TVSquad

Well, it looks like I'm going to have to eat a little crow from one of my previous posts. The Jerry Lewis telethon made a whopping 65 million dollars this year for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Obviously, people are still watching.

Apparently, the show also pitched help for any MDA-registered families that are victims of Hurricane Gustav. It's a good idea and a brilliant P.R. move by Lewis and company. It did get me thinking: why should all that money only benefit those with muscular dystrophy? Why can't next year's donations go towards fighting cancer or some other charity?

It's amazing what passes for donations at the Jerry Lewis telethon these days. Apparently, the gun found in the big guy's luggage was one of them.

Now, I guess I have to go through this again. For the Muscular Dystrophy Association, cash is preferred. Checks are accepted. Firearms must be donated via a special table located in the back. I wonder what else people can donate? Marijuana or pornography, perhaps?

This does beg the question of such as thing as bad publicity. I don't know if this incident hurts the telethon's donations. On the other hand, is the 82-year-old comedian or his telethon even relevant anymore? In my youth, everybody watched the telethon for celebrity appearances. Now, it's difficult to remember even when it airs.

Lewis did say that the gift was from an engraver at last year's telethon and he didn't travel since then. What do you think? Is the story flimsy or believable?

If you watched the network morning shows this morning, you've seen the shocking sight of the Big Three evening news anchors -- Brian Williams, Katie Couric, and Charlie Gibson -- appearing on each show ... together! Gasp! How can that happen? Don't the networks have contract clauses and armies of lawyers to prevent these things from happening?

Well, I guess the lawyers tend to stay home when a good cause is involved. The anchors went on the news shows this morning to announce a cross-network telethon called Stand Up for Cancer Stand Up To Cancer, which will air on NBC, CBS, and ABC on September 5. The one-hour show will have musical performances and testimonials from all three anchors about the need for furthering cancer research (remember Couric's husband and sister both died from various forms of the disease). Money raised by the telethon will go to a number of organizations and research groups.