Chickaboomer

NBC NEWS/POLITICO Couple Make It Official: Meet The Blessed

2012-05-27T17:13:00.001-04:00

NBC's Meet The Press Executive Producer Betsy Fischer, 42, marries Senior Politico scribe Jonathan Martin, 35, Sunday in Warrenton, Va. NYT announcement. No tweets Sunday from avid twitterer Betsy.

The nuptials a week after Cory Booker's "nauseating" interview ran on Betsy's Meet The Press sickening liberal media. CNN's Reliable Sources host Howard Kurtz charged Sunday "the liberals went off on Booker, especially at MSNBC, especially Chris Matthews" who called Booker's MTP honesty "an act of sabotage."

Or a "teachable moment" for anyone daring to deviate from the Obama 2012 Dem dialectic.

Meet The Distressed Booker's subsequent walk-backs ordered by the Obama campaign (they denied it) were truly painful to watch.

CNN Reliable Sources transcript.

Memorial Day

2012-05-27T08:09:00.002-04:00

AP's J. David Ake, Memorial Day 2008

Seventy soldiers (they weren't called the incorrect "troops -- the plural of "troop" which is a group of soldiers") from my hometown of Dearborn, Michigan were killed in Vietnam. Twenty-three from one high school alone. Six others from my high school (Dearborn High) who knew personally.

Virtual Vietnam Wall

Earlier this week the Afghan war hit a grim milestone: a Navy sailor the 3,000th war casualty. CNN

Let us reflect and honor our servicemen and women who died in the line of duty; those who made it back from "over there;" and those who are putting their lives on the line 24/7.

New Name For MSNBC? Last Link Between MSNBC And Microsoft To Be Severed

2012-05-25T11:28:00.002-04:00

The last link to the MS in MSNBC is about to vanish into the TV etherland. Comcast is angling for sole ownership of MSNBC.com.


Adweek

MSNBC.com could end up as liberal as the cable network. Why the move now? Adweek THR

Chafing Dish Hop Scotch: Fox, NBC, CBS Lawsuits In The Legal Hopper Over Dish's Ad-Skipping 'Auto Hop'

2012-05-25T08:29:00.000-04:00

Hop, skip, jump: Is Dish's endgame to decrease network programming fees?

FOX is the first of three networks to hop to it and file lawsuits against Dish's latest "innovation" -- Auto Hop which lets TV viewers skip commercials. How The Hopper works. LAT

In a nutshell, the hook for all three lawsuits is copyright infringement. The Hollywood Reporter has the best analysis and copies of the FOX, CBS, and Dish lawsuits (threw in ABC which is not confirming if it will file). NBC "unlawful." CBS: "unauthorized and illegal." Brian Stelter NYT

If Dish prevails, FOX warns you will pay: Dish "will ultimately destroy the advertising-supported ecosystem that provides consumers with the choice to enjoy free, over-the-air, varied, high-quality primetime broadcast programming. . . . We were given no choice but to file suit against one of our largest distributors, Dish Network, because of their surprising move to market a product with the clear goal of violating copyrights and destroying the fundamental underpinnings of the broadcast television ecosystem. Their wrongheaded decision requires us to take swift action in order to aggressively defend the future of free, over-the-air television."

Related: "All hat and no cattle" Adweek analyst. "Dish says Hulu is an issue too" LAT

Bully Al Sharpton Forces Mediaite To Back Down On MSNBC George Zimmerman Bias

2012-05-25T06:42:00.001-04:00

Fox News Special Report anchor Bret Baier plucked a May 23rd Mediaite story for Thursday's Grapevine segment -- a story Mediaite walked back two hours after posting it Wednesday as "incorrect . . . although the overall trend is largely true" because thug Al Sharpton leaned on Mediaite countering with a Sharpton segment Monday where Sharpton mentions George Zimmerman's and Trayvon Martin's names only once.

Although Mediaite's story focused on LAST week when the favorable Zimmerman evidence surfaced, that did not deter bully Al from forcing Mediate to back down.

Bret: "MSNBC is being accused of backing off its coverage of the Trayvon Martin case after new evidence favorable to George Zimmerman, the man charged with second-degree murder in the case, came to light. The network, of course, spent hours, even full shows covering the shooting for days after it happened, but according to Mediaite, last week after the new evidence about Zimmerman emerged, there was not a single mention of the case on MSNBC's prime-time programming. Not one. Even Reverend Al Sharpton, who had taken his show on the road to cover the Martin case, didn't mention it. Instead the network's evening programs turned their focus to the possibility of an ad connecting President Obama to Reverend Jeremiah Wright from an alleged pro-Romney group."

It's all about me. You've got to see this. I cannot believe this guy is on a TV news network.

If you still think Al Sharpton is sane, listen to this.

Brian Williams, Andrea Mitchell, Dan Rather, Christiane Amanpour Do A Few Lines For 'Gadfly'

2012-05-24T09:00:00.001-04:00

DC liberal prep school alumna uses daddy's contacts to pester TV news icons into reading a few lines of her first book (Houghton Mifflin no less) in a novel five-minute "book trailer" kicked off by NBC News anchor Brian Williams. The book's news hook is the teenage chick protagonist's only friend -- the ghost of Edward R. Murrow. See It Now via Wash Post The Reliable Source


"The days were already growing shorter."

"She hung to the radio and I sat strapped into the passenger seat like a convict being shuttled between prisons."


"The mountainous peaks resembled teeth."

"The mountain had no name." Sam Donaldson

"All she saw was the wall."

Young Jennifer Miller's "The Year Of The Gadfly" YouTube trailer snagged 21 views since the Wash Post pimped it Thursday morning in what is probably the best-read Post column. An unimpressive 1,881 -- a disappointment to real-life gadfly Miller whining "we wanted it to go viral."

Good night, and good luck! William Shatner reading the Mahattan phone book would be far more entertaining . . .

CNN Ingrate Piers Morgan Jokes About Bad Ratings, Kvetches Over "Wretch" BBC Anchor Ratting In Phone Hacking Probe

2012-05-24T07:51:00.000-04:00

CNN had high hopes for Piers Morgan, figuring the Brit newspaper ex-honcho would prove to be a far bigger ratings draw than septuagenarian Larry King.

CNN figured wrong. Prime-time viewership has hit a 20-year low. Last Tuesday Morgan's show drew the fewest viewers in "at least 15 years" at 9 p.m. in the golden 25-54 demo: 39,000.

So why is Morgan joking in public about his lousy numbers?

Watch here.

CNN is not commenting on Morgan's Bidenesque big mouth but they gotta be hacked off: "I haven't had an audience this big in quite a while" while interviewing Conan O'Brien at a cable TV industry convention in Boston this week in a "roughly three-quarters-full convention hall." LAT

Morgan's also serving up one liners on Twitter about Wednesday's bombshell testimony in the UK phone hacking scandal after a well-known British journo fingered Morgan, then editor of the Daily Mirror in 2002, instructing him on how easy it was to hack into a cell phone:

"Right - that's the last time I'm inviting Jeremy Paxman to lunch. Ungrateful little wretch."

Esteemed BBC anchorman Paxman recalled Morgan lapsed into "a funny Swedish voice" in tutoring him and a Swedish TV chick in Hacking 101 in what Paxman says was "a bad parody." UK Independent

So when will CNN render this self-described "cock of the walk" a "feather duster?" Leave the biting the hand that feeds "jokes" to the professionals.

Swing States Hate Joe Biden: Unhinged Tongue Not Well-Swung

2012-05-23T20:55:00.001-04:00

Joe shows his swing state support. USA Today/Gallup Poll

Booker Tease & The MGs (Media Gangstas): Oprah Books Booker

2012-05-23T19:38:00.000-04:00

Cory "Nauseating" Booker vomits the next chapter in Barack Obama's 2012 campaign Bain playbook on Oprah Winfrey's TV show "The Next Chapter." Booker opens up on Sunday May 27th. TVBTN

Related: You Can't Judge A Booker By His Cover

CNBC's Jim Cramer Loses Face On Facebook

2012-05-23T17:41:00.000-04:00

Why anyone would swallow CNBC's mad money man Jim Cramer's in your face stock orgasms is beyond me. The neurotic blowhard has a track record of not knowing WTF he's talking about.

Last week it was “Facebook is a no-brainer. We all know this one’s going to pop like crazy on its first day of trading, so if you can get in on the deal, I think you should try to get your hands on as many shares as possible. Facebook will almost certainly come public to a huge spike when it starts trading on Friday.”

But Tuesday Cramer was crooning a different tune, prompting at least one Real Financial Analyst to finger Cramer as "disingenuous." Mediaite

Related: Senate 'Face Off' NYP

CNN's Winning News Format Is On HLN

2012-05-23T08:10:00.000-04:00

Now that there are no celebrity trials to grab ratings, CNN Headline News legal host Vinnie Politan (allegedly "they are developing a show for him") is yanked from his 5-7p slot and replaced by a trio ripping off HLN's highly successful Morning Express with Robin Meade with ratings that regularly embarrass CNN's pathetic morning show.

Howard, Sesay, Smith.

Evening Express stars Robin sidekick Ryan Smith, CNN International anchor and Anderson Cooper contributor Isha Sesay, and Atlanta-based syndicated radio talker Clark Howard. CNN press release.

Ryan Smith tweets: "I can't wait to get started."

Atlanta Journal-Constitution radio/TV blogger Rodney Ho.

The news show debuting June 4th promises "a deep social footprint" and: “an energetic, inspirational and solutions-oriented look at the day’s news, accompanied by deeper discussions and reporting on stories and issues that resonate in the American household, including parenting, education, health, personal finance and relationships.”

NPR Poodles Pen 'Hilarious' Romney 'Dog On The Roof: On The Road With Mitt & The Mutt'

2012-05-22T20:37:00.003-04:00

Two NPR contributors "doggedly chronicle" and only "mildly embellish" this read with "hilarious four-color illustrations" coming out June 19th.

There's no truth to the rumor that the same satirists are penning a sequel with "hilarious four-color illustrations" by renown chowhound Barack Obama: "How To Wok Your Dog."

But it is sadly true Obama's pimping the above dog items and this "cute and fun" souvenir of the First Lady's notorious cat fights (see Oprah):

Pussy galore...

CNN Hits 20-Year Low In Primetime Viewership

2012-05-22T14:38:00.001-04:00

Update: It wasn't a plastic bag of doggie Number Two CNN ex-bigwig Bob Furnad got caught stuffing in a feuding Atlanta neighbor's mailbox Saturday. It was last week's crappiest primetime viewership numbers in 20+ years. TVbytheNumbers

Roger Ailes: 'Socialist' Jon Stewart 'Wouldn't Do Well Without Fox'

2012-05-22T14:08:00.000-04:00

A "media lawyer" and "blogger for Harvard Law & Policy Review" spent Monday night performing "peerlessly good public service" tweeting Roger Ailesisms from the Fox News chairman's Ohio University public lecture:

MSNBC is out of the news business. Brian Williams, a sincere newsman, wouldn’t want to be caught dead over there.
Media Matters writes all of the primetime programming for MSNBC. All of it. That’s what a recently published book says.
The only difference between Fox talk shows and those on CNN or MSNBC is that Fox invites liberal voices to engage in dialogue.
One thing about liberals is they believe they’re always right. Fox tries to fill a different niche: providing alternative viewpoints.
Jon Stewart is a comedian. He wouldn’t do well without Fox. And he basically has admitted to me, in a bar, that he’s a socialist. [Stewart admitted the same to Larry King in 2000]

The Huffington Post can't wrap its liberal head around Ailes and Stewart in a bar:

"We don't serve their kind here."

Via Jim Romanesko

Related: Ailes "regrets" calling NYT reporters "a bunch of lying scum" in the aforementioned speech. Howard Kurtz The Daily Beast

Colbert Super Packed? Makes Maxim's 2012 Hot 100 Chick List

2012-05-22T12:11:00.003-04:00

Colbert rapport: I Am A Pole (And So Can You!)

How did Stephen Colbert get on Maxim mag's 2012 Hot 100 chicks list?

Maxim

You Can't Judge A Booker By His Cover

2012-05-22T09:13:00.000-04:00

MSNBC's strident Rachel Maddow is so worked up about Cory Booker "manipulated and exploited" by vulture Republicans that two minutes in Rachel has a coughing fit.

It took nearly six minutes for Rachel to set up the Booker segment. Booker said he "was fit to be tied" and that his "staff had to hold him back" when he found out Repubs were snatching his Meet The Press soundbites and starting a "I Stand With Cory" online petition drive. Via MSNBC.

Contrary to Obama campaign spin, Booker had contact with the Obama campaign before he revised and extended Sunday's Meet The Press comments via YouTube.

'Anchorman 2': Not Classy

2012-05-22T08:37:00.002-04:00

Why would the movie studio issue this trailer for Will Ferrell's Anchorman 2 when shooting on the sequel to the 2004 movie hasn't even started? Won't be filmed until 2013 with a release date of 2014.

The trailer announcer is no Don LaFontaine. This teaser is 10-year old goofy guy outtakes from the first movie. I think we're talking Jackass jokes and puerile, stupid stunts far from the mid-1970s flawless sets, costumes, hair, makeup, and artifacts with the only flaw the rival news teams' ridiculous rumble.

Review: Don't waste your dough on Anchorman 2.

Exclusive Anchorman 2 Teaser from Will Ferrell

Katie Couric: 'Gravitas is Latin for testicles'

2012-05-22T07:14:00.000-04:00

University of Virginia commencement speaker Katie Couric addresses critics of her tenure as CBS Evening News anchor: "Some say I lacked 'gravitas', which I have since decided is Latin for 'testicles.'" (The Daily Progress)

(H/t Wash Post The Reliable Source NewsBusters)

Matt Lauer: Horseman Of The Hamptons Apocalypse

2012-05-22T06:32:00.001-04:00

Matt Lauer's neighbors are on their high horses naying at his ambitious plans to build a massive commercial" equestrian paradise" on 40 acres near his Hamptons estate:

Matt Lauer: Mr. Dread.

NYP Page Six

The neighbors knew all along Matt was intent on building a "state-of-the-art" horse facility.

Related: Star Wars' George Lucas gets back at rich California neighbors opposing Skywalker Ranch expansion by offering the land for low-income housing. NYT

Rush Fluke Ratings Fluke

2012-05-21T17:09:00.002-04:00

Headline: "Limbaugh takes post-Fluke ratings hit." Who leaked the latest Arbitron numbers to Politico's Dylan Byers? Maybe someone from Cumulus syndicating Mike Huckabee's rival syndicated talk radio show?

Byers's radio rookie scoop that Rush's ratings fell in four big markets, including NYC, was duly celebrated in the Huffington Post. But Byers wraps up with:

A non-story, folks. Nice try . . .

ABC News Names 'GAA' (Good Afternoon America) Anchors, Poaches NBC 'Weekend Today's' Amy Robach

2012-05-21T16:45:00.000-04:00

The envelope please . . . ABC News names anchor couple to front Good Morning America's nine-week summer extension Good Afternoon America starting July 9th to grease the skids for Katie Couric's daytime show debuting in September. TVbytheNumbers

Amy tweets: "Celebrating a new beginning @ABC."

ABC News also poached former beauty queen now "first-rate storyteller" Amy Robach from NBC News Weekend Today.

CNN Ex-Exec Confesses: Dog Poop In Mailbox 'An immature act in response to years of malicious rumor-mongering that I consider defamation of character'

2012-05-21T12:46:00.002-04:00

Bob Furnad served as CNN Headline News President, CNN EVP Senior Executive Producer, Political Director.

A CNN ex-suit, reportedly fed up with "years of malicious rumor-mongering", is nabbed on a surveillance camera Saturday stuffing a plastic bag of dog shit into his neighbor's mailbox.

Atlanta's CBS station has the scoop on the poop.

Hang 'Em High: Clint Eastwood's Wife's Reality Show 'Mrs. Eastwood & Company'

2012-05-21T11:28:00.000-04:00

Los Angeles TV news anchor Dina Ruiz struck gold when she married Clint Eastwood in 1996. Sunday night Mrs. Eastwood, now 46, hit fool's gold with the widely hyped E! "docu-reality show" Mrs. Eastwood & Company she shills as "the macaroni and cheese of reality TV.”

Crafty cheese: In Sunday's premiere Dina's housekeeper, Lisa, gets a nose ring.

A fistful of hollers.

Every which way but loose: "Inside feel like a big snot in there."

Mrs. Eastwood & Company is painfully bad. And not bad good. You may disagree. As Clint's Dirty Harry opined: "Opinions are like assholes, everybody has one."

Dan Rather: Media Corporations 'In Bed' With Washington

2012-05-21T10:26:00.001-04:00

Book pimping Dan Rather on Bill Maher Friday: "What I call the corporatization and politicalization of the news has led in no small way to the trivialization of the news. There was a time not too long ago when the owners of the largest media empires in the country, people like Bill Paley CBS said 'Look, I'm in business of making money. I'm a capitalist and this is a commercial enterprise. But I do see news, at least in part, as a public service. For that part of our business we're going to build a firewall between our news division and the corporate structure.' That's all gone now. . . . With constant consolidation, ultimately under the Viacom flag, that went all out the window."

On 2012: "Barack Obama could lose this race. There's no better than even money now. . . . Give Romney credit. He has very adroitly made a pivot he needed to make. Now it's the middle-of-the-road Romney. It's calm Romney. Those positions he took in the debates, forget about those."

Huff Post vid.

Once again may I direct you and Dan to Edward R. Murrow's 1958 CBS-bashing RTNDA speech that ended his sinking career at CBS News.

Vain Capital: Obama Poses With Football On Chicago's Soldier Field Following NATO Dinner

2012-05-21T09:14:00.002-04:00

After tackling Cory Booker: "President Barack Obama throws a football [To Nowhere] on the field at Soldier Field following the NATO working dinner in Chicago, Illinois, May 20, 2012." (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Related: Cory Booker walks it back. But not really. Obama White House selectively edits Booker's 3:42 Meet The Press redo to 35 seconds. Republicans Launch 'Stand With Cory' Petition BuzzFeed.