T Dog's Four pack - The Santa edition

Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Everyone! Terry Claus is here to deliver some goodies to the good little children... and coal to those who are not-so-good! Who won and who lost...

Gifts under the tree

- The Doctors. Christmas came early for the one hour medical talk show strip with seasons three and four cleared in 85 percent of the country. 


- Entertainment Magazines. A note of thank you from Tiger Woods, whose sexcapades have boosted ratings for syndicated news magazines, E!, and sleazy tabloid websites galore. To thank them, Tiger sent all female reporters at those shows a bouquet of flowers - and a card urging them to come to his estate in Orlando and "Party With the Tiger."

Personally, I'm glad Mr. High and Mighty finally got pulled down, aren't you? Yours truly never really liked him.

- Dexter. The season finale of the hour-long psychodrama recently gave Showtime its highest ratings in the history of the premium channel. You don't want to see him in a Santa Claus suit. Trust me.

- Stan Lee. A special gift for Marvel Comic fans this Saturday: Stan Lee, the legendary Marvel icon, will voice a character in a new episode of The Super Hero Squad Show on Cartoon Network airing at 6:30 p.m. (CT) . In the story, Lee voices the mayor of Super Hero City in a plot that can be described as very Chicago-like when it comes to politics (special thanks to ComicFanBoyz for the Twitter post)

Coal in their stockings:

- The Survivor Screwjob. First, there was the Montreal Screwjob. Then the Dancing With The Stars Screwjob. And now, we have the Survivor Screwjob. The jury picked Natalie White as the winner of Survivor: Samoa - never mind Russell Hentz (annoying as he was, but entertaining to watch) was the best player in the show all season. You think Natalie corralled Todd Stroger, Mayor Daley, and Governor Roddy to convince the jury (with dolla, dolla bills y'all) to decide the winner "The Chicago Way". Somewhere, Vince McMahon, Donny Osmond, and a lot of machine politicians are smiling.


- The Chicago Bears and Chicago Bulls. Being in this part of the column says it all.


- Jennifer Hudson: I'll Be Home For Christmas. Unfortunately, our town's woes even extended to Jennifer Hudson, whose Chicago-filmed special did not generate any interest when it aired on December 7. The special only drew five million viewers for ABC (which hardly promoted the special), finishing a distant fourth in its time period and even finished behind The Jay Leno Show in adults 18-49. Maybe our town should step out of the national spotlight for awhile...


- Citadel and NextMedia file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy - within 48 hours of one another. Overspend, overspend, overspend so we can get big, bigger, and even more bigger. File for Chapter 11, schuck and jive to the bankruptcy judge, the key personnel who f***ed up the stations get to keep their jobs while laying off everyone else and its back to normal in a year or two. Worked for Tribune, didn't it?

In Memoriam

- Brittany Murphy died on Sunday due to natural causes at the age of 32. Murphy was best known as the voice of Luanne Platter on King of the Hill, but also appeared in the films Just Married, 8 Mile, Clueless, and The Dead Girl. She also provided voices to characters in the movie Happy Feet. Other television credits included Fraiser, Blossom, Almost Home, and Murphy Brown.