What a baby!: Donnie Diapers whines to Fox No News when the target of his anger isn't there

 The world's oldest crybaby, Donald Trump, called into Fox No News' The Five on Thursday, but recurring panelist Jessica Tarlov had the day off.

Trump took the time to call for Tarlov's dismissal from the show because he disagreed with her report on his poll numbers. Dirty Watters offered the orange man-child the opportunity to sit next to Tarlov at a later date, trying to influence her thinking. Yeah, good luck with that.

We all know Trump doesn't like women who are smarter than he is. His ego can't deal with it, so he whines.

"WAAHH! Her numbers are wrong! They're fake! WAAAHH!"

The truth hurts, doesn't it? Of course. You're just looking for an excuse to get people to stop demanding transparency on the Epstein files, and the fact that you lied about the situation in Iran, a case where, amazingly, the Iranians are making you look even weaker than usual. You can't even keep your lies straight.

Most of the world is tired of you. Do yourself a favor, and take a vacation this weekend, someplace where there isn't a golf course.

Baseball this 'n' that

 After the hype, such as that was, Netflix got caught flat-footed in their initial MLB broadcast Wednesday night.

The Yankees' Jose Caballero initiated the first regular season ABS ball-strike challenge, and lost. However, Netflix's attention was on first year San Francisco manager Tony Vitello, formerly of the university of Tennessee, and the cameras missed the challenge!!

Like, you can't predict live TV, but......!

Anyway, the Yanks spoiled Vitello's MLB debut with a 7-0 win. The series resumes tomorrow night.

Today, though, brought a number of firsts, all of them for rookies.

Munetaka Murakami of the Chicago White Sox hit his first American homer, but the game was already decided in the 9th inning, with Milwaukee blowing away Chicago, 14-2.

The Mets' Carson Benge put New York's home opener vs. Pittsburgh out of reach, or so we thought......

The Mets' Francisco Alvarez followed with a moonshot of his own, and the Mets had to sweat out the 9th inning to win their opener, 11-7.

Meanwhile, JJ Wederholt (St. Louis) & Joey Wiemer (Washington) also went deep in their debuts.

Back to the Mets, who knocked out reigning NL Cy Young winner Paul Skenes with a 5 run first inning. Skenes, presumably still feeling the effects of Team USA losing the World Baseball Classic a week ago, just didn't have it. No one saw this coming.

Yankees announcer Michael Kay was not a happy camper in San Francisco on Wednesday.

With the game on Netflix, thanks to MLB's new deal, meaning more greed for MLB, Kay was in the bleachers at Oracle Park, and will call Friday's Yankees-Giants game. He didn't like the idea of the game being on Netflix in the first place, and we'd guess because he wasn't asked to call the game. Salty much?

Universal is trying Murder, She Wrote again, this time on the big screen

 12 years after NBC rejected a proposal to reboot the former CBS series, Murder, She Wrote, with an African-American lead (Octavia Spencer), Universal has decided to take their chances with a feature film release, set for December 2027, right around Christmas time.

This time, Oscar winner Jamie Lee Curtis has been cast as author-turned-sleuth Jessica Fletcher, the role originated by Angela Lansbury in 1984. Reportedly, news of this first came up while Curtis was on a media tour for last year's "Freakier Friday". Given how the original series had a supporting cast to back up Lansbury (i.e. William Windom, Tom Bosley, Ron Masak, and, in at least one or two episodes, Bill Maher), Universal will need to find the right mix of players to back up Curtis.

The original Murder can be found on cable or online streaming. Time to catch up, since we've got more than a year and a half before the movie......

Musical Interlude: When The Night Comes (1989)

 Joe Cocker landed one more big hit with 1989's "When The Night Comes", which introduced Cocker to the MTV generation. Capitol labelmate Bryan Adams co-wrote "Night" with frequent collaborator Jim Vallance and prolific songwriter Diane Warren. Cocker peaked at #11 with "Night":

Wild West Wednesdays: Rango takes a trip In a Little Mexican Town (1967)

 This next item was previously posted at Saturday Morning Archives, albeit with a different copy, years ago.

Less than a year after McHale's Navy ended, Tim Conway was back on ABC, this time in the Western farce, Rango, as a bumbling Texas Ranger. The series lasted 13 weeks at the most, due in large part to the fact that producers Danny Thomas & Aaron Spelling, along with creators Harvey Bullock & Ray Allen, sought to posit Rango as a cross-section of satires, along the lines of F-Troop, & Get Smart (both halfway through their 2nd seasons when Rango launched), and McHale, due to Rango creating constant consternation for his commanding officer, Captain Horton (Norman Alden).

In the episode, "In a Little Mexican Town", Rango and his sidekick, Pink Cloud (Guy Marks) travel south of the border in pursuit of a suspect. Future ABC studio announcer Ernie Anderson, one of Conway's closest friends from his home state of Ohio, appears briefly.

In two weeks: Lancer.

MLB preview 2026, conclusion: The remainder of the National League

 Moving on to the NL Central:

In order for Milwaukee to threepeat as division champions, they have to hope that Brandon Woodruff is all the way back from various ailments that kept him off the field until last summer. Last year's ace, Freddy Peralta, is gone (Mets), and Brandon Sproat, who came to the Brewers in that trade, hasn't really shown what he can do after a September audition produced an 0-2 record in New York.

The Brewers don't have enough space in the infield to accommodate off-season acquisitions Luis Rengifo (LA Angels) & David Hamilton (Boston), which begs to ask what the front office is thinking in the post-David Stearns era.

Chicago starts the season without star outfielder Seiya Suzuki, who was injured during the World Baseball Classic. That means that either Justin Dean (Dodgers) or Kevin Alcantara will join Ian Happ & Pete Crow-Armstrong in the outfield. That takes the shine off heisting Alex Bregman away from Boston (Scott Boras Badenov strikes again). Losing Kyle Tucker to the Dodgers doesn't help.

In St. Louis, the Cardinals may regret trading Willson Contreras to Boston, since the returns on that deal (pitchers Richard Fitts & Hunter Dobbins) are questionable at best. Erratic reliever Ryne Stanek (Mets), speaking of risks, proved last year he's not closer material, but trust Oliver Marmol to put him in to close games anyway. A bad start, and Marmol may be gone-zo.

Pittsburgh has to strengthen its offense to back up their rotation. Paul Skenes gets the ball on Thursday to open the season vs. the Mets, who will see former teammate Gregory Soto coming out of the Pirate pen after he underperformed for them last summer. Pittsburgh is high on rookie pitcher Bubba Chandler, hoping he's another Skenes. Offensively, the Pirates acquired Jake Mangum & Brandon Lowe (Tampa Bay) and Ryan O'Hearn (San Diego). Still got a ways to go to contend.

Cincinnati welcomed back Eugenio Suarez (Seattle) with a free agent deal. Problem is, where to put him? Ke'Bryan Hayes, acquired from Pittsburgh last year, was playing third most of the time, and that's Suarez's primary position. However, Suarez still has a short fuse....! Nathaniel Lowe (Boston) will likely share first base with Spencer Steer.

Weak sauce, yo'.

Projected order of finish:

1. Milwaukee, by default.

2. Chicago.

3. Pittsburgh.

4. Cincinnati.

4 (tie). St. Louis.

To the west we go.

Some people still hate the Yankees because they won so much back in the day. After winning back-to-back titles, and spending money like water out of a faucet to add to their already packed roster, Los Angeles is approaching that same level of apathy. In addition to Kyle Tucker (see above), they also lured closer Edwin Diaz away from the Mets, a move made because they still see Roki Sasaki as a starter, even though he was a lights-out closer during the playoffs. Given how Diaz was prone to erratic periods during his time in New York, the Dodgers should hedge their bets.

San Diego is hoping Griffin Canning can find his form after his lone season with the Mets ended due to injury. Just the same, the Padres also picked up German Marquez (Colorado) to further shore up the rotation. A bigger deal was landing Nick Castellanos as a free agent (Philadelphia), though he figures to be a DH in an already crowded outfield. Walker Buehler was invited as a non-roster player after bombing in Boston, but we don't see him pitching in Petco Park unless he's a visiting player.

San Francisco is trying something different. They went to the college ranks, and signed Tony Vitello (Tennessee) as their new skipper, after Bob Melvin bombed out in 2 seasons. The only real free agent signing they made was journeyman outfielder Harrison Bader (Philadelphia), who will platoon, since they also have a surplus in the outfield. Perennial batting champion Luis Arraez comes north from San Diego, strengthening the infield defense.

Offense is also what Arizona is looking for, so they acquired Nolan Arenado (St. Louis) and Carlos Santana (Chicago) to man the corners. Otherwise, the Diamondbacks look about the same as they did last year. Over in Colorado, 2nd year manager Warren Schaeffer is hoping Michael Lorenzen can carry over what he did for Italy in the WBC. Jose Quintana (Milwaukee) has been up & down, which explains why he's always on the move. Outfielder Jake McCarthy came over from Arizona, while Edouard Julien reunites with his former Minnesota teammate, Willi Castro (Chicago), to form a double play combo that can help the Rockies' defense. We'll see. Rookie Kyle Karros is the son of former player and current Fox analyst Eric Karros (Los Angeles, Chicago, Oakland).

Projected order of finish:

1. Los Angeles.

2. San Francisco.

3. San Diego.

3 (tie) Arizona.

5. Colorado.

Of course, I could be wrong.

What Might've Been: Brothers (2009)

 Michael Strahan, in his post-NFL career, is one of the busiest men in television.

Good Morning America. The $100,000 Pyramid. Fox NFL Sunday. You get the idea. During the fall, Strahan is running up frequent flier miles between New York & Los Angeles. In 2009, Fox wanted to capitalize, and gave Strahan his own sitcom.

Unfortunately, Brothers, the 2nd series to bear that name (the 1st was a Showtime series 25 years earlier), couldn't find an audience, as Fox shifted it from Fridays to Sundays before giving it the axe.

Ted Wass (ex-Soap, Blossom) directed all of the episodes of the short-lived series. In addition, Strahan was blessed with a veteran supporting cast, including Darryl "Chill" Mitchell, who also composed the show's theme song, CCH Pounder, & Carl Weathers.

This sampler features special guest star Mike Tyson, appearing as himself.

In case you wonder, Mitchell was actually paralyzed in an accident 8 years prior to the series, but continues to work to this day.

No rating. Just a public service.