You’ve Gotta Be Bleepin’ Me

Just when you think things can’t get any worse in White Sox Nation, the Tigers announced yesterday that they were poaching play-by-play man Jason Benetti, signing the announcer to a multi-year deal.  Benetti, 40, started with the White Sox in 2016, splitting time with Ken Harrelson until 2019 when he took over full time.

Benetti’s frustration with the White Sox organization has seemingly been growing for some time.  In 2021, he was a loud voice in favor of returning to broadcasting from the road instead of in studio following the pandemic shutdowns of 2020.  Things got testy again this past offseason, when he left ESPN for FOX and took on more national responsibilities, which irked some in the White Sox front office.  To add fuel to that fire, the White Sox refused to negotiate with Benetti’s agent, preferring instead to deal directly with Benetti, which is, frankly, odd behavior.

Whoever replaces Benetti in the broadcast booth will have very large shoes to fill.  They will also need to win over a fan base that has been repeatedly poked in the eye by the ownership and front office of their favorite team for the last two years.

Post Mortem – Fantasy Island

Recent re-imaginings of Fantasy Island have tended to learn towards the supernatural, if not downright macabre, whether it was the 1998 revival starring Malcolm McDowell or the 2020 horror film starring Michael Peña.  The most recent attempt to revive the brand stayed closer to the original, in both story and theme.  Roselyn Sánchez starred as Elena Roarke, grandniece of Ricardo Montalbán’s character from the original, who oversees the fantasies enjoyed by the visitors to the island.

The show lasted two seasons before being cancelled last month by FOX.

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.

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.

Yet Another Mix Tape Monday – Volume 7

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.

Back in the day, the acquisition of music was a much more tactile experience than it is today.  Going out to a store, physically touching the racks of CDs or cassettes while looking for the right one… it could create a memory just as vivid as those tied to the music itself.

I remember clear as day, just over thirty years later, going to the record store after my last final of first semester and coming out of JL Records with both Guns N’ Roses’ Use Your Illusion I and AC/DC’s Live.  Something to celebrate the end of that first go-around in school before heading home for winter break.  I remember going to Orland Square Mall and coming home with Toad The Wet Sprocket’s Fear and TLC’s Ooooooohhh… On the TLC Tip.  I remember picking up a used copy of Tesla’s Five Man Acoustical Jam at Discount Den and then trading it for LL Cool J’s Mama Said Knock You Out at the record store in Purdue West whose name is escaping me at the moment.

Compare that to today.  Do I have any particular memory of downloading, say, Taylor Swift’s 1984 on MP3?  Or buying Strange Little Birds by Garbage off of Amazon?  Of course not.  It’s even worse for streaming.  So, while music is more available and ubiquitous than it ever has been before, we do lose a little something in the trade.

Volume 7, containing songs from those long-remembered CDs, covers the fall of 1992 and the end of the first semester of my freshman year of college.  We are treated to the last gasps of hair metal and pop, with a little dance, alternative and hip-hop thrown in for good measure.

Side A

Guns N’ Roses – November Rain
iTunes stats: 18 plays, most recently on 11/11/2021

The longest song ever to crack the top 10 on the Billboard charts, peaking at #3, the opus, which checks in at 3 seconds shy of 9 minutes, picked up just six new plays in the last four years.

Def Leppard – Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad
iTunes stats: 16 plays, most recently on 11/10/2022

The 86th biggest hit of 1992 managed to double its plays since 2019.

Toad The Wet Sprocket – All I Want
iTunes stats: 25 plays, most recently on 11/20/2021

Topping out at #15 on the Billboard charts, the first hit from Toad the Wet Sprocket only picked up four new listens over the past four years.

Tesla – Signs
iTunes stats: 13 plays, most recently on 9/27/2021

Reaching #8 on the Billboard Hot 100, the live track, recorded in 1990, has gained a mere nine listens since 2012.

Soup Dragons – Divine Thing
iTunes stats: 22 plays, most recently on 6/14/2021

The alternative dance single that became a moderate alternative hit in the US gained just two additional listens, with the latest coming over two and a half years ago.

Ugly Kid Joe – Neighbor
iTunes stats: 15 plays, most recently on 12/8/2022

The lead single from Ugly Kid Joe’s major label debut, this track added five plays since 2019.

The Heights – How Do You Talk To An Angel
iTunes stats: 20 plays, most recently on 11/29/2021

The theme song from the short-lived FOX show The Heights, nominated for the 1993 Outstanding Individual Achievement in Music and Lyrics Emmy, picked up six new plays.

Side B

Continue reading →

Midseason Review – Mondays

We continue our annual look back at my thoughts from the beginning of the season and look ahead at what’s to come for Monday nights, which looked a little barren in the fall, leaving me with nothing to watch.

Now, let’s see what is coming to the airwaves this spring:

Fantasy Island – FOX’s update of the old classic returns for a second season.

Perry Mason – The HBO version of the legendary lawyer returns for a second season.

Post Mortem – Brooklyn Nine-Nine

For the second time, Brooklyn Nine-Nine has reached its end of shift.  In 2018, FOX cancelled the show after five seasons, but it was saved by NBC.  Last fall, the squad of the Nine-Nine wrapped up their eighth and final season.  After the turmoil of 2020, with police forces around the country being called to task for their mistreatment, the cast and crew found it difficult to continue telling funny stories about the police without addressing the controversies.

Airing from September of 2013 through September of 2021, the show ended up putting together an impressive run of eight seasons and 153 episodes.  It leaves a pretty big hole in the comedy landscape.

FOX Upfronts

It has been quite a few years since FOX aired something that I watched regularly, so it shouldn’t really be an issue that the network decided against releasing their fall schedule at their upfront presentation on Monday.  I assume there will be more singing competitions laundering toxic right-wing personalities by dressing them up in funny costumes.

Mornings With The Peacock

On the heels of last month’s announcement of an exclusive streaming deal with Apple TV+, MLB announced another streaming deal, this time with Peacock, owned by NBC.  Worth an estimated $30 million to the poor MLB owners, the deal gives Peacock an exclusive window on Sunday mornings through 12:30 PM CT.  Games will begin at 10:30 CT through June 12, then move to an 11 AM start time for the remainder of the season.  In addition, Peacock will be the exclusive home of the Futures Game during All Star festivities and will also feature classic MLB games, award-winning documentaries from the MLB Film & Video Archive, and highlight packages available on-demand in a new MLB hub.

The Peacock slate kicks off on May 8 with the White Sox visiting the Red Sox and will be simulcast on NBC.  The south siders make an additional appearance in August while visiting the Guardians.  The Cubs, meanwhile, make their sole appearance while visiting the Phillies in July.  It is a shame that all three of these games are on the road.  It would be interesting to attend a game with an 11:00 (or earlier) start.

As I said last month, I see MLB expanding its reach into the streaming world to be a good thing.  Some will say that with these new exclusive deals, MLB is spreading their product around a little too much and they do have a point.  In order to watch every White Sox game this season as it happens, one would have to have access to NBC Sports Chicago, FOX, FS1, ESPN, Apple TV+. and Peacock.  That’s a lot of different services.  But how many fans actually try to watch every single game?  For the casual fan, MLB having a wide footprint can only be a good thing as they try to build the next generation of hard-core fans.