LONGTIME Inqwaster television columnist Gail Shister (pictured, below right) has been stripped of her assignment, in a move that’s been met with surprise and disapproval by many at that paper and at the Daily News. On Tuesday, Shister was told she would no longer be writing her widely read column, and would instead be asked to do more pop-culture television features, she confirmed yesterday. “We’re all part of a new world here, and I never thought I’d be immune, but I’m not ready to uncork the champagne yet,” Shister said of her disappointment. “There are better ways to utilize my […]
MONOPOLY: TV Fans Chafing From New Backdoor Assault, Decry Lack Of A Courtesy Reacharound
Comcast Corp. is giving some viewers a little agita by pushing HBO into its more expensive digital-cable tier just weeks before The Sopranos begins its final season.The change doesn’t sit well with some customers, who see it as reducing their service or forcing them to pay more for channels they already have. “I guess the thing that bothers me is, the service is bad and rates keep increasing,” said Alan Letofsky, one of many customers who recently received a notice from Comcast saying they would need a digital-cable box to keep HBO, which telecasts The Sopranos. “We just don’t want […]
THE MICHAEL SMERCONISH EXPLAINER: Wiping The Smirk Off Mr. Clean With The Dirty Rag Of Truth
BY JONATHAN VALANIA Michael Smerconish looks like Mr. Clean, or, as he is known to Russian housewives, Mr. Proper. Michael Smerconish is also a country club Republican, a talk-radio host and, as of late, a regular fixture of the Inquirer’s Sunday Op-Ed page. Bully for him, we’re all for equal time and open debate even if we think he has his head up his ass most of the time. Sadly, because of guys like Smerconish — Machiavellian media climbers that will say ANYTHING to ensure their butt space in the game of musical chairs that is the talking head punditocracy […]
MEDIA: End Of The World As We Know It & I Feel Fine
BY Carla Marinucci, San Francisco Chronicle Political Writer It may be the most stunning and creative attack ad yet for a 2008 presidential candidate — one experts say could represent a watershed moment in 21st century media and political advertising. Yet the groundbreaking 74-second pitch for Democratic Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, which remixes the classic “1984” ad that introduced Apple computers to the world, is not on cable or network TV, but on the Internet. And Obama’s campaign says it had absolutely nothing to do with the video that attacks one of his principal Democratic rivals, New York Sen. Hillary […]
Cover Wars: Whose Artfag Kung-Fu Is Stronger?
This week was easy. We were gonna make CP’s Big Battel-esque Re-Formers cover the winner. But then CP’s blog thingee gave Phawker talk-to-the-hand in their March Madness pool. Just to show that we can be just as petty and small as the rest of the pricks in the blog pond, this week CP snatches defeat from the jaws of victory. Besides, we really, really like the sangria at Amada. WINNER: PW
Inky & DN Join Phawker In The National Chorus Of Editorials Calling For Attorney General To Resign
INQUIRER: He should resign Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales should resign. If he ever does, the nation could take it as a clear sign that President Bush finally grasps the need to preserve core civil liberties while guarding against terrorism. It would also be a sign that the president grasps that the Justice Department is at least one part of the government that should be free from the all-politics-all-the-time approach of his Karl Rove-led White House team. Until the day Gonzales does the right thing — or it’s demanded of him — Americans must assume that their president doesn’t get […]
PW’s Steven Wells Rips Sweeney’s Shameless Shilling, But Fails To Disclose Status As Comcast’s Bitch
The living god-king of Philadelphia hipsters recently jumped the shark in the most embarrassing manner possible. You know who I mean. He needs no introduction. Yesterday he was the maharaja of Philly cool, the super-groovy gossip blogger, the dude who put the “pst” into hipster. Today he’s snot on a crack whore’s stocking. His crime against credibility? In a horrifically badly judged Philadelphia magazine advertorial, the god-king posed in the back of a “free” car — ridiculously resplendent in his trademark ironic girl’s coat and not-so-ironic no-sex specs — and gushed about his sponsors’ products (go to www.philadelphiawilldo.com for the […]
MEDIA: Viacom Sues YouTube For One BILLION
It’s been brewing for months, and now Reuters reports that the kettle has officially blown: Yesterday, media juggernaut Viacom filed a $1 billion lawsuit against Google Inc. and its recently-acquired YouTube over unauthorized use of Viacom’s copyrighted materials. According to Reuters, the suit accuses both defendants of “‘massive intentional copyright infringement’ of Viacom’s entertainment assets” and seeks an injunction against further violations, claiming that nearly 160,000 unauthorized clips of its programming have been uploaded onto YouTube and viewed more than 1.5 billion times. The suit marks the final step in Viacom’s quest to push YouTube out of the video distribution […]
Philly Confidential Returns, Now In The ‘Royal She’
[Philly Confidential] grew tired of blaming the cops for the city’s crime woes. She decided it was time to move beyond the cop beat and submerge herself into the dark abyss that is the First Judicial District. She studied crime statistics and learned that youth gun violence is at a 5-year high. She spoke to prosecutors, along with court officials, to understand the nuances of juvenile justice, yet saw how slack everything seemed. Then she snooped around a few courtrooms and heard that too many teen murderers were assigned to probation officers months, sometimes days, before a slaying. What she […]
SHISTER: Olbermann Living Life Of O’Reilly — Mad As Heck And Not Gonna Motherf***** Take It Any More!
“Keith is MSNBC’s rock star,” says Phil Griffin, NBC News senior vice president and executive in charge of its corporate cousin. “People follow him. They believe in him.” Countdown averaged 709,000 total viewers in the February sweeps, up a whopping 77 percent over the same period in ’06, according to Nielsen Media Research. Among 25- to 54-year-old viewers, the demographic advertisers pay a premium to reach, Olbermann, 48, spiked 59 percent. No wonder MSNBC just quadrupled his salary. At an estimated $4 million a year, he’s the highest-paid on-air talent at the network. As part of his new four-year deal, […]