BC Crawler

Friday: DGA, 'American Idol' Controversy and Chris Matthews
January 18, 2008

By Alex Weprin

[DGA Deal Gets Done] The Directors Guild of America and the Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers struck a deal, thus avoiding a potential strike by the directors. The deal was struck after only six days of negotiations. In response, the WGA will examine the deal made by the DGA, and see if it is close to what they were looking for, at the very least the deal could bring the two sides back to the bargaining table. The sticking point for the WGA has always been new media residuals, an area that was covered by the DGA deal, for a list of the provisions agreed to by the DGA and AMPTP, click here. Lets see this strike end soon!

[I’d Like to Thank the Academy…] …for not cancelling the Oscars. Yes, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences is planning on holding an Oscars ceremony February 24, strike or no strike. The academy is planning for two different Oscars, your normal star studded red carpet affair, and an alternative, should the strike wear on. Oscar director Gil Cates (also on the DGA negotiationg committee BTW) would not elaborate on the details. The WGA says that not even the Oscars are exempt from a picket line, unless of course a deal is struck.

[American Idol Controversy!? I’m In] American Idol Is finding itself in some hot water. In December a list of the 50 finalists (supposedly) popped up on the Web, and Sanjaya supporting Web site votefortheworst.com took a look at some of the names. Among their revelations: a number of professionals and people who have had contracts with record labels, including Carly Hennessy, a singer whom MCA spent millions of dollars promoting, before flunking out in stores, and Jermaine Paul, who has been nominated for a Grammy. The producers defended the appearance of pros and semi-pros: “"If they walk through that door and they sing well, then they will go through to the next round. End of story," he said. "[And] don't forget, when we get to the final 24, it's America that makes up their mind. So if America, having found out a little bit more about the contestants — which, hopefully they will have done by then — if they decide, 'Oh, this person's been around the block three or four times, I don't like them as much,' then that poor person will have to suffer the consequences. It has nothing to do with us.”

[I-Report, U Rake It In] Oh, to be Rick Schwartz. Schwartz, the self described “domain king” sold ireport.com and i-report.com to CNN for a handsome sum of $750,000. CNN uses I-Report’s on their Web site, in Second life and, occasionally, on the network itself. The purchase of the domain must be seen as a way to expand the burgeoning program. After all, why pay reporters to report when you can have viewers do it for free?

[Chris’ Clinton Conundrum] MSNBC host (this is Hardball!) Chris Matthews apologized on his show for things he said on his show that were deemed (appropriately if you saw them) as misogynistic. Matthews was pressured into the apology by NBC executives as well as outside groups that took offense at his statements. For the video and transcript of the apology, as well as background information, check out Jason Linkins’ report.

[What’s the Deal with Silly Superstitions?] In case you didn’t know, the Green Bay Packers will be playing the New York Giants this weekend out in Wisconsin. As it turns out, Giants quarterback Eli Manning is a huge Seinfeld fan. In what can only be described as some sort of bizarre retaliation, Green Bay TV network and Fox affiliate WLUK will be pulling all syndicated reruns of the popular sitcom in the days before the game, with the hope of, I guess, making Eli Manning sad? At any rate, it is a textbook example of the lengths TV networks will go to support the home team. Maybe if the Patriots play the Giants in the Super Bowl we can try and jinx Tom Brady by showing scenes with his ex from I, Robot on the jumbotron.

Posted by BC Crawler on January 18, 2008 | Comments (0)