As for former programming person and producer type, I know first hand how difficult it is to fill a TV programming schedule. A niche channel can be particularly challenging if the content just doesn’t exist. Even Food Network doesn’t fill its schedule with food-related programming 24/7. Have you ever tried watching the network in the morning? A lot of it is paid programming. So I can empathize with programmers and producers… somewhat.
I was checking out our on-screen satellite TV guide in search of something interesting to watch. I stumbled upon Reelz, a channel I forgot even existed. The program was called Movies and Music. The description for this particular edition of the show: Music videos from films starring actors who have served as hosts of television’s “Saturday Night Live.” HUH? Read that again.
Music videos from films starring actors who have served as hosts of television’s “Saturday Night Live.”
Since I didn’t fully understand the description, I decided to watch the show for a couple of minutes to figure out what this show was about.
Whoa. What I discovered is that this show is a prime example of trying so hard to fill a channel 24/7. The show was just what it said it was: Music videos from films. OK. I get that but why the stretch into films starring actors who have served as hosts…? What the heck? “Here’s a music video by ____ from the movie ___ that starred Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner. They both hosted SNL at some point in their life and that’s why we’re showing you this video. Our producers are making us stick to this ‘theme.’”
That’s quite a stretch, Reelz! That’s like saying “Music videos from TV shows that once had a semi-successful athlete from the ’80s as a guest star.” ugh. Keep it simple. Stop trying to stretch flimsy rubber band connections, eventually they will snap.
Sounds next to impossible, but it’s happening. For some folks subscribing to Entertainment Weekly in New York and Los Angeles, there will be a video player in the fall preview edition of the magazine that’s slated for availability on September 11. Here’s the article from USAToday.
While the primary purpose of the video is to promote CBS’s fall lineup, I think the technology has the possibility of doing more than just that. Could this be the saving grace for magazines and newspapers? In the future will we see and hear magazine ads that include jingles? Could Rolling Stone become what MTV was supposed to be and actually play a video within their pages? Will we eventually become so annoyed with people “reading” their magazines in public that they’ll come equipped with a plug for ear buds
Oh the possibilities!
I feel like we’ve just entered the world of The Jetsons.
One of my pet peeves when it comes to local news is when a local news station takes a national news story and tried to make it local. For example, taking the death of Michael Jackson and finding someone to interview who met him at one time. You know what I mean?
Quick setup, Patrick Burris is believed to have killed at least five people in South Carolina. His victims seem to have been chosen randomly. This man was one mean guy. I don’t think you will hear anyone interviewed saying, “He was always so quiet,” etc.
I read the article posted on WSLS’ website looking for the connection. Now, I usually scan articles quickly, so I was not surprised that I had to reread the article to find the connection. I think I found it:
Police were still piecing together details of his life. Records show he had lived in Rockingham County, N.C., a rural county near the Virginia border, since the late 1980s, but he also spent a lot of time behind bars.
I did some research and it seems Rockingham County IS in the WSLS market, barely. But after the DTV switch the WSLS has “coverage lost but still served by same network” in the county, (thanks FCC for that clear definition).
So, a bit of a stretch IMHO. Do you know of other examples of where local stations try to make a national story relevant to the area?
I do not know about the other authors in this blog, but I lean to the right when it comes to politics. So when Fox News came out about ten years ago, I was thrilled.
Today? Not so much.
Basically, Fox News has turned into the Entertainment Tonight and Inside Edition news channel. Their front page headlines are something right out of the Enquirer, although I have not seen Bigfoot on their site yet. I had been meaning to post about this for a while, but today really made me sit down and blog about Fox News.
I scrolled down the front page to look at U.S. News., (I check it at work daily in case there is something in our area that made it national). Before I get to that section, I have to scroll past something that apparently is important since it comes ahead of U.S. News – “Features & Faces” a.k.a. Hollywood crap. Here are today’s topics:
What got me riled up though was the last one. I clicked on it and maybe three of the people listed would be fat. The rest? Normal, healthy bodies. And look at the other items: beach body tips, stars without makeup and other themes over this week include: boob jobs, plastic sugery, more stars without makeup, beach bodies, you name it!
Is this what journalism has come to? Gossip and promoting skinny and beautiful to readers? Forget all the eating disorders out there and body image issues among girls and women. When Hillary Duff “may want to add an extra bicep curl to your [her] routine” according to Fox, what does that make the rest of us?
I am so disappointed at Fox News that I cannot even write this post as well I as I would like. So I apologize to our readers.
I also have a confession. I was a little, sort of, um, interested in some of the stories.
Now off to read something like the Wall Street Journal to cleanse myself.
We are in the midst of a revolution, people. And it’s being led by a guy who played the ditzy Michael Kelso on That ’70s Show. That’s right, Ashton Kutcher.
Recently Kutcher challenged CNN to what amounts to a popularity contest on Twitter… and he won! He was the first to hit the 1-million followers mark.
Wednesday night, Kutcher topped himself. First, he recruited a number of followers in the ATL via tweetup. Then, he, @mrskutcher, and friends passed out Ding Dongs to the group. Their intention? To create a diversion for the real event. What seemed to be a merry prank involving chocolately Ding Dong treats turned out to be a ploy, so that the real prank or dare I say a punk of epic proportions, could take place without being hindered. The result? Take a look:
@aplusk strikes again!
That is Kutcher’s Twitter name (?), @aplusk, cloaking the CNN sign in Atlanta. This, friends, is impressive on multiple accounts.
He covered the CNN sign! How did he do that?! Or perhaps, “how did he get away with that?” would be a better question.
He covered the CNN sign! How did he come up with that?!
The whole thing was streamed live on the interwebz. Again, how did he do that?! Well, it was via Ustream, but I am wondering about the technology here. Is it just his phone or what? This is incredible to me and it’s interesting to see how online media is changing so much. Forget about live shots using a microwave truck or satellite dish. This is the future, and the existence of traditional broadcasting methods continues to be threatened.
Is Twitter the media’s new 140-character press release?
I find it interesting how various public figures take to Twitter for controlling how they are portrayed in the media. In a world where there is little control over information or how it is perceived, Twitter is an interesting route to take. I’ve recently joined Twitter and have been following a variety of Twits(?). At this point it is mainly celebrities because few of my friends use the service. Regardless, I enjoy the tweets of one celebrity in particular. He does not use a publicist as a go-between. His tweets are frequent, humorous, thoughtful, and occasionally nonsensical. And if it’s possible to “blurttweet” (I made that up) things out on the web, he does that, too. He is aware of his virtual relationship with his followers (or fans) and engages them—us—in “actwivities.” (He made that up.)
Not surprisingly, one actwivity has been mucked up by the news media. It started with a nod/tweet to Ernest Hemingway’s claim of being able to write a great story in 6 words. We were then encouraged to share our 6-word stories with him. After worthy replies were republished to his page within 9 subsequent tweets, later that day he then shared his own succinct story prefaced with: “My six word story.”
That 62-character tweet was then reported on CNN as a declaration about his high-profile love life.
There are a number of issues to address here. First, why was this tweet taken out of context? I know that there are no rules for Twittering, but it would seem logical to read more than one update, especially if you are a media representative. Providing context to an audience? Dare I say that this is… research? Second, anyone who is a fan or follower of this person would know that his “voice” consistently represents that of a poetic, romantic, sensitive, occasionally heart-broken storyteller. Third, why can’t we just have fun with Twitter?
Attention, news media: a press release is usually more than 140 characters and you should report more than six words.
Mervin Block is my newswriting hero. Every two months or so, he posts articles on his website in which he “edits” newscasts. It is nice to see someone trying to bring intelligence back to newswriting!
This is a very touchy topic, so I am going to tread carefully.
Just forty years ago, black children were not allowed to go to the same schools as white children. Today, we have a black president. Amazing! The walls of racism have been torn down.
And now they are going back up.
Daryl Cagle is an editorial cartoonist for MSNBC.com. He started following me on Twitter and I returned the favor, (http://twitter.com/dcagle). I may not agree on the content of his cartoons, but his caricatures are dead on. The cartoon you see of President Obama in this post is one of his drawings.
I think it is a great caricature of President Obama. It cover his prominent features, his ears, his eyes, his chin, his lips – oh, wait, be careful how you draw his lips – that could be RACIST!
I could go on and on about this, but Daryl’s latest blog post explains it better.
This is a very touchy topic, so I am going to tread carefully.