This will mainly interest folks in the Southern California area. KDOC Channel 56, which broadcasts out of Orange County, has just added Johnny Carson to its schedule. Monday through Thursday evenings at 11:00 and 11:30, they're running episodes of Carson's Comedy Classics. The station's website and official schedule refers to the program as Johnny Carson or The Best of Johnny Carson but what they're running is Carson's Comedy Classics, a package of half-hour excerpts from The Tonight Show that was originally syndicated in 1983. Someone went through the tapes in the Carson vault and pulled out comedy sketches and desk spots, mostly from the late seventies, assembling them into half-hours. I suspect that the fragmented nature of the presentation was the main reason these clip shows didn't do all that well.

Several people, including Carson's old producer Fred DeCordova, told me that Johnny was determined to find some way to market his old tapes. He owned hundreds and hundreds of hours and didn't want to see it all disappear down the old memory hole. Somehow, the idea of just syndicating whole Tonight Show episodes was rejected. Most of the attempts have involved repackaging the programs by yanking out the comedy sketches and/or star performances by now-famous comedians and music acts. I still wish someone would try airing the shows in their original form, maybe with a little intro by someone explaining some of the topical references. I'm not sure a lot of the material even works out of the context of a free-wheeling, quasi-live show.

KDOC actually has a great schedule if you like infomercials and reruns. The list of the latter they broadcast includes The Twilight Zone, Night Gallery, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Perry Mason, The Untouchables, Becker, Mad About You, The Nanny, Cheers, Charlie's Angels, Magnum P.I., Hawaii Five-O, Quincy, Matlock, Little House on the Prairie, The Rockford Files, Hogan's Heroes, Combat, McHale's Navy, Rat Patrol, Mission: Impossible, In the Heat of the Night and Kojak. There must be one or two shows in there that you like.

Hey, remember how a few days ago here, I was talking about the play, Merrily We Roll Along, in which the action takes place in reverse? Well, Michael Kinsley makes reference to it in his latest column. It's about how George W. Bush is fighting the Iraq War in reverse.

It's time to Sing Along With Cap'n Crunch! (And with Daws Butler, Bill Scott and June Foray, who did the voices in this commercial.)

Lisa Girion with a long article about recent cases in the area of health insurance. I'll give you the one sentence summary in case you're busy: A number of big health insurers are trying to weasel out of paying hefty medical bills for folks they insure. Anyone surprised by this? Anyone?

As I mentioned here earlier, a mass of Writers Guild members rallied yesterday to support striking writers on America's Next Top Model. Not that this could be the main reason but I wonder if any of the producers of alleged "reality shows" are balking at the WGA contract because they think it will harm their shows to even have writer credits, thereby admitting or suggesting that the "reality" is created. Money, of course, is the real reason…just as it's the real reason why most things are done the way they're done in the industry. It will cost more money to credit the folks who create the scenarios as writers and to compensate them accordingly…but somewhere, someone has to be thinking like some comedians did back in the early days of radio. When Jack Benny became the first comedy star of radio to credit his writers, several of his fellow stars went to him and said, "You can't do that. The public wants to believe we make all this stuff up, ourselves."

How many writers marched this morning? The L.A. Times says "more than 700," Hollywood Reporter says 800 and Daily Variety says 900. From where I was — in the midst of it — it looked like well over a thousand…but why quibble? It was a good turnout and the mood was very upbeat and positive and rife with solidarity.

The crowd also seemed to be full of what some call, with varying degrees of sarcasm, "working writers." One significant factor in WGA politics and policies is that we have here a union that includes a number of folks who write movies and run shows and make millions of dollars a year. We also have a certain, not-inconsequential number who aspire to that level but who make, quite literally, nothing a year as writers. They sold something in order to attain Guild status and if they continue to not get work, they will eventually be moved to inactive or non-voting status. But still, at any given time, you have a lot of Haves and Have Nots in the same bargaining unit and it's sometimes tough to get both groups to agree on priorities and what is lost or gained by striking. It's easier to walk out on your job when you don't have one…but then again, when we strike, many of the "working writers" have millions in their bank accounts, as well as residual checks rolling in.

In times of striking (or threatening to strike), writers of both stripes are usually good about linking arms and pledging loyalty to their common cause, even if they disagree about some issues. And those who oppose the strike, whether from inside or outside the Guild, are usually bad about recognizing that. In every WGA strike of my lifetime, they have spread the always-untrue calumny that "working writers" — the ones really writing the shows and movies — are not behind the Guild's efforts; that the strike is the construct of guys who weren't working anyway so who cares about them? "Radio Shack Writers," some called them in '88, meaning that they claimed to be professional writers but actually worked at Radio Shack. The folks I marched with yesterday morning spanned the full range of the writing community. I'm sure there were some who don't, at the moment, support themselves with their writing…but there were also those who make fortunes, large and small, with their labors. And to the writers, at least on issues of Guild Support, the difference doesn't matter that much. One bonding thing about them is that most are well aware that any day now, they could be in that other caste.

It's late so I'll write more about this in the coming days. I'm generally pessimistic about what will happen in the looming negotiations of '07, when the issue of compensation for home video and new methods of delivery stands to cause serious bloodshed. But I felt a little better about it after that rally yesterday morning. My Guild has the capacity to be its own worst enemy and to divide and conquer itself. Since we're currently only warring on one front that doesn't affect many directly, unity of purpose is easy…but we seem to be more "together" and better organized than we usually are. That doesn't hurt.

I got two messages today from folks asking me if Garfield and Friends (a show I done wrote years ago) is coming back to TV. It's back…on the Boomerang network. Every weeknight at 8 PM on the East Coast, 5 PM on the West. Yes, they're still only running 74 of the 121 episodes but they're back on the air. All 121 are available on five DVD sets and some selected episodes will soon be available on single DVDs. Fox Home Video is currently assembling two discs that will be issued separately, though they haven't told me when. One will be called All About Odie and will include episodes that spotlight the empty-headed pooch. The other will be made up of the episodes in which Garfield lectures about how cartoons are made. This one is going to be called something like Behind The Scenes With Garfield but it should be titled Garfield: The Episodes They Didn't Like Over At The Network.

It's two nights ago at the Dodgers-Padres game, bottom of the ninth. Padres are ahead, 9-5. So you figure the Dodgers are through, right? I mean, they're not going to make up four runs in one inning…are they? Here's a short video of the legendary Vin Scully calling the plays as the L.A. team gets four consecutive home runs to tie it up and another in the tenth inning to win.

Do you recall this news story I linked to? Don't bother clicking. I'll refresh your memory: A lot of our troops in Iraq, and other military folks serving our country, are being gouged by predatory loan sharks who take advantage of how poorly we pay soldiers.

Here's the latest development. A bill has been introduced which would cap high interest rates for folks in the military at "only" 36%. That's an obscene amount to charge someone but it's still not high enough for Rep. Geoff Davis from Kentucky. He's leading the charge to block this bill. And it's just a coincidence that one of his top campaign contributors is a loan company. Read all about it.

And this time, we're bringing you an old commercial with Top Cat and his pal Fancy Fancy selling Kellogg's Corn Flakes. Arnold Stang provides the voice of Top Cat…or T.C., as us close friends get to call him, providing it's with dignity. John Stephenson is Fancy Fancy, and the actress who did the girl cat's voice is a lady who went by several names. She appeared in a bevy of early sixties sitcoms where she was variously billed as Sallie Jones, Sally Jones and Sallie Janes. Remember the episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show where Rob got temporary amnesia and wound up at a party where he met a cute blonde and told her he was Antonio Stradivarius? Sally/Sallie played the cute blonde. Kudos to Earl Kress for making that identification. Now, does anyone know whatever happened to Ms. Jones or Janes or whatever her name is?

Just back from doing something I haven't done since 1988: Picketing. My first thirteen years as a member of the Writers Guild of America, West found me pounding pavement three separate times…or was it four? Whatever it was, we were striking more than some of us were working. In the '88 strike, I even got involved with helping to organize the picketing and the demonstrations.

When I have more time, I'll write more about why we had to strike then, why we haven't had to strike since, and why I fear next year will be the greatest year of Labor Unrest that Hollywood has ever seen. At the moment though, the immediate battle is over the "reality" show, America's Next Top Model. As explained here, its writers are seeking to be recognized as writers and to have the WGA recognized as their collective bargaining representative.

This morning, maybe a thousand WGA members — most of them clad in red WGA t-shirts — assembled at Pan Pacific Park, which is more or less adjacent to what they used to call, at the start of many a CBS show, "Television City in Hollywood." (It's not really in Hollywood and neither is anything done at NBC Studios in Burbank. But when you're on television, you're allowed to lie…at least about things like that.) We heard about an hour of speeches by our leaders, by prominent writers in the industry and by the striking "reality show" writers. Then we marched around the CBS building, effectively picketing the people waiting to go into a taping of The Price is Right.

I have to go off and do things this afternoon so I'm going to have to serialize this post and continue it later. But I have to say before departing that I was enormously impressed with, first of all, my Guild's organization of the event. Everything we did wrong or were unable to do in '88 from the standpoint of logistics and physical set-up, they did right this morning. Secondly, the mood was strong, the unity was almost tangible and the members who turned out — many of whom seemed too young to have been involved in earlier strikes — seemed to not only "get" what it was all about but to ready to march for any just cause. I sure felt better about the future for having been there today. I'll write more about why that is later today.

Eric Boehlert writes about the press and the way it's dealing with the unpopularity of George W. Bush. Basically, his thesis — for which he makes a pretty good case — is that there are reporters out there who are determined to write stories that say Bush's approval rating is bouncing back and on the upswing. So they keep writing that story even though it's unsupported by the numbers they're quoting.

I will be a guest at this year's Mid-Ohio Con in Columbus, Ohio. This is an always-wonderful convention that takes place on the weekend following Thanksgiving…in this case, November 25 and 26. Also on the roster of folks appearing there are Al Feldstein, Dick Ayers, Herb Trimpe, Don Rosa, Tony Isabella and many others, including Joyce DeWitt and Richard Kline from Three's Company. I'll let you know more about it as the date draws nearer.

Here's one of my favorite commercials. It's for Kellogg's Raisin Bran and the voice of The Sun is done by the late, great Daws Butler. I was never much for raisin bran but this spot almost made me run out and buy a box…just because of Daws. I believe the little "SV" on the screen stands for Shokus Video, run by my pal Stuart Shostak. If you ever need film or slides transferred to tape or DVD, he's the guy — honest, fast, conscientious, reasonably-priced…and he even appreciates a good delicatessen. Browse around his website and find stuff to buy.

I said somewhere on this site that I didn't like "hidden camera" TV shows. Let me amend that. I've never liked alleged comedy shows that play tricks on people. (Or which purport to play tricks on people. Some of them these days are obvious frauds where the supposed victim is clearly in on the gag and playing along. I'm not sure which is worse.)

I do like one kind of "hidden camera" show and I wish we had more of them. Those are the investigative reports that some TV news crews do, mostly in the area of consumer fraud. I know it's a stunt and I know most of 'em are hyped as far more dramatic than they are. Still, if some business is ripping off customers, I love the idea of them getting nailed like that…and of all businesses worrying a bit if the next person they cheat is an undercover TV reporter.

KNBC Channel 4 in Los Angeles has a reporter named Joel Grover who's doing some fine work in this area. As you can see in this report (and the follow-ups on the same page), they sent hidden cameras into nine Jiffy Lube stores in Southern California. In five out of the nine cases, they were charged for repairs that were simply and deliberately not performed. In another report (this one), they found out that many taxis in the Los Angeles area had their meters adjusted to charge more than the legal rate of $2.20 per mile. Grover and his crew caught the guy who configured a meter that way admitting that he did it and that it was illegal.

I wish TV did more of that. I also wish they aimed higher up. One thing that bothers me about some of these "investigations" is that, like many of the films for which Michael Moore became famous, there's a tendency to target the folks at the bottom of the corruption — the clerks, the security guards and so on. What impressed me about Grover's Jiffy Lube exposé was that he made it clear that it wasn't a couple of rogue servicepeople swindling the customers…it was almost Company Policy. Guess where I'm never taking my car for servicing.