Oh, C'mon, Buckwheat!

Zine
Title:	Oh, C'mon, Buckwheat!
Publisher:	Plastic Cow Productions
Editor(s):	Ann Teitelbaum & Dar F
Type:	newsletter
Date(s):	1993-1995
Frequency:
Size:	digest-sized
Fandom:	Wiseguy
Language:	English
External Links:
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Oh, C'mon, Buckwheat! is a het and slash digest-sized newsletter. It contains letters responding to topics of interest, news items about the show Wiseguy, ads for fanzines and short pieces of fan fiction. It ran for at least 12 issues, each with roughly 24 pages. In 1993 it won the STIFFIE Award for Best Wiseguy Info Zine.

Issue 1

Issue 1 was published in July/August 1993 and contains 36 pages.

cover of issue #1

Discussion topics covered in this issue:

1. If Vinnie was stranded on a desert island, what 3 items of food would he want with him?
2. Does Frank really eat sushi? [From “Player To Be Named Now": when he tells Kenny Sasousha he knows a good sushi place.)
3. Do you think Roger really has atheistic tendencies? (From “Merchant of Death", when Roger says his parents thought he had athletic tendencies because he'd scream when they took him to church, while he actually had a fear of crowds.)
4. If Sonny was a tree, what type would he be?
5. What is your favorite couple, and what scene best shows when they first got together (sexually speaking, of course)'?

Issue 2

Issue 2 was published in September/October 1993 and contains 40 pages.

cover of issue #2

Discussion topics covered in this issue:

1. If Vinnie and Amber had been able to work out their differences ("Sleepwalk"), do you think they would have lived "happily ever after"? Could Amber have accepted his job? Could Vince have accepted marriage without the prospect of children? Was Amber just a substitute for the person Vinnie really wanted/needed?
2. Get out your scratchpads: If Frank was 44 in 1/90 ("Meet Mike McPike"), and he was married to jenny for 19 years as of 2/89 ("Stairway To Heaven"), why do you think it took them so long to tie the knot, if he actually did meet her as a high school sophomore, which he claimed in "Stairway"? [Hint: he was roughly 24 when they got married...] Do you think Frank was basically a "straight" guy, and if so, was Vinnie was his first male lover? (Assuming it WAS Vinnie, and not Roger...or Sonny...or Dan .... ) Also, do you think that there could have been a future for the Frank/Lilla relationship if Frank/Jenny hadn’t gotten back together, or was Lilla just "stress relief"?
3. During his debriefing in "Dirty Little Wars", Roger commented on the fact that he and Preet (his Chinese "houselady") had been together since he had been forced to cut out her tongue in Vietnam in 1967. "I took care of her. She Took care of me." And upon close examination in “Smokey Mountain Requiem", she appears to be wearing a wedding band. What do you think Roger’s real relationship was with Preet? Did he just marry her so he could bring her into the country,or were they actually in love with each other?
4. Sonny’s sudden need to marry Theresa Bagglia and have a son to carry on his name ("Marriage of Heaven and Hell") seemed to come out of the blue. Was he really interested in having a family, or was it just a ploy to strengthen his holdings by merging with the Bagglia family? Or was it because he was frightened of his feelings for Vince? If all had gone according to plan, and assuming they hadn’t gotten the video tape of Sonny murdering Patrice, would Sonny/Vinnie have been able to maintain their relationship?
5. Who was your favorite guest character (not actor) on the series? (For simplicity’s sake, we won’t consider Sonny or Roger as "guests".) And your least favorite?

Issue 3

Issue 3 was published in November/December 1993 and contains 40 pages.

cover of issue #3

Discussion topics covered in this issue:

1. Let's delve into the psyches of Vinnie, Frank, Roger and Sonny; if you had to pick one "fatal flaw" for each of them, what would it be.
2. While we’re in their psyches, what do you think each of their sexual "persuasions” are? Do you see them as basically straight, closeted gay, or openly gay? Do they prefer being submissive or an even mix of both? Are they strictly position, a dungeon master, or somewhere in between, comfortable/uncomfortable is each with his own sexuality?

Issue 4

cover of issue #4

Issue 4 was published in January/February 1994 and contains 28 pages.

Discussion topics covered in this issue:

1. From Katy D: Pick an “unseen" scene from WISEGUY that you’d like to see--describe it! (Ah, the famous “missing scene" question.)
2. From Barbara W: What’s your favorite non-WISEGUY role for each of the actors?
3. If each of the guys was a sex toy, what would he be?

Issue 5

Issue 5 was published in March/April 1994 and contains 28 pages.

cover of issue #5

Discussion topics covered in this issue:

1. From MEG G: Here are a few descriptions of Frank, taken from reviews; which ones do you agree or disagree with, and which would you use if you were a reviewer? 1. Caustic, a misanthrope, a really bad good guy, confused. 2. Abrasive. 3. Taciturn, cranky. 4. Stressed-out. 5. Cool, cryptic. 6. Frumpy.
2. If you could cross any universes from the guys’ vast repertoires of film and TV roles (including Wiseguy), what would you like to see on the private viewing scene in your mind? (Perhaps Frank and Vinnie move in next door to Alan Matthews in Boy Meets World, as an example.) A brief (or longer!) scenario is strongly encouraged!
3. What scene out of Wiseguy do you see as best typifying what kind of lover each of the characters would be?

Issue 6

cover of issue #6

Issue 6 was published in May/June 1994 and contains 32 pages.

Discussion topics covered in this issue:

1. If you could ask any of the characters from Wiseguy one question, who and what would it be? (You may do more than one, if you wish.)
2. Considering that the Wiseguy universe was set in 1987-1990, where are Vinnie, Frank, Roger and all the others now, and what are they doing? How are they, and are they still keeping in touch with each other?
3. What would you like to see discussed in future issues of OCB?

Issue 7

Issue 7 was published in July/August 1994 and contains 32 pages.

cover of issue #7

Discussion topics covered in this issue:

1. For the majority of the series, we saw the characters their “work" modes (undercover, etc.); what do think their “real" personalities are like? Also, do think they would have become friends if they hadn't worked together?
2. What role did Uncle Mike play in Frank and Vinnie getting together? Do you think he knew before they did? Did he know about Vinnie/Sonny? Vinnie/Roger?Frank/Lillah?
3. One of the reasons people feel that Wiseguy has spawned an almost exclusively slash fandom is because of the gay innuendo that was sprinkled throughout aired episodes. Do you feel this is true? Do you think writers did this intentionally? What were some of the more blatant instances of it in the show?

Issue 8

cover of issue #8

Issue 8 was published in October/November 1994 and contains 24 pages.

Discussion topics covered in this issue:

1. At one point, there was speculation that fourth season, had it continued, would see the return of Vinnie Terranova. If that had been the case, would Vinnie have stayed with the justice Department? (Remember the OCB had been disbanded, and Frank and Uncle Mike were working out of the NYC District Attorney’s office). How about Frank? Was he inclined to stay, with the OCB disbanded?
2. Do you think the plotline for a Wiseguy TV should follow the plot elements of fourth season; or should it simply be a stand-alone piece, unrelated in time to the series? On a lighter note, would they get Frank and Vinnie to confess their love for each other? How would it go in your fantasy movie?
3. Looking back on the Profitt arc, did Mel Profitt sleep with all of his employees? Did he visit Roger at 3am, kneeling before his door, like he did with Vinnie? Have Vinnie and Roger spoken to each other about their service with Mel?

Issue 9

Issue 9 was published in May/June 1995 and contains 20 pages.

cover of issue #9

Discussion topics covered in this issue:

1. Given what Vinnie was going through at the time, what do you think drew him to Sonny? And, to flip it, what was Sonny going through that made Vinnie so attractive to him? (Either in the G—rated or X—rated sense!)
2. Let’s do this for the next relationship, Vinnie and Roger? What were each of them going through, personally or with the case, that drew them together? What did the relationship start out like? How did it evolve?
3. Yep, let’s do Frank and Vinnie — tell us when they got together, and how their lives made that the time to make a move. Who made the move, and why?

Issue 10

cover of issue #10

Issue 10 was published in July/August 1995 and contains 32 pages.

Discussion topics covered in this issue:

1. Which is your ideal Wiseguy slash couple: Vinnie/Sonnie, Vinnie/Frank, Vinnie/Roger, Frank/Uncle Mike, Frank/Roger, Frank/Raglin, Roger/Mel, or...? Do you see it as a lasting relationship? Who’s the top? Bottom? Or is it pretty much even?
2. Let’s start at the very beginning and discuss the Steelgrave arc: What are your favorite slashy moments? What evidence do you see of developing relationships? How does this arc color your view of the rest of the series?

Issue 11

Issue 11 was published in September/October 1995 and contains 24 pages.

cover of issue #11

Discussion topics covered in this issue:

1. Katy D posed an interesting question for us all to speculate on: Out of all the characters who’ve NEVER met each other on Wiseguy, who would you like to see meet in either a sexual or nonsexual encounter? (Example: Roger and Sonny.) Don’t forget: short fiction or dialogue is strongly encouraged!
2. From Meg G: Why is Dan ("Uncle Mike") given so little space in print in slash stories? Is it because he’s viewed as a supporting character only, is it because he spends more time isolated, or is it simply that the other pairings seem so much stronger? [Yeah, why isn’t "Uncle Mike " ever slashed with anyone?] And remember: short fiction or dialogue is strongly encouraged!
3. Okay, moving on to the Profitt arc: What are your favorite slashy moments? What evidence do you see of developing relationships (other than the obvious Vinnie/Susan and Frank/Lillah)? How does this arc compare! contrast with the Steel grave arc?

Issue 12

Issue 12 was published in November/December 1995 and contains 28 pages.

cover of issue #12

Discussion topics covered in this issue:

1. From Adelheid M: What do you think Sonny would have done if he had discovered earlier in the series that Vinnie was a cop? In most episodes, he almost finds out, but believes Vinnie’s threadbare excuses. Obviously Sonny has a blind spot here. But what if he knew for sure?
2. If you could have written (or rewritten) a script for the original Wiseguy series, and if that had been a truly enlightened time when anything was permissible on TV (like the sound of it already, don’t you?) what slashy love scene would you have included? What arc would it have been in, and who would it have been between? (And don’t feel as though you need to limit yourself to only one script: if you have lots of ideas, share them, please!)
3. Next up, the neo-Nazi arc and Aria For Don Aiuppo: How did Pete’s death affect Vinnie and the rest of the series? Ditto with Carlotta’s marriage to Rudy. Was there a correlation between the Hollis/Pooley and Lococco/Ketcher relationships? Why was Vinnie so consumed with helping Richie (especially, like Frank mentioned, when we had never heard Vinnie speak of him before)?

Issue 13

Issue 13 was planned for January/February 1996 but was never published. The planned discussion topics were:

1. From Katy D: What was going on in Roger, when Vinnie called him from Lynchboro? where was he staying that Vinnie knew the phone number?
2. From Ann: Hey, that's a question —— list your fav Mel—isms (great Profitt lines) Or any favorite lines. Next arc is the Garment Industry, as well as Stairway To Heaven and White Noise! Good ones! Let's start off with:
3. How did Vinnie's injury, and Raglin's entry into their lives, change the relationship between Vinnie Frank? Was Vinnie curious about the bond between Raglin and Frank? Was Frank afraid that Vinnie would end up like Raglin?
4. What was it about their situations that led Frank to feel uncomfortable coming to Vinnie's house in the middle of the night in Stairway to Heaven? Do you think that was #Vinnie "told" Sonny he'd made his peace with him —- Do you think that's true? Do you think Vinnie ever told Frank about his dream?
5. What was going through Frank's mind when Jenn asked him to leave? Was it a relief? A blow?