Ponderous thoughts I was pondering ...

Gal Gadot still shines as Diana Prince, but "WW84" lays a giant egg.

Ponderous thoughts I was pondering while preparing to say so long to the worst year among the 67 I have been present on this planet:

** Before all else, I want to wish all of my loyal readers, viewers and listeners the best of holiday seasons, no matter what you celebrate. Things have got to be better going forward, don't you think? 

** In case you haven't noticed, cable television is changing -- and not necessarily for the better.

Premium channels to which I once had subscribed are being thrown out the window by the service providers -- in my case, Comcast (or Xfinity, whatever you please) -- and being replaced by lesser services for no reduction in cost. And for me to get the premium content I once received, I now have to subscribe to premium-premium services for an additional cost.

Either that, or in a few cases, the premium services are added on as "apps" for smaller, built-in increases to what I pay every month.

In recent months, I have lost the Cinemax channels (which basically duplicated a lot of what I saw on HBO with the exception of those hilarious soft-core porn movies late at night that earned Cinemax the "Skinemax" nickname) and the Starz channels, which had some good original programming and a decent selection of movies over its multi-channel lineup.

I still get the HBO and Showtime channels, the latter of which was worth the price for "Ray Donovan" alone. And Comcast threw in something called "Epix," which has a very limited selection of HD programming but some good channels on the standard-definition tier. Still, it's not a fair replacement for what I lost, and I didn't save a single penny because of the deletions from my channel lineup.

Now, HBO is moving a lot of its newer original programming to its "HBO Max" channel, which would come at a premium price except that for the time being, Comcast is offering it "free" to those on the X1 platform. Also available similarly is Peacock (made available because NBC Universal is the parent company of NBC and Comcast). And because I had previously subscribed to Netflix and Prime Video, I can now use the Xfinity apps for those.

So far, I have refused to pay for Disney Plus, Apple TV and Hulu, even though there are programs I'd prefer to see on those than the swill that Comcast offers as part of their basic and expanded cable tiers. I'm already paying $300 a month for about $100 worth of services, and I swear I would have pulled the plug if Comcast had gone through with its plan to yank WCVB-TV (Ch. 5) from its local programming in Bristol County because we're not part of the Boston television market.

I cannot think of a worse disservice that could have been done to local viewers if we had been forced to watch only Providence affiliates. I am a Massachusetts resident and I want to know what happens in Boston to govern my daily life, not Providence, which (fortunately) has nothing to do whatsoever with my daily existence, and could float out into the middle of the Atlantic with little of an impact upon my life.

I know there are those that would suggest I just cut the cord. Get all the apps and set up a digital antenna for the locals, they might say. No thank you. I want to sit in my chair and see what's on without having to jump through hoops, find a different remote or change my email addresses again for the 10th time in the last decade. And to be honest, I've heard FiOS isn't all that much better from those that subscribe.

So I'm stuck. I'll probably make another call to the Evil Empire to bitch about my service and my bill, and they might knock $20 a month off it because they're getting desperate for subscribers, but in the meantime, that $20 will disappear with another round of channel-cutting and app-adding within about six months, I bet.

** To that end, I did get to watch the highly-anticipated "Wonder Woman 1984" on HBO Max on Christmas Day because of my current subscription agreement.

Two and a half hours later, I wasn't feeling all that fortunate to have the subscription.

Kristen Wiig was "Cheetah." I was cheated.

I'll start with the good. Gal Gadot remains absolutely stunning. And I have to admit I've been a Kristen Wiig fan since her days with "Saturday Night Live" -- did you know she's a full 5 inches shorter than Gal Gadot? Didn't look it in the movie.

But they could have found a place for Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep in this flick and it still would have been a stinker. Bad writing, bad message (She's freakin' Wonder Woman, for heaven's sake, but you expect me to believe that Diana doesn't feel complete without the boyfriend that blew himself up some 60-plus years earlier?), bad CGI -- just awful, from start to finish.

What a disappointment. And while I didn't spend $25 for a ticket, popcorn and a large drink at the Showcase to see it, I do miss that popcorn. And the benefit to home viewing was that when nature called during its overbloated length, I just hit the pause button and skipped to the necessary facility, secure that I wouldn't miss that moment when the movie's shortcomings all disappeared.

Sadly, that moment never came.

** While I am preparing for the resumption of my basketball broadcasting career in a little more than two weeks, I got some bad news this weekend.

Foxboro High has made the decision to bar spectators at its basketball games this winter. And while that would not have affected me if I had remained part of the broadcast team for Foxboro Cable Access' telecasts of the girls' games, Coach Lisa Downs made the decision to offer the play-by-play and analyst duties to parents on a sign-up basis for their five home games, giving at least 10 members of the extended basketball family a chance to see games in person.

It's the right decision. I probably would have been able to attend only one game during this shortened schedule, and I suspect there would have been an uproar over my taking the place of a parent of someone in the program. I hope to resume my role as a guest analyst in the 2021-22 season, and I certainly do wish the Warriors the best of luck.

** Last I heard, it's still a go for my role as play-by-play announcer for three games apiece of the King Philip boys and girls for North TV (and they're working on live-streaming the games), as well as for my other gig with Mansfield Cable Access, doing boys' and girls' games.

As with last year, former Xaverian Brothers High School basketball coach Alex Salachi will join me for the call of the KP games. Alex will also be joining me for the first two Mansfield games (both in Mansfield against KP on Jan. 6 and 7), with Tom Faria returning to the crew for the anticipated games on Jan. 12 and 14 against Taunton -- if those are played. Taunton paused practices until Jan. 4 because of COVID-19, and the rest of the Hockomock League's Kelley-Rex Division is holding its breath in anticipation of how that will affect the schedules.

** Expect another episode of The Owner's Box After Dark here in this space late Tuesday. And once again, a happy and a merry to all of you.