I know everyone is focused on the Grammy Awards tonight, but I'm here to tell you about another award winner this weekend.

Jason Winer, a graduate of the Friends School of Baltimore who I recently profiled in the "Sun," won a prestigious Directors Guild of America Award in Hollywood this weekend for the pilot of ABC's "Modern Family." 

You can read an interview I did with the Baltimore native earlier this month here. He talks about his DGA nomination -- and another he shared as a co-executive-producer on the hit ABC sitcom.

Look at the company the 36-year-old Winer beat out for the DGA trophy: Paris Barclay ("Glee"), Larry Charles ( "Curb Your Enthusiasm"), Ryan Murphy ("Glee") and Jeff Schaffer ("Curb Your Enthusiasm"). That's tall cotton, folks for a first-time winner.

(Photo: Winer and award courtesy of Jay Winer)

Winer's pilot, which skillfully introduced viewers to three interrelated families, was the most-talked-about sitcom pilot of the fall -- praised for everything from its enlightened look at multiculturalism, gay identity and the American family to its use of multiple cameras in achieving an improved and highly energized version of the single-camera, mock-documentary comedy format.

Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman to win the guild's top feature film award when she was honored Saturday night by the guild for her direction of "The Hurt Locker."

Posted by David Zurawik at 9:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)
        

Candy Crowley was introduced Sunday morning as the new anchor of CNN's State of The Union. She will succeed John King, who moves on to become the weeknight replacement for Lou Dobbs.

Crowley, one of the most respected correspondents in Washington, said she will follow King's lead in trying to bring voices from outside the Beltway into the Sunday morning conversation.

“To me, Sunday morning is a sweet spot—a weekly meeting place to bring the hopes, worries and questions of everyday Americans I talk with along the campaign trail to the people I talk with in the Corridors of Power,” Crowley said in a CNN release announcing the promotion.

“Candy’s rare combination of shrewd insight and healthy irreverence for the games politicians play has made her one of the most honored political journalists and a cult figure among CNN viewers,” said Jon Klein, president of CNN/US, in a release. “Every Sunday she’ll translate Washington-speak into plain English that every American can understand, as she has been doing better than any reporter on the beat for decades.” (Candy Crowley - photo courtesy of CNN)

Posted by David Zurawik at 10:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (14)
        

Maybe all anyone needs to know about BET's 10-part " documentary series" on Michael Vick is that the NFL quarterback's production company, MV7, is one of the producing partners.

So don't expect Frederick Wiseman, the Maysles brothers or anything approaching the hard-eyed truth-telling of those legendary documentary filmmakers here - even though BET is trying to suggest such credibility by calling "The Michael Vick Project" a "documentary series."

This is more like reality TV, and it is all stacked in favor of making the man who went to prison for running a brutal dogfighting operation on his Virginia farm look like a mythic figure on a heroic quest - a protagonist on an epic journey, who has suffered tremendously and is now on the comeback trail to redemption, fighting righteously against great odds.

I am not exaggerating. The narrative of this series is clearly laid out in a reality-TV-like portentous voice-over at the start of the series.

As the film opens on a montage of images of an inner-city housing development, blighted urban landscapes and Michael Vick through the years, viewers are told: "Against all odds, one man escaped and uplifted a family. But his humble beginnings led to a tragic downfall. But from darkness, he saw the light. Now, blessed with a second chance, he must once again rise above to heal his family, his community, his legacy."

The big opening concludes with Vick, looking hard into the camera and saying, "I'm Michael Vick. My fall from grace was tragic. But it was all my fault, and I'm a on a mission to get everything back. Not the money and the fame, but to restore my family's good name. This is 'The Michael Vick Project.' "

And yet, as bad as that might sound, this is a series that matters, one that I can't wait to see more of beyond the first episode made available to critics. The sociology of Michael Vick as what cultural critics call a "social location" is right up there with that of such pop-culture figures as Madonna or Kate Gosselin or Michael Jackson. Vick is a lightning rod for some of the most powerful, contradictory and emotionally charged issues and currents in American life.

He is expected to be in Baltimore in March for the Ed Block Courage Award dinner, and there will surely be protests from animal lovers. Many are outraged that Vick, the former owner of Bad Newz Kennels, where dogs were electrocuted and hanged as punishment for not fighting hard enough, is the Philadelphia Eagles' pick for a distinguished award named after a former trainer of the Baltimore Colts.

The players on each NFL team select a winner for his "inspirational" efforts and courage - and the Eagles in December selected Vick, setting off wide-ranging debate and criticism. The award is aimed at "improving the lives of children and ending the cycle of abuse" in which some of them are involved.

Vick didn't help his cause when he reacted to the award by saying, "I've overcome a lot, more than probably one single individual can bear."

That's one cultural fault line on which he stands: the one that divides people who feel the lives of animals are precious vs. those who believe there is something wrong with people who think that way.

The PETA organization, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, helps define the line in its advocacy, and this group has been involved in protests against Vick in the wake of the revelations of abuse that took place at his hands and under his direction.

The documentary series exploits this tension in the opening sequence, adding a racial aspect to the story line, as if it were not already hot-button and hopped-up enough.

Right after the voice-over tells viewers that Vick "must rise above to heal his family, his community, his legacy," two protesters against Vick are shown. Both are young, white, blond women. And both are intensely emotional.

"Michael Vick is a sadistic dog-killer," says one.

"He's a sick man with sick behaviors, and I don't think he can do anything to redeem himself," says the other.

They are quickly left behind, as the sequence hurries ahead to embrace the image of Vick facing the camera to tell viewers how his "fall from grace was tragic" and that he is on a "mission to get everything back" - a mission to redeem himself, his family and his community, just like the heroes of ancient Greek mythology.

As you might have guessed by now, this is not a balanced portrait. This is hagiography - hero worship done for basic cable TV.

There is all the rhetoric about Vick and his "mission." There is also extensive testimony from Vick as to how he and his family cried and cried as he started his life in prison.

The filmmakers are very careful to make sure in the first episode that viewers see no close-up images of the victims of Bad Newz Kennels. Notice how quickly the dogfighting history is dispensed with, even though it is the catalyst for what the football star calls his "tragic fall from grace."

Notice also the long-lens, at-a-distance archival shots that are used where images of the Bad Newz killing field are absolutely necessary. If you have the stomach for it, do a Google search of Bad Newz Kennels, and compare the images you find in that search with the sanitized video in this so-called documentary.

"The goal [of the series] from the beginning was Michael finding his truth," James DuBose, CEO of the company that partnered with Vick to make the film, said in an interview Friday. "And the meaning to that is: 'Admit your mistakes, own up to what you did, and let us document you rebuilding Michael Vick, not the football player, but Michael Vick, the man."

DuBose explained the co-production deal with Vick by saying it followed the same model he used in making reality TV series for BET with performers like Keyshia Cole: "It's a partnership, I think that's the difference. It's not just producer-talent."

Loretha Jones, president of original programming at BET, explained the purpose of the series this way in a news release: "What happened to Michael is endemic of what is happening to young Black men today. Michael could be anyone's brother, father, uncle or son. It is our hope that this project will give viewers a glimpse of how he is rebuilding his life and moving forward as a human being and not just another sports figure."

Maybe that is all anyone needs to know about "The Michael Vick Project."

Posted by David Zurawik at 9:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (25)
        

Call it the public shaming of John Edwards.

ABC News attracted a large audience Friday night of 8.1 million viewers for its hourlong interview/report with Andrew Young, the former Edwards aide whose new book, "The Politician," chronicles the one-time presidential candidate's adultery while his wife was battling cancer. You can read my account of how ABC News and Young depicted Edwards as a portrait in depravity here.

The network has been out front on this story, and it has more on the way with interviews and reports about Edwards, his affair and his love child with a former campaign videographer scheduled for every day of the coming week on "Good Morning America." And by the intense reaction of readers at this blog and elsewhere on the Internet, I am starting to believe that ABC News is playing a major role in something important: a public shaming of Edwards. And that is news, because it has seemed, at least since Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky, that our culture has lost touch with the concept of public shame.

Maybe it is the nature of the transgression: Edwards having this trashy affair while his wife was finding out that her cancer had migrated into her bones. Or maybe it was the fact that he was presenting himself to the nation as an honest man -- asking for money and votes in the 2008 presidential race -- as he was furiously spinning a crazed web of deception, lies, coverups and payoffs. Or maybe it is the shock that some folks are feeling with the realization that they voted for such a despicable person.

Whatever the reasons, it is fascinating to see the culture expressing near-universal revulsion at Edwards in reaction to such media accounts as the one that aired Friday on "20/20" of what he did.

Maybe there is some capacity for shame left in this land.

What do you think?

Here's an ABC News video with background on Young, the affair between Edwards and Rielle Hunter and on many of the lies and conflicting stories Edwards has told.

Posted by David Zurawik at 8:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (48)
        

I wasn't crazy about the breathless tabloid tone, but the Friday night report on "20/20" about John Edwards based on the book by the former senator's one-time aide, Andrew Young, is really something -- even to these jaded eyes.

It is hard to imagine that there is anyone who doesn't know the main plot points in this sorry saga of Edwards, the populist presidential candidate, having an affair with a New Age videographer named Rielle Hunter as his wife is battling cancer.

That would be bad enough, but the mistress becomes pregnant, and Edwards cooks up a crazed scheme to have Young claim paternity of his child. Over a million dollars of money donated to his campaign is allegedly spent to try and hide his mistress from the "National Enquirer," which is hot on the trail of this incredible tale. And, oh yeah, Elizabeth Edwards, John's wife, is now losing her battle as the cancer invades her bones.

What did you think of Young's account of Edwards and Rielle listening to "their" song, "Steady As We Go," by the Dave Matthews Band, and talking about how great it was going to be for the two of them together "when Elizabeth is gone"?

Or how about Young alleging that Edwards said he would have the Matthews band play at their wedding  when he was president and "Elizabeth was gone"?

And what about the taped phone messages to Young from Hunter, Edwards, and his wife that were played on the the show? Rielle sounded demanding and crazy, Elizabeth sounded like Linda Blair in "The Exorcist," and Edwards, well, just when you thought he couldn't seem more debased, sleazy or depraved, he surpises you yet again.

ABC News is milking this story shamelessly as it hypes Young's book, "The Politician," but it is still an important story. I love the way the report consistently cut back and forth from the public scenes of Edwards in Iowa when he looked like a real contender to the private web of madness, duplicity and lies he was weaving with Hunter and Young.

Watching this can't help make one a wiser voter -- or at least a more cautious voter the next time one hears the siren song of a sweet talking populist politician. And that justifies almost any excess on the part of ABC News in telling this tale.

The embedding has been disabled, but you can see a portion of last night's report on YouTube here.

CORRECTION: In the second to last paragraph of my orginal post Friday night,  I referred to Young's book as "The Candidate." The correct title is "The Politician." ABC's Friday night broadcast of "20/20" was titled "The Candidate's Secret." Thanks to the commenters who flagged it.

Posted by David Zurawik at 10:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (52)
        

Here's video of me previewing BET's "documentary series" on Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick. "The Michael Vick Project," premieres Tuesday at 10 p.m. on Black Entertainment Television.   What do you think? Will you watch?

Posted by David Zurawik at 1:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (14)
        

Here's a video clip from "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" that is must-viewing for anyone who wondered what in the world goofy Chris Matthews was trying to say Wednesday night after President Obama's State of the Union Speech.

Make sure you stay with it past the 4 minutes mark where the commentary of post-speech analysis begins.

Posted by David Zurawik at 11:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (21)
        

The John Edwards story might have gone deep into tabloid territory, but I will be watching tonight when ABC News correspondent Bob Woodruff interviews former Edwards aide Andrew Young on "20/20."

I am not even going to try and justify watching by saying it is really about Young's new book, "The Politician," or national politics, I am watching to see the depths of depravity to which Edwards has let his ego drive him. Just when you think a national poilitician couldn't be more hypocritical, along comes another one like Edwards.

Here's the ABC News preview:

Posted by David Zurawik at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (51)
        

If you haven't seen it yet, here's video of MSNBC's Chris Matthews saying of President Barack Obama after Wednesday's State of the Union Speech: "You know, I forgot he was black tonight for an hour."

I am including a longer form video of Matthews making the statement as well as a link to another video of Matthews trying to explain himself on-air to Rachel Maddow. It is only fair to give Matthews the chance to provide all the context he can to such a statement. But in the end, I am not sure the context helps that much. The longer you hear him talk on the video, the more he sounds like someone lost in a partisan delirium.

  Beyond the "forgot he was black" statement, isn't the shilling by Matthews kind of astounding? This is what passes for commentary after a speech as important as this? Anyway, click here to see video at Politico of Matthews trying to explain himself.

Posted by David Zurawik at 5:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (78)
        

By now, most readers know all about 25-year-old filmmaker James O'Keefe being arrested Tuesday by federal authorities in Louisiana as part of what appears to be a bungled attempt to wiretap the office of Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu. O'Keefe and three others face felony charges.

But you might have forgotten this bit of backstory. Back in September, in the wake of an undercover camera report showing inappropriate behavior by employes in an ACORN office in Baltimore, I took Fox News Channel host Bill O"Reilly to task for talking about O'Keefe, the filmmaker who illegally taped the ACORN encounter, on his show  as if the young filmmaker was a journalistic hero. 

"Only on the cube-sided Bizarro Planet" is O'Keefe a "champion of the first Amendment," I wrote. "No responsible news organization allows the kind" of deceitful and illegal activities that O'Keefe employed to get the videos of ACORN employes. Read it here.

O'Reilly fired back from the heights of his highly-rated show saying my opinion was straight from "The Planet Bizarro," because I am a "far left TV critic" and "ideologue." I include the video at the end of the post, because even when he is on the attack (and even when he is attacking me), I have to admire O'Reilly's on-air skill.

O'Reilly is a brilliant broadcaster. But he was he so wrong to condone the kind of deception O'Keefe practiced in Baltimore -- and is charged with having attempted to replicate on a larger stage in New Orleans. In journalism, the means do not justify they ends, particularly when the means are deceitful, deceptive and/or illegal.

Of course, O'Keefe is innocent until proven guilty. But the activities for which he is charged in New Orleans certainly fit his M.O. And he has already acknowledged the deception and secret taping done in Baltimore.

If O'Keefe is found guilty, I hope O'Reilly and the other Fox hosts who celebrated him will this time step up and acknowledge the role they played in helping to launch this misguided and dangerous video missile.

Posted by David Zurawik at 4:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (39)
        

I went out of my way Monday to write about Anita Marks departure from 105.7 "The Fan" as a straight down the middle news story. And I would have been happy to leave it right there.

But 222 comments in 24 hours deserves some analysis. It's not the 651 comments that my last post on Kate Gosselin drew. But it is up there in Sarah Palin or Hillary Clinton country, and I don't think anyone would disagree that there is always more than meets eye to the kind of emotional and vitriolic reactions they engender.

I think there might be a few sociological undercurrents driving some of these comments about Marks as well.

I am not here to defend her. I have listened to her and Scott Garceau quite a bit, and I think even her harshest critics would have to admit she usually brought passion to the show. That's a good thing on radio and TV. Beyond that, I'll not comment on her performance.

But let's talk gender and sexism. Some of the commenters have tried to head off that discussion by naming one or two female sportscaster they like.

It's not that simple in 2010. I believe men will accept certain kinds of women sportscasters -- particularly ones who go out of their way to defer to male knowledge and authority.

The one thing no one will ever accuse Marks of being is deferential.

I wonder if some male sports fans didn't like her in-your-face, I-know-more-than-you attitude -- and the really harsh comments were maybe a final way to try and put her in her "place."

What do you think? Tell me why I am wrong. But if you try to do that, I would ask you to offer an alternative explanation for the nasty nature of some of these comments.

Posted by David Zurawik at 5:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (101)
        

Forget about the other 24/7 cable TV news outlets, the Fox News Channel last week topped all the cable channels in overall prime-time viewing -- news, entertainment, sports, reality and otherwise.

Fox News Channel was the highest-rated cable network in all prime time for the week of 1/18/10 to 1/24/10, according to Nielsen Media research.

It wasn't a first for Fox News. FNC was the highest rated during the 2008 presidential election week of 11/3/08-11/9/08. But that was an epic election that drove cable news ratings into the stratosphere.

Fox did benefit from some big news stories last week, but that only allows the channel to make its case that viewers turn to Fox not just for opinion, but also when big news breaks.

In addition to ongoing dramatic news out of Haiti, a watershed election took place in Massachusetts for the late Edward Kennedy's former U.S. Senate seat last week.

It is an impressive accomplishment for a news channel to beat such hot entertainment venues as USA, TNT and AMC, as well as sports outlets like ESPN.

The victory has to be especially sweet for Fox after the assault the Barack Obama White House launched last year in an attempt to discredit it -- and the repudiation the White House suffered in the Masschusetts vote last week.

(Bill O'Reilly, Fox's highest-rated host, atop the Fox building in New York City - Photo courtesy Fox News)

Posted by David Zurawik at 12:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (46)
        

I loved this episode. I can't remember the last time I laughed as hard as I did watching Andre Braugher's Owen Thoreau, Jr. trying to do the car commercial with his overbearing father.

Most of the readers, I fear, are probably too young to remember, but it was a perfect throwback to one of TV's classic comedy moments from Jackie Gleason and "The Honeymooners," a landmark 1950s sitcom. That unforgettable slapstick scene featured Gleason's Ralph Kramden character becoming tongue tied and panic stricken in front of the camera for a TV commercial. This was even richer and funnier in its own way because of Braugher's consummate mastery as an actor in front of the TV camera.

I loved the overall exploration of fathers and sons and the complicated, tortured relationships between them in the cases of Owen and Joe and their fathers. Meanwhile, Terry's need to become a Big Brother and his judgment of himself as a good or bad man in connection with rejection or acceptance brought a new vulnerability and depth to his character.

How about you?

Against all odds, I am starting to believe Terry might have found a meaningful relationship with the much younger woman who works at the coffee bar. But is she too nice to believe? She does put up with a lot from him -- and is almost always smiling. Do you think, in her own way, maybe she has low self concept, and that is why she does put up with his failings? Or, is she just really attracted to him?

And did Owen and his father seem to become a little closer this week -- or at least share a confidence in the face of the criticisms of the father's TV ad?

I cannot wait for next week to see Owen's compulsive eating issues explored. I am so glad this series got renewed. I think it is getting better each week -- and it was pretty fine to begin with.

Posted by David Zurawik at 10:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (36)
        

Sunday's sudden-death battle between the New Orleans Saints and Minnesota Vikings averaged an audience of 57.9 million viewers -- making it the most watched NFC championship game ever on Fox.

It was the second largest audience for any championship game on TV behind only the 1982 Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers battle.

The audience peaked at a near-Super-Bowl level of 65.2 million viewers from 9:30 to 10 p.m.

Overall, the 2010 playoffs were also the most watched ever on Fox.

Posted by David Zurawik at 7:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
        

Anita Marks, co-host of "The Scott Garceau & Anita Marks Show" on 105.7-FM ("The Fan"), has left the station after four years with CBS Radio in Baltimore.

Bob Phillips, senior vice president for the network's radio operations here, said the station made Marks an offer to continue in Baltimore on the afternoon drive-time show, but that she declined the contract offer.

"We ... wanted her stay," Phillips said. "But I guess she just had higher aspirations.... She really wants to work more on a national platform. I know she's been doing some UFL football games, and that's some stuff that she indicated she wanted to continue to do." 

In a telephone interview Monday night, Marks said she was "sad" about leaving CBS radio in Baltimore and that she had "kind of mixed emotions" about the decision.

"I would love to stay and continue to do what I do with Scott and the station. I have the utmost respect for Bob Phillips and Scott and the people I work with here and at MASN," Marks said. "But I also want to pursue these possibilities to do some national TV since doing the UFL. And that's the crossroads.... So, I had to make a decision."

In a separate interview, Garceau agreed with the way in which both Marks and Phillips characterized the 39-year-old sportscaster's decision to leave the station.

"I wish her well," Garceau said. "Despite what some listeners might have thought listening to us when we diasgreed on the air, we were always friendly off the air. There was never a moment when we walked out of here and didn't like each other."

Marks, who came to Baltimore as a solo host on the CBS-owned AM sports station in Baltimore, joined 105.7 "The Fan" when it launched in November, 2008.

Phillips said the station will seek a replacement for Marks as Garceau's co-host, and that with sportscasters leaving a shrinking TV market for an expanding sportstalk radio business, he did not expect a shortage of applicants.

"We definitely want someone who wants to be a part of Baltimore and in Baltimore and committed to Baltimore -- be about Baltimore," he said. "We think that's important, and we really try to cover Baltimore sports and get very involved in the community."

Marks said she had been hoping to negotiate an arrangement that would allow her to be "five days a week" at 105.7 "The Fan" and MASN, and "on weekends" be able to pursue opportunties in sideline reporting and announcing on national TV.

"There are a number of people who do both," Marks said. "But Bob Phillips and CBS wanted somebody totally 100 percent committed to CBS Radio in Baltimore, and I totally respect that," Marks said.

Marks, a University of South Florida graduate, who came from Florida to work in Baltimore, said she will initially stay in Baltimore using the next month off "to take a step back and relax."

"Please write this in your article, regardless of where I ultimately go, I will forever love my time in Baltimore," Marks said. "I feel so blessed that I have been here for four years."

Looking ahead to the future of his afternoon drive-time show, Phillips said, "Scott enjoyed working with Anita. Obviously, there was a yin and yang, and they disagreed. I would imagine the same kind of show will continue."

Commenting on the chemistry of the show, Garceau said, "I'm old school and she was more modern, and you might hear us on-air get into a heated disagreement with a caller or something. But I think it made for good radio. And it never got adversarial with us.... At the start, it was her show, and she kind of had to adapt to me... And I think we made it work."

"The Scott Garceau & Anita Marks Show" aired from 2 to 6 p.m. weekdays, with the telecast shown from 3 to 7 p.m. on MASN.

Click here for photos of Anita Marks.

Posted by David Zurawik at 2:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (264)
        

After a surreal week of high emotion and comic abuse of NBC on "The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien," the 46-year-old host is gone for good from the network's airwaves after only seven months in Johnny Carson's old chair.

But the story of this misguided adventure in prime-time and late-night programming by NBC's top brass is far from over. The narrative of O'Brien being pushed out of the job he prepared himself for over five years to make room for Jay Leno, who failed miserably in prime time, demands some discussion about what happens next to the redhead.

The interest is greatest, of course, among O'Brien fans, who will miss having him there Monday night after the late local news - and hope he will be back somewhere on TV after the no-compete portion of his severance agreement with NBC ends in September. But even casual observers of this incredible corporate crackup are surely curious about how the only character who remotely resembles a protagonist in this sorry tale might fare.

The happiest pro-O'Brien story line has him showing up on Fox in September and trouncing NBC, hopefully, in some form of head-to-head competition against Leno. The Conan-moving-to-Fox scenario has been treated like a done deal in some online sites - to the point that several media outlets fell last week for hoax stories that the network had registered a Fox-Conan domain name. Not true.

"I think Peter Rice [Fox Entertainment chairman] wants Conan on the broadcast network - and, in fact, in one of our interviews, Rice said that Fox would like to be in business with him," says Stuart Levine, assistant managing editor at the trade publication Variety. Levine has been covering the late-night saga in Los Angeles.

"The problem is that Fox would have to get clearance for that from the affiliates. So emotionally, it sounds great right now for people to say Conan's going to be on Fox in September. But financially, I don't know how it would work. I'm not sure anyone has talked to the affiliates about clearances yet."

Affiliates are those 200 or so stations across the country that are not owned by the network but, as a confederation, give it the power to sell ads nationally. Affiliates were the part of the network food chain that ultimately forced NBC to cancel "The Jay Leno Show" a few weeks ago by threatening to pre-empt Leno's low-rated 10 p.m. show with their own late-night newscasts moved up an hour.

"Clearances" refer to the affiliates' clearing a time period of any local programming so that a network program can have it.

Getting clearance at WBFF-TV (Channel 45), the Fox affiliate in Baltimore, could be "complicated," according to general manger Bill Fanshawe, who also oversees Fox affiliates in Texas, Iowa, Wisconsin, Virginia, Oklahoma and South Carolina.

"Conan is clearly a talented host and would be a huge asset to any company, but there are lots of factors involved - factors that would have to be worked out between the network and the CEOs of the companies that own the stations," Fanshawe says.

"If there was an opportunity and the network got Conan, for us, one of the biggest factors would involve us having a brand [local news] built at 10 and 11 - and established in those time periods. But if there was some flexibility ... and they would consider having Conan come on after 11:30, yes, there could be an opportunity at my particular Fox station in Baltimore."

Translation: Baltimore's Fox45 airs its late local news from 10 to 11, and then offers an update at 11. The station and its owner, Sinclair, get to keep all the revenue from advertising during those time periods.

So if Fox wants to air O'Brien in Baltimore any time between 10 and 11:30, it probably would have to compensate the station for the lost revenue - and, given the comedian's weak ratings performance at 11:30 on NBC, it is far from certain that O'Brien would generate the kind of earnings that would be enough to provide for both network and affiliate profits.

Making an early start even more problematic and potentially expensive in Baltimore is the fact that Fox45 has established its late news as a winner in that profitable niche at 10 p.m., right after such Fox entertainment fare as " American Idol."

But if Fox wants to air a new O'Brien show after 11:30, that's open to negotiations.

But the Fox45 situation, with 90 minutes of late news starting at 10 p.m., is only one model. Other affiliates in other markets are locked into long-term syndication agreements for sitcoms such as "Friends" and "Seinfeld" in those hours - including after 11:30.

Would Fox be willing to compensate or buy such stations out of those contracts with syndicators to "clear" time in their cities for O'Brien? Complications within complications - but not impossible.

Nor is broadcast TV the only possibility for O'Brien. There have been reports of O'Brien's doing a nightly cable production, similar to "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" on Comedy Central.

Levine quotes John Langraf, president of the FX cable channel, as saying he'd "love to have a daily show" with Conan. But being owned by Fox, FX would have to see what the parent company wants for its network.

And how would O'Brien feel about moving from network TV to cable with a much smaller staff and far fewer resources?

"I don't know that Conan would be willing to go from NBC to basic cable," Levine says.

Some analysts have even suggested that online TV would be a good fit for O'Brien's niche-ier brand of humor. But if O'Brien thinks basic cable might be a comedown after hosting a storied network franchise, Internet TV is probably not something he is ready to seriously consider.

Where O'Brien ultimately lands in coming months matters - if for no other reason than that he has become, in the minds of some, a kind of folk hero. That might seem a laughable description of someone who leaves NBC with $35 million in severance after failing to attract a large enough audience for his employer to make a profit.

But NBC's top executives have displayed such stupidity and audience indifference in first moving Leno to prime time, and then back to 11:35 p.m. at O'Brien's expense, viewers need to root for someone against the network - and, by extension, the corporate forces that control their lives.
 

Posted by David Zurawik at 8:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (38)
        

After two stormy weeks of non-stop headlines, Conan O'Brien left the NBC airwaves Friday with big ratings.

O'Brien's last night as host of "The Tonight Show" drew a preliminary rating of 7.0, which translates to about 8 million households. But more impressive, he scored a 4.8 rating in the key demographic of viewers 18 to 49, one of the highest scores for any show at any time of night on network TV this year.

By comparison, what at the time was thought to be Jay Leno's finale as host of the "The Tonight Show" earned a final household rating of 8.8, topping O'Brien by about 2 million households. But O'Brien did better with young viewers, as Leno's "finale" scored only a 3.4 rating in that group.

Part of the controversy driving the big final numbers for O'Brien, of course, involves Leno returning on March 1 to reclaim "The Tonight Show" and his old time period, while O'Brien leaves NBC with a $33 million severance package after only seven months in Johnny Carson's old chair.

For further comparison, O'Brien's 4.8 ratings with viewers 18-to-49 was on a par with the 4.8 scored last week by the finale of MTV's "Jersey Shore" with viewers 12-to-34, an even harder to reach youth demographic for television.

Posted by David Zurawik at 11:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)
        

Okay, by now, most people have seen the "In Touch" cover with Kate Gosselin in the upper right hand corner interacting with one of her children in such a way as to draw the cutline: "MOMMY DEAREST: KATE SNAPS AGAIN!"

What do you think of it? Many here have wondered what TLC and Kate were going to try and do next to keep her in the public eye as she falls further and further of the pop culture map.

But is this kind of depiction something she and TLC would want? Not very flattering, is it?

So, let's have it at it. What do you make of the picture and what it says about where Kate is at. And no pressure on this one. I don't expect us to top the 647 comments we had on the last poll question last week about Kate and the hair extensions that she now says she hates.

Posted by David Zurawik at 7:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (267)
        

It's going to be another busy weekend at Z on TV.

I have a couple of posts in the works for later today or tonight. One will include a poll question on Kate Gosselin. I am trying to confirm something about the former reality TV mom first before I post.

And for the many readers who have commented on my reviews of Conan O'Brien's last two shows, I will be on CNN's "Reliable Sources" Sunday morning talking about Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien and where this crazed story of network mismanagement goes from here. CNN, with host Howard Kurtz, airs at 10 a.m. (ET) on CNN.

And speaking of Sunday morning public affairs TV, here's something definitely worth a click....

Click here to read a report in "Variety" on the changing face of Sunday morning public affairs TV. I am quoted it in with a lot of other folks -- including many of the people who make the shows that so define the public debate in this country.

Posted by David Zurawik at 11:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (13)
        

Blame it on Robin Williams. 

I would like to tell you Conan O'Brien's last night as host of "The Tonight Show" was remarkable. But after the crazed and brilliant performance of Williams on Thursday, Friday's finale felt like anti-climax.

The evening had its moments. A surprise visit by Steve Carell as an NBC employee doing an exit interview with O'Brien was an inspired concept playing straight into the anti-corporate sentiment O'Brien had tapped with his "People of the Earth" statement last week rejecting NBC's plan to move his show back to 12:05 a.m. weeknights to accomodate Jay Leno's return to latenight. Carell's first question: "Would you describe  your experience here at NBC as positive, very positive or extremely positive?"

At the end of the segment, the audience booed when Carell asked for O'Brien's NBC ID card and then proceeded to shred it.

But the last hour of O'Brien's career at NBC could never find a tone or voice. In fairness, perhaps, it is because such departures from the workplace are such an intense experience that the person leaving bounces through various conflicting emotions minute to minute. That certainly seemed to be the case with O'Brien Friday night.

In direct contrast to the sarcasm and even anger O'Brien had shown toward NBC in recent nights, he did a near-180 degree turn with about 10 minutes left in the show, and delivered a speech about his final feelings toward the company that had gone out of its way the last two weeks to say what a failure he was as host of "The Tonight Show." O'Brien insisted the agreement he signed that resulted in a a $33 million severance package did not limit him from saying anything he wanted to say on-air Friday.

"And what I want to say is this," the 46-year-old Harvard graduate began. "Between my time at 'Saturday Night Live,' 'The Latenight Show' and my brief run here at 'The Tonight Show,' I have worked at NBC over 20 years. Yes, we have our differences right now. Yes, we're going our separate ways. But this company has been my home for most of my adult life, and I am enormously proud of the work we've done together. And  I want to thank NBC for making it all possible -- I really do."

He got a little choked up when he said, "Despite this sense of loss, I believe this should be a happy moment. Every comedian dreams of hosting 'The Tonight Show,' and for seven months, I got to do it my way with people I love. I do not regret one second of anything that we've done here."

He thanked his "fans" for "this massive outpouring of support and passion," saying their support made a "sad situation joyous and inspirational."

He concluded by saying, "All I ask is one thing, and I am asking this particularly of young people who watch: Please do not be cynical...."

He promised young people that if they work "really hard" and are "kind," "amazing things" will happen.

His final words from the chair Johnny Carson once occupied: "Ladies and gentlemen, let's make something amazing happen. Here to close out our show are a few good friends led by  Mr. Will Ferrell."

O'Brien got up from the desk, strapped on a guitar and joined Ferrell and a crew of all-star musicians for a jam version of "Free Bird." Let's just say there was nothing amazing about the concept or execution. I'm sorry, but that's the truth.

Neil Young did better about 15 minutes earlier with "Long May You Run." But maybe O'Brien didn't think that was big enough for the last number.

They should have booked Williams for Friday night -- not Thursday.

I clicked off the TV wishing for two things that Friday's finale should have but didn't provide: Some true sense of what O'Brien really felt about his treatment by NBC, and catharsis to the rollercoaster of emotions generated by the last two week's of O'Brien's short tenure as host of one of the most storied franchises in TV history. 

Posted by David Zurawik at 12:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (67)
        

For those who stayed up Thursday night for Conan O'Brien's next to last "Tonight Show" hoping for something out of the ordinary, guest Robin Williams did not disappoint.

The master of manic performance comedy delivered in full brogue what O'Brien later in the show would describe as an "Irish ditty." The song featured an eight word refrain -- two of which I can't publish here, and one of which NBC bleeped repeatedly as Williams sang it loud and proud, and O'Brien jumped on his desk and then down on the floor to dance along with Williams.

The refrain: "(Expletive) the (expletives) that can't take a joke." The "expletives," whom the song said should be expletived, were clearly the NBC executives who reached a $45 million agreement with O'Brien Thursday to make him leave the network after Friday night's show. The ballad was raw and liberating, and spoke straight to the anger many of O'Brien's fan are voicing online at the way NBC has given "The Tonight Show" back to Jay Leno leaving O'Brien to try to find another TV home. 

Here is part of Williams' performance (Conan ballad not included):

The penultimate night in what has been a surreal two weeks in the home stretch of "The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien" had quite a few good moments.

There were surprise appearances by Ben Stiller and Pee Wee Herman, and a big musical number by Barry Manilow. Both Stiller and Herman, of course, mocked NBC.

There was also a second night of O'Brien doing a comic bit in which he and his production team stage a spot that he describes as "crazy expensive" in an effort to cost NBC more money. Thursday, a horse described as a Kentucky Derby winner appeared onstage in what O'Brien described as mink SNUGGIE watching restricted NFL Super Bowl footage on a TV screen. Total cost of the spot, according to a snickering O'Brien: $4.8 million.

I have to say this, and I know I am messing with intense pro-Conan emotions on the eve of his last show, but I wish O'Brien's regular show had embraced more of the edge, energy and comic danger on display Wednesday and Thursday.

I think in some ways, in the wake of his severance agreement with NBC, O'Brien started out Thursday being a little more careful about NBC. Instead of the anger and perhaps even bitterness that could be felt Wednesday, the 46-year-old host emphasized that he wanted to "make the best" of the situation and hoped the people on the show and his audience would have "fun" the last two nights.

But if anyone thought it was going to be an evening of artificial nice-nice, Robin Williams took care of that with his "(Expletive) the (Expletives)" ballad. And good for him.

Williams' performance was a wonderful reminder of how liberating and cathartic great and transgressive comedy can be. Too bad there is not more of it on latenight TV elsewhere these days. Jay Leno is the very opposite of such high-wire creativity, and sad to say, he is the future of "The Tonight Show" on NBC.

I'll be back Friday, I guarantee you that for Will Ferrell, Neil Young and Tom Hanks. Great lineup, but I wonder can they top Robin Williams and the angry refrain of his ballad for Conan O'Brien.

Posted by David Zurawik at 12:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (46)
        

Air America, the liberal talk-radio network, is ending live programming as of Thursday afternoon, Charlie Kireker, chairman of Air America Media, said in a statement to employes. The company, which will file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, will offer "encore" programming through Jan. 25 to its affiliates and then go silent.

Here's the email from Kireker announcing the end of the liberal broadcast voice that was once home to Al Franken and Rachel Maddow:

It is with the greatest regret, on behalf of our Board, that we must announce that Air America Media is ceasing its live programming operations as of this afternoon, 
and that the Company will file soon under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code to carry out an orderly winding-down of the business.
 
The very difficult economic environment has had a significant impact on Air America's business. This past year has seen a "perfect storm" in the media industry generally.

National and local advertising revenues have fallen drastically, causing many media companies nationwide to fold or seek bankruptcy protection. 

(Rachel Maddow as she appeared in an Air America Radio publicity photo)

The email continues:

From large to small, recent bankruptcies like Citadel Broadcasting and closures like that of the industry's long-time trade publication Radio and Records have signaled that these are very difficult and rapidly changing times.
 
Those companies that remain are facing audience fragmentation as a result of new media technologies, are often saddled with crushing debt, and have generally found it difficult to obtain operating or investment capital from traditional sources of funding.  In this climate, our painstaking search for new investors has come close several times right up into this week, but ultimately fell short of success. 
 
With radio industry ad revenues down for 10 consecutive quarters, and reportedly off 21% in 2009, signs of improvement have consisted of hoping things will be less bad. And though Internet/new media revenues are projected to grow, our expanding online efforts face the same monetization and profitability challenges in the short term confronting the Web operations of most media companies.

When Air America Radio launched in April, 2004 with already-known personalities like Al Franken and then-unknown future stars like Rachel Maddow, it was the
only full-time progressive voice in the mainstream broadcast media world. At a critical time in our nation’s history -- when dissent on issues such as the Iraq war were often denounced as “un-American”— Air America and its talented team helped millions of Americans remember the importance of compelling discussion about the most pivotal events and decisions of our generation.  
 
Through some 100 radio outlets nationwide, Air America helped build a new sense of purpose and determination among American progressives. With this revival,
the progressive movement made major gains in the 2006 mid-term elections and, more recently, in the election of President Barack Obama and a strongly Democratic Congress.

 Laws have changed for the better thanks to this revival.....but all the same our company cannot escape the laws of economics. So we intend a rapid, orderly 
closure over the next few days. All current employees will be paid through today, January 21. A severance package will be offered tomorrow to full-time current employees with more than six months of tenure. 
 
We will strive to assist affiliates and partners in achieving a smooth transition. Starting at 6 pm EST today, we will provide our affiliates, listeners and users a selection of encore programming until 9 pm EST on Monday, January 25, at which time Air America programming will end.  
 
We are proud that Air America’s mission lives on through the words and actions of so many former radio hosts who are active today in progressive
causes and media nationwide. In the years ahead, as we look back, we should all be proud of our passionate determination to assure that our nation’s
progressive voice would be heard loud and clear. Through the hard work and dedication of current staff, and those who preceded you, a lasting legacy
was forged which will now continue through other voices and venues. 

What do you think of the "progressive" victories Keriker claims Air America played a significant role in? Do you believe this radio operation made a difference? And what do you make of the fact that as conservative Fox News channel now runs up record ratings, liberal MSNBC struggles? Is there a cultural dimension to this story?

Posted by David Zurawik at 5:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (56)
        

Conan O'Brien and NBC have finally reached a deal that will mean the end of the latenight comedian's career on the troubled network.

O'Brien, who would have lost his 11:35 p.m. latenight timeslot to Jay Leno had he stayed at the network, will be paid $33 million in severance by NBC, with another $12 million for his staff of some 200 employes, according to AP.

O'Brien, in turn, will be prohibited from disparaging NBC, and will not be able to appear on a competitor until September. Friday night's show will be his last, and it surely cannot come soon enough for NBC. With big-name guests who are friends of O'Brien's coming on to say farewell, and O'Brien devoting a large part of his monologue to making fun of NBC, "The Tonight Show" had become steeped in just the kind of disparagement that NBC wants to stop.

Wednesday night's show was a case in point.

After telling the audience at the start of his monologue that he has just returned from interviewing for a job at "Lady Footlocker," O'Brien said that he should have known NBC wasn't to be trusted when they gave him a 2010 calendar that only went through January. (In fact, he won't make it past the 22nd.)

He then pointed out that ratings were "up by 50 percent" for "The Tonight Show" in recent days as details of his messy divorce with the network were being negotiated.

But it was only a setup for a punchline saying that the suits at NBC read the ratings as evidence that Conan "really didn't fit in around here" with all the last-place network's ratings losers.

And on it went until "The Masturbating Bear" joined O'Brien onstage. By the way, it appears that any intellectual property like the bear created by Conan and his staff while on the air at NBC, will stay with the network under terms of the agreement.

Referring to severance negotiations, O'Brien said NBC promised him that his staff would be taken care of: They would be taken to a "big farm where they would be allowed to run forever," he cracked sarcastically.

O'Brien, who had been offered the chance to stay at NBC and keep "The Tonight Show" if he would agree to the 30 minute delay in start time, did have wretched ratings seven months into his run -- there is no denying that fact. Part of that can be attributed to the trainwreck of Jay Leno in prime time, but when Leno gave up the "Tonight Show" in May, he was number one in the ratings and had more young viewers than O'Brien. In terms of overall audience, O'Brien finishes behind David Letterman and ABC's "Nightline."

While some analysts have predicted O'Brien will end up on Fox in September, that network would still have to "clear" the time with its affiliates to make that happen -- and that is a complicated matter.

It was, in fact, the affiliates that ultimately forced NBC to take Leno out of prime time after only 17 weeks -- the move that started the chain reaction that led to O'Brien leaving NBC.

The same NBC executives responsible for the Leno disaster now say they will make so much money in latenight with Leno compared to O'Brien that the buyout to the 46-year-old comedian will pay for itself within a year. Believe them if you want.

Wednesday night's guests were Adam Sandler and Joel McHale. Thursday's lineup includes Robin Williams and Barry Manilow. Tom Hanks, Will Ferrell and Neil Young will join O'Brien for what will be his last night on-air at NBC.

Leno will return to "The Tonight Show" on March 1.

[AP photo]

Posted by David Zurawik at 7:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (52)
        

Many regular readers here have already commented on my three blogs posts about CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta and the medical care he has been providing in Haiti. My first post was Jan. 14, read it here, along with a Q & A with Gupta here, and a report on a night he spent Friday in a field hospital with patients after all the U.N. doctors were evacuated.

Other doctor-reporters at other networks and cable channels have followed in his wake, and some journalism professors have questioned the propriety of the doctor-correspondents serving in both roles.

I have taught media ethics at Goucher College since 1995. You can check out my educational background in the upper right hand corner of the front page of this blog. I admire what Dr. Gupta has been doing -- particularly in the immediate aftermath of the quake when I interviewed him and he was one of the the few medical personnel available to help some of the victims. But what do you think? That's the poll question today?

What do you think of what Dr. Gupta and the other doctor-correspondents have been doing in Haiti -- treating earthquake victims who ask for help? Do citizens and viewers have any problem with it?

Please join this discussion. I know cable and network news executives will pay attention to these results and your comments -- and it will matter.

Posted by David Zurawik at 9:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (59)
        

Megyn Kelly, co-anchor of "America's Newsroom," will take over her own show on Fox News starting Feb. 1, the top-rated cable channel announced Wednesday. Kelly's program will air from 1 to 3 p.m. weekdays, according to Fox News senior vice president Michael Clemente.

 “We’ve been incredibly fortunate to develop two valuable assets in Bill Hemmer and Megyn Kelly—dividing their journalistic expertise across our daytime lineup will only serve to broaden our strength as a network," Clemente said in announcing that Hemmer will remain as co-anchor of "America's Newsroom" where he will be joined by Martha MacCallum.

The press release from Fox says:

Kelly’s new afternoon program will focus on the top stories of the day, covering breaking news as well as showcasing interviews with key newsmakers and experts offering analysis on the day’s events.  Additionally, the two-hour block will include her signature legal segment, “Kelly’s Court,” which will showcase Kelly’s skills from her previous career as a litigator.  Aside from anchoring a new two-hour program, she will continue to appear as a regular guest on The O’Reilly Factor every Thursday evening during her branded legal segment, “The Kelly File.”

Posted by David Zurawik at 4:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (72)
        

There seems to be little doubt that the White House is playing favorites, but MSNBC, ABC and CNN were the places to be Wednesday morning to get a reading on how the White House was going to proceed on health care in the wake of Scott Brown's Senate victory in Massachusetts.

And for millions of Americans that was information they desperately wanted first thing Wednesday.

"Good Morning America" co-anchor George Stephanopoulos will have an interview with President Barack Obama on "World News with Diane Sawyer" Wednesday night. But on GMA, he had Obama campaign manager David Plouffe sending a message of no retreat: "The Republicans have chosen their path: they are doing the bidding of insurance companies, just as they're going to do with big banks as it relates to financial reform. We have a good health care plan, and we need to pass that," Plouffe said.

Here's video of NBC's Savannah Guthrie and Chuck Todd on their new MSNBC show, "The Daily Rundown," interviewing David Axelrod and Robert Gibbs:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Meanwhile, Suzanne Malveaux had Gibbs on CNN. Jessica Yellin followed up with a report that highlighted the "energy" surrounding healthcare comments made by Brown Tuesday night.

Both MSNBC and CNN cut live to the Senate Wednesday when Republican senator John McCain took to the floor to read Brown's victory as a repudiation of what he characterized as "backroom deals" made by Democrats to get a healthcare reform bill through the Senate. CNN, MSNBC and Fox all had the GOP Senate press conference shortly after 11 a.m. with leaders reacting to Brown's victory as it relates to healthcare.

Posted by David Zurawik at 10:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (18)
        

A study released Wednesday finds that entertainment media use has grown dramatically among children and teens ages 8 to 18 years of age, especially for minorities.

Young people spend almost one-third of the day (7 hours and 38 minutes) with entertainment media. That's an increase of one hour and 17 minutes across the last five years, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, which conducted both this year's study and the one done five years ago. The study looks at everything from media use rules in the home to school grades in relation to amount of media use.

Hispanic and black youth spend much more time watching TV on a daily basis than white children and teens do, according to the study. And while daily viewing of regularly scheduled TV has dropped by 25 minutes a day across the five years for all children and teens, the amount of TV viewing has also risen when you include the amount of TV watching done on computer and mobile device screens. In fact, use of mobile devices is one of the leading factors behind the increase in overall entertainment media consumption.

Here are some of the highlights of the study from the Kaiser Foundation:

Today, 8-18 year-olds devote an average of 7 hours and 38 minutes (7:38) to using entertainment media across a typical day (more than 53 hours a week).  And because they spend so much of that time ‘media multitasking’ (using more than one medium at a time), they actually manage to pack a total of 10 hours and 45 minutes (10:45) worth of media content into those 7½ hours.

The amount of time spent with media increased by an hour and seventeen minutes a day over the past five years, from 6:21 in 2004 to 7:38 today.  And because of media multitasking, the total amount of media content consumed during that period has increased from 8:33 in 2004 to 10:45 today.

The increase in media use is driven in large part by ready access to mobile devices like cell phones and iPods.  Over the past five years, there has been a huge increase in ownership among 8- to 18-year-olds: from 39% to 66% for cell phones, and from 18% to 76% for iPods and other MP3 players.  During this period, cell phones and iPods have become true multi-media devices: in fact, young people now spend more time listening to music, playing games, and watching TV on their cell phones (a total of :49 daily) than they spend talking on them (:33).

Parents and media rules.  Only about three in ten young people say they have rules about how much time they can spend watching TV (28%) or playing video games (30%), and 36% say the same about using the computer.  But when parents do set limits,children spend less time with media: those with any media rules consume nearly 3 hours less media per day (2:52) than those with no rules.

Media in the home.  About two-thirds (64%) of young people say the TV is usually on during meals, and just under half (45%) say the TV is left on “most of the time” in their home, even if no one is watching.  Seven in ten (71%) have a TV in their bedroom, and half (50%) have a console video game player in their room.  Again, children in these TV-centric homes spend far more time watching: 1:30 more a day in homes where the TV is left on most of the time, and an hour more among those with a TV in their room.

Heavy media users report getting lower grades.  While the study cannot establish a cause and effect relationship between media use and grades, there are differences between heavy and light media users in this regard.  About half (47%) of heavy media users say they usually get fair or poor grades (mostly Cs or lower), compared to about a quarter (23%) of light users.  These differences may or may not be influenced by their media use patterns. (Heavy users are the 21% of young people who consume more than 16 hours of media a day, and light users are the 17% of young people who consume less than 3 hours of media a day.)

Black and Hispanic children spend far more time with media than White children do.
There are substantial differences in children’s media use between members of various ethnic and racial groups.  Black and Hispanic children consume nearly 4½ hours more media daily (13:00 of total media exposure for Hispanics, 12:59 for Blacks, and 8:36 for Whites).  Some of the largest differences are in TV viewing: Black children spend nearly 6 hours and Hispanics just under 5½ hours, compared to roughly 3½ hours a day for White youth.  The only medium where there is no significant difference between these three groups is print.  Differences by race/ethnicity remain even after controlling for other factors such as age, parents’ education, and single vs. two-parent homes.  The racial disparity in media use has grown substantially over the past five years: for example, the gap between White and Black youth was just over two hours (2:12) in 2004, and has grown to more than four hours today (4:23).

Big changes in TV. For the first time over the course of the study, the amount of time spent watching regularly-scheduled TV declined, by 25 minutes a day (from 2004 to 2009).  But the many new ways to watch TV–on the Internet, cell phones, and iPods–actually led to an increase in total TV consumption from 3:51 to 4:29 per day, including :24 of online viewing, :16 on iPods and other MP3 players, and :15 on cell phones.  All told, 59% (2:39) of young people’s TV-viewing consists of live TV on a TV set, and 41% (1:50) is time-shifted, DVDs, online, or mobile.

Popular new activities like social networking also contribute to increased media use.  Top online activities include social networking (:22 a day), playing games (:17), and visiting video sites such as YouTube (:15).  Three-quarters (74%) of all 7th-12th graders say they have a profile on a social networking site.

Types of media kids consume. Time spent with every medium other than movies and print increased over the past five years: :47 a day increase for music/audio, :38 for TV content, :27 for computers, and :24 for video games.  TV remains the dominant type of media content consumed, at 4:29 a day, followed by music/audio at 2:31, computers at 1:29, video games at 1:13, print at :38, and movies at :25 a day.

High levels of media multitasking. High levels of media multitasking also contribute to the large amount of media young people consume each day.  About 4 in 10 7th-12th graders say they use another medium “most” of the time they’re listening to music (43%), using a computer (40%), or watching TV (39%).

Additional findings:

• Reading.  Over the past 5 years, time spent reading books remained steady at about :25 a day, but time with magazines and newspapers dropped (from :14 to :09 for magazines, and from :06 to :03 for newspapers).  The proportion of young people who read a newspaper in a typical day dropped from 42% in 1999 to 23% in 2009.  On the other hand, young people now spend an average of :02 a day reading magazines or newspapers online.
• Media and homework.  About half of young people say they use media either “most” (31%) or “some” (25%) of the time they’re doing their homework.
• Rules about media content.  Fewer than half of all 8- to 18-year-olds say they have rules about what TV shows they can watch (46%), video games they can play (30%), or music they’re allowed to listen to (26%).  Half (52%) say they have rules about what they can do on the computer.
• Gender gap.  Girls spend more time than boys using social networking sites (:25 vs. :19), listening to music (2:33 vs. 2:06), and reading (:43 vs. :33).  Boys spend more time than girls playing console video games (:56 vs.: 14), computer games (:25 vs. :08), and going to video websites like YouTube (:17 vs. :12).
• Tweens and media.  Media use increases substantially when children hit the 11-14 year-old age group, an increase of 1:22 with TV content, 1:14 with music, 1:00 using the computer, and :24 playing video games, for total media exposure of 11:53 per day (vs. 7:51 for 8-10 year-olds).
• Texting.  7th-12th graders report spending an average of 1:35 a day sending or receiving texts. (Time spent texting is not counted as media use in this study.)

The report, Generation M²: Media in the Lives of 8- to 18-Year-Olds, was released today at a forum in Washington, D.C. that featured the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, media executives and child development experts. The report, related materials, and a live webcast are available online.

 

Posted by David Zurawik at 8:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (26)
        

It felt a little long and slow at times, but overall I enjoyed Sunday's Golden Globes live telecast.

Ricky Gervais did not disappoint as host. He made fun of NBC, which telecast the event (not that making fun of NBC is hard these days). But he also made the room uncomfortable with jokes about his genitals and "buying" a Golden Globe Award. That's our Ricky -- love him or hate him.

But I was also pleased with some of the winners -- especially those that were not widely expected like Kevin Bacon (for best actor in a TV movie for "Taking Chance") and Drew Barrymore (for actress in a TV movie for "Grey Gardens"). I loved both made-for-TV movies and the brilliant performances of Bacon and Barrymore.

I am, of course, delighted that Baltimore native Mo'Nique, won for best supporting actress in a feature film for her universally acclaimed performance in "Precious."

I am a little disappointed that ABC's "Moden Family" did not win as best TV comedy or musical, but I didn't really expect it. As I said in my run-up piece in Sunday's paper, "Glee" is the show the foreign press is in love with.

And while I did not think AMC's "Mad Men" had a very good season, it does still deserve the Globe it won Sunday as best drama on television.

How about you? What were your favorite awards? And what were your favorite moments of the broadcast? We already have two nomonations for Meryl Streep's acceptance speech after winning for best actress in a feature film. I thought Mo'Nique's speech was pretty impressive myself.

Half the fun of TV awards shows is talking about them. So, let the conversation begin.

Posted by David Zurawik at 10:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (47)
        

Readers here in recent days have seen video from and read my Q & A with CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta stressing the tremendous need for medical supplies and expertise in Haiti. You have also read about Dr. Gupta staying Friday night with quake victims in a field hospital after the U.N. ordered all medical personnel to leave.

Here is more video from Fox News on Saturday with correspondent Bill Hemmer interviewing a doctor who is tending to some 1,000 earthquake victims. The doctor is calling for not only medicine, but the most basic needs of water and food.

There is also a second video featuring a Hemmer report on a birth amid of all the death and suffering in Haiti.

Posted by David Zurawik at 12:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (13)
        

When the game itself is as big a disappointment as was Saturday's defeat of the Baltimore Ravens at the hands of the Indianapolis Colts, there doesn't seem to be much point in getting too worked up about the telecast.

Still, there were a couple of things about the CBS coverage and the announcing team of Greg Gumbel and Dan Dierdorf that did bother me.

First, CBS crammed so many commercials into the broadcast that there wasn't enough time for adequate replays of pivotal and/or controversial moments. When we did get a replay, it was usually only from one angle and it was clipped so much that it went by before you had a chance to see what really happened.

Typical of this pattern was a key third down play in the third quarter when Joe Flacco threw a high arching pass to Ray Rice who had come out of the backfield and was running down the left side of the field. Colts linebacker Gary Brackett was a couple of steps behind Rice running with his back to the ball. As the ball hung in the air, Brackett closed on Rice and ran into him. It sure looked like pass interference, but there was no call. 

Viewers did get a replay, but only one run at full speed, and it was from the quarterback's point of view -- the hardest to guage how much contact took place. What was clear was that Brackett was not playing the ball -- he never looked back.

After the replay, Dan Dierdorf did say, "Brackett got away with one of those situations" where he was playing the man and not the ball. But he never stressed that the referees had just missed a crucial call -- and the production crew never gave us other angles or slow motion. The blown call was quickly swept under the carpet of more chatter and the next play. I thought Dierdorf and CBS seriously pulled a punch by referring to it as "one of those situations" instead of a seriously blown call.

And from that point on, Dierdorf and Gumbel created and then stuck to a narrative that Ravens coach John Harbaugh was frustrated and angry at all the "mistakes" the Ravens were making. But if you later listened to Harbaugh's post-game press conference, it was clear that was not the case at all: He said instead that he was frustrated with the calls -- not his team.

The camera showed Harbaugh saying "unbelievable" after an Ed Reed interception was called back because Corey Ivy was flagged for pass interference. Whereas Dierdorf and Gumbel characterized Harbaugh as saying "unbelievable" because "his team has been self-destructing" with such penalties, in fact, after the game, Harbaugh told reporters he thought Ivy played the receiver exactly as he had been taught to do so by the coaches and that there was no interference.

In other words, the "unbelievable" was because he thought the referees made a bad call that wounded his team, not because he thought his players were "self-destructing."

But that was the narrative being spun in the booth, and Dierdorf and Gumbel were sticking to it. As a Ravens fan, it was maddening not to be able to see some of the calls in slow motion or to watch replays shown from more than one angle. But every call except the one discussed above was treated by Dierdorf and Gumbel as if it was the right call.

Certainly Harbaugh didn't feel that way on the Ivy interference -- or on the Ray Lewis helmet to helmet penalty near the end of the first half. Again, in the post-game interview, Harbaugh said he thought Lewis made a good play.

Announcers have to construct story lines to help the viewer make sense of what they are seeing. But the story lines should be built on facts not suppositions like the ones Gumbel and Dierdorf made about what Harbaugh was thinking and feeling.

But maybe I am just frustrated by another loss to the Colts. When the game was close during most of the first half, I was thinking that Dierdorf and Gumbel -- expecially Gumbel -- were doing a pretty good job in the booth. I was especially pleased to hear them giving the Ravens some credit and not bowing too deeply to the greatness of Peyton Manning.

But that's where they wound up at the end of the game -- on bended knee before The Altar of Peyton and the Indianapolis Colts. Maybe that's a righteous place for the announcers to be. Maybe he and his team deserved it.

Posted by David Zurawik at 11:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (29)
        

Just a few hours Friday night after I spoke with Dr. Sanjay Gupta, who was at a field hospital in Haiti, U.N. security forces arrived to evacuate medical personnel because of security concerns.

Dr. Gupta, CNN's chief medical correspondent, decided to stay, because some of the earthquake victims in the hospital had just been operated on and would have been left overnight without a doctor, according to a CNN spokesperson. A Belgian nurse and CNN producer stayed with Gupta. Here is video of the evacution that aired late Friday on CNN.

Posted by David Zurawik at 10:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (42)
        

Of the many deeply moving images from the earthquake in Haiti that have flooded across TV and computer screens in recent days, one of the most discussed has been that of Dr. Sanjay Gupta, chief medical correspondent for CNN, treating a 15-day-old infant for a severe head laceration.

The video has raised questions for some in the media as to how Dr. Gupta handles his dual roles of reporter and medical doctor. But in an interview late Friday, Dr. Gupta says he is a doctor first when confronted with people in medical need.

Q: Have you been doing quite a bit of doctoring off camera? I ask because it seems as if there is little or almost no medical help there.

Posted by David Zurawik at 6:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (37)
        

MTV Networks will present a live global telethon Jan. 22 to help victims of of the earthquake in Haiti. The two-hour program will air commercial free on all the major networks and many cable channels here and abroad.

So far, the list of networks and channels that will carry the event includes: ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, The CW, CNN, CNN international, BET, VH1, HBO, MTV and CMT.

On-air presenters of the program will be George Clooney (Los Angeles), Wyclef Jean (New York City) and CNN's Anderson Cooper (Haiti). According to CNN, Cooper will "offering live reports from Haiti throughout the night."

Facebook and MySpace will also participate as social media paartners in the event.

Money from the telethon will go to Oxfam America, Partners in Health, Red Cross, UNICEF and Yele Haiti Foundation.

Broadcast from New York and Los Angeles, the telethon will feature musical performances and celebrity appearances.

Posted by David Zurawik at 3:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (18)
        

TNT has ordered a second season of "Men of a Certain Age," and that is great news for the Z on TV Monday/Tuesday chat group that has come of age with this new drama.

The renewal order calls for 10 episodes for the second season from executive producer Ray Romano.

"Men of a Certain age has been embraced by viewers and critics alike, making our decision to renew an easy one," Michael Wright, executive vice president  and head of porgramming for TNT, said in making the announcement Thursday. "Men of a Certain Age blends insightful storylines, highly relatable characters and top-notch perfromances by Ray Romano, Andre Braugher and Scott Bakula...."

Posted by David Zurawik at 6:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (24)
        

The fallout from one of the worst programming blunders in TV history continued to provide non-stop, unsourced, unconfirmed, mad-dog, online fodder Thursday. Here's the latest.

One story had Jay Leno reaching a new contract with his NBC bosses to return to his old latenight slot from 11:35 p.m. to 12:35 a.m. after the Olympics end on Feb. 28. That came from TMZ.com.

But USA Today and several other sites said it wasn't true based on unnamed NBC sources. Two NBC affiliate executives who have been highly reliable for months on this story told me it was not true as well.

Meanwhile, story number two Thursday had O'Brien hosting his last "Tonight Show" on Jan. 22, despite having four years left on his contract. That came from People.com. But O'Brien's publicist has denied it. So have unnamed NBC sources. Got it?

Meanwhile, this is confirmed: NBC announced its post-Olympics lineup, and the way it will fill the 10 p.m. weeknight time slot is almost exactly what I predicted in a Page One story for the "Sun" on Monday about Leno being pulled from prime time.

Monday night's at 10: "Law & Order."

Tuesday: "Parenthood."

Wednesday: "Law & Order: SVU."

Thursday: "The Marriage Ref."

Friday: "Dateline."

I told you there would be lots of Dick Wolf, "Dateline" and Jerry Seinfeld's reality show.

Posted by David Zurawik at 4:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (21)
        

"TREME," the new HBO series from David Simon and Eric Overmyer, will debut in April on HBO, the premium cable channel announced Thursday.

The first season will consist of 10 episodes with the story set in New Orleans starting in the fall of 2005, three months after Hurricane Katrina.

The series, which is filmed in New Orleans, follows "musicians, chefs, Mardi Gras Indians and ordinary New Orleanians as they try to rebuild their lives, their homes and their unique culture in the aftermath of 2005 hurricane," according to HBO press materials.

"New Orleans is a city which lives in the imagination of the world," Overmyer is quoted as saying in the HBO release. "We wanted to capture something authentic about it, as its people struggle with the after effects of the greatest calamity to befall an American city in the history of this country."

"What happens in New Orleans matters," Simon is quoted as saying. "An ascendant society rebuilds its great cities.

The cast includes: Wendell Pierce, Khandi Alexander, Clark Peters, Melissa Leo, Rob Brown  and John Goodman.

Posted by David Zurawik at 2:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)
        

"American Idol" opened with big ratings in Baltimore Tuesday night -- more than doubling the nearest competition.

From 8 to 10 p.m., "Idol" had an average audience of 156,000 adults ages 25 to 54 years-of-age. On WJZ, "NCIS and "NCIS/LA" averaged 66,000 adults. "The Biggest Loser," meanwhile, was seen by 39,000 on WBAL, with 14,000 adults on average watching four sitcoms on WMAR.

Best of all for Baltimore's WBFF, the lead-in from "Idol" helped the Fox affliate almost triple its 10 p.m. news audience. (By the way, if you read Sunday's "Z on TV" column in the "Sun," you saw that kind of local ratings news boost predicted. It's the opposite of the Leno Effect, in which "the Jay Leno Show" provides a lead-in on NBC that depresses ratings and earning for late local news on affiliates.)

Have you been watching "Idol" this week? How does it feel without Paula Abdul?

For the latest updates, racaps and analysis, check Sarah Kelber's "Reality Check" blog at baltimoresun.com/realitycheck. For this week's and last night's updates, go here and here. The second one includes the "Pants on the Ground" video.

Posted by David Zurawik at 6:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
        

I have tried to give Kate Gosselin a rest on this blog. Honest. But like Michael Corleone in "Godfather III," they always pull me back in.

Today's "news" involves details of Kate Gosselin's new show now set to debut on TLC this spring. Neither the show nor the spring debut were news to readers of this blog, but TLC did feed some details of the series to friendly bloggers -- and those details were published today.

And then, one of my favorite blogs, tvbythenumbers.com, all but demanded I join the conversation with what I am going to try and think of as homage to my commitment to all things "Jon & Kate." I am even going to provide the link in gratitude. (I'm having some fun here, but I do like tvbythenumbers a lot.)

So, here is the poll question of the day, and let's see if we can top last week's Kate comments tally of 400-plus: What do you think of this alleged format idea that TLC is sending out as a trial balloon of having Kate work a different job each week? Would you watch such a show? (Remember the report of the taping in North Carolina where she was "working" as a waitress. Would you tell her the eggs aren't done right?)

And what about her kids? I thought her persona was as the Great TV Mom? Are we now supposed to suddenly see her in this new light?

Will this work, or is more evidence of the desperation of Kate and TLC? And don't you like the headline on the tvbythenumbers' post: "Kate Gosselin gets a new show to go along with with her new hair (extensions)"?

PS Here is a link to the original report on TheWrap -- a report that I commented on this afternoon as looking as if it was all but written by TLC. Go take a look, and then read the "update" with quotes from our old friend at TLC, senior vice president Laurie Goldberg. The fingerprints and the guilty parties are too easy to spot as TLC tries to keep its "star" before the public eye. But don't forget to come back here and tell me what you think. Ready, set, go.

Posted by David Zurawik at 5:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (664)
        

CNN had a first report from Anderson Cooper at 10 a.m. Wednesday following a helicopter flight over Port-au-Prince. Cooper appeared to be one of the first network or cable correspondents to arrive from the states as he filed his report.

"This is a city I know well... and it's incredibly shocking," he began. "The Presidential Palace, as you know, has collapsed...There is smoke rising from parts of the city...It is an eerie scene...It seems like the heaviest damage I can see is downtown around the Presidential Palace....It is very hectic and confusing on the streets....But the scene at the airport is oddly calm."

Cooper reported that the control tower at the airport was out of commission and that his flight came "very close" to a "mid-air collison," as pilots flying in did the best they could to communicate among themselves.

"The situation in the air is chaotic at best," he said. 

Here's video of Cooper's report:

Cooper also reported that there did not appear to be "any kind of co-ordinated relief effort" yet underway as he spoke.

If you are watching today, I would recommend CNN with its superior international commitment to coverage -- and Cooper on the scene.

NOON UPDATE: Anchorman Tony Harris was on the phone with Jean-Max Bellerive, the Haitian prime mininister who said he fears "well over a 100,000 could be dead."

Harris responsibly pressed him on the number asking how he knows that since it is such a large number. The prime minister said he bases it on the government's inability to account for entire neighborhoods of citizens, but he is hopeful that the number does not turn out to be that high. In short,the prime minister acknowledges that he cannot vouch for for the 100,000 death toll at that point in time. Good work by Harris to keep that shocking figure in some kind of context.

More excellent work by Harris asking if the airport is functional and if the prime minister has the capacity to maintain order.

CNN is on this story.

Posted by David Zurawik at 10:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (63)
        

Sarah Palin and Bill O'Reilly -- the only question is how high the ratings will go.

What a pair and what an awful politicization of TV news.

O'Reilly, the highest rated host on cable news TV, introduced the newest star in the Fox News galaxy Tuesday night as a "news analyst." If what Palin did in her debut is news analysis, I'm the governor of Alaska and I can see Russia from my backyard.

This is how the conversation between O'Reilly and Palin mainly went on O'Reilly's hit show: 

"Nancy Pelosi," O'Reilly said to Palin referencing the Speaker of the House, "....do you think that she's a kook?"

"I think she, too, is quite disconnected from what her constituents are telling her -- and constituents all over the country ..." Palin replied, before O'Reilly cut back in and upped the ante on Pelosi as "kook."

"Well, she's a San Francisco liberal," O'Reilly said. "But do you think she's actually crazy?"

"I doubt that her San Francisco constituents even are enamoured with her policies and with the guidance she is providing this country."

"Is she further to the left in your opinion than Barack Obama?'

"Perhaps so, yes."

How would Palin know what Pelosi's San Francisco constituents think of her? But that's the rational critique of Palin's words, and that is not the way most of us connect with our TV sets.

In the language of television, that exchange was a perfect interview pas de deux, with Palin sounding intelligent and reasonable with all the "perhaps-es" and the "quites," while O'Reilly deftly introduced the outrageous notion that Pelosi is "crazy" -- and somehow made it seem like it is a widely held belief.

What a cart and pony show. O'Reilly is a TV master, Palin's a TV player, and together they are going to bring orgiastic TV delight to right-wing viewers. I think I actually heard Nielsen People Meters exploding on TV sets in the more affluent suburbs of Baltimore last night when these two really got going.

I will spare you the scenario of O'Reilly teeing up old sad sack Harry Reid so that Palin could talk about her lifelong commitment to "diversity" and how indefensible she found Reid's comments about the color of Obama's skin.

I will also spare you the show-trial-like give-and-take play acting they did with O'Reilly quoting or replaying bad things that were said about Palin on "60 Minutes" so that she could call them "b.s." or label them one-by-one a "lie" and then try to rewrite what she said -- just as she did in her book "Going Rogue."

I must briefly mention, however, the way O'Reilly helped her promote a Tea Party event at which she will be the featured speaker -- and the way he tried to defend her receiving payment for the appearance. I must because I really hate it when O'Reilly uses TV this way to promote partisan events. 

I will also share what she had to say about Obama's sinking poll numbers: “Of course, they're sinking.  It was just a matter of time before more of that reflection of the people's uncomfortableness that they feel towards this administration is manifesting in these poll numbers," she said. "... There is an obvious disconnect between President Obama and the White House, what they are doing to our economy and what they are doing in terms of not allowing Americans to feel as safe as we had felt…”

I forgot how Palin speaks in a grammar and syntax unlike anyone else on this planet, but you get the idea. And I'll tell you what: In a protected TV environment like the one Fox and O'Reilly skillfully provided for her Tuesday night, I think she could be a red-hot ratings winner. And the country and our political conversation are going to be the poorer for it.

I can only imagine what kind of power these two might come to wield in the elections of 2010. This is not news analysis. This is TV as political propaganda.

Posted by David Zurawik at 6:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (190)
        

The other shoe dropped on NBC Tuesday when Conan O'Brien said no to the network's plan to move his "Tonight Show" to 12:05 a.m. as a way to undo the network's prime-time debacle with Jay Leno. NBC wants to move Leno back to 11:35 p.m. for a half hour show with O'Brien and Jimmy Fallon each dropping back by 30 minutes. Read it here.

But O'Brien denounced the move saying he wanted no part of it Tuesday in a statement published online by The New York Times.

The key sentences in the statement from O'Brien: "I sincerely believe that delaying the Tonight Show into the next day to accommodate another comedy program will seriously damage what I consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting .... I cannot participate in what I honestly believe is its destruction."

O'Brien also says in the statement that he does not have an offer from another network and that he has no idea what will happen next as a result of his refusal to agree to NBC's plan.

Click below to read the full statement.

Here is O'Brien's statement: 

People of Earth:

In the last few days, I’ve been getting a lot of sympathy calls, and I want to start by making it clear that no one should waste a second feeling sorry for me. For 17 years, I’ve been getting paid to do what I love most and, in a world with real problems, I’ve been absurdly lucky. That said, I’ve been suddenly put in a very public predicament and my bosses are demanding an immediate decision.

Six years ago, I signed a contract with NBC to take over The Tonight Show in June of 2009. Like a lot of us, I grew up watching Johnny Carson every night and the chance to one day sit in that chair has meant everything to me. I worked long and hard to get that opportunity, passed up far more lucrative offers, and since 2004 I have spent literally hundreds of hours thinking of ways to extend the franchise long into the future. It was my mistaken belief that, like my predecessor, I would have the benefit of some time and, just as important, some degree of ratings support from the prime-time schedule. Building a lasting audience at 11:30 is impossible without both.

But sadly, we were never given that chance. After only seven months, with my Tonight Show in its infancy, NBC has decided to react to their terrible difficulties in prime-time by making a change in their long-established late night schedule.

Last Thursday, NBC executives told me they intended to move the Tonight Show to 12:05 to accommodate the Jay Leno Show at 11:35. For 60 years the Tonight Show has aired immediately following the late local news. I sincerely believe that delaying the Tonight Show into the next day to accommodate another comedy program will seriously damage what I consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting. The Tonight Show at 12:05 simply isn’t the Tonight Show. Also, if I accept this move I will be knocking the Late Night show, which I inherited from David Letterman and passed on to Jimmy Fallon, out of its long-held time slot. That would hurt the other NBC franchise that I love, and it would be unfair to Jimmy.

So it has come to this: I cannot express in words how much I enjoy hosting this program and what an enormous personal disappointment it is for me to consider losing it. My staff and I have worked unbelievably hard and we are very proud of our contribution to the legacy of The Tonight Show. But I cannot participate in what I honestly believe is its destruction. Some people will make the argument that with DVRs and the Internet a time slot doesn’t matter. But with the Tonight Show, I believe nothing could matter more.

There has been speculation about my going to another network but, to set the record straight, I currently have no other offer and honestly have no idea what happens next. My hope is that NBC and I can resolve this quickly so that my staff, crew, and I can do a show we can be proud of, for a company that values our work.

Have a great day and, for the record, I am truly sorry about my hair; it’s always been that way.

Yours,

Conan

Now NBC has real trouble. When the network announced on Sunday that it was pulling Leno from prime time and sending his back to latenight, I called the prime-time move one of the biggest programming blunders in the history of network television.

If it wasn't then, it is now given today's denunciation by O'Brien, which throws NBC latenight into something beyond chaos.

And what a PR nightmare especially with young viewers. Read some of these red-hot comments.

Posted by David Zurawik at 3:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (71)
        

I have to admit, I was not so crazy about the technique this week of telling the entire story essentially in flashback. That doesn't mean I didn't like the episode at all. I thought the hour did hit some new notes of intimacy with Joe and his blind date, Dori.

And I do love the conversations at the diner among the three guys -- particularly their sense of humor. I guess my problem was that the hour mainly belonged to Joe, and he is my least favorite character in some ways.

But still, the hour did have its moments. What did you think of Terry's "excellent advice" on intimacy: saying to his partner, "Stop, I just want to look at you."? You knew it wasn't going to play that well when Joe tried it. I'm not sure it would even work for Terry.

I have to say one of my favorite scenes was on the basketball court. It had a real sense of physical energy to it, and served as a nice metaphor for the physical connection and breakthrough that Joe and Dori were both feeling.

In terms of comic relief, I thought the scenes at Joe's party store were among the funniest of the year. His relationship with the young, Latina clerk were also touching. Her concern for his emotional pain and her solution (a CD that Joe can barely stand listening to for 10 seconds) were superb. Her parting suggestion that he listen to it in the bathtub was hilarious. But there was also a kind of intimacy between them that was suggested by the innocent and kind-hearted remark.

How about the Sylvester the Cat character that Joe's store provide for parties? I think I'll take a pass.

Intimacy, kindness, tenderness and new beginnings were the themes I reacted to. How about you?

And how about the major idea of going with the flow? Does it work for Terry? Will Joe ever get into it? And how about Owen? Not much of a flow guy if you ask me.

(I will check out the reason for next week's pre-emption. I'm guessing some kind of special programming scheduled on TNT. But there are not that many episodes left, and I have not heard anything about renewal. I'm starting to get mildly worried about the marginal ratings.)

Posted by David Zurawik at 11:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (49)
        

The audience for Sunday's Baltimore Ravens victory over the New England Patriots was a big one -- up 14 percent over last year's first round playoff game for the Ravens.

Since September, I have been suggesting that TV viewership for NFL football was going to be high this year because of the steep unemployment rate -- and it has been up especially for the prime-time offerings on Sundays and Mondays during the regular season. The idea is that the televised games this year offer the same kind of spectacle and escape as MGM musicals during the Great Depression.

Of course, I am not suggesting that's the only reason -- just the sociology behind the ratings bump. Maybe more serious fans are watching the games on TV because they don't have money to go to the games.

Sunday's Ravens game was the highest-rated CBS Wild Card game since 2006. Click to read the CBS Sports release.

Here it is:

THE NFL ON CBS's broadcast of the AFC Wild Card game featuring the Baltimore Ravens defeating the New England Patriots on Sunday, Jan. 10 (1:00-4:15 PM, ET) scored an average overnight household rating/share of 19.4/38, up +14% from an overnight rating/share of 17.0/35 for last year's AFC Wild Card game on CBS between Baltimore and Miami (1:00-4:00 PM, ET).

The Baltimore-New England game rating/share peaked with a 22.6/42 (3:30-4:00 PM, ET). 

The game is CBS's highest-rated AFC Wild Card game in the metered markets since 2006 when Pittsburgh at Cincinnati earned a rating/share of 19.9/34 (4:30-7:45 PM, ET)).

The 19.4 ratings means one out of every five TV homes in the nation was tuned to the Ravens. That's a big audience.

Posted by David Zurawik at 10:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (17)
        

Intellectually, I suppose if I didn't complain about Mike Huckabee having a show on Fox, I have no right to weep and moan about former Alaska governor Sarah Palin becoming a contributor to various Fox News programs and channels as of Monday. 

But I have to be honest: The announcement that Palin has signed a multi-year deal with Fox News makes me feel like 24/7 cable TV has taken another giant step down the road to trafficking in partisan warfare instead of providing a journalism that viewers and citizens can trust. And I do find that depressing.

"Governor Palin has captivated everyone on both sides of the political spectrum and we are excited to add her dynamic voice to the Fox News lineup," Bill Shine, executive vice president of programming for Fox News, said in a statement announcing the deal.

Here is more of the Fox press release:

As a contributor, Palin will provide political commentary and analysis for FOX News Channel (FNC), FOX Business Network (FBN), FOXNews.com, and FOX News-produced special event political programming for FOX Broadcasting.

In addition, she will host periodic episodes of FNC's "Real American Stories," a series exploring inspirational real-life tales of overcoming adversity throughout the American landscape that will debut in 2010.

Palin added, "I am thrilled to be joining the great talent and management team at FOX News.  It's wonderful to be part of a place that so values fair and balanced news."

Here is my problem with Palin as a commentator on a 24/7 news channel, and it is not about liking or disliking her. It is about these supposedly journalistic venues being so hopelessly politicized that we can no longer trust the information they offer. 

Don't forget I was one of the guys who most prominently defended Fox as a news channel when the White House last fall said they should not be treated as one. I was concerned with the larger issue of the executive branch trying to bully the press. And I was also outraged by the hypocrisy of the White House saying MSNBC was a news channel, but Fox wasn't. I totally stand by that.

But this is the kind of move by Fox that plays straight into the White House's complaints that it is a political arm of the Republican Party.

Palin made some pretty reckless accusations of the campaign trail last fall. Is this someone you trust to get your political analysis from?

And I am not trying to load the dice. From a programming standpoint, I think this is a savvy move by Fox. Palin will only enhance the channel's incredible ratings advantage.

But do traditional standards of journalism matter at all any more? And I am not asking that rhetorically. I believe this is the kind of move that can contribute to a hopelessly polarized America -- and I don't know if media outlets that ask to be considered news channels should be playing that role.

Posted by David Zurawik at 5:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (64)
        

Trying to undo one of the most spectacular programming failures in TV history, NBC is canceling Jay Leno’s prime-time show effective Feb. 12 with the arrival of Winter Olympics programming.

 Mounting pressure from affiliates like WBAL-TV in Baltimore was the driving force behind the move. Local stations across the country saw their profits plummet as the veteran comedian’s lead-in dragged down late news ratings. Losing more than half of its 11 p.m. audience, WBAL — a long-time market leader — was one of the stations hit hardest by what came to be known as the “Leno effect.”

The discontent had reached the point in recent weeks where station groups like Hearst Television Inc., which owns WBAL, were threatening to move late newscasts on their stations up to 10 p.m. — while shifting Leno back to 11 on their own.

Such an unprecedented move of affiliate insurrection would have wreaked havoc on NBC’s ability to sell ads nationally during the 10 p.m. hour. And that was the idea: to make NBC share some of the tremendous financial pain that Leno was causing the affiliates and their corporate owners.

NBC hopes to move Leno back to a half hour show in his old time period at 11:35 p.m., starting March 1 after the Olympics. “The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien” would slide back to 12:05 a.m., followed by “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” at 1:05. But the network has yet to finalize the changes with Leno, O’Brien and Fallon.

NBC Entertainment Chairman Jeff Gaspin acknowledged Sunday at a news conference in Los Angeles that the Leno show “did not meet our affiliates needs.”

And the affiliates quickly expressed relief at not having to head into February sweeps saddled with a prime-time Leno show.

“I think the network is being responsive to the requests of the affiliates, who are greatly appreciative of all the work Jay Leno has done,” said Jordan Wertlieb, a member of the NBC Affiliates Board and general manager of WBAL-TV. “But, unfortunately, the show was not providing a sufficient lead-in to our late news.”

Commenting on the affiliate’ threat to pre-empt Leno, NBC’s Gaspin said, “This was not going to go well if that was the case.” The NBC chairman admitted that the lost revenue to groups like Hearst “forces them to force our hand.”

University of Maryland media economist Douglas Gomery put losses to WBAL and Hearst in the “millions of dollars.”

For decades, the story of the late news in Baltimore was one of a back-and-forth struggle between WBAL and WJZ for leadership. In the post-Leno era, WJZ — which shares content with The Sun — has become firmly established in first place in late news. The CBS-owned station has doubled WBAL’s audience in the key demographic of viewers 25 to 54 years of age.

WBAL, meanwhile, lost 54 percent of that audience year to year. As the ratings situation worsened, Leno personally tired to reassure station managers like Wertlieb and even incorporated special Baltimore segments and references into his show.

But the trouble was not limited to 11 p.m hour. At 10 p.m. this fall, not only did Leno get beat by prime-time entertainment programming on the other network-owned and affiliated stations in Baltimore, WBFF Fox-45 beat Leno with its 10 p.m. newscast. This fall, WBFF, the Sinclair-owned Fox affiliate in Baltimore, had a bigger audience at 10 p.m. for its news than WBAL did for its news at 11.

 And Leno’s failure set off a domino effect, hurting not only the ratings of late local newscasts, but also the ratings for “The Tonight Show” and “Late Night.”

 “This is one of the worst programming blunders in the history of network history,” Gomery said.

And the trouble is not over. Sunday’s move only keeps affiliates from revolting now.

NBC still has the problem of ego, salaries and its late night lineup to sort out. While Leno has agreed to the move, O’Brien whose contract could be voided by the change, has a significant amount of leverage. Fox has hinted that the network would consider hiring O’Brien because of his ability to draw a younger audience.

“As much as I’d like to tell you we have a done deal, the talks are still going on,” Gaspin said.

And it remains to be seen whether WBAL will be able to regain its market share at 11 with Leno gone. It will not be easy given that NBC will be scrambling to fill the time period at first, but WBAL does have a strong news product and good ratings for its other newscasts as a solid base to build on.

The Olympics also gives the network two weeks in February to stockpile extra episodes of its most successful series, like “30 Rock,” which the network can then double-run until the programming pipeline can start producing.

NBC also has the newsmagazine “Dateline,” which has been used in the past to fill gaps caused by quick cancellations — and a newsmagazine even if it doesn’t get great ratings is a highly compatible lead-in to the late news.

NBC has the ever-ready Dick Wolf as a producing partner, and Wolf can churn out episodes of his “Law & Order” franchises at phenomenal speed. Analysts like Gomery predict viewers will be seeing lots of “Law & Order S.V.U” this spring.

The network has already moved “The Marriage Ref,” a new reality-comedy series produced by Jerry Seinfeld up from its planned March 14 debut date to a showcase Feb. 28 after the Olympics. The series takes a disagreement between a real-life married couple and then submits to a panel of comedy experts who debate the issues before a “the marriage ref” decides the matter. The subject makes it compatible with a 10 p.m. adult audience, and NBC has extra episodes on hand.

None of that is a great and permanent solution. But as far as the affiliates are concerned, anything is better than Leno.

“It won’t be great, but NBC will be able to fill with shows that will do better than Leno,” Gomery said. “It’s like New Coke. Sure, throwing out the old formula for Coke and going to something that was supposed to be great and new was an absolute disaster. But people are still drinking Coke. And if they have something viewers want, people will still watch NBC.” Wire services contributed to this article.

Posted by David Zurawik at 8:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (51)
        

After only four months, NBC officially pulled the plug on Jay Leno's prime-time career Sunday, announcing "The Jay Leno Show" would leave the airwaves when the the Winter Olympics arrive on Feb. 12.

Trying to salvage some face-saving spin to the end, NBC Entertainment Chairman Jeff Gaspin explained the move by saying Leno's show was somewhat successful by network terms, but it did not "meet the needs" of the affiliates.

In fact, the weak lead-in provided by Leno cost NBC affiliates millions of dollars. No station in the nation suffered worse than WBAL-TV in Baltimore, which lost more than one-half of its 11 p.m. news audience since Leno came to prime time.

"I think the network is being responsive to the requests of the affiliates, who are greatly appreciative of all the work Jay Leno has done," Said Jordan Wertlieb, general manager of WBAL-TV, the Hearst-owned NBC affiliate in Baltimore. "But, unfortunately, the show was not providing a sufficient lead-in to our late news."

NBC wants to put Leno on at 11:35 p.m. for a half hour show starting March 1, but Gaspin said that deal is not yet in place. One huge sticking point involves whether Conan O'Brien will allow his late night show, "The Tonight Show," to be moved back to a 12:05 a.m start time.

The drama is not over. Fox has made it clear that it would like to sign O'Brien, and the Leno move would allow O'Brien the opportunity of voiding his $20 million a year pact with NBC for a better offer from Fox.

Sources at both NBC and affiliates have stressed that O'Brien is the performer NBC wants to keep.

"O'Brien is the future," one station manager familiar with the talks between NBC and the performers said this weekend.

Posted by David Zurawik at 2:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (26)
        

This is exactly the kind of milestone that tends to get overlooked in our overheated tabloid TV culture because it involves public service and sound on-the-ground journalism rather than sex, bad behavior or controversy. But Sunday morning, CNN's John King will visit his 50th state (Wyoming) as he nears the end of his first (and last) year as anchor for the Sunday morning public affairs program "State of the Union."

While other Washington-based Sunday morning shows tend to have an inside-the-beltway focus, because the hosts and most of the guests live and work there, King went out on the road every week to visit a different state and hear from citizens there as part of his show. That costs money and puts wear and tear on the anchor. But King, who is about to take over the weeknight slot on CNN vacated by Lou Dobbs, stuck to his weekly commitment to bring the voices of America to Sunday mornings on CNN is these tumultuous times.

“What’s remarkable is the people we met were in the middle of enormous challenges in their lives – job loss, homelessness, deploying or returning from Iraq or Afghanistan – and yet they were resilient and optimistic and somehow found a way to keep going," King says. "Traveling to each of the 50 states was a privilege and an incredible learning experience.”

The segments that aired under the banners "American Dispatch" and "CNN Diner" included some of the best and most resonant journalism done in television the last 12 months.

I hope the spirit of "American Dispatch" and "CNN Diner" will kept alive in some form after King departs to his new weeknight job.

“The great value of these visits, what makes me proud of doing them, is you’re hearing concerns from people that weeks later you would see in the polls," King says. "For example, when we started this journey President Obama’s popularity rating was near 80%. Now, he’s near 50% -- and we lived that.”

"State of the Union" begins at 9 a.m. (ET).

Posted by David Zurawik at 3:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
        

It's going to be a busy weekend for Z on TV.

I have a couple of posts planned for today that I'll start writing after this one. Then Sunday, I'll be on CNN's "Reliable Sources" at 10 a.m. (ET) talking about the Jay Leno trainwreck at NBC.

The CNN show hosted by Howie Kurtz is done live in Washington, so I'll have to hustle back to be in front of the TV set at 1 p.m. to review the telecast of the playoff game between the Baltimore Ravens and New England Patriots. But I can't wait. The review will be posted right after the game.

I am still reporting the Leno story, so stop back. I might have more on that later.

PS Anyone up for a new "Jon & Kate" poll? Any suggestions for questions? I have some ideas.

Posted by David Zurawik at 10:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (12)
        

For the second night in a row, Jay Leno was back at it sniping at NBC about its widely reported plan to cancel his prime time show Feb. 1 and move him back to a half hour nightly show starting March 1.

Does he sound bitter to you when he says he he believes "all parties will be srewed equally" by NBC? How about his joke about NOT sleeping with staffers. I liked the Jay Leno stamp joke: It gets cancelled after four months.

Here it is.

Posted by David Zurawik at 10:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (14)
        

After only four months, NBC looks like it might be ready to pull the plug on its misguided move of Jay Leno to prime time. A new latenight lineup, as first reported here by TMZ.com, involves Leno returning to latenight where he was king. He would likely start back in with a half hour show airing weeknights at 11:35 p.m. on March 1 after the Winter Olympics.

The Olympics will run on NBC from Feb. 12 to 28, but Leno would leave prime time on Feb. 1 so that NBC angry affiliates would not have to suffer though another portion of a "sweeps" ratings period with their advertising revenues depressed by Leno's weak lead-in at 11 p.m. The Olympics programming gives the network a chance to shuffle the lineup with the cushion of more than two weeks of special programming.

Under the proposed scenario, Conan O'Brien, who moved to the West Coast last year from New York to host Leno's old "Tonight" show, would slide back to 12:05 a.m., while Jimmy Fallon would follow O'Brien with a late, late latenight show starting at 1:05 a.m.. Leno would be back in part of the time period where he dominated in the ratings over David Letterman on CBS and Nightline on ABC.

Here's video of Leno joking about the rumors on his Thursday night show:

NBC was said to be in discussions with Leno and O'Brien on Thursday, which means an announcement could be made as soon as Friday.

I have been reporting for months -- often in the face of denials from NBC affiliate managers -- that the Leno lead-in has been hammering their bottom lines. Read one story here. Affiliate managers insisted this was a "52-week" plan, and that I had to give it a year before even starting to judge it. But some of those same managers are now on the verge of revolt if something isn't done, and it looks like the Jay Leno prime time plan isn't going to make it to 26 weeks.

The affiliates have had enough of the "Leno Effect" especially in cities like Baltimore where late news ratings have been cut in half by Leno's wretched lead-in at 11 for WBAL-TV.  WJZ-TV, which used to run neck-and-neck with WBAL at 11 p.m., now dominates in ratings for the most lucrative newscast of the broadcast day.

NBC has put off dealing with the Leno debacle as long as it could. The comedian said in November that he would be willing to move back to latenight, but nothing of this magnitude could be decided until the sale to Comcast was made last month.

Getting Leno out of prime time is going to cost money with the network ordering a raft of new drama pilots and series But it does have options until the pipeline of five new nights worth of programs can start to produce. Olympics programming will give them cushion of more than two weeks during which times they can stockpile extra episodes of their most successful comedies and dramas -- not that last place NBC has that many.

Furthermore, the new Comcast-NBC-Universal can run dramas off its cable channels, double-run extra episodes of sitcoms and put the newsmagazine Dateline in the 10 p.m. timeslot for a while.

As far as the affiliates are concerned, anything but Leno will be a considered a blessing come February sweeps. But if this switch takes place -- and right now it is still an "if" -- it will be one of the most spectacular reversals in the history of network TV.

Posted by David Zurawik at 5:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (57)
        

WBFF-TV, Baltimore's Fox affiliate, will expand its morning newscast by 30 minutes with a 5 a.m. start on weekdays, General Manager Bill Fanshawe said Thursday.

The new start time for the newscast anchored by Patrice Harris will take effect on Monday.

"Adding an additional half hour of news to already successful newscast will allow us to continue our audience growth...," Fanshawe said of the program that will now run from 5 a.m. to 9 a.m. weekdays.

"Fox45 Morning News continues to have impressive growth and we believe now is perfect time to expand our newscast," Scott Livingston, the station's news director, said. "... This expansion is our commitment to an informative and compelling newscast for Baltimore."

In this era of downsizing, it is nice to report some growth in some aspect of TV news.

Posted by David Zurawik at 1:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)
        

The blast immediately lit up the social media landscape, specifically on Twitter and Facebook. Some users seemed almost as fascinated watching the process of a news story unfold as they were by the news itself -- as big as that news was.

@bpsears was one of the the first to tweet: "Marc Steiner reporting that Dixon resigned this afternoon."

A few moments later, @dennfinn asked: "Did anyone else just get an email from Marc Steiner saying officially that  Sheila Dixon resigned? Am I way behind the curve on this one?"

No. Actually, he was well ahead of the curve.

A short time later, @RobinYasinow tweeted: "Fascinating to watch the Dixon announcement unfold on Twitter. Did Steiner scoop this I wonder?"

@gerrib18 chimed in with, "Wonder how he knows. News channels can't confirm."

WEAA, meanwhile, went on Facebook with, "Hey WEAA Family! If you heard, Mayor Sheila Dixon has resigned. Tune into Marc Steiner show tonight."

And so it went throughout social media Wednesday afternoon as Steiner's report was out there without any mainstream media confirmation for more than an hour.

Some tweets suggested a betting line be established on whether or not Dixon had really resigned. Someone else wondered what Steiner would talk about on his show if Dixon didn't actually resign.

"His own resignation," @jpstewart snarked.

But it is the mayor not Steiner who will be stepping down. And even though the WEAA host incorrectly reported the resignation as if it had already happened, when in fact it will not take effect until Feb. 4, he still had her resigning. And in the world of new media, it is rare for anyone to ever get this  kind of a jump on the competition on such a major story.

Baltimore area TV stations were reporting the story of her resignation deal by 2:46 p.m. Wednesday, but this is one case where an e-mail and a radio report started the conversation that caught fire in social media.

One of the reasons for the delay in getting the confirmed and full story of Dixon's resignation deal from mainstream media appears to be the fact that Judge Dennis Sweeney kept reporters in the hearing and would not let them leave. He not only admonished them about cell phones and texting, an officer of the court literally ran down a Baltimore Sun reporter who tried to leave and brought her back, according to The Sun's Julie Bykowicz who was there. 

Even after the hearing ended and Sheila Dixon had left the room, reporters were forced to remain for several minutes, according to Bykowicz and Nathan Siegel, an attorney representing The Sun at the hearing.

"I thought it was unusual," Siegel said of the reporters being kept in the room and admonished not to communicate via cell phone or text message. "It's not something in my experience that I can recall having encountered. I'm not sure what the purpose was."

Posted by David Zurawik at 7:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)
        

WEAA's Marc Steiner broke the story of Sheila Dixon's resignation at 1:36 p.m. Wednesday with an e-mail  promoting his radio show. And while he was incorrect in saying that she had already resigned, when in fact a deal was still in the works, Steiner's e-mail was a surprising way to first hear the news of resignation given all the media outlets competing on the story.

"We heard from three staff members who had been in a meeting with the mayor that she intended to resign," Steiner said in an interview with The Sun Wednesday. "Then, we also heard from another source that she had just finished praying with the Rev. Frank Reid about her decision to resign. We were told the Rev. Reid said he would support her in whatever she did. And so, that's when we said, "Okay, let's go ahead and say this."

Looking back on it, Steiner said, "What we should have probably written [in the e-mail blast] is that we can confirm that Mayor Dixon intends to resign, she told her staff members. That's what we should have said. It went out as she resigned, which was our mistake."

Steiner was on the air at WEAA at 1:51 p.m. Wednesday doing a cut-in with show host Sandi Mallory announcing the mayor's decision and promoting a two-hour edition of "The Marc Steiner Show" scheduled to explore the impact of Dixon's resignation.

He told Mallory that he was in contact with fellow WEAA show host, Anthony McCarthy, a former aide of Dixon's who was at the courthouse and reporting the story from there.

Steiner's report set off scores of reactions and discussions on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter  as other media outlets tried to confirm the story.

Posted by David Zurawik at 3:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (20)
        

Given all the comments and emails received, I guess we need to have a poll.

Take a look at what is described as Kate Gosselin's new look here (as depicted on a "People" magazine cover displayed at coverawards.com). And then, let's talk about it. What do you think?

I think it is an act of desperation -- Kate and her TLC partners trying to get her back in the public's eye as the new year starts and the world seems to have moved on and left her behind.

By the way, I wonder how much the portrait shot was enhanced through various cosmetic and computer aids.

Posted by David Zurawik at 11:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (440)
        

Remember when candidate Barack Obama promised in 2008 that the healthcare reform debate would be held in full view of the "C-SPAN cameras" as part of his pledge of a new transparency in government?

It hasn't exactly happened that way, has it? And now, with Democratic leadership in the Senate and House promising to take the process of reconciling the two bills into even deeper darkness, C-SPAN has released a letter from CEO Brian Lamb showing that it isn't cable TV's fault that Americans are being kept from bearing witness to the creation of one of the most sweeping pieces of legislation in four decades.

Here's a letter Lamb sent to Democratic leadership promising any and all C-SPAN resources to telecast negotiations on the final healthcare bill. Read it and understand who is cutting the American public out of this process. I have been writing for months about the outstanding job C-SPAN has been doing in trying to take viewers behind the closed doors of this process -- despite the efforts of Democratic leadership to keep the cameras at bay.

Here's the letter dated Dec. 30, 2009. After reading it, please let me know how it makes you feel.

 

The Honorable Nancy Pelosi                          The Honorable Harry Reid

Speaker                                                                       Majority Leader

United States House or Representatives                    United States Senate

 

The Honorable John Boehner                         The Honorable Mitch McConnell

Minority Leader                                                          Minority Leader

United States House of Representatives                    United States Senate

 

Dear Speaker Pelosi:

         Representative Boehner:

         Senator Reid:

         Senator McConnell:

 

As your respective chambers work to reconcile the differences between the House and Senate health care bills, C-SPAN requests that you open all important negotiations, including any conference committee meetings, to electronic media coverage.

 

The C-SPAN networks will commit the necessary resources to covering all of these sessions LIVE and in their entirety. We will also, as we willingly do each day, provide C-SPAN’s multi-camera coverage to any interested member of the Capitol Hill broadcast pool.

  

Since the initial introduction of the America’s Affordable Health Care Act of 2009 in the House and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in the Senate

C-SPAN has televised literally hundreds of hours of committee hearings, mark ups and floor debate on these bills for the public to see.  And importantly, we have archived all of this video for future generations to study in the C-SPAN Video Archives. 

 

President Obama, Senate and House leaders, many of your rank-and-file members, and the nation’s editorial pages have all talked about the value of transparent discussions on reforming the nation’s health care system.  Now that the process moves to the critical stage of reconciliation between the Chambers, we respectfully request that you allow the public full access, through television, to legislation that will affect the lives of every single American.

 

We hope you will give serious consideration to this request.  We are most willing to employ the latest digital technology to make the cameras, lights and microphones as unobtrusive as possible.

 

Please contact me if I can answer any questions.

  

Sincerely,

Brian Lamb

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted by David Zurawik at 4:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (43)
        

I saw this segment Monday morning on ABC's "Good Morning America," and was fascinated by how sophisticated ABC is in its effort to re-fashion the image of anchorman George Stephanopoulos for the tastes and desires of the morning audience.

This really is a brilliant piece of image-making -- worthy of, well, a one-time White House communications director.

Notice how in classic Madison Avenue branding strategy, the piece starts with the the Stephanopoulos we know: "George... is smart." But then, it expands Brand George to the kinds of things it takes to be attractive to a mass morning audience: George is a great dad. George knows all the words to the Miley Cyrus songs. George has goofy taste in music. George is a great husband. Check it out:

Posted by David Zurawik at 11:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)
        

Another strong episode for TNT's "Men of a Certain Age" tonight.

Terry looks in the mirror -- for a moment anyway. Owen looks for "The Key" and gets his electricity back on. And Joe looks into the teary eyes of a teenage boy and sees himself.

What do you think about Owen's assessment as to why Terry is always late: because if he ever gets ahead of the clock, he might have the time to stop and think about where his life is going? And he sure doesn't want to do that.

Do you think that's true? And what about Terry's line to his girlfriend as they stroll out of the coffee shop at the end -- when he says he never looks in the mirror either? Is he blowing off the moment of introspection that he just had, like he blows off showing up for work -- or is he just going along with her so as not to get too heavy?

I love the way this show consistently hits honest emotional notes -- and earns them. Case in point, the scene with Joe in the car with the 17-year-old boy whom Joe's daughter has just dropped. That was an incredibly complicated notion to communicate: That they were both locked out of that house, which held the women they cared about -- and they both had to accept it and move on. And yet, I lost myself in the moment with them and totally believed in it.

Even the comic scenes are well written. Case in point, Owen and Terry trying to turn the electricity back on at Owen's house. First of all, I love the joke about Terry actually learning something useful in all those acting classes --  stage lighting. But the great surprise of the scene is that Terry actually manages to get the lights on. I was expecting an explosion or fire, given Terry's screw-off nature, but the writing were better than that cliched turn of events.

The highlight, of course, was Braugher's performance -- both with his overbearing father and finally at city hall trying to find "The Key" that will get the bueaucrat to give him the building permits he needs to regain control of his house. When I sit back and think about the scene, it seems implausible. Buit thanks to the power of Braugher's performance, I believed every second of it as it played on the screen.

And I loved the mock homage to "Rocky" at the end -- even if none of the young people who work for Joe know who or what "Rocky" is.

What are you feeling about tonight's episode? And was there something happening between Joe and his ex-wife -- or did she just feel like maybe she needed him for a second to help with the daughter's situation. Either way, wasn't it nice to see Joe step up and deal with the trouble rather than being a self-doubting wimp?

Posted by David Zurawik at 11:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (61)
        

What a pleasure to listen to Jim Nantz and Phil Simms telecasting a Baltimore Ravens game after the last two weeks of Dick Enberg and Dan Fouts, and Brian Billick and Thom Brennaman. As Frank Sinatra once put it in a 1960 LP, "Nice 'n' easy does it every time."

Of course, Nantz and Simms only make it sound easy. After listening to all the misinformation and flatout confusion at times from Enberg last week, you realize how much preparation goes into supplying the kind of smooth and steady stream of background information and context that Simms and Nantz offered throughout Sunday's victory over the Oakland Raiders.

How anyone who heard Simms could think Billick is in the same league is beyond me. Simms is not only fabulously prepared, he deftly makes his points when they matter without the slightest bit of the boy-am-I-smart, hotdog about it.

Immediately after Oakland's first half touchdown, Simms explained over a replay how Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis was essentially playing safety on the pass play and got taken in by a head fake from the receiver.

"They've been playing that defense a lot," Simms said with the authority one only gets from doing his homework with game tapes.

The only fact Simms didn't have at his fingertips was the name of the Ravens center who made a key block, according to the analyst, on Baltimore's first touchdown. But he didn't try to fake it either. He made it clear that he couldn't remember Matt Birk's name and asked Nantz to help him out. There did not seem to be a phony, act-like-you-know moment from either of these guys.

And while some play by play announcers seem to always be scrambling to keep up with the action on the field, Nantz was not only on top of it, he was often ahead of everyone else. Case in point: near the end of the first half, Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco crossed the line of scrimmage and then threw a pass downfield. Nantz called the penalty before anyone of the field seemed to notice -- including the referees or Ravens players and coaches. Nantz is incredibly quick and nimble mentally and verbally. And he always seems to have something worthwhile to say. There is not an ounce of gasbag in him.

One of the nicest aspects of this broadcast team is that they don't try to force humor the way some of the less successful, showboat Monday Night Football crews have on ABC and ESPN. And yet, they can be amusing in a low key, self-deprecating way.

As viewers were shown videotape of a catch and long run by former Ravens tight end Shannon Sharpe, Simms joked about how much Sharpe, who is now a CBS Sports broadcaster working out of the network's New York studio, was probably enjoying the blast from the past as he sat in his "personal dressing room...with the star on the door."

Nantz responded by suggesting that Simms had a "personal dressing room with a star on the door" too, didn't he?

"I keep demanding one, but nobody listens. That's my problem," Simms said laughing.

Just a little easygoing banter about contracts, egos and star billing -- or lack of it -- to bring a little bit of background fun with a video clip.

Nice 'n' easy did almost every time Sunday on CBS.

Posted by David Zurawik at 5:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (13)
        

President Barack Obama has grilled steaks with the Food Network's Bobby Flay. He's filled out his NCAA basketball tournament picks with Andy Katz on ESPN. And he has appeared on Comedy Central as commander in chief demanding that Stephen Colbert get a haircut during the comedian's telecast from Iraq. Is there a talk show on any channel outside of Fox News on which the president has not appeared in 2009?

Michelle Obama, meanwhile, has shared the PBS stage with Elmo and Big Bird, traded quips with Jay Leno on his prime-time NBC show and waltzed Oprah Winfrey around the White House on ABC to ooohs and ahhhs at the Christmas decorations last month.

Team Obama often uses the word "unprecedented" to describe its actions. Here's one of its initiatives that really is historic: No first couple has ever spent as much time on television, and none has ever done it in so many untraditional, non-news venues such as ESPN, Comedy Central and late-night talk shows. Brand Obama has set a new record for presidential tube time in 2009 - and the beat continues into the new year.

Tonight, Michelle Obama adds another TV credit to her video resume with a prime-time appearance on the Food Network's "Iron Chef America." The two-hour special, titled "Super Chef Battle," features TV chefs Emeril Lagasse, Mario Batali and Flay joined by Cristeta Comerford, White House executive chef.

Lagasse and Batali will compete against Flay and Comerford in harvesting vegetables from the first lady's White House garden and then preparing five dishes that showcase the vegetables and represent "all-American meals." Mrs. Obama will welcome the chefs to the White House and help with the harvest.

"Mrs. Obama's message to cook and eat fresh food encouraged us to create this historic battle," says Bruce Seidel, senior vice president for program planning, in explaining his network's involvement with the White House. "It is a shared mission on our part. The food we eat fuels our bodies to do great things."

While such use of TV to showcase and extend the brand, as they say on Madison Avenue, seems noncontroversial enough, particularly when it is limited to the first lady, there is, of course, always a political component involved whenever anyone from a presidential administration stands in front of TV cameras with their words and image beamed into potentially millions of homes.

And the White House effort to exploit nontraditional TV venues seems especially relevant with the president being criticized in some quarters last week for not taking care of the very traditional presidential business of appearing on TV as an act of reassurance in the immediate aftermath of an attempted act of terrorism Christmas Day aboard a Northwest flight headed for Detroit. (In contrast, think of Ronald Reagan hitting the airwaves in prime time hours after the Challenger explosion in 1986.)

"I certainly can't think of another administration that comes close in terms of trying to use the medium of television in order to advance its message," Ed Henry, senior White House correspondent for CNN, says of the Obama presidency. "Perhaps the Reagan administration would come close, in terms of 'The Great Communicator' so effectively using television to directly address the American people and kind of go around the mainstream media. But obviously, the 1980s are light-years away from where we are now in terms of the full spectrum of channels and media."

Henry characterizes the Obama administration's relationship to media in 2009 as "sort of a barrage, a full assault from the administration in using various media, but especially television."

And the award-winning White House watcher adds, "They're not being hemmed in by traditional television, whether it be the Big Three networks or the cables. Whether it's doing an interview on ESPN or some of the less traditional outlets for a president, they have made clear that they are willing to put him out there if it suits their interest. ... They're not afraid to try different approaches. ... And they've been very aggressive about it."

Media historian Phil Seib, director of the University of Southern California Center on Public Diplomacy, also places Team Obama in a league by itself in its commitment to the use of nontraditional TV.

"It starts with the Obama presidency having a greater appreciation of the diversity of venues that are available for reaching the public," Seib says. "But presidential use of television really is an evolutionary thing."

Seib points to John F. Kennedy as the first to regularly use the televised news conference in his 1960 presidency.

"The technology was available for that during the Eisenhower years, but nobody really thought of it," Seib says.

The prototype for the Obamas' forays onto the prime-time entertainment landscape was the 1962 CBS-NBC co-production, "A Tour of the White House with Mrs. John F. Kennedy." CBS News correspondent Charles Collingwood accompanied the first lady as 56 million Americans looked on.

"Christmas at the White House: An Oprah Primetime Special," which was seen by 11.8 million viewers last month on ABC, is the contemporary version with the Obamas. Instead of being co-produced by two networks with a correspondent of Collingwood's stature (one of Edward R. Murrow's team of World War II star reporters), ABC's was produced by and featured Oprah Winfrey as the correspondent.

Candidates for president who used nontraditional TV venues in the past include Richard M. Nixon and Bill Clinton, who both ultimately captured the White House prize.

In 1968, Nixon appeared briefly in a videotaped spot on the hugely popular sketch comedy show, "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In," uttering a catchphrase of the era, "Sock It to Me."

Perhaps no moment is more widely remembered from any 1990s presidential campaign than Clinton appearing on "The Arsenio Hall Show" in 1992 playing his saxophone to "Heartbreak Hotel" - and instantly reaching an audience of young viewers.

"In that same tradition, Obama and his people understand that you have to constantly pop up in all these different venues like ESPN and the Food Channel and Comedy Central because the audience has become so segmented - so chopped up," says Seib, the author of eight books on politics and media. "It used to be if you wanted to reach the majority of the American public, you just called up Walter Cronkite and said, 'Come on, we'll give you a half-hour in the White House.' And that was it, you were done. But that's a long time ago now."

So how is the White House's ground-breaking use of TV working out - for the administration and the country?

"When you look at the first year of this administration, even the president's critics would acknowledge that for the first 100 days or so, this president was very effective in using television as a medium to get his message out, to communicate to the American people mostly about the severity of the financial crisis and what he was trying to do to turn it around," CNN's Henry says.

"I think, however, even the president's supporters, just to flip it around, would have to acknowledge that in the middle of the year, there were some questions whether he was still getting his message out as effectively. He seemed to be on every day, sometimes multiple times, pushing health care, and he wasn't getting a lot of traction."

By September, when the president launched another TV blitz that included appearing on five Sunday morning talk shows on the same day, as well as a visit to David Letterman's "Late Show," the questions and criticism of the White House commitment to TV widened.

"If ubiquity were the measure of a presidency, Barack Obama would already be grinning at us from Mount Rushmore," Newsweek columnist Howard Fineman wrote. "The president's problem isn't that he is too visible; it's the lack of content in what he says when he keeps showing up on the tube."

New year, new slate. But so far, it looks to be the same Team Obama TV story.

Start your day today with senior administration officials and top Democrats talking homeland security and anti-terrorism initiatives on all the Sunday morning public affairs shows. And then, you can end it with the first lady, the White House chef and all those superstars of the Food Network making "all-American meals" from vegetables grown in the White House garden.

Posted by David Zurawik at 11:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (49)
        

Here are 10 wishes I have for TV in 2010. I admit some items on the list are only the product of wishful thinking, but why not? What are your hopes for TV in the new year?

1. A large enough audience of TNT's "Men of a Certain Age" to make sure it gets renewed for another season -- with both Scott Bakula and Andre Braugher returning along with executive producer Ray Romano.

2. A better season for AMC's "Mad Men" than the one Matthew Weiner gave us in 2009. It is clear from the ratings that he lost viewers along the way. And this is not the kind of show that can afford audience erosion. I'd also like to see a real effort to present authentic historical detail and not the run-and-gun depiction done last year on London Fog, for example.

3.Strong ratings for CNN's John King when he takes over Lou Dobbs' weeknight timeslot this month. CNN needs some good ratings news to buttress the bedrock commitment made by its president, Jon Klein, to good journalism. As he showed during the presidential election, King has both the journalistic chops and the on-camera persona to deliver.

4. Serious consideration given to both Ed Henry at CNN and Jake Tapper at ABC News as replacements for King and George Stephanopoulos, respectively, as hosts of their network's Sunday morning shows. I don't know all the logistics and politics of having your White House correspondents taking over those jobs, but both would bring energy and expertise to Sundays. I'd watch.

5. I have to say it: No return for the Gosselin family to TLC's airwaves. I don't care how many shows TLC gives Kate Gosselin, keep her kids off the airwaves. In conjunction with this, I am also hoping for a heightened awareness of the potential harm done to kids when they are part of  family reality TV shows.

6. An end to the Jay-Leno-ization of prime-time network TV. Let's hope NBC admits its mistake, pulls the plug on prime-time Leno, and the networks slow down in their drive to cheapen prime-time programming.

7. Success for Diane Sawyer as managing editor and anchor of ABC's "World News." As a journalist, she deserves the job, and I hope it works out financially for ABC. On a symbolic front, it is nice to see a hard-working baby boomer promoted to a new and important job rather than being prematurely downsized out of one as a way to cut costs.

8. Here's a big wish: That the White House learns some respect for the press as an insitution, and does not again try to expand executive branch power by bullying the press as it attempted in its ill-fated campaign against Fox News. If you don't believe in an independent press, you don't believe in democracy.

9. That the TV press makes a real commitment to providing informed and aggressive coverage of the 2010 elections and does not give into its worst partisan instincts. These elections are going to be too important for ideology instead of independent journalism.

10. That local TV in Baltimore stays on the Sheila Dixon story -- not only reporting what happens with sentencing for the mayor, but aggressively chronicling what that means to the governance of this city. And like I said this might be wishful thinking, but maybe it is actually time for local TV to make a major commitment to some enterprise reporting on the way this city is run.

How about you? What are your best wishes for TV in 2010?

Posted by David Zurawik at 5:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (29)