Saturday, January 30, 2010

Jay Leno vs. Conan O'Brien

So who's side were you on? Back before NBC made changes to its late night line-up, both Conan and Jay were number one on their respective shows. More often than not, after the late local news was over, I'd keep it on the Tonight Show to watch Jay and listen to his jokes. It wasn't very often that I'd switch it over to Dave Letterman, unless that particular episode of the Tonight Show was one that I'd seen before. Nothing against Letterman, but sometimes his jokes become too repetitive. And I found that to be annoying. And a lot of times, I'd keep it on the Tonight Show because a majority of Jay's other skits I found to be enjoyable, too. As for Conan's show; I always watched it over the competition because Conan is just so darn funny. His jokes, his reaction to the audience, his awkward movements on stage, his skits; you name it. Back in 2004, when Jay Leno signed the rights away to hosting the Tonight Show, I thought it was the right thing to do. However, watching everything that has transpired within the past month, it's clearly obvious that was an ill-advised decision for not only the two comics, but for NBC.

I am wondering how people are reacting to Jay Leno's appearance on Oprah's show this past Thursday. I know I've read some criticism from columnists who write for certain newspapers. I didn't get to watch all of the interview, but saw the last half-hour of Oprah's show (not sure if the interview took up the entire hour or not). As for my reaction, I was a little put off by his comments. For one, he said the selfish thing he could've done was to walk away. And for one, he was looking out for his staff if he would've made the decision to walk because he didn't want to leave them on the street without a job. However, how can anyone think of that as being selfish? They work in Los Angeles afterall; I'm sure they could find other work. He signed an agreement in 2004 to walk away from the Tonight Show. He gave the reins of the show to Conan so he could succeed and for Jay to "retire." I know Jay and NBC made the agreement back then thinking he couldn't keep the title of being number one in late night going. But he remained number one that entire time which made the decision leaving the Tonight Show a difficult one for Jay.

I guess what I don't understand in all of this is why Jay ended up being so committed to NBC when he could've had his opportunities to walk away. Last year, with his reign on the Tonight Show nearing an end, he signed a deal to host his soon-to-be-cancelled primetime show. NBC signed Jay fearing he'd end up at a competiting network and start a new show there. Jay had his doubts a show at 10:00 PM would work. Yet, he went ahead and signed the deal. Right there, he could've demanded a release from the network to start his own show. I mean, he had his doubts, I'm sure other people involved with Jay had their doubts. He could've easily found a way to leave NBC and pursue other opportunities. The agreement back in 2004 only involved Conan taking over the Tonight Show from Jay, right? Then, when NBC decided to cancel Jay's 10:00 show and move him back to 11:35 and give him a half-hour show, again, another prime opportunity to walk away from the network. I wonder if Jay was waiting to see how Conan would react to moving back a half-hour to 12:05; whether he'd accept that compromise or not. What if Conan would've said yes to that, would that have caused Jay to walk away then? I have my doubts, because Jay seemed overly committed to NBC during this whole debacle. Even if it was only a half-hour show, he's still back in his old Tonight Show timeslot. In my opinion, Conan took the higher road in all of this and walked away from the Tonight Show, fearing the move of the show back a half-hour would damage the history of the institution. Honestly, it makes Conan look a heck of a lot better in all of this than Jay.

So who will I be watching March 1 when Jay Leno comes back to host the Tonight Show? I've contemplated switching over to Dave Letterman, but I might check out and watch all the hub-bub involving Jay's return. For all of these years, we've been comforted by Jay's jokes before we went to bed. I mean, he has portrayed himself as this blue collar, every-man, nice guy. However, this whole situation really taints his image. Obviously it was the network that put him in this position. Yet, don't you think it would've been incredibly easy for him to find another network to do his routine if he wanted to host a show that badly? I mean, Conan is going to get that same opportunity. It sounds like FOX is high on Conan's list, for one. And they've said they were always interested in getting back into the late night talk show circus. I believe this will hurt Jay for awhile, but I think he'll rebound over time. He'll likely regain his status as being number one in late night. However, once Conan comes back into the ring, you've got to believe many more people will flock over to his show as a way to stick it to the funny man with a big chin.

Friday, January 29, 2010

Small Town Shrinking

Back when I was a child growing up in my small town, there seemed to be more life within its boundaries. There were more businesses, more families, more kids; you name it, there was more. That's not to say those conditions no longer exist, but it's far less vibrant than what it once was. I can recall back to the days when I rode the school bus to and from school. I mean my town practically had a bus route all its own! Now they merely drive through, dropping off/picking up kids here and there. One stop in particular on one of the local streets, I remember there being easily ten or more kids there. I'd be surprised if there's two or three there now. Yes, it's a far cry from what it used to be. But honestly, it's a sign of the times.

On the business front, several prominent businesses shut down over the years within the village boundaries. The village used to be home to two separate sawmill operations. One of them shut down in the early 1990's for reasons unknown to the general public. One can speculate that they ran into financial difficulties. Another rumor that I heard was their employees were older and within "retirement" range. They had no one to pass the torch onto, so to speak, so they shut down. Whatever the case, that stretch of property remains run-down and vacant. The majority of the buildings on the property have fallen into disrepair and need to be leveled. The land has been up for sale for quite some time; but I honestly wonder who would buy it? The site needs extensive clean-up, as there is plenty of rotting wood on that property as well. And what could be put on that piece of land? I'm sure someone has the potential to really fix that area of town up. But it would take someone with money and a grand vision. Hopefully that happens sooner rather than later.

The other sawmill operation burned down in the early 1990's. I remember waking up one morning and driving to school. One of the first things I heard was that the sawmill had burned down. I honestly had no idea, and I lived probably a quarter-mile from the sawmill that burned! Needless to say, that sawmill was never rebuilt. That land also remains vacant except for one small building. It, too, is for sale and probably requires less amount of clean-up than the other former sawmill property. But who's to say this property won't sit for awhile just like the other sawmill property down the road.

Other businesses like an auto shop and an oil and gas distributor have shut down over the years, leaving some people needing to find work elsewhere. And I can tell you one thing, they surely couldn't find it in my small hometown. I would say that during the 1980's, the peak of the town's population was probably around 350 or so. You had families with three or more kids living in each home and that really drove up population. Nowadays, couples are having less kids or some people are occupying homes by themselves. You have less people living within the village, partly because there are no good paying jobs within the village limits. Most people that live there have to drive more than 20 miles to find good jobs, and even those are hard to come by these days. The Co-op store which has been in operation for many years has had its own struggles recently. There's no longer a gas station within the village like there had been for years. And there's less vehicular and pedestrian traffic within town. Most people are driving through, rather than stopping.

Needless to say, with our changing times, small towns are dealing with their own struggles in staying afloat in this economy. With less jobs and people facing an increasing cost of living, many people are having to move away to find work. And the sad part is for those that grew up within and around the small town where I lived, there's only a select few that still remain. Even I don't live there anymore; albeit I only moved 25 miles away so I still frequently visit the area. But there's hardly anything left there to hang onto. Yes, there are plenty of great memories, but the present and future of the area does not look promising. We need more jobs, for one thing. But I just don't see that happening for quite awhile. I don't see the town completely dying out, but it may never again be as vibrant as it was during the '80's.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Time to Start Blogging Again

Well, well, well. We are 21 days into the month of January and the new year, for that matter. And this is officially the first blog of the year. Its really been difficult getting a blog posting up lately, for some reason. I'm beginning to think about taking a break from blogging for awhile to refresh my batteries, if you will. I am not totally sold on that idea yet - so I'm not saying for sure if that'll happen. But writing lately has become more of a drag than being fun, so I think it might be the direction I may want to go. However, with the new season of American Idol starting, I don't know if I want to stop blogging at this time. If anything, I'll probably take a break during the summer. So in the meantime, I'll just keep plugging away. At this pace, seeing 10 blog postings in a month will really be an accomplishment for me. And honestly, that's kind of a sad statement for me because writing has always been a passion for me. But that fire recently has been diminished.

And what might really be shocking for those of you who follow my blog on a regular basis - I have yet to get really involved in this season of American Idol. This past week, I watched a few minutes of Wednesday's episode and I saw a few promising singers. But for some reason I just can't get hooked like I have in the past. Maybe I really do miss Paula Abdul more than I thought. I don't know, something just seems to be lacking this year and I'm hoping that once we get into the Hollywood Rounds, my perception of season nine will change. Maybe the show is getting too stale and it needs a dramatic change. Especially if even loyal viewers like me are beginning to tire of the show. But I will say this; the audition shows have never been a favorite of mine. I would just rather they show the better singers than the truly horrible singers. And I know they show the bad singers just for the entertainment value of things. But oftentimes, I find it to be distasteful. So that could be a large part of why I have had nothing to do with season nine so far. Like I said, hopefully that'll change because otherwise I won't be blogging about American Idol, either!

A few weekends back, I was really going to push out some high quality blogs for you. But then I came down with this horrible stomach flu. My nephew was over at my parents house when I showed up there. He was planning on spending the night and I showed up to spend a few days there, as well. So I got to spend some quality time with my nephew. The only thing is, none of us (my parents included) knew that he was going to be as sick as he was. I was playing Super Nintendo with my nephew when he started to get really tired. Eventually it got to the point where he was just watching me play and he soon fell asleep. So I shut off the game and left the room and sat with my parents in the living room. About an hour later, we heard a noise coming from the spare bedroom where my nephew was, but we really didn't thinking anything of it. Well, he was throwing up in bed. It ended up being an all-night affair for my mom, as my nephew was throwing up in bed, had diarrhea in bed, was running to the bathroom all night, and she had to wash his clothes many different times because he only brought a limited supply with him! I honestly felt really bad for my mom as she really shouldn't have had to deal with a sick grandson all night. But out of the kindness of her heart, she did. But my nephew was very sick and it was definitely a concern for all of us. Thankfully in the morning, he was a bit better. Unfortunately, his weekend stay and grandma and grandpa's was cut short by the flu.

Seeing that I was the last one to play with my nephew before he got sick, I was definitely concerned that I would come down with the illness. Seeing how sick my nephew got, I knew it wouldn't be just a walk in the park. About 24 hours after my nephew got sick, I started getting sick. My stomach started aching and I soon got nauseated. I wasn't the only one to get sick at that same time, either, as my dad came down with the flu as well. And yet, he still ventured into work that morning and suffered with it there. There was no way that I could make it into work in the condition that I was - so I called in sick. I was scheduled to work afternoon shift and if I really pushed myself, I probably could've made it. But I decided that the best course of action was to rest up and try again the next day. I still wasn't cured of the flu the next day either and I suffered from stomach pains at work. Gradually it got better and I finally gained my appetite back. It was definitely a struggle, though, and one illness I certainly don't want to catch again anytime soon.

So here's hoping for a stronger end of the month to my blogging activities here - although at this point, that's definitely a stretch. I'm still planning on bringing you a brand new Songs I Dig as well as recapping my top ten songs of 2009 (yes, I STILL have to do that). So it's not like I've ran out of things to talk about. But with being a new homeowner, I am a lot more busy than I was living in an apartment. For one, I have to shovel and snowblow my driveway after a storm! But hey, the positives certainly outweigh the negatives when it comes to home ownership. I am hoping to find more time within my schedule to blog and write more about the things that happen within my daily life and those newsworthy items that occur in the news. I mean, it's not like I lead that extremely busy of a life. But it's certainly more active than it once was. For those loyal readers of my blog, please continue to have patience while I struggle to post blogs. Hopefully we'll get to a point where these blogs aren't so spaced apart and more frequent again.