August 10, 2021 update to the original September 2020 post – Quibi went belly-up and “Mapleworth Murders” has been MIA on streaming since October 2020. Just this week, The Roku Channel announced “Mapleworth Murders” would join the second wave of Quibi orphans to reappear on the service. I’m curious to see if Roku cuts the short episodes into more conventional sitcom-sized chunks.

I’ve lived and worked in Orlando since late 2000, so it’s always satisfying to see what performers pass through Central Florida on the way to national success. Right now, Paula Pell has a new show on Quibi and just debuted season three of “A.P. Bio” on Peacock. Before that, Paula was a “Saturday Night Live” writer from 1995 to 2013 – including two seasons as co-head writer. All that started with theme park work and commercials in Orlando.

Paula moved to Orlando as a teenager, graduating from Longwood’s Lyman High. After Seminole Community College and the University of Tennessee Knoxville, Paula came back to Orlando for acting work and was active in SAK, the same improv group that helped launch Wayne Brady, Paul Vogt (“Hairspray” on Broadway), and Aaron Shure (writer on “The Office” and “Everybody Loves Raymond”).

Paula created The Bingo Lady for both the Florida and Hoosier lottery TV commercials. Now, you’d think I could find at least one video on YouTube, but this promo pic is all I could scrounge.

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I listen to different music depending on whether I’m brainstorming or really trying to lock in on the fine details. For dreaming up stuff, I lean toward bright and up-tempo – power pop ear candy. Of course, I can just dig out my Jellyfish (in the pic) or Rockpile or Material Issue, but I often turn to the streaming station Great Big Radio.

Great Big Radio is free, created and programmed by Howard Hoffman, currently the Creative Services/Production Director of 710 WOR radio in New York. You’ll also hear Howard’s voice on commercials and radio liners around the country.

Great Big Radio promotes its format as “The Hits. And the Songs that Should’ve Been.” As Howard puts it on the GBR blog – “ …perfectly pop, well produced, performed with passion and still couldn’t find their way back to the airwaves until we came along.” As I’ve been writing this, I’ve heard Janet Jackson, The Byrds, Rick Astley, Stevie Wonder, and early Chicago.  The Beatles play at half-past every hour. Howard also voices the sarcastic liners between the music.

When I need to concentrate on what I’m writing, lyrics are bad. I start paying attention to the song instead of my own thinking. I could switch to instrumentals, but I like the human voice. So, I listen to music in a language I don’t speak. Amadou & Miriam are a married couple from Mali who sing in French and several African languages.

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Star Wars Weekends was a big thing at Disney’s Hollywood Studios theme park from 1997 until 2015 (with a few skipped years early on). Cast and Crew from the movies would come to the park, sign autographs and participate in talk shows. Dozens of Star Wars characters would roam the park, and park guests would often dress up too. For a few years, I produced and hosted weekly wrap-up videos for the Disney Parks Blog. In 2011, I talked with Matt Lanter who voiced Anakin Skywalker for the “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” animated film.

I also met martial artist and actor Ray Park, who appeared in “The Phantom Menace” as Sith Lord Darth Maul. Ray came to Star Wars Weekends several times and would bring dozens of kids on-stage at a time for an introduction into wushu, aka Chinese kung fu. Ray also showed one goofy guy how to cut down on carbs with a spin kick. You can jump to 2:32 if you must.

Maybe more Star Wars Weekends stories to come. In a drawer somewhere, I still have a harmonica that was played by Kenny Baker (R2-D2).

Time for another edition of Down the Rabbit Hole where I start with a nugget of pop culture and, like Alice in Wonderland, see where we end up.

The sitcom “Night Court” ran on NBC from 1984 to 1992 and, as I write this, is in reruns on LAFF, which is on Dish Network and probably one of the digital subchannels in your town like 5.2 or 8.3.

Harry Anderson starred as Judge Harry Stone, a young and unconventional judge working the evening shift in Manhattan Municipal Court. Before “Night Court,” Anderson was mostly known as a magician, appearing on “Saturday Night Live” and “Cheers.”

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Remember Blessid Union of Souls and “I Believe?”

I’m linking out to the version of the “I Believe” video that uses the original album track. Until writing this, I didn’t realize until there was a radio edit. That version has the lyric “One day, daddy’s gonna find out she’s in love with a brother from the streets.” On the album, it’s not “brother.”

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