Go With the Flow of a TV Show?

Fisrt up- if you're reading this early enough- I hope that you'll come out to Horrorbles, the excellent horror and sci fi memorabilia store on Roosevelt Road in Berwyn (yes, Berwyn...check it out!) for the special release event and signing for the store's own comic book- "Haunting Tales of Horribles"! The event goes all afternoon, but I will be there from 1 to 3 pm only to help the creators' sign the books and greet fans.I'm there because I was asked to write the introduction for the comic- a terrifically illustrated old school horror comic that will be especially impressive if you've ever been to the store, but, is really enjoyable for everyone who's a horror fan.I hope you'll come pick up a copy and say hello to us! Information, as always, is under "appearances" on this site. Well, I got that "Publisher's Clearing House" envelope for this year. It went directly into the trash, unopened.I know I've told this story before-I gave up on this "contest" (which I now consider a scam) after one year when they said- "watch at such and such a time on such and such a channel, when Ed MacMahon will name the winner of the big money prize- it could be YOU!" So, I tuned in at that time, and- in a FILMED commercial (meaning it had to be shot , edited, etc. long before it aired) there was the smarmy Ed,who announced- "The Publisher's Clearing House winner is- David Brumbalow- and HERE HE IS!" Something certainly smelled about that- here, a huge audience was tuning in, thinking they would hear MacMahon announce the name of one of them,live, surprising some over-joyed viewer- instead, it was already a done deal, in a pre-produced bit that had to be shot at least a day or so before, with an already-chosen winner. The promotion for this stupid contest made it sound like it would be a live announcement, done on the spot. Ever since then, I've thrown my "entry"-unopened- into the trash ever time. I hope you do the same."Prize Patrol", my Aunt Agnes' adenoids... Okay- I apologize for bad taste now- but- yesterday, when I was looking at the Tribune's TV listings insert for this week- I noticed something odd. In the late night Saturday listings, between a bunch of "paid programming" listings- at 1 am, was a half-hour show entitled- and I quote- "Gotta Pee at Night?" WHAT?! I'm guessing it is just another paid program- or infomercial- or "too much info"-mercial- but, really!"Gotta Pee at Night"?! I started thinking it could be a wacky new sitcom- "Meet the Bladdersons-Dad, who drank too much beer- Mom, who drank too much vitamin water- Junior, who over-did it on the soda-and their dog,Whizzer, just on general principles! (canned laughter)" Maybe it's a variety show-featuring the "Gotta Pee Dancers"(doing that "gotta go dance"that you see when someone is waiting at the washroom door...) Could it be an old adventure serial? "The Adventures of Flush Gordon" , battling Ming the Mens-room-less...okay, in reality, it's probably something about a remedy for your prostate or some medical condition, or, at the very least, a glow-in-the-dark toilet...but, how often do you check out TV listings and see a show with a title like that (unless it's on "Adult Swim" or some pay-cable channel- let's not go there...) One final word, going in a totally different direction, about something that's been on all our minds-I hope we are all adjusting after that awful massacre in Colorado.There are still so many unanswered questions, and sadness and pain- but- we can't let this keep us from living our lives- and conducting ourselves as we always have. Yes, we must be vigilant- but- don't give up on your fellow man due to the acts of one irrational madman. As the fine columnist Neil Steinberg said in a Sun Times column yesterday- "There were thousands of 24-year-olds at midnight Thursday who slept the sleep of the innoncent, after a day of study,or work,or some other activity,who didn't send 70 fellow citizens to the hospital or the morgue.Why can't their lives be analyzed,their acts considered as reflecting back on us?" Amen.