Posts with tag nbc news
Posted Nov 29th 2008 10:30AM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: News, Web, Celebrities, Reality-Free

No one is safe from the snarky and sarcastic jabs of the blogger's literary Uzi. If they've got you in their laser-scope sights, nothing on God's green Earth is strong enough to stop them.
But not all publicity is bad publicity. In some cases, it's revived the careers of celebrities who flopped out of the spotlight like so much unsupervised fish.
Rick Astley wouldn't have had the chance to perform during the last Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade if the Internet hadn't turned his ear-drum-grinding song into an ear-drum-grinding
Internet prank. Chuck Norris wouldn't have become a born-again celebrity, columnist, and media pundit without
a certain web site making him sound like he could kick God's ass unless God has Chuck Norris' fists.
Now another blogger has another target in their sights, giving an overlooked celebrity who is on TV just about every night the rare chance to swing the spotlight on them with a simple pull of the trigger. And it's not
NBC Nightly News' Brian Williams. It's
NBC Nightly News' Brian Williams' ties, thanks to high school English teacher Nancy Donnelly and her popular blog, the
Brian Williams Tie Report.
Continue reading Brian Williams' ties hit the blogosphere
Posted Aug 18th 2008 8:02AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: News, OpEd, Ratings, Reality-Free

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.
Continue reading Where do you get your news?
Posted Aug 1st 2008 8:04AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: News, Celebrities, Reality-Free

If you're a political junkie -- guilty -- you're likely looking forward to the upcoming conventions. Just the prospect of an election with no incumbent running sets 2008 up as an exciting election, and with only 24% of the country believing that America is going in the right direction, this is definitely a time for change.
NBC News is opting to insert an element of change in its convention coverage. The network announced today that the late Tim Russert's son, Luke, has been hired by NBC News and will be put on his father's beat, politics.
Luke Russert's first assignment is Decision 2008, where he will be correspondent-at-large at both the Democratic and Republican conventions. While this hiring smacks of nepotism -- or allegiance to the memory of Tim -- Luke is not without some journalistic skills. He's a Boston College graduate, majoring in History and Communications, and has been co-hosting a sports talk show on XM Satellite Radio. He shares the microphone for that program,
60/20 Sports, with political analyst James Carville.
Continue reading Tim Russert's son joins NBC's convention coverage
Posted Apr 9th 2008 5:28PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: News, Celebrities, Reality-Free
According to this fascinating story at The New York Times Magazine (online several days ahead of its Sunday publication), that's what he is worried about.
Matthews has always been outspoken, from his early days when he was involved in several political campaigns to his current stint at NBC and MSNBC. He's worried that the "suits" at the network want him out and even says that several people at the network are wondering why he is being profiled in the Times instead of Keith Olbermann, who seems to be the top ratings getter at the network right now.
Continue reading Do NBC execs want to get rid of Chris Matthews?
Posted Mar 10th 2008 7:23PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: News, Programming, Cable/Satellite, Talk Show, Cancellations

Arch, conservative, preppie guy
Tucker Carlson has been ousted from his MSNBC show. Carlson's one-hour talk show, called
Tucker, has been canceled. NBC News correspondent David Gregory will take over the hour slot, 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, which will be called
Race for the White House. This week will be Carlson's last. Gregory starts on Monday, March 17.
MSNBC is reportedly making a series of changes, amping up the political chatter. Considering how much politicking is going on now, including
Tucker, it's hard to fathom how switching Carlson for Gregory is going to increase the discourse.
Continue reading What the Tuck? Carlson's show yanked
Posted Nov 2nd 2007 8:01AM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Celebrities, Obituaries
A roundup of TV people from in front of the camera and behind the scenes who have passed away.
- Chef Tell (Paul Erhardt): He was better known to TV viewers as Chef Tell, who cooked on several shows over the years, including his PBS series In The Kitchen With Chef Tell, Regis & Kathie Lee, Evening Magazine, and Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. According to some, the "Swedish Chef" character on The Muppet Show was based on Erhardt. He died of heart failure at age 63.
Continue reading TV Obits: Chef Tell, Cummins, O'Neill
Posted May 22nd 2007 2:28PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: News, Celebrities
NBC is trying to save money everywhere.
Longtime Dateline host Stone Phillips is being let go by the network, for money reasons. Phillips' current co-host, Ann Curry, will continue to do the show. I guess NBC wants someone in there who is already under contract and does other stuff at the network. Curry is the newsreader on The Today Show too. She'll be joined by various NBC reporters as rotating co-hosts.
No word on what Phillips will do now. I wonder why they didn't just keep him on and have him do other things at the network and MSNBC? Maybe he didn't want to, who knows.
Posted Apr 18th 2007 5:57PM by Adam Finley
Filed under: News
On the same day he shot 32 people to death on the campus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Cho Seung-Hui sent a package to NBC News.
According to MSNBC, the package contained video, a photograph and a written communication. At one point in the video, Seung-Hui said, in reference to the massacre, "This didn't have to happen." The package was sent between the time he shot two people to death in a dormitory and before he killed thirty more in another building.
NBC News turned the contents over to the FBI, and in a blog post today anchor Brian Williams said that some of the contents of the package would be discussed on tonight's broadcast.
Continue reading NBC News received package from VA-Tech shooter
Posted Apr 16th 2007 11:37AM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: News, Industry, Celebrities
I'm not exactly sure what they mean by "powerful" whenever these lists come out. Does it mean influence? Does it mean the most-watched? Probably a mish-mash of both, since the list includes anchors and network executives. Here's the list, according to TV Week. Last year's rank is in parentheses.
1. Roger Ailes - Chairman and CEO of FOX News (1)
Continue reading The ten most powerful people in TV news
Posted Feb 4th 2007 5:20PM by Adam Finley
Filed under: NBC, News, HDTV
TV Newser reports that NBC News will begin shooting in HD beginning sometime next year, and that NBC Nightly News will be going high def starting next month. The other major networks, including NBC, also offer select shows in the HD format, and some local news affiliates also broadcast in HD.
I don't consider myself a technophobe, but all this talk of high definition ties my head in knots. I actually found a decent primer for HD virgins like myself on CNET, which is worth checking out if you're interested in making the jump to HD, which involves a lot more than simply purchasing an HD or plasma television set.
I also know a lot of our readers rock the HD, so share your wisdom in the comments for those of us who aren't quite so hip to this crazy new technology.
[via Lost Remote]
Posted Oct 18th 2006 1:21PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: CBS, News, TV Royalty, OpEd, Celebrities
Like everyone else in the media universe, I was unfairly harsh to Katie Couric and the new CBS Evening News. At first, I said it was OK (based on a whopping one episode), and then after two weeks I gave the show a thumbs down. But I've been thinking about something lately.
What's the rush?
Continue reading I owe Katie Couric an apology
Posted Sep 8th 2006 11:47AM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: NBC, CBS, News, Talent
It's not often that TV news executives are well-known, but Gordon Manning was one of those people.
Manning was with NBC and CBS news for several years, involved in many of the top news stories of the 20th century, including the student uprising in Tiananmen Square in 1989 for NBC, CBS' Watergate and Nixon's trip to China coverage in 1972, and even set up an interview between NBC's Tom Brokaw and Mikail Gorbachev in 1987, just before his meeting with President Reagan.
Manning was famous for something else we all see now: the color-coded election night map! NBC first did that in 1976.
Manning died Wednesday in Westport, CT of a heart attack.
Posted Aug 21st 2006 7:33PM by Adam Finley
Filed under: NBC, News, Music and Variety

On August 29, NBC will launch "NBC News on Stage" on iTunes, which will include the
Today live summer concert footage of John Mayer performing three songs from some album I'm never going to purchase. If Mayer isn't your cup of tea, other programs to be added to the list include interviews with the Rolling Stones, Jerry Garcia, U2, Judy Garland, Johnny and June Carter Cash, Madonna, and Ray Charles. NBC is not offering this or any of its news programming on iTunes for free, which, to quote Mother Theresa, is a big stupid load of crap. The John Mayer segment, which will also feature interviews and behind-the-scenes stuff, will cost $3.99 and will only be available for a limited time.
Posted Aug 21st 2006 6:44PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Cable, News, Industry, Programming
If you didn't notice (which is fine, people shouldn't obsess over things like this like we do), MSNBC debuted a new news crawl and new on-screen graphics this morning. So far, it's a thumbs down.
While CNN and FOX News have cleaner, squared off graphics, MSNBC has gone with funky, pointy boxes on the right hand side that show the time and the MSNBC logo, while the left hand side shows the stock report. It's great that they separated the time and stocks, so now both can be on the screen at the same time, but the way they've done the boxing, it looks odd (and the text on the screen sometimes overlaps the new graphics, which isn't good). The crawl is odd too, because it doesn't crawl across the entire screen, only half of it (the stocks block the rest of the screen), and since only so many words can stay on the screen at once, it takes several seconds to even figure out what the story is about (but maybe that's on purpose, to make you stick around longer).
The new MSNBC logo is good though. It keeps the colorful peacock but it's now a lot thinner. Too bad they didn't put good boxes and a better setup around it. And I think it's time to get rid of the "MS" part. Why not just make it NBC News Channel now?
Posted Feb 7th 2006 11:19AM by Adam Finley
Filed under: NBC, News, Talent
Reuven Frank, the former NBC News
president who helped create the Huntley-Brinkley Report and bring Tom Brokaw to NBC passed away Sunday
due to complications from pneumonia.
Frank started with NBC in 1950 and stayed with the network for the next 38
years. After David Brinkley and Chet Huntley's coverage of the Democratic and Republican conventions in 1956, Frank
teamed the pair up for the Huntley-Brinkley Report. The fifteen-minute broadcast remained a popular news
program through the 1960s, and is still considered a watershed moment in television news, being the first show to use
live anchors in two separate cities. Later, he would be the mind behind NBC's tenacious coverage of NASA's early space
missions.
In the late 70s and early 80s Frank created a late night news show called Weekend, and
another late night news program featuring Linda Ellerbee called NBC News Overnight. The show became known for
Ellerbee's tagline, "And so it goes..." a line borrowed from Kurt Vonnegut's novel Slaughter House
Five.
In addition to his work in television, Frank also produced a number of documentaries. He was 85.