Showing posts with label Seinfeld. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Seinfeld. Show all posts

Sunday, October 25, 2015

My 110 favorite TV episodes part 4: Seinfeld edition

Seinfeld: The Parking Garage (1991)
The gang can't find their parking spot in a garage.

Seinfeld: The Boyfriend (1992)
Keith Hernandez dates Elaine and becomes part of the gang.

Seinfeld: The Limo (1992)
George hijacks a limo and is mistaken for a Nazi.

Seinfeld: The Puffy Shirt (1993)
Jerry agrees to wear a ridiculous shirt on The Tonight Show.

Seinfeld: The Fire (1994)
George freaks out at a kids party.

Seinfeld: The Soup Nazi (1995)
No Soup for you!

Seinfeld: The Nap (1997)
George sets up a bed under his desk. The alarm clock leads to a bomb scare.

Thursday, February 12, 2015

Keith Hernandez timeline

Born: October 20, 1953

1971: Drafted by St Louis Cardinals

Debut: August 30, 1974 (Cardinals)

1979: NL MVP (.344, 11 HR, 105 RBI, 210 hits, 116 runs, 48 doubles, .930 OPS)

1979: NL Batting title

1982: Had key 2-run single in World Series

1982: Cardinals win World Series

1983: Traded to New York Mets

1985: Pittsburgh drug trials

1986: Had key 2-run single in World Series

1986: Mets win World Series

1987: Named first captain of Mets

1988: Mets win NL East

1989: Signed by Cleveland Indians

1990: Retired

1992: Appeared on Seinfeld

2004: Dropped off Hall of Fame ballot (4.3% of vote)

2006-present: Mets broadcaster


Accomplishments:
2x World Champion

5x All Star

1979 NL MVP

11x Gold Glove

2x Silver Slugger

1979 Batting Champion

2x Player of the Month

4x Player of the week

.296

162 HR

1,071 RBI

1124 Runs

2182 Hits

426 Doubles

1070 Walks-1012 Strikeouts

.384 OBP

.821 OPS

3214 TB

100+ Runs: 2x

210 Hits (1979)

30+ Doubles: 8x

40+ Doubles: 2x

11 Triples (1979)

105 RBI (1979)

100 Walks (1982)

.300+ Average: 7x

.400 OBP: 9x

.513 slugging (1979)

313 TB (1979)

Led league in runs: 2x

Led league in doubles (48): 1979

Led league in walks (94): 1986

Led league in OBP (.408): 1980

Postseason: .265, 2 HR, 21 RBI, .729 OPS (5 series)

Monday, June 4, 2012

Keith Hernandez timeline

Born: October 20, 1953

1971: Graduated High School (Played HS Ball with future Major Leaguer Bob McClure)

1971: Drafted by Cardinals

Debut: August 30, 1974 (Cardinals)

1976: Switched uniform number to 37 in honor of Mickey Mantle’s #7

1979: NL MVP

1979: Won Batting Title (.344)

1982: Had key hit in Game 7 of 1982 World Series

1982: Cards win World Series

1983: Traded to Mets

1983: Switched to #17 because Mets retired #37 for Casey Stengel

1985: Involved in the Pittsburgh drug trials

1985: Set ML record with 24 GW RBI

1986: Had key hit in Game 7 of the 1986 World Series

1986: Mets win World Series

1987: Named team captain

1988: Mets win NL East & lose LCS to Dodgers

1989: Signed with Indians

1992: Made now classic Seinfeld appearance as himself

2000s and beyond: Mets announcer and Just For Men pitch man

2004: Fell off Hall of Fame Ballot

2006: Involved in controversy regarding women in the dugout

2010: Won Emmy

Accomplishments:

2x World Champion

1979 MVP

1979 Batting Champion

5x All Star

11x Gold Glove winner

2x Silver Slugger

Revolutionized first base position

.296 career hitter

162 Home Runs

1071 RBI

1124 Runs

2182 hits

426 doubles

1070 Walks-1012 Strikeouts

.384 OBP

100+ Runs: 2x

Led league in runs: 2x

210 hits (1979)

30+ doubles: 8x

40+ doubles: 2x

Led league in doubles with 48 (1979)

11 Triples (1979)

105 RBI (1979)

100 walks (1982)

Led league w/94 walks (1986)

Hit .300: 7x

.400 OBP: 6x

Led league w/ .408 OBP (1980)

.513 slugging (1979)

313 total bases (1979)

Led league with 19 intentional walks (1982)

Postseason: .265 with 2 home runs and 21 RBI (5 series-117 at bats)

Hit .333 in 1982 NLCS

Had key hits in Game 7 of both the 1982 and 1986 World Series

Thursday, April 15, 2010

The Greatest TV Episodes #1-10

1. MASH: Abyssinia Henry (1975): “Lieutenant Colonel... Henry Blake's plane... was shot down... over the Sea of Japan. It spun in. There were no survivors."


2. Newhart: The Last Newhart (1990): The ending is now legendary. Bob wakes up next to Suzanne Pleshette and mentions his dream about being a Vermont innkeeper.

3. Monty Python’s Flying Circus: The Spanish Inquisition (1970): Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition! The inquisition ran amok appearing seven times throughout the episode.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uprjmoSMJ-o

4. I Love Lucy: Lucy Does a TV Commercial (1952): Lucy is recruited to do a commercial for Vitameatavegamin. It’s a health elixir filled with 23% alcohol. After several takes, Lucy becomes Homer Simpson.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2m1Nubw8XJw

5. A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965): Charlie Brown searches for the meaning Christmas in the midst of modern commercialism. In the meantime, Snoopy wins money, money, money.

6. The Bob Newhart Show: Over the River and Through the Woods (1975): What happens when the guys are left alone on Thanksgiving? Lots of drinking!! A drunk Bob is a must see and you can’t cook a turkey at 5000 degrees. Somehow, it ends up in the dishwasher as opposed to the stove. In the end, it’s time for Moo Goo Gai Pan!

7. Cheers: Thanksgiving Orphans (1986): No one has Thanksgiving plans except Diane (which involves a Pilgrim costume). Carla invites the gang to dinner and disaster follows. Vera even shows!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgZjqa4RrLE

8. Seinfeld: The Boyfriend (1992): Keith Hernandez joins the gang. The episode contains the infamous magic loogey scene in which Newman and Kramer are spat on by a second spitter (Roger McDowell).

9. I Love Lucy: Job Switching (The Candy Factory): (1952): Anyone that has ever worked can relate to Lucy and Ethel’s predicament.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wp3m1vg06Q

10. The Civil War (1990): For five nights in 1990, people watched PBS! No one knows for sure if anyone has watched PBS since.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

The Greatest TV Episodes #11-20

11. Cheers: What is…Cliff Clavin? (1990): Cliff goes on Jeopardy. The categories are right up Cliff’s alley. He has an insurmountable lead by Final Jeopardy. For some reason, he wagers it all and does not know the Final Jeopardy answer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=botdmsQilnU

12. Seinfeld: The Soup Nazi (1995): NO SOUP FOR YOU!

13. The Ed Sullivan Show: The Beatles (1964): While Elvis provided a milestone for the fifties, the Beatles provided the sixties generation with their own moment. 73 million watched the four on Ed Sullivan. The teen girls in the crowd wet themselves and cried uncontrollably. They were hysterical. The Beatles did five songs that night and the television station made sure everyone knew John was married.

14. The Ed Sullivan Show: Elvis Presley (1956): This was the biggest cultural moment for the fifties generation. 83% of the country watched. Critics complained that Elvis was over stimulating teenagers. Like they needed the help!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6A3vLlVa3I

15. Star Trek: City on the Edge of Forever (1967): The best episode in Star Trek history. Kirk and Spock return to 1930 to find McCoy and prevent him from changing the future. They discover that to save the future and prevent the Nazis from winning World War II, that Kirk’s new love, Edith Keeler (Joan Collins), must die.

16. Twilight Zone: Nightmare at 20,000 Feet (1963): A gremlin tears a plane apart in mid-air. Only a reformed mental patient sees it. He gets a gun and shoots the creature. The plane lands safely and he’s taken away in a straightjacket. However, the creature did exist as the plane's nacelle is ripped open from the outside.

17. 60 Minutes: Mike Wallace vs. Ayatollah Khomeini (1979): Mike Wallace calls Khomeini a lunatic. It does not get better.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1fzFNsu15U

18. Frasier: Three Valentines (1999): The three stories center on Valentine’s Day. Niles prepares for a date at Frasier’s apartment and his anal retentive nature gets the best of him. It is one of the greatest moments in TV history (see link). Meanwhile, Frasier can’t figure out if he is on a date or not. Lastly, Martin and Daphne are bummed they don’t have a date on Valentine’s Day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTdD_dVyteA

19. X-Files: Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose (1995): Mulder and Scully investigate murders of fortune tellers. They are assisted by Clyde Bruckman, who knows how people are going to die. Peter Boyle guest stars as Bruckman who has a hard time living with his ability.

20. Battlestar Galactica: 33 (2005): The fleet is pursued endlessly by the Cylons for days. They have to jump to light speed every 33 minutes to avoid the Cylon attack fleet. So, the humans don’t get any sleep whatsoever. The episode is almost as intense as the first half hour of Saving Private Ryan.

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Greatest TV Episodes of All Time #31-40

31. MASH: Tuttle (1973): Hawkeye and Trapper invent a surgeon and eventually everyone believes the guy is real. Eventually, General Clayton wants to honor Captain Tuttle. Hawkeye solves the problem by killing Tuttle. The imaginary captain jumped out of a helicopter to help wounded soldiers, but forgot his parachute. Seinfeld used the same storyline for an episode 20 years later.

32. The Munsters: Herman the Rookie (1965): Leo Durocher discovers Herman playing ball with Eddie and gives him a tryout with the Dodgers. Herman destroys the baseball field and Leo has to let him go. Despite his amazing talent, repairs to the field would cost too much if Herman played professionally.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHBee9DAKYw

33. Star Trek: Balance of Terror (1966): Kirk and crew encounter Romulans and engage in a deadly cat and mouse game based on films such as Run Silent, Run Deep with the Enterprise serving as a surface ship and the Romulans as a submarine.

34. MTV Unplugged: Nirvana (1993): Nirvana appeared on MTV Unplugged in late 1993. They played a lot of covers and lesser known songs. The stage was decorated with lilies and candles as Cobain wanted it to look like a funeral. He died in April, 1994 and the CD was the band’s first release after his death.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eglOHphhpcg

35. Happy Days: They Don’t Shoot Fonzies, Do They? (1976): Fonzie agrees to help Joanie and enter a dance marathon at Arnold's. Joanie wants to beat the captain of the cheerleading squad who had her cut from the team. Fonzie’s bike breaks down and he has to walk it 12 miles and is exhausted. He collapses, but comes to when threatened with a crew cut. Fonzie breaks into a Russian jig and wins the contest. This scene is later used in a Weezer video.

36. Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Inner Light (1992): Picard is zapped by a probe and lives another man’s entire life in a few minutes. He awakes to find that the people built the probe to save their culture as their star was going supernova.

37. Batman: The Purr-Fect Crime & Better Luck Next Time (1966): Catwoman steals priceless art. After the usual cliffhanger, Batman and Robin track her to a cave where Catwoman dies. Luckily, Julie Newmar has 9 lives.

38. X-Files: Jose Chung’s From Outer Space (1996): Mulder and Scully investigate the abduction of two teenagers. Meanwhile, noted sci-fi writer Jose Chung is writing a novel about the incident. Every person involved tells Chung a different story leading to an amusing episode.

39. Married with Children: It’s a Bundyful Life (1989): The bank closes on Al before he can do his Xmas shopping. When he returns home, Al decides to fix the Christmas lights. He is briefly electrocuted and meets his guardian angel, Sam Kinison. Al sees that his family would have lived a wonderful life without him. He wants to spoil it, so he returns.

40. Northern Exposure: The Aurora Borealis- A Fairy Tale for Big People (1991): The Aurora Borealis makes the people of Cicily act strangely. Joel is rescued by Bigfoot and Chris leaves the radio station to work on a sculpture. Bigfoot turned out to be a real man and not a beast.

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Greatest TV Episodes #41-50

41. X-Files: Die Hand Die Verletzt (1995): Mulder and Scully meet Satan.

42. Murphy Brown: It’s Not East Being Brown (1993): Murphy needs to improve her image, so she appears on a children’s TV puppet show. The puppets taunt her, Murphy loses it on live TV, and rips the puppet off the puppeteer’s hand; scarring children for life.

43. Bewitched: Humbug Not Spoken Here (1967): In this retelling of “A Christmas Carol”, Samantha introduces the spirit of Christmas to a miserly old man. Santa even makes an appearance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VW5Qh9wLs8A

44. Battlestar Galactica Mini-Series (2003): Ronald Moore reworked the 1978 cheese fest. Like the original, the Cylons break a truce and wipe out most of humanity. Unlike the original, this Galactica was gritty and filled with flawed humans as opposed to heroic figures.

45. South Park: Trapped in the Closet (2005): In one of the greatest spoofs of all time, South Park takes on Scientology by simply stating their tenants. The title refers to a R. Kelly song. In the episode, Tom Cruise is trapped in the closet.

46. Star Trek The Next Generation: The Drumhead (1991): An Admiral (Jean Simmons) loses her mind and conducts a witch hunt aboard the Enterprise. She eventually accused Captain Picard of disloyalty. He takes the stand and turns the trial around. She flips out and the witch hunt ends.

47. 60 Minutes: The Clintons (1992): Bill Clinton looked finished when the Gennifer Flowers scandal broke. With nothing to lose, he and Hillary appeared on 60 Minutes with Steve Kroft. The Clintons saved their campaign.

48. Batman: The Joker is Wild/Batman is Riled (1966): The Joker invents his own utility belt and drives Gotham City to the brink of anarchy. Batman and Robin eventually stop him.

49. The Andy Griffith Show: Lawman Barney (1962): A couple of peddlers treat Barney badly. Barney loses his confidence until Andy steps in behind the scenes. The peddlers realize Andy is full of it and confront Barney who develops a backbone and scares them off.

50. Seinfeld: The Opposite (1994): How do you get a job with the Yankees? Tell Steinbrenner off!

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

The Greatest TV Episodes of All Time #61-70

61. Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Passion (1998): Angelus continues to torment the Scoobies. He took his art to new levels by killing Ms. Calendar, who was close to restoring his soul, and leaving her body in Giles bed.


62. MASH: The Interview (1976): Famous newsman Clete Roberts (Walter Cronkite anyone?) visits the 4077th and interviews the gang. Filmed in black & white to approximate 1950s newsreels, the actors improvised their answers.

63. The Beverly Hillbillies: Duke Steals a Wife (1963): Mrs. Drysdale is going to wed her dog with a Parisian Poodle. The dog’s owner accidentally arrives at the Clampet’s house instead. The female poodle hooks up with Jed’s hound, Duke. The couple has puppies and Mrs. Drysdale has a coronary.

64. Cheers: Bad Neighbor Sam (1990): Melville’s is purchased by a famous restaurateur. Sam does not like the new owner and the new customers are yuppies. A feud breaks out. Sam’s new neighbor bricks up the bathrooms and pool room and refuses to take it down until Sam pays rent. Sam loses his mind.

65. Rome: Caesarian (2005): Caesar arrives in Egypt. Pullo and Vorenus save Cleopatra. Pullo impregnates Cleopatra. She later claims Caesar is the father. The end is classic. Caesar shows off his son in front of his men. Pullo and Vorenus exchange looks.

66. Taxi: Cooking for Two (1982): Never invite Reverend Jim over. Jim destroys Louie’s apartment.

67. I, Claudius: Hail, Who? (1976): This episode of I, Claudius covers the exploits of Caligula. The Roman Emperor is living with a prostitute, murders those that annoy him, engages in orgies, has his soldiers collect seashells, and proclaims his victory over the god, Neptune. He is then assassinated.

68. Laugh-In: Nixon (1968): Before Clinton on Arsenio or Obama on Sportscenter, Nixon did Laugh-In. This was a major event as it set a precedent for other presidential candidates to follow. It allowed Nixon to soften his image, define himself, and go around the hostile press.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCp8Edp4pfo

69. Saturday Night Live: The Beatle reunion (1976): Lorne Michaels offers the Beatles $3000 to reunite. They have to sing three songs and can split the money anyway they want--even if that means less for Ringo. John and Paul almost showed that night. George did show up later to collect, but was told he could not collect without the other three.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALZuk8N0TgU

70. Curb Your Enthusiasm: Seinfeld Reunion (2009): Larry brings back the Seinfeld gang and hopes to woo his ex. In the meantime, they film an episode. George loses millions to Bernie Madoff. MADOFF!

Sunday, January 31, 2010

The Television Cabinet

Since the real government has been rudderless for 20 years, it might be fun to put TV and movie characters in charge. So, who would be the best fit in each executive branch position???

President: Steve McGarrett (Hawaii Five-0): We have not had a competent president in 20 years and he has executive experience as head of Hawaii Five-0.

Vice-President: Homer Simpson (The Simpsons): Cheney aside, Homer fits the pattern of recent VP picks.

Secretary of State: Sarek of Vulcan (Star Trek): He’s already an ambassador.

Secretary of Treasury: Cosmo Kramer (Seinfeld): He'd return cans and bottles to pay off the national debt.

Secretary of Defense: Harry Callahan (Dirty Harry): War on Terror: Over in 30 seconds.

Attorney General: Jack McCoy (Law and Order): Wouldn't a cabinet meeting with McCoy and Callahan be fun to sit in on?

Secretary of Interior: Maggie O’Connell  (Northern Exposure): She is from Alaska.

Secretary of Agriculture: Charles Ingles (Little House): He is a farmer.

Secretary of Commerce: Sam Malone (Cheers): He runs a bar and would have exciting rivalries with the Labor Dept.

Secretary of Labor: Ralph Cramden (The Honeymooners): Never has a man been so perfect for a govt. post.

HHS Secretary: Bob Hartley (The Bob Newhart Show): His patients can work along with him. Keep them away from the alcohol and 2000 degree ovens.

Hud Secretary: George Jefferson (The Jeffersons): He moved on up to the East Side.

Secretary of Transportation: Louie De Palma (Taxi): Imagine this guy in cabinet meetings.

Secretary of Energy: Jed Clampett (The Beverly Hillbillies): The man finds oil while hunting in his back yard.

Secretary of Veteran’s Affairs: Thomas Magnum (Magnum PI): First show to portray Vietnam Vets as normal people.

Secretary of Homeland Security: Jack Bauer (24): Bauer and Callahan in the same cabinet; imagine the possibilities.

Surgeon General: Hawkeye Pierce (MASH): A lot of good candidates, but Hawkeye is an icon.

Postmaster General: Newman (Seinfeld): Came down to Newman and Cliff. Newman knew the postal codes. Claven knew "three people not in his kitchen."

White House Spokesman: Al Bundy (Married with Children): We sort of have this now.