True-ly too brief

(Source)

About two years ago, right around this time, I was in Best Buy getting some new cds. (Side note: yes, I still buy actual cds.) I came across True Blood season 1 on DVD. Best Buy was having a sale and I had been hearing great things about the series. Let's face it, anything vampire was hot. So I got it and Neal & I started watching.

The first episode of season 1 is intense; I wasn't sure if I would like the series. But as any fan of the show knows, each episode ends with a climatic moment. Neal & I were hooked. These were the days of wedding planning, so True Blood was a nice distraction from phone calls and decision making. These were also the days of separate apartments. Neal would come over (my tv was larger) and we'd settle into my brown couch and crank up the volume. My old apartment lacked air conditioning, so the windows were open. And the noises of Clark Street tended to assault us as we watched tv.

HBO makes great series. But it is a cruel company. Not only do they have only one season per year. The seasons have only 12 episodes each. And the DVD is released a year after it originally airs. So we are forced to wait, wait and wait some more. All the while trying not to hear about spoilers that will damage our viewing.

On June 3rd we received True Blood Season 3. The wait was over! Four days later we had watched nine episodes.  

Neal: How did that happen? Me: We wanted to find out what happened.

This weekend we knocked out two more. So we're down to the season 3 finale. True Blood, I love you. Truly I do. But why do your seasons have to be so short and come only once a year? I guess it's like Christmas. Was the Sopranos like this?

I thought it was supposed to be Spring

 In honor of Memorial Day & Spring

Who gets a cold in May? Oh wait, I do. And apparently my old roommate. Can we possibly still be sharing things after seven years? Room, what are you thoughts?

I am pretty much the worst at being sick. I whine about how awful I feel. And repeatedly ask Neal why this is happening to me. He is endlessly patient and wonderful. Always asking what he can get for me and telling me that I'll get better. He also suggests that I call my mom because she will undoubtedly be sympathetic. I did call her. She was.

Fortunately for the rest of the world that are neither my husband nor my mom, I keep my pathetic-ness (yes, I made that a word) to myself. Well, to myself, Neal, my mom and now all of you. So I guess not to myself at all. But I'm not moaning and groaning to every stranger I see on the street. So that's something, I guess.

In the midst of asking Neal why this is happening to me, I usually start asking him how I got sick in the first place. Because obviously he knows the answer. Inevitably, it sparks a conversation that I think we've had at least 30 times. It goes like this.

Me: How did I get sick?
Neal: Everybody gets sick sometimes.
Me: I guess so. What do you think I have?
Neal: Well, I think it's a cold. Or...maybe it's allergies.
Me: No, I don't have allergies. I've never had allergies.
Neal: Okay, but your body chemistry changes every seven years, so maybe you've developed them.
Me: That's ridiculous. I don't have allergies.
Neal: You're the one who told me that a person's body chemistry changes every few years.
Me: I know. Still, I don't have allergies. I've never had them. Could allergies make me feel this bad?
Neal: Yes.
Me: I don't think so.
Neal: Okay. (shakes head)

End scene.

I'm never a fan of being sick. Just ask Neal. But especially in May. It was 80 on Sunday and 90 on Monday. And I spent both days inside. Granted I did watch a lot of the French Open and episodes of Law & Order: SVU - tell me, is there a better show? I also worked hard developing my 30-year smoker cough. Trust me, it sounds authentic.

Here's hoping no one else gets a spring - or even worse, summer - cold.

Kind of Feel Bad for the Guy

*

It's gotten to the point where I have to comment on the NBC/Conan/Leno thing. Listen, I am not a Conan O'Brien fan. I think his characters are weird. And he makes way too many jokes about his hair and his paleness. Yes you are pale and yes your hair is weird, get over it.

However, he certainly seems to have been screwed over by NBC. Sure, he's getting something like 33 million dollars (his staff is reportedly getting 12 million in severance), but he wanted to host the Tonight Show. He wanted to continue the legacy of Johnny Carson and make a name for himself in history.

All the details seem to be a bit fuzzy. Conan's ratings weren't stellar. Leno's new show wasn't doing very well. (They are related how, NBC?) A time slot change to the Tonight Show was suggested. No, that's a breech of contract. Okay, here's an insanely huge amount of money. Oh yeah, and make it last until September, because you can't host again until then.

What gives, NBC? Is it really worth it to pay 45 million dollars rather than keep Conan and the current time slot? And where are they getting all that money anyway? Doesn't NBC have the lowest ratings among all the networks? And why is everyone blaming Leno? He's not an NBC executive. And when was the last time someone said, "No thanks" to a highly lucrative and really fun job? So congrats, NBC. You've now paid over 100 million dollars to/for Conan for 7 months (50 mil for the new studio, his salary & now the settlement).

So on this last night of The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien, I say to you, Conan, have fun and farewell. And thank goodness NBC now owns all of your characters. Don't make up stupid new ones in your next venture.

* This image is from Chicago Now's web site