Logan Thomas is a true ‘Shining Star’
Each year for the past eight, NBC Sports Philadelphia teams with a sponsor, Audi for 2018, to raise money for the March of Dimes.
The program is called Shining Stars, and besides aiding a worthy cause, it matches sports-loving children with heroes from their favorite local teams.
Among those honored at last week’s ceremony is Logan Thomas of Ridley Park.
Logan’s mother went into early labor. Three weeks later, to save mother and child’s life, he was born prematurely and had to spent three weeks in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) until he was well enough to go home. All of this was funded through the March of Dimes.
Logan may have been home, but he was not out of the woods, as a well-produced story about him, show at the Shining Stars banquet, attests.
In the NICU, Logan experienced several instances when his breathing stopped completely. To make sure the Thomases would know if this happened once Logan was home, the infant had to wear a monitor that was plugged into a wall and made it difficult for Logan to move.
His mother was particularly upset because the monitor and its cord discouraged people from holding or cuddling Logan, and he didn’t receive the shows of affection most babies do.
One day that cord could be removed and Logan’s dad speaks of the time he came home from work to the surprise of Logan being unmonitored and untethered.
Logan’s health problems made him sensitive to the plights of others, children or not. When he was age five and had long hair, Logan asked that it be cut and donated to children with cancer.
The generous young lad was rewarded by receiving a Shining Stars honor that gave him the chance to meet a favorite player from a favorite team. Logan is a major football fan, and his choice was Malcolm Jenkins of the Philadelphia Eagles.
The NBCSP video shows a responsive Jenkins taking Logan around the Eagles locker room, bringing on and his younger brother on the field to meet other players, and having a catch with Logan.
It’s all heartwarming, and it all shows what happens when major businesses like NBCSP and Audi team with a major charity, the March of Dimes, to make sure more children get the care Logan did and the chance to meet a hero like Malcolm Jenkins.
Cecily’s fashion statement
Lead Channel 6 meteorologist Cecily Tynan lambasted commenters who criticized her for wearing a more casual look — sweater, pants, and boots — while delivering her weather reports on four or five shows during snowy weather when colleague Adam Joseph was out sick.
I don’t know what the critics were getting tile about because Cecily, always well dressed and groomed, looked fine and in keeping with the image her job demands to me.
Meanwhile, the peanut gallery spoke, and Cecily responded last Wednesday by reminding them her job is to present the most accurate forecast she can and that she puts her time into that instead of worrying about providing a fashion show.
She not only reviewed her credentials and spoke of her work, but went into how she is responsible for her wardrobe, although Channel 6 provides consultants, and she chose to be more comfortable considering the snow and her added on-air workload.
I’m totally with Cecily on this one. If it weren’t for her response, I would never be aware there was a problem, let alone out that required an outpouring of online comments.
I also want to add a line to what Cecily said about credentials and the study she’s put in to doing her job. Credentials are one thing. Credibility is another and Cecily has earned respect for that as well as for her training.
Let’s stick with what’s important here, folks. It’s the weather, not what the weather anchor wears. As if Cecily, an athlete, would could disgrace herself wearing anything.
Good for you, Cec. You and Channel 3 weather colleague Katie Fehlinger show us all how to stand our ground!
Brady makes stop in Bucks
Quick-witted Wayne Brady, for the past nine years host of daytime television’s “Let’s Make Deal,” brings his comedy and variety act to Bucks County’s Parx Casino on Friday.
If there’s a jack of all trades in entertainment today, Brady is it. Like “Deal’s” creator and original host, the recently deceased Monty Hall, he works unscripted, a habit he’s perfected since he first gained fame 20 years ago on Britain’s “Whose Line is it Anyway?”
Brady, born in Georgia and raised in Florida, stayed with “Whose Line” when it was imported to the US with Drew Carey as host. He won what might possibly be the only Emmy won by an improvisational performer in the early years of this century.
Brady also has musical chops. He starred as Billy Flynn in a touring company of “Chicago” and recently took the deceptively difficult part of the proud drag entertainer, Lola, in Broadway’s “Kinky Boots.” He also appeared for a brief time as Aaron Burr in the Broadway phenomenon, “Hamilton.”
It’s Brady’s versatility and way with a spontaneous phrase that makes his local appearance special to me and drives me to make it known to you. Not many performers today combine sharp vaudeville skills with the presence of mind to think of the perfect line at the perfect time. Of all the people who have appeared with Carey in his various improvisation shows, Brady shows the most independence and the most range.
Brady comes to Parx at 8 p.m. Friday. The casino is located at 2999 Street Road in Bensalem, Pa. Tickets were scarce at press time.
New series
Fox obviously wanted a strong preview audience for its new series, “The Resident,” because it scheduled its preview to come right after the NFC championship game between the Eagles and Vikings and is showing the second installment of the series tonight at 9 p.m. Monday being its regular airtime.
The debuting series that most captures my fancy in HBO’s “Mosaic,” which airs at 8 p.m. tonight and spreads its six parts on consecutive nights this week with Friday featuring two episodes.
What grabs my attention is the participation of director Steven Soderbergh (“Erin Brockovich,” “Traffic”) who weaves various plot threads, not necessarily linear or in the same chronological era, to tell a murder story.
In “Rashomon” fashion, that story will be told by multiple people with multiple points of view. Sharon Stone leads the cast with also features Beau Bridges, Michael Cerveris, and Paul Reubens (Pee-wee Herman).
Also looking forward to the season preview of “Jane the Virgin” at 9 p.m. Friday on Channel 57.
Award season continues
Award season continues with Sunday’s presentation of the Grammy Awards starting at 7:30 p.m. on Channel 3.
Tomorrow, a little after 8:30 a.m., nominees for this year’s Academy Awards will be revealed, probably on every station that can take the feed. Morning shows on Channels 3, 6, and 10 will assuredly stop all proceedings to show audiences candidates for major awards — Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Supporting Actress.
To me, the Oscar announcement is the most important appointment I make to watch TV in any given year.