Hello Ball!

I spent a relatively quiet New Year's Eve at home with family and friends, and I watched "The Twilight Zone" marathon on the Sci-Fi Channel. I caught some classic episodes such as "To Serve Man," "Will the Real Martian Stand Up" and "The Masks." I've seen them all at least a hundred times but I never get tired of them, especially the ones with the great twist at the end.

God bless Rod Serling. The marathon continues until 6 AM tomorrow morning.

After midnight, WLIW Channel 21 here in New York ran all of the Monty Python "Personal Best" episodes, the hour-long best of from each Monty Python member. I caught Eric Idle and Graham Chapman's episodes, and they are such a treat for a Monty Python fanatic like me. And it's really hard to believe that this October will mark the 20th anniversary of Graham's death.

Of course another real treat on New Year's (in addition to lots of college football bowl games) is "The Honeymooners" marathon. Channel 11 here in NYC runs one every year on New Year's Day starting at midnight. But since I recently got Fios on my TV, I now get WGN, the Chicago superstation. And I discovered last night that they also have a New Year's "Honeymooners" marathon, it goes on longer than the one on WPIX. So, I've been bouncing between the stations checking out the episodes.

So in honor of the late, great team of Jackie Gleason and Art Carney, I've posted here probably my favorite Honeymooners scene, when Ed Norton has to teach Ralph how to play golf. "Hello Ball!" never ceases to crack me up.

The clip is just over four minutes. Thanks for all the great quality TV, Mr. Gleason.

The MLB Network also makes its long-awaited debut tonight at 6. Baseball 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Can't wait to check it out.

Happy New Year everyone.