Guess The Pies

It's a Thanksgiving tradition. Every year on the Thanksgiving episode of the Late Show, we visit Dave's mom and try to guess which pies she baked this year. See if you can (psychically) determine which pies she made.

Can't embed the video. Follow this link for the full episode and skip to the second segment.

Spoilers Below....

First off, way to go Dave's mom, denying global warming. Stickin' it to the man. Dave is obsessed with global warming so it features in the show often (to my annoyance).

Dave's first guess is Pumpkin. And Dave's first guess is ALWAYS pumpkin. He goes for the percentage shot first. Out of the years that Guess the Pie has been played, a Pumpkin pie was a correct answer 75% of the time. If that guess is correct, the real work begins but at least it's only one-to-go. If that guess isn't correct (as is the case this year), he's really in trouble. In these situations he does the best thing which is to just do the "RSTLNE" of the pie world (Cherry, Apple, Blueberry, Pecan).

In years in which she's feeling creative, the pie(s) can be virtually ungettable. The fact that he got the Sugar Cream pie was quite a home run (though it was huge that he got the clue he did). Looking it up, it looks like Sugar Cream is a pie that's specific to the Indiana region. It's also known as "Hoosier Sugar Cream" and "Indiana Sugar Cream". That explains why I've never heard of it.

The major pie in the "ungettable" category that sticks out in my mind was from 1997. That year she made a Coconut Butterscotch Pecan pie. WHOAH. Are you kidding me?! Another year the (much less difficult) pie was a Rhubarb pie which always reminds me that I've never had a Rhubarb pie and I'll have to find one some time.

GUESS THE PIE BONUS COVERAGE:

As the Sugar Cream is specific to Indiana, I've never had it but there are tons and tons of pies specific to my region. The most obscure one, which I have had, is Ground Cherry pie. Oh, you mean a Cherry pie? No. Oh, you mean a specific type of Cherry pie? No, GROUND CHERRY pie. It's a Pennsylvania Dutch tradition/recipe and sure enough my great-grandmother used to make them every year for Thanksgiving. (The recipe was passed down to my grandmother and then my aunt). What do ground cherries taste like? It's very much an "aquired taste" [read: kinda gross]. The closest thing I can point to is they kinda taste a little bit like tomatoes. As such it's a pie that, I think, is teetering on the edge of extinction. It doesn't even have a wikipedia page to link to. I'm not partial to it, myself, but I always think it's a shame when the old-timey traditions like that die out.

Non-Televised Talk Show

Jerry Seinfeld and Jimmy Fallon experiment with a new show format: a talk show that doesn't get shown on television.

The irony, of course, is that this was an actual plot in "Seinfeld". Kramer turned his apartment into a talk show but didn't own any cameras.

This clip makes it obvious that Jimmy doesn't film his show like Letterman films his. No late night talk show is filmed live but the Late Show is filmed as if it was. If something fails on the Late Show they don't go back later and retape it. When they go to commercial and the band plays, the band will play a song for the exact length of time that the commercials run. If they're back from commercial and not prepared, too bad, they got caught. Etc., etc., etc. They may be the only show to do that.

Classic Roots Choice #24

In this installment of "Classic Roots Choice", Jimmy Fallon does all the explanation himself. Enjoy.

True Grit Trailer

The Coen Brothers have made another movie starring Jeff Bridges. Is it "The Big Lebowski 2"? No, not quite.

Here's the trailer:

Snap. I'm looking forward to it. It's a perfect trailer in that it gives you a sense of the movie but is completely vague in every respect. I felt the 30 commercial was even better but couldn't find that online. Apparently the movie is a remake of an old John Wayne film. Fortunately for me, I haven't seen that movie so I still don't know what to expect.

Who Cares Wins - Thanksgiving Edition

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, the folks at Video Vision were kind enough to make an instructional video 25 years ago to guide the weary viewer through this tricky holiday.

Tracy Morgan Explains Star Wars

I've seen the Star Wars Trilogy countless times but sometimes you just don't "get" something until someone comes along and articulates it so well....

"If you got a ghost telling you not to do it, don't do it, holmes. You ahead of the game!"