Television

I don't know if it means my good taste or my bad taste has been confirmed, but the rest of America agreed with me on four of the top five on "America's Got Talent." The only one I picked who didn't make the cut was Jessica Price; instead, Donald Braswell went on to the finals, and since he was my sixth choice, I guess I can't complain too much. And here is the clip of what Nuttin But Stringz played Tuesday night that knocked me out. The clip I put up earlier was from a previous broadcast.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMHPA5-yIcc]

I don't know if it means my good taste or my bad taste has been confirmed, but the rest of America agreed with me on four of the top five on "America's Got Talent." The only one I picked who didn't make the cut was Jessica Price; instead, Donald Braswell went on to the finals, and since he was my sixth choice, I guess I can't complain too much. And here is the clip of what Nuttin But Stringz played Tuesday night that knocked me out. The clip I put up earlier was from a previous broadcast.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMHPA5-yIcc]

I've been sticking with "America's Got Talent," even though it slowly transformed from a variety show to just another version of "American Idol" -- nine of the top 10 finishers are singers. I watched last night, and it was pretty easy for me to choose my favorites for the five finalists. So long, Sinatra impersonator and Elvis impersonator; I'll watch you on TV, but pay to see you in Vegas? Don't think so. Goodbye to the 4-year-old -- what was she doing there in the first place? Catch you later, Osmond Family wannabes. Donald Braswell almost makes the cut for me.

Some people can do clever, and some can't. The people who do Burger King's TV ads are definitely in the "can't" category. The king mascot is just creepy, even when he's running down a football field, let alone showing up in some guy's bed or hanging out with his wife and kid in the future. How many ways are there to fall flat while trying to be funny? We took the Whoppers off the menu -- ha-ha, fooled you!

Dan Quayle shows a little common sense:

Former vice-president Dan Quayle will not be strutting his way across the dance floor anytime soon — at least not on TV.

Quayle was invited to compete in the ABC series approximately four to six weeks ago, but declined the invitation immediately, Quayle's assistant confirmed to Access Hollywood.

Yeah, I watched "America's Got Talent" again this week, and, apparently, I'm not alone. It was the highest-rated show last week. The thing is, if you strip away the competition part and the inane chatter of the judges, what you have is just an old-fashioned variety show of the type introduced by Ed Sullivan and then slicked up a little by Dean Martin and Carol Burnett. I think there's room for another one of those now.

And somebody in TV-land thinks so, too.

Hoosier Dan Quayle hasn't been in the news much lately, but that might change, unfortunately:

There have been murmurings recently that a major American political figure is being aggressively courted by ABC to compete on the next edition of "Dancing With the Stars."

I was all set to enjoy a pleasant evening of blogging last night. One of my favorite old black-and-white movies, 1935's "G Men," with James Cagney and Margaret Lindsay, was playing on Turner Classic Movies. With my laptop set up in front of the TV, I could half pay attention to the movie (old favorites are comfortable background noise) while composing posts to thrill and astound my readers. But at 7:58 p.m., two minutes before the movie's start -- Zap! Comcast Cable went out. "This channel should be available shortly," the message said -- on every channel.

I have dismissed the Olympics as anything but the noble competittion of amateurs they are claimed to be. But I've gotten caught up in the Dara Torres story. Who wouldn't? At first, everybody thought it would be a nice nostalgia story, 41-year-old mother, retired from swimming, comes back for one last shot at the Olympics, the old lady might even make the team for a record fifth time. But she started kicking teen swimmers' butts, and suddenly it's a very real story of perseverance and achievement.

Well, we'll all sleep better now, won't we?

A federal appeals court on Monday threw out a $550,000 indecency fine against CBS Corp. for the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show that ended with Janet Jackson's breast-baring "wardrobe malfunction."