"Who Could it Be?"

"Believe it or not, it's just me."

So went the theme song (as sung by Joey Scarbury) to The Greatest American Hero, a superhero drama-comedy that aired from 1981 to 1983 on ABC. For those who may not know of or remember the series, "The Greatest American Hero" was about a high school teacher named Ralph Hinkley (played by William Katt) who is given a costume by aliens that gives him superhuman powers whenever he puts it on. Problem is, Hinkley loses the instructions that came with the suit, so he never manages to fully control his new abilities. Accompanying Hinkley during his adventures are his attorney girlfriend (and later wife) Pamela Davidson (played by Connie Sellecca) and FBI agent Bill Maxwell (played by Robert Culp). A few years ago I had bought the entire DVD collection for the series, but didn't get around to watching it until shortly after this past Thanksgiving.

Watching the old episodes of The Greatest American Hero reminds me of what network television once was, but now rarely is - a place where it was possible to watch programming that helped one forget the dreariness of the everyday world. And along with the politicization of network news and entertainment has come the politicization of sports coverage and sports itself, as seen with NBC's use of far-left MSNBC commentator Keith Olbermann in its Sunday Night Football broadcast and with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell's nixing of Rush Limbaugh's bid (as part of an ownership group) to purchase the ailing St. Louis Rams.

However, as Ladd Ehlinger, Jr. pointed out to me in a comment to this post on his blog a few days ago, identifying what's wrong with our culture today is less difficult (and productive) than trying to produce something which will make our culture better:

Mike, thanks much for the post on my Dear Texas post (and for taking it in the vein in which it was intended); and I very much hope you'll consider paying some attention to conservative movies as well.

Some of our colleagues have a tendency to fight the weeds without planting any crops, and that's the real reason why we have a liberally dominated Hollywood. Fighting weeds is fun, but if that's all you do, you starve.

Indeed, and Ehlinger has planted quite a crop with his latest movie, Hive Mind, which I plan on watching soon:



Click here for the Hive Mind homepage.

Also planting crops is Tom Kratman, whose latest book, The Lotus Eaters, is scheduled to be released on April 20, 2010.

Here's the novel's description as posted at Amazon:

Sometimes paranoia is just a heightened state of awareness. Carrera's won his war, and inflicted a horrific revenge upon his enemies. But there are wars after wars. The Tauran Union is planning an attack. The criminals of neighboring states are already attacking, and threatening to embroil him in a war with the planet's premier power. His only living son is under fire among the windswept mountains of Pashtia. An enemy fleet is hunting his submarines. His organization has been infiltrated by spies. One of the two governments of his adopted country, Balboa, is trying to destroy everything he's built and reinstitute rule by a corrupt oligarchy. Worst of all, perhaps, he, himself, bearing a crushing burden of guilt, isn't quite the man he once was. Fortunately, the man he once was, was lucky enough to marry the right woman.... The Lotus Eaters is the direct sequel to A Desert Called Peace and Carnifex.

I posted my own reviews of A Desert Called Peace and Carnifex on this blog back in 2008.

Also contributing to the improvement of our contemporary zeitgeist is Robert Stacy McCain, who will be covering the triumphant victory of the Texas Longhorns over the Alabama Crimson Tide in this year's BCS Championship. In doing so, he'll be braving "police madness" in Costa Mesa, California:

Hmmm. “Police madness,” huh? Obviously they’ve brought in extra security. Someone must have warned them I was coming.

Hunter S. Thompson got tear-gassed at the ‘68 Democratic Convention. If I get tasered in Costa Mesa, blame Dan Collins.

Don’t worry. I doubt even the notoriously tough cops in Costa Mesa would tase a professional journalist. They don’t need that kind of bad media mojo. But just in case, somebody hit the tip jar for $12 so I can grab a bag of Krispy Kreme doughnuts on my way from the Burbank Airport to Costa Mesa.

There is no law enforcement hassle that can’t be prevented with a bag of fresh Krispy Kremes. Unfortunately for the late Dr. Thompson, there were no Krispy Kreme vendors at the 1968 Chicago convention . . .

Ehlinger, Kratman, and McCain - greatest American heroes all. Here's hoping I can make my own positive contributions in 2010.

Happy New Year.