New Reality Series

I don't usually plug TV shows on this blog, but I'm making an exception for this one. The show is called Marshal Law: Texas, and it debuts Tuesday night at 10:00pm (9:00pm CST).

Why am I making this shameless plug? First, it looks like it'll be a good show. But most important, my oldest daughter is one of the show's producers (and I'm very proud of her). If you like this sort of show, give it a try.

Most Watched Convention Speech

The Nielsen figures are in on how many Americans watched the biggest speeches of the Democratic and Republican conventions. The two speeches watched by the biggest audiences were both from the Democratic convention, but the person who gave the most watched speech may surprise you. It was the person in the picture above -- Vice-President Joe Biden. The second most watched speech was given by President Obama, and the acceptance speech of Willard Mitt Romney finished in third place.

Here are the speeches at both conventions that had the biggest television audiences, along with the percentage of the total television audience (289.7 million) and the number of people who watched the speech:

Joe Biden
14.7%
42.59 million

Barack Obama
13.7%
39.69 million

Willard Mitt Romney
12.5%
36.21 million

Bill Clinton
10.9%
31.58 million

Marco Rubio
10.4%
30.13 million

Clint Eastwood
9.9%
28.68 million

Michelle Obama
9.6%
27.81 million

Julian Castro
8.9%
25.78 million

Paul Ryan
8.8%
25.49 million

Ann Romney
7.7%
22.31 million

They Had A Debate (And Nobody Came)

I hear they had a Republican presidential candidates debate in South Carolina last night -- a debate that was carried live on Fox News. I think they are using the term "presidential candidates debate" pretty loosely. That's because no candidate that actually has a chance of getting the Republican nomination bothered to show up.

None of the front-runners (Romney, Huckabee, Trump, Palin, Gingrich) put in an appearance. They are evidently still trying to decide if they would stand a chance against President Obama or whether a run would just be a waste of time and money. And I guess the same goes for many of the wannabes (Huntsman, Bachmann, Daniels, Roemer) or the maybes (Christie, Giuliani, Perry), since they weren't there either.

So if the five frontrunners and five more wannabes didn't show up, then who did? Well, it was Herman Cain, Gary Johnson, Rick Santorum, Tim Pawlenty, and Ron Paul. Paul is the only one that has topped 3% in any of the numerous polls done with Republicans this year, and he hasn't come close to breaking into double-digits. This was just a group of nobodies and this time next year none of them will even still be in the race, except maybe for Paul.

This wasn't a real debate. It was a colossal waste of time. I think it just shows how desperate the Republicans (and Fox News) are to have someone step forward and separate themselves from the pack. But it looks like it'll be a while before that happens (if at all). As a recent poll suggested, right now none of the candidates are exciting the Republican voters.

Let me know when they have a real debate.

Isn't His 15 minutes Of Fame Up Yet ?

This story makes me wonder if American culture is even worth saving. It seems that Levi Johnston, the high school dropout whose only claim to fame is impregnating the wild-child daughter of Sarah Palin, has filed a letter of intent with the Alaska Public Offices Commission. Why would he do that? Because that is the first step toward running for office in Alaska.

The letter of intent allows a candidate to start collecting campaign funds. It seems that Levi is thinking of running for mayor of Wasilla, Alaska. But since the mayoral election is not until 2012, his "handlers" say he might run for city council first.

Now, you may be asking yourself what qualifications does Levi have to hold public office. Absolutely none. He never graduated from high school and has not held a full-time job for more than a few weeks (which he got from a company trying to keep the Palins happy), and if you've ever heard him speak it is obvious that an original (or even logical) thought has never entered his mind.

But that doesn't bother Levi. He's not planning on running because he has some good ideas to improve the city. He's just trying to sell a TV "reality" show so he can make a living without actually having to work like a normal person, and some nut has convinced him that Americans would watch a show where he runs for Sarah Palin's old job. A company is filming a pilot right now and they are trying to shop the idea around to various channels -- none of whom has made any attempt to buy the show yet.

I hope no one buys this silly idea for a TV show. I would hate to think American culture has sunk so low that people would actually watch something as ridiculous as this. But then 18% of Americans think Obama is a muslim, so we know there are a lot of really stupid people in the United States. Maybe they are stupid enough to watch a show where this uneducated bumpkin tries to run for elected office. After all, people do slow down in large numbers to see a car wreck and this would be a colossal wreck of sorts.

The current mayor of Wasilla, Verne Rupright, seems to find the idea amusing. He said, "Since I am nearly old enough to be Levi's grandfather I think it would be wise for him to get a high school diploma and keep his clothes on. The voters like that!"

I have to agree. Johnston needs to shut his mouth, get his diploma, and get a real job and hold it for a few years. Maybe, just maybe, after he knows what it's like to have to work for a living like nearly everyone else does, he might be qualified to run for office. Until then there's absolutely no reason for anyone to vote for him since he's little more than a performing clown (and not a very good one).

Someone needs to do him a real favor and let him know that his 15 minutes of fame are up (and have been for a while now). He's now just a rather sad joke.

NFL Draft Goes "Prime Time"

This move wasn't totally unexpected. After the last NFL draft, there was talk about moving the next one to prime time television viewing hours. But now it's official, and it starts with next year's draft.

Since 1995, the NFL draft has been a two-day affair held on Saturday and Sunday. But it's popularityhad both the NFL and ESPN eyeing prime time. This year the draft attracted 39 million viewers. Moving to prime time should create an even larger audience.

The first round of the draft will be held on Thursday night, April 22. It will start at 6:30pm CST. The second and third rounds will start at 5:30pm CST on Friday, April 23. Rounds four through seven will then start at 9:00am CST on Saturday, April 24.

Both ESPN and the NFL network will televise all seven rounds.


NOTE - It's less than a week until the Dallas Cowboys open their pre-season camp in San Antonio. Camp will open on July 29th. Football is back!