They Made a Willy Wonka Game Show

I'm not mad. I'm not mad. I'm just disappointed.

Mr. Wizard - What is a Fuse?

I really missed out on Mr. Wizard. I'm old and this was still interesting.

The fuse makes sense but how do circuit breakers differ such that you can use them over and over?

There are two main types of circuit breaker tripping mechanisms:

Thermal Protection (Overloads): A bimetallic strip inside the breaker heats up as current flows through it.  Because the two bonded metals expand at different rates, excessive current causes the strip to bend. This bending movement triggers a release mechanism that separates the contacts, breaking the circuit. This process is slower, allowing for brief current surges without tripping.

Magnetic Protection (Short Circuits): An electromagnetic coil generates a magnetic field proportional to the current.  During a sudden, massive spike in current (such as a short circuit), the magnetic force becomes strong enough to instantly pull a lever or armature. This snaps the contacts apart almost immediately, preventing dangerous heat buildup and fire hazards. 

Norm Documentary Trailer

Netflix has made a Norm Macdonald documentary, to be released October 16th.

Untold Mr. T: I Pity The Fool (2026)

 

There's a new Mr. T documentary on Netflix, it's part of a series of documentaries called "Untold" so the title differs depending on whether people treat it as a movie or a TV episode. As someone who did a Mr. T retrospective on this blog, I was interested.

At 48 minutes (including the ridiculous Netflix credits), it's very brief and skips over quite a few things. They cover some of growing up, as it shapes who the character of Mr. T is, but don't mention what happened to his father or T's time in the army. 

They cover his rise to success but don't explore the idea that it all may have gone to his head, that he may have gotten a little ego-maniacal (slightly), aside from showing clips and allowing us to guess for ourselves.

When his popularity starts going south they mention everyone suing him, including family members, but no details are given at all. We hear from his daughter for the first time but don't get a good sense of her experience.

It covers Mr. T being diagnosed with cancer and that plot point is dropped as quickly as it arises. I suppose since we know he's still alive, we're supposed to figure it out for ourselves.

All these criticisms are admitted and yet I do recommend the film because it's a documentary about Mr. T and it's what we have - I don't think a better one is going to be made.

In true Mr. T fashion, he has called the film "garbage." I can't speak for Mr. T but as far as I can tell, he's upset about how it focuses on his tough guy persona and doesn't explore enough of his personal life. From all the criticisms above, I can mostly see his point but, again, I don't expect a better Mr. T documentary is coming.

Late Night - The Andy Blitz Apartment Saga

First, Conan helps writer Andy Blitz shop for an apartment:

Then, Conan helps writer Andy Blitz decorate his "new" apartment:

Making a Lost Seinfeld Episode

In Seinfeld's Season 2, writer Larry Charles wrote an episode that was never made because the cast refused to make it. In the above, someone takes that script and, using voice actors and animation (and not AI, for some reason), has "filmed" the episode.

I suppose this is the closest thing we have to a new Seinfeld episode in 16 years.

My thoughts... Did this deserve to make it into the official canon? It's not an exceptionally funny episode but it's important to remember that that was the norm in Season 1 and 2. Plus, so much of the humor came in the performances, which just can't be reproduced by voice actors. I suppose it marginally doesn't belong as an episode - to me, it's all the jokes about murder that don't fit the tone of the show. But I don't feel strongly about it either way - it's Season 2.