president-related stories
Posted Sep 28th 2009 1:06PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, OpEd, Reality-Free, Gone Too Soon
Every once in a while, a show creeps up on the American public and really captures its imagination. Unfortunately, a lot of times that show is in a terrible timeslot on a tiny little network struggling to survive. Such was the case with
Jack & Bobby.
I'd like to think people didn't just automatically assume that this was a biopic about the Kennedys, though it certainly was playing with that notion intentionally by choosing that name. At its core, the show was simply another teen drama; the kind The WB had built a network around by the fall of 2004.
But it was also something more than that. It was an in-depth examination of the genesis of an American hero. How can someone go from being an ordinary person with ordinary problems into the most powerful man on the planet? While Jack and Bobby were typical all-American brothers, it was one of their destiny to rise to the seat of President of the United States by the mid-21st Century. That's the destination.
Jack & Bobby was the journey.
Continue reading Gone Too Soon: Jack & Bobby
Posted Aug 8th 2009 5:55PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Industry, Grey's Anatomy, Dancing With The Stars, TCA Press Tour, Reality-Free
ABC president Steve McPherson just finished holding court at his network's executive session. Not much in the way of news came up, but when an astute critic -- namely me -- brought up Katherine Heigl's latest foot-in-mouth incident, McPherson didn't mince words.
He called the
Grey's star's remarks -- where she complained on several talk shows about
her 17-hour first day back on the set, a day that supposedly was created to accommodate her promotional schedule for
The Ugly Truth -- "unfortunate." He continued: "It is what it is. People are going to choose to behave the way they behave." He felt especially bad for the show's behind-the-scenes crew, who also put in those long hours without complaint; "It's really hard for the people busting their tails every day to hear that (from Heigl)." He later said that "I'm not going to try to explain someone else's behavior," and repeated the word "unfortunate" once again.
Continue reading ABC exec calls Heigl's latest remarks "unfortunate" - TCA Report
Posted Jul 13th 2009 5:03PM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: OpEd, Video, South Park, Reality-Free
Russian TV
censors have cut a scene from a broadcast of the show
South Park in their country, claiming it portrays former President Vladimir Putin as a greedy and desperate leader (the episode first aired in 2005, when Putin was still in the president's office).
Sometimes comedy just doesn't translate overseas. Upon watching the segment, it doesn't feel like they're so much making fun of Putin as simply doing some situational humor involving the economic crisis in Russia at the time (and the only difference nowadays is that it has spread to pretty much every country).
This incident about the episode seems to speak more about the current situation in Russia than about in
South Park. Compared to other segments of the show (Mickey Mouse, anyone?), this one is kind of tame.
I leave it for your judgment. The video of the offending segment is after the jump. Feel free to watch the segment and determine if the Russian government should be offended. Unless you're from Russia, of course.
Continue reading South Park offends the Russians
Posted Jun 4th 2009 10:10AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: News, OpEd, Law and Order, Celebrities, Ratings, Reality-Free, Celebreality
If Jay Leno isn't the answer for NBC prime time, perhaps the network should think about booking President Obama. NBC News devoted two hours, on Tuesday and Wednesday night, for
Inside the Obama White House and the
ratings were strong. Better than the insipid
I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here, which acted as a lead-in. Of course the season finale of
Law & Order: SVU on Tuesday didn't hurt the news production.
Having watched the two hours, NBC should sign the president ASAP. There's always the curiosity factor when a viewer is being given access behind the scenes, and that's what
Inside the Obama White House did. It was a look at the real West Wing, which reminded me a lot of the fictional, Aaron Sorkin
West Wing creation, and that was quite cool. President Obama still fascinates me, and
it's well past 100 days.Continue reading NBC scores with Inside the Obama White House
Posted Mar 16th 2009 1:04PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Late Night, Talk Show, Casting, Reality-Free
The Tonight Show is the top-rated nightly talk show, which is why NBC got creative to keep Jay Leno on the air. What it is not, though, is a show to tune into for good interviews. At best Jay is a giggling buffoon. At worst Jay is ... a giggling buffoon. So it should allow for pretty free reign to talk about whatever he wants when
President Obama appears on The Tonight Show this Thursday.
MSNBC says he'll talk about the economy. I know, right: That's some impressive journalism there. I was leaning toward comparing the tastes of the new Multi-Grain Big Rice Krispies and Marshmallow Rice Krispies. Personally, I think the former could use some of those marshmallows to soften the taste, but I'd really like the President's take on that.
Continue reading President Obama in for the toughest interview of his life ... Jay Leno?
Posted Jan 22nd 2009 2:08PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: News, Celebrities, Reality-Free
When is an exclusive not an exclusive? No, it's not a riddle. The answer is simple -- when everybody has the very same story or image or film. ABC had acquired the exclusive broadcast of President
Barack Obama's first dance with Michelle at the
Neighborhood Ball: An Inauguration Celebration, which was the first ball that the new First Couple attended.
With Grammy-winner Beyonce singing "At Last" just for them, the two danced alone together on stage. However,
ABC's first dance exclusive ended up on other networks.
Continue reading ABC squeals about Obamas' first dance
Posted Jan 7th 2009 1:44PM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Industry, Programming, Reality-Free
If you want to watch the star-studded inaugural ceremonies for the President-elect Obama, you have exactly
one choice for the channel to watch it on: HBO. Don't worry, HBO is allowing anyone with a cable box to watch, even if they don't subscribe.
I recognize that someone has to pay for such an event without burdening the taxpayers (although the taxpayers do pay for the actual swearing in and security), but doesn't this contradict the Obama's campaign pledge of no corporate sponsorship? After all, HBO is part of a larger corporation, Time Warner.
On the other hand, for a star-studded event, I'd rather have an entertainment company sponsor it. Since it will probably be watched by many people (Obama lovers and haters alike), it's a good advertising opportunity for HBO. Also, HBO can make money on anyone who re-broadcasts even a portion of the event. And if it's an entertainment company that finances the event, better HBO than MTV. It would be quite tasteless if the event had any wardrobe malfunctions.
Posted Dec 7th 2008 11:13AM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Programming, Celebrities, Reality-Free
At least in terms of geography. Oprah has recently been named
the most powerful woman in entertainment. And now, she's going to prove it by heading to Washington D.C.
to be near President-elect Obama when he takes the oath of office on January 20th. She'll be taping a live episode of her show on January 19th, the day before.
I can never prove this, but I'm fairly certain that it was the Oprah endorsement that drove Democratic primary voters away from Hillary Clinton and towards Obama (and if that isn't a display of power, I don't know what is). I don't know how difficult the choice was for her, considering her audience is a female majority. It does beg the question of whether society would benefit more from a victory of race or one of gender.
Mind you, I don't think there was a wrong decision in this instance, but she made her choice and backed a particular horse and is now reaping the benefits. Good for her.
Posted Nov 5th 2008 10:14AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: News, OpEd, Reality-Free
It's about 12 hours later and as I look back on MSNBC's Election Plaza broadcast, I can see things a bit more clearly now. Overall, the "place for politics" did a fine job covering the most historic presidential election in my lifetime. It wasn't the most dramatic, but it was living history.
History was in the making because we knew going in whether the Dems or the Reps won, an African-American or a woman would be in the White House by the end of the night. MSNBC captured that political reality with images and by letting the camera run long after Obama's speech just to watch the faces of the people -- including Oprah and Jesse Jackson, both in tears -- celebrate in joy.
The prognosticators and pollsters were all on target by choosing Obama/Biden as the winners, so that means nobody's at Gallup or Fivethirtyeight.com is losing his/her job.
Continue reading Election Night: MSNBC (final thoughts)
Posted Oct 28th 2008 3:02PM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Industry, Reality-Free
The Obama campaign has put a line in the sand regarding which networks will broadcast its prime-time campaign advertisement air on Wednesday night.
The campaign has passed on ABC, which will be showing a new episode of
Pushing Daisies against the ad to be shown on CBS, NBC, Fox and Univision at 8 p.m.
If the Obama campaign was going to pass on a network, you'd think it would be Fox since Fox News is the mortal enemy of his political party. What does the campaign have against the House of the Mouse? You can't get more American than Mickey.
Continue reading Obama ad won't air on ABC
Posted Oct 23rd 2008 4:33PM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Video, Celebrities, Reality-Free
I recall a time when Ron Howard was diligently trying to distance himself from the two television icons that made him famous: Opie Taylor and Richie Cunningham (from
The Andy Griffith Show and
Happy Days, respectively). Now, thanks to
Funny Or Die and in an effort to get his candidate of choice (Barack Obama, if you didn't know) elected, he is prepared to step back into those two roles. And to do so, he takes Andy Griffith and Henry Winkler with him.
I didn't really grow up with Andy Griffith, but it was quite the nostalgia trip to see Ron Howard and Henry Winkler as Richie and the Fonz again. Winkler seemed to just slip back into the character despite all the years.
Continue reading Opie Cunningham is back - VIDEO
Posted Oct 22nd 2008 12:04PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Saturday Night Live, Celebrities, Reality-Free
Remember back at the beginning of the season when Senator Barack Obama was going to be on the premiere of
Saturday Night Live but had to bow out because of Hurricane Ike? At the time, we were told that the Democratic presidential candidate would be on later in the year. Well,
rumors are flying that Obama will appear on SNL a week from this Saturday, November 1 -- just three days before the election.
NBC has denied the rumors, much like they did all those rumors before Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin appeared last weekend. However,
SNL boss Lorne Michaels always holds his cards close to his vest when it comes to big name appearances. Even after gossips reported that Sarah was definitely going to be on the show, NBC and
SNL didn't confirm it till the last minute.
Continue reading Will Obama be on Saturday Night Live before the election?
Posted Oct 17th 2008 10:02AM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Celebrities, Reality-Free
So McCain finally broke down and reappeared on Letterman in lieu of his bugging out of the last one to be interviewed by Katie Couric. He begged forgiveness in as dignified a manner as a Presidential candidate could. Letterman responded by ripping him a new one, deservedly so.
The hypocrisy of skipping out on an interview to supposedly fix the economy but end up on ANOTHER interview show deserves at least a few snide remarks.
But, all feuds must end otherwise the public tires of them. This happened on Letterman last night.
Continue reading McCain on Letterman, finally - VIDEO
Posted Oct 14th 2008 6:38PM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Celebrities, Reality-Free, Gossip Girl
There is definitely a generational gap with this presidential election, with the elderly favoring McCain and the youth favoring Obama. I'm generalizing of course, but it certainly seems like the campaign advertising is geared that way. One piece of evidence is two cast members of
Gossip Girl appearing in an anti-McCain ad.
Granted, since the elderly isn't exactly the target demographic of
Gossip Girl, I doubt anyone's grandma is going to stop voting for McCain because Blake Lively asked her to. I doubt said grandma even knows who Blake Lively is. At least the ad acknowledges that most of the demographic for the show aren't old enough to vote and therefore have to convince their parents. When have parents ever listened to their children with regards to their voting preferences?
The campaign is kind of reminiscent of
Sarah Silverman's "Great Schlep" Obama ad. That one garnered a response
by comedian Jackie Mason. I wonder if this advertisement will get a similar response. If so, will the response be done by the cast of
Matlock?
Posted Aug 6th 2008 12:01PM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Video, Celebrities, Reality-Free
John McCain's presidential campaign included images of Britney Spears and Paris Hilton in a television attack ad against opponent Barack Obama. Now,
one-half of that duo strikes back and the result is posted on
Funny or Die.
At first, I was thinking that it was nice to see Paris Hilton able to take the piss out of herself like this. Then I realized that she was probably serious. I also realized that since was on this site, someone else wrote the sketch for her and she just had to speak the words. Her reference to John McCain as "the wrinkly white-haired guy" was funny, but not nearly as funny as her attempt at intellectual debate toward the end.
Video is after the jump.
Continue reading Paris Hilton for President - VIDEO
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