The Academia Nut Series: Kelli Marshall

Academia Nut is a new series at tdylf in which I conduct interviews (via the exciting world of email!) with various academics and accomplished writers about film, TV, and pop culture. It’s a chance to learn about movies and TV from some of the best minds in the industry. The introductory interview is with Kelli Marshall. Kelli holds a Ph.D. in the humanities (film studies and Shakespeare) from the University of Texas–Dallas. She has taught at her alma mater as well as the University of North Texas, Texas Christian University, and the University of Toledo. She currently teaches classes on Seinfeld, film and television comedy, and the works of Spike Lee and Quentin Tarantino at DePaul University and Columbia College Chicago. Kelli’s research fields include Shakespeare in popular culture and film musicals with a special nod to Gene Kelly. She is also a staunch advocate for social media in and outside the classroom. You can find her work at MediAcademia or follow her on Twitter at @kellimarshall.

The Nine Best Television Butt Antics

Let me assk you a question. How would you like to see a list that’s sure to send you over the moon? Not only that, butt it might even make you crack a smile. Don’t get left behind, lest you bottom out and look like a dumbass. By now, you’re probably wondering what’s the butt of all these jokes, these ass puns. Here are the nine best television butt antics.

The Nine Best Sitcom Couches

The sitcom has evolved a great deal through the years, ever since Jackie Gleason used space travel as a metaphor for beating his wife on The Honeymooners (credit: another sitcom, which first pointed out the metaphor, Futurama). Characters have changed, humor has changed, animation has been added, family dynamics are a bit different, settings are different, jobs are different… And yet, one thing has remained the same. They’ve all needed somewhere to sit. Couches are an aaaaaawesome place to sit. Here are the nine sitcoms with the best couches in TV history.

Using Pop Culture to Reimagine Tony LaRussa’s Bullpen Call

The World Series has come to St. Louis. The fifth game of the seven game series, played Tuesday night, featured one of the stranger odysseys in baseball history. Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa reached for the bullpen phone and informed the coaches in the bullpen to warm up Mark Rzepczynski and Jason Motte. The plan was to use the left-handed Rzepczynski against the left-handed hitting David Murphy, and then bring in Motte to face the dangerous Mike Napoli. But all hell broke loose. For whatever reason, LaRussa’s phone call was misinterpreted on the receiving end and Rzepczynski faced Napoli, who crushed what proved to be the game-winning double. Lance Lynn, who was supposed to have the night off, inexplicably showed up on the mound when LaRussa finallly relieved Rzepczynski. The next day, someone created a photo (to the right) reimagining how that phone call must have gone and it added much needed levity to a disappointing defeat on baseball’s biggest stage. I’ve decided to carry on with the levity using other famous phone calls from pop culture.

12 Notable Actors Who You Probably Don’t Remember from Seinfeld

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Most TV viewers know that before Larry David created his comic hit Curb Your Enthusiasm, he co-created Seinfeld with Jerry Seinfeld. The show had an impressive run. It dominated comedy in the 1990’s and has a special place in TV history. A great deal of Jerry, Elaine, George and Kramer’s highjinx will live on forever. Part of what I find so amazing about it as I watch it in syndication is the supporting cast. There are a surprising number of notable actors who pop up as extras on the show, most before anyone knew who they were. Here are twelve.

The Ten Best Gibberish Words in TV Scrabble

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It’s a time honored tradition in sitcoms. A family sits around a table, preparing for family game night. The Scrabble™ board is placed on the table, and the family begins connecting words. And then, someone plays a gibberish word that doesn’t exist. Here are the ten best:

#10. The Show: Family Ties
The Character: Alex P. Keaton
The Word: ushnuu
The Definition/Used in a Sentence: “It’s Greek for… towel off”

TV Characters and Their Favorite Baseball Teams

Major League Baseball’s opening day is just around the corner. In some baseball-crazed households (mine) and baseball mad cities (St. Louis), it might as well be a citywide holiday. In preparation for it, and in the hopes of appeasing Annie Savoy’s baseball Gods, here are some famous (and some not so famous) TV characters and their favorite baseball teams.

The Entire Cast of Cheers, Boston Red Sox
So much of this show revolved around baseball. The show’s male lead and bar owner, Sam Malone (Ted Danson) was a former pitcher for the Sox. Coach Ernie Pantusso, one of Malone’s coaches and two-time league leader in HBP’s, was one of the bartenders. Real life Red Sox great Wade Boggs made a guest appearance on the show and got pantsed by the gang. And Carla Maria Victoria Angelina Teresa Apollonia Lozupone Tortelli LeBec (Rhea Perlman) once bludgeoned an obnoxious Yankee fan’s head by banging it into the bar. It was baseball fandom at its best.

Ten Fictional TV Businesses that I Wish Were Real

Presented in no particular order…

1. Shitty Wok, South Park

Why yes, generic Chinese restaurant guy stereotype. As a matter of fact, I would like to try the Shitty Chicken.

2. Satriale’s, The Sopranos

Knowing what we all know about what went on in that place, I’m not sure I could enjoy a sandwich in there. I really don’t want my capicola being sliced on the same slicer that was used to hack up hundreds of corpses. But the ambiance alone would make it a worthwhile trip.