Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark is undergoing major revisions under a new director and a new book writer. The current version will play for another month or so and I'm curious to see if attendance will go up (because people want to see this much-talked-about version while they can) or down (because this version has been declared seriously broken). The show will close on April 17 so the changes can he rehearsed and then it will resume previews on May 12 and actually open on June 14. Obviously, those last two dates are subject to change.

I hope they pull it off. I know there are folks out there who think expensive spectaculars are choking Broadway, making it impossible to do a "little" show. I have no doubt theater would be better off if there wasn't so much money riding on every effort but I think Spider-Man is already an example of why huge budgets need to be avoided. It will forever remind producers that a $10 million budget can easily turn into a $20 million one and a $30 million one and eventually, $65 million. (Closing for a month will drive the total $$$ gamble up further.) Even if it's eventually profitable — and it has a long way to go before that will seem possible — few will want to take that risk.

I have nothing but the obvious to say about the horrible news out of Japan. This kind of thing depresses me…and also makes me angry in a way Hurricane Katrina made me angry. Money couldn't have prevented Katrina just as it can't stop an earthquake…but it can make things better in the rescue/rebuild phase. If we wasted less money on foolish wars and silly political battles, we could have more to save lives, minimize suffering and put a lot of things back the way they were.

As I do when things of this tragic sort happen, I'm reminding you all about my favorite charity, Operation USA. There are many good ones out there but I'm quite certain that the cash I donate to Operation USA couldn't do any more good in anyone else's hands. Send what you can spare…and if you were thinking of donating to this website, send it to them instead.

Yesterday here, I put up a link to a website called Perfectly Timed Photos. I have just deleted that item.

One person wrote and said it was possible to contract a virus by going to that site. Since it was only one person and since it wasn't flagged on my computer (which uses the same anti-virus program he has), it's probably nothing but I took the link down just to play it safe. If you went there and your computer is acting odd, you might want to run a scan. Or something.

By now, you've probably heard that Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark is indeed getting a makeover and that its director, Julie Taymor, is no longer running the show. Exactly what she will have to do with it in the future is probably still being worked out with lawyer talking to lawyer. The folks now calling the shots probably don't yet know how much the show will be modified and Ms. Taymor can't yet know if she'll even want her name associated with the final product.

Reports are vague on if and when the show may shut down for retooling and the producers may not even know yet. Closing for a while would be a pretty extreme step and a costly one. The big question is how will the grosses hold up, particularly in light of this new announcement. People might rush to see the current version while they can or they may decide to stay away in droves. It's kind of a Broadway tradition that when a spectacular, notable flop is about to close, audiences stampede to see it while they still can…but this show isn't exactly closing.

How has it been doing? Well, the week before last it took in $1,559,341, which was 100.1% of capacity. (Broadway shows sometimes do that. They figure capacity by multiplying the number of available tickets at their standard pricing…but because there are premimum seat deals with some tix going at even higher prices, the total gross can exceed 100%.) Last week, it took in $1,281,776, which was 84.5% of capacity. 84.5% is still a good take — and if you can't make money at that level, you might as well close down. But it's also cause for concern when you drop more than 15% in one week without an obvious reason like a change of leads. I'm curious as to whether they'll go up or down in the next report.

L.A. Times obit for Eddie Brandt. It mentions, as I forgot to, that Eddie was a writer on the Beany & Cecil cartoons of the sixties.

I don't go to many fast food restaurants these days. Haven't even been in a Five Guys since last August. But I'm more than a little fascinated by the business and especially the history of the business — how chains are founded, how they expand, how they contract, etc. I've written before here about the territorial nature of the animal; how there are whole states into which In-N-Out or White Castle will not venture. Five Guys is just now creeping into California and after years of getting closer and closer, Chick-Fil-A is finally about to open in my area — at Sunset and Highland, displacing a Carl's Jr. Can Steak 'n' Shake be far behind?

As new places come in, old ones go away. The only two in the L.A. Weekly piece I miss are Kenny Rogers and Roy Rogers'. There's still a Roy Rogers' chain in the East but what it serves bears little resemblance to the menu they offered out here in the seventies. Why can't Arby's make a roast beef sandwich half that good?

Today on Stu's Show! Your enthusiastic host Stu Shostak will be welcoming two fine actors who'll discuss their work on the popular series, Not Necessarily the News, as well as their impressive careers elsewhere. In the photo below, Danny Breen is the guy with the mustache. He's one of most respected comic actors and writers around, especially in the area of improv comedy. Stuart Pankin is the fellow in the lower left. He's also a well-respected performer…one of my favorite actors, in fact. (One of the most impressive stage performances I've ever seen was Pankin's in a production of City of Angels I saw back in 2006.)

And Not Necessarily the News was a darn good series that among other things, introduced to American television a lot of comic devices and an attitude towards political satire that you now routinely see on programs like The Daily Show and all the late night talk programs. It was a smart series that among many gestures of respect to the viewers actually presumed that most of them had read a newspaper. I haven't seen any of those episodes for years but I'll bet they hold up better than a lot of other "topical" programs of the time because the cast was genuinely funny.

You can tune in today and hear Breen and Pankin on Stu's Show, the flagship offering on Shokus Internet Radio. It all happens live at 4 PM Pacific Time, which is 7 PM if you live on the East Coast, 9 AM if you live in Tokyo, 1 AM if you live in Copenhagen, 3 AM in Moscow, etc. The show repeats throughout the week but you'll enjoy it more if you go to Stu's website, click in the appropriate place and listen live.

Hotel reservations are now open for this year's Comic-Con International in San Diego. If you don't get one before they sell out, remember that more rooms will be added as time goes on.

You'll probably get your best deal by going through the convention bookers but I'm hearing it's also possible to find lodging on your own. Some folks were very happy last year with hotels or motels that they found along the San Diego trolley route. Happy booking.

Michael McKean: I detest violence. Having said that, I would probably watch a show where the rejected girls slap The Bachelor to death.