T Dog's Four Pack

The last few weeks had some noteworthy stories, and here's how it all went down: the good and the bad.

Winners

- Rick Bayless win Top Chef: Masters. Yes, our town's own Rick Bayless won Top Chef: Masters last week, just giving us more proof he's more talented than his brother, Skip.

- Project Runway. The move to Lifetime and a year off the year didn't faze this fashion-design reality program: the season premiere drew 4.2 million viewers.

- Brett Favre is back. Good news for the NFL, the networks, and especially the Minnesota Vikings - not so for the rest of us.

- Futurama voice cast signs new deal. And you were worried... that is, unless your name was Paula Abdul.

Losers

- Chicago media coverage of a Wrigley Field beer-thrower. It was the top local story on all outlets the day after it happened. And once again, all of Chicago has to stop because of some idiot misbehaving at Wrigley Field. Gee, maybe they should've gone all-out, break into local programming, and had helicopters hover over the guy until he turned himself in. This isn't L.A., you morons.

- Cartoon Network. Ratings for toons declining, and most of their new live-action series have tanked (except for Destroy Build Destroy, which was recently renewed for a second season. ) Idenity crisis?

- WWJ-TV's coverage of Detroit Lions pre-season games. Click this thread and read the reactions by Detroiters on the CBS O&O's (yes, a CBS O&O) lackluster production of a pre-season game between the Lions and the Falcons. It was so bad, airing it in black-and-white would have been an improvement. Who said the production quality of the team's games on TV would exactly match the product on the field?

- Advertisers, the Glenn Beck controversy, and television in general. After Glenn Beck called President Obama "a racist" on a Fox News show, some advertisers shifted their money out of his show on the same network after a left-leaning political group complained. Now a right-leaning political group is threatening to boycott advertisers who pull out of Beck's show.

Advertisers absolutely hate being in the middle of political controversy. It's basically the case of pleasing one group and alienating the other. And with these watchdog groups' control over the medium these days (especially after the Superbowl Halftime Show debacle a few years back), it's the television and radio industries that turns out to be the biggest losers of all, with already more than a few advertisers cutting back spending on both mediums. I don't think we need to be sold anymore Sham-Wows and Craftmatic Adjustable Beds.