Congrats to Daniel Frank on one solid year of weblogging over at his site. When you get done here each day, that's a good place to go next.

My pal Paul Harris, who soars on radio station KTRS in St. Louis and on his website agrees with me that the story of NBC being fined for Sinead O'Connor's protest is so much hooey…

There is no way the FCC fined NBC $2.5mil for the Sinead O'Connor incident. The only time the FCC fines a broadcaster over content is when it is deemed to have violated the obscenity standard — vague as that is, Sinead's ripping up the Pope's picture doesn't come close to qualifying. Hey, they weren't even fined when Charles Rocket dropped the F-bomb!

Also, the network wouldn't have been fined, the affiliates would, since they're the ones licensed and regulated for content by the Commission. While NBC does have a division full of owned-and-operated stations, I (like you) am positive this fine was never levied against them or any other NBC affiliated station.

One more thing that I'm sure you know but your readers may need to be reminded of: the FCC does not monitor all broadcasts in this country for content or anything else. They have neither the staff nor the desire to do so (although they do have field agents checking technical requirements on an infrequent basis). The only way the Commission takes action is if there is a verifiable complaint from a viewer/listener, which must include an accurate transcript or recording of the supposedly offending segment. Then there's an investigation, the station is offered a chance to rebut, etc. etc. etc. I know that there are many Americans who believe the FCC should revoke licenses or fine stations because they didn't like what they themselves saw or heard, but it's rarely done, and absolutely never without details from a complainant.

Even then, tearing up the Pope's picture wouldn't even get mentioned in the FCC coffee break room, because instead they're busy dealing with an AM daytimer somewhere in Alabama that refuses to sign off at sunset and is overmodulating its carrier and interfering with another station's signal. Now that's a problem the Commission can and does sink its teeth into!

Indeed. I have also been told by a few folks that contrary to all accounts — including the recollections of both myself and my friend who was working on the show at the time, Nora Dunn did appear on the episode following the Andrew Dice Clay appearance. That would have been the last show of that season and her last show as a cast member of Saturday Night Live. One of those who wrote — David Goehner — says that she had almost nothing to do in it, and that in the "curtain calls" at the end, Jan Hooks held her hand in an emotional way. I don't remember that but we can check. That episode (hosted by Candice Bergen) reruns in the NBC Up All Night slot this coming Saturday night/Sunday morning.

Speaking of the confusion over which day a late night show is on — an issue that seems to matter to me and no one else — David asks when the clay animation episode of Late Night with Conan O'Brien airs. NBC is saying Thursday…but of course, in most time zones, the episode we think of as the "Thursday night" episode actually airs at 12:35 AM Friday morning. That's the case here: It's the episode of Conan's program that airs right after Thursday night's Tonight Show. Some day, network promotions will get in sync with how we all program our VCRs and TiVos.

Here's more on the ever-increasing evidence that former deputy counsel Fred Fielding was the famed snitch, Deep Throat. One would think that if he wasn't, he would not only deny it but get Bob Woodward to deny it, as Woodward did with regard to Alexander Haig. Let us see if that occurs.

Disney's lost another battle in the great Winnie the Pooh war. Here are the details.

Talk about a "sweeps" stunt that worked: Katie Couric's turn guest-hosting The Tonight Show last night yielded a 7.1 rating. That's probably way above what even the most optimistic NBC folks expected. Letterman had a 3.9 and Nightline had a 3.1. That's within those shows' normal fluctuation, confirming the theory that the late night shows don't really take audience away from each other. That is to say, when Dave gets a high rating, it doesn't mean he hijacked a lot of Leno viewers but that more people stayed up late that night.

I thought Ms. Couric did an okay job thanks to strong support from guests and written material. I'm still watching (in increments) Leno hosting The Today Show. I'm about halfway through and he seems pleasant enough — but I can't believe anyone not on the Fox Network would interview Colin Powell and not ask, "So…where are all those Weapons of Mass Destruction you told the U.N. we'd definitely pinpointed?"

This amused me. I was reading a recent transcript of an episode of the CNN show, Crossfire, and I spotted this line…

BETSY HART, COLUMNIST: I'm so delighted my liberal friends, Oliver Washington, (ph) are willing to make a value judgment about a consensual adult activity.

I didn't see the show but I have a hunch that what she said was, "…my liberal friends all over Washington…"

Stan Freberg's Manhattan gig — performing at Feinstein's at the Regency — has had to be rescheduled again. I'll let you know here when I hear of a new date. It'll be worth waiting for.

…before I submerge into deadline-meeting mode. This morning's Los Angeles Times features an op-ed piece by, of all people, Monica Lewinsky. And what's more, I agree with it. Basically, she says that parents should enjoy a confidence with their children similar to the lawyer-client or priest-confidante privilege. She's right. Read here for the full piece while I get back to that script. Bye for now.

Yes, that's right. I have posted a picture of a can of Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup. This is an ancient Internet custom that I recently started. When you see a can of Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup on a website it means either (a) that the proprietor of that website is buried under a deadline and too busy to update his site for a while or (b) that you're on a site for a market that delivers. In this case, it's the former. We'll be back in a day or two after we complete a script that even now is mocking us.

I know where it is.

I was just watching a tape of one of my favorite stand-up comedians, Lewis Black. He was doing his routine about how, one day while playing a comedy club in Houston, he took a walk and found a spot where there was a Starbucks directly across the street from another Starbucks. This, he says, is the End of the Universe. (I won't blow the rest of the routine for you here, just in case get the chance to see him perform it. It's really quite funny. So is he.)

I somehow sensed Mr. Black was telling the truth but, just to reassure myself, I went to the Starbucks website, did a search for Houston and noticed instantly that there's a Starbucks at 2029 W. Gray and another at 2050 W. Gray. I assume this is the location of which he speaks. Further research revealed that the Houston Laff Stop is located at 1952 W. Gray, so I'll assume that's the comedy club where he was appearing.

On the other hand, there are 120 Starbucks in Houston and a number of other comedy clubs. So maybe there are two Ends of the Universe.

My buddy Scott Shaw! trots out the oddest of the Oddball Comics. Go find out all about Manuel Pacifico, Tuna Fisherman.

Another article — this one in the New York Times — by Harvey Fierstein.

As mentioned here a while ago, the Treasure Island hotel in Las Vegas is retooling its infamous pirate show. Four or five times a day except in inclement weather, a bunch of guys in pirate suits swarm over two ships and mime to an unintelligible soundtrack as the crafts fire on one another. There's a lot of noise and flames and pyrotechnics and at the end, one of the ships sinks…and if you stick around for a while after the show, you get to see them dredge it back up so they can reset for the next performance.

Crowds have flocked to see it because it's kind of corny and/or because it's free, but that ends July 7 as the whole front of the hotel receives a makeover. Here's part of the casting notice for the new offering…

Treasure Island Hotel will hold an open call for Battle of Buccaneer Bay, an outdoor theatrical spectacle. A new, modern interpretation of the Las Vegas favorite being revamped by Emmy winner Kenny Ortega to include the "Sirens of T.I.," a singing, dancing, acrobatic band of female pirates. Prod./dir. Kenny Ortega, choreo. Travis Payne. Rehearsals start Aug. at the Buccaneer Bay at the Treasure Island Hotel in Las Vegas. Performances run indefinitely, contracts are for one year. Breakdown — Females: 21-28. All auditioners wear body-concious outfit and bring heels. Singers who dance: prepare 16 bars of pop rock or R&B ballad and bring sheet music, accompanist provided. May sing to tap or CD with no lead vocal on track. Dancers: strong in jazz and hip hop, gymnastic and aquatic abilities a plus for some roles.

Over on one Vegas message board, some folks are acting like this is some sort of desecration of a grand tradition; like the Statue of Liberty is going topless or something. (There's also one guy who keeps posting, "Who the hell cares what's out front? We just go to these places to gamble." It's probably Bill Bennett.) To most though, it's typical of the transitory nature of everything in town. Shows close and old hotels are imploded or completely renovated all the time. The pirate show isn't even a long-standing tradition that is coming to an end. It's only been there since the hotel opened in '93. It's indicative of the rapid turnover that is becoming the norm in Vegas that ten years seems like Ancient History. Anyway, if you want to see the current pirate show, you have a little less than two months. The new show is supposed to open October 26.

If you were to poll everyone who's ever drawn comic books for any length of time and ask them to name the artist they most respect, you'd get a lot of different answers. But certainly in the Top Five, you'd find the name of Alex Toth. I've recommended The Official Alex Toth Website before but between its discussion forums and examples of Toth art (some of them annotated by Alex himself), it's well worth another mention.

According to this article, we may be in for a national emergency. Here's the worst of it…

The tornado that ripped through Jackson, Tenn., Sunday shut down the Pringles plant there — the only one in North America — and Procter & Gamble has temporarily suspended all U.S. distribution of the snack food. There's an estimated six-week supply of Pringles already in stores or en route. But if you get the munchies, you might want to stock up.

We may have to start deep-frying dress shields to get the same wonderful taste.