In Praise of the "Eight is Enough" Theme

Truly, after all these years, I can contain myself no more. I love the "Eight is Enough" theme, the most wonderously bad TV theme song ever.

First, the vocal. Grant Goodeve warbles this with a distressing vibarato while simultaneously sounding like he's being suffocated with a pillow. (As an aside, Wikipedia says that Grant Goodeve had a brief singing career. Very brief, I'm guessing.)

Second, the nonsensical lyrics: "Oh, we spend our days like bright and shiny new dimes." Because we're, er...okay, how exactly do we spend our lives like dimes, new or otherwise? "There's a plate of homemade wishes on the kitchen windowsill." Because wishes, like pies, need to...cool before you serve them?

Third, and best, is the gloriously incongruous disco rhythm track going "thumpa thumpa" in the background. It was 1978, after all, but if this was an attempt to tap into disco fever, I have to say it fails miserably.

And yet, despite all of this, or because of it, the "Eight is Enough" theme works somehow. It's delicious. It's like a White Castle burger; at first, it's repulsive, but soon, you find yourself craving it.

So c'mon everyone, all together now, "There's a magic in the early morning we've found..."

One more Sarah Palin thing...

Doesn't she look a lot like Peggy Hill? Whaddya think?

Sarah Palin or Mackenzie Allen?

I've talked before about how this presidential election looked to be taken right from the 2005 season of The West Wing (here's a pretty good recap). Now the Republicans are taking it further, seemingly borrowing the plot of Commander In Chief, the short-lived Geena Davis vehicle from 2005. In the show, Davis is Mackenzie Allen, a woman with very little political experience placed on the ticket as "a stunt" to get votes. No disrespect to Gov. Palin, but with her mayorship of a small town and less than two years as governor of a sparsely populated state, she seems to have been chosen more for her gender or her conservative cred than for her expertise. In the show, Allen assumes the presidency after the president dies, causing great gnashing of teeth about her inexperience and lack of political ambition.

So, which is it for 2009? A Santos administration or President Mackenzie Allen? And which other show from 2005 will next impact the election? Please tell me it's not Joey...

Bionic Showdown

Just got back from Comic-con in San Diego. There were the usual hordes of costumed fans, movie and TV show previews, and stuff for sale. Tell you about some of that later. First, let's focus on my meet-up with TV's original Bionic Woman, Lindsay Wagner. Okay, I admit it, it wasn't much of a meet-up at all...I got in her autograph line, and she was not exactly the warmest or most personable person in the world. I looked to the left, and there was Katey Sagal in her line, with her arms draped over two fans. To the right, and there was another celeb gladhanding the crowd. And here was Lindsay in front of me, all business, and unenthusiastically leaning over the table for a photo. Still, the whole autograph thing must be weird for anyone to do, so I'll cut her some slack. And I did get a picture, even if she wasn't wearing a red-white-and-blue tracksuit!

Ebert No Longer "At The Movies"

You may have heard that Roger Ebert is leaving "At The Movies," along with Richard Roeper. I never cared that much about Roeper, but Siskel and Ebert (or Gene and Rog, as I like to call them) were like family. They were our local Chicago guys, and I watched them since they started "Sneak Previews" on WTTW in 1977. Gene moved on (that is, died) a few years ago and was replaced by Mr. Roeper (no, not that Mr. Roper). Now, the show Gene and Rog created is being revamped, and Ebert is no longer a part of it. I'm just sorry to see it go, that's all.