Archives for January 2005

In case you don’t get the Memphis Commercial Appeal, Religion editor James Dowd did a terrific article on the ACTS Network. The segment is in today’s edition (January 29th) in the Faith and Values section.

You always wonder how a story might actually come across in a newspaper, and on a broadcast too, but I’m very pleased with James’ work. He captured the story about the ministry and how churches are using the videos. He also talked with several pastors who are using the videos to gauge reaction.

Kudos to James Dowd and thanks to David Waters who turned him onto the story. And more Kudos to Matthew Craig, the Appeal photographer who captured the photos and shared a laugh.

Here’s a funny story about the photo shoot. After the interview I had a shoot at a nearby church. James was going to meet me there and have the photographer, Matthew take some shots. Once I got to the church I realized I had left my camera battery back in my office on charge. Knowing how busy Matthew must be I hated to keep him there while I called my wife to bring me the battery.

So thinking I’d let him get his shots and go on to his next shoot, a took my camera and lights and started pretending to shoot video. Unable to power up the camera I pretended to be shooting pictures of the story on the spirituality of young people. I carried that camera throughout the church with Matthew taking photos of me doing it.

About 20 minutes later, Cameron brought me the battery and I went back upstairs. Talking to Matthew I learned he was not in a hurry and was going to stay to get more shots. So, I admitted it faking the video shoot. Once I turned the camera on (for real) I noticed that THE LENS CAP HAD BEEN ON WHILE I WAS FAKING THE SHOOT.

Matthew hadn’t noticed, but when he looked at some of the digital photos he had taken, there it was: professional videographer and journalist rolling video with the lens cap on.

Matthew later got his shots and we had a nice talk about how churches are using video and other things to make church more interesting and relevant.

Buy the newspaper, it’s only 50-cents, but if you’re outside the area here’s a link:

A new angle on an old story, by James Dowd

Several months ago I didn’t have anything to do (no real job remember?) and I made a list of my all-time favorite tv shows. It started out to be a ranking but after the top 10 it became just a list in no particular order.

I’m gearing up for my new blog at www.mediavillage.com so here you go. My top 10 favorite shows and the rest in no particular order.

1. M*A*S*H
2. The Andy Griffith Show
3. WKRP in Cincinatti
4. The Wonder Years
5. Everybody Loves Raymond
6. Murphy Brown
7. Freaks and Geaks
8. Cheers
9. Seinfield
10. All in the Family
11. The Dick Van Dyke Show
12. Sanford and Son
13. The Cosby Show
14. I Love Lucy
15. The Bob Newhart Show
16. Newhart
17. Bonanza
18. Coach
19. Coupling
20. The Office
21. Evening Shade
22. Still Standing
23. Designing Women
24. X-Files
25. The Jamie Foxx Show
26. Frasier
27. Friends
28. Mork and Mindy
29. Happy Days
30. Third Rock from the Sun
31. Home Improvement
32. Nash Bridges
33. Picket Fences
34. Northern Exposure
35. Just Shoot Me
36. Life Goes On
37. Mad About You
38. Miami Vice
39. Boston Common
40. Yes Dear
41. Reno 911
42. Samurai Jack
43. The Simpsons
44. Malcolm in the Middle
45. The Single Guy
46. Soap
47. Dragnet
48. Adam 12
49. The Rookies
50. thirtysomething
51. L.A. Law
52. Twin Peaks
53. Twilight Zone
54. The White Shadow

When I first got into the news business at a bonefide network affiliate, one of the hottest shows on television was Murphy Brown. Not only was it simply one of the brightest, funniest and most insightful sitcom on television, it may have been the best tv show of the ’90s.

Perhaps the most realistic sitcom in tv history, Murphy Brown blurred the lines between sitcom and real-life. Even the Vice President at the time, Dan Quayle helped blur the lines by criticizing Murphy Brown (the character, not necessarily the tv show) for “glamorizing single motherhood”. And remember what happened later? The shows producer used news clips of the Quayle comment in response.

Well, after 10 years Murphy Brown is back. Nick at Night has added the show to it’s lineup and debuts it this week with a MB Marathon.

For someone who was had just started anchoring the evening news for a CBS affiliate when this show was on, seeing Murphy, Frank, Corkie, Jim and Myles is a welcomed sight.

Way funnier than real television news too.

Here’s another case of some members of the news media taking something that someone says and making up their own ending.

Dr. James Dobson of Focus and the Family said last week that an organization that pushes an agenda of promoting homosexuality to school kids as “normal” had enlisted SpongeBob Squarepants for a video to be distributed to public and private schools.

Dr. Dobson made the comments in Washington. I’ve read what he said, the context of his comments and then I’ve heard what some members of the national media say he said.

Matt Lauer of the Today Show suggested that Focus on the Family made a mistake and doesn’t want to apologize for it.

MSNBC.com columnist Michael Ventre called Christians “creepy, rigid, arrogant, cruel, know-it-all, pompous, obnoxious and treacerous, better known by the acronym CRACKPOT.” And added “They are giving Jesus Christ a bad name.”

Are they and other’s who misrepresented Dr. Dobson’s comments stupid or are they simply attacking a Christian man’s integrity and beliefs to grab our attention and hoping someone will think “yeah, you tell ’em”?

The truth is, a group IS producing a DVD that they are distributing to 61,000 public and private schools to promote diversity and unity. That sounds good, unless you believe that homosexuality is not the same as race and gender. Christian parents who believe that homosexuality is a sin do not want their children to be taught IN SCHOOL AND BY TEACHERS that something called an abomination toward God (Leviticus 18:22) is acceptable.

This is not a post about whether homosexuality is or is not accepted by God. Even though I believe it is not, many will disagree with my opinion. This is about whether members of the news media actually hear what people say and their responsibility to report the truth of their comments.

Dr. James Dobson DID NOT SAY ANYWHERE in his speech that SpongeBob Squarepants is gay. Just report the facts folks. Why is that so hard??

I didn’t think I’d ever want to do it.

Sorry.

I have placed a google ad sense advertisement on this blog. Again, sorry.

The truth is none of these websites make any money unless you add an ad. Ignore it. But if you would, just sometimes, every now and then, click on the advertisement.

The way it works is every time someone clicks on the advertisement, I get a few cents. It’ll probably never amount to much, but maybe over a year’s time, the ad might, just might, pay for a month of my dial-up internet service.

So please forgive me for doing this. And please give me a click every now and then.

I’m off to a meeting with an attorney and then a video shoot. Then it’s back to the computer for a day of editing.

So a British psychologist has figured that today, January 24th is the “most depressing day” of the year. Not just this year, but every year.

Dr. Cliff Arnall calculated that misery peaks on this day. He takes into account weather, debt, monthly salary, time since Christmas, time since failed quit attempt, low motivational levels and the need to take action.

He says since most people have quit their new year’s resolutions by now that should be pretty depressing. Since the credit card bills for Christmas should be here by now, that’s pretty depressing. Since the weather is generally cold and snowy/rainy this time of year that’s pretty depressing.

You know although I disagree that this particular day may be the most depressing, I’m inclined to agree with Dr. Arnall about this season. We’ve all got more than we want to deal with and are longing for the day we can pack up the swim trunks and head to some sandy beach.

Have you noticed what advertisements are being shown more than others? Disneyworld, vacations, cruises. These companies figure we’re just about primed to grab a phone, shout out our credit card numbers and have something to look forward to.

I don’t know if we’ll be able to take a vacation this year so count me out on planning something fun for the future. Today’s been a pretty good day, but a little frustrating too.

I’ve picked up a new project, a tv show that I’ll be writing about soon. It should be fun and one that I think people will enjoy watching. I can’t say much about it now though.

Also, I read that Craig Brewer’s movie “Hustle and Flow” was just sold at Sundance for $16 million. If that doesn’t light a fire under my butt to get “Rain Dog” finished, nothing will.

That’s the question I get after someone asks “why aren’t you on tv anymore?”

The truth is, I thought I’d really miss television news. I do in a way, but not as much as I thought.

I figured, like a lot of tv people probably think, that I’d miss the “hey you’re on tv” comments and the little wave of celebrity that goes with working in the television medium. I’ve never been one of the big local celebrities like the primary weeknight anchors or the weathermen. But even reporters get treated like a celebrity every once in a while.

I remember working as an anchor in the 192nd market. That’s 1-Nine-2!

There weren’t many stations as small as the CBS affiliate in Anniston, Alabama. I was pretty new to the business and had not really been noticed anywhere I went. But one day I was at a Wal-Mart doing some shopping when I heard “hey…aren’t you that guy on the tee-vee?”

Well I was flattered, proud, downright giddy. It was my first “hey aren’t you that guy on the tee-vee”! After I gladly shook the man’s hand there was a woman, and then another and another. Geez-A-Lou I couldn’t breath. I started sweating and probably had some sort of panic attack.

I made it through the line, got out to my car and thought “that was awful…but then again… Cool. ”

That was when I knew I kind of liked being on tv. Being a celebrity, even a “minor-local-tv-reporter-celebrity” can be pretty good sometimes. I’m not saying that’s why tv news people do it, but they’ve got to admit it can play to their advantage. Sometimes a police officer gives you a warning because “you’re that guy on tv”, sometimes the lady at the coffee shop gives you a large and charges you for a medium. Sometimes (when you’re single) some good looking girl is interested in you (because you’re on tv). Your friends who are attorneys, accountants and doctors think you’ve got the coolest job (because you’re on tv).

That was all been true for me. But life after tv hasn’t been as bad as I thought.

TV was what I did, not who I am. I don’t miss getting the “hey” comments at Wal-Mart so far I still get some occasionally. What I do miss abotu television news is the storytelling, but I started missing that part of the business years ago.

I’ve been out of the business for 8 months now, and every now and then (like last week) someone will say they had no idea I was gone. They admit they never watch local television news. They don’t make an appointment to watch local news. In the evenings they’re too busy, at night they’re watching something else, and in the mornings they’re not paying attention to what’s on tv. They get their news from cable (national), newspaper (local) and the internet (whatever they want and need). And industry experts say the viewers who’ve left local news, aren’t coming back.

So no I haven’t missed local tv news, but apparently many viewers are.

Two meetings today, one with a pastor who just learned of the ACTS Network yesterday and subscribed today. I also picked up 4 more projects with another church and I’m trying to finish up next week’s project by the end of tomorrow.

I’m so glad I turned down the job. I’m loving what I do now because it’s producing projects for people who genuinely like my work and appreciate it.

Tomorrow I’ll try to finish up the project and do some writing on Rain Dog.

We’re also meeting with our builder to try to get the new house started soon. We’re all pretty jazzed about that. The rental we’re living in now is nice, but it’s just too small for 5 people. The girls have to share a bedroom which shouldn’t be that bad, but Lauren is 15 and needs her own room. Fortunately for me, the house has a home office so I’ve got my room to work and write.

I’ve got to keep at the screenplay. I’ve been distracted by all of the stuff that’s been going on the past week or so and trying to make a living. It’s still on the front burner though. Tomorrow I plan to make a pot of coffee and knock out some pages. I’m held back every time I write because I want to make it perfect. What I need to do is just write. The coffee will help.