LISNews: Librarian News

The family tuned in to Jeopardy! this Labor Day, ready and willing to watch Ken-Jen (Ken Jennings, 30, of Salt Lake City, UT) be bested by another contestant this evening...but once again (for the 39th time), he has prevailed.

We've now discovered his secret ...HIS MOTHER IS A LIBRARIAN.

Friend and former Brigham Young University roommate Earl Cahill said "He's just smarter, and there is not some magic pill you can take that will make you like him".

Jennings says he doesn't know his IQ, and his mother won't reveal it. But she says that when he was tested as a pre-kindergartner, it was off the charts. Jennings also won't share his precise SAT score — he says only that it was between 1500 and a perfect 1600.

More on Ken and how he has become a millionaire plus on ABC's TV show Jeopardy! from USA Today.

UPDATE: Rumors of the end of a swell run at CNN.com.

Steffers writes "USA Today reports that Booknotes will be going off air as of Dec. 5th. The last broadcast will be December 5th. The show's host, Brian Lamb, is moving on to other projects."

After talking with 800 authors, Brian Lamb will close the book on Booknotes, his weekly C-SPAN interview series. The final broadcast will be Dec. 5, the network announced Tuesday.

Appearing to lack basic common sense and good judgement, TV writers and producers have gotten themselves into a pickle. They've been pushing the envelope so long that they don't know where to stop. It seems that ever since the infamous Janet Jackson Superbowl incident, and the ensuing fallout, the entertainment industry can no longer tell the difference between what's acceptable and what's not acceptable programming, in terms of nudity, foul language, and violence. It's also making them nervous knowing that Congress is considering raising the fines from a few-thousand dollars to $3 million
per-day, when they don't get it right. Read more. [requires registration]

Hope all of our American friends have a very happy Fourth of July, and in addition to beer, hamburgers, sunstroke & fireworks, you may want to include some tube time: ABC's rebroadcast of "The Music Man", starring Matthew Broderick as Harold Hill and Kristin Chenowith as Marian, taking a bit of time off from the library in River City. Here's the info from Playbill .