I was on vacation when infomercial pitchman Billy Mays died, but beyond the obvious jokes (see this post’s headline), it was good to see him get his due at the end. Whatever you think of their products, advertisers, for better or worse, have an underappreciated effect on the culture of TV. Infomercials, in their way, are the essence of …
Television
The (Positive, Enthusiastic, Subsidized) Critics of the Future?
I try not to do too many navel-gazing, whither-the-future-of-criticism posts, but today’s New York Times feature on bloggers paid to do sponsored posts promoting products is the sort of thing that gives me the heebie jeebies.
In a nutshell: successful bloggers can now earn income and freebies by doing posts and videos for advertisers …
Would You Pay to Read the NYT Online?
A couple of reports dribbling out indicate that the New York Times is serious about gearing up to charge people, in some way, for online access. Poynter got its hands on an NYT survey asking subscribers how willing they’d be to pay to read the paper online. Meanwhile, Britain’s Telegraph quotes an NYT exec saying that the paper will …
Dave & Conan: Who's #1? Depends Who Counts
As Bill Carter reports at the New York Times, one side effect of Michael Jackson’s death has been a big jump in Nightline’s ratings, which seemed to come largely from Conan O’Brien. The night of Jackson’s memorial, The Tonight Show got about two million fewer viewers than Nightline, and a million less than Late Show With David …
He Had a First Name. It Was O-S-C-A-R.
Oscar Mayer, the purveyor of meats who shared a name with the company he chaired, died Monday at age 95. It’s a little odd to feel nostalgia for the passing of a man who, I would guess, most of us did not know except for the name attached to his products. But Mayer’s company, and his name (actually his family name; he joined the family …
31 Million (and More) for MJ Memorial
According to Nielsen, via The Live Feed, about 31 million people watched Michael Jackson’s memorial service on U.S. television. That compares with 35.1 million for Ronald Reagan in 2004 and 33.3 million for Princess Diana in 1997—but it’s also in an era of smaller audiences overall, not to mention Internet video, which presumably added …
MJ Coverage: How Much Is Too Much?
Is the news media overcovering Michael Jackson’s continuing death at the expense of news that matters? In the New York Daily News, David Hinckley argues that the media is “just responding to Michael Jackson’s fans demands,” with coverage that audiences have ratified with ratings.
I agree with him to an extent. It would be silly to …
Media Guy Writes Post About Media Folks Posting About Media Folks
If for no other reason than a mild validation of my own career, I have to be happy whenever someone else decides that there is a business plan, even in this economic climate, to a website devoted entirely to news and opinion about the media. Mediaite launched today, a combination of Mediabistro and Gawker that promises not to be …
Breaking MJ's Death: Web, TV Divide Labor
You know you’ve beaten people on a story when your direct competition does stories on your having beaten them. The Los Angeles Times has a piece today headlined “TV misses out as gossip website TMZ reports Michael Jackson’s death first”—which is all true, but by posting news of Jackson’s death at 5:20 p.m. E.T., the Hollywood-news site …
Healthcare Special Ratings Sink: Should Have Brought Bo
The ratings are in for President Obama’s healthcare forum on ABC last night, and as they say on the doctor shows: we’ve checked the charts, and it doesn’t look good. Less than five million people tuned in for the earnest but dull Q&A session on the American health system, compared with the over nine million who watched NBC’s Brian …
Colbert in Iraq: Mission Accomplished
After Conan O’Brien’s ratings decline continued in the beginning of this week, I wondered whether the Tonight Show was being affected by Stephen Colbert’s highly publicized week of USO shows from Iraq. While it’s impossible to establish a direct cause and effect, Bill Carter of the New York Times reports that Colbert’s ratings were way …
Conan Definitively Beats Dave Forever! Not.
Tuesday, CBS’ Late Show with David Letterman beat The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien, and an NBC executive reminded us that late-night “is a marathon,” not a sprint.
Last night, Conan edged out Dave in the ratings, posting his first rating increase since he took over. And demographic ratings for last week came in, showing Conan …
Is the Media Soft on White Male Terrorism?
Suppose two men committed separate acts of extremist murder in the United States within a month. Suppose the gunmen attacked a church and a national landmark, motivated by politics and religious prejudice, targeting a nationally controversial figure and innocent civilians. Suppose there was a history of attacks by similarly motivated men …