Don’t drop Cheryl, Tom! Or she’ll be like The Tribune… All right, I’ve seen some absurd items on Chicago Tribune’s editorial page before… but this one takes the cake. One of Wednesday’s editorials in the paper was titled “Dancing With DeLay” , about former disgraced Texas congressman Tom DeLay competing on the newest season of Dancing With the Stars. You’ve got […]
On Monday, the Chicago White Sox traded veterans Jim Thome to the Los Angeles Dodgers and Jose Contreras to the Colorado Rockies, bringing back memories of the July 1997 White Flag Trade which sent Wilson Alvarez and two others to the San Francisco Giants. The move was sent as a signal the White Sox has given up on the season […]
How does it feel to become the second Silverman in history to screw up a network – in fact, the SAME network ? Goodbye, Mr. “Party All The Time”. Don’t hit your head when you get in that limo… Yours truly doesn’t know if the departure of Ben Silverman will immediately improve NBC’s fortunes. But it is a start. Yes, […]
In a recent column in the Chicago Tribune, Steve Dahl wondered what the country – and the world – thought of Illinois thanks to Patti Blagojevich (former Governor Rod’s wife) appearing on I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here! He said it gave Illinois a Hollywood feel, but a Third World one at the same time. Of course, we […]
The very first Think Tank yours truly wrote back on November 28, 2006 dealt with the follies of the National Hockey League and its Chicago franchise, and those of broadcasters (over-the-air TV stations and networks), sharing the same tale of missteps and woe. After the Chicago Blackhawks fired head coach Trent Yawney, yours truly wrote this on a comment board […]
When you think for losing disasters, you think of the Detroit Lions, Washington Nationals, Los Angeles Clippers, New York Islanders, etc. And then there’s NBC, who has been taking losing to a whole new level as of late. Consider this: Recently, the network announced it was airing a “new” reality show this summer, titled I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out […]
Sunday at the Allegro, a group of journalists, reporters, and media personalities gathered together for a tailgate on the future of Journalism in Chicago. It was basically a clash between old media (newspapers, television, radio) and new media (The Internet, iPhone, iPods.) Representing the “old school” were John Callaway, Carol Marin, Robert Feder, and Eric Zorn, among others, and repping […]
Second of two parts. A new morning show which debuted on Comcast SportsNet last month pairing up former WSCR-AM (Score) partners Mike North and Dan Jiggetts titled Monsters in the Morning. While the three-hour program offers up sports news and weather every morning from 6 to 9 a.m., the deal on how the show got on the air – is […]
This is the third annual review of the Super Bowl commercials. Believe it or not, this year’s crop was actually better than those that ran during last year’s game. Here are the best and the worst ads of Super Bowl XLIII (Click the link to watch the commercial): Best 1. Free Doritos. This spot was created by two amateurs who […]
First of two parts. Josef Adalian had some thoughts on the current state of the syndication business in a wonderfully written column in TV Week, as the NATPE convention descended on Las Vegas this past week. As a person who is very knowledgeable about this business – since the days yours truly read his first NATPE issue of TV/Radio Age […]
The Chicago Tribune asked this question regarding Chicago’s frigid weather in January – a really, really, really stupid question…. And boy, did yours truly ever respond: This article is one of the most insipid pieces of crap I’ve ever read on the Tribune’s website. It’s January. It’s supposed to be cold! Big deal! Why is this a story? Does The […]
I’ve noticed that hardly anyone has come up with a worst TV show list for 2008 (too easy, perhaps?) Maybe the economy was bad enough not to talk about any bad TV… Anyhoo, here are the worst, the inane, the horrible, horrible, stench of what was left behind in 2008 in terms of media – and remember, we’re not just […]
Happy New Year, everyone! Instead of listing just TV shows, yours truly has decided to include items other than TV shows in the annual Excellent 10 and Toilet 10 lists across this year. Two history-making events happening in 2008 – Michael Phelps’ Olympic Gold Medal run and Barack Obama’s acceptance speech here in Chicago after becoming the first African-American President […]
Dr. Jeremy Levitt, we hardly knew ye. WVON-AM’s choice to replace Roland Martin as morning drive-time host was mysteriously replaced last week by fill-in hosts Matt McGill and Perri Small, at least temporarily. According to Chicagoland Radio and Media’s website, the person they hired to replace Martin turned out to be owner Melody Spann-Cooper’s brother-in-law and Pervis Spann’s (Melody’s father) […]
With the national media – and everyone else shitting on Chicago in the aftermath of Governor Arrogant’s arrest, I thought I would revisit this Think Tank from May 19, 2007 titled Grow Up, Chicago. Though it deals mostly with then-WSCR-AM windbag Mike North feuding with White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, the antics are just part of the dysfunctional culture we […]
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