mccain-related stories
Posted Nov 5th 2008 12:28PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: News, OpEd, Reality-Free
So now the election is over and we have a new President-elect. Congrats to Barack Obama.
We covered the coverage of the election last night on various stations, including
ABC,
CNN,
FOX News,
NBC,
MSNBC, and
Comedy Central. I covered
CBS to see how Katie Couric did on her first night as election anchor. I'm a fan of Katie's, and for the most part I haven't agreed with the criticisms against her (beyond the growing pains she and the show had when she started), and I think she did a fine job.
So let's go over the good and the bad.
Continue reading Election Night: CBS (final thoughts)
Posted Nov 5th 2008 1:14AM by Kona Gallagher
Filed under: News, Programming, Reality-Free
12:23: Wolf Blitzer just reminded us that this is, in fact, an historic occasion. He also assures us that the coverage will continue. I, however, will not. All in all, CNN's coverage was adequate, but pretty boring. The reason I choose CNN over the other news channels is because of the personalities. Campbell Brown, Wolf Blitzer and Anderson Cooper usually find ways to engage and amuse me, but not tonight. Everyone was pretty straightforward and dry. What do they think this is, network news? If I wanted straightforward and dry, I'd watch Charlie Gibson.
But hey. At least this election is over. See you in four years!
12:19: Obama finished speaking a good five minutes ago, yet nobody has broken in with commentary. That's either an admirable show of restraint or a sign that the CNN anchors are all busy getting drunk.
Continue reading Election Night: CNN (Part 3)
Posted Nov 5th 2008 12:01AM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: News, OpEd, Reality-Free
Midnight: Coming tomorrow morning: post-game summary and thoughts about how
Katie did anchoring her first Presidential election night on CBS.
11:59: Obama starts his speech. Time to pay attention.
11:59: Waiting for Katie or somebody to mention Michelle Obama's flaming red and black dress.
11:58: OK, Obama taking the stage. They stop the music like at the start of movies when they stop the music and the coming attractions come on.
11:55: Katie asks Noonan to stick around until after the commercial, but they don't go to a commercial. Nice swell of music, though.
11:54: Peggy Noonan is back. Hey, isn't she usually on MSNBC or NBC?
11:45: Katie makes reference to
The Patty Duke Show! Something to do with the Udalls and twins, I think.
11:39: Katie corrects Greenfield yet again: it's Nevadda, not Nevahda. Greenfield says the election is over, he doesn't care anymore.
Continue reading Election Night: CBS (Part 3)
Posted Nov 4th 2008 10:29PM by Kona Gallagher
Filed under: News, Programming, Reality-Free
The continuing adventures of Anderson Cooper, Mr. Magoo and the magic board.
10:20: They've moved out to the lawn in Phoenix. The atmosphere there is quite a bit more, uh, subdued than in Chicago.
10:19: Yikes. Dana Bash looks more and more depressed each time they show her. She's reporting that McCain's camp has given up.
10:08: Wolf Blitzer: "Arkansas. Put that in John McCain's column right now." Is it wrong that that made me snicker? It doesn't even make sense!
9:59: Iowa was just called for Obama, and Anderson Cooper just asked what they're going to do when he gets to 270 electoral votes. "We leave!" was the reply. We'll see if that actually happens. Could we have an empty eleciton center soon? Check back for more coverage!
9:55: Roland Martin compared the Obama supporters in Grant Park to Lollapalooza. Meanwhile, back at the Biltmore, an unidentified old man is wandering around aimlessly on stage.
Continue reading Election Night: CNN (Part 2)
Posted Nov 4th 2008 10:13PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: News, OpEd, Reality-Free
More from
Katie and Company:
10:07: Switching over to see what PBS and FOX News are up to. Know why?
I'm a maverick.
9:49: Will I have another drink tonight? TOO CLOSE TO CALL.
9:42: I have a real crush on Peggy Noonan. Not sure why.
9:31: Is anyone even paying attention to the sides of the CBS HD screen? I'd rather see cartoons or Three Stooges shorts played, picture-in-picture style.
9:24: Schieffer and Greenfield both call the election after Ohio goes to Obama. That's it for the election! Good night everybody! You would think they'd let it go a little bit longer considering the 2000 fiasco.
9:04: McCain HQ is playing Eddie Money? No wonder he's behind.
8:50: Jeff Greenfield says "Sarah Palin was Norma Rae for two weeks, then she was somebody else." Maybe when they come back from commercial he'll say who. Any guesses?
8:49: Bob Schieffer says Katie partly responsible for Sarah Palin's fall. Katie says "keep it up Bob and you're next."
Continue reading Election Night: CBS (Part 2)
Posted Nov 4th 2008 7:55PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: News, OpEd, Reality-Free
Some quick notes on the Katie Couric-anchored election coverage on
The Tiffany Network:
7:26: They've gone to local coverage for a bit. Good time for my first gin and tonic of the evening. I'll be back later with more, and stay tuned for posts from CNN, MSNBC, and more.
7:18: Now Katie says "Can you hear me now? I sound like a Sprint commercial" to Obama spokesman. Can't she get any of her commercial icon references right tonight?!?
7:14: First glitch of the night: can't hear what Obama spokesman is saying. Katie goes to McCain spokesman instead. CBS IN THE TANK FOR MCCAIN!
7:07: CBS's "Magic Board" (or whatever they're calling it) isn't as good as CNN's. It's the Sony Walkman to CNN's iPod.
7:05: Jeff Greenfield is firing off sports/weather cliches to describe the election. I already miss Dan Rather and his Ratherisms: "This race is tighter than a cranberry muffin at an auto show."
Continue reading Election Night: CBS (Part 1)
Posted Nov 4th 2008 4:00PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Programming, What To Watch Tonight, Reality-Free
At 7, Election Coverage starts on all of the major networks and some minor ones. Actually, it starts on the cable news channels a lot earlier.
- At 8, The CW has a new 90210, then a new Privileged.
- ABC Family has a new Lincoln Heights at 8.
- At 9, PBS Election Coverage starts.
- Sci-Fi has a new ECW at 9, followed by two new episodes of Scare Tactics.
- Discovery has a new Dirty Jobs at 9.
- At 10, Comedy Central has their Daily Show/Colbert Report election night coverage.
- FX has a new episode of The Shield at 10.
- Also at 10: Bravo has a new Real Housewives of Atlanta.
Check your
local TV listings for more.
As for the late night talk shows, all of them are either pre-empted or they're repeats. Except
Charlie Rose, which will have coverage of the election.
Posted Nov 4th 2008 10:59AM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: News, Programming, Reality-Free
Every single media outlet, whether it's the major networks, the cable news networks, print, radio, online, and carrier pigeon, will be covering the election tonight. And that includes us!
Starting at 7pm ET, TV Squad will be doing election posts. We'll be covering all of the networks, including ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, FOX News, MSNBC and Comedy Central. We'll have several posts during the night and several posts after we find out who the next President is. This could be around 9:30pm or it could be around 11:15pm. It could even be 4am, though I'm not sure how many of us will still be awake at that time.
These won't be posts that analyze state results or exit polls or voting trends or who's ahead and who's behind. We'll be doing the fun stuff, like what mistakes the anchors make, what Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert have to say, what anchor on FOX News cries because Obama is ahead, and the cleanup procedure at MSNBC if Keith Olbermann's head explodes from a McCain win. Tune in tonight!
Posted Oct 15th 2008 5:05PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: News, Programming, Reality-Free
Earlier this year I asked readers which network had
"the best political team on television." CNN officially uses the line, but it doesn't mean it's true. Though I do have to say that I find myself watching CNN the most this election season because they truly do seem to go out of their way to be fair and bal...
OK, I won't say that exact phrase, but they do have a good mix of people, from Dems Paul Begala and Donna Brazille to Republicans William Bennett and Alex Castellanos, not to mention analysts like Gloria Borger and John King. It can get pretty unwieldy though, all those pundits spread across various tables. It's like that big World Series of Poker room mixed with a game show set, and if you have HD and can see the scorecards on the sides of the screen, it actually is like a game show.
Continue reading What channel will you have on for the debate tonight?
Posted Oct 10th 2008 5:06PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: OpEd, Video, Commercials, Reality-Free
Let's talk (again) about commercials we hate.
Or maybe I should say commercials
I hate, though I think you'll agree with me on some of these. They run the gamut from silly to ineffective, from dumb to just plain jaw-dropping. Let's start with jaw-dropping.
1. DirecTV's Poltergeist ad. This is...creepy and tasteless. Do the makers of this ad really not know that young
Poltergeist star
Heather O'Rourke died at a really young age? Even if they didn't (I'm kidding, of course they did), the star of the ad, Craig T. Nelson, is aware of it. So why use footage of her in the ad? It's just bizarre to me. Then again I'm not a DirecTV exec. They must know that what they're doing by using footage of a deceased child star (and a stand-in) to sell satellite TV service.
Continue reading Brought To You By ... - VIDEOS
Posted Mar 27th 2006 7:07PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, FOX, 24
What do the following people have in common?
- John McCain
- Rush Limbaugh
- Mary Matalin
- Dianne Feinstein
- Barbra Streisand
They're all huge fans of
24!
Co-creator Joel Surnow, a conservative,
thinks (scroll down) that it's the one
TV show that both Democrats and Republicans can agree on.
Six Mad Men characters who are in limbo after the finale
Fact or Fiction: Big Bang, Brothers & Sisters and CSI
The TV Squad Podcast: Linda Purl talks about The Office, we talk spoilers, and more
