Military sitcoms shouldn't work. There's really nothing funny about war.  But the funniest thing is that they have worked, time and again. Since the mid-1950s, when television was just beginning its reign over America's living rooms, we've been treated to a combat comedy cavalcade filled with classic shows like F Troop, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., Hogan's Heroes, C.P.O. Sharkey and, of course, M*A*S*H.  All of these shows live on in our memories and in reruns, but when M*A*S*H ended in 1983, military sitcoms went with it.  Major Dad tried to revive the genre in 1989, but that proved to just be the death rattle, lasting only a handful of seasons.

FOX wants to bring the military sitcom back to the forefront with Enlisted.  It's a new century, a new America and a new generation of television viewers. Could Enlisted be the show that reintroduces the military sitcom to the public consciousness?

I really hope not.

Read more...

SUNDAY, JAN. 12 2014 >>>

1. Today is the last day to bundle up, pinch your cheeks until they glow and strap on a pair of silver skates, Hans Brinker, for a glide across the frozen expanse at Tollefson Plaza. The Franciscan Polar Plaza, located on the corner of Pacific Avenue and South 17th Street, ends today. Hit the ice from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

2. Jeffry Steele performs works by three 19th-century guitar masters - Mertz, Sor and Tarrega - with Monica Steele on piano beginning at 3 p.m. at the Antique Sandwich Company.

3. The Blues Vespers inside the Immanuel Presbyterian Church in North Tacoma will feature long-time blues band Junkyard Jane beginning at 5 p.m.

4. Wikipedia says, "Sunday night blues is an acute condition, mostly affecting nine-to-five workers and students." Wikipedia is full of crap. Sunday night blues is an awesome condition, mostly affecting a graying crowd of music lovers. For as long as we can remember, The Spar in Old Town Tacoma has hosted blues bands every Sunday night. And it doesn't matter what band is shoved into the corner, the people arrive at 7 p.m. by rote. It's a beautiful thing. Tonight, the Boneyard Preachers perform their contemporary blues at The Spar.

5. The cranksets will be rattling tonight at 2nd Cycle on Hilltop Tacoma. The non-profit bicycle co-op — with a vast collection of used parts, frames, and complete bikes — will host an all-ages hip-hop show featuring Araless & QuiVive, Nocturnal, Smear, Awall aka 2piece, Rize-Berg, Makkk Hussein, Whikid Maticuless and Eeetree beginning at 8 p.m. 

LINK: Sunday, Jan. 12 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

IT'S ON >>>

The Broncoes are playing the Chargers, and Joint Base Lewis-McChord is hosting a gathering to watch the game.

The leadership at JBLM has arranged for the Defense Centers of Excellence (DCoE) Real Warriors Campaign and the four former NFL players mentioned above to hang out at Nelsen Rec during today's playoff game. JBLM leadership and the former players will discuss common reintegration challenges facing service members as well as the resources available to help ease the transition from deployment to homecoming ... before everyone huddles around the television to watch the Broncos and Charges battle it out.

Get over there!

GRAB A CUP & READ THE MORNING REPORT FOR 1.13.14 >>>

Iran has agreed to start eliminating its stockpile of higher levels of enriched uranium beginning Jan. 20 under an interim deal announced in November.

US Army wants to transform all nine of its Stryker brigades into the heavily armored "double V-hull" (DVH) configuration.

Two rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip today, just hours ahead of former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's funeral. The projectiles did not appear to have landed in Israel.

Department of Veterans Affairs says more female veterans will suffer from the kinds of injuries that go with being a ground-pounder.

Disabled military retirees will be protected from the reduced COLA.

The Appropriations committees are set to unveil this week how they will cut roughly $25 billion from the Pentagon's budget.

Weapon sales to Iraq have become entangled in sharply escalated political debate after al-Qaida affiliated forces regained partial control of the cities of Fallujah and Ramadi.

The Arctic Passage opens challenges for the mil because it means it has a new ocean to patrol - for the first time since 1846.

The College of William & Mary and U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command reaffirmed their partnership to develop internships, research and training opportunities for both William & Mary students and TRADOC Soldiers in the field of national security.

Six15 Technologies is announcing the release of their direct view monitor for military applications called the Standard Mobile Monitor (SMM).

Watch Tina Fey and Amy Poehler's flawless, hilarious Golden Globes monologue.

Fifteen new comics. Fifteen talented creative teams. Fifteen new reasons to open a new line of credit for Image's 2014 barrage of awesome.

Mad Men returns to the tube April 13.

HBO says the upcoming fifth season of Boardwalk Empire will be the series' last.

Christine McVie retired from Fleetwood Mac more than 15 years ago, and now, she's coming back to the band.

Are you ready for some Thrones?

MONDAY, JAN. 13 2014 >>>

1. Sadly, it appears that e-mail has killed the art of the postcard (Good Lord! we sound more like our grandfathers with each passing day). It appears that we'll need to get our postcard fix elsewhere. Just in time to satisfy this itch, South Puget Sound Community College's annual "Fine Art Postcard Exhibition" returns, opening today with the theme, "It's the Water." The exhibit features 76 artists who submitted nearly 300 pieces (which means somebody had a lot of friends), using a vast range of materials.

2. The Evergreen State College Gallery kicks off the New Year with Selected Druckworks, a multi-media survey of the work of Johanna Drucker, renowned artist, writer, typographic poet, scholar and critic. This exhibit focuses on book art, a field which Drucker pioneers, showcasing typographic, literary, and visual art through a series of intricate, hand-made books. See it from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

3. Mayor Stephen Buxbaum, Comcast and the Washington State Historical Society will welcome C-SPAN to Olympia at 3 p.m. in the Washington State Historical Society's State Capital Museum Lord Mansion. C-SPAN is in Olympia to record and feature the city's history and literary life. C-SPAN representatives will reveal the stories and segments that will be explored by the national network during their week-long stay. The event will also feature a traditional Native American blessing ceremony. 

4. Dean Reichert's soulful voice carries in it the history of American popular music: There's the down-home rhythm and testifying punch of gospel-based R&B, the snarl of the blues, the mournful rumination of honky-tonk, sultry jazz and the up-front sexuality of funk. Oh, and he's a talent guitar player, too. Reichert heads to The Swiss at 8 p.m. for the Tacoma joint's longstanding blues night.

5. Want to feel like a rock star without all the pain and annoyance of having to be a  fire-breathing demon that bleeds from the mouth? Then hit Jazzbones at 9 p.m. for Rockaraoke, where you can belt out songs such as Whitesnake's "Here I Go Again," Bonnie Raitt's "I Can't Make You Love Me," Joan Jett's "I Hate Myself For Loving You" and enough INXS tunes to make you feel like you're on a reality show, and other hits from the days when you made mixtapes by recording the radio, all backed by a live band.

LINK: Monday, Jan. 13 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area