Monthly Archives: January 2008

Skidoo, a movie of mind-boggling inanity, is on Turner Classic Movies this weekend. Let's clarify when.

When I made the below banner, I gave the date as January 4, which is Friday. The truth is that its official airtime is 11 PM on Friday night on the West Coast, 2 AM on Saturday morning on the East Coast. So it's technically January 5 in some time zones.

So…is Mike Huckabee trying to appear uncommonly clueless? This is in this morning's New York Times (not the Wall Street Journal)…

Former Governor Mike Huckabee of Arkansas today professed his support for the striking television writers union just a few hours before he was expected to board a plane to for a taping of the Jay Leno show where he will face a vocal picket line of striking writers.

Mr. Leno's program is returning to the air for the first time since a long hiatus for the strike. Speaking to reporters, Mr. Huckabee said he was unaware that he would be crossing picket lines and believed that he the program had reached a special agreement with the union.

Although crossing picket lines might not be unusual for most Republican candidates, Mr. Huckabee has waged an unusual populist campaign on economic issues, stressing his empathy with the anxieties of working people. On Wednesday, he said he identified with the striking television workers as an author himself and believed they deserved a share of the proceeds from the sale of their work.

…and then it goes on from there (link) to list some of his other recent inconsistencies.

So what's the deal here? I could maybe, possibly buy that Huckabee didn't know the show hadn't reached (or even tried for) a special arrangement with the Writers Guild. I mean, that suggests a pretty shoddy grasp of current events but it's possible. But do we think no one on the guy's staff knew? Go Google "Leno AND strike" and see how many hits you get that impart that little nugget of information. I mean, it isn't a secret. Don't you think that when Huckabee made the decision to leave Iowa, where the all-important caucuses are tomorrow, and fly to Burbank to do a TV show, someone said, "Uh, governor, you know you'll be crossing a picket line, right?"

This matters to me for the obvious reason that it's my union on strike here. But I also agree with those who say we don't demand/expect enough from our elected officials, especially our President, in terms of experience and smarts and just knowing what's going on around them. An awful lot of voters seem to think that if the candidate seems like a nice guy — someone you could have a beer with — or someone who'd go to your church and go often, that's enough. He can surround himself with people who know all the stuff he doesn't. I got an e-mail last night from a friend making the case for Barack Obama that way. Yeah, he may be a little inexperienced but that doesn't matter…

Gee, if experience doesn't matter when you run for President, where does it matter? I've worked for comic book editors who wouldn't let me write a story for them if I didn't have sufficient credits.

I have never bought the "I didn't know" defense from any President. Didn't buy it when Ronald Reagan said it about trading arms for hostages. Didn't buy it when Bill Clinton said he didn't know about all those fund-raising violations. It's theoretically possible they didn't know but they should have. Either way, it's not an appealing trait for someone who can do so much damage if he makes the wrong decision.

It sounds to me like Huckabee is trying to have it both ways. The other day, he showed that attack ad on Romney to reporters but said he woudn't run it. So he got its message out but tried to claim some moral high ground for not disseminating it. Today, he's going to cross a union's picket line to get some teevee time but claim it was because he didn't know there would be a picket line from a union he says he supports. It's like Tom Snyder used to say: "It isn't what they do sometimes…it's how dumb they apparently think we are."

Ah, now we know the reason I couldn't find that Garfield article in the New York Times article. Because the piece was actually in the Wall Street Journal. Here it is — from June 1, 1993…

Cartoon cat Garfield is not only lazy and a glutton; it seems he has also been trying to cheat on his Nielsen ratings.

During the past three years, CBS has repeated seven times an episode of the Saturday morning animated program "Garfield and Friends," in which the cat opens the show saying, "Hi everyone, and a special welcome to Nielsen families."

The several-second greeting seems innocuous enough, particularly to Nielsen-naive kiddies who probably don't understand the reference to the ratings service, Nielsen Media Research. Innocuous or not, however, it's strictly forbidden as far as Nielsen is concerned, because of the potential it has to distort the television ratings.

In theory, the gimmick makes it more likely that viewers will remember to punch in with the Nielsen "peoplemeter" or to record their viewing of the cartoon in Nielsen's paper diaries.

CBS says it didn't know about the greeting. The felonious feline got away with the trick until Saturday, May 22, when a sharp-eyed viewer from rival NBC (presumably an adult) noticed the message and immediately protested to Nielsen, which then told CBS to desist.

A spokesman for Nielsen said there is no way to gauge whether the gimmick affected the ratings of the 9 a.m. program, which is top-rated among the two-to-11-year-old set. The show goes into its sixth season in the fall.

The ratings company won't take any action against CBS other than sending a letter to all of its clients notifying them of the situation. But a spokesman says, "Maybe we ought to string them up by their paws."

Lee Mendelson, "Garfield" executive producer, calls the greeting "an innocent joke," and says it never would have been included had the producers, United Media/Mendelson Productions and Film Roman & Claws Inc., known it was a problem.

Mr. Mendelson says he's mystified by the brouhaha. "Of all the problems in the world, I wouldn't put this at the top of the list," he says.

I'm pretty sure the article got the quote wrong. Garfield said, "…all you lovely Nielsen families." It also erred on the name of Jim Davis's company, which is Paws, Inc. And I do recall being told that Nielsen had agreed to drop that week's ratings out when they averaged the season, thereby voiding that week…which didn't affect the numbers at all. But the reporter was right on one thing I forgot: NBC didn't complain until the seventh time this episode had been run.

No one got the least bit mad at me, by the way. The reaction at CBS was bewilderment because even though it may technically be against some obscure Nielsen rule, that kind of joke does pop up from time to time on shows and no one ever complains. We had a not-dissimilar line in another episode and no one noticed or objected.

Thanks to the many readers of this site who took the time to go look for the piece and forward me copies. The first five were Vern Morrison, Bill Stiteler, Roger Green, Eric Newsom and someone whose handle is Proquest.

Comedy writer-producer-actor Bill Idelson died last night. He had been hospitalized for some time after a bad fall and that's all I know about his health problems. What I do know is that he was a successful and creative man who worked behind (and sometimes, in front of) the camera on some fine TV shows including The Twilight Zone, The Andy Griffith Show, Love American Style, The Odd Couple, The Bob Newhart Show, M*A*S*H and Gomer Pyle, USMC. He was also a writer on The Dick Van Dyke Show, and occasionally played the role of Sally's bland boy friend, Herman Glimcher.

In an earlier life, Bill was a child actor, appearing often on radio, in movies and on early television. His big radio credit was the Vic and Sade series, on which he played the role of Rush Gook.

The last decade or two, he was primarily a teacher, running a successful writing workshop that graduated many top professional writers. He also authored several books about his life and work, one of which — Writing for Dough — I often recommend to people who are curious about television writing in the fifties and sixties. He was one of the good guys and he leaves behind a fine legacy of good writing and good writers.

If you haven't set the TiVo or VCR yet, this would be a good time to do it. It's on Turner Classic Movies at 2 AM Eastern time on Friday night/Saturday morning…but your local cable company (if that's how you get your signal) may time-shift. So consult whatever you consult to make certain when something is on.

I spent last night home alone, writing and coughing and trying to stop a small cold from going big on me. I never like to go anywhere on New Year's Eve for two reasons. One is that back when I used to party-hop, I was not impressed with the merriment at any of the parties. I'm sure there are many fine, memorable ones out there but the ones I attended all seemed forced and ritualistic. It was like people were working backwards from the premise that since it was New Year's Eve, they were having a good time, whether they actually were or not. It took me a while — and a couple of less-than-glorious experiences — to decide I was happier staying home, especially with the right person. She would have been here last night but for my increasingly sore throat.

She not only missed out on my germs but also on a fine example of my other reason for not going out on New Year's Eve. Around 11:10, as I was sitting here writing something for DC Comics, I heard the horrendous sound of a Drunk Driver. I mean, it was just the sound of squealing brakes and car hitting car but you knew it was a Drunk Driver. I grabbed up a cordless phone and sprinted outside.

The D.D. was already long gone. He'd been driving a white Toyota or maybe it was an Acura. It could even have been a Honda Something. It all happened that fast. He'd been doing about sixty, well over the limit, and had attempted to pass a silver-colored Chevy on the left, which on this street meant crossing the center divider, moving briefly into the opposite lane. You shouldn't do that anywhere but you especially shouldn't do it here, where there's a curve ahead and you don't have a long view of oncoming traffic. Apparently, he saw headlights coming and rushed to swerve back into his lane, sideswiping the Chevy and sending it crashing into a black Buick that was stopped at an intersection, waiting to cross the street that the drunk and the Chevy were driving on.

Damage to the Chevy was minor — "about equal to my deductible," the guy said, and he was shaken-up but not hurt. What really upset him was that an older man and woman in the Buick were hurt to the point of needing paramedics. I called and the 911 lady had to ask me to be very honest with her as to how great the injuries were…because emergency services were being taxed by call after call at the moment, some of them quite serious but some not. I told her the situation did not seem life-threatening but "I'm not a doctor…I write Daffy Duck comic books." (I often say that even though I haven't written Daffy Duck comic books since 1973. It's a good way to tell people not to put too much stock in what I say if it's a situation where I don't think they should.)

The dispatcher chuckled, asked me if I was on strike and then said someone would be here as soon as possible. It took a little less than an hour before police and an ambulance arrived, almost simultaneously but from opposite directions. They took the folks in the Buick off in the ambulance, noting that it was a tight fit: "These are built for one but it'll take forever to get another one here." The Chevy drove off under its own power and as I look outside this morning, I see that the Buick is gone, probably via tow truck.

Three things I remember…

One is a nice, overworked policeman realizing that no one could give him any sort of description of the other driver. I didn't see him. The people in the Buick never saw him. There were no witnesses around. And the guy in the Chevy only caught a fast glimpse of him in a rear-view mirror. Still, we all took it for granted that he was inebriated. And when the Chevy driver said, "It's a shame he got away," the cop said, "There's a good chance he didn't. We've had a lot of crashes tonight. He could have been the guy who just wrapped his car around a utility pole up on Melrose."

Second thing I remember: The folks in the Buick were pretty upset. Above and beyond the fact that he probably had a broken arm and she had a bad pain in one leg, there was that "We didn't need this now" factor. '07 had been a hellish year for them with personal and financial problems. The man is fighting to keep a job at a company that may not remain in business, struggling to make payments on a home they may not be able to afford even if he doesn't lose that employment. They were out celebrating that an ogre of a year was finally departing…and now here, it had taken one last shot at them.

And then there was this moment: I wasn't wearing a watch. Standing out there in the street, waiting for assistance, none of us knew precisely what time it was. Suddenly, there was an eruption of cheers and a horn or two from the surrounding homes…and far off in the distance, something that may have been a gunshot or fireworks. Which meant it was 12:00. The man in the Buick was still in a lot of pain but he made the effort to lean over, kiss his wife and tell her convincingly and will great assurance, "2008 will be a lot better." Two minutes later, help arrived.

"2008 will be a lot better." For them, it almost has to be. But I sure hope it is for all of us.

I don't place a lot of stock in Internet Polls but hey, let's try one. I configured this one partly as a test to see if I can embed one of these. If it turns out I can, I may find a use for them on this site.

The question here is which of the main two late night talk shows — Leno's or Letterman's — you're more interested in watching on Wednesday night when they return from two months off the air due to the strike. This is not a question over who you generally like better — Jay or Dave, nor are we asking which show you figure to watch more often after Wednesday. We're just asking which interests you more…seeing Dave return with writers and say what he has to say about the strike, or watching Jay return without writers and say whatever he's going to say. Vote now then check back later and see how the numbers are lining up.