"Oh, my Lord. . . and Taylor!"

I struck while the iron was hot last night.  I saw those Popular DVDs on my kitchen counter, snapped them up and moved them right into the TV room.  Not only that, but I put two of them immediately into the DVD player.  Cued up and ready to go.  I was Popular-ready in case of extreme post-season baseball boredom.

And I needed it.  It became apparent early on that the Phillies were going to win and drag this dreadfully dull World Series into another game.  I bailed by the end of the third inning.  Popular, Season 1, Disc 1 was ready to go. 

The apprehension quickly set in.  What if it wasn't as good as I remembered?  What if it's dated?  What if Mary Cherry wasn't the third greatest supporting character in television history* as I so fondly remember her?

The first episode was the pilot.  It features a rather frightening indie-folk singer riding around on a sofa in the back of a pick-up truck over the titles and at other odd transitional moments in the show.  I don't like this. However, we should never pass final judgment based solely on the pilot.  As a matter of fact, if there were a television watchers' ten commandments, that one would be high on the list, equivalent say, to not coveting thy neighbor's wife.

Despite the scary indie singer, the pilot was at about 87% of Popular's potential.  The indie singer was gone by episode 2 which, of course, is the first "real" episode, as we seasoned viewers all know.  By this episode, Popular was swinging forward into full-on greatness.  And Mary Cherry?  In one of her earliest moments, she is at cheerleader try-outs.  After being show the routine, Mary Cherry asks, "Do we have to do those splits?  I'm a Christian."  Third greatest supporting character EVER!

On the topic of a show that is at the other end of the spectrum from Popular, the weather has changed here in Arizona.  It's down from 120 to about 90 and that's got me thinking of cool mountain air.  You know what that means!  Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman!  I think it's time to dig out the Dr. Quinn DVDs and start a winter-long viewing of them.  Oh my Lord and Taylor, I love Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman!
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*The first greatest supporting character would be Howard Borden from The Bob Newhart Show.  Bill Dailey defined the scene stealing second banana in the world of sitcoms both as Howard, and in his earlier work on I Dream of Jeannie.  Next, in my opinion, is Ted Baxter from The Mary Tyler Moore Show.  Really, you could pick any of the supporting characters from The MTM Show, but Ted Knight made Ted Baxter into the classic lovable boob.  It was a shame about Mr. Knight's involvement with Too Close for Comfort.  Let's just not talk about it.  Mary Cherry is, perhaps, an obscure choice for third, but this character is unmatched in the pool of stereotypical teen characters:  not attractive, stylish, talented or smart enough to be popular on her own, but rich enough to buy her way in; a stalker veneered in sweetness.  Leslie Grossman ripped up the screen in her portrayal.

Read The Full Article:
http://exiledfromspringfield.blogspot.com/2009/11/oh-my-lord-and-taylor.html

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