Hey! Welcome Back! How Was Your Summer?

Sooooo .... just like my buddy Calvin here, I lost track of time over the summer. My "summer break" from the blog accidentally lasted longer than I expected. I'm going to blame the weather. It's tough to recognize that summer is over in Cleveland when it's sunny and 70 like it was this past weekend.

So now that I've been gone long enough to have lost my entire audience, I am back from the dead! I have a laundry list of topics to talk about, and sorry Simpsons fans, it will probably not involve anything in Springfield. I never intended this blog to become a Simpsons fan site. I was simply posting random facts on days that I didn't have time to write anything substantial. A few dozen posts later, and I'm receiving 800 hits a day from Scotland so 2 arguing towns can determine who can claim to be the birthplace of Groundskeeper Willie. I like the Simpsons as much as the next guy, but that was never the audience I intended to attract. So I'm going to tone the Simpsons posts down a little.

There is a lot of other cool stuff I want to share with you this week though, including the best music of 2009 debate, adventures in product placement, and Christmas Ale. In the meantime, play around with "Let Them Sing it For You." It's a fun way to send a message by stitching together random song lyrics. It's like sending a musical ransom note, instead of spending all that valuable time cutting out magazine letters. Feel free to e-mail me one @ johndaviddrake@gmail.com. Stay tuned.

P.S. How did you spend your summer vacation?

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Simpsons Fun Facts: Mr. Teeny

Courtesy of The Simpsons 2009 Laugh-a-Day 365-Day Box Calendar:

• Krusty's chimp companion was dishonorably discharged from the space program.
• Secret ambition is to one day have his own talk show.
• His special skills include tying his own bow tie and driving a stick shift.
• Favorite foods are chocolate ice cream, head lice, and nicotine gum
• Named "Smoking Chimp of the Year" by the National Tobacco Board.

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The Wally Szczerbiak Cheesesteak

You can stop looking for that perfect food to eat while you watch the Cavs dominate in the playoffs, I've found it for you: The Wally Szcerbiak Cheesesteak.

Why Wally (I'm going to keep calling him Wally, because I don't feel like typing Szcerbiak over and over)? Wally and this sandwich have a lot in common. Like Wally, at first glimpse you may think, "Oh, that doesn't sound very good at all. Why would I waste my time with that?" Like Wally, the ingredients are simple and unassuming; able to be enjoyed by young and old alike. And like Wally, it will surprise you. Tasting the Wally Szcerbiak Cheesesteak for the first time is a lot like this:



It's a lot like that ... only for your tastebuds. Have I hyped the Wally Szcerbiak Cheesesteak enough? Full disclosure, I did not create this recipe. Credit must be given to 10-year-old Jordyn Boyer who won the Jif Peanut Butter Cooking Contest. In layman's terms, The Wally Sczerbiak Cheesesteak can be known as the Po' Boy Peanut Butter Chicken Cheesesteak. The only thing I have altered from young Jordyn's recipe is hot sauce and the name.

Seriously, it's easy to make, delicious, and the closest thing to actually eating Wally Szczerbiak. Try it when watching the Cavs tear into Orlando/Boston. If you don't try it, the Cavs will lose, and you don't want that on your conscience the rest of your life.


THE WALLY SZCZERBIAK CHEESESTEAK

Chicken Mixture:

• 2 T olive oil
• 1 small onion
• 1/2 red pepper
• 1/2 yellow pepper
• 1/2 apple (red or green)
• 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese shredded
• 4 chicken breast slices (1 large chicken breast sliced in long strips)
• hoagie/sub roll

Sauce Mixture

• 3 T creamy peanut butter
• 1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tsp honey
• 1 tsp. honey mustard
• 1/2 cup water
• hot sauce to taste

Cut peppers into strips, cut onions into rings, slice apples in strips. Place them in a skillet with olive oil and cook on medium heat until soft. Cook chicken breast and add to the pepper-onion-apple mixture in the skillet and cook for a few min.

For the sauce, In a sauce pan or small skillet on medium heat, add peanut butter, Worcestershire sauce, honey mustard, honey, and water. Cook and stir until creamy and soft. Add hot sauce to taste.

Place chicken-onion-pepper-apple mixture in a toasted hoagie roll. Top with peanut butter sauce and mozzarella cheese.

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NBC's New Fall Shows: (Mostly) More of the Same - Now With Video Clips

Network Upfront week is almost here! Have you been a good boy/girl this television season? Did you write a letter to your favorite network head asking them for a sleigh full of good shows? If not, you only have 2 more weeks.

Every May, once the regular television season is over, the TV networks hold what is known as Upfronts. Basically, they announce which of their programs will be on next year, which will be cancelled, and spend some time introducing the new shows they plan on rolling out in the fall(ish). Each of the major networks gets their own news cycle to bring out their (current and soon to be) stars to spin and promote the new fall schedule.

The main audience for the Upfront is not the public, but advertisers. The presentations are done so that sponsors can see what the network has planned, and decide whether or not to purchase ad time (or product placement spots) "upfront." These used to be big, lavish affairs meant to wine and dine, but since the strike last year, recession this year, and the general state the TV business is in right now, the Upfronts have become more like a glorified press conference.

The major networks don't hold their Upfronts until the week of May 18, but today NBC got a leg up on the competition by holding what they stupidly call an "Infront" presentation. During this presentation NBC announced what new shows (pilots) they decided to pick up for the 09-10 TV season. They have yet to announce time slots, release their full schedule or announce what existing shows will be picked up or cancelled; that will be done in 2 weeks.

4 new dramas and 2 new comedies were picked up by the network. 2 look like they have potential, 3 look like nothing special, and 1 I have no idea about. None of the new shows NBC premiered last fall are on the air anymore, so they can only go up from here. After the jump, take a look at video clips of each show (with descriptions). Which look good to you?


Community
To me, this comedy looks like the best of the group. It would fit in well with NBC's Thursday night comedy schedule. It stars Joel McHale (from E!'s "The Soup"), Chevy Chase, and others as a diverse group of adults attending a community college who form a study group and "end up learning a lot more about themselves than they do about their course work." It's from two of the better writers of "Arrested Development"




Parenthood
Remember that hit 1989 Steve Martin movie "Parenthood?" Remember the 1990 bomb of a sitcom based on the movie "Parenthood?" (Probably not, it only lasted an episode or two.) Well nearly 20 years later NBC is trying again with the more dramatic version of "Parenthood" - with comedic undertones. It stars nearly every single television actor from the past 15 years; I'm not going to name them all. It's from super producers Ron Howard & Brian Grazer, developed by "Friday Night Lights" exec. producer Jason Katims. To me, it looks like ABC's "Brothers & Sisters" with more kids and maybe a little less angst. It's the other show I think might have some potential.



Trauma & Mercy

Those are the names of 2 new medical dramas. "Trauma" is a more action-intense drama about first responding paramedics. "Mercy" is a more emotional, character driven drama focusing on a group of nurses at a particular hospital. Neither of them look like they are reinventing the wheel. Basically it looks like NBC decided to cancel "ER," a medical drama with both emotional, character driven elements and intense action life-saving elements, and in its place create 2 new shows to cover each of those elements.





100 Questions
While "Trauma" and "Mercy" are a throw back to NBC's "ER" heydays in the '90s, "100 Days" is yet another attempt to clone the success of "Friends," while also being a second rate knock off of CBS' excellent "How I Met Your Mother." It's a romantic comedy sitcom about a girl who just can't seem to find Mr. Right. She goes to a dating service, and they ask her a survey of 100 questions about her life/personality/relationships. With each question, comes an episode-long flashback at her life, her crazy friends, and all the life lessons they learned while facing adulthood in NYC. I think I've seen it before. NO THANKS!



Day One

There is no footage available for this post-apocalyptic drama. The series tells the story of a group of survivors' life on earth following a global catastrophe that has devastated the world's infrastructures. Sounds pretty bleak. It may appeal to the niche "Lost," "Jericho," "BSG," sci-fi crowd, but too dark to appeal to a mass audience. I'll have to hold off judgement for now.

That's all there is until the Upfronts in 2 weeks. There would be more shows, but NBC's decision to move Jay Leno to the 10pm time slot Monday through Friday eliminated 5 hours of potential scripted shows (as well as numerous jobs working on those shows).

So which of these shows do you want to see more of? Which of them did you want to turn off before the 4 minute clip was over?

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JD Recommends: Peabody Award Winners

The Peabody Awards are given out each year to what is deemed the best in electronic media as chosen by the Peabody board, a conglomerate of smart, educated, distinguished media folk.

Well I guess my ballot got lost in the mail. No one asked my opinion on squat.

To make up for it, here is a quick rundown of some Peabody Award winners that I also give a thumbs up to. There are 36 winners this year. I'm not going to touch on them all, as we all know about the Opening Ceremonies, the presidential election coverage, and "SNL's" political sketches. I'm going to quickly mention a few lesser known that I think you should check out. There is a lot on this list of winners that I am not familiar with, so if you have a recommendation, I'd love to hear it:

This American Life: The Giant Pool of Money

This episode of the "This American Life" radio program from May of 2008 deals with the housing and financial crisis. Normally this topic is not something I want to listen to for an hour, but this kept my attention because it was the first news program that explained everything that was happening in a way that made sense and provided clarity. It helped me better understand exactly how we ended up in this mess. I highly recommend you give it a listen. The episode was a collaborative effort of "This American Life" and NPR News. It was so successful, that it spawned a follow up program last fall, and a daily NPR program, Planet Money, dedicated to covering all things financial crisis in a user-friendly way.

John Adams

All the awards and accolades that this HBO miniseries has received over the past year are well deserved. I'm normally not a fan of historical period pieces, and I watched this whole thing over a weekend last summer. It's a 7-part miniseries with each episode ranging from 60-90 min. Not all of the episodes are winners, particularly in the middle, but the boring parts are few and far between. The DVD of the series is available pretty much everywhere you would care to look.

Breaking Bad

This is AMC's second original scripted drama ("Mad Men" being the first), and I dare say it is the better of the two. I'm new to the show; I just started watching a few weeks ago. It premiered to critical fanfare last winter with an abbreviated 7 episode first season (thanks to the WGA strike), and went on to win an Emmy for lead actor Bryan Cranston (the dad Hal from "Malcolm in the Middle"; Tim Whatly the dentist from "Seinfeld"). Created by a former writer/producer of "The X-Files," "Breaking Bad" is about a chemistry teacher named Walt who finds out he has terminal cancer. In order to secure the financial future of his pregnant wife and teenage son, mild mannered Walt teams up with a drop out former student of his, Jesse, to make and sell crystal meth. Being a skilled chemist, Walt is REALLY good at cooking meth. They make a lot of money, and then get in over their heads.

I know, it sounds weird, and it is. It's also funny, suspenseful, creepy, emotional, quiet, sometimes tough to watch, and addicting. I could go on and on, but it's better just to see for yourself. It's not a show for everybody; if you don't like the first 3 episodes, you won't like the rest. The first season is available on DVD now, and the second season is currently airing on AMC on Sunday nights. Usually towards the end of the season's run, AMC will run a marathon of all the episodes allowing viewers to catch up. If I remember, I'll try to find out when that is.

36 Years in Solitary: Murder, Death and Justice on Angola

This is one of those NPR stories that you end up listening to while sitting in your driveway, because you don't want to get out of your car until the story is over. Told in three 10 minute segments, reporter Laura Sullivan tells the tale of two Louisiana prison farm inmates who have been kept in solitary confinement for more than three decades for a murder that people are just now realizing, maybe they didn't commit. There is more to it than that, but I don't want to give away too much. Without leaning one way or another, the story does a good job of laying out the facts of the case and interviewing as many people involved as they can.

You can listen to part 1 here. Links to parts 2 and 3 can be found below the pictures in the left hand column of the story.

Lost

OK, I'm cheating here a little bit. ABC's "Lost" is not exactly a lesser known pick. But seriously, if you haven't started watching it yet, what are you waiting for? It really is as good as everyone who obsesses over it says it is. And now it's Peabody Award winning (and JD Recommended). Next season (#6) will be its last. Start watching the DVDs now. You will easily finish seasons 1-4 before season 5 is released on DVD in December. Then, you will be all caught up for the final season when it starts in late January of 2010. Get to it!

The Onion News Network

For years The Onion has been known to produce some of the best news, media, and political satire around in the form of "newspaper journalism." Now they've expanded into video. This has provided The Onion with a whole new genre to satirize, and they do it well. All forms of television "news" are covered, including morning talk shows, CNN Headline News, ESPN, "Crossfire"-like arguelism, CSPAN, financial news, and more. Each week three or four short news stories are released on their website (or can be downloaded as a podcast through iTunes). As is the case with The Onion, the content is not always suitable for work. Their latest clip, which I've included below, is clean. It's a segment of the ONN morning show "Today Now!":

Autoworkers Compete to Keep Jobs, Livelihoods on New Reality Show

That's all I got. That should be enough to keep you busy. Do you have any recommendations you'd like to share (Peabody winning or not)?

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'Kings' gets pulled from Saturdays ... Until June

Did you remember to DVR 'Kings' last Saturday night? It was the first night of its triumphant return on a new night.

You didn't remember? Or care to? Well neither did most of the world.

After TANKING in the ratings, even by Saturday night standards, NBC has decided to pull the remaining episodes from the air until the end of the regular television season. The remaining episodes will air Saturdays at 8 p.m. from June 13-July 25; at least that's what's being said now. That news could change by June 16.

Make a note of it, all 7 people still watching the show. (Seriously, is anyone still watching 'Kings?' I am, but I may be the only one.) Read more!

Simpsons Fun Facts: Groundskeeper Willie

Courtesy of The Simpsons 2009 Laugh-a-Day 365-Day Box Calendar:

• He was conceived, born, and educated on a pool table in a tavern near Loch Ness.


• Failed at the culinary venture of selling Chef Willie's Haggis Helper


• Future plans are to build a security bog around his prize-winning heather, catch a leprechaun, and marry his tractor.

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