CBS Sunday Morning Power Rankings

If you're a regular reader of the CBS SUNDAY MORNING POWER RANKINGS (You aren't. I have the statistics to prove it. I'm just tossing a cliché out as a stylistic device.), you are aware I've essentially gone silent for over about a month. Nothing's wrong. I've half consciously/was half forced to rejigger priorities recently and since this isn't something I get paid to do, the POWER RANKINGS took the hit. I enjoy writing and get something out of it. Regardless of whether anyone is reading, I would like to continue exercising the muscle in one form or another. However, continuing to write several thousand words each week in a blog that is more for my own amusement over anyone else's is unsustainable. When it gets to a point where I have to chose whether or not to continue doing this over other things I enjoy and may have been neglecting (or getting sleep), I have to question the wisdom of how I am going about things. Anyway, I'd like to continue, but ...

The CBS SUNDAY MORNING POWER RANKINGS The September 5, 2001 edition of Sunday Morning was an emotional roller coaster. There were stories that made me laugh and smile and stories that made me cry. Alright, I'm not really much of a crier. But things got a little dusty. 1) Martha Tiechner 2) John Dickerson We'll start with the stories that made me cry. If you want a way to memorialize the 20th anniversary of the 9/11, Martha Teichner's and John Dickerson's segments are reflective and somber as befits the occasion. It's hard reliving that day, rewatching the footage of a plane smashing into the World Trade Center, even from someone who experienced it from afar. I'm not sure this is what the mean when they say, "Never forget," about 9/11, but here is my recollection of the day: (For what it's worth, I remember all the names of everyone in this story, but I'm not going to use them despite it lending extra verisimilitude because I don't know ...

I thought Sunday Morning might start "reappropriating" stories this week, but it was all new. Maybe I should hold off until next week, but the tabulations are in. And I think 19 weeks is a healthy sample size. Represents approximately 1/3 of year of Sunday Mornings and probably about half of a season where all the content is "fresh". CBS SUNDAY MORNING ANALYTICS (A Sunday Morning points are basically handed out each time someone makes the rankings. 10 points for a #1, and 1 for #10. You can figure out the rest.) Serena Altschul Appearances: 1 Total Sunday Morning Points: 8 Weeks at #1: 0 Avg. Ranking: 3 Scouting Report: We like Serena Altschul. I wish she got more segments. She appeared this week, so yay! Jim Axelrod Appearances: 5 Total Sunday Morning Points: 30 Weeks at #1: 1 Avg. Ranking: 5 Scouting Report: Axelrod seems like he'd be a button journalist in the "hard news" only mold, but he is quite versatile. Charles M. Blow Appearances: 1 Tota...

Before finishing up The Ballad of Weaves #53 , I'll just point out that I listened to the album Transmissions From the Satellite Heart by The Flaming Lips for the first time in awhile today. The semi-novelty hit from that record "She Don't Use Jelly" is not even in the top half of good songs from the album. I'm not such a fan of Mr. Coyne or the Lips anymore, but for awhile they were great. The Ballad of Weaves #53: Part 4: Denouement Someone I know would very vehemently complain that that problem with Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace was that the climax was the pod race scene, which is only the halfway part of the movie which threw off the whole emotional arc of the movie. Well, there's a lot about that movie you could choose to complain about, but I'm sort of a Phantom Menace apologist. It's the best of the prequels. That's not saying much. It's still got some very cringe-y parts, but at least I also remember it being sort of fun in...