You heard it here first

Cable unbundling, writes longtime reader and FORTUNE writer Marc Gunther, is "a nutty idea, even by Washington standards."

Link: Plugged In: A la carte cable TV is a nutty idea - Feb. 13, 2006.

And Paul Harris wanted to talk about it too. Audio at Harris Online.

Here's Johnny! And here's Obi-Wan! And here's ...

As some of you know, the world's largest archive of film and TV content is kept in underground salt mines in Hutchinson, Kansas. Our Kevin Murphy reports from there:

If the Smithsonian Institution is the nation’s attic, this could pass as its basement — and Hutchinson is betting that the mine will be a tourist draw for its lore, its history and for its geology that dates back 230 million years. Proponents have raised $5.5 million for the Underground Salt Museum, which they hope to open this summer if the city of Hutchinson and state of Kansas approve special bonds to raise an additional $4.8 million.

Local officials are optimistic -- of course, they're required to be by Kansas law.

Link: Kansas City Star.

What price 38 million viewers?

Shonda Rhimes, the creator of "Grey's Anatomy," swears that the Super Bowl-launched two-parter was simply an anomaly. That she won't ever go that "ER" on us again.

Uh-huh.

Link: Kansas City Star | 02/12/2006 | Is ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ taking ‘ER’ supplements?.

A reader writes: "Thank you for the article in Sunday's paper about Grey's Anatomy.  I have watched  from the beginning and it's my favorite show.  I hope it hasn't 'jumped the shark' but that was my feeling as I sat there last Sunday .  They'll certainly lose me as a viewer if it becomes ER the sequel."

The man who built NBC News

Further reflections on Reuven Frank, who died this week, using some of the material from the earlier post.

Link: Kansas City Star | 02/11/2006 | Reuven Frank, the man who built NBC News.

And on the jump, Mike Chapman writes, "When he was named NBC news president for the second time, we cheered."

Michael packs his bags

Patricia Harrison, the president of the CPB, has made good on her promise to tone down the ideological rhetoric inside public broadcasting. The New York Times reports today that Michael Pack, who was to create an ambitious, politically controversial series on America, was essentially forced out by Harrison. And so was William Schulz, the more curious of the two ombudsmen appointed to oversee PBS and NPR content.

As I reported last month, Harrison wanted to make clear that she was closer to the views of her old friend, former PBS president Pat Mitchell, than to her fellow Republican and disgraced ex-CPB chairman Kenneth Tomlinson, who appointed the men that are now departing CPB.

The indecency wars: Book II

You know that old political axiom that says, “When they say it’s not about the money, it’s about the money?” Well, in the case of FCC chairman Kevin Martin's "a la carte cable" study that made headlines yesterday, we have the reverse. Because when Phyllis Schlafly, Brent Bozell, Rev. Jerry Falwell, James Dobson and Rev. Donald Wildmon all swear that a plan to give Americans a la carte cable is all about the money, you can be assured of this: It’s not about the money.

The double-spaced, 61-page report issued under the good-enough-for-government title, “Further Report On the Packaging and Sale of Video Programming Services To the Public,” effectively reverses a report commissioned by Martin's predecessor, Michael Powell. That 2004 FCC study found that forcing the industry to offer cable on a per-channel basis would not produce savings for consumers.

As my editor pointed out this morning, when you buy food off the menu a la carte, do you really save money?

Al Michaels: A goofy, size 20EE shoe drops

You know how coaches are sometimes allowed to switch teams in exchange for fourth-round draft picks? Something like that just went down in the world of broadcasting. According to a deal announced Thursday, Al Michaels will be able to leave ABC to go to NBC and call the plays on "Sunday Night Football" next season. In exchange, NBC will loosen up its restrictions on ESPN (which would have had Michaels' services had he stayed at ABC) regarding the embargo of Olympics footage. It will sell the rights to the Ryder Cup to ABC, which NBC had sealed up through 2014 when it thought it wasn't going to be in the football business any longer. And ...

Well, here's the bizarro part.

Does anyone remember who Oswald the Lucky Rabbit was? He was a character created for Universal Pictures by Walt Disney. He starred in 26 shorts. Then Disney struck out on his own ... and as the story goes, was crestfallen later to learn that Universal owned the rights to Oswald. He tried buying back his character, but to no avail. So instead, he and his chief animator, Ub Iwerks, designed a replacement character. Mickey Mouse.

Fast forward eight decades. NBC buys Universal ... and takes ownership of Oswald. You are intelligent readers, and you've already skipped to the end.

All I can say is, that is some golden throat Al Michaels has.

No love for "Monkey"

It's a goner. Program advisory on the jump.

Katie Couric to CBS? One shoe drops

Phil Rosenthal sees Brian Williams' ascension the same way I do:

Link: Chicago Tribune | Hard sledding for new co-host of the Olympics.

Al Michaels to NBC? One shoe drops

Hey, way to bury the lede, ESPN:

Link: ESPN.com - NFL - Tirico, Theismann, Kornheiser to call ESPN's MNF games.

Al Michaels, who had previously agreed to be the voice of MNF, but then expressed second thoughts through his emissary, is apparently en route to NBC for "SNF." (Not to be confused with "SNL.")

Paul Harris and I discussed this Monday on Paul's KMOX show.

Reuven Frank, RIP

Obituaries like today's for Reuven Frank, the NBC News pioneer, really date me.  I know nothing about "The Huntley-Brinkley Report," which he produced from the late 1950s until 1970 (when I was five).

Link: Reuven Frank, Producer Who Pioneered TV News Coverage at NBC, Is Dead at 85 - New York Times.

No, I remember Reuven -- other than for his continuous editorializing in the Viewpoint section of TelevisionWeek -- for his work on a little NBC News program that, it seems, all but a few of us have forgotten.

Can you remember it? (Frazier Moore does.)  "NBC News Overnight." It was co-anchored by surly Lloyd Dobyns and a rumpled young talent named Linda Ellerbee, who recalled later in her memoir being told that the show "would not be hindered by money, Reuven explained, because there would be no money. Well, damn little. It would be a no-frills newscast and it would depend on the kindness of strangers." Frank was also, according to Ellerbee, the inspiration for the show's most storied moment, one that bears repeating in full in light of this week's anti-Danish rioting (!) that has newspaper editors terrified of publishing a cartoon.

(W)e got a letter from a creep, addressed to "NBC News Overnight, Jew York." The man said we'd lied to the public.  There had been no Holocaust. It was nothing but a bunch of
commie crap and we were nothing but a bunch of pinko traitors to America and all true Americans. On the theory -- Reuven's -- that it never pays to ignore a fanatic -- we read the letter on the air and suggested the man turn off his set; we didn't need viewers that much and frankly, would rather not have him as part of our audience.

Update: On the jump, Linda Ellerbee writes with her tribute. Update Update: And so does Lloyd Dobyns.

Back, and to the left. Onto his lap.

Ameriquest had two of the biggest rewinders yesterday.  I must admit to excessively rewinding a couple of those CGI-overkill ads, but I did replay "Friendly Skies" twice, once for myself and once for Mrs. TV Barn, whose interest in the Super Bowl could not be more fleeting.

Six thoughts on Super Sunday

1. How do you know when the refs are getting in the way? When one team wins a game by 11 points, and even a neutral observer (me) wonders if the wrong team won. Five questionable calls (a TD given to Pittsburgh, a TD taken from Seattle, and three phantom penalties) killed Seattle. And outside of rabid Pittsburgh Steeler fans, who's happy about that? (I see my colleague Jason Whitlock agrees, but the Times' Karen Crouse does not.)
2. The only suspense at halftime was which song the Rolling Stones would perform between "Start Me Up" and "Satisfaction."
3. What do you think McDonald's meant by that silent, molded Ronald McDonald? Was that a dig at Burger King? Since when is Mickey D's delivering rebuttals to BK, a chain it has spent the past four decades ignoring?
4. For its shout-out to all the Benny Hill fans, Sprint Nextel earns the coveted gold medal in Super Bowl addage. (Silvers to Ameriquest for a pair of perfectly executed pieces of comedy. Now what is it they do again?)
5. Overall, too many ads relied on CGI to make their point. After a while, the point seemed to be that large corporations could blow a lot of money on computer-aided commercials. Hummer, ESPN, and that energy drink from Coke come immediately to mind, but once my head stops spinning I'm sure I'll think of more.
6. So does this mean they rename the Pittsburgh stadium Hines Field?

TV editorials return to Nola

If anything positive has come from the broadcasting washout that followed Hurricane Katrina, it is this: Not one but two TV stations in New Orleans have resumed the long-moribund practice of delivering on-air editorials.

And this time, they have bite.

Link: TV editorials return.

TV Barn Podcast

Finally, I have figured out how KCUR's audio archives work and can make available my monthly talks with Walt Bodine.

Here's Thursday's hour. The first 23 minutes, we chatter about the Olympics and the Nielsens.  In the second 25, we take calls.

Simon says: You're fat

Anybody else surprised by how "American Idol" judge Simon Cowell managed to reach a new low last night when he (with some help from the slo-mo and sound effects guys) humiliated an overweight contestant?

Nice.

Just the kind of guy NBC wants to do business with. On the jump.

IMBS: Finally, Oprah interviews Dave

And are you disappointed that I don't mean Letterman?

That and other Febsweep highlights on the jump.

Our woman in Tonganoxie (cont'd)

Been a while, ha'n't it?  Sorry, I've been busy torturing myself with a column that will run this weekend, ready or not.

Anyway, tonight's the night "Survivor" returns.  A preview:

Kansas City Star | Probst "excited" about "Exile Island"

And elsewhere in our pages, Danni Boatwright gives an interview to the Star's sports section -- she's sideline reporter for our new Arena Football League team (step one toward her dream job) -- in which she says this about her fellow homey, TV and music producer Von Freeman: "He is a big deal in LA. He started Ryan Seacrest, Jim Rome, Mark McGrath, all these guys. He started out in radio, from Tongy, and he put on the radio music awards. … He’s the guy Mariah Carey thanks when she wins awards, and I don’t even think people know (him)."

They did if they read my earlier column about Freeman, which I've reposted below.