I agree with this post by David Frum. The presidential election wasn't about who could offer people the most stuff. It was about who could offer people the most hope.

Ken Levine has up a great post about a talented lady named Shari Lewis. I loved Shari Lewis and had the pleasure of meeting with her a few times about a project of hers that I was hired to write. A very smart lady who managed to be both pragmatic and enthusiastic about, as far as I could see, everything she did. So go read it and while you're over there, bookmark Ken's site and read it every day.

(P.S. to Ken: Sorry I couldn't have lunch with you yesterday. I am just plain too dedicated to getting my assignments done…which is kind of what you learned from Shari.)

By now, you've probably heard Mitt Romney's explanation that he lost because Obama promised to give "gifts" and "free stuff" to poorer voters. That's apparently a bad thing, whereas Romney promised all sorts of six-figure incentives to the top 2% and lesser ones to poor folks and expected that to buy him the White House. There are many essays out there making that point and suggesting what it suggests about Mr. Romney. This one by Joan Walsh is as good as any. Ultimately, what Romney's saying is that it's not fair: I should have won because I pandered to both the rich and poor and he only pandered to the poor!

Here's about six minutes from a 1966 Jack Benny TV special. Benny had a half-hour series on CBS from the early fifties until he and his managers made a fatal mistake. They'd been airing on Tuesday nights, back-to-back with Red Skelton's hour-long program and the combo had been strong in the ratings. In early 1963 when the Fall schedule was announced, they discovered that CBS had moved Benny a half-hour later and inserted a new show, a sitcom, between him and Red.

Benny was upset that CBS had made this decision without consulting or informing him, and advance word on this new show was not promising. It was a rural comedy called Petticoat Junction starring a member of his old stock company from radio, Bea Benaderet. Benny loved her but didn't think she could carry a series and he became convinced the change would cost him much of his audience. NBC had made occasional inquiries as to whether he would like to jump networks and he decided the time to do that was before his ratings declined on CBS…so his manager Irving Fein negotiated a deal. Benny would do the Fall '63 season for CBS, then move to NBC as of the following year. As you might imagine, CBS was not happy with this.

Neither was Benny when Petticoat Junction turned out to be a big hit. Following Ms. Benaderet's show, he got some of the highest ratings he'd ever had in television. Then when he moved to NBC, CBS slotted another new rural sitcom — Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. — opposite him and he got killed and cancelled. If he'd stayed at CBS, he would probably have had his weekly series as long as Skelton had his, which was until 1970. (Skelton then moved to NBC also…and also only did one more year.)

After his NBC show went off, Benny appeared in a series of one-hour specials for them…about one a year until his death in 1974. This segment is from what I believe was his second special for them. I further believe the actor playing the stagehand is Bill Baldwin, who was the show's announcer and one of those men whose voice you heard everywhere in the sixties. And shortly after he exits, who should enter but a man with an even more ubiquitous voice?!

As you well know, the great Mel Blanc was in a horrible auto accident in January of 1961. At first, it looked like would not survive his injuries. Then it looked like he would but would never walk again. He beat that prediction, too. Sooner than anyone expected, he was back doing voiceover work — at first, from his home hospital-type bed and then going to actual recording studios. By late '64 (I believe), he was even appearing on TV occasionally again. I think the first time was on Benny's NBC series. They did the "Sí, Sy" routine and I remember a vast amount of joy at seeing him unexpectedly turn up on that episode. I also remember noting that he was seated throughout and the next few times I saw him on TV, he was also seated. Didn't walk, didn't even stand.

He may have worked on his feet on other shows before this one but I think this was the first time I saw that. He not only walks in and stands for the entire routine, he does a bit of a dance in there and gets a big laugh doing it. He also carries in a huge bass which he obviously had no idea how to play.

I thought this was a funny spot but more than that, I remember a feeling of delight that Mel Blanc seemed to have pretty much recovered from that terrible accident. I didn't know the man then but ever since I became aware of who was speaking for Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Barney Rubble and so many other characters I loved, I felt a certain kinship to the guy and it was great to see him up and around…

Not sure I agree with this column by Michael Kinsley. He says it's a sham that the networks on Election Night pretend "it could go either way" until polls close and they can announce what they've known for hours. He's right that they know…although at Fox News, no one apparently told Karl Rove. Still, there's something impolite about them announcing that the election is over before some of us even head for the polls. It's a matter of acknowledging that the winners are picked by the voters, not by CBS, AP, CNN, NBC, etc. They really are even if it doesn't always feel that way.

My "ex," Dennis Palumbo, writes about a patient of his. (Dennis was a TV writer when we were teamed. Now, he's a licensed psychotherapist and mystery author.) There are a lot of folks out there who aren't working…or aren't working at the levels they used to work. Coping with the frustration is a key to unjamming some of the jam.

I made another attempt to download What About Dick? and it downloaded fine. I then transferred the file to my TiVo and it plays fine there and looks pretty darned good since I downloaded the hi-def version. I still don't understand the storyline but, hey, you can't have everything.

A favorite movie of mine is The Comic, the 1969 feature directed by Carl Reiner and starring Dick Van Dyke as a semi-great silent movie comedian who makes a fine mess of his life. The film did not do great business when it opened because, I suspect, it looked like a light-hearted laugh riot and was actually grimmer and darker than audiences expected. Anyway, if you're in the Los Angeles area, you might want to know that the New Beverly Cinema over on Beverly Boulevard near La Brea is running it on Tuesday evening and that Mssrs. Reiner and Van Dyke will be appearing with it. As of this moment, tickets are still available so you can get yours just as I got mine.

My main reaction to the General Petraeus matter is that we know a lot more about it than we have any right to know. Obviously, since it prompted the resignation of a prominent government official, we have the right to know that there was an affair…and if any details of it had compromised National Security, I suppose we'd have the right to know those. But everyone covering the story seems to believe the public has the right to know everything, up to and including what positions they did it in. And we don't, really. To the limited extent possible, I'm averting my eyes and I feel like a better person for it.

Here are two interesting essays on the election by Garry Wills. This one is about Why Romney Lost and this one is about What Romney Lost.

Cabaret superstar Michael Feinstein recently lost his father. Here they are performing together…

Another interview with Mel Brooks.

In the past here, I've said some nice things about Mike Huckabee and once thought he was the kind of Republican for whom I might someday vote. I no longer think that and was reminded why when I watched his interview with Jon Stewart on last night's Daily Show.

If you didn't see it or even if you did, watch the extended, uncut version of it, not the one that was aired. I'm a big fan of Mr. Stewart's conversations with politicians who usually go on shows and just recite their usual talking points. Stewart asks unexpected but valid questions, knocks them off their rote speeches (to some extent) and has an actual dialogue. I'd love to see a show where he just talked to folks like this for a whole hour, maybe even without a studio audience.

Governor Huckabee disappointed me in last night's chat. Stewart ran a campaign commercial in which Huckabee refers to two Hot Button issues for Conservatives — abortion and gay marriage — and speaks of how God will judge you based on how you vote in this election. In other words, you can't be a good Christian and vote for Democrats. That to me is a cynical manipulation of religious devotion, not that far removed from "You aren't a good Christian if you don't give money to my church." But it's legal and may even be earnestly meant. My problem is mainly in Huckabee's insistence that that wasn't what he was doing. That's just plain disingenuous.

But watch the whole thing and decide for yourself. I just think I lost my last gram of respect for Mike Huckabee. Earlier in the discussion, you can see faint glimmers of why I once had any.

Back in April, Eric Idle staged four nights of an unusual play called What About Dick? down at the Orpheum Theater here in Los Angeles. It was a semi-coherent affair that overcame its confusion by having a stellar cast that included Tracey Ullman, Billy Connolly, Jane Leeves, Russell Brand, Eddie Izzard and other funny folks. Everyone in the house had a very good time, though I doubt a one of them could have explained the storyline…if indeed there was one. My friend Mickey Paraskevas and I had the best seats in the place for the first of the four performances: Front row center.

Mr. Idle has now released What About Dick? as a video you can download for six bucks. I paid my six bucks last night but didn't get it. They give you three download attempts for your money. I tried twice…and each time, I only got the first eight minutes before the download quit. I'm assuming that's because it had just gone online and everyone in the world was trying to get it at the same time…or maybe they just don't have things configured properly yet. I think I'll wait 'til next week to try and use my last attempt. Mickey has seen it and he says you can't see us in the audience. I assume that's because they didn't use much (or any) of that first performance, the one we attended. Comparing notes with friends who attended one of the later ones, it would appear a lot of rewriting was done, including a complete swapping-out of the closing number for a reprise of an earlier tune.

I think it's very much worth six bucks to see those performers perform even if you won't always be certain just what they're performing. Ms. Ullman is particularly hilarious doing whatever it is she does up there. So I'd recommend you go to the site and buy it — but you might want to wait a while. Here's a brief preview…