Together again -- President Barack Obama, Steve Kroft and "60 Minutes." The interview will take place Friday and air Sunday at 7 p.m. on CBS.

Could this be the start of another major Obama media blitz?

Remember how close "60 Minutes" and Obama became during the presidential campaign in 2008? No one had a backstage pass to Obama's candidacy like Kroft and "60 Minutes." Last fall, I praised the broadcast for working to gain that access, but now I am not so sure.

I have to admit, I have come to be troubled since Obama took office by the way the White House tries to control the press and then complains at the slightest scrutiny.

(Steve Kroft interviewing Barack and Michelle Obama for 60 Minutes)

Continue reading "President Obama and '60 Minutes' - together again" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 7:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (15)
Categories: CBS
        

CBS News said that one of its radio correspondents, Cami McCormick, was injured Friday in Logar Province, Afghanistan.

"McCormick was traveling with members of the United States Army when the vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device (IED)," the CBS statement says.

"McCormick was initially treated at a field hospital, where she underwent surgery to stabilize her condition, and was then transported to Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan for additional treatment."

Continue reading "CBS News correspondent injured in Afghanistan" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 4:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: CBS
        

But there is tabloid TV and then there is tabloid morning TV, and today "The Early Show" on CBS hit a low that should make the producers step back and take a look at where the show is headed. Friday's show featured Maggie Rodriguez interviewing Kate Major, a former reporter for the tabloid Star magazine, who says she had a "12-day affair" with Jon Gosselin. He is the "Jon" to Kate Gosselin's "Kate" in "Jon & Kate Plus 8."

As the two women spoke on camera, the caption at the bottom of the screen said: "Jon's 'other' Kate feels dumped and dismayed." Welcome to the low road of morning TV.

Continue reading "CBS Early Show: A new low road on 'Jon & Kate'" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 11:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (14)
Categories: CBS
        

If the only thing that Don Hewitt had done in his six decades starting at the birth of TV News was to invent the phenomenally successful "60 Minutes," he would still have been one of the most influential producers in the history of the medium.

But Hewitt's legacy extends well beyond "60 Minutes." To a large extent, each time viewers tune into a newscast, they are experiencing a Hewitt invention.

No one else in television has played a larger role in shaping the face of television news -- from nightly newscasts and prime-time newsmagazines to special events and election coverage. Hewitt's list of credits reads like the index of a television news history book. 

Continue reading "Don Hewitt: Helping invent the wheel of TV news" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 1:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (15)
Categories: CBS
        

Sunday night's broadcast of "60 Minutes" featuring James Brown's interview with Michael Vick won its time period drawing 3 million viewers more than the newsmagazine did the week before. But it did so against weak competition on the other channels and the help of a powerful lead-in from PGA golf coverage that included an upset of Tiger Woods.

An audience of 12.1 million tuned into "60 Minutes" Sunday night more than doubling the 5.8 million that watched ABC, the nearest compeition with a rerun of "America's Funniest Home Video" -- not exactly must-see TV. Fox had reruns of "'Til Death," a series that was DOA in the ratings on its first run, and "The Simpsons."

Read my analysis of James Brown, as the stern but forgiving father-confessor providing absolution for Vick in the prime-time confessional provided by "60 Minutes"  here.

Continue reading "'60 Minutes' scores with Vick against weak field" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 5:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: CBS
        

Michael Vick came to the prime-time confessional on "60 Minutes" Sunday night, sat down with the stern but understanding father-confesser James Brown and acted contrite. And in this TV and sports saturated culture, I am sure for many football fans, all will be forgiven.

Are you ready for some football? Then let the games begin. And let's forget about those poor animals and the horrible tortured deaths some of them suffered at the hands of Vick himself -- the of-so-contrite young man who says he cried in his cell some nights thinking about what he "did to the image." By that he means his image. That's not exactly remorse for his victims, is it?

Here's the bottom line on the TV interview: The "60 Minutes" producers are the best in the TV news business, and they were not going to totally ignore the facts of Vick's convictions. You had to listen carefully, but if you did, most of the facts were there. But Brown and the producers also pulled a few very big punches.

(Screen grab of James Brown courtesy of CBS News)

Continue reading "'60 Minutes' on Vick: Punches pulled, truths told" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 7:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (86)
Categories: CBS
        

The preview aired during the "CBS Evening News with Katie Couric." According to the network's press release, Vick terms his systematic torture and killing of dogs as "wrong" and says he cried in his cell at night while in prison.

But from the portion of the interview that was shown, he also makes it sound as if he was not the one in charge of the torture and killing -- as if he committed a sin of omission by not stopping it, rather than a sin of commission by torturing and killing the animals himself as a judge said he did.

See below to read the transcript. You be the judge and tell me what you think. Does he sound sincere, or is it the start of what one blogger called termed The Michael Vick Redemption Tour? Is he taking responsibility?

Continue reading "CBS News releases part of Michael Vick interview" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 6:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (56)
Categories: CBS
        

CBS News says there were no conditions placed on the interview with ex-NFL star and convicted dog killer Michael Vick that will air Sunday. A spokesman also said that even though CBS Sports host James Brown has never done a report for "60 Minutes," he earned the right to do the Vick piece by getting the interview on his own.

In my first post about the interview, I raised questions about the choice of Brown rather than one of the CBS News correspondents who are regulars on the show, such as Scott Pelley or Steve Kroft -- or Byron Pitts, who was named a contributing correspondent to the show this year.  Brown is not a part of CBS News, which produces "60 Minutes."

"So, James Brown has never been on 60, but this was his beat, he worked it for a long time and got the interview, and so, Jeff was pleased to put him on 60 MINUTES with it," Kevin Tedesco, a spokesman for CBS News, said in an email response to questions from me. "The interview had no conditions." 

Continue reading "CBS News: 'No conditions' on Michael Vick interview" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 7:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (53)
Categories: CBS
        

The CBS newsmagazine "60 Minutes" will feature an interview Sunday with former NFL player Michael Vick. It is the one-time quarterback's first TV interview since he confessed two years ago to running a brutal dog fighting ring. Vick confessed that he himself tortured and killed dogs.

James Brown, a host for the NFL show that appears on CBS Sports, conducted the interview that was taped Monday.

Vick has been conditionally re-instated by the NFL as of July 27, according to CBS. Under the terms laid out by the league, Vick could be back in uniform by the sixth week of the season.

Will you watch Vick on 60 Minutes? Do you think CBS should be giving him this showcase? 

Continue reading "60 Minutes interviews ex-NFL star Michael Vick" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 5:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (91)
Categories: CBS
        

What a midsummer night's delight: Paul McCartney reminiscing and performing Wednesday night on the Late Show with David Letterman on CBS.

It made for one of the finest evenings of late-night TV that I have seen in years. McCartney was charming and funny as he talked about the Beatles' first American appearance on the same stage of the Ed Sullivan Theater 45 years ago, the group's first American tour and memories of Michael Jackson.

But it was the performance of two songs, the Beatles classic "Get Back" and a new one, "Sing the Changes," off his latest CD, Electric Arguments, that really made this feel like one of the most special nights in the history of Letterman's CBS run.

McCartney and his group played outdoors standing atop the theater's marquee to a large and enthusiastic crowd on Broadway.

Letterman asked McCartney at the start of the interview if being inside the theater brought back memories of that first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show.

Continue reading "Paul McCartney lights up David Letterman show" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 12:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (23)
Categories: CBS
        

The fall schedule for CBS will include six new series featuring such familiar TV stars as Julianna Margulies and Jenna Elfman. There will also be a spinoff of NCIS starring LL Cool J and Chris O'Donnell, as well as another season for Cold Case, a Sunday night staple that was on the bubble.

The network is expected, however, to say goodbye today to two of its most expensive dramas, Without a Trace and The Unit, as it joins other networks in trying to cut costs.

The new drama with Margulies, The Good Wife, is one of the season's more promising with the former ER star playing a stay-at-home spouse who is forced back into the workplace as an attorney. Elfman will star in the sitcom Accidentally on Purpose as a film critic in San Francisco who becomes pregnant after a one-night relationship with a much younger man.

Continue reading "CBS: new series for Julianna Margulies, Jenna Elfman " »

Posted by David Zurawik at 7:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: CBS, Network TV
        

Here we go again -- or, the Bush years live on.

As the nation faces monumental economic, wartime and cultural crises, the Supreme Court  has decided to concern itself with the Janet Jackson "wardrobe  malfunction" that took place on CBS during halftime of the 2004 Super Bowl game.

In connection with its ruling last week that the Federal Communications Commission does indeed have the power to fine broadcasters for airing "fleeting expletives," like the one U2's Bono uttered during an awards show, the Supreme Court Monday ordered the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia to re-consider its ruling that dismissed a $550,000 fine against CBS for airing the Super Bowl show that included Jackson's breast baring moment.

Continue reading "High Court goes back to the future on Janet Jackson " »

Posted by David Zurawik at 1:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: CBS, TV and Politics
        

Let me cut right to chase on Harper’s Island, the new CBS drama premiering Thursday night: There’s human blood in the water at the start, and the pilot closes on a character losing his lower torso in a slow and grisly fashion to the hack, hack, hack of a killer’s blade.

And that kind of horror-movie violence might be the very thing that makes this series a rating winner.

Mind you, I am not predicting such success – there are too many flaws in the ointment of this series for me to confidently do that. But I’m just saying that Hollywood makes tens of millions of dollars in movie theaters with inexpensive feature films that rely on the same formula of beautiful young people getting savagely butchered while on some kind of outing that was expected to be a happy event, so why not TV?

Continue reading "Harper's Island -- there's blood in the water on CBS" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 7:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: CBS, Scripted Series, TV Review
        

Guiding Light, the longest-running show in TV history, will end its epic 57-year run in September, CBS and the show's producers announced Wednesday. CBS decided not to renew the landmark daytime series for another season.

Here's the statement from the network:

Guiding Light, the longest running show in broadcast history, will complete its final season on the CBS Television Network in September. The daytime drama was not renewed by CBS for the 2009/2010 broadcast season, marking the end of its 57 year run on the Network.

Continue reading "After 57 years and 69 Emmys, Guiding Light will end" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 3:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: CBS, Scripted Series
        

CBS News has been soft on President Barack Obama in its 60 Minutes interviews by Steve Kroft. But the network's veteran Washington correspondent Bob Schieffer Sunday won back some respect for the news division with a focused and vigorous quizzing of Obama.

Schieffer performed several of the basic interviewing tasks that Kroft inexplicably failed to do last Sunday during the 60 Minutes conversation. With only about 25 minutes of airtime, the host of Face of the Nation asked hard-nosed follow-up questions and even politely cut the president off when he tried to filibuster answers with campaign-mode rhetoric.

But by far, the wisest choice Schieffer made was to focus his interview at the start on the president's announcement late last week that he was sending more troops into Afghanistan. Given the economic crisis, it is perhaps understandable that the press did not pay that much attention to the announcement, but for those who can remember the lessons of Vietnam, it seems like a huge development.

Continue reading "A focused Schieffer pushes Obama on Afghanistan" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 11:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
Categories: CBS, Cable and Network News, TV and Politics
        

After a TV blitz that ended with a prime-time press conference Tuesday night, President Barack Obama will be back on the tube Sunday morning chatting with CBS News Chief Washington Correspondent Bob Schieffer on Face the Nation.

The interview will be Obama's first Sunday morning talk show appearance since his inauguration. Last Sunday night, Obama was featured on another CBS News program, 60 Minutes, where he was interviewed by correspondent Steve Kroft.

Obama, who once again proved his ratings magic by driving 60 Minutes to a Top-5 Nielsen finish last week, has seemed to be favoring CBS among the three networks.

Let's hope Schieffer is a little tougher on the president than Kroft was last week. Nationally, Face the Nation is the lowest rated of the network Sunday morning shows, so the appearance by Obama on Sunday is good news for CBS.

Posted by David Zurawik at 2:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: CBS, Cable and Network News, TV and Politics
        

Sorry, ladies, but David Letterman married his longtime girlfriend, Regina Lasko, last week. He announced the super-secret nuptials on his show last night. So with Letterman off the market, who is left to pine over? Most of our cherished TV personalities, like Judge Judy and Dr. Phil, are all taken, but there's still hope. Some of our biggest TV stars still haven't settled down.

Ryan Seacrest: Aside from awkwardly making out with Teri Hatcher a few years ago, the American Idol host's love life has been kept under wraps. It has been alternatively rumored that he's gay and that he's a robot. He assures us that he's neither.

Keith Olbermann: The outspoken MSNBC pundit has never married and has no kids, but has been dating a much younger (almost 20 years younger) local TV reporter named Katy Tur for the past few years. Talk about a countdown.

Martha Stewart: The domestic goddess got divorced in 1989 and never remarried. Up until recently, she was in a long-term relationship with software developer Charles Simonyi. Simonyi got married in 2008, but Stewart wasn't the bride.

Simon Cowell: Seacrest isn't the only bachelor on Idol. Cowell was seriously dating British TV personality Terri Seymour, but they have since parted ways. Maybe he's worried that an Idol contestant will try to sing at his wedding?

Oprah Winfrey: Everybody knows about Stedman, but the queen of all media is still technically single. Winfrey is no fool, she knows no pre-nup is ironclad.

Posted by Tim Swift at 4:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)
Categories: CBS
        

If anybody was wondering why Barack Obama chose 60 Minutes as the one news outlet for an interview on his buy-my-economic-proposals-please TV tour, they got their answer Sunday night: Beyond the 16 million viewers who tune in each week, correspondent Steve Kroft played it safe and soft with the President, much as he had done during the election last year.

While I praised 60 Minutes in November for having built a relationship with Obama that yielded great access and ratings for Kroft’s interviews with the then-candidate, I have to criticize the celebrated newsmagazine for being far too gentle with the President on Sunday.

Continue reading "Kroft, 60 Minutes go soft and safe in Obama interview" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 9:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (86)
Categories: CBS, Cable and Network News, TV and Politics
        

Staying locked in the Barack Obama buy-my-economic-plan-please TV tour, I will be writing about the President's interview on 60 Minutes right after it airs Sunday, so please make sure to stop back.

The interview with Steve Kroft was taped Friday, but so far, no major parts of it have leaked out (or been leaked by CBS). Kroft was given unusual access by Team Obama during the election campaign, and his most recent interview with the President was seen by more than 24 million viewers in November. Kroft is scheduled to be a guest on CNN's Reliable Sources show where he will be interviewed by host Howard Kurtz Sunday at 10 a.m. (EDT).

I have a column in Sunday's Sun about Obama's unprecedented TV blitz and the controversy of him spending so much time working the tube, while Washington burns with indignation (and confusion) over the AIG bonuses. The question I pose: We know he is a great media campaigner, but now that Obama is president, is he effectively governing, or spending too much time on TV talking about governing. There is a difference between governing and playing someone who governs on TV.

So read the column, post any comments you have about it here, and stop back to Z on TV Sunday before you call it a night for the latest analysis of TV Obama.

Posted by David Zurawik at 8:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: CBS, Cable and Network News, Coming Soon to TV, TV and Politics
        

President Barack Obama will continue his outside-the-beltway-press-corps campaign with TV viewers via an appearance Sunday on 60 Minutes.

That's the Top 10-rated CBS venue that he used so skillfully during the campaign to bypass the press and reach as many as 20 million viewers in one staraight shot. Sunday he will be selling his embattled economic proposals.

The interview with 60 Minutes will be conducted by Steve Kroft and take place on Friday -- one day after Obama's sit-down with Jay Leno Thursday night on The Tonight Show. Kroft was the correspondent granted unusual access to Obama and his team during the campaign.

Continue reading "Obama goes back to 60 Minutes formula on Sunday" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 1:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: CBS, Cable and Network News, TV and Politics