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I was 21 when I first really took a liking to Jackson Browne. This had a lot to do with sentimental attachment as my boyfriend at the time would play “The Pretender” quite a bit. Truth is he played a lot of different music, but this was the only actual song I took a liking to and hence the only song we listened to. I attribute my affection for this song to my free-spirited nature or rather my desire to be free-spirited, and mostly because it touched upon a lot of our concerns/apprehensions about graduating and entering into the real world and having to carve a niche for ourselves. At its core the song is about not “selling out” and staying true to whatever it is that inspires you. At present I'm starting to question where exactly my inspiration to write the following paragraph will come from so bear with me as I make the connection between song and show.

It is my prediction that NBC will be uttering the refrain “Could have been a contender” later this month when their lawsuits against FOX end up being thrown out of court or defeated and they are left with a less than advantageous edge on the competition. What all these lawsuits really do on a public viewing scale is lessen our confidence in the quality of a show. Why resort to these tactics if you are Mark Burnett, one of the most powerful It-men in television today? For someone who has a proven track record in producing original, higher quality programming to reduce himself to taking part in legal motions that serve to discredit a lesser competitor seems to reek of an non-assured man on the brink of debuting a show he is at best hesitant about. When a major network allocates precious resources into filing motions that their competitor’s show was “produced on a rushed a frenzied basis” in an attempt to beat NBC to the air, I can only smell a rat. (A huge fat rat, the kind that scurry along subway tracks and you can’t differentiate from the actual maze of tracks cause it’s all just one big mess)

So what’s the difference in the shows? From my knowledge, not too much aside from FOX sporting eye candy (Oscar de la Hoya) and a better prize (a contract with Oscar de la Hoya’s company and a World Boxing Organization title fight). “The Contender” is awarding a $1 million prize and a shot at a boxing career. Not sure what “a shot at a boxing career” entails. Maybe NBC should work on pouring the $$ and resources into ironing out details like this and focusing on advertising a bit more. Then again, with shows like these it’s all about the commercials (and competing for more advertising money). In the end I predict a TKO victory in 3 rounds. In an unanticipated twist, an upset of sorts will take place and neither side will win. A celebrity death match will feature Suzanne Somers on top delivering a crushing blow to both teams by using her ThighMaster to suck all the common sense out of them. Nothing oozes out as there is no actual sign of substance.

With NBC on the brink of airing what should be a no-brainer second season hit of "The Apprentice" (which I will also be covering), the lawsuits couldn't have come at a more unfortunate time as I think in the end they may serve to undermine the popularity and publicity of what was a sure-fire hit last season. What's that they say about timing being everything? How about "Even bad press is good press"? Be very weary of the last saying, it ain’t.