Matt Damon recently got his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, but tonight he's in Oklahoma City -- premiering his new movie, The Bourne Ultimatum, to benefit kids.

If you haven't seen the Bourne series of movies, they're essentially an American version of James Bond tales, and they're just as good.

Man, why does all the good stuff in the Big Brother house not happen on the weekends!? As of last night, the Big Brother 8 house has dissolved into bizarro world.

Nick was put up on the block, and then he shaved his head into a mohawk.

Dustin shaved his head.

Dick and Nick have decided to mercilessly attack Jen verbally, and Dick even made it physical by pouring tea over Jen's head, which I think technically is assault. The pressure really has gotten to the house, and while on one hand, it makes for brilliant live-feed watching ... it's also borderline mental.

And I have to say: From this point forward, I can't be with evel Dick. Or Nick. Now I haven't been a big fan of the Jenbot, but I admire how she's kept a positive attitude through the mental beating she's been taking. Furthermore, the out-and-out rejection of Zach -- like we were back in high school -- has gone overboard.

If Jen, Zach and Kail survive this week, they should totally work together and draw in Jessica and Jameka in order to purge the house of its crazies -- Dick and Nick. Seriously, E.D. is about one wrong move from getting his tatted self booted from the show.

Enjoy these clips posted by YouTubers last night. They are honestly too crazy to believe, and it reminds me of the moment in the movie "Full Metal Jacket" when Pyle went nuts. Instead of shell shock, it's BB shock.

Chief Justice John Roberts has a seizure, falls and is rushed to a hospital, and now GMA's Robin Roberts announces this morning that she has breast cancer. You know these things come in threes.

Eric Roberts? Julia Roberts? Bob Roberts?

Check out Robin's heartfelt announcement on GMA this morning. I'm not a big fan; I think she was vastly better when she was on ESPN doing sports ... but here's to hoping they cut out whatever cancer is in there so she can recover quickly.

Holy morbidity, Batman! How many celebrities died on Sunday/Monday?

Ingmar Bergman, Tom Snyder, Marvin Zindler and Bill Walsh -- and on top of that, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts had a seizure, fell and had to be rushed to a hospital. The grim reaper is out for souls after what had been a very quiet year so far in my deadpool league.

I'm the defending 2006 champ and am only three points behind the leader, who scored 25 points on the former San Francisco coach's demise. I had Walsh on my list as well, but unfortunately, I didn't have Snyder on mine.

Snyder is one of those people who just out of mere respect, I wouldn't put on my list. That's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it. Hey, it was very nice to see that ABC News with Charles Gibson actually included Zindler in its death block on Monday.

Look, Zindler was a big deal, and while most modern news executives wouldn't dare bring a guy that flamboyant, that "out-there" into a newsroom, I point again to just how much he did for his community. He wasn't just loved in Houston, he was beloved.

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Kathy Griffin was in Tulsa this weekend and went on a long diatribe about Ranch being the hillbilly ketchup. From what my colleague noted, Griffin seemed to be pleasantly surprised by Tulsa in terms of its relative cosmopolitanity. Truth is, Tulsa's still a pretty hip smaller city, but it's not nearly as cool as it was a few years ago -- too much crime.

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American Idol's Corey Clark was involved in a drug bust of some sort in Arkansas. Clark has long faded from public view, but my brother and I always thought that his tune "Paulatics" was actually significantly better than anybody had ever credited it. The rest of his stuff was utter crap, but that one tune was more than just awright, dawg.

Speaking of Idol, I found this very funny, mildly disturbing, totally innocuous video on YouTube. Not sure how real it is, but it's worth a giggle.

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Round 2 with Holly Hunter and Saving Grace is being DVRd right now. Don't have time tonight to watch it, and I'm already a few days behind on other shows. However, I did get a ton of yard work done this past weekend, including mowing, edging and pulling out six or seven trash bags worth of weeds from what is supposed to be a flower bed. It was a weed bed. Once I was done, I dispensed some weed killer on about a 4x4 foot area to test it out.

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Each week, I like to try out some new food, usually at a local fast food joint or restaurant. Three weeks ago, I tried some barbecue and wrote about it. Two weeks ago, I tried Arby's new toasted subs, and didn't write about them.

A colleague had given me one at work about three weeks ago, and it was incredible. The ones I've bought since aren't what I'd call incredible, nor am I certain it has the most healthful, freshest ingredients, but for my money, I'll take Arby's $4.29 sub over a $7 Quizno's sub.

And I really like Quizno's, particularly their tuna melt. However, honestly, Arby's product tastes just as good and is a ton cheaper.

This week, it was a two-fer. First, everybody at work has been chirping about McDonald's sweet tea. They loved it, and I've read a lot about McDonald's foray into the southern delicacy that is sweet tea.

It gets a big thumbs down from me.

It's just sweet, and that's it. Honestly, sweet tea isn't just tea with sugar in it. It's an art, and the quality and robustness and bouquet, if you will, of the tea all counts. That's why Mikeska's sweet tea down in south Texas was so damned good.

That was elixir. McDonald's $1 sweet tea was merely sugar water.

However, the golden arches has hit a grand slam with its cinnamon melts. At 460 calories, it's pretty much a piece of bread with lots of gunk on it that will make your ass fat the minute it sets up shop in your belly, but you know what? It's good.

Really good.

Many are comparing it to Cinnabon, but at $1.50, a McDonald's cinnamon melt paired with a $1 coffee is about the best dessert value going, ritzy or on the cheap. I'm stunned, but I'm serious.

It was just a couple weeks ago that I noted that KTRK's Marvin Zindler had been diagnosed with inoperable pancreatic cancer. He died yesterday.

He was an old coot and lived very well, but the guy is a legend. He was pimp before rap music came along, and like I noted many times before, he was a tremendous asset to his community.

Check Out KTRK's Coverage

But the biggie this morning was the death of Tom Snyder.

I remember hanging out at a little bar in Hugo, Okla., and talking to one of the only other intelligent souls in that entire town, a guy by the name of Chuck Cearley. He was the barkeep at this little place, and it turned out, he was a fan of Snyder and his colortinis.

I know Snyder started out with NBC and that his show "Tomorrow" was actually a pioneering program in late-night television. However, I remember him most for his CNBC program in the early-to-mid-1990s, one that was eventually replaced I believe by a vastly underrated program from Charles Grodin, where the comic actor basically turned into Lenny Bruce, ranting on various laws and society in general.

Snyder went on to CBS and was eventually replaced by Craig Kilborn. And while it wasn't the same when Snyder went to CBS, it was still better than anything else on at that time.

No offense to Charlie Rose, but Tom Snyder WAS the best interviewer of modern time. And what's more, Snyder was like a cool old guy, talking hip to the kids and dignified to the adults -- and his stories always had viewers on edge because you never knew when one of them would reference some booze or pot-smoking, which would catch many younger folks off guard because he typically dressed like a bank president.

Nevertheless, we knew he had leukemia, so it's not a total shock. But I'm hoping that the tributes we see on television this week proportionately show just how much of an icon this guy was. How much of a pioneer he was, and just how damned cool he was.

Enjoy this li'l YouTube video I found:

I'm not sure what went down on Saturday, but the houseguests sat outside for like four hours, waiting for the CBS crew to build stuff inside for the PoV competition. Apparently, sometime during the competition, Jameka made a promise to Jen -- again, I'm not sure of the details yet -- that if she won, she'd take her off the block.

Jameka won the PoV, and she says she'll stay true to her word. And trust me, this puts a giant target on the Maryland school counselor come next week. Like Mike, Jameka is standing by her word, saying that she shouldn't have put herself out there like that but that she was obligated to follow through.

On the live feeds moments after the competition, Jameka explains herself to a weepy Amber.

On a side note, evel Dick was piiiiiiiissed off about the PoV happenings. However, his whispering with Dustin was inaudible, so I didn't capture. Apparently, the houseguests were offered prizes, and many of them bit, foregoing the PoV -- including Dustin himself, who had planned all along to backdoor Zach. Or Nick. Or somebody.

Nevertheless, the live feeds should be buzzing tonight.

Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards has slammed Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton for bickering. He says it's what's wrong with American politics, but to me it's an indicator that any news is good news for Edwards.

Part of the strategy of winning a party's presidential nomination is to be differentiated from the competition early enough so as to be viable later. One of the main reasons Obama attacks Clinton is to have himself mentioned in the same breath as the New York stateswoman. Because Obama has been the underdog thus far, he's needed to do this.

While Clinton responds to these attacks, providing the impetus for Edwards' comments, she's the frontrunner and is typically responding and trying to achieve some level of perceived statesmanship without attacking anybody first. Not that Hillary is an angel; it's just that frontrunners don't take the first jabs.

What Edwards is doing though is attacking the both of them in the same way that Obama attacks Clinton. Therefore, if what Edwards says is true relative to the sorry state of American politics, then it also applies to him. Any face time JE can get on national television is good for him; unfortunately, nothing that comes from his lips is palatable to me.

It's time for the PoV, and with Jen and Kail on the block again this week, let's look at my Big Brother 8 weekly rankings.

11. Zach (10).

Isolationism isn't pretty in the Big Brother game, and Zach has left himself increasingly alone. Top that with uncomfortable comments, and he stands as the universally hated male player in the BB8 house. Unless he wins PoV, he's likely on the block to replace either Jen or Kail and is the odds-on favorite to go home this week.

10. Jen (11).

As Dustin said late Friday, Jen finally proved she wasn't a robot when she shed tears after being nominated again. This drew sympathetic responses from both Nick and evel Dick and showed that she at least had the potential to warm up to people.

9. Kail (12).

Kail lucked out last week and has spent the first part of this week making some amends, even warming up to HoH Dustin on Friday night and Saturday morning before the PoV. In one conversation, Dustin acknowledged that if she kept a low profile this week that she would be safe. It would be easy to see her go home, but my gut tells me the sequester alliance has bigger fish to fry.

8. Nick (5).

Any relationship potential between him and Daniele is slipping daily although there is still flirting. Quite a bit of strategic talk this week has centered on Nick as a back-door replacement for either Kail or Jen. Nick's biggest problem is that he's on the outside looking in to the Gang of 7 sequester alliance.

7. Jameka (9).

Jameka is coming out of her shell and playing a bit more. She's in with the big undefined alliance, but her side conversations with Amber in particular portend future trouble.

6. Jessica (8).

It must be killing Carol, but Jessica has turned into one of the more likeable players. Late Friday, dare I say I saw the AFL cheerleader flirting with Eric. She's also the party girl in the house, a reigning quarters queen. Her game is understated, and the fact that she's a wildcard could prove troublesome for her soon.

5. Eric (6).

Eric dodged some bullets after the 7 to 2 vote to evict Mike could have left him wide open. He's a slick talker and a fine reasoner, but sometimes he says too much. At some point soon, I think he'll become a volatile, polarizing player, particularly if America has him do something else crazy (like vandalizing Jen's clothes).

4. Amber (4).

Amber has made some terrific relationships in the house, both strategically and personally, but she plays both sides of the fence. She's a good player in terms of "workin' it," but she'll need to excel at some of these competitions in order to wield some power now and again.

3. Dick (2).

Evel Dick reminds me strongly of Eddie, the one-legged winner of Season 1. His in-your-face style is off-putting, but it also allows for some serious trust to be had. If he tells you he'll do something, then by gosh you can count on it for now. I think he's a lock for sequester and, to me, to make it to the Final 3.

2. Daniele (1).

She's good when it comes to competition, but the slop clearly wore her down for a couple of weeks. Daniele's strength is still in having her father back her up; however, she's likeable enough and strong enough relationship-wise to stick around for the foreseeable future.

1. Dustin (3).

If I were forced to pick a winner right now, I think Dustin wins this bugger going away. He's popular, so much so that both America and the other houseguests like him. Dustin has made no mistakes so far in the house, and his style of aggressive confidence is done in a friendly style as opposed to Dick's style. I can't really even fathom what trouble Dustin will have until the Final 6 or so.

It's clear that Jen, Kail, Zach and Nick face tough odds in this the first week of the second month of game play. One of them is going home this week, and unless one of them can win HoH, another one will go home next week. Kail has made the most inroads with the sequester alliance to win back some friendships.

I think the fact that she's made it so clear how much she loves this show, how much she wants to stay that, heck, there might be a tinge of empathy for her in the house. Even Dick has backed off publicly.

While Jen could work some Janelle magic and be around late in this competition, she's not doing nearly enough to win souls. She's gotta take Dustin aside, Jameka aside, Jessica aside and prove to them that she's not a total b****. Honestly, I don't think she is, and I think she's way smarter than she lets on, which must mean she's not playing the game very well, and it could be her demise.

And last but not least, while I don't think I touched on Nick's volatility this week, several reports indicate that he's acknowledged having psychological problems to the other houseguests, problems that center on being violent. There is speculation that he might have even lied on his application to get into the house, saying that he had never been analyzed for psychological problems.

About two weeks ago, Big Brother strongly admonished Dick for saying he'd step on Jen's neck for something or other. Violence will not be tolerated in the house, and while Nick's arguments have been tame relative to his brief tiffs with Zach, one loss of temper ends his run on BB8. Not saying it will happen, but any goodwill he had built over the first three weeks has been lost because of this and his relationship with Daniele.

OK, PoV is soon to be over -- I think -- so keep it here on big-brother-blog.com for updates and analysis.

In our editorial meeting this morning, I noted to our news director that -- in my opinion -- a reality show focused on a television newsroom would be compelling stuff, way more than a show about a buxom non-journalist journalist in Tyler, Texas, (Anchorwoman - FOX) and better than a reality show about a newspaper (Bravo - Tabloid Wars).

The reason is simple.

Television news is immediate and visual. If it's news and it's happening, if it's information or an incident that affects the public's welfare, safety or even convenience, then our mission in television journalism is to disburse this information factually and visually as soon as possible.

That is often facilitated via a news chopper. The most obvious risk of having a helicopter was realized on Friday in Phoenix, as four journalists from competing stations were killed in a crash while they were covering the pursuit of a carjacking suspect.

Now, we don't have a helicopter at KOCO, and while sometimes I really wished we had one so that I could stream coverage online, today is one of those days I'm secretly glad we don't. I sympathize tremendously with what the folks at 3-TV and ABC-15 in Phoenix must be experiencing.

Most folks never comprehend how close a newsroom gets personally, working long (long) hours and working side-by-side, often spending more time with colleagues than with outside friends or family. Furthermore, many people don't realize the risks associated with news coverage, with or without a helicopter.

Because television news is so immediate, we're often at the scene of events as they're happening, which means television journalists can theoretically be in the path of crime or storms or, heck, traffic. Those situations rear themselves daily, and stations take extraordinary measures and develop thorough plans and policies to ensure nothing bad happens.

So, you might ask, if there is such a risk, then why not just wait until the event ends to cover it? Let things cool down. Play it safe.

Sure, stations are competitive with one another; however, day after day, the underlying mission of our work is to protect people through the dissemination of information. In the case of a pursuit, people at home or work -- particularly if they're about to head out -- will want to know where this pursuit is.

Is the chase happening on a highway near them? Is the guy armed? Is it near a park where my kids are playing? This applies to other types of stories, including weather coverage. Even though many people might gripe about their favorite show being pre-empted for breaking news or weather, the truth is that our very existence as chartered through the FCC is predicated upon a responsibility to keep the public informed in the present.

Plus, in the case of copter journalists, reporters in the skies work with law enforcement to ensure that suspects can be caught without the need for even riskier pursuits on roadways.

Nothing's perfect, and many criticisms of the way television stations cover certain things could be valid, I suppose. However, without coming off as pompous, our society in general and definitely our neighborhoods and communities are infinitely better off because of the work these folks in the field do day in and day out.

And if somehow that could be communicated in a transparent but entertaining fashion on a show hosted by, let's say, BravoTV, then man would you have some uber-compelling television to watch. Heck, breaking news television is the ultimate reality television, and unfortunately but thankfully very rarely, it can result in a mega-tragedy like what happened in Phoenix.

Paris Hilton's former BFF got four days in the pokey today for DWI.

Instead of just being "drunk" though, Nicole Richie was allegedly on Vicodin and pot. She was driving the wrong way along a busy L.A. freeway. Good times. That she didn't kill anybody could be a testament to just how skilled a driver she is, although I've always said NASCAR would be quite a bit more interesting if all the drivers were wasted.

Did I say interesting? I meant deadly.

I don't necessarily believe it, but this article suggests that the wagons are circling around the GOP for 2008. However, I have maintained for the past 2 to 3 months that if a Democrat is to win the White House, it WILL be Hillary Clinton.

Honestly, that gets people polarized, but I'm not sure why. She's smart as a whip. She's a leader. She's centrist ... and she's got Bill. I would absolutely, 100 percent have no problem voting for her.

Let's examine Lindsay Lohan versus Paris Hilton for a moment, shall we?

One is a talented in front of the camera; the other's only real camera work involves night-vision. I know of nobody who would suggest Paris Hilton is even remotely as talented as Lohan, who Garry Marshall called the best young talent Hollywood has produced in years.

Heck, even though both Lohan and Hilton have come out with music CDs in the past couple of years, both of which were cringeworthy, I think most folks would take Lindsay's side on the musical front. It's like picking between Satan and Stalin, musically. If you had to pick one ...

There was much public outcry when Hilton was let out of jail four days into a several-week sentence for driving on a suspended license related to an earlier DUI conviction. Fact: Hilton's DUI was significant but not Eddie Sutton-like. Fact: Thousands if not tens or hundreds of thousands of people right this second are driving on suspended licences right now.

Lohan is accused of participating in a two-car chase while drunk, and authorities found cocaine in her pocket. Plus, Lohan was fresh off another DUI accusation that hadn't even come through the court system yet.

While I understand the outrage over Hilton centered on her early release, I'll submit to you right now that my hunch is that Lohan's sentence will not fit the crime. In my opinion, Lohan should be looking at a year behind bars.

She is significantly more dangerous to society than Hilton.

She is exponentially more dangerous to herself.

Her crime, if true, if she's convicted, is definitely worth a stiff sentence. There was blatancy in her behavior that said to me either that she's above the law or that she's really freaking sick.

Even if Lohan is convicted and sentenced to hard time, will she serve all of it? Will there be outcry if she doesn't, particularly if she serves, let's say, three months of a year's time?

I say the outcry won't be nearly as big, and here's why.

The pop culture, social judgment as to the situations of each of these starlets is less a judgment most make as to the facts, as to their crimes, as to precedent as it is a judgment on how the individuals feel about each performer.

The outcry about Paris was basically America saying, "We don't like this bimbo very much," and the reason why is because there is a sentiment -- a true one albeit -- that Hilton became famous without having any talent whatsoever.

On the other hand, Lohan is an undeniably talented actress, and that will subconsciously sway the majority of Americans when it comes time either to empathize or crucify. As for me, I know Lohan's more talented, and I completely concur that Hilton has no talent; however, the justice system was significantly harder on Hilton than it will be on Lohan, relative to the crimes (alleged in Lindsay's case), primarily influenced by public sentiment.

We'll see, right? I could be wrong.

And for a humorous look at the week in pop culture, particularly Lindsay Lohan, check out the great Michael Buckley's latest YouTube video blog. The dude is funny, a three-times-a-week The Soup Jr. for those of us who revere the E! show.

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Queen guitarist Brian May is completing his PhD in astrophysics three decades after abandoning that pursuit to form what became one of the two or three greatest rock bands ever.

His thesis? Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud

That beats the hell out of me what that's all about, but I know "Killer Queen" is one of the best pop songs of all time, so enjoy the video from 1974.

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Latebreaking news tonight out of Los Angeles, where ABC is just about set to name both Whoopi Goldberg and Sherri Shepherd to the cast of The View, according to UPI.

On one hand, it's a solid pick in that, with Goldberg, the show gets a strong voice generally loved by most, as opposed to Rosie O'Donnell, who was polarizing.

The choice of Shepherd is a bit more startling in that I never really ever noticed when she was on. It's like a so-what pick? If it had been me, I might have gone with Whoopi and Roseanne. The show needs not just a strong voice, it needs an outrageous one to make up for Rosie's departure.

Few daytime shows ever managed the type of buzz O'Donnell brought to the ABC staple, and this pick is uber-safe, which could mean relative boredom for viewers come this fall.

The sequester alliance, if you will, was strong in its front, and Mike was evicted by a 7 to 2 count. However, I was wrong about Eric in that he apparently is obligated to vote as America does. I thought he might be allowed to switch it up in the name of his own safety.

However, is America's Player now exposed to the rest of the house?

Moments after the live eviction, houseguests started questioning each other. Even on the live show, on CBS, you could hear Dick chiding Jen for voting to keep Mike. Problem is she voted to evict Mike.

Mike's only ally, really, was Zach. Like the Howie-esque player he is, Zach stayed true to the bitter end, and the good thing for him is that everybody knew it. What will make this weekend interesting is in whether the house figures out who the second vote belonged to, and right now the speculation is on Jen and Nick, both of whom voted to evict Mike.

They don't know that though, so let the games begin. Dustin is HoH this week after a competition in which the eligible houseguests had to answer questions about their evicted compadres. What this means for sure is that Amber is safe, and theoretically, if the week's happenings mean a thing, it means Jen, Kail, Nick and Zach are in deep caca, particularly Zach.

However, if the houseguests figure out Eric's vote, he's in big trouble. There's been some talk that he's two-faced, and he got on Amber's bad side earlier this week for picking on her mercilessly about something juvenile. Amber's influence would weigh heavily with Dustin, so it would behoove Eric to play this right.

Did he? Check out this live feed I just captured in which Eric explains his theory of the 7 to 2 vote to Jameka, Amber and Jessica.

Honestly, it was pretty well played, and Eric didn't even have to lie, although I might have suspected something myself if I were in the house. In other words, in the short-term -- well done. But what about the long term? If Nick and Jen are able to gain the trust of the rest of the house on this vote matter, Eric will definitely become a target.

Like we expected an Atlanta Falcons' player to step out and say, "Hey, I can't play with this dog killer," training camp started for Bobby Petrino's club with plenty of support for Michael Vick, who pleaded not guilty to federal charges today in Richmond, Va.

California's Colbie Caillat manages a Top 5 debut on the Billboard albums chart, an impressive debut for a singer-songwriter who essentially promoted herself online. Sure, she has a pedigree given that her father worked for Fleetwood Mac back in the day, but the blueprint for her rise is something all aspiring musicians should note.

Toad's been telling me forever that Alberto Gonzales will be forced out eventually, and while I have said over and over that he's as safe as Melinda Doolittle on American Idol, methinks he's right now.

Our attorney general, the man charged with upholding justice, is being investigated for perjury. Even if indicted, he's done.

It will be interesting to see how Michael Vick pleads today, as if there were any chance that he would do anything but proclaim his innocence. The most intriguing thing so far about this case is that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell initially planned to suspend the Atlanta quarterback for four games.

Hmmm. If Vick was ultimately responsible for the death and torture of humans, even if he didn't execute them himself, he would be in prison for life. It seems to me, if true, Vick should at the least be banned from the NFL for life for doing the same to dogs.

If that doesn't happen, I hope animal activists bring the NFL to its knees. Here's the latest video update:

While reviews of TNT's new drama, Saving Grace, were mixed at best, the ratings were across-the-board excellent.

Not only did Grace hold its lead-in from The Closer, it beat TNT's top drama. Furthermore, its debut was the No. 1 premiere on ad-supported cable television this year and third all-time. However, there is a giant, giant elephant in the room.

TNT spent two months promoting this show.

My review of the show boiled down to this: It was completely a formulaic police drama, and while the Oklahoma stereotypes were over-the-top, it was the writing that made me cringe. Unlike my buddy Toad, I think the premise is OK enough to succeed IF the writing gets better.

However, the reviews from critics across the country were mixed. Some actually really liked the writing, so perhaps I'm the idiot. Nevertheless, considering this show puts Oklahoma City on the pop-culture map, I'm kind of obligated to watch it. And, sure, I'd like the show to succeed.

Heck, I wanted Studio 60 to succeed, but I could never get past the fact that this was a comedy-drama about a sketch show that was even less funny than the real-life sketch shows it parodied. Considering I love Aaron Sorkin's work otherwise, this was a heck of an admission.

Nevertheless, the threshhold on cable is way softer. The trick will be whether Grace can lose no less than 10 percent of its viewership next week. I'm not sure of the industry standard, but I don't think executives will be pleased if the show loses 20-25 percent of its audience after one week, but I don't think they'll panic over 10.

I'll say it again. If the creator of this show will focus more on the dialogue and let these terrific actors do their thing, it won't be nearly as embarrassing as it was. Listen to us. Write better.

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So, what constitutes a well-written TV show? OK, well, Sorkin's Studio 60 was technically well-written although the series never found its soul. His previous work with The West Wing and Sports Night was beyond incredible.

Friday Night Lights is wonderfully written, as is Heroes. Actually, the former is better written than the latter, but the combo of premise and execution with Heroes is superior.

You want to see great writing in action? Watch Gilmore Girls. Seriously. Terrific, pithy writing. Watch Northern Exposure or Grey's Anatomy.

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Soon enough, we'll all be watching TV on something called Joost. It's being called the anti-YouTube by some and the next-YouTube by others.

Loosely defined, it's a peer-to-peer IPTV application whereby people can watch TV on-demand on their computers with near-TV like quality. They have nearly 1 million invited users in preparation for a full launch this winter, including partnerships with networks like MTV and CBS and with organizations like IndyCar and the NHL.

VH1 was so bold as to put its entire series, I Hate My 30s, online before it debuts Thursday.

The drawback to Joost is that its resource-heavy. It works on my machine but quite tempermentally. It wouldn't work on my mom's machine at all, and Toad was able to get it to work on his laptop but not his desktop.

Furthermore, the UI leaves something to be desired. It's like it was designed by one of those guys who values "experience" over "usability." The action buttons are not intuitive at all, and I was left to guess how to maneuver within the system.

Still, this is the wave of the very near future. Get invited now if you know somebody so cool that they'd be willing to invite you. I'll accept bribes.

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Speaking of up-and-comers, are you ready for the rise of Colbie Caillat? A few months ago, she was MySpace.com's most popular unsigned artist, and now she has a major hit on her hands.

Her album CoCo is hovering near the Top 10 on Rhapsody's album chart, and it's getting rave reviews. Now, there's no chance she's supplanting Amy Winehouse as best new artist just yet; Winehouse's Back to Black isn't just the best album from a best new artist candidate this year, it's the best pop album of the past five years.

Furthermore, Caillat is garnering a lot of buzz because of her previous independence. Lots of folks think she's just a talented singer-songwriter working out of the blue to get this deal, when in fact music is in her bones. The California girl's daddy worked on Rumours with Fleetwood Mac.

Any good child of the 1970s owns that album.

Good news is that Colbie sounds very West Coast soft-pop 1970sish. She's like a mix between Sheryl Crow and Debby Boone, and her tune "Bubbly" is so sweet it's almost annoying. However, the tune is clever and will almost certainly invade the ears of 99 percent of Americans in the next three months.

Listen to it below:

I bought the CD for $8.99 on Rhapsody, and I liked -- really liked -- about five of the songs. The rest of the CD was like a Jack Johnson starter kit. Boring. However, her voice is wonderful -- a bit soulful and sweet like Karen's (you know who I mean), and the fact that she writes makes her viable with the cool-kid crowd.

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Watched America's Got Talent last night, and we learned who five of the finalists would be, including Donny Hathaway dressalike Robert Hatcher, the sewer singer, if you will. While the young country chanteuse and teenage beatboxer will likely vie for the crown, I say watch out for Cas Haley from Dallas.

He's a stay-at-home dad and plays in a band called Woodbelly. His voice is incredible. His guitar playing is adequate and not overpowering, and if the guy is a songwriter, we likely have a bonafide star on our hands.

For now, in my opinion, he'll have to settle for winning $1 million. He deserves to win this season of AGT. Watch him below performing The Police's "Walking On The Moon."

***

Thursday night is another live-eviction night in the Big Brother 8 house, and it looks like Mike could be going home. However, several of the guests spelled out their choice in this video I captured from the BB8 live feeds this evening.

For more analysis, check us out at Big-Brother-Blog.com, where I'm contributing articles daily.

This week's PoV competition featured six houseguests standing atop pedastals with giant hats on and what looked to be martini glasses on top of them. The object of the game was to be the last person standing atop the pedastals with the glasses on top of the hats.

Long story short, the houseguests were asked to go outside and taunt the PoV competitors to try to get them to laugh, to shrug, anything to make them fall off the pedastals. Jen won the PoV because Mike taunted evel Dick to the point where Dick threatened to put him on the block if he didn't quit, and Mike didn't quit, so Dick knocked off his own glass and nominated him.

In Mike's eyes, he was being loyal to Kail for the purpose of demonstrating his capacity to be loyal to all the other houseguests. Earlier in the day, he had told the Oregon mother that he would take either Jen or Kail off the block if he won the PoV. Well, when he wasn't picked to particpate, I suppose he figured this was his way to demonstrate that loyalty.

He thought he scored a coup, even though he knew he could be nominated by acting so brazenly.

He was, and there's a good chance he's going home. As of Tuesday night BBT, the votes are stacked against him. However, there are two days to go before what I'm sure will be a live eviction, so let the campaigning begin.

Plus, there's always America's Player, Eric, who I suspect will be asked to evict Kail. So, out of 9 available voters, Mike has one vote.

As of right this second, it would probably be 8-1 vote to evict Mike, although I think Amber and Dustin could be swayed.

What stands out this week is just how manipulative evel Dick can be. He and his daughter, Daniele, have grown closer and then fought before she cried on his shoulder before they fought again. Dick has made it clear that their issues wouldn't be resolved in this house, and Daniele has made it clear to him just how uncomfortable he makes her sometimes.

Left out of this mix is Nick, who I am convinced will beat the living snot out of Dick by the end of the competition. He and Dick had the father-future-son-in-law heart-to-heart where the Minnesota football player says, "It's not aboot me. It's aboot your daughter. I really dig her."

Dick offers the obligatory, "Yeah, well, if you hurt her, I'll f****** kill you."

The conversation from both sides is extremely sophomoric, but this is Dick's modus operandi with everybody. He's a certifiable nut, and he's peeved everybody in the house at some point this week.

As for Nick and Daniele, all you have to know is that Daniele's real-life boyfriend, Kris, has a MySpace page, and he currently lists his mood as "sad." He also has as his quote, "TRUST IS LISTENING TO THE ONES WHO LOVE YOU AND IGNORING THE ONES WHO DON'T."

You think that's directed towards his 20-year-old sweetie? Or perhaps do you think she told that to Kris before she left Huntington Beach for the Big Brother house?

Daniele says she's crazy in love with her real-life boyfriend, but check out this video with Nick on top of her from earlier Tuesday night.

The campaigning won't really get buzzing until Wednesday night, so expect some more info then.

OK, I'm going to try a new daily feature. Since I don't have time to write essays during the day, but because I have the desire to update the site, I thought I'd practice a bit of discipline and brevity. Consider this the daily update of "what's going on in my head" right now.

First, ESPN.com is reporting that Curtis Martin is officially retiring from the NFL. Martin started with the New England Patriots, and he single-handedly helped me dominate -- and I mean dominate -- a fantasy league in El Campo, Texas, back in 1996. In my book, this guy is the most underrated pro back in history. Not the best, just the most underrated.

***

Drew Carey was tabbed as the new host of "The Price Is Right," and you know what? I think CBS has executed a veritable coup d'etat. This was a brilliant, brilliant move. Carey is extremely likeable, very funny and -- best yet -- he told David Letterman last night that he would not watch the NFL, presumably including his beloved Browns, if Michael Vick were allowed to play.

Considering Bob Barker's terrific record on matters of animal rights, this was a very astute move on Carey's part. The best part is that I think his sentiment was genuine. Now if CBS could be as intelligently out-of-the-box with regard to its next CBS Evening News anchor.

***

Starbucks is raising its prices again, and people are sure to bitch and moan. However, as I have always maintained, the Seattle coffee behemoth can do what it wants until somebody locally steps up and competes with them at a quality level. I really hate whiners. Starbucks dominates because it produces a quality product at a price point people are willing to pay, and it moves into neighborhoods as aggressively as Wal-Mart.

***

Sure, I was kind to Paris Hilton during her 23-day jail stretch. However, Lindsay Lohan will get no such treatment. She was arrested for another (alleged) DUI and was allegedly caught with cocaine in her pants pocket. Lohan needs about a year in prison. She truly is a danger to those around her and to motorists in her general path.

***

Interesting article from AdAge on Saving Grace from the perspective of the marketplace. Best I could tell, they like the show's chances.

***

Seriously. This is one of the best albums of the decade.

All I've heard for the past two weeks is how TNT's "Saving Grace" blew chunks. Usually what I've heard from the too-cool-for-school crowd is, "Yeah, I heard about that new show set in Oklahoma City, and I heard it sucks."

Never mind that the most anybody had seen of the show was a trailer on TNT's Web site. The primary objections about the show I heard were that the show depicted Oklahomans as being redneck, good-ol'-boy, smoking, drinking, promiscuous hillbillies in a vast sea Bible-belters.

And?

"Oh gawd, they sure do make us look like idiots," I heard one person say.

Anyway, I was ready to pass judgment on the Holly Hunter vehicle only tonight, when it aired. The paranormal police procedural features Hunter as a hard-living detective who is being guided by what's called a last-chance angel, played by a fellow named Leon Rippy.

The gist of the drama, written and created by Oklahoma City native Nancy Miller, is that Grace Hanadarko (Hunter) has to solve crimes while facing her own personal demons -- booze, sex, whatever -- in the face of high tragedy (losing a sister in the 1995 bombing).

There's a whole lot going on, right?

First things first. I lived in Dallas for a decade. I lived in the greater Houston area for two years. I am quite familiar with some of the social interests, quirks and personalities of people from other cities in other parts of the country -- the stereotypes if you will. Saving Grace definitely wasn't any more over the top than Dallas was some 27 years ago.

Whether a show is set in Boston, San Francisco, Chicago or Minneapolis, I can't imagine the people indigenous to those areas didn't take a bit of exception to how they were portrayed. The only problem with the criticism of Saving Grace in that realm thus far is that, in my book, Grace and her criminologist friend (played by Laura San Giacomo) come off as real people.

They're way more like the people I know than the folks generally portrayed on TV.

They drink, smoke, cuss, screw and yet they can find time to be both functional and spiritual, two dimensions usually never afforded to common folk. Truth is, Hunter was solid in Monday night's debut, but it's not like her performance was worthy of an Emmy.

Rippy, who plays an angel named Earl, is likely a future Emmy candidate. He's a joy to watch and was cast perfectly, down to the chaw in the back of his left cheek and his green-glassed spit bottle.

The show itself suffers from much of what other police procedurals do -- formula. Whenever the chief would tell Hanadarko to get in his office, I'd cringe. Whenever the tough-talking Hanadarko would punch out a handsy cattleman (twice), I'd cringe.

Saving Grace is not nearly perfect. It's not nearly written as well as it could be. I'd direct the jury to Showtime's paranormal Dead Like Me a couple of years ago for a show that touched on spirituality and the after-life with not only a brilliant cast but also brilliant writing.

However, much like Det. Hanadarko's redemption is possible, thanks to her last-chance angel, this show is redeemable. It can get better; the premise itself is pretty darned good. One review I read earlier today noted that, in the critic's opinion, Miller was trying to do too much too soon, saying that there were "too many cooks in the kitchen."

I would agree. This show is in need of some subtlety, although that might difficult when one of its lead characters is an angel who sprouts enormous wings. What separates this drama from others and even those that have touched on religion is that the angel is a last-chance helper for those "who need to get their s*** together."

There's a sense of desperation in that sentiment and in Hunter's character that both compare favorably to the level of desperation I sensed in Miller's writing. It was like the creator pulled out all the stops in order to make sure the show set in her home state was red hot like Oklahoma red dirt.

The problem is the show doesn't need it. Saving Grace has a good premise, great actors and a wonderful placesetting in the Sooner State.

What the show needs is a level of brilliant writing that serves as not only the hallmark of shows like Grey's Anatomy but also that serves to give its characters something more than the stereotypes they portray.

One of the reasons I'm devoting my YouTube channel to playing great, old music -- the standards if you will -- is because many of these songs will disappear from the musical lexicon of pop culture unless somebody revives them.

Or unless they make their way in some form or fashion into cyberspace.

So, I decided to play Jet (Jet, My Love), an old Nat King Cole tune from 1951, written by a fellow named Harry Revel. Revel made a name for himself for writing music that many people believed sounded like "space-age music," and so he made a name for himself as the unwitting godfather of space-age pop. And by space-age pop, I mean the soundtracks that would pervade an era of shows like Star Trek and Twilight Zone and Outer Limits. That kind of thing.

Now, I didn't know this before I played it, but after learning the tune and playing it, I could understand what people meant when they tabbed Revel as the father of space-age pop. It sounds like something that would be a theme to Star Trek.

Anyhoo, here it is. I still haven't solved my lighting issues, but the sound is better -- or at least I think.

What a difference a weekend makes.

An HoH that began as peaceful for Dick has turned into one of the most volatile yet. What's odd is that Jen's victory in a PoV competition didn't really factor in to the volatility, at least not on Sunday night.

Sure, she'll almost certainly remove herself from the nomination block.

However, Dick's available pool of resources with whom to replace Jen has just grown bigger and bigger and, theoretically, could include his daughter at this point.

In a conversation with Amber late Sunday BBT, we see Dick for the first time really bad-mouthing his daughter Daniele. Dick was chiding Amber for allowing her emotions to get in the way of her game, and while he was in the process of explaining himself, he starts talking bad about another houseguest.

And then I realize it's Daniele.

Being a newbie to BBReloader, I didn't set my audio properly, so my clip recording did not go well. Darn it all! This was a terrific conversation, and it showed major potential for a major rift between Dick and Daniele Donato in this game.

Dick seemed pretty clear when he told Amber that there would be no reconciliation or rift-mending in this house. On other occasions, Dick has said that he wants to spend as much time with her in the house as possible.

However, as HoH, a definite bi-polar side of Dick Donato has come out. Roaring out. And there's a part of me who can really understand from where Daniele is coming in terms of her frustration with her dad.

On the other hand, Daniele and Nick have been tucked away on the hammock tonight. Nick has been pounding beers -- at last count, he was on his 7th, and this was at 12:20 a.m., and frankly Daniele looks like she's ready to give in to romance, er, showmance.

Either that, or she really looks ready to go home.

On top of all that, Nick's personality has changed by 180 degrees. Per a conversation he had with Dick, Nick makes it clear that he doesn't give a f***, well, about anything except Daniele and that he intends from here on out to be a bad mofo.

Personally, I think this plays very well for Kail and Jen. Jen will throw herself off the block, and I think there is a strong possibility that a Mike or Zach, probably Zach, will go up against Kail and win. Stunningly enough, Kail has done herself well this weekend by keeping relatively quiet.

However, the dynamics are changing, particularly among Nick, Dick and Daniele. It will be a very interesting 48 hours, and there is a very real possibility that Nick and Daniele take things further within this time frame, which could either influence Dick's decision with regard to Jen's replacement or turn Dick into a raving maniac.

How about some snippets from a week gone by and for the week ahead?

***

American Idol auditions for Season 7 are already set, and this blog has them listed with the when and wheres. The first stop is in Irving, Texas, at Texas Stadium on Aug. 6 -- two weeks away.

If that weren't on a Monday, it would be worth it to drive down and just hang out. To see the circus. To be in the circus.

***

Oklahoma native Nancy Miller's new show, Saving Grace, debuts Monday night at 9 p.m. on TNT. It's gotten mixed reviews at this point, and the urban, cool-kid demo seems to think this show stereotypes Oklahomans too negatively. I'll watch it with an open mind.

Four things the show has going for it are Holly Hunter, Leon Rippy and Laura San Giacomo's breasts. I'm hoping the writing is solid, and the stereotypes don't bother me at all. But, good writing overcomes everything, and I'll call it like I see it.

***

Jason Whitlock of the Kansas City Star writes that Michael Vick's alleged involvement in dogfighting is actually the product of hip-hop culture. While the alleged abuse of dogs under Vick's supervision is an atrocity that everyone can agree upon regardless of race, ethnicity or age, dogfighting IS to the hip-hop culture, if you will, as cockfighting IS to the hillbilly culture.

Whitlock continues to be one of the most astute social commentators we've got, and he's a sports columnist. Go figure. Where I disagree with Jason is that he says the right thing for the Atlanta Falcons to do would be to stand by him through a trial. I think the team must let him go now; otherwise, they will face a fan backlash like never has been seen in sports.

***

I can't stand Nancy Grace, but it was nice to see her -- funny even -- go after Vick on her program last week. She went hard after him, and she really drilled into former Falcons player turned lawyer Tim Green for supporting him. He wasn't so much supporting him as he was saying, "Let's have some due process here."

Fair enough, but this is the feds we're talking about here. They don't prosecute people without a case, as opposed to the Mike Nifongs of the world. Either the charges against Vick have been blown out of proportion, or his livelihood is ruined. If guilty, he'll be banned from the NFL or be forced to retire.

***

I am always open to experimentation as it pertains to eating. Over the past couple of months, I would workout really early on weekend mornings, drink a bunch of water and then take a shower, eating more than two hours later and passing out as soon as I got home. It was like my blood sugar dipped just below diabetic and then the recovery effort took it all out of me.

Well, on my Yahoo! page today, I read that one should eat about 60g of carbs within the first 30 minutes after working out or risk taking up to 36 hours to recover. Now, I walk for five minutes, run for 25 and then cool down with five more before stretching and gulping a bottle of water. In the past, that's meant trips to the buffet before my aforementioned passing out.

While I eat mostly healthful foods at the buffet, I eat in a starved condition, which means I probably take in way more than I need. Therefore, over the past six weeks, I have only managed to lose three pounds.

Two weeks ago, I came down with an annoying little upper-respiratory infection, causing me to miss a couple weeks worth of workouts. I didn't even pay attention to my food intake, and lo and behold, I didn't gain any weight. Didn't lose any, but the fact that I didn't gain any made me wonder.

Were my post-workout habits really killing me?

So, today, I had a cup of ramen (38g of carbs on only 290 cals) and a small turkey-bacon sandwich, and I haven't come down with that overwhelming feeling like I need to pass out, meaning that I might be on to something.

The other part of my Yahoo! epiphany is that the article said that one could eat sugar to recover and that the only bad part about that is that there was nothing else nutritious about the food intake. Not that I'm going to eat a piece of cake after a run, but that bit of info made me realize that I must control those moments after a workout, and if it meant eating a Snickers -- well -- I would need to in order to avoid starvation mode.

Most of the time, I workout in the morning, and I often only eat a handful of nuts after the workout. By the time I get to work and get settled, it's three hours later before I have my bowl of Cream of Wheat. And while that's good for me, it would have been much better for me to eat a giant bowl of Count Chocula 30 minutes or so after working out so that I could immediately recover after running and get my metabolism moving.

Point is: I'm not convinced I know everything about food. I read labels very closely, and I stay up on all the latest wisdom from the establishment, making sure I keep up with holistic gurus like the great Dr. Andrew Weil.

But when it comes right down to it, I'm always open to a couple weeks worth of experimentation with anything. That means, I'll opt out of the Cream of Wheat when I resume my daily runs on Tuesday morning (I give myself a day off after my Sunday afternoon run) and go for a bowl of carb-filled Raisin Bran. My theory is that if I like it better (and I love Raisin Bran) and it produces a superior result, then why the hell would I not try it even in the face of general dieting wisdom that suggests that all meals should be focused on lean meats and veggies and beans.

I like lean meat, and I love me some legumes, but a quick bowl of cereal is really more my speed. And my goal isn't unreasonable. I'd like to be under 200 at the end of the YEAR. That's six pounds in five months. Surely, I'm not that worthless.

***

Finally, probably my favorite subscription on YouTube is from this guy called Momo. He's a musician, a videographer, and thanks to YouTube, Momo is also a motivational speaker, talking on subjects like self-manifestation, among other things. He's a wise cat, and his voice is hypnotic.

However, the reason I mention him here is because I was watching some of the music videos he's done for Canadian artists, and I came across one who I later discovered was his girlfriend (he calls her his "partner").

Her name is Crila, and she is smokin', smokin', smokin' hot. She's like the Canadian Shakira. Check out her Web site or watch her on this video blog.

Before I hit the hay for the night, I wanted to let you know that I'm contributing to a very cool blog called Big-Brother-Blog.com. They hooked me up with access to a live feed, and I'm seeing stuff inside the house nobody else but subscribers can see.

For the BB geek, it's heaven. To everybody else, it is complete insanity.

On the other hand, I'm one to share the experience. No, not the live feed itself, but I am documenting what I see. For example, want to know who's nominated this week before Sunday night?

Get on over there!

I'll still post Big Brother thoughts and analysis on ryanwelton.com, but I want to be sure and devote some original content to big-brother-blog.com, too.

You can always count on Bravo to produce either some intelligent, creative television that sparks discussion or even debate or, conversely, some train-wreck %#&* that has television viewers on their feet in disbelief.

Bravo's Hey Paula is the latter in a big way.

Paula Abdul stammers and slurs her way through a uber-busy professional life. Critics say she's got to be on something, and supporters say she gets no sleep.

Here's what I say: Ms. Abdul doesn't have her act together at all, and neither do any of her assistants.

First thing I noticed about Paula is that she stumbles a lot. Like a drunk. There is actually little evidence at all that she drinks heavily. She has a gorgeous figure. She's not bloated, and I do think she's pretty much on the go all the time.

However, I suspect an addiction to pain-killers. Not saying she's on OxyContin or Vicodin, but she does act like she's havin' a good time upstairs. One can be quite functional on pain-killers. Hell, I spent all of Jan.-Feb. 2007 on pain-killers while I got my mouth worked on, and they were two of the most enjoyable months I can remember.

On the other hand, in the third episode of the show, she arrives at a hotel at like 2 a.m. and has to get up at 4 a.m. for a QVC event, a televised affair at which she acted completely spaced. I've been there. In fact, I can recall during the ice storms this past year only getting 1.5 hours worth of sleep at the station. I was a mess the next day, physically and mentally.

This is why I say I have very little empathy for Paula.

She has, what, five assistants? Interns? Are they all dumb as bricks?

First and foremost, buy yourself a Franklin Covey day-planner. Heck, I took that advice this week from a friend of mine on YouTube who recommended it when I noted I was having a hard time keeping up. Back in the late 1990s, the company where I worked (Dallas Systems Corp.) bought them for us, and I used mine religiously. As soon as she mentioned getting one, it was like an epiphany to me.

Second, you have to eat better. Paula eats from vending machines and gets stuff from Panda Express, which I'm sure is full of sodium and starch. To a certain extent, she does seem a bit physically like a diabetic when the afflicted's blood sugar gets way low.

Third, she simply must sleep. I'm dragging this week with only seven hours each day. I can't imagine how she feels. Sure, she's physically in better shape than I am, but two, three hours of sleep per night is a killer.

She might be hard to work for. I can't tell for sure having only watched one episode so far, but to me it's clear that her assistants are failing her. Paula Abdul needs somebody to crack the whip and take charge. Maybe that was Emilio's role back in the day. Maybe he got bored with that routine.

Truth is, I don't think anybody is really interested in seeing the innerworkings of the life of a professional businesswoman -- not in the case of Paula Abdul at least. We're in it for the train wreck, totally.

She reads from cue cards, and badly I might add. She slurs, stammers and stumbles. She weeps on cue. She's delusional, and yet some of us still insist on watching.

And, we should insist on watching for the moment because I can't imagine any chance this series lasts beyond a season given that I don't believe there is any chance it helps Abdul's career at all. If anything, it reinforces the notion that she might be on pills while adding the double bonus of making the entire planet think she is completely off-her-gourd mentally insane.

She's still hot though. Incredibly hot.

As if it were yesterday, I remember 1977. On the patio in Okmulgee, Okla., my sister and I beat a frog to death. Probably beat it to death, there is a part of me that's pretty sure we just messed it up really bad.

My mother absolutely flipped out. Went mental. How in the hell could you do that to a defenseless animal? I'm not sure whether I was just yelled at or spanked or what, but it made an impression on me, and I have been an ardent animal lover ever since.

It is the center of our character as humans how we treat those within our domain. Many believe that because animals are under it that we can do as we wish, and Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick is accused of being a sponsor of one of America's most violent dogfighting rings.

Just how violent was the dogfighting ring Vick supposedly sponsored? Dogs that didn't perform up to snuff in the ring were drowned, hanged, electrocuted, shot to death or left to die malnourished. As if dogfighting itself weren't cruel enough, the NFL's second-most popular player in terms of jersey sales was responsible for torturing dogs.

You have to understand. I live in a state where cockfighting was legal for the longest time. While I love animals, never was I moved to stand up for the fighting rooster. Sure, it was cruel and ridiculous and extremely white-trash, but I always figured that common sense would win out and that the "sport" would be made illegal.

It was, and just this week, 75 people on the Oklahoma-Arkansas border pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from a cockfighting raid in Van Buren. Damned in-bred hillbillies; you should absolutely be ashamed.

However, we have a different sentiment for Michael Vick.

If it is proven in a court of law to be true that Vick was at the head of a multi-state ring responsible not only for dogfighting but also for the torture and execution of dogs outside of the ring, he should be banned for life from the NFL. Life.

ESPN's Colin Cowherd said on his radio show the past couple of days that the Michael Vick story is the O.J. saga of this decade. It transcends sports, and "outside of being a serial killer or pedophile, this is the worst thing somebody can do."

I disagree.

Pedophiles behave compulsively. They're truly sick and need to be locked up the recidivism rate is so bad.

Serial killers have various motivations, and while the ends of the means is clearly evil, it is possible for a serial killer to be quite charming.

No, what Michael Vick is accused of is more akin to violent child abuse, the kind where the strong father beats his child, breaking bones, leaving marks both physical and emotional. What O.J. Simpson did to his wife and Ron Goldman, supposedly, was bad, evil, terrible.

This is almost unforgivable.

Western Christians don't worship animals like some do in the East, but if we did, it would be the dog. Not only are dogs man's best friend, they are clearly intelligent, emotional beings, even while prone to chasing their own tail.

In this day and age, dogs are even more defenseless than children. Heck, we teach our kids to report fondling and abuse. They know how to use 9/11.

Dogs TRUST us, and damnit, there is the highest moral obligation to not violate that for the purpose of harming them. Does that mean I'd swerve my car causing it to wreck, putting my family in harms way, to avoid a pooch pedalling his way into the street?

No. We understand that it's humans first, animals second.

Sen. Robert Byrd from West Virginia said today:

"I am confident that the hottest places in hell are reserved for the souls of sick and brutal people who hold God's creatures in such brutal and cruel contempt."

Byrd said that in his 89 years, he had seen one execution but wouldn't mind seeing another if it involved the types of things Vick and his crew were accused of.

The Atlanta Falcons and the NFL have to realize just how much America and the NFL-watching public loves its dogs. Michael Vick's career is over. It is ruined, and my hope is that it brings to light every instance of dogfighting in this country, grasping it from the evil underground and bringing it to the light, causing those who would act to hurt dogs like this to face strict, severe, swift punishment including life sentences for the most extreme offenders.

Pedophiles are sick. Serial killers are dangerous and evil.

But those who would abuse dogs to this extent are morally vacant. It's as if I want the media to publicly address Vick's mother and let her know in no uncertain terms just how badly she failed. How we teach our kids to treat animals is a direct reflection of how we teach them to treat people.

Those who hurt animals are vastly more apt to commit violence against humans.

Now, I'm not going to Nancy Grace this to death. Vick is allowed due process like anybody else, and frankly, with genuine, heartfelt contrition on top of a commitment to get active against this sort of thing, Vick could survive this.

But I just don't think that's going to happen because, as I've argued here, those who would abuse dogs to this extent are, at the very heart of it, bad, bad people.

Are you kidding me? Really? Really? Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction, and with that said, evel Dick is now the new HoH.

With that sentence, you know who was evicted. It wasn't close. By a 9-1 vote, gonorrhea Joe was sent packing, and the one twist to the voting was that Mike -- who had initially aligned strongly with Kail with regard to Dick -- voted to evict Joe. He did it quickly, as if he had a last-second change of heart.

In the back of my mind, considering how open and honest Dick has been about gunning for Jen and then for Kail, I sorta hoped Dick would have a shot at the HoH. However, I thought to myself, "Self, there's no way it could work out that perfectly."

What E.D., as the kids are calling him these days, brings to the Big Brother 8 table is a truly self-centered, I-could-not-possibly-care-less attitude. No, he cares about winning, but he could care less about you or your feelings or your virgin ears or your sensitive eyes. He is the perfect antitode to houseguest apathy, and while he might not win, I'm telling you -- be glad he's there because he's interesting.

Dick won a competition whose final, tiebreaker question centered on math. Last week, Jen won HoH on what most of us would agree was a trick question. This week, Dick's winning question, "How many hours has Jen had the unitard on?" was much simpler.

He felt vindicated, and I strangely felt good for him. What always sucks about eviction day though is that somebody else has to leave. Not that we grow to care about these people too much, but you have to imagine what it mentally feels like to be rejected by your peers. For whatever reason, I imagine it would hurt.

Joe soon learned that Eric was America's Player, and oddly enough Dustin's video comments to him weren't as bad as I thought they might be. He told Joe to make it a point to take care of himself, with emphasis on the care part.

Back in the house, Kail walked around like a zombie. With curls in her hair as if she were dressed for a night of dinner in the town she owns, Kail has to know that she's getting nominated this week. In fact, if Dick nominates somebody besides Kail and Jen, I'll be surprised.

What's good for Daniele is that you have to think she's safe as well. As much as I would work to preserve myself in the Big Brother house, I would be very protective of my daughter. It's just instinct, and frankly, I think it puts him in a good light with the other players. They might get annoyed by his cussing, belching and farting, but his honesty is so far unquestioned.

With 12 players still left in the house, here are my weekly rankings based on game-play, momentum in the house and position right now. In parentheses is their rank from last week:

12. Kail (1).

Last week, she was No. 1, having played the HoH perfectly. However, she panicked in the biggest way, overcampaigning against Dick and alienating her crumbling Mrs. Robinson alliance. As quickly as she ascended has she fallen.

11. Jen (13).

As HoH, Jen failed to build consensus on her picks. On one hand, her aloofness might serve her well down the road, but unless she becomes a PoV machine, she's in trouble. I'm not convinced the wisdom from her Chilltown buddies has paid off.

10. Zach (5).

The prevailing opinion on Zach right now is that he's overplaying the game and failing to build personal relationships.

9. Jameka (10).

This week, we saw Jameka's spunky side as she got into a quick, terse argument with Zach over a verbal misunderstanding. However, she has played this game with some integrity, not promising to side with Kail even when it was quite easy to do so.

8. Jessica (9).

Jessica's "frenemy" is out of the house, so she played it close to the vest this week. She'll skate for at least another week, but she hasn't done much to make an impression.

7. Mike (6).

Given that the final tally was 9-1, Mike's biggest mistake might have been revealing by deduction that he alienated his closest ally, Kail. Mike's game play is either brilliant or weak. He's been quiet and under the radar without an ounce of annoyance.

6. Eric (4).

Honestly, he's our player, but I strongly suspect the instructions we've given him make him seem weird and borderline nuts in the eyes of the other houseguests.

5. Nick (3).

The formalization of his feelings toward Daniele has not only made him appear vulnerable in the eyes of his houseguests, unless it's reciprocated soon by Dick's daughter, the former football stud might find himself on the hot seat.

4. Amber (7).

Last week, I said it was a giant mistake strategically to keep Amber in the house. She's a good player because she builds positive relationships with an emotional (often too emotional) foundation. I suspect she's building friends for life, and they will carry her for weeks.

3. Dustin (8).

What a perfect week to be this guy! His boyfriend got the boot, and he's positioned himself among his houseguests to be very, very likeable. Given that he has aligned himself with the other really likeable houseguest, Dustin's potential is building.

2. Dick (12).

Don't know if it was totally intentional, but evel Dick played like a champ this week. His game-play will be volatile, and his stint as HoH will be important. Even though many of the houseguests are turned off by this guy, he's built a good relationship with Amber and Dustin, and the only person it benefits more than Dick is ...

1. Daniele (2).

Not only does Daniele have Dick backing her up -- even if she won't reciprocate the "I love yous" just yet -- but, Dick has developed a solid relationship with Amber, ergo Dustin. On top of all this, Daniele has won PoV two weeks in a row proving to be this season's only competitive stud so far.

In the words of a broken heart it’s just emotions
Taking me over
Tied up in sorrows
Lost in my soul

Only three weeks into the Big Brother 8 season, and houseguests are preparing for a vote as emotional as I could remember from the entire breadth of Season 7 votes.

As of Wednesday night, it seems as if Dick has enough support to survive, meaning both he and his daughter Daniele would still be in the house just days after that seemed virtually impossible. In terms of their relationship, evel Dick has been much more the emotional of the two.

According to accounts of livefeeds I've read, Dick spilled his heart out to his daughter, offering what seemed to be a heartfelt "I Love You," only to have Daniele say, "Alright then."

On the other hand, Daniele had a breakdown of her own this week. After three weeks in a house away from your boyfriend and dog and two weeks on slop -- poor girl -- how could you not have been on the verge?

There is no question that emotions and being emotional at times play a role on the show and as part of a strategy. However, is being emotional and being so emotional right now, so early, a good thing for these houseguests?

In Daniele's case, I'd suggest it's a minor cry for help. She might win HoH next week and suddenly be rejuvenated, but she might also end up on slop again, at which point all of America will really start to feel for her.

However, Daniele's aches and tears are nothing compared to the waterworks of Season 8, Amber. Her outbursts of emotion, I would argue, have seemed to be genuine expressions of friendship, with regard to Daniele and Dick, as well as of self-doubt, last week, as if her crying was a way to get it all out in preparation for a bounce-back.

In a sense, I think tears will help Amber and not help Daniele.

The only time we've seen America's Player break down so far this season, it was part of a task in which he had to divulge a secret from his past to Kail. Eric even used some Visine, I believe, to get the tears a-flowing. In his case, oddly enough, America's task might have secured him a place in Kail's favor, given that she seems to enjoy being all motherly.

On the other hand, the rate at which Nick seems to be falling for Daniele is alarming, particularly since it doesn't seem to be strictly tied to game-play. At one point this week, he said, "I think I'm about to cry."

Really?

In Eric's case, we know where he's coming from because he's working for us. Sure, it might end up making the other houseguests think he's nuts, but he's our nut. Conversely, I'm a bit concerned for Nick -- that he might have lost a bit of his grip on reality.

No offense, but he's a big, buff dude, and all the women love him (some of the guys, too). You mean to tell me that after 20 days he's ready to get weepy over a California Hooters' waitress? Not that Daniele isn't sweet and pretty and bubbly, but I think Nick is genuine in his pursuit, and his emotions won't help his game-play.

If one examines the history of Chilltown, the greatest alliance in Big Brother history, one finds a strategy based on stoicism and an outward appearance of apathy. Play the game outwardly as if you could not care less about winning. If you can't do that, at least stay detached for the time-being.

Each year has a new successful strategy, it seems. The most interesting candidates in Season 8 thus far have been those tied to their worst enemies, producing some very emotional results. However, the irony could be that Big Brother's attempt at boosting ratings by bringing these enemies on board gets thumped by actual game-play as the stoic and detached among the houseguests start picking off the emotional one by one.

Need a political fix? A lunchtime break from the hum-drum of another work week? Well, check out MisterIndependent.com, where we're discussing whether Sen. Vitter from Louisiana should resign for seeing a ho.

There is a growing opinion among houseguests that Eric is not only a spaz, but some of them believe he's bi-polar. They don't know he's America's Player.

However, could his odd behavior, such as climbing into bed with Joe -- Eric's sleepwalking assignment -- actually be directly leading to this perception? Could it be that the weirder the tasks become for Eric, the more his roommates think he's nuts and the more susceptible to ouster he becomes?

Eric's assignment was deemed a failure by Big Brother, but really, I thought he should have gotten a pass. The assignment achieved what it set out to do -- creep the other guy out. Weird him out.

The next day, in the shower -- two stalls next to each other, covered -- Joe asks Eric if he sleep-anythings, like does he sleepwalk?

Honestly, I have done this. I have sleepwalked into a roommate's bed. However, it was in a hotel room, and I didn't get into the bed next to him. I jumped in on top of him as if he weren't there. I was sleepwalking.

He freaked out and pushed me off. I was awake at that point; however, the machinations of my own weird experience made me think that Eric might have gone about this too carefully.

If the instructions were to hop into bed with Joe until Joe kicked him out, there is no level of detail as to "how" Joe gets in. He should have just hopped on in right on top of Joe, startling him -- startling them both -- and then the incident is over. Eric got too cute with this, too precise.

Nevertheless, in my book, Eric succeeded in the spirit of this task and, in my opinion, should have been rewarded. Whether or not he gets the ultimate reward as BB8 winner will have a lot to do with how the other houseguests view him in light of his crazy, America-inspired antics.

Does America really have, er, got talent? I was one of many who sat through last year's summer season and ended up feeling like it was a waste of time as the highly overvalued Bianca Ryan managed to win $1 million.

Not that anybody deserved it more.

However, a sneak peek into the quarterfinals over the weekend offered new hope that the second season of the Simon Cowell vehicle, America's Got Talent, could be substantially more entertaining. We saw a sewer worker who could sing like Donny Hathaway, a big, white guy who sang Stevie Wonder with blues riffs on an acoustic guitar.

There was an incredible magic act.

There was a weird Indian, bringing secondary mental images of Sanjaya back to the nation's consciousness.

There was a young, girl singer, but this time she was country. It was like AGT was following its version of Kelly Clarkson with its version of Carrie Underwood.

There's a talented rockabilly band.

Oh, there's Boy Shakira.

Tuesday night was the first of two semifinals performances. Ten acts performed tonight with the hope that five of the ten would move on to a finale. If you're asking me, the five to beat in this bunch were easy to pick out.

Julienne Irwin, 14, was merely good and not great, but she's a notch above most of the rest on AGT 2007. She does have her version of Blake Lewis in beatboxer Butterscotch, who isn't great at either the singing or the beatboxing. But, she's better than most of the others.

If you asked me, my vote is in Robert Hatcher's corner. He's a sewer worker from Cincinnati, who sang "Run To You" by Whitney Houston, and he dressed as if he were invoking the ghost of Donnie H. Now, I won't say he blew the roof off like the greatest soul singer of ALL TIME, but he compares quite favorably to Donnie.

It's funny. I had to explain for the umpteenth time this weekend that "Superstar" is primarily a Donnie Hathaway tune in the soul community, and not a "Carpenters" hit. A friend said, "Wow, he's doing Carpenters."

Noooooo. He was singing Donnie Hathaway.

Alas, most people know this song from the other. I'm just being picky. Nevertheless, on AGT 2007, I don't think we have to be terribly picky because, in my mind, there wasn't anybody else who stood out positively.

The musicianship of Johnny Come Lately was pretty solid, but the lead singer was boring, and the music was trite. Oooh, a rockabilly band doing the one Queen song that fits the style. It was good when you consider their age, and frankly, major props to them for playing instruments so weel. However, there is so much more required of a band, a band dynamic if you will that they just don't have yet.

There was a roper who performed a routine to Big & Rich in the gayest outfit known to man. It was Liberace gay. Charles Nelson Reilly gay. Still, this guy was fun, but it wasn't worth a million bucks.

Kashif, a little Sanjaya wannabe, did a very remedial dance routine to some Bollywood song. It was really terrible, as was the magic routine of Kevin James this week -- just days after I saw him do an incredible show. It was almost as if he was throwing the competition.

A group of four big girls got up and sang "Hot Stuff" as if they were at a bad lounge. They called themselves Glamazons in self-depricative fashion, and I like them, but again, none of this stuff is worth a million.

My hunch is that the roper dude and the rockabilly band sneak in with the three solo singers to the finale. The talent is up over last year, but not that much. Having Sharon Stone is a terrific improvement over Brandy, but David Hasselhoff is nearly unbearable, and Piers Morgan has grown stale.

What I would not have said last year though is that, I think, this show has long-term potential. Jerry Springer is an improvement over Regis as host, frankly, although I'd ax the two male judges and put together a hipper crew.

More than likely, this show won't have me as a viewer until this round in future years. However, if you had some space on the old DVR and some extra time, watching AGT on NBC wasn't the worst fate a television viewer could have faced.