The King Is Dead – Long Live The King

I don't think it's stretching it too far to say we lost three pop-culture icons this week: Ed McMahon on Tuesday, Farrah Fawcett on Thursday morning and, the big shocker, Michael Jackson later that same day. In one way or another, all three have been mentioned in Prevuze, so we thought we would pay tribute in our own warped way by taking a stroll down memory lane.


Ed McMahon

Ed McMahon was clearly TV's top second banana as he played the foil to Johnny Carson for many years. But Ed had a second role we all remember well, too. He was the chief huckster for Publisher's Clearinghouse and its incessant big-dough giveaways. Who among us has not seen the Publisher's Clearinghouse scene where Ed and his crew sneak up to the front door of an unsuspecting winner, balloons and big check in hand, to change that person's life forever? It's that image that prompted our only reference to Ed on March 3, 2008.

EJ was in the early stages of fighting deportation when the following scene took place in our episode entitled Cunning, Conniving And Crafty:

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Sami fumbles around as EJ asks her to sign the annulment papers. Amidst all the fumbling, EJ's certified letter falls to the floor. Sami makes him open it. EJ reads. His face falls. "What," asks Sami.

"I knew it was bad news when the deliveryman wasn't Ed McMahon," says EJ, "My visa has expired."* * * * * * * * * *


Farrah Fawcett

I never mentioned Charlie's Angel Farrah in any of our episodes. However, we have had references to her in the reader comments and, without exception, those comments relate to one thing – her hair, and how it compares to one or more of the characters on the show. Poor Farrah had a rough road at the end as we saw in her own documentary just a few weeks ago. It wasn't pretty. That's not the Farrah we want to remember. THIS is the way (guys at least) will want to remember her:

Michael Jackson

Prevuze, like the media and comedians everywhere, was not kind to the "King of Pop." Let's face it, he gave us a lot of material to work with. Given that, I was surprised to find we only had one reference to Jacko in the episode commentaries. That single scenario happened on April 16, 2008 in our posting entitled, A Little Sex And A Lot Of Lies:

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In this scene a mysterious figure sneaks into Max' bedroom and wakes him up. The mystery person turns out to be Stephanie, who is worried because Kayla is missing. The whole episode happens prior to the time Stephanie had carnal relations with Uncle Max, so he has to coax her to stay...

Stephanie decides they probably shouldn't call the police, "You're gong to hate me when your alarm goes off."

"That's not true," says Max, "Before, I was asleep and alone and now I'm awake and in the best dream of my life. Worst dialogue, best dream." Stephanie kisses him and says she should go. Max convinces her to stay, "Just to sleep. Nothing else."

Stephanie is skeptical, "That's exactly what Michael Jackson told all those little boys. I'll stay but won't be able to sleep much." He tucks her in.

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So contrary to what I thought, we didn't barbeque Jacko in our Prevuzisms very much. But we did get in a couple of zingers in the pictures. I found three of them (the pictures are harder to search for than the text). The pictures are fairly self-explanatory except for the first which is from the time EJ was allegedly running around town as "The Glove":

There were also a few reader comments. Some alluded to Michael's alleged preference for little boys, but most had a single theme. They compared the similarity of Steve and Kayla giving "Pocket" his ridiculous name to that of Michael naming his kid Blanket.

NOTE: All DOOL episodes will be pre-empted next week for unrelenting coverage of Jackomania. (And you thought only DOOL beats dead horses).

So there you have it. Three icons, all having been a part of Prevuze in one form or another. May they all rest in peace. Ed, Farrah and Michael, you are gone but not forgotten... especially in Prevuze where we don't let something like mere mortality stand in the way of an appearance.

The very dead William Shakespeare steps into the scene, "I can vouch for that. I've been dead for hundreds of years and Prevuze still has me commenting on this dreadful writing. I've turned over in my grave so many times I feel like a flapjack.

And, of course, with all due respect to the dearly departed, (and being the rotten snarker that I am), I can't resist one final parting shot (note: if you are at all sensitive or feel it is too soon to be making wisecracks, do not... DO NOT click on this link):


Goodbye Ed... The #1 second banana.

Goodbye Farrah... more than Charlie's Angel.

And Goodbye Michael, the King of Pop.

The king is dead. Long live the king.

NOTE – you can now follow Prevuze on twitter at: http://twitter.com/prevuze Prevuze II has a video of the daily show previews, which should be available by noon (EST) on any given day. To see Prevuze II: CLICK HERE