Television

Today's exercise in missing the point . . .

On "Jeopardy!" last night the airline attendant whupped the linguist and the lawyer good -- hell, she destroyed them. A good win for a contestant is to hit about $20,000, and she won nearly $32,000. It was a good reminder that we shouldn't judge people by the kind of work they do; smart people can pop up anywhere.

The Final Jeopardy, by the way, was one of those that seemed too easy to me, but I guess I like that better than the ones I don't have a clue on. In the category 1970s films:

OK, class, your new word of the day is "eventize":

NEW YORK (AP) -- One day into the annual week where television's biggest networks reveal their future programming plans and it was clear what the buzzword was going to be: Eventize.

With Tim Russert as the host, NBC's "Meet the Press" was a strong No. 1 among the Sunday talk shows. Under David Gregory, it's a dismal third and still sliding, and the network hotshots are in a panic:

So David Letterman is gonna retire. As a fellow Ball State grad, I almost hate to say it, but sooo don't care. Never got into him and his snide, sneering snottiness. Of all the replacement contenders, most of whom I've just seen snippets of here and there, I'd put my vote in for Craig Ferguson. His show is almost entirely improvised, which gives it an immediacy the more scripted shows don't have.

Awww. How am I going to get through the day without a condescending British twit to lecture me on the evils of guns?

John Elway: Hey, I'd have no problem in drafting Michael Sam:

I don't exactly know why, but this commercial tickles the hell out of me. I'd take it over all but two or three of the Super Bowl ads that are supposed to be so good.

What with eagerly anticipating the Super Bowl, dejectedly watching the Super Bowl and bitterly resenting having devoted so much time to the Super Bowl, I never got around to looking for the annual showing of "Groundhog Day" yesterday. But since it's become one of my favorite movies and I catch it any chance I can, I didn't mind missing this particular airing. Besides, this commentary came along to fill the void:

Merle Haggard, on the inspiration for "Big City," one of his best songs: