T.H.A.T.
(Television History and Trivia)

from

www.hologlobepress.com
 

by

Victor Edward Swanson,
 Publisher
 

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- - - T.H.A.T., Edition No. 58 - - -

    Special announcements: Before I present this edition of T.H.A.T., I have to present information for every individual to consider, and it is something that you will not learn about in any local television newscast.
    It was on Tuesday, January 20, 2009, that I heard a troubling piece of audio that belonged to a video presentation that had been put together by Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher (the audio of the video was aired on The Frank Beckmann Show on WJR-AM at about 9:15 a.m.).  The audio clip of the video, which is considered the "President's Pledge" video, had a number of performers making statements about "pledging" to do something, and some of the "pledge" statements were ugly statements.  The worst of the statements that I heard was one in which a person said that he was pledging to be a "servant to Obama."  This country is not designed to be that in which a person pledges to be a "servant" or "slave" to any U.S. President or politician.  In the United States of America, politicians work for the people, and the people are protected from politicians by the U.S. Constitution, and the United States of America is not a communist country, like China or Russia.  In the past, for instance, people in China sang for Mao, and, today, children and adults should not be taught to be "servants" to anyone, especially Barack Obama or any President of the United States of America.  The video production was shown on The Oprah Winfrey Show on Monday, January 19, 2009.  After the audio clip was played on The Frank Beckmann Show, Frank Beckmann had listeners call in and comment about what was said in the audio clip, and one man said that this country was not set up so that the citizens could be servants to the U.S. President, and I was glad to hear someone caught on to the dangerous thought, and I wonder how many Americans who caught the presentation on The Oprah Winfrey Show caught the dangerous thoughts contained within the video.  The thoughts in the video are thoughts that should be rejected and never taught, and the video presentation should be rejected as dangerous to the individual in the United States of America.  (Talk with you children and grandchildren, and tell them to reject the idea of pledging to be a "servant" to any politician.)
    On Sunday, January 18, 2009, William Ayres (a professed communist and a former member of The Weathermen, which was a terrorist group based in Chicago, Illinois, in, for example, the 1960s) tried to enter Toronto, Canada, where he was scheduled to soon make appearances at events, but Canadian officials did not allow him to enter the Canada--William Ayre was refused admittance.  (Black. Debra.  "William Ayres turned back at the Canadian border."  thestar.com  (of The Toronto Star, Toronto, Canada), 19 January 2009, at 11:22 a.m.)
   During the Bill Press show on Air America (a nationally distributed liberal-based radio talk-show network) on February 5, 2009, U.S. Senator of Michigan Debbie Stabenow (who has the label of "Democrat" and is married to Todd Athans, who is an executive at Air America) made this comment related to plans to restrict the speech of radio talk-show hosts and citizens on radio stations: "... I think it's absolutely time to, ah, pass a standard.  Now whether it's called the fairness standard, whether it's called something else, I absolutely think it's time to be bringing accountability to the airwaves.  I mean our new president has talked rightly about accountability and transparency in, you know, that we all have to step up and be responsible.  And I think in this case there needs to be some accountability and standards put in place...."  It should be troubling to you that any government official would be thinking about putting restrictions, such as "standards" or "accountability" ideas, on speech in the country.  Whose "standards" are being talked about?  What "accountability" is being thought of?  Standards will be set by which government officials?  The idea of "balance" is going to be talked about, and a person, such as you, should wonder what "balance" is and who would set the standards of "balance."  Incidentally, Debbie Stabenow is not the only national politician pushing the idea of restricting speech, as you will discover through a search on the Internet.
    Note: The special announcements are made because television-news entities are very unlikely to cover the topics and the topics are important to know.

    Warning: The "stimulus" package under discussion by the U.S. Congress and promoted heavily with fear tactics by Barack Obama around this date of publication is not really a stimulus package.  For one, it has a provision that sets up a national "health-care" tsar and the beginnings of a national-health care system in which the federal government will dictate what procedures will and will not be done on patients, especially the elderly, and what drugs will and will not be used to treat patients (as is done in England).  The proposed "stimulus" package is garbage, and your health care and the health care of your relatives is in jeopardy!  Find out about it through The Wall Street Journal and such radio talk-show hosts as Mark Levin, Sean Hannity, and Rush Limbaugh.
 

    I say, "Failure is an option."  I say that because I have seen failure, such as during the at least 45-minute long question-and-answer segment of Barack Obama during this first nationally delivered news conference, which was given on Monday, February 9, 2009.  Failure can come from, for instance, lack of knowledge, lack of experience, lack of effort, and a lack of a clear-thinking mind.  This edition of T.H.A.T. talks about  "failure" in television industry, which are things you will not learn about through television news reports, especially network television news broadcasts.

    Let us look at television.  In December 2008, one of the big stories was that Jay Leno was going to stay at NBC-TV and do a weeknight--at 10:00 p.m.--talk show, which was to begin running in the fall of 2009, and that has led to a lot of speculation about what is going to happen, and, for one, of  course, Conan O'Brien gets to move up to a better time slot on NBC-TV, which is the roughly 11:30 p.m. weeknight slot.  The moving of Jay Leno is, for me, more indication of an industry in trouble.
    Consider some thoughts of mine.  Since the 1970s, television has been becoming more unlikeable (which is a subject that I have talked about in the past), and one reason for that is the current generation of management, as far as I think, is unable to produce likeable product, because it is not in their nature and personal makeup; for instance, most of the fun holiday specials seen today--particularly cartoon-type specials--were made before the 1980s.  TV-movies since the 1980s have mostly been disease-of-the-week type movies, and rarely are movies simple fun movies, such as regular detective movies or regular fiction stories (too much social commentary is provided in movies).  For several years now, Saturday evenings have become mostly times to show repeats of series, which ends up giving some series at least double exposure every week.  During the week, more and more shows are getting double runs or are offering, for instance, two or three episodes a week (as happens with Dancing with the Stars and American Idol).  More unlikeable shows are showing up, such as Rosie Live (which was shown on NBC-TV on November 25, 2008), Shaken Not Stirred: A Celebrity Roast (the first episode of which was shown on MyNetworkTV on October 9, 2008, and focused on saluting Rev. Al Sharpton), The Secret Millionaire (which began to be shown by Fox TV on December 3, 2008), and Momma's Boys (which began a run on NBC-TV on December 16, 2008).  The networks are offering shows with, in truth, unlikeable situations or characters, and some examples are The Office (which, though, it may get worthwhile ratings for NBC-TV, has unlikeable people), Do Not Disturb (which showed up on Fox TV in the beginning of the season and has disappeared), and Survivor (which has been a product of CBS-TV and often has unlikeable people doing backstabbing stuff, et cetera).  There are too many forgettable reality shows on broadcast television and cable television, and, in the long run, the people in the shows offered are tiring on viewers.  The news units of such networks a ABC-TV, CBS-TV, and NBC-TV have betrayed the American people in political coverage, such as that related to the big "stimulus" bill that was being worked on in January and February 2009 (which many federal politicians were pushing to pass quickly before the American people realized the bill was not a "stimulus" bill and was a dangerous and hurtful piece of garbage, and more and more people over the next few years are going to understand how and why (to see some information about the topic, you should see T.H.A.T. #55, which can be reached by hitting this link: T.H.A.T. #55)).

    Here is an aside that has to be put here.  In essence, The Secret Millionaire was not entertainment.  Generally speaking, each week a rich person went to live with what the series deemed to be poor people.  The series was a social-engineering piece.  To me, it was the most unlikeable series shown on broadcast network television this season--at least.  The production companies that were involved in the series--and three listed on the end credits--were Rocket Science Laboratories, rdf usa (which is part of the rdf media group), and Liberal Media.

    Here is another aside to show why Momma's Boys was garbage.  The series was about three guys--each getting with help from his mother--were looking to find a wife (it seems).  One problem was one of the young gals looked ill, and that gal was Megan Albertus (a white gal who looked as if she was starving herself or had been).  The three guys were white, and about half on the gals were black, and there was one Asian gal.  To me, the producers did something that reminded me of the "crappy" shows that were done in the theatrical movie called Network--they purposely chose a guy with a mother who did not want her son to marry a black gal, a jewish gal, a gal after only money, et cetera, and the producers knew they would get a big confrontation between the mother and at least some of the black gals (such as that including angry yelling about skin color).  It was garbage stuff--purposely trying to find someone who would give the audience that unrealistic black-white conflict stuff--as far as I am concerned.  It was not entertainment, and it was a smucky setup.  It was not fun television.  "For the record," I provide information about the production companies that were associated with the series and about some of the producers.  The production companies listed at the end of the first show were: Glassman Media (which is associated with Andrew Glassman) and Ryan Seacrest Productions.  Andrew Glassman was an executive producer for the show, and Ryan Seacrest, who does radio shows, hosts television shows, and has been the host of all the editions of American Idol for Fox TV, was an executive producer.

    Incidentally, during the second episode of Momma's Boy, the three guys were put through an obstacle course, and one guy could not get through it easily--in fact, he threw up at the end and was taken away in an EMS vehicle--and that is a Mommy's Boy, and I say, "Good luck to the gal who gets him."

    Let me examine the Detroit television market a moment (and the way in which I do the analysis, you can apply to the television market in which you happen to be, if it is not the Detroit television market), and I am examining the broadcast stations.  On weekday mornings, Channel 2 runs what is in essence a talk show entitled Fox News Morning, which runs from 4:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m., and some of the other morning talk shows that viewers can tune into are Good Morning America (on ABC-TV for two hours), Today (on NBC-TV for three hours (a fourth hour gets shoved to the afternoon)), The Early Show (on CBS-TV for two hours), Live with Regis & Kelly (a syndicated program show on Channel 7 for one hour), The Morning Show (a syndicated show shown on Channel 2 for one hour), and Daytime (a syndicated show shown on Retro Television Network).  There are also these talk shows airing in late morning and the afternoon (I use the informal titles)--Ellen (syndicated), The View (on ABC), The Doctors (syndicated), Martha (syndicated), The Jerry Springer Show (syndicated), Rachael Ray (syndicated), The Oprah Winfrey Show (syndicated), Dr. Phil (syndicated), The Bonnie Hunt Show (syndicated), Maury (syndicated), and  Steve Wilkos (syndicated).  (Some of the shows of this paragraph get double runs in a day--or two episodes are show each day.)   At night, viewers have The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (NBC-TV), Late Night with Conan O'Brien (NBC-TV), Jimmy Kimmel Live (ABC-TV), Late Show with David Letterman (CBS-TV), and Late Late Show with Colin Ferguson (CBS-TV).
    Keep in mind there are a lot of reality court shows on the air in the afternoon, and there are some soap operas (which are having trouble drawing viewers--the ratings are down).
    So, now, let us put Jay Leno in a talk show in prime time (which moves Conan O'Brien to a early slot, the one vacated by Jay Leno, and which puts Jimmy Fallon in the slot vacated by Conan O'Brien).
    Here are some conclusions, noting "failure is an overall option" for the television industry.  There are too many talks shows, and too many of the same guests are showing up, and there is too much fashion stuff, too much "wellness" stuff, too much pseudo-intellectual stuff, et cetera, and, by the way, Conan O'Brien is not likeable.  Television executives have made television unlikeable and boring, such as by giving viewers The Secret Millionaire, Rosie Live, The Biggest Loser (which is about overweight people), Do Not Disturb (with the "penis" joke that I have talked about in the past), Momma's Boys, at least one episode of Shaken Not Stirred: A Celebrity Roast, and True Beauty (the executive producers of which were Karey Burke, Jason Goldberg, Rod Aissa, Tyra Banks, Laura Armstrong, Denise Cramsey, and Ashton Kutcher).

    Remember: Trouble can be comulative over the years!

    It must be noted that the failure for the television industry cannot be deemed "mass failure" or what I also call "failure on a mass scale," which has yet to come and it will not come in an instant.  Not building coal-based electric generation plants in the country will lead to mass failure, and not building up the system to find, get, and process oil from land of the United States America will lead to mass failure (it takes many years to put such plants in use).  Not building nuclear-based power plants, each of which can take more than ten years to put into use, will lead to mass failure.  Putting up thousands and thousands of windmills and running all the necessary distribution wires (which will be a tangled web) and hoping windmills will make the country energy self-sustaining will lead to mass failure.  Making a big push for a "green economy" to create jobs and save the country will be mass fail.  In essence, the Social Security system and the Medicare system of the country are in financial trouble--caused by mismanagement and caused by offering services to people (illegal immigrants) who should no receive benefits--and the federal government--instead of truly fixing the two systems--it is going to try to create a national-health-care system, and that is a sign of near future mass failure.  The federal government seems to be heading back to creating a bunch of road projects to make jobs (which will not create jobs to make people smarter or better and give them more complex skills), and that is a sign of mass failure.  Making "business" and "businesses" the enemy, which socialists like to do, will lead to mass failure.  Hindering individuals--no matter what enthicity--from thinking for themselves and using their minds and talents to create new businesses and products, such as machines shops, bowling alleys, and never-before-known products, will lead to mass failure.  "Mass failure" or "failure on a mass scale"--that is what you get with a person who has no business experience, who dislikes the U.S. Constitution, who has said that he would tax coal-based generation companies into bankruptcy, who has created nothing, who puts down the country when in other countries, who is a man whose main goal in life as been to organize people to revolt against businesses, et cetera.  (You are strongly urged to see other documents that I have written and posted on the Internet on the Web site for The Hologlobe Press, such as Political Lessons for the Individual Woman and the Individual Man in the United States of America, which can be reached by hitting this link: Lessons.)

    What was talked about in this edition of T.H.A.T. is the type of material that does not get mentioned in locally produced television newscasts and in television network newscasts, and because that is the way it is, I feel is was necessary to do better than what the producers of the newscasts do.

   Oh, the Detroit Lions (based in Detroit, Michigan) finished the pro-football season with a record of zero wins and sixteen loses, and the management fired the coach, and the management hired another coach, and, in the upper management, not much was changed, so I say that there has only been a superficial change--on the face of it, a change has been made.

    "On the face of it"--this thought fits in with something that a friend of mine has reminded me of several times over the last two months or so.  A man named Hans Christian Andersen wrote a story a long time ago that dealt with people and an emperor, who recently acquired a new set of clothes, which were especially made for him with special thread.  Such lovely clothes they were.  Such elegant clothes they were.  All the people saw the loveliness and elegantness, and all the people praised the emperor on the new clothes.  Over the years, television shows based on the story have been put together and shown to viewers (I have at least a few of the presentations listed in my television files).  Sir John Gielgud narrated one such show, which was shown on Showtime on November 6, 1990.  What was the name of the story in which the people were all enamored with the emperor?  That is your trivia question for this edition of T.H.A.T.   (I do not have any trivia-question answers to give you, since I did not ask any question in the previous edition of T.H.A.T..)  Remember: The story focused on a man of all flash and no substance and people who had no guts to disagree.

Stay well!

Vic

P.S.: The Detroit Free Press published a short article entitled "Newspaper to trim printing days" on November 29, 2008, and here is part of the article: "The suburban newspaper the Daily Tribune says it will cut its print edition to four days a week from six.  The newspaper published in Royal Oak says it's a way to save money.... ("Newspaper to trim printing days."  Detroit Free Press, 29 November 2008, p. 12A.).  In past editions of T.H.A.T., I have talked about how the Daily Tribune cut back on offering television-program-listings material, and one reason that was given was to make the newspaper better by offering readers more local environmental stories.  (The offering of more local environmental stories was a sign of nonsense thinking--providing stories that the regular public really was not interested in.)  Then on Tuesday, December 16, 2008, The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press announced that, for instance, they were going to cut back on jobs soon and would cut back on delivering newspapers to home customers in March, making home delivery something like a three-days-a-week thing (they were the first major papers in the country to make such cutbacks); the story about the cutbacks appeared, for instance, in the Detroit Free Press on Wednesday, December 17, 2008).  To me, the cutback in presenting newspapers to the public will reduce the amount of reading people in, for example, Detroit will do, and that means people in Detroit, where illiteracy is a problem, will be even less exposed to words, and that means people will get even dumber.  Maybe, Detroit is on the verge of "mass failure" after all.

P.S.: It can take years or decades to correct failure.

P.S. We're saved!  Although the newspapers ae cutting back, we still have television newscasts to supply us with news.  Look at what viewers were given on Tuesday, December 16, 2008, for the newscast at 11:00 p.m. by WDIV-TV, Channel 4, which is the NBC-TV affiliate in the Detroit area.  The newscast ran about a half hour.  I did not time the newscast, but let us present eight minutes were used for advertisements (spots).  In my analysis, the station had about 22 minutes of time left for news.  Well, several minutes were used by the sports department.  Let me say that there were 18 minutes of news.  I do not know how much time was used by the anchors for bantering and filler talk.  On December 16, 2008, at 11:00 p.m., it was snowing.  It was expected that from two inches to about four inches of snow were going to end up on the ground after the storm passed.  Without having a stop watch handy, I determined that at least the first six minutes of the newscast were used to talk about the snow storm, and some the time was used by the weatherman (in the studio) and by two reporters (in the field), who, for one, noted how good or not good the snow already on the ground was for making snowballs.  Later, in the newscast, the weather man was on the air again to do the regular weather segment, which lasted several minutes.  My guess is about ten minutes were used to report on the snow storm.  Two-to-four-inches of snow is nothing.  Michigan is a state that gets snow in the winter.  The newscast made it seemed as if the end of the world was coming--that was the tone.  It was nonsense and foolishness on the part of the people involved in the newscast.  At one point, I joked to someone who was watching the program at the same time, "Ah!  Ah!"  (I was fake screaming with fake terror.)  "We're doomed!"  And that was a newscast on television.  Welcome to the "pseudo information age" and another sign of failure, and I can say, "Such children they are."
 

copyright c. 2009
Date published: February 10, 2009

The Hologlobe Press
Postal Box 20551
Ferndale, Michigan  48220-0551
The United States of America

To see the next edition of T.H.A.T.,
    click on: T.H.A.T. #59.
To see the previous edition of T.H.A.T.,
    click on: T.H.A.T. #57.
To see the catalog page for T.H.A.T. editions,
    click on: T.H.A.T..
To see information about the news business in
    the country and its failures and its betrayal of
    the American public, click on: T.H.A.T. #55.
To go to the main page of The Hologlobe Press,
    click on: www.hologlobepress.com.
For further reading, you should see the document
    entitled THOUGHTS AND  STATEMENTS
     ABOUT THE UNITED STATES OF
    AMERICA for the individual woman and the
    individual man, which can be reached by
    hitting this link: Thoughts.
For further reading, you should see the document
    entitled THOUGHTS AND PIECES OF
    LOGIC for the individual woman and the
    individual man, which can be reached by
    hitting this link: Logic.
For further reading, you should see the document
    entitled Political Lessons for the Individual Woman
    and the Individual Man in the United States of
    America, which can be reached by hitting this
    link: Lessons.
For further reading, you should see the document
    entitled Nonsense Statements and Quotations
    of Barack Obama, which can be reached by
    hitting this link: Quotes.
For further reading, you should see the document
    about censorship, Fairness?: A Guide for the
    Individual Woman and the Individual Man
    in the United States o America, which can
    be reached at this link: Fairness.

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