"Z ROCK" ZONKS

In this week's episode of 'Z Rock', the Z Brothers delivered an NBC line-up of Zonks that hit Toobworld like a steaming pile of peacock dung.

At the beginning of the episode, Paulie Z burst into the apartment doing an impression of Cosmos Kramer - Michael Richards' character from 'Seinfeld'. The "show about nothing" was never actually named, but Joey C did point out that the show had been canceled for ten years.

I could have worked with this. The Z Brothers might have known Kramer personally; that would certainly have worked. And as for the mention of a TV show canceled ten years before?

I'm going to suggest that Kramer was the focus of a "reality" show - probably one that dealt with his year of incarceration for violating the "Good Samaritan" law of Massachusetts. Either it ran for just one year or it was quickly canceled almost a decade before Joey mentioned it.

So that Kramer Zonk can be considered rendered kaput. But then Joey threw out suggestions for other long-canceled NBC shows that Paulie could imitate - 'Blossom' and 'ALF'.

No more was said about either show, so we could disable them by saying these were Toobworld TV shows that just happened to share the same titles as real world shows.

'Blossom' could have had a horticultural theme - maybe even as a murder mystery program about crime-solving gardeners. It could even be based on the "real life" exploits of Rosemary Boxer and Laura Thyme (of 'Rosemary & Thyme').

As for 'ALF', it's a nickname just as much as it is an acronym for "Alien Life Force" - Alf Landon, Alf Garnett.

It could have been a sitcom about some guy named Alf. And like 'Whoopi', 'Arnie', and 'Meego' before him, the show was named after him.

Or Joey C could have been referring to the actual ALF, who had his own talk show in Toobworld (a lifelong dream!) once his identity and presence on Earth Prime-Time had become public knowledge.

Sure, they're a bit flimsy as splainins go, but 'twill serve.

God bless Kramerica!

BCnU!
Toby O'B