HISTORY CHANNEL SUFFERS ICONIC DETACHMENT.Byline: David Kronke TV Critic ``American Classics'' is a fairly frivolous exercise from the History Channel, and therefore it's getting a big promotional push. The miniseries is a pretty stunningly superficial overview of ``icons symbolizing American character. ... They're stories that define our nation,'' as host Dick Clark
Richard Wagstaff "Dick" Clark (born November 30, 1929) is an Emmy Award-winning American television, radio personality, game show host and businessman, he served as , who reads a teleprompter as well as anyone, blandly and dubiously explains. Hence, they're stories we all should know pretty well - better, at least, than the folks who produced ``American Classics'' seem to know them. The series seems to be aimed at explaining to recent immigrants how shallow our country is, with each segment playing essentially as a term paper hastily written by a fifth grader who logged onto Google the night before the assignment was due. So, tonight, we get mini-reports on the Statue of Liberty Statue of Liberty great symbolic structure in New York harbor. [Am. Hist.: Jameson, 284] See : America Statue of Liberty perhaps the most famous monument to independence. [Am. Hist.: Jameson, 284] See : Freedom , George Washington (``He was the Elvis of his day,'' we're told, as if without a recent reference we wouldn't absorb the full significance of the Father of our Country), Uncle Sam Uncle Sam, name used to designate the U.S. government. The term arose in the War of 1812 and seems at first to have been used derisively by those opposed to the war. Possibly it was an expansion of the letters "U.S. , the cowboy, products and marketing and Betty Grable Betty Grable (December 18, 1916 – July 2, 1973) was an American dancer, singer, and actress. Her sensational bathing-suit photo, with her head looking over her right shoulder, became the number-one pin-up girl of the WWII era. (World War II, by this show's reckoning, being all about sex). On Wednesday's show, Clark burbles, ``The vastness of our country, the sense of freedom that it imparts, is ingrained in many of us.'' This by way of introducing a bunch of travel-related icons: the covered wagon, the locomotive, Model T's, Route 66, the '57 Chevy and Corvette corvette, small warship, classed between a frigate and a sloop-of-war. Corvettes usually were flush-decked and carried fewer than 28 guns. They were widely employed in escorting convoys and attacking merchant ships during the great naval wars of the late 18th and , and drive-in theaters. The only thing in this episode that you may not have known or cared about was how nerdy the guys who created Harley Davidson motorcycles looked. Episode three has virtually no connecting throughline - you explain how we get from the TV dinner to the Good Humor Man to Muhammad Ali to the smiley face to the disco ball and Playboy - but boasts footage from some kitschy commercials and industrial films. Episode four took the least effort of all: It's a glimpse at the poppiest of pop culture - Marilyn Monroe, ``I Love Lucy I Love Lucy is a television situation comedy, starring Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, also featuring Vivian Vance and William Frawley. The series originally ran from October 15, 1951, to May 6, 1957, on CBS (181 episodes, including the "lost" Christmas episode and original ,'' Elvis Presley, ``It's a Wonderful Life.'' You have to wonder, too, about a show that puts propulsive percussion beats under pieces of classical music or consults an ``expert'' who dispenses his wisdom sitting next to happy-face mugs and G.I. Joe and Superman lunchboxes, or one who goes by the moniker (1) A name, title or alias. See alias. (2) A COM object that is used to create instances of other objects. Monikers save programmers time when coding various types of COM-based functions such as linking one document to another (OLE). See COM and OLE. of Harry Hepcat hep·cat n. Slang A performer or devotee of swing and jazz, especially during the 1940s. . ``American Classics'' may say it celebrates those things that define our nation's character, but all it really comments on is our very short attention span. ``AMERICAN CLASSIC'' What: Glimpse at pop-culture icons. The stars: Host Dick Clark. Where: The History Channel. When: 9 tonight through Friday. Our rating: Two stars CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Dick Clark hosts the History Channel's look at pop culture. |
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