Brainatra
12-08-2002, 03:43 PM
Apparently between weekend sports coverage and west coast time zone issues, the local ABC affiliate here is airing some of its Sat. morning shows on Sunday morning; hence, today I caught my first full episode of "Fillmore"...
Noted that the African-American kid is the "Fillmore" in question. Pleased to see a cartoon show with a minority as the star (or co-star, since he works with that one goth-looking girl), though I suppose ABC Kids also has "The Proud Family" re: lead roles for minorities (and if you want to get picky, "Teamo Supremo"'s Latino and Asian kids / "Recess"'s Black kid...).
One thing I noted was that the setup of the show reminded me of a joke I made up for a fanfic story last year (before seeing/having heard of "Fillmore"), for a scene involving teenage Clark Kent watching TV in the 1980s, figuring it sounded like an unlikely scenario for a show:
>>(Cut to the inside of the small house, as we see the Kent family is plopped down in front of the TV set; apparently, they've just eaten Thanksgiving dinner, and look quite stuffed.)
TV ANNOUNCER: Coming up next--- what happens when the boys are faced with stopping a massive load of illegal Halloween candy being shipped through P.S. 58? Stay tuned for---(thumping rock music) "MIAMI VICE KIDS"!!! (Shots of two 10-year-olds, one of them dressed like Don Johnson on "Miami Vice", is seen, along with shots of them in a hot "pursuit" of some kids on bicycles....).
CLARK: (Bored) I think this "kiddification" of adult characters thing is getting out of hand....
<<<
Little would I suspect that the above sounds like the modus operandi for "Fillmore"...albeit sans pastel-colored suits and oversynthesized 80s rock music :-)
Anyway, today's episode involved the two agents (what are their "official" positions? Hall monitors?) trying to figure out who swiped the school mascot (a lobster, of all bizarre things), with the aid of a purported pre-teen psychic.
Thought it was an OK episode, though I wondered about several things:
- apparently Fillmore's "catch phrase"/euphemism for "aha!" is "disco". Wonder what sort of 12-year-old would say something 70's-ish sounding (let alone a slightly bizarre "catch phrase") like that...
- entertaining enough chase scenes, though I wonder why they just didn't nab the guy at home, seeing as this *isn't* "Miami Vice" (wheresome perp's fleeing for international drug dealings)---but rather just middle-class suburbanite kids who obviously still live with their parent(s)... or even wait until he (inevitably) shows up for school the next day...
The mystery solving angle would seem to make this appealing to kids (and without the Scooby Doo "cheesy fake rock music")... and much better than the show that followed, "Recess" (aka "the show that makes a strong argument in favor of home schooling")...
-B.
Noted that the African-American kid is the "Fillmore" in question. Pleased to see a cartoon show with a minority as the star (or co-star, since he works with that one goth-looking girl), though I suppose ABC Kids also has "The Proud Family" re: lead roles for minorities (and if you want to get picky, "Teamo Supremo"'s Latino and Asian kids / "Recess"'s Black kid...).
One thing I noted was that the setup of the show reminded me of a joke I made up for a fanfic story last year (before seeing/having heard of "Fillmore"), for a scene involving teenage Clark Kent watching TV in the 1980s, figuring it sounded like an unlikely scenario for a show:
>>(Cut to the inside of the small house, as we see the Kent family is plopped down in front of the TV set; apparently, they've just eaten Thanksgiving dinner, and look quite stuffed.)
TV ANNOUNCER: Coming up next--- what happens when the boys are faced with stopping a massive load of illegal Halloween candy being shipped through P.S. 58? Stay tuned for---(thumping rock music) "MIAMI VICE KIDS"!!! (Shots of two 10-year-olds, one of them dressed like Don Johnson on "Miami Vice", is seen, along with shots of them in a hot "pursuit" of some kids on bicycles....).
CLARK: (Bored) I think this "kiddification" of adult characters thing is getting out of hand....
<<<
Little would I suspect that the above sounds like the modus operandi for "Fillmore"...albeit sans pastel-colored suits and oversynthesized 80s rock music :-)
Anyway, today's episode involved the two agents (what are their "official" positions? Hall monitors?) trying to figure out who swiped the school mascot (a lobster, of all bizarre things), with the aid of a purported pre-teen psychic.
Thought it was an OK episode, though I wondered about several things:
- apparently Fillmore's "catch phrase"/euphemism for "aha!" is "disco". Wonder what sort of 12-year-old would say something 70's-ish sounding (let alone a slightly bizarre "catch phrase") like that...
- entertaining enough chase scenes, though I wonder why they just didn't nab the guy at home, seeing as this *isn't* "Miami Vice" (wheresome perp's fleeing for international drug dealings)---but rather just middle-class suburbanite kids who obviously still live with their parent(s)... or even wait until he (inevitably) shows up for school the next day...
The mystery solving angle would seem to make this appealing to kids (and without the Scooby Doo "cheesy fake rock music")... and much better than the show that followed, "Recess" (aka "the show that makes a strong argument in favor of home schooling")...
-B.