magicdog

Sounds like what my bosses do. In fact, we have "all employee meetings" in which nothing is discussed that couldn't have been sent to us via e-mail. Not to mention the news never includes raises or bonuses for us, or relevant info for my department (unless it's the anchors). They try to boost attendance by having a drawing (everyone who shows up gets a ticket) and the winner gets some cheap tchotchke that we received free from a promotional junket sent to us by the network. We do have potlucks from time to time but most of us bring wings/fingers/pizza to the event. I remember at holiday time (Thanksgiving specifically) we used to have turkey dinner with all the trimmings from a local market. they had a fresh meal for both shifts! Then after about 3 years, it was a Bobbie sandwich platter from Capriotti's (their famous "Thanksgiving on a roll") while someone else bought soda and chips and cookies from the market across the street. That was fine for the next 12 years - until last year when the sandwiches were all we got. Cheap jerks! Corporate is really saving the money aren't they?

Could the alliterate singer/actor wannabe be Marilyn Manson? He's crazy enough and has had several violent relationships.

Seeing Peter Hunt again could be interesting, but I'd like to know if Avery's father Jake Lowenstein (Robin Thomas) will appear. Obviously he bailed on Murphy when she was pregnant and it's unlikely he spent much time with his son. I'd love to see an episode in which we also see why Avery is so close to "Uncle Frank". My guess being he was the father figure Avery needed growing up and it was Frank who taught him all those "guy things" like how to shave, etc. It might be good to see Avery chew out his sperm donor for choosing the life of a political radical over him. Stuart Best (Wallace Shawn) could waltz by for an episode, as could Miller Redfield (Christopher Rich). Andrew J. Lansing, III (Paul Rubens) could also return - maybe as an executive (perhaps at Wolf Network) who probably annoys Avery on the job like he did with Murphy. Audrey (Jane Leeves) might come back and Miles and she could take up with one another again. What's sad is how many recurring characters have since passed on!

I agree and it's this thought is why I questioned Frank still chasing chicks at a protest. Sure, that made sense for his younger self but did Frank (or Corky or Miles) truly grow in the 20+ years since we've seen them? It's not that Frank shouldn't be pursuing a relationship, but how he's going about it.

From Entertainment Lawyer: Who indeed? Now, this piece of sludge: Why, why, why?

This! I loved the show back in the day, and there was talk early on that Brosnan should be seriously considered for the next James Bond. Because of NBC, he was dragged back for a very messy final season which I hated. He got the role of Bond eventually, but because of all the network hijinx, he wasn't able to get to it when he should have and aged out of the role too soon. What killed me even more was we never found out Steele's real name or parentage. I always thought he and the viewers deserved that much.

No, the actress who played his wife, Doris (Janet Carroll) passed away in 2012. Wiki shows that Concetta Tomei played Doris in the last season of the show, but I have a hunch Jim will be a widower when we see him.

Another well done analysis of the show. The same channel also did a video on the relationship between Daniel and Miyagi.

Regarding Avery’s button, it would definitely be discouraged at the office due to it being a political item. Even if he worked at a more liberal network, it applies. As for laugh tracks they are still in use. Usually the stronger studio audience reaction is selected for broadcast but in case a joke bombs, they use it to punch it up.

As someone who works in TV news I can honestly say I wasn’t surprised as the other reporters not joining in. These people yearn to be there and they don’t want to give up being that close to the President (regardless of political affiliation). They play ball otherwise they can’t attend the game.

Ditto. If his character and Joe Regalbuto's ages are supposed to match up (age 69) I'm curious where they are going to go with a guy who is still not married and chasing after women. Either they're going to claim he's gay or his true love was Murphy (BFF) all along. I thought there was low hanging fruit last week...... I was disappointed SHS was referred to as "domineering". If she were working for a different administration, she probably would have been referred to as someone who runs a tight ship. Because she's the press secretary of this administration, she's "domineering". Kind of reminds me of that classic comparison that if a man takes control he's being competent and no nonsense while a woman is called a b****. I did however like the gag that she has a bit of a crush on Avery!

A pastiche to be sure, but definitely influenced by the era both reporters/anchors came up in.

I discovered an underrated duo from the late 60s/early 70s called P.K. Limited. Dan Peyton and Marty Kaniger started out as songwriters at Columbia-Screen Gems and later recorded a series of singles. Officially, an album was never released of all their material (and I can't even find anything of theirs on Itunes!) but they had some really nice tunes! Most were produced/arranged by David Gates. I find myself drawn to two songs they recorded for the soundtrack of the film "Getting Straight" (1970): the title track and "Feelings". The former is particularly timely (with the feeling of being crushed by life in pursuit of your dreams) while the latter feels like a gentle love song that doesn't wear out its welcome. They also did a nice cover of The Monkees' "Shades of Gray", Mike Nesmith's, "My Share of the Sidewalk", and another awesome love song called, "Girl Like You" (which has Gates' Bread-like fingerprints all over it!).

I think these people enjoy the chos they create! They never get fired for it so it keeps going on and on. Meanwhile, the swing shift editor refused to log out of our computer 3 days straight. I guess she wants to “teach me a lesson”. She probably hoped I’d email her so she can claim I was causing trouble or something. I just restarted the computer and went about my day.

Heads up fans in the NYC area: NY Comic Con will be featuring Ralph Macchio and William Zabka (along with the show's executive producers) Sunday October 7th at 11 am at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in Javits Room 1A06

Totally recommend Cobra Kai! A continuation of the original Karate Kid films, it brings back Daniel (Ralph Macchio) and Johnny (William Zabka) as grown men and their old rivalry reignited after a series of events. It is proof that old properties can be revived the right way - with respect to the original source material, organic characterization and respect to fans old and new. It's available on Youtube Premium (aka Youtube Red) but the first two episode are free on YT. I guarantee you will not be able to stop at just two episodes. It runs a total of 10 episodes and season 2 will be filming later this fall.

Jim's character was largely based on the old school/first generation of TV journalists of the 60s-70s. Very no-nonsense and serious about their delivery. At the time I thought of Jim as very much based on former WABC anchor, Bill Buetel. He was a legend to many New Yorkers of that era. Here's a clip of him and long time co-anchor Roger Grimsby:

@GINGER90, Sounds like another winner I have to deal with. I share my edit bay with another editor who works the swing shift (comes in around 2:30pm long after I've left). We had switched to a new computer set up in which it's not enough to close out the applications on screen, but we need to log out as well. I dutifully did so for the last few months. One particular morning, I had forgotten because I was in conference with my supervisor and honestly thought I had logged out. The next day I receive a snotty little message in my email about remembering to log out. So I get dinged for forgetting to log out ONCE in all the time we used this system?? WTH? If I had been forgetting far more frequently I could understand it, but one time? This is also a person who leaves greasy fingerprints everywhere (presumably having eating a messy lunch) and doesn't bother to clean up the mess. I'm peeved over that, but I pick my battles.

Well, those geniuses I work with have decided to interfere with my work again. I was accused of editing a package that was "one sided". Let me explain: We have a segment that runs weeknights on the 10pm show called, The Rant. People call in or e-mail to leave their thoughts on about various news reports, etc. It is often 3-4 minutes in length and that's fine for an evening show, but when we rerun the segment in the morning, we are asked to cut it down - preferably to 2 minutes (lately they've asked me to shorten it further!). When I do these little cuts, I try to cut the dead weight - as some rants are long and even meandering regardless of the POV the ranter is taking. I trim enough in which I try to keep it in the time frame they want but still sound coherent and make it flow. I've been doing this for over 10 years! No one had a problem with this until..... Last night when I submitted the original cut, and one of the producers sends me an IM telling me she was going to tell me from now on what stories to keep/cut because the one I submitted Thursday morning was "slanted". I explained that was not the case, and that I was never questioned on my rant cuts before. Apparently it a "new rule" and they're going to take what little creative freedom I have left. I think it's BS (and I wouldn't be surprised if this came from Bitcheroo). I have the experience, the skills and desire and they do everything to snuff it out. I wonder how much more I can take! For the hell of it, I went to check on comments on Glass Door and found some recent ones which stated how poor management has been lately and driving otherwise good people away. From my recent observations, it seems the word is out - people don't want to work for us because of Bitcheroo's mean girl management style and the piss poor News Director who makes decisions on people he doesn't know or ever worked with. Bitcheroo brought him into a bitch session (he'd worked for us for all of 2 days at that point) so she could look good berating me and try to sully my reputation (which until management changed, was quite good). All of a sudden after 17 years of good work I'm suddenly not good at my job anymore! I tried to talk to the EP but they gave the usual excuse: "This is how we do things now". I'm particularly pissed that this wasn't discussed with me in person first; I'm a senior editor and should have been given due respect in that regard. I was so angry it was all I could do not to scream!! To top it off, we had performance reviews (as usual, I was rated well), but for the first time since I had worked there - no raises to be had. I'm getting seriously pissed, but I have been hanging in there since I can retire in 4 and a half years, do something else while still getting another income stream.

I watched the first 5 seasons of the show first run and enjoyed it, but then the writing started to sour and and I lost interest. I wasn't sure what to expect from "Season 11". Caught the show unexpectedly last night and.... it wasn't bad. I thought there was too much "low hanging fruit" as far as the jokes went. I'm not saying Trump/Conservatives/Republicans/etc. aren't above being poked fun at (the secret to life is being willing to take a few cracks about yourself), but it was rather strong and almost unending. I did however think the Twitter war was funny and very much in character for Murphy. Here's hoping things will balance out a bit. One of the things i enjoyed about earlier seasons was how all sorts of public figures were made fun of in one way or another. Hillary's cameo - sucked! Sorry! I know the woman isn't an actress but she just couldn't pull it off. The guests at Murphy's baby shower were way funnier and more genuine with their acting!! I think it might have been funnier if Dan Quayle had applied for the job instead! Loved Avery and I hope to see more of him especially at the "Wolf Network" (really subtle there!). I also wonder if we'll get an episode in which he's hanging out with the progeny of other famous journalists (Luke Russert, Peter Doocy, Chris Wallace etc.) and trying to emerge from their parents' shadows. Loved seeing Murphy, Frank and Corky and Miles together again! They still had that old magic! I don't remember Frank being so triggered by "Nazis" though. Seeing poor Miles as a veteran of The View back stabbings was hilarious! It would be funny if some of those former hosts stopped by while he tried to hide. I missed Jim Dial (Charles Kimbrough) terribly! I know he'll be guest appearing soon but I really wished he had been there too. I'm curious if other living past characters will return for a visit.

I just had a dream and I'm not only exhausted, but genuinely fearful! I'm not sure what it means (if anything) but here goes: I'm with a blond woman who in the dream appears to be a friend (or at least new acquaintance) who resembles a celebrity (though having woken up I cannot recall which one). I notice an explosion of light in the distance - like a nuclear strike - except it wasn't a mushroom cloud. It seemed more rounded in shape, which began to move like a wave after the initial explosion . The light was headed towards us and I tell my friend to shield her eyes as we begin to get away (I think we are in a car for part of the way, later running). I recall telling her to run as far away as possible. The flash eventually caught up with us and blew past us (or dissipated) and I found myself OK, as I had kept looking down and doing everything I could to avoid looking at or being directly exposed to the bright phenomenon. The woman however was blinded (unknown if it was permanent). We managed to find help nearby (EMTs I think) and I recall thinking we were OK and no longer alone. The dream ended there. There was no destruction like you'd expect from a typical explosion, most everything in the dreamworld looked intact, just empty and somewhat dark, like this all occurred at night. I really felt like "the end" had come! It was as if someone had finally gone too far and unleashed this nightmare explosion.

Yesterday was my work buddy’s last day at the job. He’s on his way to Phoenix as we speak - er....post. Before I left for the day he came to say goodbye and gave me the warmest hug! He promised to keep in touch. I told him he’d better if he knew what was good for him! I won’t lie; I had a case of the sniffles as we parted.

Actually I thought the Jetsons was based on “Blondie”. I remember reading somewhere that there is no such thing as an original idea. In fact they were all used up in Shakespeare’s time! What matters is putting a new spin on an old idea. What many of these so called reboots fail at is not putting a new spin on an old idea but rather mangle it to the point of being unrecognizable to try to please the very crowd that won’t want to watch it.

Same with the yet to debut Charmed. They might as well not have called it that.

I had heard that Donald Bellisario and Co. had been trying to make a QL movie for years but it’s been in development hell for about a decade or so. They wanted to keep Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell as they are/were on board. Stockwell is getting up there in years and if the movie does get made, they’d likely have to reduce his role and hand his holographic duties to someone new. If it is rebooted completely, I’d only find myself missing them.