Woke up Wednesday morning to 10 inches of snow in the driveway. Many “back-saving” thanks to my neighbor Rick for helping me plow out so I could get to work!

Fortuantely, I live in Fishers and often take the Fishers bus to dowtown. In this kind of weather I am especially grateful as I let the great IndyGo drivers do the driving for me. As you can see from the picture on the left, I use the time to often do work or write this blog.

On the ride home, I tend to un-wind by watching DVDs on my laptop.

During Tuesday night’s especially long commute, I watched Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr. and Jack Black in “Tropic Thunder.”

OMG.

It is rude, crude…and hilarious! It is one of the funniest movies I have seen in a couple years. But a warning…it is NOT for folks easily offended. The whole cast is great. Jack Black…will do anything for a laugh. And Downey Jr., who got an Oscar nod for playing an Australian actor (that won’t drop character) playing a black man in a Viet Nam war movie is remarkable. Good stuff.

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Maybe not so good stuff is “Revolutionary Road.” A female co-worker warned me she thought “Road” was too dark, especially considering how it is being marketed as to moviegoers playing up the on-screen reunion of “Titanic’s” Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet.

Last Saturday night, my wife was having a girl’s night out. When she told me she and her friends were going to see “Road,” I warned her…

My wife’s review was similar. It was very dark, and kind of disturbing. The ending (which I will not reveal) left some question marks for her. But she thought DiCaprio and the actors were good, better than Winslet in her opinion.

Not sure she would recommend it, but like any good film, it did generate some good conversation.   

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MISC. NOTES

In March ABC is putting a new comedy block on Thursday nights, replacing “Ugly Betty” with “Samantha Who?” and a new show based on a web series called “In the Motherhood.”

ABC will also move “Scrubs” and a workplace comedy called “Better Off Ted” on Wednesday nights at 8pm.

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Could “V” be coming back? ABC has ordered a pilot based on the TV show from the 80s that aired on NBC about lizard like aliens landing on Earth and taking over.

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The much promoted DTV switch will now likely be delayed to June 12. Congress will vote on it this week.

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ANd speaking of digital TV, Channel 6 is looking better…especially if you are watching on standard definition. That’s because RTV 6 is now using a downconverted version of our HD signal on our analog signal! Let me know if you can see the difference.

Be careful driving! But enjoy the snow (I know I will get out into it with my kids!)

“American Idol” returned for its eighth season a couple weeks ago.

Currently the show is featuring their city auditions, where in between the true talent, the producers tend to feature some truly wacked out contestants. Sometimes, the crazier the better. (So far this year, Bikini Girl seems to have made the biggest impact.)

Well, this week the show’s judges get punked by talk show host Bonnie Hunt!

The above clip gives you a sneak peek of how the judges react to an unrecognizable Bonnie as “Kim,” a terrible, mouthy singer from Atlanta. Funny stuff.

Anytime you can leave Simon Cowell speechless is a moment to savor. You can see the whole clip this WEDNESDAY AT 10AM on RTV 6.

I love Bonnie Hunt and her style of humor. Her show has been renewed for a second season and continues to gain more and more viewers each week. 

If you have not seen it, do yourself a favor. It’s good stuff!

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George Clooney is returning to ER, at least for a quick scene or so in the show’s final season. The picture on the left proves it. It was taken by the folks at EXTRA and shows George in his ER scrubs.

Even though I haven’t seen ER in years, it’s pretty cool to hear Clooney’s making a return appearance. The show put him on the map, so to speak. It’s kinda nice to see the guy is taking a moment to basically return the favor to the show (and the fans.)

The final episode of “ER” is scheduled for April 2.

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Finally, I’ve had a few folks ask me about the Oscar nominations announced last week.

Overall, seems to be a decent list. But I get frustrated with Hollywood’s marketing ignorance sometimes. I know, I know, the Academy Awards are supposed to be about recognizing the best in filmmaking. I know it’s supposed to be about saluting outstanding achievement…but let’s be perfectly honest. These awards, like most awards, are all about MARKETING THE MOVIES! It’s about getting the movie going audience, YOU and ME excited about the MOVIES.

So I get frustrated when the Academy membership forgets to nominate movies that audiences actually see! In years past, at least ONE big successful, crowd-pleasing movie seem to find its way into the Best Picture race each year.

This year, two could have/should have made it into the BEST PICTURE race: WALL-E and THE DARK KNIGHT.

While WALL-E did get nominated for Best Animated Film, it would have been a helluva lot more interesting if it had competed in the big catagory. As for the DARK KNIGHT snub, I think Christopher Nolan’s dark take on Batman may have just been too successful for Academy tastes.

Too bad. Because alot of movie goers actually SAW the DARK KNIGHT. And if it was competing in the Best Picture catagory, it would have gotten alot of those casual movie goers to actually have a rooting interest in the Oscars this year…which would mean bigger ratings…AND MORE PEOPLE SEEING/GETTING EXPOSED TO ALL THOSE OTHER FILMS HOLLYWOOD WANTS TO GET OUT TO THE MASSES!

If you think I’m crazy, think about when TITANIC or LORD OF THE RINGS: RETURN OF THE KING won Best Picture. Ratings were huge those years because more Americans had a vested interest in those blockbusters!

At least Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie will make it interesting.

More to come on the Oscars.

After the remarkable inauguration on Tuesday, it seemed only appropriate to share this video that a friend told me about on YouTube. Someone took the time to recreate the opening of “The West Wing” with the new, real life characters in the White House.

Very cool!

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Did you see “Desperate Housewives” this past Sunday?

It was the 100th episode. And it was terrific. It showed us, the audience, how the housewives got to be the wonderful characters we’ve grown to love.

It was a great, bittersweet episode featuring a great guest turn by Beau Bridges.

If you missed the episode, make it a point to watch it on-line at the ABC video link at TheIndyChannel.com.

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You gotta love this.

ABC had a very cool ad for the season premiere of LOST on the front page of YouTube on Wednesday. It allowed you to sneak a peek at the fantastic season premiere. I watched it and could not believe how fast it flew by! Whew!

I think LOST is one of the best shows on television right now. In the online ad, there was a link available to a very funny Sawyer nick-name generator. On the show, Sawyer gives everyone a nickname, most of them not terribly flattering. (But they are hilarious!) So ABC created a generator that allows you to enter info about you that will generate a nickname for you.

So what would Sawyer call you? Click here to check it out for yourself.

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=82EDD56A0B1F6BAAIt’s a big week for TV.

Season Five of LOST debuts on Wednesday night on ABC and RTV 6. If you are new to LOST or even a seasoned viewer, you can catch up with a one hour primer beginning at 8pm followed by the 2 HOUR SEASON PREMIERE.

I came across this funny parody of LOST on JustForLaughs.com. It combines LOST with HEROES….using action figures. Funny stuff! Lots of episodes and worth a look! (The Sawyer doll’s comments/lines are GREAT!)

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ABC and RTV 6 are offering live coverage of the Inauguration of Barack Obama on Tuesday. Coverage kicks off with Good Morning, America at 7:00am. The live coverage of the Inauguration continues through the afternoon.

At 5PM, 6 NEWS anchor Todd Wallace reports on Hoosier families and guests live from Washington in a special expanded edition of 6 NEWS First at 5:00. ABC News World News will also expand with additional live coverage from 7:30 to 8pm.

Then in primetime, ABC News coverage continues with coverage of the Inauguration Balls. It wraps up with Nightline after 6 NEWS Nightcast.

Whew!

Should be a remarkable, historic day. Enjoy the festivities!

I have seen David Letterman is sad President Bush is leaving office.

Last week, during his monologue, he said after having Bush in office for the last eight years, his writers are now going to have to start writing comedy instead of relying on the President to provide it to them.

Tonight, one of Letterman’s running gags gets a big send off. Great moments in Presidential Speeches.

Enjoy the preview.

And stay warm this weekend!