TVSquad

It was an interesting weekend, news-wise, wasn't it? The Tina Fey look-alike that's the Republican VP nominee announced that her teenage daughter was pregnant, and instead of covering the beginning of the Republican National Convention, all the broadcast and cable news operations sent their anchors to New Orleans, hoping to cover the "devastation" caused by Hurricane Gustav.

One problem: Nothing happened.

Well, that's not entirely true. The storm did hit rural areas west of New Orleans, and hit them pretty hard. But most of the Big Easy was spared. There was some minor flooding, some overflow of the leeves, and Geraldo Rivera bringing us "dramatic" footage of a "person!" in the water ... who was wearing a life jacket and tethered to what looks to be a Coast Guard boat. But that was about it. It makes a person wonder if the networks were disappointed there wasn't more destruction.

Pew Research Center's biannual survey on how Americans get their news revealed significant shifts underway from print to new media, and even from television to the internet. But it looks like that idiot box remains our number one source for just what's going on in the world around us. The article shows the demographics to be pretty much where you'd expect them to be as far as who goes where for their news. The younger, more affluent and/or more educated you are the more likely you are to go online for your news. The older, poorer and less educated you are the more likely you are to rely on the TV.

I live in a pretty small town that's chock full of poor, uneducated people and I can assure you that most of those citizens still think of computers as that fancy technology they use in them colleges and whatnot. And the Internets, well that's where you go for sin! But the young people, who have grown up with computers and the web are more savvy than their parents and if they can afford a computer, then they're online. Most are playing World of Warcraft, but they're still on there.

When I spoke to Keith Olbermann at the press tour a few weeks back, I mainly wanted to get his thoughts about the comments that Fox News' Chris Wallace made earlier in the tour. Essentially, Wallace said that MSNBC isn't objective in its election coverage because they have commentators like Olbermann -- who are perceived to be "in the tank" for Barack Obama -- serve as anchors. Olbermann's remarks in response were pointed, to say the least.

But while I had Keith poised in front of my voice recorder, I wanted to ask him some questions about the origin of his Special Comments, how he thinks people determine their perception of each of the news networks, and what it will be like to sit down and do highlights with his old SportsCenter partner Dan Patrick on NBC's Football Night in America. The remainder of the interview is after the jump; we pick up with Olbermann talking about Wallace's "In the tank" line.

I caught up to Keith Olbermann at NBC's all star party last night, and talked to him a little bit about the election, the origin of his "Special Comments," and getting back to doing highlights with Dan Patrick. More on that in a few days. But the first thing on my mind was if he read the comments uttered by Fox News' Chris Wallace earlier in the tour, notably that MSNBC's election coverage was biased because commentators like Olbermann are used as anchors.

"Oh yeah, I thought they were disingenuous and ill-informed," he told me, "because during the primaries as I'm sitting there, and we have the other monitors on, and a couple of weeks at least I saw O'Reilly on in the middle of the primaries, one week Laura Ingrahm filling in for O'Reilly, and Hannity and Colmes at 9:00. It's the same thing, whether you officially say, 'Well, this is not our election coverage between 8 and 10, but between 6 and 7 was, and 10 to 12 was ... ' It's a game being played that's pretty silly."

I wasn't going to write an individual post about Monday's Fox News session, but a few things happened near the end of the panel that compelled me to write a bit about it, even if it's more than a day later. The panel, which consisted of Fox News Sunday anchor Chris Wallace, former Bush administration guru and current Fox News analyst Karl Rove, Harold Howard Wolfson, a newly-hired Fox News analyst who worked as the communications director on Hillary Clinton's campaign, and Fox News executive vice president John Moody.

I figured that the presence of Karl Rove on the panel would have had the drooling critics in the crowd ready to pounce. But, for the most part, the press conference started very cordially. Things started to get testy near the end though. What is surprising, however, is that the reporters didn't have more problems with Chris Wallace than Rove.

Now that the Democratic party has decided to present the final night of their convention from Invesco Field at Mile High Stadium in Denver before as many as 80,000 enthusiastic voters -- a venue that will underscore Senator Barack Obama's skill as a speaker -- the networks are deciding how they want to cover the event. Will the big three give the Democrats the entire night? One hour, two hours?

Will ABC and CBS be compelled to cover the night, when NBC and Fox have the option of using their cable outlets and keep entertainment on the broadcast side?

One of my television guilty pleasures would have to be blooper shows. And my favorite bloopers are the news bloopers because 1) they're live, and 2) they involve something that is usually supposed to be so serious and controlled. This clip of Bill O'Reilly going ballistic isn't from a live broadcast, but it's still pretty great.

It's from his days as anchor of the syndicated tabloid show Inside Edition (he was anchor from 1988 to 1995). What's funny is that, even back then, when nine out of ten people you stopped on the street probably didn't have any idea who Bill O'Reilly was, it still looks like he was egotistical and ready to destroy anyone who disagreed with him or irritated him in any way. It's actually rather shocking, no matter how many times you watch, the moment where he goes from being really peeved to "oh my God he's going to kill the cameraman and the stage manager." I wonder how Sting feels about being the person who inadvertently set Bill off?

Full video after the jump! Looks like CBS forced them to take down the video. But trust us, it was funny.

Update: Here it is.

There's another Bill in Hillary Clinton's life now. Talk show pundit Bill O'Reilly, who interviewed Clinton on his Fox News show, The O'Reilly Factor this week. The interview covered a lot of territory, including the economy, high gas prices, illegal immigrants, the war on terror, and foreign policy.

All the presidential candidates have their strengths and weaknesses, but Clinton made a smart move towards unifying her platform by agreeing to the O'Reilly interview. Although they're on opposite ends of the spectrum politically, O'Reilly and Clinton showed that two diverse personalities can sit down together and have an intelligent debate about the issues without resorting to a screaming match.

Former White House press secretary and FOX News commentator Tony Snow is joining CNN. He'll be a conservative commentator for the news network. He was actually on the network before, as a fill-in host on Crossfire. But then he went to FOX News, where he hosted FOX News Sunday from 1996 to 2003. He was also a speech writer for the first President Bush.

Anchors and pundits change networks all of the time, but one of the reasons that this is a little surprising is that Snow is currently a substitute host on Bill O'Reilly's Radio Factor radio show on the FOX Radio Network. I would have to assume that he will no longer have that role (O'Reilly once warned him about going to CNN).

Snow was treated for cancer twice, once for colon cancer in 2005 and then again last year, when he had surgery to remove a growth. He left his position as White House press secretary in 2007 not because of the cancer but because he wasn't making enough money. He is also reportedly working on a book.

Quick answer: no.

Long answer: probably not.

It's always hard to make predictions when it comes to television. A show you think is going to bomb becomes a giant hit that produces several spinoffs (*cough* CSI *cough*). It's even harder with television news, since the landscape is changing so fast these days, with the web playing a bigger and bigger role. But that doesn't stop The Boston Herald from predicting that in five years, Fox and Friends anchor Alisyn Camerota will be asked to take over for Katie Couric on The CBS Evening News.

I like these "Found Objects" videos that Harry Shearer has at My Damn Channel, even if I'm not surprised by what news people do behind the scenes and during commercial breaks. They fuss with their hair and clothes, they argue with staff, they rehearse segments. All the stuff you'd expect to find on videos like this. Of course, that's not to say that there's something mesmerizing about watching Ann Coulter chew Nicorette Gum.

That's one of the many things you'll see in this variety video after the jump. Coulter is waiting to be interviewed on one of the cable networks. You also see Bill O'Reilly looking into a mirror and sighing heavily because "Dave"couldn't get something right in the studio, Chris Matthews talking about a guest that's coming up, and more shots of Katie Couric and her clothes. There's also some footage from a woman I recognize but who's name escapes me at the moment (maybe from The Early Show?), but she urges us to remember that " 'synonymous' is not a good morning show word."

I have no idea what made comedian Lee Camp insult FOX News the way he did over the weekend, because the video after the jump only has the end of the segment. Maybe he'll go on CNN or MSNBC to explain himself.

Camp was part of a discussion on Fox and Friends Weekend. He was the liberal comedian going up against a conservative comedian, talking politics. At the end of the segment, he asked new host Clayton Morris if he could take a moment to say something, and Morris said sure, and that's when Camp hit Fox News, wondering if the channel was just a "parade of propaganda."

On a side note, it's really great to see Morris again. He was one of the hosts on the syndicated morning show The Daily Buzz (not seen in my part of the country anymore, damn it), then went to a local station in Philadelphia. Looks like he's one of the new permanent hosts of the weekend edition of Fox and Friends, along with Ainsley Earhardt.

[via TV Newser]

We told you about David Shuster being suspended from MSNBC (he returns next week) for saying that it seems like Chelsea Clinton is being "pimped out" because she's making phone calls and appearances on her mother's behalf. Now the network's rivals are saying they're on Shuster's side.

I have to say I agree that Shuster's suspension was silly. The guy apologized (twice, at least, and so did the execs at MSNBC) so it should have stayed at that. Was the remark inappropriate? Probably, but not because it's "offensive." It was inappropriate because it didn't make any sense. Maybe if Chelsea Clinton was still 11 years old there could be a case made that she was being used by a campaign, but she's a grown woman who was just working as any grown woman works in the campaign. Would Shuster have said this about another woman in Hillary's camp? I doubt it. Check out what CNN has to say here, and what Fox News has to say after the jump.

Here are the weekly cable ratings, by number of viewers.

A real mix of stuff this week: wrestling, the election cartoons, legal dramas, and a teen sitcom. CNN got three of the top ten spots for its election coverage on Super Tuesday (the different entries represent different times during the night). FOX News got one of the spots too. Not sure why MSNBC didn't get into the top ten, but I guess there's not enough room when the same coverage by CNN takes up three of the slots.

Oh, and Chicken Little got into the top ten too.

1. WWE Monday Night RAW - 9pm (USA)

I wouldn't call myself a political junkie, though I guess I do get that way every four years. The massive coverage the election gets from the news channels is both way overdone and endlessly fascinating.

Last night I watched the coverage of Super Tuesday. My plan was to try to stick to one station, since they'd have the results eventually, but my remote trigger finger got itchy and I was surfing all night. Here are a few random thoughts I jotted down.

1. I couldn't watch CNN, at least not all night.. Those giant screens and all those graphics. At one point Wolf Blitzer was standing next to a massive lineup of 24 different pie charts, and I think he wanted to just throw his notes down and walk down the street to the nearest bar. John King was doing all these fancy things with his fingers on a screen, and it was hard to follow and kind of glitchy. It was the world's most insane PowerPoint presentation.