Tonight on Arizona Illustrated's Political Roundtable: Jonathan Paton, Rodd McLeod and Andrea Kelly join me to talk about the legislative session, the latest in the GOP race for president, President Obama's upcoming trip to Arizona and whether TUSD has banned books related to Mexican-American Studies. Tune in at 6:30 p.m. on Channel 6 or check back here for when we post it online.

While most media types focused on how terrible Lana Del Rey was as the musical guest (and she was), the "You Can Do Anything" sketch was the actual highlight of the episode. I'd personally like to dedicate this post to the guy I know who has an extensive blog about the art of writing that he posts to everyday, offering "expert" advice on a career he's never been paid to do. You can do anything, buddy!

I don't really know what sort of people are working in the writer's room at Jeopardy!, but I sort of think that someone must have known that someone would have answered "donkey punch". There's a Wikipedia article for the (hopefully) imaginary practice and everything. However, this does start preparing the game show world for more R-rated content, including a seemingly inevitable future for Wheel of Fortune when they run out of phrases to use as puzzles and have to open things up to profanity.

Arizona Illustrated's Political Roundtable does its usual week-in-review as Jonathan Paton, Rodd McLeod, Christopher Conover and I hash out Gov. Brewer's State of the State, Arizona's finances, TUSD's Ethnic Studies shutdown, the presidential race and more.

Tonight on Arizona Illustrated's Political Roundtable: Guests Jonathan Paton and Rodd McLeod, along with Arizona Public Media reporter Christopher Conover, come on down to talk about Gov. Jan Brewer's State of the State, discuss the state's finances, size up the presidential race and more with your Range scribe and Roundtable host, Jim Nintzel. Tune in at 6:30 p.m. on KUAT-TV's Channel 6.

Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage of the Discovery Channel show Mythbusters are coming to Tucson as part of their Behind the Myths tour, performing at Centennial Hall this Saturday at 7:30 pm.

I talked to Hyneman on the phone, discussing how the show came about and what Tucson audiences can expect:

DG: How did the idea for a stage show come about?

JH: Well, due to the fact that there’s a fair amount of demand for us to show up at places and not just talk, but actually do things that are appropriate for what happens on the show. We’re known for all these spectacular stunts that we do — or experiments — that involve explosions and everything else. We’ve done quite a few of these talks around the country, we’ve probably done seventy or so since starting the show. They’ve been very well received, but the push has been for us to actual do something and obviously we can’t blow things up on stage, the more violent things that we do. We’ve thought about it and we’ve spent months designing something that’s fundamentally what we do on the show, which is talk about people’s perception of things and how that sometimes differs from reality. We came up with some things that involve the participation of the audience that illustrate that...we stretch them a little bit, play with what they perceive to be happening.

DG: Was the expansion of the brand this way something you were excited about?

JH: Yes and no. We enjoy interacting with the audience a great deal and our fanbase is quite enthusiastic. We’re not attached to the show format, we’re quite comfortable on stage, talking directly to people. If anything, we’re infectiously enthusiastic about what we do and this is a great opportunity to share with people. It’s been a bit of a challenge to find a format where we don’t just talk about things, but we’ve come up with something that works.

DG: I know you’re not likely to give too much away, but what should people expect from the show?

JH: I’m not going to give you a spoiler, but I can tell you that some of the audience interaction involve putting them in protective gear. It’s very controlled, they don’t have to worry about their safety, but they may get wet. We’ll also be pulling people up on stage and having our way with them.

DG: That sounds exciting/ominous, but that’s part of the Mythbusters experience, I guess.

JH: A lot of what we’re going to do is really going to defy description, so people will have to come out to the show and see for themselves.

However, it will be during an advertisement for Skechers, and the part of town that makes it on camera? Tucson Greyhound Park, and animal rights activists aren't happy:

In the spot, the tiny dog — bedecked in Skechers new GOrun shoes — races a pack of greyhounds. But that, too, is raising eyebrows from an animal rights group Grey2K USA, which is petitioning to ax the ad. It claims that the greyhounds were mistreated and kept in tiny cages at Tucson Greyhound Park.

"Skechers using Tucson Greyhound Park as the backdrop for an ad is akin to Hertz calling back O.J. Simpson as a spokesperson," says Christine Dorchak, president of Grey2K.

But Tom Taylor, CEO of the track, says the cages are among the largest in the country. "Animal activists would like the cages to be 12 feet by 12 feet, with couches and TVs."

The American Humane Society says no animals were harmed in the making of the ad. Armato says Grey2K's complaints are unrelated to the purpose of the ad. The spot does not glamorize dog racing, he says. "It is simply a metaphor for a remarkable, underdog achievement."

For me, Goodfellas is nearly a perfect movie. It tells a story, essentially from start to finish, and it's exciting the entire time. So, naturally, someone has to try to ruin it by creating a TV version no one really asked for:

AMC’s 1960s mad men may be soon joined by some goodfellas from the same era. The cable network, home of such acclaimed series as Mad Men and Breaking Bad, has put in development a series version of one of the most praised movies of all time, the 1990 Martin Scorsese mob classic Goodfellas. Nicholas Pileggi, who wrote the movie based on his non-fiction book Wiseguy, is on board to co-write the TV series adaptation with TV writer-producer Jorge Zamacona (Homicide: Life On The Street). The two will executive produce with the film’s producer Irwin Winkler and his son David. Warner Horizon Television, the cable TV production sibling of Warner Bros, which distributed Scorsese’s film, is producing the series.

I realize that Hollywood is out of ideas, so it's probably better to at least steal from quality source material, but isn't there another show from Europe we haven't adapted or something?

You might have some issues finding TVOne on your cable lineup - on DirecTV, it's near BET, for what it's worth - but the channel's documentary series Unsung is a great look at the history of gospel and R&B. This week's episode is a can't miss, since it features the underrated musical genius Bobby Womack. The guy definitely has a life story worth telling, as evidenced by the clip above.

It's still very strange to me that someone would campaign against a show portraying some Muslims in Michigan to be just as boring as most Americans everywhere when the same network's Toddlers & Tiaras exists, making the entire human race look bad. Still, you have to admire a six year old with a wicked head swivel and an addiction to Mountain Dew.