Television

Oh, come on:

For more than 100 college presidents and athletic directors, beer and the NCAA men's basketball tournament don't mix.

The merging of technologies continues. Go here to watch full episodes of something like 200 different TV series instead of waiting for your favorite one to show up on TVland. "Hawaii 5-0" and "Alfred Hitchcock Presents," "St. Elsewhere" and "WKRP in Cincinnati" and "Lou Grant." Wasn't I just saying how cool it was that the old "Star Trek" episodes were online? Jeez. I think I'm going to be overusing that word.

Bookmark this one, nerds. The original "Star Trek" episodes are online for free.

Well, good:

The Oscars are a ratings dud. Nielsen Media Research says preliminary ratings for the 80th annual Academy Awards telecast are 14 percent lower than the least-watched ceremony ever.

We now have the three finalists for the two-day "Jeopardy!" teen tournament (Thursday and Friday, 7:30-8 p.m., CBS): Fishers, Ind.; Paducah, Ky.; and Cincinnati, Ohio. Suck it up, coastal scum. Flyover Country rules!

Harsh words for those who hype bad weather:

David Phillips, senior climatologist for Environment Canada, calls the nonstop coverage "storm porn," and said it inflates public anxieties about weather events.

The Oscar nominations have been announced, and I don't much care. It's not so much because I'm an old fart who thinks the movies aren't as good as they used to be (though I'm much more likely to enjoy the experience when watching Turner Classic Movies than I am when watching something new on the premium channels). It's just that "going to the movies" has stopped being one of the things I do.

I've never watched any reality TV shows, except a few minutes here and there when one of them was on right before another program I wanted to see.

Via Fark, one of the great moments in entertainment history, William Shatner performing -- I guess that's the right word -- "Rocket Man" at a science fiction convention. It happened 30 years ago today.

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=DvQwXOCKNLY]

David Letterman and Jay Leno are back, and everybody is happy, though the writers' strike goes on. Letterman is back with his writers, through a special deal, so  he and his Top 10 list should be as funny as ever. Leno is back without writers, so his fans will get to see how good he really is on his own.