What Might've Been: Listen Up! (2004)

 Listen Up! is actually 2 shows in one.

The titular sports talk show is a knock-off of ESPN's Pardon The Interruption, whose co-host, Tony Kornheiser, was the inspiration for the sitcom, with his fictional counterpart played by Jason Alexander (ex-Seinfeld), who doubled as a producer. The series is set in Philadelphia instead of Washington, DC, where Interruption has been based since its inception. Malcolm Jamal-Warner (ex-The Cosby Show) co-stars.

Away from the talk show set, it's just another domestic sitcom. While the real Kornheiser is a humorist when writing his columns, Alexander, seeking to shed the image of his Seinfeld persona as George, is just another sitcom dad.

Let's take a look at a sample episode with guest stars Julia Duffy & Peter Scolari, reunited from their days on Newhart:

20 years later, Pardon The Interruption rolls on, while Listen Up! is but a footnote in television history. No rating.

Forgotten TV: Soul Man (1997)

 Of the original cast of Saturday Night Live, only four cast members would land primetime network gigs after leaving the show, three of them in lead roles.

Jane Curtin (Kate & Allie, 3rd Rock From The Sun).

Chevy Chase (Community). Chase also tried a late night talk show that bombed.

Garrett Morris landed supporting roles on Hunter & The Jamie Foxx Show.

The one everyone forgets is Dan Aykroyd. Aside from movies, Dan had returned to television not only with the syndicated Psi Factor, but a short-lived ABC sitcom, Soul Man, which parlayed a 3 episode test run in April 1997 into a full season order five months later.

Soul Man took a supporting character from Home Improvement, and brought him over, with Aykroyd top-lining as a widowed Episcopal priest with three sons. There would crossovers with Improvement in the form of guest appearances by Zachary Ty Bryan & Richard Karn during season 2.

Because it was more of a domestic sitcom than a religious-centric one, that would explain Soul Man getting that 2nd season.

In this sampler, Pastor Mike learns his eldest son is failing geometry. I can relate.

Before you get the pitchforks out for not including Jim Belushi's According to Jim, remember, we were discussing the original SNL troupe.

No rating. Just a public service.

Golden Throats live!: Anything is Possible (2024)

 It's not enough that Lara Trump, wife of Stupid-E, co-chair of the Republican National Committee after father-in-law Donald Trump bullied Ronna McDaniel out, is reaping the benefits of her new gig. She thinks she's a pop star. Well, at one time, so did Paris Hilton, but Paris did the smart thing, and gave it up just as quickly as she tried it.

"Anything is Possible" is not a cover of an old Debbie Gibson track. No, Lara co-wrote this one herself, but, as you'll hear, she's not even in Gibson's class as a singer or a songwriter. She's made William Hung look like a Grammy winner by comparison.

After the Democratic National Committee produced a diss track via artificial intelligence, Lara, who actually challenged the Democrats, and other critics, went whining to Fox No News.

To think that Lara previously butchered the late Tom Petty's "I Won't Back Down". However, chalk this up as the latest in a long line of Trump family failures.

On The Air: WWE Speed (2024)

 In 2005, WWE moved Velocity & Heat (formerly Sunday Night Heat) to their website for online viewing after ending their contract with Spike TV (now Paramount Network), and moving Monday Night Raw back to USA Network.

19 years later, WWE is taking the next step, presenting its first series intended solely for social media. Enter WWE Speed.

2 matches per week, 3 minute time limit per match, at least for now, and the series begins with a tournament to crown the new brand's 1st champion. Corey Graves (Smackdown) goes it alone on commentary, as there's no room for a color analyst.

Fans are posting the matches on Reddit, which enables me to review the show.

Today's opener kicks off the tournament, and, believe me, you need to see these matches to see how this new format works. With a 3 minute time limit, there is no margin for error. Every second counts.

We're digging.

Rating: A.

Musical Interlude: Church of The Poison Mind (1983)

 If it wasn't for the fact that it was England's Culture Club which released "Church of The Poison Mind", off 1983's "Colour by Numbers", the GOP could accept this as their new theme song, given their fealty to a false god (Donald Trump, natch).

Jokes aside, singer Helen Terry joins Boy George and company for this one. All 4 band members collaborated on the writing of "Church", which is a throwback to the Holland-Dozier-Holland-penned Motown classics of the 60's.

Forget about impeachment. Now Republicans want to bring criminal charges against the Bidens

 There is definitely something in the "blue grass" of Kentucky.

Kentucky Misrepresentative James "Gomer" Comer has admitted that his attempts to impeach President Biden aren't going so well, so he now wants to issue a criminal referral to the Department of Justice.

But, there's one problem that, as Farron Cousins points out, Comer will never admit to. He has no evidence for even a criminal case.

This is how desperate the GOP is to clear the path for Donald Trump. Comer is passing the buck on the blame for no other reason than to just deflect and refuse to accept accountability for wasting taxpayer dollars on a snipe hunt ordered by Trump.

"Well, golllllleeee!! How does he still have a job?"

Because Kentuckians are too stubborn to realize they've been repeatedly duped. Comer is hoping to get a Cabinet post if Diaper Don, the Archduke of Affluenza, returns to the White House. Kentucky hasn't really had anyone with common sense since Colonel Sanders.

The DOJ will likely take Comer's referrals and toss them in the appropriate box. A recycling box.

Only Republicans would whine on Easter Sunday---just because another holiday shared the day

 As we all celebrated Easter on Sunday, it was not the only holiday.

There was also the Transgender Day of Visibility, which began in 2010. However, few would've known about it if President Biden had not made a proclamation recently that got conservatives and Republicans up in arms over a mound of nothing.

I will freely admit that until Biden had spoken up on behalf of the transgender community, I didn't know this holiday existed. Republicans, however, have made it part of their culture war mission to disrespect and shame the LGBTQ+ community. Unlike Easter, the Transgender Day of Visibility has one consistent date, March 31. Easter, as fellow blogger Chuck Miller pointed out earlier today, falls three weeks later next year, on April 20.

File photo courtesy Associated Press.

It's the coincidental timing of Easter and the TDoV falling on the same day that has Republicans up in arms, whining, crying, and humiliating themselves because of their blatant, willful ignorance. Next year, they won't have the same argument, but they'll likely cry on Easter anyway, because of the alternate connotations of 4/20.......!