Friday Morning Music Video

Theme song from Twin Peaks.

Peter Griffin Jeep Video (Rerun)

A rerun from a June 15 "Saturday Night" collection, for a few who enjoyed it. (June 15th...when did those 60 days fly by?)

And...The Yanket. 

TV Sitcom themes without lyrics.

Don't know where this meaningless bit of trivia floated into my brain. I can tell you it occurred during a marathon clean and toss session. My physical labor=wandering, mindlessness hating every minute of it.🤣

Without doing a Search, these are the sit-coms I could think of that don't have lyrics. Voice-over narration doesn't count (i.e. Soap). No animated or cartoon series allowed. (i.e. Simpsons).

MASH

Barney Miller

Soap

NewsRadio

Bewitched

I Dream of Jeannie 

The Ropers (Lowest budget ever.)

Police Squad

Sledge Hammer!

Archie Bunker's Place 

What's Happening

Taxi  

The Bob Newhart Show 

Newhart

Wings

Fawlty Towers

Keeping Up Appearances

Monty Python's Flying Circus 

That's all I got. There has to be way more. Which ones can you think without searching? Drop a comment.

James Spader's The Blacklist ends 10 season run.

** Story & Links contains Spoilers. ** 

If you haven't yet viewed Thursday's Final 2 Episodes Finale which concluded the ten year run of "The Blacklist," SKIP reading this post. 

5,
4,
3,
2,
1,
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9,
8,
7,
6,
5,
4,
3,
2,
1,
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Ten seasons,  we never missed a live, broadcast episode; except I did miss one episode the first season which was the only season I recall having some reruns. So I caught the rerun prior to the next new episode. 

Thursday night's Finale? For me it was expected, but not. Fitting and in keeping with the Reddington character, yet, not really. But definitely par for "The Blacklist" course. Is Red dead? Maybe. Maybe not. 

Entertainment is subjective. For me, The Blacklist ranks right up there with The Sopranos (best series ever), Weeds, Black Mirror, The Prisoner (original series) The Rockford Files and ZNation.

Cinema Blend: James Spader Reveals How He Feels About The Blacklist’s Ending.

Hard to believe 3-4 other actors were considered to play Reddington before Spader, among them Keifer Sutherland who turned it down. Now that it is, it's impossible to imagine any other actor portraying Red than Spader.

The Ending. Bail now if you don't want a SPOILER. 

The initial hook of The Blacklist, for me, was Spader, the story arc of The Global Cabal and the Fulcrum, and anytime Spader as Reddington shot or killed somebody. 

The supporting cast and re-occurring characters are fantastic. Few long-running series manage to continue excellent standards of writing over multiple seasons. The Sopranos and The Blacklist are shining examples. 

It was a fitting ending. It worked.

*Published post then had to revert to Draft to fix the video, then repost. FIXT!

Murderer could be hanged on live TV. Well, viewership of the syndicated reruns of "Friends" would drop dramatically during the timeslot.

RT: Murderer could be hanged on live TV.

An Egyptian court says broadcasting the execution could serve as a deterrent for other would-be criminals.

A court in Egypt has called for the live TV hanging of a convicted murderer, arguing that it could help deter other would-be killers, according to letters to parliament quoted by local media on Sunday.

During a highly-publicized two-day trial earlier this month, 21-year-old Mohamed Adel was convicted for killing fellow student Nayera Ashraf outside Mansoura University in northern Egypt in late June. It was reported that Adel stalked the girl for some time, and when she refused to marry him, he devised a gruesome plot to kill her.

According to video footage of the incident, which went viral on social media and sparked outrage across the country, Adel repeatedly stabbed Ashraf as she got off a bus near the university, jumped on her, and slit her throat in front of a number of horrified onlookers.

Adel pleaded guilty to the murder and was sentenced to death on July 6. However, due to the heinous nature of the murder, the court now wants to make an example out of Adel, and has asked the government to allow a live national TV broadcast of the execution.

Hit the link for more.

No doubt the execution would be sponsored by a detergent manufacturer, "when you really need to get those tough stains out!" Would there be play-by-play analysis from The Team At Egyptian News Television?

mrc Newsbusters Culture Contributing writer Lindsay Kornick couldn't be more wrong on "The Blacklist" and 2A.

TLDR: BIG SWING and a MISS, by Ms. Lindsay Kornick writing at mrc Newsbusters about "The Blacklist" being, "a liberal show" and that episode 'Gordon Kemp' is, "anti-2A."
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Read the story AND the COMMENTS. Then come on back for my commentary. Or not, just refer back to the TLDR.😈

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Last night's "Blacklist" didn't "lecture us about gun issues...through the mouths of criminals." Nor was it a, "grisly attempt at addressing political issues."

I now realize how much time I wasted reading Newsbusters (NB). I used to be a frequent visitor to NB. They lost me as a regular reader long ago when they went full ass-clown conspiratorial advocacy with any notion that didn't fit their very narrow narrative. NB has morphed in a Lunatic Right version of supermarket checkout aisle tabloids. Did Bozell abandon his site and now sits on the porch with Biden debating the best flavors of pudding cups?

Did Kornick pay attention to "The Blacklist" episode? Did she even watch it or is her column based on nothing more than a knee-jerk reaction to a tip sent in by an apoplectic reader, typing in all caps, "DID YOU SEE THE ANTI-SECOND AMENDMENT EPISODE OF 'THE BLACKLIST' LAST NIGHT?"

Kornick obviously hasn't seen the many "Blacklist" episodes where the bad guys are LIBERALS.

The episode is titled, "Gordon Kemp". Is Kornick at all familiar with the program and the character of Raymond Reddington (played by James Spader)? How many seasons or episodes of "The Blacklist" has she really watched? We don't know, she doesn't tell us, but that doesn't mean she can't write about something she's never seen. Sounds like the qualifications someone from The Left would use in justifying their opinion on something of which they are unfamiliar.

The episode "Gordon Kemp" was anything but anti-2A. It was the exact opposite. Kornick couldn't crawl out of her tunnel-vision long enough to see the big picture. Instead, she was Triggered because a character, Gordon Kemp, was the owner of a company that specialized in manufacturing cheaply-made handguns bought by straw-buyers which were then sold to criminals.

Kornick is upset that (spoiler alert) Reddington, using one of Kemp's cheaply made handguns, shoots and kills Kemp at the end of the episode. Reddington is upset because he earlier witnessed an innocent woman with a promising future who was shot to death by a thug using one of Kemp's handguns.

"The Blacklist" 'Gordon Kemp' episode wasn't, (as Kornick and those who commented at NB), just another Hollywood, hour-long anti-2A agenda programming. The circle of irony of the episode escapes them. The darkness of the Reddington character, that has evolved over seven seasons, flies over their collective pea-brain heads.

In a weak attempt to bolster her argument that "The Blacklist" is, (quote) "a liberal show," Kornick refers to a line by "Blacklist" character FBI Detective Ressler who says, "Look, I'm a member of the NRA, and I believe in the Second Amendment, but what you do, pouring more and more weapons into high-crime areas -- that has nothing to do with keeping a well-regulated militia and everything to do with making a buck."  

 - - - - AND? This ties into an anti-2A agenda how? It doesn't. It's not so much taking dialogue out of context, it's misrepresenting the content in an attempt to make an analogy where one doesn't exist. Kornick isn't able - or deliberately won't - follow the logic of a fictional script because in the end, it doesn't make her point.

At best, I'm going to guess, she actually viewed the last ten minutes of the program, that's it. The rest - - - nowhere in her story does she write that she actually watched the program - - - she read about it online and received email from the hypersenstive overreacting crowd.

Yes, by way of 2A, gun makers can manufacture everything from quality firearms to the cheapest 'Saturday Night Specials' favored by criminals. Raise your hand if you're a strong advocate of 2A and you also support straw-buyers who resell to criminals. Anyone? Anyone?

The best comment at Kornick's feeble story is the one asking, "Is this show still on?" Huh - one would think when reading a story that mention's "the April 17 episode", one could reasonably conclude that, yes, this program is still on. My question to the person who wrote that comment is, when you address your parents, do you refer to them as, 'Mom and Dad' or 'Brother and Sister'?

I would have added a comment to Kornick's story, but you have to register, and I'm not going through that BS.

"The Blacklist" is one of the finest hour-long dramas on television. IMO, it's right up there with "The Sopranos".

Considering "The Blacklist" is in its seventh season, now...suddenly...Kornick concludes it's, "a liberal show." I'm guessing the very misinformed and misguided Kornick would also conclude that "The Sopranos" is, "a liberal show."

Kornick concludes her column with this gem:

In response, I’ll answer with how Maya Angelou put it: when people show you who they are, believe them. This is what liberals think of gun-makers, believe that.

Yes, Kornick isn't off the mark, generally, in saying that liberals think gun-makers are bad (although I personally know some Libs who don't think that). It's too bad that that has nothing to do with Friday night's episode of "The Blacklist".

I'd suggest Kornick watch the "Gordon Kemp" episode and that she pay attention to it. If not, heck, maybe her next column will be on the hidden, anti-2A liberal agenda portrayed in all westerns. Those Liberal cowboys didn't pass background checks and buy their guns from an FFL dealer.

Take a glance at Kornick's columns. In almost every article she's Triggered and Offended by fictional programming. This is a good thing. I can't imagine the damage and misinformation she'd inflict if she wrote about non-fictional events. She must be blood-related to Bozell. There's no other way she'd be on the payroll.

I wonder if Kornick has found an anti-2A liberal agenda in "Baby Shark"?
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mrcNewsbusters Archived

Over Sized Sherpa Hoodie. Yeah, but it's no Yanket.

Yahoo: This cozy oversized sherpa hoodie is like wearing a blanket — 'I love it, my dog loves it, my friends are envious'. (Friends envious of a wearable blanket? That seems an overly-enthusiastic endorsement - DD).

Ever dreamed of wearing your favorite blanket out of the house as you ran your errands for the day?

Call it silly or call it life-changing, but the Blanket Sweatshirt combines all our favorite things about a cozy blanket and transforms it into an oversized, shockingly soft hoodie.
[.]
The Blanket Sweatshirt comes oversized and snuggly, plus it even has a giant pocket at the front to keep your hands warm (or to house all the snacks).
[.]
You can wear it to walk the dog, get the mail, or even a grocery run.

Uh - no, I've never dreamed of wearing a blanket while on errands or in public. I don't wear them around the house, for that matter.

Life-changing? Let's hope not.

Although the Sherpa Hoodie seems like the appropriate go-to attire for both Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders for their next debate, with each wearing one of those red and white sleeping caps.

Still...The Sherpa Hoodie is no Yanket. Then again, what is...

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Yahoo Sherpa Hoodie Archived

The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Corona Virus.

Can we panic and frenzy just a little bit more?

The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street:

"Maple Street, U.S.A., late summer. A tree-lined little world of front porch gliders, barbecues, the laughter of children, and the bell of an ice cream vendor. At the sound of the roar and the flash of light, it will be precisely 6:43 P.M. on Maple Street...This is Maple Street on a late Saturday afternoon. Maple Street in the last calm and reflective moment - before the monsters came."
[.]
[Aliens] comment on how simply fiddling with consistency leads people to descend into paranoia and panic, and that this is a pattern that can be exploited. They also discuss their intention to use this strategy to conquer Earth, one neighborhood at a time.
[.]
Closing narration:
"The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs and explosions and fallout. There are weapons that are simply thoughts, attitudes, prejudices...to be found only in the minds of men. For the record, prejudices can kill...and suspicion can destroy...and a thoughtless, frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all of its own – for the children and the children yet unborn. And the pity of it is that these things cannot be confined to the Twilight Zone."

Security Magazine (January 31, 2020): Coronavirus: Are We Overreacting?

Let’s put this into perspective. In 2019, the Centre for Disease Control reports that 61,200 people died from the common flu virus. That’s 168 deaths per day! Compared to Coronavirus that was first reported on December 31, with 213 deaths in total until January 31. Based on last years statistics, 5,208 people have died of the common flu in that same time period.

The Zombie Apocalypse is here! Coronavirus strikes hospital where Rick Grimes woke up in The Walking Dead.

This is not a drill...

Metro: Coronavirus strikes hospital where Rick Grimes woke up to zombie apocalypse in The Walking Dead.

While the TV series is set in Atlanta, the original comic books saw the hero awake in Kentucky’s Harrison Memorial Hospital.

If you cast your minds back, Rick (Andrew Lincoln) was struck down while out on duty with Shane Walsh (Jon Bernthal) and was taken to the facility where he was put into a medically induced coma.

It’s unsure how long he was asleep, however, the star of the show woke up to the building completely overrun by zombies. And now, the same hospital where the comics are set has issued a statement explaining how a patient has tested positive for COVID-19.
[.]
Following the news, one fan of the post-apocalyptic drama took to Twitter where they wrote: ‘So Kentucky has their first case of coronavirus at Harrison Memorial Hospital… Rick also woke up at Harrison Memorial Hospital… It has begun.‘

Monsters & Critics: Ten Tips on killing zombies

Method Number One seems fun:

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Metro Archived

Mr. Peanut's death postponed due to Kobe Bryant.

Mr. Peanut

Collider: Mr. Peanut’s Death Was Inspired by ‘Avengers: Endgame’.

The plan was that Mr. Peanut’s funeral would be broadcast in a Super Bowl commercial during the third quarter of the big game, but the commercial and all promotional content has been paused indefinitely following the real-life death of NBA legend Kobe Bryant on Sunday.
[.]
Speaking with MSN before the commercial was pulled, Group Creative Director at Planters’ agency VaynerMedia [sic], Mike Pierantozzi, said the idea to kill off Mr. Peanut was inspired by Tony Stark’s death in Avengers: Endgame. No, really:

    “We started talking about how the internet treats when someone dies — specifically, we were thinking about fictional characters, [like when] Iron Man died. When Iron Man died, we saw an incredible reaction on Twitter and on social media. It’s such a strange phenomenon.”
[.]
They went the somber route and took Mr. Peanut’s death incredibly seriously, hyping up his “funeral” that would be broadcast during the Super Bowl. The idea backfired, as we now know, and it’ll be curious to see if and when this “commercial” sees the light of day.

“We wanted you to know that we are saddened by this weekend’s news and Planters has paused all campaign activities, including paid media, and will evaluate next steps through a lens of sensitivity to those impacted by this tragedy,” a spokesperson for Planters reportedly said.

Maybe brands shouldn’t use death as a way to advertise their content? Just a thought.

The Death of Mr. Peanut Super Bowl ad which won't air due to the death of Kobe Bryant:
 

I'm undecided on which is the more stupid move, it's a coin toss. The ad agency so creatively bankrupt that they steal borrow a narrative as old as time itself with their best pitch being killing an iconic Brand character, or the company making the product that approves the killing of its iconic Brand character.

How hard is it to sell the Planter's brand?

A head's-up to Lucky the Leprechaun, Tony Tiger, the Trix rabbit, Mr. Clean and other Brand Characters out there. Beware if your employer hires VaynerMedia as their PR/Ad Reps.
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Collider Archived

Commodore 1983 Retro Christmas Commercial.

That ad is 1983. It's 2019. What do you think those now-adult kids are doing for jobs? Wrong answers (comments) always appreciated.

Hoover 1961 Christmas Commercial.

No, Mom doesn't want a vacuum for Christmas.

Atari 1983 Christmas Commercial

Who could have imagined tech and graphics would get better than that?

This might make gift-buying easy for Christmas! Retro Commercial.

Lucky Strikes Retro Christmas Commercial

..."Merry Christmas and Happy Smoking 200 times." Now that's damn fine Ad Agency copy (script).

Chick-fil-A "Baby" ad; Some call it controversial.

Some people across the webz consider this recent Chick-fil-A TV ad, part of their #thelittlethings series, controversial.

The nerve of Chick-fil-A...
/sarc

Game of Thrones scene contains continuity error.

Vulture: "Game of Thrones" scene continuity error.

Fiercely proud to admit I've never viewed one second of this program and have no intention of ever doing so.

Mark Zuckerberg privacy joke gets no laughs.Howard Beale - "Network": as relevant today as in 1976.

Mashable: Zuckerberg joke a slap in the face to Facebook victims.

Most awkward Zuck moments revolve around the CEO's inability to exhibit human emotion. This one comes with a serving of insult, added to injury.

[Zuckerberg] opened Facebook's annual F8 developer conference on Tuesday with a manifesto-ish address about how the future of Facebook is focused on privacy.
[.]
    The moment Mark Zuckerberg tries to make a joke about privacy and nobody laughs: pic.twitter.com/izt7kIhjLz

    — alfred 🆖 (@alfredwkng) April 30, 2019
[.]
"I know that we don't exactly have the strongest reputation on privacy right now, to put it lightly," Mark Zuckerberg joked, amid some understated snorty laughs. Not even the audience — packed with Facebook employees and developers — could muster more than that.

Advisory - NSFW language:

Reference: Howard Beale.

Reference: "Network".

Joe Biden on The View 4 26 2019

(Fun with) Joe Biden on The View, April 26, 2019:

 

ABC 7: Joe Biden gives first TV interview as candidate on 'The View'.

Tech News

Technocracy: GMO Food Will Stock Grocery Shelves Within 5 Years.

While ethicists [sic] debate the applications of blockbuster gene-editing tool Crispr in human healthcare, an inventor of the tool believes it has a more immediate application: improving our food.

I have one, essential question for those in the pro-GMO industry. If GMO food is as safe as Big GMO says, why then do they fight so diligently against their food being labeled as such? They'll reply with, "doing so presents a negative perception of our products, thus negatively affecting our sales." And? That's our problem?

Asbestos? Nah. Perfectly fine and safe, we were told for decades. Thalidomide? Perfectly safe, especially for pregnant mothers. Tobacco? Recommended by Doctors and dentists alike.

Now, here comes the GMO Train. We're just human guinea pigs for tech and science, aren't we?
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TechNewsWorld: Samsung suspends launch of Galaxy Fold.

Samsung pumped the brakes on release of the US$1,980 phone after several reviewers reported problems with their units.
[.]
Reviewers for Bloomberg and YouTube reported their units began malfunctioning after they removed an integral part of the display, mistakenly thinking it was a plastic screen protector.

CNBC reviewer Todd Haselton wrote that he left the plastic film intact, but the display still started acting buggy. The left side of the flexible screen began to flicker consistently.

- - -
TechSpot: Screen time not recommended for infants, says World Health Organization.

Infants under the age of one shouldn’t be exposed to electronic screens of any type according to guidelines recently published by the World Health Organization.

The United Nations agency further notes that sedentary screen time (watching TV / videos or playing computer games) is not recommended for infants.

Was anyone aware of this? Who knew?
- - -
TechCrunch: Tesla reports $702 million loss in first quarter.

Tesla reported April 9 that it delivered 63,000 electric vehicles in the first quarter of the year, nearly a one-third drop from the previous quarter.
[.]
“Everyone expected a first quarter loss for Tesla, but nobody expected it to be this big,” Karl Brauer, executive publisher at Kelley Blue Book and Autotrader said in an emailed statement.

- - -
Ars Technia: Windpower-Turbines come to Massachusetts.

Turbines? What turbines? They blend in so well! And appear to be well-protected from vandalism or other acts of sabotage
- - -
Beta News: Samsung Galaxy View2 Android 2 tablet: It's "Colossal."

What we don't know at the moment is just when the Galaxy View2 will be released, or how much it will cost.

But at least we know it's Colossal.
- - -
BGR: Spoiler-free review of "Avengers: Endgame."
- - -
C|Net: Facebook facing fine that could exceed $5 Billion Dollars.

The FTC is looking into Facebook's privacy practices and determining if the company violated a legal agreement to keep user data private.
[.]
Still, Facebook's scandals didn't scare away advertisers or users. The company posted a better-than-expected $15.08 billion in sales in the first quarter and reported the number of users who logged on every month increased by 8%, to 2.38 billion.

- - -
TechTalks: What is ethical AI?

Human oversight means that no AI system should be able to perform its functions without some level of control by humans. This means that humans should either be directly involved in the decision-making process or have the option to review and override decisions made by an AI model.

- - -
Computer World: Where are the April Windows patches?

Answer: Due sometime in June. Maybe July.
- - -
Extreme Tech: Sony's 98-inch, 8K OLED TV.

The cutting edge of television technology will cost you[.]
[.]
This will be the 2019 flagship of the Sony television line and it ships in June. The Z9G measures 86.75 inches wide by 55.0 inches tall by 4.38 inches deep. For a cleaner look, it can be bracket-mounted to any wall that can support 208 pounds.

The price? $69,999.99.

- - -

ZD Net: Is your body hacker-proof?

Increasing numbers of implantable medical devices are now gaining internet connectivity, giving doctors the ability to monitor patients health remotely, and even update the devices to tweak a treatment plan. Unfortunately, that flexibility offers a way for hackers to hijack that hardware, and even potentially make changes to the way the devices work. While so far no attacks have been successful, proof-of-concept attacks have been available for years.

And while it might be tempting to hope that cybercriminals might see corrupting life-sustaining devices as a step too far, they haven't historically shown much of a conscience, cheerfully extorting money away from hospitals, for example, and putting patients at risk.

The View Daytime Emmy nominations for "Makeup, Hairstyling".

Clearly, there's a slacker employed in the makeup/hairstyling department regarding one member of "The View".