The Count's Song/Viva Laughlin

[thehefner]

I was cackling with laughter so hard from this, I think I disturbed the tenant upstairs having her usual loud sex. I couldn't help myself. This is brilliant.

And while we're posting videos...

Cracked.com ran an article on shows that were thankfully canceled after just one episode, and one of these shows was a little something called VIVA LAUGHLIN, featuring Hugh Jackman.

This just came out, mind you, and was already canceled, particularly after the New York Times wondered if Viva Laughlin could be "the worst show in the history of television." Then again, I'm currently pissed at the New York Times for panning BEOWULF, so there we go.

Anyway, Cracked sets up this clip by saying, "Watch this clip. If you're still not sure why it was canceled, watch it again. Just keep watching it."

Sure, maybe this wouldn't work as a real show.

But I tell you what, trade the Stones for Sinatra, and this is EXACTLY what Johnny Go sees when he closes his eyes.

Comments

[eliyes.livejournal.com]

OH. MY. CHRIST on a cracker. That Count thing is *beep*ing brilliant!

[frumple.livejournal.com]

Ok the Count clip is brilliant...and hillarious

[kimberlyknits.livejournal.com]

That Count clip should be illegal in 50 states and Canada.

#laughs until sides hurt#

[lairdofdarkness.livejournal.com]

Can you hear that Hef?
Can you hear the sound of my laughter all the way over the pond?
That count song is fantastic and I must pinch and repost
Now i like that Stones song but that clip gives me no idea what the hell the programme is about. If its just a surreal look at life with occasional songs, then we here in Blighty already had that covered many years ago with the wonderfully bizzare Catterick (or Vic and Bob do Catterick as it is sometimes known).
Bizarrely I now want to know more about Viva Laughlin..
I must need a lie down!

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Only if you could hear mine. Yowza.

Aye, it's a remake of a BBC show called (VIVA) BLACKPOOL. In the tradition of THE SINGING DETECTIVE and PENNIES FROM HEAVEN, it seems to me...

[sabine42.livejournal.com]

Canceled after two episodes. Sad, really, as for once they actually tried to rewrite a new version of the British script...but despite made Hugh love, it wasn't nearly as good as Blackpool (Viva Blackpool on BBC America....)

At least now that it's been canceled, maybe BBC America will release an American region version of the DVD.

I love that number with Hugh, no matter what they say-- but even it doesn't have the Hugh spark that should have sold it :(

[cisic.livejournal.com]

I love Hugh also, so I watched Viva Laughlin for as long as it lasted.

I think the problem with the show was the backing tracks. I mean if you are going to make a musical tv show, make a musical tv show. I think if the vocalist was cut out and you could actually hear the characters singing the songs, it would have worked better.

That being said, there is no way it was the worst TV show ever. I mean, hello GEICO cavemen???

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Aye, so I discovered. I even saw a couple clips. I'm reminded of THE SINGING DETECTIVE and PENNIES FROM HEAVEN (both British mini-series turned into American movies), except the clips of both VIVA shows I've seen aren't quite as... melodic. Even the great JACK-MAN, whom we know has zaz out the wazoo, kinda comes off as a karaoke singer.

Since we're talking JACK-MAN, it might amuse you to know that this icon totally confused and frustrated one of my friends, as she racked her brain trying to figure out what the hell was going on. Like most people I know, she'd never seen THE FOUNTAIN. Hee hee.

[little-dinosaur.livejournal.com]

Wow, the Count. I always suspected.
That's a really Jew-y song too, with all the klezmer and vaguely Eastern European accent.

That does smack of Johnny Go. Maybe the show got canceled for lack of zombie?

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

There's a Family Guy joke in there, but I'm not gonna touch it.

Funnily enough, the very next listing on the shows-that-got-canceled list was a zombie show! A show with zombies, having seemingly nothing to do with zombies. So maybe VIVA LAUGHLIN wouldn't have lasted in either case. One way or another, the mere presence of JACK-MAN wasn't enough.

[adaptor.livejournal.com]

"Well, maybe it won't be so bad. I like Hugh Jackman, I like cheese. There. That's not so... Wait a minute. Are those the original vocals playing in the background? Dude, what the fark?!!!!!"

Thus sayeth the confused.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Yeah, thus the whole thing is muddled. If it were a new version with Jackman actually singing it rather than singing over the original, that would certainly have worked better.

Rest assured, no one backs up Johnny Go but Bub! (He's still taking lessons)

[swimpenguin.livejournal.com]

Poor, poor Count.