Will these two struggling sitcoms make it to a second season? I kinda hope so.

KoP and ICE have been guilty pleasures of mine... Both are pretty funny and both are kinda struggling. ICE hasn't aired in a few weeks and according to TV.com, its next airing is Feb 28, which isn't a good sign for its future. This is a real shame as it starts the super hot Kelly Hu. The rest of the cast is pretty solid too: Jonathan Silverman, Greg Germann, David Arquette, and Lori Loughlin. Speaking of which, Lori Loughlin isn't looking bad these days either. Hell, David Carradine guest-starred on an episode.

Knyte wrote:

Hey, Ready To Rumble made more money then The Marine did.

Ready To Rumble was a good movie, dammit.

The opening scene where David Arquette has the fantasy match in convenience store is fucking classic.

And watching Sid Vicious and Perry Saturn job to Martin Landau was amazing.

The problem with Ready To Rumble was that it was greenlit when WCW was on top but not released until WCW was at an all-time low. The fact that Vince Russo actually gave David Arquette the title belt was pretty fucking gay too. Vince Russo was a fucking jackass. If it wasn't for his piss-poor booking skills, WCW would probably still be around.

I think probably the worst angle they ever did was the one where wallets were disappearing from the WCW locker room and all the luchadores were forced to unmask as a result. Not only did the angle imply that Mexicans were thieves, it was also incredibly disrepectful to make the luchadores unmask and it drove a lot of talent out of the company. Incidentally, that was also Vince Russo's idea.

Rycona wrote:

Syd Lexia wrote: Incidentally, that was also Vince Russo's idea. I prefer him just walking around with a bat as a manager to being a writer.

Agreed.

And to be fair, he did have some good ideas. He pushed virulently for the reinstatement of Scott Hall, something would have helped the company out greatly and something which WCW President Brad Siegel refused to do. Meanwhile, Hall was still collecting a paycheck from the company.

The main problem with Russo was that too many of his angles were written for the smarks. It was assumed that you as a fan understood the nature of backstage politics and knew that guys like Hogan and Nash had an immense amount of pull backstage. The New Blood VS. The Millionaire's Club angle was a good idea in concept, but the execution was less so. Russo excepted the New Blood to be regarded as the faces, but the fans preferred the heroes of old, and who could blame them? When Mike Awesome showed up and attacked a limping Kevin Nash who had returned early from a knee injury, how could anyone NOT side with Nash? The New Blood came off as whiny and selfish to the casual fan, and that's the way they should have been portrayed; as history has shown us, a dominant heel force is almost always good for ratings. Russo claimed that the angle didn't work because the older talent refused to put over the new talent. And yet, three months prior he had opted not to renew Randy Savage's contract despite Savage's willingness to do just that.

The other problem was Russo's need for total control. When Russo first declared a new era was dawning in WCW, he brought in Eric Bischoff as his on-screen partner. Bischoff's charismatic smirky character perfectly complimented Russo's coarse New Yorker persona. Unfortunately, the Deadly Alliance barely lasted two months as Russo gave Bischoff little input and seemed more interested in creating swerves he hoped would get people talking then coming up with a longterm booking strategy.

S. McCracken wrote:

Uh, does anyone remember the "Judy Bagwell on a pole" match?

What about Shane Douglas vs. Billy Kidman in a "Viagra on a pole" match?

Indeed, Oliver Platt is awesome. Have you ever seen The Impostors?

I bet the only bad thing about being Oliver Platt is that like half of the roles you'd be good in end up going to Mark Boone Jr.

Tebor wrote:

The other bad thing about being Oliver Platt would involve being in "The Ice Harvest" - Chicago's shame...

Aw... I enjoyed The Ice Harvest. But then again, I'll watch just about anything with John Cusack in it. Notice how said "just about anything". Sorry Must Love Dogs, Serendipity, and America's Sweethearts.