VicMan

If that state-run paper is correct.... finally...

And while he's on the phone with her, it should show him setting up a mass email regarding his predicament - you know, he's got millions he needs to wire to the U.S., but just needs a bank account number and some personal info to set it up...lol

In many of the schemes the "bank account" info is never used. It's a test to see if the victim is gullible.

The scammers get the victim's money via Western Union or Moneygram transfers OR by luring the victim to West Africa (or another location) and convincing him or her to give the scammers money there.

At first only show the scammer via his hands on the keyboard. Later we see his face...

Should Michelle actually fly to Africa and get robbed and kidnapped? Or should she be stopped at the last minute? What would be a better scenario?

I have to admit, though - I loved the the Nigerian con man idea

And to add it should be easy to find actors to play the con men and other Nigerians - Houston has a large southern Nigerian community. All the show needs to do is find some beat down building in Houston and film it as if it was a Lagos cybercafe.

Even though Nicole clearly knows about the scheme Akachukwu tells Michelle to keep things "confidential" - Of course it would be funny to see Michelle try to make an excuse for why she is going to the airport all of the sudden.

I think if you got the right actress, you wouldn't need that many supporting characters. I could see the Nola mom being the main character, with her kids, her sister, and her sister's kids as the "primary" secondary characters. Sure you could introduce a student here and there, but I think the focus would be better served from the mom's perspective.

I can tell you now that no one wants to watch drama with an obnoxious sassy black woman for an hour. So the whole "lower 9th, sitting on the porch, drinking a 40, gold teeth, collecting a welfare check plus wic, all while calling her kids knuckle heads" stereotype needs to be thrown in the trash.

They need to profile a working mom who has 2 kids from 2 different dads not because she's ghetto, but because she made some bad decisions that seemed like the right ones at the time. Perhaps show that right before the storm she was finally getting on track. Maybe show in a flashback that she had secured a good job, and had just moved out of the projects into a better area when Katrina hit making her feel hopeless again.

It could be a classic struggle of class when she comes to Houston and see that her sister, after getting a scholarship, was able to avoid the pitfalls she couldn't, by escaping the ghetto.

Yeah, I feel that the scenario you describe here would be good for a drama. As soon as my account is "friended" I will link to the HAIF discussion here.

Edit: DONE. Linked this discussion

Perhaps the secondary characters are best used to add depth to the primary characters - Perhaps Michelle could like the idea of having an "apprentice" to teach south Louisiana cuisine. Maybe the reaction from *some* Houstonians (i.e. Jenny's parents) could make Michelle really hurt on the inside.

I'm glad you thought about it, Jeebus. I like the general setup. What do you think about the secondary characters I thought of?

The scenario about the NO+Houston kid friction could be at "Westdale High School."

BTW, you can guess where the inspiration for the Nigerian con artist came from

Thinking more about it (which I probably shouldn't have but..) here's what I have:

- Same list of characters.

- Pilot is 2 hours. 1st hour is of Katrina and what the Nola family goes through. 2nd hour is the move to H-town.

- Episodes would focus on things like:

1. Nola mom dealing with post-Katrina issues like going back for the first time, trying to file an insurance claim, death of friends, depression from losing everything, welfare, getting a job, dealing with FEMA, etc etc..

2. Nola kids dealing with H-town kids (remember Westbury High School?), higher standard of education, adjusting to a more diverse populace, other similar shared issues that mom faces.

3. The conflict between the H-town family and the Nola family.

4. H-Town's perspective of the Nola evacuess.

5. National perspective of Nola evacuees.

If done right, a one hour drama on Fox could actually be a big success. Get whoever directed Boston Public in there and you'd have at least a 2-3 season hit. Maybe...

I think it would be much better as a drama. They could start from when Katrina hit, on to present day.

Want to hear about my ideas for secondary characters? I would love to see the show actually use them, but I'm not sure how the chances would work.

Westdale High School

* Felipe "Philip" HINOJOSA - Hinojosa, the 12th grade unofficial physics tutor of Westdale High School, wants to get into Rice University. A resident of Royal Oaks, his parents are members of the Mexico city upper crust who decided to live in Royal Oaks and he is a Mexican citizen. He enjoyed watching "Hypercampeones" as a kid and drools whenever someone mentions soccer. Imani watches a rather similar Japanese soccer show...

* Jenny LAKE - Jenny lives in a gated community next to Westdale High School. Clueless about New Orleans customs, the aspiring chef wants to learn how to cook southern Louisiana food. Unfortunately her parents are a bit paranoid about the newcomers, so she has to lie to them in order to see the family of Nicole and Michelle.

* Vince NGUYEN - Nguyen enjoys filming videos; he wants to make a documentary about Hurricane Katrina evacuees so he can upload it to his website. Unfortunately Nguyen seems to be a bit sensationalist...

Nigeria

* Samuel AKACHUKWU - Akachukwu, a Nigerian con man, tries to use false love e-mails to lure Michelle to Lagos in order to hold her ransom. He pretends to be "Peter Fred" when talking to Nicole from the Festac Town cybercafe. Will Michelle follow "Peter" to Nigeria?

EDIT: Found name of Houston girl

Hmm, the movements for the cabinet shelf scene seem over-acted from the start. It should start with mild annoyance and snowball.

Now, I haven't seen any actual episodes, but the show needs to show some actual Houston locations - Perhaps have the kids attend Westside High School (or a knockoff on Westside) and/or the feeder schools of Westside - If the producers want to do that, they might show the New Orleans cousins sinking under the load of Texas schoolwork (of course some tutors and Imani's knowledge will save their academic careers in the end, or something) - I chose Westside (or the feeders) as the school/model for the sitcom's school as the demographics are fairly even: http://www.schooldigger.com/go/TX/schools/...816/school.aspx

For some reason I do not like laughtracks - I would rather let the strength of the comedy produce laughs in the TV rooms.

IMO I think some drama needs to be added too - Perhaps with some hints of comedy so the show does not take itself too seriously.

BTW I will link to this page and the critique I gave from the Myspace once I am able to post comments.

EDIT: I just found that the Houston woman's kids are in private school - I'm not sure where the New Orleans woman's kids will go, though. There are a lot of well-to-do people in HISD who have kids in public school, but they tend to choose among a specific group of public schools.

EDIT 2: Found name of Houston girl

I'm going to see this trailer and then I will make some (serious) recommendations for tweaking the show. Since this will likely be a small production I will see if I can write a letter to the producer. He may have a shoestring budget, but surely there is something he can do to help this.

I think smaller schools would be better. I'd much rather see a bunch of 3A and 4A high schools rather than a few gigantic high schools. Now, this is probably cost-prohibitive for the district because of land and construction costs but, IMHO, smaller schools lead to more controlled learning environments because of a better administrator-faculty/student ratio. (All other factors being equal, of course.)

This may explain HISD's reluctance to close some of the smaller comprehensive high schools. I'm not even sure about the last time when HISD shuttered a comprehensive high school.

I think it's fine for FBISD to build one more high school on the east side (in Sienna Plantation) to relieve Elkins and Hightower.

A few years ago the folks on the east side "demanded" a new school on their side since new schools were being built on the west side of the district...they got what they asked for; however, the enrollment problem is theirs as well, Magnet schools or not. Where is the growth in the district?? Not near that area of the district. Sienna and other new additions but not Independence Pkwy and 2234.

The same thing happened to HISD and it is still happening in Spring Branch. Older folks do not move as their children grow out of the school cycle. The schools therefore are under utilized and eventually are shut down. Ten high schools with more on the way in FBISD is a joke though. Neighborhoods get what they want NOW and to heck with the future.

Readam: Talking about Hightower?

I'm not sure what the campus's capacity is, but it is past 2,500 http://www.schooldigger.com/go/TX/schools/...885/school.aspx

Anyhow, I would personally like to see the Houston portion of FBISD with Willowridge given to Houston ISD - The FBISD eastside would be served by Hightower and one other high school.

How often is the stadium used for high school games?

They are the only ones left, so I don't see what choice we have.

I bet Obama will pick Clinton as his VP, or vice versa.

Oh I bet you have enjoyed some excellent pharma, Chuck. Those are some tiny and sad huevos belonging to a man who puts his name to a statement like that.

I concur. Bye, bye, Rosenthal.

If the above accounts are correct, Hunt needs to suffer from the effects of his decision. He ought to at least lose his job.

Should the City of Houston move all general aviation flights at Hobby to Ellington to make space for more commercial flights?

Perhaps Pearland Regional can take the amount of moved general aviation flights that Ellington cannot take.

No, I don't. I think building a whites only school would be illegal, wouldn't it? Although I hear there is a high school for homosexuals in New York, so nothing surprises me anymore.

I believe Harvey Milk High School in New York City now allows other students to enroll (I forget the criteria for them). As homosexuality is increasingly accepted in U.S. society I think Milk's role will change.

Anyhow, the large number of schools is justified *for now* - Someday maybe FBISD will need to close a few of them. Neighborhoods change and it may be difficult to predict how the changes will occur.

my dad works in Jacinto City....those whites took off years ago and its mostly mexican....the area was a blue collar neighborhood at one time

Even in the late 1980s the elementary schools were mostly Hispanic.

* Jacinto City ES: http://www.schooldigger.com/go/TX/schools/...986/school.aspx

* Whittier ES: http://www.schooldigger.com/go/TX/schools/...614/school.aspx

Also segregation was the reason why Jones AND Worthing exist today.

Worthing was for African-American students.

Jones was for White students. I believe Sterling was for White students too.

Nowadays all three schools are underpopulated.

* Jones - http://www.schooldigger.com/go/TX/schools/...503/school.aspx

* Sterling - http://www.schooldigger.com/go/TX/schools/...592/school.aspx

* Worthing - http://www.schooldigger.com/go/TX/schools/...619/school.aspx

HISD profiles (I notice a LOT of population figures at the high schools are down, so I'm not sure if the data is the most accurate. But this is what I have):

* Jones: 895 - http://dept.houstonisd.org/profiles/Jones_HS.pdf

* Sterling: 1,109 - http://dept.houstonisd.org/profiles/Sterling_HS.pdf

* Worthing: 1,026 - http://dept.houstonisd.org/profiles/Worthing_HS.pdf

IMO Jones should be eliminated somehow. But how should HISD do this? What should HISD do with Jones's building?

I think HISD turn Jones into a vocational school operated in tandem with HCC. All of the extra rooms and facilities may be used to house various types of equipment so that all different types of vocational careers may be practiced. Also perhaps students will not have to go all the way to Barbara Jordan for a vocational school.

South Park was a victim of white flight. It was a very nice all-white surburban neighborhood when it was built right after WWII. Note all the streets named for WWII heroes and battles. The developers were targeting returning war veterans, and in the late 40s and early 50s, those homes were definitely "upscale". The GI Bill made it possible for those guys to buy homes they could never afford before the war. The builder couldn't build them fast enough.

Then in the late 50s and early 60s black families started moving in, and white families moved out. By the mid 70s, South Park was predominantly black, and I guess it's just about 100 percent black by now.

That's how it happened. The whites didn't have to leave, but they did.

Palm Center wasn't a mall. It was an open air shopping center, and in its hey-day it was the nicest center in town. Even nicer than Gulfgate. It was surrounded by palm trees.

That whole stretch of Griggs, OST and South Park was very scenic, but like the neighborhood around it, it also went down and I believe it was just about all closed and boarded up by the late 80s.

Such a shame. For everybody.

nah whites can be poor too. break through those black stereotypes.

Also Whites can be dysfunctional. A Jacinto City crazed dysfunctional "family" murdered Buddy Musso, a mentally retarded man from New Jersey: http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murd...asso/index.html - The ringleader, Sue Basso, got the death sentence while her cronies got life sentences and other lengthy sentences.

Most of the poor Whites around here tend to be in rural periphery of the Houston area.

Anyhow, Jarvis Johnson is a city councilman so of course we can e-mail him and write letters. If he wants to build housing for low income families he should do so with the expectation that gentrification cannot be thwarted. The Houston way is to gentrify. It is better to build such housing so that the low income families can blend into a gentrified area.

I wonder if a person posing as a Rice student could act as a decoy. When the crook appears, several policemen armed with guns could appear and arrest the crook.

Do you think the decoy idea would work?

Movie theaters are one of the least permanent types of structures. They are filled with sound deadening material that accumulates bacteria at an alarming rate. Combine that with the rates of change for presentation technology and consumer tastes and you get a situation where it makes better economic sense to let them decay, tear them down and rebuild than it does to maintain them.

So, how long do you think the Edwards will last?

These Tinseltown stories remind me of the time when I was filling my car at a gas station. Some guy drives up to the station holding a gold necklace out of his car.

He talks to me and I was like "No, I didn't lose it." He said that he was selling the necklace. I said no thanks and he drove away.

I was on a flight from Miami to IAH a few years ago and the pilot called it Intergalactic. Everyone cracked up.

Which airline? Your pilot had a good sense of humor

Well, what I am saying is: was the SCR area always under control of Alvin ISD? I know that it is in Alvin ISD (what I told others), but did a land swap take place?

It was an agreement that was reached before SCR ever broke ground. I think you yourself has told others that if you live in the Brazoria County side of SCR that you would attend the elementary school in SCR, the Jr. High in Manvel and Manvel High School. This is not breaking news its been this way from the start.

What I am asking is: Was Alvin ISD always in control of the area? Or did it swap land with another district?

I must be missing the point of your question. The Brazoria side of SCR has been in AISD for years, but I imagine that you knew that. Am I missing something?

I'm not saying a change can't be made, just like the one that put SCR into Alvin schools rather than Pearland schools.

When did that happen? Why? Is there a news site that documents this?

Its probably the same annoying brats that have spray painted a "Y" at the end of the Longwood entrance to spell "Longwoody". I've seen that happen 2-3 times already.

Set up a set of CCTV cameras in case it happens a fourth.