Hiatus Week

I've got nothin'...


The show is on hiatus this week, and so is Blood, Sweat, and Tedium -- but if you’re curious as to how hard times in Hollywood have reached all the way above-the-line, you can learn a little here. A link in that piece will take you to a TV Guide list that might surprise you as much as it did me. Oprah may still be the Lizard Queen who dominates the television landscape like Godzilla, but many lesser on-camera mortals are taking hits right along with the rest of us. Hollywood grades on the curve, though, which is important to remember when trying to work up a little sympathy for an actor who in these tough times must settle for making only a hundred times your weekly rate.

Still, you have to bear in mind that the viewing public – who does pay the bill, after all -- tunes in to watch the actors at work, not the juicers and grips. We’re just here to grease the wheels and gears of the Industry machine with our sweat, and are paid accordingly.

Such is life.

So we finally get a week off, free at last from the dark, cavernous, air-conditioned interior of the sound stage -- and now the weatherman says this lovely cool summer LA has been basking in is about to come to an abrupt thermonuclear end. The Heat is coming, which might make the residents of Malibu happy, but will render life miserable for everyone not fortunate enough to live along that thin, rich slice of coast.

If the weatherman's right, next week will be like taking a summer vacation in scenic Barstow.

Me, I'm off to the liquor store to stock up on supplies. If you can't live in Malibu, an endless supply of vodka-tonics over ice is the only way to beat the heat...