Oh, yeah, don’t worry. I’m going to muster up the balls to stand up to my opinions, since they’re the way I see things–there are many ways to interpret anything, and I just don’t see ADW as this all-around perfect show–you know, like all these fans who still watch Full House or Happy Days all these years and like it despite its many flaws.

I think I’ll decicate this week to the dearly departed Millie (real name: Millicent), played by the sexy Marie-Alise Recasner, primarily a soap opera actress (she’s appeared in Days of Our Lives, Santa Barbera, and the dearly departed Port Charles). She’s also appeared in Gimme A Break! (the Nell Carter show accused of bringing back the mammy in popular culture), Benson, Mr. Mr. Belvedere, Murder She Wrote and the Ellen sitcom. (Info from tvtome.com). Her longest run on sitcoms, however, was on ADW as Millie. Her first appearance on ADW was in “War of the Words;” she disappeared for a few episodes before returning in “The Gift of the Magi” and all the first season episodes that were shown in 1988 (excluding the episodes that were supposed to be shown earlier in the series run, “Come Back Little Eggby” and “My Dinner with Theo”).

You know, I was very disapointed that (despite the fact she was a guest star) Marie-Alise was fired off of the show in order to make it more representative of the HBCU experience (or at least what Bill Cosby, Debbie Allen or even Jasmine Guy or Kadeem Hardison will tell you). It would have been great if they invited Marie-Alise back on a later episode–let’s say either the fourth season (because it was the most interesting, best season), fifth season (because it was largely dull and overly melodramatic) or the sixth season (because it was the worst season ofADW ever)–so she could finally tell Whitley off and tell her how much of a bitch she was when Millie knew her. More on that later. Anyway, to close that post, Millie coming back would have given me some closure–I really liked Millie and I feel that if they could give Whitley and Dwayne makeovers, why not Millie?

What’s up with Erica?

You remember Erica, right?
What, you mean you don’t remember her?
She’s Whitley’s offstage friend that we never saw.
You know, Whitley would talk to Erica and run off stage…much like some bad joke would take the “kids” out of a sequence in Good Times.
Erica is mentioned in “Reconsibile Differences” and “Sometimes You Get the Bear, Sometimes the Bear Gets You,” but as soon as Millie showed up, Erica disappeared.
Maybe she transferred to Hampton University because she couldn’t stand Whitley’s abuse.

Select Media Inc. presents Positively Negative HIV/AIDS 2004 Story Writing Contest

Select Media Inc. presents Positively Negative HIV/AIDS 2004 Story Writing Contest

Today’s post is just a notice that Jasmine Guy is one of the judges for this year’s contest.

I’ve also enabled comments…

I love to see the traffic on this website. Leave one at least on your first visit, okay? That way, I can see how people think about how obsessive/derogatory/liberal I am.

An antedote!

Met Sonia Sanchez last night. I’m still mortified. It took me a minute or so to clarify the spelling of my name. You see, I went to her poetry show, The Full Moon of Sonia, and it was amazing. It wasn’t like a poetry slam or anything I saw almost a year ago when the touring company of Def Poetry Jam came by the campus (I still remember people getting upset that I had a ticket and they didn’t). It was a combination of African dance, singing, music and Sonia’s poetry (which she read from off a musical stand). They were selling CDs after the event (which started 15 minutes late for some reason, and the actual event started after the warm-up act, an UNC alumna who recited her poem “Take Me Back.” (I didn’t necessarily agree with the alumna’s poem, which was about going back to the days of Good Times and Diff’rent Strokes to go forward in a world filled with people wanting to be rappers and just doing all types of immoral shit, including (according to her stance) abortion [which I do not object to as a whole, but personally, I would only do it if I were raped because I know how a partial-birth abortion is done, and it's upsetting...blame my health sciences teacher--she might have been Republican]. Besides, if I was forced to leave behind my electronica CDs for JJ clowning around in a Chicago ghetto built on an LA soundstage, I would go crazy.)
Anyway, they were selling CDs after the set–Sonia had released a new CD of poetry this year, also called The Full Moon of Sonia–and she was autographing copies of the CD. If I could find a possible site that is selling the CD, I would link ya’ll to it–it’s not on Amazon. I almost didn’t get the CD because it cost $15 for non-students and I forgot that I had $22 dollars in my pocket (enough to cover the cost of the CD, and I could have bought a poetry compliation of hers such as Wounded in the House of a Friend (the poem that ends “I’ve been keeping company with the layaway man,” etc. along with some other poems) or Shake Loose My Skin. I bought the CD (which cost $10 for me), waited, got nervous (she’s like, the first person I’ve ever met that wasn’t a person of authority of Wayne County or a coach at UNC–in other words, more important than me), and then I told her my name, but because part of my hearing and brains were in La-La Land (blame my love of hip-hop and electronica at high levels on my computer), it took us a while to figure out my name (see the end of this post) is not spelled Rashidah. (Looks nice, doesn’t it? I mean, it could be my name…)
Now I have an autographed CD from Sonia Sanchez–I now have to muster up the strength to touch the CD liner again to put it in its jewel case (BKA that hard plastic that they put CDs in).

There’s also a small link to a little-known fact about Cree Summer from this post: She has Sonia Sanchez books (among other writers and genres of books) at her home somewhere in LA.

Oh, and did I say that I was going to do an in-depth report on Whitley’s singing?

NOTE: Because much of this episode takes place in Dwayne’s dream, Jasmine Guy is allowed to show off her singing talent. Whitley was shown to be a good singer early in the series, but usually sang horribly for comic effect in later seasons. –From an episode note from “The Little Mister” on tvtome.com

Actually, I disagree–to a certain point–and it’s all because of this episode: “The Prime of Miss Lettic Bostic.”
Unofficially, this is the first time we, as the audience, get to see Whitley sing. Whitley is singing scales with Millie playing a harmonica to tune Whitley. The scales go “Ma, Me, My, Moo” to contrast a point that Lettie made about Whitley’s self-absorved behavior (which, sadly, was on the mark). You can infer whether Whitley’s scales were bad or not (I think they were intentionally bad) by Jaleesa’s comment over a bullhorn (to make fun of Jaleesa’s domineering attitude according to Lettie): “You (Whitley), shut up!”

Here are other singing episodes featuring Whitley’s singing:
Second Season
“Three Girls Three”
Does Whitley sing well: Yes
In a dream sequence: Yes
After their backstabbin’ singing partner Angela (Sharon Brown) wins the coveted “Hillman Pips” title with her own version of the Pips, Whitley and Jaleesa dream (Two people dreaming together. How odd!) about backing Gladys Knight (Gladys Knight) on her “Love Overboard,” which was a popular song at the time. Oh, yeah, they finally get that Angela girl tied up like a worm.

“If You Like Pilgrim Coladas”
Does Whitley sing well: No…and yes
In a dream sequence: No
Okay, this is very complicated. In Whitley’s voice, Jasmine Guy sings an okay “Little Sally Waters” and a terrible “La Bamba” in Whitley’s voice. But later, in the weird “Twist and Shout” sequence that screams “Debbie Allen choreographed this,” Jasmine Guy is singing (in her own voice, no less) and twirling around until Kim and Whitley try to bolt after seeing Colonel Taylor in the bar.

“A Stepping Stone”
Well, I don’t remember hearing Whitley’s voice (note I did not say Jasmine Guy’s voice) chanting that “ABCDEFG, GIlbert Hall’s the one for me” chant.
Oh, was this a dream sequence: No

“The Thing About Women”
Does Whitley sing well: Yes…see note
In a dream sequence: No
Remember when Whitley hit that high note after saying that Lamar’s (Thomas Mikal Ford, “Tommy” on Martin) “quiet power” “was screaming at [her]?” Not bad (IMHO)!

Third Season
“The Hat Makes the Man”
Does Whitley sing well: No
In a dream sequence: No
“Haven’t you heard? We’re in the navy now…” Well, after hearing that atrocious Whitley Gilbert singing voice, yes!

“For Whom the Jingle Bell Tolls”
Does Whitley sing well: No
In a dream sequence: Yes and no…see note
Remember this homage to A Christmas Carol? Then you have to remember Whitley trying to add this sixth element to the Hillman version of “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” Good thing nobody really heard her. Sadly, a few people heard her hamming it up on “Joy to the World” (“Let her, let her, yeah…”)

“Under One Roof”
Does Whitley sing well: No
In a dream sequence: No
Whitley mangles up the second verse of “My Guy” in Dean Hughes’ house before doing the Running Man.

“Getaway Part I”
Does Whitley sing well: No
In a dream sequence: No
Whitley does her best Diana Ross impression (which is terrible) to some Supremes song in that cabin (I forgot what song, and when I identify it, I’ll tell ya’ll and TV Tome).

Fourth Season
Excusing “Good Help is Hard to Fire” because Jasmine Guy and/or Whitley was not singing…her song (“Try Me”) was playing in the background

“Love Thy Neighbor”
Does Whitley sing well: No
In a dream sequence: No
Whitley mangles up Michael Jackson’s (from his solo era at Motown) “Got to Be There” (which sounds more like “Gotta be there/Be there in the morn-nang…”)

I don’t think she was singing in “I’m Dreaming of a Wayne Christmas…”

“War and Peace”
Does Whitley sing well: Yes
In a dream sequence: No
But of course, she has to ham it up on the Anderson Sisters “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy from Company B.”

“It’s Showtime at Hillman”
Does Whitley sing well: Yes and no…see note
In a dream sequence: No
The song was Josephine Baker’s “J’ai Deux Amours”…the crew, two ridiculous-looking background dancers…the singing was terrible but well-sung…nobody was laughing…maybe they were all cringing. I dunno. I thought it was funny myself…

Nothing in the fifth season…

Sixth Season
“The Little Mister”
Does Whitley sing well: Yes and no…see note
In a dream sequence: Yes
Whitley channels Jasmine Guy and herself while singing the “Change” part before later belting out as Jasmine Guy.

“White Christmas”
Does Whitley sing well: No
In a dream sequence: No
“Joy to the world/The Lord is come…” Cut to a quick instrumental of “Joy to the World.”

Wasn’t Jasmine Guy singing in “When One Door Closes, Part 2″ in her own voice? I think so…

“A Rock, a River, a Lena”
Does Whitley sing well: No
In a dream sequence: No
Yes, children, her voice did sound like a cat on a hot tin roof.

And that’s it for right now. See ya’ll later…

Another idiosyncrasy for the masses, courtesy of Anne Betts and Debbie Allen.
In “Reconcilable Differences,” we are introduced to Whitley Gilbert, man-stealing, double-entendre spoutin’ southern belle diva. She likes doing exercises, sleeping to crickets and ocean sounds (sounds relativly normal), and hates whenever people eat cheese around her (thank God Jasmine Guy likes soul food). Yet later, Kim, apparently not upset that Whitley calls her Kimberly at times, eats a pizza on the bed in “I’ve Got the Muse in Me;” Whitley only tells her that that pizza’s “gon’ kill [her]!”
I guess this cheese-eating fact was either forgotten by later writers or Jasmine Guy remembered it well and asked Debbie Allen to remove that fact.

A Rock, a River, Some More on Lena and Mammy

As you may have read, I hate most (if not all) of Glenn Berenbeim’s scripts because they’re opinionated, not educated. And I’m still upset that people actually believe the material presented in several of his scripts as true. For instance, I was cruising through the TV Tome forums, and people actually thought that Mr. Gaines sounded intelligent and wise instead of using his flawed logic to confort Kim in “Mammy Dearest.” If you still don’t think that TV leaves an impression on you, well, this and my last post are proof that it does.
My advice, kiddies: Go out there and read African-American history books, criticism books, and fictional and non-fictonal works. And just reading I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and Invisible Man is not enough because there are several more obscure books one can read about African-Americans–you just have to find them.
And also DON’T ALWAYS BELIEVE WHAT YOU SEE ON TV!!!! Otherwise, Bill O’Reilly would probally have a stranglehold on the world now.
In honor of the last unofficial opinionated script of Berenbeim, I want to reveal some facts I didn’t reveal in my “Light Egyptian: The Chronicles” post.
Her father was a basketball player and a gambler–he was gambling when Lena was born to pay the hospital bill. Smart!
At age 16, was pushed into being a chorus girl at the Cotton Club to make money for her family ($25 a week).
Has a daughter and a son, Teddy, who died in 1971 from kidney failure.
Was considered for Carmen Jones.
Middle name: Calhoun.

Most of this stuff I found at http://www.classicmoviemusicals.com/horne.htm.

Why can’t I ever take geology at UNC?

It’s the combination of high-heels and minerals. I dunno.

Oh, just one more image…to show the wonderful power of hello from picasa. From Showtime’s site for Dead Like Me.

Check the post for where the picture was stolen