My sources tell me that NBC did not pick up the pilot for the U.S. version of Top Gear.  I think that's a grievous mistake the network has made, and one that they will regret.  I don't mean that as a threat in any way, shape, manner, or form, I just think that it was a bad decision.  Seriously.  I could have hosted it, and I would have worked for scale.  Scale I tell you, scale!  I guess I can take a Quantum of Solace from the fact that it's not just me who isn't hosting a U.S. version of Top Gear, no one is.

Sunday, May 18:

8:00 - 9:00PM

Nature – "Rhinoceros”.  A wise man once said, "The rhino and I know the pain of back bustin' like the farmer knows the pain of his pickup truck rustin'."  No, that's not right, that was the wino, not the rhino.  Like the wino, the rhino drinks, but the rhino mainly drinks water, and, three rhino species on the brink of extinction.

9:00 – 11:00PM

Masterpiece – "Cranford – Episode 3". This is part two of a three part series and based on the writing of Elizabeth Gaskell.  Better than that though, it's about a small, little, tiny, miniature, if you will, English village which, for some reason, "comes to life with gossip, parties, romances, sudden death, bankruptcy, and the railroad.

Monday, May 19:

8:00 - 9:00PM

Antiques Roadshow  – "Las Vegas (Hour Two)".  I've been to Vegas… several times.  It's always new and different (not necessarily better, but possibly).  I am shocked to think that the series could find much that is old there, at least unless they redefine "old" to mean "pre-Sinatra." 

9:00 – 11:30PM

American Experience – "FDR 'The Grandest Job in the World'/'The Juggler'".  From boy to President, FDR's life was not an easy one.  We all have our hardships, but FDR's get chronicled in this multi-hour American Experience.  He did some incredible things in his time, but what kind of person was he?

Tuesday, May 20:

8:00 - 9:00PM

Nova  – “Lord of the Ants”.   I wonder if they can Riverdance, or, at the very least, riverbed dance.  Okay, quite honestly, this has nothing to do with dancing, except in the way that dancing relates to sociobiology.  That's because this "lord" is E.O. Wilson who studied and ants and developed the notion of sociobiology.