Internet nostalgia is a double-edged sword. The very escalating group pining that happens in relation to old projects does not necessarily mean they want to see more; as Matt Zoller Seitz wrote, beloved shows should remain dead. Nostalgia is grasping for the impossible: You don’t want more of what you remember fondly; you want to be back at the time when you enjoyed it, which is an impossibility. Fervent campaigning for more, more, more is really a rally for time to move backward. The disappointment of the Star Wars prequels wasn’t entirely the fault of the subpar movies, it’s that adults would never be able to see them with the same wonderment that they did when they were kids and played Luke and Han in their backyards. It was fun to beg for more Indiana Jones adventures, but Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was unsettling: Old Indiana Jones? We’re old — I don’t want to be reminded of that! Make him young; make us young! Witness the mass mind-losing over Girl Meets World. Once the thrill fades of first seeing the old Boy Meets World faces reunite, will there be any reward to seeing them deliver TGIF-caliber humor? And if it suddenly becomes smart, adult comedy, wouldn’t that feel just as wrong?
Nostalgia Overload of the Day: Cartoon Network is ripping a page from the Nickelodeon playbook and bringing back a bunch of old shows with a Friday night block of programming featuring such fan favorites as Johnny Bravo, Dexter’s Laboratory, Cow and Chicken, Powerpuff Girls, and others. Cartoon Planet starts this Friday, March 30th, at 8 PM. [ontd.]
Friday, Feb. 24, the cast and crew of the Nickelodeon show will reunite at The Bowery Ballroom in New York City. The A.V. Club will host the event, tickets for which go on sale tomorrow.
Underrated in 2011: I listen to a lot of podcasts (all of which I would immediately sing the praises of) and while I added many subscriptions this year, The Jeff Rubin Jeff Rubin Show deserves a very specific shout out. Rubin has a dedication to pursuing unique and thoroughly intriguing guests. From Kirk Fogg to The Daily What’s Nitzan, you are going to learn something fascinating in every episode. Sure Marc Maron can get inside the head of the comedian, but Jeff Rubin is diving into things you never knew you wanted to know about.
“I remember being really tiny and the actual stick - the pole on the head of the monkey that you had to stick through to hit the button - was super long. And you had all these tiny kids who would try to grab the head of the monkey and the pole would be too long when you were grabbing it from the top.”
- Legends of the Hidden Temple winner Anthony explaining why the Silver Monkey was so difficult on this week’s Jeff Rubin Jeff Rubin Show.
In this episode you’ll learn everything you ever wanted to know about Nickelodeon gameshow Legends of the Hidden Temple, and probably a great deal more. We cover both sides of the game with host Kirk Fogg and victorious contestant Anthony.
As always, two versions of the show -
The enhanced version on iTunes - This comes with pictures that pop up at pre-determined times to illustrate what we’re talking about, but it only works on Apple devices and in iTunes itself. The pictures appear where the album art usually would.
