Yippee!!

Although I have to admit that I’m not thrilled about The Sopranos taking their mid-season break, I am excited that the new season of Deadwood begins tonight. These are two of the few shows on the air that remain exceptional on every level, in a vast sea of other programs aimed at an IQ level of well less than 13…

I know, I know - both Deadwood and The Sopranos tend to use four letter words as space fillers, and both series maybe have a shade more violence that you would ever see on The Golden Girls, but the writing and acting compensate to my mind for those minor quibbles.

Unless you’re a Roman Catholic cardinal, then perhaps you’d prefer to watch Bingo Or No Bingo, hosted by Father Howard O’Dell…

(Wouldn’t it have been cool to see at least one episode of The Golden Girls where the gang was all terribly foul-mouthed and finally got so fed up with Betty White’s dopey character that they drove her out to the woods, and made her sleep with the fishes?? Or is it swim with the fishes?? Man, The Sopranos are only away a week, and I’ve lost my lingo already!! And why would you drive a person into the forest to play with the fishes, anyway?? Didn’t they live in Florida? By THE OCEAN???)

I may be a little more dulled to the violence aspect of those shows having grown up watching the golden age of Saturday morning cartoons. There was the inept Tony Soprano-like Wile E. Coyote, who never met a safe he didn’t like to drop on his own head. Week after week, he would fail in his efforts to whack the roadrunner… Maybe he needed to recruit a couple more coyotes to help with the schemes. There must have been a Bada Bing somewhere out there in that desert...

There were other mildly violent cartoons out there. If he ever got to cussing profusely, a goofy version of Deadwood’s Al Swearengen (and boy, is that character ever well-named!) might be Sylvester The Cat, who was relentless in his bloodthirsty pursuit of Tweety. Did anyone ever tell him to “say it, don’t spray it”?? Sufferin’ Succotash indeed….

Although, if you wanted a more accurate disposition from the cartoon character world for Swearengen, you'd probably have to go with Yosemite Sam, the king of Saturday morning bluster. For all his posturing, he always sounded a bit too much like Foghorn Leghorn for me to take him too seriously...

Finally, with his love of guns and stylish hats, Elmer Fudd would possibly fit well in either series with a few minor modifications for the era each are set in. I’m not so sure he could pull it off though, as I try to imagine taking him seriously if he swore with that voice of his.

Huhuhuhuhu….

Chow for now!!