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Should CNN replace abruptly departing Lou Dobbs with Rick Sanchez?

2009-11-11T21:43:34-05:00

As Latino groups began to step up their protests against CNN "advocacy anchor" Lou Dobbs, the one time business expert and last remaining anchor from the newschannel's earliest days abruptly announced he was leaving the channel, effective today.

In a long statement, Dobbs told his audience about the move during his 7 p.m. show, saying "some leaders in media, politics and business have been urging me to go beyond my role here at CNN and to engage in constructive problem-solving, as well as to contribute positively to a better understanding of the great issues of our day. And to continue to do so in the most honest and direct language possible."

This was not the first time Dobbs had left CNN; an anchor at the newschannel since its 1980 inception, he departed for two years in 1999 to join the Web site Space.com.

Dobbs has faced criticism from various groups over statements expressed on his CNN show and his radio show, from suggestions that the issue of President Obama's birth in the U.S. may be an open question to his refusal to correct mistaken reporting about illegal immigrants spreading leprosy in America.

Dobbs turned resistance to illegal immigration into a cornerstone of his programs, drawing heated criticism from Latino groups which accused him of demonizing Hispanics and spreading misinformation about the negative impacts of illegal immigrants.

(I experienced his wrath firsthand a few years ago, when I had to end a 2006 interview after he questioned my intelligence and abilities three different times; the situation was so combative, a CNN public relations staffer called me back after the interview ended to apologize)

A group called BastaDobbs.com -- which says it is a Latino-led grassroots coalition of several organizations urging CNN to fire Dobbs -- released a statement earlier today announcing a digital "sit-in" on the newschannel's iReport service. In this protest, members would send thousands of anti-Dobbs personal messages into CNN's Web site devoted to citizen journalism. The group had also protested during CNN's launch of its Latino in America series, arguing that the newschannel could not be fair to Latinos if it kept Dobbs on its payroll.

None of this was mentioned directly in statements released by Dobbs and CNN tonight. And despite the anchor's talk of moving on, no specific reason was given for the anchors abrupt departure -- announced without fanfare or a successor named (The New York Times quotes a spokesperson from Fox saying it has not had discussions with Dobbs for the Fox News Channel nor Fox Business Network).

Given the damage Dobbs punditry has done to its brand with Latinos, perhaps CNN will consider replacing him with Rick Sanchez, the former Miami anchor who has turned their 3 p.m. hour into a showcase for his Twitter-fed reporting and occasional opinionating, often on issues affecting Hispanics.

It would certainly be a delicious irony. And there's not nearly enough of that in the media game these days.

Daily Show suggests Fox News manipulated footage while Fox News fact checks Sarah Palin

2009-11-11T10:22:52-05:00

I'm not sure what's more amazing: That Fox News exposed a falsehood spread by conservative darling Sarah Palin, or that the Daily Show dug up footage suggesting the channel should be fact checking its own programs, too.

On Tuesday, the right-leaning cable channel presented a short report on a Palin speech last week where she groused about the phrase "in God we trust" being moved to a subordinate position on the $1 coin, implying that the current Democratic administration must have had something to do with it.

This is the kind of malarkey which normally rockets around the conservative media echo chamber for weeks, fed by pundits who have a vested interest in spreading misinformation. But Fox News offered a brief report echoing a story Saturday in Politico noting the change in the dollar coin was developed and approved under GOP president George W. Bush and reversed by Congress in 2007.

You can debate why Fox News took the time to debunk this relatively unimportant item; it's a handy response to people who accuse the channel of favoring the right, while knocking down a story which ultimately might have made Republicans look worse once the truth was known.

But the Daily Show presented footage Tuesday suggesting that pundit Sean Hannity may have cribbed images of the large Glenn Beck-inspired Sept. 12 rally in Washington D.C. and led his audience to believe it was footage of the much smaller anti-health care change rally held Thursday.

Host Jon Stewart aired a clip from Hannity's interview with a legislator who was at last week's protest, pointing out that the footage of the rally begins with a sparse crowd milling under trees with golden leaves in fall, then seems to show a much bigger crowd standing under green trees.

Comparing Hannity's footage to images of the September protests Beck aired on his show, Stewart said "If I didn't know any better, I would think they just put two different days together and acted like they didn't."

Check it for yourself below, along with a clip of Fox News taking Palin down a peg:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

Sean Hannity Uses Glenn Beck's Protest Footage

www.thedailyshow.com

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Aaron Carter leaves Dancing with the Stars -- why doesn't anyone care?

2009-11-11T08:17:04-05:00

For a show consistently ranked at the top of TV ratings lists, ABC's Dancing with the Stars isn't making a lot of noise this season.

Former teen idol Aaron Carter left the show Tuesday, clipped out of the competition just before the semi-finals more for his intensely self-absorbed attitude than any lack of dance skill (his crying after ejection was another unfortunate turn for a guy who seemed way too intense from the start).

If dancing were the only hurdle here, moppet celebrity offspring Kelly Osbourne would have taken the long walk. But her transformation into a constantly surprising competitor -- the ultimate chubby duckling-turned-leggy dancing machine -- has won over the show's audience.

And that's where we are now -- Dancing is playing to its base like never before, with a predictable list of four semi-finalists split between the best dancers (singer Mya and model Joanna Krupa) and the audience's sentimental favorites (Osbourne, Donny Osmond).

But unlike the heady early days of this season, when newspapers across the country were debating the merits of letting an indicted former political leader sashay next to a once-indicted football player, the buzz around Dancing is at its lowest ebb, leached away just as the competition has reached its height.

Blame the geniuses who packed the show's biggest cast with its most mediocre lineup of competitors, ensuring the show would be at its most boring just when the biggest audience was paying attention. Those whose corneas survived watching Tom DeLay limp through dances like your drunk uncle also had to endure non-entities such as skateboarder Louis Vito, ultimate fighter Chuck Liddell, celebrity offspring Ashley Hamilton, super-stiff model Kathy Ireland and out-of-it R&B star Macy Gray in an endless parade of awkward movement.

Now that the contest has gotten down to DWTS' central conflict -- ace dancers vs better liked celebs with slightly less ability -- many viewers have moved on. Can a showdown between an Osmond, an Osbourne a Playboy model and a singer really recapture the show's past magic?

Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch agrees with star Glenn Beck; says President Obama made racist statement

2009-11-10T15:01:35-05:00

What a difference an election can make.

In May 2008, News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch sang Barack Obama's praises, calling him "a rock star" and the likely winner of November's presidential contest. That was an endorsement which meant something, given Murdoch's reputation as a supporter of conservative politics and bankroller of both the right-friendly Fox News Channel and New York Post newspaper.

Back then, punditizers like me figured Murdoch had read the tea leaves, expected Obama to win, and wanted to make sure the new administration didn't immediately take on his lengthy list of American TV stations and media outlets.

So what to make of Murdoch's recent statement agreeing with Fox News superstar Glenn Beck when he calls the president a "racist....with a deep seated hatred of white people and white culture."
(UPDATE: A spokesman for News Corp. has told Politico Murdoch does not think the President is racist.)

Murdoch made the statement in an interview with an Australian broadcaster -- which he, by the way, owns a piece of -- where he also talks about charging consumers for online content -- also an about-face for a mogul who initially tried to take down the Wall Street Journal's pay wall after he bought the company.
Slate's most-excellent media columnist Jack Shafer points out that Uncle Rupert has a long history of lying in public statements when it serves his interests, and the only thing you can really trust, is his actions.
So I'm expecting him to walk back these comments the next time he needs some kind of government exemption to keep his TV empire intact here in America.

Check out his words here; comment comes at about 18 minutes:

George Lopez brings a glitzy street party to late night talk on TBS

2009-11-10T08:05:35-05:00

If Wanda Sykes' new show was a funky, televised sit-down with a few friends, comic George Lopez went the other direction for his late night talk show -- bringing a giant-sized, raucous street party on a stage outfitted like a neon-trimmed boulevard, backed by some of the biggest names in show business.
Promising to bring change to late night, Lopez offered a debut show Monday filled with energy and gentle jokes about race and culture (one segment asked audience members to guess if people off the street fit certain stereotypes, including asking if an Asian man was, um, well endowed).

It was a bit of a change -- the only white performer to appear on Monday's show was comic Ellen DeGeneres, who made a surprise appearance in pajamas and slippers to greet the crowd -- with jello shots.

Months before the show's debut, Lopez cited long-gone talk host Arsenio Hall as his inspiration. Looking at Monday's show, you could see the influence -- as Lopez took Hall's vision of a funky good time and blew it up to enormous proportions, filling his studio with hundreds of guests who seemed to remain standing for most of the show.

Lopez's monologue felt like a snippet pulled straight from his standup act, with references to his tough mother and love life. A joke about shirtless rapper 50 Cent's new cologne was the most topical reference, with the comic cracking: "I hear it smells like illegitimate children and gunpowder."

Otherwise, Lopez offered a standard, if entertaining hour, with sit-down interviews featuring longtime showbiz buddies such as Eva Longoria Parker (he pulled out a stripper pole for her to strut on, referencing a bet they made when she appeared on one of his test shows) and Lakers basketball star Kobe Bryant. But the chats weren't about much, beyond all the cool events Parker and Lopez visit together and how cool Bryant was for even deigning to stop by.

The evening's standout may have been a performance by rock guitar legend Carlos Santana, who offered blistering versions of Oye Como Va and Marvin Gaye's The World is Rated X, backed by Lopez's band, which features several members from Michael Jackson's backup band in the film This Is It.

It's a formula nearly old as TV itself, tweaked to serve Lopez's animated, multicultural style.

But if a successful talk show is a relentless marathon, this was a good first step, serving notice that a new voice had come to late night -- even if he was just reiterating what's been said before with a different flair.

Check my words of wisdom on the issue, tapped by National Public Radio:

Wanda Sykes debut shows possibilities and pitfalls in new late night scene

2009-11-09T09:26:44-05:00

This may not sound like high praise. But comic Wanda Sykes' debut Saturday of her new late night talk show on Fox was distinguished mostly by the fact that it didn't suck out loud.

If you've watched any other new talk show debut -- Jay Leno's new 10 p.m. show and Jimmy Fallon's new 12:30 a.m. show this year come to mind -- you know that's a bigger feat than it might seem. Successful talk shows most often are a painful, public trial and error exercise; a slow march from mediocrity to something more, as the performer and the format evolve over time to their fullest potential.

Debuting Saturday with a pre-taped piece making fun of conservative pundit Ann Coulter's ridiculously long eyelashes, the show's first 10 minutes offered a machine gun-quick sample of the show's strongest assets; Sykes' taste for amusing taped bits (later, she would try to recycle her used sex toys), an explicit-yet-somehow not seedy sense of humor and an unerring standup comedy style which saved a lot of borderline moments.

Noting that Obama didn't start illegal wars or torture detainees in a secret prison, Sykes promised to be the "first person on Fox not to pick on President Obama," comparing people who accuse the president of doing too much to bosses on a union job.

Later, after showing a montage of pundits downplaying the Dow Jones average crossing 10,000 points, she told them exactly what to kiss, cementing her status as the self-appointed "tell people where to go and what to kiss czar" for the Obama White House.

What worked: Sykes's monologue, the pre-taped bits -- which end when the joke is made, unlike Leno's -- Sykes' own comfort onstage and ability to segue between a blizzard of segments.

What didn't work: Sidekick Keith Robinson, who I have seen open for Sykes on tour and know is a really funny standup comic, could not find his voice, mostly looking like a lame safety net; the panel discussions with Sykes' friends at the "Wandabar," which were centered on trite topics and didn't give participants (Amazing Race host Phil Keoghan, Brothers star Darryl Mitchell and 24 co-star Mary-Lynn Rajskub) room to be funny; handing drinks to panelists, because you always think things are funnier than they are when you're tipsy -- unless the TV audience gets drinks too, it's rarely a good idea.

But Sykes made a powerful, interesting start, even getting New Adventures of Old Christine co-star Julia Louis Dreyfus to show for a quick scene. Now the challenge is to keep the party going every week, getting better enough that this debut looks like a pit stop on the way to a classic late night series.

Check it for yourself below:

Mad Men ends season three with a perfect reinvention of both its hero and the series itself

2009-11-09T00:06:15-05:00

It's a given with series and season finales; they are never as satisfying, groundbreaking or revolutionary as you hope they will be.

Except when they are.

And the wonder of Mad Men's season finale Sunday, "Shut the Door, Have a Seat," is that it hits every note you'd hope and more -- repositioning the series for serious re-invention next season while stripping hero Don Draper (Jon Hamm) down to his emotional core. All in space of 60 minutes, minus commercials.

First, the spoilery plot stuff. Our heroes' corporate home, Sterling Cooper, is about to be sold along with its new British owners to another advertising firm. Rather than endure that transition -- John Slattery's masterfully profane Roger Sterling compared it to a working girl hopping beds again -- Draper convinces his colleagues to first try buying the firm and then to steal away it's clients and start their own, new business.

This move gives parts of the episode a Magnificent Seven quality, as Draper, Sterling and honcho Bert Cooper reach out to all the key characters who found themselves set adrift over this season -- yes, drooling fanboys, Christina Hendricks' voluptuous Joan Harris returns in all her glory. Pete Campbell, Peggy Olson, even British manager Lane Pryce makes the jump -- snagging a partnership by agreeing to fire Cooper, Draper and Sterling, which allows their departure in the first place.

But the best effect of this turmoil, is to strip Draper bare. He is forced to reconnect with people he had previously written off or taken for granted, including Sterling, Campbell and Olson, to admit what he values about them to pull them into his new venture -- forcing him to accept how much he really needs them, after all.

(Here's a great Web site which claims to have every line draper has uttered on the show; a surprisingly small amount of words, and another indication of how much actors here say without saying anything.)

It is, then, a supremely crafted irony that Draper's home life is falling apart, even as his professional world is entering an exciting new chapter. Wife Betty consults a divorce attorney, new flame Henry Francis by her side; when Draper discovers she is leaving him for another man, his bitter anger is both hypocritical and predictable. Like every other relationship in his life, Draper had taken Betty's blind devotion for granted until it was gone. But there is little doubt that much unfinished business remains between these two.

There were so many amazing moments in this episode, I had trouble keeping up:

-- Connie Hilton informing Draper that his company was being sold and, subtly, daring him to do something about it. "I got everything I have on my own. It's made me immune to those who complain and cry because they can't. I didn't take you for one of them Don. Are you?" Hilton says, with a smirk. Draper knows in that moment he wants to be that independent and powerful. Another irony: that his own impoverished father and Hilton would both provide the inspiration for the new firm, like twin father figures.

-- Betty revealing to Draper that she's been unhappy for a long time, after he assumed she'd had a tough couple of weeks. "I've had a tough year," she says, ferociously. But when we see new flame Henry become the driving force in her consultation with the divorce lawyer, you wonder -- is she trading one controlling, accomplished man for another?

-- Roger summing up Draper's problems in a sentence. "You're not good at relationships because you don't value them."

-- Peggy snapping back at Draper when he barks orders at her, assuming she would leap at the chance to join his new firm. "You assume I'll follow you like some nervous poodle," she snaps. "I don't want to make a career out of being there so you can kick me when you fail." More evidence she is a young version of Draper; and in another delicious irony, this exchange resonates with the way Hilton has treated Draper.

-- Roger telling Draper about Betty's flame, thinking he knew, prompting the man who has had at least five affairs on his wife in the recent past to call her a whore.

-- Draper's daughter Sally learning her father would be moving out of the house and responding by getting angry at everyone. "Did you make him leave?" the sharp beyond her years Sally barked at her mother. "You made him sleep in (Betty's recently deceased father) Gene's room and it's scary in there."

-- Watching men used to handing correspondence and coffee orders to secretaries typing out letters in their new firm's hotel suite office. Roger learns the new order when he asks Peggy to grab him a cup of coffee and she replies with a curt "No." Welcome to the modern age, Mr. Sterling.

-- The episode's end set to the strains of Roy Orbison's plaintive B-side cut Shahdaroba. Check the incredibly appropriate lyrics here.

Now fans can feel the show's characters are on the same verge of discovery and new beginnings as America itself. A new firm, new challenges -- a Draper liberated from his family just as he learns how much he values them. And all the characters on new footing with each other as they are forced to forge a new future together.

I wish the new season started tomorrow. And for a TV producer spinning a masterpiece, that may be the highest praise imaginable.

Here's New York magazine's amazing collection of Roger Sterling's one-liners:

Pitchman star Anthony Sullivan finds new talents on MJ Morning Show's Inventor Quest 2009

2009-11-06T10:29:26-05:00

He came into the studio expecting to be a tough judge, facing a host of folks hoping to win a spot on the second season of his Discovery Channel series, Pitchmen.

But infomercial king Anthony Sullivan found he couldn't say no to most of the inventors who crowded into radio host Todd "MJ" Schnitt's studio this morning as part of WFLZ-FM's "Inventorquest 2009." (image at right from a different photo shoot a few weeks ago at Citrus Park Mall)

Time and again, Sullivan responded to enthusiastic pitches by telling the hopeful inventors they would get screen time on the second season of the show he developed and starred in with former partner Billy Mays, the popular TV spokesman who died in his Tampa home in June.
Joined by his partner's son Billy Mays III, Sullivan encouraged most of the inventors to pitch their inventions hard, coming away convinced he could turn many in profitable products.

"I wanted to be more brutal, but we saw some wonderful stuff today," he said on air this morning, as cameras from his production company taped footage which might land in an episode of Pitchmen. "I'm not sure how many of these guys we can get on, but I guarantee you one or two of these will land on the show."

The types of products ranged from a trash can built with an accordion shape for easy storage to a sink attachment allowing you to cut on water flow by pressing a lever, a cutting board with raised sides and openings to help prevent injury and a reversible toilet paper attachment allowing the paper to be pulled out over the top or from the bottom of the roll.

Inventor Rocky Hutson, who had traveled from Colorado to participate in a larger audition Sullivan and Schnitt held Wednesday at the Ritz Theater in Ybor City, insisted his T.P. Swivel toilet paper dispenser would eliminate household arguments over how to install the toilet paper roll in bathrooms -- but Schnitt's on air crew wasn't necessarily buying the idea that this was a big issue.

Still Sullivan told the trash can's inventor he could make him a millionaire -- if some enterprising listener didn't get a knockoff product on the market first. They would have to move fast -- Sullivan estimated his company could pull together a direct response TV ad and begin selling any of the products they saw today within six to eight weeks.

Schnitt basked in the popularity of the contest, placing streaming audio and video of the inventor pitches on his show's Web site, alongside pictures and online video clips from Wednesday's tryouts in Ybor City. he even agreed to run in next years New York marathon with Sullivan in exchange for a sponsorship from the pitchman's company.

See video from the Wednesday tryouts below:

Suspended WDAE-AM sports radio jock Dan Sileo returned to the airwaves today

2009-11-06T07:56:41-05:00

Dan Sileo, the Tampa sports radio jock suspended last week after Clear Channel Radio retracted statements he made about the possible sale of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, returned to the airwaves on WDAE-AM 620 this morning without speaking on the drama behind his departure.
Clear Channel executives appear to be hoping they can pretend the whole incident never happened, declining to comment in detail about their discussions with Sileo or how they decided the broadcaster would keep his job.
Sileo was suspended from the station's morning drive time program Oct. 29, after declaring on air that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers might be sold because the owners had lost more than $400-million with disgraced financier Bernard Madoff.
The report rocketed across the media world, including WFLA-AM, the St. Petersburg Times' Web site, the sports blog Deadspin and WTSP-Ch. 10.
Buccaneers co-chairman Joel Glazer responded with an uncharacteristically strong public statement on behalf of his family, saying ""The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are not, nor have they ever been for sale. In addition, our family or any of our related companies have never invested one penny with Bernie Madoff.

"The report is baseless, irresponsible and slanderous. This type of behavior by Mr. Sileo and his company Clear Channel will be dealt with in the appropriate manner.” The implication of legal action sent ripples through the local sports community; later that day, Clear Channel announced Sileo's suspension, posting a retraction on WDAE's Web site which apologized and called his report "factually incorrect."
Dan DiLoreto, Tampa market manager for Clear Channel Radio, said Monday Sileo was out-of-his depth in passing on information about the Glazers he said came from an unnamed friend working with the Securities and Exchange Commission. "It's out of our purview to try and be investigative reporters," DiLoreto said.
Still unresolved is the question of whether Sileo's statement will sour the station's relationship with the Buccaneers; WDAE airs the team's games on the radio as its flagship station.

Why are so many more people watching pro football this year?

2009-11-05T14:15:48-05:00

I teamed up with feature writer Michael Kruse last week to take a look at one interesting component in the National Football League's significant jump in ratings this season: A rise in Hispanic viewers.
But there's also been a jump in overall viewers. And when you ask the folks whose job involves telecasting the games about football’s recent popularity, they use the same line:
Sports is the ultimate reality TV show.
“It’s the ultimate appointment viewing,” said Leah LaPlaca, vice president of programming for ESPN, where viewership for the cable sportschannel’s first six Monday Night Football games were up between 18 and 22 percent from 2008 in every major male demographic category and every major age category. “People want to be part of the shared experienced. It’s DVR-proof.”
In other words, at a time when people are using digital video records to save their favorite CSI episode or Mad Men installment, football games and sporting events are the last programs many viewers insist on seeing live, as it happens.
Doesn’t hurt that the sport has seen some of its most compelling moments in a long while. Brett Favre leading the Minnesota Vikings to victory over his former Green Bay Packers scored the most-watched show in cable TV history.
Michael Vick’s return to play after his dog fighting scandal. The Dallas Cowboys’ debut in a glittering new $1.2-billion stadium. The hapless struggle of perpetually losing teams such as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Washington Redskins.
Even when Monday Night Football aired against Game Four of baseball’s National League Championship Series on TBS Oct. 19, the Denver Broncos vs San Diego Chargers pigskin matchup drew more than twice the ratings.
The NFL’s popularity has also led to big ratings locally. At Tampa NBC affiliate WFLA-Ch. 8, ratings for viewers aged 25 to 54 – a group advertisers covet – is up 7 percent from 2008 for the first five Sunday NFL games. Ratings for adults aged 18 to 49 and total viewers are both up by 11 percent.
Jennifer Yarter, WFLA’s research director, blames the current recession. “In this recessionary age where people do not have discretionary income to attend many live sporting events, people will turn to their comfortable favorites – events like televised pro football games,” wrote Yarter in an email to the St. Petersburg Times. “Families can gather around the television, have a good time, and need not spend a dime.”
Ironically, Yarter also cites the poor play by the hometown Buccaneers as a possible boost to ratings for other teams’ games. When they play badly, she theorized, Tampa Bay area fans who hail from elsewhere – which is a great many – wind up rooting for teams from their previous hometowns.
Not so fast, say executives at WTVT-Ch. 13, where the Fox affiliate airs Buccaneers home games. They said the season’s first six games have attracted an average 41 percent of adults age 25 to 54 watching TV, just a 1-percent drop from the year before.
And while that isn’t the double-digit increases WFLA may be seeing from its network broadcasts, it isn’t much of a decline for a team experiencing the worst start in recent franchise history.
“In our world of high tech measurement, anything plus or minus 10 percent could be affected by prior year weather, the times of the games or the matchups,” said Bill Schnieder, general manager at WTVT. “From our perspective, we’re looking at 41 percent of the audience engaged. And we appreciate that level of audience.”