Welcome to a new Wildcard Wednesday! The conclusion of this week marks the end of our sixth year here on That’s Entertainment! Since June 17, 2013, I’ve published 1105 posts, and as we’ve done for every anniversary, I want to reflect on the past year and share a few of my favorite entries. Of course, this “season” was a little different because, while I made sure to fulfill my obligation to produce the promised number of original posts per week, my schedule necessitated a 13-week “rerun” series on Sitcom Tuesdays — the post popular day and this blog’s primary feature… So, given that we’ve already done our fair share of looking backwards lately, I’m going to keep the year’s highlights short and sweet this time — just featuring a few great posts that you may have missed over the last 12 months — and we’ll extend the celebration to next week, where I’ll have something more unique and interesting to share with you, my wonderful readers, supporters, and friends, without whom this endeavor wouldn’t be worthwhile or fun. Thanks for sticking with me this year — and the first five, too!
Musical Theatre Monday – March 18, 2019
“Barefoot Boy With Cheek (and an audio) . . .”
Of the year’s 12 Musical Theatre Mondays, my favorite was probably the March entry where I got to discuss and share an audio of a terrific score from 1947, Barefoot Boy With Cheek, one of those shows that, if I had the aforementioned recording back during our original “Before The Golden Age…” series, would have made a candidate for fuller coverage.
Situation Comedy Tuesday – July 17, 2018
“The Ten Best FRIENDS Episodes of Season Two”
The most popular series we covered this year on Sitcom Tuesdays — by far — was Friends, and not only did these posts inspire commentary about which I was particularly proud, they also led to great discussions here. One of the best and most interesting seasons of the show is the second, whose entry here happened to be my 1000th post!
Situation Comedy Tuesday – November 06, 2018
“The Ten Best THE DREW CAREY SHOW Episodes of Season Three”
In contrast to the above, The Drew Carey Show wasn’t a very popular series here — likely because only the first season has been released on DVD. But discussing its evolution, and recognizing its often overlooked strengths while not shying away from its counterbalancing weaknesses, was both cathartic for me and, frankly, some of the most fun I had this year.
Wildcard Wednesday – October 17, 2018
“The Literary Club: Read a Script from one of TV’s First Sitcoms (THE LAYTONS)!”
One of this past season’s most memorable Wildcard entries came in October when I was able to share scans of a script from one of American television’s first network situation comedies — a short-lived vehicle for Amanda Randolph called The Laytons. In the post above, I offered a rare textual glimpse at this very early (1948) series.
Wildcard Wednesday – December 12, 2018
“Pre-Code Profile: CONVENTION CITY (1933)”
My other favorite Wildcard post involved sharing a rare script — this time for Convention City (1933), a currently “lost” comedic gem that Pre-Code lovers everywhere have spent decades hoping to find. Now, I don’t have the finished product, but the transcript gives us a good idea of what it was like, and all my old Film Friday fans should take note!
Thanks again to every reader, subscriber, and friend who’s made these last six years possible!
Come back next week for another Wildcard post! And tune in Monday for our monthly Musical Theatre post!