On Monday Oprah Winfrey gave each member of her studio audience not a Pontiac, not an iPod, not even a lousy copy of O Magazine stashed under their seats. Nope. The lucky audience members were each given $1,000. Holy crap! A thousand dollars, Oprah? Thanks.

As you might imagine, the audience went nuts until Oprah dropped the bombshell. That $1,000 would go to someone other than themselves. That's the kind of gift that makes rich people feel good about themselves, and the rest of us feel sorta horrible. Sure, we want to give money to charity to. We'd like the good feeling that comes with tithing and personal philanthropy. We'd also like the good feeling that comes with paying the phone bill on time.

I'm not sure I like this news. The television reporter at the Washington Post is reporting that every episode of My Name is Earl will not be about checking something off his list. According to Lisa de Moraes, the writers/creators felt confined by the format and only stuck with it to see if they could get through the first season (and be renewed). Apparently, some episodes will have nothing to do with the list. The Post reporter doesn't say what the other episodes will be about. The writing on the show is definitely hilarious but I kind of liked the gimmick of Earl having to cross something off his list each week. Although, I can see how that would get old after a few seasons. Guess we'll have to see what they come up with. See how I talked myself off the edge?

How do you feel about this change?

Well, now, at least we know why there's not going to be a West Wing retrospective this Sunday. And -- surprise, surprise! -- the reason is money. According to Lisa de Moraes of The Washington Post (among other sources), more than one of the primary WW players balked at the low amount of money NBC and Warner Bros. was offering to them to do the clip/reminiscing show, originally scheduled air before Sunday's series finale. So, instead of breaking the bank to create a show that will air at 7 PM on a Sunday, the two parties decided to just air the show's 1999 pilot instead.

Judging by the tone of de Moraes' article, she isn't taking the actors' side. I don't blame her; all they're doing is sitting and talking about the show that paid them handsomely for seven years. If it were me, I'd be so grateful for the opportunity WW gave me (before this, for example, Allison Janney was best known for a New York Lottery commercial and a small role in Private Parts), I'd do the retrospective for scale. But I'm just a lowly blogger, so what do I know?

[Thanks to Karen for the tip.]