Coming Attractions: Darkwing Duck returns to television

 After appearing during the revival of DuckTales, Darkwing Duck is returning to action, this time on Disney+, in a new CGI series.

Darkwing already is appearing in comics, through Dynamite Entertainment, but now, the "Terror that flaps in the night" is ready to return to the small screen.

Photo courtesy Disney.

Mark Hamill has been cast as Darkwing, heading up an ensemble that also includes Seth Rogen, who was one of the masterminds behind the 50th anniversary revival of The Muppet Show earlier this year.

Start date to be announced.

Stay tooned.

Same show, new title (for now): South Park becomes South America

 Some TV shows change their titles during their runs. For example, an attempted Columbo spin-off focusing on the detective's otherwise unseen wife was rebooted as Kate Loves a Mystery, which didn't help, as the show was cancelled anyway.

Given how we have an impulsive, immature president with the comportment of a 5 year old changing Lake Ontario to Lake America just on his say-so (which is wrong), the producers of South Park decided to have a little fun with that, and so, the just launched new season sees a title change to South America.....

Title change aside, nothing else has changed. It's the same kind of subversive satire you've gotten for nearly 30 years. The title change won't last forever----it'll revert when the man-baby in Washington is out of office----and if the owners of Paramount don't have a problem, neither should anyone else.

As they said in the "Naked Gun" movies, just accept it.

Toonfomercial: A Hamm's beer ad, with music by Spike Jones (1961)

 Spike Jones & his City Slickers provide the soundtrack for this Hamm's beer spot from 1961. Another brand that bit the dust.

Sunday Funnies: Scotched in Scotland (1954)

 By the mid-50's, Columbia was running out of ideas for the Three Stooges.

For example, our next entry, 1954's "Scotched in Scotland" was a remake of "The Hot Scots", which was made 6 years earlier. The boys are given a private graduation from a detective school, and head off to Scotland.....

Rating: B.

Getting Schooled: Have You Ever Been Ashamed of Your Parents? (ABC Afterschool Special, 1983)

 School's back in session, so let's take a trip back to the 80's, and the ABC Afterschool Special. Marion Ross (Happy Days), Kari Michaelson (Gimme a Break), and Julie Piekarski (ex-The Facts of Life) star in "Have You Ever Been Ashamed of Your Parents?":

Celebrity Toons: The Spirit of Thunder Mountain (Lassie's Rescue Rangers, 1973)

 From season 2 of the ABC Saturday Superstar Movie:

"The Spirit of Thunder Mountain" was the pilot for Lassie's Rescue Rangers, but didn't air until November, two months into the season. Ted Knight (The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Super Friends) is Ben Turner, Sr., the leader of the family-based Rescue Force, which incorporates some forest animals to assist Lassie.

Lassie's trainer, Rudd Weatherwax, condemned the series because of its writing (mostly Chuck Menville & Len Jansen) and (animal) violence. Viewers must've agreed, since the series lasted just the one season.

Toon Sports: Dexter plays dodgeball (1996)

 From season 1 of Dexter's Laboratory:

Dexter doesn't want to go to gym class, but a substitute teacher forces him to endure a week of dodgeball, and it doesn't help that there are three idiots passing themselves off as bullies. Of course, as Bugs Bunny famously put it, you realize this means war.

Leave it to Dee Dee to be a buzzkiller.