Unsung

[VirginiaHamilton]

I guess this isn't the right time to mention that I much prefer Boyz II Men's version over the OG, huh?

[amybrickwallace]

I like both versions, but I personally give the edge to the original. But hey, it's a great song no matter who sang it - with exceptional lyrics. "The good times that made us laugh outweigh the bad..."

[ChitHappens]

CH was the first movie or tv show that ever made me cry. That fatal beating in the end had me distraught!

Edited March 27, 2014 by ChitHappens

[amybrickwallace]

I take it that the DVR is already set up for this coming Wednesday?

[ChitHappens]

Order of tasks upon arriving home:

1. Make certain my DVR is set for CH eppy and future eppies

2. Turn on the Tennis Channel

3. Pretend to make dinner and end up eating cereal

4. Watch Tennis

5. Watch more Tennis

6. Check out Flip Wilson eppy of Unsung!

[amybrickwallace]

Great plan. Have fun!!

[DramatistDreamer]

I don't have cable so I'm grateful that TV One uploads some of their shows to their website. I have been viewing episodes of Unsung that way.

Watching the What's Happening! episode made me realize that I was a baby/toddler when the show originally aired and I must have seen episodes when they were in syndication. I know I sound clueless but I had no idea that the show aired on ABC in it's original run (I used to watch it on Fox 5/NYC) and it was only a few years between when I watched the original series and when the What's Happening Now! series began.

Oh, how memories can jumble together from one's childhood!

Danielle Spencer made me laugh when she mentioned how although she loves him to death now, that Little Earl got on her nerves on the set and off back in the day. It seems that she was pretty much ready for the series to end by that time.

I didn't know much about Dick Gregory's early career, other than the occasional clips I would see on some TV retrospective or something of the kind. That phone conversation he had with then President Kennedy was quite eye opening. Boy, was Gregory fearless or what?!

I'm glad they did the episode about Flip Wilson, I've only seen a few episodes of the Flip Wilson show that were aired on, I think it might have been Nick at Night or TV Land or some channel but most of what I knew of him was through TV appearances and that ill fated show Charlie & Co.

I know the show has only a certain amount of time to tell his biography and Charlie & Co. was far from a highlight but I was hoping they might have some outtakes or something where they'd interview Gladys Knight and KSJ and Jaleel White. But I did not know that he had such a drug problem, but during a certain period of the 60s and 70s, sadly it was commonplace among entertainers, I guess.

I know that the two sides of Drama/Theater are Comedy & Tragedy but it never ceases to amaze me how many comics have a close connection to pathos and/or tragedy. Flip Wilson's childhood was the stuff of Dickensian novels!

[amybrickwallace]

The tears of a clown, in other words. Definitely.

[amybrickwallace]

The remaining two episodes of Unsung Hollywood in its first season (following Cooley High) will profile Bill Duke (4/9) and the Harlem Globetrotters (4/16).

Am I the only white woman who loves the Unsung shows? But, I'm a sucker for all those shows - Behind the Music, True Hollywood Story, Biography, etc., etc. Can't get enough of them.

[DramatistDreamer]

Well, I'm not a white woman but I love to watch biographies. I can't recount all the weird bio-pics I've watched on Netflix or even You Tube/Vimeo. I once watched a biography on the man who created Dr. Bronner's Soaps (on Netflix, of course)! And when I subscribed to cable, I fed my addiction to those 'Tell All' series like all the shows you just mentioned.

I also love those BBC documentaries. I once watched a 2 part series on Russian oligarchs, some of whom became exiled in other countries when Putin was elected the first time. I guess most didn't want to end up like Mikhail Khodokovsky.

I also love to read biographies and autobiographies--I particularly like biographies by writers, directors and producers and I even confess to reading Rob Lowe's memoir. I was a little embarrassed checking in out at the library after my steady diet of Russian novels that I usually read but DD had to have it!

Edited March 30, 2014 by DramatistDreamer

[amybrickwallace]

Sweet!! I REALLY wish they would do an Unsung about Syreeta Wright, Stevie Wonder's first wife who collaborated with him in the early/mid 70s. She had the voice of an angel, but with the exception of one duet she did with Billy Preston ("With You I'm Born Again" in 1979), she never really made it big stateside. She should have been a star.

[DramatistDreamer]

Wow, that would be a great idea!

I've heard that song before and can even hear it now.

I don't know much about Syreeta Wright at all but I have a 4 Disc collection of Stevie Wonder songs and there is a little booklet with pictures and there is a picture with her in it. I'm embarrassed to say I keep forgetting that she and Stevie Wonder were married!

What is she up to now, amy? Do you know?

TV One has a website but the feedback portion seems to be a total mishmosh http://tvone.tv/inside-tv-one/submission-guidelines.html Maybe you can request that they do an episode on her?

[ChitHappens]

I so just went and pulled that song up. Such a beautiful duet!

[amybrickwallace]

Sadly, Syreeta passed away in 2004 due to complications from breast cancer. But quite a few of her songs are available on iTunes (I especially recommend her first two albums, 1972's Syreeta and 1974's Stevie Wonder Presents Syreeta). She also sang a beautiful duet with Jermaine Jackson called "Stay With Love" that was included in The Jacksons: An American Dream miniseries and its accompanying soundtrack.

Stevie appeared in the Unsung profile of Deniece Williams; I don't see why he wouldn't appear in one for Syreeta. Even though they divorced after only a couple of years of marriage, they remained the best of friends until her passing.

[All My Shadows]

I REEEEEEEEALLY need for them to do regular Unsung episodes on Betty Wright and Maze feat. Frankie Beverly. These two acts were a major part of the soundtrack of my childhood (in the 90s and 2000s, no less), and they never get the respect they deserve.