Need something almost meaningless to take your mind off the news? Every so often, I feel the need to do the kind of post that requires one of these…

In 1990, an animated feature was released based on one of my all-time favorite cartoon shows, The Jetsons. The movie was not successful but it did mark the final performances of George O'Hanlon as George and Mel Blanc as Mr. Spacely, although a few lines by each character were done by Jeff Bergman imitating them. When it's mentioned at all these days, it's almost always because of what happened with the role of Judy Jetson, a character always voiced before that by the wonderful Janet Waldo. As I've written here before…

[Janet Waldo] continued voicing Judy Jetson in many incarnations of The Jetsons but in the 1990 animated feature, a controversy erupted. Janet recorded the speaking role of Judy and it was expected that the then-current pop sensation, Tiffany, would only supply the singing voice. Tiffany was signed but she and/or her managers reportedly insisted that Tiffany also replace the spoken lines. At the insistence of Universal Pictures, which was releasing the film, this was done. Janet was upset, though comforted by an incredible outpouring of support from her many fans. In 1997 at a retirement party for her frequent co-star Don Messick, Joe Barbera spoke and took the opportunity to apologize in front of most of the voiceover community to Janet for letting that happen. She forgave him and that more or less buried that matter.

But it didn't bury the matter, at least insofar as some Hanna-Barbera fans are considered. It keeps coming up on cartoon-related chat forums where some people treat it as a catastrophe worse than any of those that caused massive losses of actual human lives, and they curse Joe Barbera for allowing it to happen. Such talks have erupted again since the Kino Lorber company, which issues fine DVDs and Blu Ray editions, will soon release one of each of The Jetsons: The Movie. (Don't go rushing to pre-order it. It's not coming out for a while.)

About this matter, I would like to say the following…

• Joe Barbera said that if they hadn't made the change, the movie would never have been made. I believe he was probably correct. Joe loved Janet (and as I'll mention in a moment, it was mutual) and it must have upset him greatly to allow that to happen.
• He might not have been able to stop it. Hanna and Barbera had long since sold the studio that bore their names and while they stayed on to run things, their powers were limited, especially with regard to decisions that cost serious money. They kept finding themselves working for different bosses and fighting with different bosses.
• Just during the years I worked there, I saw the studio develop dozens of animated features that never got made, some of which were big Pet Projects of Mr. Barbera. He did not have the power to say, "Let's spend the X million bucks on this one." He had to find some other company with deep pockets to put up those bucks. The Jetsons movie was financed by Universal Studios and in Hollywood — as in most of the world — he who puts up the money calls most of the shots.
• It was a shame that the film was made without Janet as Judy. It would also have been a shame if it had been aborted in mid-production and George O'Hanlon's final recordings as George Jetson (and Mel's as Mr. Spacely and a few others) had been lost along with Janet's.
• Janet was paid in full for her work on the film and she was heard elsewhere in the movie in at least one other role. But her performance as Judy was replaced and she was understandably upset. I am pretty sure she would have been more upset if she saw anyone bad-mouthing Joe Barbera. She loved that man so much.
• Apart from how kind and charming he was to her personally, he was most of the reason she had a career for the last 50+ years of her life. She had never voiced animation before she was cast on The Jetsons in 1962. Hanna-Barbera then used her on other shows at darn near every opportunity.   That was mainly Joe's doing. I would guess that 80% of the work she got doing voices after her on-camera work largely ended was for H-B. And the 20% that wasn't probably wouldn't have happened if she wasn't doing all that work for H-B.

• Someone on a chat board recently wrote that "Joe Barbera should have been horsewhipped for what he did to Janet Waldo."  Again, I don't think he's the one who did it…and I think most actors would give anything to have some big producer treat them the way Mr. B treated Janet.
• As noted, Joe made a very gallant, touching apology to Janet at Don Messick's retirement party. It was the kind of apology that one rarely sees in this industry and Janet loudly forgave him. I had my quarrels with Joe Barbera to the point where I respectfully told him to his face I would not work for him any longer. But I still admired the man and thought he was a true mensch most of the time, including that time.
• If anyone was really wronged by that movie, it was my friend Dennis Marks who wrote the original screenplay. There's a long, ugly story having to do with what he was paid — he did not write that script to be a major motion picture — and what was done to his work…but I'm not sure he'd want me to share it here. Just trust me on this. Dennis passed away in 2006 and he still felt a lot more mistreated than Janet ever did.

Lastly, I don't think it was a very good movie. I don't think it would have been a very good movie even if they'd used Janet's voice tracks as Judy. We wouldn't even be talking about it.

I shouldn't even be spending this much time on it but I loved Janet and I know that even after her Judy was recast, she thought J.B. was the most wonderful man in the world and would not want him horsewhipped on her behalf. Even if you used Quick Draw McGraw's whip.

I seem to recall a time when the idea behind selecting a Supreme Court Justice was to pick someone who'd be so fair-minded that they'd rule on the merits of each argument…not merely side most of the time with the left or the right. It would be someone who'd be confirmed by a consensus of both Liberals and Conservatives, both Republicans and Democrats. In Bill Clinton's two terms, he nominated two Justices — Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who was confirmed 96-3 and Stephen Breyer, who was 87-9. Going back just a few presidents, you see quite a few who were confirmed unanimously.

I dunno what's going to happen this time but it won't be pretty.

Well, I do know we're going to hear endless quotings of Mitch McConnell's statement in 2016, "The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice. Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president" and a similar one later on by Lindsey Graham. We're going to hear the "H" word — "hypocrite" — a lot. And Trump is already trying to figure out how to best exploit this for votes and/or to have a Supreme Court that will vote his way on election-related disputes and about criminal prosecutions of him and his aides and family.

The most important election of our lives just got more important.

Here's a short animated Ted Talk about comedy writing by one of the best comedy writers I know…Cheri Steinkellner. Listen to this woman. She knows of what she speaks…

Your One Trump Item for Today is this fact-check on Trump's Town Hall — which folks on Fox News described as an "ambush." Around Fox, if you ask Trump a question for which he doesn't have a good answer, it's an "ambush." I would recommend keeping an eye on Politifact because they really seem non-partisan and they do a good job of pointing out the fibs and errors of our politicians and pundits.

I am genuinely mystified why Trump's advisors don't steer him away from some of the lamer talking points he recites…or if they try, why he doesn't listen. The Cook Political Report, which is pretty good at gauging these things, currently says Biden's doing great. This PDF file there shows that if you tally up the electoral votes of states that are Solid Democrat, Likely Democrat and Lean Democrat by current polling, Biden has 290 votes — twenty more than he needs to win. That's without Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and one Congressional District in Maine that Cook says are presently toss-ups. Trump still has many paths to victory but where he is now is not where you want to be.

So he needs to do well in the debates. The topic of his administration's response to COVID-19 will doubtlessly arise and if he says, as he's said many times including at that Town Hall, "We have 20% of the cases because of the fact that we do much more testing. If we wouldn't do testing, you wouldn't have cases. You would have very few cases," does anyone think Joe Biden won't have a planned/rehearsed rejoinder to that? Maybe something about how that's like saying if we all stopped going to our dentists for check-ups, none of us would have any cavities.

And then if I were him, I'd say: "I was shocked when you began chanting, 'Slow down the testing!' Testing is good. It's how we determine where the virus is so we can isolate it and keep others from getting it, and it's how we determine where it isn't so we can open up businesses, get people back to work and begin normalizing our lives!"

And now having said that, I can go back to not thinking about this stuff…because nothing I read or write about it is going to change anything. This thing may be over. I'm surprised ABC could even find enough Undecided Voters to fill the bleachers at their Town Hall.

---

I just turned down an invite to a comic book convention that may be held in the mid-west next February. I'm optimistic that we'll get back to a world where we can go to conventions without worry but I'm not that optimistic.

But I don't think I'd accept this invite even in a COVID-free world. I asked the gent what he wanted me to do there and he said, "Oh, just sit behind a table, sign autographs and sell stuff." I don't like sitting behind a table, I don't sell stuff at conventions and while I don't mind signing things, I don't derive the joy that some do from being asked. One time when a writer-friend of mine returned from an outta-town convention, I asked him how it went and he said, "I had a lousy time. Almost no one wanted my autograph."

There are downsides to having your groceries delivered. You put yourself at the mercy of some stranger's opinion of what looks like an almost-ripe banana. But an upside is that you can comparison-shop from the comfort of your computer chair.

As you may know, I really like Rao's Marinana Sauce. It seems kind of expensive but only in certain stores. Here's what I just found by checking the listings on Instacart. These are for having it delivered from the three markets from which I get deliveries here in Los Angeles…

The first of these is Vons, aka Pavilions.  The second is Ralphs and the third is Gelson's.  Gelson's usually seems a bit higher on most items but as you can see, they're way below the other two on this one.  Still, since my delivery order has to be $35 or more, and I'll be buying other items to get it to that total, it might still be cheaper overall to order my Rao's from Ralphs.

That's assuming I don't get it from Costco, which is currently charging $12.69 for a two-pack of 28 oz. jars.  Not only that but they have an offer that if you buy one two-pack, you get $2.40 off on the second.

And people make jokes about Whole Foods being so overpriced, they oughta call it Whole Paycheck…but they currently have the 24 oz. jars for $6.29. And Walmart has 'em for $6.98.

Here's a strange bit of TV history. Jack Paar, as we all know, hosted the show called Tonight on NBC for a few years before it became The Tonight Show and Johnny Carson took up what for a long time seemed like permanent residency. Among the many competing talk shows that came and went opposite Mr. Carson was Dick Cavett's.

Unlike all the others that "went," Cavett made a good showing against Johnny. He was on for almost exactly five years and when he went off, it was one of those "golden goose" things that happens in television. He was finishing a respectable, profitable second and someone at ABC got horny to knock off Carson and be Numero Uno…and what they replaced Cavett with did much worse. It was several years before that time slot was at all profitable again. They'd have been better off leaving Cavett right where he was.

They replaced him in stages. He went from weekly to every fourth week, displaced by ABC's Wide World of Entertainment, a rotating mess that some referred to as ABC's Wide World of Indecision. One out of four weeks, you got a week of Cavett. Two out of four weeks, you got a jumbled array of specials and pilots and special pilots and news magazines and they ran a couple of Monty Python specials made up of excerpts that were assembled so ineptly that the Pythons sued and won.

And then one week out of four, you got Jack Paar Tonite. Jack Paar came out of retirement to do what he'd once done on TV…and to show why he wasn't doing it any longer. As I wrote here in 2004 when Mr. Paar passed…

The new show didn't work, in part because it was the old show: Paar remained more or less stuck in 1959, trotting out his old regulars (those who'd survived) and telling stories about having Adlai Stevenson on his old show. In later years when he surfaced for the occasional interview, he still hadn't advanced much. He criticized "current talk shows" for eschewing witty guests for dizzy starlets…an odd criticism from one who gave so much air time to a woman named Dody Goodman whose mouth never once connected with her medulla oblongata. He also devoted a lot of TV hours to chatting with Genevieve (a French starlet who didn't speak English well), Reiko (a Japanese lady who didn't speak English well) and the Gabor sisters. I suspect that, like a lot of old TV shows, the Paar Tonight Show is legendary in part because the shows aren't available to be seen and fairly evaluated.

When he was doing Tonight, Paar's rerun episodes were titled The Best of Paar. The new show was like The Worst of Paar, even though they weren't reruns and even thought they sometimes felt like they were.

Well, guess what I found for you today, kids! It's an imperfect-but-watchable video of the first episode of Jack Paar Tonite as it ran on January 8, 1973. You will probably feel sorry for its host because the taping was beset with tech problems. Paar made his entrance to a thunderous ovation from the live audience and was halfway through a strong monologue when the director (Hal Gurnee, who later worked for David Letterman) had to stop him and say they had to start taping again from the beginning.

You don't see that part because it was not recorded. You see the Second Take as Paar and the audience attempt to recreate what happened moments before…and there are other technical glitches in the program. That would throw anyone off their game.

The announcer is Peggy Cass. The first guest was Goldie Hawn, who one suspects was booked because they thought she'd be a total airhead and Paar could treat her as he used to treat Dody Goodman. Mostly, Paar — who in retirement was constantly criticizing TV for being "smutty" — wanted to talk about how flat-chested she is.

Jonathan Winters followed and instead of being funny, they talked about how funny he was on the old show. Then the last guest was Dave Powers, who worked for John F. Kennedy. Paar was congenitally unable to go an hour without talking about his close relationships with John F. Kennedy and/or "Brother Bobby" and/or Richard M. Nixon.

Jack Paar Tonite lasted a year of appearing every fourth week. I watched it from time to time and don't recall it getting much better than this…

Dale Herbest writes…

I loved Howard Morris's role as Gopher in the original Winnie the Pooh featurettes and I wonder if you could clear something up for me. I've heard from other fans that the reason he didn't reprise the character for The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh is because he was under contract to Garfield & Friends at the same time and legally couldn't. I know you were just the head writer and V.O. director but do you know if that's true? I'm sorry he never reprised the role either way.

I do know if it's true and it isn't. Howie was free to work on any cartoon show…and I think he missed one recording session (with my permission) because another show needed him that day.

It is very, very rare that cartoon voice actors these days have any kind of overall contract, probably one that just says they agree to be available for a certain number of recording sessions and that they'll be paid some higher-than-most rate for their work. Most just sign a short contract for each episode we call them in for but I've never heard of any kind of exclusivity clause stopping anyone from working on another show. If it happens, it's very rare.

Did someone else take over the role of Gopher while Howie was still alive? If so, it would mean he couldn't do it for health reasons, he wouldn't do it for the money he was offered or someone at Disney decided they simply wanted someone else in the role. Paul Winchell was replaced as Tigger for at least two of those reasons if not all three.

Today's one Trump item is a link to a piece by Fred Kaplan, who did something you and I haven't done. He actually read the Bob Woodward book.

I said here the other day that I thought 3400 Cahuenga Blvd. in Hollywood — the former site of the Hanna-Barbera Studio — had been turned into a gym. Well, I was partly right. There is an L.A. Fitness at that address, which was the main thing that was there the last time I paid attention while driving by. But they've also now built a complex called Cahuenga Place which is full of apartments for rent. Thanks to Trevor Kimball for sending me this link to a realty listing which has some photos of the scene there. You may notice a few images of Fred Flintstone and George Jetson on some of the walls in public areas.

This evening, I will be conducting what may be the only interview done in this country this week that is not of Bob Woodward. I fully expect to see him in the next few days preparing a Sour Cherry Strawberry Meringue Galette on Iron Chef America and changing the carburetor of a Lamborghini Veneno on Jay Leno's Garage.

I will be speaking with Dennis Palumbo, a fine writer whose credits include the superb movie My Favorite Year and many mystery novels. A big parenthetical aside to his career is that for a few years, he was the partner of Yours Truly and we broke into writing for TV together. Dennis is now a busy psychotherapist and I'm not sure how much time we're going to spend on which aspects of his life but they're all interesting. Come back here tonight at 7 PM to watch our discussion live…or if you miss it, to watch a replay on demand.

Next week, I'll be interviewing another fine writer, Ron Friedman, and then the week after, my friend Shelly Goldstein will be interviewing me…about what, I have no idea. Whatever she wants to ask me about. In October, I will have a conversation with Disney Legend Floyd Norman and then one with Garfield's creator, Jim Davis. And then I'm going to shut down the webcasts for a while because we're going to have several weeks in this country when no one will be saying more than eight words to anyone about anything except The Election.

Simon Passey sent me an e-mail to ask…

Just curious to know that if Trump offered to ban cole slaw across the U.S., would you vote for him?

No…because if he wins, there won't be an America is which to eat anything else.

I'm really not out to ban cole slaw so much as to persuade restaurants not to automatically slap a leaky gob of it on your plate even when you clearly tell the order-taker, "No cole slaw." I'd also like it if when you order something that comes by default with cole slaw, they give you the option of replacing it with something that more closely resembles food.

A lot of businesses are going under these days. A lot of businesses were going under before these days. It seems like every few months for decades now, I am solicited to join a movement to save some local institution that's going outta business and/or is about to be torn down.

I'm asked to join a great many causes and sometimes I care, sometimes I don't…and sometimes, I'm on the opposite side altogether. If someone asked me to donate to put Donald Trump's face on Mount Rushmore, I swear I'd whip out my iPhone and send more cash to Joe Biden. Not that long ago, I was asked to donate to a campaign to preserve 3400 Cahuenga Boulevard, the longtime home of the Hanna-Barbera studio and not let it become an unrelated business.

I worked in that building. I made great friends in that building. I loved some (not all) of what came out of that building. I think it did have some historical significance. But I thought: If Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera didn't do anything to preserve their studio…if Time-Warner which owns Hanna-Barbera and has half the money in the world didn't do anything to preserve that studio…why should I? I believe it's now a gym.

I was just asked to sign a petition and perhaps donate bucks to save a local restaurant that is not doing well. It's a very old establishment that in its heyday was indeed wonderful…but that's about all I can say for it. Once upon a time, I loved it and I don't know if it underwent a change of ownership or just what happened but the food became very disappointing, the prices were raised way too high and the service became poor and in one case, surly.

One evening, I took a group of friends to dine there and then go to a show. I had it timed perfectly except I hadn't figured on it taking more than forty-five minutes for our entrees to be prepared…and it wasn't because the place was busy. We were practically the only customers there, which perhaps should have been a tip-off.

After way too long, my dinner was placed before me…a steak that looked like it had been at Ground Zero during the nuclear test conducted on the Alamogordo Bombing Range on July 16, 1945. I asked the server, "Give me a hint…animal, vegetable or mineral?" and she actually said, "Ohmigod, you're right. Let me send the manager over." The manager took his own sweet time — time that we were running out of if we wanted to make the show — coming over. He instantly agreed with me that nothing on my plate looked edible and he said, "I'll have the kitchen remake it," whereupon we had the following exchange…

ME: Don't bother. We have to be at a show in twenty minutes. We should have left ten minutes ago. Just take it off the check…and can you get us that check, please?

HIM: I'm sorry, I can't do that. Restaurant policy. We can make you a new steak or you can eat that one but I have to charge you for a steak.

ME: I don't have time for you to cook me a new steak.

HIM: I'm sorry but that's not my problem.

ME: It is your problem because we got here at [I quoted the time-stamp on the parking valet ticket] and we didn't get served until about ten minutes ago. It's because of your slow service that I don't have time for you to make me a steak that I can eat.

I also didn't have time for this conversation. He insisted I pay the full check and if I wanted to, I could call up tomorrow and take the matter up with the owner. There didn't seem to be anything I could do and still make the show so I did. It took me several days and many calls to reach someone who (a) claimed to be the owner — I suspect he was not — and who (b) insisted his restaurant never served an inedible meal, end of discussion.

You might assume I never set foot in that establishment again. I certainly had every reason to stay far, far away. But as it turned out, I was commanded to appear at a couple of business-type lunches there for which someone else would be paying. And then one day, someone for whom I did a great favor gave me a gift certificate to dine there. I thought the food those times was about Sizzler quality for about six times the price.

And now, someone wants me to help save the place because it's old and it's been part of Los Angeles for so many years and so many people have great memories of it…and I'm not sure it's even in real jeopardy.

The plea to help says it might have to close if "we" don't do something. This feels like one of those Go Fund Me type things — I fell for one — where someone fibs and claims desperation of a financial/medical nature just to see how much money they can get. I am not suggesting all or even most Go Fund Me crusades are phony but the need for help here seems dicey.

So guess how much support they're going to get from me. Take a good guess and I'll give you a hint: It's the same amount I'm giving to the Add-Donald-Trump-To-Mount-Rushmore Fund. And if they have one of those "matching fund" deals, they can triple my donation and they'll still get the exact same amount.

Two more messages telling me that Donald Trump is personally disappointed not to find Mark Evanier's name in his list of donors and I should hurry in my donation because I don't want Donald Trump to think I let him down. Makes you wonder how many people this works on. Is there any man who turns to his wife and says, "Muriel! Fetch me my credit card! I need to send President Trump some money so he won't think I've abandoned him!"?

Don't scold me for the punctuation at the end of the above paragraph. I won't change it.

Yes, I am well aware that the lovely 'n' talented Diana Rigg died a few days ago. I didn't mention it at the time because I didn't want to be one of the first million guys in my age bracket to admit to having an enormous crush on the lady back when The Avengers was airing on American television. As I recall, she was on the Crush Scale a notch or three below Mary Tyler Moore in her Laura Petrie days and slightly above Yvonne Craig as Batgirl when she wasn't wearing the Batgirl costume. I never met Ms. Rigg and only found myself in the same room as her on this one occasion.

Hey, I got mentioned on Mental Floss. Thanks to all eight of you who wrote to tell me.

Lastly for now: On a webcast today, my buddy Leonard Maltin said that the best pizza in the world is the pizza at John's of Bleecker Street in New York. Leonard and I agree about 90% of the time about movies and now we agree 100% of the time about pizza. The only thing wrong with John's is that they have this silly 2,900 mile limit on deliveries.

Randy Rainbow has been occupied trying to mop up some unfortunate things he said. But he's back…

Here's Jason Graae again. This is one of the hundreds of great tunes written by the Belgian composer-writer-actor Jacques Brel. In his lifetime, Brel sold over 25 million records worldwide, making him the third best-selling Belgian recording artist of all time and performers in America often sing this song and none of the others. But Jason sings it so well…

• If I were Joe Biden, my campaign slogan would just be "Do you want it to be like this always?"