Celebrating daytime excellence?

While perusing Sunday's TV listings to see what kind of sports action will be on the tube Sunday night, I noticed the Daytime Emmy Awards are set for 8:00 P.M. on the CW. Remember when this ceremony was on a real network every year? Now it must settle for a spot on whatever the CW is.

Just for fun, let's look at how the local CW affiliate hauled in at Cultureshark Tower, WDCW in the nation's capital, exemplifies the spirit of excellence in daytime broadcasting.

At 8:00 A.M., we start the day with that classy mainstay Jerry Springer. I'm not making an arbitrary pick with that 8:00 start time, either. You see, the channel shows infomercials for several hours prior.

Then it's an hour of Judge Mathis, followed by another hour of courtroom drama with "The People's Court." At this point, apparently everyone at WDCW breaks for lunch because instead of doing something creative, they just pop in another episode of "People's Court" at 11:00.

After 3 hours of court-related hijinks, we're ready for some variety, right? WDCW recognizes this and offers up at noon "The Steve Wilkos Show," which is hosted, of course, by the former bodyguard from...Jerry Springer's show.

The variety CONTINUES, though, as the CW follows the exploitive chat show with...another exploitive chat show! This time, it's Maury Povich. But hey, Maury's been doing this a long time, so I'll give him squatter's rights in the daytime here. As long as we get something new at 2:00, I won't complain.

At 2:00 is another episode of "Maury."

Maybe after 3 hours of similar programming, you're tired of this faux talk show drama. So what will wash the taste out of your mouth and recharge you for the rest of the day? WDCW knows. Why, it's another court show, of course--Judge Jeanine Pirro this time.

At 4:00, the channel--amazingly--switches gears and broadcasts a pair of sitcoms--"The Jamie Foxx Show" and "The Wayans Brothers." Something different! Imagine that!

Hey, I didn't say good sitcoms.

Then to close out the daytime lineup and ease us into the evening, WDCW makes a brilliant programming move, giving its loyal viewers the perfect show to bring this exhilarating daylong journey full circle:

Yep, it's "Judge Mathis."

What better channel to showcase the best of daytime programming?