Studio 60 Deserves Another Look

What with it being created and written by Aaron Sorkin and starring Bradley Whitford, who was wonderful as Josh Lyman in Sorkin's The West Wing, as well as Matthew Perry, Steven Weber, Amanda Peet, Timothy Busfield and Ed Asner, I really wanted to like Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip. And I do. Most weeks.

However, the quality of the show varies from episode to episode, from great to mediocre with one show last month that simply sucked.

Last night's episode was one of the very good ones, full of the wit and sparkling dialogue that distinguished earlier Sorkin efforts such as West Wing and Sports Night. One thing that several of the shows critics have said, and that I agree with, is that the show within the show--the late night sketch comedy revue which serves as the series' McGuffin--isn't funny. The sketches we've seen so far have been pretty lame. But last night, part of a sketch featuring Santa Claus being caught in Dateline NBC's "To Catch A Predator" sting was quite funny and such a good premise that I'm surprised the real Saturday Night Live hasn't used it. (Wait..No, I'm not surprised. I did say it was a good idea, and nobody on SNL's writing staff has had one of those since the mid-80's.)

Studio 60 is getting better, but unfortunately had a slow start which has probably contributed to its low ratings (60 managed to lose half of the audience of its lead-in, Heroes.), and unless audiences give it a second look, maybe in a new time slot, the show might not last out the season.

Changes in 1 vs. 100 Not Quite Fair

During 1 vs. 100's brief hiatus, which ended on Friday, it appears that the producers did some tweaking of the rules in a way that doesn't strike me as fair. They have eliminated all dollar amounts under $1000 and made the first three questions worth that much for each member of the Mob who answers incorrectly, with the next two worth $2000 each, and the value of each of the subsequent questions increasing by $1000 each round. I will admit that allowing the contestants to rack up more money quicker does amp up the excitement level of the show, and with Bob Saget as host, the show's producers couldn't rely on him to provide any excitement. However, now contestants must successfully answer all three $1000 questions before they have an option to take the cash and split, then they have to survive both $2000 questions before getting another shot to take the money. After that they get the option after each question.

What strikes me as unfair is that while players can't quit after each question in the early rounds, they can still lose all the cash they have accumulated by answering a question wrong at any time. I feel that if the contestants are risking their winnings with every question, they should have the option of cashing out after every question. Alternately, perhaps there could be some sort of safety net. Maybe if the contestant answers incorrectly before he has a chance to jump ship, he would be guaranteed to walk away with at least what he accumulated on the first question, but that saftey net would disappear once he has the chance to opt out after every question.

1 vs 100 Returns Tonight

After a couple of weeks off, 1 vs 100 returns to the National Broadcasting Company's airwaves this evening. I'm glad its back, as I feel that 100 is actually the best entry in the current game show renaissance, combining as it does the best elements of two of the most popular games of recent years, Who Wants to Be A Millionaire? and Deal or No Deal.

On ABC's Show Me The Money, the real appeal of the show is watching Shatner make a fool of himself, but 1 vs. 100's host, former Full House and America's Funniest Home Videos host Bob Saget, is the least appealing thing about the show. The star, as in the game shows of the past, is the game itself, and Saget knows that he's just there to keep things moving and no one wants to see him dance.

1 vs. 100 pits a lone contestant against a group of 100 called "The Mob." As in Who Wants to Be A Millionaire? the contestant must answer a series of mildly challenging trivia questions each assigned an escalating cash value. The twist here is that the value of the question is multiplied by the number of members of the Mob who answer the question wrong, and those Mob members are elimated. If the contestant answers incorrectly, the game is over and any money he's won is split between the remaining Mob members, who then go on to play against the next contestant. Unlike Millionaire, there are no safety net levels. It's all or nothing.

As in Deal or No Deal and Millionaire, the players do have the option to take the money and run, but the contestant can't walk away after he's heard the next question, which is one thing that I've never liked about Millionaire.

So even without the dancing Shatner, 1 vs. 100 is my favorite of the new game shows.

Original X-Artist Dave Cockrum Dies

I learned last evening from Mike Carroll that Dave Cockrum died earlier this week at the age of 63.

Cockrum's status as a legendary and historic figure in the comics industry, and the super-hero genre in particular, was cemented the day he picked up his pencil to draw a revival of Marvel Comics' X-Men in 1975. Together with writers Len Wein, who created the new team, and Chris Claremont, who would guide the mutant heroes' destiny for the better part of the next two decades, Cockrum helped to take what had once been Marvel's lowest selling title and start it on a path to becoming the best selling comic in the world, as well as the basis for a successful animated TV show and movie series.

In addition to X-Men, Cockrum first came to the attention of comics fandom as artist of The Legion of Super-Heroes and later created his own graphic novel, The Futurians.

Wiggle Out

Here's a story that might upset Alison, my five year old niece and a big fan of this quartet of obnoxious Australians:

Wiggles' Lead Singer To Stop Performing

According to this article, Wiggle-in-Chief Greg Page suffers from a rare disorder that "...causes dizziness, fatigue and nausea."

Which, oddly enough, is what I experience when Alison insists that I watch her Wiggles DVDs with her.

Hallelujah!! "Preacher" A-Comin' To HBO

HBO hears word, brings 'Preacher' to small screen

Yes, the popular (though God only knows why) Vertigo series by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon will join the network that brought us The Sopranos, Sex and the City, Deadwood and Carnivale.

Now, I was not a fan of the comic book series. I found the "...dark and violent sense of humor..." that the above linked article cites as a hallmark of the series to be excessive and far too over the top. And of course, any hopes that, despite my aversion to the comics, HBO's version of Preacher could end up being, if not good, at least watchable are dashed by the fact that the pilot is being written by the same hack who penned the dreadful Daredevil film and directed by Howard Deutch, the "genius" behind Grumpier Old Men and other modern cinema classics. (One can only imagine in utter horror who Johnson, the man who actually thought Ben Affleck would make a good Daredevil, would recommend to play Jesse Custer or Cassidy.)

(STRAY THOUGHTS) Topic: What's In A Name?

So, I was reading The American Prospect's wrap-up and analysis of the Democratic victories in this month's mid-term elections when I came across the name of the newly elected Democratic senator from the great, but tiny, state of Rhode Island and I just had to wonder if this guy has ever entertained any thoughts about running for President of the United States someday. Given his name, it almost seems predestined that he will.

The senator-elect in question goes by the handle of Sheldon Whitehouse.

Dance, Shatner, Dance!!!

Oh, my Gaaaaawd!

Have you seen Bill Shatner's new game show, Show Me The Money?

It is just the most awful, degenerate spectacle that any broadcast network has seen fit to pollute the public airwaves with since Pink Lady and Jeff. It is tacky, obnoxious, derivative and exploitive and marks the utter demise of whatever shred of dignity or respectability that Shatner may have had left. He makes a complete and utter giant ass of himself, especially when he attempts what we're supposed to believe is dancing.

But, you know what?

I absolutely love it! I cannot wait for the next episode.

Money is so fascinatingly awful that, in the manner of the most hideous and bloody multi-car pileups, you (or, at least, I) cannot look away, if only to see if it could possibly get any worse.

In the end, that is the measure of "good television", though not necessarily "quality entertainment". It is TV that you are almost hypnotically compelled to watch, even if for all the wrong reasons.

The WORD on Michael Richards' "Meltdown"

I am deeply saddened to report that I blew an opportunity to land Word From On High world exclusive--what Perry White or J. Jonah Jameson would term a "scoop"--this past weekend by not thinking of the idea until it was too late. You see, despite having come into possession of a pass which would have granted me free entry into the show, I opted not to attend Mid-Ohio Con this past weekend because I just couldn't come up with a compelling reason why I should. Until this morning, that is, long after the show had folded its tents and slunk out of town.

Among the so-called "Media Guests", a.k.a. TV and movie "stars"(note the distinction between "Media" and Comics guests--oddly, it seems that to the people who put on comics conventions, comics don't qualify as a medium), attending this year's con was one Larry Thomas, better known as Seinfeld's "Soup Nazi," attempting to extend his fifteen minutes, or, more accurately, twenty-two minutes plus commercials, of fame gained through being featured in one episode of that inexplicably popular series. Had I gone to the con, I would have had the opportunity to get his take on the current controversy surrounding Seinfeld star Michael Richards from the perspective of someone connected, in a tangential, "six degrees of Kevin Bacon" sort of way to Richards. (Frankly, my memories of that episode are hazy, but I don't think Thomas and Richards even had any scenes together.)

Alas, the moment has passed, and you'll have to be content with my opinions and unfounded speculation. Maybe I'll ask Thomas if he comes to next year's con, since Richards should still be apologizing, which seems about to become his second career, at that time.

Y'know, maybe I'm just overly cynical, but from the moment the "news" of Richards' "rascist meltdown" hit the airwaves, it smelled to me of what we used to call a "publicity stunt" calculated to get Richards' name and face back in the public consciousness and, more importantly, on television. Whether or not that was the goal, it has been, in fact, the result. Not only has the repentent Richards appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman (and when was the last time that happened before all this kerfluffle?), but his latest in a string of apologies on Jesse Jackson's radio show was covered as if it were real news by many formerly respectable news organizations. And if the whole thing were a publicity stunt, you've got to assume that Jackson is no innocent dupe, but a willing participant. After all, when was the last time he managed to get his mug on the tube?

And doesn't the timing seem a bit suspect? Suddenly, everyone's talking about Seinfeld and one of the show's erstwhile stars just as Season 7 of the show is released on DVD. Convenient, no?

Letter To The Editor

Several months ago, I read a letter from a reader in Playboy that got me so upset that I had to respond in kind with a letter of my own. Hef's minions, however, chose not to print said letter, obviously blind to its depths of insight and literary excellence. That will not, though, keep me from sharing my opinions with the world, thus I present for you the full text of the aforementioned epistle:
I'm writing in response to the letter from Benjamin Chan printed in the September issue of Playboy in which Mr. Chan accuses the magazine of "liberal bias" and "trying to rewrite history" because of a joke whose punchine stated that Bill Clinton "almost got impeached." I will not deny that Playboy has a liberal bias. That (plus the pictorials, of course) are why I read it. However, using this joke in an attempt to show said bias is itself a joke.
It is far more likely that, rather than an attempt at revisionist history, the reference to Bill Clinton's "almost" impreachment stems from a very common misunderstanding of what it actually means to impeach a president or other government official. My Webster's dictionary defines "impeach" as "...to charge (a public official) before a competent tribunal with misconduct in office," which is exactly what happened to President Clinton. However, there is a general misconception that to impeach means to remove from office. By being impeached, Mr. Clinton was, in fact, "almost" removed from office.
It is clear from his letter that Mr. Chan understands the true meaning of impeach. It is also clear that he was so blinded by his own conservative politics and hatred of liberals that he read a sinister political agenda into what was quite obviously an innocent vocabulary error.

Another Ray's Top 5

Top 5:

TV "Characters" That You Just KNOW Were Sleeping Together Even Though It Was Never Explicitly Stated On Their Shows

5. The Mod Squad

4. Mary Ann and Ginger

This would explain how, in 15 years on the island, neither of them ever got pregnant.

3. Shirley Partridge and Ruben Kincaid

That's why she never fired him. He wasn't a very good manager, after all.

2. Greg and Marcia Brady

1. Siskel and Ebert

Standing Up to Studio 60

TV SQUAD: Studio 60 needs more Lauren Graham

Scroll down and read my comment (#19), in which I defend the honor of the city in which I live and blog.

Dummies and Crazies

Seen at the Whetstone branch of the Columbus library--yet another book we do not need: Politics For Dummies.

Speaking of politics, I've made it no secret that I'm seriously considering packing up and moving back to Linesville, Pennsylvania if Ken Blackwell is allowed to become governor of Ohio, but frankly, other than the fact that he isn't Ken Blackwell, I'm really not sure why I'm voting for Ted Strickland, either.

Take a look at the picture of the two main gubernatorial candidates that accompies this Columbus Dispatch article about Monday's debate.

If you ask me, they both look kind of crazy.

Hell, the more I think about it, the more likely it becomes that I might just end up voting for Green candidate Bob Fitrakis.

WASTED POTENTIAL in ALIVE! Week 5: When Did We Get A Cat?

Pane 1:

Bill and Sheila in bed. Killer, the cat, is napping on headboard.

Sheila: Billy, I've been thinking.

Bill: hnf?

Sheila: About "us."

Panel 2:

Close-Up Sheila

Sheila: Next week, it'll be three years that we've been together. Maybe it's time to take our relationship to the "next level."

Panel 3:

Bill: I agree.

Sheila: You do?

Bill: Sure. So, do you want to "go steady?"

Panel 4:

Sheila hits Bill with pillow...Wakes up Killer.

Sound FX: THWUFF

Panel 5:

Close up on Bill..off panel, Sheila storms out of bedroom.

Sound FX: SLAM!

Panel 6:

Bill: What's she so upset about?

Killer: Nnyow.

Bill: I don't know either. {When did we get a cat?}*

Bill is my favorite character in the strip, as well as my favorite to draw....Twenty years after I first created him for Norm's Dorm, the strip I did for the Clarion University of Pennsylvania's Clarion Call, I'm still discovering aspects of his character that surprise me.

I created this strip to give Bill a little more time in the spotlight and explore his relationship with Sheila (another carry over from Norm's Dorm) a little.

Also--"When did we get a cat?" is a running gag in the strip. Basically, whenever Bill sees Killer, he says, or thinks, it. I know such a gag can get old quickly, and I've only used it in two strips of the over 60 that I've drawn.

By the way, this is one of the many early strips that I redrew a couple of years ago, and in the original version Sheila wasn't wearing the nightgown.

(* "{}" indicate thought balloon)

Bottom of "The Class"

After three weeks of watching the new CBS sitcom The Class, I still can't tell you any of the characters' names. This is partly because there are so many of them, but mostly because I just don't care enough about any of them to even bother trying to learn their names. Quite frankly, if The Class is, as its promo spots claim, being hailed by critics as "the best new sitcom of the season," then all the others must really suck, and maybe those who have been declaring the form dead are on to something.

The Class is horribly unfunny and, even worse, totally predictable.

For example, in the first episode the players are gathered together by Ethan (I'm checking the CBS web-site for the names, which I'll most likely promptly forget upon posting this), who gives a surprise party for his fiance, whom he first met in third grade, and invites members of his third grade class, many of whom he hasn't seen since then and have completely forgotten about him. Predictably, the party goes horribly wrong when Ethan's fiance breaks up with him and one of his former classmates, Kat, says, "This is the best party ever."

Even if that line hadn't been in all the promos for the show, you would have known that someone was going to say it, because it's the standard joke that lazy, uninspired, unimaginative sitcom writers have their uninspired, unimaginative characters say when such an uninspired, unimaginative event occurs in their uninspired, unimaginative story.

It doesn't get any better from there, so I won't annoy you with any more examples.

It would seem that viewers aren't as impressed with The Class as CBS hoped they would be, since beginning this Monday, the network has switched its timeslot with the equally lame How I Met Your Mother. Apparently The Class' ratings weren't strong enough to justify keeping it in the lead off spot for the night. Unfortunately, they apparently do justify keeping this steaming pile of crap on the air.

It's almost enough to make me willingly watch Deal Or No Deal.

But not quite.

E-Mail Scam Warning...

So, today I recieved this e-mail:

FROM SAMUEL ORIAKU (ESQ) & ASSOCITTIES
NO 2043 BULVARD LOME-TOGO THANKS
FOR CO-OPRATIVE WITH THIS CHAMBER

Attention,

I am Barrister.Samuel Oriaku,a solicitor atlaw,personal attorney to Mr.Robort Tomczak, a national Of your country,A contractor Here in Lome Republic of Togo. Herein after shall be referred to as my client. On the 21st of April 2002,my client, his wife and their only daughter were involved in auto crash along Ecowas express road.All occupants of the vehicle unfortunately lost there lives.Since then I have made several enquiries to your embassy here to locate any of my clients extended relatives, this has also proved unsuccessful. After these several unsuccessful attempts,I decided to track his last name over the Internet, to locate any member of his family hence I contacted you.I have contacted you to assist in repartrating the fund valued at US$16.5 million left behind by my late client before it gets confisicated by the finance comapany where this huge amount was deposited. The said Finance Company has issued me a notice to provide the next of kin or have his account confisicated within the next fourteen official working days. Since I have been unsuccesfull in locating the relatives for over 2years now, I seek the consent to present you as the next of kin to the deceaced since you have the same last names, so that the proceeds of this account can be paid to you.Therefore, on receipt of your positive response, we shall then discuss the sharing ratio and modalities for transfer.I have all necessary information and legal documents needed to back you up for the claims. All I require from you is your honest cooperation to enable us see this transaction through.I guarantee that this will be executed under legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law,I also assured you once again that their is no error or any consequence that will arise during the execution of this transaction as long as you will only fellow my instructions/Advise.
Please get back to me Immedetly Bear in mind that this proposal is 100% risk free.

Best regards.
Barrister Samuel Oriaku(ESQ).

Sounded kinda fishy...After all, a real lawyer, even a foreign one, would spell better than that...So I copied the name "Samuel Oriaku" and popped it into Google, and on an Internet Fraud message board, I found that someone had posted the exact same e-mail...

Needless to say I will not be responding to "Samuel Oriaku (ESQ)" and definitely not sending him the ridiculous fee he would have asked for to "process my claim" or something.

If you should recieve a similar e-mail, just delete the damned thing.

Remember, pretty much all e-mails like this are scams.

WASTED POTENTIAL in ALIVE! Week 4

Okay, since I'm unable to post the actual strip here, I'm gonna try describing the strip so that you have some clue what I'm commenting on.

By the way, while most of the Alive! strips have appeared in previous self-published comics, this week's strip has never been seen anywhere by anyone.

Panel One:

(Norm and Bill sitting on couch--like always. Amy standing behind couch)

Norm: I had a great idea for a strip today while I was at work.

Amy: I hope you wrote it down this time.

Bill sneezes.

Panel Two:

Norm: Of course. I wrote it on a napkin. It's right...

Bill sniffles and reaches for napkin lying on coffee table.

Panel Three:

Bill and Norm

Norm:...here?

Bill blows his nose

SFX: HONK!

Panel Four:

Norm and Bill look at each other.

Panel Five:

Bill: What?

Norm: Oh, nothing.

(Yeah...it's just not the same)

Anyway, like Norm, I work at a fast food restaurant and when an idea for a strip strikes me while I'm working I will write it down on whatever paper is handy(napkins, bags, etc..) so that I don't forget it before I get a chance to draw it up.

Fortunately, the event the depicted in this strip is just a scenario that I thought would be funny (it is a comic strip, after all) and has never really happened to me. (I generally wait 'til after I draw the strip to use the napkin to blow my nose.)

I Shot Up With The Sheriff

I didn't post anything yesterday because I just couldn't think of anything to write about. None of the entertainment news stories I read provided me with any inspiration....Then this morning...

Let me back up here.

One of the stories I came across yesterday concerned Eric Clapton, who is considering resuming playing his classic hit "Cocaine" in his concerts. Apparently, he stopped playing it after he got off the drugs a few years ago because he was concerned about the "message" it was sending. Now, however, he's talked himself into seeing it as an anti-drug song and may, in the near future, play it in concert again.

Then this morning, I heard Clapton's version of Bob Marley's "I Shot the Sheriff." I wonder, does Clapton still play this one in concert? Isn't he concerned about the "message" that a song about gunning down an officer of the law is sending? Or is he in favor of shooting cops (and sheriffs) as long as you're not high at the time?

What, Mr. Clapton, is the deal here?

WASTED POTHENTIAL in ALIVE! Week 3: "Hunter and Elvis"

Once again, you'll have to rush out and pick up this week's Columbus Alive! and read this week's Wasted Potential strip before reading this insightful and thought provoking commentary. Unfortuntately, I am unable to post the strips here at this time...However, the original version of this week's strip (I've since redrawn it) appeared in the mini comic collection Wasted Potential: Blue, so if you're one of the half dozen or so people who got a copy of that one, you'll know what I'm talking about.

I drew the original version of this strip in January of 2003. It was a Monday. No, I don't remember the exact date.

The inspiration for the strip was a woman I had met the day before. I won't disclose her name, since just as Norm's infatuation with this unnamed woman he "met" is destined to go nowhere, I totally failed to ask this woman out or in any even indicate to her that I was even thinking of asking her out or that I had any type of romantic inclinations toward her at all and eventually she drifted out of my life and I haven't seen her for about two years and I kick myself every time I think about her.

Anyway...If I ever were to have a male child ( a prospect that seems increasingly unlikely since most of my experiences with women mirror the above example), I would, in fact, want to name him Hunter. It's a cool name as well as being the name of one of my favorite writers and the author of the quote over there on your right underneath my picture.

Dummies to the Left of me; Complete Idiots to my Right

I've been reading a book called Monty Python and Philosophy, a book which applies philosophical principles to the work of Monty Python and Pythonesque principles to the work of philosophers, and one of the essays therein inspired me to do some further reading on Buddhism. No, I'm not looking to become a Buddhist, but I get the feeling that there are certain aspects of Buddhist philosophy that I might do well to incorporate in my own personal "philosophy," such as it is.

So, anyway, I was thinking that I should look for a simple introductory text, something like a "Buddhism For Dummies," so I did some poking around the library's catalog computer and guess what....

Yep, Buddhism For Dummies is a real book. I immediately reserved it, as well as The Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding Buddhism.

While in a bookstore with Mild Mike Lucas, master cartoonist and creator of the unparalleled genius of The Idioms, a couple of weeks ago, I noticed the book Screenwriting For Dummies. I'll bet you're thinking the same thing that I thought and said to Mike, "We really don't need this book. Too many screenplays are written by dummies as it is." The same could be said for The Complete Idiot's Guide to Creating a Graphic Novel, perhaps even more so.

I wonder if there's one called Writing A "For Dummies" Book For Dummies.

And by now you've probably guessed that I learned everything I know about writing this blog from.....

Where else?

Blogging For Dummies

Odd News: Son of a Beehive

While I cannot for the life of me, no matter how hard I try, come up with a comment on this story, it was just too strange not to pass along to what few readers I may have left after my recent extended absences from posting:

Police discover cocaine stashed in beehive hairdo
And for the youngsters who may not know what a "beehive" is:
Wikipedia entry for "Beehive (hairstyle)"

Legion of Super Heroes Debuts On "Kids WB!"

Well, so far, the new Legion of Super Heroes cartoon, which debuted Saturday as part of what is, interestingly enough, still known as the Kids WB! line-up despite the fact that the WB! network no longer exists, looks pretty good.

I had heard that the show would feature "Superboy" teaming up with his 31st century counterparts, but what we have is a very young Superman at a time in his life before Clark Kent moved to Metropolis and took that nom de guerre. The Wikipedia article about the show mentions speculation that legal hassles concerning the ownership of "Superboy" caused the change, but I think it might have had more to do with the fact that DC wrote out the "young Clark Kent" version of Superboy two decades ago and didn't want to bring him back in any form (though that doesn't explain the late 80's live action Superboy series--however at the time there was no Superboy of any kind in the comics...but I'm getting off topic, so.....).

One question I have: Why is young Clark shown wearing glasses? We all know that Clark only wears the glasses to disguise the fact that he's Superman, so if he hadn't become Superman yet when we first meet him, WHY is he wearing glasses? It's a small quibble, and didn't affect my enjoyment of the show, however. In fact, I only thought of it after the show was over.

In look and style, the series is more like the earlier Superman and Justice League series than the Teen Titans (also about teen heroes), which is good because I found some of TT's "manga-isms" (a word that I think I just made up) annoying.

When doing any show based on a super hero team that's been around a while (50 years) and had literally dozens of members, every one of whom will be some die hard fanboy's favorite, in that time, the producers have quite a challenge coming up a line-up for the show.

Braniac 5 was a no-brainer. I wouldn't attempt to do a Legion show without him. (Though what's up with him being some kind of robot or something? Is this to make him more like the Brainiac of the Superman series?) The same goes for Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl (and I hope we'll see the third founding member, Cosmic Boy, who was mentioned but not shown in the pilot). Triplicate Girl and Shadow Lass are also good choices and I especially liked the inclusion of Bouncing Boy. (How can you not like a guy calling himself Bouncing Boy?) Timber Wolf is slated to join the team in the next episode, and we should get to see the other mentioned but not seen Legionnaires, Colossal Lad and Shrinking Violet.

I would guess that Chameleon Boy (or simply Chameleon, as I believe he is known in the comics these days) was excluded due to the similarity of his powers to those of Teen Titans' Beast Boy, but the one Legionnaire whose presence I miss is Wildfire, as he's always been my favorite member of the team. Maybe we'll get to see him as a guest star in a future episode.

There are also hints in the Wikipedia article that we'll get to see the Legion of Substitute Heroes and maybe even Matter Eater Lad this season. (Matter Eater Lad was, at one point, leading the Subs, so they may be in the same episode.)

Anyway, looking forward to seeing more of The Legion of Super Heroes!!

Bring On Matter Eater Lad!!

Premiere Week

Tonight is the official kick off of the broadcast networks' "Premiere Week," with many new series debuting and many more starting new seasons.

As far as I'm concerned the whole week is downhill from tonight, when the one show I've been looking forward to the entire summer premieres. (No, it's not Deal or No Deal. ) I'm referring to Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.

Why am I so excited about this show? Two words: Aaron Sorkin--creator of two of the finest TV series of the last decade, Sports Night and The West Wing. Sorkin has kicked whatever habits kept him out of TV for the past few seasons and returns to NBC with a drama that takes viewers behind the scenes of a TV sketch comedy show. To sweeten the deal even more, Sorkin is bringing with him Wing star Bradley Whitford and Friends star (and occassional Wing guest star) Matthew Perry.

Hopefully, the presence on NBC's schedule of a similar, but probably not as good, sitcom called 30 Rock, won't confuse people or draw viewers away from Studio 60.

WASTED POTENTIAL in ALIVE! Week One

If you haven't already read the strip, rush out and pick up a copy of Columbus Alive! now and do so and read Wasted Potential....then come back and read the following comments on this week's strip.

I chose this particular strip to begin the Alive! run because, while it's not actually an "introductory" strip (those ran in The Atomic Tomorrow last year), it does serve to introduce many of the main characters and tropes of the series. Most importantly, it features the three main characters, Norm, Amy and Bill, and establishes the relationship between Norm and Amy. (For those who don't know, Bill is Norm's room-mate. Norm's sister Amy does not officially live with him, even though she's there all the time, which Bill is none too happy about.) It also establishes that Norm is a cartoonist with a tendency to run up against deadlines and a penchant for being distracted by such important things as Gilligan's Island marathons. This is a recurring theme in the strip, and a later strip in this run will visit the topic again. Peanuts creator Charles Schulz is also mentioned, and Norm's great admiration for this great cartoonist is another recurring theme.

One thing I want to mention: The episode of Gilligan's Island "...where Mary Ann hits her head and thinks she's Ginger" is an actual Gilligan episode. All such citations in Wasted Potential refer to actual TV episodes or movies. I hate it when TV or movie writers cite a totally made up episode of a real TV show because it shows a lack of knowledge of what the hell they're writing about.

Wasted Potential,

the greatest thing to happen to comic strips since the invention of the word balloon, begins its six week run in Columbus Alive!

TOMORROW!!!!

Get your copies early, as they're sure to disappear quickly once word gets out that WP is in the paper!!!

BB All Stars Wrap Up

About the only thing surprising in last night's Big Brother All-Stars finale was the color of Nakomis' hair. It was BROWN! Now, usually there's nothing all that shocking about brown hair. Lots of people have brown hair. I have brown hair. But this isn't me we're talking about here, it's Nakomis. During her two sojourns in the Big Brother house, her hair has been pink, purple, orange and green; but this is the first time we've seen it a color actually found in nature.

There was nothing shocking, however, about Mike "Boogie" walking out of the house with the half million dollar prize. I saw it coming weeks ago, and his victory was pretty much assured from the moment of Will's eviction. Plus of the final four, I felt he was the one who most deserved to win.

Wasted Potential is Almost Here!!!

I've been taking a break from blogging (Again! I know, I am such a lazy bastard!), but I'm taking a break from my break to let you all know that Wasted Potential begins its groundbreaking, monumental six-week run in Columbus Alive! with next week's issue!!

Alive! hits the mean streets of Columbus, Ohio every Thursday, so be sure and scoop up a copy while you can as they're sure to go fast and become instant collector's items!

Coutdown Update

This week marks the third Columbus Alive! appearance of John Mallett's Sonic Sea Monkeys, which means that in just FOUR(4) SHORT WEEKS, Wasted Potential, the greatest comic strip ever, takes the sleepy town of Columbus, Ohio by storm!!!! (trust me, if I knew how to make those words blink, I'd do it!!)

Meanwhile, I have moved up to number 530 on the waiting list for the DVD of V For Vendetta. At this rate, it'll be about six weeks before I can give you a review. (If you don't feel like waiting, there's always "Learned" Larned Justin's comments on my August 14th post.)

Stayin' Home

Probably not going out to the movies this weekend. None of the films opening this week appeal to me at all. The least appealing is Snakes On A Plane. As much as I like Samuel L. Jackson, who was just about the only thing worth watching in the lameass Star Wars prequels, I hate snakes even more...always have, always will.

Then there's Accepted. It's about a kid who gets rejected by every college he applies to, so to convince his dad that he's not a total loser, he invents an imaginary college which then becomes a real school. The name the kid comes up with for the school is South Harmon Institute of Technology. Yes, that's South Harmon Institute of Technology...and if that's an indication of the level of alleged humor in this film, I think I'll skip it. From what I can see, the only thing this so-called comedy has to recommend it is that Lewis Black is in it.

Yep. looks like another weekend of watching my DVDs of the first season of Gilmore Girls....

Fall TV Preview: Shark

In my last entry about fall TV shows I was looking forward to seeing on CBS, I failed to mention the upcoming legal drama Shark. The show stars James Woods as Sebastian Stark, a high powered successful defense attorney in Los Angeles (that's in California) who goes to work for the District Attorney, birnging with him the same tactics that he previously used to get his clients off only now focused on locking up the bad guys. The show offers a bit of a twist on the usual lawyer show formula and Woods is a great actor who's worth watching no matter what he's in (even if, as in Hercules, only his voice is heard), so this one seems worth giving a chance.

Fall TV Preview: Fox and CBS

Geez, where the hell has the bloody time gone? Seems like summer's almost over already...The brats'll be heading back to school in a few days and the Fall TV season is almost upon us. In the case of Fox, it begins in just six days with the premiere of Vanished.

As I have in the past, I'm going to pick out one or two shows from each network's line-up that look like they actually might be worth watching, and I will start with Fox and CBS.

Fox's Til Death is not one of those shows. The new Brad Garrett vehicle strikes me as yet another lame sitcom about a married that you can not believe would ever be a couple. To tell you the truth, no sitcom on any network really strikes me as being anything especially special. It seems that networks and producers are concentrating more on dramas, especially serialized dramas in the Lost mode or CSI/Law & Order style procedural dramas.

The two on Fox that look promising fit into the later mold. Justice, in fact, is produced by CSI's Jerry Bruckheimer and appears to apply the CSI formula to defense attorneys, specifically a high powered, high priced lawyer played by Victor Garber.

Standoff, meanwhile, follows the CSI model by spotlighting an area of police work that has not really been explored in a TV series before. The show follows two hostage negotiators who also happen to be romantically involved.

Meanwhile, CBS has Jericho, the story of residents of a small Kansas town who survive a nuclear war. The previews that I've seen remind me of one of my favorite novels, Pat Frank's Alas! Bablyon, another tale of survivors of a nuclear war, and that similarity of premise has me interested and intrigued enough to tune in and give the show a shot.

When I return to this topic, I'll look at what's worth watching, if anything on NBC, ABC, and the CW.

V For Vendetta: Who Was V, Really?

I just finished reading Alan Moore and David Lloyd's graphic novel V For Vendetta, upon which the movie of this past spring was based, and I have a question....

Since this concerns the ending of the book, if you have not read V For Vendetta or seen the film (though, not having seen the film myself, I have no idea how closely it follows the book), you might want to skip this entry and go to the Big Brother update.

Throughout the book, we never see V's true face, and then at the end Evey Hammond assumes the mantle of V following V's death. As I was thinking about the ending this morning, the following thought hit me: Is it possible that V was, in fact, Evey Hammond all along and the conversations between her and V took place entirely within her mind? Therefore, the new "apprentice" that Evey/V takes in at the end of the book would be yet another manifestation of Evey/V's psyche. After all, Finch says that V is not a normal human mentally and actually goes so far as to take LSD in order to think the way that V does. Plus, this is written by Alan Moore, so it makes sense to assume that there's more going on in the story than meets the eye.

If you've read the book, I'd appreciate any thoughts you have on this subject.

BB All Stars: A Whole New Game

A lot happened in the Big Brother All Stars house between Thursday and Sunday.

Erika's reign as Head of Household was short lived, as complaints of technical difficulties during the competition caused it to be re-played and this time Janelle won, making her HoH for the third. I'm not sure any other houseguest has ever had three terms as HoH, especially only six weeks into the competition.

Meanwhile, the power of coup d'etat, which will give the houseguest who wins it the power to overthrow the HoH and change the nominations on eviction night, is up for grabs. So far, Danielle, James, George and Erika have taken stabs at guessing the Big Brother related phrase which holds the key to the power.

The BB game enters a new phase this week, as, with only nine houseguests remaining, the next seven evictees will form the jury which will decide the winner from the final two.

So, are these All Star houseguests really great liars or just very gullible or a little of both? Last week, everyone seemed to buy into the ruse of Danielle's nomination of James, which was designed to hide their alliance, while Will told a series of whoppers, which, again, everyone seemed to swallow, designed to turn the house against Marcellas. This week, following Kaysar's eviction, Janelle began telling some tall tales of her own concerning Chicken George. Now, we viewers know that George did not "swear on his kids," as Janelle claims, that he would vote to keep Kaysar in the house, and Kaysar did not tell her that he did, yet Will and James appear to be buying that line of crap. My interpretatiion is that not only did George not make any promise to help Kaysar, he pretty much told Kaysar that he was going to vote him out without coming right out and saying it, since, in my experience at least, "I'll see what I can do" usually means "Sorry, Charlie."

The real question here is what Janelle believes. Her diary room testimony seems to indicate that she doesn't even realize that she's not telling the truth, but instead actually believes her own laod of BS.

I really hope that Danielle's guess was correct and she wins the coup d'etat power. Especially as she is one of Janelle's nominees this week, she will surely use it and Janelle will become the first member of the jury.

Meanwhile, it seems that Will is taking the competition a little more seriously than he wants people to think. Contrary to what he said in his "I Hate You All' screed a couple of weeks ago, the Evil Doctor really seemed to be trying to win the HoH competitions and looked genuinely pissed off both times he got knocked out.

Finally, I want to say that it was great to see Season 5's Marvin again during last nights food competition (if I were picking the All Star line-up, he would have at least made the Top 20 that people got to vote on), but I'm wondering what exactly qualifies a mortician to judge a cooking competition. (I don't remember what Season 4 winner Jun does for a living, and, as I didn't follow Season 2, this was the first time I'd ever seen that Nichole person.)

Yes, it's been quite a week in the BB house so far, and we haven't even seen the Veto competition yet. Things may get even stranger....Stay tuned.

Still Countin' Down

Updating my two ongoing countdowns:

Only 5 more weeks until Columbus is treated to the splendorifousness that is my comic strip Wasted Potential in Columbus Alive!

....and:

I have moved up to #609 on the waiting list for V For Vendetta.

BB All Stars Update: It's Time To Take Down Chilltown!!

While the plan to boot Janelle from the Big Brother All Stars house may have failed, outgoing Head of Household Danielle's larger objective of breaking up the Season 6 alliance was accomplished. With Jame's defection and Kaysar's eviction, the Season 6 alliance has been effectively neutered as a force in the game. (Note to Janelle: When your closest remaining ally in the house is Howie, you are...What's the word I'm searching for? Oh, yeah! ....SCREWED!)

With Season 6 broken up, the time has finally come, the Walrus said, to take out the "Chilltown" alliance, and I hope that Erika, the new HoH, sees this and acts on it.

As Kaysar awaited the vote last night he addressed his housemates and the TV viewers, giving the usual spiel about how he played the game with "integrity and honesty" and on and on and blah, blah, blah....BULL.

In truth, in all the summers that I have watched Big Brother, only one player has truly conducted himself with real honor, integrity and respect for his fellow players. I think that if you've been reading these BB updates of mine you know who I'm talking about: the man who has quickly become my favorite BB housguest ever--Chicken George.

Mike Douglas: 1925-2006

"(Mike) Douglas said in his book that people often confused him with (Merv) Griffin, another singer of Irish heritage." (from Columbus Dispatch obituary of former TV talk show host Mike Douglas)

I never confused them. Griffin's show bored me, but I always enjoyed watching The Mike Douglas Show. Douglas had music and comedy and interesting guests on his show, while Griffin's show was all about sitting on the couch in his Vegas studio schmoozing with fellow celebs, most of whose careers had long since faded.

Here's something you might not know about Mike Douglas...before he was a talk show host, he was a singer and provided the singing voice of Prince Charming in the Walt Disney version of Cinderella.

V Update

I just checked, and I have moved up to number 617 on the waiting list to check out V For Vendetta. It's practically in my DVD player as I write this.

Hating Bill O'Reilly For Fun and Profit

Just last night, I started reading a book called Sweet Jesus, I Hate Bill O'Reilly by Joseph Minton Amann and Tom Breuer, creators of the web-site of the same name. The book is devoted to debunking the lies, distortions and general BS of Rupert Murdoch's Golden Boy, but as much as I loathe O'Reilly and his fellow Fox News blowhards, I'm not enjoying it as much as I thought I was going to. After all, is there anyone besides O'Reilly's fellow lunatics who takes this loser seriously anymore. By now, making O'Reilly look like an idiot is just too easy, as he does it himself almost every time he opens his big fat lying mouth. It's liking shooting fish in a bucket with a Howitzer, which could be fun at first but would probably get a little boring after a while.

As far as I'm concerned, the fatal wound to O'Reilly's already crippled credibility was when his and Fox News' bogus lawsuit against Al Franken in an attempt to block publication of Franken's Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right by claiming that Franken infringed on Fox's incredibly weak and indefensible trademark on the generic phrase "Fair and Balanced" was literally laughed out of court. I think the judge may still be chuckling.

Bill O'Reilly is a loudmouthed lying jerk. That is all ye know and all ye need to know (at least about O'Reilly). Skip the show, skip this book, let the healing begin and get on with your lives.

Waiting For V

You may remember that I wrote quite a bit about the film V For Vendetta prior to its theatrical release in March, especially about how it might cmpare to other filmed adaptations of Alan Moore's work, which have been utterly bloody awful--especially From Hell. (I am so glad I had a free pass to that film and didn't actually have to waste any money on the piece of crap.)

Well, I never did get to see V during its somewhat brief theatrical run, but now it is out on DVD and, sooner or later--well, later, I will be watching it and giving my review here. I have reserved it from the Columbus Metropolitan Library and when I checked just minutes ago, I was number 629 in line to check it out. Considering that I was #730 a week ago when I made the reservation, it looks like about six and a half weeks until I can tell you how it stacks up against the comic, which is good because it gives me time to actually read the comic. Yes, I will admit now that I had not read the book at the time the movie was released, but I checked it out about the same time I signed up for the DVD, and I'm about two thirds of the way through it. I could be done already, but I'm also reading I Don't Mean To Be Rude, But... by Simon Cowell, in which he talks at length about his own greatness.

In the meantime, I guess you'll just have to suffer through my analysis of Big Brother All Stars, and my continued and growing admiration for Chicken George.

Entertainment News Round-Up (YEEE--HAAAH!!!)

I had no idea what I was gonna write today, so I cast about the 'Net for some random entertainment news...let's see what I came up with.

Hey! This is exciting. At least, it is to me. Hong Kong Phooey: The Complete Series comes out on DVD next week. The set contains all thirty-one episodes of one of TV's greatest super-hero spoofs, not to mention one of the few shows that Hanna-Barbera produced during the 70's that was even watchable (Remember The Hair Bear Bunch and Inch High, Private Eye? Yech! I still cannot believe that I ever liked either of those shows. Sure, I was a kid, but that's no excuse.), on two discs that also contains commentary on three episodes, a documentary entitled "The Phoo-Nomenon", and complete storyboards for the episode "The Batty Bank Gang".

In movie news, Talladaga Nights: The Ballad of of Ricky Bobby topped the box office over the weekend, and was probably hugely popular with NASCAR fans too stupid to know that they were being made fun of.

In second place was Barnyard: The Original Party Animals (subtitles are very in this week), despite reviews that could charitably be described as lukewarm. To me, the film appears, based on the promos I've seen, to be a cheaply produced quickie whose sole puropse for existing is to cash in on the popularity of computer animated films.

Meanwhile, CNN.com reports that Heath Ledger will be following in the footsteps of Cesar Romero, Jack Nicholson, and Mark Hamill. He has been cast as the Joker in The Dark Knight, the sequel to last summer's Batman Begins. Hopefully, unlike Romero, Ledger will actually shave off his moustache before putting on the makeup.

Finally, your chance to be insulted by a snotty Brit has come around again, as auditions for season 6 of American Idol began today, as reported in the Columbus Dispatch. The audition nearest me appears to be Monday's at Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, N.J. This blogging thing hasn't made me rich, so maybe I'll take my shot at a singing career.

BB All Stars: Can Danielle Be Trusted?

That, as a certain Melancholy Dane famously said, is the question. At least it's the question that James has to be asking himself after the nomination ceremony shown in last nights Big Brother All-Stars episode, in which Danielle, the first non-Season 6'er to win the power position this summer, nominated him along with fellow 6'er and apparently former ally Janelle for eviction. The idea, as Danielle explained it to James, is that she wanted someone as the other nominee who could keep Janelle from winning the Power of Veto competition and James, this summer and last, has won more Veto competitions than any other player in BB history. James seems to trust her, and her diary room testimony makes it appear that she is, in fact, sincere, but as with everything else in the game, we'll have to wait and see and the only thing that counts is the final vote tally.

Meanwhile, my respect and admiration for Chicken George continues to grow.

This week's HoH competion challenged the houseguests to hold on to a giant spider web as long as they could, with the last person remaining being the winner. The first five who dropped out could chose from five "golden" eggs, two of which contained prizes of value in the game and one of which contained ten thousand dollars. One of the prizes was a pass allowing the holder not to have to eat Slop for a week.

Remember now that George, because of the Veto competition two weeks ago, has to eat Slop for the rest of the time he's in the house, so when it came down to the last egg and all the other prizes had been claimed leaving only the Slop pass, the others houseguests urged George to jump off and take the pass. George, however, hung on, determined to give it his all in an effort to win the competion. Marcellas was the next to fall and claimed the pass. George lost his grip a few minutes later, but it was too late.

Fortunately, Marcellas later decided to let George have the pass so that he could join the others for some pizza, though it seems this is hardly a selfless act and Marcellas appears to expect some quid pro quo in the future.

The way that George has conducted himself in the game has seemingly won not only my respect and admiration, but his fellow houseguests' as well, which is why I predict that he can't win the half million dollar grand prize. Suppose that he makes it to the Final Three, but fails to win the final HoH competion. Now, in BB, the winner of HoH when only three are left is automatically in the Final Two and gets to pick which of the other two faces the jury consisting of the last seven houseguests evicted beside him. If you were one of the other houseguests. would you want to be up against this guy who everyone likes and respects or just about anyone else? You might not even want to let him reach the Final Three, as I think there's a good chance that he'd win the final HoH. The Veto competition two weeks ago showed that he's capable of doing what has to be done when his ass is on the line.

Speaking of Poker...

...OSU senior to play for high stakes in Las Vegas (from the Columbus Dispatch Sunday August 6, 2006)

(POKER MOVIES) I Really Hated This One...

As I don't really have anything to new or interesting to say, here's another one of the series of posts on poker related movies that I wrote some months ago. When I first wrote this review of A Big Hand For The Little Lady, I was a little concerned about breaking the film critics' "rule" about not revealing the ending of a film in the review. How, I wondered, could I hold to that and still write an honest review when, after all, my problem with the film is the ending. Well, I reasoned, if I'm writing this to discourage people from seeing this film, then I don't have to worry about "ruining" the ending for them. Besides, as my friend Mustafa said to me a few weeks later regarding a completely different matter, "Rules are like bones, they are meant to be broken."--R"!!"T (Aug 5, 2006)

Over the course of last summer, as I strove to learn all I could about the game of poker prior to hosting my first game at my 40th birthday party, I watched quite a few poker themed movies. Some were very good and some, well, weren't, but there's one that I simply hate with an intensely burning passion. That exercise in wasted celluloid is called A Big Hand For The Little Lady.

In director Fielder Cook's 1966 film, a frontier family on their way to establish a homestead out west stop, when their wagon breaks down, in a small Texas town that is playing host to an annual high stakes poker game. While the wife, Mary, sees to the repairs, the husband, Meredith, a reformed gambler, gets into the game, playing with the money designated to buy their land, and is losing until he gets an apparent monster hand and promptly has a heart attack. While the town doctor sees to her husband, Mary takes his seat at the table. After securing a loan from the town banker to cover all bets, she wins back all Meredith lost and then some, along the way teaching the jaded old gamblers a few lessons about life, love, family devotion, and other such B.S.

Then, BOOM! the scene shifts to New Orleans and it is revealed that the "family" are con artists employed by the banker to exact revenge on the poker players for swindling him in a crooked land deal twenty years earlier. Up until that point the viewer is given no clue that the characters and the story are anything other than what they appear to be. I had invested emotionally in the characters and story as they seemed at first and when they were revealed at the last moment to be something totally different, I felt cheated, tricked and used. Twist endings are fine, but the person you should never trick is the viewer. I came away resenting this film and everyone involved with it. Except for Burgess Meredith, who played the doctor. After all, man, he was the Penguin and that makes him cool no matter what.

6 Weeks and Counting Down

A new strip by John Mallett began its six week run in Columbus Alive!'s "Columbus Comix Spotlight," meaning that it's only six weeks until Columbus is treated to a taste of its soon to be new favorite comic strip, Wasted Potential, by everyone's already favorite cartoonist/blogger, moi. I've decided that while the strip is running, I'm going to offer commentary on each strip each week here at The Word From On High, thus giving my vast reading public (all six of them) a glimpse into the workings of a truly demented yet blindingly brilliant creative mind.

Meanwhile, I'm going to have to put off my analysis of last night's Big Brother All Stars episode until tomorrow because I've got to check the BB web-site and find out who won Head of Household, as the competition for the honor was one of those all night endurance tests that come down to a question of who wants it more.

Sue and the Rats: Still the Champ

I said last week that Dr. Will's "I Hate You All" speech at the Big Brother All Stars Veto ceremony last week could stand beside Susan Hawk's infamous "Rat/Snake" speech from the first Survivor finale. Well, after watching that speech again just this past weekend, I realize that I was wrong. Nothing in television before or since compares to that moment. It is truly the purest expression of raw, unbridled hatred seen on the small screen outside of daytime soap operas, and it is, however unitentionally, utterly hilarious. I crack up every time I hear it, and not even Steve Martin at the height of his stand up career has that effect on me every single time. (I wonder if this reaction to such a vitriolic stream of pure bile says anything about the kind of person I am...Well, of course it does, but I've long since accepted that I'm a horrible, bitter troll and learned to live with it.)

BB All Stars: Veto Aftermath--James Defects

Back when I lived in Kane, Pa and worked as a DJ at WKZA AM Stereo 960, there was a woman from my home town also living there and teaching at the High School. Now, under normal circumstances, she's not someone who I would hang around with, because, to be frank, as much as I love the rest of her family, especially her mom and dad, who were like second parents to me, I absolutely cannot stand her. She's a mean, hateful, bitter, just plain horrible person. But back then I did talk to her and hang out with her a bit, because in this unfamiliar setting, she was someone I knew.

What, you ask, does this have to do with Big Brother All Stars? Well, that familiarity is, I believe, the sole reason James was hanging around with the other returnees from Season 6, especially since they weren't all that friendly the first time around. Now, however, the Season 6 alliance appears to already falling apart, with James pissed off by Janelle's nomination of Diane to replace Boogie after Boogie won the Power of Veto, while Janelle truly does appear to be in the thrall of the Evil Dr. Will's Svengali like charm.

(It sounds like I'm describing the plot of a comic book, doesn't it? Which, it occurs to me even as I write this, may be part of Big Brother's appeal for me.)

Meanwhile, it appears, as I predicted, that the Season 6 focus on picking off the so-called "floaters" may forge them into an actual alliance, though it seems like James may try to form his own alliance with some of the "floaters," especially Danielle. It appears that James' anger at Janelle has caused him to forget his focus on breaking up "Chilltown" (Dr. Will and Boogie), but that makes a certain sense, since Season 6, even without James, is still the most powerful alliance in the house and if he's not going to be a part of that team, then they are natural targets for him to go after. Of course, he would do well to remember what happened to Kaysar when he returned to the game last summer and let his emotions, particularly his desire for revenge, get the best of him and ended up evicted for the second time only a week after being voted back into the house by the viewers.

I think that if James really wants to rally the house against Janelle, he needs to arrange it so that this week's vote is tied and Janelle has to cast the deciding vote. Thus, whatever happens is all on her. She made the nominations; she cast the deciding vote; and whoever walks out the front door tomorrow is doing so because Janelle made it happen. James can then use this to drum up support for evicting her later on.

Well, enough for now. More after the eviction.

The Word's TOP 5: Great Movie Lines

5.) You can't fight in here! This is the War Room!

--Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love The Bomb

(1964)

4.) A toast, Jedediah. To love on my own terms; the only terms any of us ever know.

Citizen Kane

(1941)

3.) We all create God in our own image.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture

(1979)

In truth, this line, by far the best bit of dialogue in the movie, isn't actually in the movie, at least not as it was released to theaters in December of 1979. Rather, it is among the deleted footage that was added for the film's TV debut and initial home video release in the early 80's.

2.) Ray, when someone asks if you're a god, you say "Yes"!

Ghostbusters

(1984)

Sadly, no one has ever asked me.

Drumroll, please! The Word From On High's No. 1 All Time Great Movie Line is:

1.) Somedays you just can't get rid of a bomb!

Batman (the one based on the 60's TV show)

(1966)