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Corporate Press Release Theater: A Very Special Baby Borrowers

OK, so I have already granted that NBC’s The Baby Borrowers is topical in addressing the very of-the-moment topic of teen pregnancy. (Though my gut tells me this issue, however genuine, is on the verge of becoming the shark attacks of summer 2008.) But the network seems to have let the matter go to its [...]

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AFTRA Ratifies Contract; Strike-o-meter Dives

AMC The American Federation of Radio & Television Artists ratified its new contract yesterday. Although AFTRA is the smaller of the two actors’ unions up for contract renewal, the vote (approving the pact with 62% in favor) would appear to make a strike by the larger Screen Actors Guild less likely. Anything can happen, of [...]

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More Hard-Hitting Campaign Journalism

And while we’re on the subject of Barack Obama as pop-culture product, last night Access Hollywood debuted the beginning of its four part[!] interview with Barack, Michelle and their two daughters, Malia and Sasha. The Obamas—who have been on something of a soft-media assault lately, with a cover shot in Us and Michelle’s guest spot [...]

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Obama's Stadium Show

While I was catching up after vacation, word came out that Barack Obama’s campaign had shifted plans and would hold his nomination-acceptance speech not indoors in Denver but in the Broncos’ 76,000-seat stadium. In the TV press, of course, the main burning question was: how will this affect the news producers? A few thoughts after [...]

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The Morning After: TCA Roundup Edition

Among the news nuggets to emerge from yesterday’s TV critics’ press tour: DISCOVERY * If American broadcasters can’t keep Ted Koppel sufficiently occupied, what to do? Become a special correspondent for BBC America. (In the meantime, Koppel’s Discovery documentary on China, The People’s Republic of Capitalism, left, begins tonight.) * But enough about living news [...]