May 3, 2013--Hollywood On the Potomac
When Roone Arledge, the programming genius behind the ascent and profitability of ABC Sports (remember "Wide World of Sports" and the original "Monday Night Football"?), was asked to also take responsibility for the failing ABC News division, I knew it was all over.
By "all over" I mean the end of keeping journalism and entertainment separate. From then on, especially on television, the dominant medium of the time, profit would rule; and in order to have TV news make money, it would be necessary to make reporting and news itself entertaining.
Cut to last weekend's White House correspondents dinner.
Seated at the same table, laughing at president Obama's jibes and jokes, were Bill O'Reilly (of FOX so-called News) and Anton Scalia (of the Supreme Court). Just across from them were Wolf Blitzer (of CNN) and Sharon Stone (of Basic Instinct) and nearby were Chris Matthews (of MSNBC) and Scarlett Johansson (of Lost in Translation).
Even Joan Rivers was on hand, keeping an eye on the red carpet (yes, this year, they actually instituted one) to offer up her snarky comments about Barbra Streisand's and Sofia Vergara's gowns and dos.
Most striking and revealing was the number of actors and producers present who either currently or in the recent past have been involved in film and TV projects set in Washington, more specifically in the White House.
Presidential intimate Valery Jarrett and UN ambassador Susan Rice were seen competing for air time with the cast of HBO's Veep, ABC's Scandal, and Netflix's House of Cards.
Also front and center were Michael Douglas who played the president in The American President and Claire Danes, the star of Showtime's thriller, Homeland. Even the terrorist heavy from Homeland, Navid Negahhan, who played Abu Nazir was in the house. As reported by the New York Times, Amy Poehler said, "I thought we killed Osama bin Laden."
I suppose it's good to see some bin Laden jokes and to know that, even though the White House and the Congress can't get anything done, at least they can entertain us.
By "all over" I mean the end of keeping journalism and entertainment separate. From then on, especially on television, the dominant medium of the time, profit would rule; and in order to have TV news make money, it would be necessary to make reporting and news itself entertaining.
Cut to last weekend's White House correspondents dinner.
Seated at the same table, laughing at president Obama's jibes and jokes, were Bill O'Reilly (of FOX so-called News) and Anton Scalia (of the Supreme Court). Just across from them were Wolf Blitzer (of CNN) and Sharon Stone (of Basic Instinct) and nearby were Chris Matthews (of MSNBC) and Scarlett Johansson (of Lost in Translation).
Even Joan Rivers was on hand, keeping an eye on the red carpet (yes, this year, they actually instituted one) to offer up her snarky comments about Barbra Streisand's and Sofia Vergara's gowns and dos.
Most striking and revealing was the number of actors and producers present who either currently or in the recent past have been involved in film and TV projects set in Washington, more specifically in the White House.
Presidential intimate Valery Jarrett and UN ambassador Susan Rice were seen competing for air time with the cast of HBO's Veep, ABC's Scandal, and Netflix's House of Cards.
Also front and center were Michael Douglas who played the president in The American President and Claire Danes, the star of Showtime's thriller, Homeland. Even the terrorist heavy from Homeland, Navid Negahhan, who played Abu Nazir was in the house. As reported by the New York Times, Amy Poehler said, "I thought we killed Osama bin Laden."
I suppose it's good to see some bin Laden jokes and to know that, even though the White House and the Congress can't get anything done, at least they can entertain us.
Labels: Anton Scalia, Bill O'Reilly, Claire Danes, Joan Rivers, Michael Douglas, Roone Arledge, Scarlett Johansson, Sharon Stone, Sofia Vergara, Supreme Court, Valerie Jarrett, White House Correspondents Dinner
posted by Steven Zwerling at
5:59 AM
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