Our dirt bikes bring all the boys to the yard. Damn right, they're better than yours.

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

"The sidewalk is my pillow."

Fifteen years ago, Conan O'Brien and Robert Smigel, who were both writers on Saturday Night Live in the late '80s and early '90s (Smigel, of course, is still there, doing Saturday TV Funhouse, among other things) created a brilliant TV show that was simply too far ahead of its time. Called Lookwell!, it starred Adam West as Ty Lookwell, an aging actor sort-of known for the cop series her starred in during the ‘70s. Twenty years later, the delusional turtleneck sweater-clad thespian fancies himself crime solver – while not auditioning for action gigs or teaching acting lessons at his school – much to the chagrin of the local police force.
The pilot parodied ‘70s and ‘80s network television, and West parodied himself, particularly his Bruce Wayne character (there’s a hilarious reference to Batman during the Lookwell credit sequence). Smigel and O’Brien realized West’s Shatneresque comic potential long before West would play himself as a recurring character on The Family Guy. It’s a clever show that was probably too clever for its own good, and it was never picked up by NBC. Thanks to the series of tubes known as “the internets” you can now dig on one of the funniest shows no one ever saw. The highlight is undoubtedly Lookwell’s undercover hobo costume.

4 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I actually remember watching this in first run. It's a nice combination of Hart to Hart and Police Squad. Freaking hilarious.

1:01 PM

 
Blogger Ladysir said...

Once you've all finished nursing those monster hangovers, any chance we could get a Halloween party report? Leah wants to see costumes.

4:05 PM

 
Blogger Dave said...

I'll see if I can score some pics. We didn't bring a camera, but there were hired photogs there. And yeah, the hangover is pretty monstrous.
A few of the more amazing homemade costumes included a pair of Cenobites, Creature from the Black Lagoon, an extremely detailed self-portrait of van Gogh, Ghost Rider and Destro!
I also got to interview George Romero on the set of his new film today -- all of which made for a pretty freakin' exciting horror-fied weekend.

11:07 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey Dave,

I was sitting around the coffee room at work this evening when you appeared on, what was it, eTalk Daily?

Nice job!

-Kevin in Edmonton

2:25 AM

 

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