In the  early days of television , shows like I Love Lucy, Gunsmoke ( 18 seasons ), Happy Days, Dallas, Big Bang Theory ( 10 seasons ) and 60 minutes ( 43 seasons ) dominated.   They all appeared at the same time weekly, except during the summer when there were re-runs.  More recently, say in 2024, Sunday Night football has dominated, with a 5.31 Nielsen rating, Monday Night Football 2.57, and Saturday Night Football 0.92.  Survivor is at 1.06, and the typical series below 1.0.   In 1953, I Love Lucy had a 67.3 rating, but dropped to 43.7 in 1957, but was still ranked #1.  It ran only for 6 seasons. Streaming has changed all that.   Those weekly shows on your CBS/ABC/NBC and other channels are not all-consuming anymore.  For one, there are too many of them.  If you lived in Los Angeles, you can have access to up to 245 different over-the-air and free channels. Mind you, I still regularly watch certain major broadcast networks p...

I've recently watched a lot of Netflix.  Haven't been to a movie theater since the opening of  Barbenheimer  weekend almost two years ago.  Saved a lot of money. I pay Netflix $17.99/month, the standard rate without ads.  I also am a member of Amazon Prime, which costs me $15.70 with ads.  But I buy a lot from Amazon, providing for free shipping, so Prime is almost free to me. To compare, consider that when you go to a movie theater, you need to drive there, then back home.  There is a tendency to make this an outing, so you have lunch or dinner.  If not, you buy popcorn and a drink.  Skipping a restaurant, just the theater cost will set you back $25/person.  That's already more than a month of Netflix. With Netflix/Prime, you pick what you want and when.  You sit in a more comfortable environment.  You don't need to wear a mask.  Of course you don't need to wear them anymore in theaters, but you are in a cold/flu/COVID en...

First, two comments about our president, Donald Trump.   Remember how I've been telling you that Trump failed in his 6January2021 coup attempt mostly because he had no real control of the Department of Defense? Well, he is acting more swiftly than I thought, for  yesterday he fired the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General C.Q. Brown , who has been in the military for over 40 years, whose term in this position was supposed to end in September of 2027.   Trump gave no explanation on why. Trump also replaced Admiral Lisa Franchetti, head of the U.S. Navy, as well as the Air Force Chief of Staff and the judge advocates general for the Army, Navy and Air Force.  They ensure enforcement of military justice. Representative Seth Moulton, a Massachusetts Democrat, said the firings were "un-American, unpatriotic, and dangerous for our troops and our national security. This is the definition of politicizing our military," he said. President Trump now ha...