And yet the Disney Channel was able to build an entertainment empire using them in the 90's and 00's. Not that those actors, or the lines they were being paid to deliver, bore all that much resemblance to "average American high school students" either.

Reminds me of an old SNL sketch where John Lovitz wins an MTV contest to spend the winter in a snowbound cabin with Jewel. She slowly drives him insane by constantly singing and talking about herself. Finally, somebody from MTV shows up and declares the Winter with Jewel over because she's "not famous anymore." Jewel…

Tangent: Why do high-schoolers in movies and TV almost never look, dress, talk, or behave like actual high schoolers? And why are they usually portrayed by people in their 20's or possibly older?

I used to have an orange tabby, and he would sit EXACTLY like the cat in that video. Also, he would always hang around with you when you were outside, and when you went in all you had to do was say, "Let's go in," and he would follow. Really, it was like having a dog that didn't need to be walked or picked-up after.

"The ending of the original Blair Witch Project is a memorable example of how much more powerful a horror movie can be when it leaves things up to the audience’s imagination…" Actually, no, the ending of the "Blair Witch Project" is a memorable example of empty hype and style over substance, and thus entirely of a…

Boy I must be getting old. I can remember when Millennials were going to take over the world, and Generation X were supposed to be the cynical, apethetic ones. Of course, the Boomers fall into a whole separate category of Their Own: "You'll have to pry control of this world from our cold dead hands!"

People in 1999 were afraid that the dawn of a new century would bring a host of calamities, catastrophes, and attendant hardships that would severely damage or even topple long established institutions of commerce and government, such that the very fabric of our society would begin to unravel. They were mostly right…

I think it's a tossup as to the greater loss - wiping, or the loss of about 90-95% of all silent films to the deterioration or outright destruction of nitrate film stocks.

Um, the reason was because it was funny. Or perhaps you believe that Chuck Jones and Co. decided to spoof Wagner's ring cycle in, "What's Opera, Doc?" purely in order to forestall government regulation of the content of their films.

Back then there was criticism that all TV was too mindless (see Newton Minow's vast wasteland speech). That doesn't mean that every time one sees a joke or a segment that references history or literature in a cartoon from that era it was put there instead of a falling anvil to placate the FCC or Congress.

I think it was a matter of there being only so many hours on the programming schedule, and also that these shows were maybe only marginally profitable to begin with.

They weren't attempting to fulfill any mandate by doing so. The makers of Rocky and Bullwinkle were simply being satirical and throwing in some material that sailed right over the heads of the kids watching it, but landed with their parents. In fact, like today's Simpsons or Family Guy, Rocky and Bullwinkle (and the…

Thing you should be unhappiest to learn: Decades' worth of the Bozo and other morning kid shows were lost to the then industry standard practice of "wiping," i.e. habitually erasing and re-using the tapes they were recorded on. At one point in time videotape was actually relatively expensive, and these shows were…

I've never quite got the Jim Belushi derangement syndrome. He wouldn't be my choice to carry a film or TV show, but I find him a perfectly non-objectionable supporting player, and he actually scored some decent turns in his SNL days. Considering how rough that era was for anyone in the cast not named Murphy, Piscopo,…

"Thief" starred Dennis Farrina as a hood, and featured a brief appearance by John Santucci as a cop. In real life their roles were reversed: Farrina was an ex cop, Santucci was a former jewel thief (hence his credit as a technical advisor on the film). I recall reading - though I can't verify it a the moment - that…

"You would be hard-pressed to write a better detective story…" Pardon me while I split a few hairs: Any story involving a crime is not per se a "detective story." A detective story is once which (duh) focuses upon a detective solving a crime. You could do the best, most dramatic, most relevant screen interpretation of…

Article doesn't mention it, but John Lennon once said that if you wanted to give Rock 'n Roll another name, you might call it Chuck Berry. I'd have a hard time coming up with a better accolade than that.

"With special guest Mighty Joe Young."

Thank you. Original comment edited accordingly.

Here's a basic fact that I've noticed a lot of otherwise smart people often fail to grasp: When you're dealing with a bunch of slippery, flaky people who outrageously flout all the rules, the onus is on you to be 100% legit, above the board, and to dot all i's and cross all t's all of the time. Any little slip up,…