>AND FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, WHY HAVEN'T ANY NEW YORKERS STEPPED UP TO THE PLATE IN DEFENSE OF CARVEL???<

I dunno why NYorkers haven't put themselves on the line, but as a New Jerseyan, I will flat-out declare Carvel's ice-cream cakes are vile. :) Their ice cream is decent, but when it's combined with those cardboard cakes...ugh.

>It won't kill the baby to cry for a few extra minutes those first few times as it sinks into the guy's head that he really has to do the tedious gruntwork of motherhood.<

And suppose he realizes right then he hates it? Where does that leave the baby? Mom didn't want him/her in the first place, and now Dad realizes there's more to it than Kodak moments--and hates every minute of drudgery. I agree with a previous poster--any guy who cares more about having a baby than the effect it will have on his unwilling partner is being unrealistic and selfish.

Not only was it a very well-written show, it got Queens down cold--as well as the details of Doug and Carrie's social class. The best sitcoms, from FRASIER to MASH to THE HONEYMOONERS, are always very specific about the features of the city their characters inhabit--and the little, recognizable, day-to-day details of those folks' lives. Those kinds of things are a sure-fire source of comedy because they are true and easy to relate to. I got hooked on Doug as a character when he confessed that he had to avoid the mall (I think he was trying to win a bet with Carrie re: changing his habits) because the scent of the Cinnabon bakery was always a food downfall for him. I know exactly how he feels...:).

...is that it shows the _real_ racial attitudes of the media figures who defend him. It's been quite eye-opening to see people-who-should-know-better like Garrison Keillor act as if it's inconsequential that Imus called the Rutgers women names that said media figures never, ever would want used towards _their_ daughters.

>My little sandy-haired gap-toothed daughter shoots baskets in the driveway, and when she hits a swisher she pumps her fist ("Yes!").<

And if she plays school basketball and gets slammed for looking "rough" and "whorish" by some radio/net commentator, will you dismiss that so easily, Mr. Keillor? What a shame--I used to respect you.

...than it's the kind of place my ancestors did their best to avoid by day--and by night. Proof positive that no matter what incarnation Midwestern all-American "jest folks"-ness shows up in, it's still got the same vile mess underneath.

>When she gave an interview, saying she won't go to Iraq because she has kids, she lost me.<

Ugh--ain't it the truth. And the amount of fluff stories and "it's okay; I won't make waves" interviews she's subsequently done sealed the deal for me. If she wanted to do that mess, why didn't she stay over on TODAY?

1) Oh, can it, Gwool. _Again_, if Imus had said that about your sister or daughter, would you laugh it off as inconsequential? If not, then you are being a hypocrite as well as ignorant. If a black shock jock had said that about a white girls' team, he would have been lambasted endlessly for degrading their accomplishments (and sullying their "purity," because, as we all know, white girls are untouchable unless they are as bad as Paris Hilton. And even _then_...)

2) For the thousandth time, this wasn't just a one-off for Imus. Anyone who knows his history can tell you he put himself on the map as a shock jock in the first place by slamming black people way back in the late 60's, when he held a Black Panther lookalike contest (The prize--a jail term.) He got much press in the '70s for playing "Another One Bites the Dust" as Atlanta police were turning up victims of the Atlanta Child Murderer. And I won't even get into the "Williams sisters should be in NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC" stuff he let his minion get away with. In short, black people are his version of wife jokes--a sure-fire laugh getter he returns to often. That finally caught up with him, and rightly so.

3) And just because you were "flabbergasted" by your peer managers' remarks doesn't make you some kind of beacon of tolerance. If your own remarks were so bad you got called on the carpet for it, doesn't that tell you something? Every bigot has a line even he wouldn't cross, but that doesn't mean he isn't a bigot.

4) "Focus on actions, not words." Words _shape_ actions and attitudes. That is why people can be racist without ever having met a black person in their lives--because they buy the image of AAmericans presented to them without question.

>It doesn't sound like LW really has a clear idea of WHAT either she or her husband wants.<

Or she's been fudging around the child issue in order to hang onto him/compromise. Unfortunately, the rubber has now met the road, and she's got to fish or cut bait.

1) I love Parker Posey, but why is she getting stuck with dreary material like this? Have _any_ shows about fertility/bay-bees ever done well? I never can figure how networks figure there's an audience for this stuff. People with kids don't want to catch more of that on TV; people without kids could not care less.

2) High props to CBS for canning CLOSE TO HOME. If anyone was looking for Jerry Bruckheimer to do to domestic crimes what he did for forensics...forget it. A real disappointment.

3) CASHMERE MAFIA and LIPSTICK JUNGLE, eh? Shoot two shows about older successful women is a lot more than what we've got now...

4) GHOST WHISPERER is better-written than one would expect, amazingly enough. They do a nice job of answering the questions they raise and handling long-term arcs. HH's description of SHARK was right on the money, though...