TV Installation

The installation of Timothy Dolan as Archbishop of the New York Catholic Church took over the airwaves. This is news because this ceremony has not been done in NY for decades because all other transitions have happened when the former Archbishops died in office.

I watched the ABC coverage because they had a color commentator dropping little facts such as:

• There are 23 branches of Catholicism under the Pope
• Each branch is distinguished by the bishops hats (gold, black,...)
• Eastern Orthodox Catholics are represented but do not follow this Pope
• The Popes letter of appointment must be read in ceremony to be official
• Parts of the ceremony were in Spanish without translation
• Prayers were read in a dozen languages
• No one but bishops are aloud to sit in the cool gold seat on the altar
• Dolan has precided over an outdoor homily briefly with a Green Bay Cheesehead hat
  

Other curiosities include today is Tax Day, which did not escape the church officials as they made some jokes of it. Also it's still Passover and while many Jewish officials are there in support they can not greet him on the altar. The longest applaud was when Dolan recertified the church's position on the sanctity of life. It is still Easter by the way.

To interrupt 3 1/2 hours of programs for a religious ceremony is unique among New Yorkers. In Los Angeles TV is often interrupted by car chases and nationwide only for grand disasters but rarely for church ceremonies. Often I said the real heartland of America is NYC, it's why we are constant targets form all sides. Seeing such a unique thing reminds me why TV is still relevent because checking some news sites on the internet does not even mention this in the top 10 news stories of the day. Local news can be silly but occasionaly they do pull off stories without the ignorance or arrogance that pundits and internet trolls often bring.

Penn State

Kal Penn was the best part of House lately. His sudden exit was shocking in a time when TV shows rarely shock. I was just complaining about the lack of suicidal storylines on dramas and then poor Kutner had to prove me wrong. And yes that was Penn playing his own bloody corpse.

Penn is now part of the Obama White House and should make a fine…liaison? Whatever he will do it at least we know he’ll still be acting.

Seen here with Jenna von Oÿ for no particular reason.

The End is Nigh

ER: And In The End...
A hour long clip show featuring only the fake doctors talking and none of the fake nurses which seemed wrong. Still there were some great memories and touching scenes.


The episode was a regular stint at the ER with mothers in peril and ignorant kids who party too hard. Many of the the original cast came back and they were all awkward. The only shining star of the night was Alexis Bledel as the never before seen Dr. Wise. She was scared and did not act as if she was so cool that all the misery around her was just background for her own drama.

John Stamos played George Clooney, Scott Grimes played Anthony Edwards, Linda Cardellini played Julianna Margulies, as a homage to Michael Crichton. They showed Dr. Green's daughter all grown up and ready to join the ER and probably tragically die or get viciously assaulted, but that is for an unseen future.

All in all it wrapped up nicely, no grand explosions or nuclear bombs.

Life on Mars(US): Life is a Rock
I saw the first episode and new this would end bad. No surprise as it did. American network producers, writers, and execs always do things out of fear. They never take a real chance because they may offend someone. This is a trend since All in the Family transformed into Archie Bunker's Place.
Back to the ending it turns out the entire show was a lie. The year is 2035 and the main characters have just spent years in stasis with a Dollhouse type program running in their heads. Sam chose to be a cop in NYC in 2008 but a glitch threw the time off by 25 years. Once they woke up they ignored their dreams and stepped onto the Martian soil.

Seeing the UK version with its great ending I can't help but be disappointed that the US took the title literally. In Life on Mars(UK) he woke up from a coma and realized his coma world is better than the real world and decides to jump off the roof to go back. Suicide may be a downer but it fit perfectly.

This is Not Spring

Andy Hallet was great as the thin green Lorne on Angel and wondered why he never worked much. Apparently he got sick shortly after the final episode and after years of struggle died this past week. This is sad and one of a number of tragedies to follow the cast and crew of Angel.

The guy was 33, seriously messed up. If your wondering no I don't believe in the jinx or on set curses.


Another loss is the oldest soap opera ever has been canceled.
Guiding Light has been going on for 72 years, that is before TV for you young ones.
Starting as a 15 minutes serial on radio in 1937 it made the successful switch to TV in 1952 but alas the internet will not see graceful transition. The hour of TV is now free for some awful talk show or daytime reality crap.
Not that I can ever recall seeing any episodes I will watch it sign off on September 18, 2009.