Tuesday, February 7, 2012

About this Blog

This blog is a "shlog".  That means that it's part show, part blog.


This shlog is about Frankie and his apartment.

Frankie
Frankie works out of his apartment because he is a writer.   Sometimes he writes scripts for this show and sometimes he gets teleplay gigs for dying sitcoms, but mostly he writes get-over children's books and cheap-o sci-fi novels so that he can pay the zillion-dollar rent on his NY apartment.  He just sold the movie rights to the book featured below.  Michael Cera is set to play the main shark maze.

Shark Mazes by F. Chester Hobbicroft (Frankie's pen-name)






Frankie's been called a hack and plagiarist, as well as a clown and a no-talent.  When he was 6 years old, his best friend Louie told him that he was a bum and that's all he'd ever be. Despite this, everyone seems to agree that Shark Mazes, easily Frankie's biggest hit, is a powerful, exciting book, filled with super fun mazes that are shaped like sharks.

There's that slime-bucket Louie right there in the Dracula get-up.  Frankie is Mickey Mouse.


Over the years, some of the "ideas" for Frankie's books have taken on a life of their own.

These "ideas" have become Frankie's roommates and the supporting cast of his show.

Obviously, they are not  traditional roommates, like how Jennifer Aniston and Courtney Cox are roommates on Friends.   

But in the end maybe they are. 
Rubbish James Garbagetruck III



One of Frankie's roommates is an idea he had named Rubbish James Garbagetruck III, a rat who keeps an elegantly furnished room somewhere in Frankie's walls. Rubbish and Frankie have lived together since Frankie dormed at NYU, when Frankie wrote his first screenplay, The Rat Who Would Be Mayor.  Lactose intolerance aside, Rubbish has a taste for the finer things in life.  He still has political ambitions, is a next-level klepto and loves to talk about people behind their backs.


Computer-Head
Frankie's first computer sprouted legs, arms, and a torso after Frankie came up with the idea for his rejected book proposal, My Computer is a Dude Guy. Computer-Head, as he likes to be called, is a classic 90's slacker - and refuses to be used for computations. He enjoys reading cookbooks, Judge Judy marathons, Cool Ranch Doritos, VHS tapes where the tracking is wobbly, and surfing the internet - on Frankie's other computer.

Sudsy using Nixon quotes.



Frankie's Apartment has a ghost. British-born, his name is Sudsy, an obsessive compulsive neat freak, who is also bipolar, with extreme sociopathic tendencies.  Sudsy claims to have lived in the space of the apartment for longer than Frankie (250 years longer), hence he believes that he is the rightful host of the show.  Although Frankie thinks that Sudsy is his idea (one day he thought, "Wouldn't it be cool to have a ghost?"), Sudsy says Frankie's imagination holds no sway over the spectral world.

Frankie is definitely not what you would call a ladies' man.  Some people have called him a lady-man, but that's just when the guys from his old gang goof on him.  Can you find Frankie in the photo below?

Helen's Bar-B-Que used to be the spot!
Magazine-Lady
Frankie does have a special woman in his life - Magazine Lady, a magazine that he bought in 2003. The way Frankie sees it, they've been going steady for 9 years.  It's unclear if Magazine-Lady came to life because of an idea that Frankie had for a book about her, or if she started to talk as a way to defend herself from Frankie's romantic advances - sort of like how Ceasar starts talking in Rise of the Planet of the Apes.  Magazine-Lady is not only a feminist, she is also an advocate for "magazine rights" which means she is anti-blog, anti-recycling, and anti-papier-mache.  She believes in make-up tips, articles about exotic places, quizzes about your boyfriend, and a good, one-panel comic strip. Her turn-ons include, flipping through her pages and filling out the subscription certificate stapled to her spine.


"Doctor" Bill - the Snowman
Frankie's sanest roommate, Bill, lives in his refrigerator.  On top of being a snowman, he also fills in as Frankie's therapist.  Bill has his own issues, including manic depression and self-hatred, so it's difficult to say how good he is at practicing psychology, but that doesn't really matter when his real passion is stand-up comedy.  If he can only figure a way out of the fridge without melting.

Jolly Ol' Generous Nick



Right above the mantle hangs Nick, Frankie's favorite Christmas decoration - a giant plastic Santa Claus head.  Nick was manufactured 30 years ago in a factory out in Secaucus, NJ - and he sounds that way.  Frankie's first book, "X-mas 24/7" brought Nick to life, and gave him the power to give Frankie a present whenever a plot might need a little helping hand.  Despite his job as a Christmas decoration, Nick is Jewish and has never seen any of the Rankin Bass stop-motion specials.

Mr. Parfenix standing on Frankie's credenza.
We love credenzas on Frankie's Apartment!
Mr. Parfenix might not be a roommate in Frankie's Apartment, but he is the landlord of the whole building.  In addition to being a thorn in Frankie's side, he's also a pigeon, and an aspiring thespian.  He's been an extra in lots of films shot in New York.  He's not the most literate bird in the building, so his acting skills totally suck.  It's surprising he's not a pig, because he's such a ham.  He enjoys over-indicating, gutter-fresh bread crumbs, and rolling with his own laughtrack.  Apparently, his parents (a couple of pigeons) who lived in a coop on the roof, won the building from the previous landlord (a beagle) in a poker game.

While Frankie thinks that the show you are watching is a "children's program" and that he is a "children's show host," none of the other characters that he deals with on the show have given over to that concept.  So, while the show is mostly kid-friendly, it is probably more comparable to a prime time cartoon like The Simpsons or Mad Men.
Frankie in his Apartment with one of his sci-fi novellas, Here Come The Poodles



Frankie's Apartment is all about "creativity" and "imagination" but it also is about borderline insane characters with serious "personality disorders" and tons of "emotional baggage".  It is also about putting things in quotation marks and using a lot of exclamation points!

Sometimes, though, Frankie's Apartment is just about triangles!!!

Pictured From Left: A Blue Geometry Triangle, a Red Geometry Triangle, and a Silence = Death Pinback













Or gold teeth!!

Frankie in 2001, with his first set of fronts.










Or frozen pizza!

pizza with worms underneath it, on paper plate
We hope that you'll participate in the shlog, by leaving comments and sending in drawings or photographs. This is something someone sent in because they thought Frankie would like it.

It's nice how this kid is so happy even though he doesn't have any arms and only half a TV


Sometimes we're gonna show you videos of the show.  At other times we're gonna show you videos about making-the-show.  Sometimes those two things will come together to form an even better thing and sometimes we just won't show you anything at all.

Thank you for tuning in!