Hello Fellow Xomba Fans

Bosco McGowan here: The Residual Income Guy.

It has been a while since I contributed to this great  community.  It's fantastic to be back in a contributing capacity.

Wouldn't you know I was motivated to return by something I heard on the Howard Stern show today.  (My love / hate relationship with his show keeps me glued to his live broadcasts.)   They were discussing the choice of Ellen DeGeneres as Paula Abdul's permanent replacement this season on American  Idol.   While I think Stern may have some valid criticisms of her guest judging spot on "So You Think You Can Dance" (namely that she makes it more about her and a vehicle to highlight her style of wit, Ala Dennis Miller the season he wrecked the train on Monday Night Football), I must say, I do not share Howard's vitriolic hatred of all things Ellen.   In fact, I've had a  crush on that cute lesbo for a couple decades now and it's not fading away a bit.  I remember once on Leno, she demonstrated a kiss on him, reenacting some story.  Kissed him twice on the lips.  The first one fleeting.  The second time, much longer.  That was the one moment when I'd of gladly traded faces with Leno.

But that's really not what this piece is about.  As I listened to the Stern gang discuss the Paula Abdul replacement saga, my mind was filled with a series of interconnected threads and a recurring theme, which i decided to write down for posterity.

First, I wrote on Happy Days as an apprentice writer for a couple seasons and when that gig ended for me I had the chance to go back to being a production assistant (which i had first done on Mork and Mindy and later on Happy Days, before getting my dream job of apprentice writier.   I knew the secretary for a new TV show called Cheers and they were looking for a P.A.   Even though I knew from experience that a P.A. position can lead to better things, I chose not to take it, and that pretty much sealed my fate in my quest for Hollywood experience.  I should say, that decision led me to other choices, outside of those interests.   I have kicked myself on more than one occasion

Next, there is a phrase that has become common vernacular when you want to express that the best days of someone or something are behind them; "Jumped the Shark".  This was created by the proprietor of a website known as jumptheshark.com, a Mr. John Hein, a popular culture connoisseur and critic, who saw the Happy Days episode where Fonzie felt a burning desire to water ski jump over a shark pen (having jumped garbage cans and schools buses on his motorcycle in previous seasons.  Thus the phrase was coined and the website given birth.  Hein went on to sell the site to TV Guide for seven figures, and is the host of "The Wrap Up Show" after the Stern show, where he continues conversations that were started on the main show with Executive Producer Gary Bababooey Delabate and and anyone else who cares to join them.

Today Howard, a HUGE American Idol fan, announced that Idol has officially jumped the shark with the announcement the Ellen DeGeneres will be the permanent replacement for Paula Abdul. Personally, I announced that American Idol  had jumped the shark the year of Sanjaya -- which was largely a Howard Stern creation, as he got his audience to vote for the worst.

Incidentally, Idol went through a series of guest judges during the audition rounds, that included Posh Spice and Shania Twain, among others -- (Not entirely unlike how numerous comedian / commentators tried out the "Jackie chair" when Jackie Martling left the Stern show, before deciding to give the job permanently to "Every Man" and story teller extraordinaire, Artie Lange.)

I would say, 'but I digress', however for once, I don't.  This is the main recurring theme of this story.

Do you remember when American Idol premiered?  Ryan Seacrest was the co-host, along with another unknown, a Mr. Brian Dunkleman.   Dunkleman didn't like how "the kids" were being treated (the contestants) and took a stand by not coming back.  Seacrest has gone on to the status of mega rich and powerful, and there is certainly no reason to believe Dunkleman would not have fared similarly.

The aforementioned, Jackie the Joke Man Martling, called in to Howard's show a couple days ago, and mentioned that he got his divorce finalized, although the reality is, the actual marraige ended 8 years ago. 8 years ago, is about the time that Martling quit the Stern show in a money dispute.  He realized how much less money he was making than Howard made and he felt that he was worth a certain percentage of matching pay and when he didn't get that number, he took a stand and walked.  And come to find out,  shortly thereafter, his wife did the same to him.

Now Paula Abdul is making the same mistake that I made when I turned down the insider position on Cheers, and that Dunkleman made when he didn't return to A.I., and that the Joke Man made when he drew his line in the sand.  She was set to make several million dollars again this season, but because Simon was given a ridiculous amount of millions and Paula felt the gulf between her millions and his millions was just too wide, she has given it up on general principle.

A part of me wants to shake her and ask her what's the matter with her to have a dream job and let it go like that, but then I remember I did the same thing, albeit on a considerably smaller scale.  And here's the kicker, in my case.   I had a friend whom I started out with as a Production Assistant and one season when he didn't get promoted to a writing position or associate producer, he decided that Production Assistant was beneath him.  I warned him that would be a huge mistake, and then went on to make the same mistake myself the next year.

It gets even worse.  I even had the chance to grab a writing job with some writers I knew when I worked on Mork and Mindy who had become producers for Saved By the Bell, and they asked if I would consider cutting my hair (which I had grown long) to get a writing job (hint, hint, hint) ; and I said that I wouldn't want to work with anybody closed minded enough to need to control the hair length of their employees.

So tying it all together by returning to the subject of Howard Stern:  Several months ago they did a segment called, "The Biggest Loser" in which 3 judges would decide which of 3 older male virgins would get an all expense trip to the Bunny Ranch in Nevada.  (That's a legal prostitution business, by the way.)

The guest judges were Pete Best who was originally in the Beatles before Ringo,  and also Brian Dunkleman. Plus they tried to get Jackie Martling to be the 3rd judge, but he was highly offended by the offer.  The idea, of course, was to have 3 judges who, themselves, had lost big from situations that could have been, would have been and should have been.  Perhaps I should have offered to fill in for Jackie. *Snicker*

The moral to the story?  Well, I thought it was obvious, but OK...Here you go:

Don't be so quick to give up something wonderful just because you wish it could be even more wonderful.  Don't make life changing decisions based on knee jerk emotions, alone.  Think things through.  Don't let your ego dominate your choice selections.

At any rate, I should tell you that Happy Days gave me my first taste of Residual Income.  There is nothing in the world like it.  Getting paid over and over for years and decades to come from work performed one time or an investment made one time. I still get checks in the mail for my 2 episodes way back in the day.  I became addicted to residual payments and I thank God for the internet where it's possible for just about anybody to create residual income without being in show biz.

Here are my current 2 favorite examples:  EZWS    and  NRR