T Dog's Think Tank: Rewarding failure

"I failed at doing the CBS Evening News. Now ABC is going to reward me with a big contract for doing a talk show no one will watch. Suckers!! "


On Monday, Katie Couric joined The Walt Disney Company as a syndicated talk show host in what has to be the worst syndicated deal ever. The multi-year, multi-platform deal also has Couric as a regular contributor to ABC News, where she'll appear on the network's news platforms.

Yes, this is the same Katie Couric who flopped as an anchor for the storied CBS Evening News, which was in last place during the duration of her run. She departed the show on May 19.

And guess who's on board as executive producer of Couric's new show? None other than former NBC exec Jeff Zucker, who nearly brought the network down with his boneheaded decisions.

It's just another example of how the media business rewards failure. But don't be surprised - we Chicagoans are used to it - the Cubs and Bears reward failure all the time. It explains why Jay Cutler, Lovie Smith, and that Marmol pitcher on the Cubs still have jobs (it also explains why current WFLD news director Carol Fowler keeps getting work.)

Yeah, yeah, I know - Couric and Zucker worked together at NBC's successful Today Show back in the 1990's. But this is a "what you have done for us lately" business. Since both left Today, Couric and Zucker haven't really done anything worth noting.

No point investing in fresh new talent when you can grab today's has-beens, thrust them in front of and behind the camera, and call this bullshit a success with a 1.0 rating. Even local stations aren't buying this game anymore, as local station GMs are having doubts on whether Couric can succeed (see Jane Pauley's venture into talk show hell a few years ago.) If viewers didn't want to see Couric anchor the news, why would they want to see her host a talk show (though admittedly, her talker would likely be in the vein of Oprah, and viewers would like to see Couric more in that type of role.)

Even more stupefying is how this deal came about.

ABC announced it has cleared Couric at 3 p.m. time slot on all eight of its owned stations, including WLS-TV in Chicago, where it would be replacing long-time ratings winners Inside Edition and Jeopardy! (to see the full list of programs the ABC-owned stations are airing at 3 and 4 p.m., click here.) But at the same time, the network announced it was giving the affiliates the time slot back to program - and hoping ABC affiliates pick up Couric.

Say what?

Yep, ABC is giving the 3 p.m./2 p.m. Central time slot so the affiliates can program themselves. But there's no doubt ABC's syndication division will pitch their own affiliates first before going to NBC and CBS stations. Good grief, wouldn't it be easier to put Couric's talk show on the network at 3 p.m. (ET) instead?

Simple. ABC and Couric thinks it can make more money going the syndication route rather can clearing it for free on their own network.

There was actually something on the books back in the day that would actually prevented all of this. Called the Financial Interest and Syndication Rules (or fin-syn for short), the rules kicked the networks out of the syndication business, prevented them from owning programming in prime-time (existing programming was grandfathered), and kept them from acquiring or merging with major studios. Created in 1970, the rules were were done in 25 years later by the rise of Fox, cable, satellite TV, and the Internet. And with those rules gone, we see lots and lots of vertical integration, which has stifled creativity and unleveled the playing field.

But the real loser in all of this is the longtime soap General Hospital.

The 48-year soap could be axed if the replacements for the already canceled All My Children and One Life to Live bomb in the ratings.

ABC said it would "continue to support" GH, but we all know this is a cock-and-bull story. The reason ABC canceled the two other soaps were because of high production costs and declining ratings (or so they say.) Even with lower ratings, the  two lifestyle shows - The Chew and The Revolution - would be cheaper to produce than soap operas and could make a profit - even with lower ratings because of lower production costs. And even if one or both of the series fail, ABC could easily come up with new programs in the lifestyle genre to replace them - General Hospital getting even one of those spots isn't guaranteed.

And General Hospital's recent ratings performance doesn't help its cause either. Neither does the decision not to renew the contract of actress Vanessa Marcil, who returned to the series last year after stints in prime-time shows including Beverly Hills 90210 and Las Vegas.

So rewarding failure is commonplace in media, in sports, in life. If Katie Couric fails at this new venture (or more likely, her show loses a boatload of money five years from now), look for ABC to replace her with former Will & Grace co-star Megan Mullally, whose talk show expired after only a few months in 2006. If it were up to these fools, she would probably get another shot. And why not? Former NBC exec Ben "Party All The Time" Silverman would be producing.

T Dog's Think Tank: Did Journalists cross the line? Nope, they annihilated it

Walter E. Smithe Furniture recently released a two-minute commercial honoring the 22-year legacy of Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley. Among those who appeared in the ad were local celebrities like George Wendt, Eric Ferguson from WTMX's Eric & Kathy, fictional Alderman Ed Bus (from the 53rd Ward), and a few other Chicago dignitaries.

Oh, and there were some local news anchors from three TV stations.

In fact, CBS-owned WBBM-TV's Bill Kurtis and Walter Jacobson - who both recently returned to anchoring the station's 6 pm newscast - congratulated Daley on his tenure - right from the newsroom.

Among other news people who appeared in the ad include NBC-owned WMAQ's Allison Rosati and Natalie Martinez, and Fox-owned WFLD's Bob Sirott. Also appearing was WMAQ GM Larry Wert. Some of the short interviews were shot at a party at the Paris Club thrown by Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises, Inc. on April 14 honoring Daley, and the interviews were complied into the two-minute video.

Guess the Smithe brothers couldn't find time to squeeze in news anchor Tom Tucker from Family Guy.

The matter was brought up last week in Robert Feder's blog in Time Out Chicago, who questioned why the journalists appeared in the ad, their fawning over Daley, and whether or not their appearance violated journalism ethics. Shortly thereafter, Walter E. Smithe edited the WBBM and WFLD journalists out of the ad on their website, but the full two-minute ad was still available on YouTube as of this writing.

Then it was learned that WBBM officials did not grant Smithe permission to use their personnel in the video, leading the furniture chain's sales and marketing chief (Tim Smithe) to apologize for doing so.

The video from Smithe was nauseating and painful to watch to say the least. You need to grab a barf bag when you watch - just be careful not to vomit all other the new furniture you bought from there. While creative advertising is a must in an era where you can skip over any spot with a DVR, The Smithes try way too hard. What is attended to be creative instead turns out to be annoying.

For the record, Smithe has only one store in Chicago proper - in the city's affluent Lincoln Park neighborhood. In fact, Smithe has no stores in Chicago's Southland - not even in just-as-affluent Flossmoor or Olympia Fields - let alone the South Side, sans for a store in Orland Park. Daley must've given Smithe some um... favors (tax breaks!) for that one Chicago store. Why else would the Smithes would be praising him?

But the big thing here is the journalists inclusion in the ads.

It's kind of jarring to see them kissing up to Daley - kind of off-putting to say the least - especially when the guy hasn't exactly been friendly to the media. I pointed this out in a Think Tank from April 13, 2008 (Can you smell what the Mayor is Cookin?) Daley ripped into Chicago's two major newspapers for criticizing his idea of moving the Children's museum from Navy Pier to Grant Park.

Not once has Daley or his administration said anything about the dangers of media consolidation or the frat antics at the Tribune Tower. But he did find time to endorse Comcast's (a leader in providing lousy service and raising rates faster than the rate of inflation) 51 percent purchase of NBCUniversal.

Wow, no wonder WMAQ boss Larry Wert was eager to appear in the Smithe video.

Most galling of all was Kurtis and Jacobson taped their congrats to Daley from the news desk - yes, the very place Jacobson has often criticized Daley for his policies in his Perspective. How could WBBM not know what was going on here? Do we now take Jacobson seriously the next time he rips into a politician? The Church of Tisch might as well hire Jim Parsons from The Big Bang Theory or even Carl from Aqua Teen Hunger Force to front those Perspective segments instead.

Not surprisingly, many have filed this in the "who cares" file. Probably because our expectations - not to mention the bar - for local news and for television in general have lowered so much, its practically on the floor. Remember when yours truly slammed the writers of The Simpsons for changing the backstory of the series of one episode? They still have jobs and The Simpsons still isn't as funny as it used to be. As I pointed out, TV viewers watch the tube passively these days, not actively. They could care less about the quality of what's on the screen as long as they're entertained (see Celebrity Apprentice and Jersey Shore.) Quality television? Quality writing? Quality journalism? That's about as outdated as the Compact Disc. Remember the slogan "Quality is Job #1"? In the television business, it's now #16.

Many - especially younger viewers - are not surprised because they already know local news is a joke for the most part. News execs can care less about attracting the next generation of news viewers (after all, The Church of Tisch did rehire Kurtis and Jacobson.) At 9 p.m., young viewers go to cable, not WGN and certainly not WFLD. At 10 p.m., they either go to Conan or The Daily Show on cable, not The 10 O'clock News. They know local news is a sham with the daily respite of shootings, stabbings, car crashes, killer garage doors, killer clowns, spaceships, government spaceships, and government corruption - some of which created by Daley's own administration. Maybe this is a reason why these anchors appearing in a Daley tribute ad isn't a big deal - many of them don't even vote in city elections.

But aside from all that, it was time to party. At the end of the video, all the gang at the party gather around Daley and sing Our Kind Of Town.

But the journalists have to return to the newsroom to report on some breaking news: aliens who resemble  Glee's Jane Lynch are about to land their spaceship in Dolton, and they're ready to attack: armed with at least a million megaphones, they have a humongous plan to harm people's eardrums.

Bill and Walter have dibs on that story.

T Dog’s Think Tank: Fox Chicago News: Major Fail.

Your official mascot for Fox Chicago News.


A little over two weeks ago, yours truly was channel surfing on the night the earthquake and subsequent tsunami hit in Japan and landed on Fox-owned WFLD-TV around 9:02 p.m. or so. While almost every news organization in the world led off with the disaster in the far eastern country, what did Fox News Chicago lead off with?

The NFL lockout, which began the same day.

You have GOT to be kidding me - a conflict between greedy owners and players in a sport that rakes in millions of dollars a year takes precedent over TWO catastrophic events that killed thousands of people in Japan and left the country in peril?

Somebody at WFLD needs to have their ass kicked. Seriously.

For the last 24 years, WFLD’s news operation has been treated like a joke in Chicago media circles, and moronic decisions like these is the reason they still are. It's no surprise the head dork in charge of its news operation is none other than Carol Fowler, who was the genius in deciding to air a video of former WMAQ-TV reporter Amy Jacobson coming out of suspected murderer Craig Stebic’s house back in 2007 while she was news director at CBS-owned WBBM-TV – who was one of the many hires of Joe Ahern at The Church of Tisch – yes, she was the one who clubbed you over the head with a collection basket if you didn’t make a "voluntary financial contribution" for Ahern’s lunch. Since she’s taken over WFLD, many longtime veterans of the station – including Jack Conaty and Lilia Chacon – were shown the doors.

And the incompetence is showing in the ratings – WFLD trails rival WGN’s newscasts and during one night in the February sweeps, WFLD’s newscast from 9:30 p.m.-9:45 p.m. was even beaten by a Seinfeld repeat on its WPWR sister station, which is also struggling (and they even couldn't keep him - Seinfeld recently defected to the better-marketed and better-managed WCIU.) While you can make the excuse the 9 p.m. hour (10 p.m. ET) is tough for every broadcaster right now due to the success of cable programs in the time period (notably MTV’s Jersey Shore) and heavy DVR use, WFLD’s ratings should be better, or at least competitive with WGN's.

On Chicagoland Radio and Media's message board this past week, a poster mentioned the head honchos at Fox Television Stations (who oversees all the Fox O&Os and ten Fox-owned My Network TV stations in the group) are not pleased with the situation at WFLD and are demanding changes. One thing you can forget is a news expansion, which was targeting 5 p.m. weekdays and weekend mornings. Among all of the Fox O&Os who run newscasts at either 9 p.m. or 10 p.m., WFLD’s is the lowest-rated, and the two stations in the Fox duopoly are the weakest performers in the entire group of 27 stations, though a case can also be made for New York’s WWOR-TV.And the arrival of Mike Renda from sister station WTXF in Philadelphia haven't helped matters; if fact, the ratings situation has only worsened.

Bringing back Bob Sirott to pair with Robin Robinson at 9 p.m. hasn’t worked, and the longer, in-depth segments aren’t getting the job done. For example, bringing Pro Football Weekly’s Hub Arkish to talk to sports anchor Lou Canellis about the lockout was not necessary (anytime the unlikable Arkish appears on radio or TV is enough to turn the dial) Overall, WFLD’s newscasts are completely the worst, with ambush-like interviews and embarassing gaffes, including a Cook County Judge who sued the station for defaming him, claiming he was home on a weekday afternoon while he should have been at work. Only problem is, the footage WFLD showed wasn't even his house. Not surprisingly, mush-for-brains Fowler was named in the suit.

As for the pairing of Corey McPherrin and Anna Davalantes for the station’s Good Day Chicago morning show... well, you know your morning show is bombing when it finishes behind CBS This Morning, The Early Show, or whatever program The Church of Tisch is airing these days at 7 a.m. You have to ask what once-rising star Ms. Davalantes was thinking when she took a job with this failing news organization. It reminds yours truly of Buffy The Vampire Slayer moving from The WB to UPN in 2001 – the show fell right off the buzz meters when it did.

As for the rest of the station, WFLD’s overall ratings – and those of sister station WPWR  - are weak with the duopoly getting clobbered by other stations in the market, including WCIU. Despite airing some top-notch syndicated fare (notably Dr. Oz and repeats of The Simpsons and The Office), viewers continue to stay away in droves. This fall, WFLD has the rights to the new Anderson Cooper talk show and reruns of The Big Bang Theory, but it remains to be seen if those programs will attract an audience to the Fox duopoly.WPWR usually is seen as Chicago television's version of Siberia as I've noted before; just look at the ratings for Everybody Loves Raymond, which hasn't been a success for WPWR or any of the My Net stations since they took the off-net sitcom from five Tribune stations in 2008.

The state of WFLD and WPWR reminds yours truly of the woes the old WGBO-TV faced back in the day. The not so "Super 66" was your home for endless reruns of Knight Rider, Mayberry RFD, and The Rifleman, and plenty of fourth-rate first-run syndicated programming, infomercials, and lousy movies -  all of which produced a wonderful 2 share. In the mid-1980's, Milt Grant, the owner of then-English-language independent ovespent on programming nobody wanted to see, and went into Chapter 11 bankruptcy shortly thereafter. By 1989, WGBO (and Grant's other stations in Philadelphia and Miami) went into receivership and wound up being owned by a bunch of creditors calling themselves Combined Broadcasting, who put very little money in marketing WGBO - similar to what Fox is doing now with its Chicago duopoly. Combined finally unloaded WGBO to Univision in 1994.

Recently, WLNE-TV in New Bedford, Mass. - one of ABC's weakest-rated affiliates - went into receivership and was won at auction by Citadel Communications (no relation to the radio company of the same name.) Like WFLD in Chicago, WLNE's newscasts have been treated as a joke for decades given its distant third (or sometimes fourth) place standing in the Providence market. WLNE recently made headlines for airing infomercials instead of its local newscast at 7 p.m., including one for the Genie Bra.

Apparently, the local Fox duopoly won't go into receivership anytime soon. But I'll tell you one thing - the clueless dorks running both stations have until June to get their act together, or they're history. Then again, Fox did renew perennial ratings-loser Fringe for another season, so who knows? In the meantime, WFLD should adapt Twitter’s FailWhale as a station logo – after all, their newscasts and the duopoly overall are a major fail.

Maybe WFLD should take the lead from WLNE and air bra infomercials at 9 p.m. every night instead. Given the "boob" who run the station's news operation, even a paid program featuring women showing off their curves would be better than watching another Fox Chicago newscast.

T Dog’s Think Tank: Surviving Sheen

There are many reasons why shows get canceled or end their runs: the star dies or retires, declining ratings, getting too expensive to produce, etc.

But because of a rant against his boss?  That’s a new one to me!

As you’ve heard by now, CBS and Warner Bros. has suspended production on Two And A Half Men again – this time for the reminder of the season – due to star Charlie Sheen ripping into producer and creator Chuck Lorre, calling him every nasty name in the book and then some, including an anti-Semitic slur.

Sheen’s antics even makes White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen tame by comparison.

Two And A Half Men shut down production for weeks earlier this season after Sheen’s partying and alleged cocaine use and his subsequent trip to rehab.

On Thursday, Sheen went on Alex Jones’ radio show and ripped on Lorre, using rather disturbing quotes I won’t use here. After learning his series was canceled for the rest of the season, he continued his rant on Lorre, calling him a “maggot”, "earthworm", and a "clown" and wished him “nothing but pain”.

Given the circumstances, Men might not continue after this season, and if it does, the show definitely won’t air past 2012, when the show’s contract is up with CBS.

At the TCA press gathering in Pasadena last month, CBS executives were nonchalant when they responded to Sheen’s partying, saying it doesn’t bother them as long as it didn’t effect his performance and he showed up for work. But we all know the bad behavior would eventually catch up to him on the set.

Back in 1978, One Day At A Time co-star Mackenzie Phillips was busted for public drunkenness and cocaine possession. A year later, Phillips’ cocaine addiction caught up with her on the set.  She started forgetting lines and her appearance on-camera was horrid. She was fired from the show in 1980, but returned as “a special guest star” for the start of the show’s seventh season. But Phillips went back to her addiction and was fired from the show again in 1983 after collapsing on the set and refusing to take a urine test.

So how did the writers respond to her abuse? Her character on the show was written out of the series by walking out her family and disappearing (how’s that for revenge?) Phillips made news over a year ago with her admission of an incestural relationship with her father (John Phillips of The Mamas and Papas fame) on The Oprah Winfrey Show, promoting her "memoirs" no less, and was busted in 2008 for drug possession en route to a One Day At A Time reunion.

Gotta love those family values.

It would be much tougher to fire Charlie Sheen for a number of reasons as the series evolves around him almost every episode, and shooting without Sheen is a risk CBS and Warner do not want to take. When Cindy Williams quit Laverne & Shirley in 1982 over issues she had with Paramount related to her pregnancy, Penny Marshall was forced to carry the show alone. As a result, ratings dropped (they were already declining for three straight seasons) and ABC unceremoniously canceled the series with the final episode airing on May 10, 1983. 

It also helps to point out the Two And A Half Men has made a lot of money for TimeWarner throughout its CBS run – not to mention DVDs, merchandise, sales of syndicated repeats to local TV stations and FX, and others internationally.

And as for those syndicated repeats, Tribune and Sinclair Broadcasting plopped down a lot of money to secure second-cycle rights to Men, beginning in September 2014. If the series ends now, the licensing deal ends in December 2013 (39 weeks early.) On the other hand, local stations wouldn’t have to pay for any additional episodes produced. But that isn’t great news for Warner Bros., which would miss out on millions of dollars of extra syndication revenue.

So now CBS and Warner Bros. are being tested by Sheen, whose lunatic-like behavior is jeopardizing the show’s bottom line. The real question is, how far will Sheen go before he realizes his idiotic actions and his non-stop  motormouth effects more than he imagines – like the possibility of 300 people – most who only earn a fraction of what Sheen makes - losing their jobs because of this asshole?

Interesting note here -  Mackenzie Phillips didn’t put the cast and crew of One Day At A Time out of work – only herself. Twice. How in the world Charlie Sheen could manage to sink even below that benchmark?

T Dog's Think Tank: The dinosaurs roar tonight

Your symbol of the Chicago Tribune. We do newspapers right!  Want fries with that?

The only similarities between John Kass and yours truly is we are native South Siders and White Sox fans.

That's where it stops, believe me.

Once again, a Big Media cronie proves how much he or she is out of touch with the realities of today's media business.

On Wednesday, the longtime columnist of the Chicago Tribune defended the paper he works for and rips into those who constantly been criticizing the paper, including the New York Times, bloggers, and other longtime critics, while his idiot readers praise him in the comments section by trying to make this a partisan political issue (those late-night poker parties? Yeah, it's Obama's fault. And in true Jay Mariotti fashion, he pulled down the comments section because it provided another point of **ahem** view different from his... what a dick move.)

While yours truly gives Kass props on defending journalists hard work ethics at the struggling paper, he completely misses the point when he talks about the corporate culture at the Tribune. His article basically claims what goes on at the Tribune Tower is none of our business. But when he talks about how the paper has a strong investigate unit and how politicians are evil and keep their journalists from accessing documents, it makes want to hurl given the shenanigans going on at Tribune Tower.

And of course,  he doesn't mention how the purchase of the Tribune by Sam Zell was found to be fraudulent by unsecured creditors, heaping on $8 billion of debt in debt, while only mentioning the unethical frat antics at Tribune Tower in passing. He also conveniently didn't mention the thousands of employees who were laid off since Zell took over the paper.

What a hypocrite. The article comes off as smug, self-serving, and elitist, referring to bloggers as people in "their mommy's basements."

Um, excuse me?

Well, it didn't take long for the blogosphere to strike back. One blogger for ChicagoNow (which is a network of blogs owned by - you guessed it, the Tribune!) asks "Dear John Kass... Where is the Love?" In it, Julie DiCaro defends bloggers, pointing out not all of them blog from the place you go when you hear tornado sirens, and in fact, writes from an office mind you. She also asks when was the last time Kass actually broke a story (1976, perhaps?)

Meanwhile, Kass talks about great the paper is, mentioning how the Tribune's reporters are out late at night in dangerous neighborhoods looking for witnesses after murders are committed. Since Tribune loves to pay small wages while their corrupted execs earn millions, you wonder if those reporters are better off working in safer conditions for the same pay at Wal-Mart.

And while it kinds of pains yours truly to say this, but the New York Times is miles ahead of what the Tribune offers in print and online. While the Times offers award-winning journalism, the Tribune website has an idiotic Sirens and Blotter Blog, which seems to be written from the Chicago Tribune's basement. Even worse, their Breaking Sports Blog is a joke -  while checking to see who won the Blackhawks-Canucks game around 11 p.m Wednesday night, the latest item regarding the game was posted around 9 p.m. when the game was still in the second period. But at least it kept us updated on the status of some moron running out onto a field during a Rangers-Yankees playoff game. Breaking sports news, indeed.

And what has the Tribune done to the legacy of publisher Colonel Robert McCormick? The paper turned him into a cartoon character with a silly hat, not unlike what KFC did with Colonel Sanders in the late '90's. Good grief, what's next? Colonel Tribune opening up a chain of fast-food restaurants? Next time you visit Colonel Tribune's twitter page, make sure you click the link to get a coupon for the eight-bucket special with free biscuits and mashed potatoes.

As for Kass, yours truly has never really read his column, and won't begin now - it belongs on the Chicago Tribune columnist shitpile, along with Mary Schmich, Steve Rosenbloom, David Hough, and Dennis Byrne. Kass is just another out-of-touch dinosaur working in a business that desperately needs new leadership. Kass needs to stick to politics or ripping on Daley or whatever so his columns can remain uninteresting.

And by the way... when you leave the letter K off the word Kass, what word do you have?... yep, that's exactly what he is.

T Dog's Think Tank: Unnecessary press conference patrol

Yours truly is pleading to the powers that be - enough with the press conferences. 

This past week saw the most stupid, contrived, and ridiculous publicity stunts known to man. It reminded yours truly of those phony press conferences the WWE used to have back in the day with Randy "Macho Man" Savage and the Ultimate Warrior nearly coming to blows with Vince McMahon smiling in the background.

On Monday August 30, ABC held a press conference regarding the announcement of this upcoming participants on this fall's Dancing With The Stars during an episode of Bachelor Pad - a reality show that's a complete waste of airspace, along with the two idiot shows it spun off from.

Among the celebs announced include David Hasslehoff, Jennifer Grey, Kyle Massey, Kurt Warner, Bristol Palin, and The Situation from Jersey Shore (what, were you expecting George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Halle Berry, and Denzel Washington?)

One of the problems with this press conference (which was actually real) was it was anticlimactic. There were a lot of leaks over the last few weeks over who would complete with E!, Entertainment Weekly, TV Guide, and  Access: Hollywood basically nailing most, if not all, of the celebrities participating the few weeks beforehand- even hosts Tom Beregron and Brooke Burke acknowledged it. Meanwhile, ratings for Bachelor Pad didn't get a ratings boost, since most people who wanted to know knew who was competing anyway thanks to the leaks or went online and found out (what, you think anyone would sit through crap like Bachelor Pad?) ABC should have done what they did for last fall's cycle and just put out a simple press release.

But this publicity stunt didn't even compare to the one held last Thursday here in Chicago.

During this "press conference" at Columbus Park in the Austin neighborhood, Chicago gang leaders complained about being targeted by police and tricked into a secret meeting by Chicago Police - all part of a crackdown on gang violence in the city, which has been a hot topic and dominated news headlines all summer.

As you can tell, the press conference was disorganized from the get go and lacked any focus. For one thing, some of the leaders were wearing gang clothing - what, have they ever heard of a suit and tie? Second, they weren't able to handle the press and lacked total professionalism. Unfortunately, their message regarding unemployment on Chicago's West Side was lost as the crew on stage looked like buffoons. What the gang leaders should have done was to hire some public relations personnel so they can be coached on how to get their message out and act like professionals.

Instead, this press conference wasn't taken seriously. In fact, it was so bizarre that those who attended wondered if The Situation and Snooki were going to show up- it wouldn't been surprising. Even those clowns and the rest of the cast of Jersey Shore are more credible than this bunch (despite their own dizzying press conference at Television Critics Association Press Tour last month.)

While there were some great panels at this year's Comic-Con and press conferences at TCA, these two (or three if you count Jersey Shore's appearance) embarrassments just goes to show you how ridiculous and contrived some of these "press events" are.

And how worse can it get? On Tuesday, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley announced he was not seeking a seventh term. Given how crazy politics are in this town, don't be surprised if fired Real Housewives of New Jersey cast member and catfight provocateur Danielle Staub holds a press conference to announce she's running for mayor. Even worse, she could actually win.

T Dog's Think Tank: A hiring suggestion for Randy Michaels

Reader discretion is advised. 

I have some hiring advice for Tribune CEO Randy "Court Jester" Michaels directly from The T Dog Media Department....

Hire Seth Everett away from WEPN-AM in New York City (known primarily as ESPN 1050) and from ESPN's Baseball Today podcast.

Why you may ask? Because he is a seasoned, reliable broadcaster. Wait, no... you don't want people like that. Let me put it another way...

This guy is an abrasive jackass, which would certainly fit WGN Radio's criteria of hiring talent these days, which is right up yours' and Kevin "Pig Virus" Methany's alley.

And never mind his sports background. Assholes like him can be bought and sold for the right price, and you can make him talk about anything topic you want.

So why should The Court Jester and Pig Virus consider hiring Everett? Here's an example... on June 11th's Baseball Today podcast, right out of nowhere, Mr. Everett slammed Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen after he got into an argument with Ken Williams, the team GM over the drafting of Guillen's son and the elder Guillen offering his son $50,000 not to play for the team (after all, it is the Chicago way. Click here to listen and speed to about 11:05 to listen.)

Alright, Ozzie is.. well a bit much - he would fit in with the political crowd in Chicago, that's for sure.  But the garbage Everett is spewing is so hypocritical.

This idiot calls out Guillen for using profanity during post-game interviews... but yet, he admits to watching Family Guy, a program which contains such language (albeit bleeped) and rather questionable content. In fact, the Parents Television Council has a file so large on this show, it's practically a phone book (if you've read this blog for the past four years, then you know where I stand on the PTC.)

And he has the nerve to call out Ozzie for profanity and unprofessionalism? Good grief. Take a look at who the Worldwide Leader in Bullshit employs as a college basketball analyst - yes, that wonderful angel Bobby Knight, who spent half of his career tossing chairs across basketball courts.

And here's another gem: after a pitcher from an American League team recently injured himself running the bases at a National League ballpark during interleague play, he had the nerve to blame interleague play for the fiasco. I guess to him, pitchers rarely have injuries, right? According to his logic, robots should go out to the mound and throw no-hitters instead.

And a few days ago on ESPN's Baseball Today while discussing (or ranting) about the firing of the Florida Marlins manager, Everett said he wouldn't call for any major league manager to be fired- while he has called for Ozzie Guillen's firing on numerous occasions.

While yours truly won't defend Ozzie, Everett's constant attacks on Major League Baseball players and personnel is unwarranted, unfair, and totally hypocritical. This person is just as bad as Jay Mariotti - and some of the reasons why sports talk radio is unlistenable is because the majority of the hosts are retards and Seth Everett is no exception. His voice is so annoying, it makes you want to stick your head in the toilet and vomit.

But it's not the attack on Guillen that gets your truly. No, it's the fact that he would attack someone on the air about the person's professionalism when his own comes into question. And Everett sounds like a member of the despised PTC - when he says his favorite show is Family Guy. This moron sounds like one of those hot-air windbags WGN Radio is trying to hire.

Remember, this is a guy who replaced Peter Pascarelli as co-host of Baseball Today - a job Pascarelli was fired from after he made a crack about MLB Commissioner Bud Selig's statue in front of Miller Park in Milwaukee and birds from all over Wisconsin dropping off some... um, substances on the top of the statue's head. And when the gig became available, Everett took a two month vacation. In other words, he wanted to start the job when he wanted to. Wow, I wish I could've gotten a vacation when I started my new job!

And this trash can also worked in the Major League Baseball Commissioner's office for eight years - I guess ESPN won't ever be worried about Everett running off pigeon jokes.

And his "expertise" on baseball isn't that great either if you listen to the podcast along with Eric Karabell, who comes off as a whiny little prick who mentions the Phillies are his favorite team on every single podcast (and who says The Worldwide Leader in Bullshit has no East Coast bias?) But of course, if you want to work in sports talk radio, a knowledge of the subject isn't really a prerequisite - just acting like an jackass gets you right in the door. Just ask Tony Kornhiser from Pardon the Interruption, who is another self-absorbed jackass at the Worldwide Leader In Bullshit. And don't get yours truly started on Mike & Mike, the weekday morning train-wreck of a show those two idiots on Baeeball Today keep name dropping on their podcast. What, I want to listen to two more idiots?

Given The Court Jester and Pig Virus are so hell-intent on remaking WGN Radio as a outlet full of moronic windbags, Seth Everett would fit right in with ex-convict Jim "don't drop the soap" Laski and newcomer Mike McConnell from WLW-AM in Cincinnati, a polarizing talk show host who spews about the same amount of garbage as Everett does. All of this while good-natured and relatable personalities like Steve Cochran and Bob Sirott were kicked out the door. And WGN was this close to hiring Bill Cunningham from WLW, another polarizing figure who is shooting pilots for a daytime talk show on Bradley Place titled Willie, or its more appropriate title, Randy's Circus on Bradley Place featuring angry parents of child pageant contestants.

But what do you expect when Big Media is in control? Common sense and taste doesn't matter. Shock value and ratings does. It's the kind of values that Randy Michaels, Sam Zell, Kevin Methany, and ESPN executives thrive on. They hire personalities who are hypocrites who call other people's behavior into question while their own behavior comes into question. Does it make good radio? It makes stupid radio. But stupid people love stupid radio, and sadly, there is a lot of stupid people out there and even stupider executives, and it goes beyond the suites at the Tribune Tower and in Bristol.

And while the Internet has provided a new platform for distribution, ESPN's podcasts break no new ground. Big Media conglomerates like The Walt Disney Co. (owners of ESPN) and Tribune don't invest in innovation - they stifle it by trotting out the same old bullshit you are used to hearing on terrestrial radio. And it will get worse because Big Media is only going to get bigger with Comcast's purchase of NBC, which is all but certain thanks it part to the public's indifference on the matter, stifling creativity and innovation even more.

And this is what you get... Pascarelli no longer being employed at ESPN because his comments about Bud Selig offended no one but Bud Selig - and that's all it mattered to ESPN execs, who canned him anyway and replaced him with someone who would rather criticize Ozzie Guillen's actions and Interleague play, but not MLB's shaky steroid policy while running his mouth like a total jackass. No, criticism of Major League League Baseball - or any sports league ESPN has rights to isn't allowed at The Worldwide Leader In Bullshit, but half-truths and lies are.

And Seth Everett is the biggest pathological lying scumbag in sports talk radio today.

So Mr. Michaels and Mr. Methany, please hire away Seth Everett and bring him to Chicago. Because his arrival would complete the task of destroying what was once a great radio station. Better yet, pair Everett in prime time with that ex-con Laski the Loser. Yes, that would make great radio, according to you two morons. Why not go for broke? Adding an assclown like Everett would fit in the rest of the assclowns who work in the executive suites at Tribune Tower.

T Dog's Think Tank: Poker face

Welcome to the Tribune Company stag party with poker, liquor, and smokes galore.

The only things missing were the hookers, drugs, and Lady GaGa performing.

Yes, this what took place at Col. Robert McCormick's old office (now used as a conference room) at the Tribune Tower in spring 2009 with Court Jester Randy Michaels - who hasn't found a company he can ruin in the last ten years - partying and getting his groove on. Other Trib execs from the new regime were there as well, including CIO Lee Abrams sitting there gambling the company's money away while hundreds of people who worked for the company lost their jobs and their pensions over the years.

During the party, detectors were covered with plastic wrap so they can smoke, which is a violation of the city's fire code (and this being Chicago, they'll get away with it too, because those "meddling kids" - a.k.a. investigators - are probably going to get paid off.)

And yes, this is the same fools who are getting bonuses from a bankruptcy judge while hundreds of people were laid off from Tribune since Sam Zell took over.

The photos first surfaced on Facebook and later on Robert Feder's blog Thursday at Vocalo.org. Phil Rosenthal also mentioned the party on his Tower Ticker blog at Chicago Tribune's website.

Comments on Feder's blog were mixed, from outrage to who cares (yours truly's is #86 - nice for Sam - commenter #92 - to equate my take on the matter to the downfall of civilization.)

But what bothers yours truly is the "who cares' reaction to all this from some - the pictures clearly show what's wrong with Corporate America. But you wonder if these are the same humanoids who usually turn a blind eye to corruption in Chicago and in state government - which has made Illinois a national laughingstock. And the media business in Chicago is no different - it too is a national laughingstock.

It's this same indifference that's made this Comcast-NBC merger go from a impossibility just a few months ago to a near slam-dunk (with a little help from those who have been successful turning the villain from Big Media to Big Government.)

And for those of us who care about stuff like this, we are being dismissed as "whiners".

Look, we're not whining. We just want accountability from our media outlets and from the companies who pipe content out to the airwaves, whether its through television, radio, or the internet - the same kind of accountability we expect from our politicians - and for those who work for these companies to be treated fairly - from the camera operators working at a TV station to the writers of a hit network show - and for our communities and the people who live in them to be treated with respect - something our local media outlets (like the Tribune) don't even bother to do.

For example, Fox-owned WFLD was hit with a lawsuit by a Cook County Judge Friday for defaming him by claiming he was home on a weekday afternoon with his vehicle parking in his driveway. The only problem was, it wasn't his vehicle and wasn't even his house! (and you see why they are in last place in the ratings.)

This is one of the reasons why people should care about what goes on in the back offices of those who are in charge of distributing content such as news and information into our homes.

How odd that the Tribune - whose paper constantly talks about how much we should get rid of corruption in Chicago and in Cook County and in Illinois - is corrupt itself? The media tells us about how sleazy politicians are and how we should vote them out of office because of their ethical lapses and yet these same people who run media companies engage in the same sleazy conduct they do. 

And some people don't have a problem with that?
 
I guess ethics isn't important to these people. I guess the real problem of corruption and lack of ethics in Chicago media is not only coming from the politicians - it's also coming from the humanoids who are calling us "whiners" whenever Comcast or Tribune or Fox does something unethical.

Well, I have one word for them - and it also describes the people currently running the Tribune into the ground:

Hypocrites.

T Dog's Think Tank: Basic cable's racy content at a crossroads

Stan wasn't the only one up in arms about Comedy Central taking a hatchet job to a recent episode of "South Park."

For the last few weeks, cable was on a hot streak: SyFy acquired Friday Night Smackdown, stealing it away from My Network TV, while Turner Broadcasting snared both Conan O'Brien and part of the NCAA Tournament.

But on the same day Turner announced it snared some college hoops games away from broadcast, basic cable got slapped with a cold dose of reality: it got a broadcast-like content smackdown, courtesy of Viacom-owned cable network Comedy Central.

The endurable South Park celebrated its 200th episode two weeks ago with a plot centering on celebrities getting revenge on the town who scorned them. In the first of a two-part episode, the Prophet Muhammad  was referenced, angering some in the Muslim community.

The second part aired the following week - titled 201 - with Muhammad in a bear costume. But Comedy Central altered and heavily edited the episode anyway, even censoring Kyle's speech at the end, which did not even mention Muhammad. In one instance, there was one bleep lasting a whole 38 seconds.

And if that wasn't enough, Comedy Central pulled scheduled repeats of 201, did not make it available for streaming on Southparkstudios.com, and yet to make it available for sale on iTunes. In addition, they yanked the one episode Muhammad did appear - in Season 5 on an episode titled Super Best Friends, from Netfix's streaming service, iTunes, SouthParkstudios, and is likely to yank it from the broadcast syndication package (locally, WCIU recently moved South Park reruns to 3 a.m, since the station's contract to air the show ends in September.)

Is this CBS, NBC, ABC, or even Fox we're talking about? Nope, this is Comedy Central doing the censoring on the cable we pay for.

And what prompted them to do all this censoring and bleeping? The Parents Television Council? Nope. The American Family Association? Nope.

It was this New York-based RevolutionistMuslim website who did all the complaining, which even went as far to warn the creators of South Park that they could be harmed for even depicting Muhammad as a censored image in part one of the episode, titled 200.

And so, Comedy Central (which should be renamed Coward Central) decided to do the censoring and bleeping to 201, which made the episode practically unwatchable. South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker weren't happy about the cable network's heavy-handed editing, and posted this response on their website.

It's not the first time Parker and Stone had run afoul of the censors. In an episode of 2006's Cartoon Wars, Comedy Central deleted a scene in which prophet Muhammad was in and replaced by a message from the show stating they couldn't show the scene, which some thought was part of the plot.

Ironically, Cartoon Wars centered on the TV series Family Guy airing a scene of Muhammad and Cartman trying to pull Family Guy off the air for good (The creators of South Park have gone on record stating their disdain for Family Guy and series creator Seth MacFarlane.)

And even more stupefying, Comedy Central had aired Super Best Friends in which Muhammad was shown in full view, with little or no controversy. 

So now I guess we can add this Revolution Muslim site to the levy of "watchdog groups" like the Parents Television Council who continue to make life a living hell for those of us who follow media. And as usual, Big Media and Coward Central cave in to these so-called "watchdog groups".

With cable and satellite penetration now reaching 90 percent of U.S. homes, here comes the watchdog groups complaining about content, despite the fact that cable channels don't need a broadcast license to operate. Of course, this doesn't stop the PTC from complaining about Nip/Tuck.

What all of this proves is that no matter what the platform, Big Media will always shackle you with a ball-and-chain when it comes to content, whether it makes sense or not (and yes, even Conan O'Brien will get the ball-and-chain treatment, though the shackles will be looser on TBS than they ever were on NBC.)

In a TV Week story regarding Turner acquiring rights to the NCAA Basketball Tournament, one commenter wrote that "this likely is the last decade where there will be any difference between Broadcast and Cable TV as far as ratings and influence."

On the issue of censorship, it looks like we've already arrived.

Censorship's greatest (or not-so-greatest) hits:

- In the 1950's and 1960's, Jackson, Miss. NBC affiliate WLBT often censored NBC News' stories on the Civil Rights Movement, pretending to have "cable trouble" (in the pre-satellite era.) The FCC yanked the station's license in 1969 from owner Lamar Insurance when WLBT was found to openly discriminate against African-Americans in its newscasts and programming, even going as far to pre-empt NBC series with African-American performers in them, including Nat King Cole's variety show, which ran from 1956-57.

- In August 1973, about 40 CBS affiliates pulled the plug on two repeat episodes of Maude titled Maude's Dilemma, which featured the title character (played by the late Beatrice Arthur) deciding whether or not whether to get an abortion after she becomes pregnant at age 47 in the height of Roe vs. Wade, a controversial subject to this very day. The episodes originally aired in November 1972.

There were protests outside CBS affiliates both for and against airing of the two episodes, which lost sponsors (among those who dropped out were Alberto-Culver, General Mills, and Pepsi.)

- Also in 1973, CBS aired a made-for-TV movie titled Sticks and Bones, a bitter drama about a blind solider coming home from Vietnam who winds up dealing with a lot of family issues and is driven to suicide. More than 90 CBS affiliates rejected the movie, including CBS' then-owned station in St. Louis (KMOX-TV, now Belo-owned KMOV.)

- In 1992, Bonneville's KSL-TV in Salt Lake City delayed CBS' Picket Fences until 11 pm Saturday nights, instead of airing it in its regular 9 p.m. (MT) Friday night time slot. An NBC affiliate since 1995, KSL has refused to air short-lived sitcom Coupling and currently does not air Saturday Night Live, which is shown instead on Salt Lake City's CW affiliate, KUCW-TV (KSL also did not air Maude's Dilemma, both in original and repeat episodes as a CBS affiliate.)

- In 2004, Sinclair Broadcast Group pre-empted an episode of Nightline on its ABC affiliates when it featured a tribute to soldiers who died in the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

- Also in 2004, 65 ABC affiliates passed on airing Saving Private Ryan after the network decided not to bleep the movie's profanities, which came at a time when the FCC was cracking down on fleeting expletives in the wake of that year's Super Bowl halftime show fiasco.

- In 2006, Eight NBC affiliates refused to air The Book of Daniel, a controversial drama about Christians and the Christian faith which was canceled after four episodes (Ironically, KSL did air this program.)

T Dog's Think Tank: The Court Jester

Last week, A memo Tribune CEO Randy Michaels sent through WGN-AM News Director Charlie Meyerson, had a list of 119 words and phrases his employees at WGN should not say on the air in order to "improve the product". And if they say any of these "forbidden" words, other employees can "rat them out" by noting the precise date and time of the infraction using "bingo cards", which contains several of the words Michaels have forbidden. The item appeared on Robert Feder's blog at Vocalo on Wednesday.

As you can imagine, the memo generated a lot of controversy in Chicago media circles this week and sparked a discussion on excessive newspeak.

The real question is, why was the list even out? Seriously, does anyone whine and bitch about what type of words being used on the air? To me, this is excessive nitpicking at its worst. Anybody who rails against something like "excessive newspeak" really needs to get a life.

And as for the mastermind behind this idiotic memo - Randy "Court Jester" Michaels, all he's trying to do is "improve the product". Well, since Sam Zell (the Ziphead) and the Court Jester took over the bankrupt Tribune Co., its properties have taken a huge nosedive in quality - especially WGN Radio and the Chicago Tribune, whose content is laughable. For example, their "Tribune Watchdog" series of articles is hypocrisy at its worst given a bankruptcy judge green-lighted $45 million in bonuses for Tribune executives. Well, who's watching the watchdog?

Now, make no mistake - Randy Michaels is - or was - a master promoter and marketer, evidenced from the time he was with Jacor (now Clear Channel)-owned WFLZ-FM in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater Fla. market. In 1989, he masterminded the greatest publicity stunt of all time when WFLZ - then an oldies station - pulled off a faux kidnapping of soon-to-be rival WRBQ-FM morning jock Cleveland Wheeler and asked them to pay a ransom of $4 million to WFLZ so they wouldn't flip to CHR, or contemporary-hit radio, and take WRBQ - or Q105 - on. Q105 had been the dominant Top 40 station in the Tampa area throughout the 1980's. Well, Q105 turned down the offer and WFLZ became a contemporary-hit radio station called "The Power Pig" - and the rest was history. (WFLZ is still a huge player in Tampa-St. Petersburg, constantly ranking in the top ten in the 12+ demographic. Q105 - now owned by CBS Radio - abandoned the Top 40 format in 1993 and has had greater success as a "classic hits" station.)

Michaels attempted to duplicate that success in Chicago in early 1991 when he was hired as a consultant to help boost CHR outlet WYTZ-FM's (now "true oldies" WLS-FM) sagging ratings against rival WBBM-FM. He came up with "Hell-FM", a lame and unoriginal attempt that lasted all of a week, going down as one of the biggest marketing slogan failures in radio history. And ten months later, it was WYTZ-FM that would be history.

Michaels has been called out for his raunchy and unprofessional antics in the workplace while at Jacor, and was fired from a position at Clear Channel in Tampa (Jacor was bought by CC in 1998) after one of his DJ's at WXTB-FM (former WBBM-FM nighttime personality Bubba The Love Sponge) killed a boar live on the air.

When Zell - former owner of Jacor Broadcasting - bought Tribune, he hired Michaels as CEO of the company. But Michaels' decisions since being appointed to the post have been widely panned in media circles - especially regarding WGN radio. There, he dropped Kathy & Judy's show, hired former Chicago alderman and ex-con James Laski as a weekend host, and scrapping Sports Central and Pet Central for right-wing political talk on the weekends.

On the TV side, the decisions have been less aggravating, but notable nonetheless. While the Tribune group did renew Family Guy for another syndication cycle and picked up American Dad!, it passed on renewing Legend of the Seeker for a third season - and is likely to fill the weekend time slots vacated by the show with more off-network reruns, which is already the norm at most TV stations on Saturdays and Sundays. Tribune's CW affiliates are sticking with the network despite rock-bottom ratings, which in some markets have even been surpassed by My Network TV, which is now a programming service airing syndicated reruns for the most part. The CW shows have been criticized for their lack of quality and death - notably 90210, Gossip Girl, and new docu-soap High Society. But then again, this is the type of fare The Court Jester loves to put on his air.

And as a CEO "focusing on content", it seems what he's focusing on right now is crap - which he has done by hiring ex-con (and former WBBM-TV anchor) Larry Mendete to  do commentaries for Tribune's WPIX in New York and hiring radio personality Gary Burbank to dress up in a redneck character to do commentaries for WGN-TV in Chicago and WGN America - moves which could alienate viewers of Tribune's already struggling local newscasts. What's next? Michaels hiring Survivor host Jeff Probst to do commentaries for KTLA's newscasts in Los Angeles? (judging by Probst's blog, the idea doesn't sound too far-fetched.)

So, for anyone who thought Bozo's Circus was dead, a far less enjoyable version is alive and well in the offices of Tribune Tower, with Zell the Ziphead leading the Grand March into oblivion and Court Jester Michaels destroying what was once a great newspaper and media company. The only thing left to do is rig the Grand Prize Game.

T Dog's Think Tank: The Late Shift 2: The Screwjob Continues

It all began on January 7, when a website reported that NBC had canceled The Jay Leno Show.

It ended on January 22, with Conan O’Brien leaving The Tonight Show.

Welcome to The Late Shift 2: The Screwjob Continues. Based on New York Times writer Bill Carter’s book (and later HBO movie), this is a sequel to the mid 1990s drama where David Letterman was screwed over for The Tonight Show gig by NBC – and some comic named Jay Leno – whose claim to fame was being a Doritos pitchman – and his executive producer Helen Kushnick (who nearly lost the job for Leno because of her outrageous demands and unprofessional demeanor.)

As you know by now, NBC’s experiment with The Jay Leno Show in primetime was a whopping failure (and one yours truly actually thought would work… eep) The effort to cut costs and keep Leno from jumping to another network at the same time didn’t work, and NBC was angering its affiliates because Leno was not delivering an audience to their late local newscasts, which accounts for up to 40 percent of a station’s revenues.

One such station (WHDH in Boston) told NBC it was going to pre-empt the show for local news. When the network threatened to yank the station’s affiliation (even threatening to move it to a subchannel of a Telemunedo station), WHDH backed down.

But with Leno’s ratings sucking fecal water – and hurting the affiliates’ 11 p.m. / 10 p.m. newscasts, a widespread revolt was being organized and all of this began to unravel. And so on January 7, NBC decided to cancel The Jay Leno Show, thus ending what has to be considered the biggest programming blunder in television history.

But instead of cutting Leno loose, the geniuses at the network decided to put him on at 11:35 p.m./10:35 p.m. Central for a half-hour, pushing The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien – the program he inherited from Leno - back a half-hour into a lower HUT (homes-using-television) level time period. The Jimmy Fallon Show would be pushed to 1:05 a.m. ET. The network had their plan set.

But there was one problem: Conan O’Brien did not go along with it. O’Brien stated that moving The Tonight Show to midnight Eastern Time would “seriously damage what I consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting. The Tonight Show at 12:05(a.m., ET) simply isn’t the Tonight Show.

And as a result, NBC gave Leno back The Tonight Show, and dumped O’Brien, resulting in a massive PR nightmare for ratings-challenged for the network, who was already in fourth place in prime-time. NBC became a target by late-night comedians including Letterman, who took no prisoners given the situation he was put in by NBC before, and Jimmy Kimmel, who went on Leno’s show 10 @10 segment and told him to “leave our shows alone”.

O’Brien received a huge severance from NBC, and his final show drew more than 10 million viewers. But there is more here that meets the eye here.

It is clear Conan O’Brien got screwed by NBC and Leno. Yes, screwing over – the hottest trend in America right now. Here’s recent evidence submitted for your approval… R&B singer Mya Harrison was screwed over by the judges in the final round of Dancing With The Stars and lost to Donny Osmond at the end… Russell Hantz – the best player on Survivor this past season… was screwed over by the jury and gave it to an undeserving Natalie White… and for you old-school fans out there, Bret Hart was screwed over by Vince McMahon and the WWE in the infamous Montreal Screwjob. And now Conan O’Brien is now the latest member of The Screwed Over Club.

While yours truly have to admit O’Brien’s Tonight Show was struggling in the ratings, NBC should have given him more time to grow and cut Leno loose after his prime-time show tanked. Seven months? Hell, most new syndicated shows get two years to prove themselves nowadays. When Leno took over for Johnny Carson, it took him three years for him to gain traction (thanks in part to the O.J. Simpson trial.)

So how did The Late Shift 2: The Screwjob Continues come to fruition? In 2004, NBC executives concocted a scheme in which Jay Leno would relinquish Tonight to O’Brien in 2009, and he agreed to it. Watch this clip and see for yourself:

Jay's 2004 Announcement - watch more funny videos

And in a recent interview with Oprah Winfrey, Leno admitted he told “a little white lie” that he wanted to give up Tonight to Conan O’Brien. In the hour-long lie-a-thon, Leno took another shot at O'Brien for screwing up the franchise.

And so what is Leno's punishment? Well, Leno the Liar gets the 11:35 p.m. time slot back while he and NBC executives throw O’ Brien under the bus. And those fights Leno the Liar said he did not want to happen again? Yeah… right, we believe you. And to show you how much class this jackass has, he was lobbing jokes at Letterman about the recent intern scandal he endured as a response to his reaction to the situation. Wow, what a dick. You just wonder what talk show Leno the Liar wants to take away next… could he venture into daytime? No wonder Martha Stewart moved her show to cable!

As the drama unfolded, you have to sit back and marvel at how NBC has been run into the ground by court jester Jeff Zucker, Ben “Party All The Time” Silverman, Angela Bromstead, and the rest of these jerks. These idiots wouldn’t even know how to run a Harold’s Chicken Shack let alone a major broadcast network (and if they did, it would certainly burn down to the ground.) And Comcast’s planned takeover of NBC will matters worse, as evidenced by their constant cable and internet outages.

Then there’s NBC Universal Sports honcho Dick Ebersol, who ripped into both Letterman and O’Brien and their jokes about NBC and Leno the Liar, saying it was “ professional jealousy and chicken-hearted and gutless to blame a guy you couldn’t beat in the ratings.” Why the thin skin Ebersol? Is it because you let baseball and pro basketball go to other networks because your network was too damn cheap to pay for it? But you spend and spend on the Olympics and now they’re not making money for NBC. Since you are so good at giving advice, why don’t you give some to the Bears? They certainly could use another idiot. If Letterman and O’Brien are “chicken-hearted” and “gutless”, then you are nothing but chicken shit.

So, what’s the lesson after observing this mess? You can be smart, work hard, and earn your spot in life – only to have greedy, incompetent, lying, scheming, shucking and jiving dipshits take it away from you just like that. In short, its called being “screwed over”. It’s a lesson you won’t learn in school.

Class dismissed.

T Dog's Think Tank: A tribute to Oprah Winfrey

After 25 years on the air, The Oprah Winfrey Show - one of television's most successful daytime programs - rides into the sunset. Her final show airs on September 9, 2011 as the world gathers around their sets to say so long to one of TV's most successful shows. So in honor, The T Dog Media Blog honors and salutes Oprah Winfrey for her achievements in television and contributing a lot to the City of Chicago.

So, yours truly posted my loving tribute to the Queen of Talk on Marc Berman's PI Feedback Forum, ran by Mediaweek Magazine. Here is most of what I said (to read the tribute, click here and scroll down to the fourth post on the page):

"I remember back in 2005 when the founder of Chicago-based Johnson Publishing (John H. Johnson)- the publisher of African-American-targeted magazines Ebony and Jet, died and Oprah did not attend his funeral - which I thought was very disrespectful. The two magazines covered her a lot and this is the way she pays them back?

Not only that, IMHO, I feel Oprah has not done enough to help African-Americans like myself and other minorities to break into the television and media businesses. She has contributed very little to Chicago's African-American community - to my knowledge, she has not done any interviews with the city's four black radio stations, at least in the last decade or so. Every time I happen to stumble on to her show on TV, I hardly see a minority face in the studio audience. So it wasn't surprising when her announcement was greeted with mostly yawns in the African-American community.

In addition, she hasn't done much to contribute to the local television and radio community either. You think you had a hard time trying to get an interview with Oprah? So has Robert Feder, Maureen Ryan, Phil Rosenthal, Steve Johnson, the late Allan Johnson, and other local TV critics and reporters during her tenure here. One thing that irritated me was when she threw her big party on Michigan Ave. last September, she only did interviews with the syndicated tabloid shows, NOT the local media who have been covering her over the years. She talks all this bullshit about how much she loves Chicago and never really shows it.

I respect and appreciate all Oprah has done for the city I live in, but I wish she did a whole lot more - like acknowledge South Siders like me even existed. She's done nothing for us."


Well.... what did you expect? (After all, THIS IS The T Dog Media Blog.)

While yours truly has appreciated what Oprah Winfrey has done for Chicago's image - and is especially proud of her becoming the first African-American female to successfully helm a talk show and an empire amassing millions,  I wished she spent more time in Chicago's African-American community - not to mention helping more minorities break into the media business. It's disappointing to say the least. When was the last time she appeared in the Bud Billiken parade? Or appeared on any black radio station in Chicago?

And on top of that, she has contributed little to the local media community here - whom she has fed off the backs of for years (and no, throwing a few crumbs at the Museum of Broadcast Communications doesn't count.)  So it didn't surprise me in the least when she did not attend Johnson Publishing Company founder John H. Johnson's funeral, which was attended by dignitaries such as Tom Joyner, Roland Martin, Dick Gregory, Diahann Carroll, former President Bill Clinton and Mayor Richard Daley. Ms. Winfrey said she was vacationing in Hawaii, but word of his death never reached her. If she was more connected with the local media community here, she would have known sooner.

And don't let Big Media fool you to thinking Ms. Winfrey has universal support in the African-American community - she doesn't. I know many people who have told me personally that they don't like her.

So when you hear and watch these tributes to Oprah Winfrey over the next year or so, think about what I said. Oprah is leaving, but to us in Chicago's African-American community - and the local media community - it was like she was never here.

T Dog's Think Tank: Chicago's lament

WARNING: This Think Tank contains material not suitable for more sensible readers (but of course, so has every item on this blog for the last three years!) Reader discretion is advised. This piece is rated B – for brutal.

On Friday, the International Olympic Committee told Chicago to get lost as the organization picked Rio as the site of the 2016 Summer Olympics. Of course, the city became the fodder of comedians' jokes, as Leno said on his show Friday: “Chicago never wins anything in October.” (he should talk – so far, his new, nightly prime-time "comedy" strip hasn't won anything in the 9 p.m. time period since opening week. If anything sucks as much as Chicago's baseball teams, it's Leno's low-rated show... at least they will be back in the spring... as for Leno...)

As I stated in this blog before, Chicago is not exactly a model city when it comes to – well, anything. Before the beating of a Fenger high school student was videotaped and later shown around the world, we were known for the murders of Dantrell Davis and Robert “Yummy” Sandifer, and “Beirut on the Lake”  - thanks to “Council Wars”, the racially divisive battles of Chicago City Council in the 1980's. Anyone who thought the Olympic defeat was the most embarrassing thing to ever happen to Chicago, you weren't around after the death of Mayor Harold Washington in 1987 and the chaos that ensued the night aldermen installed Eugene Sawyer as his replacement. Somewhere along the line, the South Side of Chicago has become a punching bag for any right-wing pundit you can think of.

The media coverage of this Olympic bid was an outright embarrassment. The cheerleading by local media was to the point where it was nauseating. A promo produced by WMAQ-TV in support of the bid was so contrived and hokey, it was laughable (they could've hired Ellen DeGeneres to partake in the "dancing".) And when we lost, the media were trotting out stupid sports analogies comparing the Olympic loss to Bartman and the Cubs. Excuse me, didn't the Bulls and the White Sox win championships over in the last 20 years? What bullshit. The local media loves connect this to the Cubs because the media are losers themselves. Hell, why bother inspiring kids in the ghetto to be the best they can be? I guess being a winner in Chicago is overrated – no wonder the murder rate is so high.

And not only that, the media refused to give equal time to distractors of the bid – except for a few minutes Tuesday night when Olympic protesters were arrested for damaging an Olympic banner in Daley Plaza. Yeah, that's your “equal time”.

But what do you expect when your local media cheerleaders are owned by big conglomerates? This is what Big Media passes off as “localism”. Look at your local news races – one strong news station, one sort-of-strong one, and three weak sisters. ABC-owned WLS-TV is so far ahead of the local news competition, it isn't funny. It's that bad. Remember when these races were exciting?

Don't forget, this is a market where a news reporter went swimming in a suspect's pool, hired a trash-talk TV host to do commentaries on the nightly news, employ slanderous sports columnists,  make employees pay for their expensive lunches and parties, have idiot radio personalities who wear out their welcome and somehow get another job, and bankrupt newspapers who feel its important to give an editorial to trivial matters than other pressing issues. I mean, what other city has a newspaper who talks about Dancing With The Stars ON ITS EDITORIAL PAGE? No wonder we didn't win an Olympic bid. Chicago is run by too many morons, in politics and in the executive suites. And your local media outlets reflect that. How many snafus have occurred on Chicago newscasts this year?

I know I've said it before, but the people who run Chicago media are lazy, greedy, corrupt, and stupid – much like the city itself. Chicago media is nothing more than a freak show, and now the world knows it.

It was reported the prime-time ratings for the broadcast networks last week – after years of decline – have improved from a year ago. Even network television had a better week than Chicago did.

T Dog Media Blog Archive: The joke's on us

T Dog's Think Tank: The white flag

On Monday, the Chicago White Sox traded veterans Jim Thome to the Los Angeles Dodgers and Jose Contreras to the Colorado Rockies, bringing back memories of the July 1997 White Flag Trade which sent Wilson Alvarez and two others to the San Francisco Giants.

The move was sent as a signal the White Sox has given up on the season - as GM Kenny Williams traded the two for basically nothing. After winning the division last year, the White Sox are back in Chicago's sports basement just four years after winning the World Series - a scenario yours truly wrote about in a think tank two years ago (even worse, Sean Kingston still has a musical career.)

But if the White Sox have slid into oblivion - network television certainly has followed - most notably NBC. During the recent Television Critics Association tour, producer Peter Tolan of Rescue Me had this to say about NBC's decision to strip The Jay Leno Show five nights a week at 9 p.m. (CT):

"I feel they should take the American flag down in front of [NBC's]building and just put up a white one, because they've clearly have given up. They've clearly just said, 'Look, we can't develop. We can't develop anything that's going to stick. We have - clearly can't find anything with any traction, so we quit.' "

Yes, Ken Williams' inspiration may have came from those guys at the Nitwit Bumbling Company, who practically gave up before the season began by announcing an abomination of a prime-time schedule - with a Jay Leno strip as its' centerpiece (anyone who thinks Jeff "Doogie" Zucker and Ben "Party All The Time" Silverman is an inspiration for anything should be rushed into intensive care. ) While yours truly praised the idea back in December, now he's having second thoughts: given NBC's pathetic fall line-up, Leno now might not get the lead-in he needs to succeed. Given they had only ten hours a weeknight to deal with, NBC could have - and should have - done better than this.

But while this summer has been dreadful for the White Sox and the Cubs, it has been worse for network television. An item in Marc Berman's Programming Insider on Tuesday caught my eye: A study done by Turner Broadcasting on summer TV ratings showed in a decade's time, ad-supported cable nets grew by 48 percent in household rating and 67 percent in adults 18-49, while the Big Four broadcast nets dropped 39 percent and 48 percent respectively, in those same demographics. This summer, the Big Four have recorded historical rating lows.

While increased cable and satellite distribution factored in cable's rating increase, it doesn't underscore the fact the networks continue to lose audience in the summer (and in all seasons), even though they're offering fresher fare and other first-run programming. But when the programming consists of I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here, Crash Course, and Shaq vs... , you have a sense the networks have indeed raised the white flag this summer by just throwing crap on the wall to see what sticks, hoping to find the next Survivor or Who Wants To Be A Millionaire by luck.

But here's the difference: CBS with Survivor and Big Brother, ABC with Millionaire, and to a lesser extent, NBC with America's Got Talent and Fox with So You Think You Can Dance?, invested money in promoting those programs and viewers have responded. The rest is basically throwaway fare to fill time period. The nets are better off bringing back Busted Pilot Theater.

And the troubles will definitely continue through the fall: many experts are predicting the median age for the average prime-time viewer will rise this fall, thanks to Leno and the lack of youth-oriented fare of the Big Four prime-time skeds. Cable is now premiering new programming in September, no longer fearing the networks. The effect will be felt at 9 p.m. when young viewers - if any are left watching the broadcast networks - will flee for racier fare on cable, which they have done for years.

And let's not forget another reason viewers are turning away from the dreadful summer programming, White Sox and Cubs included: the burgeoning alternatives from DVDs to the Internet (mainly YouTube) to VOD from your cable and satellite providers. Unless you're a very die-hard Chicago baseball fan, you're not going to waste your time given the wealth of entertainment options out there - especially if you are a younger viewer (baseball is an older-skewing sport, even in Chicago. And those under 30 who do show up usually are there for the liquor or chat on their cell phone.)

And given the teams' mediocre front-office dealings this season, the Cubs and White Sox (not to mention the Nationals, Orioles, Royals, Reds, A's, and Pirates) have proven they are no better running a business than the major networks are - especially at NBC, where it has been one embarrassment after another. All you have to do is watch Heroes to figure that out.

And so, the white flag has been raised at U.S. Cellular Field. What's so uncanny about this is after the trade was made, NBC decided to move its headquarters to the ballpark while opening up a satellite office at Wrigley Field. What a coincidence.

T Dog's Think Tank: Limo-for-a-Lame-O Jr. finally drives away

How does it feel to become the second Silverman in history to screw up a network - in fact, the SAME network ? Goodbye, Mr. "Party All The Time". Don't hit your head when you get in that limo...


Yours truly doesn't know if the departure of Ben Silverman will immediately improve NBC's fortunes. But it is a start.

Yes, Ben "Party All The Time" Silverman departed the peacock network in a surprising shake-up a few weeks ago, just two years as NBC's Co-Chairman of the network's Entertainment division and of Universal Media Studios to work for IAC, a new start-up headed by former Fox executive Barry Diller.

But the party was over for Silverman basically before it began. While he founded a production company responsible for several TV hits (The Office, Ugly Betty, The Biggest Loser), he was unable to translate that success over to his role to NBC.

And of course, there was his reputation as a partyman and socialite in Hollywood circles - and many say his constant partying hurt his job performance at NBC.

During his tenure, he presided over a prime-time schedule full of bad shows like Kath & Kim and Parks & Recreation - or anything else with an ampersand, remade shows the audience really didn't embrace the first time around (American Gladiators, Knight Rider, and Bionic Woman), and remade reality shows nobody watched to begin with (I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here.) In fact, the revival of I'm A Celebrity in June represented the low point of Silverman's tenure at NBC (actually, there have been several.) The program was a critical and ratings failure.

Silverman's disastrous tenure at the network reminded many of another Silverman who jag-bagged NBC thirty years ago - Fred Silverman, who was unable to translate his success at CBS and ABC to the Peacock Network, who was mired in last place at the time. During his tenure as NBC network president between 1978 and 1981, greenlighted gems like Pink Lady and Jeff, Sheriff Lobo, Hello, Larry (that's one name, but no laughs), Supertrain, and BJ and the Bear. Though Fred and Ben aren't related, NBC might want to think twice before hiring anyone named Silverman again to run their network.

This era's Silverman should have been parodied in a Saturday Night Live sketch mocking him in the same way like the elder Silverman was: in 1980, comedian (and now U.S. Senator) Al Franken satirized Fred Silverman in A Limo-for-a-Lame-O mockumentary during a Weekend Update segment. He felt Silverman did not deserve to be riding around in a limousine like a big shot given the way he drove the network into the ground.

But while Ben Silverman has bailed out of the NBC sinking ship, the captain is still on board.

Jeff "Doogie" Zucker, the CEO of NBC Universal - is still there. When he arrived, NBC was on top. But after stalwarts Friends and Fraiser departed, the network failed to develop hits. He screwed over programmer Kevin Reilly, who later went to Fox. And it got even worse with Silverman.

Zucker now wants to focus on the NBC's cable properties, while the broadcast network is falling apart. Prime-time is a mess. Conan O'Brien's inheritance of the Tonight Show throne has gotten the program's median age younger, but ratings in other demos have declined. Some O&Os (notably WNBC in New York and WTVJ in Miami) have struggled. And finally, there is some apprehension over the network airing Jay Leno as a strip this fall at 9 p.m. Central.

And then there are the acres and acres of clueless executives at the network (there's more of them?) who are about as professional as a can of tree stump.

NBC's executive session at the recent Television Critics Association Press Tour was a disaster, with exces Angela Bromstad and Paul Telady looking like deer in headlights not knowing what to say or do, further cementing NBC's reputation as the Nitwit Bumbling Company. They stood there for an half-hour, slinging out a whole bunch of bullshit: "...[Heroes] is doing well creatively.", said Bromstad at the press tour. Everyone run for cover, lightning is about to strike where those two are standing. These morons would be the first in line for the Limos for Lame-Os program.

And then, there's this lovely gem at the press tour from Rescue Me showrunner Peter Tolan on NBC stripping Jay Leno every weeknight: "I feel they should take the American flag down in front of [NBC's] building and just put up a white one, because they've clearly given up. They've clearly just said, 'Look, we can't develop. We can't develop anything that's going to stick. We have - clearly can't find anything with any traction, so we quit.'"

But all the news isn't bad - NBC Universal's cable networks are experiencing terrific growth. WMAQ's late news is growing in households. WRC in Washington D.C. remains the market's top-rated station and news operation. Today continues to be a cash cow for the network.

And so its little wonder why Zucker promote Jeff Gaspin to co-run the entertainment division with Marc Graboff. Gaspin has a solid track record running the network's cable division. The cable side has produced profitable hits such as Project Runway, Burn Notice, Monk, The Bad Girls Club, Battlestar Galactica, and others.

If this was only done in the first place. While yours truly can't predict how Gaspin will do, he should be an improvement over Silverman - a person who clearly wasn't mature enough to run a broadcast network (or a Dairy Queen)- even jointly.

But the negatives outweigh the positives. Keep in mind prime-time broadcast network television is still the bread-and-butter of this business. It still generates more revenue than cable networks does. Zucker's management style is inept at best, and NBC is now in a hole it can't seem to climb out of. We are waiting for the other shoe to drop, and if the new guy can't turn it around and soon, Doogie will be gone too.

Promoting Gaspin is a first step in restoring NBC's prime-time credibility and hopefully, he'll create compelling programming instead of lame revivals of Harper Valley PTA and Adam-12 disguised as Parks & Recreation and Southland, which was the norm under the leadership of Limo for-a-Lame-O Jr.

If you still have doubts on Gaspin's credentials, look at this way: at least Zucker didn't replace Ben Silverman with Gary Coleman.

Hey, let's go retro! This is was what the other Silverman - Fred, that is - was responsible for in the late 1970's and early 1980's. Enjoy!