' The Michigan Daily - Weekend etc, - Thursday, October 20, 1994 - 5 'Fresh Cheese' pleases MST fans By TED WATTS Searching the tube for something to vicariouslyexperience lateone evening, a hypothetical couch potato runs across Comedy Central. Pausing because he needs to belch, and therefore blink and run the risk of missing entertainment, our fictitious spud might realize some- thingdifferentison. Thisthingiscalled Mystery Science Theater 3000. On the screen is a dopily happy guy in a jumpsuit and his two everpresent robot friends, Crow T. Robot and Tom Servo, located on the Satellite of Love (or SoL) in orbit around the Earth. Depending on what point the channel surfer has arrived, the threesome may be engaged in talking to us out in TV Land, conversing with the evil scien- tists (Dr. Clayton Forrester and his assistant, TV's Frank) who sent them into outer space or watching a horrible, horrible movie and making fun of it. Just using percentage of show time, it's most likely to be the last activity. Ever since its inception six years ago, Mystery Science Theater 3000 (or MST3K for short) has been wowing people with its ability to do in public and with puppets what people have been doing in the privacy of their own homes for thousands of years: making fun of awful B-movies. The frame for ripping these atrocious celluloid toilet paperreels apart is eccentric but simple: a guy gets shot into space by his bosses so they can perform insidious experi- ments on him. Theexperiments consist of monitoring his mind while he watches bad films (as explained in the show's theme song). What the bosses, located in an evil scientist bunker called Deep 13, get from the experiments isn't really clear. A good guess is that they are simply BE * S fitness studio SLIDE + boutique E SLIDE +bLtqe SCULPT CALL TODAY FOR = E= A COMPLIMENTARY & OR ONE-WEEKSS :: : 10% o«o"UM.,, UXs &Mc sadistic and are only looking to inflict their own special brand of "deep hurt- ing" on the hapless space-based trio. The guy has built himself some robot friends to share his pain and ease his lonliness. In addition to Crow and Servo, there is the service robot (and maternal figure) Gypsy and Cambot, the presumed reason that the camera on the ship moves. They are actually made out of various knick-knacks like. gumball machines, plastic bowling pins and lacross equipment. It's such an obvious comedic ploy! The reason the guy keeps being reffered to as "the guy" is because there are actually two guys: Joel Hodgson, one of the original creators of the show, played Joel Robinson until June 1993 when he left and head writer Mike Nelson took over to play the guy on the ship. This incarnation was named, sur- prisingly, Mike Nelson. Well, Mike's been on screen for a year now, and the second college tour for MST3K is on its way again. This one has been impressively dubbed "Fresh Cheese - The Fall 1994 Mys- tery Science Theater 3000 College Screening Tour." An episode yet to be seen on Comedy Central (and notMike and the 'bots at the front of the theater in the flesh and plastic), the coming offering is a skewering of an Adam West/ Tia Carrerra flick known as "Zombie Nightmare." Certainly enough to instill no small amount of fear in the hearts nor nausea into the stomachs of a lesser production com- pany than MST3K's Minnesota-based See CHEESE, Page 6 e*Bagels *Pasta Salads *Muff ins *Soups *Frozen Yogurt *Vegetable Salads (Gise-Glace) eFruit Salads eDeli Sandwiches I olow L. 715 N. University Colil1 rank Conniff (TV's Frank) and Trace Beaulieu (Dr. Clayton Forrester) decide who gets use of the brain for the day. 'NYPD' won't have the Caruso blues N E S plight! By JOSHUA RICH ere is no question that "NYPD le" is an adult-oriented television rogram. In the first episode alone, 1ere were two sex scenes which dis- layed brief, yetfull frontal nudity and YU mom uo son, proven itself to be much more. It features Detectives John Kelly (David Caruso) and Andy Sipowicz (Dennis Franz), a team of aggressive, intelli- gent policemen, who, although listed as the show's stars, are not really the main focus. Rather, the central charac- ters are the residents of the lower east side of New York whose lives are touched by these unorthodox lawmen. Unlike in most other prime time dra- mas, these characters are real. They have normal, human problems. They aren't rich, spoiled lawyers or vice cops who driveFerraris. "NYPD Blue" is revolutionary because it is not a fantasy drama; it is real. Now, however, the show has a very real, potential problem. After garnering twenty-six Emmy Award nominations - tying a record for most in a single season by one show - including Best Actor nods to both Caruso and Franz, Caruso made a surprise decision. Even though he was a favorite to win the acting prize, Caruso decided to leave the show after only one season in order to pur- sue a movie career. He is scheduled to star in the remake of the classic "Kiss See BLUES, Page 8 .,.and yes, we do have 16 pound bails. Every Thursday Night 10p.m.i-a.m. Guest DJ "the Buckster?" 1950 South Industrial Ann Arbor, MI 48104 665-4475 e famous line: "Suck on this, you issy littlebitch!" was barked by one of e main characters. But since then the uestionable nature of this program as decreased - nudity is rare, al- ough "asshole" is a favorite color- netaphor for the actors - and peccable screen writing and daring cting are now the show's main at- actions. Touted as the first television show display nudity and profane language, NYPD Blue" has, after only one sea- We Rent and Sell Electronic Equipment for All of Your Party Needs " Camcorders " VCRs a Sound Systems & Disco Equipment Audio-t OUP of items PTVs annihilate the Illini on a BIG screen, We rent bis screen TV's at low Prices! Ann Arbor Radio and T.V. I iF1 Studioa r Faith fully serving the student community for over 40 years 21 S. Ashley (Parking Available at 200 S. Ashley) 1/2 block N. of Liberty Downtown pick-up and delivery available 769-0342 the future: Shorino What We Are Learning October 20, 1994, 10am-6pm October 21, 1994, 10am-2pm The Michigan Union 530 South State Street The University of Michigan The M-Quality Expo-a good place to talk with others who are interested in improvement and innovation, to learn more about M-Quality, and to CELEBRATE the creative ways people are using M-Quality to contribute to the excellence of the University. *More than 50 exhibits highlighting how people from across campus are using M-Quality to: help ensure the excellence of the University, find ways to better serve others, promote teamwork and wholesome work environments, and experiment with various ways of problem-solving. *Professors Marvin W. Peterson (Education), and Kim Cameron (Business Administration and Education) reporting the results of the recent survey of staff perceptions of the workplace environment. Thursday, October 20, at 11:00am in the Kuenzel Room. *Professor Edward D. Rothman (Statistics) talking about how common sense, which serves us well in some circumstances, leads us astray in others. Quality Management will be the context for his examples. Thursday, October 20, at 2:00pm in the Kuenzel Room. *Professor Richard W. Andrews (Statistics) delivering a humorous talk to "half-heartedly" support 15 "half-baked" ideas for Quality management with the goal of convincing people to develop their own set of quality principles. Thursday, October 20, at 4:00pm in the Kuenzel Room. *Ms. Karen E. Sayer, head of the film and video library, showing two videos in the Kuenzel Room on Friday, October 21. At 11:00am, More Bloody Meetings featuring John Cleese. At 1:00pm, Leadership and the New Science featuring Margaret J. Wheatley. FREE ADMISSION REFRESHMENTS "MOM", I