I am not a trained seal

[73 LeBaron]

So I'm watching "The Beatles On Record," a history of how John, Paul, George, and Ringo leaned how to make records and moved beyond live performance to the multi-track, multi-take creations that drove them offstage and, eventually apart. Not a bad way to spend a Sunday afternoon; it was on History, formerly the History Channel.

Comes now a promo for something called "BBQ Pitmasters" on TLC and I'm thinking "that's interesting, I suspect I'll watch that" . . .

But I won't.

Maybe I've got my knickers in a twist about nothing at all, but at the end of the promo, at the perfect opportunity to say "Tuesdays at 8:00" or whatever, I was instructed to check tlc.com for air times.

Nuh-huh. Won't happen.

In their greed to get that web hit (which is the standard now, apparently, for media sucess) they've made sure that I will not see (and possibly respond) to any of the commercials that will run in that show.

Now I've made my living off advertising since 1973, and I'll admit it's been thin since Clear Channel cut me loose in March, but this is overkill. Don't waste my time with a website when you can tell me straight out when the program airs. I might use tvguide.com to plan my watching, and if something in the show catches my eye, I might visit their website, but forcing me to hit the website just to see when the show comes on?

Nope. I can live without it.