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Critic’s Notebook
It's ugly, but Frankie Faison enjoys life on 'The Wire'
By Jim Beckerman The Record (Hackensack, NJ) Sunday, January 28, 2007
It's been four years since Frankie Faison became a cop.
And yes, it's true – people treat you differently.
"There's hardly a day goes by when somebody doesn't come up to me in the street," Faison says.
Which is funny, because Faison isn't a particularly good cop.
He did his best to stall a major drug investigation. He was the pawn of a thuggish district commander in his personal vendetta against a union leader over who was going to provide a stained-glass window for St. Casimir's Catholic Church.
But the cool thing about being in a long-form TV series like HBO's acclaimed "The Wire," Faison says, is that his character is always evolving.
"Things change from season to season," says the Montclair actor, who plays Police Commissioner Ervin H. Burrell in this series about wiretapping cops, drug dealers, gang-bangers, crooked union leaders and sleazy politicians who all too often have their hands in one another's pockets.
After four seasons on HBO, where it racked up ecstatic reviews but only so-so ratings, "The Wire" is trying its fortunes on basic cable. The show can be seen Thursday nights at 9 on BET, with an encore Saturdays at 9 p.m.
"I'm curious to see how it does," Faison says. "I'm not that familiar with what BET's audience is, how big or extensive. I think it's a good thing. Because it's such a great show, you want everybody to see it who can, so hopefully it will bring in another whole new market for the series."
Keeping the fans guessing
What sets "The Wire" apart from many other TV shows about cops and perps is that it tends to devote a whole season to a single case -- a single set of good and bad guys we get to know so thoroughly that they almost cease being good guys and bad guys. The show, created by former Baltimore Sun crime reporter David Simon in 2002 as a successor to his "Homicide: Life on the Street," is entering its fifth and final season on HBO this year.
There are few stereotyped characters, few routine plot twists, in "The Wire." We find out that the baddest gangsta in the projects, Omar (Michael K. Williams), is gay – and so is the most warm and decent of the cops, Shakima "Kima" Greggs (Sonja Sohn). We see that even the good-guy cops like McNulty (Dominic West) and Lt. Cedric Daniels (Lance Reddick) have feet of clay, while the bad guys, like Avon Barksdale (Wood Harris) and Stringer Bell (Idris Elba), are unexpectedly engaging.
But only, says Faison, to a point.
"If you were dealing with them in everyday life, I don't think you'd be cheering for them," Faison says. "That's what I try to tell people. They say, 'We love Omar; we love Stringer Bell.' I say, 'Would you like to have them over for dinner? Would you like to spend an afternoon or evening with them? I don't think so.' "
His own character? Paint Commissioner Burrell in shades of gray, Faison says.
"By the end of the first season, people seem to lean more towards him being not such a nice guy, but not the worst of the worst, either," Faison says. "He's being squeezed by the people at the top, and it cycles down. He's caught between a rock and a hard place, and the only person who covers his butt is himself. You see him getting lashed at, and you see him lashing out. But I always thought of him as pretty much a good company man."
No big secret about how Faison landed a role in such a high-profile show.
The veteran actor, who's in his 50s and has been a Montclair resident for 19 years, was already a familiar face in movies ("The Silence of the Lambs," "Mississippi Burning," "Do the Right Thing"), TV ("Law and Order," "Oz," "The Cosby Show") and especially theater (he earned Tony and Drama Desk nominations for his performance opposite James Earl Jones in the original 1987 Broadway production of August Wilson's "Fences"; today he wraps up a two-month run in the off-Broadway revival of Wilson's "Two Trains Running").
Typical application process
"The Wire" happened the way everything else does – a phone call, a resume, an audition.
"Of course, I was excited because it was HBO, and HBO is such an exciting network," he says. "But it was the normal process. I go, audition, meet people and get the job."
The usual process, perhaps, but not the usual commitment. Six months out of Faison's year belong to HBO: The actor has to be on tap to go to Baltimore (where the series is shot and set).
But it's been worth it for the dividends in enhanced fame and enhanced revenue.
"It's actually paid for me to go out and do what I really love to do, which is theater," says Faison, who hails from Newport News, Va.
Wife's multicultural theater
This is Faison's third year as president of the board of Luna Stage, the theater company his wife, Jane Mandel (they have three grown children), founded in 1993. The Montclair theater, with its emphasis on multicultural issues, is near and dear to him; he has appeared on its stage more than once, and his high profile has become indelibly associated with it.
Perhaps a little too much, he says.
"That's her theater, not mine," Faison says. "I want people to understand that she's the one who started that theater, and she's the one who runs that theater. I'm in there as a support group for her. But that's a problem in this household, because I have so much recognition, and a lot of people say, 'Hey, Frankie, your theater in Montclair is great.' And I have to correct them and say, 'It's not my theater; it's my wife's theater.' That's her legacy. Mine would have to fall someplace else."
No question who gets the credit for Commissioner Burrell, his "Wire" character. All kudos to Simon and the other writers, he says.
"They're the ones who created this thing, and they're always right-on with it," Faison says. "They know the character better than I do."
http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkxNjcmZmdiZWw3Zjd2cW VlRUV5eTcwNjUyMjAmeXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk3
Screen Actors Guild TV Award Winners
Female Actor in a Drama Series
WINNER:
Chandra Wilson / GREY’S ANATOMY – Dr. Miranda Bailey - ABC
Nominees:
Patricia Arquette / MEDIUM – Allison Dubois - NBC
Edie Falco / THE SOPRANOS – Carmela Soprano - HBO
Mariska Hargitay / LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT – Det. Olivia Benson - NBC
Kyra Sedgwick / THE CLOSER – Deputy Chief Brenda Johnson - TNT
Screen Actors Guild TV Award Winners
Male Actor in a Drama Series
WINNER:
Hugh Laurie / HOUSE – Dr. Gregory House - FOX
Nominees:
James Gandolfini / THE SOPRANOS – Tony Soprano - HBO
Michael C. Hall / DEXTER – Dexter Morgan - Showtime
James Spader / BOSTON LEGAL – Alan Shore - ABC
Kiefer Sutherland / 24 – Jack Bauer - FOX
Since there has been not a single request for spoiler tags tonight on the Screen Actors Guild Awards, I won't be adding them.But many of us thank you for asking!
Screen Actors Guild TV Award Winners
Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
WINNER:
GREY’S ANATOMY - ABC
Justin Chambers - Alex Karev
Eric Dane - Mark Sloan
Patrick Dempsey - Derek Shepherd
Katherine Heigl - Isobel “Izzie” Stevens
T.R. Knight - George O’Malley
Sandra Oh - Cristina Yang
James Pickens, Jr. - Richard Webber
Ellen Pompeo - Meredith Grey
Sara Ramirez - Callie Torres
Kate Walsh - Addison Montgomery Shepherd
Isaiah Washington - Preston Burke
Chandra Wilson - Miranda Bailey
Nominees:
24 - FOX
Jayne Atkinson - Karen Hayes
Jude Ciccolella - Mike Novic
Roger Cross - Curtis Manning
Gregory Itzin - Charles Logan
Louis Lombardi - Edgar Stiles
James Morrison - Bill Buchanan
Glenn Morshower - Aaron Pierce
Mary Lynn Rajskub - Chloe O’Brian
Kim Raver - Audrey Raines
Jean Smart - Martha Logan
Kiefer Sutherland - Jack Bauer
BOSTON LEGAL - ABC
Rene Auberjonois - Paul Lewiston
Candice Bergen - Shirley Schmidt
Craig Bierko - Jeffrey Coho
Julie Bowen - Denise Bauer
William Shatner - Denny Crane
James Spader - Alan Shore
Mark Valley - Brad Chase
DEADWOOD - HBO
Jim Beaver - Ellsworth
Powers Boothe - Cy Tolliver
Sean Bridgers - Johnny Burns
W. Earl Brown - Dan Dority
Dayton Callie - Charlie Utter
Brian Cox - Jack Langrishe
Kim Dickens - Joanie Stubbs
Brad Dourif - Doc Cochran
Anna Gunn - Martha Bullock
John Hawkes - Sol Starr
Jeffrey Jones - A.W. Merrick
Paula Malcomson - Trixie
Gerald McRaney - George Hearst
Ian McShane - Al Swearengen
Timothy Olyphant - Seth Bullock
Molly Parker - Alma Garret
Leon Rippy - Tom Nuttall
William Sanderson - E.B. Farnum
Brent Sexton - Harry Young
Bree Seanna - WallSofia Metz
Robin Weigert - Calamity Jane
Titus Welliver - Silas Adam
THE SOPRANOS - HBO
Sharon Angela - Rosalie Aprile
Lorraine Bracco - Dr. Jennifer Melfi
Max Casella - Benny Fazio
Dominic Chianese - Corrado “Junior” Soprano
Edie Falco Carmela - Soprano
James Gandolfini - Tony Soprano
Joseph R. Gannascoli - Vito Spatafore
Dan Grimaldi - Patsy Parisi
Robert Iler - Anthony Soprano, Jr.
Michael Imperioli - Christopher Moltisanti
Steven R. Schirripa - Bobby “Bacala” Baccalieri
Jamie Lynn Sigler - Meadow Soprano
Tony Sirico - Paulie “Walnuts” Gaultieri
Aida Turturro - Janice Soprano-Baccalieri
Steven Van Zandt - Silvio Dante
Frank Vincent - Phil Leotardo
Here, in one place, is the complete list:
Screen Actors Guild TV Award Winners
Female Actor in a TV Movie or Miniseries
Helen Mirren / ELIZABETH I – Elizabeth I - HBO
Male Actor in a TV Movie or Miniseries
Jeremy Irons / ELIZABETH I – Earl of Leicester - HBO
Male Actor in a Comedy Series
Alec Baldwin / 30 ROCK – Jack Donaghy - NBC
Female Actor in a Comedy Series
America Ferrera / UGLY BETTY – Betty Suarez – ABC
Female Actor in a Drama Series
Chandra Wilson / GREY’S ANATOMY – Dr. Miranda Bailey – ABC
Male Actor in a Drama Series
Hugh Laurie / HOUSE – Dr. Gregory House – FOX
Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
GREY’S ANATOMY ABC
Justin Chambers - Alex Karev
Eric Dane - Mark Sloan
Patrick Dempsey - Derek Shepherd
Katherine Heigl - Isobel “Izzie” Stevens
T.R. Knight - George O’Malley
Sandra Oh - Cristina Yang
James Pickens, Jr. - Richard Webber
Ellen Pompeo - Meredith Grey
Sara Ramirez - Callie Torres
Kate Walsh - Addison Montgomery Shepherd
Isaiah Washington - Preston Burke
Chandra Wilson - Miranda Bailey
Ensemble in a Comedy Series
THE OFFICE – NBC
Leslie David Baker - Stanley Hudson
Brian Baumgartner - Kevin Malone
Steve Carell - Michael Scott
David Denman - Roy Anderson
Jenna Fischer - Pam Beesly
Kate Flannery - Meredith Palmer
Melora Hardin - Jan Levinson
Mindy Kaling - Kelly Kapoor
Angela Kinsey - Angela Martin
John Krasinski - Jim Malpert
Paul Lieberstein - Toby Flenderson
B.J. Novak - Ryan Howard
Oscar Nunez - Oscar Martinez
Phyllis Smith - Phyllis Lapin
Rainn Wilson - Dwight Schrute
dad1153
01-28-07, 09:55 PM
What do you know, the SAG Awards make last year's Emmy Award nominating process look like the sad, pathetic circus it is. Speaking of 30 Rock (which earned alec Baldwin yet another recognition), here's an article profiling her co-star and show runner Tina Fey: http://www.slate.com/id/2158312/fr/flyout.
Certainly you could differ with some of the TV winners, but it is hard to argue that any of them was undeserving.
TV Notebook
Smithsonian Network announces lineup
Service plans to launch in spring
By Michael Schneider Variety January 28, 2007
Smithsonian Networks has announced its first batch of programming, including a co-production with the BBC on the Beeb's long-running history skein "Timewatch."
A joint venture between the Smithsonian Institute and Showtime Networks (announced last year), the Smithsonian Networks service plans to launch in spring with a video on-demand service. A linear cable channel is also in the works.
"The chance to take Smithsonian's collections and interests beyond the confines of Washington to a wider American public is a wonderful challenge," said David Royle, exec VP for programming and production.
Programming will be run in high-definition, and include original and acquired fare such as documentaries and short-subject looks at scientific, cultural and historical events.
Projects include "Stories From the Vaults," which looks at the Smithsonian's rarely seen exhibits. Tom Cavanaugh ("Ed") narrates the program, from Caragol Wells Prods.
Also, "The Hunt for the Double Eagle," from Fulcrum TV, looks at the Secret Service's efforts to track down copies of the extremely rare 1933 Double Eagle coin. And "American Treasures," from Big Fish Entertainment, looks at some of the Natural Museum of American History's most unique objects.
Then there's "Cutting Loose," the 1996 winner of the filmakers trophy for best doc at the Sundance Fest.
Never before seen on U.S. TV, the film -- from Dune Prods. and Andrew Young and Susan Todd, takes place at Mardi Gras.
The BBC skein "Timewatch" focuses on world events.
http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=print_story&articleid=VR1117958242&categoryid=14
Davinleeds
01-28-07, 11:09 PM
Two shows I watched tonight, 60 min and BSG are opting out for next Sunday-who else?
TV Sports
Life in the HotPass Lane
By David Goetzl Broadcasting & Cable 1/29/2007
When the flag drops on the NASCAR season next month, race watchers can do the equivalent of viewing the Super Bowl from inside Peyton Manning's helmet and listen in on chats with coaches during timeouts.
With the Daytona 500 on Feb. 18, DirecTV is introducing HotPass, where a single channel is dedicated to an individual driver, offering camera angles from inside the car and a live audio feed of communications with the crew.
Last year, David Hill, president of DirecTV Entertainment and chairman of Fox Sports, spent an afternoon watching a race by focusing solely on the fortunes of driver Kevin Harvick. He followed Harvick's decisions to pass on the inside, fall behind to conserve gas and hit the pits, all while listening to driver-crew communications.
After years of watching races from the overhead perspective, Hill felt the "race within the race" was riveting enough for exclusive coverage. HotPass will offer five channels, each with a flag-to-flag focus on a single driver throughout the NASCAR season.
"You're sitting in the passenger seat, riding shotgun, feeling the same emotions as the driver," Hill says. The subscription service—which won't be in HD until 2008—is no small undertaking, with 25 cameras and a 70-member production staff, plus two announcers per channel. And producers will have to manage a constantly changing split screen, switching between various camera angles and weaving in the two-way audio feed and graphic elements.
Hill's development of HotPass isn't entirely novel. Until this year, NASCAR had offered NASCAR In Car, a subscription package on digital cable providing seven channels devoted to individual drivers but with limited camera angles and no analysis. HotPass could be the most significant breakthrough for NASCAR telecasts since 2001. That year, Sportvision (which brought the yellow first-down line to televised football) allowed networks to offer real-time data for individual cars—attached to identification "pointers"—such as speed and time to the leader.
DirecTV is one of several NASCAR broadcasters offering technological innovations this season. Not to be outdone, ESPN said its upcoming NASCAR races will be "the most technologically advanced programming in the history of televised motorsports." Indeed, the network will be the first to offer high-definition feeds from in-car cameras, meaning all broadcasts will be entirely in HD this season, using as many as 75 high-definition cameras. TNT plans to offer a July race commercial-free. And Fox, along with the other networks, will be able to transform replays, using animation to re-create on-track events.
Networks hope the production upgrades will help reverse 2006's ratings decline, which followed a period of impressive growth. A huge financial investment is riding on it as Fox (and partner Speed network), TNT and ABC/ESPN (which replaces NBC) ponied up a combined $4.5 billion in a new eight-year contract.
"All the partners are fully vested in growing the property through enhancing the viewing experience for the fan," says Sam Sussman, senior VP/director of sports activation at Starcom.
NASCAR officials and advertisers remain bullish, attributing ratings drops to essentially a market correction. "You have to look at it as a whole. It's still the No. 2-rated sport, second only to the NFL. We're not too concerned about it," says Dean Kessel, who oversees Sprint Nextel's NASCAR sponsorship.
"The goal is to bring new fans to the sport and, hopefully, get them to stick around," says Ed Erhardt, president of sales at ESPN/ABC. But ESPN and other broadcasters need to broaden the audience without alienating the hard-core fans who have fueled NASCAR's growth.
ESPN is counting on HD to lure viewers, partly by breaking ground as the first broadcaster to offer in-car camera feeds in the HD format, an innovation developed with Broadcast Sports Inc. "I'm excited to see what camera shots from inside a car going 200 miles per hour look like in high-definition," says Rich Feinberg, an ESPN senior coordinating producer.
TNT plans to offer the July 7 Pepsi 400 essentially commercial-free. While Turner won't confirm the details, a media buying exec said network plans call for 12 marketers to sponsor the bottom third of the screen, where their branded content would run as the action continues.
Fox, ABC/ESPN and Turner are also looking to a new application from Sportvision that allows a 3D animated look similar to a videogame. For Fox and others, it allows for a virtually infinite amount of replays.
Turner is also using the animation for its subscription TrackPass RaceView at NASCAR.com. Meant to complement TV, it enables fans to obtain additional information and in-car audio feeds while watching. As with HotPass, they can follow a favorite driver.
No matter what outlet, NASCAR allows unprecedented access to the participants during the action. In ESPN's case, the network makes agreements to speak with certain drivers as they circle the track. Says Feinberg, "Can you imagine, in a football or basketball game, the guys in the booth talking to players in between plays?"
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6410624
Two shows I watched tonight, 60 min and BSG are opting out for next Sunday-who else?
Just about everything is opting out. The Super Bowl is too much competition.
the first to offer high-definition feeds from in-car cameras, meaning all broadcasts will be entirely in HD this season, using as many as 75 high-definition cameras.Wow! This is a testament to how popular NASCAR is (for those casual viewers, like me) and will definitely be a mega booster shot in the arm, improving the health of the HD population growth.
The Business of Television
The End of the Upfront -- At Least As We Know It
Talks Explore End of Glitzy Entertainment Extravaganzas
By Claire Atkinson Advertising Age January 29, 2007
NEW YORK -- This could be the year the upfront presentations get a full-scale makeover.
None of the key players are looking to ax the upfront completely -- too much forward-planning depends
The upfront presentations of recent years have become entertainment extravaganzas that cost as much as $1 million each to produce. Many key industry players now see them as a waste of both media buyers' time and TV networks' resources.
on this booking period. But major media agencies and many marketers are tired of an upfront that plays more to analysts, TV critics and affiliate executives than it does to them, the people who commit $9 billion of their ad budgets during the process.
Ad business needs
That's why the American Association of Advertising Agencies' TV committee and the networks have opened talks about changing the upfront presentations fit the needs of the modern-day ad business rather than the marketing needs of the networks.
"The upfronts have morphed into something that benefits the press and Wall Street, and we have gotten lost in the shuffle," said Andy Donchin, who is spearheading the talks as committee chairman and is also Carat's national broadcast director. "We're looking at how we can somehow ... do them all on one day. We think [the networks] would be somewhat open to doing something more along the lines of NATPE that would concentrate more on prime time."
Glitzy presentations
As it stands right now, the networks' upfront presentations are all-day affairs that involve fighting for tickets and seats, watching parades of famous and not-so-famous actors, and then some singing and dancing, often by network executives. That's all before the after-party.
"It's very difficult to take that time off," said Kaki Hinton, VP-ad services, Pfizer's Consumer Healthcare Group (which was just acquired by Johnson & Johnson). "I haven't been for three years. I used to go, and it was fun to see Jay Leno, but then it got tiresome. What's been more productive is meeting one on one. That's given us an opportunity to have a constructive dialogue."
Media agencies want to see something that allows them to get a handle on prime-time programming strategy and are suggesting they'd like an alternative to the crowded schlep around New York theater venues.
A week of time
"We don't need another shrimp cocktail," said Charlie Rutman, CEO of MPG North America, who also wants to see a retooled upfront. Mr. Rutman added that each upfront event can take five hours, meaning buyers have to turn over an entire week to nothing but presentations.
Mr. Donchin has had preliminary talks with network sales executives about how the upfront can get back to its original raison d'etre but wants to ensure that agencies and their clients are speaking with one voice before pushing the case further with the networks -- and the cable entities and Hispanic networks that now host glitzy, celeb-studded presentations followed by boozy parties. This year newcomers including News Corp.'s My Network TV and Hispanic networks Univision and Telemundo edge into the upfront week, which kicks off May 14.
Mr. Donchin has the blessing of the 4A's TV and policy committees, though the Association of National Advertisers has not given its opinion.
'Less costly and time-consuming'
Mr. Rutman and Mr. Donchin argue that scaling back the upfront presentations could be in the interests of broadcast networks, too. "They are very expensive for the salespeople and take a lot of time to produce," Mr. Rutman said. "There is certain information that we want; let's see if we can get this in a way that's more productive and less costly and time-consuming."
The upfront presentations are run by the networks' entertainment presidents with input from the sales and marketing divisions. With the CBS network now at the heart of the publicly traded CBS Corp. and NBC Universal looking for $700 million in cost savings, a change might be music to the networks' ears. The upfront, attended by more than 1,000 people, can have production costs of up to $1 million, not including the after-parties. Then there's the issue of long-term contracts the networks sign to reserve locations and strict theater-union rules that govern filming of the events.
An NBC spokesman said it solicited feedback after last year's upfront and found comments valuable. An ABC spokeswoman said it had its first upfront-planning session last week and was always willing to hear from its advertisers. CBS had no comment.
Fox could be open to change too. The network switched its venue from the New York City Center to the Armory to accommodate the growing number of attendees. That decision proved disastrous, with the humidity, security arrangements and long lines infuriating participants. Fox did not return calls for comment.
http://adage.com/print?article_id=114567
dad1153
01-29-07, 12:26 AM
Two shows I watched tonight, 60 min and BSG are opting out for next Sunday-who else?
Well, its not like 60 Minutes had a choice in the matter: CBS is televising the Super Bowl and taking over the evening (and all afternoon). As for BSG it's obvious Sci-Fi executives don't want a repeat of two Sundays ago when the AFC Championship game stole all the thunder (and ratings mojo) from the show's Sunday premiere.
Droford
01-29-07, 01:20 AM
Wow! This is a testament to how popular NASCAR is (for those casual viewers, like me) and will definitely be a mega booster shot in the arm, improving the health of the HD population growth.
I wonder how many trashed HD Cameras due to huge wrecks it will take before they go back to SD in car cameras?
Two shows I watched tonight, 60 min and BSG are opting out for next Sunday-who else?
NBC is repeating four hours of "Grease: You’re The One That I Want”.
Fox has the X-Men 2 movie.
ABC is repeating "Extreme Makover: Home Edition", "America's Funniest Home Videos" and the movie "Old School".
No sense wasting original material.
HDTVChallenged
01-29-07, 01:28 AM
Two shows I watched tonight, 60 min and BSG are opting out for next Sunday-who else?
Ya know ... after "tonight's" Battlestar Galactica, all I can say is WOW! If you aren't watching this show ... you ain't happenin' that's all. :)
The Business of Television
At Last, Television Ratings Go to College
By Louise Story The New York Times January 29, 2007
For decades, Nielsen Media Research has affixed the same value to every college student watching television while away at school: zero. As a result, industry executives have complained for years that shows appealing to a younger audience have been underrated.
But, starting today, college students count.
Shows like “America’s Next Top Model” and “Family Guy” are expected to see their ratings surge this week as Nielsen Media Research, a unit of the Nielsen Company, includes the viewing of students living away from home in its count for the first time.
In the TV world, a boost in Nielsen ratings often means a boost in advertiser dollars, so the adjusted ratings are good news for networks with high college viewership, like ESPN, Fox and CW.
Adult Swim, a block of adult programming on the Cartoon Network that expects its 18- to 24-year-old audience to jump by 35 percent with the new ratings, is so excited about the change that it ran an ad telling viewers about it in mid-October.
“It’s going to validate what advertisers have always assumed, which is that college students are watching our programming,” said Jeff Lucas, a senior vice president at Comedy Central. Mr. Lucas said that the network’s own research shows that “South Park,” “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart,” and “The Colbert Report” have a large college audience.
It’s too early to know how much more advertisers will pay for shows with larger audiences because of the college ratings. Network executives, of course, said they expect to be paid for the higher ratings. If advertisers decide to spend more on shows that demonstrate high college viewership, TV networks may decide to dedicate more of their schedule programming to college tastes.
The college ratings are the first of two major changes in the way viewing habits are rated. In May, Nielsen will start releasing figures on the number of people who actually watch commercials, separating them from viewers who walk away or switch channels when the ads come on. The potential impact of ad ratings on network revenue has not been calculated.
Nielsen’s move into colleges is its first step in an ambitious plan to track TV viewing wherever and whenever it takes place. Long focused only on viewing of home television sets, Nielsen is building portable meters to track when people see TV in bars, restaurants, gyms, stores and other places outside the home. And, within two to three years, Nielsen plans to merge data from its online unit with its TV unit to calculate total viewing on all media.
“The holy grail here is how to measure consumers as they go from TV to iPod to cellphone and back,” said Alan Wurtzel, president of research for NBC Universal.
But the first step — measuring students’ viewing of television — comes with its own pitfalls. College students still watch a significant amount of television, spending three and a half hours a day tuned in on average, about an hour less than all people on average, according to Nielsen.
But college students are not watching only TV. They are also among the most likely consumers to be browsing the Internet, watching streaming video, text messaging on their cellphones and playing video games — sometimes all at once.
“College students have the television on in the background at the same time they undoubtedly have their computers on,” said Matt Britton, chief of brand development for Mr. Youth, a marketing firm based in New York. “They’re online — searching Facebook, doing research, shopping.”
Their media habits make them targets of marketers, but just how attentive college students are while they are watching TV may give advertisers pause about how much they can trust their viewing.
“The people meter just measures if the set is on and what they’re watching. But are they doing their homework, are they talking to friends; what else are they doing while the ad is showing?” said Brad Adgate, senior vice president of research at Horizon Media, an ad-buying agency.
Still, Mr. Adgate said, advertisers may increase their payments to networks with large college audiences because of the perceived lifetime value of the college market. “If you can get them using your product at age 20, they could be using it for the next 60 years,” he said.
Until now, the 18- to 24-year-olds counted by Nielsen were mainly those who did not attend college, attended part-time or still lived at home. During holiday and summer breaks, of course, many college students are home and were counted by Nielsen at those times on their parents’ set-top boxes. (There are 10,000 households with Nielsen boxes tracking their viewing, and from those households, Nielsen extrapolates national viewing estimates.)
Over the last decade, several TV networks with shows aimed at young people grew increasingly frustrated that college students were not counted. About five years ago, Turner Broadcasting, which owns Cartoon Network and TBS, approached Nielsen about the issue.
Over the next year, Nielsen held discussions with its clients who pay for the ratings — the networks and the advertising agencies. As with most tests of new offerings, Nielsen wanted a group of clients to pay the costs of evaluating the college market. By 2003, Turner, WB, CBS, MTV Networks, Fox and ESPN agreed to pay, and Nielsen started pilot tests.
To add college students to the ratings, Nielsen contacted the roughly 450 families in its sample who had children in college. About 30 percent of those families agreed to let Nielsen put a meter in the college student’s dorm room or off-campus apartment. Some families did not agree simply because their child did not have a TV set at school.
The change will affect the perception of viewing behavior, particularly for viewers 18 to 24. College students, for example, watch more television during the day, when young people not in college are more likely to be at work.
The prime-time shows the college and noncollege population picks to watch are also not always the same. While “Grey’s Anatomy” and “The Simpsons” were popular in November on and off campus among 18- to 24-year-olds, shows like “Ugly Betty” and “America’s Next Top Model” were far more popular among college students than among other people that age.
In fact, the No. 1 one show for college males in November was Comedy Central’s cartoon show, “Drawn Together.” According to a Nielsen analysis, “Drawn Together” would have had an average audience of about 435,000 18-to 24-year-olds in November. But, since college students were not counted, the Nielsen rating in that age group totaled only 272,000 people that month.
Some TV networks are planning to spend more money marketing their shows on college campuses this spring since they will now see results in the ratings. Mr. Britton of Mr. Youth said two broadcast networks had contacted his firm about increased marketing on college campuses.
MTV already operates a network, called mtvU, that is seen exclusively on college campuses. MTV has found advertisers like Ford interested in specifically focusing on college students on the 750 campuses where mtvU is seen in places like dormitories, fitness centers and dining halls. Now that Nielsen is tracking college viewing, more college-focused networks or programming could be developed and sold to advertisers.Amy Adams, a freshman at Muskingum College in Ohio, said she and her roommate watch movies together on ABC Family and TNT on weekends. Other people in her dorm watch far more TV than she does, Ms. Adams said.
“As I walk down the halls, I always hear the TV on in someone’s bedroom,” she said. “Even in the mornings, too.”
Aviva Halperin, a senior at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, said watching TV is a social event for her and her housemates. They watch “24” every week, and they like to watch it when broadcast, using commercial breaks as a time to chat.
“I know this sound really silly, but ‘24’ feels real because it’s close to our own fears, and it feels more real when I watch it in real time,” Ms. Halperin said. “When I watch it on TiVo, it’s not as gripping.”
The lack of TiVo and other digital video recorders is another advantage of student viewers. Young people are more likely to channel surf and fast-forward to skip commercials, Nielsen’s research shows. But perhaps because of their cost, DVRs are owned by only about 3 to 4 percent of college students, according to Student Monitor, a college student research firm based in Ridgewood, N.J. (About 13 percent of American households have DVRs.)
On the downside for broadcasters, college students, like many people their age, also spend a fair share of their day playing video games — nearly two hours a day, not including online games, according to Nielsen.
Still, college students last week said they thought it was about time they were counted by Nielsen.
“It’s kind of silly that we weren’t,” said Beth Lovisa, a senior at the University of Pennsylvania. “It’s so not true that we don’t watch any.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/29/business/media/29nielsen.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&ref=media&pagewanted=print
I wonder how many trashed HD Cameras due to huge wrecks it will take before they go back to SD in car cameras?
As I understand it, the HD in-car cameras won't be used until 2008.
srw1000
01-29-07, 01:34 AM
Fox has the X-Files 2 movie.That's X-Men 2.
I am still hoping for a second X-files movie, but that's still only in the planning stages.
Scott
TV Notebook
SAG Awards: Behind the scenes
Backstage Notes
By David S. Cohen Variety January 29, 2007
Helen Mirren, honored yet again for her portrayal of Elizabeth I in HBO's miniseries, said she was enjoying "my best professional year," but was coy when she was asked if she'd now like to win an Oscar. "I would never answer that question. If you'd asked me that question 10 years ago, I'd have said it was my dream to win an Oscar - it's the mother of all awards."
She was more direct about the telepic being passed over by the BAFTAs, calling it "a disgrace. Not speaking personally, but for the whole piece of 'Elizabeth,'" she said. "It was a superb piece of work."
• • • • • • • • • • •
Asked how he could be a supporting actor at the Golden Globes and a lead actor at the SAG Awards in the same part, Jeremy Irons said flatly that his role in HBO's "Elizabeth," which won both, "was a supporting role."
"The leading performance was Helen (Mirren's) - no doubt about that. The character supported the queen and I supported Helen."
He expanded on his acceptance speech, saying American and British actors have much to learn from each other. "American actors are wonderful at film work and we have a wonderful theatrical tradition at home. I try to find a sort of mid-Atlantic position."
• • • • • • • • • • •
The SAG Award-winning ensemble of "The Office" insisted they really, truly, do get along as well offstage as on. "We're literally locked in a office for 60 hours a week," said Brian Baumgartner. "We have to get along."
Rainn Wilson said they don't spend all their time on the set just talking to each other. "We surf the Web, and oftentimes you'll find us in John Krasinksi's trailer playing Madden 07 on Xbox."
• • • • • • • • • • •
America Ferrera, reprising her Globes win as lead actress for "Ugly Betty," said she hasn't been flooded with scripts since winning that prize. "I think the common misperception is that this job gets easy, and it doesn't. ... You get in more doors. It's nice that I have more options than before the Golden Globes."
She has become an example of a different kind of beauty, but she admits that, after work, "I definitely take more joy in getting pretty. I enjoy getting out of the Betty-wear and dressing up."
Her friends don't ask her for beauty tips, however: "I'm not the one to call," she says.
http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=print_story&articleid=VR1117958237&categoryid=1985
Ya know ... after "tonight's" Battlestar Galactica, all I can say is WOW! If you aren't watching this show ... you ain't happenin' that's all. :)
It was pretty spectacular, one of the best episodes of the whole series.
TV Sports
Super Bowl will be bigger, you can bet
By Toni Fitzgerald MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Jan 29, 2007
Conventional media wisdom tells us that Super Bowl viewership depends on how competitive the game is entering the second half, with close games generally drawing bigger audiences. Where it's a blowout, people drift away in the second half.
This year’s game is expected to be close, with football fans intrigued by how the Indianapolis Colts’ impressive offense will fare facing Chicago Bears’ stifling defense.
But there are a host of other reasons that this year’s game may be one of the most-watched in the past decade, and here are seven why Sunday’s game on CBS will outdraw last year’s, which averaged an impressive 90.7 million on ABC:
1. The black coach factor. The game is going to make history with Colts coach Tony Dungy and Bears coach Lovie Smith, both African Americans, squaring off. They’re the first black coaches to lead teams in a Super Bowl, and the winner will become the first black coach ever to win a Super Bowl.
That should result in higher-than-average viewership among African Americans, 9.5 million of whom tuned in last year.
2. Colts quarterback Peyton Manning is the biggest star to play in the Super Bowl since Brett Favre in 1998. This year Manning led the league in quarterback rating, had one of the top-selling jerseys, and was the most-referenced player on football blogs, according to Faircatch.net. He made $11.5 million from endorsements last year as the league’s top pitchman.
When stars play in the big game, they deliver viewers. Favre’s last appearance was the second-most-watched in a decade, while Troy Aikman and Emmitt Smith’s final Super Bowl in ’96 was the most-watched ever.
3. Both teams have strong followings. The Colts were the NFL’s third-most-popular team at the start of the season, behind only the Pittsburgh Steelers and Dallas Cowboys, according to a Harris Poll.
Chicago, though not in the top five in popularity, plays in the country’s third-largest TV market and has a rabid fan base, even though the team has struggled in more recent years. The Bears’ most recent Super Bowl appearance, in 1986, drew 92.6 million viewers, the second-most ever.
4. It’s been a very strong ratings year already for the NFL, with ratings rising for every NFL carrier rising over the previous year. The AFC and NFC Championships were the most-watched in a decade. There’s no reason to believe that won’t carry over to the season finale.
5. More people are planning to watch the game. A Retail Advertising and Marketing Association study released last week found that 70 percent of respondents said they would celebrate the game, up 4 percentage points from last year.
6. The commercials have better buzz this year. Though people do tune in primarily to see the game, good ads keep them watching a dull contest. A spoof spot with Britney Spears' ex, Kevin Federline, has received huge pregame buzz online, according to Nielsen BuzzMetrics, and there’s been a lot of talk over Coca-Cola returning to the game after nearly a decade.
And the RAMA poll found that a higher percentage of respondents said they were looking forward to the commercials this year compared with 2006.
7. High-definition TV will draw more viewers in. HD TVs sold in record numbers this holiday season, partly due to price cuts making them more affordable. And many of those were bought specifically to watch the big game: the Consumer Electronics Association says 13 percent of all HDTV sales are spurred by the Super Bowl.
http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/printer_9795.asp
Washington Notebook
FCC's Martin Backs Broadcasters
by John Eggerton Broadcasting & Cable 1/29/2007
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin had some encouraging words for broadcasters last week, saying cable and satellite should not be able to downgrade broadcaster’s digital signals, and putting in a plug for multicasting and mobile broadcasting applications.
That came in a thumbnail view of the "state of the media" for B&C, in which he concentrated on the state of the over-the-air media and the importance of the digital transition.
Saying that the Feb. 17, 2009 DTV transition date "probably isn’t circled on most people’s calendars, but should be," he said that policymakers should make sure that the transition meets the law’s [The Communications Act’s] "basic requirements that the digital signal be viewable by all TV watchers, and that it not be materially degraded by a cable or satellite provider."
Martin, who tried last summer to require cable operators to carry all of a broadcasters’ free digital programming streams, put in a good word for those multicast channels, stressing their importance to broadcasters’ continued viability.
"Broadcasters also have the opportunity to use digital technology to offer consumers new services, including providing several free programming streams at once and data services," he said, adding that "[f]ully utilizing their digital spectrum opens new revenue streams to broadcasters, enabling them to better compete in the dynamic media environment in which local programming faces stiff competition from cable, satellite and internet offerings."
Martin was high on the prospect of mobile broadcast applications, which Samsung was showing off at the Consumer Electronics show earlier this month.
"One of the most exciting opportunities afforded by the transition could be the realization of mobile video," said Martin, who suggested the combination of localism and mobility could be a winning one.
"Broadcasters may choose to use part of their spectrum to transmit their unique local service to cell phones for instance. Local weather, traffic, and sports, or perhaps school closings during winter snow storms," he said, "is exactly the type of content viewers will want to watch on their handheld devices."
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6410746
The Business of Television
Networks Demand DVR Viewing Credit
By John Consoli MediaWeek JANUARY 29, 2007 -
In what is rapidly developing into a carbon copy of last year’s pre-upfront posturing, the media agencies again say they will not budge from using live-only program ratings as the basis for negotiating ad prices in the May upfront, while the broadcast networks say they will not do business unless DVR viewing is factored in by using live-plus-same-day or live-plus-two-day ratings.
“I think we’re exactly back to where we were at this time last year,” said Donna Speciale, president of investment and activation at MediaVest. “I’m upset with Nielsen [Media Research] because I thought we would have more commercial-ratings data released by now. And unless commercial ratings are part of the negotiations, we cannot agree on our clients behalf to do business using anything but live ratings,” she said, echoing the opinion of most media agency executives contacted for this story last week.
“We need to negotiate using commercial ratings,” said another media agency executive, who did not want to speak for attribution. “But unfortunately they will not be available, so, since circumstances have not changed from last year’s upfront, we should use the same negotiating currency—live ratings.”
But at least one media agency executive was sympathetic to Nielsen. “It made a decision to try to appease its cable and syndication clients by delaying the release of their commercial-ratings data until the best methodology can be worked out, and then decided to hold the broadcast data and release it all together in May.” Nielsen Media Research is owned by Mediaweek parent The Nielsen Co.
What is compounding the problem is that agency and network executives, who now know that commercial-ratings data cannot be the universal negotiating currency in the May upfront, have yet to have any serious conversations about resolving the negotiating currency issues.
“I’m expecting this throbbing pain in my head to get worse,” Steve Sternberg, executive vp of audience analysis for media agency Magna Global USA, when asked about the situation. Another media agency executive, who did not want to speak for attribution, conceded, “It’s a mess again.”
As as upfront negotiations began last year, the broadcast networks broke ranks almost immediately and left ABC hanging out to dry, disagreeing with its position to do business using only live-plus-seven-day program ratings. The nets are now saying, almost uniformly, that they will no longer do business based on live-only ratings.
While ABC sales president Mike Shaw was vacationing and unavailable for comment last week, CBS representative Dana McClintock said: “CBS intends to get paid for DVR viewing in this year’s upfront negotiations.” And Alan Wurtzel, president of NBC Universal research, said, “We have got to get some credit [for viewers] beyond live. The live-only data stream is a distortion of how people watch television today. The media agencies know people are watching TV shows time-shifted on DVRs. Live-plus-same-day is a good compromise and live-plus-same-day is what we are going to use for this upfront.”
Said another broadcast network sales executive, who requested anonymity: “Last year going into the upfront, we just didn’t know enough about the DVR impact on viewing. This year we have data that shows it has a real valuable impact for us. It is a credit we should be getting. Last year we sort of tabled the conversation and gave in to the agencies, but we are not going to do that this year.”
But determining the amount of DVR viewership is not the real sticking point. There are reams of data that can document just how many viewers use DVRs, how much viewing they do and what shows they watch. The real debate comes down to the questions of who is fast forwarding through commercials in DVR viewership and who is not, and what the value is to an advertiser if a commercial is fast forwarded through.
“We could compromise,” conceded one media buyer, “but there needs to be reliable research to show who is watching the commercials and how attentively. No agency will accept anything but live ratings as negotiating currency unless we have solid proof. Plus, we also need to factor in commercial ratings.”
That is not going to happen on a broad basis in this upfront, because Nielsen will not have all of its commercial ratings data available to be rolled out on tapes until May 31, about two weeks after the upfront presentations. That data will only date back to May 1 and will be labeled “for evaluation purposes.”
Most media agencies subscribe separately to Nielsen’s NPower system and can do their own commercial ratings now. However, the process requires weeks to input, analyze and package data that is acceptable for use in sales negotiations.
“Even if we use NPower to get commercial ratings for some clients and use that as a negotiating tool, we can’t do it for all of them,” said one media agency executive. “The process is too tedious, and there is too much lag time.”
All of this means the upfront is going to be even more protracted and complicated than it was last year.
“This upfront is going to be one in which each media agency is able to distinguish itself more than ever, because buying will be less homogenized,” said one agency executive. “Each agency is going to create more than ever before it’s own unique terms of negotiating. They are really going to earn their money from their clients this year.”
http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003538391
The Business of TV
FiOS TV Subscribers Top 207K
(The Morning Bridge) January 29, 2007
Verizon's FiOS TV service ended 2006 with 207,000 customers, thanks to net additions of 89,000 in the fourth quarter, the company reported in its earnings announcement for the three-month period this morning.
FiOS TV was available for sale to 2.4 million premises at the end of last year, nearly double the number of premises targeted for sale of the video product at the end of third quarter 2006, the company said.
As for the broadband portion of the service, FiOS Internet accounted for 165,000 of Verizon's broadband connection additions in the fourth quarter. FiOS broadband connections totaled 687,000 at year-end 2006.
The company said its entire fiber-to-the-premises network passed more than 6 million premises by the end of 2006. That exceeded the company's year-end target and more than doubled the number of premises passed by year-end 2005.
As for overall broadband numbers, which in addition to fiber includes DSL, Verizon reported 7 million total broadband connections at the end of 2006, an increase of 35.7 percent when compared with year-end 2005.
CPanther95
01-29-07, 10:40 AM
Fred:
Do you have any idea what qualifies as "Live" ratings for DVR users? Does a 15 to 20 minute delay in watching a program still fall under Live. etc. or must it be watched with absolutely no timeshifting?
(From Marc Berman’s Monday, Jan. 29, 2007, Programming Insider blog at Mediaweek.com )
Nielsen Notebook
Season to-date Ratings Scorecard:
Midway through the 2006-07 season (and one week into the return of Fox’s American Idol), what follows are the season- to-date standings for the five networks. With American Idol at the forefront, it won’t be long before Fox moves from fourth to potentially first among key adults 18-49.
Year-to-year percent comparisons for ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox appear in parentheses.
Households:
CBS: 8.0 rating/13 share (- 5)
ABC: 6.6/11 (- 7)
NBC: 6.4/10 (+ 5)
Fox: 5.6/ 9 (+ 4)
CW: 2.1/ 3
Total Viewers:
CBS: 12.55 million (- 3)
ABC: 10.20 (- 7)
NBC: 9.92 (+ 9)
Fox: 8.85 (+ 4)
CW: 3.25
Adults 18-49:
CBS: 3.8 rating/10 share (- 3)
NBC: 3.6/10 (+16)
ABC: 3.6/10 (-10)
Fox: 3.3/ 9 (- 3)
CW: 1.3/ 4
Adults 25-54:
CBS: 4.8/12 (- 4)
NBC: 4.1/10 (+ 8)
ABC: 4.1/10 (-13)
Fox: 3.6/ 9 (no change)
CW: 1.3/ 3
Adults 18-34:
Fox: 3.1/ 9 (- 3)
NBC: 2.9/ 9 (+16)
ABC: 2.9/ 9 (- 9)
CBS: 2.6/ 8 (- 7)
CW: 1.5/ 4
• Source: Nielsen Media Research data
Fred:
Do you have any idea what qualifies as "Live" ratings for DVR users? Does a 15 to 20 minute delay in watching a program still fall under Live. etc. or must it be watched with absolutely no timeshifting?
If a program is viewed on a DVR by 3 a.m. of the following morning it is considered in the "Live plus same day" viewing category which is reflected in the overnights -- and the weekly ratings which are released Tuesday following each Monday-Sunday week.
The Business of Television
Fox, CBS, ABC to Do Ratings Battle in Feb.
By A.J. Frutkin MediaWeek JANUARY 29, 2007 -
February’s sweeps are likely to pack a ratings wallop, with the onslaught of Fox’s American Idol, CBS’ telecast of the Super Bowl (Feb. 4) and ABC’s airing of the Oscars (Feb. 25). The only remaining question is which of the two frontrunners wins the adult 18-49 race—CBS, which also broadcasts the Grammy Awards (Feb. 11), or Idol-fueled Fox.
Compared to November’s lackluster sweeps, February is chockfull of events, even if most are camouflaged as series returns, like ABC’s Lost (Feb. 7) and CBS’ Jericho (Feb. 21), series premieres like CBS’ Rules of Engagement (Feb. 5), or series finales like Fox’s The O.C. (Feb. 22). Clearly, the networks are cutting back on one-off specials during sweeps. But with the majority of stations still lacking local people meters, most broadcasters see some need to eventize series in order to help those affiliates boost ratings.
Among next month’s other notable telecasts are the premieres of CBS’ Survivor: Fiji (Feb. 8) and The Amazing Race: All Stars (Feb. 18). Fox airs another two-hour 24 (Feb. 12). Other than that, it’s all Idol all the time. On Tuesday and Wednesday, Feb. 6 and 7, the show remains in the audition phase, with one-hour programs on each night. Same goes for Feb. 13 and 14. On Feb. 20 and 21, Fox will run two-hour broadcasts—whittling down boys one night, girls the other—with a one-hour results show following on Feb. 22. On Feb. 27 and 28, the boy-girl shows are each 90 minutes long with a one-hour results show falling outside sweeps, on March 1. Meanwhile, NBC introduces Star Trek’s George Takei as the father of Heroes’ breakout character Hiro (Feb. 5).
With its Super Bowl and Grammys broadcasts, CBS may seem to have a lock on winning the 18-49 race this ratings period. But network execs there are reluctant to make such predictions given the wild card that is Idol. Perhaps more important for CBS is the boost it intends to give Criminal Minds in the post-Super Bowl slot. Having premiered the sophomore series to surprisingly strong numbers this fall, CBS believes it can broaden the show’s audience even more. “We’re hoping to kick it up to the CSI range,” said Kelly Kahl, executive vp of program planning and scheduling at CBS.
Idol’s continued status as a phenomenon should give Fox a big advantage in sweeps. But nothing tops the Super Bowl. And Fox is well aware of that fact. “We should come in a competitive second,” said Preston Beckman, executive vp of strategic program planning for Fox. Further complicating a win for Fox is the fact that the sweeps’ three largest events all fall on Sundays, traditionally one of the network’s strongest nights. “It’s a tough night for us,” Beckman acknowledged. “But we’ll run a repeat movie against the Super Bowl and run comedies the other Sundays. They seem to hold up pretty well against anything.”
Anticipating a solid showing in third place among adults 18-49, ABC’s sweeps strength will be powered largely by its Academy Awards broadcast, not to mention original episodes of Grey’s Anatomy, Desperate Housewives and Lost. But senior vp at ABC Entertainment Jeff Bader said the network has tweaked its 10 p.m. scheduling where possible to benefit its stations.
On Monday, Feb. 5, an In Style wedding special airs at 10 p.m. Oprah Winfrey’s Academy Awards special airs Thursday, Feb. 22, at 10 p.m., another Winfrey special may air Monday, Feb. 26, at 10 p.m., and the network’s Bob Woodruff news special airs Tuesday, Feb. 27 at 10 p.m. “The stations’ bread and butter is their local news,” Bader noted. “So we’ve tried to enhance their lead-ins where we could.”
NBC, for its part, will rely mostly on original episodes of its regular programming. Out-dueled by the Super Bowl, the Oscars and, of course, Idol, execs there remain more focused on the “longer, more strategic rebuild of the network,” said Mitch Metcalf, executive vp of programming, planning and scheduling for NBC Entertainment. “We still take sweeps seriously,” Metcalf added. “But we’re just not going as crazy tactically as we used to.”
http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003538392
HDTV Notebook
Hi-Def Cameras to Get All the Angles
Consumer Awareness Still Lags as Super Bowl Nears
By Daisy Whitney Television Week January 29, 2007
By the end of this year more than 47 million households in the United States will have high-definition TV sets, up from 35 million at the end of last year. And many of those set owners will buy their new TVs in the next week in order to catch the biggest television event of the year-the Super Bowl-in hi-def.
"If you're a retailer in Illinois or Indiana you better stock up on HDTV sets," said Ken Kerschbaumer, editorial director for Sports Video Group, an industry association formed to help those in the sports business understand how to use technology to grow the business.
The catch is that many of the new sets being sold this year-and existing ones-still don't funnel hi-def programming into the home. By year end, only 16 million of those 47 million homes will have hooked up their hi-def sets to hi-def programming, according to Jupiter Research.
Many consumers don't realize they must sign up for HD programming from their cable or satellite operator. They often assume once they have the set, programming automatically comes in HD. Retailers, programmers and service providers are working to improve consumer education on this topic.
But consumers who do have both a hi-def set and hi-def programming will be able to see virtually every angle, frame and shot in hi-def when the Indianapolis Colts play the Chicago Bears in the Super Bowl in Miami this Sunday.
The Super Bowl is no longer a testing ground for extending hi-def production techniques into new nooks and crannies of the game. "It still drives the sales, it's still the top event by a long shot, but from a production side, they are sort of there. There's not much more they can do," Mr. Kerschbaumer said.
However, when CBS carries the big game for the first time since the Janet Jackson "wardrobe malfunction" in 2004, this year's bout will have its own unique set of challenges for the camera crews. That's because the Colts frequently do not use a huddle and the action can be faster as a result, explained Ken Aagaard, senior VP of operations, engineering and production services at CBS Sports. "You're just trying to cover the action," he said. "You have to stay on the field. You can't do as many replays."
CBS will devote more than four times its usual resources. That includes 48 hi-def cameras, up from about 12 during a regular-season game; six Super SloMo cameras, up from one or two; and a crew of about 400, an increase from the regular 75.
That additional cameras will allow CBS to capture more angles-from the goals and sidelines, for instance. "In the Super Bowl there's no excuse to miss anything, especially as it relates to a play that could change the course of the game," Mr. Aagaard said. "There should be no play we don't have covered from every angle. Shame on us if we don't have every play covered."
CBS can handle that big bump in equipment because the network won't be unveiling any new tricks or gee-whiz gadgetry for the game, he said. Rather, CBS will use the same production techniques for the Super Bowl as it did with games in the fall.
"Anything we are going to bring to the Super Bowl we want production people to have been introduced to along the way," he said.
One difference, though, is that CBS has banished the EyeVision system it used for games in 2000 and 2004. The network relied on a 30-camera system mounted around the upper deck of the stadium. Those cameras revolved around a play from various angles, but the system was expensive and based on standard-definition technology.
In its place, CBS will turn to six Super SloMo cameras from Sony and a trio of high-speed hi-def cameras that can shoot from 300 to 1,000 frames per second to get finer detail. "We can get down on the line of scrimmage and see if the ball was fumbled or if it fell out of the quarterback's hand," Mr. Aagaard said.
Those cameras were critical in a number of playoff games. "Anything that goes on our air is used by officials in the replay decision," he said.
ABC broke in the Super SloMo cameras last year when it carried the Pittsburgh Steelers' Super Bowl victory over the Seattle Seahawks. Prior to the availability of the hi-def Super SloMo cameras, broadcasters upconverted slow-motion footage into hi-def. Upconverting is useful because it allows a broadcaster to include a production element it wouldn't otherwise have, but shooting in hi-def is preferable for better clarity and quality.
As has been the case with all Super Bowl broadcasters since 9/11, CBS won't be permitted to fly over the stadium after 4:30 p.m. ET. Instead, the network will rely on aerial shots from a nearby TV tower operated by CBS-owned WFOR-TV. Also, last week Mr. Aagard said the network was negotiating with the local police department about putting a hi-def camera system on a police helicopter. "We are trying to get some sort of aerial views of the stadium," he said.
NFL Network is also going all out this year. The football-centric network plans to carry 63 hours of total programming in hi-def before the game, including 55 hours of live programming. That's up from about five total hours last year, when the network didn't carry any live pre-Super Bowl programming in hi-def.
http://www.tvweek.com/article.cms?articleId=31439
Sunday’s metered market over-night prime-time ratings – and Media Week Analyst Marc Berman’s view of what they mean -- have been posted just under the HD Football listings near the top of Ratings News the first post in this thread.
CPanther95
01-29-07, 11:12 AM
If a program is viewed on a DVR by 3 a.m. of the following morning it is considered in the "Live plus same day" viewing category which is reflected in the overnights -- and the weekly ratings which are released Tuesday following each Monday-Sunday week.
Then the nets better be careful what they wish for. Pressing Nielsen for more and more info is likely to end up yielding actual commercial viewing within each show. Even adding in the +7 numbers won't come close to offsetting the viewers lost to commercial skipping (or flipping).
Very true.
That is why Nielsen is beginning to offer ratings for the commercials themselves (which is, after all, what the "regular" ratings were originally designed to measure).
TV Notebook
There she is, Miss America
This is the pageant's second year on CMT
By Diego Vasquez MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Jan 29, 2007
“Miss America” ain’t the gal she used to be.
Once the epitome of poise and wholesomeness, the pageant has seemed quite the opposite the past few years, bordering on tattered and at the risk of being left homeless. Tonight the 2007 pageant airs on CMT at 8 p.m., its second year on cable.
Ratings for "Miss America" have been sinking for years, and it only landed on cable after the broadcast networks all passed on airing it in 2005. And this year, in an attempt to build anticipation for the pageant, CMT even aired a low-brow reality show chronicling the contestants' road to the event.
"Miss America" is emblematic of the greater decline of the beauty pageant on television, and as likely in American life, a reflection of the women's movement as much as anything else, with its disdain for idealizing the female form in a bathing suit. The pageant's viewership fell by more than half from 1995 to 2004, the last year the pageant aired on ABC, down to 9.8 million.
“Miss Teen USA,” “Miss Universe” and “Miss USA” have all posted similar lows or near-lows over the past year, none drawing more than 9.6 million total viewers. In the early 1990s, all drew at least 19 million.
Last year, “Miss America” drew 3.1 million viewers on CMT, which is available in 83 million homes, compared to ABC's 111 million, and this year it will be lucky to draw that number.
Last year’s pageant aired on Saturday, where there’s much less competition. This year’s pageant faces much tougher competition on broadcast, including NBC’s “Heroes,” Fox’s “24” and CBS’s “Two and a Half Men,” as well as the highly publicized Nora Roberts movie “Angels Fall” on Lifetime.
The pageant's recent history has taken a somewhat ironic twist.
When the pageant was initially created, almost a century ago in Atlantic City, it was as a tawdry spectacle put on by hotel owners to keep tourists in town over the long Labor Day weekend. It was just one of the amusements created for the piers leading out from the beach into the Atlantic Ocean.
In later years, as it got more national coverage, the pageant was cleaned up and the contestants cast as idealized girl-next-door sweethearts. Much of the pageant's later success was owed directly to that careful image-building.
http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_9793.asp
TV Sports
It's all Super Bowl all week long on sports networks
By Michael Hiestand USA Today
If you wonder how long Super Bowl pregame shows can get, think weeks, not hours: They've begun.
The league's NFL Network, in what's billed as a "65-hour pregame show" that started Sunday, will cover events such as Thursday's halftime show news conference. Halftime singer Prince, NFL Network executive producer Eric Weinberger says, "is going to perform because his people say his music does his talking."
Sunday the network says it will have a Super Bowl TV first: An NFL coach — the Kansas City Chiefs' Herm Edwards — jointly interviewing the coaches as he sits down with the Chicago Bears' Lovie Smith and the Indianapolis Colts' Tony Dungy. Says Weinberger, "Anything that moves, we'll cover."
If so, they'll end up covering lots of other networks on hand. ESPN outlets will have 90 hours of pregame coverage, and Fox Sports Net's on-site Best Damn Sports Show Period will counter such quantity with, well, stuff like this: It hypes it will show "Florida's hottest models jumping into vats of goop."
Eventually, CBS has the game. But not before guests on CBS' Face the Nation on Sunday include Dan Marino, Jim Nantz and Phil Simms, who might talk football after saying whether they will form presidential exploratory committees.
Debut: Talkative Nick Faldo made his debut as CBS' lead golf analyst on this weekend's Buick Invitational and seemed loose. Noting he'd drink piña coladas at The Masters now that he's in TV, CBS' Nantz quickly suggested he wouldn't do that before going on-air. Faldo, in turn, seemed interested: "Is that allowed?"
Replacing Lanny Wadkins with Faldo makes CBS saucier.
Running numbers: The NHL's All-Star Game on Versus on Wednesday attracted 474,000 households. That's down 76% from ABC's rating in 2004, the last time the game was played, and down an amazing 82% from ABC's coverage in 2000. The game was canceled last year for the Winter Olympics and by the lockout before that.
But the NHL faced tough counterprogramming. And not just from Fox's American Idol. Other Wednesday prime-time shows outdrawing the NHL stars included HGTV's Design on a Dime, Discovery's Myth Busters, Bravo's Top Chef, the Food Network's Ace of Cakes and — attracting 85% more households than hockey's stars — TV Land's Andy Griffith Show. But then, Barney Fife still has it goin' on.
Spice rack: ABC's Mike Tirico, on NBA action Sunday, said it's hard to pick reserves for the Eastern Conference team for the NBA All-Star Game given "it's hard to find seven guys you'd want as All-Stars." … ESPN's Joe Theismann, on Fox Sports Net, said he really got along with Monday Night Football's Tony Kornheiser: "Everybody thinks I wanted to kill Tony. I didn't want to kill Tony. After Week 8, I was fine."
Say what?: CBS' Nantz, on Sunday's golf, read a promo boorish even by the genre's standards. Said Nantz, hyping CBS' CSI: "You'll never believe what they find inside a dead body!" Maybe CBS' missing sense of decorum? … TNT's Charles Barkley said coaches "get too much blame for these nitwit players" who are arrested on drug charges. In suggesting players take responsibility for themselves, he offered practical advice: "If I get in trouble, I'm just going to say I'm gay and I'm going to rehab!" And to think Barkley was once famous for saying he wasn't "a role model." … Cris Collinsworth, talking about playing in the 1982 Super Bowl on HBO's Inside the NFL, offered a bizarre anecdote: "That week before the Super Bowl, I was good looking. I'm not kidding you."
Inspirational: Mark Cuban's HDNet, the high-definition TV programmer whose on-air staff includes Dan Rather, will premiere Geek to Freak with Dennis Rodman on Feb. 16. We're not making this up: HDNet officially describes this show, where the ex-NBA star "takes ordinary people" and "pushes them to take on experiences," as Rodman taking "his devilish turn at outing a secretary as a stripper, a construction worker as a cross-dresser — taking his volunteers into bondage, oil wrestling, sex, drugs, rock 'n roll — even pimping!" Cuban, the Dallas Mavericks owner, promises the show takes Rodman's "freakiness to new levels." And it's about time.
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/columnist/hiestand-tv/2007-01-28-hiestand-weekend_x.htm
TV Notebook
The Death Of TV Will Not Be Televised
By Amy Auerbach (VP , Group Account Director at Media Contacts) in an “Online Spin” column at MediaPost Monday, January 29, 2007
Except for the broken hearts of a few million teenagers, the cancellation of "The O.C." elicited little surprise or anger from most folks. The Fox series, which began airing in 2003, was a huge success and cultural phenomenon. Industry pundits are speculating on reasons for the show's demise: its wide popularity burned itself out as it was no longer hip and cool, writing intended to spur ratings actually did the opposite, etc. etc. But, whatever the true reason is for the show's audience to leave and the axe to fall, the end of "The O.C." is a media omen we shouldn't ignore. The show was a new version of an old format, the trials and tribulations of teens -- teens who are very good-looking and well-dressed. with raging hormones.
Its predecessors include the likes of "Beverly Hills 90210," "Dawson's Creek," and even "Saved by the Bell." These series, however, lasted more than just four seasons. First aired in 1990, "90210" lasted 10 years, following the lives of the characters through puberty and into almost adulthood. Dawson muddled by his creek for six years, from 1997-2003, and now the alma mater of his crowd are marrying movie stars and showing up on the cover of the Enquirer. What does it mean that a show that should appeal to teenagers and folks who are nostalgic about their teen years can't stay on the air?
Could this be the beginning of a crack in the façade of the TV and its accompanying upfronts? How will buyers have any faith whatsoever that shows that they think they will be buying will be around? Some shows get cancelled every year by natural selection, but if shows start having shorter and shorter life spans, what will be the point? The networks will have to use the money for the upfront parties on actually hiring writers and actors again and maybe creating series that are worth watching over the longer term. But if not, what does this mean for online?
Live action and/or motion picture content, video content or whatever we want to call it, will always find a place online. Some series have already moved to online-only distribution. Major networks are releasing shows for online viewing as the credits roll on TV. Some producers and directors are going straight to online to expose their talents. Check out my favorite, "FlushTV," about a family of Detroit plumbers, at www.flushtv.com. The iTunes store has hundreds of shows, ready to watch. Slingbox makes your PC a TV anywhere in the world. Are the TV guys paying attention?
TV is dying a long, slow painful death. Forget about the :30 spot being dead, I'm talking content here. And when the next generation of viewers is fickle enough to leave something like "The O.C." behind, future shows are going to have a much harder time garnering any of these folks to comprise a worthwhile mass audience that a buyer will want to buy. When it finally happens, I'll be here at my PC, watching YouTube and texting "I told you so" to whomever will read it.
http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.showArticleHomePage&art_aid=54595
More news on DirecTV’s HD offerings coming soon?
The Business of TV
DirecTV Conference Call
DirecTV will host an Internet webcast for its 2006 fourth quarter financial results, outlook and other forward looking information on Wednesday, February 7th, 2007 at 11:00 a.m. ET, 8:00 a.m. PT.
Date: Wednesday, February 7th, 2007
Time: 11:00 a.m. ET/8:00 a.m. PT
Webcast: www.directv.com/investor
TV Notebook
OJ and Me
Judith Regan Now
A fascinating (Iand long) look at the Judith Regan-OJ--NewsCorp saga (titled "Even Bithces Have Feelings") is in this week’s New York Magazine.
You can find it here:
http://nymag.com/news/profiles/26988/index.html
HDTVChallenged
01-29-07, 12:06 PM
It was pretty spectacular, one of the best episodes of the whole series.
Of course the idea might owe some dues to a particular episode of Babylon5 ... which is all I can say about it without spoilering. ;)
HDTVChallenged
01-29-07, 12:13 PM
Washington Notebook
FCC's Martin Backs Broadcasters
by John Eggerton Broadcasting & Cable 1/29/2007
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin had some encouraging words for broadcasters last week, saying cable and satellite should not be able to downgrade broadcaster’s digital signals, and putting in a plug for multicasting and mobile broadcasting applications."Broadcasters may choose to use part of their spectrum to transmit their unique local service to cell phones for instance. Local weather, traffic, and sports, or perhaps school closings during winter snow storms," he said, "is exactly the type of content viewers will want to watch on their handheld devices."
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6410746
More evidence that broadcast HDTV is doomed ... bring on the 'premium tier' national network feeds and be done with it already.
Dear BigGiantMediaCorp(s),
Please just fold your "precious content" into your Showtime, ESPN, UniHD (etc) packages already ... eliminate the frustrations, appease the starving, angry mob ... Bread and Circuses for all!!!!.
Yesterday’s fast national over night prime-time ratings – and Media Week Analyst Marc Berman’s view of what they mean -- have been posted near the top of Ratings News the first post in this thread.
As I understand it, the HD in-car cameras won't be used until 2008.
From ESPN:
"ESPN, a pioneer in the development of in-car cameras during its 20 seasons of NASCAR coverage from 1981-2000, has been preparing for use of HD in-car cameras in advance of the NASCAR Busch Series season-opening Orbitz 300 from Daytona on ESPN2 February 17.
“In-car cameras are probably the most dynamic facet of motorsports coverage and taking that into the high-def world is huge,” said Rich Feinberg, senior coordinating producer for NASCAR on ESPN. The camera systems had to be re-engineered for HD, as did the camera power and transmission systems within the race cars, all while maintaining a delicate balance to not add weight to the cars and possibly affect their performance. "
http://www.espnmediazone.com/press_releases/2007_01_Jan/ESPNNASCARCoverageMostTechnologicallyAdvanced.htm
Nielsen Notebook
Nielsen Enrolls in College
By Linda Moss MultiChannel News 1/29/2007
Nielsen Media Research Monday began including the viewing of college students living away from home in its National People Meter ratings.
The introduction of this Extended Home viewing marks the first time Nielsen is including viewing by members of sample households living outside of the home in its ratings. Previously, television viewing by students in Nielsen families was only included when they were watching in their parents’ homes during school vacations or visits home, according to Nielsen.
Under the new system, viewing by sample students in their dorm rooms or off-campus apartments will be treated as if it were coming from an additional set within their families' homes.
Their viewing while away at school will contribute to the ratings and viewing levels in the same way that it does when they are in the living rooms and bedrooms of their families' homes. Viewing will be included for students attending traditional colleges and universities, as well as trade schools, culinary institutes and other higher-education facilities.
“Nielsen is committed to continuously improving the scope of its television ratings, and adding college viewing to our ratings estimate provides a more complete picture of the overall television audience,” Sara Erichson, general manager of Nielsen National Services, said in a prepared statement.
The addition of college viewing comes after the successful completion of a three-year pilot program sponsored by several Nielsen clients, including Turner Broadcasting System, The WB (now The CW), CBS, MTV Networks, Fox and ESPN.
The first year of the pilot program demonstrated Nielsen’s ability to successfully recruit and install People Meters in college locations, including dormitories, sorority and fraternity houses and off-campus apartments. The second and third years focused on understanding the ratings impact of including college-location viewing.
The addition of college viewing to the Nielsen ratings could have a significant impact on the performance of some television programs.
For example, in November, the most recent period for which pilot data is available, among men 18-24, the program with the largest rating increase when college viewing was added was Comedy Central’s Drawn Together, which increased by 1.2 rating points, or 63% of its total viewing.
The impact of adding college viewing among women was greatest on primetime dramas with strong female characters, and the impact of adding college viewing among men was greatest on football and animation programming.
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6410926.html?display=Breaking+News
From ESPN:
"ESPN, a pioneer in the development of in-car cameras during its 20 seasons of NASCAR coverage from 1981-2000, has been preparing for use of HD in-car cameras in advance of the NASCAR Busch Series season-opening Orbitz 300 from Daytona on ESPN2 February 17.
“In-car cameras are probably the most dynamic facet of motorsports coverage and taking that into the high-def world is huge,” said Rich Feinberg, senior coordinating producer for NASCAR on ESPN. The camera systems had to be re-engineered for HD, as did the camera power and transmission systems within the race cars, all while maintaining a delicate balance to not add weight to the cars and possibly affect their performance. "
http://www.espnmediazone.com/press_releases/2007_01_Jan/ESPNNASCARCoverageMostTechnologicallyAdvanced.htm
Sorry I was not clear (or maybe I confused topics -- something I have been known to do with more regularity as I approach senility).
I was referring to the DirecTV in-car camera deal starting this year.
Sorry for any confusion.
TV Notebook
Smithsonian Networks Lists Its Starting Six TV Programs
By Jacqueline Trescott Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, January 29, 2007
Smithsonian Networks, a controversial joint enterprise of the Smithsonian Institution and Showtime Networks, has "Ed" on its side. Tom Cavanagh, known for his starring role on the old NBC series, will be featured in one of a preliminary slate of television programs that will be announced today.
The lineup offers just a taste of what is expected to be more than 40 programs in all. The network will debut this spring.
A signature series will be "Stories From the Vault," a 30-minute program hosted by Cavanagh. It will explore the artifacts and people that have made the Smithsonian one of the most recognized museums in the world; on one episode, a curator will examine a Stradivarius using a CT scan.
Another of the new shows is "The Hunt for the Double Eagle," about the extremely rare 1933 solid gold coin, of which only a handful are in existence.
Some of the Smithsonian shows will come from sources outside Showtime, including an exclusive co-production deal involving the Smithsonian and the British Broadcasting Co.
David Royle, executive vice president for programming and production of Smithsonian Networks, said the partnership with the BBC's "Timewatch," an award-winning history series, was "a real vote of confidence" for the fledgling network.
The programs will be shown on an entity called Smithsonian on Demand. Officials are still negotiating with cable carriers and satellite TV providers to make the programming available, but Royle said Showtime and Smithsonian officials are also considering a regular, 24-hour channel. "We have been encouraged to move to a linear channel, like Discovery and National Geographic," he said, and that might happen in the fall.
The partial lineup is the first glimpse into the programming direction of the Showtime deal, which was announced last March and greeted with sharp criticism from historians, researchers and politicians angered by the semi-exclusive agreement with a commercial network. Historians and filmmakers, in particular, were concerned that their access to Smithsonian experts and materials would be limited as a result of the contract. The Smithsonian released the 30-year contract to a congressional panel and a report from the Government Accountability Office last month concluded it had been executed in a competitive manner.
Showtime and the Smithsonian will create 130 hours of programming each year with a budget of at least $10 million. The Smithsonian has said that it reserves the right of approval on subject matter and style, and entered into the agreement to expose its holdings to the audiences that can't make it to Washington.
Other programs in the preliminary lineup include:
• "American Treasures," an examination of the treasures from the National Museum of American History.
• "Nature Tech," a three-part series on the way nature inspires scientists' inventions.
• "Critter Quest," a nature program aimed at children 5 to 12 years old.
• And "Cutting Loose," a film on Mardi Gras that won the best documentary category at the Sundance festival in 1996 but has never been seen on American television, according to the Smithsonian.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/28/AR2007012801407_pf.html
TV Notebook
Trek's' Takei takes on 'Heroes' role
By Ellen Gray Philadelphia Daily News January 29, 2007
NBC'S "Heroes" (9 PM ET/PT, Monday NBC) is about to send "Star Trek's" George Takei where he, at least, has never gone before.
When the deep-voiced actor known to millions as "Mr. Sulu" turns up tonight as the father of Hiro Nakamura (Masi Oka), he'll be speaking Japanese, and only Japanese.
"You know, I've made speeches in Japan, I've received a decoration from the emperor of Japan - the Order of the Rising Sun, with gold rays and rosettes - which I accepted in Japanese, but I have never worked in Japanese," said Takei, 69, earlier this month during an NBC party in Pasadena, Calif.
"And here I am, doing prime-time television, popular television, in Japanese. I haven't, you know, worked in Japan in Japanese. And here I am in the United States, working in Japanese with English subtitles. So that's a delight. But it's also a challenge, because it is not my first language," said Takei, who was born in Los Angeles but spent much of World War II confined with his family in internment camps for Japanese-Americans.
Language wasn't the only challenge.
"Heroes" creator Tim Kring appears to operate on a need-to-know basis with his actors, and Takei, who had filmed three episodes by mid-January and described his commitment to the show as "open-ended," said he's learning about his character a little bit at a time.
"I go from script to script," he said.
What he knows:
"I'm a powerful industrialist. We come from a very distinguished family, an old-line family. I was brought up that way, and I thought I would bring up my son that way, but I'm discovering that there are strange things happening."
Beyond that, "I really don't know who my character is, and why my character does what he does, and what his motivations are and where he's going, because with each new script, I make new discoveries. And is he good, or is he bad, is he domineering or is he being told to behave that way? I mean, there's so many ambiguous things about it," Takei said.
Oka, whose character grew up watching "Star Trek," has said he'd like to see some acknowledgment of the Sulu connection on "Heroes," and Takei agrees.
"He should at least [say] 'Papa, you look like Sulu,' " he said.
Oka, who earlier this month had so far worked only a day or two with Takei, nevertheless does a dead-on impression of the actor, whom he described as "an iconic figure."
"Offscreen, he would tell the old stories," Oka said, lowering his voice to mimic Takei's sonorous tones: " 'Back in my day, we used to use camels for transportation.' "
Oka's Hiro won't be the only character we'll see Takei with in the coming weeks.
"My last scene was with Horned Rimmed Glasses. Yesterday, as a matter of fact," said Takei, alluding to the nickname of the mysterious character played by Jack Coleman, whose own role in the series so far has been the very definition of ambiguous.
"As I said, all my scenes are in Japanese... That poor guy. He said, 'I'm the deer. There's the headlights,' " Takei said, laughing. "But he did a great job. It was very accented," but understandable.
"He's speaking in Japanese. He memorized it all phonetically," he said.
So Horned Rimmed Glasses speaks Japanese? Hmm...
Other than that he wouldn't mind having a role, Takei only knows what he's heard about "Star Trek XI," a project from "Lost" co-creator J.J. Abrams. (Some reports suggest the new film could be a prequel to the original series.)
"What would Capt. Sulu be doing a few years after... 'Star Trek VI'?... Fans would like to know," he said, laughing.
These days, Takei probably spends as much time talking about gay rights as he does about "Star Trek," after deciding to open up about his personal life for the first time in 2005.
"You know, I've been out, with, certainly family and friends, and my 'Star Trek' colleagues, for many, many years," he said. "The only thing I had not done is talk to the press" about it, something that changed when California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a same-sex marriage bill.
Until the veto, "I thought surely... my partner [of nearly 20 years, Brad Altman] and I were going to be able to get married," he said. "When he [Schwarzenegger] played to the narrowest, most reactionary segment of his conservative base and vetoed [the bill], I felt I needed to speak out. And for me to do that, my voice needed to be authentic. And so I spoke to you guys for the first time."
And, no, it doesn't appear to have hurt his career, which now includes recurring appearances on "The Howard Stern Show."
"I do think there's more interest in me" since his public coming-out, Takei said. "When you get a lot of press, the industry gets more interested."
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/entertainment/television//16570165.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Critic’s Notebook
Nuclear mushroom clouds --
that's entertainment?
From Maureen Ryan’s Chicago Tribune blog “The Watcher” January 29, 2007
Why are there so many nuclear mushroom clouds on the horizon? On television, anyway (and let’s hope it stays that way).
“24” kicked off its most recent season with Jack Bauer not saving the day. At the end of the fourth hour, the terrorist villains managed to set off one of the five “suitcase nukes” they possess, destroying an entire suburb of Los Angeles, if not more.
Meanwhile NBC’s popular “Heroes,” “24’s” time-slot competitor, has got a nuke -- or possible nuke -- of its own: The superhero drama is unfurling a story line in which Peter Petrelli sees a vision of New York City going up in a nuclear blast. In the Jan. 22 episode, “Godsend,” the bedridden Peter dreamed of not only the mushroom cloud but of himself and his fellow heroes being vaporized in the explosion.
As if that’s not enough, CBS’ “Jericho,” which returns Feb. 21, started off the fall season with a nuclear bang. Residents of the small Kansas town in the title have spent the last few months trying to figure out why the bomb they saw on the horizon was set off and how widespread the damage across America is.
Last summer, who would have thought that a show with that kind of grim premise -- as opposed to the flashier “Smith” or “Kidnapped” or “The Nine” -- would be one of the few serialized dramas to find a regular audience?
Back in 1983, the post-nuclear miniseries “The Day After” was considered so controversial and terrifying that ABC set up phone banks with counselors on duty and hosted a live panel discussion with Reagan administration officials after the show. Who would have thought that decades later we’d see multiple mushroom clouds on our TVs -- and that those nuclear blasts would barely register in the media?
During the 1964 presidential campaign, the “daisy girl” ad, which pictured a small girl counting down before a nuclear blast, created a firestorm of controversy even though it aired only once. “Jericho,” on the other hand, directly echoed that ad in its series premiere, with a young girl counting down during a game of hide-and-seek just before a mushroom cloud appeared on the Kansas horizon.
Did many people notice or make a big deal about the parallel? Not really.
Perhaps the most pertinent question is, why is today’s escapist entertainment being invaded by such terrifying imagery? Maybe because television is able, in the case of these particular shows, to take the unthinkable and make it look less threatening. A little.
In “24,” it was “only” a suitcase nuke that went off, and the damage appears to be contained in one part of Los Angeles. Executive producer Howard Gordon told reporters the day after the Season 6 premiere that the show wouldn’t spend much time in or near the center of the blast or the fallout zone.
“We sort of are at the edges of [the zone], but it does create a kind of baseline anxiety,” Gordon said.
No kidding.
Perhaps these blasts are a sign that it’s ever more difficult for “24” to raise the stakes yet again and create an even bigger crisis for Jack Bauer to deal with. It’s hard to see how the Fox drama will top itself this time, but we’ve said that before.
“Heroes” has a more comic-book approach, so Peter’s visions don’t seem quite as threatening as the events on “24.” which can seem far-fetched at times but are rooted in a recognizable, nitty-gritty reality. But the “Godsend” episode of “Heroes” also featured a comical interlude in which Hiro stole what he thought was a mythical sword from a museum -- only to find that it was a fake.
Though often plodding and woodenly acted, “Heroes” does have an uplifting theme. It holds out the hope that humanity will evolve -- in some cases -- into something better, and that powerful people will emerge to (possibly) save us from ourselves. Given our troubled times, perhaps viewers feel that nuclear fear is one danger that our heroes can (and should) save us from.
Still, those mushroom clouds are pretty dark stuff, and they have to be an obvious sign of our national unease. Since Sept. 11, some part of our collective unconscious has been waiting for more death and destruction to arrive. And it has, at least on these fictional dramas -- which, perhaps not surprisingly, give us hope that we can endure or prevent such nightmarish scenarios.
All three shows hold out the hope that these kinds of terrifying crises would provide a chance for well-intentioned people to find a solution together -- and that there is a solution. “24” lets us believe that, whatever the crisis, efficient government operatives in a shiny, high-tech facility will figure it all out on our behalf. It’ll all be solved by tomorrow -- that’s the show’s reassuring fantasy.
“Jericho,” the show that deals most heavily with the post-nuclear scenario, is, strangely enough, often the most optimistic of the three shows. At one point last fall, the residents of Jericho set up an impromptu post-blast barbecue in the town square (the local grocery store’s supplies would have otherwise rotted).
Would we all act so normally and eat pork chops and burgers with our neighbors if we’d just seen a nuclear blast over our homes? I hardly think so -- I tend to think it would be more “Lord of the Flies” than “Our Town.”
But then, we want our TV characters to be, for the most part, a little more noble than we are. Having seen endless seasons of “Survivor,” we know that real people marooned on islands get nasty once the food runs out. Tell that to the inhabitants of “Lost,” who’ve rarely fought over so much as a stale cracker.
Truth is, there’s a lot of wishful thinking amid all the television darkness, but then, maybe we’re a nation in need of that.
We want to believe we could survive the unthinkable, deal with a nuclear crisis and remain united. Whether we actually could or not -- well, maybe that’s a topic for an HBO show.
What do you think, readers? Why are we watching shows that involve nuclear bombs going off? Is that kind of thing too dark for you? Or is it cathartic to see TV characters address and deal with these scary scenarios? Share your thoughts below.
(Note: If you go to Maureen’s website to comment, please tell her you read her here at Hot Off The Press”!)
http://tempo.typepad.com/entertainment_tv/
Critic’s Notebook
The SAG Awards only match the Oscars in pretentiousness
By Aaron Barnhart Kansas City Star in his blog “TV Barn” January 29, 2007
The kindest things that can be said about the 13th SAG Awards, as a program by and for television, are that it was only two hours long and it helped ensure that NBC's low-rated comedy “30 Rock” earns a well-deserved renewal.
Several Golden Globes winners repeated Sunday nights as Actor winners, including America Ferrera (ABC's “Ugly Betty”), Hugh Laurie (Fox's “House”), Helen Mirren (“Elizabeth I” on HBO) and Alec Baldwin for “30 Rock.” The top comedy award went to the cast of “The Office,” while “Grey's Anatomy” won for drama.
In a telecast filled with gracious, funny and brief acceptance speeches, Baldwin's stood out because he thanked his mother. He even paused as he said, “I love you, Mom.”
But the prize went to Chandra Wilson, who walked away with the female actor award for her role as a loud, domineering resident on “Grey's Anatomy.” She replicated the part on stage, with a little girlishness injected.
“First of all, it's about those 10 cast members sitting over there and the other one in rehab,” Wilson said. Her reference to Isiaih Washington drew knowing howls of laughter and applause from the audience, who were well aware of Washington's homophobic slur uttered after the Golden Globes. It touched off a furor that, judging by his absence, has still not died down. (He really is in "rehab," though judging from the descriptions I've read, it's a facility where the primary goal is to keep Washington from further indulging his appetite for shoe leather.)
Wilson also thanked the SAG “for taking me as I am,” pulling back a sleeve to reveal her not-skinny arm.
The SAG telecast was bedeviled by prompter glitches and some questionable production choices. One was the program's opening, which aped the red-carpet opening of the Oscars. It seemed audacious for a telecast that drew less than six million viewers last year to compare itself to the Academy Awards, which pulls in seven times the audience.
That was followed by several notable figures inside the ballroom giving little speeches about how truly fulfilling it was to be an actor. William Shatner, a popular though not exactly distinguished actor, led off, recalling a part he played at the age of six and then gravely telling the camera, “I'm William Shatner and I'm an actor.” At that, only a person with a heart of stone could not help but burst into laughter.
The awards were simulcast, in standard definition on TBS and in high definition on TNT, where you could get a sharper view of various actors' sweaty foreheads and various actresses' amply exposed cleavage.
http://blogs.kansascity.com/tvbarn/2007/01/the_sag_awards_.html#more
Critic’s Notebook
'Dirt' digs deeper…
…and finds 3 reasons to keep watching
By Tim Goodman San Francisco Chronicle Television Critic Monday, January 29, 2007
Certain networks and cable channels earn second chances. Wait -- that's not exactly true. No broadcast network earns a second chance and, come to think of it, only three cable channels have earned this privilege: HBO, FX and BBC America.
Those three channels have churned out enough quality fare that, if they stumble and proffer up a loser, it's a critic's duty to go back and re-examine the mistake. Was the series really that bad? Did the famed quality control (or pure good luck) at these respective channels suffer a glitch, letting in the kind of abysmally bad offerings usually found at your favorite secondhand store, also known as the broadcast networks?
It can happen. HBO, which has an impressive roster filled with many of television's finest series, actually put "Lucky Louie" on the air. BBC America -- with the distinct advantage of being able to filter out the best and the brightest in England first -- has nevertheless imported a few flops and head-scratchers.
And FX, which went on an incredible streak of can't-miss quality -- a run that made HBO look like it might be struggling in comparison -- occasionally clanks one off the front rim. In fact, its latest, most high-profile offering, "Dirt," received less-than-stellar reviews. Courteney Cox makes her first post-"Friends" TV appearance as the series' star and executive producer, so perhaps the examination lamp was burning a little brighter than normal on this one. In any case, the first three episodes showed a series that tried too hard, a star that might be miscast (Cox) or, at the very least, playing against her most appealing characteristics, and a milieu (celebrity-obsessed tabloids) that had no clear heroes, giving viewers no real reason to care.
All of those are legitimate complaints about the series. But there were three factors that played into giving "Dirt" another look.
First, it's FX. It's one of the Big Three in terms of high-quality track records. You could make the argument that Showtime is deserving of inclusion based on the recent uptick in the channel's content, but it needs to show a more consistent streak if skepticism is to be directed at its failures, not its hits. No broadcast network could earn this honor because, in the hunt for mass appeal and subsequent high ratings, each of the nation's five networks crank out an exorbitant amount of crassness and low art.
But FX? Come on. This is a home run-hitting channel, so yeah, "Dirt" gets another look.
Secondly, John Landgraf, the well-respected head of FX, had the audacity (or rare honesty) to tell television critics recently that the fifth episode of "Dirt" is when the series takes off. The fifth episode airs Tuesday at 10 p.m.
Never mind that a whole lot of network series get canceled before their fifth episode, or that network presidents often know within the first 15 minutes of the first episode how it's all going to play out. For Landgraf to say the fifth episode is where it all starts almost backhandedly validates what critics have said about the show to this point.
And the third element to consider when re-evaluating whether "Dirt" is worth the hassle is the juicy little cameo nugget that Cox recently revealed: Jennifer Aniston -- one of Cox's best friends, former "Friends" co-star and, oh by the way, a favorite subject of the tabloids that are at the core of "Dirt" -- will appear in the season finale as a rival tabloid editor to Cox. Now, dismiss petty celebrity smoke bombs like this if you may, and you certainly have a right to, but Aniston's participation certainly makes for a good season finale and surely makes for a mini TV event, just like killing off a major character does. Having Aniston, who has virtually lived on the covers of tabloids the past few years, get in this wink-wink game is a clever little move. It implies that she could pop up in future episodes, adding more value to "Dirt." And a rumor has already started that not only will Aniston be Cox's rival on "Dirt," she'll play a lesbian who ends up kissing Cox.
All you can say to that bald-faced manipulation is this: well played. It is so blatantly exploitative that it deserves our utmost respect.
Smirk all you want about cameos in general or Aniston in particular, but signing her up for this deal was a savvy move that will not only get people's attention (done), but get burgeoning fans of the series to stay dedicated and interested.
The best question in all of this is a simple one: Was Landgraf right? Does "Dirt" get better on Tuesday?
That's a complicated question. But, yes, it does. After playing an all-too-obvious puppet master -- lots of straight sex, gay sex, lesbian sex, "shocking" sex, drugs, mental illness, chopped-off heads, dead women giving birth to kittens, suspect journalism and egregious use of vibrators -- "Dirt" finally gets focused in its fifth episode. And becomes more interesting.
But is it too late? If you wait five episodes for it to get good, will anyone be there to see it? And, truth be told, "Dirt" doesn't just wake up in Tuesday's fifth episode to find its stride. You really need to have endured -- yes, that's kind of what it was like -- the first four episodes and the concomitant growth of the story line and characters to truly appreciate the feeling you get in Episode 5. This is where, perhaps for the first time, a viewer could truly imagine being dedicated to the series for the full season run (you know, right up until Aniston appears to get even more headlines in the tabloids and the acceptable press, lesbian kiss or no).
Some channels earn the right to present series that are difficult or take time -- three or four episodes -- to get really good. FX is one of them. It took HBO about four episodes to make the initial run of "Rome" seem truly intriguing and five ep