20 Years After Kurt Cobain’s Death, Nirvana’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Was Almost Awkward

April 5^th marked the 20^th anniversary of the death of Kurt Cobain, and nearly two decades to the day, his former band, Nirvana, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But the late rock icon, one of the most reluctant stars of his generation, still seems to cause controversy -- and awkward situations -- for some of the people he left behind.

Check out the people who had the potential to Nirvana’s momentous induction a little awkward.

Courtney Love

The Hall of Fame induction ceremony on April 10 had Cobain’s widow Courtney Love coming face to face with Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl, after years of public feuding over use of the band’s music.

Love , who once posted a testy tweet over a rumor about Grohl and her daughter, Frances Bean,  told Access Hollywood she hadn’t talked to her husband’s former band mate lately, but added, “Well, we’re gonna go to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and I think we’re all sitting at the same table. I plan on wearing this dress by Marchesa that’s made of tissue paper and I think I’m going to pretend I have a crown on my head and I have to be totally regal. We haven't actually sat at a table for, I don't know, 25 years." When asked if she’ll say hello to Grohl, the Hole singer said, "Yeah! You know, it's not my hashtag Yoko."

To add to the awkwardness, Love once slammed the hall of fame because she disagreed with the inductee choices. After AC/DC, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Patti Smith were excluded in 2000, the outspoken singer retaliated by demanding that the Cleveland museum return all memorabilia belonging to her late husband. "I hope that no one I know is ever inducted into your idiotic Hall of Fame,” she reportedly said, according to MTV.

Luckily, the rowdy rocker behaved; Love and Grohl actually hugged and made up at the ceremony.

Chad Channing

Before there was Dave Grohl there was Chad Channing. The former Nirvana drummer, who was replaced by Grohl in 1990, won’t be inducted into the hall of fame with the rest of the band, despite the fact that he performed on the Nirvana’s debut album, “Bleach,” which featured the singles "Love Buzz" and “Sliver.” (The drummer also recorded part of the drum track for the song “Polly,” which appeared on the band’s iconic follow up album, “Nevermind.”)

Channing told Radio.com that after he was contacted by longtime Nirvana manager Michael Meisel to find out if he could attend the induction ceremony. “When I told my daughter about the induction, she was super excited for me. So much of my excitement about it is for her!” he said. But Channing was soon forwarded a text message hall of fame organizers that said: "Can you tell whoever looks after Chad Channing that he isn’t being inducted ... It is just Dave, Krist and Kurt.” Oops.

Gene Simmons

Kiss legend Gene Simmons has been talking about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for years. But shortly before his band made the cut for the coveted list, he was dissing the status of other rock bands. In an interview with UK's Team Rock Radio Simmons rattled off a list of worthy rock icons: "Let me see -- Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, The Who and just on and on," he said. "And through the '70s, Aerosmith, Kiss, Led Zeppelin. Now from 1984 until today, name one superstar that's bigger than their music, and not just somebody that's recorded one or two records, but another Queen or another AC/DC? None, you can't name one. Kurt Cobain -- no, that's one or two records. That's not enough. Amy Winehouse -- that's one or two records. That's not enough. What, just 'cause you died, that makes you an icon? No, no."

‘Mad Men’ Season 7: Will the Final Season Live Up to the Hype?

It’s the end of the 1960s as we know it. As AMC’s “Mad Men” heads into its 7^th and final season, the pressure is on to go out in a record breaking way. Part of the plan: A split finale season, a la “Breaking Bad, with seven episodes airing in 2014 and the final seven in 2015.

Showrunner Matthew Weiner has already commented on “Mad Men’s” mini finale seasons, recently telling Rolling Stone, “It was more work, and challenging, but I think, creatively, it was kind of invigorating. I hope the audience feels that way, but from our end of it, it was definitely a good thing to have. A good shake-up.”

Of course, AMC previously had mega success with “Breaking Bad’s” two-year finale, with a whopping 10 million viewers tuning to see Walter White’s (Bryan Cranston) final days. And Weiner admits his show is following the “Breaking Bad” model, even if it wasn’t his idea.

“The whole reason we're splitting the season like this is because it was tremendously successful for the network,” he said. “I have a lot of control, and I certainly am given a lot of freedom creatively. But that was not up to me, and when I saw what happened with ‘Breaking Bad’ how could you argue with them? Honestly, part of me thinks, as a viewer: Let it go on a little bit longer. “

But can ratings history repeat itself? There’s already naysayers. A recent Vulture article acknowledged that both AMC dramas are highly acclaimed, but added that the odds of the “Mad Men” actually “experiencing a ‘Breaking Bad’–size surge are slimmer than those of Don Draper turning down an old-fashioned.“ (Translation: Not likely. At all.)

And from the Baltimore Sun: “The idea of presenting one season's worth of episodes as two distinct seasons worked wonderfully for AMC with ‘Breaking Bad.’ But that series had a crime-drama, action-adventure component. I'm not so sure it will work nearly as well for ‘Mad Men," especially if Don is wandering around in a near-comatose cosmic funk…”

Indeed, back in the day (okay, 2007) “Mad Men” was AMC’s flagship series and garnered a ton of buzz. Within  a few years, Banana Republic partnered with the show for “Mad Men” inspired clothing line, while ‘60s era dramas—albeit all of them short-lived - popped up all over the small screen: "Pan Am," "The Playboy Club" and "Magic City."

But in some ways, “Mad Men’s” ship may have sailed. The show, once an Emmy darling, has been shut out from the primetime awards ceremony the past two years. Ratings have fluctuated, and the ridiculously long gap between season 4 and 5 turned off some viewers. Ratings were up for the Season 6 finale, “In Care Of,” but they took a plunge for the Season 7 premiere, “Time Zones.” It remains to be seen if they will climb, or even remain stable, as Season 7 progresses.

Weiner has already gone on record as saying he’ll miss “Mad Men” More than any of us will. While he may be underestimating the show’s most devoted fans, we’ll have to do a time jump to see if that sentiment rings true.

“Mad Men” airs Sundays at 10 p.m. on AMC.

1990s Flashback! Five ‘90s Stars Who Guest Starred on ‘Mad Men’

Mad Men” may be set in the 1960s, but the critically acclaimed AMC drama definitely makes us nostalgic for the ‘90s. The series’ Season 7 premiere, “Time Zones,” featured a face that’s very familiar to Millennials. Yep, that was “Party of Five” alum Neve Campbell playing the widow who snuggled alongside Don Draper (Jon Hamm) on the red eye back to New York.

Campbell -- whose breakout role as Julia Salinger on the 1990s teen drama led to roles in a slew of  the  big screen ‘90s flicks like “The Craft,” “Scream,” and “Wild Things”--  told  Yahoo TV that her guest star stint on “Mad Men” could signal her more permanent return to TV: “This is the first time, I think, really since ‘Party of Five’ that I've been open to returning to television properly,” she said.  And although she wouldn’t dish on the future of her “Mad Men” character Lee Cabot, Campbell’s got plenty of company when it comes to “Mad Men” cameos.

Here are five more 1990s TV stars who’ve gone back in time for a guest role on “Mad Men.”

Bess Armstrong

Actress Bess Armstrong, who played sensible, breadwinning mom Patty Chase on ABC’s 1994 drama “My So Called Life,” turned up in the “Mad Men” Season 5 episode “Far Away Places,” playing Jane Sterling’s (Peyton List) acid-dropping shrink Catherine Orcutt. While Roger Sterling’s (John Slattery) trip is the one viewers go on in the episode (the ad exec hears flute music when he opens a liquor bottle, hallucinates an image of Don, and time travels back to the 1919 World Series), there’s no bigger trip than seeing Angela Chases’ mom as an LSD party hostess.

Dennis Haskins

 It was a brief cameo, but diehard “Saved By the Bell” fans couldn’t miss it: Mr. Belding -- er, actor Dennis Haskins -- played a test kitchen scientist (official title: Head of Desserts for General Foods) for Cool Whip in the Season 5 episode “Lady Lazarus.” His character’s name was credited as Phil Beachum, but he’ll always be Belding to us!

Linda Cardellini

Lindsay Weir is all grown up! “Freaks and Geeks” star Linda Cardellini scored a multi-episode arc as Don Draper’s seductive neighbor Sylvia Rosen on “Mad Men’s sixth season, and the role even earned her an Emmy nod. In  an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Cardellini compared the two retro-themed shows: “[‘Mad Men’] is a very different vibe from something like ‘Freaks and Geeks,’ where the scripts are incredible but it’s a lot looser,” she said. “When it comes to something like ‘Mad Men,’ it’s very precise, and you may not even understand the part that you’re playing in the bigger picture.”

Harry Hamlin

Harry Hamlin made a name for himself as new ad agency partner Jim Cutler with a recurring role on “Mad Men.” But the former “L.A Law” star wasn’t exactly sure what he was getting into when he signed on to the show. Hamlin told GQ that he was given virtually no info on is character, but he took a leap of faith: “I didn’t know that I was going to be Jim Cutler, who is actually on the door of Cutler, Gleason, and Chaough.” He said. “Or that I would be wearing glasses the whole time.”

Ted McGinley

Back in the day, Ted McGinley played Jefferson D’Arcy on “Married With Children,” but two decades later he played a married swinger on the “Mad Men” episode “To Have and To Hold.” McGinley’s character, Mel, was the head writer on Megan Draper’s (Jessica Pare) soap opera of the same name. Given Mel’s swinging status, perhaps sex-starved Peggy Bundy would like his number!

The final season of "Mad Men"  is set to air on AMC next spring.

Remember These Pritchett-Dunphy-Tucker Vacations on ‘Modern Family’?

“Modern Family” is about to start its sixth season, and it’s anybody’s guess where the Pritchett-Dunphy clan will land.  Last season, the Emmy winning ABC comedy headed to Australia for a family vaca, and producers called the trek the show’s “most ambitious” on-location shoot yet.

“We promise to feature a kangaroo, a koala and a boomerang,” executive producer Steve Levitan said in a statement. “I’m sure there will be lots more, but so far that’s all we know about Australia – our American school system is a disaster…. Plus it’ll be nice to go to a place where everyone looks like Hugh Jackman and Miranda Kerr.”

Of course, that wasn’t the first time fans of the hit sitcom went along for the ride on one of this funny family’s vacations. Check out five of the most memorable “Modern Family” vacations.

Hawaii

The Bradys have nothing on the Dunphys! “Modern Family’s” first season ended with a family trip to Hawaii to celebrate Jay’s (Ed O’Neill) birthday. And while there was no surfboard accidents or cursed tiki statues, there was a vow renewal (Claire and Phil!) and a trip to a banana plantation. In an interview with Emmy TV Legends, co-creator Christopher Lloyd explained that while he initially had concerns about filming an on-location vacation  (the original premise was to show just the family’s airport mishaps), producers later concurred, “Audiences love to see the characters in  new, exciting, exotic locations, so [the network] was very much in favor of it.”

Jackson Hole, Wyoming

Season 3 kicked off with the vacation-themed episode “Dude Ranch.” Set in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, The rustic ranch setting featured  a campfire proposal, which had mom Claire (Julie Bowen) answering for her daughter Haley (That’d be a big fat “no”) while Phil Dunphy (Ty Burrell) kept busy mastering Cowboy 101:  “I’ve been I've been practicing all the core cowboy skills: shootin', ropin', pancake eatin',” he said. Lloyd  told TV Line that the rugged dude ranch setting was also the perfect place for Mitchell and Cameron (Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Eric Stonestreet) to decide if they could actually raise a son. (At the time they had a baby boy adoption in the works.) “They figure, ‘A dude ranch sounds like a good way for us to rediscover our macho side,’” Lloyd dished.

Check out the making of “Dude Ranch" here:

Disneyland

Yep, they’re going’ (OK, went) to Disneyland! Season 3 marked the sitcom’s obligatory trip to Disneyland, which had Phil feeling queasy after a roller coaster ride and Gloria (Sofia Vergara) attempting to walk the park in sexy high heels. Speaking of shoes, Mitch and Cam had trouble keeping track of daughter Lily (Aubrey Anderson-Emmons) at the massive theme park (yeah, they lost her a couple of times), so when a leash garnered them disapproving stares from strangers, they “trapped” her with the next best thing: Kiddie high heels,  which made it difficult for the tot to run off.  Fun fact: Past sitcom family’s like the Conners (“Roseanne”) and the Tanners (“Full House”) have also gone on Disney theme park vacations.

Palm Springs

Nothing like New Year’s Eve in the Golf Capital of the World. Especially when you stumble upon a nudist New Year’s celebration and an impromptu poker game with actor Billy Dee Williams. Jay Pritchett spearheaded the adults-only family trip featured in the Season 4 episode “New Year’s Eve,” but the hotel he once raved about didn’t exactly improve with age.

Las Vegas

Another adults-only trip (hey, is this becoming a theme?) took place in Season 5, when the grownups took a weekend jaunt to Sin City. For Claire it was all about gambling (she wanted to win back the cash she lost in Vegas years earlier), while her hubby Phil was determined to attend an underground magic society meeting (guest star Patton Oswalt played magician group leader Ducky). Meanwhile, Mitch ran into his ex (played by Fred Armisen). After a series of misunderstanding that involved a misplaced room key, a naked Gloria, and a magic trick gone awry, it’s safe to say that what happened to the “Modern Family” gang in Vegas should definitely stay in Vegas.

“Modern Family” airs on Wednesdays at 9 p.m. on ABC.

52nd Anniversary of ‘The Jetsons’: 10 Far Out Facts About the Space-Age Sitcom

September 23^rd marks the 52nd anniversary of the premiere of the animated television sitcom The Jetsons. While the original incarnation of the Hanna-Barbera series lasted only one season, the adventures of George Jetson, his boy Elroy, his daughter Judy, Jane his wife, and his trusty dog, Elroy, have stood the test of time. Check out these 10 far-out facts about The Jetsons.

1. The first season of The Jetsons premiered in 1962, with 24 episodes. But it wasn’t until a full two decades later, in 1985, that the second season of the space-age sitcom debuted! According to the website for the Federal Communications Commission, The Jetsons and its prehistoric counterpart, The Flintstones, were the first programs on ABC to be aired in color. 

2. Speaking of  The Flintstones, two alums from that show did double duty as voice actors on The Jetsons. Jean Vander Pyl (Flintstones wife. Wilma) voiced several Jetsons characters, including Rosie the Maid and Mrs. Spacely, while Mel Blanc (Barney Rubble) voiced Mr. Spacely. Vander Pyl once revealed she made a mere $250 per episode for her voice work, and in 1989 she told the Los Angeles Times, "Nobody knew that TV shows would go on forever, so our old contracts didn't call for much in the way of residuals. That's why I'm not wealthy."

3. Jane was a blondie! The Jetsons mom, Jane, was voiced by none other than actress Penny Singleton. Singleton was famous for her role as Blondie Bumstead in the iconic series of 28 big screen Blondie movies produced from 1938 to 1950.

4. In  an interview with Archive of American Television, Jetsons creator Joseph Barbera revealed how he came up with the idea of the Jetson family's jet-setting digs, the Sky Pad Apartments.  “I created a living quarters that were based on the remnants of the 1936 New York City World Fair,” he said. Barbera told the Cartoon Network: "I saw round buildings kind of on a pedestal. I decided to add hydraulics to the pedestal so you could lift the apartment above the smog of clouds into the fresh, clean air."

5. In 2007, The Jetsons made Forbes list of the  25 Largest Fictional Companies. Cosmo G. Spacely’s capital goods biz was dubbed the “perfection of one-button sprocket manufacturing,” with estimated 2007 sales of $1.3 billion. Clampett Oil ( The Beverly Hillbillies) and Wonka Industries (Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory) also made the list.

6. Talk about Jetson’s placement! The show’s characters have appeared in a bevy of TV commercials. George Jetson starred in a commercial for Tums-- after he devoured a chili dog with the works – and he was seen pluging Sran Wrap on an early episode of the show. The family was featured in ads fro Electrosol and Radio Shack. And Jane Jetson appeared alongside two more of Hanna-Barbera's most famous classic cartoon females --Wilma Flintstone and Scooby Doo’s Velma Dinkley-- in an ad for Dove shampoo.

7.  Large portraits of  Jetsons characters George, Jane, Judy, Elroy, Astro, and Rosie are featured in the the animated music video for Kanye West’s “Heartless.” According to the Daily Mail, the pop culture-loving West boasts specially commissioned pop-art portraits of the Jetson clan in his  L.A. home. Look for The Jetsons imagery around the 2:20 mark in West's "Heartless" video:

8. The Season 1 episode, “A Date With Jet Screamer,” features Judy Jetson’s memorable song contest entry, "Eep, Opp, Ork, Ah-ah!" The song  was later recorded by the Violent Femmes for the “Saturday Morning Cartoons’ Greatest Hits” compilation. (The Butthole Surfers sang the Underdog theme and Sublime sang about Hong Kong Phooey, so go figure!)

9. Probably the biggest Jetsons “scandal” was the replacement of original Judy Jetson-- Janet Waldo—in the 1990 movie version of the series. The voice of then-popular teen star, Tiffany, was used in the role instead— after Waldo had already recorded the voice track.  Waldo told the Los Angeles Times she was “totally crushed” by the incident. “I originated the character, and I feel very sentimental about Judy,” she said. “If they had recast the whole show, there wouldn't have been any problem at all. But the fact that my part was the only one that was changed just threw me."

10.  Plans for a live action movie version of The Jetsons have long been on the table. According to  MTV, Jetsons superfan Kanye West was even in talks to be the flick’s creative director, while Variety reported that writers Van Robichaux and Evan Susser have been hired to rework an existing script. With any luck fans will see the project come to fruition before 2062—the year the original Jetsons series was set in!