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Pathetic Plots Propel TV's
New Fall Season
Okay,
trivia time!
What do all the following cliches and
slogans have in common:
"The night is young"; "We've got the
touch"; "It's happening"; " Best On the Box"; "Start Here"; and "Free To
Be..."
Each and every one of them has been used in the past to
promote a TV network's fall primetime lineup of programs: (Respectively, the
WB; CBS; CTV (1966) CBS (1980's); ABC and The CW. This fall there isn't as
many of 'em as there used to be (some, like ABC's We're Still the One and
CTV's "Canada's Watching" were used repeatedly). But the dreck
they're
pushing on the three Canadian broadcast and seven US broadcast networks
needs all the hype they're getting. This fall, there aren't as many new
shows as usual (thank you striking writers), and Hollywood is only now
playing catch up, and chances are excellent that
most newcomers will bit the dust by May '09. Nevertheless, the plots and
premises are for the most part pathetic and one of TV's two newest players (CW
and Network TV) may also be gone like the WB and UPN.
The lineup is hopeless.
Then again, that's what I said in April 1987, when Fox
started. Hold your noses, we're going in....
FRINGE (Fox, A Channel)
Here's a show where you can choose which side you think is
cooler: A team of FBI agents who enter X-Files/conspiracy
territory after a plane disaster trying to find the culprit, or the mad
scientists secretly involved with the military in human guinea pig
experimentation. No heroes here to cheer for really, just flip guys, nut
cases and sultry gals packing guns and throwing people around.
THE ELEVENTH HOUR (CBS)
A bit along the lines of Fringe,
this new drama focuses on FBI agents (geez, aren't they hunting for
terrorists and militia guys anymore?) who investigate crime-related science.
TV it seems has done the CSI/procedural drama genre to death, so it's back
to fantasy land.
KNIGHT RIDER (NBC, E! Canada)
Just as the hero of this show's 1980's ancestor did, a hunky
guy teams up with the smart-assed computerized supercar KITT (voiced now by
Val Kilmer; guess the royalty checks for Batman Forever
stopped coming) to fight megalomaniacs, "terrorists," neo-Nazis, all the
stuff "ZOG" hates.
CRUSOE (CW, City)
Stephen Greenberg is one of the producers
behind this US/UK/South African joint effort, based very loosely on the
classic novel of survival. Friday will be there, but the new politically
correct version won't be likely talking in Tonto-style broken English. Just
hope he isn't dressed like Jay-Z.
90210 (CW, Global)
Aaron Spelling, who created the original
version of this teen soap that saved Fox from extinction in the 90's, won't
be around to collect any dough from this new re-hash of race-mixing and
promiscuity where the kids are always hip and the adults are (as usual on
TV) clueless. At least his bratty kid Tori won't be making any
appearances....
THE MENTALIST (CBS)
Ever been burned by a phony psychic? CBS
has taken the premise of Psych and added The Guardian
(Simon Baker) as a phony mental expert who catches crooks by his 'powers of
observation' — you know, how pickpockets look for marks at airports. A
crook catching crooks: did I just hear in my head the theme from
Mod Squad?
OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS (ABC)
Ashton Kutcher (That 70's
Show, Punk'd) is producer of this reality/game show where the
crew busts into your home a la Publishers Clearing House and offers your
family swell prizes if you know enough about your clan and and your
neighbors.
STYLISTA (CW, City TV)
If you're worried about your daughters
wanting to dress and be made up like hookers like on Top Model,
keep them away from this show produced by Eli Holzman and Top
Model's Tyra Banks. First prize on this
better-hairdresser/stylist competition show is a job at Elle Magazine. I can
hardly wait for the Bonus Round Name That Show-Tune...
LIFE ON MARS (ABC, Global)
Remember the loose-living, women’s' lib-lovin,' anything-goes
(and went) 1970's? Taking a page from Quantum Leap,
this one has a modern-day cop who finds himself solving crime in that
god-awful era. Josh Applebaum and Scott Rosenberg front this new Thursday
night entry.
KATH & KIM (NBC, Global)
Adapted from an Australian sitcom, this series was
greenlighted by Ben Silverman, who not only runs NBC's programming, but also
under his
Reveille Productions brought to TV The Office. Here, a mom and her
daughter are a slightly crazier version of the Gilmore Girls (thankfully
gone).
As for local fare, there's CTV's So You Think
You Can Dance Canada (enough dance
shows already!!!), Corner Gas' final season
(YAAAY!), CBC's
third year of Little
Mosque on the Prairie (how come a Human Rights Commission
hasn't shut down this anti-Muslim hate show?); and let's not forget those
funny black folk in the second year of Global TV's Da Kink In
My Hair, and CBC's capitalism-is-good-themed game show
Dragons' Den.
____________________________________________________________________________
And, if
this isn't enough to turn your tummy, there's always mid-season, (Fox's
Dollhouse,
about mannequin/human spies,
and
Family Guy
spin-off
The
Cleveland Show)
or when the first of the newbies tanks in the ratings so badly that they get
replaced in a matter of weeks. At least we might just spend a little more
time online together.
Hey, I hear Hockey Night In Canada is getting a new theme song.
Career Councilor Cronyism
Somewhere in
literature or in some old B movie there's the cliché that there is nothing
that brings out a city's character than a crisis. In Toronto, that's
especially true. Our former mayor Mel Lastman showed one and all how we do
things here in the Big Smoke when he made his famous remarks about
cannibalism, not to mention his ignorance about the UN's World Health
Organization during the SARS crisis a few years back. Our current
burgermeister David Miller and the pack of Leftist chair-moisteners
known as our City Councilors haven't fared much better, especially in the
recent propane explosion disaster that left at least two people dead and
devastated quite a few lives. Their concern for the well-being of their
constituents is as sincere as a busted con artist trying to convince a judge
that he doesn't belong in jail. Some of these power-tripping Neanderthals
could use a humility lesson and a reality check. Oh yes, and a time limit
for their severance.
Understandably, the fact that a propane factory was allowed to do business
in a residential area with nobody saying boo, has now raised a lot of
hackles. York Centre Councilor Maria Augimeri lost it when pressed by a
ratepayers association about the fiasco; this servant of the people told a
ratepayers association president Tony Di Santo to "shut up" in front of the
media (a class act all the way, Maria). I'll just quickly skip over
reminding all of you on City Council that you were elected to work
for us, not the other way around, and get to the meat. She has
since apologized.
Years ago, during the Mike Harris Provincial Tory regime, the responsibility
of inspections was handed over to industry. It's always a great idea to have
industry police itself (ha, ha), especially when it's involved in such
things as the management and storage of things like propane gas. The company
at the center of this, Sunrise Propane, has only trotted out its lawyer. We
haven't seen anyone on its board or its management say a damned thing: proof
enough that industry shouldn't police itself without the consent of, and
input from, the citizenry.
And there is a little matter that must be addressed as to what amount of
money (if any) was contributed to the McGuinty campaign. It's just too
suspicious that any firm could be allowed to build and maintain a facility
where dangerous material was kept, and without any sufficient supervision,
safety monitoring, or decisive action taken when numerous safety violations
were found.
I think that there should be a two-term limit for sitting Toronto
councilors. Not only is it sufficient time for them to do the job, but it
just might prevent a lot of them from becoming the kind of
politically-correct, self-congratulating, petty little mini-kings and queens
running their own little fiefdoms (when they're not off jet-setting), trying
to avoid doing a lick of work serving their constituents, and developing
too-cozy relations with the wrong people. While they're whooping it up on
our dime now, businesses are crashing. and it's hard to wait for customers
and for the City to clean up the mess after the devastation. The latest from
the angry citizens of North York is that they want the blast site to be
turned into a park.
Our illustrious Mayor Miller (who was MIA during and just after the crisis,
and absent from the funeral for the firefighter who died (his nibs not
wanting his fun-time interrupted), has praised police and firefighters for
doing their jobs. Hey, don't we expect them, just by the nature of their
work, to go into harm's way to protect us anyway (heaven knows they're
getting well paid for it)? Councilor Rob Ford believes that we should pay
police whatever they want. Come on! if you want to work as a cop or a
firefighter, you surely are smart enough to know that both professions are
dangerous; there are rumblings of late that police salary demands are about
to trigger a rise (again) in 2009's property taxes. Talk about to serve and
protect.
Right now, there is still an effort to find the exact cause of the death
from the explosion, and the specter of the spread of asbestos contamination
has reared its head. Noticeably, the area didn't see a long presence of
workers, scientists and health workers in HAZMAT suits trying to find the
extent of the damage caused by the asbestos. People who like to grow their
own food, like our city's Italian community, will have to take their chances
at the grocery store or supermarket-- and we all know how safe food is these
days, don't we?
There doesn't seem to be a lot of concern from City Hall or Metro Hall for
those whose homes and lives were ruined by the propane explosion, and are
now despairing, not knowing what's next. There is infrastructure that will
have to be repaired on Bloor Street West (that may take up to two years). I
haven't heard any calls for official inquiries, or an accounting being
called for Sunrise, which was allowed to set up shop in a residential area,
aside from the fact that so far there has been no violation of zoning laws.
Yet, this firm, according to the August 15 Globe and Mail, has been
found in violation of safety codes since 2005, as revealed by safety records
of the Province's Technical Standards and Safety Authority (comment, Dalton
McGuinty?).
Just imagine if you or a loved one were affected by that explosion. Wouldn't
you be clamoring from everyone from the federal government to Premier Dalton
McGuinty to look into this with an eye to preventing a greater tragedy from
happening? Thank God, there weren't a lot more killed, but the future looks
ominous for us all if we don't take a serious look at this. If we're going
to have people just sitting on their haunches in comfy chairs once they are
elected to serve us, at least let's make sure that we can have a chance to
pry them out at the ballot box after two terms. Serving a great city like
Toronto should be a honor, and public servants should be proud, and also
balance that pride with recognizing that being given the public trust is a
sacred privilege. We've had enough Leftist ideologues, politically correct
"sleazoids" and people even too dumb and incompetent for The Gong
Show being allowed to direct Toronto's destiny. Do two terms, then it's
back to the law office, or whatever you're involved in.
And, let's put industry away from cities and residential areas. That's just
common sense.
And please, Mayor Miller, Councilors, let's get to the bottom of why a part
of the GTA went up in flames, and take steps to prevent it from happening
again, only worse. Stop the double-talk and pandering and lame excuses. We
need answers, not excuses and apologies. Stop burying us in legalese and red
tape.
Finally, we need to take a hard look at the relations between companies who
endanger us like Sunrise and the civil servants whose job is to decide if
and where they do business in the GTA and to monitor their safety--or lack
of it, and to pull the plug on any company whose neglect poses a danger to
the public and sniff out and punish any civil servant who looked the other
way, whether or not they were paid to.
Preferably before the fire next time takes more than two lives and
a lot of homes.
Multicultists Come
Home To Roost
One of the side issues that you don't
see covered a lot in the hoopla over the Beijing Olympics is the billions of
dollars poured into the presentation of the games: everything from the
buildings of the venues to the security (nice job so far, guys) and that
funny little runner/fake Chinese character that serves as the Games' symbol.
Mucho dinero has been forked out to give the Olympics China's best
spin in light of its human rights/public relations problems and the houses
and land razed to build the facilities, among other problems. Toronto, and
Canada as well, are having a PR dilemma of our own when it comes to the
spike in horrendous and violent crime committed by non-whites.
Thanks to the federal policies of multiculturalism that dumped wave after
wave of non-white immigrants for close to forty years on Canada (and
especially, on this town) and the total willingness of this City to tolerate
the mayhem and crime too many of them are responsible for, we're finally —
even if it's just a little — starting to acknowledge the folly of that
idiotic municipal slogan Diversity is Our Strength. And, as the
shock and horror that happened on that Greyhound bus in Manitoba is only now
starting to deaden, its circumstances will have a lasting effect from coast
to coast. That, coupled with the recent unrest on the streets of Montreal in
mid-August, will now having even some liberals and libertines having to
admit that we have a race problem in this nation. Let's face it, a lot of
Canadians will not be looking at Asian Canadians the same way after the
murder of Tim McLean.
Over the decades a number of high-profile non-white crime cases and criminal
activity have touched this city: the killing of Barry Cobby by Paul Smithers
in the 1970s, the Boxing Day 2006 murder of Jane Creba, the no-go areas that
rose in Toronto such as St. James Town and Regent Park to name a few, the
areas of this city that even the police charged with keeping safe fear to
enter. By tolerating it and by electing time and time and time again nothing
but gutless cowards afraid to name the problem and doing something about it
— aside from midnight basketball.
Locally, the old policy of censoring out the ethnic/racial descriptions of
non-white suspects and arrested individuals by the police and media is
starting to crumble. Even the Toronto Star, which once had a policy
virtually written in stone to leave out racial descriptions of criminals and
suspects, finds it getting more and more impossible not to refrain from
covering the racial aspects of Toronto's violent crime, and photos of
non-white suspects are starting to appear in their crime reports.
The multicultists — those who supported open immigration and the
observance of special rights and programs from English as a Second Language
to City documents and forms printed at taxpayer expense in Chinese, Korean,
Hindi, etc. — are coming home to roost, as the resurgence of
high-profile violence by non-whites in Canada is laying bare the lie that
their brand of diversity works.
We've got a spiking crime epidemic no
one give a hoot about, except to score political points or to embarrass us
with useless and stupid "Let's Ban Guns" petitions and drives. Two main
areas need focus: the scrapping of the Youth Justice Act, including the
provisions forbidding identification of so-called young offenders. Let's see
the faces and read the names of these predators. And let's punish them like
adults when the violence and gravity of the crime is equal to that committed
by adults. They're not hard done by or misunderstood; they're criminals;
let's give these punks and monsters hard time, not a youth advocate, a press
conference and book deal.
Not all our crime trouble is imported or from the grandsons of those we
brought here. Aboriginal peoples in cities large and small have contributed
to violent crime, and not just the anarchy in Caledonia that continues to
fester unstopped. It's disgraceful we allow it to continue, let alone
allowed it to take place at all. Let's get our troops out of foreign wars
that are none of our business and send them to checkpoints and to restore
and keep the peace here, in Caledonia for starters.
For all the tragedy and mayhem of the murder of Tim McLean and the Montreal
riots, there is one tiny bright spot: the potential that we finally will see
the dangers from the strangers placed among us, and that enough of us will
have the courage to speak up and spoil the media/politicians/police troika
of deceit and censorship over a problem that is as much a threat to out well
being as a society as pollution.
It's time we faced up to some truths that only cowardly libertines deny —
that race is a factor in this city's and this nation's growing crime crisis.
We have a bad habit of allowing our rage to dissipate top quickly after
hearing about murders such as Tim McLean's or Jane Creba's. We're angry, and
in a week, it's gone. We don't remember the outrages for a long time, or at
least until the next atrocity. That's a real indictment of us all, and one
that should stir us to think hard (we've thought long enough) about how
multiculturalism has failed and how it continues to endanger Canada and
Canadians.
How much longer?
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