Sunday miscellaneous

Who does Nate Silver like for the next Pope?

The good and bad about Los Angeles: Yesterday it was 82 degrees. But you couldn’t drive north. A major freeway is under construction, most northbound lanes are closed for the weekend and surface street traffic on the Westside was completely snarled. A citizen’s group has snapped into action. To protest traffic delays they’re holding a rally, which will cause...more traffic delays.

NBC’s disastrous mid-season continues. For the first time ever, in February sweeps they finished fifth behind Telemundo. And yet WHITNEY is still on the schedule.

I did a blog post on how terrestrial radio plays too many commercials. Tim Conway Jr. on KFI, Los Angeles ripped me on the air for a half an hour, claiming that terrestrial radio is healthier and more popular than ever. This rant was broken up by a six-minute block of commercials. I noticed that Tim didn’t open the phone lines to hear what listeners thought.

Happy to see that Andre and Maria Jacquemetton have signed an overall deal to write and produce new shows for WB. Although they didn’t get much recognition, they’re terrific writers who contributed a lot to MAD MEN over the last six seasons.

Jennifer Lawrence’s sweaty clothes from SILVER LINING PLAYBOOK sold for about $1500 at a recent auction. Imagine what Monica’s dress would bring in.

Networks are currently casting their pilots for the upcoming season. Almost without exception they’re hiring actors coming off recent shows. So in other words, this pilot season is going to look exactly like last pilot season except the actors will be wearing different costumes.

Warner Brothers is the NBC of movie studios this year. GANGSTER SQUAD, BEAUTIFUL CREATURES, and now JACK THE GIANT SLAYER have all bombed spectacularly. Time to release HANGOVER III even if it’s not finished.

But at least in the summer Warner Brothers has the new Superman movie. NBC has AMERICA’S GOT TALENT.

So now we learn Taco Bell uses horse meat? It doesn't help.

THE WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC has begun! And if you find that exciting, tickets are now on sale for next year’s NFL Pro Bowl.

If you watch THE AMERICANS, who do you root for?

And finally, I’d love to see the inventor of this go on THE SHARK TANK: