"Family" Fridays: The New Daughters of Joshua Cabe (1976)

 If you've seen the first two "Joshua Cabe" movies on Wild West Wednesdays, you have an idea about what to expect in the conclusion of Aaron Spelling's trilogy.

John McIntire (ex-Wagon Train) becomes the 3rd actor to essay the role of Cabe, after Buddy Ebsen & Dan Dailey. Jack Elam returns as Bitterroot, but we again have three new ladies as the "daughters", including Renne Jarrett, who appeared in quite a few primetime shows in guest roles in the 70's, and Louise "Liberty" Williams, who'd previously appeared on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Chico & The Man, & Adam-12 in the previous three years.

The plot: As the film begins, Cabe is an acting sheriff, but trouble arises when a failed business deal leads to trouble. Joel Fabiani (ex-Department S) and Larry Hovis (ex-Hogan's Heroes) turn up, as does Randall Carver, later of Taxi, who'd previously appeared in the last "Cabe" film.

What Spelling was hoping for was to turn this into a regular series, but Westerns as a genre were moving toward Boot Hill.

Next week on Wild West Wednesdays: Law of The Plainsman, with Michael Ansara, and on Family Fridays, it's father & son crime drama on The Defenders, with EG Marshall & Robert Reed.

Notes from around town

 A couple of years ago, the owners of La Capital Tacos on Ferry Street acquired the property upon which the long defunct Troy Pork Store stood. Not long after, they set up an outdoor dining space behind the building.

Now, pending approval from the city planning commission, La Capital plans to have Troy Pork demolished, with a new building going up, which would be La Capital's new home (the current eatery occupies the former Capitaland Taxi stand).

Get ready to say goodbye.

Troy Pork closed 18 years ago, leaving shoppers to have to go to Price Chopper or Hannaford to get Bilinski's hot dogs, for example. La Capital's success has shown it's outgrown its current space. Given how slow construction projects progress in this town, the new La Capital, if approved, would open next year or in 2028.

Stay tuned.

While James Morrell, Jr., owner of Destination Kia/Nissan, is the new court jester of local advertising, Fogg's Automotive in Scotia is treading on his territory with some comical radio ads.

We don't know exactly who the actors are, though I have a suspicion about one, Fogg's' latest ad is a parody of Seinfeld, with actors mimcking Jerry Seinfeld & Jason Alexander. The woman in the ads is the one constant. Fogg's offered some amusement at the end of last year with a Dragnet send-up.

A couple of weeks ago, WROW hosts Ben Patten & John Gabriel switched Saturday berths.

Patten, already pulling double duty weekdays, now has the 6-noon shift on Saturdays, including moderating the Herzog Law Firm's weekly talk show at 8 am. Gabriel now can be heard from Noon-6 pm on Saturdays, in addition to his 2-7 shift weekdays. With Patten's morning partner, Jaime Roberts, going away at the end of May for a station sponsored cruise (May 29-June 5), WROW will slot Keith Andrews into Patten's primetime berth for a week, while either Pattten, Andrews, or Gabriel will cover for Roberts on May 31.

"Brother" Lou Roberts (no relation to Jaime, we think) is still with Albany Broadcasting, just with another station. He has, however, filled in for morning traffic reporter Chris Morton on a few occasions, usually on a Friday. Roberts signed off from WROW in December, but the door seems to be open for him to return in a pinch.

More examples of GOP stupidity

 It's not been a good week for FBI director "Counterfeit" Kash Patel.

A lawsuit filed against an MS Now contributor was tossed out of court the same day that Patel filed a similar suit against The Atlantic. Expect the suit against The Atlantic to similarly be dismissed in due course.

Now comes word that at Patel's direction, the FBI investigated a New York Times reporter for a story on Patel's girlfriend, singer Alexis Wilkins, which Patel didn't like.

This moron's days are numbered in Washington.

That, friends, is clear abuse of power. Wouldn't be surprised at all if the FBI is forced to drop the investigation against the legendary paper.

Not only is Patel acting more like president Trump with frivolous actions like this, but so is Defenseless Secretary Pete Hegseth, who dismissed John Phelan as Secretary of The Navy on Thursday. Seems that Phelan was pushing back on Trump's equally frivolous war with Iran.

We'd sooner see this guy running the Navy.....

Closer to home, it appears that the GOP will need a primary to determine who will fill Elise Stefanik's seat after the Schuylerville native resigned from the House. State GOP leaders have chosen Robert Smullen, but Amsterdam's Anthony Constantino, CEO of Sticker Mule, was endorsed by President Pampers on Wednesday.

Of course, Constantino has also gotten support from two of Trump's fellow geriatrics, Roger Stone and Rudy Goofiani. Just getting endorsed by Trump may well be the kiss of death for Constantino come primary time. Constantino sucked up to Trump with a statue of the man some time back.

This will come back to bite the GOP on its collective tuchis, you watch & see.

Dunce Cap Award: Clay Fuller

 When Marjorie Taylor Greene decided to leave Congress, a special election took place in her home state of Georgia. Unfortunately, the voters there elected an even worse Republican doofus.

No, he'd never be mistaken for Donald Trump, Jr.

Clay Fuller won the election, and in one of his first speeches since then, brought the stupid. Oh, did he ever!!

*---Fuller claims the Peach State was named for George Washington. Nope. It was for King George II.

*---Fuller claims that Braves star Ronald Acuna, Jr. is an Atlanta resident. Same for University of Georgia QB Hunter Stockton. Wrong on both counts. Stockton lives elsewhere in Georgia, and, apparently, Fuller wasn't paying attention to the World Baseball Classic, or doesn't buy baseball cards, else he'd know that Acuna is from Venezuela, which won the tournament.

The last thing they need in Washington is another imbecile in Congress, but that's what they got. And you know what Fuller's getting.......

Fuller just needs to take a ride to Marietta, where the Braves' home park, Truist Park, is located, and take in a game or three, or do some sight-seeing when he's home from Washington. And that sight-seeing should include a local library.

What Might've Been: Andy Warhol's 15 Minutes (1985)

 I've often referenced Andy Warhol's statement back in the 60's that in the future, everyone would be famous for 15 minutes.

In 1985, MTV decided to do something with that, and gave Warhol his own show. Serving as host and executive producer, Warhol launched Andy Warhol's 15 Minutes, but only 5 episodes were produced between October 1985 and sometime in 1987. I'm going to guess this was a quarterly series, one episode every three months, which fits with the 15 minutes theme. Actress-singer Debbie Harry of Blondie is our announcer, and Blondie's Chris Stein was the show's musical director.

Never saw the show, but we'll leave you with a sample episode.

Fear of facts: Kash Patel files suit vs. The Atlantic. Stick a fork in him

 "Counterfeit" Kash Patel's days as FBI director are numbered.

This is because Patel stupidly decided to file a $250 million defamation lawsuit vs. The Atlantic after the magazine reported that Patel allegedly had a number of unexcused absences, largely to be on the road with his country singer girlfriend, Alexis Wilkins, and allegations of excessive drinking.

The last part we can excuse because of his being associated with the president, but that's beside the point.

Brian Tyler Cohen & Glenn Kirschner discuss this on The Legal Breakdown:

The truth hurts, doesn't it, Kash? Of course, it does. The suit, of course, is baseless, and without merit. Remember, this is the same dunce who wrote a children's book, trying to make Donald Trump out to be a hero, and that tanked in most of the country.

Prediction: The suit gets thrown out with prejudice. Patel, then, is likely gone from the FBI before the end of the summer at the earliest.

What is wrong with the Mets?

 I'm a firm believer that if something isn't broken, you don't fix it.

After an epic collapse at the end of the 2025 season the Mets' front office decided to fix the roster when it didn't need to be fixed.

Star 1st baseman Pete Alonso chased the money to Baltimore. He's barely hitting .200 after going 1-4 in a loss to Cleveland on Sunday. A period of adjustment to a new team? Sure.

Pitching coach Jeremy Hefner and 1st base coach Antoan Richardson, who was the genius behind the Mets' running game last year, are in Atlanta, and the Braves are back in 1st place in the NL East, while the Mets, with 1st year pitching coach Justin Willard (Who? Exactly!) are in last.

Closer Edwin Diaz, like Alonso, chose to chase the money, and joined the World Champion Los Angeles Dodgers. Diaz has struggled recently, and there are concerns that the knee issues that torpedoed his season in 2023 after the World Baseball Classic have cropped up again. Media reports have suggested a rift between Diaz and Mets management. Diaz and Dodger teammate Enrique "Kike" Hernandez co-produced a documentary about their native land, Puerto Rico, which aired on MLB Network right before this year's WBC. Like, whodathunk?

Utility ace Jeff McNeil has settled in at 2nd base with the Sacramento A's, and tortured both the Mets & Yankees when the A's were in NYC 2 weeks ago.

Outfielder Brandon Nimmo has been raking of late with Texas.

On Sunday, another ex-Met, outfielder Michael Conforto, with his 3rd team since leaving NY, haunted his ex-mates yet again, this time with the Chicago Cubs. His pinch-hit double helped the Cubs come back to sweep the Mets, sending Carlos Mendoza's club to its 11th straight loss.

Fair weather "fans" on reddit, a mostly whiny bunch, are blaming Mendoza because they need a fall guy right now. They're ignoring the obvious signs that it's not entirely Mendoza's fault.

Star slugger Juan Soto is out with a calf injury, and has started rehab. Utility man Jared Young and infielder-DH Jorge Polanco, one of the team's free agent signings in the offseason, joined Soto on the shelf in the last week. As Mets announcers Gary Cohen & Ron Darling pointed out during one of the games against Chicago, the Mets had been a patient group at the plate, but ever since Soto went down, the patience has given way to impatience and nervous energy, and hitters are pressing, as often happens in long losing streaks like this.

One redditor said that some jobroni from Baseball Prospectus, who happens to be a fan of both the Mets & the Jests from New Jersey, claimed that the Mets needed to get out from under Nimmo's contract, which was negotiated by then-GM Billy Eppler. Not buying that at all. Current owner Steve Cohen has enough cheddar to counter-balance that contract, but when you're dealing with a fan base that tends to act like a bunch of entitled children during dark periods like this, there's no reasoning with them. Factor in Scott Boras Badenov giving guys like Alonso bad advice, and, well, there ya go.

The Mets will pull out of this crash dive soon, but not soon enough to satisfy the artificially entitled "fans". I remember saying at the end of last season that Mendoza might not finish out his contract, which is in its 3rd year. Ya know, kids, I hate it when I'm right sometimes.