Rack Toys is now available

After almost three years in the making, the finished inventory of our first book "Rack Toys, Cheap, Crazed Playthings" have arrived at the Mantooth Warehouse.

I am pleased to announce it's available to order from the PlaidStallions store right now. If you buy through us you'll get three exclusive Rack Toys post cards, however, the book is also available on Amazon.

For those just tuning in, Rack Toys is a celebration of fun toys that broke super easy and covers such generes as Superheroes, Monsters and Horror, Saturday morning cartoons, SITCOMS, Generic items and dreaded knock offs.

If you were a child during the 60s to the 90s, there is something you likely had or wanted within this 144 page, full color book.

For now, I'm going to sit in shock and figure out where to put them all. To all of you who followed the progress here and on facebook,  emailed me, asked me questions, sent me photos or gave me advice, thank you.

Please don't stop, for everyone that orders a copy, please tell me your thoughts and spread the word. 

A Keaton Christmas Carol

In the holiday tradition of robbing Charles Dickens, I present yet another hacktacular Christmas Carol spoof, once you see it you will agree, Tina Yothers IS the ghost of Christmas past, God she nails it.

Shortlived: Just Our Luck

1983 saw ABC try to hip up the "I Dream of Jeannie" concept with "Just Our Luck" instead of an astronaut, our hero is a hapless weatherman and instead of a hot blonde we get a hip back guy (which at 13 seemed like a letdown to me). Our hero buys a bottle at a flea market and accidently frees "Shabu" (played by veteran comic actor TK Carter) and nobody gets called "Master".

What made this show kind of fun was that Shabu wasn't really a servant but more of a magic smartass who liked to play practical jokes or use his magic to show our hero how lamely he lived his life.

The results of Shabu's magic or advice somehow always backfires, causing the main plots of every episode. Despite being kind of old hack plot wise, the leads on "Just Our Luck" had good chemistry and the series was better than expected but like most fantasy sitcoms, it was dismissed by the general public and given it's walking papers in December of 1983.

Merch: Three's Company Puzzle

There is a small amount of Three's Company merchandise out there and none of what from I've seen ever feature Joyce Dewitt or John Ritter let alone my sweet, sweet Norman Fell. This puzzle is a rather telling glimpse into the show's underlying popularity and the reason my buddy Chris developed a childhood appreciation for Ms. Somers.

As an aside, I've bumped into Suzanne Somers in real life (literally) at a book launch party/dealy. She is A) still very attractive and B) TINY!, she's just a wee little thing, it's unreal. THis puzzle is actual size.

Shortlived: Star of the Family

1982 saw ABC pair this sitcom with Joanie Loves Chachi for the fall of 1982, only JLC (sorry but that's what I'm referring to it as now) returned for 1983.

"Star of the Family" centered around "Buddy" (Brian Dennehy) a hardworking fire captain, who has to deal with his crew of weirdos (they firemen were the "Whacky Neighbours" of this series), his wife running out on him, the fact that his son is a moron (a pre ninja Michael Dudikoff) and most of all that his daughter is quickly becoming a country music star.

It's all a very familiar cocktail really and sounds like a movie that gets remade every so often. The show was somewhat average on every level and as I recall, the daughter's musical segments seemed more late 70s than early 80s, always a bad sign.

Star of the Family never got past "Local Celebrity" and was cancelled December 1982.

Shortlived: The Bill Cosby Show

With the popularity of "The Cosby Show" in the mid 80s, some channels began to rerun this two season wonder from 1969 in order to feed the rampant "Cosbymania" that had gripped our nation.

But other than the titular star, the shows had little in common, this series was done on film, had no laugh track and was much more mellow in finding it's humour.

In this Cosby plays Chet, an LA area Gym teacher and it followed him through his adventures trying to help folks out or do the right thing. Chet doesn't always make the right call but he handles his foibles well and occasionally there is a lesson to be learned.

It's understandable how this ""Bill Cosby Show" didn't find a big audience with it's experimental (no laugh track simply wasn't done) approach but it's certainly a well done series. Shout Factory has it for sale on DVD which includes one of the last appearances of veteran actor Mantan Moreland playing Chet's Uncle!

Short Lived: The Paul Lynde Show

I've never seen minute one of this short lived vehicle for "Center Square" Paul Lynde and that wouldn't stop me from buying a box set tomorrow. The show itself sounds inconsequential, man has his perfect life disrupted when his daughter (and I'm assuming idiotic) son in law move back in.

I am betting there is probably a wonderful subtext to the show now, America percieved Lynde as "whacky" and having him play a family man was as strange as Village People Halloween costumes seem today.

Paul Lynde passed far too soon, I'm reminded of this everytime I see Roger on "American Dad", I can only imagine the parts he could have gotten in the 1990s.