Congrats on the Bruins for winning the PAC 10 Tournament! Tomorrow is Selection Sunday and bracket mania will begin. One sure thing for my bracket, is I will have UCLA going all the way!
Speaking of tournaments, Dancing with the Stars premieres on Monday relaunching ABC after the writer's strike with the "fresh here" campaign. I have taken the liberty of finding a Disney connection between all of the contestants. So without further ado…
Adam Carolla was the voice of Commander Nebula on the often forgotten Buzz Lightyear of Star Command TV series. That show was the only animated series to be based off of a Pixar film. What does that say about the strength of the series? It did have an odd beginning with the CG Toy Story characters watching the traditional animated series that the toy Buzz Lightyear was based off of. Of course, I can’t be sure how things came to be. Did the cartoon inspire the toy, or did the toy inspire the cartoon (a la Transformers). The world may never know.
Cristian de La Fuente played the part of Rodrigo on ABC’s Ugly Betty. I have no idea what that means, but I do know that Ugly Betty was brought up at the Disney shareholder meeting as being designed to be family friendly, yet has inappropriate content. I don’t know if this is true, as I try and watch as little Ugly Betty as possible. Fashionistas make me ill.
Shannon Elizabeth played the part of Cindi on ABC’s Step by Step in 1997. Step by Step was part of the ABC’s family friendly TGIF lineup. Of course that lineup stopped in 2005 and those family friendly sitcoms moved to Disney Channel. However looking at ABC’s lineup for this Friday night, (a Grey’s Anatomy rerun and 20/20), I wonder if they might have more success simulcasting Disney Channel.
Steve Guttenberg was Buzzy Crocker in the 1997 telefilm Tower of Terror which was inspired by the attraction at The Disney-MGM Studios. This film was presented in the premiere year of the relaunched Wonderful World of Disney. Of course this program is scarce these days as it tended not to do well in the ratings. But even though the series is not on the air it does have a legacy. The Tower of Terror film was the first film to be based off of an attraction. The Pirates of the Caribbean owes something to Tower of Terror for leading the way. Who needs Johnny Depp when you have Steve Guttenberg.
Penn Jillette is the second star to have a Toy Story connection. He was the announcer that revealed to Buzz that he is actually a toy. I heard that the producers first planned on using Penn’s partner Teller at first for the part. On further discussion they decided that Teller was not the best choice to do a voice over.
Mario was in the original Step Up. Step Up was the successful first installment of the soon to be trilogy that did very well for Disney, with the third film being released in Digital 3D. Please do not make the common mistake and think the Mario had anything to do with Disney’s wretched Super Mario Bros. film that most in the company would like to forget.
Marlee Matlin is a common participant at Epcot’s Candlelight Processional. In addition, she released My First Signs with Disney’s Baby Einstein. I have not had the pleasure of seeing her participate in Candlelight yet, but anyone that comes to Walt Disney World that often, is OK in my book.
Priscilla Presley played Aunt Marie Paterno on ABC’s Spin City in 1999. Spin City is known as ABC’s last successful sitcom. The irony is that it was produced by Dreamworks after Eisner’s public falling out with Jeffrey Katzenberg. Speaking of Katzenberg, did you see him trying to steal Disney’s 3D thunder at ShoWest. He claims to be the Moses of Digital 3D, but if I am not mistaken, Disney did it first with Chicken Little. He might take the limelight, but us Disney fans know the truth.
Monica Seles is a tennis great. ESPN shows tennis. ‘Nuff said.
Jason Taylor is a defensive end for the Miami Dolphins. He once played a Monday Night Football game, and lost on either ABC or ESPN. Of course, if he makes it past the first round of Dancing with the Stars, this would be a unique situation for him this year. He wouldn’t be the loser for the first time in a long time.
Marissa Jaret Winokur performed in Beautiful Girl an original film for ABC Family in 2003. Of course many of you probably didn’t catch this ABC Family Original. You can make up for this by watching ABC Family’s Original Film, The Cutting Edge 3: Chasing the Dream on Sunday night. This film is the third in a trilogy of figure skating films. Speaking of figure skating….
Kristi Yamaguchi played herself in the 2003 Disney Channel Original Movie, Go Figure. Please do not make the mistake of confusing this with the theatrically released Ice Princess from 2005 which Kristi Yamaguchi was not in. Between Go Figure, Ice Princess, and The Cutting Edge trilogy, who knew there were so many figure skating films. I wonder if the new ESPN Films division will try and go to the figure skating film well. With the preceding analysis,
I am going to go with Marlee Matlin because her Disney connection is the strongest. Of course if she is eliminated, I will have to reevaluate. I will cross that bridge, if and when, I get there.
What to Watch: As I mentioned, tomorrow is Selection Sunday. While CBS has the official selection show, turn to ESPN after that to watch ESPNU Bracketology present by Staples and get the quality analysis you can only get from ESPN. Following that program, which promises at least 10 “babies” from Dick Vitale, catch Black Magic presented by Russell and State Farm without commercial interruption(unless you count the official name of the program).
What I’m Reading: Presenting yet another new feature will be telling you what I’m reading. I will update this whenever I start reading a new book. Right now I’m reading 1906 by James Dalessandro. This is the novel which Brad Bird is basing his film off of. It should be a good read. Here is the link on Amazon.