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Miss M responded to this morning's post about the West Wing characters by telling about a Slate story and podcast on other famous "Do it, already, willya" TV couples. I listened to it today. Only 10 minutes and worth a listen if you like this sort of thing.

Kate Aurthur, the Slate writer interviewed in the podcast, mentions Moonlighting and Cheers, too. I guesss Donna and Josh caused lots of people to think of these couples.

Guan Yang picked up on my Northanger Abbey reference, pleading the case for romance in response to my comment that I didn't like Catherine's hero worship of Henry.

Well, yeah, I know. It was romantic, and I wouldn't have a problem with the relationship at all had JA not stuck in her two cents about what was in Henry's mind. Had she left us alone to observe their behavior, I'd think they were perfectly sweet together, but she had to go and say that Henry loved her because she was so head-over-heels about him. Something's always bugged me about that.

I caught the new West Wing last night. (Did you know new episodes are replayed on Monday on Bravo?) I see what Dave was saying about Donna and Josh. I agree they shouldn't have done it. I guess what the story was trying to show is many people use sex to relieve stress or as a distraction, but I thought Josh and Donna were better than that.

Friends becoming more than friends is such a classic storyline, and such an audience pleaser when it's handled in a romantic way. This one could have been one of those perfect moments, and the producers wrecked it. I'm disappointed, but not overly so because I never felt the intense undercurrent with them that was so palpable with, say, Sam and Diane on Cheers, or Maddie and what was Bruce Willis's character on Moonlighting. Of Josh's love interests on the show, I think the one with the Mary-Louise Parker character had the most chemistry.

Maybe I never got with the Donna and Josh thing because it feels like mostly hero worship on her side, and that's no fun for me. I didn't like seeing it with Catherine Morland and Henry Tilney in Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey, and I don't like seeing it on the West Wing.

Another Sopranos post. Sure it's fiction and superficial. I'm thinking about it, so I'm blogging about it, just like I'll be talking about it at work. So sue me.

Bo Dietl is on Imus with Steve R. Schirripa who plays Bobby Baccala.

Imus and Bobby are making fun of Dietl for saying there's a terrorism storyline brewing, but he's right. They started setting it up last night with the agents and Chris, then showing the Middle Eastern guys.

Dietl has a 911-scale terrorist plot in mind, and that's why he's being ridiculed, but who's to say what wildness is in store for the build-up and finale from the show that's known for OMG surprises anyway. My expectations for being absolutely blown away are pretty high. So who's going to do a Jack Bauer and save the world?

I was wrong about Paulie being out of the picture. He was in the first episode of the new and last Sopranos season and in tonight's ep, too.

Crazy episode. David Chase wrote this one himself. I think he may assign himself the wierd dream storylines. Didn't he write the one when Pussy was taken out -- the one with the talking fish?

I suppose they could make the rest of the series a power struggle for the boss spot. AG's going to get in the business, isn't he?

I mentioned the space between seasons on The Sopranos the other day.

Dave noticed it too. He's also wondering what else the characters were up to when we weren't looking.

I should have elaborated in my comment that I don't remember seeing Paulie in the season opener. Christopher reported to Paulie, right, so if something happened to Paulie, Chris could move up?

Course I could be full of it and Paulie was right there, and I just don't remember!

I disagree with Dave that Chris was in the doghouse at the end of the season. I think that by turning in Adrianna the minute he found out, it probably was considered an act of supreme loyalty, like the first kill of a made guy, cubed.

I like that Dave has comments now for Scripting News on his WordPress blog. Only trouble with the way they work is that the conversation tends to end after the current day. It's quite a bit of trouble to go back and find comments for the right day, and keep the discussion going.

iTunes is offering condensed versions of the NCAA championship games for $1.99 each or $19.99 for all 63 condensed games.

I think I'd rather see highlights than abridgements. I never trust the judgement of editors who abridge books, and this is the same thing.

Sorry I can't link to the deal. The link that came in my e-mail is for iTunes users only. I don't like to give out restricted links like that.

You get these the next day. It reminded me of an idea I've had for a long time about sports on non-broadcast outlets, like cable TV or now podcasting. HBO has shows by Bob Costas and Bryant Gumbel, but it doesn't exploit its advantage. They use fowl language in movies. Why not in sports shows? Talk about sports the way guys really talk about sports.

The leagues might not think it's a good PR move to sell play-by-play coverage using blue language. But, an amateur could do a podcast the way some TV shows have offered commentary tracks played in sync with recorded shows.

I get a kick out of the way guys watch sports, especially when there are two or more avid emotional fans watching together. That's the mood I think would work best. "DID YOU SEE THAT?!! GUY'S A F***ING JOKE. COME ON!"

Speaking of The Sopranos, I guess some time has elapsed in the story. I'm judging by the age of Janice's and Bobby's baby, who wasn't even a twinkle in our eye, I don't think. It must be about real time. The characters went on with their lives while we were going on with ours.

Watch it on YouTube

The Bravo cable channel is getting to be the network most tuned into the internet.

Project Runway, the popular fashion variety show, has all kinds of interesting stuff going on. Tonight's program is being offered for download from iTunes before it's shown on TV. The show has blogs, downloadable ringtones for heaven's sake, they're selling some of the fashions online. (Project Runway Barbie is sold out.) They're going nuts.

I gotta tell you a story about my kids. My 17-year-old likes the show and watches with me. (We're not into it as much as we were last season. We loved Jay; what a character.)

Anyway, couple weeks ago he was in another room talking on the phone to his girlfriend when I called to him to let him know the new episode was coming on. Because it is an older sibling's duty to tease, his big brother rushed close enough to the phone to make sure the girlfriend could hear and yelled, "Yeah, Aaron. You're favorite show is on. The one all about the LADIES DRESSES."

A brand new 1/2-hour progam on Bravo picks the 'net's best viral videos and shows them funniest home video or cute animal video style.

Awesome! HBO's Soprano's site is using the Google Maps API.

From the NYT:

Longtime viewers of HBO's "The Sopranos" know there are many places in New Jersey to dump a body. And in one of the first marketing efforts to use Google's map technology, HBO would like to show you exactly where those are.

To promote their upcoming season of "The Sopranos," HBO, a division of Time Warner, and Deep Focus, an online marketing agency, have created an interactive map of New Jersey, using satellite maps from Google, and have highlighted important points of the most recent season's storyline. The map has about 15 icons in specific areas where scenes took place. When the user clicks on an icon, the scene plays in a pop-up window, which also supplies a description and a list of characters.