Category: television

Friday News Chum Stew

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

Today is Friday, and that must mean the lunch menu is news chum stew. Let’s see what tasty morsels are in today’s offering:

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Sometimes They Write Themselves

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

In an interesting real life twist for some fictional characters, the film crew for the TV series Law and Order: Los Angeles found a real handgun while filiming in West LA this week. They turned it into the LAPD, who will conduct a test firing to see if it can be associated with any open crimes.

So, who expects a LOLA episode about a film crew in Los Angeles that find a real gun while filming…

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Old Time TV People

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

Today’s lunchtime news chum brings together three articles about folks that were once in the news:

  • Edward R. Murrow. The NY Times has a nice article on Edward R. Murrow High School in NYC, where there was once a vaunted TV news and production training program. Alas, technology moves and the schools can’t keep up, and what was once model training is outdated… attendance drops, and the program gets killed in budget cuts. This is of interest to me as my daughter currently attends a performing arts magnet, which has the same problems: with school budgets tightening, how can schools afford to keep up-to-date and current and provide relevant technical training?
  • David Horowitz. Growing up in Los Angeles, you couldn’t miss the maverick consumer reporters we once had: David Horowitz on KNBC 4, Alan Mendelson on KCAL 9, and Judd McIlvain on KCBS 2. News budgets get cut, and these reporters have disappeared. The LA Times has a nice article on whatever happened to them. Many have gone to the for-profit side: still pushing consumer issues, but for paying customers. Some do infomercials. Sigh.
  • Marlo Thomas. Growing up, I used to watch That Girl on ABC. It was one show you never really saw in reruns; you certainly don’t see it today. Yet Marlo Thomas is still around, and hawking her new book about growing up with her dad.

Bonus Chum

And a bonus item for you: How about a spaghetti taco? It appears that a one-time joke inserted into a Disney channel show has become a culinary reality. It’s amazing how things happen. Next thing you know, I’ll be reading about someone attempting a revival of that classic theatrical flop, Carrie. Oh, right.

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From the “Get a Clue” Department: Board Games on TV

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

One more item I found that should provoke some discussion: In an article in the LA Times on the new “Hub” network—a joint venture of Discovery and Hasbro: “The Hub’s original-series lineup is heavy with Hasbro tie-ins such as “Family Game Night,” an hourlong show in which contestants play giant-size versions of the company’s familiar games including Cranium, Twister and Yahtzee.”

This got me thinking. Hasbro is the borg of gaming: they also own Wizards of the Coast and Avalon Hill. Can you imagine if they extended the concept to their adult gaming line? Aside from shows based on Dungeons and Dragons (which has been done before), imagine the possibilities:

  • A drama of global warfare and conflict, based on Risk
  • A drama of World War II, based on Axis and Allies
  • A drama set in the early days of Las Vegas, pitting tycoons against each other to raise the status of their casinos, based on Vegas Showdown
  • A horror series based on Betrayal on the House on the Hill

But keep thinking. Support Hasbro got beat up for only featuring their games. Now suppose they went to the other manufactures: Days of Wonder, Queens games, etc. Just imagine games based on Carcassone, Ticket to Ride, 10 Days in Africa, Agricola, Traumfabrik, Power Grid. What would your favorite board game look like, if it was turned into a TV series?

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Thursday Miscellany

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

A few collected items from lunchtime reading. Departments include “@#*$$!% Television”, “Smurf Field”, and “That Time of Year”.

  • From the “@#*$$!% Television” Department: On television tonight we have an interesting train-wreck: “$#*! My Dad Says”. The reviews have been decidedly lukewarm, although more entertaining than the show itself. From the LA Times:

    One thing connects the protagonists of the comedies “$#*! My Dad Says” and “Outsourced,” premiering Thursday on CBS and NBC, respectively: They owe money on student loans, which limits their life choices to moving in with Dad, in the first instance, and moving to India, in the second. Otherwise, these series are as different as tomatoes and ketchup, with the distinction that both tomatoes and ketchup are good, but one of these shows is not.

    This review also has the line: “William Shatner, who has most always played comedy whether or not he was playing in a comedy…”. USA Today states “Not a single thing William Shatner’s Dad has said in those ubiquitous CBS ads has been even remotely funny, a trend that continues in tonight’s premiere.” As for the NY Times, it opines “…a wholly generic sitcom so divorced from its source material that you have to pinch yourself to remember it had anything to do with the Internet, or with the world after 1985. It might as well have been based on a greeting card.” However, the show has had one interesting side-effect: it has created a problem for DVR manufacturers, who can’t program the characters in the title into the search function. Perhaps this is yet another reason for the show to die. My prediction: Come mid-season, we’ll see “Rules of Engagement” gone, and “Big Bang Theory” returned to the 830p Monday slot. It is unclear yet whether “Survivor” will return to Thursday.

  • From the “Smurf Field” Department: The LA Times has an interesting story on Boise State, and its blue astroturf football field. Yes, I said “blue”. A one-time BSU athletic director thought that, for $750,000, the school was “going to take out a green field and put in another green field”. The school’s colors were orange and blue, and an orange field was out, so…. Competitors have gone so far buy 440 gallons of paint to color one of their practice fields blue.
  • From the “That Time of Year” Department: For all the discussions about the abnormally hot weather this summer in the East, it was the coldest summer in decades in Southern California. Personally, I think there were only two weeks all summer with 100+ days, and perhaps one additional week with 90+ days. This is unusual: we normally have entire months that are over 100° (but out here, it’s a dry heat… literally… we normally run 10%-15% humidity). Of course, now that it is Autumn, it looks like we’ll hit over 100° this weekend.
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Saturday Morning News Chum

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

A few select items gathered over the week:

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Tuesday News Chum: Cursing on TV, Facebook Panic Buttons, Accepting Women as They Are, and Baseball

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

Some quick lunchtime news chum for your dining enjoyment:

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Thursday News Chum: ATM PINs, Olympic Mascots, Looney Tunes, McDonalds, and Jewish Single-Malt

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

I was hoping for a theme, but alas, that was not to be. Here are a few items that caught my eye from skimming the papers the last few days over lunch:

  • From the “He Made It Too Easy” Department: The Chicago Tribune brings the obit of John Shepherd-Barron, the inventor of the ATM machine. We all know how we are stuck with 98.6 as normal human temperature because the inventor’s wife had an illness when the calibration was done. It turns out there is a similar story on why ATM PINs, and PINs in general, are a relatively insecure four digits: “Shepherd-Barron originally planned to make PINs six digits long, but cut the number to four after his wife, Caroline, complained that six was too many. “Over the kitchen table, she said she could only remember four figures, so because of her, four figures became the world standard,” he told the BBC.” The first ATM machine was installed in 1967!
  • From the “Hidey, Howdy, Izzy, Syd, Ollie, and Millie” Department: And the question is: “Who were some of the worst Olympic mascots?” The National Post has a nice article today looking back on some of the worst Olympic mascots, including photographs.
  • From the “They’re All A Little Looney” Department: The New York Times has a nice article on the upcoming reincarnation of the classic Looney Tunes on CN. It includes a nice history of other attempts, including Tiny Toons (which was somewhat successful), “The Loonatics Unleashed” (which was horrid), and “Baby Looney Tunes” (the mind just boggles). No mention of “Duck Dodgers”, tho. It will be interesting to see how the new incarnation fares.
  • From the “A Force for Good” Department: That’s how McDonald’s CEO Jim Skinner characterized Ronald McDonald, who isn’t going anywhere despite protests calling for his abolition. What is going away is the McDonalds physical look, as the chain is introducing an updated look that is significantly more modern. Out will go the iconic red mansard roof and cafeteria-style lighting, and in will come a stone or brick exterior and more modern furniture. There will be zone-seating areas, so the customer has the opportunity to use the restaurant in the manner that fits their lifestyle best, and playlands may disappear from some stores.
  • From the “Yet Another Reason To Drink” Department: The Jewish Journal has an interesting column on the changing Jewish relationship with wine, and how single-malt scotch is now the drink of choice. Why is this happening? The poor quality of Kosher wine, combined with the higher quality with no kashrut issues (except during Pesach) of single-malt.
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