If It's Tuesday It Must Be Sydney, Athens, Beijing...

Hail all new media! With the advent of streaming internet video, multiple cable channels, cell phone technology, and good old broadcasting TV, the ratings are up in Beijing. NBC Universal is the big winner as its monetary bets have paid off with the huge success from these current Chinese Olympics.

Yes, everyone is getting into the Olympic spirit. Fans can get total wall to wall coverage of their favorite sport on NBC's Olympic website. Boxing, baseball, softball, tennis, and badminton among others are being watched over on MSNBC, Bravo, USA, and CNBC. In fact, the ratings for MSNBC and CNBC are literally through the roof (although that would not take that much for the two low rated channels).

So, is this a new moment in the way America views the premier sporting event that comes our way once every four years? No! That is right. Despite all the newfangled ways to catch up on the Olympics, the story lines being presented are no different from any other Olympics.

-Primetime: NBC is still devoting what it considers the most sexiest of sports, to the most watched channel and time slots. You won't see much bicycle racing or equestrian events after the magic 8 pm start. This is holy ground and the place where NBC hopes to recoup all the billions it has laid out for the Olympics.

-The Game Plan: No matter what is taking place around the world, within China, or in the games themselves, NBC is basically creating a plot line that must be adhered to. The story aspects include:

-Water (and lots of it) will be featured: Hulky male swimmers and athletic females in a translucent water cube are always a big sale. Add in American dominance in swimming and of course, hero of the hour, Micheal Phelps, and you have swimming and lots of it

-Gymnastics: Stretch the gymnastic meets out to four separate days each for men and women and half the Olympics will feature this event that is also a big draw. Add in a controversy over the age of the Chinese team participants and two over the top perky American girls, and you have hit a ratings bonanza.

-Beach Volleyball: Screw the traditional team volleyball. Place two apiece, muscular tanned male teams and bikini clad Amazon women, and you have a good thirty or so minute filler between the two main events mentioned above.

-The Today Show: Proof positive that one would not know whether we were watching Athens, Barcelona, or any other games. Do not interview winning athletes from other countries. Stoke the flames of nationalism. Disregard the gold medal efforts of stars such as China's Yang Wei who overcame his own Olympic problems to be crowned this year's overall men's champion in gymnastics. Instead, have an incredibly narrow discussion on Thursday morning's show with Mary Lou Retton, Tim Daggett and Elsie Schlegel who only talked about American chances in the overall female category and did not even know the names of the Chinese competitors.

-NBC Nightly News: Live from Beijing, respect NBC anchor Brian Williams has been reduced to a shrill for the corporate good. One lead story each night (usually on the Russia-Georgia conflict) is followed by over twenty more minutes of pure Olympic news coverage. Yes, a few stories are warranted but what happened to our own USA-Iraq conflict and the so called important presidential race.

-Georgia vs. Russia: Finally, to show that they do put things in context, NBC showed how a beach volleyball match pitting two females each from Russia and Georgia were able to put things off and compete in a somewhat friendly manner. Of course what was not emphasized was that both of Georgia's players were actually rentals from Brazil who had no relatives in the small nation and were going back to Brazil as soon as the Olympics were over.

Meet Mr. Russert

Not long ago, Democrat operative Terry McAuliffe made a comment while on Meet The Press, that his deceased dad would be talking to Tim Russert's late father up in heaven. Patiently and with that trademark wry humor, Russert reminded McAuliffe that "Big Russ" was still with us and hadn't gone on to his reward.

Who could have none, that just weeks after that show was taped, the ever present, eternally enthusiastic younger Russert would be making the trip up to heaven before his own father. By now, word has gotten around to most of us, that the long running Meet The Press host and Washington DC bureau chief for NBC, died today at age 58.

Russert was versed in all the latest technology, able to go online with his views. Yet he really was a throwback to a simpler time, when people looked toward the evening news and their familiar anchors for much of their information and understanding on current events. Hand-in-hand with the evening news broadcasts were the Sunday morning news shows, an island of civilized discussion in a world where more and more talk was about posturing and hiding from the truth.

Russert was a bulldog in his preparation for his guests and in his determination to question them on the hard issues of the day. His trademark, putting up on screen previous quotations that his guest might have forgotten, were used not so much to trap the guest but to give historical continuity to the issue and the guest's own personal quest to frame the difficult issue that might be in question that day.

There once was a world in which TV news personalities and TV networks were expected to stay as neutral as possible in their presentations and in their hunt for truth. That world is eroding quickly. Any regular cable TV news watcher can quickly figure out where Bill O'Reilly, Keith Olbermann, and Lou Dobbs are coming from. In a way, the new wave puts the focus on the interviewer not the interviewee.

Tim Russert was a bridge back to a simpler but perhaps more intelligent world. He squashed any of his own personal political leanings to get at the truth and let the light shine on his important guest. This straightforward and honest approach helped to build trust in the venerable reporter.

Russert's most memorable moment was when he used a white board to count down the remaining electoral votes in the hotly disputed 2000 presidential election. In a news environment where John King on CNN can literally stretch and squeeze a state map to get instant voting results, many were longing for another repeat of the quaint methods Russert used just eight years ago. How sad that Russert's expertise and insight have been taken from us in this important election season.

A Blue Andy Griffith

Who knew? Watching two vintage 1963 episodes of The Andy Griffith Show on TV Land, the truth struck me. Andy and his town of Mayberry were a vanguard of liberal progressivism in an area that most of us would call politically bright red.

In one short hour we witnessed the following:

School teacher Helen Crump proclaiming that she could not cook and did not like to cook. Furthermore she would not learn to cook even for any future husband.

Crump also declared that she would not be a stay at home wife and would keep working in the educational field. And golly, Andy not only agreed with this sentiment, but chose Helen as his steady girl friend over dozens of other hot young Mayberrian beauties.

Andy seemed to enjoy his role as single dad. He felt very secure in bringing up Opie and was in no rush to turn to a woman to help in his parenting. It was only after constant badgering from Barney that Andy decided to go on a long long engagement with Ms. Crump.

Town drunk Otis was reassured by the Sheriff and Deputy Barney that he would always have a warm prison cell (complete with food service from Aunt Bee's kitchen)when he went on a drinking binge and could not go home to his long suffering wife. The law enforcement officers never put any guilt trip on Otis and saw his alcoholism more as a disease than something he was doing wrong (i.e. sinful).

Barney favored the involvement of state government over any private fund raising. The police department needed building funds and Barney wrote to the state commission to get the needed money. Even though Andy and himself were held in such high esteem by the Mayberry citizenry, the thought of holding a local charity drive never entered their mind. No free enterprise for those two!

Finally, one stands in awe that Sheriff Andy Taylor would patrol the dangerous environs of Mayberry without a trusted gun by his side. Yes, there was a rifle rack in the police HQ, but Andy almost never used the rifles or packed a pistol. In fact he would later become famous as the "Sheriff Without A Gun". Imagine what the NRA would do to Andy today. He would not stand a prayer of a chance to be reelected with his anti-gun stance.

Kids' Baseball

It would be easy to think that Little League baseball is no different from those who are producing the Kids' Nation reality show. Take a bunch of minors, put them through stressful situations, and kick back and see what happens. But there is no comparison. The eleven and twelve year old ball players are constantly being supervised by adults. The coaching staff does not have free hand with their young charges. All practices and games are well attended by parents and siblings. The days of an abusive coach yelling or hitting (see the original "Bad New Bears") a player are long gone. Indeed ABC/ESPN has mikes on all the coaches so that any bad or condomning words would be picked up by the millions watching on television. Finally, the old argument against Little League is that children so young should not be subjected to failure and the subsequent tears, etc. But those tears are short lived. The bitter disappointment of not moving on in the tournament is replaced as the players leave the field and go on to their next activity. The players at Williamsport make friends with their counterparts from other parts of the United States and abroad. During the championship game, many of the players who did not make it to the final contest could be seen hanging together having a wonderful time.

Kids' Nation

Forty days without parents. A world run by kids and not adults. Wide open spaces and the clean air of New Mexico. An opportunity to become famous on television. What is not to like about CBS' upcoming reality show - Kids' Nation? First off, who made the decision to allow these children (ages nine to fifteen) to go to New Mexico, leave school, and have no contact with their families for almost six weeks? Even if the kids wanted to be involved there can be no doubt that parents hungering for fame and fortune pressured their children to accept the opportunity to be seen nationally on CBS. There is a growing army of parents who have taken their photogenic offspring and send them to every casting call for movies, TV shows, commercials, etc. The word gets out and parents drop everything, dragging their budding stars to crowded competitions for coveted air time exposure. Kids' Nation is the holy grail of televised stardom; a weekly show starring young talent. To compound the problems with the show was the decision of the producers to limit governmental access to the film site, ban parents, and "work" the young charges for up to sixteen hours each day. On the one hand CBS must be happy as all the pros and cons being argued through the media has raised awareness and is a free publicity campaign. On the other hand, if enough of a negative chorus should rise, the show might not see any time at all on the network and all that sacrifice that parents and children made will have come to naught.

The King of Cable Meets The King

Larry King is a throwback. His schtick is to create an impression that all celebrities are connected and concerned with one another. To Larry it still is the late fifties, early sixties when the original Rat Pack played Vegas, when the Catskills were still a destination place, and talk show host and guest could easily banter and let the audience know that off camera they were palling around. Add to this the typical New York sense of excitement and introspective questioning and you have a successful cable prime time show that has lasted over twenty years. So on the anniversary of Elvis' untimely death, last week Larry went to Graceland. He started the show sitting in a vintage convertible outside Graceland's gates. He was acting like a kid with pumped up enthusiasm as he drove up the driveway and literally knocked on the mansion's front door. Opening the door was his guest for the night, a decidedly downbeat Priscilla Presley. The air was let out of the balloon in a very quick manner as Larry breathlessly asked Priscilla how she had been involved in the decorating of Graceland. Without rising to the occasion and perhaps twisting the truth to appease Larry and his audience, she said she had nothing to do with it. You could almost feel for Larry. His wonderment and amazement that he wanted to transfer to the CNN viewers was taken down many notches. Larry does not try to stir things up by putting his guests on the spot or arguing with them. What he is good at is attempting to make the guests feel like they are friends and that they are important. He asks simple but penetrating questions that try to peel back the views and lives of these guests. It might not have worked at Graceland but hey it's show business and there will be other nights and other guests.

Kramer as Merv

How do we say farewell to the ever present Merv Griffin? The producer of Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune will always have his name linked with these two eternal shows. The former singer will also be remembered for his and fellow crooner, Mike Douglas' 1960's/1970's era talk shows. The obits are pouring in. Friend of Nancy Reagan. Confidant of Eva Gabor. The shows featuring Woody Allen, Will Durant, Andy Warhol and a virtual who's who of American celebrities were talkfest background to the turbulent times that they represented. Was Merv a pioneering liberal voice? Was he a mainstream capitalist who became rich and friendly with California's right wing types? Was he a family man or a closet gay? Whatever the answers, Merv was definitely a piece of Americana. So it is to Seinfeld's Kramer that we look to as the fitting and ultimate tribute. Kramer with an empty apartment, who stumbles upon the remnants of Griffin's TV set in a New York trash bin. Dragging the set to his apartment, Kramer employs Newman as his own Arthur Treacher , and goes about making Griffin style banter with his friends. And just as Griffin retooled and had topical shows to boost ratings, Kramer pulls the plug on the friendly talk and comes back with a show that foreshadowed the hostility and craving for viewers that would result in what now passes for entertainment in programs such as Jerry Springer and a host of court room TV shows. The result is a laugh riot of accusations and a confrontation between a hawk and George and his squirrel. Obviously, such bloodshed and contrived bitterness ends Kramer's post Griffin production but it also should hold out a moment of reflection for us as we think back on the days when controversial subjects and guests could be handled in such gentle ways by two such professional and warm hosts - Griffin and Douglas.

So Long Hal

Active in LA newsrooms since 1965, Hal Fishman came into prominence by taking over the anchor position for a radically new concept - the ten o'clock news. Starting in 1975 at local station channel 5 (KTLA), Fishman remained at the job until just eight days before he was overtaken by colon cancer. A voice of reason, calm, and fatherly advice, Fishman presided over a city that was in transition from a white conservative power structure to one that would become multicultural and spread political power to many bastions of growing ethnicity. Year after year, Fishman with his prominent glasses, rumpled newsroom look, and professorial manner was a fixture for hundreds of thousands who wanted their news straight without any fillers. His young good looking (and often blond) co anchors would come and go but Fishman would remain in the seat of authority that allowed channel 5 to beat all comers in the overly competitive news wars. Along with his long time reporters Stan Chambers and Larry McCormick, KTLA had a simple but powerful lineup that could not be beat. That he worked almost to the last day of his life was a testament to Fishman's professional approach and his obvious loyalty to his many viewers to bring them the news in a way that one could make sense out of confusion and chaos. Thanks Hal and Godspeed.