Pardon me whilst I surf

Not dead in Hollywood — "NCIS" episode Jan. 26 placed a major clue in a dead man's safe: a file of newspaper clippings.

I guess TV drama producers haven't noticed that print papers are old hat.

On the other hand, printouts from Web sites just don't have the visual impact of full-page headlines about unsolved murders.

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Galactic impressions — The pilot movie for the next "Battlestar Galactica" TV series, "Caprica," proves why BSG was such a big hit in the small pond of sci-fi audiences.

Take away the spaceships and chrome toasters, and you'd never know it was science fiction. Everybody looked, dressed, talked and behaved just like 21-century Americans. Tobacco, booze, telephones. Not to forget Starbuck's Hummer.

No space aliens to creep out the unimaginative; no "doesn't-look-like-me and my friends." Just comforting, non-threatening Americans. Mostly pink-skinned, too.

This brilliant concept got around a major roadblock: U.S. TV viewers' deep-seated fear (and hate) of people who are "different."

The first two hours of "Caprica" exhibits the same concept, which is good for drawing an audience but very bad for science fiction, in any format.

"Caprica," however, needs to lighten up, add a character or five with a passion for life. No matter the genre, character sells the show.

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Howling with laughter — A fact that Jay Leno and NBC missed but David Letterman and Conan O'Brien recognize: People who watch late-night TV have mentalities vastly different from the "lights out" at 10:30 p.m. crowd.

Laughter may be universal, but sense of humor varies from person to person.

I used to work for a man who thought 6 a.m. was an actual hour. One day, we were talking about an auto wreck that occurred at 2 a.m. on a weeknight. This morning lark could not imagine where the injured woman was going at 2 a.m. "What on earth was she doing?" is a paraphrase. Here's a sample: Buying groceries, gasoline or fast-food hamburgers, meeting friends after working the late shift, making whoopie ...

The world doesn't stop when the sky turns out the light.

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