When a Newspaper Dies, Who Gets the Blame? And Miss USA Tara Conner Admits Cocaine Use - Surprises No One

Now that's I've finally gotten something in print about the train wreck that was the death of Media General's youth-oriented, entertainment-focused tabloid Orange, I can tackle the one question asked most often of me by my Times colleagues after they read the print version this morning.

Should we feel sorry for fired editor Mitzi Gordon?

The situation: Gordon was let go a week after the company had to dump 15,000 papers because she approved publication of a story featuring the word c**t.

Argument for sorry: Media General took someone with just a few years' experience as an editor and had them develop, launch and produce a weekly entertainment tabloid with few resources. Up against established players like tbt* and Creative Loafing, Orange struggled to find an audience and a point of view. If you believe Gordon's words to me, she got inconsistent guidance on the boundaries of language and content and knocked herself out each week amassing a 20-page book with an array of freelancers.

Argument against sorry: Every editor knows the importance of keeping their superiors in the loop, especially when pushing the envelope in content. And Gordon admits in a comment to Sticks of Fire blog what she didn't tell me: that criticizing the decision to yank the story to Creative Loafing's Wayne Garcia may have been what really got her fired.

There's little doubt that Orange, originally conceived as a printed version of WFLA-Ch. 8's lame-o local entertainment show The Spot, got few resources. There was little advertising for it, distribution seemed spotty, even the paper it was printed on was awfully thin.

Indeed, I remember the day Orange debuted, I just happened to be in Tampa. So I drove down Kennedy Ave., one of the city's busiest streets, looking for a copy. I wound up driving all the way to Media General's NewsCenter headquarters; walked in the front door and asked the receptionist. It took her -- I exaggerate not -- 15 minutes to find someone who knew what Orange was and get a copy of it to me. On their launch day.

So I guess I do feel a little sorry for Gordon. Because even if she didn't know she was taking on an impossible task, her superiors surely did.

(Here's the story that got pulled; freelancer Greg Caracci posted it on his MySpace page; Here's a link to the fashion designer he profiled, who says she's trying to take back the c-word by putting it in the name of her business. Ahh, the idealism of youth...)

Miss USA Tara Conner Gives Dateline NBC a Scoop We Already Knew

Apparently, Dateline and Conner were the only folks in America who didn't assume she was doing more than drinking during her wild nights on the town, pre-rehab.

Here's the quotes forwarded by NBC. (And no, this isn't an excuse to post pix of Tara Conner or get people ding Tara Conner searches on Google to come to this Tara Conner item. Never...)

RE: Admitting to her cocaine use for the first time:

CONNER: I have done cocaine, yeah.

LAUER: So, how does it feel to say it?

CONNER: It gets it off my chest.  And to be honest with you, at first, I kind of held back on it a little bit, but there's no sense in it, because luckily, the great thing about getting everything out and being completely open and honest about things, it frees me from it.  So the more that I get it off my chest, the better I feel about myself.  It's not healthy for my recovery to...sit here and hold things back.

RE: The development of her addiction to alcohol:

CONNER:  Things started unraveling for me very early, at a very young age.  Probably about around 14.  I have the disease of alcoholism and addiction.  And when you put chemicals in your body and you have this disease, you're literally feeding this disease, which can distort your thinking, can make you very manipulative...you literally wear a mask.  So my entire life, I learned how to protect myself and how to wear a mask because I had all these insecurities within me...and today you have an honest girl.  You know, six months ago, before I went to rehab, it was a completely different...

RE: Her relationship with the Miss Universe Organization:

CONNER:  The friction was between me and the organization that I worked for. Especially my boss, Miss Paula, she is an amazing woman, by the way. But it wasn't their fault that there was friction.  It was completely on me.  The thing about an addict or an alcoholic, again, is we are manipulative.  We feel like we always have to have control.  And we feel like we're in control, which is what confuses us...but she always called me out.  And I could not stand it because no one-- no one, for some reason, had enough gumption to sit me down and say, "Look, take a look at yourself.  Look at the things that are around you"...I would never listen to anything that she said.  And then one day she got to me so much that I broke.  And the real Tara started to come out just a little bit, because I was vulnerable for a second.  But I never felt anything.  I never felt anything at all.

Police Finally Reunite: Fanboys Like Me Rejoice

I have been saying for weeks now, before Sting's well-placed trial balloons in the press, that this was going to happen.

So I wasn't surprised when CBS revealed todaythat the coolest band from the '80s, The Police, would finally come together Feb. 11 to open this year's Grammy awards.

How did I know? Partially, it was the nostalgia of the former bandmembers themselves.

One of the few books I read voraciously last year, guitarist Andy Summers excellent memoir (with the worst title I've ever seen) One Train later, was an extended pean to his bittersweet time with the supergroup. And drummer Stewart Copeland's uneven documentary pasting together home video footage he shot throughout the band's rise and fall,  Everyone Stares: The Police Inside and Out, showed how hard Copeland was willing to work to reminisce over their combative time together.

Indeed, when asked by Modern Drummer magazine recently about what would keep them from staging a reunion, Copeland replied simply: "Sting don't wanna."

What a difference an uneven album can make.

(Critical opinion begins here) Lately, Sting has been working overtime to stay relevant as a recording artist, and his highbrow release of a album based on Elizabethan-era composer John Dowling's work didn't help (neither did a brief muscial appearance on another creative product struggling to remain relevant, NBC's Saturday Night Live-based dramedy Studio 60). It was a top-seller on Billboard's classical charts; but for a pop star used to selling out stadiums, that's an awfully low bar to hurdle.

So now we have the Police-men returning just in time to promote their 30th anniversary, the release of a Police Around the World DVD set and a new sequel to their comprehensive Message in a Box box set.

You didn't think this was just about the music, did you?

(apologies to my pals at Stuck in the '80s for encroaching on their turf, but I'm a bona-fide Police maniac, dudes!)

CBS' release follows:

Legendary five-time GRAMMY® Award winners, The Police (Sting, Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers), to perform on the GRAMMY Awards for the first time when they reunite to open the show, on THE 49TH ANNUAL GRAMMY AWARDS, live from STAPLES Center in Los Angeles, Sunday, Feb. 11 (8:00-11:30 PM, live ET/ delayed PT) on the CBS Television Network.   

The Police join an impressive list of past GRAMMY Awards opening acts that includes reunions and once-in-a-lifetime performances: the ever-animated Madonna sharing the stage with the Gorillaz (2006); an all-star, stage-filled spectacle that featured The Black Eyed Peas, Maroon5, Gwen Stefani, Los Lonely Boys and Franz Ferdinand (2005); Prince and Beyoncé in an electrifying duet (2004), and the reunion of music legends Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel (2003).

David Letterman Celebrates His 25th Anniversary Thursday

Once again, the guy who kicked off his oddball late-night tlak show 25years ago returns, as Bill Murray helps David Letterman celebrate 25 years in late night TV Thursday. Too bad the audience keeps denying this comedy genius his full TV props, showing up in larger numbers for Jay Leno's lame-brained antics on NBC.

Here's the CBS press release:

DAVID LETTERMAN MARKS 25 YEARS IN LATE NIGHT TELEVISION,

THURSDAY, FEB. 1 ON THE CBS TELEVISION NETWORK

Guests Bill Murray and Cleveland Cavaliers Star LeBron James to Visit with Letterman on the Night of His Milestone

David Letterman marks 25 years in late night television on the LATE SHOW with DAVID LETTERMAN, Thursday, Feb. 1 (11:35 PM-12:37 AM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. 

Joining him on the show will be actor Bill Murray, who was the first guest on Letterman's groundbreaking "Late Night" program on Feb. 1, 1982 and was also the first guest on his inaugural LATE SHOW broadcast on Aug. 30, 1993. Also visiting Letterman on Thursday will be Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James.

On Feb. 1, 1982, David Letterman hit the stage of "Late Night with David Letterman" and that night, single-handedly changed the face of late night television forever. Now, 25 years later, Letterman continues to set the standard in late night.  With 4,506 broadcasts, 14,772 guest appearances, 14 Emmy Awards and 89 Emmy nominations to his credit, Letterman and his late night programs, "Late Night with David Letterman" and the LATE SHOW with DAVID LETTERMAN, are ranked among the best and most innovative television programs in the history of broadcasting.  Other than the late Johnny Carson, who hosted "The Tonight Show" for 30 years, no other late night host comes near Letterman in longevity, critical praise and award recognition.

After spending 11½ years at "Late Night with David Letterman," Letterman moved his show to the CBS Television Network on Aug. 30, 1993 and instantly created an immensely successful late night franchise for the Network.  Now in its 14th season on CBS, the LATE SHOW continues to shine: the CBS late night broadcast alone has been honored with nine Emmy Awards, 54 Emmy nominations, countless other accolades and critical acclaim for its original and inventive comedy, newsmaking guests and cutting-edge musical performances.

 

Me and David Hangin' at the Times; Trading Spouses Ends Badly

For me, meeting famous people I've admired for a while usually is a bad idea.

I don't know why, but the vibe is never the same. whatever I liked about there work usually isn't enough to create a bond in person and if we have a rapport talking by phone, it often doesn't translate (a really cool 90-minute telephone conversation with k.d. lang, for example, didn't prepare me for how awkward it would be to try hanging with her after a fantabulous gig at Ruth Eckerd Hall.)

Fortunately, that wasn't the case when I met David Simon.

Perhaps it's because the creator of The Wire and the author of the book NBC based its Homicide series on still approaches life like the Baltimore Sun cop writer he was 20 years ago. or maybe he's just comfortable around us print jockeys because he did it so long himself.

Regardless, when Simon stopped by the Times Friday to talk about storytelling, we had a great time. Simon keeps in touch with his journalism buddies, so we had lots of mutual acquaintances to gossip about, and he's unpretentious enough to put up with stupid questions about relating TV drama to journalism or how to transition from newspapers to TV production (his stock answer these days: "Write a book that NBC makes into a TV series, write a script for that series, and be lucky enough that Robin Williams decides to star in that particular episode as a guest star.")

He had a few other interesting things to say to us:

--The fifth and final season of The Wire also involves the mass media, with scenes filmed inside the newsroom of his former employer, The Baltimore Sun (Simon called their agreeing to let production in the building a "gutty" decision).

--He can't see himself doing another series for network TV, because they demand audiences be spoon fed stories with predictable characters.

--The key to producing books like Homicide and The Corner -- detailed takes on Baltimore's homicide unit and its worst drug-ravaged neighborhood, involving a year of research on each one -- is consistency, never lying and never trying to write your story until the year of research is done. The only way he knows to go beneath the surface of subjects is spend a great deal of time with them, until the walls fall down and enough life passes that understanding emerges.

--His partner, former cop and former teacher Ed Burns, convinced the local drug dealers that he and Simon weren't cops while researching The Corner, by helping a notorious drug gang enforcer get a tooth pulled.

--A member of the St. Petersburg police department who attended the talk said The Wire captures the guts of police work better than any other series -- right down to the dry-erase board with case names written in red for unsolved and black for solved  (adopted after police officials saw a similar board in NBC's Homicide series, which came from Simon's real-life research).

--The use of quotes in stories actually distances the reader from the subject, pulling them out of the subject's head. As Simon delved deeper into writing narrative stories for the Sun -- pieces that told stories from a particular character's perspective, like a novel -- he found himself using fewer quotes, and simply doing enough reporting to know what people in the stories were thinking and doing.

-- The first inkling he might write a book like The Corner, which essentially humanized some of the worst lawbreakers in society, drug dealers and users, came while he was with homicide detectives serving a search warrant while researching his first book. It was a crack house with no running water, garbage and feces everywhere, the poorest environment you could imagine. And as the cops had all the residents penned into an area, treating them harshly for the squalor they had allowed themselves to fall into, and young child asked to go get his homework for school. When Simon saw that child walk into the hopeless, squalid room and come out with a school book and homework, he knew there was another side to the story he was telling.

Trading Spouses Brings Tough Conclusion for St. Petersburg Couple

Turns out, the first installment of the two-part Trading Spouses episode starring St. Petersburg couple Abasi Baruti and Latoya Brown was just a warm-up; the concluding episode Friday revealed just how badly Baruti treated "God Warrior" Margeurite Perrin, and the revenge she exacted.

The two were shown arguing almost from the beginning, as Baruti's militant pro-black activism clashed with Perrin's conservative, white southern outlook. But Friday's show offered Baruti as the villain, showing him ignoring and insulting Perrin during a cookout with friends badly enough that she walked across the street to a stranger's home for refuge (it was so bad that area actvist Connie Burton, known as a bit of a hothead herself, became the voice of reason, telling Baruti to calm down and treat her better)

Baruti's actions made even less sense when you consider the ultimate twist of the series: though each family gets $50,000 for participating, the wife from the other family decides how the money is spent. So, it would seem the best strategy would involve treating the visiting mom nicely as possible, to keep her from donating all your money to charity or something.

Perrin didn't do that, but she did leave the money to the family member who treated her best during her stay -- requiring that $48,500 be given to the couple's 7-year-old daughter Shachaamah when she turns 18, more than a decade from now.

Talk about reaping what you sow -- even as the couple's appearance on the show irritates their compatriots in the pro-black local activist Uhuru Movement, they must now cope with the fact that their family won't get to access their payment for more than 10 years.

Hope Fox invests it wisely.

Orange Magazine Gone Already

If an email I got from a tipster is to be believed, Media General's answer to *tbt and Creative Loafing, Orange magazine, is taking a dirt nap -- less than five months after its debut.

The release I have says the magazine "has not met business expectations." But I can't help wondering if it was editor Mitzi Gordon's decision to publish a story earlier this month with the word c--- (a word for the female anatomy which I won't even print  on my blog) unmasked; a decision which forced the company to destroy the magazine's entire press run, once Gordon's bosses realized how the word was printed.

Creeative Loafing's Wayne Garcia has been all over this story, writing first about the halted press run and now about the magazine's demise on CL's Blurbex blog. He reports Gordon was fired after he revealed the press run mistake; score one for the old school alt-weekly crowd.

I wouldn't side with those who assume, however, that this is further proof that so-called mainstream outlets can't swin in the free weekly waters with the Creative Loafings of the world. Just means everybody involved has to agree on exactly what kind of magazine they're putting out.

One More Thing....

OKAY I know. I've got too many items in this blog post already. But you must, must, MUST read this profile of fired Regan books publisher Judith Regan in New York magazine today. Among the juicy, New York media-centered gossip bits: O.J. (or, rather, a trust benefitting his children) was paid $880,000 for If I Did It, which Regan wanted to call I Did It; Regan was fired not just for O.J., but for greenlighting another controversial book that imagined the scandalous life on baseball great Mickey Mantle; Regan's staffers were told she was fired before she knew, and before she was escorted from the building.

As with most of these kinds of stories, many of the good bits are delivered by anonymous sources, so you wind up trusting the author a lot as you read. But assuming most of this stuff is true, it's a curious discourse on the high stakes corporate jujitsu which erupts when risky projects go bad.   

Trading Spouses Comes to St. Petersburg and Finds the Uhuru Movement

If you're a member of the International People's Democratic Uhuru Movement and you get a chance to earn $50,000 participating in Fox TV's reality show Trading Spouses, it's the ultimate question.

Does stepping up mean selling out?

Not to Abasi Shomari Baruti, the 26-year-old former taxi driver and newspaper delivery guy who appears with wife Latoya Brown on Trading Spouses tonight. in October, Brown switched places for a week with the show's most notorious past participant, Marguerite "God Warrior" Perrin.

Officials at the movement -- a militant, socialist pro-black organization which has been an agressive critic of local police and mainstream media -- have rebuked them for the appearance, and for briefly mentioning the group on camera after agreeing not to. But Baruti sees no difference between earning $50,000 arguing with an eccentric white woman on TV and making $500 working for another white-owned business.

"It's not selling out," Baruti insisted to me during an interview last night. "Tell me, if you had the opportunity to make 4500,000 for seven days' work, would you take it? Who wouldn't?"

The Uhurus have been at the center of many protests in St. Petersburg's black community, and Baruti himself has served on the front lines. in 2004, he helped lead a protest at the city's BayWalk entertainment complex about police treatment of black people there -- countering a solidarity march organized by the local NAACP. That same year, he crashed a luncheon held by the Tiger Bay political club to challenge the speaker, St. Petersburg Police Chief Chuck Harmon.

Appearing on Trading Spouses last Friday and tonight, Baruti is hyped as the ultimate challenge to the show's breakout character, Marguerite "God Warrior" Perrin, an aggressively devout white woman from Louisiana who melted down in an appearance last year -- earning enough oddball fame to get on the Tonight Show and get her own rap song. (See another, unauthorized parody here).

Onscreen, the conflict is heated and predictable: He tells her if she were black, she'd probably kill herself. She says she'd be hip hopping around nad eating gizzards. He calls Hurricane Katrina a weapon of mass destruction used against black people. She criticizes him for anti-white prejudice and calls him "barbaric" for burping in her presence, trying to avoid the subject of race completely.

Viewers are left feeling like they're both off base: Baruti seems a bit paranoid and a little too willing to blame the problems of black people on external forces; Perrin seems unwilling to face the reality of race in America because, in her mostly-white world, she never has to. 

Uhuru leader Omali Yeshitela denounced the entire appearance as "buffoonery," expressing concerns that "we have a lot of campaigns and projects and don't want them affected." Yeshitela sees a show which reduces their political ideas to a superficial domestic spat (I also wonder if there isn't some anger at seeing a depiction of the group which is beyond their control)

But it is a concern I've also expressed, in a different way, about such reality shows. While producers shrug off questions of exploitation, the fact remains Fox is paying families $50,000 to put themselves in high stress situations which seem calibrated to lead to incendiary arguments. This show doesn't even pretend to try teaching its participants anything about people who live differently than they do -- the money shot is the arguments, and they are pumped for all they are worth.

Perrin, too has made the most of the fame bestowed by her unbalanced tantrum, earning an appearance on Jay Leno, a small movie role, invites to the Billboard awards and Radio music awards and a web site featuring a rap song formatted around her rants.

Tonight, viewers will see Latoya Brown and the God Warrior meet for the first time, exchanging letters which the visiting wife tells her host family how they must spend the $50,000. Brown says she was confused by Perrin's behavior during their get-together and that "there was no meeting of the minds there."

Which is too bad. Because some kind of larger lesson is just the kind of thing which might have made the conflict and voyuerism of this Trading Spouses episode al ittle easier to live with.   

Icky Ads May Disappoint, But Consumers' Cluelessness Rarely Does

I know these are troubling times: We're days past a disappointing State of  the  Union address, Rupert Murdoch is about to buy another major American newspaper and good journalists by the scores are getting downsized right out of the profession.

BUT - after seeing a parade of ads for stool softeners, nasal decongestants, erectile dysfunction products and foot fungus remedies, I had to speak out. Hence, today's oddball Floridian story about marketers who have tried making cutesy cartoon chracters out of mucus, boogers and foot fungus (this link leads to a parody site).

I'm speaking, of course, of the Mucinex commercials starring Mr. Mucus and his Mucus family, the Lamisil commercials starring Digger the Dermatophyte and the Afrin commercials starring unnamed characters who look suspiciously like....um...nose candy. (Times editors wouldn't let me sneak in the phrase, "a substance with a name which starts with b and rhymes with sugar").

Worse, these commercials often air during the evening news, when you're most likely to be stuffing food in your mouth. The cynical among us assume that advertisers are willing to do anything to get your attention -- even if it puts you off your dinner for a few days.

Best of all, I got an email today from a local doctor who said he "had a patient ask me for help getting rid of the creatures under his toenails. FInally figured out he meant the fungus, but was referring to Digger."

Indeed, you'll rarely go broke underestimating the intelligence of -- or the tolerance for icky humor among -- the American viewing public.

Short Takes

-- Love, love, LOVE Jack Shafer's take on "unspeak" -- words or phrases which contain an entire, unspoken political argument. These are words journalists should avoid or use carefully, because they embed assumptions about issues with little chance for argument. Some examples: pro-choice, pro-life, tax relief, collateral damage, coalition forces, regime change and so on.

-- There's some lessons for the media industry in kiddie cable channel Nickelodeon's Digital Family survey. Some highlights: about 25 percent of kids and parents think they don't need printed dictionaries; 44 percent of parents and 52 percent of kids don't need to remember phone numbers; 31 percent of kids don't find a need to listen to the radio; 45 percent of kids and 55 percent of parents see no need to buy CDs anymore; 58 percent of parents say TV helps them relax; 75 percent of kids say TV helps them escape from stress.

So pull your money out of radio, record stores and record companies, put it into TV manufacturers and TV outlets.

-- American Idol keeps obliterating the competition in ratings. No show last night scored above a 3 rating against Idol, which averaged more than 33-million viewers again Tuesday and Wednesday. So far, it doesn't matter that some hardcore Idol fans are disappointed with the extended audition shows, which have featured a tiring parade of freaky folks and also-rans for eight hours in four nights.

Think American Idol Is Too Harsh? Consider the Years Before

Consider these three quotes from American Idol judge Simon Cowell:

Comment #1: “I’m going to be really nice and suggest to you an entirely new career path…which does not involve singing or performing.”

Comment #2: “Imagine a bag with nine cats in it dropped in boiling water.”

Comment #3: “Why don’t you get a job down at the port. Where it’s foggy.”

Now riddle me this: Which line was uttered last week, when the blockbuster singing competition kicked off a record-breaking season with a cavalcade of aspiring auditioners so bad, you wondered whether the million-dollar salaries earned by Cowell, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson were payment enough?

Actually, what everyone from MSNBC and the Associated Press to the ladies of the View have been wondering is, has American Idol crossed the line? Have Simon, Randy and Paula finally become too mean?

Right. As if.

One way to gauge the answer is to consider last year, when pundits pretty much asked the same question about the show -– which always features a heaping helping of lame-o auditioners in the early episodes, shifting to a more serious competition as the field is whittled down.

Last year, the AP noted “the show’s fifth year has the stench of a mean season.” And, after a series of insults in which Cowell questioned the gender of a few male auditioners, the Toronto Star asked “Is American Idol intolerant?”

(The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation actually got involved then, receiving assurances Cowell wasn’t being homophobic when he told one man “you sing like an auntie.”)

This year, the sensitivity controversy du jour involves Kenneth Briggs and former Special Olympian Jonathan Jayne, aspirants who bonded while waiting to audition and delivered predictably awful performances.

Critics seemed to have confused Briggs -- a bug-eyed, non-singer whose oddball look prompted Cowell to compare him “to one of those creatures who live in the jungle with those massive eyes…bush babies” -– with Jayne, who was handled with kid gloves, comparatively.

Given that aspirants audition for other producers long before they face the on-camera judges, I think the trio knew the 20-year-old Jayne didn’t deserve a full Cowell (“This is not the career path for you,” the acerbic Brit simply said, minutes after asking if Jayne was wearing Jackson’s trousers). Hardly the “all time low” pronounced by view co-host Rosie O’Donnell, in line for her own sensitivity award after imitating Chinese people on air during a different diatribe, saying “ching, chong.”

Even the Special Olympics folks stood up for Cowell and Co., telling the Washington Post that “the judges were in fact gracious and very encouraging,” noting that people with intellectual disabilities should also have the chance to reach for Idol’s brass ring – and risk an embarrassing failure.

The faux Idol controversy also is fed by the rejected contestants themselves, who can extend their two minutes of fame by complaining of their treatment in the media. Jayne and Briggs have already appeared on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live, where the host offered the pair a job interviewing celebrities for his how at a golf tournament.

The final link in this puzzling controversy in the media itself. Stuck trying to cover a blockbuster series which is unfolding the same way it has for the last five seasons, some pundits have reached for a reliable story peg -- Idol’s outrageous treatment of the freaks who surely know they are simply cannon fodder for Cowell’s bitter asides (you will never, ever convince me the guy who dressed like Apollo Creed and sang an Italian opera expected to make the competition.)

"We always said, when we came up with idea of this show, if anyone could look inside a real-life audition, they would truthfully be amazed," said Cowell during a press conference in Los Angeles Saturday. "So you have a choice; You can say 'Okay, we're not going to show any of the bad ones.' That, I don't think is being honest...peopel do turn up to Idol or real-life auditions and they are terrible."

And while I don't believe a word of what these guys usually say during press conferences -- they tried to say Paula Abdul wasn't on some substance, for instance -- I think cowell's speaking mostly truth here. He was even lauded by Newsweek magazine for possibly helping the aspirants he savages in auditions.

By the way, the only Cowell line uttered this year, was the line about the port. Which just shows that harshness is relative, and often mitigated by the passage of time.

Heroes: Has It Jumped the Shark Already?

As a comic book geek who is devoted to all things superheroish (I even watched that lame-o Smallville episode featuring new-school versions of Green Arrow, Aquaman, Cyborg and the Flash), this is tough for me to admit.

But I've already seen tonight's new episode of Heroes, the surprise super hero hit that has all us fanboys atwitter. And it's so lackluster, I'm losing my love for this oddball hit. (WARNING: LOTS o' SPOILERS to Follow)

The episode picks up in the wake of our heroes' successful work in keeping cheerleader Claire Bennet alive. This, of course, ruins the catchy slogan NBC crafted to sell the cliffhanger "Save the cheerleader; save the world", so it has come up with a new one: "Are you on the list?"

Frankly, I'm hoping the creator of that lame-o tagline is on some sort of list that involves collecting unemployment. But it does reflect the tone of tonight's return, which feels much more like running in place than breaking new ground. (I REALLY MEAN IT: LOTS OF SPOILERS AHEAD).

Claire is back home, pretending not to remember the attack from superpowered serial killer Sylar that eliminated a former friend from school. Her father, the as-yet-unnamed H.R.G. (for the horn rimmed glasses he wears), thinks an employee of his erased her memory, but the employee did not. Seemingly aware of Claire's destiny, he declined to take her memory, and the two are now allies.

Throughout tonight's show, we're caught up on various characters: Hiro, the time-traveling teleporter, feels his powers weakening. Split-personality case Niki pays an awful price for the shooting spree that nearly killed her husband. Mind-reading police officer Matt finds himself outfoxed by H.R.G. And ailing superpower sponge Peter bumps into a new hero, played by British actor Christopher Eccleston (Doctor Who).

But new questions emerge: Matt's partner doubts his mind-reading abilities, so why doesn't he just show her? If Niki's superstrong alter ego can break police nightsticks with her bare hands, why does she stay in their custody?

It's the typical fate of high-octane series, which start and finish strong but tend to lag in the middle. Unfortunately, with so many closely-watched series taking winter breaks - Prison Break returns tonight on Fox, and Lost comes back on ABC on Feb. 7 - these midseries returns are nearly as important.

I'm hoping these are just momentary lapses. Because if Heroes keeps slipping, I may have to turn my full attention to Fox's super hero Jack Bauer on 24. At least when his plotlines turn outlandish, they're doing it on purpose.

Short Takes

  Speaking of Fox's espionage-adventure hit 24, I don't blame the Council for American Islamic Relations for being worried about the series' current storyline -- which involves teams of Islamic suicide bombers terrorizing the U.S (MSNBC anchor Keith Olbermann called it Bush administration-style "fear fallout" ). But I also remember this issue arising in 2002, when producers opened the shows' second season with a plotline that made it seem as if an arab was marriyng into a prominent family to further a terrorist plot; turns out his Caucasian wife was the culprit.

Before too long, producers had turned the series' convoluted plot to another bad guy. i'm hoping 24's writers are still smart enough to take the show beyond empty stereotypes.

---Besides being overjoyed that the nicest guy in the NFL has finally made it to a Super Bowl, I'm also psyched that Tony Dungy and the Bears' Lovie smith will be the first black coaches to reach the big Game. This also means, of course, that one way or another, the Super Bowl will see its first black coach win the Big Game come Feb. 4. Normally, I would be a little bitter that it has taken this long for this particular color barrier to be broken. But the karmic appropriateness of Dungy getting a chance to score that honor -- while his jerky replacement here, Jon Gruden, watches the game from home -- almost makes it worth the wait.

Jon Stewart Redux: The Sidebar That Never Made It Online

As Jon Stewart mania grips us here in Timesland -- *TBT even sent copies of today's edition to the man himself in Manhattan! -- I've decided to put the sidebar to my Stewart story for Floridian online.

This came about as I and my editors wondered how to distill the coolest Daily Show segments around. The answer was simple: You let the people decide.

So I surfed to YouTube and searched the terms “Daily Show” and “Jon Stewart” to come up with the most-watched clips illegally uploaded to the video file-sharing site. Because if fans are willing to risk a lawsuit from Viacom to bring this stuff to cyberspace, they must really be amazing.

Here are the top five, ranked in ascending order of page views, and not counting duplicate uploads of the same clip. And if Viacom’s legal department should peruse this story, please don’t take this as an encouragement to fans to upload or watch unauthorized content on YouTube. Even if it is ridiculously easy to see them (hint, hint).

Clip #5: Jon Stewart Takes on Brangelina.

Views: 198,784

Content: Stewart suggests that, since Angelina Jolie has turned Brad Pitt into an anti-poverty crusader, perhaps the solution to world hunger is for everyone to sleep with her, starting with him.

Best line: “Love has made Brad Pitt want to use his handsomeness for good.”

Clip #4: Fox News on Daytona Beach

Views: 213,776

Content: Stewart shows a Fox News report on a serial killer targeting prostitutes in Daytona Beach, noting that their visuals illustrating the story were mostly good-looking girls in bikinis jumping around at beach parties.

Best line: “I tell you what I would tell my kids if they were headed down to spring break...If there’s a cameraman sitting in your cleavage…brush him off.”

Clip #3: Jon Stewart on Crossfire

Views: 270,394

Content: Stewart’s infamous appearance on CNN’s Crossfire, where he told the hosts their show was bad for America; two months later, CNN announced it was canceling the show.

Best line: (responding to the host’s criticism of his John Kerry interview) “I didn’t realize – and this explains quite a bit – is that the news organizations look to Comedy Central for their cues on integrity.”

Clip #2: Daily Show Sums up Bush’s Speeches

Views: 352,508

Content: By editing together snippets from a multitude of speeches, Stewart shows how President Bush delivers virtually the same message in many different forums.

Best line: The last line of the edited-together speech has bush saying “One of my favorite tactics is to tell people the same words over and over again.”

Clip #1: Sacha Baron Cohen on the Daily Show

Views 374,941

Content: Borat star Cohen talks up the second season of his show featuring a fake British rapper interviewing real people, Da Ali G Show.

Best story: Cohen describes how Inside the Actors Studio host James Lipton bonded with him by showing him topless photos of a woman who turned out to be Lipton’s wife.   

Kickin It with Jon Stewart

The toughest thing about this gig sometimes, is interviewing someone you really admire.

You don't want to come off like a synchophantic fanboy. But you do like their work - and want to communicate how much it moves you while explaining why other folks should check it out. And, of course, you want them to like you.

Maybe that's why I'm a little disappointed in my Floridian story today on Daily Show host Jon Stewart. I got a little too hung up on exploring his social significance and didn't get to basic questions, like, what's your standup routine going to be like?

(his answer, for the record, was: "Obviously, the road show is more nudity. It’s a…. I’ll stand there and I’ll tell jokes to people, for, I think a good amount of time. It’s really a test to see how long people will stay before leaving.")

So, in honor of his two Saturday shows in Tampa -- there's still tickets available for the performances, which I will review for Sunday's paper -- here's a transcript of some stuff that didn't make it in the story.

By the way, Jon came in second in a Harris Poll asking folks their favorite TV personality, right between Oprah (#1) and Bill O'Reilly (#3). Really.

ME: Why do you keep doing standup comedy gigs in the midst of all your success? Are you one of those guys, like Seinfeld, who just can’t stop doing it?

Stewart: "It's not even about keeping doing it…it’s what I think I feel like I do. My goal in this business has never been in any respect -- I never thought, like, I have to move to New York and get my own daily comical look at nightly events show. I wanted to be a good stand up. I think I'll always view that as - it's sort of my, like, learning how to bartend. When the shit hits the fan, at least you know you got work. People are always going to drink. Which, by the way is my fallback….It's like going home a little bit. Actually, you know what, don't say that. Because you know what? Going home is kind of drag -- especially for the holidays. It's like going home with out the arguing and someone getting in your face and saying you've failed everyone who's ever loved you. It's like going home except for that."

ME: A lot of performers at your level are sort of mini-industries, with radio shows and books and merchandise. You don’t seem to have developed many platforms for yourself.

Stewart: "Have you not had any of my baked goods? Stu's cookies -- you've never had those? Part of it is trying to find…The idea that this takes a while. Every day kind of takes up your, uh, kinda takes up your time. Not that I want to take any time with my family. But adding responsibilities on to this; I'm not ambitious in that manner. I feel like I'm plenty busy."

ME: Some folks have wondered if you might be interested in moving to network TV. Say, at 12:30 p.m., when a certain red-haired guy takes over the Tonight Show on NBC. Any interest?

Stewart: "I don't know man -- huge money and exposure, doesn't sound like it's for me. I prefer my little world. I just don't plan ahead. I am fully engaged here. Fully enjoying it. I get free bottles of water whenever I want them. They bring in, literally pallets of them. Pop 'em in the fridge. Unless they're planning on billing me when I leave here - that could be a huge ruse….

"I don't feel like it all sort of adds up. At the end of the day, what are we competing for? The whole idea of legacy is just sort of silly. I feel like I've already earned a reasonable amount of applause during the death montage at the Emmys for whatever year I might happen to pass. So after that, what else are you working towards? You might as well just try and be involved with the best people you can be involved with and be creatively satisfied and try and live a work life that's humane - that you can get home and still spend time with your family. Other than that, what exactly does it mean to conquer other, you know…I just sound like a lazy fuck. This is probably bad advice to give to people."

ME: A friend of mine once said watching your show was amazing because it made her mad as hell and laughing to the point of tears at the same time. Given all the crap you’ve pointed out in modern media, have you sort of given up hope on it?

"Not at all…because there's so many really wonderful – well, the thing about the media, there's always the sense you want to look at it like it's this giant organism that functions independently. The media isn't -- it's made up of a lot of individual fiefdoms, many of which are extremely worthwhile. It's not meant to be absorbed in its entirety, and there is so much of it that it is overwhelmingly depressing. But our sense if always one of hopeful. I think history has always proven things are cyclical, I would be very surprised if there wasn't a comeback -- politically, media-wise. Something will fill that void. Nature abhors a vacuum - unless it's a Dyson."

ME: Where are we now on that cycle?
Stewart: (laughing) "I think we're on a downtick. It's always been - new media has always been revelatory. It's like when they talk about the new media of blogging, and people said oh, it’s a dangerous thing. Credibility has to be earned. There will always be those that rise to that occasion. And that's what you look forward to. You look forward to those voices arising…Our show is quaintly hopeful."

ME: Your former executive producer Ben Karlin said your Crossfire moment came after you guys had been talking about how awful the show was for months. Any media institution that gets your attention like that these days?
Stewart: "Uh….the White House Press Correspondents? And regarding Crossfire -- that type of program is not gone. It's become embedded in the way that those programs are done. It's how they're set up. Basically, the idea is, ‘he said, she said’ and no one is weighted any differently. You just have to come on and feel strongly.

ME: Some have compared your criticism of Crossfire, which led to the show’s cancellation by CNN, to pal Stephen Colbert’s devastating satire of the White House Correspondents Association at their annual dinner last year. Do you see the comparisons?
Stewart: “The only relevant comparison is neither one of us intended (the incidents) to be what they turned into. Both of us expected slightly differently responses, publicly and privately. I actually thought it was going to be a little bit of a giggle at the top of the show. But it became apparent that was not going to be the case. I think I was tired, and I think that the tone gentlemen on the show took with me took me aback. About halfway through I realized: Oh, the only people you can't put on the Crossfire, is the hosts of Crossfire. And that's when it sort of turned into something it wasn't supposed to be. As my wife said -- don't ever do that again. One thing you never want to be a part of in this business is great television, because it's awfully uncomfortable."

ME: “Clinton or Obama: Who's gonna yield the better jokes?
Stewart: "No idea. Again, I think our process is not one of comedic…Our show doesn't begin with a comedic premise, it begins with a more foundational one, and we take it from there. Because nobody's funny. Soupy Sales ain't running.”

ME: But when John Kerry says he wants to run for President again, doesn’t that joke write itself?
Stewart: “If the jokes wrote themselves, I would save myself an awful lot of money on these things. I think that they don't. Everything has to be put into context and one of the biggest problems is, you end up doing the same joke over and over again, and you have to really fight to not do that. People used to say what are you going to do when bill Clinton goes away? You're like, well, I'm going to finally not have to come up with clever ways to do blowjob jokes. I'll finally be able to put that to bed. At a certain point, you're done. You look forward - you want new situations and new ways to deconstruct and all those things.

"People misunderstand -- we're not activists in anybody's army. We're not trying to prove anything. Imagine feeling like there's someone who comes from a completely different perspective than you. The idea is to be able to let that person try and understand where you're coming form. It's much get a little humanity out of a interview than to try and throw somebody down and pour a bucket of water on their head. Which by the way that was what we did in the first year."

ME: As somebody who interviews people for a living, I’ve always felt that was the toughest task for talk show hosts to do well. Do you agree?
Stewart: "I think that's the weakest part of this show…I don't have any problem saying that. It lacks the point of view of the show. It doesn't have the same sense of irony. It doesn't have the same sense of distance that we have (elsewhere). I'm myself. Colbert is so amazing as an improviser that he's rendering a character in real time while doing the interview. But, for the most part, I'm myself and you can't get away with certain things as yourself that you can get away with behind some type of mask.”

ME: How do you deal with that?
Stewart: “You lower your expectations at times. You try to come up with  things you want to accomplish in those interviews; you realize it’s four or five minutes and you say, let's try to make this funny, or a little bit interesting or bizarre. Or just pleasant: what we try to do is come up with one human moment for each guest. I feel like we do our best when we feel passionately about something and are working in a sweet spot, in a zone, where it feels like you're working hard but it's not labored. When the shows are rolling like that, it feels great. There are other days when you feel like you're putting out a comedy-like substance and our feet are in cement. I've learned over the years, that's the vagaries of it."

ME: What does it take to get people to reveal themselves during the story segments you guys do?
Stewart: “I don't think its meant to be unknowing on their part - I'm not out to trick anybody. They know there's a camera there, they know we’re from the Daily Show. I don't think it's, necessarily that they don't know they're revealing themselves. The question is whether we can get them to reveal themselves in a way that gives some insight into the story that we're doing and is funny. We live in pretty sophisticated times. It's pretty rare that you un across somebody that just doesn't get the game or doesn't understand that (adopts a funny voice): Wait a minute -- you're asking me to lay out my position in a way that might be re-edited? We just don't live in those times."

(as usual -- click on any image to enlarge)

A Rare Second-Day Post: Tampa Tribune Sued for Age Discrimination; Idol Return Scores 37-million Viewers

There's so much news today, I had to post twice.

First, former WTSP-Ch. 10 anchor and Tampa Tribune editor Milton "Pat" Minarcin has filed an age discrmination lawsuit against his former employers at the Tribune, alleging they demoted him in 2005 becuase he was too old and fired him when he complined to federal authorities.

According to Minarcin's lawsuit, filed Tuesday in federal court:

-- He was demoted from a job as special projects editor at the Tribune in July 2005 and told to accept a lesser editing position with a salary smaller than his $97,366 pay (Minarcin, who according to Times files made about $195,000 annually when he left WTSP in 1998, started at the Tribune as an editor in 1999 making $55,055 annually)

-- He was given the busy work of revising the Tribune's ethics policy and developing standardized testing for editors candidates after his demotion.

-- He filed an age discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission after noting three major editing jobs he was interested in were instead given to candidates Minarcin says were younger.

-- He was, at age 60, one of only three employees at the Tribune in their 60s. He also says just 20 percent of the Tribune's staff is over age 50, and three other employees in their 50s were let go during that year.

-- Six days after filing his EEOC complaint, he was offered an $18,000 settlement to drop the complaint and then fired.

Of course, allegations in lawsuits are just one side of the story. Media General and editors at the Tribune surely have another, although Tribune editor Janet Weaver and Media General failed to comment for their newspaper's own initial online version of the story.

Minarcin won nearly $300,000 in an arbitration decision over a similar lawsuit in 2002 against WTSP. His marriage to WTSP weekend anchor Jennifer Howe ended recently.

American Idol Busts Ratings Records

The return Tuesday of American Idol set viewership records for the year, attracting 37-million viewers to its two-hour premiere on Fox TV.

Those numbers were the largest premiere ratings in Idol history — and the second-largest total viewership for a Fox program ever — a 4 percent increase from last year. The show also proved the highest-rated show of the current 2006-07 TV season so far in total viewers, teen viewers and viewers aged 18 to 49.

Locally, the numbers were equally significant, with Tampa Fox affiliate WTVT-Ch. 13 drawing more than 370,000 area households, according to ratings from Nielsen Media Research provided by WTVT. Drawing 28 percent of everyone watching TV locally from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday, Idol’s debut attracted more viewership in the Tampa Bay area than competing shows on ABC, NBC and CBS affiliates combined.

America Idol Returns: The Ritual of Humiliation Has Begun

This is something I've noticed about the most addictive TV shows: They are, in some ways, a ritual for viewers.

You must know what you're going to get -- especially in these days of mega-media distractions -- but it can't be predictable. In TV, that structure comes from either the characters or the format; you check out Lost because you care about Jack, Sawyer, Hurley and the rest (for some reason, this is an idea producers forgot this season) you watch Deal or No Deal because you know the pretty models will hold up a case worth some shmoe's lifetime earnings. Or not.

And in TV these days, there's no ritual more powerful than American Idol.

You saw it in last night's debut episode, which followed the usual Idol formula of alternating car-crash awful losers with rough aspirants who might have the potential for greatness. See my blog buddy Sean Daly for his rules on how to win Idol.

By now, we know the drill: the losers are mostly attention-seeking eccentrics whose thirst for fame is bigger than their self-respect (nobody, no matter how self-deluded, expects to win American Idol by dressing like Rocky IV-era Apollo Creed and singing an Italian aria). The potentials have heart-tugging stories -- the blonde kid whose parents have tired of spending money on his show chorus competitions; the now-grown former crack baby who proclaimed "I'm the only person from my family to make something of themselves."

The judges also were mostly themselves, only more so. Randy Jackson, in particular, is so self-possesed he's convinced he can make '90s-era rap vernacular cool again. (does anybody say "Dawg" anymore who isn't telling a joke?) Jackson and Simon Cowell's lasciviousness in evaluating the female contestants is also quite tiring.

The guest judge in Minneapolis, Jewel, looked like she realized it was a  bad idea to take this gig from the moment she sat between a sweaty, superficial Jackson and an out-to-lunch Paula Abdul. Cowell hasn't been shy about telling the press it was a bad idea to shoehorn another faded artist onto their panel, and judging by the limited impact Jewel has had so far, this looks like another spot-on analysis from Idol's resident BS eliminator.

And then there's Paula. Her representatives have been working overtime to convince the press she isn't as high as she seems everytime she walks in front of a camera. They insist its exhaustion and overwork. But I have interviewed Her Paula-ness twice in person in Los Angeles; once after an awards ceremony and once after an Idol press conference. Both times, she slurred her words, seemed to have a tough time following conversations around her and offered disjointed answers to simple questions.

She seemed under the influence of something -- then and now. Idol producers are doing her no favors by pretending she doesn't have a problem. And think of the ratings that might come from an on camera intervention! I'm just sayin'.

Given that the show is a billion-dolar lynchpin of Fox's schedule, the show's haphazard veneer is a bit of sham, anyway. Those of us who have watched the auditions know that every auditioner faces up to two rounds of performances before no-name producers before they get to the Holy Trinity (or, Fearsome Foursome, this season).

So the overly long segments featuring the woman who couldn't remember the words to Prince' Kiss (isn't that against the law in Minneapolis?) and the juggler who fell on his back, probably got through two rounds of auditions before they landed on camera.

That's the dichotomy that so infuriates many who audition. Idol looks for both the best contestants (a mix of strong visual look and vocal talent, usually) and the biggest freaks. Which means obviously awful singers get the nod ahead of more talented performers who might not be distinctive or promising enough.

The circus moves to Seattle tonight, where we can expect more spectacular train wrecks and -- hopefully -- more thrilling successes. In this ritual, Idol doesn't really start to matter until finalists are chosen, and we see what the field really looks like.

For now, its all about watching the car wrecks and savoring the humiliation. Let the feast of shame begin!

Will Tampa See A Fourth Hour of Today?

If the general manager of WFLA-Ch. 8 would only return my phone calls, I might be able to tell you whether our local NBC affiliate will carry the fourth hour of the Today show which is currently the worst-kept secret in the TV biz, now confirmed by NBC.

Unfortunately, Michael Pumo hasn't returned a phone call I've made to him since he took over at WFLA in April. Not sure why -- despite the Times' competition with corporate sister The Tampa Tribune, I've always enjoyed a pretty cordial relationship with the GMs at WFLA. Indeed, even the editors at the Tribune return my telephone calls when I'm working on a story. I know what Pumo looks like, because he stopped by the Media Talk webcast here.

So Mike, feel free to ring back. I won't bite.

(UPDATE: Michael Pumo sent me an email on Friday, Jan. 19, to respond to an email I sent him two days earlier. Here it is, in its entirety:

"We are not planning on running the 4th hour of today.

MP"

Thanks, dude...)

The question of whether WFLA will air today's fourth hour arises because it already has a profitable show, the pay-to-play chatfest Daytime, airing at 10 a.m. after a three-hour Today. So will WFLA risk damaging a profitable local show by moving it to 11 a.m. against the mega-popular game show the Price Is Right, or will they blow off the extra hour in favor of a boring talk show that makes more money?

My prediction: when the choice involves quality vs. profit, never bet against money in the local TV game.   

Short takes:

-- The Horny Manatee immortalized by Conan O'Brien (and the St. Petersburg Times here) will chat live with fans after Thursday's Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Click here at 1:35 a.m. Thursday if you're interested (and if you're in front of a computer at 1:35 a.m., I gotta think chatting with a horny manatee is among the least troublesome things you can do)

  -- Fearing they might get a performer who would actually challenge their sensibilities, the White House Correspondents' Association has chosen creaky impressionist Rich Little to headline their annual shmoozefest with government powerbrokers in April. Colbert Report's Stephen Colbert tore them a new one last year, satirizing their inability to challenge the White House on stuff like, oh, the run up to the war in Iraq.

Here's hoping C-SPAN just reruns Colbert's appearance from last year rather than broadcasting Little's socko Nixon impersonation.