So, um . . .

Am I the last one to know that the season premiere will be available in free streaming form from msn.com starting on Tuesday the 26th? Probably not. Are people planning to watch this, or wait until the CW debut?

Nah -- I didn't know until you emailed me this morning. I still have the issue of the fact that VM is on at the same day and time as House, and I only have one Tivo. Most likely scenario will be watching VM live on the upstairs TV while House records on the downstairs Tivo. Christmas gift I most want is a dual tuner Tivo.

There are these antique devices called "videocassete recorders" (what our ancestors called a "VCR"). If you can find one somewhere, you could connect it to the TV for which you don't have a TiVo.

Oh, did anyone else receive their Season 2 DVDs in the mail? Amazon.com was kind enough to deliver them to me last week. I want to watch the last few episodes of the season before the new season gets underway. Must see the reforming of LoVe and the annihilation of Aaron Echolls.

They have dual tuner TiVo!?!??! I have thus far resisted the whole DVR phenomenon, but I've been thinking more about it lately, and if that's an option it might have to go on my Christmas list, too.

I am torn about whether I'll watch on the Internet next week rather than wait for October 3. I was figuring they would probably replay the last ep next Tuesday to lay the groundwork for the season premiere, since they've been using the VM timeslot for other shows for the last few weeks. I haven't bought any show DVDs yet, but I think that's something else that will be going on my Christmas list.

Sidebar color reference

To make your lives easier when posting, I've added a hex code color reference to the sidebar. This means you will no longer be stymied in your posting efforts by the extreme difficulty of figuring out your hex code each time.

Amen

Creator Rob Thomas related a discussion that he had with Joel Silver, with whom he produces the CW drama.

For some reason, the two got onto the topic of which show they'’d rather have on their credit list Love Boat” or the short-lived Fox show “Action.”

Thomas said Silver called him "“crazy" for not wanting “Love Boat” on his resume, given how much money it had made. "“It's still making money!" he said Silver shouted. - Chicago Tribune, July 18, 2006

Would you rather be a schlockmeister or create one of the best and funniest shows of the last decade? Well, why not be both, and use the schlock to subsidize your art. I'm going to need to get the DVD of Action, which is uncensored and contains the episodes that didn't air after FOX, in its vulpine wisdom, pulled the plug.

How about Alia Shawkat and Michael Cera from Arrested Development?

"No, not at this point. We want both of them, but they have not been available. We thought we had it then lost Alia at the last minute." - Chicago Tribune, September 20, 2006

I'm glad they couldn't get them. It would have been stunt casting. Also, I would rather not be reminded, while watching a great show like Veronica Mars, that there used to be a really overrated show called Arrested Development. There was more genuine humor in one episode of Action than in the entire run of the belatedly-canceled Arrested Development. Sorry, but it's true.

I really think they need to spend more time looking for the next Duane Daniels and less time creating guest spots for Shaun Cassidy and Parker Stevenson, or whomever they come up with next.

Best episodes ever

Let's all list our choices for the ten best episodes of television ever, excluding VM episodes. Here are mine, in no particular order:

1. The Rockford Files: "White on White and Nearly Perfect"
2. The Rockford Files: "Nice Guys Finish Dead"
3. The X-Files: Jose Chung's From Outer Space"
4. Millennium: "Jose Chung's Doomsday Defense"
5. Homicide: Life on the Street: "Deception"
6. Star Trek: "Balance of Terror"
7. Twin Peaks: "Arbitrary Law"
8. Father Ted: "Good Luck, Father Ted"
9. Highlander: The Series: "Band of Brothers"
10. The Simpsons: "Treehouse of Horror" (Halloween episodes) (this is probably a place-holder until I think of a better choice)

I couldn't come up with ten, but here is what popped in off of the top of my head

1. The "phone cops" episode of WKRP
2. Best of Both Worlds -- ST:TNG
3. Smile Time -- Angel
4. The episode of The Simpsons where Bart sells his soul to Milhouse for $5

I'll let you know if more pop into my crowded little head.

I'm all caught up and I have some thoughts

First of all, a big thank you to syp & MWR for lending me the S1 dvd in time to stay atop the summer re-run of S2. I'll admit I was reluctant to climb on board the bus (because we all now know what can happen) but now that I've got my ticket I'm happy.

Secondly, I will confess that I have an unhealthy love for Logan. He's dreamy!

If the LoVe relationship does not last longer than episode one in S3 I will be completely hacked. I'm not a huge fan of the get them together to break them up over and over again device. I'm in need of a LoVe adventure where they can get on each other's nerves and yet still want to suck face.

I'm counting down the days until the season kicks off, and am starting to plan my outfit for the big night.

I'm not sure if I'm supposed to pick a color to post in or not... but I guess black will do.

Welcome, tp_gal, we're looking forward to seeing a lot of your unique sensibility in the blog. I think we'll set you up with a different color, though, to reserve black for any special administrative use that comes up (and also for reasons discussed at the beginning of Reservoir Dogs). I'm looking forward to seeing a lot more posting activity from team members as the season draws near, and certainly after it is underway. There should be much to talk about. There isn't meant to be a high standard for posting—syp and I created our earlier VM blog on the theory that by conducting our dialogues there we could cut down on our emailing back and forth about the show. And, if we happened to have anything profound to say (unclear) it would be preserved in easily-accessible blog form. So don't be bashful about what you write. That goes for the rest of you too. I know the two of you who post the least still have time to read Don't Trust Snakes very regularly, and that two others are TwoP addicts, so the excuse of "no time to post anything on Secret Message Pen" rings a little hollow (not that you should not be reading Don't Trust Snakes on a regular basis, mind you).

I'll post another little list exercise to get everyone back into the spirit of the proceedings.

Oh, there are some interesting tidbits about the first two episodes of Season Three on the tvsquad blog, some of which purists will consider to be spoilers. Only one is more than what I would ball a mild spoiler, and it holds back the specifics.

OT: This does not help our mission

HeadlineWriterNet becomes self-aware at 2:14 a.m. eastern time, August 29. In a panic, they try to pull the plug . . . .

• Sarah Connor Will Be Back... On The Small Screen


• She'll Be Back; Sarah Connor That Is


• Watch My Show If You Want To Live


• Your ratings - give them to me, now


• Terminator Franchise Can't Be Destroyed

New SMP favicon

I have just created a customized favorites icon ("favicon") for the blog. The form is rather limited as they can only be 16x16 pixels and are limited to 16 colors in the web-safe color palette.

I believe you will only be able to see the favicon if you re-bookmark the blog. I suggest you refresh the page, then re-bookmark, then use the bookmark to visit the page. It may be that all that is not necessary to see the favicon, but it might be. Firefox users should also see the favicon in the browser tab for the blog.

It looks like this:



What do you think?

An alternative would be this:



Can you tell what it is supposed to be?

Not a lot of green or purple here lately. Don't make me be persistent. You won't like me when I'm persistent :)