Aug 26, 2015

ENTERTAINMENT | Car? What Car?


[ENCORE FROM MAR. 2013] 

This photo truly had something for everyone. For some it's a pix of hunky "Criminal Minds" star Shemar Moore and for others, it's a photo of a very impressive car.

Which did you see first? (And in case there was ever any doubt, I checked out this photo several times before even seeing an automobile....LOL)

Aug 25, 2015

VIDEO | Johnny Carson as Carnac the Magnificent

ENTERTAINMENT | He-e-e-e-e-re's Johnny!

Johnny Carson Returns: Antenna TV to Air Full ‘Tonight Show’ Episodes

COURTESY CARSON ENTERTAINMENT GROUP
COURTESY WWW.VARIETY.COM 
Cynthia Littleton
Managing Editor: Television@Variety_Cynthia

Just when it seemed the late-night landscape couldn’t get more competitive, here comes Johnny Carson.

Tribune Media’s Antenna TV, the multicast digital channel devoted to vintage television shows, will run full-length episodes of “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson” nightly at 11 p.m. ET/8 p.m. PT starting Jan. 1.

Antenna TV has struck a multi-year deal with Carson Entertainment Group to license hundreds of hours of the NBC late-night institution. Antenna will run episodes that aired from 1972 through the end of Carson’s 30-year reign in in 1992. Because NBC owns the rights to “The Tonight Show” moniker, Antenna TV’s episodes will be billed simply as “Johnny Carson.”

“This is not a clip show. This is full episodes of Johnny Carson, the man that everyone in late-night agrees was the greatest host of all time, airing in real time as he did back in the day,” Sean Compton, Tribune’s president of strategic programming and acquisitions, told Variety. “Tuning in to ‘The Tonight Show’ is like taking a walk down Main Street in Disneyland. The minute you step in there, you feel good and you know it’s a place you want to stay. We cannot wait to bring this show to fans who remember Carson and to a new generation of viewers who have never had the chance to see Johnny in his prime.”

Antenna’s showcase will mark the first time Carson-era “Tonight Show” episodes have aired on a nightly basis since the host signed off in May 1992. Carson stayed out of the spotlight after his retirement until his death at age 79 on Jan. 23, 2005.

“The Tonight Show” ran in a 90-minute format from the start of Carson’s run in 1962 until 1980, when it was trimmed to an hour. Antenna will air hourlong episodes on weeknights and 90-minute installments on Saturday and Sunday at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT.

The scheduling of episodes will be carefully curated to run as themed weeks or months, as well as episodes that coincide with notable anniversaries, holidays and other milestones. Those could include everything from a week’s worth of “Tonight Show” debuts by future comedy superstars such as Jerry Seinfeld, Jay Leno, Ellen DeGeneres, Richard Pryor, David Letterman, Jim Carrey and Tim Allen to a month of Christmas episodes in December. Antenna’s “Tonight Show” run will begin with the New Year’s Day episode from 1982 featuring Eddie Murphy and “MASH” star McLean Stevenson.

With all the hubbub over changes in late-night TV during the past two years, Compton had the idea to revive Carson’s “Tonight Show” in a big way. Carson Entertainment Group, headed by Jeff Sotzing, Carson’s nephew, was immediately receptive.

“I think there’s a demographic out there that is really going to eat this up,” Sotzing told Variety. “The show will now be able to be seen by so many people who haven’t seen it before.”

The deal involved nearly six months of negotiations with Hollywood’s talent guilds and the American Federation of Musicians. The talks were complicated because there’s not much precedent for residual fees for full-length reruns of a vintage variety show re-airing on a digital broadcast channel. A few weeks ago the deal almost fell apart over cost issues that seemed insurmountable, but Compton and his team kept hammering away until compromises were reached.

Tribune execs are determined to keep each episode as intact as possible — which means negotiating new agreements for the show’s many musical performances on an episode-by-episode basis, in most cases.

The full-length segs will re-introduce viewers to the show that cemented the template for the late-night talk-variety format, from the monologue to goofy banter with sidekicks to showcasing promising comedians. Carson also invented a host of characters over the years, including Carnac the Magnificent, Art Fern and Aunt Blabby, as well the leading the “Mighty Carson Art Players” sketches. Carson, Ed McMahon and bandleader Doc Severinsen were also famous for doing in-program commericals. Tribune’s sales department is looking to set up creative sponsorship deals piggybacking on those now-priceless integrations, Compton said.

Carson Entertainment has marketed home video releases of full-length “Tonight Show” episodes in the past. But that’s not the same as being able to tune in every night as the show originally aired.

Sadly, the first 10 years of Carson’s “Tonight Show” are lost to history, with only a handful of episodes that survive. When the “Tonight Show” made its historic move from New York to Burbank in 1972, Carson realized that NBC had no archive of his older episodes. From then on, Carson Entertainment invested in state-of-the-art archival technology to preserve his legacy — a focus that continues today.

The 1972-1992 episodes have been digitized and meticulously transcribed and catalogued. The master tapes are buried 600 feet below the earth in a salt mine in Hutchinson, Kan. There are multiple digital copies housed in safe locations as well, according to Sotzing.

“We continue to spend money to protect the library and make sure it’s a working library,” he said. With digital technology, “it’s amazing how we have gone from 50-pound two-inch videotapes to having hundreds of shows on a single (computer) drive.”

Carson was pleasantly surprised after his retirement that there was a home video market for older “Tonight Show” episodes. Sotzing said he has no doubt his uncle would be happy that his life’s work still had value to a modern TV network.

Launched in 2011, Antenna TV is carried on the multicast channels of broadcast TV stations around the country, including Tribune-owned stations in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and other top markets. All told, Antenna at present is available in 102 TV markets reaching 78% of the nation’s television households. Antenna does not have broad SVOD rights to the “Tonight Show” episodes but will be able to make them available on a limited basis for authenticated streaming through MVPD partners.

Antenna’s schedule lineup at present is anchored by such evergreens as “All in the Family,” “Bewitched,” “Green Acres,” “Father Knows Best,” “The Partridge Family” and “Leave It to Beaver.” The investment in Carson’s “Tonight Show” library is a sign that Tribune is ready to raise the profile of Antenna TV. The channel is profitable even with a modest, older-skewing audience. The hope is that a combination of nostalgia and interest in the legend of Carson will drive broader sampling of the channel.

The “Tonight Show” project has been a labor of love for Compton, who has screened hundreds of episodes to prepare for assembling the themed packages. The plan is for Antenna to be nimble in programming episodes on short notice to respond to headlines and current events.

“With Johnny you just have everything,” Compton enthused. “On the night of (the 2016) Indy 500, we’ll have an episode of Johnny talking about about the race. On Christmas Eve, we’ll have an episode with Jimmy Stewart telling stories about the making of ‘It’s a Wonderful Life.’ Our possibilities are endless.”



EDITOR'S NOTE:

Currently in Canada, you CANNOT get the Antenna TV network on cable or satellite services, you will need an antenna and you will need to live close to a U.S city that carries the station.

I have used an antenna for several years now. 
Things are very different from the days before cable when we all used antennas to watch TV.

These days the signal is digital and there's lots of new "subchannels".

Before, if you turned the dial to channel 2, you received one channel, These days there's also substations like 2.2 and 2.3. There are many new substations of all descriptions as well as all your Canadian networks.

In fact, depending upon your location, you may have many stations to pick from and after the initial cost of the antenna, there's no monthly bills to continue enjoying these niche stations.

There are several antenna designs to choose from. When I lived in Welland, I used a small window antenna -it was about the size of a binder, and because I was on the 3rd floor and my window faced Buffalo, I got about 28 channels.

Now that I am back in St Catharines and a floor lower than before, I don't get as many of the newer Buffalo substations and use a small outdoor antenna located outside my living room window.

If you live in the Niagara region you can watch Antenna TV over the air on substation WGRZ 2.2 broadcasting from Buffalo, NY.  



Aug 12, 2015

PICTURE PERFECT | by Angela O'Neill-Whiteley


If you remember back to last winter, Canada's East Coast really took a beating, with record snowfalls that just kept coming and coming and coming. Living in that would be pretty rough.

Fast forward to now! This is one of the pay-offs for surviving Mother Nature's wrath.

One of Scribbles favourite friends Angela O'Neill-Whiteley lives in Nova Scotia with her husband Glyn, son Christopher and daughter Kayla (who is basically a kid-sized version of Angela herself...seriously....not a word of a lie! LOL!)

Angela's a very busy girl operating her Beautiful You Spa, wowing us with body painting projects and of course her roles of wife and mother.

Fortunately, Angie is never too busy to stop and take it all in.

When Angela posted the pix above on her facebook page she wrote, "Thank you Mother Nature for another spectacular view on my drive home tonight. There were blue herons standing at the edge of the water but I don't think my phone picked them up. Gorgeous & Peaceful.... just as it should be."

It is indeed a beautiful site Angela and we appreciate you letting us share it with our friends in Scribblesland.  It's perfect as part of our "let's take a wee break" atmosphere today on Scribbles.

YOU | Bewitched Birthday

Someone out there in Scribblesland "gets" what this birthday greeting is all about for sure....LOL, Aug. 10 is "Endora's" birthday and "Unkie" just had to send a message along with lots of love.


Aug 10, 2015

VIDEO | Montreal Musician Gives Taylor Swift Song a New Style

You know you've done a song justice when your cover version gets a thumbs up from the original artist.  Using only a harp, this talented singer did such an amazing job covering Taylor Swift's song 'Style' that Swift herself retweeted the video.

Aug 7, 2015

KIDS | Pucker Up!

PHOTOS COURTESY MANDY DICK

PETS | New Addition

PHOTO COURTESY AMY BALLETT

YOU | It's a Burger...No, Wait..It's a Cake!



VIDEO | Cook Corn on the Cob with Less Mess

It's that time of year! Fresh, local corn on the cob is now in season. This video shows you how to prepare corn in the microwave without the hassle of husking.

 

KIDS | Tickets Please

While his parents enjoyed a couple of days away, my nephew Graham stayed at my place. A little extra preparation had taken place prior to Graham's arrival as I turned my living room into 'Uncle Ken's Theatre.'

I had created signs & theatre tickets and had two current feature movies for us to enjoy. I even had a copy of the infamous Drive-In Intermission cartoon.... you know, the one where the candy bars dance, a bag of popcorn does a juggling act and a hot dog performs tricks, before leaping into the bun. As suspected, the Intermission cartoon was something Graham had never seen before, and he really got a kick out of it.

Joining Graham, Timmi and I in 'Uncle Ken's Theatre' were Homer & Bart Simpson, the Minions, a ceramic cat and Wilbur the pig, all who had their admission tickets and front row seats. Our double feature ended just past midnight, bedtime for my house guest.

During his visit, Graham and I went to McDonald's, the local splash pad and took Timmi for several walks, while we searched the neighbourhood for feral cats.

We hope to have another sleepover before Graham (who will be 10 in October) goes back to school.



PETS |


Olive [our Ottawa feline friend] sure does look comfy.


ACTIVITY |


Coloring is not just for kids anymore, These days coloring books for adults are all the rave. Scribbles has tweaked 3 classic original drawings for you to color.

INSTRUCTIONS:

- Right click on the images below that you want to color.
- Select "Save image" to save image to your computer [or save image to your tablet using device's instructions.]
- To color them conventionally, find the images on your computer or tablet, open the file and print them using your printer. Use crayons or markers to color.
- To color them using a computer or tablet app: Open program or app you use for coloring and follow its instructions to "fill" or "paint" the drawing.

Coloring helps you calm down, so grab your crayons or markers and "melt away stress" [as the TV commercial for coloring books claims.]



These drawings were created in the mid 80's by Ken @ Scribbles

JOE FRIDAY | 15




PHOTO & TEXT BY JIM STEEL  | LAYOUT BY SCRIBBLES

KIDS | Yard Sale Success




KIDS | The "Maddie" Hatter


PICTURE PERFECT |




YOU | Can I Borrow the Car?


IN MEMORIAM


Christopher Hyndman, share your condolences

Send your messages of sympathy for Hyndman's family CLICK HERE


PHOTOS COURTESY WWW.CBC.CA - CLICK PIX TO VIEW FULL SCREEN

Aug 5, 2015

ENTERTAINMENT NEWS |

Kermit and Miss Piggy Have Broken Up
by Olivia B. Waxman www.TIME.com

Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy announced that they have broken up, just a month before The Muppets TV reboot premieres on ABC.

Here’s the statement that appears on both characters.

“After careful thought, thoughtful consideration and considerable squabbling, Miss Piggy made the difficult decision to terminate our romantic relationship. We will continue to work together on television (“The Muppets”/Tuesdays 8pm this fall on ABC) and in all media now known or hereafter devised, in perpetuity, throughout the universe. However, our personal lives are now distinct and separate, and we will be seeing other people, pigs, frogs, et al. This is our only comment on this private matter. Thank you for your understanding.”

The two appeared together at a Television Critics Association panel Tuesday, where Kermit revealed his new “girlfriend” works in marketing at ABC.


Aug 2, 2015

CLASSIC VIDEO | The Osmond Brothers take us "Down by the Lazy River"

Forget One Direction, in the early 70's, the Osmond Brothers were our favourite boy band,  I remember playing the 45's of their song on my record player, over and over AND OVER again.

And if my mom got tired of hearing them and told me to turn off my record player, I merely needed to open a window or step outside our house and I would get to hear Donny and his brothers songs blaring from the houses on either side of my family's place.

Those homes are where Scribbles pals like Karin, Kelly, another Kelly and Kim lived, and they were big Osmond fans too.

Karin admits she was one of the millions in love with Donny and that she saw the Osmonds at the CNE and thought she was in heaven.

Kim says she probably still has the 45's of the Osmonds hits and although she wasn't one of our neighbours, our friend Pam tells Scribbles she had every Osmond record and loved Donny.

I loved Donny Osmond (and David Cassidy from the Patridge Family) just as much as the girls in my neighbourhood and their posters were all over my bedroom walls as well. In a futile attempt to cover my true feelings, I also had posters of Eve Plumb who played Jan on the Brady Bunch.

I'm pretty sure I fooled no one. LOL!

Here's one of the Osmonds biggest hits.

JOE FRIDAY | 14

PHOTO & TEXT BY JIM STEEL  | LAYOUT BY SCRIBBLES


PHOTO & TEXT BY JIM STEEL  | LAYOUT BY SCRIBBLES

PHOTO & TEXT BY JIM STEEL  | LAYOUT BY SCRIBBLES

Aug 1, 2015

PICTURE PERFECT |

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
[EDITORS NOTE: I have been at the exact location this shot was taken. It is Becky's family's cottage located on Pappineau Lake, lovingly named Maggie's Cove in honour of their mother. The photo above is the view from the end of the dock. Timmi & I chilled out there several years ago and I can assure you, it is every bit as serene and beautiful as it looks here.]