mathew Perry, Friends actor and advocate for alcoholism and drug abuse issues dies at age 54

-Happy 3 anniversary to Nov 5th -THANK G-D ATTACK ON TITAN IS OVER ITS FINALLY OVER FUCKK YES FINALLY -NOOOOO LIVE ACTION ZELDA CONFIMRED WHYYYY - Actor strike is over =D - GTA 5 anounced - SHREK 5???? - Omegle shut downs for ever - Zack and Cody’s restaurant reservation is today - Dream and the voice actor of Gumball beefed and tbh it was hilarious - Russia declares LGBT groups extremists organizations - Henry Kissinger, american politician, dies at 100 - SONIC 3 DATE REVEAL YEAHHH

-Hbomber guy DESTROYS James Somerton and Internet Historian’s career with his new video on plagiarism - TODD IN THE SHADOWS COMES BACK WITH THE STEEL CHAIR IN JAMES SOMERTON!! - BG3 Game Awards Sweep including GOTY

[highkingpetermagnificent]

For the end-of-year book ask: 2, 3, 17?

end-of-year book asks | @shimyereh

thank you so much, you're my hero!!

2. Did you reread anything? What?

I reread a few books, yeah! Not too many, because I do have a to-read list a mile long, but sometimes it's nice to go back to something familiar.

I reread:

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Schaffer and Anne Barrows

The Naming by Alison Croggon

The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan

And then unsure if this counts, but I read Pride & Prejudice in French (Orgueil et Préjugés, translated by Valentine Leconte and Charlotte Pressoir,) which I have read in English before, but not in French.

3. What were your top five books of the year?

Oh man!! This is a hard one!!! I'm going to pick books that were new to me this year, since I do love the ones I reread.

Catherine of Aragon: Infanta of Spain, Queen of England by Theresa Earenfight

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

Brought Up of Nought: A History of the Woodvile Family by Lynda J. Pidgeon

Old English Legal Writings by Wulfstan, translated and edited by Andrew Rabin

The Rule of the Land: Walking Ireland's Border by Garett Carr

I think I read more nonfiction this year than I ever have, and that was really fun!! #5 also has a soft spot in my heart because my dad and I have been doing a book club (to give him something to think about other than his depression -- and to give me something to think about too, I guess, except I have the advantage over him of being medicated) and I really enjoyed this one.

17. Did any books surprise you with how good they were?

Ooh!! I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed Wulfstan's legal writings, mentioned above. I also didn't expect The Black Witch by Laurie Forest to be as good and engrossing as it was -- I thought it would be sort of middle-of-the-road, pretty standard YA fantasy, so I was really impressed with the nuance in the writing of the main character.

[garrandia]

🎸

Snake Soul (Acoustic) - Darren Korb

Paris (11170) - Shiro SAGISU gee i do have a lot sagisu in my playlist huh

All That Could Ever Be - Rick Schaffer

Killer - The Hoosiers

Light's Theme (Kira theme A) - Death Note

[doubleattitude]

24/SEVEN Dance Convention, Knoxville, TN: RESULTS

High Scores by Age:

Sidekick Solo

1st: Mazie Kemp-’Pure Imagination’

2nd: Molly Stiefel-’If My Friends Could See Me Now’

3rd: Aleena Vazquez-’My Boyfriend’s Back’

4th: Harper Duncan-’I Dreamed a Dream’

Mini Solo

1st: Kate Jarboe-’Hit the Road Jack’

2nd: Skylar Wong-’Unspeakable Joy’

3rd: Dakota Casteel-’Marina Gasolina’

3rd: Emma Cathcart-’Ooh Child’

3rd: Zoe Swope-’S’Wonderful’

3rd:Allie Plott-’The Path’

4th: Sarah Shoup-’Cold Hearted Snake’

5th: Blakely Barton-’Amazing Mayzie’

5th: Savannah Renshaw-’Rainbow’

6th: Aurora Brady-’Hit the Road Jack’

6th: Claire Hansen-’Marathon In Roses’

6th: Ellie Guillaume-’Once Upon Another Time’

6th: Scarlet Murphy-’The Ghost of You’

7th: Nicole Yordanova-’Miss Spectacular’

8th: Maelee James-’Respect’

9th: Caroline Reece-’Coastline’

9th: Tya Tyler-’Hollow’

9th: Payten Childress-’Wildflower’

10th: Lydia McCurry-’All That Jazz’

Junior Solo

1st: Aaliyah Dixon-’Icon’

2nd: Kylie Kaminsky-’Beneath the Surface’

3rd: Haydyn Jackson-’Dex’

4th: Haven Greene-’Diamond’s Are A Girl’s Best Friend’

4th: Leila Winker-’Takt’

5th: Campbell Clark-’Blah Blah Cha Cha Cha’

5th: Kayley Salyer-’Come Healing’

5th: Eva Jimmerson-’Condor Pasa’

5th: Grace Woodbury-’I Feel Pretty’

5th: Stella Benevicz-’Warrior’

6th: Natalie Soza-’Desire’

6th: Kaylin Gabosch-’Locomotion’

7th: Caroline Powell-’How Rare’

7th: Kathryn Roth-’Send in the Clowns’

7th: Braelynn Schaffer-’Stairway to Heaven’

7th: Madilyn Lanman-’Sweet Child O’ Mine’

8th: Taylin Hancock-’Doomed’

8th: Tatum Fischer-’Fabulous’

8th: Vivi Rae Richardson-’I Miss Her’

8th Alexandra Zuccaro-’Stronger’

9th: Anna Hughes-’Second Chance’

10th: Mariah Williams-’Lost Without You’

Teen Solo

1st: Hayley Wilson-’Leaving Song’

2nd: Blanche Arnold-’How to Be Your Own Person’

3rd: Tatiana Hagee-’Harvest Moon’

3rd: Olivia Taylor-’Weightless’

4th: Isabella Pinkston-’Sprig of Thyme’

4th: Ava Cassidy-’Witness’

5th: Jenna Jarboe-’Don’t Let Me Go’

5th: Ella Howell-’Nothing’

5th: Nariah Mullins-’This Place Was A Shelter’

6th: Joely Stupeck-’The Parting Glass’

6th: Johanna Jessen-’The Party’s Over’

7th: Stella Morris-’Embrace’

7th: Olivia Kohler-’Is That Alright’

7th: Kenley Campbell-’Smile’

7th: Liza Grace Cole-’Time’

8th: Hannah Webb-’Holy Water’

8th: Tabbi Courts-’Porcelain’

8th: Hannah Jones-’Snow’

9th: Siena Rick-’Fortune Teller’

9th: Wells McEntyre-’Like Water’

9th: Allie Douglas-’The Bird’

9th: ?

10th: Brooke Phillips-’I’d Hoped to Settle This’

10th: Gabrielle Bradley-’Just A Girl’

10th: Jessica Alexander-’Some Unholy War’

10th: Emily Haas-’You Are So Beautiful’

Senior Solo

1st: Jaylin Sanders-’Elements’

2nd: Braylan Enscoe-’Fur Elise’

3rd: Brooke Cheek-’The Beginning and The End’

4th: Alexandra Jinglov-’Action Reaction’

5th: Destiny Patterson-’What Good Am I’

6th: Makayla D’Ambrosio-’Consider This’

7th: Allie Hazelwood-’Moon River’

7th: Kendall Smith-’Saint Honesty’

8th: Caitlyn Knowles-’Broken Ballerina’

9th: Alexis Reese-’My Way’

9th: Anna Kriofske-’What Am I To You’

10th: Destiny Fields-’Destiny Fields’

Mini Duo/Trio

1st: ‘Dance With Me Tonight’-Revolution Dance

2nd: ‘High Enough’-Music City All Stars

3rd: ‘Brave’-Tri-Cities Dance Company

Junior Duo/Trio

1st: ‘Silly Boy’-Revolution Dance

2nd: ‘You Will Be Found’-The Dance Centre

3rd: ‘Shake Shake’-Oak Ridge Academy of Dance

Teen Duo/Trio

1st: ‘Wash’-Indy Dance Academy

2nd: ‘Love Triangle’-Dance Elite

2nd: ‘Black and Gold’-Indy Dance Academy

2nd: ‘And the Chaos Within Me Found Balance’-Indy Dance Academy

3rd: ‘Shake It Out’-Elizabeth Williams School of Dance

Senior Duo/Trio

1st: ‘Who Are You’-In Motion Dance Center

2nd: ‘The Eye’-The Difference Dance Company

3rd: 'Still Have You’-The North Augusta School of Dance

Sidekick Group

1st: ‘Not About Angels’-Brooke Bailey Dance Addiction

Mini Group

1st: ‘Lord of the Flies’-Acro Arts Company

Junior Group

1st: ‘Son of a Preacherman’-Revolution Dance

2nd: ‘Dream’-Brooke Bailey Dance Addiction

3rd: ‘Luda’-Brooke Bailey Dance Addiction

Teen Group

1st: ‘Voices of Doubt’-Just Off Broadway

2nd: ‘Me & My Girls’-The North Augusta School of Dance

3rd: ‘Blood’-Brooke Bailey Dance Addiction

Senior Group

1st: ‘Girl Gang’-Brooke Bailey Dance Addiction

2nd: ‘98′-Brooke Bailey Dance Addiction

3rd: ‘Fall In Line’-Brooke Bailey Dance Addiction

Sidekick Line

1st: ‘Doctor Doctor’-Brooke Bailey Dance Addiction

2nd: ‘Takin It Back’-Brooke Bailey Dance Addiction

Junior Line

1st: ‘How Bout Dat’-Laura’s School of Dance

Teen Line

1st: ‘Heaven I Know’-Laura’s School of Dance

2nd: ‘Rich Girl’-Brooke Bailey Dance Addiction

3rd: ‘Like That’-The North Augusta School of Dance

Junior Extended Line

1st: ‘You Can’t Stop the Beat’-Laura’s School of Dance

Teen Extended Line

1st: ‘Together’-Oak Ridge Academy of Dance

Senior Extended Line

1st: ‘Born For This’-Oak Ridge Academy of Dance

High Score by Performance Division:

Sidekick Lyrical

‘Not About Angels’-Brooke Bailey Dance Addiction

Sidekick Jazz

‘Doctor Doctor’-Brooke Bailey Dance Addiction

Sidekick Hip-Hop

‘Takin It Back’-Brooke Bailey Dance Addiction

Mini Contemporary

‘Lord of the Flies’-Acro Arts Company

Junior Tap

‘Me Without You’-Oak Ridge Academy of Dance

Junior Lyrical

‘Dream’-Brooke Bailey Dance Addiction

Junior Jazz

‘Son of a Preacherman’-Revolution Dance

Junior Hip-Hop

‘How Bout Dat’-Laura’s School of Dance

Junior Contemporary

‘Ink Blots’-Dance Elite

Junior Musical Theatre

‘You Can’t Stop the Beat’-Laura’s School of Dance

Teen Jazz

‘Rich Girl’-Brooke Bailey Dance Addiction

Teen Lyrical

‘Black Out’-Brooke Bailey Dance Addiction

Teen Hip-Hop

‘Me & My Girls’-The North Augusta School of Dance

Teen Tap

‘Bites the Dust’-The North Augusta School of Dance

Teen Contemporary

‘Voices of Doubt’-Just Off Broadway

Senior Hip-Hop

‘Girl Gang’-Brooke Bailey Dance Addiction

Senior Lyrical

‘Believe’-Brooke Bailey Dance Addiction

Senior Contemporary

‘Fall In Line’-Brooke Bailey Dance Addiction

Senior Tap

‘Born For This’-Oak Ridge Academy of Dance

11 O’Clock Awards:

Sidekick

‘Not About Angels’-Brooke Bailey Dance Addiction

Mini

‘Lord of the Flies’-Acro Arts Company

Junior

‘How Bout Dat’-Laura’s School of Dance

‘Ink Blots’-Dance Elite

‘Son of a Preacherman’-Revolution Dance

‘Feel It Still’-Laura’s School of Dance

Teen

‘Voices of Doubt’-Just Off Broadway 

‘Free Room’-Tri-Cities Dance Company

‘Me & My Girls’-The North Augusta School of Dance

‘Rich Girl’-Brooke Bailey Dance Addiction

‘Heaven I Know’-Laura’s School of Dance

Senior

‘Born For This’-Oak Ridge Academy of Dance

‘Girl Gang’-Brooke Bailey Dance Addiction

Studio Showcase Award:

‘Girl Gang’-Brooke Bailey Dance Addiction

[popradar]

PaleyFest 2020 Lineup to Date

**The 2020 PaleyFest has been postponed, due to coronavirus concerns.**

Attention TV fans. Mark your calendars and get your tickets now for the PaleyFest 2020 lineup, running March 13-22. It opens with Modern Family as it continues its final season swan song and ends with the new Disney+ show The Mandalorian. All these scheduled shows and guests are all subject to change, and don’t be surprised if there’s a last minute add. 

Friday, March 13: ABC’s Modern Family (7:30 pm)

Scheduled to appear: Ty Burrell (Phil Dunphy), Sofia Vergara (Gloria Delgado Pritchett), Eric Stonestreet (Cameron Tucker), Sarah Hyland (Haley Dunphy), Ariel Winter (Alex Dunphy), Nolan Gould (Luke Dunphy), Rico Rodriguez (Manny Delgado), Steven Levitan, Creator & Executive Producer, plus additional guests to be announced.

Saturday, March 14: Pop TV’s One Day at a Time (2 pm)

Scheduled to appear: Norman Lear, Mike Roe, Brent Miller, Gloria Calderon Kellett, Justina Machado, Rita Moreno, Isabella Gomez, Marcel Ruiz, Todd Grinnell and Stephen Tobolowsky.

Saturday, March 14: Netflix’s A Special Evening with Dolly Parton & Dolly Parton’s Heartstrings (7 pm)

Scheduled to appear: Dolly Parton, Executive Producer, Sam Haskell, Executive Producer, plus additional guests to be announced.

Sunday, March 15: CBS’s NCIS 400th Episode Celebration (2 pm)

Scheduled to appear: Mark Harmon (Leroy Jethro Gibbs)/ Executive Producer, Sean Murray (Special Agent Timothy McGee), Emily Wickersham (Special Agent Eleanor “Ellie” Bishop), Wilmer Valderrama (Special Agent Nickolas “Nick” Torres), Maria Bello (Special Agent Jacqueline “Jack” Sloane), Brian Dietzen (Dr. Jimmy Palmer) Diona Reasonover (Forensic Scientist Kasie Hines), Rocky Carroll (NCIS Director Leon Vance), David McCallum (Dr. Donald “Ducky” Mallard), Frank Cardea, Executive Producer & Showrunner, and Steven Binder, Executive Producer & Showrunner.

Sunday, March 15: Amazon Prime Video’s The Boys (7 pm)

Scheduled to appear: Karl Urban (Billy Butcher), Jack Quaid (Hughie Campbell), Erin Moriarty (Annie January / Starlight), Chace Crawford (The Deep), Jessie T. Usher (A-Train), Laz Alonso (Mother’s Milk), Karen Fukuhara (The Female), and Eric Kripke, Executive Producer & Showrunner.

Wednesday, March 18: CBS All Access’s Star Trek: Picard (7:30 pm)

Scheduled to appear: Sir Patrick Stewart (Jean-Luc Picard); additional guests:  Alison Pill, Isa Briones, Evan Evagora, Michelle Hurd, Brent Spiner,Marina Sirtis, Jonathan Del Arco, Jeri Ryan, Heather Kadin and Akiva Goldsman.

Thursday, March 19: Starz’s Outlander (7:30 pm)

Scheduled to appear: Caitriona Balfe (Claire Randall), Sam Heughan (Jamie Fraser), Sophie Skelton (Brianna Randall Fraser), Ronald D. Moore, Creator & Executive Producer, Maril Davis, Executive Producer, and Matthew B. Roberts, Executive Producer.

Friday, March 20: HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm (7:30 pm)

Scheduled to appear: Larry David (Larry David)/Executive Producer, Jeff Schaffer, Executive Producer, Jeff Garlin (Jeff Greene), Susie Essman (Susie Greene), Cheryl Hines (Cheryl David), Richard Lewis (Richard Lewis), plus additional guests to be announced.

Saturday, March 21: Netflix’s Dead to Me (2 pm)

Scheduled to appear: Christina Applegate (Jen Harding)/Executive Producer, Linda Cardellini (Judy Hale)/Producer, James Marsden (Steve Wood), and Liz Feldman, Creator & Executive Producer.

Saturday, March 21: Netflix’s Ozark (7 pm)

Scheduled to appear: Jason Bateman (Martin “Marty” Byrde)/Executive Producer, Laura Linney (Wendy Byrde), Chris Mundy, Executive Producer, plus additional guests to be announced.

Sunday, March 22: Pop TV’s Schitt’s Creek (2 pm)

Scheduled to appear: Dan Levy (David Rose)/Creator & Executive Producer, Eugene Levy (Johnny Rose)/Creator & Executive Producer, Catherine O’Hara (Moira Rose)/Consulting Producer, Annie Murphy (Alexis Rose), plus additional guests to be announced.

Sunday, March 22:  Disney+’s The Mandalorian (7 pm)

Scheduled to appear: Jon Favreau, Creator & Executive Producer, Dave Filoni, Executive Producer, Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian), Gina Carano (Cara Dune), Carl Weathers (Greef Karga), Ming-Na Wen (Fennec Shand), Ludwig Göransson, Composer, and Rick Famuyiwa, Writer, plus additional guests to be announced.

Tickets start at $35.

[lumbaghini]

Rules: Answer 21 questions and tag 21 people you want to get to know better

I was tagged by @poedaneron

Nickname: John. Always wanted to start going by Jack, but it’s hard to just start introducing yourself as a different name lol

Height: 5′11″. I’m between 5′10.5″ and that to be perfectly accurate, but what guy doesn’t wanna round up?

Last movie I saw: Aw geez. Uh... it’s been a while.... I think the last one I saw was the one I watched in theater with @saintrobot, which was.... OH YEAH! The My Hero Academia movie. I started class not too long after that, and haven’t seen any movies since, though I wanted to see Into the Spiderverse.

Favorite artists: Mick Gordon (might only do video game music but he’s a great guy), the Chainsmokers, Hans Zimmer, Two Steps from Hell (they do cinematic scores), Norah Jones (I’m sort of in love with her voice and how her music makes me think of summer)... to name a few.

Song stuck in my head: Hah... That’s Murfree Country, right now.

Do I get asks: Only very rarely.

Other blogs: I used to have a writing blog, and I’ve got an alt somewhere on here that I haven’t logged into for a while called talosakbar or something, but I never really used it to begin with.

Following: 201. When I first made this blog I pretty much just followed everyone who had one or two posts I liked about the stuff I wanted to reblog (Gintama at the time, and then RDR2 like a week later).

Amount of sleep: Depends. But usually, 4-5 hours on weekdays, and anywhere from 6-12 hours on weekends.

Lucky number: Don’t know if I have one. 3 is generally a safe bet, but that’s more related to the axiom that “everything comes in threes,” which might be more of a cultural phenomenon than anything. But my favorite numbers are anything that ends in either 5 or 0, since they’re the most “perfect” numbers to me.

What I’m wearing: A plaid button-down from Banana Republic, and jeans (well, I took the jeans off as soon as I got my room, so... black boxer briefs lol)

Dream job: I dunno anymore. Foreign policy analyst? For either the State Department or... someone else? FP is still the subject I’m most passionate about.

Favorite food: Steak.

Dream trip: Back to Germany or Switzerland. I’d also fancy Finland (especially the Lapland) or Japan. Hell, Prague also sounds great... and I’ve always had this weird dream of eating camel with a Bedouin tribe on the open desert. 

Play any instruments: I used to play Clarinet and guitar, and even played piano for a while. I later just sang though, and right now, nothing.

Languages: English, Arabic and German. I used to be great at French too, but after I broke up with my French ex that fell into disuse. I can also get by in Japanese.

Favorite song: Right now? Maybe All That Could Ever Be by Rick Schaffer.

Random fact: I have three tattoos, with one more in the planning (waiting to confirm the Latin translation). One is two snakes fighting over my left shoulder, another is a Lawrence of Arabia quote just under it (”... but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes to make it possible”), and the Dark Mark from Harry Potter on the same arm’s forearm. The one in planning will be a Latin phrase wrapped around the same spot as the Dark Mark, saying “BELLUM TUUM NONDUM EST FINITA,” or “your war is not yet over,” something that resonated with me when I was thinking my hardest about suicide.

Describe yourself as aesthetic things: I don’t think I’ve ever had an aesthetic. I’ve never been comfortable enough with myself to really explore one. Do I just pick things that provoke my senses? So uh... a damp, foggy morning in a pine forest. The musk of rough leather. The distant warmth of the sun in the early Fall. The crackling of leaves underfoot in Autumn. The feeling of squeezing a cat’s toebeans.

I’m tagging: @saintrobot @esidisi @mermaidhaze @scatterbrainedhypatia @gintokixparfait @thewanderingknight @crene-brooke @belahbelieve @chaos-and-chamomile (Yeah not actually doing 21)

[aion-rsa]

The Best TV Comedies of 2020

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Have we ever been in more need of a laugh than in 2020? Amidst a historic global pandemic, a tumultuous American political election, civil unrest, wildfires, MURDER HORNE… alright, you get the picture. 2020 has been the pits, man. Thankfully, this year from hell featured some bright spots on television, even if rays of sunshine were sorely lacking in reality.

If the shows on our list weren’t making us laugh, we would have been ugly-crying since March. While we were all locked in our homes, we got reacclimated with the Warner Brothers (and sister), said goodbye to BoJack Horseman, and met regular human bartender Jackie Daytona, making quarantine a bit more bearable, if only in 30 minute increments. From brand new series like How To with John Wilson, to swan songs for Den of Geek favorites like Schitt’s Creek, TV comedies in 2020 kept us cackling through the chaos.

To determine the best TV comedy of 2020 in a particularly stacked, diverse year, we polled 12 Den of Geek staffers and contributors. Below, you’ll find our honorable mentions and our list of the series most likely to raise your mood in the darkest year of our adventures.

Honorable Mentions

The following shows received votes but just missed out on the top 20: 

Ramy, Never Have I Ever, Feel Good, The Great, Avenue 5, The Duchess, Staged, Famalam, Inside No. 9, Ghosts, The Shivering Truth, Bob’s Burgers, Katy Keene

DEN OF GEEK TOP 20 COMEDIES OF 2020

20 – Big Mouth (Netflix)

How long can a show about puberty, a very specific time in the life cycle, remain viable? Well based on the fourth season of Netflix’s animated comedy Big Mouth, just about as long as it wants to. Big Mouth season 4 succeeds by finding new avenues to delve into the psyches of its young characters going through chaaaaanges. In the process it also finds ways to expand its storytelling capabilities, delving into issues of trans youth, code switching, and anxiety. Through it all it remains as hilarious, and disturbingly vivid, as ever. – Alec Bojalad

19 – The Eric Andre Show (Adult Swim)

It’s not like Eric Andre reinvented the wheel or anything with the fifth season of his anarchic, absurdist talk show. If you were never a fan of anti-comedy that centers heavily around duping random people on the street, gross-out gags, and the torture of unsuspecting guests, then you’re not going to start liking it now.

However, for those of us already onboard The Eric Andre Show train, it’s no small feat that, five seasons in, this is still one of the funniest shows on TV. You’d think by now Eric would’ve run out of guests who have no idea what they’re in for, but, no, there’s an all-new batch of naive celebrities whose lives are effortlessly worsened by Eric, his crew, and his new house band. You’d assume he couldn’t prank people on the streets of New York City and Newark, New Jersey anymore because he’d be recognized by now, but, no, he pisses off a lot of people and breaks a lot of other people’s brains with ever-inventive, bizarre, obnoxious pranks. 

Finally, you might think the series would suffer irrevocably from the departure of co-host Hannibal Buress only two episodes into the season, but Eric demonstrates he’s more than capable of spreading chaos all on his own (though he’s sometimes assisted, alternatingly, by a Hannibal clone named Blannibal, comedian Felipe Esparza, and Screen Actors Guild Awards nominee Lakeith Stanfield). Season five is the same The Eric Andre Show as it ever was, but that still makes me laugh harder than anything else on television right now. I’d be happy for Eric to keep making this show forever. – Joe Matar

18 – Saved by the Bell (Peacock)

A Saved by the Bell reboot shouldn’t have worked. But as Peacock’s recent series showcased, with the right creative team and angle, you really can successfully reimagine an outdated but beloved ’90s teen comedy for 2020. Working as both a soft reboot and sequel, this is meta-comedy at its best. Saved by the Bell is fully aware of what made the original special and why they don’t still make shows like it now. Juxtaposing those two competing views through the lens of the privileged and perfect Bayside kids and the new normal students makes this an accessible and seriously funny series with a biting humor rarely seen in teen comedy. – Rosie Knight 

17 – Everything’s Gonna Be Okay (Freeform)

Australian comedian Josh Thomas brings his off-kilter sensibility to a loving and sharply funny portrait of a modern family in Everything’s Gonna Be Okay. In the pilot, Thomas’s character Nicholas, a gay twentysomething from Australia, visits his father in the US and learns that his physically and emotionally distant dad is dying. Things really pick up as Nicholas steps up to care for his two teenage half-sisters, Matilda (Kayla Cromer) and Genevieve (Maeva Press), while also trying to date, and manage his melodramatic mother from the other side of the planet. 

Matilda especially comes into her own as she hopes to go to college away from home next year— something others doubt since she’s autistic. Her autism is a reality that becomes part of the fabric of the show, a setup rather than a punchline. Few shows would include a teenage threesome that manages to be funny, heartfelt, and matter-of-fact, but in Matilda’s world, sex (and exploring her sexuality) are often all three. Everything’s Gonna Be Okay is a family show that acknowledges the realities of family: death, disabilities, teenage girls with sex drives, and laughter at funerals. – Delia Harrington 

16 – Star Trek: Lower Decks (CBS All Access)

Created by one of the writer/producers of Rick and Morty, it’s no surprise that the first episode of Lower Decks involved some pretty broad humor and wildly out of control situations. The producers of the 1970s Star Trek: The Animated Series understood the creative potential of animation when they replaced Ensign Chekov with a giant cat, and Lower Decks follows suit, the pilot giving us blood, guts, gore, zombies and a giant spider, all in Rick and Morty’s madcap tone.

As the show has developed over its first ten episodes, though, it’s become something more than that. The knowing humor is a delight—the focus on things like “second contact” (the less glamorous setting up of diplomatic relations after first contact), ascensions to a higher plane of existence gone wrong, and re-visiting half-forgotten alien races like the Pakleds shows the same sort of gently teasing love of the franchise that Galaxy Quest did. But the characters have also developed into real, complex people to the point that a character death is genuinely moving, and the audience are really able to care about what happens to these essential cogs in Starfleet’s machine next. – Juliette Harrison 

15 – Solar Opposites (Hulu)

A big part of what makes Rick and Morty so great is that, in addition to all the sci-fi hijinks, there’s meaningful development of the show’s characters and world. Unfortunately, as the series has progressed, this is also what’s dragged it down. As Rick’s nihilism has increasingly alienated the people around him, a lot of the fun has been lost. The show still puts out the occasional brilliant episode (for example, the season four finale), but it almost feels like all the characters on Rick and Morty straight-up hate each other and watching it can be kind of a drag sometimes.

It’s such a treat then, to see all that fun sci-fi silliness rebirthed in the form of Solar Opposites, co-created by Justin Roiland and Mike McMahan (Rick and Morty co-creator and writer/producer, respectively). Making good use of all the storytelling lessons they learned from their other sci-fi cartoon show, the two have released a confident and consistently funny debut season. Though it feels awfully similar to Rick and Morty at first blush, it has more in common with classic sitcoms, with its focus on goofy, self-contained plots about the alien family at the show’s center. However, the series shakes the sitcom formula up a lot with a surprising dedication to callbacks and continuity, most notably exemplified by the continuing, dramatic tribulations of a community of people who have been shrunken down and forced to live in the aliens’ multilevel terrarium. The combination of madcap sci-fi alien plots contrasted with the trials of the melodramatic dystopian shrunken-people world makes Solar Opposites one of the most inventive comedies of the season, and I’m excited to find out where it’s going next. – Joe Matar

14 – Dave (FX) 

There are countless hip-hop artists whose backstories would make for compelling television. So why did FX choose to spotlight a goofball white rapper from the suburbs with a mediocre penis joke for a stage name? It takes only one episode to realize any preconceived notions about Dave, based on the life and rap career of Dave Burd, aka Lil Dickey, should be spit from your silly mouth faster than Lil Dickey spits bars on a freestyle. 

A telling sign that Dave was going to be a sleeper hit was the involvement of co-creator Jeff Schaffer, a longtime EP and writer on Curb Your Enthusiasm and the creator of FX’s The League. Together Schaffer and Burd mapped out a first season that sees Dave navigate the early stages of his music career with a level of narcissism he believes is needed to be taken seriously in the rap game. But the series also shows another side of Dave, self-deprecating in a surprisingly endearing way, rarely swayed by what others think, and frustratingly true to himself and the path he sees for his life. This is FX’s star vehicle for Burd, but the show manages to make him the center of the universe while still developing key players in his life as the season progresses, giving each character an affecting spotlight episode. The standouts include episodes about Dave’s real-life friend and hype man GaTa and his struggles with bipolar disorder, the evolving managerial relationship with his roommate (Andrew Santino), and how sudden fame begins to erode a once promising relationship with his girlfriend, Ali (Taylor Misiak). 

Already renewed for season 2 and a ratings hit with FX/Hulu reporting high streaming numbers, Dave is no longer an underdog and will carry a new set of expectations as the titular character’s career ascends. If you’re still a skeptic, you need to adhere to television’s golden rule when it comes to Dave: Don’t judge it until you binge it. – Chris Longo

13 – Brooklyn Nine-Nine (Fox)

At only 13 episodes, Season 7 was the shortest season yet of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, but it packed a lot into those 13 half-hours. With Melissa Fumero pregnant in real life, the writers used this to cover six months in series by following Jake and Amy’s attempts to conceive a baby, helping those limited episodes to feel like they were filling out more time. The show has also struggled to work in its annual Halloween Heist episodes since moving to NBC and being put into a winter start slot, but in 2020 Rosa managed to triple her victory by engineering Heists on not just Halloween, but Valentine’s Day and Easter as well.

Season 7 aired too early to deal with the Black Lives Matter protests that dominated the summer of 2020, but the writers have already pulled all their planned scripts for Season 8 and re-written them in light of those events, so that is yet to come. 2020 had a little bit of everything that makes B99 great—a dose of Pimento, Jake and his daddy issues, Holt’s adorable corgi Cheddar, and one final appearance from his nemesis Madeline Wuntch. For once, the season didn’t end with Holt somehow being removed from his job as Captain of the 99, but there’s still plenty to look forward to in Season 8—maybe 2021 will be the year that Charles Boyle finally wins the Halloween/Valentine’s Day/Easter/Cinco de Mayo Heist? – Juliette Harrison

12 – Animaniacs (Hulu)

Rampant remakes and sequel reboots have turned into the norm, but streaming services have especially embraced this idea as a way to anchor a library of programming. These endeavors are extremely hit or miss, but Hulu’s revival of Animaniacs is one of the few exceptions that feel justified for a return. Animaniacs always functioned as a radical cocktail of perversions of pop culture and classic comedy and 2020’s Animaniacs actively thrives with decades’ worth of new material to lampoon. The series has stripped itself back to its basics and temporarily removed most of the old supporting players, except for Pinky and the Brain, but this allows Animaniacs to build itself back up and establish new recurring characters and segments.

There’s such clear joy present in Animaniacs, whether it’s from the voice actors, the creative staff, or the animation team. Segments like an unauthorized Russian version of the Animaniacs or catchy songs about Shakespeare and the different First Ladies of America prove that the classic series’ sense of humor has successfully been maintained. If anything, the cartoon is even more fearless. It’s the perfect burst of ‘90s Saturday Morning nostalgia that’s also exceptionally funny and thought provoking. – Daniel Kurland 

11 – Rick and Morty (Adult Swim)

Rick and Morty is a colossal behemoth of storytelling that’s developed a fascinating and often antagonistic relationship with its audience. 2020’s Rick and Morty content only includes five episodes from the second half of the show’s fourth season, but they’re some of the series’ wildest installments when it comes to storytelling, perpetual jokes, and the show’s ability to deconstruct itself and its fandom. The series Emmy-winning “Vat of Acid Episode” explores the emotional highs and lows of “save states” while “Never Ricking Morty,” the show’s “Story Train” episode, is perhaps the most structure-obsessed piece of television that’s ever been written.

Rick and Morty continues to expand its universe in exciting ways and allow its characters to realistically mature. These episodes provide fascinating insight on both Rick’s relationship with Morty as well as his bond with Beth. Even Jerry and Summer get their moments to shine and Rick and Morty feels more like an ensemble than ever before as it prepares to shake things up even more in season five. – Daniel Kurland

10 – Aunty Donna’s Big Ol’ House of Fun (Netflix)

In 2019, Netflix gave us I Think You Should Leave, the sketch comedy series from Tim Robinson that birthed memes that somehow only get more relevant (and funnier) as time goes on. In 2020, Netflix, likely mindful they needed to hold us over until Robinson finishes filming season 2, gave us a gift from down under called Aunty Donna’s Big Ol’ House of Fun. If you liked Robinson’s sketch series, imagine that on crack, dialed up to 100, and featuring the three silliest Australian dudes to ever walk on that continent. The series stars Mark Bonanno, Broden Kelly, and Zachary Ruane, a group of friends who formed a comedy group called Aunty Donna and gained a large following on YouTube with their absurdist humor that features simple premises that often descend into frenetic madness. See: them explaining how a board game works or doing roll call at school. 

In Big Ol’ House of Fun, the series opens with a musical number that will have you wondering whether everything’s a drum. Episode 2 will change the way you think about your morning coffee. Friendly faces like Scott Aukerman and Ed Helms (or is it “Egg” Helms?) even stop by just to play ball. Through its infectious and (mostly) good-natured absurdist energy, the series lives up to its name with endlessly quotable and memable sketches. And much like I Think You Should Leave, Aunty Donna material only gets better when you rewatch it. Here’s to hoping Netflix will let us come back and visit this Big Ol’ House again for season 2. – Chris Longo

9 – Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet (Apple TV+)

Created by Rob McElhenney, David Hornsby, and Megan Ganz of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia fame, Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet is a new Apple TV+ comedy that easily justifies a subscription to the streaming service. Set within a video game studio for a popular MMORPG, Mythic Quest leans into certain workplace comedy tropes, but never feels derivative of the genre or that it’s just Always Sunny with a fresh coat of paint. The comedy effectively explores and skewers gaming culture, but a knowledge of the industry is not at all necessary to enjoy the program. 

Smart and creative scripts are punctuated by the show’s phenomenal cast, which features the likes of McElhenney, Hornsby, and Danny Pudi. However, Charlotte Nicdao’s work as Poppy Li, the studio’s neurotic perfectionist lead engineer, is a revelation. Mythic Quest works so well because of how it grounds its quick comedy in powerful character dynamics. The series’ “standalone” flashback episode, “A Dark Quiet Death,” received a ton of acclaim, but there are few episodes of television from 2020 that contain more heart and honesty than the series’ quarantine-centric installment. – Daniel Kurland

8- Search Party (HBO Max)

HBO Max’s first bingeable, bonafide hit was outsourced from TBS. After languishing on basic cable with critical praise but low viewership, Search Party made the move to the new Warner streaming service for Season 3 and proved that the series was the perfect “watch it all in one afternoon” comedy. What began as a comedic mystery series about a group of prototypical Brooklyn millenials on a quest to find their missing former classmate shifted in its third season to become a satire on celebrity trials and how tabloid spotlight can turn unassuming people into sociopathic narcissists.

Search Party’s strength is in its ensemble. Alia Shawkat brings an interesting vulnerability to disaffected Dory, but her other “searchers” are the real bright spots. John Reynolds is perfectly cast as the de facto worthless millennial “beta male,” and John Early and Meredith Hagner are consistently laugh out loud funny as self-obsessed, attention seeking airheads. Search Party has a twisty, interesting plot, but it’s also a scathing indictment on an entire generation obsessed with celebrity, self-analyzation, and searching for “meaning.” If you have not yet watched one of the year’s funniest shows, get caught up before Season 4 debuts in January 2021.  – Nick Harley

7- How To with John Wilson (HBO)

Life is strange. If you take a moment to actually watch and analyze many of the seemingly ordinary, day-to-day things you witness while walking down the street in a major U.S. city, you’ll be shocked at how alien it can all appear. In New York City in particular, every imaginable human behavior is on display somewhere, and documentarian John Wilson is out there capturing it all on camera. How To With John Wilson may seem like a series designed to teach you useful everyday skills like how to split a check or how to improve your memory, but in reality, it’s a love letter to New York, in all of its beautiful, ugly, life-affirming, and soul-crushing splendor.

It’s also insanely hilarious. Wilson’s deadpan, stammering narration on top of quick cut, slice of life footage is an endlessly watchable setup-punchline joke machine. Wilson also is wise to go down the rabbit hole and follow weird digressions wherever they lead him, like a Mandela Effect conference or the home of an anti-circumcision activist. Further, the series finale is the first piece of television to fully capture the reality of post-pandemic city life, putting to shame all of those half-assed Zoom created depictions of life in 2020. Few shows can effortlessly glide between cringe comedy and poignant moments like this. How To with John Wilson is unlike any other show on television, an absurdist masterpiece that makes the mundane feel surreal and vice versa. – Nick Harley

6- High Fidelity (Hulu)

In a time full of reboots and remakes, High Fidelity earned its existence and then some. To its many admirers, it warranted a second season for more eclectic music choices, guest stars, and beautiful lingering shots over the credits. Sadly, that is not meant to be. Hulu’s High Fidelity is so much more than just a gender-swapped adaptation, though Zoe Kravitz leads the endeavor in the lead role of Rob, the idiosyncratic record store owner counting off Top 5s, especially her Top 5 heartbreaks. 

Rob’s rich world is full of characters we’d love to spend more time with, like snarky Cherise, she of the eclectic taste who keeps putting off her musical dreams for “someday.” Or Simon, Rob’s ex and current best friend, who narrates an episode that completely changes how the audience views Rob. Zoe Kravitz carries this beautiful mood piece, sharing chemistry with just about everyone. While it seems relaxed and fun on arrival, High Fidelity eventually reveals itself to have plenty to say about being accountable for our actions and allowing oneself to be happy, before wrapping Rob in a warm summer night and sending her on her way. – Delia Harrington 

5- Pen15 (Hulu)

The debut season of Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle’s brilliant series in which they, two adult women, play middle-schoolers surrounded by actual kid actors playing their classmates, was, in my opinion, the funniest show last year, but, as I didn’t actually get around to watching it until this year, I didn’t know that at the time. Rectifying my past mistake, this year—despite the fact it’s only aired half a season so far due to production being halted by COVID—it’s not just my favorite comedy, it’s my favorite show, period.

Though it still has its fair share of laugh-out-loud moments, the comedy in the second season has, admittedly, been scaled back a bit, but it makes perfect sense for where Pen15 is right now. From the start, what the series has done painfully well is zero in on the utter nightmare of living through our stressful and confusing pubescent years. As the series deepens its exploration of these characters’ experiences with friendship, romance, sexuality, the internet, and the impact of divorce, the stress and confusion should and absolutely do ratchet up. This season is also doing a great job of further developing the show’s side characters, with a standout arc for Dylan Gage as Gabe, who is grappling with the discovery that he may be gay. Though it’s still a hilarious series in places, Pen15 most wins me over most for how uncomfortable and tragic it can be with its stunningly well-observed depiction of surviving junior high. The secondhand shame and embarrassment you’ll feel makes it one of the toughest, but most worthwhile, watches of the year. – Joe Matar

4 – Ted Lasso (Apple TV+)

Jason Sudeikis’s Ted Lasso first originated as a character back in 2013, when NBC Sports commissioned a commercial for its upcoming coverage of the English Premier League. “An American Coach in London” introduced the concept of an American football coach deciding to try his hand coaching “the other football” with top flight club Tottenham Hotspur. It was a hilarious five minute clip that seemingly exploited the “fish out of water” concept to its natural conclusion.

The character seemed destined to be a one-off goof. But then Sudeikis and producer Bill Lawrence decided to try their hand at the overmatched coach one more time with a series for Apple TV+. The end result was one of the most essential new comedies of the 2020 TV season. Ted Lasso works because its’ funny, first and foremost. The show proves that this fish still had plenty of more time to spend out of water after all. More important, however, is how aggressively wholesome and optimistic it is. In a year that saw ugly Americans all over over TV screens, Ted Lasso represented the stars and bars the only way he knew how: by believing in the best of people from aging football star Roy Kent, to selfish young buck Jamie Tart, to even the woman who got him this job in the first place as an elaborate revenge plot.  – Alec Bojalad

3 – Schitt’s Creek (Pop)

If Schitt’s Creek were a fairy tale (and in all the best ways, it is), it’d be about a group of puppets brought to life by a magic spell. When the Roses lose their fortune, they’re forced to swap wealth and glamour for unfashionable small-town living. They start out wooden, obnoxious and alone. Then, over six seasons, we watch them transform into a flesh and blood family who figure out how to love each other in a community that’s as weird as they are, and that ends up loving them back. 

If that sounds schmaltzy, then I’m saying it wrong. Schitt’s Creek doesn’t do schmaltz. It does smart and absurd and naughty. It does jokes and brightness and kindness. Or it did, because now it’s gone. 2020 waved Johnny, Moira, David and Alexis off with a final season packed with treats: Patrick’s spray tan, David’s bed-wetting, the world premiere of “The Crows Have Eyes III: The Crowening”, Moira officiating a wedding dressed in a Rapunzel wig and pearlised bishop’s mitre…

However painful it was to say goodbye, the alternative – another six seasons with diminishing returns – would have been much worse. Dan and Eugene Levy’s sitcom went out on a high, with a finale that left fans in joyful tears. Not least for moments like the one in which a usually armoured-by-sarcasm David tells his sister, “For what it’s worth, I am continuously impressed by you.” The feeling’s mutual, Roses. – Louisa Mellor

2- BoJack Horseman (Netflix)

Though BoJack Horseman premiered only the back half of its final season in 2020, those eight episodes were some of the best dramatic and comedic storytelling on television this year. This final season operated as almost a microcosm of the series’ entire run. Just like the show’s beginning, season 6B begins with BoJack in a place of relative stability. He has just finished rehab and is prepared to embark on a career as an acting professor at Wesleyan. Of course, something from his past has to pop up to shatter his fragile equilibrium, just like it always does. In this case, it’s a pair of journalists working on a story of what really happened the night Sarah Lynn died back in season 3. What follows is as sadly predictable as it is tragic… also there are jokes!

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BoJack Horseman has been a frequently occurring item on many of our year-end best-of lists since the show first premiered in 2014. And each time, it’s hard not to continually expound upon what a bizarre, touching, and incisive drama Rapahel Bob-Waksberg’s animated creation is. That temptation remains for this final season, which is as devastating as they come. But this year, for the show’s final appearance on any of our best-of lists, let’s not lose sight of how funny this all is. 

Yes, this is an exploration of the human condition and how the only way to repair our damage is to acknowledge it and then put in the work to get better. It’s also the show where Mr. Peanutbutter, his fiancée Pickles Aplenty, and international pop superstar Joey Pogo open up a Lazy Susan/small plate restaurant called “Elifino.” The animation remains just as bright in this final season, the dialogue just as witty and convoluted, and the background jokes just as rewarding. BoJack Horseman season 6 shoulders a grand narrative burden of closing out the story of the world’s most miserable Horseman. That it is able to do so is remarkable. That it’s able to do so while maintaining its sharp sense of humor is even better. – Alec Bojalad 

1- What We Do in the Shadows (FX)

Adapting a beloved indie comedy film to the small screen seems a near impossible task. But when Taika Waititi convinced Jemaine Clement they should do exactly that, it was a stroke of genius. With Waititi busy on his Marvel movies, Clement was left to write and produce the FX series alongside Stefani Robinson and Paul Simms. What We Do in the Shadows began with a solidly silly first season but came into its own during a stellar second season which leaned into the absurdity innate to the idea of ancient vampire roommates. The series has also given us a new action hero for the ages in Harvey Guillén’s Guillermo de la Cruz. 

What makes season two so excellent is the writing and performances that play on the fish out of water setup the show has so much fun with. In “The Curse,” Nandor checks his email and discovers a chain email from Bloody Mary. Most of the hilarious runtime focuses on the crew trying to uncurse themselves. It sounds simple but it is honestly one of the funniest episodes of TV you’ll watch all year. “The Curse” is only topped by “On the Run,” which allows Matt Berry to go full Matt Berry as Laszlo leaves the nest and becomes a bartender, Jackie Daytona, who loves girls volleyball in smalltown America. It’s a pitch perfect riff on feel good sports movies while also being hysterically funny. It’s still a complete crime that Robinson didn’t win the Emmy for this one. 

But the real power of What We Do in the Shadows is its heart. Even within the broad comedy, genre parodies, and often gross out humor, this is a show about love, family, and friendship. Guillermo’s arc feels radical and boundary-pushing. It’s so well built in from the very first season that it’s also incredibly satisfying. This is the kind of comedy we need more of: inclusive, intelligent, and most importantly just really, really, f**king funny.  – Rosie Knight

The post The Best TV Comedies of 2020 appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[vickiabelson]

It's only taken us 35 years to sit down and have a conversation, but it was worth the wait. Bette Sussman and I yakked for two hours and the time flew with nary a moment of dead air.

Bette's served as Musical Director/Pianist for Cissy Houston, Bette Midler, Whitney Houston, Carly Simon, Darlene Love, Patti LuPone,  Rev. Al Green, Martin Short, and so much and many more. We talked about all of them. I forgot to ask about Carly, but she did come up. Bette's worked with pretty much everyone and had great stories about all of the above, plus Aretha, Stevie Wonder, Keb' Mo', Cyndi Lauper, Paul Schaffer, Cher, and unbeknownst till tonight shared experience with then-President Bill Clinton, running for senate Hillary (we both have the pics to prove it), Nathan Lane, the beforementioned Cher, DeNiro, Cruise, Affleck, Paltrow, the list goes on... so fun to reminisce it. We talked Allee and The Color Purple, Waitress, playing the Garden to the World Cup. Gold Records, I forgot the Emmys! Bette's Diner... surviving COVID in NY when it was rampant, to the shows we're binging now. Loved every second. Can't wait till we're on the same coast and pick it up in person. 

Bette Sussman​ on Game Changers With Vicki Abelson 

Wed, 8/26/20, Live @5pm PT

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Thanks to Rick Smolke of Quik Impressions, the best printers, printing, the best people people-ing. quikimpressions.com

Nicole Venables of Ruby Begonia Hair Studio Beauty and Products, for tresses, like the stars she coifs, and regular peoples, like me. I love my hair, and I loves Nicole. http://www.rubybegoniahairstudio.com/

Blue Microphones and Kevin Walt

Toni Vincent and, Peter And Paul Cartoons.

[the-master-cylinder]

Blacula (1972) Summary In 1780, Prince Mamuwalde (William Marshall) is sent by the elders of the Abani African nation to seek the help of Count Dracula (Charles Macaulay) in suppressing the slave trade. Dracula, instead, laughs at this request and insults Mamuwalde by making thinly veiled overtures about enslaving his wife, Luva (Vonetta McGee). After a scuffle with Dracula’s minions, Mamuwalde is transformed into a vampire. Dracula curses him with the name “Blacula” and imprisons him in a sealed coffin in a crypt hidden beneath the castle. Luva is also imprisoned in the crypt and left to die.

In 1972, the coffin is purchased as part of an estate by two homosexual interior decorators, Bobby McCoy (Ted Harris) and Billy Schaffer (Rick Metzler) and shipped to Los Angeles. Bobby and Billy open the coffin and become Prince Mamuwalde’s first victims. At the funeral home where Bobby McCoy’s body is laid, Mamuwalde spies on mourning friends Tina Williams (Vonetta McGee), her sister Michelle (Denise Nicholas), and Michelle’s boyfriend, Dr. Gordon Thomas (Thalmus Rasulala), a pathologist for the Los Angeles Police Department. Mamuwalde believes Tina is the reincarnation of his deceased wife, Luva. On close investigation of the corpse at the funeral home, Dr. Thomas notices oddities with Bobby McCoy’s death that he later concludes to be consistent with vampire folklore.

Prince Mamuwalde continues to kill and transform various people he encounters, as Tina begins to fall in love with him. Thomas, his colleague Lt. Peters (Gordon Pinsent), and Michelle follow the trail of murder victims and begin to suspect a vampire is responsible. After Thomas digs up Billy’s coffin, Billy’s corpse rises as a vampire and attacks Thomas, who fends him off and drives a stake through his heart. Thomas also finds a photo negative taken of Mamuwalde and Tina in which Mamuwalde is not visible. After killing one of the undead victims in the city morgue, Thomas and Peters track Mamuwalde to his hideout, the warehouse where Bobby McCoy and Billy Schaffer were first slain. They locate and defeat several vampires, but Mamuwalde manages to escape.

Mamuwalde lures Tina to his new hideout at a nearby chemical plant, while Thomas and a group of police officers pursue him. Mamuwalde dispatches several officers, but one of them accidentally shoots Tina fatally. To save her life, Mamuwalde transforms her into a vampire. One of the remaining policemen locates the coffin and alerts Peters. However, Peters inadvertently kills Tina with a stake, believing that Mamuwalde would be in the coffin instead. Devastated at losing her again, Mamuwalde tells Thomas and Peters there is no need to pursue him further, and willingly climbs the stairs to the roof where the morning sun destroys him.

DEVELOPMENT The movie was put together by Joseph T. Naar, an agent who was looking to set himself up as a producer. Once he read the Blacula script, written by Joan Torres and Raymond Koenig, he gave it to Sam Arkoff, founder of the legendary B-movie company AIP, and it wasn’t a hard sell.

When William Crain was approached to direct Blacula, he had already done some episodic television, including The Mod Squad, and had previously studied filmmaking in Canada. Like a lot of African-American talent, Crain resisted blaxploitation assignments, and for him to take one on, it had to stand a chance of being a good movie. When he was offered Blacula, he leaped at the chance. “I was a youngster at the time,” he recalls. “I’m not sure how they found me, but they said they had this movie, this black vampire, and it turned out it was a legitimate project, so I really jumped on it. At the time, I was really happy to get that film; it just fell into place.”

When it came time to cast the title role, Crain says that he and Naar “went through every actor we thought could carry that role. Joe and I both had the idea that this guy should be regal, and because William Marshall had experience with Shakespeare—he had done Othello-we wanted that kind of presence. We called him, and he sat through the interview with a lot of style and poise. I was impressed. And he said OK, he’d go for it.”

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Marshall recalled to the L.A. Times that he couldn’t believe he was being asked to play the part, but thought the project had possibilities. He also recalled having “damn near as many pages of criticism” for the script as there were pages. “Marshall didn’t like the whole blaxploitation movement that was going on; he made that very clear,” says David Sheldon, a former AIP executive. “He felt his contribution would uplift rather than demean.”

Marshall insisted that if he was to play Blacula, he had to be a dignified man, and he had to have approval over his dialogue; no way would Blacula speak jive. “I agreed with that, I didn’t want that either,” says Crain. “The guy should be a class act, not a buffoon, and that was the only way we could make this thing work. People would be sympathetic toward him because he has been cursed and taken away from his family.”

Blacula was shot in 28 days, and Naar remembers it costing about $500,000. Although the film was made on a tight, low budget schedule, Crain was determined to do the best job he could on his first movie. He recalls that AIP wanted him to get the movie done as quickly as possible, and one day, when they felt he wasn’t moving fast enough, the word came down from the company brass: “Listen, Crain, you’re not makin’ Gone With the Wind, just get the damn thing done!” Crain called his parents for advice, and remembers that his mother told him, “Go do the best you can.” So he stuck to his guns. “They wanted it fast, down and dirty,” he says. “They wanted me to just get through it, and I wouldn’t compromise.”

SOUNDTRACK/SCORE Blacula (1972) Gene Page The movie also includes several musical performances from The Hues Corporation, who several years later had a huge hit with the disco classic “Rock the Boat.” Crain saw them perform in New York, and thought they’d be great for several scenes in a nightclub. “The Hughes Corporation actually stayed on longer than the script called for, because they were so good,” Crain says.

RELEASE/DISTRIBUTION/CONCLUSION Blacula is also very professional-looking for a low-budget project, and Crain recalls that AIP put more support behind the movie as the production progressed. At first, they said no to the extra crewmembers and a dolly he wanted, but once they saw the dailies, more equipment was provided. “First thing, another camera crew showed up,” the director recalls. “Instead of using old Mitchell cameras, Panavisions started arriving!”

In Blacula, Marshall puts in a great performance without compromising his integrity as an actor. Not only was Marshall a huge talent, but at 6-feet-5 he was also a giant of a man. Crain and co. had to make sure some of his co-stars didn’t get too close to Marshall, lest they look like midgets in comparison. When people recall the actor, they often imitate his big, booming voice that could shake a room like a subwoofer. In Esquire’s review of Blacula, novelist Thomas Berger called Marshall “a magnificent figure of a man with a voice like a bass violin.” The

decision to play Blacula straight really paid off; he’s an intelligent, dignified vampire, not some fanged jive turkey in a cape. In its review of Blacula, The Hollywood Reporter stated, “With his stentorian tones and Shakespearean demeanor, Marshall carves a pillar of impeccable dignity and grace, thereby creating a fulcrum of sorts for the film’s relentless mayhem.”

“He was very convincing,” says Blacula cinematographer John M. Stephens. “Extremely convincing! I do remember certain times during the shoot getting a chill down my back.’

Besides his clear acting talents and professionalism, Marshall was a gentleman offstage as well. Most also recall him as being a very private man who didn’t let many into his personal life. “He was all business, all the way,” Crain says. “In terms of personal interaction, I never had a drink with him, I never did any fishing with him, we just never got together.” Despite his private nature, however, Marshall did keep his ranch home in Southern California open to young actors to come over for script readings.

Once it was released in summer 1972, reviews for Blacula were mixed. The New York Times wrote, “Anybody who goes to a vampire movie expecting sense is in for serious trouble, and Blacula offers less sense than most.” L.A. Times critic Kevin Thomas called it “a corny horror picture that’s lots longer on laughter than credibility.” But like many critics who reviewed the film, he gave Marshall’s performance high marks. “Marshall, the noted Othello interpreter, holds on to his dignity and holds the picture together pretty well besides.”

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But critics be damned; the public responded strongly to Blacula. Both Crain and Marshall went to see the movie in theaters with regular paying audiences to witness their reactions. Crain went with a highschool friend (whom he had put in the film as an extra) to the Orpheum Theater in downtown LA. “We paid our admission and sat in the back,” Crain says. “People were rolling in the aisles. They were afraid in the places they should have been afraid, and they just had a really good time.”

The director says the success of Blacula “surprised everyone. It surprised me, too. I was a kid, so it was great just to be working. The only reservation I had was that I wasn’t sure if the African-American community was gonna accept it. Some people laughed when they heard I was going to shoot it, but I think it was pretty well-received.” In the book What It Is, What It Was, a history of the blaxploitation film, Marshall said, “I think the producers were quite surprised at how strong the positive response to the film was… Not for a moment did they think this was something that would become as meaningful to audiences as it did.”

Recollections aren’t totally clear on how much Blacula made at the box office, but Naar says it pulled in about $3 million, a great gross for the time—especially considering the film’s half million-dollar budget and that the average ticket price back then was less than two bucks. AIP took out trade ads celebrating the film’s success: “He’s Black. He’s Beautiful. He’s Boxoffice!”

Looking back on Blacula years later, Marshall told Jankiewicz, “Performing that role was rewarding in a number of ways, and I felt very good about it at the time. I still have to make up my mind whether to compliment it or run away from it! I guess it depends on how it strikes me,” he laughed.

“I believe Blacula was one of the best things that could have happened to William Marshall,” Crain offers. “The Shakespeare stuff comes and goes, there’s new people that come and do those plays, and once you do Othello, you’ve done it and that’s it. He knew he did a good job with Blacula, and it stayed with him for the rest of his life.”

Crain is also amazed that Blacula, currently available on DVD from MGM, is still remembered after all these years. “People ask me about it, and I say, ‘He just won’t die, will he?’ ” Crain is one of the founders of the Ethnic Minority Committee at the Directors Guild of America, and one day a coworker came up to him, shook his hand and told him he saw Blacula when he was a kid. “When we’d go to a screening, he’d always tell his friends, ‘This guy did Blacula, man, and it scared me!’”

Crain is certainly glad he made the film, but looking back, he also wishes he was more diplomatic when he was starting out.

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CAST/CREW Directed William Crain

Produced Samuel Z. Arkoff Joseph T. Naar

Screenplay Joan Torres Raymond Koenig Richard Glouner

William Marshall as Prince Mamuwalde / Blacula Denise Nicholas as Michelle Williams Vonetta McGee as Tina Williams / Luva Gordon Pinsent as Lt. Jack Peters Thalmus Rasulala as Dr. Gordon Thomas Emily Yancy as Nancy Lance Taylor Sr. as Swenson Logan Field as Sergeant Barnes Ted Harris as Bobby McCoy Rick Metzler as Billy Schaffer Ketty Lester as Juanita Jones / Taxi Girl Charles Macaulay as Count Dracula Ji-Tu Cumbuka as Skillet Elisha Cook, Jr. as Sam Eric Brotherson as Real Estate Agent The Hues Corporation as themselves Rick Hochman as The Young Hoch

Scream Blacula Scream (1973) Summary After a dying Voodoo queen, Mama Loa, chooses an adopted apprentice, Lisa Fortier as her successor, her arrogant son and true heir, Willis, is outraged.

Seeking revenge, he buys the bones of Mamuwalde the vampire from the former shaman of the voodoo cult and uses voodoo to resurrect the vampire to do his bidding. However, while it brings Mamuwalde back to life, he bites Willis upon awakening. Willis now finds himself in a curse of his own doing: made into a vampire hungering for blood and a slave to the very creature he sought to control.

Meanwhile, Justin Carter, an ex-police officer with a large collection of acquired African antiquities and an interest in the occult, begins to investigate the murders caused by Mamuwalde and his growing vampire horde. Justin meets Mamuwalde at a party Justin hosts to display the African collection pieces before being moved to the University’s museum. They discuss the artifacts, unbeknown to anyone else, that were from the region of Africa Mamuwalde hails from, including pieces of jewelry once worn by his late wife Luva.

Mamuwalde also meets Justin’s girlfriend, Lisa Fortier, at the party and he discovers that Lisa is naturally adept at voodoo. Lisa discovers Mamuwalde’s true nature after a friend of hers, Gloria, falls victim to his bite and is resurrected as a vampire who nearly feeds on her, if not for Mamuwalde’s intervention. He later asks her for help to cure him of his vampire curse.

Justin, with the help of L.A.P.D. Lieutenant Harley Dunlop, pulls together several other cops to go to the Mamuwalde residence to investigate the recent deaths. While Lisa is performing the ritual to cure Mamuwalde, using a voodoo doll fashioned to look like him, Justin, Harley and their men raid the house, fighting against Blacula’s vampire minions which include several friends of theirs. Willis is killed during this scuffle. Justin manages to find Lisa and Mamuwalde and interrupts the ritual. Lisa refuses to help Mamuwalde after she witnesses him kill the other police officers in the house in a fit of rage.

After realizing that Lisa is no longer willing to help Mamuwalde, he rejects his human nature and decides to convert Justin into a vampire. Shouting he is only “Blacula”, Lisa stabs the prince’s voodoo doll with Justin’s arrows repeatedly. Blacula screams out in pain from Lisa’s voodoo doll attacks, but his final state is left ambiguous.

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BACKSTORY Arkoff was happy with how the movie performed, and of course it did well enough for AIP to make a sequel, Scream, Blacula, Scream!, released a year later. Marshall graciously returned, and the film also featured blaxploitation superstar Pam Grier. Torres and Koenig again wrote the screenplay, but Scream, Blacula, Scream! was helmed by a different director, Bob Kelljan, who had cut his teeth on AIP’s vampiric Count Yorga films.

“I didn’t do the sequel because I believe I pissed them off,” Crain admits. “We didn’t get along during the shoot. I was headstrong, young and brash. There were a lot of things they wanted that I thought were ridiculous, and things I wanted that I forced the issue on. We just didn’t get along, and when I heard they were going to do the sequel and they didn’t call me, I wasn’t upset.”

Most agreed that Scream, Blacula, Scream! didn’t capture the spark of the original. “It was in no sense of the word as interesting as the first one,” Marshall recalled to Fango writer Pat Jankiewicz. “I felt very good about Blacula, but I wasn’t quite as comfortable in the sequel.” He did feel, however, that Grier was “a marvelous addition…I liked her.”

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CAST/CREW Directed Bob Kelljan

Produced Joseph T. Naar

Written Joan Torres Raymond Koenig Maurice Jules

William H. Marshall as Prince Mamuwalde / Blacula Don Mitchell as Justin Carter Pam Grier as Lisa Fortier Michael Conrad as Lieutenant Harley Dunlop Janee Michelle as Gloria Lynn Moody as Denny Barbara Rhoades as Elaine Bernie Hamilton as Ragman Richard Lawson as Willis Daniels

CREDITS/REFERENCES/SOURCES/BIBLIOGRAPHY Starlog#255 Fangoria#264 Monsters of the Movies#30

DOUBLE FEATURE RETROSPECTIVE – Blacula (1972)/Scream Blacula Scream (1973) Blacula (1972) Summary In 1780, Prince Mamuwalde (William Marshall) is sent by the elders of the Abani African nation to seek the help of Count Dracula (Charles Macaulay) in suppressing the slave trade.