As we all know you can find reviews all over the web. A well written review can be very helpful and informative. I imagine we’re not far from seeing reviews move to television, on an all review channel. Imagine being able to turn on your television and see any type of review you want, from antiperspirant reviews to Patentrim reviews to zipper reviews. I think that type of channel would do pretty well.

DNA Roots is a site that allows visitors to have their DNA tested in order to learn more about their ancestry DNA. I think it’d be great, for many reasons, if we all had our DNA tested at birth. Besides what that would do for out legal and health care systems, imagine what it could do for people researching their family. How cool would it be if you could just turn on a DNA channel on television and through use of pictures and a touch screen automatically learn more about your family tree!

More and more doctor’s waiting rooms seem to have nice flat panel televisions in them nowadays. I’m all for it, after all most of the time the office has scheduled so poorly that you end up having to wait. The offices seem to have stuck with the discount furniture though. They’re probably afraid if they had comfy furniture we’d all take naps or move in. Does your doctor’s office have a television?

Did you ever notice that when we see pictures of actors and actresses they always look like they’ve got terrific skin? I’m guessing that in a number of cases makeup and airbrushing is responsible for that. But did you ever wonder how they go about making a character in a movie or tv show look like they have acne? I’m sure it’s done in makeup, but I wondered how they do it. I mean, how does one construct a fake pimple?

I don’t mean a channel selling diet pills or anything like that. I mean a channel that dieters could use for support, inspiration and instruction. It could have healthy cooking shows, exercise shows, reality shows and other similar shows. Maybe someone could even create a diet game show, guessing caloric values or something. I find it difficult to believe that noone’s ever thought of this. So, have any of you ever seen a diet channel on television anywhere?

You’ve probably seen the use of medical diagnostics on tv shows like Law and Order and House, as well as on other shows including soap operas. In this case I’m referring to a diagnostic imaging test called a cat scan. They never show a character having any type of reaction to the contrast that is sometimes injected for that test. Some normal reactions to this contrast include experiencing a funny taste, a warm flush of the face or body, sensation in the bladder and nausea. Can you imagine the character of Nikolas Cassadine on General Hospital thinking that he peed on the table when he recently went through all of that testing?  Maybe they don’t mention it because they’re afraid viewers will be distracted from the storyline or something.

I read this morning that Kelsey Grammer had a mild heart attack this past weekend. The story I read on MSNBC said that Kelsey was on a paddle boat ride with his wife near their home in Kona, Hawaii when the symptoms began. He went right to the hospital and is now home again recovering. I loved him in Frasier and Cheers. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to see his new series this season, Back To You, and may not because he announced in mid May that Fox had canceled the show. Get well Kelsey!

My son is twelve and a half. He’s growing up faster than I care for him to do. Besides being in the midst of a monstrous growth spurt for a couple of months now, he’s dealing with typical pre-teen issues. Adolescence. Things like girls, telephones, tv ratings and skin problems. Like many kids, he enjoys television. We have shows blocked off by rating, and I know what channels and shows he watches. He’s apparently been seeing a lot of acne solutions advertised and he hasn’t figured out yet that tv commercials often don’t represent the truth. One product he really wants me to get for him is Proactiv, because he keeps seeing the commercials.  I’m very hesitant to buy it because it’s pretty expensive and I’m skeptical. If any of you have personally used Proactiv I would appreciate hearing about if it worked or not.

Oprah is usually on in the afternoons at 4pm. This afternoon Oprah had an audience of just men and after opening the show she handed hosting responsibilities over to Dr Oz and left the stage. She said she wanted to have a show just for men with men so they could all ask any personal health questions they had. Well I wasn’t sure how this would go but I have to say I watched the entire hour and found Dr Oz to be pleasant, knowledgeable and funny, and a pretty good host. I wondered if this was some sort of dry run, if maybe she was considering somehow launching Dr Oz as she launched Dr Phil. He used a cucumber and a sock to simulate a penis when discussing circumcision. The funniest moment for me was when he asked a man to hold a pair of testicles and when the man grabbed them he said “no, gently, he just broke the balls”. If by some chance Dr Oz did get his show I think he’d gain a nice audience. Whatever the reason Oprah truly had him on there, it was a good show.

I have noticed that there are a lot of fitness shows on in the early morning. There must easily be five channels offering different types of exercise programs, none of which seem to use exercise equipment. I started wondering why they don’t scatter the times these programs are broadcast throughout the day, so more people would be able to benefit from them. What about people that don’t have a vcr or Tivo so they can’t record it? What about the people that work? Aren’t these shows limiting their own potential audience by only airing in one slot? They should do like some of the other shows do, broadcast once during the day and rebroadcast the same episode once during the evening. What do you think? Do you ever exercise to one of these tv programs?