Can Telenovelas Save English-Language TV?

She wants to be supportive. Really, she does.

But Katie Barberi has appeared in 13 different Spanish-language telenovelas since 1994 (Alguna Vez Tendremos Alas, Traviesa and El Privilegio de Amar among them). And she's not quite sure what mainstream network TV executives mean when they say the want to clone telenovelas for English-speaking viewers.

She has high hopes for Ugly Betty, ABC's attempt to turn the popular Columbian telenovela Yo Soy Betty La Fea into high TV comedy, for one reason. Salma Hayek, a veteran of Mexican telenovelas, is producing Betty. It debuts tonight on ABC's already-crackling thursday night -- thanks to the success of a transplanted Grey's Anatomy.

"The telenovela is usually the story of a fish out of water or the Cinderella-type story," said Barberi, 34, calling from her apartment in Los Angeles (she's got apartments in Miami and L.A., along with a house in Vero Beach; telenovelas have been very, very good to her). "Salma formatted this for American television -- like a series. America Ferrara is a young Latina actress with a tremendous amount of angel -- heart. I think she has it right."

But Barberi has less kind words for two other shows which claim to clone the popular Spanish-language soap opera form: MyNetworkTV's Desire and Fashion House. Noting the irony that neither show features any Hispanics, she wonders what exactly these programs have in common with the shows she's appeared in -- besides airing five nights a week for 13 weeks before concluding.

"I'm confused about which demographic they're going for," said Barberi, noting that these series could have tapped an audience of English-speaking hispanic fans, if they had only cast some actors from traditional telenovelas. "American producers might not be able to understand that these telenovelas actors, who they don't know, can walk into any store, any restaurant, any place where there are hispanics and get treated like Jennifer Aniston or Brad Pitt. These actors get tremendous ratings for (Spanish-language channels like) Univision. these people the studios are trying to attract would watch these stars in american shows."

Unfortunately for Barberi -- a native of Mexico who speaks both English and Spanish flawlessly -- MyNetworkTV has mostly cloned the production technique of the telenovela, using a cadre of neophyte writers to crank out acres of forgettable stories that makes Dynasty look like Shakespeare.

And while the mountains of hype for Ugly Betty may be enough to win audience attention, it remains a flawed project -- not quite sure if it is a comedy or drama, saddled with a too-predictable story and mostly unlikeable characters. It is a Latino-tinged, absurdist take on Cinderella that faces tough competition from Survivor and My Name Is Earl.

"These shows have been around for 50 years...it's a genre than has been perfected," said Barberi, who would like to see Hollywood use establsihed telenovela producers and stars the way some action film directors turn to Hong Kong martial arts directors and actors to emulate their genre form. "Using actors whose last name is Mendez or Mendoza who have never been in a telenovela won't do it. I don't know why an actor who has proven themselves in the genre can't be considered for these projects."

Hannity Finally Gets an Audience on Tampa Radio

Continuing the unrest underway at Clear Channel Radio stations, WFLA-970 AM (NewsRadio 970) began airing Fox News Channel pundit Sean Hannity's radio show Wednesday night at 6 p.m. -- the first sign that WFLA has taken the Fox News Radio alliance from WWBA-1040 AM. Hannity's place on WWBA has been taken by none other than Brian Fasulo, the guy who used to co-host WFLA-Ch. 8's pay-to-appear morning show, Daytime.

(In keeping with Clear Channel's tradition of open communication, WFLA sent out the press release confirming the switch at 6:08 p.m. Wednesday, nearly 10 minutes after Hannity's first WFLA show had already started)

I never understood why the local radio powerhouses let the Fox News shows land on WWBA anyways. It's bad for Fox -- stars like Hannity and Bill O'Reilly air on an AM station much of the Tampa Bay market can't even receive clearly -- and conservative talk radio powerhouse WFLA was clogged with the likes of Phil Hendrie.

Just one question left: When will O'Reilly come over from 1040 AM?

Woodward Turns on Dubya

Further proof that GOP dominance of the country's political culture is slipping: Bob Woodward, the legendary investigative reporter who some accused of serving as a stenographer to the Bush administration, now says the Bush administration hasn';t been honest with the level of violence in Iraq.

“The truth is that the assessment by intelligence experts is that next year, 2007, is going to get worse and, in public, you have the president and you have the Pentagon [saying], ‘Oh, no, things are going to get better,’” he tells Mike Wallace in a story for Sunday's 60 Minutes.  “Now there’s public, and then there’s private. But what did they do with the private? They stamp it secret. No one is supposed to know,” says Woodward.

            CBS released excerpts from th Wallace interview today, including Woodward's belief that claims of the press emphasizing violence in Iraq aren't the real story -- he says the violence reported has actually been understated by the press and the government.

“The insurgents know what they are doing. They know the level of violence and how effective they are. Who doesn’t know? The American public,” Woodward tells Wallace.

            Woodward also reports that the president and vice president often meet with Henry Kissinger, who was President Richard Nixon’s secretary of state, as an advisor. Says Woodward, “Now what’s Kissinger’s advice?  In Iraq, he declared very simply, ‘Victory is the only meaningful exit strategy.’” Woodward adds.  “This is so fascinating. Kissinger’s fighting the Vietnam War again because, in his view, the problem in Vietnam was we lost our will.”

According to Woodward, insurgent attacks against coalition troops occur, on average, every 15 minutes, a shocking fact the administration has kept secret.  “It’s getting to the point now where there are eight, 900 attacks a week. That’s more than a hundred a day.  That is four an hour attacking our forces,” says Woodward. 

            Bush is absolutely certain that he has the U.S. and Iraq on the right course, says Woodward.  So certain is the president on this matter, he says, that when Bush had key Republicans to the White House to discuss Iraq, Woodward says Bush told them, “ ‘I will not withdraw even if Laura and Barney are the only ones supporting me.’”

            CBS says Woodward reported for two years and interviewed over 200 people, including top officials in the Bush administration, to learn these and other revelations that he makes in his latest book, State of Denial. Of course, his book is published by Simon & Schuster, which is owned by the CBS Corp.

Clear Channel Cleans House at The Beat

UPDATE: Olivia Fox faxed a statement on her situation to the Times this morning. It reads:

"95.7 The Beat and Clear Channel Radio informed me on Monday morning, after my show, that my services would no longer be required at the station. I have truly enjoyed working at 95.7 the Beat, and have truly enjoyed being involved in the Tampa Bay community and working with youth here. This is a great place to live and work.

"I want to thank my many loyal fans for all their passionate support over the last few years. It has been a terrific time for me. I am now looking forward to many new opportunities, and anybody who is interested can keep in touch with my career by consulting my Web site."

If you're a fan of Olivia Fox and her freewheeling morning show on WBTP-95.7 FM (The Beat), you awoke to a very different reality this morning.

When you last heard Fox on Monday, it was a typical start to the work week. Today, you're listening to comic Steve Harvey's nationally syndicated morning show and wondering what happened.

You're not the only one. WBTP officials benched Fox for Harvey on Monday, notifying her then that the station would be presenting the comic's show -- which is syndicated from New York City -- in her timeslot starting this morning. Which only leaves one question: Why?

Even the station's program director admitted Monday it wasn't about low ratings; though I couldn't get detailed daypart fIgures last night, it was understood that her ratings were strong and WBTP placed ahead of prime competitor WLLD-98.7 FM (Wild 98.7) in the fall Arbitron figures I saw at the Radio and Records web site. See the station's history at a glance here.

Which leaves the distinct impression Fox got canned for doing her job too well. No wonder commercial radio is on the verge of vanishing.

Fox hasn't yet returned my calls and WBTP's program director isn't saying much, so all that's left is scurrilous speculation. So let's get to it:

Theory #1: Because Harvey's show is syndicated by Premiere Radio Networks, which is owned by Clear Chanel Radio, which also owns WBTP, it was cheaper for Clear Channel to bring in Harvey than keep paying for Fox's local crew.

Theory #2: The station is targeting a slightly older audience by bringing in the 50-year-old Harvey, leaving the younger audience to corporate sister WFLZ-93.3 FM.

Theory #3: This is a radical attempt to boost revenues at the end of a particularly tough year, advertising-wise.

I know enough to know that any or all of these explanations might be true. If you know as much or more, dear reader, feel free to express yourself here.

This also means that the first 100,000-watt FM station in Tampa Bay focused on urban -- meaning, black -- listeners now has a non-local morning show.  For Fox's former competitors at WLLD, it's got to feel like a reprieve -- acing out their biggest competition for young urban-oriented listeners with a 50-year-old guy who still makes jokes about going to church.

Seems a step backward for a station which was doing a good job of challenging WLLD for dominance in the morning.

First Fall Shows Canceled Already?

I noted in my Fall TV Preview that the sitcom Happy Hour was likely to be the first shows canceled by the networks. But who knew it would happen so soon?

The Futon Critic reported Monday that the fox series Happy Hour and Justice are both going on "hiatus" before the network's fall schedule is disrupted by baseball playoffs. Of course, shows that are pulled so quickly often never find their way back onto the schedule again.

Even when the networks bench a show, they sometimes don't have the guts to say it's been canceled.

CW Network Really Starts Tonight

Don't believe the hype. Despite an avalanche of stories last week talking up last week's debut of America's Next Top Model as the debut of the spankin' new CW network, tonight is where the rubber really meets the televised road.

That's because this week (and Sunday) the bastard child of the WB and UPN rolls out most of its shows -- including the two new ones -- giving you regular joes the first look at this Frankenstein monster which hopes to build a profitable network out of the heartrending girlie vibe of the WB and the knuckleheaded male-skewing focus of UPN.

Tonight, the Halloween theme continues with the Show Which Would Not Die -- 7th Heaven. Programming geniuses that they are, the suits at the CW realized viewers needed some familiar series to hook viewers in their first year, so they resurrected this family drama -- which was always, surprisingly, one of the WB's most-watched shows. Critics didn't see a preview tape -- the suits only sent out early copies of Gilmore Girls, Veronica Mars, Everybody Hates Chris and the new shows, perhaps telegraphing the shows they're worried about -- but I hear Jessica Biel is AWOL for a while and Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen make an appearance. Really.

Runaway, the new show, also debuts tonight. Back when New Kids on the Block and Marky Mark were big, who knew Mark Wahlberg would be the movie star and his older brother Donnie would be stuck in intriguing but short lived network TV shows like this one? The elder Wahlberg is a lawyer frmed for murder who goes on the run with his family -- kinda like 7th Heaven-meets-The Fugitive. Former 24 star Leslie Hope adds a little hot mom sensuality as Wahlberg's wife. Of course, the kids could give a shit that their dad's on the hook for murder -- they're pissed off that they keep changing schools and can't play football. Which is, for those of us stuck raising teenagers, the most realistic part of this whole show.

It will be interesting to see strong local affiliates such as WTOG-Ch. 44 rebrand themselves as CW stations. WTOG was one of the top UPN affiliates back in the day; can they notch similar numbers with the Gilmore Girls and 7th Heaven instead of Star Trek and Eve? Bet on it.

WTTA-Ch. 38 will have the bigger challenge -- the only reason people watched the channel at all was to see WB shows like Gilmore Girls and 7th Heaven. Now, stuck with the dreck that is the English-language telenovelas, I expect them to start seeing ratings equivalent to the Home Shopping Network and those late-night informercials.

Speaking of hype, NBC also bows its X-Men-lite drama, Heroes, tonight. But, like the sci-fi drama Surface before it, this show takes too long to get to the good stuff -- its characters' powers -- and advances the plot too slowly. Expect big-time disapointment, as the series' slow pace begins to register with viewers (though i hear a superpowered serial killer is on the way to juice the situation just a bit).

Nancy Grace Has No Shame

A friend once noted that the main characteristic which many of society's most infamous people share these days is a glorious absence of shame.

It allows them to keep pursuing money, fame or power by doing things that people with actual scruples and mores could never bring themselves to do.

Which brings us to CNN Headline News' Nancy Grace.

The Associated Press has an interesting story about how Grace has continued to ride the disappearance of Leesburg 4-year-old Trenton Duckett to higher ratings, despite badgering his mother on air about the child's disappearance less than 24 hours before she killed herself.

As I feared, news that the police always considered Melinda Duckett a suspect has only emboldened Grace to keep banging away on the story, running advertisements for her show featuring the boy's picture while pressing the notion that her highly speculative coverage has been proven right.

But I keep wondering what might have happened if Grace hadn't stuck her nose in what was going on. Is it possible that Melinda might still be alive to answer questions from the police? Is it possible they might have a better idea of what has happened to Trenton? At what point does a TV star desperate for ratings juice consider the impact her cross examinations might have on the case itself?

I'm tempted to repeat the old line used on Joe McCarthy: "At long last, have you no shame?" Unfortunately, when it comes to Nancy Grace's antics -- and her CNN bosses' refusal to rein her in -- we already know the answer to that question.

Bill Blows His Top

  I know. Everybody's buzzing about Clinton's angry response to Fox News' Chris Matthews questioning him on his administration's response to the threat of Osama bin Laden.

Of course, depending on your political persuasion, you either think he lost his mind in a defensive rant or finally stood up to a right-leaning network seeking to mischaracterize his presidency.

What amuses and disappoints me most is all the folks -- especially Wallace -- who are acting as if Clinton's anger is surprising. Clinton, who has always had a chip on his shoulder about how the media treated him during the Whiwater/Travelgate/Paula Jones/Lewinsky scandals, was already P.O.'ed about the way ABC's Path to 9/11 tried rewriting the history of that incident.

So it makes sense he would be sensitive about questions which seemed to echo the same idea: that he didn't do enough to stop bin Laden. And Clinton's temper is another well known quantity.

So, whether or not you agree with his politics, acting like it's a surprise that the guy got upset at the suggestion that 3,000 Americans might have died because he wasn't doing his job, seems disingenuous, to say the least.

It also plays into an obvious GOP/Conservative spin on this issue: The hysterical left losing its cool. And while we all wallow in the backbiting about events which happened five years ago, the details of Clinton's actual initiative have been lost in the media noise.

The saddest thing about all this posturing on both sides is how obvious it all is. It's been five years -- can't we talk about what's happening now, instead of wasting so much time arguing about what happened then? 

(click any image to enlarge)

   

Best TV Ever: Eric Deggans Edition

I'm cranking out some stuff for the newspaper to hit print in weeks to come -- the first few weeks of October are jam-packed with interesting television -- so I've decided to present a column that I originally wrote for a different web site, in the prehistoric days B.B. (Before Blogging).

The guy who ran the site asked a bunch of people -- including my fellow critics Diane Werts and Robert Bianco, to list their favorite TV shows of all time. I liked the idea of doing it, because this is, hands down, the question I hear the most from anyone who discovers I am a professional couch potato.

To that end, I offer an updated version here; please feel free to list your own in the comments section, along with a few clues to why you listed the shows you did.

1. The Nat King Cole Show

I've only seen this one in archival footage and documentary tapes. Still, the sight of a suave, talented Cole trading vocal and piano licks with the likes of Mel Torme and Peggy Lee was an amazing source of pride -- especially in 1956, eight years before black people would gain the federally mandated right to vote in all states. And watching Cole prove he was more than just a slick balladeer with performances that revealed his true singing and piano playing prowess -- well, that was just icing on the cake.

2. The Richard Pryor Show

  Another series that didn't last long, this was ribald comic Richard Pryor's reward for acing several Saturday Night Live appearances and a special. Despite repeated inteference from the censors -- Pryor appeared in one sketch nude with his, um, "naughty bits" removed to symbolize what censors were doing to him -- it was incredibly funny, hinting at the comic feast to come when TV let comics such as Arsenio Hall and Chris Rock mine black culture to fuel their shows.

3. Saturday Night Live (first five seasons)

I remember stumbling on this show during its second or third episode, clicking channels late one Saturday night while my mother lay sleeping on the couch. It reminded of the days when I'd smuggle a Richard Pryor or Redd Foxx record into my room, turning down the volume so my mother couldn't hear the profanity-laced comedy routines. This was rock 'n' roll sketch comedy, weaving rock culture, stoner culture, college culture and New York culture into a potent stew that was irresistible for a fan of zietgist-tapping pop art. Even at a young age, I could tell this was something new, dangerous and fun.

4. The Sopranos (first season only)

Watch these 13 episodes and you see creator David Chase's complex vision fully realized -- a textured, darkly comic drama about a Mafia capo forced to realize the mother he adores is his worst enemy. No other storyline mined since has presented the same level of drama and artistic fulfillment, making you wish Chase had folowed his first instinct and let Tony kill his mother at the end of the first season's final episode (example of network TV-friendly version here).

5. Good Times (first season only)

Yeah, Jimmie Walker's J.J. character was a coon in teenager's clothing, but John Amos and Esther Rolle's depiction of hard working, project-living parents in Chicago's South Side reminded me of a dozen families I knew growing up in my own ghetto home in Northwest Indiana. Put simply, Good Times was the first time I saw a family on TV that looked like the ones I knew (my father wasn't in my home, so it wasn't like mine). They had money troubles, worried about getting and keeping jobs, fretted about racism and struggled with the knowledge that so many were doing so much better than they were. Then Amos left the show and it turned into "the J.J. Hour" - destroying a powerful program.

6. Don Kirshner's Rock Concert

Kirshner was a record executive with severe stage fright -- Paul Shaffer's dead-on impression of his deer-in-the-headlights delivery of band intros during an SNL Blues Brothers skit remains a classic -- who somehow managed to offer the hippest late night music showcase of the late 70s and early '80s. I remember being glued to a live performance of "Message in a Bottle"-era Police, British ska experts The Specials, Earth Wind and Fire knockoffs Cameo, and many other bands years before MTV would make such appearances routine. For a young music fan, watching Kirshner's show -- before he began letting disco bands lip synch performances -- was like mainlining musical ecstasy.

7. The Twilight Zone

For a young fan of science fiction and comic books, this was heaven -- a TV show that took all those storytelling techniques seriously and weaved compelling, classic tales out of them. I couldn't know at the time that literary heavyweights like Ray Bradbury were making the magic behind the scenes. All I knew was that the episode showing bookworm Burgess Meredith sitting down in a city depopulated by nuclear war, preparing to spend his days blissfully reading his beloved literature, only to break his glasses -- that was pure TV heaven.

8. Roots

It made me angry for weeks, mostly because it made real how my ancestors were stripped of everything that they had -- their homes, family, heritage and self-respect -- forced to a new land where they would be treated like animals for the rest of their days. It was a potent lesson in the facts of slavery, exposing exactly how it all unfolded in a way that viewers could never forget. Even discovering that Alex Haley may have plagiarized or manufactured material in the book didn't change the way it changed me.

9. Star Trek

Nine movies, five TV series and countless geek jokes later, it's easy to take this 40-year franchise for granted. But before Lost creator J.J. Abrams makes Trek cool again, it's worth tipping a hat to the classic series, which was the first non-anthology series to take science fiction seriously. Racism. Nationalism. Cold war politics. Global unity. Look beneath the bad makeup and dates special effects and its all there, disguised as a science fiction adventure show creator Gene Rodenberry once called "Wagon Train to the stars."

10. The Daily Show

At a time when America's war machine is at full throttle, our country's leaders and its enemies locked in a dance of aggression which oddly benefits both, Jon Stewart and his cohorts have offered a more incisive analysis of America's BS than any pundit around. I'm not sure if I'm ashamed or angry that Americans are so tuned out to journalists that it takes a snappy, inventive comedy show to inform them of the excesses politicians committ in their name. But I'm sure glad somebody's shakin' the cages.

(click on any image to enlarge, and feel free to add to/argue with my list in the comments section)

The Dennis Miller Rope-A-Dope: Insult You While Making You Laugh

I'll say this for comic Dennis Miller: he has mastered the art of the backhanded put-down.

As we were ending a short interview Tuesday, he left me with a parting jab that I couldn't help laughing at, even as I realized he was going for the jugular, comedy-wise. More on that later.

We had convened to talk about his new gig as the self-described "Andy Rooney" of Fox News Channel, providing commentaries once a week for Hannity and Colmes, beginning Friday night. He's also appearing in concert Oct. 6 at Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater and Oct. 8 at Ven Wetzel Hall in Sarasota.

And he couldn't help reacting to a quote from Bill Maher, which Maher backpedaled from and then un-recanted, in which he complained CBS wouldn't allow him to speak about religion in its Free Speech segment on Katie Couric's new newscast.

"Bill’s my friend, but I saw him ask a question: If this is CBS, what am I to assume about Fox?" said Miller, calling from his home office. "And since I’m the guy who does the –- I think we’re probably going to wind up calling the thing Real Free Speech now -- but since I do real free speech on the Fox network, I’m just answering the question. Never, ever, has anyone even asked me what (my commentaries are) about, for God’s sake. It just makes me laugh where Fox is thought to be this unholy cabal where people are told what to do and given marching orders. Nobody ever said a word to me. They just hired me and said talk about what you want to talk about.”

But isn't it easier for Fox News Channel to give somebody free reign when they know the commentator's view is already close to a perspective they support -- especially given Miller's outspoken support of both President Bush and the war in Iraq.

"“They don’t’ know – I’m politically all over the map," he said. "I’m for gay marriage, I think abortion is wrong but I’m pro-choice. I have pretty eclectic politics. I’m proactive about the war on terror. (It's) hard to nail me down, but I can tell you they’ve never said one thing to me about what are you going to talk about, or how are you going to talk about it. So, that’s about all you can ask of an employer, right?”

What remains surprising about Miller is how completely he has jettisoned the smartass intellectualism of his early days. Early routines may have evoked French philosphy and classic novels; these days, he spends more time time talking about his post-9/11 fear of terrorism and the working class values imported from his native Pittsburgh.

"The good thing about Pittsburgh,it's a good place to be raised…it doesn’t tolerate assholes," he said "You’re either a good guy or you're a bad guy...(And) when I’m in Los Angeles having these incredibly surreal moments where nobody’s saying anything and everybody’s talking incessantly, I always have that Pittsburgh voice in my head – shut up, smile, get the job, move on.”

And the relation to 9/11?

“It steels you in the pragmatics of life," Miller said. "Maybe that’s why I jumped ship (from liberal politics) after 9/11. It just seemed pragmatic to me. It’s the same thing I tell my kids – if a bully comes up to you five or six times, just walk away. If he pushes you, still walk away. If he pushes you again, you’ve got to turn around and kick him in the nuts. And I think that’s what Bush is doing.”

I'm going to try pulling together a small feature on the Miller-man for the newspaper, so I don't want to tip too much. But as I began to ask him whether fear isn't pushing us into abandoning core values of freedom and fairness -- and whether the Bush administration isn't exploiting that fear to boost its approval ratings -- Miller peeled off the kid gloves, just a little bit.

The opening I gave him: a question about the rumor that George "macaca" Allen asked him to run for the U.S. Senate against Barbara Boxer in California.

"It seems like a jive job. Seems like you’re sitting in a room all day with the kids from grade school who, if the teacher had forgotten to give homework, would remind them...(And) I don’t think I’m equipped. I think they need better folks than me. If you’re saying the shit’s hit the fan, let’s start getting stand up (comics) in there, that’s as wacky as your other view. What are we going to do next, make you Secretary of Defense?” 

Ouch. But a fitting end to an interview with a comic whose words used to send me to the dictionary and now just make me shake my head in bewilderment.

New Name Same as the Old Name for Weekly Planet

If you've seen their website today, you already know this is true: The Weekly Planet this week is changing its name back to the name it started with in the late '80s, Creative Loafing.

News of this impending change leaked back in May, when the Tampa-based alternative newsweekly accidentally printed a full run of more than 84,000 papers with the Creative Loafing masthead.

As some may know, the Atlanta-based company which owns the Planet is called Creative Loafing Media, along with its other newspapers in Atlanta and Charlotte. Back in May, publisher Ben Eason and editor David Warner told me the name change was mostly about putting the same brand on all their print products.

"It’s not a name change at all, but a return to a name the newspaper once had," Warner said. "In identifying ourselves to users of the web site and national advertisers, Creative Loafing as a name was more recognizable. At the same time, kind of personally -- the Weekly Planet frequently confuses people and reminds them of Superman’s publication. There’s just so long you can (tell people) 'No it’s the WEEKLY Planet not the DAILY Planet,' before you say OK. Time to change."

And about that mistaken press run in May? "“Brain fart is the word I used," Warner said, laughing. "Maybe on some subconscious level we’re used to seeing it on the other papers. I really believe it was a massive brain fart.”

Gotta love an editor willing to hand THAT quote to one of his semi-competitors. And gotta hate a guy who got so wrapped in transitioning to TV Critic that he almost forgot it was in his notebook.

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Real Damon Meltdown or a Clever Kimmel Bit?

The latest bit of viral video making the rounds these days is a clip of Matt Damon appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live after getting bumped 12 times for a lack of time. And Kimmel, prankster that he is, spends so much time showing the old clips of him bumpnig Damon and stretching out his introduction, that when Damon sits down, Kimmel has no time left for him.

Damon is shown blowing a gasket as the credits roll and storming off. But my money is on then otino that this is a clever bit.

First, Ben Stiller is shown in the audience checking his watch, obviously signalling the coming joke (how did the director know to cut to him?) Second, last I looked at a Jimmy Kimmel guest list, names like Xzibit and Johnny Knoxville were topping the list; with a roster like that, you're going to bump Matt Damon? Not once, but 13 times?

Even Kimmel doesn't have the stones to tempt the showbiz gods like that.

I think.    

 

 

Wanna Know Why Some Newspapers are Dying a Dinosaur's Death?

Riddle me this, blogosphere buddies: What is the most important, most explosive, most exciting change underway in media right this moment?

If you said the explosion of television and digital media, you get a gold star. And you know more than executives at both the Indianapolis Star and Dallas Morning News.

Both those newspapers have eliminated TV Critic positions at a time where there's never been more television on the airwaves, or more devices for accessing it.

If you want to know why Belo-owned Dallas Morning News pushed out longtime critic Ed Bark -- long considered the dean of critics nationally, both for his 26-year tenure and or his consistent quality work -- read his blog. There, Bark lays out his side of how Belo first prohibited him from writing about local television -- because Belo owns one of the local stations -- while promising to relent at some point.

But it never happened. And then the paper's entertainment writers were told when the latest round of buyouts were at hand that they had better take them or risk discharge. So now, Uncle Barky is gone after nearly 30 years' covering television for Belo and the Morning News.

And he's speaking out. Even though he hasn't yet gotten the check from his buyout. Talk about intestinal fortitude.

Here's his beginning:

"Every dog has his day. So this is Bark unleashed on the new unclebarky.com

I didn't get a chance to say goodbye to readers of The Dallas Morning News, where for better or worse my TV columns and stories had been housed since June 1, 1980. We were told that upper management approval would be required for any and all farewells. In other words I couldn't have been truthful about my real reasons for leaving a newspaper that had provided me with great opportunities and experiences, as well as a very gainful living. I'm sincerely thankful for that.

What I'm feeling now, however, is an urge to strike back in the one way that seems both just and justified. It's grounded in principle. Honest.

DMN management's recent decision to mostly cover national network television with wire service copy left me without much of a playing field. "Localism" is the new mantra, but I'd been muzzled on that front since Feb. 3, 2000. That's when Belo Corp., owner of the DMN and Dallas affiliate WFAA-TV (Channel 8), instituted a ban on critiquing or covering local TV news stations in what now is the country's sixth-largest TV market.

Exceptions to that edict have been ratings stories during the three annual major "sweeps" months and a bare handful of enterprise efforts. They've included a Nov. 13, 2003 column on anchor Clarice Tinsley's 25th anniversary at KDFW-TV (Channel 4). I had to lobby hard for that one, though, after the paper began promoting its considerable sports section coverage of anchor Dale Hansen's 20th anniversary at Belo-owned Channel 8. Somehow that didn't seem quite fair. Even top management had no defense for honoring Dale and ignoring Clarice."

And here's his end:

"That's what this brand new Web site is all about. My son, Sam, and my daughter, Liz, have separate non-TV "bureaus" that I hope you'll check out, too. Hey, it's the least the old man could do. But if TV's your game, then I'm going to try to make a go of it. I'll need lots of help and "hits" to put up more than a token fight. The stamina of 10 Tarzans would help, too. But I feel I've got one more battle cry left in me. Maybe I'm not "dynamic" enough for the new DMN. Those of us who parted ways basically are being portrayed that way in the well-practiced rhetoric of upper management.

In the end, though, I figure it comes down to this. (Belo CEO) Robert W. Decherd and (Morning News publisher) James M. Moroney III were born to lives of wealth, privilege and entitlement.

I'm the son of working class parents from Racine, WI, both of whom are deceased and neither of whom finished high school.

Dammit, I kind of like my chances."

I have nothing but high hopes for Uncle Barky: Both because he's a great guy and because I may be living his story 10 or 15 years from now. Hopefully, by then, there will be a job available at UncleBarky.com.

Do CNN Executives Watch Their Own Shows, Anymore?

It's getting tougher to be a CNN fan these days.

Not just because Headline News star Nancy Grace had the stones to go on ABC's Good Morning America last week and shrug off the death of a mother who committed suicide less than 24 hours after appearing on her show. But because Grace isn't the only nutjob running the halls there.

Here's a quick list:

Nancy Grace

Nutjob-ism: Acts as if she literally believes her personal importance is growing every second she appears on camera. Has a dangerous habit of assuming most people accused of a crime are guilty of it. And allows her righteous zeal to justify such horrific acts as asking Elizabeth Smart for gruesome details of her abduction and accusing a mother of abducting her 4-year-old son with hardly any evidence.

Glenn Beck

Nutjob-ism: Comes across like a younger, slicker version of Rush Limbaugh, pressing his conservative philosophy on a below-the-radar show airing on a channel normally known for entertainment reports and weather bulletins. Joining Grace on Headline News' gussied-up primetime, he's claimed putting Braille on restrooms for blind people is political correctness gone amok and compared Al Gore's take on global warming to Hitler's falsehoods about Jews. Really.

Lou Dobbs

Nutjob-ism: Seems to think his words are literally growing in importance with every second he spends on camera. Has taken appropriately incisive viewpoints about the middle class squeeze and illegal immigration and exagerrated them to cartoonish degrees -- turning CNN into his personal soapbox whenever he opens his mouth on camera. He's also used information from the Council of Conservative Citizens -- a group linked to racist ideas and hate groups -- without explaining the group's questionable origins or the prejudicial nature of the material.

Larry King

Nutjob-ism: Nevermind that he's the softest of softball interviewers; King, who likes to boast that he does zero research before interviewing someone, often misses key questions, confuses details and rarely challenges guests on their inconsistencies. I remember watching him, in different shows, confuse the names of the actors with the character names when speaking with the cast of Friends, and confuse the names of the male actors on ER when Noah Wyle and George Clooney were two of the biggest TV stars on the planet.

How can a network which committs such good journalism every day tolerate these halfwits tarnishing their name?

Fall TV Really Starts Here:

CBS, ABC and NBC have scheduled the bulk of their new and returning series debuts this week, so here is where it really starts to feel like a new fall TV season.

Check my story from the fall TV preview on how to catch all the TV shows you'll feel compelled to check out as the season unfolds. For now, make sure you catch Studio 60, Smith, Kidnapped, ER and My Name is Earl (for Earl, I will say just two things about the first two episodes back: Joy steals a truck with a surprise inside and Catalina dances in a strip club!)

Also, ABC's Supernanny will feature a family from Palm Harbor tonight -- Jeff and Rosemary Uva. Here's what ABC had to say about their episode:

"The Uva boys, Trevor (7) and Travis (4), disrespect authority figures, curse, insult and bully their classmates. They expect their parents to do everything for them - in fact the seven-year-old insists his mom help him go to the potty. Mom Rosemary owns and operates a pre-school full time, and is too tired by day's end to give her boys the attention and love they desperately need. She craves more help from her husband, John, a stay-at-home dad who is admittedly clueless and detached from his sons. He brings them to Rosemary's pre-school every day because he doesn't know what else to do with them. The boys have gained a reputation for being the worst behaved kids there, and their parents have essentially given up. Jo enters the equation with a master plan for this family to wake up to the reality of their situation. Her ultimate goal is to boost John's pride in his role as stay-at-home dad, teach both parents to step up their discipline measures, and help the family bond and become happier, on "Supernanny," MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 18 (10:00-11:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network. "

We all know why folks really watch shows like these: To reassure themselves that, bad as their parenting decisions may be, there are plenty of folks out there who do a worse job. Here's hoping the Uvas don't get nailed too badly on national TV.

Separated at Birth: Meri and Katie?

No wonder NBC didn't blink when Couric took off...

 

 

Debra Lafave Naked! And, uh, Something on Survivor

When I talked to infamous Apprentice contestant Omarosa Manigault Stallworth last night, she's hadn't yet watched the first episode of Survivor creator Mark Burnett's racially-divided version of the classic reality TV competition.

Still, even though the inagural episode was sitting in her TiVo waiting for her perusal, "O" was pointedly cynical about the whole exercise.

We first met a few weeks ago, when she called after my first column on the whole mess was printed. Besides namechecking her in the story, I'd pointed out how this was just going to bring Burnett's subtle handling of race issues on Survivor and The Apprentice to the forefront; it was a unique enough take that she felt compelled to call my cellphone on a Saturday and commiserate.

Last night, speaking by cellphone from Los Angeles, she was similarly sour about it all.

“He’s so cynical about race anyway. Mark Burnett, the ultimate social reearcher – he doesn’t think race is an issue anyway. My question would always be -- what I ask people to think about when I do lectures about this stuff -- is what did they leave out? What are you not seeing?”

That's always the problem with reviewing reality TV shows. To turn a Rumsfeldian phrase: You don't know what you don't know.

As I noted in the fall TV preview, someone had tipped me that this edition of Survivor would avoid accusations of spreading stereotypes by focusing on tensions within each group -- at least, initially. And that was the story of the debut episode, for sure. (watch a broadband stream of the first episode here.)

The urbanized, assimilated young folks in the Asian American tribe, Puka, laughed at the old world attitude of nail salon manager and former Vietnam refugee Anh-Tuan "Cao Boi" (pronounced "cowboy") Bui, the third oldest competitor. Nevermind that he cured a headache for buff fashion director Brad Virata through a massage designed to eliminate his "bad wind" (apparently, leaving a red mark on his forehead was a worse transgression).

The Hispanic tribe, Aitu, bristled as the most out-of-shape member, heavy metal axe-grinder Billy Garcia, laid around while others worked. And the African American tribe, Hiki, floundered as jazz musician Sekou Bunch tried to assert leadership and then split the group along gender lines.

You could almost hear the extra excitement in host Jeff Probst's voice during the typically high-velocity opening, as contestants were scrambling around the ship which ferried them to their islands, grabbing as many provisions as they could carry in two minutes.

"It is a social experiement like never before," he shouted. "This is more than a test of survival skills. This is also a test of social skills. Out here, it's the impressions you make on the other castaways that determines your fate."   

But this Survivor unfolded much like the other ones -- down to the first ejectee, Bunch, who at age 45 just happened to be the oldest (and most overbearing) contestant on board. His loss only seemed to confirm another Survivor triusm: Don't try to lead too early; you'll only piss everybody off.

Those with an agenda may gripe (or celebrate) that the black team was the first to lose a challenge -- in typical Survivor fashion, they lost because they couldn't work together effectively in assembling a boat divided like a puzzle.

But I sensed a deeper intention here: Burnett's effort to show that race doesn't matter so much, after all.

Unfortunately, what last night's show really revealed was that the excitement over the race divisions may be so much smoke and mirrors -- first, because the tribes are mostly separated, so there's little cross-group tension yet.

And secondly, because Burnett's agenda seems to be proving that those who focus on race difference are wrong-headed (expect one member from each tribe to be put in another tribe before long, just to ratchet up the race tension).

Of course, because he controls every aspect of the production -- from the casting to the setting to the challenges to the editing -- Burnett can really make this show say or mean anything he wants to.

Note to Jeff: It's not really a social experiment if you can put your finger on the scale anytime you want to.

Why the Headline?

Considering how many people are searching for Lafave stuff these days, I figure I'd lead with a headline sure to turn up in a few hundred search engines (I've said before that I'm shameless about courting pageviews, didn't I?)

Anyways, I promise I'll have something on Lafave madness later today, but I've got an interview and a Floridian story to crank out in the meantime...and click on any photo to enlarge it....(hmm,which one will get the most clicks, I wonder?)

UPDATE: Because I promised -- what I had planned to note about Lafave was a simple thought. When I first saw Lauer's Lafave interview, I assumed the reason he presented no quotes from anyone critical of Lafave was that it was a condition of receiving her cooperation.

I have since been told by a reliable source that there were no conditions on the interview. And that the mother of the boy she slept with -- whose interview with MSNBC's Rita Cosby was plastered all over the channel alongside clips from Lauer's talk -- was not contacted by NBC for the Dateline story.

So it seems they didn't even try to present a balanced story, turning Dateline NBC into a showcase for Lafave's self-centered version of events. So much for journalistic balance...

Nancy Grace on the Other Side of the Pointed Questions For Once

It's the question of the moment amongst some familiar with the case of missing 2-year-old Trenton Duckett:

Did Nancy Grace finally go too far?

The question surfaces following the suicide Friday of Melinda Duckett, mother of Trenton, who went missing Aug. 27 from his bedroom at his mother's Leesburg apartment.

Melinda appeared on Grace's CNN Headline News show Friday with her estranged husband Joshua and an array of pundits. When the mother resisted providing details about her movements with Trenton on the day of his disappearance,  the host took a prosecutorial turn, asking Melinda four times if she had taken a polygraph lie detector test.

(See a blogger dissect Melinda's MySpace postings here. And see my pal Steven Stock's excellent story on the postings for WESH-TV in Orlando here.)

Here's an excerpt of Grace's interview, aired Friday:

"GRACE: Right, why aren`t you telling us and giving us a clear picture of where you were before your son was kidnapped?

    MELINDA  DUCKETT: Because I`m not going to put those kind of details out?

   GRACE: Why?

    MELINDA  DUCKETT: Because I was told not to.

   GRACE: Ms. Duckett, you are not telling us for a reason. What is the reason? You refuse to give even the simplest facts of where you were with your son before he went missing. It is day 12.

    MELINDA  DUCKETT: (INAUDIBLE) with all media. It`s not just there, just all media. Period.

   GRACE: Let`s go to Dr. Lillian Glass, psychologist. Weak spots?

   GLASS: This doesn`t make any sense to me. And the fact that she`s skirting around the issue and can`t get to the point concerns me a lot. Her reaction is not the typical reaction of a mother who has a missing child, whose child was taken from the bed when she says I don`t cry my eyes out. Most people would be emotional about it and the fact that she`s been skirting the issue through this entire interview concerns me.

   GRACE: Rosie, do we still have Ms. Duckett with us? Joining us shortly will
be her mother, Nancy Eubank, who says that she saw little Trenton the day
before. Ellie wasn`t it on Saturday that she saw him? Rosie let me know when we get hooked up with her mom. I want to go back out right now to Marc Klaas? Marc, thoughts?

   KLAAS: Well yeah, you know Nancy, there is some really petty stuff going on here right now and I think --

   GRACE: I don`t think it`s petty. I`m sure I understand what you`re referring to, but not giving details about the disappearance of your child that could help find him if I may add, if he is still alive, I have a big problem with that.

   KLAAS: Nancy, in these kinds of cases the media is never the problem. The
media is always a friend, it`s about sharing information. It`s about
transparency, it`s about working with the authorities. It`s about working with the media and it`s about getting over that hump that people are looking at you. And quite frankly,  Melinda  is not doing that very well at all.

   GRACE: Marc, let`s just get real. And I don`t want to bring up any painful
memories for you or Mark Lunsford. Ok, you know that, I would never do that to you. But the reality is, this is day 12. The reality is this child statistically
is very well dead. And for that mother not to cooperate and not to give a
timeline doesn`t make sense to me."

The interview was taped last Thursday. Hours before it aired on Friday, Melinda was found dead by her own hand, shot in the head in her grandparents' home in the Villages of Lady Lake.

Immediately, those who knew of interview began to ask: did Grace push too hard?

The host, who declined to speak about he incident with me, defended herself on air Monday.

"I do not feel that our show is to blame for what happened to  Melinda  Duckett. The truth...is not always nice or polite or easy to go down. Sometimes it`s harsh, and it hurts.

   I`d like to also point out that  Melinda  committed suicide before that
interview ever aired. It had never gone to air. The purpose of this show is all
about finding Trenton Duckett. That`s what we`re about. And I`d like to also point out that, seemingly, police agreed with my line of questioning. You`ve got to know that we are deeply saddened to learn about her death,  Melinda Duckett`s, the mother of Trenton, the day after she taped our program. It was last week.

   I hope the viewers keep in mind that this show is one of the single most
active in looking for missing children. And as part of that, I often -- always,
I would hope, I ask parents the same questions I would ask any mom and dad about an investigation in a missing child case, where they were when the child went missing, what happened, what`s the timeline, anything to help find that missing child. I also ask whether the parents have taken a polygraph, as I did with  Melinda.  And at that point, and at this point, Trenton is still missing, and our focus is on finding him."

Mark Lunsford, whose daughter Jessica was abducted from his Citrus County home and killed in February 2005, has been helping the family garner media attention and spread word about Trenton's disappearance.

His reaction was mixed in talking with St. Peterburg Times reporter John Frank: ""Nancy Grace is trying to salvage her career right now," he said. "(But) I don't think it's Nancy Grace's fault. She was hard (on Melinda) but she just wanted some answers," he said.

Trenton's father, Joshua, told Frank he didn't think Grace did anything wrong: ""I think she (Melinda) was really holding back answers," he said, noting he was one of the first people targeted by police and media because of his strained relations with Melinda -- which included a rerstrained order placed against him after he threatened to kill both of them. "I don't think she was treated unfairly by the media. I had people totally turn against me because I had the finger pointed at me."

So, dear blog reader, what do you think?

I was surprised at how mercilessly Grace was dissecting the case on air, even when the parents of the boy were on the show. It's one thing to have pundits floating ill-informed theories on their own; but when the parents of the missing boy are at hand, listening to people they've never met blithely consider whether they abducted or killed their son -- that seemed particularly insensitive.

And Grace has made Trenton's disappearance a pointed cause on her show, even airing ads promoting their endless speculation on the matter. Earning ratings points on the back of a missing child is never pretty.

And police are caught in a curious quandary. They need the media attention to bring in leads, but the constant media scrutiny -- a TV reporter was in Melinda's grandparents' home hours before her death -- can also have a corrosive affect on average people suddenly caught in a media whirlwind at the worst point in their lives.

It's true, police have also complained that Melinda was evasive with them (she claimed during Grace's interview that the FBI asked her not to speak with any other law enforcement agencies). And who knows why someone at the center of such a personal and public tragedy would choose to end their life?

But this situation reminds me uncomfortably of the incident in Sarasota back in 2000, when a couple was arrested for killing the husband's ex-wife after the three of them appeared on The Jerry Springer Show to discuss their friction with each other.

Such emotional incidents release raw emotions. And too often, TV hosts seem unwilling or unable to consider the impact of the emotional pinballs they set in motion.

Fox News Channel Comes to St. Petersburg

Next month, FNC will bring its morning show Fox & Friends, afternoon newscast Studio B with Shepard Smith and evening newscast The Fox Report with Shepard Smith to the Don Cesar Reach Resort as part of its Thank You America Tour.

It's a 10-city tour aimed at celebrating the channel's 10th anniversary, Oct. 7. I've already asked for interviews with someone from one of the shows for a story, but given my past history with Fox, I'm not holding my breath.

Just hope no one gets between Shepard and a parking space at the Don (scroll to bottom of page for story, click on any photo to enlarge).

Ed Gordon Replaced on NPR Show Less Than One Month After Speaking to Me

National Public Radio announced today it is replacing Ed Gordon, host of its black-focused News & Notes show -- less than one month after I wrote a story for the St. Petersburg Times detailing the program's declining audience and organizational problems, quoting Gordon as saying ""People say I haven't connected with audiences. ... That's probably true because the show hasn't connected with me."

NPR talked up the credentials of its new host, Farai Chideya, who has worked for a range of news outlets and has long been considered a rising star at the organization.  With Farai at the helm, NPR hopes to develop an online platform for the show featuring content from the audience and new media elements (see her way-cool online journal Pop and Politics here).

It's always tough to know the effects you have as a journalist on an evolving situation. But I think my piece did expose the show's problems to a wider audience and perhaps push all involved to resolve their issues a little sooner.

Gordon, for example, is based in New York, while the show's staff was based in Los Angeles, where they had convened originally to work on the show's predecessor, The Tavis Smiley Show. In Chideya, NPR now has a host who lives in the same city and the show's staff. Novel concept.

And though people in St. Petersburg may have a tough time hearing the show, I heard from fans of the program from across the country when my story broke last month -- professing their affection for the program and their hope that NPR would find a way to fix it.

The one thing I'm sure NPR fears most is a replay of their conflict with Tavis Smiley, who abruptly left the organization in 2004 saying NPR's pace of change was too slow and they didn't want to spend enough money to promote his program to black listeners (others note that Smiley wound up developing a new show he now owns for Public Radio International; and his current show airs weekends, which allows him to do his TV show for PBS weeknights).

So far, Gordon hasn't commented to me, so NPR may luck out there. Chideya also declined to comment. Everyone seems to be hoping this transition will pass without too much bad blood getting exposed.

NPR plans on pairing the new News & Notes with a new show under development by former ABC News correspondent Michel Martin. The idea is to present a programing block for large urban markets and the African American Public Radio Consortium -- an alliance of about 22 stations, mostly based at historically black colleges, which serve predominantly black audiences.

Hanging in the balance -- the question of whether the publicly-funded NPR can truly develop shows for listeners outside its white, college-educated core target audience.

Apple: Up to the Minute

Proof that i have way too much time on my hands today: two posts in one day.

This time, its to note that Macworld has the most stable live blog of Apple's big announcements today, avoiding the slow loading and crashing that has made reading Gizmodo and Engadget so frustrating.

A digest of their reports:

"Steve Jobs opened Tuesday's "It's Showtime!" special event with a round of applause from the audience, after showing the new Bob Dylan iTunes ad that's been in circulation on television in recent days.

Jobs noted that Apple shipped over 60 million iPods in total by the end of the last quarter, and joking showed an iPod toilet paper holder to demonstrate the widespread adoption of iPod accessories.

Jobs remarked that iTunes has a market share of 88 percent of legal US downloads.

The iPod video

Without further ado, Jobs introduced Apple's new and improved video-capable iPod, with a screen that's 60 percent brighter. Battery life has been increased from 2 hours while playing video to 3.5 hours, Jobs says. New earphone design, gapless playback and games are also on tap. 30 GB iPod video now at $249 and 80 GB model at $349.

New iPod nano, with front made from aluminum, periced from $149 to $249.

1 GB iPod shuffle priced at $79.

New version of iTunes software allows iPod to move content between authorized computers, manage iPod through the software and allows separate sections for different forms of media -- with higher resolution for visual shows.

Films -- There are 75 films available, priced at $9.99 for older films, $12.99 for preorders and $14.99 for new releases. Movies take a halfhour to download by cable modem, but users can watch them after a minute into downloading.

And iTV -- code name for a product to be made available in 2007 which wirelessly networks home computer, TV and iPod."

See more -- and more current updates -- at the Macworld site.

Debra Lafave Speaks: Too Bad She's Not Really Saying Anything