The Swing of things

Blog time has been trimmed lately due to my participation in a local play, but with a strong weekend (sellouts on Friday and Saturday - small theater seating a little over 100) we're making a strong showing at the halfway point in the run.

The timing of the show was great in that it didn't interrupt my guilty pleasure of the summer: "Swingtown." That's because CBS has canceled/put the show on hiatus/whatever and leaving us wondering what's going on.

I think they rewrote that "final" episode to serve as a wrap-up in case it doesn't continue. It seemed a little hastily put together.

A better cliffhanger version might have been:

- Janet inviting Henry to stay for a drink. Cut to...

- Bruce showing up at that downtown bar and making eye contact with Melinda. Cut to...

- Roger laying on the hotel bed. Cut to...

- Susan sitting in the car with a "What should I do?" look on her face. Cut to...

- Trina standing across the street from an abortion clinic with a "What should I do?" look on her face. Cut to...

- Tom seeing a dad and son get on an airplane and having a "flashback" to a bad childhood experience.

Instead (assuming the show returns) we'll have a season of:

- Bruce and Susan agonizing over divorce and kids, but getting back together;

- Roger trying to balance his attraction to Susan and trying to make do with Janet; - Trina's bulging belly, until she tragically loses the baby;

- and - how's this for a twist - Doug coming back from Guatemala to discovery Laurie is pregnant and someone else is the father.

Of course, the producers could go "Dallas" on us and pretend it was all a dream.

WWCG (What will Conkrite get?)

Tim Russert was a great journalist. I don't get a chance to watch TV news programs every Sunday, but when I do, it's "Meet the Press." He's a tough interview and doesn't go in for the screamfest that inundates the bulk of what passes for dialogue on the cable "news" networks.

That said, was Russert enough of a media icon to warrant the hours of coverage devoted by NBC and its army of cable networks? Let's hope they didn't do it for ratings.

Jim McCay, who was a one-man ESPN before ESPN was around, about a week earlier. He received scant notice, especially compared to Russert. This for a man who is synonymous with ABC's "Wide World of Sports" and ultimate sports/news crossover story of Israeli athletes being murdered at the 1972 Olympics in Munich.

My question is: If Russert deserves suspending programming for the night, special tributes on Saturday and Sunday, and a parade of remembrances on Monday, what will happening following the death of Walter Conkrite - the dean of TV journalists?

Peter Jennings, who was retired when he died, got a break-in regular coverage announcement and a two-hour prime time special. Tom Brokaw is retired and probably will get the same treatment. Dan Rather is still alive, but his career died after CBS gave him the boot.

News division occasionally do stories about the celebrity culture and ponder why America is so fascinated. The next time NBC does a story on that topic, it should first review it's own coverage on the death of a news employee.

'Swing'-ing into summer

The temperature is up here in the heartland - and it's not just the mercury.

CBS debuted "Swingtown" on Thursday night. The first show was enough to get me hooked to tune in next week. The cast looks like regular folks - good-looking regular folks is what I meant.

If you missed it, the first show went like this: Couple moves into upscale neighborhood, meets new neighbors (who opened the show by having a threesome). Uptight old neighbors drop by and attend a party in their friends' new neighborhood and are shocked at the drugs and sex. Show climaxes (snicker) with the couple and their new neighbors swapping parnters (the actual sex is not shown; it is network TV).

Other developments are the promiscuous daughter (will she and the teacher hook up?); the son and the wierd next-door neighbor girl (not sure what her deal is yet); and the wimpy kid of the uptight parents who got beat up by a girl.

It's set in Winnetka, Ill., an upscale Chicago suburb. The Chicago Tribune had a nice piece about the show's creator. Could be must-see TV for the summer.