BC Beat

November 4, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

9:42 p.m.

John King just went state by state and made a case that the race is over.  He then kind of caught himself and said that if you live out West, by all means, please vote.

9:31 p.m.

I'm watching John King work his magic wall and suddenly I'm a bit sad for both of them. Where does this love affair go from here after the election?  I am among the people who think King is a rising star, but what of the magic wall?  Poor thing may end up like that other guy from Wham.

November 4, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

Not remotely shocking, but nevertheless disappointing:
 
At about 3 p.m. PT my only way to watch NBC News is through MSNBC.
 
And it is there that MSNBC “host” Keith Olbermann comments that John McCain mispronouncing the word “pundit” made his day and then smugly sets up a clip featuring Sarah Palin.
 
I really had hoped that on Election Day maybe -- just maybe -- the venerable NBC News would trump MSNBC’s successful but one-sided reputation.
 
Apparently not.  Sigh.

November 4, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

You know when I love living out here in California?

At 10 a.m. on a Sunday when football is already on.  Or at 9 p.m. on a weeknight when a World Series or Monday Night Football game is wrapping up, and I still have plenty of time to get my much-needed but futile beauty sleep.

You know when I hate living out here in California?

At 2:23 pm on Election Day when all my NY-based co-workers have local news already on election coverage and we are stuck with regular daytime programming.  A spin around the dial of the broadcasters gives you crucial episodes of shows like Guiding Light, Ellen, Maury, General Hospital and Malcolm In The Middle.  At least KCAL has a 2 p.m. newscast.

I know there is plenty of election coverage on the cable nets for us out here, but this is like hi...Read More

August 23, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

The Saturday morning of the announcement of Joe Biden as the Democratic Vice Presidential candidate is exactly what’s making me nervous – or depressed – about the television news business between now and election night.
 
When political news hits, many have been conditioned to turn to cable news, because you know at least they’ll be talking about it.  You know, since the networks might have another important reality show about dogs on.
 
So Saturday morning at about 7:30 Pacific Time I turned on the television to hear some old-fashioned non-partisan analysis of the Biden selection.  And as a viewer and a fan of good journalism I was mortified.
 
In alphabetical order, here’s why the three cable news networks collectively sent me sprinting away from TV to the Internet to search for ...Read More
Industries: Programming, Washington

July 29, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

I’ve never been happier to see Martha Stewart’s syndicated daytime show.

Congratulations to KNBC in Los Angeles for being the first of the major local affiliates to leave live earthquake coverage at around 2:45 Pacific time Tuesday afternoon, joining Martha in progress.

Thankfully it seems the 5.4 quake left little damage behind in the grand scheme of things, and it had grown borderline comical watching the local newsies trying to find something – anything – to cover during the live coverage.

The breaking news footage of a few bikes overturned in a store on one channel was battling the 437^th interview with someone saying they felt the room shake but that nothing was damaged on another channel.

Thankfully, the coverage was complete overkill because most of us here in the Los Angeles area came through the quake relatively unscathed at press time. 

By Ben Grossman

Industries: Local TV