Write Back Weekend "Unsung Heroes"
Quick update on my computer woes. The bad news is I still can't access Google.com from my computer. This, in turn, means I also cannot log in to Blogger to update this blog since it uses gmail. The good (and weird) news is that I CAN access both Google and Blogger through the other computer in the house. This means I can update, just via that computer. I've tried everything I can think of to fix it, but I don't want to make it worse than it already is and lose everything, so I gave up. It's most likely a DNS issue because that's what it's been in the past. So, if you're familiar with those, any ideas are welcome. In the meantime, I have to use the Canadian Google for my searches. See? We make do with what we have.
This week's TITMT question asked you to describe your favorite underdogs of all time. Some of you really thought outside the box on this one and came up with some pretty clever responses. After all, Merriam Webster breaks up the definition of an underdog into the following categories:
1 : a loser or predicted loser in a struggle or contest
2 : a victim of injustice or persecution
The problem in this definition is simple and begs the question, is it once an underdog, always an underdog? Are you only no longer an underdog if you "win"? I particuarly liked this question because I always identified with the underdog. Not that I was meant to go on achieve any particular sort of greatness, but I would defintely define myself as the quiet pining type, rather than the obvious center of attention type of gal.
I feel differently. I think some of the best underdogs don't always necessarily make all the money, get all the cars or have all the luck. They, do however, surprise us in some way, shape or form, usually through their persistance.
As a result of your creativity, I decided to break my answers up into different categories. I would have loved to devote more time to each category, but since I'm lucky I was able to update at all, we have to take what we can get.
TV Show Underdog
Friday Night Lights- Right now, my favorite underdog story on television has to be the recent renewal of Friday Night Lights for a second season. Most of the time networks give up on shows that aren't making the grade sooner rather than later. It was really refreshing to see NBC nurture Friday Night Lights this year. Maybe networks are FINALLY going to start giving shows like these the time they need to grow, who knows. If you haven't started watching yet, what are you waiting for?
TV Character Underdogs
Ross Geller on Friends- David Schwimmer's interpretation of the lovable loser that was Ross Geller was impeccable. All through adolescence, Ross was geeky and awkward, yet in love with the beautiful best friend of his, Rachel Green. Some people have a "reach school", this was Ross's "reach girl". Years later, Ross and Rachel are reunited as adults. Ross is still a bit of a geek compared to Rachel, but the older, more mature Rachel can see that there is a lot more to Ross than she ever dreamed. In this scenario, the underdog gets the girl. Not all underdogs, unfortunately, are that lucky.
Seth Cohen on The OC- During the four years that The OC was on the air it can be broken up into two distinctive halves. The first two years were awesome, the next to years were spent trying to recapture the early awesomeness. The only constant that remained true on The OC was the comedic genius and unexpected valour in our reluctant leading man, Seth Cohen (played brilliantly, by the way, by Adam Brody). For years, Seth secretly pined for girl next door, Summer Roberts, all while locking himself up in the world of comic books. It took a little coaxing but this comic book geek eventually got both of his childhood fantasies to come true.
Brian Krakow on My So-Called Life- It's been said before and it will probably be said again, My So-Called Life is itself, an underdog that unfortunately, was defeated. The show itself was the underdog, but Brian was the main underdog within the underdog. His dedication to his love from afar for Angela Chase was one of the best things about MSCL. In the series finale, Angela started to look at Brian in a different light. Whatever will have become of this underdog love story, we'll never know.
Pacey Witter on Dawson's Creek- When Dawson's Creek premiered it was all about Dawson and Joey, Joey and Dawson. Theirs was a friendship you could not touch. Joey's pining for Dawson was in turn, the cornerstone of the show. But somewhere along the way, the writers of Dawson's Creek took a leap of faith, deciding to toy with the pairing of Joey and Pacey instead. In most cases, this would be where a show like this would "jump the shark" pairing anyone up, instead of key people up. What ensued was a surprise to everyone, a great love story and a lot of on (and off) screen chemistry. Proving to be no fluke, Pacey and Joey surprised us all by riding off into the sunset together.I'm sure the actor who played Pacey, Joshua Jackson, never expected to be the "lead" either. If that's not the underdog personified, I don't know what is.
Felicity Porter on Felicity- There were so many reasons girls identified with Felicity Porter. Felicity represented the shy girl who wanted to go off to college to start fresh and shed her invisible, high school image. Only problem is Felicity was torn. She wanted to start fresh, but she also was intent on getting the boy of her dreams to notice her. During Felicity's four years in college, we watched her blossom and change from a wallflower into say, a...confident rose. Can roses be confident? Only Felicity would know.
Movie Character Underdogs
Duckie from Pretty In Pink- When I did a (Canadian) Google search for Underdogs many sports teams came up. None of them meant anything to me. But wasn't sports related links were links to one of my favorite underdogs of all time, Duckie Dale. In Pretty In Pink, Jon Cryer plays the lovable Duckie who worships his best friend, Andie Walsh, played by Molly Ringwald. In the end, Duckie does not get the girl, but he does get respect. He also does a kickass rendition of Try A Little Tenderness, by the way.
Lucas from Lucas- Once upon a time Corey Haim was an adorable, young actor with lots of promise. One of his most endearing roles to date was the lead character in a movie called Lucas. Here he plays the bookish freshman, more interested in studying insects than meeting girls. All of that changes when he meets new girl, Maggie. When Maggie and Lucas become fast friends the summer before school starts, he feels this will be his change to shed his nerdish image. Maggie, of course, has another agenda. Lucas, determined to win the love of Maggie, decides the way to impress her is to try out for the high school football team. He doesn't manage to capture the heart of Maggie in the way he wanted, but he does manage to capture the hearts of many instead. This also provides an excuse to pay homage to one of the best movie cliches ever, The Slow Clap.
Actor Underdogs
Patrick Dempsey- The success story of Patrick Dempsey is like a slow cooker on simmer. For years, Patrick Dempsey had success in slightly nerdy, oddly self-confident underdog type roles. In fact, he has the unique distinction in my book of being an underdog both on screen and off. His most classic role to date (in my opinion) was when he played Ronald "lawn boy" Miller in Can't Buy Me Love. Here Ronald goes for like, "totally geek, to totally chic" (and back again). Art sometimes imitates life though. Dempsey the actor fell off the radar after the teen geek roles started to dwindle. Enter Grey's Anatomy some twenty years later. Suddenly Dempsey himself has gone from totally geek to totally chic, playing the popular lead of McDreamy. If only the object of Ronald's affections, Cindy Mancini, could see him now.
Ben Affleck- After Good Will Hunting was released, all anyone could talk about was the young powerhouse team of hotties that wrote and starred in the movie. Although the focus was on the winning combo of Matt and Ben, the running joke for a long time was that Ben was just along for the ride. While Matt Damon has certainly had his share of success, Ben Affleck managed to not do so shabbily either. Now you can clearly say Matt and Ben or Ben and Matt and people know what you are referring to. Ben actually went on to be part of a few "winning" combinations over the years. I guess he works best when someone is by his side.
Tony Shalhoub- Years ago I loved to watch the show Wings. It featured a great ensemble cast of actors such as Tim "I never seem to age" Daly, Steven Weber and Crystal Bernard, amongst others. There was nothing not to love about Wings. If you don't believe me, just ask Quagmire from Wings. Most of the "others" were played by little known or unknown actors at the time. One of those quirky characters, Antonio the cab driver, was played by none other than Tony Shalhoub. While Tony shined as Antonio, he also blended in nicely amongst the rest of the class. No one would have pegged him to be the breakout star from the series but in the end, that's exactly what happened. Some years later, Shalhoub has had much success as a character actor in both movies and television. He also has starred in his own tv series as the beloved Adrian Monk for several years now.
Alison Janney- Sophisticated and irreverant, Alison Janney is a different kind of leading lady. In addition, she a great underdog because her success could never have been predicted, although it is deserved. In the early nineties, I used to watch Janney steal what small scenes she had as Ginger the maid on Guiding Light. A bit player on a soap opera, Janney worked her way up the ranks of character actress roles appearing in many movie and television programs before landing a coveted lead role on The West Wing. I never watched The West Wing while it was on, but her success was most defintely not a fluke.
Musical Underdogs
Clay Aiken- I know the mere mention of Aiken's name will send out a chain reaction of groans from the peanut gallery. Still, the fact remains. Back on his season of Ameican Idol, Aiken made the cut, only to not make it to the top ten. That year though there was a wild card round where you could vote back in one or two of the contestants (I can't recall specifics). Not only did Aiken make the cut, he went all the way to the final two, having an obsessive legion of fans or "Claymates" still with him today. If it had not been for a second chance, the world might have never known what Clay Aiken was all about. It all depends on where you are standing if that is a good thing or not.
Real Life Underdogs (AKA the people behind the movies inspired by a real life story)
Cinderella Man- In the thirties, Braddock was a down and out boxer who had a string of bad luck with no hope in sight. He surprised everyone, including himself, when he went on to defeat heavyweight champ Max Baer in an upset win back in 1934, thus earing the title of Cinderella Man. His story was depicted in the movie with the same title, starring Russell Crowe.
The Pursuit of Happyness- This movie was based on the real life struggles of Chris Gardner, a single father who was self taught and determined to make a better life, both for himself and his son. In the end, Gardner proves that hardwork and persistance are worth it, all in the pursuit of happiness.
Rudy- While it's a bit out of my league, many great underdog stories also involve sports figures, overcoming the odds. Enter Daniel E. 'Rudy' Ruettiger, a small guy with average skills, intent on playing Notre Dame football.
Rudy is a great true life story, sorta like Friday Night Lights meets Lucas. And this the full circle of the underdog, at least for the time being, is complete.
This week's TITMT question asked you to describe your favorite underdogs of all time. Some of you really thought outside the box on this one and came up with some pretty clever responses. After all, Merriam Webster breaks up the definition of an underdog into the following categories:
1 : a loser or predicted loser in a struggle or contest
2 : a victim of injustice or persecution
The problem in this definition is simple and begs the question, is it once an underdog, always an underdog? Are you only no longer an underdog if you "win"? I particuarly liked this question because I always identified with the underdog. Not that I was meant to go on achieve any particular sort of greatness, but I would defintely define myself as the quiet pining type, rather than the obvious center of attention type of gal.
I feel differently. I think some of the best underdogs don't always necessarily make all the money, get all the cars or have all the luck. They, do however, surprise us in some way, shape or form, usually through their persistance.
As a result of your creativity, I decided to break my answers up into different categories. I would have loved to devote more time to each category, but since I'm lucky I was able to update at all, we have to take what we can get.
TV Show Underdog
Friday Night Lights- Right now, my favorite underdog story on television has to be the recent renewal of Friday Night Lights for a second season. Most of the time networks give up on shows that aren't making the grade sooner rather than later. It was really refreshing to see NBC nurture Friday Night Lights this year. Maybe networks are FINALLY going to start giving shows like these the time they need to grow, who knows. If you haven't started watching yet, what are you waiting for?
TV Character Underdogs
Ross Geller on Friends- David Schwimmer's interpretation of the lovable loser that was Ross Geller was impeccable. All through adolescence, Ross was geeky and awkward, yet in love with the beautiful best friend of his, Rachel Green. Some people have a "reach school", this was Ross's "reach girl". Years later, Ross and Rachel are reunited as adults. Ross is still a bit of a geek compared to Rachel, but the older, more mature Rachel can see that there is a lot more to Ross than she ever dreamed. In this scenario, the underdog gets the girl. Not all underdogs, unfortunately, are that lucky.
Seth Cohen on The OC- During the four years that The OC was on the air it can be broken up into two distinctive halves. The first two years were awesome, the next to years were spent trying to recapture the early awesomeness. The only constant that remained true on The OC was the comedic genius and unexpected valour in our reluctant leading man, Seth Cohen (played brilliantly, by the way, by Adam Brody). For years, Seth secretly pined for girl next door, Summer Roberts, all while locking himself up in the world of comic books. It took a little coaxing but this comic book geek eventually got both of his childhood fantasies to come true.
Brian Krakow on My So-Called Life- It's been said before and it will probably be said again, My So-Called Life is itself, an underdog that unfortunately, was defeated. The show itself was the underdog, but Brian was the main underdog within the underdog. His dedication to his love from afar for Angela Chase was one of the best things about MSCL. In the series finale, Angela started to look at Brian in a different light. Whatever will have become of this underdog love story, we'll never know.
Pacey Witter on Dawson's Creek- When Dawson's Creek premiered it was all about Dawson and Joey, Joey and Dawson. Theirs was a friendship you could not touch. Joey's pining for Dawson was in turn, the cornerstone of the show. But somewhere along the way, the writers of Dawson's Creek took a leap of faith, deciding to toy with the pairing of Joey and Pacey instead. In most cases, this would be where a show like this would "jump the shark" pairing anyone up, instead of key people up. What ensued was a surprise to everyone, a great love story and a lot of on (and off) screen chemistry. Proving to be no fluke, Pacey and Joey surprised us all by riding off into the sunset together.I'm sure the actor who played Pacey, Joshua Jackson, never expected to be the "lead" either. If that's not the underdog personified, I don't know what is.
Felicity Porter on Felicity- There were so many reasons girls identified with Felicity Porter. Felicity represented the shy girl who wanted to go off to college to start fresh and shed her invisible, high school image. Only problem is Felicity was torn. She wanted to start fresh, but she also was intent on getting the boy of her dreams to notice her. During Felicity's four years in college, we watched her blossom and change from a wallflower into say, a...confident rose. Can roses be confident? Only Felicity would know.
Movie Character Underdogs
Duckie from Pretty In Pink- When I did a (Canadian) Google search for Underdogs many sports teams came up. None of them meant anything to me. But wasn't sports related links were links to one of my favorite underdogs of all time, Duckie Dale. In Pretty In Pink, Jon Cryer plays the lovable Duckie who worships his best friend, Andie Walsh, played by Molly Ringwald. In the end, Duckie does not get the girl, but he does get respect. He also does a kickass rendition of Try A Little Tenderness, by the way.
Lucas from Lucas- Once upon a time Corey Haim was an adorable, young actor with lots of promise. One of his most endearing roles to date was the lead character in a movie called Lucas. Here he plays the bookish freshman, more interested in studying insects than meeting girls. All of that changes when he meets new girl, Maggie. When Maggie and Lucas become fast friends the summer before school starts, he feels this will be his change to shed his nerdish image. Maggie, of course, has another agenda. Lucas, determined to win the love of Maggie, decides the way to impress her is to try out for the high school football team. He doesn't manage to capture the heart of Maggie in the way he wanted, but he does manage to capture the hearts of many instead. This also provides an excuse to pay homage to one of the best movie cliches ever, The Slow Clap.
Actor Underdogs
Patrick Dempsey- The success story of Patrick Dempsey is like a slow cooker on simmer. For years, Patrick Dempsey had success in slightly nerdy, oddly self-confident underdog type roles. In fact, he has the unique distinction in my book of being an underdog both on screen and off. His most classic role to date (in my opinion) was when he played Ronald "lawn boy" Miller in Can't Buy Me Love. Here Ronald goes for like, "totally geek, to totally chic" (and back again). Art sometimes imitates life though. Dempsey the actor fell off the radar after the teen geek roles started to dwindle. Enter Grey's Anatomy some twenty years later. Suddenly Dempsey himself has gone from totally geek to totally chic, playing the popular lead of McDreamy. If only the object of Ronald's affections, Cindy Mancini, could see him now.
Ben Affleck- After Good Will Hunting was released, all anyone could talk about was the young powerhouse team of hotties that wrote and starred in the movie. Although the focus was on the winning combo of Matt and Ben, the running joke for a long time was that Ben was just along for the ride. While Matt Damon has certainly had his share of success, Ben Affleck managed to not do so shabbily either. Now you can clearly say Matt and Ben or Ben and Matt and people know what you are referring to. Ben actually went on to be part of a few "winning" combinations over the years. I guess he works best when someone is by his side.
Tony Shalhoub- Years ago I loved to watch the show Wings. It featured a great ensemble cast of actors such as Tim "I never seem to age" Daly, Steven Weber and Crystal Bernard, amongst others. There was nothing not to love about Wings. If you don't believe me, just ask Quagmire from Wings. Most of the "others" were played by little known or unknown actors at the time. One of those quirky characters, Antonio the cab driver, was played by none other than Tony Shalhoub. While Tony shined as Antonio, he also blended in nicely amongst the rest of the class. No one would have pegged him to be the breakout star from the series but in the end, that's exactly what happened. Some years later, Shalhoub has had much success as a character actor in both movies and television. He also has starred in his own tv series as the beloved Adrian Monk for several years now.
Alison Janney- Sophisticated and irreverant, Alison Janney is a different kind of leading lady. In addition, she a great underdog because her success could never have been predicted, although it is deserved. In the early nineties, I used to watch Janney steal what small scenes she had as Ginger the maid on Guiding Light. A bit player on a soap opera, Janney worked her way up the ranks of character actress roles appearing in many movie and television programs before landing a coveted lead role on The West Wing. I never watched The West Wing while it was on, but her success was most defintely not a fluke.
Musical Underdogs
Clay Aiken- I know the mere mention of Aiken's name will send out a chain reaction of groans from the peanut gallery. Still, the fact remains. Back on his season of Ameican Idol, Aiken made the cut, only to not make it to the top ten. That year though there was a wild card round where you could vote back in one or two of the contestants (I can't recall specifics). Not only did Aiken make the cut, he went all the way to the final two, having an obsessive legion of fans or "Claymates" still with him today. If it had not been for a second chance, the world might have never known what Clay Aiken was all about. It all depends on where you are standing if that is a good thing or not.
Real Life Underdogs (AKA the people behind the movies inspired by a real life story)
Cinderella Man- In the thirties, Braddock was a down and out boxer who had a string of bad luck with no hope in sight. He surprised everyone, including himself, when he went on to defeat heavyweight champ Max Baer in an upset win back in 1934, thus earing the title of Cinderella Man. His story was depicted in the movie with the same title, starring Russell Crowe.
The Pursuit of Happyness- This movie was based on the real life struggles of Chris Gardner, a single father who was self taught and determined to make a better life, both for himself and his son. In the end, Gardner proves that hardwork and persistance are worth it, all in the pursuit of happiness.
Rudy- While it's a bit out of my league, many great underdog stories also involve sports figures, overcoming the odds. Enter Daniel E. 'Rudy' Ruettiger, a small guy with average skills, intent on playing Notre Dame football.
Rudy is a great true life story, sorta like Friday Night Lights meets Lucas. And this the full circle of the underdog, at least for the time being, is complete.
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