Fox hopes earlier start will juice All-Star ratings

You won't have to put the kiddies to bed before Major League Baseball's All-Star game this July.

After years of criticism over the later and later times of the mid-season classic, Fox will start this year's game just before 8 p.m. The network made the announcement at its fall schedule presentation to advertisers in New York on Monday.

The new 7:57 p.m. start time -- why they couldn't make it 7:56 p.m. is beyond us -- is 30 to 45 minutes earlier than in recent years and should score points with families and advertisers, although there might be some grumbling on the West Coast since the opening pitch will now be before 5 p.m.

Ratings for the game have been on the decline for several years despite efforts to make the game more meaningful by attaching home field advantage for the World Series to the winning league of the game.

-- Joe Flint

Photo: The July 15, 2008, opening ceremonies for the 79th Major League Baseball All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium. Credit: Keyur Khamar / Bloomberg News

Watcher chat: Answering your questions and rantin' about stuff

Below is the latest Watcher chat, in which I answer your questions and also air some rants and opinions and so forth. Many thanks to Kevin Pang for producing, filming and editing this chat. 

Nobody wants to watch an entire half-hour of me (least of all me). So if you only want to see certain questions answered, here's the breakdown of what gets answered when:

First question: "Chuck" (feel free to skip past this, it was recorded before the "Chuck" renewal news came down). Minute 1:14: What's up with Season 3 of "Mad Men"?Minute 2:25: What am I hearing about pilots for fall?Minute 3:33: What's coming up this summer?Minute 4:48: What's up with USA's "Royal Pains"? Minute 6:20: What do I think of "The Tudors"?Minute 7:18: Mo Rant No. 1: In which I ramble on about why TV writers should stop teasing couples getting together with various fake, ghostly or "oh, it didn't actually happen" sex and other shenanigans. And why "The Offices" has proved that getting a couple together is all in the execution and not necessarily a bad thing, and why the stupid "Moonlighting" rule (i.e., it's bad for a show if a couple gets together) should just be killed once and for all. Beware: I touch on the finales of "Bones," "The Office" "House," especially a certain Jim-Pam development on "The Office."Minute 11:32: Will we see "Swingtown" again?Minute 11:45: Do I think "Star Trek" will be revived again as a TV show? (FYI, in this bit I talk about my reaction to J.J. Abrams' "Star Trek" film a little bit. I would say it's not really a spoilery discussion of the film, maybe just a little teeny bit spoilery, but if you're 100 percent anti-spoiler regarding that film, skip this part.). Minute 14:16: What'll happen in Season 5 of "Supernatural"? Not a spoilery answer. Why you should be watching this show. Mo Rant No. 2 (but a happy rant!) Minute 15:50: What do I think of "Party Down"? Where can someone watch it other than on Starz? Will Jane Lynch be back? Minute 18:13: Any guesses as to what will happen in the final season of "Lost"? No spoilers because I don't know, but I talk about the Season 5 finale here. And I bring up the issue that I think will affect the final season the most. Minute 21:44: What happens to pilots that don't get picked up? In this bit, I discuss "Virtuality," a Fox pilot from "Battlestar's" Ronald D. Moore and Michael Taylor that will be burned off July 4. Minute 23:46: What do I think of "Parks and Recreation's" season finale. When this was recorded, I had not seen that finale yet. Now I have seen that episode. I do think it was much better than anything else the show did during its first season. I'm still not sure it will work long-term, but the finale was undoubtedly an improvement on what came before. Minute 25:07: Will CBS pick up the next season of "Flashpoint"? Minute 25:20: What's with all the hallucinations/dreams/amnesia/imaginary sex on TV shows lately? Mo Rant No. 3 (but a cute little miini-rant). Minute 26:45: Of the shows prematurely canceled before I became a critic, which do I wish had survived?

And so, without further ado, the May Watcher Chat!

Love Land, yet-to-open Chinese sex theme park, demolished
BEIJING — This investment turned out to be as risky as it was risque. A sex theme park that featured explicit exhibits of genitalia and sexual culture is being demolished before it can even open, a government spokesman in southwestern China said today.
The Search For The Perfect Password

One problem that plagues all of our increasingly Web-based lives is the curse of online passwords. We have to use them for everything from e-mail to accessing financial information. Keeping up with them is a nerve-racking daily chore.