December 17, 2000


      EIGHT DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS

  1. Bought that Chia Pet yet? This year they've got 'em in all shapes and sizes.
  2. Time's Person of the Year is George Bush. I guess Man of the Year is passe now.
  3. According to a CBS Sunday Morning piece, rocker Neil Young owns part of the Lionel toy train company. By the way, his latest concert album, Red Rock Volume 1 is out now on CD as well as on home video and DVD. (Can there be another format?)
  4. That promo picture for the Mel Gibson/Helen Hunt movie, What Women Want, makes him look like a smiling Ollie of Oliver and Hardy.
  5. COLD: Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh wants to die now. He doesn't want any more appeals and the execution date set. A man whose wife was killed said, "Tomorrow I'm going to ask about putting my name in the pot to be there to watch him die."
  6. BLUE DOG CHRISTMAS. It's a new book by Cajun artist George Rodrigue. The dog's the one with those piercing eyes staring right at you. "We, in turn, stare right back at him and this is communication. He asks us where he's going and what life's about and we ask the same questions looking at him," says Rodrigue.
  7. GOODBYE OLDSMOBILE. Those Olds 98s were some big cars.
  8. They don't say Oil of Olay anymore. Just Olay. Maybe the oil has a greasy connotation.
  9. On I'll Be Home For Christmas, when they say "please have snow and mistletoe and presents on the tree ..." What do they mean, presents on the tree? How would that work? (Maybe "under" the tree didn't fit right.)
  10. Somebody oughta yank that rug right off Trent Lott's head and put him in his place.
  11. FEEDBACK. A reader tried those boneless buffalo wings from Chili's and said they were good. "I don't have a bone to pick with them," he said. Ha Ha Ha.
  12. MasterCard had a chat program (mastercardchat.com) on December 13 with TV moms Florence Henderson and Jane Kaczmarek (Malcolm in the Middle). Those charge companies'll figure out a way to get everybody. They're advertising themselves as "A Home For The Holidays." Gimme a Break!
  13. Arthur Miller's head looks huge on television, like it's been squeezed out of his shirt collar.
  14. "The end of his journey is only the beginning," says a promo for Tom Hanks' Cast Away. Maybe that's why they show him back with his wife and you know he gets home safe in the previews.
  15. Barry White's voice is selling Dior perfume. They use his "I'm Gonna Love You Just A Little More Baby" hit from 1973.
  16. LISTEN. News4 weekend anchor Mil Arcega sounds just like weekday anchor Joe Krebs. Practically the same voice. (Reason he got the job?)
  17. ALSO GOING AWAY: Chalkboards. Now everybody uses those porcelain-looking dry-erase white boards. They use fumey markers. Are they better than chalk?
  18. MUST-SEE: Secretary of State Madeleine Albright grooving to Aretha's Respect in a United Nations TV spot. I didn't know the U.N. made commercials.
  19. More people watched Gore concede than Bush accept.
  20. Looks like Matt Drudge has failed up again. Let go from his ABC/Disney radio show, but now signed by the Premiere network. We're told they're big.
  21. They're advertising The Beatles "1" album on TV with an 800 number. (1-800-492-9600) That used to be a sign of cable TV. Selling more junk, some thought. But now it's crossed over and I guess it's okay. Must be money in it.
  22. The "L" in Jesse L. Jackson is for Louis. (Not sure of the correct spelling.) Tim Russert called him that in the opening for his Meet the Press show today.
  23. . . . ALSO THIS. During Jackson's appearance on Press, while he was talking there was a loud pop which almost sounded like it could've been some kind of gun blast. Jesse paused and looked suspicious. Russert quickly said it was a light bulb. That happens sometimes in TV studios. But Jesse's reaction was a very telling thing. For a split second it was a very almost ominous feeling.
  24. THEY'VE GOT IT ALL TIMED OUT. Charlie Gibson came on Thursday night in a promo for his and Diane Sawyer's upcoming newly-named PrimeTIME show and said, "In six minutes we'll bring you the story of conjoined twins ..." Now it's a countdown. Not later anymore. In six minutes, no less. Barring anything unforeseen I guess. Precise promo programming and positioning.
  25. Good that Today show producer Jeff Zucker will become NBC's top entertainment boss. He's got experience. More valid too than some upstart they drag over from "The WB" or UPN. He's an inside-the-company man and it might work.
  26. Sara Jessica Parker's hair's too light now that she's the front gal for L'Oreal. Looks unnatural. (Excuse me if I have the wrong hair-coloring company.)
  27. On Supreme Court Scramble Night, according to deputy campaign manager Mark Fabiani, Gore was flipping through the channels while all the reporters were trying to make hay out of the decision, and it was only after hearing Terry Moran's (ABC) explanation that the Gore team understood what was going on. So reported The New York Times.
  28. UNBELIEVABLE that the Cole destroyer that was attacked in the Middle East was towed all the way home by another ship. How heavy was it?
  29. That picture of lamb curry in The Post's Weekend section looked like a flattened bird on the highway.
  30. Jesse Jackson's graying at the temples. (Just For Men time?)
  31. PERSONALIZED NEWS. NBC Economic Reporter Mike Jensen is retiring and NBC News is promo-ing it in an upcoming piece about him, asking "How did he plan for the future?"
  32. ETERNAL QUESTION: Should I get a real tree this year or an artificial? I'm afraid with a real tree my cat Boots'll climb up in there and knock the thing down. Get his claws stuck in the bark or something.
  33. UH . . . Jingle Bells by The Jingle Cats from their Meowy Christmas tape. (1992)


rocci@roccifisch.com

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