Classic!

I came across these browsing around YouTube this afternoon. Steve Austin was the man when we were kids! The intro holds up pretty well, but the actual show itself? You be the judge - this one scared the crap out of me when I was a little kid:

Yeah, not so scary now, eh? The music is kind of groovy though - a little bit more funk going on there in the rhythm section than I remembered. Steve is a "Seventies-Man", so his first impulse is to attempt to communicate with Bigfoot. He ain't no pansy, though, despite the poofy hair and fancy jumpsuit, so when communication fails he rips his arm off! Chuck Norris would be proud!

The sound effects rock - like when they throw each other or a log or something ten feet and it sounds like an incoming artillery shell! I also like the fact that Bigfoot gets a lower-pitched, bassier "ne-ne-ne-ne-ne-ne" to compliment Steve. Fortunately, Steve and Bigfoot eventually do become friends...

Kudos to David Crosby for doing an excellent job as the menacing, potato-sack shaped Bigfoot...

This next one is awesome: Steve takes out the bad guys with an exploding bionic javelin! At one point the background music becomes so loud and overpowering that it even overwhelms the actors! It quickly segues into a jazzy piano solo as Steve gets his mojo going and gets the job done!

Steve takes on a robot in this last one. Lots of goofy sound effects! Steve wins by punching the robots face off, then impaling him on an i-beam (which for some reason the robot obligingly jumps directly onto)...

TV Turnoff Week

This week is TV Turnoff Week, a national event started in 1995 by the Center for Screen-Time Awareness. The purpose of the event is to help people break or reduce their television viewing habit and hopefully discover other worthwhile pursuits. This years event started on 4/23 and ends on the 29th. Anyone can participate - just don't watch any television this week.

This is from today's Danbury News-Times:

"Usually it's the parents who push TV Turnoff Week on their children but first grader Holly Tomaino was so excited by the suggested alternative activities on the flier Center School sent home, she lobbied her parents to participate and even started the TV-free week a day early.

"I want to play fetch with my dog (Ludwig, a German Shepherd) more," she said, talking about some of the things she will do this week instead of watching television.

"Jennifer Tomaino, Holly's mom, said they have a busy week planned already so it's a good week for TV Turnoff Week to be scheduled. She said her 4-1/2-year-old son may make things more challenging as he is too young to grasp the concept.

""I am excited about this, especially with the good weather," she said, "We started it today (Sunday) and instead of watching cartoons, we made breakfast together."

Holly is my niece, the sweetest, brightest first-grader you will ever encounter. I laughed out loud when I read the News-Times article, because her reaction was typical. She is so curious intellectually and I'm sure she views this as an exciting opportunity to explore new activities.

It's a worthwhile event. Most of us probably watch too much television. Given our current obesity epidemic we could probably all stand to replace at least a portion of our viewing time with an exercise regimen.

You can learn more about TV Turnoff Week by visiting the Center for Screen-Time Awareness website:

http://www.tvturnoff.org/