C’mon Fwank

This has been a big week for things coming full circle and, well…things falling at half mast.

Monday, June 8, saw pop culture history made as Mark-Paul Gosselaar Zack Morris made his return to television  for the first time in 15 years, complete with bleach-blonde hair, high tops and his giant cell phone.

If you didn’t know already, Fallon has been trying to reunite the cast of “Saved by the Bell” since basically the inception of his own show, “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.” As of June 8, only Mario Lopez, Lark Vorhees and whatever Mr. Belding’s real name is had signed on.  When it came time for Gosselaar to address the challenge placed before he and his fellow cast members, he decided to address it as Zack Morris.  And as Zack Morris he did.  You literally would never know it was 15 years later, a credit to whatever army of people turned back 15 years of time as the two gave Saved by the Bell fans something they’ve wanted to see for years.

I’m a “Saved by the Bell” fan. I’ll admit it. I had a crush on Kelly Kapowski and today, I have the DVDs. It was an amazing few moments of hilarity and nostalgia and we truly must give props to Mark-Paul Gosselaar for being a humble, down to earth guy and for just having fun with it.  Oh, and live via giant cell phone, Elizabeth Berkley signed on as well.  And then Zack proceeded to play “Friends Forever” with the band to top off an amazing piece of history.

See the full video here:

NOW, for the completely unrelated, down side.  After nearly 20 years, Nickelodeon has decided to discontinue the production of Nick Magazine.

Issue #1 of Nickelodeon Magazine

This just happens to fall during the year of Nickelodeon’s 30th anniversary, for which they’ve done nothing to commemorate or even acknowledge.  If you’ve spent any time at all browsing this site, you know that Nickelodeon is very special to me.  I’ve even worked for Nickelodeon on some of their programming.  So, its something I hate to see happen, especially during a time which should be celebrated.

Economical reasons combined with the dying print media are cited as the reasons behind the closure of the magazine, and granted I haven’t purchased a Nick Magazine in probably 10 of those 19 years it’s been around, it still doesn’t seem right.

Nick has some new, up-coming game shows that are a throwback to the old days though, so there’s a little light in this tunnel they’ve created for themselves.  But you didn’t hear that from me.

Josh

When I was younger, the season known as summer immediately started the nanosecond I stepped foot out of the school door and on to the sidewalk held under a bright blue sky, surrounded by the sounds of running high tops and a hundred screaming voices of the same age as mine who knew the same thing I knew: we were free.  More importantly, I was free; no longer bound by the walls of education and teachers who smelled like chalk, coffee and smoke breaks.

This tradition continued through college, and while the grown-up option of summer classes blurred the lines of when summer began, it was still a mindset that stayed with me.  Today, as a college graduate, I no longer have that luxury to gauge when summer truly begins. Thus, I’ve developed a new system based on the next best association to the beginning of summer: the arrival of the ICE CREAM TRUCK.

My parents have photos of me as early as 4 or 5 years old running out to the ice cream truck, money in tow, ready to point out my pleasure and demand it be given to me at a price that an entire box of store-bought popsicles could be purchased at.  But, those of us in the know know that ice cream truck popsicles are just different.  They look different, they taste different, and they even smell different.  All GOOD differents, too.  They’re just better all-around, and the fact that you can only get them in the summer makes them even more desirable.

Of course, back in the day, you could buy SOME ice cream truck-style popsicles in stores, but today, that’s no longer the case.  Giant Firecracker pops and sherbety character-shaped treats are reserved solely for that outlet which comes in the form of a white van driven by a shady-at-best character through the months of May through August.

And yesterday, my friends, on June, 5, 2009, summer began.

That is the genuine Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles popsicle; Raphael to be exact.  It all started about 5 pm yesterday when, I was heading toward taking care of some more grown-up activities, I heard it.  The chimes of the ice cream truck hit me, and in an instant, I dropped everything I was holding, and sprinted for the door.  It’s just instinct by this point.  Rushing past a group of kids, triumphantly landing first in line, I did what any kid who had earned the right as first in line at the ice cream truck did: I deliberated.

As the kids (and some parents) waited impatiently for me to decide what I wanted, I secretly already knew I was going for the Turtles.  But, I didn’t know what else I wanted.  5 minutes and an unruly mob later, I purchased FOUR Ninja Turtles on the off-chance I might actually get the whole group, and 2 Pink Panthers.  One of the things I love about ice cream truck character pops is that they remain one of the most timeless, never-changed relics in all of pop culture.  Unless they’ve seen the crappy new Pink Panther films with Steve Martin, or, to a lesser degree, purchased Pink Panther fiberglass insulation…what kid is going to know who the Pink Panther is? They haven’t changed the look or style of him, or any of his frozen cohorts since the beginning of time either.

And that isn’t all…Bugs Bunny, Mario, vintage looking Sonic the Hedgehog, Tweety, and of course, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were all there.  With them was a new confectionary ally, Spongebob Squarepants, who, given his status in pop culture has earned his spot on the side of an ice cream truck in my opinion.

If you’re wondering, I didn’t get all four turtles.  I came close.  I got Leo, Raph, Raph, and Don.  But, either way, it was still a major score.  Upon making friends with the new ice cream lady, I learned she’ll be here on Fridays.  I told her to put on a pretty dress and don’t be late.  And to bring me a Michaelangelo.

We’re going to be doing a lot of summer stuff on the site over the next few months.  We all have good summer memories, so, we’re going to see if we can tap into that a little, starting with the new FwankTV we’re hopefully shooting next week.  But for now…summer is here…go chase the ice cream truck, put on your Wayfarers, throw some meat on the grill and hop in the nearest urine-infested public water source you can find.  Do it.