Study indicates improvement in election issues coverage

A new study of 74 big-city TV stations finds that Kansas City newscasts did a better job than most in letting political candidates speak on the issues during Campaign 2000. Alliance for Better Campaigns, a watchdog group in Washington, D.C., that commissioned the study, wants local TV election coverage to become more issue-oriented. Studies have found that newscasts currently focus on "horse-race" stories - campaign strategy and polling figures. The group wants every TV station to adopt a "5/30" rule: candidates talking about the issues five minutes every night for 30 nights before the November election. The 5/30 standard was recommended in 1998 by a White House panel of political experts and TV industry leaders. For its study, the alliance looked at every early and late evening newscast at 74 stations in 58 cities during the last month of the campaign. Researchers at the Norman Lear Center at the University of Southern California sorted through more than 12,000 hours of videotape. Two Kansas City stations were included in the study: KCTV, Channel 5, because it collected the most campaign advertising money in the market; and KSHB, Channel 41, because owner E.W. Scripps had pledged to uphold the 5/30 standard. Although only one of the 74 stations actually averaged five minutes a night on issues, the report found that those taking the 5/30 pledge had meatier campaign coverage than those that didn't. Six of the top 10 stations in the report were Scripps stations; KSHB, at 2 minutes 26 seconds per night, finished 12th. KCTV, which did not take the pledge, averaged 75 seconds per night, not including coverage of Mel Carnahan's death. Still, that was a far cry better than most. Two TV stations owned by The New York Times spent a pitiful 22 seconds per night on the issues. Stations committed to the 5/30 standard also used longer sound bites, about 18 seconds on average, compared with 11 seconds for other stations. That seven extra seconds, said Marty Kaplan of the Norman Lear Center, "is often the difference between a slogan, or a bumper sticker, and an idea." Jim Hart, the senior vice president of television for Scripps, said the company's stations will continue to uphold the 5/30 standard in election years. "One of the early charges to broadcasters was that they would serve the public interest," Hart said. "This is in the public interest, and we found it to be more meaningful than we expected and we feel better about it than we thought we would." Hearst-Argyle Television, owner of KMBC, Channel 9, also took the 5/30 pledge but was not included in the study. You can reach Aaron Barnhart through the Web site www.tvbarn.com. >>>

New on the tube

'Some of My Best Friends' Airs: 7 p.m. Wednesdays, CBS (Channel 5) Stars: Jason Bateman, Danny Nucci, Alec Mapa, Michael DeLuise, Jessica Lundy In brief: Urban comedy about two New York City roommates - one straight, one gay - that feels like it has been recycled from old Norman Lear scripts. But is it any good? In the old days, television shows might offend a minority group. But today, thanks to corporate synergy, "Some of My Best Friends" will have both gay and Italian-American defamation groups screaming bloody murder. Besides dredging up some of the least amusing cliches about gays (they love Judy Garland and fruity pastels and hate sports), the straight folks here make Tony Soprano and his crew seem like tofu burger-eating tree-huggers. Is it a survivor? Cynically pairing it with Bette Midler's sitcom might help tonight (guess which of the roommates has her picture on the coffee table?), but viewers will tire of the stale set-ups. CBS was aiming for a new "Odd Couple" but got "Bosom Buddies" instead. >>>

Faulkner puts rumor on ice; Former WDAF anchor is warm and happy in cold Minnesota

Not long ago Harris Faulkner told a friend - she didn't say who - that she hated the winter weather in her new home of Minneapolis-St. Paul. That friend told two friends, and so on, and soon the message had been shortened to: Harris Faulkner hates Minneapolis-St. Paul! Thus set off one of the best-circulated rumors of the new year, as newsies here and in the Twin Cities started buzzing about the former WDAF, Channel 4, anchor's imminent return to Cowtown. And in one of those serendipitous bits of timing we would all wish on our careers, there just happened to be a fat juicy job opening in Kansas City when Tracy Townsend left KCTV, Channel 5, for Chicago. It was the perfect scenario. It was reported in newspapers here and in Minnesota. And it was in your dreams. In a phone interview this week, Faulkner, who has been doing the news at 5 and 9 p.m. on KSTP-TV for the last year, said flatly that she has no intention of ending her three-year deal there. Faulkner said she didn't respond sooner to the rumors because (a) she was on vacation and (b) what would be the point? But when the published reports only fueled further speculation, she decided enough was enough. "Phil Witt called me on the phone and - he believed it!" Faulkner said. "Now this man has known me practically my entire broadcast career. That flabbergasted me. He's known me since the time I was Bambi in the headlights. I told him, 'You of all people! If I was coming to compete against you, I would've called you!' " Faulkner, 35, spent nearly eight years at WDAF. She also gives motivational speeches around the country and just sold the rights to her book, Breaking News, to Telepictures, a division of AOL Time Warner. She kept her Kansas City residence through 2000 (for tax reasons, she said) but recently put it up for sale. "What really hurts about (the rumors) is that people here have given me so much support," Faulkner said. "This is the kind of thing where they acknowledge you're an outsider and you don't know Chanhassen from Mankato, but they support you. I have blessings here and this is the place where I feel I should be." And now that she has warm winter clothing - sent to her by relatives in the South - she even finds the weather tolerable. "I went snowshoeing a couple of weeks ago and I had a blast!" Faulkner said. Former KSHB anchor-reporter Harold Fisher has landed a morning gig in Baltimore. He's co-anchor on a new morning show on Fox affiliate WBFF-TV. Fisher, a native of Washington, wanted to be closer to his family. He also told the Baltimore Sun he prefers working mornings to evenings. You can reach Aaron Barnhart through the TV Barn Web site at www.tvbarn.com. @ART CAPTION:Harris Faulkner @ART:Photo (color) >>>

New on the tube

Kate Brasher Airs: 8 p.m., CBS (Channel 5) Stars: Mary Stuart Masterson, Hector Elizondo, Rhea Perlman, Mason Gamble, Gregory Smith In brief: Young single mom takes thrill-a-minute job at local community center. But is it any good? Mighty heartwarming, even though the young-mother-of-teen-agers shtick is getting a little old (see "Gilmore Girls"), as is the game of follow-the-camera-around-the-crisis ("ER," "West Wing"). Interesting tension between Kate (Masterson), who reads Bible verses at random, and her new boss (Elizondo), an atheist. Is it a survivor? Being an obvious match for its lead-in, "That's Life," should help. Look for heavy promotion during "Judging Amy," this show's soulmate. - You can reach Aaron Barnhart through the TV Barn Web site at www.tvbarn.com @ART CAPTION:Masterson @ART:Photo >>>

'Millionaire' producer stands by diversity policy Non-whites and females getting in the game - slowly

"Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" is no longer the No. 1 show in America, but it still reaches more than 80 million viewers a week. The six-figure cash prizes the show doles out are chump change next to the millions in advertising it rakes in every night. For most programs, that would be enough. End of story.

But ABC and "Millionaire" executive producer Michael Davies are determined that "Millionaire" remain a force to be reckoned with. To that end, they have quietly launched a campaign to address what they believe is the show's Achilles heel: the preponderance of white male contestants who make it to the fabled "hot seat" opposite Regis Philbin. the country.

And if the results have at times been embarrassing - two people chosen at auditions recently made it to the "Millionaire" hot seat only to leave empty-handed - Davies insists he is doing the right thing. "We want diversity but with a small 'd,' " he said in a recent interview.

In Davies' mind, diversity means that contestants "come from different towns, different occupations, different interests as well as different minority groups that have not been represented on the show. They give us some freshness on the show and some stories we didn't have before." Stories are all-important on "Millionaire," much as they are on most prime-time TV shows.

Contestants are interviewed intensively before each taping so they have anecdotes to tell Regis when they make it to the hot seat. This human-interest element is cited by fans and critics alike as a key to the show's broad appeal and success. But success also has made "Millionaire" a frequent target of diversity groups. Black comedians have had fun with the show's conspicuous lack of faces of color.

And in a remarkable moment last year, Philbin made an on-air plea for contestants other than white males.

For all that, "Millionaire" can honestly claim to have one of television's most diverse audiences. Two of its four weekly episodes rank in the top 20 in the Nielsen ratings among black and white viewers alike, according to the annual survey of viewing habits by race released this week by TN Media of New York. Only seven other TV shows can say that.

Now Davies and his staff are holding auditions in selected cities, where contestant wannabes first must complete a written quiz. "These were difficult, difficult tests," Davies said, "and we only took people who did really, really well on the tests." Those who qualified were interviewed, and from that group the contestants were chosen and flown to New York.

In mid-January, "Millionaire" began to air episodes featuring these hand-picked contestants. At first, it seemed like the experiment had been a huge mistake. Two contestants bombed out answering the super-easy opening round of questions. A husband and wife walked away with precisely $2,000 between them. By the end of last month, the average prize for these "picked" contestants was just $35,000 - less than half of what "unpicked" players had averaged in November and December.

Davies thinks there are three reasons for this. The picked contestants are willing to take more gambles than earlier players. They guess at questions they are unsure of, instead of availing themselves of all three of their "lifelines." Second, they have a more laissez-faire attitude. Davies thinks the married couple, for example, approached it something like this - "we arrived here with nothing, we're playing a game, if we leave with $1,000 it's more than we came with."

Finally, the contestants who are sought out aren't as clued in about the show as the ones who call the 800 number to qualify every night. "The people who call our phone lines are very, very loyal viewers," he said. "They watch a lot and, from a strategy point of view, they play the game smarter. I think a lot of people we picked came to the auditions not knowing as much about the program. Their friends and family said, 'Hey, you ought to try out for this.' "

Going forward, Davies said he will use a blend of what he calls "picked and unpicked" contestants on "Millionaire." And yes, he plans to bring the auditions to Kansas City someday. "You know, if this show stays around on television as long as I think it will, we will come to every American city eventually," Davies said.

Block makes tax-deductible visit

"Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" has not been above trying a few gimmicks to hang onto viewers, either. Already it has aired two editions of "Celebrity Millionaire," a college edition and "Family Millionaire." Now there's "Tax-Free Millionaire," a co-promotion with Kansas City's own H&R Block. Contestants on this week's broadcasts will have the taxes on their winnings paid by H&R Block, meaning that if somebody wins $32,000, she'll actually take home 32 grand. In addition, H&R Block will offer free financial planning to this week's winners through a team of advisers the company has dubbed its "Millionaire Block Squad." No word on whether the tax advisers will wear the shiny ties and monochromatic shirts favored by Regis Philbin. >>>

Noisy XFL is a sight to behold and an experience to be had>Upstart has reason to think positive

That the XFL has implanted itself firmly and painfully in the side of the sports establishment was never more clear than the night David Letterman needled Marv Albert about it. "Holy cow!" said Dave in his best mock-eager voice. "What about the XFL? Are you doing XFL games?" Letterman knew what the answer was. Albert works for NBC, one of the owners of the new football league, yet the notion of the veteran sportscaster calling XFL games was about as ludicrous as suggesting that Albert doff his toupee right then and there. "No," Albert said, chuckling. "Bob Costas and myself were told that we would not have to deal with the, ah, the XFL." With that Dave eased up on his old pal Marv, as both men enjoyed another little slap in the face at NBC one of many slaps the network has taken in the media for associating with the XFL's hillbilly flea circus. It was an odd sight: Albert, a serial back-biter whose sexual exploits landed him in criminal court not long ago, now occupying the ironic high ground above the XFL. Laugh while you can, America. For if the truth were told, XFL co-owner Vince McMahon's gladiatorial googaw is really no worse off than the handful of other made-for-TV sporting leagues over the years that survived, thrived and finally rewrote the history books. Remember the American Basketball Association? In fact, the ABA was a gypsy caravan of clubs that, between the league's inception in 1967 and its absorption into the NBA in 1976, moved from city to city and owner to owner until just five teams were left to stagger across the finish line. The management and ownership of the Kansas City Chiefs are saying mostly positive things about the XFL, and unlike Marv Albert, they seem to mean it. Good idea. Over at Arrowhead, they surely know how much the XFL has in common with the nascent American Football League whence Lamar Hunt's Dallas Texans (now the Chiefs) sprang. In his book Supertube, Ron Powers writes that the AFL "was a 'studio' sport in that practically no one watched it, at least in its early years, except on television." Like the XFL, the AFL tweaked the rules to "open up" the stodgy play of the NFL. Like the XFL, the AFL's talent was considered well below that of the NFL. Like the XFL, the TV network that carried AFL games also came in for ridicule: ABC, then as now the Mickey Mouse network, only more so. But five years into the AFL's existence, NBC got tired of losing out to CBS for the rights to NFL games and offered the AFL about four times the amount ABC was paying for the right to show its games. Shrewdly, Hunt and the other owners split their TV jackpot, ensuring the league's survival and leading to the AFL-NFL merger and the Super Bowl. Yes, the XFL is economically expeditious. Give its founders credit for knowing the score sheet pales next to the ledger sheet. NBC and McMahon know the only difference between a laughingstock and the next addition to the pantheon of American sports is the goodwill of a select few fans, notably the people who buy advertising time. And they also know this: If, someday, the XFL's name is added to the Book of Life, the authors of sports history will compose florid paeans to its early years, glossing over the fact that a washed-up wrestler named Jerry Lawler was once its No. 2 color commentator, hooting and hollering at the gyrations of XFL cheerleaders. Time will erase the memory of XFL announcers reminding us incessantly that each player on the winning team would "walk away with $2,500 bucks" (woo hoo!), leaving the losers with only their meager base pay, so that dozens of young men called the Enforcers, 0-and-2 after a bitter double-overtime defeat in Orlando, returned to frigid Chicago and told their wives and young children that no, Daddy said the thermostat had to stay at 60 for another week. The XFL's ratings are down considerably from its debut week, but NBC still has a good chance of making advertisers happy by season's end. If so, the network may be on its way to a new Sunday afternoon franchise - and Marv Albert will be on his way to calling football games again. You can reach Aaron Barnhart through the TV Barn Web site at www.tvbarn.com >>>

CNBC2's loss is C-SPAN3's gain; Bad business news leaves financial network on the sidelines

The recent economic downturn hasn't been kind to TV financial shows, which are losing viewers nearly as fast as technology stocks are losing market value. Now comes word that CNBC, the once red-hot business channel, has postponed the launch of its highly touted spinoff, CNBC2, indefinitely. In response, Time Warner Cable has reclaimed the channel it set aside for CNBC2 on its digital cable systems and given it instead to C-SPAN3, a similar-sounding but very different offering from the good-government folks at C-SPAN. Goodbye, Wall Street excitement. Hello, commerce subcommittee hearings. When CNBC2 was announced 18 months ago, at the height of the bull market, it seemed like the real deal. According to industry reports, CNBC2 was to operate around the clock and have a more international flavor with help from CNBC's sister channels in Asia and Europe. Time Warner Cable, the nation's No. 2 cable operator, bought the pitch and ordered CNBC2 for its 1.7 million customers with digital cable. Time Warner Cable of Kansas City, which has 90,000 digital customers, planned to put CNBC2 on Channel 225. If you tuned into Channel 225 any time in the last two months, you saw a display that read, "CNBC2 to launch in Jan. '01." But January came and went, and still no CNBC2. On Wednesday a CNBC spokesman would say only that the new channel was being "reformatted," that its launch date was "yet to be announced," and that there was no connection between the delay and wilting Nielsen ratings for many business-oriented shows - including CNBC's "Power Lunch" (down 20 percent from last year) and "Market Wrap" (down 8 percent). CNN's "Moneyline" is also down in the Nielsens by 13 percent compared with a year ago, the Wall Street Journal reported last week. Time Warner Kansas City began looking for alternatives to CNBC2 and found C-SPAN3, which had fortuitously launched in late January. C-SPAN3 is the solution to a longstanding headache at C-SPAN: too much content, too little time. As the only cable network dedicated to covering public affairs in Washington, C-SPAN casts a wide net. On any given day half a dozen of its camera crews are in the field, capturing policy events, Capitol Hill meetings and press conferences. In an ideal world that material would air immediately. But C-SPAN and C-SPAN2 give priority to the two chambers of Congress and always show their proceedings live. As a result, an important luncheon address or hearing may wait hours until it is telecast. And it's not just Beltway wonks who complain when this happens. A C-SPAN spokesman recalled that "a lot of people were upset because we didn't cover part of the impeachment trial of Clinton when the House and Senate were in session." C-SPAN3's schedule of political programming is telecast between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. weekdays. At night and on weekends, the channel re-airs history-themed programming seen previously on C-SPAN. C-SPAN runs its networks on a parsimonious budget; the three channels produce thousands of hours of programming a year for less than the cost of three "ER" episodes. And Bruce Collins, corporate vice president and general counsel of C-SPAN, said the additional cost of starting C-SPAN3 was nominal, so it's being offered to cable operators for free. At that price, it became a no-brainer for Time Warner Cable. (Comcast Cable, which serves parts of the Kansas City area, has no immediate plans to add C-SPAN3, according to a spokesman.) So a channel that was supposed to showcase CNBC's Next Big Thing is now the home of C-SPAN's sure thing. As Collins joked, "We've finally drawn the dot-commers into the dot-org world." You can reach Aaron Barnhart through the TV Barn Web site at www.tvbarn.com >>>

Drive-in movie is stale treat in Hallmark's hallowed canon

"Hallmark Hall of Fame" begins a remarkable 50th season at 8 tonight on CBS (Channel 5) by adapting an Iowa author's first novel. "The Flamingo Rising," based on the book by Larry Baker, is a story about a drive-in theater in the 1960s and all the crazy, off-beat characters who work there. It's also a story about a Korean-American coming of age in his adopted land, a story about real estate and a story about the way we used to go to the movies. In other words, "The Flamingo Rising" is the kind of sprawling great American novel that would take days to tell using pictures and narrative. Give credit to the screenwriter, Richard Russo, for trying valiantly to shoehorn in as much detail from the book as possible. But in the resulting chaos, too many characters flit in and out of the picture, and story lines drift off for long siestas. The only thing that makes a strong impression here is the nostalgia - a "Hall of Fame" hallmark. It doesn't help that William Hurt gets top billing in "The Flamingo Rising" but barely factors into the story. Except for a couple of poignant scenes at the end, Hurt spends most of this movie reacting, usually with a constipated face, to the antics of his next-door neighbor, played by Brian Benben. For those of you now asking yourself Brian Who, he was the star of an HBO series called "Dream On" in the early 1990s and, for about a week and a half, his own sitcom on CBS. One senses in "The Flamingo Rising" that CBS is making good on an ill-fated contract. Good for Benben and his agent; bad for us. In the opening scene we see Benben at the wheel of a red convertible, his pretty wife at his side (played by Elizabeth McGovern), two children in the back seat. In a voice-over, Christopher Larkin, who plays the boy, explains that his father is Hubert T. Lee, a war veteran who brought him and his sister back from Korea. The year is 1960-something, and the family is singing along with the radio hits of that era, as happy families always do in TV movies. Soon their paths cross with Hurt, whose funeral home is adjacent to 200 acres of primo real estate Hubert is fixing to buy. For reasons that are never fully explained, the sight of a mortician instantly hardens his heart. Hubert must have the land and he must build a movie theater on it, for he knows that will make Hurt's life miserable. He erects a five-story screen and starts booking triple features with titles like "Night of the Living Dead" and "The Body Grinders." The ghoulish images light up his neighbor's front yard and the blood-curdling screams destroy his solace - just the way Hubert wants it. Before we can ponder this odd vendetta, we are introduced to the real star of the show, the drive-in theater. The scenes at the drive-in are as much fun to watch as they probably were to make. There's one especially gorgeous visual, taken from above, of two or three dozen automobiles parked neatly in rows, all bubble tops and tailfins, all washed and glowing in the moonlight, their headlights pointed at the big screen, transfixed, as if the cars - not their restless occupants - have come to see a movie. Working the drive-in, Hubert is allowed to indulge his Walter Mitty side. He dons a pirate costume and stages sword fights atop the concession stand. But much of "The Flamingo Rising" is about Hubert's inner struggle, about being a caring dad while keeping his personal demons at bay. Benben can't convey any of this. In many scenes he doesn't even try, putting on a frown or a grin, whatever seems best. That leaves McGovern, Hubert's saintly wife, to move the story along. She tells her son that his daddy is a good man, a loving man, but one who "sometimes needs to be saved from himself." That's true, and at times McGovern saves Benben from his limits as an actor. In recent years "Hallmark Hall of Fame" has become a well-oiled machine, with many of the same directors, writers and crew returning year after year. Aside from the rare clinker like "The Flamingo Rising," their formula of Oscar Winner plus A More Innocent Time plus Tragedy plus Redemption has served them well. Still - if I may be nostalgic for a moment - the "Hall of Fame" I remember used to take more chances. It would be nice to see a stage play again, or even something like "Old Man," the meditative Faulkner story that Hallmark filmed a few years ago. After all, if you can't do something special on your anniversary, when can you? You can reach Aaron Barnhart through the TV Barn Web site at www.tvbarn.com @ART CAPTION:William Hurt (left), Elizabeth McGovern and Brian Benben star in Hallmark Hall of Fame's presentation of "The Flamingo Rising." Olivia Oguma and Christopher Larkin also are featured. @ART CREDIT:E.J. CAMP @ART:Photo (color) >>>