Wednesday, December 24, 2008

T Dog's Grab Bag - The Christmas Edition

The last bag before Christmas - unfortunately, it contains some not-so-groovy items:

- Majel Barrett Roddenberry, who was a part of Star Trek as much as her husband Gene, died last week at the age of 79. Barrett appeared in all five Star Trek shows and did voiceover work on Star Trek: The Animated Series and as the voice of the USS Enterprise in most Star Trek movies.

- Midday personality Lisa Greene is out at WCFS-FM (Fresh 105.9.; scroll down.) The CBS-owned radio station cut her for budget reasons, and it leaves just two personalities at the beleagured outlet.

On a few lighter notes:

- The Washington Post Co. has called off its purchase of WTVJ-TV in Miami after the FCC stalled on the deal and the current economic climate worsened after the deal was announced last July. The deal also faced opposition from three congressional South Florida members of Congress.

Washington Post already owns ABC affiliate WPLG-TV and planned to buy WTVJ from NBC to create an English-language duopoly - the second such one in the market.

- TV Week has the eight stories that shaped TV in 2008, and not surprisingly, the lead story was the collapse of the pathetic Heroes, whose most recent season is equivalent to the Detroit Lions' 0-15 record (likely soon to be 0-16). You know something's wrong when Tim Kring hires Lions coach Rod Marinelli as the show's head writer.

- One quick Bah Humbug: You know those Lexus ads where you have kids telling us how their back-in-the-day Christmas gifts (Big Wheel, Atari, ponies, etc.) were "the best presents ever" and then flash to the present day as adults and say the exact same thing - about a Lexus?

Oh, spare me. Whoever wrote this unimaginable crap should also write for the Lions' PR department.

Let's hope Lexus doesn't go to Washington begging for a bailout. Based on these dumb commercials, it's just another reason to get a DVR. Now that makes a better Christmas gift than a stupid Lexus (and you don't have to look at some dumb kid bragging about great his Big Wheel was. And who gives cars as Christmas presents in this fragile economy when people aren't buying them? Get real.)

The T Dog Media Blog is off for the Christmas Weekend, but will resume Monday with the latest happenings in television, radio, media, and more - not to mention the annual Top 10 list of the best and the worst in media of 2008. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy Kwanzaa!

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