Blackmoor Vituperative

In the final step required to make the phase-out of analog TV broadcasts official, President Bush yesterday signed the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, which contains legislation stating that on February 17, 2009, all TV broadcasters nationwide must switch off their analog broadcasts. After that date, televisions that rely solely on analog over-the-air television — typically delivered via rabbit-ear antennas — will go dark.

(from CNet, Bush signs DTV bill; analog cutoff February 17, 2009)

Turner Broadcasting is scouring more than 1,500 classic Hanna-Barbera cartoons, including old favorites Tom and Jerry, The Flintstones and Scooby-Doo, to edit out scenes that glamorize smoking.

(from Yahoo! News, Smoking cuts for classic cartoons)

Sometimes other people just make me ill.

Count Lacudra (Mike Arlo) needs lessons in listening to the soundtrack when the threads of his unlife show signs of unraveling. Max Madblood (Jerry F. Harrell) and Nurse Patience Dream (Penny Palen) can only stand by and watch the train wreck as Grinfield (Craig T. Adams) is lured off by the siren song of love, happiness and money. (What ever happened to loyalty?) Can the Count pick up the pieces and replace that bug-eating manservant? Will the new applicants make a big hit with the Boss?

Special Guests: Ron Newman as Gandermint; Ken Johnson as Hackenspit; Shellee Casiello as Edwina; Noel Gramlich as Lovely Ness Special Aural Teaser: Bernie Melton as PJ the Invisible DJ

Rod Serling’s Night Gallery:

“Miracle at Camafeo” (Rod Serling, writer) with Harry Guardino, Julie Adams, Ray Danton, Margarita Garcia, Tomas Trujillo, Rodolfo Hoyos, Richard Yniguez;
“Hand of Borgus Weems” (George Langelaan, story) with Ray Milland, George Maharis, Patricia Donahue, Joan Huntington, William Mims;
“Midnight Never Ends” (Rod Serling, writer) with Susan Strasberg, Robert F. Lyons, Robert Karnes, Joseph Perry

Enjoy an evening of tight drama and loose ends!

It’s that time again! Saturday July 29th (and part of the 30th) is the Chesapeake Central Library’s fifth annual FantaSci mini-con. The details are at http://www.chesapeake.lib.va.us/CL_Fantasci2006/CL_FantasciPr.htm. Uncle Feloneous will be representing clan Madblood at Brain’s Traveling Gift Shop. Hope to see you there!

Don’t forget that “Rocky Horror” will be at the Naro Expanded Cinema on July 28th, for an 11:30 late show. And coming on August 5 and 6, Max Madblood will present Saturday and Sunday matinees of “20,000 Leagues Under The Sea” at 12:30 p.m. The Madblood Film Series has returned! Go to www.narocinema.com or call 757-625-6276 for Naro schedule information.

It’s all at http://www.madblood.net! We’re podcasting specially selected Madblood episodes. See old show clips at Madblood’s Time Machine! Enter the Trivia Trek contest. Answer questions about the show and qualify to win a VHS tape, a DVD or other nice prize. Brain’s Gift Shop has T-shirts, bumper stickers, stress-ball Brains and now “30 Years of Madness” DVDs!

Inside Madblood Manor! See where it happens! Portions of Dr. Madblood Presents are filmed at the Hermitage Foundation Museum, 7637 North Shore Road, Norfolk, VA 23505; 757-423-2052; www.hermitagefoundation.org. Take a tour and tell ’em Madblood sent ya!

Don’t Miss “Dr. Madblood Presents” at 8 PM almost every Saturday on WSKY-TV, now “Channel 4 Hampton Roads” (On Cox Channel 4, DirecTV and Dish Network Channel 7296)

Check out this Chinese Pepsi commercial.

Sheesh, I better list some of the gotta-haves: The Andy Griffith Show’s gentle Andy Taylor, The Cosby Show’s bemused Cliff Huxtable, and currently, The OC’s Sandy Cohen and Veronica Mars’ Keith Mars — all warm, reasonable dads. But let me suggest an equally outstanding, if less-heralded TV father figure: Joel Hodgson (as Joel Robinson), host of that cult gem Mystery Science Theater 3000 — the premise of which had him shot into space and forced to watch (and heckle) very bad movies, along with several robots he created for company. With viewing companions Tom Servo and Crow T. Robot, foster-dad Hodgson was kind-hearted, teasing, supportive, stern when necessary, and always protective (oh, how caringly he held them during Manos: The Hands of Fate). Had Hodgson not been so believable, the series would have been little more than a funny guy talking to metal scraps — instead it was hilarious and oddly sweet.

(from Entertainment Weekly, Who is the best TV dad?)

It still amazes me after almost 40 years just how infernally stupid human beings can be. Today’s example: The Tick on DVD.

It’s bad enough that it’s taken over a decade to bring this brilliant cartoon to DVD. But now that the DVD is on its way (to be released 2006-08-29), the brain trust at Disney — the same people who are slowly but surely destroying the public domain in the USA — have chosen to release the first DVD with 12 episodes. Season 1 of The Tick, in case you did not know, had 13 episodes. The missing episode? “The Tick vs. The Mole Men”.

What the heck is wrong with people?

Alex Toth, creator of Space Ghost and a giant of 20th century cartoon design, died at his drawing table on May 27, 2006.

With Hank and Dean Venture presumably dead, Doc and Brock carry on as Team Venture and seek revenge on The Monarch and other villains in the second season of the series from Jackson Publick and Adult Swim. New episodes begin June 25.

Finally, after making us wait for four years, Warner Bros. is releasing the first seasons of Justice League and Batman Beyond on DVD. It’s about damned time. Of course, Batman: The Animated Series, the cartoon that single-handedly resurrected the whole genre of superhero cartoons, has been out for a good long while. I don’t know why WB dragged their feet for so long getting full seasons of Justice League and Batman Beyond on DVD.

According to TV Shows on DVD, The Tick is finally coming to DVD!

The Tick, the super-popular 1994 animated series that ran on the FoxKids Saturday Morning Block after originating from the Ben Edlund comic books, is coming to DVD in 2006! The comic book character was also the inspiration for a 2001 live-action series that’s already on DVD, but fans of the original cartoon have been desperately waiting for news of a DVD release. […]

There were 36 episodes of The Tick, which came to be owned by Disney at the same time Power Rangers and X-Men did, as a result of the mouse-house’s purchase of the Fox Children’s Network block (who in turn owned many of the Saban shows as well). Our industry sources indicate that Disney will almost certainly release The Tick in a multi-DVD set, similar to DuckTales and Rescue Rangers releases last year. A release date has not been set, and anything can change to delay or scrap their current plans. But if things hold, we’ll see the set before 2006 is over, and probably released side-by-side with another Disney DVD animated TV show. What could that be? How about Darkwing Duck?

(from TV Shows On DVD, Tick, The – S P O O N ! ! ! ! !)

Spoooooooooon!