TVSquad

Let me start by confessing that every morning, I watched Bravo's back-to-back episodes of The West Wing. That means I get a dose of Bradley Whitford every weekday. Then, there's Burn Notice, created by Matt Nix. I don't miss any of those shows either.

So, the news that Bradley Whitford is signed for Jack and Dan, Matt Nix's new series for Fox, was happy indeed. My reaction was enthusiastic optimism bordering on a reason to sing. "Oh, what a beautiful morning, oh, what a beautiful day... "

How many people remember Dragnet? Or maybe I should say how many people remember actually watching Dragnet, the "just the facts" police show starring the iconic Jack Webb? The reason I ask is because the U.S. Postal Service is immortalizing Dragnet with a postage stamp tomorrow.

In light of the fact that letter writing and postal service are dramatically in decline, my guess is that there will be an older crowd nodding appreciatively when Dragnet is honored. You see, the younger generation (did I really say that?) doesn't have much use for stamps and won't be buying the Dragnet first class stamp.

In this business we call show, there are those people who never let us forget that they are involved to make money. Luckily, those people often occupy the off camera part of the business and let the performers worry about making art. Meanwhile, the business types sit back and try to think up ways they can make more money off of the performers. One of the most insidious ways is to appeal to the star's ego and convince them to make a recording. What follows are some of the best -- and by "best," I mean "WTF?"

Phyllis Diller
"You're Different"
Most people today recognize he name Phyllis Diller but have no idea why she was famous, however if they watch this clip, they can be sure that it isn't for singing.

I got a great question from a reader named Paul this week...

"I am looking (for) the name (of) a series on very early Nickelodeon? 83 or 84. It featured a young group of kids who would solve mysteries and other such problems and they wore teleportation belts. It was science fictiony and reminded me of BBC programs, but I can't remember the name of the show. Please help!"

Well, Paul, as most of the readers know, the show you're referring to was, indeed a BBC show called The Tomorrow People. It aired on BBC in the '70s but Nickelodeon ran episodes in the 80's for American viewers. The show was remade in the '90s and ran for a few seasons but failed to catch on like the original.

Now on to this week's question...