It 's official! The world's greatest rapper, Ma$e is back! My world was left pretty cold when he left the rap industry to become a preacher. I'm glad that I can get on with my life now. Whatever.

*** SUMMERLAND SPOILERS BELOW ***

My wife and I sat down last night and watched a new show on The WB called Summerland. My verdict? Mediocre at best. Plot: Kids from Kansas lose their parents in a flooding accident while trying to save people who live in "the valley". I live in Kansas and, last time I checked, there are no real valleys. Apparently, the "experts" agree. Regardless, the parents die and they die as heroes.

My question: why do the kids have to be from Kansas? Why not Nebraska or Oklahoma? I can only assess that the reason they are from Kansas is because the creators of the show believe Kansas to be a stark contrast to California. Or maybe it's because, stereotypically, Kansans live in the world, but they don't have a clue about it. That's unfair and untrue.

The children's parents willed the kids out to their fashion designer aunt rather than to their uncle. The aunt lives in California near the beach with three other people (2 men, 1 woman). The aunt is obviously single and her life is unstable. She just quit her job and was about leave for Paris with her best friend when she heard the tragic news of her sister's death. She doesn't understand why she was chosen to have custody of her sister's children (see plot for Raising Helen).

The three kids, the 16 year-old boy, 13 year-old girl and 9(?) year-old boy are all having a hard time dealing with their parent's death. The oldest boy, with some coersion and a hot female instructor, takes up surfing. Inevitably, the kid developes a crush on her and when he sees her with another guy (one of his aunt's housemates) he goes into a drunken stupor. I didn't quite understand this, considering the values his parents supposedly instilled in him(Then again, he was making out with some girl pretty heavily in his room earlier in the episode and his mom didn't even notice). Obviously, we can see that problems are begining to develope.

The girl is a brat from the begining and she stays as such until the end of the episode when she (unrealistically) decides to stop being one. The youngest child spends most of the episode trying to commit suicide, so he can give himself to his deceased mother for her birthday. The kid doesn't understand the whole death thing and no one bothered to explain it to him (until the end, that is).

I wouldn't really recommend this show to anyone. The writing is not very good, the acting is questionable and the story is cliche. I wouldn't consider this one a hit and it will be lucky if it can survive until the next month. I know I'm already saying goodbye to it.

Previews for upcoming episodes show situations that are reminicent of The OC. That bothers me. I like The OC, but it's the fact they're blatantly copying the show in order to emulate its success. There is a lack of originality on television.

Really what it boils down to is that I need to quit watching T.V. and get a real life. Not like this one.

Word.