The Rabbit Ears Quiz (12 of 12)_ Heidi, Girl of the Alps

Today, we close our series on tv shows which aired from the late '60s to the early '80s, with a segment that is actually dedicated to two Japanese cartoons, which were both based on classic German children's stories (we should point out that Heidi was actually written by Swiss author Johanna Spyris in 1880, but it was first published in German).

We'll start with "Heidi, Girl of the Alps," which was part of the anime "World Masterpiece Theatre" productions, which also included Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer. The Heidi cartoon ran for a full year in 1972; I saw in on the TRT (Turkish Radio Television) some five years later.

The legendary film director Hayao Miayazaki, now age 71, who directed the films "Spirited Away" and "Princess Monoke" was responsible for the Heidi cartoon's screen design and layout.

Isao Takahata, now age 76, who directed another acclaimed Japanese animated film "Grave of the Fireflies" (1998) about the horrors of World War 2, directed many episodes of the Heidi cartoon.

Another popular Anime cartoon was "Maya the Bee," which originally ran in Japan from 1975-76. It was based on the German book of the same name, which was written by Waldena Bansels in 1912.

"Maya the Bee" was also very popular in Europe. I saw in on the TRT, circa 1978, when I was eight years old, where it was known as "Ari Maya" (ari is the Turkish word for bee). The cartoon was also trendy in Greece, Israel and Bulgaria, as well as many other countries.

Both "Heidi" and "Maya the Bee" lasted for the exact same number of episodes. Today, we are asking what that number was.

Is the answer?:

A) 36

B) 42

C) 52

D) 60

http://www.animenews.com

http://www.funimation.com

UPDATE (July 5, 2012): The answer is C) 52

The Rabbit Ears Quiz (10 of 12)_ The Flintstones

Today, we are literally going back to the stone ages, as we profiled the beloved cartoon "The Flintstones," an ABC cartoon that was based on the first popular tv sitcom "The Honeymooners." The cartoon ran for six seasons and consisted of 166 episodes. When I was a child, I saw the cartoon in Turkey on the TRT (Turkish Radio Television) where the series was called "Tas Devri" (pronounced Tash Devreeh) which does literally mean "The Stone Ages."

While researching, this we realized there is actually an American community called Bedrock, Colo., the far-west Colorado. The community has a post office which opened in 1883, and we hope it survived the major post offices closing announced yesterday here in the United States. The zip code for Bedrock, Colo, is 81411. But, if you send a postcard to Fred Flintstone at 345 Cave Stone Road Bedrock, Co. 81411, you will probably not get a reply (the Cave Stone Road address was one of several used for the Flintstone family on the show).

The tv-Bedrock is actually larger than Bedrock, Colo., as it has a population of 2,500. Though everyone reading this blog probably knows this, Fred was married to Wilma and they had a daughter named Pebbles. Conversely, their neighbors Barney and Betty Rubble had an adopted son (according to Wiki, he was adopted?!) Bamm-Bamm.

And, of course, there was the family pet dinosaur modeled after the typical family dog, named Dino (pictured). We have to wonder if the Rev. Joseph Chambers of Charlotte, NC, who called Barney the Dinosaur a Marxist ploy to make children ardent left-wingers felt the same way about Dino.

But, today's question, and those of you in Dubai and Singapore can play as well, is:

What year did 'The Flintstones' originally air?

Is the answer:

A) 1960

B) 1961

C) 1962

D) 1963

And, if you get it right, we will send out a Yabbbbbaaaadaaabaaayooo for you!

The Rabbit Ears Test (8 of 12)_ "Flipper"

Today, we go way back, for our subject as "Flipper" first aired on NBC on Sept. 19, 1964. It was one of American tv shows I saw as a child while living in Turkey from 1977-79 on the TRT. It still seems ironic and amazing today that if you have satellite television you can watch Mexican wrestling matches (Lucha Libre), the new version of "Doctor Who" or an old Gary Cooper movie like "Pride of the Yankees" at any given juncture as there are over 300 channels on any given satellite provider.

But, in those days in Turkey, it was just the TRT and it consisted of one channel which aired at night during the week and during the day on weekends.

In Turkey, "Flipper" aired on Saturday mornings, and it was very popular, especially with children. Interesting enough, the TRT also aired a French documentary series by the late underwater filmmaker Jacques Cousteau (1910-1997) on Saturday afternoons.

The actual dolphin Flipper on the show was a bottlenose dolphin who belonged to a widowed father Porter Ricks, played by the late Brian Kelly (1931-2005), and his young boys Sandy, played by Luke Halping, now 64, and Bud, played by Tommy Norden, now 59.

Flipper was played at various times by at least five mostly female dolphins over the show's three-season run, including Mitzi, Little Bit, Suzy and Kathy. The dolphins were trained by Ric O'Berry, who later became a marine animal activist.

Ironically, in more recent years, "Flipper" generated some controversy when O'Berry stated that Kathy had committed suicide by drowning herself.

"Flipper" became a 1995 tv series and a 1996 feature film with Paul Hogan and Elijah Wood (both were also named "Flipper").

The original show's catchy theme song was written by Henry Vars and By Dunham.

Today, we ask, how many episodes were made of the original "Flipper"?

Is the answer:

A) 82

B) 86

C) 88

D) 90

Casualties of Modern Technology (7 of 12)_ TV Antennas

35 years ago, during the two years I was living in Turkey as a child (1977-79), we literally depended on the bulging outdoor antennas to get signals from the TRT (Turkish Radio and Television) which at the time was showing one channel of programing throughout the entire country. This meant that people living in Istanbul saw the same shows as people in eastern Turkish cities, such as Sivas and Erzurum, which are a good 15-20 hours by bus from Istanbul. The TRT began broadcasting television in 1968.

Many years earlier, American inventor Philo Farnsworth (1906-1971) sent out the first American television transmission at the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia in 1934. Some 20-25 years later, Uncle Miltie (Milton Berle) aired a popular variety show across the country and Ed Sullivan also became popular especially when he introduced The Beatles on his tv variety show in the 1960s. And, by the 1960s, the tv sitcom, which included "The Honeymooners" with Jackie Gleason and Art Carney also became popular.

The tv antenna was specifically designed to air in the broadcast range from 41 to 250 MHZ on VHF, and the wavelength equaled the speed of light. The higher the placement of the antenna, which can reach up to 40-feet on rooftops, the better the reception.

Today, since all broadcasts in the United States are digital, the outdoor tv antenna is a definitive endangered species though I did see on just last week!

SIDEBAR: Since we are not specifically a sports blog, perhaps it was a bit of a huge mistake to go into men's college basketball. But, since we've started this mess, let's finish it!

A few days ago, we made reference to the American University Eagles' home game in Washington, DC, versus the Bucknell Bison on Thursday night. The game was one in which the school gave away Jeff Jones bobblehead dolls in honor of AU's coach Jeff Jones to the first 1,000 fans.

Well, we imagine that created considerable enthusiasm, but the Eagles (18-10, 9-4 in Patriot Conference play) lost to the Bison (21-8, 11-2) by a score of 55-50. Mike Muscala lead the visitors from Lewisburg, Pa., with 26 points and 14 rebounds. While Daniel Munoz lead the Eagels with 15 points. Both schools have important final regular season conference games this afternoon (Saturday).

SIDEBAR 2: Even though Harvard University may have just finished their home game with the Pennsylvania Quakers this afternoon, we are going to focus on their 67-64 home win over Princeton last night.

The Crimson's win allowed the team (24-3, 10-1) to avenge their only Ivy League loss of the year at the hand of the Tigers in Princeton, NJ, two weeks ago tonight.

Kyle Casey lead the Crimson with 20 points and eight rebounds. Other top scorers for the Crimson included Brandyn Curry (15 points), Oliver McNally (13 points) and Keith Wright (12 points). Harvard has also been in the news because one of their recent alum, Jeremy Lin has become a media sensation in the NBA.

For the losing Princeton side, Ian Hummer and Douglas Davis scored 14 points each for the Tigers.

Here is a wrap-up of Friday scores in the Ivy League:

*-home teams

*Yale 75 Columbia 57
*Harvard 67 Princeton 64
Penn 57 *Dartmouth 54
Cornell 69 *Brown 53

The Rabbit Ears Quiz- Space 1999 (2 of 12)

It just dawned on me that two future Academy Award-winners for Best Supporting Actor came to prominence thanks to two science-fiction oriented tv show. The two actors I'm thinking of are Robin Williams ("Mork and Mindy" is one of the few sci-fi sitcoms one can think of) and Martin Landau, who starred in the British tv cult classic "Space 1999," who won an Oscar for playing Bela Lugosi in "Ed Wood."

I first came across "Space 1999," which ran for two seasons from 1975 until 1978, in a very unusual way. When I saw the show, it was actually called "Uzay 1999" and it aired on the TRT, Turkish Radio and Television. When I saw the show in the fall of 1977, there was only one channel of tv in Turkey and it only came on at certain hours of the day. Plus, virtually all of the tvs were in black and white. Of course, now one can watch hundreds of channels of tv in Turkey, which I would presume has posed challenged for the TRT, which was a state-run media monopoly at the time.

For its time, "Space 1999" was the most expensive television ever made. It drew inspiration from Stanley Kubrick's cinematic masterpiece "2001: A Space Odyssey"
(1968). In addition to Landau, the show featured his then-wife Barabara Bain.

So, for today's quiz, since it's a safe assumption that most science fiction fans are good at math (well, I'm certainly not!), we are going to ask what is mathematical difference between the number of episodes for "Space 1999" and "Star Trek," which was called "Uzay Yolu" in Turkey.

Is the answer:

A) 28
B) 29
C) 31
D) 33

SIDEBAR: While researching this piece, we learned that German television will air a 1968 episode of the original "Star Trek" series entitled "The Patterns of Force" for the very first time. The reason why the episode is being aired in Germany only now is fairly obvious: Captain Kirk and Mister Spock dress like Nazis to breech the third reich.

SIDEBAR TWO: Ironically, we found out today that this blog is apparently more popular in Greece as of late than Turkey (I happen to be a Turkish-American). Hmmmmm.....In all seriousness, we wish our followers in Greece good luck during this trying economic time. Of course, this doesn't mean that we recognize Kardak as being 'your island.'*

*- Kardak, which is called Imia in Greek, is an uninhabited goat island which actually caused a foreign relations fiasco between Turkey and Greece some years ago. It does in fact belong to Greece, and I hope this is ok with the goats!

Yes, We Have Experienced Distractions

Since I have used the test pattern image from TRT (Turkish Radio Television) in the 1970s when I lived there from 1977-79 (though my late father was Turkish, I was born in America) and watched American shows such as "Space 1999" and "Flipper" many times on this blog, I thought I would go with the test patter from Bulgarian-TV around that same time. But, I had to settle with this test patter from Swedish TV instead. Somehow, I don't expect there was all that much difference between test patterns back then. Curiously, I'm not sure how often the test pattern comes up in the modern age. It could yet be another Casualty of Modern Technology.

Speaking of which, I just had to get up and change sides on a vinyl record version of "Stop Making Sense," a 1984 concert album from Talking Heads. I am now listening to "Once in a Lifetime," which may have inspired the Coen Brothers to make their quirky, dark comedies where a man's leg goes through a wood chipper in Minnesota.

While vinyl is making a comeback these days, so are zealous extreme forms of the Christian faith here in America. I respect people's faith, but when they start saying the world will end on Saturday (and, yes, there is a pretty significant group out there which has made this gloomy forecast), I think the rest of us have a Constitutional right to say: "Hmmmm...yes, you are insane."

Additionally, more businesses have actually implemented religion into the names of their hotels and restaurants, in addition to those that put "He Lives," "The Tomb is Empty" or "He is Risen" on their store marquees assuredly driving any Egyptian gas station managers to decide they would rather have a Whopper at Burger King.

Amazingly enough, there is apparently a restaurant called Jesus Kitchen, in North Hollywood, Calif., of all places.

And, if you want to make sure 'God is spending the night with you," then the Christ the King Motel in Kingsport, Tenn., a place I have seen for myself, might be the place for you as long as there are no Jews, Buddhists, Muslims or Hindus in your party. There is another Christ the King Motel in Beckley, W.Va., but we could not find out if the two places with the same name had the same owners. Assuredly, they may kick you out of your room if you come to the front desk to ask where the Coke machine is as you are dressed in a Slayer t-shirt.

Strange, but True Things We Learned This Week...

All of these things have been verified through various sources, but if you don't believe me, you can spend hours and hours on Google, and leave a post on here saying: "Ahhh, but you are wrong." Let's get started, and we will get to the African pygmy goat when we can:

1. Osama bin Laden (1957-2011) actually liked many American western tv shows as a kid, including his favorite "Bonanza!" I first read about this in "The Week" magazine some eight years ago. But, this week, I also learned that the sinister terrorist leader also like Bruce Lee kung-fu films. But, none of these things are as disturbing as a report I heard from the TRT (Turkish Radio Television) right after September 11th, when I happened to be in Istanbul. A Turkish man who was a classmate of bin Laden's at a school in Switzerland when they were both children said that this future kingpin of terror was 'a quiet unasuming kid who usually sat in the back.'

2. And speaking of Turkey, as "Mental Floss" reported in a recent issue, one never wants to confuse a Greek with a Turk or vice versa. Since the hip magazine didn't mention the man's name, I had to check the BBC's web site for additional details. As it turns out, Athanasios Varzanakos, 77, who would have definitely qualified for our long, difficult names list, a Greek villager, had been mistaken for a Turk. The Swedish yogurt company Lindahl had put the image of Varzanakos on its Turkish yogurt products. So, the Greek man sued the Swedish company for $7 million; he 'only' got $270,000 in return. This leads us to the goat because if one wants to find Greek yogurt or goat milk yogurt, they can go to the Harvest Moon in Floyd, Va. Alas, they don't sell Turkish yogurt which is very hard to find in America except in New Jersey (where there are a lot of Turks and Turkish-Americans).

3. The BBC reported last night that there is a hip hop craze spreading through Yemen, of all places. There have been similar stories in the international media about this curious pop cultural trend. In 2010, Laura Kasinoff of "The Christian Science Monitor" reported that she had seen 'turbaned men dancing with daggers and rappers donning New York Yankees caps' taking the stage in the capital city of Sana for a hip hop fest. Hagage Masead, an American of Yemeni heritage who should not/never be confused with a radical terrorist in Yemen who grew up in New York state, has been at the heart of this movement.

4. "This American Life," a popular weekly NPR show, featured a story about a "Tuscaloosa News" reporter in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, who was fooled into publishing a local story that proved to be false in the wake of last week's deadly tornado rampage in the area. Apparently, the story was that a local man from Tuscaloosa, which is also home to the University of Alabama, was killed at a local tobacco store and people walked all over him to get cigarettes. But, one can hardly fault the reporter as this story was verified by local government officials in Tuscaloosa! As a former newspaper reporter myself, I can see how this can happen all too easily for reasons which are far too complicated to explain here. Besides, the militant librarian here in Mount Airy, NC, (not really where I am) has warned that the Internet goes down in 22 minutes and 35 seconds!