(take a free trial subscrip to B&C to see the pic:
[link] )
SNL Tries Penile Implant
By Staff -- Broadcasting & Cable, 3/20/2005 11:02:00 PM
It's been a while since Saturday Night Live regularly inspired an "I
can't believe they did that!" reaction in viewers, but the March 12
I didn't think this was Ticker-worthy, but it might be of interest:
"There is no escaping the naked lens of High-Definition TV. The picture is so clear that aging signs and skin imperfections are clearly visible. Below is our "Top 10" list of which celebrities look better -- and worse -- in high-def."
TV Barn's TV Picks for Monday, March 21, 2005
by Tom Heald with Jon Delfin
All times Eastern
For PBS programs, check local listings
AARON'S PICKS
“Las Vegas Garden of Love” (9:30 p.m., ABC Family)
You think Pat Robertson is watching anything besides “The 700 Club” on the channel he used to own?
According to the websites of CNN, MSNBC and FOX there is no city being
held hostage in Kyrgystan as a result of yet another fixed election in
a former soviet republic. Check their websites... look hard... I did.
No mention of it anywhere. Funny, though, that both the BBC and Radio
Free Europe list it among their top stories.
From Fox32 News at 9pm this evening on WFLD-Chicago
"at the NCAA Image Awards..."
was said by a weekend anchor who is happens to be African-American, but
probably won't be up for any NAACP awards after that goof. But then, later, he
leads into sports with...
"The field in the NC-2 tournament is getting smaller..."
Sunday, Mar. 20, 2005
The Decency Police
A year after Janet Jackson, activists and Congress are revving up their
drive to clean up the airwaves. Now cable may be next. Has TV gone too
far-or have its critics?
By JAMES PONIEWOZIK
The parents television council believes that too much prime-time TV is
PGage writes...
If you have watched ESPN for even 5 minutes this weekend you have seen
a cut or two from a rather interesting interview the much maligned (by
the hip-impaired) Steven A Smith did with NBA star Tracy McGrady.
T-Mac was unusually frank and honest, but not (IMO anyway) in a
spoiled-brat way, about his relationship with John Weisbrod, the GM of
Is that also true in late night? I always had the impression that
networks would take advantage of people not having to get up the next
morning by putting more stuff on Friday nights, from the Midnight
Special to Fridays to SCTV to the hour-long Carson Daly extravaganzas.
WINK is the CBS affiliate for Fort Myers and vicinity.
I guess I am in the target audience for this, but I find the
commercials during the NCAA programming annoying and not funny, kind
of like those repetitive AOL broadband commercials. The besttake I've
Does anyone else here watch Carnivale on HBO?
(Lonely echo)
I LOVE this show! I know a lot of viewers were put off by the slow
pace of Season 1, but I enjoyed it, and the production values are
absolutely spectacular!
Season 2 picked up the pace and moved much faster. I still found it
the most engrossing program on television, and now there are only two
It is done. The same 25 "classic rock" songs are no longer heard in
Los Angeles. Arrow 93.1 FM was one of LA's two rock'n'roll radio
stations, and it was the worst of the two. Its format was so limited
it was not uncommon to hear the same song driving home from work that
you'd heard driving to work the same morning. It burned out powerhouse
G4's The Screen Savers aired its final episode tonight. Promos began
running on the network today promoting the new show "Attack of the
Show!". It will have the same cast as the final version of TSS, but
none of the expectations of quality and viewership that the previous
version once had.
And no, I have no idea what the heck the name of the show means,
Of course, if the courts rule that the FTC oversteps
its bound in that idiotic broadcast flag decision ...
it'll be the Social Security fight for tech geeks -
never mind the #$^&*@# swearing.
______________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Small Business - Try our new resources site!
That's an interesting link to the 'truth,' of his
credits. I got my 'truth' from Mel Brook's
storytelling on Bob Costas in regards to his old days
with Sid - and the subsequent MY FAVORITE YEAR movie -
guess it was a composite of his days of yore ... as he
tells it, Woody was the guy who never said a word (a
From CYNTHIA TURNER'S Cynopsis:
ABC: Adopted (20th) has cast adopted Christine Baranski to join the cast
about 20-something writer (Andrew Walker) who first learns he is adopted and
then tries navigate life under the influence of two mothers, one played by
Baranski, the other by Bernadette Peters.
href="[link]">The
Tennessean</a>
Amy will grant three wishes in a small town.
Of course, Woody did work on some obscure TV sketch
series called, "Your Shows of Shows," ... for anyone
who has not seen the Mel Brooks-produced movie
inspired by his years also on that writing staff, MY
FAVORITE YEAR - you just have to watch it or re-watch
it! Brilliant!
And in case anyone has missed it - the lamo Dave
scroll down to "But as Aaron Barnhardt writes in this week's TV Barn
column..." after the double-line.
TV Barn's TV Picks for Friday through Sunday, March 18-20, 2005
by Tom Heald with Jon Delfin
All times Eastern
For PBS programs, check local listings
FRIDAY
College Basketball (starting at noon, CBS)
Spring Break specials (5 p.m. and onward, MTV)
7 p.m.
Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends (Cartoon)
I don't think it's an exageration to say that for the last 10 years,
Los Angelinos could tune to KTTV 11 (FOX) at 11pm M-F for an episode
of "The Simpsons." As of Monday that trend ends abruptly with the
debut of the new "Current Affair." Well, at least it's being replaced
by a comedy.
I don't recall when the Maury Povich "Affair" aired in LA, but I don't
I just watched a 1977 episode of "McCloud" in which Tom Snyder
interviewed Count Dracula... rather a direct blood relative of the
original blood sucking count.
The silliness of the story and the surprise of the cameo aside, I
never knew Tom had brown hair.
--
Kevin Marousek, RPCV
marou...@gmail.com
I found this comment, buried in a story about Allen's new movie "Melinda and Melinda," amusing:
He said he was not familiar with Ferrell, an eight-year veteran of TV's Saturday Night Live and star of film comedies such as "Old School" and "Elf," until he was shown some of his movies.
"I thought the movies were moronic, but he's a funny guy," Allen said.
After decades of subordination to McMahon et al's self-explanatory
performances, the wrestling many of us knew from college / grade
school is ready for prime time. It has TV deals with Pax and FSN.
--
BOB
TV Barn's TV Picks for Thursday, March 17
by Tom Heald with Jon Delfin
All times Eastern
For PBS programs, check local listings
Insert Tom Heald's favorite Irish joke here.
AARON'S PICK
“Harvest of Shame” (9 p.m., Discovery Times)
Most TV shows do not stand the test of time. They weren’t meant to. But Edward R. Murrow’s searing indictment of American agribusiness is as riveting today as it must have been when it first aired nearly 45 years ago.
[Beginning of forwarded text...]
[...end of forwarded text.]
AT&T actually tested it here in the SF Bay Area - it
has all the features of regular TiVo but not the
latest software for streaming, etc ... since the new
announcement is skimpy - it's hard to say what's what
but hey, if you can get butter, why settle for
margarine ... the Comcast DVR works pretty well but
For some reason, the HD signal for KMBC, the KC ABC affiliate, is as dead
as Jacko's chances of landing a hosting gig at Chuckee Cheese's. No LOST
or Alias in HD for the KC market tonight, which is truly
unfortunate. Seeing Jennifer Garner's wardrobe changes in high definition
is always a high point to the week.
For those that can't wait, this web site will be showing the second
episode (deemed better for preview purposes than the pilot) of "The
Office" (NBC style) at 8p ET/5p PT. Not sure if you need to register.
[link]
--roy
Reuters, quoting sources, says that Kevin Martin will be named FCC
chairman. Awaiting a dispatch today from the Commission...
--
BOB
"Oh Aaron, thank you for bringing back summaries to the Ticker! Like a trained seal, I'd grown accustomed to clicking on the tiny + next to items whose headline seemed intriguing, often to be disappointed at the summary. Your new structure -- a shorter Ticker with full summaries -- rewards regular readers with its streamlined functionality."
TV Barn's TV Picks for Wednesday, March 16, 2005
by Tom Heald with Jon Delfin
All times Eastern
For PBS programs, check local listings
Support Tom Heald, who's having his head shaved on March 17th to raise money for children's cancer research, at
[link]
TV Barn's TV Picks for Wednesday, March 16, 2005
by Tom Heald with Jon Delfin
All times Eastern
For PBS programs, check local listings
Support Tom Heald, who's having his head shaved on March 17th to raise money for children's cancer research, at
[link]
Wasn't that nice of The Chief to give the TVB weekly mailing's lead
story over to that Texas-sized John Peel tribute piece I'd written up
for a local alt-freebie here. It's kinda long but you might enjoy
it. I put a ton of work into it. Your feedback is welcomed.
Maybe John Peel was a little under your radar. He was both a visible
Tragically, Chief, the Sporting News beat you to the phrase.
And, there is a 64th game in the tournament (they've been doing this
since the 2001 tourney) played in Dayton, Ohio, which is TONIGHT from 6pm
Central (The New TNN carried it the first year, all years since ESPN
networks have done it)
If you want a free NAB ticket (courtesy of FINAL
DRAFT), 1. Go to [link]
2. Select Registration
3. Click VIP Exhibits Pass
4. Enter Code MJ0267
I think you have until mid April (13th?) to sign up -
itherwise, it's $20 (4 prime rib dinners in Vegas or
3/4 of a breakfast in NYC :-)
Okay, this is really only of interest to those in the KC area or those
Mancow listeners who remember Eric Mueller's rants about having worked for
the former Dean of KC over-the-top morning jock radio. I'm speaking, of
course, about Randy Miller, the man who never met a joke he didn't steal.
Comcast has signed a deal with TiVo to offer its service to Comcast
customers. The announcement caused TiVo's stock to jump almost 50%
This is, as far as I know, the first deal that TiVo has ever reached
with a cable company.
TV Barn's TV Picks for Tuesday, March 15, 2005
by Tom Heald with Jon Delfin
All times Eastern
For PBS programs, check local listings
Tom Heald wants to know how many ova Julius et.
AARON'S PICK
"The Shield" (10 p.m., FX; runs long)
When “The Shield” arrived three years ago - actually, when the chiseled Michael Chiklis broke down the door as Vic Mackey, a compromised hero with attitude - it rendered “NYPD Blue” and all those other self-styled “gritty” cop shows instantly irrelevant.
Roll call... who else on the list will be attending NAB in Vegas in
April besides me? A relative arranged for tickets and I hadn't seen
him in a while, plus I so love geeky TV technology. Besides, I haven't
been to Vegas since 1989... it hasn't changed much, has it?
--
Kevin Marousek, RPCV
marou...@gmail.com
I tuned into Air America's Unfiltered for a while today (it's been on
probation with me since they attacked Terry Gross and Fresh Air) and
noticed Lizz Winstead was gone. I did a Google news search and found
it in MediaWeek and on the wonkette blog, but no place else. No real
explanation of why she's gone. Anyone have a clue what happened? As I
I didn't see this on the ticker and I think some of you might get
a chuckle out of it...
Wrecks
<[link]>IDOL
BOSSES LEAP TO ACTION AS GAY
On Mon, 21 Feb 2005 16:20:15 cst, Mark Jeffries asked, as an aside,
inside the thread "The First Five Years":
SNL Studios, the venture of NBC and Paramount headed by Lorne which
became the licensor of all things SNL, launched in 1997. While run
by Lorne, it remained separate from Broadway Video.
While you're picking up your copy of "The Incredibles" tomorrow (my
buyers assume you'll be picking them up since I recieved 45 of them
today), here are the TV DVDs for the week. It's largely a British
Invasion:
La Femme Nikita - Season 2 (unlike the season 1 packaging, they
actually made Peta Wilson appear attractive)
Hello all,
Given the significant numbers of animation fans here, maybe someone can
answer this question:
My daughter and I have really been getting into "Chicken Run" lately. Does
anyone know why "The Incredible Adventures of Wallace and Gromit" on DVD is
so hard to find, and when you find it, it's $50 or more? I assume it's out
Count Me In - I think David Spade is funny but he's
only funny as the sidekick/sarcastic Greek chorus - I
enjoyed JUST SHOOT ME - yes, it was stoopid but I also
give him credit for playing a character that had few
redeeming features and as we later find out, his
"David Finch" personna was stolen from a girl he saw
PGage writes...
On Super Bowl Sunday there was some discussion here about the "Best
Darn Sports Show" gang saying a bad word on the air - apparently the
result of a tape malfunction. I have been wondering if there were ever
any repercussions. Perhaps on a related note (or perhaps more
generally due to how badly the show blows) I read in Lary Stewart's
from the Wahoo Gazette: Two great musical acts perform this week on LATE
SHOW: Al Green makes his ninth appearance on the show (thirteenth
overall), while the Four Tops show up for the first time. They'll be
performing the classic "Reach Out I'll Be There." ... This is a reunion of
sorts of the Tops with Tom "Bones" Malone, as he used to tour with the
"Fair debut for ABC's 'Jake in Progress' Sunday
John Stamos's return to ABC Sunday night with two episodes of his
new show "Jake in Progress" averaged a 5.5 rating among viewers
18-49 during the 9 p.m. "Desperate Housewives" timeslot. That was
good enough to help ABC to a first-place finish in the demo for the
Law & Order SVU has been plugging a new episode for tomorrow (15), never
mind that NBC.com and NBCUMV still list a rerun from November which guest
starred Kyle MacLachlan* as the father of the dead kid.
The video (which they say I cannot view here) on
[link] is for the new ep,
I'm curious if David Spade was a last-second replacement on SNL for
another host.
He didn't do a bad job. But that's a relatively high profile position.
I'm curious what earned Spade the job, since he doesn't have a movie
coming out. He's not on an immensely popular TV show. The main reason
he's been in the news is because he was seen smooching with Teri
TV Barn's TV Picks for Monday, March 14, 2005
by Tom Heald with Jon Delfin
All times Eastern
For PBS programs, check local listings
Tom Heald is taking some time off and will return shortly.
AARON'S MULTIMEDIA PICKS
Here's a little tip for those of you who always wondered what it would be like to turn on a “news radio” station at, say, 8 at night and actually hear news. Beginning today, the legendary “1010 WINS” out of New York, WBBM in Chicago and KNX in L.A. will resume live streaming on the Internet for the first time in years. Eight other news and news-talk stations owned by Infinity will go live, including KMOX in St. Louis (where yours truly can be heard at 4:10 CT Monday afternoons). Infinity used to be run by Mel Karmazin, who hated streaming audio.
PGage writes...
So I finally get around to opening a card I got from DirecTV last
month (dated 2/7/05 - I'm not sure when I actually received it). It
informs me of some law that took effect December 2004 called the
"Satellite Home Viewer Extension and Reauthorization Act" (NAMBLA)
that requires me to choose between my local channels or my distant
At 01:34 PM 3/13/2005, Yahoo! Alerts sent the following:
Iger replaces Eisner. Perhaps they think that people won't know
any difference...
Wrecks
Any word on who is coordinating the American tour of the Mitchell/
Kenyon collection as noted at the end of the Nightline piece?
--
BOB
Pixar does actually do the rare thing - make movies
with plt, characters and writing that has a beginning,
middle & end ... and yes, they spend a lt of each
script but it's pretty rare that studios do not with
each of their movies - I think it's safe to say that
98% of all studio films has had its script tugged,
I don't want to lump your doctor with what many
doctors succumb to but there is a reason Tylenol was
the prefered pain killer of choice for many, many
years (before the side effects came to light a few
years ago) - basically hospitals and doctors got it
for free to dispense ... each week, doctors are visted
Probably on the ticket by now, maybe, this long Adult Swim feature
from tomorrow's NYT.
By the way, it was once top secret, but now the cat's out of the
bag... there will be a full length Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie
coming soon. Well 2006 is soon, right? They are taking all their NTSC
Wild Wild West samples liberally from "I Wish" by the legendary blind R&B music
legend not played by Jamie Foxx. In the chorus
the beat behind Stevie's chorus lyric:
I wish these days - could - come back once more.
now lies under Dru Hill's (Sisqo's) verse:
We're goin straight,- to - the Wild Wild West
Ladies and gent's Tom's portion of TV Barn's Picks is taking a short haitus
to adjust to some new medication. Messers Delfin and Barnhart will certainly
keep you informed until my return in a week.
In the meantime ... This Thursday, I'll be shaving my head to raise money
for a cure for childhood cancer through an event called St. Baldrick's Day.
I tried to find the thread where somebody asked who she was, but as I
only keep the last hundred threads and delete the rest, I started a
new one.
Column:
[link]
Excerpts:
""My name is Marie Silvia," she said. "I came across an article you
wrote called 'Make it a Super Sunday, Levitra girl," she said in a
Moments ago, NBC decided to pull the plug on her failing talk show.
Pauley released a statment saying it was a "chance of a lifetime."
[link]
Source: Headline Prime's Showbiz Tonight
The New York Times
Correction: March 11, 2005, Friday:
An article in The Arts yesterday about Rosie O'Donnell's Web log
misidentified the television show to which she alluded in a posting that
mentioned "the naughty chair." It is "Supernanny," not "The Nanny."
The voice of Jack in Jack in the Box is one their ad
agency principals ... that's a good way to keep the
account ... (and of course, creating ads that amusing
AND sell products - what a concept, huh, BK?) ...
Related is the voicemail mp3 that's been going around
the internet of the Jack in the Box manager who gets
TV Barn's TV Picks for Friday, March 11, 2005 (Super cliché edition)
by Tom "Swiftly" Heald with Jon Delfin
All times Eastern
For PBS programs, check local listings
TRUDY MADLY DEEPLY
Which group might you find "crushing your head"?
A) The A-Team
B) The Kids in the Hall
C) Monty Python
SpikeTV's press release from PRNewswire:
NEW YORK, March 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Spike TV ends talks with the WWE.
"After several months of negotiations, we have decided to end our
discussions about extending our relationship with the WWE beyond
September 2005. Moving forward, Spike TV will expand its investments in
Hillary Clinton wants to spend $90 million to find out whether TV is
bad for kids. Here's my suggestion to her. I encourage you to pass this
on and write your own Senator...
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton
United States Senate
476 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
March 10, 2005
Dear Senator Clinton,
It's a conceptual thing....
March 10, 2005 – Seth McFarlane's Emmy Award-winning animated comedy
series FAMILY GUY celebrates its historic return to prime time network
television with the US premiere of the unprecedented live stage event,
"Family Guy Live!" starring the cast of the hit television series.
I belive that was because of a certain lip-sync or karaoke performance
he did of that song at a staff party. On "Breakfast Time," Tom Bergeron
and Bob the Puppet made sure that anything you thought was private at fX
never was...
Mark Jeffries
I find it highly suspicious that this particular episode (Rose)
was the one that was "pirated". Just like Rose in the episode, there are
people in the world who have never heard of Doctor Who, or have heard of
him but never seen him. Explaining it to her also explains it to them.
TV Barn's TV Picks for Thursday, March 10, 2005
by Tom Heald with Jon Delfin
All times Eastern
For PBS programs, check local listings
HELP ME, OBI-WAN!
Which group owes its existence to Colonel Samuel Morrison?
C) "The Avengers"
H) "The A-Team"
A) "McMillan and Wife"
S) "MacGruder and Loud"