Missing the Boat

Are we watching the final dirt being thrown onto Network news as we know it? Much was said over the weekend over the fact that all three broadcast networks were only bringing us one hour of prime time coverage of the conventions over the next two weeks. An odd decision given the fact that we are at the tail end of summer and the new seasons are weeks away from starting, so it is not as though they were positioning quality programming over the conventions. It's a choice I don't get, but that isn't my beef here today.

Last night I realized that network news has thrown in the towel to it's cable counterparts in earnest. I don't care if you are Republican, Democrat or Independent the fact of the matter is the Kennedy family is a part of our country's political fabric and Ted Kennedy's diagnosis of a brain tumor earlier this year made his appearance at last night's convention newsworthy. It made it worth 'breaking into regular schedule programming' which none of the networks did. Now, not to be morbid, but there is a better than average chance that this moment may have been Kennedy's last at a convention and after 48 years in Congress, he deserved the respect of the networks to recognize the moment in American political history. They missed, and they missed badly. Pundits will talk at nausea over the next two weeks about what each convention's 'infomercial' did or didn't do. Perhaps a critical eye and a couple of those breaths should be put towards how we are feeding the country information. Not all of America gets there news from cable and certainly there is an entire generation that will not be watching CNN.com 'stream' the speeches.

So to CBS, ABC, FOX and NBC, you missed the boat on this one. At a point in time when you should be asserting your relevance and understanding around historic moments in the broader scheme of news you chose to ride the bench, what a loss for those who were watching repeats of Two and a Half Men, Samantha Who, Prison Break or America's Toughest Jobs over on NBC respectively last night.

The Real Deal - Stephanie Tubbs Jones

I am not from Cleveland. Before February of this year I didn't know anything about Stephanie Tubbs Jones and her zany decorative glasses. Among the many things I learned during this historic primary season was this...

If all of America believed in our political process and voraciously got behind a candidate like she supported and advocated on behalf of Hillary Clinton, what an amazing country we would be. I highly doubt if we as a country had her enthusiasm for our country's laws and governance Congress would have the low approval rating it has and would have likely passed a spending bill over the last year.

Stephanie Tubbs Jones died today, suddenly and without warning. A piece of the core that burns the fire of this political process has been snuffed. That saddens me greatly as we are on the verge of the VP picks and conventions. I often thought over the primary process, if I saw the woman she supported Hillary would be unstoppable. What I failed to realize at the time was that the person who was unstoppable and larger than life was Stephanie Tubbs Jones. A woman who embodied the love of her life and country she was a rare beacon of purity defining what loyalty should look like in its best sense.

I write about her today because I am saddened by her passing. I write about her today because without TV and that 24 hour news cycle I often rail against I would not have known who she was in our political landscape and in the voices of our politics. I am forever grateful and may we do her proud this November.

Battle of the Network Stars

If you were born after 1980 and haven't spent quality time watching TV Land this next post will make absolutely no sense. For those of us who were a part of the Pepperdine phenomena I ask you what ever happened to the glory that was Battle of the Network Stars. The Olympics and my never ending sense of nostalgia made me wonder about this today. I vividly remember every August when it would come on ABC, with Howard Cosell providing commentary and high levels of un-PC rhetoric about the women participating. Think of it, actors from all your favorite shows competing in various athletic competitions that mirror (and yes I use that term lightly) Olympic sport. Seriously though, for us Gen-Xers, the anticipation of the obstacle course or who would anchor the tug-o-war at the end was must see TV. My brother, sister and I would pop the Jiffy Pop and pick a network to route for and off we went to the basement for an evening of psuedosport. It was a ritual no different than watching the Wizard of Oz annually or Charlie Brown's Christmas special.

In this age of cynicism, reality TV and cable shows the networks are struggling to merely hold on, let alone bask in nostalgia. But for a moment in the bright light that is Michael Phelps Olympic record I remember a time when shows were on long enough to become attached to the actors who played the characters we loved. A time when a show like Battle of the Network Stars would draw families in around a television, not mocking as it did when they briefly tried to revive the concept. Oh well, there's always the Amazing Race.

The Weather

OK, briefly, I am not a woman who plans her outfits out the night before and I certainly only enter the day with the goal that my daughter isn't caught in the wrong clothing for the day. So for this I simply require a weather report. I don't need much, just what the 24 hour forecast is. I rely on network broadcast TV for this because logging in during the morning scurry that I call a routine to get us both ready and out the door is a hassle. At least with the TV I can be multitasking. This morning was particularly frustrating because in the height of scurry the Today Show started. And because NBC is unilaterally Beijing focused at the moment, my weather was delayed by nearly 20 minutes with recap of swimming and gymnastics from the night before. On a side note, if not for two volleyball players hugging before a match, you would hardly know that a war had broken out between Georgia and Russia from NBC morning News. But I digress - Finally Al Roker makes an appearance only to quite pathetically further push Olympic sponsors by speaking to the 'crowd' he found quite conveniently people from NBC parent company GE and United Airlines, the USA official carrier for the Olympics. Needless to say after all this irritating product placement I did finally find out it is going to be a lovely day outside and that I may need to simply start logging in as my coffee brews and I apply makeup in the morning to get my weather. Today's process is WAY too belabored.

The Olympics

I realize that there is still 3 days until the opening ceremonies of the Summer Olympics so there isn't anything to review. I will however preview it from my vantage point right now because I will not likely be watching with any enthusiasm. Reason being, I miss Wide World of Sports and ABC coverage of the games. What ABC implicitly understood and NBC has destroyed in recent Olympic coverage is that the drama and compelling nature of the games is to live it in the moment. Yes, that means sometimes your coverage will miss - either in not capturing a compelling moment from the games or in covering an anticlimatic moment. However, we as the viewer, just like the producers don't know with certainty where those moments will come from. Like all sports you can hedge you bets and program for what is anticpated by the viewing audience and then let the chips fall where they may.

However, Dick Ebersol and the team over at NBC Sports has decided it knows best when it comes to what the viewer should/wants to see (think "The Truman Show" with Jim Carrey). I can not remember the last time I watched an Olympics that didn't feel manufactured and produced. I dare you over the next two weeks to tune into NBC in primetime and find an 8-11PM block that doesn't edit and jump around competitions as though my father had control of the remote on a Sunday afternoon. Today's Olympics is filled with pretaped 'profile stories' for atheletes, highlights of competitions (including the trials it took for them to get to the Games). The problem with this 'coverage' is that it leaves little time for that pesky thing called live coverage. I have forgotten the percentage of live coverage the last Games gave us, but it was paltry in comparison to the Olympic coverage of the 90s.

I realize the games are competiting in a different TV world and that in the age of doping, the curtain has been pulled back and replaced with guarded skepticism about atheltes making history. However, I remember people gathering for the real drama the 1980 gold medal USA hockey team created against the Russians. I remember Greg Luganis hitting his head on the platform and wondering if he would continue to compete. The great moments in Olympic history are those no one saw coming. When you overthink the coverage and therefore over produce it for TV you lose what the Games is at its core suppose to represent - The wonder of sport excelling to the greatest of its heights. That's must see TV.

Mad Men

So I have completely watched all of season 1 and episode 1 of season 2. Here's what I think of the show that is all the summer rage...

I think it is an interesting series that pulls no punches. What I like about it is the fact that it is ruthless and unapologetic. In that vein it reminds me of Homicide (that under appreciated, Baltimore step child of Law and Order). The acting is quite superb and some of the plot lines are interesting. For those who don't know, Mad Men is a take on the early 60's Advertising executives on Madison Ave. (self named "Mad Men"). The accuracy of the period from the constant smoking to the armour-esque undergarments for the women make the show a tasty visual delight. When you scratch past the surface of the facade that the characters are creating for their lives, there is a clear view of a generation caught within the middle of a society shift with some characters clearly taking sides and others playing both sides. Some of the dialogue is acerbic and brilliant in its exchange. A dress down by the 'head secretary' and the new girl comes to mind. But ultimately the show revolves around the lead character of Don Draper, a man who reinvented himself and is now straddling the line of status quo and change. He built an entire world that his wife is drowning in and at least at the outset of season 2 it appears will be every man for themselves.

I am not certain I like Mad Men, so much as I am intrigued by the world they inhabit. Thus far the show has erred on the side of savvy with it's plot twists (save for an unrealistic birth). So I encourage all in the dog days of summer to spend a little time with Mad Men, if for no other reason - LOST and 24 aren't coming back until January!