Today's cuppa: One Irish breakfast tea bag and one English breakfast tea bag in the same mug -- my solution to world peace

Taking his campaign to promote blue-collar jobs in America to the seat of political power, "Dirty Jobs" host Mike Rowe testifies today before a committee of the U.S. Senate. Unfortunately, there's some doubt whether CSPAN2 will carry this actual hearing, but if you read the release from Discovery Channel below, you will see there is an alternative.

(BTW, he's also written an op-ed for Politico ... click here.)

DISCOVERY COMMUNICATIONS AND MIKE ROWE ANNOUNCE "DISCOVER YOUR SKILLS" - A MULTIMEDIA INITIATIVE TO HIGHLIGHT AND PROMOTE JOB SKILLS

-- Creator, Executive Producer and Host of Discovery Channel's DIRTY JOBS WITH MIKE ROWE to Testify Before US Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee on Critical Need to Address Growing Skills Gap Among US Workforce --

(Silver Spring, Md.) - Discovery Communications and Mike Rowe, creator, executive producer and host of Discovery Channel's DIRTY JOBS WITH MIKE ROWE, today announced "Discover Your Skills," a new multimedia public affairs campaign designed to address the growing decline in US skilled labor expertise. The goal of "Discover Your Skills" is to provide unemployed and underemployed Americans with access to critical resources for obtaining marketable job skills and expertise, and to raise awareness of career opportunities.

Announcing the initiative, Rowe will testify at the invitation of Senator Rockefeller, Chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, at a hearing titled "Manufacturing Our Way to a Stronger Economy." He will relate his experiences over the past seven years on DIRTY JOBS, apprenticing alongside more than 300 skilled labor workers in nearly every industry and every state, and witnessing the critical role these workers and their occupations play in supporting the US economy. "Discover Your Skills" is a partnership with mikeroweWORKS, Rowe's own campaign to help close the skills gap, launched on Labor Day 2008.

"I'm honored to have the opportunity to speak in front of the Senate on such an important issue as our country's widening skills gap," said Rowe. "I'm no expert, and the issues are complicated, but DIRTY JOBS has offered me a unique opportunity to reconnect with the kind of people that make civilized life possible for the rest of us. With Discovery firmly behind this issue, we can reach an enormous audience. That's key, because the skills gap in our country impacts every industry, including manufacturing. It's personally important to me and critical to anyone else addicted to paved roads and indoor plumbing."

"No one is more passionate or articulate than Mike on the looming risks associated with our country's growing skills gap and the urgent need to change the misperception that skilled labor jobs are not 'good jobs,'" said David Zaslav, president and CEO of Discovery Communications. "As the #1 nonfiction media company with 14 US networks that reach more 780 million cumulative subscribers, Discovery is uniquely positioned to deliver this message to a mass audience and provide meaningful support on a national level. Like Mike, the people you see on Discovery's networks are real people, many of whom are not only television personalities, but also successful professionals working in critical areas of the economy, and we look forward to working with them to help develop and empower the next generation of skilled workers and reframe the way skilled trade jobs are perceived."

As part of "Discover Your Skills," Rowe, along with other Discovery networks' personalities, will participate in on- and off-air programs and events to raise awareness of career opportunities and highlight the importance of training workers to fill these critical jobs. Participating on-air talent have distinctive skills that are particularly valuable and needed in today's marketplace, and are credible to viewers interested in similar professions.

The initiative also will leverage Discovery Education's position as the leading provider of broadband education content and services to US schools to spotlight information on career opportunities in skilled trades and how to obtain the training and experience necessary to pursue them. This includes tools that support the development of digital literacy, math and critical thinking skills required for individuals to obtain gainful employment.

"Discover Your Skills" is part of Discovery's Impact programs, which leverage the power of Discovery's brands, businesses and employees to give back and make a direct impact on the communities in which we live and work.

The US Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee's "Manufacturing Our Way to a Stronger Economy" hearing is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, May 11. A live webcast will be available on the committee's website at http://commerce.senate.gov/public/.  

Additionally, a full transcript of Rowe's testimony will be available on the Discovery Impact website at http://impact.discovery.com.

Today's cuppa: PG Tips tea

If you're a Roman Catholic, like me, you get used to thinking, "Well, it's a mystery."

All of the universe cannot be fully explained nor rationalized away -- as those poor, brave souls in Japan know with heartbreaking clarity -- and what is true of the universe as a whole is also true of that little corner of it called TV.

Screenwriter William Goldman, in talking about the movies, said, "Nobody knows nothing," and that goes for all of entertainment. Why some things succeed and others fail is as much about luck and happenstance and timing as it is about effort or talent.

Quality shows fail; cheesy shows are giant hits ("Jersey Shore" and all of the "Real Housewives" come to mind).

Why? Eh, it's a mystery.

I have loved plenty of shows that failed, from "The Adventures of Brisco County Jr." and "EZ Streets" to "The Good Guys," and several shows that have hung on by the skin of their teeth but never became big hits, like "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (before you yell, it was never The WB's highest-rated show, or usually even the second highest-rated show, but it did well enough by The WB's modest standards to survive) to "The Wire" and "Friday Night Lights."

(I shall always have a warm little spot in my heart for former NBC chief Ben Silverman and DirecTV for striking the deal that let under-appreciated "FNL" have a full five-season run -- the final season begins on NBC Friday, April 15.)

Now, you may say, well, you're a TV critic, you have elevated and refined tastes, and you don't like shows that normal people like.

Hold it right, there, buckaroo. I've been on the case of megahit "NCIS" since the beginning, long before the mainstream press was finally forced to take notice -- went off in a blog post a few years ago about that -- and as any regular reader of this blog knows, I love the intellect-free but fun-filled "Wipeout," reality-competition megahit "Dancing With the Stars" and reality hits "Deadliest Catch" and "Dirty Jobs."

OK, and "IRT: Deadliest Roads." Nothing like TV you have to watch through your fingers, curled in a fetal position.

For what it's worth, here are a few theories I've cooked up as to why shows succeed or fail (bearing in mind, "nobody knows nothing") ...

Timing is everything. When you've had a hard day at work, do you want to come home, help the kids with their homework, argue with your teenage daughter about boys or college admission, maybe look over the budget with your spouse and then sit down and watch people do the very same thing on "Friday Night Lights"? Maybe not. Shows have to hit people at the right place and the right moment in their lives. On the other hand, if the show is funny enough, like "Modern Family," you just might.

Stars don't matter. Maybe they do in movies -- but I'd only make an argument for a few people even there -- but big-name actors don't get people to watch scripted TV, at least not past the pilot. If the viewers still don't like the show, they're gone. But stars are something to promote, so I know why the networks try.

Stars do matter. But usually only in reality TV, because viewers hope they'll learn something new or the star will do something ridiculous or entertaining. You tune in because you know something about the person, and therefore you care more than with a total unknown. But if the star is boring  -- which means he or she is probably a sensible person and not an unbalanced exhibitionist -- the audience is gone. (Which may go a long way to explaining why sane, sensible stars don't often do reality shows.)

Big-name producers matter ... to a point. Again, it's a selling point to have a name producer, but very few of them are hit machines, and the recognition doesn't often penetrate beyond a small slice of the TV audience. But if you've got a Mark Burnett or a J.J. Abrams, you've got wider recognition and a good track record, and that's about as good as it gets.

Swing viewers matter. There will always be a loyal constituency for every show -- the size varies wildly, and often it's not enough -- and there will be a certain number of people who wouldn't watch the show if you paid them. It's those people in the middle, not necessarily inclined to love a show nor to hate it, that are the difference among utter failure, cult hit and "NCIS." I believe a lot of those swing viewers came to "NCIS" through its frequent airings on USA, and that the show was accessible enough and consistent enough to satisfy them when they tried out the new episodes.

A copy is never as good as the original. Never. Ever. Development execs should have this tattooed on their arms, so they have to see it every day. A COPY IS NEVER AS GOOD AS THE ORIGINAL. And cloning is only for sheep. Unless you get the same producer, same writers, same crew, same actors, same premiere date and same societal conditions at the time of the premiere date, you can't clone a hit.

Amuse yourself first. If you're a producer or a development exec or a network exec, and a show tickles you or moves you, go with it. Unless you're deeply weird or clinically insane (and sometimes even if you're one or both), someone else will feel the same. How many of those someones there are, well...

It's a mystery.

Today's cuppa: home-brewed coffee

So, how was last night's "State of the Union" address? Same as usual, lots of gasbaggery, as much from off the podium as on, and none of the things that make big gatherings like this fun to watch on TV.

Yes, there was the mild excitement from seeing who was sitting with whom after the "date night" suggestion, meant to bring together Democrats and Republicans.

The whole hands-across-the-aisle thing didn't stop former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi from turning down GOP Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia. Really, Nan, have you seen Eric Cantor (right)? He's got that whole hot-teacher thing going on, with a Southern accent to boot! Don't know what the girl was thinking.

Unlike the Golden Globes, there's no booze in the House, so nobody gives an entertaining drunken rant. Unlike the Grammys, there's no music. Unlike most all other self-congratulatory exercises on TV, there was no red carpet. Seriously, if the president is going to sign autographs afterward for adoring fans in the gallery, we at least should get Joan Rivers to critique the outfits.

I'm certain I saw a plaid skirt out there. That's worth five minutes from Joan at least.

But there was something worth looking at -- and by that I mean the pool-blue eyes of Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan (below), who gave the Republican response. Of course, we only got 10 minutes of him, unlike the hour-plus gander we had at the POTUS (that's President of the United States for those of you who weren't obsessed with "The West Wing") and the good and bad angels sitting on his shoulders (I'll leave the assigning of which one was Vice-President Biden and which one was Speaker Boehner up to you).

A short visit with Ryan was almost worth sitting through the analysis -- although possibly the best moment of the evening came when Ben Stein was talking to Neil Cavuto on FBN and said something along the lines of, the only way to fix American education was to whip the students, and we're not likely to do that.

Bueller, Bueller?

Anyway, I just learned that Thomas Jefferson called a halt to delivering this Constitutionally mandated report to Congress in person, thinking it made him look too much like a king, and that Woodrow Wilson reinstated the practice (giving Glenn Beck just one more reason to go, "I hate that guy!").

One political commentator, I forget which, declared it the Super Bowl of politics. If that's true, then how come we didn't get a '70s or '80s dinosaur rock band for the halftime show? It's more like the Academy Awards of politics -- a lot of feigned affection, meaningless words and gratuitous glad-handing in hopes of currying favor for the future.

(Apparently the president's theme was Winning the Future, which aside from being the title of a 2005 book by former GOP Speaker Newt Gingrich, also has a rather unfortunate acronym. Come on, you can figure it out.)

Having to endure all this blather is yet another reason to add a red carpet. At least it would put everybody on fashion notice, because I saw some things ... hon-ey, there should be a law.

For a real State of the Union, you could have flipped over to Discovery Channel, where Mike Rowe of "Dirty Jobs" revealed the American Society of Civil Engineers' national report card in an episode called "Dirty Infrastructure."

Nothing got an outright "F," but nothing got a B or higher either.

After watching the show, I'm officially afraid to flush the toilet, go near a canal lock, drive on a road or especially over a bridge, ride a train, flip a switch or to stand too close to a hydroelectric dam (apparently the average age of these dams is 50; and no, for dams, 50 is not the new 40).

But there is reason for hope.

Rowe also paid tribute to the hard-working, clever folks who keep our nation from crumbling down around our ears.

Despite the president's urging in his speech that students get college degrees and become teachers and scientists and whatnot, I'm hoping at least a few kids decide to take up road-paving, bridge-building, sewer-cleaning and other skilled-labor occupations that don't usually get mentioned in the State of the Union.

But Rowe mentions them, both on his show and at his website dedicated to the topic.

The episode repeats on Feb. 1 at 8 p.m. ET. Watch it if you dare.

As for the POTUS, if you missed this speech, fear not. He'll give more. All presidents do.

Today's cuppa: Newhall Coffee Patriot Blend, natch

In honor of our nation's birthday on Sunday, July 4 -- click here for the full text of the original Declaration of Independence -- I went out to a few more TV folks to learn which Founding Fathers are their favorites and why.

It's something I've done before -- click here, here and here to see previous installments.

Ed O'Neill ("Modern Family"): "I would probably go to (Thomas) Jefferson (below), just because I thought he was brilliant, a vital guy, interesting guy, bon vivant. He knew a lot about wine."

Mike Rowe ("Dirty Jobs," "After the Catch," narrator of "Deadliest Catch," founder of www.mikeroweWORKS.com): The short answer for me was always John Adams. Adams was so contrary and so unlikable, so devoted to his wife. He was the only actual Founding Father who never owned a slave. He made principled decisions and was perfectly comfortable with the fallout -- happy to be unpopular. But also, it's hard to beat Ben Franklin.

"Where do you draw the line in terms of time? Lincoln (below) was so late. There'd be no union without (George) Washington. There probably wouldn't be a union without Jefferson. There definitely wouldn't be a union without Lincoln. There'd be something, but I don't know what."

Mike Vogel ("Miami Medical," and one of the founders of Ride2Recovery, which aids wounded veterans): "Being from Philadelphia, I'm a fan of Jefferson and Franklin. You're indoctrinated with all that. There's something so amazing, being a massive history buff and growing up where I did in Pennsylvania. I was a mile away from George Washington's headquarters before he crossed the Delaware. Every year, you'd take a field trip down to Independence Hall and Betsy Ross' house and Ben Franklin's place and the history that exists there.

"As for my favorite, I think Jefferson -- his ideals, the conservatism that he espoused, at least as I know it, Jeffersonian democracy, I like. (James) Madison ... when you look at the checks and balances that you had to go through just to get these guys to show up at a meeting of the federal government. They had to take it through every level of their state governments, to make sure their state would be OK with them showing up, because they were so adamant about maintaining the rights of the state before turning it over to the federal level of government."

Eric Bolling ("Money Rocks"), via email: "Glenn Beck -- Founding Father of today! Historically, John Adams (right) -- he was greatly responsible for the content of the Constitution."

As a bonus, here's another pick, this time from leading political blogger Andrew Malcolm of the Los Angeles Times' "Top of the Ticket": "B. Franklin ... I've always liked and admired him for his amazing combination of talents and skills. Other Founding Fathers were magnificent generals or writers or revolutionary/politicians. Franklin was multi-dimensional before multi-tafking (cq) was a word.

"He was a well-educated writer who could help draft the Declaration of Independence and see the compromises there to make the crucial national cohesion among disparate colonies. Franklin could, as well, quill a newspaper column for ordinary citizens.

"He was a nuanced diplomat, an, uh, man about town, even if it was Paris. He was into science and inventions (I think we will someday discover his drawing of a prototype iPhone). And yet, with all that, he was so down-to-earth that he could see the need for, and help invent, something as ordinary as a postal system, as another thread in a country that would eventually evolve into a nation."

And, to go out with a flourish, click here for one of my favorite eGuiders picks, the Revolutionary War rock video "Too Late to Apologize: A Declaration."

Today's cuppa: caffe latte (it's brown)

If you're looking for somebody to tell you that you're a special little snowflake, that you should follow your bliss, that there's no "I" in team, and that innovation is more important than imitation, you could call your mom or your therapist or your business guru.

Just don't call Mike Rowe.

He's done well over 250 "Dirty Jobs," and he's learned that it's frequently just not so.

Tonight, at 9 p.m. ET, as part of the Discovery Channel 25th anniversary celebration, Rowe presents "Dirty Jobs: The Dirty Truth," a special Rowe expects -- perhaps even hopes -- will ruffle a few feathers.

"I looked at the preference for innovation, because imitation is the great unloved of work," says Rowe. "It's only mass assembly, the thing that keeps us civilized. That raised all kinds of eyebrows and pissed people off, so I kept looking for other contrarian positions.

"So there's a whole act on effectiveness vs. efficiency, the dangers of teamwork, the perils of following your passion instead of bringing it with you, and the danger of experts. It's going to drive Discovery nuts, but it's really going to be fun. It should be a hoot."

Asked where the idea for "The Dirty Truth" originated, Rowe says, "The idea first came a couple of years ago, when I did a special called 'Brown Before Green.' I realized that I'd done enough of these jobs that I was able to look back and really extract some sort of the lesson for the aggregate. The more jobs we did, the more I was realizing, I could do this on any number of topics. So we did 'Brown Before Green,' and I got most of my environmental take out there.

"Then I did 'Safety Third.' I got a letter from Malcolm Gladwell's office, and got my hands on a book called 'Target Risk,' which talks about something called risk homeostasis, which is another version of 'Safety Third' and validated the whole thing in a really interesting way.

"That's when I thought, 'If I can look at topics like risk management and environmental responsibility and run them through the "Dirty Jobs" lens, I ought to be able to do it with Steven Covey's stuff and Tony Robbins or all of these (workplace) platitudes.'

"I think it started with "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People." I just started basically poking fun at conventional wisdom. Then I got a list. Then I realized, I've got a ton of evidence to back up my spin on it.

"As I was organizing all these thoughts, Discovery said, 'We need a special for the 25th anniversary,' and I said, 'OK, I'll use 25 jobs to debunk a platitude in every act."

Among the topics are: "Beware of Experts," "Teamwork is Overrated," "Pathetic Poster Platitudes," "The Passion of Mike," "Imitation Is Hot" and "Efficiency is for Robots."

Explains Rowe, "This is basically me saying, 'Look, I don't want to pooh-pooh a college education, but all you precious little snowflakes have to understand that it doesn't guarantee you anything at all. You really are just not being prepared for what the world is going to give you. Here's some advice, not from me to you, but some areas where I got it wrong and have been gently corrected over the years by my friends in the dirt.'

"That's how it plays, so you'll dig it."

On Tuesday night, Rowe also returns as the host of "After the Catch," talking to the crab-boat captains of "Deadliest Catch" about the season, the loss of Capt. Phil Harris (at left) and, since the show coincidentally is taping in New Orleans, the Gulf oil spill and its effect on the fisheries.

Stay tuned to this space -- and the From Inside the Box blog on Zap2it.com -- for more on this and new episodes of "Deadliest Catch."

(BTW, "Dirty Jobs: The Dirty Truth" repeats June 20th at 9 p.m. and midnight ET. Click here for other scheduled airings.)

This dropped into my email tonight from a friend who forwarded it from a friend who forwarded a Boy Scout newsletter.

The letter below appears to be from a couple of years ago and has no doubt been well circulated by now, but it never hurts to share good advice. It's also linked at www.mikeroweworks.com.

Enjoy (and keep watching "Dirty Jobs," Tuesdays on Discovery Channel -- and while you're at it, read this tribute by "Jobs" producer Dave Barsky to the late Capt. Phil Harris of "Deadliest Catch"):

SCOUTMASTER'S MINUTE

Dirty Jobs Mike Rowe letter

  Mike Rowe, an Eagle Scout and the star of cable TV show Dirty Jobs responded to a dad's request for help in convincing his son to finish scouting with only a year and half left to go. I thought you'd be interested in his reply:

Quote:

Kelby, Your Dad asked me to drop you a line and say something inspirational that might persuade you to dig down deep and find the determination to make the rank of Eagle Scout. It's a reasonable request, from a father who obviously wants to see his son succeed. But here's the thing - The Eagle Award is not really meant for people who need to be dragged across the finish line. It's meant for a select few, and I have no idea if you have the guts to see it through. Statistically, I suspect you do not. Only one out of a hundred Scouts make Eagle, so if you fail, there will be lots of other people with whom you can share excuses. Quitting now might disappoint your Dad, but I doubt that he or anyone else will be overly surprised. Anytime 99 out of 100 people do the same thing, it's not exactly a shock. I'm not trying to be cute with a bunch of reverse psychology. When I was 15, there was nothing that anyone could have said to me that would have inspired me to do something I didn't want to do, especially a stranger with a TV show. So I'm not going to assume you're any different, or pretend that I have some influence or insight that you haven't already heard from a dozen other people who actually know and care about you. I'll just tell you straight up, that doing something extraordinary can be very lonely, and most people simply aren't cut out for it. Being an Eagle Scout requires you to be different than most everyone around you, and being different is really, really hard. That's why the award is called "an accomplishment." Personally, and for whatever it's worth, the best decisions I've made in my own life, are those decisions that put me on the outside of being cool. Singing in the Opera, working in home shopping, starring in the school play when the entire football team laughed at me, and especially earning my Eagle, were all choices that required sacrifice, hard work, and delayed gratification. I have no idea if you possess those qualities, or even envy them. But I can tell you for certain, that NOT getting your Eagle, will be one of the easiest things you've ever done. Whatever you decide to do Kelby, it's important to remember that the decision is yours. Not your Dad's, not your friend's, and not your Scoutmaster's. And you'll own that decision for the rest of your life. Good Luck,            Mike Rowe

Today's cuppa: Mystic Monk Decaf Chocolate Mint Coffee (just for the flavor, then chased with full-caf office coffee)

As any fan of Discovery Channel's "Dirty Jobs" knows, Mike Rowe has his own view of the world and is not afraid to ruffle feathers (of course, he's willing to do a lot more to farm animals than ruffle their feathers, but that's a conversation for another time).

For example, the whole idea of green --specifically, the choice of that color to represent environmental awareness -- irks him.

"Any fundamentally good idea," he says, "is just a committee or two from being perverted into something that's off-kilter."

As a man who spends most of his working life caked in grime, Rowe always puts brown before green (he explains more about that at his website, www.mikeroweWORKS.com).

"We're right with green," Rowe says, "in terms of, obviously, what we'd like to see as an outcome -- a healthy planet. No one's opposed to that. But every single thing that 'Jobs' comes in touch with, I'm starting to realize, is essentially an opportunity to try to bring things back to a balance.

"So by putting brown before green, you know the whole argument, but it's in a larger sense with work. If we're disconnected from the environment, and we're confused by the wrong choice of color, all of this pandemonium surrounding the issue makes sense.

"If our relationship with work is equally dysfunctional, and we're confused by the definition of a good job, then that part of the DNA of the show starts to make sense."

On Tuesday, Nov. 24, on Discovery Channel, Rowe takes on another off-kilter aspect of his experience with a "Dirty Jobs" special called "Safety Third."

Says the official network blurb: "In a thoughtful look back at his most challenging and hazardous apprenticeships, Mike makes a practical case for safety and reaffirms the critical role of individual responsibility in a dangerous world. ... Safety considerations must always be present, but that doesn't mean they will always be first."

Says Rowe, "For people who look at the title and give it a very quick glance, they're going to be outraged. They're going to be outraged. But if you really look at it straight through, it's the same sort of message as 'Brown Before Green' was, which was, obviously, we don't want a sick planet; (in this case), obviously, you don't want to get hurt on the job.

"But when you say 'Safety First,' and you say it over and over and over, you create the sense of complacency among your employees, along with the belief that slowly sinks in that allows them to assume that somebody else cares more about their own well-being than they do.

"Then you abdicate personal responsibility, and you ultimately send a counter-intuitive message."

Rowe has a plan to counter this, explaining, "So we start saying 'Safety Third,' which is what we teach each other on the crew, because after 350 of these things, the 'Safety First' banner has become ubiquitous.

"So we look back at all of the safety training that we've had, the mandatory, compulsory, confined-space training on jobs that don't have confined spaces, that we have to sit through. We have footage of crew members falling asleep during these things.

"Of course, behind it all is the thousands of pages of OSHA. In the absence of authority, we look to whatever there is. And OSHA certainly has saved lives and calls a lot of shots, but it's amazing, when you really talk to workers one on one, and get to the root of their views on safety, how disconnected we were from the basic tenets of risk -- how risk has become a thing that has slowly evolved in the way we assimilate work.

"You have to fall. You have to get bruised and knocked around. Of course, nobody wants pain, danger, agony or misery, but when you build an entire philosophy based on keeping those things from happening, there's an unintended consequence. It's obviously this twitchy, jerky, sort of pedantic creature we've created that is us.

"Risk used to be something that you were compensated for, straight up. But our insurance companies and our lawyers have basically assumed the job of eliminating risk, and they've succeeded to a certain degree."

But what if we took the lawyers and insurers and the government regulators out of the equation? What if we just let people assume risks in the full knowledge and acceptance of the possible dangers, in hopes of receiving the possible rewards, but willing to take their lumps if it doesn't pan out?

"If we simply let the consequences play out as a result of our action," says Rowe, "we can then react to them and adjust or not adjust, depending on how we vote." 

Today's cuppa: Bewley's Gold Blend tea

As a huge fan of Discovery's "Dirty Jobs," I'm happy to report that its witty, long-suffering host, Mike Rowe, will be on Fox News' "The O'Reilly Factor" tonight, at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. (Eastern) -- that's 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. for my fellow Left Coasters.

Grab a cuppa and tune in (but be careful, Rowe's a laugh-out-loud sort of guy, so time the sips carefully).