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For once, it's not just me. A lot of things, both in cyberspace and in the real world, need my attention, so I have to make a couple of cuts. This is the last edition of Is it Just Me..., but the rest of the site is not going away. I'm active on a number of newsgroups and other discussion forums. I've been posting the Theme of the Week at the Opening Credits Squad for over five years now, but now I have a couple more regular duties, such as The Apprentice Certainty Contest. I also plan to do another for American Idol like I did last season, and I started writing recaps for the Around the Horn group this summer. (I'm no less surprised than anyone at how Woody Paige is now tied with Jay Mariotti for the all-time wins lead. When I started watching the show again last April, Jay was some ten wins ahead!) This has been my commentary space throughout the last four-plus years, even before blogs became all the rage, but I didn't have a lot to say here as of late, case in point the year that past between the previous two columns! I may continue my fall preview as an annual column here, but right now, IIJM is a victim of lack of interest.
This comes at a time where the old guard is fading away within the online game show communuity. Jay Lewis is ending 'Net Price is Right after 10 years, and TVGameShows.net is scaling back from a daily service to a weekly publication next week. There comes a time when things stop being fun, but sometimes there are others to pick up the torch, like Game Show News Net and news blog Buzzer!. I once tried my hand as a 'netgame host, but it never caught on.
Before I close up the column, there is a couple of things I have to get off my chest. I wish Fox would get the idea of moving the American Idol results show to Thursday out of their heads. Not even Idol can compete with Survivor or CSI, and nobody ever cares about anything but the last few minutes when Ryan says who's going home. And some may just look online for it anyway. Between this and the possibilty of the show losing Simon Cowell to a lawsuit, this may be Idol's farewell tour.
Speaking of lame ducks, I can't seem to figure out 7th Heaven. One source said last year was it, but it stayed. Then I say back in August it's not done, but a long run with a large cast on a network whose parent company is cutting costs in every division adds up to a show the network can no longer afford to produce. At least it has a chance to go out with closure and finality, something we rarely see nowadays.
At the other end the spectrum, what goes down in the books as the series finale of The Night Stalker was part one of what was supposed to be a two-part episode. Only three people watched, never to find out what happened in part two. But I called this train wreck right. After all, the original Kolchak last just one season, and its chief time slot rival Police Woman wasn't as dominant as CSI is today. It didn't work in 1974, so why would it work in 2005?
If there are TVs in heaven, new arrival Ralph Edwards will be watching ABC's upcoming revival of This is Your Life with Regis Philbin. With Ralph's son Gary overseeing the show, I cling to the hope it will bring some much-needed dignity to network primt time. Now that I said that, why is there a voice in my head telling me they'll be elements of Punk'd? Note to Team Alphabet: it didn't work when you tried that formula of Monday Night Football last year. (Remember "You've Been Sacked"?)
And finally, is it just me or is stopping the best thing about doing anything?
Of course, in the words of David Gates, goodbye doesn't mean forever. This column may be resurrected one day. But for now, thanks for reading.
Is it just me or can you see other columns here?
All opinions on this part of the website are mine and mine alone. If you don't agree with me, get your own website.
And now, back to the Game Show Warehouse!
