Roger O Green

Is network television dead?

Rhimes, Bellasario, and Wolf

law and order With all of the streaming, cable, and other options of TV viewing, I’ve wondered if network television is dead. 2021 has brought three MORE hour-long spinoffs of established shows. And the majority of all of these programs are from the same production house.

At least, Young Sheldon (CBS, Fri, 8 pm ET) is a 30-minute comedy replacing Big Bang Theory on the schedule. I’ve never seen it, BTW.

Seattle

Two or three years ago, I came across a survey of shows that started since 2015 that teens were watching. Much to my surprise, one of the popular selections was Grey’s Anatomy (ABC, Th 9 pm ET), a medical soap opera that started in 2005 by Shonda Rhimes. She’s had some other successful such as Scandal (2012-018), and How to Get Away with Murder (2014-2020), as well as the often terrible Grey’s spinoff. Private Practice (2007-2013).

For the next spinoff, she set Station 19 (ABC, Th 8 pm), a piece about firefighters, in Seattle, just like Grey’s. This allowed more opportunities for crossovers. For instance, Chandra Wilson as Dr. Miranda Bailey has appeared on Station 19 at least a dozen times. Dr. Bailey is married to Dr. Ben Warren, now a firefighter on Station 19, who’s appeared on Grey’s at least 30 times since his character moved from the hospital program.

My daughter began watching Station 19 on her own. Later she learned that Okieriete Onaodowan (Dean Miller) played Hercules Mulligan and James Madison in the original production of the Broadway musical Hamilton, which made her quite excited.

Naval Criminal Investigative Service

She discovered reruns of NCIS (CBS, M, 9 pm, 2003-). It is actually a spinoff of JAG (1995-2005). As the parent, I had to check out what the daughter was watching. It wouldn’t have been my first pick.

It was the vision of Donald P. Bellisario, who often has his protagonists as current or former members of the United States armed forces. Tom Selleck’s character in Magnum, P.I., Jan-Michael Vincent’s character in Airwolf; and Albert “Al” Calavicci in Quantum Leap are some examples.

There is also an NCIS: Los Angeles (CBS, F, 9 pm, 2009-) that my daughter has no interest in. Ditto with NCIS: New Orleans (2014-2021), which just left the CBS schedule. But now there’s an NCIS: Hawai’i (CBS, M, 10 pm, 2021-).

Dick Wolf

The rest of the shows are the aegis of Wolf Films. That is to say, Dick Wolf, the executive producer. The two FBI shows Tuesday nights on CBS, FBI (8 pm, 2018-) and FBI: Most Wanted (10 pm, 2020-) are joined in 2021 by FBI: International (9 pm, ET). “Elite agents of the FBI’s International division as they travel the world with the mission of protecting Americans wherever they may be.” I saw one episode of the eldest show.

Chicago owns NBC Wednesdays. Chicago Med (8 pm, 2015– ), Chicago Fire (9 pm, 2012- NBC), and Chicago P.D. (10 pm, 2014– ). At least once, the stories leaped from one show to the next.

But Wolf is best known for being the executive producer of the Law and Order franchise. The original ran from 1990-2010. I used to watch the Lenny Briscoe (the late Jerry Orbach) seasons. The quirky Criminal Intent (2001-2011) I’ve actually just discovered. There are a few more series.

Special Victims Unit (NBC, Th 9 pm, 1999-) is the longest-running scripted drama on television, surpassing Gunsmoke (1955-1975). The show became a personal issue a couple of summers ago, before COVID when my daughter was watching it at the family timeshare. Her parents had watched it with her at home, but others were less comfortable about her viewing it.

The sound effect

The newest entry in the brand is Organized Crime (NBC, Th 10 pm, 2021-). Despite starring a character who started on SVU, Christopher Meloni as Detective Elliot Stabler, it has a very different feel. It does the famous Chung Chung sound effect exactly once per episode. Having watched it a few times because it crossed over with SVU, I now know that it is a vile program.

Characters are crossing over all of the time in the Wolf universe. And actors on one Wolf show will end up as a different character in another Wolf program. A discussion of those phenomena would be lengthy.

A Dick Wolf quote: “TV is not about ideas. It’s about execution. And writing and casting. That’s why most of TV drama’s biggest stars have been character actors, not romantic leads.” His shows, as well as some of the NCIS line, and Grey’s Anatomy, are constantly available in syndicated reruns, likely more profitable than the latest offering from Netflix.

Snail mail: college, Medicare

PAEA

On Monday, October 18, our household received 23 pieces of snail mail. Good golly! Usually, it’s about eight. When I opened the mailbox, items cascaded out.

Seven were for my daughter, almost all of them from colleges that wrote that they want her to apply to their college or university. Five were for my wife, catalogs and bills mostly. Two were jointly for my wife and me from organizations we belong to.

Almost all of the nine for me were from insurance companies. The period from October 15 to December 7 constitutes when I can change coverage for my Medicare supplement, including prescription coverage, dental, and eye care.

My Rx coverage is scheduled to go up about 74%, so I would like to find a company that will cost the same or less while providing similar coverage. There IS a process for this, but it involves entering the names of all of my physicians and pharmaceuticals. Tedious but necessary.

One of the pieces of mail is from an organization that I ostensibly agree with philosophically. But I don’t give them money because they mail the solicitation to Roger C. Green. Actually, I get quite a few of them each month, and I haven’t given any of them a dime. Get my name from some mailing list company, then you hope the information is correct.

He brings me no joy

Of course, thinking about the mail makes me think of the dreadful and corrupt Louis DeJoy. I’ve discovered that a lot of people don’t understand why Biden hasn’t just fired him as Postmaster General. It’s not that simple.

“DeJoy still runs the Postal Service because he maintains the backing of its board of governors. This bipartisan, nine-member body oversees the service’s expenditures and operations and appoints postmasters general — and decides how long their tenures last. Six of the governors, including the board’s chairman, Ron Bloom, are Trump appointees; Biden has appointed three.

“Unless Biden wants to try removing governors for cause, he can replace them only when their seven-year terms end or they step aside prematurely. Those rules are meant to protect the Postal Service from partisan meddling and generally make it hard for presidents to reshape it without waging political battles.

The plan

DeJoy’s announcement is to make the service slower and more costly in the near term.

There is a positive aspect of the plan, though. “The Postal Service is requesting that Congress pass legislation that enables us to fully integrate Postal Service retiree health plans with Medicare and eliminate the retiree health benefit pre-funding obligations imposed by the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA) of 2006.” The PAEA HAS been an onerous burden on the USPS and reflects much of the losses for the entity in the past 15 years. This should be passed by Congress.

Going to church together, or not

Live! In person!

My wife and I have usually gone to church together over the past 22+ years. But often, we didn’t sit together, as I was usually perched in the choir loft while she was sitting in the congregation. The exception was during the summer when the choir was usually off. She really liked it, but it felt somewhat foreign to me.

Then there was the pandemic. When our service returned on Facebook beginning March 22, 2020, it was us sitting together watching a screen together. And we’d do communion together, either something my wife baked that weekend or a cracker to eat, homemade grape juice, or Nine Pin Cider to drink.

But we would be on separate computers for the adult education class. We had different ZOOM styles in terms of when to be on mute. For me, it was almost always, when I wasn’t speaking. Also, I found that couples on the same ZOOM screen are harder to hear/understand and especially more difficult to see.

On June 20, 2021, we began the in-person church, and we both went through the summer live, except once when we were away.

Risk assessment

So it’s curious that now we’re doing church differently again. We both go to adult ed online. But then I go to church in person, while my wife has decided to go back online. She’s teaching kids, most too young to be fully vaccinated yet, whereas I really don’t see that many people.

I was having a discussion about COVID and risk with a friend. It reminded me of a comment to a recent Weekly Sift article. “When there’s a threat with no end in sight…, we need to also measure risk against the reward… Eating in a restaurant is risky, so I won’t eat inside just any restaurant, but I will eat inside my favorite restaurant. Not because the risk is lower, but because the reward is high (in my case). For other people, it might be that you’ll spend time in a small room for a long time with vaccinated family but not with vaccinated strangers.”

My choir met at church on October 14 for the first time in 19 months, and we sang! All full vaccinated, masked, and distanced – it was difficult to hear the tenors – but we sang. And we didn’t suck! It wasn’t for the service, yet, but maybe we’ll record something in the next month or two to be used.

Rule of thumb: when there is both a remote and face-to-face option, I’ll almost always opt fr the latter. But I never mock other people’s more cautious approach.

Faux title songs #8: Prine-Simple Minds

Queen, Radiohead, SHeDAISY

These are more faux title songs. The album name appears as a lyric, but it’s not the title song. There is no actual title song, but these can be faux title songs.

When I Get To Heaven – John Prine. Album: The Tree Of Forgiveness. Lyrics: “I’m gonna open up a nightclub called ‘The Tree of Forgiveness'”

Over and Done With – The Proclaimers. Album: This Is the Story. Lyrics: “This is the story of our first teacher.”

Man With a Mission – Procol Harum. Album: The Prodigal Stranger. Lyrics: “I’m the prodigal stranger; I’ll burn down the house”

p:Machinery – Propaganda. Album: A Secret Wish. Lyrics: “A secret wish the marrying of lies” Public Enemy’s “Party For Your Right to Fight” concludes with the line: And it takes a nation of millions to hold us back.

The Order of Death – Public Image Ltd. Album: This Is What You Want… This is What You Get.

Dancer – Queen. Album: Hot Space. Lyrics: “Hot space let’s go!”
More of That Jazz – Queen. Album: Jazz. Lyrics: “No more of that jazz.”
Play The Game – Queen. Album: The Game. Lyrics: “Play the game, everybody play the game.”

R

Identikid – Radiohead. Album: A Moon Shaped Pool. Lyrics: “A moon-shaped pool, dancing clothes.”
2+2=5 (The Lukewarm) – Radiohead. Album: Hail To The Thief. Lyrics: “All hail to the thief.”
Reckoner – Radiohead. Album: In Rainbows. Lyrics: “Like ripples on a blank shore In rainbows.”

Stargazer – Rainbow. Album: Rising. Lyrics: “I see a rainbow rising!”

Do You Remember Rock and Roll Radio? – Ramones. Album: End Of The Century. Lyrics: “It’s the end, the end of the century.”

Heart of the Sun – Red Box. Album: The Circle and the Square. Lyrics: “ah! contrasting ceremonies, the circle and the square”

Hold On – Lou Reed. Album: New York. Lyrics: “There’s no such thing as human rights when you walk the N.Y. streets.”

Blue – R.E.M. Album: Collapse Into Now. Lyrics: “Twentieth century: Collapse into now.”
Circus Envy – R.E.M. Album: Monster. Lyrics: “Make way for Monster jealousy.”

We’ll Inherit the Earth – The Replacements. Album: Don’t Tell a Soul. Lyrics: “We’ll inherit the earth but don’t tell anybody. Don’t tell a soul” -I have this CD.

Ro

Forever As the Moon – Chris Robinson Brotherhood. Album: Anyway You Love, We Know How You Feel.

Establishment Blues – Sixto Rodriguez. Album: Cold Fact. Lyrics: “And that’s a concrete cold fact”

Street Life – Roxy Music. Album: Stranded: Lyrics: “You may be stranded if you stick around And that’s really something.”

Roadtrip – Runrig. Album: Everything you see. Lyrics: “Everything You See Is everything you need.”

Mission – Rush. Album: Hold Your Fire. Lyrics: “Hold your fire Keep it burning bright.”
Chemistry – Rush. Album: Signals. Lyrics: “Signals transmitted, message received”
The Enemy Within – Rush. Album: Grace Under Pressure. Lyrics: “I’m not giving in to security under pressure”
Prime Mover – Rush. Live show video: A Show Of Hands. Lyrics: A “Alternating currents force a show of hands”
Animate – Rush. Album: Counterparts. Lyrics: “My counterpart, my foolish heart”
Armor and Sword – Rush. Album: Snakes and Arrows. Lyrics: “The snakes and arrows a child is heir to are enough to leave a thousand cuts”

S

Smooth Operator – Sade. Album: Diamond Life. Lyrics: “Diamond nights and ruby lights high in the sky”

Lyke Wake Dirge – Buffy Sainte-Marie. Album: Fire & Fleet & Candlelight. Lyrics: “Fire and sleet and candle light.”

Storm Clouds – Samiam. Album: Whatever’s Got You Down. Lyrics: “Will find your way around Whatever’s got you down.”

Gitano – Santana. Album: Amigos. Lyrics: “Goza como gozo yo, amigo.”

The Shadow – Timothy B. Schmit. Album: Feed the Fire. Lyrics: “We need to feed the fire Gotta stir the wind”
All Those Faces – Timothy B. Schmit. Album: Leap of Faith. Lyrics: “Kick your boots off Take a leap of faith”

Rock You Like A Hurricane – Scorpions. Album: Love at First Sting. Lyrics: “On the hunt tonight for love at first sting.”

Satyagraha – 7 Seconds. Album: Soulforce Revolution. Lyrics: “I won’t embrace this thing so blind, A soul force revolution”

Sh

I Will… But – SHeDAISY. Album: The Whole Shebang. Lyrics: “I will, I will be the whole shebang.”
Passenger Seat – SHeDAISY. Album: Sweet Right Here. Lyrics: “Ooh, life’s so sweet right here in the passenger seat.”
23 Days -SHeDAISY. Album: Fortunetellers Melody. Lyrics: “It’s a fortuneteller’s melody, it’s how you make me feel.” No video found.

One By One All Day – The Shins. Album: Oh, Inverted World. Lyrics: “And she was no ordinary girl. Oh, inverted world”
Young Pilgrims – The Shins. Album: Chutes Too Narrow. Lyrics: “And ended up the kind of kid who goes down chutes too narrow.”

Las Vegas – Shonen Knife. Album: Fun! Fun! Fun!. Lyrics: “Fun! Fun! Fun! The Fun! Fun! Fun!”

Under the Lights – Shriekback. Album: Jam Science. Lyrics: “Jam Science… and quietly chewing sparks”

Scarborough Fair/Canticle – Simon and Garfunkel. Album: Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, And Thyme. Lyrics: “Are you going to Scarborough Fair? Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme.” Of course, I have this album, on vinyl.

Train In The Distance – Paul Simon. Greatest hits compilation: Negotiations and Love Songs. “Negotiations and love songs Are often mistaken for one and the same.” I own this CD, and it was one of the examples that triggered this exercise.

Book of Brilliant Things – Simple Minds – Sparkle In The Rain. Lyrics: “I thank you for the lightning that shoots up and sparkles in the rain.”

Going to my 50th high school reunion

1971

bchs1971-50th-roger-o-green As I mentioned, I attended the 50th Binghamton Central High School reunion on Saturday, September 25. It was held on a pavilion in Ross Park, a place I went to a lot in my childhood. I felt that I really should attend. For the 45th, I dithered publicly online about maybe/probably going and ended up not making the trip.

Actually, there was a gathering at a bar called My Uncle’s Place the night before this year’s event. It’s on something called East Service Road, which turns out to be a service road parallel to I-88/Route 7. I called a couple of taxi companies. The first dispatcher actually asked me, “Who is your uncle?” “No, it’s the name of the place…” Anyway, I met about 20 people, give or take, there, and I had a pleasant time. I also got a ride back to my hotel with Yvonne and Sharon.

I had to change hotels the day of the reunion and had to check out of one venue before checking in the other. So I ended up hanging out at… OK, you might be able to guess… at the library. The downtown facility of my growing up was on Exchange Street where I worked as a page for a few months during high school, reshelving older magazines and putting on microfilm for patrons. That Carnegie library in the midst of being repurposed. The current library on Court Street is where there was an old Giant grocery store. It’s actually quite nice.

At the pavilion

My friend Bill, who I’ve only known since kindergarten picked me up at the library. He was with his wife Brenda, who is delightful. I went to their wedding in 1983(?)

I know my family and folks from my church spent a lot of time at the park when I was growing up. I’m sure Bill’s tribe did the same. Yet we were not as certain of precisely how to get there, though we made it there easily.

There were some people I was really happy to see. Keith, who’s been known to read this blog. Lois, who I’ve known since kindergarten. Lonna who I knew from the drama club. I spent some time talking with Mike, one of the organizers and who lived two blocks from my house growing up, who got injured by trying to do the right thing. I liked Mike’s wife Diane, though she had gone to a different high school.

Barbara is the cousin of one of my oldest friends. I didn’t recognize one guy because his nametag said Alex; Rusty, I DID remember. Two teachers were there, Jack Sinchaski, who I had for physics, and Carl Young, who was a history teacher who eventually became the County Executive for Broome County.

What we needed were those nametags 1) printed, with a larger font than the handwritten pieces, optimally with 2) their high school pictures. It’s because I’ve been one of those people who is not great with names and faces.

In fact, I didn’t recognize one guy twice in a four-decade span. When I went to my 10th reunion, one guy I was friendly with in high school I simply didn’t recognize because he had a severely receding hairline. He was really ticked off with me too. Didn’t recognize him this time either.

More information, please

For me, It’s like seeing a picture of James Taylor from the Sweet Baby James era of 1970, then one from That’s Why I’m Here in 1985. If his name wasn’t printed there, I’m not 100% sure I would have recognized him.

This explains, I suppose, why I tended to recognize the women at the reunion, and similar situations, easier than the men. There was a segment on some show years ago, probably 60 Minutes, where the correspondent could show pictures of noteworthy people when they were children and the subject of the piece could identify the celebrity; one was the correspondent, Mike Wallace. That is SO much not me.

high school reunion.JanK.Jan1971 — **The January 1971 BCHS graduates. The June 1971 class was also present. Used with permission of the photographer (C)2021 JK**