Month: July 2006

I pull out my trusty The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present by Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh. I know there’s a list in the back of the book that addresses this issue. But NO LIST. Huh? I’m not crazy (really, I’m not, I swear to Rudy). I was looking at my 8th edition (c. 2003), so I pull out my 5th edition, c. 1992, and the list is THERE. So they dropped this list? How else has the back of the book changed?

Appendix 1 Prime Time Schedules – in both volumes
Appendix 2 Emmy Award Winners – ditto
Appendix 3 Top-rated shows by season – ditto
Appendix 4 Longest-running series – ditto
Appendix 5 The Top 100 series of All Time – ditto (#1 is 60 Minutes, BTW)
Appendix 6 Prime Time series reunions – ditto
But then
Appendix 7 – Series Airing in Prime Time on More Than One Network – ONLY in the 1992 version
Appendix 8 in the older book, Prime Time Spin-Offs, is Appendix 7 in the new book
Appendix 9 in the older book, Prime Time Series Based on Movies, is Appendix 8 in the new book
Appendix 10 in the older book, Prime Time Network TV Series that Also Aired on Network Radio, is Appendix 9 in the new book
Appendix 11 in the older book, Hit Theme Songs from Series, is Appendix 10 in the new book
The new book does have Network Web Addresses as its Appendix 11. But then for Appendix 12, nine pages of “The Ph.D. Trivia Quiz”

As a reference librarian, this is the kind of thing that makes me frustrated. I’m forced to hold on to the old reference source (or at least to Xerox those pages) because the new edition of a reference source inexplicably drops a perfectly good, even unique, reference point in favor of piffle, in this case, a trivia quiz. This has happened in our business library as well. It’s maddening (no, wait, I said I WASN’T crazy…)

Dear Messrs. Brooks and Marsh:

Please bring back “Series Airing in Prime Time on More Than One Network” in your Complete Directory for your next edition. It is a list not easily found. If you need more space, feel free to drop the trivia contest. Quizzes are not why people buy your book. They buy it as a reference source.

I’m guessing that perhaps you dropped the chart because you didn’t know how to handle the so-called “netlets”, WB and UPN, or even FOX, because they don’t broadcast the three hours of prime-time programming that is associated with a “network”. Of course, the early years reflected in your book, the schedules were pretty sparse, too. Perhaps, your calculations this will be easier, now that the CW has replaced the netlets. I would ask you to include the CW (and its antecedents) as well as FOX.

Thank you.

Four and a half years ago, I went to an oral surgeon to remove one of my upper wisdom teeth (#16), because my dentist doesn’t do such tricky extractions. I was told that if it were just the tooth, it would cost X, but if it involved patching up the sinus area, it would cost about 4X. (The day of the extraction, wee were almost killed sliding into a snowbank.) It turned out that it cost X.

It wasn’t a total disaster, but the Thomas Wolfe quote about returning home felt rather apt.

June 27: the Greens from Charlotte head for Binghamton. It ends up taking them three days, because of heavy rains along the way.
June 28: Leslie flies from San Diego to Albany, in part because it’s cheaper than to fly into Binghamton, and in part to spend some time with her youngest niece, who she hasn’t seen since before her first birthday, except in pictures.
June 29: Leslie, Carol, Lydia and I were planning to drive down to Binghamton, but hear that the main route I-88, was closed from Exit 16 (near Oneonta) to Exit 8 (around Sidney). Moreover, a culvert has washed out part of the road, killing a truck driver in EACH direction. An alternate route, taking the Thruway to Syracuse, then down I-81, is not an option because, and I can’t help but to hear Arlo Guthrie’s voice, “The New York State Thruway is closed, man,” from just west of Schenectady (Exit 25A) to Syracuse (Exit 34). We stay put.
June 30: We drive down to Oneonta in two cars, ours and a rental. Leslie will need one in Binghamton, but I’m happy that she got one now, because sitting in the back seat with the car seat in the middle was a little tough for me. The water has receded a little in the town, which did visit Carol’s parents. But we got started much later than we planned, so Carol and Lydia stay overnight, while Leslie and I continue to Binghamton., Actually, before that, we stop to get bottled water, which proves to be a really good idea. When Leslie and I hit the city limits, we saw fireworks, which we felt must have beckoned our triumphant return, but was actually a scheduled event after the Binghamton Mets game. Even in the dark, one could see how high the river had crested, and parts of the side roads we passed were still closed.
July 1: With a friend, I attend a farmer’s market, Usually, the parking lot is empty for the vendors, but their were stalled out cars there where the flood waters had been only a day or two before. Carol arrives with Lydia, upset because she drove past her uncle’s flooded farm, which, fortunately, does not put him in bankruptcy, as we initially feared. Inexplicably, Lydia throws up – three times; she hadn’t before that, nor since. Meet at this party with my other relatives. The river is less than a block away, moving rapidly, caring various items, barrels, clothes, down the river. The house next door to the party, which is lower, was so flooded a couple days ago, that the American flag hung on the first-floor porch has a water stain. Something was picked up by the water and smashed into the side of the garage when the water receded. The party house basement is still fully flooded, and there is furniture drying all over the yard. My sister Marcia, my mother and niece drop me off (I had ridden in with Leslie, but she was going to be singing at a club.) Somehow, she didn’t get the word that the side door was going to be left unlocked for her benefit and slept in her car in the driveway, much to the chagrin of our hostess.

Librarians Help People Turn Their Hobbies Into Small Businesses. I did not know librarians could be so helpful. (Said the librarian for small businesses. See, I just can’t do snarky.)

Revver is a video sharing system (think YouTube) that I read about in the Wall Street Journal. Their angle: they pay you for your video.

MySpace Rules the Web. Part of Rupert Murdock’s contining plan for world domination.

Is Windows 98 a Living Fossil? If you still have it, you’re probably in for some rude surprises.

It’s hard to get people excited about budget cuts for the Census Bureau, but if we end up doing a 2010 Census with the long form again, instead of having data every year, which the ACS would provide, don’t come crying to me.

Why Are Americans So Angry? by Congressman Ron Paul (R-TEXAS)

And because it realy ticks me off, Shout the Names of the the Wrongly Executed.

Of course, I’m a linking piker compared to one Greg Burgas, who this week posted things such as these:

*A story of an anti-abortionist who thought a satirical piece in the Onion was real (picture with his initial reply not suited for two-year olds)
*An article about an 83-year old who traded drugs for sex (I actually felt sorry for the guy)
*Folks who are thrilled with world crises, because the Rapture is closer than ever (arrgh!)
But one of his links does not give any credit to sex columnist Dan Savage of Savage Love and his readers for the derivation of the noun santorum, the first hit you’ll find for the word if you put in Google.

Of course, I blame Greg for not being able to sleep last night. It was 114F in Phoenix a couple days ago, and all that hot air came this way, so that it was 95F here yesterday (and well above 70F, and humid, last night.)
***
And because it struck me as more true than funny:

Lutheran Squirrels Story

There were four country churches in a small TEXAS town:
The Presbyterian Church , the Baptist Church, the LUTHERAN Church and the Roman Catholic Church.

But — the LUTHERAN CHURCH came up with the best and most effective solution:
They CONFIRMED the squirrels as members of the church.
Now they only see them on Christmas and Easter.

1-What do you want people to say about you when you die?

He was a good friend.

2-How long does it take you to get ready to go out?

I’m ready now. Oh, for what?

3-If you were an animal what would you be?

A cat.

4-What’s your biggest fear?

Right now, that there are certain rxtended family issues that seem unresolvable.

5-What’s your most prized possesion?

It’s hard to say. Probably my signed copy of Abbey Road by all four Beatles.

6-What’s the funniest word you can think of?

Almost anything can be funny if you say it right. That said, something German such as farfenugen.

7-Do you get along with your parents? Mom, most of the time. Dad is deceased.

8-What do you look for in the opposite sex?

Intelligence, a certain curviness, eyes.

9-What was the most difficult thing you had to do?

Go to Charlotte the week my father was dying, because I knew if i went, he would die. And he did.

10-If you were given one day to live what would you do?

Kiss the Vice-President and hope for a scandal.

11-If you could relive any day of your life either for good or to change it what would it be?

It was a breakup.

12-What’s the worst feeling in the world?

Emotional claustrophobia.

The best?

Being touched.

13-If you could meet anyone who ever existed who would it be?

I’ve answered this before, so I’ll say, this time, Jackie Robinson.

14-What was the meanest thing you ever did as a little kid?

I hid from people when I was feeling melacholy, and enjoyed hearing them calling, looking for me.

15-What have you learned about love?

There’s a song in the movie Moulon Rouge which captures all the love cliches. They are cliches because they are true.

16-How have you changed in the past year?