Okay, I'll make this one short since my last post was kind of lengthy (okay, a bit of an understatement), but in terms of programming, what exactly does The-N think it's doing???

Is it just me, or has The-N opted for an awkward melange of middle-of-the-road programming and overly intense programming? Now, I'm not dissing Degrassi here. Degrassi is a nifty little show if you're into the whole in-your-face teen melodrama genre, but it seems odd how The-N has juxtaposed this with the bland flavor of such shows as South of Nowhere and Summerland (is this like OC meets One Tree Hill meets Everwood meets x,y,z other show that is basically the same thing?) Didn't Summerland come from the WB or something?? I thought it looked familiar....

Meanwhile, The-N has it in for Radio Free Roscoe, which has been subjected to a near-extinct level of syndication on the network; it airs only a few times per week and at ungodly hours in the morning at that...so either The-N doesn't have any consideration for the regular sleeping habits of RFR fans, or they figure that RFR fans will forget about the show to the same extent that their network has....either way, they are wrong.

It is unfortunate, but in my opinion, the only programs of interest on The-N anymore are O'Grady and the occasional Degrassi. Although, I am beginning to think that The-N has successfully milked the Degrassi cow for all it's worth at this point. Even if there is still another season to be aired before the primary cast members are all graduated, it feels as if the show has been so over-promoted and over-played that it has lost some of it's original kick.

What is happening with Degrassi seems sort of like what happens with daytime soap operas. Take NBC's daytime soap "Passions" for example. I was a big fan of this one from the start when it debuted on NBC's daytime lineup in 1999. However, within a few short years the show quickly became so tiring and involved (not to mention victimized by the replacement of key actors/actresses), that it began to lose its charm and appeal. While seven years ago I would have seriously fretted about missing an episode while I was at school, these days I don't even keep up with it. The characters and the storylines are pretty much played out, and it's current state dulls in comparison to what it was.

Degrassi hasn't necessarily dulled in plotlines, but in it's overall status as a significantly dominant presence on the network, it has become too comfortable with its reputation it seems.

I find the speculation about The-N nixing Radio Free Roscoe because of "image" or prerogative conflicts to be extremely interesting. Would The-N really make it a priority to cut programming that actually set out to convey to teens important messages about self-expression and independence? And would The-N really cut a show that accomplished this in a totally innovative, inspiring, and trendsetting way?? Could be. I'd hope that The-N wasn't that stupid, but it could be...

I myself, not having spent much time on RFR fan forums, am not entirely clear on The-N's motives or reasons for cutting the show, but if it was an image issue then I think The-N is trying to go for the exact opposite of what I originally thought it stood for...I used to consider Radio Free Roscoe to be The-N's best-kept secret, its own little gem of sorts, a beacon of the network's true mission. It wasn't mainstream, but it didn't need to be because its whole message was about exploring things that weren't mainstream, and that was part of what made it so unique and appealing. Was RFR just too different for The-N??

So I have to ask The-N, what has happened to its backing of shows such as RFR and shows like that neat summer series "Out There" from a few years back?....Where are the people who enjoyed this type of programming supposed to turn now? I thought The-N was all about providing an alternative to the mainstream/run-of-the-mill programming of the major networks. But it seems like it's time for an alternative to this "alternative" as well.... I just want to know what "image" The-N thinks it should be promoting, because I certainly can't tell these days.

I know that this is long over with, and that this has probably already been discussed to no end, but was it just me or was our friend Travis Strong seriously wronged at the end of the first season of Radio Free Roscoe? I was re-watching the tumultuous last three episodes of the first season in which the Trily drama erupted, and upon *seriously over-analyzing* the gang's situation I became suddenly aware of the fact that Travis got majorly jipped in that he was unfairly made to carry the brunt of the consequences of his kiss with one Lily Randall.

First of all, "The Awful Truth" and "All Or Nothing" both succeeded in wrongfully making Travis out to be the "bad guy" in this whole messy situation. Were the writers under the impression that we viewers wouldn't pick up on this and realize that the consequences of Travis and Lily's actions were unequally/unfairly distributed between the two??

I believe it all begins with Lily Randall, who was clearly the initiator of the aforementioned kiss. Now I can understand how someone might think that Travis was in the wrong, because while he didn't initiate the kiss he didn't exactly stop it either...and he knew he was with Audrey, and he knew that Ray had a thing for Lily. But still, it was Lily's bright idea to peck Travis on the cheek in expressing her appreciation of all his help and support of her music endeavors. In her defense, it can be said that she was after all an impulsive teenager who didn't anticipate that she would get swept up in it and end up smooching him on the lips...and he did have that certain unmistakably seductive quality about him....

Regardless, that does not excuse what she does next. Once Robbie opens the can of worms on the air after having wrongfully eavesdropped on a private conversation between Travis and Lily (which I will address later), Lily allows Travis to take the blame for something that technically was her fault. She kissed him, yet he took the blame for it by telling Ray that he kissed her. Meanwhile Lily continues to put Travis on the spot by demanding that he come up with a solution to the mess that she caused....what the hell is this?

Here you have Travis, a new import from Hong Kong who is just trying to get along in this town called Roscoe. And he meets this interesting group of kids whom he forms a kick-ass underground radio station with. But next thing he knows, the girl in the group is kissing him but then apparently everything becomes his fault...when he's never intentionally hurt anyone...If I were in his shoes, I would have said exactly the same thing he did when Lily asked him to say something -- nothing. How could she expect Travis to explain something that she started in the first place? Was Lily unaware that this whole situation was extremely confusing for him also?? He was the one risking three important friendships not to mention a previous relationship. But does Lily care about this? No, probably not..because Lily was too busy trying to decipher her own messed up feelings whilst dodging Audrey's suspicions, to even truthfully care about how it was affecting Travis. And while she did a lot of talking about owning up to it and discussing feelings (that whole "I don't care what you think, I care what you feel" line...yeah right), she did relatively little in terms of actually owning up to anything and basically bailed on him once the going got really tough and Robbie, Ray, and Audrey all got on his case. And what really gets me is that even Travis didn't realize what she was doing and continued to accept all the blame and finger-pointing that was being unfairly directed at him.

So even though it is kind of expected for Lily to pull a stunt like this (since as we learn later in the series, she can be rather self-centered at times, and she ends up messing Travis up yet again), I still have to blame her first for starting the conundrum that Travis is left in at this point.

Secondly, I blame Robbie for aggravating matters. Now the scene in "The Awful Truth" where Robbie is shown eavesdropping on a very private Trily conversation really gets my goose. First of all, Robbie was wrong for having eavesdropped. But more importantly, Robbie was wrong for having brought up Travis and Lily's personal business on the air and he was wrong for dragging Ray into the whole mess. We understand that Robbie is a man of the truth (or so he claims), and that he sometimes has anger management issues (torpedo rematch anyone?), but he still had no right to bring up something that should have been left for Travis and Lily to deal with by themselves. The last thing Travis and Lily needed was an angry Ray in the middle of everything, and that's exactly what Robbie got them by saying what he said during what I like to call the broadcast from hell.

In my opinion, Robbie should have kept his mouth shut. But no, he impulsively opens a big can of worms and causes everyone to storm off angrily, but then expects everyone to want to come back to the station to finish the broadcast???....I'm sorry, but was he kidding?! And for him to enforce in Ray's mind the idea that Travis was purposely trying to "snake" him was also not helpful. Robbie should have either gotten his facts straight with Lily and Travis before jumping to conclusions and telling Ray, or he should have just kept his mouth shut. I realize that he thought that he was doing the right thing in that it was only fair that Ray found out, but..he was wrong and that episode just served as a perfect example of Robbie showing a serious lack of good judgement.

Thirdly, I blame Ray. Now while Ray was depicted as a victim in the situation, the way he reacted to Lily was totally bogus. I'm glad that he gave Robbie a piece of his mind eventually, because let's face it...Robbie deserved to be told off by someone after what he did. But Lily, who was just as responsible (if not more responsible) for the kiss as Travis was, totally got off the hook with Ray...just because he liked her and in his eyes she could do no wrong. Gag me.

Lily has got to be the queen of messing with guys' heads only to turn around and go, "Oh, I'm sorry..did I do that? My bad.." and be on with her evil agenda, but then complain when they've wised up to her little antics and have moved on. Even though she's RFR's token girl next door, Lily is one of the most manipulative girls I've ever seen on television, ranking not too far behind Degrassi's Paige Michalchuk and RFR's very own Kim Carlisle (as sweet as we know Kim to be at heart, she's still a master manipulator)...and believe me..after having spent four years at an all-girls high school, I can identify a truly manipulative girl when I see one (believe it or not, Parker Haynes was pretty strategic in her manipulations too, but that's for another blog entry).

Even if it was subtle at times, Lily still had an evil streak about her that bore it's ugly teeth much more prominently in RFR's second season, but here...even though the writers don't directly point it out, you just know that she's aware that she's getting off pretty easy with Ray and Robbie in this whole situation most likely because: a) she's a girl, b) Ray adores her, c) she's already best friends with Ray and Robbie but knows that they are still leery of Travis since he's new, and d) technically she wasn't supposed to be aware at the time that Ray liked her...

For Travis' sake, none of this is fair. But I digress. Now, even though the final scene between Lily and Audrey is pretty sad for the fate of Lily and her only girlfriend at that time, it was actually somewhat satisfying since Lily had up until that point gotten off pretty easy. While we have Audrey to thank for someone finally holding Lily accountable for what happened, Audrey wasn't perfect herself. In fact, lastly I blame Audrey for the stress that Travis incurred during the final two episodes of the first season. In the final scene at Mickey's between Travis and Audrey, Audrey is well aware that something is on Travis' mind since he is acting strange. However, unlike a proper girlfriend who would actually try to understand what was troubling her boyfriend and then reasonably talk with him about it, Audrey chooses to put him on the spot yet again by giving him one of the most ridiculously executed ultimatums ever...you have 10 seconds to give me a reason to stay with you??? Come on Audrey, get real...Who says that??

Now you may think, "Well, Audrey did try to ask Travis what was going on, but he just pushed her away." I'm sorry, but blatantly confronting him about Lily in the cafeteria and then asking him to pick up some jock's milk carton on top of it, is hardly trying to understand what was going on with him. Audrey definitely scored a zero on the supportive girlfriend scale in that episode. She claimed that Travis was "hard to read", but what she obviously didn't understand is that when you are dating a guy like Travis Strong, you're going to encounter that a lot..especially when the guy is in the midst of an emotional crisis. I believe that Travis just needed time and space to sort his feelings out before he discussed them with Audrey, but she just wasn't patient enough to let him do that. And I don't blame Travis for not wanting to talk to her about it anyway.... because I mean, let's face it -- Audrey was scary.

So at that point, for poor Travis, not only are both Robbie and Ray under the mistaken impression that he was purposely trying to "snake" Ray, but Lily is giving him a hard time over his (understandable) inability to offer a solution to their "transgression of conduct parameters", and Audrey, his own girlfriend, is no more supportive since she is too busy suspecting foul play in their relationship to even listen to what he has to say...and people wonder why he blows up in the cafeteria and nearly punches Waller's lights out....not surprising, folks. Not surprising..

The writers effectively made Travis out to be your typical "troubled" youth, when really the kid was just stressed and confused and no one could quite understand why when it was all so painfully obvious. With Travis being new and constantly at risk for being relocated again, it was even more pertinent for him especially to develop consistent, supportive relationships. But these last three episodes seriously attempted to jeopardize his progress in accomplishing this. Although he eventually triumphed over what was a great test of his character, it is still pathetic when the one guy who needs a supportive social net the most is pretty much given the cold shoulder by everyone except Principal Waller. Now that's just sad...

What is even more pathetic on Robbie, Ray, and Lily's parts, is that although they were all pointing fingers at Travis, it was Travis who ultimately reminded them that the drama they were experiencing was not reminiscent of the spirit of RFR. It was Travis who finally stood up (okay well..sat down to intercept Cougar Radio's broadcast) to convince the trio not to give up on Radio Free Roscoe. This is pretty remarkable on Travis' behalf, seeing as he could have easily just said, "Screw this, I don't need this. I'm going to become a photographer for The Oracle.", like he had originally considered. It took a lot for him to rise above the petty drama and forgive and forget hard feelings for the good of the station.

So while I'm sorry this was such a hellas long post, and still say that the writers were wrong in thinking they could pull this one over on us, it is no longer stuck in my craw...and no, none of this is coming out of a Nathan Carter bias or anything of that sort. This is all purely objectively speaking. Of course. ^_~

Although this incredible piece of television ended last year, it is important not to forget about it because it was well....incredible..

Radio Free Roscoe not only sought to chronicle the lives of four teenagers who dared to find their voice over the airwaves, but also to give some much-needed air time to the up-and-coming indie music of the time. Just as Robbie, Travis, Lily, and Ray exposed RFR listeners to new music, the show itself more than adequately did this for viewers as well.

Radio Free Roscoe's dedication to providing an alternative to the mainstream was a vital part of the show's appeal, and nothing could better illustrate this than the music that was selected for each episode. A good portion of the music that was used in the series came out of the indie music scene in Canada, and boasts a ton of great tracks from bands that viewers (especially here in the U.S.) may have never discovered otherwise. For this we thank Radio Free Roscoe and its music supervisors (Chris Robinson, Ron Proulx, Andrea Higgins and that whole crew at Arpix Media) for their contribution to RFR and the indie bands that were represented throughout the series' run.

When I first developed an interest in RFR three years ago, I was primarily interested in learning more about the plot and its relation to each of the four main characters. But as I saw more and more episodes, I also developed a great liking for the music that was played as both transitional/background music on the show and as music played on air by the RFRers during their radio broadcasts.

Artists like Skye Sweetnam, for example, have undoubtedly benefited from their involvement with the series. Sweetnam, the young Canadian singer who provided vocals for the show's theme song (which is still one of the best theme songs on TV in my opinion), released her debut album "Noise From the Basement" in 2004. Having first heard her through Radio Free Roscoe, I was then able to check out some more of her music and thought it was pretty cool. I purchased her album when it came out and was not disappointed. I am sure that there were other RFR fans out there like myself, who soon became Skye fans as well and also bought her CD. So there is one great example of the good that Radio Free Roscoe has done for up-and-coming artists.

Also, other artists such as The Pettit Project, The 6ixty8ights, The Premiums, The Meligrove Band, and The Trews, have gained new fans from the live appearances that they made on the series as well as tracks of theirs that were played at various instances in the show. RFR fans continue to listen to music from the series not only because it brings back memories of our favorite scenes in RFR history, but also because the music is good. The music supervision team behind Radio Free Roscoe produced a soundtrack album, "Music From Radio Free Roscoe: Volume 1" for the very reason that the series had a great soundtrack, and that its fans were interested in hearing more of the music from the show. Owning this CD myself, I can honestly say that I love every track on it, and would be delighted should a second volume be produced.

I am hoping that the team at Arpix is still considering producing a second volume with more songs from the show, and if not perhaps RFR fans could petition. Even though RFR itself is no longer in production, we could totally keep it alive through the music. After all, the music was a huge part of the series and a huge part of what made it the show that RFR fans know and love. :)

Okay, I have to agree with Starlit when she told me that Zoey 101 was a Lizzie McGuire knock-off...because it is. I catched an episode last night and let me tell ya... First off, where does Zoey 101 think they can get off stealing Lizzie McGuire characters! You've got the ordinary yet extraordinary girl around whom the show revolves, the quirky guy best friend who ultimately wants to get with her, the boy-crazy wild child girl best friend who is always there for moral support, the annoying little brother who can't keep himself out of trouble, the mandatory geeky kid, and a slue of others who look like they were plucked out of the LM writers' character reject bucket. Now I don't mean to give this show such a scathing review..but ya know what..it deserves one. It just gets on my nerves! I don't have anything against Jamie Lynn personally (except the fact that she sings the theme song...do we really need another mini-Britney?). What I'm most angry about is Sean Flynn Amir's character Chase. Can someone say Gordo rip-off? Not only is the basic character idea stolen, but the execution is all wrong, and quite frankly Sean Flynn looks more like a mini-Dustin Diamond who seems rather out of place in Zoey's world, than an actually cute believable boy bud (originally portrayed by the wonderfully wonderful Mr. Adam Lamberg). Now I have no problem with Lizzie and Gordo becoming an item. But I caught an episode of Zoey 101 yesterday...and Zoey and Chase were about as awkward together as mayonnaise and peanut butter..don't ask me who is which, but seriously..would you eat anything containing that combination?? ...No. So why should you watch it? Zoey and Chase that is..not the mayonnaise and peanut butter... *coughs* In conclusion, Zoey 101 should be burned for trying to emmulate Lizzie's style. 'That's So Raven' has already covered that, but has kinda gotten away with it because Eddie has cornrows instead of a fro. I mean come on, what's next? Is Zoey going to start having a little cartoon alter-ego who pops up at opportune moments to make jokes and whatnot?? Are we gonna be subjected to Zoey and Chase kissing on a hotel balcony in Paris or something? Ew.

Okay, so I'm taking this senior writing course at my school and I've discovered that it takes me hours to produce one essay...ONE essay... But at school, we've done these essay exams where we have to do prewriting, write an essay, and revise it all in a half hour. So I've found that I do surprisingly well under pressure; on all of the essay exams I have finished on time, and the essays have been not too shabby for 30-minute essays. But I can't seem to put myself under that same pressure when I'm at home. The fact that I have hours to waste on this when I'm at home just ruins the "You have no time to slow-poke, just do it" spirit of the 30-minute essay. I tell myself that I've got 30 minutes to produce an essay, I'll even set a timer. But then I'll spend 15 minutes just thinking of a topic, another 15 minutes thinking of how I want to arrange my thoughts, and before I know it...my half hour is up and I haven't even started writing the actual draft. I HATE IT! Note to self: Stop trying to do 30-minute essays at home -- it's a waste of your time and it's darn near impossible...well for you at least. I guess it's good that I can't write a 30-minute essay at home...Mrs. Pennington says that she doesn't expect 30-minute essays to be very good because you're in a rush...I don't want my essays to be like that...the only reason why I want to do 30-minute essays at home is because the class ends in two days and I still have 3 essays to write, plus revisions to make for the portfolio...which is due in two days. (well technically I can turn it in next week but I want to turn it in in two days..I can't deal with this stuff anymore. Besides, I'm not always going to have an extra week to turn my stuff in so I should probably push myself to get it done.) *pulls hair out in massive clumps* This is really not a good time to have writer's block, let me tell ya...I wonder if Adam has ever written a 30-minute essay. I bet ya his was good..

*coughs*Starlit*coughs* LoL, :P Jk, jk...

Two words: robo-teeth. That is all. (Ok maybe that was one and a half words...either way, see for yourself if you haven't already - http://hilarypictures.org/data/media/377/hq08.jpg)