Pilot's Log

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I loved a LOT of One-Season Wonders. The most recent being the Americanized LIFE ON MARS. ABC just kept screwing around once it premiered, messing with the time-slot and keeping it off air when it was building an audience. I wish it had been given further seasons and a chance to live up to its potential. I suppose I'll have to eventually get the British version and its sequel on DVD to figure out where it was actually headed.

PS: I decided to do a quick survey of one-season wonders of my lifetime. I've only made it through most of the Seventies and Eighties when I was watching much more television than I do now.

One-Season Wonders:
ABC: 240-Robert, The Associates, Best of the West, Blue Thunder, Breaking Away, Call To Glory, The Insiders, Masquerade, Masters of Science Fiction, Max Headroom, Operation Petticoat, The Phoenix, Renegades, Salvage, Strike Force, When The Whistle Blows, When Things Were Rotten
CBS: Bring 'Em Back Alive, California Fever, Concrete Cowboys, The Flash, Frank's Place, Mr. Merlin, Otherworld, Q.E.D., Spencer's Pilots, Square Pegs, Whiz Kids
NBC: Amazing Stories, Games People Play, Mike Nesmith in Television Parts, Misfits Of Science, Project UFO, Sword of Justice, Voyagers
FOX: Adventures of Brisco County Jr., Space: Above & Beyond

The ABC network overdid the hype...and put commercials on at times when the action on the track was too much to justify them doing so.

At least the two-wide restarts weren't as disasterous as I feared.

But I'm not going to say more because there might be some of you who haven't seen it yet and don't want it spoiled.

CBS Announces The Cancellation of Seven Prime-Time Shows including Numb3rs.

Granted, the show ended with the high note of Charlie marrying his long-time lover Amita and taking a new assignment at Oxford, but I will really miss its presense. Rob Morrow is moving on to ABC's The Whole Truth, which looks to have a lot of topspin. David Krumholtz' follow-up Tax Man wasn't picked up by FOX, but I imagine FOX will keep it handy as a possible replacement, the risks being what they are these days. The others in the cast are already showing up in guest roles in other series, so the news isn't so bad...but I'll miss Numb3rs.

Meanwhile, I hear that The Big Bang Theory was picked up for syndication, so it'll run "daily" re-runs in addition to its weekly CBS prime-time slot. I'm not a fan myself, but I know a lot of people who are. (My prime-time of choice now is CHUCK and Criminal Minds.)

The CBS, ABC and PBS local stations have been off the air today and tonight for reasons unknown. I missed this week's episode of Criminal Minds...and wonder if the stations will be back on-air tomorrow. This place just got that much more boring.

( A Word From The Props Master On The Show--Ashtrays to Chevies! )

PS: Obligatory Clipart!

I've become mildly addicted to ABC's program i-CAUGHT. It presents Internet phenomena and news in a format that is both mundane-friendly and intelligent--and quite entertaining.

The latest episode had segments about consumer complaints, on-line comedy video, and how Tom Green puts together his new show from his home.

But what interested me most were the pieces on Second Life, and on Ryan vrs. Dorkman. The Ryan vrs. Dorkman idea reminded me of the things my brother and I used to do when we were younger. I mean, we frequently dueled with yardsticks and acted out and such. This unfortunately was before camcorders came along. Mom had inherited Grampa Homer's Super-8 film equipment, but we never learned how to use it...and now that's three generations of technology too far gone.

Anyway, there's a part of me with serious creativity envy. I want to get a flyboy costume together and video insert myself in one of my airplane models and take myself for a cyber-sortie, but I don't have the equipment to do it, and can't put it online now if I did. I want to duel my brother again, perhaps with foam boffers which could be video morphed into more impressive weaponry. I want to do that car chase with model cars I mentioned before.

I want to do SOMETHING. ACTION. Grr.