TVSquad

As a member of the media elite, I tend to run in some pretty impressive circles. Some days it's a Yankees game with Lorne Michaels, Fergie, and Jason Hervey. Others, it's World of Warcraft with Michael Keaton and Val Kilmer (hint for dealing with those two: do NOT wonder aloud who the best Batman of the '90s was).

Obviously, writing a bi-weekly column that has readership literally in the hundreds carries with it a lot of perks. But it's not all fun and games. My place as America's foremost pop culture commentator ("It's like Chuck Klosterman and Andy Warhol had a baby!" reads the blurb I'll ask my editor to put on my book should I ever write one) means that my inbox is constantly being spammed by other members of the media asking for advice.

Instead of answering those emails privately, like good manners and the explicit instructions of many of the emails demand, I figured I'd share both the emails and their answers with you, my loyal readers...

The new fall TV season is shaping up to be the Year of the Geek (or Year of Sex in the City ripoffs, you take your pick). There are shows about geeky teenagers (Aliens in America), geeky roommates (Big Bang Theory), and geeky action heroes. The last one I would be talking about would be NBC's Chuck.

Angry fans have quite a bit of power over CBS these days. The network tried a little experiment last week with Craig Ferguson's talk show, and it ended up failing miserably. Fans probably noticed that at about 3 minutes into the show, Craig and Co. broke for a commercial. The commercial break forced Ferguson to pause in the middle of his monologue for a word from sponsors and then resume his routine afterwards.

I want to know who on earth thought this was a good idea in the first place? It sounds like some money-grubbing accountant's idea... not someone who actually watches late night television. Amazingly, Craig agreed to the experiment. Fans got pissed off and inundated his show with angry e-mails, forcing an end to the I-coulda-told-you-it-was-a-bad-idea experiment. Now that it's kapput, Ferguson says "I will never do it again. It is over."

Do you know how many e-mails we get here at TV Squad from people who think we're actually in control of what happens on television? Way too many.

We can answer (or try to answer) any question you might have about television, but if you write to us begging we bring Everwood back, there's not much we can do for you. We just write about television, we don't make the shows. If I had my way, Wonder Showzen would still be on the air, but I don't, and it isn't.

MCEMailbox isn't the only program for checking your email using Vista Media Center's 10 foot interface, but it is a pretty slick option.

MCEMailbox lets you check POP3 and secure POP3 mailboxes. The add-in checks for new mail at regular intervals and sends you a notification when a new message arrives. You can also access the program directly and view the contents of your inbox, which you can sort by date, subject or sender.

I've never been sure that a 10 foot interface is ideal for reading email, RSS feeds, or really any content that's ext heavy. That said, as someone who works from home, it'd be awful nice to be able take a break for lunch, watch a movie, and not feel like I have to keep pausing it to check and see if I have new email that requires immediate attention.

[via Ian Dixon]