Tie him up when he's fast asleep, send him on a pleasant cruise
May 8, 2012 11:26 AM Subscribe
In the Warhol episode, Marion Ross (TV mom of Ron Howard in Happy Days) is a former Warhol superstar, married to stodgy Tom Bosley (TV dad of Ron Howard). Bosley doesn’t know about Ross’ past in underground film, and she’s afraid that they’ll run into Warhol, playing himself, aboard ship. Andy Warhol takes a pleasant cruise on The Love Boat.
The question is, can bad art be influential?
No, that's not the question. The question is: how much influence can bad art have before it must be acknowledged as good art?
posted by DU at 11:35 AM on May 8, 2012 [4 favorites]
No, that's not the question. The question is: how much influence can bad art have before it must be acknowledged as good art?
posted by DU at 11:35 AM on May 8, 2012 [4 favorites]
Warhol bonded with Ross. “I really love [Marion Ross] so much,” he told his diary.
Hey, even the Fonz had the hots for her.
posted by orange swan at 11:37 AM on May 8, 2012 [2 favorites]
Hey, even the Fonz had the hots for her.
posted by orange swan at 11:37 AM on May 8, 2012 [2 favorites]
The 70s really were like that.
posted by mazola at 11:40 AM on May 8, 2012 [4 favorites]
posted by mazola at 11:40 AM on May 8, 2012 [4 favorites]
Thw article mentions Andy Griffith also being on that episode; whats with all the Ron Howard connections? It's like he secretly rules the entertainment world or something.
posted by TedW at 11:43 AM on May 8, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by TedW at 11:43 AM on May 8, 2012 [1 favorite]
Does anyone else feel a general sense of ease and well-being when they look at Tom Bosley?
posted by griphus at 11:45 AM on May 8, 2012 [18 favorites]
posted by griphus at 11:45 AM on May 8, 2012 [18 favorites]
It is one thing to paint pop culture; it is another to descend into the belly of the beast.
I admit that the idea of Warhol on The Love Boat is at first surprising, but it shouldn't be surprising at all. Given the man's sheer obsession with pop culture and pop stars, and how desperately he wanted to be one of the beautiful people -- this is a natural fit.
Andy wasn't a separate, objective observer of pop culture. He was smack in the middle of it, devouring it, all the while belonging and yet never quite accepted.
Warhol on The Love Boat is just another typically weird but normal Andy thing.
posted by Capt. Renault at 11:49 AM on May 8, 2012 [4 favorites]
I admit that the idea of Warhol on The Love Boat is at first surprising, but it shouldn't be surprising at all. Given the man's sheer obsession with pop culture and pop stars, and how desperately he wanted to be one of the beautiful people -- this is a natural fit.
Andy wasn't a separate, objective observer of pop culture. He was smack in the middle of it, devouring it, all the while belonging and yet never quite accepted.
Warhol on The Love Boat is just another typically weird but normal Andy thing.
posted by Capt. Renault at 11:49 AM on May 8, 2012 [4 favorites]
It also reminds me of those I've Got a Secret episodes with people like John Cage and Salvador Dali. Sometimes I think that we've lost a sort of connection -- parenthetic as it was -- between pop culture and the avant-garde, and that both pop culture and the avant-garde are a little worse off for it.
posted by roll truck roll at 11:53 AM on May 8, 2012 [12 favorites]
posted by roll truck roll at 11:53 AM on May 8, 2012 [12 favorites]
Zelig-esque moves like this were key pieces of the Warhol puzzle.
posted by davebush at 11:57 AM on May 8, 2012
posted by davebush at 11:57 AM on May 8, 2012
Its a shame they couldn't have gotten the Velvet Underground together to soup up The Love Boats theme song for that one episode.
posted by Joey Michaels at 11:58 AM on May 8, 2012 [5 favorites]
posted by Joey Michaels at 11:58 AM on May 8, 2012 [5 favorites]
The 70s were a very, very strange time. This really brings it back.
Griphus, I second your Bosley comment and raise you the wonderful, understated performance Bosley gave in "The World of Henry Orient," one of my favorite underrated films. After seeing that, I envisioned Bosley as the Best Dad Ever.
posted by kinnakeet at 11:59 AM on May 8, 2012 [2 favorites]
Griphus, I second your Bosley comment and raise you the wonderful, understated performance Bosley gave in "The World of Henry Orient," one of my favorite underrated films. After seeing that, I envisioned Bosley as the Best Dad Ever.
posted by kinnakeet at 11:59 AM on May 8, 2012 [2 favorites]
The 70s really were like that.
And it was so awesome, they had to milk it until 1985.
posted by 2N2222 at 12:00 PM on May 8, 2012 [6 favorites]
And it was so awesome, they had to milk it until 1985.
posted by 2N2222 at 12:00 PM on May 8, 2012 [6 favorites]
The 70s really were like that.
...This aired in 1985.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:04 PM on May 8, 2012
...This aired in 1985.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:04 PM on May 8, 2012
Warhol bonded with Ross. “I really love [Marion Ross] so much,” he told his diary.
Hey, even the Fonz had the hots for her.
She was the milf before milf was a thing.
posted by 2N2222 at 12:05 PM on May 8, 2012
Hey, even the Fonz had the hots for her.
She was the milf before milf was a thing.
posted by 2N2222 at 12:05 PM on May 8, 2012
between pop culture and the avant-garde, and that both pop culture and the avant-garde are a little worse off for it.
You're kidding right? What I'm feeling is this huge Warholian, WHOOOSH right into my face?
Lady Gaga's style and stage performances?
Fairey's presidential, "HOPE" Poster?
I'll say it - Skrillex - when I hear him I go, "hey, noise music to the masses!"
There's no avant garde anymore - not like it was and POP art is basically still a dominant form of art. All the post modern, post historical mumbo-jumbo - certainly there's still art too intelligent (in a bad way) for people outside of the art world, but really, what's left? Things gets hoisted from the underground to the pop charts at a devastating speed, these days.
posted by alex_skazat at 12:06 PM on May 8, 2012
You're kidding right? What I'm feeling is this huge Warholian, WHOOOSH right into my face?
Lady Gaga's style and stage performances?
Fairey's presidential, "HOPE" Poster?
I'll say it - Skrillex - when I hear him I go, "hey, noise music to the masses!"
There's no avant garde anymore - not like it was and POP art is basically still a dominant form of art. All the post modern, post historical mumbo-jumbo - certainly there's still art too intelligent (in a bad way) for people outside of the art world, but really, what's left? Things gets hoisted from the underground to the pop charts at a devastating speed, these days.
posted by alex_skazat at 12:06 PM on May 8, 2012
The title of the original article gets it wrong though; that wasn't Warhol jumping the shark, that was perfectly in character.
posted by MartinWisse at 12:07 PM on May 8, 2012
posted by MartinWisse at 12:07 PM on May 8, 2012
Things gets hoisted from the underground to the pop charts at a devastating speed, these days.
Yeah, but what's missing is that frisson between high and low art, which first requires there to be a belief in the idea of high and low art; now it's just how much something sells that's important.
posted by MartinWisse at 12:09 PM on May 8, 2012 [2 favorites]
Yeah, but what's missing is that frisson between high and low art, which first requires there to be a belief in the idea of high and low art; now it's just how much something sells that's important.
posted by MartinWisse at 12:09 PM on May 8, 2012 [2 favorites]
Yes, not shark jumping at all.
Capt. Renault: " Andy wasn't a separate, objective observer of pop culture. He was smack in the middle of it, devouring it, all the while belonging and yet never quite accepted."
Capt. Renault is so right on this matter that I will now call him Captain Stubing in me head whenever I see his handle. Well, maybe not, but I'll definitely have an honorific "Your Captain" underneath his name in the credits in my mind.
That picture makes me dizzy too -- but in a "oh my God, I can't breathe, I have to frame this" sort of way.
This weird pop culture appreciation probably also explains why my first thought was, on reading in the article:
This isn’t the most adored phase of Warhol’s career—Christopher Knight calls it ”mostly a flop—banal retreads.”
was 'Why do they care what Peter Brady thought?'
posted by MCMikeNamara at 12:11 PM on May 8, 2012 [6 favorites]
Capt. Renault: " Andy wasn't a separate, objective observer of pop culture. He was smack in the middle of it, devouring it, all the while belonging and yet never quite accepted."
Capt. Renault is so right on this matter that I will now call him Captain Stubing in me head whenever I see his handle. Well, maybe not, but I'll definitely have an honorific "Your Captain" underneath his name in the credits in my mind.
That picture makes me dizzy too -- but in a "oh my God, I can't breathe, I have to frame this" sort of way.
This weird pop culture appreciation probably also explains why my first thought was, on reading in the article:
This isn’t the most adored phase of Warhol’s career—Christopher Knight calls it ”mostly a flop—banal retreads.”
was 'Why do they care what Peter Brady thought?'
posted by MCMikeNamara at 12:11 PM on May 8, 2012 [6 favorites]
Does anyone else feel a general sense of ease and well-being when they look at Tom Bosley?
Griphus, I second your Bosley comment....
Thanks guys, now I have to buy a hat AND tin foil.
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 12:12 PM on May 8, 2012
Griphus, I second your Bosley comment....
Thanks guys, now I have to buy a hat AND tin foil.
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 12:12 PM on May 8, 2012
Andy Warhol on The Love Boat makes perfect sense; the show was 100% star-studded kitsch -- right up his alley.
It's a wonder he was never on Fantasy Island, frankly.
P.S. Werner Herzog made a guest appearance on American Dad the other night.
posted by Sys Rq at 12:15 PM on May 8, 2012 [2 favorites]
It's a wonder he was never on Fantasy Island, frankly.
P.S. Werner Herzog made a guest appearance on American Dad the other night.
posted by Sys Rq at 12:15 PM on May 8, 2012 [2 favorites]
Yeah, but what's missing is that frisson between high and low art, which first requires there to be a belief in the idea of high and low art
Yeah, "frisson" is the better word for what I was trying to get at than "connection."
posted by roll truck roll at 12:17 PM on May 8, 2012
Yeah, "frisson" is the better word for what I was trying to get at than "connection."
posted by roll truck roll at 12:17 PM on May 8, 2012
The 70s really were like that.
posted by mazola at 12:19 PM on May 8, 2012 [6 favorites]
...This aired in 1985.I stand by my original statement.
posted by mazola at 12:19 PM on May 8, 2012 [6 favorites]
Griphus: Does anyone else feel a general sense of ease and well-being when they look at Tom Bosley?
Thanks to David the Gnome, I want to build my bed into a cupboard.
Schlitzfeits, motherfuckers!
posted by dr_dank at 12:20 PM on May 8, 2012 [1 favorite]
Thanks to David the Gnome, I want to build my bed into a cupboard.
Schlitzfeits, motherfuckers!
posted by dr_dank at 12:20 PM on May 8, 2012 [1 favorite]
Warhol is the shark, and yet he jumps himself regularly.
This is his function.
Later when Warhol goes home and turns off the lights and turns off Warhol, not-Warhol puts on movies of Warhol and watches Warhol jumping Warhol and cries quietly at the beautiful fifty foot tall images of a beautiful Warhol.
posted by loquacious at 12:38 PM on May 8, 2012 [2 favorites]
This is his function.
Later when Warhol goes home and turns off the lights and turns off Warhol, not-Warhol puts on movies of Warhol and watches Warhol jumping Warhol and cries quietly at the beautiful fifty foot tall images of a beautiful Warhol.
posted by loquacious at 12:38 PM on May 8, 2012 [2 favorites]
The title of the original article gets it wrong though; that wasn't Warhol jumping the shark, that was perfectly in character.
Yeah, but using the phrase "jumped the shark" is a knowing wink to begin with, since the pop culture collision under review involves principals from Happy Days.
posted by anazgnos at 12:39 PM on May 8, 2012 [1 favorite]
Yeah, but using the phrase "jumped the shark" is a knowing wink to begin with, since the pop culture collision under review involves principals from Happy Days.
posted by anazgnos at 12:39 PM on May 8, 2012 [1 favorite]
Does anyone else feel a general sense of ease and well-being when they look at Tom Bosley?
Yes. He has a face like a warm cheese Danish or a comfortably rumpled pillow.
It's like you could squeeze him in troubled times and reliably expect some sage, calm advice and a quarter to go get an ice cream bar or a soda.
posted by loquacious at 12:42 PM on May 8, 2012 [1 favorite]
Yes. He has a face like a warm cheese Danish or a comfortably rumpled pillow.
It's like you could squeeze him in troubled times and reliably expect some sage, calm advice and a quarter to go get an ice cream bar or a soda.
posted by loquacious at 12:42 PM on May 8, 2012 [1 favorite]
...since the pop culture collision under review involves principals from Happy Days.
Fuck, I was going to make a joke about how Ted McGinley wasn't in that episode of Love Boat, but he was P.E. teacher on Happy Days, not the principal.
posted by griphus at 12:55 PM on May 8, 2012
Fuck, I was going to make a joke about how Ted McGinley wasn't in that episode of Love Boat, but he was P.E. teacher on Happy Days, not the principal.
posted by griphus at 12:55 PM on May 8, 2012
When TV executives take too much acid, you get H.R. Pufnstuf.
When they take too much cocaine, you get this sort of thing.
posted by freakazoid at 1:05 PM on May 8, 2012 [1 favorite]
When they take too much cocaine, you get this sort of thing.
posted by freakazoid at 1:05 PM on May 8, 2012 [1 favorite]
If the photo at the top of that article makes your head hurt, imagine how it feels to me to have been cataloging Warhol Polaroids earlier this afternoon and I come home and Metafilter suddenly makes me realize some of them may have been taken on the set of that very episode of Love Boat.
Also: This is the second greatest Art/TV crossover moment ever. Right behind Jasper Johns on the Simpsons, which is clearly the best.
posted by 1f2frfbf at 1:30 PM on May 8, 2012 [1 favorite]
Also: This is the second greatest Art/TV crossover moment ever. Right behind Jasper Johns on the Simpsons, which is clearly the best.
posted by 1f2frfbf at 1:30 PM on May 8, 2012 [1 favorite]
It's a shame Liberace never did The Love Boat; he would have been perfect. He did do a turn on Batman. Also Liberace did an appearance at WrestleMania I in 1985, but I think it was a different episode than the Warhol one. Liberace follows Cyndi Lauper and is introduced by Dick Smothers before taking to the mat to do a chorus line kick with a few Rockettes. I had no idea Wrestlemania was so awesome.
posted by Nelson at 1:32 PM on May 8, 2012
posted by Nelson at 1:32 PM on May 8, 2012
There could be a huge MeFi linkdump of cheesy celebrity appearances in professional wrestling. It could go a long way to undo the progress made by all the interesting wrestling posts in the past few weeks.
posted by roll truck roll at 2:00 PM on May 8, 2012
posted by roll truck roll at 2:00 PM on May 8, 2012
The only problem with this episode is that its not very good, even by Love Boat standards. They did not know how to smartly integrate a celebrity playing himself, in the way shows do now. But, then, I am willing to bet that Andy Warhol loved the awkwardness of the while thing.
posted by Bunny Ultramod at 2:23 PM on May 8, 2012
posted by Bunny Ultramod at 2:23 PM on May 8, 2012
The 70s really were like that.
The 70s didn't really shift into full gear until about '82.
posted by sammyo at 3:16 PM on May 8, 2012
The 70s didn't really shift into full gear until about '82.
posted by sammyo at 3:16 PM on May 8, 2012
I wish Andy Warhol could've been on Star Trek. Oh oh oh! A mashup of Star Trek, Love Boat and Andy Warhol. Gold.
posted by hot_monster at 3:29 PM on May 8, 2012
posted by hot_monster at 3:29 PM on May 8, 2012
Yes, yes, but did David Hockney ever go to Fantasy Island?
posted by jonmc at 4:52 PM on May 8, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by jonmc at 4:52 PM on May 8, 2012 [1 favorite]
The 70s really were like that.
...This aired in 1985.
The reason so many mouth-breathing numbnuts think the media is liberal is that in the media, especially series TV, the 70's went on for a few years after Ronald Reagan was elected and the sharks moved in behind him. I think it took awhile to percolate through Hollywood just how much things had shifted. Of course Hollywood eventually followed the Overton Window on its own schedule, but today people still remember that TLB was having gay characters who weren't OMG doomed eviiiil in 1985, when they should have known better, and of course it suits the interests of lots of propaganda pushers to keep that idea going long after it's just become stupid.
posted by localroger at 6:07 PM on May 8, 2012
...This aired in 1985.
The reason so many mouth-breathing numbnuts think the media is liberal is that in the media, especially series TV, the 70's went on for a few years after Ronald Reagan was elected and the sharks moved in behind him. I think it took awhile to percolate through Hollywood just how much things had shifted. Of course Hollywood eventually followed the Overton Window on its own schedule, but today people still remember that TLB was having gay characters who weren't OMG doomed eviiiil in 1985, when they should have known better, and of course it suits the interests of lots of propaganda pushers to keep that idea going long after it's just become stupid.
posted by localroger at 6:07 PM on May 8, 2012
Jasper Johns on the Simpsons, which is clearly the best.Oh come on, that's not the best Simpsons crossover
posted by fullerine at 1:12 AM on May 9, 2012
jonmc: "Yes, yes, but did David Hockney ever go to Fantasy Island?"
Reading this list blew my mind a few times. Iron Eyes Cody???
posted by Chrysostom at 7:10 AM on May 9, 2012
Reading this list blew my mind a few times. Iron Eyes Cody???
posted by Chrysostom at 7:10 AM on May 9, 2012
I remember when this aired I was devastated. It didn't help that Warhol died not too long after.
Of course, that was the 80s (and I was a teenager) and irony had not yet been born. I kind of love it now.
posted by looli at 10:30 AM on May 9, 2012
Of course, that was the 80s (and I was a teenager) and irony had not yet been born. I kind of love it now.
posted by looli at 10:30 AM on May 9, 2012
Oh come on, that's not the best Simpsons crossover
While Pynchon is definitely in the top five, it all comes off as mostly for laughs, but Johns... Jesus, he played his own, realistic, bullying and brash I-hate-you-all-now-give-me-money personality. You see, in the scene where he threatens Homer with physical harm, that what he's really like. God bless the man for being who he is, but imagine if someone you know, say... your jerk boss, appeared on a sitcom and instead of being a nice ha-ha sweetly evil person is actually the rat bastard you see in real life.
So, I don't know if the writers actually knew that was what he's like (unlikely as he's not a huge pop-culture figure these days) or if he asked them to make him more like himself, but I still love that performance beyond all reason as the in-jokiest art joke ever to appear on network primetime tv.
With Andy everything was a performance, so I don't know if he really was the dick everyone seemed to think he was, or if that's just what he wanted us all to think. "Oooh he's a big star and he's an insufferable bastard." "Well, at least they think I'm a big star!"
Also: the only way I'd ever watch a new episode of the Simpsons would be if Ryan Adams was on and followed Johns' template. Man, that would be glorious.
posted by 1f2frfbf at 10:35 AM on May 9, 2012
While Pynchon is definitely in the top five, it all comes off as mostly for laughs, but Johns... Jesus, he played his own, realistic, bullying and brash I-hate-you-all-now-give-me-money personality. You see, in the scene where he threatens Homer with physical harm, that what he's really like. God bless the man for being who he is, but imagine if someone you know, say... your jerk boss, appeared on a sitcom and instead of being a nice ha-ha sweetly evil person is actually the rat bastard you see in real life.
So, I don't know if the writers actually knew that was what he's like (unlikely as he's not a huge pop-culture figure these days) or if he asked them to make him more like himself, but I still love that performance beyond all reason as the in-jokiest art joke ever to appear on network primetime tv.
With Andy everything was a performance, so I don't know if he really was the dick everyone seemed to think he was, or if that's just what he wanted us all to think. "Oooh he's a big star and he's an insufferable bastard." "Well, at least they think I'm a big star!"
Also: the only way I'd ever watch a new episode of the Simpsons would be if Ryan Adams was on and followed Johns' template. Man, that would be glorious.
posted by 1f2frfbf at 10:35 AM on May 9, 2012
« Older 56 and counting | Since I left you... Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by vacapinta at 11:32 AM on May 8, 2012 [1 favorite]