While it's still the Thanksgiving weekend..
I finally found a portion of an episode of THANKS. Created by Mark Jordan Legan & Phoef Sutton, this was a short-lived CBS show about pilgrims. Period piece multi-camera shows are hard to pull off. This and Earl Pomerantz's BEST OF THE WEST are the two best in my opinion.
So enjoy a sample of THANKS. The humor really holds up after almost 400 years.
17 comments :
I have been looking for this ever since Sarah Vowell championed this on NPR. Thanks (whoops!) for ending a years-long search!
Isn't she the female inmate who George was dating on that episode of SEINFELD?
How many episodes aired? This one is quite funny.
So in one piece, there's a young Erika Christensen as one of the daughters, and there's Kathryn Joosten as Mrs. Sturges! The future Mrs. Landingham on "The West Wing"!
And of course we can't forget Cloris Leachman, who's always a reason for laughing well into the future.
In my ideal (nay, fantasy) world of network TV, this would have gone on for a few seasons at least.
Speaking of humor that endures, in your opinion why does some humor age well while other comedy gets stale?
I'm a professional illustrator and cartoonist. In between client projects I've been making funny webcomics, with mixed results. A few have been very well received (millions of views, voted to the front page of Reddit, etc.) Other times I just get a lot of "OK Boomer" comments. Sometimes I'm not sure if the joke was mediocre, or if it was strong but just not a "flavor" of humor that is popular right now. Other times I'll notice a comic that is getting tons of votes on Reddit and scratch my head because I just don't think it's very funny or insightful.
As in any art form comedy has trends. For instance, "Confessional humor" seems hot right now. In your opinion, does good comedy ever have an expiration date, or are the best jokes by definition timeless? Why or why not?
I have a feeling this may have worked better in 1976 when the Bicentennial of our country was being jammed down our throats and all things related to it were being celebrated [for the most part]. 23 years after the fact, people were probably thinking "Eh, old news.] Do you think it was wrong premise at the wrong time, wrong time of the year as it was buried during the dog days of summer, wrong time slot, something better on another network? I would have watched this but how much can you do with Pilgrims trying to survive pestilence, no food, etc. week after week? It's not like they could have a "very special episode" where they travel to New Amsterdam to say goodbye to a dying relative.
Period pieces multi-camera?
Basically BBC from 1936 to 1990...
And Blackadder nailed it.
Wow. Cotton (the fellow robbing the store) was Jim Rash, who played Dean Pelton on "Community". I wasn't sure at first, but then I checked Wikipedia. Checks out.
Followup to my prior comment, I see now that Jim Rash was in the clip credits. Missed that the first time around.
I was actually an extra on "Thanks." Not this episode, however. The episode I was on had as a guest star, Anthony Cistaro. (He was 'Henrí.' Woody's French rival on "Cheers.") He played a French trapper. That's how I recognized him. I knew that voice. I was one of his fellow trappers.
Anthony was a really nice guy. He was very helpful with some acting/career advice.
At the end of my episode the family wound up in the stocks. I don't know if this was supposed to be a running gag or just coincidence.
I was too busy trying to remember my blocking to pay much attention to the dialog. Yet, some parts seemed humorous.
I had almost forgotten about this show. Thanks for a pleasant memory.
M.B.
P.S. The is not a Friday question, but I would like an answer. HOW THE HELL DOES PHOEF PRONOUNCE HIS NAME?! Is it long "O" fOf? Is it the "A" sound fAfe? Short "E" feff? Or something else? I have always been curious about this.
Hey, don't knock mush until you have tried it fried with syrup on top. Its part of our big family breakfast on holidays.
For Mike Bloodworth's "This is not a Friday question" question about Phoef's name:
According to IMDB.com, "His nickname "Phoef" is pronounced "feef", and was given to him as a toddler by his brothers." His birth name is Robert Christopher Sutton. Ken, can you corroborate the info from IMDB?
This makes me proud to be an American! It's very Blackadder’esque. I love it! The brainy daughter being profiled as a witch. Absolutely Fabulous!!! Yes, a big fan of Brit Coms and this show is just delicious! Thank you for sharing over the holiday weekend. I want seconds and thirds though! “Please Sir, Can We have some more?” I know you said that it was hard to find. I’ll have to go watch some Best West now. The mother and the premise that they are Puritans, just hilarious. All good. I would have loved for them to do different time periods like Black Adder since the cast was great. What year did this air? I was surprised it was network!
" Period piece multi-camera shows are hard to pull off. This and Earl Pomerantz's BEST OF THE WEST are the two best in my opinion. "
This clip of "Thanks" was moderately amusing, and I quite liked "Best Of The West". But c'mon, "Blackadder" is better than either of these two shows by several orders of magnitude. So is "Upstart Crow".
Best American period-piece (i.e., set pre-20th century) multi-camera shows, fair enough. I mean, they're fine, and the competition is "The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfieffer" and ... I don't know, I think "Rango"? But in labelling these two shows "the best", I'm a little surprised by your American insularity, Ken.
Sandrella, Thank you. Much appreciated. Ken e-mailed me and confirmed that that is correct.
M.B.
I don't know about anybody else, but in spite of a funny script and worthy performances, I find Tim Dutton completely and monumentally, miscast; he's earnest and hearty when he ought to be masking furious despair, or something. He kills every joke he's given. And I'm English.
Re: Y Knott: It is perhaps unfair to make a sweeping judgment on a short clip of THANKS to 4 seasons of BLACKADDER. The first season of Blackadder really didn't work - it wasn't until Blackadder 2 that Rowan Atkinson was given the biting, sarcastic character that was a perfect fit! And the next 2 seasons are also glorious. Maybe wait to see all six episodes of THANKS - it was smart and really, really funny.
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