YACK on:
The Doug Show
Grant Sanders
It's a sad thing. When one of your favorite TV shows ends. I remember when my favorite show as a kid was cancelled. Return To The Planet Of The Apes. I can still hum the theme song. Well, I can grunt it. And make those sounds like someone blowing though a ram's horn. "Awhooo!" Yeah. You can almost hear it now, can't you? I was very upset when Return To The Planet Of The Apes was cancelled by CBS. I sulked like the despondent preteen I was. I'm sure several hundred make-up artists were upset as well. That's a good gig for a make-up artist in Hollywood - applying rubber prosthetic ape faces to dozens and dozens of extras. Probably a good gig for the extras as well. "Look mom, there I am now, on screen! Yeah, the chimp walking sort of sideways holding a bundle of sticks. Yeah! That's me! I'm famous!" I hear that's how Brad Pitt started in the business. And Madonna.

Some shows run a long time and then they just disappear. Like St. Elsewhere. Remember that last show when you found out that the whole five seasons in the hospital in Boston was just some kind of strange daydream of an autistic boy? Very weird.

And then there are shows that run for a long time and no one wants them to end except the actors. Like M*A*S*H. It's final episode was one of the most-watched shows in the history of television. M*A*S*H was so popular and successful, it ran four times longer that the Korean war in which it was set. I was really sad when that ended.

But the one show that saddens me most to see cancelled is my favorite Wednesday night treat, The Doug Show. That's right. It was announced this week who would be running for the Board of Selectmen and not only did incumbent Doug Bennett not turn in his signed nomination papers, he never even took them out. After three short seasons, the Doug Show will end on the last Wednesday in March. And I am beside myself with sadness that we will no longer have the loveable, smiling, always effervescent kid from Pennsylvania to watch anymore. It was fun while it lasted. Some of the best governtainment going. But it's done. Alas.

My first encounter with Doug was back when he ran for the single seat vacated by Steve Bender back in 2003. That year, his strategy of standing at the rotary with a large sheet of plywood waving, just about every day, rain or shine netted him a second place finish around 40 votes sort. This was pretty impressive given the fact that he was running against a former fire chief who had been in his firetruck waving at people all around the island a lot longer than Doug had. Decades, maybe. Perhaps it was the plywood sign. Maybe it was the Gentleman's Warehouse suit. Or the fact that Doug was new and novel and fun to honk at.

Doug had something going on. People liked him. A lot. Carpenters. Little old ladies. Teens. All kinds of people.

I was rather skeptical of Doug back then. I recall posting on the old YACK that I didn't think standing and yelling and waving at the rotary was a viable reason for electing someone to the Board of Selectmen. And that I would not trust Doug to water my house plants, let alone run the island. (For the record, today I would trust Doug to water my houseplants. If I had any.)

On election night, Doug appeared on my TV show (also called YACK) on TV17 and we had a very interesting discussion that was interrupted often by his cell phone. At the end, he signed off by saying he would run again but that tonight, having almost won, he was going to "party like a rock star."

That's when I knew we were in for an interesting ride.

Doug' next race was just as eventful and ended with a re-count where he beat Brian Chadwick by a mere 17 votes. The Doug Show, once a pilot that met with critical acclaim, was now a weekly series.

There have been some nights of The Doug Show where Doug has been relatively silent, pausing occasionally to stare into the TV camera and smile. There have been other nights where he has been really animated, making long speeches and quoting from Jefferson or Franklin or John Lennon. Some of his speeches have made the gallery gasp at their audacity, or silently smile at their out-of-left-fieldedness. I've written about more of them than I can faithfully recall. Some of my words were not always kind, but they were written out of a sense of respect for the man and his drive.

Doug may not have been the most effective selectman, and he has often taken credit for achievements that were not his alone, but I'll say this for the young man: He gave it his all and he brought a level of awareness and interest to the board that would not have occurred if his seat had been filled by another boring, graying, middle-aged white guy in a tie. He made the meetings worth watching. And for that, I thank him for his service.

So there it is. Seven more weeks of the Doug Show to go. I don't know what Doug plans to do after his service ends, but I hope he gets to work soon. I can't wait for Doug, the Movie.

YACK On. I

Grant Sanders is the Host of YACK, The Nantucket Online Community at www.yackon.com and he looks forward with gleeful anticipation to what a new BOS might bring. His views are his own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial stance of The Nantucket Independent. Or his wife. Who has Doug sticker on her Jetta.