It was just a few days ago that Toad noted he wouldn't mind dropping a bomb (* not literally) on the entire Big Brother 8 house. That's how much he didn't like this season's cast -- not that he's a big follower of the show.

However, he will at times troll Showtime's Big Brother After Dark for bits of nudity. What are friends for?

Nevertheless, I told him, "Look, you can't judge these people just by looking at them. You have to watch them in their environment for a while."

I've done that, and I've concluded that this year's cast is in fact a big pile of douchebags. Well, almost all of them. Love Jessica, the dancer/student from Kansas, and I'm pulling for Eric, the New Yorker tasked with being America's Player.

The rest of them, especially the uber-trashy Dick and Daniele Donato, just don't appeal to me at all.

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What does appeal to me though are 1970s crime dramas. I watched Banacek over the weekend, and I'll be able to watch the entire first season on DVD.

Banacek was an insurance investigator who took great pride in his Polish heritage. Played by George Peppard, Banacek lasted only two seasons on NBC as part of a rotating series of weeknight movies. The show was a critical hit, but Peppard pulled out because of a divorce, in which further production would have meant more cash for his ex.

As superficial as it sounds, 1970s television crime dramas take me back to my childhood, particularly the obscure ones: Mannix, Cannon, Ironside, Switch, Barnaby Jones, Kojak, etc.

Most of you in your late 30s and 40s will know those, but anybody younger probably won't. I plan to get as many of these on DVD as I can, and my next purchase will likely be Quinn Martin's The Streets Of San Francisco, starring Karl Malden and Michael Douglas.

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What else? If you noticed that Mister Independent died a quick death, it's only because I quit using TypePad. It's a blogging platform that fancies itself more sophisticated than Blogger, and in many ways it is. However, for my needs, I just want cheap and easy -- and Blogger is just that.

So, Mister Independent will return at some point soon.

However, what I really want to do first is learn how to generate more Web site traffic. How to maximize ad delivery. Therefore, it might be a few weeks.

Besides, I'm feeling about all the presidential candidates just like I do the Big Brother houseguests.