Given the publicity and fallout (no pun intended) of the Boston advertisement for a Cartoon Network/Adult Swim cartoon, which was thought to be an incendiary device, I find it amazing, if not amusing, that we can find terror in things that are harmless, spending nearly a million dollars in just a few hours to prove it as such (the initial figure was $500,000 in funds spent on shutting down public roads, calling the bomb squad, etc, etc, etc; once the perpetrators were found to be in the employ of a big bucks television network, the figure went up over 50% over night! Go figure!).

Yet, we fail to spend money on the things that are truly terrible: gangs, poverty, global warming, health care, yadda, yadda, yadda.

Here's my take on the now defused (pardon the pun) situation: If the ads were put up with the proper licenses, zoning permits, etc, etc, etc, then the city has only itself to blame for not asking for a description of the ads. If that turns out to be the case, then I'm sure that all cities' advertising/display permit/zoning laws will eventually include greater restrictions and even ask for layouts, diagrams, pix, etc, in the future. As an aside, California wants to institute a "no-spanking" rule, so if Big Brother can find time to prosecute all would-be parental disciplinarians, we can certainly find time to prevent such ads from causing mass hysteria, with apologies to Orson Welles' War of the Worlds broadcast (can you imagine this scenario in California? A five year old calls the cops and reports that his parents have spanked him; the cops have no choice but to pull down the boy's pants - - in front of his humuliated parents, of course - - to see if there are any - - how shall I put it - - lasting impressions? The perfectly normal parents say that the boy was doing something that any reasonable adult would accept as being very, very, "wrong" and deserving of a harsh punishment (IMHO, too many people spare the rod; I truly believe that if gang members were treated more severely as youngsters, that they would have towed the line and never crossed it. Anyway, lacking hard evidence, the cops are forced to leave, but, thoughtfully, give the folks a lecture on the proper use of corporal punishment, and the kid a warning about not using 911 for something that he knows was wrong. So, the kid called 911 and the result was a waste of taxpayer money. And, of course, as soon as the cops leave, the parents beat the boy senseless for embarrassing them in front of their neighbors! Thank goodness we'll have such laws on the books! Hooray for politicians with time on their hands, and taxpayer money to spend!).

But, I digress! ;)

If the ads were placed without having received any such permissions, then the Steve (Apple Inc) Jobs look-alike along with the rastafarian version of alleged comic Bobcat Goldthwait (re: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,249780,00.html; photo below), and, especially, those who approved the idea at Turner Television, Adult Swim (who publicly apologized for the incident during one of their openning "bumps", so there's more than ample proof of complicity and responsibility for the city's attorneys), etc, deserve to be fined and/or put away for graffiti, vandalism, obscenity (the toon was flipping the finger), public endangerment, assault (not everyone thinks the finger is funny), wasting taxpayer money, etc, etc, etc.

It doesn't matter whether the ad was meant to cause such a ruckus (apparently, the same ad appeared in other major cities, without any such ado). It was perceived to be a threat - - if I were a terrorist, would I make a bomb look like one? No. I would hide it in some shape or form that could be displayed in plain sight, and hope that nobody notices. Unless, of course, I'm a marketer/advertiser for Turner Networks! Then, it's perfectly innocent, of course!

Follow-up: Jim Samples, Exec VP of Turner Networks, and Gen Mgr of subsidiary Cartoon Network, has resigned (after 13 years there, a little harsh, IMHO), and TN has agreed to pay Boston $2,000,000. No word on the two who were arrested for designing the ad.

In light of the Michael (Seinfeld's "Kramer") Richards' racial tirade hurled at a comedy club heckler, I'd like to relate experiences I have had at comedy venues.

The first was in the late 70's, at a small comedy club on Long Island, New York; my two friends and I went with our girlfriends. The show featured a then unknown, pre-Saturday Night Live, comedian named Eddie Murphy. This may shock you, but his act was totally clean; not a single "discouraging" word was heard! (Ah, the good old days!) However, in the mostly white, under 30, audience, on the house-left side, there was a group of clearly drunk teens (this was long before drunk driving was a major problem, and before the NY State drinking age was raised to 21). They frequently interrupted Murphy by saying, "We're from Bohemia!" (a small L.I. town) which had absolutely nothing to do with anything! At first, Murphy laughed with them (nobody else did!) and engaged them a little bit, then he tried to ignore them, and then, finally, he turned to them and said, "I wish you'd all just get in a car accident right now and die!" Needless to say, everyone was shocked! Never mind that we all agreed with Murphy! His loss of composure shut up the group, but soured the rest of his show for everyone. Afterwards, he sat down at a small table on the side with a young woman. He looked very upset, so, I approached him, leaned over, and said, "Don't let SOB's like that get to you." His girlfriend (?) smiled, and he patted me on the back, saying, "Thanks, man!", and that was the end of it. He never smiled after that incident, and left a few minutes later. Nobody thought Murphy was a racist or homicidal. He was simply a then-young comic who was harassed by rude audience members.

Another incident took place in the mid 80's, at a club in a sleepy, Massachusetts suburb (I can't remember the town or the club!). It was a small, all-purpose eatery (breakfast, lunch, dinner, Sunday brunch) which had a huge variety of entertainment throughout the week. My friend and I visited it during a comedy night, starring a mix of new, but somewhat experienced, and totally unknown, local and professional comedians. The only rule that the club had for comedians was no profanity, mostly because of the possibility of youngsters in the audience (that's a policy I applaud, regardless of the age of the audience! Good comics shouldn't need to curse every five seconds!). I don't recall any of the comics' names, but the first act was somewhat amusing, and, after a brief intermission, the second act came on. He was a heavy set black male, who came on to perfectly appropriate, polite, "we-don't-know-you-but-we'll-welcome-you", applause from the mostly white, but wide age range audience. At first, he seemed to be happy and smiled broadly as he went into the usual, "How's everybody?" shtick, but after a few, unbelievably lame, jokes, which got absolutely no reaction from the audience (not even a cough!), he stood stock still for at least half a minute, and then he stuck his tongue down his chin (not at anyone), and then started saying (not singing), "LA la . . .LA la". This went on for the rest of his set! We're talking nearly seven minutes of utter and completely bizarre behavior! Everyone looked at each other, equally mystified, waiting for something - - ANYthing! - - to happen, as if it were a prelude to a Twilight Zone episode, but, unfortunately, nothing of consequenceoccurred. There were two high school girls sitting closest to the alleged comic, who were either totally embarrassed, or utterly enthralled with the tongue-not-in-cheek act, to the point that they giggled (not laughed) through the rest of his. . . well, whatever you want to call it; it couldn't be an act, and it certainly wasn't comedy! When his time was up (a guy in the back flashed a dim light to warn comics that they had less than a minute to finish), he finally stuck his tongue back in his mouth (yes, he kept it out the ENTIRE time - - amazingly, he didn't drool once!), and said, half-heartedly, "You've been great," and walked to the house left side, where we could see the other five or so comics waiting in the wings, quickly get out of his way, presumably not to be infected by whatever he had! The rest of the show was okay, but forgettable. If anyone deserved heckling, it was this tongue guy, who either lost his train of thought or his nerve. Regardless, he was treated exceptionally well, all things considered, and he had only himself to blame for his meltdown.

No other comedy shows I've seen went as badly as the above, regardless of their setting. I saw Ellen DeGeneres, long before she became famous, and knew that she was headed for fame and fortune. I saw Steve Martin in concert, just after his "King Tut" song hit the airwaves (as an aside, my buddies' two girlfriends dressed as "Coneheads", and approached Steve on stage (shockingly, there was no security at the college arena!) to huge applause, which Steve took all in stride (never mind that "Coneheads" had little to do with the comic)! He didn't even seem to mind them sharing the stage! But, after only fifteen seconds (which, BTW, seemed like an eternity to the three of us guys waiting to help the girls if something went awry), the girls lost their nerve and "Coneheaded" their way off-stage to more applause (the college audience was genuinely thrilled at seeing them, and may have even thought it was part of Steve's act!)).

I've seen many other, mostly lesser known acts by single comics, teams, and troupes, the vast majority of which were funny and went without incident, as they should, even after some heckling.

Although I've done some high school, college, and community theatre acting, as well as having appeared on professional stages as an extra, I would never have the guts to do a comedy sketch in front of an audience, no matter how small or well-behaved. As such, I truly respect those who give it a try, even if they bomb!

Nobody minds an intelligent heckler (yes, there is such a thing!), but drunks and attention seekers should be thrown out (the same goes for loonies at sports events; no warnings; just toss 'em). It is said that comics need to learn how to handle hecklers, but, IMHO, the only people who need to "learn" anything are the trouble makers.

Having watched the videos of Richards' tirade, I certainly don't condone what Richards did, but I can't condemn him, either. He was simply out of his element, and didn't know how to handle the situation.

There are lots of other things in this world that need our attention; this incident isn't one of them.

UPDATE: Please click here to read my take on the Rosie O'Donnell Chinese Affair.

Quite some time ago, it occurred to me that I tend to like shows that have good theme songs (usually with catchy riffs).

Shows that I like that have good themes in no particular order:

1) "Star Trek - The Original Series", but not the new DVD version, which, IMHO, is out-of-sync with the "whoosh" heard over the credits, and the new woman's vocalizations are too breath-y.

2) Disney's "Kim Possible" - great beat and lyrics!

3) "Magnum PI" - jazzy, electric; really moves!

4) "The West Wing" - excellent lead-in with the drum tattoo through the full-theme's orchestration.

It's impossible to list shows that I don't like solely because of bad themes, because I don't pick shows just because of the music! For example, I like the 2nd season of Naruto, but hate the new version of the theme song which has a male Japanese scream at us (a subtitled translation might have helped!); not that I was thrilled with the first season's theme music!

Also, I don't count shows that use 70's and 80's music, since those are just rip-offs, even though they may be a perfect match to the show's overall niche (e.g., The Who's "Who are you?" in "CSI", which, BTW, I don't watch, or Earth, Wind and Fire's "Hearts Afire" in the eponymous show which starred Markie Post and the late John Ritter, which I also never watched).

So, why is it so hard for all shows to come up with great theme songs?
And why do some shows feel it necessary to muck with success?
(i.e., "Star Trek: Enterprise" using peculiar lyrics for its theme).

I also wonder about NCIS, which is produced by Donald Bellisario, who also worked on Magnum PI. If you're familiar with the electric, fast-paced theme of MPI, then you may find it very interesting that NCIS has virtually the same jazzy rhythm and staccato beat; the music is different to the ear, at first, but if you play them at the same time (as I did), you may be surprised at their similarities!

http://www.tv.com/avatar-the-last-airbender/show/28841/avatar-song-andquothello-dai-li!andquot/topic/13281-613270/msgs.html#id5586291

Over the years, I have noted that many animated shows have been using the interaction of adult characters with their younger charges, in a manner that most people would find offensive, were it to happen in real life.

For example, the "Beetlejuice" animated series featured a young girl befriending the older, zombie-like, magical, eponymous character (despite the fact that the movie with the same name had them as enemies!). Would you want your daughter spending time with an older boy or man? I don't think so!

"Yugioh" had a young boy "possessed" by the spirit of an Egyptian Pharaoh. Never mind that the spirit was the embodiment of all that is "good", how would most people react if you told them - - without mentioning the show - - that a man had taken over the body of a boy?

"Naruto" has supposedly mature, intelligent, senseis watching from a hiding place as girls bathe. This might have been "cute" had they not stretched it out for many episodes. The lead character is forced to use his shape-shifting abilities to turn into a pretty, blond girl, in order to distract his sensei long enough for him to teach him a new ninja lesson. This same sensei has punched Naruto to unconsciousness, and thrown him off a cliff (suffice it to say that, at least for the purposes of the show, it was all for a "good" reason). So, we have old, violent voyeurs teaching a young boy how to succeed in the world. Great . . . just great.

Having said all this, I actually like all these shows! But, what does it say about our society as a whole that we allow children to be shown such base aspects? Is the argument that we are inuring them toward what they are probably already seeing on the internet, media, schools, etc? Sad, indeed!

FOLLOW-UP: On more than one episode, the directors of "Bleach" (Saturday nights on Cartoon Network) have seen fit to allow the male characters to look under girls' skirts; sometimes on purpose, sometimes by accident. This includes the closet-pedophilic father of two young girls (the older daughter often punches the father for doing so, but I'm not fond of seeing familial violence, either). This may be be "normal" for Japanese society, but, you'd think that as their women are becoming more independent, and entering the once male-only corporate bastions, they would be more sensitive about showing such lascivious behavior.

I would love to know why it is that stations feel obligated to take up 20% or more of the visible space to tell me what I'm watching!!!

I wouldn't mind if it took up only the very bottom and maybe in "see through" letters, but it is very annoying! I was watching one show, a mystery, where an important clue was about to be shown, when, lo and behold, it disappeared beneath such a banner telling me the name of the show I was currently watching! Worse, it disappeared along with the clue! This is not only incredibly annoying, but it is completely unnecessary! (I also find it annoying when the banners tell me that a storm is on the way; what good does that do me? I'm already safe at home TRYING to watch TV! And, have you ever noticed that the degree of the storm is inversely proportional to the hype? But I digress . . . )

Worse (depending on your point-of-view), when the show ends, sometimes I want to see who played what character, so I anticipate reading the credits (yes, there ARE some of us who do so!), only to find that they are squashed to illegibility to make room for (usually) a programming announcement. I've worked on the periphery of stage and screen, and I always thought that there were union rules about credits being clearly displayed (would YOU want to be a new actor, trying to prove to your friends that it was you under that make-up or costume, only to find that your credit was completely invisible to viewers?). Regardless, it is annoying (to me, at least)! It even happens on PBS!

I might understand if the banner or squashing were used to show a commercial (I'm sure TV can use all the revenue it can get!), but to display such things pointlessly is ridiculous!

FOLLOW-UP: They are now including annoying sounds with the annoying visuals! Why do they think so little of their own programming that they insist on drowning them out with nonsense???

FOLLOW-UP: In the Comedy Central animated show, "Drawn Together", the Asian character, Ling-Ling, always speaks in what I presume is real Japanese (possibly, Mock-Japanese, a la the Muppets' Swedish Chef's Mock-Swedish?) and usually has subtitles for us to read. In one episode, Ling-Ling's words are overwritten by an advertisement (referred to as a "bump" or "crawl" in the business), for that network's "The Daily Show". I was really irked that I couldn't read what Ling-Ling said, but then broke into convulsive laughter when the characters said something like, "Oooh, I like 'The Daily Show' . . . good to know!" In other words, they were satirizing the onslaught of such annoying promotional gimmicks, per my description, above! Hysterical! (now, if they would just stop doing it!!!!)