What are you watching right now?

[Cavaliere (moderator emeritus)]

Criminal Minds: "Amplification"

[Jeff of Earth-J]

I learned a lot about George Carlin that I didn't previously know in part one and am looking forward to part two tonight. I went to see him once, at the Westport Playhouse in St. Louis. It was a triple bill with Elaine Boosler and Marsha Warfield. I am reminded that, when I was in the sixth grade variety show, I memorized a George Carlin stand-up routine (the one about "Indian Sergeants"). 

[Richard Willis]

I'm adding the Carlin doc to my tobewatched list.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

I thought you might, Richard. Part two got kind of dark toward the end. I'll share something about George Carlin many of you may not know unless you have seen him live. (I didn't know it until I saw him live.) There are some routines he is known for that have never appeared on any album or any HBO special or any recording of any kind (he explained), and that is, he does lots of material about his pets. Funny stuff, too, but unless you've seen a show in parson you might not know that.

When I was a kid, my brother had Toledo Window Box, Occupation: Foole and Class Clown on vinyl. He brought them home from college and that's how I fell in love with them. I bought an album myself called Take-Offs & Put-Ons which comprised a lot of his early, cleaner material. (That's where I learned the "Indian Sergeant" routine and the "Hippy-Dippy Weatherman" and much more. At our sixth grade "graduation" ceremony, when the teacher was handing out certificates for math and English and whatnot, the certificate she gave said that I had "excelled in as Class Comedian." I was really pleased with that (I still have it), and I was only a little disappointed that it didn't say "Class Clown." 

I don't have any of his comedy albums anymore, but I do have a "book on tape" of him reading Napalm & Silly Putty. I have all three of his books. I have read the first two twice each, but I've been holding the third in reserve for when I really,. really need it. That time may be near; I feel as if it's getting closer every day. 

[The Baron]

The first George Carlin routine I remember hearing was "Al Sleet, your hippy-dippy weatherman with all the hippy-dippy weather, man".

[Jeff of Earth-J]

"Tomorrow's high: whenever I get up."

[The Baron]

"I wouldn't sweat the thunder showers."

Jeff of Earth-J said:

"Tomorrow's high: whenever I get up."

[Doctor Hmmm?]

I started watching this last night. It took me back to being ... I dunno, 13 or 14 and being at a party at a friend's house with "Class Clown" on the stereo in the background. Apart from the juvenile thrill of hearing an adult using dirty words in jokes, I remember feeling that I was listening to something that was just in a class by itself. A sort of artistry that I could sense even if I didn't completely understand it.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

SWAMP THING (2019 TV SERIES): After we read the Bronze Age Swamp Thing in 2017, Tracy and I started a systematic viewing of all the sundry Swamp Thing movies and TV shows, none of which either of us had ever seen before (at least I hadn't). I am currently re-watching the movies in conjunction with Danny Horn's Superheroes Every Day blog, but one of the stipulations for Tracy agreeing to re-read Swamp Thing with me was for us to re-watch the 2019 TV series, which we plan to start tonight.

OBI-WAN KENOBI: Starts on Disney+ today.

STRANGER THINGS: Season four starts on Netflix today.

(In a classic case of bad timing, we just dropped Disney+ and Netflix.) 

[Richard Willis]

In a similar vein as Longmire, the new AMC show Dark Winds is also set on a reservation. The great Zahn McClarnon from Longmire is the lead, playing a lieutenant in the Navajo police. Also on hand is Noah Emmerich, playing an FBI agent investigating a murder (ostensibly). In the great show The Americans he played an FBI agent living next door to the Soviet spies. Dark Winds also has some mysticism, possibly more than was in Longmire. Just watched the first episode and I'm already hooked.

Richard Willis said:

If you've never seen it, Longmire on Netflix is great. There are 63 episodes covering 6 seasons. The first three were from A&E. When A&E dropped it Netflix continued it. It's not a cowboy show. To a great extent it's a Native American story set in modern Montana. Longmire is an old-school sheriff who has to coordinate wit the tribal police. The Native Americans are played by real Native Americans, prominently Lou Diamond Phillips, A Martinez and Zahn McClarnon. Longmire's deputy is played by Katee Sackhoff (Blacksmith from The Flash, minus the fake British accent). The stories are involving, serious and with a generous helping of Native American culture. You could watch it in satisfying chunks. I'm sure both you and your wife would enjoy it.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

FLASH GORDON: Inspired by the eighth chapter of All In Color For a Dime ("The Four-Panelled, Sock-Bang-Powie Saturday Afternoon Screen" by Chris Steinbrunner) I'm watching Buster Crabbe's first Flash Gordon serial, one episode as a time. Currently I'm about halfway through the first one; if the mood holds, I may continue to the second and third. 

[Richard Willis]

Another interesting thing is that the series is a period piece set in the 1970s. In the enormous Navajo reservation, the cops have no GPS or mobile phones. The financial institution shown (in town) is a "Savings and Loan." These non-banks were wiped out in a scandal and those that survived resurfaced as regular banks. I'm sure there will be more such goodies.

Richard Willis said:

In a similar vein as Longmire, the new AMC show Dark Winds is also set on a reservation. The great Zahn McClarnon from Longmire is the lead, playing a lieutenant in the Navajo police. Also on hand is Noah Emmerich, playing an FBI agent investigating a murder (ostensibly). In the great show The Americans he played an FBI agent living next door to the Soviet spies. Dark Winds also has some mysticism, possibly more than was in Longmire. Just watched the first episode and I'm already hooked.

Richard Willis said:

If you've never seen it, Longmire on Netflix is great. There are 63 episodes covering 6 seasons. The first three were from A&E. When A&E dropped it Netflix continued it. It's not a cowboy show. To a great extent it's a Native American story set in modern Montana. Longmire is an old-school sheriff who has to coordinate wit the tribal police. The Native Americans are played by real Native Americans, prominently Lou Diamond Phillips, A Martinez and Zahn McClarnon. Longmire's deputy is played by Katee Sackhoff (Blacksmith from The Flash, minus the fake British accent). The stories are involving, serious and with a generous helping of Native American culture. You could watch it in satisfying chunks. I'm sure both you and your wife would enjoy it.

[ClarkKent_DC]

I've got George Carlin's Class Clown on vinyl. I used to play it incessantly. He actually had a pretty decent voice for his version of "America the Beautiful":

Oh, beautiful, for smoggy skies, insecticided grain, 

For strip-mined mountains majesty, above the asphalt plain,

America, America, man sheds his waste on me

And hides the pines with billboard signs 

From sea to oily sea ...