Wednesday, February 02, 2011

Random thoughts


... or Attention Deficit Blogging.  

My blog traffic has plummeted since they closed down the internet in Egypt.


Sorry to see the Mystery Bookstore close in Westwood. E-books are killing the bookstore industry. Now I feel even more guilty that I have an e-book of my own coming out in the next few weeks.

They held a last hurrah reception at the Mystery Bookstore Monday night and I got to meet a lot of best-selling authors. Standing with a few of them, I mentioned the name Meredith Viera. Three of the four had no idea who she is. People don’t know the host of the TODAY SHOW? Good luck to those new hosts of CBS EARLY MORNING.

Since this is awards season, the coveted “Scumbag of the Year” award goes to Tracy Morgan. After his ex-girlfriend donated a kidney to him, he blew her off. Nice. And he’s not funny.

While the Red Sox got Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez this off-season, the Yankees signed Freddie Garcia and Bartolo Colon. Inquiries to Satchel Paige were not returned.

Lots of Fairy Tale-themed pilots getting picked up this year. My favorite is LAW & ORDER: ENCHANTED FOREST.


I love THE GOOD WIFE. It’s not just the best lawyer show on television. It’s also the best family drama. 

Great HuffingtonPost headline this morning: Camille Grammer Blames FOX News For End Of Intimacy With Kelsey.  Isn't it enough they irresponsibly distort the news and knowingly mislead millions of people, now they've tampered with Camille Grammer's sex life!  FOX News must be stopped! 


If you haven’t seen it, this Friday night at 9, the USA network is rerunning the two-part CSI written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. The goose bumps haven’t gone down since I saw it the first time five years ago.

Manny Ramirez is now with the Tampa Bay Rays. Good luck to them. He’s the bag you set on fire, leave at someone’s doorstep, and run.

CHEERS is now on the Reelz Channel, running in the middle of the night. But I’m sure that’s only until they can land some infomercials. One of my favorite episodes is coming up tomorrow morning at 3:30. 

Is Omar Sharif the only Egyptian we can go to for a comment?

My heart goes out to everyone stuck in that horrendous winter storm that's crippled most of the nation. I’m sure movie studios are saying, “Damn! This is really going to hurt the weekend boxoffice”.

Actress/alcoholic/addict Lindsay Lohan is now stealing jewelry. Hey, she needs start-up funds for that drug running ring she’s about to start.

Tomorrow I’ll tell you why I hated COMPANY MAN starring Ben Affleck. So you’re gonna want to rush right out and see it today.

Two weeks until pitchers and catchers report. Except for Alfredo Simon. He may be late... by twenty years.


The Baltimore Orioles’ reliever has the minor complication -- he’s been denied bail. Simon is being held in the Dominican Republic on an involuntary manslaughter charge. Seems he was firing celebratory shots in the air and killed one person and injured another. I’ll tell you this – players hate it when pitchers display emotion on the mound.

What’s worse? That NBC is just now putting together a reality show that is a rip off of AMERICAN IDOL (pouncing on that zeitgeist only nine years too late) or that they signed Carson Daly to host it?

Meanwhile, DANCING WITH THE STARS returns on March 21st. Celebrity dancers will be announced February 28th, but I have a preview. Sarah Palin’s daughter’s friend, Tracy Morgan’s ex-girlfriend, Betty White, Phineas & Ferb, Alfredo Simon, and Meredith Viera.

30 comments :

Software download said...

I found your post very interesting. In fact after reading, I had to go show it to my friend and he enjoyed it as well!

Dale said...

Thank you. I was taking a lot of grief for not liking Tracy Morgans humor. Glad to know there are others.

droszel said...

Regarding, "If you haven’t seen it, this Friday night at 9, the USA network is rerunning the two-part CSI written and directed by Quentin Tarantino", what's the title of those shows? In my TiVo guide, I can't seem to locate them

Doug Thompson said...

Agreed about Tracy Morgan. I've never found him funny. He just kinda yells his role on "30 Rock".

SebiMeyer said...

I have to agree: I can't believe how much I am enjoying THE GOOD WIFE.

It really is a by the numbers preocedural with all the CBS hallmarks. That said, it's brilliantly written, with lots of turns I did not see coming.

The only thing that needs to get better is the score. So far its really bland CBS "Don't wake the audience or they might change the channel" fare.

Kris said...

Never thought Tracy Morgan was talented. He just read his lines on SNL, which is ok, for SNL. But on a non live sitcom, gunna need to step it up, which he hasn't.

Yankees are a bit of a mess from a front office stand point, Cashman clearly didn't want Soriano, but they signed him.

Eduardo Jencarelli said...

Funny how this whole post reads very much like a radio news broadcast or a sports commentary track. Rapid-fire information and tidbits.

Regarding Tracy Morgan, he may be a bit of a bastard in real-life, but I'm going to admit I find him hilarious whenever he's onscreen on 30 Rock. It's a matter of separating the personal from the professional. Professionally, I think he works well in comedy. Personally, it's not really much of my business.

As for Good Wife, it is probably the best lawyer show right now, but as a family drama it's really far from the mark. It doesn't have enough good actors to pull off that kind of dynamic.

And the production values can be a bit over-the-top, regarding the way they visually present Julianna Margulies (I might be biased, since I was such a fan of her natural beauty and homely looks on ER).

emily said...

droszel

"Grave Danger," (Episodes 24 & 25, Season 5).

YEKIMI said...

I'll climb on the Tracy Morgan Hatefest. I also never thought he was funny. Now I don't feel so guilty because I thought I was the only one that turned the channel when he was on. And what a bastard for dumping his GF! Most people when they break up say, "I will always carry a part of you in my heart!". His would be "I will always carry a part of you in my body where I can gradually piss it away."

WV: Commist-What a communist uses to cool off in those hot summer months.

Nathan said...

And Juliann Margulies clearly knows what's important.

From her acceptance speech for the SAG Award: ...thank you to all the Teamsters who've been digging us out of the snow for the last two weeks."

Nathan said...

There might be a missing letter in my previous comment.

Stupid fingers.

Cap'n Bob said...

I've never been able to fathom how Tracy Morgan got on SNL, or how he stayed there. Ditto 30 Rock. He's just not funny.

Peter Gammaray said...

The bag of crap that you set on fire outside somebody's door has been a primary force on 11 playoff teams. He's one of the 3 or 4 greatest righthanded hitters in history, AND he's a kook.

If you don't love Manny's existence, your heart is made of graphite.

benson said...

Can't speak of Tracy Morgan as a person or on SNL, but the Tracy Jordan character is a brilliant parody of hip-hop rappers, lifestyle, etc. Kudos to Tina Fey and the writers for that.

Michael said...

Didn't George Lopez also cheat on and divorce his wife after she donated an organ to him? Is there something about being a comedian that makes you so ungrateful?

Ref said...

Tracy Morgan is the reason I don't watch 30 Rock.

Sports Illustrated said last week that the Rays had signed Damon and Martinez "adding veteran leadership to a young team." I suggested they weer flat wrong and should hacve said that the rays had signed Damon thereby adding veteran leadership and had also signed Ramirez

Tim W. said...

Tracy Morgan is supposed to be funny???? Why didn't anyone tell me that.

By the way, I'm glad Software download's friend enjoyed your article, Ken. It's good to see your readers are sharing your writing. By the way, is that name Ukrainian?

writerjoel said...

hmmmm...Grave Danger isn't on the USA network, friday at 9pm in Thousand Oaks! Is this accurate?

jbryant said...

I can't check right now, but don't CSI repeats run on Spike, not USA?

John Pearley Huffman said...

Don't tell me Company Men sucks. I haven't seen it yet and my sister is in it. I'd hate to have to lie to her and tell her how much I loved it.

Ah Hell, I'm better off never speaking to her again anyhow.

Anonymous said...

Tracy Morgan is hilarious and the CSI Tarantino episodes are not on the USA network on Friday.

Unknown said...

If Ryan Seacrest had to shave, he would be Carson Daly. It's a perfect choice for the host of an Idol rip off.

Jon88 said...

More "Good Wife" love here. But somewhere down the road, I have high hopes for the "Eli and Becca" spinoff.

Brian Phillips said...

This is a Random Thought, but "Dick Tracy in B-Flat" from the show "Command Performance" was written by quite a few men, one of them being Larry Gelbart.

You can hear it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fX7zFnIy4Pc

Dr. Leo Marvin said...

How can anyone tolerate Carson Daly? I'd think politicians would be running for office on a "Stop Carson Daly" platform.

Anonymous said...

Agree the T. Morgan has no funny, but I find him acceptable on 30 Rock because the premise was that his character was a not funny self-absorbed egomaniac forced upon the Girlie show or whatever it is called by the Baldwin character. So I've always bought his annoying presence as an intentional choice to make Fey's exasperation more real. And she knew he could bring the crazy and didn't have any other career options.

Anonymous said...

"Grave Danger" is the only episode of any CSI I own in itunes. SO GOOD. George Eads kills me everytime. Just kills me. I also get so sad about the way Warrick's character ended :(

jbryant said...

Well, I saw a commercial last night on USA promoting the CSI two-parter, so it's definitely gonna be on tonight.

Agree with xjill; Eads is great in it.

Matt Patton said...

Maybe it's just me, but I've always enjoyed the stuff that Tarantino's stuff for television (the episode of ER he directed, the CSI two-parter) than any of this movies. Mind you, he has a real skill for that ping-pongy dialogue, but the films are otherwise sort of empty and nasty. The sad thing is, the first few minutes of his half of GRINDHOUSE suggest that he could have written a comedy about three women out on an evening jaunt, not just a gory action flick. Maybe he'll make something like that. Probably for television.

Matt Patton said...

By the way, does Camille blame Fox News for her ex-husband's transvestism?