Sorry this one’s late, dudes. I’m back at the family homestead, and we don’t have wireless. We tried once, but it didn’t work out. That is to say, mom purchased a wireless router and went to work getting it all set up, but after two hours of screaming, rage, sweat, blood, and tears, she returned the router to the store and decided we would not have wireless after all.

That is why this comic is posted on Thursday instead of Wednesday. The End.

So the topic of the day is confidence, huh? I know of some young ladies and gentlemen who’d damn well better have confidence: those competing in ABC’s upcoming reality show, “The Great American Beauty.” I know about this show because the Star Tribune gave it a shout-out today in a piece titled “Only the Beautiful Need Apply.” It seems casting producers for the LA-based show recently stopped by our fair cities, singling us out along with places like Savannah, Georgia and Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Why? Because, like, the Midwest is a farm, duh! Or as the tongue-in-cheek article puts it, “Producers are combing rural or hidden pockets of beauty across the country, and Minneapolis-St. Paul made the cut, at least by ABC’s standards.”

The producers seem not to realize that the combined population of Minneapolis-St Paul puts it at 20th largest city in the nation, beating out places like Baltimore, Boston, Seattle, Vegas, D.C., Portland, and Miami.

Whatever, the show’s about looks, not numbers! And look the producers did, scouting gyms, tanning salons, and anywhere else they could think of where they might find Minnesota’s most beautiful. “Abercrombie & Fitch stores proved to be a crucial location for recruiting,” said Debbie DeLisi a New York- and Minneapolis-based recruiter for film and TV.

There is obviously much more that could be said about this show, its premise, and the state of reality television, but I’m not gonna get into it. I’ll just speculate aloud on what you all must surely be thinking: what happens if an “ugly” person shows up to the open casting call? Do they just politely shoo them away? Maybe they give them a free shirt.

See you tomorrow.