For those of us whose chosen profession includes sitting through NBC's prime time schedule, the question of "Who's gonna get fired for this mess?" was answered this week... sort of.
Ben Silverman is leaving NBC, apparently before the trap door could be sprung, to join IAC, a multi-media production company headed by Barry Diller. Silverman will stay on at the Peacock into September to launch the fall season and take credit for keeping Jay Leno, but not long enough to get his ass handed to him by Fox for a third year. Jeff Gaspin gets the fun job of mopping up after Community and The Philanthropist.
NBC gave the moon and the stars to the Olympics and the NFL, leaving prime time entertainment acquisition in a rough position: find some hits, but don't spend money on them. The Office is pretty much the only show to come through on that objective, a show that required very little in development (take a British comedy and change the accent) and needed only to write big IOU's to Steve Carrel, who now owns the network the way Cosby did in the '80's. The Gaspin interim period may be filled with back-to-back Office blocks, Steve Carrel hosting Saturday Night Live, Steve Carrel guesting on Leno, Steve Carrel guesting on The Tonight Show, a Steve Carrel bio on Dateline, and there's a rumor that they'll replace the naked guy statue in Rockefeller Plaza with a naked Steve Carrel. I'm really hoping that's just a rumor.
Given the budget constraints, it's amazing to look back over the Ben Silverman era and count the number of big budget single-camera film-based shows that were thrown against the wall only to slide off and splatter on the floor.
Take Crusoe, for example. Great ambition with this project: historical drama on prime time. Revisit Robert Lewis Stevenson with a more enlightened look at our man Friday, and lots of cool 19th century gadgetry. Oh, and pirates. Lots of pirates. Even a pirate chick. It was amazing how many pirates kept finding this out-of-the-way deserted island, and Crusoe just couldn't manage to get out of there. Gilligan! Throw in Sam Neil as a scheming baddie, and you have a show for the entire family that should've worked. Just one problem... Robinson Crusoe is a British novel. This isn't England. Americans want to see Americans in their TV shows. Besides, the "marooned on an island" thing promises chicks in bikinis getting buckets of spiders poured on them. That's what you should've done. It's more fun, and a lot cheaper to produce. Next!
OK, how about Merlin. A look at the teen years of a budding wizard in the Pendragon castle. Ooooo, nice. The Original Harry Potter. Lovin' it. And then add a wise old man mentor as the Dumbledoor character. Oh, and a dragon. An intelligent dragon hidden away in a cave straight out of The Hobbit. And the special effects. Lots of possibilities there. Gold. Pure gold. Should've worked, except for one problem... this isn't England. Raise your hand if caught you the foreshadowing significance of a boy named Mordred in last Sunday's episode. I thought so. Next!
Knight Rider. I get it. Revive a childhood fave that died in the 1980's. OK. Just one problem... this isn't England. Doctor Who succeeded as it did because in part of a loyal fan base that had been attending WhoFests and Sci-Fi cons for decades. Knight Rider? Not so much. Even Pontiac is going out of business. Besides, in the 2008 version we still had characters uttering the line, "The car talks!" Next!
Kings. Everybody say it with me... This isn't England!
The Philanthropist. Kinda hard to connect with one of the wealthiest men on the planet during The Great Recession. And he has a British accent. Why? Next!
Friday Night Lights. Finally, an American show with a uniquely American setting. Football in a rural Texas town too isolated from reality to get past its football fetish, but it has an Applebees - that was featured in each and every episode. Unfortunately, nobody in the top ten TV markets - including Houston and Dallas - cared to watch these characters bumble through their Bushland existence. The culture gap was far too wide to cross. Why would anybody want to live like that? Do none of you kids ever watch MTV? Don't you people have the internet? To big city viewers Lights characters all appeared to be suffering from a learning disability. Urban Americans prefer to watch characters who show a little intelligence.
You know. Like those chicks in bikinis getting buckets of spiders poured on them. Hey, offer me a million dollars. I'll do it.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Don't Read This!
For a brief time back in college, I was a student teacher at an elementary school. I was working with a group of third graders on their creative writing assignments. One day, I asked them to write a story. I then told them to exchange papers with a classmate. I don't remember the logic behind this, all I know is I stumbled upon a wonderful experience. The kids would read a little of the other person's story, then start reading their own paper over the classmate's shoulder, and then grabbing their paper back saying, "Wait. Let me change that." Yes, my lesson plan was derailed, but the trade off was watching young writers willingly revise and edit their own work. The only problem I had to talk to them about was the fact that once you turn something in, you can't grab it back to fix something.
That was the 1980's. Today, young people text, email, and blog on a daily basis, and some have learned the hard way that once you put something out there in cyberworld, it's pretty hard to put that toothpaste back in the tube. But the adults haven't learned this lesson.
Some time ago, LeBron James got into a pickup game with an unknown college freshman. At some point, the unknown dunked on the great LeBron. The LeBron James Image Machine immediately leaped into action, confiscating video recordings and still images of the "incident."
Now, I've never been a "vid" at a news or sports event, so I don't know the proper procedure in these cases, but I can't imagine anybody, anybody, taking my tape away from me. I may be only 5'8" but that sonavabitch is going to have to get through me before he gets that tape. It's my property. (Well, the TV station's property, to be exact. But I'm responsible for it.) If you didn't want people shooting video in here, you shouldn't have invited a bunch of reporters in here in the first place. And unless we've somehow been transported into Cuba and Castro is in charge, there isn't a force in this world that can tell me what to do with my camera, or the images I shot with it. Taking things by force is defined as robbery in this country. Aggravated robbery if you get tough. OK, LeBron, you might get the tape, but you won't have much of an image to protect after I have you arrested and charged for aggravated robbery and assault.
Remember John Stewart making fun of President Obama's first pitch at the All Star Game. I hope you do, because you'll never see it again. Major League Baseball told Viacom, parent company of Comedy Central, to take it off the web. Viacom caved, opting instead to chose their battles, but at what price? Apparently now MLB can arbitrarily dictate what news footage can and cannot be used by a media organization. I had no idea that Major League was run by the Chinese Government.
If you own a Kindle, the e-reader device, you can download and store hundreds of books in the device. But, did you know they can be deleted - without your consent? Amazon.com's Big Brother pushed a button and extracted the works of George Orwell from Kindles all over the world. Apparently, the publisher hadn't cleared the rights properly. Had you brought the book in it's more conventional book form, and it was learned after the fact that the publisher had botched the legalities, it would've made for some interesting news viewing to watch Amazon try to break into people's homes to take back 1984. No sir, we're not here to take away your guns. We just want your books.
I could sound alarm bells about our freedom of the press being endangered. I could point out it's not that far of a leap between a pampered athlete's image people confiscating a basketball shot to a pharmaceutical company censoring newscasts for any negative mention of a drug with a serious side effect, perhaps weighing in some influence with lots of ad dollars spent during those newscasts. I could make a simile between Major League Baseball controlling their image by denying video of our elected Commander in Chief and the president of Iran denying the Holocaust, but that would be bordering on bad taste. And I could point out how that Holocaust started out with among other things the destruction of books, but that might make readers squirm.
Instead, I'll just be content with the knowledge that these things got out anyway. I saw blurry footage of the dunk on LeBron on TMZ. ESPN has made plenty if fun of it, too. John Stewart is The Most Trusted Man in America, a title I'm sure he finds as ironic as anyone. And your local bookstore is still selling Orwell in paperback. The toothpaste is out of the tube. And those who wish to grab it back and fix it need to go back to the third grade.
That was the 1980's. Today, young people text, email, and blog on a daily basis, and some have learned the hard way that once you put something out there in cyberworld, it's pretty hard to put that toothpaste back in the tube. But the adults haven't learned this lesson.
Some time ago, LeBron James got into a pickup game with an unknown college freshman. At some point, the unknown dunked on the great LeBron. The LeBron James Image Machine immediately leaped into action, confiscating video recordings and still images of the "incident."
Now, I've never been a "vid" at a news or sports event, so I don't know the proper procedure in these cases, but I can't imagine anybody, anybody, taking my tape away from me. I may be only 5'8" but that sonavabitch is going to have to get through me before he gets that tape. It's my property. (Well, the TV station's property, to be exact. But I'm responsible for it.) If you didn't want people shooting video in here, you shouldn't have invited a bunch of reporters in here in the first place. And unless we've somehow been transported into Cuba and Castro is in charge, there isn't a force in this world that can tell me what to do with my camera, or the images I shot with it. Taking things by force is defined as robbery in this country. Aggravated robbery if you get tough. OK, LeBron, you might get the tape, but you won't have much of an image to protect after I have you arrested and charged for aggravated robbery and assault.
Remember John Stewart making fun of President Obama's first pitch at the All Star Game. I hope you do, because you'll never see it again. Major League Baseball told Viacom, parent company of Comedy Central, to take it off the web. Viacom caved, opting instead to chose their battles, but at what price? Apparently now MLB can arbitrarily dictate what news footage can and cannot be used by a media organization. I had no idea that Major League was run by the Chinese Government.
If you own a Kindle, the e-reader device, you can download and store hundreds of books in the device. But, did you know they can be deleted - without your consent? Amazon.com's Big Brother pushed a button and extracted the works of George Orwell from Kindles all over the world. Apparently, the publisher hadn't cleared the rights properly. Had you brought the book in it's more conventional book form, and it was learned after the fact that the publisher had botched the legalities, it would've made for some interesting news viewing to watch Amazon try to break into people's homes to take back 1984. No sir, we're not here to take away your guns. We just want your books.
I could sound alarm bells about our freedom of the press being endangered. I could point out it's not that far of a leap between a pampered athlete's image people confiscating a basketball shot to a pharmaceutical company censoring newscasts for any negative mention of a drug with a serious side effect, perhaps weighing in some influence with lots of ad dollars spent during those newscasts. I could make a simile between Major League Baseball controlling their image by denying video of our elected Commander in Chief and the president of Iran denying the Holocaust, but that would be bordering on bad taste. And I could point out how that Holocaust started out with among other things the destruction of books, but that might make readers squirm.
Instead, I'll just be content with the knowledge that these things got out anyway. I saw blurry footage of the dunk on LeBron on TMZ. ESPN has made plenty if fun of it, too. John Stewart is The Most Trusted Man in America, a title I'm sure he finds as ironic as anyone. And your local bookstore is still selling Orwell in paperback. The toothpaste is out of the tube. And those who wish to grab it back and fix it need to go back to the third grade.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
And Now, A Public Service Message
Stay with me here.
The Columbus, Ohio ABC affiliate is WSYX - the call letters remind you to tune to channel 6.
Or they used to. After the analog shutdown, WSYX's digital signal is now on channel 13.
But the VHF signal isn't cutting through very well. So now, WSYX has applied to the FCC to move their digital signal to channel 48.
So, remember Columbus: be sure to rescan your digital TV in the coming months so you can receive Double-U Six on 48, not 13.
Television: making your life easier.
The Columbus, Ohio ABC affiliate is WSYX - the call letters remind you to tune to channel 6.
Or they used to. After the analog shutdown, WSYX's digital signal is now on channel 13.
But the VHF signal isn't cutting through very well. So now, WSYX has applied to the FCC to move their digital signal to channel 48.
So, remember Columbus: be sure to rescan your digital TV in the coming months so you can receive Double-U Six on 48, not 13.
Television: making your life easier.
Friday, July 10, 2009
On Michael Jackson
I've been waiting until the time is right to post anything on Michael Jackson. I wanted to take it all in and gain some perspective. That's the luxury of blogs. I don't have a deadline. I also don't have an editor or news director yelling, "Get me a local angle on Jackson! And don't mention the child molestation thing! I want schmaltz. Besides, Sony Music won't pay if we don't play along. Did I say that out loud? God, I need a beer."
Back in the 1980's, the City of Cincinnati, caught up in Hit King Fever, decided to honor Pete Rose by naming a street after him. Second Street became Pete Rose Way. And there was much rejoicing. And then came the gambling scandal. It's Second Street now.
Whatever your opinion of Pete Rose may be - and having only talked to him over the phone for about 20 seconds, I can say he seemed like a nice guy and magnanimous with his time when it comes to baseball - we can all agree that he will, indeed, someday be admitted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Posthumously.
Michael Jackson has passed not only beyond our earthly confines, but beyond our media scrutiny. In other words, it's OK to like him again. In the name of sensitivity and good manners, we must now judge him only by his accomplishments in his chosen field, and not dwell on the sordid details of his private life. Radio stations that, in response to listener backlash and advertiser hand wringing about airing the music of a child molester, had quietly "de-emphasized" Michael Jackson on their playlists, substituting MJ hits with superficially urban but ultimately inferior Prince songs, are now free not only to reinstate The King of Pop back into their All '80's weekends, but actually run dedicated blocks of his music or even All Michael Jackson Weekends. We're off the hook. Let the Thriller begin.
But should it have ever ended?
Gary Glitter has been charged and jailed for child sex offenses more than once. Is this taken into account every time your local baseball stadium plays Rock and Roll, Part II to rally the crowd? I heard Gary Glitter on the radio on the way home yesterday - on a station that won't touch Michael Jackson with a ten-foot pole.
John Lennon was murdered. His signature song, Imagine, was produced by Phil Spector, a man who has just been convicted of murder. Will this tarnish the beauty and the meaning of the song? Will the recording live on? Or will your local Mix station quietly de-emphasize it?
This December, will oldies stations somehow manage to misplace their copies of the "A Phil Spector Christmas?"
Did we ever stop listening to Jerry Lee Lewis? (Married a 13 year-old cousin) Chuck Berry? (Jailed in 1959 for basically being a pimp) The Platters? (Busted in, where else, Cincinnati on "morals" charges) And The Rolling Stones? (The Altamont Concert fiasco that resulted in 4 deaths, one a homicide)
What made Jackson different? Was it the weird plastic surgery face? Was it the protracted news coverage of his trial - the likes of which no other celebrity had ever faced? Was it due to MTV programing shifting away from music videos? Or was it perhaps due to The King of Pop's lack of output during and following his legal troubles?
Whatever the cause, it's a moot point now. Michael Jackson is legend now. And if you think the overload coverage of MJ is going away anytime soon, think again. We have to compensate for at least a decade when he was relegated to Second Street.
Back in the 1980's, the City of Cincinnati, caught up in Hit King Fever, decided to honor Pete Rose by naming a street after him. Second Street became Pete Rose Way. And there was much rejoicing. And then came the gambling scandal. It's Second Street now.
Whatever your opinion of Pete Rose may be - and having only talked to him over the phone for about 20 seconds, I can say he seemed like a nice guy and magnanimous with his time when it comes to baseball - we can all agree that he will, indeed, someday be admitted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Posthumously.
Michael Jackson has passed not only beyond our earthly confines, but beyond our media scrutiny. In other words, it's OK to like him again. In the name of sensitivity and good manners, we must now judge him only by his accomplishments in his chosen field, and not dwell on the sordid details of his private life. Radio stations that, in response to listener backlash and advertiser hand wringing about airing the music of a child molester, had quietly "de-emphasized" Michael Jackson on their playlists, substituting MJ hits with superficially urban but ultimately inferior Prince songs, are now free not only to reinstate The King of Pop back into their All '80's weekends, but actually run dedicated blocks of his music or even All Michael Jackson Weekends. We're off the hook. Let the Thriller begin.
But should it have ever ended?
Gary Glitter has been charged and jailed for child sex offenses more than once. Is this taken into account every time your local baseball stadium plays Rock and Roll, Part II to rally the crowd? I heard Gary Glitter on the radio on the way home yesterday - on a station that won't touch Michael Jackson with a ten-foot pole.
John Lennon was murdered. His signature song, Imagine, was produced by Phil Spector, a man who has just been convicted of murder. Will this tarnish the beauty and the meaning of the song? Will the recording live on? Or will your local Mix station quietly de-emphasize it?
This December, will oldies stations somehow manage to misplace their copies of the "A Phil Spector Christmas?"
Did we ever stop listening to Jerry Lee Lewis? (Married a 13 year-old cousin) Chuck Berry? (Jailed in 1959 for basically being a pimp) The Platters? (Busted in, where else, Cincinnati on "morals" charges) And The Rolling Stones? (The Altamont Concert fiasco that resulted in 4 deaths, one a homicide)
What made Jackson different? Was it the weird plastic surgery face? Was it the protracted news coverage of his trial - the likes of which no other celebrity had ever faced? Was it due to MTV programing shifting away from music videos? Or was it perhaps due to The King of Pop's lack of output during and following his legal troubles?
Whatever the cause, it's a moot point now. Michael Jackson is legend now. And if you think the overload coverage of MJ is going away anytime soon, think again. We have to compensate for at least a decade when he was relegated to Second Street.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Additional Note
If you are thinking about buying a microphone that costs more than a thousand dollars, and it will be used in your home studio, consider the fact that you will want to insure it.
A Neumann purchased by a recording studio or broadcasting facility would be covered under that operation's business insurance. It becomes a line item on a balance sheet that can be recouped in the event of a fire, break-in, flood, or other catastrophe. A boutique mic you bought as an individual for home use can also be stolen or damaged, but the cost of replacement out-of-pocket is probably beyond your means. And even if you can afford to replace it, you won't be very happy about it. All the more reason a quality mic that's "Damn close" to the Neumann sound might be a better buy. Besides, if your CAD M9 takes a walk, you can probably buy a new one the next day at Bob's Music. Good luck getting a Tiffany mic replaced any time this week. (Scroll back to why I suggested keeping a Shure SM58 on hand.)
This also applies to the preamp, which can run you well over a thousand just for an Avalon M5. (It sounds great, but it's light on features.) Ah, that $65 ART preamp doesn't look so bad now, does it?
If you still want only the best in your home studio, call your insurance agent and check on getting your gear covered in your homeowners policy. Put on your Big Boy pants and pay the insurance. It's worth it.
A Neumann purchased by a recording studio or broadcasting facility would be covered under that operation's business insurance. It becomes a line item on a balance sheet that can be recouped in the event of a fire, break-in, flood, or other catastrophe. A boutique mic you bought as an individual for home use can also be stolen or damaged, but the cost of replacement out-of-pocket is probably beyond your means. And even if you can afford to replace it, you won't be very happy about it. All the more reason a quality mic that's "Damn close" to the Neumann sound might be a better buy. Besides, if your CAD M9 takes a walk, you can probably buy a new one the next day at Bob's Music. Good luck getting a Tiffany mic replaced any time this week. (Scroll back to why I suggested keeping a Shure SM58 on hand.)
This also applies to the preamp, which can run you well over a thousand just for an Avalon M5. (It sounds great, but it's light on features.) Ah, that $65 ART preamp doesn't look so bad now, does it?
If you still want only the best in your home studio, call your insurance agent and check on getting your gear covered in your homeowners policy. Put on your Big Boy pants and pay the insurance. It's worth it.
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