MediaMarketalk

Last week, as some in the CC were getting ready to watch their favorite program, a conflict emerged. One member had stopped watching the usual reality program. The conflict was, the program is always discussed the following day. The member had decided to watch True Blood, a drama created and produced by Alan Ball, noted for writing American Beauty and Six Feet Under, loosely based on a series of novels by Charlaine Harris. The member’s imagination had been captured by True Blood and a full defection had occurred. True Blood, the member remarked, was engrossing and each episode ended with a cliffhanger leaving you in a state of deep anticipation. In fact, the member had grown tired of the various reality shows and their seemingly made up drama. This may be a growing trend for the following reasons: According to a recent research report summer TV viewing this year was at an all time high. The gains in viewership were driven by cable programming. What kind of cable programming? A...

Lifetime, having successfully acquired “Project Runway” from NBC Universal’s Bravo, has itself been acquired by an NBC Universal-owned company. 

We hope that Senator Kennedy will be remembered as a great member of congress. He fought for universal health care, but sadly did not see this come to fruition. With Senator Kennedy’s death will congress pass a health care bill?

After a prolonged absence, due to legal issues resulting from the show moving from Bravo to Lifetime, Project Runway is returning for its sixth season. After five years on Bravo and a move from New York to LA, some feared the show would lose audience and the atmosphere that made it successful. After all, how do you have a show that focuses on fashion shot in LA? It does seem odd, but early indications are the show has retained its original appeal. In part, it could be because of the show’s formula, which we think involves heavy exposure to the designers and their personalities as well as their designs. Equally, the judges and Tim Gunn are familiar to the audience and one often spends time chuckling about what their response to some unfortunate design will be. On the other hand, Bravo’s substitute for Project Runway, The Fashion Show, never seemed to click. Some in the CC gave it a chance, but one of the distracting elements was a having a former singer judge fashion designers. This wo...

Don Hewitt was the creator of 60 Minutes. During his long career in broadcasting and among his many achievements, Hewitt, as a director and producer, helped shape the careers of broadcast pioneers.

AMC’s Mad Men, a CC favorite, drew 33% more viewers on Sunday night than last season’s opener. This show has some of the best writing on television. The drama, interlaced with historical context, is at time gripping. As far as demos are concerned, Mad Men increased adult viewers 25-54 by 83% and delivered 1.24 million 18-49, which is a 76% improvement over last year. Prior to the season’s opener, Mad Men maintained a heavy presence on the social networking sites. On one site various marketing tools, including a neat application that allows you to ‘Mad Men Yourself’ (it’s reminiscent of dressing paper dolls) are used. After Sunday night’s posting it would appear that AMC and executive producer Matthew Weiner are now BFF. We in the CC cannot wait until next Sunday at 10:00. Who will drink to that?

Alycia Lane, who had a controversial stint at KYW (CBS O&O) in Philadelphia, will now be a weekend anchor and general assignment reporter at KNBC (NBC O&O). Aside from a bizarre incident in New York with a police officer, Ms. Lane was involved in a real-life drama at KYW, which led to her dismissal and the firing of a co-anchor Larry Mendte. Mendte, who grew up in a Philadelphia suburb, pleaded guilty to hacking into Lane’s email account, and spent six months under house arrest, Mendte has recently filed a federal motion challenging his sentence. Land was also the center of a controversy involving photos of her in a bikini sent to a married man. LA might be the right town for Lane and she would probably be a welcome guest on Wisteria Lane.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News , World News , and News about the Economy Generally we do not like to cover politics or religion, for reasons we are sure you know! However, one CC member was watching Morning Joe on MSNBC this morning and felt they had heard the most rational argument for a single-payer health care system. Congressman Weiner was impressive and at times seemed to leave Joe Scarborough grasping answers.

We enjoyed his films.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News , World News , and News about the Economy The CC doesn’t normally cover politics, but one CC member became outraged after receiving several thousand dollars in medical bills for minor procedures. Fully insured, they discovered the discounts posted on the bills went to the insurance company, the balance was theirs. They wondered what the insurance company actually covered. Not much it appeared. While Olbermann’s commentary is only one view, it points out how important getting all of the facts will be in order to achieve real reform. We in the CC don’t necessarily advocate government sponsored health care, just affordable health care that actually covers more rather than less.

The drama began again last week and we were not disappointed. The first episode of the new season ended with a yelling match between Sheree and a PR executive, which included epithets being hurled and the executive being dragged from a conference room nearly foaming at the mouth. This scene, while unfortunate, left many of the CC in tears – from laughing so hard. Why? Primarily because Sheree, who had spent most of last season claiming she grew up in an upper-middle class environment, seemed more like NeNe. No shocker. Her veneer of class had been demolished by her behavior at her ‘birthday party’ last season. The conference room episode only confirmed that view for the CC. Scenes from tonight’s episode appeared to show Sheree trying to pull on Kim’s wig. We can’t wait to see what Kim’s response will be. At times, Kim (no innocent) appears to be prey being pursued by a pack of hyenas. While the show is entertaining and allows one to passively engage in gossip, cattiness and backbiting...

Budd Schulberg was a screenwriter and dramatist, who wrote On the Waterfront and What Makes Sammy Run? He also spent WWII working for the War Department and the OSS. Schulberg was heavily criticized for naming names during the Joe McCarthy hearings which destroyed many lives and careers. We in the CC have a member who knew one of Schulberg’s contemporaries, who not affected himself, but was nonetheless haunted by memories of destroyed friends. However, we feel his contributions during WWII and his ability and skill as a writer should be remembered. Follow the link below to view a New York Times video of Mr. Schulberg. http://video.nytimes.com/video/2009/08/05/obituaries/1194834031638/last-word-budd-schulberg.html