TVSquad

The Nielsen ratings for last Friday night showed that NBC did really well with the Olympic opening ceremonies. Good for NBC, bad for fans of CBS's Swingtown. It didn't take a psychic to predict that all that NBC Universal hype would draw those who love pomp and spectacle. It also didn't take a seer to see that CBS wasn't giving Swingtown a fair shot by asking it to go up against the Olympics.

Still, in CBS's defense, Swingtown just hasn't grabbed the kind of ratings all summer long -- mostly on Thursday nights -- to warrant the network believing that it has a potential hit on its hand. The New York Times pondered Swingtown's fate, too.

I think it does, but only if CBS gives Swingtown some time. I'm not alone in thinking this either. Josef Adalian agrees, as do and many TV Squad readers have expressed their passion for this show. Will CBS hear them as they chant, "All we are saying, is give Swingtown a chance."

(S02E18) They don't do much in the way of developing the big mysteries, but I do like it when the Supernatural team takes time out to have some fun. Such was the case this week with "Hollywood Babylon." If it was the overall style of the show, I don't think it would work nearly as well. But as an every once in a while thing, these tongue-in-cheek, laugh at yourself, episodes are a fun diversion from the norm. Although, I would have preferred to see this one and "Tall Tales" separated a little more on the schedule.

So I'm surfing around The Internet Movie Database, getting some info about the NBC show from the 1990s called Something So Right (Jere Burns, Mel Harris, kids and step kids - funny show), and while I'm on the page for the show, I see their "Recommendations" section. For Something So Right, they say "If you like this title, we also recommend ... Survivor."

Yup, if you like family comedies, you'll love a reality show about people on an island backstabbing each other to win a million bucks! I know that family life can be hectic, but it's not that bad.

Curious, I went over to the Survivor page, and the recommendation for people who like Survivor is...The Apprentice. Now that actually makes sense, but why isn't the recommendation Something So Right? (Oh, and Survivor is also recommended for people who like Newsradio and American Gothic too).

How do they pick the recommendations? Is it actual people picking them, or is generated by what shows users are looking at? Very weird.