Curb Your Enthusiasm and The Hudson Brothers?

Hudson Brothers

Some people noticed that a current episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm contained a reference to filmmaker Renny Harlin (Die Hard 2, etc.). And others laughed at the episode’s references to Pinkberry frozen dessert, “chat-n-cuts,” and “pig parking.” But few caught that the Harlin conversation on the show also referenced the 1970s television and music stars, The Hudson Brothers.

On the episode (“The Vow of Silence“), Tessler (Michael McKean) invited Larry David to stay at Renny Harlin’s apartment in New York, referring to his own involvement in filming “Pandemonium,” based on a “Hudson Brothers movie.” There is no Hudson Brothers movie “Pandemonium,” but McKean’s comment about the “Hudson Brothers” refers to the singing brothers who had their own television show in the 1970s and did a movie named Hysterical. Since I started writing this post, a comment on a another page clarified that “Pandemonium” was a film with Tommy Smothers, so McKean may have accidentally referenced the wrong movie. But who are the Hudson Brothers?

Hudson Brothers Hysterical

If you were not around in the 1970s, you may not have heard of the brothers Bill, Mark, and Brett. They started out playing music in the 1960s, had a few minor hits in the early 1970s (“So You Are a Star,” “Lonely School Year,” and “Rendezvous”). But most young Americans at the time knew the group from their two U.S. TV shows. During the summer of 1974, CBS gave a TV variety hour to the Hudsons on Wednesday nights. Variety shows were big back then, with The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour ending around that time, and Tony Orlando & Dawn then getting a variety show that year to take over the divorcing couple’s time slot. The Hudson Brothers, however, were only in prime time for the summer. Later that fall, the network moved the brothers to a half-hour show on Saturday mornings. That show, The Hudson Brothers Razzle Dazzle Show, ran for a year from September 1974 to August 1975.

When they were sent to Saturday mornings, the humor understandably became a little more juvenile, as you can see in the opening to the Saturday show, which is available on DVD. I still remember some of the characters from the show who made me laugh, including Chucky Margolis, about a kid who never saw his parents and lived in a basement. And I was not alone in enjoying the show. Their friend John Lennon once referred to them as “The Kings of Saturday morning.”

Here is one of their songs “So You Are a Star.” Two of the brothers performed the song more recently in 2008. Below is the original version with all three brothers.

The above song was supposedly written for Goldie Hawn, and many Americans may only connect with the brothers’ name through actress Kate Hudson, who has genes and a last name from one of the brothers. Bill, who was married to Goldie Hawn for awhile, is Kate’s father (although unfortunately father and daughter are estranged). But The Hudson Brothers had more than their fifteen minutes of fame. Behind the scenes, they have done various music and television projects through the years. They seem to be still around and working together. Mark Hudson, who has written a number of songs including Aerosmith’s “Livin’ on the Edge,” was recently spotted in Chicago at a Beatlefest. In 2007, Bret explained how the brothers are still close even if they do not see each other all the time. And the brothers have a MySpace page.

After the two U.S. TV series, the Hudson Brothers had a short-run series called Bonkers in the UK in 1979, and several years later the Hudsons performed in the movie that McKean probably meant to reference on Curb Your Enthusiasm. Despite my fond memories of the television show, I have not seen the movie but below is the trailer for the movie Hysterical (1983).

In 2007, Brett Hudson was diagnosed with Stage Four throat cancer. He has made a serious film about an alternative to the usual American medical system. His website explains how Cher led him to the discovery of a treatment center that Hollywood knows about, but most Americans do not. The movie has a Facebook page. The most recent news I found, which was from 2009, stated the great news that Brett was found to be cancer-free. This clip from Extra tells Brett’s story and his recollection of Farah Fawcett and her struggle with cancer.

Finally, in case you are curious what the three brothers look like more recently, below is a video they made about a year ago to promote a new television show in Canada called What The?. I cannot find what happened to the show.

Anyway, it was nice and a funny obscure reference when Michael McKean remembered The Hudson Brothers on Larry David’s show. So it gave Chimesfreedom an opportunity to recall some Hudson Brothers memories and provide a very long explanation for the Curb Your Enthusiasm reference and why I found it funny. . . in case there is anyone in the world besides me who wondered about it. How about a guest appearance of The Hudson Brothers on Curb Your Enthusiasm?

Do you remember the Hudson Brothers? Leave a comment.

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    Bob Hope on The Muppet Show

    Bob Hope
    On July 27, 2003, the entertainment world lost a legend when Bob Hope passed away at the age of 100. Hope was born Leslie Townes Hope on May 29, 1903 in England, and his family moved to Cleveland, Ohio when he was four. From there, of course, he went on to become one of the legends of Hollywood.

    Although our notions of humor have changed over time and Christopher Hitchens wrote about how he never found Bob Hope funny, Hope was a persistent presence in our lives for many decades. And whether you found him hilarious or not, he somehow gave us comfort in the way he endured, whether it was in his comedies with Bing Crosby, his shows for the troops, his appearances on Johnny Carson, his hosting of the Academy Awards, or this appearance on The Muppet Show.

    If you want more Muppets, check out the trailer for the upcoming new Muppet Movie.

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    James Arness: 1923-2011

    Gunsmoke James Arness James Arness passed away today at the age of 88. Arness was best known for his role as Marshal Matt Dillon on Gunsmoke from 1955-1975. I remember regularly watching the show as a kid, as well as his performance in the mini-series How the West Was Won (1978-1979). Those were the days when a man was a man and we did not have politicians lying about a mistress and sending crotch shots. Oh wait, there was Watergate, and maybe some other stuff. But Arness was the real deal. For his army service in World War II, he received the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, the World War II Victory Medal, and the Combat Infantryman Badge.

    Several websites have stories about Arness, including Entertainment Weekly’s explanation why Arness was the greatest TV lawman and E! Online’s list of 5 reasons Arness was a legend. He was so cool, he apparently had had not one but two “official” websites.

    Although the role of Matt Dillon was originally offered to John Wayne, Wayne recommended Arness. In the clip below, the Duke introduces the first episode with high praise for his friend Arness. The clip also includes the opening scene and other segments of that first show in 1955. In Wayne’s introduction, he predicts Arness will be a big star, “so you might as well get used to him.” That was pretty easy for us to do.

    What are your memories of James Arness and Gunsmoke? Leave a comment.

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    Rating the Lonesome Dove Series, Part 4: Conclusion

    Lonesome DoveThis final installment of the Chimesfreedom analysis of the Lonesome Dove franchise concludes with our overall recommendations. Additionally, we rank the performances of the six actors who played the main character in the series.

    In the previous posts, Chimesfreedom rated on a scale of 1-10 the various miniseries, listed here in chronological order: Dead Man’s Walk (7), Comanche Moon (5), Lonesome Dove (10), Return to Lonesome Dove (8), and Streets of Laredo (6). We also discussed the two seasons of the syndicated television series, starting with the first season, Lonesome Dove: The Series (4), and ending with Lonesome Dove: The Outlaw Years (6), a hidden gem. See the previous posts for more details (links below).

    Where should you start?

    If you have already seen the original Lonesome Dove, you have a number of options. If you wish only to learn about events directly connected to the original, you might watch Comanche Moon and Return to Lonesome Dove, skipping the independent stories of Dead Man’s Walk and Streets of Laredo. You could start with Dead Man’s Walk and follow the characters chronologically. Or, if you are only interested in Larry McMurtry’s vision, you might watch all of them except Return to Lonesome Dove and the television series, which are the ones that do not follow his books.

    For most people, though, you probably want to start with the superior original Lonesome Dove. If you like it, you may pursue the other series. And if you do not like Lonesome Dove, you probably will not like any of the other series and should go on to something else. Then, if you do like Lonesome Dove, what next? The next best series and the one that continues the great story the best, is Return to Lonesome Dove. So I recommend following the sequels before delving into the prequels.

    Bonus Ranking of the Woodrow Calls

    After watching all of the series together, one realizes that the entire franchise is about Woodrow F. Call. In each of the five miniseries and briefly in the television series, Woodrow is played by a different actor, leading to another question: How do you rank the six different Woodrows?

    Chimesfreedom ranks them: (1) Tommy Lee Jones in Lonesome Dove; (2) John Voight in Return to Lonesome Dove; (3) Johnny Lee Miller in Dead Man’s Walk;(4) James Garner in Streets of Laredo; (5) Karl Urban in Comanche Moon; and (6) Lee Majors in one episode of Lonesome Dove: The Series. In fairness to Majors, he had much less to work with than the other Woodrows.

    Thus ends the Chimesfreedom series on Lonesome Dove. If you missed the previous posts on the franchise, check out Part 1 — where we considered the original Lonesome Dove and the prequels, Part 2 — where we rated the sequels, and Part 3 — where we discussed the weekly television series. If you are not sick of reading about Lonesome Dove by this point, there are a number of fan pages where you may seek out more information, including this fan page.

    Which is your favorite Lonesome Dove series? Leave a comment.

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    Rating the Lonesome Dove Series, Part 3: The Weekly TV Series

    Lonesome Dove: The Series In the mid-1990s, the original Lonesome Dove miniseries inspired a syndicated weekly television series, with the first season entitled Lonesome Dove: The Series (1994-1995) and the second season entitled Lonesome Dove: The Outlaw Years (1995-1996). Even though they were part of the same television series with the same setting and most of the same characters, because the two years differed so much, in our continuing discussion of the Lonesome Dove franchise, we are ranking the two seasons of the syndicated television show separately.

    Lonesome Dove: The Outlaw Years

    The setting for both years is an alternate universe from Larry McMurtry’s universe, where Newt Dobbs (Call) died from a fall on the Hell Bitch horse within around a year of the end of Lonesome Dove, according to McMurtry’s book Dead Man’s Walk. McMurtry dispatched Newt with only a sentence or two, apparently in an attempt to prevent the TV network from using his character. But in the television world starting with Return to Lonesome Dove, the television writers recognized that much of the heart of the original Lonesome Dove came from the character of Newt Dobbs. Thus, these later series focused on Newt.

    The same town and most of the major characters are in both seasons, but The Outlaw Years is the far superior season of the two seasons. Because the first season sets the stage for The Outlaw Years, though, you might want to start there — or at least with a few of the early and final episodes of the season — if you are delving into The Outlaw Years.

    (6) Lonesome Dove: The Series (1994-1995): The syndicated series picked up after Return to Lonesome Dove and followed the further adventures of Newt, played by Scott Bairstow. This first season, The Series, is a fairly traditional television western, focusing on Newt settling down with a wife in the town of Curtis Wells. The season ends with a tragedy, setting the stage for a different vision for the second season set two years later in The Outlaw Years.

    The title sequence from Lonesome Dove: The Series ended with a young couple laughing and swinging each other in a sunny grassy field. The contrast between the opening title sequence for The Series with the darker one for The Outlaw Years (below) may be the most drastic title sequence change in a series from one year to the next.

    The biggest strength of The Series is that it gives the back story for the superior Outlaw Years, so that is the main reason to watch it. The Series Rating: 4.

    (7) Lonesome Dove: The Outlaw Years (1995-1996) is one of the big surprises of the franchise. This second season is a much darker western with interesting characters that attempts a harder realism than the first season. There never may have been a television series with this much mud. In some ways, the series is a precursor to HBO’s Deadwood (2004-2006) with its gritty realism — although with less swearing.

    Actor Scott Bairstow takes Newt into some darker territory, and Eric McCormick creates an interesting character in Clay Mosby, who is more complex than traditional villains. And for a Western, the series has several important roles played by women.

    Overall, as the season continued and some episodes become more episodic instead of focusing on the overarching story of the main characters, the season does not consistently maintain the quality of the earliest episodes. But the continuing stories and the relationships among the regular characters remain interesting through the entire season.

    Unfortunately, the series was canceled after this season ended, so we are left hanging about the future of Newt and the citizens of Curtis Wells. But the final episode of the season gives hints about the future, so it is a satisfactory finale for the franchise considering they did not know it would be the final episode.

    On our Lonesome Dove rating scale, The Outlaw Years suffers by being rated in comparison with the complete stories of the miniseries in the franchise. But this TV series is worth checking out. The Outlaw Years Rating: 6.

    Stay tuned for the fourth and final chapter of the Chimesfreedom analysis of the Lonesome Dove franchise, where we will offer viewing advice based on all the rankings from this post, Part 1: The Prequels, and Part 2: The Sequels. We will also rank the many versions of Woodrow Call.

    What did you think of the television series? Leave a comment.

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