Mel's Diner

November 25, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

WHO: John Nogawski, President, CBS Television Distribution
WHERE: One Pico, Shutters on the Beach hotel, Santa Monica, CA
WHEN: Monday, Nov. 17, 2008, lunch

THE DISH: CBS TV Distribution President John Nogawski sits back in a chair at One Pico in Santa Monica, with the Pacific Ocean lapping not far behind him. He looks pretty serene for a guy who is responsible for a company with billions of dollars in annual revenue and a staff of about 1,100 people including overhead and production, and who is undeniably feeling the heat of an economy in peril. 

His station clients are struggling so badly that he anticipates some will start to have trouble paying CBS the license fees they owe. CBS, after a...Read More

November 25, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (3)

John Nogawski, President, CBS Television Distribution, says during a recent Mel’s Diner interview that he believes orator and syndication hopeful T.D. Jakes may have what it takes to break through in daytime.

CBS TV Distribution is out selling a show headlined by Jakes for Fall 2009. The show is sold in about 50 % of the country, including the Tribune station group.

By the end of year Nogawski says he expects to know if the show will be moving forward, once they get a sense of the rest of the clearances, a cable window and international sales.

November 15, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (3)

WHO: Brian Frons, President, Daytime, Disney-ABC Television Group
WHERE: Madeo, West Hollywood, Calif.         
WHEN: Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2008 lunch

THE DISH: Madeo in West Hollywood is all but empty when I arrive just before 1 p.m. for lunch with Disney-ABC TV Group Daytime President Brian Frons (my online tardy reform school is paying off). But somehow as soon as Brian sits down, the room fills up. I should have known, this guy can draw a crowd – in daytime afterall.

The day Brian and I meet at Madeo in West Hollywood, the 10,000^th epi...Read More

November 14, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (4)

Brian Williams certainly leads an adventurous life as anchor of NBC Nightly News, but his taste in food is decidedly unexotic. He was not raised an adventurous eater, and has never eaten Ethiopian or Korean food, he tells Parade in their report this weekend What America Really Eats.

Says Williams:

It doesn’t help that I am blissfully in love with mall food courts. My problem is limiting the choices. I will do a slice at Sbarro, or I’ll go to A&W—their cheeseburgers are unde...Read More

November 13, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

• David Beckham dined at Madeo in West Hollywood Wednesday night (11/12), according to a Super Fly Correspondent who sent in a tip via Blackberry message and asked to remain anonymous. At the same time, producer Phil Gurin and his agent, William Morris Agency's John Ferriter, were also spotted dining there together. Our tipster couldn't tell exactly who Beckham was with but said "it looked like he was with his kid." Coincidentally, I was there for lunch earlier Wednesday with