Samantha Who?, in a somewhat weird ABC timeslot of Monday's at 9:30 (soft slot, but when was the last time ABC had a 1/2 hour show there?), has potential. Christiana Applegate, best known for playing a bimbo (quite well) on Married ... with Children, has just awaken from a short coma with amnesia. Samantha thus does not recall how much of a bitch [and, apparently, a bit of a slut too] she was, but does see the car accident (physically, she seems okay) as a means to start over. With some familiar faces, including Jean Smart and Melissa McCarthy (of Gilmore Girls), the cast seems game. And, as with my usual 9:30 fare (Rules of Engagement), who really expects that much from the timeslot, anyway?
Baseball: Joe Torre's decision not to take a one year $5 million deal with incentives (up to three million, if they get to the World Series; he made $7.5 this year and wanted two more) was announced around 4:30 on Thursday. David Letterman had a Top 10 list explaining why. He tapes around 5:30, so that is a pretty good bit of comedy writing -- they had about an hour, after all, to formulate, edit and approval the whole thing. As to the deal, I personally don't find it that shocking and all, but JT has made his money and accomplished enough to decide that he didn't want to be treated that way.
Fine enough, but the level of disgust in some quarters is a bit much. We live in a "win now" world, and the Yanks management has a more reason to expect more after seven years of not winning the World Series than even various other playoff teams. Again, they did not even get out of the first round four times and of six, three years in a row. Honest fans would agree they expected more. It was a bit sickening for some radio guys to make up excuses or (ridiculously) allege it was just about this year or getting to the WS every year. Or, whining about the Yanks not having certain tools, when no team -- even those who go all the way -- tends to have all the parts you need.
One even insisted that if the Yanks didn't give up that run in the eighth in Game 2, they would have won the first round. Oh please. Not only is that a dubious assumption, but whining about an unfortunate run ignores how the Yanks repeatedly scored tons of runs during the season. Now, one single run matters so much? Amazing.
[Overall, the guy had the job for twelve years, much longer than one could dare to hope even on a team not owned by George S. Often, the end comes off somewhat badly. Taken on that level, especially if we are supposed to treat the Yanks like just another team when talking about playoff wins and whatnot, Joe Torre came off pretty well. I have a feeling he knows that more than many of his defenders.]