Tampa Bay area Vampire Diaries fans may shed blood to attend premiere of new CW series

Let's say you're a big Tampa Bay area blood bank -- well aware of that 15 percent of all blood donations come from high schoolers -- and eager to transform all that teen enthusiasm for Twilight into fresh faces at your donation drives.

If you're Florida Blood Services, you arrange a promotion centered on the next best thing -- the premiere of the CW's new TV version of Twilight, Vampire Diaries.

Anyone giving blood between now and Sept. 10 at an FBS donor center gets a voucher for two free tickets to to special premiere of Vampire Dairies, held by local CW affiliate WTOG-Ch. 44 and scheduled at 8 p.m. Sept. 10 in the Ritz Theater in Ybor City. You also get a t-shirt, wellness checkup and free cholesterol screening.

Click here for more details.

Based on a series of bestselling young adult novels, the Vampire Dairies series centers on high schooler Elena Gilbert (Nina Dobrev), who finds herself drawn to hunky new student Stefan Salvatore (Paul Wesley) -- a pale, charismatic hottie who seem to have an old soul. Turns out, he's a vampire trying to go cold turkey on the humans, but he's got a big problem: his sadistic older brother Damon, played by Lost alum Ian Somerhalder.

I've only seen the pilot, but it looks like these vamps can walk around in daytime -- how else can Stefan attend high school? -- while turning into mist and black crows.

What kid can resist watching a series starring people like that? If it takes a pint of blood or two to get the first look -- well, people have probably done worse to get Jonas Brothers tickets.

Haven't they?

Click below for a sneak preview:

Is Mad Men setting the table or just running in place?

One thing about AMC's sterling '60s drama Mad Men: sometimes, it's tough to tell when this series is setting the stage, or when it's just artfully treading water.

Take, for example, last night's episode, "My Old Kentucky Home." It's centered on a weekend of three occasions: firm partner Roger Sterling's wedding party for a secretary turned bride; head secretary Joan's dinner party for her handsome, brutish doctor husband, Greg; and a work emergency that sticks Peggy, bohemian writer Paul Kinsey and another colleague at Sterling Cooper's office on a Saturday. Through these threads petty tensions play out without much forward motion.

The result is an episode that confirms a lot of what we suspected about these characters without pushing forward any one storyline.

Of course, executive producer Matthew Weiner is notorious for this; moving forward stories so slowly that fans are gnawing their fingers off before something actually happens.

But when will Weiner and his cohorts make all this subtext actually pay off?

WARNING: Spoilers ahead for Season 3, Episode 3, "My Old Kentucky Home."

Tampa-St. Petersburg moves down one more notch to 14th on list of U.S. TV markets

 The historic population drain researchers documented in Florida earlier this year is going to hit the TV industry next season -- as The Nielsen Company predicts the Tampa Bay area, Miami-Ft. Lauderdale and Ft. Myers/Naples will drop among the overall rankings of U.S. television markets.

The Tampa-St.Petersburg market dips one level in the 2009-2010 TV season to number 14 -- after losing more than 16,000 TV households since last season -- with a total 1,805,810 TV households. Miami-Ft. Lauderdale drops one place to 17th, after losing 8,800 TV households. And Ft. Myers dropped two spots to 64th place, losing 9,500 TV households.

Nielsen's data indicates every major Florida market except for Jacksonville saw declines in its TV households -- the number of homes which have a television. To see the numbers, click here. Such numbers shouldn't be a surprise, given that the state has lost population this year for the first time since the 1940s.

Experts say the drops shouldn't affect advertising revenue significantly -- though falling out of the Top 10, Top 15 or Top 20 might affect prices for national commercials.

TV markets are ranked across the U.S. according to their number of TV households. The Tampa-St. Petersburg area remains the state's largest TV market -- despite having a smaller population than the Miami area -- because our population is spread out in more homes, with fewer people per household.

The Tampa Bay market -- which covers 10 counties, including Clearwater and Sarasota -- climbed to 12th in 2005.

Overall, Nielsen estimates the total number of U.S. TV households will increase .3 percent to 114.9-million. To see the full rankings of all 210 markets nationwide, click here.

As Kristin Chenoweth joins American Idol in Orlando, who should be the next guest judge?

It makes sense to hire a Tony-winning singer to judge TV's biggest singing contest.

So news that Broadway star and Pushing Daisies alum Kristin Chenoweth (left) is coming to Orlando this weekend to help judge American Idol hopefuls with Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson and Kara DioGuardi may be the best thing to happen for the show in a while.

(Fox officials wouldn't say exactly where the judges were meeting, or whether the hopefuls picked in the local Tampa Bay Idol contest made the cut. We'll discover all that in January).

Certainly, Chenoweth's a little more qualified than some of the other celebs drafted to fill departed judge Paula Abdul's seat on the crazy train: Emmy awards host Neal Patrick Harris and former Spice Girl  Victoria Beckham.

You'd think TV's top-rated show could do better than Doogie Howser and Posh Spice. So to help them along, here's my list of who they might want sitting in the guest chair for future editions:

Prince – He’s gonna help every singer connect to their, um, erotic side, and will pay just as much attention to guys as gals. whether they want it, or not.

LaToya Jackson (left) – Her quest to exploit – I mean, find justice for   -- brother Michael's homicide moves to the biggest show on network TV!

Bill Clinton – Anybody who can sweet talk the North Koreans can surely build a bridge between Cowell and DioGuardi.

Sharon Osbourne – After 30 years managing husband Ozzy, has clear expertise  propping up sagging singers.

David Hasselhoff – After losing a bimbo, shouldn’t Idol hire a himbo?

Fox 13 to flip morning news anchors Monday, moving Nerissa Prest to weekends and Laura Moody to weekdays

Tampa Fox station WTVT-Ch. 13 will flip its morning news anchors Monday, promoting Laura Moody (left) from weekends to weekdays and sending weekday anchor Nerissa Prest (far left) to weekends and weekday reporting.

The move comes months after the station extended its Good Day Tampa Bay weekday morning newscasts, establishing a 4:30 a.m. program amid increasing competition in the timeslot. Moody joins the 4:30 a.m to 7 a.m. shift on Monday; Prest starts on weekends Sept. 5.

Rival WFLA-Ch.8 recently saw longtime morning anchor Bill Ratliff retire, while CBS affiliate WTSP-Ch. 10 hired anchor Keith Jones from Pittsburgh and traffic reporter Danielle Saar from Colorado Springs.

Even as the economic downturn crumbles local TV budgets, area stations are finding resources for their morning newscasts, with rival WFTS-Ch. 28 hiring weather forecaster Stephanie Roberts and traffic reporter Meredyth Censullo -- both let go by WTSP  -- and debuting morning broadcasts on the weekends.

So why did WTVT make this change, essentially demoting Prest more than two years after hiring her  away from WFLA?

General manager Bill Schnieder declined to provide details on why the switch was made, saying, "We constantly are assessing everything we do...Nerissa's in a high profile position as a single anchor on our weekend (morning) newscast. Both of them (Moody and Prest) have the opportunity to be successful in these new roles."

Creative Loafing Tampa publisher assures community it will endure

The publisher of Creative Loafing's Tampa edition has released a memo assuring the community that there won't be major staff changes at the newspaper as a result of New York hedge fun Atalaya Capital Management taking ownership of the company this week.

As I noted Tuesday, the paper will be losing its most visible remaining columnist, Wayne Garcia, who is departing to take a teaching job at the University of Florida.

Still, the new management team drafted by Atalaya has been trying hard to assure the media world they're not looking to dump the six-newspaper chain, insisting their goal is to profit by improving the company enough to sell it at a premium.

So far, staffers and fans can only keep close watch and hope the new owner's deeds match their words.

Here's the memo, from publisher Sharry Smith: 

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Members of the Tampa Bay community:

I write this today to share with you some exciting information about the future of Creative Loafing, and to express my hope that we can share that future with you.

As of August 25, 2009, with the purchase of the Creative Loafing organization by its principal creditor, Atalaya Capital, the company has exited Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. It emerges as a revitalized organization with a strong balance sheet and strong leadership. This is a very positive development for us for many reasons:

      All of the valued Creative Loafing employees you have come to know and trust will continue with the organization. You will see no interruption in any of the services we provide for you, and there will be no interruption in our delivery every week of a high-quality, engaging publication.

Former Tampa TV reporter finds media fame as annoying husband

Mark Joyella is amazingly upbeat for a guy gaining increasing fame as the world's most annoying husband.

But he laughed easily during an interview yesterday about his wife's surprisingly popular blog -- dubbed myhusbandisannoying.com, of course -- dedicated to her horror over his love for fart jokes, sleeping way too much, talking like a robot and a decaying, green sweater.

A mention on a prominent New York blog brought a feature story in the New York Daily News, and now the world is beating at their door. Joyella and bride Tiffanie Wong have appeared on CBS's The Early Show, taped an appearance on The Tyra Banks Show and have seen thousands of users flood onto the blog, sharing their own stories of spouses gone awry.

Our own free tabloid TBT put Joyella's story on the cover today; my longer feature on the couple won't run in the St. Petersburg Times until Friday. Joyella's still trying to make sense of the explosive popularity sparked by a Web site his wife initially threw up for the amusement of family and friends.

“A host (in Australia) declared me the world’s most annoying husband which was a promotion, because the (New York Daily News) only called me New York’s most annoying husband,” he said, laughing. “People have said . . . this is obviously a ploy for a book deal (or) I give your marriage two years . . . Any topic online, if you get any kind of reaction, there's a certain percentage of people who are going to be cruel. That’s the price you pay for breaking through."

Tampa Bay area TV news viewers will recognize Joyella as a former reporter at WFTS-Ch. 28, who worked at the station when it debuted a local newscast in 1994. He moved on to work in Miami and New York before deciding to settle down with TV news technical director Tiffanie Wong in Brooklyn.

They didn't move in together until a few weeks before their marriage in March. So it's may not be so surprising that she decided to immortalize his eccentricities on a blog after a few months' time.

Joyella, 43, who maintains his own blog about journalism and media issues, admits the irony of seeing his wife's site about his annoying habits explode into an online phenomenon. And though they both insist the blog was never intended for a huge audience, they have begun thinking about how to monetize it.

More cynical commenters and blogs have criticized the flood of coverage as another example of navel-gazing by the New York media establishment on two of their own. But the couple insist they've touched a nerve -- referenced everywhere from The Honeymooners to Everybody Loves Raymond -- highlighting how you can really love someone who also really annoys you sometimes.

And don't assume all the attention has made Joyella chill out on the annoying habits. "If anything, it’s made him emphasize it more," said Wong, 36, laughing. "It really makes him think it gives him license to do all of these things and more. He thinks he’s giving me more material."

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A&E's new Jacksons reality series may test how far siblings can parlay death of King of Pop

News that cable channel A&E plans to convert an hourlong documentary on the Jacksons into a full-fledged reality series may test the notion of just how far Michael Jackson's famous siblings can go in producing showbiz projects which may profit from his death.

A&E and the family may emphasize that they began filming when few people expected the 50-year-old superstar's mortality would be an issue.

But since Jackson's June 25 death and recent news that it has been ruled a homicide, interest in anything connected his life has exploded. With 4-million albums sold post-death -- according to the Huffington Post -- his siblings are in a precarious position.

Sister Latoya Jackson (left) won't be doing ABC's Dancing with the Stars, but she is appearing on the network's newsmagazine 20/20 on Sept. 11 and is guest hosting The View next month -- among several celebs filling the show's fourth chair amid Elisabeth Hasslebeck's maternity leave.

“I can’t see myself putting myself into there right now, dancing every single day when I’m still trying to find out what exactly happened to my brother,” LaToya told Access Hollywood about not joining ABC's dance competition -- outlining the difficulty sibling performers will have in taking advantage of new opportunities which may only be coming their way because their ultra-famous brother died so suddenly.

The issue of how much their connection to the King of Pop benefits his siblings' careers has always been a sticky one for the family. The interest in past Jacksons tours has often hinged on whether Michael was participating (indeed, it remains unclear whether Michael Jackson will appear in the A&E show; The Hollywood Reporter has said he will not).

And some of Michael Jackson's classic tunes -- Heartbreak Hotel (renamed This Place Hotel in deference to Elvis Presley) and a duet with Mick Jagger, State of Shock -- remain underappreciated because they appeared on Jacksons albums.

With sister Janet Jackson as the only sibling to carve out a longrunning career on her own, these questions will surface again. If LaToya become a judge on American Idol or Jermaine gets a family series on VH1, will the ghost of brother Michael taint the proceedings too much?

This is a question I fear will be tested a fair amount in the weeks and months to come.

As the world mourns Ted Kennedy, a reminder of his legacy from last year's DNC

 Expect the morning shows and cable news channels to be filled with news today on the death of liberal lion Sen. Edward Kennedy, who died early this morning after a long struggle with brain cancer.

(I knew something was amiss when Obama didn't visit him during his Martha's Vineyard trip, despite being so close.)

I don't have much to add that the bloviators won't dig up today. But I've embedded below a blast from last year, courtesy of CSPAN: the tribute to Kennedy presented during last year's Democratic National Convention, where the senator was a key, early supporter of the man who would become our current president.

The trade magazine Editor & Publisher also has an interesting story looking at a tough question: When did tributes in big news outlets bring up the worst mistake in Kennedy's long public life, the car accident which killed a 28-year-old companion of the very married Senator on Chappaquiddick island?

Courtesy of the Associated Press: Several networks announced special programs devoted to Kennedy's life and career to air Wednesday night:

"Ted Kennedy, the Last Brother" (CBS at 8 p.m. EDT).
"Remembering Ted Kennedy" (ABC at 10 p.m. EDT).
"Teddy: In His Own Words" (previously aired by HBO, airing on CNN at 7 p.m. EDT).
"The Kennedy Brothers: A Hardball Documentary" (previously announced by MSNBC, airing 9 p.m. EDT as well as Thursday, 7 p.m. EDT).
Bio Channel announced "Bio Remembers: Ted Kennedy" to air Thursday at 9 p.m. EDT

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Now that Ben Eason has lost control of Creative Loafing, what comes next?

(UPDATE: Wayne Garcia, Creative Loafing Tampa's political columnist, blogger, podcaster investigative reporter and media expert -- and perhaps the last name columnist left at the alt-weekly -- just announced he is leaving the company for a yearlong appointment at the University of Florida.

According to a post from Garcia on Loafing's Web site, he'll be accepting a job as the Freedom Forum Visiting Professional at UF's school of journalism, teaching four classes on investigative journalism and editing. It's also another blow for a newspaper that has seen many longtime staffers disappear due to layoffs.)

Former CEO Ben Eason (left) lost control of the Creative Loafing alternative newspaper chain today, outbid by the company's biggest debtor at a bankruptcy auction in Tampa.

The final action concluded a yearlong struggle between Eason and New York hedge fund Atalaya Capital Management -- placing ownership of Creative Loafing in the hands of someone outside the Eason family for the first time since the company was founded 30 years ago.

Chicago Reader media critic Michael Miner has quotes from Atalaya's management team saying they felt Eason's cuts to meet his debt service were too deep in sales and editorial, assuring staffers they hope to improve the publications before, possibly, selling them off to recover their investment.

As St. Petersburg Times reporter James Thorner writes, Atalaya's $5-million bid for the six-newspaper chain more than doubled the $2.32-million bid made by Eason and his backers. Atalaya and Eason have been at odds since the chain filed bankruptcy in Sept. 2008; the hedge fund loaned Creative Loafing $30-million to buy the Chicago Reader and Washington City Paper in 2007, agreeing to write down its debt before the auction to $12-million.

But the open question for fans of the newspaper and its staffers, is: What happens now?

As I noted in a previous post, Atalaya has told the Reader that former Tribune Company executive and  ex-Los Angeles Times editor Jim O'Shea is poised to join an Atalaya-owned Creative Loafing board, with former Des Moines Register president Richard Gilbert installed as CEO.

It is a bit of an irony that two men with such long histories in traditional newspapering might be called on to run the country's second-largest alternative newspaper chain.

The news also raises questions about whether the company's base will move from Tampa to New York, where Atalaya is based, or a city where the chain's bigger papers are located, say Chicago or Washington D.C.

Eason told Thorner he plans to start a new online publication based in Tampa.