As The What? Turns

I am really getting into ATWT lately, despite the misgivings about follow-through noted below. However, just as the Rose and Paul wedding story is builiding to a climax, we were "treated" to two pre-Thanksgiving episodes in which "Butterball" turkeys were mentioned at least four times--an obvious and awkward attempt at in-show endorsement of the brand.

Toward the end of Tuesday's episode, Ben returned to Jessica's apartment and mentioned something about having to fight to get the last "Butterball" in the grocery store. Although Ben was in fact carrying a turkey that appeared to be a "Butterball," his comment was off-hand enough for me to think that perhaps the actor was improvising.

However, Wednesday's episode opened with Emma cooking a turkey with her granddaughter Faith, and saying "Isn't that the biggest Butterball you've ever seen?"
(Or something close to that.) Later, when the Jessica and Ben's dinner was served, Lisa asked, "Is that a Butterball?"
At the Snyder's someone exclaimed: "It's a Butterball!"

I realize that soaps air on commercial television. (Indeed, they are called soap operas because they were often sponsored or produced by detergent/soap companies). But why the heavy-handed product endorsement of turkeys one day before Thanksgiving? "Butterball" turkey commercials have been running constantly for weeks during ATWT. Plus, frozen turkeys take a long time to thaw safely and then cook to the proper internal temperature. Anyone who didn't have a turkey by the end of Wednesday's ATWT episode would have been in real trouble.

Also, for the sake of character integrity, I find it hard to believe that farm woman Emma Snyder would have anything other than a fresh turkey in her oven. Would she serve a frozen turkey that has been injected with vegetable oil and who knows what else? Doubtful.

Soap Opera Digest's December 2nd issue has a list of things to be thankful for on each soap. ATWT gets pretty high marks for integrating characters and storylines, strong romances and friendships as well as casting coups.

The one "turkey" noted is the horrible (and thankfully played out) Bonnie/Marshall/Sarah storyline. I pretty much agree with SOD's assessment, except I have mentioned the show's failure to use of veterans and lack of follow-through--something SOD criticizes One Life to Live about.

Not Much To Say

Well, it is official. Boomtown, my favorite new show from last season (next to Without A Trace) will not be returning from "hiatus." NBC has dumped the show, treating it like yesterday's leftover dog food.

I hope that the few fans the show had will have the opportunity to see the episodes that have not aired yet. Maybe there will be a DVD. There is so much dreck on TV, so it is a real shame when a great show gets cancelled, especially when the network appears to be most at fault.

Nothing Much

Not much to say. I've started another blog. 'Nuf said on the subject.

This one is becoming a soap opera blog, although that was not the original aim. But yet here is more soap opera commentary.

I have to say that I pretty much agreed with a recent "Dueling Divas" column in Soap Opera Weekly . Hinsey and the guest columnist were discussing minorities in soaps, which really means African-Americans.

Both agreed that ATWT handled Marshall's story poorly. Having the character rape Jessica then not pay for it, meant he had to die. So he did. As I've said before, ATWT does not seem to think through things. The rape may have seemed compelling, but then what was to be done with Marshall afterward? They couldn't figure that out, so they had Bonnie kill him (accidentally), coveniently setting up the exits of Napiera Danielle and Lamman Rucker.

Isaac, Bonnie's boyfriend, sold his bar and left town a few months ago. So now the only blacks on the show are Jessica, Ben, Sarah, and Walker, who has disappeared along with so many others who were involved in the summer serial killer story. Ben's son, Curtis, is supposed to return to the show, no doubt as Sarah's love interest. Man, that sounds soooooo interesting...NOT!!!. Jessica (and Tamara Tunie) deserves better than this. Her daughter and her only viable leading man (until the rape) since Duncan are off the show. Maybe Walker will make a play for her.

Dxing, Etc.

I ordered a shortwave (also called world band) radio last spring. I receive mailings all the time from Publishers Clearing House. Usually, I ignore their efforts to sell Ginsu knives and such. But their offer of a Bell & Howell world band radio for chump change intrigued me. By the time I received it, I had forgotten about ordering it. What a nice surprise I had for my birthday. However, not knowing much about radios or dxing made for some frustration in using the B&H.

Early on I did happen upon Radio Netherlands, which broadcasts in several languages all over the world. I like listening to RN because it has world news on a variety of topics. Their schedule for North America can be found here.

I happened upon DX Partyline, a show all about dxing (distance listening) this morning while unsuccessfully trying to get Radio Netherlands on its appointed frequency. I started switching bands and came upon the show. It has lots of information about the hobby of dxing. To find a schedule for the show check this link. Look on the sidebar to the right for the Program Selector. Arrow down to DX Partyline and hit enter. That will take you to the home page for the show. From there you can obtain the schedule.

I was pleased and surprised to pick up the BBC World News Service as the DX Partyline was fading out. The BBC notoriously ceased broadcasting via shortwave to North America about two years ago. For some reason they believe that North American shortwave listeners are not worth their time. I understand the move angered some people, and rightly so. The decision was short-sighted. Listening to the BBC on NPR in the wee hours or getting "streaming audio" via the internet (which is often more like hiccupping audio) are not viable alternatives to shortwave. Neither is satellite radio, which is not widely available at this time. Most of the fun of dxing is picking up distant stations at all times of day and night. And if you have a portable shortwave, as I do, being able to listen to stations from all over the world wherever you can plunk down your radio is nothing short of wonderful. Thankfully, I was able to pick up the BBC's broadcast to Central America and the Caribbean. Reception was excellent. The BBC's home page is here. The shortwave schedules can be found here.

Please note that if you are new to dxing, the broadcast times are in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). UTC is in a 24-hour format, so you'll have to figure out both the 24-hour clock and the time difference between where you are and UTC to get the correct times for shortwave station programming. My neck of the woods is on EST year-round thus is five hours behind UTC all the time. For instance, 12:00 UTC is 7:00 a.m. EST. A thorough explanation of Universal Time and its variations can be found at this very helpful website.

An Explanation Is In Order

Whoa. Just saw that Pila Posts is listed as one of the ten most recently published blogs. To anyone who happens by, please note that the update is in the article about Even Stevens, which can be found in June archives in the sidebar.

By the time that anyone reads this, the "Ten Most Recent" list will have changed. But just in case.