Heroes with hang-ups

Magnet #918a, b, c & d - Fantastic Four

So, when I packed up my office a month ago, I rediscovered a whole boxed Marvel superheroes magnet set, that I bought in the Cincinnati airport a couple of years ago. The box set had the whole stable of Marvel folks, including the Fantastic Four, created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby back in 1961.

If you read the wiki I just linked to above, you'll learn more than you ever wanted to know about the Fantastic Four characters, including the special "Marvel method" of creating comics - which I'm sure all the people who were going to the comics panels of SDCC know about, but I didn't. I do love that Stan Lee called them "heroes with hang-ups" because in the end, most superheroes do have their hang-ups, foibles and neuroses.

I won't lie, I've never picked up a single FF comic before, though I did go see the two movies. What? They were somewhat entertaining!

Really, I'm just using these four for today, because it's STWsis' birthday, and I was supposed to be in Washington, DC, today and round out the foursome, but I agreed to stay at home and chauffeur the parents around. It's what I do.

Now. We just have to figure out who of the Fantastic Four my two sisters, BIL and me are.

I call dibs on the Thing.

Must see T-what?

Magnet#586 - Reflections

Another stockhouse swag magnet that I just realized had a tiny tv on it. Perfect, as I reflect upon the fact that this time last year, my year-round TV Dance Card had 64 shows on it.

Now, it's the end of September and we're smack in the middle of fall premieres, I find my DVR at 65% full.

A sad state of affairs. Of course, that's after I wiped off a good 30% this past weekend, and have three hours of that Ken Burns' National Parks documentary sitting on it.

I can't figure out if we're still feeling the effects of the strike, or the dismal economy, but I don't know what's up with Fall TV this year. This is the first time in years that I haven't gone to the Paley Center premiere parties, where they preview the new shows a couple of days before they air.

Not a one show was worth rushing up to Midtown after work for me. Sad.

So what's left on the roster, and left to try when they air*?

ABC (7)
Private Practice, Brothers & Sisters, Grey's Anatomy, LOST, Castle, FlashForward, V*
(Tried and Dumped: Eastwick)

CBS (5)
NCIS, Ghost Whisperer, Numb3rs, Flashpoint, Three Rivers*
(Tried and Dumped: NCIS: Los Angeles and probably The Good Wife)

NBC (2)
Chuck, Friday Night Lights
(Tried and Dumped: Mercy and probably Trauma)

FOX (2)
Fringe, Bones
(Tried and Dumped: Dollhouse and Glee. Yes, that's right. I dumped Glee. You know there's a magnet a-comin'.)

The CW (5)
90210, Gossip Girl, One Tree Hill, Supernatural, Vampire Diaries
(Tried and Dumped: Beautiful Life, and probably Melrose Place)

TBS (2)
The Closer, Saving Grace

USA (5)
Psych, Burn Notice, In Plain Sight, Royal Pains, White Collar*

BBC-A (3)
Doctor Who, Top Gear, Skins
(Hiatus/in production/not airing stateside yet, so doesn't count: Torchwood, Gavin & Stacey, Robin Hood, MI-5, Merlin, Being Human, Primeval)

AMC (1)
Mad Men

ABC Family (1)
Greek

FX (1)
Sons of Anarchy

Lifetime (1)
Army Wives

Sundance (2)
Architecture School, Iconoclasts

Total: 37