And yea, MTV (via Nickelodeon) did birth Beavis and Butt-Head, who did begat Sifl and Olly, a pair of horny, spacey, talking sock puppets. Verily, we laughed thousandsfold at their performing of rock songs, accepting of Calls From the Public and shillery of Precious Roy’s Civil War corpses and chicken-flavored air-conditioner. Woe upon a world that shall remain cast in comedic darkness until that time when They should return. –Julie Seabaugh
Of the innumerable Stephen J. Cannell shows from the ’80s (The A-Team, Hunter, Hardcastle and McCormick, Riptide and on and on and on)—I keep thinking about Stingray, the one-season wonder that starred Nick Mancuso as a man with no name, identifiable only by his Corvette Stingray. He helped people in need, but there were strings: “I may call upon you to do a favor someday.” Being helped by the hero never had such a feeling of doing a deal with the devil. –T.R. Witcher
I’ve tossed out most of my old VHS tapes, but I won’t let go of my recorded Reverb episodes until the day HBO’s live music series—which aired from 1997 through 2001—appears on DVD. I’ve got great sets from Björk, Pavement, Guided By Voices, Sigur Rós and Built to Spill, and I really wished I’d snagged the OutKast show, which my fading memory has built into something downright godlike. Apparently, Dinosaur Jr., Morphine, Sebadoh, Rage Against the Machine, Super Furry Animals, Joe Strummer and Wilco were among dozens of others who did Reverb, but I never saw them, and unless HBO and co-producer Warner Music get on the switch (I know, securing rights can be a bitch, but seriously, folks!), most of the world never will, either. - Spencer Patterson