theoctopede

I've watched this show all of my life.. when I was a tot in the early 80's I never got the jokes, of course, but I still enjoyed it because everyone else laughed. The best seasons I've been first-hand witness to were in the late 80's up to the time Chris Farley and Adam Sandler left the show, but with a promising new cast including Jimmy Fallon and Will Farrell, it's still a great saturday night tradition. And who can forget that great Christmas episode they air every year of clips from seasons past? Nothing will ever replace Saturday Night Live.

"Hang Time's" first seasons were decent, most certainly better than "Saved By The Bell: The New Class" or that dreadful "City Guys" the first few seasons featured lots of NBA guest stars, a great actor, Reggie Theus, playing the coach, and the kids who played the High School basketball players were, in general, decent actors. Then came the fallout. They got rid of all the great members of the cast, including Theus as the coach and replaced him with Dick Butkus, who couldn't act his way out of a wet paper bag. But until NBC abandons the idea of "TNBC" I believe Hang Time will remain the best show in the lineup, middle ground from the once great Saved By The Bell: Original class, and the horrible New Class.

Follow That Bird was a triumph in all aspects, from TRUE family entertainment (That has been lost since the days of Jim Henson) to a valuable lesson about friendship and happiness even adults can learn from.

I will forever laugh when I hear guest-star Chevy Chase say, as a TV anchorman, "Now for the weather: It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood, beautiful day for a neighbor, won't you be mine?" That was just one of many of the in-jokes in this film, that adults will appriciate and children will laugh at when they see it as parents.

I first watched Follow That Bird when I was 3 years old. I cried my eyes out when Big-Bird sang, "One Little Star" and felt empathy for him on his way back HOME to sesame street from Oceanview, Illinois, where he lived with the absent-minded Dodo's. At a child's most impressionable age, such as 3 or 4, this movie can do wonders. And most certainly has an edge over programming such as Barney or Telletubbies.

This movie makes true the statement, "Home is Where the Heart is". May Big Bird's heart be in Sesame Street forever.

Words can't even begin to express how truly great this series was. It was more than comedy, it was family. Bea Arthur, Rue McClanahan, Betty White and Estelle Getty, as their characters Dorothy, Blanche, Rose and Sophia respectively. When you weren't laughing, you were crying, and that's what's missing from today's television. The ladies were fiesty, full of life and their friendship was un-matched by any on-screen hollywood friends with the possible exception of Lucy Ricardo and Esthel Mertz on "I Love Lucy" plain and simple... they don't make them like this anymore. Where do the good times go? This series will never be matched.