Super Bowl Sunday and the Inverse of Interest
It’s Super Bowl Sunday but Travis is busy reading other people’s comics and watching that Melissa McCarthy sketch on SNL. Also, Lady Gaga!
Category: TV
20th Century Sherlock: ZERO EFFECT
We’re wrapping up Sherlock Holmes Month here at the Atomic Junk Shop, and since we started it with the fourth season of Sherlock, I thought it’d be appropriate to finish it with a look at an earlier attempt to create a Sherlock Holmes for the modern day: ZERO EFFECT.
Released 19 years ago on January 30th, 1998, ZERO EFFECT didn’t make much of a splash in theaters, but it developed a cult following on home video. Written and directed by Jake Kasdan, it stars Bill Pullman as quirky private investigator Daryl Zero and Ben Stiller as his beleaguered assistant, lawyer Steve Arlo.
Batmania and the Super Sixties!
Last week I wrote about Dick Gautier, and mentioned that one of his first major roles was on Mr. Terrific, CBS’ ill-fated attempt at grabbing some of the heat generated by ABC’s Batman. That got me to thinking about the fallout from Batmania. There were a few shows, specials, and most especially cartoon series that tried to get some bat-mojo going. I thought I’d dig up some of the ones I remember.
Sherlock Holmes and the Watson Problem
This week, I’m going to talk about the Watson Problem. But to get there, I have to talk about Sherlock Holmes first. (That’s the trouble with these two. You can’t talk about one without also talking about the other.)
I’m getting a bit tired of Asshole Sherlock Holmes. We’ve had variations on him for 30-40 years now, and it’s getting a bit stale.
My First Time…to a Comic Shop, That Is
Travis talks about his first time at a comic shop, and also includes an update about the other comics featured in that DC TV ad from last time, thanks to you the reader!
Dick Gautier – A Remembrance
Dick Gautier, best known as Hymie the Robot on Get Smart, passed away this week at age 85, so I thought it would be appropriate to give him a proper acknowledgement. In comedy, the “straight man” doesn’t always get their due; if they do their job right, they make it look easy, and their partner gets all the laughs, but it takes great timing and delivery to set up a joke, and Gautier was good at it.