T Dog's Think Tank: O'Reilly, Mariotti aren't going anywhere

Hope you enjoyed the little piece below. While the post was intended for comedy, the antics of the dummy duo - Bill O'Reilly and Jay Mariotti - are really no laughing matter.

It seems both "journalists" have been stepping up their antics as of late - with both men accused of sensationalism to the highest degree.

A lot of people are angry at these two, for a lot of obvious reasons, and would like to see them removed from their respective positions. But the hard truth is, they are not going anywhere.

Why? As long as O'Reilly and Mariotti have backing from their corporate owners, they are here to stay.

You would think both are related. Neither of them does serious journalism - they do stories without covering them and state absurd opinions rather than fact, and both have abrasive attitudes.

Now as you may know, these types of media personalities are nothing new - e.g. Joe Pyne, Morton Downey Jr., Geraldo Rivera, and others. There's always a market for bombastic, over-the-top personalities, and always will be.

But as far as Big Media is concerned, the shitter they are, the better.

A perfect example of this comes in the latest controversy regarding Mariotti. There was a piece written by Rick Telander that was supposed on run on Wednesday, indirectly criticizing Mariotti for his negative columns on the White Sox, despite their winning record. This piece was rejected by Editor-In-Chief Michael Cook without explanation. Another column written by Telander on Friday was altered.

Now think about that. A column criticizing Mariotti was spiked, but those written by Mariotti - which usually contains personal attacks, inaccurate stories, and flat-out lies stays. Now you tell me which columnist gets the preferential treatment. The Sun-Times would fire Telander and the entire sports writing staff before they let Mariotti go.

Meanwhile, O'Reilly invites guests on his show who make wild accusations ("the Obama fist bump is terrorist", etc.), continues to make flat-out lies about people, and sends reporters to ambush people who don't agree with him.

And the rest of cable news isn't any better. Keith Olbermann's Countdown show on MSNBC does the same thing - only to the right and often rips into O'Reilly and Fox News on his show, while O'Reilly returns the favor. The cable news' war of words is much like the WLS-WCFL and the B96 (WBBM-FM)-Z95 (WYTZ-FM) Top 40 music wars back in the day - only without the fun and with the meanness.

But what else do you expect from a media that is becoming more and more sensationalist by the day? Controversy sells. Journalistic integrity doesn't matter to news organizations anymore - it's not profitable. The truth doesn't matter anymore either. As long as Big Media let nutballs like Jay Mariotti and Bill O'Reilly spew their warped views of society, the media is never going to regain its credibility - not that it matters to them. Only money does. Big Media could care less what the public thinks. They feel they don't owe them anything.

And the growing contempt of the public by Big Media is growing. As I posted on Friday, TBS started "pausing" episodes of its off-network sitcoms to push The Bill Engvall Show, with the network basically telling viewers to screw off if they didn't like it. This is arrogance to the highest degree. Is it any wonder why viewers are abandoning television and radio programming in droves to get programming from other sources (The Internet, DVDs, iPods, etc.) Media companies often forget they have to serve the public interest. But with their entities facing smaller circulation and audience numbers, they rely on sensationalism to get bigger numbers because their traditional business models they have relied on for decades are falling apart. And this is now more apparent as media companies consolidate more and more to get bigger.

Look at ESPN and SportsCenter, which is becoming a more embarrassing joke by the day. It seems the anchors are more interested in polishing their stand-up routines rather than giving us highlights while the show airs meaningless top 10 lists on topics they have already done a thousand times (The Top 10 coaching meltdowns - again!), letting the overrated Mike & Mike strut around the network like they own the place, and rerunning clips of White Sox Manager Ozzie Guillen going off.

Does the last sentence sound familiar? That's exactly what the cable news networks did a few months ago when it reran Rev. Jeremiah Wright's sermon over and over. It's no surprise ESPN takes this same stance with sports figures with the cable-news wannabe populating its sports shows with Mariotti and other self-smarming windbags like Chris Berman and Skip Bayless.

And let's not forget the recent antics of Entertainment Tonight, when they reported on Angelina Jolie giving birth to twins. The only problem was, she didn't give birth yet. ET was fooled by an impostor pretending to be Ms. Jolie's assistant - and yet, the celebrity newsmagaine stood by its story, and even knew about it.

The media would never admit it is wrong on many stories. It has too much pride for that.

As I said before, there is no difference between TMZ, the National Enquirer, the Sun-Times, and the cable news networks. It's all sensationalist junk, with no insight whatsoever.

And the media could care less, because sadly, there's always an audience out there that gobbles this stuff up.

But as far as credibility goes, as long as O'Reilly and Mariotti are steering the ship of sensationalism, The Big Media Boat will continue to sink. The only thing is, the dumb duo's fans - if any - are too stupid to get off the ship.

The inmates are running the asylum

It's not everyday two of the biggest pains in the butts in media make news on the same day, but today must be the day: Bill O'Reilly makes news for annoying people, while Jay Mariotti annoys his co-workers (notably Rick Telander) at the Sun-Times. Oh, I feel a sitcom coming on...

*****

Coming this fall...

The O' Reilly & Mariotti Show!

Two of the biggest douches in the world share an apartment in the city. Can they survive annoying people without annoying each other? Starting Bill O' Reilly and Jay Mariotti, comedy is guaranteed when they are yelled at, chased, and beaten!

Bill: I want you to clean up this mess, Jay! Right now! Do it live!

Jay: No, I won't. I'll hire the Blizzard of Oz to do it. He has just a big mouth as you....

Bill: You're right. I'm sorry. Loud mouth foreigners - that's all they're good for, right?

Jay: Right. (In a mocking Latino voice) Clean your floor, sir?

(They both laugh. The doorbell rings. Bill opens the door - and look! It's Special Guest Stars Rick Telander and Eric Deggans with baseball bats!)

Bill: Um, may I help you?

Rick: This is the place, Eric! This is where those two dumbasses live!

Eric: Let's get them!

Bill: Uhh... It's for you, Jay.

Jay: AHHHHHH!!! OMG! OMG! Let's get the hell out of there!

Bill: I'm with you!

(Bill and Jay run around their apartment screaming like little girls, being chased by Rick and Eric with baseball bats.)

See how funny that was? It's the best comedy of the new season! It's a show for losers featuring two losers. A guaranteed hit! You'll be rolling on the floor laughing!

Don't miss The O'Reilly & Mariotti Show! Coming Friday nights this fall... on The CW.

*****

And guess what... the show will never be canceled, no matter how low those ratings get. This explains why According to Jim has been on the air so long...

"Insider", "ET" to move to new digs - and go HD, too

CBS Television Distribution's two syndicated prime access magazine strips - The Insider and Entertainment Tonight are moving to a new home - and getting a HD makeover as well.

Beginning this fall, both shows are being shot in high-definition from CBS Studio Center in Studio City (yes, the same place where they shot Gilligan's Island and My Three Sons.)

The move means the last ties for Entertainment Tonight have been cut from Paramount, the original syndicator of the long-running magazine show, now in its 27th season. ET has been shot from the Paramount lot (Stage 28) since 1981.

Both programs came under the ownership of CBS Corp. after Paramount owner Viacom split into two companies in 2006.

As for Insider, the program moves back to Los Angeles from New York, where it has been based for the last year. Lara Spencer continues to host (she recently inked a new contract), with former co-host Pat O'Brien now regulated to special correspondent. O'Brien took a leave of absence from the show earlier this year.

ET and Insider become the latest syndicated programs to convert to HD this fall, joining other series including Dr. Phil, The Oprah Winfrey Show, and Ellen. In total, nine syndicated programs have or are expected to make the jump. Already, CBS' Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! are available in HD.

But the conversion of the programs to HD could become a problem for stations, as they must upgrade their servers (mainly software to the existing Pathfire servers) to handle satellite-fed downloads of larger HD files for broadcast, as well as rebuilding their infrastructure - which could become an pricey proposition.

Insider airs weeknights at 5 p.m. and 11 p.m. locally on WCIU-TV, while ET airs weeknights at 6:30 p.m. and 1:37 a.m. on WBBM-TV.

St. Louis' TV news viewership down

While TV News in other markets are either constant or actually up a little bit, ratings for TV newscasts in the Arch City were down.

Belo's CBS affiliate (KMOV-TV) won at 10 p.m. by a decisive margin, beating longtime dominant NBC affiliate KSDK-TV, owned by the Gannett Corp. KSDK was off by two points, while KMOV was essentially flat.

Fox-owned (now Local TV-owned) KTVI lagged way behind at 10 p.m. with its' newscast finishing a distant third.

KTVI also lost ground at 9 p.m., despite the presence of American Idol. Its' newcast was down two share points, while Tribune's CW affiliate (KPLR-TV) was up a full share point with its' half-hour newscast.

The mornings provided a bit of a surprise: KTVI's local newscast tied The Today Show in share.

ABC affiliate KDNL-TV does not produce local news.

Twisters hit Southland

Tornadoes ripped through the Southland on Saturday, from Wilmington to Northwest Indiana, leaving lots of damage in Monee, Green Garden Township, Richton Park, and University Park (those were places where I use to read electric meters for Comed.) Thankfully, no one was seriously injured. The two videos you see here was shot by a trained weather spotter showing a tornado crossing I-57 just south of Monee.

Sportscaster Jim McKay dies

The man best known for telling us about "the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat" passed away at his home in Maryland on Saturday.

Jim McKay brought us sports of all sorts from around the world on ABC's Wide World of Sports every Saturday for decades. Whether if it's hitting a golf ball over the Great Wall of China, or covering sled dog races, he brought it home to us to see on the tube.

But he's wasn't just known for Wide World of Sports. He was essentially the face of ABC's Olympic Coverage - he was there every step of the way from the 1968 Summer Games in Mexico City, to the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Games, to the last one he anchored for ABC - the 1988 Calgary Winter Games.

McKay was on the air for 16 hours straight in September 1972 when Palestinian terrorists kidnapped eleven Israeli athletes during the Summer Olympic Games in Munich. It was McKay who told America the commando raid sent to aid the athletes ended in tragedy.

Throughout his career, McKay won thirteen Emmy awards and praise from everyone who worked in the industry. McKay last worked on NBC's Olympic coverage in 2002, and produced a documentary on HBO which he wrote and narrated himself.

Jim Mckay is survived by his wife, two children (one of which is CBS Sports' Sean McManus), and three grandchildren.

Now a word from a total douche

Oh no they didn't! An "interstitial ad" for the unfunny The Bill Engvall Show on TBS popped up during a Family Guy episode on Monday night. Engvall simply walked up to the screen, paused it, and plugged his useless sitcom - then unpaused it and was back to Family Guy. Three seconds later, a real commercial popped up (and in the middle of the act, no less.)

And those viewing weren't very happy about it.

TBS and Time Warner officials defended the act, saying they used similar tactics to launch Envgall last year, during episodes of Everybody Loves Raymond, and claimed they had no complaints (but they didn't read this thread at Radio-Info.)

Yours truly never watches off-network sitcoms on cable TV - it's a chopfest with end credits retyped and squeezed onto the bottom of the screen and closing theme songs eliminated so they can plug whatever crappy new show they are pushing. Recently, Jim Shea of WWYW-FM (103.9 FM) in Dundee complained about this practice regarding TV Land and the end credits of The Andy Griffith Show (scroll down), in which the closing theme is cut for TV Land promos - and got support from none other than Andy Griffith himself (you can listen to the interview here and sign a petition to reinstate the full closing credits - with the theme song here.)

The best way to watch off-network fare? Though DVDs and if possible, your local TV station (they may chop the show up for more commercials, but at least you won't have anyone coming on to your screen and pausing just to promote the latest episode of The Bachelor.)

As for The Bill Engvall Show, My Boys, and Frank TV, these programs are no different from the lame first-run comedy fare TBS served up in the 1980's - remember Safe At Home, Down to Earth, and The New Leave It to Beaver? Neither do I. And no one will remember these wastes of time, either.

Instead of Very Funny, TBS' new tagline should be We Pause Your Quality Shows to Promote Our New Inferior Crap Because Its Not Very Funny And If You Don't Like It, Then Screw Off.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled program, already in progress.

NBA Finals, "Swingtown" draws viewers to the tube

Game 1 of the NBA Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics drew 9.5 million viewers in prime time and a 3.7 rating in adults 18-49, according to Nielsen, up 28 percent from last year's Game 1 (Cavs-Spurs.) In all, 13.4 million viewers tuned in to the game from 8 p.m. to 10:59 p.m. (Central Time.)

Meanwhile, CBS' new wife-swapping 1970's drama Swingtown debuted with a surprisingly good number, nabbing a 2.7 rating in adults 18-49, and 8.6 million viewers overall, while NBC's new anthology series Fear Itself, drew only 5.2 million and averaged only a 2 rating in 18-49s.

As expected, Swingtown skewed heavily female opposite the NBA Finals.

Mike North headed south?

With owner CBS Corp. cutting salaries and jobs across the board, it's no surprise that insiders are speculating on the future of morning personality Mike North at sports talk station WSCR-AM.

With his contract expiring at the end of this month, North may no longer be at the helm in the mornings, given his $1.5 million contract. With ratings for his show declining and losing to the inane Mike & Mike in the Morning on rival WMVP, North might have to take a pay cut or move to another, less expensive time slot. A possibility is Mike Mulligan and Brian Hanley's midday show moving to the morning.

Mully and Hanley actually draw better ratings (among the target audience of men 25-54) in middays than North does in the mornings (however, this is like comparing the performances of Live with Regis & Kelly and Wheel of Fortune - they both air in different dayparts.)

Fox pushes its fall schedule back to Sept. 1

Realizing people are actually interested in the political conventions after all, Fox has decided to push back the premiere of its new shows to the week of Sept. 1. while J.J. Abrams' new drama Fringe bows on Sept. 9. Click here to see Fox's full schedule of season premieres and debuts.

Hockeytown rules

The Detroit Red Wings beat the Pittsburgh Penguins last night to win their fourth Stanley Cup in eleven years.

But the biggest winner was the NHL.

Ratings for last night's Game 6 were up 17 percent from Game 5, and it was the most watched Game 6 in eight years (between the New Jersey Devils and Dallas Stars in 2000 on ABC.) Among adults 18-49, it averaged a solid 3.0 rating.

Pittsburgh led the overnight numbers, followed by Detroit (not counting coverage on cross-border CBC outlet CBET.)

The NHL clearly has bounced back after a disastrous lockout in the 2004-05 season, which wiped out the Stanley Cup Finals. This season, the NHL's regular season and playoff games on Versus and NBC were up in the ratings, and the NHL's website (NHL.com) is recording record page and video views.

And don't forget the contributions made by the Chicago Blackhawks. Even though they haven't made the playoffs this year, a number of fan-friendly moves - lifting the decades-long home TV blackout and bringing back former Blackhawk players as ambassadors (such as Bobby Hull, Stan Mikita, and Tony Esposito) - not to mention a young team headed by Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane - has gotten fans excited in the Windy City about hockey for the first time in over fifteen years. This can only help the NHL.

While it has a ways to go, there are sunnier days - (or should I say icy days) - for the NHL ahead.

Warner Bros. scores a hat trick

This is the 1,200th post. Hurray for the blog!

Three syndicated freshman strips from Warner - Two and a Half Men, TMZ, and George Lopez scored gains in the just-concluded May sweeps, according to Nielsen. Men ranked as the top off-network sitcom in syndication last month, while Lopez surprised everyone by finishing fifth among all off-net sitcoms, jumping up 41 percent from September 2007.

It was also a good book for Twentieth - whose Family Guy finished second among off-net sitcoms. Perhaps reflecting a shift to lower-rated My Network TV stations owned by Fox in a few markets, Everybody Loves Raymond took a hit, down 27 percent from last year.

Among other shows, CBS' Judge Judy scored a 7 percent gain year-to-year, while Jeopardy! scored a three percent gain. Judy topped Wheel of Fortune in GAA ratings by two-tenths of a ratings point. GAA ratings are used when a show is run more than once in a day, such as in the case with Judy (Wheel does not use GAA ratings, since it's only run once a day.) Judy was the only court show to increase its' audience year-to-year while other programs in the genre declined.

Among new shows using September 2007 to May 2008 averages, it was a mixed bag: Judge David Young was flat, Jury Duty was up and game shows Merv Griffin's Crosswords and Temptation were down. Temptation is not expected back this fall.

May was a bad month for talk, with almost every entry down. The biggest drop came with Jerry Springer, down 31 percent from last year (there is some hope!) Live with Regis & Kelly, Dr. Phil, and Oprah also reported double-digit decreases. While Tyra and Martha also saw decreases, they can at least point to increases in Local People Meter markets. Warner's Ellen was also down, but only by 5 percent. The only talk show to score an increase was Twentieth's The Morning Show with Mike & Juliet.

The tabloid/entertainment prime access shows were all down, except for one - TMZ, which was up 10 percent since its September premiere.

Updated 8:45 p.m. (added TVNewsday link)

WFLD expands Good Day Chicago (updated)

KRIV in Houston also expands its news by adding 5 and 5:30 p.m. newscasts

As expected, Fox-owned WFLD-TV is expanding Good Day Chicago to 10 a.m. beginning on July 7, with the news show now five hours long. The extended hour will feature breaking news and weather, plus discussion of hot topics with local commentators and other segments. The newscast takes on talk-show powerhouse The Oprah Winfrey Show at 9 a.m.

The Morning Show with Mike & Juliet - now airing at 9 a.m. on WFLD - is expected to shift to the 10 a.m. time slot.

During the recently concluded May sweeps, Good Day Chicago from 5 to 9 a.m. only averaged an 1.5 Nielsen household rating, compared to a 3.8 household rating for market leader WGN-TV.

Meanwhile, WFLD's sister station in Houston (Fox-owned KRIV) is also expanding its newscasts by adding newscasts at 5 and 5:30 p.m. KRIV is going head-to-head with the three major network stations in town: CBS affiliate KHOU-TV, NBC affiliate KPRC-TV, and ABC-owned KTRK-TV.

KRIV has a good chance to beat longtime ratings laggard KPRC in this time slot, since the Post-Newsweek-owned station trails other competitors badly in Houston. At one time, KPRC's 5 p.m. newscast finished behind The Simpsons on KRIV.

KHOU leads at 5 p.m. in households, with Oprah as its lead-in.

Thought: Good Day Chicago seems to be the lowest-rated morning newscast of any Fox O&O or affiliate station in a Top 50 market in the country (Fox's WNYW in New York, KTTV in Los Angeles, KRIV in Houston and others fare much better in the ratings in their respective markets.) Expanding the newscast to 10 a.m. isn't an answer for the program's ratings woes. Robert Feder's non-endorsement of this program pretty much cement this fact.

Ironically, co-host Jan Jeffcoat used to work for KRIV in Houston.

Updated 5:20 p.m. on 2008-06-05 (added B&C link -- man, if I have to update this post again...)

Welcome back, Bill Cameron!

Wonderful news: WLS-AM has rehired Bill Cameron as City Hall beat reporter, just three months after the Citadel-owned station let him go during an avalanche of staff cuts that affected Citadel stations nationwide.

An opening became available after Ryan Hermes resigned after being able to obtain an early release from his WLS contract. He has re-joined the Illinois Radio Network.

Cameron was the City Hall beat reporter for several Chicago radio stations for three decades. He's been at WLS since 2000.

It's not every day a radio station owns up to its mistakes. Thank goodness WLS and Citadel did in the case of Bill Cameron.

My Network TV unveils 2008-09 schedule

My Network TV recently unveiled its 2008-09 lineup, and it contains branded nights - i.e. entertainment programs on Mondays, reality crime dramas on Tuesdays, a Thursday night action movie, and so on.

The branded nights are being pitched to advertisers with integration opportunities and points out the ratings rise My Network TV has experienced over the past year.

MNT's third season will feature Celebrity Expose and Magic's Greatest Secrets Revealed on Mondays; Tuesdays is reality crime drama night with Jail and Street Patrol; Wednesdays are comedy nights with the returning Under One Roof and a Funniest Moments show; Thursdays and Saturdays feature movies with action flicks on the former night and family films on the latter. Advertisers will be able to buy sponsorships on those movie nights.

Fridays of course, will feature the recently acquired WWE Smackdown, which begins Oct.3. On the night before (Oct. 2), MNT is featuring a two-hour paired-down version of the most recent Wrestlemania. Smackdown has aired on CW for the past two seasons.

MNT also confirmed it has pick up a comedy sketch show from Tony Rock (the brother of comedian Chris Rock.)

Red Wings - Penguins scores in triple overtime

Last night's Stanley Cup Final triple-overtime thriller (Game 5) between the Detroit Red Wings and the Pittsburgh Penguins on NBC was a clear winner last night (regardless of what anyone says) with ratings the best since the 2002 Stanley Cup Finals, when the Red Wings played the Carolina Hurricanes. Overall, the game averaged a 4.3 household rating and a 8 share.

The ratings were up 79 percent from last year's Game 5 between the Anaheim Ducks and the Ottawa Senators.

The Penguins won, forcing a Game 6 to be played back in Pittsburgh on Wednesday.

Pittsburgh scored the best ratings with a 35.4/52, with Detroit following at 29.6/46 (for WDIV.) Chicago did not finish in the top ten (the red-hot Cubs played last night at the same time), while New York or Los Angeles didn't, either.

Thought: With the Red Wings and Detroit all ready to party to celebrate the Cup, Pittsburgh tied it up in the final minute to send the game into overtime, and the Red Wings eventually lost the game on a high-sticking penalty in the third overtime. This Chicagoan laughed his ass off.

"Simpsons" voice actors reach deal

The people behind the voices of The Simpsons have signed a new four-year deal to continue with the program. The deal means the voice actors will now make $400,000 per episode - considerably more than they were previously making.

The deal does not include Harry Shearer, who has reportedly clashed with producers of The Simpsons in the past. His fate is uncertain. Shearer voices Mr. Burns and Ned Flanders on the show.

Though the voice actors have a four-year deal, it does not mean Fox has picked up the series for that length of time - The Simpsons are only renewed until 2009.

This upcoming season - which ties Gunsmoke for the longest-running scripted series in prime-time history- is only scheduled for 20 episodes, same as this past season.

WMAQ-TV prepares for Chicago marathon

This story in TVNewsday (registration may be required) from Arthur Greenwald talks about how NBC-owned WMAQ-TV (NBC 5) is preparing for the upcoming Bank of America Chicago Marathon, which takes place on October 12. WMAQ gets the rights back from WBBM-TV, which held them for the last five years.

The marathon (formerly the LaSalle Bank marathon until Bank of America acquired the entity from ABN AMRO last year), WMAQ will promote the event through numerous platforms including video screens on Shell stations and Jewel food stores; the Wrigley Field concourse; and on video downloaded on U.S.Cellular phones. The station will also promote the marathon during NBC's coverage of the Summer Olympics (a no-brainer.)

WMAQ also plans to enlist the help of the NBC 5 Fitness Team, who appears regularly on the station's newscasts.

Former WBBM-TV anchor under investigation

Larry Mendte, the former WBBM-TV and Access: Hollywood anchor who now toils at CBS-owned KYW-TV in Philadelphia, is under FBI investigation - for hacking into the e-mail of former anchor Alycia Lane, who was fired from KYW a few months ago after getting into a fight with a police officer in New York City while being accompanied by her boyfriend - Philadelphia DJ Booker, who was recently cut loose from Top 40 outlet WIQQ-FM (Q102).

Mendte is now on leave at KYW, at least for now.

"Sex and the City" wins weekend box office

The big-screen adaption of the popular TV show was the box-office champ over the weekend with a haul of $56 million, defeating last week's champ Indiana Jones and exceeding expectations from studio Warner Bros.

However, it fell short of the $72 million earned by The Simpsons Movie last July - the last adaption of a TV show that hit movie theaters.

Sex and the City's audience was mostly female, as expected.

Sex and the City ran six seasons on HBO (1998-2004) and its reruns are currently airing on TBS and in off-network syndication (locally over WGN-TV at 11 p.m.), where it has met with success on each platform, particularly in female demos. The program also has strong DVD sales.