Author / admin

by admin

ABC Upfronts

ABC is taking a cautious approach to their fall schedule.  With the ongoing writer’s strike putting the availability of scripted shows in doubt, the network has put all of its eggs in the reality basket.  Long-time stalwart Dancing With The Stars, after being shunted off to Disney+ last year, returns to its familiar Monday night perch.  The night ends with the Golden Bachelor, a dating show for AARP-set.  Tuesday night brings another installment of Celebrity Jeopardy! followed by two hours of Bachelor In Paradise.

Wednesday retains a bit of a comedy block, with Judge Steve Harvey, followed by an hour of Abbott Elementary reruns and another installment of What Would You Do?  Game shows take over Thursday night, with Celebrity Wheel of Fortune, Press Your Luck, The $100,000 Pyramid.  Friday remains the same, with Shark Tank followed by two hours of 20/20.  Sunday kicks off with America’s Funniest Home Videos followed by three hours of The Wonderful World of Disney.

On the bench for mid-season are 9-1-1, rescued from FOX, Abbott Elementary, American Idol, The Bachelor, The Conners, The Good Doctor, Grey’s Anatomy, Not Dead Yet, The Rookie, Station 19, Will Trent, and High Potential, the only new show on the docket.

Shows never to be seen again are A Million Little Things, Alaska Daily, Big Sky, The Company You Keep, and The Goldbergs.  The fates of Home Economics and The Rookie: Feds are still up in the air.

by admin

FOX Upfronts

For the second year in a row, FOX has decided not to release a fall schedule during their upfront presentation, claiming uncertainty due to the writer’s strike.  The one show on the network I have been watching, the reboot of Fantasy Island, will not be returning.  From what I can see, there will be nothing airing on FOX this fall, save for baseball, that I will be interested in.

by admin

NBC Upfronts

NBC announced their new fall schedule yesterday, one which they hope is strike-proof, between reality programming and shows that were renewed early to keep them in production prior to the strike.  The week gets off to a familiar start with The Voice returning for another round on Mondays, followed by The Irrational, starring Jessie L. Martin as the latest behavioral science expert who uses his skills to help governments, law enforcement, and corporations.  Tuesday leads off with the week’s sole comedy block, with the Night Court sequel followed by Extended Family, starring Jon Cryer and Abigail Spencer as divorced parents who continue to raise their kids in the family home.  That is followed by another hour of The Voice and the rebooted Quantum Leap.

Wednesday and Thursday continue to be dominated by Dick Wolf franchises, with his three Chicago series running back-to-back-to-back on Wednesday and the two original entries in his Law & Order franchise the following night.  Found, starring Shanola Hampton as a public relations specialist who helps keep the spotlight on missing children, caps of the night.  The Wall kicks things off on Friday, followed by two hours of Dateline NBC.  Sunday remains filled with the NFL.

Law & Order: Organized Crime moves to midseason for its fourth season as a new show runner comes onboard.  La Brea will return for a shortened third and final season, as will the second half of Magnum PI‘s fifth season.  On the comedy side, the George Lopez comedy Lopez vs. Lopez, will be back for a second season while the futures of Young Rock , American Auto, and Grand Crew are up in the air.  A second season of Password is also expected, though it is dependent on the resolution of the writer’s strike.  New shows for midseason include The Americas, with Tom Hanks narrating a look at the “wonders, secrets and fragilities of the Americas – Earth’s largest landmass and the only one to stretch between both poles,” Deal or No Deal Island, which pits teams against each other and the banker to win lots of money, and an untitled America’s Got Talent spinoff series.

Shows gone from our sets include The Blacklist, New Amsterdam, and possibly others.

by admin

Yet Another Mix Tape Monday – Volume 17

33 years ago, during my sophomore year of high school, I put together the first of what would eventually become a nearly 20 volume collection of mix tapes, containing my favorite songs that I had gathered either from the radio, a cassette tape, or (eventually) CD.  Today, we revisit those mix tapes for the fourth time and see how, or if, the soundtrack of my youth still resonates in today’s digital world and how much has changed over the past four years.

Courtney Love is certainly one of the more interesting characters to come out of the 90s.  She moved to LA in the 80s, hoping for an acting career, but managed just a few bit parts before forming Hole with guitarist Eric Erlandson in 1989.  Following the release of their first album, Pretty on the Inside, in 1991, Love briefly dated Billy Corgan and Kurt Cobain.  By late 1991, Love and Cobain had re-united and, in February of 1992, the pair were married.

In October of 1993, Hole recorded their second album, Live Through This, which, according to rumors, was heavily ghost-written by Cobain.  The album was released on April 12, 1994, just one week following Cobain’s suicide.  The album was both a critical, and commercial, success, opening more doors for Love.  When not touring, she returned back to Hollywood, getting small roles in Basquiat and Feeling Minnesota before scoring a starring role in The People vs. Larry Flynt.

1998 saw the release of Celebrity Skin, the band’s last album before disbanding in 2002.  Love’s former boyfriend Billy Corgan, by now a huge star in his own right, officially has co-writer credit on five of the album’s twelve tracks, including the first two singles.  Rumors, again, say he had a much larger part in defining the sound of the album.

Thirty years later, YouTube videos have started calling into question Love’s musical talents.  Isolated tracks of her voice and guitar playing during live performances show a dramatic difference from the album versions.  How much of Hole’s success was due to Love and how much was due to her romantic relationships?  We probably will never know.

What we do know is the Hole appears twice on Volume 17, which picks up in early 1995 and the second semester of my junior year and takes us into early summer.  At this point, it is nearly all alternative, with just one hip-hop breakthrough.

Side A

Hole – Asking For It
iTunes stats: 21 plays, most recently on 4/22/2021

One of three Hole songs to officially feature a contribution from Kurt Cobain, the latest from Courtney Love and company increased its play total by four after and hasn’t been heard in well over a year.

Cranberries – Twenty One
iTunes stats: 13 plays, most recently on 6/6/2021

The minor hit from the band’s second album more than doubled its number of plays in the last four years.

Veruca Salt – Number One Blind
iTunes stats: 25 plays, most recently on 11/11/2021

The follow up single to Seether added eight new listens, despite not being heard in over a year.

Stone Temple Pilots – Unglued
iTunes stats: 33 plays, most recently on 10/21/2022

Peaking at #16 on Billboard’s Modern Rock Tracks chart, the track added ten new plays in the last four years.

Pearl Jam – Better Man
iTunes stats: 14 plays, most recently on 11/9/2019

Last heard prior to the global shutdown thanks to the corona virus, the biggest hit from the grunge superstars’ third album, which spent eight weeks at the top of Mainstream Rock chart, added a paltry three listens.

Nirvana – Where Did You Sleep Last Night
iTunes stats: 12 plays, most recently on 6/8/2022

The traditional American folk song, recorded for MTV Unplugged and released following the death of lead singer Kurt Cobain, picked up a mere five new listens.

Weezer – No One Else
iTunes stats: 23 plays, most recently on 3/19/2021

Never released as a single but with plenty of radio airplay, Weezer’s latest picked up six new listens over the past four years.

Offspring – What Happened To You?
iTunes stats: 20 plays, most recently on 10/14/2018

Not a single listen for the final offering from Offspring’s debut album, which was never officially released as a single.

Side B

Continue reading →

by admin

Fitbit IX – Week 16

Yet another disappointing week, though one that maybe, kind of sorta, is trending in the right direction.  Things got off to a really slow start on Sunday, where 31 additional steps were needed just to get to 2900.  A big increase on Monday pushed me up over 4700 steps.  Things did not go as well on Tuesday, as I dropped down to 3800 steps.  Wednesday was the low point of the week, with only 2800 steps.  Thursday fell just 3 steps shy of 3600, while Friday dropped me back down to 3200 steps.  Eloy Jimenez bobblehead night at Guaranteed Rate Field helped turn Saturday into the high point of the week, ending 23 steps away from 5500.

Total steps: 26,558

Daily average: 3794

by admin

Book 21 (of 52) – Catch And Kill

Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators – Ronan Farrow

As an investigative reporter for NBC, Ronan Farrow thought he was working on just another story. Rumors of Harvey Weinstein’s misdeeds had been an open secret in Hollywood for years, but Farrow was starting to get women abused by Weinstein to break their silence and go on the record. This was bound to become his biggest story yet, until NBC mysteriously started to get cold feet, slowing his reporting and, eventually, stopping it altogether.  Farrow took the story to The New Yorker where, in step with similar reporting by the New York Times, Weinstein’s crimes were made public and led to his eventual arrest and conviction.  For his work, Farrow, along with Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey from the Times, won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service.  NBC, meanwhile, found themselves under fire, both for sitting on the story in deference to Weinstein and for covering up sexual abuse in their own house.

In Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators, Ronan Farrow recounts his early work with NBC trying to track down sources and evidence against Harvey Weinstein, something many journalists had tried to do previously but, for many reasons, were unable to bring to fruition.  After releasing the Weinstein story, he was able to get information on the lengths Weinstein had gone in order to stop him and the others, including berating his bosses and NBC and hiring Israeli intelligence firms to track their movements and dig up dirt on them.  He closes up the book with the aftermath and NBC, where Matt Lauer, longtime host of the Today show, was exposed and executives who covered for him and kowtowed to Weinstein were let go.

Farrow puts together a compelling, and also horrifying, story, where powerful men are able to get away with anything so long as they continue to produce profits or value for their organizations.  The publication of both his and Kantor and Twhoey’s work led into the explosion of the #MeToo movement, where women across the globe stood up against their abusers and tried to take back their power.  There’s still plenty of work to do, but I have to hope we, as a civilization, are in a better place than we were six years ago.

by admin

CBS Upfronts

Forgoing a traditional upfront presentation with an ongoing writer’s strike threatening the start of the fall season in September, CBS announced what they hope will be airing on their network this fall.  With only two new shows on the schedule, things will look very familiar to viewers.  The week starts with a stable Monday, with the comedy block of The Neighborhood and Bob Hearts Abishola followed by two entries in the NCIS franchise: the OG and NCIS: Hawaii.  Tuesday also stays the same, with Dick Wolf’s FBI running all night.

Wednesday goes all reality, with extra-long episodes of Survivor and The Amazing Race taking the entire night.  Thursday has another hour-long comedy block, with Young Sheldon and Ghosts, followed by the returning So Help Me Todd and the new Elsbeth, a spinoff of The Good Wife starring Carrie Preston.  Friday remains the same, starting with the final season of S.W.A.T., followed by Fire Country and Blue Bloods.  Sunday kicks off with 60 Minutes, followed by a new version of Matlock, starring Kathy Bates as the septuagenarian lawyer who rejoins the workforce to win cases and expose corruption from within, The Equalizer, and CSI: Vegas.

On tap for midseason are comedy Poppa’s House, starring Damon Wayans and Damon Wayans Jr., and the Justin Hartley drama Tracker, based on the Jeffery Deaver books and which is slated to debut following the Super Bowl in February.

Gone and never to be seen again are NCIS: Los Angeles, East New York, and True Lies.

by admin

He Gone… Again

Last week, the White Sox brought back Alexander (nee Alex) Colomé for a second go around.  After four appearances with a 6.00 ERA, that second go-around came to an end today.  Colomé was designated for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster for outfielder Jake Marisnick.

Colomé was first acquired from the Mariners in a trade for catcher Omar Narváez following the 2018 season.  He notched 42 saves in 83 games over two seasons and picked up an additional save and two scoreless innings in two appearances during the 2020 Wild Card series against the A’s.  He left as a free agent after the abbreviated 2020 season and returned on a minor league deal earlier this season.

by admin

Fitbit IX – Week 15

Yet another disappointing week in a string of disappointing weeks.  Sunday turned out to be the highpoint of the week, as I finished with 4700 steps thanks to a cold and damp day at Guaranteed Rate Field.  A slight drop on Monday left me with 4200 steps.  A much bigger decline on Tuesday dropped me down to 3000 steps.  Wednesday continued the free-fall, needing an additional 9 steps just to get to 2500.  A nice bounce back on Thursday put me at 3900 steps.  A slight decline on Friday dropped me down to 3400 steps.  Despite a trip out for a haircut on Saturday, it ended up being the worst day of the week, falling 7 steps shy of 2300.

Total steps: 24,214

Daily average: 3459.1

by admin

Yet Another Mix Tape Monday – Volume 16

33 years ago, during my sophomore year of high school, I put together the first of what would eventually become a nearly 20 volume collection of mix tapes, containing my favorite songs that I had gathered either from the radio, a cassette tape, or (eventually) CD.  Today, we revisit those mix tapes for the fourth time and see how, or if, the soundtrack of my youth still resonates in today’s digital world and how much has changed over the past four years.

On October 14, 1994, I hopped in the car with some friends, crossed the Wabash River into Lafayette, and pulled into the local movie theater.  I hadn’t heard of the movie before, but I was up for an entertaining time.  Over the next 154 minutes, a tour de force was unleashed upon the screen, thanks to John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis, Tim Roth, Ving Rhames, and Uma Thurman, among others.  That’s right, I had somehow managed to see Pulp Fiction on its opening night.

Over the coming weeks, it was everywhere: quotes flying around campus, songs from the soundtrack on the radio, and its stars all over late-night television.  The movie was inescapable.  Nearly 30 years later, it still is, in some ways.  I can’t tell you the last time I watched it, though I have a special edition DVD sitting on the shelf behind me.  But it has permeated pop-culture so thoroughly that it feels like I’ve just seen it all over again.

Volume 16 takes us from the early fall of 1994 towards the end of the year and the first semester of my junior year of college. The song selection is nearly completely alternative, with just one or two hip-hop and pop hits to go along with it.

Side A

Hole – Doll Parts
iTunes stats: 34 plays, most recently on 11/4/2021

The band’s first release after the death of bassist Kristen Pfaff in June 1994 picked up an additional six listens over the last four years.

Live – I Alone
iTunes stats: 21 plays, most recently on 11/23/2022

Ranked as the 62nd best song of the 90s by VH1, the band’s second single added five listens over the last four years.

Deadeye Dick – New Age Girl
iTunes stats: 16 plays, most recently on 12/31/2022

The one hit wonder, featured on the Dumb and Dumber soundtrack, doubled its listens.

Nirvana – About A Girl
iTunes stats: 31 plays, most recently on 10/10/2022

An additional eight listens for this performance from MTV Unplugged, which reached #1 on Billboard’s Modern Rock Tracks chart.

Aerosmith – Blind Man
iTunes stats: 17 plays, most recently on 8/21/2020

The extra B-side thrown onto Aerosmith’s then-current greatest hits package picked up five new listens, despite not being heard in over two years.

Real McCoy – Another Night
iTunes stats: 15 plays, most recently on 10/5/2019

Last heard a good four months before anyone had heard of the corona virus, the international dance hit, ranked as both the 63rd best single of 1994 and the sixth best of 1995, added five new plays to its total since last we checked.

Warren G – Do You See
iTunes stats: 10 plays, most recently on 10/4/2021

A 250% increase in plays for this Warren G release, which failed to make the Top 40 in the US and hasn’t been heard over a year.

Urge Overkill – Girl, You’ll Be A Woman Soon
iTunes stats: 30 plays, most recently on 11/5/2021

The Neil Diamond cover, featured on the Pulp Fiction soundtrack, added seven additional plays over these last four years.

Side B

Continue reading →