It’s upfront season, which I’ve called “my Super Bowl” in the past, though in the past couple years I’ve actually had a hard time covering it here. I’m sure part of it was how ho-hum the upcoming season has seemed, but this season is sounding pretty promising for the first time in a while. Today, Fox announced their upcoming schedule, though I think anyone who follows the “inside baseball” parts of TV knows there will be plenty of changes to come.

Here’s the initial fall schedule:

The January schedule, meanwhile looks like this:

Quick thoughts:

• I’m very curious if Dollhouse still airs as planned once January comes around. My cynical side is wondering if Dollhouse’s renewal comes down to telling grumpy Joss Whedon and Tim Minear fans that they can keep a show from those producers on the air beyond the 13th episode. (I wonder how much of Dollhouse’s low ratings can be blamed to a “Why bother getting attached to a show that’ll be canceled quickly like Firefly and Drive?” sentiment.
• It’s very interesting to see that American Dad will be losing its Family Guy lead-in. Creatively, American Dad is the stronger show, will it sink or swim on its own?
• I’m tempted to call this new fall edition of So You Think You Can Dance a desperation move but considering how Fox usually struggles until Idol comes along, the move makes sense.
• I believe Sons of Tucson is the first non-animated comedy to air on Sunday since Malcolm in the Middle wrapped up. It’ll be interesting to see if there’s still room for live action programs in that line-up.
• I’m pretty excited about Glee and Human Target (since I loved the comic), which is a far cry from the past several Fox upfronts.

…so rip off the roof and stay in bed!

So. The latest ad against same-sex marriage continues the new tactic that was successful in passing California’s Proposition 8, basically crying “Think of how the poor homophobes will be oppressed.”

It should be noted that these claims are largely based on lies. However, instead of explaining each of these lies, it’s probably more effective to discuss what rights come with marriage and how they’re important to helping families care for each other.

Let’s take a look at inheritance rights, for example. We offer plenty of tax exemptions to surviving spouses because we’ve decided it’s unfair for someone to risk losing their home after having lost the person they love. Look at the financial struggles of Annie Leibocitz, who had to face a tax bill she wouldn’t have if her relationship to Susan Sontag were recognized as a marriage by the IRS. Or, more simply, the same-sex couples who are lucky enough that their companies provide heath benefits for same-sex partners and learn that those benefits are considered additional, taxable income.

That’s just one of the many ways that same-sex couples are affected by not being able to marry. Issues like hospital visitation rights and immigration sponsorship rights are also important to supporting strong relationships. I think it’s important to discuss these issues and compare them to these new arguments against letting gays marry. Even if you take these arguments at face value (ignoring the dishonest part) which is the greater injustice? Is it a bigger problem if a church can’t refuse to rent out its property to a gay couple or that gay person can’t afford to keep their home amid dealing with their spouse’s death?

Really, this latest cry of oppression reeks of a sense of entitlement and privilege, a sense that their problems are so much bigger than couples who have to choose between their country and their relationships or ones whose consolation after the death of their spouse is a financial crisis.

So. Get Off the Internet helped to keep me sane with its usual job of mocking-by-just-quoting, this time taking a look at people freaking out about the Iowa Supreme Court’s decision in favor of marriage equality. One says a lot about the comment writer, overall:

Just another activist court legislating from the bench. Where are the strict contructionists when you need them? Am I the only one still fuming about Brown v. Board of Education?

Also found are the usual slippery slope arguments (seriously people, learn about the concept of “legal consent” before you worry about people marrying animals — gay marriage isn’t going to lead to people marrying their pets, allowing animals to enter into legally binding contracts will), apocalyptic talk and, of course, threats of violence.

But if you suggest that people opposed to marriage equality are bigots, you’re part of the thought police.

SPOILERS below for both the American and UK endings of Life on Mars.

—-SPOILER WARNING—-

Well. That ending was… interesting. A bit literal and neat for my tastes after the way the UK version ended. Other series have ended on a “it was all just a dream” note before (see St. Elsewhere, Roseanne and Newhart) so I guess I need more of an ending… or maybe the UK ending set the bar too high.

I guess, I should recap the two. In the UK version, we learn that (as it was strongly hinted throughout the series) Sam was in a coma and his 1973 was a dream. He comes out of a coma just as his 1973 colleagues are in jeopardy, he leaves them to go back to the 21st century just when they need him most. However, having tasted the wild police work he imagined happening in 1973, modern CSI-style investigating seemed cold and unwelcoming to him. Feeling detached from the world, he jumps off a roof and finds himself back in 1973 where he saves the day and gets to be an anything-goes cop again.

Last night, we saw what happened to the American Sam Tyler, that he’s actually an astronaut who was supposed to spend his trip in suspended animation and dreaming about being a cop in 2008, except a computer error shifted him into 1973, but with 2008 memories. Most of his NYPD colleagues were there, except that his neighbor Windy was actually the ship computer and Gene Hunt was actually his father, Major Tom.

What I liked best about the UK ending was that it made me rethink the entire series. 1973, I realized, was the world of cops and robbers that the young Sam Tyler hoped to be when he grew up. After waking from his coma, he realizes he achieved his boyhood dream and it’s nothing like he hoped. Feeling more connection to people created by his imagination, he leaps to his death.

Both versions of Life on Mars had an odd balancing act. It was both about how our culture changed as well as how we viewed law enforcement, which mixes a realistic quality with an unrealistic one. While one part of the show seriously examined how issues like gay rights had changed over three decades, the other was about how pop culture changed and how our idea of a heroic cop went from Gene Hunt to Sam Tyler.

In the UK version it becomes clear why Sam would be working out the difference between his police work and what he saw on TV as a kid. The entire series was, essentially, about a man working out why he was so dissatisfied with his life while in a coma. I’m not sure what to think when it turns out that 1973 was some accident where Sam ends up working out his issues with his father. This ending changes the way I look at the series but it doesn’t give every episode a tragic weight the way the UK ending does.

Even if you hadn’t watched it, I’m sure that (if you heard of it) you knew that NBC’s latest attempt at a reality cooking competition (remember Celebrity Cooking Showdown?) The Chopping Block was an utter trainwreck of a show.

The New York Times’ Alessandra Stanley has a theory to why the show failed and, well, it makes me wonder about her ability to judge the format:

As anyone who has watched “Hell’s Kitchen,” “Top Chef” or “Iron Chef America” knows, cooking shows are no more about food than talk shows are about conversation. Chef competitions, in particular, showcase personality and pressure cooker brinkmanship — boiling stockpots and roiling tempers. Success depends on the charisma of the star, the chemistry (preferably bad) of judges and contestants and, above all, timing.

Now, there may be a delicate balance at work on Top Chef when it comes to focusing on food or personality but food is a definite part of it. Top Chef is the kind of show people watch and walk away hungry. Viewers want to be wowed by the food so that they can dream of visiting their favorite cheftestants’ restaurants or just try some of the recipes at the Top Chef website. That’s why producers switched from open auditions to recruiting the cast in the third season.

Hell’s Kitchen may be more about the drama than the cooking, but not every realty cooking competition — despite Stanley’s assertion that it’s blatantly obvious to anyone who watcher it — is the same.

Last Restaurant Standing, the show The Chopping Block resembled most, places some importance on food, but it also looks at the business decisions that goes into running a restaurant — marketing and managing to get food to your customers efficiently are a huge part of that show and something that viewers can connect with, even if they can’t taste the food. Unfortunately, The Chopping Block gave little time to the challenges of running the front-of-house, except when competitors started yelling at each other in the dining room.

Overall, the problem with The Chopping Block was that it seemed like a show that had been through too many levels of network notes. Host Marco Pierre White seemed capable of offering the kind of criticism that would help viewers understand how a dish tasted, but his words were often cut down to just the bitchiest bon mots. Similarly, I have to wonder if the lack of emphasis on front-of-house was the result of network notes that part of the show wasn’t dramatic enough. The Chopping Block’s biggest problem looked like it wanted to be a good show about the challenges of running a restaurant, while NBC brass thought they had ordered their version of Hell’s Kitchen.

My TV viewing isn’t affected, but it’s still sad to hear that CBS is canceling Guiding Light. Having debuted as a radio serial (about a preacher’s family, his faith being the titular “Guiding Light”) in 1937, the soap opera has been broadcast on radio or TV for 72 years, a run that will end on September 18.

The soap has long been troubled and facing rumors of cancellation In the mid-90s, it almost became the second soap to end soon after a period where reviled producer Jill Farren Phelps was in charge (that, instead happened to Another World) but negotiations were able to save the show.

More recently, the series tried to experiment with its format under producer Ellen Wheeler in an attempt to find ways to save money and make the show more buzz-worthy. Those efforts included one day a week being reserved for more episodic storylines (which resulted in the Marvel comics crossover) and, later, a revamping of how the show was filmed, giving the series a look inspired by reality TV dramas like The Hills. The ideas may have been solid, but from what I saw of viewers’ reaction, the writing failed to live up to the potential of those concepts.

Guiding Light was the first soap I got drawn into. In my part of the country, it followed the game shows I used to watch regularly during summer break and, eventually the opening segment (something involving Lujack’s adventures) drew me into the story.

At least, CBS came to a decision about the serial’s fate early so that they could let the writers give it a proper send-off. (Though, as with most troubled soaps, I have to wonder if the current team is up to the task of giving this show an ending worthy of its legacy.)

One thing that will be interesting to follow in the coming days is the rumor that some actors will move to the remaining Procter & Gamble soap, As the World Turns. ATWT (for a short time) became the home of a handful of Another World stars after that soap ended . That might not be good news for ATWT, however, considering how the show is currently struggling to deal with its reduced budget, as a small number of sets and not being able to use most cast members every day has negatively affected storytelling. That said, at least ATWT has the continuing buzz generated by its gay teen couple Luke and Noah.

As for what replaces Guiding Light the most likely suspect is probably a light entertainment talk show… something daytime TV has in spades. Sadly, that will continue as long as those shows get a large audience for a cheap production.

I’d love to see the world the way Kenneth the Page does:

And like the solid comedy 30 Rock is, the joke made a comback later on:

This is certainly surprising news and possibly good tidings for video game consumer advocates. The Sims 3 designer Rod Humble announced today that will only have limited copy protection as a part of the game. This is a sharp contrast to the DRM on Spore which was highly controversial for the limitations it set on users, Worse was the lawsuit that accused the DRM of being highly invasive. Instead, The Sims 3 will make use of the same disc-check used in games like The Sims 2, Fallout 3 and Oblivion.

While I’m definitely sympathetic to the concerns that motivate publishers to use DRM, those sympathies don’t include giving up my own expectations for security or a willingness to accept a product with less functionality (like, say, a game that I might not be able to install if I get in a nostalgia kick in ten years). Most importantly, I don’t want to have to turn over the security of my machine to a video game publisher, so they can ensure the game I’m playing is still the legal copy it was a few months ago. I would have liked to buy a copy of Spore but once I looked at what came with the game included, Spore just didn’t look interesting enough to accept the risks and inconveniences its DRM attached.

So this is thrilling news and I can go back to actually paying attention to news about The Sims 3 with anticipation.

One interesting discussion I’ve encountered lately has asked if it’s time to revive the idea of the Victory Garden. With oil playing a major role in national security issues, this is probably a good time for people to try to use what yard space they have to grow their own produce, letting them purchase less produce that had to be trucked-in from out of state.

The concept just took a leap forward today:

Michelle Obama will begin digging up a patch of White House lawn to plant a vegetable garden, the first since Eleanor Roosevelt’s victory garden in World War II. There will be no beets (the president doesn’t like them) but arugula will make the cut.

The idea of a kitchen garden just went national which has me thrilled. (I have to ask what’s so elitist about arugula, tho. Yes, the name is a little unusual but it freaking tastes like pepper. Who’s snobbish about pepper?) The idea has already been building momentum — several of the nurseries I frequent have mentioned that seed sales are up for them this year and I wonder how many of those customers, like me, bought plants last year and now feel more comfortable with the more complicated process of growing from seed (which is also cheaper and gives you more choices — this year I hope to grow ground cherries).

To be honest, the environmental and national security benefits are a bonus. My main motivation is that I’m cheap and the tomatoes I grow at home taste so much better than buying heirloom tomatoes. In case you didn’t know the secret is to stop watering the plants for a day or two before picking — that lets the sugars concentrate — and pick them as late as possible so that they’ve been able to absorb plenty of sun (which is how they create their sugars).