The Sarah Palin November sweeps TV roadshow, a.k.a. the Audacity of Hype Book Tour, is in its Barbara Walters-ABC News phase today. And the former governor of Alaska is still getting an easy ride from ratings-hungry interviewers to sell her books, try to re-write her controversial history and take cheap shots at those she sees as opponents. And now, that she is past Oprah Winfrey, a supporter of President Barack Obama, Palin is taking some hard shots at the White House.

Bob Thompson, the Syracuse University pop culture scholar and decades-long friend, called Winfrey's interview with Palin "an informercial for the book" in a conversation we had Monday night after it aired. Even by Oprah's schoozy standards, it was softball chat. I was disapppointed in Winfrey.

And now comes Palin with Barbara Walters saying this about President Obama's Afghanistan deliberations: "[General Stanley] McChrystal gave the president the advice and said, 'We need essentially a surge strategy in Afghanistan, so that we can win in Afghanistan. And that means more resources, more troops there.' It frustrates me and frightens me -- and many Americans -- that President Obama is dithering around with the decision in Afghanistan."

Continue reading "Palin uses TV book tour to rip President Obama" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 7:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (72)
Categories: TV and Politics
        

Starting at 3:30 p.m., click below to submit questions and comments. At 4 p.m. chat live with Baltimore Sun critic David Zurawik about former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, her book and her appearance on "The Oprah Winfrey Show."

Posted by Carla Correa at 3:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (24)
Categories: TV and Politics
        

The last two weeks, I have taken some heat from commenters who disagreed with my assessment of President Barack Obama's latest TV blitz.

They disagreed with my characterizations of his performances on "60 Minutes," several Sunday morning talk shows and "Late Show with David Letterman" as being "lackluster," "uninspired" and marked by him saying the "same thing over and over and over" without much impact. I saw the blitz as a misguided attempt to regain control of the health care debate by simply appearing again and again and again on TV. I said it seemed as if the president's "TV magic" was gone.

Oh no, the president was "charming" and "convincing" and "totally effective," supporters and some other TV and media critics said.

And now comes a "New York Times"/CBS News poll that says the TV blitz was essentially a failure in terms of informing and convincing viewers of supporting the White House plan for health care reform.

Continue reading "CBS News poll says President Obama TV blitz failed" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 5:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (12)
Categories: TV and Politics
        

Watching President Barack Obama Monday night on David Letterman, I couldn't help thinking: The TV thrill really is gone.

The excitement I felt seeing him the first time on a late night show with Jay Leno, for example, has been replaced by a sense lately that he is on TV everywhere all the time and saying the same thing over and over and over. One almost wonders if his senior staff shouldn't consider an intervention: No more TV for a while, Mr. President. Let's focus on this governing thing and stay off the tube. You're in danger of starting to feel like a rerun.

With all the appearances and less than inspired performances, it is almost as if the president has come to believe that if he just keeps showing up on TV over and over and over, his message will carry the day and he will regain control of the health care debate.

Monday night's stop on "Late Show with David Letterman" was only the latest example -- a replay of his five lackluster Sunday appearances.

(AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Continue reading "President Obama on Letterman: No TV magic here" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 1:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (40)
Categories: TV and Politics
        

One of the reasons we started this blog a year ago was a sense I had that the political press didn't appreciate what a huge role TV was playing in the presidential campaign particularly when it came to then candidate Barack Obama.

The consensus in the summer of 2008 was that he was the first great candidate for the Internet Age. Nice ring to that -- and he was using new media wisely. But I wrote a newspaper column saying no, he's not the first great candidate for the Age of the Internet, he's the last great TV candidate. Start with John Kennedy, go straight to Ronald Reagan, and then comes Barack Obama.

I also have been arguing loudly and often in print, online and on-air since January that the press needs to pay more attention to how President Obama is using TV to push his agenda. And saying, "Gee whiz, isn't he great," which is the level at which most critique sadly still resides, won't get it. We need to systematically analyze the way he is using the medium to drive this country toward monumental change not seen since the New Deal -- for better or worse, you decide.

So, instead of chuckling and shaking our heads in admiration and maybe even amazement at his marathon sweep of the morning shows on Sunday and unprecedented sitdown with David Letterman Monday, let's try to do our jobs as critics.

Continue reading "President Obama and TV: Let's take a tougher look" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 6:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (15)
Categories: TV and Politics
        

Continue reading "Kennedy coverage ends with remarkable images" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 9:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: TV and Politics
        

The gray sky, steady rain, a sea of umbrellas, tolling bells and the ancient stones of the Boston basilica. Televised coverage Saturday of the funeral mass for Ted Kennedy was somber, stirring and deeply moving.

I can't explain this except by the weather, perhaps, but the opening images as mourners waited at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Basilica for the coffin of Senator Kennedy to arrive seemed very British somehow. Maybe it involved all the gray and black suits, dresses, coats and umrellas. or all the present-day politicians and former heads of state moving with such solemnity.

But even the rain drops on the lenses of the cameras somehow seemed right. Maybe I'm thinking metaphorically, as in, even the heavens wept.

Continue reading "Kennedy funeral mass somber, stirring - CNN shines" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 12:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: TV and Politics
        

I hope the dinosaur networks made lots of money Friday night with their tired sitcoms, tabloid newsmagazines and exhibition football games, because they missed one of the summer's most powerful evenings of music, memory, politics and community by not televising the memorial service of Senator Edward Kennedy.

Set at the John F. Kennedy Library with the flag-draped coffin of Ted Kennedy front and center, politicians, friends, family members and performers came together to remember Kennedy's life by turning 3 hours and 17 minutes of television time into a celebration and elegy.

By the time the event ended with two Irish tenors and the Boston Community Chorus leading the gathering through one of the most soulful renditions of "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling" that I ever heard, it felt like mission accomplished on providing a proper sendoff to one of the most towering political figures of the last half century.

Continue reading "Kennedy memorial service: poignant, powerful TV" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 10:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (20)
Categories: TV and Politics
        

This is not hard call. Though all the networks and news cable channels will offer some level of coverage of Friday's memorial and Saturday's funeral and burial services for Senator Edward Kennedy, C-SPAN is the place to go for the most complete and least intrusive.

As viewers have known since 1963 with the televised services for John Kennedy, watching such ritual on TV can be a profound and moving experience. C-SPAN with its fly-on-the-wall cameras and lack of commentator interruption is the channel most conducive to that.

C-SPAN will carry the "Celebration of Life Memorial Service" at the John Fitzgerald Presidential Library from 7 to 9 p.m. Friday. None of the networks -- ABC, CBS or NBC -- has announced plans to cover this event, which takes place during the hours of network prime time, in full.

(A mourner stands in line outside the John Fitgerald Kennedy Library - AP Photo)

Continue reading "Kennedy coverage: Where to turn, who is tuning in" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 6:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)
Categories: TV and Politics
        

Television has been going all out in its coverage of the death of Senator Ted Kennedy, and some powerful chords of shared memory are being eloquently sounded on many of the networks and cable channels.

One of the most powerful came in a Wednesday CBS News prime time special, "The Last Brother," that included archival footage of Ted Kennedy standing in at Caroline Kennedy's wedding for her slain father, John. 

The images were followed with excerpts of a thank-you letter to Ted Kennedy from Caroline's mother, Jacqueline, in which she called him a "hero." First sounding the narrative that so many on TV would embrace yesterday, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis described Ted Kennedy as the once "carefree younger brother," who had the role of patriarch thrust upon him -- and rose to the challenge. "We are all going to make it because of you," she wrote.

Continue reading "Kennedy coverage: TV taps shared memory chords" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 8:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (15)
Categories: TV and Politics
        

President Barack Obama has lately taken to depicting the press, especially the cable TV part of it, as a troublesome child. According to him, cable TV never met a "ruckus" it didn't like, and from time to time, the pundits in the press lose control altogether and get all "wee wee'd up."

While the president was vacationing Tuesday night, part of that cable TV realm that he discredits, was hard at work providing exemplary coverage of a Town Hall meeting in Reston, Va., where folks were vigorously debating the health care plan his administration has seemed to be mainly bumbling and fumbling the last few weeks.

I hope someone shows the president at least part of C-SPAN's coverage Tuesday night. Not just for all the insight into the passions, anger and competing interests on health care that the cameras captured. But also for the way in which C-SPAN showed how balanced, informative, contextualized and even-handed cable TV coverage can sometimes be. Maybe the next time the president dons his media critic cap and speaks about the press and cable TV it will be with some wisdom and nuance -- as well as with distinctions made among channels.

(Congressman Jim Moran and Howard Dean at Reston town hall. Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Continue reading "Maybe President Obama should see more C-SPAN" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (21)
Categories: TV and Politics
        

There he goes again, President Barack Obama, sounding like Spiro Agnew or Richard Nixon complaining about the media. They also criticized TV for showing images of conflict, protest and confrontation. They too would have liked only to see the happy pictures of the staged town halls where the White House staff stacked the deck with tickets given only to supporters.

"TV loves a ruckus," Obama said Friday at one of his town hall meetings. "What you haven't seen on TV and what makes me proud are the many constructive meetings going on all over the country."

You know what, I have seen plenty of images of constructive meetings on cable, network and even local TV in Baltimore the past two weeks. And one of the reasons there have been a lot of images of conflict on TV is because there has been one heckuva of a lot of conflict by people unhappy with the way the White House in the view of some citizens has tried to ram through massive change in health care without enough deliberation and national debate.

UPDATE SUNDAY MORNING: CNN's "State of the Union" featured exactly the kind of segment President Obama says you can't see on cable. Anchor John King offered video bites from town hall meetings showing citizens asking questions, and then he had a Democratic legislator and a GOP legislator respond point by point to concerns and issues in the questions. It would be hard to imagine a piece more constructive and illuminating than this. No "ruckus" here, Mr. President.

(AP Photo of Obama at town hall meeting in Colorado)
 

Continue reading "President Obama at his worst as media critic - again" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 6:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (40)
Categories: TV and Politics
        

One of the huge puzzlements to me as I watch the rising tide of angry town hall meetings on healthcare is why the clear link between the rancor in meeting halls across the country to what passes for political conversation on so-called all-news cable TV isn't being more discussed.

The mock-your-opponent, shout-'em-down, insist-lies-are-truths style of discourse seen in the rancorous exchanges in town halls this week from Maryland to California is on display every night five nights a week on our shiny new flat screens. It has been for years, and not just on the Fox News Channels with Bill O'Reilly, Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity.

Now we have Lou Dobbs trying to drag the muck of his radio show into the CNN newsroom on some nights, while Keith Olbermann at MSNBC has become one of the ugliest, nastiest, most dishonest character assassins in American political life since Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s. And NBC News lets him get away in violation of almost everything that once proud brand stood for.

And these all-news cable TV mainstays are rewarded for their bad behavior with contracts worth millions of dollars a year. Why wouldn't some folks think this is the "smart" way to talk about politics?

Continue reading "Town halls: Cable TV teaching us to yell, hate" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 8:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (34)
Categories: TV and Politics
        

Since the day I launched this blog last September, I have been writing repeatedly about the way in which I believe the harsh, reckless, irresponsible and dangerous rhetoric of cable TV talk show host like MNBC's Keith Olbermann and Fox' Bill O'Reilly is hurting America.

Click here to read one of the very first posts last September headlined: "MSNBC paying for its Olbermann sins."

Now comes much discussion the last two weeks about the so-called deal brokered between General Electric, the parent company of NBC News that runs MSNBC, and News Corporation, the firm that owns the Fox News Channel. The purpose of the deal: to keep Olbermann and O'Reilly from attacking executives and on-air personnel of their corporate opponents.

The deal has reportedly been in the works since last spring, and is now either or or off, depending on who you read and the mood on any particular night of either mercurial host. But there is one slice of this story that has been ignored, and I think it speaks legions about what is so very wrong with media today.

Continue reading "Olbermann, O'Reilly: Cable TV and town hall rancor" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 12:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (25)
Categories: TV and Politics
        

Just when you thought 24/7 cable news TV couldn't get stranger, starting Tuesday night, viewers are likely to see advertisements on CNN "attacking" Lou Dobbs during his prime-time show on the same cable channel.

And if that simply seems to be one more instance of the polarizing rhetoric and toxic nastiness of cable news TV, it's not. Dobbs has become a real problem for CNN, and a liberal media watchdog organization has found a way to highlight what it sees as reckless behavior by Dobbs.

Dobbs has consistently been lending credence to the "birthers" movement, which claims President Barack Obama is not a U. S. citizen, and thus, not eligible to be president because he was not allegedly born in the United States.

The view has been widely and thoroughly discounted -- most notably by Obama's Hawaiian birth certificate. But despite such facts, Dobbs has persisted.

(AP Photo)

Continue reading "Lou Dobbs becomes a real problem for CNN" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 12:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (128)
Categories: TV and Politics
        

With unemployment soaring and the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office saying healthcare reform as it stands now will break what's left of the government bank, President Barack Obama will take to the prime-time airwaves again Wednesday night to try and work his TV magic.

ABC, NBC, CBS and PBS will carry the session starting at 8 p.m., but Fox will not. The Fox News Channel and the Fox Business Channel, however, like CNN and MSNBC, will carry it.

The White House had initially scheduled the session for 9, but that clashed with popular reality TV shows on some of the networks, so rather than risk being carried only on one network, Team Obama changed the time.

Continue reading "President Obama returning to prime-time pulpit" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 10:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: TV and Politics
        

Brace yourself, the Obama TV blitz on healthcare is about to kick into a higher gear Wednesday and Thursday. Team Obama is launching its greatest TV weapon -- the president himself in one-on-one interviews.

Both NBC and CBS will have interviews conducted by their medical-doctor health correspondents on the nightly newscasts Wednesday.

Dr. Nancy Snyderman will be interviewing President Obama on the NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams, while Dr. Jon LaPook will be talking to Obama for the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric.

(Pictured Dr. Nancy Snyderman)

Continue reading "Coming to your TV: More Obama healthcare blitz " »

Posted by David Zurawik at 5:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: TV and Politics
        

I admit it, I get edgy every time I see an email from a network or cable news division that boasts of President Barack Obama granting "exclusive" access to an anchor, correspondent or the news division itself.

It signals that the Obama administration is up to one its oldest and most masterful games of selectively granting access to try and get flattering coverage. I wrote about it when NBC's bowing anchorman Brian Williams was allowed into the White House for a highly-rated two-night special, and in advance of ABC's "town hall" meeting on healthcare at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

And now, comes this email from CNN with the headline: "Anderson Cooper 360 with Exclusive Access to President Obama."

I've been wondering when Team Obama was going to try to work its game on CNN. Et tu, Anderson?

Continue reading "President Obama gives CNN "exclusive" access" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 11:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (17)
Categories: Cable and Network News, TV and Politics
        

If you want a quick break from Michael Jackson coverage before the memorial service begins, check out this interview with Sarah Palin by ABC News correspondent Kate Snow.

It was just posted this morning, and it features Snow asking Palin about the ethics investigations that the Alaska governor has been citing as among the reasons for her abrupt resignation.

What would Palin do if she were president of the United States and there were ethics investigations, Snow asked. The answer is priceless.

Continue reading "Sarah Palin: Still in need of a remedial civics class" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (28)
Categories: TV and Politics
        

Let's make one thing clear right from the start: ABC News did not give President Barack Obama a free pass in its prime-time special Wednesday night to sell his plan for a radical overhaul of the health care system.

There were people in the town hall setting who asked pointed questions, and if you listened very closely, it was obvious after a while that Obama did not have any very good answers when it came to specifics. Furthermore, anchorman Charles Gibson, who moderated the discussion, asked solid follow-up questions of the president.

But, ultimately none of that mattered much, because the majority of viewers can't or don't listen very closely when such vast amounts of information, opinion and statistics are thrown around as they were Wednesday night on ABC. Television does not work like that. In the manner that TV does work, Obama had his way from early morning to latenight on ABC Wednesday to push his agenda for massive social change on healthcare. In short, he owned ABC's airwaves.

Continue reading "ABC News tried, but Obama ruled on health care pitch" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 11:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (21)
Categories: TV and Politics
        

Last week, I wrote about the upcoming ABC News town-hall-style health care special featuring President Barack Obama, and warned about the TV press being used by the White House.

The special, titled Questions for the President: Prescription for America, will air Wednesday night at 10, and I will be here at Z on TV afterward writing about it.

The program broadcast from the White House will feature Obama answering questions on health care posed by audience members selected by ABC News. Republicans have been up in arms about what they see as their exclusion from the conversation.

Tune in Wednesday night after the telecast to Z on TV to see how I thought it played on the screen.

Posted by David Zurawik at 3:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: TV and Politics
        

Tuesday's edition of Inside the Obama White House was presented as production of NBC News. But I think a more apt description would be a co-production of NBC News and the White House image makers.

Don't get me wrong. I enjoyed the hourlong prime-time report that continues Wednesday night with NBC anchorman Brian Williams and a large crew getting some backstage access to President Barack Obama's White House. It looked just hand-held messy enough, with viewers seeing repeated shots by one NBC camera of other NBC cameras filming Obama and Williams, to feel like you were watching honest-to-god, on-the-run journalism.

And to his credit, Williams did say during the report that his team is trying to see as much as it can, while the White House wants them to see only so much.

Continue reading "Inside the Obama White House: Who is staging what?" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 8:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)
Categories: TV and Politics
        

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
        

How's this for looking marginalized?

In the wake of Senator Arlen Specter's defection to the Democratic side of the aisle, one of the featured topics on every major network and cable Sunday morning talk show this week was the future of the Republican Party. But guess who I did not see featured on any of the panels discussing the current state and future of the GOP?

That's right, Michael Steele, chairman of the Republican National Committee.

Continue reading "Where was Michael Steele on Sunday a.m. shows?" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 11:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: TV and Politics
        

It must be the season for former Republican candidates to hit cable TV. Last week, former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin showed up on TLC's American Chopper. Now comes word that presidential candidate John McCain will host AMC's Memorial Day Movie Marathon starting at 8 a.m. May 25.

Of the two, Senator McCain's TV appearance certainly seems to be the classier one.

Although how hard would it be to top Palin's appearance last week that featured her sitting on a bearskin and telling a guy who made motorcycles what a great patriot he is.

Continue reading "John McCain to host war heroes film marathon on AMC" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 10:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Coming Soon to TV, TV and Politics
        

After seeing Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin on TLC's American Chooper Thursday night, don't you just think she's made for reality TV? She was phony, over the top and absolutely empty of anything that would pass for a thought.

And she accomplished all that in what amounted to little more than a cameo appearance.

Over the top: What did you think of the bearskin on which she chose to sit? It was a bearskin, wasn't it? Did she have to sit at that spot on the couch with the poor beast's head right over her shoulder throughout the conversation? I wonder if she shot this animal out of plane like some of the others she boasted about back in the day (however brief) when she was a national candidate.

Continue reading "Palin talks patriotism and fishin' on American Chopper" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 8:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (19)
Categories: Reality TV, TV and Politics
        

The The economy is still a nightmare. The military situations in Afghanistan and Pakistan are perilous -- and getting worse. But for all the troubles swirling around the nation these days, America has rarely seemed to be in such steady and capable hands. 

That was the feeling that came across on TV Wednesday night watching President Barack Obama's 100-days press conference. Even on his best nights, John F. Kennedy did not seem as calm, confident and masterful as Obama did in an hour's worth of prime time give and take with the press.

As good as Obama has been in such settings before, Wednesday he seemed perfectly tuned to each shifting topic and tone.

Continue reading "Obama scores 100 in TV press conference" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 9:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (49)
Categories: TV and Politics
        

Move over, Kate Gosselin, a bigger hot dog than you is coming to The Learning Channel Thursday night when Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin appears on American Chopper.

Is this a marriage made in reality TV heaven or what?

Thursday's episode featues Paul Teutul Sr., the father of the chopper building clan that stars in this series, journeying to Alaska to do research on a special bike that he and his posse are building to honor the 50th anniversary of the state.

And, of course, who better to be his new  best biker mama friend than that moose hunting sharpshooter, who blew up any chance the Republicans had to make it to the White House last fall with her divisive rhetoric and disastrous TV interviews. 

American Chooper airs at 9 Thursday night on TLC. Click on the jump for a clip of the show.

Continue reading "American Chopper: Sarah Palin gets her motor running" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 6:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (88)
Categories: Reality TV, TV and Politics
        

In years past, TV news has been criticized for not paying enough attention to the nation's national political life. But that has not been the case since Barack Obama came on the national scene as a candidate, and tonight will be no exception as the major cable channels and networks (except Fox and CW) cover the president's conference and offer their own specials on Obama's first 100 days in office.

Which network or channel will you be watching to see and hear Obama? Or, will you spend your night with Fox starting with the crime drama Lie to Me at 8 followed by American Idol at 9?

Or maybe, you will split the difference -- watching the president's press conference at 8 and then go to Fox for Idol at 9?

Continue reading "100 days - and a night of TV devoted to it (but not Fox)" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 6:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)
Categories: TV and Politics
        

Does anyone on cable TV cover real breaking news like CNN?

Tuesday when Senator Arlen Specter dropped the bomb that he was switching to the Democratic side of the aisle, CNN was all over it. From Dana Bash (left) reporting the story on Capitol Hill to a team of reporters gathering instant reaction around Washington, while Ed Henry and Bill Schneider offered on-the-run political analysis, this is the way a major story should be covered.

A note to some of my colleagues: Let's stop blindly celebrating the ratings successes of the cymbal-clanging chimpanzees named Olbermann, Maddow, Hannity, Beck and O'Reilly on MSNBC and Fox, and pay some attention to the last real journalism being done on cable TV by the folks at CNN. They did some fast, sound and fine work again on a huge political story -- delivering the journalistic goods once again so that the sit-on-their-butt partisans on Fox and MSNBC will have something to actually talk about Tuesday night.

Continue reading "CNN shines in instant coverage of Arlen Specter story" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 1:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (17)
Categories: CNN, Cable and Network News, Fox News, MSNBC, TV and Politics
        

Continue reading "Supreme Court gives FCC power over profanity on TV" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 10:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
Categories: TV and Politics
        

One of the founding goals of this blog last September was to chart the point on the media landscape where TV and politics meet. Monday night, one of the people who knows that territory as well as anyone in the country will be in Baltimore to speak at Goucher College, and I will be there. The event is free and open to the public.

David Plouffe, President Barack Obama's chief campaign manager, will be appearing as part of Goucher President Sandy Ungar's speakers forum. The title of his speech: "The Obama Phenomenon: What's Next?"

Plouffe will also be taking questions from the audience, and what a great chance to ask one of the key campaign architects about the use of new and old media by Team Obama -- including its effort this week to shape perception of the president's first 100 days in office.

Continue reading "Obama strategist David Plouffe at Goucher Monday" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 9:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: TV and Politics
        

Stephen Baldwin has quite a career going these days. Unfortunately, it is as a D-level reality TV star rather than an actor.

Baldwin is expected today to officially be announced as the replacement for former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich on the reality TV show Get me Out of Here...I'm a Celebrity to be taped this summer in Costa Rica.

Blagojevich, who is indicted on 19 counts of corruption from his time in office, was this week denied permission by the court hearing the case to travel to Costa Rica. The disgraced Illinois politician still might have a role with the show, however, and is expected Friday at a promotional event for the series in Pasadena, according to the trade publication TV Week.

Continue reading "Goodbye/hello Costa Rica: Blagojevich out, Baldwin in" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 10:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: NBC, Reality TV, TV and Politics
        

President Barack Obama wants some more prime-time real estate from the networks Wednesday night, and he doesn't care if it is May Sweeps. Wednesday marks the end of his first 100 days in office, and he's not going to let the TV pundits have the field all to themselves in judging his performance.

The White House Thursday announced an 8 p.m. press conference for Wednesday, and it would be a surprise if the networks and major cable channels did not cover it in some fashion. So far, none has made their plans known, but how could ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN or Fox News not be there no matter how much it might cost the networks in May sweeps ad dollars. (Sweeps are the months in which audiences are measured and used to set future advertising rates.).

Continue reading "100 days: Obama will mark it in TV sweeps prime time" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 5:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Cable and Network News, TV and Politics
        

Last week in writing about the tight ratings race on Sunday mornings, I used the term "hard-charging" to describe George Stephanopoulos and his ABC show This Week. The charge continues this week with the one-time senior aide to Bill Clinton scoring an interview with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Stephanopoulos raced off to Tehran when the call came through that Ahmadinejad would be willing to talk -- showing exactly the kind of hustle I believe the healthy competition among the top Sunday morning public affairs shows is generating.

Stephanopoulos also delivered an engaging blog post about the interview and his trip. I wonder how the other Sunday shows will compete with this. This is one ratings race that so far, at least, seems good for journalism.

Continue reading "ABC's Stephanopoulos charges on with Ahmadinejad " »

Posted by David Zurawik at 11:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: ABC, Cable and Network News, TV and Politics
        

While cable TV news seems to be built on blurring lines and transgressing boundaries these days, I still have to say that I am alarmed by what I saw on the Fox News channel Wednesday night with Sean Hannity's Tea Party in Atlanta.

Fox and Hannity promoted the event endlessly claiming that Hannity was going to Atlanta to cover a news story of anti-tax and anti-government-spending protest.

What I saw Wednesday night had nothing to do with news coverage and everything to do with political rallies and propaganda. It was angry anti-Obama rhetoric and constant rabble-rousing of the crowd in the Atlanta streets as Hannity emotionally invoked the narrative of the nation's children having their futures stolen from them by Washington politicians. This had more to do with torch-light political rallies in Europe in the dark days of the 1930s Depression era than it does coverage by an American cable channel that claims its devotion to "fair and balanced" reporting in 2009.

Continue reading "Sean Hannity over the line in Atlanta rabble-rousing" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 9:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (24)
Categories: TV and Politics
        

Isn't reality TV great? Fox is going to make a show out of people getting fired in the recession. Spike TV is going to "hunt" pirates with the U.S. Navy. And now comes disgraced former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich hoping to join the D-list cast of I'm a Celebrity...Get me Out of Here.

Blagojevich has reached tentative agreement with the producers of the reality show to be a contestant in episodes that would air starting June 1.

Because the show is scheduled to be filmed in Costa Rica, Blagojevich, who is under indictment, on 19 counts of corruption, needs permission to travel. His lawyers sought that permission in court Tuesday  where Blagojevich pleaded not guilty to the corruption counts as well as seeking permission to go to Costa Rica, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Continue reading "Blagojevich headed for reality TV -- where else?" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 7:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Coming Soon to TV, NBC, Reality TV, TV and Politics
        

With NBC's long-time lead for Meet the Press withering away as ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos continues to gain, it seemed like a good time to check back in with both shows to see what's going on. I am going to be writing more on this matter in coming days, but here's a fast look at the bottom line on what I saw Sunday.

As one of the first critics to say David Gregory looked like he was going to be okay as the successor to Tim Russert, I have to acknowledge being disappointed in what I saw Sunday from the new host. Simply put, there was little energy and virtually no passion. And that is the opposite of what made Russert so compelling to watch.

The flaws in Sunday's telecast were not all the fault of the host. The four-member panel assembled for a discussion that lasted some 20 minutes was one of the dullest and least engaging I can remember seeing on a Sunday-morning public affairs show since the networks started making them ratings accountable.

Continue reading "Meet the Press: Where's the passion, David?" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 11:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (14)
Categories: TV and Politics
        

TV has a new family feud -- this one between the Palins and the Johnstons -- and now that the battle has reached the level of network morning show, it is getting nastier.

Wednesday on The Early Show on CBS, Levi Johnston, the father of the grandson of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, said he believes that the former GOP vice presidential candidate sees him and his family as "white trash." Furthermore, he called Palin a liar and says that she changed for the worse after her defeat in the November election.

The Palins, meanwhile, have issued statements calling Johnston a liar. Classy bunch of folks -- just the kind daytime TV talk shows love.

Continue reading "TV's new Family Feud: The Palins vs. the Johnstons" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 10:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (17)
Categories: TV and Politics
        

It is one thing when a syndicated daytime talk show hosted by a model features a questionable character like Levi Johnston, the father of the grandson of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. That's what The Tyra Banks Show did on Monday.

But on Wednesday, The Early Show, a network morning show produced by CBS News, will feature the high school dropout and teen parent as well. I wonder how they will top the conversation between Johnston and Banks about "safe sex" -- something Johnston at first tried to insist that he and Palin's daughter did indeed practice. 

All of this comes under the heading: Is there nothing TV talk won't try to exploit?

Maggie Rodriguez will be doing the interview with Johnston and his mother, Sherry, and sister, Mercede. You tell me where the thing we used to call "socially redeeming value" is in this chat. 

Posted by David Zurawik at 2:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: TV and Politics
        

Is there any private place daytime talk TV won't go -- and pat itself on the back for going there?

Monday morning on the The Tyra Banks Show, Banks talks to Levi Johnston, the ex-fiance of Bristol Palin, daughter of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. Let me be plain about Johnston's claim to fame: He's the high school dropout who got the daughter of the conservative, "family values" politician pregnant. He's the kid whom GOP Presidential candidate John McCain greeted like a long lost son at the Republican National Convention after Palin was named McCain's running mate and news of the pregnancy became known.

If you tune in to the Tyra Show,you will hear such things as Banks asking Johnston is he practiced "safe sex" with Bristol Palin. You will hear him say, "yes."

Then, you will see Banks ask with some incredulity, "All the time?"

Continue reading "Tyra Banks and Bristol Palin's ex talk "safe" sex" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 11:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (15)
Categories: TV and Politics
        

Memo to Fox News management: Get Greta Van Susteren some anger management help before she does serious damage to someone, herself or your news channel's brand identity.

Van Susteren, who has bared her attack dog teeth more than once against me and this blog since I dared to criticize her cotton-candy interview of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin last fall, is out of control on the Web once again. Following her online attack on me for saying she was "overly friendly" in her first Palin interview, she followed up with a post attacking Howard Kurtz, media critic at the Washington Post, because he dared to quote me. But then, she tried to take the post down before anyone noticed. Only someone already had.

This time, she is railing against Politico for reporting that her husband, John Coale, helped Palin set up a political action committee.

Continue reading "Van Susteren loses it again on her Sarah Palin conflict" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 4:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)
Categories: Fox News, TV and Politics
        

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
        

Every time Michael Steele goes on TV, it seems as if he says something that makes him seem like a bigger fool.

You would think that after the kind of disastrous TV appearances he has experienced since becoming chariman of the Republican National Committee, he would figure it out and stay as far away from the medium as he can.

But not Steele. Here's a great blog post today from Charles M. Blow, of the New York Times, on Steele's most recent TV embarrassment. Under the heading, "Steele Ridiculous," Blow explores the wacky exchange Steele had with CNN interviewer Don Lemon:

Michael Steele is the gift that keeps on giving. His latest entrée unto the absurd comes in the form of an interview with CNN’s Don Lemon. Steele now wants us to believe that his wayward ramblings are part of an elaborate ruse – some sort of Jedi mind trick. Really?

Continue reading "Why GOP's Michael Steele should stay off TV - way off" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 12:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)
Categories: Baltimore Television, 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
        

Gone was the cool, composed, almost serene Obama who seemed to enjoy the back and forth of his masterful first meetings with reporters following his election.

Instead, for the first time, viewers saw a tired-looked president who gave into his irritation and literally snapped at Ed Henry, the senior White House correspondent for CNN. That cable channel has been doing the best reporting on the contradictions by Obama and other administration officials over when they knew about the bonuses to A.I.G. executives. Not surprisingly, it was a follow-up question by Henry about the timing of Obama's "outrage" over the bonuses that set the president off.

Continue reading "Obama's new TV image: tired, uptight and cranky" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 9:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (44)
Categories: Cable and Network News, TV and Politics
        

This blog has been with President Barack Obama every prime-time step of the way on his buy-my-economic-proposals-please TV tour, and I will be back tonight after his latest appearance on the tube.

Everyone who matters in cable and network TV news is covering it live, so there there will be lots to write about.

Already, I see Keith Olbermann is anchoring MSNBC's coverage. That's the same out-of-control Olbermann who MSNBC executives said they were going to remove from such news events after his childish behavior at the political conventions in August. I guess that was just one of those blah-blah-blah, let's-lie-to-the-peasants, PR statements from the cable channel. Just the kind of folks I want to rely on for trustworthy information.

Posted by David Zurawik at 4:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Cable and Network News, TV and Politics
        

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
        

With all the high-visibility hearings on Capitol Hill and President Barack Obama appearing everywhere on TV last week, it is easy to overlook a piece like the one that follows from ABC News and abcnews.com. But this behind-the-scenes bit of reporting is the kind of solid, hard-work journalism that tells you what folks are saying off-camera.

It involves Rick Klein, of ABC News, canvassing members of the Senate Democratic caucus on the question of their support for Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

No one covers Congress better than CNN's Dana Bash, as she showed this week in nailing Sen. Christopher Dodd for his role in the A.I.G. bonuses. But this little textbook effort in nuts-and-bolts reporting by Klein also deserves high praise for the information and context it offers viewers trying to judge the confusion at the Treasury Department against President Obama's widely-publicized statements this week that he has "complete confidence" in Geithner.

Continue reading "Some praise for good work by ABC News on Geithner" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 11:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: ABC, 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
        

Last night's appearance by President Barack Obama was a ratings boon for The Tonight Show. The audience in metered overnight cities like Baltimore was the highest since Jan. 24, 2005, when the show featured a tribute to Johnny Carson, according to Nielsen figures released by NBC.

The last time Tonight scored a higher overnight rating was on May 14, 1998 -- the night of the finale of Seinfeld when the cast appeared on Leno's program. Overnight ratings for last night's show were the fourth-highest in the 16-year history of Leno's show.

Bottom line, one out of every four TVs in use last night was tuned to The Tonight Show. The overnight ratings from metered markets are not conclusive or final. But they generally match up when final figures are released.

Continue reading "Nielsen: Obama visit a big boost for Leno ratings" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 9:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (16)
Categories: NBC, Ratings, TV and Politics
        

When was the last time in the history of late-night shows that the featured guest and host chatted about "capital ratios," "credit default swaps" and "toxic assets"?

The answer is never until last night when President Barack Obama appeared on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno to try and reassure Americans that he had a plan and good people in place to get the country out of its economic crisis.

For all the ease with which Obama sat in the chair nearest Leno’s desk, right leg crossed over left, looking as smooth and cool as Tony Bennett as he sold his economic proposals for 35 minutes of air time, what a remarkable moment in TV history it was.

Continue reading "Leno and Obama: the TV talk show as political tool" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 1:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (54)
Categories: NBC, TV Review, TV and Politics
        

As Barack Obama extends his buy-my-economic-plans-please tour from Jay Leno tonight into next Tuesday with a prime-time press conference, the question that begs to be asked is whether the President is spending enough time governing -- as opposed to talking about governing on TV.

There is a difference, and as much the author of this blog dedicated to mapping the intersection of TV and politics welcomes Obama's commitment to using the tube to sell his proposals, I worry as a citizen that he's not doing the nitty-gritty, late-night, deal-making, closed-door, on-the-phone politicking that it takes to really govern this troubled nation.

I'm talking about the kind of Presidential grunt work that you hear Lyndon Johnson doing on those audio tapes C-SPAN radio plays on Saturday afternoons.

Continue reading "Barack Obama -- and the presidency as a TV series" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 12:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (39)
Categories: Cable and Network News, TV and Politics
        

C-SPAN, the camera that never blinks in its coverage of American government, turns 30 today. And to celebrate, the cable industry's public affairs channel is releasing a survey that shows 20 percent of cable TV households, about 39 million viewers, watch C-SPAN regularly -- at least once or twice a week.

The survey also shows an audience that is very active politically, fairly evenly split between liberal and conservative viewers -- and surprisingly young with 43 percent of its viewers between the ages of 18 and 49. Ninety percent of C-SPAN viewers say they voted in 2008.

Here are some highlights from the survey that was conducted by Hart Research Associates:

Continue reading "C-SPAN turns 30 today -- and it's getting younger" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 8:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Cable and Network News, Ratings, 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
        

Continue reading "Let Gov. O'Malley know how you feel on MPT tonight" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 10:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Baltimore Television, PBS, TV and Politics
        

Continue reading "What next on cable TV: Wanted posters of AIG execs?" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 7:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: CNN, Cable and Network News, TV and Politics
        

As the perception spreads that cable TV news pundits are passing a hasty and harsh judgment on President Barack Obama's economic plans, you have to wonder if there isn't more than meets the eye to the annoucement today that the president will appear Thursday on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno.

Let me put it less delicately: Is Obama giving cable TV, which has seen its ratings and revenues rise with his candidacy and election, the stiff arm by going with NBC and Leno? Is this a taste of what's to come if Sean Hannity, Lou Dobbs and the gang of clowns at CNBC continue to play fast, loose and rough with his presidency? Is Obama going to further bestow his ratings magic on the struggling networks -- as he did with CBS and its 60 Minutes newsmagazine during the election?

There is nothing new about using late-night TV to get elected president. But no one has used that entertainment venue to try and govern as Obama will do Thursday night when he "talks about his economic plan" with Leno, according to the NBC press release.

Continue reading "Is Obama trying to stiff arm cable TV with Leno visit?" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 5:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)
Categories: Cable and Network News, NBC, TV and Politics
        

I just watched the HBO's live telecast of the New York stage production, Will Ferrell: You're Welcome America, A Final Night With George W. Bush, and I loved it.

I loved the concept -- even though it dates back to the earliest days of TV in the late 1940's -- of trying to use the medium to extend the Broadway stage into homes across the country. The idea has largely been abandoned, but it can still work for both the theater world, which needs TV money more than ever, and the pay cable industry, which desperately needs daring and exclusive programming that viewers cannot get anywhere else.

You're Welcome America certainly offered a healthy dose of vibrant, engaging, liberating and socially relevant programming Saturday night. And it offered me something I could not find anywhere else in popular culture -- closure to the eight-year presidencty of George W Bush. After seeing Ferrel's inspired mockery of Bush and his dangerously hapless tenure in office, I can finally let go of Bush, Cheney, Rove and all the rest.

Continue reading "HBO, Ferrell shine in bringing Bush stage satire to TV" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 11:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)
Categories: HBO, TV Review, TV and Politics