Sketch O’The Week
January 25th, 2023 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
The Lovely Anna and I finally watched the last of the new “Wednesday” show on Netflix staring the perfectly cast Jenna Ortega as the titular character. We enjoyed it quite a bit. Tim Burton did a great job reimagining Charles Addams‘s characters and world for the show. Those people who complain that the show was too dark and that Burton “didn’t understand the characters” are mistaking this as a reboot of the 60’s TV show. It’s not. “Wednesday” is based on original Charles Addams cartoons. Same source material as the 60’s show, but a different take. In fact, Burton was far more true to the characters and the cartoon vibe than… READ MORE
January 18th, 2023 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
I was never much of a “Trekkie” back in the day, but I did appreciate Star Trek and loved the original series as well as “The Next Generation” TV shows. I recognized how much of an impact Star Trek had on Science Fiction as a genre, and the shows were entertaining as well as thought provoking. My favorite character was always Doctor Leonard “Bones” McCoy, played in the OS by DeForest Kelley. As an aside, most people know the often-repeated Captain Kirk line “Beam me up, Scotty!” Was never actually uttered in the series. Just a common misused “quote”. Well, the “Dammit, Jim… I’m a doctor… READ MORE
January 11th, 2023 | Posted in Classic Rock Sketch Series
This is one subject that is long overdue to be added to my “Classic Rock Stars” caricature sketch series, the great Carlos Santana! He’s been one of the greatest guitarists in rock for a long time, really ever since his band’s explosive performance at Woodstock, which took place when they were basically unknown in the U.S. and their debut album still unreleased. The band’s set was such a revelation that they were included in the Woodstock film and soundtrack album despite their unknown status amid a lineup of superstar headliners. Santana is regularly mentioned in any list of the world’s greatest guitarists. A true original. READ MORE
December 21st, 2022 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
As my Christmas gift to you, I will finally stop with the TV detective series of caricature sketches. You’re welcome! The last one is a switch to a humorous detective character from the 1970’s sitcom “Barney Miller”, Abe Vigoda as the irascible Sergeant Phil Fish. READ MORE
December 15th, 2022 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
In case you haven’t noticed, almost all the sketches (all but the Angela Lansbury) I’ve done of famous classic TV detectives over the last several months have one thing in common… they are all white guys. There were not very many women or persons of color playing detectives, private or otherwise, on TV shows that were really big hits back in the 60s-90s. I’m going to try and find a few of the exceptions in the next few weeks, and then I think it’s time to move on from the TV detective series. This week’s subjects are certainly a perfect fit as well-known classic TV sleuths…… READ MORE
December 7th, 2022 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
Who’s gonna drive the “Striped Tomato”? We don’t need Huggy Bear to inform us who our sketch subjects are this week. “Starsky and Hutch” ran for four seasons from 1975-1979 and the relationship between the Brooklyn born, streetwise Army veteran Starsky and the reserved and thoughtful Minnesota native Hutch who became police detective partners in the fictional town of Bay City, California became the template for future “buddy cop” shows and movies. It also made the Ford Grand Torino famous. READ MORE
November 30th, 2022 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
Dat’s the name of dat tune! We continue our series of classic TV detectives with Robert Blake (and “Fred”). The 1970’s TV cop drama “Baretta” followed the adventures of undercover detective Anthony “Tony” Baretta played Blake. The series was actually a sort of continuation of a 1973-74 TV show called “Toma”, which was based on real-life detective Dave Toma. Toma was a loner and maverick Newark, New Jersey detective who used disguises and often ignored conventional police procedure but gained national fame for his success as a cop. The show was cancelled after one season because the main star left. It was recasted and retooled somewhat… READ MORE
November 16th, 2022 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
Author Mickey Spillane‘s private eye character “Mike Hammer” debuted in the late 1940’s and became, along with Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe, the epitome of the literary tough guy detective. The character brought fame and fortune to Spillane, selling over 200 million books and being featured in several radio programs and many films and TV shows. A lot of actors have portrayed Hammer over the years (including Spillane himself), but the most famous depiction might be that of Stacy Keach. Keach played Hammer in three different TV series and several TV movies in the 1980’s and 90’s. His version of Hammer was set in the 1980’s, although… READ MORE
