Fox News swamped the cable competition Thursday on a day and night when millions turned to their TVs for coverage of the rampage at Fort Hood.

CNN was the second most watched channel, but it wasn't close to Fox when it came to viewership. From Shepard Smith to Bret Baier and Bill O'Reilly, all the newscasters and show hosts dominated in their time period.

From 3 p.m. to midnight, Fox drew an average audience of 3.04 million viewers, while CNN was seen by 1.57 million. MSNBC drew an audience of 820,000. In the key demographic of viewers 25 to 54 years of age, almost doubled CNN's audience and more than tripled that of MSNBC.

Smith's newscasts proved to be among the cable channel's most watched programs. From 7 to 8 p.m., "Fox Report with Shepard Smith" drew an audience of 3.97 million viewers, while Lou Dobbs was seen by 1.52 million on CNN. Chris Matthews attracted 1.06 million on MSNBC.

Continue reading "Viewers tuned to Fox News for Fort Hood coverage" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 5:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)
        

Is there anything left in American life that does not ultimately find itself folded, bent and packaged for television? I am thinking about the strange interplay of TV interviews Friday night that will find Chris Brown being interviewed on MTV at 6 p.m. about his assault of former girlfriend, Rihanna, while she talks about the attack at 10 p.m. on ABC with Diane Sawyer. In one sense, I am glad to see the subject of such abuse discussed in a large public forum, but I do not know what lesson young men watching MTV will take about the consequences of such acts when they see Brown still being treated like a rock star hero. While there are issues involved with someone being judged guilty in the media before being found guilty in court, I think perhaps Oprah Winfrey's act of editing Bebe Winans out of her show in response to him being charged with misdemeanor domestic assault might have a greater impact. It shows men that there can be consequences for such acts. Tell me what you think about Brown's apology in this video. Do you think he gets it? Rihanna's TV interview will be one of the topics I'll be talking about as a guest on "Reliable Sources" Sunday at 10 a.m. on CNN.

Continue reading "Rihanna, Brown and Oprah: Assault as a TV topic " »

Posted by David Zurawik at 3:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)
        

It used to be that TV networks tried to present blockbuster special event entertainment programming in prime time during "sweeps" months to attract larger audiences. Expensive mini-series, controversial movies and big-name guest stars filled the airwaves in November, February and May.

Scratch that strategy as too expensive in these downsized media days.

Now the game is to get big-name stars and/or controversial guests on your talk shows. Think of Oprah and Barbara Walters with Sarah Palin later this month -- or Diane Sawyer scoring a November sweeps scoop Thursday on "Good Morning America" with Rihanna talking about the physical abuse she suffered at the hands of then-boyfriend Chris Brown. It is the first time she has talked about the widely-reported assault.

The pop star said it was "humiliating" and "traumatizing" to acknowledge that the assault took place. She also said it was "wrong" that she went back to Brown after the beatings. (AP Photo\ABC Ida Mae Astute)

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Posted by David Zurawik at 8:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (30)
        

Radio station WCHH-FM (104.3) changed format this week going to an Top 40 hits playlist. The story here is a fairly straightforward one of the former home to alternative music continuing to lose ratings ground to Baltimore's 98 Rock.

The Clear Channel station that is now packaged as Z104.3 will feature such artists as Britney Spears, Kanye West, Jay Z, Beyonce, Taylor Swift and Black Eyed Peas.

"Baltimore is one of the rare exceptions in top 25 markets to not have a CHR format. It is finally time for listeners to be able to hear all the hits in one place, and Z104.3 is the new home for those hits. Operations Manager Thea Mitchem has put together an amazing music intensive format that Baltimore has asked for and we know they will love." President/Market Manager Hartley Adkins says in a Radio Online report of the shift.

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Posted by David Zurawik at 7:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (14)
        

Continue reading "And now it is Jon Gosselin's turn to act out on TV" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 11:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (124)
        

After all the hype by TLC and the money spent by the Maryland-based cable company to try and buy some credibility from NBC News, Monday night's interview show with Kate Gosselin did not make much of a dent in the ratings loss that "Jon & Kate Plus 8" has suffered in recent months.

"Kate: Her Story," an hourlong interview of Kate Gosselin by NBC News correspondent Natalie Morales, drew an audience of 3.795 million viewers. That is up from 3 million the week before. But it is long way from the audience on 10 million with which the reality TV show, "Jon & Kate Plus 8," started the season in June. Last March before the tabloid explosion, the regular weekly show was averaging about 3.7 million, as I wrote at the time.

The program was promoted as a special hour of the most "intimate" conversation yet with Gosselin, who seems to have been interviewed a lot about herself in recent months. The only thing "special" about it was the peculiar arrangement of its production that saw TLC hire NBC's Peacock Productions to make the program. TLC appears to have been trying to buy some of the credibility of NBC News for its falling star, Kate Gosselin. Judging from yesterday's online reviews and blog comments, the reality-TV drenched cable channel did not seem to be so successful in that regard.

Continue reading "Kate Gosselin: Not so much in the ratings Monday" »

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Posted by David Zurawik at 3:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (14)
        

TLC and NBC News teamed up to deliver a pity party and Kate Gosselin cry-a-thon all rolled into one Monday night. It was a new low in the pathos and bathos of what has become the greatest reality TV crackup of all time. Kate started crying less than 10 minutes into the hour, and she never turned the tears off until the final credits rolled.

Let me give you the big picture of what was going on first in this NBC News approved and produced hourlong interview of Kate Gosselin by "Today" show correspondent Natalie Morales. TLC paid for a piece of the credibility of NBC News, and here is the trick that the network producers used to try and deliver the goods.

Instead of performing like a journalistic interviewer, Morales played the role of a defense attorney forced to put her client on the stand because there is so much evidence against the client. So, what Morales did in her defense attorney role is time after time state the charges against her client in such a way that Kate could easily refute them. This is beyond asking softball questions. This is a far more sophisticated manuever that undermines and seeks to dismiss the allegations against a client even as the defense attorney states them.

Typical of the back and forth was this exchange with Morales bringing up rumors of Kate having an affair with her bodyguard.

Continue reading "TLC, NBC, Morales host pity party for Kate Gosselin" »

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Continue reading "See NBC News shill for Kate Gosselin special" »

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Maryland is again the focus of the ESPN film series "30 for 30" this week as it premieres Kirk Fraser's "Without Bias," a look at the career, death and impact of one-time University of Maryland basketball star Len Bias.

This production is part of the same film series that last month showcased Barry Levinson's documentary on the Baltimore Colts Marching Band, "The Band That Wouldn't Die."

The publicity notes promise "the most ambitious, comprehensive and uncompromising account of Bias' life and death ever captured on film." And I will say Fraser seems to have had excellent access to members of Bias' family, teammates, coaches, Washington area media types who covered Bias and even the athlete's girlfriend.

Continue reading "ESPN film revisits death of Maryland's Len Bias" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 6:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (13)
        

On Oct. 2, two weeks into the fall season, I wrote a piece saying it looked as if we had a preliminary answer to the question of the TV year: How will Jay Leno do in prime time for NBC?

That answer: Not very well.

I also said that while the troubled NBC is probably willing to  live with being a low-cost alternative to the other networks in prime time, affiliates like Baltimore's WBAL (Channel 11), looked as if they were going to be feeling some real pain in the pocketbook from reduced sales on their late newscasts as a result of NBC's bold move. I wondered how long they would be willing to live with it.

After four more weeks, the October ratings are in, and the news is even worse than I predicted for Leno and WBAL in Baltimore. At 10 p.m., not only does Leno get beat by prime-time entertainment programming on the other network owned and affiliated stations in the market, WBFF Fox-45 beats Leno with its 10 p.m. newscast.

I'm talking about the key sales demographic of viewers 25 to 54 years of age, because that is what the stations live or die with in the real world. And when you extend the look at those figures into 11 p.m., the news only gets worse for WBAL.

Continue reading "'Leno Factor' is killing Baltimore's WBAL -- Part 2" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 11:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (35)
        

On the one hand, you have a Maryland-based cable company with a dying show that it can't even keep in production. On the other, you have a faltering network with sinking revenues looking for any way it can to make a buck off its celebrated brand. Sounds like a perfect TV marriage, no?

Those are the story lines behind TLC's weird Monday-night production, "Kate: Her Story," which the cable channel in grand-hype mode promises will be Gosselin's "most intimate interview" ever. Sure.

But the surprising thing to me is the way in which NBC News is risking its reputation on such a dicey character as Kate Gosselin. Natalie Morales, NBC News correspondent, will conduct the interview with the mother of eight.

The one-hour program scheduled to air Monday at 9 p.m. is officially an NBC production, reviewed and approved by NBC News, according to Lauren Kapp, vice president of communications for the network news division.

"NBC news has final approval," Kapp said in e-mail statement Friday to the "Sun" on Friday. "All shows produced by Peacock Productions are reviewed by NBC News management." (AP Photo/Katy Winn)

Continue reading "NBC News risks its name on Kate Gosselin interview" »

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Continue reading "Kate Gosselin: She just keeps on spinning" »

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You have read words and watched video of disagreements between me and Fox News host Bill O'Reilly here in the past.

Here is video from Wednesday of a conversation we had about on his show about the way some members of the press, including me and some Fox competitors, have responded to the White House war on his news channel. Please let me know what you think.

Continue reading "Bill O'Reilly asks why critics are sticking up for Fox" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 8:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (35)
        

The White House keeps up its attack on Fox News as biased in this video with Valerie Jarrett, another senior adviser to President Obama making the claim. But watch how fast Jarrett folds when CNN anchor Campbell Brown asks her if pro-administration MSNBC isn't just as biased. MSNBC is one of the giant holes in the administration's argument that Fox isn't a "real" news organization and should be ostracized. Worse, the administration's acceptance of MSNBC and attack on Fox show how intellectually inconsistent and hypocritical the White House is willing to be in trying to bully the press and shut down criticism. Take a look.

Continue reading "Another bad moment for White House in war on Fox" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 6:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (101)
        

I raised an eyebrow in my review Monday night at TLC's announcement that next week's "Kate Plus 8" show on TLC would feature an interview with Kate Gosselin done by Natalie Morales, of NBC News. I wondered why an interview conducted by an NBC newswoman would be the basis of a TLC entertainment program. Was there a business arrangement involved between TLC and the journalistic entity of NBC News? And did that have something to do with Kate Gosselin appearing on "Today" previously?

Here is the announcement from TLC, and it reads like NBC and TLC are business partners on next week's show. Is it appropriate for an NBC News correspondent to be part of such a business deal? And who will have final edit and ultimate control of the interview? And did any deal involve what Meredith Vieira could ask Kate Gosselin in a previous interview? I will be asking NBC News about such matters today.

But in the meantime, here is the press release from TLC:

On Monday, November 2 at 9pm ET/PT, TLC will air the one-hour special "Kate: Her Story", where NBC's Natalie Morales sits down with Kate Gosselin for her most intimate interview to date. Morales, co-host and national correspondent for the TODAY show, interviews Gosselin and gets the real story behind the mother of eight. (AP Photo)

Continue reading "Should NBC journalist be on TLC Gosselin show?" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (117)
        

I surrender. An hour of trying to follow the twists and turns of Kate Gosselin's narcissism is just too much for me. It is astonishing how she can take almost any question and arrive at a variation of the same answer: "I did it for my kids."

The hour of Kate Gosselin answering questions allegedly written by fans started with the dogs Monday night, and my head absolutely exploded four minutes into the session when she said at first that she got rid of the dogs for the sake of the dogs. And then, she said she got rid of the dogs for the sake of the kids.

And she showed no awareness whatsoever that she just gave two different answers without taking a breath. This may be more than narcissism. This might be pathology. But she's the so-called medical expert, not me. As a critic, all I can do is ask you to notice how she set up a false forced choice, and tried to make herself the Great High Selfless Mother for getting rid of the dogs.

Here's part one of her convoluted answer: "We have a lot going on. I feel like a lot is falling through the cracks, which I hate, because I'm not at home full time, because it takes so much to run the house. And I knew that the dogs needed more than I could give them. And never when I got them, did I have any intention of giving them back ever," she says.

Continue reading "Kate Gosselin's spin-o-rama: Too much to bear" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 10:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (196)
        

Here is the best discussion of the day about the White House war on Fox News. It took place on ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos."

Is there anyone at the roundtable who thinks it is a good idea or can make a good argument or for it? Please check out the opening archival clip of President John Kennedy handling the matter in far wiser manner than President Barack Obama and his thin-skinned, heavy-handed minions.

Continue reading "More bad reviews for White House on war with Fox" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 2:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (103)
        

Last week, I received a great suggestion from one of the regular commenters here suggesting a poll on how many would watch Kate Gosselin in her TLC special Monday night. Two hundred and fifty-seven answers later, we have another great suggestion.

Yesterday, another stalwart blogger, Suzi J, suggested a post asking readers to send in the questions they would really like to see Kate Gosselin get asked -- as opposed to the canned, safe and laundered ones she will get in the TLC-controlled special.

Great idea. So, here goes: Readers, launch your questions. What would you ask Kate if you could sit across from her tomorrow night and grill her? You can even include her spin-cycled, phony answers. But "I did it for my kids" will not be accepted.

Continue reading "What question would you ask Kate Gosselin?" »

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