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ABC Upfronts

agents_of_shield_bannerABC, which finds itself in fourth place as this season winds down, has provided a fall schedule that is relatively stable.  Mondays, Saturdays, and Sundays will return in the fall exactly as they wrapped up this spring.  Tuesday sees Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. move back an hour, with the new Pygmalion update Selfie, starring former Doctor Who star Karen Gillan, leading off the night.

Wednesday stays mostly the same, with The Goldbergs and new comedy Black-ish filling in the holes left by Suburgatory and Mixology.  After years of trying, and failing, to find something on Thursdays that could lead in to Grey’s Anatomy, the folks at ABC have given up, instead moving both Greys and Scandal up an hour, leaving the 9:00 hour to the latest from Shonda Grimes.

In the winter, Agent Carter, a spin-off from the first Captain America film following Hayley Atwell’s character in the post-war years, will take over for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. while Galavant, a musical fairy tale comedy, does the same for Once Upon A Time.

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FOX Upfronts

gracepointIn a departure from years past, FOX focused only on their fall schedule at their upfront presentation and didn’t bother with the winter or spring schedules they usually roll out and quietly ignore when the time comes.  The big changes start on Sunday, with the animation block broken up to include live action series Brooklyn Nine-Nine airing between The Simpsons and Family Guy.

Sleepy Hollow returns for an extended second season, which will follow their highest profile new show, Gotham, featuring a pre-Batman Bruce Wayne and the people who will become his rogues gallery.  New Girl and The Mindy Project return to Tuesdays, following a new reality show that, in a show of restraint, will air twice a week.

Bones returns to Thursday for what is expected to be its final season, where it will be followed by Gracepoint, an American remake of Broadchurch that, like its source, will star David Tennant.  The American version, expected to be have a different ending from the original, will have a limited 10 episode run.

At some point in the spring, The Following is expected to return.  The only exciting show waiting for a timeslot seems to be Backstrom, a comic police procedural from Bones creator Hart Hanson and starring Rainn Wilson.

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NBC Upfronts

the_blacklist_-_keyartThanks to Sunday Night Football and the Winter Olympics, NBC is finishing this season as the number 1 network in the coveted 18-49 demographic.  Without the Olympics, things will not be as easy in the fall, so the network did some major upgrades, dropping poor performers like Community and Revolution and bringing in new shows starring the likes of Katherine Heigl, Debra Messing, and Kate Walsh.

The Blacklist, the one breakout scripted hit from last fall for NBC, returns to Mondays for the fall, before moving to Thursdays in the February after getting the post-Super Bowl slot.  It will be replaced by State of Affairs, Heigl’s return to television as a CIA analyst who advises the president.  Casey Wilson and Ken Marino team up for the new comedy Marry Me, slated for Tuesdays.

NBC looks to have abandoned the Must See TV concept on Thursday, replacing the first hour of comedy with a new season of The Biggest Loser.  Two new comedies, Bad Judge, starring Kate Walsh, and A to Z, featuring the charming Cristin Milioti, follow it, at least until The Blacklist moves in the spring.  Parenthood will return for an abbreviated 13 episode final season.  Fridays see a new adaptation of DC’s Constantine, one that will hopefully make everyone forget about the Keanu Reeves film.

Not on the schedule yet are the final season of Parks and Recreation and a third season of Hannibal, plus new shows including Mr. Robinson, starring Craig Robinson as a musician forced to work as a substitute teacher, One Big Happy, a comedy starring Elisha Cuthbert as a gay woman who decides to have a baby with her best friend, right before he falls for a new woman, Emerald City, a miniseries re-imagining characters from The Wizard of Oz, and, of course, the previously announced Heroes Reborn.

There doesn’t appear to be much that I will be watching on NBC in the fall, and even less once Parenthood comes to an end.  I may end up trying some of the new shows, and hopefully they will be worth the effort.

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Concert Flashback: Fiona Apple II

12fionaapple

After over 2 1/2 years, I returned to the live music scene, going with Tina to once again see Fiona Apple, this time at the Chicago Theatre.  The tickets were ungodly expensive, but we didn’t have normal seats, instead sitting in booths in the balcony that gave the show a different experience.

252754_10151091718224796_1864746358_nThe opening act was a member of Apple’s backing band.  The only thing I remember of his set was that he closed with a cover of Santo & Johnny’s Sleep Walk, which they reminded me was, in addition to the closing theme to the Wendy & Bill show, used in La Bamba when they find out that Richie died.

Fiona came out after that, and she continued to be an awkward stage performer.  She played all of her hits from back in the day, and mixed in some tracks from her new album.  Aside from her songs, there was very little interaction with the audience.  She didn’t say a non-song word to the audience until the show was over, when she thanked us and said good night.  But. that is what you expect from Fiona Apple.

 

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#231 – Adam Dunn

dunnx-wide-communityName: Adam Dunn

Rank: 231

Position: DH

Years With White Sox: 2011-Present

The White Sox first focused in on Adam Dunn at the trade deadline in 2010, but he wasn’t interested in moving to the American League and becoming a designated hitter.  Unfortunately, when he became a free agent that winter, the White Sox threw enough money at him to get him to change his mind.  It was a move that was wildly praised at the time, but may go down in history as one of the worst free agent deals of all time.

Dunn’s White Sox career got off to a strong start, as he went 4 for 14 with a home run and 5 RBIs in his first four games before coming down with appendicitis.  Sadly, after that, things went south.  Dunn finished the season with a .159 average, 11 home runs, 42 RBIs, and a team-record 177 strikeouts.  It was easily the worst season of his, or any one else’s, career.  Had he gotten an additional 6 at bats, qualifying him for the batting title, he would have put up the lowest batting average for a qualified player since Bill Bergen hit .139 for the 1909 Brooklyn Superbas, now known as the Dodgers.

In 2012, Dunn “bounced back”, regaining his power stroke but otherwise still struggling at the plate.  He managed to surpass his 2011 home run total by the end of May and finished with 41.  He also obliterated his team record for strikeouts and set the American League record with 222, one less than Mark Reynold’s major league record.  He also set a major league record for position players, striking out in 36 consecutive games.  When the season wrapped up, he finished with a .204 average and 96 RBIs, and the White Sox, who led the American League Central for most of the season, were out of the playoffs once again.

2013 saw minor improvements for Dunn as the White Sox fell to last place and were never in contention.  Dunn limited his strikeouts to 189 and raised his average up to .219.  As the 2014 season was about to get underway, Dunn’s career average for the White Sox was still under .200 and he’s struck out more than twice as often as he’s gotten a hit.  It’s hard to call his tenure on the south side as anything other than disastrous.

Dunn’s numbers in a White Sox uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were:

Continue reading →

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GlobalFit III: Week 43

Y3Week43

I began the week a mere 23,909 steps away from the 5 million mark, which came down to a little more than 3400 steps a day to reach the goal during the week.  Well, thanks to a work week that saw each day pass the 5000 step plateau, I managed to surpass the 5,000,000 mark on Thursday.  The weekend could have used a little work, but beggars cannot be choosers.

Total steps: 35,580

Weekly average: 5082.9

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Concert Flashback: Paul McCartney

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One of the perks of having season tickets for the Cubs is getting an opportunity for pre-sales to non-baseball events that have been happening at Wrigley Field with increasing frequency the last few years.  None of the concert offerings gave me reason to splurge until 2011, when Paul McCartney announced he was bringing his On The Run tour to Chicago for his first local performance since 2005, and his first local baseball stadium performance since the Beatles played Comiskey Park in 1965.

On a hot July night, the then-69 year old McCartney used his 5 decades of hits to cobble together a 37 song set list, covering his time with the Beatles, Wings, and his more recent solo work.  The crowd was with him the entire night, including Ronnie Woo-Woo, who used the occasion to don a sparkling glove just like McCartney’s one-time duet partner Michael Jackson.

The opportunities to see a Beatle live are few and far between and I’m glad that this is one that I can now cross off the list of things to accomplish.  I haven’t been back to Wrigley for a concert since, but I wouldn’t mind doing so if the right band were to come through town.

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May The Fourth

71251-450x-a_2A long time ago (2011) in a galaxy far, far away (Toronto), the first organized celebration of Star Wars Day took place, as people started to notice that May the 4th sounded like a lispy “May the force”, as in “May the force be with you.”  Thanks to social media, the idea has spread like wildfire, to the point where, three years later, the thing has become a national phenomenon.

I’ve got nothing Star Wars-y planned for the day, but this is the third Star Wars related post in the last week, so it must still hold some place in my consciousness.  With the new, DIsney-led movies slated to start reaching theaters next year, maybe it will wash the stink of the prequels off of the franchise.

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#232 – Charlie Haeger

Haegerpg-verticalName: Charlie Haeger

Rank: 232

Position: P

Years With White Sox: 2006-2007

Charlie Haeger was selected by the White Sox in the 25th round of the 2001 draft.  He retired after the 2002 season to pursue a career in golf, but returned to baseball and the White Sox organization in 2004.  He finally made his way to the major leagues in 2006, making his debut against the Angels in a 12-5 loss after Jose Contreras went down with a back issue.  After the start, he was quickly returned to Charlotte, but he eventually returned, appearing in 6 other games, all in relief, for the White Sox that year, finishing with a 3.44 ERA.

Haeger competed for the fifth starters spot during spring training in 2007, but was sent back to Charlotte again when the newly arrived John Danks won the competition.  As the 2007 season went south, Haeger was recalled in mid-July, and, like the rest of the team that year, did poorly.  He appeared in 8 games, giving up 9 earned runs in 11 1/3 innings.

Haeger spent most of 2008 at Triple A Charlotte, until he was designated for assignment and claimed by the Padres in September, ending his time in the White Sox organization.

Haeger’s numbers in a White Sox uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were: Continue reading →

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And I Would Walk 5 Million More

5millionWay back on July 19, 2011, I started down a path of tracking my steps in the hopes of getting fit.  Nearly three years later, much later than I would have hoped, I have surpassed the 5 million step mark.  Now, in order to meet my goal for the year, I need about 750,000 more steps by July.  It certainly seems doable.  Or not.