- Perhaps it’s time for CNN to devote more air time to Richard Quest, who currently stars in CNN Business Traveller and Quest on the cable news giant. Clearly the network is not tapping the full potential of this man, not when he’s busted for violating the 1 a.m. curfew in Central Park and found to have a bag full of meth when he’s found to be violating that curfew. Quest was picked up around 3:45 a.m. in my favorite spot in Manhattan and when police searched him following that arrest, they found his meth supply in a jacket pocket. That act earned him two misdemeanor charges but no prison time, assuming he stays out of trouble and completes a six-month drug treatment program. Wait, what about the treatment program for park lurking after 1 a.m.? But I digress….I really think CNN needs to exploit this chance to expand its viewer base and score with demographic groups it typically doesn’t do well with. Promote that you have a confirmed tweaker on your network and give Quest ample airtime and support to talk about his love of meth, CNN. You can pick up all those stoners, meth heads and druggies who are getting baked, high or peaking on LSD while they’re laying on their couch in a daze, staring at the ceiling and munching on a combo platter of Funjuns, Doritos and Cheetos. Don’t be ashamed of this, don’t try to sweep it under the rug and look at it as a positive, CNN. Meth heads deserve to have their voice heard on your network just like everyone else, dammit….maybe it’s time for I’m a Meth-head and Here’s How You Can Be One Too on CNN, y’know, to open the network up to a wider audience. I have a sneaking suspicion that not very many stoners, meth heads, tweakers, crack addicts and heroin junkies are tuning in to CNN right now, but that could all change if the network figures out how to utilize Richard Quest and his considerable talents. Make it happen, CNN execs….
- Last night’s of One Tree Hill was all over the place, covering all sorts of ground and mixing happy endings with problems, positive with negative. In other words, the show actually had some depth and diversity in its plot for once and didn’t feel the compulsion to weave the same basic plot theme into the life of every character. There was Lucas, returning from a month long sabbatical to re-immerse himself into Tree Hill life. Without him, his Tree Hill Ravens basketball team had slumped to a 4-8 record under the leadership of assistant coach Skillz Taylor. The hand injury suffered by the team’s best player Quentin earlier this season wasn’t helping, as Q just wasn’t at 100 percent. When Lucas and Skillz called him on it and made him go back to the doctor, Quentin called Skillz and Uncle Tom for ratting him out to Lucas, an accusation that pissed Skillz off like few things have. Lucas was also put face to face with Peyton for the first time since the words of his new book that were inspired by her and her car ended up ruining his wedding. They had a heart-to-heart talk in which Peyton did her best to be supportive and Lucas continued to profess his love for his now ex-fiancée Lindsey. Lucas also had a pep talk with Brooke, who got good news when the adoption agency that had rejected her as an adoptive parent last episode gave her a second chance by allowing her to be a host for a little girl coming over from a foreign country to get surgery to correct physical deformities and in need of a home for her tiem in the United States. Brooke went nuts buying toys, clothes and other gifts for the baby but didn’t give a lot of thought to how it would affect those around her. Owen, they guy she was seeing, decided that he couldn’t handle the kid situation and his buddy Chase, Brooke’s former boyfriend from Season Four, delivered the bad news for him. In the end, Brooke picked up the baby at the airport and her day was made. Haley also had her day made when she decided to start pursuing her music career again and Peyton agreed to produce and record her new album on Peyton’s label. After sifting through piles of crappy demos trying to find her next artist, Peyton was relieved to have the chance to work with Haley. Pursuing her own dream also led Haley to push Nathan to chase his again, which meant a return to basketball. The return didn’t go well, though, with Quentin showing Nathan up in an impromptu game of one-on-one at the Tree Hill gym despite playing with a cast on his hand. Nathan left the gym in disgust when he couldn’t even make a free throw. His mood wasn’t helped by repeatedly running into his father, convicted killer Dan Scott, throughout the episode. Dan was going through a tough time as well, looking back over all of the mistakes he’d made and regretting that what had once been in his life was now ruined. Nathan and Haley also spent time searching for a new nanny to replace psycho Carrie, the stalker nanny they fired for flirting with Nathan and who also kidnapped their son. After rejecting several applicants because they were too hot, Haley found a suitable choice in Nathan’s returning, now-sober mother Deb. Apparently Deb has totally exorcised her demons of drug and alcohol addiction, because she’s now the nanny for her grandson. Another person making new living arrangements was Mouth McFadden, who had an offer for an on-air reporting job with a TV station in Omaha but rejected the offer to stay in Tree Hill with his girlfriend Millie. She got a promotion of her own from her boss Brooke, which meant she wanted to look for a new, more permanent place to live. Mouth offered to let her move in to his apartment, an offer she initially rejected before finally accepting when Mouth reassured her that he wouldn’t be pressuring her on the sex issue. Like I said, this was an episode that was all over the place, but it was still a good one and you can’t always say that about One Tree Hill, so until next week…..
- This season of Greek continued to be great on Monday night, with Flashback Night providing a look back in time and filling in details of how things got to where they are today. Probably the best and most humorous part of the flashbacks was seeing preppy, proper Evan Chambers as a freshman with a vintage concert t-shirt, a scraggly goatee and a baseball cap. As it turns out, Evan and Cappie weren’t just friends when they came to Cyprus-Rhodes, they were freshman roommates and friends since they were kids. They went to camp together, their families were close and so were they….until Evan talked Cappie into rushing a fraternity. They made the rounds during rush week and settled on Kappa Tau, ironically at Evan’s urging. There, they met the mythical Egyptian Joe, a slacker who is truly an inspiration to one and all. It soon became clear that the party-centric Kappa Tau was the perfect fit for Cappie, who blended in from the start. Evan didn’t fit quite as well, earning the nickname Bing and deciding that he would be better suited for the conservative, proper atmosphere at the Omega Chi house. The decision started a rift between he and Cappie, but that rift exploded into an all-out war when Cappie, who at the time was dating Casey Cartwright, developed an annoying habit of leaving his girlfriend hanging in order to hang out with his frat brothers. Casey reached her breaking point when Cappie forgot to show up to pick her up for the Greek Ball, at which point Evan, with whom she had become close friends, stepped in and offered to escort her to the dance as a friend. When Frannie, Casey’s big sister at Zeta Beta, saw Casey being stood up, she stormed the Kappa Tau house, berated Egyptian Joe (she made Joe cry, as Cappie said in recalling the day) and tore Cappie a new one. He showed up to the dance, found his girl dancing with Evan and a fistfight broke out between the two guys. That brawl, which expanded to include other members of the two fraternities, led Dean Bowman to cancel the Greek Ball for the following year, then return the event to the social calendar this year. Back in the present, Cappie and the Kappa Tau brothers decide not to attend the ball, a decision that upsets Cappie’s current girlfriend, Rebecca Logan. In the end, he caves in and agrees to attend, picking her up after a last-minute change of heart. Rusty Cartwright, on the other hand, skips the big event and wasn’t much of a part of the episode in general. Other than digging up information to find out what really happened at the Greek Ball two years ago and a couple of scenes with roommate Dale in which Dale tried to talk Rusty into attending his U.S.A.G. (United Students Against the Greek system) party, Rusty was mostly AWOL. Same goes for his pal Calvin, who decided to be the sober brother for Omega Chi for the event. The ball caused a drama at the Zeta Beta house as well, with Casey and Ashleigh both unable to find dates for the event. They took had flashbacks to their freshman year when they met doing laundry in their dorm, were recruited to the sorority by now-nemesis Frannie and went through the pledging process. One thing from the past Casey didn’t know htat she found out thanks to Cappie was that two years ago, Frannie made her invasion of the Kappa Tau house to hunt down Cappie for standing up Casey. That revelation led Casey to drop her grudge against Frannie and invite her to attend the ball with her and Ashleigh. An interesting episode for sure, a lot of laughs and also, any episode with Egyptian Joe is cool with me. That’s all for now, though…..
- With today’s über-important Democratic primary in Pennsylvania, it’s a good time to break down the 10 remaining primaries and caucuses that will hopefully deal the death blow to Hank Clinton’s presidential campaign. Other than today’s Pa. primary, the other top contest is North Carolina, with 115 delegates at stake. Thankfully it’s a state Obama is projected to dominate thanks to a wealth of minority and liberal voters. Also voting on May 6 along with North Carolina is Indiana, a state I am loving right now because it’s one where Obama boasts a double-digit lead in the polls. It’s proximity to his home state of Illinois helps, especially since he’s won every state that shares a border with Illinois. Oregon is another state where Obama is projected to win thanks to its liberal, hippie, pothead tendencies (you know it’s true, Oregon, so don’t deny it, embrace your inner stoner). States like Montana, South Dakota and West Virginia will be tough ones for Obama. He has far too many teeth to relate to West Virginians (just kidding, West Va.) and he doesn’t rate well with sheep, goats and cows, whose large numbers in South Dakota and Montana will play a big role in deciding the primaries in their states (just kidding with you too, Montana and South Dakota). But combined, those states have only 59 delegates, so not much to worry about there. Then there are places like Guam and Puerto Rico, U.S. territories that boast four and 55 delegates, respectively. Hard to put much effort into campaign on Guam, as much fun as it might be to kick it on the beach. I might make a campaign stop there if I were running, small delegate count be damned. Puerto Ricans can’t actually vote in the general election because the live in a commonwealth and not a state, but they can help choose who will run in that general election. So far, Clinton has maintained a slight edge with Hispanic voters in this election, but Obama is fighting hard in Puerto Rico to rip some of its delegates from Hank’s manly clutches. In summation, even though Hank may score a victory in Pennsylvania, don’t allow her positive rhetoric on the heels of this win dissuade you from the fact that in the end, the right candidate will be chosen and we will have kept the angry femi-Nazi that is Hank Clinton out of the White House.
- The hits just keep on coming for CNN. Aside from the aforementioned sitch with Richard Quest, the network is now dealing with outrage from Chinese-Americans who have taken umbrage with comments made by CNN talking head Jack Cafferty calling China’s goods “junk” and its leaders “a bunch of goons and thugs.” Dozens of protestors rallied outside of CNN’s Hollywood offices late last week to make their feelings about Cafferty’s comments known. They called for his firing and said that if he had made those comments about any other ethnic group, he in fact would have been axed. I’m sorry angry protestors, but are you pissed because Cafferty said what he said or because it’s true? If I’m remembering recent months correctly, your country has exported toxic toothpaste, tainted vegetables and toys covered in lead paint. Its government has brutally oppressed the people of Tibet, failed to provide clean, breathable air for the upcoming Olympics and continued to trample on the basic human rights of its own citizens. The toothpaste, vegetables and toys would certainly qualify as junk and the preceding sentence would seem to qualify the country’s leaders as goons and thugs. No one loves protests, riots and social dissidence more than I do, but you getting yourself all torqued up because someone had the sheer audacity to speak the truth about the country you came from is ridiculous and out of line. Take it down a notch, angry Chinese-Americans, take it down a notch…..
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