television

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Your Guide to Today's Jacko Media Orgy

Let the 'freak show' begin

(Newser) - Surprisingly, the elephants entering Staples Center this morning aren’t there for the “Michael Jackson Memorial Orgy of Excess”—but for the circus, opening tomorrow. “That seems completely appropriate,” writes Lisa de Moraes for the Washington Post. As for today’s “freak show,” 16...

Little People Ask FCC for Ban on the Word 'Midget'

Group spurred to action by Celebrity Apprentice episode

(Newser) - The Little People of America have filed a complaint with the FCC in an attempt to get the word “midget”—which people of exceptionally small stature see as demeaning—banned from broadcast television, Newsday reports. The LPA was moved to action by a segment on NBC’s Celebrity ...

I'm a Celebrity, Now Get Me a Cause!
I'm a Celebrity, Now Get Me a Cause!
OPINION
Jul 6, 2009 6:43 AM CDT

I'm a Celebrity, Now Get Me a Cause!

Activist celebs are annoying, but effective and necessary: Firth

(Newser) - Actor Colin Firth doesn’t like it when his fellow actors get on the soapbox for humanitarian causes. He’s also tired of doing it himself, and sick of the endless tedium of fundraisers, speeches, and photo ops. But that’s too bad, because the only way anything is going...

Conan Woos Far Younger Tonight Show Crowd

O'Brien lowers median age of Tonight viewers by 10 years

(Newser) - In just one month, Conan O’Brien has lowered the median age of the Tonight Show audience by 10 years, from 55 to 45, the New York Times reports. Conan has radically reshaped the demographics of the program by drawing an unprecedented number of new viewers aged 18 to 34—...

Arnold: Make Budget Talks Reality TV

Says he'd like office to be 'glass house'

(Newser) - California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wants another starring role onscreen—and he's looking to bring California’s legislators with him. The governator wants budget meetings televised or streamed online to show the public what gives, reports the Los Angeles Times. “A debate in front of the people” would “expose...

Web Beats TV to Jackson Fatigue
 Web Beats TV 
 to Jackson Fatigue 
ANALYSIS
Jul 3, 2009 3:00 PM CDT

Web Beats TV to Jackson Fatigue

(Newser) - Television is still churning out Michael Jackson-related content, but Web surfers quickly lost interest after his death, Jeff Jarvis writes for BuzzMachine. “We had consuming interest in Jackson when the news came out but that quickly faded,” Jarvis writes, citing Blogpulse and Google Trends data on Jackson traffic....

Billy Mays, 'Hendrix' of Pitchmen, Is Buried

(Newser) - TV pitchman Billy Mays was laid to rest today in his hardscrabble hometown of McKees Rocks, Pa., the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports. Friends described his determined rise from the mill town to the malls of New Jersey to the hallowed heights of the Home Shopping Network. “If there was a...

A Little Bit Cloudy, a Little Bit Rock 'n Roll

Weather Channel abandons smooth jazz for harder-edged music

(Newser) - The Weather Channel has ditched its familiar smooth jazz background music for the likes of the Rolling Stones—to the delight of watchers and advertisers alike. “People would have it on but they wouldn’t be watching and they wouldn’t be listening,” the exec who pushed the...

Manufacturers Drop Plasma TVs as LCD Takes Over

Pioneer, Vizio axe plasma production lines; retailers slash prices

(Newser) - TV buyers are increasingly choosing liquid-crystal-display over plasma as LCD manufacturers beef up the technological capabilities of their sets, the Wall Street Journal reports. With 30 million LCDs sold in North America in 2008, compared with 4 million plasmas, Pioneer and Vizio are discontinuing their plasma lines. The shift means...

Emmys Line Up Harris to Host
 Emmys Line Up Harris to Host 
Jul 2, 2009 1:14 PM CDT

Emmys Line Up Harris to Host

Mother star moves to TV after hosting Tonys

(Newser) - Neil Patrick Harris is likely to be the host of the next Emmy Awards ceremony, sources tell Variety. The How I Met Your Mother star is in negotiations with CBS and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences to front the broadcast Sept. 20. Harris was a hit hosting the...

Fox Has Top 10 Cable News Shows

(Newser) - More evidence of Fox News' growing domination of cable TV: The network now has the top 10 programs in terms of total viewers, reports Mediabistro's TVNewser blog. Bill O'Reilly still leads the way, followed by Sean Hannity. Glenn Beck is in third, but his viewership of about 2 million is...

Top 5 Billy Mays Infomercial Wares
 Top 5 Billy Mays 
 Infomercial 
 Wares 
OPINION
Jun 29, 2009 6:00 PM CDT

Top 5 Billy Mays Infomercial Wares

(Newser) - Many of the As Seen on TV goods hawked by the late Billy Mays were reviewed in the pages of Popular Mechanics; Harry Sawyers runs down the bellowing talent's top five infomercial products.
  1. Hercules Hook: A heavy painting and a sack of books were no match for a hollow-wall anchor
...

Impressionist Travalena Dead at 66
 Impressionist 
 Travalena Dead at 66 
OBITUARY
Jun 29, 2009 11:58 AM CDT

Impressionist Travalena Dead at 66

(Newser) - Fred Travalena, a master impressionist whose catalog of voices ranged from US presidents to Frank Sinatra doing Boy George, has died at 66 of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, the Los Angeles Times reports. The actor-singer-mimic, known as the "Man of a Thousand Faces," opened for the likes of Shirley...

Infomercial Icon Mays Dead at 50

TV Pitchman wasn't wearing a seatbelt: FAA

(Newser) - Television pitchman Billy Mays was found dead in his Tampa, Fla., home today, the St. Petersburg Times reports. He was 50. The promoter of everything from baking soda to cleaning supplies said he felt unwell last night after landing in a 737 airplane that blew out a front tire. Mays...

Gigolo Comedy Pays Off for HBO
 Gigolo Comedy 
 Pays Off for HBO 
TV REVIEW
Jun 26, 2009 3:39 PM CDT

Gigolo Comedy Pays Off for HBO

HBO's newest is more than a sex gag, but needs to develop further

(Newser) - Critics are split on Hung, HBO's new series starring Thomas Jane as a down-on-his-luck dad who becomes a gigolo. Though it's deeper than its salacious premise, the show, which makes its debut Sunday, isn't living up to its potential.
  • Hung "represents a wonderfully positive step for HBO, which has
...

'I'm Terribly Sorry, But David Gregory Had a Fit'

Scarborough cancels on Stephanopoulos

(Newser) - The highbrow news shows are seeing a little soap-opera drama—and a good old-fashioned hissy fit: MSNBC's Joe Scarborough had to cancel an appearance on George Stephanopoulos' This Week on ABC, reports the New York Post. "I'm terribly sorry," he told Stephanopoulos, "but David Gregory had a...

Farrah: 'America's Ideal of Itself'
 Farrah: 
 'America's Ideal of Itself'  
APPRECIATION
Jun 25, 2009 2:58 PM CDT

Farrah: 'America's Ideal of Itself'

(Newser) - Farrah Fawcett’s time as a superstar may have been short, but she played her entire life—and career—with grace, Richard Corliss writes in Time. And no one can forget her 1970s heyday. “If the big, bulky computers of the day could have programmed America’s ideal of...

Farrah Fawcett Dead at 62
 Farrah 
 Fawcett 
 Dead at 62 
obituary
Jun 25, 2009 12:31 PM CDT

Farrah Fawcett Dead at 62

'Charlie's Angels' star diagnosed with cancer in 2006

(Newser) - Farrah Fawcett died this morning in Los Angeles after the battle with cancer that followed her 2006 diagnosis, Entertainment Tonight reports. The Charlie’s Angels star, 62, was a 1970s fashion idol who began her career in commercials and shot to fame after posing in an iconic portrait wearing a...

No Sex (After 9), Please—We're the BBC

Survey prompts British channel to cut back on racy content, swearing

(Newser) - Responding to viewers’ concerns, the BBC will no longer give free rein to potentially offensive material after 9pm, the Telegraph reports. A network survey of 2,700 people age 11 and up found that its audience, especially older viewers, is unhappy with the content. Now, foul language may be subject...

Gosselin 'Rich Kids' Get $28K Playhouses

(Newser) - While Jon and Kate discussed their painful decision to divorce on the latest episode of Jon & Kate Plus 8, their kids were frolicking in their four new, custom-made playhouses that cost a whopping $28,000, reports ABC News. The super-pricey haunted house, pirate ship, veterinary clinic, and garden shop...

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