From the stately and elegant Batmobile Cadillac seen in the 1943 movie serials to the latest militaristic models, this is the on-screen history of Batman's Batmobile. Of course the true high point was the 1955 Lincoln Futura tricked out by George Barris for the 1960s TV series.

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TitleMax says, "What are the best and worst TV finales of all time? To find out, we examined the most popular shows listed on the Internet Movie Database (IMDB). We scanned the list to find the top TV shows that have ended, and out of that list of popular shows, we took a closer look at each TV show’s rankings both for the show overall and for its last episode."

Created by TitleMax.com Read the rest

How quaint "Not Racist But #1 With Racists" now seems. Read the rest

In the early 1980s, Ministry's Al Jourgensen made ends meet by recording advertising jingles. Above is a TV commercial he soundtracked for Shasta soda that aired in 1983, the same year Ministry released their debut album "With Sympathy" (featuring Jourgensen's faux English accent). From his autobiography Ministry: The Lost Gospels According to Al Jourgensen:

“Before Sire picked up Ministry I was writing TV and radio jingles to help support our drug habits, pay the rent, and feed the baby. I did a commercial for Shasta and some stuff for Huffy, and every time I left the studio I wanted to kill myself. It really put into perspective what my dad had to go through, cutting off his lifelong dream to support a family. That’s what I was doing, and it was horrific, but it toughened me up. If you cut me up right now and put me on a plate, I’d be some tough meat. You couldn’t eat it; it would be toxic, tough, and chewy. No, there’s no cannibalism with me. The deal with Huffy came to an end when I gave them this song for a bike called the Panther, and at the end of this cheesy tune they wanted me to purr loudly into the mike. I said, “Fuck you. Get someone else to purr. I quit.”

(via r/ObscureMedia) Read the rest

In 2015, Charlie Brooker deconstructed economics news reports in this grimly amusing pastiche — a sequel to his earlier boiling-down of feature news reports.

I'd like to see Charlie and Emily Surname do this for Covid-19 updates. Read the rest

This moment from Modern Family, which just wrapped after 11 years on air, illutstrates why you should never delay clowns. Read the rest

In recent weeks, I've shared the joy of Seinfeld with my teenage son. To reciprocate, he's been turning me on to the myriad incarnations of vaporwave, vaporfunk, chillwave, and other desktop electronica microgenres of the last decade. Finally, today, he decided the time was right to reveal an unholy hauntological overlap of our interests: "Seinwave" (2015) by Abelard. Listen above. From Abelard:

Seinwave is a rework of the iconic slap bass infused pop-click theme of the classic Seinfeld sitcom TV show. Created on a whim, Seinwave holds its own as a funky, danceable track, exploring new melodies, sounds and hooks, whilst retaining the faded sitcom hues and tones that we all remember.

Fandango dang sure isn't selling movie theater tickets anymore. And Walmart appears to be easing out of the video-on-demand business, and into... something else. Read the rest

Wow, Dr. Phil is awful. Mister Phil, really. Gentle reminder than “Dr. Phil” is not a licensed doctor. Read the rest

Reporting TV news from home can make for a much more colorful broadcast. Read the rest

M*A*S*H, which aired from 1972 to 1983, was one of the greatest TV comedy-dramas ever. Here, the team at the 4077th address the COVID-19 situation. Edited by Frank Vaccarriello.

(via Laughing Squid) Read the rest

If you have Netflix and you haven't seen Tiger King, you're missing a real treat. It covers a few years of the life of Joe Exotic, a narcissistic roadside zoo proprietor with one weird trick for attracting husbands, and his nemesis, Carol Baskin, an animal rights activist with one weird trick for losing them. This is what television was made for! Read the rest

No, that isn't a deepfake. In 1973, the stock market crashed and an Arab oil embargo resulted in a gas crisis. With that as the context, a (false) rumor of a toilet paper shortage emerged and spread like wildfire via news outlets before it was further fueled by Johnny Carson (who later apologized). It's a fascinating story of shortage psychology and panic buying. From Priceonomics:

In November of 1973, several news agencies reported a tissue shortage in Japan. Initially, the release went unnoticed and nobody seemed to put much stock in it -- save for one Harold V. Froelich. Froelich, a 41-year-old Republican congressman, presided over a heavily-forested district in Wisconsin and had recently been receiving complaints from constituents about a reduced stream of pulp paper. On November 16th, he released his own press statement -- “The Government Printing Office is facing a serious shortage of paper” -- to little fanfare.

However, a few weeks later, Froelich uncovered a document that indicated the government’s National Buying Center had fallen far short of securing bids to provide toilet paper for its troops and bureaucrats. On December 11, he issued another, more serious press release: “The U.S. may face a serious shortage of toilet paper within a few months...we hope we don’t have to ration toilet tissue...a toilet paper shortage is no laughing matter. It is a problem that will potentially touch every American.”

In the climate of shortages, oil scares, and economic duress, Froelich’s claim was absorbed without an iota of doubt, and the media ran wild with it.

Andy Greene literally wrote the book on The Office. His book The Office: The Untold Story of the Greatest Sitcom of the 2000s: An Oral History is released today! Vulture has an excerpt from the book telling the behind-the-scenes story of "Stress Relief," the two-part "fire drill" episode. Here's a snip:

Ben Silverman [producer]: The fire drill was insanity. Greg and I talked about it and were like, “Okay, let’s make this one hundred percent like a movie, like a stunt. When it happens, how do people not change the channel?”

Kate Flannery, actor: That scene was a big deal. It was so fun, but I also knew that it was expensive, so it’s like, “Don’t fuck this up.” It was definitely like a little nerve-wracking because you just didn’t want to be the one that messed it up for everybody else.

Anthony Farrell, writer: Greg was like, “It’s the Super Bowl episode. We need it to be big and crazy and wild and this is the first thing they’re gonna see, so we want people to stick around.” He said to me and [fellow writer] Ryan Koh and some of the writers’ assistants, “You guys work on this cold open.” We knew it would start with Dwight setting off the fire alarm and Greg was in a place where he was like, “We need it to be bigger and crazier.” So we just started adding all sorts of crazy shit happening with the mayhem and the melee, like them using the photocopier as a battering ram and cats falling out of the ceiling.

At r/Seinfeld, MrJonLott writes:

At the Raynham flea market 2 years ago I found a DVD with 80 minutes of previously unseen Seinfeld bloopers. These are different from the official DVD bloopers, which are already on YouTube. This DVD was in a bootleg case with a bootleg design, and a simple unvarnished disc inside. I ripped the footage from the DVD and uploaded it raw to YouTube. Forgive the video quality; the DVD has low-grade video.

The DVD was produced in 2000, which makes me think it's a bootleg of a blooper DVD made for the cast and crew of Seinfeld in 1998 or 1999, to be shared in the days before internet. There is nothing else on the disc.

Dallas, the prime-time soap opera that ran from 1978-1991 and 2012-2014, is as famous for its catchy theme tune as for J.R. Ewing's machinations. In France, I today learned, that theme tune was modified so that it could include lyrics.

Dallas, ton univers impitoyable dallas, glorifie la loi du plus fort dallas, et sous ton soleil implacable dallas, tu ne redoutes que la mort

Dallas, patrie du dollar du pétrole dallas, tu ne connais pas la pitié dallas, le revolver est ton idole dallas, tu te raccroches à ton passé

Dallas, malheur à celui qui n’a pas compris dallas, un jour il y perdra la vie dallas, ton univers impitoyable dallas, glorifie la loi du plus fort

Dallas, malheur à celui qui n’a pas compris dallas, un jour il y perdra la vie dallas, ton univers impitoyable dallas, glorifie la loi du plus fort

Dallas, malheur à celui qui n’a pas compris dallas, un jour il y perdra la vie dallas, ton univers impitoyable

Below, see it being "performed".

Paula Bosse translates and offers context.

Dallas, your ruthless world, Dallas, where might is right, Dallas, and under your relentless sun, Dallas, only death is feared.

Dallas, home of the oil dollar, Dallas, you do not know pity; Dallas, the revolver is your idol, Dallas, you cling to the past.

Dallas, woe to him who does not understand, Dallas, one day he will lose his life. Dallas, your ruthless world, Dallas, where might is right.

BONUS: Below, enjoy the disco remix of the original and correct Dallas theme. Read the rest

A contestant on the Romanian edition of Survivor lost a challenge, became angry, then punched and headbutted another contestant, apparently breaking his nose. Read the rest