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Reader mail
John P. Schneider noted that my recent installation of ReplayTV in my living room had forced me to run telephone cord through our kitchen -- tacked down with unsightly duct tape. John writes, "Here's a tip to get that duct tape off your counter-top and make Mrs. TV Barn a happy woman. There are several manufacturers of plug-in devices that will run phone signals over your power lines. All you do is plug the box into a 110V plug near a phone outlet. Connect a phone line to the outlet and the box. Then plug another box near your ReplayTV. Connect the phone line to the ReplayTV phone output and you're on your way. These started becoming real popular with the satellite dish users who need the phone line for the pay-per-view dial-ins. I've had one for a few years now and it works great."
What amazes me is that ReplayTV has fallen into the same trap as the satellite-dish makers: believing that it's better to give your customers the best-case scenario instead of the worst case. ReplayTV's installation guide never mentions these wireless devices -- which, now that you mention it, I recall seeing in RadioShack stores -- so obviously the company believes each of its customers has a phone line in the TV room. In the same vein, dish makers have assumed for years that pulling in local channels is as easy as sticking an antenna on your roof. An antenna? What's that?
Sean Medlock writes, "I got a ReplayTV last November, and despite the inevitable first-generation bugs, it's as amazing as you say. For me, the big now-I-can't-live-without-it feature is the 30-second skip button. Advertisers and network TV executives are right to be scared of it. I haven't watched a single commercial in five months. I actually I had to have somebody explain that annoying 'WHAZZAAAAAP!!' thing everybody's doing now. And without all those commercials, I can watch a lot more garbage in the same amount of time. ReplayTV -- it's like a trash compactor for your head!"
Now there's a tagline you won't be hearing anytime soon ...
Nicole Ellis writes, "It was interesting to read about ABC's new program called 'Making the Band,' about the formation of yet another boy group. In Australia, they are currently showing a program called 'Popstars' about the formation of an all-girl group. It's pretty much the same premise as the ABC show (except Lou Pearlman isn't involved). You can read all about it at http://www.popstars.com.au."
You mean, Lou Pearlman isn't involved ... yet.
John Hirn writes, "Your casual dismissal of
'Freaks and Geeks' is wrong-headed. This was far and away the best new show of '99. Nothing else was even close. It managed to be hilariously funny, poignant but never heavy-handed, and realistic all at once. Throw in tons of spot-on cultural references for good measure, and you have a pretty special show. The fact is NBC never gave the show a decent chance to shine. It kept moving the times around and pulling it after a couple of weeks, and never promoted it very well. That's no way to build an audience."
Everybody agreed that Saturday night, when NBC is otherwise airing thrillers, was a peculiar time for "Freaks and Geeks." But the network did a much better job promoting the show's move to Monday nights than ABC did, say, in telling viewers it had moved "Nothing Sacred" in 1998. And recall that Fox's "King of the Hill" suffered a dismal fate after moving to Tuesday nights, despite heavy promotion by the network. Some things just weren't meant to be.
Pick To Click:
Camcorder diaries
What will PBS do for its next act? That's a question a lot of us in the TV world ask. The public-TV network now has several prime-time series still running in their second and even third decades, and its latest show for kids, "Between the Lions," is closely patterned on its oldest, "Sesame Street." Anybody who says PBS is liberal hasn't studied its conservative program strategy very much.
But now, a great new idea has come along: "Right Here, Right Now" (check local listings), documentaries shot by non-filmmakers using camcorders. Oh sure, MTV and other networks have occasionally pressed a camera into the hands of amateurs. But PBS' are longform specials, with one subject each week for the next four weeks, not to mention unconventional storylines and revelations you may find unsettling. "Right Here, Right Now" is airing at all sorts of crazy hours on PBS affiliates (in Kansas City, the series debuts at midnight Thursday on KCPT).
The first installment introduces us to Jeanne, a young woman who documents the ways in which the world fails to come to grips with the fact she is deaf. The scenes range from the silly -- a receptionist who hears Jeanne's lispy speech and asks, "Are you from France?" -- to the heart-rending. Empowered by the camera, Jeanne heads off to confront her mother, who has never bothered to learn sign language, even though her daughter has been deaf since infancy. "I just didn't have another minute to do anything more," says the mother. Jeanne's ready with the comeback: "Mom, how long have you been retired? Six years?"
The next three weeks feature Yolanda, a teen-age mom; Jack, a Chinese-American resisting his parents' pleas to become a doctor; and Jonelle, who is desperate to overcome a debilitating stutter.
The daily digest ... for April 13: As part of the deal that brought "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch" to the WB, the trades are reporting today that "Hayley Wagner, Star," which aired as a Showtime movie last fall, and was being developed as a TV pilot for ABC, is now headed to WB as well. The pilot, which stars Mel Harris, depicts the life of "a pampered child movie star who has to adjust to the life of being a 'regular' teen when her career fades," sez Electronic Media.
Previously on TV Barn:
12 April: "Freaks and Geeks"
11 April: "Star Trek" protests
10 April: Zehme on Letterman
7 April: CBS's loaded sked; "Phantom Menace" on video
6 April: ReplayTV and TiVo
5 April: "Wonderland" protests; Fox hits new low
4 April: "Falcone" v. "Sopranos"; new sci-fi stars
3 April: iCraveTV; BET v. Univision
31 March: Video kiosks; Tavis Smiley; Peabody Awards; quit griping about Oscar
Coming up next ... subject to last-minute changes:
Friday: Dropping anchors
Monday: TBA
Tuesday: Sci-fi loft
On this date...
in 1983, with choreography straight
out of a "Batman" episode, the former and
current Mrs. Carrington get into their most
famous catfight on "Dynasty." When Alexis starts
taunting Krystle about her infertility, it's
war. Krystle jumps her nemesis and they both
fall into the lily pool. When "miserable bitch"
Alexis tries to escape the pummeling of her
tormentor, Krystle shrieks "Oh, no, you don't,"
then punches her enemy in the mouth.
-- Tom Heald
On the wires:
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Tue, Apr 13, 1999
1:21 PM CT
At right:
Michael Moore
("The Awful Truth,"
Sundays on Bravo)
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Too soon to say if it's a winner. (AP)
Ellen's new show: A field report
Where would we be without the loyal readers of TV Barn? Face down in a virtual alley clutching a fifth of cyber-gin, that's where. Instead, however, we've got readers like Chris Valin, who attended the taping of the pilot of the new Ellen DeGeneres sitcom for CBS and passes along this account:
"It's a show-within-a-show, similar to 'Larry Sanders,' except it's half an hour and a variety show instead of a talk show. Picture the Carol Burnett show, including questions from the audience, plus all the behind-the-scenes stuff. Ellen, as you can imagine, plays herself. Anne Heche was in the audience, as was Kathy Najimy and Ellen's mom.
"Her guest was Tim Conway, who was very funny. I've seen him in many things
since the Carol Burnett days, but I never thought he was as good after that.
He seemed to be back in his old groove. I recognized two out of three of the cast members, but I can't remember their names. They all did well, but one of the guys played a woman in the last skit and did a particularly good job.
"The twist was that Ellen takes a crew out on the street ahead of time and asks apparently real people what they want to see on the show. Then they create skits based on the responses. The skits were okay, but just as on the Carol Burnett show, they were funniest when mistakes were made and the cast members started to crack up. But I wondered whether they'll air the takes that had the flubs or go with the clean ones.
"I laughed quite a bit, but I have a feeling a lot of the funny bits will be
edited out for CBS. For example, during the Q-and-A she
pointed to a female audience member and said, 'I'm going to call you "Blue
Shirt."' The woman replied, 'You can call me anything you want,' and yes,
it did come across the way you might think. After laughter and a round of applause, Ellen said in her trademark chipper way, 'CBS -- welcome home!' ...
"After the show, she interviewed the audience members on the way out, and I heard that the best of those interviews would appear on the show as well. At one point Ellen got into a golf cart and rode alongside the audience members walking back to their cars.
"Unfortunately, as with the rest of the show, the funniest parts probably
won't be aired."
Dropping anchor
Local TV news outfits are famous for copying segments done by other news teams in other markets. Especially during sweeps. You know the genre: "Is your restaurant safe?" "Is your hotel room clean?" "How can you escape a car under water?"
But we may be seeing the start of the latest TV news fad going on behind-the-scenes: stations suing their anchors. The stations say it's because the talent has gotten out of control. The talent says the stations are just trying to weasel out of their high-priced contracts. So far the tally includes:
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Wed, Apr 14, 1999
9:14 AM CT
At right:
Michael Moore
("The Awful Truth,"
Sundays on Bravo)
Looks like it's a trend: A week after my essay on the sorry state of the sitcom, along comes Entertainment Weekly decrying the same thing: "A handful of shows are as good as television has ever been," writes Steve Lopez, "but with more networks and more total airtime than ever, the pool of writing and production talent has been drained. And nowhere are the waters shallower -- or the bottom feeders more plentiful -- than in the programming genre that has most shaped American popular culture over the last half century."
Probably just a coincidence ... as was the fact we both felt the need to speak with Peter Mehlman of "It's like, you know ..." (see it 8:30 tonight on ABC) about this crisis in comedy. (Mehlman helpfully supplied EW and me with some identical quotes.) But as reader Paul Murray points out, "Their analysis is somewhat different from yours -- instead of going back to past shows to see
what worked, they quote some people (including Larry Gelbart) who say the problem is that today's writers know only TV." Actually, that's part of my critique, too. As for EW's rankings of the top sitcoms on TV today -- with the highest echelon reserved for just three shows, "Friends," "Everybody Loves Raymond" and reruns of "Seinfeld" -- hard to argue with those.
Read my essay (sorry, the EW is online for subscribers only)
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Thu, Apr 15, 1999
7:45 AM CT
At right:
Michael Moore
("The Awful Truth,"
Sundays on Bravo)
It's Classic Arts Showcase, a 24-hour network of
high-quality fine arts programming presented in
video-jukebox format. It's the brainchild of philanthropist
Lloyd E. Rigler, who leased a transponder in 1994 and began
uplinking three- to five-minute clips of opera, symphony,
classic cinema and ballet in the hope that young people
would get hooked and then -- following the hourly on-screen
admonitions -- switch off their TVs and go take on the arts.
Rigler, who turns 84 next month on his network's fifth
anniversary, is an evangelist for high culture. He cares
about only one thing: reach. By that measure Classic Arts
Showcase has been a phenomenal hit. It's carried in more
than 53 million U.S. homes, at least some of the time,
through local educational or public access channels. It
passed the 50-million milestone last year in less time than
it took HGTV and nearly as fast as The History Channel.
Every week, Classic Arts Showcase airs a fresh eight-hour
video loop compiled by Lloyd's nephew Jamie Rigler and his
staff from a library that numbers 4,000 clips and growing.
To produce those clips, and pay for the 12-year satellite
lease, the network runs a deficit of $6 to $8 million a
year, all of it paid for by the foundation set up by Rigler
and his late business partner.
While that's a pile of money to lose, it's unlikely Classic
Arts Showcase would've gone far had it tried the for-profit
route, as the old CBS Cable tried and Ovation is now trying
to do. The network's educational status allowed Rigler to
obtain the needed permissions to show the videos at no cost.
And it opened up a completely untapped market to Classic
Arts: the hundreds of cable access channels across the
country running billboards or the duller-than-dull NASA
channel as their backbone. The network is now carried on 270
cable systems, some airing as little as two hours of its
programming per week.
Although the foundation at times mails out promotional
postcards to cable systems, in many cases operators simply
put Classic Arts on their access channels unsolicited. "The
thing I'm most proud of is that it's truly been through word
of mouth," says the younger Rigler.
In terms of cultivating its audience and getting
distribution, Classic Arts Showcase has been as
opportunistic as any commercial cable network. And that's
probably why Classic Arts is the only other viable
privately-funded noncommercial cable network since the
founding of C-SPAN.
Which, when you think about it, is pretty pathetic.
Despite all the talk of diversity increasing with the
expansion of the cable spectrum, there is a tremendous
amount of redundancy on cable today, not only in terms of
genres (news, sports, documentary) but programs (biography,
nature, celebrity news, home fixup).
Classic Arts Showcase's success only underscores the larger
failure of cable, and American TV in general, to create safe
haven for any niche concept that can't guarantee a profit.
At the time C-SPAN came along in 1979, it was one of but 14
services in basic cable. Now there are 200, counting
regional networks; by the 1979 scale at least a dozen of
them ought to be noncommercial. Instead we've got four:
three C-SPANs and Classic Arts.
Doesn't seem like a big deal to you? That's not surprising.
American television has been dominated by commercial tastes
for so long that most of us have a hard time even
conceptualizing what kind of programming we'd get if
Nielsens weren't the sole measure of success in TV. (For
that reason you can't count PBS, which is as audience-driven
as any commercial network.)
Yet there are scores of niche audiences being bypassed
today, either because advertisers don't want them or they're
just too small to bother with. People older than 54.
Progressives. Alternative healthcare givers. Fans of small
theater and world music. Night owls still awaiting the
female version of David Susskind. Teenagers sick of TV that
conforms relentlessly to the MTV template.
And it's not just entertainment. At a time when local
stations are chopping out their minority-affairs programs
and just about anything else that doesn't have the word
"news" in the title, there's an appalling dearth of
public-minded TV programming (unless you count the ones
where six panelists spend the hour yelling at each other).
Lloyd Rigler was able to figure out how to get his message
on the air, because he found a solution for the two problems
that bedevil every independent-minded programmer: funding
and bandwidth. Unfortunately, there are only so many access
channels out there, and Classic Arts is already on the best
ones. Which means it's back to the drawing board for anyone
else with a really good niche idea.
Learn more about Classic Arts Showcase from its website
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Fri, Apr 16, 1999
9:16 AM CT
At right:
Michael Moore
("The Awful Truth,"
Sundays on Bravo)
Hard to believe, but it's already been a half-decade since Cartoon Network revived the 1960s cartoon character Space Ghost and turned him into a late-night talk show host on "Space Ghost Coast to Coast." I also find it hard to believe I wrote a review of it five years ago in LATE SHOW NEWS, but I did:
"Interestingly, 'Coast to Coast' doesn't appropriate many symbols from late shows, choosing instead to dip into the rich iconography of cable television," I wrote. "One episode features only guests from 'Gilligan's Island.' There's an order-now ad for a 'greatest hits' album by Space Ghost's old nemesis Zorak, an oversized locust who is on some sort of work-release program as the show's bandleader. ...
"As for the host, Space Ghost is not very telegenic -- he stares straight ahead and addresses us just like a Saturday morning superhero. He might be looking at us, but with those Little Orphan Annie eyes of his it's hard to tell. The humans appear on a monitor that's not integrated with the toon (Roger Rabbit this ain't), so it figures that their interactions with the host resemble less an interview than word jazz in which the videotape editor plucks the bass line. While Space Ghost prattles on about how strong he is, his guests, most of whom wouldn't make Conan's B list (Kevin Meaney, the Bee Gees), are made to utter anything from cogent replies to banal non sequiturs. And when that gets tiresome, the host simply zaps the tube and it's on to the next guest.
"'Space Ghost: Coast to Coast' is more satirical than Bugs Bunny, more anarchic than Toontown. But viewers hoping to see a dead-eye hit on the late-night talkers will be disappointed."
Somehow the show survived that cutting final remark of mine and went on to log dozens more 15-minute episodes. Over the next few weeks you'll see repeats that scored highest in an online viewers' poll recently conducted by our old pal Tom Roche, an editor on "Space Ghost" (and the guy whose name appears upside down in the credits). The top vote-getter, "Piledriver" with guests Rob Zombie, Raven Symone and Randy "Macho Man" Savage, is a wrestling-themed show, semi-obviously, with Savage voicing the part of Space Ghost's grandfather "and Moltar doing a mean Gordon Solie," observes Roche.
Tonight -- the show's fifth anniversary -- you'll see the first and second episodes of "Space Ghost" beginning at 11 on Cartoon Network: "Spanish Translation," with guests Susan Powter, Kevin Meaney and the Bee Gees; and "Gilligan," with guests Bob Denver, Dawn Wells and Russell Johnson. "Rarely, if ever, are these first two episodes repeated," Roche notes in an e-mail. "And I can see why; they are historical artifacts now, pretty rough around the edges. The foundation is there, but the garage experiment just hadn't escaped the lab quite yet. But something is clearly brewing. The episode with reunion of the three 'Gilligan's Island' castaways was the one that got us thinking there might be something here greater than the sum of all the parts."
(And if you want to see a crew with a lot of extra time on their hands, head over to the official "Space Ghost" web page and read real news items juxtaposed with their absurdist versions from "Ghost Planet News." I'd quote you some examples, but then you'd think it was just like the Onion. It isn't.)
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Hey! Where'd my show go?
These days, when a network can pull a series after just two ("Wonderland") or three outings ("Harsh Realm"), one ought to feel fortunate when a decent program hangs around for an entire month. That probably comes as small consolation to the cast of "Battery Park," shown here. NBC pulled the sitcom off its Thursday-night sked after four episodes.
This is a shame. I saw three of the four "Battery Parks" that aired and I'd certainly rate it among the top sitcom entries of the year. Not that that's saying much, but it's surprising the show would bomb given the "Spin City" pedigree of its producers and an ideal placement following "Frasier," which seemed as simpatico a show as you could get to "Battery." The show had a "Spin City" look and feel to it: lots of walking and talking, a goodly-sized ensemble of characters of varied sophistication and a major urban institution as the butt of jokes (in this case, a police district).
On the other hand, pulling the show was a no-brainer for NBC, which saw its 9:30 audience drop precipitously during "Battery Park" time. In fact, it can be safely said that the "hammock" is gone at 9:30 -- that supposedly safe haven when a new show could be stretched out between those two pillars of "must-see" TV, "Frasier" and "ER." And the reason is simple: NBC kept putting duds in the time period, from two years of "Veronica's Closet" to "Stark Raving Mad" and now "Battery Park" (although why the "Frasier" crowd didn't take a cotton to this last one is a mystery).
But the larger story here may be that even fewer sitcoms will be offered up this fall than last fall, and you'll recall 1999 was a low-water-mark for the genre. Of the few new comedies airing this season, only "Malcolm in the Middle" seems to have had any staying power. (In the Sunday overnights, "Malcolm" scored an 8.7 rating and 13 share in households, edging out a "Touched by an Angel" repeat on CBS but trailing "The Ten Commandments" on ABC, which scored a 10.6/16 in the half hour. As it has done most weeks since its January debut, "Malcolm" improved slightly on its "Simpsons" lead-in.)
Instead, network executives are now sweet on "nontraditional" types of entertainment, including the kinds their predecessors once dismissed as so much cable-park trailer trash. Take a look, for instance, at NBC's decision, to be announced today, that it is forming an "alternative series" unit that will develop more reality-based programs, game shows and basically anything else that doesn't fall under the heading of traditional broadcast TV.
In other words, the network that brought you "Battery Park" is looking for a prime-time jump start, and it doesn't care whether it gets one from a Cadillac or a beat-up Chevy truck.
"Wonderland" producer shops show to other networks
Pick To Click:
A League of His Own
Bill Russell and Bill Cosby enjoy a laugh at a public ceremony last year in which the NBA great had his jersey number retired, 27 years after he had it retired privately. (AP Photo)
It's nice to see basketball legend Bill Russell back on television again, doing that commercial for a financial advisory firm. Did you notice, though, that Russell never looks us in the eye in those ads, but is always pointed off-camera?
It's a telling detail when you think about Russell's perception by today's sports media, where Michael Jordan's status as the greatest player ever is rarely disputed. Could it be that Jordan gets points for being accessible and quotable and for always talking to the camera like an old friend?
In this way, "Bill Russell: My Life, My Way" (10 p.m. Monday, HBO), the latest stellar biography from HBO's sports division, makes a compelling case that Russell's career eclipsed all others in nearly every respect -- except when it came to respect. The program shows how dramatically Russell altered the way basketball was played, at the college and pro levels. But his intimidating style of play unsettled spectators as well as opponents. His racial pride flared up whenever he perceived he was being slighted (oftentimes rightly so). Most of all, Russell's refused to play along with the sports media and had an unrequited relationship with the Boston fans -- he had his jersey number retired in an empty Boston Garden in 1972. Thus he turned his back on the very accolades to which he also felt entitled.
Eric Mink: Why only an hour long?
The daily digest ... for April 17: Longtime TV Barn readers will recall that for a couple of weeks I was posting the menu from the NBC Commissary in Burbank. Turns out it's no joke: The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that "some NBC employees believe that a class structure is being developed at
the cafeteria" because the network's entertainment chief, Garth Ancier, has upgraded the eatery along the lines of the restaurant at the studio lot of Warner Bros., just a couple of miles away. (Ancier used to work for the WB.) Disgruntled workers told THR that the Commissary has become "an expensive five-star restaurant that discriminates against low-level staffers who cannot afford the increased prices." But another source says executives and their clients "were fleeing the building
because the food was bad," which ought to be no surprise to anyone who ever listened to a Johnny Carson monologue. By the way, have you tried the Cobb salad?
Previously on TV Barn:
14 April: Ellen's new show
13 April: Reader mail
12 April: "Freaks and Geeks"
11 April: "Star Trek" protests
10 April: Zehme on Letterman
7 April: CBS's loaded sked; "Phantom Menace" on video
6 April: ReplayTV and TiVo
5 April: "Wonderland" protests; Fox hits new low
4 April: "Falcone" v. "Sopranos"; new sci-fi stars
3 April: iCraveTV; BET v. Univision
31 March: Video kiosks; Tavis Smiley; Peabody Awards; quit griping about Oscar
Coming up next ... subject to last-minute changes:
Monday: TBA
Tuesday: Sci-fi loft
On this date...
in 1989, NBC realizes that none of its viewers can stand
watching their channel all day long. Thus the CNBC network is born -- all
business during the day, but willing to slip into something more comfortable
after hours. While Janice Leiberman gives consumers reports among
the daysiders, Dick Cavett and John McLaughlin are allowed to creep out any
guests willing to show up at their respective studios. And how does a
financial network succeed in business without really trying? First, buy your
way onto as many cable systems as you can. Then, buy out your competition (NBC acquires Financial News Network in 1991).
-- Tom Heald
On the wires:
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All times Eastern
With Kurt Warner just before the surgery: "Ultimately, Jay is trying to beat Dave, and Dave is trying to beat Jay." (CBS photo)
Dave's new heart: Another view
by Mark Evanier
Bill Zehme is a fine, ingenuous writer, as proven by -- among other things -- recent books on Frank Sinatra and Andy Kaufman. And I am not about to argue that his piece on David Letterman in the current issue of Esquire is not of the same marksmanship, as he has chatted up both men in the past and has surely observed what he says he's observed. Still, I believe it was Mark Twain who said that differences of opinion make, if not horse races, then at least a typical "Crossfire." The Letterman described by Zehme -- and the Leno, inevitably, as well -- are not quite the men I, or some others, have observed.
Which is not to say Zehme is wrong ... though I do wonder about a few of his statements. He claims, f'rinstance, that even in the ratings doldrums, Letterman "never lost wholesale prized possession of viewers aged eighteen to thirty-four." One wonders how he figures this, given Leno's long, barely-interrupted winning streak in all categories. For the week of March 24, sayeth the Nielsens, Jay averaged a 2.1 in adults 18-34, topping the average of Dave's three non-rerun broadcasts by 75%. And this at a time when CBS, like Zehme, is ballyhooing Dave's comeback. It was worse pre-surgery.
What really fascinates me, though, are the portraits, particularly of Letterman as a man unconcerned with the competition. "Like all true artists," Zehme writes, "he competes only with himself and his own legacy." This portrayal stands in contrast to what many around Dave have said, and even to a line in Bill Carter's book, The Late Shift, explaining why Dave, at a time when he was still in the ratings lead, cut his vacation short so he would keep ahead of Jay: "Letterman was in this competition to win, always to win."
It even stands in contrast to many elements of Zehme's own article, including its claim -- probably quite true -- that Dave's on-air crankiness was a symptom of his slide to second and eventually third place. A man competing only with himself and his own legacy would not turn ornery at the numbers; would barely even look at them, let alone (to borrow Zehme's apt metaphor) allow them to crush his heart.
(continued)
Sulu later (if ever), say some fans
by John Zipperer
Will the Paramount powers-that-be feel intimidated by the fans set to
demonstrate in front of their studio this Saturday? Will they bend to their
wishes and create a new "Star Trek" series centering around Captain
Sulu, a character first introduced by George Takei more than 30 years ago in the original
"Trek"? Last week we
heard from the dedicated fans who are set to brave rain or sleet or even--well,
probably just rain--to make their wishes heard. This week, SF Loft readers weigh
in on the other side of the debate.
David Thiel suggests that Takei, who portrayed the ever-steady
Sulu in the original series and the films, was being disingenuous when he said
his reason for not appearing at the demonstrations was to avoid making it look
like an actor trying to get a job. "While George Takei has been stumping for his own starship command (and series) for many years--I recall him doing so at a 1986
convention appearance--I was previously unaware that a significant number of fans believed it to be anything more than a bush-league actor attempting to prop up his sagging career."
(continued)
Pick To Click:
What's Up with the Weather
This year, following the campaign season's hottest issue may involve watching the Weather Channel instead of CNN. "Frontline" (9 p.m. Tuesday, PBS; check local listings) explains why tonight with a timely program on global warming -- and before you respond with "hoo boy," it's more interesting than you might think. The program opens with a key disclaimer: Scientists who think the Earth is heating up have only 100 years of climate data to lean on, which is like the blink of an eye given our planet's history. But obviously more humans are roaming the planet than ever. They're sucking precious carbon dioxide out of plants like never before and fueling the greenhouse effect. Want to see an extreme case of greenhouse? "Frontline" says turn your telescope to Mars. Yet despite wide consensus on this point, Vice President Gore couldn't get Congress to pass a treaty committing the U.S. to cut greenhouse emissions. "Frontline" chronicles that bizarre political defeat and considers what Gore will do about it -- if anything -- if he's elected environmentalist-in-chief.
The daily digest ... will return Wednesday. Blame taxes.
Previously on TV Barn:
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(cont'd from front)
The article's main thesis seems to be that all or most of that has changed, especially following Letterman's quintuple bypass. It would be nice to think so, but even this piece carries evidence that the post-bypass Dave is watching Jay's every move, even if he doesn't actually watch his show.
Zehme reports that Letterman was "rankled" that George W. Bush could only appear on his show on Mar. 1 via satellite. You have to wonder: If it annoyed Dave, then why his staff go ahead and book George W. at the last minute anyway, even though it necessitated the split-screen remote? Why not wait a week or three until the candidate was passing through New York? The only possible answer is that a satellite feed was the only way to have Bush as a guest before his scheduled, in-studio visit with Leno the following Monday.
There's nothing wrong with trying to scoop the other guy. Ed Sullivan, operating out of the same edifice as Dave, was famous for pushing to snare guests before his competition could have them on. But -- call me cynical -- I've been in the TV business for a quarter-century. I've met people who were extremely adept at feigning indifference to beating the other guy. Never met one who made me believe it. Ultimately, Jay is trying to beat Dave, and Dave is trying to beat Jay ... and I suspect it brings out the worst in both shows.
Zehme's article seems to me, at times, unduly harsh on Leno. He writes Letterman's staff called Leno with news of Dave's surgery in hopes that Jay would then not exploit it -- going on Larry King, say, and pulling down personal publicity. This all strikes me as condemning Leno for a crime uncommitted. On the "Tonight Show," Jay spoke not a word about Dave after the operation, an omission for which he was criticized by some. So Jay was damned if he did talk about Dave, damned if he didn't. (Zehme says Jay made no mention of Dave "on-air or anywhere else." In fact, CNN quoted a press release from Leno -- "I and everyone at the 'Tonight Show' wish Dave a speedy recovery" -- and the night of Letterman's return, Jay said something equally perfunctory in his monologue. Not quite "no mention.")
I also disagree with the claim, dropped in passing, that Dave was "screwed" out of Carson's throne. To assert that is to apply some practice of succession or entitlement that has existed nowhere in network television. And I take issue with the third-hand quote attributed to Letterman, that "even when Jay was a nobody, he wanted to destroy everyone else."
I was around Jay -- and, to a lesser extent, Dave -- when both were nobodies. That Leno was driven and ambitious, no one would dispute. But to watch him in action was to appreciate the distinction between rising to the top by knifing competitors ... and getting there via almost-superhuman work habits. Here, my observations would more closely parallel Dennis Miller's in an interview some time back: "Jay Leno taught me that you don't have to be an a--hole to be in show biz ... He's the nicest, straightest guy in the world." (Yes, Miller briefly reversed his opinion, but he seems to be back to it and, among comedians who are not nakedly jealous, it seems to me the consensus.)
None of this is intended as an advocacy for one over the other as on-air talent. I long ago learned never to debate with anyone their choice of bedmate, religion or late-night host. Thanks to my TiVos -- and before them, VCRs -- I can enjoy both shows and/or regret when either host isn't as good as I believe he is capable of being. For a time -- the period when, as Zehme quotes a "Late Show" insider, "it was unpleasant to watch" -- that was more often Dave. It's still, some nights, either man, but Dave is certainly more watchable than he was for a time, and on that point, I think Mr. Zehme is dead-on.
Still, I'm afraid I'm skeptical about his conclusion that Mr. Letterman has let go of whatever grudge, warranted or not, he has towards Mr. Leno. Perhaps, in some way, he has -- but evidence of that will come when the two men normalize relations. If that ever happens. And I'm especially dubious that, with Dave's return from his ordeal, America learned that he had a heart, a lady, or even emotions. I think we always knew all that. Some of us just thought, for a time, he wasn't as much fun to watch as he's been lately.
When Mark Evanier isn't writing for the cartoons, he's writing for the comics. Among his best-known work is "Garfield and Friends" -- of which Evanier wrote nearly every episode -- and his current comic-book series with Sergio Aragones, Groo the Wanderer. He also contributes a column to the Comics Buyers Guide, and wrote occasionally for TV Barn's predecessor, Late Show News.
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Welcome to the spoilsport lounge
Hmmmmm. Seems my ticket to the Malaysian Borneo got lost somewhere in the FedEx. Or could it be that CBS simply didn't invite me to join its press junket to the remote tropical island where its new reality game show "Survivor" is going on? Maybe that had something to do with that story we published last month in which we not only reported the name of one of the contestants, but the fact that he was spotted around his Mission Hills, Kan., home -- having obviously been eliminated early.
Now, in the new issue of Entertainment Weekly, we learn that my story (with some crucial reporting from two of my colleagues) forced CBS to change its policy regarding contestants on "Survivor." Sayeth EW in its Apr. 21 issue, "Even before The Kansas City Star reported that local man B.B. Andersen was the first Survivor participant to get ousted from CBS' desert-island-based game show, the Eye decided to sequester the final five losing contestants (out of 16) to guarantee there'd still be some intrigue left in the 13-week series." Actually, I'm not sure that wasn't always the show's policy: after all, it's these five contestants -- plus two others -- who form the final council to decide which of the two remaining players will be awarded "Survivor's" top prize of a million bucks. It makes no sense to slingshot them back to the States 10,000 miles, then back again a few days later for the final vote. The article adds, "But CBS feels not even the spoilsport press can ruin this one."
At any rate, the Associated Press sent a reporter on this grueling journey to a tropical ocean paradise; here's her story. (The AP story mentions a contestant whose sexist remark got him ousted early. Was that B.B.? Again we say hmmmmm.) And the New York Post didn't send anybody to cover "Survivor," but the ever-resourceful Adam Buckman wrote a column about the show anyway.
Pick To Click:
Unabomber Pen Pal
What sets Errol Morris' new series "First Person" (10:30 p.m. Wednesdays, Bravo) apart from his feature films is that his subjects are not discovered by Morris so much as interpreted by him. Case in point: tonight's profile of Gary Greenberg, a psychologist who got some national press last year when he corresponded with Ted Kaczynski (the Unabomber), then wrote about it for a small magazine called McSweeney's.
This half-hour is not much more than a dialogue between Greenberg and Morris, who as usual is not seen but heard calling out his questions loudly and shrilly, as though he knew nothing about good audio technique. Morris uses various visual tricks, like cutting to black or moving the camera a few degrees.
But he didn't need to resort to gimmicks with Greenberg, who is a compelling character and sufficiently detached from his pursuit of Kaczynski to retell his tale with humor and perspective. From the start Greenberg is disarming, as when he admits that his original motive in contacting the Unabomber was to get himself published. This, he quickly adds, wasn't much different from Kaczynski's motive in mailing out bombs.
The daily digest ... for April 19: Proof that everybody loves the roller-coaster ride, CNBC scored its highest-ever rating on Monday, averaging 564,000 households during the bear-to-bull trading day/ Variety sez that's 16 percent higher than its previous all-time high -- set just two weeks earlier, when the Microsoft antitrust ruling was announced ... ABC finally confirmed what most suspected: "Boy Meets World" is ending. The coming-of-age sitcom ran seven seasons and closely mirrored "Ozzie and Harriet," another long-running Friday program, in that its characters aged in real time (and relations between all seemed unnaturally sturdy). As was true for all of ABC's teen-oriented "TGIF" shows, "Boy's" teen viewership was down sharply, sez Variety. ABC has already unloaded "Sabrina" onto the WB and would now seem poised to shut down the joint altogether ...
Those Delta Burke appearances on "Any Day Now" must have scored with viewers: Lifetime announced Tuesday they're giving Burke her own talk show, beginning in early 2001 ... Speaking of women's channels, AMC spinoff Romance Classics is airing a new special from "Daily Show" co-creator Lizz Winstead called "Women and Their Shoes: A Love Story." It airs 8 p.m. Saturday on Romance Classics.
Previously on TV Barn:
18 April: Second thoughts on Zehme, Takei
17 April: Sitcoms bomb
14 April: Ellen's new show
13 April: Reader mail
12 April: "Freaks and Geeks"
11 April: "Star Trek" protests
10 April: Zehme on Letterman
7 April: CBS's loaded sked; "Phantom Menace" on video
6 April: ReplayTV and TiVo
5 April: "Wonderland" protests; Fox hits new low
4 April: "Falcone" v. "Sopranos"; new sci-fi stars
3 April: iCraveTV; BET v. Univision
31 March: Video kiosks; Tavis Smiley; Peabody Awards; quit griping about Oscar
Coming up next ... subject to last-minute changes:
Thursday: Reader mail
On this date...
in 1955, Zenith engineer Eugene Polley creates
the "Flashmatic" -- the world's first wireless TV remote
control. The device sends a signaling beam of light to a
series of four photo cells attached to the front of the
set to adjust your sets settings. Unfortunately, bright
sunny days can send the tuners out of control, so the
Zenith engineers start experimenting with ultrasonic
technologies, and will have the "Zenith Space Command"
in production by fall of 1956.
-- Tom Heald
On the wires:
(Stories open in a new window. Many links expire over time.)
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Reader mail
Harrison Wyman writes, "Watching the coverage of the new developments in the Elian Gonzalez
story it should be noted that when the Florida side of the Gonzalez family
released their video of the child they did not send it to any of the
English-speaking television networks, broadcast or cable. The Gonzalez
family sent the tape to Univision, where they knew it would reach most of the
Cuban community in this country.
"This brings up a problem: the English-speaking media generally does not cover the job Univision's news
division is doing. Univision's national news and its local stations are a
visible and vital source of news about the Spanish-speaking world for an
increasingly Latino US. No ethnic community is a monolith and people who
came here from Cuba, Mexico and El Salvador (to name three countries) have
completely different views on the Gonzalez case. How Univision serves a
diverse Latin national community is a valid issue but it can't be covered
unless you speak Spanish, which I don't and as far as I know, you don't."
Good point. If any bilingual readers of TV Barn have their own take on Univision's coverage of the Gonzalez affair, I'd like to hear from you.
Patrick Brown writes, "You may be interested to hear that we have
started using a TiVo machine at the TV station where I work. Previously we used a two-decade-old 1-inch videotape recorder to roll an animated background that we used for graphics during the show. It was expensive -- since we we're
blowing new heads about every 3 months -- and if the animation ended rolled off the deck during a show, we couldn't go back to the beginning until after the show had ended. So our chief engineer went down to Circuit City last week, plopped down $400
for a TiVo, and we recorded 4 hours of our moving background onto it.
Now it never rolls off, never jams, and cues fairly instantly. I can see
those things replacing the $50,000 servers that Tektronix and others
sell for many situations. It does have some cheesy consumer menus and
stuff, but for the price of one 1-inch head, I'll take it."
When the ReplayTV arrived at my office, my first thought was: Oh sure, it's a godsend for TV critics, but will other people like it enough to replace their VCRs? In fact, the more I think about it, the more possibilities come to mind for these machines. Ted Koppel said recently he'd like to offer enhanced content to viewers who use TiVo or Replay to watch "Nightline." A film company announced a deal this week to offer video-on-demand to TiVo users. And all this for a device that hasn't even sold 100,000 units yet. Imagine what will happen once it really catches on. Imagine when the entertainment industry stops suing personal video recorder companies and starts looking into alliances with them to deliver their goods via these miracle boxes.
And Michael Jones seems to have inspired by his choices on Sunday night. He writes, I think tongue-in-cheek, "I don't want to come across as a Malcolm-tent -- since I think 'Malcolm in the Middle' does have comedic merit -- but I believe it would be vastly improved if that boy was taught the Ten Commandments, preferably by a spiritually engaged father. If Malcolm began obeying a few of them (maybe starting with the fifth one) that would be an added bonus as well. Granted, his well-meaning Mom has attempted to beat some of these commandments into him, but efforts thus far been largely futile -- which has been enormously frustrating for not only me to watch, but I'm sure many other good people. The father, IMHO,Ê simply has to 'step up' and take the primary divine responsibilites for this boy's upbringing. Sure, 'Malcolm in the Middle' should retain some of its comic elements, but if it wants to aspire to something greater (which I hope it does) it badly needs a change in family structure and focus. If it does this, I believe the show will be 'touched' by the Nielsens and more good families, like mine, will tune in."
Pick To Click:
Golda Meir
Lifetime is honoring Passover by saluting former Israeli premier Golda Meir with a new "Intimate Portrait" (7 p.m., Lifetime). The Russian emigre and onetime Milwaukee schoolteacher is described here as "restless," "rebellious," "in your face" and -- at the same time -- "terrified of the normal fate of Jewish girls growing up in America." These qualities would ultimately push her out of the United States, out of her first marriage and into Zionist politics. Meir raised $50 million for Israel's war chest on the eve of its independence in 1948. Later, she became mayor of Tel Aviv, Israel's foreign minister and finally, at age 70, prime minister.
Also tonight, Hetty Wainthropp (Patricia Routledge) continues her third cycle of whodunits on "Mystery!" on PBS (9 p.m.; check local listings). If it's like most of the previous Wainthropp mysteries, Hetty will be thrown into a creepy case of small-town shenanigans, only to be pulled out of it rather implausibly in the final three minutes. This is one of those rare series that combines great theme music, memorable characters and an abysmal payoff.
The daily digest ... for April 20: And you thought the Americans went nuts with all their cable channels -- take a look at the Canadians. The government agency that regulates cable put out an all-call to apply for new pay and "specialty" cable channels. They got 452 responses for French and English channels: everything from the Men's Entertainment Network to Zone Jeux ("dedicated mainly to video games") to the Singles Channel. Discovery is trying to get two channels (Health and Travel & Leisure) into the country. But most of the ideas are springing from Canadian cablers themselves. CHUM, which operates CityTV, Canadian Bravo and MuchMusic, now wants to do a channel called MasterMusic (jazz, classical and dance), another devoted to New Age music (eh) and even a Suspense Channel. Salter Street Films (best known for the show "Lexx") wants to do "comedy for kids," an all-girls network and PlayTV, featuring all-interactive games, which is the personal favorite of Ryan Vickers, the TV Barn reader who passed along the list ...
And the WB has joined CBS in putting warning labels on preview cassettes it sends out to TV critics. That's undoubtedly a response to previous reports that at least one crit was fetching big bucks for his cassettes on eBay. The rough cut of an upcoming "Angel" episode warns against selling or in any way repurposing the content on the tape, while a new "Popular" episode says simply, "THIS VIDEO CASSETTE IS THE PROPERTY OF THE WB NETWORK." Indeed it is.
Previously on TV Barn:
19 April: More on "Survivor"
18 April: Second thoughts on Zehme, Takei
17 April: Sitcoms bomb
14 April: Ellen's new show
13 April: Reader mail
12 April: "Freaks and Geeks"
11 April: "Star Trek" protests
10 April: Zehme on Letterman
7 April: CBS's loaded sked; "Phantom Menace" on video
6 April: ReplayTV and TiVo
5 April: "Wonderland" protests; Fox hits new low
4 April: "Falcone" v. "Sopranos"; new sci-fi stars
3 April: iCraveTV; BET v. Univision
31 March: Video kiosks; Tavis Smiley; Peabody Awards; quit griping about Oscar
On this date...
in 1955, Zenith engineer Eugene Polley creates
the "Flashmatic" -- the world's first wireless TV remote
control. The device sends a signaling beam of light to a
series of four photo cells attached to the front of the
set to adjust your sets settings. Unfortunately, bright
sunny days can send the tuners out of control, so the
Zenith engineers start experimenting with ultrasonic
technologies, and will have the "Zenith Space Command"
in production by fall of 1956.
-- Tom Heald
On the wires:
(Stories open in a new window. Many links expire over time.)
About TV Barn | The TV Critic's Toolbox | Overnight ratings
Read other TV critics | Late-night lineups |
Kansas City TV/radio
TV Barn archives |
Send AB mail | The Kansas City Star
Copyright © 2000 Aaron Barnhart. Redistribution prohibited.
>>> Aaron Barnhart's TVBARN.COM
All times Eastern
TV Barn archives
About TV Barn
Ratings
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Contact TV Barn
Big blue garble
So this is how Earth Day 2000 ends: not with a bang but
a whimper. In the 48 metered market overnights, the
controversial ABC News special "Planet Earth 2000,"
featuring an oh-so-brief exchange between President
Clinton and special correspondent Leonardo DiCaprio, came
in dead last, rating just a 3.5 with a 7 share in its
first half hour, falling off to a 3.0 and 6 share in the
second and getting soundly beaten by two episodes of
"Cops" on Fox and "Early Edition" on CBS. (The "fast"
national ratings, which offer some insight into the
night's appeal among key viewing groups like adults ages
18-49, will be available Monday.)
Was anybody really surprised by this? ABC hasn't had a
hit on Saturday nights since "The Commish" went off the
air. Occasionally the network sends programs there to
die ("Nothing Sacred," "Cupid," etc.). Nor was it
terribly shocking that of three special programs related
to the 30th anniversary of Earth Day -- the other two
were last week's edition of "Frontline" and Sunday's
edition of "Earth Matters" on CNN -- ABC's was by far
the least informative as well as the most superficial
and visually tricked-up. (My "Frontline" review appeared
April 18.)
Perhaps ABC sought the interview with the president
because it knew that the demands of commercial
television would undermine any attempts by Elizabeth
Vargas and Chris Cuomo to explain anything to viewers.
(DiCaprio's contribution was minimal at best, supplying
openings for a couple of segments reported by the real
news people.) Even the greenhouse effect, a topic that
ought to be easy enough to grasp, was bungled by "Planet
Earth 2000," with way too many rapid-fire visuals making
it impossible to follow the reporter's voice over, while
a shockingly poor-quality animated graphic added
nothing.
Perhaps to salve its conscience, ABC dropped in a few
feel-good tips for how we can make the Earth a cleaner,
greener place to live. Wouldn't it be great if we all
car-pooled more?
There's no doubt which network (ABC, CNN or PBS)
expended the most resources gathering its special: ABC
sent crews to New Mexico, Alaska, Key Largo and Atlanta
-- not to mention the White House and DiCaprio's
favorite boyhood frog pond, where the hunky actor sat on
a rock and spoke his lines to the camera. Yet it was
CNN's program that had the most worldlywise feel. "Earth
Matters" used existing footage to cobble together the
stories of the six winners (from as many continents) of
this year's Goldman Prize for environmental activism. CNN arguably took the
most controversial stance by singling out Coca-Cola, a
company in its own backyard, for failing to use recycled
material in its single-serv 20-ounce bottles. And its
analysis of the boom in casino barges along
Mississippi's fragile Gulf Coast intelligently sifted
through the complicated interactions between government,
the state's Native American population and its
non-native population.
No such luck from ABC, which bumbled its way through a
similar segment featuring the Inuit people who live near
the Arctic Circle. Short on facts but high on local
opinion, this segment showed Cuomo being whisked around
the frozen tundra, stopping every now and then to grab
pearls of wisdom from Inuit chosen at random. One
wizened old fella tells Cuomo, "Even if you try to
predict the weather tomorrow, it doesn't happen." It's
the end times, I tell ya!
Not that the scientists collared by ABC sounded any
smarter. One pointy-head shared with us this powerful
insight: "In some cases, the environment does you in."
No kidding. I suppose next you're going to say smoking
and bad diet -- in some cases -- will do you in.
As for Leo and Bill's exchange, it was chopped down to
under three minutes and felt like it. The constraints
may not have been to make the program's running time so
much as to limit the network's p.r. exposure. I noticed,
however, that ABC was careful to include the part where
DiCaprio tells Clinton, "As you know, I'm neither an
politician nor a journalist ..."
ELLEN GRAY: Celeb journalism nothing new
Elian live
AP photographer Alan Diaz is the early frontrunner for next year's Pulitzer Prize thanks to this dramatic picture.
by Harrison Wyman
The Elian Gonzalez story is a classic study of things
turned upside-down. Members of Miami's Cuban-American
community, one of the most patriotic and law-abiding of
America's immigrant groups, were willing to defy the
United States government in the streets of Miami.
Pro-family social conservatives supported not returning
a child to his father in the belief that resisting a
Communist dictator was more important than basic
parental rights. Liberal politicians -- regularly
labeled indifferent if not hostile to "traditional
family values" -- were the most solid supporters of
returning a child to his father and homeland, regardless
of the danger of the child being used as a political
pawn by Fidel Castro.
And, in the ultimate reversal of live TV's dominant role
in bringing unfolding events into millions of homes, it
was stop-action, still photography that defined the
climax of this emotional, complex and confusing story.
(continued)
More photos at ABCNews.com
What the Hock ordered
He's folksy, he's friendly and is happy to chat up anybody on health matters. All of which may make Dr. Leonard Hock, a Kansas City physician, TV's next healthcare-news celebrity. Fox's Health Network just picked up a new 30-minute show hosted by Hock, and he's already informing viewers in 22 markets with his 90-second vignettes. Read my story in Monday's Kansas City Star
Pick To Click:
Home of Ka-Ching for Two Centuries (And Counting)
For those of you who watched the recent historical epic about New York City
on PBS, there may not be much to learn from "The Great Game: The Story of Wall Street," a workmanlike documentary about the crucible of modern capitalism ai
ring at 8 p.m. on CNBC. Otherwise, it's an interesting two-hour tour, led
once again by historian John Steele Gordon, author of a new history of the city's financial district. Gordon also was the chief talking head in the part devoted to Wall Street "New York: A Documentary Film" on PBS.
The daily digest ... for April 22: Tom Snyder wants to come back to television with a weekly talk show on Sunday nights on HBO -- preferably with "The Sopranos" as his lead-in. Snyder revealed on his colortini.com site that he'd pitched the show to HBO exex two months ago. Quoth T.S., "So far there has been no response -- but we'll see what happens" ... Speaking of Leo, J. Angelo writes, "Last night's 'Sex and The City' replaced a mention of John Kennedy Jr. with 'Leonardo
Dicaprio.' When Samantha is given a hand by a dark figure whose
identity is obscured by the bright sun, it was JFK Jr. He
didn't actually guest on the show, so only the audio was
changed after the fact. A silly change, since 'New York' and 'socialite' were part of the story -- and that has little to do with Leonardo." So far, that "Seinfeld" episode with the JFK Jr. mention remains intact.
Coming up next ... subject to last-minute changes:
Tuesday: The V-chip (I)
Previously on TV Barn:
21 April: Sinclair shakeup in KC
20 April: Reader mail
19 April: More on "Survivor"
18 April: Second thoughts on Zehme, Takei
17 April: Sitcoms bomb
14 April: Ellen's new show
13 April: Reader mail
12 April: "Freaks and Geeks"
11 April: "Star Trek" protests
10 April: Zehme on Letterman
On this date...
in 1989, Who's the leader of the club that's
made for you and me? B-R-I-T-N-E-Y 'N-S-Y-N-C? The
Disney Channel unleashes a third generation of "The
Mickey Mouse Club" upon the world, though it's now only
"MMC." The show doesn't turn into a star-maker until its
fourth season with the additions of future "Felicity"
actress Keri Russell and 'NSYNC-er JC Chasez. Season 6
brings Ryan Gosling ("Young Hercules"), fellow 'NSYNC
cohort Justin Timberlake, and future implant recipients
Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears.
-- Tom Heald
On the wires:
(Stories open in a new window. Many links expire over time.)
About TV Barn | The TV Critic's Toolbox | Overnight ratings
Read other TV critics | Late-night lineups |
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Send AB mail | The Kansas City Star
Copyright © 2000 Aaron Barnhart. Redistribution prohibited.
>>> Aaron Barnhart's TVBARN.COM
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(cont'd from front)
One photo was the most wrenching and the all-too perfect
depiction of what everyone on either side of the
Gonzalez controversy feared. An AP photographer inside
the home during the predawn raid snapped a picture of a
heavily armed and armored INS agent, seemingly holding a
gun on a terrified child in the arms of a terrified
adult. The live and endlessly replayed video of Elian
being rushed out of the house in Little Havana, hustled
into a minivan and driven away amid chaos and clouds of
pepper spray paled in comparison to that one stark
photo. One picture overwhelmed an army of minicams and
satellite trucks.
NBC News first aired the stunning photo of Elian and the
INS agent at 6:22 a.m. About 25 minutes later CNN was
the first to point out that the INS agent did not have
his finger on the trigger of the gun and that the
weapon's barrel was pointed down and away from the child
and the adult holding him. Despite those facts being
repeated during the morning's coverage, nothing could
reduce the emotional impact of that one photo.
The other photo, of a happy Elian in the arms of his
father, was either testimony to the incredible
resilience of children in crisis or the realization that
one picture is worth a public relations nightmare. A
series of photos of a smiling Elian playing with his
Cuban family were released by the government shortly
after father and child were reunited. Those photos
might have blunted, but did not stop, the torrent of
criticism of Attorney General Janet Reno's handling of
this chapter of the Gonzalez case.
A final piece of topsy-turvy was added on Saturday
night's special edition of "Larry King Live" on CNN. New
York City Mayor Rudolph Guiliani, under fire for a
series of police shootings of unarmed civilians,
criticized Reno, describing the events of early Saturday
morning as an excessive use of "military" force.
About TV Barn | The TV Critic's Toolbox | Overnight ratings
Read other TV critics | Late-night lineups |
Kansas City TV/radio
TV Barn archives |
Send AB mail | The Kansas City Star
Copyright © 2000 Aaron Barnhart. Redistribution prohibited.
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The owners of the Pets.com Sock Puppet are suing the owner of another sock puppet.
The sock that roared
Internet pet-supply startup Pets.com is accustomed to
breaking new ground. First in its sector to raise
venture capital and go public. First to buy commercial
time during the Super Bowl. And now, first to sue a TV
comedy writer for making fun of its "spokespuppet."
In a complaint filed April 12 in U.S. District Court in
San Francisco, and obtained by TV Barn, the e-tailer is
charging Robert Smigel, the former head writer on "Late
Night with Conan O'Brien," with defamation and trade
libel for disparaging the sock puppet that is the center
of the company's $20 million marketing campaign.
Smigel, as fans of "Late Night" well know, is the author
and voice of a foul-mouthed rubber hand puppet named
Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog, whose favorite punchline
is "... for me to poop on," as in, "This is a fine
lawsuit ... for me to poop on!"
Among other appearances, Triumph was featured during the
program's fifth anniversary special in 1998 and brought
down the house at NBC's upfront presentation to
advertisers last spring.
In effect, Pets.com is charging Smigel with using his
sock puppet to defame their sock puppet.
(continued)
Pick To Click:
The Wild West Even Wilder at Prison Rodeo
Angola Prison, the Louisiana facility so notoriously aligned with violence and corruption that the federal government took it over for a time in the 1970s,
casts its mark indelibly on residents and guests alike. Even those souls lucky enough to be discharged will say, years later, that they still dream about Angola as if they had never left. The prison also has been fertile ground for filmmaker Jonathan Stack, whose film about Angola life, ``The Farm,'' won two Emmys and was nominated for an Oscar in 1999. Stack returned to make "The Wildest Show in the South: Angola Prison Rodeo," which airs in expanded form at 8 p.m. Tuesday on the Discovery channel.
The Angola Prison Rodeo, open to the public, is pretty much as advertised. Prisoners, many of them with little ranching or riding experience, volunteer to ride a bull or play rodeo cowboy, risking life and limb for a $60 top prize. They're also competing for something even more valuable: a rare dose of public approval from the 5,000 free spectators watching them. The rodeo is one of those events that needs little embellishment or packaging: Just turn on your camera and let people talk. You probably haven't seen an event called ``Guts and Glory'' at any other rodeo. That's because it's a competition only rank amateurs with nothing to lose would be crazy enough to enter.
The daily digest ... for April 23: Catching up with notes from last week, Entertainment Weekly reported in its April 21 issue that the cast of "Friends" are demanding yet another pay hike -- reportedly as much as $800,000 per show, including back pay for this season's episodes -- and are again locking arms in solidarity. The cast members, who held out for big pay increases the last time their contracts were up, are getting $125,000 per ep currently, but are well aware that in the intervening years NBC and ABC have dangled unbelievable sums of money in front of its star franchises to keep them from closing down ("Seinfeld," "Home Improvement") or moving to another network ("ER") ... As it does every year, CBS has sent the press a handsome preview of its pilots currently in development for possible inclusion in the fall schedules. Therein we find what may be the six most frightening words in the English language: "In this one-hour comedy, Tony Danza ..."
UPN is putting the best face on this season's failures. It's touting a schedule of "original programming throughout the summer months, including all-new episodes of 'Shasta,' 'Dilbert,' 'The Beat,' 'I Dare You! The Ultimate Challenge,' 'Secret Agent Man' and 'WWF Smackdown!'" All but "Smackdown" and midseason show "The Beat" were yanked for low ratings ... The New York Times did a special investigation into possible gender-based questioning on the phone qualifying round of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire." It found that when the caller indicated he was male (the option of giving your gender was added two months ago), he tended to get more questions about sports and geography, while those identifying themselves as female callers got more questions about movies and nursery rhymes. Executive producer Michael Davies denied the gender skew, but he did say that "openly gay men are killers on this show" because they "have been exposed to both male and female popular culture." And no, there's nothing wrong with that at all ...
Did you catch the appearance Sunday of the first black contestant to make the "Millionaire" hot seat? Dr. Steven Maurice Clark was smooth as butter and reckless as a riverboat gambler as he guessed his way to $125,000, then blew himself out at the quarter-mil question. Here's more on Clark ... Here's confirmation of what I suspected in my review of Leonardo DiCaprio's and President Clinton's televised Earth Day chat for ABC: It was cut way short ...
So long, "Ainsley Harriott." The British cook's American talk show lasted three months ... Ahmad Rashad is in as new host of the caught-on-tape syndicated series "Real TV," beginning next fall. Paramount had wanted a higher-profile host, sez Variety. Rashad replaces the current host, whatever his name is ... Prince Edward is making a holiday movie for Pax TV starring Kathy Ireland, reports Variety. So I guess they aren't getting out of the original production business after all. Pax recently informed the TV Critics Assn. it would not be presenting at the summer confab after all ... Speaking of critics, Tom Shales began his weekly column for trade mag Electronic Media with Monday's edition. Shales, like me, did not give up his day job to write for EM, which is moving its offices from Chicago to L.A. next month and plans to focus more on the entertainment business.
Coming up next ... subject to last-minute changes:
Wednesday: Zippy's Sci-Fi
Thursday: The V-chip (I)
Previously on TV Barn:
24 April: Earth Day on ABC; Elian on display
21 April: Sinclair shakeup in KC
20 April: Reader mail
19 April: More on "Survivor"
18 April: Second thoughts on Zehme, Takei
17 April: Sitcoms bomb
14 April: Ellen's new show
13 April: Reader mail
12 April: "Freaks and Geeks"
11 April: "Star Trek" protests
10 April: Zehme on Letterman
On this date...
in 1986, Harvey Korman and Valerie Perinne
have moved on up to the West Coast, and the New Jersey
couple are battling their new in-laws and just trying to
fit in as "Leo & Liz In Beverly Hills." The series
(written, directed, and co-produced by Steve Martin)
made its official debut in October 1985 as "The Couch,"
one of several pilots presented on the CBS anthology
series "George Burns Comedy Week." Carrie Fisher and
Bronson Pinchot, who had minor roles on "The Couch,"
have disappeared by tonight's broadcast.
-- Tom Heald
On the wires:
(Stories open in a new window. Many links expire over time.)
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(cont'd from front)
And no, I'm not making this up. The 15-page complaint is
in my hands, filed by the San Francisco law firm of
Crosby, Heafey, Roach & May and assigned to district
judge Charles R. Breyer. It asks for unspecified damages
and legal costs from Smigel.
"In an attempt to harm the Sock Puppet's audience appeal
and market share, and to increase Triumph's popularity
through a public 'controversy' or 'scandal,' Defendant
(Smigel) has claimed on national television, the
Internet and in print media that Pets.com stole the idea
and creation for its Sock Puppet from Defendant and that
the Pets.com Sock Puppet is a 'rip-off' of Triumph," the
suit alleges.
Pets.com also believes that Triumph's attacks on its
mascot created "an undesirable, unwholesome and unsavory
mental association" with its Sock Puppet in the minds of
consumers.
Smigel -- through his friend Jeff Ross, the executive
producer of "Late Night" -- declined comment. But Ross,
upon hearing of the lawsuit, told TV Barn, "You want my
first comment? I think it's hysterical."
But another passage in the complaint suggests that this
is more than a stupid Pets.com trick. The plaintiff
alleges that Smigel "has threatened a lawsuit for
trademark infringement, unfair competition, trademark
dilution and tortious interference with contract
directly against Pets.com by letter sent to Pets.com in
California."
No one has made public a copy of Smigel's letter to
Pets.com -- but given his reputation for sometimes
over-the-edge comedy, one wonders if the pet-supply
people aren't mistaking a slam for slander.
Besides his occasional appearances on "Late Night,"
Smigel contributes a sharp-edged cartoon to "Saturday
Night Live." One of them, in 1997, mocked NBC's parent
company General Electric so mercilessly that "SNL's"
executive producer Lorne Michaels had it pulled when the
episode was repeated later in the season. But Michaels
never suggested he had legal motives for his action, and
afterward Smigel licensed the censored video to the
media watchdog FAIR, which used it as a premium to
new members.
Pets.com bases much of its case on appearances made last
month by Smigel and current "Late Night" head writer
Jonathan Groff on "The Daily Show," "Inside Edition" and
the New York Daily News Web site. On each of these, the
two men (and Triumph) claim that the Sock Puppet is a
pale copy of Triumph.
But judging from one of the segments -- airing on the
March 16 "Inside Edition" -- the allegations seem to
have been intended to be taken with a grain of salt.
Groff even jokes that Triumph is more upset about the
Pets.com TV ads than is Smigel.
Boosted by $57.8 million in financing from e-tailing
giant Amazon.com, Pets.com (ticker: IPET) is seeking to
dominate the online pet-supply business, even as many
analysts are saying the sector is due for a shakeout.
Pets.com collected just $5.8 million in its first year
of business while racking up losses of $61.8 million,
and has seen its stock price fall from $14 a share
(shortly after the company went public in February) to
its current level of $3.13 a share at the close of
trading Monday.
The slogan of Pets.com is "Because pets can't drive."
Our furry friends can't talk, either, or else they might
have a thing or two to say about this line from the
opening paragraph of Pets.com vs. Smigel: "The Pets.com
Sock Puppet was created to be the voice of pets and an
advocate of pets, expressing to pet owning families --
children and adults alike -- the way pets feel about a
wide variety of pet-related issues."
The Sock Puppet has already been a source of
controversy. Last month the New York Times reported that
shortly after the Walt Disney Co. bought a 5 percent
stake in Pets.com, the Sock Puppet started making
"guest" appearances on a number of Disney-owned media
outlets, including three affiliated with ABC's news
division: "Good Morning America" (where he sang to
co-host Diane Sawyer), "Nightline" and the Mr. Showbiz
Web site, which doubles as the entertainment page of
ABCNews.com.
Viewers were never told that Disney had a financial
stake in Pets.com. Nor, apparently, was the media: A
March 20 press release sent to TV Barn promoting the
Sock Puppet's appearance on Mr. Showbiz makes no mention
of Disney's investment.
This is not the first time individuals connected with
"Late Night" have been sued, either. During the show's
first season, a "Clutch Cargo" sketch featured
likenesses of celebrities Ted Danson and Whoopi Goldberg
following their "blackface" appearance at the Friars'
Club. But it wasn't Ted or Whoopi that got mad -- it was
comedian Red Buttons, whose name was mentioned during
the sketch. Buttons slapped $20 million lawsuits on
O'Brien, Michaels, Ross and the NBC network. A judge
later dismissed the cases.
Wouldn't the Pets.com lawsuit be a juicy target for
Groff and his writing team at "Late Night"? Of course,
said Ross -- but he'd have to consult NBC's legal eagles
first. The fact that only Smigel is named in the suit
may hinder the show from making fun of it.
Here are samples of Triumph's wisdom, taken from his
appearance at last year's NBC upfront presentation:
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Fox socks MSNBC in news
Here's another story for my friends at the New York Post to rip off and put in their own pages without any new reporting (like they did with yesterday's Pets.com story). Turns out another one of Rupert Murdoch's holdings, Fox News Channel, is cleaning MSNBC's clock in the ratings.
The trend, which has been going on for months, was heightened in the ratings report for the week ending April 23. During the tumultuous weekend of Elian Gonzalez's rescue, Fox News came in a solid second despite being available in millions fewer homes than MSNBC. For the week, the Fox News average was only a tick behind CNN in its cable universe: an 0.8 Nielsen average for CNN, 0.7 for Fox and a measly 0.3 for MSNBC in prime; and 0.6, 0.5 and 0.3, respectively, in the all-day averages. (One Nielsen point means 1 percent of your "cable universe," i.e., only the homes where your channel is available.)
The trend started during Fox News' coverage of the Monica Lewinsky case, which saw a sharp uptick in its ratings -- according to some observers, because of the obvious anti-Clinton bent in its coverage. Yet post-impeachment, Fox News has continued to hold onto many loyal viewers. The only reason the press isn't writing about this is that Fox News serves a smaller cable universe than the ubiquitous CNN and the nearly-ubiquitous MSNBC. As Fox achieves parity with the other two in overall distribution, that will change.
I happen to know a lot of Fox News Channel devotees, and their composite -- white males in their 40s to 60s, conservative in bent -- may or may not be representative of the network's audience as a whole. But it's uncanny how, to a one, they consider Fox News "fair and balanced" and the other news channels "biased." That, of course, has been Fox News chief Roger Ailes' line ever since he started the network in '96.
Some media observers think Ailes should just drop the "fair and balanced" shtick and pander openly to right-wing viewers. But I think that's the wrong move, for three reasons. First, it puts Fox News in the same bind Rush Limbaugh found himself in during impeachment: As the standard bearer for losing causes, it's hard to cut your losses and move on. Second, some of the most seasoned journalists on its staff would almost certainly quit. Leading the exodus would be Brit Hume, whose nightly 6 p.m. political show runs circles around CNN's "Inside Politics" (and is no less balanced than Bernie Shaw's drone-a-thon).
Third -- and most important -- is Ailes himself. Although the onetime media adviser to Ronald Reagan is clearly cut from conservative cloth, the man just knows television. Plain and simple. Ailes also hired Tom Snyder, Chris Matthews and Geraldo Rivera when he was running CNBC. Yes, he's responsible for Bill O'Reilly, but he paired "Colmes & Hannity" too, and no one can argue that his hires of Paula Zahn or Rob Nelson were politically driven (and anyway, as Zahn noted to me last year, Ailes has a "don't ask, don't tell" policy on his staff's political views).
If you've got strong opinions about the cable-news channels, let me know. I'll publish select responses Friday in Reader Mail.
(P.S. Here's how a real TV reporter does second-day on the Pets.com story.)
Scully gets behind the camera
by John Zipperer
With all of the money and fame actors get from being in front of the camera,
it can be a little puzzling why so many of them keep migrating behind the camera
as writers and directors. The latest to make the switch is Gillian
Anderson, the actor who brings to life Agent Dana Scully of the FBI in Fox's
"The X-Files." She joins her co-star, David Duchovny, and a practically an entire branch of the "Star Trek" alumni club into the director's chair. But her comments
after producing her first episode don't lead us to think she'll largely abandon
acting for directing.
(continued)
Pick To Click:
Great Hair, But "Felicity" Otherwise Out of Fashion
Having had nearly two years to prove it is something more than the foam at the end of the WB network's teen-age soap-opera wave, the ineptly self-conscious "Felicity" (9 p.m., WB) may be nearing the end of the line. Keri Russell has lately earned her biggest raves from hair consultants, not TV critics. And for a series that takes place in the Big Apple, how is it that the world of "Felicity" seems narrower and more white-bread than that of its new Wednesday night lead-in, "Dawson's Creek"? Series creator J.J. Abrams has tried such gimmicks this season as the I'm-making-a-documentary episode, with shaky camcorder shots a-plenty, and the tribute-to-my-favorite-show episode, modeled on "The Twilight Zone" but missing that one crucial Serlingesque element: the heroine's untimely demise. Fortunately, that task may soon be accomplished by Nielsen; ratings haven't improved much for "Felicity" since its shift to Wednesdays.
The daily digest ... for April 26: Could be a long hot summer for Time Warner Cable subscribers: Broadcasting & Cable reports that Hearst-Argyle Television has rejected a proposal from Time Warner Cable to extend the companies'
current retransmission consent agreement six months. A similar cooling-off proposal was presented to Disney-owned ABC last week, but the company has not yet responded. There are separate issues affecting the Hearst and ABC talks. Time Warner Cable's deal with ABC is set to expire April 30 and with Hearst May 1, affecting carriage of their local TV stations in numerous markets (including the ABC affiliate in Kansas City). However, Hearst and ABC will probably grant permission for their stations to remain on Time Warner Cable systems through the end of the May ratings "sweep," as federal law allows them to do. But come May 24, watch out ...
What is it with news anniversaries lately? We've already had observances of Columbine one year later and Oklahoma City six years later. Coming up next: the fall of Saigon (25 years), Kent State (30 years) and Mount St. Helens (20 years). The lesson is clear: If you want history to ignore you, do your infamous deed on Feb. 29 of a leap year not ending in zero ... The CBS-Viacom merger has the conditional approval of the FCC. The staff report, sent to the bureau's five commissioners last week, says the two companies need to deal off enough of their TV station holdings to bring their national reach down from 41 percent to the federal cap of 35 percent. (Some groups want to push the limit up to 50 percent, and NBC and Fox have even quit the National Association of Broadcasters over the matter.)
Coming up next ... subject to last-minute changes:
Thursday: The V-chip (I)
Friday: Reader mail
Previously on TV Barn:
25 April: Pets.com sues over sock puppet
24 April: Earth Day on ABC; Elian on display
21 April: Sinclair shakeup in KC
20 April: Reader mail
19 April: More on "Survivor"
18 April: Second thoughts on Zehme, Takei
17 April: Sitcoms bomb
14 April: Ellen's new show
13 April: Reader mail
12 April: "Freaks and Geeks"
11 April: "Star Trek" protests
10 April: Zehme on Letterman
On this date...
in 1991, ABC hatches "Dinosaurs" with a
flashback to the events leading to the birth of breakout
character Baby Sinclair. "I'm the baby, gotta love me."
When Earl (voice of Stuart Pankin) can't afford to buy
his Allosaurus wife Fran new cookware, he asks for a
raise and is summarily fired by Wesayso boss Sherman
Hemsley. He's later rehired, with a new supervisor --
escaped "dinner creature" Arthur Rizzo, voiced by Brian
Henson, who's now running the Henson Company for his
late father.
-- Tom Heald
On the wires:
(Stories open in a new window. Many links expire over time.)
About TV Barn | The TV Critic's Toolbox | Overnight ratings
Read other TV critics | Late-night lineups |
Kansas City TV/radio
TV Barn archives |
Send AB mail | The Kansas City Star
Copyright © 2000 Aaron Barnhart. Redistribution prohibited.
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Hello, V-chip -- and goodbye
Whatever happened to the V-chip?
Ushered into the world in 1996 by an act of Congress, it was immediately hailed by a host of pro-family advocates and Vice President Al Gore. Behold, they said, a $3 gizmo that will let parents block any TV shows that exceed their personal thresholds for sex, violence and adult language. Set it once and walk away -- the V-chip does the rest.
Not everyone was overjoyed by this technical miracle mandated by Uncle Sam. Hollywood cried censorship, while the makers of TVs grumbled about having to install something that actually prevented people from watching TV.
Now, four years later, it looks like the naysayers are having their way. Somehow, the V-chip has become the red-headed stepchild of the television business, ignored and overlooked despite being built into every new TV set sold in the United States.
Read my story in Thursday's Kansas City Star
ALSO:
And speaking of insiderish, Rob Feder's column in today's Chicago Sun-Times is dedicated to a Chicago newsreader's thinly-veiled attack on a print journalist -- presumably Feder's counterpart at the Chicago Tribune, Jim Kirk -- for daring to inquire when said anchor's contract was up. WMAQ's Warner Saunders (pictured), who is 65, thought this smacked of "ageism," so with permission from NBC's newly-appointed diversity chief Deborah Madison, he called back the unnamed print reporter and blasted him. Saunders recounted the incident on Monday at Northwestern's Medill School, prompting Feder to write, "Imagine that: One journalist telling off another for simply doing his job. And then bragging about it at a journalism school." (Here's how the Medill School covered the talk.)
Coming up next ... subject to last-minute changes:
About TV Barn | The TV Critic's Toolbox | Overnight ratings
Read other TV critics | Late-night lineups |
Kansas City TV/radio
TV Barn archives |
Send AB mail | The Kansas City Star
Copyright © 2000 Aaron Barnhart. Redistribution prohibited.
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Reader mail
Ed the Sock at Woodstock '99 with Willie Nelson. Ed is the one with the cigar.
JUST ADDED: Pets.com responds to Robert Smigel. See the Daily Digest, below.
We heard from a number of readers after breaking the news this week about the Pets.com lawsuit against comedy writer Robert Smigel. The most interesting mail, though, came from Canada, where several readers pointed out that their country has had its own TV puppet named Ed the Sock for years. Ed has been around even longer than Smigel's crude, cigar-chomping Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog.
"As soon as I started reading the stories about sock puppets and who ripped whom off, I got thinking about CityTV's potty-mouthed, cigar-chomping sock puppet Ed the Sock," writes Kevin Desjardins. "Ed splits duties between his half-hour weekly talk-show and VJ duties on MuchMusic. All-time Ed highlights include having Jill Hennessy serenade him with 'You Oughta Know' and his duties as one of the hosts of MuchMusic's Woodstock '99 coverage. (Somehow, a caustic sock puppet seemed saner than any of the humans there.)"
Craig Pinhey writes, "Ed is a Canadian TV icon that started on local cable access in Toronto back in the mid-late 80's. He has the funniest talk show on Canadian TV, although it is in danger of being banned in some places, including Alberta."
It just goes to show, doesn't it, that imitation is the sincerest form of television. The difference between Ed and the Pets.com Sock Puppet is that instead of suing Triumph's owner Ed would probably just challenge the puppet to a contest. Maybe 10 rounds of bare-knuckle boxing -- with socks allowed, of course.
I also noted the fact that Disney had bought a 5 percent stake in Pets.com and was booking the Sock Puppet on various Disney-owned TV shows, including "news" programs.
Ron Casalotti writes, "Don't forget the Sock Puppet's uncomfortable appearance on another Disney property, 'Live with Regis & Kathie Lee.' I characterize it as uncomfortable because neither Regis nor Kathie Lee seemed to know what the Sock Puppet was or have any clue as to the commercials themselves. Both looked perplexed for most of the 'interview.' The voice behind the Sock Puppet showed his lack of improvisational talent as well when he did not know how to salvage the appearance. It was even worse than scripted award-presenter banter."
Also regarding the Sock Puppet's "Live" appearance, Keith Privett writes, "Is this what the tabloids are referring to as 'the secret that saved Kathie Lee's marriage'?"
(Keith also notes that the Pets.com Sock Puppet has been a question on Disney-owned "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.")
(INSIDE: Fox News lovers and haters square off!)
In the year 2000 ...
Star Trek: Generations (1994)
![[Two and a half stars]](movies/images/stars-2.5-4.gif){kind=small}
Paramount Video
Full IMDb listing
By Andy Ihnatko
If there's a consistent flaw in most -- if not all -- of the "Star Trek" features, it's that their producers either don't know or don't care about the fundamental differences between making a TV show and making a movie.
You can see it in the usual superficial things that are part of Trek turf, like the props that are so cheesy that they begin to attain a sort of grandeur. What sort of gear, for instance, would broadcast journalists be using in the far-future? On another TV sci-fi show, reporters discreetly roam, remotely operating little compact cameradiscs which float silently around the room. In "Star Trek: Generations," they're wearing ridiculous headgear resembling the lining of a souvenir batting helmet. This rig illuminates the subject's face with the tiny and erratic dancing spot of a Mini-Maglite, and audio is collected by thrusting out a small brick studded with flashing lights.
(continued)
Pick To Click:
"X-Files" Goes Meta
We now come to that point in the natural life of "The X-Files" that most long-lived TV series must eventually face: when the characters themselves go on television. When "The Odd Couple" did it, the result was the classic "Password" episode. "Seinfeld" dealt masterfully with its midlife crisis by devising a near-knockoff of itself, called "Jerry," with understudies for George, Elaine and Kramer.
On this weekend's episode of "The X-Files" (9 p.m. Sunday, Fox), series creator Chris Carter casts a funhouse mirror on the show's real-life backstories, including David Duchovny's rumored departure, by introducing a Hollywood filmmaker who comes to D.C. to research a movie based on the lives of Mulder and Scully. Don't miss the opening scene, which fast-forwards to the premiere of the film, with Tea Leoni (aka Mrs. David Duchovny) and Garry Shandling (!) as the leads.
And that's just for starters as the episode also squeezes in references to dreckmaker Ed Wood, to losing faith in the 1960s, and to heretical scriptures so blasphemous that it drives good men to evil deeds. There are also choice lines like this one, from the blowhard director shadowing Mulder and Scully: "I like the way you guys work. No warrants, no permission, no research. You're like studio executives with guns."
The daily digest ... for April 28: Pets.com has broken its silence in the matter of Sock Puppet v. Robert Smigel. In this press release the company's CEO discusses the letter sent by Smigel to the pet-supply e-tailer -- but again fails to actually release the letter to the public. The CEO goes on to say that Pets.com will "take the normal steps to obtain a ruling from the court that protects our intellectual property," which reminds us of an old Letterman joke, Didja ever think you'd see the words "intellectual property" and "NBC" in the same sentence? ...
Looks like there won't be a big-screen version of HBO's prison drama "Oz" anytime soon. Producer Tom Fontana appeared on Court TV's "Crier Today" partly to promote the "Homicide" reruns now airing 9 p.m. weeknights on Court TV. Asked about Oz, Fontana said the film industry "won't let me do as tough stuff as they'll let me do on HBO, so there's really no reason to do a movie."
Previously on TV Barn:
27 April: What happened to the V-chip; more on puppets
26 April: Fox News Channel rocks; Scully directs "X-Files"
25 April: Pets.com sues over sock puppet
24 April: Earth Day on ABC; Elian on display
21 April: Sinclair shakeup in KC
20 April: Reader mail
19 April: More on "Survivor"
18 April: Second thoughts on Zehme, Takei
17 April: Sitcoms bomb
14 April: Ellen's new show
13 April: Reader mail
12 April: "Freaks and Geeks"
11 April: "Star Trek" protests
10 April: Zehme on Letterman
On this date...
In 1979, Paul Benjamin, Diahann Carroll, Ruby
Dee, Roger E. Mosley, Esther Rolle, and Constance Good
star in the powerful tale "I Know Why the Caged Bird
Sings." The CBS made-for-TV movie is adapted by its
author, Maya Angelou. Meanwhile on ABC, you can watch
the last airing of the gripping racial comedy "What's
Happening!!"
April 29: In 1961, Roone Arledge launches a weekly
newsmagazine featuring sports of all sorts, with
coverage of the Drake relays from Des Moines and
Philadelphia's Penn Relays. "ABC's Wide World of Sports"
is literally off and running, providing the world a much
needed showcase for footage of clueless skiers, sumo
wrestlers, and (every few weeks) the hijinks of the
Harlem Globetrotters.
April 30: in 1949, ABC signs radio sensation Clayton
Moore to a contract by offering a wagonload of silver --
$750,000 -- for a year's worth of episodes as "The Lone
Ranger" in what the network calls "the television
development of the year." Moore's TV show will debut on
September 15th, run for eight seasons and return to the
airwaves in cartoon form in both 1966 and 1980.
-- Tom Heald
On the wires:
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(cont'd from front)
I asked for readers' thoughts on the three all-news cable channels in the U.S. in light of my report that Fox News Channel had asserted itself in the No. 2 position, well ahead of MSNBC.
E.J. Campbell writes, "Who can forget Fox News caricature of the rescue of Elian as the 'Seizure of Elian'? Then there was Dick Morris spouting he didn't know what Clinton was thinking and that he saw a 10-point drop in the polls for
Clinton-Gore because of the handling of the Elian case. He sure called that one right."
Michaell North: "If there is a shining example of the quality of Fox News Channel, it would be the Elian Gonzalez story. Every network just gave the slant of the government, while Fox presented both sides. The networks tried to show the Cuban-Americans and their 'strange' anti-Castro reaction made at the expense of the child. But on Fox, you learned what will happen to the child when Castro gets control of him."
Gary Trapp: "It's always easy to tell when MSNBC thinks a story is getting 'hot' because they whip out Brian Williams. Last Saturday, it was midday and I thought the Elian raid story was losing steam, when all of a sudden, BOOM, there's Brian. As if to announce his appearance, he comes out with another staple of MSNBC coverage by naming the story: Operation Rescue!!! I suppose all the networks give names to big stories as a way of demonstrating some unique insight or something, but it just feels like MSNBC names everything."
Jodi Green: "I live in Omaha. Our local cable company, Cox, added Fox News in March due to popular demand. Cox was shocked because it had never been asked to add a news channel before, especially since it already supplied MSNBC and CNN. I happen to think the liberals' time is almost up and it's going to be due to Fox's effort to get the truth out!!! Fox gives both sides on every issue. During the Elian crisis I watched CNN to see if they were still as one-sided as they had been in the past. Good thing I had a barf bag by my couch. The fact that the Cuban-Americans in Miami trashed CNN's tent sent me laughing into hysterics. Don't liberals know that (CNN executive) Rick Kaplan has slept overnight at the White House several times?"
Brian Stelter: "What bugs me about CNN is the newly-expanded business coverage. It begins at the crack of dawn with 'Ahead of the Curve,' then continues before noon with 'In The Money.' At the close, it's 'Street Signs,' and then there's 'Moneyline,' sans Lou Dobbs. At 11:30 p.m. we're treated to a half-hour 'Moneyline' rerun. All in all, that's five and a half hours of coverage a day. Call me crazy, but I think that amount of business news belongs on CNNfn. Updates from the floor of the NYSE are fine, but this is too much."
Jeff Siegel: "It is obvious that MSNBC has pretty much stopped news coverage. Weekends are filled with re-runs of 'Time & Again,' etc. Weekdays, there are only two real hours of news: the 4 p.m. 'Newsfront' and the 9 p.m. Brian Williams news (and half of each are filled with recycled 'Dateline' stories)."
A former news professional writes: "I probably prefer MSNBC's coverage overall, but frequently turn to Fox News when the others aren't doing actual news. 'Time & Again' and 'Weekend Magazine with Stone Phillips' are the worst programs on cable, and they run ad nauseum. On my on-screen cable guide one weekend, it said 'Time & Again' was on for 15 straight hours! ('Time & Again & Again & Again'?) 'Imus in the Morning' is sometimes interesting, but when I'm looking for the news of the day, I don't care to keep hearing about Warner Wolf's new book."
And again, our Canadian friends have a slightly different take on the whole matter: "Just one thing to say: When the choices are CNN, MSNBC, and FNC, the answer is Canadian cable television," writes Doug Sheppard. "CBC Newsworld is a more interesting general news channel than CNN, CTV NewsNet is a better headline channel than CNN Headline News, and if I get bored of 23 hours, 25 minutes of Elian and 35 minutes of Columbine anniversary coverage, BBC World is just a channel away."
On Thursday the 7,000 members of the TV Barn mailing list (for details on joining, see the About TV Barn page) received a message from the list server, eGroups.com, promoting itself. As some of you know, I've struggled for six months with this service, known formerly as ONElist.com, especially its arbitrary mangling of outgoing messages. So this piece of Spam was the last straw. I sent out a message to the list to say I was looking for a new list server.
As a result, I got quite a bit of feedback from readers -- including three who said they hadn't gotten that message from eGroups. I looked and all three readers had yahoo.com addresses. So there you have it: If you don't want Spam, get a Yahoo! Mail account.
A quick rundown of other responses:
Greg White: "Your diligence and your way of handling this matter is a great trust builder for me. You can send me anything anytime."
Tony Lima: "I came home to 4 e-mails. One was the spam mentioned below (thanks for letting us know where it came from). Another was your message. Now that's
fast service -- can't beat it at the price!"
John Zavinski: "Even though this incident is a minor one, I appreciate that you view it as a reflection on TV Barn and are concerned enough to go to the trouble of seeking a new list host."
Roy Green: "I think you're being a bit too hard on EGroups/ONElist. I think they provide a great service. I myself subscribe to seven groups, and moderate another. The communications benefits it provides far outweighs the three or four lines at the bottom, and even the very occasional message from EGroups, which is advertising a FREE benefit! I think you are being a bit insincere as well, since you should have known that EGroups is a business that can provide this service for free because they sell advertising."
Rich Schurr: "I appreciate and respect your sincerity. I wondered where that email came from. Keep up the GREAT work!"
A fellow eGroups list owner: "There are some issues I have with this 'merge' thing (between ONElist and eGroups) ... it sucks! They have taken groups that have the same topic and combined them, turning them into eGroups and confusing
the owners. However, I didn't find whatever Spam it was that was sent to be
a huge thing at all ... barely noticed it. I'm sure you are taking it the hardest because it's your list."
Thursday's Pick to Click noted the media's over-reliance on news "anniversaries" as a substitute for real reporting. Michael Roy Hollihan writes, "Here's one anniversary you didn't mention: the 25th of Dick Nixon's resignation last summer. It seemed like a perfect occasion to reflect on the press' dogged pursuit of the truth and a President's disgraceful and lawless behavior. Yet the date was barely mentioned in either print or broadcast media! It was conspicuous in its low profile. Could it have been inconvenient that it fell during President Clinton's own troubles? Could it be that it would have drawn some very uncomfortable parallels between now and then?"
Finally, Michael Jones wanted me to know that he is absolutely not interested in purchasing that home-video edition of the Columbine massacre that's been stirring up a storm this week. "But if you or your readers happen to know where I can purchase the soundtrack to the Elian raid," he adds, "I would very much appreciate it."
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And "Generations" also features the sort of the cheeseball special effects we've come to know and love. The only difference between the Flying Saucer Crash Scene in an Ed Wood movie and the one in "Generations" is that Ed Wood didn't know any better...and even if he did, he wouldn't have had enough dough to have done it any differently anyway.
But by far the movie's most fatal TV legacy is its story construction. The filmmakers just can't get it through their heads that when you're working in a medium in which you get to present a story to an audience without interruptions or distractions, rhythm is everything. They've got us for over two hours straight. That's a fantastic opportunity; it means that the pacing of the story can be precise and deliberate. You can set us up. Work out the story arc and manipulate the hell out of our emotions at every turn. Expect that we'll be thinking about previous scenes while watching the one in front of us and that we're working to tie it all together into a more wonderful whole.
"Generations'" doesn't want to hear about it. Its story is like one of those abused dogs that gets rescued and adopted by a better household. It still cowers. It keeps behaving as though it's expecting to have its continuity clubbed by a commercial every fifteen minutes. That was logical behavior in its old environment, but in its new home where stories are loved and nurtured it just comes across as weird and erratic.
There's this ribbon of natural energy travelling through space. If your ship or your planet gets in its way, it gets annihilated. But (apparently) if you climb to the top of a diving board and do a neat half-gainer into the thing unprotected, you wind up travelling along inside it, experiencing true, perfect bliss as you zip through the galaxy.
Captain James T. Kirk is attending the ceremonial christening of the Enterprise-B when there's a distress call from a pair of ships being torn apart by the ribbon. The ship and its captain are in no shape for an emergency, but they manage to pull survivors out of the thing...although Kirk tumbles into the ribbon in the process. Seventy years later, one of those who was rescued (an extremely long-lived scientist, played by Malcom McDowell) is increasingly desperate to get back into True Perfect Bliss and is willing to destroy entire planetary systems just to redirect the course of the ribbon so it'll pass around the diving board he's set up on a convenient planet. Captain Picard and the gang from "Star Trek: The Next Generation" are determined to stop him.
Actually just Picard, because the Enterprise-D is left entirely behind to deal with a separate "B" plot regarding some Klingons that the scientist had been working with.
And for good measure there's a "C" plot in which the android Commander Data plugs a chip into his positronic brain which will allow him to experience emotions for the first time.
Both of these subplots are completely separate and superfluous and seem to exist solely to make use of popular characters from the TV show. You could cut the entire Klingon bit entirely, as-is, and not affect the rest of the film at all. Indeed, thanks to the editing, while we're watching Picard dealing with the scientist we've completely forgotten about the spot the Enterprise-D is in. And in an extended sequence in which Picard seeks Kirk's help -- a scene which would seem more natural if it were slung by itself between commercial breaks -- we forget about the whole "billions of lives on the line" situation that Picard had left behind and it's something of a jar when we suddenly find ourselves back at a rocky cliff with Malcolm McDowell.
It's all just frustrating. The best films are those that don't waste a second of our time. Every scene is important and contributes to the movie's one larger story or theme in some way. We can focus on everything because everything matters somehow; nothing's there just to fill time or satisfy some segment of the target demographic.
Well, I guess they didn't set out to make "Casablanca." "Generations" does contain pockets of isolated fun and Malcolm McDowell's villain is up there with Ricardo Montalban's "Khan" from "Star Trek II."
But man alive, some day I'm going to go to the theater and see a "Star Trek" movie that was made with the same high level of skill and execution as the average flick based on a "Saturday Night Live" sketch. And upon that day I shall raise my wet eyes to the heavens and acknowledge that God is real and He loves us. And I'll have to pay off a $20 bet I've got going with a friend of mine if it happens anytime before 2008.
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Time Warner and ABC: It's war
Following months of fruitless negotiations with two leading broadcasters, Time Warner Cable did what it had threatened to do: It yanked the signals of ABC-owned stations off its systems in seven markets, including Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Houston, in the wee hours of Monday morning.
Disney (owner of ABC) and Time Warner had agreed to a fifth extension of their current retransmission agreement, which expired Dec. 31. That extension expired Sunday -- but federal law requires a cable company to keep broadcast signals on its systems through significant Nielsen ratings periods. That means ABC signals should have stayed on Time Warner systems through May 24 (a fact KABC-TV pointed outin a press release Monday morning).
About 3.5 million households were affected nationally. Hearst-Argyle Television, which owns or operates another 11 ABC affiliates, is also deadlocked with Time Warner. But with the current extension set to run out on Monday, the two sides agreed to another 60-day delay in their talks. Hearst-Argyle is the largest independent owner of ABC stations (including KMBC in Kansas City).
Disney may be getting singled out for its opposition to the Time Warner-AOL merger. And then there was the untimely news last week that another Disney-owned network, ESPN, will be asking Time Warner and all other cable operators for 20 percent higher subscriber fees this year. The increase, which is the maximum one-year hike allowed, is the result of ESPN paying huge fees for football and baseball. It raises the per-subscriber fee to an eye-popping $1.20 per head per month (i.e., a company that serves 300,000 cable subscribers will fork over $360,000 a month for ESPN, whether those subscribers ever tune in the channel or not). The news prompted a predictably harsh response from Time Warner.
At issue with both Disney and Hearst-Argyle have been higher subscriber fees for certain cable networks. Disney is in the process of converting its Disney Channel from a pay-cable network to basic cable. That, says Disney, will cost $300 million to pull off, and it wants Time Warner -- and thus Time Warner's subscribers -- to share the costs. Hearst-Argyle is asking for higher fees for Lifetime; it owns 50 percent of the network, one of the highest-rated in cable.
In addition, both companies want Time Warner Cable to carry their newer cable offerings: Toon Disney and SoapNet for Disney, Lifetime Movie Network for Hearst. Wonder how serious Hearst is about all this? The company appointed Lifetime officials to do their bidding in the talks with Time Warner.
Dave puts the "UK" back in "yuks"
Five years to the month of his appearance in London, England, David Letterman is returning to British television.
Letterman's "Late Show" hasn't been available to viewers
in the U.K. since the Paramount Comedy Channel pulled
the plug on Letterman last summer, citing low ratings.
But the ITV2 network has come to the rescue. Beginning
tonight it will air "Late Show" at 11:50 p.m. weeknights
on a one-show-delayed basis. Monday's telecast will
feature guests Lennox Lewis (the British world
heavyweight champion) and Natalie Portman in a program
that aired Friday on CBS.
ITV2 is available over-the-air with the ONdigital service and via most cable operators, including Cable & Wireless, Telewest, Cable London and Eurobell, according to the ITV2 Web site.
But that's hardly blanketing the United Kingdom, according to one Letterman fan in the U.K. who says ITV, which launched ITV2 in 1998, is not offering the channel to subscribers of its rival, Sky Digital. "Unfortunately for me, and many other viewers, ITV2 is simply not available," grouses viewer Dave Porter in Northumberland.
In May 1995, Letterman went to London for what he hoped to be the latest in an unbroken string of successful road-show performances. He was also recovering from a cascade of negative reviews that rained down on him a few weeks before, following a disastrous appearance as host of the Academy Awards.
Alas, London was no help. Letterman's five broadcasts from England were less than warmly received on either side of the pond. As with the Oscars disappointment, Dave had only himself and his staff to blame: The production stuck closely -- too closely -- to the template used for the previous year's road shows from Los Angeles. Unlike Jack Paar, who went to England 35 years earlier and sought out the country's finest ranconteurs, including Robert Morley, Malcolm Muggeridge and Bea Lillie, Letterman relied heavily on pre-taped sketches and imported guests like David Duchovny.
"Late Show in London" scored only so-so Nielsen ratings. Within two months Dave's ratings edge over Jay Leno would be gone for good.
RELATED: Dave Porter's "Letterman in the UK" page
The unloved -- and unlovable -- V-chip
It was with a mixture of pity and contempt that I regarded the measly display rack set up in my local Circuit City store this week. The rack was there to tell parents about the V-chip, the show-blocking technology once heralded by Vice President Gore as ``a new tool ... to help parents ensure that television reflects their own family values.''
Unintentionally, though, the sad-looking display served as little more than a tombstone for the V-chip -- dead-on-arrival from the moment it hit the showroom floor.
I'm one of the few television critics in the country who actually likes the idea of the V-chip, or more specifically, of ``parental controls,'' electronic gatekeepers that keep kids from TV shows they shouldn't be watching. The V-chip has always struck me as the perfect counterbalance to deregulation. All right, broadcasters, go ahead and cancel the family hour. "Springer" at 4 p.m.? Knock yourselves out. Oh, and by the way -- we're giving parents a crude little robot that will keep their kids from seeing most of what you put on the air these days. Laissez les bons temps rouler!
(continued)
Pick To Click:
Up All Night in the County Jail
Prison -- the final frontier. If you're talk-show host Bill Maher, and you've already exhausted your list of B-list celebrities and "citizen panelists," your next untapped source of future guests for "Politically Incorrect" just might be behind bars. We'll find out this week, thanks to celebrity sheriff Joe Arpaio of Phoenix, who let "PI" tape six episodes last month at the "tent city" he set up inside the Maricopa County (Ariz.) Jail. The shows air this week on ABC (11:35 p.m.). (Note: ABC added a sixth jailcast late last week; it will air May 8.)
Arpaio is the self-proclaimed "World's Toughest Sheriff'' for his hard-nosed
treatment of inmates (housing them in old military tents, for starters). But a 1996 appearance on "PI" was so riddled with gaffes that Maher at one point said Arpaio might also be the world's stupidest sheriff.
Tonight's opening panel should give Arpaio a chance either to redeem himself
or to dig himself a little deeper hole. He and Maher will be joined by comedian D.L. Hughley, Maricopa inmate Stephen Russo and William Schulz, director of Amnesty International, which has taken issue with Sheriff Joe's incarceration methods. Other guests this week include "Hurricane" Carter, Mike Farrell and TV judge Greg Mathis.
Maher: "Still not as bad as I thought it would be"
The daily digest ... for May 1:
A reader writes, "Did I miss your mention that ABC is bringing 'Sports Night' back for two weeks during sweeps? Of course, this could be a blessing or a curse for us 'Sports Night' fans, depending on how the numbers turn up. If the show doesn't do well during sweeps, it could give ABC even more justification for cancellation. However, the fact that they're even bothering to bring it back seems to bode well for renewal." An odd oversight on my part -- "Sports Night" airs May 9 and 16 in its usual time period. Here's the capsule from the return episode: "While at Anthony's trying to drown their fears about the future of 'Sports Night,' Dana meets a mysterious stranger who seems to know a great deal about the bidding for Continental Corp.; and Dan tries to convince Casey that a move to L.A. might not be a bad thing." Or to cable, if need be ...
Tired of all those TV sitcoms where the lead characters work at a magazine? ABC is developing a new show that will offer an alternative: All the characters work on a Webzine. It will be a reality series (produced by the folks who brought you "The Real World") and will feature real people making a real zine. Hiring -- er, I mean casting -- begins this month; see the production company's Web site for details ... And those of you interested in Nielsen comparisons between David Letterman's and Jay Leno's shows should glance at this story from Variety's Paula Bernstein.
Previously on TV Barn:
28 April: Reader mail: Pets.com-troversy, Fox News vs. the others, TV Barn spam
27 April: What happened to the V-chip; more on puppets
26 April: Fox News Channel rocks; Scully directs "X-Files"
25 April: Pets.com sues over sock puppet
24 April: Earth Day on ABC; Elian on display
On this date...
in 1997, Conan O'Brien visits Houston, Tex., where
his talk show is delayed each night until 2:40 a.m., in
search of viewers and/or fans. His journey takes him to
convenience stores, a hospital, and a bus station where
he meets "Buffalo" -- a 300-pound motorcyclist who wants
to know, "Where's the little fat dude (sidekick Andy
Richter)?"
-- Tom Heald
On the wires:
(Stories open in a new window. Many links expire over time.)
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(cont'd from front)
Hollywood, of course, didn't see it this way, and for a couple of years there were some pretty spirited exchanges between the entertainment industry and the government over parental controls and TV ratings. Dick Wolf, the producer of ``Law & Order,'' even challenged a then little-known senator from Arizona, John McCain, to a public debate.
``How come none of you has talked about the irony of Senator McCain leading the charge on protecting children from those murderous 30-inch Sonys out there,'' Mr. Wolf chided TV critics at their annual summer gathering, ``when this is a man who voted against the five-day waiting period and voted against the Brady Bill? Don't you think you see any kind of dichotomy here?''
What really rankled Mr. Wolf weren't the age-based ratings that mimicked the motion-picture movie codes (``TV-PG,'' ``TV-14,'' etc.). It was, rather, the insistence from Congress that the industry also add content-based codes: ``S'' for sex, ``V'' for violence (not to mention V-chip), and so on. NBC and BET flatly refused to go along with the content codes, and to this day no one has gotten either network to budge.
``A content-based system is just another word for censorship,'' harrumphed Mr. Wolf. (At the time I wondered if Mr. Wolf thought cancellation was just another word for censorship, too.)
But after making an initial stink about the V-chip, Mr. Wolf and the rest of Hollywood have quietly retreated from the issue. And that, as it turns out, was a very smart thing for them to do.
For despite all the headlines, despite the fact that Vice President Gore has made the V-chip a cornerstone of his campaign, the system has practically vanished from public view.
A poll released earlier this month by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that 39 percent of parents didn't even know what the V-chip was. The next day, Gloria Tristiani, the Federal Communications Commission's ``V-chip czar,'' gave one reason why: For the first three months of 2000, the big four networks aired a combined total of 59 public service announcements on the V-chip. That would work out to roughly one spot per network per week -- except that CBS aired 54 of the 59 PSAs.
``This must change,'' said Ms. Tristiani.
But that's just the tip of the V-chip's problems. There hasn't been any visible effort to correct the flaws uncovered a couple of years ago with the TV ratings system, which is encoded into the TV signal for use by the V-chip. It turns out that programs with explicit sex talk or gruesome violence were often rated no higher than a mild ``TV-PG.'' And as for content ratings, well, Mr. Wolf can relax: A Kaiser report in 1998 found that 92 percent of sexual content and 70 percent of violent content weren't being labeled as such by the networks (that number included NBC, which doesn't label content).
Have the problems been fixed? Vicky Rideout, who directs the Kaiser Foundation's program on entertainment and public health, told me last week that she didn't know, because no follow-ups have been done.
In fairness to her, however, the Kaiser Foundation is trying to put the V-chip back on the radar. Working together with the Center for Media Education, RCA and the Odyssey Network, the foundation launched a new campaign April 10 to call attention to the V-chip. The coalition reprinted 720,000 copies of an explanatory booklet about parental controls, and Circuit City stores nationwide agreed to place display racks in their stores offering the booklets.
But glancing around my local Circuit City store, I saw more sizable and colorful display racks promoting TiVo, DirecTV's international channels and TV Guide Plus. My sales person was more than happy to talk about any of these technologies, but predictably didn't know much about parental controls. (Adding insult to injury, someone had affixed a TiVo placard atop the V-chip display.)
All of which underscores the fatal flaw with Al Gore's electronic gatekeeper: In a dot-com, multimedia world, the V-chip is stubbornly non-convergent and unbrandable. Internet providers market their ``family filters'' to parents to help control their kids' Web surfing. Satellite and cable TV companies tout their parental controls in their advertising. But these are all software-based solutions: flexible, update-able -- and above all, promotable. The V-chip is none of these.
At a time when President Clinton is calling attention to the widening ``digital divide,'' the prospect of a useless or invisible V-chip seems especially ominous. In the multimedia household of the future, where there will be nearly as many video options available as Web sites, parents will need content filters more than ever. The ``haves'' will be able to afford them. But in the homes of the ``have nots,'' who will help parents close the valve on the ever-increasing spew of profanity, violence and sex coming from the tube?
Maybe Sen. McCain and Mr. Wolf would like to debate that.
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It's over ... for now
At about 3:30 p.m. Eastern time Tuesday, Time Warner and Walt Disney Co. agreed to extend their currently expired retranmission agreement for a fifth time rather than continue the unpleasant public bickering that had brought the two media giants under fire. With Congress hinting darkly at an investigation if the shutoff of ABC stations continued, and with Disney eager to get back on the air in those 3.5 million homes, the standoff melted. Time Warner Cable accepted Disney's offer to move the deadline for signing a new retransmission deal until July 15.
July, like May, is a sweeps month -- but such an insignificant one that a similar blackout wouldn't have nearly the impact that Time Warner's action did this week.
EARLIER: The Time Warner-ABC dispute, Day 2
Domain games
by John Zipperer
Imagine owning the Internet address for your favorite sci-fi TV show.
It won't happen, of course, because the domain name won't be the Web
address for the program unless the studio owns it, not you. But if you had been
quick enough -- and brazen enough -- to buy startrek.com, you could probably have
expected a call from Paramount at some point trying to sweet-talk you out of the
name. Today, most studios have long since tied up ownership of the domain names
for their entertainment properties, but some possibilities exist both in the
names missed by the studios and in the new top level domains being created.
Squatters of the world, pay heed.
It's safe to assume that everyone is familiar with the main top level domains
-- .com, .org, .net, etc. Now some companies are upset over the proliferation of
new top level domains (such as foreign country domains that are licensed from
small island nations, like .tv and .to). To protect
their properties' names, production companies have to go and register a whole new batch of domain
names -- names they'll never use but that they need to round up before squatters
grab them and use them in ways the studios fear might harm their reputations or
cash cows. Therein lies a new parlor game of finding the available domains
before they disappear in studio portfolios.
(continued)
Pick To Click:
Ready for Another Orbit
NBC's reputation as a sitcom hit factory goes back to the early '80s, but lately the network has also become known for the retreads it refuses to get rid of. After apparently not learning from "Mad About You's" dismal final season, NBC let "Suddenly Susan" and "Veronica's Closet" overstay their welcomes this year.
Now comes news that "3rd Rock From the Sun" (8 p.m., NBC) is back for another season, despite ratings that are hardly, eh, atmospheric. But this time NBC made the right call. Yes, it's a one-joke wonder -- aliens learn the many inscrutable ways of humans -- but the joke can still be riotously funny. And as "God, the Devil and Bob" proved, you're not likely to see French Stewart in this good a role ever again. (For the truly captive audience, "3rd Rock" reruns are now airing every night in syndication.)
The daily digest ... for May 2: Yesterday we gave you the storyline for the penultimate episode of "Sports Night" -- now here's the plot for the "season finale," if not series finale, airing May 16: "Fears for their professional futures rise to panic for the 'Sports Night' team as bidders drop out of the auction for Continental Corp. Adding to the confusion are the sudden return of Rebecca (Teri Polo), looking to reconnect with Dan (Josh Charles), and Dana's (Felicity Huffman) mysterious stranger, who may prove to be a real hero" ... The first episode of celebrity "Millionaire" was a lot of fun, especially since the producers let the "hot seat" contestants cheat in the opening rounds (they were seen taking brazen clues from the others). But after David Duchovny casually blew his $250,000 question, one couldn't help wondering how Duchovny's selected charity felt watching $218,000 suddenly evaporate before their eyes.
Previously on TV Barn:
1 May: Time Warner, ABC go to war; Dave returns to England
28 April: Reader mail: Pets.com-troversy, Fox News vs. the others, TV Barn spam
27 April: What happened to the V-chip; more on puppets
26 April: Fox News Channel rocks; Scully directs "X-Files"
25 April: Pets.com sues over sock puppet
24 April: Earth Day on ABC; Elian on display
On this date...
In 1994, wedding are a TV-sweeps tradition, and
tonight's episode of "Northern Exposure" is no
different. Well, just a little different -- it's not
on-again-off-again couple Joel and Maggie tying the
knot, but the proprietors of the Sourdough Inn Bed and
Breakfast -- Erick and Ron. Cicely's controversial
ceremony-capping kiss is squelched by CBS, but squeamish
sponsor Nestle nixes its ads anyway.
-- Tom Heald
On the wires:
(Stories open in a new window. Many links expire over time.)
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ABC Held Hostage: Day 2
The blackout of Disney-owned ABC stations on Time Warner Cable will continue at least through Tuesday. That is, barring an unforeseen development between the two sides, who at last report weren't even pretending to sit down and work out their differences. (As Broadcasting & Cable deputy editor John Higgins told CNN, the two sides spent Monday "talking to everybody but each other.")
The Federal Communications Commission has given Time Warner until the end of business Tuesday to respond to a complaint filed Monday by Disney that the cable company was in violation of federal law. We'll call it the FCC's "sweeps rule": A cable operator cannot remove a broadcast channel during a major ratings period if the broadcaster has requested that it stay on. Disney sent a letter last week to that effect, asking Time Warner to carry the ABC stations until the current ratings sweep ends on May 24.
Instead, Time Warner flouted the FCC's sweeps rule and pulled the plug on ABC. On Monday, Disney executives were calling the move everything from "clearly illegal" to "deranged."
But it looks as though Time Warner will have its way for at least another day, until the FCC can make an emergency ruling on whether the sweeps rule was actually violated. Meanwhile, 3.5 million cable customers in New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Houston, Raleigh, Fresno and Toledo have no ABC.
And it's apparently possible the FCC won't rule in Disney's favor. To understand why, let's define two crucial terms from the 1992 Cable Act. They are the two similar-sounding but quite different ways a TV station gets carried on cable:
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Correction
On Saturday, April 22, a teaser appeared on the TV Barn Web site for a story I'd written for the Kansas City Star. The headline of the teaser read, "Sinclair bounces two more local exex" and the teaser copy also said that "the general manager (was) pushed out." In fact, as readers who clicked through to the story learned, only one of the two executives had been fired. The general manager announced her resignation.
The late debate
And I must correct myself again, somewhat. When I wrote in a recent column that "Law & Order" executive producer Dick Wolf had been keeping his piehole shut regarding the V-chip -- a show-blocking technology he passionately opposes -- it turns out he did recently speak out against it. Albeit he spoke out at 2 a.m. on "Later," the ultra-late-night talk show currently hosted by VH1's Cynthia Garrett.
Wolf and Los Angeles Times TV critic Howard Rosenberg had been invited onto the show to talk television. It was a bit of a departure for the normally celebrity-obsessed NBC talk show (and it really didn't help that Garrett kept referring to the half hour as a "three-way," a term with nothing but unpleasant connotations). But it was a worthwhile exchange between producer and critic. So if it takes a toothy 30-something to make possible an interesting chat between a couple of plus-50 white males on national TV -- because the only other time that ever happens is when David Letterman has Tom Brokaw on his show -- then I say let the three-ways continue.
Anyway, toward the end of the half hour, Wolf and Rosenberg got around to the V-chip, the one subject where the two men plainly didn't see eye-to-eye.
Wolf: "That little chip inside your TV -- it's benign now, but under a different administration -- if the country got more conservative -- certain things could be programmed out ..." Rosenberg: "That wasn't your argument before. You said the V-chip was censorship, which it's not ... Anything that gives parents more control over the TV, I'm all for ... You're talking about the imperfection of the ratings system, not the V-chip."ALSO: Pols call for uniform entertainment ratings code FOLLOWUP: Two readers wrote in after the above article appeared to dispute a claim made by Wolf. Anthony Foglia: "You quoted Dick Wolf saying, 'No one's ever fired a gun on our show (because) "Law & Order" deals with the effects of violence.' Hate to be picky, but weren't Logan's first two partners (played by George Dzunda and Paul Sorvino) both shot? I'm just being picky though, because the show did deal with the repurcussions of both, and neither were typical Hollywood police show shoot-outs." Ed Ingraffia: "As much as I enjoy 'Law & Order,' and as much as I tend to agree with Mr. Wolf's point-of-view regarding censorshop on television, I think it was rather irresponsible for Mr. Wolf to declare that no guns have ever been fired on his show." EARLIER: Pick To Click: As the "Creek" Turns
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Here comes the O.J. miniseries
Oh sure, to you they were just lawyers arguing a murder case in a claustrophobic, wood-paneled courtroom. But to Norman Mailer and TV producers Tom Fontana and Barry Levinson, the attorneys in the O.J. Simpson criminal trial were storybook characters in a gripping national narrative. And they had personal lives too!
The casting call has gone out for "An American Tragedy," a 4-hour CBS miniseries that would seem to be a natural for the November sweeps. Look for it to start generating buzz early, with Mailer behind the teleplay and Fontana and Levinson, the team responsible for "Homicide: Life on the Street" and "Oz," behind the production. The miniseries is based on the 1996 book by Larry Schiller, an author who has also published a book on JonBenet Ramsey's murder and was the driving force behind the recent CBS movie, "Perfect Murder, Perfect Town." Schiller, who will direct "An American Tragedy," is an old pal of Mailer's who collaborated with him on "The Executioner's Song" and the similar-sounding "American Mystery," about Lee Harvey Oswald.
However, don't be surprised if, while perusing the casting sheet for "American Tragedy" (supplied to us by Backstage Pass), you sense the production seems to have a certain insignificance to it. That's because this is the second casting call to go out. The roles of O.J., Marcia Clark, Johnnie Cochran, Robert Shapiro and other lead players have already been advertised. Still, these peripheral characters don't exactly inspire images of "Inherit the Wind" for a post-civil rights era. But it could be worse. They could've asked Rosey Grier to play himself.
ALSO:
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AMERICAN TRAGEDY
4 HOUR MINISERIES / CBS DRAFT: 4/26/00
DEL'D IN LA Tue., May 2, 2000, Vol. 2000, #0502
Executive Producers: Barry Levinson / Larry Schiller / Tom Fontana
Producer: Lynn Raynor
Line Producer: Barbara Black
Director: Larry Schiller
Writer: Norman Mailer
Casting Director: Judith Holstra
Casting Associate: Lori Sugar
Start Date: o/a June 12
Location: Los Angeles
WRITTEN SUBMISSIONS ONLY TO: JUDITH HOLSTRA 13731 VENTURA BLVD. SUITE B SHERMAN OAKS, CA 91423
Previous Breakdown released. PLEASE NOTE ADDITIONAL ROLES BELOW:
STORY LINE: This is the story of the legal system at work as seen through the window of the O.J. Simpson case.
[EUNICE SIMPSON] 70s. African American, seen in a wheelchair, she is O.J.s mother, relieved and thankful when her son is acquitted ... CAMEO (93)
[GERRY UELMAN] 50-65. An attorney for the defense, he is a Constitutional authority. It is Uelman who questions Mark Fuhrman about whether or not he had ever falsified a police report or plant or manufacture evidence in this case. He is careful and intelligent man, not willing to take any chances with what the jury is supposed to know. Later, he gives Johnnie Cochran a good Bible quote to use in his summation ... 6 speeches & 7 lines, 6 scenes (8)
[DR. HENRY LEE] 45-50, Asian. A highly respected criminologist, he is a distinguished looking Chinese gentleman who confers with the Defense team about the case, later testifying in court that the blood samples were contaminated. Possessed of a keen wit, he is a very credible witness for the defense, although he makes it clear from the beginning that his job is not to prove a client's innocence. He is only interested in the DNA evidence ... 6 speeches & 3 lines, 6 scenes (9)
[PETER NEUFELD] 45-55. A sharp-tongued defense attorney, he is working in association with Barry Scheck. Neufeld maintains that it is essential that the scenario of contamination be presented as not only possible, but overbearingly probable. Dry-humored and very bright, he thinks it would be dangerous for any member of the defense team to appear on a national television show to discuss the case ... 5 speeches & 4 lines, 5 scenes (54)
[MARK FUHRMAN] 42. Tall and military in bearing, a detective with the LAPD, he is one of the chief witnesses for the prosecution. However, his credibility is destroyed when it becomes known that he is a virulent and outspoken racist. When questioned later by Uelman, he can do nothing but plead the Fifth1 speech & 12 lines, 2 scenes (76)
[BARRY SCHECK'S WIFE] Late 30s. Barry Scheck's wife, the mother of their two daughters, she is a warmly supportive woman. Clearly, the two have a close relationship. Often, while working on the case in Los Angeles, he phones his wife in Brooklyn Heights, pouring out his feelings and fears ... 4 speeches & 7 lines, 3 scenes (17)
[LAURA MCKINNEY] 37-42. A filmmaker, she is summoned to Los Angeles as a witness for the Defense, having made many tapes of conversations with Mark Fuhrman while researching the police department for a film. An incredibly self-possessed and intelligent woman, she is irritated by Chris Dardens confrontational tone during the cross examination. She admits to being very afraid of Mark Fuhrman ... 3 speeches & 7 lines, 2 scenes (108)
[VICTORIA KING] 40s, very street-wise. African American, a lively, good-humored woman who works with Shawn Chapman, she is considered the best writer in the firm. Victoria is convinced that O.J. is in denial and is guilty. She tells her friend Shawn that before the trial is over, she's quitting ... 2 speeches & 4 lines, 2 scenes (27)
[RODERICK HODGE] 40-50. African American, this witness for the Defense, recounts the incident where the arresting officer, Mark Fuhrman, made a racial slur at him ... 2 speeches & 5 lines, 1 scene (117)
[SCHWARTZ] 40-50. Laura McKinney's lawyer, he meets with Johnnie Cochran and Robert Shapiro about his client providing tapes of her conversations with Mark Fuhrman for the Defense ... 2 speeches & 2 lines, 1 scene (99)
[BILL BOZDIAK] 35. This FBI man is an expert on footprints. He discredits F. Lee Bailey's theory about there being two killers wearing identical and very expensive shoes ... 1 speech & 2 lines, 1 scene (89)
[ROBERT HEIDSTRA] 37-47. This witness enrages the Defense when he refers to the vehicle he saw leaving the murder scene as a Bronco ... 5 lines, 2 scenes (94)
[DENNIS FUNG] Asian, 50. This forensics expert with the LAPD is questioned by Barry Scheck about the dangers of cross-contamination ... 4 lines, 1 scene (80)
[ROSEY GRIER] Early 50s, looks something like Rosey. Seen in Johnnie Cochran's conference room, he offers an impromptu homily ... 1 speech, 1 scene (77)
[BILL PAVELIC] 45-50, very gruff. He provides Shapiro with the incriminating evidence against Mark Fuhrman ... 2 speeches & 1 line, 1 scene (9)
[REPORTER] Male and female, all ethnicities, late 20s-early 30s
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Disney bites back
Roy Romano was the very last contestant to enter the hotseat for celebrity "Millionaire." (ABC Photo: Maria Melin)
Feeling sorry for the Walt Disney Co. because its ABC network was slapped around this week by big, bad Time Warner? You won't be after reading this account from TV Barn reader Keith Privett:
"As you've reported before, 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire' isn't shot in real time, but is edited down to 60 minutes. But my friend didn't know that. So when during the final celebrity 'Millionaire' on Thursday, Ray Romano went to the hot seat at about 8:45 p.m., and then was subjected to a rather long, lazy interview by Regis, my friend started yelling at the TV set. I reminded him that these programs had taped a month ago, and that Ray probably would miss right by the 8:59 mark.
"At 8:59, however, something was awry. Ray was still in the hot seat. Nine o'clock came and went. By 9:02 I realized what was up: ABC was trying to screw over 'E.R.'! Sure enough, 'Millionaire' went
eight minutes over time while Romano won $125,000 for the NYPD D.A.R.E. program.
"Celador/Buena Vista could easily have trimmed the interviews,
quips, etc. to finish the show by 9:00 CT. But '20/20 Downtown' is
flexible and could as easily start at 9:08. And ABC would love
to keep viewers away from the opening of 'E.R.'
"When you have an invulnerable ratings hit, airing three nights a
week is aggressive. Going against '60 Minutes' is aggressive. Scheduling a behind-the-scenes show against the 'ER' season finale is aggressive. But airing nine minutes of unscheduled overtime on your biggest week of shows, just to
keep viewers away from the best the competition has to offer, is deliciously cruel.
"And then I recalled a 'Millionaire' question once asked
about the 'Heidi game,' where NBC missed broadcasting an
amazing football comeback because the game seemed to be over.
This is the reason we see the closing minutes of every game
today, and the rest of that night's schedule gets pushed back. The
difference is the 'Millionaire's' producers did the same thing with malice and forethought.
"In a perverted way, I loved it."
POSTSCRIPT: Nielsen separated ABC's rating for "Millionaire" from 10:00-10:08 (ET) Thursday night. The celebrity quiz show still whipped two half-hours of "Frasier," with a 20.6/rating and 31 share (to NBC's 11.7/18) and 22.6/34 (to NBC's 10.4/15 for a "Frasier" repeat). Among adults 18-49, the eight minutes of runover rated 13.8 (i.e., nearly 14 percent of the U.S. ages 18 to 49 was watching Ray Romano on "Millionaire"). For the half hour, "ER" rated 12.1 in A18-49. "Millionaire" won handily in A18-49 against "Frasier," 10.4 to 8.3 and 11.7 to 7.3. For the night, NBC won in A18-49, 10.2 to 7.8.
ALSO: Best demographics ever for "Millionaire"
Details from "Uniquely Kansas City," airing this week in high-def (where available, natch). Click on any of the images to see a larger version. All were screen shots taken off the digital master. (KCPT Photo)
KCPT debuts high-definition program
One of the few TV stations in the country with an up-and-running digital signal is public TV's KCPT in Kansas City. And now it is coming out with its first original program for the format: "Uniquely Kansas City," a coffee-table book of the air with spectacular details of the city's arts achievements. Part one airs this week. ALSO: Sign away your insurance before getting into a helicopter? That's what some employees at the top-rated ABC affiliate thought management wanted them to do.
Read both stories in Saturday's "On the Air" column in the Kansas City Star
NOTE: For those of you outside Kansas City, the broadcast of "Uniquely Kansas City" will actually be carried on PBS's national digital feed originating from Virginia, because KCPT does not have the equipment to insert locally on its digital channel. Which means that if you can receive the PBS digital feed in your market, you too can watch "Uniquely Kansas City" at 8 p.m. Central time on Wednesday. KCPT is also hopeful that the program will be added to the regular rotation of PBS's digital feed. This will doubtless be welcome news for those of you who can recite every scene in "Chihuly Over Venice" by heart.
Triumph spits fire
In a bizarre tour de force that chewed up 12 minutes of national airtime, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog made a raucous return to the airwaves Thursday night -- his first appearance on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" since his master, Robert Smigel, was sued by Pets.com for defamation and trade libel.
During the "press conference" -- click here for a rough transcript -- Triumph gleefully repeated his earlier charge, the one that got Smigel sued, that the Pets.com Sock Puppet is a blatant ripoff of himself. Triumph also mocked Pets.com as a failing concept whose stock "is going down faster than me on a Pekinese," and sang a parody of The Police's "Every Breath You Take" that included the lines, "Every joke you take/Every ripoff you make/Every rule you break/Like a dot-com fake/I will poop on you!"
Triumph's return had been promoted for two nights on the show. Not accidentally, the big moment came on what is by far NBC's most-watched night, in which Thursday's hugely popular prime time lineup raises all the late-night boats as well. For a lawsuit that was neither expected by the defendant nor publicized by the plaintiff, it has proven to be a huge boost to the fortunes of "Late Night." As for Pets.com, the Triumph fiasco is becoming more and more the kind of episode for which some desperate PR person concocted the line, "There's no such thing as bad publicity!"
Last week, after TV Barn broke the story of the Pets.com lawsuit, the show's executive producer Jeff Ross sounded eager to get on the air with a response as soon as NBC's legal eagles gave his writers the go-ahead. While their material proved to be less incendiary than Triumph's, everyone was in on the act Thursday night. O'Brien showed competing video clips of Triumph and "Crappy" (the show's new handle for the Sock Puppet) pointing out uncanny similarities between the two puppets' shtick. In one comparison, Triumph is seen tugging on a fake hot dog with real mutts, while "Crappy" does the same thing using a toy burger.
But O'Brien added that there was one telling difference between the two sock mutts: Triumph was a "pitcher" (with accompanying video, X-rated had it involved humans, of Triumph and two live dogs in a hotel room) while "Crappy" was a "catcher" (video of the Sock Puppet being licked by several live dogs).
Then O'Brien cut to the "press conference," which was about to begin "eight feet from where I'm sitting," on the stage that abuts the desk area inside NBC's tiny Studio 6A.
Triumph sprang into site, to great cheers. He spoke at first with mock solemnity, then delivered his famous riposte using a megaphone and echo effect: "However, I realize that I must also take responsibility for my own actions ... for making fun of Pets.com, a great supply company, and their puppet, a great, great puppet ... FOR ME TO POOP ON!!!"
Even if Pets.com drops its lawsuit against Smigel, this may not be the end of the matter. At press time, TV Barn was in receipt of a thick sheaf of materials and a videotape from the creators of Ed the Sock, a foul-mouthed sock puppet from Canada who's been on the air for a decade and considers both Triumph and "Crappy" to be ripoffs of himself. We'll review the evidence and report back on Monday. Stay tuned.
BET Arabesque: Telepics with a purpose
The BET Arabesque crew (Photo: Arnold Turner)
Now here's something you don't see everyday around Hollywood: A full-service movie production company run by, and largely staffed by, African-Americans. It's Directors Circle Films, led by Roy Campanella II, son of the famous Brooklyn Dodger. His company produced this season's 10-movie slate of telepics for BET based on the Arabesque novels. Produced on a shoestring, the Arabesque films have been surprisingly watchable, easily surpassing the quality of many network telepics made for several times the budget of these movies.
Read more in my story in Friday's Kansas City Star
Pick To Click:
Kansas City's Gift to Prime Time
Hallmark finds itself in the unenviable spot this weekend of having two of its TV blockbusters pitted against one another. NBC's "Jason and the Argonauts" and CBS's "Cupid & Cate," both air at 9 p.m. Sunday. But the choice shouldn't be too hard to make in most homes: Hallmark Entertainment's "Jason" is a manly tale of mythic proportions, while Hallmark's Hall of Fame presents a romantic weeper plainly directed at CBS' female-oriented Sunday night audience.
In "Cupid & Cate," Mary-Louise Parker is sleepwalking through her days as a resale-shop proprietor until Peter Gallagher arrives and sweeps her off her feet. Unlike most Hall of Fames, this one is shot in an actual American city, Washington, D.C., and some of the familiar sights of D.C. are shown here (the Capitol, the Thomas Sweet store). As in so many Hall of Fame movies, there are amazing coincidences a-plenty, not to mention the customary transparent metaphor (as Parker falls in love, she repaints her store in lively colors).
The daily digest ... for May 5:
Last week's cable ratings are out from Nielsen (by way of Turner Networks), and while we won't do this every week, here are the 10 highest-rated channels (daylong ratings, not prime time): Nickelodeon/Nick at Nite, TBS, Lifetime, USA, Cartoon, TNT, A&E, MTV, Discovery and ESPN. With the exception of Cartoon, all of these networks have been around between 12 and 21 years, and are carried in nearly 100 percent of cable homes. What's more interesting is the list of the second 10, numbers 11-20: History, WGN, FX, AMC, CNBC, CNN, TLC, Comedy, Sci-Fi, HGTV and TV Land -- several of which have neither seniority nor universal carriage on their side. (Ratings are based, not on the whole cable universe, but each network's universe. TV Land's ratings are for the 50 million or so cable homes where it's carried and exclude the 30 million homes where it's not.) Unfortunately, with the exception of HGTV, which is backed by the E.W. Scripps Co., all of the "upstart" channels are owned by cable's biggest and most powerful programmers. Which suggests that these
newer channels didn't get where they did just because they were good ideas ... And here's a sure sign that "South Park" is cooling off: Last week's episode was tied for 10th place -- with a movie on Lifetime. Oh, the humiliation ...
Time Warner Cable may have been the baddie this week for pulling the plug on ABC in seven markets, but we hasten to remind readers that there are similar disputes going on around the country -- and that the current mood in the industry suggests more such showdowns to come. Take a look at Broadcasting & Cable's annual list of the 25 largest cable operators, just out this week. Once again it shows the effects of industry consolidation: Millions of customers are held by just the top 10 cable operators. Then the list drops off rapidly to much smaller companies, many of which could easily be this year's prey for the cable giants. If Kansas City's system (310,000 customers) were a standalone instead of being managed by Time Warner Cable, it would rank 12th on B&C's list. Bottom line: There are several cable companies with the power to turn off the nation's largest broadcasters in millions of homes should their retransmission-agreement talks go awry. And unlike Time Warner, the others don't have a pending mega-merger to worry about.
Previously on TV Barn:
4 May: Here comes the O.J. miniseries
3 May: "Later" with Dick Wolf
2 May: Time Warner and ABC make up ... for now
1 May: Time Warner, ABC go to war; the V-chip (II); Dave returns to England
28 April: Reader mail: Pets.com-troversy, Fox News vs. the others, TV Barn spam
27 April: What happened to the V-chip; more on puppets
26 April: Fox News Channel rocks; Scully directs "X-Files"
25 April: Pets.com sues over sock puppet
24 April: Earth Day on ABC; Elian on display
On this date...
in 1993, at the end of a stunningly bad season of
episodes ripping off other TV and movie projects, NBC
decides this will be the final "Quantum Leap." Dr. Sam
Beckett leaps into a bar in the mining town of Cokesburg
on his own birthdate, Aug. 5, 1953, where he learns from
a bartender named Al (ala "Wizard of Oz") that he has
always the power to leap home. (Series creator Don
Bellisario and star Scott Bakula both say this bartender
represents God.) Beckett's final leap isn't home but
into the Vietnam era, where he lets his buddy Al's first
wife Beth know he's not "Missing In Action," thus saving
Al's marriage, which may have endangered his own cosmic
existence as the closing frames reveal: "(Beth) and Al
have four daughters and will celebrate their 39th
wedding anniversary in June. Dr. Sam Beckett never
returned home." (Had the network renewed the series,
viewers would have seen an alternative ending.)
May 6: in 1982, on "Diff'rent Strokes," poor Willis has
to chose between two women -- both his girlfriend (Janet
Jackson) and his stepsister Kimberly want to sing in his
band. Decisions, decisions. Well, at least it wasn't
LaToya.
May 7: In 1951, CBS offers the less fortunate a chance
to "Strike It Rich." Contestants whose sad-sack stories
are deemed "appealing" or "interesting" enough
(translation: pathetic and entertaining) by the show's
producers compete for audience affection, then for a
chance to bet portions of $30 on a series of quiz
questions. If they blow it in this round, there is
always the "Heart Line," where the home audience can
phone in offers of charity. As the show gains
popularity, some 3000 to 5000 letters pour in each week
from hopeful contestants-to-be. By 1954 several dozen of
the downtrodden have make their way to New York only to
be stranded, raising the ire of The New York City
Welfare Department.
-- Tom Heald
On the wires:
(Stories open in a new window. Many links expire over time.)
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(cont'd from front)
Triumph: These past 10 days have been very trying ones for myself ... my wife [gestures to dog on his right] ... my mistress [gestures to poodle on his left] ... and the sheep with whom we have three-way sex [gestures to sheep puppet]. Oh yes! The others have helped me find the strength to deal with the charges made by the plaintiff. [Porno shot of Triumph and two live dogs] Oh yes! ...
"However, I realize that I must also take responsibility for my own actions ... for making fun of Pets.com, a great supply company, and their puppet, a great, great puppet ..."
[Methodically takes drink of water from a bowl, shot of breath spray, clears throat, picks up megaphone, waits for two crew members to wheel out an enormous desk microphone ...]
[... then, in a loud, amplified voice with echo:] "FOR-ME-TO-POOP-ON!!!"
[cheers and applause]
"C'mon, people! Take a look at this lawsuit [holds it up]! Now I know why people wipe their ass! ... Who the hell wants to buy pet food online instead of going to the pet store? Do you realize what kind of crazy hot caged bitches you meet at the pet shop?"
[laughter and applause]
"This is what I hear, Pets.com: I hear your stock is going down faster than me on a Pekinese! If you go down the toilet, I'm going to be drinking from it! I kid, I kid ...
"Maybe they're suing me because they like the press. Well, I like the press, too. Check it out."
[video of Triumph leaving behind a giant turd on the New York Post, opened to the story that was ripped off from TV Barn]
[Triumph then invokes the great First Amendment defenders over the years, as pictures go up of Horace Greeley ... FDR ... Larry Flynt ... and Screw magazine publisher Al Goldstein]
[Then, to the tune of "Every Breath You Take":]
Every joke you take[Conan throws to commercial as band keeps playing] Return to front page
Every ripoff you make
Every rule you break
Like a dot-com fake
I will POOP ON YOU! [yells to band: "Cut to the bridge!"] There are rules in this business
That you must know
You stay away from my bits
On this crappy show
Would you copy me if I humped
A radiator pole?
I swear to God
I'll rip you a new a--hole!
I swear to God ...
[last line indecipherable as all the extras at press conference break into dance and crowd claps wildly]
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Happy 20, BET
By Harrison Wyman
Most TV specials celebrating an anniversary are good reasons for a star-studded spectacular. Black Entertainment Television's (BET) two-and-a-half-hour televised gala on Saturday, to celebrate the network's 20th anniversary, had front-line talent to spare. But the audience for the live broadcast, originating from Bally's Hotel in Las Vegas, was often unresponsive, resulting in a show that ebbed and flowed. And as happens every year at the Oscars, the pre-taped segments conspired to bring the crowd down, showing less-than-riveting "highlights" from 20 years of black cable TV.
While the
talent for the special was drawn predominantly from the ranks of hip-hop and
rap, the old-school performers were the ones who lifted the audience from its seats
and raised the level of the show. Shirley Caesar gave a
blistering performance that saved the gospel portion of the show from blending in with
the rest of the entertainment. James Brown drew an ovation
just by walking on stage. (Alas, he didn't perform.) The group that had the
audience on its feet from the start of its performance to the end was the
reunited N. W. A., featuring rappers Ice Cube and Snoop Doggy Dogg.
Comedian Jaime Foxx hosted the show, unfortunately he was outshone by
ex-"Video Soul" veejay Donnie Simpson, who was clearly more at ease in a live broadcast setting. Rapper Flavor Flav of the group Public
Enemy got more laughs than Foxx just by walking to the wrong microphone.
The broadcast was not an extended tribute to BET founder Bob Johnson,
although Johnson did make a brief speech and introduce the show's last
half-hour, a tribute to Stevie Wonder. The performances of Wonder's songs
and tributes to his artistry and activism were topped of by Wonder performing
"Livin' For The City." It was the strongest part of the BET special, which
seemed to take off just as it was leaving the air.
Disney bites back
Roy Romano was the very last contestant to enter the hotseat for celebrity "Millionaire." (ABC Photo: Maria Melin)
Feeling sorry for the Walt Disney Co. because its ABC network was slapped around this week by big, bad Time Warner? You won't be after reading this account from TV Barn reader Keith Privett:
"As you've reported before, 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire' isn't shot in real time, but is edited down to 60 minutes. But my friend didn't know that. So when during the final celebrity 'Millionaire' on Thursday, Ray Romano went to the hot seat at about 8:45 p.m., and then was subjected to a rather long, lazy interview by Regis, my friend started yelling at the TV set. I reminded him that these programs had taped a month ago, and that Ray probably would miss right by the 8:59 mark.
"At 8:59, however, something was awry. Ray was still in the hot seat. Nine o'clock came and went. By 9:02 I realized what was up: ABC was trying to screw over 'E.R.'! Sure enough, 'Millionaire' went
eight minutes over time while Romano won $125,000 for the NYPD D.A.R.E. program.
"Celador/Buena Vista could easily have trimmed the interviews,
quips, etc. to finish the show by 9:00 CT. But '20/20 Downtown' is
flexible and could as easily start at 9:08. And ABC would love
to keep viewers away from the opening of 'E.R.'
"When you have an invulnerable ratings hit, airing three nights a
week is aggressive. Going against '60 Minutes' is aggressive. Scheduling a behind-the-scenes show against the 'ER' season finale is aggressive. But airing nine minutes of unscheduled overtime on your biggest week of shows, just to
keep viewers away from the best the competition has to offer, is deliciously cruel.
"And then I recalled a 'Millionaire' question once asked
about the 'Heidi game,' where NBC missed broadcasting an
amazing football comeback because the game seemed to be over.
This is the reason we see the closing minutes of every game
today, and the rest of that night's schedule gets pushed back. The
difference is the 'Millionaire's' producers did the same thing with malice and forethought.
"In a perverted way, I loved it."
POSTSCRIPT: Nielsen separated ABC's rating for "Millionaire" from 10:00-10:08 (ET) Thursday night. The celebrity quiz show still whipped two half-hours of "Frasier," with a 20.6/rating and 31 share (to NBC's 11.7/18) and 22.6/34 (to NBC's 10.4/15 for a "Frasier" repeat). Among adults 18-49, the eight minutes of runover rated 13.8 (i.e., nearly 14 percent of the U.S. ages 18 to 49 was watching Ray Romano on "Millionaire"). For the half hour, "ER" rated 12.1 in A18-49. "Millionaire" won handily in A18-49 against "Frasier," 10.4 to 8.3 and 11.7 to 7.3. For the night, NBC won in A18-49, 10.2 to 7.8.
ALSO: Best demographics ever for "Millionaire"
Details from "Uniquely Kansas City," airing this week in high-def (where available, natch). Click on any of the images to see a larger version. All were screen shots taken off the digital master. (KCPT Photo)
KCPT debuts high-definition program
One of the few TV stations in the country with an up-and-running digital signal is public TV's KCPT in Kansas City. And now it is coming out with its first original program for the format: "Uniquely Kansas City," a coffee-table book of the air with spectacular details of the city's arts achievements. Part one airs this week. ALSO: Sign away your insurance before getting into a helicopter? That's what some employees at the top-rated ABC affiliate thought management wanted them to do.
Read both stories in Saturday's "On the Air" column in the Kansas City Star
NOTE: For those of you outside Kansas City, the broadcast of "Uniquely Kansas City" will actually be carried on PBS's national digital feed originating from Virginia, because KCPT does not have the equipment to insert locally on its digital channel. Which means that if you can receive the PBS digital feed in your market, you too can watch "Uniquely Kansas City" at 8 p.m. Central time on Wednesday. KCPT is also hopeful that the program will be added to the regular rotation of PBS's digital feed. This will doubtless be welcome news for those of you who can recite every scene in "Chihuly Over Venice" by heart.
The daily digest ... for May 8: Yours truly was featured on NPR's "On the Media," breaking down the Time Warner-ABC flap with host Brian Lehrer. Here's the link; I'm the lead guest and supply the sound bite at the top of the hour ... Also, while I'm banging this drum, Mark Armstrong at E!Online gives our piece about "Millionaire's" calculated overrun a nice mention ... You've probably heard about the line of clothing from Van Heusen bearing the name of Regis Philbin. The company plans to launch the line of shiny ties and "techno fabric" shirts in time for Father's Day buying. Here's the part I still find amazing: Van Heusen told the Wall Street Journal it expects to sell $50 million of clothing the day it goes on sale ...
With recent additions in the Bay Area, Portland (OR), Puerto Rico and elsewhere, Food Network should break through the 50 million household mark by year's end, says owner E.W. Scripps Co. ... Elian was the top TV newsmagazine story of April, reports NewsTV of Lawrence, Kan. ... Don't tell me poor Walt Disney Co. isn't getting a cut on the Regis-wear, either ... And a reader named Joe Prestridge says he has some "frustrations" with our last BET article, which appeared Friday. "In your article, wherever you see the word 'black' and 'African-American,' replace those words to 'Caucasian' and see how it reads ... then you'll understand my concern." Huh. Well, when I change "black cable network" to "Caucasian cable network" I get TNN. So what's the problem?
Previously on TV Barn:
5 May: Triumph bites Pets.com; BET Arabesque
4 May: Here comes the O.J. miniseries
3 May: "Later" with Dick Wolf
2 May: Time Warner and ABC make up ... for now
1 May: Time Warner, ABC go to war; the V-chip (II); Dave returns to England
28 April: Reader mail: Pets.com-troversy, Fox News vs. the others, TV Barn spam
27 April: What happened to the V-chip; more on puppets
26 April: Fox News Channel rocks; Scully directs "X-Files"
25 April: Pets.com sues over sock puppet
24 April: Earth Day on ABC; Elian on display
On this date...
in 1994, millions of Americans wonder why they have put up with
Andy Rooney for 500 of his commentaries on "60 Minutes."
-- Tom Heald
On the wires:
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Copyright © 2000 Aaron Barnhart. Redistribution prohibited.
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Time Warner: They dun us wrong
At the NCTA convention in New Orleans, CNN's Bernard Shaw quizzes AT&T chief Michael Armstrong, Commerce chief Bill Daley and Time Warner's Gerald Levin.
And now, the public jockeying begins.
Following a wild week that saw them cast as the bad guys and possibly damaged their impending acquisition by America Online, executives at Time Warner sought to regain the offensive this week in the six-month-long negotiations with key broadcasters over retransmission consent rules.
Until last week, "retransmission consent" hadn't even been in the general media's lexicon. That was before Time Warner Cable executives pulled the ABC network off of cable systems in 3.5 million homes and seven markets. Disney won that PR battle handily, casting itself as a victim and pointing out that the law was on their side. The Federal Communications Commission agreed: You can't unilaterally pull a broadcaster off your cable system during a ratings period.
Time Warner chief Gerald Levin, no fool, stood out of harm's way last week and let his deputies in the cable division take their lumps in the media for making the call to yank ABC. But Levin came out swinging Monday at the national cable show in New Orleans. His message was a simple one: The current retransmission rules stink. His mission: Educate the public and Congress on the real issues behind last week's blackout, and maybe -- just maybe -- get the retransmission rules thrown out. (If you're unfamiliar with retransmission consent, read this earlier TV Barn article.)
The problem with retransmission consent, as Time Warner sees it, is that it gives broadcasters far too much bargaining power. In exchange for letting cable companies carry their signals, broadcasters are starting to ask for the moon: Disney, for example, wants two new cable channels carried on the cable companies' systems (SoapNet and Toon Disney), and it wants the cable companies to share the costs of turning Disney Channel from a pay-cable service into a basic-cable channel. Hearst-Argyle Television, the second largest owner of ABC stations, wants Time Warner to carry Lifetime Movie Network and pay more money for Lifetime, one of cable's most popular networks. (Hearst owns 50 percent of Lifetime.) Time Warner (and Comcast, which is also battling Disney over retransmission) are balking at the requests.
In response, broadcasters say they are simply asking for fair value for one of television's most valuable properties. Imagine if Time Warner's CNN were suddenly turned off in 3.5 million cable homes. Would the hue and cry be as great as it was last week for ABC?
Maybe, maybe not. When MTV was suddenly dropped from TCI systems in Iowa three years ago, fan protests led to the networks being quickly reinstated. And BET has led numerous campaigns over the years to get its channel returned to urban cable systems. What's undeniable is that the average viewer now has more than 60 channels to choose from on his or her cable system ... and of them, ABC ranks No. 1.
Game over -- play again?
by John Zipperer
"Wing Commander," the 1999 film version of the popular computer
game series, is one you'll want to watch at least twice. It's that good? Well,
no. It'll take two times to figure out what's happening. HBO gives you the
opportunity for one of those viewings this Friday at 8:00 p.m. and your VCR can
help you with the rest.
Briefly, here's the plot: A young hotshot fighter pilot, Christopher Blair
(played by heartthrob Freddie Prinze, Jr.), is caught up in some sort of
interstellar war that may or may not have been clear even to the writer and
director. Suffice it to say there's some bad-guy aliens called the Kilrathi
trying to blow up humans and spaceships containing humans. Blair has a sidekick
(played by Matthew Lillard) who pretty much does everything the hero does except
he's got more energy. And to add dramatic tension, it turns out that our young
hero is a descendent of some group of humans who didn't get along with other
humans, yet he's been chosen to carry an important-but-cryptic message
(reportedly, the script) that is apparently the key to much of the action in
this film.
(continued)
Happy 20, BET
By Harrison Wyman
Most TV specials celebrating an anniversary are good reasons for a star-studded spectacular. Black Entertainment Television's (BET) two-and-a-half-hour televised gala on Saturday, to celebrate the network's 20th anniversary, had front-line talent to spare. But the audience for the live broadcast, originating from Bally's Hotel in Las Vegas, was often unresponsive, resulting in a show that ebbed and flowed. And as happens every year at the Oscars, the pre-taped segments conspired to bring the crowd down, showing less-than-riveting "highlights" from 20 years of black cable TV.
While the
talent for the special was drawn predominantly from the ranks of hip-hop and
rap, the old-school performers were the ones who lifted the audience from its seats
and raised the level of the show. Shirley Caesar gave a
blistering performance that saved the gospel portion of the show from blending in with
the rest of the entertainment. James Brown drew an ovation
just by walking on stage. (Alas, he didn't perform.) The group that had the
audience on its feet from the start of its performance to the end was the
reunited N.W.A., featuring rappers Ice Cube and Snoop Doggy Dogg.
Comedian Jaime Foxx hosted the show, unfortunately he was outshone by
ex-"Video Soul" veejay Donnie Simpson, who was clearly more at ease in a live broadcast setting. Rapper Flavor Flav of the group Public
Enemy got more laughs than Foxx just by walking to the wrong microphone.
The broadcast did not fawn over BET founder Bob Johnson,
although Johnson did make a brief speech and introduce the show's last
half-hour, a tribute to Stevie Wonder. The performances of Wonder's songs
and tributes to his artistry and activism were topped of by Wonder performing
"Livin' For The City." It was the strongest part of the BET special, which
seemed to take off just as it was leaving the air.
Pick To Click:
Just Shoot Her
(NBC Photo: Gary Null)
Oh, no, I thought: "Just Shoot Me" (9:30 p.m., Tuesday) is doing a parody of A&E's "Biography"? What cross-promotional genius thought of this? (NBC owns a big chunk of A&E.) But it works, thanks largely to the ludicrous tale it spins of Nina Van Horn's (Wendie Malick) "early years" in blaxploitation films.
There are, of course, plenty of real-life celebrities signed on to give testimonials, including supermodels Cheryl Tiegs and Jerry Hall (who says of Nina's compulsive marrying, "In a lot of ways, Nina was looking for a husband figure"), as well as Jamie Farr, Buddy Hackett, director Sydney Pollack and author George Plimpton, who's around long enough to toss out a wonderfully overwrought metaphor.
But the highlight is a scene from Nina's film role as "Foxy Trouble," a white Pam Grier-type opposite blaxploitation regular Bernie Casey (who also cameos here). Great job! Now would someone at "Just Shoot Me" please make sure David Spade doesn't marry another supermodel in the season finale?
The daily digest ... for May 8: Yours truly was featured on NPR's "On the Media," breaking down the Time Warner-ABC flap with host Brian Lehrer. Here's the link; I'm the lead guest and supply the sound bite at the top of the hour ... Also, while I'm banging this drum, Mark Armstrong at E!Online gives our piece about "Millionaire's" calculated overrun a nice mention ... You've probably heard about the line of clothing from Van Heusen bearing the name of Regis Philbin. The company plans to launch the line of shiny ties and "techno fabric" shirts in time for Father's Day buying. Here's the part I still find amazing: Van Heusen told the Wall Street Journal it expects to sell $50 million of clothing the day it goes on sale ...
With recent additions in the Bay Area, Portland (OR), Puerto Rico and elsewhere, Food Network should break through the 50 million household mark by year's end, says owner E.W. Scripps Co. ... Elian was the top TV newsmagazine story of April, reports NewsTV of Lawrence, Kan. ... Don't tell me poor Walt Disney Co. isn't getting a cut on the Regis-wear, either ... And a reader named Joe Prestridge says he has some "frustrations" with our last BET article, which appeared Friday. "In your article, wherever you see the word 'black' and 'African-American,' replace those words to 'Caucasian' and see how it reads ... then you'll understand my concern." Huh. Well, when I change "black cable network" to "Caucasian cable network" I get TNN. So what's the problem?
Previously on TV Barn:
8 May: "Millionaire" runs over; KCPT in HDTV
5 May: Triumph bites Pets.com; BET Arabesque
4 May: Here comes the O.J. miniseries
3 May: "Later" with Dick Wolf
2 May: Time Warner and ABC make up ... for now
1 May: Time Warner, ABC go to war; the V-chip (II); Dave returns to England
28 April: Reader mail: Pets.com-troversy, Fox News vs. the others, TV Barn spam
27 April: What happened to the V-chip; more on puppets
26 April: Fox News Channel rocks; Scully directs "X-Files"
25 April: Pets.com sues over sock puppet
On this date...
In 1979, Civil War-era crimefighters Jim West and
Artemus Gordon return in movie form ... albeit TV's "The
Wild, Wild West Revisited." Filmmaker Barry Sonnenfeld
immediately thinks of several ways he can ruin it with
his own version.
-- Tom Heald
On the wires:
(Stories open in a new window. Many links expire over time.)
About TV Barn | The TV Critic's Toolbox | Overnight ratings
Read other TV critics | Late-night lineups |
Kansas City TV/radio
TV Barn archives |
Send AB mail | The Kansas City Star
Copyright © 2000 Aaron Barnhart. Redistribution prohibited.
>>> Aaron Barnhart's TVBARN.COM
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(Fox Photo)
It's sick. It's exploitative. It's a winner!
It looks as though Fox Television may have struck Nielsen gold again with its riveting and disturbing game show "Challenge of the Child Geniuses: Who Is the Smartest Kid in America?" Though not quite the ratings blockbuster of February's sweeps hit "Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire?", the Dick Clark-hosted special -- two parts "Millionaire," one part "Winning Lines" and three parts creepy child exploitation -- performed respectably. Barring a scandal involving the contestants or their pushy parents, you can almost certainly look forward to another "Challenge of the Child Geniuses" in the November sweeps.
The program began with what seemed an unending pageant of the 50 contestants, most of them ages 10 to 12 ("located with the help of several resources," says Fox publicity, "including the National Association of Gifted Children and other high I.Q societies"). Each contestant gave his or her hometown and then told One Amazing Thing about themselves. The eventual winner, 11-year-old Michael Jezierny of Boca Raton, Fla., said, "I scored in the top two percent of all college-bound high school seniors when I recently took the ACT's."
Next came a "Winning Lines"-like showdown in which the 50 were reduced to 10 by a series of multiple-choice questions. That was followed by five face-off rounds, also much like "Winning Lines," that cut the 10 to five. Then the five answered super-hard questions, with the top three advancing. Another round peeled off the second runner-up. Then the final two contestants endured a game of academic H-O-R-S-E to determine the winner.
After it was over, viewer David Carroll wrote TV Barn, "It's a shameless
'Millionaire' rip-off: the set, the music, the multiple choice, the
rambling contestants. Only this time they're ages 9-12. The really scary
part? It ain't half bad! I was prepared to rip it, and my own two sons --
ages 10 and 12 -- were enthralled! Fox may have stumbled on a winning premise
that doesn't include a gross family, predatory animals, and greedy
imbeciles. But enough about Darva Conger."
Indeed, "Challenge of the Child Geniuses" displayed exactly the same ratings behavior that "Multi-Millionaire" did in February, only on a more modest scale. It averaged a 7.2 rating/12 share and 7.3/11 in the hour pitted against "Millionaire." That built to a 9.5/14 in the third half hour and then jumped to a 10.7/16 in the final 30 minutes. (A Nielsen rating point represents about 1 million homes; a share point is 1 percent of those currently watching TV.)
The most disturbing aspect of the "Challenge," of course, is its complete indifference to other types of intelligence and uncritical acceptance of standardized test scores. But like they say about the Nielsen ratings, until someone comes up with a better way to measure intelligence, this is the one we've got.
Time Warner: They dun us wrong
At the NCTA convention in New Orleans, CNN's Bernard Shaw quizzes AT&T chief Michael Armstrong, Commerce chief Bill Daley and Time Warner's Gerald Levin.
And now, the public jockeying begins.
Following a wild week that saw them cast as the bad guys and possibly damaged their impending acquisition by America Online, executives at Time Warner sought to regain the offensive this week in the six-month-long negotiations with key broadcasters over retransmission consent rules.
Until last week, "retransmission consent" hadn't even been in the general media's lexicon. That was before Time Warner Cable executives pulled the ABC network off of cable systems in 3.5 million homes and seven markets. Disney won that PR battle handily, casting itself as a victim and pointing out that the law was on their side. The Federal Communications Commission agreed: You can't unilaterally pull a broadcaster off your cable system during a ratings period.
Time Warner chief Gerald Levin, no fool, stood out of harm's way last week and let his deputies in the cable division take their lumps in the media for making the call to yank ABC. But Levin came out swinging Monday at the national cable show in New Orleans. His message was a simple one: The current retransmission rules stink. His mission: Educate the public and Congress on the real issues behind last week's blackout, and maybe -- just maybe -- get the retransmission rules thrown out. (If you're unfamiliar with retransmission consent, read this earlier TV Barn article.)
The problem with retransmission consent, as Time Warner sees it, is that it gives broadcasters far too much bargaining power. In exchange for letting cable companies carry their signals, broadcasters are starting to ask for the moon: Disney, for example, wants two new cable channels carried on the cable companies' systems (SoapNet and Toon Disney), and it wants the cable companies to share the costs of turning Disney Channel from a pay-cable service into a basic-cable channel. Hearst-Argyle Television, the second largest owner of ABC stations, wants Time Warner to carry Lifetime Movie Network and pay more money for Lifetime, one of cable's most popular networks. (Hearst owns 50 percent of Lifetime.) Time Warner (and Comcast, which is also battling Disney over retransmission) are balking at the requests.
In response, broadcasters say they are simply asking for fair value for one of television's most valuable properties. Imagine if Time Warner's CNN were suddenly turned off in 3.5 million cable homes. Would the hue and cry be as great as it was last week for ABC?
Maybe, maybe not. When MTV was suddenly dropped from TCI systems in Iowa three years ago, fan protests led to the networks being quickly reinstated. And BET has led numerous campaigns over the years to get its channel returned to urban cable systems. What's undeniable is that the average viewer now has more than 60 channels to choose from on his or her cable system ... and of them, ABC ranks No. 1.
Pick To Click:
Goodbye, Charlie Brown
USA TODAY: Stars say farewell to Charles Schulz
Previously on TV Barn:
9 May: BET's 20th; "Wing Commander"
8 May: "Millionaire" runs over; KCPT in HDTV
5 May: Triumph bites Pets.com; BET Arabesque
4 May: Here comes the O.J. miniseries
3 May: "Later" with Dick Wolf
2 May: Time Warner and ABC make up ... for now
1 May: Time Warner, ABC go to war; the V-chip (II); Dave returns to England
28 April: Reader mail: Pets.com-troversy, Fox News vs. the others, TV Barn spam
27 April: What happened to the V-chip; more on puppets
26 April: Fox News Channel rocks; Scully directs "X-Files"
25 April: Pets.com sues over sock puppet
On this date...
In 1979, Civil War-era crimefighters Jim West and
Artemus Gordon return in movie form ... albeit TV's "The
Wild, Wild West Revisited." Filmmaker Barry Sonnenfeld
immediately thinks of several ways he can ruin it with
his own version.
-- Tom Heald
On the wires:
(Stories open in a new window. Many links expire over time.)
About TV Barn | The TV Critic's Toolbox | Overnight ratings
Read other TV critics | Late-night lineups |
Kansas City TV/radio
TV Barn archives |
Send AB mail | The Kansas City Star
Copyright © 2000 Aaron Barnhart. Redistribution prohibited.
>>> Untitled
The latest edition of "Shakespearean studies" reveals a fascinating historic document, unearthed during the excavation of the Globe theater in London. I know this is a bit off topic, but I thought it might hold some interest.
"Thank you for attending this production of William Shakespeare's 'Hamlet' at the Globe Theater. In order to continue to please you, the playgoer, we would like to take this time to request your response to several aspects of the play you have just seen.
1. You have just seen a play by William Shakespeare. If the Globe stages future productions of Mr. Shakespeare's plays, which of the following statements best describes your feelings.
a. I would never under any circumstances, if you boiled me in oil and placed me on the rack, attend another play by Shakespeare.
b. I might attend another play.
For the following statements, say whether you strongly agree, agree, disagree, or strongly disagree:
2. The plot of the play was too complicated and confusing.
3. I liked the fact that the characters spoke in iambic pentameter.
4. These characters have values I can relate to.
5. I found the iambic pentameter to be confusing and hard to follow. It would be better if they spoke in prose.
6. I found the fact that everybody died in the end depressing.
7. I liked the fact that everybody died in the end. I wish that the few characters who did not die had also died.
8. The play was too violent.
9. This is a play that the whole family can enjoy.
10. I cared about what happened between Hamlet, the prince who dressed in black pretended to be crazy and stabbed the father of his girlfriend Ophelia, who was crazy, picked flowers and drowned herself, and his girlfriend Ophelia.
11. I found the number of characters confusing.
12. I found the mix of humor and serious situations to be entertaining.
13. I was disturbed that Hamlet, the prince who dressed in black pretended to be crazy and stabbed the father of his girlfriend Ophelia, seemed to have a problem with women.
14. I was offended that Hamlet was the hero and yet he kept killing people.
Rate the following characters on the qualities of friendliness, likability, and attractiveness:
a. Hamlet, the prince who wore black pretended to be crazy and stabbed the father of his girlfriend Ophelia.
b. Ophelia, Hamlet's girlfriend, who was crazy, picked flowers and drowned herself.
c. Claudius, the king who killed Hamlet's father and married his mother.
d. Gertrude, Hamlet's mother who married the king who killed Hamlet's father and married his mother.
e. Horatio, Hamlet's friend who dreamt of less things in his philosophy than there were in earth and heaven.
f. Osric
g. Polonius, Ophelia's father who paid the French people to spy on his son and was later stabbed by Hamlet
h. Laertes, who had a swordfight with Hamlet.
i. Fortinbras, the noble sexy Norwegian soldier who saved the day at the end of the play
If the following events occurred at the same time as a production of Hamlet, which would you prefer to see?
a. Ben Jonson's Volpone.
b. Hamlet
a. Thomas Kyd's Spanish Tragedy
b. Hamlet
a. John Ford's 'Tis Pity She's a Whore
b. Hamlet
a. Christopher Marlowe's Dr. Faustus
b. Hamlet
a. William Shakespeare's Merry Wives of Windsor
b. Hamlet
a. Bear baiting
b. Hamlet
a. Public execution of a filthy papist dog.
b. Hamlet
If William Shakespeare writes a play with the sexy, dashing Fortinbras who saved the day at the end of the play as the hero of Shakespeare's new play, which of the following statements is most true.
a. I would watch it unless there was a particularly gruesome execution on at the same time.
b. I would seek the play out.
c. I would not watch the play under any circumstances.
May the Globe contact you regarding future surveys?
a. Yes
b. You may not contact me under any circumstances.
Please provide the following information:
Name
Address
Hometown: ____ - on- ______
Guild:
Copyright ©1999 Carrie Pruett. Redistribution prohibited.
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Bubble of trouble
Beginning Monday, the six broadcast networks will present their fall schedules to advertisers in star-studded New York presentations. Once again TV Barn will be there as we learn which of the troubled teen dramas -- "Roswell," "Felicity," "Popular" -- the WB decides to renew; what NBC will do with its sagging hammock spot on Thursday and its onetime Saturday hit "The Pretender"; whether "Now and Again" will use John Goodman in its second season promos; how UPN intends to get even more testosterone into its bloodstream; how many nights of "Millionaire" ABC thinks America can stand; and whether Fox will make a weekly series out of "Challenge of the Child Geniuses."
Right now, here's what we know (with some added reporting from trade publications Electronic Media and Broadcasting & Cable):
About TV Barn | The TV Critic's Toolbox | Overnight ratings
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Copyright © 2000 Aaron Barnhart. Redistribution prohibited.
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Toronto's Ed the Sock, the original foul-mouthed TV sock puppet.
Sock wars
Unafraid of the scorching searchlight of public scrutiny -- unafraid that Americans will ask themselves, "If he's so funny, why is he still in Canada?" -- Ed the Sock has stepped forward and declared both the Pets.com Sock Puppet (aka "Crappy") and Robert Smigel's Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog to be uninspired ripoffs of himself.
"The Americans have tried to rip me off before," snorts Ed, a raunchy green sock who smokes a lit cigar, has a permanent scowl, and holds forth on Canada's CityTV and MuchMusic channels. "Ben Stiller's Skank character. MTV's lame-ass 'Sifl & Olly' ... I've been around more than a decade and I'll still be around and going strong when these two latest pretenders are being used to clean windows by indigent squeegee kids."
Ed the Sock is the brainchild of Steve Kerzner, who was managing a small cable system in Toronto in 1986 when a guest failed to show for a public-access program. Kerzner put on the sock and, being 19 years old at the time, had no trouble giving it an attitude. CityTV picked up Ed in 1994 and the sock's late-night celebrity has been growing ever since. "Ed's Smash or Trash" airs Thursdays on MuchMusic (Canadian version only, sad to say) and "Ed's Night Party" is on weekends. His show is also syndicated in Australia.
In January, a third cable network signed Kerzner to do a program with a familiar-sounding title: "Ed's True Hollywood Stories" on the Star! entertainment channel. He has his own merchandise line and a 5,000-member fan club. Earlier this year, Toronto's Globe & Mail named Ed one of the 40 most influential people in Canadian television: "Cheap and successful," they wrote. "The essential tenets of Canadian TV. A lesson to us all."
Ed appears to have two main specialties: nabbing interviews with bewildered celebrities -- everyone from Christine Aguilera to Regis Philbin and Drew Carey have chatted with him -- and pretending to get laid, which also includes talking about pretending to get laid. I'm in receipt of a recent telecast of Ed in a sex romp with a nude model. It's remarkably unfiltered, at least by U.S. basic cable standards. During his show, scantily-clad women are posted around the studio -- kind of like they are on Comedy Central's "The Man Show." Now I understand why young Canadian men enjoy Ed's show so much.
According to Ed, there's another reason people watch: "I don't rely on scripts to get me by. I'd like to see Triumph or the Pets.com guy handle a live broadcast during the Woodstock riots, never mind handling several hours of live TV every week."
So far no national U.S. outlet has offered to pick up Ed the Sock, but Kerzner said that's not for lack of trying. "Coincidentally, Smigel's Triumph dog appeared shortly after we submitted Ed to Conan O'Brien and were rejected." MTV's "Sifl & Olly" also premiered "shortly after MTV decided not to use Ed," said Kerzner. (The Ed the Sock Web site repeats these claims.)
"When the Yanks decide they'd like a puppet with real staying power and talent, they know where to find me. Their women already have. In the meantime, why not put these other two losers in a Celebrity Deathmatch with a dryer."
EARLIER: Pets.com sues over sock puppet
Pick To Click:
End of a Friday Institution
Next week ABC is expected to announce that its venerable teen-oriented "TGIF" franchise is no more. "Boy Meets World" already has been canceled and the night's biggest hit, "Sabrina the Teenage Witch," is heading to the WB.
To fill the void, Nickelodeon has announced that this fall it will extend its prime-time lineup to 10 p.m. on Fridays. But there's already serious competition for young eyeballs on that night: Cartoon Network's showcase of original cartoons, including "Dexter's Laboratory," "Johnny Bravo" and who-needs-Sabrina "Powerpuff Girls". The four-hour block, which starts at 7 p.m. on Cartoon Network, was the most-watched program in its time slot in April with viewers ages 2-11.
ALSO: If James Bond makes you seethe -- if you've always wanted to see the gender tables turned on 007 -- then don't miss "My Mother the Spy" (6 p.m. Sunday, Lifetime). This loopy cloak-and-dagger spoof stars Dyan Cannon and "Chicago Hope's" Jayne Brook as mother-and-daughter crime fighters for whom every Bond fantasy comes true.
The opening half hour is flat, as Cannon lamely tries to play the overbearing mom with Brook (they look more like sisters together). But once the spy-jinks begin in earnest, it's a hoot. With the ageless Gloria Stuart cast perfectly as the meddlesome grandma, this is an intergenerational "Charlie's Angels" with kick.
After it was over, I found myself rummaging through the press kit looking for David E. Kelley's name. It's nowhere to be seen, but the creator of "Ally McBeal," "Chicago Hope" and "Snoops" is plainly the inspiration behind this chick flick.
Previously on TV Barn:
11 May: Shows on "the bubble"
11 May: "Challenge of the Child Geniuses"
10 May: Time Warner fights back
9 May: BET's 20th; "Wing Commander"
8 May: "Millionaire" runs over; KCPT in HDTV
5 May: Triumph bites Pets.com; BET Arabesque
4 May: Here comes the O.J. miniseries
3 May: "Later" with Dick Wolf
2 May: Time Warner and ABC make up ... for now
1 May: Time Warner, ABC go to war; the V-chip (II); Dave returns to England
28 April: Reader mail: Pets.com-troversy, Fox News vs. the others, TV Barn spam
27 April: What happened to the V-chip; more on puppets
26 April: Fox News Channel rocks; Scully directs "X-Files"
25 April: Pets.com sues over sock puppet
The daily digest ... for May 12:
TNT edged out USA as the most-watched cable network last week, thanks to its coverage of the NBA playoffs. Three basketball games finished among cable's top 10 programs for the week of May 1 and boosted TNT to No. 2 (behind sister station TBS) in young adults, according to Nielsen numbers compiled by Turner ... Former "Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher" executive producer Scott Carter, now producing Candice Bergen's "Exhale" show on Oxygen, once told me that Maher's ultimate "PI" would be a tribute to Hugh Hefner's old Sixties show, "Playboy After Dark." You know, everybody sitting around poolside in silk PJ's, chatting cleverly. It's finally happening: Next week's broadcasts will originate from the Playboy Mansion and be modeled on "After Dark," according to ABC's press release. Hef, of course, will be among the many celebrity guests. Viewers may recall that Maher -- who considers Hef a personal hero -- had a special one-on-one edition of "PI" with Hefner three years ago ...
And congratulations to Webby winner Jim Romenesko, whose MediaNews.org site was the surprise winner in the News category at Thursday's Webbys gala in San Francisco. At least it was a surprise to Jim, a former police reporter in Milwaukee (see his book Death Log) who started doing MediaNews last year as a spinoff of his beloved Obscurestore.com site. Jim told me a few weeks ago he'd be "hiding under his bed" while the ceremony was going on. In fact, he watched part of the Webby ceremony Webcast from his Evanston, Ill., apartment before turning in; he gets up super-early to begin scouring the papers online. "Seeing what people wore out there, the fashions, the getups, I don't think I could ever go out there," he said.
On this date...
in 1987, this probably isn't what Nell Carter
really meant, but after six years of "Gimme A Break,"
NBC finally decides to give it a rest.
May 13: In 1991, it's celebrity time on a popular quiz
show. So "Murphy Brown" and the rest of the "FYI"
anchors prepare to take on Yale in a College Bowl type
show, but soon they learn how much they've forgotten
since their own campus days.
May 14: in 1997, who needs "Celebrity Deathmatch" when
you can watch Frank-N-Furter battle Peaches and Herb?
"The Drew Carey Show's" second season ends with not one,
but two, battling musical numbers in a dance-off to
determine whose midnight movie will be shown at the
local theater -- "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" or "The
Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert." Drew and
his curiously-costumed cronies are "doing the Time
Warp," while Mimi and her birds of a feather opt to
"Shake Your Groove Thing."
-- Tom Heald
On the wires:
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Upfronts start today
Reports: 'Sports Night' a goner, 'Frasier' moved
NEW YORK -- This is the week when the big six TV networks present their fall schedules to advertisers. TV Barn is here to cover all the pageantry and absurdity. Read my preview in Monday's Kansas City Star
As is traditional, NBC will begin this year's upfronts (named for the annual rite in which broadcasters sell out most of their commercial time for the upcoming season ... up ... front). The network has rented out the Metropolitan Opera House for this year's big gig. And if you think that's expensive, read how much money they had to pay to keep the "Friends" on their network.
How farfetched was it that NBC would actually drop "Friends" from its schedule? Perhaps about as much as ABC continuing to air the poor-performing "Sports Night." This weekend, a member of a "Sports Night" discussion list posted a message saying that she had e-mailed series creator Aaron Sorkin asking if it was true the show had been cancelled. This was the response she posted: "Sarah,
I'm sorry to report that it's true. Tommy [Schlamme] and I are absorbing the news for the moment, and we'll re-group tomorrow to discuss the future. In the meantime, don't miss Tuesday night's show."
ALSO:
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NBC raises the curtain
NEW YORK -- Any journalist wishing to use the word ``operatic'' these days is advised that New York City Mayor (and admitted opera buff) Rudy Giuliani pretty much has the exclusive hold on that term, at least while his life continues to imitate art.
But hey, NBC paid good money to rent out the Metropolitan Opera House on Monday, where it unveiled its fall schedule to advertisers and NBC affiliates. And there was quite a bit of high drama around the network last week, including a dramatic, down-to-the-wire negotiation with the cast of ``Friends'' and a frantic shuffling of the NBC lineup that left few shows untouched.
At any rate, NBC seemed determined to get its money's worth out of The Met, which boasts five balconies appointed in crushed velvet, chandeliers that rise impressively from mid-balcony level to the ceiling just before show time, and displays installed in every seat back that offering an understated way for operagoers to view English subtitles.
Read the blow-by-blow of NBC's upfront presentation here. Tom Heald's haiku poems on each of the new NBC shows is also there. And look for coverage of all six networks' upfronts right here, updated daily, all week.
ALSO: The full NBC schedule for 2000-01
EARLIER: Upfronts week begins; "Sports Night" reportedly cancelled
Changing of the guard at "Late Show"
You may have heard "Late Show" executive producer Rob Burnett announce on Monday's show, "I will be stepping down as former host of 'Campaign 2000' ... I'll be working for another network." In fact, Burnett is staying on as executive producer of "Late Show." But now it will be much more of a title than a job.
In an informative interview with TV Barn in the lobby of the Metropolitan Opera House on Monday -- shortly after the conclusion NBC's upfront presentation -- Burnett announced that, because he and former "Late Show" head writer Jon Beckerman now have a show on NBC called "Ed," he is turning day-to-day control of "Late Show" over to two longtime producers, Barbara Gaines and Maria Pope. Also in our conversation, Burnett and Beckerman talked about the way NBC promoted "Ed" in the upfront presentation -- and why CBS, the docking ship for Worldwide Pants, took a pass on the show last year.
Gaines has worked for David Letterman for 20 years: every morning show broadcast, every "Late Night" on NBC, every "Late Show" on CBS. Pope, who started as an NBC intern in 1982, has been there nearly as long. She's become known to "Late Show" viewers lately as the "popular host of 'Campaign 2000.'"
The politics of "Jesus"
Missed the first night of the "Jesus" miniseries on CBS? That's okay. It's not like you can't figure out what went on. (Though you may need to know this: Joseph died in the first act.) But aside from the novel efforts to retell The Greatest Story Ever Told, I was struck by the political subtext of "Jesus." I'm not even sure the program's producers were quite aware of the movie's anti-war message. Read my story in Sunday's Kansas City Star
Part two of "Jesus" airs 9 p.m. Wednesday on CBS.
Pick To Click:
Cautionary Tales
After last week's only-on-Fox special, ``Challenge of the Child Geniuses,''
it's only fair to show the other side of the coin. Oh sure, life is sweet now for Michael Jezierny, the 11-year-old lad who was declared ``the smartest kid in America'' (by Dick Clark, of all people). But measure thy steps, Michael, lest you wind up like the subjects of tonight's kiddie-star twinbill, ``Unauthorized: Brady Bunch, the Final Days'' and ``After Diff'rent Strokes: When the Laughter Stopped,'' beginning at 8 p.m. on Fox.
[ vf ]
In deference to the ever-shortening attention span of young viewers, Fox has
trimmed these Hollywood sob stories down to one hour apiece, thereby creating a
new TV genre: the ``mini-movie.'' The Brady hour features a raft of up-and-coming actors, including Ginger Kinison (niece of the late comedian Sam Kinison). As
for ``Diff'rent Strokes,'' possibly the most dysfunctional behind-the-scenes sitcom in history, the wonder is that Fox didn't dredge up enough material to fill
two hours.
Previously on TV Barn:
15 May: ABC tells affiliate: Don't air our show!
12 May: Ed the Sock
11 May: Shows on "the bubble"
11 May: "Challenge of the Child Geniuses"
10 May: Time Warner fights back
9 May: BET's 20th; "Wing Commander"
8 May: "Millionaire" runs over; KCPT in HDTV
5 May: Triumph bites Pets.com; BET Arabesque
4 May: Here comes the O.J. miniseries
3 May: "Later" with Dick Wolf
2 May: Time Warner and ABC make up ... for now
1 May: Time Warner, ABC go to war; the V-chip (II); Dave returns to England
28 April: Reader mail: Pets.com-troversy, Fox News vs. the others, TV Barn spam
27 April: What happened to the V-chip; more on puppets
26 April: Fox News Channel rocks; Scully directs "X-Files"
25 April: Pets.com sues over sock puppet
On this date ...
in 1985, "Dynasty's" Carringtons trek off to Moldavia for the
wedding of Amanda and Prince Michael. The season cliffhanger? Armed
revolutionaries burst in shooting everyone. When the fall season begins, all
is well as it turns out that the terrorists just had really bad aim.
-- Tom Heald
On the wires:
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I looked it up and this project has been on your plate for four years. How do you feel now that it's finally coming to fruition?
RB: Well, we're thrilled, because we're just six months away from syndication. We've been doing other things during this time, y'know. It's not like we were just doing "Ed." But first it was a half hour in '96. Then the executive producer of the "Late Show" left. So Jon and I had to put it away and came back for a year and then we really went full-fledged for a year with CBS. And this year -- it's better to be picked up than not picked up. Don't you agree?
JB: Yeah. And there are plenty of networks we've not been at with this project -- WB, ABC. So there are plenty of opportunities.
Me: What do you suppose made it appealing to NBC that it didn't to CBS? Or was this just a case of "right show, wrong network"?
JB: I think it was, yeah. I mean, CBS people were always positive about the project. But I think Dave, and Les was really enthusiastic about the script. There were a lot of fans of the project. But I think the general impression was that this wasn't really a CBS show. And quite honestly, I think this pilot is better than the CBS pilot was, and that's partially due to the contributions of the development people at NBC and -- I'm seriously not kissing ass, but they were very helpful and attentive to the project. Really seemed interested in helping it along to this moment.
AB: Now you're a veteran of promos. You're a veteran of mocking and satirizing promos. You saw the promo up there telling advertisers and affiliates about "Ed." What isn't in that promo?
RB: We give away a million dollars every episode. I can't believe they left that out. That was kind of the hook. In fact, we were off the schedule until we agreed to go ahead and give away -- see, in the middle of the show there's this dramatic lighting and boom boom!
JB: And Ed is played by Regis Philbin.
AB: But seriously, I'm not sure this promo --
RB: Some shows are easier to capture in that format than others, and our show is a little harder to capture in a 3-minute cutdown. I think if you're doing a sitcom where here's a joke, here's a joke, here's a joke -- our show is much more about a mood and a feeling. It gets very dramatic at times. It hopefully gets funny at times. Y'know, they did a fine job putting that together but it's hard to really get a sense of what we're up to.
AB: Now, in practical terms you've had to give up being the host of "Campaign 2000." Professionally, how are you going to manage this?
RB: We're producing the show in New York and Jon and I will run the show. So ... we will make some changes at the "Late Show." Barbara Gaines and Maria Pope will be promoted to executive producers. As far as the other Worldwide Pants shows, they're pretty much taking care of themselves. We'll continue to look after them. The biggest one for now that will need the most attention is the new one, tentatively -- well, we don't have a title (for the Jim Gaffigan comedy, loosely based on Dave Letterman's career, picked up by CBS). But Jon and I will be devoting our full attention to "Ed."
AB: I remember you told me four years ago how Dave had asked you to please shepherd the show for a year with Morty gone, and then you could return to chase your dreams. How are you managing this and staying captain of the "Late Show" ship?
RB: I don't think I will be the captain of the "Late Show" ship. They (Maria and Gaines) will absolutely be running it. They together have 37 years of experience. They'll do a fantastic job. They ran it for seven weeks while Jon and I were in Vancouver and then editing in Los Angeles. This will not be a problem; if anything things will only get better. My last day will be Friday ... Dave's really excited about it. He's always been very selfless when it comes to our careers. He let me go in 1995 to work with Bonnie Hunt when I was the head writer (on "Late Show"). He's never stood in our way.
JB: I've yet to meet him. But yeah, I've heard that.
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Postcards from New York
TV Barn is here all week covering the fall season ``upfront'' announcements by the major networks. In addition to my reports on each network's new lineup, I'm writing ``postcards from New York'' describing the atmosphere of each of the gala upfront presentations. They're linked below for your convenience. Also, don't forget I'm doing blow-by-blow accounts of each upfront exclusively for the TV Barn Web site.
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About TV Barn | The TV Critic's Toolbox | Overnight ratings
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Postcards from New York
TV Barn is here all week covering the fall season ``upfront'' announcements by the major networks. In addition to my reports on each network's new lineup, I'm writing ``postcards from New York'' describing the atmosphere of each of the gala upfront presentations. They're linked below for your convenience. Also, don't forget I'm doing blow-by-blow accounts of each upfront exclusively for the TV Barn Web site.
About TV Barn | The TV Critic's Toolbox | Overnight ratings
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Postcards from New York
TV Barn is here all week covering the fall season ``upfront'' announcements by the major networks. In addition to my reports on each network's new lineup, I'm writing ``postcards from New York'' describing the atmosphere of each of the gala upfront presentations. They're linked below for your convenience. Also, don't forget I'm doing blow-by-blow accounts of each upfront exclusively for the TV Barn Web site.
About TV Barn | The TV Critic's Toolbox | Overnight ratings
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>>> Aaron Barnhart's TVBARN.COM
Here it is -- the way television will look in the fall of 2000. Well, at least until "Schimmel" is cancelled. For the next few weeks, advertisers will be buying commercial time in the 2000-01 season, placing bets on how well they think "Dharma" will do against "Frasier" on Tuesdays, or "Fearsum" will fare versus "Fugitive" and "Freedom" on Fridays. Here are other matchups they (and eventually we) will be looking at:"Futurama" vs. "The PJ's" (6 p.m. Sunday). Two animated series that used to be sidekicks on Fox are now pitted in a Sunday-night grudge match. Celebrity sitcoms "Geena" vs. "DAG" (8:30 Tuesday). Geena Davis is trying to be the next Dharma as a woman in a whirlwind romance. David Alan Grier is trying to be the next Leslie Nielsen as a bumbling Secret Service agent. Neither wants to become the next Mike O'Malley. "Angel" vs. "Dark Angel" (8 p.m. Tuesday). The hunky David Boreanaz may have met his match in Jessica Alba, a stunning beauty who stars in the futuristic drama from "Titanic" director James Cameron. Wednesday "Millionaire" vs. everybody (7 p.m. Wednesday). No fewer than six new shows are competing in this time period, including sitcoms with Bette Midler, John Goodman and Robert Schimmel, the Aaron Spelling soap "Titans" -- and the fourth hour of Regis Philbin. This could get ugly fast. "City of Angels" vs. everybody (8 p.m. Thursday). CBS thinks the time period that killed off "Chicago Hope" is perfect for its other medical drama because of "City's" appeal to black viewers. "The District" vs. nobody (9 p.m. Saturday). Bad news: The promising Craig T. Nelson drama is stuck on TV's least-watched night. Good news: Thanks to movies on other networks, it's the only 9 p.m. network show. And remember: Saturdays were once good to "Touched by an Angel." SUNDAY 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30 10:00 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ABC | Disney | Millionaire | Practice | CBS | 60 Minutes | Touched by Angel | CBS Sunday Movie | NBC | Dateline | ED | NBC Sunday Movie | Fox | Futurama| KingHill| Simpsons| Malcolm | X-Files | xxxxxxxx | WB | THE PJ'S| J Foxx | S Harvey| 4YrLove | HYPE | NIKKI | xxxxxxxx | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MONDAY 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30 10:00 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ABC | 20/20 Downtown | NFL (Once & Again in Jan.; NYPD Tues nights)| CBS | KingQueens | YES, DEAR | Raymond | Becker | Family Law | NBC | Daddio | 3rd Rock | DEADLINE | Third Watch | Fox | BOSTON PUBLIC | Ally McBeal | xxxxxxxx | WB | 7th Heaven | Roswell | xxxxxxxx | UPN | Moesha | Parkers | HUGHLEYS | GIRLFRIENDS | xxxxxxxx | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TUES 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30 10:00 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ABC | Millionaire | Dharma&Greg| GEENA | Once & Again | CBS | JAG | 60 Minutes II | Judging Amy | NBC | M RICHARDS | TUCKER | Frasier | DAG | Dateline NBC | Fox | 70s Show | Titus | DARK ANGEL | xxxxxxxxx | WB | Buffy | Angel | xxxxxxxxx | UPN | Movie | xxxxxxxxx | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WEDS 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30 10:00 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ABC | MILLIONAIRE | Drew Carey | Spin City | GIDEON'S CROSSING | CBS | BETTE | GAFFIGAN/NY| Movie | NBC | TITANS | West Wing | Law & Order | Fox | DON'T ASK | SCHIMMEL | THE $TREET | xxxxxxxxx | WB | Dawson's Creek | Felicity/Jack & Jill | xxxxxxxxx | UPN | 7 Days | Star Trek Voyager | xxxxxxxxx | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- THURS 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30 10:00 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ABC | Whose Line | Whose Line | Millionaire | PRIMETIME THURS. | CBS | 48 Hours | City of Angels | Diagnosis Murder | NBC | Friends | S. WEBER | WillGrace | JustShootMe| ER | Fox | Movie (new series in Jan.) | xxxxxxxxx | WB | GILMORE GIRLS | Charmed | xxxxxxxxx | UPN | WWF Smackdown! | xxxxxxxxx | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FRIDAY 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30 10:00 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ABC | 2Guys&Girl | FEAR PEOPLE| Norm | MADIGANMEN | 20/20 | CBS | THE FUGITIVE | C.S.I. | Nash Bridges | NBC | Providence | Dateline NBC | L&O S.V.U. | Fox | FEARSUM | NIGHT VISIONS | xxxxxxxxx | WB | Sabrina | GROSSE PT. | Popular | xxxxxxxxx | UPN | FREEDOM | LEVEL 9 | xxxxxxxxx | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SAT 8:00 9:00 10:00 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ABC | Movie | CBS | THAT'S LIFE | Walker | THE DISTRICT | NBC | Movie | Fox | Cops x 2 | AMW | xxxxxxxx | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The new look I've grown steadily dissatisfied with the cluttered appearance of this page. So over the weekend I made some design changes that will reduce the clutter and, yes, get rid of the background colors. (Thank you for all your e-mail.) Also, I eliminated the Daily Digest -- but look for more shorter items on TV Barn. TV Barn has recently changed Web-hosting sites. We're at Hurricane Electric now. Tell me if you notice any improvements in speed.
- Huge NBC numbers Thurs.; Regis whomped
- "70's Show" confronts pot use (finally)
- Advertisers see no big fall hits
- Ving Rhames to play Johnnie Cochran in CBS pic
- More stories on the wires
Here we go again!
No sooner did ABC grudgingly patch up its differences with Time Warner Cable late last week than CBS chief Mel Karmazin announced he was going to use his network's retransmission agreement talks to muscle more MTV channels onto the nation's cable systems. Whether Karmazin is willing to go as far as ABC and Hearst (the latter still doesn't have a deal with Time Warner or Comcast) is unclear. But he told Multichannel News he has no intention of getting into a highly-publicized butter battle with any cable company. That said, he added it was a shame that MTV's all-music spinoff channel MTV2 was only seen in about 12 million homes, mostly via satellite. But MTV2 is just the tip. In 1998 MTV launched "The Suite," a gaggle of cable channels you've likely never seen. They're up on a transponder somewhere, piped through the MTV offices and maybe a few million homes. The Suite includes MTV "S" (Spanish-language videos), MTV "X" (hard rock and heavy metal), Nick GAS (games and sports), NICK Too, NOGGIN (educational), VH1 Soul, VH1 Country and VH1 Smooth (new age). Karmazin would love to get at least some of those specialty channels in your home. On the other hand, cable doesn't want to cede too much competitive advantage to satellite companies. CBS said Friday it had a new deal with dish provider DirecTV to carry the CBS-owned stations -- in exchange for greater carriage of the MTV networks. RELATED:
Time Warner does long-term deal with NBC AT&T Cable re-upped last year w/MTV Karmazin: "The most dynamic collection of branded entertainment networks in the industry"
Jessica Alba is the alluring star of "Dark Angel," from "Titanic" director James Cameron. (Fox Photo) Fall TV schedule is time well spent If one axiom held true during the TV networks' annual unveiling of their fall schedules last week, it was that sometimes you've got to spend money to make money. And we're not just talking about the decision by ABC to expand "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" to a fourth night. On nearly every network, the trend was toward forking over big bucks for new TV series with spectacular production values and big-name Hollywood talent. Meanwhile, the low-rent staples of recent years -- reality specials, game shows not named "Millionaire" and newsmagazines -- will be much less of a presence in the fall. The pilot episode of "The Fugitive," based on the 1960s TV series, cost a cool $6 million to make. And neither James Cameron, the "Titanic" director who's behind the new Fox series "Dark Angel," nor Joel Silver, whose 1999 hit "The Matrix" was the inspiration for his new UPN series "Freedom," appear to have spared any expense with their pilots. (continued)
- Networks have Regis envy
- THE COMPLETE FALL GRID with commentary
- Variety's version of the grid
- POSTCARD: It's not HBO; it's Fox
- BLOW-BY-BLOW: The Fox upfront (coming soon)
- BLOW-BY-BLOW: The CBS upfront with CBS new series haiku
- BLOW-BY-BLOW: The WB upfront (coming soon)
- Fox, UPN announce fall schedules
- POSTCARD: "Jesus wants a million bucks an episode"
- BLOW-BY-BLOW: The ABC Upfront with ABC new series haiku
- CBS: "City of Angels" spared; weekend shakeup
- NBC: Gotta have "Friends"
- ABC and WB: Sticking to what worked before
- POSTCARD: NBC's day at the opera
- POSTCARD: ABC feels like a million bucks
- BLOW-BY-BLOW: The NBC Upfront with NBC new series haiku
- "The Lathe of Heaven"
- Changing of the guard at "Late Show"
- The politics of "Jesus"
- ABC tells affiliate: Don't air our show!
- Ed the Sock challenges Triumph, Pets.com
- Shows on "the bubble"
- "Challenge of the Child Geniuses"
- Time Warner fights back
- BET's 20th birthday bash
- "Millionaire" runneth over
- KCPT airs first DTV production
- Triumph bites Pets.com
- BET Arabesque films
- Gay kiss on "Dawson's" finale
- Cable TV still scarce in Japan
- Not easy bringing back "Lathe of Heaven"
- Networks scoring big this sweep
- "Millionaire" wins Daytime Emmy; Regis doesn't
- 20th has most shows on fall sked
- Diller to buy, gut Trio and Newsworld channels
- Appeals court gives FCC some teeth back
- ... but shouldn't affect AT&T/MediaOne merger
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>>> Aaron Barnhart's TVBARN.COMIn another attempt to keep viewers from switching away, both ABC and WB are experimenting with "no-repeat" time periods where new episodes will air nearly every week all season -- even though that means spending millions more than on a standard time slot. Though TV critics only got to see a few minutes of each new network series last week, it was clear that the networks' investments have a chance of paying off. "Dark Angel," which takes place in a post-apocalyptic Seattle, dazzled with its frenetic action and elaborate sets. "The Fugitive" looks as exciting as the movie with Harrison Ford. (The same people behind the 1992 film are behind the CBS show.) It's less certain whether NBC was wise to cancel two hours of its inexpensive newsmagazine "Dateline" in favor of dramas. Dick Wolf, who already oversees two hours of "Law & Order" for NBC, was asked to create "Deadline," starring Oliver Platt as a cross between Jimmy Breslin and Lt. Columbo. "Deadline," however, will occupy a tough time period on Mondays, against "Ally McBeal," "Everybody Loves Raymond" and football. On Wednesdays, NBC has scheduled yet another Aaron Spelling soap opera featuring glamorous people in impossibly upscale digs. But "Titans" is going against not only Regis Philbin and "Millionaire" but Bette Midler's new comedy on CBS (which presumably also shelled out serious moolah to lure Midler to network TV). So who's footing the bill for all this new entertainment? The advertisers. This season all four major networks made money, something that hasn't happened in years. Viewership for network TV stabilized this season, ending the steady decline of recent years. And with the economy still cruising along, the networks are expected to hike their advertising rates by at least 10 percent and be profitable once more. Here's what else to watch for in the 2000-01 schedule: To return to the last page:
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- "Gideon's Crossing." After years of airing a newsmagazine Wednesday nights at 9, ABC will gamble the time period with yet another medical drama. This one, however, stars Andre Braugher, whose presence helped carry "Homicide" through several ratings-troubled seasons on NBC. Still, it will not be easy for Braugher to convince audience he's no longer the moody, enigmatic Lt. Pembleton but a warm, charismatic doctor who only speaks words of encouragement. If Pembleton ever met such a fellow, he'd immediately suspect the worst of him.
- The return of Kramer. "The Michael Richards Project" was long on physical humor and short on dialogue when NBC showed a short preview clip in its presentation last week. Enjoyable as it was to see the old "Seinfeld" star clowning around on screen, I realized that on "Seinfeld," Kramer was usually administered in small doses.
- The return of Dan Conner. On the other hand, "Don't Ask," with John Goodman as a recently-outed gay dad sharing his house with Anthony LaPaglia and several kids, showed promise. Fox at least bothered to round up an ensemble to support Goodman, which is more than could be said of Richards and NBC.
- A sure "Bette"? CBS couldn't have given Bette Midler a worse time slot for her self-styled comedy. She'll be on Wednesdays, where CBS hasn't had any luck with sitcoms lately, and she'll be up against "Millionaire." But at least Midler won't lose for lack of trying: A preview reel showed that "Bette" will exuberantly lampoon the Midler persona, with the Divine Miss M shamelessly leading the way. In one scene that got huge laughs, Midler's teenage daughter introduces her new boyfriend, who gushes that he has all of Midler's records and movies. Sotto voce, Midler tells the girl, "He's gay."
- "Daddio" -- or is that "Duddio"? Nearly every other network took potshots last week at NBC's decision to bring back its midseason family comedy "Daddio" and put it in the challenging 8 p.m. Monday time slot. "They had so much faith in `Daddio' that they pulled it off in May," cracked CBS president Leslie Moonves. "3rd Rock from the Sun" follows at 8:30 p.m., but look for it to move up half an hour, or even air in both time slots, should "Daddio" falter.
- The WB's "romantic Wednesdays." In an attempt to shore up two struggling shows, the WB network has scheduled both "Felicity" and "Jack and Jill" for the same time period (9 p.m. Wednesday). By dividing the season into thirds, the network hopes to keep young viewers hooked through these lookalike shows that both feature love triangles and early 20-ish leads. An 11-episode "Felicity" story arc will be followed by a 13-episode season of "Jack and Jill" and a concluding 11-week arc of "Felicity."
- The "ABC time-sharing plan," as ABC executives jokingly called it, takes much the same tack on Tuesdays at 9, but with two very different programs. "Once & Again" will occupy the time slot until January before moving to Monday nights. Then "NYPD Blue" will return and, as it did this season, air 22 episodes without a repeat.
- And of course, the fourth "Millionaire." A big part of the fall strategy for every network other than ABC is that Regis and his game show run out of steam -- soon. "We can't worry about `Millionaire' and we won't worry about 'Millionaire,' " asserted Fox TV head Sandy Grushow. "There's still plenty of audience to go around."
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E-mail Barnhart | About TV BarnCopyright this by John Zipperer One might think that a country as hyper market-oriented as the United States would have sounder trademark and copyright laws than it does. But then, one might think the same thing about patent laws, but Amazon.com's successful attempts to patent business practices have disillusioned more than a few. The fact is, people who enjoy "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" or "Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles" so much that they write stories based on the characters or paint/draw/sculpt scenes from the series--and then want to share those creations with other fans--are at the mercy of studios jealous to protect their copyrighted material. And if one critic is right, it's more than just a little fan idealism that's getting tramped on. In an intriguing online article, Henry Jenkins, director of the Program in Comparative Media Studies at MIT, charges that our culture is being stolen from us by the attempts by media corporations to fully control their creations. With every move by studios to shut down "Buffy" or other SF TV fan Web sites, the creative fans are denied an opportunity to participate in the popular culture. "These fans are also shock troops in a struggle that will define the digital age," writes Jenkins. These efforts to make people act like well-behaved consumers makes enjoying a science fiction tale about as joyful as a visit to your Grandma who's been collecting glass figurines for a few too-many years; there are many things you can look at but not touch. Behave. (continued)
- Feminists stick it to Fox
- Rothenberg: Is Time Warner trying to break up AOL marriage?
- Milton Berle sues NBC for $30 mil
- CBS ekes out Monday win
- More stories on the wires
- BLOW-BY-BLOW: The Fox upfront with Fox new series haiku
- Networks have Regis envy
- THE COMPLETE FALL GRID with commentary
- Variety's version of the grid
- POSTCARD: It's not HBO; it's Fox
- BLOW-BY-BLOW: The CBS upfront with CBS new series haiku
- BLOW-BY-BLOW: The WB upfront (coming soon)
- Fox, UPN announce fall schedules
- POSTCARD: "Jesus wants a million bucks an episode"
- BLOW-BY-BLOW: The ABC Upfront with ABC new series haiku
- CBS: "City of Angels" spared; weekend shakeup
- NBC: Gotta have "Friends"
- ABC and WB: Sticking to what worked before
- POSTCARD: NBC's day at the opera
- POSTCARD: ABC feels like a million bucks
- BLOW-BY-BLOW: The NBC Upfront with NBC new series haiku
When has personal embarrassment or regard for his viewers' taste ever stopped Canadian funnyman Tom Green? Bear that rhetorical question in mind before you tune in "The Tom Green Cancer Special" (10 p.m., MTV) The Pepsi pitchman and star of the new stupid-human-tricks movie "Road Trip" was recently treated for testicular cancer. Naturally, he brought the cameras along for his treatment sessions. MTV promises that some scenes in tonight's special will be "outrageously weird." In other words, look for Green to be his normal self. Also tonight: Gore defender Al Franken and former Nixon aide Ben Stein purport to square off in a wiseacre version of ``Crossfire'' on "Turn Ben Stein On" (10 p.m., Comedy Central).
- CBS and cable: Here we go again! (5/22/00)
- "The Lathe of Heaven" (5/18/00)
- Changing of the guard at "Late Show" (5/16/00)
- "Talk Soup" host is out
- Fox Family prez out
- Supreme Court rules in scrambled-porn case
- BBC America host jailed for fake cancer claim
- Weekend ratings highlights from Mediaweek
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E-mail Barnhart | About TV BarnIs Time Warner trying to 86 the AOL merger? It seems preposterous that Time Warner executives would want to call off their impending nuptials to America Online. Yet with a little imagination, it's not hard to see some recent high-profile company blunders as internal attempts to sabotage the deal. The theory is floated this week by Advertising Age columnist Randall Rothenberg: "It doesn't take a genius to see that what looked in early January like an interesting deal for Time Warner shareholders today, in May, appears to be tarnished hornswaggle." Rothenberg argues that the market is telling Time Warner what it thinks of its partner-to-be. AOL's stock, after all, is plummeting, while Time Warner's stock, the one that's supposed to go away after the merger, has soared in value. So maybe Time Warner Cable's recent foolhardy attempt to block Disney from its cable systems wasn't so foolhardy, Rothenberg reasons, if the result is that the Feds block the AOL deal. And there was still more fishy behavior observed this week. The New York Times reported Wednesday that employees of Time Warner Cable in Houston were asked in a company flyer to call Southwestern Bell and order high-speed DSL Internet service. This way, Time Warner (which already has its high-speed Road Runner service deployed in Houston) could learn where the Baby Bell was and wasn't a competitive threat. Naturally, the flyer instructed employees to cancel the service immediately after ordering it. Southwestern Bell has complained to the government. (Click here to read the Times story if you're a registered user.) In a way, the Houston caper is even more pernicious than the ABC cable cutoff because (a) Southwestern Bell was the unsuspecting prey instead of a knowing combatant like ABC, and (b) this involves the Internet, which is AOL's bailiwick and the key concern of those who wanted the AOL-Time Warner merger blocked. As the watchdogs at FAIR remind us, AOL has been known to play fast and loose with the public trust in pursuit of competitive advantage, too. Specifically, it had to cancel a planned sale of its subscriber lists to telemarketers in 1997 after angry customers pointed out that AOL had promised to protect their privacy. All of which leads Rothenberg to wonder if Time Warner CEO Gerald Levin is having seller's remorse, as evidenced by these recent goofups by its cable division: "A sane CEO doesn't do stuff like that, except for a purpose. And there can only be one reason, really: to stop the deal." SBC sues Time Warner over Houston problem
- BET chairman to launch airline
- Fox sues TheStreet.com over self-cancellation
- Surprise! CBS, Paramount TV divisions merge
- ABC will win season in all categories
- More stories on the wires
Last "Spin City" for Michael J. Fox "Friends" versus "Millionaire" in Wednesday showdown Fox tonight: When Reality Specials Attack
- COMPLETE COVERAGE: The 2000 Upfronts
- "Schimmel" yanked from Fox schedule
- CBS and cable: Here we go again! (5/22/00)
- "The Lathe of Heaven" (5/18/00)
- Changing of the guard at "Late Show" (5/16/00)
- More media co's do deals with TiVo
- Arthur Penn, other heavies join "Law & Order"
- ABC wins Tuesday
- Feminists stick it to Fox
- Still more sponsors bailing on "Dr. Laura"
- CBS confirms "Falcone" summer run
- Will EchoStar cut off local signals?
- Milton Berle sues NBC for $30 mil
- CBS ekes out Monday win
- Once again, Koppel won't go to conventions
- "Fugitive" TV show doing brisk business overseas
- Fox Family prez out
- At "Spin," mantle passes to Charlie Sheen
- "Talk Soup" host is out
- Supreme Court rules in scrambled-porn case
- BBC America host jailed for fake cancer claim
- Weekend ratings highlights from Mediaweek
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- Fox hires new entertainment chief
- Bugsy's safe joins Capone's vault in live-TV infamy
- Still more "Tales of the City" to Showtime
- Finally! A cable standard for digital TV
- More stories on the wires
"The future, Conan?" Andy Richter wants to team up with "Late Night" alums on a TV show or movie. (NBC Photo: James Sorenson) What next for Andy Richter? TV Barn reader Chantale Vandecruys writes, "A friend of mine told me that Andy Richter was leaving Conan O'Brien. Is this true? Is it permanent? This disturbs me! Why on earth would he be leaving?" The answers are: yes, yes, and for good reason. In an interview conducted last week at his NBC office, Richter talked about his desire to start his own sketch comedy show or make a movie. At heart, the Yorkville, Ill., native considers himself an improvisational comic. His instincts are to do collaborative work, and some of his best-known "trademark" bits on "Late Night" -- the "Andi" talk show spoof or "Lakewood," his gay soap opera -- were in fact suggested by other writers on the show, then developed by Richter and others. "I need collaboration -- and also I love collaboration," Richter said. "I mean, I don't understand being a standup comedian. I don't understand being a novelist. Both of those seem so terribly lonely to me I can't imagine doing either one. So i like to keep people around me." To that end, Richter told TV Barn that he definitely wants to team up with former "Late Night" writer Tommy Blaha (currently in Vince McMahon's employ at the WWF), and maybe some other alumni of the show. But for now, all Richter wants is some time off. Read my story in Thursday's Kansas City Star
Tom Green, rehearsing his MTV "Cancer Special." (Tomgreen.com Photo) "Watching Tom Green's cancer special, I was reminded that humor has always been used as a tool for dealing with difficult personal issues. Julia Sweeney's movie, 'And God Said Ha' is a brilliant example of some very funny stories combined with thoughtful reflections upon her own mortality when she was diagnosed with cancer. But Tom Green seems unable to truly reflect on his disease in front of the cameras. At one point, he excuses his antics in the hospital by saying that it helps him to deal with the situation. It appears, however, to more a way that stops him from truly taking his cancer seriously. "I am sure that some will say what an important public service Green performed to bring the serious subject of testicular cancer to a level which the youth and young adult population could understand. I don't think so, the attitude of show continues to be so irreverent that it is impossible to be a vehicle to convey useful information or facts. Could anyone observe how to perform a testicular self-exam from watching a video of naked man, with the area to be examined blurred out and Tom Green's face only inches away? Perhaps a third-party interviewer (like one of the MTV news anchors) could have provided a more substantial tone to the show. "One certainly wishes Green well on his recovery. There were funny moments in the show, but MTV should have asserted more control of this project to help it raise awareness of the cancer threat. Instead it seemed we just had another excuse for Green to jump in front of the camera." -- Todd Elkins "The Tom Green Cancer Special" will repeat often on MTV, including 4:30 and 9 p.m. Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday and 10 p.m. Sunday.Besides the two superstars, several little-known but extraordinary black Americans are also honored. Among them: the Rev. W.C. and Donna Martin of Shelbyville, Tex. (pictured), who not only adopted several orphaned and foster children on their own, but inspired dozens of other families in their church to do the same. The telecast opens with a stirring number by Hezekiah Walker and the Love Fellowship Crusade Choir. Other performing acts include Erykah Badu, Christina Aguilera and Patti LaBelle. (Click here to watch the live Webcast Thursday night.) Also, FX's minimalist magazine for guys, "The X Show" (11 p.m. weeknights), airs its 200th episode Thursday with special guest Ray Park (aka Darth Maul).
- COMPLETE COVERAGE: The 2000 Upfronts
- Is Time Warner trying to undermine AOL deal? (5/24/00)
- When copyright lawyers attack, fandom suffers (5/23/00)
- "Schimmel" yanked from Fox schedule (5/23/00)
- CBS and cable: Here we go again! (5/22/00)
- "The Lathe of Heaven" (5/18/00)
- Changing of the guard at "Late Show" (5/16/00)
- Lucky couple: He's on "West Wing," she's on "Malcolm"
- ABC insiders nervous over Jennings special on Jesus
- ESPN's Jimmy Roberts to NBC
- NBC announces summer lineup
- Crass anti-union ad gets execs fired
- BET chairman to launch airline
- Fox sues TheStreet.com over self-cancellation
- Surprise! CBS, Paramount TV divisions merge
- ABC will win season in all categories
- More media co's do deals with TiVo
- Arthur Penn, other heavies join "Law & Order"
- ABC wins Tuesday
- Feminists stick it to Fox
- Still more sponsors bailing on "Dr. Laura"
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>>> Aaron Barnhart's TVBARN.COMNBC FIRES UP SIZZLING SUMMER SCHEDULE WITH MORE HOURS OF FIRST-RUN ENTERTAINMENT, NEWS AND SPORTS PROGRAMMING Network Takes Aggressive Approach to Summer with Nearly 150 Hours of Original Programs Across the Board Prior to 2000 Summer Olympics 'Law & Order' Added to Monday Nights, Premieres of New Series 'M.Y.O.B' and David Spade's 'Sammy,' 'Saturday Night Movies' Begin May 27 Even as NBC recently announced its fall primetime schedule, the network served notice that it will remain a full-service broadcaster into and through the summer offering a wide spectrum of entertainment, news and sports programming. In the warmer months ahead, the network will also telecast an increased number of hours of first-run programming prior to the Olympic Games from Sydney, Australia. NBC's Entertainment, News and Sports Divisions will provide close to 150 hours of original programming between the conclusion of the May sweep period and the opening ceremonies of the 2000 Summer Olympics on September 15 (which itself will include 162 1/2 hours of network coverage and a total of 441 1/2 hours including MSNBC and CNBC). In addition, early summer primetime programming on NBC includes an extra night of the network's "Law & Order" beginning on Monday, May 29 (9-10 p.m. ET), the series premieres of two new comedies -- "M.Y.O.B." on June 6 and "Sammy" (starring David Spade of NBC's "Just Shoot Me") on July 25, and theatrical movies including "Timecop," "Little Giants" and "I.Q." on a revamped Saturday night lineup (which also includes original episodes of "World's Most Amazing Videos"). "We intend to be as aggressive as possible this summer in broadcasting a wide range of entertainment, news and sports, and in so doing, offer more original programming than in the past," said Garth Ancier, President, NBC Entertainment. "Depending on the length of the NBA Playoffs, we hope to provide some first-run programs on all but about a dozen nights during the 17 weeks between the May sweep and the start of the Olympics." Ancier added: "Of course, we will continue to present episodes of the most repeatable series on television, including 'Friends,' 'Frasier' and 'Will & Grace,' which historically attract a higher rating with repeats than many first-run comedies on other networks. And we are pleased to have 'Law & Order' now on both Monday and Wednesday nights." Other original programming includes: -- The recently announced "Macy's Fourth of July Fireworks Spectacular," a one-hour pyrotechnic event with celebrity guests to be broadcast live from New York City (9-10 p.m. ET) on July 4 -- Top-rated "Dateline NBC" will remain in production throughout the summer and continue to offer regularly scheduled broadcasts on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays during most weeks -- Following its telecasts of the Eastern and Western Conference Finals, NBC will present exclusive live coverage of the NBA Finals in early June -- The Major League All-Star Baseball Game on July 11 -- NBC News presents coverage of the Republican and Democratic National Conventions as the countdown to Election Day begins (broadcast details to be announced later) -- The U.S. Olympic Trials in track-and-field as well as the U.S Gymnastic Championships in July and the U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Gymnastics in August prior to the Games of the XXVII Olympiad in Sydney On Tuesday, June 6 (9:30-10 p.m. ET), NBC premieres "M.Y.O.B.," a new comedy from celebrated filmmaker Don Roos ("Single White Female," "The Opposite of Sex") and television producer Ann Donahue ("High Incident," "Murder One") who deliver an edgy, single-camera comedy that transcends the traditional sitcom format. Katharine Towne ("But I'm a Cheerleader") and Lauren Graham ("One True Thing") headline the series. Later on Tuesday, July 25 (8:30-9 p.m. ET), the father-and-son relationship is given a whole new twist in the premiere of "Sammy" (Tuesdays, 8:30-9 p.m. ET), the new animated comedy created and executive produced by comedian David Spade (NBC's "Just Shoot Me") and Drake Sather ("NewsRadio"). The series, loosely based on Spade's unusual relationship with his real-life father, features Spade voicing the two lead characters of father and son. The cast also includes Harland Williams ("Rocket Man"), Bob Odenkirk ("Mr. Show"), Maura Tierney (NBC's "ER," "NewsRadio"), Andy Dick ("NewsRadio") and David Cross ("Mr. Show") in a variety of roles. Janeane Garofalo ("The Larry Sanders Show") also guest stars. Spade and Sather are executive producers and writers. Brad Grey (NBC's "NewsRadio" and "Just Shoot Me") and Marc Gurvitz ("Politically Incorrect") are also executive producers, along with Richard Raynis ("The Simpsons"), executive producer for the animation arm of Columbia TriStar Television. The series is from NBC Studios and Brad Grey Television. New episodes of "Suddenly Susan" (8-8:30 p.m. ET) and "Veronica's Closet" (8:30-9 p.m. ET) will be broadcast beginning Tuesday, June 6, and the series finale of "Jesse" will be broadcast on Thursday, May 25 (9:30-10 p.m. ET) following an original "Jesse" airing from 8:30-9 p.m. ET that night. Following are some of the summer changes to NBC's primetime schedule (all times ET): MONDAYS To return to the last page:
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(Beginning May 29)
8-9 p.m. "Dateline NBC"
9-10 p.m. "Law & Order"
10-11 p.m. "Third Watch" TUESDAYS
(Beginning June 6)
8-8:30 p.m. "Suddenly Susan"
8:30-9 p.m. "Veronica's Closet"
9-9:30 p.m. "Will & Grace"
9:30-10 p.m. (x)"M.Y.O.B."
10-11 p.m. "Dateline NBC" TUESDAYS
(Beginning July 25)
8-8:30 p.m. "3rd Rock from the Sun"
8:30-9 p.m. (x)"Sammy"
9-9:30 p.m. "Will & Grace"
9:30-10 p.m. "Just Shoot Me"
10-11 p.m. "Dateline NBC" SATURDAYS
(Beginning May 27)
8-10 p.m. (ET) "NBC Saturday Night Movie" (see below)
10-11 p.m. (ET) "World's Most Amazing Videos" (May 27, June 3); "The Others" (June 10)
(x Denotes new series) The early summer Saturday night theatrical roster includes "Timecop" (Saturday, May 27, 8-10 p.m. ET) starring Jean-Claude Van Damme; "Little Giants" (Saturday, June 3, 8-10 p.m. ET) starring Rick Moranis and Ed O'Neill; "I.Q." (Saturday, June 10, 8-10 p.m. ET) starring Meg Ryan, Tim Robbins and Walter Matthau. In addition, "Legends of the Fall" will be broadcast on Sunday, June 4 (8-10 p.m. ET), starring Golden Globe nominee Brad Pitt, Oscar winner Anthony Hopkins and Aidan Quinn. [...] NBC-New York, 05/24/00Ratings : Broadcast | Cable | Explained
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Updated 26-May-00 9:35 AM CTRatings : Broadcast | Cable | Explained
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- "Millionaire" begets 21 ... weeks at No. 1
- Record $8B upfront sales for networks
- Huge number for "Spin City"; May demos a tie
- Time Warner to ABC: We surrender!
- More stories on the wires
Michael Moore's unrelenting brand of political satire returns with the second season of "The Awful Truth." Summer TV planner It's a familiar ritual: The networks play their season finales and millions of viewers switch their TV sets off. Losers! As all good TV Barn readers know, the summer TV season has become every bit as interesting as the other three-quarters of the year. And for that we have cable to thank. This year, more money is being spent on original programming by cable networks than ever before. And most of that new product will begin unveiling now that the networks have had their fun. Oh, sure, there will be exceptions. Next Wednesday, May 31, ABC is finally letting the animated version of "Clerks" out of its vault; CBS is launching "Survivor"; and Fox has a Carlos Santana concert spectacular. But for the most part, this is cable time. And I've got a long list of what to watch this summer in this story from Friday's Kansas City Star.
- According to our friends at Backstage-Pass.com, they're looking for fresh blood at its Saturday-night comedy show, "MAD TV." A casting call sent out this week declared, "We are looking for both Male and Female (all ethnicities). Early 20s to 30. Experienced sketch / improv / stand-up performers. MUST HAVE: DEVELOPED, COMPELLING, ORIGINAL CHARACTERS, as well as an ability to do celebrity impressions and ensemble support roles." The memo emphasized that these were auditions for "series regulars."
- The WB presented a very entertaining preview reel for a midseason show, "Dead Last," about three young rock-n-rollers who discover a magical amulet that allows them to see ghosts. Very WB, but this one showed the potential to stand apart from "Buffy" and "Angel." For one thing, it didn't appear nearly as pretentious; the band members quarrel, drive a beat-to-hell van across the country and, as the announcer tells us in a voice-over, "just want to rock and roll." But apparently they're going to be rocking with a new female lead: Bonnie Root, who looked fine in the preview reel, is out and they're casting a replacement. Here's the full casting call from the WB with a fuller description of "Dead Last."
- RELATED STORY: More minorities cast for fall shows
Pop culture gets sketched
"SNL" connection? Hey,
That's Terry Sweeney GROSSE POINTE
Darin' Darren Starr
explores "All My Days Passions"
see Susan Loopy! GILMORE GIRLS
New single mom-com
nothing in common with the
Adam Sandler film NIKKI
Wrestler weds showgirl
Typical plot: oops, they're wearing
one another's outfits UPN shows GIRLFRIENDS
MMM-hmmm, Honey child.
Wooooo! mmm mmm mmm (snap!) Nuh-uh!
I don't think so, (slam) LEVEL 9
A Love (Bug) Story
Fishy net stalkings (Catch me!)
Johnny Moronic FREEDOM
(Post "Matrix") Shoot-fu
battle for honor, food and
remote from girlfriend PAX shows ENCOUNTERS WITH THE UNEXPLAINED
Cosmic answers sought
Like, why is the Pax network
still on the air, huh? MYSTERIOUS WAYS
Professor and shrink
team up find spooks, not unlike
that Duchovny show THE RUMFORDS
Cartoon folks in real
world. Can I borrow a cup
of Liquid Paper?"Dirty Pictures" (9 p.m. Saturday, Showtime) is an unbalanced and uneven docudrama about the controversial 1989 exhibit of the late photographer Robert Mapplethorpe in Cincinnati. James Woods (pictured) is terrific as Dennis Barrie, the art curator who allowed Mapplethorpe's controversial prints into his gallery and was later put on trial for criminal obscenity. Much of ``Dirty Pictures'' focuses on the public scrutiny and ostracization he and his family endured during the exhibit and trial. (Following the movie, Showtime will air a documentary on Mapplethorpe and the at 11 p.m.) The film's major flaw is its attempt to blend dramatization, documentary and advocacy. Though the main story is fictionalized, there are sound bites dropped in from actual critics and defenders of the Mapplethorpe exhibit, including commentators Bill Buckley and Fran Lebovitz, author Salman Rushdie and congressman Barney Frank. The effect is disorienting, especially since Mapplethorpe's defenders always sound much more eloquent and reasoned than his critics. And the movie's direction is horrible: Whenever someone is shown looking at the photographs, they invariably flinch as though hit by a shovel. The trial's many overwrought moments suggest someone watched too many episodes of "The Practice."
- Andy Richter leaves "Late Night"
- COMPLETE COVERAGE: The 2000 Upfronts
- Is Time Warner trying to undermine AOL deal? (5/24/00)
- When copyright lawyers attack, fandom suffers (5/23/00)
- "Schimmel" yanked from Fox schedule (5/23/00)
- CBS and cable: Here we go again! (5/22/00)
- "The Lathe of Heaven" (5/18/00)
- Changing of the guard at "Late Show" (5/16/00)
- More CBS/Viacom synergy: Now they'll share boxing
- Directors like fall sked's diversity
- Congressman suggests "burning" FCC down
- Dish makers seal local-to-local deals
- Fox hires new entertainment chief
- Bugsy's safe joins Capone's vault in live-TV infamy
- Still more "Tales of the City" to Showtime
- Finally! A cable standard for digital TV
- Lucky couple: He's on "West Wing," she's on "Malcolm"
- ABC insiders nervous over Jennings special on Jesus
- ESPN's Jimmy Roberts to NBC
- NBC announces summer lineup
- Crass anti-union ad gets execs fired
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>>> Aaron Barnhart's TVBARN.COMWARNER BROS. TELEVISION "DEAD LAST" 1 HOUR SERIES FOR MIDSEASON / WB To return to the last page:
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DEL'D IN LA Wed., May 24, 2000, Vol. 2000, #0524
Exec. Producers: Patrick O'Neill / Steve Pink / D.V. De Vincentis
Director: TBA
Writers: Patrick O'Neill, Steve Pink, D.V. De Vincentis Sr.
V.P. of Casting: Barbara Miller, CSA Casting Director: Leslie Litt, CSA
Casting Coordinator: Teri Fiddleman Start Date: Beginning of September
Location: TBA
WRITTEN SUBMISSIONS ONLY TO: LESLIE LITT 300 TELEVISION PLAZA BLDG. 140, 1ST FLOOR BURBANK, CA 91505
Previous breakdown delivered Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2000.
SEND DUPLICATE SUBMISSIONS (COVER LETTERS ONLY, NO PICTURES) TO BARBARA MILLER AT THE ABOVE ADDRESS. ***A MUSICAL BACKGROUND WOULD BE HELPFUL. ACTORS MUST BE GOOD WITH COMEDY*** PLEASE DO NOT SEAL SUBMISSIONS ENVELOPES. [JANE] 22-25 years old. The bass player for The Problem, Jane is a smart, ATTRACTIVE, and offbeat young woman. The glue of the group, Jane is frequently called upon to mediate when Scott and Vaughn have their artistic differences -- but they are typically a copacetic trio who agree with one another on both a personal and professional level. Jane is also knocked for a loop when Scott's mysterious amulet gives them the unwelcome new ability to see and communicate with ghosts -- lots of ghosts, most of them needing favors. For a time, it appears that the group will be torn apart by their extraordinary new powers -- but they eventually resolve their differences and start making the necessary adjustments to maintain both their career momentum -- and their sanity...SERIES REGULAR (1) PLEASE SUBMIT ALL ETHNICITIES STORY LINE: Up and coming rockers VAUGHN, SCOTTIE and JANE find their musical careers rudely interrupted when they find the Amulet of Sauryn, a magical medallion that gives them the power to communicate with the dead...Ratings : Broadcast | Cable | Explained
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E-mail Barnhart | About TV BarnThe 1999-2000 season: How they ranked
- Bob Dole to comment for Comedy Central
- 'Oblongs' to debut on WB's Web site
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The three regularly-scheduled nights of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" finished as the Nos. 1, 2 and 3 shows of the 1999-2000 season, according to the final tally just out from Nielsen Media Research. For the season, ABC had five of the 10 most-watched shows. Besides three hours of Regis, they included perennial favorite "Monday Night Football" and "The Practice," which got a lift from "Millionaire" on Sundays. And despite NBC's decision to list its 9:30 p.m. Thursday "Frasier" repeat as a separate program -- making it perhaps the first rerun in history to finish in Nielsen's top 10 -- CBS still managed to carve out a top-10 finish for "60 Minutes," the 23rd straight year the newsmagazine has done so. Had "Millionaire" and "Frasier 9:30" not been included, your top 10 would've also included "Touched by an Angel," "Law & Order," "Raymond" and (skipping over the "Monday Night Football" pre-game show) "Jesse," which has been cancelled, as was NBC's original 9:30 p.m. Thursday show, "Stark Raving Mad" (18th). View the full 1999-2000 season ratings and rankings
Tea Leoni and Garry Shandling play Scully and Mulder in an episode of "The X-Files" from this season: "A 'Saturday Night Live' skit writ too large." (Fox Photo: Larry Watson) by John Zipperer What a difference a year makes. Last year, this column featured an episode review of the fifth season of "Star Trek: Voyager" in celebration of its best season and in anticipation of more from that series. Alas, season five remained its best season, with season six of "Voyager" being generally pedestrian. Meanwhile, Fox's "The X-Files" was showing its age with its sixth season; however, it returned with a knockout seventh season that was marred only by ongoing uncertainty over whether the show would end this year. "The X-Files" will return, rest assured, with Mulder appearing in half of the episodes (and raking in $20 million for his part-time work). Entertainment Weekly's EW site reports that Scully will get another character to pal around with, and her boss, FBI Assistant Director Walter Skinner will have a bulked-up role, as will pretty-boy villain Alex Krycek. (The Lone Gunmen trio, by the way, will have their own series to keep them busy.) EW's report also tantalizingly suggests future seasons beyond next year, even if Duchovny and Anderson are both gone; hence the importance in casting a strong new buddy for Scully. So "Voyager" doesn't make a return trip to this episode roundup; that place instead goes to a much-improved "X-Files." If season seven simply proves to be the lucky season, maybe our Starfleet friends will be back this time next year. For now, here's a look at the episodes, the highlights and a few lowlights from this most recent "X" season. Ratings are on a scale of 1-10. "The Sixth Extinction" ( Chris Carter, writer; Kim Manners, director): Mulder, once again, is in the hospital, and Scully is in Africa at the site of the partially submerged spacecraft, trying to decipher the symbols that cover the surface of the ship. With the help of biologist Amina Ngebe, she learns that they refer to human genetics and include scriptures from ancient Earth religions. Michael Kritschgau, last seen in the episodes "Redux and Redux II," is brought into the hospital see Mulder, and he runs tests on the patient's over-active brain. Skinner thinks Mulder is dying; Scully says her partner is more alive than ever, thanks to the aliens. Though attempts are made in this mythology episode to link it to what's gone before, one shouldn't stare at the calculations too closely; there's no guarantee that they add up. Rating: 8 John Zipperer's Sci-Fi Loft continues ...EARLIER: Andy Richter leaves "Late Night"
- Summer TV preview (5/26/00)
- Andy Richter leaves "Late Night" (5/25/00)
- COMPLETE COVERAGE: The 2000 Upfronts (5/15-18/00)
- Is Time Warner trying to undermine AOL deal? (5/24/00)
- When copyright lawyers attack, fandom suffers (5/23/00)
- "Schimmel" yanked from Fox schedule (5/23/00)
- CBS and cable: Here we go again! (5/22/00)
- "The Lathe of Heaven" (5/18/00)
- Changing of the guard at "Late Show" (5/16/00)
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E-mail Barnhart | About TV BarnNetworks place big-money bet$ So now it's official: ABC will do anything to squeeze cash flow out of "Millionaire." That includes making Regis Philbin work all summer, retarding program development and ticking off ABC station managers, who must be asking themselves whether the words "late local news" will ever be heard again at an ABC upfront. Some people say that ABC is foolish to put all of its eggs in one basket. But as ABC's Stu Bloomberg pithily put it when he stood on the stage of Radio City Music Hall and justified adding a fourth night of "Millionaire": "Like you wouldn't." The fact is, if you look carefully at the announced fall lineups, you'll see other networks making even riskier schedule moves than ABC. And unlike with "Millionaire," they're rolling the dice on totally unproven shows. (continued)
- Fox to challenge 35% ownership cap in court
- EchoStar dumps local channels in 4 markets
- NBA ratings remain strong
- More stories on the wires
EARLIER: Local man booted off "Survivor" The only certifiable do-not-miss program, for those who can stomach it, is "The Tulsa Lynching of 1921: A Hidden Story" (6:30 p.m., Cinemax). This documentary sheds light on the long-obscured race riot that is now considered the country's most shameful act of terrorism. As many as 300 African-Americans died, and the city's entire middle-class black neighborhood was destroyed by white men then looted by white women. A commission is still sorting through the evidence, but you can see it for yourself in this searing film which includes photographs and first-hand accounts. Also tonight, the animated version of "Clerks" debuts on ABC, with much the same frenetic pacing, pop culture-referencing and political incorrectness as Seth MacFarlane's "Family Guy" (recently departed from Fox). Highlights of the first couple of episodes I watched include a brilliant parody of Japanese anime and a scene so heavily recycled that you completely forget its original context. The actors from the Kevin Smith movie of the same name reprise their roles in Smith's long-awaited Disney 'toon: Brian O'Halloran as convenience-store clerk Dante; Jeff Anderson as video-store clerk Randal; and Jason Mewes and Smith as the duo of Jay and Silent Bob, who hang out in front of the stores.Smith on ABC's scheduling: We're screwed
- Andy Richter's last "Night" (5/30/00)
- "X-Files" season 7 in review (5/30/00)
- Summer TV preview (5/26/00)
- Andy Richter leaves "Late Night" (5/25/00)
- COMPLETE COVERAGE: The 2000 Upfronts (5/15-18/00)
- Is Time Warner trying to undermine AOL deal? (5/24/00)
- Record-setting upfront sales
- CBS affiliates meet, fret about "Early Show" ratings
- Bernie Shaw reflects on CNN's 20th
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>>> Aaron Barnhart's TVBARN.COMThe WB, for instance, seems to believe it can create a business model that will sustain 35 straight weeks of original, repeat-free programming in a time period. At 9 p.m. Wednesdays starting this fall, the WB will program the post-"Dawson's Creek" slot with 11 weeks of "Felicity," followed by 13 weeks of "Jack & Jill" and another 11 of "Felicity." Neither of these shows has been a ratings barn-burner (though a late schedule shuffle did give "Felicity" a lift). And despite all those glowing reviews advertisers gave the WB's upfront, it was the only one of six broadcast networks that didn't record a profit or a ratings increase this season. So where does it come off billing 13 extra episodes in a time period -- extending the WB's programming budget, in effect, halfway to that elusive seventh night? "It is not easy to make it work on paper," WB chairman Jamie Kellner admitted in a phone interview last week. "But our way of looking at it was that we are making an investment to try to raise the average rating in a time period by a substantial margin." Here's how Kellner made it work on paper. The WB secured both first- and second-run rights to "Felicity" from Disney, the show's owner. Continuing a trend that began last season with "Once and Again" and "Law & Order: SVU," the WB plans to sell "Felicity" to a cable network, which will air each episode in a noncompetitive time period a few days after it airs on WB. Kellner will split the second-run revenues 75-25 with Disney. Now about that "substantial" ratings increase. Both "Jack & Jill" and "Felicity" are love-triangle shows starring impossibly cute people in their early 20's. By time-sharing these two, the WB hopes to create a "romantic Wednesday" franchise that's always fresh and always the same every week. "I used to love the `NBC Mystery Movie,' " Kellner said. "Every week you'd see a new movie, but it was always within a consistent category of films. This scheduling strategy is like that ... It's incredibly viewer-friendly. It's expensive, yes, but if it gets higher numbers it pays for itself." Well, yes, that would be the key. Still, I wonder if Fox would be able to get away with this manuever. A network with the WB's phenomenal growth curve -- a network that lost 20% of its audience yet is exacting 25% rate hikes out of advertisers as I write -- clearly is playing by its own rules. (So is ABC, which improvised a "Tuesday at 10 Time-Sharing Plan" last season that gave Kellner his idea.) The other four networks are making big-money bets, too, none as dramatic as CBS's picking up a remake of "The Fugitive." The preview for "The Fugitive" was one of the highlights of upfront week, and with good reason: Warner Bros. spent between $6 million and $7 million on the pilot, filming in Miami and Chicago and putting on some eye-popping stunts. But "The Fugitive" is airing on Friday nights, where CBS has had a heck of a time making audience stick (probably because those affluent "quality viewers" its executives keep touting are out at the symphony). And if the show fails there, where's CBS going to move it? To America's Least-Watched Night of Television? Fox is making a similar wager on Fridays with "Night Visions," a revival of "The Twilight Zone" with two half-hour episodes per night (the better to syndicate you with, my dear). The preview we saw, for a tale called "The Passenger List," features a spectacular airplane crash reminiscent of the Jeff Bridges movie "Fearless." Fox also has "Titanic" director James Cameron on board for "Dark Angel," another pilot that boasts some spiffy production values. "Freedom," from "Matrix" producer Joel Silver, couldn't have come cheap to UPN. "The quality of the dramas, not only at CBS but -- I saw things on some of the other networks that were equally exciting -- has gone up," CBS president Leslie Moonves said last week. But he dismissed the significance of the trend. "It's up to the production companies to supply additional amounts of money" for those spendy pilots, he said. And anyway, "I don't think you will have quite the production values (in later episodes) that you have in the pilot." That may be true. But you'd think Fox's experience with "Harsh Realm" last season would give the networks pause. "Harsh Realm" had everything going for it: industry buzz, Chris Carter, a high-gloss pilot. And in three weeks it was gone. At least the WB recognizes that in today's multichannel maze, networks can't afford to bet the house on a single run of a single episode. A cable executive asked me this week what I thought of this year's upfronts. "Pretty bad, huh?" she asked. Actually, no: I came away wanting to spend time with nearly all the new dramas I previewed. More's the pity, then, if many of them wind up doomed from the start by unreasonable expectations and economics. To return to the last page:
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- "Survivor" already a hit
- "The Fugitive" rakes in early ad bucks
- 33 million watched "Spin City" finale
- More stories on the wires
Reese Schonfeld, CNN's first president. (Photo courtesy Reese Schonfeld) The house that Reese built NEW YORK -- Cable News Network turns 20 years old today and is marking the occasion with a lavish, all-day celebration in New York. Reese Schonfeld plans to drop by for a couple of the events, but he said he has not been invited to the VIP party -- which is odd considering that without Reese Schonfeld, there would be no CNN. Today cable news is synonymous with Ted Turner, the maverick who audaciously bet his entire fortune on CNN's success. Yet it was Schonfeld, a veteran TV news executive, who had been carrying the idea around in his head for four years before Turner finally embraced it. And as the first president of CNN, it was Schonfeld who was left alone by Turner -- for a while at least -- while he built the first 24-hour, worldwide television news operation. Look at any television news operation now and you can see CNN's impact: Anchors reporting from their newsrooms. Nonstop live coverage of everything from combat to freeway chases. And perhaps most troubling, the notion that a news story can be branded to a news reporter or network. Cable News Network is by far cable's most-watched news source. It's one of the most trusted, far ahead of its print counterparts in surveys. And it has the widest reach, with CNN International being carried in 10 languages to more than 100 countries. Nearly a million hotel rooms carry CNN, and there's a CNN Airport Network screen at 1,500 passenger gates. Yet in the beginning, just getting CNN up on the satellite on June 1, 1980, proved a Herculean task. Starting with nothing but $20 million of Turner's money (a pittance even then), Schonfeld and his team built and staffed an organization with hundreds of employees and several bureaus in only 11 months. (continued) In a retrospective look at itself, CNN will air two live prime-time specials from 9 to 11 p.m. today and Friday. Some of the biggest news stories of the last 20 years will be recalled by the journalists who covered them. CNN's Larry King is host of the programs and will interview select newsmakers from the last two decades.
Indiana's Bob Knight was calmer during his interview with ESPN on Monday. By Harrison Wyman Bobby Knight could not have found a better friend in his time of need than Roy Firestone. Some PR flack had undoubtedly told the embattled Indiana University basketball coach that a live interview with ESPN would help salvage what reputation Knight has left outside of Bloomington. After all, ESPN is the equivalent of CNN -- a televised forum for newsmakers to speak directly to viewers in a cordial, even friendly setting. Sports media in general has a problem with being felicitous toward those on whom it should be toughest -- owners, coaches and managers -- while feeling free to ride roughshod on players (Bob Costas' current scolding campaign against Portland's Rasheed Wallace comes to mind). The problem is magnified at ESPN, which offers a daily, half-hour live venue in its "Up Close" program. "Up Close" promotes itself as fresh and hard-hitting, but the questions asked are routinely puffballs. And when controversial questions do come up, they are rarely followed up. You almost sense the interviewer setting the incendiary question on the table and then running away, like some smoke bomb left anonymously at a neighbor's doorstop. So no one should have had any illusions that ESPN's live interview with Knight on Monday -- the first, as we were reminded often, since the coach was exonerated for various abuses of his office -- would produce anything interesting or scandalous, making this possibly the first Bobby Knight press conference in history devoid of such content. Nonetheless, it was appalling that ESPN's Roy Firestone should arrive in Bloomington for his interview so ill-prepared. A key piece of evidence in the university's investigation into Knight's conduct was a videotape of Knight grabbing a player on his team during a 1997 practice session and then pushing him back across the floor. To this day, despite this indisputable memento, Knight still denies that he choked Reed. For those familiar with the coach, this should come as little surprise. The surprise is that Firestone admitted on the air that he had not seen the entire tape of the incident, but rather a series of stills. And then had the gall to ask the coach why he hadn't looked at the tape. "I didn't need to look at the tape to know that I hadn't choked anybody," Knight replied calmly. But in the opening of the broadcast, the tape of Knight grabbing Reed by the neck is prominently featured. It was Firestone's job to put him on the spot about an incident on public record. By not looking at the tape, he allowed Knight to turn an objective document into an issue of perception. (In an online chat after the interview, Firestone lamely offered that not watching the video was part of an "experiment"; his idea was that he and Knight would watch and react to it together on the air. Not surprisingly, the coach vetoed Firestone's cuckoo scheme minutes before airtime.) With little else with which to pin down Knight, Firestone allowed the coach to assume the familiar smug posture he often has with the press. When Firestone dropped his notes on the floor a few minutes later, Knight made no attempt to hide his amusement. By contrast, when ESPN's Digger Phelps took over for the interview's second half, you sensed Knight's respect level rising -- not because the questions got tougher but because Phelps was a peer (and likely a pal), having coached for many years at cross-state rival Notre Dame. If Bully Boy Bob is going to treat an actual journalist as shabbily as he did Firestone, the question then arises -- why not at least give him good reason to hate you? That's the question Firestone and his colleagues at ESPN should be asking themselves.
- Networks place big-money bet$ (5/31/00)
- Andy Richter's last "Night" (5/30/00)
- "X-Files" season 7 in review (5/30/00)
- Summer TV preview (5/26/00)
- Andy Richter leaves "Late Night" (5/25/00)
- COMPLETE COVERAGE: The 2000 Upfronts (5/15-18/00)
- Is Time Warner trying to undermine AOL deal? (5/24/00)
- Favorite Letterman guest Tito Puente dies
- Fox to challenge 35% ownership cap in court
- EchoStar dumps local channels in 4 markets
- NBA ratings remain strong
- Record-setting upfront sales
- CBS affiliates meet, fret about "Early Show" ratings
- Bernie Shaw reflects on CNN's 20th
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>>> Aaron Barnhart's TVBARN.COM"It was a tremendously exciting time," Schonfeld said recently over breakfast at a midtown bistro. "Everybody worked so hard. It wasn't that I was trying to get them to do extraordinary things. They wanted to do extraordinary things." Schonfeld's most lasting contribution, though, was his revolutionary theory on "breaking news." Unlike all-news radio, which passed along only headlines and short snippets of audio, CNN could report continuously from a news scene, using the ever-changing visual tableau to keep viewers riveted. Schonfeld's mantra -- "Go live, stay with it and make it important" -- became CNN's meal ticket. From the Hyatt Regency skywalks collapse in Kansas City in '81 to the explosion of the shuttle Challenger in '86 to the Persian Gulf War in '91, CNN made its name by going live, staying with the story and linking its name to it. "Breaking news" often is criticized today for encouraging networks to linger too long at the scene, tossing off speculation and hearsay when facts are scarce. Schonfeld had just the answer for that. "I always believed there should be three breaking stories at all times," he said. "It isn't hard to do. All it needs is imagination." A tall, genial man, Schonfeld has been compared to a rumpled country lawyer. But looks are deceiving: At age 68, he is still as energized by ideas and the rapid pace of information as he was 20 years ago. He is impatient with institutions and bureaucracy, including the one he helped create at CNN. Today he looks back on his all-too-brief tenure there with nostalgia and regret. "It breaks my heart to think about it now," he said. "We were just starting to get it right." The marriage of Schonfeld's ideas and Turner's money lasted three years before Turner fired him in a clash of egos in 1982. Yet in many ways, they were perfect for each other. Both men were visionaries and contrarians who got things done cheaply. Schonfeld brought 20 years of experience supplying news footage to independent TV stations. In the '60s and '70s, stations that weren't affiliated with a network -- such as Kansas City's KSHB-TV -- had to report important national and world news stories without the benefit of pictures. Schonfeld found ingenious ways to supply those pictures at low cost. In 1975 Schonfeld started noodling with the idea of round-the-clock television news. Various broadcast groups, including Post-Newsweek and Scripps-Howard, expressed interest. But none was willing to commit until Turner came along. "I'm betting $100 million on you guys," Turner said to the president of his new network. "Well," Schonfeld said, grinning back, "I'm betting my life!" After years of bucking the three networks (which soon would be predicting CNN's quick demise), Schonfeld finally had a chance to create a new rule book for TV news and impose it on his young, hungry reporters and producers. It was Schonfeld's idea to plunk the anchor desk right in the center of the Atlanta-headquarters newsroom (design experts had told him it would be too noisy). He took advantage of Georgia's right-to-work laws and created a nonunion work force, which cut costs drastically. He also broke the network monopoly over political coverage. At Schonfeld's urging, CNN sued to be included in the White House press pool. In another inventive stroke, he had third-party candidate John Anderson "inserted" into a 1980 presidential debate to which only the Democratic and Republican nominees were invited. CNN carried the debate from Cleveland but cut away to Washington, D.C., for Anderson's rebuttals. Schonfeld's eye for talent led him to hire unknowns such as Bernard Shaw, Flip Spiceland, Elsa Klensch and Mary Alice Williams. He was the first to put Robin Leach before a camera, although he also once said of a young staffer, Katie Couric, "don't ever let her on the air." When ABC and Westinghouse teamed up to do a headline-news service, Schonfeld created CNN2 in 1981. After a grim battle that saw Turner lose tens of millions of dollars, CNN2 (now Headline News) prevailed over the broadcasting giants. No fewer than three books have been devoted to CNN and Turner. All of them credit Schonfeld for shaping the network's editorial operations. But all three also say that it was the two men's similar temperaments -- proud, impulsive and at times explosive -- that made Schonfeld's exit inevitable. For two years Turner had kept his promise to Schonfeld not to meddle in editorial matters. But in 1982 Schonfeld decided to drop prime-time host Sandi Freeman because of low ratings. Turner, who liked Freeman, vetoed the move. Then Turner learned that Schonfeld was negotiating with Pat Buchanan and Tom Braden to do a nightly debate show. Turner hated the idea -- he called Buchanan and Braden "Reese's turkeys" -- and not being consulted about it apparently was the last straw, for Schonfeld was fired shortly thereafter. (Freeman later was replaced by Larry King; "Crossfire," of course, became a signature show on CNN.) "He asked me twice to come back," Schonfeld said. "But Ted said that Sandi would continue reporting to him. It was a perfect example of `lead, follow or get out of the way.' So I got out." After CNN, Schonfeld continued to innovate. He pioneered the local version of cable news on Long Island, N.Y. He founded the Food Network and, on a scouting trip to New Orleans, discovered an ambitious young chef named Emeril Legasse. Today Schonfeld is developing at least two very intriguing ideas for news programs (though for now, they're off the record). If the 72-page packet CNN's publicity department recently mailed out to the press is any indication, Schonfeld's role has been nearly forgotten at CNN. He is mentioned only once, in a quote from his friend and current CNN vice chairman Burt Reinhardt. To make sure no one forgets his role, Schonfeld is writing a memoir to be published this summer. The title says it all: Me and Ted Against the World. To return to the last page:
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- Bitter Don Hewitt denounces "Insider" producer
- Cable facing stiff summer challenge from networks
- More stories on the wires
Those were the days: "Daily Show's" on-camera talent poses for this 1997 holiday photo. From left, Beth Littleford, Brian Unger, Craig Kilborn, A. Whitney Brown and Lizz Winstead. They've all since left the show. (Photo courtesy Brian Unger) Unger for more Since leaving "The Daily Show" a year and a half ago, Brian Unger has been looking for another venue where he could skewer the overblown TV news pretensions of our time. A versatile parodist, Unger could skillfully imitate the avuncularity of Charles Kuralt, the fatuous self-importance of "Dateline NBC" or the contrived urgency of local TV news. No one did it better -- and frankly, since he and A. Whitney Brown split Comedy Central in late 1998, no one at "The Daily Show" has really tried. After making two pilots for former Fox (and Comedy Central) entertainment chief Doug Herzog, neither of which was picked up, Unger is contributing to a couple of programs you can catch this week. He's in New York where tonight (Monday), he will serve as host for a political comedy event being held at Elaine's. Also on the stage with him: Comedy Central cutup Lewis Black, standup guy Nick DiPaolo, and fellow "Daily Show" alum (and the show's co-creator) Lizz Winstead. The event is being taped by C-SPAN, though as of this posting the telecast hadn't been added to C-SPAN's ever-changing program schedule. The other project is a new weekly anthology series, "Hollywood Off-Ramp," for the enthusiastically trashy E! channel. In deference to Robert Altman, "Hollywood Off-Ramp" (10 p.m. Mondays on E!) can be described as "The Player" meets "Alfred Hitchcock Presents." Every week, Unger supplies opening and closing remarks, a la Sir Alfred, to these half-hour tales of back-stabbing, duplicity and madness that supposedly swirls around most studio back lots. (For the record, E! classifies "Hollywood Off-Ramp" as "fiction," as opposed to the "non-fiction" it usually airs.) In tonight's episode, the star of several gruesome teen-appeal slasher flicks finds himself unable to escape his role -- either on or off camera -- and is haunted by images of his Mommie Dearest, who scornfully reminds him at one point, "You're nothing without me." I'm not sure "Hollywood Off-Ramp" would win a CableACE Award, even if they were still giving those out, but you can't beat the formula: surreal situations involving familiar Hollywood characters (the slasher-film star, the bloated reclusive formerly-great actor, the gossip columnist everyone would like to strangle, etc.). And near the end of each episode, a macabre twist. Still, the writing on "Hollywood Off-Ramp" is not without its charms, as when the slasher film's director says to a one-line actor: "Dick, look, I know you've been hacked to death with a dull sword, but would it hurt to give us a believeable reaction?" Unger's role is peripheral but essential, supplying just the right level of mock solemnity while uttering a few short lines from his own pen. Here's a sample closing from another episode: "For a big-shot Hollywood producer, the only thing more humiliating than publicly losing $1 million on a film is losing your reputation. Okay, losing an erection is always worse -- but in the 'Hollywood Off-Ramp' that plays out only half as bad in the press." "These are pretty simple morality plays about show business: agents, actors, producers and directors and the pitfalls they get themselves into," Unger said by telephone. TV Barn caught up with him at Winstead's apartment in New York, where the two were prepping for Monday's gig at Elaine's. You know, speaking of E!, aren't they looking for a new host for their daily clip show, "Talk Soup"? Wouldn't Brian Unger be, like, the best "Talk Soup" host ever? Unger demurred when I brought up the point. "Well, I'm already on E! on another show," he said. But under intense follow-up questioning he had to admit he was "interested" in serving as guest host of "Talk Soup" for a week, as many other big-shot celebs are currently doing. Unger and Winstead also collaborated on "This Week Has 7 Days," a pilot for Fox that combined the topicality of "The Daily Show" and a whole line of comedy programs dating back three decades (to "That Was the Week That Was") with a jaundiced view of TV newsmagazines. The pilot episode also took us "behind the scenes" to "the making of 'This Week Has 7 Days,'" in which producers and reporters argued about which stories would make "good TV." That was probably the show's weakest element, and Unger said that if he had it to do again, he'd tie-in the conference scenes more tightly to the actual stories. Still, he thinks "This Week" is a fundamentally sound idea that network television just can't handle. "It's hard to convince TV people that topical comedy is a worthwhile investment, it really is," said Unger. "If you look at this reality programming like 'Survivor' and 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,' you see where their priorities are. Maybe we'll have to get a contest element into ('This Week') ... I don't think network TV is into doing things that are edgy or different. I'm learning that cable is the one most willing to take risks. And the Internet is turning into a forum for new ideas, too." Unger also served as host of a buzzed-about Fox pilot, "Battle of the Sitcoms," that didn't get picked up either. "Battle" was an attempt to make the TV-show development process, as they say, legit. A studio audience would view a five-minute clip from several potential sitcoms and would vote on which one should be developed into a full-blown pilot. Unfortunately, the taping of the pilot did not go as well as expected, said Unger: "It was 110 degrees on the floor of the studio, so you can imagine how pleasant it was to be in the audience. And I remember one man walked down to home base, where I was standing. He was so confused from the heat that he couldn't figure out where the exits were. So he walked up to me at home base and he said, 'How the f--- do I get out of here?' I was afraid he was going to strike me in front of the audience because he was so hot and sweaty. The stage manager, fortunately, let him out and, like, half the audience left with him." And how is Unger's cohort A. Whitney Brown doing these days? "I talked to Whitney about a month ago. He's doing well. A friend of mine says he's kayaking a lot this summer ... He's a student of life, and I think his latest area of exploration is kayaking."Finally we can all see the documentary that caused its subject, Daniel Keplinger, to leap out of his wheelchair and do his version of a break dance during this year's Oscar ceremonies. "King Gimp" (7 p.m. Monday, HBO, repeating Saturday), won the Academy Award for Documentary Short. It's the story of Keplinger, a 27-year-old whose body is shackled by cerebral palsy but whose spirit seems unbounded. Despite the excruciating physical efforts required to speak, dress himself or heat a bag of microwave popcorn, Keplinger lives on his own and is an accomplished painter. As he explains in "King Gimp," art "gave me a way to express myself without anybody interpreting for me." Keplinger was filmed by two documentary makers over the course of 13 years. The writing credit belongs to him; over two summers, at the filmmakers' request, Keplinger painstakingly tapped out a script using a stick attached to his headgear -- the same apparatus that allows him to paint.
- "King Gimp" opens doors for Keplinger
- Virtual gallery of Keplinger's work
- Daniel Keplinger's Web page
- Reese Schonfeld, unacknowledged architect of CNN (6/1/00)
- Bob Knight spins ESPN (6/1/00)
- Networks place big-money bet$ (5/31/00)
- Andy Richter's last "Night" (5/30/00)
- "X-Files" season 7 in review (5/30/00)
- Summer TV preview (5/26/00)
- Andy Richter leaves "Late Night" (5/25/00)
- COMPLETE COVERAGE: The 2000 Upfronts (5/15-18/00)
- Is Time Warner trying to undermine AOL deal? (5/24/00)
- MTV Movie Award winners
- Young people watching "Survivor"
- Arbitron, Nielsen testing "portable people meter"
- AOL beta-testing satellite service
- Happy 20th, CNN -- your ratings blow!
- Web site sues CBS over "Big Brother"
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E-mail Barnhart | About TV BarnPick to clickNBC takes another stab at the no-laugh-track, single-camera comedy (remember "Everything's Relative"?) with "M.Y.O.B." (9:30 p.m. Tuesday, NBC). Katherine Towne plays a teen runaway who arrives in a small northern California town looking for her birth mother. Instead she finds Lauren Graham, her alleged auntie, who works at the local high school. Soon thereafter the storyline meanders out of sight, leaving us with these not-very-interesting women and their forgettable banter. (Sample line: "Do you watch the Prevue Channel a lot?") Perhaps that explains why "M.Y.O.B" (Mind Your Own Business) is getting launched in the low-rated summer months. But what's the story behind the final minute of tonight's episode where Towne, in a voice-over, bad-mouths the predictability and stupidity of the preceding half-hour? It as though the creators of "M.Y.O.B." are sending us a message: "We've got a turkey here." Pardon me, but that's my job.
Those were the days: "Daily Show's" on-camera talent poses for this 1997 holiday photo. From left, Beth Littleford, Brian Unger, Craig Kilborn, A. Whitney Brown and Lizz Winstead. They've all since left the show. (Photo courtesy Brian Unger) Unger for more Since leaving "The Daily Show" a year and a half ago, Brian Unger has been looking for another venue where he could skewer the overblown TV news pretensions of our time. A versatile parodist, Unger could skillfully imitate the avuncularity of Charles Kuralt, the fatuous self-importance of "Dateline NBC" or the contrived urgency of local TV news. No one did it better -- and frankly, since he and A. Whitney Brown split Comedy Central in late 1998, no one at "The Daily Show" has really tried. After making two pilots for former Fox (and Comedy Central) entertainment chief Doug Herzog, neither of which was picked up, Unger is contributing to a couple of programs you can catch this week. He's in New York where tonight (Monday), he will serve as host for a political comedy event being held at Elaine's. Also on the stage with him: Comedy Central cutup Lewis Black, standup guy Nick DiPaolo, and fellow "Daily Show" alum (and the show's co-creator) Lizz Winstead. The event is being taped by C-SPAN, though as of this posting the telecast hadn't been added to C-SPAN's ever-changing program schedule. The other project is a new weekly anthology series, "Hollywood Off-Ramp," for the enthusiastically trashy E! channel. In deference to Robert Altman, "Hollywood Off-Ramp" (10 p.m. Mondays on E!) can be described as "The Player" meets "Alfred Hitchcock Presents." Every week, Unger supplies opening and closing remarks, a la Sir Alfred, to these half-hour tales of back-stabbing, duplicity and madness that supposedly swirls around most studio back lots. (For the record, E! classifies "Hollywood Off-Ramp" as "fiction," as opposed to the "non-fiction" it usually airs.) In tonight's episode, the star of several gruesome teen-appeal slasher flicks finds himself unable to escape his role -- either on or off camera -- and is haunted by images of his Mommie Dearest, who scornfully reminds him at one point, "You're nothing without me." I'm not sure "Hollywood Off-Ramp" would win a CableACE Award, even if they were still giving those out, but you can't beat the formula: surreal situations involving familiar Hollywood characters (the slasher-film star, the bloated reclusive formerly-great actor, the gossip columnist everyone would like to strangle, etc.). And near the end of each episode, a macabre twist. Still, the writing on "Hollywood Off-Ramp" is not without its charms, as when the slasher film's director says to a one-line actor: "Dick, look, I know you've been hacked to death with a dull sword, but would it hurt to give us a believeable reaction?" Unger's role is peripheral but essential, supplying just the right level of mock solemnity while uttering a few short lines from his own pen. Here's a sample closing from another episode: "For a big-shot Hollywood producer, the only thing more humiliating than publicly losing $1 million on a film is losing your reputation. Okay, losing an erection is always worse -- but in the 'Hollywood Off-Ramp' that plays out only half as bad in the press." "These are pretty simple morality plays about show business: agents, actors, producers and directors and the pitfalls they get themselves into," Unger said by telephone. TV Barn caught up with him at Winstead's apartment in New York, where the two were prepping for Monday's gig at Elaine's. You know, speaking of E!, aren't they looking for a new host for their daily clip show, "Talk Soup"? Wouldn't Brian Unger be, like, the best "Talk Soup" host ever? Unger demurred when I brought up the point. "Well, I'm already on E! on another show," he said. But under intense follow-up questioning he had to admit he was "interested" in serving as guest host of "Talk Soup" for a week, as many other big-shot celebs are currently doing. Unger and Winstead also collaborated on "This Week Has 7 Days," a pilot for Fox that combined the topicality of "The Daily Show" and a whole line of comedy programs dating back three decades (to "That Was the Week That Was") with a jaundiced view of TV newsmagazines. The pilot episode also took us "behind the scenes" to "the making of 'This Week Has 7 Days,'" in which producers and reporters argued about which stories would make "good TV." That was probably the show's weakest element, and Unger said that if he had it to do again, he'd tie-in the conference scenes more tightly to the actual stories. Still, he thinks "This Week" is a fundamentally sound idea that network television just can't handle. "It's hard to convince TV people that topical comedy is a worthwhile investment, it really is," said Unger. "If you look at this reality programming like 'Survivor' and 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,' you see where their priorities are. Maybe we'll have to get a contest element into ('This Week') ... I don't think network TV is into doing things that are edgy or different. I'm learning that cable is the one most willing to take risks. And the Internet is turning into a forum for new ideas, too." Unger also served as host of a buzzed-about Fox pilot, "Battle of the Sitcoms," that didn't get picked up either. "Battle" was an attempt to make the TV-show development process, as they say, legit. A studio audience would view a five-minute clip from several potential sitcoms and would vote on which one should be developed into a full-blown pilot. Unfortunately, the taping of the pilot did not go as well as expected, said Unger: "It was 110 degrees on the floor of the studio, so you can imagine how pleasant it was to be in the audience. And I remember one man walked down to home base, where I was standing. He was so confused from the heat that he couldn't figure out where the exits were. So he walked up to me at home base and he said, 'How the f--- do I get out of here?' I was afraid he was going to strike me in front of the audience because he was so hot and sweaty. The stage manager, fortunately, let him out and, like, half the audience left with him." And how is Unger's cohort A. Whitney Brown doing these days? "I talked to Whitney about a month ago. He's doing well. A friend of mine says he's kayaking a lot this summer ... He's a student of life, and I think his latest area of exploration is kayaking."
- "King Gimp"
- Reese Schonfeld, unacknowledged architect of CNN (6/1/00)
- Bob Knight spins ESPN (6/1/00)
- Networks place big-money bet$ (5/31/00)
- Andy Richter's last "Night" (5/30/00)
- "X-Files" season 7 in review (5/30/00)
- Summer TV preview (5/26/00)
- Andy Richter leaves "Late Night" (5/25/00)
- COMPLETE COVERAGE: The 2000 Upfronts (5/15-18/00)
- Is Time Warner trying to undermine AOL deal? (5/24/00)
- NBA ratings a slam dunk
- "Survivor" repeat wins Saturday
- Dr. Laura TV show protests in high gear
- Networks cutting back on drama reruns
- Sign-language prayer on "NYPD Blue" riles the deaf
- Gov't OK's AT&T-MediaOne merger, with restrictions
- Bitter Don Hewitt denounces "Insider" producer
- Cable facing stiff summer challenge from networks
- MTV Movie Award winners
- Young people watching "Survivor"
- Arbitron, Nielsen testing "portable people meter"
- AOL beta-testing satellite service
- Happy 20th, CNN -- your ratings blow!
- Web site sues CBS over "Big Brother"
Ratings : Broadcast | Cable | Explained
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Updated 7-Jun-00 9:20 AM CTRatings : Broadcast | Cable | Explained
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E-mail Barnhart | About TV BarnPick to clickThe off-screen controversies swirling around "Clerks: The Animated Series" (9:30 p.m., ABC) are almost as interesting as the show itself. Kevin Smith, who spun off this squeaky-clean cartoon from his profanity-laden 1994 film "Clerks," blasted ABC and Disney on the eve of its long-delayed premiere last week. Not only did the network renege on its promise to air "Clerks" during the regular season, Smith says ABC insufficiently promoted the show. He also mocked Disney chairman Michael Eisner for reportedly saying he "didn't get" Smith's cartoon. So how about that show, eh? "Clerks" -- the story of four young New Jersey slackers whose lives revolve around a convenience store and video-rental shop -- bears a strong resemblance to the recently departed Fox cartoon "Family Guy." Both shows are expertly drawn. Both have their moments of biting political incorrectness. And both are dense with pop-culture references, except that the ones in "Clerks" (like last week's hilarious spoof of Japanese anime) may go over the heads of a lot of viewers, not just Eisner's. Kevin Smith's Web site Also tonight, repeats from the second season of "The Sopranos" begin airing at 10 p.m. Wednesdays on HBO. Cue the Sinatra. And Michael Moore's "The Awful Truth" (10 p.m., Bravo) airs a terrific episode, in which Moore takes up the cause of eight Mexican workers living in Minneapolis. When they asked to get the same benefits as the U.S. citizens working at the same hotel -- as is their due under federal labor law -- hotel management called in the INS. That's when Moore waded in and figured out the perfect absurdist response to the hotel. An instant classic.
- "Sports Night's" future (6/6/00)
- Brian Unger (6/5/00)
- "King Gimp" (6/5/00)
- Reese Schonfeld, unacknowledged architect of CNN (6/1/00)
- Bob Knight spins ESPN (6/1/00)
- Networks place big-money bet$ (5/31/00)
- Andy Richter's last "Night" (5/30/00)
- "X-Files" season 7 in review (5/30/00)
- Summer TV preview (5/26/00)
- Andy Richter leaves "Late Night" (5/25/00)
- COMPLETE COVERAGE: The 2000 Upfronts (5/15-18/00)
- Is Time Warner trying to undermine AOL deal? (5/24/00)
- Drab ratings for latest "Millionaire" ripoff
- Universal sues Myers over "Sprockets" project
- TiVo interactive show debuts Friday on Pax
- Go ahead -- ask O.J. anything
- CBS lays off 24 at Web division
- NBA ratings a slam dunk
- "Survivor" repeat wins Saturday
- Dr. Laura TV show protests in high gear
- Networks cutting back on drama reruns
- Sign-language prayer on "NYPD Blue" riles the deaf
- Gov't OK's AT&T-MediaOne merger, with restrictions
Ratings : Broadcast | Cable | Explained
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E-mail Barnhart | About TV BarnCopyright © 2000 Aaron Barnhart
Redistribution prohibited.
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Updated 8-Jun-00 9:52 AM CTRatings : Broadcast | Cable | Explained
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E-mail Barnhart | About TV BarnHe's outta here!Buried in my notes for a profile I wrote on "Survivor" contestant B.B. Andersen in March is a prescient observation from someone who sat on the Kansas state pensions board with Andersen in the late 1980s. B.B. didn't last long on the board; after complaining about the way some of the money was being invested, he abruptly stepped down only a few months after he'd been appointed. Like most people I interviewed, my source said that Andersen was a character. Also stubborn, especially when he believes he's right (and on this particular matter he was: After Andersen left the pension board, it was found to have squandered millions in bad investments.) But my source didn't think much of Andersen as a team player. With B.B., it's often his way or the highway, the source said. Then he joked: I wonder if he can resign from the island. As millions of Americans witnessed for themselves Wednesday night, that's just what Andersen did -- he begged out of what he decided was an impossible situation. The other members of his team, most of them half his age or younger, were feuding with him. Andersen's back-breaking efforts to set up camp were completely unappreciated. And slackers like that no-good Ramona were getting a free pass from criticism while the group's energies were consumed dealing with their unhappy camper. Ratings: "Survivor" took command of Wednesday nights with its second broadcast. It beat "Millionaire" handily in households: an 11.9 rating and 20 share in the first half hour compared with 9.7/17 for Regis; and a whopping 13.8 rating and 22 share in the second half, to "Millionaire's" 11.5/18. (A rating point represents about 1 million homes. A share point is 1 percent of all households watching TV at that time.) When demographic ratings are released later today, "Survivor" should dominate there, too.
- WEDNESDAY: On "Survivor," the young eat their old
- EARLIER: "B.B. is one of the true characters of our time"
- "Survivor" night one reels in record young viewers
- "Clerks: The Animated Series" (6/7/00)
- "Sports Night's" future (6/6/00)
- Brian Unger (6/5/00)
- "King Gimp" (6/5/00)
- Reese Schonfeld, unacknowledged architect of CNN (6/1/00)
- Bob Knight spins ESPN (6/1/00)
- Networks place big-money bet$ (5/31/00)
- Andy Richter's last "Night" (5/30/00)
- "X-Files" season 7 in review (5/30/00)
- Summer TV preview (5/26/00)
- Andy Richter leaves "Late Night" (5/25/00)
- COMPLETE COVERAGE: The 2000 Upfronts (5/15-18/00)
- Is Time Warner trying to undermine AOL deal? (5/24/00)
- Not-bad debut for "M.Y.O.B."; "Chance of Lifetime" struggling
- Behind the scenes at "Big Brother"
- "Sopranos," "Millionaire" coming to Canada
- Drab ratings for latest "Millionaire" ripoff
- Universal sues Myers over "Sprockets" project
- TiVo interactive show debuts Friday on Pax
- Go ahead -- ask O.J. anything
- CBS lays off 24 at Web division
Ratings : Broadcast | Cable | Explained
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E-mail Barnhart | About TV BarnCopyright © 2000 Aaron Barnhart
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Updated 9-Jun-00 9:26 AM CTRatings : Broadcast | Cable | Explained
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E-mail Barnhart | About TV BarnPick to click "The Invisible Man," a tongue-in-cheek and up-to-date rendering of the H.G. Wells classic, launches as a weekly series with a terrific two-hour premiere at 8 tonight (repeating at 10 p.m.) on Sci-Fi Channel. Vincent Ventresca ("Boston Common," "Prey") plays an inept thief from a middle-class home, a tough premise to buy even if you leave out Ventresca's likability and his fashionably disheveled look. To avoid hard time, he agrees to become a human guinea pig in a top-secret experiment (guess what's involved) led by his scientist brother. After an hour or so of convoluted action and storyline, two of the show's regular characters surface. One is a comically disgruntled spook played by Paul Ben-Victor, who is brought in to turn "Invisible Man" into what it, ahem, transparently is: a detective "buddy show." Eddie Jones also makes an appearance as the duo's paper-pushing government boss. By the way, isn't it about time HBO or Showtime took on the challenge of adapting Ralph Ellison's pathbreaking 1952 novel Invisible Man? Peculiar how the notion of disappearing can have such an enduring appeal in Hollywood while at the same time most Americans -- and not just the black lead of Ellison's book -- are struggling to be noticed. Also tonight, "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" welcomes the cast of the underground musical hit from L.A., "White Trash Wins Lotto." Read more about this production and its creator in this L.A. Weekly article. Reader Andrew Solmssen writes that they "will be performing a number called 'Good Evening Guitar Center.' This musical is a brilliant and powerful look at the music industry as expressed in the rise and fall of one Axl W. Rose of Guns and Roses fame (or an Axl-like character if you and the lawyers prefer)." Can't wait.If I were a betting man, I'd have put my money on two. And I would've collected, because ABC just pulled the plug on "Clerks," the animated version of Kevin Smith's 1994 indie hit, after only two episodes. Why two? Well, that's how long ABC gave its last edgy program, "Wonderland," and just because this is summer season doesn't mean the network is obligated to give "Clerks" any extra slack. And there's another reason: After two above-average episodes, the quality of subsequent "Clerks" episodes drops off noticeably. ABC sent a "Clerks" preview cassette with six episodes to TV critics. To the network's credit, they rearranged the viewing order so that critics would see the best episodes first. By the time I got around to the original pilot episode, which ABC had pushed down to fifth, the laughs they was a-few and a-far in-between. (The unfunny "Episode Five," which had been scheduled to air June 21, inflamed some gay activists because it showed every one of Randal's ex-girlfriends mutating into militant lesbians.) But the clincher for me was the news that "Dirty Dancing" star Patrick Swayze recently avoided a brush with death in a plane crash. Episode three of "Clerks," you see, makes great fun of Swayze. A character named "Patrick Swayze," bearing a strong resemblance to the actor, is introduced as an employee at the new pet store just down the block from the convenience store. When the Clerks go into the store, they assume Swayze is the owner, and Swayze makes no effort to disabuse them of this. (The voice of Swayze, by the way, is supplied by Gilbert Gottfried, who of course doesn't sound anything like Swayze.) But as is soon revealed, he's just a mop-pusher. To have aired the episode so close by the real-life Swayze's near-misfortune would've seemed cruel, to say the least. Clearly, "Clerks" was doomed from the start.
ABC News-man Sam Donaldson recently told Gail Shister that he loves doing stuff on his company's Internet site, ABCNEWS.Com, because "no one is watching," at least among the network brass: "There's no pressure on me or us to do anything. We can be very loose." Don't believe him? Read this excerpt from an official ABC transcript of Donaldson's interview this week with funnywoman Ellen DeGeneres:
SAM DONALDSON: ... Ellen, before we leave I've got to ask you a question that keeps coming up frequently. You said when you were approached about marrying Anne Heche that in Vermont, where they now have legal same-sex marriage ... [I]f it were legal where you live, would you get married? ELLEN DeGENERES: Oh, yeah. I mean, in my mind we're married. Absolutely I would get married. I mean, I think everybody wants this, you know, the same rights that, you know, if something would happen to Ann or to myself in the hospital to be able to make decisions and go in there and, you know, if something would happen to either of us we'd be able to take care of the house and things wouldn't be taken away from us. So absolutely we'd get married if it were legal. SAM DONALDSON: Well, if she keeps going and doing these "Psycho" movies, in which she gets murdered in the shower, she's not going to be around. ELLEN DeGENERES: No, and -- SAM DONALDSON: Folks, she did the remake of "Psycho." ELLEN DeGENERES: Yeah, I'm not going to let her do that anymore. That was actually -- let me just tell you a really quick funny story. Right after she did "Psycho," which I was very upset by, I just hated seeing that, our dog got sprayed by a skunk in the country. And you're supposed to wash him with tomato sauce to get the -- but we didn't have tomato sauce, we just had whole pomade tomatoes in the boxes. So I kept running back to get more tomatoes. And I come back and she's in the shower and there's just read tomato stuff all over the shower and she's naked in there just covered with the red tomatoes and the dog, and it was right after she did "Psycho." And it was a pretty frightening experience, just -- there was no knife involved or anything, just her with red tomatoes all over, but -- SAM DONALDSON: I can understand how that wouldn't be very funny. ELLEN DeGENERES: No, it was scary.
- "Survivor": Bye bye, B.B. (6/8/00)
- "Clerks: The Animated Series" (6/7/00)
- "Sports Night's" future (6/6/00)
- Brian Unger (6/5/00)
- "King Gimp" (6/5/00)
- COMPLETE COVERAGE: The 2000 Upfronts (5/15-18/00)
- "Survivor" trounces "Millionaire"
- Shakeup at MTV Networks
- Would Rush be trouble for "Monday Night Football"?
- Not-bad debut for "M.Y.O.B."; "Chance of Lifetime" struggling
- Behind the scenes at "Big Brother"
- "Sopranos," "Millionaire" coming to Canada
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E-mail Barnhart | About TV BarnCopyright © 2000 Aaron Barnhart
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>>> Aaron Barnhart's TVBARN.COMAll TV times Eastern
Updated 12-Jun-00 11:36 am CTRatings : Broadcast | Cable | Explained
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E-mail Barnhart | About TV BarnPick to click "Investigative Reports" (10 p.m. Monday, A&E) does not live up to its name with this superficial and largely uncritical look inside Alcoholics Anonymous. AA has helped millions cope "one day at a time" as the familiar mantra goes, and it has served as the model for countless other self-help groups. But critics of AA and its kin have been around for a generation. Many have argued that moderation in drinking, rather than abstinence, is a workable goal for many alcoholics. Many women who have tried AA and AA-like programs have detected a gender bias in their approach that favors men. And within the medical community, there appears to be great dissension about AA's labeling of alcoholism as a disease. Yet tonight's documentary only touches on these matters, and that after more than half an hour of boosterism for AA. By contrast, ABC devoted an entire hour of "20/20" last week to questioning AA's approach. Looks like cable TV cut corners on this one. With tonight's program, the Bill Kurtis-anchored "Investigative Reports" moves to 10 p.m. on A&E's nightly schedule.
- "Clerks" checks out; Sam Donaldson goofin' on Ellen (6/9/00)
- "Survivor": Bye bye, B.B. (6/8/00)
- "Clerks: The Animated Series" (6/7/00)
- "Sports Night's" future (6/6/00)
- Brian Unger (6/5/00)
- "King Gimp" (6/5/00)
- COMPLETE COVERAGE: The 2000 Upfronts (5/15-18/00)
- (Wire stories coming)
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E-mail Barnhart | About TV BarnCopyright © 2000 Aaron Barnhart
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>>> Aaron Barnhart's TVBARN.COMNew technology gives old format a home To return to the last page:
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KC radio isn't in the mood for easy-listening, but cable and Web are AARON BARNHART Since KFEZ-AM (1340) dropped its easy-listening "Music of Your Life" last month for a contemporary Christian format, dozens of older listeners have called or written in expressing their consternation. "The worst thing to happen to me in 70 years," wrote chiropractor Thomas Wright of Merriam. "My car and home radio have become silent," echoed Ted Geisert, 76, of Overland Park, who wishes "some radio executive out there (would) understand that there is a large audience waiting for a return to this kind of programming." But whether Glenn Miller, Peggy Lee and Ol' Blue Eyes will be back on Kansas City radio anytime soon isn't clear. Jones Radio Network, the company that syndicates the "Music of Your Life" service to more than 200 radio stations, is in talks with at least two local stations. A spokesman for the Englewood, Colo.-based company declined to name the interested stations. But she added, "Tell (your readers) to stay tuned and it will be there shortly." Sure. And if we wait a little longer, we'll also get a real progressive-rock station and a "24-hour news channel" that actually does 24-hour news. But thanks to technology, you have other ways of tuning in your favorite music sounds. These are alternatives not just for ex-listeners of KFEZ (now renamed KCKN), but for anyone frustrated with the mediocrity and lack of choices on Kansas City's airwaves. The cheapest and most accessible - provided you have a home computer and online access - is Internet radio. Through your Web browser you can listen to thousands of radio stations around the world. Yahoo Broadcast (www.broadcast.com) and Real Networks (www.real.com) have links to many of them. At www.musicofyourlife.com you can hear the same programming KFEZ used to carry in streaming audio. Of course, you also get Wink Martindale and all those commercials, too. To do your listening this way, your computer must be capable of playing audio files from the Internet. Free versions of Real's RealPlayer and Microsoft's Windows Media-Player (www.microsoft.com) are available at their Web sites. And while it's not mandatory, it helps to have high-speed Internet access from a cable or DSL provider. More than 15,000 area homes do. For listeners who subscribe to cable or satellite TV, there's another inexpensive solution. Time Warner Cable and Comcast offer Music Choice, a terrific audio service with dozens of different music channels, including "Big Band," "Singers & Standards" and "Easy Listening." Unlike the syndicated "Music of Your Life," these services are commercial-free and are delivered with rich, CD-quality sound. You can listen through your TV set or pipe it into your stereo system. Time Warner Cable includes Music Choice on its digital cable service ($7.20/month), as does Comcast ($9.95/month). The two leading satellite-TV providers, DirecTV and EchoStar, also offer high-quality audio channels including big band, standards and elevator music. OK, but you want this in your car as well. You've played your Henry Mancini tapes to death. You'd like some variety. Help is on the way. It's called digital satellite radio. With a small antenna and a modified AM/FM tuner, you'll be able to pull in 100 music and information stations in CD-quality sound. And their signals won't fade out anywhere in the continental United States. XM Radio and Sirius, the companies planning to offer satellite radio, hope to be on the air in 2001. Subscriptions will run about $10 a month, and several home and car radio manufacturers have announced they will make satellite radio receivers. If this had been six months ago, I also would've steered easy-listening fans to Topeka's KTOP-AM (1490). Alas, it too dumped the format in January in favor of "classic country." This raises the question: What is happening to all the nostalgia stations? Are they dying off? Are their listeners dying off? Not at all, say industry insiders I spoke to this week. (KFEZ co-owner Bill Johnson didn't return a phone call seeking comment.) The kind of music KFEZ used to play can reach a sizable niche audience. But because most of those listeners are 55 or older, they make a tough sell to advertisers, many of whom favor listeners ages 18-54. For years KFEZ has consistently lagged far behind the leading Kansas City radio stations in ratings. It ranked 19th in the winter Arbitron ratings, the most recent quarter for which ratings are available. KFEZ had only about half as many listeners as the 18th-place station, WHB-AM (810). And sports-talk WHB had something KFEZ didn't: young male listeners. Advertisers love young male listeners. Tough luck for old male listeners like Bill Zimmer, 80, of Kansas City, Kan. "They're not destitute for Christian stations around here; there's five or six of them," Zimmer said. "Now I'm stuck with cassettes."Ratings : Broadcast | Cable | Explained
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>>> Aaron Barnhart's TVBARN.COMAll TV times Eastern
Updated 13-Jun-00 11:55 AM CTRatings : Broadcast | Cable | Explained
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E-mail Barnhart | About TV BarnMillionaire No. 4 Unlike those mumskis over at CBS, the publicity department at ABC is always eager to let the press know whenever one of the contestants on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" runs the table. TV Barn has just gotten word from ABC that another $1 million winner -- the fourth, by my count, since the show launched last August -- will be minted on Tuesday night's telecast. A press release is forthcoming.
- ERIC MINK: "Survivor" is a sham
- "Survivor" sequel might venture to Aussie outback
- "Survivor" outcome: CBS keeping a tight-lipped ship
- EARLIER: On "Survivor," the young eat their old
- EARLIER: "B.B. is one of the true characters of our time"
- Good niche radio isn't on radio (6/12/00)
- "Clerks" checks out; Sam Donaldson goofin' on Ellen (6/9/00)
- "Survivor": Bye bye, B.B. (6/8/00)
- "Clerks: The Animated Series" (6/7/00)
- "Sports Night's" future (6/6/00)
- Brian Unger (6/5/00)
- "King Gimp" (6/5/00)
- COMPLETE COVERAGE: The 2000 Upfronts (5/15-18/00)
- Judd Rose, RIP
- Karmazin might cut bait on UPN
- NBA ratings get boost
- "Survivor" sequel might venture to Aussie outback
- Mfume: "Long, long way to go" to TV diversity goals
- Ultimate TV launches ...
- ... with rival AOL-TV still to come
- "Web-savvy" NBC watches NBCi implode
- "Pop-Up" co-founder axed by VH1
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E-mail Barnhart | About TV BarnCopyright © 2000 Aaron Barnhart
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>>> Aaron Barnhart's TVBARN.COMAll TV times Eastern
Updated 14-Jun-00 10:25 AM CTRatings : Broadcast | Cable | Explained
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E-mail Barnhart | About TV BarnWB: We want your kids by John Zipperer Target demographics ... within niches ... within submarkets. That's what the proliferation of channels and networks has wrought, and it's really a great thing. For the science fiction fan, it has created such a large number of offerings that one can't watch them all -- at least not in first-run. And you wouldn't want to watch them all, frankly. One of the knocks on television science fiction has long been that it is a niche market unsustainable by mass broadcast networks. But Fox and WB and UPN have carved out markets of their own by appealing to niches. So science fiction has been given a new lease on TV life. The WB network has found its place to be with teens, and science fiction that's aimed at those viewers has formed an increasingly significant portion of the netlet's plan for world -- or at least niche -- domination. "It is hard for the WB to compete against broader networks on a ratings basis. What is most important to us is that viewers that are between 12-34 years of age find us to be a place for them," Jamie Kellner, CEO of the WB network, told a recent online chat with viewers. And trust us, WB is betting on the low end of that age spectrum. Let UPN go after the young male wrestling crowd; let Fox go after, well, the young male crowd that thinks it's too sophisticated for wrestling but not too sophisticated for "Cops." Kellner will go after a young crowd that is more female heavy than its competitors, and it deserves kudos for that. Because it means we get exposed to more kinds of science fiction storytelling than we do if programmers continue to think the SF-TV audience is primarily boys in their teens through college years. Key to that strategy for WB has been the phenomenal success (and quality) of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and its spinoff, "Angel." One show that's been having more trouble finding its audience has been "Roswell," which was initially aired directly opposite UPN's "Star Trek: Voyager" on Wednesday nights, where it failed to amaze. It's not as ill-advised as it may seem, targeting two SF-TV programs against each other; again, the two shows feed different parts of the SF fan audience, with the more action-oriented "Voyager" and the more relationship-oriented "Roswell." WB still failed to pull it off, but "Roswell" has been given a reprieve in its new timeslot on Monday evenings. It may yet succeed, especially if it is marketed innovatively enough; Kellner points to WB's relationship with advertisers like Levi's, which uses "Roswell" cast members in its ads, to show the network's done what it can. "The WB has relationships with most of the major advertisers that have products targeted toward young adults and teens. The Levi's campaign is a great example of the network and advertiser doing something that's good for them and that excites our viewers and their customers." For those of you worrying about the future of "Roswell," Kellner professes to like the series and its story basis, but says it floundered a little in its first year as it tried to balance the romance and the science fiction aspects. But the show has been given a 13-episode order for next year, so expect it to continue playing a role in bringing in the needed WB demographics. So is WB the first network with its foundation in SF? Let's see: they've got "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" (acquired from ABC), "Buffy," "Angel," and "Roswell." If those programs keeps selling the Levis, we can expect more from this network. Zipperer's Sci-Fi loft continues...."Time of Your Life" could make fall lineup
- "Survivor's" B.B. wishes he'd stayed (6/13/00)
- Good niche radio isn't on radio (6/12/00)
- "Clerks" checks out; Sam Donaldson goofin' on Ellen (6/9/00)
- "Survivor": Bye bye, B.B. (6/8/00)
- "Clerks: The Animated Series" (6/7/00)
- "Sports Night's" future (6/6/00)
- Brian Unger (6/5/00)
- "King Gimp" (6/5/00)
- COMPLETE COVERAGE: The 2000 Upfronts (5/15-18/00)
- PBS schedule shuffle moves "Masterpiece" to Mondays
- "NYPD Blue" renewed thru 2002
- "Survivor" helps CBS win week
- Betty Ford Clinic denounces "20/20"
- "Millionaire" crowns a fourth big winner
- Finally, some folks who don't like "Sopranos"
- Judd Rose, RIP
- Karmazin might cut bait on UPN
- NBA ratings get boost
- "Survivor" sequel might venture to Aussie outback
- Mfume: "Long, long way to go" to TV diversity goals
- Ultimate TV launches ...
- ... with rival AOL-TV still to come
- "Web-savvy" NBC watches NBCi implode
- "Pop-Up" co-founder axed by VH1
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E-mail Barnhart | About TV BarnCopyright © 2000 Aaron Barnhart
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>>> Aaron Barnhart's TVBARN.COMAll TV times Eastern
Updated 15-Jun-00 12:11 AM CTRatings : Broadcast | Cable | Explained
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E-mail Barnhart | About TV BarnMitchell's PBS plan shows Achilles heel of public TV Why, you ask, is PBS asking seven of its stations to use perfectly good prime-time schedule space to air an "Antiques Roadshow" repeat? In a word: ratings. The move, announced by new PBS chief Pat Mitchell, is part of an experimental schedule designed to make public broadcasting more competitive. A trade magazine this week noted that PBS has been stuck on a 2.0 Nielsen rating in prime time for years. And no broadcaster has an older audience than PBS (median viewer age: 56.4). "Roadshow," now in its fifth season, bucks both those trends. It appeals to a younger audience, and is the most popular show on PBS. Still, airing it twice a week is not a move without consequences. Much like commercial stations, public broadcasters are offered far more programming than they have airtime to fill. The difference is that while commercial stations may turn down a "Baywatch" knockoff or yet another cheesy talk show, public stations are often forced to turn down such worthy suppliers as ITVS, which produces hours of fresh, alternative (and often controversial) programming each year. You'll be lucky to see any ITVS fare on your local public-TV station, unless it happens to be co-produced with a heavier hitter like "Frontline." If you're an independent producer looking to place your alternative fare on public-TV stations, Friday and Saturday nights represent your best shot. The other nights of the week, PBS affiliates agree to carry the prime-time shows supplied to them by PBS. But even on Fridays and Saturdays, the shelf space on many stations is already full. In Kansas City and other cities, for example, station managers have discovered they get great numbers on weekends by running a repeat of ... yep, "Antiques Roadshow." (Now you know where PBS got the idea.) The sad fact is that public stations live and die by Nielsens just like their commercial brethren do. Higher numbers mean more viewers, which in turn lead to companies willing to pay higher rates to reach them with their donor messages. More viewers also translate into richer pledge drives. Which means that the campaign to improve PBS ratings is not a total solution for public broadcasting. Somehow, somebody must come up with major money for public TV that isn't tied to performance. That way, worthy programs aimed at extremely small niches can air at times when interested audiences are likely to see them. Especially prime time. The experimental PBS schedule will begin in the fall at KPBS, San Diego; WMFE, Orlando; WVIZ, Cleveland; WHYY, Philadelphia; WQED, Pittsburgh; KUED, Salt Lake City; and Georgia Public Television. If it's a success, the new lineup will be implemented nationally in 2001.New "Roadshow" host begins this summer EARLIER: "Antiques" fires appraisers over swindle PBS schedule shuffle moves "Masterpiece" to Mondays
- The WB wants your kids (6/14/00)
- "Survivor's" B.B. wishes he'd stayed (6/13/00)
- Good niche radio isn't on radio (6/12/00)
- "Clerks" checks out; Sam Donaldson goofin' on Ellen (6/9/00)
- "Survivor": Bye bye, B.B. (6/8/00)
- "Clerks: The Animated Series" (6/7/00)
- "Sports Night's" future (6/6/00)
- Brian Unger (6/5/00)
- "King Gimp" (6/5/00)
- COMPLETE COVERAGE: The 2000 Upfronts (5/15-18/00)
- N.Y. Post gets Letterman to talk! (after jury duty)
- NYC firefighter in trouble over "Sex and the City" cameo
- AOL-TV does deal with TiVo
- 1 million dish owners in Florida
- Nick shows to air on CBS Saturday mornings
- Super Bowl dot-com advertiser goes bust
- "NYPD Blue" renewed thru 2002
- "Survivor" helps CBS win week
- Betty Ford Clinic denounces "20/20"
- "Millionaire" crowns a fourth big winner
- Finally, some folks who don't like "Sopranos"
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E-mail Barnhart | About TV BarnCopyright © 2000 Aaron Barnhart
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>>> Aaron Barnhart's TVBARN.COMAll TV times Eastern
Updated 16-Jun-00 8:35 AM CTRatings : Broadcast | Cable | Explained
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E-mail Barnhart | About TV Barn"Mission Hill" returns!"Mission Hill," the animated series that was pulled by the WB after just two airings last fall, has finally been allowed back on the schedule. With luck and your viewership, all 13 episodes of the original order will air between now and the end of summer, starting 9:30 p.m. June 25. I learned it from a reader Wednesday night -- and then Bill Oakley, who created "Mission Hill" with Josh Weinstein, confirmed it in a Thursday e-mail. "Everybody's pretty excited about it, obviously," Oakley said in a phone interview later in the day. He and Weinstein have returned to Matt Groening's stable, where they were formerly co-showrunners for "The Simpsons," and are now consulting on "Futurama." The summer run came about in an orderly manner, said Oakley. "They asked us to propose a list. They said they had 15 weeks open and had us present a list of how the 13 episodes would be aired." And then did the WB executives tell you all 13 episodes would air? "They never made it clear," said Oakley. "Unless there's a disaster in the ratings, we should get all 13 on the air." Well, of course, there was a disaster in the ratings last fall -- that's why "Mission Hill" left so abruptly. The WB had incongruously paired "Mission Hill," an animated series about young white slackers, with three black-oriented comedies -- and stuck them all on Friday night, where the network had previously never had a presence. "There really wasn't another comedy to go with it at the time," Oakley recalled. "They really didn't have any other comedies. It was just us, Steve Harvey, Jamie Foxx and 'For Your Love.'" So when the show had ratings trouble right out of the gate, said Oakley, "there was really no place for us to go." As Sharon Waxman reported in the Washington Post, "Mission Hill" got a terrible introduction, thanks to a poorly-compiled preview tape and unavailability of episodes to TV critics. The WB had made the unusual decision to launch its very first animated show in the fall (most cartoons debut in the winter because they take so much time to produce). Then it yanked "Mission Hill" after just two weeks. "(The show) built up a body of several hundred to a thousand fans who were sending us e-mail at our website," said Oakley. "And after that they took it off the air." Creatively, "Mission Hill" had two missions, succeeding at one, bombing at the other. Its success was introducing a gay couple in Gus and Wally (pictured above), two old lovers Oakley honestly believes could've been breakout characters. GLAAD took notice of the twosome immediately and asked Oakley and Weinstein to produce a clip reel of Gus and Wally for their annual awards. "The episode where Gus and Wally meet is the best one. We moved it up to, I think, sixth (in order of airdate) ... Basically the story is they met in Hollywood in the 1950s. Wally was a director, like Ed Wood, and Gus was the zombie. And they fell in love. And Wally basically quit his job as a director to be with gus. There's a lot of tributes to 'Plan 9' in that episode." The other creative goal was to integrate pop-culture references with more obscure references to fringe culture. It didn't work. Oakley: "While we were producing the show we were thinking of 'The Simpsons' and 'King of the Hill' -- but we were also thinking of Optic Nerve and all those alternative comics. And then, only after that show was cancelled, we realized all the people in America who have ever read Optic Nerve would not equal one-tenth of a ratings point." WB promised Oakley and Weinstein a return in the spring. Spring came and went. Now "Mission Hill" is being slipped back onto the WB schedule starting next Sunday, June 25, in the timeslot formerly occupied by "Zoe." In theory, it could even return next year if ratings are strong. "If animation is dead, we hope to be the zombie that came back from the undead," Oakley joked. But then he quickly added: "I don't have too many illusions about it ... We actually sold (the show) in December 1997. This was before WB had put on 'Dawson's Creek.' They hadn't really defined themselves as a teen network. Garth Ancier was president and it was whole different deal ... "Launching a show today is obviously very different than when 'The Simpsons' was launched ... If somebody came out with the first episode of 'The Simpsons' today, it would get bad reviews and people wouldn't pay any attention. I think people expect these days that animated shows will be nonstop gags, like 'Family Guy' or 'Clerks,' four gags a minute. ... People have short memories. They don't realize that if you watch that first episode of 'The Simpsons' its not nonstop gags." Future plans for the duo? None so far. "We'd like to go back to 'Mission Hill,' but that doesn't seem likely," sighed Oakley. Especially with this time period. "Mission Hill" airs at 9:30 p.m. Sundays, following ... yep, Steve Harvey, Jamie Foxx and "For Your Love." Here's how I described the show last fall: "Mission Hill" -- Two of the more renowned alumni of "The Simpsons" created this charming and at times laugh-out-loud animated sitcom for the WB audience of teens and 20-somethings. Creators Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein promise to satirize everything important to their young audience, including the WB itself. "Mission Hill" has a tall task drawing cartoon viewers to Friday nights, where it will usher in the WB's three live-action comedies aimed at African-Americans.
- Reacquaint yourself with the characters of "Mission Hill" at the show's Web site
- EARLIER: WB's fall marketing blitz leaves "Mission Hill" behind
- EARLIER: I visit the making of "Mission Hill"
- Mitchell's plan shows Achilles of PBS (6/15/00)
- The WB wants your kids (6/14/00)
- "Survivor's" B.B. wishes he'd stayed (6/13/00)
- Good niche radio isn't on radio (6/12/00)
- "Clerks" checks out; Sam Donaldson goofin' on Ellen (6/9/00)
- "Survivor": Bye bye, B.B. (6/8/00)
- "Clerks: The Animated Series" (6/7/00)
- "Sports Night's" future (6/6/00)
- Brian Unger (6/5/00)
- "King Gimp" (6/5/00)
- COMPLETE COVERAGE: The 2000 Upfronts (5/15-18/00)
- Monstrous ratings for "Survivor"
- Hollywood heavies shut down RecordTV.com
- McMahons look to move WWF to Viacom
- Was security breached at "Survivor"?
- N.Y. Post gets Letterman to talk! (after jury duty)
- NYC firefighter in trouble over "Sex and the City" cameo
- AOL-TV does deal with TiVo
- 1 million dish owners in Florida
- Nick shows to air on CBS Saturday mornings
- Super Bowl dot-com advertiser goes bust
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E-mail Barnhart | About TV BarnCopyright © 2000 Aaron Barnhart
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>>> Aaron Barnhart's TVBARN.COMAll TV times Eastern
Updated 19-Jun-00 9:28 AM CTRatings : Broadcast | Cable | Explained
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E-mail Barnhart | About TV BarnPick to click Comedy Central's "premiere week" continues with a new "Strangers with Candy" (10 p.m.). Amy Sedaris returns as the lovable loser Jerri Blank, a 40-something high school student and ex-drug addict, in the third-season debut of TV's strangest sitcom. Tonight's episode is the first of a two-parter in which Jerri joins a cult. There are a couple of good running gags here, including school principal Blackman's (Greg Hollimon) own Leninish cult of personality. That's followed by "The League of Gentlemen" (10:30 p.m.), a British import and the object of a perplexing amount of positive buzz. Three men perform all the major roles (including women's) on this show, situated in the screwball English village of Royston Vasey. There are exactly two big laughs in this show. The rest is mirthless dialogue that obviously was designed to sound as bizarre and deviant as possible. The result, to my ear, is rehashed Python with dirty jokes mixed in. Also all this week on cable, E! welcomes celebrity guest hosts to its long-running, and currently host-less, "Talk Soup" (8 p.m., E!). Kevin Nealon, last seen on "Saturday Night Live," leads off the week. Jennie Garth, Ben Stein, Harland Williams and Cybill Shepherd will drop by later. (This will be good practice for Shepherd, who was negotiating Friday to replace Eleanor Mondale as host of the upcoming talk show "Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus.")
- "Mission Hill" returns (6/16/00)
- Mitchell's plan shows Achilles of PBS (6/15/00)
- The WB wants your kids (6/14/00)
- "Survivor's" B.B. wishes he'd stayed (6/13/00)
- Good niche radio isn't on radio (6/12/00)
- "Clerks" checks out; Sam Donaldson goofin' on Ellen (6/9/00)
- "Survivor": Bye bye, B.B. (6/8/00)
- "Clerks: The Animated Series" (6/7/00)
- "Sports Night's" future (6/6/00)
- Brian Unger (6/5/00)
- "King Gimp" (6/5/00)
- COMPLETE COVERAGE: The 2000 Upfronts (5/15-18/00)
- Get ready for "Survivor II"
- LaPaglia out of Goodman sitcom
- Tony Danza in at "Family Law"
- Robert Wagner sues Aaron Spelling over "90210"
- Monstrous ratings for "Survivor"
- Hollywood heavies shut down RecordTV.com
- McMahons look to move WWF to Viacom
- Was security breached at "Survivor"?
Ratings : Broadcast | Cable | Explained
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E-mail Barnhart | About TV BarnCopyright © 2000 Aaron Barnhart
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>>> Aaron Barnhart's TVBARN.COMAll TV times Eastern
Updated 20-Jun-00 10:08 AM CTRatings : Broadcast | Cable | Explained
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E-mail Barnhart | About TV BarnPick to click A terrific installment of "Crime Stories" (10 p.m., Court TV) tells the complicated and ultimately irresolvable story of the 1998 Wichita kidnapping case that involved four countries, three little boys, two faiths and one very unhappy marriage. Rhonda and Naji Shakhtur were a young couple when they faced the dilemma every interfaith couple confronts: How do we raise our children to respect the religious traditions of both parents? That question then got tangled in the family's declining fortunes. Once the family emigrated from Kansas to Jordan, where Islamic law and custom prevail, things took several turns for the worse. The first act of tonight's program is expertly scripted like a spy thriller as Rhonda tries to undo her mistake and return to Wichita. The legal drama that plays out afterward is no less riveting. It's an enlightening and, in some ways, morally ambiguous story about the rights of nations, religions, families and women.
- "Mission Hill" returns (6/16/00)
- Mitchell's plan shows Achilles of PBS (6/15/00)
- The WB wants your kids (6/14/00)
- "Survivor's" B.B. wishes he'd stayed (6/13/00)
- Good niche radio isn't on radio (6/12/00)
- "Clerks" checks out; Sam Donaldson goofin' on Ellen (6/9/00)
- "Survivor": Bye bye, B.B. (6/8/00)
- "Clerks: The Animated Series" (6/7/00)
- "Sports Night's" future (6/6/00)
- Brian Unger (6/5/00)
- "King Gimp" (6/5/00)
- COMPLETE COVERAGE: The 2000 Upfronts (5/15-18/00)
Ratings : Broadcast | Cable | Explained
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E-mail Barnhart | About TV BarnCopyright © 2000 Aaron Barnhart
Redistribution prohibited.
>>> Aaron Barnhart's TVBARN.COMAll TV times Eastern
Updated 20-Jun-00 11:15 PM CTRatings : Broadcast | Cable | Explained
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E-mail Barnhart | About TV BarnPick to click Can it be? Can the oldest survivor of them all -- the hale but gruff ex-Navy SEAL Rudy Boesch -- last yet another hour on the summer smash hit "Survivor" (8 p.m., CBS)? We'll find out tonight. Already, 72-year-old Rudy can be proud, because he's outlasted 65-year-old Regis Philbin in his time period. Last week ABC yanked its Wednesday edition of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" after taking two straight beatings from "Survivor" in the Nielsen ratings. Others are taking notice of "Millionaire's" sudden change in fortunes. Last week David Letterman even had a "Top Ten Signs Regis Is Getting Nervous," which included, "Yells at slow contestants, Hurry up, Einstein, people are reaching for their clickers!" and "To pass $1,000 mark, players must eat handful of grubs." Also tonight, don't miss the "Ficus Election Special" episode of "The Awful Truth" (10 p.m., Bravo). As Michael Moore explains, "This week's show is a slight departure from our usual format as we are devoting the entire half hour to a short film we've made following the efforts to elect a Ficus plant to the U.S. Congress. Since we announced that we were running a potted plant against a New Jersey incumbent with no opposition in his primary, the idea has exploded across the country. There are now nearly three dozen Ficuses running official candidacies for the U.S. House of Representatives." Get up close and personal with several of the leafy contenders tonight. Also late tonight, Harrison Wyman writes: "Be More Cynical," a one-hour standup comedy performance by "Politically Incorrect" host Bill Maher, airs 3:20 a.m. Thursday on HBO (repeats June 26 and 29). It was first seen live on HBO earlier this month. In contrast to his "PI" monologue, which is short and Carsonesque -- i.e., timely -- "Be More Cynical" featured a lot new or surprising material. One of the few disadvantages of hosting a successful nightly TV show is that the time and energy that would normally go into revising and improving a live performance go instead into producing material for television's insatiable maw. A veteran of the concert and comedy club circuit, Maher's timing and delivery are still sharp. But the material was not as fully developed as it was for Maher's last HBO special and as a result the laughter resulted more from familiarity rather than on the strength of the jokes on their own. The special did produce a first for standup comedy: a born-again heckler. About halfway through the show, a man in the audience shouted, "Bill, only Jesus Christ saves." Unfazed, Maher replied: "That guy should probably go before I get to the section about Jesus Christ ..."
- The sci-fi recycling plant (6/20/00)
- "Mission Hill" returns (6/16/00)
- Mitchell's plan shows Achilles of PBS (6/15/00)
- The WB wants your kids (6/14/00)
- "Survivor's" B.B. wishes he'd stayed (6/13/00)
- Good niche radio isn't on radio (6/12/00)
- "Clerks" checks out; Sam Donaldson goofin' on Ellen (6/9/00)
- "Survivor": Bye bye, B.B. (6/8/00)
- "Clerks: The Animated Series" (6/7/00)
- "Sports Night's" future (6/6/00)
- Brian Unger (6/5/00)
- "King Gimp" (6/5/00)
- COMPLETE COVERAGE: The 2000 Upfronts (5/15-18/00)
Ratings : Broadcast | Cable | Explained
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E-mail Barnhart | About TV BarnCopyright © 2000 Aaron Barnhart
Redistribution prohibited.
>>> Aaron Barnhart's TVBARN.COMAll TV times Eastern
Updated 26-Jun-00 10:59 PM CTRatings : Broadcast | Cable | Explained
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E-mail Barnhart | About TV BarnPick to click
- The sci-fi recycling plant (6/20/00)
- "Mission Hill" returns (6/16/00)
- Mitchell's plan shows Achilles of PBS (6/15/00)
- The WB wants your kids (6/14/00)
- "Survivor's" B.B. wishes he'd stayed (6/13/00)
- Good niche radio isn't on radio (6/12/00)
- "Clerks" checks out; Sam Donaldson goofin' on Ellen (6/9/00)
- "Survivor": Bye bye, B.B. (6/8/00)
- "Clerks: The Animated Series" (6/7/00)
- "Sports Night's" future (6/6/00)
- Brian Unger (6/5/00)
- "King Gimp" (6/5/00)
- COMPLETE COVERAGE: The 2000 Upfronts (5/15-18/00)
Ratings : Broadcast | Cable | Explained
TV Barn archives | Late-night lineups
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E-mail Barnhart | About TV BarnCopyright © 2000 Aaron Barnhart
Redistribution prohibited.
>>> Aaron Barnhart's TVBARN.COMAll TV times Eastern
Updated 23-Jun-00 9:37 AM CTRatings : Broadcast | Cable | Explained
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E-mail Barnhart | About TV BarnPick to click On paper, tonight's "Dateline NBC" (9 p.m. Friday) wouldn't seem worthy of a full hour of network TV time. It's about people whose medical claims were denied because the insurance company pulled a bureaucratic fast one. But by the end of this carefully explained report, it's clear this is much more than another story about patients up against a faceless and heartless insurance system. The maneuver is called a "paper review" and, as correspondent John Larson explains, few regulators he spoke to even knew it existed. Larson reports that insurance companies routinely use outside firms to review suspicious medical claims. They're called paper reviews because the doctor never sees the patient while conducting the review. Which can be a problem -- especially when the doctor isn't a doctor, but a free-lance journalist filling in a few blanks from a template supplied by the review firm. Factor in a very slippery company president and two hard-luck cases of claim denial and you've got a surprisingly gripping hour of TV. Also Saturday, Bill Kurtis slips into the denim and moseys out west to profile "The Real Cowboy: Portrait of an American Icon." The two-hour special looks at the shaping of the cowboy myth in Hollywood (actor Richard Farnsworth is interviewed) and contrasts it with the realities of cowboy life, then and now. The program is airing, not on Kurtis' usual stomping grounds at A&E, but sister network The History Channel, 11 a.m. Saturday.
- Rundgren rocks CNBC (6/22/00)
- Around the clock, non-stop local news (6/21/00)
- The sci-fi recycling plant (6/20/00)
- "Mission Hill" returns (6/16/00)
- Mitchell's plan shows Achilles of PBS (6/15/00)
- The WB wants your kids (6/14/00)
- "Survivor's" B.B. wishes he'd stayed (6/13/00)
- Good niche radio isn't on radio (6/12/00)
- "Clerks" checks out; Sam Donaldson goofin' on Ellen (6/9/00)
- "Survivor": Bye bye, B.B. (6/8/00)
- "Clerks: The Animated Series" (6/7/00)
- "Sports Night's" future (6/6/00)
- Brian Unger (6/5/00)
- "King Gimp" (6/5/00)
- COMPLETE COVERAGE: The 2000 Upfronts (5/15-18/00)
Ratings : Broadcast | Cable | Explained
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E-mail Barnhart | About TV BarnCopyright © 2000 Aaron Barnhart
Redistribution prohibited.
>>> Aaron Barnhart's TVBARN.COMAll TV times Eastern
Updated 26-Jun-00 10:11 AM CTRatings : Broadcast | Cable | Explained
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E-mail Barnhart | About TV BarnPick to click MTV's newest cartoon, "Spy Groove" (10:30 p.m. Monday) poses the question: Does Generation Y need its own Bond spood? Does the world need another spy show, period? This bubblegum-colored series offers one up, anyway. Our heroes are the ultra-generic Agent No. 1 and Agent No. 2 (their actual names, a la "Get Smart". This week their job is to save Miami from imminent doom. But like nearly every animated show these days, "Spy Groove" is less story line than pop-culture mural. There are tributes to "Charlie's Angels," the "Batman" TV series and director John Waters (who is the obvious inspiration for tonight's villain). This thing has the shelf life of strawberries -- there's a gag involving an inflatable Ricky Martin doll -- which means five years from now we'll still be watching reruns of "Daria" and "Beavis and Butt-Head," but not this.
- "Dateline's" investigative gem (6/23/00)
- Rundgren rocks CNBC (6/22/00)
- Around the clock, non-stop local news (6/21/00)
- The sci-fi recycling plant (6/20/00)
- "Mission Hill" returns (6/16/00)
- Mitchell's plan shows Achilles of PBS (6/15/00)
- The WB wants your kids (6/14/00)
- "Survivor's" B.B. wishes he'd stayed (6/13/00)
- Good niche radio isn't on radio (6/12/00)
- "Clerks" checks out; Sam Donaldson goofin' on Ellen (6/9/00)
- "Survivor": Bye bye, B.B. (6/8/00)
- "Clerks: The Animated Series" (6/7/00)
- "Sports Night's" future (6/6/00)
- Brian Unger (6/5/00)
- "King Gimp" (6/5/00)
- COMPLETE COVERAGE: The 2000 Upfronts (5/15-18/00)
Ratings : Broadcast | Cable | Explained
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E-mail Barnhart | About TV BarnCopyright © 2000 Aaron Barnhart
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>>> Aaron Barnhart's TVBARN.COMAll TV times Eastern
Updated 27-Jun-00 7:26 AM CTRatings : Broadcast | Cable | Explained
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E-mail Barnhart | About TV BarnPick to click All this week Showtime unveils new shows and fresh episodes of returning series. At 10 tonight it's "Beggars and Choosers," the comedy TV critics are supposed to care about because it was created by the late, great NBC executive Brandon Tartikoff and brought to fruition by his widow Lilly. Not coincidentally, some of the highlights of tonight's second-season premiere revolve around the marriage of TV executive Brian Kerwin and supportive wife Isabella Hoffmann. Those moments, however, don't salvage the strained office comedy that takes place behind the scenes at a failing third-place TV network. In one scene, Kerwin's vapid lieutenants argue about which one passed on "The Sopranos" -- a show that just happens to be on Showtime's rival, HBO. While I appreciate little insider jokes like this, I thought the ones on "The Larry Sanders Show" were a lot sharper, crueller and funnier. Alas for Showtime, that too was an HBO series.
- Mediocre grades for educational TV (6/26/00)
- "Dateline's" investigative gem (6/23/00)
- Rundgren rocks CNBC (6/22/00)
- Around the clock, non-stop local news (6/21/00)
- The sci-fi recycling plant (6/20/00)
- "Mission Hill" returns (6/16/00)
- Mitchell's plan shows Achilles of PBS (6/15/00)
- The WB wants your kids (6/14/00)
- "Survivor's" B.B. wishes he'd stayed (6/13/00)
- Good niche radio isn't on radio (6/12/00)
- "Clerks" checks out; Sam Donaldson goofin' on Ellen (6/9/00)
- "Survivor": Bye bye, B.B. (6/8/00)
- "Clerks: The Animated Series" (6/7/00)
- "Sports Night's" future (6/6/00)
- Brian Unger (6/5/00)
- "King Gimp" (6/5/00)
- COMPLETE COVERAGE: The 2000 Upfronts (5/15-18/00)
Ratings : Broadcast | Cable | Explained
TV Barn archives | Late-night lineups
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E-mail Barnhart | About TV BarnCopyright © 2000 Aaron Barnhart
Redistribution prohibited.
>>> Aaron Barnhart's TVBARN.COMAll TV times Eastern
Updated 28-Jun-00 9:01 AM CTRatings : Broadcast | Cable | Explained
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E-mail Barnhart | About TV BarnPick to click The adage that youth is wasted on the young just doesn't hold true for the "Class of 2000" featured at 8 p.m. Wednesday on TNN. This cavalcade of ambitious teenage and 20-something country music stars includes 16-year-old starlet Jessica Andrews, 17-year-old veteran Alecia Elliott, the Clark Family Experience and Plus One, an all-male quintet whose oldest member is 21. Taped this spring at the Wildhorse Saloon in Nashville -- where most of these artists couldn't get served -- "Class of 2000" is hosted by LeAnn Rimes, who got her big break at age 13, and young film hunk Andrew Keegan. Also tonight, the TV-series version of the 1997 film "Soul Food" debuts (10 p.m., Showtime). Eriq LaSalle of "ER" directed the premiere episode, which tracks the fortunes of three sisters in a tightly knit black family in Chicago.
- Web sites of doubtful veracity (6/27/00)
- Mediocre grades for educational TV (6/26/00)
- "Dateline's" investigative gem (6/23/00)
- Rundgren rocks CNBC (6/22/00)
- Around the clock, non-stop local news (6/21/00)
- The sci-fi recycling plant (6/20/00)
- "Mission Hill" returns (6/16/00)
- COMPLETE COVERAGE: The 2000 Upfronts (5/15-18/00)
Ratings : Broadcast | Cable | Explained
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E-mail Barnhart | About TV BarnCopyright © 2000 Aaron Barnhart
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>>> Aaron Barnhart's TVBARN.COMAll TV times Eastern
Updated 29-Jun-00 8:10 AM CTRatings : Broadcast | Cable | Explained
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E-mail Barnhart | About TV BarnPick to click For the past two years, I've considered "Rude Awakening" to be Showtime's version of "Arli$$" -- an unfunny adult comedy that some misguided soul saw the need to bring to pay cable. It makes fun of alcohol and drug abuse on a weekly basis, but the show's real sin is having three utterly unlikable leads: Sherilyn Fenn as the unrepentant druggie (but tidied up, without the bad teeth or hollowed-out eyes), Lynn Redgrave as her boozy Mommie Dearest and Jonathan Penner as the ex-flame who got a lot less interesting after he sobered up. But the third-season premiere (10 p.m. Thursday, Showtime) really turned me around. Part of it has to do with a new cast member: Mario Van Peebles as an old friend of Penner's who is separating from his wife. Through Van Peebles, who unlike Penner can act, we not only find a compassionate character, but a carrier of compassion, someone whose words also helps us care more about these other knuckleheads. Also, "Rude Awakening" appears to be getting away from the cheap sitcom laughs that made me cringe to watch it in the past. It's not that addiction is no laughing matter; anybody who says that has never mined the dark humor of a 12-step meeting. But without the human drama of addiction and recovery, we won't care, let alone laugh. "Rude Awakening" seems finally to be learning that lesson.
- Cable drowns out broadcasters' storm warnings (6/28/00)
- Web sites of doubtful veracity (6/27/00)
- Mediocre grades for educational TV (6/26/00)
- "Dateline's" investigative gem (6/23/00)
- Rundgren rocks CNBC (6/22/00)
- Around the clock, non-stop local news (6/21/00)
- The sci-fi recycling plant (6/20/00)
- "Mission Hill" returns (6/16/00)
- COMPLETE COVERAGE: The 2000 Upfronts (5/15-18/00)
Ratings : Broadcast | Cable | Explained
TV Barn archives | Late-night lineups
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E-mail Barnhart | About TV BarnCopyright © 2000 Aaron Barnhart
Redistribution prohibited.
>>> Aaron Barnhart's TVBARN.COMAll TV times Eastern
Updated 2-Jul-00 11:24 PM CTRatings : Broadcast | Cable | Explained
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E-mail Barnhart | About TV BarnTV Barn 2: even more news and gossip
Search TV Barn | TV Barn ChatHey! What happened to the news? Many of you have been writing in with questions about the suddenly-absent "On the wires" feature, with links to TV-related stories at various online publications such as Variety and USA Today. The truth is, I have begun work on a fairly big project -- details of which I hope to share later -- and I don't have quite the amount of time to devote to the Web site as before. That's the same reason you haven't seen much reader mail posted here lately. However, I still continue to receive a great deal of interesting and useful stuff in my mailbox, from readers and PR people alike. So I've been fishing around for a quick, painless way to transmit these messages to you via the Web site. Ironically, I found my answer in eGroups -- yes, the mailing-list people who just a month ago were the bane of my existence. (I'm hoping that their recent acquisition by Yahoo will shape them up.) Here now, the two new eGroups that I'm hoping will make TV Barn more interactive and informative. TV Barn 2: More news TV Barn 2 will be the repository for news and information that I didn't have time or inclination to get on the main TV Barn page. You'll find press releases, clippings from other publications, news passed along by readers, etc. TV Barn Chat: Reader mail and more TV Barn Chat is a modified message board that allows my readers to get in their own two cents. You can post to this group, or read what others have to say. I'll start unloading my backlog of Reader Mail to this area as well. Of the two, TV Barn Chat is more experimental. If we get a lot of noise on it, or if we get no noise at all, I'll probably close it down and move Reader Mail over to TV Barn 2. With luck, however, it'll become a vibrant community of chatter and gossip about this medium we love and watch. Finally, I have set up permanent links to some of my favorite news sites. They're at the bottom of the page in their own section, replacing "On the wires." The links
- Read TV Barn 2: news items sent to TV Barn
- Read the info file before joining TV Barn Chat
- Join TV Barn Chat
- "Rude Awakening" (6/29/00)
- Cable drowns out broadcasters' storm warnings (6/28/00)
- Web sites of doubtful veracity (6/27/00)
- Mediocre grades for educational TV (6/26/00)
- "Dateline's" investigative gem (6/23/00)
- Rundgren rocks CNBC (6/22/00)
- Around the clock, non-stop local news (6/21/00)
- The sci-fi recycling plant (6/20/00)
- "Mission Hill" returns (6/16/00)
- COMPLETE COVERAGE: The 2000 Upfronts (5/15-18/00)
- Zentertainment
- TV Tattle: What critics are saying
- Variety
- AP Entertainment (through Nando.Net)
- Mediaweek/The Hollywood Reporter
- SkyReport (satellite-TV news)
- New York Daily News
- New York Post
- Robert Feder, Chicago Sun-Times
- Los Angeles Times TV
- News Blues ("... for TV news insiders")
Copyright © 2000 Aaron Barnhart
Redistribution prohibited.
>>> Aaron Barnhart's TVBARN.COMAll TV times Eastern
Updated 3-Jul-00 10:55 PM CTRatings : Broadcast | Cable | Explained
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E-mail Barnhart | About TV BarnTV Barn 2: even more news and gossip
Search TV Barn | TV Barn ChatRead more about the new features Pick to click The Discovery channel isn't just celebrating the nation's most famous obelisk when it presents "The Washington Monument: It Stands for All" at 8 tonight. Discovery actually chipped in more than $2 million to the monument's recent restoration and its new visitors center. This program explains the ins and outs of the painstaking three-year repair job, along with a history of the monument and a tour, where you'll find nearly 200 memorial stones sent from around the world. If you miss this show, something tells me the visitors center will sell you a videotape copy. Fourth of July programming Plenty of star-spangled viewing choices today, starting at 8 a.m., when CNBC celebrates "financial independence day" with five hours of programming aimed at the personal investor. It starts with an overview on managing your stock portfolio, then looks at the year's most important stock categories: telecom, health, biotech and big technology. If you're sleeping in on this market holiday, the programs repeat at 3 p.m. At 7:30 p.m., A&E presents its annual "Pops Goes the Fourth" from Boston. The live extravaganza, which repeats at about 9:30 p.m., features Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops. Don McLean will sing "American Pie" -- just as he did a long, long time ago -- and Arturo Sandoval will blow his horn. PBS (check local listings) joins in at 8 p.m. with "A Capitol Fourth" from Washington, featuring the National Symphony, Ray Charles and James Galway. That's followed at 9:30 by "Cincinnati Pops Holiday" with performances by Doc Severinsen and Rosemary Clooney. "Macy's 4th of July" (9 p.m., NBC) offers up the music of Broadway. Other related shows: a repeat visit to the "St. Louis Arch" at 8 p.m. on Travel Channel; "Homes of Our Heritage," with a look at presidential estates, 10 p.m. on HGTV; and, for those who'd rather cut to the chase, "World's Most Powerful Explosions" and "Pyrotechnics" from 9 to 11 p.m. on TLC.
- New features at TV Barn (6/30/00)
- "Rude Awakening" (6/29/00)
- Cable drowns out broadcasters' storm warnings (6/28/00)
- Web sites of doubtful veracity (6/27/00)
- Mediocre grades for educational TV (6/26/00)
- "Dateline's" investigative gem (6/23/00)
- Rundgren rocks CNBC (6/22/00)
- Around the clock, non-stop local news (6/21/00)
- The sci-fi recycling plant (6/20/00)
- "Mission Hill" returns (6/16/00)
- COMPLETE COVERAGE: The 2000 Upfronts (5/15-18/00)
- Zentertainment
- TV Tattle: What critics are saying
- Variety
- AP Entertainment (through Nando.Net)
- Mediaweek/The Hollywood Reporter
- SkyReport (satellite-TV news)
- New York Daily News
- New York Post
- Robert Feder, Chicago Sun-Times
- Los Angeles Times TV
- News Blues ("... for TV news insiders")
Copyright © 2000 Aaron Barnhart
Redistribution prohibited.
>>> Aaron Barnhart's TVBARN.COMAll TV times Eastern
Updated 5-Jul-00 12:35 AM CTRatings : Broadcast | Cable | Explained
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E-mail Barnhart | About TV BarnTV Barn 2: even more news and gossip
Search TV Barn | TV Barn ChatRead more about the new features Pick to click After trying, and failing, to compete with ESPN on a national level, cable's Fox Sports Net is taking the more sensible tack of playing to its strength: regional sports. As part of that retooling, Fox Sports Midwest launches a new nightly newscast, the aptly named "Regional Sports Report," at 11 p.m. Central time tonight. Though the newscast will originate in Pittsburgh, Fox Sports promises the reports we see will be filed from bureaus in St. Louis and Kansas City. Former MSNBC sports anchor Rob Nikoleski is host; Jim Hayes is the show's Kansas City-based reporter.Eye spy: Here comes "Big Brother" Beginning at 9 p.m. Wednesday, CBS will introduce America to 10 people who have voluntarily holed themselves up in a high-tech house. For the next three months cameras will record their every movement, and microphones will ensure nothing they say goes unheard. As the 10 strangers get to know each other, there will be tensions and intrigues. And every night except Sunday, CBS executives are betting viewers will tune in to see what happens next. Read my story from Wednesday's Kansas City Star
An incomplete history of "reality" TV RELATED: CBS News cozies up to "reality" shows
- Mary Connelly's late-night challenge (7/3/00)
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- "Rude Awakening" (6/29/00)
- Cable drowns out broadcasters' storm warnings (6/28/00)
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- Mediocre grades for educational TV (6/26/00)
- "Dateline's" investigative gem (6/23/00)
- Rundgren rocks CNBC (6/22/00)
- Around the clock, non-stop local news (6/21/00)
- The sci-fi recycling plant (6/20/00)
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- COMPLETE COVERAGE: The 2000 Upfronts (5/15-18/00)
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Search TV Barn | TV Barn ChatRead more about the new features Public broadcasters' problems close to home Those of you still recovering from your network's affiliates meeting may have felt a pang of envy upon reading reports of the recent PBS love-in -- I mean, national meeting -- in Nashville. There, public TV station managers cheered the new PBS president, Pat Mitchell, as she announced the first rejiggering of the network's lineup in 20 years and unveiled a rousing set of promos with the new PBS slogan, "Stay Curious." Mitchell is exactly the kind of president stations wanted: a successful programmer. She's walked the talk. And so when she said, "We have to be bold, to take risks, to work together," those in attendance responded as though she actually meant it. Hence the upbeat mood of many of those who departed Nashville. But beneath the surface, it was clear that the meeting only began to address the one issue that troubles local stations more than any other. It's the same issue that's worrying most of you on the commercial side: localism. With all the attention focused on PBS, it's easy to forget that public broadcasting is a locally-owned, community service. Yet as with the network affiliates, public stations have an identity crisis. In the eyes of too many viewers, they are little more than extensions of the single national provider that fills most of their schedules. And that's a real problem, at a time when several of PBS's classic franchises -- nature, science and British entertainment -- have been completely co-opted by cable. Witness last week's annual EquiTrend report that found the PBS brand now ranked behind nearly every cable channel that has sucked its blood over the years. Discovery led the list, followed by TLC, History and A&E. Even as Mitchell is promising innovation, she surely knows that PBS can no longer hold onto any original idea for long. The most popular program on PBS, "Antiques Roadshow," has already inspired a flurry of knockoffs on Pax, HGTV and even VH1. What PBS needs is ideas commercial broadcasters can't steal so easily. To do that, it must expand the distribution pipe and start taking ideas from its members -- all of its members, not just the handful of stations that have dominated PBS prime time for decades. I was reminded of that during a recent visit to nearby Topeka, Kan., and the PBS member station there, KTWU. "There's been a top-down philosophy," said KTWU's general manager, Eugene Williams. "Stations like WGBH see themselves as providers of content, and the small stations have seen themselves as the receivers of that content. The truth is, we're all providers of content. "I've worked in all markets -- small, medium and large. There's no difference in the stories we tell, though the flavor might be different." So how do you get good ideas to percolate up within a system that knows only how to drip down? That's the dilemma of public TV, and it's exemplified by the story of "Mental Engineering." This freewheeling half-hour panel show out of the Twin Cities is rapidly catching on in public-TV circles (WNET just picked it up). It dares to violate one of TV's last taboos: the sanctity of commercials. The show's creator and moderator, John Forde, doesn't simply rate a TV spot's entertainment value. With the help of four funny, provocative panelists, he pries out the moral and societal values clenched within ads -- like the Honda ad that plays on liberal guilt by making fun of an old Volkswagen bus, or the old guy in a Tide ad who absolutely must have his shirts whiter than white (one panelist pegs him as a "walking superego"). You can't come up with a concept better suited to non-commercial TV. Yet "Mental Engineering" is being picked up by PBS stations nationwide only because Forde, who launched his show on cable access two years ago, sunk his $50,000 life savings into the venture and pitched station managers directly. KTCA, the station where "Mental Engineering" is taped, is not officially presenting the show to PBS, according to Forde. "KTCA told us we were better off without (a presenting station) because, if Cargill (a major underwriter) objected to one of our shows, they could pick up the phone and put pressure on the station," Forde said in an interview last week. "Now that we've been picked up by WNET, the largest public television station in the country, things are falling into place nicely." Good for him. But "Mental Engineering" underscores a serious dilemma for public TV. Local underwriters are often happy to pay for nostalgic, feel-good shows, but they grow skittish when current affairs and controversy are raised. Yet those are precisely the shows that can help set local public stations apart. Another problem: Some of the best local program ideas don't have an aftermarket. No pledge potential, no home videos, no PBS pickup. "It's very costly to do that kind of work on a unique single-market basis," admitted Wick Rowland, general manager of KBDI in Boulder, Colo., and a former dean of the journalism school at the University of Colorado. "A good example of that, something that's lurked in the breast of every good public television maker over the years, is local performance theatre work. Why don't we do it? Because it is very costly." The only way to scale these two hurdles, the managers I interviewed said, is the creation of independent programming fund that isn't controlled by Congress. It's a worthy idea, worthily advanced by activist Jerry Starr in his new book, "Air Wars: The Fight to Reclaim Public Broadcasting." Starr has been dismissed by some as a left-wing crank. But I've read a number of critiques of public TV from both liberal and conservative critics. "Air Wars" is more than that. It's a compelling story about a group of citizens, including Starr, who waged a spirited, and ultimately successful, campaign to hold Pittsburgh's WQED accountable to its original mission. Starr now heads up Citizens for Independent Public Broadcasting. Its advisory board is stocked with veteran producers and executives of public television. The only L-word that unifies them, said Starr, is localism, and that means returning public TV stations to their roots. "When you think about how public broadcasting is supposed to survive in a multichannel universe, it has to do the things those cable networks can't do," said Starr. "Be local. Be connected to the issues. Be connected to their communities. Those are the things the Discovery Channels and A&E won't do because they don't make money. But if public broadcasting just tries to make a better 'Biography' or better travelogues or better nature shows, they will eventually be seen as superfluous."
- Citizens for Independent Public Broadcasting Web site
- More about CIPB
- The "Mental Engineering" Web site (with streaming video of all Season 2 shows)
- Are you watching "Big Brother"? (7/5/00)
- Mary Connelly's late-night challenge (7/3/00)
- New features at TV Barn (6/30/00)
- "Rude Awakening" (6/29/00)
- Cable drowns out broadcasters' storm warnings (6/28/00)
- Web sites of doubtful veracity (6/27/00)
- Mediocre grades for educational TV (6/26/00)
- "Dateline's" investigative gem (6/23/00)
- Rundgren rocks CNBC (6/22/00)
- Around the clock, non-stop local news (6/21/00)
- The sci-fi recycling plant (6/20/00)
- "Mission Hill" returns (6/16/00)
- COMPLETE COVERAGE: The 2000 Upfronts (5/15-18/00)
- Zentertainment
- TV Tattle: What critics are saying
- Variety
- AP Entertainment (through Nando.Net)
- Mediaweek/The Hollywood Reporter
- SkyReport (satellite-TV news)
- New York Daily News
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- Robert Feder, Chicago Sun-Times
- Los Angeles Times TV
- News Blues ("... for TV news insiders")
Copyright © 2000 Aaron Barnhart
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Search TV Barn | TV Barn ChatRead more about the new features Pick to click In her 1995 book Longitude, Dava Sobel breathed new life into the story of a long-forgotten invention -- the sea clock, or chronometer -- and the enormous scientific, economic and political impact it had on the 18th century. Now television has taken on the equally daunting task of making Sobel's beautifully spare prose come alive on screen. "Longitude," starting 8 p.m. Sunday on A&E, does that and more. Not only is this 4-hour movie faithful to the book, it is an engaging drama in its own right, with endearing performances from Jeremy Irons and Michael Gambon ("The Insider"). In 1714, Parliament passed the Longitude Act, offering a princely reward to the person who could give sailors a foolproof way to determine their east-west coordinates. No such method existed, so countless ships drifted off course, crashing onto unforeseen shores or wandering endlessly until their crews starved to death. Gambon plays John Harrison, the village carpenter who built what was then the world's most accurate land clock. Harrison realized that if he could apply his knowledge to a precise portable timekeeper for maritime use, he'd win the longitude prize. Little did he know that the effort would take the rest of his life. "Longitude" is the chronicle of that agonizing pursuit, which pitted Harrison and his son (played by Ian Hart) against their politically connected rivals, not to mention the elder Harrison's own stubborn pursuit of perfection. But the movie's true genius is in telling a parallel story of the 20th-century Englishman who restored Harrison, and his clocks, to their rightful places in history. Irons plays Rupert Gould, a former naval officer who comes upon Harrison's rusted-out jewels in 1920 while recovering from a nervous breakdown. Sobel only touches on Gould's oddly engaging life in her book, but "Longitude" elevates him to the level of Harrison, cleverly synchronizing the two men's stories like a pair of quartz watches. "Longitude" also introduces several female characters who are missing entirely from Sobel's account. The result must be called historical fiction, but it's worthwhile fiction and terrific history.
- Public TV's problems close to home (7/6/00)
- Are you watching "Big Brother"? (7/5/00)
- Mary Connelly's late-night challenge (7/3/00)
- New features at TV Barn (6/30/00)
- "Rude Awakening" (6/29/00)
- Cable drowns out broadcasters' storm warnings (6/28/00)
- Web sites of doubtful veracity (6/27/00)
- Mediocre grades for educational TV (6/26/00)
- "Dateline's" investigative gem (6/23/00)
- Rundgren rocks CNBC (6/22/00)
- Around the clock, non-stop local news (6/21/00)
- The sci-fi recycling plant (6/20/00)
- "Mission Hill" returns (6/16/00)
- COMPLETE COVERAGE: The 2000 Upfronts (5/15-18/00)
- Zentertainment
- TV Tattle: What critics are saying
- Variety
- AP Entertainment (through Nando.Net)
- Mediaweek/The Hollywood Reporter
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- Robert Feder, Chicago Sun-Times
- Los Angeles Times TV
- News Blues ("... for TV news insiders")
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Search TV Barn | TV Barn ChatRead more about the new features Pick to click "Dear America," the historical-fiction series aimed at young girls, returns to HBO at 7:30 tonight. The story takes us to a Southern plantation in the unhappy last months of the Civil War. With her father away at war and her mother ill, young Emma Simpson (Melyssa Ade) is forced to shoulder the family estate. That becomes harder when the Union Army takes over her house and Emma's favorite slave decides "it's time to take my freedom." The program is a charming slice-of-life, though it underplays the relationship between white Southerners and their slaves. No matter how kindly our heroine regards her house servants, history tells us that generations of little Emmas grew up thinking that black Americans were property to be bought, sold and confined.
- KRON-TV's new GM is a winner (7/7/00)
- Public TV's problems close to home (7/6/00)
- Are you watching "Big Brother"? (7/5/00)
- Mary Connelly's late-night challenge (7/3/00)
- New features at TV Barn (6/30/00)
- "Rude Awakening" (6/29/00)
- Cable drowns out broadcasters' storm warnings (6/28/00)
- Web sites of doubtful veracity (6/27/00)
- Mediocre grades for educational TV (6/26/00)
- "Dateline's" investigative gem (6/23/00)
- Rundgren rocks CNBC (6/22/00)
- Around the clock, non-stop local news (6/21/00)
- The sci-fi recycling plant (6/20/00)
- "Mission Hill" returns (6/16/00)
- COMPLETE COVERAGE: The 2000 Upfronts (5/15-18/00)
- Zentertainment
- TV Tattle: What critics are saying
- Variety
- AP Entertainment (through Nando.Net)
- Mediaweek/The Hollywood Reporter
- SkyReport (satellite-TV news)
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- Robert Feder, Chicago Sun-Times
- Los Angeles Times TV
- News Blues ("... for TV news insiders")
Copyright © 2000 Aaron Barnhart
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Search TV Barn | TV Barn ChatRead more about the new features Pick to click Baseball's All-Star Game is tonight, and for a change the summer classic has some competition on other channels. NBC's coverage begins at 8 p.m. opposite ABC's Regis Philbin and CBS' "Big Brother." But give baseball its due: It was the original "Celebrity Millionaire." And purists can wring their hands over the lack of good pitching and all those home runs, but tell me: Who serves up more puffballs than Regis? While we're at it, tell me which show is more "reality-based": Is it "Big Brother," where 10 people try to act natural while cameras peer over their shoulders? Or is it a game that any group of Americans can play, whether TV is there to cover it or not? Play Ed Bark's All-Star Game trivia quiz
- Younger viewers turn Ben Stein on (7/10/00)
- KRON-TV's new GM is a winner (7/7/00)
- Public TV's problems close to home (7/6/00)
- Are you watching "Big Brother"? (7/5/00)
- Mary Connelly's late-night challenge (7/3/00)
- New features at TV Barn (6/30/00)
- "Rude Awakening" (6/29/00)
- Cable drowns out broadcasters' storm warnings (6/28/00)
- COMPLETE COVERAGE: The 2000 Upfronts (5/15-18/00)
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- Los Angeles Times TV
- News Blues ("... for TV news insiders")
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Search TV Barn | TV Barn ChatRead more about the new features Pick to click For those of you in the Kansas City area, we have a VCR alert tonight. At 7 p.m. CT, KCPT (Channel 19) presents from Lawrence, Kan., "Monkey Trial 2000: A Reenactment of the 1925 Scopes Trial" followed by a panel discussion on the teaching of evolution. Ed Asner and James Cromwell play William Jennings Bryan and Clarence Darrow, reading actual transcripts from the watershed 1925 trial. PBS and NPR will carry the two-hour broadcast nationally (though most stations are apparently taping the live feed for later rebroadcast). So go ahead -- tape "Survivor." It won't kill you to wait. (In a related story, radio station and Webcaster WGN will also commemorate the Scopes trial, reports Rob Feder.) Also tonight, the kids are probably itching to see "Young Americans." The WB's zealously promoted semi-spinoff of "Dawson's Creek" makes its debut at 9 p.m. (ET). At least there won't be any fighting over the remote at 11 p.m. (ET), when the fourth-season premiere of "Oz" begins on HBO ... that is, unless someone in the house is eager to see Famke Janssen, star of the new "X-Men" movie. She's Jon Stewart's guest on "The Daily Show" on Comedy Central. ALSO TONIGHT: On "The Awful Truth," the legal system screws the poor
- Pets.com sues Triumph for defamation, trade libel
- Smigel tells Eric Mink: That sock puppet's a ripoff
- Pets.com comments on lawsuit
- Triumph roasts Pets.com on "Late Night"
- "Babylon 5" returning again? (7/11/00)
- Younger viewers turn Ben Stein on (7/10/00)
- KRON-TV's new GM is a winner (7/7/00)
- Public TV's problems close to home (7/6/00)
- Are you watching "Big Brother"? (7/5/00)
- Mary Connelly's late-night challenge (7/3/00)
- New features at TV Barn (6/30/00)
- "Rude Awakening" (6/29/00)
- Cable drowns out broadcasters' storm warnings (6/28/00)
- COMPLETE COVERAGE: The 2000 Upfronts (5/15-18/00)
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- News Blues ("... for TV news insiders")
Copyright © 2000 Aaron Barnhart
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Search TV Barn | TV Barn ChatColleagues, A year ago the NAACP attacked the television industry for it's lack of diversity in entertainment programming. At that time I wrote an "open letter" to the NAACP pointing out what I called "the other whitewash," a deplorable lack of diversity in the ranks of news departments, both network and local.(see attached) Last Saturday, NAACP Executive Director Kweisi Mfume announced that the organization was targeting the news divisions of both the networks and local stations for examination. (see attached Baltimore Sun-Times article) This article ran on Saturday July 8th. A quick review of a number of tv columns and coverage of the NAACP convention this week in leading publications failed to turn up any mention of the NAACP's new initiative. Am I the only one who finds it curious that the news media jumps on the diversity bandwagon when the attack is on the entertainment programming, but remains mute when they themselves are the target of criticism? Last year I called it "the other whitewash." It seems nothing has changed. Tom JacobsRead more about the new features Pick to click If you've seen any of the films written or directed by Harmony Korine -- "Kids," "Gummo" or "julien donkey-boy" -- chances are you didn't forget the experience. The 20-something Korine is one of those cinematic auteurs who's considered "important," even by people who aren't sure what to make of his work (or even hate it). He'd seem to be the perfect subject for one of Richard Pena's "Conversations in World Cinema" (6:30 p.m., Sundance Channel, repeating 8:30 p.m.). Pena, who directs New York's Film Society of Lincoln Center, introduces Korine as "the Andy Kaufman of independent film," a very apt description for someone whose improvisational, low-tech approach to filmmaking has earned him the respect of directors worldwide. Unfortunately, the pretaped overview of Korine's career is far more illuminating than the talk that follows. Korine spends his few minutes on camera squirming like a turtle eager to crawl back inside his shell. In two sentences, Korine dismisses plot ("it's just a really old idea") and screenplay ("pretty much useless"). Also, Encore is featuring Martin Scorsese films all month. The movie channel's portrait series, "The Directors," spotlights Scorsese at 8 p.m.
- Robert Smigel (7/12/00)
- "Babylon 5" returning again? (7/11/00)
- Younger viewers turn Ben Stein on (7/10/00)
- KRON-TV's new GM is a winner (7/7/00)
- Public TV's problems close to home (7/6/00)
- Are you watching "Big Brother"? (7/5/00)
- Mary Connelly's late-night challenge (7/3/00)
- New features at TV Barn (6/30/00)
- "Rude Awakening" (6/29/00)
- Cable drowns out broadcasters' storm warnings (6/28/00)
- COMPLETE COVERAGE: The 2000 Upfronts (5/15-18/00)
- Zentertainment
- TV Tattle: What critics are saying
- Variety
- AP Entertainment (through Nando.Net)
- Mediaweek/The Hollywood Reporter
- The Media Channel (mediachannel.org)
- Jim Romenesko's MediaNews
- SkyReport (satellite-TV news)
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- Robert Feder, Chicago Sun-Times
- Los Angeles Times TV
- News Blues ("... for TV news insiders")
Copyright © 2000 Aaron Barnhart
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Nation/World
Ê Mfume widens call for diverse TV
NAACP's next target is lack of minorities in news and sports
By David Folkenflik
Sun Television Writer
Kweisi Mfume spoke at friday mornings dedication ceremony for the new NAACP Family Technology Center in Randallstown. (Sun photo by Monica Lopossay)
NAACP convention coverage
On the eve of this year's convention in Baltimore, NAACP President Kweisi Mfume said his organization intends to broaden its call for greater diversity within television network programming by casting a critical new spotlight on news and sports shows. "The NAACP is not like the circus on this effort - we're not here today, and gone in a few days," Mfume said in an interview. "Much of what was wrong with television didn't happen because there are bad people in place. There were bad decisions because there was an absence of advocacy. There were bad decisions because networks, as well as advocacy groups, fell asleep at the wheel," he said. Mfume's declaration follows a heady year in which his denunciation of the networks' lack of on-air diversity in entertainment - a "virtual whitewash," in his memorable phrase - led to a series of pacts earlier this year between the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and each of the four major networks. In the interview, Mfume claimed some minor success in that effort, which had set no specific goals for the number of nonwhite characters on prime-time shows. Instead it created initiatives to identify and cultivate more black talent in the field, both on- and off-camera. The networks said they would work harder to fill executive posts with minorities. And they agreed to spend more money to promote shows with black actors in leading roles. As a starting point for the news-show effort, researchers at the NAACP examined last year's offerings from the four major Sunday morning talk programs: ABC's "This Week," CBS's "Face the Nation," "Fox News Sunday," and NBC's "Meet the Press." "When you look at 'Meet the Press,' 'Face the Nation' or 'This Week,' our review of 1999 shows that about 97 percent of guests have been white," Mfume said. An aide later said that the review of the Fox Sunday show generated roughly the same figure. The standard network response, he said, was that "these are shows that are low in demographics, so they don't really count." But, he said, "they influence much of the psychology of policy that gets in place. The [Sunday morning shows] really ought to be a diverse set of ideas shared and a diverse set of opinions aired." In addition, Mfume said, the NAACP intends to push for greater representation of blacks and other minorities in the ranks of executives and producers within the networks' sports divisions. While expressing agreement with Mfume's concerns, network news representatives did not rush to agree with his conclusion. "We take the issue of diversity very seriously, but 'This Week' is first and foremost a news program," said Su-Lin Nichols, a spokeswoman for ABC News. "We book our guests based on the news." She noted Mfume is scheduled to be a guest tomorrow. Dana McClintock, vice president for communications at CBS Television, said: "We believe we are second to none in terms of reporting the news that reflects the diversity of this country. We realize, however, that there is always more that can be done in this area." On the entertainment side, Mfume said that he thought the initiative appeared to be yielding some results. "We began with what we thought was the most visible and the most vulnerable" target, Mfume said. "We're pleased that we're able to see incremental progress." The decision by CBS to renew the inner-city medical drama, "City of Angels," a critically well-received show with marginal ratings, is at least partly credited to the attention stirred by the NAACP and other civil rights organizations. Blair Underwood and several other black actors are prominent in the ensemble cast. Several new fall shows will also star African-Americans and Hispanics in leading roles. For example, Andre Braugher will star in the ABC medical drama "Gideon's Crossing," and David Allen Grier will co-star as a Secret Service agent in the NBC sitcom "DAG." Both actors are African-American. Last year, by comparison, there were no black leads among the 27 new prime-time shows unveiled by ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC. "I don't think our job is complete by any means, but we've made great inroads," said Shirley Powell, a senior vice president in NBC's entertainment division, the first network unit to sign a pact with the NAACP promoting diversity. Powell pointed to a daylong NBC symposium on diversity in February, attended by Mfume and other civil rights leaders, to which the network also invited outside producers, directors, writers and agents. Entertainment trade publications reported last week that John Wells, whose company produces such NBC hits as "ER," "Third Shift" and "West Wing," had established an apprenticeship for minority and women directors to receive training on his shows. Similarly, CBS's McClintock noted that his network had joined the National Minority Vendors Association as a result of its agreement with the NAACP to reach out to black contractors. "We're proud of our track record in the diversity arena, and we remain committed to improving upon that record," said Chris Ender, a senior vice president in CBS' entertainment department. But television presents a rapidly shifting target for Mfume and the NAACP. For one, as the NBC symposium suggests, the networks do not produce all the programs they broadcast. For that, they often rely on outside production companies. Second, and perhaps more important, television is no longer solely the domain of the major networks. While ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC retain a plurality of viewers on any given night, there are now six networks, with UPN and the WB thrown into the mix. And widely available cable stations offer shows on sports, celebrities, cooking, wildlife, shopping and almost any other imaginable activity. In a tartly worded April report on the business side of the cable industry, the NAACP gave it an overall grade of C. AT&T and Comcast's cable divisions, which respectively serve Baltimore City and Baltimore County, each received a relatively high grade of B minus. Mfume conceded that the blooming of cable allows programs to be pitched to increasingly narrow audiences. But he said the question of diversity presents the networks with an opportunity to win back wider audiences. "The smarter networks are trying to put on shows that are more diverse in their themes and their characters," Mfume said.
>>> Aaron Barnhart's TVBARN.COMAll TV times Eastern
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Search TV Barn | TV Barn ChatPick to click Alec Baldwin, as we know, has his political opinions. Less well known is that Baldwin has been sharing with TV executives his quiet passion for history. Television, he says, should present "relevant, historical dramas" about epochal events that have shaped our world today. He says he has pitched several such productions to the big networks, but that each time "the networks just completely glaze over." Thankfully, executives at TNT stayed clear-eyed when Baldwin told them he wanted to retell the story of the 1945 Nuremberg war trials. The result is a masterful two-part miniseries, "Nuremberg," that begins 8 p.m. Sunday. With no slight intended to Stanley Kramer's 1961 classic "Judgment at Nuremberg," this brilliant new production should help keep the memory of that watershed tribunal alive for another generation. There were 21 defendants at Nuremberg, all Nazi leaders accused of "crimes against humanity." But the trials also passed judgment on the moral agnosticism of the Nazi elite. Many of these men liked their consciences as clean as their fingernails. So they would simply claim they had "just followed orders." By the end of the Nuremberg trials, which took place in 1945-46, that claim would be discredited -- or rather, buried under a mountain of documentary evidence on the horrors of the Holocaust brought forth by the prosecution. Baldwin, the movie's lead, along with director Yves Simoneau and screenplay writer David Rintels, breathes not only life but also fire into these moral and intellectual matters. The film opens with chilling, boisterous footage of one of Hitler's military parades and sustains the emotional tenor of that opening throughout. With spare, pungent writing by Rintels (who adapted the book Nuremberg: Infamy on Trial by Joseph Persico) and a terrific turn by Baldwin, "Nuremberg" gallops along its first two hours. Yet the viewer is never denied the vital facts that put this movie atop Baldwin's wish list. Baldwin plays Robert Jackson, the U.S. Supreme Court justice sent to Germany to head up the prosecution. His nemesis, and the trial's star defendant, is Hermann Goering (Brian Cox). If Adolf Eichmann, in Hannah Arendt's phrase, embodied "the banality of evil," then Goering is more like the absurdity of evil. In the opening minutes of the movie, Hitler's No. 2 roars up to a P.O.W. camp in a limousine. He embraces an Allied officer as "a fellow airman" and magnanimously offers the man his surrender. Charmed, the officer takes Goering down to the officers' tent to tie one on. Cox seizes the vortex of Goering's complex personalities. We see the military man bound by honor; the cruel psychopath who laughs at his fellow inmates' sufferings; and, further down, the disturbingly efficient executor of Hitler's plan. "The victors will always be the judge, the vanquished always the accused," says Goering at one point, and with such certitude that you almost feel sorry for the old blighter. The film's only major female role is given to ex-"Law & Order" knockout Jill Hennessy, who plays Jackson's secretary and, increasingly, his love interest. (Their little flirtation doesn't get in story's way, thank goodness.) There are many fine touches and supporting roles in "Nuremberg," which co-stars Christopher Plummer, Herbert Knaup and Michael Ironside. For too long TNT has been made to stand in the shadow of HBO. No longer. With "Nuremberg" TNT has produced a movie for the ages -- and done a good deed as well. Part 2 of "Nuremberg" airs at 8 p.m. Monday on TNT.
- Latino-themed series on cable (7/13/00)
- Robert Smigel (7/12/00)
- "Babylon 5" returning again? (7/11/00)
- Younger viewers turn Ben Stein on (7/10/00)
- KRON-TV's new GM is a winner (7/7/00)
- Public TV's problems close to home (7/6/00)
- Are you watching "Big Brother"? (7/5/00)
- Mary Connelly's late-night challenge (7/3/00)
- New features at TV Barn (6/30/00)
- "Rude Awakening" (6/29/00)
- Cable drowns out broadcasters' storm warnings (6/28/00)
- COMPLETE COVERAGE: The 2000 Upfronts (5/15-18/00)
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- TV Tattle: What critics are saying
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- Los Angeles Times TV
- News Blues ("... for TV news insiders")
Copyright © 2000 Aaron Barnhart
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>>> Aaron Barnhart's TVBARN.COMAll TV times Eastern
Updated 15-Jul-00 7:02 PM CTRatings : Broadcast | Cable | Explained
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Search TV Barn | TV Barn ChatWho won "Survivor"? You may have heard already that someone rooting around the CBS Web site for "Survivor" uncovered the identity of the winning castaway. Word began bouncing around the Internet on Friday, along with a geek's explanation of how he did it. If you're not bothered by spoilers -- like this thing ain't gonna be all over the Net -- and you'd like a layman's explanation of how it was done,click here for TV Barn's "How They Hacked That Site"
- Latino-themed series on cable (7/13/00)
- Robert Smigel (7/12/00)
- "Babylon 5" returning again? (7/11/00)
- Younger viewers turn Ben Stein on (7/10/00)
- KRON-TV's new GM is a winner (7/7/00)
- Public TV's problems close to home (7/6/00)
- Are you watching "Big Brother"? (7/5/00)
- Mary Connelly's late-night challenge (7/3/00)
- New features at TV Barn (6/30/00)
- "Rude Awakening" (6/29/00)
- Cable drowns out broadcasters' storm warnings (6/28/00)
- COMPLETE COVERAGE: The 2000 Upfronts (5/15-18/00)
- Zentertainment
- TV Tattle: What critics are saying
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- Robert Feder, Chicago Sun-Times
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- News Blues ("... for TV news insiders")
Copyright © 2000 Aaron Barnhart
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>>> TVBARN.COM: How They Hacked That SiteAnd the winner is: To return to the last page:
Use the "Back" button on your browser.
To return to the main TV Barn page:
Click here or on the Barn logo.This guy. Gervase. Mr. Lay-Around-and-Make-Comments-About-the-Women Gervase. He's your big winner, or so it would appear. Now for the background. A young Canadian named Caplock went fishing on the CBS Web site, not doing anything illegal, when he stumbled upon the incriminating information. Caplock's Web site explains what he did, and I've tried to offer a version below that might be better understood by the non-technically inclined. I'm inclined to think Caplock is right on the money, because his story reminds me of so many hacks I've seen before -- careless operator errors exploited by someone with too much time on their hands. Take a look at the "Tribal Council History" page on the "Survivor" Web site. It's arranged like a scorecard, with images of each of the contestants who have been voted off the show already entered in the gray grid. Notice the shiny red "X" in the top left corner of each picture. Pulling up the HTML source for that page -- jeez, why didn't I think of this? -- we find the following image tags:
See the pattern? All the images used for the Tribal Council scorecard are named exactly the same way: First name of contestant plus underscore key (_) plus the letters "VH" plus the .gif suffix. (GIF is a format commonly used for image files such as photos.) So what Caplock did was simply start substituting the first names of contestants still on the island and submitting them as URLs to the Web site. Here's what he got back:
* * * How could CBS's Web gurus make such a boneheaded mistake -- assuming, of course, that it isn't simply an elaborate ploy to call more attention to the show? It's easier than you might think. Last year, you may recall that the name of the Chicago Cubs' next manager was leaked accidentally after an intrepid reporter at the Chicago Tribune found the press release with Don Baylor's name on it at the Cubs Web site.
* * * It's too soon to say whether's Caplock's intrepid work will wind up affecting the ratings for "Survivor." A poster to the Slashdot site said a similar security hole was exposed during the first year of the show's Swedish version, "Expedition Robinson." Obviously that didn't stop "Expedition" from becoming a huge hit and begetting "Survivor." In the end, this accidental spoiler may simply turn out to be further grist for CBS's over-hyped hype mill. After all, aren't you curious how a knucklehead like Gervase managed to win the $1 million prize?
* * *
UPDATE 7/19/00: CBS reportedly has fixed the Gervase photo, leaving us to wonder whether the Eye is quietly covering its tracks or applying the finishing touches to an elaborate ruse. UPDATE 7/20/00: The reports were wrong. Follow the original URL and you still get Gervase. UPDATE 7/21/00: Remarkably, or maybe predictably, CBS allowed a brief clip of a sparsely attended tribal council to grace the opening sequence of Wednesday's "Survivor." The picture suggests a scene at the end of episode 12, when the field is winnowed down to four finalists. The four persons shown are Gervase, Rudy, Colleen and Sean. In the 13th and final episode of "Survivor," -- which will be two hours or possibly even three hours long and will air Aug. 23 -- the four will be reduced to two and then a tribal council consisting of the previous seven cast-offs will decide the $1 million winner. Sure looks like that winner is our Teflon-coated YMCA instructor. UPDATE 8/2/00: Nope! It's not Gervase. Read it all here.
(7/17/00)
- Caplock tells how he found winner's name
- Time Daily: How is CBS keeping "Survivor" outcome secret?
- Visit the Survivor Sucks site
- Modern Humorist's "spoiler" parody
Copyright © 2000 Aaron Barnhart
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>>> Aaron Barnhart's TVBARN.COMAll TV times Eastern
Updated 16-Jul-00 11:55 PM CTRatings : Broadcast | Cable | Explained
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Search TV Barn | TV Barn ChatUnion files complaint over "Survivor" promos It had to happen sometime. Somebody in the CBS food chain finally got fed up with "Survivor." Acting on a complaint from CBS affiliate KCTV, the local chapter of AFTRA in Kansas City has filed a complaint with the station's management, demanding that KCTV stop assigning its news anchors and reporters to "Survivor"-related stories and related gimmicks. In one instance that would seem to abolish the line between news and entertainment, the 6 and 10 p.m. co-anchor reads a one-minute promotion for "Survivor" ... during the 6 and 10 p.m. newscasts. The affiliate's general manager says that "Survivor" is a phenomenon and is being covered as such. Even his competitors can't get enough "Survivor," he points out. As for those sponsored "Survivor Updates" -- the GM says they were the news department's idea. Read the story from Saturday's Kansas City Star"Survivor": The secret's out (or is it?)
- CBS news exec uses the "it's newsworthy!" defense with Howard Kurtz
- ALSO: Modern Humorist's "Big Brother" parody
- Caplock tells how he found winner's name
- Time Daily: How is CBS keeping "Survivor" outcome secret?
- EARLIER: How they hacked that site
- Visit the Survivor Sucks site
(spoilers are set in white-on-white; readable only by highlighting text)
- Who won "Survivor"? We know (7/15/00)
- "Nuremberg" (7/14/00)
- Latino-themed series on cable (7/13/00)
- Robert Smigel (7/12/00)
- "Babylon 5" returning again? (7/11/00)
- Younger viewers turn Ben Stein on (7/10/00)
- KRON-TV's new GM is a winner (7/7/00)
- Public TV's problems close to home (7/6/00)
- Are you watching "Big Brother"? (7/5/00)
- COMPLETE COVERAGE: The 2000 Upfronts (5/15-18/00)
- Zentertainment
- TV Tattle: What critics are saying
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- Jim Romenesko's MediaNews
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- Robert Feder, Chicago Sun-Times
- Los Angeles Times TV
- News Blues ("... for TV news insiders")
Copyright © 2000 Aaron Barnhart
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>>> Aaron Barnhart's TVBARN.COMAll TV times Eastern
Updated 17-Jul-00 11:31 AM CTRatings : Broadcast | Cable | Explained
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Search TV Barn | TV Barn Chat"Survivor" winner theory survives the weekend TV Barn readers have been eagerly trying to poke holes in this weekend's discovery that the name of the winner of CBS's "Survivor" was accidentally posted to the CBS Web site. Don't worry, we won't spoil it for you on this page. However, if you don't mind learning the winner's name, click here to read a full explanation.In a nutshell, here's what happened. Sometime, we're guessing, before everybody knew "Survivor" was going to grab America by the throat and not let go, the CBS Web gurus set up a Tribal Council History page on the "Survivor" site. In a separate directory, they created customized, 42-pixel-square mugshots of each of the 16 castaways. Fifteen of those had a red X punched in the corner. (For example, see Sonja, at left.) This indicated they had been voted off the island. Problem was, the Web masters also put a file with the mugshot of Contestant No. 16 -- without the scarlet letter X -- in that same directory. Now, this is not proof positive that Contestant No. 16 is the winner. But consider. (1) At the time this Web site was assembled, no one, not even CBS executives, predicted that "Survivor" would turn into the summer's No. 1 hit show. So maybe security measures were a little lax at first. (2) The directory with the 42-pixel-square mugshots exists for one purpose and one purpose only: to supply artwork for the Tribal Council History page. That way, each time a contestant is knocked out Wednesday night, the Webmasters can present an updated scorecard first thing Thursday morning. But perhaps most telling: (3) As our friend to the North named Caplock was the first to realize, each of the mugshot files in that directory conformed to an identical file-naming pattern. All the images used for the Tribal Council scorecard are named exactly the same way: First name of contestant plus underscore key (_) plus the letters "VH" plus the .gif suffix. (GIF is a format commonly used for image files such as photos.) So what Caplock did was simply start substituting the first names of contestants still on the island and submitting them as URLs to the Web site. One came back without a red X. That person, it would seem, is your "Survivor" champion. But doubting Thomases among you have argued otherwise. And several have sent me what they believe is evidence that blows away the Caplock theory: Another mugshot of the purported winner, this time with a big shiny red X in the corner. Sadly, as with so many things that appear in the media these days, this "proof" is taken completely out of context.
The contradictory mugshot does indeed exist in a separate directory. That directory is used to supply photos for the Weekly Tribal Council vote tally. But those files do not work with the History page. (Notice that the mugshots on the Weekly page are larger, 69 pixels square, than the ones on the History page. See last week's loser, Gretchen, at left.) Finally, for those of you who think these kinds of dumb operator errors only happen on purpose -- a ruse, if you will, to keep interest in "Survivor" at full boil -- one of TV Barn's Swedish readers, Andreas Magnusson, writes in with a sobering note from history:
"I read TV Barn and the article about the CBS Survivor website being 'hacked' with amusement, because something similar happened to SVT, the Swedish broadcaster of Survivor, or 'Expedition: Robinson' as it's called here. But it wasn't a hacker or something like that ... the morons in charge of the website screwed up and the website simply contained congratulations to the winner, who of course was named, while the show had several weeks left. The website was up and running like this for several hours before they noticed it and fixed it."
- Who won "Survivor"? We know (7/15/00)
- "Nuremberg" (7/14/00)
- Latino-themed series on cable (7/13/00)
- Robert Smigel (7/12/00)
- "Babylon 5" returning again? (7/11/00)
- Younger viewers turn Ben Stein on (7/10/00)
- KRON-TV's new GM is a winner (7/7/00)
- Public TV's problems close to home (7/6/00)
- Are you watching "Big Brother"? (7/5/00)
- COMPLETE COVERAGE: The 2000 Upfronts (5/15-18/00)
- Zentertainment
- TV Tattle: What critics are saying
- Variety
- AP Entertainment (through Nando.Net)
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- Jim Romenesko's MediaNews
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- News Blues ("... for TV news insiders")
Copyright © 2000 Aaron Barnhart
Redistribution prohibited.
>>> Aaron Barnhart's TVBARN.COMAll TV times Eastern
Updated 18-Jul-00 8:25 AM CTRatings : Broadcast | Cable | Explained
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Search TV Barn | TV Barn Chat"Survivor" winner? John Zipperer's Sci-Fi Loft will return next week. Pick to click When Betty Hutton was the No. 1 female star at Paramount Pictures in the 1940s, Bob Hope called her "a vitamin pill with legs." She still is. Hutton, 79, gave up show business years ago for a quieter life in Rhode Island. But several times during a rollicking interview on "Private Screenings" (8 p.m., Turner Classic Movies), she looks like she's going to fly out of her chair. Hutton, an old friend of host Robert Osborne, carries on throughout the interview, sings bars from her more famous show tunes and tells tales on some of the greats she once worked for (working on a Preston Sturges film sounded like paid vacation). Following the program is a Hutton moviefest, starting aptly enough with "Incendiary Blonde."
- More on "Survivor" theories (7/17/00) still spoiler-free
- Who won "Survivor"? We know (7/15/00)
- "Nuremberg" (7/14/00)
- Latino-themed series on cable (7/13/00)
- Robert Smigel (7/12/00)
- "Babylon 5" returning again? (7/11/00)
- Younger viewers turn Ben Stein on (7/10/00)
- KRON-TV's new GM is a winner (7/7/00)
- Public TV's problems close to home (7/6/00)
- Are you watching "Big Brother"? (7/5/00)
- COMPLETE COVERAGE: The 2000 Upfronts (5/15-18/00)
- Zentertainment
- TV Tattle: What critics are saying
- Variety
- AP Entertainment (through Nando.Net)
- Mediaweek/The Hollywood Reporter
- The Media Channel (mediachannel.org)
- Jim Romenesko's MediaNews
- SkyReport (satellite-TV news)
- New York Daily News
- New York Post
- Robert Feder, Chicago Sun-Times
- Los Angeles Times TV
- News Blues ("... for TV news insiders")
Copyright © 2000 Aaron Barnhart
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>>> Aaron Barnhart's TVBARN.COMAll TV times Eastern
Updated 19-Jul-00 11:24 AM CTRatings : Broadcast | Cable | Explained
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Search TV Barn | TV Barn ChatCBS quietly covers its tracks Almost as intriguing as the televised shenanigans at "Survivor" island are the behind-the-scenes machinations at CBS as network executives try to keep people from presuming the winner of the $1 million booty. Now comes word that the telltale photograph of the single "Survivor" without an "X" stamped on it -- the one that touched off a weekend of Internet speculation -- has been altered. The photo of Contestant No. 16 has gotten its scarlet letter. You can see it for yourself at the bottom of my spoiler-filled "How That Hacked That Site" page. Earlier "Survivor" coverage (don't worry, no spoliers on this page)
- Betty Hutton (7/18/00)
- More on "Survivor" theories (7/17/00) (no spoilers)
- Who won "Survivor"? We know (7/15/00)
- "Nuremberg" (7/14/00)
- Latino-themed series on cable (7/13/00)
- Robert Smigel (7/12/00)
- "Babylon 5" returning again? (7/11/00)
- Younger viewers turn Ben Stein on (7/10/00)
- KRON-TV's new GM is a winner (7/7/00)
- Public TV's problems close to home (7/6/00)
- Are you watching "Big Brother"? (7/5/00)
- COMPLETE COVERAGE: The 2000 Upfronts (5/15-18/00)
- Zentertainment
- TV Tattle: What critics are saying
- Variety
- AP Entertainment (through Nando.Net)
- Mediaweek/The Hollywood Reporter
- The Media Channel (mediachannel.org)
- Jim Romenesko's MediaNews
- SkyReport (satellite-TV news)
- New York Daily News
- New York Post
- Robert Feder, Chicago Sun-Times
- Los Angeles Times TV
- News Blues ("... for TV news insiders")
Copyright © 2000 Aaron Barnhart
Redistribution prohibited.
>>> Aaron Barnhart's TVBARN.COMAll TV times Eastern
Updated 21-Jul-00 9:08 AM CTRatings : Broadcast | Cable | Explained
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- Betty Hutton (7/18/00)
- More on "Survivor" theories (7/17/00) (no spoilers)
- Who won "Survivor"? We know (7/15/00)
- "Nuremberg" (7/14/00)
- Latino-themed series on cable (7/13/00)
- Robert Smigel (7/12/00)
- "Babylon 5" returning again? (7/11/00)
- Younger viewers turn Ben Stein on (7/10/00)
- KRON-TV's new GM is a winner (7/7/00)
- Public TV's problems close to home (7/6/00)
- Are you watching "Big Brother"? (7/5/00)
- COMPLETE COVERAGE: The 2000 Upfronts (5/15-18/00)
- Zentertainment
- TV Tattle: What critics are saying
- Variety
- AP Entertainment (through Nando.Net)
- Mediaweek/The Hollywood Reporter
- The Media Channel (mediachannel.org)
- Jim Romenesko's MediaNews
- SkyReport (satellite-TV news)
- New York Daily News
- New York Post
- Robert Feder, Chicago Sun-Times
- Los Angeles Times TV
- News Blues ("... for TV news insiders")
Copyright © 2000 Aaron Barnhart
Redistribution prohibited.
>>> Aaron Barnhart's TVBARN.COMAll TV times Eastern
Updated 24-Jul-00 8:14 AM CTRatings : Broadcast | Cable | Explained
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Search TV Barn | TV Barn ChatTrouble away from paradise For some of the 16 contestants on CBS' summer hit "Survivor," it seems, life on the island was a breeze compared with the troubles awaiting them back on the mainland. The latest revelation: 23-year-old Kelly Wiglesworth is wanted in North Carolina for using a stolen credit card, reports the Greensboro News & Record. Also this week, not only did a prematurely placed press release at the CBS Web site reveal the departure of Greg several hours before it happened, but the broadcast showed what appeared to be the four finalists on "Survivor" -- three weeks before their identities were to be revealed. (You can read about it at the bottom of the spoilers page.) And that's not the only stink being raised. TV Barn opened the following e-mail this week with questions about the castaways' body odor. (Is this a sign of creeping viewer boredom?) "The show has been on for about eight weeks now, or about 25 days of actual island time, and virtually no time has been spent talking about how unpleasant it must be, hygiene-wise," writes Adam Rafkin. "After all this time, these people must be reeking up a storm by now. And how can Jenna's hair continue to look so good in those conditions?" Please! Don't tell us she uses a special "hair gel"! RELATED:
- How we know that [deleted] wins "Survivor" (spoilers galore; recently updated)
- Modern Humorist spoils everything (parody)
- Decent ratings return for "Big Brother" as Mega departs
Nominees in top categories for the Primetime Emmy Awards, announced Thursday by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences:* Comedy Series: "Everybody Loves Raymond," CBS; "Frasier," NBC; "Friends," NBC; "Sex and the City," HBO; "Will & Grace," NBC. * Drama Series: "ER," NBC; "Law & Order," NBC; "The Practice," ABC; "The Sopranos," HBO; "The West Wing," NBC. * Miniseries: "Arabian Nights," ABC; "The Beach Boys: An American Family," ABC; "The Corner," HBO; "Jesus," CBS; "P.T. Barnum," A&E. * Television Movie: "Annie," ABC; "If These Walls Could Talk II," HBO; "Introducing Dorothy Dandridge," HBO; "Oprah Winfrey Presents: Tuesdays With Morrie," ABC; "RKO 281," HBO. * Actor, Comedy Series: Michael J. Fox, "Spin City," ABC; Kelsey Grammer, "Frasier," NBC; John Lithgow, "3rd Rock From the Sun," NBC; Eric McCormack, "Will & Grace," NBC; Ray Romano, "Everybody Loves Raymond," CBS. * Actor, Drama Series: Dennis Franz, "NYPD Blue," ABC; James Gandolfini, "The Sopranos," HBO; Jerry Orbach, "Law & Order," NBC; Martin Sheen, "The West Wing," NBC; Sam Waterston, "Law & Order," NBC. * Actor, Miniseries or Movie: Beau Bridges, "P.T. Barnum," A&E; Brian Dennehy, "Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman," Showtime; Jack Lemmon, "Oprah Winfrey Presents: Tuesdays With Morrie," ABC; William H. Macy, "A Slight Case of Murder," TNT; Liev Schreiber, "RKO 281," HBO. * Actress, Comedy Series: Jenna Elfman, "Dharma & Greg," ABC; Patricia Heaton, "Everybody Loves Raymond," CBS; Jane Kaczmarek, "Malcolm in the Middle," Fox; Debra Messing, "Will & Grace," NBC; Sarah Jessica Parker, "Sex and the City," HBO. * Actress, Drama Series: Lorraine Bracco, "The Sopranos," HBO; Amy Brenneman, "Judging Amy," CBS; Edie Falco, "The Sopranos," HBO; Julianna Margulies, "ER," NBC; Sela Ward, "Once and Again," ABC. * Actress, Miniseries or Movie: Halle Berry, "Introducing Dorothy Dandridge," HBO; Judy Davis, "A Cooler Climate," Showtime; Sally Field, "A Cooler Climate," Showtime; Holly Hunter, "Harlan County War," Showtime; Gena Rowlands, "The Color of Love: Jacey's Story," CBS. * Supporting Actor, Comedy Series: Peter Boyle, "Everybody Loves Raymond," CBS; Brad Garrett, "Everybody Loves Raymond," CBS; Sean Hayes, "Will & Grace," NBC; Peter MacNicol, "Ally McBeal," Fox; David Hyde Pierce, "Frasier," NBC. * Supporting Actor, Drama Series: Michael Badalucco, "The Practice," ABC; Dominic Chianese, "The Sopranos," HBO; Steve Harris, "The Practice," ABC; Richard Schiff, "The West Wing," NBC; John Spencer, "The West Wing," NBC. * Supporting Actor, Miniseries or Movie: Hank Azaria, "Oprah Winfrey Presents: Tuesdays With Morrie," ABC; Klaus Maria Brandauer, "Introducing Dorothy Dandridge," HBO; James Cromwell, "RKO 281," HBO; Danny Glover, "Freedom Song," TNT; John Malkovich, "RKO 281," HBO. * Supporting Actress, Comedy Series: Jennifer Aniston, "Friends," NBC; Kim Cattrall, "Sex and the City," HBO; Lisa Kudrow, "Friends," NBC; Megan Mullally, "Will & Grace," NBC; Doris Roberts, "Everybody Loves Raymond," CBS. * Supporting Actress, Drama Series: Stockard Channing, "The West Wing," NBC; Tyne Daly, "Judging Amy," CBS; Allison Janney, "The West Wing," NBC; Nancy Marchand, "The Sopranos," HBO; Holland Taylor, "The Practice," ABC. * Supporting Actress, Miniseries or Movie: Kathy Bates, "Annie," ABC; Elizabeth Franz, "Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman," Showtime; Melanie Griffith, "RKO 281," HBO; Maggie Smith, "David Copperfield," PBS.
- "Strong Medicine" (7/21/00)
- Betty Hutton (7/18/00)
- More on "Survivor" theories (7/17/00) (no spoilers)
- Who won "Survivor"? We know (7/15/00)
- "Nuremberg" (7/14/00)
- Latino-themed series on cable (7/13/00)
- Robert Smigel (7/12/00)
- "Babylon 5" returning again? (7/11/00)
- Younger viewers turn Ben Stein on (7/10/00)
- KRON-TV's new GM is a winner (7/7/00)
- Public TV's problems close to home (7/6/00)
- Are you watching "Big Brother"? (7/5/00)
- COMPLETE COVERAGE: The 2000 Upfronts (5/15-18/00)
- Zentertainment
- TV Tattle: What critics are saying
- Variety
- AP Entertainment (through Nando.Net)
- Mediaweek/The Hollywood Reporter
- The Media Channel (mediachannel.org)
- Jim Romenesko's MediaNews
- SkyReport (satellite-TV news)
- New York Daily News
- New York Post
- Robert Feder, Chicago Sun-Times
- Los Angeles Times TV
- News Blues ("... for TV news insiders")
- Television-related news from Moreover.com
Copyright © 2000 Aaron Barnhart
Redistribution prohibited.
>>> Aaron Barnhart's TVBARN.COMAll TV times Eastern
Updated 24-Jul-00 11:47 PM CTRatings : Broadcast | Cable | Explained
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E-mail Barnhart | About TV BarnLooking for "Survivor" spoilers and gossip? See here! TV Barn 2: even more news and gossip
Search TV Barn | TV Barn ChatMEDIA WATCH: Mr. TV Barn will "appear" on Alex Bennett's streamed talk show a little after 5 p.m. ET on PlayTV. Mike Nelson vs. Skeet Ulrich
(or: He hated, loathed, despised that movie)by John Zipperer
As head writer for the late "Mystery Science Theater 3000" TV series, Michael J. Nelson had a hand in scripting years of insults for television shows, movies, writers, actors, and anyone else who fell afoul of his tastes. If you were a regular viewer of that show, then you're already familiar with the flavor and even some of the content of Nelson's new book, "Mike Nelson's Movie Megacheese," now out from Harper Collins. In this collection of short essays (most of them reprinted from Home Theater and Entertainment@Home magazines), Nelson unloads on some of the worst films ever to clog up theaters or video/DVD players; unfortunately, he also unloads on a lot of targets that are simply unworthy of his attention.
Nelson previously was a co-author of Bantam's "The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Amazing Colossal Episode Guide" (1996). "MST3K" viewers became familiar with the likes and dislikes of the creators over the course of about 10 seasons. A rare Midwestern creation, the show abounded with references to people, events, and places in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and northern Illinois. For those of us from that region, it was always a special treat to hear them mention Ashwaubenon, Wisc., or Chicago's State Street. On a personal note, I always appreciated the presence on the show of producer Jim Mallon. As a student at my alma mater, the University of Wisconsin, Mallon was a player in the famous Pail and Shovel student political party. The party's claim to fame was building a partial Statue of Liberty on a nearby frozen lake. Such events were legend when I attended the school years later.
Too bad Skeet Ulrich never worked on "MST3K." Nelson's new book is devoted to bad movies and bad television shows and bad actors, and in the latter category apparently no one was ever worse than poor Skeet. The actor, who appeared in such films as "Ride with the Devil" and "Scream," takes it on the chin throughout this book. But he's not alone. Rarely in "Movie Megacheese" does one come across even a reasonably kind word for any actor or production. One wonders how Nelson would write at length about something he actually likes. He manages a few nice words for the Three Stooges and various J.R.R. Tolkien works, but his overarching effort here is to blast the bad, the tasteless and the cheap. Pamela Lee Anderson's "Barb Wire" gets this friendly comment: "I wasn't fond of Mrs. Lee's performance, though I should admit my prejudice that I believe her to be a horrible, filthy bride of Satan."
It's a fun book to read, and you'll probably find yourself grinning so regularly that your face begins to hurt. It's not a laugh-out-loud book, but it is consistently amusing, especially if you don't waste valuable reading time picking arguments with the author. (After all, does it really matter in the overall scheme of life whether you kinda liked "Batman and Robin" and he thought it was "the single worst thing that we as human beings have ever produced in recorded history"?) One does get a bit tired of his "dumb guy" routine, in which he portrays himself (and men in general) as beer-sodden dopes. Usually dropped in as side comments here and there, it achieves full force in his chapter on Nora Ephron and Meg Ryan, in which he purports to give male readers romance tips. It's only mildly funny, because Dave Barry has done it before and better. More important, it suggests that he really didn't have anything to say about the two subjects of that essay, so he was stretching for material.
But there is a point to Nelson's general attitude and to this book (and, previously, to "MST3K"). A clue to his targeting of drek is given in his review of the movie "Sphere," in which he writes that it is "the kind of movie that gives sci-fi in general its well-deserved reputation as the smelly, unemployed cousin of the entertainment family. Simple, half-baked moral messages are dressed up in wan intrigue, all of it shot on superdark sets so no one notices how bad it all is." Nelson's not just a complainer; he's got an ideal of intelligent films and television. If he could figure out a humorous way to direct us to the good stuff, he'd have another keeper of a book. Let's hope he writes it. Zippy's Sci-Fi Loft continues ...
- Reader asks: Aren't they reeking by now?
- Read "Survivor" Kelly's arrest warrant
- CBS slipups reveal likely "Survivor" champ (warning! spoilers)
- "Survivor's" Kelly wanted; Emmy nominations (7/22/00)
- "Strong Medicine" (7/21/00)
- Betty Hutton (7/18/00)
- More on "Survivor" theories (7/17/00) (no spoilers)
- Who won "Survivor"? We know (7/15/00)
- "Nuremberg" (7/14/00)
- Latino-themed series on cable (7/13/00)
- Robert Smigel (7/12/00)
- "Babylon 5" returning again? (7/11/00)
- Younger viewers turn Ben Stein on (7/10/00)
- KRON-TV's new GM is a winner (7/7/00)
- Public TV's problems close to home (7/6/00)
- Are you watching "Big Brother"? (7/5/00)
- COMPLETE COVERAGE: The 2000 Upfronts (5/15-18/00)
- Zentertainment
- TV Tattle: What critics are saying
- Variety
- AP Entertainment (through Nando.Net)
- Mediaweek/The Hollywood Reporter
- The Media Channel (mediachannel.org)
- Jim Romenesko's MediaNews
- SkyReport (satellite-TV news)
- New York Daily News
- New York Post
- Robert Feder, Chicago Sun-Times
- Los Angeles Times TV
- News Blues ("... for TV news insiders")
- Television-related news from Moreover.com
Copyright © 2000 Aaron Barnhart
Redistribution prohibited.
>>> Aaron Barnhart's TVBARN.COM"They (the photographers on 'Survivor') told us that the castaway that 'comes back' this week is Greg, who will return to observe the tribal council voting." (Note to "Survivor" executive producer Mark Burnett: TV Barn has a national readership. So I wouldn't point the finger at that photographer who's married to a Kansas City Star editor if I were you.) To return to the last page:
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Copyright © 2000 Aaron Barnhart
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>>> Aaron Barnhart's TVBARN.COMAll TV times Eastern
Updated 26-Jul-00 7:42 AM CTRatings : Broadcast | Cable | Explained
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Search TV Barn | TV Barn ChatWhat? Live O.J.? Again? "COURT TV'S CATHERINE CRIER WILL INTERVIEW O.J. SIMPSON," blared the press release. "On Wednesday, July 26, O.J. Simpson goes in front of the cameras at the network that provided gavel-to-gavel coverage of his landmark murder trial for an in-studio interview with Catherine Crier ..." And Court TV is not alone. To promote his new paid-subscription-only venture, AskOJ.com -- now there's a dream come true -- the Juice is agreeing to appear on TV, including live TV, as part of an all-out publicity blitz. (He was scheduled also to appear on "The View," but Barbara Walters cancelled his appearance, then bragged about it on Monday's broadcast. Canadians can catch O.J., so to speak, on CTV's "Canada AM" at 6:30 am Thursday.) Now if you're thinking, "Wow, they must've paid O.J. a lot of money for this," think again: The site, run a company called Entertainment Network, claims that O.J. won't be paid a cent for sharing his views with the customers, who've agreed to pony up $7.95 apiece. And anyway, it's no big deal for the Juice. Lest we forget, Michael Moore got him to do a live, no-holds-barred interview nearly three years ago. The only difference is that few actually saw the exchange, since Moore was taping a pilot for a late-night talk show that Fox later declined to pick up. What made that interview memorable was the shock that reverberated through the studio in the minutes after O.J. stepped out. Seems that Moore had not even informed Fox executives he was bringing Simpson onto his show. Read all about it in my story from 1997: SIMPSON GUEST STINT CREATES STUDIO CHAOS RELATED:
- O.J. hates the press (story via Romenesko)
- Mike Nelson vs. the movies (7/25/00)
- "Survivor's" Kelly wanted; Emmy nominations (7/24/00)
- "Strong Medicine" (7/21/00)
- Betty Hutton (7/18/00)
- More on "Survivor" theories (7/17/00) (no spoilers)
- Who won "Survivor"? We know (7/15/00)
- "Nuremberg" (7/14/00)
- Latino-themed series on cable (7/13/00)
- Robert Smigel (7/12/00)
- "Babylon 5" returning again? (7/11/00)
- Younger viewers turn Ben Stein on (7/10/00)
- KRON-TV's new GM is a winner (7/7/00)
- Public TV's problems close to home (7/6/00)
- Are you watching "Big Brother"? (7/5/00)
- COMPLETE COVERAGE: The 2000 Upfronts (5/15-18/00)
- Zentertainment
- TV Tattle: What critics are saying
- Variety
- AP Entertainment (through Nando.Net)
- Mediaweek/The Hollywood Reporter
- The Media Channel (mediachannel.org)
- Jim Romenesko's MediaNews
- SkyReport (satellite-TV news)
- New York Daily News
- New York Post
- Robert Feder, Chicago Sun-Times
- Los Angeles Times TV
- News Blues ("... for TV news insiders")
- Television-related news from Moreover.com
Copyright © 2000 Aaron Barnhart
Redistribution prohibited.
>>> Kansas City Star Document Delivery
THE KANSAS CITY STAR SIMPSON GUEST STINT CREATES STUDIO CHAOS Wednesday, November 19, 1997
Section: FYI
Page: F1
By AARON BARNHART, Television Writer Filmmaker and gonzo journalist Michael Moore has made a career out of getting his camera crews thrown out of corporate headquarters. But Monday night he dared a studio audience to throw him out - of his talk show, no less. During a taping of a late-night talk show in New York, an unscheduled pilot for the Fox network, Moore announced he was bringing out a "special guest" - none other than O.J. Simpson, football great and infamous trial defendant. Simpson's 45-minute appearance, believed to be his first before a studio audience since his civil and criminal trials, soon degenerated into chaos. According to Moore and others, some audience members began shouting epithets at Simpson and angrily accusing Moore of trying to pull a publicity stunt. A few stomped out of the studio. If the Fox network ever decides to do "World's Scariest Talk Show Appearances," this one is a cinchto get in. Moore's 1989 film "Roger and Me" and television series "TV Nation" have already established him as a successful on-screen troublemaker. He was at the end of two days of taping before a live audience when the surprise interview occurred. "I've never seen him on a talk show," Moore said by phone Tuesday. "And yet he has been a central figure in this country, probably the most controversial person in this country in this decade, and there's been this constant drumbeat from the media from 'Geraldo' to Larry King to every place else, where we've had to listen to more than three years of 'O.J. is guilty, O.J. is guilty' - and I've never heard him speak." After sending a letter to Simpson's attorney requesting the interview, Moore was contacted about a week later by an assistant who said Simpson was interested. Still, Moore said, "We didn't know up until the last minute if O.J. would actually be there." The show's producer, Don Mischer, told the audience that there would be a surprise guest at the end of the taping, and Moore later said to the audience, "We're going to make television history tonight." But when Simpson was introduced, said one attendee, "You could hear the jaws dropping" in the audience. Some of those jaws, Moore said, belonged to Fox network executives; they hadn't been informed of Simpson's booking. Then, raising tensions further, Moore began pursuing a line of questioning with his guest concerning - football. His opening line: "I think the question that is on the minds of all Americans and what people really want to know, O.J., is - do you think adding 10 yards to the kickoff has ruined professional football?" But Moore spiked his questions with inferences to Simpson's alleged role in the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. "When you were a receiver you didn't wear gloves - now they all wear gloves," Moore told Simpson. "Tight-fitting gloves." "Well, it really depends if you play offense or defense," Simpson replied, apparently not getting the joke. "Did you play offensively or defensively?" asked Moore. "I played offense," said Simpson. "The mood was very palpably tense," said one audience member. Another agreed, saying that some began to hiss during the interview. Finally, when an audience member called out, "Murderer!" Moore abruptly changed his line of questioning and the free-for-all was on. Eventually Moore opened up the floor for questions - and, surprisingly, Simpson answered them. Details of the case were discussed candidly, and at one point Simpson allowed as how his spousal-abuse record damaged his credibility with the public. "I was amazed that the man was really willing to answer any question," said an audience member, who asked not to be identified. "One kid got up and said, 'Can you look me in the eye and say you love your wife and you miss her?' And O.J. said, 'Yes, I do, very much.' " As the taping wore on, however, some of the audience began to shift their resentments from the surprise guest to the show's host. "It started to get into a thing between the audience and (Moore)," one witness said. "They were like, 'We've seen enough of O.J.,' 'Get him off the stage,' 'Why are you doing this, Michael?' " There were "a dozen people or so trying to shout other people down," said Moore, who added that he had actually expected worse. Moore told the audience that he brought on Simpson because, as he wrote in his 1996 book Downsize This! he thought there were enough doubts raised about the credibility of the prosecution's case in Simpson's criminal trial to warrant a not-guilty verdict. "I said, 'Do you think the reaction would be any different if we were doing this show on the stage of the Apollo Theater?"' said Moore, referring to the noted Harlem establishment. At the end of the taping Simpson stayed to answer other audience questions and pose for photographs. "He didn't want to stop," Moore said. "He said, 'Ask me anything. No censorship.' " If and when the piece airs, it will be edited into a much shorter segment as part of a one-hour talk show for Fox, which aired "TV Nation" in the summer of 1995. It would be the network's first foray into late-night TV since the disastrous "Chevy Chase Show" in 1993.
All content © 1997 THE KANSAS CITY STAR and may not be republished without permission.
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>>> Aaron Barnhart's TVBARN.COMAll TV times Eastern
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Search TV Barn | TV Barn ChatJUST ADDED: Kathie Lee Gifford delivers the Top Ten List on Thursday's "Late Show." Read it below. Last one in the mud's a rotten egg! "I'm obsessed with the dirty politics on 'Survivor,'" writes reader Rogers Cadenhead. "It's really the only thing that matters in deciding who gets the $1 million -- forget all the bug-eating, raft-pushing, and rope-climbing. Everyone thinks Sean is an idiot because his public A-B-C strategy sent Jenna home. I think the guy's a genius. Why vote him off if (a) you can take advantage of his vote, and (b) the strategy makes him seem foolish, and thus less dangerous than his peers. This may be a case where he's accidentally brilliant, but I'm a 'Being There' fan, so I think that the best genius is sometimes entirely unintentional." I couldn't agree more. In the early weeks of "Survivor," the big stories were who would eat the grubs. Who would eat the rats. No wonder I found myself watching the show indifferently. That's manufactured entertainment. But these intrigues and back-stabbings and surprise turns of fate as our dwindling band begins to close in on the million smackeroos -- now that's entertainment. "Survivor" has become the third hour of "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World," only funnier. And I have to say, it's even more enjoyable if you believe the scenario that has been mapped out by what we think are "Survivor's" accidental spoilers: the brief clip of what appears to be the final four contestants and, of course, the Web slipup that told us the winner. I mean, really, how did that person wind up winning it all? Of course, you're free to enjoy the show on your own terms and argue with others about who will win "Survivor." That's fun, too. "I'm rooting for Richard III to win it all," writes Daniel Murphy, who doesn't buy our spoiler theories. "I respect him as the one player who understands this is a game, and who remains focused on the objective. He's playing the game the way it's supposed to be played. If you want a friend, buy a dog."* * * Meanwhile, excerpts from the behind-the-scenes "Survivor" book, due out in September, are beginning to make the rounds. Among the revelations: Greg hammed it up at the tribal councils, to the continual annoyance of host Jeff Probst. And Richard wasn't the only gay contestant. Here's a good summary of the "Survivor" book's opening pages; it's spoiler-free. (RATINGS: With 47 of 48 metered markets reporting, "Survivor" averaged a 27 share its first half hour and 29 share the second half hour. I wouldn't be surprised if that went up to a 30 share when Kansas City checks in. Our meter results were delayed, no doubt due to the fierce lightning storms that rattled the area all night.)
- "Ask O.J." -- yawn! Been there, done that (7/26/00)
- Mike Nelson vs. the movies (7/25/00)
- "Survivor's" Kelly wanted; Emmy nominations (7/24/00)
- "Strong Medicine" (7/21/00)
- COMPLETE COVERAGE: The 2000 Upfronts (5/15-18/00)
- Zentertainment
- TV Tattle: What critics are saying
- Variety
- AP Entertainment (through Nando.Net)
- Mediaweek/The Hollywood Reporter
- The Media Channel (mediachannel.org)
- Jim Romenesko's MediaNews
- SkyReport (satellite-TV news)
- New York Daily News
- New York Post
- Robert Feder, Chicago Sun-Times
- Los Angeles Times TV
- News Blues ("... for TV news insiders")
- Television-related news from Moreover.com
Copyright © 2000 Aaron Barnhart
Redistribution prohibited.
>>> Aaron Barnhart's TVBARN.COMAll TV times Eastern
Updated 28-Jul-00 12:06 AM CTRatings : Broadcast | Cable | Explained
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E-mail Barnhart | About TV BarnLook! We gave SURVIVOR its own page! TV Barn 2: even more news and gossip
Search TV Barn | TV Barn ChatVideo description: As heard on TV If you've never heard the term video description before, take a few moments, read this story, and familiarize yourself with it. If you do nothing else to remember the disabled during this week -- the 10th anniversary of the signing of the Americans With Disabilities Act -- you'll be glad you did this. Video description, which helps the blind and visually impaired understand the unnarrated portions of movies and TV shows, is not just for the disabled. It's something you may find yourself using someday, much as you currently use wheelchair curbs when walking downtown. Some of you already know what video description is, because your PBS affiliate carries it on some programs. (Turner Classic Movies also airs descriptions for about 50 of its films.) It isn't heard on the main audio channel, which also accounts for its low public recognition. But video description has been in use since the 1980s, and has matured to the point that it not only opens up a new worlds of culture and understanding to the visually impaired, but can enhance anyone's moviegoing or TV-watching experience. Read my story in Friday's Kansas City Star RELATED LINKS:
- WGBH's video description page
- The FCC's Disability Rights Office page
- Narrative Television Network
- American Council of the Blind
- WGBH answers the critics (a brilliantly argued treatise, in my opinion)
- PDF version of same
- "Survivor": Let the mud fly (7/27/00)
- "Ask O.J." -- yawn! Been there, done that (7/26/00)
- Mike Nelson vs. the movies (7/25/00)
- "Survivor's" Kelly wanted; Emmy nominations (7/24/00)
- "Strong Medicine" (7/21/00)
- COMPLETE COVERAGE: The 2000 Upfronts (5/15-18/00)
- Zentertainment
- TV Tattle: What critics are saying
- Variety
- AP Entertainment (through Nando.Net)
- Mediaweek/The Hollywood Reporter
- The Media Channel (mediachannel.org)
- Jim Romenesko's MediaNews
- SkyReport (satellite-TV news)
- New York Daily News
- New York Post
- Robert Feder, Chicago Sun-Times
- Los Angeles Times TV
- News Blues ("... for TV news insiders")
- Television-related news from Moreover.com
Copyright © 2000 Aaron Barnhart
Redistribution prohibited.
>>> Aaron Barnhart's TVBARN.COMAll TV times Eastern
Updated 31-Jul-00 10:22 AM CTRatings : Broadcast | Cable | Explained
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