7.28.2008

Television, My Old Friend...

I just found out that they're releasing the short-lived, and somewhat surreal cartoon show Freakazoid on DVD.



I remember this show being hilarious as a kid. I seriously have no idea how it has held up over time, but I suspect there's tons more about it I'd be far more willing to appreciate as an adult than an innocent child.

There are tons of old shows I'd love to revisit. Tiny Toon Adventures for instance has for some reason been held back from the DVD onslaught despite it's popularity and resulting spin-off cartoon series. It's a real shame, because when I was little I was so obsessed with it that I would occassionally cry if I missed the opening intro.

But there are other shows, far more obscure, that I would love to see turn up again.

One show, specifically, that I absolutely loved was a somewhat dramatic sci-fi show called "Now and Again." It was cancelled for a number of reasons. One, for instance, was that the concept of an overweight man killed by a subway train and then transplanted into the body of a younger, more fit, superhuman was a tad too far-fetched for older audiences. That, and also there was another show airing at the same time called "Once and Again" which was a lame girly series that definitely didn't feature brain transplants of any kind.



The show was quite brilliant in how the central character was forced to consistently reconcile his duties to the government, who own his body, in contrast to his family, who are convinced that he has died. The character dynamics were simply outstanding, as the family-man turned super-human had to protect his own family from discovering his identity while trying to still act as a father figure.

I watched Now and Again avidly, until it was gradually cancelled and replaced by televised latin music concerts.

The other show that managed to completely disappear, was Push Nevada.



When I say it disappeared, I mean, it seriously disappeared. That intro video is all I could find. The only other video clips are in spanish, which I assume means that somewhere below the equator Push Nevada is still being aired on live television.

For those that don't know, and there are plenty that don't, Push Nevada was a surreal mystery series about a tax man who is sent to the small casino ruled town of Push to collect on the government's earnings. What he finds is basically the town of Twin Peaks mixed with the island from LOST.

Needless to say, the show got wierd.

But unlike LOST or Twin Peaks, Push Nevada had the promise of an actual explanation. This was given by way of a contest in which viewers could find "clues" in each episode that would eventually lead to the lost million dollars the main character was trying to find.

It was pretty retarded, but fun none-the-less, and the mysteries the show provided were pushed along by a solid cast of engaging characters.

Troubles arose when Push Nevada was cancelled before all the clues were given. Since the show was legally obligated to conclude the contest, viewers were treated to one last clue-crammed episode. While this was probably great for people interested in the puzzle, for people actually interested in the character driven series the show concluded with an expository narration that was even more confusing than Twin Peaks and LOST combined. Which is basically like saying it was a black-hole of confusing-ness-ed?

Still, Push Nevada was strangely memorable, and personally, I believe it inspired numerous television shows like LOST in their most successful traits.

I'm sure there are many more long lost television shows that'll somehow manage to pop up on DVD, but the important thing to remember is that the entire Sonic the Hedgehog Animated Series is still widely available, and let's be honest, as long as that exists on DVD who need anything else?



No one. That's who.

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