Prelude...To The Beginning?

Yow-ZA!

I was perusing my dashboard yesterday when I surprisingly discovered that I wrote a grand total of 3 posts for the month of December. A scary thought indeed, since it means that I'm having way more fun not blogging and trying to get my act together than I should be.

Or should I?

For those of you who might be wondering just where in the world of Carmen Sandiego I've been. Well, like the opening paragraph states, I've been having fun not blogging and trying to get my act together. And for you-know-what and giggles, I've been mostly absent from Facebook as well.

Work has basically become the wet skidmarks on the underwear of life (gross I know), and because of that, for the past two months I haven't had the urge to do any cyber-socializing. I mostly lurk on your blogs, comment once in a full moon and show up long enough on Facebook to cook a three minute egg. Beyond that. my down time has been spent either unwinding in front of the doofus tube frying what little common sense I have to a golden brown or chipping away at my novel re-write.

Annnnnd, a small large percentage of my downtime has been spent thinking about blogging in general and this blog in particular. An ungodly percentage. A percentage that boggles the mind. A percentage, that if truth be told, comes to the forefront whenever I sit down in front of this computer and hook-me-up to the Internet.

So.

Blogging is and always shall be, an integral part of who I am and what I've become. But, has it become something that has finally decided to ride off into the sunset to whistle Happy Trails?

That, my friends, is the question that inquiring minds want to know. And in the coming days, is what we'll try to supply a definitive answer to. In the meantime, check out this song that I heard on college radio the other day: Girl In A Country Song.

(c) 2016 BOOKS BY G.B. MILLER. All Rights Reserved.

Strange Presents, Strange Responses

One of my favorite memories involves my late father.

He did a lot of strange things during the Christmas holiday that to this day still brings a smile to my face. For example, every Christmas morning, we couldn't open our presents until he came down fully dressed, usually in some kind of solid color turtleneck and world's most hideous pair of plaid pants. Almost every conceivable color known to man were woven into these pants.

Another example would be his Christmas grab bag gift.

When I was growing up, my family often hosted the Math/Computer Sciences Dept. Christmas party. Lots of people, lots of food, lots of Christmas carols. The highlight of the festivities was the Christmas grab bag. Everyone, save the new staff member, chose a number and got a gift.

The new staff member, though, got my father's gift, which was the highlight of the grab bag.

Why, may you ask, was this the highlight? Because my father basically gave the present from the world down below. Almost to a capital T, the new employee was never clued in about my dad's gift, so when he/she received it, they initially wondered what all the hub-bub was.

Until they tried to open it.

Ya see, my dad used everything under the sun to wrap this (usually) small gift: multiple layers of wrapping paper, newspaper, scotch tape, string, and newspaper bundle straps (those plastic bands that keep newspaper bundles together). So quite often it would take the poor newbie about fifteen to twenty minutes to unwrap his gift.

Two And Done

Hiyas!

Somehow, what was supposed to be a short hiatus slowly turned into something a bit longer, and truth be told, showed no signs of abating. However, as most things go, so does this. Yesterday, I came up with an idea for a blog post. An idea that actually stuck around longer than the morning drive that it was created on. So, here it is, a nifty post on the fickleness of network t.v., circa the 1990's.

Back when I was Ms. Kitty's age, I used to watch network t.v. I know, it's hard to believe, but unlike today, in which the amount of current network {ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, CW (?), UPN (?)}t.v. shows that I've watched in the past several years you can count on one hand, I was a devotee of prime time. I always enjoyed discovering new t.v. shows to watch, especially niche shows.

What I mean by "niche" shows, are the ones that have a small cult following. Back then, network execs were more of a breed called "ratings obsessed numbnuts". Which means that if a t.v. show didn't get boffo ratings by the end of the 1st season, they would either cancel the show or tweak the crap out of it to fit a certain formula. Problem was, when they did that, the show ultimately jumped the shark, and was never to be heard from again.

For example, there were two t.v. shows that I'd discovered that absolutely rocked their first season. Problem was, they were a little on the dark side, and unlike today, in which most networks love shows that are a bit dark and realistic, back then the network dweebs didn't take kindly to that kind of drama. So they tweaked and forced them to jump the shark in the 2nd season.

Example #1: The John Larroquette Show. The show was about a recovering alcoholic who manages a big city bus station. Originally, the show was a bit dark, sort of like an unbalanced dramedy. But by the second season, it became more of an unbalanced comedy, and for me, ultimately lost me as a viewer. Somehow, this show lasted about 4 seasons, which with the amount of episodes it had (84), in today's world, would equal about 9.

Example #2: Gabriel's Fire. This show featured James Earl Jones as the lead. He played a cop who was released from prison and was hired by the lawyer who got him out to be a p.l. Again, this show was a very gritty drama from the get go, but like the first one, the ratings weren't there, so the network retooled it for the second season and turned into something more lighthearted. End result was that it become two and done, and done the hard way, as the 2nd season lasted only 12 episodes.

So, do you have any favorite niche t.v. shows, past or present, that jumped the shark due to the inability of network execs to leave well enough alone?

(c) 2015 BOOKS BY G.B. MILLER. All Rights Reserved.

I'll Be Back Soon

Hiyas!

Life, both personal and professional, along with the writing bug mentioned in last week's post, has sadly made blogging not a priority this week. I hope to be back here by the end of the week, although I will still stop by your blogs (need something to keep myself occupied in the morning before work and in the evening after work) to visit, lurk and/or comment.

Comments are off for this particular post, which is a rarity for this blog (can't remember the last time I did that). Have a good safe week everyone, and if I don't catch you on the flipside of your blog, I'll probably catch you on the flipside of Facebook (if you're a friend or follower of my author's page) or this Saturday here.

(c) 2015 BOOKS BY G.B. MILLER. All Rights Reserved.