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CNN’s Brian Stelter is reporting Billy Bush may never return to Today. Is the new co-anchor of the 9:00 hour simply disposable? Irredeemable? Is he not worthy of a second chance like Brian Williams whose narcissistic on-air fantasies destroyed his news credibility or CNN’s Richard Quest who was once arrested after hours in Central Park with meth in his pocket and a rope around his genitals.
Billy Bush offered a Friday night apology: “Obviously I’m embarrassed and ashamed. It’s no excuse, but this happened eleven years ago—I was younger, less mature, and acted foolishly in playing along. I’m very sorry.” He was set to apologize on air Monday morning but instead got an indefinite suspension and the cancellation of his surprise welcoming party.
If we’re going to be architects of gender equality and respect in the workplace, we have to find a new way. The old way hasn’t been working very well.
EXACTLY WHAT DID BILLY DO WRONG?
We’ve all seen the tape: a joyful road trip with Trump the Vulgarian and Billy the Wingman that somehow became Pussygate 2016. Read the rest of this entry »
Are we ready for kibitzing on a network news magazine?
How fitting that on the day that Dr. Conrad Murray was convicted of involuntary manslaughter, the second installment of Rock Center aired featuring yet another empty, cringe-worthy live celebrity interview by Brian Williams.
As clear as we saw that Dr. Murray could not say “no” to Michael Jackson, it is evident the NBC news anchor lacks someone on his team willing to say what he may not want to hear: Williams must give up the risky behavior on his show: vapid interviews filled with what he thinks is wry humor. This week’s installment, Tina Fey. Read the rest of this entry »
It’s difficult to be critical of Brian Williams’ new primetime magazine show which debuted this week on NBC: Rock Center has stated only noble intentions in the swampy landscape of broadcast news.
The new Comcast executive team has committed two years for building what they hope will be an important, in-depth news show to rival 60 Minutes. That said, Rock’s launch needed some paper and scissors. More than anything: stronger news stories for a primetime news magazine.
Where was Brian Williams’ Lead Story?
Given the greatly hyped mission statement of the broadcast, along with the hiring of two newsmen highly identified with competing networks, I wasn’t expecting NBC’s premiere anchor to “weigh in” with a rambling fluff piece and juvenile sparring with Jon Stewart.
PRINTING LAST WEEK’S NIELSEN RATINGS FOR THIS WEEK? REALLY! YOU’VE SUNK TO A NEW CREDIBILITY LOW
For many months since launching daily Xpress, I haven’t been able to resist pointing out the many inaccuracies of the weekly ratings reported by TVNewser, the once respectable “must read” during the tenure of the great Brian Stelter who was blogging while still in college and was quickly hired by The New York Times after graduation.
I miss those days with Brian who was sadly replaced by reporters with fuzzy math, conflicts of interest and reckless disregard for the truth, much of which I’ve detailed in previous posts.
But now, get this error. Today TVNewser has posted the ratings for the evening news shows for the week of April 11th, beginning their story:
“It was par for the course for the network evening newscasts the week of April 11.”
I guess so. TVNewser has posted last week’s ratings by mistake! How embarrassing is that! Read the rest of this entry »
MUIR BREAKS ABC NEWS’ RATINGS RECORD SEASON-TO-DATE, ANCHORS ONLY WEEK FOR NET WITHOUT YEAR-TO-YEAR DECLINE
David Muir: the next generation of ABC News?
You won’t read this in their press releases, but a stealth weapon has been discovered at ABC News. TMZ has already called him the “Brad Pitt of network anchors.”
TMZ may prove to be way ahead of ABC’s revolving research and management teams.
His name is David Muir and remember that you read it here first: the holiday week Muir filled in for Diane Sawyer, a rare week without an ABC News press release to spin, er tout the ratings, David Muir increased the viewership of adults 25-54 by a whopping 8% over the year before. And that week, the week of December 27th, was the only week of the entire season-to-date (the past 16 weeks) that the demo at ABC News has increased over the prior year.
Some keen observers may say the boost was due to the big snow storm hitting parts of the east coast, especially New York where Brian Williams reported outside in the snow. He was up 10% year to year. CBS News with newly deposed morning anchor Harry Smith filling in for Katie Couric, however, was down 9%.
NEW ABC PRESS RELEASE OUT TODAY
Interestingly, today ABC News issued a press release today lauding the week of January 3rd with the headline: “World News with Diane Sawyer” Draws Second Most Watched Week in Nearly a Year. (The most watched week? Shhhh, David Muir.) Read the rest of this entry »
****UPDATED 12/28/10 PAINT BY NUMBERS: AN EVENING NEWS SHOCKER
Couric Squeezes the Gap with Sawyer to 150,000 Viewers — Narrowest of Season — 66% Smaller than Last Year
Christmas Colors in Red and Green
note from your friendly blogarist: “Paint by Numbers” will be an occasional, yet regular, feature of daily Xpress meant to reach behind the press releases for a more accurate picture of the state of broadcast news than reported elswhere.
Can you call a 150,000-viewer gap between ABCs World News with Diane Sawyer and CBS Evening News with Katie Couric anything other than "striking distance?"
Note to Les Moonves: Objects in the rear view mirror may be closer than they appear.
As you sit down to re-negotiate Katie Couric’s $15M salary and future at CBS News, and you should amidst your continuing lay-offs, you might want to take a closer look at her A25-54 numbers this year compared to last year.
Katie Couric has narrowed the gap with Diane Sawyer on 12 out of the 14 weeks of this season. (One week showed the same gap as last year).
I just want to make sure you have our Paint By Numbers kit. TVNewser seems to have ignored this accomplishment which is somewhat surprising given their warm relationship with her executive producer. Oh well, maybe they’ll write something about it next week, in a round up of the quarter. (Oops, they missed it again. Might they be holding back to hang on to some negotiating leverage?)
Bloomberg News, in reporting on your preliminary talks for her new contract, noted this last week: “Both sides recognize Couric’s salary must be reduced for her to remain at CBS, one of the people said. This season, the “CBS Evening News With Katie Couric” is averaging 5.73 million viewers a night, according to Nielsen Co. data, behind NBC and ABC, and down 24 percent from when she took over in 2006.”
Yikes, the continuing obsession TV writers have with total viewership is…. meaningless. Does that matter in the real business world? Not one bit.
As you know, “total” viewers don’t add one single dollar to the financial health of a news division. Doesn’t it make you want to scream “It’s the demo, stupid,” because that’s what they should be tracking for Katie in the coming weeks.
THIS JUST IN: KATIE HAS A VERY MERRY XMAS WEEK
For the week of December 13, Katie Couric quietly narrowed the demo gap with Diane Sawyer from 500 000 to 450,000 year to year. *** And this just in for the week of December 20. Katie Couric squeezed the demo gap down to just 150,000, narrowing that gap a whopping 66% over the same week in 2009 (440,000). The CBS demo delivery of 1,980,000 viewers was actually the second highest of the season, only topped by Thanksgiving week which only included two days (Monday and Tuesday.)
The week of Christmas only included four days, excluding Friday (generally the lowest rated day of the week for the evening newscasts.) This year, as last year, Diane Sawyer took off for her birthday (December 22) and the day after. David Muir substituted.
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