Will Rogers Was Right May 1, 2004 12:00 am

 
Remember the old adage about "If you don't like the weather in Oklahoma, wait a minute"? Sure is true this week:


Pay attention to the differential between Sunday morning and Wednesday afternoon. 2:00pm
 

Site Notice May 1, 2004 12:00 am

Shareholders in Paradise May 2, 2004 12:00 am

I realize this guy is probably right behind Alan Greenspan among the most influential people in the business world, but that doesn't stop me from thinking every time I hear his name if he's gonna break out into a rendition of "Margaritaville". 9:23am
 

Virtual Reality, The Hard Way May 2, 2004 12:00 am

 
Very interesting story about the island nation of Tuvalu, in serious danger of sinking beneath the Pacific Ocean, and what would happen to its web domain, .tv, if that should happen. 3:53am
 

This Is a Test. This Is Only a Test. BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP May 3, 2004 12:00 am

 
Aforementioned conversion to FrontPage is now complete, save for seeing if my blog program is compatible with it. This is the test. If this entry shows up on the website, then FrontPage is complete.

Already made some updates to the road site using it. Kicking myself for not converting years ago. 7:26pm
 

The One with the Ratings Results May 7, 2004 12:00 am

 
The overnight ratings are in, and the series finale of Friends has come in as the fourth-highest series finale of all time, following only the ends of M*A*S*H, Cheers and Seinfeld.

Two oddities about the numbers. First, it will not wind up being the most-rated episode of Friends. That honor goes to Year Two's "The One After the Super Bowl". Given what its lead-in was, you can probably understand why.

And second, of those four highest-rated season finales, when you include any retrospective shows that may have immediately preceded them, three of those four shows aired in the same time slot: the first two prime-time hours of Thursday night. The exception was the 2½-hour M*A*S*H finale, which aired on a Monday and, incidentally, was preceded by a new episode of Alice. 8:08pm
 

The Three Religious Truths May 20, 2004 12:00 am

 
1. Jews do not recognize Jesus as the Messiah.

2. Protestants do not recognize the Pope as the leader of the Christian faith.

3. Baptists do not recognize each other in the liquor store or at Hooters. 12:24pm
 

Fall TV Schedule May 20, 2004 12:00 am

 
You may remember last year at this time I talked about the new fall TV schedule, as it pertained to what I would be avidly watching. At the time all the network programs I would be watching were conveniently scrunched into only two nights, Wednesday & Thursday. A couple of changes were made as to what I watched: never got around to Tru Calling, as I expected it to be cancelled after only a few weeks. Big error on my part: it just got renewed for a second season. And when my dad died, I had to stop watching That 70's Show: it was his favorite program, and watching it would only remind me that he was gone.

This coming fall, the bulk of the network programming that interests me is still confined to Wednesday and Thursday, although this year there are programs on Friday and Sunday I'll be keeping track of as well:

--Wednesdays at 7pm on the WB: Smallville (loved last night's season finale: Clark was forcibly kidnapped by Jor-El, Lana was on a plane bound for Paris, Martha was witnessing a Kryptonian symbol being burned into the Kent yard, Lionel was in prison waiting for his fatal disease to kill him, and everyone else appeared to have been killed! Also, Clark witnessed his first signs that Lex will become his enemy.)

--Wednesdays at 8pm on the WB: Blue Collar TV: sketch comedy series with three of the stars of the "Blue Collar Comedy Tour", followed at 8:30 by Drew Carey's Green Screen Show, sort-of a combination of Whose Line Is It Anyway? and one of the regular segments on that show, the one with Colin as a reporter in front of a green screen reporting on something he can't see but the rest of us can. They cancelled Angel for these?!

--Wednesdays at 9pm on CBS: CSI:NY: over the past year I have become a big fan of the original CSI series, although I just have not gotten into the Miami spin-off. Plan to watch NY until I decide whether or not I like it.

--Thursdays at 7pm on NBC: the Friends spinoff, Joey, followed by Will & Grace.

--Thursdays at 8pm on CBS: the original CSI

--Fridays at 8pm on UPN: Star Trek: Enterprise: this time slot marks the death-knell for this series: not only will it be up against the similarly-genred Stargate SG-1 on the Sci-Fi Channel, but a move to Friday is what killed the original Star Trek back in 1969.

--Sundays at 7pm on ABC: Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, the only home-makeover show on network TV. Need to watch it while it lasts: this article from Newsweek suggests the way the network has attempted to keep the homeowners from paying exorbitant taxes on the remade house may backfire.

Biggest disappointment of the fall lineup: a planned WB updating of Dark Shadows never made it past the pilot stage. 11:54am
 

Our Long Nail-Chewing Nightmare Is Over May 22, 2004 12:00 am

 
It has finally been announced: "Baba O'Riley" will be The Who's theme song for CSI:NY. We can now all sleep easier knowing it won't be "Pinball Wizard". 11:21pm
 

Why America Is Safer: The Horrific Reason May 31, 2004 12:00 am

 
While watching today's Memorial Day coverage, and seeing a story about how America is safer from terrorism because of our fighting forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, it finally hit me as to why, and it unsettles me greatly. America is safer from terrorism not because, as many would have you believe, US forces are battling terrorism overseas.

It's because US forces are battling terrorism overseas.

In other words, in the terrorists' back yard.

Why should the terrorists go to all the trouble of planning strikes all the way over here in the United States, risking almost certain capture, when all they have to do is attack US soldiers on their home turf?! We may think that, by being in Iraq and Afghanistan, we're stopping the war on terror, because there have been no further strikes on American soil. All we've done is make things a lot easier on the terrorists. By going to them, they now have no reason to come to us.

This realization has confused me a lot. To the rest of the world we're nothing but a bunch of bullies for invading Iraq on what has turned out to be the lamest of excuses (stopping Saddam from using the Weapons of Mass Destruction that, near as we've been able to tell, he didn't have), one of the reasons I was against the invasion of Iraq (I did, however, support going into Afghanistan to bring down the Taliban; these are two totally different issues). Once we were there, though, I agreed we needed to oust Saddam once and for all, something that should've been done a dozen years earlier.

And while I'm grateful that the soldiers' presence over there appears to be preventing terrorists attacks over here (that has to be the reason; whenever I hear the term "Homeland Security" the first thing that comes to my mind is a retired-officer-turned-security-guard at my local convenience store), the realization that they are effectively serving as a distraction for the terrorists tells me they are in unnecessary danger and should come home. But if they leave, the mainland can once again be considered a risk.

(I strongly and will always support our troops: I'm just not too sure about their Commander-in-Chief.)

I need an Advil. 5:40pm