At 40, Franz Kafka (1883-1924), who never married and had no children, was walking through a park one day in Berlin when he met a girl who was crying because she had lost her favorite doll. She and Kafka searched for the doll unsuccessfully.Kafka told her to meet him there the next day and they would come back to look for her.
The next day, when they had not yet found the doll, Kafka gave the girl a letter “written” by the doll saying “please don’t cry. I took a trip to see the world. I will write to you about my adventures.”
Think YOU had a bad day? I got into the office this morning and the first thing to greet me was this e-mail! Yes, I bought that Hoverboard at auction in 1992 for $3k. Yes, I sold that Hoverboard in 2010 to a guy in Finland for $11k, almost quadrupling my investment. Smart move, right? Wrong! 11 years later, that same Hoverboard sells at auction for US$506,000. This is heavy! Great Scott! 
Got to talk to my old friend Jerry O’Connell today – on TV. Haven’t seen him since he came to my house in L.A. for a birthday party several years ago. We had a great chat before this segment aired – here’s Jerry and Randall trying to get me on camera. I appeared – but only viewers in Indy got to see it. I edited myself out for this Facebook version! 
The Summer of ’17 was utterly unforgettable. I went on a cross-country journey with four stand-up comedians – a black & white Jewish mom, an Aussie billionaire with a hangup about hookups, a maximum-security prisoner just released after aiding & abetting a robbery and attempted murder, and a psychotic psychologist with a hernia issue and a slew of other pre-existing conditions. I was shooting their adventures for a reality show – Sunda’s Straightjacket Comedy Tour – about how the owner of the LA School Of Comedy take a select group of students on a cross-country comedy tour. Only now am I finally able to show you what went down in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, Reno, Vegas and god-knows-where-else. When you’re on tour, your cast & crew become your family. I love these guys. 
This week we celebrate the 29th anniversary of the KTLA Morning News in Los Angeles – the Barbara-Carlos-Mark-Sam version was the highest-rated local morning show in TV history! This show provided me with so many life-long friends, a treasure trove of memories and videos, it brought me a mantle full of Emmy Awards and it bought me my first house and half a dozen cars! I’ve come across some scenes from the show I had locked away decades ago in the Raymond J Brune vault. Most of these clips are being seen here for the first time since they originally aired nearly 3 decades ago! Here’s to the Morning News and everyone “who held the show hostage!” 
Here’s a fascinating piece of internet history from 1995. It’s two members of the cast of Friends, Jennifer Aniston and Matthew Perry showing us how to use the Microsoft software Windows 95. I suspect the one thing this hour-long program shows us more than anything else, is the importance of solid comedy writers. The sitcom’s writing was brilliant – but this little feature isn’t. Jennifer and Matthew seem to be partly acting/partly ad-libbing in a pseudo-sitcom that was written by Microsoft’s marketing department, not Friends Emmy award-winning writers. It’s bad. Really bad. Which is why it’s so fun to watch. I bet these two stars walked away with a cool chunk of change from Mr. Gates! Enjoy. 
Once upon a time, Shakespeare’s time in fact, performers and entertainers were considered the lowest forms of life. Dregs. Rabble. Back then, the elite in their haughty heels would step over such vermin like Americans now do their homeless population. Actors were the scum of the earth. Today, that scum sit atop the societal food chain. Take Meghan Markle. For all her social climbing, she keeps reaching newer lows. She’s an actor who opened up a couple of suitcases on Deal or No Deal, parlayed that gig into some cable TV show, and then catapulted into the arms of a spare heir who inherited his life – and spent all of it leeching off the British government for room and board. A fairy tale permeated with pixie dust if there ever was one! 
I watched Bobbie Battista religiously on CNN Headline News back in the day. You see, it was my job. The weekend producer at WLWT had me, their intern, logging CNN newscasts for any video we could use from CNN on our shows. OMG! Lynne Russell, Lynn Vaughn, Gordon Graham, that anchorman with one leg, Toria, Chuck Roberts! I watched them all but Bobbie was always my favorite! 
In the mid ’80’s, I was a mere intern at the NBC affiliate, WLWT in Cincinnati, working with Norma Rashid and Richard Hull. Nick Clooney was the WKRC news anchor who owned the market after stealing it from Al Schottelkotte at WCPO. Every time I was sent out to cover spot news stories – shootings, stabbings, fires, car accidents – whatever – I was there for Channel 5 – Nick was there for Channel 12. Obviously he got the best interviews because everyone wanted to talk with THE Nick Clooney. I came across this WKRC promo and I can verify it’s true. Nick was all over the streets of Cincinnati, right next to little intern Ray. I love the shot where Nick is interviewing Mayor Jerry Springer – the man who will ultimately unseat him as the market’s #1 news anchor. These were great days. 
Bonnie Franklin was a very good friends of ours at The KTLA Morning News. Every on-stage event we had, there she was joining in! I recently came across one of her earliest acting roles – as Sally in You’re The Judge from 1965. It’s an ephemeral film from that era produced by Crisco. Two girls are trying to “trap” two boys and the only way they figure they can do it is through their stomachs with some chicken and some cheating! It’s a wonderful lesson for the children of tomorrow! Enjoy. 
Playtime with some of my favorite people when we visited Virginia City, NV. Sunda Croonquist, James Harris, Pete Drysdale and Stacie Taylor. This scene was included in the original pilot for the cross-country trek of the Straightjacket Comedy Tour. Check it out – and see how many inside jokes you can decipher! 
There’s a 5 & 6pm newscast here in Cincinnati that I find myself watching… because it’s so bad. From anchors sporting the latest Wal-Mart fashions and looking as disheveled as a hooker who had a productive night, to a weatherman who, literally, yells at you throughout his forecast, thinking he’s sporting a sexy, booming FM radio voice, but in fact, is just, plain yelling. The anchors start to mirror his absurd volume and the whole show becomes a big yelling fest. But let’s switch gears for a second as there’s one pet peeve I have that gets me yelling back at the TV screen. The anchors are constantly ad-libbing that cliche phrase “switching gears” between stories. It’s a verbal device they use to bridge two unrelated stories to make the transition feel a bit less awkward. As an example, going from a double fatal car crash story to the birth of a new elephant at the zoo is an obvious “switching gears” story. The problem is easily avoided by a producer who understands the art of stacking stories in a newscast. 
This past week, I had the privilege of being invited to the 
Taking risks is the sure-fire path to rewards. I don’t think anyone will disagree with me. But taking risks also means that sometimes, things don’t pay off. Things don’t go as planned. What you saw in your head when planning your next amazing segment is NOT what you ended up seeing on the line monitor. 
On The Golden Girls, where did Dorothy, Rose, Blanche and Sophia spend most of their time? At The Kitchen Table. At your house, where does the family end up together more often than not? Correct! The Kitchen Table! It’s where you have your everyday meals, it’s where the kids do their homework, it’s where dad does his crossword puzzle and where mom reads her magazine. When a friend stops over, he joins the family at The Kitchen Table. The centerpiece of your home is The Kitchen Table – it’s the “home base” of your family.
NBC’s Today has improved by leaps and bounds since the last time I watched – during the ousting of Matt Lauer more than a year ago. The new directing style the show has adopted dramatically boosts the connection between the talent and the viewers. Hoda, Savannah and Al are alive, in-the-moment, and occasionally engaging, but the show has some work ahead of it – especially with Carson and Craig. But first, an obvious editorial error. 
I’m astounded on a daily basis how the majority of TV field reporters are content being anonymous, generic purveyors of facts and information – as generic and anonymous as the fake reporter in this stock photo! Watch reporters on any station in your market – they’ll do a “live” hit – then throw to a package that isn’t the least bit memorable or in any way stylized. Their live shots, their standups, their writing and their producing does absolutely nothing to make them stand out from the parade of generic reporters airing on TV every minute of every day. 
A fascinating TED talk featuring Sue Klebold, mother of Columbine shooter Dylan Klebold. I can’t image the courage it took her to “go public” with her feelings. In many ways, she too, is a Columbine survivor.
Sometimes you’ve just got to let them talk it out. When the word “thug” became a news story, everyone on set had an opinion. It’s so important to allow them to discuss these issues – which strengthens the connection between your talent and your audience. In this example, we just let them talk right up to the hard break.
Booking guests is a little understood art that I’ve had lots of time to practice. Between KTLA, E! News Live, GMA Sunday and World News Now, I’ve pretty much had every notable name in Hollywood & New York in studio, on-set for interviews. The key to booking an interview guest is all about how your hosts interact with celebrities. Obviously, you want the guest to look good, have a great time and get to push whatever they’re pushing. But what viewers see is your hosts hanging out with a big star. 
Do you know the “secret sauce” to morning show success? It’s a simple recipe. And it’s right there on the screen. It’s the one thing all these clips have in common.
Ever notice how your favorite celebrities who are guests on Ellen or Jimmy Kimmel or Stephen Colbert share stories about their lives? That’s because producers ask the stars to come armed with a few stories the host can lead them into. Producers know that storytelling is an essential device to connect viewers to the show and to its hosts and guests. 
Ryan Reynold’s pitch for his own Aviation Gin is a brilliant example of storytelling – although a parody through and through. He’s disrupting the industry by showing how his competitors are out overselling their distilling process. His pitch runs 1:40 – but keeps you engaged til the end.
If you’ve ever met her, you know Marie Osmond is pretty in person. Stunning even. And she is just as beautiful on TV. Marie, a TV veteran of her own prime-time variety series and a daytime talk show, knows how crucial lighting is on a TV set. Good lighting can make a talent “glow” on screen. Bad lighting is the kiss of death. Many years ago, Marie was a guest on The KTLA Morning News in Los Angeles. Coincidentally, we shot our show on the very same stage 
she and her brother had shot all 78-episodes of Donnie & Marie on ABC twenty years earlier. I remember very clearly, when she arrived, before going to makeup, Marie asked me if she could go out on set for a moment during a commercial break. I led the way. Once there, she looked at where she would be sitting for the interview and then examined the lighting grid above her, determining whether or not she had a key light, a fill light, and a rim light (a back light). She was happy when our three-point lighting met her standards.
One of the best things about television in the ’70’s and ’80’s were those yearly image campaigns by each of the networks pushing their new fall lineup. ABC, CBS and NBC always seemed to be trying to out do each other every year with bigger, 
louder and more star-studded campaigns than the year before. Aside from the eye popping visuals, there were the catchy jingles accompanying each 
campaign. 1982’s winner was, hands down, ABC with it’s “Come On Along” theme. The network actually allocated a budget, hired a chopper and paid some of its talent to appear in 
scenes shot specifically for this campaign. Fonzi and Chachi, Mr. Roarke & Tattoo, Laverne and Shirley, Max from Hart To Hart, that Benson guy, Joanie (Erin Moran, who lived near me for many years in Los Angeles, RIP) and even Scooby Doo showed up in Manhattan to get bystanders to come on along. It’s the promotion people running amok, schlock galore, and I love every second of it: 
One “presentation” element that local news producers have never embraced is “packaging” news. You might want to reconsider. Whether we’re talking several national/international stories, health or fitness, tech or virals, putting them together in one quick roundup segment with music and graphics is a great way to “up” your story count as well as stylize your newscast. Here are some examples of packaged segments we used daily on Eye Opener in Chicago: 
Sometimes you’ve just got to stand in front of a camera and experiment. That’s how InZaNews was developed. A friend of mine, Barry Pintar, and I discussed producing a two minute, daily, digital morning newscast that would cover the news quickly and succinctly. Because we lived across the country from each other, Barry did most of the heavy lifting. Produced for nearly a year, InZaNews was very popular in high schools – teachers would play the day’s episode before starting class. The biggest feedback was the shock that our anchorman, Zacko, was sporting tattoos! People loved it. Our biggest problem was distribution – we pitched it around to various media properties but had no luck getting funding or finding it a permanent home with a web entity So we ultimately moved on to other things. To bad – it’s a cool format.
These people truly remember EVERY second of their lives! A fascinating report from 60 Minutes Australia. 
Storytelling is that oh so overly used industry buzzword you hear everywhere. But I ask you: When was the last time you actually heard any news anchor or reporter tell a compelling story? You’d certainly remember it if you heard one. So let me bring you two simple examples of storytelling that pop. Oliver Tull was one of the hosts of the Dallas version of Eye Opener. In this first clip, he tells a story about an old man who fights off a grizzly bear who was after his dog: 
My obsession with ’70’s made-for-TV movies sometimes creeps into the following decade – especially when those films focus on the behind-the-scene drama of a TV news department. 1986’s News At 
Eleven is the godfather of that genre. It hit TV screens just a year before Holly Hunter‘s TV News comedy Broadcast News arrived in theaters. And while there is certainly no lack of made-for-TV 
ansgt in this little 
One of my greatest resources while producing The KTLA Morning News was Skycam 5 – our news helicopter, and the people inside – traffic reporter 
How do you open your morning newscast? Let me guess. Video of that overnight fire, wiping to that avalanche caught on tape, wiping to the footage of a dolphin giving birth. Music is urgent, your talent is breathless and graphics are flashing all over the screen. Yep. You’re producing that pre-open tease exactly as Walk Away Joe tells you to do it. If you’re producing a personality-driven newscast, Joe, aka your news consultant, is dead wrong. Here’s why. 
This is a huge reason The KTLA Morning News was beloved by viewers… Sam Rubin, our entertainment guy, who livvvvvvves to share the latest gossip about anyone or anything, would bring viewers “inside scoop” like he does below – even if that scoop is currently airing on a competing channel!! Check it out! A brilliant moment that had people changing channels all over town trying to identify who Sam was talking about! 
Stations across the country are desperately trying to incorporate social media into their newscasts in a bid to capture a younger demo. They’re promising a newscast “like you’ve never seen before” – “doing news in a brand new way” – “this ain’t your daddy’s newscast.” The cliches keep comin’! Problem is the stations simply don’t know how to deliver the goods. Fox tried: 
If you’re still in the market for a New Year’s Resolution, I’ve got you covered. Resolve to watch this video below – all 19 minutes of it. Earl Nightingale is someone you’ve never heard of. He is, sort of, the Anthony Robbins of the ’50’s – but oh, so much more profound. His brief message will, truly, change your life. He first released his book, The Strangest Secret, in 1956 followed by an audio recording on a LP album. That sold one million copies – the highest amount of sales ever for a so-called “self-help” genre recording. Don’t focus on the video quality, or the audio reproduction. Listen to his words. And learn. The guy is a genius.
You’ve got to hand it to The Onion. Their judicial satire is sharp as a knife.
I was incredibly lucky to showrun an hysterical cast of comic characters for the reality series, Sunda’s Straightjacket Comedy Tour! Standing Room Only from D.C. to Los Angeles! We thought our secret was safe – but, uh oh, them Aussies caught on. “Mr. Drysdale”, by the way, is very talented!
Lost a friend over the Christmas holidays. Robin Phillips has died in Houston. Robin anchored the weekend news at WLWT in Cincinnati when I was little Ray the intern. We covered many breaking stories together including a man barricaded in his home holding family members hostage. He suddenly started shooting from a window – Robin and I heard the bullets whiz right over our heads! That’ll teach you to keep your head down! 
Let me ask you a question. What is it about Britney Spears that transformed her into a legendary superstar?
Two television treasures here from the golden age of local TV. I found these films just the other day and couldn’t wait to get them on-line for you to check out. I’ve never seen either presentation before but both films highlight independent station KTLA as a true forerunner in early television production from back in the day when owned by Paramount Studios. These are priceless portraits of local TV’s “coming of age” and the pioneers who put it all together. 
When you combine two words, “popular” and luxury, you create “Populuxe”. It was a consumer culture and aesthetic in the U.S. in the 1950’s and ’60’s. The look and feel of Populuxe was one of futuristic and Space Age influence. You can identify the Populuxe movement in films, graphics, clothing designs, furniture, interior design and architecture. And nowhere is it more on display than a few of the short films I’ve collected below.
First is Design For Dreaming, a film which was shown before the feature film at movie theaters across the country. It was created to highlight the General Motors Motorama of 1956, the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York and new Frigidaire appliances. Tad Tadlock, a dancer and choreographer plays the woman caught in pink pajamas going to the Motorama. Her masked suitor is dancer and choreographer Marc Breaux. The film is an over-the-top, dream-dance piece of puffery which is why it’s so fascinating to watch. Directed by William Beaudine and produced by Victor Solow for MPO Productions, it’s once of those productions I wish I had a hand in producing. I’ve acquired a breathtaking print of the film you won’t find on YouTube. Favorite Populuxe line of dialogue: “Better get her into the kitchen, quick!” Enjoy. 
Here’s a great promo clip the WB did about KTLA Morning News traffic reporter Jennifer York. It’s a interstitial the network ran during its children’s programming highlighting the crazy careers some people choose. Cute little theme song. Check it out. 
The true horror of the Kennedy assassination was brought into the living rooms of Americans on March 6, 1975 – in living color. Geraldo Rivera‘s late night show Good Night America on ABC was the first outlet to air the 8mm film shot more than a decade earlier by bystander Abraham Zapruder in Dallas. 
Netflix has mastered a two-step process of choosing which potential dramas and comedy programs will be a hit with its subscribers. The company and its executives do not use Walk-Away Joe’s (oh, that’s what I call “consultants”). Their two-step process involves a) data paints, and b) a leap of faith. 
Hey – anchors, reporters and news directors – I want to talk to you for a moment about Rhoda Young. You may not have heard of her or you may have dismissed her – either way – big mistake! She and other “vigilante” journalists are capturing compelling breaking news stories right there in your own backyards – stories that the local affiliates are either skipping or missing. More importantly, they’re capturing an audience (1.1 million views and counting). When was the last time you had one million people watching your house fire package? 
Personalities have been coming into our homes since the invention of radio. When television came along, the addition of the video image often magnified the personalities who graced its screen. There were quite a few legendary local TV news personalities to grab audiences – here are a few of my favorites: 
More Here
I came across this compilation of news anchors who went “off prompter” and then went viral. Produced by Grunge, they call it “anchor freak outs” which is a click-bait tease and far from actual fact. With the exception of Bill O’Reilly who’s just a deliberate freak show and a bully along the lines of P.T. Barnum, the behavior of most of these anchors is pretty much on target – it’s how they should occasionally behave on air when it’s real and authentic – like it was for Anderson Cooper. The commentator implies his show was cancelled because of such authentic moments, but nothing could be further from the truth. I guarantee you that viewers loved him for being honest. Search my blog posts for the real reason Anderson’s daytime talk show was cancelled. 
There’s no denying Hands Across America, the follow-up charity event to We Are The World, was a nation-wide phenomenon. Five million people turned out to hold hands from coast to coast though there were some wide gaps because of our nation’s landscape. In some cities, people were up in arms because their locale was excluded from the official event route. I could not attend the festivities, unfortunately, as I was interviewing for a job on that day. Hands Across America raised $15 million which finally ended hunger in America once and for all. OK, maybe not, but for me, the lasting legacy of the event is its theme song. 
We call it a “Code 1000”. It’s a mention upper management wants you to include in your newscast. It might be a charity event the station is sponsoring that they want you to shoot and mention in a :30 voice-over at 11pm. Or maybe they want you to promote a free flu shot giveaway the station’s part of at the Walgreens down the street. Or it could be something as obvious as promoting a Cheers marathon happening this weekend now that the station has bought the syndication rights to the sitcom. 
Social media called out a Japanese news reporter and his crew who were reporting from the city of Sukayu, a hot spring town in northern Japan. The NHK reporter started his opening standup with: 
This is absolutely stunning! Samuel J. Seymour, at the time this episode of I’ve Got A Secret aired on February 9, 1956, was the last surviving witness to the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. Check it out: 
The greatest morning show on the planet – is no more. For some ten years, the Australian Today show was awesome! A brilliant eyeopener! Karl Stefanovic, Lisa Wilkinson and Georgie Gardner were the very definition of “on-air chemistry”. 
In a society where anyone over 40 is considered an old coot, undate-able and unemployable, a Dutch man tried to do something about it. Emile Ratelband decided to become “age fluid” – officially recognized as twenty years younger to attract more women on Tinder. He claims he was being discriminated against because he is 69 and wanted to list his age as 49. His logic was, if transgender people can change their sex, he should be permitted to change the date of his birth since doctors have attested that he looks much younger than he actually is. 
Betcha didn’t know that Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer isn’t part of Christmas-past for very long. – certainly not as long as Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen… Rudolph is the creation of a department store, Montgomery Ward. He started out as a character in a coloring book in 1939, created to be given away to shoppers at Christmastime. 2.4 million copies of that coloring book were handed out. It wasn’t until 1948 that Rudolph’s story was told on film. Max Fleischer produced a theatrical cartoon short which I’ve included below for your viewing enjoyment. This was the first Rudolph cartoon! 
From 1973 comes this behind-the-scenes look at how WABC -TV in New York gets a newscast on the air at 6PM. The two highlights for me are seeing Bill Beutel and Geraldo Rivera doing their jobs. I am a fan of Rivera during his news days. Who can forget Willowbrook? I like watching how Rivera tells a story – so anti-establishment for that time and in some ways, would still be today. 
These two need to be heard. Have you watched them? More importantly, have you heard them? I’m making it my life’s mission to get them heard.
NBC’s recent firing of Megyn Kelly was no surprise to those of us who know how to “read” TV News talent. Megyn was incredibly successful on her Fox News Channel program. That show appealed to men, most of them over 60, who were looking for right-leaning pundits hoping to pick political fights with their foes. That’s the essence of Sean Hannity‘s little bully program and the format fit Megyn nicely because she’s better looking than Hannity. In that format, Megyn Kelly shined. But there’s a problem. 
Every TV producer has pondered the idea of airing “live” executions as a reality series. While a few films have explored the possibilities – from Witness to the Execution to The Hunger Games, no one really expects executions to someday be televised. But in China, they’ve been doing the next best thing for years… they’ve been airing a weekly “talk” show called Interviews Before Execution. It’s a long-time hit, with TV host Ding Yu interviewing the condemned, often just moments before they are put to death. China puts more of its citizens to death in one year than every other country combined – about 10,000 – women, men, anyone 18 or older. There are nearly 60 offenses in China that result in the death penalty. The culture also requires the family of the accused to pay the family of the victim exorbitant amounts of cash to “be forgiven” by victim’s family. Only when a victim’s family has forgiven the accused can there be a possibility, a small one, but a possibility that the death sentence will be commuted. 
Xinhua – the Chinese state news agency is introducing the world to two new members of its newsroom – Artificial Intelligence News Anchors. One speaks Chinese, the other, English. Can you tell which is the real news anchor and which is a computer clone? 
This book is an absolute must-read. Published in 1903 by author James Allen, As A Man Thinketh is one of the first books ever to explore the fact that “you are what you think you are”. Mankind has underestimated the power of his own brain since the day he learned to walk upright. This is one of the first texts to spell it out.
This one time… I was in the men’s room during a commercial break on The KTLA Morning News. At the time, this bathroom was undergoing a facelift so there were rolls of wallpaper and tiles and tools scattered around. As I was washing my hands, in walks our guest star for that day’s show – Little Richard! THE Little Richard. I fumbled with a paper towel, said “hello” and shook his hand. He was as gracious as ever. I asked if I could grab a quick autograph. “Sure” was his reply, but darn, I had nothing for him to sign. Oh. Wait. Little Richard had an idea. He grabbed a bathroom tile! End of story!
I’d like to thank Mr. Walt Disney for introducing me to my life-long dual obsessions, in the forms of Miss Hayley Mills (Sharon) and her identical twin sister Miss Hayley Mills (Susan) from The Parent Trap, (who, strangely, each had British accents although one was raised in Boston and the other in Monterey), neither of whom I have yet to meet, and to that guy in Grease II who, by the way, is aging very badly, but married Miss Hayley’s sister, Miss Juliet Mills of Nanny & The Professor fame for allowing me to meet his spouse and my obsession’s sibling at a gathering I and Miss Stephanie Glenn refer to as the “celebrity zoo”. 
One of the greatest complements of my career came from Hollywood’s most prolific prime-time producer, Aaron Spelling. Aaron visited The KTLA Morning News in 1996 to promote his book, A Prime-Time Life. As a child of the ’70’s, much of my life was television – and much of what was on television was produced by Aaron Spelling. Favorites of mine include Charlie’s Angeles, Family, Hart To Hart, Melrose Place, and of course, The Love Boat and Fantasy Island. 
In the early days of television, what I call “warmth”, they referred to as “charm”. It’s a magical, mesmerizing quality you can’t quite define – that jumps from the screen and enraptures you in a blanket of utter delight. OK, that might be a tad over the top, but you can’t overstate the value of warmth in a morning TV host. There’s one television treasure, a true personality pioneer, whom few modern day producers or TV talent have ever heard of. She hosted a live morning show back in the ‘50’s, before Today or Good Morning America were ever dreamed up. She was the Oprah of her day, when viewers had the choice of only three programs to watch at any given time. When 11AM came around, everyone was watching Miss Arlene Francis.
Remember when VH1 was still “the other music television”? Miss those days.
Here’s an ultra rare one I came across in a box of old show reels! Back in 1986 when I was producing the 6 & 11pm newscasts at WSAZ in Charleston-Huntington, WV, Travel West Virginia had just created a tourism campaign promoting the state, which was going to be seen nationwide. Essentially, they wanted us to promote their promotion! The theme song is, “Come Home To West Virginia” and is performed by country singer Kathy Mattea. It came with a music video showing off the beauty of the state. Having lived there, I can tell you it’s a stunning area.
I won’t shock you with the similarities I share with former Saturday Night Live superstar Mary Katherine Gallagher, portrayed by the amazing Molly Shannon. In many ways, I’m the male version of Mary Katherine. But that’s another story. One thing we have in common are those made-for-TV movies of the ’70′s. Mary Katherine (and I) can quote everything from The Boy In The Plastic Bubble to Sybil. Both of those films are in my collection which currently numbers upwards of 1500. 
As you move through your TV career – or any career for that matter, it’s important to determine where you set the bar for yourself – despite where the bar is set for the place you work – which will always be lower. I’ve compiled this list of “rules” that I’ve sort of adopted through the years and made my own. Take what works for you and throw the rest aside.
That’s the catchphrase of the 1960′s cartoon superhero Underdog! He was, sort of, the canine version of superman for the Labrador set. His heroics were often done to impress his love interest, Sweet Polly Purebred, who could never commit. Everyone loves the underdog, which is why the series ran for more than a decade. But an underdog is just as essential and relevant in the realm of morning news. And I learned this first hand.
How about this one I wrote and aired at WDIV-TV in Detroit:
Proper lighting is crucial to a successful TV show, newscast or production. Many companies hire their talent, pay them a fortune, and then skimp on the lighting – not bothering to bring in an expert lighting director. They throw away a costly investment by splashing a bunch of light all over the set and calling it a day. It’s especially obvious when a talent turns from one camera to another and the lighting doesn’t match both shots and shadows are thrown here and there. Although I am not a lighting director, I can certainly separate well-lit talent from poorly lit ones. 
I’m totally biased for sure – having grown up in Cincinnati and having worked at WLWT – but here are four brilliant spots created for the station’s image campaign from the mid-1980’s. Every image in the spots is a true reflection of the Cincinnati lifestyle. Ted Neely, the actor who played Jesus in the original Jesus Christ Superstar film was hired to sing the “Cincinnati Style” theme. Excellent campaign! 
If you work in a newsroom, it’s essential that you understand the psychology that often goes unnoticed between you and higher level managers. That old Left-Brain/Right Brain disconnect is killing creativity in newsrooms and – trust me – it shows on air! Below is a chapter from my recent book, 
It’s time to settle an old score. I’m not sure this is the forum to do so, but I have no choice. The pain and feelings of abandonment have kept me quiet for 17 years. No more. Here goes. 
I’d just like to let it be known that I played a small but significant role in rescuing a classic #1 hit from musical obscurity. When Olivia Newton-John guested on KTLA the first time (1991), she was all decked out in leather, sporting the final days of her sensual Soul Kiss look. 
Whatever happened to the “art” of the commentary? I’m not talking about those painful “editorials” at the end of local newscasts recorded by the General Manager of the station, and usually advocating the construction of a new sewage treatment plant. I’m referring to news commentaries by newsmen (and women), back before political correctness took hold and turned every newscast into a generic store brand. 
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Joan and Melissa for the years of laughter and friendship. My prayers are with you both.
We were about ten minute out from shooting the premiere episode of our new game show. Thanks to Kenny Lindner, I had Ty Treadway as host. Most of the crew were getting into place, behind their cameras, testing the jib, the lights, sound effects, etc. The contestants were being shown their positions and how to “buzz in”. Tyrus, as I call him, was hanging out at his podium on the set. I walked up the thre e glistening clear-glass steps to Ty at the podium. Rather softly, I said, 
I accidentally came across one of my favorite movies the other day airing on TCM – Strangers on a Train. It’s a brilliant Hitchcock suspense thriller from 1951. Seeing the film again reminded me of an odd series of events that happened involving one of the film’s stars – Laura Elliot and TV star Kasey Rogers. 
I realize you’ve come to expect deep, insightful and wise words of wisdom from me here on this blog. And I am usually happy to oblige. But for the issue I want to address today, there’s no way to build it up – no way to make it sound more important or life-changing that it is. No way to embellish the words “do your fucking job” to make then sound glamorous or worth a sixth-figure income. So here goes. Let the chicks fall where they made. 
(Originally posted 09-08-15)
Occasionally as news reporters or special projects producers, we set out to right a wrong. Perhaps a young mother abandons her autistic daughter because the government will no longer provide special daycare services – and the child is a danger to the woman’s other children. We interview the mother and perceive her and her daughter to be the victims. We interview state or federal mental health care bureaucrats only to discover their hands are tied. We interview the dedicated workers at the special daycare center to find they are understaffed and can’t keep up with the growing demand for their services. We come back to the newsroom and what he we got? What do we put together for the 6? 
It is with immense pleasure that I gratefully acknowledge Miss Deidre Anne Lopian for laughing hysterically at the TV Academy in NoHo as I tripped over a stand hidden under fake foliage that was holding up a fake amazonian tree (it was a jungle theme) right behind Mr. Esai Morales who was being interviewed “live” on TV, the branches swaying back and forth as if in a tsunami, directly above him and his interviewer and his cameraman as I grabbed the tree to keep it from tipping over onto them, yet Mr. Morales had the presence of mind to interrupt the interview to ask if I was alright (which I was, “gracias Senor”) before resuming his interview about whatever D-list project the has-been is promoting. 
Here’s a clear cut example of two competing morning shows – one that “got it” and one that did not. It’s from my KTLA Morning News days. The KTLA lot is located at Sunset Blvd and Van Ness. At that time, the location of KTTV, the Fox affiliate was literally across the street from us, but its entrance was buried in a bizarre location that caused many people to become lost because it intersected with the 101 freeway and there were overpasses and dead-end streets and all kinds of confusion. KTTV had just begun airing Good Day L.A., a light morning show that was modeled somewhat after what we were doing. I think they even had SkyFox up in the helicopter around this time. 
Nobody will say it, at least publicly, so I will. Katie Couric will not be the savior of daytime television. She will not be “the next Oprah”. Her talk show will be cancelled after its first season. This is not a guess or a prediction. It’s simple fact – proven over and over again. Katie, like a parade of former news people turned talk show hosts before her, including Jane Pauley, is, in my opinion, missing one simple TV ingredient that will prevent her from conquering daytime – warmth. 
I’ve never told anyone this – only family members know – but I did not attend the graveside services for my father back in 1983. I went to the funeral and church services on that Saturday, but the burial was on Sunday at the same time I was supposed to report to WLWT for my first day as an intern. There was absolutely no question in my mind where I was supposed to be on that day. 
There are so many young journalists, producers and reporters who are decades apart from the roots of local TV News. Some have zero interest in the history of their own industry. Some just take for granted people like Geraldo Rivera, who they see as nothing more than a big mouth on the Fox News Channel. 
It’s amazing to me how job applicants don’t “get it”. It’s true. Most college-educated, pop-culturized, twentysomething millennials, some with MBA’s, are clueless. I have the cover letters to prove it. Just over a year ago, I wrote a “help wanted” ad looking for producer/editor applicants. My bosses at the time were right-brain imaginators who wanted to take everything we do “up a notch”, even ads for jobs at our company. I was completely on board. These were the guys who hired me, so we were totally on the same page. I forwarded my draft to my boss, who then forwarded it to his boss, the CEO. The e-mail reply to me was, “I think you get it“. Here is the infamous ad I wrote: 
The mid-eighties were the best years of the three major network’s annual fall preview promotions. It was a big deal. Every summer, viewers were bombarded with up-tempo, catchy theme songs cut to fast-paced video of network stars dancing down New York streets encouraging bystanders to “Come On Along”. Just starting out in TV then at an NBC affiliate, I was bombarded with many incarnations of “Be There” promos which I’ve yet to get out of my head! But ABC, by far, had the best campaigns. I want to show you my all-time favorite promo campaign theme song – “That Special Feeling” from ABC’s 1983-1984 Fall Preview Campaign. 
I was watching a horrible film the other day, Horrible Bosses. In the film’s only redeeming moment, Jason Bateman’s character said something interesting… something along the lines of,
Let’s face it. Every local station these days has access to the same stories as its competition. The only exceptions to that are unique content a station generates from an Investigative Team or from its field reporters and producers who generate exclusive material. That’s why Signature Segments are so essential. They allow you to take those same stories every station has access to – and produce something unique. 
Relevance. Everybody wants to be and remain relevant. The dictionary defines “relevant” as: having direct bearing on the matter at hand; pertinent. Conversely, it defines “irrelevant” as: not relating or pertinent to the matter at hand; not important. 
In 1994, the KTLA Morning News celebrated its two-and-a-half year anniversary with a prime time TV special. We kinda missed the two year anniversary, so we improvised. We rented out the Chevy Chase Theater on Sunset Blvd for the event. It was called the Chevy Chase because he had just hosted his failed late night talk show there. You may know it as the Earl Carrol Theater, The Aquarius Theater when Hair played there, the Hullabaloo Club and at one time, the world famous Moulin Rouge nightclub. Queen For A Day and Star Search were even shot here. Every performer in Hollywood played there. It was dripping with Tinseltown history. But for the evening of February 11th, 1994, it was the KTLA Morning News Theater. 
After working with medium-clairvoyant Lisa Williams for several years, I have come to the conclusion that nothing is coincidence – nothing happens “by chance” – everything that happens is supposed to happen. If “all the world’s a stage”, then we’re just actors reciting lines that have already been written. Here’s one of many recent examples from the past few years. 
Several months ago, a producer came to me quite concerned that I appeared to be “unconcerned” about a few technical glitches that showed up on-air recently in one or two of our shows. He said, “I’m a perfectionist and these kind of technical errors can’t be allowed to continue”. He wore the word “perfectionist” as a badge of honor. Almost like I should reward him for being so conscientious. I felt two things immediately, neither of which I expressed. The first was, “Boy, are you in the wrong business”. Television is an art – especially the right-brained lighter newscasts we’re producing. No piece of art is ever perfect. Secondly, I felt sad for him. Sad that he will never be truly happy with any show he’ll ever produce. 
Preparing for the 11pm news one night in the WBNS newsroom, in Columbus, I looked up as Dana Tyler, the 11PM co-anchor, was returning to her desk.
Second Verdict was a show idea that came to me while I was working at E! Networks during a rash of celebrity court trials. What if we take footage of actual trials and re-tried them with our own jury? And instead of using jurors who were completely unbiased, we use jurors who themselves were victims of violent crimes or who had particular biases. Or perhaps we give them information that the judge declared inadmissible during the actual trial. How would that affect the outcome of our trial versus what happened in court? 
I still remember vividly that December night in 1979. The Who was to perform at a concert in Cincinnati’s Riverfront Coliseum. But before it started, eleven fans were crushed to death when the coliseum doors opened. All the concertgoers had “festival seating” tickets, which meant it was a free-for-all for them to race to the best seats. Opening the doors resulted in a stampede as everyone clamored to get through. 
I’ve always thought that networks like CNN and Fox News should have a position such as “Vice President of Teases”. It sounds absolutely ridiculous, but when you break it down it makes total cents (pun intended). Commercial breaks are disastrous for ratings. Ever since the invention of the clicker, now known as the remote, when viewers no longer have to get up off their butts to change the channel, they surf at will. The good news for “live” morning shows is viewers are rarely sitting down watching the show. They’re more likely using it as background noise as they brush their teeth and comb their hair and just let the commercials play through. But all viewers are automatically conditioned to mentally tune out the minute they hear that theme music begin to play, with the host saying something along the lines of “Coming up…the latest trend in swimwear. Stick around.” 
Thanks to news anchors like Anderson Cooper, the issue of bullying is finally front and center in the media. Laws are being passed, programs are being put into place and bullies are actually being held accountable for their actions. As someone who was bullied, day in and day out, from the third grade until my high school graduation, I can tell you that being the target of bullies at every turn is a terrifying and miserable existence. I vividly remember riding home on the bus from high school in my freshman year. Every afternoon we would drive past this huge graveyard on the west side of Cincinnati. I would stare at the thousands of tombstones and envy those people for being dead. I would have written a book about my experiences ages ago but I would have to go into events that occurred in my sophomore year – and I’m not yet ready to commit them to paper. My junior and senior years are a complete blur. I remember nothing. But a bully I encountered as a freshman would come back to haunt me early on in my news career. 
My favorite show of all time… don’t judge me!… The Sonny And Cher Comedy Hour. Even now, 40 years after it first aired, it is mesmerizing to watch. And the reason it is? Because the show is nothing but the sum of all its parts. None of those parts could stand alone (and they tried in later years). Cher was OK at best. Sonny was just plain sad – but his lack of talent didn’t stop him from having his own prime time variety show! 
