Gawker
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layoffs roundup
MTV Closing Rhapsody Office
- RealNetworks and Viacom subsidiary MTV closed down the entire New York office of their joint Rhapsody America online music venture, a tipster tells us, sending the roughly 25 staffers packing, albeit with severance. A lone Rhapsody staffer transferred to RealNetworks' New York office. The service will continue operating, via Real's west coast offices.
- The same tipster said more Viacom cuts are coming today. Someone else told us previously that MTV would lay off around 300 today.
- CNBC is said to be laying off up to 80 staff as soon as today, its first cuts under the $500 million cost reduction announced by parent NBC in October. [Post]
- NBC Universal cut about 30 people in advertising support and research nationwide, sparing staff at its successful cable networks. [TV Week]
- We're told, anonymously, that the Arizona Republic, Gannett's second-biggest newspaper, laid off 20 or more newsroom staff.
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roundup
Where Did The Obama Ad Touch You?
- Chris Matthews, MSNBC: "It was romance. It was realism... I thought it was fabulous."
- Sara K. Smith, Wonkette: "Cried through the whole informercial... Your editor is such a pussy."
- Mark Halperin, Time: "F'ing well done."
- Mark Hemingway, National Review: "The last thing that should be driving America's voting habits is a half-hour of Manipulative Portraits of Downtrodden Victims of Shadowy Governmental Forces... America is not one big breadline
- Ben Smith, Politico: " A dramatic gesture executed in a very safe fashion."
- McCain campaign: "The sales-job is always better than the product. Buyer beware."
- Rachel Maddow, MSNBC: "He had me at the waving wheat."
- Tom Shales, Washington Post, via Hollywood Reporter: "An elegant combination of pictures, sounds, voices and music designed not so much to sell America on Barack Obama as to communicate... how it would feel to live in an America with Barack Obama in the White House."
- Rocky Mountain News, via same: "This was 30 minutes of high-class production values, which told you little that you didn't know before but which offered you 30 minutes of feeling comfortable watching Obama from your living room."
- Full ad is after the jump, if you somehow missed it.
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roundup
TV Reporter Screw-Ups: The Grand Trilogy
Once monthly in April, May and June, Gawker examined the foibles of those most self-serious of journalists, television news anchors and correspondents. Video editor Richard Blakeley's compilations of the physical pratfalls, on-camera meltdowns and embarrassing lip slips of TV personalities have drawn, so far, close to 1.3 million page views. We present them here together, as a kind of boxed set of media fallibility:
- The Dangers of Being a Television News Reporter - Apr 8 2008 - 415,572 views
- Top Ten Angry On-Camera Meltdowns - May 13 2008 - 728,435 views
- The Best of TV News Lip Slips - Jun 20 2008 - 148,007 views
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roundup
Tim Russert, Remembered
- Tim Russert's son, Luke, asked Barack Obama and John McCain to sit next to one another at his father's funeral Wednesday. They complied, and listened as he urged them and the rest of the mourners to "engage in spirited debate but disavow the low tactics that distract Americans from the most important issues facing our country." [Times]
- At the Kennedy Center memorial service, Tom Brokaw opened by lifting a bottle of Rolling Rock beer pilfered from Russert's cooler, as well as a mug the newsman gave him, and declaring, "We are going to do this Irish style. There will be some tears, some laughs, and the occasional truth." [AP] (Photo via FishbowlDC)
- Brokaw on the crowd: "Family... closest friends from near and far, the powerful, the ordinary, and the largest contingent of all, those who think they should be his successor on Meet the Press." [TV Newser]
- Meet The Press executive producer Betsy Fischer: "In the seventeen years I've had the great honor of working with you and learning from you, you have never once steered me wrong." [FishbowlDC]
- Mario Cuomo recounted how, as governor, he pushed through the country's first seatbelt law, then promptly got into a car accident and banged his head on the dashboard because the belt was not tightened. " The press appeared immediately and asked how the governor was. 'Thank God for the seatbelt,' said Russert without missing a beat." [Broadcasting & Cable]
- NBC anchor Brian Williams: "Tim spent a fortune on his hair. And on the day when he got it done, he looked outstanding for 60 to 90 minutes afterwards." (AP)
- "Williams reports Tim's last words were, 'What's happening,' to Washington bureau editing supervisor Candice Harrington." (TV Newser)
- Luke Russert: "My dad... said to him, 'Michael... What if God had come to you and said... I will give you a beautiful, a wonderful, happy, and lovable son for 17 years, but then it will be time for him to come home? You would make that deal in a second, right?' Well, I only had — I had 22 years, but I, too, would make that deal in a heartbeat." [HuffPo]
- The Huffington Post has video of each tribute, along with transcripts (scroll down). [HuffPo]
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battlestar galactica
Battlestar Galactica: The End
So last night was the mid-season finale of the Sci-Fi Channel's space Bar Mitzvah Battlestar Galactica. Yep, no more episodes til January, so I paid special close attention. Actually, no, of course I didn't. I didn't even know it was the mid-season finale until I read it in the news this morning! So this week's roundup is just as whiskey-warbled as ever. This time I know there are spoilers, so keep out if you care about that. If not, jump! More » -
battlestar galactica
Battlestar Galactica Goo-Baths For All!
Hey so last night was that big important episode of the Sci-Fi Channel's space cotillion Battlestar Galactica. Are you just dying to find out what happened? So am I! More » -
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battlestar galactica
Battlestar Galactica: Too. Many. Boys!
What happened last night on the Sci-Fi Channel's sweaty, greasy, sinewy space ballet that is Battlestar Galactica? As I snoozed in air-conditioned bliss, my liver was good enough to jot down some notes. As usual: Spoilers? Could be! More » -
battlestar galactica
Battlestar Galactica: Killfest!
What happened this week on The Sci-Fi Channel's space disco Battlestar Galactica? I dunno. I was blotto and thinking about Smurfs. But I took notes, as always. There was more shooting than usual, which is always nice. After the jump, spoilers! Maybe! More » -
roundup
The Business of Death
"I saw the worst play of all time," today's Cindy Adams column begins in the NYP. She waits until halfway through to drop the real bomb: photos of Heath Ledger's body may be out there—and up for sale. What else have the vultures been trying to cash in on? More »
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