Rant #1,838: Bits and Pieces

Every once in a while, some stories come my way that need to be covered, but don't really deserve a full Rant to do so, and here are a few stories that fit that bill.

Decades TV Goes Deeper Into the "Laugh-In" Vault: Yesterday, while watching the classic "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In" TV show, which is being rerun on Decades TV twice a day, I noticed that the channel, which had been showing full hour long episodes of the show from its first three seasons, had moved into the fourth season of the show, where things changed quite a bit.

Gone were the likes of Joanne Worley, Henry Gibson, Goldie Hawn and Judy Carne. These actors made up pretty much the entire backbone of the show up until that point, along with Arte Johnson and Ruth Buzzi.

During the series' fourth season, Johnson and Buzzi were still there, as was Lily Tomlin, who had come on board the previous season. AAnd my favorite, Alan Sues, was Still around.

But the show introduced a number of new actors to its cast, including Barbara Sharma, Dennis Allen and Ann Elder.

Gone was the joke wall--I had completely forgotten about this--and even the "Laugh-In" Looks at the News" segment was done quite differently.

I don't remember why Worley, Gibson and Carne left the series--Hawn, of course, went onto an Academy Award winning movie career--but the addition of new members to the cast signaled a major change in this show, which was still riding high back then.

I wonder if Decades will be showing the even rarer fifth and sixth seasons, when the cast turnover was even greater? Johnson eventually left, and the only holdover from the original cast was Buzzi.

I sure hope so! These episodes I don't think have been seen in, well, decades.

Wacky Winter Weather Continues: Here in the East, we have had a pretty odd winter thus far. Through early February, we have had snow, but it has always been followed by a warm stretch so whatever snow we have gotten hasn't lasted on the ground for very long.

This week is the perfect example of how the weather has been. It has been pretty mild here early in the week, with temperatures in the 40s. Today, it is actually supposed to go into the low 60s, but tomorrow, get this, we are supposed to have a major snowstorm. Temperatures are supposed to be halved, go into the 30s, and we are supposed to get anywhere from four to eight inches of the white stuff, followed by cold temperatures and then a warm up.

By the time I am writing this column tomorrow, we are supposed to already have a few inches on the ground, with more to come in the morning.

If we are going to get hit, let's get hit good. This way, I can stay home from work.

Sorry, at this point, that is the way I look at the whole thing.

Yankees Sign Chris Carter: The New York Yankees made an interesting move yesterday. They signed slugger Chris Carter to a one-year deal, ostensibly to play first base and designated hitter for the team from the Bronx.

Carter is an all or nothing guy. He hit 41 home runs last season, but he struck out 206 times. Yes, he went to the plate over 200 times and hit nothing but air.

The market pretty much dried up for a player like this, and with spring training beginning, this was probably the best offer he was going to get. And with him still out there, the Yankees figured that they could get him before their rivals could.

It's like you eat your dinner, love what you are eating, and finish what is on your plate, only to find out that there is enough left for another helping.

That is exactly what the Yankees did. They could not believe that Carter was still out there, and swooped down and got him before anyone else could lay claim to him.

Talk about having a full stomach!

That is it for now. Speak to you again tomorrow.