Where to be and what to watch…
By Michael Malone -- Broadcasting & Cable, 10/14/2007 8:00:00 PM
Monday, Oct. 15
Walk into the boss's office and speak your mind. Should repercussions ensue, remind your supervisor that it's National Freedom of Speech Week. Yes, the annual celebration of all things First Amendment goes down, with various media entities conducting educational seminars around the country. It's the First Amendment that allowed Drew Carey and his comedic brethren to deliver their deliciously disgraceful versions of that Aristocrats joke, and now Carey takes a spin in a much more family-friendly vehicle as he starts on The Price Is Right on CBS. Elsewhere in the TV world, the National Association of Broadcasters unveils a public service announcement about the digital TV transition, while Diego travels to the Serengeti in the season premiere of Go, Diego, Go! on Nick Jr.
Tuesday, Oct. 16
A word of advice for the young TV-biz hopeful: Lug your scripts and schmoozing skills to the Beverly Hilton. The Hollywood Radio & Television Society teams with the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for “The Network Chiefs Summit,” with entertainment bosses Steve McPherson (ABC), Nina Tassler (CBS), Kevin Reilly (Fox), Ben Silverman (NBC) and Dawn Ostroff (CW). Other media bigwigs are in Washington, where the Media Institute hosts the Friends & Benefactors Awards Banquet at the Four Seasons. Scripps President/CEO Kenneth Lowe and former White House press secretary Tony Snow get awards. Elsewhere, the Tennessee chapter of NAMIC holds “You 2.0: Making the Connection” at The Foundry in Knoxville, while up in Gotham, Apprentice host Donald Trump reads from his characteristically subtle tome Think Big and Kick Ass in Business and Life at Barnes & Noble in midtown.
Wednesday, Oct. 17
The New York: Media Information Exchange Group hosts the breakfast panel “Demystifying Media & Entertainment Investment Opportunities”at SobelMedia's World Headquarters. PriceWaterhouseCoopers entertainment/media guy Michael Kelley moderates, with insights from Andrew Cleland of Time Warner Investments. On the tube, the second season of Biography Channel's salute to no-longer-with-us glitterati, The Final 24, debuts. A peek at Anna Nicole Smith's last day on earth rolls at 11 p.m. On a brighter note, PBS Kids celebrates 10 years of Teletubbies this week with a special day dedicated to each one. That whimsical scamp Po gets his/her/its due today.
Thursday, Oct. 18
It's Connection Day out on Long Island, as the Fair Media Council gives the public the chance to meet their local news media. Look for the likes of WNBC New York senior veep Dan Forman and WCBS news director David Friend. Back in New York, Aaron Sorkin—bruised but not broken after the spectacular failure of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip—returns to Broadway with The Farnsworth Invention. Focusing on the creation of the television, it's Farnsworth's opening week at the Music Box Theater. Simpsons star Hank Azaria gets top billing.
Friday, Oct. 19
Multimedia preacher man Joel Osteen attempts to raise the roof before a big bunch of believers at Madison Square Garden, while Fox does its best to create a new god with The Next Great American Band. The latest from Nigel Lythgoe, Simon Fuller, et al., American Band hopes to capture a fraction of the audience that American Idol does when it debuts at 8. Judges included Goo Goo Doll John Rzeznik and percussive pop star Sheila E.—with several bands hoping for a taste of the glamorous life.
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