if there was a hump, this'd be it

So, we're about halfway through the TV season and I thought this would be a good time to chart our progress.

So far only two shows, dr. vegas (yes, all small letters) and Clubhouse, have been canceled. I would have thought there'd have been more. dr. vegas was Rob Lowe's foray back into television - again. I thought his show from last year, Lyon's Den, was good. At least a lot better than this one. And this one also had the Joey Patoliano curse attached to it. So, it wasn't really a big surprise that it got the axe. Clubhouse with Dean Cain and Mare Winningham who was also in the short-lived "Brotherhood of Poland, N.H.," last year and was, of course, the girl who couldn't let Rob Lowe go in "St. Elmo's Fire" and Kirsten Storms who some may know from Disney's Zenon movies was pretty good but mostly for those latter two people and not for Dean Cain, Christopher Lloyd or the boy who was the center of the show. Either way, I guess it's no big loss because I'm sure both of those actresses will be back on TV soon enough.

I am still in love with Lost as my top favorite new show of the season. If you haven't seen this yet, I'd recommend sitting down and watching whatever you can. It's well worth it.

The O.C. is back. I swear Rachel Bilson just gets cuter and cuter. I really want Seth and Summer to get back together. I think she's being a bit dramatic about the whole thing. And the more I see of Julie Cooper the less I care what happens with that part of the show. And am I the only one who is having a hard time seperating Haley from Tessa (The O.C. versus North Shore)?

American Dreams is still one of my favorite shows on television. The story lines just keep getting better and the music is definitely a high-point in the show. And I think I'm secretly in love with the girl who plays Roxanne.

I don't care how lame Joey gets, it's still going to be a show that I will sacrifice nearly everything to tape.

Desperate Housewives is definitely worth catching too. If not only for Teri Hatcher and Eva Longoria looking like they do but also for Marcia Cross and Felicity Huffman acting as well as they do. Not that Teri Hatcher and Eva Longoria are bad, they're not. The whole show is solid.

I know this hasn't been the most informative thing ever but seriously, if you love tv or just like to watch it a little all of these are worth your time.

I'm sure it's just me

These are the things that are on my mind this week. In no particular order.

While I'm glad to be finishing my degree, I just wish it wasn't such a stressful, pain in the ass.

I really do agree with all of the jaded TV producers, writers, etc. who say that they are upset with the direction of television today, but with all these Law & Order's and CSI's which I hate and the really crappy sitcoms (schlubby guy/hot wife does not equal funny nearly as often as it's on TV) that take up more and more of the prime time schedule it's not surprising that America has turned to "reality" television for something different. More well-scripted shows would mean less space for "reality" programming.

The worst thing to ever happen to "music" television is when someone realized they had a cable channel and could make programming. Or at least try. Is it wrong to want to turn on MTV or VH1 or (to a lesser extent) BET and want to see actual music videos?

The new The Donnas album rocks.

Where did all the good times go?

At the behest of Mr. Nason, I will now address an issue that has been bugging me for a long time. Apparently, I am not the only person to notice that the tradition of Saturday morning cartoons has gone the way of the dinosaur - or, perhaps more aptly, The Great Grape Ape.

I can remember waking up at unreasonable hours of the morning on Saturdays to fight with my sister about which cartoons we would be parking ourselves in front of for the next 6 hours, at least. Our fighting was the stuff you read about, in that it was wholly stereotypical. Lots of shouting, lots of hair-pulling, lots of throwing each other around the living room. Stuff like that. Finally, it took mediation from mom to settle this bickering for good. It came down to alternating half-hour stretches, as this was how long most cartoons ran (bartering was allowed which was good as the Bugs Bunny & Road Runner show was an hour and a half). The only rule my sister and I came up with was that until noon (or 11 or 11:30, depending on what was on that season), cartoons were all that was allowed. I do seem to remember watching Saved By The Bell but that may have been on after the appointed hour.

Here's what's on now that I like:
Spiderman cartoons (I don't care if that's MTV one with Doogie Howser or the mid-90s one with CB Barnes as the voice (I think that's who it is) - actually I think that one's the better one or the trippy one from the 60s)
Any and all of those Batman cartoons (like Batman Beyond and the new The Batman)
The Power Puff Girls (Hannah-Barbera-like background animation with pseudo-anime animation for the girls - and Mojo Jo-Jo is the best cartoon villian in a LONG time)
Scooby-Doo (You know how The Beastie Boys feel about Columbo? No? Look up the lyric homie. Well, that's how I feel about Scooby-Doo.)

I know there are a lot of cartoons on the Cartoon Network but to me most of that stuff just runs together. I liked Dexter's Laboratory for a while but it got old (pick up the soundtrack if you get a chance though - mad cool), people tell me I should hop on the Aqua-Teen Hunger Force bandwagon but I haven't and don't really see it happening and as much as I have always been a fan of Space Ghost, I'd rather see him fly the plane and do cool stuff than sit behind a desk.

I find it shocking that no one has taken it upon themselves to make a Cartoon Network Classic. If ESPN can have one, why can't cartoons? The brief glimpses I've caught of Boomerang lead me to believe that it dabbles in this area but since we don't even have DVR or Trio up here yet, I'll be surprised if Boomerang makes it onto my listings anytime soon.

But why doesn't USA still run the Cartoon Express? And what ever happened to the TBS Superstation Fun Time every afternoon after school? And I remember watching Jetsons reruns before I went to school in high school.

As far as what I dug back in the day, well, the list is long. And, a lot like what I dig on TV today, it was subject to change as new seasons rolled out. Although there were definitely classics.

Rather than just produce a list of every cartoon I ever liked, I'll do it in blocks.

Hannah-Barbera (the best) - all of it from Deputy Dawg and Yogi Bear and everything in between to Space Ghost and that awesome cartoon with the Herculoids to The Jetsons
Rocky and Bullwinkle (I have all twelve volumes of the set on VHS and I still watch it)
Bugs Bunny and Friends
Stuff like The Smurfs and The Snorks
Ren and Stimpy (the early years)
Mighty Mouse and Under Dog
I'm a huge fan of The Powerpuff Girls
Tom and Jerry
The Archies

Stuff I never really dug
Speed Racer
Johnny Quest
He-Man

I'm sure I've left hundreds of things out of this list but it covers the broad strokes. You get the picture. The thing that really fries my ass though is that these companies (TBS, USA, etc.) obviously have the rights to and miles and miles of reels of the best cartoons ever created and they do nothing with them. What are they holding onto them for? And, more importantly, why are they holding onto them and not putting them out there for all of us to enjoy? That's my plea. Please, put the good shows back on television. It could help rejuvinate scripted programming on television, but that's another entry.