Saw “Indiana Jones” on Friday (see my thumbs up review in the previous post) I enjoyed a rain free “Indy 500″ in High Def on Sunday night. Then spent Monday evening watching a “Jon and Kate Plus 8″ marathon on TLC with my kids.

If you’ve never seen “Jon and Kate Plus 8,” it’s a documentary/reality show following Jon and Kate Gosselin and their eight kids. 

They had twin girls (now aged six.) Then had sextuplets! Eight kids total!

Each 30 minute show is brilliantly simple.

Just show what day to day life is like for parents trying to care for eight very young children. Potting training, mealtimes, traveling, sleeping…anything you do with so many kids is filled with drama (and lots of laughs, too.)

As a parent, my wife and I have shared stories with our friends. Jon and Kate are basically sharing their stories…times eight. 

The most interesting thing to me…to see how absolutely fascinated my kids were watching this show. They really related to it.

*****

I love “Lost.” 

And I can’t wait until Thursday night. 

ABC has scheduled a special all night “Lost” event, repeating last week’s episode at 8pm followed by the two hour season finale beginning at 9PM.

This is the best show on television. Period. 

Since the producers and ABC announced that the show would end in 2010, this show has gotten even better. Before it sometimes seemed like the show was making it up as it went along. Not anymore. It’s now obvious that the producers have the show’s storyline all mapped out. And man is it good. But for all the story pyrotechnics and logistic sleight of hand the production team has concocted, the show works because of the characters they have crafted over the past three seasons.

It’s like a really good novel. And I can’t wait till the next chapter.

*****

Sad news from Hollywood…Late word on Monday night that the director/sometime actor Sydney Pollack has passed away from cancer at the age of 73.

Pollack, born in Lafayette, Indiana, was one of the best. He directed “Tootsie,” “Out of Africa,”"The Way We Were” and dozens of other outstanding movies. He also acted in “Tootsie” (playing Dustin Hoffman’s agent) and most recently appeared opposite George Clooney in “Michael Clayton.”

I had the good fortune to see him at a Heartland Film Festival seminar a few years ago talking about his movies and the creative process. He truly was an outstanding filmmaker and storyteller. He’ll be missed.