"Stay Within Hailing Distance."

Ah, pardon the downtime ... grown-ups insist I type for them. I was over at The Closer set yesterday, visiting my Cosby era friend Adam Belanoff who wrote the episode. Nelson McCormick, who so ably directed the GF pilot, was shooting the episode. It was all of a piece with some of the work I'm doing, talking to some humans about coming back to TV, but specifically in the cable world. First off -- 13 episodes. No more, no less on the pickup. And second -- The Closer's premiere numbers were 8.28 million, beating every network except CBS. Explain again why, if your primary interest is in telling a good story, you should care about dealing with the enormous bullshit that comes with network TV?

The next "Writing the Freelance" comes tomorrow, as Eureka actually begins airing within the month.

This week I watched Life on Mars, Doctor Who, and a new Deadwood. This is not a bad time to like good television. If only ...

... aaaahhhh. New Venture Brothers on June 25. And I will kill who needs killing to get copies of that DVD interior artwork. (EDIT: from our friends at Something Awful, a thread with that artwork HERE)

As requested and suggested, the new feature: the monthly reading list from May 15 thru June 15, 2006.

Why the Electoral College is Bad for America -- as discussed previously.
Confessions of an Economic Hitman -- research
The End of Poverty -- general interest
The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril -- very good so far, but I'm going to want to see Lester Dent punching somebody soon.
Electric Universe -- a fun, very easy and very well-written general science history of electricity.
Cinematography -- you can figure why. I'll recommend this heartily, though, it's excellent at codifying all the crap I've picked up from years on sets.

Use what you will. And as we started the donations late, we're still raising money for Fisher House for a few more days before I match. We hit 2500 today, so feel free to chuck in your coffee money.