Tag: Fox

  • Arrested Development Ratings

    Arrested Development Ratings

    5-28-13-Bearman-Cartoon-Arrested Development Ratings Perception vs Reality

    So the new season of Arrested Development has finally streamed on Netflix to what appears to be heavy streaming of the new episodes, disappointment from critics, and a stock tumble because reception of the fourth season wasn’t as good as expected.  I will be honest, I remember when the show premiered on Fox, I wasn’t a fan.   I guess I wasn’t the only one because it peaked at about 6 million viewers and was about 120 on the ratings list.   Sure you can blame Fox for poor scheduling but it just never caught on during it’s run even though the critics lauded it.

    But unlike the Fox run, as my cartoon alludes to the poor ratings, those critics got the buzz continuing and it saw new life on streaming services such as Netflix and Hulu.   So the rabid fan base couldn’t wait till the new season.   Sadly the critics aren’t as giddy with Season 4 so we will see if there is a Season 5.

    Are you an Arrested Development fan?   What am I missing?

  • Editorial Cartoon: Juan Williams Fired from NPR

    Bearman Cartoons Juan Williams Fired from NPR

    Obviously it is newsworthy if I post on a Friday instead of my regular Sunday and Wednesday (did any of you realize I had a schedule?)

    It seems Juan Williams of National Public Radio fame had spent too much time over at Fox News commenting on the news of the day and has now lost his contract with NPR.  For those readers outside the country, NPR is funded in part by the government and some will say it is the only way liberal radio can survive.  Of course Fox News is deemed a branch of the right wing conservative movement so you can see the rub.

    It is interesting that NPR would use the excuse that their reporters and analysts are not supposed to provide personal opinion but rather merely ask questions.  You can make your opinion known simply by editorial decisions on editing, who to interview and how you ask questions.

    In the end, Juan ends up with a $2 million contract from Fox News so we won’t be seeing him on the unemployment line.

  • Help make Marie Flanders the Newest Character on the Simpsons

    So Fox Broadcasting and The Simpsons television show are having a contest for the next few weeks looking for submissions to create the newest character in Springfield. I entered some basic information for my character assuming that when I hit next, I would be able to flesh out the character. Much to my dismay, I was not and unfortunately you are only allowed to enter once.

    So I need your help promoting Marie Flanders on Twitter, Facebook, StumbleUpon etc etc. so hopefully the powers that be at the Simpsons Production Office will take notice and make sure to give Marie a second look.

    While not part of the submission I took the liberty of drawing Marie so you have a visual.

      Marie Flanders on The Simpsons

     Here is the info requested by the Site:

    Name:  Marie Flanders
    Known Aliases:  Mary Jane
    Age: 76 (now you may be wondering why the woman in the picture above doesn’t look 76.  Remember that Ned is actually 60 but looks 40 so it is perfectly OK for his 76 year old mother to look 50.)
    Occupation, if Any:  Retired VW Car Dealer
    Sex, if any:  Female (of course I resisted saying ‘Yes Please’ to respond to this.)
    Hair Color:  Gray (or Grey for all my overseas friends)
    Body Type:  Voluptuous (more like a Jayne Mansfield type rather than heavy)
    Blood Type:  A-  (she used to be an A+ but has been slipping in her old age a bit)
    Distinguishing Features:  Chest, Hips and Long Hair
    Last Seen:  Boarding a bus to a monastery to have her child Ned
    Last Heard:  Yelling “you’ll never see me again” to her parents
    Known Catchphrase:  Stuff It!, Peachy-Keen

    Now after this they tell you to click next and I assume that I will be taken to a second page that allows me to input a more detailed description of who Marie Flanders is and why she would be a great addition.  However all it had was the typical name, email entry info.

    Background: 

    First a little background on who Ned Flanders believes are his parents.  According to Wikia (not wikipedia)

    Mona Flanders is the mother of Ned Flanders and the wife of Nedward Flanders Sr. She is a beatnik. She is seen in the episodes “Lisa’s First Word” when Ned introduces “Grandma Flanders”, where she is visibly aged and senile. A much younger Mona Flanders is seen in “Sweet Seymour Skinner’s Badasssss Song” when Ned has a flashback about his parents and Hurricane Neddy when she and her husband bring Ned to Dr. Foster. She is also referred to in “Lisa’s Date With Density”. It is assumed that by the normal Simpsons timeline that Mona Flanders, along with her husband Ned Flanders Senior, is deceased, likely due to her extreme old age.

    Now the real story is that Mona is Ned’s Maternal Grandmother.  Nedward and Mona brought up their daughter Marie in a strict household.  Marie was a rebel and fought back at her parents the only way she knew how – she got knocked up at 16.  Furious and to escape ridicule of the neighbors, her parents sent her to a monastery until Ned was born.  Marie swore that if her parents put her on the bus, her parents would never see her again and after Ned’s birth he was returned to Mona and Nedward sans Marie.

    Upset with losing their daughter, Mona and Nedward swore off their strict ways and turned into the most liberal of parents of young Ned (thus leading to the description above).

    Marie lived up to her oath that her parents would never see her again.  Only after their death does she turn up in Springfield to surprise Ned that his mother is indeed alive and she moves in with Ned and his family.

     More on Marie.

    Marie is an agnostic libertarian.  She abhors any authority figure whether it be a boss, the government or the church.  A direct reflection of the rebelling that happened as a teenager.  However she is not against using her brains (and her body) to get what she needs.  Mr Burns, Moe, Grandpa Simpson, and Duff Man all become potential love interests but only as much as Marie needs them for something.  Even Bart falls for Marie seeing an older kindred spirit who would just assume tell authority figures to “Stuff It” rather than do what they want.

    I see big things for Marie in Springfield for a long time.  So help me out.  Hit one of the buttons (or several below)  Twitter, Stumble Upon, Facebook and spread the word about Marie.   Maybe the executives at The Simpsons or Fox will be inclined to visit.

    Follow me via TWITTER updates. or help spread the word…

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  • Thanks to all – Over 1000 hits

    Over the weekend given that I was quite prolific last week and put up three new toons, for the first time ever I had 1000 hits in one day on this blog.  Most of you will laugh because you probably get thousands of hits but oh well. I even reached around number 70 on the WordPress Blog of the Day.   Once you get rid of all the professional posters like CNN, Fox, and People Magazine which tend to always take the top spots, I might have been in the top 25.

    Also have been getting a lot of hits from a link I posted in a comment at JokesFunny.wordpress.com so go check it out as well.

    Thanks to all who visited, commented and retweeted. Away from computer this week so can’t churn out anything until later in the week.

    Follow me via TWITTER updates.