Want to know my problem with the press?  A lot of it is demonstrated by a commentary piece that ran recently in The Wall Street Journal lambasting Hillary Clinton and apparently misrepresenting a lot of facts in order to do so.  Over on a website called ConWebWatch, an author named Joe Moran laid down a pretty strong case that the editorial was, to put it politely, full of manure.  Here's a direct link to his article.  Please let me know if you ever come across anything that proves Moran is wrong orif you spot anyone other than Hillary-partisans finding fault with this piece.  I think a lot of absolute nonsense has been printed about just about everyone in public life, be they Democratic, Republican or None of the Above.  And you so rarely see (a) the source correct the error and/or (b)  anyone rise to object unless it's consistent with their political agenda.  If it slams the guy you're against, it's true, end of story.

I also think that any reporter or pundit who spends more than ten seconds on Al Gore's beard, or who reads any deep character or political insight into it, should be fired immediately.

Good editorial in the New York Daily News about our alleged president's financial planning.  Here's the link.

NBC has been running and rerunning a limited number of vintage SCTV episodes in the Later slot, every night after Conan O'Brien.  I'm told that they're not airing a wider array of episodes because, being up in Canada and all, the original series was very lax about clearing rights to the songs they used.  Ergo, to broadcast certain episodes these days would require skillful negotiation and some hefty fees, so we get the same ones, over and over.  Some (not all) of them are actually worth it…though you won't be enjoying them for long.  NBC has decided to take Later back to the talk show format and to bring in Carson Daly to sit behind the desk, commencing early next year.

This is an interesting move and I can't say I really understand it.  Before they began running SCTV, NBC was trying out different hosts in the job, reportedly to try and find the perfect one.  What they wound up discovering was that it really didn't matter who hosted the thing.  The show got a 1.5 rating no matter who sat in the big chair.  It would have gotten a 1.5 if you'd hosted it or I'd hosted it or your Aunt Tillie had hosted it.  Didn't make any difference.  The ratings only fluctuated when a superstar guest appeared or when Mr. O'Brien provided an unusually strong lead-in.  After a year or three of immaterial host tryouts, NBC announced they would use the time slot to test out new concepts and innovative programming…and they promptly came up with the new and innovative notion of airing reruns of an old show they already owned and had on the shelf.  The SCTV reruns, by the way, have been pretty consistently getting a 1.5 rating, what a surprise.

So why dump free (or almost free) programming that gets a 1.5 rating to bring in a show they'll have to spend money to produce and which will get a 1.5 rating?  The only explanation that makes any sense to me is that they have bigger plans for Mr. Daly…as they once did for Greg Kinnear and a few of the temps who replaced him.  In any case, you won't be without access to SCTV for long.  They're finally about to release some episodes on VHS and DVD — and we can only hope they haul out some that haven't been repeated into oblivion lately.  The Godfather parody with Guy Caballero as the Don was brilliant but it loses a little something the nineteenth time you see it.  Except for the part where Eugene Levy plays Floyd the Barber.

Every day, Monday through Friday, I make a point of visiting Comic Book Resources, a fine website that covers the funnybook biz.  There, you'll find some fine columnists, including Steven Grant and "Gail," and you'll also find the daily column of my long-time pal, Scott Shaw!  It's called Oddball Comics and it's an outgrowth of a slide show Scott has been presenting for years at conventions, always to capacity (and delighted) audiences.  In the show and on the site, Scott presents some of the weirder comic books ever published — the kind that makes you wonder what, if anything, the editors were thinking that day.  And no comics were ever odder than the ones that appeared on the comic called Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane.  This week, Scott presents five thoroughly-bizarre Lois Lane covers, including the two above.  Rush to Scott's website by clicking here and enjoy his witty, informative commentary on this cover and others.

Back in the Sixties, a comic book series called T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents failed to attract a large-enough audience to keep its publisher afloat.  How odd then that, more than thirty years later, there are enough fans of the comic to warrant a whole issue of Comic Book Artist devoted to it.  But there apparently are.  Jon B. Cooke and his thunderous squad of interviewers and researchers have tracked down most of the surviving contributors for interviews, and even dug up heretofore-unpublished artwork.  The result is a terrific overview and a tonweight of comic book history and information that would have been lost if Jon and Company hadn't cobbled together this issue.  So far, every issue of CBA has managed something of the sort.  I only wish it had come along years ago, so more creators could have divulged more info before they left us.

You can pick up a copy at any good comic shop or by visiting the TwoMorrows website and, yes, I'll even supply you with a link.

I've received a number of e-mails asking me who's going to take over as the voice of Garfield now that Lorenzo Music has left us.  (I've also received an embarrassing number of phone calls and e-mails from folks who covet the job.)  The answer is that no one involved in the Garfield business wants to discuss it now.  Too soon, too soon.

Attention, Three Stooges fans! Saturday evening, American Movie Classics is running Soup to Nuts, an almost-never-seen, 193o feature starring Ted Healy, for whom the Stooges were originally stooges.  And in in supporting roles, you'll find Moe, Larry…and Shemp, since this — the Stooges' first screen appearance — was made before Shemp left the group and was replaced by Curly.  (Years later, Curly had a stroke, whereupon Shemp returned to the act in his stead.)  The movie was allegedly written by the famed cartoonist, Rube Goldberg, who has a small cameo.  Most of it was ghost-scripted, however, by Lou Breslow, who later wrote some of the weaker Laurel and Hardy movies.  Probably not a cinema classic but, hey, it's history.

The Broadway show, The Producers, not only sells out every night, they also sell standing room and any tickets that become available due to cancellations.  Someone who attempted to purchase the former recently posted a message to one of the newsgroups that tells how the process works.  Here's a link that oughta allow you to read this message.  (By the way: For those of you tracking such info or holding tickets for September 4-9, Matthew Broderick is taking that week off.)

Some people think that Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, The Hulk and many other super-guys had their greatest adventures in a series of one-page Hostess ads that ran in their comics in the seventies.  And it's true: Seeing Batman battle the Joker for hostess of a couple of twinkies or Dr. Octopus purloining Spider-Man's fruit pies was kinda entertaining (in a silly way) and no worse than certain of their "real" exploits.  You can see them for yourself because someone has set up a website that purports to display every one of these four-color classics.  Get there by clicking here.

I would like to recommend a political reporter/commentator to you.  His name is Joshua Micah Marshall and he writes for, among other outlets, Slate, Salon, New Republic and The American Prospect.  Every day or so, he posts an interesting "Talking Points Memo" on his website and I find them always worth reading.  See if you don't, too, by clicking on this link.

You are gazing on the rarely-seen face of writer-actor Lorenzo Music, who passed away ten days ago, and who was — as I and many others have noted — a wonderful creative force and friend.  This photo is fairly recent and it was on a handout at the memorial service held last night at the Writers Guild Theater in Beverly Hills.  A rather spectacular assemblage of talented folks were present and, while it may seem odd for someone to say they had a great time at a memorial service for a pal…well, let's just say that Lorenzo, who had given us so many entertaining shows during his life, was responsible for yet another last evening.  Everyone always wants to know who was at these things so here's a brief rundown of just some of those who were in attendance and whose names may be familiar to you…

The speakers included Bob Newhart, Jack Riley, Ed Asner, Beverly Sanders, Alan Barzman, Patti Deutsch, Marcia Wallace and several others, including Yours Truly and a pretty funny rabbi.  In the audience, one could spot Peter Bonerz, Gary Owens, Avery Schreiber, James L. Brooks, Stan Freberg, June Foray, Thom Sharp, Rosanna Arquette, David Arquette, Julie Kavner, Maurice La Marche, Tress MacNeille, Gregg Berger, Laura Summer, Danny Mann, Mary Gross, Edie McClurg, Dan Castellenetta, Julie Payne…and I'm probably leaving out at least fifty other names of popular actors, both on-camera and voice, to say nothing of the non-SAG friends and family that packed the Writers Guild Theater.  A rousing gospel choir closed the formal event which was followed by a party that Lorenzo would also have loved.

Some of those folks knew him from his days as a writer and story editor on the now-legendary sitcom, The Mary Tyler Moore Show.  He was also usually responsible for the show's warm-up, greeting the audience and getting them all in the proper mood to laugh at Mary and Ted and Murray and Mr. Grant.  His warm-ups were also legendary, at least within the business, for Lorenzo was superb at holding an audience in rapt interest, and just listening to him made people smile.

We all smiled a lot at the memorial service.  And laughed.  And there were even a few tears, but not that many.  I think we've all moved past that, as you have to in life, and we were there to share stories of our friend, to embrace his wonderful family and to indulge in one big group hug.

Lorenzo…I don't know if they have Internet connections where you are but, assuming they do and the hook-up's fast enough to read this page, I want to say the following to you: I hope you heard all the warm, loving and funny tales that were related last evening.  I hope you know how terrific everyone thought your wife and kids are and that we meant all those nice things we said about you to them.  And when I go, I hope I have at least a fourth as many wonderful and fascinating friends turn out to say good-bye to me.  I only wish you could be one of them.

No, I haven't forgotten you, my friends.  I've just been buried up to here in deadlines.  (In case the webcam isn't working and you can't see me, I'm holding my hand under my chin.  The third chin from the bottom, in fact.)

We will be back soon with new comments and links and fun things to do.  Just as soon as a couple of assignments stop breathing fire and smoke.

I neglected to thank B. Baker for the tip-off on the article about The Projectionist.  Thank you. B. Baker.

How do you know when political reporters have absolutely nothing to write about?  Answer: They write about Al Gore's chances in 2004.

Isn't it a little early for that?  All this talk about who'll be the Democratic nominee for prez in '04, how he'll fare against Bush, whether Cheney will be on the ticket and so on strikes me as way more than premature.  By the time that election begins for real, there'll be completely different issues and players before us.  We may or may not be at war with Iraq.  We may or may not have had more terrorist attacks.  The economy may or may not have made a solid recovery.  There may or may not have been hundreds more Worldcom/Enron style scandals.  Cheney may or may not be in decent health.  Et cetera, et cetera…

Other, unpredictable issues of equal importance may have — probably will have — emerged.  On September 10 last year, few (if any) imagined that fighting terrorism was about to become Job One.  And when it did, few imagined that fighting corporate corruption would soon become an issue of as much importance as it has.  Add to all this the fact that at least one prominent politician will get indicted for some crime, some prominent politician will say something so stupid their constituents will desert him, some prominent politician will have a sex scandal…

Again, et cetera, et cetera…

I have only one prediction, which I've made here before.  I think, in '04, the question will be, "Do you feel safer now than you did on September 11?"  If most voters feel that, as a result of the actions of the current administration, they're less afraid of annihilation, Bush could get caught humping a sheep and still win a second term.  If they feel not enough has been done and/or that "the war" (whatever its scope at the time) has been bungled, almost anyone will be able to beat him.  The other stuff may matter in terms of Congress because the less the country trusts Bush on the economy, the more likely they are to want Democratic representatives to stop him from running amok.  But none of it has anything to do with who'll win the presidential election of 2004 or even who'll be on the ballots.

Nice article in today's New York Daily News about The Projectionist.  This was a brilliant but undercirculated little movie made back in the sixties, starring Chuck McCann and the man we now know as Rodney Dangerfield.  It deals with a lonely film buff who fantasizes himself into the movies he's screening, and it has a wonderful low-budget, improvisational feeling — one of those films that is much-loved by the few who've seen it.  Here's the link to the article…and here's a link to where you can purchase the film on DVD.  (I love the fact that Amazon is also selling it in a bundle with Citizen Kane — the best known great movie and the least known…)  Well worth seeing.

I don't really know enough about stem-cell research to have an opinion on it.  I suspect 95% of America doesn't, either.  However, most folks have decided it's some sort of add-on to the abortion issue so it must be decided accordingly.  This necessitates the same kind of juggling act that so many Republican politicians have performed for the last few years…to amazing success:

They must convince "Pro-Lifers" within the party that they are against abortion; that they consider all abortions — except, in some cases, those involving rape, incest or the survival of the mother — as premeditated Baby Murdering…

They must convince "Pro-Choicers" within the party (and any independents or rogue Democrats whose support may be snagged) that they will not actually act upon the above belief, and don't really think that if you participate in an abortion, you're in any way a Baby Murderer.

So our President's position on stem-cell research — trying to have it both ways and to not make either faction too angry — was probably a foregone conclusion.  Over on Slate, William Saletan has an interesting piece that parses Bush's statement and points up the Herculean effort that seems to have been made to double-talk his way out of a no-win policy decision.  Here's that link.

Bill and Hillary Clinton have applied for reimbursement for certain legal expenses relating to the Whitewater investigation.  I'm guessing they are less interested in the money than in tweaking the noses of all those Republicans who have trouble admitting that it uncovered no wrongdoing whatsoever on their parts.  In any case, for what seems like a good explanation of the legalities of such reimbursements — and why the Clintons may not receive theirs — check out this article by John W. Dean.

At the Comic-Con International in San Diego, I introduced Ray Bradbury and Julius Schwartz on a wonderful panel and also brought up comics legend Al Feldstein to meet Bradbury for the first time, fifty years after adapting his stories for the pages of EC comics.  A couple of those gents would love to have photos of the panel or the meeting or both.  If you took one, would you please contact me?  Thanks.

Also: Some time ago, for no visible reason, I registered the domain name, www.comicbookwriter.com.  Don't bother clicking on it because it just forwards you to the front page of this site.  I guess I just claimed the name because no one else had and I thought I might figure out some good use for it.  Well, I haven't.  Do you have any brilliant ideas for a great site that should be at that address?  Keeping in mind that I don't have the time to do anything for it?  If so, I'd be glad to sell the web address or lease it for no profit, just so it doesn't go to someone who ruthlessly exploits professional or aspiring comic book scribes.

Do you like to look at photos of old coffee shops and motels and such?  A very nice display of them can be seen at the website for Roadside Magazine.  Here's a direct link to the piece.

My pal Steven Grant is one of the better writers of comic books, among other things.  And among the other things is a regular column over at Comic Book Resources.  It's always interesting but the current installment — which is about his occasional collaborator, the late and great Gil Kane — is especially fine reading.  Here comes the link.

One of the many wonderful qualities that Lorenzo Music possessed was his tendency and talent for putting people together and fomenting friendships.  So it was fitting and, in an odd way, appropriately comforting that his passing should continue the practice.  Shortly after posting an obit here, I began to hear from folks who knew him — some, more-or-less strangers to me; others, old friends with whom I hadn't communicated in a long time.  It's unfortunate that it sometimes takes a tragedy to put people back in touch but, well, it does.

You'd be genuinely amazed how many e-mails I received regarding the obit I wrote.  On the other hand, it took five days before any of those folks pointed out to me that in one part, I called his wonderful spouse Henrietta — which is correct — and in another, Harriet, which is not.  I apologize, Henrietta, and I've corrected it. (This is what happens when you type with moist eyes.)

Want to read another, more detailed bio on Lorenzo?  Craig Crumpton, who is a wise and informed scholar of the cartoon voice biz, has one at his site.  You can reach it by clicking here.  And some words from Jim Davis can be read on the Garfield website.