I realized that I didn't really have an appropriate column name for a general, channel-flipping sort of entry, like I do for the At The Commercials series. So, in the roughly 60 seconds I thought about this, I have dubbed these entries... Around The Dial.
- I can't believe how much Cold Pizza still sucks. It is still aired daily on ESPN2, although I have no idea. Outside of the somewhat attractive soccer mom quality to Dana Jacobson, there is absolutely no reason to watch the show. (And unfortunately, unlike at party companies, Dana is not getting loaded on Grey Goose, in this not-safe-for-work link.)The worst part of the show is the crappy debate they have each morning, which is between Public Enemy #1 Skip Bayless and some athlete or other ESPN dolt (Jemele Hill) that won't embarrass him too badly. If you're not familiar with sports, Skip Bayless is to sports what Bill O'Reilly and Keith Olbermann are to fair political commentary. The guy is such a freakin' joke that Bill Simmons included a shot at him in his Book of Basketball, and Simmons is generally prohibited from attacking other ESPN employees.
Basically, the show serves no purpose, since the "hey let's have a fun show about sports!" role is filled later in the day by the (still kind of bad but improving) Sportsnation, and the public-informing role is taken by the fresh broadcasts of Sportscenter on the mothership. If ESPN isn't considering flipping the format again, then they seriously should be. I can't imagine that the ratings for the show are that great.
- To balance the sour with the sweet, I must say that I applaud Spike airing so many episodes of CSI. Unlike TNT, which seems to only show the most recent seasons of Law and Order now, Spike reaches back into its CSI archives for, say, episodes with everyone still around, including Gil Grissom, while also mixing in the newer episodes with Morpheus.The only complaint I have is that I wish they would take out the cheesy episodes where Grissom is deaf and/or going deaf. I find them a pain in the ass to watch because, simulating Grissom's loss of hearing, the audio will randomly drop at points. Instead, let's focus on episodes with the cougar-y Marg Helgenberger. Did you know she is FIFTY-ONE? Ye gads! I have no idea what you're doing, Marg, but keep it up, you German-Irish dame.
The family watching television is from this site. The picture of Dana is from this entertainment blog of The Sacramento Bee. And Marg is from this photo gallery.
A column of football picks from Bob, Kristin and I will be up later tonight, or tomorrow, whenever I feel like it.
