Pieces of Pop: April
04-13-2006
by Aaron Dicer

Pieces of Pop
Bite sized morsels of a hard to swallow culture

I think winter may actually be coming to an end here in Michigan. It's genuinely difficult to tell sometimes, what with the April blizzards and all. Yet as the flowers poke through, the birds begin to sing, and the aroma of burning leaves fills the air, I am reminded that with the new growth of spring comes one of the most important Holidays our culture takes time out to honor. I am, of course, speaking of May sweeps. That glorious cacophony of network promos heralding more plot twists, character deaths, character weddings, and million dollar checks than the other 11 months combined. New episodes of Deal or No Deal, Las Vegas, and Numb3rs? Now that's a good Friday. (Sigh, if only that didn't hit home so hard.) Anyways, in honor of another sweeps month that will soon be upon us it's the all TV edition of "Pieces of Pop"

Big Brother, Where art thou?

CBS announced recently that Big Brother 7, which will air this summer, will be an All-Star edition. I've never been a huge Big Brother fan, but every season there are one or two players that catch my interest. All I know is that if Jason from season 3 is on I'm there. He remains, to this day, one of the few examples of Christians on reality TV who I would willingly chose to identify myself with. It looks like they are going to ask the viewing public to pick the participants so join me in making sure Jason gets back in the house.

No Further Developments

Mitch Hurwitz, creator of "Arrested Development", announced recently that he would no longer be involved with the series, even if it is picked up by another network, a decision that effectively dashes all hopes of the show continuing in any form. It's like I'm six years old again and I just outgrew the height requirement on the ball pit. I want to play, but there is no going back now. Truly, a sad day.

Where's God when I'm Sued?

Phil Vischer and the Veggie Tale gang recently won a huge court battle as the Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal that could have reinstated the overturned decision that would have cost them more than $11 million. You may remember the story from 3 years ago when a jury decided that Bob and Larry owed Lyrick Studios that amount based on a verbal contract to do business with them. The appeals court disagreed and reversed it, and now with the Supreme Court not taking the case it appears that the whole deal is over and the Big Idea gang can now focus solely on doing what they do best, presenting truth with humor and excellence, and 11 million extra dollars in the bank.

Back to the Future?

"Good news, everyone!" With "The Simpsons" getting a renewal for seasons 18 and 19, and the recent surprise Simpsons movie announcement (everyone knew it was coming eventually, but nobody but the actors knew it was already in production for next summer) it made me wonder yet again how "Futurama", Matt Groening's other (and arguably better) show, never made it. Then Billy West (voice of Fry, the professor, and many others) has to go and blog that "Futurama" will be back with 26 NEW episodes sometime soon! Turns out they will likely be straight to DVD, but it's still a development over which even Bender would get a little sentimental.

24 + 3 = $40,000,000

So 24 releases that they have signed Jack Bauer on for another 3 days (at just over $13 million a day) of real time insanity and then they try to fake us out with his death? You kinda gave away your hand a bit there, Fox. I've got $40 Million that says Keifer pulls through. It all adds up to 3 more years of ulcers for me, and wonderful lines from Jack like, "the only reason you are conscious right now, is because I don't want to carry you." Please God, just one time I'd like the opportunity to use that in real life.

Who is the King of that Hill, Anyway?

Hank Hill and family spent last Sunday's episode of "King of the Hill" trying to find a church that fit their family. There were certainly some digs at "mega churches" and the Christian subculture (well deserved, by the way), but for the most part the episode portrayed the importance of church and the role it has in our life. This is the second time this show has astounded me with it's willingness to look at Christianity in a fair minded way with an often positive spin. It seems to take aim at all the places where modern Christianity needs a bit of skewering, and then reemphasize the importance of faith and family. By the way, the other episode that had explicit church content was the one where Bobby got involved in an "extreme" youth group. Hank closed that episode by showing his son a box of things he had at one time or another been crazy about and then saying this, "I just don't want Jesus to become another fad in your life, Bobby." You know it's an upside down world when some of the clearest truth on TV comes from the creator of (to quote Chris Rice) "Beavis and… that other guy". What if cartoons got saved, indeed.