What On Earth?-Column #33, February 2005

Well, here we are in Valentine's month. As you may expect, it's all about candies of chocolates and fruits to flowers of roses and carnations, and so much more. But of course, who could forget these?

2 years ago, the Space Shuttle Columbia broke up over Texas, killing all 7 on board, and one of those was the first Indian ever to go up in space (of course, who could forget the 29-year old Challenger disaster, when the first teacher in space, along with 6 others were killed when it blew up after take off?). Shocking, but horrifying. We won't forget this. And we CERTAINLY won't forget THIS:

1 year ago, the Super Bowl XXXVIII viewing audiences were in complete shock, toward the end of the halftime show when Justin Timberlake pulls off a piece of Janet Jackson's bra, revealing a piece of her breast. Toward the end of 2004 itself, the FCC hit CBS (which aired the Super Bowl), and Viacom (which owns CBS) with a hefty $550,000 fine.

4 years ago, NASCAR viewers watched in horror as Dale Earnhardt, Sr. died in a horrible crash at the Daytona 500. Obviously, it's gone on without him. Does that mean we will stop watching? Nope! If they don't stop racing, we don't stop watching (unless it's going the way of the NHL, which it seems like the season is cancelled!).

And also 4 years ago, after the success of their 1999 ABBA Generation album, the A-Teens followed up on that in 2001, with their first album of fresh new material, appropriately called TEEN SPIRIT. I got that for Christmas last year, and I'm proud to have it, because it has the song that made them famous, the ever popular UPSIDE DOWN.

12 years ago, we watched as the WTC was the site of the first terror attack on the landmark. 6 people were killed, and a 1,000 were hurt. Now, I say, had we done something after this attack, we wouldn't have to deal with what occured on 9-11. Should this have been a wake-up call? I say YES. Am I still doing any research beyond the basics here? I am indeed. Remember, the attackers wanted the towers to crash one on top of the other, something you didn't see on 9-11. That was each tower's floors collapsing on top of each other, after the planes hit.

ONE Year ago, ABC returned Millionaire to the airwaves, under the title Super Millionaire, with the return of Regis as host and a $10 million top prize. If you don't remember the money tree, here it is again: $1,000-$2,000-$3,000-$4,000-$5,000 (Guarantee)-$10,000-$20,000-$30,000-$50,000-$100,000 (Guarantee)-$500,000-$1,000,000-$2,500,000-$5,000,000-$10,000,000. As usual players have their usual 50:50, Phone A Friend, and Ask The Audience lifelines. However, when they get to $100,000; they get 2 new lifelines: Three Wise Men and Double Dip. When a player uses Three Wise Men, a group of 3 intelligent people (quiz show contestants included) are given 30 seconds to help the contestant answer the question, like the PAF. When a player uses Double Dip, he or she gets 2 chances to answer the question. However, once a player uses Double Dip he or she CANNOT walk away. The question MUST be answered. As a strategic move, it's better to have the 50:50 available if you choose to use Double Dip.

And speaking of Millionaire, it was 4 years ago since they had a Progressive Jackpot, and called it Mega-Millionaire. It had been 71 shows since the last Million Dollar winner was crowned (David Goodman), so the first show began with a jackpot of $1.71 million, and went up $10,000 each time it wasn't won. You're about to find out more about it in later columns, so don't you fret. You've got a big Millionaire fan in yours truly. Even if they're repeating Regis' version on GSN, I still remember some of it, and I've got 2 episodes on tape.

And speaking of Regis, it has been 4 years since his new co-host on LIVE, Kelly Ripa, came aboard, as successor to Kathie Lee Gifford (who left in 2000) on the Emmy-award winning talk show. And, so far, so good it has been for the 2 of them.

Well, a 3rd season of The Apprentice has began, and unlike the first 2 seasons, it's not men vs. women. Ohhh, No. This time, it's Book Smarts (Collegiates) vs. Street Smarts (Those who worked right after HS). As usual, we're all gonna hear another round of "You're Fired!" Bill Rancic and Kelly Perdew were the first 2 winners. Who'll join them? You'll just have to watch!

And, also, we're in Season 4 of American Idol. We're gonna watch to see who joins winners Kelly Clarkson, Ruben Studdard, and Fantasia Barrino as well as runners-up Justin Guarini, Clay Aiken, and Diana DeGarmo. As usual, we're gonna see and hear a lot of criticism from the judge everyone loves to hate: SIMON COWELL. I AM starting to like him, but to an extent. I've thought about trying out. But I AM first going to think about how harsh he can be. I've watched him, and believe me, he's one harsh guy, And it really showed that: In 2003, one reject actually THREW a water pitcher at him during the auditions in Houston. And speaking of rejects, our favorite reject, William Hung, has made a few albums. I'm starting to like him.

And speaking of likeable people, many of us grew up with Johnny Carson, the 2nd host of the Tonight Show (preceded by Steve Allen, who died in 2000; and succeeded by Jay Leno in 1992). Carson died last month of emphysema at the age of 79. He was a heavy smoker, and pretty much out of the public eye ever since leaving the Tonight Show. As said by current host Jay Leno, "He was the gold standard." Leno's rival David Letterman said that "He gave me a shot on his show, and in doing so, he gave me a career. All of us who came after are pretenders. We will not see the likes of him again." Well, in person, we won't. We WILL however, see him immortalized on VHS and DVD. God rest his soul.

Well, this wraps up another column. This is John Lee saying "Go HOME!"