If this catches on, the practice of introducing new shows in the fall will go the way of the dodo bird and the passenger pigeon.

NBC Universal took a big step toward undoing one of the television industryÂ’s oldest traditions by announcing Tuesday that it would move to a year-round schedule of staggered program introductions. The move is intended to appeal to advertisers, who crave fresh content to keep viewers tuned in.

And if it succeeds — and leads other broadcast networks to shift from their focus on a mass introduction of new shows — it could alter an American cultural cycle that extends all the way back to the days of radio, when families gathered around the Philco every September, as the school year began, to sample the new entertainment choices.

NBC plans to announce a 52-week schedule in April, a month before ABC and CBS will unveil their fall lineups at splashy presentations known as upfronts. The decision means that NBC will be committing to a new lineup of shows earlier than any of its competitors, while also inviting advertisers to build marketing plans around specific shows and perhaps to integrate brands and products into the plots of the shows themselves.

We've been seeing a move this direction for some time. For example, the show 24 has always debuted in the winter (well, prior to this strike-plagued year). And there have been a number of limited run series that are shown during the summer. But as a rule, the fall has been the time to roll out the new product line, just like the auto industry. But there really isn't any solid business reason for doing so, especially as some shows die an ugly death at mid-season, or even earlier, and need replacements. This will also do away with the rerun desert that is the summer months -- we will always have something new on network TV.

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Here it is -- the trailer for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

Indy looks older, and he has a young stud to be his protege. Could this signal a new way to revive the franchise? And correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't that look like the warehouse where they stored the Ark of the Covenant? My only question is this -- why does it look like the US military is the bad guy in this one?

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Anyone who read this blog during the past football seasn knows that I am a big fan of NFL football. And while my team of choice today is the Houston Texans, I follow several other teams as well – among those being the Denver Broncos. Of course, the most exciting player in Denver Broncos team history has to have been John Elway. Year in and year out, it was guaranteed that Elway would be one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. Over at 20Yardline.com, you can learn all about the Broncos – or any other NFL team you are interested in. I know I’ll be adding the site to my list of favorites for the fall.

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Sounds good to me.

The "Star Wars" universe, already substantially rendered by computer generated imagery, is giving in all the way to animation.

"Star Wars: The Clone Wars," an animated film, will open in theaters Aug. 15 and be followed by a TV series of the same name, to air on the Cartoon Network and TNT this fall.

"I felt there were a lot more 'Star Wars' stories left to tell," said "Star Wars" creator George Lucas in a statement. "I was eager to start telling some of them through animation and, at the same time, push the animation forward."

Add to that the upcoming live-action spin-off series, and I think there is still some life left in the franchise.

However, there is one aspect of the Star Wars universe that this leaves unexplored – one that really ought to be done.

As most fans (especially of my generation) know, at one time Lucas' conception of Star Wars involved a "trilogy of trilogies". We now have the classic Star Wars trilogy (episodes 4-6) and the more recent trilogy (episodes 1-3), showing us the descent of the Republic into Empire and the overthrow of that Empire. Why not give us that additional trilogy – what were originally to be episodes 7-9 – as animated films. This would complete the original George Lucas vision without the difficulties of writing, directing, and producing three more live-action films.

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In a shameful repetition of 1936 in Berlin, British athletes will be expected to remain silent about the evil of the host country at this summer’s Olympics – not only in Beijing, but between the time of their selection and their return to the UK.

British Olympic chiefs are to force athletes to sign a contract promising not to speak out about China's appalling human rights record – or face being banned from travelling to Beijing.

The move – which raises the spectre of the order given to the England football team to give a Nazi salute in Berlin in 1938 – immediately provoked a storm of protest.

The controversial clause has been inserted into athletes' contracts for the first time and forbids them from making any political comment about countries staging the Olympic Games.

It is contained in a 32-page document that will be presented to all those who reach the qualifying standard and are chosen for the team.

From the moment they sign up, the competitors – likely to include the Queen's granddaughter Zara Phillips and world record holder Paula Radcliffe – will be effectively gagged from commenting on China's politics, human rights abuses or illegal occupation of Tibet.

But then again, this should be no shock. The current head of the British Olympic Association, Lord Colin Moynihan, violated the 1980 boycott of the Moscow Olympics to suck up to the Reds in Moscow. Of course he will act in a manner supportive of Communist dictatorship and oppression again in 2008 when given the chance.

No telling if British Olympians will be required to offer a salute to the dictators in Beijing like their predecessors were seven decades ago.

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I'll admit it -- back in college, I got hooked on a particular soap opera with a group of friend. You would find a group of about 30 of us getting our daily fix of General Hospital each afternoon -- something particularly amusing because i was at an all male college (the folks buying ads for "feminine protection" and feminine hygiene" products certainly didn't get their money's worth with us).

And so I was sad to catch this story while searching for Super Tuesday news.

Actress Shell Kepler, who for years played the gossipy nurse Amy Vining on the TV soap opera "General Hospital," has died. She was 49.

Kepler died Friday at Oregon Health & Science University hospital, which did not give the cause of death.

Kepler's busybody character on "General Hospital" was a fan favorite and enjoyed a long run, 1979-2002.

In addition to her run on "General Hospital," she was also in a 1982 Joan Collins film, "Homework," and a couple of episodes of the situation comedy "Three's Company."

On the side, she was a businesswoman, marketing clothing on the former Home Shopping Club. She said in a 1994 Associated Press interview that her "Lacy Afternoon" collection had sales topping $20 million that year alone.

Yeah, the show was a guilty pleasure from my youth -- and this death is one more sign of my youth passing by.

My condolences to her family and friends.

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On Saturday, Bobby Knight's Texas Tech Red Raiders won, giving the coach his 902nd coaching victory.

On Monday, Bobby Knight abruptly resigned from his position as head coach, leaving his son, Pat Knight, as head coach.

And shock waves roll through the sporting world.

Bob Knight, known as much for his fiery temper as his basketball brilliance, resigned Monday at Texas Tech, handing the team over to his son.

It was a stunning midseason move by the winningest menÂ’s coach in major college basketball, who gave no hint a change was coming. Pat Knight, a Red Raiders assistant, was appointed his fatherÂ’s successor in 2005.

“There’s a transition that’s going to take place here from me to Pat and I’ve dwelt on this all year long ... how it would be best for him and for the team and for what we can do in the long run to make this the best thing for Texas Tech,” Knight told the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, which first reported the resignation.

The 67-year-old Knight informed Texas Tech athletic director Gerald Myers of his decision in a meeting around noon Monday, Texas Tech chancellor Kent Hance told The Associated Press. Knight then called Hance and told him.

“He’s ready,” Pat Knight said during his weekly radio show. “He’s tired.”

Hance said: “I think Bob is through with coaching. I think he got to the point where it wasn’t fun for him.

“He thought about it Sunday all day and talked to his wife and decided ’This is something I want to do.”’

Knight told the news paper he informed the team before practice Monday.

What can I say -- he reached that milestone of being the winningest coach in college basketball history. He was ready to go, and had the transition team in place to make it happen smoothly. And rather than have the rest of the season, or all of next season, be "The Bobby Knight Farewell Tour", he walked away so that his players would be the focus, not their coach. There is something to be respected in that decision, as hard as it is for fans to accept.

Here's wishing Pat Knight and the young men of the Texas Tech Red Raiders basketball team the best of luck as they play out the season -- and hopefully have success in post-season play.

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OK -- I blogged about the Super Bowl last night and celebrated the Giant upset.

But what about the OTHER story -- the Super Bowl ads?

Many commercials that appeared during Super Bowl XLII took a satiric tack, spoofing movies, television shows, video clips, celebrity misbehavior and more. A typical though entertaining cast of characters — animals, babies, pop stars — all made their appearances, lending a lighthearted spirit to the annual festivities.

For the most part, it worked. The tone was a welcome contrast to the angry, off-putting tenor of too many spots in last year’s Super Bowl, which were filled with crude and cartoonish violence. Although some sponsors decided to play it straight — with decidedly mixed results — the pervasive atmosphere was one of good-natured humor, of a type that seemed to elevate the night’s proceedings.

There were some top notch ads., such as this one.

One spot-on satire Sunday came from the Audi division of Volkswagen of America, which drolly spoofed “The Godfather,” complete with a cast member, Alex Rocco, from the original. The spot, by Venables Bell & Partners, replaced the horse’s head in the mogul’s bed with — gasp! — a grille severed from the front end of a Brand X luxury sports car.

I really enjoyed that one, though my wife was a little less enthralled by it. Perhaps it is just the difference between men and women when it comes to "The Godfather".

But we both agreed on this ad, which elicited jokes between us all night AND set the standard for comparisons for the rest of the game.

Anheuser-Busch parodied another 1970s film, “Rocky,” with a Clydesdale as Sylvester Stallone and a Dalmatian in the Burgess Meredith role. The spot, among the best of the night, was created by DDB Worldwide, part of the Omnicom Group.

Set aside the fact that any commercial involving the Clydesdales will be an automatic favorite -- this one was clever and well-done. And on a night when much of America was rooting for the underdog, how on earth could this one miss with viewers, including those of us who do not drink?

But the one that stole our hearts as the game approached it end was from the NFL itself, and elicited few comments in the press.

Yeah, maybe it is the fact that we are there in section 541 every game, cheering for both Chester Pitts and Ephraim Salaam, and that Pitts is a particular fan favorite at Reliant Stadium. Or maybe it is that we Texans fans, buoyed by an 8-8 season, are dreaming that next year we will actually see these guys on the field as the Houston Texans play in their first Super Bowl. Then again, maybe it was just fun to see Chester Pitts playing the oboe(!) on national television.

Overall, I wasn't impressed with this year's crop of ads -- but I am thankful for these.

Posted by: Greg at 11:17 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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New York Giants: 17 New England Patriots: 14

My wife and I are big fans of the Manning brothers. Las year we saw Peyton Manning get the Super Bowl ring that their father Archie never did. Tonight we saw younger brother Eli Manning do the same. If ever there was a question about whether Eli Manning was a great quarterback in his own right, he settled that with an MVP performance tonight.

And in doing so, Eli Manning and the New York Giants pulled off what has to be the greatest upset in Super Bowl history, if not in the entire history of the NFL. They stopped the Patriots from achieving a perfect season in a year marred by a cheating scandal that has called into question their early victories, and even their previous Super Bowl victories.

And what a game it was.

The Giants had the perfect answer for the suddenly imperfect Patriots: a big, bad defense and an improbable comeback led by their own Mr. Cool quarterback, Eli Manning.

In one of football's biggest shockers, New York shattered New England's unbeaten season as Manning hit Plaxico Burress on a 13-yard fade with 35 seconds left in the Super Bowl. Sunday's 17-14 win was the Giants' 11th straight on the road, and the first time the Patriots tasted defeat in more than a year.

It was the most bitter of losses, too, because New England (18-1) was one play from winning, but its defense couldn't stop a 12-play, 83-yard drive that featured a spectacular leaping catch by David Tyree, who scored New York's first touchdown.

Tom Brady, the league's Most Valuable Player and winner of his first three Super Bowls, was battered all game. He was sacked five times, hurried a dozen more, and at one point wound up on his knees, his hands on his hips following one of many poor throws.

Hardly a familiar position for the record-setting quarterback. And a totally strange outcome for a team that seemed destined for historic glory.

Oddly, it was a loss to the Patriots that sparked New York's stunning run to its third Super Bowl and sixth NFL title. New England won 38-35 in Week 17 as the Patriots became the first team since the 1972 Miami Dolphins to go spotless through the regular season. But by playing hard in a meaningless game for them, the Giants gained something of a swagger.

Their growing confidence carried them through playoff victories at Tampa, Dallas and Green Bay, and then past the mightiest opponent of all.

And i can't help but comment upon the behavior of Bill Belichick in leaving the field before the final snap and in not offering his congratulations to the Giants in his post-game interview. Quality and class clearly won tonight.

Posted by: Greg at 03:35 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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You mean it took a judge to figure this out?

The father of Britney Spears was named her temporary conservator Friday, putting him in control of her welfare a day after she was whisked to a hospital for a psychiatric evaluation.

While James Spears was named conservator of the troubled pop star herself, he and an attorney, Andrew Wallete, were name conservators of her estate. The singer's mother, Lynne Spears, also showed up for the unannounced hearing in Superior Court.

The court also issued a restraining order against Britney Spears' sometimes manager and friend, Sam Lutfi, and gave permission to change the locks on her estate and remove anyone who is there.

A court creates conservatorships when a person cannot care for themselves or handle their affairs. Commissioner Reva Goetz said Spears would be under conservatorship until Feb. 4, at which time another hearing will be held.

I'm not gloating. Really, I'm not.

It is just that this sad young woman has made such a spectacle of herself in recent weeks, including an armed standoff with the cops, that this outcome is long overdue.

She needs significantly more help than she is going to get in three days.

And frankly, i am saddened by the whole situation -- and the fact it has taken so long to help this girl.

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