Subversive TV/DOLLHOUSE/Rocketman Revealed!

[LARSSON at VAX1.Mankato.MSUS.EDU]

1. About "Subversive" TV--yes, "uncomfortable" is a better word, and usually
gauged by its lack of popularity (even if it enjoys temporary fad status).
One show that stands out for me is the lamented FRANK'S PLACE, with Tim
Reid, as an Ivy Leaguer ("I'm a Brown Man") who inherits a bar in New
Orleans.  It was one of the few shows on tv that showed "black" culture
as being complex and diverse.

I'd also mention MY SO-CALLED LIFE, which also bit the dust, and--for network
tv, at least--went to places in the family and teenage psyche that few
shows have gone, even if it presented the bumbling parents as genuinely
concerned about their kids and the kids themselves as generally bright and
talented but misunderstood--by themselves especially.

One more show that may be of interest to those with cable or satellite is
REED WILD CINEMA, which runs on USA late Sunday nights.  It's hosted by
Sandra Berhard (in small doses, the best way to appreciate her unique talents)
and features horrid movies with the boring stuff clipped out.  It's like
MST3K without the commentary.


2.  Someone (Jeff?) asked if anyone *liked* WELCOME TO THE DOLLHOUSE.  Well,
I just saw it, and yes, I did.  In fact, it makes MY SO-CALLED LIFE look like
Ozzie and Harriet, while avoiding the sensationalism of KIDS.  The real
strength of the film is that the outcasts are "
*not* bright and talented, just alienated geeks.  Few films since Joseph
Wiseman's documentary HIGH SCHOOL have captured the dismal ordinary angst of
teen life so well.   If the parents are cliches, like most cliches they have
a basis in fact.  We are far-removed from suburban New Jersey out here in
flyover country, but I see all too many families and kids like those in
this film.  (Case in point: our local July 4 celebration last week, which
included a creepy presentation by a local dance class, with four-year-olds
and up shaking their bespangled booties in ways that Humbert Humbert would
have died for and Missy would have given her eye teeth to dance in!)


3. I wrote in PYNCHON NOTES a while back about the comic book character 
Rocketman, who first appeared in SCOOP COMICS in the 1930s.  Well, there is
now a set of Golden Age reprints being issued by AC comics and Paradox
Press.  The first issue includes an adventure of Rocketman and Rocketgirl,
although he does not have a nosecone hat!  (This is not one of the original
SCOOP stories, though, so who knows?)  Also, the editors make no mention
of the appearance of the hero in HELLO, PAL comics, which only last for
three issues, one of which featured the likeness of Mickey Rooney!

The quest continues!


Another book in the series features heroes of Fawcett comics, who were 
contemporaries of Captain Marvel.  These characters--Spy Smasher, Bulletman
and others--have recently reappeared in DC Comics remake of CM in THE POWER
OF SHAZAM.  Bulletman is of some interest here because he *did* have a conehead
which powered him by gravity!


Don Larsson, Mankato State U (MN)