Burglars Break Into Prison To Rob Inmates

It would make a good gag for a comedy if it weren’t actually true: thieves have broken into a Dutch prison to steal the inmates’ televisions.

Twice in the last six weeks, burglars broke into a minimum-security prison and stole TVs from cells while prisoners were on weekend furloughs, a spokesman for the justice ministry said on Wednesday.

The prison, in the town of Hoorn 42 km (26 miles) northeast of Amsterdam, is for inmates near the end of their sentences.

The facility is what the Dutch government calls a “very modestly protected environment,” where prisoners transition back into society. They are typically allowed weekend leave, which is when the burglars decided to take advantage.

The thefts happened on two separate weekends about a month apart in March and April. The ministry spokesman said it has still not been able to confirm how the burglars gained access.

A spokeswoman for the public prosecutor’s office in the region confirmed only that a break-in at the prison had been reported to police and added that no arrests had yet been made.

Legendary Songwriter Vic Mizzy Dies At 93

Vic Mizzy, a songwriter who composed the catchy themes for the 1960s sit-coms “The Addams Family” and “Green Acres,” has died. He was 93.

Mizzy died at his home in Bel Air, his manager Jonathan Wolfson said.  He said he didn’t know the cause of death.

He wrote songs that were recorded by Dean Martin, Doris Day, Perry Como and Billie Holiday in the ’40s and ’50s. His hits included “Pretty Kitty Blue eyes,” “My Dreams are Getting Better All the Time,” and “With a Hey and a Hi and a Ho-Ho-Ho.”

But his most famous work was the theme to “The Addams Family,” a tune accented by finger snaps and opening with the cleverly quirky lyrics: “They’re creepy and they’re kooky, mysterious and spooky, they’re altogether ooky: the Addams family.”

Mizzy sang the song himself and overdubbed it three times to give the impression of multiple vocalists. He also directed the title sequence where he asked actors who played members of the Addams family to snap their fingers in a bored way.

The enduring tune is often heard during sports game to rally the home team.

“He was smart enough to demand to own the song, which was unheard of at the time. So any time you go to a Lakers game and they play that song, he made money,” Wolfson said.

Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., Mizzy learned to play the piano as a child. In his teens, he teamed up with Irving Taylor and began writing songs and sketches for variety shows. They won a pair of radio contests and toured the East Coast vaudeville circuit. While served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, the pair wrote several hit songs, including “Three Little Sisters” and “Take It Easy.”

Mizzy later composed and wrote songs for television and film, most recently a song for “Spiderman 2″ which ended up on the DVD version of the movie.

He is survived by a brother, daughter and two grandchildren.

Mother’s Naked Man Episode Finally Explained

Calling all Mother lovers!  Season 4 of ‘How I Met Your Mother’  is now on DVD shelves, but before you buy, check out this exclusive commentary clip from the notorious ‘Naked Man’ episode.

Yeah, you remember him. He’s the guy who strips down spontaneously to save a bad date. It works two times out of three, he says.

In the clip, the producers chat about the inspiration behind the Naked Man (no, they did not make it up) and give pointers on what not to do if you’re considering trying it.

Today’s Top Dog

Remember Buck Bundy? He was nominated for a Blimp Award for Favorite Animal Star in 1995. His birth name was Michael and his nickname was Mike. He is a briard sheep dog who sadly passed away in 1996.

Angolan Ad Agency Gives The Simpsons An African Makeover

An Angolan advertising agency has given Homer Simpson and his family an African makeover, raising eyebrows among fans of one of America’s most cherished sitcoms.

The Simpsons, broadcast in more than 90 countries, have always been portrayed as yellow but the advertising agency, Executive Center in Luanda, decided to turn them brown in a promotional video aired by Africa’s digital satellite TV service DSTV in Angola.

Homer, Marge, Lisa and Bart are portrayed as Africans sitting on their over-used family couch. The family is shown wearing African-inspired clothing and their living room has little more than two huge loud speakers.

Even Homer’s cherished beer has been replaced by Cuca, the Budweiser of Angola.

“Couldn’t they have left Marge’s hair blue?” said Ryan, a blogger, in a post below a picture of Marge with a jet black afro hairdo.

The creative director of Executive Center, Antonio Pascoa, said: “Our goal was to adapt the satirical parody of the typical middle-class American family to Angola.

“If people don’t like it than I guess they don’t have a sense of humor big enough to enjoy the Simpsons.”

Advertisers Flee Glenn Beck Show

Glenn Beck returns to Fox News Channel after a vacation with fewer companies willing to advertise on his show than when he left, part of the fallout from calling President Barack Obama a racist.

A total of 33 Fox advertisers, including Walmart, CVS Caremark, Clorox and Sprint, directed that their commercials not air on Beck’s show, according to the companies and ColorofChange.org, a group that promotes political action among blacks and launched a campaign to get advertisers to abandon him. That’s more than a dozen more than were identified a week ago.

While it’s unclear what effect, if any, this will ultimately have on Fox and Beck, it is already making advertisers skittish about hawking their wares within the most opinionated cable TV shows.

The Clorox Co., a former Beck advertiser, now says that “we do not want to be associated with inflammatory speech used by either liberal or conservative talk show hosts.” The maker of bleach and household cleaners said in a statement that is has decided not to advertise on political talk shows.

Playboy TV Fined Over Raunchy Content

British media regulator Ofcom has fined Playboy TV 22,500 pounds for airing sexually explicit images in breach of broadcasting rules.

It said the free-to-air channel Playboy One had broadcast unencrypted raunchy, and what the watchdog deemed offensive, material until September 2008.

Ofcom had received five complaints relating to seven late night programs broadcast between September and December 2007.

Shows investigated included: “Sexy Girls Next Door,” “Sexy Urban Legends” and “Adult Stars Close-up.”

“Depending on the individual breach, the explicitness, strength and, or, sustained nature of the sexual content and language was unacceptable for broadcast on an unencrypted free-to-air channel,” Ofcom ruled.

It said Playboy TV UK/Benelux Ltd had failed to ensure adequate protection for viewers from “potentially harmful or offensive material.”

Don’t Throw Out Those Rabbit Ears Yet: Digital Television Conversion Delayed

After weeks of debate, Congress is giving consumers four more months to prepare for the upcoming transition from analog to digital television broadcasting.

The House voted 264-158 to postpone the shutdown of analog TV signals to June 12 to address growing concerns that too many Americans won’t be ready by the Feb. 17 deadline.

Nielsen estimates that more than 6.5 million U.S. households that rely on analog TV sets to pick up over-the-air broadcast signals still are not ready. People who subscribe to cable or satellite TV or have a newer TV with a digital tuner will not be affected.

ABC Looking To Remake ‘V’

Remember the mid-80′s televison series ‘V’ ?

ABC has ordered a pilot for a reimagining of the series about an invasion of earth where the aliens were originally human looking, but were later revealed to be reptilian human eaters.

Written by “4400″ co-creator Scott Peters, the new ‘V’ will center on a female Homeland Security agent.

The original series aired on NBC and starred Jane Badler (above), Marc Singer and Faye Grant.

Brisbane or Nashville – You Decide

Take a look at two of my favorite cities – where would you rather be?

Nashville, Tennessee

Brisbane, Australia