Well, that was a damn pleasure to read - your footnoting is A+, sir! I do remember Shields and Yarnell (why????) and I watched Dukes of Hazard and had a crush on Tom Wopat. I've never heard of this show, but I agree with the writing - you can tell SO much about a show from little things like that misdirection.
I am also a rabid footnote freaque, although I will not recommend my Substack to you because I write about my clothes, and that does not seem to be your vibe, Jeff. But…I am a master at rambling asides. Just sayin’.
Think how we all felt back then after a whole summer of "Coming This Fall" previews promising that we wouldn't jam a crochet needle up our noses and collectively remove our brains like an ancient Egyptian undertaker preparing a body for mummification. Newspaper TV critics put out checklists at the beginning of fall TV seasons with lists like "Must Watch," "If You Have Nothing Better To Do," and "Start Playing Russian Roulette With An Automatic," and if you were brave enough to clip out that checklist and view every show to see if you agreed with the critics' assessments, you came across that list around New Year's Day and had to be stopped from using it to set your house on fire. (I hate the past more than Jeff does.)
About the pizza/Mob connection, just be glad you didn't grow up in Dallas. Not only did we have terrible pizza from Mob fronts, but we had terrible pizza from Mob fronts that were connected to the Kennedy assassination...and when you dare point out 63 years later that the pizza hasn't gotten any better since "back and to the left," the editor of "D" magazine tracks you down to tell you how WRONG you are. (To be fair, nobody of any import reads "D" magazine, and nobody's read the editor since his weekly newspaper days, so he's kinda desperate for attention.)
Well, that was a damn pleasure to read - your footnoting is A+, sir! I do remember Shields and Yarnell (why????) and I watched Dukes of Hazard and had a crush on Tom Wopat. I've never heard of this show, but I agree with the writing - you can tell SO much about a show from little things like that misdirection.
Thanks! Appreciate it, especially the footnote love. I take pride in my footnoting.
I am also a rabid footnote freaque, although I will not recommend my Substack to you because I write about my clothes, and that does not seem to be your vibe, Jeff. But…I am a master at rambling asides. Just sayin’.
😆. Jeebus, I actually clicked on the Shields and Yarnell link. Don't do that!
Think how we all felt back then after a whole summer of "Coming This Fall" previews promising that we wouldn't jam a crochet needle up our noses and collectively remove our brains like an ancient Egyptian undertaker preparing a body for mummification. Newspaper TV critics put out checklists at the beginning of fall TV seasons with lists like "Must Watch," "If You Have Nothing Better To Do," and "Start Playing Russian Roulette With An Automatic," and if you were brave enough to clip out that checklist and view every show to see if you agreed with the critics' assessments, you came across that list around New Year's Day and had to be stopped from using it to set your house on fire. (I hate the past more than Jeff does.)
No one hates the past more than I do. I didn't have cable TV until I was 17 years old.
About the pizza/Mob connection, just be glad you didn't grow up in Dallas. Not only did we have terrible pizza from Mob fronts, but we had terrible pizza from Mob fronts that were connected to the Kennedy assassination...and when you dare point out 63 years later that the pizza hasn't gotten any better since "back and to the left," the editor of "D" magazine tracks you down to tell you how WRONG you are. (To be fair, nobody of any import reads "D" magazine, and nobody's read the editor since his weekly newspaper days, so he's kinda desperate for attention.)