Grid Effect

Just a couple reminders before we get to some links:

1) South Park makes its triumphant return to television tonight (this season premiere’s target: The Jonas Brothers), just in time for us to be extraordinarily busy at the end of the week. Over the next couple days we should have a recap for this, last week’s Friday Night Lights episodes, Survivor and The Office. When we lose our job due to a crippling economy, it’s good to know our free time will still be limited.

2) We have been sick all week, so if our posts have been atypically short then we apologize, but its not our fault so much as it is the traditionally fluctuating weather patterns of sunny Columbus, OH and the sinus infections it carries.

Anyhow, now that you know entirely too much about how my week is going, lets get to some at least fourteen hour old news items.

There's a good chance you don't know who Jim Cramer is, so here you go.

Jim Cramer and Jon Stewart are escalating their three day long slap fight to an actual face-to-face confrontation on The Daily Show tomorrow night. I like watching The Daily Show and all, and the only thing I know about Jim Cramer is the 60 Minutes piece I saw on him awhile back that portrayed him as a financial savant that was more than a tad hyperbolic; but is anyone else just bored to tears by this? I’m sure it will be monumental when Cramer rings a bell and an anvil drops on his head. Hopefully Stewart can get to his emergency button that will drop Cramer and the chair he is sitting in into the fiery pits of hell before the erratic financial “expert” gets the better of him.

Some great news for fans over overly-sentimental television: Friday Night Lights might be looking at a two season extension with its unique economic model that puts the burden of production costs on both NBC and DirectTV. This, especially in this economy, would be a welcomed surprise. I have no idea how either company can financially justify such an extension and, just maybe, perhaps I don’t care. I just want to see how they transition from a third to a fourth season.

Jesus Christ, its not like David Simon has to do anything to get me to watch his series’. After you create something like The Wire, I’m pretty much on the hook for eternity. Well, not only did his new series Treme, about musicians in New Orleans cast Clark Peters (Freamon, who was also on Damages last night) and Wendell Pierce (The Bunk), but now the show has landed Melissa Leo, star of the underrated indie hit Frozen River (and if you may recall was my choice to win best actress). Just based on the casting acumen alone I can all but guarantee that Treme will be worth everyones time.

Jay Leno is scheduled to do a free show in Detroit at the home of the Pistons next month. As much as his style of comedy is attune to our tastes, I never hear a bad thing about him and he seems to be constantly doing charitable shit like this. God damn it Jay, you make it so hard for me to root against you when you move to 10PM.

And finally, just so you know that her stint on Survivor wasn’t an act: Sandy, the most recent bootee from this season, wants to pose for Playboy. This might be a big enough publicity stunt to bring the magazine back to prominence. Let’s see the miracles that airbrush can work, boys. It’s not necessarily something I would ever buy, but don’t worry, I’ve never bought an issue of Survivor in my life so at least you won’t be losing a customer.

Hopefully we can get to the FNL recap after work.