I though Brian Benben’s performance in Dream On was criminally underrated. The gimmick with the old movie clips could have quickly become tiresome , but he was a big reason they worked.
I grew up in the Bronx, about 2 blocks from the border with Yonkers. Yonkers had cable, but NYC (except for Manhattan) didn’t have cable until the early1990’s. The problem was that their was tremendous corruption in the awarding of franchises to the outer boroughs. Manhattan had gotten cable in (I think) the 1960’s because many people had poor reception due to tall buildings. There was a joke making the rounds in the 1980’s that involved what Donald Manes, a former Queens borough president (like a county executive) had in common with someone else. The answer being Manes screwed Queens. This was after he committed suicide when he was caught in a corruption probe.
But I digress. the point I was trying to make was that by the time I was able to get HBO and watch Dream On it was kind of a “wow” experience. Not because of the nudity, though that was nice. I still remember Brian Beben getting into an argumemt with his friend. Typical TV stuff. But then one of them went “Fuck You!” and the other replied “No, Fuck You! It was shocking not just because you didn’t hear that on broadcast TV, but because of how realistic it was. How many times have each of us gotten into an argumemt with a friend like that or at the very least seen friends of ours do that. 30 years later and that scene stays with me. I don’t even remember what I had for lunch today.
I’ve been disappointed that the complete Dream On (uncut version) has never been released in digital format. HBO released the first two seasons on DVD – then nothing.
I though Brian Benben’s performance in Dream On was criminally underrated. The gimmick with the old movie clips could have quickly become tiresome , but he was a big reason they worked.
I grew up in the Bronx, about 2 blocks from the border with Yonkers. Yonkers had cable, but NYC (except for Manhattan) didn’t have cable until the early1990’s. The problem was that their was tremendous corruption in the awarding of franchises to the outer boroughs. Manhattan had gotten cable in (I think) the 1960’s because many people had poor reception due to tall buildings. There was a joke making the rounds in the 1980’s that involved what Donald Manes, a former Queens borough president (like a county executive) had in common with someone else. The answer being Manes screwed Queens. This was after he committed suicide when he was caught in a corruption probe.
But I digress. the point I was trying to make was that by the time I was able to get HBO and watch Dream On it was kind of a “wow” experience. Not because of the nudity, though that was nice. I still remember Brian Beben getting into an argumemt with his friend. Typical TV stuff. But then one of them went “Fuck You!” and the other replied “No, Fuck You! It was shocking not just because you didn’t hear that on broadcast TV, but because of how realistic it was. How many times have each of us gotten into an argumemt with a friend like that or at the very least seen friends of ours do that. 30 years later and that scene stays with me. I don’t even remember what I had for lunch today.
I’ve been disappointed that the complete Dream On (uncut version) has never been released in digital format. HBO released the first two seasons on DVD – then nothing.
I did watch the uncut version of the entire series on various (low quality) bootlegs from torrents, and catalogued the nudity for future generations!
Always thinking about the world. That’s just the kind of guy I am.
(I can’t really remember why I did such a silly thing. Maybe it was based on some work from OZ.)
Oh yeah, that was the strip poker episode.
Looks like Cherie was holding a full house.
Or maybe just a pair?