Pulling the plug
The almost final results for this season's LaPlaca Open are in (we're just waiting for the Drew Carey and Oliver Beene burnoffs). I didn't do as bad as the season before when ABC seemed to make a minor comeback and Fox just decided not to air some shows (although Septuplets is supposedly coming this summer, about 18 months too late for the contest).

I only missed two shows. Many seemed to whiff on "Two and a Half Men," but I believe CBS had it somewhere other than Monday night when the schedule was first released. If not, then have we not learned from "Yes, Dear" or even "Baby Bob" that a family watching a test pattern will get ratings on the Big Eye on Monday nights? "Tru Calling" was a close call, and I ended up losing. I guess the shelf life for a wacked-out Fox drama featuring a hot brunette is two seasons, not one -- buzz or no buzz. (Have we not learned from "Dark Angel"?)

But my eight other choices did come through:
-- Friends: Easy, although people got burned last season when they said this would be the one where the show finally ended
-- The Drew Carey Show: I probably should get those points by the end of the summer
-- The Practice: Firing most of the cast screamed "Fraught," but I got scared when James Spader actually perked up ratings.
-- Jake 2.0: Bad title and premise. Plus, it was on UPN. If it isn't Smackdown, Tyra Banks or Star Trek, you're toast.
-- The Mullets: See Jake 2.0. Seemed like a nice SNL concept, though.
-- L.A. Dragnet: When you replace Ethan Embry (a potential show-killer himself) with the U.N., you've got problems. Plus, the lead-in was the "Wonderful World of Disney." Can't we get Pep Strebeck back?
-- Boston Public: The move to Fridays was a death knell. Plus, most of us at work still can't think of the show without the first ads featuring Fyvush Finkel leering at one of his students. And that was how long ago?
-- Threat Matrix: Seemingly anything with the word "Matrix" in it released after 1999 has sucked.