Welcome to Monday, the New Thursday

Remember was Thursday was "Must See TV"? Didn't seem that long ago. Friends, Seinfeld, ER, Mad About You, a bunch of other random sitcoms that never made it, like Fred Savage's Working and that Christina Applegate sitcom (Jesse maybe?). Thursday's aren't so much good for that anymore. Now all we have (that I watch anyway -- and that's the only thing that's important right?) is Survivor. Sure, other people watch CSI and The Office and 30 Rock (and Grey's Anatomy I guess, but I think most folks, like me, have just become annoyed with that show), but Thursday is certainly a far cry from the appointment television it used to be.

And then, there's Monday. So many shows my DVR is on the verge of over-exhaustion. Here's my schedule for tonight (or say a normal Monday, considering I've got a few other things on my plate tonight -- And I can fit all this in thanks to the magic of my DVR which turns a 60 minute show into 42 commercial free minutes of television:

8:00-8:50 -- Countdown with Keith Olbermann
8:50-9:30 -- House
9:30-10:10 -- 24
10:10-10:30 -- How I Met Your Mother
10:30-11:10 -- Trust Me
11:10-11:50 -- Heroes
11:50-sleep: -- The Tonight Show
Now, of course, I don't have to watch everything in one night, but if I'm home, I might as well gorge on television. But just look at that lineup. A news show, a late night show, three dramas, a dramedy, a comedy, five networks (NBC, MSNBC, CBS, FOX, and TNT).

How can you top Monday? You can't. House, I've already written about. 24, obviously, has had its ups and downs. The shows' fifth season (the Evil President Logan year) was one of the best season's of television I've ever seen. The next season (the Evil Jack's family year) was one of the worst. When I heard the show was bringing Tony Almeida back from the dead, this season, I thought the show was getting desperate. Yet, the explanation for his return is very logical and has been well-handled, and this season has been very good so far. Back to the 24 of old. I am getting a bit tired though of moles in the upper echelon of the White House. 24's done that to death already, and it was a focal point of Prison Break and numerous other shows. It's time to come up with some new obstacle.

Heroes, similarly, has had its ups and downs, but I'm not giving up on it yet, as the new chapter which begins tonight ("Fugitives") looks to recapture the magic of the first season (though every new chapter supposedly was supposed to do that). Bringing in the brilliant Zeljko Ivanek is a great start, as from Damages to John Adams to 24 to The West Wing, Zeljko is great in everything he's in.

The recent success of How I Met Your Mother is gratifying as a longtime fan of the show. It didn't have a lot of critical or rating success in its first years, but CBS stuck with it, and it's the only comedy I watch, and it's both very funny, and yet, a show with a soul at the same time, which isn't just mindless slapstick (though there's some of that too). It continues to grow its audience, and it's hitting its stride (especially when Scrubs' Sarah Chalke guest starred last season into this start of this season).

And Trust/Me, while new, seems to be a show worth watching. I was always a big fan of NBC's Ed, and Tom Cavanaugh brings a lot of Ed Stevens to his role as an ad writer in this buddy dramedy about the modern world of advertising. Plus -- Monday means Headlines on Jay Leno. Can't beat that.

So, I guess my message to the TV executives (who, I'm sure, read my blog on a daily basis): Spread the wealth. Why have all your good shows on Monday? There's tons of bad television on the other six days of the week, save my DVR some work. Or, maybe it's better to have all these shows on the same day. You can watch them all and have the rest of the week TV free (except for NCIS, LOST, Damages, Survivor, The Amazing Race and 60 Minutes of course, plus nightly editions of Hardball, Countdown, Rachel Maddow, and The Tonight Show).

And with that, I need to get back to my television.

What I'm Watching -- USA Network (More specifically, House and NCIS repeats)

Ed Note: Yes, I'm back. I missed blogging. Too much to talk about I guess.

Little did I appreciate syndication until, oh, about two months ago. Most of the time, when a television show had gone into syndication, it didn't really affect my life any. Sure, I'd catch a Seinfeld episode when nothing else was on, but most shows in syndication that I'd flip to I'd already seen every episode of.

That's until I started watching House. Yes, I know I'm late to the party. I don't know why I didn't watch the show from the start, but I have a very vague recollection of seeing previews for the show when it first started, and for some reason, I thought it was a science-fiction show. Probably because it was sold as a doctor solving impossible-to-solve (read, or at least I believed,: other-wordly) cases. Ironically, basically, I thought House was Fringe. I don't think it helped that the one episode I later did see, probably a year later or so, was when Omar Epps' Dr. Foreman was going insane due to contracting a rare disease from a patient (which somehow confirmed in my mind that the show was not anything I'd be interested in watching). And besides, I had a dozen other shows I watched, no problem.

Well, with most of those shows (West Wing, The Practice, Las Vegas, Jack & Boddy, Ed, and Alias, among others) going off the air, I gave House a shot last year (the addition of Olivia Wilde to the cast probably didn't hurt either). And, like most others, I was hooked almost immediately. And, luckily, this fall is exactaly when the USA Network started airing House episodes in syndication, every day. With House marathons practically every weekend. At one point, I had over 25 episodes of House on my DVR. And then, thanks to a week of DirecTV outages (don't ask), I caught up faster than I thought. Having now seen almost every House episode (or, at least, every old episode USA Network has aired, which is most all of them), I'm a true believer. I don't know what I've been missing for all these years. And with House now on Monday's before 24, I never need to leave my couch. House, 24, the 10:00 Countdown with Keith Olbermann repeat, How I Met Your Mother on my DVR from 11 to 11:30, watch the Leno monologue and Headlines, and then fall asleep. That's a great night of television right there.

So, given how the USA Network came through with House, I decided to give another show a chance that I've never seen but everyone else seems to love. Over the Christmas holiday, in between two days of House marathons, the cable network aired a full day of NCIS episodes. I didn't know much about NCIS other than it was a spin-off of another show I never watched (JAG), it was sort-of-like CSI, and it starred Mark Harmon, who not only had a great four-episode run as a secret service agent on The West Wing, but who is married to Pam Dauber, who was Mindy on Mork and Mindy, and more importantly, went to North Farmington High School, of which I am also a proud alum (Ed Note: Wow, that was a long sentence, even for me. I'm a bit rusty at blogging obviously.) And I'm hooked. Now that I've watched all of House that USA has to offer, DVRing multiple episodes of NCIS a day should give me plenty to watch in case my satellite ever goes out again.

Of course, it would probably be better if instead of watching House and NCIS I got back to reading the numerous books I have on my list to read (I started Team of Rivals after finishing my first Lincoln biography, Lincoln, and need to get back to it) but I'm enjoying what USA Network has to offer for the time being. And with 24, LOST, and Damages set to make returns in the next three weeks, something tells me my TV will continue to get a workout. Thank God for HD.

Tim Russert

Over the past, oh, year (and longer than that really) there is probably nothing I have done more then watch MSNBC. The primaries, the election news, every debate, every primary night. And there was Tim Russert. We lost Tim Russert today, and I say "we" not because I knew Tim, but because the collective "we" as a country lost an irreplaceable voice today.

I don't remember a death of somebody famous touching me so much as Tim's death. Partly because it was so stunning in its suddenness and unexpectedness, but partly because it had become second nature watching him, all the time, as I have the past year. Meet The Press, Morning Joe, NBC Nightly News, The Tim Russert Show, the weekly MSNBC primary nights where Tim was a dominant and invaluable presence. I have become so invested in this election and this Democratic primary, and watching Tim was an almost daily ritual.

A lot of people may have watched Tim Russert, but I don't think anyone truly new how large of an impact he had on this country. It is not an exaggeration or hyperbole to say that if you were a politician, and you could not pass the Russert Test, if you could not make it through a one-hour grilling on Meet The Press, you had little future in national politics, much less any chance of being President. There has been a lot of controversy about the "vetters" Barack Obama has tapped to lead his search for a Vice President. Tim Russert was America's vetter. And there was nobody better at holding those in power accountable, and there was nobody better at asking the tough, but always fair, question.

It seems too cruel that now that the Democratic Primary is over, and one of the most important Presidential elections in a generation is about to take place, Tim Russert won't be here to see it, to vet it for us, to comment on it.

Tim was a lawyer, a journalist, a former political operative. A man who loved his hometown of Buffalo and his love of city matched by his love of the Buffalo Bills. And, of course, the love of his family, both his wife and son, and his extended NBC News family. America has lost one of its most important voices today, and only in the weeks and months ahead, when we look to Meet the Press to vet the next generation of political leaders, will we truly understand just what a loss to the country this is.

What I'm Watching - HBO's Recount

HBO is really on a roll right now (though, I guess the question is, when are they not?). After the incredibly good John Adams mini-series, HBO took a look at a much more recent period in our political history, the Florida recount which decided the 2000 Presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Gore.

I'll always remember that night. The satisfaction when the networks called Florida for Gore. The bewilderment when they took it back. The frustration when it looked like Bush was pulling ahead for good. I remember late into the night, continually refreshing CNN.com's election site, looking at the county-by-county returns as they came in, in real-time, keeping track of Bush and Gore's votes (and the changes as new votes were reported) on a blank piece of printer paper next to my computer. I stayed up as long as I could that night, waiting for word on who won the election. And the country stayed waiting a lot longer than that. If I end up working in politics one day (or, perhaps a better word is when) I'll probably look back on that night, and the night I found out I passed the Bar Exam (where instead of going out and celebrating, I was watching MSNBC's coverage of the Indiana and North Carolina Democratic Primaries until after 1:00 a.m. waiting for results from Gary, Indiana to come in to see if Barack Obama had swept the night, and swept out Hillary Clinton from the Democratic nomination fight) as nights where it was clearest to me that more than sports and more than almost anything else, politics was what was in my blood.

HBO's Recount, staring the great Kevin Spacey as Al Gore's former Chief of Staff and Florida recount, premiered tonight, and it captured the tension, and the spectacle, and the over-the-top nature of the characters and caricatures which made up the Florida recount. Despite knowing how it was going to end (as my buddy Dave, who was watching the movie pointed out, the movie was like watching 'Titanic,' we all knew the unfortunate fate awaiting the Gore team in the end) the movie was full of tension and great performances. Tom Wilkinson, who was was exceptional as Benjamin Franklin in the John Adams miniseries was equally as brilliant in Recount as George W. Bush's Recount leader, James Baker. And Laura Dern disappeared into her role as Katherine Harris, which may be the biggest compliment you can pay an actor or actress. She completely became Kathrine Harris, and played her perfectly. The rest of the cast was phenomenal as well.

And while the movie may have had a slight Democratic slant (the main character, after all, was Al Gore's former Chief of Staff), it was fair to the story I thought, and presented both sides. Some of the moments were over the top, but so was the real life recount. HBO has done another great job with another terrific cast, and if you have a chance to catch what I'm sure will be the first of many re showings Monday night at 9:00, check it out. Especially with another close election upcoming (and another between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton which won't seem to end) we cannot forget about the lessons of the past, and through HBO's Recount, we never will.

What I'm Watching and Reading -- Damages and John Adams

With the Bar Exam behind me, and with moving into my new place pretty much complete, I've settled into a nice pattern of doing nothing as I try to recharge and get ready to start work and the real world in April. I wake up, watch Morning Joe that I DVR, eat lunch, read books and watch my DirecTV and newly growing collection of Blu Ray DVDs, I watch Hardball, and well, life is good.

So what have I been watching and reading (aside, of course, from MSNBC political coverage)? Mainly one set of DVDs and one biography, at least for now. First with the DVDs, I've started watching Damages, the FX show about a cut-throat (literally as well as figuratively) law firm run by Glen Close. Close's firm is running a hundred-million dollar class action lawsuit against a crooked CEO played by Ted Danson, and the show is told from the perspective of the firm's newest associate, who may have only been hired because of her connection to a key witness in the case. The show flashes back and forth from the present time to the past (where the bulk of the story takes place) as the viewer tries to piece together why things did not turn out so well for the young associate (being arrested for murdering your fiancée is never a good ending). The cast is great (and has anybody ever realized that Tate Donovan, who plays Close's confidant, looks like a twin brother of former DNC Chairman and current Hillary Clinton campaign chair Terry Mcauliffe?) and the show is very addicting. I've been hooked on the episodes and I may finish blowing through them this weekend (there are only 13). Great show, well worth checking out. Sort of like The Firm on steroids.

Damages has been so addicting, I've fallen behind in reading, and getting through a fair number of books this month was a key goal of mine. Instead of continuing and trying to finish one of the numerous books I'm in the middle of (I read through half of Bill Clinton's My Life before law school started and never finished it, and there are numerous sports books, including Mark Frost's The Greatest Game Ever Played I'm partway through) I started reading David McCullough's biography of our second, and mostly overlooked President, John Adams. While Washington and Jefferson get most of the headlines in the history books, Adams was no less important, and HBO, next week, will begin airing a multi-part mini-series) based on McCullough's book starting Paul Giamatti as Adams and the great Laura Linney as his wife Abagail. I'm about 100 pages in right now, and as to be expected from a McCullough biography, it's a great read. I was hoping to have the 400-page-plus tome finished by the premiere on March 16, but that's looking less and less likely by the day, but I'm going to try.

What I'm Watching -- Heroes and Prison Break

Both 24 and Prison Break may have slipped in the ratings some this year, and both have had up and down seasons, they are still appointment viewing for me anyway, so after watching last night's two-hour Prison Break and catching up on Heroes this afternoon, both shows are starting to move in the right direction.

Starting with Prison Break, you had to figure Michael's escape plan wasn't going to go quite as planned. Too early in the season first off, and just as he did in the first season, these false start escapes certainly build a lot of tension. The first hour was definitely more action-packed and exciting than the second, but overall it was a good night. Getting Lechero in on the escape made sense (I wonder why Lechero wasn't interested in escaping earlier, despite his power role inside Sona) and adding the wrinkle that Whistler may not be the innocent prisoner we thought I like a lot. Who is this guy? Is he working with the Company? Is he just a pawn like Michael? And if so, why not tell Michael he's had contact with the Company? Certainly gets me to keep watching.

As for Heroes, finally we are moving in the right direction. As I've written before I've not been a huge fan of this season so far. The stories have been too disconnected, the characters not interacting nearly enough, and there was no over-arching storyline connecting all of the Heroes. A few weeks back I thought they were headed in the right direction but then they fell back again. Maybe I'm just not enjoying the whole killer-twins/Sylar storyline, so the lack of that this week made for a better episode, I don't know.

What I do know is that it was about time for Hiro to come back from Japan, and they wrapped that plotline up pretty well. Now he can get back to avenging the death of his father, who if we believe Bob (and who knows at this point) was caused by Parkman's dead at the behest of this Adam character, who was Hiro's hero-turned-nemesis Takezo Kensei. While David Anders was fine as Kensei, he does his best work (as Alias fans will attest) as a villain, and I'm sure he'll bring a lot of his Sark character from Alias to his new role on the show.

And now, preventing the spread of the Shanti-virus, and saving the world again, will bring the heroes back together. Which may mean that Peter is on the wrong side of things, teaming up with Kensi-turned-Adam. But maybe not. Bob is the one creating the virus (of which Nikki is now infected) so who says he's not the one to release it to the general population. It keeps you guessing, which is exactaly what Mohinder is going through, and that should make Heroes really interesting going forward.

As long as, you know, this current writers strike doesn't short circuit everything, which I'm fearful it might.

Jerry Seinfeld to Larry King: "Do You Know Who I Am?"

This video is making the rounds online, but it's too funny not to put up a post about. Jerry Seinfeld was on Larry King Live earlier this week, to promote his new cartoon film, Bee Movie. King, asking Jerry about the ending of Seinfeld, wanted to confirm his belief that Jerry chose to end Seinfeld, rather than the show being canceled. Seinfeld's reaction made for the following hilarious exchange:

I think my favorite part is at the end when Seinfeld says "Can I get a resume in here Larry can go over." I don't know if Larry found it funny, but I sure did.

24 Season 7 Trailer Released

While the seventh season of 24 may not begin until after the new year, a two minute trailer, showing Jack Baurer taking heat from Congress for torturing terrorists and an undead and apparently suddenly evil Tony Almedia has been released by Fox. The clip is embedded below and it certainly sets a tone for the upcoming season.

As I wrote last month though, I'm not sold on Tony's return. While Tony was a great character, and added a lot to the show, he died, and we saw him die, and to bring him back, especially after 24 had such a down year last season still seems like a bit of desperation on the part of 24's producers. I do like, though, that we'll see a Jack v. Tony showdown. Tony provides a great foil for Jack, and somebody who, at least in the viewers eyes, may legitimately be able to out-think and well, out-Jack Jack. The elimination of CTU was an important step in revitalizing the show, and it looks like the only characters from CTU that I cared about, Bill and Chloe will be back in some capacity. One thing that did concern me was Jack's line in the trailer that "somebody in the FBI must have tipped them off." Can we go one season in 24 without a mole in the government? Just once?

The trailer though did get me excited for the coming of the new season, and for that it was successful. Maybe Tony being alive won't be so bad after all...

The Lightning Round -- I Agree With Rush Limbaugh, Sports Oddities, and More

So a few random things today.

** I actually agree with Rush Limbaugh ** Now there's something you wouldn't ordinarily expect me to say. But reading TVNewser this morning, they wrote that on Morning Joe, radio talk show host (or, as Keith Olbermann likes to say, comedian) Rush Limbaugh was fawning over the great Erin Burnett of CNBC. And sure enough, when I watched some of the show when I got back from class, Rush was extolling the virtues of the CNBC anchor (I've embedded the video below). As faithful readers of Quo Vadimus know, I have written (dating back to April) time and time again about Burnett's rise to stardom and how impressed I am with her work on both CNBC and Morning Joe. Nice to see that highly talented CNBC anchors can bring the right and left together.

** Feeling Lucky? ** ESPN.com had a really interesting story today. According to a newly released study, 1 in 5 people have tried using something lucky to help their favorite sports franchise. And as someone who still carries around a half dollar with him that I found after the Detroit Pistons lost Game Five, at home, in triple overtime, in the Western Conference Finals to New Jersey and then carried it with him throughout the Pistons next two victories and on through the NBA Finals, I guess I would be in that 20%.

The survey showed no real difference by gender, race or education in whether people try finding a way to help their team win. But those who do tend to be younger and make more money than those willing to risk letting the athletes determine a game's outcome. They also are more likely to be single.

I now wonder if my sports superstition is why I'm single.

** New Blog Plug ** My good buddy and fellow law student Kurt, author of the Clever WoT blog which is home to the Law Student Blogger Directory recently launched a new project, a blog, which is the the official online companion to the Michigan Telecommunications and Technology Law Review. For all the latest analysis of the intersection between technology and the law, the MTTLR Blog is the place to go.

Morning Joe Shows Off New MSNBC Studios at 30 Rock

MSNBC officially moved into 30 Rock in New York today, joining together with NBC News in one place, and one beautiful, gigantic studio. As TVNewser reports, MSNBC and NBC have been working around the clock to put the finishing touches on the new digs.

For MSNBC employees, some of whom have commuted to the Secaucus, NJ facility for the last 11+ years, it will mean leaving the North Jersey lowlands for the high-life on the 3rd, 4th, & 5th floors of 30 Rock. For the last several weeks, MSNBC producers have been working 12+ hour days, and 6-day work weeks. They would produce live shows in Secaucus then head to 30 Rock for rehearsals.

In the combined newsroom, MSNBC producers will be working right alongside their Nightly News counterparts. Each workspace has two monitors: one for producing, writing and desktop editing; the other for monitoring multiple channels (their own and the competition).

Brian Williams, host of NBC Nightly News, will also move into a fully renovated studio tonight (Inside Cable News has a preview), and he's located directly next to his MSNBC colleagues. Morning Joe this morning became the first MSNBC show to show off the new studios (and they had a new graphics program and logo to go along with the physical move) and what we saw was very impressive.

What I'm Watching -- Las Vegas; Plus: David Copperfield Commentary

It's an all Las Vegas blog entry, as I just finished watching tonight's episode of NBC's Las Vegas and I just finished reading about the alleged sexual assault committed by Las Vegas legend David Copperfield.

Las Vegas the television show first, as it really is hitting its stride with Tom Selleck replacing James Caan. Tonight's episode, a murder mystery surrounding Selleck's billionaire casino owner AJ Cooper, was one of the strongest of the season so far (though, admittedly, the season is only a few episodes old). One of the things I thought the show would miss is James Caan's toughness and seriousness, which really grounded what could otherwise is a pretty outrageous show. Tonight's episode though, showed that Selleck's Cooper, while not quite James Caan, is no pushover either. I think that was important. And anytime a Bar Mitzvah plays a central role in an episode, that's cool with me. Though, I have to say, it does seem like whenever a Jewish couple is played for comedic relief on a television show, the easy, or maybe lazy, thing to do is have them speak almost exclusively in a sort of English/Hebrew/Yiddish-slang. While I like throwing a Yiddish word into a conversation as much as the next guy, it's not something that dominates a conversation. A word here or there, we don't need to get hit over the head with it.

Now, to the serious Las Vegas story, as illusionist David Copperfield is being investigated for an alleged sexual assault in the Bahamas. The FBI raided Copperfield's Las Vegas magic warehouse (which, I saw a tour of on Copperfield's DVD (David Copperfield - Illusion), and it's very very cool, with all sorts of historic magic memorabilia and artifacts, and apparently, $2 million in cash, which the FBI seized) and they continue to investigate the allegation. First, I don't really understand seizing the money. Taking computers, I can see, because they may have evidence of Copperfield's whereabouts or evidence of the alleged attack or contact Copperfield may have had with the accuser, but what does $2 million in cash have to do with anything?

When I heard about this accusation, I was really disappointed. I know an accusation is a long way from being charged with a crime, which is a long way from being convicted, and a long way from actually being guilty, but I have always been a big Copperfield fan. I'm not a big magic guy, but Copperfield was always just "cool." I remember watching, as a kid, one of his specials where he was in a straight-jacket, wrapped in chains, put in a locked safe, and put in a building which was about to be imploded. Somehow, in three minutes, Copperfield escaped, unharmed. The video is embedded below.

So Copperfield could cheat death, he was engaged to a Supermodel, he could saw people in half. Did I mention he was engaged to Claudia Schiffer? A few years back, my senior year of undergrad, my friends and I went to Las Vegas on the way home from seeing Michigan play in the Rose Bowl against Texas (we won't say what happened in that game, but needless to say, there's a reason why Vince Young is Vince Young, and why Lloyd Carr is, well, Lloyd Carr) and one night a bunch of us chose to hit up some Vegas shows. Two of my friends went and saw Blue Man Group, three went and saw Ka, MGM Grand's Cirque du Soleil show, and I went and saw Copperfield. Sat first row too. While not nearly as entertaining as Jay Leno (whom as I wrote about in August, was the best show I've ever seen) the show was really cool. A Chevy Impala appeared out of nowhere, and Copperfield did a number of interactive tricks with the audience, where he seemingly knew what the audience was going to say before they said it. Pretty cool stuff. Copperfield's DVD, David Copperfield - Illusion, is awesome too. Not only does it contain video of all of Copperfield's historic tricks, it contains a commentary track where Copperfield explains the origins and setups of all his famous illusions. Sadly, he does not explain how he walked through the Great Wall of China or how he made the Statue of Liberty disappear.

So obviously, I'm a fan, which is why the allegations are so distressing. I'm so used to athletes and actors and actresses being disappointments, and flouting the law or the rules of the game (as the case may be). But, David Copperfield allegedly sexually assaulting a woman in the Bahamas? Just another possible example of a childhood hero turning out to be a vast disappointment. Hopefully though, these allegations turn out to be false. It's important to remember these are just allegations, Copperfield has yet to be charged with a crime, and it certainly has not been proven that he committed a crime. Time will tell.

Dan Patrick Finds New Home -- Sports Illustrated

Former ESPN SportsCenter anchor, radio host, studio host, and all around ombudsmen, Dan Patrick, has found a new home after leaving ESPN earlier this year. It was announced today that Patrick will join the pages of Sports Illustrated. Not only will Patrick pen a weekly column for the magazine, he'll write for SI.com and his daily radio show will be streamed on SI's website as well as they use Patrick to help re-launch their entry into digital media.

The move should be a good one for SI. While many may see Patrick as a broadcaster and not a writer, his book with Keith Olbermann, The Big Show which went behind the scenes of "The Big Show" SportsCenter they created was very creatively written in two different type-faces to designate when Patrick and when Olbermann was writing and his ESPN Magazine interviews were great. It will be interesting to see if Patrick writes more "sports" columns or more human interest stories, sort of like what Mitch Albom does for the Detroit Free Press (though, as Patrick's columns will appear in the front of SI, as a bookend to Rick Reilly's end-of-the-magazine column, it will likely be the latter).

In either case, I look forward to seeing his columns. Patrick was on MSNBC's Morning Joe this morning, discussing his move to SI (and discussing his old ESPN partner-in-crime Olbermann who has found success at the cable network), the video is below.

Morning Joe Discusses Fox Business "Peacock Hunting" Stunt

As has been covered extensively by media outlets and news blogs across the web, Fox launched the Fox Business Network (or is it just Fox Business? They seemingly dropped the "Channel" from their name just prior to lift-off) yesterday in an effort to revolutionize the covering of the business world just as Fox successfully revolutionized and took over the cable news network with the incredibly successful Fox News Channel. I wasn't able to check out the first day's coverage (FBN is not offered, yet, on my local cable network) but until they sign up Erin Burnett and/or Jim Cramer (the two CNBCers I watch most) they probably won't be getting my business.

Yesterday, as part of their launch, Fox Business began the day with a "shot across the bow" to CNBC, a playful stand-up by one of their news reporters in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, where CNBC is located. Saying she was "peacock hunting" (the mascot of NBC) the reporter joked around about reporting on Wall Street from such a distant location. It was obviously tongue-in-cheek (as was Jim Cramer's response on Street Signs later that afternoon which was also a playful shove, not an "on air outburst" as blogger Ian Schwartz claimed). Sophomoric? Maybe. But, it was probably something that got the Fox faithful pumped up on their first day.

This morning, on MSNBC's Morning Joe, host Joe Scarborough attacked the Fox Business stunt, calling the people behind it "dorks" and "goobers" and saying that while Fox News filled a void in cable news, allowing it to become a huge success, there is no similar void in business news, and CNBC's brand will allow it to maintain its edge over its new rival. The video of Joe's discussion of the stunt, and the start of FBN, is below.

What I'm Watching -- Heroes

Now that's more like it. After what I thought was a slow and uneven start to Heroes sophomore season, the hit television show shook off the rust and tried to show it won't fall victim to the "sophomore slump" that has doomed other television shows. Tonight's episode tied together some hanging storylines, introduced some new, critical plot points, and gave us an interesting, exciting, and cliffhanging ending.

As I've said before, I was not a big fan of the Maya and Alejandro storyline, but tonight, with them meeting up with Sylar, and unwittingly joining forces as they try to cross the border into the United States to meet with Dr. Suresh (well, Mohinder's father is dead, thanks to Sylar, so can't see that meeting working out well for the twins) but I'm now actually interested in seeing where the story goes from here. And since Sylar seemingly can't absorb people's powers, at least for now, he probably won't kill Maya and Alejandro right away.

And the storyline with Parkman and Molly was great too. We're finally learning more about the first generation of Heroes, and it really is no surprise that Parkman's father was part of the original group (it makes perfect sense now that I think about it, but I'll be honest, I never considered it before). I did not see coming that he was Molly's "boogeyman," and whether Matt can save Molly, and find his villainous dad should make for some great episodes to come.

I can deal without the Claire/West storyline, but if it's a necessary evil to get to eventual conflict with HRG, and fulfill Isaac's final paintings, I can deal with that. And the introduction of Dana Davis' character (Monica, Micah's older cousin) I thought was well done. Monica was great on last season's underrated drama The Nine, and she had a nice debut tonight.

The cast, though, is getting exceedingly large (and will grow with the introduction of Kristen Bell's upcoming character) and as such, the shows can't fit in each characters storyline each episode. Nikki has been relatively absent all season, and both Peter and Hiro/Ando/Kensei were absent from this episode. It's very Lost-like in a way, where the cast is so large, only some storylines are paid off each week, because 42-minutes just isn't enough time to tell everyone's story. I hope the writers and producers don't forget where some of the numerous storylines they have up in the air are going. I have confidence that they won't, and after tonight, in what was a giant step forward after three mediocre weeks to begin the second season, hopefully things will only get better from here.

What I'm Watching -- Prison Break and Heroes

So it has been a few days since the shocking events on Monday's Prison Break, and at the risk of spoiling the episode for those that have not seen it yet, here are my thoughts on the death of Dr. Sara Tancredi. Kristin of E! Online and TV Guide have interviews with the cast and producers, and as it turns out, Sara's death was planned from the beginning. While the team behind Prison Break would have preferred to push Sara's death back until later in the season, they could not come to an agreement with actress Sarah Wayne Calles, and thus, her head ends up in a box during the show's third episode.

A lot of Prison Break fans, from the message boards I've seen since Monday's episode, are not happy. Many claim they will stop watching the show. Others are equally as outraged at Sara's death, but aren't giving up on the show yet. Myself, I didn't find Sara's death so offensive. Yes, I'll miss the actress Sarah Wayne Calles, who I thought did great work, but I was never as invested in the Sara-Michael relationship as apparently a lot of other people were. People in Michael's life die, on a regular basis, because of The Company, including his father. Sara's death will lead to some great drama down the line, especially when he discovers Sara's dead and finds out Lincoln was hiding that fact from him. Plus, it really adds pressure to Michael and Lincoln's current situation, putting real life and death stakes into their actions, and puts Lincoln in an incredibly difficult yet completely understandable position. He can't tell Michael about Sara's death, because The Company still has his son LJ, but you know Michael won't see it that way when he finds out about Sara's death later in the season. It makes for even more intriguing television in what I think is a great third season so far.

As for Heroes, I'm still uneven about the first few episodes of the season. While the return of Nikki, Micah, and Sylar were good to see, I still don't understand the point of the South American twins who kill people with their tears before bringing them back to life. I have confidence this is leading somewhere, but right now, it's just wasting time I would rather be spending with other characters, like with Sylar, trying to figure out why he lost his powers. Next week looks good too, as Parkman and Nathan look into the mysterious killer haunting the first generation of Heroes. The bits with Hiro in feudal Japan have actually been pretty good too, but knowing that they made David Anders, who plays Takeo Kensei, a series regular, makes me wonder how (or if) he'll travel back to the future with Hiro, or whether once his story in Japan is over, so is Anders time on Heroes.

First Television DVR Ratings Released

Television ratings make or break television shows, network executives, and well, even the networks themselves. But with more and more home viewers using Digital Video Recorders, like TiVo and similar services provided by their cable and satellite services, and watching shows when they want, and not at the time they are actually broadcast, the next-day ratings don't mean nearly as much as they used to. A recent fascinating story from Variety outlined how the networks have forever changed how they evaluate shows in light of the increased usage of DVRs.

"We're going to see a tremendous boost when the (DVR) numbers come back," says ABC research senior VP Mike Mellon -- who expects "Grey's Anatomy" to grow by a full ratings point, for starters

"This is a whole new world, and anyone who doesn't understand that is behind the times," he says. "I recognize that everyone wants to understand what their performance is quickly, but the days of having a single number that reflects a show's performance are over."

Biggest factor in the new Nielsen paradigm is digital video recorders, which have become increasingly common in TV homes -- and are thus having a greater impact on viewership. Last season, about 9% of the Nielsen sample included DVR homes; this season, the number has doubled to roughly 20%.

The new metric for television shows is not the "overnight" ratings which have been king for years, but a new "Live +7" designation, which measures how many people watch a given show within seven days of its original broadcast. And the early results, for the week before the official 2007 television season began, but which included a number of season and series premieres, showed that DVR usage indeed provided the large boost networks were expecting. According to a CBS press release, posted at the great TV news website The Futon Critic Survivor was DVR'd and watched by over 2 million additional viewers in the seven days after its original broadcast. Prison Break added 1.5 million viewers to its season premiere, a huge increase for a show which many critics have criticized so far for its ratings erosion. When looking at the DVR numbers, though, the show is not fading nearly as quickly as first believed. The top ten of DVR'd shows included:

1. Survivor: China - CBS 2.116 million additional viewers

2 Family Guy- FOX 1.843 million additional viewers

3 Prison Break- FOX 1.546 million additional viewers

4 Back To You- FOX 1.456 million additional viewers

5 Grey's Anatomy/Private Practice Clip Show ABC 1.256 million additional viewers

6 Big Brother 8 - CBS 1.249 million additional viewers

7 Simpsons- FOX 1.089 million additional viewers

8 Kid Nation- CBS 1.006 million additional viewers

9 K-Ville- FOX 993,000 additional viewers

10 Shark CBS 982,000 additional viewers

Next week, when the "Live+7" results are released for the first official week of the television season, we may see an even greater impact of DVRs. But as these first numbers show, the television landscape, and how shows are judged, may never be the same.

Hulk Hogan to Host New American Gladiators: I Can't Make This Up

In what I thought was a great idea (and that's not sarcasm) NBC is planning on bringing back the hit (well, hit may be an overstatement) show American Gladiators. I'm all for bringing back the show, mostly for nostalgia purposes, as I remember watching the show as a kid and loving it. Hosted by Mike Adamle and Larry Csonka (and even Joe Theismann for a time), the show was ridiculous, but in an entertaining way. The Joust. The Eliminator. And the Gladiators, like Zap and Ice and Storm and well, that's all I remember.

You can watch the old repeats of American Gladiators on ESPN Classic, but in 2008, a remake of the show will air on NBC and according to TV website Zap2It the show will have a new host: Hulk Hogan. Yes, the former professional wrestler, movie actor (I refuse to call the man who starred in such hits as Mr. Nanny and Suburban Commando as a movie "star") and reality television personality will now add "American Gladiator host" to his resume.

Pro-wrestling legend and VH1 reality star Hulk Hogan is on board to serve as the show's host. Though the deal is still being finalized, TV Week reports that both NBC and the Hulkster (real name: Terry Bollea) are gung-ho about the series, which is likely to find a midseason berth on the network.

As with the original series, which aired in syndication for much of the 1990s, the new "American Gladiators" will feature amateur athletes facing off in a series of combative challenges against a group of professional "gladiators." The show is a pet project of NBC co-chairman Ben Silverman, who was developing a version of the show at his company, Reveille, before taking his new job. Reveille remains involved with the project.

I'll check out the new American Gladiator, but I can't imagine it being better than the repeats of the original which I can watch each night. And the addition of Hogan, while potentially entertaining in the short term, is more likely to be annoying in the long run. We'll see though, maybe Hogan will surpise.

What I'm Watching -- Las Vegas Season Five Premiere

Last night was the season premiere of NBC's vastly underrated Las Vegas and after having to wrap up last season's explosive season finale and deal with deal with the departures of James Caan and Nikki Cox the show did a great job of bringing everything together in its two-hour season starter.

I liked the debut of Tom Selleck as the new owner of the Montecito, but I still think that the show will suffer from Caan's absence. The way they handled his characters disappearance, vanishing from the hotel after being sought after for killing Mary's abusive father, was well done, and hopefully he'll be back in some guest spots from time to time. I also like how they aren't just shaking off Sam's escape from her kidnapper. Her suffering some after-effects from that episode makes sense, and I'm glad they just didn't blow things off and have her return to normal like nothing happened.

This seems like it will be a good, albeit different, season of Las Vegas without Caan but with Selleck. You can already tell, though, that they want to establish Selleck's character as someone who has his own way of doing things, and shaking things up among the remaining cast should be a good thing as the season continues.

What I'm Watching -- Boston Legal's Season Premiere

After attending yet another Detroit Tigers game (which we won, 8-0, making me 1-1 for the week) I caught up on Boston Legal's 90-minute season premiere this afternoon, and it was its usual solid self. Like most David E. Kelley shows, and like, well, the first three seasons of Boston Legal, the show has undergone a cast renovation during the off-season (as I discussed back in June and the results aren't too bad. I love the addition of John Larroquette, and he's playing the perfect character, the gruff lawyer with a good heart, the same role he played for an episode on The West Wing when he guest started as White House Counsel back in the show's second season. Tara Summers made a nice debut as well. And I like how Mark Valley's Brad Chase moved over to the Distract Attorney's office instead of just vanishing like a lot of actors have in the past off Boston Legal. I still miss Julie Bowen though. I don't know if it was Bowen's choice not to return (she recently had a child) or if it was the producers choice, but she remains one of my favorite television actresses.

As you can tell by my last few entries, along with attending a few Tigers games this week, I've been watching a lot TV with it being season premiere week and all. Tonight I'll likely check out NBC's Life and ABC's Dirty Sexy Money, both at 10:00, but my focus likely will be on MSNBC's Democratic Presidential Debate. This has been a fun week. TV is back, and not a moment too soon.

What I'm Watching -- Prison Break and Heroes

So after attending yet another Detroit Tigers loss last night (and another tonight as a matter of fact, not a loss (well, not for sure a loss) but a game) I finally caught up this afternoon on yesterday's second episode of Prison Break's season and the season premiere of Heroes. After watching all of the bonus features and listening to all the actor/writer/producer commentaries on the Heroes DVD s over the past month or so, I was ready for the start of the new season. And how was it? Good but underwhleming. But, since Prison Break is broadcast earlier, let's deal with that episode first.

Despite sluggish ratings its first two weeks Prison Break has gotten off to a great start in its third season. The show has consistently improved from season-to-season and this year is no different. The problem I had with the first season, despite thinking it was great, was that Michael was two steps ahead of everyone. Sure, he had a slight problem with the false break-out early in the first season, and some other problems along the way, but nothing seemed to really phase him. Season Two, with the introduction of Mahone, the FBI agent on the trial of Michael and Lincoln and the rest of the gang, upped the ante, because in many ways, Mahone was Michael's intellectual equal. It was a fair fight. This year, with the introduction of Lechero, SONA's prisoner/dictator, Michael has to think even more outside the box than he has in the past. Monday's episode, with the potential death of Whistler, the man Michael must help break out of SONA, was exciting, and only two episodes into the season we're already well underway. More people need to start watching this show, because it is continuously improving.

As for Heroes, the season premier was good, but certainly not great. Even airing with limited commercial interruption, it seemed they tried to pack too much into the little less than an hour that they had. Obviously, things have changed in the past four months (Matt Parkman survived his attack from Sylar, is living with Mohinder and caring for Molly after divorcing his wife, Nathan is a drunk and (not in Congress? Maybe in Congress?) after saving New York from his brother Peter, who showed up at the end of the episode in Ireland with no memory, Claire and her family have relocated and gone underground, and Mohinder is working with HRG to take down the Company from the inside) and they introduced a few new characters as well. It almost seemed like too much. And I hated how they handled the death of Hiro's father. The storyline of people going after the first generation of Heroes (or, maybe the "older" generation is more accurate) is fine. But how it actually came off, with a small masked figure tackling George Takei off the famed Heroes rooftop wasn't great. Maybe the masked-person seemed too small or non-threatening but it was somewhat mediocre for such a large and important death and story-point.

I did, though, like Hiro's storyline in feudal Japan. Having David Anders play Hiro's hero Takezo Kensei is an interesting but really intrigued choice and his character, as a drunk Englishman who somehow becomes a legendary Japanese hero, adds all sorts of interesting directions for them to go. And as a big Alias fan back in the day, Anders, who was great as Sark, should be good to go here. Curiously, the California born Anders, who played a British con-man on Alias, and is now playing a British con-man on Heroes, is doing so with a completely different British accent than he had on Alias. It should be fun to see Hiro try to "coach-up" his own hero and how he'll interact with Ando in the future.

Overall, a good start, but hopefully it'll get better, and less cluttered and rushed, in weeks to come (but with such a big cast and so many storylines, it may be hard to do so).