Burn Notice, "Shot in the Dark": Michael gets domestic

The usual jet lag at the start of one of these California trips means I woke up early enough to watch last night's "Burn Notice," but also means I'm not quite coherent enough to comment on it. (Though it's now startling to see Jay Harrington away from "Better Off Ted.")

Instead, let me point you to two accounts of Bruce Campbell's time here at Comic-Con(*): Fienberg's highlights of Campbell predictably owning the room for the "Burn Notice" session, and Mo Ryan doing a video interview with Campbell.

(*) That "Burn Notice" panel was one of two events I'm bummed I missed because I chose to fly in during day one -- the other being the cast of "The Middleman" doing a table read of the script for the unfilmed final episode, which was also turned into a graphic novel that I saw several fans toting around yesterday afternoon. Don't forget that the complete series DVD comes out on Tuesday. I didn't have much of a chance to peruse the special features before I left for California, but the episodes alone are as joy-inducing as ever. Click here to read the full post

The Middleman lives on... in comic book form

If you were reading this blog last summer, you know how badly I fell in love with ABC Family's "The Middleman," even as the low ratings made it clear this would be a short-term affair. Late in the season, I interviewed "Middleman" creator Javier Grillo-Marxuach, and he said that if/when the show was canceled, he could always continue the story the way it started: as a comic book.

Today, Disney made that plan official, as it announced plans for both a DVD set of the first and only season of the show, and for a graphic novel to properly wrap up the story of The Middleman and Wendy Watson. After the jump, the press release...

GREAT HEARTS OF PALM! ABC FAMILY’S “THE MIDDLEMAN” SERIES FINALE TO BE RELEASED AS SPECIAL COLLECTOR COMIC BOOK EDITION;

SERIES TO BE RELEASED ON DVD THIS SUMMER

Deals with Viper Comics and Shout Factory! Breathe New Life into Cult Hit

Burbank, CA (February 19, 2009) – Fans of the ABC Family cult hit series can revisit the weird world of “The Middleman” and his trusty side-kick Wendy Watson when the series finale episode appears in graphic novel form this summer. The series will also be released on DVD in summer 2009.

In a deal with Viper Comics, “The Middleman – The Doomsday Armageddon Apocalypse” graphic novel is to be written by creator/executive producer Javier Grillo-Marxuach and Hans Beimler, with illustrations done by Armando M. Zanker and layouts by Les McClaine. “The Doomsday Armageddon Apocalypse” special collector’s comic book edition will be released in July 2009 to coincide with the annual Comic Con Convention in San Diego.

"The Middleman” season one DVD will include all 12 one-hour episodes that aired on ABC Family in summer 2008. The DVD will also contain extensive bonus material that will allow fans of the series to get an insider look at the mad capped world of their favorite heroes. ABC Family has partnered up with Shout Factory! to produce and distribute the DVD. The DVD will be available in July 2009.

"The Middleman” follows the surreal life of twenty-something year-old Wendy Watson as she gets recruited by a top secret agency to fight comic book-esque criminals under the guidance of her straight-laced boss, The Middleman. The television series, starring Matt Keeslar and Natalie Morales, was created and executive produced by Javier Grillo-Marxuach, based on his Viper Comics Graphic Novels (illustrated by Les McClaine).

Well, I know one thing I'll be reading this summer. Not as much fun as new episodes with Matt Keeslar and Natalie Morales, but at least it's something. Click here to read the full post

Middleman, "The Palindrome Reversal Palindrome": I maim nine more hero-men in Miami

Spoilers for the season (and hopefully not series) finale of "The Middleman" coming up just as soon as I see how this beard of bees looks in the mirror...

Well, if you're going to go out, might as well do it all guns a'blazing. "The Palindrome Reversal Palindrome" didn't provide much in the way of closure (not that this is necessarily a show that needs closure), but it did give us "The Middleman" on something other than a shoe-string budget, and in a way that didn't sacrifice the series' homespun charms.

Mirror-Middle-verse looked relatively big and scary, but this was still an episode of "The Middleman," which meant mirror universe signifiers like Noser's lyric-quoting suddenly having life-or-death consequences, or a sexy, bikini-clad version of Ida who still talked (and sounded) like the one we knew. And it meant that, even in this dark and twisted place, the series' fundamental belief in the goodness of humanity applied, as Dubby was able to inspire the Snake Plissken-esque Mirror-Middleman to lose the beard and get back to helping people. (His reformation only goes so far, of course; he shaves and turns Ida back to normal, but he sure doesn't have a problem with Mirror-Lacey's hot pants version of the Middle-uniform. And why should he?)

(In case you're scratching your head at who Snake Plissken is, get thee to The Middleblog for the usual rundown of pop culture references, plus a tribute to Neil Levin, in whose memory the episode was dedicated. Plus, it's where I got the picture of Mirror-Middleman.)

Original recipe Middleman continues to be one of the most quotable TV characters I've ever encountered. Among my favorites this time: "My Little Pony!," "This is a sack full of eels and coat hangers," "Dang skippy" and the line about "Come puppet blood monkey fudge or terra cotta." But really, the entire Middle-verse (both versions of it) is awash with wonderful sillyness, from Ivan N. Avi getting his psychic powers after a freak accident at his bar mitzvah to the chyrons referring to the Mirror-apartment as "an evil loft in a parallel universe."

My only complaint is a minor one: they didn't do enough to change the look for Mirror-Dubby. Of course, had they changed her too much, it would have made it harder for our Dub-Dub to try and impersonate her, plus it might have distracted from what turned out to be a strong personal storyline for Wendy. After all, it's only after she's confronted with a version of herself who became so twisted by her father's disappearance that Wendy finally lets go of most of that angst and sounds truly happy when talking to her mom.

If this is it, I will purely miss this show. Such an unexpected surprise, and such a burst of concentrated joy for the entire summer of '08.

What did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post

Middleman, "The Clotharian Contamination Protocol": Welcome to the party, pal!

Spoilers for the season's penultimate episode of "The Middleman" coming up just as soon as I confess that I did, once upon a time, own "The Return of Bruno" on cassette...

When a show has as many unstable elements as "Middleman," you have to get the mixture just right. Add too much of any one ingredient, and you won't get the tricky reaction you were hoping for, as happened with last week's puppet episode. (Then again, I seem to have been one of the few dissenters on that one, so what the hell do I know?)

It's hard for me to quantify exactly why "The Clotharian Contamination Protocol" worked when last week's didn't (yeah, I know, I only get paid to explain things like that), but it simply did. The pop culture references (starting with a subtle "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" riff that then morphed into a far more overt "Die Hard" homage, with a splash of "Charlie's Angels" with the design of Ida's brain) all flowed well, the emotional moments like Wendy's good-bye to Middleman were lovely, and the callbacks to previous episodes (their knowledge that Ida can die and be resurrected easily, Tyler's job interview shot in the same style as Wendy's Middleman audition) gave it all some added resonance. This one, I liked a lot, and it makes me even sadder that next week will most likely be the last "Middleman" ever.

Some other random thoughts:

• Middleman dressing down the NASA employees and Wendy's admiration of same was great, but what made the scene really funny was Middleman's response to Wendy's suggestion that they always pose as NASA guys: "It's thinking like that that led to drug-resistant malaria."

• Given how closely Tyler's audition mirrored Wendy's, and that Tyler almost wound up becoming the new Middleman-in-training (which I guess makes him the Guy Gardner of Middle-world), should we assume that Manservant Neville (played by the always hammy/creepy Mark Sheppard) is running some kind of evil version of O2STK? And that they'll figure heavily into next week's evil parallel universe storyline?

• "It's coming in hotter than the Devil's wedding tackle!" may be one of my favorite lines in the run of the show.

• Why is Lacey wanted in three states?

• Am I the only one who wanted to sick the Interidroid on whichever ABC Family exec thought it would be a brilliant idea to have a "Samurai Girl" banner ad cover up one-third of the screen at the exact moment the show was doing one of its more elaborate chyron gags? Urge to kill... rising...

• Also, was I the only one who, when Dubby suggested the building was designed by TV writers, immediately thought of Sigourney Weaver screaming "This episode was badly-written! Whoever wrote this episode should die!" while running through the "Galaxy Quest" chompers?

• Speaking of "Die Hard," let me remind you that anytime is the right time to enjoy another listen to Guyz Nite's ode to the hijinx at Nakatomi Plaza.

What did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post

Middleman, "The Vampiric Puppet Lamentation": Noser gets Puppish

Quick spoilers for last night's "The Middleman" coming up just as soon as I hit somebody with a roller skate...

Even though I wasn't crazy about it, an episode like "The Vampiric Puppet Lamentation" makes me appreciate the series all the more, because it shows how hard it is to combine all these random elements into a cohesive whole. An episode that provides us with some Noser backstory, and that features more of the amusingly loathsome Pip, and that has a vampire puppet bad guy sounds like it would be one of the best of the series. Instead, the pieces never quite added up -- we get too much Pip, not enough Noser, pop culture references (like Wendy quoting the "Man, I don't even have an opinion" line from "Pulp Fiction") that called too much attention to themselves, and another climax (like in the Titanic episode) where the bad guy gets taken out way too easily -- and it was a disappointment compared to most of the season.

That said, puppet bad guys are inherently funny. (Is the "Angel" puppet episode Netflix'able? Because I may need to stick it in my queue ASAP.) And the Sexy Bossman/Lacey love story takes an interesting turn when Wendy decides to give Pillow-Lips permission to date her roommate and he admits that he's in love with more than one woman. I'm going to assume he's not talking about Wendy herself, but about the woman who inspired his transformation from profane military badass to squeaky-clean Middleman badass. (At least, that's sort of how I interpreted Javier Grillo-Marxuach's comment about the never-to-be-filmed 13th episode from the end of our interview.)

What did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post

Middleman, "The Obsolescent Cryogenic Meltdown": International Guy of mystery

Spoilers for tonight's episode of "The Middleman" coming up just as soon as I find out what else Tipper Gore and the Dalai Lama have agreed about...

First of all, in case you missed them this morning, today's columnn was an ode to "The Middleman"/interview with Javier Grillo-Marxuach, and I paired it with a full transcript of my interview with Javier. In the course of our conversation, we touched on several notable moments in "The Obscolescent Cryogenic Meltdown," notably Middleman 69's line about not being a comical throwback to the Summer of Love (read: Austin Powers clone) and the show finally getting around to putting Wendy in the leather catsuit from the opening titles.

(Speaking of which, it's funny that they even attempted to put Natalie Morales into the Uma Thurman version of the Emma Peel costume, given that Uma's 6' tall and Natalie's quite wee. I imagine it bunched up in lots of places a leather catsuit's not supposed to bunch.)

Let's get the minor griping out of the way first. I found "Meltdown" a bit stronger in the first half, before Middleman '08 fires Middleman '69. The episode's second half had some inspired moments, like that impossible-to-decipher card game (it reminded me of a similar gag from the Atlantic City episode of "How I Met Your Mother," but it's a good enough joke to be worth telling twice) or Dubby complaining about not getting a wetsuit.(*) But overall, I think they used up most of the good culture clash material by the time Guy was forced into retirement, and towards the end, some of the jokes were reaches. (Guy not thinking that Wendy would recognize a "Star Trek" reference didn't fit the tone of any other joke involving the character.)

(*)Or, for that matter, Dubby complaining about the catsuit. Natalie Morales fans, tonight was your night! In other Dubby costuming news, I also like that, when given the chance to pick her own uniform, Wendy doesn't radically overhaul it, but simply swaps out Hitler's smoking jacket in favor of a snazzy vest and starts wearing the tie loose. She's paying homage to Middleman tradition while bringing her own sense of style to it, in the same way that Middleman '08 ditched the Sorbo blazer in favor of the Eisenhower jacket.

That said, I'm impressed that they were able to do this story in a way that really didn't evoke Austin Powers in any way. Guy's innate "Don Draper-ness" (as Javier put it) really did speak to what a cold bastard the Sean Connery Bond was (especially in the first three movies) and was well-played by Kevin Sorbo. Plus, it gave us a disturbingly schoolgirl side of Ida (on roller skates!), but in a way that didn't undermine our favorite robot. (Note that she sides with Middleman '08 in the end.)

Beyond that, I thought the Wendy/Tyler story worked very well throughout. Everything about The Batter of the Bulge Pancake House and their love of gory arcade games was genius, as was Middleman's reaction to seeing the surveillance-cam nookie. ("Story of O! Turn it off!") Even in this silly, fantastical world, Wendy is just enough of a real character to make you like her and root for her to get over her malfunctioning "mutant power," which she does in the end. I understand that Tyler's not a character from the comics, so the next three episodes hold out the distinct and unpredictable possibility that a heroine on a sci-fi/fantasy show might actually have a successful, functional, fulfilling love life for a little while, and that ain't such a bad thing?

What did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post

Sepinwall on TV: Trying to save 'Middleman'

If you've been reading the blog this summer, you know how much I've grown to love "The Middleman." With four episodes left in the season, I decided it was time once again to express that love in newspaper form, and so today's column is half ode to the show, half interview with creator Javier Grillo-Marxuach. And if you want to read more from that interview, I also posted a full transcript. Click here to read the full post

Middleman, "The Ectoplasmic Panhellenic Investigation": There is no Dub-Dub, only Zuul

Spoilers for "The Middleman" coming up just as soon as I cleanse my zombie palate...

"Middleman" may not be an ideal fit with ABC Family, but give the producers credit for trying, with an episode that was as much an homage to "Greek" as it was to "Ghostbusters." If I didn't already know that next week featured a Kevin Sorbo guest appearance, I would start wondering if we were due for a "Secret Life of an American Teenager"-style episode where Lacey gets pregnant and Barbara Thornfield MD/PhD scolds her for it.

What I particularly liked about this one was the abrupt switch midway through from sorority spoof to body swapping story. I don't know that there was enough mileage in either joke to last a whole episode, and so we goofed on the former for a half an hour and then let Matt Keeslar brat it up for the rest of the show. The one joke with (hairy) legs, about the cross-dressing, psychic frat pledge who's also a perfect mimic, ran through the whole episode, but they didn't go overboard with the other stuff.

(The body swap/possession angle also allowed them to do a Wendy vs. Middleman fight scene that plausibly didn't feature much Sensei Ping-endorsed badassery, which I'm sure would have been expensive and time-consuming for a show that's obviously and lovingly done on the cheap.)

I also liked the Wendy/Lacey/Tyler love triangle, and not just because it featured a callback to the Stump the Band joke from the Art Crawl episode. At first, I assumed Wendy was backing off because she was following Middle-orders to not let Tyler get his memory back. The idea that this was Wendy's way of apologizing for putting the kibosh on Lacey's thing with Sexy Boss Man made more emotional sense, and allowed for Wendy to finally get something good going in her non-professional life.

What did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post

Middleman, "The Cursed Tuba Contingency": Randolph Scott!

Spoilers for "The Middleman" coming up just as soon as I enjoy a lobster dinner...

When you do a show as strange and eclectic as "The Middleman," there are going to be episodes where some elements work and others don't. With "The Cursed Tuba Contingency," I really enjoyed the chaste courtship of Middleman and Lacey, which seemed styled less after a Randolph Scott picture (especially a latter-career one like "Ride Lonesome") than to a movie from the '30s, or even the silent movie era. I remain impressed by how Matt Keeslar is able to play this impossibly straight, retro, decent guy without a trace of irony and make him as appealing as he is.

The comedy portions of the episode, on the other hand, didn't quite work. Some jokes felt rushed, like Wendy's cries for help constantly being interrupted by the foghorn, or Wendy dispatching the bad guy before the final commercial break. Others just didn't seem well-conceived, like the villainous Titanic obsessive (played by Jim Piddock from the Christopher Guest movies).

One thing I raised an eyebrow at: there were some complaints in the early episodes that, because the show was on ABC Family, the stories had to be a little too chaste, but there was an extended gag involving Middleman and Dubby listening to one of the thieves have sex. Do you think that joke would have been allowed when the show was still on at 8, or is this yet another sign that ABC Family doesn't care anymore because the show isn't part of their future plans?

(Speaking of which, TV Squad has an account of the show's Comic-Con appearance. Tell your friends to watch, boys and girls!)

Overall, not one of the show's best efforts, but still fun. What did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post

Middleman: Threat or menace?

So late Monday, I start hearing rumblings that ABC Family has canceled "The Middleman" due to low ratings, and that the cast and crew were told late that day that the 13th and final episode of season one wouldn't be filmed. I was out on set visits all day Tuesday, but put in a call to someone at ABC Family, who promptly called me back the next morning to say that, yes, production had been trimmed from 13 to 12 episodes, but that, no, the show wasn't canceled, ABC Family was thrilled with the show, was bringing it to Comic-Con this weekend, etc., etc., etc. And when I got home from all my set visits, I saw a post from creator Javier Grillo-Marxuach on his blog in which he concurred that the show wasn't dead yet, and that trimming the episode order was a concession to the show's lousy ratings. (Put it this way: when ABC Family came to press tour last week, "Middleman" was just about the only show on the network that the execs didn't mention at any point.) Sayeth Grillo-Marxuach:

and about those ratings? well...while improving incrementally, they have not been stellar, so we - and by "we," i mean the network and myself - have made the decision to make and air a twelve episode first season of "the middleman."

it is a decision that allows us to conclude our first season on a great creative note, and to pool our resources to make our season finale the best and biggest it can be.

in short: we are doing everything we can to delive "the middleman" to whatever the future holds for us: and a crucial part of that future hinges on your continued support.

so, the bottom line - the middleman ain't dead.

I've braced myself for the probability that this very smart, very funny, very weird, very memorable show will be a one-summer-only treat, but you never know.

Feel free to discuss this week's episode here if you want. I had it on while I was packing for my return fight but was understandably distracted. Click here to read the full post

Middleman, "The Flying Fish Zombification": Dubby does the Devil Dance!!!!

Quick spoilers for "The Middleman" coming up just as soon as I assert my musical knowledge...

That's more like it.

After last week's misstep (which was apparently produced as the second episode, and which ABC Family and the producers were wise enough to recognize should be buried a few weeks into the season), we get an episode more in line with the quality and quirkiness of everything else that came before. I'm in a hurry to get to the "Mad Men" set visit, so I'm just going to rattle off a few things I particularly liked and then open it up for discussion:

• Noser's version of Stump the Band consisting of nothing but Noser declaring, "Yeah, I know that one" -- and still amazing all the art school kids;
• The fact that they were able to do an episode about Sensei Ping without ever showing Sensei Ping -- and with almost all of the action implied rather than shown -- the sort of budget-saving measures that would be really annoying on a lot of shows but are pulled off with style and wit here;
• The use of the theme song during the climactic fight scene with the !!!! spokesmodels, and the way we just heard "Middleman!" when Middleman punched out the one girl still standing after the fight was over.
  
• The sheer heinousness of the God monologue ("Hey God... have you heard of... the INTERNET?!?!?!?!!?")
• The repeated gags (the full title of Lacey's mom, the !!!! dance/wave) that somehow don't get tired -- yet, anyway.

What did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post

Middleman, "The Manicoid Teleportation Conundrum": How's that workin' out for ya?

Brief spoilers for the latest episode of "The Middleman" coming up just as soon as I match up all my pairs of Middle-socks...

Of the four episodes they've done so far, this was definitely the weakest. A Dr. Phil parody seems both too current (Wendy's world is supposed to be modern, but Middle-world so far has been quite retro) and too easy. (Plus, I made the mistake of watching the previews last week, which gave away that Dr. Gill was the bad guy, and that he'd wind up trying to psychoanalyze Wendy in the middle of a shoot-out. Add ABC Family to the list of channels where I will now refuse to watch any previews.)

Still, props for the steady stream of random "Back to the Future" trilogy references (the fake bomb was at the Twin Pines Mall, and cover identities included Doc Brown, Biff's old west ancestor, and Mary Steenburgen's character from BttF 3), plus the hilarious sequence where the Middleman tried to defend Dubby's fitness at the exact moment we could see her on the monitor beating holy hell out of the robot. It's an old joke, but a well-executed one. I also liked the makeup design for the aliens, which managed to straddle the line between something obviously not right and something that could have been actual plastic surgery gone awry. (If you've ever seen a picture of scary cat lady Jocelyn Wildenstein -- and I would strongly advise against clicking through to that link if you've recently eaten or are planning to eat -- you know any sick thing is possible.)

We've been talking for a few weeks now about whether the show can maintain the tone and the level of demented genius we've gotten through the first three episodes. I'd say there were enough funny and tonally-correct things in this one to consider it a slight misstep and not the first sign that the series isn't sustainable in the long term. But we'll see.

What did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post

Middleman, "The Sino-Mexican Revelation": To the Dubby-mobile!

Brief, belated spoilers for "The Middleman" episode three coming up just as soon as I set my watch to Newfoundland Time...

I don't have time to either be watching this show or blogging about it -- I think I injured my shoulder toting home all the press tour-related DVDs I need to watch in the next few days -- but I think I'm falling in love with "Middleman" a little. In fact, I can't remember the last time a show went from completely off my radar (I basically popped in the screener after seeing an interview with the creator on Newsarama) to one I feel like I can't do without in such a short period of time. I honestly don't know if they can keep up this high-wire action/comedy act long term, but boy does it put a smile on my face right now.

Again, I have to get to other things, so a few quick observations. First, I love what they're doing with the chyrons, whether it's all the funky time signatures, the repeating of lengthy bits of dialogue to establish locales, or the flip-flopping of English and Spanish subtitles when Wendy was going up against the head Lucha Libre villain. Second, I like how the show manages to always be self-aware (say, the Wendy-as-Robin moment) without ever seeming smug about it. Third, I admire how the show is able to peddle the flesh of both Natalie Morales and Matt Keeslar on a regular basis without coming across as skeevy or pandering. (It's the gender-equal nature of it, I guess.) And, fourth, the episode climaxed with Mark Dacascos (star of TV's "The Crow") doing his best Bruce Lee impression while beating up an army of Lucha Libre wrestlers. How could you not dig every second of that?

What did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post

Middleman, "The Accidental Occidental Conception": Here's mud on your guy

Spoke too soon on "The Middleman," as I was able to finish watching it this morning. Spoilers for episode two coming up just as soon as I pick up some bottled water...

My only real reservation from watching the pilot was whether the show would be able to pull off that half-retro, half-self-aware, all-funny tone on a regular basis. Episode two reassured me on that front; the wheels could still fall off down the road, but this felt very consistent with what we got from the pilot.

In some ways, "The Accidental Occidental Conception" (say that five times fast) was actually an improvement, in that Matt Keeslar and Natalie Morales were given dialogue that was just as goofy but not nearly as long. "I'm as serious as a Hefty bag full of Rottweilers" is a funny line, and one where Keeslar could focus entirely on the delivery and not on his breath control. And on occasion, all it took to make me laugh was the insertion of the right word into an otherwise straight line, like hearing him say "anathema."

Based on my recent complaints about the heroine's family being an annoying distraction on "In Plain Sight," I'm pleased that, so far, Wendy's roommates have been well-integrated into the story. (Middleman's crush on Lacey helps, as it provides an excuse to have Wendy's two worlds cross paths even if there isn't a plot reason for it like there was last night.)

The captions continue to amuse, as does the just-broad-enough acting by the guest stars (I particularly liked the bitchy Underworld desk clerk). Plus, points for having Wendy complain that the bad guy is the latest in a long series of "Terminator 2" rip-offs.

(Speaking of Wendy, my wife watched a bit of the episode with me, and pointed out that Morales comes across a lot like Amanda Peet, and it became one of those things that I suddenly couldn't avoid noticing. In particular, she sounds exactly like Peet did on "Studio 60" -- albeit much funnier.)

One complaint: I know you've gotta at least attempt to service the fanboys, and so the main titles feature Wendy in a cleavage-baring catsuit that she never wears on the show itself, but I preferred the fake opening credit sequence from the pilot, the black and white homage to the Diana Rigg "Avengers," complete with umbrella and SCUBA mask.

What did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post

Sepinwall on TV: 'Middleman' review

In the second of today's columns (sort of; see below), I briefly review "The Middleman," ABC Family's swingin' new comic book adaptation. I never read the comic, but I dug the show enough to stick around to see if they can sustain what looks to be a very tricky tone. (I should also mention that the pilot's available as a free iTunes download, if you don't want to wait for tonight.)

And given the show's retro vibe, it finally gives me an excuse to link to YouTube clips of the opening credits for a lot of the Marvel Comics cartoon adaptations of the '60s: Spider-Man, Iron Man, Captain America, The Incredible Hulk, The Mighty Thor, The Fantastic Four, and the whole shebang. Most of them are quite heinous -- notable exception: the Spider-Man theme, which is so awesome The Ramones covered it -- but as a pop culture historian type/geek, I can never get enough of this stuff. Click here to read the full post