editing

Remember when Tek was voted off of Hell's Kitchen a few weeks ago? Then what the hell was she doing working in the kitchen on this week's episode?

This wasn't one of those deals where a former contestant comes back to help the remaining contestants for some reason, this was... odd. They didn't interview her or point her out and Ramsay didn't say "Tek, what the hell are you doing here, you donkey?! Didn't I kick you out? And how did you get your chef's jacket back? Jean-Philippe, what's going on?"

Andy Rooney is 90 years old, and has spent the greater half of the twentieth century (and well into the twenty-first) providing political and cultural insight to the masses through op-eds in both print and on CBS newsmagazine staple 60 Minutes. Despite remaining America's favorite most recognizable curmudgeon, Rooney's weekly diatribes have grown increasingly stale, and significantly more bizarre with each episode.

Any semblance of lucidity Rooney may have employed in ... I guess (?) what was once considered clever or funny or - at the very least - entertaining material has most assuredly fallen to the wayside. The scraps with which we've been left are, indeed, entertaining, but not for the reasons Rooney (or the producers of 60 Minutes) probably intended.

Beginning January 10th, A&E will begin broadcasting a cleaned-up version of The Sopranos. No violence. No nudity. No swearing. How likely is it that the PG-13 version of The Sopranos will suck? According to A&E's vice president of program planning Tom Moody, "The Sopranos is so well written and so well acted, it doesn't rely on language, violence or nudity to carry story arcs. It overcomes any of those tiny obstacles." Ah, yes, "tiny obstacles" - like how the characters speak to each other, how their actions convey meaning, etc. Not a prob.

Fortunately, HBO thought ahead. Alternative shots and scenes with tamer dialogue were filmed alongside what originally ended up on the air. Less than one minute and no full scenes will be edited out of the seventy-seven episodes destined for syndication, or so they say. If Sex and the City can be cut down to a thirty minute basic cable-friendly show with no dirty talk, than anything may be possible. Do what you will to The Sopranos - just don't get any fancy ideas about syndicating Deadwood.