Monday, February 13, 2006

Quick Comment

There have probably been funnier moments on television than the opening of tonight's Daily Show with Jon Stewart, as they covered the story of Dick Cheney's hunting accident. But I sure can't think of one just now. They have a video clip up over at Crooks and Liars.

• Posted at 9:14 PM · LINK

Jose, Can You See?

Those of you wishing to view episodes of The Bill Dana Show do not have to get yourself hospitalized to make this happen. A company called Corinth Films sells a DVD of six episodes. In fact, going by their website, Corinth Films sells nothing else. I have no idea what the quality of the video is...and $24.00 for a DVD of six half-hour TV shows seems steep to me but if you have to have 'em, there they be. The six episodes and the history of the show are described on the front end website, which is www.billdanaondvd.com. The installment I saw while in the hospital was, appropriately enough, the one on this DVD about Jose Jiminez (Dana) and Byron Glick (Don Adams) being afraid of donating to a blood drive. It featured a nice performance by Charles Lane, who always played a crotchety something, as a crotchety doctor and it amused me...but of course, I was full of antibiotics at the time.

• Posted at 5:20 PM · LINK

Briefly Noted...

The Los Angeles Times [registration might be required] joins the never-ending legion of those who write about Superman but are unable to correctly spell the names of both Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster at the same time.

• Posted at 2:17 PM · LINK

Monday Morning Home Blogging

And what a joy to be typing on a non-laptop keyboard sitting at my desk instead of with the computer balanced on a hospital table between my pitcher of water and a dish of mandarin orange segments left over from Friday breakfast.

Hello all. Thanks again for all the nice messages and I hope you enjoyed the hospital blogging, which did much to preserve my sanity. The staff at Cedars-Sinai (that's where I was) was uniformly efficient and helpful, but being in one little bed in one little room for four days...well, that's the most confined I've felt since I wrote Scooby Doo. My foot looks about like it did before the inflammation and I've switched from intravenous antibiotics to the oral variety. A few days of non-rigorous lifestyle and occasionally elevating said foot and all should be well.

Based on e-mails from several folks who've had Cellulitis, it looks like I had a minor case and managed to get it treated before it spread too far. Still, it's not an experience I would recommend to anyone.

I should tell you about Channel Six at Cedars-Sinai. Their TV offerings include all the local stations and most basic cable channels, plus a number of in-house channels, all but one of which feature documentaries on taking better care of one's health. The exception, Channel Six, is their "Board of Governors Comedy Channel," offering reruns of old TV shows. They have episodes of The Jack Benny Show, The Burns and Allen Show, The Bill Dana Show, The Andy Williams Show, and "best of" specials of Carol Burnett, the Smothers Brothers, Pat Paulsen, Johnny Carson. They kept rerunning a "Debbie Reynolds in Las Vegas" show and a special with Carol Channing and Pearl Bailey, and there were also David Copperfield magic specials, plus a very nice little magic special featuring one of my favorite sleight-of-hand artisans, Johnny "Ace" Palmer.

I hadn't seen a Bill Dana Show in years. I forgot how good it was, with Jonathan Harris and Don Adams stealing scene after scene from Mr. Dana, and how almost the entire production staff consisted of the same people working on The Dick Van Dyke Show that year. I'm told these shows are syndicated these days but not where I can see them; not without putting myself into the hospital again, which I have no intention of doing.

Yesterday, the entire in-house TV feed, including CBS, NBS, ABC, CNN, USA Network, etc., was about a second and a half out of sync. I imagined some poor guy in another room waking up from surgery, turning on his set and thinking, "Oh, no! What's happened to me?"

And that's about all I have in mind to write at the moment. Have to go put my foot up and enjoy my own bed for a while.

• Posted at 11:57 AM · LINK

Monday Morning Hospital Blogging

My doctor just came in, looked at my leg and ordered me to "enjoy the sumptuous breakfast here" — there's a risky prescription — and go home. Then he left because apparently the Emergency Room is full of people who've been accidentally shot by Dick Cheney.

• Posted at 6:14 AM · LINK