Twat wit
 

Here I am trying to play off your very painful insult so I wouldn't have to admit that I am always getting dropped.

Thanks, a lot.

Twat wit
 

Yes, but look at this way, when they drop you they lose the chance to ride behind you and check out your ravable ass. So who's the real loser?

It's not just a "very special episode", it's a "very special series". Wow, that's gonna suck. Should be nearly as creepy as the "Mr. Carlson from WKRP getting frisky with Arnold" episode of Diff'rent Strokes, the most creepy "very special episode" ever. It could suck worse, though...

(Excessive morbidity warning) In true "Three's Company" style, they could create some miscommunication regarding the body and have Dad's corpse flip out of the casket and do a pratfall over the couch... With Dad gone, there's no one to protect the daughters from the horde of horny teenage boys... High comedy.

I give it maybe to the end of this season on sympathy.

I give it 1 bad episode (post mortem). Critics will probably wait until second show before slamming it as a stupid idea and network will finally cancel to put on new reality show, my bachelor dog.

I've been reading for a few weeks. Didn't many of you say snuff films didn't really exist?

College Question
 

Thanks for all the suggestions, especially those about finding out why she failed those classes.

The junior year failure is easily explained. Last September she had a near fatal car crash in which she was driving. She and my nephew walked away with scrapes and bruises because they were in a van. The driver of the other car (a compact) nearly died, was in intensive care for a couple months and had to wear a "halo" neck brace for several more months. She was also a student at my niece's high school and my niece was nearly suicidal with guilt. I'm surprised she didn't have more trouble with school last year.

I'm not sure what happened her sophomore year but I know she's not lazy. I wonder if she isn't a bit ADD/ADHD and can only concentrate on things that really interest her. I should find out if the school counselor can administer the tests that might show if she has a learning disability of some kind.

Taking a year off to mature is also probably a good idea. In a lot of ways she is very young for her age.

I think that award was previously given to the "raped by a clown" episode of Little House on the Prairie.

Which is really something, considering that the show also had "very special episodes" in which (1) a chick goes blind; (2) her husband is blind, then regains his sight, then goes blind again; (3) the blind chick's baby dies in a fire at the school for the blind; (4) another dude gets hooked on morphine, (5) the family opens a restaurant; (6) that Nellie bitch marries a MOT; (7) Shannen Doherty joins the cast; and (8) Jason Bateman joins the cast. That's a whole lot of creepy very special episodes, a record that remained unsurpassed until "Punky Brewster" took that shizznit to a whole new level.

Ritter 'snuffed'?
 

atticus
Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
ABC's lineup was such a joke, no one would have bothered poisoning Ritter.

Brought to you by the dream makers -- at Disney!

The Case Against Rock and Roll Church
 

No it's not. And that's OK. Not everything has to be exciting.

Actually "rock and roll church" was my parents' church. I grew up in California and had to contend with rock music at church services, including frequent use of mandolins and songs from "Godspell" and "Jesus Christ Superstar." It sucks. All of it sucks. Allow me to explain.

Western Culture began with the Christian church. This isn't a Catholic versus Protestant thing. Both sides of the schism contributed. Classical music began with Gregorian chant and reached an apex with Bach et. al. The greatest composers in human history wrote pieces for the liturgy. That we would now substitute Andrew Lloyd Webster for them is a travesty more blasphemous than filming The World's Biggest Italian Gangbang in the Vatican.

Let's not forget the second great Western musical tradition. You like hip hop, rock 'n roll, soul, R&B, or jazz? Well they're all indebted to gospel. From Sam Cooke to James Brown to Aretha Franklin, they learned to sing in church. Not "rock and roll church." Church.

If you're bored with your mainline whitebread church, get yourself to a black church. Could be a black Baptist church, could be a black Catholic church. You won't be bored at a black church service. You could even get paid for it. Either tradition has power and grandeur. Those are fine substitutes for interpretive dance and "excitement."

edited to add link

College Question
 

Fugee, since I excoriated your "rock and roll" church, I feel the need to provide some positive advice to your niece.

The best thing she can do to ensure she gets into a top college is to ace the SAT I and II. It doesn't sound like her parents are pushing her, and if she's not reading those test-prep books, she's not going to get her highest possible score.

I'd tell her to take Kaplan or Princeton Review (Full Disclosure: I taught that stuff right before/during law school until the 2L summer checks arrived), but you only see big increases if you study out of class. She doesn't sound motivated enough to do that.

Here's my best suggestion: find someone in her chosen profession to spend half an hour with her. Have them tell her (1) what they had to do to get there, (2) what life is like for them now. That will either (1) drive her to succeed, or (2) drive her off the high-pressure professional track for good.

One of the benefits of going to a state school is that you get to see all of the people who wanted to be veterinarians change their majors after first semester because they discover how hard college-level biology can be and they hear about what students do in their first vet lab session.

I assume you've eliminated the "Love Boat" from this competition, perhaps as having emeritis status? Doc romances alone could beat your Little House list.

You just can't make this stuff up
 

For all of you who appreciate irony, a followup on the Amish Tomato Massacre.

Suspect was friend of family. He used to take the victim out target shooting. He was arrested after leaving the hospital where he was treated after suffering a heart attack days after the incident.

Link to story below.

http://www.cleveland.com/newsflash/n...newsflash-ohio

sf

A Very Special John Ritter . . . Special
 

Did anyone watch this Diane Sawyer thing last night? Why was the Fonz on it so much? He was just guest-starring on the show. Is Henry hoping that they do one for him when he slips the mortal coil? I think he better find himself a better rebound vehicle than producing Hollywood Squares. And the blonde looked awful. Is Tammy Faye the way that you mourn?

I thought that Suzanne Sommers HATED Ritter for not supporting her during the 3s Company blowout [hey, I watched the E! Behind the Scenes Special] Now suddenly she says they "made up" a few months ago???? They were going to "do a project together." Yeah right.

I don't recall this much hooplah for Redd Foxx when he bought the ticket during his return tv show (something like the Royals? don't remember). And what about Freddie Prinz (Prince? Prinze?) I don't remember the cast members sitting around waxxing nostalgic about him after he blew his brains out.

Finally, what about the best dad who died in a series ever??? Dolph Sweet??????? Did Chief Kanisky die in the middle of that classic sit-com? No big whoop-de-doo for him.

oh well. I'll probably watch that 8 simple rules show now just to seek what a disaster it will be.

aV

A Very Special John Ritter . . . Special
 

I missed the show, but a few comments. The Fonz was cool. Diane Sawyer is not cool. The Fonz was probably trying to help Diane with her coolness factor. Either that, or he wanted to show he wasn't dead and was available to work.

I don't think the Suzanne Sommers thing was bullshit, except maybe the comment about doing a project together. I seem to recall an interview sometime last year with her about the time of the Three's Company behind the scenes movie that they were promoting where she said that after a number of years where they didn't speak, Ritter contacted her when she was fighting cancer and kind of patched things up.

As far as Redd Foxx and Freddie Prinze, I seem to recall quite a bit of reminiscing by co-stars, tributes, etc., after they died. The shelf life on this type of thing is fairly short. Hell, even Bob Hope's tributes lasted less than a week and he had a much longer career run than the people you mention. Though that might be explained more readily by the fact that most of Hope's contemporaries were already dead.

As far as that other guy goes, I have no idea who you're talking about, so apparently there was no big whoop-ti-do for him.

My vote for biggest loss to a show in terms of an actor's death was the death of the much beloved Nicholas Colesanto who played Coach on Cheers.

sf