Lost Remote’s s Cory Bergman thinks J-schools should downplay anchor careers:
“Journalism schools, as a public service, should strongly discourage students from pursuing an anchoring career. The emphasis should be on the “do-it-all” multimedia journalist who can produce, report, write, shoot and edit both on TV and the web. Flexibility is key.”
And if you need another reason to be discouraged from pursuing a career as an anchor…
“My cologne is distilled from the bilge water of Rupert Murdoch’s yacht.”
“When I find something I want, I don’t let go. Like a Killer Whale going nuts on his trainer at Sea World.”
“A stripper offered to give me a squeezer last night. A white stripper!”
“Save it for your iVillage blog.”
“If reality TV has taught us anything, it’s you can’t keep people with no values down.”
I almost never watch Saturday Night Live. Just got out of the habit. Didn’t find it amusing anymore. I’ve watched Tina Fey and Tracy Morgan on 30 Rock and fell in love with Tina. As for Tracy, not so much. Thought he was one of the weak elements of the show. But I think I’ve sold the man short. (And he’s not afraid of Tina Fey)
This past Saturday, Tracy Morgan responded to Tina Fey’s promotion of Hillary Clinton three weeks ago with his own defense of Barack Obama.
MORGAN: Why is it that every time a black man in this country gets too good at something, there’s always someone come around and remind us that he’s black? First Tiger, then Donavan McNabb then me. Now Barack. I got a theory about that. It’s a little complicated but basically, it goes like this: we are a racist country. The end. It’s not the people in this room, but if we’re not a racist country, how did Hillary Clinton convince everybody in Texas and Ohio that Barack didn’t know how to answer the phone at 3 in the morning? Let me tell you something, Barack knows how to answer that phone. He’s not going to answer it like, (soft, frightened voice) “Hello, I’m scared. What’s going on?” He is gonna answer it like I would get a phone call at 3 in the morning: “Yeah, who’s this? This better be good or I’m going to come down there and put somebody in a wheelchair.”
Some things never change, Seth. People saying he’s not a fighter. Let me tell you something. He’s a gangsta, he’s from Chicago. Barack is not winning because he’s a black man. If that was the case, I would be winning. And I’m way blacker than him. I used to smoke Newports and drink Olde English. I grew up on government cheese, I prefer it. Now there’s all this stuff and all this talk about the pastor. Barack has to stay away from the pastor, ‘cause he’s too black. But just because he knows the dude doesn’t think…doesn’t mean that he’s gonna think like him. Look, I have a friend who goes to strip clubs, that doesn’t mean that I am gonna go to the strip club.
SETH MEYERS: But you do go to strip clubs.
MORGAN: Yeah, but I go for the girls, not because my friend is going. I have integrity. Barack is qualified. Personally, I want to know what qualifies Hillary Clinton to be the next president. Is it because she was married to the president? If that were the case then Robin Givens would be the heavyweight champion of the world. If Hillary’s last name wasn’t Clinton, she’d be some crazy white lady with too much money and not enough lovin’. That’s where I come in. I know women like that, you do not want them on the phone at 3 in the morning. In conclusion, three weeks ago, my girl Tina Fey went on the show, she declared that “bitch is the new black”. You know I love you, Tina. You know you’re my girl. But I have something to say. Bitch may be the new black, but black is the new president, bitch.”
“BALTIMORE—Omar Little, the veteran stick-up artist who inspired fear and fascination in drug-plagued neighborhoods across the city, was shot and killed in a west-side convenience store yesterday.Police said the assailant remained at large.
Famed for his brazen robberies of area drug dealers, Mr. Little had retired from what he called “the game” a year ago, moving to the Caribbean with a new romantic partner. But he apparently returned to Baltimore this winter to seek revenge following the brutal murder of a beloved business associate.”
“Last week, a Broadcasting & Cable editorial warned that TV newscasts could follow the way of the newspaper. This week, B&C’s Jennifer Yarter asks, “What happens when the web starts to replace the television?” Yarter said the catalyst of her column was a dinner with a group of tech-savvy 20-somethings who said they don’t watch TV or even subscribe to cable or satellite. They just watch whatever they want online. Yarter writes, “Most of these young adults are falling into a new territory of media consumption that could potentially eliminate the need for local television stations.”
“Absolutely, and consider this: the only thing that most local TV stations produce is local news. Local TV news in its current form, when translated online, looks very similar to everyone else’s news. If it’s not truly original or unique, it’s a commodity (especially in aggregated environments). And as more people get their local news online instead of making an appointment to watch it on TV, revenue loss will accelerate. A solution here is to start producing original content that bridges platforms — that’s unique enough to not only to attract an audience but create fans. Fans are people who accept no substitutes. Can local TV news, by itself, create this kind of online loyalty? I don’t believe so. It will require new, innovative, locally-produced niche programming that spans TV, mobile and the web. In other words, a whole new approach. Similar to the newspapers, it will be a matter of survival.”
— Lost Remote
I keep asking myself why nobody in a position to do so, is tackling this. The answer I keep coming up with, time after time is that reinventing your TV station (or your radio station) for the new world we’re in is –in the short term– risky and expensive. And the decision makers are close enough to retirement (or have their fuck-you money put aside) that they have decided (even if they haven’t admitted it aloud) to manage their stations to “a profitable demise.” Milk the cash cow until Bossie goes dry.
Gave the Apple TV (Take 2) a good test drive last night by watching Ratatouille. I don’t think I rented the high def version but this was still as sharp and clear as anything I’ve watched since getting this TV.
Just to be sure, I rented The Brave One in high def and could see by the progress bar that it was going to take a while to download. But within a minute or two, a message came on that said we could start watching the movie. Once enough of the file has downloaded to buffer, you’re good to go.
I’ve also been sampling more video podcasts. The Apple TV makes this so easy it didn’t dawn on me right away, but I don’t have to subscribe to these podcasts. I can, but it’s not necessary. I can just hit play. On the latest episode or previous ones.
When I try to describe Apple TV, people say, "How is that different than Tivo?" Tivo is great for recording network or cable shows, but there’s a world of stuff online that will never make it to network or cable. And Apple TV has made it drop-dead easy to watch these programs on the big screen. Think plugging your TV into the Internet.
I think they got it right this time. My Apple TV brings the net to my living room. I can rent movies, buy TV shows and music, watch podcasts and YouTube videos and view photos from Flickr (mine or anyone else’s).
I can Tivo all my favorite shows and watch them when I want but the new Apple TV feels like a very different viewing experience. Give me a week or two to get familiar with it. I’m looking forward to watching more video podcasts. This might be the future of TV. Smarter folk than I seem to agree.
Sudhir Venkatesh knows a thing or two about street gangs and got some New York thugs together to watch the season opener of The Wire to get their take on the show and the characters. From his Freakonomics blog post:
“For the first episode, we gathered in the Harlem apartment of Shine, a 43-year-old half Dominican, half African-American man who managed a gang for fifteen years before heading to prison for a ten-year drug trafficking sentence. I invited older guys like Shine, most of whom had retired from the drug trade, because they would have greater experience with rogue cops, political toughs, and everyone else that makes The Wire so appealing. They affectionately named our gathering “Thugs and ‘Cuz.” (I was told that the “‘cuz” — short for “cousin” — was for me.)
There was plenty of popcorn, ribs, bad domestic beer, and fried pork rinds with hot sauce on hand. The pork rinds, apparently the favorite of the American thug, ran out so quickly that one of the low-ranking gang members in attendance was dispatched to acquire several more bags.”
What did the bad boys think? Bunk is on the take; McNulty and the Bunk will split and Prop Joe should whack Marlo. [Thanks, John]
“The fifth and final season of ‘The Wire’ (January 6) centers on the media’s role in addressing – or failing to address – the fundamental political, economic and social realities depicted over the course of the series, while also resolving storylines of the numerous characters woven throughout the narrative arc of the show.
This season of ‘The Wire’ is based in large part on series creator David Simon’s experiences in 13 years at The Baltimore Sun. Simon decries recent trends in the newspaper industry that have conspired to make high-end journalism vulnerable: out-of-town chain ownership, an economic climate in which the share price of media companies matters more to industry leaders than the product itself, and a newsroom culture in which prizes, personal ambition and the cult of the “impact” story has replaced consistent and detailed coverage of complex issues as the primary goal.”
It pains me when really good shows like The Sopranos (early seasons), Deadwood, and The Wire come to an end. But not as much as seeing them drag on after everyone (but the network accountants) stopped giving a shit.
Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, will return to their television shows on January 7 but will have to improvise their monologues and interviews without the help of their writing staffs.
In a statement, the two hosts said they would prefer to return to work with their writers. “If we cannot, we would like to express our ambivalence, but without our writers we are unable to express something as nuanced as ambivalence,” they stated.