Glenn Beck and his Marks

Someone made this comparison somewhere on a political forum I frequent, but I'll elaborate further: Glenn Beck is Pro Wrestling.

Specifically, he is Pro Wrestling circa 1985.

In the mid-eighties, the world was starting to "smart up" to the "sport." Further, because they were less and less certain as to whether pro wrestling was real competition, fans were becoming bored with matches that included five-minute toeholds, and a simple clothesline as a high-spot of a match. So Vince McMahon starting getting more and more gimmicky. Every wrestler became more of a comic-book character.

I hope what happened to pro wrestling happens to Beck. Eventually, even McMahon admitted it was entertainment-only. This helped put the final nail in most of his competition, as only the deepest pockets could survive the loss of the "marks," i.e., the fans still stupid enough to believe it was on the up-and-up.

As the business evolved further, the stars even talked about the angles openly on the Net and elsewhere out of character (known as "shoot" interviews and dropping "kayfabe"). The only true drama that remained was the business politics behind-the-scenes. Ratings and house show attendances dropped to a point where all that was left were wrestling geeks (and I don't mean that as an insult) who still enjoyed the story lines and admired the performers for the showmen and women they are. And while gimmicks are still a part of the business, the characters came to resemble the most violent and bad-ass of the comic book characters.

Today, there are only two big pro wrestling players in the US market (one real big, the other trying to be a viable competitor), and all others are indies performing in front of 75 people in American Legion Hall basements for free. People are still making money, but not by pulling the wool over anyone's eyes.

This can't happen to Glenn Beck soon enough. I will support and even admire him the day he fesses up that it's all a work, and manages to still generate an audience and earn a living with his brand of entertainment.

Some day, he may still be making millions as an admitted actor/entertainer. Or perhaps he will be asleep at the wheel, protecting "kayfabe," while the business passes him by, a la Verne Gagne. But right now, he appears to be more like Vince McMahon in 1985, his outrageousness at its peak, and knowing what his "marks" will eat up as if his act were legit.

How much more outrageous he gets before finally admitting it's all an act, I don't know. But if he is going to be McMahon in this analogy, and not Gagne, he may have to come clean soon.

Cartoon Character Voices

I'm watching a modern Scooby Doo cartoon on Boomerang with my 3 1/2-year-old. I think Mindy Cohn is very good as the current voice of Velma. This episode is actually from 2004, but http://www.imdb.com/ shows her as still being the voice today. Not a bad gig for a former child TV star.

Casey Kasem is Shaggy in this episode, although imdb shows that the movie version of Shaggy, Matthew Lillard, is the cartoon voice of Shaggy starting in 2010. Kasem sounds good still in 2004, but over the last few years his voice really started to show its age. So even though I'm not too fond of Lillard as Shaggy (although oddly I found him very good in the movie, just not so much as a cartoon voiceover), I suppose it was time.

You know who is a supreme cartoon voice talent? Frank Welker, the long-time and still voice of Fred. He also does the voice of Scooby in more recent times. Check out his imdb profile; it's quite amazing his list of credits.

Back to Cohn for a minute, the show from which The Facts of Life spun off, Diff'rent Strokes, also brags an alum in today's cartoon industry. The voice of Mrs. Puff is the actress who played the Drummonds' maid after Mrs. Garrett moved on to Facts, Mary Joe Catlett. So now you know why her voice is so recognizable!

Catlett is in her 70s now, so not to wish any ill will on her, but if her voice goes "Kasem" on her, I've got the perfect replacement for her Mrs. Puff character already picked out: Linda Kozlowski. She's Mrs. Crocodile Dundee if you don't recall, and if you happen to get a chance to catch it on late night cable TV, watch her last piece of work on film, 2001's Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles and tell me she wouldn't be perfect.

This is the kind of stuff I do when my kids rule the TV set. Or when I'm up late alone watching bad movie sequels and logged on to the Internet.

Wherefore Art Thou Watching Movie Trailers?

I was looking for a movie to take my younger sons to. I think I've settled on Gnomeo & Juliet. It didn't get the greatest reviews, but I'm sure they'll like it, and I enjoy watching my kids enjoy things.

While searching, I decided to click the trailer to The Roommate. Once I clicked it, a player popped up with a message saying the trailer would start after a commercial. I find it a little funny that I have to watch a commercial for the privilege of watching a commercial.

At 2:24, the trailer was just under three percent of the movie, if you don't count the credits. That's way too much. I feel like I've already seen the movie, so Screen Gems probably did itself a disservice by showing so much.

I don't remember what the commercial-for-the-commercial was for, either, so unless it was laced with extremely effective subliminal messaging, it was an all-around fail for them to get any of my money.

That's good, too, because popcorn at Gnomeo & Juliet will probably be about $10.