So each morning now we rise and ask two questions…

1. What horrible thing has Donald Trump done to try and enrich wealthy people, pander to his base and/or just plain expunge something the Obama administration did?
2. What prominent person has been fired or forced to resign because of complaints of improper sexual behavior?

This morning, the answers seem to be "Retweeting Anti-Muslim videos" and "Matt Lauer."

On the second question, people are asking, "Where does it end?" I dunno.  It will end if and when people in power stop thinking they can get away with it so they stop doing it.  Doubtlessly today, a lot of human beings who might have committed assaults and infringements are looking at what's going on and deciding not to do what they might otherwise have done.  Good for them…but there are still a lot of past misdeeds that cannot be erased.  I wonder how many people, out of fear and/or guilt, are quietly apologizing or offering financial consideration to past victims to keep quiet about interactions in days gone by.

I do have a hunch that before we get to the point where the flood narrows to a trickle, we're going to see three things happen. We're going to see at least one prominent, powerful woman accused of sexual harassment by a male. We're going to see one prominent, powerful man who no one suspected was gay accused of sexual harassment by a male. And we're going to see at least one prominent, powerful man accused of sexual harassment by several people, some of whom are male and some of whom are female.

Oh, and I suppose there'll be a transgender case in there, eventually.  I don't even want to think how that will work.

I still don't believe this is a bad trend, even if some of the accusations turn out to be false or way overstated.  Everyone just needs to remember that punishments should fit crimes and that every crime exists in various degrees.   Patting the butt of an adult who does not want you doing that is not the same wrong as rape or pedophilia or sexual extortion.  It also helps to keep in mind that much of this is not about sex or only about sex.  Much of this is about abuse of power.

Mini Yuan Zi, the first panda ever born in France, attempts its first steps…

Should Al Franken resign? This is one of those cases where I see both sides. His "crimes" are small ones and I think it's unfair (in some cases, deliberately so) to lump him in with pedophiles and rapists or even Harvey Weinstein. And it's true that Republicans calling for his head are mostly of the mind that nothing should be done about the far greater number of complaints about Donald Trump and the far greater offenses of Roy Moore. Some of those points and others are made in this essay by Joe Conason who says Franken should not resign.

Against this, you have people like Michelle Goldberg who think he should…and I don't find those arguments without merit. The ones I think are without merit — and they're on both sides — are from the folks who are just playing for partisan advantage. But yeah, what he did was wrong in a couple of ways including the fact that it showed bad judgment.

So I dunno. Let's see what the ethics investigation says. And let's see if anything is done by the longer list of women who have more serious complaints about D.J. Trump.

An oral history of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, a show that got taken off the air for being a little too far ahead of its time.

I can't believe I'm writing posts now about registration for next year's Comic-Con International in San Diego but here we go…

Open Registration for the con begins around 9:00 AM on Saturday, December 9. Last year, all the badges sold out by 10:13 AM. This year, maybe they can do it in an hour. To get a shot at some, you'll need to go online and "enter" something called the Expo Logic waiting room and you can learn all about the process over on this page. I suggest you do that well before 12/9/17. Comic-Con International takes place from July 19, 2018 to July 22 with a Preview Night on July 18. Better start packing since it's only 233 days off.

In the meantime, you can attend an almost-as-good con run by the same people only 116 days from today. 94.3 miles to the North (if you take the 5 freeway) is WonderCon Anaheim, which takes place March 23-25 and badges for that are now on sale. It's not as big and crowded as Comic-Con but for some, that's a plus. The way I look at it, if you go for one day, you're not going to see all of either convention.

Getting back to Comic-Con: They have this thing called the Icon Award. A lot of awards are given out at the con in San Diego but that's the highest honor and it's presented to a member of the comics and entertainment community for outstanding contributions. Last year, I was pleased to aid in the surprise presentation of it to my friend and colleague, Sergio Aragonés and this past July, in the presentation of their first posthumous one to Jack Kirby. Well, as you can read here, they just presented another one to the wonderful Marie Severin, whose colors brightened EC Comics in the fifties and whose brilliant cartooning brightened Marvel's in the sixties, seventies and eighties. A fine, fine choice.

I will be at both conventions next year and also the unaffiliated San Diego Comic Fest in April. I may even make it to a few others depending on who invites me.

• White House ethics lawyer James Schultz has resigned. All right, everyone. Say it with me: "The White House had an ethics lawyer???"

As you know, reporters for the Washington Post broke the story about the first woman who came forward to tell of the sexual misdeeds of Judge Roy Moore. You all know Judge Roy Moore, that find upholder of Family Values and The Bible who has nothing but condemnation for those who do not rise to his definition of morality. His supporters have been trying hard to discredit the Post's reporting and haven't succeeded.

Take a look at this report on how an undercover "sting" agent, apparently working for James O'Keefe's Project Veritas, approached the Post with a bogus tale of an affair with Moore when she was underage. The Post did not fall for it.

I do not think the press in this country — any newspaper, any network — is even close to infallibility. I also believe that every time they get it wrong, the only possible explanation is not bias. Incompetence is also a big factor. So you should have a healthy skepticism about anything you hear or read…and a healthier one for those "too good to be true" stories that tell you just what you want to have be so.

But have even more skepticism for those who tell you that the press is biased and slanted and dishonest, so you shouldn't believe anything they tell you. That seems to be their only line of defense from when real bad, evidence-based stories come out about them. And they're expecting those stories.

The other day, I recommended watching reruns of The Danny Kaye Show on the Jewish Life TV channel.  Actually, I don't recommend trying to watch anything on that channel, which is like a restaurant that doesn't advertise, doesn't have a sign out front, doesn't have a menu and if you do stumble in there, they just serve you anything they like whenever they feel like it.

Also, someone there seems to occasionally decide that right in the middle of a musical number is a dandy time to cut away for three minutes of commercials.

They've revamped their website and it now actually purports to tell you what they're showing and when…but my sporadic checking finds that what they say they're airing and what's actually on the channel rarely match.  Worse for some of us is that the listings they send out to others don't match either.  My cable company (Spectrum) has no idea what airs when and my TiVo listings (which come from a separate source) are different and also wrong.

Until early today, my TiVo listed no shows of any kind this week on JLTV.  It said that each day, the network was running a 24-hour program called "To Be Announced."  Today, they changed and began listing individual shows with The Danny Kaye Show airing each day at Noon, my time.  As I write this, it is just after Noon and today's episode of The Danny Kaye Show is over because it actually aired at 11 AM.  I think, if I've figured it out right, they're actually airing Monday-Thursday at 11 AM Pacific Time but TiVo still thinks they're on at Noon and Spectrum is thinking 2 PM.

By the way, here's the writing credits on today's episode, which originally aired October 2, 1963: Herbert Baker, Mel Tolkin, Sheldon Keller, Saul Ilson, Ernest Chambers and Larry Gelbart.  A pretty impressive roster.  If they run what the website says they're going to run — unlikely but not impossible — tomorrow's should have Gwen Verdon as a guest star, Wednesday should have Art Carney, Thursday should have Louis Jordan and the Amazing Carl Ballantine, and Thursday should have Julie Newmar and (again) Howie Morris.

In any case, my friend Bob Elisberg just sent me a link to a sketch that ran at some point on the series.  It's a long one with Danny plus Buddy Ebsen (in his Beverly Hillbillies role), Howie Morris and Harvey Korman.  Howie is playing pretty much the same character he played on The Andy Griffith Show, Ernest T. Bass. Contrary to what most think, Ernest T. only appeared on five (5) episodes of that show but he sure became a memorable character.

In the last decade or so of his life, a goodly part of Howie's income came from appearing as Ernest T. at autograph shows and screenings connected to The Andy Griffith Show. By then, his residuals had long petered out and they weren't much to begin with, but he was able to buy groceries and pay alimony thanks to those five appearances. There have been many actors who were similarly supported. I worked with Roger C. Carmel on what may have been his last acting job. He told us all how amazed he was that after appearing in dozens and dozens of TV roles and films, his best source of funds was appearing at Star Trek conventions, where he was welcomed because of the two episodes of that show on which he appeared.

Anyway, here's the clip. The person who uploaded it to YouTube wrote in his notes, "Howard Morris gave me a copy of this years ago. He enjoyed doing this sketch but didn't like working with Danny Kaye at all." Like I told you.

It's like every morning now, I wake up and say to myself, "Well, let's see what horrible thing he's done today…"

• In his maniacal campaign to undo everything Obama did, Trump will be making Obamacare less affordable for everyone but mainly for those who voted for him in the last election. Kevin Drum explains this and notes that "Most of these folks don't seem to realize it, though. They'll either blame Democrats or else shrug and figure that at least Trump hates the same people they do."
• And as Hannah Levintova reports, he's set off a war at the Consumer Protection Agency. I don't think there's anything Trump dislikes more in this world than Consumer Protection. In fact, the whole goal of the Republican Party now seems to be to ensure that nothing ever stops a large company from maximizing its profits. Not health concerns, not environmental concerns, not truth in advertising…
• Ed Kilgore reports that as vital as Trump says it is to elect Judge Roy Moore and keep that Senate seat for the G.O.P., he won't go to Alabama to campaign for the man. He'll probably stay in Mar-a-Lago and compose tweets to use in case Moore loses…tweets explaining why that's not a loss for Donald Trump.
• Here's a Visual Guide to the Key Events in the Trump-Russia Scandal. For an administration where everyone said they had no contact with Russia, there sure are a lot of them.
• Ryan Lizza runs down some of the things Trump and the Republican Congress are going to try to enact next month so they don't end the year with no major legislative accomplishments. Be afraid. Be very afraid.
• And by God, it looks like Trump is really trying to sell the idea that that Access Hollywood tape of him — the one for which he apologized — wasn't really him after all. Maybe he's going to insist it was Alec Baldwin.

Are there still people left who think this guy is a straight-talker? I can understand those who think — and I have some friends who feel this way — that the guy's a supreme bullshitter but that he's going to accomplish things they want to see accomplished. I really don't get those who believe he stands for truth or integrity or anything resembling a Christian Value.

Here's a good profile of Dave Smith, who founded and built the Disney Archives for the studio. Other companies I've worked for will occasionally decide "We should have something like that" and they hire someone and spend a few bucks on it before someone else decides to save money and start slashing its budget…and pretty soon, it's gone. But the Disney Archives are quite extensive and valuable. I wish more companies had done that.

The Price is Right is seen every weekday morning on CBS and probably always will be. Long after all of us are dead and buried, The Price is Right will be seen every weekday morning on CBS and someone will be playing Plinko. I watch once in a while…or maybe it would be more accurate to say I have it on once in a while.

Hey, a lot of people who come to this site get upset with me because I write here that I don't like Donald Trump or Mike Pence or certain other political figures. Well, that upset is nothing compared to what I'm about to cause when I tell you that I actually like Drew Carey more than I ever liked Bob Barker as host of The Price is Right. And it's not like I like Drew Carey all that much as host — he's much better as a stand-up — but he seems to understand that it's his job to let the games (and therefore the contestants) be the stars of the show, not him. Let the Hate Mail begin.

I find the show more fascinating than entertaining. Back in 2008, I was also fascinated to attend a performance of The Price is Right Live!, which was then in permanent residence at Bally's Hotel-Casino in Las Vegas. They retooled the show to be offered as a live attraction, complete with exact replicas of some of the most popular games from TV, and Todd Newton hosted, ably filling the shoes that Mr. Carey had just begun filling for Mr. Barker. I wrote about that field trip here.

The show is no longer in Vegas. It's on the road, criss-crossing America. Today, it's in Canyonville, Oregon. Tomorrow, it moves to Airway Heights, Washington for a few days and then on to Wenatchee. If you want to know when it's coming your way, here's the page with the schedule.

I'm embedding two videos that will tell you about it. The first is from a magazine-type show and it has a very enthusiastic host-lady interviewing Todd Newton, back when the show was in Vegas. The second is intended for casino operators. It's a sales piece telling you how much money you'll make if you book The Price is Right Live! into your establishment. The show doesn't only play casinos. It can be found at State Fairs and in a lot of Performing Arts Centers too. If you only have time to watch one of these videos, watch the second one. It's a part of show business that we sometimes forget about…

The musical Gypsy debuted on Broadway in 1959 and it has been revived there four times since — in 1974, 1989, 2003, and 2008. In case you're wondering, the five ladies who opened those productions as Mama Rose were, in order, Ethel Merman, Angela Lansbury, Tyne Daly, Bernadette Peters and Patti LuPone. Another revival which would star Imelda Staunton, has seemed imminent for a while but Ms. Staunton is currently in a revival of Follies at London's National Theatre.

Four revivals so far but it somehow feels like more. There are certain shows that always seem to be about to reopen. If you asked me to guess what show has had the most resurrections on the Great White Way, I'd say either Fiddler on the Roof or Guys and Dolls…and I'd be wrong both times. They've each had five revivals and there are two shows that have had six and one that's been revived seven times!

Do not click on this link until you've made your guesses. Then click on the link and find out.

(And if you guess Chicago, you're even wronger than I was. That show's only had one revival on Broadway. Okay, so it's been running there for more than twenty years with no end in sight…but it's still only the first revival. There may not be a second one because this one may never close.)

And we're expanding it to include Roy Moore, the people who still support him, and Joe Barton…

• Remember the scandalous Access Hollywood tape wherein Trump bragged about sexual assaults? At the time, he apologized for it. Now, he's trying to spread the suggestion that it's not real; that it's dubbed or it's someone else or something. Even the Trumpiest Trump supporter won't believe that though a few might find it handy to say they do. It's a lot easier than defending it, I guess. But it makes you wonder if Trump is anticipating legal proceedings against him for sexual misdeeds and somehow — God knows how — thinks it will help him to now not admit the recording is legit.
• Matt Yglesias explains why the math in the Senate Tax Bill just plain doesn't add up. And in this article, he points out that this bill is based on a lot of the same theories and predictions that were disastrous when attempted under the last Republican president.
• William Saletan reviews the evidence against Judge Roy Moore and finds it pretty solid. He also reviews the rebuttals from the Moore camp and finds them pretty feeble. I think we're about to see a lot of people who profess to be deeply moral respecters of old-fashioned family values in an evangelical sense go to the polls and vote for a child molester…and pretend it's okay because, you know, he denies it.
• Speaking of evangelicals, Thomas S. Kidd discusses who they are these days and why some who say they are aren't.
• Rod Dreher writes about Joe Barton, the latest in a series of "deeply moral" politicians who spent years scolding people for their immorality before being humiliated by some revelation about the deployment of his own genitalia. It's gotten so every time a Republican leader lectures us about our sex lives, we should just start wagering on what there is about his that he's hiding.
• Getting back to Trump: Daniel Larison says, "Arming Ukraine would be an extraordinarily foolish thing for Trump to do, and so it is probably what he will decide to do." Click on Larison's name to read more.
• Jonathan Chait wonders if Donald is intentionally sabotaging police departments everywhere. And Chait's right: Whenever Trump talks about "crime" or "law and order," he's using codewords to single out racial minorities.
• And finally for now: Matt Taibbi writes about Trump's battle with Sportsfather LaVar Ball. One of Ball's sons was among three basketball players arrested in China recently, then released via a diplomatic maneuver for which Trump is demanding a louder thank-you than he got from them. Trump vs. Ball is one of those cases where you'd rather not root for either guy but one is clearly worse than the other, if only because for the worse guy, it's just another chance to depict black athletes as spoiled and unworthy of this great nation of ours.

My favorite tweet of the last few days, by the way, came from Conan O'Brien who wrote, "Trump is already tweeting that Black Friday is the most ungrateful of all the Fridays." Good one.

My cousin David has lunch with a filmmaker I admire and a film critic I don't.

Jessica Rosenworcel is a member of the Federal Communications Commission. The F.C.C. may soon do away with Net Neutrality, the principle which means that the folks who control your Internet can't block certain portions of the 'net to you, charge you premium prices to access them, slow them down, attempt to divert you away from them, etc. Under Net Neutrality, you can go where you please to go. The argument for it — that it will encourage investment or something or other — seems very contrived and bogus to me. It's like the folks who wanted to do this couldn't think of a good reason so they're just saying, "Trust us. You'll like what it does." But even that upon closer inspection turns out to mean, "Trust us. You'll like what it does for big companies by giving them more power over your Internet." It should be opposed with all might.