Talk all you want – and people like David Bauder will – about how television viewership since the strike is down, across the board. “ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC had nearly 9 percent fewer viewers in April and May so far than during the same period a year ago” [AP] Then again, the networks have been losing audiences year-over-year, so why blame Hollywood scribes’ neediness for a few digital dollars?
But how about some real sobering news? You know, the type that will feed the gossip chamber? CONTINUED »
JOSSIP REPORTS
Laurye Blackford, one of Shelley Ross’ hires and one of the notorious “mean girls” at The Early Show, told bosses yesterday that she’s quitting. She submitted her two weeks notice, Jossip hears, in protest of Zev Shalev being named executive producer of the A.M. show, following Rick Kaplan’s exit, which we were the first to tell you about this week. (Interesting, because David Shenfeld, the senior producer who stopped showing up for work last week, is said to have left the show because he lost all power to Blackford.)
Blackford was only supposed to be with the show through January, but stayed on because she thought she might be named to Ross’ top spot, says a source.
Oh, and in case you missed it in there: Shalev is officially replacing Kaplan.
Though a Page Six spy spotted NBC chief Jeff Zucker “climbing out of his black SUV” in front of Katie Couric’s East Side apartment, a Couric “friend” is preemptively shooting down any rumors that Zucker wants his prized lady back, saying “Jeff and Katie have been friends for 20 years. He asked her to get a Mother’s Day gift for his wife, Caryn, and picked it up on the way to his daughter’s play.” [NYP]
Uh huh.
More curious, beside the terrible and transparent excuse given, though, is who “spots” Zucker exiting his car and walking into Katie’s building, except, perhaps, Zucker or Katie themselves.
Zucker has always been rumored to be a serial New York Post leaker, especially when he’s got a takedown agenda, like he did with Beth Comstock in September, floating a rumor that Comstock was leaving NBC U and heading back upstairs to GE. (The news panned out.)
So what would either have to gain? CONTINUED »
Might Good Morning America exec producer (and former Early Show producer) Tom Cibrowski – whose name we heard yesterday as one being floated around to take over The Early Show – not be as terrible a guy we said he was? One source told us Cibrowski, seen here with none other than Ben Sherwood, wasn’t having his contract renewed when it’s up this summer, because it might have something to do with his temper.
But someone has come to his defense! CONTINUED »
When Rick Kaplan makes his exit from The Early Show on Friday, who’s going to replace him? One name being floated to us is Tom Cibrowski, the Good Morning America exec producer. We’re told his contract is up this summer and won’t be renewed; perhaps because “he is only allowed in the control room two days a week due to his temper”?
Another possibility is Zev Shalev, a Shelley Ross hire from Canada. He’s a senior producer at TES right now. One of many. Snipes one source: “He has NO news background, certainly not recently. And the trio – Paul Friedman, Barbara Feddida, and Sean McManus – are simply looking for quick answers.”
JOSSIP REPORTS : BREAKING
Might Katie Couric’s woes about to take a turn for the better? Or the worse? SO HARD TO TELL!
But one big rumor we are hearing is that executive producer Rick Kaplan, who was brought in to replace Rome Hartman this time last year, is being shown the door at the CBS Evening News. Oh, and The Early Show, where he’s interim executive producer.
We’re told by an insider that he’s being pushed out from his posts — and will hold a staff meeting on Friday, at 9am in the GM studio, where he’ll at least tell the staffers he’s about to embark on a two-week vacation, but it’s unclear whether he’ll share with them that the vacation is actually a quiet means of exiting. “I’m sure he won’t say anything about not returning,” says a source.
Keep in mind: He’ll be making his exit during sweeps. So whether he tells his staff the real news or not, they can only assume that the boss man is a goner. After all, under predecessor Shelley Ross, you didn’t take time off unless you called in dead.
Why all the drama? CONTINUED »
The judge who dismissed some of Dan Rather’s claims against CBS also allowed (invited?) him to resubmit those charges. So yesterday, Rather did. CONTINUED »
Yesterday, Katie Couric had a chat with CBS Evening News producers, where she shared some of her ideas on how to make the show better, Jossip hears. It’s not so much the substance of her suggestions, but what it represented: 1) Exec producer Rick Kaplan wasn’t there (perhaps he was dealing with The Early Show?); and 2) It’s clear she’s still trying to come up with ideas about how to save the show. Or at least that’s the face she’s putting on for staffers.
Twin Cities morning anchor Bill Hudson, of CBS affiliate WCCO, does not fancy himself a bigot. Though viewers might after he, in reading a story about Minneapolis’ Powderhorn Park (which is 42% white, 22% black, 22% Hispanic), replaced the word “neighborhood” with “neiggerhood,” or, as for what it sounded like to viewers, “niggerhood.”
Hudson has profusely apologized for the on-air stumble, both on a subsequent broadcast and on the station’s website.
“It’s just a very, very unfortunate incident. One I feel very sadly about. That’s the unfortunate part of live television,” he says. Some have excused the incident.
Others, not so much. CONTINUED »
Better than Jon Friedman’s (recycled) argument that Bob Scheiffer should replace Katie Couric, who herself replaced Bob Sheiffer? Watching Friedman deliver the argument in this “Media Web Minute.” [Marketwatch]
Sumner Redstone, who continues to play grandpa to both CBS and Viacom even after the companies went their separate ways, has a few remarks for one of his offspring. Actually, just one remark: You fucked up.
Okay. “Made a mistake” was what Redstone actually said about Les Moonves, the smiling operator behind CBS, who bought the rights to broadcast an event from Elite XC, the mixed martial arts sport that promises to be violent. That bloodsport is normally shielded from broadcast and aired only on cable, but Moonves is after cheap ratings for the tiffany network. — though that doesn’t mean Redstone, who has as much at stake in seeing CBS succeed, is happy about it. CONTINUED »
BY THE NUMBERS Katie Couric has outdone herself with a new record! Record low, that is. Besting the week of April 14th’s CBS Evening News record-setting ratings (5.39m viewers), Courc’s broadcast averaged just 5.34m viewers for the week of April 21. [TVD]
Today, as many of you know, marks the twelfth annual Day of Silence, which aims to combat homophobia in schools and commemorate those who have lost their lives to anti-gay violence.
A reported 6,500 schools are participating in this year’s festivities, which also honors slain 15-year Lawrence King, so you can be sure the event’s big news. And Michigan’s local CBS affiliate fumbled in their coverage, says gay activist Sean Kosofsky.
In moving forward with his $70 million lawsuit against CBS, Dan Rather gets to quiz a fact checker hired to check out his story about President Bush’s Air National Guard service. [UPI]
This image is not the life support monitor for Patrick Swayze, all though by the looks of his chain smoking and the way this graph is steering, it might as well be. Rather, it’s a chart of network television ratings for this season vs. last season. Some obvious highlights: The CW is nearly off the charts, in a very bad way; for all its awesome new shows, ABC is dragging; American Idol cannot support the entire Fox channel; and NBC, once the top network and then suddenly the No. 4 loser, is the only channel showing gains.
(Click image for larger version)
The remaining dozen people watching the CBS Evening News are, based on the broadcast’s ads, “impotent and incontinent.” And like seniors in an old folks home, it’d probably be better just to put ‘em down.
THE NEWS SHOW! Not the elderly viewers. That would be cruel and unnecessary.
Actually, argues newlywed Troy Patterson, the entire CBS News division must go. That means The Early Show, 60 Minutes, CBS Sunday Morning, and Katie Couric’s $15 million stage. Whether they outsource the thing to CNN as was originally discussed or just throw it off the side of the cliff, hunker down, and pray for daylight, Les Moonves must. give. up. CONTINUED »
Even though Larry King just reupped his deal with CNN to keep his game of softball on the air until at least 2011, his contract did not guarantee him the 9pm slot, effectively leaving open the possibility that they could still install ratings-loser Katie Couric there post-CBS. When word arrived that a King takeover was a possible Couric career move, the Time Warner network quickly re-signed its star; but without giving him the 9pm slot, they kept King under contract while maintaining the option of transitioning Couric into the primetime post. Sneaky sneaky!
Leaks about Katie Couric’s future at CBS occupied the chattering classes last week. Then we learned she wouldn’t get a presidential debate, even though Hillary and Barack have faced off more than twenty times. And now the CBS Evening News is coming off clocking its worst week of ratings in its history, averaging just 5.4 million viewers, down from 6 million two weeks before. CBS News SVP Paul Friedman says he’s “frustrated” about their numbers. As he should be:
Katie’s broadcast scored fewer viewers than 48 Hours Mystery and, if things continue, will end up somewhere between the WWE’s Friday Night Smackdown and clip show Most Outrageous Moments. (And those Seinfeld numbers are here.)
If Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama really want to take the Democratic nomination, they need to score 2,024 delegates, a figure that includes pledged delegates and superdelegates, to amass the insurmountable total that would force the other out of the race.
Why, then, can no single news source agree on how many total delegates either candidate was won?
• MSNBC: Obama 1,720, Clinton 1,588
• ABC: Obama 1,706, Clinton 1,576
• CBS: Obama 1,704, Clinton 1,580
• AP: Obama 1,694, Clinton 1,561
• CNN: Obama 1,685, Clinton 1,544
With all those giant interactive television screens and, you know, an third grader’s math skills, shouldn’t these numbers be pretty much locked down?
The media has oversimplified the decision by Paramount to stop selling its shows to Showtime! You see, Paramount is Viacom’s movie studio, while Showtime is CBS’s premium channel, and the two were getting along so well ever since Viacom and CBS went their separate ways, but now Paramount is teaming with MGM and Lionsgate to create a new premium channel.
Les Moonves, who heads CBS, played nice in press reports with Viacom chief Philippe Dauman. Moonves’ deputy, Showtime chief Matthew Blank, told the Times, “We wish them well.” Dauman not-so-blandly opined, “It’s our responsibility at Viacom to drive our strategy to benefit our shareholders.”
But now one newspaper is fueling rumors all this backroom dealing is a move to try to oust Moonves! CAN YOU BELIEVE?
Corporate daddy Sumner Redstone, who chairs both Viacom and CBS, is said to be unhappy with CBS’s crappy stock performance. Or at least those are the rumors Dauman’s been able to plant, as he eyes the throne of octogenarian Redstone, who, despite his misgivings, must leave this earth, and his companies, at some point.
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