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fredfa-
Are there any ratings news for Saturday night? Looking for NBC/NHL ratings in particular.
Harley1: I just posted them in the first item in the thread.
From Marc Berman:
"...The ongoing low-rated Stanley Cup Finals on NBC remained just that at a last-place 3.11 million viewers, and a 1.2/ 5 among adults 18-49 from 8-11 p.m."
Saturday's overnight used to be readily available on Sunday mornings (which is when I posted them), but recently I have found I have to wait until Monday to get Saturday's overnights.
Sorry for the delay.
Washington Watch
NCTA Reacts to FCC’s Multicast Must-Carry Delay
NCTA News Release)
President & CEO Kyle McSlarrow of the National Cable and Telecommunications Association Regarding Decision to Eliminate “Multicasting” Item from FCC Meeting Agenda for June 21, 2006
“We’re pleased the Commission has reconsidered its intention to impose multicast must-carry rules.
The FCC correctly decided this matter on the two previous instances in which it determined that multicasting mandates would be unwise.
We believe multicasting mandates are harmful to consumers. And we believe that marketplace and consumer demand – not the government – should determine what programming services are carried.”
] TV Notebook
Abrams Ascends on Net's Upswing
New MSNBC General Manager Has Put Thought Into Changes
By Michele Greppi TVWeek.com June 19, 2006
The promotion of MSNBC on-air legal pundit Dan Abrams to become general manager of the network surprised many who know him-but not all.
Mr. Abrams is competitive; so competitive that his close friend and Hamptons housemate, Men's Health Editor David Zinczenko-known to those who chronicle New York's nightlife as Mr. Abrams' wingman since the end of his engagement to "Law & Order" alumna Elisabeth Rohm-said simply, "I've never known him to fail at anything."
Mr. Abrams beat testicular cancer, which was diagnosed in July 2003, and says now, "I am in better shape than ever."
He acknowledges his promotion has prompted "head-scratching at every level, from people I know and care about to people who don't like me."
He speaks with a directness that comes from knowing his way around MSNBC as few do. The Duke University and Columbia University grad joined the network in 1997 as a general assignment correspondent after having reported and anchored for Court TV. His father is the famed First Amendment lawyer Floyd Abrams.
"For years I have thought about changes I thought could help MSNBC," Mr. Abrams said. Last year, he began putting his thoughts into often lengthy e-mails to NBC News President Steve Capus.
Mr. Capus also served time at MSNBC and understands the baffling and elusive nature of success in cable news. As executive producer of "The News With Brian Williams," he was never able to build an audience for the well-regarded anchor.
Glimmers of Hope
MSNBC has been tinkered with relentlessly since NBC and Microsoft launched it as equal partners planning to capitalize on the convergence of TV and the Internet. Microsoft remains a partner on MSNBC.com, but NBC has assumed control of the troubled network.
There have been glimmers of ratings hope at MSNBC in recent months, especially in the evening, where the most money can be made. Led by "Countdown With Keith Olbermann" and "Hardball With Chris Matthews," MSNBC's season-to-date prime-time total viewership is up 14 percent year over year, and its performance in the news age group of 25- to 54-year-old viewers is up 23 percent, according to data from Nielsen Media Research.
MSNBC still has a much smaller audience than second-place CNN and ratings leader Fox News Channel, but both of those channels this year have lost audiences among all viewers and younger audiences.
Abrams' prospects at the network have been buoyed by ratings of his show.
"The Abrams Report," which launched in December 2001 to cover legal issues and crime stories, is up in both categories year-to-date in its 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. time slots.
On June 7, Rick Kaplan, a longtime network news producer and once president of CNN's U.S. operations, left his position as president and general manager of MSNBC with six months to go on his contract.
A ratings upswing is a good time to change captains, Mr. Capus says.
Last week Mr. Abrams was named general manager, reporting to Phil Griffin, former VP of MSNBC prime time and now the executive in charge of MSNBC and NBC's "Today" show.
"I'm comfortable saying I intend to be running this network and that Phil is going to be a regular guru type whom I will turn to probably more early on, for advice, for counsel and for suggestions," said Mr. Abrams.
He's likely to be looking at it more often as he immerses himself in his new job, which is likely to cut into his time for hanging out at the hip Pastis in Manhattan or in the Hamptons.
He will continue to do double duty as NBC News' chief legal correspondent, but the show that continues to bear his name has been turned over to substitute hosts. Mr. Abrams already is working to praise the MSNBC stable of talent, even the "testy characters."
"I know what it's like to be on the air," he said. "I know what drives a lot of people to go on the air. I wouldn't have taken this job unless I felt I could deal with a wide variety of personalities. I really do have a lot of respect for all of the people who are on the air. I'm telling you that part of what I have told some of them is why I think their show is better than mine."
Visible changes at MSNBC are said to be a few weeks away. However, Mr. Capus and Mr. Abrams say MSNBC will not become a crime channel. "That's not part of the plan," Mr. Capus said.
http://www.tvweek.com/article.cms?articleId=30064
harley1
06-19-06, 01:25 PM
Harley1: I just posted them in the first item in the thread.
From Marc Berman:
"...The ongoing low-rated Stanley Cup Finals on NBC remained just that at a last-place 3.11 million viewers, and a 1.2/ 5 among adults 18-49 from 8-11 p.m."
Saturday's overnight used to be readily available on Sunday mornings (which is when I posted them), but recently I have found I have to wait until Monday to get Saturday's overnights.
Sorry for the delay.
Thanks
Washington Notebook
Sports Access Out of New Senate Draft
By John Eggerton Broadcasting & Cable 6/19/2006
The latest draft of a video franchise reform/telecom bill rewrite--number three--from the Senate Commerce Committee puts more teeth in network neutrality language and targets neutrality protections to consumers, requires networks to sell stand-along Internet service, and encourages cable operators to offer family tiers.
What it doesn't do is mandate sports programming access requirements, which had been pushed by telcos and opposed by cable and had been included in the telco-friendlier draft number two.
Prompted by some high-profile sports access fights, the second draft had closed the so-called terrestrial loophole, which allowed a cable operator like Comcast not to give the satellite competition access to its regional sports network because it was delivered terrestrially. Current law requires access only to satellite-delivered programming networks.
Net neutrality is a key issue in the bill, one of whose key provisions is revising the video franchising system to make it easier for telcos and others to compete with cable. The idea is to spur price and service competition, as well as to extend Internet service to more Americans.
Network neutrality is a tough term to get agreement on. It seems to mean both nondiscriminatory access to Internet sites, software and services, but also to others it meants government regulations against charging more for, say, the extra bandwidth and security to deliver video.
That, say big computer companes, could discourage innovation repress speech.
Billion-dollar computer companies are fighting with Billion-dollar cable and telephone companies over the issue in a lobbying campaign that has blanketed the nation's capital.
In the latest bill draft, Senate Commerce Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) followed through with his pledge to add consumer protections and more teeth to FCC guidelines on open Internet access/net neutrality, though whether they are enough to satisfy net neutrality proponents is the big question.
The bill contains what it bills as an Internet Consumer Bill of Rights, which is certainly more than the old bill said about the issue, which was essentially only that the FCC would have to study it.
The bill of rights is essentially about access--to software, devices and search engines--but not about prices and services that networks want to offer and net neutrality backers say would create a tiered world of Internet haves and have-nots, although the bill does require clear notification of differences in speeds, service and price.
It also makes it illegal to limit access for political or religious reasons. Some groups, including religious organizations and gun owners, were concerned that networks would impede their ability to mount e-mail campaigns pushing various policies.
The bill gives the FCC power to write regulations enforcing the bill of rights, something the House version of the video franchising bill does not do.
Still, the early returns from network neutrality fans was not promising given its relative silence on the tiered pricing issue.
"Don't be fooled by claims of 'compromise,' said the It's Our 'Net Coalition, which is backed by the bucks of Google, Microsoft, eBay and Yahoo!, among others. "This latest Senate draft may be dressed up in a new outfit. But underneath, the language remains the Internet Bill of Wrongs instead of an Internet Bill of Rights that Internet users deserve.
"The new bill does nothing to prevent the network operators from creating a two-tiered, pay-to-play Internet and does nothing to protect American Internet users and small businesses from discrimination at the hands of the network operators.
"The Internet still ends up split into Lexus lanes and dirt roads, and an FCC rendered powerless to protect American consumers."
One thing it does allow networks to do is block access to "obscene or adult" content. Obscenity is already illegal and so should already be blocked. But "adult" would appear to give a network the ability to block protected Internet speech it decided its users should not see.
Saying Congress endorses voluntary efforts by a number of cable operators to launch family tiers, the bill also charges those operators with submitting an annual report to Congress on whether they offer a family tier and, if so, how much they charge, how extensively they market it, and how popular it is.
The committee is scheduled to amend and vote on the bill June 22, after which it must be reconciled with a much different House version if it is to become law in this session of Congress.
Unlike the House version, which only deals with video franchising, the Senate bill establishes that unlicensed wireless devices can be used in the broadcast band--in part to spur wireless internet access, also in competition to cable; give the FCC authority to establish a broadcast flag content protection scheme, lays out some ground rules for the DTV transition, and more.
Sports On TV
World Cup Notes
By Michael Malone at bcbeat.com
I must say, this soccer stuff is pretty addicting. When we were home this weekend, the games were on. And for the most part, they were good ones. U.S./Italy, of course. Ghana/Czech Republic. Korea/France.
But is soccer winning over Joe Sixpack, sitting on his couch in his oversized Peyton Manning jersey, engorging himself on the hockey and/or NBA finals (not to mention fistfuls of Chicken Kickers from Dominos)? Does Joe realize that a 1-1 draw, such as U.S./Italy from Saturday, can be one of the most intense sporting encounters he’ll ever witness?
Probably not. Discussing that match with someone who won’t be named, that someone (Hey Dad!) seemed proud to report he had not, in fact, watched the game. “I heard it was 1-1,” he sneered, full of soccer-is-boring indignation, before adding, “Hey, did you watch the U.S. Open?”
There you have it. Soccer is dull. Golf, on the other hand – now that’s exciting!
A handful of futbol thoughts from the weekend…
I wonder if the image of Brian McBride’s bloody face, which ran on the back cover of the NY Post yesterday, will change the thinking of those who still see soccer as some pansy Eurotrash activity. When was the last time you saw an NFL guy with blood streaming down his face?
The coverage on ESPN and ABC has been very good, though I have a few quibbles. I know the announcers are forced to spoon-feed information for soccer neophytes without alienating the serious enthusiasts. But I have no idea what an offside trap is (though I bet it’s painful), and to have the phrase repeatedly tossed at me in crucial game situations without an explanation is irritating.
So is the use of the term “result,” as in, the U.S. needs a result against Ghana. I know that, in this context, result means win. But if we want to get nit-picky, like that freakin’ Uruguayan ref who did U.S./Italy, a loss is a result too. So is a draw. So is everything short of a rainout.
http://www.bcbeat.com/
TV Notebook
'CBS Evening News' Preparing Rather's Farewell Story
Report to Include Interview With Longtime Anchor
By Michele Greppi TVWeek.com June 19, 2006
Though CBS News still hasn't commented on last week's flurry of stories reporting that Dan Rather is being forced to leave the network at which he worked for some than 44 years, TelevisionWeek has learned that "CBS Evening News" is preparing a story bidding farewell to Mr. Rather on the flagship newscast he anchored for 24 years.
Veteran CBS News correspondent Anthony Mason is working on the story, for which Mr. Rather, 74, is expected to be interviewed, according to a source at another network, who said she was told it was scheduled for tonight's "Evening News."
A CBS News spokesperson declined to comment, and Mr. Rather's agent was not immediately available for comment.
After a CBS executive told the Washington Post last week that there no longer is a place for Mr. Rather at CBS News, Mr. Rather began acknowledging to reporters who have covered his career that the final details of his separation from CBS News were being worked out.
He said he has formed a production company named News and Guts and is considering more than one option that would keep him in the hard-news game. One possibility he is seriously considering, he has said, is producing and hosting a one-hour weekly news program to run on Mark Cuban's HDNet.
http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=10215
Washington Notebook
Sports Access Out of New Senate Draft
Crap....
Crap....
My sentiments exactly.
It is amazing to me how Comcast can refuse to bid on the NFL ST package, then scream how it is the equivalent of their Philly RSN -- and people buy the analogy!
Here is a simple fix which gets away from all the terestrially-delivered gobbledegook:
If a team plays in a publicly-funded stadium, TV deals which aren't available to all providers would be forbidden.
If a team builds its own facility, it can do whatever it wants regarding its TV rights.
Thanks
I wish the news were better for you, harley1. :(
I wish the news were better for you, harley1. :(
It's been a great final series.
My highlight from Saturday's game was when the commentators were trying to determine if Carolina had really had too many men on the ice. They were counting the players and could only come up with 5 skaters. Number 6 was over in the HD area, plain as day to those of us watching in HD :) They showed the HD screen letterboxed a few minutes later to show the SD crowd what they (including the commentators, who must have SD monitors) had missed.
Obituary
Arthur Franz, 86
Played Friendly Guy in Movies, TV
By Jon Thurber Los Angeles Times Staff Writer June 19, 2006
Arthur Franz, a character actor whose credits from a steady career in films and television include the 1957 movie "Hellcats of the Navy," which also featured Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy Davis, has died. He was 86.
Franz died Saturday at St. John's Hospital in Oxnard of heart failure and emphysema, friends and family members said. Franz, who lived in New Zealand until the last month or so, had been in failing health for some time and wanted to spend his remaining days in California.
Characterized in most references as a reliable character actor in roles calling for a friendly and sympathetic character, Franz achieved something in the prime of his career that every actor wants: steady work.
He was in the 1949 John Wayne film "Sands of Iwo Jima," supplied the narration to 1954's "The Caine Mutiny" and played a naval officer in 1951's "Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man." One of his better-known B films from the 1950s was "Invaders From Mars."
His one starring role was in the 1952 film "The Sniper," in which he played against type as an ex-soldier who snaps after being rejected in romance and goes on a killing spree in San Francisco. Directed by Edward Dmytryk and produced by Stanley Kramer, the film earned Franz the best reviews of his career.
When television started gearing up in the early 1950s, Franz often was cast in anthology theater series, including "Studio One," "The Ford Television Theater" and "Zane Grey Theater."
For nearly 30 years, he was one of the more recognizable faces to show up in guest roles on such popular television series as "Perry Mason," "The FBI," "The Mod Squad," "The Virginian" and "Rawhide."
His last film credit came in a production of "That Championship Season" in 1982.
Born in Perth Amboy, N.J., Franz became interested in acting in high school.
During World War II, he served in the Army Air Forces as a navigator. According to his daughter Gina, he and his crew were shot down over Romania and spent a short time in a POW camp before escaping.
After the war, he earned his first screen credit in the 1948 film "Jungle Patrol," which started a steady stream of screen work. After his starring turn in "The Sniper," he was featured on the Ralph Edward's television program "This Is Your Life."
Two of his four marriages ended in divorce. His third wife, actress Doreen Lang, died in 1999.
Survivors include his fourth wife, Sharon; daughters Gina Martenson and Melissa Franz, both of Taos, N.M.; and son, Michael, who lives in the Lake Tahoe area.
http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-me-franz19jun19,0,3714441.story?coll=cl-tvent
TV Notebook
Sesame Street adds a year; CNN digs teeth into -- Jolie?
By Rick Kushman Sacramento Bee TV Columnist Monday, June 19, 2006
(Note: all times are Pacific)
Here's something that'll make you feel ancient. On Aug. 14, "Sesame Street" will start its 37th season. (Pause here to take deep, slow breaths.) It's … been … on … 36 … years. Oh my poor youth.
Right. OK. I'm fine. So, "Sesame Street" started in 1969 -- and is it just me, or shouldn't a few of the Muppets have learned the alphabet by now? They may be friendly and kind, but I wouldn't call them the brightest fuzzy creatures on the block.
Seriously, the folks at Sesame Workshop, the people who produce "Sesame Street," say that this year, their emphasis will be on teaching kids the traits that will help them be ready for a classroom.
Those traits, they say, are: problem solving, getting along with others, recognizing the feelings of others, paying attention, following directions, and cooperating in a group setting. When you say it out loud, it sounds like more people than just kids should be watching "Sesame Street."
Hot on the heels of NBC's "scoop" interview with Britney Spears last week (when she said she wanted less attention, as she leaned forward in her very, very low-cut top), CNN is showing it can do real news, too.
A press release from CNN for "Anderson Cooper 360" -- sent out twice so that no one would miss it -- screams about how Cooper has an interview with, apparently, the most important person on the planet: Angelina Jolie.
That's on Cooper's show at 7 Tuesday night. It's the first interview with Jolie since the birth of her daughter, and she sat with Cooper "for nearly an hour," the release says. Wow. Nearly an hour. Imagine the insight Cooper's going to get from her.
If you keep reading the press release, you find out the show Tuesday also includes reports on famine, poverty and refugee camps in Africa, and on health challenges for people who are refugees around the world.
Famine, poverty, disease. What downers. Although you get the sense that maybe Cooper would prefer to cover those subjects, CNN's publicity staff knows what to tout in headlines: "Exclusive: CNN's Anderson Cooper Interviews Angelina Jolie." And you thought cable news was lightweight.
HBO can't seem to get out of the news. The financial news. After the recent kerfuffle over the final season of "Deadwood" -- which resulted in a deal for a pair of two-hour movies -- now we get reports that actors playing some major characters in "The Sopranos" are holding out for better money for the last eight episodes of that show.
Money disputes are never unusual in Hollywood, and even less rare when a TV series is heading for its goodbye episodes because everyone is trying to get one last payday.
But HBO has generally had fewer of these fights -- or has been better at keeping them private. Not lately, however. And one of the forces in play this time is HBO's recent deal to syndicate "The Sopranos" to A&E for a reported $195 million.
According to news reports, a number of cast members -- including Steven Van Zandt (Silvio), Tony Sirico (Paulie Walnuts), Jamie-Lynn DiScala (Meadow) and Robert Iler (A.J.) -- are holding out for raises, and they're arguing that they otherwise will get none of the syndication bucks, or any of the money HBO will take in for years of DVD sales and other deals.
Leads James Gandolfini and Edie Falco, plus some others, are under contract for the final episodes, but HBO and the other actors apparently are still far apart.
HBO plans to show the last run of "The Sopranos" in early 2007, which means production should be starting fairly soon. HBO did not comment on the dispute.
Fans of TNT's "The Closer" flocked back to the second- season opener last week, setting a record for scripted shows on ad-supported cable (basically, everything that isn't sports or HBO), with 8.3 million viewers.
"The Closer" averaged nearly 5.5 million viewers last season, which also was a record.
At 9 tonight, we finally meet the mom of Deputy Police Chief Brenda Johnson (Kyra Sedgwick) -- possibly the only person in the world who scares Brenda. Mom is played by Frances Sternhagen, and Brenda works to keep her live-in relationship secret from her mom, who seems to have some detective skills of her own.
http://www.sacbee.com/content/lifestyle/columns/kushman/v-print/story/14269247p-15080385c.html
TV Review
The Washington Post's Ben Bradlee on the record
By Robert Lloyd Los Angeles Times Staff Writer June 19, 2006
In "Free Speech," airing tonight at 10 on PBS (in Los Angeles; check your local PBS listing), Jim Lehrer of "The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer" climbs the walls of prime time for an entertaining and sometimes enlightening talk with former Washington Post executive editor and current Vice President Ben Bradlee about their common profession. The title refers to the fact that they are speaking freely, not to any 1st Amendment issues they discuss, since they don't really discuss any.
Lehrer and Bradlee are friends, and we find them almost knee to knee in matching armchairs in a corner of a room in Bradlee's Washington town house. But it's an interview, not a conversation. Lehrer doesn't really share his opinions or trade anecdotes, although he allows himself the occasional enthusiastic "yeah, yeah" and is perhaps a little more folksy and unbuttoned than usual, especially when asking questions on behalf of "Billy Bob Citizen." (He puts on different voices for this.)
Bradlee — who at 84 maintains his wits, his hair and a jaunty stride — is better known than most newspaper editors because of Watergate, which is really to say because of "All the President's Men," in the film of which he was played by Jason Robards, who won an Oscar for the role. (Newspaper editors usually only get famous during a scandal. Bradlee has had those erupt under his watch too, most famously in 1981 when reporter Janet Cooke won a Pulitzer Prize with a fabricated story about an 8-year-old heroin addict.)
Watergate made him in the public mind, or at least that portion of it that didn't hate the Post for its part in the fall of President Nixon, the very figure of the (carefully) crusading editor whose only cause is the truth. He still wears that suit.
"The pursuit of truth is a holy pursuit," Bradlee says here, and the business of journalism is to report "not what they said happened, not what you think should happen, but what did happen." He dances around certain subjects — as how his friendship with President Kennedy might have affected his reporting, for example — but Lehrer does not let a question drop until he is through with it.
The talk ranges over conflict of interest, anonymous sources — the ongoing rage for which Lehrer lays at the Post's feet, in the person of Deep Throat — and the low esteem in which journalists are held. Bradlee believes in mandatory national service, that reporters shouldn't march in demonstrations and that good reporters are made from a range of experience. "I don't necessarily believe in J school or anything like that," Bradlee says.
And experience is really what's on display here. This is the first of a quarterly series for Lehrer, in which he will sit down with big fish from various walks of life. In a time when so much TV talk is conditioned by the transient need to pitch something or comment on a current event, it's good to see two people of experience speaking for no other reason than that they are people of experience. And while it's all very well enlisting the hoi polloi in the fictions of reality television, there is a world of actual reality out there to mine and people with remarkable experience to share. I do not mean being stuck on an ice floe for a week or eating 50 hot dogs in 20 minutes, although there is a place to hear about that as well. I mean, having led a long life that touched and possibly shaped history.
Let's hear it for the old guys.
http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-et-free19jun19,0,1390711.story?coll=cl-tvent
DoubleDAZ
06-19-06, 03:49 PM
My sentiments exactly.
It is amazing to me how Comcast can refuse to bid on the NFL ST package, then scream how it is the equivalent of their Philly RSN -- and people buy the analogy!
Here is a simple fix which gets away from all the terestrially-delivered gobbledegook:
If a team plays in a publicly-funded stadium, TV deals which aren't available to all providers would be forbidden.
If a team builds its own facility, it can do whatever it wants regarding its TV rights.I don't want to start a big discussion about this, especially in this thread, but I do have a couple of questions for you.
What would you be sayng IF Comcast had bid on ST and won the rights whereby broadcast would be limited to Comcast markets and not nationally? At least on D* they are available across the country for anyone who wants to pay the price.
Many of the teams in the ST package play in publically funded stadiums, so why should they even be allowed to be a part of an excluisve package in the first place? I think we mix apples and oranges a bit with this argument. According to funding agreements, taxpayers are supposedly getting their payback regardless of exclusive/non-exclusive broadcast rights, so the source of funding may not really be an issue IMHO.
Here is the difference to me, Dave:
The NFL invited everyone to join in the NFL ST bidding. Comcast refused, saying at the time that it was "too rich for our blood".
On the other hand, Comcast has refused to allow DBS access to its Philadelphia RSN.
And Comcast, it seems to me, is the one mixing apples and oranges by trying to equate NFL ST with its own RSN. It also, along with TW and Cox, insisted that language forbidding NewsCorp to favor DirecTV be inserted in the FCC agreement for NewsCorp to take control of DirecTV.
The Comcast actions seem, at the very least, hypocritical to me.
So, to simplify my position: there is a major, major difference between allowing anyone to purchase exclusive rights and simply refusing to allow certain people to buy anything at all.
Washington Notebook
Senate Creates a Third Draft of Pending Telecom Bill
By Todd Shields MediaWeek.com June 19, 2006 -
A new draft of U.S. Senate telecommunications legislation that was unveiled on Monday eliminates language that would have forced cable operators to share regional sports programming.
The draft is the third version of the massive bill that faces initial votes before the Senate Commerce Committee on Thursday. The new version would let consumers complain directly to federal regulators about violations of their right to freely access content via the Internet.
But a key Democrat said the new language falls short, indicating the bill could face a turbulent passage at the Thursday markup. The provisions “utterly fail to protect consumers and preserve an open Internet,” said Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), “Under the current language, network operators will have the ability to dictate what the Internet of the future will look like, what content it will include and how it will operate.”
The dropped language affecting regional sports programming was aimed at situations like Comcast’s in Philadelphia, where the cable company controls access to major league televised sports.
The bill retains language aimed at easing telephone companies’ entry into markets to challenge cable with TV service over high-speed lines.
http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002690497
Maybe it should be called FSN lite?
TV Notebook
OLN Unveils First Versus Programs
New Shows Set Scene for Fall Rebranding
By James Hibberd TVWeek.com June 19, 2006
Gearing up for its upcoming rebranding, OLN has announced several new shows for this fall.
The new titles blend OLN's traditional focus on outdoor adventures and the network's upcoming emphasis on competition programming under the new moniker Versus, which the network will adopt in September.
The shows include "The Barbecue Championship Series" (working title), a sort of "Iron Chef" for brisket; "The Huntley Way" (working title), about the hunting and fishing adventures of Hollywood actor Huntley Ritter and veteran outdoorsman Ronnie Hall; "Off The Hook," a reality series about a group of New York fishing buddies; "Shark Hunters: East vs. West," chronicling a shark fishing tournament; and "Soul of a Champion," a series developed in part with sports editors at USA Today that attempts to define the traits that make a true champion and to develop a test that measures such traits.
http://www.tvweek.com/printwindow.cms?newsId=10216&pageType=news
More details and reaction.
Washington Notebook
FCC Cancels Vote on Cable-Broadcast Digital Fight
Chairman Changes Plan in Unusual Sunday Night Press Release
By Ira Teinowitz TVWeek.com June 19, 2006
In a surprise about-face, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin canceled an agency vote planned for this week on whether cable companies will be forced to carry digital signals from local television broadcasters.
In a Sunday night press release, the FCC said it was pulling a vote on a proposal from the agenda of Wednesday's FCC meeting. The agency put out the news release after 6 p.m. Sunday, when the FCC rarely issues statements.
"There did not appear to be consensus for moving forward at this time," said FCC spokeswoman Tamara Lipper.
The canceled vote signals Mr. Martin, a Republican, is having difficulty persuading some commissioners that cable companies should be forced to carry all the digital signals that local broadcasters will air when they make the transition from analog to digital transmissions.
Mr. Martin kept a vote on media ownership rules on the agenda for the Wednesday meeting. His cancellation of the so-called multicasting vote marked a win for cable companies.
"We're pleased the commission has reconsidered its intention to impose multicast must-carry rules," National Cable & Television Association CEO Kyle McSlarrow said in a statement. "We believe multicasting mandates are harmful to consumers. And we believe that marketplace and consumer demand-not the government-should determine what programming services are carried."
It's the second time Mr. Martin, who gained a 3-2 Republican majority on the FCC this month, has delayed a vote on the issue. He had been expected at the Wednesday meeting to reverse earlier FCC votes against placing the multicast requirement on broadcasters.
The digital signal issue is an outgrowth of some of the changes coming with the digital television transition, which allows broadcasters to choose between airing a single high-definition signal or multicasting several lower-quality digital signals.
Broadcasters want cable companies to carry the extra channels, while cable companies, with limited bandwidth, want to be able to choices which channels to carry.
The FCC originally was to consider the requirement last week, but delayed the meeting a week.
The National Association of Broadcasters, which has pushed to require cable companies to carry local stations' digital signals, said it would continue to lobby for new multicast rules. "We appreciate FCC Chairman Martin's steadfast support for more program choice, and we will continue to educate policymakers on the pro-consumer benefits of multicasting," Dennis Wharton, an NAB spokesman, said in a statement.
http://www.tvweek.com/printwindow.cms?newsId=10213&pageType=news
The Digital Revolution
Jersey Senate Approves Franchise Bill
By Linda Haugsted Multichannel.com 6/19/2006
The New Jersey State Senate has given its final approval to a bill reforming state video franchising policy.
The chamber voted 31-5 on Monday to approve the bill and send it on to Gov. Jon Corzine. The state Assembly passed its version of the same bill in May.
If signed by the governor, the bill will allow new competitors to apply for statewide franchises. The state’s Board of Public Utilities will have 45 days to grant the operating authority.
The legislation requires the authorized video competitors to build out to communities with populations of 7,111 per square mile and to county seats. Those requirements should require coverage of the state’s 60 largest communities, which cable incumbents noted were concentrated in North New Jersey.
Once the bill is officially presented to the governor’s office, Corzine will have 45 days to decide whether to sign it into law.
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6345472.html?display=Breaking+News
Sports On TV
Woods Exit Hurts U.S. Open
By John Consoli MediaWeek.com JUNE 19, 2006 -
Tiger Woods failing to make the cut in the U.S. Open golf tournament this past weekend cut into the NBC telecast ratings.
According to Nielsen Media Ratings overnight data, the Saturday telecast of the Open on NBC produced a 3.2/8 household rating, down 27 percent from last year's comparable coverage, while the Sunday telecast of the tournament won by Australian Geoff Ogilvy got a 5.1/12 rating, down 12 percent from last year.
http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/networktv/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002690470
The Business of TV
Merrill Adjusts Upfront Call to Down 1% From Flat
By Anthony Crupi MediaWeek.com JUNE 19, 2006 -
Merrill Lynch research analyst Jessica Reif Cohen today issued a note to investors reducing Merrill’s six-network upfront projection to -1 percent, down from a previous projection of flat.
In hard dollars, Merrill now sees the six broadcast nets landing $8.98 billion in total upfront sales, versus the $9.12 billion it projected in May. The big four are also projected to be down, taking in $8.34 billion of the total broadcast kitty versus the $8.47 billion Merrill estimated a month ago.
Merrill also revised its cable projection, saying that the cable upfront may come in lower than anticipated, reducing its forecast to +3 percent from its original +5 percent estimate, and dropping cable’s take from $7.46 billion to $7.31 billion.
Cohen said that NBC is the surprise story of this year’s upfront, keeping its dollar volumes flat in the face of declining ratings, thanks to the addition of Sunday Night Football this fall and strong numbers at its Today franchise. Long serving as the network’s most valuable property, Today generated an estimated $600 million in revenue last year alone.
The big story that did not pan out this year was the rush to integrate digital media sales with linear TV buys, Cohen wrote. “Upfront participants have suggested that digital media has played a less significant part in the upfront selling process than we (and others) had expected,” Cohen noted. “Indeed, price apparently has been the key issue (as in past years).”
Cohen added that while the total dollars tied to the various multiplatform deals may not be significant, Merrill “still believe[s] there will be a large number of digital deals reached during the upfront.”
http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002690517
Sports On TV
Miller provides quality time with thoughts on U.S. Open fades
By Michael Hiestand USA Today 6/19/2006
NBC's Johnny Miller is one of the best TV sports analysts in part because he's not a salesman, or apologist, for the action he covers. He said Sunday that he couldn't "say anybody has played a great U.S. Open ... the course has held everybody down."
And that was before Colin Montgomerie's meltdown. After Montgomerie nailed a long birdie putt on the 17th hole Sunday, Miller had a fun take — "He's thinking about crying right now." Then Montgomerie, tied for the lead with Phil Mickelson, blew an approach shot at 18 — NBC caught Montgomerie yelling, "What kind of shot is that?" — and Miller weighed in on his double bogey: "He hasn't hit an iron like that in maybe five years —really bad."
Then came Mickelson's turn at 18. NBC could have used more replays of Mickelson's wild finish — it didn't show a timely replay of his drive at 17 that went into a garbage can. But again Miller didn't pull any punches on Mickelson's double bogey: "I know you all love Phil. But come on, you just need to make par at 18 — just crazy shot selection. To be honest, that's one of the worst collapses in U.S. Open history. Just incredible, there's no other word for it."
Actually, as Geoff Ogilvy won, that word might have been "choke." But, instead, Miller tastefully said, "It hurts to watch that finish."
Earlier, Miller noted Mickelson had fans at the Mamaroneck, N.Y. course "whipped to a froth" and Dan Hicks suggested Sunday's finish seemed to have "a Tiger Woods feel" as other players couldn't keep up with Mickelson. But Miller also seemed to miss Woods, who'd missed the cut in a major for the first time in a decade. And, not surprisingly, NBC's rating dipped Saturday: Its 6½ hours of third-round coverage drew 3.2% of the 56 urban markets used for overnight ratings — down 20% from last year.
Ripping the ref: ABC's coverage of the USA-Italy World Cup game Saturday might have set a TV record for kvetching about the officiating after two U.S. players were ejected and the team could only have nine on the field. Game analyst Marcelo Balboa was irate about Uruguayan referee Jorge Larrionda, saying he had "no clue," "blew the game" and "ruined the game." (ABC analysts agreed. Even Giorgio Chinaglia, the ex-Italy star, said the ref was "disastrous.")
But Balboa, who'd candidly pointed out U.S. mistakes that led to Italy's goal, didn't seem angry just because calls went against the USA — Balboa seemed fairly objective. And play-by-play announcer Dave O'Brien, scorned by some soccer fanatics before the Cup because he hadn't called soccer, was workmanlike and dutifully used terms such as "nil" and "pitch."
ABC/ESPN World Cup ratings are way up from 2002. That's predictable, given that 2002 viewership was hampered by the extreme time-zone challenge presented by games being played in Japan and South Korea. But this is impressive: The 5.2 overnight rating for the Italy-USA tie — translating to 5.2% of 56 urban TV markets — is higher than every game overnight in the 1998, 2002 and 2006 Cups except for the Brazil-France title game in 1998.
Top reporting: David Segui, who played 15 Major League Baseball seasons before retiring in 2004, said in a taped interview Sunday on ESPN he's taken human growth hormone and he was named as having done so in an affidavit by ex-teammate Jason Grimsley. But Segui said it was prescribed and perfectly legal.
So, try it: John McEnroe, in an episode of the Tennis Channel's Center Court airing Monday, offers an opinion that should inspire a made-for-TV match between the middle-aged announcer and a top female player. Says McEnroe: "Do I think, on a given day, I could beat the best woman in the world? Yes, I do."
Spice rack: Martina Navratilova, on HBO's Real Sports airing Tuesday, recalls government wiretapping in her native Czechoslovakia and decries what she sees as apathy at the idea of wiretapping in the United States: "We don't care that they're listening? It's nuts!" ... Clever line by NBC's Dan Hicks on Sunday's U.S. Open: "This has the feeling of a Game 7, and it all comes down to a Game 7 in the NHL Monday night!"
NBA: ABC's NBA Finals Game 4 drew 7.8% of U.S. households — up 8% over last year's fourth game — putting ABC on track for the third-lowest-rated prime-time Finals. The key: Will ABC get a Game 7?
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/columnist/hiestand-tv/2006-06-18-hiestand-weekend_x.htm
Washington Notebook
Top Senate Democrat Attacks 'Net Neutrality' Bill
Stevens Drops Broadcast Flag Provision
By Ira Teinowitz TVWeek.com June 19, 2006
A top Senate Democrat criticized Republican legislation that would preserve Internet service providers’ ability to charge Web-content providers different rates for different levels of service, setting up a conflict that could derail the bill.
Daniel K. Inouye, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Commerce Committee said the legislation offered by Republican panel Chairman Ted Stevens would hurt consumers by damaging the open nature of the Internet, where content providers currently are treated equally.
The so-called net neutrality issue is part of a larger bill that would ease telephone company’s way into the pay-TV business by freeing them from having to seek franchise approvals jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction the way cable-TV providers have had to.
"Under the current language, network operators will have the ability to dictate what the Internet of the future will look like, what content it will include, and how it will operate," Mr. Inouye, who represents Hawaii, said.
He warned it would give network operators "the unfettered capacity to discriminate against unaffiliated online content."
Video franchising legislation that helps the phone companies easily passed in the House. Senators have often taken a more skeptical view of issues involving media competition and may subject the bill to greater scrutiny.
Mr. Inouye's comments came after Mr. Stevens altered his original proposal to drop some controversial elements, increasing consumer protections. Mr. Stevens replaced his original proposal for a study of net neutrality with language that would create a new “Internet Consumer Bill of Rights,” aides to the senator said today.
Those provisions would bar phone companies from blocking access to content from Internet content providers and rivals such as Internet phone operators. It would also give the Federal Communications Commission new authority to punish after violators.
The legislation introduced by Stevens, who represents Alaska, bans the Federal Communications Commission from ever imposing net neutrality requirements.
In the latest version of the bill, Mr. Stevens abandoned a proposed requirement that cable providers allow phone companies access to their regional sports networks. It also dropped a line requiring companies air a broadcast flag for TV, but not for audio and moved to require most court challenges of FCC actions be decided by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, a court that has been very friendly to business.
http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=10219
TV Notebook
Dead on 'CSI: Miami'; Alive on 'Law & Order'
By Roger Catlin Hartford Courant TV Critic in his “TV Eye” blog
There is a healthy rivalry between NBC’s hit “Law & Order” franchise and CBS’ “CSI” shows.
So you have to figure a little of that rivalry was involved in the latest hiring for “Law & Order.”
Soon after the fiance of David Caruso's Horatio Caine was shot and killed at the end of the season’s “CSI: Miami,” actress Alana de la Garza who played the poor victim Varisol Delko was free to be picked up as a second-chair prosecutor for San Waterston’s character District Attorney Jack McCoy on “Law & Order.”
She’ll fill the vacancy of Annie Parisse, whose character Alexandra Borgia was killed in the “L&O” season finale.
As such De la Garza will be the latest in a long line of women working alongside Waterson’s McCoy, after Jill Hennessy, Carey Lowell, Angie Harmon and Elizabeth Rohm.
The “Law & Order” mothership will be changing further for its 17th season this fall, moving to Friday from its long stint on Wednesdays, and losing Dennis Farina, who spent two seasons playing a detective filling the slot of Det. Lennie Briscoe, who was going to be spun off to the failed “Law & Order: Trial by Jury” before actor Jerry Orbach died in 2004.
Also Milena Govich, from the canceled “Conviction,” will move over to the show, though her character from that Dick Wolf creation (which had some other “L&O” crossover) might change. Govich was also the conniving hooker on last season’s “Rescue Me” and an early love interest in the short-lived “Love Monkey.”
http://blogs.courant.com/roger_catlin_tv_eye/2006/06/dead_on_csi_mia.html
TV Notebook
Dan Rather's Last Day?
By Louis Hau Forbes.com 06.19.06
New York - Former CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather could announce his departure from the network as early as Tuesday, bringing an end to a four-decade career at the network where for a quarter-century he served as its public face.
Through the corridors at the CBS Broadcast Center on New York's West 57th Street, rumors swirled that the veteran newsman’s departure was imminent. Rather's agent, Richard Liebner, said that an announcement was likelier on Tuesday, declining to elaborate further. CBS News spokeswoman Sandy Genelius declined to comment on the matter.
Officials at CBS News have reportedly been anxious to have Rather leave the building before the arrival this summer of his replacement, Today show anchor Katie Couric, who has already left General Electric's NBC. Rather's contract officially expires in November, but the network and Liebner have reportedly been negotiating an earlier exit.
Rather, who joined CBS News in 1962, was anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News for 24 years, stepping down in March 2005 following a controversy over a CBS report questioning President George W. Bush’s National Guard record, which was based on allegedly forged documents. Rather has remained with the network as a correspondent for 60 Minutes.
Rather is mulling an offer from Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban to host and produce a one-hour weekly news program on Cuban’s HDNet cable TV channel.
In an e-mail Monday, Cuban told Forbes.com that the new program's "goal is to go a little retro in our approach to news. No fluff. No have-your-PR-person-call-us news. That's today's 60 Minutes."
Cuban said he expects further programming details will be available in the next few weeks.
"We feel there is a big opportunity for news that matches the story rather than matches the time slot, demographic, advertisers and segment length," he said. "I think Dan has something to prove, and we are looking to enable him and let him do his thing."
Cuban touted the opportunities that he said high-definition TV would offer a news program.
"Combine Dan's ability, along with the unique capabilities of the HD medium (widescreen resolution, 5.1 sound, bigger screens), and not only will we have the first all-HD news feature show, but I think we are going to take a lot of people by [surprise]. Which will make both Dan and I very happy."
http://www.forbes.com/2006/06/19/cbs-rather-network-exit-cx_lh_0619rather_print.html
TV Notebook
Rather eyes exit after 44-year CBS run
By Paul J. Gough The Hollywood Reporter June 20, 2006
NEW YORK -- CBS is expected to announce Tuesday that former "CBS Evening News" anchor Dan Rather will leave the company after 44 years at the network.
Rather's contract runs through November but he is expected to leave the network immediately to pursue other opportunities.
A news release most likely will be issued Tuesday morning. A special tribute to Rather's career is expected to appear on Tuesday night's "CBS Evening News."
Rather didn't respond to a request for interview Monday.
The move was widely expected in the past few weeks after the 74-year-old had said that he would be leaving CBS after negotiations on a new contract hadn't guaranteed him anything but an office at the network.
After leaving "CBS Evening News" in March 2005, Rather became a full-time correspondent with "60 Minutes." While he filed several stories that appeared on "60 Minutes," Rather was said to be unhappy that he hadn't been working on anything in recent weeks.
Rather's position with the network had been strained after a September 2004 report he did for "60 Minutes Wednesday" that questioned President Bush's National Guard service during the Vietnam War. The report, which was prepared by producer Mary Mapes and only involved Rather minimally, was based upon documents that failed to live up to intense scrutiny.
Mapes was fired, and three other executives were forced to resign. Rather wasn't disciplined but said before Thanksgiving 2004 that he would leave the anchor desk the following March.
Rather is said to be talking to others about opportunities, including doing a one-hour newscast/interview show for HDNet. HDNet chief Mark Cuban confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter on Friday that he was talking to the former CBS News anchor.
Rather's departure would close a career with CBS News that has been, with the exception of the National Guard story, one of the most distinguished in network news history.
After becoming famous as the reporter who first confirmed that President John F. Kennedy had been assassinated in November 1963 in Dallas, Rather's career has taken him to covering the Johnson and Nixon White Houses, Watergate, the Vietnam War, the Russian invasion of Afghanistan and both the Persian Gulf war and the war in Iraq, among many others.
He was anchor of "CBS Evening News" from 1981-2005.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/television/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002690635
Fred,
Any HD news re: the July 1 shuttle launch?
None that I have heard yet.
But I would be surprised if HDNet didn't cover it.
Who knows, perhaps Dan Rather could anchor?
That would give Mark Cuban quite a bang for his buck!
Critic’s Notebook
Back on the Online Block (Expanded)
By Rich Heldenfels in his Akron Beacon Journal TV blog
… I've been working my way through fall series pilots, as well as brain-picking colleagues doing likewise, and don't have an overarching theory (aside from my post-9/11 musing, below). I do see some of the battle lines being drawn; I've written here about the ''30 Rock''/''Studio 60'' parallels, and expect at some point to get to ''Vanished''/''Kidnapped.'' An early consensus seems to favor ''Kidnapped,'' which has a really good cast, but I found ''Vanished'' better paced, if unbelievable in the way of Fox adventure serials. (That opinion, like any expressed about a series pilot, is subject to change before my review of the premiere appears, since the show may change cast, concept, title and nuances.)
This is, after all, ping-pong time, since there are new summer shows to deal with even as the fall stuff looms. The two intersected last week when I had a nice interview with Ron Livingston, who is in the summer cable series ''Nightmares and Dreamscapes'' as well as fall's ''Standoff.'' There were plenty of other things to talk about as well, from dealing with home projects to ''The Cooler'' (where Livingston had a supporting role) and at least a glance toward cult fave ''Office Space,'' where Livingston starred. But we talked about his series, and it felt as much like a conversation as an interview, and I hope to get a good story out of it.
But I'm rambling, and what I really want to talk about is ''Friday Night Lights,'' the NBC drama for the fall, which is so far my favorite of the new series I've watched. In fact, it feels better every time I watch another show that isn't quite as strong and self-assured. ''FNL,'' as you could easily guess, is inspired by Buzz Bissinger's book and the movie derived from it; although it has new characters, it is still about a small Texas town where high-school football reigns.
''FNL'' aims to be about more than just football, although the game provides a focus for all the characters, whether rich or poor, young or old, serene or sad. In fact, the football part of the storytelling in the pilot may be the most predictable. You'll know what the future holds for a couple of characters not long after you meet them. But it's a show where predictability can still be entertaining.
And the show jumped high on my list for a scene that took place on a football field after the big game was over. It involves people kneeling in prayer, and it summed up part of what the series has to say, and it puts football in its proper place, and it moved me. That scene told me this is a series I'll want to watch a second time, and probably a third, and it will have to pretty bad to get me to quit even then, because I know it has the possibility of a scene like that one.
http://blogs.ohio.com/beacon_tv/
Sports On TV
Notes
By Richard Sandomir The New York Times June 20, 2006
• ABC Sports' viewership through the first five games of the N.B.A. finals between Dallas and Miami is up 9 percent to an average of 12.2 million a game, with Sunday's overtime victory by Miami drawing 14.2 million viewers, up 8 percent from last year. It is still in line to be one of the least-viewed finals.
• NBC will add four N.H.L. regular-season games and three playoff games next season.
This column ran last week, and I missed it. Sorry. But it still reads well.
TV Notebook
New blood on Emmy wish list
By Chuck Barney Contra Costa Times TV critic
The Emmy ballots went out earlier this month, which means the Emmy rants can't be far behind.
Every summer, industry insiders cast their ballots, and once the nominees are announced (July 6 this year), TV fans and critics proceed to blast the picks for their astonishing lack of insight.
In order to diminish some of that outrage, the television academy has decided to use "blue-ribbon" judges panels to supplement the process. The goal is to avoid the tired rubber-stamping ways of past years.
We're all for the fresh approach, but we still want to throw our two cents in. And so what follows is an Emmy wish list that puts a heavy emphasis on new blood and underappreciated talent. Obviously, we don't expect to get our way on everything, but we can dream, can't we?
Best drama
"Battlestar Galactica" (Sci Fi), "Grey's Anatomy" (ABC), "Lost" (ABC), "Rescue Me" (FX), "The Sopranos" (HBO).
THE LOWDOWN: You know all about "The Sopranos" and last year's winner, "Lost," but don't laugh at the "Battlestar Galactica" pick. It's so much more than a geeky sci-fi show. Also, isn't it about time the fiery "Rescue Me" gets some Emmy love? As for "Grey's Anatomy," well, it was only the most addictive hour on television.
Best comedy
"Arrested Development" (Fox), "Entourage" (HBO), "Everybody Hates Chris" (UPN), "My Name Is Earl" (NBC), "The Office" (NBC).
THE LOWDOWN: We're still mourning the premature passing of "Arrested Development," but the good news is that there's lots of new life in this category. "Chris," "Earl" and "The Office" are all hilarious freshman shows and "Entourage" blossomed in its sophomore season. Our only regret is that we couldn't find room for "Scrubs," which had one of its best seasons yet.
Lead actress, drama
Kristen Bell ("Veronica Mars," UPN), Geena Davis ("Commander in Chief," ABC), Edie Falco ("The Sopranos"), Mary McDonnell ("Battlestar Galactica" ), Kyra Sedgwick ("The Closer," TNT).
THE LOWDOWN: Falco remains the class of this category, so we couldn't leave her out. Davis and McDonnell were both very presidential in their riveting roles, and Sedgwick injected some personality into the shopworn police procedural. As for Bell, it's a shame more people aren't witnessing the wit and vigor she brings to "Mars."
Lead actor, drama
Matthew Fox ("Lost"), Patrick Dempsey ("Grey's Anatomy"), James Gandolfini ("The Sopranos"), Hugh Laurie ("House," Fox), Denis Leary ("Rescue Me").
THE LOWDOWN: This is, without question, the most competitive Emmy category and, perhaps, the toughest one to call. We left out two-time winner James Spader, for crying out loud, along with Kiefer Sutherland, Wentworth Miller and Michael Chiklis. But we'll stand by this bunch any day.
Lead actress, comedy
Tichina Arnold ("Everybody Hates Chris"), Marcia Cross ("Desperate Housewives," ABC), Lauren Graham ("Gilmore Girls," The WB), Julia Louis-Dreyfus ("The New Adventures of Old Christine," CBS), Mary-Louise Parker ("Weeds," Showtime).
THE LOWDOWN: Because "Desperate Housewives" went into a creative tailspin, we dismantled the chokehold the show had on this category last year. We're still captivated by Cross, though, and if Graham finally makes the list, we'll take it as a sign that Emmy voters have finally gotten a clue.
Lead actor, comedy
Jason Bateman ("Arrested Development"), Zach Braff ("Scrubs," NBC), Steve Carell ("The Office"), Ricky Gervais ("Extras," HBO), Jason Lee ("My Name Is Earl").
THE LOWDOWN: These goofballs have a remarkable array of styles, ranging from Bateman's deadpan approach to Braff's bizarre wackiness. The differences make for an intriguing competition, but the front-runners should be Lee and Carell, who headlined the two funniest new shows of the season.
Supporting actress, drama
Sandra Oh ("Grey's Anatomy"), Yunjin Kim ("Lost"), CCH Pounder ("The Shield," FX), Jean Smart ("24"), Chandra Wilson ("Grey's Anatomy").
THE LOWDOWN: Can you tell that we really love "Grey's Anatomy"? We easily could have tossed in Katherine Heigl to give the medical drama an imposing triple threat, but where's the fun in that? Our favorite is Smart, who wowed us with her trippy first lady.
Supporting actor, drama
Michael Imperioli ("The Sopranos"), Gregory Itzin ("24"), Jorge Garcia ("Lost"), T.R. Knight ("Grey's Anatomy"), Forrest Whitaker ("The Shield").
THE LOWDOWN: If the picks went our way, Imperioli would be the only veteran amid a field of Emmy newcomers. Garcia and Whitaker are probably long shots, but they shouldn't be. Meanwhile, we hope Itzin, who was so deliciously creepy as a duplicitous president, gets his due.
Supporting actress, comedy
Jenna Fischer ("The Office"), Alyson Hannigan ("How I Met Your Mother," CBS), Jaime Pressly ("My Name Is Earl"), Judy Reyes ("Scrubs"), Jessica Walter ("Arrested Development").
THE LOWDOWN: Pressly may be a newcomer, but the brassy blonde has to be considered a sure bet for her scene-stealing turn as Earl's venal and vindictive ex. The others can form a line behind her.
Supporting actor, comedy
Neil Patrick Harris ("How I Met Your Mother"), John C. McKinley ("Scrubs"), Jeremy Piven ("Entourage"), Ethan Suplee ("My Name Is Earl"), Rainn Wilson ("The Office").
THE LOWDOWN: If the category list goes down like this (and it probably won't), Piven would be the only returnee. Again, we're talking fresh blood here.
http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/entertainment/columnists/chuck_barney/14806332.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
The business of TV
Nielsen switching channels for new view of viewers
By Phil Rosenthal Chicago Tribune Media Columnist
The scapegoat for why your favorite television series was canceled is trying to address at least a few of its shortcomings in measuring viewership.
Nielsen Media Research, the ratings outfit whose audience figures help establish the ad rates that drive the TV industry, announced an ambitious, perhaps even revolutionary, initiative the other day that it's calling "A2/M2," which stands for "Anytime Anywhere Media Measurement."
Nielsen is now acknowledging that people watch TV programs not only on their set at home but also in bars, airports and hotels, as well as on the Internet and portable gadgets such as mobile phones and iPods. So it says it intends to account for all that viewing by fall of next year and the start of the 2007-08 season.
And as long as it's entering the 21st Century, Nielsen also is promising to phase out the dubious practice of having selected families self-report viewing through the use of handwritten diaries in even the smallest of TV markets--that means you, No. 210, Glendive, Mont.--by 2011.
That's the plan, at least.
"It's very Nielsen-esque, really," said Richard Fielding, vice president and research director for the Insight and Analytic Group at Chicago-based agency Starcom. "It's a manifesto of intent, but nothing's actually been done yet.
"I think they've finally come to the realization that if they don't have a vision and a stated course of action of how to address these issues, someone else will."
Brad Adgate, a senior vice president of research at Horizon Media, a New York-based ad buyer, calls the diaries "ridiculous" and said that even if this broad "A2/M2" plan results in nothing but their elimination, "a lot of people would be happy."
Diaries "harken back to a day when `Leave It to Beaver' was on and everyone sat in the living room and watched it on one black-and-white set and the mother filled out the diary," Adgate said. "That's just not how it is."
The diaries have been OK at measuring habitual viewing, not so good at tracking shows outside of prime time and away from the major broadcast and cable networks, observers say.
Nielsen, which only recently began measuring the use of digital video recorders and previously announced it will measure college dorm viewing, hopes to start replacing the diaries for viewers in its sample with mailable battery-powered meters in medium-size markets as soon as next year.
It's expanding the use of its local people meters from the top 10 markets to the top 25, meaning the devices will cover nearly half the U.S. population, and it will upgrade the set-meters used in markets 26 to 60. At the same time, it will be testing so-called go-meters to measure viewing away from home and on portable devices.
"That old cliche term of media with a capital M and a capital E is increasingly becoming a reality," Fielding said. "Technology is enabling consumers to consume video whenever they want, wherever they want and program it however they want. Then, obviously, advertising becomes more and more addressable and accountable. So what's the role of Nielsen in that world?"
The "A2/M2" initiative, Nielsen Media Research President and Chief Executive Susan Whiting said in a statement, is the result of "clients who told us clearly that we should `follow the video'" and "recognizes that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to measuring television. ... As digital distribution of television transforms the way our clients do business, Nielsen is keeping pace with new ways of measuring TV wherever it is viewed."
Nielsen also said it hopes to gauge viewer engagement, which is of particular interest to advertisers even though there is no agreement on a single definition of what engagement is.
"There are going to be some mistakes and missteps," Adgate said. "Nielsen, though, has had a tendency to delay these things rather than get them wrong. ... But for a company that for years has been criticized for being laid-back and not moving with the industry, you have to tip your hat to them at least for the announcement."
Said Fielding: "I don't want to be the wizened cynic saying it's all a bunch of hot air. But Nielsen being Nielsen, they've got a lot of proving to do."
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/columnists/chi-0606180171jun18,0,2757247,print.column
The New York Times Obituary
Bill Lamb, 76
Vital Figure in Shaping Public Television
By Dennis Hevesi The New York Times July 20, 2006
Bill Lamb, a key member of the team that founded New York's public television station Channel 13 and the station's director of production for programs that included "Nature" and "Great Performances," died on Saturday in Los Angeles. He was 76.
The cause was complications after a stroke, said Marcie Setlow, Mr. Lamb's companion.
In 1962, when a group of philanthropists and business leaders took over what had been a commercial station showing mostly cartoons and westerns, Mr. Lamb was a member of a small team of executives recruited to transform it into a nonprofit educational channel. Until 1972, he was a senior vice president, a member of the board and the station's director of production, responsible for bringing together the artistic and business sides.
From 1975 to 1981, Mr. Lamb played a similar role as vice president of production and business affairs and then chief operating officer at KCET, the public television station in Los Angeles, where he oversaw the production of programs including "Cosmos" with Carl Sagan and "The Cousteau Odyssey."
"Bill was an exceedingly important figure in the formative years of what we now know as public broadcasting," said John Jay Iselin, the president of Channel 13 from 1972 to 1987. "He helped guide the critical early years of Channel 13. He put the money together and helped direct it toward fruitful productions."
After Mr. Lamb moved to KCET, Mr. Iselin said, "he certainly nurtured the connections between the two stations and, more importantly, the workings of the entire national system."
In 1981, Mr. Lamb — who had homes in Manhattan and in Santa Cruz, Calif. — rejoined Channel 13 with the title of senior vice president in charge of national and international production. Under his supervision, the station produced shows like "The Brain," segments for "American Playhouse" and Abba Eban's "Heritage: Civilization and the Jews," for which he shared a Peabody Award in 1984.
William Joseph Lamb was born in Manhattan on Oct. 29, 1929. His father, Vincent Lamb, had been an announcer in the early days of radio. He graduated from Hofstra College (now Hofstra University) and earned a master's degree in business administration from Harvard.
His marriage to Marylou Lamb of Santa Cruz ended in divorce. In addition to Ms. Setlow, his survivors include a daughter, Diane Tobey-Harding of Lancaster, Calif.; two sons, William, of Santa Cruz and Matthew, of Nashville; a sister, Rosemarie Collins of Chicago; and four granddaughters.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/20/arts/television/20lamb.html?pagewanted=print
TV Notebook
Harvard says Rather has the goods for fellowship
By Gail Shister Philadelphia Inquirer Columnist Tue, Jun. 20, 2006
Who needs CBS when Harvard's hot for you?
Dan Rather, whose departure is expected to be announced today, would be a jolly good fellow for Harvard's Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy, its director says.
"I'd love to have him come here for a semester or full year on campus," says Alex Jones. "Dan Rather has all the credentials, as far as I'm concerned."
CBS was so close to working out an exit deal with Rather yesterday morning that a "goodbye" piece was assigned to run on last night's CBS Evening News.
Later in the day, it was pushed back when Rather told management he wanted to sleep on it before announcing the end of his 44-year career at the network, according to industry sources.
The announcement is expected today; his swan song, Friday. Rather's contract runs until late November.
Once his exit is official, the Evening News tribute will run tonight. No word whether Rather will agree to be interviewed for the piece.
A similar video salute ran in March '05, when Rather was forced from the Evening News anchor chair after 24 years following the Memogate scandal.
Rather, 74, reportedly has been offered a contract to develop and host a weekly interview show on HDNet, a high-definition TV network cofounded in September '01 by Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban.
HDNet reaches about three million homes, says a network rep. Its current lineup includes sports, original music programming, and reruns of such broadcast-network series as Joan of Arcadia and Smallville.
Its lone news presence: HDNet World Report, a weekly documentary series.
Back to Harvard... Shorenstein Center fellowships come with a "modest stipend" of $15,000 per semester, including living expenses, Jones says. Rick Kaplan, ex-president of CNN/U.S. and MSNBC, and CNN alum Judith Woodruff are both former on-campus fellows.
In addition to teaching, Rather, a 1953 graduate of Sam Houston State Teachers College, would do "serious reporting research on the evolution of TV news - where it's going, where it's been, what's up," Jones says.
Also, he'd make himself available "to share his knowledge with a community of scholars and students... . He'd be the elder statesman and truth-teller. He could speak about television with a very powerful voice."
Like many others, Jones agrees it's time for Rather to move on.
"I regret that his last chapter at CBS was so unhappy. As far as I'm concerned, it was not the last act in his career, or his life... . I think it's a good moment for him to do something else somewhere else."
Rather could not be reached for comment.
Tonight's the night.
Oh, is Anderson Cooper talking to Angelina Jolie tonight? We didn't notice.
After incessant promotions touting the "exclusive" post-baby get, Cooper's piece - taped last week in L.A. - will actually run tonight at 10 ET on CNN.
Cooper denies buzz that the interview was part of a package deal with People magazine, which paid more than $4 million for photo rights to Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt,bornMay 27 in Namibia. (Time Warner owns CNN and People.)
"I never heard anything more absurd," he says testily. "They approached us about doing the interview. It's as simple as that. They knew it would be substantive.
"I'm interested in a lot of the countries in Africa she's traveled to, and I've been doing a lot of stuff on the Congo recently."
Cooper asked Jolie "a few" personal questions about the baby, future babies and Brad Pitt, but the tender queries "were usually in relation to things she was already talking about. Frankly, I'm not that interested in delving into every aspect of her life. It's just not what I do."
"I don't really talk to celebrities very often, frankly. Basically, they're off my radar."
But not CNN's, clearly.
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/entertainment/television//14856761.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
TV Q&A
A 'House' call
By Alan Sepinwall Newark Star-Ledger Tuesday, June 20, 2006
LETTERS, All TV gets letters, and this week's mailbag has questions about three of TV's oldest occupations: doctors, cops and crooks.
The doctor is...?
Dear Alan: In your column of May 24, you wrote about a lot of season-ending shows, and you promised to write more in a day or two about the season finale of "House." I read your column every day, and either I missed something or you forgot your promise. Maybe you're like me, still trying to figure out what exactly happened on that show. Did House really get shot? What was real, and what wasn't? I would love to hear your thoughts on this ending, since I have come to realize that you are an obvious fan of the show. It was a very thought-provoking episode. I'm sorry if you already addressed this in a previous column. I might have missed it. -- Mary Ann Bucsko, Vernon
Alan says: No, you didn't miss it, Mary Ann, and no, I didn't forget. Without going into too many boring logistical details, I got tied up with other things, and then I wanted to wait for a chance to interview "House" producer David Shore, who wrote and directed the finale.
First, according to Shore, the beginning (House tries to diagnose the patient with the swollen tongue, House gets shot) and the end (House is wheeled into the ER and asks for ketamine) were the only parts of the episode that were real. Everything else -- the exploding eyeball, the visits to the taco stand, the robotic foreplay, House punching out Wilson -- took place inside House's mind.
I heard some people theorize that the opening scenes, with House taking a patient history himself and an unusually giddy Foreman deciding to go to the movies, were also part of the dream, but Shore insists they happened. "If people thought it was strange," he says, "that was probably just because the guy directing didn't have a lot of experience."
But Shore also says, "I really do think of that stuff in the middle as very real. House isn't debating with some jerk who shot him, he isn't debating with his staff, it's all in his own mind, but it's a very real debate within himself about how he should live his life."
(Warning: Some spoilers for next season ahead, so skip to the next letter if you don't want to know.) Shore suggests that House read a medical journal article about ketamine, which inspired the part of the fantasy where ketamine cured his leg pain -- and which will lead to the first arc of the new season.
"We're going to go somewhere with it," he says. "They're going to try that, and have some success with it."
Note the "some," since whether or not the pain is completely or permanently cured, Shore promises, "ultimately, we're not going to change him (emotionally). House is who House is. I think he was probably that way to a great extent before anything happened to his leg."
But even a temporary respite for House would also be one for Hugh Laurie. Like Laura Innes on "ER," hobbling around on a cane for 22 episodes a year when his legs are perfectly fine is taking a physical toll. ("ER" fixed Kerry Weaver's hip because Innes had taken too much of a pounding over the years.)
"His shoulders have been sore, and we want to do whatever we can to help that," Shore says.
One element from the finale that won't be carried over to the new season is the identity and motivation of the man who shot House. (Elias Koteas, who played the shooter, won't be back.)
"I was more interested in House's view of why somebody might shoot him, instead of, frankly, a mundane reason," says Shore. "A guy who shoots you is crazy. I don't care what his real reasons are."
Farewell to Farina
Dear Alan: Read where Dennis Farina is leaving "Law & Order." I am one of his biggest fans since his starring stint in "Crime Story." Whatever he does or whatever the story line he is in, he brings a class that is his and his only. --Sanford Weissman, Lakewood
Alan says: NBC has lined up the replacements for Farina and Annie Parisse. Milena Govich, who had played one of the young prosecutors on the quasi-spin-off "Conviction" (set in the "L&O" universe but without the title), will become the show's first regular female detective, while Alana De La Garza, who played Marisol Delko on "CSI: Miami," will be Sam Waterston's new sidekick.
Stolen away
Dear Alan: Whatever happened to the new TV show "Heist"? Why was it canceled? I didn't see a warning coming. --Tom Jones, South Plainfield
Alan says: "Heist" was canceled for the same reason virtually everything on TV gets the ax: low ratings. NBC did the show no favors by sliding "Law & Order" to Wednesdays at 9 and airing "Heist" in the familiar "L&O" 10 p.m. timeslot; instead of providing an established lead-in for the new show, it just ticked off "L&O" fans and made them less likely to watch it.
Between "Heist" and FX's "Thief," which won't be back after a little-watched first season, it wasn't a good spring for shows about daring robberies. Probably not a good sign for "Smith," CBS' upcoming show starring Ray Liotta as a thief trying to get out after a few last scores.
On patrol
Dear Alan: We were wondering if Comedy Central will be airing any new episodes of "Reno 911." --Robert & Esther Jones, Edison
Alan says: The cops of "Reno" will be back on July 9, teamed with the "lost" episodes of "Chappelle's Show" season three as part of Comedy Central's attempt to set up a Sunday night programming bloc.
http://www.nj.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/columns-0/1150779011189360.xml&coll=1
TV Notebook
The Late Riser
After 30 Years and Many Early Mornings, Charles Gibson Is the Face of ABC's Nightly News
By Howard Kurtz Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, June 20, 2006; C01
NEW YORK--Charlie Gibson is strolling around the set of "Good Morning America," away from the cameras, when an aide to celebrity animal trainer Jack Hanna scurries over bearing a furry creature clinging to a gnarled stick.
"This may be the last time," Gibson announces, greeting his old friend Hanna with a bear hug.
The segment begins and Hanna is soon cradling an alligator, allowing Gibson to assume the role of nervous host: "Would you hold it with two hands, please?" And moments later he pointedly declines an invitation to feed worms to the slow loris, wiggling on the stick.
It's a safe bet that Gibson won't be bringing any cute animals onto the set of ABC's "World News Tonight," where he assumed the anchor chair three weeks ago. That night, he reported on Iraq war planning, a Supreme Court ruling on the death penalty, surging crime rates and a tropical storm threatening Florida -- a far more serious diet than the high-calorie smorgasbord that is morning television.
Clearly, Katie Couric's switch from "Today" to the "CBS Evening News" has generated far more debate, in part because of her status as the first woman taking over one of the Big Three newscasts. But Gibson, who recently became a grandfather when one of his two daughters had a son, simply doesn't generate polarizing arguments. He is a comfortable, easygoing figure who filled in so many times for Peter Jennings over the years that it seems perfectly natural to find him as the face of a news division where he has worked for 31 years.
Indeed, the one controversy surrounding Gibson's anointment is not whether a man who has covered Washington and traveled around the world has the chops for the job, but whether the previous anchor, Elizabeth Vargas, was unfairly shoved aside in the process.
"This place has been rocked twice," says Gibson, 63, recalling Jennings's death and the Iraqi bomb that wounded Vargas's co-anchor, Bob Woodruff, within the last 11 months. He says he keeps describing himself as an "old codger" because ABC staffers "just want some sense that calm has descended. It's not to emphasize that I'm old, which is stupid, but I just want them to know things are okay. Unless I'm hit by a Mack truck, I'm going to be around for a while."
Gibson is accustomed to competing against Couric. He has spent the last 7 1/2 years, with Diane Sawyer, trying to catch Couric and Matt Lauer in the morning-show wars, and he knows that the press will focus on whether his second-place newscast can stave off a challenge from Couric at CBS and gain ground on Brian Williams's top-rated "NBC Nightly News." But Gibson disdains the obsession with Nielsen numbers.
"I have assiduously avoided knowing what the ratings are for shows," he says. "Some people get paid a lot of money to worry about that stuff. If you begin to broadcast or program depending on what a consultant tells you or the ratings indicate, what the hell have you been doing in journalism for 40 years? If you get too immersed in what you think people want to know, based on ratings, you've made a tremendous mistake."
Gibson insists that "World News Tonight" is not so much about him but about the correspondents, the same self-effacing approach that Bob Schieffer has taken since succeeding Dan Rather.
"He owes me," jokes Schieffer, 69, "for proving there's a future for old guys on TV. Charlie's just a good guy. He's been out on a beat and knows how to cover news, and I think he'll be a stabilizing force and formidable competition."
Despite his contention that anchoring shouldn't be a popularity contest, the wry, low-key Gibson ultimately will be judged a success or failure at the box office.
"You get comfortable with a particular newspaper," Gibson says. "It's the same thing with evening news shows. That's why it's hard to change people's habits. You can lose people rather quickly -- Dan got very controversial and all of a sudden people left. But it's difficult to get them to come to you."
A Heavy Load
At an editorial meeting for "World News Tonight" last week, the talk turned to a motorcycle accident involving Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.
"He's said in the past that he prefers not to wear a helmet -- isn't it in his contract that he has to?" Gibson asked. When he was a local reporter in Washington, Gibson said, he owned a motorcycle, but his boss made him sell it by saying the company had so much invested in him.
"He was paying me $20,000 a year," Gibson said.
One producer suggested that ABC reporter John Berman take a look at Roethlisberger and motorcycle safety for the evening newscast, but another staffer said Berman was working on an unrelated story for "Good Morning America."
"Which show dominates?" Gibson asked. The conference room filled with laughter.
Gibson is working both the morning and evening shifts this month before bidding farewell to "Good Morning America" a week from tomorrow. On this particular morning he overslept -- waking up at 5:30 a.m., half an hour after he usually reports to the Times Square studio of "GMA" -- and can't suppress a few yawns.
Since signing Gibson to a new three-year deal, ABC has wasted little time in touting him as the voice of experience. "Charles Gibson: He's been there, seen it, brought us the world," a promotional spot says. "Times when the truth needed to be uncovered, he never backed down. . . . In times like these it's important to trust the source."
Such accolades make him sound like an obvious choice. Gibson is "very much in the Peter Jennings tradition," says ABC News President David Westin. "Particularly in time of national emergency or some of the bigger stories we've covered, having someone tried and true, who people have experience with over a long period of time, is very reassuring."
But Westin decided against giving Gibson the job last fall, rejecting his insistence on serving at least three years and rolling the dice on two younger anchors. Vargas, who soon discovered she was pregnant, found herself working impossible hours after Woodruff's injury.
Last month, though Vargas had been assured she could return to "World News" after her maternity leave, Westin handed the job to Gibson, who had no interest in being Vargas's co-anchor.
"I said to David all the way through that I don't believe in two anchors sitting at the desk next to each other," Gibson says. "It never made any sense to me. It never made any sense when Barbara Walters and Harry Reasoner did it or when Connie Chung and Dan Rather did it."
Gibson says he told Vargas he "felt badly" for what she had gone through. He says he had been scheduled to retire next year before getting the offer. "I was okay with the idea that 'Good Morning America' would be my last job at ABC. . . . There was never any foot-stomping," he says.
But to some staffers at the network, it looked as though Vargas was being sidelined by Gibson's stance, along with sagging ratings and an unplanned pregnancy.
"We didn't have the natural person to pair with Elizabeth," says Westin, who chose Gibson after Sawyer took herself out of the running for "World News." He calls Vargas "a consummate professional" but says the job changed on her because of Woodruff's injuries. "I don't rule out the possibility that Bob and Elizabeth will be co-anchors again," Westin says.
Vargas, who remains a "20/20" anchor, says that stepping aside under pressure was "an excruciatingly difficult decision. The problem of my maternity leave was and remains an insurmountable one. I had to leave the show for two months at a crucial time, and it would be unfair to the staff to leave them without a strong anchor. For now, this is the best decision for my family and for my colleagues."
Gibson, for the moment, is carrying a heavy load. He had just finished "GMA" last Tuesday and was posing for pictures with audience members when a producer said in his earpiece, "Get up to the desk right away. Bush is in Iraq."
"You mean the 2:30 news conference is a ruse?" Gibson said. The White House had announced, as a cover story, that the president would talk to reporters in the Rose Garden.
Gibson anchored two breaking-news specials without missing a beat. When Bush met reporters the next day, Gibson was struck by how energized the president looked, despite having had only a few hours' sleep, and how he seemed to be laying out a defense of the war that could become the Republican message in the fall elections. Gibson asked for a report on the politics of the secret trip to Baghdad, which became a "Closer Look" segment.
Colleagues say Gibson is deeply involved in every aspect of "World News," from writing scripts to picking the "Person of the Week." "He's a wonderful presence in the newsroom," says Executive Producer Jon Banner. "He's very aggressive in questioning pieces and making sure we cover this or that angle of the story."
But Gibson is the first to say that this is an unaccustomed role for him. For one thing, he has long been collaborating with Sawyer and the "GMA" staff. For another, he received a Quaker education at Washington's Sidwell Friends School -- he still goes to meetings occasionally -- and believes in the gradual deliberation that Quakers call "a sense of the meeting."
A native of Evanston, Ill., Gibson returned to Washington with a degree from Princeton University in 1966 and got a job as a $325-a-month radio producer. After enlisting in the Coast Guard to avoid the draft, Gibson landed a slot in a training program at Channel 7, now WJLA-TV. He edited down B-movies to fill the available slots on Sunday afternoon. He did cleanup duty at the "Claire and Coco" children's show, Coco being a French poodle. He kept score for a bowling show taped downstairs from the Van Ness Street offices. The station later sent him to another ABC affiliate it owned in Lynchburg, Va.
"He was elegant and had a tremendous command of the English language," says Bob Sprague, who was the station's news director. "He was very interested in the way words were used, which impressed me." Gibson was so interested in politics that he paid his own way to the 1968 Republican convention in Miami. He also aggressively covered Lynchburg's desegregation battles. When he left town for the last time, all the tires on his car had been slashed.
Channel 7 brought Gibson back as a reporter and weekend anchor in 1970. "From the moment he walked in the newsroom," says Leonard Deibert, then the news director, "it was evident he was smart and savvy, but not in a cocky way. He had a great curiosity. He was unafraid of any reporting assignment."
But Deibert recalls the general manager, Tom Cookerly, saying: "He'll never make it in television. He looks too preppy." When Cookerly moved Gibson to radio, he quit and wound up working for a short-lived television news service bankrolled by conservative beer magnate Joseph Coors. Gibson covered the Watergate hearings on the Hill and sat next to ABC's Sam Donaldson, who recommended him to the network.
After covering the Ford White House for ABC, Gibson spent a decade stationed at the House. Brit Hume, who covered the Senate for ABC, says he and Gibson agreed over lunch not to sabotage each other in the nightly competition for airtime. "We never had a cross word or disagreement, mostly because he was so self-effacing," says Hume, now Fox's Washington managing editor. "He's such a good guy that he makes you behave better."
In 1987, after occasionally filling in as the news anchor on "GMA," Gibson was tapped as Joan Lunden's co-host. With his wife, Arlene -- then the director of the lower school at Holton-Arms in Bethesda -- Gibson moved to New York, beginning a successful morning run. "He certainly hasn't made up this soft-shoe, knowledgeable but friendly style," Donaldson says. "That's who Charlie is."
John Reiss, a former Gibson producer who is now executive producer of "NBC Nightly News," calls him "absolutely brilliant at ad-libbing." But Reiss remembers being puzzled at "GMA" when Gibson kept ignoring his instructions, talking right up to the last second before a commercial break, and finally asked him why.
"I could do the best interview in the world with some world leader and I'll come back and some producer would say my tie is crooked," Gibson told him. "This is my way of getting even."
In 1998, after "GMA" fell behind Couric and Lauer at "Today," Gibson was replaced by Kevin Newman. Seven months later, ABC dumped Newman and his co-host, Lisa McRee, and Westin persuaded Gibson to return by teaming him with Sawyer. What was originally billed as a temporary fix has lasted until now.
A Meat-and-Potatoes Man
The highlights have been airing each morning as "GMA" pays tribute to its departing host: Gibson anchoring from the CIA, from the Pentagon, from Buckingham Palace and Vatican City and a refugee camp in Macedonia. He is not the kind of interviewer who draws attention to himself, but caused a stir in 1999 when he challenged President Bill Clinton on gun control in the wake of the Columbine massacre.
"There are very basic measures that could be taken that people agree on," Gibson said. "We register every automobile in America. . . . That's a step that would make a difference."
"Look," Clinton shot back, "let's join the real world here. Now you want to have an honest conversation?"
Gibson says he tries to be "agnostic" on all issues -- except for smoking, which he says killed both his parents and his sister -- and took that approach after learning that gun control advocates as well as the National Rifle Association were unhappy with Clinton. "I just thought it might be something he wouldn't expect if I pressed him about what they were saying as opposed to the usual tack of asking about the NRA folks," he says.
In his new role, Gibson makes no secret that he is a meat-and-potatoes man, interested in Washington and foreign news and cool to softer features. He is well aware that viewers have been deserting the once-dominant network newscasts for two decades, but believes that they remain a formidable force.
"We've lost some audience because people's choices are so much broader now," Gibson says. "But I happen to believe there are three national printing presses in television, and now I've got one of them."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/19/AR2006061901336_pf.html
Sports On TV
Without Tiger, U.S. Open ratings tank
By Toni Fitzgerald MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Jun 20, 2006
The Tiger Woods effect has been seen many times over in men’s golf over the past decade. When Woods is not in contention for a tournament title, ratings sink.
But until this weekend, golf had never seen a Woods effect this severe. For the first time ever, Woods missed the cut at a major tournament. With Tiger off to an early start on his weekend, ratings for the U.S. Open dropped to record-low levels.
There are two more major events left this season, and that begs the question: Can Woods return to form, and what will happen if he can’t? Golf ratings are sure to plummet.
Woods exited the tournament on Friday after shooting 12 over par for two days and missing the cut by three strokes. Thus Saturday’s Tiger-less third-round coverage of the U.S. Open on NBC averaged a 3.2 household rating, according to Nielsen overnights.
That was the lowest Saturday average since Nielsen began measuring the tournament in 1982. It was down 27 percent from the previous year, when Saturday averaged a 4.4.
Sunday’s final round averaged a 5.1, down 12 percent from a 5.8 the previous year, when Woods finished second. It was the lowest-rated final round in three years and second-lowest-rated since 1994.
NBC’s two-day average of 4.2, if it holds when final ratings are released later today, would be the worst two-day average since 1988 and tie for second-worst ever.
Ratings for Thursday and Friday were off as well, with Woods never really finding a rhythm and finishing well behind the leaders on each day.
Clearly audiences were not interested in watching a major where Woods had no chance of winning. Too, they may have felt deceived by all the pre-tournament build up, which focused on a showdown between Woods and Phil Mickelson, winner of the past two majors who missed a third straight win with a double bogey on the final hole Sunday.
The media thus deserves much of the blame for the lackluster ratings. It was unrealistic to expect Woods, who took a two-month break to be with his sick father, who passed away a few weeks ago, to contend in the year’s toughest major after so much time off. He looked out of sync for most of his two rounds.
What’s more, it may be weeks or even months before Woods returns to form on the golf course, much less contends for a title. His father was a huge influence in his life and on his golf game, and Woods has seemed understandably uninterested in playing since he became ill.
If Woods’ game remains off when the British Open begins on July 20, ABC will suffer similarly poor ratings. Despite the attempts by the Tour and the media to build Mickelson into the same sort of fan favorite as Woods, the U.S. Open ratings indicate it’s not working.
If Woods misses another cut, even interest in him may start to fade as he shows a heretofore unseen human side.
The hope years ago had been that Woods would bring new viewers to golf, who would stay long after he’d gone because they enjoyed the game. That hope seems less and less likely, as the golf craze continues to rise and fall on his game nine years after he won his first major.
http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/printer_5473.asp
TV Notebook
Dan Rather Signs Off
(from cbsnews.com)
NEW YORK, June 20, 2006 (CBS) -- Dan Rather is leaving CBS after 44 years with the Tiffany Network.
Sean McManus, president of CBS News and Sports, made the announcement.
“Of all the famous names associated with CBS News, the biggest and brightest on the marquee are Murrow, Cronkite and Rather,” McManus said. “With the utmost respect, we mark the extraordinary and singular role Dan has played in writing the script of not only CBS News, but of broadcast journalism."
CBS News is working on a primetime special on the newsman’s career. It is scheduled to be broadcast sometime this fall. CBS News also will make a contribution to Rather’s alma mater, now called Sam Houston State University.
Rather's contract with the network was scheduled to expire in November, but he was unable to reach agreeement with CBS on a new pact. He had worked as a correspondent for 60 Minutes since stepping down as anchor of the CBS Evening News last year.
Rather told the New York Times that he is considering an offer from Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban to do a weekly news program for Cuban's HDNet cable channel.
Rather bid a bittersweet goodbye to the Evening News in March 2005 after 24 years in the anchor chair. He stepped down 24 years to the day after he replaced another CBS News icon: Walter Cronkite.
Bob Schieffer has been the interim anchor since Rather's departure. Katie Couric, who joins the network this summer, will take over the anchor chair in September.
During his long and prolific career with CBS News, Rather has written six books, anchored six presidential election campaigns and covered a dozen wars on five continents.
He has braved hurricanes, waded through flood waters, dodged bullets, comforted wounded GIs, mouthed off to presidents, wept on camera, become a lightning rod for conservatives and been badly beaten by a dangerous maniac on Park Avenue.
A 50-year career in journalism has made Rather a witness to modern American history: the assassination of President Kennedy, the civil rights movement, Watergate, wars in Vietnam and Iraq. The correspondent and anchorman has also interviewed hundreds of world leaders and newsmakers ranging from Mother Teresa to Saddam Hussein.
This road well traveled has been strewn with "Ratherisms," folksy sayings that can make one smile or wince or both. It was Rather who told us that the Florida presidential race was as "hotter than a Times Square Rolex" and who reminded us of the importance of swing states: "It don't mean a thing if they don't get those swings."
Rather's departure from the Evening News was clouded by his high-profile role in a flawed CBS News story about President Bush's National Guard service and some harsh comments from old CBS colleagues, including Cronkite, who suggested Schieffer should have been given the anchor job years ago.
In September 2004, Rather was the correspondent on a "60 Minutes Wednesday" piece that used documents that purported to show Mr. Bush received preferential treatment during his years in the Texas Air National Guard.
The authenticity of the documents was almost immediately questioned, but CBS News and Rather continued to defend the story long after it was broadcast. An independent panel that probed the network's handling of the story concluded CBS News failed to follow basic journalistic principles in the preparation and reporting of the piece.
Rather has repeatedly apologized for his role in the story and expressed regrets about the fate of his colleagues.
Although the Guard story was a low point in Rather’s career, it was far from his only brush with controversy. There were well-publicized run-ins with two top Republicans, Richard Nixon and President Bush the elder. And in 2001, he made an embarrassing appearance at a Democratic fundraiser in Texas hosted by his daughter.
These events contributed to Rather’s status as a lightning rod for conservative critics who view him as a symbol of what they see as the media’s liberal bias.
The Texas-born Rather has always dreamed of a career in journalism. He grew up in Houston, where he began reporting the news for local radio and TV stations.
"We didn't own a TV set, and we didn't know anybody who did," Rather recently told the Texas Monthly. "My dream was to be a byline reporter on either the Houston Chronicle or the Houston Post."
His breakthrough came in 1961, when his daring coverage of Hurricane Carla for KHOU-TV attracted the attention of CBS.
Below are some memorable events in his CBS career:
• 1962: Joins CBS News as chief of the network's Southwest bureau, in Dallas, where it was his job to cover 23 states, Mexico and Central America.
• Nov. 22, 1963: Reports live from the scene of President John F. Kennedy's assassination. Not only was CBS the first network on the scene, but Rather was also the first to report Kennedy had died.
• 1964: Promoted to White House correspondent for CBS News.
• 1965: Sent to Vietnam — at his own request — to cover the war.
• 1966: Returns to the U.S. and resumes his role as White House correspondent.
• 1974: His combative style is captured in a memorable moment while exchanging verbal jabs with President Nixon. First, Rather is booed and applauded when he stands to ask Nixon a question. Mr. Nixon turned the question around: "Are you running for something?" "No, sir, Mr. President," Rather shot back. "Are you?" This angers the White Houses. Several CBS affiliates asked for his resignation.
• 1974: Co-wrote a book about Watergate, "The Palace Guard," which became a best-seller. Another book, "The Camera Never Blinks," was published in 1977.
• 1980: Slips into Afghanistan in disguise following the Soviet invasion. The escapade earns him a nickname: "Gunga Dan."
• March 9, 1981: CBS Evening News anchor Walter Cronkite retires, and Rather takes over.
• 1986: Rather is attacked and badly beaten on Park Avenue by a deranged man later convicted of murdering an NBC stagehand. Rather’s woozy recollection of his attacker’s words, "What’s the frequency, Kenneth?," becomes the title of a song by rock band R.E.M.
• 1987: Rather walks off the CBS Evening News set in anger after the network decided to let the U.S. Open tennis tournament run overtime, cutting into the news broadcast. CBS was left with dead air for six minutes.
• Jan. 25, 1988: In an interview with then-Vice President George H.W. Bush, Rather presses the future president about his involvement in the Iran-Contra affair. A heated exchange follows, with Mr. Bush asking Rather whether he wished to be judged for the tennis walk-off.
• 1990: Is the first American journalist to interview Saddam Hussein after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.
• March 31, 1999: Secures an exclusive first sit-down interview with President Clinton following the Lewinsky scandal and his impeachment by the House.
• 2001: Breaks into tears twice while discussing the 9/11 attacks on David Letterman’s late-night show a few days after the tragedy.
• Feb. 24, 2003: Gets the most sought-after interview in the world: an exclusive one-on-one with Saddam Hussein in Baghdad, the first time the Iraqi leader talks with an American journalist since 1991.
• March 9, 2005: Rather steps down as anchor of the CBS Evening News.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/06/19/national/printable1727285.shtml
TV Notebook
Mark Cuban blogs about Dan Rather
HDNet is talking to Dan Rather and we hope to do a deal where he produces a show that uncovers news. Information with a payoff. Some people have already decided that working with Dan alone defines positions we will take in our programming. Of course we have a 5 year history of news features already with World Report, but why let that get in the way.
….You may think you know what Dan Rather and HDNet will do together. But you dont. You have no idea. I will tell you that there wont be any corporate considerations. No earnings per share issues. No worries ab