How to Make it in America is an HBO series much like a grittier version of Entourage. Though no surprise as Mark Wahlberg is also an executive producer. The show is pretty decent. Two guys trying to “make it” in America. There is a an undercurrent of skateboarding in the series. Skaters are often seen as extras, including in the opening. The main characters have a room full of skateboard models for a local hero who has gone awol from public life. Right. There’s a lengthy video extra about skating in New York. Hey NYC readers, according to this month’s Thrasher, there are some billboards with skateboarding in town for an investment bank or something. I need a photo or two.

Yes, it’s Jim Henson day on Skate and Annoy. Here’s a bit from the first season of Fraggle Rock, something I have admittedly not seen more than a few seconds of before now. My wife says she loved that show as a kid, but I married her anyway… It’s from a 1983 episode called the Garden Plot. A Fraggle Rock regular known as Traveling Matt makes a visit Venice Beach and takes a spin on some sort of weird Powell knock off deck. Check out the Carrot Top lookalike.

Thanks to Kevin for pointing the camera at the TV!

I like to thank people who send in tips, and include a link for them if they have one. I curse Stephen Slappe for sending me this tip. I’ll never get back all the time I wasted researching this. The clip that’s making the rounds is from Everything is Terrible, a web site that is like watching Tim & Eric Awesome Show Great Job, only with real footage. Colby the Computer googlizes into a thousand references to Colby’s Clubhouse, a Christian children’s show with a talking, evangelizing computer. However, episode guides omits this gem of a clip. In fact, the only time “skateboard” shows up is in another episode called “Helping the Missionaries,” where a kid wants people send him money so he can buy a skateboard. Colby’s Playhouse ran from 1995 to 2000, but this rapping freestyle-filled episode is definitely 80’s, and has an entirely different production value than every Colby’s Clubhouse. Everything is Terrible is all about the video without explanation or insight. Terribly entertaining, but frustrating if you want the back story. It was maddening trying to find this episode, but eventually the explanation turned up on totalschwarr! This is an episode of Colby’s Place, titled Skateboard for Sale. It features freestyle “legend” Andre Walton. I have to be honest, I didn’t remember ever hearing his name, but he turned up on Sk8Kings.com, and oddly enough, friend of the site Danimal had one of his “Arise” decks as mentioned on EPM. EIT has a slightly skewed verion of the clip. I did manage to find a longer version as well.

– Thanks to Stephen Slappe for the tip.

Last Tuesday’s episode of the Colbert Report (November 17th) featured the segment Better Know a District, with California’s 12th which encompasses San Francisco and the headquarters of You Tube. At the end of the segment he asks Representative Jackie Speier to make a You Tube video, consisting of some skateboarding through the halls of the office building. I didn’t catch this on TV, so I can’t tell if there’s a stunt double or not, but my immediate judgement tells me Stephen has spent some time on the old stuntwood. Like I said, I didn’t get a chance to record this, but the forward thinking people at Colbert Nation have saved me the trouble of getting kicked off You Tube again by posting copyrighted material. Wathc the licensed vid after the jump, and brace yourself for an onslaught from Daddy Yo. it is San Francisco, the hotbed of left wing commie, pinko, gay… Thrashers. Lets see who can stay on topic the longest. (Tone of voice: Like a parent to his kids saying “Let’s play a game and see who can stay quiet the longest!”) Sadly, the video wasn’t actually posted on You Tube. Stephen, how long have you been skateboarding? Deign to answer us and we’ll.. I don’t know, name something after you. (and promise not to upload your EXTREME™! Mayonnaise commercial that features skateboarding.)

– Thanks to Sarib Khalsa (and his girlfriend) for the tip.

The “skateboard” key word channel on my DVR picked up a show on Current TV. I was a bit confused because to get to it I had to FF through 10 minutes of a segment titled “Why we shave down there,” with a bunch of women talking about, well, you know. There was indeed some skateboarding, a fun little street sequence featuring skateboarder and artist Mark Warren Jacques. Turns out he lives in Portland is a partner in a gallery that is about 10 blocks away from where I live, yet I’ve never been in there. I guess I’ll have to remedy that. Catch the clip by Joe Lumbroso and info about some upcoming exhibits after the jump.

The Carvelles had a bunch of skateboard songs on their 1977 LP Skateboard Rampage. In fact, out of ten songs, only two are missing the word “skateboard” from the title. Two of those are on the very good This Is Skateboard Music collection. This song, L.A. Run isn’t on that collection. All Music doesn’t have an entry for the Carvells, but they appear to be a vehicle for a guy named Alan Carvell, who had a UK hit in the 60’s and sang backups and harmonies for many well known acts in the 70’s and 80s. This video is a 1977 appearance from Top of the Pops. Check out the stage for assorted skateboard props, a ringer in the audience, and gratuitous stock footage from the U.K.. Who are those guys? The Benji Board team has been suggested, since they are skating U.K. spots. Check it out after the jump.

– Thanks to Eric Shea for the tip.

Yeah, well. here it is. Honestly I didn’t listen to very much of it. I was so sick of this by the time I got to editing it. Basically, Ponch spends the episode trying to convince the kids they should get off the street and skate someplace safe. Eventually they end up taking the kids to a skatepark, in this case, SkaterCross. Happens all the time, right? The classic case of skate harassment. It looks like Estrada and the other dude (who shall perpetually be known as “the other dude”) had actually spent some time on skateboards.

Holy shit. The things I do for you people. I’ve been trying to get this damn episode of CHiPs ready for prime time on S&A for some time now. I rented the damn thing from the library. It got stuck in my computer’s DVD drive and absolutely would not come out. I got a new computer out of it, thanks to the Best Buy extended warranty. Seriously. The tech dudes said it would be too much work to take the iMac apart and get the drive out. Of course, the old one was only a week old. This was back in January, and I never got the disc back so I had to buy the whole season used off Amazon to avoid paying full retail for the replacement. I had a hard time digitizing this too. in the end, the only thing I could get for some reason was the Spanish voiceover. I’m not making this up. So enjoy the first installment of the “Neighborhood Watch” episode. Or rather, the skateboard related parts. I edited out the other unrelated bits like the drunk driving and insurance scam parts. Ponch and John cross paths with a troubled skateboarding youth caught in the crossroads. Headed down a path of self destruction, alienation, and one can only hope.. Punk Rock. Can Ponch and John save him? Holy cow, isn’t that the kid who played Oliver on the Brady Bunch? Catch part one today. Part two is when the skatebaord action really kicks in to high gear. Sorry about the Español. Variflex and Russian YouTube for everyone!

From a random episode of Married With Children, thanks again to Josef Heffner. Not much else to do now. Uhmmmmm. Oh yeah, remember the old Christina Applegate skateboard.

Skate harassment at it’s best. Check it out after the jump.