My new world order continues in the office and out. On the office side, I've begun two new things: "The HeldenFiles," bits and pieces about personalities and pop culture, which will run Sunday, Wednesday and Friday; the first one appeared yesterday. Today saw the first "Talking Points," a roundup of news and cultural items from the weekend, for Monday morning conversations at the office. Last Friday also saw the debut of "Pop Quiz," a brief daily reader question-and-answer in addition to the weekly mailbag column.

Outside the office, it was a busy weekend of chores. The biggest shock may have been getting asked if I wanted the senior citizens' discount at a local eatery. This came a couple of days after a waiter simply factored in the seniors' rate on a bill for the bride and me. Let the record show that, even though I'm eligible for the rate, I've never asked for it. Bit of a shock to have people make that assumption then. Must be that smidge of gray in my hair.

Jane Wyatt has passed. You can find an obituary here. She had a career of considerable merit in TV alone, from "Father Knows Best" to "Star Trek" to "St. Elsewhere." And while people like to lump "Father Knows Best" in with syrupy family comedies of the '50s and '60s, the show had moments of real grit.

I'm still enjoying "The Amazing Race" — which I think is the only thing the bride and I managed to watch in real time over the weekend — and especially liked Sunday's episode. One of the better messages in this season has been the way contestants from different backgrounds have bonded. The Cho brothers took that dangerously far last night when they helped the Kentuckys get a free shot at the fast forward — since in doing so the Chos risked their own survival. So it was great to see that their good deed did not lead to their elimination. And I had had enough of Peter and Sarah — well, of Peter anyway — that I didn't lament their elimination. Also nice to see at the end that Sarah had pretty well figured out Peter.

After dealing with years of patchwork "best-ofs," this is really good news, notwithstanding the misspelling of Jane Curtin's name:

SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON

Street Date: 12/5
Price: $69.98

Just in time for the holidays, the eight-disc set comes in specially designed gift packaging with a limited-edition collectible book, audition footage and cast interview that aired the day before the first show!

Includes Limited Edition Photo Book with Rare SNL Photos of the Cast and Lorne Michaels (32-pages)

Overview: Nicknamed the "Not Ready for Primetime Players," the original cast of Saturday Night Live ignited a comedy revolution with their mix of irreverent characters and satirical impressions of political figures and pop culture icons.

From the premiere of this groundbreaking sketch comedy show on October 11, 1975, live from historical Studio 8H in New York City's Rockefeller Center, Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Jane Curtain, Chevy Chase, Garrett Morris, Laraine Newman, and Gilda Radner launched themselves into instant stardom and were often referred to as "The Beatles of Comedy."

Created by Lorne Michaels over three decades ago, few other shows have had the cultural impact and relevance of Saturday Night Live.

Nowhere else can you see the complete first season of SNL, featuring hosts George Carlin, Rob Reiner, Lily Tomlin, Richard Pryor, Elliott Gould, Candace Bergen, or original musical performances by Simon & Garfunkle, ABBA, Patti Smith, Jimmy Cliff, and Carly Simon. And if you're curious as to how the original cast was hired, check out the DVD bonus features that include the screen tests of each performer.

More about NBC's supposed plan to turn the 8 p.m. hour into a cheap reality zone, this with NBC Entertainment President Kevin Reilly quoted in Daily Variety:

Reilly also downplayed earlier statements by NBC U TV honcho Jeff Zucker that the net would get out of the scripted game altogether in the 8 p.m. hour. For one thing, that would mean moving "My Name Is Earl" and "The Office" out of their Thursday night slots, which Reilly isn't prepared to do.

"You can't be exclusive with reality at 8," he told a crowd gathered in Beverly Hills at the Hollywood Radio and TV Society luncheon. "You have to be in the scripted business. It's not an absolute."

Some of you may have noticed last night that the name on this blog as changed to "The HeldenFiles Online." Although I wrote about things other than TV under the old "Beacon TV" name, the change aims to make clearer that the blog will range wide on cultural issues. ("Kuo Time," below, is one example.) It's also meant to make this a companion to the print version of "The HeldenFiles," a column about people in the news that will start in the Beacon Journal on Sunday.

I have some movie material in today's Beacon Journal, including a review of "Flags of Our Fathers," a column about "Shortbus" and changing limits on content and a review of "Shortbus."  It's been a long time since I reviewed movies regularly, and I admit to feeling a little rusty doing it. But I hope to get those writing muscles in shape.

Last night and this morning, I watched "The Office" and "My Name Is Earl." I remain in awe of the "The Office," and keep thinking about all the gems. Stanley and the pretzel (and Stanley bonding with Michael), Dwight's attempt to mentor Ryan, Michael's sugar high and that heartbreaking Jim/Pam phone chat. And Moe in his fear sweatshirt. And the coffin. The squeaky-chair fight. (I think there have been chair fights in every place I've worked.)

"Earl" was good, though not as good as "The Office." We could see the old singer/old mom hookup from a long way off. But it still had its own nice moments — like Joy's community service and Randy with the zippers.

The bride and I had a double feature of "Grey's Anatomy" tonight, finally catching the episode from a week ago, followed by tonight's. Regular readers here know I've been pretty obsessive about the show. But right now I'm not feeling the love for it much.

I'll make my peace with the Izzie thing. I still don't think she should be back in that hospital, and that her psychotic episode about Denny should not remotely be reduced to "a mistake." But it's been painfully clear that the show is determined to put her back in the middle of things, so I'll try to move on — as annoying as that freakin' check is. (Speaking of which: Given the pink ribbon and other paraphernalia around the check on the refrigerator, shouldn't it be obvious what Izzie should give the money to?)

So, things I liked tonight. Uh, well. I liked that McSteamy's charms diminish whenever he gets verbal, that both Addison and Callie took him to bed but preferred that he not talk. I like the way James Pickens Jr. adds to the sense that the Chief is the only sane person currently working in the hospital. Burke broods well, although it feels as if he gets through entire episodes on four or five words; but the speech to Izzie was, well, fine.

Anything else? Probably not. Things I didn't like: Yet another attempt to justify McDreamy's being judgmental about Addison and McSteamy, thoroughly unconvincing. The M&M session. The check. Bailey going soft. Bailey's takedown of the nasty doctor being less than satisfying. Alex going soft. O'Malley's general idiocy about Callie. The bed-hopping. Stoned Meredith. The entangled couple — way too David E. Kelley, which gets to why the show is annoying me.

It's getting too showy, and the characters don't feel consistent; I don't mean I want them to act the same way all the time, I mean that I want to feel as if their behavior is consistent with how I understand them overall. Too often they're being moved around for the sake of a story line. The show used to be better than that.

For the last several days we've been hearing about David Kuo, once the director of faith-based initiatives for President Bush, who has described in some detail his disenchantment with the Bush administration.

In an excerpt from his new book in Time magazine, Kuo said: "George W. Bush, the man, is a person of profound faith and deep compassion for those who suffer. But President George W. Bush is a politician and is ultimately no different from any other politician, content to use religion for electoral gain more than for good works."

But even as people have huffed and puffed about this, I've asked myself, haven't we heard this before? Consider this line: "If we are going to engage in political power, we must understand that politicians are often more interested in keeping power than they are in standing up for principle."

That's from "Blinded by Might," a 1999 book by Cal Thomas and Ed Dobson, about the perils of pursuing Christian causes in the political arena. Dobson, a pastor and former assistant to Jerry Falwell, wrote that from experience he had learned that the people of the Religious Right "are in danger of substituting our spiritual authority (the power to change lives and culture) for political authority (a lesser power that cannot change a single life)."

In the 1996 book "With God on Our Side," a companion to the PBS series of the same name, William Martin chronicled evangelical Christians' previous disenchantment with politicians, such as Jimmy Carter; Tim LaHaye said after a disastrous meeting with Carter that "we had a man in the White House who professed to be a Christian, but didn't understand how un-Christian his administration was." But Ronald Reagan wasn't much better for people in the movement.

I can't say why Kuo, or anyone else with his point of view, thought anything could be better with W. And that's not just about religion. Getting close to politics in any form can twist someone who's idealistic about any issue. You'll turn suspicious, cynical and depressed regardless of the issue, regardless of who's in power; idealism is rarely part of the political equation.

From a press release about the Oct. 23 episode of "Two and a Half Men":

If there's still any misconception that just because there's a kid on the show, it's a "family" show, this episode should easily clear that up.

You may already have seen the reports that NBC Universal is slashing its budget, cutting jobs and reorganizing. But here's the scary part of the story, from today's Wall Street Journal

Among NBC Universal's most significant moves is its decision to stop scheduling expensive dramas and comedies during the 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. time slot. … Jeff Zucker, chief executive of NBC Universal's television group, said … it will concentrate on lower-cost programming. Mr. Zucker said advertiser interest isn't high enough to justify spending on scripted shows.

For instance, viewers in coming seasons might see a game show such as "Deal or No Deal" at 8 p.m. on Tuesday instead of "Friday Night Lights," a drama that currently occupies the slot. The financial payoff could be significant for the network: Mr. Zucker said "Deal or No Deal" costs $1.1 million an episode, while "Friday Night Lights" costs $2.6 million an episode.

Oh, so many things to say here.

Starting with, if NBC had a show with "Friends"-level ratings, it would have no problem paying heavy freight and putting it at 8 p.m. — because the cost would be covered and then some by advertisers. But NBC is having a tough time finding those hits right now, and Zucker's boss is obviously saying that he had better cut costs until the hits come along. To which Zucker apparently replied, "Thank you, sir, may I have another?"

Also, what's being presented as a philosophical change at NBC is just another way of saying what TV programmers have known for years: If you have big schedule problems, then reality can provide a quick, cheap fix. Hence "Deal or No Deal" and "1 Vs. 100."  Of course, what's also known is that reality concepts can burn out even more quickly than a scripted hit. (Can you say "Joe Millionaire"? Or, closer to NBC's home, "The Apprentice"?) So you need to keep coming up with good new reality ideas or you end up with, well, "The Apprentice: Martha Stewart."

Besides, even though I'll watch "Deal or No Deal" from time to time, "Friday Night Lights" is a whole lot better. Which makes this whole change at NBC even funnier in the context of this week's "Studio 60." Remember Amanda Peet rejecting a sleazy reality show and getting backed up by the big boss? She sure doesn't work for a real network.

If you stumble across this, it's a test of a new blog format that may succeed my current "Beacon TV" (soon to be renamed "The HeldenFiles Online"). I'll see be posting to the previous blog for the time being, so don't change your bookmark. In fact, even though the name is changing, we'll keep the same URL so you don't have to re-bookmark. Or whatever the right word is for that.

But if you do find this, drop me an e-mail at rheldenfels@thebeaconjournal.com.

Last night the bride and I went to the Students Against Multiple Sclerosis lip-synching fund-raiser over at the University of Akron. I hope someone gets YouTube a video of Brian Dominguez's splendid performance. But, once again, it meant a night of delayed viewing. We checked out the "Dancing With the Stars" results (which had no one bounced, since the show isn't about to give up a week of ratings just because Sara Evans's divorce). The morning brought "Lost" and, from even farther back, "Veronica Mars."

"Mars" continues to delight. Nice to see Weevil back. The faster pace of the mysteries is really noticeable; it even makes me a little antsy because things are unfolding so quickly. And it had the best line I expect to hear on any show this week: "I always feel bad about those poor donkeys."

Had a long discussion at lunch with a couple of co-workers about "Lost," and their dissatisfaction with the way the overall plot is not moving along very quickly. I've expressed objections about that in the past, and have tried to take the advice of my colleague Alan Sepinwall — that the show will never resolve everything, so you might as well just enjoy the ride. And I still manage to do that somewhat; enjoyed watching Sawyer a week ago, and I knew Hurley's first word last night would be "Dude," and was entertained by the return of Boone.

I have no idea what's really going on, of course, and have been making mental lists of questions: Why was Desmond unclothed and Locke not, how exactly did they get out of the hatch, is the crater really from the implosion or a contrivance of forces at large, did we really need to bring back the polar bear … I'm not expecting answers, though.

Oh, and as someone just reminded me, how bogus was the introduction of two new characters as if they've been around the whole time?