Here’s a big whoopie doo—my cable provider, Cox, just made some truly amazing lineup charges. Added is the National Geographic Channel (excellent), Fuel (unclear as to its format), some regional sports networks (I can hardly wait to watch Northern Delaware and Wisconsin State play basketball) and on the HD side (yes, I have HD), something called Universal HD. That net has shows from NBC (which owns Universal) such as Law & Order—SVU and shows produced by Universal, such as a family favorite, Monk. So far, it appears to be about four programs looped to the point of absurdity, although I caught a glimpse of The District, and it’s not bad. It stars Craig T Nelson and one of the guys from Barbershop, but it could be the HD "spell." I think nearly anything looks good in HD…that is except Star Trek.

From 1980 through 1987, I was the TV writer (critic/columnist) for The Everett Herald, a mid-sized suburban newspaper a few dozen miles north of Seattle. I never truly appreciated the job, perhaps because I was young and immature. Maybe things happened too quickly for me in my newspaper career, but that’s the past.

Anyway, the job involved writing program reviews, interviewing celebs that were passing through town and the occasional overarching industry viewpoint. My bigger claim to fame was a Sunday sports column that looked at the week ahead, highlighting the games to watch and the ones to avoid. I used the column as a front for making all sorts of funny and caustic remarks at local and nation sports heroes.

I spent lots of time at the three local network affiliates (KOMO, KING and KIRO), screening programs and eating way too much junk food. One station used to feed me Mint Milano ® cookies and I was not shy about eating more than my share. I got to know most of the local news anchors, news directors, radio personalities, etc… probably because they were generally light on good guests, I was a frequent voice on many local radio stations

I have stories, but this new blog is more about TV today and TV in the future. I am in the beginning stages of building a home brewed TV network. I will use Microsoft’s new media center as the foundation and a number of new SW elements to stream content throughout my house and to a select group of friends. As of now, the network has no name. I could call it the No Name Network, like the (once great) Boston restaurant with the same name, but that’s too trite.

As a sidebar, I’ll comment on the shows I watch and make recommendations (if anyone cares). My opinion is certainly as good as my former college roommate who used to yellow highlight a TV Guide each week to make sure he didn’t miss any of his faves (which mostly were Star Trek episodes). BTW, I have never seen Star Trek in any form. Does that make me a bad or close-mined (former) TV critic? Maybe that’s why I’m not in the business any more.