The Grim Reaper is behind you!

This week that definitely could be a possibility, especially if you're walking through one of the many haunted houses here in Buffalo.

Watch what happens when an overseas hidden camera show plays this trick on people.

The concept sounds kind of lame, but they go about it in an absolutely brilliant way.

Pushing Daisies last night...

How perfect was that last night. Political boredom on almost all the networks - except ABC which ran my favorite TV show Pushing Daisies!

That should be what happens anytime something political is on most stations.

And it was yet another great episode. The recurring storylines are awesome, but even better is the fact that storylines actually get resolved within a few episodes (unlike Lost, which is still good, but soooo slow-moving).

But where's Lily and Vivian?! They've been missing for 3 episodes and that's too long without such great characters! Hopefully, they'll be back soon.

Something else I'm looking forward to is an upcoming episode that'll be a crossover with the failed but brilliant TV series Wonderfalls (Lee Pace was the brother on that show). According to Bryan Fuller, the creator of both shows, that'll be the eighth episode this season ("Comfort Food").

Anyways, if you missed last night's episode, go see it here.

Cloris eliminated!

And so ends the 7th season of Dancing With The Stars.

The season itself might not be officially over, but the fun part definitely is.

After being booted from the show, Cloris appeared on Jimmy Kimmel's show. After about three minutes of dealing with the chair that was too high for her, she sat on the floor for the rest of the interview. Hysterical!!

TV shows in trouble...

Pushing Daisies, my favorite TV show right now, is in danger of being cancelled according to a recent Yahoo article!

This never would have been a problem if that Writers Strike didn't happen. The show was doing great last year. But even with the strike, ABC should have brought it back in the spring, instead of waiting almost a year. That definitely messed things up for the show.

The Yahoo article mentions how the ratings are falling each week. While that is true, the ratings in certain demos are exactly what ABC wants (according to an article at The Futon Critic). So there is hope, depending on which article you read I guess.

Regardless of which article is right, please watch Pushing Daisies (especially if you're a Nielsen family). It's on Wednesday nights at 8pm on ABC.

The Yahoo article also mentions two other shows that are in trouble and two that have already been cancelled. See what they are here.

A show not mentioned in the article is the new CBS series The Ex List - that was just cancelled yesterday.

Halloween Ghost Investigations...

Iron Island Museum was featured on Ghost Hunters last month and they determined that it's definitely haunted!

So how'd you like to spend Halloween with those ghosts?!

The Iron Island Museum is holding two different types of tours for Halloween...

OCTOBER 30: Ghost Tours at 6:00pm, 7:30pm & 9:00pm. $10

OCTOBER 31: Halloween Night Investigations with "Is It Real Investigators" (TAPS family members) from 9:00pm - 1:00am. $30

Visit their website for more info and to make reservations (required for any of these events). And visit my audio page to hear Linda talking about the ghost encounters at the museum since the Ghost Hunters epiosde aired.

Next season's Dancing With The Stars???

Star's Mike McQueen sent me an e-mail with an absolutely hysterical picture that I had to share with you.

This would definitely be a ratings blockbuster! :)

So many great new songs...

I’m forever on the search for great new music. I always list my finds to the right under "New Songs on my iPod" (below the blog archive).

I usually only find a couple at a time. But for some reason, there's suddenly a whole herd of incredible new songs out there.

I love a song from The Midway State called "Never Again", but it's not available in the US yet. I guess I'll have to get the CD the next time I go up to Canada.

And Paul McCartney has a new song with a group called The Fireman. It's "Sing The Changes". I'm not sure why, but it reminds me a bit of his 80's song "Press", which is one of my all time favorites by him.

Then there's a ton of new pop music in Sweden. Here’s one I had to share with you. I was watching the video for it and thinking, this is different, it's a song about an insane woman. Then one of the last lyrics changes everything and it’s not so crazy anymore.

It’s “Anna” by a group called Hello Saferide. Check it out...

Marjim Manor on Ghost Hunters...

Marjim Manor in Appleton, NY (about an hour northeast of Buffalo near Olcott Beach) will be featured on Ghost Hunters on the SciFi Channel tonight at 9:00pm & 11:00pm. Marjim Manor will most likely being the second story in this episode.

Is it really haunted? You'll have to watch and see. Eventually, the episode will be made available in its entirety on the Ghost Hunters website.

If you want to go and hang out with the ghosts yourself, go take a tour of Marjim Manor. The ghost tours and wine tours are one and the same. Visit anytime Monday - Saturday from 10:00am - 6:00pm and Sundays from noon - 6:00pm.

I got to talk with Margo Sue Bittner from The Winery on Star 102.5 tonight (she's the one who gave the tour to the Ghost Hunters). Hear the interview on my audio page.

V is coming back!

Kind of.

I was talking about this yesterday on-air, and then got to thinking about how I really should post some video from the original mini-series.

The new series will be on ABC and won't be a continuation of the original story. Instead, they'll restart the series (like what happened with the remake of Battlestar Galactica).

That's about all that's known so far. The title might not even be V when it comes back!

While we wait for more info, watch the NBC promo that aired before the miniseries first repeated in the early 80's.

And then if you just can't wait to see how the Visitors came here, go buy the DVD's of the original miniseries, the sequel, and the TV series.

Also check out a recent book called V: The Second Generation.

Pinktober concert...

As I expected, the show was amazing! Especially when I got to visit with Delta Goodrem!

And it wasn't just me that got to hang out with her. After Delta performed, she visited with everybody who came up to meet her for almost an hour (which absolutely wasn't planned). Thank you to Rachelle Roberts-Rae from Buffalo.com's Spotted for getting this picture!

I've been a fan of Delta's since 2003, when I first heard "Born To Try" (music video / Pinktober performance clip). I also love "Lost Without You" (music video / Pinktober performance clip) and her current hit "In This Life" (music video / Pinktober performance clip).

Leslie Stanwyck from Universal Honey opened the show. She was recovering from strep throat and still sounded great! The audience didn't want her performance to end it was so good!

Then Emerson Hart wrapped up the night with yet another perfect performance.

Pinktober continues this Friday night at the Hard Rock Cafe in Niagara Falls, NY with WNY Women Of Rock, which benefits The Hope Chest, a Buffalo breast cancer support group. Tickets are $10 at TicketWeb or at the door.

The CTV / CBS option...

It worked last Monday night, but hasn't worked since.

I was really hoping to watch Amazing Race on CTV last night, but it was blocked by an infomercial. A Time Warner customer service representative did say that LIN TV was going to try to block this option. It appears they were successful.

For now, the CBS website seems to be the best option to see CBS shows.

Hopefully, this will all be over by November (TV sweeps month). And I hope the local people at WIVB Channel 4 are not the ones who end up suffering as a result of this corporate nightmare.

Geauga Lake now...

It was about a year ago that Cedar Fair decided to close Geauga Lake forever, without warning.

The other day, Bruce Cassi of the National Amusement Park Historical Association (NAPHA) drove by and took these pictures of the park (the pictures were all taken from a nearby gas station).

Sad to think the park survived 135 years up until Cedar Fair decided to dismantle it in order to get people to visit one of their other two Ohio parks.

But at least they're putting the land to good use, giving the weeds a place to thrive.

1000 Awesome Things...

Everyday, it's another awesome thing. Here's an example of the awesomeness...

#995 Finding money you didn't even know you lost

#981 Wearing underwear just out of the dryer
#980 Old, dangerous playground equipment

#973 Sleeping in new bedsheets

#935 Eating cookies like Cookie Monster

#928 Eating foods you loved when you were a kid
#926 The Runaway Truck Ramp

As of today, the list is up to #922. Updated daily, we'll be reading about the #1 most awesome thing in mid-April of 2011.

Time Warner vs. Channel 4 in Buffalo...

It's day five of the insane standoff between Time Warner and Channel 4.

Channel 4 used to have the highest rated newscast in the market. According to Newsradio 930 WBEN, that's no longer true. And CBS did very well in Buffalo - when we were actually able to watch it!

I would be stunned if this continues into November. That's sweeps / ratings month for TV stations. Channel 4 (and its owners) would probably end up imploding by messing that up.

Although, the damage might already be done. A lot of people have now had a chance to sample the other stations' newscasts & TV shows and might just stick with them after the dispute is over. Only time will tell.

For now, here's a way you can see some of your favorite CBS shows while Channel 4 is off cable.

The following CBS shows can be seen on the Canadian CTV Network (CFTO, Time Warner cable channel 15). Normally, they're blocked out at these times because of Channel 4 running the same shows, but without Channel 4, they can now be shown...

CSI Miami: Mondays at 10pm
Criminal Minds: Tuesdays at 9pm
CSI New York: Wednesdays at 10pm
CSI: Thursdays at 8pm
Ghost Whisperer: Fridays at 8pm
Without A Trace: Fridays at 10pm
Amazing Race: Sundays at 8pm (time approximate due to sports overruns)

Because of CBS' scheduling of episodes, it's not an exact schedule - it's more of a hit and miss kind of thing. In addition to that, Channel 4 might be able to block this soon.

I thought of this CTV option after returning from vacation this past weekend to find some boring college sports stuff recorded instead of Amazing Race (a test pattern would be more exciting than that sports channel replacement). I had originally thought there was a good chance everything would be resolved by Sunday's Bills game, so I set things up to record Amazing Race the normal way. As it turns out, I was wrong.

And to make matters worse, CBS doesn't stream full episodes of Amazing Race on their website. But there are a bunch of shows the CBS website does stream: Survivor, Worst Week, How I Met Your Mother, Gary Unmarried, The Ex List, NCIS, Numb3rs, The Unit, CSI, CSI Miami, and CSI New York.