Parody, according to Webster’s online dictionary, “is a work in which the original is closely imitated; imitating and ridiculing the original work.” Wikipedia goes a bit further and places some judgment on parody when it says, “…a work created to mock, poke fun at, or demean the original piece.”
Parody, according today’s current crop of hand-hand HD camera totin’ cowboys, is better left unexamined; nevertheless still exploited. A three wall set, some fluorescents and the thumbs up from a studio head bent on milking the already over flooded marketplace with title upon title of once popular, oftentimes funny, most recognizable TV hits from the recent past, most of which have no relevance to the human psycho-sexual condition.
Perfect. The ever-growing number of studios (I remember when they were happy to be simply called “companies”), current lists of projected 2010 parody titles are being published. It is believed that if you publish the name of the movie, "Tonight Show With Johnny Carson,” complete with the Carnac the magnificent turban, the iconic talk-show desk, a zany half-nude cohostess rather than Ed McMahon, and sketches based on the original show as an homage to Carson and the new genre of television viewing.
Or in 1979 when I delivered to the home viewer “Romeo and Juliet,” fully costumed, scripted and complete with a balcony for the famous scene. Was I creating a parody? Perhaps an original work or a take-off, a spin-off, a “mockumentary?” As Dylan once said about his own work, “I don’t call it anything.” After all, the show’s thing.
OK, so there are few parody productions that are well made and even humorous. And there’s even big budget money being thrown around to make the next big parody(ies) in 3D. And we even see cheating celebrity spouses getting parodied before they’re even out of divorce court!
But we don’t need another “Funky Brewster,” or “Crocodile Blondee.” What we need is an interesting exploration into a familiar topic laden with both sexual overtones and hot people having off the hook sex, not more trading upon a name just because folks remember it from ‘70s TV or the latest sci-fi movie.
What we do need are more song, book and movie titles, plays, people, iconic concepts and even parodies themselves that are ripe for the picking. That will create something worth watching again.
Don’t get me started!
