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OK, I realize that covering a breaking story like the Virginia Tech shooting is not easy, and that inevitably there is going to be a certain amount of video wallpaper, repetitiousness and regrettable choices made in cable news, because that’s what happens. (Case in point: I typed “overkill” in the previous sentence before my inner …
Made it over to the New York Public Library today for a lunch time panel discussion, sponsored by the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Ma., about the impact of the thermonuclear art market on the mere mortals who run museums, write about art or just like to look at it. There were three panelists: Jeffrey Deitch, the well known …
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Keith Olbermann’s career has turned so many times that it’s easy to forget that he was a sports anchor before he became the disaffected progressive’s basic-cable Edward R. Murrow of choice. But NBC hasn’t forgotten, today naming him–after a six-year absence from sports–co-host of Football Night in America, joining Bob Costas, Cris …
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HBO
“My estimate, historically,” said Tony Soprano in last week’s episode, “80 percent of the time [a boss] ends up in the can, like Johnny Sack. Or the embalming table.” Having experienced one of the outcomes, last night Johnny Sack experienced outcome number two. It was an excellent performance and sendoff for Vincent Curatola, and …
In the new issue of Time I have a story that summarizes the various art de-accessioning dust ups of the past few months. If you’ve been following those closely there won’t be much in this piece that’s new to you. It’s written to introduce the controversies to the readership that hasn’t been following them closely, and I’m betting it’s …
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FOX
The Amazing Race has been in a bit of a ratings slump the last couple seasons, but the show is not beyond rescuing. Say, for instance, you made Phil Keoghan a murderous, criminal S.O.B., the front for a shadowy organization that ran the race for the entertainment of powerful interests. Say some of the racers had their family …
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One of the points I tried to get at in my Imus story was that it was an example of a new kind of media explosion that technology has helped to make possible:
We may be more inured to shock than ever, but when someone manages to find and cross a line, we’re better able to generate, spread and sustain offense. … Every public figure
…
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Danger–other shoe falling! Some thoughts:
* So he doesn’t get to finish the telethon? Will someone be reimbursed?
* Which satellite-radio exec won the speed-dialing contest to Imus’ agent?
* My Time story, of course, went to press before the announcement. I’ll see about having the magazine mail pens to the print subscribers, so they …
Portrait of Professor Benjamin H. Rand/Thomas Eakins — Photo: Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia
Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia has sold another Eakins. This time it’s the 1874 Portrait of Professor Benjamin H. Rand, which went for a reported $20 million or so to Alice Walton’s still-under-construction Crystal …
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…because you knew there had to be a TV-decency angle, right?
In the midst of closing my epic about Imusgate yesterday, I received an email press release from our friends at the Parents Television Council:
The Parents Television Council renewed its call for the cable industry to provide true cable choice to consumers so that those who
…
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SPOILER ALERT: If you haven’t watched last night’s Lost yet, drink this glass of orange juice…
ABC/ MARIO PEREZ
Oh, Juliet! You naughty girl! I had been worried that last night’s Lost was going to try to win us over to Juliet’s side, making her a sympathetic new member of the gang immediately. Fortunately, the writers realized that …
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Posted on time.com this morning, my big fat story on the I-man’s I-plosion and its I-mplications, which will be the cover of the next print TIME magazine. I try to spin the story forward, as we say in the biz, by looking at the big picture of public and pop-culture discourse today. (“Discourse”! Yes, I was an English major! There’s a …
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Upside for MSNBC: People are forced to write headlines with MSNBC in them. CBS Radio, meanwhile–which has a larger financial stake in the show–released a statement that they’re sticking to a two-week suspension for now. Meanwhile, they “will continue to speak with all concerned parties.” (Mmmmyeah: the concerned parties who keep their …
