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Mindy Kaling ruins Scooby Doo


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2 hours ago, UpperWestside said:

That’s awesome man! If I ever get around to having kids then Saturday mornings are reserved for cartoons for at least two hours with Scooby Doo, Johnny Quest, Duck Tales and The Jetsons in the lineup. 

And toss in Flintstones. 

And then make them watch the Harvey Birdman episodes featuring all of those.   And Sealab 2021.

 

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9 hours ago, Eskimohorn said:

If you’re with your buddies talking classic Hill Street Blues and one of them starts in on wokism, its taken a political turn from your discussion on who wins between Buntz vs Sipowicz.

Just steer it towards NYPD Blue and how that was a rip off of Hill Street Blues, and then steer it into a discussion of who had the better ass - Dennis Franz or David Caruso.

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3 hours ago, UpperWestside said:

That’s awesome man! If I ever get around to having kids then Saturday mornings are reserved for cartoons for at least two hours with Scooby Doo, Johnny Quest, Duck Tales and The Jetsons in the lineup. 

It's worth having kids just so you can do that mid-90s Rescue Rangers/Ducktales/Gargoyles train of greatness and pretend you're doing it for the kids.

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4 hours ago, MagicSoccerSpray said:

Critical Drinker is often pretty good. His reviews of old classics (Predator, Demolition Man, Road House, etc) are very good. Make sure to check out his second channel as much of the "Drinker's Extra Shots" retro reviews are there.

Good lord. While I’m sure he’s right about Velma, I could barely make it halfway through that video. I have no desire to suffer through another one of those rants. 

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19 minutes ago, WhatTheBuck said:

Good lord. While I’m sure he’s right about Velma, I could barely make it halfway through that video. I have no desire to suffer through another one of those rants. 

Yeah, I used to enjoy him a lot, but the schtick has worn thin and it seems like these days he's just hopping on whatever will get him clicks - based on his past videos, a lot of the stuff he is covering now is stuff that he would never have watched anyways, and/or is not targeted towards him.  I'll happily watch his deep dives on some older movies where there's some interesting twist/perspective/trivia that he brings, but it seems like a lot of his current stuff is just him whining.  

I'd rather spend the same amount of time watching a Pitch Meeting video.

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Reading up on this show, I learned that it was developed by frequent Kaling collaborator Charlie Grandy. So I said to myself, "Self, let's see what else this cat has done." Unsurprisingly, I found his work is limited to collaborating with Kaling. Joined The Office staff in later seasons, then wrote episodes for Mindy Project, Champions, and Four Weddings before taking on Velma.

Surprisingly, and somewhat germane to the thread topic era, I learned he was born Charles Brendan Grandy, son of Fred. Yes, Fred "Gopher" Grandy.

Now the thread is not a complete waste of time.

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On 1/17/2023 at 6:56 AM, HamsterHookah said:

I already know you think my tastes suck (e.g. Parks and Rec thread), but count me as someone who passes on anything Mindy Kaling. Mainly my bias is from when I was a consultant for a household name, big tech company pre-Covid.

Before Covid these big tech firms would pay for celebrities to come in and do corporate gigs for big events (corporate kick offs, annual customer conferences, etc.)

I’ve seen some really good ones, like Jerry Seinfeld workshopping what would show up his Netflix special at WorkDay Rising, but have also seen some horrible ones— like Mindy Kaling. Maybe she was just cashing a check and mailing it in, but she was seriously unfunny in every interaction.

So basically, Mindy Kaling is like Jay Leno, except she works in prime time, is not a stand-up comic, doesn't carry around a trio of cornball joke writers in her pocket, and also manages to survive public life without a hair piece. 

On 1/17/2023 at 11:10 AM, crash_davis said:

While I'm on the soapbox, how many of us and our friends growing up watched Fat Albert? I watched the fuck out of it. I don't remember any of my friends who watched it ever saying that their parents forbade them from watching it. Same with The Jeffersons and Welcome back Kotter (Puerto Rican Jew, by God).

And now, many of those "friends" would probably forbid their kids from watching Fat Albert, or the other shows because (fill in the blank). 

You have it bass ackwards, dipshit. From attacks on Mr. Rogers, Bert & Ernie, and Spongebob (and many others), there's one group of ignorant fucks who have consistently pissed their pants about children's tv characters. 

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18 hours ago, bolverk said:

"There's no point to any of this. It's just a random lottery of meaningless tragedy and a series of near escapes. So I take pleasure in the details. You know, a quarter-pounder with cheese, those are good. The sky about 10 minutes before it starts to rain. The moments where your laughter becomes a cackle, and I sit back and smoke my Camel Straights and I ride my own melt."

I made the poor decision of insisting my daughter watch this with me a few years ago.  We turned it off after about 30 minutes.  Holy shit, it doesn't hold up well; oddly enough, Singles actually does.  

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2 minutes ago, Chopper said:

You have it bass ackwards, dipshit. From attacks on Mr. Rogers, Bert & Ernie, and Spongebob (and many others), there's one group of ignorant fucks who have consistently pissed their pants about children's tv characters. 

The same ignorant group involved in celebrated book burnings?

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1 hour ago, Herpa Derpa said:

Reading up on this show, I learned that it was developed by frequent Kaling collaborator Charlie Grandy. So I said to myself, "Self, let's see what else this cat has done." Unsurprisingly, I found his work is limited to collaborating with Kaling. Joined The Office staff in later seasons, then wrote episodes for Mindy Project, Champions, and Four Weddings before taking on Velma.

Surprisingly, and somewhat germane to the thread topic era, I learned he was born Charles Brendan Grandy, son of Fred. Yes, Fred "Gopher" Grandy.

Now the thread is not a complete waste of time.

Fred Grandy served in Congress in the 90’s. He was a Representative from Iowa.

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On 1/17/2023 at 9:47 AM, crash_davis said:

Kids didn't and won't think about the actors races

Tell me you're white without telling me you're white.

You didn't think about race because your race was always heavily represented on TV. So you never had the experience of suddenly seeing, for the first time, someone on TV who looked like you, and never knew how that felt.

I've never had that feeling, either... because I'm white. But then I went and lived in a part of the world where nobody looked like me. Where people would stop and stare at me simply because of the color of my skin. Where I was treated differently at every store - other than the ones in my immediate neighborhood, and then only because the neighbors had my back; of any of them ever found out I was ripped off because of the color of my skin (standard practice, really) that they'd lose everyone's business. And where the one or two other white folks I would see regularly... we'd always give each other knowing nods. We had that shared experience, that isolation that comes from being a minority who gets treated differently... either as a target to be ripped off, or as a circus freakshow exhibit...

So then, when I do hear stories from blacks and Indians and Asians about how memorable and important it was to see Lt. Uhura on the bridge of the Enterprise, I haven't had that experience... but I understand it a little better.

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I think there’s a big difference between what was available 50 years ago when Lt Uhura roamed the starship Enterprise and now.  People now and for many years have seen people of all colors on TV and with streaming and dish options you can watch TV from whatever part of the world you want completely devoid of white people of you want.  It’s not 1970.

Edited by Lhorn
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7 hours ago, ChickenSandwich said:

Seems like Mindy genuinely dislikes the IP, so who is the target audience?  

is there a reason you say that she likes the IP?

1 hour ago, Beau Vine said:

I made the poor decision of insisting my daughter watch this with me a few years ago.  We turned it off after about 30 minutes.  Holy shit, it doesn't hold up well; oddly enough, Singles actually does.  

Chuck Klosterman does a whole thing about Reality Bites in his latest book titled (and about) The Nineties. I remember the 90s but was too young to experience a movie like Reality Bites in real time, but he uses it to talk about 90s values around being real and how "selling out" was the worst possible thing you could do. And uses it to illustrate how twisted those values could be, to the extent that, in the movie, you were supposed to like Ethan Hawke and dislike Ben Stiller.

57 minutes ago, Rimbo said:

Tell me you're white without telling me you're white.

You didn't think about race because your race was always heavily represented on TV. So you never had the experience of suddenly seeing, for the first time, someone on TV who looked like you, and never knew how that felt.

I've never had that feeling, either... because I'm white. But then I went and lived in a part of the world where nobody looked like me. Where people would stop and stare at me simply because of the color of my skin. Where I was treated differently at every store - other than the ones in my immediate neighborhood, and then only because the neighbors had my back; of any of them ever found out I was ripped off because of the color of my skin (standard practice, really) that they'd lose everyone's business. And where the one or two other white folks I would see regularly... we'd always give each other knowing nods. We had that shared experience, that isolation that comes from being a minority who gets treated differently... either as a target to be ripped off, or as a circus freakshow exhibit...

So then, when I do hear stories from blacks and Indians and Asians about how memorable and important it was to see Lt. Uhura on the bridge of the Enterprise, I haven't had that experience... but I understand it a little better.

There was an interview with an Indian comic (not Kaling, but another female) probably on Bullseye about just trying to do comedy or acting while ethnic. Variations of course with black, hispanic, etc, but it was interesting hearing her perspective on just wanting to be funny and to go out for roles, but always having to play an Indian stereotype. It was interesting Kelly Kapoor's transformation from season 1 to season 2 considering that perspective. And broadly, agree with what you say. 

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2 hours ago, Rimbo said:

Tell me you're white without telling me you're white.

You didn't think about race because your race was always heavily represented on TV. So you never had the experience of suddenly seeing, for the first time, someone on TV who looked like you, and never knew how that felt.

Lazy. I never looked at Ricky Ricardo and felt any connection based on his looks. He looked like my uncles, big deal. Could he make me laugh, if not I'm changing the channel and watching Andy Griffith. No one in that town looked like me and I couldn't give a fuck. Didn't even cross my little wetback mind. Still doesn't even though I'm beaten over the head that it should. 

So many people put everyone else into little boxes. That's probably the woke movement's biggest failure. And it's an ironic failure at that.

It's unfortunate that there are people who need such shallow validation, but even more unfortunate that so much of what we're sold caters to them and promotes these empty calories.

Couldn't make it 20 minutes into an episode Velma and there's a shitton of little animated people in that show with an approximation of my skin color. They all sucked. Had they the less fortunate condition of having less pigment than me but written to be more entertaining or interesting, I'd still be watching.

Diversity is great, but when I want to be entertained, it's way the fuck down the list.

Entertainment has lost the plot.

Edited by BoomMF
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1 hour ago, Lhorn said:

I think there’s a big difference between what was available 50 years ago when Lt Uhura roamed the starship Enterprise and now.  People now and for many years have seen people of all colors on TV and with streaming and dish options you can watch TV from whatever part of the world you want completely devoid of white people of you want.  It’s not 1970.

eric cartman GIF by South Park

I mean, most of us here, I presume, grew up in the 70s, so ... it's relevant.

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56 minutes ago, BoomMF said:

Lazy. I never looked at Ricky Ricardo and felt any connection based on his looks. He looked like my uncles, big deal. Could he make me laugh, if not I'm changing the channel and watching Andy Griffith. No one in that town looked like me and I couldn't give a fuck. Didn't even cross my little wetback mind. Still doesn't even though I'm beaten over the head that it should. 

So many people put everyone else into little boxes. That's probably the woke movement's biggest failure. And it's an ironic failure at that.

It's unfortunate that there are people who need such shallow validation, but even more unfortunate that so much of what we're sold caters to them and promotes these empty calories.

Hey, that's great but not everyone is like you, and it doesn't just have to be on race.

My daughter started going to the College World Series with me when she was about 8.  We'd drive up, and we'd go to every game and stay the whole week and we both had a blast, every year.  

But when she was about 11, I also took her to the softball College World Series, and she was just absolutely starstruck and beyond excited to get to the ballpark every day, and it caught me completely off guard.  I guess I should break it to her that she was the victim of "shallow validation" and empty calories?

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1 hour ago, BoomMF said:

Lazy. I never looked at Ricky Ricardo and felt any connection based on his looks. He looked like my uncles, big deal. Could he make me laugh, if not I'm changing the channel and watching Andy Griffith. No one in that town looked like me and I couldn't give a fuck. Didn't even cross my little wetback mind. Still doesn't even though I'm beaten over the head that it should. 

So many people put everyone else into little boxes. That's probably the woke movement's biggest failure. And it's an ironic failure at that.

It's unfortunate that there are people who need such shallow validation, but even more unfortunate that so much of what we're sold caters to them and promotes these empty calories.

Couldn't make it 20 minutes into an episode Velma and there's a shitton of little animated people in that show with an approximation of my skin color. They all sucked. Had they the less fortunate condition of having less pigment than me but written to be more entertaining or interesting, I'd still be watching.

Diversity is great, but when I want to be entertained, it's way the fuck down the list.

Entertainment has lost the plot.

As a hispanic person I don’t share any of your experience at all. I don’t see what’s so horrible about looking up to fellow hispanic people that have had success, or why it’s so bad to feel a level of connection to them. 

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14 minutes ago, Helobious said:

As a hispanic person I don’t share any of your experience at all. I don’t see what’s so horrible about looking up to fellow hispanic people that have had success, or why it’s so bad to feel a level of connection to them. 

That's kind of the point.

Connect with whomever you want for whatever reason you want. Hopefully it's for something more substantial than the color of their skin, but if not, no harm no foul.

Diversity of appearance is the basest form of diversity.

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54 minutes ago, Beau Vine said:

Hey, that's great but not everyone is like you, and it doesn't just have to be on race.

My daughter started going to the College World Series with me when she was about 8.  We'd drive up, and we'd go to every game and stay the whole week and we both had a blast, every year.  

But when she was about 11, I also took her to the softball College World Series, and she was just absolutely starstruck and beyond excited to get to the ballpark every day, and it caught me completely off guard.  I guess I should break it to her that she was the victim of "shallow validation" and empty calories?

I can't think of a less valid comparison than this one. Not only are we talking about two different things, we're talking in two different languages.

And I imagine my daughter would react the exact same way to seeing the CSWS.

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I didn’t enjoy the little I watched. I’m always wary of any “remakes” or “reimagined” type of shows. Some turn out to be shockingly great. Others are terrible. I hate most American remakes of Japanese classics. They often get criticized and rightfully so. The terms “woke” and cancelled” are taking a beating as the originators of those terms are now seeing them (in their eyes) being misused and applied to everything. I think Mindy is talented and creative. She has a POV. It doesn’t mean I fall over myself because she has a different POV and has a specific story to tell. I don’t like putting a leash on most creative projects. This includes comedy. I’m just not into remakes or reimagined shows that come off like a damn after school special. I’m into presentism. Make all the remakes you want and change them all you want: if they aren’t funny or entertaining who the fuck cares? 
 

A better idea would have had the real actress getting baked at a party and somehow waking up as herself but as Velma in the cartoon with all the characters and showing her POV through that while also including Scooby. That might have been more interesting I guess. But the show Supernatural already did that. I just don’t care too much for most remakes though I’m always willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. This was just boring and unfunny to me but that’s why we have a million different shows and movies to pick from. To each their own. 

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17 minutes ago, BoomMF said:

That's kind of the point.

Connect with whomever you want for whatever reason you want. Hopefully it's for something more substantial than the color of their skin, but if not, no harm no foul.

Diversity of appearance is the basest form of diversity.

That’s not really what you were saying originally. And “race” is a factor maybe but it’s more about having a relatable experience. You mentioned you grew up in an all-white town, for all you know maybe you liked Andy Griffith because his background matched the one you were raised in and he was easy to relate to. I wasn’t raised in a place like that at all, but you’re telling me it’s invalid/shallow for someone to feel a connection with someone from a common background or experience. Race or skin color happens to often be intertwined with that. 

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If the color of a person's skin tells you what you need to know about who they are, I'm not going to convince you otherwise. I'm telling you I believe skin color is a shallow thing to relate to, I am not telling you, nor do I agree with, that a common background is the same thing.

Side note, I grew up in a Missouri City. Or, as we like to say, "not Mayberry." I wont hold it against you that you thought I grew up in an all-white town, afteralI you cant see the exact hue my sexy caramel skin and thus the tapestry of my life.

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1 hour ago, PRONG HORN said:

 

BoomMF is playing chess and the rest of you are still eating your own boogers.  Evolve people.  Liberate yourself from your melanin.  Be free.  

 

 

How we supposed to liberate ourselves from it if we don't have any?

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In the 70’s if you were a performer of color you had to be exceptional to make it on to a TV show. To get a show greenlit that was predominantly or totally about people of color you had to be amazing. So the shows that actually made it to pilot and got picked up had a much higher hit rate than shows full of white characters. 
 

Nowadays people of color are getting more chances. It stands to reason more people w mediocre talent will make it big, and those with great talent will have a higher percentage of failures

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The volume of original TV programming right now is absurd (559 original scripted shows in 2021 compared to 182 in 2002).  That volume yields both outstanding shows and historically awful shows (such as Velma).  People are almost as interested in awful entertainment as they are with excellent.  The vast mediocre middle is generally ignored. I doubt Kaling and Co. intentionally set out to develop a pile of elephant shit but failing so dramatically may be a better career move than producing something forgettable like the hundreds of shows that are never mentioned in the cultural discourse.     

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