Saturday morning

I decided to watch television this morning. Rather unusual, but I thought I should know what is available, so I turned on channel 4 (WRC-TV), the NBC affiliate in Washington, at 8:30, and watched until about 10:30, when I left the house.

At 8:30, I turned on the Saturday morning Today show, which either is not supposed to be a news show, or falls so far short of the mark, it really should be embarrassed. Now, I don't know what happened on this show before 8:30, but the last half hour was completely devoid of information. I missed the first sentence at 8:30 sharp, so I know that the two hosts are Lester and Campbell, but am not sure what their last names are. They seem adequate hosts, if only they had adequate material.

The first order of business of the half hour was local weather, given by Chuck Bell, who did a very good job and who I saw repeatedly between 8:30 and 10. I think he was a substitute.

After the weather, we went back to Campbell and right into a long feature on container gardening. Pick a big container, but if you live in a little apartment, it should not be too big. Use good soil. Use fertilizer. Use something to enable to water to be held at the bottom. The guest was P. Allen Smith, of a company called P. Allen Smith Container Gardening, Inc. He must be a regular, because he was told it was always nice to have you back. He recommended mixing species in a pot, with a spreading plant, a vertical plant and a bushy plant, all with color.

We then had eight (!!!) commercials in a row: Sears, Cottonelle, Ocean Spray, Mutual of Omaha, Jif, Discover Card, Payless, and Lending Tree.

Then Lester spoke to Suze Orman, the financial whiz (give me a break), who has just written a book for twenty-somethings on money management and whose tv show tonight on CNBC was being touted. So this (like P. Allen Smith) was really an advertisement. Anyway, Orman advised young employed individuals not to use cash advance cards, because the interest rates are too high, and hope that they maximized school loans, because the rates are low. She said to get a relatively low interest credit card and not to be afraid to use it for your needs (which included groceries and wardrobe), but not to take your friends to dinner. She said that 401K plans at the office should only be used to the extent there is an employer match; as soon as you reach the match, put your money elsewhere, where it is more accessible. I think some of this advice is questionable. But what do I know?

Then four more commercials (Chesapeake Club crabs, Freddie Mac Foundation, H.R. Block and Payless Shoes), followed by Campbell and a young woman named Suze (that is two Suze's) Yalof Schwartz, who is a fashion editor at Glamour Magazine (another commercial), who had five or six models showing that bright colors were important. Their clothes were OK, but each model was a walking advertisement for J. Crew, Coach, Gap, Mizrachi-Target, Express, DKNY and TBI.

Followed by six commercials (International Delight -- could not quite tell what this was; seemed to take the place of coffee and make you really happy), Van de Kamp frozen fish, Olay, Lamisil (the best for nail fungus - but watch those side effects), Flash to check your blood sugar level, and Restatis for dry eye - did they really say that the biggest side effect was a "brain sensation"?).

Then, the shoe was over.

After two more commercials (Next Day Blinds and Verizon DSL), the 9:00 local news show started, with Shannon Bream and Eun Yang. This show, as opposed to Today, was primarily a new show, and worth watching.

It stated with Chuck Bell and the weather again, and then over the first ten minutes or so, reported a number of stories, well and succint. A cab driver was killed on South Dakota Ave., SE, two people were shot in SE D.C., Cordozo High School may or may not be open Monday after the second mercury clean up, an Italian journalist was released after a month captivity in Iraq and shot by Americans on her way home, four U.S. soldiers were killed in Anwar province, 125 soldiers came back to Ft. Meade after 13 months in Iraq, and potholes are being repaired. This was pretty good. And was followed by Wally Bruckner with sports, which was also well done, with stories about the Wizards' loss, NFL signings, the upcoming Nats-Orioles game, and women's ACC basketball. So for ten or no minutes, there was commercial free news.

Then a 5 commercial break: FreddieMac Foundation, AAMCO, Target, Chilean Fruit at Giant, and an advertisement for employment opportunities at Channel 4.

Then two quick stories, done with network video feeds: the pope's health and Martha Stewart's first day home.

Then back to ads, this time for the Ellen Degeneris show, Haverty's (a furniture store I never heard of), Empire Carpet, Ruby Tuesday, E.P. Henry (swimming pools), and Bob Evans sausages.

There was then a rather long, probably too long, feature on mailmen picking up food for delivery to food banks, with the USPS Washington district manager being interiewed, and then a more complete weather forecast, and another sports report, with some duplication and some new. The Wizards story was more complete, and a story of the Ford Doral gold tournament (coincidentally, being telecast for 3 hours in channel 4 that afternoon).

Just before 9:30, a large number of ads: for upcoming shows (Full Court Press and Chris Matthews), a Cheaspeake Bay environmental organization, Hechts, SONA (Laser hair removal), Housevalues.com, and the Washington Post.

The news was re-run, with updates, at 9:30. The cab driver murder, Cordozo H.S. mercury, the Italian journalist. Then the weather again, followed by a report on an 88 year old accused of molesting a 13 year old in Virginia, and a report on the status of the still-closed Club U Street. Then a story on a double shooting in Landover, which seems like it could have been the same shooting describing earlier as a D.C. shooting. But, this was not made clear.

Then stories on the missing 9 year old in Florida and was her grandfather involved, and the Blake murder trial and the Michael Jackson trial, followed by five commercials: NBC's The Contender, Re/Max, Sears Optical, Bath Fitter, and Express Homebuyers.

Then the much too early St. Patrick's Day parade in Alexandria (with footage of what must have been a previous year), and Arch Campbell's movie reviews: from good to bad - Million dollar Baby, the Aviator, Schultze, Be Cool, Gunner Palace, Mad Black, Housing of Flying Dragons, the Jacket, Constantine, the Pacifier.

Ads for It's Academic (the next show), Verizon DSL, Toyota, a carpet company called America Now (why not?), and Hour Eyes.

There was then a brief, and weird, feature on Yahoo cell phone games. It was certainly not time sensitive. Unclear why it was there. Then again weather and again sports (this time mainly repeat stories), and then a "good bye", followed by six more ads: E.P. Henry (repeat), Macy's, Empire Carpet (repeat), Chilean Fruit (repeat), Sona (repeat) and the McLaughlin Group.

Then, at 10:00 P.M., one of the 44th year shows of It's Academic, where Georgetown Day came in first, LaPlata second, and Oakton High last.

This is where I signed off. There were two shows coming up for young children, Kenny the Shark, and Tutenstein, and two shows for somewhat older kids (I think), Trading Spaces and Endurance: Hawaii, each of which seem to be adult show take-offs.