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Phil Rosenthal — 2011-06-14T00:00:00-05:00

With my column no longer focused solely on media, but rather the business world at large, I will not be updating this blog regularly. You can continue to read my columns by clicking here and by following me on Facebook and on my Twitter feed below.

Thanks for your continued interest,

Phil

Phil Rosenthal's new Tribune business column

Phil Rosenthal — 2011-06-10T16:09:51-05:00

You might want to read this note to the Chicago Tribune newsroom from my boss, Michael Lev, the associate managing editor for business:

Folks:

I’m very pleased to announce a new assignment for one of our colleagues. Beginning next week, Phil Rosenthal will shift the focus of his column from media to the broader world of business.

Phil is nationally recognized for his writing talent, wit and ability to analyze media trends. Those skills will serve him well as he takes on his new role, continuing a rich tradition at the Tribune of providing our readers with an array of columnist voices on different subjects.

Along with the splendid reporting and writing that our business staff provides every day, I’m certain Phil’s contribution is going to help take us to the next level.

We’ll make an announcement in the coming days on media beat coverage.

Please join me in congratulating Phil on his new assignment.

Mike Lev

Paige Wiser, ousted Sun-Times critic: 'I am ashamed'

Phil Rosenthal — 2011-06-09T17:50:18-05:00

Paige Wiser is out at the Chicago Sun-Times after 17 years, the last three as its television critic, because her "Glee Live!" concert review in Sunday's newspaper mentioned one song that wasn't performed and described another she did not see.

"I'm at fault," Wiser said. "I do understand what a big deal this was. I am ashamed, and it's just a matter of making bad decisions when you're exhausted."

Wiser, 40, said she brought her two young children to the show Friday at Rosemont's Allstate Arena with the approval of an editor who told her "cute kids' reaction would be more than welcome" in the story. Her son fell off a chair during the show. Her daughter vomited into a cotton-candy bag.

They left three songs later, only 13 numbers into the concert, but her report included commentary on the encore based on information from previous "Glee Live!" shows.

The Sun-Times on Thursday posted an editor's note about the lapse and Wiser's dismissal, and withdrew the review from its Web site.

"Accuracy and honesty in reporting are essential parts of the promise we make to our readers," Don Hayner, the Sun-Times' editor-in-chief, said in the note. "We regret the incident and apologize."

Wiser last month had to ask out of a deadline writing assignment covering taping of the "Oprah Winfrey Show" farewell extravaganza at the United Center at the last minute. Upon arriving in the hockey press box, high above the arena floor, she was afflicted with vertigo. Colleague Kara Spak, who had been assigned to watch from a seat in the stands below, changed places with Wiser and wound up writing the story.

Wiser's published review noted that cast member Lea Michele "made Barbra Streisand proud — and probably a little jealous — with 'Don’t Rain on My Parade,'" a song Wiser said Thursday that she liked on one of the show's cast albums. The review was capped with a reference to an encore cover of Rebecca Black’s “Friday” that Wiser wrote was "irresistible" and "infused ... with joy."

"I'd like to think it wouldn't have been part of my thought process if it hadn't been 1 a.m. and I was just trying to get the story done," Wiser said. "I just wanted it to be a complete review after the Oprah travesty."

The incident recalls an infamous 1986 Sun-Times review of an Elton John concert by Patricia Smith, who reported John wore an outfit he didn't wear and sang two songs he didn't sing. John's representative also said Smith never picked up her press ticket.

Smith told her editors at the time she was distracted during the show by a boyfriend she brought with her and that they had bought their own lawn tickets. She was let off with a lecture and respite from writing for several months, according to a 1998 American Journalism Review report written after Smith lost her job at the Boston Globe for fabrications in her work.

Wiser said that, with the workload employees at the Sun-Times must carry in the wake of recent cutbacks, "for me to have even taken up their time because they had to deal with this, I feel bad."

Alumni of the Sun-Times' television critic job include Ron Powers (the first TV critic ever to win the Pulitzer Prize), Gary Deeb, P.J. Bednarski, Frank Swertlow, Doug Elfman and this columnist.

Earlier this year, its local TV-radio and marketing columnist Lewis Lazare was among those cut in a streamlining effort. Lazare, who succeeded longtime columnist Robert Feder, just started this week with ReelChicago.com. Feder left the Sun-Times in 2008 after 28 years and now writes for Time Out Chicago.

"I thought I would go down with the ship, and I'm not -- I couldn't hang on," said Wiser, the wife of Jim Wiser, the producer of Greg Jarrett's morning drive show on Chicago Tribune parent Tribune Co.'s WGN-AM 720.

"There's a lot of running on the treadmill and losing ground, and I'm exhausted and to try to have kids and do this is really tough," she said. "But I don't want to make it sound as though that's an excuse because there's no excuse for doing something stupid."

Beck, Couric, Pelley and the Trib all try to leverage strengths

Phil Rosenthal — 2011-06-08T11:12:00-05:00

The reinvention of the media business is taking many forms from a single strategy.

Traditional business models have taken a beating. So when there's a perceived advantage to be pressed, leverage it posthaste.

For CBS, that means installing Scott Pelley, a "60 Minutes" correspondent, as anchor this week on a "CBS Evening News" so decidedly staid and stolid that it recalled the days of Walter Cronkite. The thinking is there is value still in the halo of "60 Minutes" and CBS News' heritage.

For Katie Couric, whose attempt to modernize the "CBS Evening News" didn't succeed, that means announcing plans this week to join ABC News and next year launch a syndicated daytime news, information and talk program. The new show will play off Couric's success in morning television in the post-"Oprah" era.

For commentator Glenn Beck, whose $40 million in annual earnings comes from a variety of sources including a premium subscription website, it means replacing the daily Fox News Channel show he's ending this month with his own pay-video website, GBTV.com. "We're tired of a middleman," Beck said on his nationally syndicated radio program.

And for the Chicago Tribune, beginning next week, it means a redesign online and in print, where the paper will see the addition of 40 to 44 open pages for news per week to accommodate what Publisher Tony Hunter said in a note to employees will be "more content, greater depth, new columns and features."

Continue reading my June 8 column "Change ripples across the Chicago Tribune, media landscape"

Katie Couric's Disney-ABC deal gives her 3 p.m. WLS-Ch. 7 slot in fall '12

Phil Rosenthal — 2011-06-06T13:26:06-05:00

Katie Couric's syndicated one-hour daytime show will air weekdays at 3 p.m. on Chicago's WLS-Ch. 7 and seven other Disney-ABC-owned stations when it makes its debut in September 2012, the media company announced Monday.

WLS now runs the syndicated "Inside Edition" at 3 p.m. and "Jepoardy!" at 3:30 p.m., as a lead-in to its 4 p.m. news. WLS confirmed Couric's show will air here in that hour, adding that it is too soon to know where the displaced programs will go but they will continue to air.

Couric, the erstwhile anchor of the "CBS Evening News," will be reunited with her one-time "Today" mentor, former NBC Universal President and Chief Executive Jeff Zucker, who will be executive producer of her still-to-be-named New York-based daytime series.

"It should be more fun spending time with Katie at 3 or 4 in the afternoon than at 3 or 4 in the morning,” Zucker said in the announcement.

Couric's multi-platform deal with Disney-ABC TV Group was long anticipated. Its official unveiling comes just two days after the end of her five-year CBS contract, which gave that CBS Corp. the right to match any offer she fielded, and hours before the debut of "CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley," with "60 Minutes" correspondent Pelley formally succeeding her in the post.

Disney-ABC Domestic Television will distribute Couric's new show. In addition, Couric -- called "one of television’s iconic figures" by Anne Sweeney, who's president of the Disney-ABC Television Group and co-chair of the Disney Media Networks -- will contribute to all ABC News programs and platforms, beginning this summer.

"I've known Katie for 14 years, and even with all of her success, I'm confident that her best days, biggest scoops and most powerful journalism lie directly ahead," ABC News President Ben Sherwood said in an email to staff.

ABC News will have her host specials, do interviews and participate in special events coverage.

"I’m very happy to be returning to the network where I began my career as a desk assistant in 1979," Couric said in a statement. "It is tremendously exciting to have the creative freedom to develop my own show with Anne Sweeney, the Disney-ABC TV Group and Jeff, and to contribute to such a vibrant, innovative news division."

Besides WLS, ABC-owned stations in New York, Los Angeles,Philadelphia, San Francisco, Houston, Fresno, Calif., and North Carolina's Raleigh-Durham market will carry Couric's program, a footprint covering almost 23 percent of the nation's TV households before Disney takes the program to market.

The company said it plans to return the last hour of its daytime network block to affiliates no sooner than September 2012 "but continues to support 'General Hospital,' and the plans to launch 'The Chew' in September of this year and 'The Revolution' in January 2012."

Disney-ABC is banking that, even a year after the last reruns of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" airs in broadcast syndication, there will remain an audience still looking for a replacement and Couric will win them over.

'Windy City Live': WLS Ch. 7's post-Oprah baby needs to be stronger if it wants to run

Phil Rosenthal — 2011-06-05T09:16:30-05:00

Throughout each hour of "Windy City Live," WLS-Ch. 7's 9 a.m. replacement for "A.M. Chicago," if not "The Oprah Winfrey Show" that replaced it 25 years ago, viewers are invited to comment about the show on Facebook and Twitter.

The benefit of this for "WCL" is to build its social network community, with more than 8,600 Facebook friends clicking "like" on its page after its first seven shows.

The benefit to viewers is that going on their computers keeps them from fully focusing on what is clearly a still-gestating program that has so much still to develop that it probably should be viewed on an ultrasound monitor rather than a TV.

There are problems. They're not insurmountable. But they will be if they aren't addressed quickly, and this is critical because there isn't a smart person in local media, whether they work at WLS or not, who isn't rooting for "WCL" to prove its viability.

At risk is not just an ambitious live local television show, but the prospects for anyone else in Chicago commercial TV to get the chance to attempt launching a new live local show that doesn't just rehash headlines and/or plug local businesses.

Continue reading my June 5 column "'Windy City Live' wobbly as it tries to find its legs in its infancy"

Nils Larsen becomes Tribune Broadcasting CEO; Jerry Kersting exits as president

Phil Rosenthal — 2011-05-31T09:57:53-05:00

* * *

Nils Larsen, chairman of Tribune Co.'s broadcast division since October, today was named chief executive of Tribune Broadcasting, which is streamlining its upper management.

Effective immediately, Larsen, 40, will take on duties that previously belonged to Jerry Kersting, 61, who exits as broadcasting president, a position that is being eliminated.

Larsen (pictured right) remains chief investment officer of Tribune Co., parent of the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, WGN-Ch. 9, WGN America, WGN-AM 720 and other media outlets across the country.

"Nils is the right person to lead our broadcasting operations," Eddy Hartenstein, Tribune Co.’s CEO and publisher of the Los Angeles Times, said in the announcement. "He’s thoughtful, creative, and has the vision necessary to maximize the effectiveness of the group."

Larsen is a close associate of Tribune Co. Chairman Sam Zell. The anaging director of Zell's Equity Group Investments, Larsen joined the media company in 2008. He has overseen Tribune Co.'s business development and investments and helped with the company's restructuring in his role as chief investment officer.

In October, after the resignation of Tribune Co. CEO Randy Michaels, Larsen added the title of Tribune Broadcasting chairman and was one of four executives on the council that ran the parent company until Hartenstein, another member of the now-dissolved executive council, was named chief executive of the Chicago-based media conglomerate.

Hartenstein said in a note to employees this morning that, through April, Tribune Broadcasting's revenue and cash flow were "up significantly" compared to the same span a year earlier.

Kersting had been president of Tribune Broadcasting since May 2010, promoted after five months as its chief operating officer when Ed Wilson resigned the post.

Before joining Tribune Co. as an executive vice president in April 2008. Kersting spent nine years as executive vice president/chief financial officer of Clear Channel Radio -- which used to be run by Michaels -- and had 34 years of credited service with Clear Channel and related companies.

At the time of his appointment as president, Kersting expressed a desire "to shake up" TV news. "Every night, people turn on their local news and see the same thing wherever they flip the channel," Kersting said. "We intend to change that."

Under Kersting, the station launched a pair of pilot news programs in Houston. One is a newsreel-style, anchorless broadcast that aired evenings. The other is a morning news and entertainment program originating largely from Chicago that could be syndicated to other markets.

This fall, Tribune Co. is launching a New York-based syndicated daytime talk show starring controversial Cincinnati radio host Bill Cunningham.

"Our broadcasting operations are led by gifted people who know their customers and local communities very well," Larsen said in a statement. "We’ve been expanding local news, developing new original programming and making smart decisions with our syndicated programming, which is driving ratings and resonating with advertisers. We have momentum and there’s a lot more opportunity ahead."

Larsen attracted attention in 2008 for his role as a liaison between Tribune Co. and the Blagojevich administration when the company was weighing a possible deal with the state of Illinois for Wrigley Field. Those discussions were notable for the allegation that former Gov. Rod Blagojevich wanted a critical Chicago Tribune editorial writer fired while his cooperation was being sought.

ESPN's story in highlights, hits, errors and lots of scores to settle

Phil Rosenthal — 2011-05-28T21:06:46-05:00

Here's a scene you never saw in those fun and funny "This is SportsCenter" ads that helped establish the ESPN brand over the last two decades or so:

Anchor Karie Ross — fed up with the culture of harassment she and other women encountered at the channel — stood up at a company meeting in what passed for the cafeteria at ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Conn.

"Look, this behavior has to stop," Ross said, trembling. "This is crazy. You guys can't be doing this. Guys, you must stop sexually harassing these women. Don't be trading edit time for a date. Quit making all the lewd comments. Just let us work in peace."

Although it would take ESPN years to make whatever progress it has in that area, Ross' heroic stand around 20 years ago is one of the more compelling recollections in "Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside the World of ESPN." The new tome from James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales is the story of the global sports giant as told (and sometimes contradicted) by those who made it what all that it is.

Continue reading my May 29 column "Book about ESPN shows sports channel not all fun and games"

Oprah's last show boosts TV ratings

Phil Rosenthal — 2011-05-26T12:30:21-05:00

Oprah Winfrey's Wednesday 9 a.m. finale on WLS-Ch. 7 averaged a 13.4 household rating, which translates to a little less than 470,000 Chicago-area homes.

That was second only in Chicago on Wednesday to the 14.9 household rating (nearly 522,000 homes) that tuned in for the season-ending edition of "American Idol" on WFLD-Ch. 32 that night.

Winfrey's swan song on Channel 7 claimed a 38.1 percent share of the audience in the 9 a.m. hour, while the two-hour "Idol" held 24.8 percent of the prime-time audience. Additionally, WLS' 11 p.m. repeat of the telecast averaged a 5.7 household rating and a 14.4 percent share of the homes watching television in its hour.

Complete national viewership and household ratings won't be available until early next month.

Across the country's metered markets -- excluding St. Louis, where the program was postponed a day because of storm coverage -- Wednesday's final "Oprah Winfrey Show" averaged a 13.3 household rating.

According to Winfrey's syndicator, CBS Television Distribution, that's the program's best overnight metered rating in more than 17 years. The Feb. 21, 1994 edition of "Oprah" (titled "People Shed Their Disguises") also averaged a 13.4 household rating in the metered markets, although it's worth noting there were fewer markets metered then.

One interesting thing about Winfrey's Wednesday morning performance here in Chicago is that it appears her valedictory lecture lost households in each quarter hour here, starting on WLS with a 14.0 rating in the first 15 minutes and ending with a 12.6, a 10 percent decline over the course of the program.

That kind of slippage is less surprising at night, when the audience typically drifts off to sleep. Winfrey's late-night repeat on Channel 7 opened with a 6.7 household rating in the first 15 minutes and ended at 4.7, a loss of nearly 30 percent of the homes.

Bulls' NBA playoff struggle against Heat still attracts a TV crowd on TNT

Phil Rosenthal — 2011-05-25T11:20:33-05:00

(UPDATED AT 4:30 P.M. WITH NATIONAL FIGURES)

The Chicago Bulls' overtime loss Tuesday to the Miami Heat in Game 4 of Eastern Conference final on TNT was seen in 22.6 percent of the homes in the Chicago market, according to Nielsen Media Research figures.

That translates to more than 791,000 area homes. The season finale of "Dancing With the Stars" averaged a 16.4 household rating here (or about XXXX), and the penultinate epuside this season of Fox's "American Idol" averaged an 11.3 household rating.

National figures, released later Wednesday, showed Game 4 averaged 9.77 million viewers and a 6.1 household rating, despite the intense competition of the second-to-last night of the May ratings period.

The Bulls and Heat did what they did despite the "Stars" finale averaging 21.42 million viewers, "Idol" 20.57 million viewers, the season finale of "Glee" grabbing 11.8 million viewers, a rerun of Monday's edition of "Stars" roping 9.83 million viewers and an "NCIS" rerun drawing 9.83 million.

Game 1 of the Chicago-Miami series set a new mark as the most watched basketball game ever on cable with 11,109 million viewers, and Game 3 took the No. 2 slot on that list with 10.889 million. Game 2 of the playoff matchup averaged about 10 million viewers.

Locally, the 22.6 household rating for Game 4 of the Bulls-Heat series was a marginal increase on the 22.5 household rating in this market for Game 3, but a decrease from the 24.6 Chicago rating for Game 2 and 24.3 for Game 1.

The Bulls and Heat averaged a 7.2 overnight household rating from the nation's metered markets for Game 4. Although that's a 24 percent improvement on TNT's NBA playoff telecast featuring the Phoenix Suns and Los Angeles Lakers a year ago, it's the lowest of the Bulls-Heat series to date.

NBC Universal Sports' Dick Ebersol exits, without delay

Phil Rosenthal — 2011-05-25T00:31:23-05:00

Dick Ebersol has resigned as NBC Sports Group chairman.

OK. He actually resigned on Thursday. But Ebersol is the TV executive who helped bring "plausibly live" into common use as a euphemism for "taped," as in: NBC is airing this Olympics event plausibly live now because the network paid too much money to air it outside of prime time, when the event occurred.

We'll just pretend the Ebersol thing hasn't happened … until … right … now … so we can tell the story we want to tell the way we want to tell it before the largest possible audience and command as many ad dollars as we can. Hope no one spoiled it for you.

Continue reading my May 25 column "Former NBC Sports chief Dick Ebersol's career a tale of the tape"

(Dick Ebersol photo, above, from Getty, 2005.)

WLS' 'Windy City Live' names contributors

Phil Rosenthal — 2011-05-25T00:08:34-05:00

"Windy City Live," the new local program WLS-Ch. 7 plans to introduce Thursday in the 9 a.m. weekday slot that Oprah Winfrey vacates after Wednesday's finale, has announced the addition of four contributors.

Joining hosts Ryan Chiaverini and Val Warner will be Roe Conn of Citadel's WLS-AM 890 and WMAQ's Chicago Nonstop, former "Studs" host Mark DeCarlo, restaurateur Billy Dec and Nina Chantele of Clear Channel's WGCI-FM 107.5 and WKSC-FM 103.5.

WLS plans to continue airing reruns of "Oprah" after "Nightline" at 11 p.m. until Sept. 9, with ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" delayed an hour each night until then.

Before Winfrey took her show national in 1986, she was host of Channel 7's "A.M. Chicago," a local show that aired in that 9 a.m. weekday slot.

WGN's Tomasulo to be guest-host Friday on 'Live with Regis & Kelly'

Phil Rosenthal — 2011-05-24T23:31:54-05:00

Pat Tomasulo of Chicago Tribune parent Tribune Co.'s WGN-Ch. 9 is set to make yet another visit to Disney-ABC's syndicated "Live With Regis & Kelly."

Tomasulo (pictured right) is set to fill in for Regis Philbin as Kelly Ripa's guest co-host on Friday. Other scheduled guests are to include Lombard, Ill., band Plain White T's, Milwaukee-born actress Heather Graham and the winner of "Top Chef: All Stars."

It's the "WGN Morning News" sportscaster's third appearance on the program. Tomasulo won a contest to serve as Ripa's guest co-host in 2009 and last year was part of a taped segment during a week of "Coast to Coast Ambush Makeovers."

"Live," which airs locally weekdays at 9 a.m. on WGN, is looking to possibly pick up viewers who will be sampling after Wednesday's final original broadcast of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" on WLS-Ch. 7.

Disney-ABC-owned WLS is launching "Windy City Live," its own live local 9 a.m. weekday show in place of "Oprah" on Thursday.

Tomasulo gained additional national exposure in 2009 as a co-host of ABC's "Shaq Vs.," a reality show in which basketball star Shaquille Oneal challenged other top athletes in their sports.

Ripa is supposed to get a new permanent co-host later this year with the retirement of Philbin.

Randy Hano named Time Out Chicago publisher

Phil Rosenthal — 2011-05-24T10:00:00-05:00

Randy Hano, a former publisher of Chicago Tribune Media Group's Chicago magazine, is joining Time Out Chicago as vice president and group publisher, effective June 13.

Hano will report to Frank Sennett, Time Out Chicago’s president and editor-in-chief.

"He fundamentally gets what Time Out Chicago does and is ready to elevate our sales function to a new level," Sennett said of Hano in the announcement.

The previous vice president and group publisher, Ivy Lester, exited earlier this month just seven months after replacing David Garland in the position, which oversees advertising for Time Out Chicago, Time Out Chicago Kids, Time Out Chicago Student Guide and the magazine's eating and drinking guides.

Hano most recently was senior vice president of national accounts and new business projects for MetroCorp, parent of both Boston and Philadelphia magazines. He was at Chicago magazine from 1999 to 2008, the last four years as publisher, before joining Boston magazine as president and publisher.

Earlier in his career, he served as the Chicago Sun-Times' director of the retail category and national advertising, and spent 14 years in a variety advertising capacities with the Boston Herald.

Time Out Chicago's founding publisher, Steve Timble, left after the magazine's first 17 months in September 2006. Garland, who was advertising director at the time, officially was named to the vacant post nine months later, in June 2007.

Sennett said Time Out Chicago plans to introduce "a major print redesign coming next month" and Time Out Chicago Kids will increase its frequency to bi-monthly this year. "We will give Randy a full complement of great editorial products to sell," Sennett said.

Joe Mansueto's Mansueto Ventures is the primary owner of Time Out Chicago Partners, the magazine's parent. Before Time Out Chicago first hit newsstands in 2005, Mansueto lost out to Tribune Co.'s Chicago Tribune Media Group in 2002 bidding to acquire Chicago magazine from New York-based Primedia.

Chicago Bulls, Miami Heat NBA playoff still a hot TV draw for TNT

Phil Rosenthal — 2011-05-23T12:04:17-05:00

(UPDATED AT 2:30 P.M. WITH NATIONAL FIGURES)

Fewer Chicago-area homes were tuned in to the Bulls' 96-85 Game 3 Eastern Conference finals loss Sunday at Miami on TNT than the first two games of their best-of-seven series with the Heat, although the series remains a top TV draw.

The national household rating, like overnight household ratings from the nation's metered markets released earlier Monday, was the highest of the Chicago-Miami playoff so far. But total viewership for the telecast fell short of TNT's record-setting coverage of Bulls' Game 1 victory, which remains the most watched basketball game in cable TV history.

An average of 10.889 million total viewers watched Sunday's Game 3 telecast, making it the second most watched basketball game ever on cable.

Game 1 on May 14 was seen by 11.109 million viewers. Sunday's telecast knocked the previous record-holder, the 2003 NBA All-Star Game (Michael Jordan's last) to third with 10.829 million viewers .

Nationally, in households, Game 3 of Chicago-Miami averaged a 6.4 rating, according to Nielsen Media Research. That's better than the 6.2 for Game 1 in the series and Game 2's 6.1. In total viewers, Game 2 averaged about 10 million people.

Game 3 of the Bulls and Heat averaged a 22.5 household rating in the Chicago area. This represents around 788,000 local homes, or roughly 22.5 percent of the homes in this TV market.

That's a decrease from the 24.3 household rating here for Game 1 and 24.6 for Game 2. But it's also far better than a combination of any three other programs on Chicago TV Sunday in prime time. Those shows included the season finale of "Celebrity Apprentice" (6.7 household rating), "60 Minutes" (6.3), "Jesse Stone: Innocents Lost" (6.1), "Billboard Music Awards" (5.3) and the Chicago Cubs-Boston Red Sox game (approximately 2.6).

Across the nation's metered markets, Sunday's Bulls-Heat game did a 7.7 household overnight Nielsen rating, an improvement on the 7.4 Game 1 and Game 2 each scored.

'Schwarzenegger's a parent' dilemma for media: What names are news?

Phil Rosenthal — 2011-05-22T01:11:21-05:00

Satellite TV trucks were parked around a cul-de-sac in Bakersfield, Calif., last week.

Whatever the former housekeeper of Maria Shriver and former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger did or did not consent to in connection with parenting the child he admitted to fathering, it wasn't this.

As for the child, old enough to know what's going on, well, no one yet has had a say about their entry into the world, but this is a hell of a way to become the most-talked-about kid in school. The media haven't reported a name, but it doesn't take a lot of digging online to learn his mom's name, find a birth date and picture with the child's face obscured or sundry other details.

And then there have been the reporters, photographers and TV crews keeping watch outside their home.

The Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune corporate sister that broke the news of Schwarzenegger's admission, has not identified the woman or even the gender of the child she had with the actor-politician whose separation from Shriver, his wife of 25 years, was announced the week before.

Time Warner's TMZ.com identified Schwarzenegger's former employee a few hours after the L.A. Times story, however. Soon other media outlets, including this newspaper (which ran a report from CNN inside Thursday's edition that cited The New York Times) have made the woman and the age and gender of Schwarzenegger's child almost ubiquitous, despite certain concessions to the fact he's a minor.

If it makes you queasy to think about the kid, the idea of a newspaper sitting on information it had might also cause uneasiness.

So when the floodgates opened, it wasn't entirely clear what constituted high ground.

Continue reading my May 22 column "In Schwarzenegger case and many others, name game often leaves no winners"

'The Oprah Winfrey Show': The original social network

Phil Rosenthal — 2011-05-21T10:40:53-05:00

Before there was social networking, there was Oprah Winfrey.

Phil Donahue revolutionized daytime TV talk by walking into the audience and showing people parts of the world they didn’t necessarily know about.

Winfrey revolutionized daytime TV talk by being the audience and showing people parts of the world they didn’t necessarily know they shared.

Before the Internet enabled anyone anywhere to find hundreds, thousands or sometimes millions of others with a common point of view, problem, solution, experience or interest, Winfrey and her Chicago-based program connected with those people.

More important, it connected them to each other.

Continue reading my May 22 story "What made Oprah Oprah"

(Chicago Tribune file photo, above, of Oprah Winfrey, 1984.)

The morning after 'Oprah' finale, Gayle King hosts OWN 'After Party'

Phil Rosenthal — 2011-05-19T19:12:44-05:00

It will be interesting to see if Chicago fans looking for their Oprah Winfrey fix next Thursday, the day after her final original show airs, bypass the debut of WLS-Ch. 7's ambitious live local 9 a.m. replacement for an unexpected special sendoff celebration for Winfrey on her new cable network.

Live from Winfrey's Harpo Studios in Chicago, Gayle King (pictured right) will host “The Gayle King Show: 'Oprah' Finale After Party,” which is set for 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. Thursday on cable's OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network. The program also can be heard on SiriusXM Radio's Oprah Radio channel.

Most "Oprah" stations run the show in the late afternoon. But Winfrey has held down Channel 7's 9 a.m. slot since January 1984, when she took over the local "A.M. Chicago," the precursor to the nationally syndicated program that's ending its 25-season run next week.

Without "Oprah," WLS plans to return to its roots with "Windy City Live," a local show it plans to introduce on Thursday. The new program's hosts will be Val Warner and Ryan Chiaverini.

But for those instantly nostalgic and/or haven't gotten their fill of "Oprah" after its much-anticipated midweek signoff, OWN will have long-time Winfrey pal King joined in studio by Winfrey’s long-time partner, Stedman Graham, and the presidents of Harpo Productions, Sheri Salata and Erik Logan.

King will have exclusive backstage video from this week's taping of next Monday and Tuesday's shows at the United Center. Celebrities such as Hugh Jackman, Diane Sawyer, Rita Wilson and Nate Berkus along with devoted fans via Skype talk about favorite moments from the past 25 years.

King's OWN "After Party" show will be rerun Thursday night from 8 to 10.

Although WLS will move Winfrey's daytime talk show out of the 9 a.m. slot, the station plans to continue airing reruns of the program at 11 p.m. until early September. Until then, ABC "Jimmy Kimmel Live" will air on a one-hour delay here in Chicago.

Will 'American Idol' vote for Wheeling's Haley Reinhart be affected by Bulls-Heat?

Phil Rosenthal — 2011-05-19T17:42:31-05:00

Wheeling's Haley Reinhart has been one of the low-vote-getters four times this season on "American Idol." As one of the final three contestants, she stumbled on the stairs while performing Led Zeppelin's "What Is and What Should Never Be" on Wednesday's program.

But if Reinhart falls tonight and fails to advance to next week's two-part finale, some of her fans may be tempted to blame the Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat for helping knock her out. That's because Game 2 of the Bulls-Heat playoff on TNT blew away "Idol" on Fox-owned WFLD-Ch. 32 in the ratings, raising questions of how effectively Reinhart could get out the vote in the Chicago area.

They can take solace, however, in knowing that despite the Bulls averaging a 24.6 household rating in the Chicago market (or roughly (which translates to more than 860,000 local homes), "Idol" averaged a 13.2 household rating (or more than 460,000 homes) here, actually slightly higher than its Wednesday night's average this season of 12.8 on Channel 32.

There were 95 million votes cast after Wednesday's broadcast, the third-highest number of votes in "Idol" history and the highest total ever for a non-finale episode, according to Fox, although there was no breakdown of the returns -- geographic or otherwise -- offered. The final two will be announced at the end of tonight's show.

Nationally, the singing show's semifinals clobbered the NBA Eastern Conference finals on Wednesday. "Idol" averaged 23.558 million viewers and a 13.3 household rating. The Bulls' 85-75 loss to the Heat on Wednesday averaged 10 million total viewers and a 6.1 household rating.

Reinhart, a bluesy rocker, is up against country singers Scotty McCreery, 17, of Garner, N.C., and Lauren Alaina, 16, of Roseville, Ga., vying to be among this season's final two contestants.

"It's not about how many times you fall, it's how many times you get back up," said "Idol" judge Steven Tyler, impressed with how Reinhart rebounded after her trip in mid-performance Wednesday. "That was superb."

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(Photo of Haley Reinhart, above, by Fox's Michael Becker.)

Bulls can't beat Heat in Game 2, but TNT overpowers 'American Idol' in Chicago

Phil Rosenthal — 2011-05-19T09:53:43-05:00

(UPDATED AT 4:30 P.M. WITH NATIONAL FIGURES)

Roughly one-in-four Chicago-area homes, on average, watched the Bulls' loss Wednesday to the Miami Heat, which evened their best-of-seven NBA Eastern Conference final playoff series at one game apiece.

TNT's Game 2 telecast averaged 24.6 percent of the TV households (more than 860,000 local homes) in the Chicago market, consistent with the 24.3 household rating here for Game 1 on Sunday night.

In the Bulls hometown, Wednesday's 85-75 loss to Miami easily trounced the next most-popular show, Fox powerhouse "American Idol," which averaged a 13.2 household rating (or more than 460,000 homes), according to Nielsen Media Research.

Nationally, the game averaged 10 million total viewers and a 6.1 household rating, although the overnight rating in the metered markets for Game 2 was the same 7.4 household rating as Sunday night's Game 1, which attracted more overall viewers.

Wednesday's edition of Fox's "Idol" was dominant nationally, averaging more than 23.6 million viewers and a 13.3 household rating. CBS' "Criminal Minds" averaged 12.8 million and ABC's "Modern Family" averaged 10.3 million viewers.

The Bulls-Heat series opener Sunday earned a 6.2 household rating but total viewership of 11.109 million, setting a record as the most-watched basketball telecast ever on cable despite competition from the season finales of CBS' "Survivor" and ABC's "Desperate Housewives."

The Heat's Game 2 victory average a 22.4 household rating in the Miami market (or more than 350,00 homes), down from a 23.3 household rating for Game 1.