Weekend Thread

Dial up is a pain, so I might just have to only update this in the mornings that I have class from the library.

My brother just asked for the Gordy video. How strange. He's been busy all week planning this summer's vacation consisting of U.S. Cellular Field, Miller Park, and Second City. Before those two, Great American Ballpark. Later, there's Busch Stadium.

Maybe one of the reasons I am in the entertainment field is to help bring back the quality of television. Maybe that's why all us guys watch sports. Most of the other stuff like reality tv is crap.

Consider American Dreams. It is a great show with a talented cast and it should be renewed.

American Dreams is a critically acclaimed show about coming of age in the 1960s. It airs on NBC, or rather aired. In recent weeks many readers have contacted me to express their hope that A.D. will be renewed for a fourth season.

They have heard the rumors of the show's imminent demise (true, unfortunately), and they cannot understand why there is no place on the NBC schedule for this wholesome, imaginative program.

It is true that ratings for American Dreams are less than swell. The show averaged fewer than 8 million viewers a week on Sundays, and those numbers dropped after it was moved to Wednesdays. But those ratings were better than for another A.D. — Fox's Arrested Development, which was averaging not quite 6 million viewers on Sundays.

And yet, American Dreams is dead, dead, dead in the water while Arrested Development, the winner of last year's Emmy Award for outstanding comedy program, actually has a slim chance of being renewed for a third season.

This is where being on the right network may make all the difference.

Just a year ago NBC was the top-rated network among adults ages 18 to 49 — the group Madison Avenue wants watching their ads and will pay handsomely to reach. This year NBC will finish fourth in that demographic, an unprecedented slide for a network.

As a result, NBC is in no position to hang onto "underperformers" like American Dreams. Executives there are looking for new shows that will give the network a rocket boost, much like the one last year's fourth-place network, ABC, experienced by hitching its wagon to “Desperate Housewives” and Lost. At NBC, a show like American Dreams is a liability, not an asset.

Why NBC, why? Even SNL wasn't canned in the dreaded 1980-81 season. Don't ever air a comedy without a laugh track. It doesn't work. Heck, read about the campaign yet?

Meanwhile, American Dreams, a family drama set in Philadelphia during the 1960s, was canceled despite viewer protests that reportedly inundated the network with letters, postcards and e-mails. There seemed to be some hope that the grassroots campaign might actually work when the network asked the production company not to tear down the sets, but you can bet they are being dismantled by now.

I've never advocated so hard for a television show in my entire life.

Scott Rolen is out for a few weeks while Jason Isringhausen is back from the disabled list.

Johnny Damon has hit safely in 18 games now.

I don't know when tomorrow's update will be. I'll play it by ear.