#rob bartlett

https://youtu.be/ExtP-54yHOY

Mushnik & Son

off the Little Shop of Horrors Soundtrack, The New Broadway Cast Recording, 2003

https://youtu.be/-T3E1RF9OlE

WSKID / Ya Never Know

off the Little Shop of Horrors Soundtrack, The New Broadway Cast Recording, 2003

Preview- Magic, Myth & Mutilation: The Micro-Budget Cinema of Michael J. Murphy 1967–2015 (Limited Edition Bluray)

Amongst overlooked filmmakers, British director Michael J. Murphy ranks as one of the most sorely neglected. Having cut his teeth on a variety of homemade 8mm shorts, he had completed three feature-length productions by the age of eighteen. Over the next five decades, Murphy would go on to make many more films across a variety of genres, dividing his production time between Greece, Portugal, and…

I actually checked out of wrestling after Survivor Series, and didn't come back until Royal Rumble. Now I'm in it again, and so the appeal of the WWE Network's back catalogue is creeping up again. I have decided to start in January of 1993 with the first episode of Raw, and see how far I get. <\p>

Monday Night Raw as a concept annoyed me as a kid. It essentially replaced Prime Time Wrestling, which for a few years was one of my favorite shows. The team of Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan discussing current storylines and dressing up for Halloween was perfection for me. Of course, Vince would meddle with the formula after a few years, switching to a panel discussion show for a while. The idea of the MacLaughlin Group with Hacksaw and Reverend Slick was not something anyone wanted, but it was better than the concept that replaced it - a talk/variety show with Vince and the Brain discussing the news of the day and trotting out wrestlers for unfunny skits. This bombed as well, leading to the move to Mondays and the full revamp of Prime Time Wrestling into Raw.<\p>

The first episode begins with the original WWE vapid backstage interviewer, Sean Mooney, outside the Manhattan Center, telling a frantic Bobby Heenan that he isn't allowed in, and has been replaced by Rob Bartlett. These skits would continue through the hour, with Bobby trying to get inside first in drag as Bartlett's aunt, then as his uncle in a Hasidic Jew disguise. Opening the show by telling us Heenan wouldn't be announcing was, I think, an attempt to show us how new and different this Raw concept would be. Instead it immediately pissed me off.<\p>

The announce team featured Vince McMahon as play-by-play, Macho Man Randy Savage as color, and Rob Bartlett filling a comedian role no one asked for. Bartlett was from the Imus In The Morning radio show, and he seemed to know nothing about what he was seeing. He called Yokozuna "Yokozooma" and made the typical jokes about him eating a lot, smelling bad, etc. At one point, Bartlett pretends to be Mike Tyson calling in from prison. It was such a bad impression, if Vince hadn't identified him, I would have had no idea who he was supposed to be. I had hoped he wouldn't last past the first episode, but he made it to the second, so I've apparently got to suffer this fool for a while longer.<\p>

Wrestling-wise, there is only so much you can do with a single hour. There was a Yoko squash, a fun match between Max Moon and HBK (who would have worked together previously when Shawn was a Rocker and Max was Kato in the Orient Express), and a main event of Damien Demento vs The Undertaker. One thing I noticed was that in the Manhattan Center, the ring was very close to the entryway, so it took no time at all for the wrestlers to get to the ring. This meant that Shawn Michaels was in the ring before Sherri got to the chorus of "Sexy Boy", and Taker was raising the lights before the gongs in his music were finished. That combined with the balcony seating and super bright lighting made the whole thing look way different than the arena footage from Superstars or Wrestling Challenge of the same era.<\p>

Episode One also included a "Royal Rumble Control Center" insert, with Mean Gene running down the card for the upcoming PPV. These bits always got me excited for upcoming shows, and I miss them from the current product. As the show ended, Vince plugged next week's episode, saying they would feature a match between Woody Allen and his ex-wife Mia Farrow.<\p>

Watching it now, Monday Night Raw seems like it would have been a big letdown for anyone who remembered Prime Time Wrestling fondly. The show was an hour shorter, didn't have the great Gorilla/Heenan banter, and was full of terrible pop culture pandering. The wrestling wasn't any better - a squash is a squash no matter if it was taped at a house show or done "live" on Raw. 1993 is an interesting year for WWE character-wise - the company is transitioning out of the Hogan era and into the New Generation, but the change isn't complete. This was most notable in the Royal Rumble segment. The list of competitors in the Rumble included 80's guys like Macho Man, Ted Dibiase, and Tito Santana, as well as guys who were growing into major stars, like Undertaker and Owen Hart, and a slew of New Generation crap gimmicks, like Damien Demento and Tatanka. As this experiment goes forward, I am interested to see this transition continue. Bret Hart is already the World Champion in his first reign, Hulk Hogan is on some extended vacation post-Mania 8, and Ric Flair won't last much past the Rumble before heading back to WCW.<\p>