Aishwarya at some movie night at Cannes from http://www.aishwarya-forever.com

I don’t think gowns look quite good on her. Is that lady her mom?

From some examples in recent history I have concluded that sitcoms work well only with ensemble casts, and have a tendency to not hold their own with one or two guys running the show.

Seinfeld is the biggest example proving my theory. Each character was funny, but only in conjunction with the rest of the crew. George saying ‘She showed me the finger’ would not be funny if he was not talking to Elaine and Jerry. Kramer’s wild ideas would have no bearing if George and/or Newman were not listening to him.

Friends is another good example. Joey on the other hand proves that a single funny guy cannot run the show.

I thought about this when I was thinking about what I really liked about Raymond. And it was truly the interactions among the different characters. Ray and Debra, Debra and Marie, Marie and Frank, Ray and Rob, Ray and his friends, all of those made it so funny.

Scrubs is another ensemble cast sitcom which is quite funny, but is not getting the exposure it deserves.

Wonder what’s next in the line to keep me interested…

The department has bought some bulk tickets at a local theater and we are going to go tomorrow at 12.30!

First day, almost-first show!

Am excited….

There is a nice, short-and-sweet piece on winsupersite about the tecnical comparison between XBOX and PS3.

Looks like Sony is slightly ahead of Microsoft, at this point.

I like the backward-compatibility issue more than anything else.

I think I know who the anonymous comments are from, but even though I am highly tempted to respond to them directly, I will resist.

F-1 rivalry (or lack thereof last year) is as hot a topic as ‘Is Sachin worthy?’. And both those get me fired up.

Will wait for the Anon to identify herself (or himself, if I am wrong) and then continue the exciting argument.

I have so many points I want to talk about, but won’t. ;-)

Recently downloaded the newly released (in beta) Yahoo Music Engine.

I must say, it is quite a good tool. And add to it, the Yahoo Music Unlimited service, and you have unlimited access to about 1 million songs to listen to, anywhere! All for 5 bucks a month! And if you sign up for that plan, you can download a song only for 79 cents.

And access to Launchcast Plus, which is their premium radio service which lets you customize the station and of course skip unwanted songs. You can transfer all the free songgs you have, to pretty much any music player. You can read here on Ian C Rogers' blog, why you should or should not use YME.

I am currently using it for listening to Launchcast, and will wait till they come up with some plan to give me the Unlimited service for ‘free’ or with some other SBC/Yahoo DSL plan, and then sign up for it. Till then, I will enjoy the YME free :-)

Got an invite some time to join Yahoo 360 back and have started seeing more and more blogs on Yahoo 360. Seems interesting, but quite intimidating. There are a lot of things there which can be tweaked around and used, but I for one want to make a selective blog, and I have to be very careful with all the settings, so I have been quite turned off with it.

I have made two suggestions, which, if implemented, will make me really go there and use it:

1. Multiple blogs per yahoo ID. I don’t want to create multiple ID’s for multiple types of blogs - family blogs vs public blogs vs professional blogs, for example.
2. Multiple contributors per blog. If I want multiple people write to the same blog, I cannot do it right now. I want to create a ‘team blog’ for my family members, for example and this feature would help a lot.

Other than that, I am ready to get hooked to yahoo completely. I think their My Yahoo is awesome with the ability to pull in RSS feeds from external sources and such. I think their mail is one of the better free email services today. I think their new Music program (see another post) is pretty nifty too. Add to that a solid toolbar, a great messenger program, and you have a full suite of excellent products.

Happened to catch the series finale of Seinfeld, Friends, Frasier and now Raymond. Of course, inadvertently, also of American Dreams.

All of the series finales were a let down. In one way you’d want that the series finale has a lot of drama or a lot of humor or something, but typically, it is a mish-mash of everything and is preceded with all the sentimental stuff from the cast and the writers and the producers.

American Dreams on the other hand was different. No one knew that it could be the series finale, and hence the writers and the creator put in a lot of drama in it and it did leave a lot of open plotlines therein, to make it possible to come back the following season. So I am going to discount that show/series finale.

Now that I think about it, the one show where the series finale was not that bad, was Sex & The City.

But overall, series finales are best left for recordings or DVD’s.

Saw the finale. Felt a little sad. The Barones will not be back on Mondays. I guess I will have to feed on the re-runs earlier in the evenings.

In a lot of ways, the stories, like the writers and the cast members said, related to real life. There were things I have said and done which they showed Raymond say and do. And I could not stop the laughter for some of the stupid things that he does and I have done in the past.

Its true, like the wife says, I am a lot like Ray. Though I am not sure if I should feel good about that or not ;-)

“It just becomes, unfortunately, the contradiction of America, I
guess,” Reilly says. “People say they want quality, family-friendly
shows at 8:00 and yet you put them on and what they really want to
watch is ‘Desperate Housewives.’ Ultimately, we are in a business
here. We love the show… It just was not pulling the ratings to
really justify the cost of the show or to justify another year on the
schedule."

(Kevin Reilly, NBC President, about dropping American Dreams)

Meg and Chris rode off on the motorcycle and we’ll perhaps never know what happened next. (I say perhaps because I have heard rumors that Jonathan Prince may try selling the show to WB or such.)

NBC released its 2005-06 schedule and American Dreams was nowhere in it :-(

Sad day today.

—

Monday, May 16, 2005
NBC INTRODUCES SIX NEW PRIMETIME SERIES FOR 2005-06 FALL SCHEDULE WITH ACCENT ON FRESH FACES, INNOVATIVE CONCEPTS AND PROVEN RETURNING SERIES
Released by NBC


NBC INTRODUCES SIX NEW PRIMETIME SERIES FOR 2005-06 FALL SCHEDULE WITH ACCENT ON FRESH FACES, INNOVATIVE CONCEPTS AND PROVEN RETURNING SERIES

‘MY NAME IS EARL’ JOINS NBC’S COMEDY LINEUP; NEW DRAMAS ARE ‘E-RING,’ ‘FATHOM’ AND ‘INCONCEIVABLE’

‘THE APPRENTICE: MARTHA STEWART’ AND ‘THREE WISHES’ ARE NEW UNSCRIPTED SERIES

NEW YORK - May 16, 2005 - NBC is emphasizing originality and big ideas in its 2005-06 Fall primetime schedule with a lineup of three new drama series, one new comedy and two unscripted series - continuing its tradition of fresh faces and innovative concepts built on a strong foundation of quality returning series.

The annual program announcement was made today by Jeff Zucker, President, NBC Universal Television Group and Kevin Reilly, President, NBC Entertainment, before the advertising community, affiliates and press at Radio City Music Hall.

“We’re very excited and encouraged by the lineup we’re presenting today,” said Zucker. “I’m confident that we have addressed our schedule needs and will continue to excel in drawing the advertiser-friendly, upscale viewers who have come to appreciate NBC’s quality brand of programming.”

“NBC viewers will see fresh talent and bold, original concepts in our new series next year,” said Reilly, “Our goal is to create real excitement, especially at 8 p.m., which will pay dividends throughout each night. We’re eager to be number one again, and this freshman class, combined with NBC’s powerful core schedule and recent successes like “Medium,” “The Biggest Loser” and “The Office,” represent a major step toward getting there.”

Highlights of the 2005-06 season include the new dramas: “E-Ring” (Wednesdays, 9-10 p.m. ET), a suspenseful drama from standout producer Jerry Bruckheimer set inside the Pentagon that stars Benjamin Bratt (NBC’s “Law & Order”) and Dennis Hopper (“Speed”); “Fathom” (Mondays, 8-9 p.m. ET), an ambitious action-adventure about a mysterious new form of sea life that begins to appear in oceans all over the earth; and “Inconceivable” (Fridays, 10-11 p.m. ET), a serialized ensemble drama set inside a fertility clinic, starring Jonathan Cake (“Fallen”) and Ming-Na (NBC’s “ER”).

The new comedy being added in the fall is the smart, fresh “My Name Is Earl” (Tuesdays, 9-9:30 p.m. ET), starring Jason Lee (“Almost Famous”), as a young man who has taken one too many wrong turns on the highway of life but is now determined to make amends.

In keeping with NBC’s strategy of launching series all year long, additional new comedies for next season include “Four Kings,” from Emmy Award winners David Kohan and Max Mutchnick, the creators of “Will & Grace,” and “Thick and Thin,” from multi Emmy-Award-winning producer Lorne Michaels, and starring Jessica Capshaw (“The Practice”) as a once overweight woman who embarks on a new journey as a fit and newly single woman.

The fall lineup also includes two new unscripted series, “The Apprentice: Martha Stewart”) on Wednesdays (8-9 p.m. ET) and “Three Wishes” on Fridays (8-9 p.m. ET), hosted by popular recording artist Amy Grant.

Fan favorites “Scrubs” and “Fear Factor” will also return to the NBC schedule at some point next season.

Additional Fall schedule changes include the move of four-time Emmy winner “The West Wing” to Sundays (8-9 p.m. ET); and the return of the critically acclaimed freshman comedy “The Office” on Tuesdays (9:30-10 p.m. ET). “Dateline NBC” moves up an hour on Fridays (to 9-10 p.m. ET).

(Please see accompanying release for details of NBC’s longform programming for 2005-06).

Following is NBC’s primetime series schedule for the Fall 2005-06 season. Nightly strategy and show descriptions follow (all times are Eastern).

NBC PRIMETIME SCHEDULE FOR 2005-06

*New programs in CAPS (with the exception of “ER”)

MONDAY
8-9 p.m. “FATHOM”
9-10 p.m. “Las Vegas”
10-11 p.m. “Medium”

TUESDAY
8-9 p.m. “The Biggest Loser”
9-9:30 p.m. “MY NAME IS EARL”
9:30-10 p.m. “The Office”
10-11 p.m. “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit”

WEDNESDAY
8-9 p.m. “THE APPRENTICE: MARTHA STEWART”
9-10 p.m. “E-RING”
10-11 p.m. “Law & Order”

THURSDAY
8-8:30 p.m. “Joey”
8:30-9 p.m. “Will & Grace”
9-10 p.m. “The Apprentice”
10-11 p.m. “ER”

FRIDAY
8-9 p.m. “THREE WISHES”
9-10 p.m. “Dateline NBC” (new time period)
10-11 p.m. “INCONCEIVABLE”

SATURDAY
8-11 p.m. “NBC SATURDAY NIGHT MOVIE”

SUNDAY
7-8 p.m. “Dateline NBC”
8-9 p.m. “The West Wing” (new day and time)
9-10 p.m. “Law & Order: Criminal Intent”
10-11 p.m. “Crossing Jordan”

So it seems all the efforts so far have been successful in a way - the powers-that-be have not been able to dump the show yet. So please don’t question me as to why I have so many ‘last attempt’ requests. The thing is that because of all these efforts, the decision keeps getting pushed out, and this one looks like it is truly the last attempt.

The decision reportedly will be made on Monday, May 16.

Please send emails from all your email addresses, and fwd this message to everyone you know, and ask them to send the email from all their email addresses with the same exact subject and body.

Here it goes:

To: jeff.zucker@nbcuni.com
To: AmericanDreams@nbcuni.com

Subject:

ATTN: Mr. Zucker

Body:

Mr. Zucker, I am a loyal watcher of American Dreams. Please don’t go searching for viewers via new tv pilots. We’re here, and we’re already watching! Please keep our dreams alive, and find a place for “American Dreams” in NBC’s fall schedule.

Sincerely,

(your name here)

That’s it. It’s that simple!

Please do this for me, and pass it along to as many people as you can. I know, I will be sending at least 20 emails from various email addresses. :-)

I almost don’t want to admit it, but I saw an entire episode of Desperate Housewives last night, while I was working and the wife was watching the show.

I must say, now I understand why it is such a rage. The story is quite good, and there is enough ‘masala’ to keep people interested all the time.

And Teri Hatcher. Sigh.

Ever since we moved to cable, we have been enjoying the dual-tuner DVR. It is wonderful! If you think being able to record your stuff on a hard drive on a weekly basis is cool, you have no idea how cool it is to be able to record two shows showing at the same time!

No more missing Joey/Will & Grace because of The O.C. No more missing Scrubs because of According to Jim.

Nice. Don’t know how we can switch back to single-tuner, if the need arises :-)

Oh, and another cool feature with Comcast DVR is the ability (like TiVo) to record entire series, with only ‘first run’ episodes. So for example, since there was no ‘Still Standing’ today, the DVR did not record King of Queens at the 8pm time.

Verrrry cool!

It’s been such a long time since we saw movies - the move, the settling down, etc. took up all the free time.

Now there is a long list that we need to catch up on:

1. The Hitchhiker’s Guide
2. The Interpreter
3. XXX: State of the Union
4. Sahara
5. Monster-in-law
6. Kicking and Screaming
7. Fever Pitch
8. Guess Who
9. The Pacifier

and more.

Wonder when we’ll catch up. :-(

In a not-so-surprising result, Miami beat the Wizards by a large margin, even with Shaq and Wade not being at their best.

I think just like Miami/New Jersey this series is going to be a boring one too.

My picks:

Miami beats Washington in 4
Detroit beats Indiana in 6

In the Western Conference, on the other hand, both series are going to be exciting.

San Antonio will beat Seattle in 6
Phoenix will beat Dallas in 7

Went with a couple of friends to watch the Dallas/Houston Game 7. Just like it has happened when I plan big time to watch a game of cricket featuring the Indian team (India loses big time), my team Houston sucked big time and lost by 40.

FORTY! Unbelievable. They were slow, leathargic, and did not shoot at all. Yao missed a dunk from under the basket and T-Mac kept missing easy layups.

You know Houston is not going to have a good day when T-Mac cannot make his money shots. And Game 7 was not a good time for him to have a bad day, along with ALL of the other Rockets.

Anyway, Dallas/Phoenix will be a good series too. So looking forward to it.

Read today that Mohinder Amarnath and Sandeep Patil are in line to replace John Wright as the coach of the Indian cricket team. Not sure if going to an Indian as a coach is such a great idea.

It is sad, but I think the Indians are probably more disciplined with a foreigner rather than with an Indian. Even though Mohinder may be a great coach, and this probably applies to Patil too, they are probably better at coaching a team that is hungry to learn from them. Someone like Kenya was perfect for Patil. Someone like Bangladesh was perfect for Amarnath.

But I also think that this is just a show. To pacify the Indian public that it is not only foreigners in consideration, but Indians are also being looked at. I think the job is going to go to Greg.

And why was Dean Jones dropped out?

It was another sad day for Michael Schumacher at the Spanish GP. He was coming back in the race, especially after the second pit stop, where he ended up 4th. But then I realized he was slowing down and then found out that he had a flat and had to come in to replace the tire.

That sucked. He got bumped down to 11th or whatever. And then, of course, there was another flat, and it was all over.

Sad.

A lot of the races have been like for Schumacher. A bad second round of qualifying caused him to lose 5 or so spots on the starting grid once, and a DNF earlier caused him to get 0 points in the race.

Plus, with all the pressure that follows a ‘defending champion’ and a completely dominant team like Ferrari, it got increasingly difficult for the team to do well. They were forced to push harder during qualifying to get a higher position on the grid, and made mistakes and ended up losing a lot of spots. And in today’s F-1 world, it is so difficult to pass, and especially this year, with so many good drivers and good cars, it is even more difficult.

I really do hope that Ferrari come back, because I love the team and would not like seeing them go down without a fight.

What a race by Raikkonen! He showed in Spain what he has been promising for a long time now. Fortunately for him, the McLaren car stayed steady for the entire race and he was able to maintain his commanding position throughout the race.

Now, the race for the championship is truly wide open. Michael Schumacher has said some kinda reconciliatory things though most of the headlines say that he is vowing to fight till the end. Is he going to continue if he does not win this year? Will he be better next year with the same rules? I don’t think its the rules that have caused his downfall this year, I think there are other reasons, mostly unfortunate circumstances, and pressure from the beginning, which I will discuss in a separate post.

But speaking of a wide open championship race, I almost started another long argument with a cuz on the phone. She almost suggested that I am anti-Schumacher because I like this season (we talked after Alonso had won 3 in a row) even though Alonso dominated, but I hated last season because Schumacher dominated.

I’d like to use this blog to make myself clear. I hated last season because typically Schumacher had no competition. He was getting poles as he wished, and he was leading races from start to finish, almost. McLaren was supposed to be the biggest competitor, especially after Kimi’s close race the previous year. But the car’s problems made McLaren totally non-competitive. Renault was also plagued by car problems, besides having young drivers who were more risk-takers than some other mature drivers. So that left BAR as the biggest competitor, and everyone knows that it is a joke.

But this year is different because even though Alonso has won three races in a row, none of them were truly ‘easy’ wins. Of course, none of them were ‘expected’. I told her that yes, if Alonso win 5 of the next 6 or 6 of the next 8, I will give up on this year too. But he has not truly dominated yet, and the Spanish GP proved that Kimi is a force to be reckoned with and with the Toyotas becoming consistent and Montoya coming back strong for McLaren, and Ferrari trying hard to claw back, it is a great and exciting time for formula 1 and F-1 fans right now.

So I hope everyone gets my point and understands how this year is more exciting than the last year.

Jason White finally gets a chance to play in the NFL. And what luck - he is going to play under Norm Chow at Tennessee, who masterminded an offense that destroyed his last game in college football.

Another aerial banner pic - courtesy www.adsthatfly.com

The aerial banner - picture courtesy www.adsthatfly.com

I think this is a big thing, though it is not making the news as much. When India can spend that much money to send a satellite for rural and urban planning and to map the entire nation down to 8-odd feet, it is something!

Update: You can make your donation to the cause at the American Dreams Fan Club site.

Check out this press release!

Fans Flying High to Support NBC’s “American Dreams”

Los Angeles, CA – May 3, 2005 - On Wednesday, May 4, 2005, fans of the NBC drama “American Dreams” will be demonstrating their passion for the show by flying an aerial ad above NBC Studios Burbank. NBC will be deciding this week whether or not “American Dreams” will return in the fall. Fans are determined to make their voices heard regarding quality programming they can share with their families.

The coordinator of the campaign says, “I’ve had fans write to me from every demographic. A twelve year-old girl wrote to say that she watches it with her mother and grandmother. A father wrote to say it’s the one hour of television each week that his whole family enjoys together. Everyone who contacts me is distraught that the show they love may not come back next season. “American Dreams” sparks a unique passion in viewers. People who have never thought to write to a network to save a show have been writing, calling, and emailing NBC about this show. Watching “American Dreams” is not a passive experience, it makes people connect- both with the show and with each other.”

According to our government, Americans want to return to morals and values. According to the FCC, viewers want programming that is appropriate for the whole family. NBC achieves both of these goals with “American Dreams.” We think quality family programming is worth fighting for, and we hope you will help us.

Our aerial banner will be flying over NBC Studios Burbank, at 3000 West Alameda Ave. Burbank, CA 91523. It will fly for one hour beginning at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, May 4, 2005.

It ain’t over till it’s over, baby!