Friday, February 09, 2007

Oh, what might have been.

Here, read this. This is from IMDb's Studio Briefing for February 7, 2007. I'll be back at the bottom.


Newly Counted College Kids Give Some Shows Big Boost

Analysts pointed out that several shows last week got a boost as a result of college-age viewers being included in the Nielsen survey for the first time. As Washington Post TV writer Lisa De Moraes observed, "Previously, they got in on the Nielsen action only when they went home to do laundry at holidays." ABC's Grey's Anatomy, Ugly Betty, and What About Brian; NBC's Scrubs and The Office; Fox's Til Death; and CW's Gilmore Girls all saw huge leaps of 50 percent or more in their ratings for 18-49-year-olds. Scrubs, in fact, saw its ratings in that demo double.


Hey, me again.

WHAT!?!?!?!? You just started counting? Can we look at the statistics? One in particular. Scrubs doubled. DOUBLED!!! This from a show that I think has nearly been on the chopping block several times. You think they might reconsider now?

But what pisses me off most about this is the shows that we've lost that we didn't have to lose. The first one that came to mind for me was Arrested Development. You know kids on college campuses were watching that. The other show I thought of was Ed. Now I never watched Ed, but it seems like What About Brian perhaps inherited those viewers. In a conversation I had about this last night, Firefly came up.

I don't know. What do you think? What shows have we lost that we needn't have?

Saturday, February 03, 2007

Creed

I got into one of those huge discussions about two weeks ago that's stuck with me. It was the kind of conversation that happens late at night, with or without alcohol. (This one with.) It was about the Bible and sexuality. (I told you it was huge.)

The conversation went all over the place, but at the end, it was me (this is ridiculous!) with a Bible in hand defending why I don't believe in having premarital sex. I should probably say that of the four people involved in this conversation, I was the only one to hold this belief.

I woke up the next morning and didn't feel good (part of it being the bottle of wine I consumed) because the discussion had essentially defined a Christianity that I don't believe in. That Chrisitianity was simply what you can and can't do. Because that's not what Christianity is to me. It's not why I believe.

I didn't become a Christian because I don't believe in premarital sex. Heck, I've had premarital sex in the past. And there it is. That's why I believe. Did you catch it? I did something I don't believe in.

I want to be a better person. But I'm not. I constantly foil myself in big and small ways. So when Jesus says, "I have come that they might have life, and have it to the full," (John 10:10) I have to stand up and say, "Yes. I want that." Because I need something outside of me. Something bigger than me, because I sure as hell can't do it on my own.

One of my favorite singers, Steve Taylor, wrote a song called, "Jesus is for Losers." I'd have to say that's about right.

Thursday, February 01, 2007

Stuff I didn't know I knew

"The tickets are for row Q."

My girlfriend is looking at tickets for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? with Kathleen Turner. I'm trying to help us get good seats.

"What is that," I say, "17 rows back?"

My girlfriend counts. "Yeah. 17."

HOW DID I KNOW THAT? That's amazing, right? I'm amazing.

And we got seats. Not those. We're in the balcony, but closer to the center.