Posted by Bud on May 14, 2010 at 19:15:39:
Courtesy of Phil Rosenthal at the Chicago Tribune:
"When the going gets tough, sometimes the tough get Judy Garland.
That it happened at least once here in local TV news, back in the 1970s during the hallowed Bill Kurtis-Walter Jacobson era of WBBM-Ch. 2, ought to serve as a reminder that the news business' good old days weren't always so good.
Do you think viewers today would tolerate a song and dance from Channel 2 or Channel 5 if those stations dared to blunt the extra-long May 23 series finale of ABC's "Lost" by pre-empting their own 10 p.m. newscasts in favor of programs more than a decade old, just to avoid having to compete with the final half-hour of the popular yet enigmatic drama?
It was a simpler time during the November 1974 ratings sweeps when NBC aired "The Godfather" over two nights, 20 months after its theatrical release and a month before its sequel hit theaters. This was the very definition of big event TV and attracted more than 80 million viewers. The first half aired on a Saturday, which actually still mattered to TV networks.
The Monday conclusion of the Francis Ford Coppola epic was scheduled to run beyond the prime-time slot on WMAQ-Ch. 5. So Channel 2, rather than have its regularly scheduled newscast wind up like Sonny Corleone at the toll booth opposite Marlon Brando and company and have it count against the station's 10 p.m. news ratings average, gave Kurtis and Jacobson the night off.
Loyal WBBM viewers who tuned in at 10 for the latest headlines on the night of Nov. 18 — perhaps looking for news about the sentencing in federal court of Ald. Thomas E. Keane, who had been the second most powerful Democrat in city government — instead were treated to a third-run, black-and-white hour of "The Judy Garland Show." The show first aired in the mid-1960s. By 1974, Garland was over the rainbow and then some, having died five years before.
It was a breach of faith with Channel 2 viewers. News is news, and variety shows are variety shows, and viewers should have been able to count on their station for headlines at 10. Channel 2's Bob Wallace and John Drummond finally came on at 11 p.m. with the news, but the station whose slogan had been "It's not pretty, but it's real" had decided to go pretty and witty if not wise.
The irony is it didn't really make much of a difference. WLS-Ch. 7 was the runaway winner of the 10 p.m. news-ratings derby that month, and WMAQ beat out WBBM for second.
Which ought to convince WMAQ and WBBM not to try anything stupid a week from Sunday, opposite "Lost." Rather than give viewers an offering they can easily refuse, the station bosses should remember that they have the brains, heart and courage to do the right thing.
Comcastic news: The English language has added a new word, courtesy of Comcast Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Brian Roberts. That word is "Comcastize."
Use it in a sentence?
Assuming Comcast's bid to take control of NBC Universal from General Electric passes regulatory approval, Roberts said Tuesday in Los Angeles, "We're not going to try to Comcastize NBC Universal."
Roberts' comment and linguistic invention came in a chat with Peter Chernin, the former News Corp. president, opening the National Cable & Telecommunications convention.
"There should be a distinct culture at NBC Universal," Roberts said, according to reports from the Los Angeles Times and others. "Each brand has its own culture. We respect that."
Chernin, who advised Comcast on the merger, said that he earlier warned Roberts not to make the deal "if you can't fall in love with NBC."
Roberts stopped short of swooning, but he praised NBC Universal's content capabilities and said he felt better about the transaction than he did five months ago because of the uptick in the ad market.
The Comcast boss also seemed to be in at least serious like with NBC News, calling it "the single-most awesome asset that comes from this deal," and noting it will help define the post-merger Comcast.
Chernin asked what happens if, hypothetically, Universal Pictures releases a controversial movie or MSNBC's Keith Olbermann runs afoul of Republicans in Congress. Roberts didn't bite, but did stress that NBC News needs to be able to operate independently."