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My wife heard somebody on public radio say the original British version was better than the US version. We were intrigued enough that I downloaded the first season of the British version.

It was very interesting because much of the plot, and some of the dialog for the first US episode was lifted straight from the British one. Other lines, of course, had changed. Some of it just didn't translate, like a comment about Camilla Parker Boles. But besides that, the overall feel of the British version is more subdued (in fact there's literally quite a bit of mumbling). The characters are funny, but it's a little harder to put your finger on why.

The US version, I daresay, is a little more cartoonish, even in subtle ways. The US version doesn't just have a stapler molded into a bowl of "jelly" (Jell-O), instead it's a somewhat oversized bowl with the stapler somehow not touching any of the edges, so the stapler is suspended perfectly. Like a prop artist did it, instead of a paper salesman.

Perhaps I should be ashamed to admit it in the context of this thread, but I enjoy the US version a bit more. The "bad office mate" played by Rainn Wilson may be over the top, but he sure cracks me up.

http://www.nbc.com/nbc/The_Tonight_Show_with_Jay_L eno/headlines/H_2871/H_2871_13.jpg

Criminal investigations are often a very slow process. Legal processes are slow. I'm involved in a lawsuit right now, and papers were filed like 6 months ago. Nothing to speak of has happened since then, and it could be a year more before something does.

But... but... I thought that even the most complex investigations could be neatly wrapped up in under an hour!

It is interesting that the company that makes this show has NBC and Hearst-Argyl as clients.

I have not yet watched it but I am assuming this is just a piece of partisan propaganda.

Another salvo against the beleaguered p2p filesharing community by obsolescant old-media companies.

Yeah, it is a tad tough not to manage a project perfectly when you've got Donald "I never employed you but I can fire you" Trump breathing down your back.

Speaking of those apprecticeses (as Ellen calls them), I'd manage Audrey's projects anytime. To quote Greg Roelofs, "yowza!"

Microsoft as world leader? I guess you've never witnessed such behemoths as GE, Disney and Time/Warner.

How about flying to Universal Studios, having a heart attack from all the flashing lights( do they make lights though?), getting an ECG at the hospital while watching the news story about your accident on TV?

Yes, all that and more courtesy just one might conglomorate. If only I wasn't lazy I'm sure I could have double the examples at least.

What a joke that turned out to be.

You mean like this? Conan O'Brien - In the Year 2000

Click here to view a streaming video. It shows Conan O'Brien easing the tension with his classic humor as Bill Gates encountered problems with his remote control while demoing the Windows Media Center.

Visual inspection of senior West Wing staffers shows that a high proportion of them run OSX laptops.

Yes, they will be allowed to refile because the prosecutors would be charging him with a separate and distinct crime (even if committed in the same act as the original charges), thereby avoiding Double-Jeopardy prevention from prosecution.

Like, duh.. anyone who watches Law & Order knows all about this...

Did noone else (who got through and saw ioih.org) guess that this site (and this post) is a hoax? The one poster indicated it wasn't in google but noone cast doubt on the IOIH.

I mean, the site wasn't in google etc, the site mentions a "Aldophus B. Huxley" who's not in google either (nor was the respelled "Did you mean: Adolphus B. Huxley"?)... The site was rife with misspellings and was not even completed. This "Huxley" worked with his engineer "John C. McGinley" -- that's the name of the guy who plays Dr. Perry Cox on the NBC comedy "Scrubs." Ditto the "Guffing Gertie." I mean yeah, it's more likely the Internet was invented by Al Gore than some textile manufacturers in 1839. (Actually, Al just invented the PMRC with his wife.)

http://www.nbc.com/Scrubs/bios/John_C._McGinley.ht ml

I am willing to believe my tinfoil hat is simply too tight today. It's not April 1, is it?

While a 42-inch Sony Wega LCD TV retails for $10,000, a 42-inch plasma set can be had for about $4,500. LCD TVs accounted for a measly 3 percent of all sets sold in the United States in 2003.

I am a well-documented TV hater. One thing I could never understand were all the ads for TVs that cost $2k, $5k, and even $10k for the last couple of years. I thought that if they are advertising them people must be buying them. I'm interested to read that this isn't the case. But still, $4.5k for a TV? OMGWTFBBQ. Is Joey that much funnier on a $4.5k or even a $10k set?

No? Now I get the real joke.

To the rescue!
http://www.nbc.com/LAX/

Anyone who watched the first episode of Father of the Pride already knew that Siegfried and Roy were adding a new ring.

Interestingly, Marge vs. the Monorail has the distinction of being one of the few epsiodes written by Conan O'Brien (yes, that Conan O'Brien). He also wrote the brilliant (IMHO) Homer Goes to College.

And not to be OT: I think the Vegas monorail (at its magnitidue) is an excellent proof-of-concept for solving metropolitan congestion where a subway is either prohibitively expensive or infeasible. If it's a success, maybe we'll see more cities following suit?

reference

It could be worse than 24... like the "10.5" show. Didn't consult a single scientist... or anyone with a high school science background. Ugh.

Check out the last and final episode tonight!

Forget about /. and talk about Friends on IRC!

Don't you people realize tonight is the last episode of FRIENDS! Get your priorities straight!

As a previous post mentioned, network. When you are networking, market what you have done and what you are capable of relentlessly.

Did you watch The Apprentice? Market yourself like Trump. You didn't write a program, you wroted the best #$&^ing program ever. You solved the hardest problem in the history of mankind. Show enthusiasm. Make them believe everything you touch turns to gold.

"test1"

"test2"

Some interesting prescription instructions:
Inhale 1 tablet vaginally at bedtime"

And an interesting warning on a kids toy:
It can be happy and gay not good hearing if product is with mark"

Some interesting prescription instructions:
Inhale 1 tablet vaginally at bedtime"

And an interesting warning on a kids toy:
It can be happy and gay not good hearing if product is with mark"

My wife and I have not had cable for nigh upon 5 years now; we have a TV, but it's got a DVD, VCR and Gamecube hooked up to it.

Netflix has allowed me to watch TV shows that I'm interested in at my pace. A couple of episodes of Smallville here, some Stargate SG-1 there, etc. etc. We're also getting caught up on the movies that we missed in the theaters (mainly stuff that appeals to her than to me...) Other than that, the TV isn't on. I get my news from the radio, the local newspaper and Google News.

Instead, I read. And surf the net. And use Safari to "check out" books on subjects I'm interested in, to see if I want to buy them.

There are all sorts of things you can do if you're not sitting in front of the TV. For every amazing new TV show that's out there, there's probably an equally amazing comic, or novel, or movie. (And don't get me started on the crap that some people feel like wasting precious hours of their lives on...)

Jay (=

Not watching TV means that you miss out on shows like The Apprentice, but it has given me so much time to do other things like reading a book, hanging out with friends et al. With the Internet, you don't really miss out on the news. As it is the TV news is really crappy, giving us useless stuff like how the dog in the neighboring street was lost the other day.

I now find that I don't need to get my daily fix of TV, which is a Good Thing(tm). All in all, I like it!

I'm no TV exec, but I believe that most networks buy their big shows from 3rd party studios and don't necessarily get any later syndication cash. For example I looked up ER and found that it is produced by Constant c Productions, Amblin Television and Warner Bros. Television, I didn't see any NBC in any production credits that I could find. The studios that actually make the shows tend to lose money when they sell a show to a network, but make it back when they sell them in syndication to other networks/stations.

Poking around more it appears that networks are getting into the role or producing their own shows by doing what is easy, reality shows, from a business standpoint, this makes a hell of a lot of sense to the networks.

Didn't Jack Gallo, publisher of Blush Magazine, have a wood-cased LCD flatpanel monitor on his desk?

Why yes, he did.

In like 1998.

And there's always competition.

So before you start lambasting Kawhlefornia (Terminator speak for California), remember these shows prove it happens everywhere.

Oh look a puppy!

Who is actually recording television anymore? With what they consider quality television, I'm surprized more people aren't doing more interesting things like taking a Craftsman cordless drill to the soles of their feet or jamming needles in their armpits.

Who is actually recording television anymore? With what they consider quality television, I'm surprized more people aren't doing more interesting things like taking a Craftsman cordless drill to the soles of their feet or jamming needles in their armpits.

Who is actually recording television anymore? With what they consider quality television, I'm surprized more people aren't doing more interesting things like taking a Craftsman cordless drill to the soles of their feet or jamming needles in their armpits.

A recent episode of Law & Order made a none-too-flattering mention of FISA. Anyone else see it? Who's the big privacy advocate there?

This is one of those shows I wish they'd take off the air for its' own good.

That's exactly how I feel about Friends too. The first four seasons were briliant, and maybe the fifth was okay too, but then starting at season six they just repeated the same jokes over and over again and turned the characters into stereotypes. At first they were themselves - a thing that characterizes a good show in my opinion.

I am Triumph, oh scary nerd

Looks like a bunch of Average Joe contestants to me!

Don't lose hope. NBC is doing just that right now. It's called "Average Joe". See it here.

MS is going to start selling music players and has it's own distribution system that competes with the RIAA.

NBC is using Fox's success with a music program to bolster the relevance of TV (and thereby its own relevance).

Gotta love "news" from broadly diverse companies with vested interests. What next, the Philip Moris poll: Do kids prefer menthol or non-menthol? (great, because we offer both!)

Would that be the mainstream press that's owned by Time-Warner, the mainstream press that's owned by Viacom, the mainstream press that's owned by Disney, or the mainstream press that's now owned by Vivendi-Universal?

They love to read; they spend time with friends; they do all sorts of stuff. So I swear by this: Television is a waste of time.

Get off your damn high horse. Television has plenty of crap on it, but that doesn't mean the medium sucks. There's plenty of crap published in book format too. People who argue this 'television sucks' focus on the crap and ignore the quality stuff out there.

It is akin to saying 'CDs suck' because the local Wherehouse music has a rack full of NSync. If you are unhappy with the programs you watch, find better programs. There are plenty of good, entertaining, moving, educational shows on television.

Crappy TV rots brains about the same amount as crappy romance novels, or teeny bopper pop, or Gigli. Don't identify the medium with only its dregs.

-Ted

They love to read; they spend time with friends; they do all sorts of stuff. So I swear by this: Television is a waste of time.

Get off your damn high horse. Television has plenty of crap on it, but that doesn't mean the medium sucks. There's plenty of crap published in book format too. People who argue this 'television sucks' focus on the crap and ignore the quality stuff out there.

It is akin to saying 'CDs suck' because the local Wherehouse music has a rack full of NSync. If you are unhappy with the programs you watch, find better programs. There are plenty of good, entertaining, moving, educational shows on television.

Crappy TV rots brains about the same amount as crappy romance novels, or teeny bopper pop, or Gigli. Don't identify the medium with only its dregs.

-Ted

In the immortal words of Tina Fey of SNL...

"Hey scientist guys... AIDS! We still have AIDS!"

"...offering users a choice of viewing a site and having it logged, or not viewing it"

This may sound like quite an elegant solution, especially compared to the outright blocking of sites not recognised by their master database but this could well end up creating a far more dangerous climate of self-censorship.

For instance, if a perfectly legimate but not "mainstream" site, say an anti-war one, hasn't yet made it onto their database, you have to accept that your boss will be notified of your visit and made aware of your doubts about the government.

In that situation, most people will just give up and put the corporate propaganda feed-pipe back in their mouths.

Donnacha

Um... I think Chandler said it best, "Can: open, worms: everywhere."

is that Friends will continue for many, many years.

James Gold, Older brother of Thomas, says "Will not!"
Secretary of Planetary Society claims "Liar, Liar, pants on fire"
Louis Freedman picks nose while he thinks, says wife
FLASH! LOUIS FREEDMAN PICKS NOSE!
The Case of Exploding Journalists [Dave Barry]
I Do not! claims Louis Freedman on Letterman show"

I'll update this list when I see more information. This looks really interesting -- it's hitting all the major media!.

Even further, I await the first pop-prog with the bollocks to just swap out a lead actor on a regular arbitrary basis.

Saturday Night Live isn't popular enough for you?

I think SNL is currently the funniest that it's been in a long time (though this seems to run contrary to popular opinion). Weekend Update now almost reaches Daily Show and Onion-like levels of satirical hilarity.

For example: I got into Will & Grace fairly recently, and I'd like the opportunity to go back and watch the first episodes in my own time, perhaps two a week. There's about 22 minutes of actual content in a half-hour sitcom. a DVD box set is overkill, because I want to see certain episodes, once only. This sounds like a great application for VOD.

(Whaddya mean, you never heard of Will & Grace? The only thing wrong with it is all these self-serving guest stars... where's Carol Burnett when you need her?)

It's a reference to Chandler from Friends. I am ashamed that I got the joke, but I did. Feel proud that you didn't.

1. In the National Opinion Research Center count of ballots, there were more than 113,000 ballots cast for two or more presidential candidates. Of those, 75,000 chose Mr. Gore and a minor candidate; 29,000 chose Mr. Bush and a minor candidate. Had the balloting been properly run there's little doubt that Gore would have had a clear, though slim, victory. (NORC is a social science research unit at the University of Chicago; they are world-class experts in sampling and polling.)
2. Back when Al Gore was in college, he used to do stand up comedy. As his recent showing on Saturday Night Live (warning: annoying site) shows, he still can. I don't know why he came across so poorly during the election.
3. He's been pro-technology, pro-space, and has known from computers for a long time.
4. Since he's on the Apple board, he is apparently an Apple stockholder. Corporate directors don't usually do that much, but the position does provide for the making of and using of connections.