tivo.com | TiVo Central Online

OK, this is what I've waited for since I first learned about television ratings - almost 30 years! Go take a look at
tivo.com | TiVo Central Online for a relatively unbiased rating of your favorite shows based on the shows that TiVo viewers record. Turns out, as of today, that 10 of the top 25 recordings are shows that I enjoy and recommend. How about your picks?

Waiting for the New Season? Do Cartoons

I'm hopelessly 'Lost,' waiting for the new season. Can the Bad Robot pull off another great season, or will ABC suck the life out of it by moving it to a new night. Will the writers go too far off the deep end as they did with 'Alias'? Will the house wives become too Desperate for viewers to enjoy? However it shapes out, ABC goes into the new season with some 1st round draft choices, and that is a good position to be in.

While we wait for the new season, I'd like to look at another form of T.V. entertainment I love - cartoons! I was devastated when 'The Tick' disappeared from the airwaves. Imagine my great glee when my TiVo (GOD BLESS the makers of TiVo!!!) recorded, like, 20 episodes of the Tick!

I used to hang out on Cartoon Network more frequently when 'Samurai Jack' was on the air. I also enjoyed 'Johnny Bravo', the 'Power Puff Girls', 'Space Ghost', 'Sealab 2021', and, even though I pretty much hate Anime, one of my favorite animated mini-series was TriGun. Many of the newer cartoons on C N are too edgy and irreverant, though I still get a chuckle out of 'Family Guy'.

I'm very picky when it comes to Sci-Fi/Fantasy animation. MTV's Aeon Flux (Amazon has the complete animated collection) was one that blew me away. I used to only watch MTV's 'Liquid Television' in hopes that they would play a (always too short) clip! I just saw the (non-animated) movie and am quite pleased with it, good rental for the sci-fi fans. Of course 'Heavy Metal' was a ground breaker that you can't help but love to watch every once in a while.

"In The Jury Room" - ABC News Gets It Right

Last week, ABC started airing a six week documentary entitled "In the Jury Room" - ABCNEWS.com In the Jury Room

Finally, a jury show that can work! ABC focuses on real people, real trials, real jury members. We get to see interviews with the lawyers, the defendants, the judge, but most of all, the jury. I find it far more intriguing than Fox's fictional flop, "The Jury". Duh. Reality T.V., why didn't Fox think of it?

Good job, ABC.

Nielsen Under Fire - Finally

Nielsen is finally under fire per the following link - MLive.com - NewsFlash

If you have followed my blog, you know my opinion on the system - it stinks. Even when I was a teenager, I didn't believe that their sampling system represented the viewing audience - it was skewed toward urbanites and caucasions as far as I was concerned.

Being a techie, I know that there is a much better way. I worked for a Silicone Valley startup that had the right idea before its time. Long story short, we could determine the types and quantities of visitors to a web site and not only report the statistics, but we could also adapt the website, in realtime, based on the individual and how 'like' they were to other visitors. This type of system can be implemented very easily through digital cable boxes, TiVo's, and satellite recievers. You don't HAVE to know exactly who is watching, just some basic information about the people in the household. Treat the T.V. shows as if they are websites, and, BAM! you have a new ratings system that much more accurate.

I argued that we should have taken the technology to Nielsen because we couldn't make money selling the service to .com's. Oh well, they didn't listen, the .com's all died, and eventually so did our company. I wish I could build another system like that for T.V.

"The Notebook"

My wife and I saw this chick-flick, The Notebook" this weekend.

First of all, I won't tell you the story, but, I highly recommend it for hopeless romantics and couples that are truely connected - everyone else, save your money for a group DVD rental.

If you are a student of history, or reared in the South, you'll have to turn off your "South" censor because the movie doesn't portray the southerners of the time period accurately, and some scenes appear to be shot in Maine or California.

Also, the story gets a little predictable.

The romance overshadows any problems with the movie. Mostly everyone in the movie was crying like babies!

What do you think?

Fox's "The Jury" Dismissed

It's almost official. As I predicted, "The Jury" is a flop. Unfortunately, I thought it would be cancelled after three airings - it took four. It isn't officially "cancelled," they've stopped production. See the attached article.

Boston.com / A&E / TV / For now, Fox's 'The Jury' is out

HOWTO Find New Exciting Music

Take a look at Acid Planet, a Sony-run website that delivers the music of thousands of new, undiscovered, and veteran artists. This place is a gold mine for audiophiles and musicians. New entries are posted every minute from Classical to Funk. My favorite passtime is looking for talents that are experimenting with new styles of music and composition.

My top favorite artists are
Songs by THE WORLD, Citizen of ACIDplanet.com and "Bexametric" pronounced "BARE-A-METRIC."

Please feel free to add your comments.