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April 2, 1971 – The last episode of the Gothic soap opera Dark Shadows, which aired on ABC-TV, was shown on this date. Due to the grueling five-shows-a-week schedule, the expense and the difficulty of video editing in those days, most scenes were shot in a single take. Actors and actresses routinely flubbed their linesContinue reading “The finale of Dark Shadows”

April 2, 1968 – Stanley Kubrick’s influential science-fiction film 2001: A Space Odyssey, premiered in Washington D.C. on this date. The movie was not a financial success at first. MGM was planning to pull it back from theaters, but several theater owners persuaded them to keep showing the film. Many owners noticed increasing numbers ofContinue reading “2001: A Space Odyssey premiered”

April 2, 2006 –Gnarls Barkley’s Crazy makes history by becoming the UK’s first-ever #1 single to top the chart solely on download sales. Gnarls Barkley is producer Danger Mouse (Brian Burton) and vocalist Cee-Lo Green (Thomas Callaway). Danger Mouse produced The Gorillaz album Demon Days; Cee-Lo was in Goodie Mob. The name “Gnarls Barkley” isContinue reading “Crazy tops the charts”

Happy Palm Sunday The name Palm Sunday comes from the tradition for worshippers being given palm fronds which they use to participate in the reenactment of Christ’s arrival in Jerusalem. Once again, Our sponsor ACME will quote the great theologian, my mother: “I swear to God if you kids don’t cut that shit out, IContinue reading “The ash placed on your foreheads on Ash Wednesday comes from the palms on Palm Sunday.”

April 1, 2007 –Showing her very acute sense of irony, Alanis Morissette transforms the Black Eyed Peas’ song My Humps into a mournful piano ballad for an April Fools’ Day prank. The accompanying music video debuts on YouTube on this date and became a viral sensation, garnering millions of views.

When you woke up this morning, one of your first thoughts probably was probably, what day is it?. But take comfort, it’s April (again.) April is National Poetry Month It is a cruel month – usually mixing memory with tax payments (hopefully you’ve heard that you have to file your taxes by Monday, April 18,Continue reading “If every fool wore a crown, we should all be kings”

April 1, 1978 – Tonight was the last time you could play the original version of the game, ‘Hi Bob‘ because the final episode of The Bob Newhart Show aired on this date. Over the course of the series, the phrase, “Hi, Bob” was said 256 times. Howard Borden (Bill Daily) said it a totalContinue reading “The finale of The Bob Newhart Show”

April 1, 1930 – Josef von Sternberg’s Der Blaue Engel (The Blue Angel), starring unknown German actress, Marlene Dietrich, premiered in Berlin on this date. Marlene Dietrich’s screen test for this film survives. In it, she upbraids an unidentified piano player for his bad playing and sings two songs, the first of which is “You’reContinue reading “The Blue Angel premiered”

March 31, 1994 –Madonna appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman on this date. She dropped the f-bomb more than a dozen times, exchanged less- than-friendly barbs with Dave and then stubbornly refused to leave the set. This made the episode the most censored in American network television talk-show history; it also resulted inContinue reading “Madonna drops the F bomb (a lot)”

March 31, 1987 – US network television’s very first cyberpunk series, Max Headroom premiered on ABC-TV, on this date According to the first episode, the name “Max Headroom” came about when Edison Carter was fleeing from security guards on a motorcycle, and he ran into a parking garage exit gate labeled MAX HEADROOM. While heContinue reading “20 minutes into the future”