# "Oh, Rhoda, no!" The Bad Seed on TCM tonight (Thurs., Dec. 10) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 19, 2006, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-rhoda-no-the-bad-seed-on-tcm-tonight-thurs-dec-10/384793 "2006-12-19T17:01:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2006, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-rhoda-no-the-bad-seed-on-tcm-tonight-thurs-dec-10/384793/1 "2006-12-19T17:01:27Z")
One of my favorite good bad [movies](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048977/). If you’ve never seen it, grab it! No matter how many times I’ve watched this I get sucked in. It’s high camp, and awful, but it’s also terrific. Nancy Kelly (I so want her hairdo!), Henry Jones, Eileen Heckert and America’s Sweetheart, little Patty McCormack, acting their hearts out, chowing down on the scenery. But it’s also a terrific story and holds you riveted. You can have Rhoda Morganstern, give me Rhoda Penmark! (As another third of the high-camp overacting trifecta, TCM is also showing [Suddenly, Last Summer](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053318/) at 6:00: “They’re going to cut–out–my–_BRAIN!_”). ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2006, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-rhoda-no-the-bad-seed-on-tcm-tonight-thurs-dec-10/384793/2 "2006-12-19T18:12:03Z")
Given all the possibilities I almost hesitate to limit you, but what would the third member of that trifecta be? ---
**Author:** ![shamrock227](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@shamrock227](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shamrock227)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2006, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-rhoda-no-the-bad-seed-on-tcm-tonight-thurs-dec-10/384793/3 "2006-12-19T18:20:30Z")
Oh, yay! Thanks for the heads up. I like \*Suddenly, Last Summer \* (my Mom does a killer impression of Liz Taylor from that film) but I love _The Bad Seed_. (I’m _almost_ happy that _House_ is a rerun tonight). And I second **Otto** ’s question. ---
**Author:** ![Carl\_Corey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Carl\_Corey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carl_Corey)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2006, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-rhoda-no-the-bad-seed-on-tcm-tonight-thurs-dec-10/384793/4 "2006-12-19T18:21:18Z")
Isn’t today Tues. Dec. 19? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2006, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-rhoda-no-the-bad-seed-on-tcm-tonight-thurs-dec-10/384793/5 "2006-12-19T19:05:26Z")
[QUOTE=Carl Corey] Isn’t today Tues. Dec. 19? 😕 [/QUOTE] Ooop. Wishful thinking. I love how in _Suddenly Last Summer_, the Katharine Hepburn drag queen (there’s no way that could actually _be_ Katharine Hepburn!) hires batshit crazy Monty _Clift_ of all people to give Liz Taylor a lobotomy (I wonder if she demanded a receipt?). ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2006, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-rhoda-no-the-bad-seed-on-tcm-tonight-thurs-dec-10/384793/6 "2006-12-19T19:07:06Z")
[QUOTE=Otto] Given all the possibilities I almost hesitate to limit you, but what would the third member of that trifecta be? [/QUOTE] I’m thinking _Valley of the Dolls_. ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2006, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-rhoda-no-the-bad-seed-on-tcm-tonight-thurs-dec-10/384793/7 "2006-12-19T19:29:24Z")
Don’t forget William Hopper as Colonel Penmark, father of Rhoda. There’s one scene that makes my teeth hurt, it’s so sweet: Rhoda: What will you give me for a basketful of kisses? Col. Penmark: I’ll give you a basketful of hugs! Hopper is best known to 50-somethings like me as Paul Drake from the original Perry Mason series. He was also the son of gossip columnist supeme, Hedda Hopper. **The Bad Seed** definitely falls into the it’s so bad it’s good category. And the ending! I won’t spoil it, but hang with this camp thriller all the way to the end! ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2006, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-rhoda-no-the-bad-seed-on-tcm-tonight-thurs-dec-10/384793/8 "2006-12-19T19:36:42Z")
[QUOTE=Eve] I’m thinking _Valley of the Dolls_. [/QUOTE] Ooh, and now I am too! Definitely a worthy inclusion in the trifecta. Broadway doesn’t go for booze and dope indeed! ---
**Author:** ![shamrock227](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@shamrock227](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shamrock227)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2006, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-rhoda-no-the-bad-seed-on-tcm-tonight-thurs-dec-10/384793/9 "2006-12-19T19:58:01Z")
[QUOTE=Eve] I’m thinking _Valley of the Dolls_. [/QUOTE] Perfect! I own the special edition DVD set of _Valley of the Dolls_. It’s just so deliciously campy. (I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read the book, as well). Although, I have a big place in my heart for _Peyton Place_. Can we make that 1st runner up? ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2006, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-rhoda-no-the-bad-seed-on-tcm-tonight-thurs-dec-10/384793/10 "2006-12-19T19:59:36Z")
[QUOTE=Eve] I’m thinking _Valley of the Dolls_. [/QUOTE] Never saw that, but the sequel was one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen, and inspired many quotes within me and my roommates house. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2006, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-rhoda-no-the-bad-seed-on-tcm-tonight-thurs-dec-10/384793/11 "2006-12-19T20:08:01Z")
I played _The Bad Seed_ in the video store where I work the other night. People of all ages were just riveted. Kids in awe, young parents bewildered and perturbed, older customers hooting with delight. Definitely one of the greatest accidentally bad movies of all time. Let’s hope the planned remake (no details yet; hopefully Dakota Fanning will outgrow the part before it’s filmed) does it justice. Which of course it won’t. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2006, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-rhoda-no-the-bad-seed-on-tcm-tonight-thurs-dec-10/384793/12 "2006-12-19T20:18:12Z")
[QUOTE=lissener] I played _The Bad Seed_ in the video store where I work the other night. People of all ages were just riveted. Kids in awe, young parents bewildered and perturbed, older customers hooting with delight. [/QUOTE] It’s true! You just cannot turn it off or look away! “They gotta li’l pink ‘lectric chair fo’ girls, an’ a li’l blue ‘lectric chair fo’ boys!” ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2006, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-rhoda-no-the-bad-seed-on-tcm-tonight-thurs-dec-10/384793/13 "2006-12-19T20:22:16Z")
[QUOTE=lissener] I played _The Bad Seed_ in the video store where I work the other night. [/QUOTE] I daresay you play the bad seed most places you are. For the humor-impaired, the above is a _joke_. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2006, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-rhoda-no-the-bad-seed-on-tcm-tonight-thurs-dec-10/384793/14 "2006-12-19T20:30:18Z")
[QUOTE=Eve] It’s true! You just cannot turn it off or look away! “They gotta li’l pink ‘lectric chair fo’ girls, an’ a li’l blue ‘lectric chair fo’ boys!” [/QUOTE] Stop, you’re killing me. I read somewhere that the “excuse” for why the acting was so hilariously awful was that most of the cast (and maybe the director?) were lifted right off of Broadway, where they’d been doing the show every night for a very long run. So they were still projecting to the cheap seats. Another movie that would make a brilliant double feature with \*TBS \*is [_Tomorrow, the World!_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037386/), (1944; 12 years before _TBS_) in which Skippy Homeier (you can’t make this stuff up) plays Emil Bruckner, a Nazi Youth whose parents were killed in the war. He comes to America to live with his uncle, Fredric March (no really), and insists on wearing his Nazi uniform and preaching the wonders of the Turd Reich at the dinner table. This kid’s acting style makes Patty McCormack look positively restrained. A must see for fans of _The Bad Seed._ ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2006, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-rhoda-no-the-bad-seed-on-tcm-tonight-thurs-dec-10/384793/15 "2006-12-19T20:38:05Z")
FYI, there’s a [remake](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0421669/) in the works. The original, believe or not, [was nominated for four Academy awards.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bad_Seed_%28film%29#Details) ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2006, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-rhoda-no-the-bad-seed-on-tcm-tonight-thurs-dec-10/384793/16 "2006-12-19T20:46:19Z")
[QUOTE=lissener] _Tomorrow, the World!_, in which Skippy Homeier (you can’t make this stuff up) plays Emil Bruckner, a Nazi Youth whose parents were killed in the war. [/QUOTE] Omigod, I love him in that! He was expelled from Germany for overacting! “Oncle, you vould merry a _JEWESS?!_” ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2006, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-rhoda-no-the-bad-seed-on-tcm-tonight-thurs-dec-10/384793/17 "2006-12-20T03:17:43Z")
Never fails to knock my silk stockings off (except for that awful Production Code ending, of course). Nancy Kelly’s performance is downright _operatic_–can you believe she did that on [Broadway](http://www.ibdb.com/production.asp?ID=2483) every night for nearly a year?! Worn to a frazzle, she must have been! ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2006, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-rhoda-no-the-bad-seed-on-tcm-tonight-thurs-dec-10/384793/18 "2006-12-20T03:23:22Z")
I saw Tomorrow The World! not too long ago. Little Skippy tries to kill his cousin, who sold her hair to buy him a watch for his birthday. After the li’l psychpath is caught, he cries some crocodile tears so the cousin says, “Aw, shucks - he didn’t _really_ mean it. Have some birthday cake, Skippy!” I bet the following year Young Adolf murders them all (not just the Jewess) in their beds. StG ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2006, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-rhoda-no-the-bad-seed-on-tcm-tonight-thurs-dec-10/384793/19 "2006-12-20T03:44:24Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] FYI, there’s a [remake](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0421669/) in the works. The original, believe or not, [was nominated for four Academy awards.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bad_Seed_%28film%29#Details) [/QUOTE] Good. It needs remaking if only to restore the stage ending. The movie ending was dictated by censors and it sucked, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2006, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-rhoda-no-the-bad-seed-on-tcm-tonight-thurs-dec-10/384793/20 "2006-12-20T06:41:47Z")
[QUOTE=Eve] Never fails to knock my silk stockings off (except for that awful Production Code ending, of course). Nancy Kelly’s performance is downright _operatic_–can you believe she did that on [Broadway](http://www.ibdb.com/production.asp?ID=2483) every night for nearly a year?! Worn to a frazzle, she must have been! [/QUOTE] Showed it in the vidstore again tonight. Well, I tried to; someone rented it right out of the machine. I ordered the DVD of _Tomorrow the World!_ tonight. That’ll be fun to play in the store. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-rhoda-no-the-bad-seed-on-tcm-tonight-thurs-dec-10/384793.md?page=2)