Well hell, now Buffy the Vampire Slayer has officially been cancelled :-( Rumors have been floating around for some time because Sarah Michelle Gellar's contract was up this year, but apparently UPN has spared her the decision. There are talks of a spin-off series, but I wouldn't hold my breath. Hopefully Joss can keep Angel alive, the storylines have been really spectacular lately and I gotta admit, we watched all of our backlogged timeset videos of Angel before we watched Buffy (we still have two Buffys to watch, but we're actually up to date on Angel).

I don't really watch a lot of TV, so when they cancel my favorite shows I get a little upset. I'm amazed Buffy lasted this long, though, seems like everytime a really intelligent, original TV series comes around it doesn't even make it one season. Speaking of, we were flipping channels tonight during dinner and landed on the closing credits of Are You Hot?. Shallow, vain contestants who apparently weren't hot enough were actually crying in the closing credits, 'I guess I'm just not good enough...'. First off, to paraphrase Bill Maher from his new HBO show last week, 'let porn be porn, don't try to package it as primetime TV'. And what kind of message are we sending to young people? If these supermodel/stripper types aren't good enough to be considered "hot", how is the average supposed to feel? I think the show should just be put on cable TV or pay-per-view and retitled "Am I Slutty Enough?" and just let them all run around naked. For a more intelligent take on self-image click here

I had to get up early today to get some things done around the house, so I actually did manage to sit through several different shows. Dr. Phil had a really moving show on the damage that bullies cause to other kids, including one mother's heartbreaking story about her son's suicide because of some particularly vicious bullies. That's one thing I honestly never understood when I was growing up and luckily managed to avoid most of them. I didn't have a lot of friends in school, but I think I've always been the kind of person that people like that never quite knew what to make of. I'm a really intense person and I think a lot of people see that as a little bit nuts, which is fine with me.

I actually defended quite a few friends, mostly boys oddly enough, many recently arrived from foreign countries during the immigration floods of the 1970's, who the larger rednecks (especially those in the "rodeo club") would pick on. My best friend in high school, a quiet Lebanese boy with glasses, was constantly being kicked in the ass when he walked through the hallways by these thugs. He's a successful dentist now, BTW, I would bet the rednecks are lucky to be moving furniture for a living... Come to think of it, my best friend in junior high school, a slightly built gay boy, was constantly being harrassed also. I remember when I left elementary school, where life really wasn't too bad and entered the 7th grade was when I realized how mean people really were. No one actually got hurt by the bullies in elementary, but some of the kids in jr. high went on to become prison inmates at a fairly young age, one of them actually killed someone. I can't imagine the hell kids must be going through now...

I do know we seem to be raising a generation of sociopaths lately, though. I know several of my friends have kids who have been bullies from an early age, hitting and even biting other kids and their parents. Back in the early 80's when I was working as a salesperson I started to really notice that kids were suddenly much more disrespectful and prone to violence. I don't have kids, and don't want any, so I'm just giving my opinion, but I am worried about where the world is headed, I mean look where we are now. Half the people I know are out of work, most of the country is apathetically standing by while the US is just determined to go stomp the crap out of Iraq, just to prove it can (and steal their oil while they're there), and the most popular shows on TV are these mean, humiliating reality shows.