Monday, October 27, 2008

DRAFT 02 - The 80s - Results


See Rules here.
Click TEAM PAGES on the right for pics, video and analysis!
Five rounds, three picks per turn! Categories listed below.

What best captures the essence of the 80s?

Mister Merchant's choices by round.
ROUND ONE

1. Song/Video - Thriller by Michael Jackson
2. Actor - John Cusack
3. Toy/Collectible - Pac-Man
ROUND TWO
1.
2.
3.
ROUND THREE
1.
2.
3.
ROUND FOUR
1.
2.
3.
ROUND FIVE
1.
2.
3.

Full results posted at end of draft!

Thursday, October 23, 2008

EXIT POLL: TV Sitcoms

1. If I had more picks, I would've also drafted:
1) Everybody Loves Raymond - unlike earnest said, i LOVE debra. love her. prolly bc i relate to it the best, my favorite part of the show is the dynamic of the ray-debra fights, and how he's always just making up lies on the fly and she's always catching him in them or calling him out. that show made me love patricia heaton forever :) and topping the angry dad, you have marie, the epitome of a mother's guilt trip. holy cow. she takes our mother's judgment and multiplies it in manipulative ways x 1000.
2) Different Strokes - i'll avoid the willis phrase, but i remember watching this show all the time and even though i don't remember actual scenes, and i confuse it with nel carter sucking up the aquarium, i just get warm fuzzy feelings when i think about the show. arnold was just too darned cute, even if they all ended up in pr0n and pris0n.
3) The Brady Bunch - this is another collective feeling choice. more so than the specific moments, the show on the whole was very endearing. i felt like i watched them all grow up and grew up with them. plus you get all the extra sizzle now that improves the shows and makes you rewatch them to see the scenes where the greg actor was drunk on set, the girls wore no bras, the dad was gay, oscar was mysteriously killed off, etc...
4) CHARLES IN CHARGE - i completely meant to take this show. just hearing buddy yell "Charles!" gets me laughing. and, c'mon... what young boy didn't tune in to see nicole eggert trade barbs with scott baio, who was probably sleeping with her at some point. hearing grandpa put down "lembeck" was always fun too. it's just a shame they changed the cast and put his mom on the show more :P
5) Who's the Boss - this is another one the entire family sat down to watch every week and i loved it whether i wanted to or not, and to keep on the theme and agree with earnest... having alyssa on the show didn't hurt things. i remember wal-mart used to have posters of her and eggert and we'd ride our bikes to look at them. lol oh, adolescence. still, that was the icing on a very solid cake. i prolly was even more in love with tony danza, such a charmer.

2. The Steal of the Draft (SOTD), meaning the best pick late in the draft at the best value, was:
SOTD: Cheers at 3.5 by Nothing Special. Very surprised it was available that long!
3. Other than my own team, my favorite team somebody drafted is:
Favorite: Nothing Special (Happy Days, Full House, Cheers, Beaver, Arrested Development)
Reason: All the teams are amazing. This was tough. But NS won this barely for me in rounds 3, 4 and 5.
4. At the risk of revealing my pick for future drafts, my favorite TV theme song is/was:
Favorite: Growing Pains. It's my parents' ring tone when they call. Love it. "Show me that smile again (show me that smile)..."

Monday, October 13, 2008

DRAFT 01 - TV Sitcoms (Primetime) - Results

Pics, videos and draft breakdown listed below. Click "Draft Home" on the right to access the other teams.
Mister Merchants

1.7 Three's Company - Nobody has ever done, or will ever do, physical comedy as well as John Ritter. Good ol' Jack Tripper is one of the most endearing characters I've ever known and the nostalgia factor is too high to pass up as I remember watching this with my late grandmother every time it came on. So many shows have tried to use the same "eavesdropping misunderstanding" technique to create hilarity, and Mr. Furley should make anybody smile. There were multiple spin offs, but none captured nonsense or challenged acceptance like Three's Company, so I'm not naming them. lol The final shot of the series, closing the door on the apartment, still tears me up.
2.2 Coach - Sticking with taking favorites, I don't care if I took this early. It has Craig T. Nelson continually baffled by how stupid people are, it has Jerry Van Dyke brilliantly aloof as Luther... Dobber and Christine... oh, and Football! Coach Hayden Fox was the perfect comedic example of the Alpha Male with the begrudging heart of gold.
3.7 Friends - "I'll be there for you"... Man, I feel like they have been, whether I wanted them or not. I have fond memories of my freshman year at college, hanging out with the older bunch who watched the show every Thursday. It was just a part of life. You watch Friends, you visit during the Silverman show, you watch Seinfeld, you visit some more... you wonder how many silly UT girls would have the latest "Rachel" haircut the following day... Then, you move into other stages of life and it just keeps going and going... Now, with syndication, it's still fun to watch episodes you've seen 100 times, but I can experience them with my wife. If Chandler weren't in the series, who can say how endearing it would have been, but his one-liner-to-rectify-any-
situation approach mimics my own style, so they kinda feel like family, not friends.
4.2 The Family Guy - The Simpsons were gone and I'm a massive, massive Flinstones fan... but I went with The Family Guy so I could have an animated series. You can spend hours just watching individual clips on YouTube of this series, since it is so random, and it's almost just as good. Think about how many times you've pulled up Brian the dog, in a banana suit, doing the "Peanut Butter Jelly Time" dance... or Stewie asking Peter if he needs a So-da? Eh, big guy? I HATED the whole evil baby, world domination thing, so refused to watch this series when it first aired, but now, it supplies plenty of big laughs. My favorite episode is the "Grind My Gears" ep, but it's because of Stewie and Brian getting drunk... wow, I'm sorry, but that was freaking hilarious.
5.7 Keeping Up Appearances - You're watching Boorman's Excalibur movie and thinking, "Hey, that guy who raised Arthur as a boy, he's great! If only he were in a nonsensical British sitcom..." Then, POOF! You have Richard begrudgingly catering to every high-maintenance, uberly-in-denial whim of one Hyacinth Bucket. She continually corrects people that this is "Boo-Kay" but still gets called "the Bucket woman." The jokes are practically the same every episode, like her insisting to people that she's related to royalty, her naiivity regarding her son's sexual preference, the dog barking through the car window, the senial father sleeping around and wandering off... but they never get old.

VIDEO CLIPS:
Three's Company - A few bloopers.

Coach - Shout montage.

Friends - Joey's tailor... "IN PRISON!"
The Family Guy - Peanut Butter Jelly Time!

Keeping Up Appearances - A slightly different take on the dog.


VIEW ORIGINAL DRAFT THREAD

Monday, September 8, 2008

Welcome!

Thanks for taking part in this fun league where you'll be drafting, you guessed it, EVERYTHING! You should be receiving an e-mail shortly that grants you access to posting on your own team board.

There are no limit to your posts on here, but your picks/draft choices will only count if you "Reply All" to the draft e-mail.

Be respectful and HAVE FUN!!