So THIS is the Latest Trend Now?

[fuzzygobo]

In some cases, the more successful a musical originally was, the higher the expectations of any revival or remake. The expectations are even higher comparing it to an iconic movie version.
The original Broadway run of The Wiz was incredible, due to Stephanie Mills' performance as Dorothy. The biggest blunder in the movie version was casting Diana Ross as Dorothy. Casting Michael Jackson as the Scarecrow was one of the movie's saving graces. But in the live version, maybe a little unfairly, that gave Elijah Kelley impossibly big shoes to fill.

I am a little curious how well the new version of Grease will turn out. John Travolta was in the stage version a few years before the movie (didn't care much for Olivia Neutron Bomb), so again, the new Danny Zucko will be compared and scrutinized every which way.

 

[Drtooth]

Speaking of Trends...

is this a trend now to give wacky cartoons titles based on generic characters?

There's Pig Goat Banana Cricket (which, I'm not going to lie, is awesome if you like incredibly, abusively wacky cartoons).

Pickle and Peanut (which...meh at best, it's a kid friendly ripoff of Lucas Bros)

and now something called Apple and Onion. About an Apple...and an Onion. Not looking forward to it. Hope it proves me wrong, but other than that, I couldn't give a crap.

 

[D'Snowth]

David Feiss was the only one who actually made it cool when he did it because he was trying to subvert naming conventions for characters, because giving actual names to a talking cow and a talking chicken would have just been ridiculous.

 

[Drtooth]

I feel that Cow and Chicken and Pig Goat Banana Cricket are kinder spirits of nonsense. Those shows are so abusively wacky (PGBC to the point of deconstruction) that the stupider they get, the more inspired they are. The visuals and dialogue complement each other, and the sight gags are miles above "over the top." With wacky cartoons you go big or go home. Those two shows (including I Am Weasel) go all 2014 American Godzilla rampaging the city sized.

Pickle and Peanut is trying to be Dadaism and doesn't quite clear it. It wants to be over the top, but in a subtle way that hampers its growth. It's not really there and if you watch the right combinations of cartoons like I do, it takes qualities from other shows unintentionally or not. It's like some odd combo of some internet cartoon I can't put my finger on, Napoleon Dynamite (and that's even if it didn't actually have Jon Heder as one of the main characters), Breadwinners, and Lucas Bros. And it doesn't work. I can't say I hate it and I can't say I enjoy it. It's just...not good and a strange fit for Disney. It doesn't fit in with any of their animated programs, and it feels like something that was from an MTV animated anthology series (from an alternate universe where MTV still has one), remade to be kid friendly, but not by much.

And as for Apple and Onion, I caught 30 seconds of it on CN because I had to leave. They buried it in the "Saturday Mornings with Uncle Grandpa" programming block with no announcement and no other episodes are in the immediate schedule. Sounds like this was a pilot they didn't pick up. I found it on Youtube, gonna check it out.

 

[Drtooth]

Back to the original subject. While it's not live, there's the Rocky Horror Picture Show revival on Fox this Fall

Ehhhh. I thought this was supposed to be a theatrical release. I can't really say anything about the cast from that short trailer. I don't mind Frank N Furter being genderswapped because at least this woman plays him/her hammy and threateningly sexyish enough. To me that's no different than recasting for a Broadway play revival. The thing that bugs me is, this is broadcast television. Not that I haven't seen an edited syndicated version of the movie before that wasn't too hacked up. I really don't think this is a good fit.

It's clearly one of those outside cult things that grew up with generations and became painfully mainstream. The Chipmunks covered Time Warp in the 90's, for crying out loud, and didn't alter the lyrics. And you remember my little issue with the fact that "School's been Blown too Pieces" wasn't considered family friendly enough, neither is "Break your Mother's Back" in their early 80's cover of "Whip it."