The way back machine

So I’ve been recording News Radio on my DVR lately. For those of you who don’t remember the show, it was a show from the mid-90s featuring Dave Foley (of Kids in the Hall fame) and Phil Hartman, as well as Steven Root, who’s been in a million things but you probably know him as Milton the stapler guy from Office Space.

It’s a classic show, vastly underrated, and the last thing Hartman did before his untimely death (the show after his death is very good, and very emotional). If you haven’t watched it, set your Tivo for 1 p.m. on TBS during the week.

Got me thinking about classic old TV. Shows I miss that I used to love include Moonlighting, a first of it’s kind and the career-launch for Bruce Willis, Family Ties, hilarious sitcom with Michael J. Fox, neither of the shows are on TV right now, although I do have Moonlighting DVDs.

Shows that I loved that I thought got cancelled way to early include Ed, the bowling alley lawyer show from 2000-2004, Love Monkey, a short-lived show about the music biz from last year, and The Nine, a serialized drama from this season about a bank heist that seems to have been dumped.

Nothing tops the loss of American Dreams, however. This was such a great, family show set in the 60s. Great music, great acting, set in a very tumultuous time in American history (the Kennedy assassination, Vietnam, the race riots in Philly in ’64 were all backdrops for the show). Amy and I had rented the DVDs recently and every time we watched a show, I realize how different things are today than just 40 years ago. If you haven’t seen it and enjoy great drama, I highly recommend it.

Any shows that you miss or thought earned an undeserved dismissal from prime-time?

Are the Wings and Pistons championship bound? Oh, and Go Green!

First, let’s get this out of the way. Say goodbye to Tommy Amaker after tonight’s game in Ann Arbor. UM is on the verge of yet another NIT berth (whooppeeee) and missing the NCAA for the ninth year in a row. Go Green! Adendum 11:20 p.m. UM wins to keep their slim NCAA hopes alive. MSU played poor, but Drew Neitzel, Raymar Morgan and Luke Walton all were battling the flu, Neitzel the worst. Still think MSU is a tourney lock, but it will be nice for them to get a Big Ten Tournament Win to solidify it.

Last year, both the Red Wings and Pistons were the best teams in their respective leagues in the regular season. And both teams bowed out before reaching the Finals of their sports. Will it happen again?

The Wings
The trade deadline came today, and the Wings made two moves: aquiring Kyle Calder from the Flyers and Todd Bertuzzi from the Panthers. I don’t know anything about Calder, except that he was having a poor season thus far. Bertuzzi is infamously known for his sucker punch a couple years ago that ended Steve Moore’s career. Lately he’s been hurt.

Do these moves help the Wings? They essentially gave up Jason Williams from the everyday lineup for both players, along with some picks. I’ve always thought the Wings lacked toughness in the playoffs, maybe these moves help. Maybe someone can now protect Pavel Datsyuk so he can score in the playoffs. If these two stay healthy, it should make for a great stretch run between the Wings and Predators.

The Pistons
I will admit I didn’t think the Chris Webber signing would work out. He’s old, slow, oft-injured of late. I will now light my words on fire and eat them. They are looking like a better team right now than they did at this time last year. I do not miss Ben Wallace, nor did I worry when he left. As his stats show, he’s past his prime. His numbers in rebounding, blocks and points have all gone down each year for the past 4.

With their best-in-the-league starting 5 and solid bench (I love Jason Maxiell) I think they are clearly the class of the East. Cleveland isn’t there yet, and Lebron seems uninterested in getting them there with the current roster. Washington won’t win a long playoff series because if you stop Agent Zero, you beat them, and he can’t win four games alone.

That leaves the West. Dallas looks stacked, and San Antonio is tough as well. The league top three is probably Dallas, San Antonio and Detroit right now. If Dallas and SA beat the tar out of each other for seven games, that could bode well for Detroit in the Finals.

The verdict
I think the Pistons have a better chance than the Wings of getting to the Finals. If I had to pick right now, I’d say Wings out in conference finals, Pistons lose tough, hard-fought Finals to Dallas.

Get to know me – Part 1

The first couple posts I’ll make pretty generic so you can get to know me a bit better, although most people reading this know me already anyhow. Maybe you’ll pick up a tidbit here and there that you didn’t know.

• Family – Wife Amy and son Jack
• College – Eastern Michigan
• Current Job – Web Designer for Domino’s Pizza
• Residence – Southern Michigan
• Hobbies – Basketball, Volleyball, World War II history, Home Theater stuff, Xbox 360
• TV Shows (in order of importance) – The Office, 24, Lost, Grey’s Anatomy, The Unit, Family Guy, My Name is Earl. X-Files is my all-time favorite, however, along with Moonlighting.
• Music – Stuff I’ve listened to recently include Harry Connick Jr., Carbon Leaf, David Crowder Band, Damien Rice, various country radio stations. Among my all-time favorites are Harry Connick Jr., Eric Clapton, Third Day, Beastie Boys (this is by no means a complete list, I’ll update as I think of more.)
• Sports allegiances – All Detroit teams (Lions, Red Wings, Pistons, Tigers) and Michigan State University.

That’s a general overview. I’m sure I forgot things so I’ll edit this post as I go along or add this list somewhere on the site to be accessed at all times. Let me know if any of these interests match yours.

Welcome to my world

Why, you might wonder, do I need another blog? Jack’s Place is doing fine, and people love reading and finding out about what Jack is up to.

The answer is simple, I wanted to keep Jack’s Place focused on Jack-related items only. So if I see a movie I really enjoy, hear some new tech item that sounds really cool, or maybe have some cool experience, I wanted a place to talk about that, too. Enter – Your Daily Phil.

Things you can expect to read about here:

• God, and my relationship with him and how he shapes my life.
• Technology, including but not limited to computers, Xbox 360, and all things home theater.
• My work at Domino’s Pizza
• TV shows, movies, music that I enjoy
• World War II (one of my favorite hobbies)

That’s a pretty good list, but there will surely be items not on that list that come up. So read on if you’re interested, hopefully I’ll be able to keep your interest with some of my posts.