Watch 'Big Day' Please!

This is a personal plea to support the show "Big Day." I should rephrase. I'm not asking you to support a show you haven't seen. I'm asking you to just spend a half hour and watch the first episode of "Big Day." If you don't like it, stop watching. But if you're like me, you'll be back for episode two.

Here's the problem with television, as so eloquently put by ESPN's The Sports Guy:

"TV networks spend so many time/money/energy pushing their new shows, lack the patience to stick with those same shows once they're on ... and then they wonder why we aren't watching as much TV anymore. I mean, why would I start watching a serial show like 'Kidnapped' or 'The Nine' when I know there's a 90 percent chance it's going to be gone within four weeks, or even within a year? Would you buy a book in the store if you could only read one chapter a week and knew there was a chance the last 20 chapters would disintegrate within six weeks if there weren't enough people that bought the book? These stupid TV networks blame DVDs, video games, Internet, iPod downloads and everything else for declining ratings, but the real reason more people aren't watching them is because nobody trusts free networks to keep their shows on the air."

I don't know why I hadn't thought of that before, but it is so true. To be fair to my subconscious, he knew. Yes, he knew, because I started watching "The Nine" and enjoyed it, but then there were rumours it was getting canned, plus it started to become very very bad, so I stopped watching, anticipating its cancellation, anticipating me getting upset, avoiding that feeling.

Last season (look what tv has done to us, it's not "last year," it's "last season"), I watched a show called "Love Monkey" and, well, loved it. People said it was like "Sex and the City" but for guys. I'll take their word for it as I cannot compare a show I loved to a show I didn't watch. They cancelled it after three episodes. The same can be said about a half dozen other shows I enjoyed over the past few years (years!).

So this brings me back to "Big Day." It's a show about a wedding between Marla Sokoloff and Josh Cook (who was in "Committed," which was cancelled prematurely and "Four Kings" which wasn't cancelled quick enough). The whole season apparently is one day. It's shot in real time. So the first episode, which premiered on Tuesday, was the first half hour of the wedding day. It's like "24," in that it's in real time, one day for the whole season. It's like "Arrested Development," in that it's intelligent humour without a laugh track. And it's like "Full House," because Marla Sokoloff is in it.

I hadn't seen a commercial for it so without doing any research, I'm assuming ABC is going to screw up with this show. The numbers are in and they are not good. 7.6 million people watched along with me, which is 10 million people fewer than "House" received. But nobody knows about this show. It debuted after "A Charlie Brown Christmas." How are people supposed to know ABC is going to launch a new, hilarious sitcom when Charlie Brown precedes it? Nobody's coming back to ABC at 9:00 when they see an old cartoon on. And without ads - which again, I'm assuming there were none since I didn't see any – nobody will know anything about the show!

So go to abc.com and watch the show, or download it, or just find a copy and watch it and tune in again on Tuesday. I've had enough shows get cancelled on me and I can't keep investing myself emotionally into programs, only to have them taken away from me after three weeks. (This can't be good for future relationships.) I thank God every day that I didn't watch the first episode of Heather Graham's "Emily's Reasons Why Not" last season, a show that was cancelled after one single episode.

"Big Day" is not the best show on television and it's not the funniest, but it is a simple, funny, solid show, and television is missing those. There are fewer than a handful of funny sitcoms on the air now, so I just don't want to see one that I actually enjoy get cancelled.

Thanks for listening and please watch the show.

P.S. Also watch "Traveler" when it debuts sometime soon. I have seen the first episode and believe me, best new show on television, when it finally surfaces.

Bring Back B.J. Birdy

It's amazing how important re-signing Ted Lilly has become for the Blue Jays. During the season, I can't recall hearing many positives about Lilly other than that he consistently wins about 50% of his games (15-13 last season, 59-58 in his career). Now, as he appears to be one of the handful of decent pitchers on the free agent market, that 50% is gold. Lilly has thus become a must-sign for the Jays and they will have to overspend (probably in the $8-million-plus range) to get him back, especially considering the Yankees are going to give him an offer if they haven't already done so.

J.P.'s master plan has made the Jays an offensive force that they haven't been in about a decade. The only flaw – and it's as glaring as an elephant walking into a room – is that the Jays don't have pitching. B.J. Ryan? Solid closer, no help needed there. Let's look at the starting rotation:

1. Roy Halladay – can' get much better
2. A.J. Burnett – he was nothing but a disappointment in his first season with the team, but think of the team without this solid No. 2 starter
3. (Ted Lilly) – you'll see how important it is to bring Lilly back as we get deeper into the five-man rotation
4. Gustavo Chacin – I am a huge Chacin supporter but he did not have a good season. He was 9-4 and injured for a couple months, but those nine wins really shouldn't have been more than five. In his first few wins, he got killed, but the offence saved him. His season-ending ERA is 5.05, too much. Despite all this, I am fine seeing him as the team's fourth starter.
5. Ah… nobody. See? It's not as simple as letting Lilly go and singing someone else. The Jays would need to sign someone else, and then another someone else. Let's hope they get Lilly back and someone like Gil Meche, an above-average pitcher, maybe a tad better than Lilly, someone hovering around the 50% mark like Lilly, but a solid pitcher that can be in the rotation, which really only had three or four players last season.

KKKramer

"You know what the good news is? Judith Regan is now on a plane to California, trying to sign Michael Richards to a book deal: 'If I Were a Racist, Here's What I Would Have Said.' "
-Kenny Kramer, the real Kramer

The New York Times Magazine devoted an entire issue two weeks ago to comedy. There was a long Will Ferrell article that is worth a read though diehards didn't learn anything new.

The gem in the issue is when 22 "funny people" are asked "Which five comedies would you want to take with you if you were stranded alone on a desert island?"

David Cross, who I have missed since those GOP bastards at Fox cancelled Arrested Development, had an answer that is funnier than any of the movies people listed.

His number one comedy: Rent. 'Nuff said.

Fire Sam Mitchell?

I don't necessarily agree with my friend Matt that Sam Mitchell is to blame for the Raptors problems, but I will give Matt credit for sticking to his blog for a week already, which is longer than he has ever been in a relationship. So kudos to him, and check out his Anti-Sam Mitchell blog: http://pinkslipsam.blogspot.com

Thanks Playstation for Wyclef!

Wyclef Jean is my favourite artist but in all the time that I have been a fan, he has not played a show in Toronto. I've interviewed the man, and honoured to do so, but as any real fans know, there's nothing like seeing the artist actually perform live.

In September at the Film Fest, Wyclef performed in front of an invite-only crowd in a very very small venue. I was not invited. I did manage to get in. Best night of my life.

Two months later, last night, Wyclef performed again in Toronto, again to an invite-only crowd, again in a very small venue. This was for the launch of Playstation 3. This time I was actually invited. Two concerts in two months. How crazy is that?

Before the concert I was talking with Jerry Wonder (Clef's longtime producer) about all the projects they're working on. Besides recording "The Carnival Part 2," Clef is recording the soundtrack to a new project that Angelina Jolie is creating. She is asking many of her friends at all different parts of the world to record three minutes of their lives at a specific three minutes that she will tell them. In December, Wyclef's going to Haiti to perform the biggest concert in the history of Haiti, Wonder told me.

So I watched the concert right in front. It's an "industry" crowd, you know ... laid back ... can't show emotion ... "no cheering in the press box" attitude … so it was easy to get to the front of the stage. After the concert, Mr. Wonder invited me backstage to say hello to Wyclef. I've been backstage before but never backstage backstage. It's like 5 levels deep. On the second floor of this place, there is a velvet rope. Once you get passed that, there is a VIP lounge, but then there's another velvet rope. Once you get passed that, there's a small waiting area to get past a door. Once you get passed this door, there is a hallway, and then you have to get your way into the actual dressing room/lounge. Under normal circumstances, impossible, but Jerry said to just tell them I'm with him and magic, I'm in a room with Wyclef, about 10 women, Jerry Wonder, Clef's bodyguard, three musicians, and a member of Guns N Roses (Not Axel.. I couldn't figure out who it was.. the new Guns N Roses, not the real one). What happens behind closed doors stays behind closed doors so I will say no more about that.
But what an awesome night. Imagine seeing your favorite artist twice in two months in a small venue and getting to hang out with them both times. Someone made a mistake. I should not have been this lucky.