T Dog’s Think Tank: Chicago’s image problems? We’re used to it

National Guard threats, continued disdain from Trump and conservatives puts city in a familiar unflattering position While many say President Donald Trump declared “war” on Saturday on Chicago with a post on Truth Social, his “war” on the city really began in 2016.  That’s when protesters stormed the stage at a Trump rally at the then-named UIC Pavillion, canceling it […]

T Dog’s Think Tank: Who is Alex Cooper?

The podcaster who sang an atrocious version of the 7th Inning Stretch also has a SiriusXM channel Who’s Alex Cooper, you ask?  At first glance, you wouldn’t blame yourself if you thought she was part of Sheldon Cooper’s family from Young Sheldon. But if his mom ever listened to Alex Cooper’s Call Me Daddy podcast, Mary would try to haul […]

T Dog’s Think Tank: Dr. Phil makes mockery of immigration crisis

Former daytime host “rides along” with officials to boost his fledgling TV network This space in September 2023 jokingly suggested Dr. Phil McGraw should come to town and give a hardened pep talk to the Chicago Bears after the Kansas City Chiefs blew out the team in front of millions of viewers and Taylor Swift, who was at the game. […]

The 2024 T Dog Media Turkey Awards

Chicago sports teams and politicians dominate the list [Editor’s Note: This post was updated on November 29, updating and switching around entries due to Matt Eberflus’ firing, which took place earlier in the day, and again on December 9 to add two new entries.] If 2024 is Chicago’s worst year ever, this list sums up everything that’s gone wrong. From […]

T Dog’s Think Tank: Bad times on media row

Journalists under fire from Trump, the left, and even Mayor Johnson as journalism’s prestige continues to sag If you thought the 2024 Chicago White Sox had a rough year, the media had it worse.  Daily attacks on the Fifth Estate have become commonplace in the last few weeks leading up to the Presidential election. And it’s not just coming from […]

T Dog’s Think Tank: No class fans ruin special night at United Center

Booing of Bulls GM Jerry Krause is yet another embarrassment to our city What happened Friday night at the United Center during the Ring Of Honor ceremony honoring the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls season was as vile as anything I have seen in the nearly 52 years I’ve lived in Chicago. And I’ve been through the racially-tinged Council Wars when our […]

T Dog’s Think Tank: The month of August was so on-brand for Chicago

  White Sox debacles, and news crews getting robbed spotlight the tremendous failure of city institutions If you were a kid in the 1970s or 1980s perhaps you remember a commercial for Resse’s Peanut Butter Cups when someone got peanut butter into their chocolate, and vice versa.  So what happens when the problems of sports’ worst-run franchise mash-up with the […]

The dual Hollywood strikes: Where things stand now

Both the WGA and SAG-AFTRA are om strike outside of Paramount Studios in Hollywood. With no settlement in sight, the entire 2023-24 TV season for scripted shows could be wiped out When SAG-AFTRA joined the WGA on the picket lines on July 12, the entire industry shut down and the thinking was, this would spur some kind of progress in […]

T Dog’s Think Tank: “Velma”: Bombs away?

Online reviews, viewer anger sink Mandy Kaling’s Scooby-Doo-less reboot In the 40 years I’ve followed the television business, I’ve never seen a series as panned as Velma – and I don’t mean by TV critics On its way to becoming one of the biggest flops in television history, HBO Max released the much-talked-about Velma adult animated series from Mandy Kaling […]

The Think Tank: Twitter is in trouble

Twitter’s path under Elon Musk follows those of other media companies  In the 37 years I’ve followed media, I have never seen a media company – social or not – that’s been run into the ground quicker than what I’m seeing with Elon Musk and Twitter. In the sixteen years I’ve written this blog, I’ve written about how egotism and […]