May 9, 2008 1:43

Corporate Press Release Theater: Bravo Goes Green

Remember Tuned In's lengthy whine the other day about massively packaged TV-network mailings? We get results!

BRAVO IS COMPLETELY GREEN WITH EMMY®

Network Offers On-Air And Online Screenings That Include Friday Viewing Marathons And Downloads On BravoTV.com/Emmy

NEW YORK – May 8, 2008 – Bravo is completely Green with Emmy – as the network announced today that its upcoming Emmy® "For Your Consideration" campaign is going green. Replacing the non-eco friendly award mailers, the network will make their series and specials solely available for download online at www.BravoTV.com/Emmy and will offer screenings on-air – including 214 programming hours on-air across all day parts, where voting members will have the opportunity to view Emmy entries throughout the day beginning May 7 until the Emmy nominees are announced in July. The announcement was made by Frances Berwick, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Bravo Media.

"During Emmy season, every network comes up with new and innovative ways to reach NATAS' voting membership through their mailers, but after award season, this impressive packaging ends up in landfills across the country," said Berwick. "We hope the Academy's members will support Bravo this year as we minimize our carbon footprint by delivering our screenings online and on-air."

So what do you say, Emmy voters? Are you going to give Top Chef a statuette this year? Or do you hate Mother Earth?

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May 9, 2008 12:48

Fox Newser Discloses Self Out of Job

When Time's not breaking news, we're making news! After last night's big Time 100 bash in Manhattan—which neither I nor fellow Timeblogger Lisa Cullen attended—a Fox News production assistant got her walking papers for telling Sen. John McCain she voted for him in the primary, reports TV Newser. (Link via Romenesko.) "I voted for you in the primary," she reportedly told the Senator, "you're going to win." The remark was caught on videotape; Fox reportedly took action promptly.

Mmmmmyeah. Because that incident just totally changed my perception of Fox News.

Seriously, this just goes to show one thing I've been saying about the journalistic fetish for keeping our voting preferences secret: it's about protecting the news organization, not serving the reader/audience. This was an embarrassment, and Fox punished the embarrasser; but does anyone out there think of Fox differently because of it?

(By the way, for those of you who have not yet read my broken-record disclosures, I wrote a column this year arguing that journalists should be allowed to disclose their votes, in which I noted that I voted for Barack Obama. Also, in 2000, I voted for McCain in the Republican primary in New York. At least I'm pretty sure I did, if he was still in the race at that point. I registered Republican that year specifically to vote for him in New York's closed primary.)

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May 9, 2008 11:59

Dept. of Does Not Exactly Surprise Me

ABC News reports that college students get high and watch Yo Gabba Gabba!, the most awesome kids' show on TV. (Via TV Tattle.)

Makes sense to me—I get high by watching Yo Gabba Gabba!, but same difference. It only takes a few minutes watching the show's surreal images, wacky monsters and talking food to draw a connection to it and certain enhanced states: last summer, I wrote, "You, grown-up you, need to watch Yo Gabba Gabba!, debuting on Nick Jr. and Noggin on Monday. At least once. Possibly even while sober."

The funniest thing about the ABC News piece is the perfectly straight voice in which it reports its Onion-like finding, followed by the comments in which readers note that, um, adults have been getting high and watching kids' shows since practically the dawn of television. I am certainly not the first to draw attention to the affinity between stoners and SpongeBob, for instance. I would not be surprised to find if, in smoke-filled living rooms in the Village, there were Beats toking up to Kukla, Fran and Ollie.

Not that I endorse any of it, of course. Kids, stay in school! The rest of you, take a hit of this.

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May 9, 2008 10:27

Dead Tree Alert: Florida Forever

In the paper version of Time magazine this week, my column looks at the upcoming HBO movie Recount, and how the 2000 electoral circus in Florida still looms over the psychology of politics—especially in a certain party that has a lot of members cheesed off about enfranchisement and Florida:

After George W. Bush won Florida in 2000--O.K., I apologize to my Democrat readers for legitimizing Bush by using the word won. Also, I apologize to the Republicans for delegitimizing Bush by apologizing to the Democrats ...

This is what Florida has done to us. Nearly eight years after Bush--um, "became President"? Can we agree on that?--the Florida recount still grips our politics, down to its semantics. To choose a verb is to take sides. Florida is not just a state but a state of mind: the widely held attitude that the game is rigged (by the courts, the media, the voting machines ...) and that any close election is suspect. Florida looms over politics like the Alamo, the Maine and the grassy knoll all rolled into one.

The potential for half the Democratic Party to feel like it's been re-Florida'ed is there, I point out, no matter which way the superdelegates go. Since Tuned In is not known for its political prognostications, I didn't really feel like declaring a winner in the primary. The cover of Time, you'll note, is not so shy.

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May 9, 2008 9:40

The Morning After: The Taste of Solitude

NBC Photo: Nicole Rivelli

The secret to most good 30 Rock episodes is that they strike the right balance between character comedy and farce. That balance generally is: one, maybe two characters get to be real people, while the rest are free to be cartoons. (I love cartoons, by the way, so I mean that as a compliment—in the good, Simpsons/Futurama kind of way.) Every once in a while, for instance, Pete is going to be a middle-aged sad sack trying to work out his marriage, and other times, he gets to be a deranged, frustrated Olympic archer firing arrows at pages in the studio.

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May 9, 2008 7:16

Lostwatch: Will the Real John Locke Please Stand Up

Mario Perez / ABC

SPOILER ALERT: Before you read this post, take your remote control, a compass, a knife—no, not the knife!—and watch last night's Lost.

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