This coming Friday is Fair and Balanced Day on weblogs all across the Internet. But of course, it's always Fair and Balanced Day here.

Good article by John Rogers about Stan Freberg. (Minor quibbles: Friz Freleng's name is spelled wrong, and Chuck Jones was always diligent about correcting people who cited him as the creator of Bugs Bunny. Other than that, good piece.)

Eric Idle's sequel to The Rutles is having its world premiere this Saturday night at a film festival in Los Angeles. One hopes it will soon receive wider distribution or airing.

(I love the fact that I can ask a question here at three in the morning, go to bed, and then when I get up, my e-mailbox is filled with folks answering it. Thanks, everyone.)

A few weeks ago, I posted an item about how a revue of Monty Python material, performed by actors not of the Monty Python troupe, might be making its way to Broadway. I was later informed by a good source that though it had been announced, it was probably not going to happen.

So now, how do we feel about a Broadway show, written by Eric Idle and based on Monty Python and the Holy Grail? For some reason, this sounds like a much better idea to me.

Say, while we're at it: Has anyone heard anything like a release date for Mr. Idle's sequel to The Rutles? I saw it at an invitational preview in May of 2001 and it seemed very funny and very close to done. Since then…not a word.

As most folks know, the animation business — even the part that programs for adult audiences — likes shows featuring young characters. There have been studio and network execs who have explicitly spread the word that they aren't interested in any show where the major characters are over 16 years old.

So it's interesting that as this article points out there are currently cartoon shows in production where the lead characters are Carl Reiner (age 81), Robert Evans (age 73) and Hugh Hefner (age 77).

I don't think there's any "new trend" here. It's just nice to be able to point out the exceptions.

Here's something funny I just found that will probably only amuse people who are in the TV business, especially on the technical side. Go to this page at the TV Land website. It's a page that leads to pages about each of the shows they air on their channel. Then select "Bars and Tones." Then check out all the little sub-pages featuring Characters and Episodes and such. (Well, I liked it…)

One of the best political-type websites I've found (and certainly the sanest) is Spinsanity. On it, three very smart gents take apart various news items, speeches and commentaries that fudge or distort the facts. They're very fair about this, going after Democrats as well as Republicans, and Conservatives as well as Liberals, and doing it in a fine, well-researched and non-inflammatory manner. I've been recommending this site for a long time and will continue to do so. So you might as well visit there.

This evening, I was honored to break bread (pasta, actually) with one of its editors, Ben Fritz, whom I met via e-mail exchanges. We talked about politics and the Internet and comic books and how dumb Fox News looks for suing Al Franken and all sorts of things. He's a bright guy and I wanted to use the occasion to plug Spinsanity again and also to direct you to another website in which he is involved. Dateline Hollywood showcases Ben's sillier side. There, he and partner Gil Cunha bring you the latest in phony Show Biz Gossip. Phony Show Biz Gossip is just the same as Real Show Biz Gossip except that it's more accurate. Or as a writer for one of the tabloids once told me, "I believe 70% of everything I read about Hollywood, including the stuff I make up out of nowhere."

Here's E. J. Dionne with one of those political commentaries that I think is right on the money.

One of the things we have to remember is that when a politician (any politician on any side) says, "This is an outrage," he or she generally only means, "This is an outrage when the other side does it, not when we do it."

When folks like Bill Bennett complain that America has lost its moral compass, and that they no longer express indignation over things that warrant it, I always think: That's because people like you have turned moral indignation into something that's only to be used to slam political opponents.

This website, the reliability of which is unknown to me, is claiming that a deal has been reached for Pete Rose to return cautiously to the world of baseball, including possible entry into the Hall of Fame. A spokesperson for Major League Baseball denies the report but the website is standing by its story.

So one of two things will happen here. Either Rose will shortly be reinstated, whereupon the spokesperson for Major League Baseball will be shown to be a fibber. Or Rose won't be reinstated, in which case we'll know the reliability of that website. There's also a third possibility, I suppose: They decided to reinstate Rose but since the report leaked, they'll go back and change their minds. But that seems unlikely.

Maybe there's a fourth possibility. Maybe they're decided to reinstate Rose but they're denying it so that Pete has a chance to get some bets down on his reinstatement before it's announced.

Or a fifth: They have no intention of reinstating him but Rose has planted the rumor so he can get some bets down that he won't be reinstated.

Can a guy be ruled ineligible for the Hall of Fame for betting on whether he'll be ruled eligible for the Hall of Fame?

Another obit.

Here's a good article on Tom Kenny, the voice of SpongeBob SquarePants and many other creatures and things.

According to this story in the Marin Independent Journal, we may not get to vote for Father Guido…

A third candidate, Don Novello of San Anselmo, a comedian known for his portrayal of the character Father Guido Sarducci on NBC's Saturday Night Live, filed the paperwork but failed to get enough valid signatures to qualify, according to county officials. Novello, 60, said he does not consider himself out of the race yet.

"I can't tell you how disappointed I am," he said. "I paid the money, I turned in the signatures, I'm not going to consider it official yet. I'm still in it." Novello, running on a campaign against excessive spending, challenged others in the race to match him "zero for zero" by refusing special interest money and campaign contributions.

My friend, comic book dealer Barry Short, also seems to have disappeared from the latest drafts of the candidate lists. What is democracy coming to when I'll only be able to choose from 195 candidates?

Yes, the "Don Novello" who appears to have qualified for the California gubernatorial ballot is the same Don Novello who portrayed (and may still portray, for all I know) the eminent Father Guido Sarducci. For those of you who can't place the name, Father Sarducci was the gossip columnist and rock critic for the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, and occasional Assistant Managing Editor of the Vatican Inquirer. Novello wrote on and off for Saturday Night Live for years (he is often credited with the "cheeseburger, cheeseburger" sketches, among others) and sometimes appeared on the show, or on other programs as Sarducci.

In yet another identity, he was Laszlo Toth, author of a brilliant book entitled The Lazlo Letters, which actually defies description but I'll try: Novello made up a character named Lazlo Toth, named after Laszlo Toth (note the different spelling), the latter being the man who took a hammer to Michelangelo's Pieta. What Novello's Toth wrote was almost as destructive. He penned very strange letters to an array of prominent individuals, received an amazing array of replies, and then published both in The Lazlo Letters, which was subtitled, "The Amazing, Real-Life, Actual Correspondence of Lazlo Toth, American." Could all three of these men, rolled into one, be the next governor of California? Probably not…but the actual result won't be any less bizarre.

For months now, Gary Owens has been telling me about his role in this. It's an animated show about the fabled star for whom Rob Petrie, Sally Rogers and Buddy Sorrell wrote on The Dick Van Dyke Show. Maybe Dick didn't get a comic book out of the deal but Carl got a cartoon show.

(I noticed this link on Jerry Beck's fine Cartoon Research site. Credit where it's due.)

Here's an article in The Washington Post entitled, "Depiction of Threat Outgrew Supporting Evidence." Despite its rep from Watergate days, the Post has been very reticent to suggest the White House wasn't being entirely candid with the American people. This and a few other pieces suggest that is changing.