CEDAR FEVER / HDTV

A long-time hay-fever sufferer, I can say that the advent of Cedar fever surprised me this year as most say it takes 5 years till you get got. It's been only 3. I was nailed. Sinus headache, stuffiness, itchiness, even dizziness - I was miserable. Then the good doctor gave me a shot and I feel so much better (I believe from forecasts that the day I write this is the worst day of the year so far, too.)

How you can go from that miserable to almost normal that quickly is amazing.

Credit to the nurse, too, who did a remarkably painless injection in my "hip" (butt.)
The needle was almost nothing - but the injecting was evident. Much as I hate shots, I'll take that over the Cedar nasties any day.

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Yes, our new digital tv lineup gave us many more channels of nothing on. That and the writers strike are a little disheartening as there are certain shows we enjoy. Grey's Anatomy is losing us just as they run out of fresh material. Last night's show, for our money, took Meredith Grey out of the spotlight - that character should go run a candle and potpourri store and be done with medicine.

LIFE is a show that has an interesting vibe. A cool lead - Steve McQueenish.

BURN NOTICE is good for get the bad guy hijinx.

FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS is done in a way that creates its own sense of reality - I see it as breakthrough as NYPD Blue was in its day. It's an ensemble show and somehow - writing, acting, direction, casting? every character is interesting and just as believable as another. It rarely slows down, too, maybe due to editing between multi-cameras and overlapping dialogue. The best word to use is: authentic. It's done locally though we've not seen any of the cast at work or play.

COUNTDOWN with Keith Olbermann exposes the dark side of the (usually not) news, which is another way of saying the little news you get on TV doesn't come close to showing the hypocrisy, manipulation, pettiness, stupidity, and vanity that runs our world as does this show.

RESCUE ME, BATTLESTAR GALLACTICA (a lot deeper than you might think if you don't watch it), DIRT, and THE SHIELD are hopefully on again later in the year.

Ted Danson made an especially great corrupt guy vs. stellar Glenn Close in DAMAGES.
Snake lovers would enjoy either lead.