You know you are getting old when:

[Zombie_61]

Eleven years have passed since the end of "King of Queens".

Oh my...

You like this show too much...

In my opinion everybody liked this show too much. I like everyone on the show--Kevin James, Leah Remini, Jerry Stiller, etc.--but thought (and still think) the show itself was awful and I've rarely found it entertaining despite numerous attempts. Of course, that's only my opinion and intend no offense towards those who liked it, I'm just not one of you.

 

[2jakes]

In my opinion everybody liked this show too much. I like everyone on the show--Kevin James, Leah Remini, Jerry Stiller, etc.--but thought (and still think) the show itself was awful and I've rarely found it entertaining despite numerous attempts. Of course, that's only my opinion and intend no offense towards those who liked it, I'm just not one of you.

I've never heard of "King of Queens”.
Last time I remember watching
something that had anything to do with royalty
was a popular game show called...
Queen for a Day (1940-1960)

Vaguely recall the host, Jack Bailey, picking female contestants
from the audience and one was chosen as "Queen for a Day”
and was rewarded with many products that were sponsors of the show.

Actually, it was my mom and sisters who watched it every day.
I was happier watching Buck Rogers, Long Ranger, Superman or
The Little Rascals but was overruled by the majority of the females
who controlled the huge wood-box black-and-white Motorola set with
rabbit-ear antenna and no remote.
I was the designated channel changer.

 

[Zombie_61]

I've never heard of "King of Queens”...

It was your typical modern-day sitcom (circa 1998-2007) in which the husband is a blue-collar moron and the wife is more professional but overbearing. Throw in the wife's out-of-touch-with-reality father and that's pretty much all you need to know.

 

[2jakes]

It was your typical modern-day sitcom (circa 1998-2007) in which the husband is a blue-collar moron and the wife is more professional but overbearing. Throw in the wife's out-of-touch-with-reality father and that's pretty much all you need to know.

We had something similar in the ‘50s where the husband was a moron the way
he treated Alice whom I had a crush on.

Still do!.

 

[tonyb]

You spend more time worrying about why you're not sleeping than you do sleeping.

If I get as many as six straight hours I call it a good night’s sleep. I too often awaken after five hours, or four, or three. If only I quickly enough drifted back to la-la land it wouldn’t be such a problem. On days when I can sleep in I might get up and read for an hour or so at zero dark whatever, and then catch another couple hours of slumber. But on most days my domestic duties commence around 0600, so ...

 

[Zombie_61]

We had something similar in the ‘50s where the husband was a moron the way
he treated Alice whom I had a crush on.

Still do!.

Very similar, except Alice was a stay-at-home wife and her father didn't live with them. That, and The Honeymooners had better writers.

 

[2jakes]

Very similar, except Alice was a stay-at-home wife and her father didn't live with them. That, and The Honeymooners had better writers.

I've read that Gleason had the ability to read the script once and
was ready for the cameras.
Something that the rest of the crew could not do as well.
In the days of “live tv”...when something did not go according to
script, these guys had the ability to ad lib and continue.

I remember the time working “live” tv news as a studio
cameraman.

In the middle of her report, the anchor got the legs of her chair
caught in between the raised platform.
She fell back and all you could see on the air were her legs.
She was not hurt but it was an awkward situation.
Her co-anchor’s first name was Jesus. He came from Mexico.
In Spanish, the letter “J” is pronounced as “H” or... Hesus.

The anchor on many occasions at her editing desk would pronounce
“Jesus” as (geesus) in a teasing friendly manner.


When she fell backwards...she yelled:
“Jesus...help me!”

Immediately the director went to a commercial.
Folks called in saying how nice that she thought of the
Almighty in times of stress.

I knew better and had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing
out loud when we came back from the break.

The microphone caught our “saintly” anchor telling me as we
went on the air....

“G--D---it Joey...it’s not funny!”



From my days working “Live TV”.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Gleason refused to rehearse -- he believed that kept his performance fresh -- but the rest of the cast found this maddening. Gleason's memory wasn't flawless, and occasionally he'd fluff a line or miss a cue, and then it was up to Meadows or Carney to come up with something to cover for him. The classic example was a sketch where Gleason got distracted backstage by something and missed his cue -- and to cover, Carney picked up an orange that was on the set as dressing, and simply peeled it in a fluorishy Norton way until Gleason showed up.

The ultimate live-TV mishap, though, was the fate of kiddie-show burlesque comic Pinky Lee, who, while suffering from a severe sinus infection, experienced a siezure in mid-cavort, gasped, "Somebody help me!," and fell unconscious to the stage floor. The in-studio audience whooped and cheered, thinking it was part of the bit, as the camera hastily faded to black.

 

[2jakes]

The Carol Burnett Show.

I knew it. You knew it. Everyone did too when
Harvey Korman went into hysterics each time
Tim Conway did his thing.
Unprofessional?
Probably!
But we enjoyed it nevertheless.

 

[Inkstainedwretch]

During the filming of "The Hustler" Gleason was famously impatient with Paul Newman's Actor's Studio Method routine of psyching himself into each scene. Gleason would sit stoically in his chair while Newman was emoting. Of course, Gleason had only a handful of lines to remember.

 

[2jakes]

"I'm Back in the Saddle Again"
by Gene Autry!

Too clean!

That's more like it!

First prize goes to the gal in the middle!

 

[Fading Fast]

"I'm Back in the Saddle Again"
by Gene Autry!
View attachment 134660

View attachment 134659 Too clean!

View attachment 134662
That's more like it!

View attachment 134661
First prize goes to the gal in the middle!

Last pic, middle girl has a strong June Allyson echo.

 

[2jakes]

A young Cybil Sheppard resting her saddles!

"The Pause That Refeshes"

 

[Zombie_61]

The Carol Burnett Show.
View attachment 134604
I knew it. You knew it. Everyone did too when
Harvey Korman went into hysterics each time
Tim Conway did his thing.
Unprofessional?
Probably!
But we enjoyed it nevertheless.

Quite often those "Conway and Korman" moments were the best reason to watch the show. Thank [insert deity of choice] for blooper reels, 'cause they regularly went so far off script that the segments were unusable.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I enjoyed the Burnett show as a kid, but could never shake the feeling that a lot of the "wacky ad libs" were actually scripted and rehearsed. I always got the same sense watching Red Skelton.

That said, Conway and Korman, had they been twenty years older, would have run Abbott and Costello off the screen. They had a beautiful chemistry together, and I'd love to have seen them making features for Universal in 1942.

 

[2jakes]

I enjoyed the Burnett show as a kid, but could never shake the feeling that a lot of the "wacky ad libs" were actually scripted and rehearsed. I always got the same sense watching Red Skelton.

That said, Conway and Korman, had they been twenty years older, would have run Abbott and Costello off the screen. They had a beautiful chemistry together, and I'd love to have seen them making features for Universal in 1942.

Although I enjoyed '40s Red Skelton films
nobody came close to Abbott & Costello
when it came to what was funny.
This was my feelings as a young kid.
Their '50s tv shows were not as good.

In my teen years and later, my idea of funny changed.

On occasions, I will catch them on TCM
but it's more of a nostalgic trip reflecting
on what made me laugh as a kid.

Without the wacky ad-libs, I don't think
Conway & Korman could've held a candle
to '40s Abbott & Costello.

On the other hand, '40s Looney Tunes are still the best which on occasions I enjoy
watching.
Recently found myself laughing at a
Chaplin silent film I had never seen before
and there is none that will come close to the
comedy of Laurel and Hardy.
Today's current crop of what is funny...
no thanks...!

I do believe as I get older, I'm regressing to
my childhood of what is funny!

 

[LizzieMaine]

A&C have always left me cold -- they were decent technicians for the kind of comedy they did, but they never had any personal chemistry with each other that I could sense at all. I find that their better films were the ones where they had a strong setting to work off -- the Army, Dracula's castle -- or a strong supporting cast, and weren't dependent on their personalities to carry the material. Burlesque comedy in its natural environment didn't need personal chemistry to make it work, but as soon as you take that type of comic off the theatre stage and try to make them carry a story, the thinness of the material becomes very evident.

 

[2jakes]

A&C have always left me cold -- they were decent technicians for the kind of comedy they did, but they never had any personal chemistry with each other that I could sense at all. I find that their better films were the ones where they had a strong setting to work off -- the Army, Dracula's castle -- or a strong supporting cast, and weren't dependent on their personalities to carry the material. Burlesque comedy in its natural environment didn't need personal chemistry to make it work, but as soon as you take that type of comic off the theatre stage and try to make them carry a story, the thinness of the material becomes very evident.

I totally agree with you.

But you could not have convinced me of this when I was very young kid
who thought three grown men ...Moe, Larry & Curly (or Shemp) and went about slapping each other profusely as the funniest thing in comedy.
I didn't know better until later!

 

[LizzieMaine]

Wheeler and Woolsey, on the other hand, were geniuses.

 

[2jakes]

Wheeler and Woolsey, on the other hand, were geniuses.

Interesting!
I’ll have to check them out.
I wanna see what you consider “geniuses”!

Can you Fedex me a couple of bags of popcorn from the Strand
to enjoy the films?

tanx!