Taking On Old TV Kids' Shows

This is actually quite creative! Some of you may be aware of it already, but it's kind of a Mystery Science Theater for the old television kids' shows.  Now, if they'd just put a microphone on the guy, instead just using the camera mic....

Nostalgia Critic Takes Apart Your Childhood Favorites

If you’re like most people, the films and TV shows of your generation defined large chunks of your childhood, but when watched through the prism of, well, being a kid, they seemed much better than they actually were. Enter Nostalgia Critic, which picks out a classic series or movie you might remember fondly…and makes [...]

Technorati Tags: Nostalgia Critic, Guy With Glasses, Kids' Television

The School Speech Debate

It's just mind-boggling to me that Obama's planned speech for school kids has turned into such fodder for a political argument. Does every parent run to change the channel whenever the president comes on TV? What if, by chance, they're at a friend's house when the president pops up.  Do the other parents have to provide ear plugs? Do they really think this president has the power to completely take control of every child's mind by talking about staying in school and working hard?

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And, here's the way CNN tackled the debate:

CNN's Roberts and Martin Confront Jim Greer Over His Fear Mongering on Obama's Speech to Students


By the way, here's another MSNBC clip worth watching. Ed Schultz nails G. Gordon Liddy over a truly stupid stance.

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Don't forget to check out my Arkansas posts at The Examiner

Early Late Night

Jay Leno at 9 pm. I'll likely be watching. I've long thought that hour is ripe for counter-programming. Heck, I put the first 9 pm newscast on the air in the Little Rock market, back in 1997. I seldom stay up late enough to catch the 10:35 talkers (getting old has its hazards!), so the chance to watch something "light" at 9:00 sounds perfect to me. I'm getting bored with the onslaught of endless spin-offs of crime and law programs, anyway. Bring it on. Let's see what happens. I'm betting that it works.

TIME Cover Story: “Jay Leno is the Future of TV. Seriously”

Time Magazine puts Jay Leno on the cover and looks at what Leno in prime-time means for broadcast television[...]

Technorati Tags: Jay Leno, NBC, Television

Talking Education

I know. I know. It's been too long between posts. I've actually been busy, and that's a GOOD thing! I'll tell you all about the latest project - it's an exciting one! In the meantime, allow me to distract you for a few minutes with something I accidentally caught last night on the old TV machine. Ed Schultz has added an MSNBC program to on top of his radio show and his opening segment last night had some incredible information in it. Stick with the video until he gets into the high school dropout rate information. It will blow you away. He's right - we have a problem.  A BIG problem.

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Don't forget to check out my Arkansas posts at The Examiner

They Predicted The Future

Really! This is impressive. AT&T TV commercials from 1993, talking about the future. Do the math: that's 16 years ago. Watch and see how doggone close they were to what we have available today!

The Obama Speech

Image by Stijn Vogels via Flickr

Let's look at the TV coverage of Obama's big speech Tuesday night. Once again, MSNBC is getting pounded for showing partiality. No kidding! Folks, the traditional lines have been blurred (if not completely obliterated) and I don't see us going back. Still, the debate continues.

The Case Against Olbermann Anchoring the Obama Address?

U.S. News & World Report’s Robert Schlessinger blogs about Keith Olbermann anchoring tonight’s Obama Address… "I’m an Olbermann fan. I enjoy his show (mostly). But he’s not a news reporter, he’s a commentator. The anchor role should be reserved for a straight news man, with the Keith Olbermanns, Pat Buchanans, Rachel Maddows, and so on giving [...]

And, then, there's the big debate over two little words, likely from the mouth of Chris Mathews, at the beginning of Governor Jindal's GOP response: "Oh, God"
UPDATE:

Chris Matthews Explains "Oh, God!" Utterance

 UPDATE 2: There's more:

The Morning After Look at the Jindal Response

I’m not sure what is selling lower this morning- Citibank or Jindal 2012 stock, but it really is hard to state accurately just how bad it was. It started off like this: That was Chris Matthews, and while the folks on the right will be screaming about liberal media bias, they might be wise to [...]

Television CAN Be Stupid

Image via Wikipedia

 I'm a regular viewer of "Morning Joe" on MSNBC. They've been promoting today's show for several days as being "Live From The White House". You picture them in the West Wing, right? Wrong! Willie Geist got to wander around inside - a little bit. Everybody else was bundled up OUTSIDE, freezing their backsides off. It's February. In Washington, DC. It's cold, people! Watching people being horribly cold and uncomfortable ain't my idea of fun. UPDATE: Near the end of the show, Mika and Joe did get inside for a quick tour of the press area. Whoopee. I'll look for some video later. For now, know that I'm not alone in being critical of this bone-headed move.

Morning Joe at the White House…

The Baltimore Sun’s David Zurawik tears MSNBC a new one for Morning Joe broadcasting from the White House… Will someone tell me what MSNBC’s Morning Joe was doing on the lawn of the White House this morning – besides looking foolish? Was the symbolic statement supposed to be: “We can kiss up to the new administration harder [...]

Morning Joe, MSNBC

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TV Sports=Lotsa $$$$$

The numbers are huge, but let's think this through. The economy is tanking, television advertisers are pulling back, holding onto the few dollars they have. What happens to these high-dollar ESPN deals when even the advertisers with deep pockets start saying "no"? Or, will there ALWAYS be money for sports? I'm not sure.

ESPN Spending $1.1 Billion For NFL Rights, $300 Million for MLB, $270 Million for NASCAR

Some interesting numbers on how much ESPN spends for its major sports programming. via WSJ.com. ESPN spends about $2.2 billion annually for the broadcast rights to major sports in the U.S. alone, according to industry figures. Its payments include $300 million for 80 Major League Baseball games, $270 million for the final 17 Nascar races, $1.1 billion for [...]

Sports, NFL, Baseball, NASCAR, ESPN

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Thursday Reading

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Spend a few minutes with this excellent profile of one of my favorite TV people, Mika Brzezinski. "Morning Joe" has developed into a great program, thanks to her involvement. Actually, the entire crew makes great morning TV. It's all about information and debate and they do it.

Mika Brzezinski Interview

Leslie Stahl interviews Mika Brzezinski on The Women on the Web. This is pretty close to a must read… LESLEY: I guess my point was, now that you do this kind of a show, Joe Scarborough comes on every day and says, “I’m a conservative.” Are you trying to preserve your objectivity by not telling us? [...]

Chuckle

Oh, so it's a bit juvenile.  It's still funny.  Item number one...

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TV Promos

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A couple of us old TV folks have a Facebook discussion underway about the best of the TV promos. They don't do them today anywhere near as well as they did in the 1970's and 1980's. One of my favorites (maybe because I was doing news for a great ABC affiliate in Iowa at the time) was the "Come On Along" promo that featured darn near every star from the "Glory Days" of ABC programming (we're talking Fonzie, Happy Days, Laverne and Shirley, Fantasy Island, etc). It's no wonder ABC was a dominant #1 at the time. Many stations ran the two minute version.  Here's one that's longer, and even more entertaining. Don't let the long 'chopper sequence at the beginning put you off.  Remember, those were the early days of TV stations using helicopters.

Huffington Post

I have a new piece that just went up in the Media area of Huffington Post.  Topic this time?

The Future of Low Power TV

I'm surprisingly optimistic this time, thanks to our wonderful economy.  And I just might encourage you to do a little channel surfing with a pair of rabbit ears. Just like the "good old days" - BC (before cable)