Setting Up the New iMac

This morning, FTVLive will be setting up our new 27" Apple iMac 5K.

The computer arrived yesterday and it will be so nice to get off the tiny laptop screen and back on a monitor that these failing eyes can finally see. 

As we told you, our old iMac finally gave up the ghost after 5 years when the hard drive crashed an burned right on my desk. 

FTVLive reached out to you and asked if you would help donate a few bucks for our new computer and to help keep the site up and running? Many of you came through in a big way, donations ranged from $5 to $400 and it really help offset the cost of the new iMac.

Yesterday, I emailed each and every person that donated to FTVLive via PayPal to thank them from the bottom of my heart.

There were others that sent gift cards and even a couple of checks the old fashion way in the mail came my way. 

I want to thank you all, but most of all my neck and squinting eyes, thank you most.

Sony Email Leaks: Zucker wanted Game Show for CNN

If you want further proof (as if it's needed) that Jeff Zucker is taking the news out of the cable news network, then look no further than the leaked emails coming out of Sony.

One of the hacked emails shows that the CNN boss approached Sony about producing a game show for CNN.

A game show?!

According to an email sent to Sony Pictures Television President Steve Mosko on November 6, 2014:

“Steve I met with Zucker this week and he asked if we would consider doing political jeopardy show for cnn. I’m guessing it’s a non starter but wanted to ask you how to respond to him,” read the e-mail from John Weiser, the president of Sony Pictures Television Distribution.

There was no indication in other emails of how the talks between CNN and Sony are progressing.

Several CNN anchors have competed on Alex Trebek’s Jeopardy in the past, including Anderson Cooper and Wolf Blitzer, who did not fair so well (see picture). 

H/T RadarOnline

TV Anchor Breaks Down at Sydney Hostage Scene

An Australian Anchor broke down on air after learning that she knew one of the victims in the Sydney Hostage siege.

Natalie Barr broke down live on air while revealing her personal connection to the death of 38 year-old Katrina Dawson had been killed when the siege ended in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

The late Sydney barrister and mother of three, Katrina, was the sister of a lawyer that works at the station.

Covering stories like this are hard, that is made much worse when you have a personal connection to someone inside.

Let's go to the video:

Former TV Newsies Get Own Reality Show

Penn and Kim Holderness, known to million of YouTube viewers as the family behind the “Xmas Jammies”  have agreed to host their very own reality TV show.

Holderness who left his Anchor job at WNCN (Raleigh) at the end of last year and his wife Kim a former Reporter will take on the Kardashian's in the reality TV world. 

A Production company will have cameras following the day-to-day lives of Kim, Penn, and their children, seven-year-old daughter Lola, and four-year-old son Penn Charles.

The new reality TV show will air on UP television starting in February 2015.

If you have not seen this year's Christmas video from the family, here it is: 

Here's our annual Christmas video newsletter. It's fast, crazy, and happy -- a lot like our 2014. Closed Captioning is available! Click "CC" button for lyrics! SUBSCRIBE: http://bit.ly/1GaXon6 OUTTAKES FROM THE VIDEO - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7Dy16jTyeM&list=UUCjesKhjzjezpmdP6eYRz5w Check out our other videos - #XMAS JAMMIES: Merry Christmas from the Holderness Family!

Bumped Up in O-Town

WESH in Orlando has announced that Morning Anchor Meredith McDonough has been promoted to evening anchor.

She fills the the job formerly held by Martha Sugalski who left the station back in July and is headed to WFTV(Shhhhh that's supposed to be hush hush) after she sits out a looooong non-compete.

 McDonough will anchor the early evening and 11 p.m. newscasts.

The Orlando Sentinel says that the station soon will announce the addition of another evening anchor to the mix, WESH General Manager Jim Carter said.

"Meredith is an incredible anchor and journalist, and I am very pleased that she will become an integral part of the evening broadcasts," news director Kirsten Wolff said in a statement.

McDonough said she was "thrilled" by the newest promotion and said it was "an honor to work alongside our award-winning team of journalists."

What the Real News People Think of HBO's The Newsroom?

HBO's The Newsroom wrapped up on Sunday night, the polarizing Aaron Sorkin depiction of TV news — loved by many for its typical Sorkin-ese while hated by many who call BS on its accuracy about the industry — was actually watched by many TV news people.

The Wrap asked a few of them on their thoughts of the HBO show: 

Andrea Mitchell, Anchor MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports”:

I have been fascinated by the series’ take on the “Edward Snowden” issue, the way Sorkin framed the obligation to protect a source — and all of the tough legal and moral questions that raises. The Newsroom relationships are exaggerated dramatically in a “West Wing” way but that’s part of the fun.  If we behaved that way in a real newsroom we’d never get the broadcast on the air!

The overheard conversation with the EPA bureaucrat on the Acela was a classic DC kind of moment. I love Jeff Daniels and the other actors, the writing is great and no one can top Jane Fonda and Sam Waterston – (who reminds me of some of my great mentors over the years at NBC — totally honest and principled news leaders who don’t take any crap and refuse to compromise).

And having Jane Fonda play the role of a Ted Turner-style cable mogul is genius.

Joe Peyronnin, Former VP CBS News, Former President Fox News

It was terrific television, rife with drama, conflict and controversy. The characters were brimming with emotion, passion and righteousness. The scripts were filled with smart, interesting and intense dialog about immensely important issues.

However, had the program accurately portrayed the real day-to-day mundane life in most newsrooms, the Newsroom series would have been canceled after one program. Kudos to the brilliant Aaron Sorkin.

Don Lemon, Anchor “CNN Tonight”

I’m not sure the show put a spotlight at all on the TV news industry. I think it was particularly interesting for those of us in the business.

But beyond that I’m not sure of any lasting impact etc. I watched mostly just to play critic and to see Jane Fonda. Her character is over-the-top dramatic.....

And if anyone should know over the top dramatic, it would be Don Lemon.

Just saying... 

Previously on FTVLIve: Why HBO's The Newsroom is nothing like a real newsroom 

Aaron Sorkin Slams the Media's Reporting of Sony Leaks

Speaking of The Newsroom....

The show's creator is not happy with the real media and their reporting of the Sony hack. In an Op-Ed piece in the NY Times, Sorkin called news outlets that report on the leaks, "morally treasonous" for carrying out the hackers' "bidding."

"As a screenwriter in Hollywood who's only two generations removed from probably being blacklisted, I'm not crazy about Americans calling other Americans un-American, so let's just say that every news outlet that did the bidding of the Guardians of Peace is morally treasonous and spectacularly dishonorable," Sorkin wrote, referring to the cyber group claiming responsibility for the attack.

Elsewhere in the piece, Sorkin attacked the newsworthiness of the material, comparing the reports about sniping executives and Tinseltown sausage-making to the Pentagon Papers, which pulled the curtain back on the government's involvement in Vietnam.

"The co-editor in chief of Variety tells us he decided that the leaks were — to use his word — 'newsworthy.' I'm dying to ask him what part of the studio's post-production notes on Cameron Crowe's new project is newsworthy," Sorkin sniped.

Later, he asks readers to imagine hackers in a room sifting through documents "that will draw the most blood."

"And in a room next door are American journalists doing the same thing," he wrote, before calling the work "demented and criminal."

Sorkin's missive came as Sony revealed it had waded into the fray, hiring one of the country's top anti-trust attorneys try to stop the media from spreading embarrassing leaks.

In the letter, which the Daily News received, lawyer David Boies warned news outlets to put a lid on any further information gleaned from the documents, which he said constituted "stolen information."

H/T NY Daily News

Former Philly Sports Anchor Backs Out of Plea Deal

It appears that a former Philly Sports Anchor has changed his mind on guilty plea.

Today, Don Tollefson surprised everyone when withdrew his guilty plea to defrauding sports fans out of phony travel packages and now says he will represent himself at a trial on the charges.

The Philly Inquirer writes that as he appeared before Bucks County Judge Rea Boylan for sentencing, the onetime celebrity sportscaster said he would serve as his own attorney going forward because he lacked the money to pay a lawyer for a trial. 

Tollefson had pleaded guilty in September to selling more than 200 people about $317,000 worth of bogus travel packages to high-profile sporting events like the Super Bowl or out-of-town Eagles games. He apparently told buyers that the proceeds would be used to benefit local charities.

But police said after Tollefson collected money for the trips, pieces of the promised itinerary, such as tickets to the game or hotel rooms, would never materialize. Tollefson would generally cease communication with the buyer once he had their cash, police said.

Tollefson, once the city's highest-paid sportscaster, has never directly explained why he engineered such a ruse. But he has said that while he was selling the packages, he struggled with addiction.

Reporter Arrested for Disorderly Conduct (Updated)

WJBF Reporter/Anchor Mike Miller was busted by the Richmond County Sheriff's Office for disorderly conduct. 

According to the station, the incident happened Friday evening at the Country Club (that is NOT Augusta National Golf Club).  Cops say Miller was busted for being intoxicated and grabbing a deputy’s Taser. Looking at his mugshot, we're guessing the Deputy did not like that every much. 

Miller was released on his own recognizance.

WJBF News Director Katherine Wideman did write a brief story for the station's website. 

Update (2/17/16) The case against Miller has been dismissed and is no longer on his record:

Ummmmm...I Don't Think that is New York

Last night, during the closing credits of CBS Evening News, they showed a live shot from New York City.

It seems that when none of us were looking, they moved the US Capitol Building to New York.

Maybe that was what all that scaffolding was for.

CNN's Brian Stelter's Ratings Down in the First Year

When Brian Stelter left the NY Times for his first TV job ever in November 2013, CNN had hoped that putting a younger person on Reliable Sources would help the show's ratings in the demo.

Stelter had an easy job...... replacing the awful Howard Kurtz and many thought it would be a no brainer that Stelter would show a big ratings bump.

But it hasn't happened, in fact Stelter's total viewer numbers are flat compared to that of Kurtz's.

But surly he has brought in the younger viewers...right?

Wrong!

Reliable is down 10% in the demo according to Nielsen. 

While Kurtz pulled in 137,000 viewers in the demo, Stelter is pulling in just 123,000, again according to Nielsen's ratings. 

Also, since Stelter has been at CNN, Fox News has seen demos go up for Media Buzz.

As one CNN insider said to FTVLive, "The guy is pretty damn arrogant for someone that has dropped in the ratings".

Ouch!

Former CNN Correspondent Mark Leff is Dead

Former CNN Correspondent Mark Leff passed away in Shanghai, China.

Mark Leff had been working as a senior consultant at Shanghai Media Group's ICS News, but is best known for his years at CNN. 

From 1990 to 1996, Leff was the US contributor to the CNN World Report program, providing weekly stories tailored for an international audience on events and trends in the United States.

For nearly 15 years, Leff also taught review classes on broadcast news writing for entry-level employees and interns at CNN's Atlanta headquarters. He also worked with overseas reporters, producers, and managers attending CNN's quarterly International Professionals Program training sessions.

He was also a professor at Ohio University.

He passed away in China. 

Crossing the Street in the Windy City

When WMAQ Weather Anchor Cheryl Scott signed off from the station 3 months ago, it was rumored that she was crossing the street to blowtorch WLS.

Later Today, the ABC O&O will announce that indeed Scott is joining the station. She is the heir apparent to take over Jerry Taft's slot WLS. 

Robert Feder reports that Scott will be on the air before the end of the year. 

NBC News Re-Ups BriWi for 5 More Years

NBC News Anchor Brian Williams recently celebrated 10 years in the chair at Nightly News and now he'll be there for another 5 at least.

Williams extended his contract for another 5 years at NBC. 

"It's probably time I admit that I am a one-trick pony," the 55-year-old Williams said from his Rockefeller Center office in New York this past weekend. "I am, I think, designed and put on this Earth to do what I'm doing now — and that is to eat, sleep and breathe nonfiction and the news going on in the world. And then at 6:30 every night I get to deliver it, and I get to hear from the audience, and I get to know them."

The new deal means that BriWi will at least finish out the decade at 30 Rock. 

H/T LA Times

So Much for Non-Biased News

While MSNBC leans hard to the left and Fox News leans hard to the right, CNN likes to proudly claim that they are down the middle and are non-biased in their reporting. 

Well you can chuck that out the window. In a news block on CNN that said "news hour" on the cable guide, you got anything but straight news.

The people (will refused to call them Anchors or hosts) closed the show out with their hands up and one with a handwritten note saying, "I can't breathe".

No longer can CNN claim themselves as a down the middle newscast with no bias. 

When someone pointed out on Twitter that the move was in "poor taste", CNN Contributor Margret Hoover tweeted back that it was her idea to do the hands up pose.

Now, at what point did "contributors" at CNN start producing the show?

This was nothing short of an embarrassment for CNN and the network bosses should take action, unless of course the goal is to become the next MSNBC. 

Just saying.....