Fun Friday: Recess Remake!

Longtime readers are well aware that I watched a LOT of television growing up. My brother and I had "schedules" of who watched what when after school. But, by the time I was in high school, we had three TVs in the house... one in the living room, one in my mom's bedroom, and one in the dining room. And, sure enough, my brother, my sister, and I would often manage to each snag one when we all wanted to watch something different. When I was in high school, Recess was a go-to for me after school, part of the "One Too" programming block. So, while my brother had the living room TV for video games and my sister had my mom's TV for whatever the eight-year-olds watched then (probably Pokemon?), I'd watch Recess (and Pepper Ann) on the old, rabbit-eared TV in the dining room.

Anyway, one of the things that I believe made Recess a success was how simple the concept was... a group of kids having different adventures during the recess period. Sure, sometimes there were episodes in the classroom and after school, but the vast majority fit the opening theme wonderfully... the bell rang, the doors opened, and children exploded onto the playground to play various games. That's where today's feature comes in... the internet has turned up an adaptation of the opening song, using live action instead of animation. Check it out!

Cool, right?

How I'm Like: Gretchen Grundler

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

I asked a handful of people to name a television character that reminds them of me, thinking that it would be good to get other opinions of who I should be writing about in this series of articles. Five suggestions were made... one I'll have to research because I've never even seen the show let alone the character, one is from a show I've already discussed so I'll save that one for another time, and a few others which I'll need to digest. Today, we look at the similarities between myself and Gretchen Priscilla Grundler, a fourth grade student on Recess. This comparison is one which I don't think I ever would have come up with on my own, but it's not a bad place to look! After all, Recess was one of my favorite cartoons in high school, and if I had to pick one of the main six characters to be like, Gretchen is probably the most likely selection!

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Gretchen is "The Smartest Kid in Third Street School," and in examining the stereotypes on this show, I labeled her "the brain" who could do great math problems and science projects, and had a talking, handheld computer." Well, I'm going to confess... that sounds a lot like me in my elementary years. I went to the regional spelling bee in fifth grade, won third place in a county math competition, was on Principal's Honor Roll for having straight As every term, and actually had Talking Whiz Kid.

It was a super cool toy (well, maybe only us Gretchens of the world thought so!) so I kinda had to include a video in case you aren't familiar with it. [sidenote, I'm actually surprised that these things seem to be worth nothing! $15 used and $40 MIB on eBay!] Gretchen had a Galileo instead, which featuring a frog mascot instead of a bear. In one episode, Gretchen even tried to act dumb so she wouldn't be sent to a better school... and I tried to fail the Gifted and Talented screening in first grade so I wouldn't have to leave my friends. Gretchen also was the Class President in fourth grade, and I was the school President in fifth grade - though I believe she hand-wrote her speech and I used a typewriter! More interestingly, Gretchen does other people's homework for money... and I did that, too. I made quite the bundle in seventh grade by doing extra "periodicals" every week! We also both tend to be pretty verbose and use long words when short ones would suffice. So, yeah... academically, we're pretty similar.

Gretchen and I both play the piano, and we both seem to really enjoy welcoming "new kids," as seen when she takes it upon herself to be nice to Gus, and how I go up to anyone who seems new in a group and introduce them to others. She tends to freak out when something (anything) goes awry in a plan, and anyone who has spent more than a day with me knows that I'm also pretty by-the-schedule. We're also a bit naive... and, just like Gretchen was friends with Ashley A. in a single episode, I had a few moments in seventh grade when a popular girl befriended me for the time being, only to leave me in the cold as soon as her clique was around once again. Luckily, she always had her old gang to return to, Spinelli in particular. Likewise, I went right back to my old friends as well. [though they were interested to hear what those popular girls were like, LoL!]

The movie that ended the Recess series had Gretchen and the others in fifth grade (it never could have gone further than sixth grade because of the dissolution of recess in middle school), and there weren't all that many episodes made, so I think that probably about covers how I'm like Gretchen, but if you can think of other similarities, fire away!

Throwback: Favorite Cartoons

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

Since Comic-Con officially starts today, I thought that I'd do a throwback that features some of my favorite cartoons. And not just those from childhood, either. I totally watched cartoons through high school, haha.Sure, I still catch them on Netflix every now and then, but I haven't regularly followed any (not counting The Simpsons and South Park, since they're not geared toward children anyway) regularly in years.

My mom tells me that I had a Rainbow Brite obsession as soon as I could discern specific programs on television. I remember renting a few at the video store when I was learning to read, but I honestly can't remember watching the show on regular television. I still love Rainbow Brite, and will be rocking a shirt from the show tomorrow! (Today is my Marvel shirt. of course.)

Now, my very favorite from elementary school: ThunderCats. You better believe that I was the only girl in the first grade rocking a ThunderCats lunchbox and thermos! I loved that show, from how cute Snarf was to how cool it looked when Cheetara ran to the Rober-Berbles and how neat it was to have robot pandas around. Mumm-ra was a pretty scary bad guy, but I thought he was unique.

Next, the cartoons that I watched religiously after school as part of the Disney Afternoon years: Gummi Bears, TaleSpin, and Chip 'n Dale's Rescue Rangers. As I've probably mentioned before, Rescue Rangers was what we talked about at snack time in Kindergarten, so I had to be up the latest adventures of Chip, Dale, Monty, Gadget, and Zipper! FatCat was my favorite villain, though Nimnul ran a close second! I thought that the storyline for Gummi Bears was just fabulous, and the characters were quite lovable. With TaleSpin, it was simply the characters. I thought that Don Carnage was a hilarious bad guy, and the idea of "cloud-kicking" blew my mind. The storylines were a bit outrageous (I wasn't the best at allowing myself to have a willing suspension of disbelief as a child) and wrapped themselves up all too quickly, but how could you not love Wildcat, Baloo, Molly, Kit, and the others?

And, on the weekends as a youngin', Foofur and Punky Brewster were my Saturday Morning Cartoons of choice. As a kid who was deathly afraid of dogs, the idea that a bunch of canines lived together (along with Fencer the cat and a few rats) with no real owner was amusing. The constant hiding from the realtor was funny to me, and I just remember laughing at the show all the time. With Punky, I think it was Glomer who first sucked me in. He seemed like such a cool "pet" and I had a fascination with magical creatures and the world of fun that they could create for someone. Sure, Punky and her friends were cool, but Glomer, he was amazing! 

Middle school was pretty simple for me... Rugrats and Doug. I was new to having Nickelodeon, and those two shows were big hits with me and my siblings. While everything that the rugrats ever did was pretty unbelievable, I adored their ability to teach about other cultures and holidays, and thought that the writing was great. Doug was quite a bit more believable (well, not the fact that people were blue, haha), and I thought that most of the secondary characters were well-written and developed... like Judy, Connie, and Mr. Dink. I'll even admit that I actually liked the Disney episodes of The Brand-Spankin' New Doug, which wasn't a hit with a lot of other people. I thought that aging the kids a year did a lot for the show and the way they handled the situations that were faced.

In high school my favorites included The Weekenders, Teacher's Pet, Recess, and Pepper Ann. The first two were Saturday morning shows, the latter two were afterschool shows (though they began on Saturdays, of course). I've written about a few of these before, but in a nutshell, it was the characters that kept me coming back. In The Weekenders, the cast was pretty small, so it was easy to latch on to each of the four, and understand where they were coming from and what they were doing. With Teacher's Pet, the idea that a dog went to school was pretty intriguing, but the fact that his teacher was also his owner (and she didn't realize who the dog was) baffled me to the point that I just couldn't stop watching, waiting for the day that she discovered the truth. My fourth grade wasn't like Recess in any way (we didn't even have cliques yet), but the storylines were incredibly believable to me, and the roles that the kids took in each scheme just made sense. Similarly, although I couldn't directly relate to Pepper Ann, I just "got" the show and her interactions with other characters was just moving for me. 

My college cartoon was totally As Told by Ginger, which I just thought was written well. There were a bunch of characters, the storylines were more pre-teen/teen-oriented, and the depiction of social life at school was a little more believable than a lot of other shows. Plus, there was a special where they went to camp, and I spent two of my summer during college working at a resident camp, so that held a special place in my heart. 

I know you're dying to share... what have your favorite cartoons been throughout life??

Top 10 Worst Male Middle Names

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

I'm one of those people who were given a middle name that sucked. When I got married I gave it the boot, throwing my maiden name into that slot instead (which, actually, is much worse in a sense, but anyway). There are a lot of television characters with unfortunate middle names. This week we'll go over some males, next week the females!

10. Theodore Jasper Dettweiler (Recess). "Jasper" isn't all that bad, but it's bad enough for a fourth grade to go by TJ instead.
9. Bartholomew Jojo Simpson (The Simpsons). "Jojo" isn't that bad, either, but let's keep in mind that it's Bart, and he's not exactly high on the list of kids-so-perfect-nobody-will-tease-them. Plus, it sounds goofy.
8. Leonard Leakey Hofstadter (The Big Bang Theory). Yes, he's named after an archaeologist friend of the family, but it's geeky and laughable.
7. Waldo Geraldo Faldo (Family Matters). Now, having each of your names rhyme might qualify you to be higher on the list, but the strangeness of the character in general balances that out some.
6. Milhouse Mussolini Van Houten (The Simpsons). Um, who names their child after the founder of fascism?
5. Douglas Yancey Funnie (Doug). Here, we have a name that you could play off as being some beloved ancestor's name. But only if it was used sparingly. On Doug, we see the name used frequently, and the guidance counselor ALWAYS makes sure to use the Yancey.
4. Maxwell Beverly Sheffield (The Nanny). For a man so important in New York, you'd think they'd give him an honorable middle name. But the other reason he ranks so highly is the humorous scene in which the name is revealed, and Fran's reaction to hearing it.
3. Geoffrey Barbara Butler (The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air). Boys with girly middle names top the list because it's odd and hard to play off. I went to school with a girl named Michael (first name), and it was very strange. I haven't seen her in ten years, but I wonder if she eventually began going by something else... Oh, and let's not forget the irony of having your surname be your profession.
2. Drew Allison Carey (The Drew Carey Show). Allison is a REALLY girly name, and not even in an old-fashioned way. Plus, it's his REAL name as well. AND, all three of his names have female spellings but the same pronunciations.
1. Chandler Muriel Bing (Friends). Not only is "Muriel" a really unimpressive middle name, but "Chandler" "Bing" never really had a chance in the first place. I mean, Chandler is not that enticing of a name, and even Phoebe's dimly-portrayed brother chooses it as a girl's name for one of his triplets. And once a name gets used by a dog, that's it.

Tales of a Fourth Grade Playground

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

Yeah, yeah. By now you know that most Disney shows get cut off before they have time to fail. I talked about this with The Weekenders, and probably somewhere else along the line as well. This show actually made it 6 seasons, for 128 storylines (but the last two seasons only had a total of 8 episodes). That sounds good, except that the plots are 10 minutes long, meaning only 64 or so episodes were made (there were a few that ran longer, meaning only 1 got into a time slot, etc), and the finale makes it 65, the magical Disney cut-off once again. It ran Saturday mornings, and later got the weekday afternoon slot, which I think is where it came to popularity.

I got hooked on this fantastic cartoon during the afternoon One Too block. The finale (3 episodes) has the kids in the 5th grade (they remain in the 4th grade throughout the rest of the series), and there has been speculation that there was to be a seventh season with the kids getting older, but it was ultimately cut. Though the show has been running in daytime and early-morning syndication for years, the final three episodes have allegedly never been re-aired in the US, which is quite curious. (I read the descriptions of these episodes and none seem familiar, so that could very well be true.)

The show began in 1997, and was clearly character-driven. Without the various (beyond lovable) elementary school stereotypes and the ability of the writers to play out those stereotypes in such a REAL manner, the show would not have been such a success. Given that, let's go over the stereotypes...
The Troublemaker (TJ) was an awesome leader with a great aptitude for speaking to all groups.
The Military Brat (Gus) was naive to the unspoken rules of the playground, and excelled in a single sports area: dodgeball.
The Brain (Gretchen) could do great math problems and science projects, and had a talking, handheld computer.
The Gentle Giant (Mikey) was larger than the others in his grade (and some of the teachers), but wrote poetry, did ballet, and had an operatic singing voice.
The Female Punk (Spinelli) who has to ignore her family (not only do they embarrass her, but they gave her the trendy name of "Ashley") and be tough for her petite size.
The Athlete (Vince) who is naturally popular (as his older brother once was), gifted in all sports, and has concern for others (he won Class President every year until the 4th grade).
The King of the Playground (Bob) is a sixth-grader who makes all the rules governing who can play where and with what during recess.
The girly-girl clique (four Ashleys, who all have brothers named Tyler and sisters named Brittany) who have a clubhouse, a catchphrase ("Scandalous!"), and only wear the most fashionable attire.
The Teacher's Pet (Randall), who often does nothing but rat-out misbehaving peers.

The Mean Teacher (Miss Finster) generally did not like the students doing anything fun.
The Fun Teacher (Miss Grotke) who acted kinda like a hippy, standing up for students and believing in creative projects.

And then there were other fill-ins: a girl who always eats corn chips. A girl who is always on the swings. A girl who is always upside-down on the monkey bars. The kids who always dig holes. The kid who stays inside every recess (this one actually has a name - Menlo). The A/V kids who spend recess in the basement. The Boy Scout. The hustler. The urban legends kid (Butch). The kid who gives advice (Guru Kid). Lastly, there's the Kindergartners (mostly unnamed, but there are Tubby, Hector, and the Sticky Kid), who are crazy, run around, have riots, and are mentored by the older kids. You can see a lot of these characters here.

As you can imagine, storylines range from seeking out hidden water fountains, getting the "good ball," swinging over the top of the swingset, dealing with indoor recess during a thunderstorm, and having various competitions.

I loved the show. The characters were great. The storylines were funny. The jokes were clever. Win all around! They even dealt with semi-special episodes, mostly limited to cultural and socioeconomic differences. Included below is one of my all-time favorite episodes - the one where Gretchen takes up the art of the YoYo. You can also see some of the other kids, but it's not very good at illustrating all of the stereotypes. (But, many episodes are on youtube, so check it out)