When I was a kid I loved to go to card shops, comic book stores, and Radio Shack. Card shops have long faded or blended into comic book stores in the larger cities, but Radio Shacks were still on every corner. At least they were on every corner until this weekend. This weekend marks the bankruptcy death of the famous chain. All across the world the 1700 or so remaining "Shacks" have going-out-of business sales. Prices range from 25% off in some stores up to 70% off in other stores. After the sales, Sprint will take over some of the stores, but nobody knows if these sites will simply sale Sprint phones and services or if they will carry traditional "Radio Shack" stuff.
This weekend I visited two Radio Shack stores to search the sales, but more importantly to bring back some memories. I can still remember my first computers from Radio Shack, the childhood electronic project kits, scanners, all the adaptors any young person might need to make a stereo work perfect. I can remember looking at all the little switches, circuits, and boards. I can remember when the Tandy 1000 TX was replaced by the newest model of computers. At the time it seemed like nothing could beat a 286 and that the floppy drive would never die. I can remember all the cool spy stuff, not that it was supposed to be used for spying, but anything that amplified sound had applications for a budding spy!
As I strolled through the store I wondered briefly why I had not been to one in years. Looking at the prices, it quickly came to me that I had not been to the stores because they no longer held up against the competition. For example, at one store I found a Macbook battery for an older computer my daughter uses. With the discount it came to $27.99 before taxes. That seemed like a good deal until I used my cell phone to search E-bay and found better batteries for a price range of $12.99 to $25.99. So much for the big sale. I did manage to buy some "IRig" adaptors at a fairly decent price and a 400 watt converter for a little over twenty bucks. Overall, I found that many of the sale prices simply did not compare to what I could find at online electronic stores or on E-bay. It was at that moment that I realized that while Radio Shack was dying this weekend, it had died to me many years ago at the onset of Internet retail. I had simply moved from the "Shack" to my home computer screen. Now if I needed computer adaptors, radio supplies, scanners, or even project supplies, I simply clicked the button on a mouse, placed the order and waited for it to arrive at the house. There was no longer a need to run to the "Shack," and often it was overpriced anyway.
When I left Radio Shack today the clerk reminded me, "All sales are final." It was a polite way of saying, "You can't bring this back because we won't be here." I glanced at my receipt that said, "Radio Shack" and looked back at the big, red sign. My mind raced through the childhood thrills once again of a young man who was convinced that Radio Shack held all the components needed to make a space ship and go to the moon. I cherish those memories and those days spent searching for just the right items to make my electronic dreams come true. Soon, Radio Shack will slide into history alongside other greats such as Montgomery Ward. Then in a few years the "Shack" will just be a footnote for history classes and economic classes. I'll miss the "Shack"....at least for awhile, but ultimately that is due to sentimental reasons. It won't take me too long to hop back on the Internet and buy the electronics I need. It is ironic that Radio Shack began symbolically to represent a Ham radio operator's "Shack," a way to communicate worldwide through the air. Now we are able to communicate worldwide through the Internet. The very mode of communication that helped bring down Radio Shack, is now transmitting the end of the retail chain around the world. Soon, Radio Shack will sign off from the world one last time on the medium of communication that brought about the end of the electronic giant.
Saturday, February 07, 2015
Friday, January 23, 2015
#SaveDallas Strong Support as Odds Increase Against Renewal
The #SaveDallas is still everwhere on social networks. In some form or another you can find such hashtags as #SaveDallas, #SaveDallas2014, and #SaveDallas2015. A blog post here just a few days ago shot up with readers to a record high for this small blog. This was a higher ratings for this blog than the "Goodbye Mork" post about Robin Williams. So what's wrong with the world? Why isn't some network picking up the iconic Dallas?
The answer to the above questions is really simple. With the exception of some die-hard fans, and a handful of other supporters everyone else has given up. Look at the show's stars twitter post and they've move away from #SaveDallas. We couldn't even pull in one or two stars here by mentioning them to get them to read our post. The producers gave up way back in December and others have already said no to the show coming to their networks. Now it's a battle of time, and as it goes in the television world, "Time is not on our side."
So what about those die-hard and even so-so fans out there who want to see Dallas continue? What about the ones that want to see some closure to the series at least? What can they do to promote Dallas back on before it's too late? Remember, now it's January. Time is flying by and February will be here soon. The longer it takes the more likely the stars will have new shows with new contracts, the sets will be gone, and the entire cast and crew will be scattered around the entertainment world. Time is not on our side here, so what needs to be done is three simple steps:
1. Any article about #SaveDallas needs to be promoted, read, re-read, and promoted again. All of them from small blogs to big blogs. Why is this small blog writing about Dallas again? Because people read it, people promoted it. Attention was brought to my blog. Other blogs work the same folks. Do it for all of them. Get those numbers up.
2. Hound the cast. They all have twitter accounts. Maybe someone else is running the accounts, but they are out there nonetheless. Make Facebook, Twitter and every other social media explode as you name off the cast, crew and show your #SaveDallas signs. You have to drive them back to respond just as I tried in my Twitter post.
3. Watch Dallas on Netflix. If you don't have Netflix call them and take it- be sure to tel them the only reason you're taking Netflix is to watch Dallas and then watch it. They know who is watching and who's not.
Finally, as I stated before, there is a good chance all this will not work. As time marches on, the odds of Dallas being picked up dwindles. Sorry, it's just the truth. But, if in the end Dallas can not be saved, remember - you were part of something big. You were a part of a move to try to save an iconic show and cast. You can always be proud of your #SaveDallas participation.
The answer to the above questions is really simple. With the exception of some die-hard fans, and a handful of other supporters everyone else has given up. Look at the show's stars twitter post and they've move away from #SaveDallas. We couldn't even pull in one or two stars here by mentioning them to get them to read our post. The producers gave up way back in December and others have already said no to the show coming to their networks. Now it's a battle of time, and as it goes in the television world, "Time is not on our side."
So what about those die-hard and even so-so fans out there who want to see Dallas continue? What about the ones that want to see some closure to the series at least? What can they do to promote Dallas back on before it's too late? Remember, now it's January. Time is flying by and February will be here soon. The longer it takes the more likely the stars will have new shows with new contracts, the sets will be gone, and the entire cast and crew will be scattered around the entertainment world. Time is not on our side here, so what needs to be done is three simple steps:
1. Any article about #SaveDallas needs to be promoted, read, re-read, and promoted again. All of them from small blogs to big blogs. Why is this small blog writing about Dallas again? Because people read it, people promoted it. Attention was brought to my blog. Other blogs work the same folks. Do it for all of them. Get those numbers up.
2. Hound the cast. They all have twitter accounts. Maybe someone else is running the accounts, but they are out there nonetheless. Make Facebook, Twitter and every other social media explode as you name off the cast, crew and show your #SaveDallas signs. You have to drive them back to respond just as I tried in my Twitter post.
3. Watch Dallas on Netflix. If you don't have Netflix call them and take it- be sure to tel them the only reason you're taking Netflix is to watch Dallas and then watch it. They know who is watching and who's not.
Finally, as I stated before, there is a good chance all this will not work. As time marches on, the odds of Dallas being picked up dwindles. Sorry, it's just the truth. But, if in the end Dallas can not be saved, remember - you were part of something big. You were a part of a move to try to save an iconic show and cast. You can always be proud of your #SaveDallas participation.
Sunday, January 18, 2015
The #SaveDallas Drive Continues
I'm going to date myself here a little, but I can still remember a Dallas when Southfork was a different house and Jock was alive. It was during that time that the thrill of nighttime soaps developed and Dallas became the cornerstone and basis for all other nighttime soaps. You had to have better sets, better acting, better plots, and yet somehow stick to the ability to link week-after-week's episodes together in a tight bond that brought viewers back. Nobody did it better than Dallas. Dallas did it so well that the "Who Shot J.R.?" theme became the cry for the series, a song, and one of the most talked about cliffhangers (sorry Cliff Barns, not about you) of all time. When Dallas rode off into the sunset with the apparent suicide of J.R. Ewing, nobody thought it was over. Everyone knew there would be a movie later and maybe a reunion special. Just as expected the reunions came, some were specials and some were sit-down and talk about the good-old days events, but they came. Then, TNT decided to give fans something again. Not a reboot with new actors playing J.R. etc, not three or four generations later, no TNT gave us the old Ewings and the new Ewings. They gave us the old Cliff Barns, even though he looks frail in health, and they gave us a young Barns to pave the wave of new destruction. They gave us the old cunning J.R. and his prototype son in John Ross. Bobby was back as was Sue Ellen and we even had glimpses of other old characters as well. Then we got all the new characters with their own set of drama, plots, and ideas on how to make the world better...whether with oil or some other form of energy. Excitement was in the air.....then TNT struck out.
It was almost as if TNT was preparing for the cancellation from the start. The show premiered with great ratings in a June slot. The Wednesday night time slot, while not the historical favorite of Friday night, seemed to be a solid place for Dallas. TNT then, for some unknown reason decided to move the premiere for season two to January 28, 2013. They particularly moved the show to Monday night where it could compete with some major competitive shows. Dallas started on this same night The Big Bang Theory was being used on CBS to help compete against The Bachelor on ABC (two hours) and The Biggest Loser (also two hours) on NBC (Schedule). Not surprisingly, ratings dropped. After that second season, TNT made the bold decision to move the show back to February, but still on a Monday night. Now the show was competing against the two-hour premier of The Voice (Schedule) and many other popular shows leading just before such as Mike and Molly. One of the final indicators that TNT may have been trying to discredit the show's popularity or justify their decision to cancel came in the Christmas season of 2014. Rather than release the final season on DVD during Christmas, when consumers were making major purchases, TNT waited until a January purchase date (Dallas on TNT). It appeared, at least to this writer, that TNT was attempting to put the final nail in the coffin to say, "See, Dallas just isn't popular enough to be on the air. We were right."
While it could be argued that the death of Larry Hagman may have been the death shot (no pun intended) to the show, in truth that is not likely. Hagman died during the production of season two (Ref). However, to be honest, the old J.R. character that people knew and loved was really a background character for the younger cast. Most fans, including this writer, could tell that Hagman was not in the best of health and he seemed to be getting weaker during each appearance on-screen. A close examination of his hands during one of the last on-screen scenes with Josh Henderson revealed spots and frailty that seemed to indicate a sick man was working. Regardless of the loss of Hagman, it should be noted that Dallas lost other stars along the way and survived. While J.R. may have been the prime character of the late 70's, 80's, and early 90's run of the original show, he was clearly not intended to be the main character for the new series. Dallas deals with life, though often inflated, and in life people die. So the death of J.R. worked well into the story, the series, and as a tribute to the actor and man who made J.R. come to life. Fans could rest happy know that not only did Hagman bring J.R. to life and become the character, but he also succeeded in what many actors can only dream of doing and that is walking the character out of life as well. No, the death of J.R. was not the death shot for the show, it was just a change along the way and change is something Dallas has always faced head-on and flowed through.
So, if J.R.'s death did not kill the show, then the only logical thing to conclude is that ratings killed the show; however that is doubtful as well. Strong fans will remember that TNT did an online survey wanting to know where fans would like to see Dallas go for season four. Questions were asked about the John Ross' sister link, what to do with other characters, and how to develop the show. It appeared to any fan that Dallas would be moving strong into season four. Then came the boom and TNT dropped the show. Interestingly, the major thing that seemed to change the Dallas landscape was still TNT's decision to move to Monday night. It can be seen in the chart below from Chart Page:
Anyone would admit that the chart clearly shows a decrease of viewers from season one to season two, but it also shows the change of nights from Wednesday to Monday. Sadly viewers are often calculated based on the ratings which only takes a small portion of the population into account. This writer for example was chosen within the last year to participate in the Nielsen Ratings (Nielsen). Sadly for me, Dallas was not on at the time and therefore my rating had no effect for the show. As for ratings, they are often based as stated before on small numbers. It should be noted that an online petition currently has 88,568 signatures to support keeping Dallas on air, somewhere (Petition). Since I have full Internet access, but have not signed the petition yet, I have to wonder how many people without Internet and some with Internet might be willing to sign the petition. It also should make any network provider wonder. After all, 88,568 is a small amount of people, but what if all those people were Nielsen Raters during a time Dallas had been on the air? Would 88,568 little booklets from people turned in equal to millions or more viewers? Would those ratings have shot through the roof?
Finally, it appears we may never know the answer. Dallas has now premiered with all three seasons on Netflix, but that doesn't appear to mean it's going to stay there or even start a new season there (Netflix and Dallas). But to Josh Henderson and the rest of the cast...especially, one of my all time favorites even from The Man From Atlantis, Step-By-Step and others Patrick Duffy, just know that your fans are still out here rooting for you and the Save Dallas hashtag (#SaveDallas) is alive and well as we wait to see you again.
It was almost as if TNT was preparing for the cancellation from the start. The show premiered with great ratings in a June slot. The Wednesday night time slot, while not the historical favorite of Friday night, seemed to be a solid place for Dallas. TNT then, for some unknown reason decided to move the premiere for season two to January 28, 2013. They particularly moved the show to Monday night where it could compete with some major competitive shows. Dallas started on this same night The Big Bang Theory was being used on CBS to help compete against The Bachelor on ABC (two hours) and The Biggest Loser (also two hours) on NBC (Schedule). Not surprisingly, ratings dropped. After that second season, TNT made the bold decision to move the show back to February, but still on a Monday night. Now the show was competing against the two-hour premier of The Voice (Schedule) and many other popular shows leading just before such as Mike and Molly. One of the final indicators that TNT may have been trying to discredit the show's popularity or justify their decision to cancel came in the Christmas season of 2014. Rather than release the final season on DVD during Christmas, when consumers were making major purchases, TNT waited until a January purchase date (Dallas on TNT). It appeared, at least to this writer, that TNT was attempting to put the final nail in the coffin to say, "See, Dallas just isn't popular enough to be on the air. We were right."
While it could be argued that the death of Larry Hagman may have been the death shot (no pun intended) to the show, in truth that is not likely. Hagman died during the production of season two (Ref). However, to be honest, the old J.R. character that people knew and loved was really a background character for the younger cast. Most fans, including this writer, could tell that Hagman was not in the best of health and he seemed to be getting weaker during each appearance on-screen. A close examination of his hands during one of the last on-screen scenes with Josh Henderson revealed spots and frailty that seemed to indicate a sick man was working. Regardless of the loss of Hagman, it should be noted that Dallas lost other stars along the way and survived. While J.R. may have been the prime character of the late 70's, 80's, and early 90's run of the original show, he was clearly not intended to be the main character for the new series. Dallas deals with life, though often inflated, and in life people die. So the death of J.R. worked well into the story, the series, and as a tribute to the actor and man who made J.R. come to life. Fans could rest happy know that not only did Hagman bring J.R. to life and become the character, but he also succeeded in what many actors can only dream of doing and that is walking the character out of life as well. No, the death of J.R. was not the death shot for the show, it was just a change along the way and change is something Dallas has always faced head-on and flowed through.
So, if J.R.'s death did not kill the show, then the only logical thing to conclude is that ratings killed the show; however that is doubtful as well. Strong fans will remember that TNT did an online survey wanting to know where fans would like to see Dallas go for season four. Questions were asked about the John Ross' sister link, what to do with other characters, and how to develop the show. It appeared to any fan that Dallas would be moving strong into season four. Then came the boom and TNT dropped the show. Interestingly, the major thing that seemed to change the Dallas landscape was still TNT's decision to move to Monday night. It can be seen in the chart below from Chart Page:
| Season | # Ep. | Timeslot (ET) | Premiered | Ended | Average Viewers (in millions) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Premiere | Viewers (in millions) | Finale | Viewers (in millions) | ||||
| 1 | 10 | Wednesday 9:00 pm | June 13, 2012 | 6.86[45] | August 8, 2012 | 4.29[46] | 4.5[47] |
| 2 | 15 | Monday 9:00 pm | January 28, 2013 | 2.98[48] | April 15, 2013[49] | 2.99 | 2.84[47] |
| 3 | 15 | February 24, 2014 | 2.65 | September 22, 2014 | 1.72 | 1.92 | |
Anyone would admit that the chart clearly shows a decrease of viewers from season one to season two, but it also shows the change of nights from Wednesday to Monday. Sadly viewers are often calculated based on the ratings which only takes a small portion of the population into account. This writer for example was chosen within the last year to participate in the Nielsen Ratings (Nielsen). Sadly for me, Dallas was not on at the time and therefore my rating had no effect for the show. As for ratings, they are often based as stated before on small numbers. It should be noted that an online petition currently has 88,568 signatures to support keeping Dallas on air, somewhere (Petition). Since I have full Internet access, but have not signed the petition yet, I have to wonder how many people without Internet and some with Internet might be willing to sign the petition. It also should make any network provider wonder. After all, 88,568 is a small amount of people, but what if all those people were Nielsen Raters during a time Dallas had been on the air? Would 88,568 little booklets from people turned in equal to millions or more viewers? Would those ratings have shot through the roof?
Finally, it appears we may never know the answer. Dallas has now premiered with all three seasons on Netflix, but that doesn't appear to mean it's going to stay there or even start a new season there (Netflix and Dallas). But to Josh Henderson and the rest of the cast...especially, one of my all time favorites even from The Man From Atlantis, Step-By-Step and others Patrick Duffy, just know that your fans are still out here rooting for you and the Save Dallas hashtag (#SaveDallas) is alive and well as we wait to see you again.
Wednesday, August 20, 2014
Goodbye Mork.....
It's been more than a week since Robin Williams died and the tributes and tears continue to flow from family, friends, and fans. It seems that while Williams may have suffered from depression and other issues, that he may have had no idea what sort of impact his death would have on everyone. I say that he may have had no idea, meaning that he may not have considered the impact he would have because if he had known the effect, pain, and sorrow his death would have caused, Robin Williams would not have committed suicide.
Williams would have put off suicide because he cared about people. If he was thinking correctly, he would not have wanted to hurt his family and friends. He would also not have wanted to hurt his lifelong fans such as myself. Williams gave so much of his time, money and efforts to others. Only now are many of the stories about his generosity rising out of the ashes of his death. Some were known, and some were kept silent at his request for years.
I watched Williams on Happy Days first and was amazed at the way Mork jumped all over the place and challenged Mr. Cool. The next time I saw this spastic comedian, he had his own show called 'Mork and Mindy'. I never missed an episode. I later watched his comedic stage presence, his movies and even recently his television series in awe. Whether he was serious or in comedian mode, he had a lasting impact on those watching him.
William had the energy of ten comedians. He seemed to be everywhere at the same time and to know what was going on with everyone. I still remember one stand up show, years ago, when he took a camera from a member of the audience. He used it first to take a picture of himself for the fan while making comments to the audience about the camera. He then pulled out the front of his pants and pointed the camera into his pants to supposedly take a picture. His comment was simple, "I hope this is a wide angle lens," and the crowd erupted. He could make anything a prop. At one point he saw a member of the audience get up to leave the show. He immediately began to ask that person if they disliked the show and if they were leaving. The audience member said something back that we could not hear because she did not have a mic, but Robin heard her. She was only going to the bathroom. Williams, flatly said, "That's okay. We'll wait until you get back to continue the show." Again, the audience laughed. He then proceeded to tell a few minor jokes and upon the woman's return, he said, "Oh good, you're back. We can get started again!" Once again the audience laughed.
For years, I have often wondered how Robin would have handled the lady going to the bathroom if she had never returned. I imagine that he would have simply kept telling jokes and maybe at one point said something like, "Well, she's not coming back. We'd better just keep going." Again, I could imagine that the audience would have laughed. Well, Robin Williams has stepped out of the show now....he's not going to the bathroom and he won't be coming back. I guess the best we can do for now is tell a few jokes, laugh and finally accept that we'd better just keep going because Mork is not coming back.
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