With the Grammy Awards happening Sunday night, I thought this would be a swell time to reflect on who my favorite TV “Grammys” are.  I would assume they dislike this time of year as the word “Grammy” is used a ton and non of it has to do with them.  There HAS to be some Grammy envy from the Grammys out there.

This was a hard choice for me as there are so many TV Grammys I can look back on over my 34 years of television watching.  Some of my picks may be strange to some of you…some may not even know a couple of them.  But that is why you are hear…because most of what I write does not make sense or follow any sort of normal course.

After you read my Top 5, feel free to tell us who your Top 5 TV Grammys are in the comment section at the end of the blog.

#5 – “Jeff’s Mom” / Curb Your Enthusiasm: (Grammy to “Sammie”)

I could not find a name for her besides “Jeff’s Mom” anywhere online.  Kinda sad to only be known as “Jeff’s Mom” if you asked me.  She is only in a handful of Curb Your Enthusiasm episodes, but I find to her to be quite charming in a cranky Grammy type way.  My favorite episode she is in would be “Beloved Aunt”.  There is one scene where Larry David gives her a pair of sunglasses as a gift and when he goes to hold up the toaster as a mirror so she can see how they look on her, he accidentally grazes against her chest to her dismay.

If you have not seen this episode, well, I would probably get fired for posting the only clip of it I can find here as “Beloved Aunt” get’s turned into “Beloved insert bad word here”, so go watch it on demand or something!

#4 – “Livia Soprano” / The Sopranos. (Grammy to A.J & Meadow Soprano)

Livia was an interesting Grammy.  She always seemed cranky but I thought she was very likable.  I am sure it is not easy to be the Mother of a bad ass mob boss like Tony so who can blame her for also being a complete nut bag sometimes!

While I said I thought she was likable, those that watched the show know Tony did not feel the same way.  After all, she did try to have him killed a few times and in 1 episode he was ready to suffocate her with a pillow in the hospital until he found out she had a stroke.  If this isn’t love, I don’t know what is.

Unfortunately Nancy died in 2000.  I really thought the show lost a great character until they found a way to keep her alive via some computer technology.  Kinda creepy if you asked me.

#3 – Grandma / Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer. (Grammy to everyone who loves that song)

Okay..this may be a stretch but I had to find a way to get this in here.  This song has great childhood memories for me and to this day when I hear it, I have flashbacks to when I was around 9 or so and at Papa Gino’s with my Uncle Paul.  He gave me like $5 to put into the Jukebox.  Back then, songs were like 25 cents and the more money you put in at once, it would give you bonus songs to pick.  Well, somehow I only selected “Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer” and it played and played and played and played.  It was so bad a few people gave us dirty looks and got up and left.  My Uncle found it funny the 1st 4 or 5 times, but after that, we had to go too.  I still laugh thinking about it.

Now, you may be asking how a song fits into a TV Grammy blog.  Well, it turns out there is a cartoon called “Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer” that comes on TV every Christmas.  It was inspired by the song, so in my book, this counts.

#2 – Carol Brady / The Brady Bunch as well as Grandma Brady / The Brady Bunch Movie. (Grammy to: A bunch of annoying Brady grand-spawn.  I never really liked the grand kids in the movie but this isn’t about them…

Who didn’t love the Brady Bunch growing up?  Now, keep in mind by the time I started watching it, the show had already been off the air and was in non-stop re-runs.

Now, I am going to do my best to explain how she made it on the Grammy List.  While she played just a mother on the Brady Bunch, there were some TV specials that came out where the kids had kids thus making Carol a grandmother and when the movie came out in the 90′s…Shelley Long became Carol Brady and  Florence Henderson became Grandma Brady.  Very complicated family tree if you asked me.  Looking back, no wonder those Brady kids were the way there were.  Talk about dysfunctional.

#1 – Sophia Petrillo-Weinstock / The Golden Girls. (Grammy to: Dorothy’s kids Kate and Michael)

Who doesn’t love her?  She was funny and always had something to say even though most of the time it was probably the kind of things people only would say in their head, not out loud.

While I really do not remember the episodes in which any of the grand kids were in, I am sure she was a great Grammy.  What kid wouldn’t love her humor?  And I am sure she would have spoiled them.  Of course they were adults at the time of the show so I can only assume this.

Here is a clip that I always find funny.  It is when Sophia and Dorothy dress up like Sonny and Cher.

In light of Christina Aguilera’s botched version of The National Anthem at the Superbowl (click here to watch it), Billboard Magazine wrote an article listing what they felt were the “10 Worst National Anthem Performances Ever”.

Click Here to read the article or if you just want to see the video’s they are below.  Where would you rank Christina in these?

#10 – Josh Groban with Flea

#9 – Keri Hilson

#8 – R. Kelly




#7 – Steven Tyler

#6 – Jesse McCartney

#5 – Aaron Neville, Aretha Franklin and Dr. John

(for some reason the video wouldn’t post, so you will have to view this nugget of gold directly at: http://www.billboard.com/#/column/viralvideos/10-worst-national-anthem-performances-ever-1004101877.story?page=2

#4 – Scott Stapp of Creed

#3 – Michael Bolton (At Fenway Park!)

#2 – Roseanne Barr

#1 – Kat DeLuna

Last night MIKE-FM hosted 10 winners and their guest to one of our popular “MIKE-FM Winner Dinners” at Kowloon Restaurant (Rt. 1 Saugus) to celebrate the Chinese New Year.  The Wong family is amazing, always the best hosts and the food is Legendary!

I was very excited for this as I am a HUGE Kowloon fan and always leave with a full, happy tummy.  Last night was no different!  Try to imagine a long banquet table with people sitting around it and waiters bringing trays and trays of food to the point they had to put some off to the side as there was no room on the table!  For the most part, everyone had 2-3 plates of food and there was still enough for everyone to take home a full container of leftovers!

Now, above I said for the most part everyone had 2-3 plates of food.  When I say that, I am really only excluding 1 of our Street Team members who sat there and didn’t eat a thing due to the fact she is on some crazy grapefruit diet.  It was funny to watch her sit there surrounded by mountains of amazing looking and smelling food, only to have to watch everyone around her enjoy our embarrassment of food bounty!  She actually had a plate in front of her, just with nothing on it!  She looked so happy that I decided to name her Happy.  Therefore, that is all I know her as.  Happy.  I wish her well in her grapefruit diet and give her through the weekend before she says  “forget that” and heads off to Kowloon to make up for lost time!

Anyway, I had to explain to a few people there about my picky eating habits.  See, I come from the school of health where eating vegetables, seafood and other things that are non-chicken products…well, are un-healthy.  One of our awesome servers, Richard, said if anyone wanted anything special to just let him know.  Well, I wanted to be a polite listener so I asked him for some plain lo-mein noodles and plain wontons.  Sure enough, minutes later I had a feast fit for a man who despises vegetables and loves carbs!

As people asked me curiously about my little food issues, I tried to explain to them that even if I wanted to eat vegetables now (which I don’t), at this point in my life it would throw my body into shock and it would reject them.  I have worked very hard over the past 34 years of my life to train my digestive system and its fellow body parts to love and be nice to bad things like plain lo-mein noodles, chicken fingers and fried wontons.  By putting something like a vegetable into my system now would cause complete digestive chaos and would be harmful to my survival.  I like what I like and I can promise you, am quite happy with my noodles and wontons!

And how can I be wrong when I open up my fortune cookie at the end of the night and the wise Chinese God who wrote this life instruction says:

Can you believe that?  See, I knew I was doing the right thing and I fully agree!  A good way to keep healthy IS to eat MORE Chinese food!  That is all I needed to see to solidify what I already knew.  It is always a nice feeling to have your thoughts and beliefs validated and this is all I need to see.

Thanks again to all of the MIKE-FM winners and their guests for coming out and having some fun with us.  For those of you who have not heard of  “MIKE-FM Winner Dinners”, well, all I can say is that you are missing out!  We will be doing another one in the next couple of months and if you want a chance to win your way in and get a nice free meal for you and a guest and some great prizes, you MUST be a MIKE-FM Junkie.  If you are not one, it is free to join.  Get more details and sign up now by clicking here.

Now, off to plan what I want for take out at Kowloon tonight.  After all, my fortune is my fortune and I must follow it.