Every single network television detective show since the dawn of TV eventually does an episode on the circus, and every single one of them repeats the same old tired cliches. Every. Single. One.
How many can you count from this 1989 episode of Matlock?
How many real circus pros can you identify in the background? Why didn't they bother to ask any of them what a circus is really like?
8 comments:
Pat, if you think this show is bad, you should see Perry Mason's "The case of the clumsy clown"... What a stinko!. Raymond Burr was funnier than the clown in that one... Did you notice that Simon's costume is the one the clown uses in John Candy's "Uncle Buck"?. The suit, the hat, the bow tie... Do they keep that costume under "Costumes for jerk clowns"?.
It's nothing compared to the CSI show on the murdered clown. At least Matlock is clearly fiction. CSI pretends to be realistic, and yet they just pulled big chunks of clown-lore right out of their collective hack-writers bag of bullsh*t.
By the way, I think I spotted Jimmy Briscoe in the opening scene
That is Jimmy Briscoe and Kevin Bickford on the wagon doing the boxing routine in the opening. The show was also directed by Leo Penn, father of Sean Penn.
Actually that was Kevin and me doing the boxing gag with Jimmy as the ref.
I have to ask... why would anybody think ANYTHING on TV represents anything remotely resembling reality? This episode was sold based on a 'pitch meeting' then probably no less than 10 people worked out the script. I talked to Leo Penn for a week about the circus and physical comedy. He was a big Marx Brother's fan.
Considering that the actors had no real clown experiance I think they did a pretty good job with the gags, and Briscoe did a great job as the TD.
Don't forget Jimmy "Checkers" Grahm as the balloon vending clown! Yep, the big California clowns were on hand. Thank you Bozo Row for your collective cameos.
Actually I thought that might be you Ron, but the resolution wasn't so good, Jimmy was the only one I was really sure about. My son Nathaniel and I have a weakness for these old shows and we went ahead and watched the whole episode.
Spoiler Alert..
It wasn't the clown (whew) It was the human cannonball. Darn human cannonballs, you just CAN'T trust 'em. The repeated percussion knocks their brains out of whack.
Do they think we walk around in make-up 24/7. Now that's funny!
Have any of you read 'Water for Elephants' yet? A fun read... but 100 years of circus pushed into a 3month time-span. That will be fun casting... the book reads like a movie script. I'd like to see David Nixsay produce with Steve LaPorte doing make up. Oh... and they can red-light Max Daniels!
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