Hey folks, I am having some minor surgery, but will be back in action this weekend. There are all sorts of things I am itching to blog about -- like the new PBS series, "Need to Know" that premiered Friday night. I missed talking about the return of "Friday Night Lights" on NBC.
Lots of political stuff making me crazy, too.
So please, stop back and check in this weekend.
Three area nurses will be featured on "Dr. Oz" Thursday as part of challenge he made to the trio three months ago.
According to the show's publicist, the nurses "were so busy taking care of their patients they forgot to take care of themselves." So Dr. Oz "challenged them to take control of their health and weight."
In Thursday's segment, Dr. Oz "reveals the success the nurses had in losing weight, as well as providing a tip that each of them used in dropping the pounds." No spoilers here as to how much theyr lost or how they did it.
The three are: Holly Stone, of Severn; Paula Jean Greer, of Denton; and Tina Hacker, of Halethorpe.
Continue reading "'Dr. Oz' features dieting Maryland nurses " »
Sunday night, I criticized "60 Minutes" for its interview with Conan O'Brien. You can read it here.
But the thrust of my criticism was that the venerable newsmagazine gave the former NBC latenight host a free run to be utterly self-serving and pretty much say whatever he wanted to say about NBC and Jay Leno, the comedian who replaced him in latenight, without seeming to check on it. And when O'Brien didn't want to answer a question, interviewer Steve Kroft let him use a non-disparagement clause to have his way without pressing him.
Well, now comes word that O'Brien might have been flat-out lying when he said he thought NBC kept Leno and bought him out because it would have cost the network $150 million to part ways with Leno, while it was only $32.5 million to say farewell to him. Read it here at TMZ.
Continue reading "Was Conan O'Brien telling truth on 60 Minutes?" »
Good news is something that is getting harder and harder to find on the media beat these days. But here is an item that I am delighted to report: Tim Tooten, long-time WBAL-TV education reporter, is now Dr. Tooten.
The veteran correspondent, one of the best TV news reporters in the region, earned a Doctor of Ministry Degree from Virginia University of Lynchburg, School of Religion, and congratulations are definitely in order.
"For me this accomplishment is simply the result of challenging oneself to raise the bar and undergirding the effort with prayer, hard work and the support of the community of believers," Tooten said in an email statement. "Moreover, it is as much about the future as it is about the present."
I'm sorry to say there will be no "Dancing with the Stars" tonight from me. I got home too late from the office, and missed the first 45 minutes. Too late to catch up.
I'll be up with a new post later tonight or first thing early tomorrow.
I'm hoping regulars will comment on tonight's show anyway and still have a conversation about it. In fact, I'm hoping some of the regulars will write their reviews of the show tonight.
Everyone knows about Conan O'Brien's non-disparagement clause with NBC. After he declined the network's offer to move from 11:35 p.m. weeknights back to 12:05 a.m., he took a $30 million buyout. One of the conditions of that deal was him agreeing not to say certain kinds of negative things about the network.
Nothing new about the deal, but I have never seen such a clause used so cleverly by a performer to say only what he wanted to say in a major network interview as it was by the former "Tonight" show host on "60 Minutes" Sunday. O'Brien played Steve Kroft and "60 Minutes" to the hilt answering some questions and ducking others under the guise of not violating the clause. He used "60 Minutes" for one big promotional push without coming under any kind of journalistic scrutiny.
And so, he could have it both ways -- come off as high-minded and a much better person than Jay Leno, the latenight host responsible for bumping him out of latenight, even as he tried to make Leno seem like a worm. I'm not saying Leno isn't a worm -- just that O'Brien played "60 Minutes" so that he could have it both ways.
Continue reading "Conan O'Brien whining and sniping on '60 Minutes'" »
If nothing else, last week's City Council hearing on why Verizon has not rolled out FiOS, its next-generation broadband Internet service, in Baltimore has put cable TV on the local media agenda.
Viewers, whose eyes might normally glaze over at talk of cable and Internet delivery systems, are clearly thinking and talking about why and how cable TV programming is and isn't delivered to homes in this city.
The discussion is part of a larger political and cultural one going on nationally about what some call "broadband equity": who does and who doesn't have access to the wealth of information now available to citizens of Digital America. And not all levels of citizenship in that realm of American media life are equal these days.
Continue reading "The high stakes of Comcast upgrade in Baltimore" »
Here's a new one for me: cancelled in transit. CNN called while I was on the way to DC this a.m to say they were switching gears on "Reliable Sources" this morning to offer coverage of the vehicle packed with explosives that was found in Times Square early Sunday morning. Potentially a very big story -- live TV.
I've had worse in the more than four years I have been appearing on "Reliable Sources." I know I was cancelled at least once while waiting to go on. I don't mind at all -- being engaged in the adrenaline of live TV is worth it, and news is news. I'm certainly all for going with the news.
But good news for readers here: I am spending the morning screening upcoming epiosdes of HBO's "Treme," and will post tonight after epsiode #4 ends. I will also have a post on Conan O'Brien's interview on "60 Minutes" tonight.
Continue reading "No 'Reliable' for me, but Conan and 'Treme' on tap" »
I'll be on CNN's "Reliable Sources" Sunday talking about several of the topics covered last week on this blog -- and looking ahead at a couple of media stories about to unfold.
Topics we're slated to discuss include Oprah Winfrey's interview of Rielle Hunter, a.k.a. "Miss Alignment with the Truth," to use Winfrey's term, and David Letterman's rather nasty comments about Jay Leno.
We will also talk about the Senate's Goldman Sachs hearing, a topic I can't talk enough about -- in case you haven't noticed.
Continue reading "CNN's 'Reliable Sources' - I'll be there this Sunday" »
Peabody-award-winning investigative reporter John Sherman and photographer Beau Kershaw left WBAL-TV Thursday to work full-time in their own Baltimore-based, video marketing company, Storyfarm New Media. The pair is far and away one of the most honored journalistic teams in Baltimore.
Sherman has been with WBAL since 2002. Kershaw has been shooting video in Baltimore and Washington for almost two decades, according to the company website.
"Beau and I started the business two years ago, and it got to the point where it [working at WBAL and running the company] was just too much," Sherman said Friday in a telephone interview. "We wanted to push ahead with the company."
WBAL General Manager Jordan Wertlieb confirmed the departure Friday in an email response to a question about Sherman, saying, "John Sherman is no longer with WBAL and we wish him well in his future endeavors."
Wertlieb did not immediately respond to a follow-up email seeking more details.
Continue reading "Two award-winning journalists leave WBAL-TV" »
There's been a significant swing in the late-news ratings war in Baltimore the last three months. After years of a back-and-forth battle between WJZ (Channel 13) and WBAL (Channel 11), WJZ started to dominate at 11 p.m. last fall in the wake of NBC's misguided decision to air Jay Leno at 10 on weeknights.
But Leno has been gone from prime time for two months now, and things are looking much better for WBAL. In fact, it is fair to describe the time period as a fight once again between WJZ and WBAL.
Overall with adult viewers, WJZ wins weeknights at 11, while WBAL wins the seven-night contest in late news ratings, according to Nielsen ratings for April.
Continue reading "Late news once again a two-way fight in Baltimore" »
Oprah Winfrey is more than a superstar TV host. She's also an excellent interviewer -- I mean, she's in a league with Katie Couric.
At least, that is felt like Thursday watching her skillfully slice and dice the contradictory psycho-babble and rationalizations from Rielle Hunter, mistress of disgraced one-time presidential candidate John Edward.
Hunter kept talking about her "commitment" to a "life of truth," and Winfrey kept patiently but doggedly calling her on it. Consistently reminding Hunter of her claims of being committed to "spirituality" and "truth," Winfrey point by point challenged her as to how she could "make that OK" with the sleazy, deceitful, marriage-shredding behavior she was engaged in with Edwards. Did Winfrey "crack" Hunter in some way? No, of course not. That doesn't happen with someone as self-delusional and strange as Hunter. But Winfrey did show her for the liar, hypocrite and shameless fame chaser she is. And their TV conversation Thursday continued the public shaming of John Edwards. And that's a very good thing for all of us to see -- before we fall for the next smiling, self-anointed "peoples' candidate" with a $500 haircut.
Continue reading "Oprah shreds Rielle Hunter's psycho-babble" »
Nobody loads up for "sweeps" programming quite like Oprah Winfrey, and the queen of daytime TV starts May sweeps off Thursday with an interview with Rielle Hunter. It is the first TV interview for the mistress of the disgraced one-time presidential candidate John Edwards, and I am glad to see that public shaming of this conman continue.
I will be watching and writing afterward. How about you, will you watch? Here's Oprah's teaser with some of the questions she asked in her interview with Hunter:
Continue reading "May Sweeps: Oprah and John Edwards' mistress" »
I hope everyone who has ever left a comment at this or any blog will take a minute to check out this bit of commentary from CBS anchor and managing editor Katie Couric about the coarse, rude, ugly and hateful comments made by some under the web's cloak of anonymity.
I fear Couric is whispering into a hurricane with her call for civility in the blogosphere. But I salute her for trying anyway. Please take a look:
Continue reading "Katie Couric takes on hateful blog commenters" »
I went back to C-SPAN to catch up on some of the Goldman Sachs Senate hearings that I missed earlier. This is too important not to see as much as I can. Here's my post from earlier in the evening.
But never fear, here's my 'Dancing' update. The latest contestant to get eliminated from ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" Tuesday night is Jake Pavelka. I have been hoping for this since Kate Gosselin got dumped. Pavelka is such a hot dog -- so phony. And the only two who danced worse than him were Kate and Buzz Aldrin.
Oh look, he's crying just like Kate. It's amazing how these narcissists can cry on cue. Boo-hoo, bye-bye, Jake. I have no pity for this guy.
Continue reading "Jake dumped on 'Dancing' - I'm back on C-SPAN" »
Once again, C-SPAN comes through in the clutch. I am talking about Tuesday's hearings on Goldman Sachs and the firm's policies that helped bring this country to the brink of financial crisis.
The exact title of the body that held hearings Tuesday: The Senate Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Investigations. It is chaired by Senator Carl Levin, a Democrat from Michigan. And Levin came prepared, even if some of his Republican colleagues seemed to be on Prozac or in a coma.
While the 24/7 cable channels bounced in and out of coverage, the cameras from C-SPAN3 settled in at the hearing room, and showed us the faces of Wall Street in all their greed, arrogance and duplicity. They also showed us the dogged determination and occasional outrage of Levin as he stood toe to toe with the present and former Goldman Sachs employees who thought they could rope a' dope their way through the hearing.
(Lloyd Blankfein, CEO of Goldman Sachs, testifying Tuesday. Image courtesy of C-SPAN.)
Continue reading "Goldman Sachs hearings: C-SPAN delivers again" »
Let's see, which former spouse seems to be doing better on the divorce front?
Kate Gosselin has two new TV shows in the works, according to cable channel TLC. And she just came off of five weeks on ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" despite the fact that she can't dance a lick.
Jon, meanwhile, is making one of his first appearances in months Thursday night at the Greene Turtle sports bar in Frederick, according to the Associated Press. That Jon must have some agent.
Continue reading "Kate has two TV shows - Jon's at a Maryland bar" »
"ABC2 News:Good Morning Maryland" was the site of a lively exchange between former WJZ host Richard Sher and Kitty Kelley, author of "Oprah," a new biography on Oprah Winfrey.
Sher, who was co-host with Winfrey of a Baltimore talk show early in her career, said he was there to set the record the straight on some of what Kelley wrote about Winfrey's Baltimore years in her new book.
Sher did challenge the controversial biographer on a couple of points at the start of their session, but by the end, it was mostly TV-kissy-kissy, let's-be-friends chatter. Still, there were a couple of moments when things got interesting.
Sher's major challenge was to an anecdote in the book involving a Winfrey interview of the late Frank Perdue, of Perdue chicken fame.
Continue reading "Richard Sher, Kitty Kelley mix it up over Oprah" »
"Dancing with the Stars" opened with Jake Pavelka and Chelsie doing the samba, and Jake whining like a baby when the judges criticized him. I hate this guy. What a weenie.
They get 21 out of 30. Too bad, Jake. Quit comparing yourself to Evan and Nicole. They're terrific; you're a loser.
Evan Lysacek and Anna had the strangest video I ever saw with her flipping him over her back and him getting a concussion. Weird stuff. I thought Evan and Anna were terrific on the samba, but the judges absolutely ripped them. Please, for five weeks, the judges can find nice things to say about Kate stomping around like a cow, but they rip this Olympic gold medalist who seems to be flying across the floor. Excuse me, wasn't that a standing ovation the audience gave Evan and Anna.
Doesn't matter, the judges give them only a 21 -- their lowest score ever.
Continue reading ""Dancing with the Stars" - Now let's ditch Jake" »
Rainy Sunday, gloomy Monday poll question of the day: Will you watch ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" now that the producers and network have given up the ghost of trying to keep Kate Gosselin on the show and finally dumped her last week?
And while we're on the topic, how about a follow-up question: What do you think happens to Kate Gosselin next? There is a world of spin out there about all the different kinds of TV shows she is supposed to be doing, so this might be a little hard to sort out. But what's your sense of it? And do you think the kids will really be back with her?
And did any of you actually buy her so-called book of letters?
Continue reading "A poll: Will you be watching 'Stars' minus Kate?" »
