I am not the only person who has been commenting on Cox’s choppy and undependable signal lately, but last night takes the cake. ‘Late Night with Conan O’Brien’ had on Seth Green, Eugene Mirman, and Russell Brand. It does not get any better than that folks — what was it, ‘adorable’ night? (At least RB got past immigration this time.) But for about the first 12 minutes of the show the signal was kaput! Cox customers saw nothing but a “Gone Fishing” sign. That’s considered a lot of dead air in the TV business I believe. And it blacked out twice during the Russell Brand segment as well. (Go here to watch the segment.) This is not the first time I have lost patience with Cox — maybe it’s time to get a dish.

*(That’s right Jersey Girls, I’m throwing down. I can talk dirty and get my numbers up too. See you at the next Christmas Party — we’ll see who’s on top then.)

The highly regarded PBS series P.O.V. is running Traces of the Trade, a look at the slave-trading history of Rhode Island’s DeWolf family. Director, and DeWolf descendant, Katrina Browne takes a hard look at the human toll that is the source of her own good fortune. Apparently not all family members were keen participants.

The film follows ten DeWolf descendants (ages 32-71, ranging from sisters to seventh cousins) as they retrace the steps of the Triangle Trade, visiting the DeWolf hometown of Bristol, Rhode Island, slave forts on the coast of Ghana, and the ruins of a family plantation in Cuba. Browne pushes the family forward as they struggle through the minefield of race politics. Back home, the family confronts the thorny topic of what to do now. In the context of growing calls for reparations for slavery, family members struggle with the question of how to think about and contribute to “repair.” Meanwhile, Browne and her family come closer to the core: their love/hate relationship with their own Yankee culture and privileges; the healing and transformation needed not only “out there,” but inside themselves.

The DeWolf mansion at Linden Place in Bristol is open to visitors through Columbus Day. Judging from the website, the museum would rather tell of ’seafaring’ and ‘exploits’, but they do mention the slave trade.

P.O.V./Tonight 10PM/Channel 2/WGBH

Really? This is what’s behind the curtain? Not really very death-y. I mean I knew it was a cartoon but… really?! At any rate, good news for Metalocalypse fans, Dethklok is a real band and it’s touring. Nearest venue — the Palladium in Worcester, June 24th. Mr. Small (Berklee grad!) and Mr. Blacha are the subject of today’s ‘A Night Out With’ column in the NYT where they go out and raise hell in a …. sushi bar! Okay that’s not very metal but… they totally charged the whole thing to Adult Swim! Check out the Metalocalypse site where Brendon (!) will teach you how to play the theme, although about a minute in he starts getting really frustrated with how slow and stupid you are.

Metalocalypse/Adult Swim/Cartoon Network/Sunday 11:45PM

Tonight at 9PM on HBO. The New York Times loved this thing

The casting of “Recount” is inspired. Kevin Spacey plays Ron Klain, the senior adviser to Vice President Al Gore who ended up leading the Democrats’ Florida recount effort, and Tom Wilkinson is James A. Baker III, the silky-smooth Bush family consigliere who ran the Republican effort. Laura Dern is mesmerizing as Ms. Harris, the legendarily dense public official who also helped organize George W. Bush’s Florida election campaign. Ms. Dern’s portrait comes the closest to parody — the role all but demands it — but she manages to convey some glimmers of humanity behind the thick makeup and thicker skull.

Admit it… you never really understood what the hell happened.

shall I ever suggest that people watch Carson Daly’s show. The Flobots — sort of formerly of Providence lefty-activist circles — will be performing thereon, tonight. Here’s the video for their single, Handlebars:

This is Laura Dern as Katherine Harris in the upcoming HBO movie ‘Recount’, the story of the 2000 presidential election, next Sunday at 9pm.  Just give her the Emmy now.

Mixing news footage and verbatim dialogue into fictionalized re-creations, ‘Recount’ examines the torturous process that culminated in the Supreme Court decision in Bush vs. Gore.

Strange credentials on this thing. It’s directed by Jay Roach (Meet the Fockers, Austin Powers films) and written by Danny Strong (best-known as an actor in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Gilmore Girls). Um… what? At any rate, there seems to be good buzz about this and HBO has been coming up with the goods lately. And I just want to look at Laura Dern.

Tonight at 11:00PM (the local listing says 11:30) VH-1 will show the first episode (’Save it For Marriage’) of Sex: The Revolution. There is supposed to be a lot of great old footage from sex education films, and John Waters is one of the talking heads, so that’s a good sign. I see that one of the topics is ‘the effect of the VCR on the porn industry’ which can not be overstated. And since Jane Fonda’s current sex-ploits are limited to molesting Stephen Colbert (creepy) and talking dirty on the Today Show (sad), the scenes from Barbarella might show that she was once something more than an embarrassing old twat.

What’s crazier than a ten-year old giving birth?

A single human giving birth 18 times!

The Duggars’ oldest child, Josh, is 20, and the youngest, Jennifer, is nine months old.

The fast-growing family lives in Tontitown in northwest Arkansas in a 7,000-square-foot home. All the children—whose names start with the letter J—are home-schooled.

Duggar has been been pregnant for more than 11 years of her life, and the family is in the process of filming another series for Discovery Health.

While some people might try to stereotype a family in Arkansas with 18 kids, all of whose names start with the letter J, presumably in honor of their father, Jim Bob, I have to say that the couple seem happy, sane and wholesome on the youtubez:

(more…)

Grand Theft Auto for guys who keep white wine in their fridge.

What is this world (wrestling entertainment) coming to? At least no one’s asking WWWWED.

Cuz I just learned about it in a Mark Patinkin column, and he ain’t exactly speaking the language of today’s youth.  Anybody seen (or at least heard of)  Canterbury’s Law?

Elizabeth and her law professor husband, Matthew ( Aidan Quinn), are both haunted by the disappearance of their young son (Jeremy Zorek) and have just settled in Providence, Rhode Island, in an attempt to distance themselves from the tragedy and put their relationship back together. But even as they try to move on beyond the tragedy, those goals become elusive whenever Elizabeth’s work provides a stark reminder of the justice absent in their own lives.

Insider sources have informed us that the one and only Rachael Ray (she’s so cool she gets an extra ‘a’) will be gracing Providence with her presence this Sunday when she will film her show at CAV in the jewelry district from 5:30 - 7:30pm.  If you love Rachael’s “no-fuss” attitude and fountains of cheer then help CAV pack the house, if you are frightened by her smile then go anyways and maybe your heckling will end up on national television!

[Note: The Daily Dose does not condone heckling of any sort, even when directed at those who  refer to Dunkin’ Donuts’ coffee as “fantabulous”]

Look at that acting. McCain is no Reagan.

One of the joys of watching the HBO series ‘John Adams’ is that sometimes they say “Rhode Island” on television and that’s really really exciting. But this morning we hit the jack pot! Apparently Sal and Ivan hauled the Haven Brothers diner all the way to New York City for a segment on the admittedly loathsome Today Show. Matt Lauer and Meredith Viera, who both have Providence connections, reminisced about their youth, leaving out anything of real interest (let’s face it, any true Havens Brothers story includes at least two of the following terms — beer, fight, hurl, Lupo’s, drunk, baked, punch, fried and where’s-my-wallet). But it was cool. Now bring it back.