The TV Season


I must admit that it was my intention not to add any new shows to my list of programs to record on my DVR and (presumably) eventually watch. From a DVR at 0% on Labor Day, the machine got filled up to about 77% on Halloween weekend, and currently is is the mid 50% range.

As always, we have shows that are hers, hers, theirs, mine and ours.

HERS (the wife):
Skating. Unfortunately, the ISU series, save for Skate America, is not airing on any TV network, broadcast or cable. Apparently, this is a particularly big deal since we’re leading into an Olympic year and it’ll be easier to handicap the skaters once you’ve seen them on the Grand Prix circuit.
Also one of those home improvement shows on HGTV.

HERS (the daughter):
Little Bear. A nice show on Noggin co-created by Maurice Sendak.

THEIRS:
Dancing with the Stars. Even I know that 82-year-old Cloris Leachman stuck around longer than her talent would suggest based on her bawdy charm.

MINE:
This Week/Meet the Press/ABC World News – current.
Everything else is at least a week behind, including JEOPARDY!, CBS Sunday Morning and 60 Minutes. Also watching:
Boston Legal: yes, I know, but it’s the last season. There was actually a pretty good episode, one lacking with most of the supporting cast, in which Kyle Secor (Homicide) played the accused murderer and husband of Alan Shore’s former loves.
Pushing Daisies: frankly, I thought this show was too whimsical last season to survive, but ABC brought back virtually everything except Men in Trees. I expect it to get canceled THIS season. BTW, some kind person sent me this link to video content they had received directly from ABC, a new “Inside with the Stars” of Pushing Daisies
or here.
Dirty Sexy Money: my unapologetic soap opera trash, and I liked Peter Krause from Sports Night and Donald Sutherland from so many things, most recently, Commander in Chief.
Grey’s Anatomy: more tolerable since Grey and McDreamy have decided to actually have their damn relationship.
Life on Mars: One of the adds to the list. Jason O’Mara has intrigued me going back to a short-lived show called In Justice in 2006. Since then he was a love interest in Men in Trees and an arsonist on The Closer. Additionally, I lived in NYC albeit in 1977, not 1973, but it feels right. Interestingly, this is a short-lived British show that moved to a Los Angeles setting with the cast above to a disastrous result. It now has the cast pictured here and a different venue.
Brothers and Sisters: if you’ve ever had siblings…

OURS:
With the exception of one Earl and one Office, we’ve watched NOTHING on this list- My Name Is Earl, The Office, and at the suggestion of my wife, an add, 30 Rock.

So I never complain about TV shows being pre-empted. There’s always something in the queue. Frankly, I looked forward to November 12, when the CMA Music Awards scuttled the entire ABC lineup for Wednesday.

And no, I’m not adding anything else. I’m sure there are perfectly good shows out there, like How I Met Your Mother (saw once) or Eli Stone or those geeky guys on that CBS Monday sitcom. I’m not going to get invested in Lost or Heroes or Desperate Housewives at this point. Hey, I added 30 Rock.

ROG

Time, TV and Train QUESTIONS

1. Our techie guy wrote: “The U.S. Energy Policy Act of 2005, passed by the U.S. Congress July, 2005, extended Daylight Saving Time (DST) in the U.S. by approximately four weeks. As a result, beginning in 2007, DST will start three weeks earlier on March 11, 2007, and end one week later on November 4, 2007, resulting in a new DST period that is four weeks longer than previously observed. These four weeks are referred to in this article as the “extended DST period”.

We have prepared a plan to correct the Time Zone entries on both your computer and our servers… We will be updating your Exchange Mailboxes on Saturday March 10th, beginning at Noon… As a result, any meeting invitation for the ‘extended DST period’ that was previously sent will be re-sent to each invitee because it will be read as a ‘new time.’ All meeting requests will need to be reaccepted or re-declined in order to update your calendars properly.”

So, the first set of questions: Has the change in Daylight Saving Time been more of a hassle for you at work? At home? I think the DVR will reset on its own, but that the VCR (purchased in 1997 and Y2K compliant!) will not. Other than kids going trick or treating when it’s lighter, do you see any net benefit to the change, which will cost companies an estimated $2 billion to deal with? I don’t, and places that are in the northwest segments of a time zone (Lansing, MI in the east, Bismarck, ND in the central, and Helena, MT in the mountains, it’ll be dark at 8 a.m. on March 12, when kids are going to school. Where’s the energy savings?

2. As you may have heard, there are plans afoot to move the Addison character on Grey’s Anatomy to a spinoff show. There are lots of Kate Walsh fans out there, as she’s the first person I’ve seen on both Tom the Dog’s Object of My Affection list AND Jaquandor’s Realizations Of Womanly Radiance list.

The Ad Age Water Cooler column of February 26 suggests other possibilities for spinoff potential:
Hurley (Jorge Garcia)-Lost
Justin (Mark Indelicato)-Ugly Betty
Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson)-The Office
Kevin Walker (Matthew Rhys)-Brothers & Sisters

Can’t speak for the former two, but I just don’t see it in the latter two, especially Dwight, who is a wonderful character relating to both Angela and Michael. Then again, I didn’t see the potential of seeing spinning off Rhoda from the Mary Tyler Moore Show, though spinning off Maude from All in the Family or even Frasier Crane from Cheers made more sense to me.

So, what do you think of spinning off any of these characters from their shows? Any other ideas?

3. This is actually a work-related request: I need a list of recorded songs about trains. I found a couple lists here and here, but I can’t help but to think they’re missing some obvious tunes that I’m just not thinking of.
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Are NY Giants QB Eli Manning and “24” President Wayne Palmer the Same Guy? [Thanks to MMcG.]

ROG

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