working

If you enjoy the Real World for some reason, you'll be interested to know the 18th edition of the long-running reality series will debut on MTV later this year. This time the young, vacuous and gorgeous will be setting up residence in Denver, Colorado, the Mile High City, home of skiing, and, since I've never been there before, I'm going to say it's also the birthplace of the triangular waffle. Someone else can verify that. Neither the Governor of Colorado nor the Mayor of Denver, who has the totally awesome surname of "Hickenlooper," know much about the show, but they're welcoming it with open arms. The new cast of melodramatic twentysomethings will live in the city's downtown area, but it's not known just yet what their job will be.

On television, they live in McMansions and get a big, fat tax break for being in that upper-income bracket. In the real world, they probably drive Subarus and are stressed out about paying for college. An article on a job website explores the real-life salaries of some of our favorite characters, including the improbable bank account of Sex and the City's Carrie Bradshaw (I never said the article was brand new). It seems, as a sex columnist in NYC, Carrie probably would've earned $57,000. In Manhattan? That's poverty!

Other characters and their real-life salaries:

Today's a weird day, isn't it? I'm actually working today (albeit working from home, but working), but all I see on my TV is parades and football, which tells me that it should be a holiday. Which it is. But I'm working... Gahh! It's too much to contemplate right now.

In fact, if it weren't for a paperwork snafu, I would have been taking an Active Directory class today. So, things could have been worse; I could have been in training while a holiday went on around me.

So, I have two questions for the TV Squad audience: does this day feel weird to you, too? And do you think it's fair that the NFL co-opts New Year's Day every six or so years, robbing us the feeling that we're used to seeing, namely waking up to a throbbing headache, nausea, and a flower-strewn parade?

Oh, one more question: When did CBS lose the rights to cover the Rose Parade? Nothing signaled New Year's Day to me more than Bob Barker calling the floats as they rumbled down a sunny Pasedena street.  When I turned to CBS, at 11, Barker was there, but he was hosting The Price is Right, as usual.