Watchdog

Sorry for the short (40-minute) notice, but I finally got around to screening the debut episode of "Playing for Peanuts," a new documentary series about the South Georgia Peanuts that debuts at 6 p.m. Sunday on SNY.

(It will be shown three more times this week, so don't worry if you neglect to check WatchDog every five minutes and thus didn't read this post in time.)

It appears the series will cover the long-familiar territory of life in the minors, but some of the stuff that happens in the bush leagues never fails to amaze, such as an Opening Day parachutist who misses actually landing on the field by thismuch.

Perhaps the biggest draw of the series for New York baseball fans is Mr. Peanut himself, manager Wally Backman, seen here in his first baseball job since his dismissal by the Diamondbacks in 2004, less than a week after being hired to manage in the bigs.

(By the way . . . the independent league in which the Peanuts play has suspended operations for the 2008 season.)