Identity

NBC seems to be on a game show kick… Big shot Jeff Zucker has said that at some point down the road, the 8 o’clock hour on the Peacock Network will be turned over to game shows.. For a game show fan like myself, that would be good news, but the NBC game shows are pretty lame, except for 1 vs.100. Deal or No Deal is entertaining when you see people who don’t understand statistics allow themselves to be coached by a hyper audience into decisions that cause them to lose the chance to win a lot of money (The British version is so much better even though they don’t have models.. They use other contestants to open the box) 1 vs.. 100 is a lot better.. especially since the celebrity and civilian mob members get to stay on the show till they get a question wrong. Where else could you see my homie Rabbi Shmuley Boteach correctly answering pop culture questions on a (pre-recorded) Friday Night Game Show??

Another new one that will be back on the schedule soon is Identity where people stand on blocks and a contestant has to identify them based on their career, or some other identifier such as World Record Holder, etc. Today’s column is about Identity!

NBC seems to be carving out its identity as the network for Heroes and game shows… Heroes is one of many popular addictive serialized prime time shows that don’t have CSI in the title. Not only am I a regular viewer of shows such as Desperate Housewives, 24, Heroes, and Lost but after I watch ‘em I read the episode bloggers on TVSquad.com and TVGuide.com… and then I read the comments sections too!! By the way I think most Lost fans missed the boat… In the context of what makes Sayid tick... I don’t think he tortured that French woman.. I think he “confessed” to her because he read her, and realized that “confessing” would set him free.

Thankfully, Im not into the American Idol madness… but now that she has been booted off… is Antonella Barba going to star in the Barba-rella remake? Or will she be in the new Welcome Back Kotter as part of the Barba-rino family? Maybe a Charmin commercial?

Recently, a woman tried to post a comment here at NWOW that reinforced my decision to screen out all the comments on this very blog. The day after I posted my first column, a wisecrack was posted that some people might not have found amusing.. So I edited it and instituted a policy that all comments go through my email. This came in handy last summer when a bunch of people who knew a few newsmakers who were criticized here, launched a vicious attack against a person involved in the news story.

Last wknd, in response to a recent column about an actor on a prime time show a woman posted a comment that was borderline acceptable.. It was a bit of a personal attack, as opposed to a critique of his acting skills. I posted the comment at first, but after clicking the poster’s name it took me to her blog which was a nasty personal attack on the actor, and included of all things his home address! (I should have sent him a Purim basket!) I decided that while the comment was borderline, I didn’t want her blog linked to NWOW so I deleted her comment... I showed this woman’s blog to a 2nd person who thought the blogger might have dated and/or been spurned by this actor. It could make sense,.. I recall a female blogger who had a one night stand with Keith Olbermann posted a lot of TMI details about her little tete a tete with the MSNBC anchor.

I saw recently that fellow blogger Orthomom is being sued by a school board member from Lawrence, in Long Island .. stating that the blog libeled her and now as part of her suit she is looking to unmask Orthomom‘s true identity… (I hear she is really Commissioner Gordon‘s daughter - no that‘s Batgirl… ). The comment that ticked off the school board member was not written by the blogger.. but was actually posted by a person in the comments section.

Lawrence is one of the “5 towns” in Long Island, and if you take that highway (Rockaway Parkway?) past JFK Airport into Lawrence, and keep going towards the beach you run into Far Rockaway! My grandfather was a Rabbi there back in the 60’s and early 70s when he had a house on Hicksville Road. I remember that as a little pisher of about 5 or 6 years old.. we used to visit him there.. his backyard was the beach!! My maternal grandparents immigrated to the USA and moved to Washington DC in the very late 1930s with their 3 kids…. where they remained until the mid 1960s. When they first moved to the USA, my mom hadn’t even arrived on the scene yet.. She was born a week before Pearl Harbor Day. The Great Psychic Pumpstradamus‘s mom was born 4 days later and strangely enough.. he predicted it! . My mom and her siblings eventually moved to New York except for one brother who stayed in Maryland and even though he and his wife eventually moved to FL, all 3 of his children (those would be my cousins) still live in MD to this very day. We actually bought our wedding rings while visiting my cousins in Maryland!

I’m really not too familiar with the school system in Lawrence but I do get annoyed when school budgets are voted down… how can you deprive these innocent children of the opportunity to get a good education? Do voters know as much as the people who design these budgets? Or, are some voters defeating these budgets because they get no benefit because they don't have kids in public school? Personally, I think this board member Pamela Greenbaum has a very difficult job, and even though the comments about her may not have been so nice.. there is no reason to strip a blogger of his or her anonymity due to comments made by a third party. And I support Orthomom 100 percent.

Again, I really don’t know too much about that specific board, but Greenbaum apparently spoke out against allowing private school students to utilize public school facilities/staffers after regular school hours, even though their parents’ tax money funds the school system. I disagree with Greenbaum on that... and by being on the board, she should expect criticism. But I don’t think that warrants a nasty personal attack by anonymous commentators, and I think it is Orthomom's responsibility to delete those personal attacks from the comments section. But then again Greenbaum doesn’t have the right to sue to unmask Orthomom’s true identity. Now Ortho has a bunch of high powered attorneys who specialize in blogger’s anonymity issues who have taken on the case to keep her real persona a secret.... I hope nobody tries to find out my true identity.

Incidentally its interesting she picked the name Orthomom. One of the tons of newspapers I read.. I think it's The Jewish Week in Manhattan says that a newspaper that serves the 5 Towns recently changed its masthead from "The Local Jewish Newspaper" to "The Local Orthodox Newspaper". Another extreme right newspaper whose identity I will withhold had a horrifically insulting letter to the editor criticizing them for an article that referred to a non Orthodox Rabbi by the title of Rabbi. The paper apologized for the "grave error". Ugh.. I know a lot of non Orthodox Rabbis and I think that writer and that editor are way over the line to write such an insulting demeaning comment.

Isn’t Identity such an odd thing.. . It’s “who you are”… but sometimes you just don’t want people to know… and sometimes people are shocked to find out your true identity… as is the case on the NBC show Identity…. But one theory on Ortho Mom‘s true identity. Maybe she‘s Diana Prince aka Wonder Woman? Did you know that Wonder Woman was first introduced in December 1941? Just like my mom and Pumpie‘s Mom! And maybe Ortho-mom? (Rumor has it she's much younger)


Now time for The Clip of the Week.. Speaking of Deal or No Deal.. Here is a clip from the British version…Keep in mind that they dont use models... they use contestants (kind of like Contestants Row on The Price is Right), to stand at a Family Feud type podium holding each box. Each contestant will ultimately get to play the game at some point, but they are all sequestered together in a hotel so they all get to know each other and become good friends and truly care about the player to the point where they are emotionally vested when they lose.. As opposed to the American (and Canadian) versions where the models really could care less… One of these days I’ll post the wacky Australian version! There, contestants take bets on players misfortunes and actually celebrate when they pick a gut wrenching suitcase.