Best and Worst of 80's Movies

A new list to add to my TV list below.

BEST MOVIE ABOUT SKIPPING SCHOOL: Ferris Beuller's Day Off (1986)

WORST MOVIE ABOUT SKIPPING SCHOOL: I didn't see any of them, but I'm sure the teenage sex comedies of the early and mid-eighties did much of this. Pick one. Any one. Pick all of them for this award.

BEST HARRISON FORD MOVIE: Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981).

WORST HARRISON FORD MOVIE: Indiana Jones & The Temple of Doom (1984)

BEST MOVIE ABOUT A SUMMER CAMP: There were none.

WORST MOVIE ABOUT A SUMMER CAMP: Take your pick. the various Meatballs sequels. Ernest Goes to Camp (1987). Any Friday the 13th movie. Thats just a start.

BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIE: A Christmas Story (1983). Runner-up: Scrooged (1988).

WORST CHRISTMAS MOVIE: I didn't see it, but I have a strong hunch that Silent Night, Deadly Night (198?) would fit here. Runner-up: I didn't see this one either, but I heard that the Dudley Moore move Santa Claus: The Movie (198?) was a turkey as well.

BEST MOVIE STARRING ANDRE THE GIANT IN A SUPPORTING ROLE: The Princesss Bride (1987).

WORST MOVIE STARRING ANDRE THE GIANT IN A SUPPORTING ROLE: I don't remember him in any other movie, but probably if he was in another movie, it was bad.

BEST SPORTS MOVIE OF THE 80's: This is a tie between Hoosiers (1986) and Field of Dreams (1989).

WORST SPORTS MOVIE OF THE 80's: Eight Men Out (1988) is not really that bad, but it is long and boring.

BEST SUPER HERO MOVIE OF THE 80's: Superman II (1981). Better than the first one was. One of the best superhero movies of all time.

WORST SUPER HERO MOVIE OF THE 80's: Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987). It's sad to see a great franchise fall so far in such a short time. I didn't see it, but I heard that Supergirl (1984) was a disaster as well.

That's all I have time to blog about right now.

The Best and Worst of 1980's Television

Yes, I'm headed to an 80's party this coming weekend and so I have to give my best of the 1980's awards for TV shows. In my opinion the 80's were the true Golden Age of Television though there were a few clunkers as noted below. My categories are somewhat unique:

BEST SHOW WITH CHARACTERS HIDING THEIR TRUE IDENTITY FROM THE AUTHORITIES: The A-Team (1983-86). Runner-up: ALF (1986-90)

WORST SHOW WITH CHARACTERS HIDING THEIR TRUE IDENTITY FROM THE AUTHORITIES: Small Wonder (1985-89, I think).

BEST SHOW FEATURING A GRUFF OLD CODGER PAIRED WITH A YOUNG PERSON WHO BRIGHTENS UP THEIR LIVES: Punky Brewster (1984-86, 87-88).

WORST SHOW FEATURING A GRUFF OLD CODGER PAIRED WITH A YOUNG PERSON WHO BRIGHTENS UP THEIR LIVES: Jake & The Fatman (1987-90)

BEST SHOW FEATURING SLIME: You Can't Do That On Television (throughout the 80's on Nickelodeon)

WORST SHOW FEATURING SLIME: You Can't Do That On Television (hey, it was a very uneven show)

BEST SITCOM ABOUT A CONVENTIONAL NUCLEAR FAMILY: Family Ties (1982-89). Runners-up: The Cosby Show (1984-92); Growing Pains (1985-92)

WORST SITCOM ABOUT A CONVENTIONAL NUCLEAR FAMILY: Married..with Children (1987-way into the 90's). Runners-up: Roseanne (1988-97); Mr. Belvedere (1985-90).

BEST SITCOM ABOUT AN UNCONVENTIONAL NUCLEAR FAMILY: The Hogan Family (1986-91). Runner-up: Diff'rent Strokes (1978-86)

WORST SITCOM ABOUT AN UNCONVENTIONAL NUCLEAR FAMILY: Who's The Boss? (1984-92). Runner-up: Mamma's Family (1983-whenever)

BEST ACTOR IN A HIT TV SHOW: Michael J. Fox in Family Ties (1982-89)

WORST ACTOR IN A HIT TV SHOW: Richard Dean Anderson in MacGyver (1985-92).

BEST ACTRESS IN A HIT TV SHOW: I hate the show, but it is honestly Betty White in The Golden Girls (1985-92)

WORST ACTRESS IN A HIT TV SHOW: Anyone on Designing Women (1986-93).

BEST SHOW SET IN ATLANTA: Matlock (1986-95).

WORST SHOW SET IN ATLANTA: Designing Women (1986-93)

BEST SHOW FEATURING TALKING MACHINERY: Knight Rider (1982-86)

WORST SHOW FEATURING TALKING MACHINERY: All other shows that had this.

BEST TV CATCH PHRASE OF THE DECADE: "Hi, I'm Larry, this is my brother Darryl, this is my other brother Darryl" - as said by Larry on nearly every episode of Newhart (1982-90) that he appeared on.
Runner-ups: "Hey, Let's Be Careful Out There" - the first chief on Hill Street Blues (1981-87), said after the roll call that started each episode.;
"Of course I have, don't be ridiculous" - Balki on Perfect Strangers (1986-92), when trying to pretend he knew what you were talking about.

WORST TV CATCH PHRASE OF THE DECADE: "Who Shot J.R.?" - not really stated on the show until after it was the big phrase in America during Who Shot J.R. mania in 1980. The show was Dallas (1978-91).

and finally:

BEST DRAMA SERIES OF THE DECADE: Magnum P.I. (1980-88)

BEST SITCOM OF THE DECADE: Newhart (1982-90). Runner-up: Family Ties (1982-89).

This list will of course engender debate providing it actually gets read of course.

Much Ado About Emerging

For the last couple of years I have been following the emerging (pun intended) saga of the Emerging Church movement and it's critics. Defining just what the Emerging Church movement is all about is easier said than done. In short, the Emerging churches are basically trying to reach young adults with a post-modern view of life. This requires defining post-modernism. That is even harder to do than defining the Emerging Church. I will define it (it would be a very un-postmodern thing to do to quibble with how I define the term) as the philosophy that there are no absolutes .

Now that we have highly disputable definitions of both the Emerging Church and Post-modernism, I will now chime in with an absolutist middle-of-the-road view of the Emerging Church. But first we must address the critics of the EC movement.

The easy answer for the critics is to say of all EC people:"Their all heretics! Where is the closest dungeon?". This seems to be the approach of John MacArthur in his latest book The Truth War (in fairness MacArthur is not an advocate of dungeons). MacArthur has done some good things in his time but I feel he paints too broadly a brush here.

Of course, we could just say "Their all cool! Can I get a picture with you guys?" Not so fast!! There are some truly disturbing writings by some of the EC people. Brian McClaren is one author I have great reservations about. McClaren is the kind of person an attorney would find troubling on a witness stand. He doesn't seem to answer direct questions and I feel some of his viewpoints in his book A Generous Orthodoxy are just a little too unorthodox for me to be generous towards. Not to mention the fact (this is sort of a side issue) that he feels I should feel great guilt about the Conqistadors conquering the Incas almost 500 years ago because they called themselves Christians and I call myself a Christian. Sorry, Brian, but those guys most likely were extremely unsaved and thus not really Christian.

Anyway, there is great division in the EC movement to the point that one EC leader, Marc Driscoll, has totally seperated himself from some of the other key figures in the movement over their embrace of liberal theological positions. A more balanced view of the EC movement can be found in a book by D.A. Carson whose title I can't remember right now (the words "emerging church" are in the title so you can probably google or amazon or yahoo it and find it easily).

But here's the main point. THE EMERGING CHURCH MOVEMENT IS SMALL, TRENDY, AND IS SO RESISTENT TO FINDING ANSWERS TO LIFE'S QUESTIONS (IT LIKES QUESTIONS SO MUCH THAT IT DOESN'T LIKE TO ANSWER THEM) THAT IT CANNOT LAST INDEFINITELY AND WILL THUS BE A THING OF THE PAST IN A FEW YEARS!!!!!!!!!!! People will eventually want to move beyond a vaccuum and in short, grow up in their faith.

I feel it won't be too long before you'll find The Truth War and A Generous Orthodoxy at a lot of garage sales. So don't get too stressed out.

The Michael Scott Within

Sometimes it takes me a couple of years to discover something after it comes out. Recently I have seen the first season of the NBC series "The Office" (this season originally aired in the spring of 2005). The series is set at a regional office for a paper company in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and is filmed in a way similar to a reality show (with characters talking directly to the camera at times in interviews). I've seen five of the six episodes on the disc so far and the show is the best sitcom I have seen in years.

By years I mean since 1997-98. That was the year "Everybody Loves Raymond" had a fantastic second season. Raymond was still good after that but I don't know that it ever reached the same consistent brilliance episode after episode that it did that season.

The genius of "The Office" lies in its central character Michael Scott (played by Steve Carrill - I hope I spelled his name right). This guy is a lunatic! On the one hand he wants to be a great boss and get along with his workers. On the other hand, he is constantly accidentally insulting them through offensive stereotyping and bad practical jokes. He can be firm when he wants to be, but that certainly is not when it comes to making a difficult, hard decision. He thinks everyone in the office loves him, but in reality it is obvious that no one truly respects him. At times his on screen behavior directly contradicts what he tells us about himself in the interviews.

On the one hand, most of us are not like him. Most of us know better than to insult people with the aforementioned offensive stereotyping (EXAMPLE: he is forming a basketball team in one episode and tells the Mexican-American in the office that he can't play basketball with them, but that he can join them for baseball or boxing). On the other hand, how many people have you known who didn't have a clue about how others really felt about them? How many of us would tell an interviewer one thing while living out a different story?

What makes Michael Scott so funny is that, in our fallen human condition, we all have the potential to be just like him. And that is also more than a little bit scary!

Other characters on the show demonstrate the human condition as well: Dwight, the assistant to the regional manager who is a dictatorial nerd just hoping to get to fire someone at some point or Jim, who is obviously interested in Pam the receptionist but won't tell her (she is in the middle of a three year engagement to one of the warehouse workers).

While I am sure the producers did not intend this, "The Office" is one more television example showing us people desperately in need of a savior to come in and change their lives and work on the rough edges within. Fortunately, such a savior is available for us!