Hey Vern, It’s Ernest!

It's time for the telecast brought to you by

the Geekcast Radio Network All righty as they

said I'm your host Optimus Solo and I'd like

to say hello and welcome to the 29th episode

of the telecast brought to you by the geek cast

radio network Today I am joined once again long

time no see but joined once again by JT from

Saskatoon. Hello Good day to you sir. I think

it's been almost six months since we spoke last

at least So it's good to have you back on the

telecast Six months. All right, I'd argue it's

been a while It's been a while it's been a while

and it's good to have you back on and today JT

and I will be talking about Hey, Vern, today's

your lucky day. We knew you wouldn't want to

oversleep, Vern. We only do it once a week, Vern.

Me and all the other guys, Vern. We even brought

the toys, Vern. Yes, you're in a speed war with

a story and a moral and a big trouble. Hip trip,

double hip, three. Yo, you know what I mean?

Yo! Hey, Vern, we moved your furniture, and now

we're gonna fire up the barbecue, Vern. We owe

it all to you, Vern. That's right, folks. We're

talking about Hey Vern, it's Ernest. And before

we get too far into our discussion, a little

background information on the show. Hey Vern,

it's Ernest debuted in 1988 on CBS. It's a half

hour show. Lasted all of one year, one season.

So it was from 1988 to 1988. And there was a

total of 13 episodes that aired during this television

series. For those of you that don't know, Hey

Vernon's Ernest was basically like you probably

just got from that description, a short lived.

uh... saturday morning cbs show each episode

involved short sketches that were based around

a certain theme or scenario kind of like uh...

what we had with you can't do that on television

like one uh... episode of clothing would be the

theme or space would be the theme or movies would

be the theme and then all the sketches would

kind of revolve around that and it featured the

popular fictional character Ernest P. Warrell

and his unseen friend, Vern, and a various host

of other friends. So, what are your memories

about Hey Vern, it's Ernest, JT. My memories

are easy, because it's been so long since I've

seen the show, but I mean, most kids growing

up in the 80s, I think, would have to agree that

they knew who Ernest was, mostly from the movies.

Right. And, you know, like I mentioned in, I

think, one of the earlier episodes of Telecast

is, like, I could sometimes watch CBS on my TV,

because you used to have the old, you know, TV

antenna that you had to dial it in on a specific

frequency, more or less. And there were a few

times where I was able to tune into the CBS station

in Minot, North Dakota. And I got to watch it.

I was like, Vern, what? And I was like, Ernest

has a TV show? Awesome. I kind of enjoyed it.

Like I said, my memories are hazy, but I've always

been a big Ernest fan. How could you not love

Ernest? He started off doing commercials in his

career and then obviously eventually did the

movies and then kind of did the TV show while

he was still doing the movies. Pretty popular

character amongst kids and there is a little

bit ... Disney, I think, is the company that

was in charge of the movies. They had some limitations

they put on the show. They couldn't do certain

things. Basically, because of Disney's limitations

is why they had to go with just one topic per

show and do the short sketches. They couldn't

have any kind of story -based episodes. continuity

type episodes, they had to do just certain little

topics and do sketches around them based on what

Disney mandated. But I think it worked and I

liked it with You Can't Do That on television,

I kind of liked it with this, kind of a kid's

version of like a Saturday Night Live or Mad

TV. Yeah, because you had the multiple scenarios

and all that. Right. And the cool part of this

one, and we'll get into that in a little bit,

for me was the amount of characters that Jim

Varney played. Yeah. You know, seeing him as

all different kinds of stuff, which we'll get

into here in a little bit, but that was the cool

part because he's what sold the show for me.

I do remember always wanting, you know, as a

kid, always wanting to see Vern and figure out

what he looked like. It's kind of like the nanny

on Muppet Babies or let's see, the teacher on

Charlie Brown or certain things where you always

kind of want to see what does this person that

they're always referencing look like. Did you

have a vision in your head as to what Vern looked

like? Not so much physically, but I knew whatever

Vern looked like, he would have this exasperated

look on his face. Why am I putting up with this

douche? I always pictured him like Mr. Wilson

from Dennis the Menace. Like, one of those guys

is just like, ah, this guy is always bugging

me. And that's kind of getting us right into

the who's who or whatever. Obviously you have

Jim Varney as the main person, and the main character

that he plays is Ernest, P. Worrell. Some of

the other characters you saw him play, Dr. Otto,

Auntie Nelda, Sergeant Glory, Baby Ernest. Aster

Clement and a myriad of others. Out of those

characters, do you remember any of them or was

there a favorite out of the things that Jim Varney

played? Well, there's Ernest first and foremost.

The baby Ernest creeped the hell out of me. It's

not that I don't like Jim Varney. Whenever you

do that baby's body with adults face it's you

got to have the right person in there And I'm

sorry you did not have a face for that role and

basically what it was is you know You had a crib

and you had a baby's body with arms and legs

that would move and then you had Ernest's face

Yeah, doing that baby voice. I was just like

no But I mean aside from the baby creeping me

out I've always liked the aunt Nelda because

she's in one of my That character appears in

one of my favorite scenes and Ernest goes to

jail. And Dr. Otto, I barely remember him from,

you know, Dr. Otto and the Gloom Bean, because

I think I saw that movie all at once. I think

besides Ernest and Ant Nelda, Sergeant Clarke

was my favorite because I just love the way Jim

Varney plays like this, you know, ramrod straight

military type. Right. How did it go is, oh yeah,

they obey all the rules. It's basically fight

club for kids. Yeah. It was always like, the

first rule is this and the second rule is obey

all the rules. But I really, for some reason,

like Aunt Nelda, I don't know what it was about

her. You know, obviously it was, you could tell

as a kid, the thing is the show did not try to

hide who was playing. I mean, it's not like they

were trying to hide the fact that Jim Varney

was playing these characters. But that was kind

of somewhat of the beauty for me when I was a

kid, as I knew it was, but he made it look so

good. In the ant role especially, he just looked

like he could be an ant, one of those obnoxious

ants that someone has. Well, I saw a lot of Bea

Arthur in that. He was channeling the bee on

that. That like I said, I know this my favorite

I mean and two of the recurring characters from

his films were in the show Which I kind of forgot

about was Chuck and Bobby. Mm -hmm, you know

and Those were especially in earnest goes to

jail again one of my favorite films I love the

fact that they show up in all those films and

the fact they showed up here because they're

always doing there they'll have like again like

the you can't do this on television style sketches

where they're in a couple of spots in the show

and There's a Gaylord Sartain, the guy who played

Chuck, actually did a couple characters in the

show. He did Lonnie Donne's school for Hollywood

sound effects. That was funny. Yeah. And it's

basically the same gag over and over. He blows

a raspberry. Yeah. He's the only one in the cast,

basically, as far as live acting goes, he's the

only one that really did much after this. Most

of the other ones only did Hey, Vernon, it's

Ernest with or all the Ernest projects. There

isn't one exception, Debbie Derryberry who played

Skeeter. She is a huge voice actor. She's the

voice of Jimmy Neutron. But all of the rest of

them basically just do the Ernest projects with

the exception of Sartain who played Chuck. He

has been in quite a few things. He's been in

a lot of TV shows. He's been in some movies and

whatnot. He was in Elizabeth Town back in 2005.

So he's one of the only ones that actually kind

of went on to do more stuff. But yeah, Chuck

and Bobby, those characters were pretty cool.

I kind of liked the Bobby character when I was

a kid. Oh yeah, because it was funnier when he

didn't say anything. He basically had the one

line in Ernest goes to jail, but other than that,

he never said a word, and he's always standing

there with that buzzard look about him. I also

liked Earl the Barber. as a kid who would always

kind of fit Ernest with a ridiculous headpiece

because he misunderstood what he wanted to look

like. And even though you said you were creeped

out and even though he was creepy, the baby Ernest,

for some reason I liked that as a kid. The two

that I remembered most when I was rewatching

stuff, the two that was like, boom, were Aunt

Nelda and Baby Ernest. I immediately recognized

them and was like, oh my God, I remember those.

Then as I watched it, I would start to figure

out, oh, Chuck and Bobby, I kind of remember

them. Sergeant Glory, I kind of remember him.

But the baby and the aunt really must have stuck

with me or made an impact when I was a kid because

those two just immediately came to the front

of my head again like it was yesterday. Any other

people or characters on the list that you remember?

No, aside from Sergeant Gloria and I, I think

the only one that I really stuck in my mind just

because it's like, it's kind of a pure gag in

my opinion was the haircut sketch, like the barber,

because it's just something that worked for me.

Yeah, the other one I remember too is Mrs. Simon

Simmons, who I believe was a character that would

always be giving the etiquette or telling, you

know, this is how you do this or this is how

you should act in this situation. She was always

kind of annoying, but I just barely remember

her. Yeah, and like I said, there's a variety

of people. Most of these people showed up in

the movies at some point or in multiple movies

with Jim Varney, so it's kind of like a cast

that traveled together. Who's who of this list

is Jim Varney? Yeah, like we're all here for

one guy. Yeah without him the magic is gone.

Yeah So I think that does it for the actual who's

who and that means it's time for That's right.

It's time for the good the bad and the ugly starting

with the Introduction or the theme song and the

intro graphics. What's your opinion of how the

show begins? Well, I should say that before before

it gets to the intro or the theme song they do

have a Like a clip that introduces the topic.

Yeah. No, they usually have that, you know, it's

like any other TV show they have that you know

minute or so clip before the theme goes it sets

up the episode and those are usually in my opinion

done very well it's the theme song is it's the

only thing i don't like from the show right you

know it's just it's odd it's weird it's it's

south park before south park because it's got

that whole cut and paste thing to it i just i

didn't like it i mean i can't believe i'm saying

this there's something about an artist project

that I didn't like. Yeah, and the graphics are

just kind of weird. You're like, this is going

to be a weird show. I don't quite understand

it. Like, you know, for a kid, you're seeing

lots of old fashion pictures and what looks like

cut out pieces of paper and just weird mix mash

of stuff. As a kid of the 80s, you're not used

to that because there's not a lot of other shows

that had that type of intro. So it's something

you're like, what is going on here? And the theme

song wasn't really a song, so to speak. Yeah,

I mean by this point we're so inundated with

color and flash and killer guitar riffs in our

intros. Yeah, synthesizer and... Yeah, we're

just kind of like, lame. So the theme song kind

of gets a thumbs down. It's the bad part of the

show. The introduction is the bad part of the

show. Getting into some of the sketches, now

we've already talked about a few of them, but

we can hit on some of them again. We don't have

to necessarily talk about all the ones that I

have listed here. But some of the ones that were

most seen are the ones that I most remember.

Like you said, Lonnie Donne's School of Hollywood

Sound Effects, which this guy was basically...

portraying a sound effects wizard and was demonstrating

how to make a sound from one of his movies and,

you know, like you said, it always ended up with

him making farting noises with his hand. Which

made me laugh because I won't deny it. Farts

are funny. Yeah, especially to kids. Yes, well,

kids, right. And adult kids. Yes. That was one

of the things. I did think it was cool. I liked

the introduction to Lonnie Donne's school of

Hollywood sound effects, where he would do the

sound effects that were absolutely not coming

from what he was doing. Except for the horn or

whatever. It's audio. We're kids. Then you had

the haircut. Like we said, Ernest will walk into

Earl the barber's shop and ask him to make him

look like a Wall Street tycoon. He even starts

with other stuff. I remember there was a costume

party, type one. It might have been the Halloween

or whatever episode, and he wants to look like

and he goes through about four or five things

and still ends up with a Wall Street tycoon.

The barber always misunderstands him, and you

get stuff like a baby baboon, a clock set at

noon, a deadbeat raccoon put on his head. And

Ernest eventually stares at the mirror and says,

it could work. You see that sly look is yeah,

I could do it work with this no see that and

that was the whole thing is just how they strap

like these bizarre Craftwork wigs on Jim Verney's

head like there's one where he got his hair cut

into like You know it looked like Mac the night

Mac the night from like the old McDonald's commercials

like the smiling moon with glasses or something

like that It was just nuts And it was cool because

each time you were wondering what kind of new

rhyming word they were going to come up with.

Yeah. Like, what are they going to make them

look like this time? Yeah. No, I think besides

the haircut and Lonnie Dawn and Sgt. Glenn, my

favorite sketch out of this would have to be

Dust Bunny. Dust Bunny was funny. Yeah, it's

just like, because almost every time, like, I

don't remember so much as a kid. I watched a

whole bunch of these episodes on YouTube and

every time Dust Bunny would pop up from behind

the couch, I'd jump in my chair because you don't

see it coming. It was a cool voice and he was

always sneezing because he was Dust Bunny and

stuff like that. But it was just a cool little

addition because it broke up the regular formula

of all live acting humans being involved. And

so it's kind of cool to have this other aspect

of it. It's not animated, it's not like that,

but it's almost like its own little puppet that

gets to be added in. Yeah. Who doesn't love puppets?

I mean, they had other weird sketches. Like I

said, they had the Chuck and Bobby sketches in

there. Chuck and Bobby were excellent, yeah.

Yeah. And they had the most interaction, I want

to say, besides Ernest, with Vern. Yeah, like

there would be times where they would come to

try to get verne to do this or do that So they

they had a little bit more interaction like it

was the regular family of neighbors here Chuck

and Bobby verne and Ernest whereas the rest of

the people it's like they exist in other areas

of the world Yeah, they're just completely I

mean the certain ones that like the I guess the

one sketch that I didn't like was Mack and George

is like this dude who He treats his pet iguana

way too much like a person. Yeah, I didn't like

that one either. George the iguana. I didn't

really care too much for that. We talked about

Dr. Otto. I thought he was cool. I thought there

was an especially cool one where he's always

in his lab creating new things. He's always kind

of like this Halloween type, dressed up, crazy

guy. And I like the one where he's got a hand

on his head. Oh, yeah, that's like the signature

thing where you get somebody walking behind Jimmy

Barney just like petting him on his head the

whole time. That always got me because I'm like,

when I was a kid, I was like, how are they doing

that? Go ahead. Sorry, this is saying, although

I think my favorite example of Dr. Otto in the

show was in the Hey Vern, It's Outer Space, which

is like the first episode where he, the whole

episode is Ernest thinks he's got like an alien

Death ray machine or something from like some

sci -fi movie that he was watching and it turns

out just to be a giant toaster It's perfectly

prepared toast. It's burnt. Yes perfectly burnt

toast. Yeah It's only a mad scientist could appreciate

something like that right And the I do have to

mention the one other one that I remember which

is Ernest tongue They would do sketches where

it was Ernest tongue Inside his mouth and then

they would have different foods that they would

feature and then this or that but that one creeped

me out It was almost like the baby one, but worse.

I Don't know if you ever saw any of the ones

with Ernest tongue. No, I've seen a couple of

those not that one. Yeah It's it's up there in

the creep fact. It's like It's just funny because

you can almost tell that they're just throwing

everything they can out there and seeing what

sticks and what doesn't. And if it doesn't, you

only see it in one or two episodes. And if it

works, it shows up in every episode. But they

were willing to try just about anything. We already

mentioned Mrs. Simon Simmons, Mind Your Manners,

and Sergeant Glory as a couple of other ones.

a ventriloquist, wood ventriloquist dummy. There

was my father the clown, Existo the magician.

So some people out there might like some of those

other ones. And Matt Finnish. Yeah, I seen a

couple of those. I was like, obsessed much? Because

the guy's just taking pictures of everything.

That I think that's the one gag that I just never

really appreciated like I never got like why

is this supposed to be funny? Yeah But I do think

that there was enough of you know there was some

sketches that I didn't care for like you said

the Mac and and George and a few that I didn't

care for but I think what worked for this show

is that it had enough Good segments that you

could you could sit through the bad segments

plus. They were only minutes at a time Yeah,

like very rarely. Did you have a segment that

lasted like five minutes? Yeah, and most of the

stuff that lasted long it was like that because

like you can't do this on television There's

like this what strings everything together is

the earnest in Vern scenes where it's just Jim

Varney playing to the camera, so Yeah, and like

I said, there's just enough of the good segments

that the bad segments didn't really seem that

bad, and you didn't have to change the channel

because you knew it was only going to be there

for a little bit, and then you were looking forward

to seeing one of the good segments. And for only

being on 13 episodes and having these type of

segments that we could remember this easily speaks

to how well some of these segments were done.

Yeah. Like I said, they're just like Sergeant

Glory. Best buddy are the ones that stuck with

me the most since I was a kid and it's kind of

fun to go back and take a look at those again.

But it's just amazing that, you know, it was

only on the air for 13 episodes and yet, you

know, you remember those. Yeah, I know this it's

Could be argued. It's sad. But yeah, there's

I mean, at least cartoons usually were on like,

you know, even if they were only on for one season,

we usually got, I mean, sometimes we only got

13 episodes, but usually you get 26 or, you know,

you get your first season of 65 episodes and

that's a lot to remember. You know, you get a

lot of exposure that way to remember, but to

only be on for 13 episodes and have stuff that

you remember, it's like, man, how does that work?

I can't remember what I did three days ago. Especially

now. I think it just kind of speaks to the...

Kind of the dare I say innocence like the purity

of some of these things. It's just It's so period

it just sticks with you like that because you

know if you like it you like it and you're just

gonna absorb it Yeah, I mean it's cuz the same

could be said about earnest cuz I mean How could

you not love earnest? Yeah, it's almost unheard

of and Had one other thing I want to talk about

in this part So we had the theme song, which

was the bad part, and then the recurring sketches

and characters, which I think is obviously the

good thing about this show. There's also this,

I always kind of wondered why, especially when

I started doing the research for this, why did

this show, because I didn't realize this show

was only on 13 episodes. I figured this show

was on for a couple seasons and stuff like that,

just based on my memories as a kid, because it

seemed like it was on for a while back then.

And then I'm looking at it and it's like 13 episodes.

I'm like, what? What happened? And I found an

interview done by one of the guys that was kind

of one of the creative controllers in the show

called Coke Sam's. And in the interview, the

guy asked him because he says, you know, the

TV series and the films are kind of have an odd

relationship because the film, all the films

received mixed reviews, but were like super popular

and did great. as far as money goes and became

these cult classics, but they got mixed reviews.

The TV series, it got great reviews. It won awards,

it got great reviews, but it wasn't as popular.

It didn't get the following or the ratings that

the film series did. So it seems like kind of

a weird scenario where one of them, the powers

that be raved about and the other they didn't,

but vice versa for the crowds and the people

that watched them. He asked him what happened

and why did the show come to an end, and the

guy that was in charge said that the CBS people

even told him, you know, that they understood

that it's going to take a while to change Children's

Viewer and Habits, but they're going to stick

with Hey Vern, it's Ernest. But then they proceeded

to bounce them all over the schedule. based on

programming decisions you know try them on this

day try them on that day or try them on this

time or that time usually on Saturday morning

sometime and then they eventually cancelled because

they weren't weren't basically getting the ratings

that they hoped that they would so that's kind

of why the show came to an end is because they

didn't quite get the numbers that they were looking

for but it was kind of too bad because like the

guy said he was They were just kind of getting

used to everything and they were kind of getting,

you know, they'd gotten their feet wet and if

they had had another season, they could have

done all kinds of new stuff and expanded on it.

And it was kind of unexpected, I think, to most

of the earnest crew that it only did get one

season. Yeah, because I always find it somewhat

amusing when the higher ups at a network was

like, well, you're just not pulling the numbers,

man. And it's like, I can almost see I've already

looked at it and it's like, that's because you're

treating this like a piece of crap, man. Because

I always find it funny when the bigwigs in a

network will move a TV show, whether it's an

hour long action drama or a half hour kids show

like this, where they move it all over the schedule

and then they're like, wow, it's not making the

ratings we expected. Why is that? Well, TV is

probably the most impatient thing in the world.

Well, yeah, I kind of use this example when I

speak, there's like an animated series that was

on MTV use ago called Undergrads, which was a

great show, good animation, great story, all

that. But it wasn't pulling numbers like Britney

Spears taking her top off on Total Request Live.

And so it got canceled. And the same thing could

be said about a kids show on Saturday morning.

If they're not selling the advertising, if they're

not Pulling in Boku numbers in terms of viewership

Well, then they're gonna of course well, let's

move it over here Let's put it, you know up ahead

of this dinosaur cartoon. Maybe it'll be a good

follow -up. It's just Yeah, and the other thing

is I even just looking at primetime shows like

every season like there are shows every year

that get cancelled after like one or two episodes

like some shows cannot Some shows would be great

if they were given a chance, but if you do not

get something immediately, you are done. There's

absolutely no patience for, this could be the

greatest show ever, and if we let it go into

a second season, we could have 15 seasons of

this. Because if you don't get past those first

two episodes, you're done. I mean, you look at

this season alone, I mean, the Playboy club,

right? Like two episodes and then they pulled

it. And I was like, but it's like, how much money

do they waste on on, you know, getting the show

going and all the promotions and this and that.

And it's like one episode and cut. It's like,

man. Yeah. And you got to wonder how many of

those actors have pay or play contracts. So yeah,

it's. See how to get back to earnest. It's just

it was kind of negligent It's like yeah We're

gonna move you all over the schedule and then

we're gonna cancel you cuz you're just not making

us enough money in 13 episodes Yeah, so I guess

at least I got more than one but at least it

won an Emmy Yeah, so I think that's gonna lead

us into our next segment, which is Things that

make you go hmm That's right, it's time to talk

about some of the lesser -known facts about Hey

Vern, it's Ernest. Like we've mentioned a couple

times, there was some awards. So the first thing

you might not know about the show is that it

won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer

in a Children's Series, which was Jim Varney.

It also got outstanding achievement in graphics

and titles design, even though we said we didn't

necessarily like the the intro pictures, graphics,

and song. It did get a Emmy for that. So, but

Jim Varney definitely deserved one. He was Working

his tail off on this show. He was the man Yeah,

and the second thing that you might not know

is that Jim Varney his character Sergeant Glory

was actually an advertising character which came

way before earnest Sergeant Glory promoted purity

dairy products in back in 1972 when Jim Varney

was basically just doing commercials So he brought

over a character from his commercial days and

then and inserted into the earnest series So

that was kind of interesting. Those are the only

two things. I tried to look for other trivia

and other little known facts about Ernest without

much luck. So I guess we can get into the where

are they now? And really I already mentioned,

you know, Debbie Derryberry is the voice of Jimmy

Neutron and has done beaucoup voiceover roles

and that Sartain has done some TV shows and some

movies. The rest of them, they were Ernest They

were in that group. They followed the movies

and the TV shows, but that was it. Most of the

other ones very rarely came up again as far as

Hollywood goes, movies, TVs. Basically, I just

want to talk about Jim Varney a little bit. I

forgot about this, but he was the voice of Slinky

in Toy Story 1 and 2. I just completely did not

realize that. I think I literally said, ìHey,

Vern, itís Ernest .î He has that unmistakable

southern drawl to him, but you just know as soon

as you hear it who it is. Then he was also the

movie version of Jed Clampett. Right, and Beverly

Hillbillies in the 90s. Unfortunately, Jim died

of lung cancer in February of 2000, so just 12

years ago he was only 50. This came in the middle

of them still doing movies. They had a movie

that they were going with and he got sick and

took a downhill turn very fast and they actually

cancelled some of the projects that were being

worked on, including at least one of the movies.

That was really unfortunate. I did not realize

he was no longer living. Like, you just kind

of assume, like these guys from your youth, like

Jim Verney, you just assume they're going to

be there forever. Yeah. Because they almost become

like family. When you lose family, you're shocked

and everything. Right. It's like Mr. Rogers or

someone like that. They're just there. I know.

And Jim Verney, he just had that personality.

The whole reason Ernest was so popular wasn't

because he was like a goof. It's like there was

that honesty about the character and that wasn't

just the character. That comes from Jim Verney

and that's why I was such a huge fan of his as

a kid. You could relate to him pretty easy. Yeah.

Well, he was a man child, but he was a man child.

Your mom was like, yeah, go hang out with Ernest.

Right. He's like the somebody, the adult that

you wouldn't mind hanging out with. Yeah. I mean.

And just the aspect that the sartina was like

looking over his Wikipedia page and his IMDB

He was actually the original CD Parker in walk

his Texas Walker, Texas Ranger in the first season

I've completely forgot about that because I love

that series But you know not to take away from

Varney because he's all He's here. I mean, that's

why we were here in the first place. Yeah. And

without him, there was no more Ernest going to

be happening. I mean, you couldn't do another

TV show or another movie without Jim Farney.

Yeah. I mean, whoever was cashing the checks

for the direct -to -video movies, well... I assume

they had a lump in their throat. Yeah, because

this is why this franchise only was around for

a limited amount of time. I know he lived until

the year 2000, but he did the earnest stuff,

he did the TV show, he was doing the movies,

but without him, that's where earnest franchise

comes to an end. Unfortunately, so it's something

that you know We never kind of had anything like

it before besides maybe a little bit of comparisons

you could say that you can't do that on television

but it's really a Different show and a unique

show in and of its own and I can't expect us

to have anything ever again like it He's like

one of those guys. It's one of those once -in

-a -lifetime sorta Yeah, it worked when it worked

and it had its time and it probably wouldn't

have been able to do it in any other time Well,

it's just that anybody that tries anything like

Ernest now, or any sort of kid's character like

that, it's just automatically someone's going

to be throwing it up against Ernest. Yeah. The

only other ones I can think of even at the time

that even had a similar approach would have been

like Beakman's World or some of those as far

as the camera kind of following them around.

You know doing the different things, but it's

still to me. It's still a unique show I've never

seen you know. I think hey verna ternes is a

Genre of its own almost it's a class of its own

Where there's just not a lot of stuff that did

it quite like that yeah? I had its own unique

feel and it's almost like something even the

movies where you're like This shouldn't be working

that people shouldn't like this and this shouldn't

be popular, but I like it Yeah, it's like. I

don't know why I can't explain it, but I want

to watch it. Just don't question it, Kevin. Just

enjoy the ride. Right? All right. We're going

to take a quick break. You're going to hear some

Hey Vern, it's Ernest sound bites and retro goodness

and some GeekCast radio commercials. So stick

with us and we'll be back after the break. I'll

be back in a minute, Vern. No. We'll be right

back. Even though some of us are very tired.

Hi, this is John Delancey and you are listening

to the Geekcast Radio Network. You can now hear

our show on Stitcher Smart Radio. Stitcher allows

you to listen to your favorite shows directly

from your iPhone, Android phone, Blackberry or

Palm phones. On demand and on the go. Don't have

Stitcher? Download it for free today at Stitcher

.com or in the app stores. Stitcher. Smart radio.

The smart way to listen to radio. He's the not

-so -normal nosy neighbor. Now he's coming to

your house for two solid hours. Know what I mean?

So watch out for Hey Vern, It's Ernest. Friday

at 8, 7 Central on the Long John Silver Showcase.

Hi this is Loren Lester and you're listening

to the Geekcast Radio Network. Hey guys, it's

Optimus Solo from Geekcast Radio Network's The

Telecast coming to you with an important message

about our Listener's Choice episode. That's right,

for the first time in Geekcast Radio Network

history, we are giving you, the listener, a chance

to choose the topic in one of our shows. This

is how you can cast your vote for what the topic

should be. Head on over to geekcastradio .com

and click on the Telecast tab at the top of the

page. Once there you can find our complete Season

1 schedule with all 35 episodes. Please look

this over, because we would hate for you to cast

your vote for a show that is already on our schedule.

Once you've done this, just scroll to the section

titled Listener's Choice and click on the Comments

button. All that's left for you to do now is

to cast your vote through a comment. For example,

you might say, hey, I see that Nick Arcade is

not in your Season 1 lineup, so I'd like to cast

a vote for Nick Arcade to be the Listener's Choice

episode. It's that simple, so please go cast

your vote for your favorite show and stay tuned

for Episode 34 to see which show becomes our

very first Listener's Choice. That does it for

now. This has been Optimus Solo from the Telecast.

Which one do I really want? Mellow yellow or

Mountain Dew? Hmm. Eeny meeny miny moe. One potato,

two potatoes, three potatoes, four. Paper rock

scissors. Why use all that mathematical analytical

analysis? I'll just pick the one I like the best.

Make the mellow yellow move. Know what I mean?

Hey guys, this is Rob Paulsen, and you're listening

to the Geekcast Radio Network. Hey everybody,

it's Optimus Solo from Geekcast Radio Network's

new show, The Telecast, with some important information

on our theme song contest. The rules for this

contest are pretty simple. In season one of The

Telecast, we will be covering 33 classic kids

shows from the 80s and 90s. Obviously, all of

these shows had theme songs, which sometimes

can be the most memorable part of a show. This

contest is going to test your memory on those

theme songs. How is that you may ask? Well, because

we have taken 32 of those classic theme songs

and smashed them into one three -minute clip.

Your job is to identify the order in which these

32 shows appear in that three -minute clip. Also,

you must be able to identify which one of the

33 shows was left out of the clip. Some of the

shows should be fairly easy for you to identify

while others may be a bit trickier. For a list

of all of the shows in season one and more information

on the contest, visit the telecast page at geekcastradio

.com. Also remember to tune in to every episode

of the telecast because each episode will contain

that show's theme song in its entirety at the

beginning of the show as well as the three minute

contest song towards the end of the show. This

has been Optimus Solo from the telecast saying

good luck and happy listening. Hot ain't it burn

look what your buddy Ernest has brought you burn

an icy cold sprite instead of that 7 -up you

used to drink because only sprites got the great

taste of lemon Sprite burn just the thing when

you're working up a sweat of one of these old

off -brand air conditioners knowing me Well,

there's your problem right there burn. You see

that little wire out there. Looks like it's got

a little small My daddy used to work on them

Now back to the show. Do you see how your patience

paid off? Alright, thanks for staying with us

everyone, and you may be wondering how you can

watch some Hey Vern, it's earnest Well, you have

a couple different options of get rid of the

one that's not an option Netflix is not an option

Yeah If you're an iTunes person, you can get

the whole season on iTunes for $12 .99, or if

you just want to check out individual episodes,

they're available at $1 .99 a piece, so it's

a little cheaper to buy the whole season, but

you can watch it on iTunes. DVD -wise, Mill Creek

Entertainment, the ones that are doing the new

He -Man disc and whatever, released a two -disc

DVD set containing the complete series on January

18th. 2011, so just a little bit over a year

ago. It's two discs, all 13 episodes, and you

can get it for around $10 or so. So it's not

very expensive. And if you can't afford the $13

for iTunes or the $10 for the DVDs, you can go

to YouTube because not 100 % of the episodes,

but I'd say 95 % of the episodes are available

on YouTube. Oh yeah, no, iPhone. At least seven

or eight of them, yeah, in doing the course and

my research and And they're pretty good quality.

Yeah, I mean it's high quality VHS Yeah, I mean

it's not like the probably not like what you

get on do the DVDs or the iTunes But it's for

YouTube. It's it's not bad They're usually in

two parts Yeah, about 11 or 12 minutes, 10 minutes

on each part. And you can definitely get, if

all you're looking for is a feel for what the

show is like or if you just want to look back

and see some of the skits and see if you remember

them from when you were a childhood, YouTube

is definitely an option there. Just go there

and check out and you can see all the different

sketches that we were talking about as far as

Otto or Sergeant Glory or Baby Ernest or whatever.

You can see them on YouTube. You can get a feel

for the show if you're a completist or if you

want something, you know, in your hands. You

do have the option of getting the DVD, which

is a good thing since a lot of things that we've

been covering in the telecasts we haven't been

able to get the DVDs of. So you do have a couple

different options as far as how you can watch

the show now. So there's no excuses for everybody

not going and watching Smyrnest. And as far as

our ratings go, we have a one through four system

here. JT, what would you give? Hey Vern, it's

Ernest. Because, you know, I'm looking at the

list like the, you know, number ones I didn't

appeal to me and number fours I want it on DVD.

Can I go with, it's kind of my feelings, it's

a two and a half. I loved the show back in the

day. And I still kind of love the show, and if

it was on TV, I'd probably watch it, but not

that much. So it's kind of a two and a half.

I kind of agree. I was leaning towards a strong

two or a weak three, so two and a half's kind

of the same. I did love the show back in the

day. I remember my sister and I watched it a

whole lot, and we cracked up and thought it was

great. If it was on TV, would I watch it? I would

watch it occasionally. It wouldn't be something

I'm setting my DVR to record so I can see every

single time it's on. If there was nothing else

on TV and I was flipping through and I was like,

oh, hey, Ernest, I'll watch that. There's nothing

else on. That's kind of where it would fall in

for me. Yeah. No, it's definitely two and a half.

Like I said, if it was on TV now, I'd probably

sit down and watch it. Yeah. So what are your

final thoughts, last words about the Ernest franchise

as a whole, but specifically the TV show? Well,

the TV show, like I said, I liked it as a kid

for what little I saw, and I definitely enjoyed

kind of going back and reminiscing in the course

of research here, watching the few shows on YouTube.

I think this overall, I don't think anyone could

disagree. Jim Varney was taken way too soon.

Right. And it's one of those things, it's like,

we'll miss you, man, chest bump. Yeah, it's something

that he was unique. He was an individual one

-man show. I mean, he was a talent. He could

do different voices. He could do different characters.

And in reading some of the interviews about him,

they said basically he had, number one, almost

a photographic memory. So lines and stuff like

that and stuff weren't a problem. But he also

had that improv aspect where they'd say that

he literally had dozens of different people living

inside him that he could conjure up at any time.

Yeah, I mean especially like Ernest scared stupid

Yeah, I mean like anytime he could become somebody

else and it wasn't that he was playing a part

It was like he was these people almost well.

Yeah, I know he he's like had that he's like

one of those weird guys that he just kind of

disappears inside right the character which is

what made him so great as Ernest because I Don't

think I've ever seen like an interview or anything

with him. Just as Jim Varney I just know him

as Ernest, so I wouldn't even begin to know what

Jim Farney was like. A man of many talents. Damn

rights. All right, everyone. I'd like to thank

JT for being with me today, and of course I'd

like to thank you, the listeners, for joining

us here on the telecast. If you want to leave

us feedback on the show, you can go to geekcastradio

.com and you can find the telecast tab and you

can comment on this show or any of the other

Season 1 shows we've been doing. You can rate

our show and leave us feedback in iTunes. I just

received a new iTunes review, which was very

nice since we had been kind of in a little mini

hiatus, so to speak, and I want to actually read

the iTunes review that we got. The iTunes review

was posted on January 19th of this year by The

Dark Knight, and the title of the iTunes review

was absolutely fantastic. They gave us five stars,

which by the way, we've had 19 ratings on the

American side of the iTunes and we are still

holding a five -star rating. And it read, by

far the best show on GeekCast radio. Optimus

Solo does an amazing job. And I can't imagine

a better host to bring back the childhood memories

with all these classic TV shows. The guy's articulate.

informative and brings a great personality as

well. I'm starting to blush. A plus work, bro.

If I had any complaints, it would be some of

the guest hosts. I won't name names, but it's

obvious that some don't bring much to the table

and seem awkward compared to Solo. But I think

Terra and JT both compliment Optimus Solo the

best and have a good radio chemistry with him.

So there you go. All in all, this show is great.

Love the Save by the Bell and California Dreams

episodes in particular, and can't wait to one

day see the wonder years covered. Keep up the

good work. So thank you for that review, The

Dark Knight, although I'm sure there is one person

in particular that didn't like that review. But

anyways. So we do get iTunes reviews, so go make

more iTunes reviews for us. We will read them

on the show, and it helps us learn what we're

doing right and what we're doing wrong. So please

do that. Or you can call the voicemail line,

and your comments could be played in the actual

show. The voicemail line is 502 -526 -5821. And

as always, keep up to date with everything by

becoming a fan of us on Facebook, facebook .com

slash geekcastradio network. Also don't forget

about the theme song contest and our listener's

choice episode, which is rapidly approaching.

It's episode 34, so in five episodes, you as

the viewers get to choose what show we are going

to be covering. So that does it for now. We hope

we succeeded in entertaining you, informing you,

and most importantly, unleashing the geek in

you on this episode of The Telecast. And we hope

that you will tune in for our next episode when

we finish up our block of crazy shows with perhaps

the craziest show of all, Pee Wee's Playhouse.

For now, I'm your host, Optimus Solo, with GP

from Saskatoon, hoping that you'll tune in in

10 days or so for another episode of The Telecast.