I'm Gina Smith

LinkTV (and you can see me on the air)

In case you didn't know, LinkTV is a satellite channel that shows news from around the world (so you can see perspectives other than America's), great world music and kick-ass documentaries.

I hosted some of the pledge shows airing this week -- the ones about how the big pharmaceutical companies are testing their own drugs without anyone objectively looking at the results, advertising to people on TV without approval from the FDA, and buying doctors and politicians with expensive gifts.

It's really frightening.

You can watch it online here.

What is up with Barney?

Okay, for all you parents of toddlers out there.

What is going on with Barney? Suddenly the kid cast is gone, and the whole show is about the three dinosaurs, Barney, Baby Bop, BJ and Riff.

You think they are trying to save money by getting rid of SAG/AFTRA kid actors? That is my guess.

Ideas, anyone?

Sorry to blog this silliness, but I'm just dying to figure this out. Why this huge change all of a sudden.

p.s. My little boy seems to like the dinosaur format better. Maybe it was a test they ran?

Star Trek's Scotty's remains go where few men have gone before.

I'm not quite sure what to say about this. Scotty will follow Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry into the great beyond. Wild. Excerpt from Reuters.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The remains of actor James Doohan, who played the starship Enterprise's chief engineer "Scotty" on "Star Trek," will be blasted into space in October, the company organizing the flight said on Monday.

The actor who inspired the catchphrase "Beam me up, Scotty" -- even though it was never actually uttered on the show -- died a year ago at the age of 85.

On the program, when Capt. James Kirk ventured off the spaceship Enterprise and faced peril, he would demand Scotty "beam" him back up to the safety of the ship.

Houston-based commercial company Space Services originally planned to blast Doohan's remains into space last year but the flight was delayed to allow more tests on the rocket.

Space Services spokeswoman Susan Schonfeld said the new launch date was set for October. Doohan's ashes will be blasted up along with the remains of around 100 other people, including astronaut Gordon Cooper, who first went to space in 1963.

After a short flight the rocket will return to earth with the capsules holding the remains. A second flight in December or January will send a capsule containing Doohan's remains into orbit where it will remain for several years, Schonfeld said.

"Whatever goes up must come down," Schonfeld said, adding that the capsule would eventually drop out of orbit and burn up in the earth's atmosphere.

To mark the flight to his final frontier, Doohan's family will hold a service for fans on the day of the launch to pay tribute to him, and Schonfeld said thousands were expected to turn up, many in costumes from "Star Trek."

"Fan clubs from all over the world, including as far away as Africa, they're ready," Schonfeld said.

The company previously blasted the remains of "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry into space in 1997.

Where were Carol, Marcia and Jan at the wedding?

You know what I'm asking if you've been watching. But can anyone explain? What's up with that?

Finally shot my last TV episode!

I just returned from shooting our last three episodes of tech tour. The first six are already on the website:

www.techtour.msnbc.com

You can click on the icons below to see the older ones. It was great doing TV again, but returning on that 6 hour flight from Boston today ... whew. Time to go to bed.

gs

Newest episode of my TV show is up ...

is here.

Don't worry about downloading Flash if the window pops up, you probably have it.

This is episode four of our 12 episode Tech Tour Across America!

gs

Nightline changes.

I did many on-air stories for Nightline with Ted Koppel during the 1990s, and let me tell you. It was the best place I'd ever worked. Staff morale was incredible. The executive producer was fair and calm, something you hardly ever see. Ted read all the scripts himself.

So sad Ted is leaving, what a loss it will be. I worked briefly with Terry Moran and Cynthia McFadden, and I know they'll rise to the challenge. But the loss of Ted. Awful. I hope the executive producer isn't leaving with him, because he's the one that set that tone -- the tone that made Nightline such a news standout. But I suspect he is.

Says Bush (on rising gas prices)

I just heard George W. make the following ridiculous comment on the Nightly Business Report.

"Well, don't buy gas if you don't need it."

Peter Jennings -- dead at 67. (And perhaps the best boss I ever had.)

just checked the news this a.m. to learn that ABC World News Tonight anchor Peter Jennings died of lung cancer last night.

Here is the New York Times link.

Peter was one of the best bosses I ever had. I worked for him as an on-air reporter from 1995 to 1999, and always found him to be kind, resourceful and full of tips to help me get ahead and look better on air. He took that time for me -- and I was really just a junior reporter on a team of superstars.

Another thing about PJ: People seem to have the misconception he just mouthed the words someone else wrote. People ask me that all the time -- if anchors are just parroting someone else. Not so with Peter. I watched him day after day, laboriously writing his own scripts, sitting at the "rim" with the executive and senior producers coming up with story lineups, and even taking the time to help correspondents smooth out theirs. Correspondents like me.

I made a lot of mistakes and could've been a better correspondent. But IMO, Peter could not have been better at what he did or the person he was. He was the best.

My fondest wishes and condolences to Peter's wife and children.

Again, the link is here to the NYT obituary.

The last thing I will ever say about Average Joe: Hawaii.

I simply do not understand why dim stud Gil thinks it is such a crime to be the ex-girlfriend of Fabio. Is it jealousy? Or something else?

Blogcritics.org has a theory of why this stupid conclusion to Average Joe: Hawaii rings the death knell of so-called reality television.