I never really cared for Kennigan, though.
January 5, 2012 10:00 AM   Subscribe

Funny or Die has gone back to its archives and presents the FOD 1986 lineup. Among the eight shows available, genre fans are probably going to be most excited about getting a chance to see Malibu Days: Nights and Cop-Puter, but I was personally more excited at the fact they exhumed Buildings.
posted by beaucoupkevin (26 comments total) 11 users marked this as a favorite
 
It's all 100% awesome and pitch-perfect....but why is there a web browser in 1986?
posted by DU at 10:09 AM on January 5, 2012


The Austin "Clock" Tower.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 10:13 AM on January 5, 2012


DU: ARPANET, est. 1969. What, you think the Joint Chiefs were just using it for military business?
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 10:18 AM on January 5, 2012 [2 favorites]


I said "web browser" not "internet".
posted by DU at 10:21 AM on January 5, 2012 [2 favorites]


The league of mirthful comedians.
posted by to sir with millipedes at 10:24 AM on January 5, 2012


The first web browsers were developed at Area 51 in 1974. Don't believe Microsoft's revisionist history, sheeple!
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 10:25 AM on January 5, 2012


The Austin "Clock" Tower.

I've gotta assume that this is the irritable, paranoid uncle character. Around here, the expression "climb the tower" is interchangeable with "go postal."
posted by Devils Rancher at 10:30 AM on January 5, 2012


why is there a web browser in 1986?

How else did people bitch about stuff?
posted by bondcliff at 10:35 AM on January 5, 2012 [1 favorite]


I would have watched them all (except Prairie Children and Courts Machine) on our 34" Electrohome with authentic mono sound, but at least a year later and on a local channel. Knight Blade would have been my favorite, but I'd never get to see it because Hockey Night In Canada would always be on at the same time. Thank goodness for syndicated reruns!
posted by Kevin Street at 10:36 AM on January 5, 2012 [1 favorite]


How else did people bitch about stuff?

I know this is a joke, but it's actually pretty relevant in my line of work. Before internet commenting and email, people were better at bitching about stuff. I deal with a lot of angry people, and email and internet are such a curse especially with mobile devices being able to access it these days. When people had to write letters, they actually had to sit down and think through what they were writing, knowing they would then have to sign their names to it, fold it up, stuff it in an envelope, go and get stamps, and put it in the mailbox, with your return address on it. The amount of effort involved would frequently result in more rational, better expressed complaints and criticisms that could be responded to in kind. Now that people can anonymously and distractedly mash out a response in 30 seconds and angrily fire it off and never think about it again, you see more and more abusive all-caps screeds with exclamation points and terrible spelling and grammar. I mean, next time you're fighting with someone in a thread here just try writing something like what you're going to throw down in pen on paper first. I would bet you that by halfway through, at least 75% of you would find what they are writing looks and sounds ridiculous and would start fresh. It's just too easy to complain now.

Anyways, I love FOD sometimes. Very hit or miss program, but when the hits are always pretty great.
posted by Hoopo at 10:55 AM on January 5, 2012 [2 favorites]


C'mon, I want more Chiklet Ambrosia!
posted by big scary freak at 11:16 AM on January 5, 2012


The amount of effort involved would frequently result in more rational, better expressed complaints and criticisms that could be responded to in kind.

has never read the letters to the editor section of the newspaper (which is peopled entirely with people over 70 who've never seen a computer, btw)
posted by DU at 11:18 AM on January 5, 2012 [1 favorite]


The sad thing is I do read those, DU. Compare those to the online comments for newspapers. The difference is shocking.
posted by Hoopo at 11:33 AM on January 5, 2012


(also letters to the editor aren't actually just letters and are often emails)
posted by Hoopo at 11:34 AM on January 5, 2012


And they're often edited, or rejected completely, unlike online comments.
posted by Pruitt-Igoe at 11:35 AM on January 5, 2012


The amount of effort involved would frequently result in more rational, better expressed complaints and criticisms that could be responded to in kind.

Back in the pre-internet days I found what I thought was a rock in a bag of Cousin Willie's popcorn. I wrote him an epic, humorous letter and he wrote back explaining that it was a morning glory seed and sent me an 8x10 autographed picture of himself. I still have it.

I have yet to have an email result in an autographed picture being sent to me.
posted by bondcliff at 11:43 AM on January 5, 2012


OK, it's true that online comments are worse than letters to the editor. OTOH, considering that the editors are presumably choosing the best-written subset of the letters they get....
posted by DU at 11:45 AM on January 5, 2012


Just like Cracked, Funny Or Die was not always web-based - in '86 it was a mini-network that aired near-Prime-Time-quality programs from 3 to 5PM and 1 to 3AM on Saturdays and Sundays in most TV markets. There were rumors that the only way that business plan remained viable for the umpteen years before it could move to the Internet was the network's possession of some seriously incriminating photos of top executives at Procter & Gamble, General Foods and General Motors (its main sponsors). But whatever, it paid John O'Hurley's unprecedented six-figure salary, plus the 20-plus elaborate costumes designed for him every week. (I really DID like Kennigan, myself)
posted by oneswellfoop at 12:01 PM on January 5, 2012


16:9 aspect ratios? Really?
posted by designbot at 12:04 PM on January 5, 2012


Everything was letterboxed on our TV... because the picture tube was slowly dying. There were these black bars at the top and bottom of the screen that slowly got bigger over about six years.
posted by Kevin Street at 12:10 PM on January 5, 2012


They misspelled Nyte Blayde and that doesn't look at all like Josh Burke. Lame. /me puts on dirndl, jumps out of vtol, starts a-murderin'.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 12:19 PM on January 5, 2012 [1 favorite]


SPOILERS!

Oh, and Kerrigan was kind of hit or miss. My favorite was the one where he pretended to be the eastern European TV star who looked just like Kerrigan, except with brown hair. The bad guy was his producer (Hervé Villechaize, I think) who wanted to kill him for the insurance money. That was quite a twist.
posted by Kevin Street at 12:21 PM on January 5, 2012 [1 favorite]


They misspelled Nyte Blayde and that doesn't look at all like Josh Burke. Lame. /me puts on dirndl, jumps out of vtol, starts a-murderin'.

I totally want somebody to make an Actual Nyte Blayde TV Show. Or more correctly, a reality show about the making of that show.
posted by beaucoupkevin at 2:03 PM on January 5, 2012


Sure, these look lame by our standards, but what about that "very special" episode of Night Blade? The one where Kirk Cameron guest starred as Night Blade's nephew who's training to be an Olympic speed skater until he takes a bunch of his friend's quaaludes and falls down a flight of stairs? That won a daytime Emmy.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 3:46 PM on January 5, 2012 [1 favorite]


How else did people bitch about stuff?

Usenet. Check out net.movies.sw from 1983, talking about Return of the Jedi.
posted by Sticherbeast at 4:46 PM on January 5, 2012


I always preferred Garth Marenghi's Darkplace.
posted by Lazlo at 4:27 PM on January 6, 2012 [1 favorite]


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