It’s no secret that David Chase, the creator of the hit HBO series, The Sopranos, is fond of ending his episodes by dramatically fading out to music and a black screen. Last night’s “Made In America” episode took that directorial technique to an insulting and jarring new level. At the very end of the show, Chase dramatically built tension around what looked like either an FBI raid or a mob-hit on the Soprano family as they sat in one of New Jersey’s famous diners. Meadow Soprano, Tony’s beloved daughter and law student, was haplessly trying to parallel park her Lexus as her family sat inside the diner. The show built to an intense musical crescendo that led the viewer to think something of significance was going to happen. And then – out of nowhere – the episode abruptly cut to black and left the screen dark for an extended period of time.

It dawned on me the other day as I was watching DirecTV from my bathtub – there is nothing on in HDTV. Football is gone, but not forgotten. I am too much of a snob to watch NASCAR on a Sunday afternoon (F1 maybe) and Discovery HD Theater had some show on about someone skiing down Mount Everest. During commercials, as I channel surfed, I kept seeing Dr. Emmet Brown from Back To The Future telling me that there will be more and more HD channels coming soon which is great. However, unlike being specific about the need for 1.21 gigawatts to activate his Flux capacitor – Dr. Brown isn’t very specific with a date when there will be more HD content.

Every morning I get my sorry ass out of bed and turn on the TV to watch some news and get ready for a new day. A stop to CNN’s Headline News normally lasts about 15 minutes. Depending on the highlights, I might make it the same amount of time on ESPN’s Sports Center. Ultimately, my HD TiVo kicks in for some Food Network favorites like Easy Entertaining with Michael Chiarello and after that Barefoot Contessa. These shows are technical food shows that also speak to specific lifestyles with Chiarello highlighting his patented “Napa Style” and the Contessa being the Uber-Hamptons housewife. The fact is both can really cook, albeit with too much cream and butter but their chops are good and I always learn something.

TVPredictions.com is reporting that Comcast is looking at creating an HD sports network that would feature NHL hockey and professional golf. The Outdoor Life Network, which recently changed its name to Versus, has the rights to some NHL games, as well as a variety of other sporting events, but the channel isn’t available in HD to most viewers.

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