Black and White Wednesday: "As the General, Young and Restless Hospital Turns" by Bill Ward

Dig it, Groove-ophiles! Back during the Groovy Age, daytime dramas, aka Soap Operas, ruled daytime TV, the choices of shows numbering in the teens. Today, only four remain...and two of them can be found in this post's title: The Young and the Restless and General Hospital (45 and 55 years old, respectively!). Not sure who the writer is--according to the contents page of Cracked #137 (cover dated November 1976)--it could be Joe Catalano, George Gladir, or Epstein's Mother (if you don't get that reference, you weren't around in the Groovy Age, but we're sure glad to have ya here), but the artist is most definitely the great Bill Ward. Now, yers trooly was never a fan of soaps, but Dear Ol' Mom was, so they were always on. I did dig Cracked and Bill Ward, and I can still dig "As the General, Young and Restless Hospital Turns!"  Bet you'll dig it, too!

Black and White Wednesday: "The Cracked Guide to Basketball"

Dig it, Groove-ophiles! College basketball season is up and running, and does that ever make a blue-bleeding Ol' Groove happy! Made me think of this article from Cracked #142 (dated July 1977) illoed (I'm pretty sure) by Howard Nostrand, "The Cracked Guide to Basketball"! Yeah, the article's main focus is pro b-ball, and times have changed (more than we'd care to think), but funny is funny, baby!

Black and White Wednesday: "When Businesses Start Going After the Over-65 Market" by John Severin

Greetings, Groove-ophiles! Today we're taking another peek at the sensational satire supplied by the extraordinary John Severin for Cracked magazine. I'm not sure if Sev wrote this piece or not, but either he or the mystery author must have had a crystal ball. A bit of a fuzzy one, but surprisingly accurate, nonetheless. You know that if you watch TV you're inundated with commercials about retirement, medicine, and other aids to the elderly. Many a magazine on the racks today focus on fare that the retired set will definitely dig (even Archie has grown up and gotten married, and while that's not aimed at the elderly, it's a step in that direction, innit?). Cable channels like TVLand even keep the senior stars at least partially employed with their new sitcoms. So travel back to the fall of 1978 as we "look forward" to "When Businesses Start Going After the Over-65 Market". Enjoy this post before it's (ulp!) retired, Groove-ophiles!

Sunday Funnies: "The Happy Dazes' Close Encounters of the Third Kind" by Severin

Ya think mash-ups are something new, Groove-ophiles? Not so! Just dig this John Severin gem from Cracked #153 (cover-dated September 1978). Sev mixes and mangles the venerable Happy Days gang with Steven Spielberg's blockbuster CE3K--and the ha-ha's can't help but ensue. Can you dig it?

Sunday Funnies: "Family's Feud" by Howard Nostrand

Admit it, Groove-ophiles--if you had a TV back in the mid-to-late 70s, you were addicted to Family Feud. That Richard Dawson-hosted Match Game spin-off took the game show world by storm, lasting well into the 80s, and rising again, and again, phoenix-like decade after decade. If you have GSN, you no doubt realize that the original version is the bomb-diggety. Dawson, smooching every lady contestant in sight, thumbs in his vest-pockets, doing his best to be nice when he really wanted to bop some of those nutty contestants is unlike any other game show ever. Naturally, The Feud was a pop-phenomenon, which means that our fave humor mags poked fun at it in their pages. Howard Nostrand's "Family's Feud" from Cracked #154 (cover-dated October 1978) looks great and does a fine job of skewering the sillier aspects of that classic show. On your mark! Let's start..."The Family's Feud"!

Sunday Funnies: "Cracked Interviews the Power Company King" by Bill Ward

Hey, hey, hey, Groove-ophiles! I don't know about where you live, but winter is coming on strong in Ol' Groove's neck of the woods. Of course, with cold weather comes high heating bills--but who wants to think about that? It's Sunday and we want our funnies! Well, here's artist Bill Ward (no credits for the author) at his silly (and sexy--dig those groovy chicks!) best stickin' it to the (power) man! From Cracked #141 (cover-dated May 1977) it's "Cracked Interviews the Power Company King"!

Sunday Funnies: "How the Kotter Gang Spent Their Summer Vacation" by John Severin

Hullo. How are ya, Groove-ophiles! My name is Arnold Horshack. Y'want I should share a really, really good Welcome Back, Kotter parody with ya? Who? Kotter, remember the 70s show with John Travolta and the other Sweathogs trying to get by in Gabe (Kaplan) Kotter's high school class? Where? On ABC-TV? Why? 'Cause it was a hit, Vinnie, or don'tcha remember nothin'? Anyway, in Cracked Magazine #137 (cover-dated November 1976), John Severin did his usual far-out job of sending up yet another pop-culture phenomenon as he filled us in on "How the Kotter Gang Spent Their Summer Vacation". Oooh! Oooh, ooh! Y'wanna read it? G'head, g'head...

Sunday Funnies: Charlie's Angels and M*A*S*H* Cracked by John Severin

More of the genius of John Severin from Cracked issues 141-142 (cover-dated May-July 1977). This time he pokes fun at a couple of the most iconic TV shows of the Groovy Age.


Be back tomorrow as we start this year's 12 Days of Christmas, Groove-ophiles!