By Steve Kabelowsky Contributing Columnist Published Sep 27, 2012 at 1:03 PM

Being sick with a cough and cold kept me home, in front of the TV with a remote in hand. Here are the highlights:

WHY?: More than 2.3 million of us TV watchers spend our time watching TLC's masterpiece "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo." The show staring the former "Toddlers and Tiaras" family has been renewed, with the channel ordering more episodes and even a holiday special. As I said before, thanks to The Learning Channel for dumbing it down for us.

SPEAKING OF DUMB: Thanks to the replacement referees in Monday night's Packers-Seahawks football game for causing a game-ending drama like no other. The TV broadcast on WISN-TV Ch. 12 was the top of the ratings locally, and on ESPN, made it the top in the nation with more than 16 million viewers.

GEEKS UNITE: Fan favorite "The Big Bang Theory" is back on top of the charts for social check-ins. Last week, Get Glue has the CBS sitcom at more than 48,000 checks. That's ahead of second-place "The Voice" on NBC. Rounding out the top five are "Supernatural" on CW, "Sons of Anarchy" on FX and "Dr. Who" on BBC America.

DEBATES: The first of three debates between Tommy Thompson and Tammy Baldwin will air at 8 p.m. Friday night on WTMJ-TV, Ch. 4. The airing will bump "Grimm" to 2:30 a.m. Saturday morning.

The second debate is scheduled for Oct. 18 and will be produced by Wisconsin Public Television, Wisconsin Public Radio, WTMJ-TV and The Journal-Sentinel. The third and final debate is set for Oct. 26 and will be at Marquette University and hosted by WISN-TV Ch. 12's Mike Gousha. The candidates are vying for Wisconsin's open U.S. senate seat that was held by Herb Kohl.

HOOD ORNAMENT: Rita Wilson used Twitter to send a picture of her husband, Tom Hanks, taping his Emmy award to the hood of his car. He left the award ceremony with a nice new golden hood ornament. You can see the photo here.

DANCING: Pamela Anderson was the first celebrity to leave "Dancing with the Stars" this season. She was one of the few (two) who were not winners or runners-up from previous season.

PADDING: Just like entertainment news shows in syndication ("Entertainment Tonight," "Extra," "The Insider" – I'm talking about you) do when they need to fill time, I'll fill this column mentioning that Jenni "JWoww" Farley of "Jersey Shore" fame is engaged. For real this time, or so we are told.

I counted a good two dozen headlines on Google News with this information on Wednesday. Not as many news outlets as covered the fiasco ending of Monday night's football game, but close.

GOOD TV IN GREEN BAY: I've watched quite a few hours of television programming produced in the Green Bay market. I actually catch more than the average TV watcher from southeastern Wisconsin. Anyway, I think it leaves a good foundation to say that you don't always see something as good as this.

Kudos to the staff at WGBA-TV NBC26 in Green Bay. They had a little fun with a "replacement" weather person on a recent newscast.

Steve Kabelowsky Contributing Columnist

Media is bombarding us everywhere.

Instead of sheltering his brain from the onslaught, Steve embraces the news stories, entertainment, billboards, blogs, talk shows and everything in between.

The former writer, editor and producer in TV, radio, Web and newspapers, will be talking about what media does in our community and how it shapes who we are and what we do.