Roseanne Fired

ABC canceled Roseanne Barr’s revival of her show after she went bananas on Twitter. 

The star, previously known for pissing off most of the country by not singing the Star Spangled Banner correctly, apologized for calling Obama Administration adviser Valerie Jarrett a child of the “Muslim Brotherhood & Planet of the Apes.” Barr came back to Twitter about 5 minutes later to expand on her apology.

“I apologize to Valerie Jarrett and to all Americans,” Barr tweeted. “I am truly sorry for making a bad joke about her politics and her looks. I should have known better. Forgive me-my joke was in bad taste.” 

She has not tweeted anything since. Everyone (meaning I) is waiting for the President to weigh in on this one.

Trump's Approval Rating Drops to 39%

President Trump’s approval rating is at 39 percent, according to a new poll.

The latest Pew Research Center poll released Thursday shows Trump at a historic low compared with prior presidents in their first weeks in office.

The poll found just 39 percent approve of his job performance while 56 percent disapprove.

The quote in today's Blasphemes's cartoon is an actual quote from the POTUS in today's news conference.

If Ronald Reagan was the first TV President, then Trump is our first Reality TV President.

To which I believe I did say that quite a while ago.

The Office as a 90's Sitcom

The Office, re-cut as an early-’90s sitcom, complete with laugh track and way-too-long opening credits, bad music and, of course, a laugh track.

The Wire? Fine...

“The Attorney-General’s kind remarks are noted and appreciated. I’ve spoken to Ed Burns and we are prepared to go to work on season six of The Wire if the Department of Justice is equally ready to reconsider and address its continuing prosecution of our misguided, destructive and dehumanising drug prohibition.”

~The Wire creator David Simon, in an e-mail to the Times of London responding to Attorney General Eric Holder demand for an additional season of the acclaimed HBO series.

[digitalspy

Bad Day for Bad TV Sci-Fi

It's been a bad day for bad TV Sci-Fi shows.

First off, after a decade and a year, Smallville finally ended last night. The CW's got nothin'. I watched it. 80% of it didn't make a lick of sense... but the John Williams score at the end buffed it out nicely.

TV Cancellations of the Day: It’s a tough day for network sci-fi TV, with ABC and NBC each canceling some of their geekier offerings.

ABC is ending sci-fi comedy No Ordinary Family after cutting the first (and now only) season from 22 episodes down to 20. The network also pulled the plug on V. The reboot of the 1983 alien invasion series lasted two seasons.

NBC has cancelled sci-fi series The Event, but several other networks, including Netflix, are reportedly interested in continuing it. That’s good news for fans who have been waiting for a major twist in the finale.

And this one’s not a cancellation, but Tricia Helfer tweeted that NBC has passed on 17th Precinct, a fantasy cop show from Battlestar Galactica creator Ronald D. Moore that would have united BSG cast members Helfer, Jamie Bamber and James Callis.

And to add to the sorrow - here's a small list of other shows that didn't make it past the Pilot:

ABC: DRAMAS Identity, Hallelujah, Grace, Georgetown, Poe, Partners. COMEDIES: My Freakin' Family, Other People's Kids, Bad Mom, Lost & Found.

NBC: DRAMAS Wonder Woman, Reconstruction, A Mann's World, Metro, 17the Precinct; COMEDIES: Brave New World, I Hate That I Love You, Untitled Kari Lizer, Lovelives, My Life As An Experiment, Family Practice (aka Dan Goor)

It's Over

MSNBC Says It Has Ended Keith Olbermann's Contract

In a statement, MSNBC said, "the last broadcast of 'Countdown with Keith Olbermann' will be this evening."

Maybe he and Craig Kilborne can team up and do some wacky sports commentary?

Or maybe they can reboot the 80's power duo "Keith and Craig" - where they go around in a van solving crimes; dumpster diving.

I wonder if MSNBC fired him because of poor ratings or if they were just tired of him?

Funding Cuts Cut Off Heat

Funding Cuts Leave Many Without Home Heating Assistance in Macon

Hmmm... Do I detect an XBox 360 and a television three times the size of mine in the background? What game is Raymeica playing here? She's gaming the system.

Last Second Gift

Print this sucker out -

The money and the cards can be found [here]

What I'm Watching..

A few readers have asked me, Hey, Cap'n... what have you been watching on the old Radiation King this year?

It's been a tough year for television, for me - a bunch of my favorites are gone, such as LOST. That one show took up way too much of my remaining brain cells, and as you readers know, I was heartbroken when the writers bailed and made it a religious statement. AMC's Breaking Bad ended before I could afford cable again. Luckily I caught up using the library. I just had to be patient. I also lost track of Sons of Anarchy due to a 'cable outage', but those whom are watching season three tell me I missed nothing.

I will tell you that I am watching a few shows. A few NEW shows.

# 1 Number one on my list is Louie. - FX

Louis C.K. writes and directs what can only be described as the 'adult' version of Seinfeld. Really. And there's dick jokes, and he curses, and he insults his mother... this is good television if you're into that sort of thing. It also has a grit to it, because you know that the star is in total creative control.

Best episode: Travel Day/South. Watch the Episode (NSFW) It's the airport. Very minimalist, very funny. It's a visual interpretation of every stand up comic's bit about travel.

#2 Terriers. FX

I would describe this show as The Big Lebowski the TV show... and I'm fairly sure that's how they pitched it to the network. Ex-cop, Ex-con buddy show -- but it's kind of laid back and California beach time. There's a post-noir, punchy dialogue that keeps the thing moving. Lots of wacky supporting characters weave in and out, and there's a large arching conspiracy gluing the whole show together. I'm very much in love with this program.

Start with the Pilot: Watch the Episode

#3, also on FX is The League. (Way to go FX!)

It's a Fantasy football League with a bunch of misfits, just like yours, but theirs is on television. The League was created by the husband-and-wife team of Jeff Schaffer (Curb Your Enthusiasm, Seinfeld) and Jackie Marcus Schaffer (Disturbia, Eurotrip). And that pretty much says it all, doesn't it? I guess I'm picking this up on the second season -- but so far, to me, it's much better than It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

Best episode I've seen: The White Knuckler. Watch Clip
Favorite character - Taco.
Second favorite - Andre. I feel like I've had this guy in my league forever.

#4 Rubicon - AMC

This thing is the smart person's 24/Alias/Spooks/CIA show. So how come I'm watching it?
Darn good question.

There's an arching storyline-conspiracy going on. White guys in the back-room pulling strings -- but for who, why, what's their game plan? That main story seems secondary to the characters and the office-politics of the protagonist's workplace. It's geeky-nerd types trying to figure out the clues to the events not yet happened. It's pretty slow paced. No car chases - yet. But it has a look and feel to it that is more of a suspense novel than television show, and I rather enjoy that.

Also, you can trust NO ONE on this show... and if you thought Michael Scott was a creep - wait'll you get a load of Will's boss!

One fatal flaw with this show - the whole thing could have been solved with a taped message, or even a letter tucked away for the protagonists to find... but instead it's the minutia drip of tiny pieces of paper and clues. Which, if you're into that kind of crossword puzzle television, this is the best show you've ever seen. Well, since LOST, anyway.

As far as returning shows --

#5 - The Venture Bros. (Here)

This show is made for me. No, I mean they make it just for me. Superheroes, super scientists, pop-culture send offs for geeks and a storyline so tight and interwoven that every single character ever seen, and even unseen, are linked. The attention to detail is the best I've ever seen. Truly the best show on television.

#6 Mad Men - AMC

Yep, still watching it. It's also a show where not much really happens in it. The lies created by the main protagonist have pretty much left a layer of glass shards around him, and everyone he's ever met steps in it and has to clean it up... and now Don is becoming the man that he warned the young whipper-snapper Pete in the pilot not to become. But once you've invested the time and interest, it's hard to peel away from this show.

Also, it's more about the women than the men. Kind of ironic, given the title, no?

#7 South Park - Comedy Central

Just started up again. Usually only a few stinkers in any given season. The speed to screen also keeps them relevant.

#8 and 9 NOVA and Frontline. - PBS

#10 Primal Grill with Steven Raichlen. (here) - PBS

Deleted Season Passes: Family Guy and the three other Family Guy clones. Okay, you caught me, I never had season passes to those Clone Shows.

V - I never got around to watching the second half of the first season, so, well - it just sucked.

On the edge: The Chicago Bears show. Sym-bionic Titan. - it's a TAD repetitive.

Tried and failed: Running Wilde on Fox. Didn't do anything for me. Like a sketch that went on 19 minutes too long.

Not even tried: The Event. Looks too much like Heroes trying to be LOST.

Oh, and yes I would like to see Boardwalk Empire - I have no HOBO -- but I'll get the box set before Christmas, or whenever it's at Costco.

Agree, disagree? Did I miss your favorite show? Fill me in.

Program Disruption

What in the name of good peer reviewed science is going on here?! The gunman who held up and threatened to blow up the Discovery Channel building today was pissed off about their programming?

Holy Spittin' Jebus. It's come to this?

It's not enough to change the channel? To seek out new documentaries? How's that internet working out, crazy guy? Not enough or too much Shark Week? Turns out, all that and a whole lot more of crazy on top.

Here's a photo of Discovery building hostage taker James Jay Lee protesting outside the channel’s HQ, circa February 2008. [photo: sss.]

Hey, folks at History Channel - Better step up your security!

Hockey is Back

The Blackhawks have done it. No, I mean they've done the impossible. The NHL television ratings have bounced back out of oblivion - past the lockout - and way, way beyond.

The clincher of the Stanley Cup finals was the most-watched and highest-rated NHL game in 36 years. Let that sink in. 36 years! The Chicago Blackhawks' 4-3 overtime win over the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 6, which earned them their first championship since 1961, drew a 4.7 rating and 8 share Wednesday night on NBC. Unheard of.

That's the best since a 7.6/27 for Game 6 of the Boston-Philadelphia series in 1974. It was 38 percent higher than the 3.4/6 for last year's Pittsburgh-Detroit Game 6 and 9 percent higher than the 4.3/8 for Game 7 in 2009.

Ratings represent the percentage of all homes with televisions tuned into a program.

Shares represent the percentage of all homes with TVs in use at the time.

Want to read more?

Ahem, but, meanwhile, the NBA Finals Game 3 posted an 11.5, but that's only because they're doing that whole retro thing.

Lost Spin Off In the Works

Sawyer & Straume. Great, another cop show where the partner talks to dead people to solve crimes, and the other guy takes his shirt off to impress the chicks.

Sounds like a winner for ABC!

Lost is Over...

Do I feel like I wasted 120 plus hours watching a television show, you bet. Am I disappoint? Yes I am. And if you're not part of this crowd, I'm really sorry. And yes, I'm going to accidentally toss out a couple [SPOILERS] for this show and some others if you haven't seen them. So, quit reading if you have a problem with it, or have it back ordered on Netflix, or haven't bothered until the hype machine was on full volume for the end of Lost.

Ahem. Let me begin.

Science fiction television writers, I understand that using religion in your work is compelling and new, and can even bring in new audiences. Perhaps you'll get a few thousand of the folks who bought the 'Left Behind' series of books about the Rapture? What a nice demographic.

Perhaps, as storytellers, you find the religious aspect of your shows -- and I'm not speaking specifically to characters with strong faith, but instead on your entire narrative arch of the plot ending in a religious tone or in the case of Lost, and the Battlestar Galactica, the religious crescendo. Maybe you're reacting to the world where ancient mysticism and regular church going isn't compatible with iPads and frozen chicken dinners? The mysterious world of witches and magic are bottled and packaged as Disney characters for toddlers, and we're out of touch with our ancient mythology. You see an opportunity to tap into these simple stories, and have found compelling ways to repackage them and sell advertising.

I mean, look how well it worked for Star Wars, Twin Peaks and X-Files? Star Wars is nothing more than a princess, a pirate, a wizard and a farm boy going up against the evil man in black, right? Good and evil. Man With A Thousand Faces! Too bad Joseph Campbell wasn't around to help Lucas write a compelling first three prequels, right?

Twin Peaks had the black and white lodges - pretty basic stuff there too, really. And X-files had the mysterious mythology that they would drag out and kick around in-between monster-of-the-week episodes, that dealt with urban legends and ancient mysticism... and UFO's are grouped in there too for good measure.

So Lost and Battlestar come after these highlights in science fiction, and exploit the mysticism storyline as well. It was just a bit TOO much and TOO blatant for yours truly.

Let me make one request. You keep religion out of my sci-fi, and I'll keep my science out of religion? Deal?

I won't ask how the velocity of David's sling could have possibly taken down Goliath - as there's no way it could have caused enough head trauma. I won't ask how Lot's wife turned into a pillar of salt - was that figurative or literal? And what was the street value of that pillar of salt in antiquity? How about Jesus turning water into wine - was that an Ocean's 11, or Jesus's 13 kind of caper involving a hilarious Vaudevillian double switch? I'll just let those things slide as long as we never see a religious ending to shows with time-travel or space ships.

Not that I hated the ending last night - as they would have had to have plotted it out in advance. Battlestar, though, really was pulled out and thrown on the wall to see if it would stick. The first couple seasons were awesome, and the Jewish robots going after the heathen Zodiac worshiping people was great. There were analogies to the Iraq war, 9/11, religion - great stuff and mirroring our world and telling a morality tale = which I'll be the first to say is what makes great science fiction. But they should be left ambiguously, not literal.

But, that said, the best shows to tackle morality tales were the Twilight Zone and the original Star Trek. Automan, Manimal, and Man from Atlantis? Not so much.

And while answering questions, and finishing hanging story nuggets - the ending quietly ties up those threads by saying, did that one little red herring really have anything to do with how it ended, no - now quit obsessing, Nerd Fan. Okay, well, I don't have a choice -- but were you, as writers, being lazy or were you tossing around red herrings in case your ending didn't work? I don't care that you didn't explain what the Island was or what the glowing thing was, but then you kind of did... but my point was to KEEP it vague and not tell us the Force is midichlorians.

And you did do that, but not with the characters.

How would I have ended it? Glad you didn't ask -- but I'll tell you anyway. The alternate pocket universe gives the characters a choice. Go to the island and help Jacob -- or stay here in this world. The two shall converge and those of you who are dead, keep on keepin' on. Remember your choices and lives on the island, and live good lives. The show rebooted six times. There's no reason why these people couldn't have just rebooted again too. Those of you who want to stay and help out, that's your choice (the choice the man-in-black and Jacob never were given) and that's cool too.

Then it really is about fate vs choice -- which was a major theme throughout the show.

So Lost disappointed me. There was a very heavy religious 'Defending Your Life' ending to the entire program. How much was real? The island was, but the pocket alternate universe, not as much. Does it matter? Is it worth watching? Probably. Will I have fond memories of the show. Kind of, but I'm still going to always think that the ending was a cop-out.

Oceanic Airlines Safety Information Card

Oceanic Airlines Safety Information Card Shirt from ThinkGeek.

Fiction Trumps Reality

News about a real plane crash doesn't get as much coverage as a fake plane crash...

It's not news, it's CNN.

As tired as I am news sites putting useless crap on their front page, I also am aware that they are aware of EXACTLY what people are clicking on, and tailor it to match to sell advertising.

We are the problem, not them.

Lost Screen Time Pie Chart

How about the 120 some odd hours I've spent watching this show? Do you have a pie chart for that?

Free Ad

Damn I love me someecards! BTW. I hate Law and Order, but that one show employed all the actors and actresses of New York for the last 20 years. If only there was some spin off show they could do?

Greatest Agriculture Candidate Ever

I can’t tell if this is the greatest political ad in the history of the United States, or… a greatest unintended parody? Either way, it demands your attention.

You folks be the judge. (Hat tip to Taegan Goddard at Political Wire for this).

Dale Peterson: Alabama Commissioner of Agriculture

Saturday Morning Cartoons

Here's the cartoons of the day - The opening of Lost, and Tron, as it 'might' have been in the 60's.

Saul Bass is known for his work in famous 60s title sequences like Psycho and North by Northwest. So what would it look like if he made the opening to Tron? Vimeo user Hexagonall gives us an idea.

Tron vs. Saul Bass from Hexagonall on Vimeo.

Leno is Back!

It looks like the television is smarter than the executive staff at NBC. If you can't read the error message, it says, "Program has no content."