Fame Game Four: Shooting for .500

After a crushing defeat in the last Fame Game, Mike returns to the hot seat to see if he can guess another BOTNS-era performer, personality, or character and get his record up to 2-2, plus an astounding amount of "Caroline in the City" discussion.

Check out this episode!

Tomorrow on Battle of the Network Shows...

The best thing about the 1990 Captain America movie

Say what you will about the Cap feature film, but it has one big thing the 1978 TV movies lack: a laugh-out-loud piece of political propaganda at the end of the credits. How often have you seen something like this in any movie, let alone a cheesy superhero movie?

We are not making any commentary for or against The Environmental Protection Act of 1990, but it is funny seeing it pop up at the end of a DVD, and it must have been a scream to see this in a theater, assuming you stuck around long enough.

Captain America 1990 vs. Captain America 1979

In our episode looking at the 1970s Captain America TV movies, we made a brief mention of the 1990 feature film starring Matt Salinger. I actually came across the DVD at the local library and watched it for comparison purposes. Allow me to borrow the "Tale of the Tape" gimmick used so well by Nick Bakay to compare the 1990 one with the 1979 versions (for simplicity, we'll combine the two 1970s TV  movies since we talked about both on our podcast).

Star's life before playing Cap:
1979: Reb Brown played football at USC
1990: Matt Salinger played "Burke" in Revenge of the Nerds
Edge: 1979

Main villain:
1979: Christopher Lee being a bad-ass
1990: Red Skull in bad makeup
Edge: 1979

Directed by:
1979: The great Rod Holcomb and Ivan Nagy
1990: Albert Pyun
Edge: 1979

Setting:
1979: Sun-dappled 1970s West Coast America
1990: Europe and, of course, Cap's wartime hometown of...California?
Edge: 1979

Does it have Ned Beatty and Darren McGavin?
1979: No.
1990: Yes, it has both!
Edge: Finally one for the motion picture. Gotta give this to 1990.

Followed by:
1979: The Paper Chase, The Dukes of Hazzard, Dallas
1990: A drive back home from the theater made longer by the knowledge that you spent upwards of 20 bucks on tickets and concessions to see it.
Edge: 1979

When you break it down, it's clear that the original Cap movies are the best. However, there is one big edge (apart from McGavin and Beatty, natch)  that the 1990 theatrical version has. We will talk about that one tomorrow because it deserves its own post.

Happy Birthday, Judy Landers!

Today is the (cough cough) birthday of 70s/80s TV icon Judy Landers, and while we haven't talked too much about her on the podcast yet, she may show up in our upcoming season.

In the meantime, enjoy this YouTube clip of--wait, she's married to former Dodgers pitcher Tom Niedenfuer? Tom Niedenfuer? Could that be any more random?

Well, in that case, let's enjoy this 1986 clip of sportscaster Warner Wolf's plays of the week, complete with an excerpt from Ray Knight charging the mound on Niedenfuer. The funny thing is, this massive brawl is only the second-most famous Knight baseball fight from that year, trailing his infamous showdown with Reds OF Eric Davis.

So...happy birthday, Judy Landers! Audrey, sorry we missed your birthday in July.

Happy birthday to the late Fred Travalena!

Who grew up watching TV in the BOTNS era without seeing "funnyman" Fred Travalena at one time or other? Actually, we usually saw him one time AND the other...and again...and again.

Here are a few clips from his official YouTube channel, including a surprisingly (to me, at least) earnest patriotic song from The Tonight Show:

Happy birthday to the late Jeff Conaway!

Jeff Conaway (October 5, 1950-May 27, 2011) was of course Bobby Wheeler on Taxi, but you don't need us to tell you that. He'll remind you in this cool ad for a now-defunct talent agency:

Remember, folks, please don't call the number in the ad even if you think you have what it takes!

You can grab our episode talking about Taxi right here!