BC Crawler

Friday: Moment of Truth, Gibson v. Stewart, CNN Sans Carville and more...
January 25, 2008

By Alex Weprin

[Truth Be Told, I’m Shocked] The Moment of Truth, the not-so-well received reality show that the network programmed after American Idol, brought in monster ratings. The show retained more viewers than any other Idol lead-in to date, and even gained more younger viewers than Idol. Mike Darnell, Fox’s reality chief and the genius behind When Animals Attack, Joe Millionaire and the one hour moon hoax special, was ecstatic.

"If you want to win the money, you've got to tell the truth," Darnell told Variety. "That leads to great drama. It's possibly breaking families apart, possibly ruining relationships or at the very least getting the truth out into the open."

Darnell said he thought the show was particularly compatible with Idol at the moment because the competition is still in its early phase.

"It's the 'humiliation section' of Idol, " he noted — and Moment of Truth is all about humiliation.

You stay classy, Mike Darnell.

[Marketers are a Network’s Best Friend] Despite the writers strike decimating scripted programming, marketers have been sticking with the networks. A general opinion: broadcast television is still a solid investment, despite the declining quality of programming (see above). Of course with February sweeps set to go live next month, there is concern that a poor showing could make some advertisers patience wear thin. If the strike keeps on going, some analysts are predicting that cable and local TV could be big winners. Advertisings biggest night is coming up on February 3, an event better known as the Super Bowl, when many people tune in specifically to see the commercials.

[Gibson and Ledger, Stewart and the Media] TVNewser has a couple of interesting stories, with some videos to boot. The first is a clip from last night’s The  A Daily Show, featuring host Jon Stewart doing what he does best: lampooning the media for, how can I put this… overstating… some of the reactions given on the campaign trail. The second is an apology from Fox News and Fox News Radio host John Gibson, who mocked the death of Heath Ledger by playing music from the film Brokeback Mountain and saying “he found a way to quit you,” among other things.

[No Rajin Cajun? Come On!] CNN has banned analysts James Carville and Paul Begala from appearing on coverage until the Democratic primary has been settled. The decision came after complains from the Obama campaign, who noted that both Carville and Begala have close ties to the Clintons. Fun fact: CNN has kept them off the air since December, but no one noticed until Talking Points Memo called and asked about it. Whoops.

[You Know What Will Help Primetime Ratings? Plinko!] CBS, in an effort to fill a strike damaged primetime schedule, is programming six primetime special editions of The Price is Right. The shows will be up against NBC’s primetime game show 1 vs. 100, and will see The Ghost Whisperer shifted to 9 p.m. Drew Carey, who took over for Bob Barker as host last year, already has one primetime game show on CBS, The Power of 10, though the network has taken the show off the air for now.

[Viral Video of the Day] The Upright Citizens Brigade Theater, long a staple of sketch and improv comedy in New York, started up a video site. Among the initial offerings are clips from their old Comedy Central show, Human Giant and a number of original Web videos. The video below, which stars Arrested Development’s Michael Cera as Alexander Hamilton, might be the best of the bunch.

Posted by BC Crawler on January 25, 2008 | Comments (0)