There was that one episode where her cat genes or whatever-the-hell kicked in and she was in heat.

Just one? I thought it happened during two sweeps episodes.

That X-Men rumour is NASTY. I just ... how sad.

I'm seriously leaning towards stupid rumor on this one. There's no fucking way that could get past even the dumbest of network executives, I would hope.

ETA:

Just one? I thought it happened during two sweeps episodes.

Might've been two. I watched 9 episodes before I deleted them all. Made a couple of choice screenshots, then deleted them all. Pretty only gets me for so long.

I can't believe I googled ...

She goes into heat at least twice ("Heat" -- episode 2 (if you count the two hour pilot as one ep), and "Meow" -- episode 20). Another source says she also goes into heat in episode 7, but I really can't keep searching because it hurts me.

Did it do Smallville-style one-word titles? Were there episodes called "Claws" and "Fur" and "Kitty" and "Purina"?

episode was evil to male viewers worldwide because we had to watch her seduce some not-too-attractive guy who was just incredibly lucky to be in the right place at exactly the right time

See, that annoyed me not just for the whole facepalm thing about Max's sex drive anyway, but also because of this. Everyone was all "Ick! Coyote Ugly! Ick!" about the bloke, and he was cute, damn it. I mean, okay, marginally less plastic looking than the various musclebound Manticore-made chaps, or the pretty guy in the wheelchair, but still cute. I mean, it turned out that he was a bit of a twit, but everyone's initial judgements were totally based on the fact that he was supposed to be a minger. And - he wasn't. What would have been funny was if they HAD cast someone genuinely unbeautiful.

('course, I fancied Normal as much as pretty whatchamacallim in the wheelchair, and the various Manticore-made boys not at all, so possibly I'm not their target audience after all.)

Were there episodes called "Claws" and "Fur" and "Kitty" and "Purina"?

Spits coffee on cat.

Um. Don't think so. Nor Fleas nor Furball. More's the pity.

Who was the actor playing the normal guy?

Everyone was all "Ick! Coyote Ugly! Ick!" about the bloke, and he was cute, damn it.

I didn't think he was ugly, actually. At all. Just close enough to real looking that I could imagine myself in his place. I'm not ugly, either. But that is why it was mean, because if Jessica Alba is sleeping with guys whose hotness scale puts them yards above my league, then all is okay, but if I'm within spitting distance then I get jealous.

Sensible? No.

pretty whatchamacallim in the wheelchair

Logan.

A name I have never run into in real life, but that appears with alarming regularity attached to Sexy Sexy TeeVee Boys.

And, oddly, the new hyper-affordable car from Renault. [link] I don't know why they picked the name "Logan" but I suspect it's more for Logan's Run than Wolverine.

Cable in the states has commercials now also, but it originally didn't, and that was supposed to be the whole point. Just like broadcast TV didn't originally have commercials during the show, but before and after only. As viewers get used to commercials, providers of TV or movies start packing in more and more. We could conceivably see a day where movie theaters stop the film for an intermission to show commercials. (Which, with the new longer movies, would be justified as a bathroom break.)

The economics of the movie theater industry are flawed...the studios are charging too much for the theaters to rent the movies, apparently, thus the move towards theater conglomerates. These conglomerates started so that they could develop relations with studios - AMC used to get Columbia/Tri-Star movies cheaper (I think it was C/T-S). Might still be the case, I dunno.

I wonder what would happen if theaters charged more for opening night, and then a bit less for opening weekend, and then a bit less for the first two weeks, and then dropped the price substantially? Theater-goers would squawk initially, but I'm sure it would catch on pretty fast, as there are indefinable benefits to seeing a movie early into its release. And theaters already have premium pricing for evening shows vs. matinee shows. Also, I wonder if charging a premium for reserved seats will catch on - once the new theater in Fairfax offered this, it's all we did. My DH wouldn't go otherwise.

This all goes counter to the American belief that movies are proletariat entertainment, of course. So maybe the commercials are the price we have to pay to keep movies for the masses, and still let the studios make ungodly amounts of profit (except, there's never any profit). I mean, I have no problem with profit-making, that's the whole point. But it seems to me that the studio executives have found ways to maximize their profit beyond the actual market level, and these ways ultimately hurt the end consumer. Sort of like Microsoft.

(waits for counterpoint from ita)

A source tells Pagesix.com the mutant will be, "An unbelievably hot and sexy hooker. Her super power is that she secretes a pheromone that helps her to seduce men. She can seduce anyone."

Smallville already did this storyline. Fairly well, too. (Well for SV, anyway.)

I wonder what would happen if theaters charged more for opening night, and then a bit less for opening weekend, and then a bit less for the first two weeks, and then dropped the price substantially?

That kinda sorta happens, in between first run theaters (that have the movies when they first come out) and the dollar (or, nowadays, $3.00) theaters that get the movies a few weeks later. I can see Batman Begins for $3.50 now, about the price of renting the DVD when it comes out, if I don't mind going to Kernersville, NC to do it.