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PARKER LEWIS!! IMPORTANT!! EASTBOUND!! GIRL!! HOMICIDE!! TRANSFORMERS!! RESCUE ME!! HercVault!!

Published at:  Jul 05, 2009 8:42:09 PM CDT



I am – Hercules!!





John Hughes’ acclaimed smash “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” came out the summer of 1986, but TV inexplicably waited until the summer of 1990, four long years later, to rip it off twice. NBC and Paramount offered the Hughes-free not-acclaimed authorized version, “Ferris Bueller,” which moved the characters from Chicago to Los Angeles and starred Charlie Schlatter as Ferris, Jennifer Aniston as Jeannie, Brandon Douglas as Cameron and Ami Dolenz as girlfriend Sloan. It was cancelled by December.

The struggling 4-year-old Fox network teamed with Sony and writer-producer (and future “Suddenly Susan” creator) Clyde Phillips for “Parker Lewis Can't Lose.” Premiering only 10 days after “Ferris,” “Parker” pitted the scheming teen title character, his nerd pal Jerry, and Parker’s girlfriend, Annie Sloan, against Parker’s archnemesis little sister and expulsion-focused Principal Musso. Corin Nemec (Harold Lauder in “The Stand”) played the titular scheming BMOC, Billy Jayne (the horny little brother in 1985’s “Just One Of The Boys”) played buddy Mikey, Groundlings star Tim Stack (“Son of the Beach”) played Parker’s dad, and 6’7” Abraham Benrubi (who would grow old as admissions clerk Jerry Markovic on “ER”) played massive classmate Francis Lawrence “Kube” Kubiac. “Parker” lasted 73 episodes over three seasons.


A pre-“Return to the Blue Lagoon,” pre-“Dazed and Confused” 17-year-old Milla Jovovich starred in the pilot, and other first-season guest stars included Josh Lucas, Josie Bissett, A.J. Langer, Robyn Lively, Penny Johnson, Ozzy Osbourne, Donny Osmond, Ziggy Marley, Rodney Allen Rippy, Ryan Stiles, Charles Rocket, Gerrit Graham and Ray Walston.


AUDIO COMMENTARIES:

1.1 “Pilot”: writer/creators Clyde Phillips & Lon Diamond (note that if Lon married Clyde, he’d be Lon Diamond Phillips), producer Robert Lloyd Lewis (has the same last name as Parker’s family) and composer Dennis McCarthy.

1.5 “Close, But No Guitar”: Phillips, Diamond, Lewis and director Bryan Spicer.

1.8 “Saving Grace”: Phillips, Diamond, Lewis, Spicer and actor Troy Slaten.

1.10 “Deja Dudes”: actors Slaten, Tim Stack, Anne Bloom and Taj Johnson.

1.16 “Jerry: Portrait of a Video Junkie”: Phillips, Diamond and Lewis.

1.18 “The Human Grace”: Diamond, Lewis, Slaton and actor William Jayne.

1.25 “My Fair Shelly”: actors Stack, Bloom, Maia Brewton and Corin Nemec.

OTHER EXTRA:

“The History of Coolness: A Look Back At ‘Parker Lewis Can’t Lose’” (29:59): Nemec, Jayne, Slaten, Brewton, Stack, Bloom, Johnson, Phillips, Diamond, Lewis, Spicer, McCarthy, Benrubi, actress Mary Ellen Trainor directors Rob Bowman and Larry Shaw discuss the show’s history. Discover that the middle aged Nemec appears now to be morphing into Eddie Haskell. Learn that Benrubi and Johnson both served as roadies on No Doubt’s first California tour and appear in the band’s first video. Learn that nobody seems entirely sure why a new actress was brought into the second season to play replace Bloom as Parker’s mom (“I think it was a contractual thing; I think she was too expensive or something,” offers showrunner Phillips).




A six-episode HBO comedy from the “Foot Fist Way” team of writer-director Jody Hill, screenwriter Ben Best and writer-actor Danny McBride, “Eastbound & Down” follows a vulgar, racist, homophobic, narcissistic, dope-addled, deluded and tax-evading former major-league pitcher named Kenny Powers who finds himself reduced to serving as a P.E. coach.

Besides McBride (“Pineapple Express,” “Tropic Thunder”), the series stars John Hawkes (“Deadwood”), Jennifer Irwin (“Still Standing”), Katy Mixon (“Four Christmases”) and Andrew Daly (“Mad TV”).

It holds a handful of solid-gold gags, and a lot of waiting between solid-gold gags. A lot of critics liked it less than I did:

USA Today says:

… a smug, ugly, wit-free comedy from Will Ferrell and friends that operates under the assumption that the audience is as stupid and vulgar as the show's characters. Prove that assumption wrong.…


Entertainment Weekly says:

… What lifts Eastbound & Down away from mere crudball humor is McBride's ongoing love affair with the lower middle class: He revels in getting all the details right, from his brother's cramped suburban house to the frowsy bar where Kenny drinks boilermakers in the front and hoovers coke in the back-room.…


The New York Times says:

… feels like a margarine, not butter, version of “Talladega Nights,” the Nascar reversal-of-fortune story in which the children were ingeniously named Walker and Texas Ranger, and the exchanges between Mr. Ferrell and John C. Reilly had an addicting improvisational madness. Comparatively, “Eastbound & Down” feels static. Unlike Ricky Bobby, Kenny shows no signs (at least not yet) of a turnaround, and it is unclear whether Mr. McBride could believably pull one off. Lacking Mr. Ferrell’s vulnerability, one that comes to a great extent from resembling an overgrown 10-year-old, Mr. McBride looks like someone you’d run away from in the parking lot of a Waffle House.


The Los Angeles Times says:

… I can't say the pilot struck me as especially funny, but there are good things and talented people in it, and it looks good. (Hill directed, and Best appears as Kenny's once-and-present drug buddy.) Perhaps I am just being old-fashioned, but I was disappointed by its tenuous relation to reality and the uneven respect it pays its characters. …


The Chicago Tribune says:

… Kenny’s outsize ego may get tiresome after a while; though I've only seen the first half-hour of "Eastbound & Down," I can't escape the feeling that it might have worked best as the first third of a comedic washed-up-athlete film. …


The Washington Post says:

… He's never lovable, he's barely tolerable, but many of the things he does and says are frighteningly recognizable. He's a kind of Everyjerk, and when a long day of blustering and cursing is done, he can be heard weeping pitifully in his bed. "Eastbound & Down" finds true triumph in utter failure.


The San Francisco Chronicle says:

… What HBO might find equally difficult with "Eastbound & Down" is overcoming the fact that the series is mostly stupid, frequently unfunny and covers for its lack of original comic material by dropping f-bombs all over the place. The notion that being daringly inappropriate at all times or shouting obscenities as loud and often as possible somehow makes "Eastbound & Down" cutting edge is misplaced. Anybody can do that. Is it funny? Sometimes - definitely. But the repetitive yahoo-centric situations hint that there are no other comedic layers here. Swearing, yelling and snark, with an unlikable main character - that's just "Deadwood" without the brilliance, nuance and originality. At this point, "Eastbound & Down" is a consciously lowbrow, one-note tirade. Maybe the five other episodes grow up? (HBO usually sends three or four episodes, so something seems amiss.)…


The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says:

… The humor in "Eastbound" is a far cry from the cerebral comedy currently en vogue on shows like "The Office" and "30 Rock," but that doesn't mean "Eastbound" can't do sly humor that falls left of center. …


The Newark Star Ledger says:

… Kenny is so abrasive, so unapologetic in his cruelty, that it becomes almost as frustrating to watch him as it would be to live with him. … Maybe McBride has more pitches in his arsenal than he's shown so far, but the repertoire on display in "Eastbound & Down" feels too limited for a long stint on HBO's mound.


The Boston Globe says:

… falls into the grating category of totally obnoxious dude comedies, at least based on tomorrow night's premiere. Maybe the series, whose producers include Will Ferrell, will improve in coming episodes, but it's hard to see how.…


The Hollywood Reporter says:

… What's initially so sublimely hilarious about the series is its protagonist's utterly clueless refusal to conform to polite society, yet he's somehow likable -- lewd-crude hubris and all. Credit the performance of Danny McBride, a budding star who makes it clear in the premiere that he will spare no foul-mouthed rant or offensive diatribe in depicting an arrogant anti-hero of monumental self-delusion and hostility. …


Variety says:

… Perhaps sports fans are similarly pining for something to fill the emotional void left by "Arliss," but anyone holding HBO to a higher standard will signal for a reliever long before "Eastbound" reaches the bottom of the ninth. … Even with the promise of a Ferrell cameo in future episodes, it's a tired premise -- a more profane version of the kind of low-swinging sitcom that could easily have wound up on TBS. …



I adore “Secret Diary of a Call Girl,” which continues to star fabulous Billie Piper and her naked body in a swell look at a high-end London prostitution. It’s a British import but also, along with “Weeds” and “The United States of Tara,” a reason Showtime remains a rare destination for watchable sitcommery.


Season five of “Entourage” was an uncharacteristic downer, starting with Vincent Chase broke and trying to recover from the failure of “Medillin,” then begging for a supporting role on what looked like a really bad Jason Patric firefighting movie. The season ended with Chase landing at the last minute the lead in the next Scorsese picture, but it was kinda too little too late. In between Ari reconnected with an old friend and fellow agent and, in a science fiction turn, “Sopranos” hottie Jamie Lynn Sigler started sleeping with fat nobody Turtle.





Herc’s Popular Pricing Pantry




There’s a new edition of Stephen Cannell’s supercool and highly serialized FBI/mob drama “Wiseguy” arriving Aug. 25; you’d be smart to lock in its current Amazon price NOW at $9.99!! (Everybody who ordered it at $12.99 last week will now automatically be charged only $9.99!!!) Crazy cheap at either price for a 22-hour first season; used copies of these same 22 episodes on the old half-season sets currently run you a minimum of $114.80!!!


Amazon has at the moment a lorryload of season sets for $14.99 or less. You can, in fact, buy every episode of “Harsh Realm” for just $13.49!!



The wonderful, extra-crammed DEFINITIVE-EDITION “Twilight Zone” sets once sold for more than $100/season. Two weeks ago they sold on Amazon for $69.99/season. They’re momentarily $27.99/season!!


You can momentarily own EVERY episode of “Buck Rogers In The 25th Century (from Glen A. Larson, creator of “Battlestar Galactica”!) for $15.49!!


“From The Earth To The Moon,” the entire extra-packed signature edition, has fallen to its lowest price ever: $11.99!! People were paying $49 for this set last year.


$19.99 Shield!!
(60% OFF!!)



$18.99 Complete Animated Trek!!




July 16 is the last day of the big Blu-ray Lost Sale!!







TV-on-Disc Calendar




Last Week
Bizarre Foods Vol. 3
Blood Ties 1.x
The FBI Files: Best of 1998-2000
Ghost Hunters: Fans' Favorite Investigations
The Girls Next Door 5.x
Monster Squad: The Complete Collection
Reba 6.x
Reba 1.x-6.x
Tom and Jerry: The Chuck Jones Collection



This Week


Blue Murder Vol. 4


Dog The Bounty Hunter: Best Of 5.x


Eastbound & Down 1.x


Entourage 5.x


Eureka 3.x


Hi-5 2.x


The IT Crowd 2.x


Jockeys 1.x


Kong: Collector's Box Set


Number 10: The Complete Miniseries


Parker Lewis Can't Lose 1.x


Prison Break 4.x


Secret Diary of a Call Girl 2.x


Stargate Atlantis 5.x


Swiss Family Robinson (1976): The Complete Series


Trailer Park Boys: The Complete Series



Next Week
Callan Vol. 1
Chris Ryan's Elite Police
Doctor Who: Attack of the Cybermen
Doctor Who: The Rescue/The Romans
Kath & Kim 1.x
Matlock 3.x
Matlock 1.x-3.x
Moon Machines
Murder She Wrote 10.x


Mystery Science Theater 3000: Vol. 15
Peanuts 1960s Collection
Petticoat Junction 2.x
Poirot Vol. 4
Power Rangers RPM Vol. 1
Reno 911! 6.x
Ruby: A Journey to Lose the First 100 Lbs.
Third Watch 2.x
Torchwood 2.x (Blu-ray)
The Universe 3.x (Blu-ray)



July 14
American Gladiators Vol. 1
Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations Vol. 4
Arab Labor 1.x
Bewitched 8.x
The Color of Magic
Crime Scene University
ER 11.x
Faerie Tale Theatre: Princess Tales
Faerie Tale Theatre: Tales from Hans Christian Andersen
G.I. Joe (1983) 1.1
Guns of Will Sonnett 1.x/2.x
The Haunting: Twilight of Evil (Blu-ray)
Ironside: 6 Episodes
Joe Schmo 2.x
Leverage 1.x
Mad Men 2.x


Mad Men 2.x (Blu-ray)
McHale's Navy: 8 Episodes
Men Behaving Badly: 8 Episodes
Peyton Place Vol. 2
Punky Brewster: 8 Episodes
Red Skelton: 30 Episodes


The State: The Complete Series
Swamp Thing: 8 Episodes
Tales of Wells Fargo: Best Of
Tracey Takes On 3.x/4.x
Wild Pacific
Wild Pacific (Blu-ray)
Wire in the Blood 6.x
Zorro: Generation Z Vol. 1



July 21
Charlie's Angels 4.x
The Donna Reed Show 2.x
Hotel 1.x
Jon and Kate Plus Ei8ht 4.x Vol. 2
The Lucy Show 1.x
The Mighty Boosh 1.x
The Mighty Boosh 2.x
The Mighty Boosh 3.x
Monk 7.x
Prison Break: Final Break
Prison Break: Final Break (Blu-ray)
Psych 3.x
Pushing Daisies 2.x
Pushing Daisies 2.x (Blu-ray)
Robot Chicken: Star Wars II
Route 66 3.x Vol. 1
The Secret Saturdays Vol. 1
SpongeBob SquarePants: To SquarePants or Not to SquarePants
Stargate SG-1: Children of The Gods (Final Cut)
This American Life 2.x
Voltron Vol. 8

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    Readers Talkback

  • Jul 01, 2009 2:49:32 AM CDT

    But Parker Lewis doesn't have a guy who killed 2 women.

    by jackpumpkinhead

    Unlike that unwatchable pile of trash "Ferris Bueller", whose lead did just that.


    Oh, and "Parker Lewis" is entertaining, too. Also unlike Broderick.


    Finally, for the real source of the "Parker Lewis" concept, try "3 O'Clock High"

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jul 01, 2009 8:23:28 AM CDT

    Parker Lewis

    by redfist

    CAN'T MUTHERFOOKING LOSE

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jul 01, 2009 8:54:04 AM CDT

    I think I'll wait a few more weeks before ordering Wiseguy

    by big jim

    buy then they'll just be giving them away; or, better yet, pay me to take one off their hands.Parker Lewis seems to really enjoy being the meat in a man-sandwich. Demode, I believe JackPumpkinhead was referring to Broderick, not Schlatter.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jul 01, 2009 10:25:00 AM CDT

    Herc, why are the TV-on-DVD threads locked for a few days?

    by nasty in the pasty

    It makes no sense.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jul 01, 2009 10:54:04 AM CDT

    That cover

    by jake122683

    It looks like they are all fucking on that Parker Lewis cover

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jul 01, 2009 11:52:40 AM CDT

    Matthew Broderick murdered who now?

    by zoinks

    Is Jeff Goldblum dead too?

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jul 01, 2009 12:10:19 PM CDT

    Jennifer Anistron?

    by jimmy_009

    Was that someone on Ferris Bueller with the name Jennifer Anistron, or a typo and really a pre-Friends Jennifer Aniston? E

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jul 01, 2009 12:53:39 PM CDT

    Broderick "murder"

    by don lockwood

    In 1987, Matthew Broderick was in an automobile accident in Ireland. His car veered into the wrong lane and hit another car head-on, instantly killing the two occupants.

    He faced charges which could have resulted in jail time, but instead was convicted of a much lesser charge and fined.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jul 01, 2009 1:01:09 PM CDT

    oh, well. Glad that's settled.

    by zoinks

    The Broderick murders, I mean.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jul 01, 2009 1:19:03 PM CDT

    Anistron typo.

    by zoinks

    Just a typo. Aniston was on the Ferris show.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jul 01, 2009 6:32:00 PM CDT

    Nasty In The Pasty, I've been wondering the same thing

    by big jim

    then I noticed last week's was still up on the main page. Perhaps it is a ploy to get it up on Tuesday but to then re-load it a day or two later so it then stays on the main page a day or two longer.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jul 01, 2009 7:34:11 PM CDT

    Parker Lewis...

    by jake122683

    used to be on right after Weird Science on USA during the summer when I was in middle school.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jul 01, 2009 8:12:55 PM CDT

    Ah, hello, Rescue Me.

    by johnny smith

    Nice to see half of you. Good to know FX has taken the Sci-Fi Channel method of releasing TV-DVDs. Money-grubbing assholes.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jul 02, 2009 1:03:46 AM CDT

    GIRL?? What GIRL??

    by triple_j_72

    Oh... that girl... meh...

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jul 02, 2009 12:16:13 PM CDT

    I love Eastbound.

    by nice marmot

    Was so ready to hate it as I'm sick of all these comic actors that keep getting ALL the movie rolls these days, but ended up loving it to death. And did anyone else notice that they're always describing Powers as racist, but he never once made a racist comment the whole season?

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jul 02, 2009 2:17:39 PM CDT

    Eat now...?

    by nasty in the pasty

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jul 02, 2009 3:49:55 PM CDT

    "New York? More like JEW York!"

    by autodidact

    ^ That's one racist line I can think of.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jul 02, 2009 8:33:51 PM CDT

    Don Lockwood

    by the dark shite

    As I understand it, Broderick was actually drink driving when he killed them & he refused to go back to Ireland to stand trial. That's what I read at least.

    Having said that, it was in a British tabloid & they're usually about as truthful as a fairy tale.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jul 03, 2009 3:24:45 AM CDT

    The Principal in PLCL...

    by playkins

    Definied MILF for me. I wanted to do that chick so bad.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jul 03, 2009 9:17:39 AM CDT

    YES!

    by nasty in the pasty

    I was 16 when PLCL started airing, and I wanted to fuck the Principal too! Her and pre-fatso Kirstie Alley (mainly due to Look Who's Talking) were the top MILFs of my adolescence.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jul 04, 2009 4:04:36 PM CDT

    Holy Fucking Shit

    by mr. lahey

    How many Photoshop man-hours went into the blonde lady on that bounty hunter DVD cover? That is absolutely ridiculous.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jul 04, 2009 4:19:57 PM CDT

    Eastbound and Down

    by ws

    This show is such a dead-on portrait of a certain character type I see every day that I almost can't watch it.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jul 05, 2009 8:15:08 PM CDT

    Thank you DVD Gods...

    by anna valerious

    ...for fulfilling my wish for "Parker Lewis" to be on DVD. Now, to have "Just the Ten of Us" and "Big Wolf On Campus" to make the jump... (Even though you'd THINK that Rachel Lefervre being in "Twilight" would have the company that owns the BWOC rights to release it on DVD and cash in...)

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jul 05, 2009 8:17:10 PM CDT

    BTW....

    by anna valerious

    Melanie Chartoff (Musso) was also on the short lived "Fridays" (With Larry David) and played Didi Pickles on "Rugrats" as well as the mom on the TV version of "Weird Science". (And a lot of the people who worked on "Parker Lewis" worked on that one. :) )

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jul 06, 2009 12:43:38 PM CDT

    Eastbound and Down is hilarious

    by thelastcleric

    Way to keep on proving just how off your taste really is, Herc. The show is pure gold all the way through. Oh, and Diary of a Call Girls is pointless,dry and does absolutely nothing new with the material.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jul 07, 2009 12:40:25 AM CDT

    TWO Weird Ferris Bueller Heroes Connections

    by rsanta74

    In the TV Show, Ferris' Mom is played by Christina Rose. If the name sounds familiar it's because she plays Angela Petrelli on Heroes. That's connection #1.

    Connection #2: For 10 episodes, actor Jeff Maynard played a character by the name of Arthur Petrelli. The same name as Christina Rose's character's evil super powered husband in Heroes.

    Looks like the Heroes' writers dug even deeper (and lower) for their "creative" thievery.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jul 07, 2009 10:15:24 PM CDT

    Hey, wasn't she also...

    by anna valerious

    ...Libby Chessler's mom on "Sabrina the Teenage Witch"?

    Reply to Talkback

  • Aug 13, 2010 3:23:36 PM CDT

    Test

    by le vicious fishus

    MEN CALL HIM THE CHOPPAH!!!

    Reply to Talkback

  • Aug 13, 2010 3:23:55 PM CDT

    no subject

    by le vicious fishus

    MEN CALL HIM THE CHOPPAH!!!

    Reply to Talkback

  • Aug 13, 2010 3:24:09 PM CDT

    no subject

    by le vicious fishus

    MEN CALL HIM THE CHOPPAH!!!

    Reply to Talkback

  • Aug 13, 2010 3:24:22 PM CDT

    no subject

    by le vicious fishus

    MEN CALL HIM THE CHOPPAH!!!

    Reply to Talkback

  • Aug 13, 2010 3:24:35 PM CDT

    no subject

    by le vicious fishus

    MEN CALL HIM THE CHOPPAH!!!

    Reply to Talkback

  • Aug 13, 2010 3:25:08 PM CDT

    no subject

    by le vicious fishus

    MEN CALL HIM THE CHOPPAH!!!

    Reply to Talkback

  • Aug 13, 2010 3:25:46 PM CDT

    no subject

    by le vicious fishus

    MEN CALL HIM THE CHOPPAH!!!

    Reply to Talkback

  • Aug 13, 2010 3:26:08 PM CDT

    no subject

    by le vicious fishus

    MEN CALL HIM THE CHOPPAH!!!

    Reply to Talkback

  • Aug 13, 2010 3:26:22 PM CDT

    no subject

    by le vicious fishus

    MEN CALL HIM THE CHOPPAH!!!

    Reply to Talkback

  • Aug 13, 2010 3:26:35 PM CDT

    no subject

    by le vicious fishus

    Test

    Reply to Talkback

  • Aug 13, 2010 3:26:47 PM CDT

    no subject

    by le vicious fishus

    MEN CALL HIM THE CHOPPAH!!!

    Reply to Talkback

  • Aug 13, 2010 3:27:09 PM CDT

    no subject

    by le vicious fishus

    MEN CALL HIM THE CHOPPAH!!!

    Reply to Talkback

  • Aug 13, 2010 3:27:37 PM CDT

    no subject

    by le vicious fishus

    MEN CALL HIM THE CHOPPAH!!!

    Reply to Talkback

  • Aug 13, 2010 3:27:53 PM CDT

    no subject

    by le vicious fishus

    MEN CALL HIM THE CHOPPAH!!!

    Reply to Talkback

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