(S01E02) Overall, a very good episode from Mary and Marshall as In Plain Sight settles into the kind of show it's going to be. Far less frantic than the pilot -- which in retrospect looks like a case of too many cooks spoiling the broth -- this show dealt with one main issue and it was a touching one at that. The story starts 18 months earlier when Mary's assigned to place an 8-year-old boy who's seen drug dealers kill his mother in Witness Protection, which is virtually impossible unless she can find a family in the system who are willing to take on that responsibility.

I was stunned that she pulled it off, and when we were back in the present and we see little Lonny -- now Leo -- enjoying a perfect life with the Billups, I was skeptical. The adoption seemed too good to be true. Leo fit right in, taking care of the baby. Were the Billups for real? I thought there had to be something wrong, but it wasn't. I was just suspicious. It turns out there was a reason to show Lonny/Leo in such a happy family.
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This is no laughing matter. John Gilmore, executive director of Autism United, said today that CBS must apologize for an insensitive remark made on the Julie Chen-hosted reality show Big Brother during last week's episode. One of the contestants, a man named Adam, said that if he was the show's big winner, he would use the money to start a hair salon for people with developmental disabilities. Adam went on to say he wanted a beauty shop "so retards can get it together and get their hair done." When Sheila, another contestant, protested, "Don't call them that," Adam declared that, "Disabled kids. I can call them whatever I want. I work with them all day, okay?"

According to CBS's Big Brother web site, Adam is a public relations manager for an unnamed foundation. The 29-year-old is from Cherry Hill, New Jersey, but is now living in Delray Beach, Florida.

If you're in the camp that believes that Tony was whacked by the Members-Only jacketed man in the final blackout of The Sopranos, then you'll probably be pleased to know that Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito Jr. has taken a shot at the HBO drama, too.

During a recent speech at New Jersey's Rutgers University, Justice Alito opined that the Emmy-winning series besmirched not only Italians, but citizens of the Garden State, too. "You have a trifecta - gangsters, Italian-Americans, New Jersey - wedded in the popular American imagination," he said to a crowd of about 100. He was speaking about the stereotypes Italian-Americans have had to live with in the United States. Clearly, The Sopranos would be just the kind of depiction to draw his ire. After all, Uncle Junior and Paulie Walnuts are not characters to be emulated and admired, and creator David Chase never said they were.

CBS's daytime drama Guiding Light celebrated its 71st year on the air on January 25. First, on radio, then and now on television, this grand old soap opera has never stopped telling its stories, making broadcast history. Production goes on, but starting February 29, 2008, viewers will be seeing Guiding Light in a brand new light. Led by innovative Executive Producer Ellen Wheeler, Guiding Light it busting out of the studio to starting filming in a more realistic, cinema verite style. "Soap operas have been shot, by and large, the same way since the 1950's, the same way I Love Lucy was shot - with pedestal cameras, in just a few interior sets," said Ms. Wheeler recently. According to her, the "[it's] old-fashioned, and it isn't working anymore."

According to an interview in the latest GQ magazine, Sopranos creator David Chase probably crushed the dreams of show fans as he told them not to expect a movie based on the series. Show devotees were left dangling with the end of the series' six and a half year run on HBO. There has been rampant speculation that a film adaption would be in the works.

Chase told the magazine, "There is no thought about making a movie now and chances are we will probably not do it. But, at the same time, I'm a writer, and this is how my mind works: I could wake up some morning or James Gandolfini (Sopranos star) could wake up some morning and say 'how about it?' If it was great enough, we might be tempted to do it, but I don't think that's going to happen."

The series creator went on to say that everyone has moved on, including himself. At least he didn't say "fuggedaboudit."

(S03E02) May I rant for a second?

I don't know if you've been to New York lately, but if you go, the one thing you'll notice is that most of the people there aren't native New Yorkers. They're from all over the country; they've decided to move to the city to chase their dreams or just get the experience of living there. After about a year, most of them feel they've been hardened by the experience, thinking they're "real New Yorkers" because they got the privilege of crowding on the subways and paying $2500 for a studio. With that badge of honor, they feel they get to make fun of all the "Bridge & Tunnel" people who, even though they've lived in the area all their lives, have the good sense to live in a place where drinks are less than $15 a pop.

Ok, rant over. But a lot of that was going through my mind as Ted yelled at the "sorta New Yorkers" who dared tell him they lived in West Orange. The Jerseyan in me was laughing, but he wasn't happy, either.