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As I was mindlessly channel surfing the other night, I came across an ABC reality show called Shark Tank, where millionaire moguls bid on burgeoning entrepreneur’s business ideas. While I found the show mildly amusing, what stuck with me afterwards was the cool show logo featuring skyscrapers and sharks as seen looking up from underneath.

Then I remembered a certain new Threadless t-shirt I had seen recently called Solitary Dream Pt2 by Budi Satria Kwan, which also features skyscrapers and sharks. And while I usually prefer t-shirts with dinosaurs on them, I did plan on purchasing one for myself.

Note any resemblance between the two?

Shark t-shirt vs. Shark Tank

Not only do both designs consist of skyscrapers and sharks as seen from underneath looking up, but they both similarly feature a sun or light source in the upper righthand corner.

I mean, it all could be a gigantic coincidence, especially considering not that many people actually watch (or have even heard of) ABC’s Shark Tank.

But what if Budi Kwan saw the Shark Tank logo and decided to make a t-shirt design based off of it?

Then why stop there? I would like to suggest his next shirt design come from I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Outta Here!:

I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Outta Here!

Oddville, MTV ran one season on MTV in 1997.

Every once in a while, I daydream back to a time when MTV didn’t just show music videos, but rather experimented with original talk show programming.

And while I see Tom Green way too much these days to try to limit him to only daydreams, there was a show that pops up from time to time in those aforementioned daydreams: a little show I like to call Oddville, MTV.

Oddville, MTV (1997) was a variety talk show that originated on NYC public access as a show called Beyond Vaudeville (1986-96) and was hosted by Frank Hope (Rich Brown).

The original show featured New York City eccentrics and other real life characters who came on to showcase their “unique” talents. When it was brought to MTV, it went on to include celebrities and eccentric people with special talents from all over the place. Although to be fair, the level of the guests’ talents varied widely — from a nose hummer to a roller skating grandmother to a guy with a third nipple to a bilingual midget.

Frank always had a sidekick named David Greene who would always remain silent throughout the show, never reacting to any of the weird stuff going on in front of him, and sometimes just resembling someone in a catatonic state. Oddville also had a cute announcer named Melissa Gabriel who provided someone that Frank could talk to during the show.

Oh yeah, and Joey the Dancing Monkey.

Here’s how a typical interview segment went on the show, this one featuring the WWE’s Sunny:

Celebrity guests included Kathy Griffin, Blink 182 (one of their first TV performances), Jessica Biel, Reel Big Fish, Sugar Ray, Stephen Baldwin, Kenan and Kel promoting their smash-hit Good Burger, and the U.S. television broadcast debut of a three-brother band known as Hanson:

Whereas I always enjoyed the show for its cheese factor, obviously some people didn’t agree, since the show only lasted one season (episode guide) and inspired negative reviews from viewers like this one:

When I watched the show on MTV, all I saw was the same boring things. There was a host who always acted in a nervous manner, a guy who just sat there and didn’t talk, pointless interviews (the interviews weren’t even interesting because they seemed to be so short), and a bunch of losers being brought out to showcase their talent. I remember seeing a guy do bad impersonations of celebrities while he was laying down on the floor.

But anyway, it’s nice to daydream sometimes and remember a simpler time, like 1997, where bands like the Bloodhound Gang would actually fit in somewhere when performing their song “Why is Everybody Always Picking On Me,” while a dancing monkey and a cute announcer would dance around to the song, as a catatonic co-host and nervous show host looked on:

That was Oddville, MTV.

RELATED: Check out the original 1997 CNN article about the show: ‘Oddville, MTV’ shows off weird things people can do

Sometimes when I walk by my dad sitting on the couch watching TV, I wish he had the game on.

Or maybe more accurately, I wish he called in to me from the other room and asked me if I was going to watch the World Series with him.

Dad and me at the last game at Shea Stadium.

Its a strange position to be in. I mean, my dad is who originally got me into baseball when I was 5.

It was a sunny afternoon in 1985, the Mets were taking on the Cubs, and I was sitting in the upper deck “red seats” at Shea Stadium as airplanes roared overhead.

He could have taken me to a movie. He could have taken me to the local park and pushed me on the swings. But he decided to take me to a baseball game at the age of 5 and that decision has shaped many aspects of my life ever since.

Not only did that $9 ticket and hot dog experience give me an amazing baseball team to root for over all these years in the Mets, but it gave me something I thought would be a common connection between me and my dad.

But that connection isn’t here in 2009 and I don’t know why.

That’s not to say my dad and I don’t discuss baseball. I’ve given him World Series updates throughout the Fall Classic and Mets injury updates throughout the 2009 season. But that’s not the same as experiencing the ups and downs of a game and bonding over trade rumors and the latest stats.

Upper deck seats, 2009.

I don’t really take all of this personally — my dad really doesn’t follow any sports these days. And maybe he never really did. Instead, maybe that day in the mid-80′s wasn’t a vote for baseball, but rather a vote for father-son bonding. I don’t really know, but the effect it had on me is evident in the license plate frame on my car and the multi-pack of Mets tickets I buy and use each season and the drive to visit Cooperstown and the Baseball Hall of Fame, which I finally accomplished with Melissa at the beginning of October.

It made me a diehard Mets fan — I bleed orange and blue — and I just don’t understand why my dad doesn’t also.

Its not like we don’t have things that we bond over. We can talk Obama and politics like nobodies business. Or bring up a sociological principle evident in today’s society and we’re off running, often talking for hours. Bring up the economy and the pros and cons of the death tax, the rise and the fall of the stock market, and the strength of the dollar are sure to follow. And there are other things we both seem to “get” enough to discuss.

Its just that none of these things are baseball. None of them involve rooting on a team through a 162 game season. None of them involve believing in something so much that not making the playoffs makes you cry.

Goodbye Shea... Thank you!

I know other people’s fathers watch every baseball game they can, the big game every Sunday, and any other assortment of sports events that come along. They curse at the television, throw back a couple beers, and quote baseball history like the gospel.

So yeah, sometimes I wish my dad had the game on.

But maybe, just maybe, our shared baseball experience almost 25 years ago was supposed to be only an example of how much my dad loves me.

And baseball is supposed to be a gift I share and enjoy with others in my life to show them how much I love them. Hey, I like the sound of that.

It sure could have been worse though… he could have taken me to a *gasp* Yankees game all those years ago.

NBC has done it again… cancelled a critically-acclaimed drama with a good fan following. The network announced the other day that Southland, which had just five weeks ago been given a second season run, would be cancelled before premiering this season.

The reason: the John Wells (“ER”) produced show has a “dark tone” that wasn’t suitable for the 9′o’clock time slot. What does NBC have on in the 10pm slot? Oh right, 5 nights on the Jay Leno Show, which happens to be bleeding viewers left and right these days, as Jay Leno struggles to get into a groove with his new digs.

The cancellation of Southland brings back all the bad feelings towards NBC that I had when they cancelled The Black Donnelly’s, another critically-acclaimed drama that was beginning to establish a solid fan base, but never got the chance. Starring Olivia Wilde (“House“), the show about an Irish crime family brought a fresh perspective to primetime crime dramas and was the subject of constant discussion and fan promotion on the Internet.

But all of that wasn’t good enough and NBC cancelled the show over the objections of fans and critics alike.

And let’s not forget the Patricia Arquette drama, Medium, which NBC showed to good ratings for years, but then abruptly cancelled. Only to see CBS purchase to solidify its Friday night schedule between Ghost Whisperer and Numbers.

And now it has happened again, although the situation with Southland, a fresh-faced and gritty cop drama staring Benjamin McKenzie, is further complicated by the face that NBC’s reason for cancelling it is NBC’s fault to begin with… that it’s “dark tone” should be shown later on in the night at 10pm. Of course, that’s exactly where NBC stuck the Jay Leno Show EVERY night of the week, preventing them from showing ANY shows with a “dark tone,” viewers would be led to believe.

Except that when you look at other shows on NBC that one might consider to have a dark tone, like Law & Order: Special Victims’ Unit or even the original Law & Order, which NBC scheduled at 9pm and 8pm respectively this season. Are those shows less dark than Southland? They certainly are capable of carrying the same amount of gun use and violence, if losing a bit of their grityness over the years, and NBC hasn’t used the 10pm time slot excuse to pull or otherwise shift the timeslots of those shows, have they?

Upon further review, the cancellation of Southland really comes down to a money play by NBC, steadily running as the fourth-place network these days. Stone Philips’ Dateline is currently in the 9pm slot that was supposed to become home to Southland and has been carrying ratings similar to those of the cop drama’s performance last season.

So why has NBC chosen not to follow their plan if it would get them similarly good ratings with a critically-acclaimed cop drama with a proven ratings past? Well, Southland is produced by Warner Brothers Studios, which would require NBC to pay some hefty licensing fees as part of airing the show.

Basically NBC decided that they’d rather pay less for similiar ratings, damn what the fans of the show think and damn what the critics say.

Not only should NBC be arrested for such a selfish decision, but they deserve the reduced ratings they will get because of it. The much-younger skewing demographics for Southland will not be tuning in for Dateline and will look for another show to follow, preferably on a network not known for cancelling popular shows on their updraft.

At 9pm on Friday night, that might very ironically turn out to be CBS’ Medium. Or maybe ABC’s Ugly Betty. Or the additional viewers may flock to FOX’s Dollhouse, giving the struggling drama the jolt in viewership it might need to be renewed.

Maybe NBC is happy with it’s dueling hospital dramas the network desperately clung too in the absense of John Wells’ ER going off the air. Mercy and Trauma both seem promising scripted vehicles, if not both carrying the same excitement factor. But two hospital dramas on the same network isn’t likely to work for very long. I wonder if NBC realizes that.

Either way, NBC continues in it’s tradition of making stupid decisions that all but guarantee it staying in fourth place. And even Jay Leno can’t help them with that.

RELATED: Southland’s Michael Cudlitz Will Never Work for NBC Again (NY Mag)

ALSO: Solving NBC’s 10PM Problem: Talib Morgan thinks NBC’s best bet is to really mix up their scheduling, with a 12-minute drama.