I was going to write about the amazing new series on PBS, The Pioneers of Television, but it doesn't seem right.

Another great actor left us wondering what else he would have accomplished had he lived to see 30. Heath Ledger, admired by many for his turn as a cowboy in Brokeback Mountain, was one of the best young actors around. Though his role as Ennis is the aforementioned film was easily his most famous, many of us loved him as Patrick in 10 Things I Hate About You, a smart and surprisingly loyal adaptation of The Taming of the Shrew. And as William in A Knight's Tale, a movie so formulaic it should have bombed, but thanks to its brilliant casting, made for a very entertaining movie.

Heath was also in the cult series Roar which lasted less than one season ABC, but did very well on DVD. Even in bad movies, Heath shined. Take The Order...terribly boring movie, but watchable for his performance. Even those dreaded romcoms were made better with Heath--Casanova could have been absolute crap (and kinda was if not for Heath's performance). And when I found out he would be playing the Joker in The Dark Knight, I knew people would learn what my friend Kathy and I saw way back on the big screen at 10 Things....this guy is a star! As we learned as his career grew, he was also an actor. Too many of the Hollywood types today are stars, not actors. Even fewer are both. Heath was one of the few.

So not to dwell on the life of someone I haven't met (the tabloids will do that for us), tomorrow we will go back to our regularly scheduled postings.