When I was growing up in the early 2000s, like, say I was probably 2 or 3 years old, I was a huge fan of The Big Comfy Couch. The one character from this children's show I looked up to the most was none other than the original Loonette The Clown herself, Alyson Court. She was not only my 1st role model that I loved in television, but also, she was a great role model for kids that grew up in the 1990s and the early 2000s. And, of course, kids that grew up in the early 2010s, the family members from the past 2 decades of which probably still have the plush dolls, DVDs and VHS tapes. Anyway, what I loved about the show was the following: Loonette and her doll, Molly, educating kids and their parents/guardians on how to solve everyday problems, teaching life lessons such as how it's not okay to hit someone when you're mad, etc. However, what I found to be outrageous were, 1, Loonette constantly refusing to believe that dust bunnies exist, 2, Molly protecting the dust bunnies from Loonette despite trying to prove that they exist, 3, Loonette's parents never being seen or mentioned, 4, Snicklefritz, Granny Garbanzo's cat, doing things he's not supposed to, 5, the characters not celebrating Christmas despite Loonette having a Christmas tree dress, 6, Molly accepting Loonette's apologies for every mistake she makes, 7, Molly never bothering to ask the other characters if they have ever seen dust bunnies before, 8, Molly never asking the other characters to help prove to Loonette she's wrong about the dust bunnies, 9, Loonette tickling Molly despite once realizing that it's very inappropriate to tickle someone when they don't want to be tickled, and 10, Loonette and Molly having tickle fights at least once or twice despite the fact that Loonette and Molly are trying to teach kids on how to control their impulses. But, all in all, this was a pretty good show, and despite everything I don't like, I haven't got a clue on what I would do if Robert Mills, Wayne Moss, and Steve Wright hadn't directed it, and if Cheryl Wagner hadn't created it. Anyway, I was impressed with the original Loonette doing the first iteration of the Clock Rug Stretch. When I was a child, I tried it myself. I don't know how many times I tried it as a child, but one thing's for sure: like Loonette, I was a little bit more flexible enough to do it right back then. And, around the time the 6th season was on air, I was one of the many who were unaware of Alyson Court being pregnant. And when she left after the 6th season, right when I first saw the intro for the season 7 premiere, and I saw Ramona Gilmour-Darling as the new Loonette, my mind was literally blown. It's possible that in my mind, I was saying, 'Hey! What happened to the old Loonette?" And 11 years later, in February of 2017, when I looked up The Big Comfy Couch, I finally found out why Alyson Court left: shortly after the sixth season ended and before the seventh season premiere, Alyson had given birth to her son, Blaede. Anyway, at first, I was really upset, simply because, 1, Ramona looked a lot more different than Alyson as Loonette, and 2, I honestly didn't think that Ramona was good enough to replace Alyson as Loonette, but over time, I grew to understand why Alyson now had to be a stay-at-home mother. And, when I first saw the CBC Comedy video, "Loonette On Creepy Clowns", I was shocked to see the sight of my first role model, the original Loonette The Clown back on TV for the first time in 15 years! (I counted precisely the last time Alyson played the Loonette role and how long it's been since the last time anyone's seen her on TV in costume.) Anyway, I never could understand why it was a one-time-only deal. And when Alyson refused to believe that Mark Critch, the news anchor of This Hour Has 22 Minutes at the time of this event, was telling the truth when he said that some clowns are scary, (I was unaware at the time that they were discussing the 2016 Clown Sightings), the back of my head blew right off. (Metaphorically speaking, of course.) After all, clowns, before The Big Comfy Couch, were featured in horror movies. Simply because the directors of such films wanted to give people something to be scared of, all the while, completely unaware that children loved clowns and if the kids were to see their #1 role models as villainous monsters, they would be scarred for life and eventually would develop coulrophobia, a fear of clowns. And that's not even the worst part. Worst part 1, when Mark said that because of this epidemic, McDonald's was temporarilly stopping commercial appearances of Ronald McDonald until the whole thing blows over, Loonette stated, and I quote, "So, Ronald hangs around the playground in his restaurants and gives toys to kids. That guy is creepy.", I paused the video and said, "What??? That's not true. In fact, unless he's a zombie, Ronald McDonald is not creepy!!!". Something like that. Worst part 2, near the end of the show, Loonette says to the audience, "Look, all I want to say is, please don't judge people by the way they look. Most clowns are nice, happy people who just want to give you a hug and pie you. The only person with a painted face and crazy hair you need to be afraid of is Donald Trump.) Seriously, Loonette, be careful about what you say. Why? Because, now that Donald Trump is President of the United States, his actions are unpredictable. He could just as easily show up at your doorstep and only God knows what might happen next. And last, but not least, worst part 3. When the show is about to end, Loonette asks Mark if she can say one more thing, and Mark says, "Sure you can, Loonette. Whatever you want. What is it?", Loonette pulls up a chainsaw with balloons attached to it, she says out loud, "Everybody dies!", and then she activates the chainsaw and charges towards the camera, but nobody seems to be screaming in terror. And that was when I went ballistic and said in my mind an outraged speech that went something like this: "WHAT THE HECK?!!!!! DID LOONETTE GO OVER TO THE DARK SIDE OR SOMETHING?! HUH?! WHAT WERE THE PRODUCERS OF THAT SHOW THINKING?! WHAT WOULD LOONETTE'S FANS THINK ABOUT THIS IF THEY SAW HER IN THAT VIDEO ALL THE WAY TO THE END?!" And then, I immediately calmed myself before I said anything about Loonette that would cause me to stop looking up to her. Well, I'm afraid that I've got questions I need answers to. And if anyone's got the answers, it's Alyson. But, I'm afraid the only way to ask her those questions is to set up an interview. And, I'm gonna have to take it easy with the questions and my tone. Anyways, before I sign off, I'd like to leave a message for Alyson, just in case she's reading this. Alyson, when we meet, you will know me by my actual name, Victor Ortiz. I never got to meet you because even though I was granted a wish by the Make-A-Wish Foundation because i was born with Type 1 Hermansky-Pudlak Syndrome, at the time, I was more focused with going to the Walt Disney World resort in Orlando, Florida to meet Spider-Man. Therefore, I never had the chance to meet you, no matter how badly I wanted to. And I even considered having a Twitter account so I can follow you on Twitter, but I was being paranoid enough to the point where I kept asking myself, "What if someone hacks my account?", "What if I say something wrong?". All that stuff. And the reason why I wanted to meet you right now in this timeline is because I'm scared of you passing away before I could even take a picture with you or even have you sign an autograph. So, being the smarty-pants that I am, I've decided to say this to you just in case you happen to be reading this review: I wanted to say thank you for educating me when I was a kid. And I wanted to thank you for educating every child that grew up in the '90s and early 2000s.
Review of The Big Comfy Couch
The Big Comfy Couch
(1992–2013)
Great for everyone of every age, no matter what some people think
28 July 2018
Warning: Spoilers