Move That Bus!

When the Extreme Makeover crew arrives on the scene in any given community, it’s like the circus has come to town. TV cameras from the show, as well as from area TV stations converge on the scene to catch a glimpse of all the action. People from all over fill the streets in hopes of catching a glimpse of host Ty Pennington. Wrecking balls come in and demolish a house, and right before the eyes of all those gathered, a new house goes up in its place.

When the crew leaves, secrecy continues as no one is supposed to see inside the house until the show airs on TV. Then, when all that excitement fades away, what happens? Many times the once excited family is left holding the bag, looking at mounting bills, with no way to pay them.

In August I wrote about this in a post entitled Extreme Makeover…Hidden Costs. At that point in time, I was discussing what might happen to an area family blessed with a visit from Ty and his crew.

Today however, I’m writing about a true life story where a family who was once over-joyed with their makeover, finds themselves looking for handouts to survive.

Read on …

When a freebie prize, really isn’t a freebie prize.

Oprah was pounded for this a few years ago when she gave out so-called free cars to her studio audience. Obviously everyone in the audience were thrilled to hear the news they were getting a free car just for showing up at a taping of an Oprah show. But, what they didn’t know, was they had to pay the taxes before taking delivery on their free car. Suddenly, free wasn’t so free. Oprah really took it on the chin for that one. There was an outcry of — How can Oprah stick it to her audience like that!? — It makes me wonder how many people didn’t end up getting their so-called free car simply because they couldn’t afford to pay the taxes on the car.

While Oprah took it on the chin for her actions, I wonder if anyone has ever questioned Ty Pennington and the Extreme Makeover people. Everyone loves to see Ty, his crew, and anyone else gathered around for the “big reveal” scream — “Move that bus!”

But, what happens when Pennington and his crew leave? Is free really free?

Read on …

The former Attorney General of New York State and of course now the former Governor of New York State should be proud of himself. After being a bully on Wall Street and a sex addicted Governor who lost his position in disgrace, the Eliot Spitzer embarrassment hits Law & Order tonight. The long running NBC hit show has been known to air episodes that some would say are “ripped from the headlines.” The season finale set for tonight is no exception. The plot centers on a murder investigation which in turn leads police to a prostitution ring which counts the governor of New York as one of its clients. Of course who can forget that just a few months ago, former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer made headlines when he resigned after being identified by federal investigators as a client of a high-priced prostitution ring.

Of course Sam Waterson, who plays assistant D.A. Jack McCoy on the series said - quote - “I shouldn’t say we’re doing the Eliot Spitzer story. I should say we’re doing a story about a politician who gets into trouble because of sexual questions…involving prostitution.”

Whatever the case may be, the Spitzer story is pretty much the embarrassment of New York that just keeps on giving.

Just my two cents,
Dr. Rus

Just yesterday I asked a guest on my Live Line talk show where Senator McCain is. It seems all we’ve been hearing about are the Democrats and the in-fighting taking place in that party as Senators Hillary and Obama duke it out for the presidential nomination in their party. But, in the midst of the Dems looking for their presidential candidate, Senator John McCain is hanging off in the wings with the Republican nomination sown up just waiting to see who his opponent will be.

So, what’s he doing with all the extra time on his hands? Apparently he’s decided to do the late night talk show circuit too. Just like his Democratic friends, Senator McCain is now showing up on the comedy shows. But not just any comedy show. No, instead he headed to Comedy Central for an appearance on The Jon Stewart show.

Give me a break! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, in the long run I do not believe this is going to help politicians. It’s like they’re painting a huge bullseye on their chest where they allow the talk show host to take shot after shot after shot at them with the main goal of embarrassing them. They do not talk about issues, they do not have an opportunity to express their platform. All the politician does is spout off pre-scripted jokes made up by the joke writers of the show.

So, what did Senator McCain talk about with Jon Stewart? Well, a real issue is whom he will pick for his VP candidate. Some are saying the Senator needs to name his VP now so at least he could start building a platform before the voters of the nation. With that in mind, Senator McCain, reading from the teleprompter I’m sure, made this announcement on the Comedy Central channel — “I know you’ve been wondering who my Vice Presidential candidate will be. I’ve got it written down here — Are you ready? — You’ve heard it here first — Dwight Schrute.”

So who is Dwight Schrute? He’s a headstrong character from the comedy show The Office.

Senator McCain is really not a funny man. So, in the end, this joke falls flat. Once again the Senator has fallen into the trap of pandering to a comedy audience, that in the end, probably won’t even vote anyway.

Just my two cents,
Dr. Rus

Once again, in a last minute scramble for primary votes, Senator Hillary Clinton is the latest Democratic candidate to wander onto the stage of late night talk shows with David Letterman. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, I just don’t get it. Hot on the heels of a great interview with Bill O’Reilly where she actually talked about real issues facing the nation, Senator Clinton goes on David Letterman and makes a fool out of herself.

I will be so glad when the political-silly-season is over. But then again, these days politics almost always seems silly.

Just my two cents,
Dr. Rus

Once again as a News Director I find myself asking the question - Why do political candidates feel more comfortable on the late night talk show circuit instead of the news show talk circuit?

Senator Obama made yet another appearance on the David Letterman show where he even did the Top Ten List. Of course the writers of the list put funny lines into his mouth and he relished the laughs from the audience. But, once again , while the audience laughed these politicians have no clue that people aren’t laughing with them. No, it’s quite the opposite. Instead people are laughing at them as they make a fool out of themselves.

But, again, why do these politicians feel safer on the late night comedy talk show circuit? Could it be they know there will be no hard questions? That probably has a lot to do with it. After all, one of the reasons Senator Obama is probably refusing to do another debate with Senator Hillary Clinton has to do with the fact that he felt picked on by the news commentators whom he said “Asked too many hard questions.” Give me a break. Yes, you were asked “hard questions” but they were asked with a sense of respect.

But maybe that’s it. Could it be politicians don’t like sitting down with news people because it seems journalism has lost any sense of respect when it comes to talking with politicians. Instead it seems many journalists, that means news reporters, are more concerned about blind-siding the politician with the “gotcha” question, instead of asking intelligent questions in order to gather information. I believe that has a lot to do with it. The National Inquirer sensationalist tabloid type reporting has not only crept into respectable journalism, it’s rushed in unchecked. As a result, few journalists really know how to be respectful anymore. Instead, they’re looking for ways to embarrass politicians, no matter what, just so they can grab a quick headline.

I for one long for the days of respectability to come back to the world of journalism. Leave the tabloid junk to the tabloids and then maybe politicians will stop feeling the need to do the late night comedy talk show circuit.

Just my two cents,
Dr. Rus

Another weekend has come and gone and that means it’s time to look over some weekend sports blunders.

1) NBC Hockey
When will these guys get it right! Okay, they’ve figured out how to fix the white balance so you’re no longer blinded by the bright white ice. You can actually see the players and you can also see the lines on the ice. However, for whatever reason, the NBC control room audio guys must all be deaf. Once again I tried watching the Red Wings game, but had to turn it off because the noise of the crowd drowned out the announcers calling the game. Come on guys, it’s the play-offs and now they’re almost done. Hello NBC execs — do you think you can get your sound guys to figure out the play-by-play announcers are more important than the roar of the crowd?

2) Danica Patrick
Okay, so it took her 50 races, but she finally made it to Victory Circle. Danica Patrick won her first IRL race over the weekend in Japan. But, while Tom Hanks declared — “There’s no crying in baseball” — someone should tell Danica — “There’s no crying in racing!”

3) NASCAR Should Have “Parked” Kyle Busch
The new wonder-boy of NASCAR is at it again. For years I’ve said Kyle Busch is not a good driver. Everyone thinks he is, but in reality, he’s nothing more than a pimpled-face kid who knows how to mash the gas, but that’s about it. Why am I picking on him today? It’s because of something he said during the Nationwide race in Mexico. Scott Pruett led most of the race and in the closing laps Kyle Busch was in second. Busch, who doesn’t know how to race clean keyed his radio and told his crew — “I’m getting tired of Pruett. I’m going to spin him out into the wall so I can take the lead and win.” At that point NASCAR officials should have keyed their radio and said — “Okay Kyle Busch, it’s time to park your car.” But, they didn’t. They just let their wonder-boy drive. Come on NASCAR. When a driver says he’s going to use his car as a weapon, it’s time to park him.

Just my two cents,
Dr. Rus

It’s the start of another new week. With that in mind, I’d like to spend a few moments discussing some major sports blunders from the weekend. I have two blunders to look at today.

Blunder Number One
NBC should be ashamed of themselves! I know NHL hockey viewership took a hit a few years ago during the strike. But come one, now everyone seems to be jumping on the NHL bandwagon trying to reclaim the sport. I’ve discovered a great new channel on my lineup, it’s the NHL Network. I love it! I can find all kinds of hockey pretty much every night. So, what happened with NBC yesterday? They decide to carry their big game of the week between the Red Wings and the Blackhawks. I figure this is great! I’m a Blackhawks fan so I plan to watch the hockey game before the race starts. Well, that didn’t last very long. The white balance was so far off on the cameras you couldn’t even see the lines on the ice! Making matters even worse, the Blackhawks were wearing white which meant all you could see was black skates moving across the very bright white of the ice and big red blobs of Red Wings players.

Come on NBC…aren’t you smarter than that? If you’re going to carry a hockey game, make sure you balance the color on your camera before hitting the air. It was more like watching a bunch of Polar Bears playing hockey than players fighting it out for a playoff spot.

Blunder Number Two
This blunder goes to the many NASCAR drivers who keep complaining about the handling of the new race car. Jimmy “Cry-baby” Johnson finished second in Texas but the first thing he says when he emerges from the car is that he now knows what everyone else is talking about because the car handles poorly. He says he, along with others, want NASCAR to do something about the car because he’s tired of having to work so hard when driving the car. Further down the line the new Golden-Brat-Boy of the sport, Kyle Busch, complains that he hasn’t worked so hard in all his driving career as he had to over the weekend. Why did he have to work so hard? Because he says the car needs to be worked on by NASCAR because he has to work to drive the car.

Excuse me for a moment boys, but aren’t you called racecar drivers? Give me a break. You’re complaining because you have too work to hard to drive the car? You’re paid millions of dollars to drive the car so stop your complaining. Oh, and by the way, I for one believe NASCAR has accomplished exactly what they wanted to. They said the driver needs to be more in control of the car while driving instead of just getting in the car and mashing the gas. They’ve done just that. Suddenly the driver has to work and understand how to control the car.

Reality is, what’s happening in NASCAR this year is exactly what I’ve been saying for years. We’re suddenly discovering the so-called stars are no stars at all. Those whom some in racing held up as stars were nothing more than gas-mashers who sat behind a steering wheel, went fast and turned left. Now all of a sudden the true drivers are rising to the top. The ones who understand there’s more to racing than just going fast. Sometimes, as DW always says, you go faster, by going slower.

Stop your complaining guys, and take a few driving lessons. Then maybe you’ll figure the new car out.

Just my two cents,
Dr. Rus

The Simpsons are in their 19th season on TV. Now I must admit I pretty much avoided the show for the first 18 seasons. I just couldn’t get into watching a show about a dysfunctional dad picking on his brat son. How in the world was this going to be a good influence on what’s really going on in families. Especially when many families are dysfunctional.

But, that all changed this summer when I watched The Simpsons Movie. I must admit I went in with low expectations. After all, it’s The Simpson’s and I just didn’t think I would enjoy close to two hours of poor behavior depicted on the big screen. However, I was wrong. The movie ended up with some great messages about family and really shows Homer and Bart discovering a somewhat better relationship as father and son. Okay, so the way they discovered the better relationship is not the best, but it is humor and satire. At least the writers of The Simpsons are pointing out the importance of a good father/son relationship.

After my summer experience with The Simpsons I’ve started watching the Sunday night show too. I’m always amazed at how relevant, and amazinging topical, the show is. A few weeks ago the show addressed the whole craziness of the primary election mania. Then last night they addressed global warming! In a very funny opening to the show Homer, Marge and the kids are all trying to stay warm inside their house. Apparently Homer decided to not pay the gas bill or get the furnace fixed. Marge scolds him for not taking care of the heat situation and Homer exclaims — “I thought global warming would take care of it! Al Gore can’t get anything right!”

I have to admit, I about fell off my chair laughing over that one. Here we have the writers of a half hour cartoon sitcom addressing the made up terror tactics of a man who wants everyone to believe he invited the internet! Global warming - give me a break. When I was a kid in school we were told we were facing something called global cooling and by this time we were supposed to be covered by ice bergs.

Just my two cents,
Dr. Rus

I do believe it’s started. The Writers Guild could be vanishing from Hollywood. Why do I say this? Mainly because a number of late night talk shows hit the airwaves again last night. It all started when David Letterman’s production company made a pact with the Writers Guild which paved the way for writers to return to CBS’ Late Show. That of course put not only David Letterman back on the air, but it also paved the way for Jay Leno and all the others to return to TV too.

Now the Hollywood Foreign Press Association has entered negotiations with the union to reach an interim agreement which will put the Golden Globes award show on the air. This too marks what could be the demise of the Writers Guild. The whole idea of a union is to have the ability to pressure companies to pretty much bow down on their knees and give in to their demands as they bring production to a halt. But, obviously this is not working with the Writers Guild, as writers are going behind their backs, striking deals, and now going back to work. How long will the Writers Guild last, there’s really no way to tell. But, one thing is for sure, this strike is changing the make up and any available power the union once had.

Jay Leno summed it up best last night when he said — quote — “We had to come back because we have essentially 19 people putting 160 people out of work.”

That pretty much says it all.

Just my two cents,
Dr. Rus