BEST OF THE WEEKEND.TELEVISION EVERYBODY INTO THE POOL: The Cartoon Network's most inspired series is ``Space Ghost Coast to Coast Space Ghost Coast to Coast (often abbreviated as SGC2C) is an animated spoof talk show on the cable TV channel Cartoon Network in the United States, Adult Swim in Australia, Bravo in the UK, and Teletoon in Canada. It began in 1994. ,'' which patches together old bits of Hanna-Barbera cartoons with quirky new designs and tosses in new vocal tracks filled with dadaistic humor (the trendy industry term is ``re-purposing,'' and no one does it better than Cartoon Network). The network, with tons of cheesy cheesy (che´ze) caseous. old animated material but no end of imagination, has created several new series, rescued a UPN-developed series from the scrap heap scrap·heap also scrap heap n. 1. A pile or heap of waste material. 2. A place for discarding useless or worthless material. and shoehorned a couple of other ideas into a new programming block it calls ``Adult Swim.'' ``The Brak brak 1 Noun S African a crossbred dog; mongrel [Dutch] brak 2 Adjective S African (of water) slightly salty; brackish [Afrikaans] Show'' pastes the unutterably stupid, piercingly voiced Space Ghost alien (along with S.G.'s talk show's grumpy and evil musical host, Zorak) into a sterile '60s sitcom atmosphere (Dad is a three-quarter- life-size piece of clip art). ``Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law is a comedic American animated television series created by Williams Street that airs on Cartoon Network during its Adult Swim late night programming block. ,'' exhumes a failed superhero su·per·he·ro n. pl. su·per·he·roes A figure, especially in a comic strip or cartoon, endowed with superhuman powers and usually portrayed as fighting evil or crime. and resuscitates him as a lawyer, helping other cartoon characters in need of legal counsel (one episode is a custody battle between Dr. Benton Quest and Race Bannon for Jonny Quest and Hadji). ``Sealab 2021'' rethinks the long-forgotten ``Sealab 2020'' series, reducing every crew member to a moron mo·ron n. A person of mild mental retardation having a mental age of from 7 to 12 years and generally having communication and social skills enabling some degree of academic or vocational education. , a psycho or both; it features Erik Estrada giving voice to the very macho Marco Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Also featured in ``Adult Swim'' is ``Home Movies,'' another Squiggle- Vision series with amusingly improvised dialogue like ``Dr. Katz: Professional Therapist,'' about precocious 8-year-olds and their cranky soccer coach (UPN UPN User Principal Name (Microsoft Windows 2000) UPN United Paramount Network UPN Unión del Pueblo Navarro (Navarrese People Union) UPN Umgekehrte Polnische Notation cast it off, no doubt because the humor was far too dryly subtle for its audience). ``Aqua Teen Hunger Force'' is an agreeable mishmash mish·mash n. A collection or mixture of unrelated things; a hodgepodge. [Middle English misse-masche, probably reduplication of mash, soft mixture; see mash. in which fast-food heroes Master Shake, Frylock and Meatwad barely battle robotic menaces to a hip-hop beat. ``Cowboy Bebop'' is a Japanese import about a spaceship filled with bounty hunters. And ``Space Ghost Coast to Coast'' figures into the mix, as well. ``Adult Swim,'' a three-hour block of anarchic and irreverent humor, premieres this Sunday at 10 p.m. with repeats at 10 p.m. Thursday. Those who get the series' distinctive sensibilities may be instantly hooked; those who don't will be certain that they're beholding the stupidest thing they've ever seen in their lives. - David Kronke FILM THE `RACE' IS ON: Close out the summer movie season by getting back in the ``Rat Race'' mood. A knockabout, treasure hunt farce in the tradition of ``It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World is an American motion picture directed by Stanley Kramer about the madcap pursuit of $350,000 of stolen cash by a diverse and colourful group of strangers. The ensemble comedy premiered on November 7, 1963. ,'' the comedy just gets wackier as the contestants get closer to their $2 million goal. There's not much in the way of character development, but for sheer physical and conceptual humor, this movie is way out ahead of the season's other comedies. Directed by Jerry Zucker (``Ghost,'' ``Airplane!''), ``Rat Race'' stars Rowan Atkinson, John Cleese, Whoopi Goldberg, Cuba Gooding Jr., Seth Green, Jon Lovitz, Breckin Meyer and Amy Smart. The long, strange trip includes balloons with cows, Hitler's Mercedes and a busload bus·load n. The number of passengers or the quantity of cargo that a bus can carry. Noun 1. busload - the quantity of cargo or the number of passengers that a bus can carry of Lucys. It's all about greed, but it's also about the weird, alarming and sometimes wonderful ways in which Americans amuse themselves. If that doesn't sound like Labor Day entertainment, what does? -Bob Strauss STAGE PAIR OF ACES: For his one man show, Marc Wolf interviewed countless people across the country, asking for their views on the controversial topic of gays serving in the military. For her one-woman experience, Charlayne Woodard tapped her own experiences as a budding actress freshly arrived in New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. . True, you probably couldn't find a pair of works with less in common than the two plays performing in repertory at the Mark Taper Forum The Mark Taper Forum is a small thrust stage with 745 seats at the Los Angeles Music Center built by Welton Beckett and Associates. It has presented innovative plays since 1967. The world premiere of Angels In America was produced here. . Both are worth your time, for very different reasons. Woodard's is the more entertaining and less challenging evening. Strangely titled ``In Real Life,'' the actress takes us through a failed audition or two before striking gold with the original cast of ``Ain't Misbehavin.''' Possessed of a ton of charisma - and a wickedly deft Nell Carter impersonation Impersonation Patroclus wore the armor of Achilles against the Trojans to encourage the disheartened Greeks. [Gk. Lit.: Iliad] Prisoner of Zenda, The - Woodard easily sells her own success story. Wolf, meanwhile, is in weightier territory. ``Another American: Asking and Telling'' is a journalistic but still moving examination of a thorny issue. Wolf depicts soldiers, friends and family members - both gay and straight - as well as policy makers. Former President Clinton, alas, is not among the people we meet on stage. Regardless, ``Another American'' is fascinating, still timely and not to be missed. The two plays perform in repertory through Sept. 16 at 135 N. Grand Ave., in Los Angeles. Performances are 8 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday, and 2:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are $30 to $44. Call (213) 628-2772 for tickets and specific performance dates. - Evan Henerson MUSIC IF IT AIN'T BAROQUE: The Los Angeles Baroque Orchestra, under the direction of Gregory Maldonado, presents a performance of classical music Sunday night at the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre in Hollywood, 2580 Cahuenga Blvd. Titled ``A Little Night Music,'' the program will feature Mozart's Serenade in G (``Eine Kleine Nachtmusik'') and his Salzburg Divertimento divertimento Eighteenth-century chamber music genre consisting of several movements, often of a light and entertaining nature, for strings, winds, or both. Though the name was applied (c. in F. The orchestra will be joined by classical guitarist Richard Savino, who will perform works by Luigi Boccherini. The performance is part of the 2001 Summer Nights at the Ford series. Tickets for the 8 p.m. concert are $12 to $25. Call (323) 461-3673. - E.H. SHADOW KNOWS: If you recall the warm trumpet solo on the 1965 Oscar-winning ``The Shadow of Your Smile,'' you know Jack Sheldon. Trumpet virtuoso and vocalist, Sheldon has played with almost everyone in jazz, from Dizzy Gillespie to Mel Torme to Zoot Sims. He appears in a free concert tonight at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, also known as LACMA, is the official and world-renowned art museum of the County of Los Angeles, California, located on Wilshire Boulevard along Museum Row in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. plaza with his California Cool Quartet (pianist Marty Harris, bassist Trey Henry and drummer Dave Tull). The Museum of Art is at 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles. Show time is 8:30. Information: (323) 857-6000 or www.jacksheldon.com. - Fred Shuster LOAD THE CANNON: Fireworks fireworks: see pyrotechnics. fireworks Explosives or combustibles used for display. Of ancient Chinese origin, fireworks evidently developed out of military rockets and explosive missiles and accompanied the spread of military explosives westward to will shoot off over the Hollywood Bowl during the Bowl's ``Tchaikovsky's Spectacular'' tonight through Sunday. Conductor John Mauceri, the USC An abbreviation for U.S. Code. Trojan Marching Band and the Pittsburgh Ballet will do their respective stuff to Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, Symphony No. 5 and excerpts from ``The Nutcracker.'' The performance is at 8:30 tonight and Saturday and 7:30 p.m. Sunday at 2301 N. Highland Ave. Tickets are $3 to $110. Call (213) 480-3232. - E.H. DON'T MISS THIS: Glendale rock band System of A Down says ``thanks'' to hometown fans with a free show at 5 p.m. Labor Day. The stage will be set up across the street from Vynyl, 1650 Schrader Blvd., just south of Hollywood Boulevard. Get there early. CAPTION(S): 5 photos Photo: (1) Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law helps cartoon charactes in trouble. (2) Seth Green, left, and Vince Vieluf play inept con artist brothers in ``Rat Race.'' (3) no caption (Jack Sheldon) (4) MAUCERI (5) no caption (Hollywood Bowl) |
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