Friday, January 28, 2011

Media Notes

NBC News has signed former Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell to be a political analyst, heading into the 2012 campaign.  It's a great move.  Rendell has what I call "the gift."  The man can talk.

Has Oprah Winfrey ever met a camera she didn't like?

Every year, we treat the State of the Union address like it's a huge event.  The speech is usually forgotten about two days later.

The "Jay Cutler" talk continues.  Can we please move on to something else?

The Weather Channel is changing its prime time line up beginning next week.  We'll still see the same lame documentaries, but they promise live updates on the top and bottom of the hours, plus "Local on the 8's."  I'd love to see the weather, without someone predicting the end of the world.

Note to MSNBC:  Can we get a little news on weekends instead of the steady stream of prison shows?  All that "behind bars" stuff is mind numbingly monotonous.  It all looks the same.

It's been four days without Keith Olbermann.  The colors are brighter.  The air smells sweeter.

ESPN and ESPN News must have fifty anchors, and they all seem the same to me.  They're not bad, but there's no stand out talent in the bunch.

ESPN has signed Hannah Storm to a new contract, and I think that's a great move.  CBS should have kept her.

I produced Newswatch at 16 Noon on Wednesday, and I scheduled weather hits at the beginning and end of the broadcast.  That was in addition to the three minute weather segment in its normal slot.  At the end of the broadcast, there was a lot of self second guessing.  As I was preparing the line up, I saw that many schools had called in early dismissals.   The radar was looking increasingly colorful.  The Turnpike Commission had cut the speed limit in the Lehigh Valley.  Big east coast cities were going to get smacked again.  As far as northeastern and central Pennsylvania was concerned, the storm was beginning to fizzle out.  I wondered if my decision to go heavy on weather was the right one.  I'm still not sure, but management was okay with the way I stacked the broadcast.

Comcast now runs NBC Universal.  One of Comcast's first acts was to remove the peacock from the corporate logo.  Big mistake.  The bird is part of broadcasting history.  The peacock will still appear on cable and broadcast.