If you're playing a TV news drinking game wherein you and your dumb little buddies have to do a shot every time someone posts fake footage or film for a story, you might want to think about switching to Tang.
Now MSNBC's Morning Meeting has been caught dipping their hand in the Photoshopping jar when they aired rather obvious fake photos of Sarah Palin while doing a diss-session on the former VP candidate and her never ending book tour. Seriously, why is there this much coverage over one book? Even The Never Ending Story has an ending.
Dylan Ratigan issued an official apology to the viewers, Palin and her family for "mistakenly" using the doctored images. He also said he and the network took the weekend to ensure this would not happen again. I guess that means there's one less email forwarding fratboy on MSNBC's research payroll now.
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MSNBC also apologizes for using wrong Palin footage
Fox News caught using wrong footage ... again
Remember the old saying, "Fool me once (awkward pause), shame on (another awkward pause), shame on you (another longer and more awkward pause). Fool me, we can't get fooled again"?
Less than a week after Fox News host and conservative pundit Sean Hannity apologized for accidentally using the wrong footage from Glenn Beck's "9/12 Rally" as footage for Rep. Michelle Bachmann's "Super Bowl of Freedom" rally, the network used the wrong footage in another story. This time, they used the wrong footage for a story on the "crowds" that showed up during Sarah Palin's book tour.
Think Progress, a blog created by the liberal think tank the Center for American Progress, discovered the footage. The dead giveaway was the "Country First" campaign signs indicating the footage was taken during Palin's campaign run with John McCain back in 2008. The network called the clip mix-up a mistake and issued another apology. Hold on, are we sure that they aired the right apology this time?
Less than a week after Fox News host and conservative pundit Sean Hannity apologized for accidentally using the wrong footage from Glenn Beck's "9/12 Rally" as footage for Rep. Michelle Bachmann's "Super Bowl of Freedom" rally, the network used the wrong footage in another story. This time, they used the wrong footage for a story on the "crowds" that showed up during Sarah Palin's book tour.
Think Progress, a blog created by the liberal think tank the Center for American Progress, discovered the footage. The dead giveaway was the "Country First" campaign signs indicating the footage was taken during Palin's campaign run with John McCain back in 2008. The network called the clip mix-up a mistake and issued another apology. Hold on, are we sure that they aired the right apology this time?
Cheech and Chong and ... Ann Coulter?!?
First there was the Lincoln-Douglas debate. Then came the Nixon-Kennedy debate. Now Fox News' Geraldo Rivera continues that great American tradition of the public debate with the Cheech and Chong-Coulter debate.
It might sound like the world's most lopsided episode of Celebrity Deathmatch, but the world's most famous pot comedy duo squared off against the famed conservative pundit on Rivera's "Geraldo at Large" show recently to discuss the opening of the country's first cannibus club in Portland, Oregon and the legalization of marijuana. Despite the craziness of the casting, they actually have a very frank, civilized and enlightening discussion on the subject.
It might sound like the world's most lopsided episode of Celebrity Deathmatch, but the world's most famous pot comedy duo squared off against the famed conservative pundit on Rivera's "Geraldo at Large" show recently to discuss the opening of the country's first cannibus club in Portland, Oregon and the legalization of marijuana. Despite the craziness of the casting, they actually have a very frank, civilized and enlightening discussion on the subject.
Dobbs will appear on O'Reilly Factor ... as a guest
It looks as though Lou Dobbs has picked up another spot on another cable news network. This time, he's not the interviewer. He's the interviewee. Dobbs will appear as a guest on Monday's episode of The O'Reilly Factor where host Bill O'Reilly will grill the former CNN talking head on his sudden departure from his previous employer, his future career options and his never-ending quest to battle the invading armies of the Mexican empire aka illegal-immigrants.
Of course, the timing could not be worse. His appearance should only "fuel speculation" that Dobbs has scored a job at the Fox News Channel. The network's PR team continued to deny such speculation, something they'll continue to do until he scores a job at the Fox News Channel.
Sesame Street's 40th: Five biggest controversies
Sit a kid in front of a TV for an hour a day and a parent is bound to find something that offends them, other than the fact that plopping impressionable minds in front of a TV unsupervised is considered "good parenting."Sesame Street is no stranger to controversy. Critics, cynics and crybabies have called out the show on everything from questionable behavior to the ambiguous situations...of puppets. Of course, all of these complaints and cackling criticisms just scratch the surface of a much bigger issue that has largely gone unaddressed: the total loss of our sanity and grasp on reality.
So as we look back at the last 40 years of television's greatest children's show, we see some speed bumps along the way. These are the ones that caused the greatest loss of tire pressure.
Continue reading Sesame Street's 40th: Five biggest controversies
PBS ombudsman criticizes Sesame Street for 'POX News' joke
Poor Oscar the Grouch. Not even PBS' ombudsman will cut him a break. No wonder he's so grouchy. Well that and he lives in a garbage can. That would make me more than a little perturbed.
A clip of a two-year episode of Sesame Street popped up on YouTube thanks to conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart's on his Big Hollywood blog in which Grundgetta, Oscar's girlfriend, makes a crack about "POX News" that sounds very close to "FOX News." PBS' ombudsman Michael Getler said while the name could be construed as a "clever and appropriate title" to the "Grouch News Network," the joke about the reference "should have been resisted.
I was shocked when I saw it. Oscar the Grouch has a frigging girlfriend?!?
[via Popeater]
A clip of a two-year episode of Sesame Street popped up on YouTube thanks to conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart's on his Big Hollywood blog in which Grundgetta, Oscar's girlfriend, makes a crack about "POX News" that sounds very close to "FOX News." PBS' ombudsman Michael Getler said while the name could be construed as a "clever and appropriate title" to the "Grouch News Network," the joke about the reference "should have been resisted.
I was shocked when I saw it. Oscar the Grouch has a frigging girlfriend?!?
[via Popeater]
Could this have been the "crazy" thing Shepard Smith was talking about?
The other day, Fox News newsman Shepard Smith announced on his Facebook page that something "crazy" would be going down on his show. Just what kind of crazy are we talking about? A monkey wearing a Napoleon hat crazy? Putting two bananas in your ears and barking like a walrus crazy? TiVoing Brothers crazy? He never officially confirmed just what the "crazy" thing would be, but I wonder if this is it. Smith, the Fox News Channel's equivalent of Edward R. Murrow, issued an official apology for his network's (and I'm actually quoting) "lack of balance."
The "lack of balance" in question referred to Fox correspondent Shannon Bream, who conducted an interview with Republican candidate for New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, but failed to nail down his Democratic opposition Jon Corzine. Smith said he didn't know the candidate wasn't interviewed and that "If I had control, it wouldn't have happened." Quick, someone check The Weather Channel for Hell's temperature and five-day forecast!
Glenn Beck don't come cheap
If your town wants to honor Glenn Beck with his own day, you better check the cushions in the couch for change and start taking up a collection. The mayor of Mount Vernon, Wash. recently gave Glenn Beck his own day, and the taxpayers will now have to fork over more than $17,000, most of which was for police overtime.
Where are the teabaggers when you actually need them to protest unfair taxation without representation?
Is Kimmel pulling a Letterman?
It's official, "pulling a Letterman" means sleeping with a co-worker. Why? Because I said so. It seems that ABC's late night host Jimmy Kimmel has been in a relationship with a member of his staff as well. This time, the host has been dating the show's head writer Molly McNeary for "several months."
This forced Fox News to pose the question if Kimmel is "pulling a Letterman" and ask if he should be forced to apologize on the air to Ben Affleck. That normally would be hilarious if Fox News didn't handle all of their news with the same level of integrity and tact.
And yes, I'm jealous they came up with that line first.
Beck can't explain his own explanation about Obama
Every time I watch a TV talking head like Glenn Beck, I usually walk away with the same thought I had every time I walked out of my economics class in college: "What the hell were they talking about?" That's because there isn't anything journalistic or scientific about their pontifications. It's all "gut talk," particularly Beck who throws around more wild and unfocused theories about the ongoing war between "us vs. them" than a homeless preacher in a bus station. Chances are if you actually sat down and simply asked him "what did you mean by (x)", he would give you a 1,700 word answer that answered everything but the question you asked him.
Continue reading Beck can't explain his own explanation about Obama
Did Fox make Beck back off?
Even though the sudden pull out from several sponsors hasn't caused Fox to prematurely eject Glenn Beck from his time slot, he was suspiciously absent from the airwaves this week. Some suggest this Beck-free week wasn't just a much needed vacation for the host, or for the viewer for that matter.
TVNewser spoke to some Fox insiders who claim the network ordered the silver haired devil to take a week off so some of the heat over his advertising boycott could die down.
Continue reading Did Fox make Beck back off?
Glenn Beck running out of sponsors
When a company does business with the likes of Glenn Beck, the saying "What you see is what you get" could not be more appropriate to the situation. That's only because "Crazy is as crazy does" really isn't a saying.
Some of the show's sponsors are learning that lesson a little late in the game now that they have started pulling their ads from Glenn Beck's Fox News show in the wake of comments he made regarding President Obama's rampant racism.
Continue reading Glenn Beck running out of sponsors
Olbermann, O'Reilly told to end personal feud, which just creates another feud
It seems the never-ending feud between Keith Olbermann and Bill O'Reilly has become a kangaroo boxing match. The worst thing you can do is get in the middle of it. That's exactly what the parent owners of Fox News and MSNBC tried to do when they arranged a "cease-fire" between them and their top-tier shows' "lieutenants."
The cease-fire, however, didn't last long. It's another case of the ol' Rufus T. Firefly conundrum for peace. Either side might be willing to do whatever it takes to end this war, but they've already paid two months' rent on the battlefield.
Continue reading Olbermann, O'Reilly told to end personal feud, which just creates another feud
Bill O'Reilly doesn't feel so lucky there's a Family Guy
There have been a lot of uneasy vibes floating around the offices of TV Squad HQ about the elevation of Family Guy to Best Comedy status by this year's Emmy nomination committee. I'm not speaking for the entire group, but it does feel a little out of place earning a nomination that even The Simpsons couldn't score in its 20 year history. It's like giving the Nobel Peace Prize to Michael Jackson for writing "Heal the World" and completely snubbing Nelson Mandela. But no one is more unhappy about the news than pop culture's official lifeguard, Bill O'Reilly.
He called out Seth MacFarlane's cavalcade of cartoon pop culture for winning the nomination during his "Reality Check" segment.
Continue reading Bill O'Reilly doesn't feel so lucky there's a Family Guy
What if the Apollo 11 moon landing didn't happen under Cronkite's watch?
Walter Cronkite's passing didn't mark the end of an era in the TV news business. The era he helped produce and prolong died long before he did. It's hard for me to ever imagine a time when people considered a major network news anchor as America's most trusted source for anything. Claims of bias and political persuasion being injected into every story with a meat syringe created a thick fog that made it very hard to cover anything with a modicum of honesty.
Cronkite, however, was the man people turned to when something blew up, exploded, imploded, launched, landed or any other number of descriptive verbs, because his goal wasn't to make news every time he stepped in front of a camera. His goal was just to report it.
Continue reading What if the Apollo 11 moon landing didn't happen under Cronkite's watch?
Mike Henry and Daryl Hall on a Cleveland Show Thanksgiving
The TV Squad Podcast: The Prisoner, '80s TV, soap news and more
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