King of the TV Hill--the Rerun

 

February 21, 2023

This rerun post is brought to you by the fact that 2 of the TV shows I enjoy most have moved to Tuesday, which is full of shows that my husband enjoys.

 

KING OF THE TV HILL

October 15, 2012

Do TV advertisers ever sit the people in charge of programming down and say,

“Look, I know you want to have bragging rights about having the highest-rated show on TV. But when you shift a highly-rated show on your network to air opposite a highly-rated show on the other network, you’re cutting into my ad time, especially if your show loses viewers and then gets canceled. Frankly, I’d rather have my ad on your 9:00 shows every night; but when you play “King of the Hill” with the shows and the good ones go under, that’s less air time for me. So cut it out!”

If not, why not?

 

Weight and See

 

February 19, 2023

 

I’ve complained before about authors referring to women who are 5’4” as short, when in fact they are average height; but here’s a new one.

 

I’ve just been reading a book in which a woman was described as 5’4” with “the plump, round-shouldered look of someone who spent their time behind a desk.” Later it’s revealed that said woman weighs 120 pounds.

 

I realize that her lack of physical fitness, not her weight, was the point of the description—but it was still absurd. No matter how out of shape she was, there is no way in the world a woman who is 5’4” inches tall and 120 pounds could be described as looking plump.

 

If I’d been the copy editor, I’d have questioned the description with a snide, “Was this woman exceptionally fine-boned?”

 

In other words—try again, author.

  

 

They Ignored It Here First

 February 15, 2023

 

I’ve mentioned sporadically at work that you can’t build businesses in low-income areas, contribute nothing to education, and expect to find a great workforce. No one responded enthusiastically to my suggestions that we get the lead out. 

 

Two mornings ago, the headline of the Post-Dispatch was, “‘We can’t find people’”—a quotation from their article about businesses trying to train workers because they can't find a qualified workforce. 

 

I laughed.

 

The Key to Getting Kia's Attention

 

February 11, 2023

 

Automakers Kia and Hyundai weren’t too concerned that their cars were so easy to steal that it almost became a parlor game. They offered “fixes” that the owners had to pay for, but other than that, they were pretty blasé—until some large insurance companies started refusing to insure their new cars, and severely raised rates on the old ones. That led to fewer people buying them. 

 

Now the companies are testing free fixes. 

 

I guess you just have to wait until corporations cheese off the wrong people in order to get some action from them.