Spitting Image was a satirical series focusing on politics and pop culture that aired in the UK from 1984 to 1996. American audiences may have caught a few primetime specials featuring the grotesque puppets, but other than those specials and Genesis' video for "Land of Confusion," the characters never really took hold in the US. It's somewhat of a shame, because they were really funny, and a lot better than D.C. Follies, Sid and Marty Krofft's lame attempt at political puppet humor. Not even Fred Willard could save that series.

Recently, two Spitting Image puppets, Margaret Thatcher and Gordon Brown, were purchased at an auction for £5,040 and £4,800. Had I known they were up for sale, I would have bid on them myself. What's £5,040 translate to in American dollars? Like a buck fifty? Or is that just a fantasy I've concocted to convince myself I could ever actually own one of those puppets?

It looks like ranks of millionaires on the Howard Stern show are growing. Fans already knew that Howard, Robin Quivers, Artie Lange, Fred Norris, and likely Gary Dell'Abate were all swimming in dough. But to those names you can add... Jon Hein?

Yes, Jon Hein. Hein, the creator of the ingenious web site Jump The Shark, and also an on-air staffer for Sirius' Howard 100 and 101 channels, announced this morning that he sold his web site to TV Guide for an undisclosed sum. As part of the deal, he will also be a contributor to the TVG web site.

I'm guessing that Jon finally decided to sell the site, in which users chronicle when their favorite shows started slipping creatively (like when Fonzie jumped the shark on Happy Days), to concentrate on his work with Howard. I'm surprised, actually, that the site went as long as it did after Jon joined Howard's crew. But I'm happy for the guy; he seems like a nice guy and a hard worker, and if anyone deserves to profit from one of those "why didn't I think of that?" ideas, it's Jon.

Now I wonder what our friends over at "The Guide" are going to do with the site. Hope they don't ruin it.

One of the things I love about living in New Jersey is that I have access to hundreds of diners. Walk into one at any time of the day (if it's not open 24 hours, it's not a real diner in my book) and you can get anything from a stack of pancakes to a club sandwich to prime rib for fairly cheap prices. Of all the diners in my home state, the one I always wanted to go to but never managed to get to was Rosie's Diner in Little Ferry. It was the diner that was featured on all those classic Bounty commercials in the '70s and '80s, where Nancy Walker played Rosie. The diner was sold in 1990 and moved (yes, moved... diners are made to be put on a truck and shipped from place to place) to a spot just outside Grand Rapids, MI.

Now comes word that Jerry Berta, who moved the diner sixteen years ago, has sold it to a Michigan couple. He was going to put the diner up for auction, but Randy and Jonelle Roest made a good offer before the auction started. Looks like the diner's staying in Michigan. Wonder how much it would cost to have them move it back to New Jersey?

[via Yahoo!]