I've lately had problems with my home internet that are just not getting solved and, frankly, I just have much more important issues to attend to. Sorry, I just use TV.com to talk about TV, movies, and entertainment, I don't use it to talk about my life. I enjoy the web, and like hearing about other's lives, but it's not my bag. I've always had mixed feelings about blogs, to me, too many use them as statements of individuality like they are a center of internet attention, and I've often thought they take away from a site focus on well-written and interesting information on television history. I've also been frustrated that people will talk about anything unrelated to TV on blogs but I haven't run across one good discussion of TV episodes on the forums - ever. I actually came here to talk about television.

I haven't retired from any editorships. One thing is true, being a good editor at TV.com means really monitoring this site (as well as the rest of the internet, newspapers, TV listings, and books on television over 50 years), and I've done a lot of that leg work already. In the past, I've always continued to dig through archives to add small things to older programs and I'll do less of that. Possessing editorships and levels means nothing to me whatsoever. I just like detailed and well-written sources of information, the trapppings of any website be hanged. The reason I wouldn't retire from guides that are as finished as I can get them is the acquisitive nature of TV.com means someone else (level hounds and guide collectors) may want some goofy "standing" here and wreck what it took me a long time to do (most of the guides I edit I built from nothing). Sadly, TV.com seems to care less about the written word, a real shame for those programs that will never exist on DVD and will gradually fade from the public's mind over the years. TV.com has now turned into a site I don't want to read anymore, and while I realize only a small portion of internet visitors want to read information on TV long-gone, there is no reason for me to be socially active on a site that promotes videos and inane forum conversation.

I would say that I won't return to the site in the manner that I was using it, mostly I want to get my guides in the best shape possible. If I see people more rarely (I'll still post in forums), a fond goodbye to all you who have made it fun for me over time. I appreciated it.

Even in the poor economy, PBS is still making (or broadcasting) some good programs, a lot of "American Masters" and "American Experience" programs are coming up, "NOVA" is still good, and "Great Performances" seems to be offering a wider variety of topics the last few years. "Nature" has become more relevent and more genres are included in what used to be called "Masterpiece Theater".

Just this month, I've watched some good shows; "Make 'Em Laugh" - a program on the growth of comedy in the US in the last century; and "The Story of India" - a really competent overview of the entire history of a very complicated region with parallels to what is happening in India today. Another two hour special, "Cinema's Exiles: From Hitler to Hollywood" is an informative documentary of the flight of some of the 1920s and 30s best movie-makers from Germany.

So far, none are added to TV.com...I wish some staff would make the rounds and punch 'em in (apparently CBS has signed some agreements for internet re-broadcast with PBS). As it is now, it can be tedious to submit them and wait. But then again, lots of good PBS series have never been added here ("Liberty! The Story of the American Revolution", "Vietnam: A Television History", "Lewis and Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery", etc. etc.). On the other hand, we do have the internet broadcasts of "Novel Adventures".

I rarely look at the TV.com "top" lists, but recently I ran across the TV.com Highest Ranked (All Genres) List HERE (link).

Aside from my usual complaints that this site skews really young with a powerful bias to recent shows and cartoons/animes, some other things strike me as weird. Of all the TGIF programs, "Boy Meets World" places 17 overall but no other 90s TGIF programs make the list. Was it that much better? "Married With Children" ranks high, but I'll leave that alone. I'm also surprised that "The Real McCoys" makes the list at 73, I enjoyed it but on a list that leaves out a lot of comedies from the 50s-70s, I wonder why.

Other oddities include "The Lucy Show" - pleasant enough but mostly a vehicle for guest stars for much of its run (especially after Lucy and Mooney moved to California). There is no zany "Beverly Hillbillies", weird "Munsters", satirical "Get Smart" - but "Mr. Ed" comes in at 51. Good grief.

Maybe strangest of all on a list that leaves out "Star Trek", "The Fugitive", and "Mission: Impossible" is the Nielsen-bombing and slow-moving Earl Hamner/Lorimar "Apple's Way" at 89. Who remembers this series as top-rated TV?