Bye-bye Thousand Dollar Bee

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Steve Gavazzi\' post=\'151072\' date=\'Apr 26 2007, 11:09 PM\']
[quote name=\'tpirfan28\' post=\'151065\' date=\'Apr 26 2007, 11:25 PM\']
The quality is slightly sub-par...[/quote]

...and the sound's a little choppy, too. :-)
[/quote]
Hi-yoooo!

[BrandonFG]

[quote name=\'tpirfan28\' post=\'151065\' date=\'Apr 26 2007, 11:25 PM\']
...but here's a gift for all our wonderful GSF members
[/quote]
My head asplode.

[toddyo]

They're shutting down? NO! It's the only place that runs Jay Ward cartoons. I need my Bullwinkle and King Leonardo fix!

[uncamark]

[quote name=\'toddyo\' post=\'151160\' date=\'Apr 28 2007, 09:16 PM\']
They're shutting down? NO! It's the only place that runs Jay Ward cartoons. I need my Bullwinkle and King Leonardo fix!
[/quote]

As many people would tell you, Jay Ward was not responsible for "King Leonardo."  That was Total Television, a New York-based company whose connection with the Ward shows of the time was the General Mills sponsorship, a guy named Peter Piech as the money man and the crappy Mexican studio where the shows were animated (although "Leonardo"'s first season was animated in LA).

I know that Piech and General Mills still have the broadcast and cable rights to "Rocky and Bullwinkle," while the Ward estate through NBC Universal controls all other merchandising rights (including video)--do Piech and General Mills control all rights for the TTV product?  (Since Disney's making an "Underdog" feature film with a CG-assisted real dog as Underdog [!], guess we'll find out soon enough.)

[toddyo]

Actually, in a weird twist of fate, Jay Ward Productions (who hated Disney) was purchased in the 80's by Disney (around the time they bought Jim Henson Productions). Talk about a monopoly.

When the Bullwinkle Emporium was in LA, you could buy an audio cassette of all of the drop music and themes from all of the Ward Productions, like Super Chicken, Bullwinkle, Dudley Doo-Right and some others. I think King L. was on there too.

[DjohnsonCB]

[quote name=\'toddyo\' post=\'151254\' date=\'Apr 30 2007, 09:12 PM\']

When the Bullwinkle Emporium was in LA, you could buy an audio cassette of all of the drop music and themes from all of the Ward Productions, like Super Chicken, Bullwinkle, Dudley Doo-Right and some others. I think King L. was on there too.
[/quote]
I have that audio cassette and no Total Television themes are on it.  What it does have, among the goodies, is the theme and some underscoring from Fractured Flickers, two long versions of the Hoppity Hooper theme, the long theme from the original Rocky And His Friends series, a great pair of original compositions with lyrics about Dudley Do-Right (with some nonsensical gibberish read by Gary Owens thrown in) and Bullwinkle ("I'd Be Happy To Be..."), and the title themes from a couple of obscure Ward 'toons that actually exist in completed pilot film form but never went to series: "Hawkear--Frontier Scout" and "Fang, The Wonder (?) Dog", which I WISH would be made available on DVD along with that last Fractured Fairy Tale that aired in theatres showing the live action "Dudley" movie some years back.  

The last piece of music on Side 2 is the closing theme from The Bullwinkle Show minus the fireworks-and-explosion SFX we're used to hearing on TV at the end.  Without them, the music ends in a way that, to be honest, makes my skin crawl a bit.  You have to hear it to understand what I mean.

[snowpeck]

Breaking news: Black Family Channel will be continuing as a free broadband internet video service.  Don't know what programming this will include so Thousand Dollar Bee fans - as if there are any - don't rejoice just yet.

Source: http://www.blackfamilychannel.com/press_re...fconlinerel.pdf

Greg

[TimK2003]

[quote name=\'DjohnsonCB\' post=\'151265\' date=\'May 1 2007, 02:35 AM\']
The last piece of music on Side 2 is the closing theme from The Bullwinkle Show minus the fireworks-and-explosion SFX we're used to hearing on TV at the end.  Without them, the music ends in a way that, to be honest, makes my skin crawl a bit.  You have to hear it to understand what I mean.
[/quote]

That full un-sfx'ed open and close theme can be found on Rhino Records' Toon Tunes (from 1997).

In addition to the aformentioned R&B theme, the CD has the Jay Ward themes from Fractured Fairy Tales, Peabody's Improbable History, George Of The Jungle & Superchicken, as well as a few Hanna-Barbera themes without the sfx's.

And that freaky Rocky & Bullwinkle theme ending is nothing compared to the opening to the original Scooby-Doo theme (sans the thunder & bat SFX)!!!

[dzinkin]

Presented without comment, at least from me:

Say what you want about BFC’s programming quality or on-air star power, but BFC did bring positive images of young people of color to homes all across the country through such shows as inspiring competition series Thou$and Dollar Spelling Bee, in which young minority boys and girls participated in a competition using their brains and not their athletic prowess or good looks.

The full commentary is here.

[tpirfan28]

Say what you want about BFC’s programming quality or on-air star power, but BFC did bring positive images of young people of color to homes all across the country through such shows as inspiring competition series Thou$and Dollar Spelling Bee, in which young minority boys and girls participated in a competition using their brains and not their athletic prowess or good looks.

No comment.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'dzinkin\' post=\'152525\' date=\'May 17 2007, 08:57 AM\']
The full commentary is here.
[/quote]
Can I just say I was utterly unsurprised when I saw the race of the author?

[AZAndrewG]

Say what you want about BFC’s programming quality or on-air star power, but BFC did bring positive images of young people of color to homes all across the country through such shows as inspiring competition series Thou$and Dollar Spelling Bee, in which young minority boys and girls participated in a competition using their brains and not their athletic prowess or good looks.

Invest -- E-V-I-S-_
Money -- M-O-N-E
Credit -- C-E-R-D-I-T

[Steve Gavazzi]

[quote name=\'dzinkin\' post=\'152525\' date=\'May 17 2007, 11:57 AM\']
Presented without comment, at least from me:

...such shows as inspiring competition series Thou$and Dollar Spelling Bee...

[/quote]

I don't think that's a very good description.  The word "inspire" is usually used in a positive context.  The only thing Thousand Dollar Bee inspired me to do was smash my head into a wall.

[urbanpreppie05]

[quote name=\'Steve Gavazzi\' post=\'152692\' date=\'May 18 2007, 04:48 PM\']
[quote name=\'dzinkin\' post=\'152525\' date=\'May 17 2007, 11:57 AM\']
Presented without comment, at least from me:

...such shows as inspiring competition series Thou$and Dollar Spelling Bee...

[/quote]

I don't think that's a very good description.  The word "inspire" is usually used in a positive context.  The only thing Thousand Dollar Bee inspired me to do was smash my head into a wall.
[/quote]

Inspire, as spelled on 1K bee..

E-N-S-P-I-E-R.

[uncamark]

Before this slippery slope becomes even more slippery, I suspect that the author had not even seen "Bee" or if he had, had let his good intentions overcome his good sense.

The basic idea of "Thou$and Dollar Bee" in itself is sound.  As so often happens, the execution is what it made it so bad.  And from all reports, BFC's main problem in its original programming was its execution.  

As much as the genre is despised around here, at least TVOne's relationship game "I've Got the Hookup" showed somewhat more competence in production (with a budget not much higher than "Bee") and had an infinitely better host in Russ Parr, an established radio guy who could easily bring his talents over to this format.  BFC did not have that luck--all it had was a bunch of marquee names behind the scenes and crossed fingers.