Top Ten #422

1) Labor Day: Tomorrow in the USA we celebrate the working folks. Well, it's a day off, anyway. For most people. Let's just get to my annual Working Stiffs clip so I can post something else tomorrow.

2) Jerry Lewis: Still the King of Labor Day, Lewis' annual telethon to raise funds to fight Muscular Dystrophy made history 50 years ago tonight. Special guest Frank Sinatra "reunited" the legendary Martin/Lewis team.

3) Mr. T: You might want to read this incredible article about the 80s icon. In the story, he is promoting the upcoming Netflix documentary about his story, and, oh, by the way, he seems to hate it.

4) College football: See the stars of tomorrow before they get CTE! We hope! 40 years ago tonight, Florida State and Nebraska opened the season in prime time on ABC. Here's a clip of...a PUNT from the game--posted by the punter!

5) SCTV: It really happened! The series is now on Netflix. Is it complete? Apparently it has music cuts, and it is reformatted for widescreen, but it's on Netflix, and that's pretty darn good, I say. We talk about the show here.

6) Dukes of Hazzard: Legend TV in the UK just added reruns of the series, and of course it prompted a whole new round of complaints of people in the United States--not people offended, but people offended at the thought of anyone being offended.

Personally, I'm just relieved the channel is in the UK because I saw this news and thought, hey, how did I not know this existed?

7) Rodney Dangerfield: It's Not Easy Bein' Me: This special aired this night in 1986 on HBO and features the likes of Jerry Seinfeld and Sam Kinison. It shouldn't be confused with the 1982 ABC special of the same name, which features the likes of Bill Murray and Aretha Franklin, plus a lot less swearing.

8) Chang and Eng Bunker: Earlier this season, Mike and I talked about HBO, focusing in part on Some Call Them Freaks...a 1980s documentary that includes the story of conjoined twins Chang and Eng. There's a lot more to that story, and you can get some of it in this piece about the annual family reunion of their descendants.

9) US Open Super Saturday 1986: On this day in 1986, the tennis tournament crowned Martina Navratilova champ after a win over Helena Sukova; on the men's side, Ivan Lendl and Miloslave Mecir won their matches to advance to the final.

10) Thames on 9: 50 years ago tonight, WOR-TV in the New York City area kicked off a theme week in which it devoted its evening (way beyond "prime time," going all the way to signoff) schedule to imported UK programs from Thames TV. The lineup included episodes of Bless This House, Rock Follies, and of course Benny Hill.