Monday, November 23, 2009

What is the new logo?

You may have noticed that the blog logo has changed again. After last week's discussion, I've decided to do a new post each week announcing that a new logo has been posted, and inviting everybody to speculate on what it is. After a few days - or, at least, after enough people have very clearly figured it out - I'll pop in and either confirm or explain what it is.

This post, meanwhile, is being added to the Recommended Reading section of the side rail, so I can use it to keep a running list of all the logos and their explanations, updating it after I've revealed the answer in the weekly post.

We're starting this new process with one of the more esoteric logos I've done. It's one where you will either get it immediately, or else you likely will never get it.

Good luck. UPDATE: Well, that didn't take long at all. Check the comments if you want to know the answer to this one.

After the jump, the tally of previous logos:

The original logo (three summer rewinds, plus Tony) - Dick Winters (Band of Brothers), Ziggy Sobotka (The Wire), Dana Whitaker (Sports Night), Tony Soprano reading The Star-Ledger

Badass men - Al Swearengen (Deadwood), Sayid Jarrah (Lost), Michael Westen (Burn Notice), Omar Little (The Wire)

"Mad Men" - Pete, Betty, Don, Joan

Badass women - Sarah Walker (Chuck), Sydney Bristow (Alias), Emma Peel (The Avengers), Zoe Washburne (Firefly)

Bald cops - Theo Kojak (Kojak), Andy Sipowicz (NYPD Blue), Frank Pembleton (Homicide), Vic Mackey (The Shield)

Eccentric rich dudes - Jimmy James (NewsRadio), Bruce Wayne (Batman), Charlie Crews (Life), Montgomery Burns (The Simpsons)

NERDS! - Doogie Howser, Sam Weir (Freaks and Geeks), Chloe O'Brian (24), Chuck Bartowski (Chuck)

"EZ Streets" - Jimmy Murtha, Theresa Conners, Cameron Quinn, Danny Rooney

TCA Award winners John Carter (ER), Saul Mother-Frakking Tigh (Battlestar Galactica), Sheldon Cooper (Big Bang Theory), Betty Draper (Mad Men)

"Mad Men," take two - Roger, Peggy, Don, Joan

Classic sitcom straight men (and woman) - Mary Richards (The Mary Tyler Moore Show), Michael Bluth (Arrested Development), Alex Rieger (Taxi), Dave Nelson (NewsRadio)

Gender benders Max Q. Klinger (MASH), Jacqueline "Jake" Pratt (Young Americans), Kip "Buffy" Wilson (Bosom Buddies), Tara "Buck" Gregson (United States of Tara)

Four faces of Ted Danson - Cheers, Becker, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Damages

Police those moostashes! - Peter Benton (ER), Norman Buntz (Hill Street Blues), Thomas Magnum (Magnum, PI), Sarah Silverman (2009 Emmys)

Great coaches - Eric Taylor (Friday Night Lights), Mickey (Rocky), Herb Brooks (Miracle), Norman Dale (Hoosiers)

Mad scientists - Professor Frink (Simpsons), Walter Bishop (Fringe), Dr. Bunsen Honeydew (The Muppet Show), Walter White (Breaking Bad)

Grown-up girls of "Freaks and Geeks" - Busy Philipps (Cougar Town), Joanna Garcia (Privileged), Lizzy Caplan (Party Down), Linda Cardellini (ER)

Movie-to-TV adaptations that didn't suck - Oscar Madison (The Odd Couple), Buffy Summers (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Tim Riggins (Friday Night Lights), Karen Sisco (Karen Sisco)

Canadians - Doug McKenzie (SCTV), young Alanis Morissette (You Can't Do That On Television), Constable Benton Fraser (Due South), Robin Scherbatzky (How I Met Your Mother)

Aliens - Mr. Spock (Star Trek), Mork from Ork (Mork and Mindy), George Francisco (Alien Nation), Anna (V)

Military heroes - Carwood "Lip" Lipton (Band of Brothers), Jonas "Snake Doctor" Blane (The Unit), Brad "Iceman" Colbert (Generation Kill), Kara "Starbuck" Thrace (Battlestar Galactica)

Bizarro "Sex and the City" - Sarah Jessica Parker as a nerd (Square Pegs), Kim Cattrall as a Vulcan (Star Trek VI), Cynthia Nixon as Eleanor Roosevelt (Warm Springs), Kristin Davis as Charlotte as a dude (the episode "Boy, Girl, Boy, Girl")

Who are four people who have never been in Cliff Clavin's kitchen? (inspired by this "Cheers" episode) - Archibald Leach (aka Cary Grant), Bernard Schwartz (aka Tony Curtis), Lucille LeSueur (aka Joan Crawford) and George Alexander Trebek (aka Alex Trebek).

Four faces of Phil Hartman - Gene the Anal-Retentive Chef, Frank Sinatra (from "The Sinatra Group"), Keyrock the Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer, and Troy McClure (starring in the "Planet of the Apes" musical).

The best (and mostly worst) of UPN - "Veronica Mars," "Shasta McNasty," "The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer" and "Homeboys in Outer Space."

The worst (but mostly best) of the WB - "Gilmore Girls," "Angel," "Felicity" and "Tarzan."

Gambling problems - Barney on "How I Met Your Mother," Marge Simpson, Joe from "Men of a Certain Age," Kevin from "The Office."

Manservants - Mr. Belvedere, Tony Micelli, Benson DuBois, and Jeeves.

"Chuck" - Casey, Chuck, Sarah and Jeffster!

Mullets - Richard Dean Anderson on "MacGyver," Michael Weaver on "The Mullets," George Clooney on "Facts of Life" (or possibly a "Golden Girls" guest spot), and Markie Post (possibly circa "The Fall Guy")

Mayors - Randall Winston (NYC, "Spin City"), E.B. Farnum (Deadwood, "Deadwood"), Richard Wilkins (Sunnydale, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"), Tommy Carcetti (Baltimore, "The Wire")

Awesome post-season 1 "Lost" characters" - Desmond David Hume, Benjamin Linus, Daniel Faraday, Mr. Eko

Secondary or minor characters who eventually took over their show - Urkel on "Family Matters," Fonzie on "Happy Days," Alex P. Keaton on "Family Ties" and JJ on "Good Times."

Shows that handled Unresolved Sexual Tension well - Jim & Pam on "The Office," Lenny & Carl on "The Simpsons," Dave & Lisa on "NewsRadio" and Sam & Diane on "Cheers"

Ocean's Eleven on TV - Elliott Gould in "E/R," Carl Reiner on "The Dick Van Dyke Show," George Clooney on "Facts of Life" (or possibly "Roseanne"; I always lose track of his mullet), and Brad Pitt on "Glory Days"

Hot moms - Nancy Botwin on "Weeds," Elyse Keaton on "Family Ties," Tami Taylor on "Friday Night Lights" and Lorelai Gilmore on "Gilmore Girls"

People you forgot briefly worked at "SNL" - Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr., Larry David and Sarah Silverman

Kiss me, I'm Irish - Tommy Gavin from "Rescue Me," Father Mulcahy from "M*A*S*H," Fiona Glenanne from "Burn Notice" and Jimmy McNulty from "The Wire"

Mystery writers who really solve mysteries - Jessica Fletcher from "Murder, She Wrote," Jonathan Ames from "Bored to Death," Temperance Brennan from "Bones" and Rick Castle from "Castle"

Shows you may have forgotten were spin-offs - "Happy Days" (from "Love, American Style"), "The Simpsons" (from "The Tracey Ullman Show"), "NCIS" (from "JAG") and "The Andy Griffith Show" (from "The Danny Thomas Show").

Characters created and/or perfected by David Mills - Rocket Romano from "ER," Miguel Cadena from "Kingpin," Arthur Fancy from "NYPD Blue" and Robert Ellison from the "Bop Gun episode of "Homicide: Life on the Street."

Helloooo, Nurse! - Julia Baker from "Julia," Colleen McMurphy from "China Beach," Carol Hathaway from "ER" and Zoey Barkow from "Nurse Jackie."

Shows that left their original networks - Turk from "Scrubs," Mac from "JAG," CJ from "Baywatch" and Latka from "Taxi"

24 comments:

R.A. Porter said...

Who are four people who've never been in my kitchen?

Mel said...

People better known by stage names?

ChuckNut said...

great idea, alan! now i won't have to guess (or bother you on twitter to ask) who the mystery faces are. looking forward to future installments. :)

jlm6901 said...

People with Dual Citizenship?

Eires32 said...

Must be people who changed their names/have stage names - Archibald Leach (sp?), Bernie Schwartz, Lucille LeSuer. Don't know what Alex's original name is though.
Fun stuff Alan.

dez said...

I like R.A. Porter's answer :-)

Captcha: vittic = the part of the attic where the vittles are stored

Unknown said...

Yeah R.A. Porter's answer is funny. Cheers!

Steve said...

After the first two, I was guessing movie stars parodied on the Flintstones (Cary Granite, Stony Curtis), but the last two didn't fit.

Steve said...

@eires32:

Trebek is his real name. Technically he's George Alexander Trebek, but still his name.

MPH said...

I think RA Porter is right on the money... Those were the three people who were the correct "question" to the Final Jeopardy "answer" for Cliff, asked of course by our #4 face - Mr. Alex Trebek.

Joemo said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=botdmsQilnU

The Cliffy on Jeopardy episode

Anonymous said...

People we think might be gay, but aren't?

bgt said...

I'm sure I'm too late, but:

"Who are three people who have never been in my kitchen?"

Nicole said...

Wow. Slow clap for RA Porter. I was working the stage name angle even though I was pretty sure Alex Trebek was his real name. (and it is)

Margaret said...

Not sure if this works for the fourth guy, but how about "Performers who can really work those eyebrows" ?

Matter-Eater Lad said...

RA Porter wins. That was spectacular. And Alan wins, too, for thinking of it in the first place!

dez said...

People we think might be gay, but aren't?

Cary Grant once stated he was bisexual, so he was part of the family, at any rate. I've heard gay rumors about Tony and Joan, but never Trebek (SNL Sean Connery parodies notwithstanding).

Having said that, I think R.A. Porter nailed it.

Hatfield said...

Not only did he nail it, but he set a lofty record, even if future ones are easier. Eight minutes after Alan posted? The gauntlet has been thrown.

Unknown said...

i dont get the never been in my kitchen thing

Anonymous said...

Hm, I was trying to go for some question angle. On Jeopardy you must answer in the form of a question, Joan Crawford was in "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?" and then I stopped.

Alan Sepinwall said...

I said I was going to wait a day or two, but since we got the exact answer inside of 8 minutes, seems foolish to postpone.

Yes, it's a reference to Cliff Clavin's performance on Jeopardy!, which you can watch here. (It's only 5 minutes, as it was one small part of a Cheers episode.)

Originally, Cliff Clavin was the fourth face, not Trebek, but as Fienberg pointed out, "Why would Cliff Clavin have never been in his own kitchen?"

And in fairness to Cliff, I think he should have gotten the prize money, as the Final Jeopardy answer was so ambiguously phrased (just the three real names) that his question worked.

R.A. Porter said...

I got lucky that I had just started Twitter about five minutes before Alan posted this. That's what gave me the time edge.

Anna said...

one of my favorite Cheers eps of all time.

Nice one!

Madame George said...

You scared me with Alex Trebek. Not the best way to start one's day.