Deggans' Nine Media Mistakes in '07: Part Two

4) The Hollywood Writer's Strike Hobbles a Lackluster Network TV Season -- At a time when network TV should be presenting its strongest product yet to counter cable and the YouTubes of the world, the industry offered a fall season so mediocre a sitcom culled from a car insurance commercial wasn't even the worst show. The strike by film and TV writers has only made things worse, ensuring that the medium drowns in reruns and reality TV long enough to turn the hardiest couch potatoes into websurfing Wii fanatics.

3) New School Racism -- Everybody's got an excuse. Don Imus gives to charity, Dog the Bounty Hunter considers himself an honorary black person, Isaiah Washington swears the videotaped press conference misquoted him and Ann Coulter simply blames liberal media bias. But each of these yahoos also proved that anti-black, anti-woman, anti-gay, anti-Jewish sentiment still rears its ugly head at the oddest moments in pop culture, though the public thankfully seems less tolerant than ever.

2) Opinions in Newscast Clothing Rules Cable -- If there was ever any doubt that punditizing disguised as news reporting has taken over cable news, the ascendancy of Lou Dobbs, Glenn Beck and Keith Olbermann this year clinched it. Forget about political ideology; polls show viewers increasingly unable or unwilling to separate news reporters from opinionators, regardless of political stripe.

1) Hillary's Cleavage, Obama's Pledge of Allegiance and Rudy's Cellphone Calls Take Too Much Media Oxygen -- As the presidential race narrows, there are more stories of substance, I'll grant you. But for too long in 2007, we were beset with stories about the presidential candidates which meant little or nothing, from Clinton's decolletage, to Giuliani's annoying habit of taking calls from his wife during speeches. Tired as the press corps may be of this two-year-and-counting presidential race, we are still electing the leader of the free world in 11 months or so. Let's get some news stories on deck which reflect that. 

Deggans' Nine Media Mistakes in '07: Part One

I was surprised as anyone to find I had written one of the most-viewed stories featured on Tampabay.com this year. Imagine my greater surprise when I realized the story in question wasn't about Don Imus, or media consolidation or Barack Obama's unique handling of race or the tragic deaths of local media luminaries: it was about shock jock Bubba the Love Sponge's wedding.

I'm happy for the honor, really. But this also underscores a serious concern: In an era where the St. Petersburg Times' most popular online stories involve unstoppable hiccups, an armless driver eluding police and Bubba, where is the future of serious news?

In that spirit, taking up where my post on the death of the local anchor king left off, here's my list of nine more media mistakes from 2007, split into two parts:

  9) Local Media Cutbacks -- The Tampa Tribune has laid off more than 70 people companywide; the Sarasota Herald-Tribune laid off more than 20 people before offering all its over-50 employees buyouts; the St. Petersburg Times closed its Citrus County bureau, moved its Largo edition from daily to twice weekly and slimmed its own workforce significantly. WFLA-Ch. 8 has used an automated production system to eliminate many of its technical workers and WTOG-Ch. 44 moved much of its operations to an out-of-town control facility. How long before every local media outlet finds itself doing less with less?

8) Sopranos Finale Ends HBO's Innovative Streak -- Forget about the debate over whether the Sopranos finale was any good or not (longtime blog readers know where I stand on the subject); the end of this legendary mob drama also caps HBO's long streak as TV's most innovative channel. While upstarts such as Showtime, AMC and FX brought the year's most compelling new series, HBO gave us a dreary take on modern sexuality and David Milch's worst series since Big Apple.

  7) Media frenzies Over Celebrities Behaving Badly -- Yes, this comes from the guy who argued Britney and Anna Nicole Smith were legitimate news stories. But cable TV news in particular has overgorged on these news tidbits, like a 400-pound guy who can't lay off the Big Macs. And the result is newscasts clogged with a lot of inconsequential gunk masquerading as hot reporting.

6) FCC Ignores Public Outcry Over Media Consolidation -- Even newspaper companies agree that the newly loosened rules passed by the Federal Communications Commission allowing media companies to own a TV station and newspaper in the same market probably won't help much. And despite no real data to the contrary and loads of pulbic hearings filled with average folks decrying the move FCC Chair Kevin Martin pushed it through, anyway.

5) Local News Deaths Amid Scandal -- It would have been a bad enough year locally if WFLA weather forecaster John Winter and former WTVT news anchor Hugh Smith had simply passed away. But both deaths -- which took away popular news figures admired by many locally -- also had the bitter whiff of scandal. Winter killed himself shortly after admitting an affair; Smith's 27-year career as a seminal local anchor was cut short by a second prostitution arrest -- something every local news outlet had to acknowledge in his obituary.

More to come in another post. In the meantime, feel free to post your own suggestions here.    

Best TV Theme Songs That Didn't Make My List

When I gathered with a bunch of experts at the Peabody Awards offices in the University of Georgia earlier this year to discuss the state of the TV industry, we dissected one topic that wasn't quite heady enough to make our final report.

The death of the TV theme song.

It was a notion which stuck with me for a while, so when we started talking in Floridian about how digital technology was killing off all these cool pop culture creations -- liner notes and album covers, for instance -- I thought again about how cool the greatest TV themes are and how producers' fear of viewers' itchy remote fingers have nearly killed off the form.

Here's the story I cobbled together for Floridian today on the whole issue, complete with my list of the coolest TV themes ever. If you think you know this stuff as well as we do, then check out our online quiz, and test your mettle.

Here, for the blog, are the coolest TV theme songs which didn't make my top 10 list:

1) The Wire: Down in the Hole -- For my top Ten list, this one went down to the wire; I basically had to choose between The Sopranos' percolating Woke Up This Morning and The Wire's bluesy lament, written by the music biz's master of stylish decay, Tom Waits. Though I had to go with the Jersey boys on this one -- I like my health too much, thank you -- I still have a soft spot for this muscular tune, which producers re-record every year to fit the season's theme. For the final season starting Jan. 6, Steve Earle, who also appears on camera as an earnest addiction counselor, does the honors. Extra credit: Hear Waits' version for Season 2 here.   

2) The Mission: Impossible Theme -- The slickest TV espionage theme for TV's slickest espionage show. The coolest thing about the '60s -- besides The Beatles, Black Power-era James Brown and the space program, of course -- was pop culture's fascination with spy stuff. And any series cool enough to feature Peter Graves, Greg Morris, Martin Landau, Leonard Nimoy, Steven Hill and Barbara Bain had to have a kickass theme. Thanks to Lalo Schifrin -- the man who also gave us scores for Dirty Harry, Cool Hand Luke and Bullitt -- they got one. Extra credit: Hear the update by U2 members Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. here.

3) Baretta: Keep Your Eye on the Sparrow -- I'm a sucker for Sammy Davis Jr., '70s showbiz hokum and faded Rat Pack cool, so this was one of my favorite TV themes growing up. Even by then, Robert Blake was a quirky, tough-talking crackpot with a self-destructive charm that lept through the screen. And Sammy's Vegas-ready tribute to the street cop's life was picture perfect for this odd mix of urban grit and showbiz-smooth. Extra credit: See the show's opening credit's here.

4) The Good Times Theme -- This was the first TV show which felt halfway realistic to a young kid  growing up in a poor corner of Gary, Ind. I didn't have a father at home, but I loved the idea of a being raised by man like James Evans -- proud, hardworking and a little bewildered by a world which always seemed to hand him the stick's short end. Good times, indeed. Extra credit: Hear the gospelized theme here; extra points if you can tell me the lyrics after "scratchin' and survivin.'" 

So, blogreaders, what are your favorites?

   

10th Biggest Media Problem of '07: The Death of the Big Anchor in Local TV News

I got an email a few days ago, noting the retirement of WFLA-Ch. 8 anchor Bob Hite and relatively small community impact from the death of top WTVT anchor Hugh Smith, asking the question: Has the era of the big anchor passed from local news?

Funny enough, I asked the same question in a story planned to run with my original story on Hite's retirement about a month ago. When he was arrested for DUI, our game plan changed and that story never saw the light of day. But I'm happy to resurrect it for the blog here, making it 10th on my list of Big Media Problems in 2007.

Indeed, when I asked that question of WTVT anchor John Wilson, one of the few big name anchors still working in the Tampa bay market, his answer was immediate: “The era of the big anchor is gone,” said Wilson, the top male anchor at competitor WTVT, with 25 years’ tenure anchoring at Tampa Bay area TV stations. “(Modern newscasts) are a mix of information and entertainment which makes it very difficult for us…it makes it more difficult for the news to be presented as news.”

Wilson outlined a local TV news environment drastically changed from the days in 1982 when he anchored evening newscasts at CBS affiliate WTSP-Ch. 10. WTVT now offers nine hours of newscasts daily, requiring a squad of anchors to host shows while reducing the impact any one person can have.
The explosion of cable channels offers viewers more alternatives than ever for news consumption and entertainment. And instead of trying to reach the widest audience possible, TV stations are focusing on segments of the audience advertisers find valuable, narrowing their focus, Wilson said.

“At (WTSP) I was a big part of the news process…to the point of sitting in news meetings by conference call when I wasn’t at the station,” he added. “But the expansion of the news has lessened the role of the anchor, because there’s so much more news and not enough of you.”

Wilson’s sentiment was echoed by Bright House vice president Elliott Wiser, who surveyed area viewers on attitudes about anchors while serving as general manager of the cable company’s 24-hour local newschannel, Bay News 9.

He found a station’s brand identity and reputation for news accuracy more often determined which newscast a viewer might choose.

“When you ask people to rank why they watch a station, these days the anchor isn’t even number one or number two,” said Wiser, who has always championed the idea of news content over anchor personality at Bay News 9. “The first place we saw this was the weather. Years ago, people looked for weathermen they trusted; now they’re watching for accuracy, reliability and technology.”

Officials at WTVT noted ratings in October showing their station with a slim lead among key newscast viewers in the early evening and CBS affiliate WTSP-Ch. 10 tied with WFLA at 11 p.m., as evidence that the ratings race is already tight. “Bob Hite’s retirement can only have a positive impact for us,” said Bob Linger, WTVT general manager.

At WFTS-Ch. 28, top anchor Brendan McLaughlin said the station hasn’t specifically strategized on how  to take advantage of Hite’s retirement. But it has broadcast advertisements touting him as the longest-running male anchor at 11 p.m. (which neatly avoids comparison to Wilson, whose newscasts air at 10 p.m.).

“Familiarity (with an anchor) breeds acceptance and a comfort level which works to the advantage of the station,” said McLaughlin “When Bob Hite fans pop their head up and decide to look around at other possibilities, it definitely creates an opportunity.”
 
   

Port St. Lucie Woman Wins Nearly $2-Million on ABC's Duel

The final winner on ABC's incomprehensible six-evening game show Duel turned out to be Port St. Lucie resident Ashlee Register, known as "The Nurse", who walked away with $1.795-million in winnings after tonight's hourlong finale.

Unfortunately, critics across the country have dismissed the game as too complex and too slow, taking extra time to bash the show's host, radio personality Mike Greenberg. Viewers have been lukewarm, though ratings have grown for the series as the week wore on. Register, who came out on top among 24 contestants who started the show last week, currently lives in Port St. Lucie and lived until 2 years old in Tallahassee.

Register outlasted Robert Elswick II (“The Used Car Salesman”) to become the final winner. Register won on one question in final game -- “Which of these weighs more: A. A gallon of water; B. A gallon of crude oil; C. A gallon of vegetable oil; D. They all weigh the same” (answer = A).

Here's ABC's bio on Register:

Age: 28
Occupation: RN - Cardiology
Hometown: Port St. Lucie, FL

Ashlee and her husband, Jeff, spent their recent honeymoon in the Bahamas with an unexpected guest -- Tropical Storm Noel. What was supposed to be a weekend of fun and sun ended up a nightmare. They were shut in their hotel room and did not see any sunlight until the morning of their flight home.

Ashlee and her husband do not have any children but they do have three "kids" -- a trio of Labrador retrievers. Ashlee says this family came together in a very "Brady Bunch" fashion. She had a chocolate and yellow lab and Jeff had a black lab. She says his love of dogs was one of the initial reasons why she began dating him.

In 3rd grade, Ashlee's house nearly caught on fire. Thankfully, the fire was put out without too much damage to the house and backyard. Ashlee will never forget this day because the random fire served as an introduction to her best friend, Sarah, who lived around the corner.

Here's how ABC describes Duel: "In a cutting edge format – combining trivia challenges like those on “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” with the strategy played in the “World Series of Poker” -- 24 contestants are given the chance to duel against one another in a mental and intellectual showdown that combines nail-biting trivia fun with the unfortunate reality that, if someone gets one question wrong – just one question – that player loses the match. The top four contestants qualify to ‘duel’ for the guaranteed jackpot. Contestants in “Duel” have been chosen for their confidence and charisma, a love of trivia and an obsession for competition. These 24 people will become characters to root for (or against) during the six nights. Examples of contestants include The Marine Alligator Wrestler, The Lunch Lady, The Rocker, The Used Car Salesman, The Funeral Home Director, The Cab Driver, The Nurse and The Belly Dancer – the key being that not everything will be revealed about contestants’ backgrounds before they choose their opponents in a duel."

Harlan Ellison on Why Writers Shouldn't Work for Nothing

For those of you who don't know him, Harlan Ellison is a brilliant science fiction writer who is also one of the more irascible types working in the field. I always loved his work as an author, and he's also written for many of the cooler sci fi series on TV, including the original Star Trek, the New Twilight Zone, Babylon 5, Logan's Run, Tales from the Darkside, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour and The Man From U.N.C.L.E.

This clip, from an upcoming documentary on Harlan called Dreams With Sharp Teeth, is an amazing rant against people who want writers to work for nothing, something I heartily sympathize with, even though I myself provide a lot of stuff to my employers and readers for free, including this blog. (Ironically, the clip is on YouTube, which will distribute his comments far and wide without paying him).

Still, it's a great speech about why writer's should get paid for everything they do (fair warning: Harlan has quite the potty mouth). And a welcome explanation for those who wonder why Hollywood writers are striking in the first place. (my fave quote: "I don't take a piss without getting paid.")

Who Said Newsmen Can't Dance?

Fresh from his gig as a backup dancer for Karl Rove, sometimes Today show host David Gregory shows how to really get down during a performance by Mary J. Blige. Frankly, Blige and her band were kicking it so hard, I'd have been grooving in the studio, too.

Jessica Sierra on Celebrity Rehab: Unresolved Grief From Death of Addict Mom Emerges

Here's the tough question regarding VH1's bold new reality series Celebrity Rehab With Dr. Drew:

Is it puncturing the nation's fascination with big names dying from addiction, or wallowing in it?

That question kept surfacing while I watched the first two episodes of the show, mailed to TV critics today from the cable channel. And nowhere do those questions loom larger than in the section dealing with 22-year-old Tampa native and former American Idol Top 10 contender Jessica Sierra.

The show's first episode shows each celebrity arriving at the Pasadena Recovery Center, picking a room, surrendering their possessions for examination and meeting host Drew Pinsky -- a physician and self-described "addictionologist" -- for an entrance examination.

Sierra's moment comes halfway through the show, as she relates her struggles with addiction over footage taken of her partying in a club, drinking with a friend and vomiting into a toilet, presumably before she enters the facility.

"The assault happened because the guy spit on me," Sierra tells the camera, explaining her arrest in April for throwing a glass at a patron's head at the Hyde Park Cafe (she has also told police she wasn't sure if the man spit on her and the victim said Sierra told him she mistook him for someone else).

TMZ.com is also reporting that Sierra -- who is reportedly the subject of a sex tape due for release early next year -- is pregnant in jail.

"The possession happened cause…I had drugs on me," she said on camera. "I lost all my money. Some of  it, I partied away. My drug of choice was cocaine. It was just seven or eight months ago that I started doing drugs. I would go on binges for four or five days straight and crash for a couple of days..i woke up, roll over and go on for four or five days straight. I just had an operation, you’re not supposed to have an alcohol, but I did – got sick, threw up all night. I think everyone makes their own decisions. The reason I do it is to kind of get away from everything. When I come down from it is when I kind of realize and know that I’ve got to kind of face things."

During the show, a bedraggled Sierra is shown arriving at the California facility in a pink top and white skirt, a contrast to clips shown of her singing in the studio. Before long, she is telling Pinsky how her mother died of a drug overdose while she was auditioning for American Idol.

"“She left when I was three. My dad took us from her. She was prostituting and drugs and stuff like that – in and out of jail....That was the hard thing because the last thing I said to her was that I hated her. And then she died during the auditions for American idol. She was dead for five hours in the backyard of someone, some random person’s apartment  before they found her."

Pinsky deduces that unresolved grief over her mother's death may be her biggest problem. In a later episode, she's shown dealing with a group therapy talk about mother issues by calling a friend and wishing for a drink, saying she'd even suck on an alcohol swab.

As it turns out, Sierra's appearance is one of the show's tamer introductions: porn star Mary Carey, who comes to the facility drunk, is asked by the staff to relinquish a number of sex toys and porn videos she brought to the facility (See her talk about it here. Bad sign: Carey says she still drinks wine). Crazy Town vocalist Seth "Shifty" Binzer shows up to the rehab facility with two beers in his backpack and former Taxi star Jeff Conaway is wheeled into the facility in a stupor -- eventually taken to a hospital by paramedics after he has a seizure.

Former wrestler Joanie "Chyna" Laurer, ex-Mrs. Sylvester Stallone Brigette Nielsen, Family Matters star turned porn actress Jaimee Foxworth and actor Daniel Baldwin round out the cast. And almost every participant has appeared on a previous reality show -- many of which have showcased their bad behavior while intoxicated.

Excepting Baldwin, every other participant is shown partying before they enter the rehab, with Conaway drinking wine and snorting a white powder he calls "pablum," Binzer appearing to freebase cocaine and Foxworth smoking several marijuana blunts. Pinsky said on CNN that the stars are actually using, taking cameras to show their partying as a lesson to viewers.

Since participating in the show, Sierra was arrested in Tampa Dec. 1 on misdemeanor charges of disorderly intoxication and obstructing an officer without violence, spewing racial epithets and offering to perform oral sex on an officer to avoid arrest. Rumors swirl that Pinsky himself may come to Tampa to help Sierra's recovery in early 2008.

But her arrest -- and subsequent drunken public appearances by other stars such as Carey -- have raised questions about how effective Pinsky's series really is. The first episode doesn't do much to answer that question. The show debuts at 10 p.m. on Jan. 10 on VH1.

Sports Director J.P. Peterson Leaving WFLA

He says it was a mutual decision, born of a desire to try new things and differences with WFLA-Ch. 8 management over how to cover sports in the Tampa Bay area.

But rumors that WFLA sports director J.P. Peterson would be leaving the NBC affiliate first surfaced Monday -- by Wednesday I had heard from four sources with different stories. WFLA finally issued a press release today confirming that the station was not renewing Peterson's contract, ending his eight-year career there on March 16.

Peterson, 44, denied talk that an argument over a recent live report sparked the departure, saying “these things don’t happen overnight. There were discussions…It’s a mutual agreement and everyone’s happy and we move forward.”

The anchor will continue to host his weekday noontime radio show for WHBO-1470 AM, finalizing negotiations to expand the show by an hour to 3 p.m. in 2008. He also has a new venture under development which he could not detail.

Recently, WFLA has removed sports updates from most weekday morning newscasts (they air Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays now), significantly shortened the Sunday Sports Extra show and cut back sports reports in the 11 p.m. newscasts. But WFLA general manager Mike Pumo insisted the station had not definitively decided to reduce its sports coverage.

“We’re looking at all options…we’re evaluating the entire spectrum of sports,” said Pumo, who  downplayed the fact that WFLA was announcing Peterson’s departure with no successor designated, leaving open the question of whether Number Two guy Dave Reynolds might get the top job.

“Anchors are changed all the time and J.P.’s going to be with us until mid-March," Pumo added. "Our commitment to sports will continue to be strong.”

Born in Florida, Peterson attended Florida State University and has previously worked at Fox Sports Net and local CW affiliate WTOG-Ch. 44, where he served as top sports anchor when it was a UPN affiliate.

In 2002, WFLA let go Peterson’s predecessor Chris Thomas, citing salary costs. Does this indicate WFLA has trouble keeping sports anchors?

“I won’t offer an opinion on that,” Peterson said, chuckling. “You won’t get  a quote out of me on that one.”

Here's the release WFLA posted a few hours ago:

Are TV Producers Using the Writers' Strike to Reboot the Industry?

One thing I've noticed about the impact so far of the Hollywood writer's strike: many of the things it's eliminating are institutions the big TV producers wanted to see gone, anyway.

Networks often complained about the winter TV press tour, the smaller January version of the big summer gathering in which the TV industry trots out previews of its midseason shows to journalists. Critics liked it because it got us to Los Angeles when shows were in production; networks hated it because it cost hundreds of thousands of dollars that they wanted to spend elsewhere.

Now it's gone, killed by uncertainty over whether big actors would cross WGA picketlines for press conferences and the networks' unwillingness to spend big money in the middle of a strike. How much do you want to bet bringing it back post-strike -- even with appearances by stars such as Heroes' Ali Larter (at right) -- will be a seriously uphill battle?

Another institution the TV producers hated: pilot season. At price tags of up to $2-million each, production companies might assemble over 100 pilot episodes for potential series for all the networks. Given that the total number of new network TV shows amounts to about 35 to 40 programs -- and studios must eat the costs of every pilot the network doesn't buy as a series -- it's easy to see why producers might not mind if the strike stretched into February, taking a big bite out of the season.

TV pilots are generally approved for production and cast early in the year, January and February, filmed in March and April and purchased by the networks in fall. With writers unable to finish or polish scripts,  a strike lasting into March could end the practice of all networks making their pilots at the same time -- a timetable producers have often said was concocted by agents trying to increase competition for actors' and writers' services, anyway.

The final institution TV producers have always hated: the upfront presentations. Once again, these are  glitzy, expensive displays -- this time, put-together for the benefit of advertisers who are purchasing spots early in a selling season called the "upfronts." Obviously, if a strike scuttles the pilot season, networks won't have to spend money on presentations since there will be few new scripted shows.

Producers seem to be using the strike to reboot the TV industry and slough off practices they've long wanted to eliminate. And they're settled in for a long haul, boasting January schedules packed with reality and stockpiled series. Some of these changes will make for better programming; others will just make it easier for them to make more money.

Personally, I was hoping the strike might eliminate at least one tiresome awards ceremony, the People's Choice Awards. But even CBS has said reports of its cancellation are exaggerated, I remain hopeful the Writer's Guild will shut it all down with a picket line aggressive enough to shame even Jamie Lynn Spears from crossing.