During Saturday's Nightly News story about the G20 summit in Toronto, Chuck Todd featured a clip of a man identified as "Stuart" Patrick, from the Council on Foreign Relations. Actually, his name is Stewart Patrick. If anyone at Nightly News had bothered to google "Stuart Patrick Council on Foreign Relations", they would have gotten a message reading "Did you mean Stewart Patrick?" Obviously, no one bothered. They rarely do.
During Sunday's story about nine soldiers from Chosen Company who were killed in a firefight with the Taliban in Afghanistan two years ago, Richard Engel interviewed someone identified by a Nightly News graphic as Sgt. "Christoper" McKaig. His name is Christopher, not Christoper. Is this how the Nightly News producers show their respect for the survivors of this deadly battle? By misspelling Sgt. McKaig's name? Shameful.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
If It's A Sweeps Period, Brian Williams Is In The Gulf
It was beyond ironic to hear Brian Williams report (last Wednesday) that Spirit Airways has been accused of exploiting the Gulf oil crisis with their new ads. In fact, no one has exploited the Gulf oil crisis more than Brian himself. From a news perspective, this story rarely deserves more than a few minutes a night (if that), but Brian and the Nightly News correspondents routinely spend ten minutes or more mucking around in the oily water. Brian has only 22 minutes each night to report all the news from across the country and around the world, so this story simply does not merit the amount of time Brian gives it. Night after night, Brian panders to the viewers' anti-BP sentiment. From a ratings standpoint, it's lucrative to milk a story by playing to the viewers' emotions, rather than reporting actual news. Whether it's Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Osama bin Laden, Enron, Saddam Hussein, Bernie Madoff or BP, there are ratings to be had by exploiting the viewers' anger at a hated person or corporation. Nightly News has shown the same oil-soaked birds and marine life so often in the past two months that some of these animals are receiving residual checks from NBC. I hear that NBC is planning to change their logo from a peacock to an oil-soaked pelican.
Does anyone really believe that Brian Williams is in the Louisiana Gulf this week because he cares about what's going on there? If so, there's a bridge over the East River that I'd like to sell you. Brian cares about one thing and only one thing: His ratings. This week marks the beginning of the July Nielsen ratings sweeps period. That's why Brian is in the Gulf. For last May's sweeps period, Brian was also in the Gulf. For the February sweeps period, he was in Vancouver for the Olympics. For last year's October-November sweeps period, he was in Afghanistan, exploiting orphans for ratings. Need I say more? If anyone wants to know when the Nielsen sweeps periods took place, all they would have to do is check Brian's travel schedule. When he travels, it's a sweeps period. So where will Brian be for this November's sweeps period? Las Vegas bookies are giving 5-to-3 odds that it will be Iraq.
On Monday's Nightly News, there were two segments labeled "Brian Williams Reporting". The first segment consisted of Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser complaining for three and a half minutes about the lack of government help in cleaning up the oil. I can certainly understand his frustration. But Nungesser's griping is not news. The second "Brian Williams Reporting" segment consisted of Louisiana native Dave Cvitanovich complaining for two minutes and forty five seconds about the oil spill. I can also understand Cvitanovich's frustration. But six minutes of complaining isn't news. It's "The View".
"Brian Williams Reporting". That's an oxymoron. Brian Williams isn't a reporter, he's a news reader. His job is to sit in the studio and read the words as they crawl across the teleprompter. His reporting skills are, shall we say, thin, to say the least. (I'm trying to be diplomatic here.) Come to think of it, there wasn't much reporting going on in either of Brian's segments. Mostly it was just other people talking. But I'm disappointed in Brian. During the story on Nungesser, Brian stuck an "absorbent pad" in the water to show how much oil was present. Why didn't be use a Tena Bladder Protection Absorbent Pad? He missed an opportunity to help out a Nightly News sponsor with a product placement. In fact, I think we can say that in this case, he missed a "golden" opportunity.
Does anyone really believe that Brian Williams is in the Louisiana Gulf this week because he cares about what's going on there? If so, there's a bridge over the East River that I'd like to sell you. Brian cares about one thing and only one thing: His ratings. This week marks the beginning of the July Nielsen ratings sweeps period. That's why Brian is in the Gulf. For last May's sweeps period, Brian was also in the Gulf. For the February sweeps period, he was in Vancouver for the Olympics. For last year's October-November sweeps period, he was in Afghanistan, exploiting orphans for ratings. Need I say more? If anyone wants to know when the Nielsen sweeps periods took place, all they would have to do is check Brian's travel schedule. When he travels, it's a sweeps period. So where will Brian be for this November's sweeps period? Las Vegas bookies are giving 5-to-3 odds that it will be Iraq.
On Monday's Nightly News, there were two segments labeled "Brian Williams Reporting". The first segment consisted of Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser complaining for three and a half minutes about the lack of government help in cleaning up the oil. I can certainly understand his frustration. But Nungesser's griping is not news. The second "Brian Williams Reporting" segment consisted of Louisiana native Dave Cvitanovich complaining for two minutes and forty five seconds about the oil spill. I can also understand Cvitanovich's frustration. But six minutes of complaining isn't news. It's "The View".
"Brian Williams Reporting". That's an oxymoron. Brian Williams isn't a reporter, he's a news reader. His job is to sit in the studio and read the words as they crawl across the teleprompter. His reporting skills are, shall we say, thin, to say the least. (I'm trying to be diplomatic here.) Come to think of it, there wasn't much reporting going on in either of Brian's segments. Mostly it was just other people talking. But I'm disappointed in Brian. During the story on Nungesser, Brian stuck an "absorbent pad" in the water to show how much oil was present. Why didn't be use a Tena Bladder Protection Absorbent Pad? He missed an opportunity to help out a Nightly News sponsor with a product placement. In fact, I think we can say that in this case, he missed a "golden" opportunity.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Show Notes--June 21-25
*On Tuesday's Nightly News, we were shown an on-screen transcript of audio statements made by Michael Hastings (author of the "Rolling Stone" article about Gen. McChrystal). The transcript includes the phrase "president Obama". The "P" in President Obama should have been capitalized.
*After that story, Brian Williams referred to Richard Engel as "our chief foreign affairs correspondent." That is incorrect. Engel is the Nightly News chief foreign correspondent. Andrea Mitchell is the chief foreign affairs correspondent.
*On Wednesday's story about the earthquake in Canada, Brian told us that the quake was felt in 19 U.S. states. But the accompanying map indicated only 18 states (and the District of Columbia). Someone needs to tell Brian that D.C. is not a state.
*On Wednesday's story about the U.S. World Cup victory over Algeria, Ian Williams told us that the U.S. goal came during "overtime". Not true. The goal came during added time. It can also be called bonus time, injury time, extra time or stoppage time. But it was not overtime. There is no overtime in the initial group stage of the World Cup.
*Congratulations to Brian Williams for correctly spelling the names "McChrystal" and "Petraeus" on his blog this week. On his 10/30/09 blog, Brian misspelled both those names.
*After that story, Brian Williams referred to Richard Engel as "our chief foreign affairs correspondent." That is incorrect. Engel is the Nightly News chief foreign correspondent. Andrea Mitchell is the chief foreign affairs correspondent.
*On Wednesday's story about the earthquake in Canada, Brian told us that the quake was felt in 19 U.S. states. But the accompanying map indicated only 18 states (and the District of Columbia). Someone needs to tell Brian that D.C. is not a state.
*On Wednesday's story about the U.S. World Cup victory over Algeria, Ian Williams told us that the U.S. goal came during "overtime". Not true. The goal came during added time. It can also be called bonus time, injury time, extra time or stoppage time. But it was not overtime. There is no overtime in the initial group stage of the World Cup.
*Congratulations to Brian Williams for correctly spelling the names "McChrystal" and "Petraeus" on his blog this week. On his 10/30/09 blog, Brian misspelled both those names.
Brian Williams Doesn't Do Sports
I laughed so hard that root beer shot out of my nose when I heard Brian Williams say on Wednesday's Nightly News that, "We don't do a lot of sports around here...." That's the funniest joke I've heard since the one about the traveling salesman and the farmer's daughters. During the Vancouver Olympics in February, Nightly News aired 160 minutes of Olympic-related stories. Some broadcasts devoted more than half their time to the Olympics. Since a Nightly News broadcast runs 22 minutes (without commercials), that 160 minutes represents the equivalent of more than seven entire broadcasts devoted solely to the Olympics! And Brian says that Nightly News doesn't do a lot of sports? He's a riot! I think a more appropriate statement would have been, "We don't do a lot of sports around here unless it's for the specific purpose of promoting sporting events that will be televised on NBC." When NBC broadcasts the Kentucky Derby or the Preakness, Nightly News airs "news stories" about horse racing. When NBC broadcasts the U.S. Open golf tournament, Nightly News airs "news stories" about golf. During the NFL season, Nightly News airs "news stories" about football. When NBC broadcasts the Stanley Cup Finals, Nightly News airs "news stories" about hockey. When NBC airs college football games, Nightly News airs "news stories" about college football. NBC is carrying Wimbledon tennis this week, so of course Nightly News has aired several "news stories" about that tournament. "We don't do a lot of sports around here." That Brian Williams is one funny guy.
Actually, considering that most stories Brian reports are for the specific purpose of promoting himself, his broadcast, other NBC shows or NBC sponsors, a more accurate statement would have been, "We don't do a lot of news around here...." Here are a few examples just from this month:
*June 3--Brian spends a minute on an obituary for Rue McClanahan. Not coincidentally, "Golden Girls" DVDs and other items are available online at the NBC Universal store. Also on this broadcast, Brian spends 30 seconds showing us a picture of a rainbow that he took with his cell phone.
*June 4--Brian airs a two minute "news story" that is, in reality, a promo for a "Dateline" story he will be doing about the explosion on Deepwater Horizon. Also on this broadcast, Brian reports that McDonald's is recalling their Shrek promotional glasses because of high levels of cadmium. The story consists of close-up shots of Shrek glasses. This is just a way of promoting the Shrek ride at Universal Studios in Orlando and Hollywood.
*June 7--The "news story" on commencement addresses contains speech clips from NBC and Universal stars such as Alec Baldwin ("30 Rock", "It's Complicated"), Meryl Streep ("It's Complicated"), Bill Cosby ("The Cosby Show"), and of course, Brian himself.
*June 8--Nightly News airs a "news story" about how Aleve can reduce the risk of heart attacks. Aleve is a frequent Nightly News sponsor. Also, Brian reports a three minute "news story" about the Muppets. Muppet merchandise is available at the NBC Universal store.
*June 10--Nightly News airs a report about Chevy automobiles. This story is actually a two minute thank-you to Chevy, a frequent NBC sponsor.
*June 14--A Nightly News story about free Wi-Fi in McDonald's and Starbucks is actually just a way of giving some free advertising to these two regular NBC sponsors.
*June 16--A story about a pill to increase the female sex drive includes clips from regular NBC advertisers Viagra, Cialis and Levitra.
*June 17--Campbell's recalls 15 million pounds of their Spaghettios products because undercooked meatballs could present a serious health risk to children. Brian refuses to report the story because Campbell's is a regular Nightly News sponsor.
*June 18--Nightly News airs a "news story" about the 30th anniversary of the "Blues Brothers" movie. "The Blues Brothers" is an NBC Universal property and they continue to make money from the franchise. This is just a plug for an NBC Universal product.
*June 22--Brian shows a 30-second clip from "The Jimmy Fallon Show". Even better, the clip shows Fallon demonstrating the new Microsoft Kinect hands-free gaming system. Microsoft is NBC's partner in the MSNBC network (and the MSNBC website) so this is a shameless promo for both Fallon and Microsoft.
*June 23 and 24--Nightly News reports "news stories" about Wimbledon. This is just a promo for NBC's Wimbledon coverage, which will be airing all next week.
*June 24--Brian reminds his viewers that Nightly News "is viewed by the largest single daily news audience in the country." Such modesty!
*June 25--A Nightly News story featuring Chris Warren of The Weather Channel is just an excuse to run a promo for Brian's upcoming hour-long special "The Spill: Crisis In The Gulf"--airing on The Weather Channel. Brian also reports that Kellogg's is recalling 28 million boxes of their cereals. This week, some of the Nightly News "Be Well, Be Healthy" segments are sponsored by Cheerios--a General Mills product. Reporting the Kellogg's recall is a favor to Brian's pals at General Mills. (Remember that Brian refused to report the Spaghettios recall as a favor to his pals at Campbell's.) In the "Be Well, Be Healthy" segment, Lisa Myers tells us that 16 food and beverage companies are reducing the calories in their products by 1.5 trillion. We then see the logos of such frequent NBC advertisers as Nestle, Kraft, Hershey's, Campbell's, Pepsi, Coke, Sara Lee, Smucker's, Mars, General Mills, Bumble Bee and Post. What a nice thank-you for these sponsors. Next, we see a two-minute report about all the problems with the new Apple iPhone. This story was done as a favor to NBC's partner Microsoft, a competitor of Apple. Finally, we see a report by Richard Engel which is just a 90-second promo for his upcoming "Dateline" story. The "Dateline" logo is on screen for 25 seconds.
With all these "news stories" promoting NBC and NBC's sponsors, it's a wonder that Nightly News has any time left for legitimate news stories.
Actually, considering that most stories Brian reports are for the specific purpose of promoting himself, his broadcast, other NBC shows or NBC sponsors, a more accurate statement would have been, "We don't do a lot of news around here...." Here are a few examples just from this month:
*June 3--Brian spends a minute on an obituary for Rue McClanahan. Not coincidentally, "Golden Girls" DVDs and other items are available online at the NBC Universal store. Also on this broadcast, Brian spends 30 seconds showing us a picture of a rainbow that he took with his cell phone.
*June 4--Brian airs a two minute "news story" that is, in reality, a promo for a "Dateline" story he will be doing about the explosion on Deepwater Horizon. Also on this broadcast, Brian reports that McDonald's is recalling their Shrek promotional glasses because of high levels of cadmium. The story consists of close-up shots of Shrek glasses. This is just a way of promoting the Shrek ride at Universal Studios in Orlando and Hollywood.
*June 7--The "news story" on commencement addresses contains speech clips from NBC and Universal stars such as Alec Baldwin ("30 Rock", "It's Complicated"), Meryl Streep ("It's Complicated"), Bill Cosby ("The Cosby Show"), and of course, Brian himself.
*June 8--Nightly News airs a "news story" about how Aleve can reduce the risk of heart attacks. Aleve is a frequent Nightly News sponsor. Also, Brian reports a three minute "news story" about the Muppets. Muppet merchandise is available at the NBC Universal store.
*June 10--Nightly News airs a report about Chevy automobiles. This story is actually a two minute thank-you to Chevy, a frequent NBC sponsor.
*June 14--A Nightly News story about free Wi-Fi in McDonald's and Starbucks is actually just a way of giving some free advertising to these two regular NBC sponsors.
*June 16--A story about a pill to increase the female sex drive includes clips from regular NBC advertisers Viagra, Cialis and Levitra.
*June 17--Campbell's recalls 15 million pounds of their Spaghettios products because undercooked meatballs could present a serious health risk to children. Brian refuses to report the story because Campbell's is a regular Nightly News sponsor.
*June 18--Nightly News airs a "news story" about the 30th anniversary of the "Blues Brothers" movie. "The Blues Brothers" is an NBC Universal property and they continue to make money from the franchise. This is just a plug for an NBC Universal product.
*June 22--Brian shows a 30-second clip from "The Jimmy Fallon Show". Even better, the clip shows Fallon demonstrating the new Microsoft Kinect hands-free gaming system. Microsoft is NBC's partner in the MSNBC network (and the MSNBC website) so this is a shameless promo for both Fallon and Microsoft.
*June 23 and 24--Nightly News reports "news stories" about Wimbledon. This is just a promo for NBC's Wimbledon coverage, which will be airing all next week.
*June 24--Brian reminds his viewers that Nightly News "is viewed by the largest single daily news audience in the country." Such modesty!
*June 25--A Nightly News story featuring Chris Warren of The Weather Channel is just an excuse to run a promo for Brian's upcoming hour-long special "The Spill: Crisis In The Gulf"--airing on The Weather Channel. Brian also reports that Kellogg's is recalling 28 million boxes of their cereals. This week, some of the Nightly News "Be Well, Be Healthy" segments are sponsored by Cheerios--a General Mills product. Reporting the Kellogg's recall is a favor to Brian's pals at General Mills. (Remember that Brian refused to report the Spaghettios recall as a favor to his pals at Campbell's.) In the "Be Well, Be Healthy" segment, Lisa Myers tells us that 16 food and beverage companies are reducing the calories in their products by 1.5 trillion. We then see the logos of such frequent NBC advertisers as Nestle, Kraft, Hershey's, Campbell's, Pepsi, Coke, Sara Lee, Smucker's, Mars, General Mills, Bumble Bee and Post. What a nice thank-you for these sponsors. Next, we see a two-minute report about all the problems with the new Apple iPhone. This story was done as a favor to NBC's partner Microsoft, a competitor of Apple. Finally, we see a report by Richard Engel which is just a 90-second promo for his upcoming "Dateline" story. The "Dateline" logo is on screen for 25 seconds.
With all these "news stories" promoting NBC and NBC's sponsors, it's a wonder that Nightly News has any time left for legitimate news stories.
"Lost" Cast Update--What The Actors Will Be Doing Next
Now that "Lost" is over, there has been much speculation about what the cast members will be doing next. Here is the latest information culled from a variety of celebrity gossip sites:
Terry O'Quinn (Locke) and Josh Holloway (Sawyer) will be starring in a new TV series based on the 1977 film "Smokey and the Bandit".
Mark Pellegrino (Jacob) and Jorge Garcia (Hugo) will be starring in a remake of the 1987-1992 series "Jake and the Fatman".
Jeff Fahey (Frank Lapidus) will be seen this fall in a network pilot called "Pilot".
Vincent the dog will be starring as the title character in an upcoming film about an aquatic menace that terrorizes beachgoers in a seaside Long Island town. The film will be called "Paws".
Dominic Monaghan will be seen in a new series that merges his characters from "Lost" and "FlashForward" (in which he played a brilliant physicist/mathematician). It will be called "Charlie's Angles".
Immediately after "Lost" finished filming, Alan Dale (Charles Widmore) accepted the position of CEO of Qantas Airways. His first official act was to decree that any Qantas passenger involved in a plane crash would be required to pay a $200 "aircraft recovery fee". Last week, Dale resigned from Qantas to become the global CEO of BP. He immediately announced that he would be seeking to impose a $250 surcharge on every Louisiana Gulf resident as compensation for all the free oil that BP has left on their shores.
Daniel Dae Kim and Ian Somerhalder will star in a new historical/buddy/comedy series called "Daniel & Boone In Old Kentucky". In early 2011, Daniel will play a young Kim Jong-il in the movie "The Hangover 2: Pyongyang Panty Raid Frat Party". Later that year, Daniel Dae Kim and Daniel Day Lewis will star in a remake of the Arnold Schwarzenegger-Danny DeVito movie "Twins".
Yunjin Kim (Sun) will be seen this fall as Soon-Yi in the Lifetime Movie Network production of "Heart and Seoul: The Many Loves of Woody Allen".
The two sets of twins who portrayed baby Aaron and baby Ji Yeon have been adopted by Angelina Jolie.
Nestor Carbonell (Richard Alpert) will be interviewed by James Lipton on an upcoming episode of Bravo's "Inside the Overactors Studio".
Emilie de Ravin will take over the lead role in the series "Medium". The show will be retitled "Claire Voyant".
Sheila Kelley (Zoe) is continuing to take acting lessons and can currently be seen as an extra on several South American soap operas. In 2011, she will be reprising the role of Zoe in the Latvian musical stage version of "Lost" (the actual Latvian title translates roughly to "The Estonians Have Sabotaged Our Plane!"). She will sing a solo number called "I Want More More Widmore".
Doug Hutchison (Horace) will be introducing episodes of "That 70's Show" on The History Channel later this year.
Ken Leung (Miles) will star in a new series about a man with the unique ability to communicate with people who can communicate with the dead. The show will be called "The Ghost Whisperer Whisperer".
Zuleikha Robinson (Ilana), Harold Perrineau (Michael) and Daniel Roebuck (Arzt) will each be appearing in separate series this fall on the TNT Network.
Henry Ian Cusick (Desmond) will soon be seen in a new series playing a man who journeys back and forth through history searching for herbs and spices. The show will be called "The Thyme Traveler".
Sonya Walger will star in a show portraying her "Lost" character as a nightclub singer. It will be called "Penny's Serenade".
Malcolm David Kelley (Walt) is currently 53 years old and lives in Modesto, California with his second wife, Gail, and their three kids. He is the co-owner of an insurance agency and coaches little league.
Titus Welliver (The Man In Black) will soon be seen in a new cop/buddy series called "Titus And Ronicus".
Hiroyuki Sanada will be starring in a new sitcom as the leader of a group of Japanese soldiers being held in an American POW camp during World War II. It will be called "Dogen's Heroes".
Michelle Rodriguez (Ana Lucia) will be seen on several upcoming episodes of "Cops" (being stopped for DUI). She will then be seen on an episode of "Judge Judy", trying to plead her charges down to misdemeanor reckless driving. In early 2011, she will be featured in a three-episode arc of MSNBC's "Lockup: Raw--Women In Prison". Twenty months later (or 16 months with good behavior), she will appear on "The Nancy Grace Show" and "Dr. Phil".
Naveen Andrews (Sayid) will be seen playing a terrorist in the next "Die Hard" movie. After that, he will appear as a terrorist in the next "Bourne" movie. In early 2012, he will play a terrorist in the upcoming "24" feature film. Later that year, he will appear as Carrie Bradshaw's new love interest in "Sex and the City 3".
Michael Emerson will star in a new ABC adventure series about a meteorologist who frequently risks his life by flying a weather balloon into strong winds in order to gather data. The show will be called "Henry's Gale".
Elizabeth Mitchell (Juliet) will have a co-starring role in the upcoming remake of "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb". She will also continue her role in ABC's "V". Note: If "Henry's Gale" and "V" do poorly in the ratings, ABC will merge them to create a new show called "Henry V".
Rebecca Mader (Charlotte) will star in the upcoming BBC-America drama "No Royalties: The Sarah Ferguson Story".
Matthew Fox and Evangeline Lilly will star in a new reality show in which they travel from city to city looking for high school kids to play with them in five-on-five pickup basketball games. The show will be called "Jack & Kate Plus Eight".
Terry O'Quinn (Locke) and Josh Holloway (Sawyer) will be starring in a new TV series based on the 1977 film "Smokey and the Bandit".
Mark Pellegrino (Jacob) and Jorge Garcia (Hugo) will be starring in a remake of the 1987-1992 series "Jake and the Fatman".
Jeff Fahey (Frank Lapidus) will be seen this fall in a network pilot called "Pilot".
Vincent the dog will be starring as the title character in an upcoming film about an aquatic menace that terrorizes beachgoers in a seaside Long Island town. The film will be called "Paws".
Dominic Monaghan will be seen in a new series that merges his characters from "Lost" and "FlashForward" (in which he played a brilliant physicist/mathematician). It will be called "Charlie's Angles".
Immediately after "Lost" finished filming, Alan Dale (Charles Widmore) accepted the position of CEO of Qantas Airways. His first official act was to decree that any Qantas passenger involved in a plane crash would be required to pay a $200 "aircraft recovery fee". Last week, Dale resigned from Qantas to become the global CEO of BP. He immediately announced that he would be seeking to impose a $250 surcharge on every Louisiana Gulf resident as compensation for all the free oil that BP has left on their shores.
Daniel Dae Kim and Ian Somerhalder will star in a new historical/buddy/comedy series called "Daniel & Boone In Old Kentucky". In early 2011, Daniel will play a young Kim Jong-il in the movie "The Hangover 2: Pyongyang Panty Raid Frat Party". Later that year, Daniel Dae Kim and Daniel Day Lewis will star in a remake of the Arnold Schwarzenegger-Danny DeVito movie "Twins".
Yunjin Kim (Sun) will be seen this fall as Soon-Yi in the Lifetime Movie Network production of "Heart and Seoul: The Many Loves of Woody Allen".
The two sets of twins who portrayed baby Aaron and baby Ji Yeon have been adopted by Angelina Jolie.
Nestor Carbonell (Richard Alpert) will be interviewed by James Lipton on an upcoming episode of Bravo's "Inside the Overactors Studio".
Emilie de Ravin will take over the lead role in the series "Medium". The show will be retitled "Claire Voyant".
Sheila Kelley (Zoe) is continuing to take acting lessons and can currently be seen as an extra on several South American soap operas. In 2011, she will be reprising the role of Zoe in the Latvian musical stage version of "Lost" (the actual Latvian title translates roughly to "The Estonians Have Sabotaged Our Plane!"). She will sing a solo number called "I Want More More Widmore".
Doug Hutchison (Horace) will be introducing episodes of "That 70's Show" on The History Channel later this year.
Ken Leung (Miles) will star in a new series about a man with the unique ability to communicate with people who can communicate with the dead. The show will be called "The Ghost Whisperer Whisperer".
Zuleikha Robinson (Ilana), Harold Perrineau (Michael) and Daniel Roebuck (Arzt) will each be appearing in separate series this fall on the TNT Network.
Henry Ian Cusick (Desmond) will soon be seen in a new series playing a man who journeys back and forth through history searching for herbs and spices. The show will be called "The Thyme Traveler".
Sonya Walger will star in a show portraying her "Lost" character as a nightclub singer. It will be called "Penny's Serenade".
Malcolm David Kelley (Walt) is currently 53 years old and lives in Modesto, California with his second wife, Gail, and their three kids. He is the co-owner of an insurance agency and coaches little league.
Titus Welliver (The Man In Black) will soon be seen in a new cop/buddy series called "Titus And Ronicus".
Hiroyuki Sanada will be starring in a new sitcom as the leader of a group of Japanese soldiers being held in an American POW camp during World War II. It will be called "Dogen's Heroes".
Michelle Rodriguez (Ana Lucia) will be seen on several upcoming episodes of "Cops" (being stopped for DUI). She will then be seen on an episode of "Judge Judy", trying to plead her charges down to misdemeanor reckless driving. In early 2011, she will be featured in a three-episode arc of MSNBC's "Lockup: Raw--Women In Prison". Twenty months later (or 16 months with good behavior), she will appear on "The Nancy Grace Show" and "Dr. Phil".
Naveen Andrews (Sayid) will be seen playing a terrorist in the next "Die Hard" movie. After that, he will appear as a terrorist in the next "Bourne" movie. In early 2012, he will play a terrorist in the upcoming "24" feature film. Later that year, he will appear as Carrie Bradshaw's new love interest in "Sex and the City 3".
Michael Emerson will star in a new ABC adventure series about a meteorologist who frequently risks his life by flying a weather balloon into strong winds in order to gather data. The show will be called "Henry's Gale".
Elizabeth Mitchell (Juliet) will have a co-starring role in the upcoming remake of "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb". She will also continue her role in ABC's "V". Note: If "Henry's Gale" and "V" do poorly in the ratings, ABC will merge them to create a new show called "Henry V".
Rebecca Mader (Charlotte) will star in the upcoming BBC-America drama "No Royalties: The Sarah Ferguson Story".
Matthew Fox and Evangeline Lilly will star in a new reality show in which they travel from city to city looking for high school kids to play with them in five-on-five pickup basketball games. The show will be called "Jack & Kate Plus Eight".
Saturday, June 19, 2010
The Brian Williams Celebriduck
On Thursday, Campbell's announced that they were recalling 15 million pounds of Spaghettios because the meatballs may be undercooked. This presents a significant danger to children, who are most likely to eat this product. But this story was not reported on Nightly News either Thursday or Friday. The reason is obvious. Campbell's is a regular NBC advertiser, and they advertise on Nightly News almost every night. It's clear that the Nightly News producers refused to run this story because they didn't want to offend one of their best sponsors. Campbell's ran an ad on Friday's Nightly News, which means they must have been informed in advance that the Spaghettios recall story would not be airing (it will not air this weekend either, since Nightly News is being pre-empted for golf on Saturday and Sunday). It's nice to see such great communication between the Nightly News producers and their friends at Campbell's. Just another example of Nightly News protecting one of their sponsors.
While Nightly News did not report the Spaghettios recall, they did find time on Friday's broadcast to air a "news story" about the 30th anniversary of the "Blues Brothers" movie. This is not surprising. "The Blues Brothers" was released by Universal Studios, a sister company of NBC (they share the same parent company). Every time "The Blues Brothers" airs on TV and every time a "Blues Brothers" DVD is sold, NBC Universal gets paid. The Universal Studios theme parks in Hollywood and Orlando both currently feature Blues Brothers live shows. The online NBC Universal store features a number of Blues Brothers items, including T-shirts, DVDs (of the original movie, of "Blues Brothers 2000" and of Saturday Night Live shows featuring the Blues Brothers) and an Elwood Blues celebriduck. It's obvious that Nightly News ran this story simply as a way to promote their Blues Brothers properties. It was a 30-second commercial for their merchandise. Millions of children are in danger of eating undercooked Spaghettios meatballs, but Nightly News wouldn't report that story. But the Blues Brothers are considered newsworthy. Well, at least we know where to buy an Elwood Blues celebriduck. Great work, Nightly News producers. So where can we buy a Brian Williams celebriduck?
While Nightly News did not report the Spaghettios recall, they did find time on Friday's broadcast to air a "news story" about the 30th anniversary of the "Blues Brothers" movie. This is not surprising. "The Blues Brothers" was released by Universal Studios, a sister company of NBC (they share the same parent company). Every time "The Blues Brothers" airs on TV and every time a "Blues Brothers" DVD is sold, NBC Universal gets paid. The Universal Studios theme parks in Hollywood and Orlando both currently feature Blues Brothers live shows. The online NBC Universal store features a number of Blues Brothers items, including T-shirts, DVDs (of the original movie, of "Blues Brothers 2000" and of Saturday Night Live shows featuring the Blues Brothers) and an Elwood Blues celebriduck. It's obvious that Nightly News ran this story simply as a way to promote their Blues Brothers properties. It was a 30-second commercial for their merchandise. Millions of children are in danger of eating undercooked Spaghettios meatballs, but Nightly News wouldn't report that story. But the Blues Brothers are considered newsworthy. Well, at least we know where to buy an Elwood Blues celebriduck. Great work, Nightly News producers. So where can we buy a Brian Williams celebriduck?
Edward R. Murrow Rolls Over In His Grave
During last Tuesday's Nightly News story about a Congressional inquiry into the Gulf oil spill, an on-screen graphic identified Rep. Henry Waxman as "Harry" Waxman. Waxman has been in office since 1975 and is one of Congress's most visible and influential members. But the Nightly News producers couldn't be bothered to spell his name right. Incredibly, on the 11/20/08 broadcast, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was identified as "Henry" Reid. What is it with the Nightly News producers' inability to differentiate between Henry and Harry?
Also on Tuesday, a Nightly News graphic identified Grand Isle, Louisiana Mayor David Camardelle as David "Carmardelle". This is appalling and disrespectful. Brian Williams is always bragging about his broadcast's outstanding coverage of the Gulf oil spill ("Every piece, every night, has been exemplary," he boasted on his June 9 Daily Nightly blog), but his producers can't even get the names right! On June 10, a Nightly News graphic spelled Plaquemines Parish as "Placquemines". It's hard to believe that Nightly News could win two Edward R. Murrow awards with their sloppy and inaccurate journalism. I attended Edward R. Murrow High School in Brooklyn, New York, and I am embarrassed that Mr. Murrow's name is in any way associated with Nightly News. If Edward R. Murrow were alive today, he would certainly disavow his affiliation with Brian Williams and Nightly News. I think Mr. Murrow would say that a newscast that can't get the small stuff right cannot be trusted to get the big stuff right.
Also on Tuesday, a Nightly News graphic identified Grand Isle, Louisiana Mayor David Camardelle as David "Carmardelle". This is appalling and disrespectful. Brian Williams is always bragging about his broadcast's outstanding coverage of the Gulf oil spill ("Every piece, every night, has been exemplary," he boasted on his June 9 Daily Nightly blog), but his producers can't even get the names right! On June 10, a Nightly News graphic spelled Plaquemines Parish as "Placquemines". It's hard to believe that Nightly News could win two Edward R. Murrow awards with their sloppy and inaccurate journalism. I attended Edward R. Murrow High School in Brooklyn, New York, and I am embarrassed that Mr. Murrow's name is in any way associated with Nightly News. If Edward R. Murrow were alive today, he would certainly disavow his affiliation with Brian Williams and Nightly News. I think Mr. Murrow would say that a newscast that can't get the small stuff right cannot be trusted to get the big stuff right.
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