TVSquad

With the writers strike pulling a black cloud over our collective television set, have you been feeling super-sad? Do you feel lost, without a sense of direction, now that your favorite show has run out of new episodes? Do empty pints of Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia and fresh receipts from the video game store litter your home, serving as a constant reminder that you love TV, you breathe TV, and you need TV to fill your life? I certainly hope not, because that would be kind of pathetic.

What's weird is that before the invention of television, there was this thing called "books". People used their eyes, just as they use them for watching television, to "read" these books. Books are hard to come by these days, but if you visit the library, they might have one or two, hidden in the back room. Please note you may have to slip an Alexander Hamilton or wear a low-cut shirt to gain access to the book room. Anyway, books are a great way to escape reality (TV). If you manage to track a few down, why don't you pick up a book or two while the writers strike is in effect? If the idea of straying so far away from television terrifies you, here are some books that aren't too far off point, so you can join in nice and easy.

Satire is a tricky sword to wield, and BET's current efforts to call attention to some of the less-favorable aspects of current black culture are proof of that. First, there was We Got to Do Better (formerly Hot Ghetto Mess), a series whose pilot episode was so schizophrenic I actually developed twelve different personalities while watching it. Never have I seen a TV series struggling so hard to figure out its own identity.

All of the press that came out before it read that the series would use amateur footage of people acting untoward as a means to show how we need to improve (the clips show people of all races), but the first episode kept jumping back and forth between straight satire and host Charlie Murphy sincerely pleading to the audience to improve themselves. Imagine Stephen Colbert dropping his facade every two minutes to say, "this is a joke" -- that's what watching We Got to Do Better was like.

To me, Jeopardy! is the quintessential game show. At the end of a game, I walk away with a sense of awe that those three people could truly have the brains to retain such an amazing amount of information, then be put in front of millions of people to blurt pieces of it out on demand and faster than two other people -- in the form of a question, to boot. I'd often wonder how one could possibly prepare to be faced with that kind of pressure and what kind of unfathomable studying one would have to do to qualify for that show, never mind actually win. Several times.

Jane Espenson, who as some of you know has been extremely courteous enough to give her insights into her recent writings for Battlestar Galactica, sent me a copy of a book that opened my mind to the world of one very successful contestant on the greatest game show in the world, Bob Harris. That book is Prisoner of Trebekistan.

Author John Fante grew up in Denver in the early 20th century, the son of immigrant parents. His books were largely ignored at the time, and it wasn't until writer Charles Bukowski helped republish Fante's works that he became recognized as a master writer. While his books, including Ask the Dust, Wait Until Spring and Bandini were all hailed by critics, the public never caught on and most of his books went out of print soon after being published.

Like most writers, Fante had to make ends meet by writing things he didn't especially enjoy, and that meant penning screenplays for many films that never got made.

On December 12 at 10pm, the PBS documentary series Independent Lens will air "A Sad Flower in the Sand," a look at the late author featuring interview with his wife, Joyce Smart, his biographer Stephen Cooper and filmmaker Robert Towne.

The fluff-stuffed bear of very little brain is not only popular here in the United States, having recently received a star on the Walk of Fame, but he also topped a recent poll in the UK of favorite animal characters, beating out other bears like Paddington and Baloo from The Jungle Book. Winnie the Pooh received fifty-one percent of the votes through a poll of 1,191 adults, with the daft but lovable Paddington Bear coming in second with forty-one percent of the vote, and Baloo coming in at  third. Other animals such as Peter Rabbit, Black Beauty, and Toad from The Wind in the Willows also finished in top spots. Rather interesting that all of these were originally literary characters before being re-imagined into TV and movie characters.

For those of you who have missed Rose, he returns to the table on his PBS late night talk show this Monday. Rose has been gone from the show after having emergency heart valve surgery overseas in March. It was his second valve surgery, and he was in the hospital for a month.

It was interesting to see various fill-in hosts over the past few months. Some did really well, while others were noticably uncomfortable in the host chair (*cough* Peter Travers *cough*).

Look at me. I'm gettin' all literary lately. Yesterday I was writing about The Third Policeman, which was featured in an episode of Lost way back in October, and today I'm still talkin' books.

First off, let's be clear: I'm addicted to any and all things 24. So when I was given copies of the new 24 prequel novels last night, I nearly wet myself I was so giddy. Right now there are three of them. First up is Operation Hell Gate, then Veto Power, and last is Trojan Horse. A fourth installment, Cat's Claw, comes out on July 1.

The books are set up just like a season of 24. Each novel is 24 chapters, each one encompassing a full hour. I had a chance to read a few chapters of Operation Hell Gate last night and it's pretty good stuff. What I found cool is that, since they're prequels, characters from the first season play a big role. Remember Walsh and Milo? They're around, with many others. The writing isn't confusing, but it's not light in the sense that "cultured folks" certainly won't find themselves bored. I don't think they will... I didn't, but then again who knows? I may have the brain of an eight year old. An eight year old who wants to grow up and be Jack Bauer.

I suppose I'm a bit too old for this to be on my radar, but I only recently learned of the popular Edgar and Ellen series of children's books by Charles Ogden. They apparently focus on a brother and sister who live in the quiet town of Nod's Limb where they lead a macabre, Addams Family-esque existence. The twins have also been animated for a series of shorts on the Nicktoon Network, and you can check out two of them here and here. A feature film based on the books is also in development.

[via Cold Hard Flash]

Internet users are surfing the web as much as they are watching television, according to a study done by JupiterResearch marketing firm. Researchers found that internet users spend about 14 hours a week online, which is the same amount of time they spend watching television. It also found that television, books and newspapers are losing viewers and readers who are opting to spend time online. That's a trend that has become pretty obvious to the bigwigs at television networks, because most of them have brought their content online for all of us geeks.

How much time do you spend on the internet and watching television each week? I'm not sure of the hours, but I know I spend way more time online than I do watching television.

[Via Lost Remote]

If you have been crying into your pillow ever since E! announced they weren't going to have Star Jones work the red carpet for them anymore, dry your tears. Um, no, she didn't get the job back... But she's got a new blog! To help promote her new book Shine: A Physical, Emotional and Spiritual Journey to Finding Love, Star will blog about her book tour from now to March and, apparently, lay down the law about Internet etiquette (in the very first entry of her first-ever blog? Goodness).

On more than one occasion I've heard a family member, friend, or stranger claim they watched something lackluster on television because "there was nothing else on." I've always found this statement odd, as it implies that even if there's nothing on, you still have to watch TV. I can't think of any other medium where people do this. I've never walked up to someone reading a book and had them exclaim, "God, this Michael Crichton novel is horrible, but there's no other books in my house, so I have to read it." Anyway, if you tend to watch TV just because it's there, you should know it's that kind of attitude that keeps shows like Scrubs on the air, and nobody wants that.