PBS trusts critics, pays heavy price

Some of you may recall that during the January press tour in L.A., we the critics badgered PBS president Paula Kerger to move the airdate for the upcoming Ken Burns film "The War" out of the crossfire of the fall network premieres. Kerger had no sooner announced that Sep. 17 was the planned night to roll out the 15-hour film than the room was filled with groans and lamentations. After all, the Emmys were scheduled for Sept. 16th which meant the network season would start the following night.

We told Kerger this. We told her how it would add to our load. And, we hinted that if our editors were forced to choose between Ken Burns and, say, the return of "Grey's Anatomy" when planning their Sunday TV guides and other weekly look-aheads, it wouldn't go well for PBS.

I'm not sure how many of us thought our wailing and gnashing of teeth would actually accomplish anything, but I for one was pleasantly surprised to receive a notice after press tour from the "chief content officer" of PBS announcing that the airdate had been moved to Sept. 23, "on the 17th anniversary of 'The Civil War' debut -- to the minute."

Only this week did it dawn on me that we the critics had gotten it wrong. The networks aren't following the Emmy's lead this year. Instead, they're waiting a week to roll out their new shows ... starting Sept. 23.  Oops.

Fortunately, in a clever PR move, Burns has ensured we will talk about his film anyway by riling up every Latino and Native American veterans' group in the country.

Reege hits the wall

UPDATE 9/1/07 -- Bark reports Ducas is out at KTVT.

Regent Ducas, the formerly high-flying news director of Kansas City's KCTV-5, has apparently been dealt a major setback at the newsroom he's now running in Dallas.  As you may have seen on the Ticker, our good good friend Uncle Barky is reporting that Ducas on Monday was ordered to stop packaging the "First Five Minutes" of the late news, a gimmick that emphasized whatever crimes and tragedies were breaking in the metro. Ed writes that Ducas's boss, KTVT GM Steve Mauldin, has "express(ed) his displeasure with both the content and the ratings of the 10 p.m. newscast."

And who said no one pays attention to the July book?  Actually, it's fitting that this comes after the summer ratings sweep, one that is often discounted by local stations since the networks are in reruns-and-reality mode and HUT levels are way down. Five years ago, as Ducas and his then-boss, KCTV-5 GM Kirk Black, were beginning their extreme makeover, they poured money into promoting their newscasts during the July 2002 sweep. The effort paid off in higher ratings and an early, if manufactured, vote of confidence in the live! late-breaking! investigative! format.

A couple of years after KCTV had turned itself around and won a couple of books at 10 p.m., Black told me something. I thought of it this week. KCTV was a sleepy little station, a solid No. 2 in news, with an aging audience and no real plan in sight. Black and Ducas had a plan. It would make people mad but it would also set KCTV utterly apart from the rest of the field. It would, as they say, break through the clutter. "We had a unique opportunity to turn a station around," said Black, "and we made the most of it."

KTVT is a CBS affiliate, but that's about the only thing it has in common with KCTV. Regent Ducas is finding that out. Among other things, it appears that at his new station, the GM no longer has his back.

Here are some of my reports on Regent Ducas:

• Live. Late-Breaking. Litigation.
• Ducas to Dallas -- the exit interview
• KU unhappy with KCTV hospital reporting
• Departures continue at KCTV
• "My number one goal is content"

9/11: Here it comes again

The last time I checked my stack of screeners, I did not see a single television special being produced to observe the sixth anniversary of the attacks on New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.

That has not stopped another group of highly creative people from generating their own commemoration of the events of 9/11. I refer, of course, to conspiracy theorists.

This morning I found an email in my inbox from a googler who identified themselves as a graduate student in classics at Rutgers University, arguing that 9/11 "was an inside job." I think it was the classics part that got me — that was my major in college, too, and I've always thought it helped develop my critical-thinking skills, which seem to be missing, or underutilized, among the 9/11 conspiracy crowd.

**UPDATE 1-23-09:** The person whose letter is quoted below informed me today by email that s/he no longer "belongs to the 9/11 truth movement" and requests that our exchange be deleted. I'm deleting the person's identity ... but I worked too hard on this to simply erase it from my site.

Flynet — today's WORST person in the WORRRLD

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There's a better way for picture sites to deal with bloggers.

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So our publisher and editor both get an email from the robot programmed by the law firm hired by the paparazzi agency Flynet alleging that I was using an image of Teri Hatcher without their permission.

And my first thought was: Whaaaa....?

Then I remembered — several months ago there was this ridiculously overhyped spread of pictures allegedly showing George Bush Sr. playing "grabass" (as TMZ so delicately put it) with the "Desperate Housewives" star. I was annoyed by the breathless coverage and  responded with the piece, "Why Journalism's In Trouble (#842 in a series)," which (in part) scrutinized the photograph and concluded, "Sorry to disappoint, but even with TMZ's helpful spotlight on Herbert Walker's hand, it's pretty clear that neither is that a grab nor is it her ass."

Shortly after that story ran, a person close to Hatcher wrote me to say "I wish more people could report honestly like you – or even fact check once in a while."

Of course, suggesting to paparazzi sites that they fact check is a little like asking Sean Hannity to play nice. Their photos have become the mainstream version of porn — images that people want to ogle, usually more than they care to admit — and, according to Variety, that has made big business out of paparazzi pictures. In recent months, Flynet and other agencies have lawyered up and changed their policies and begun threatening bloggers (notably Perez Hilton) with, well, bad things if they insist on using Flynet's images.

Now, if I were in the fighting mood, here is what I would do ...

DVR alert

“Libby, Montana” is this week’s film in the summer “P.O.V.” series, airing 10 p.m. on KCPT (check your PBS station's listings). It tells the story of a beautiful, isolated part of my home state where hundreds of residents have gotten sick from asbestos-related illnesses, a community in denial about the local zonolite mine that was implicated in the spread of asbestos dust and the few brave souls who spoke out against the corporate and civic interests and put Libby, for better or worse, on the map.

Then visit the Al Jazeera English section on YouTube to watch “Main Street USA,” a new travelogue with distinctive stories about our country … aimed mainly at a viewership outside our borders. Dave Marash, formerly of “Nightline,” takes us to the Cabrini-Green projects of Chicago in this week’s first installment of the series, produced for the audience of the best cable news channel you can’t get on cable.

ESPN Classic moving

Attention Time Warner customers — my ever sharp-eyed editor Ward Triplett was looking at the TV listings for this weekend when he noticed that Time Warner KC is shifting ESPN Classic from analog channel 35 to digital channel 205, next to ESPNEWS. A rep at the local office confirmed the move, though he didn't know why Classic is getting the heave-ho, nor what will be taking its place at 35. But he did know that Fox Business Channel will arrive on digital at channel 232 in October.

They're not Mormons? Really?

Our copy editor Ward Triplett caught this correction on the LAT-Washington Post wire service Friday:

A Los Angeles Times (story) about the HBO series “Big Love” referred to the character of Bill Henrickson as “a semi-closeted Mormon entrepreneur” with three wives. The Henricksons are not Mormons. Their faith is based on “the Principle of Plural Marriage” and has led them to become inactive with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

My first thought was that this was the work of a PR official for the LDS Church, who persuaded a non-churchgoing wire editor to run a correction, kind of like the people who take out ads in journalism magazines to remind you that unless it's actual Kleenex, please call it something else.

KO on NBC: Let's play softball

In a phoner with reporters last week, Keith Olbermann promised that his special network version of "Countdown," which aired last night, would not be any different that any "Countdown" he does for MSNBC. But that wasn't true. My guess is that someone at NBC convinced Olbermann that for his first appearance as a newsman on the network it would be a good idea to take his hard-edged, hard-headed approach to "Countdown" and, well, soften it up a bit.

KO is a smart guy, but that was not a smart move.

Special "Countdown" won't be, says KO

Don't tell anyone, but one of the shows airing Sunday night opposite "60 Minutes" -- the No. 1 program on TV the past two weeks -- is "Countdown with Keith Olbermann." NBC executives decided to give KO a shot at doing his fast-rising cable show in prime time, which is mighty big of them given it's the last week in summer and "60" is hotter than a Laredo parking lot. (Ah, we miss Dan.)

"The War": And it's only August

Listen to the very end of this long (15:59) podcast. Most of it is my discussion with KKFI-FM's Barbara Crist of the controversy surrounding Ken Burns' upcoming film "The War." But there's a surprise ending as one of Burns' PR people sends me a nasty-gram.

• Download the podcast
• Related story: The War on mythical journalists who resell screeners
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• Earlier: Tom Brokaw talks to me about Ken Burns and "The War"

"The War" against mythical journalists who resell their samples on eBay

UPDATE: An unhappy Dan Klores PR person has emailed me about this story, telling me — tongue in cheek, I hope — that "We will make sure in the future to exclude you from all the materials we have since you obviously would prefer not to get them." I've added the whole email, and my response, to the end of today's TV Barn Podcast, which just happens to be about "The War."

It has been eight years — going back to the very first days of TV Barn — since I have seen any evidence that any TV critic has attempted to sell the free samples s/he receives from media corporations. But you'd never know it from the cone of paranoia that has been lowered over us by the industry.

Did HBO persuade NFL star to end holdout?

Jason Whitlock, writing about Kansas City Chiefs running back Larry Johnson's decision to sign a contract extension on Tuesday, quotes Johnson on why he suddenly ended his 25-day holdout:

“The guys on the ‘Hard Knocks’ staff would tell me and show me interviews from guys on the team saying they missed me,” Johnson told me Tuesday evening. “That really got me. It was really more about loyalty to them (teammates) to get back here as soon as I could."

Now, it goes without saying that the absence of LJ from the Chiefs training camp is one of the big stories of the NFL preseason. Holdouts are fairly rare occurrences in pro football, and Johnson is one of the league's best at his position. So it isn't surprising that when HBO sent a documentary crew to film the Chiefs' training camp for its reality series "Hard Knocks," Johnson's holdout — and the reaction it got from other Chiefs players — would be one of the storylines on the show.

Last chance for "Watch the Pilots" tickets

All right, here we go.  If you didn't get tickets that were given away from 94.9 KCMO or from kansascity.com, this is your last shot at attending "Watch the Pilots with Aaron" this Thursday at the fabulous Screenland Granada in downtown KCK.

Send email to this address with the following:
    1. Your name
    2. A phone number where you can be reached
    3. Number of people coming (1 or 2)

We'll let you know first thing Wednesday if your name was drawn.

TV Barn Radio today

No, this is  not a leftover post ... I'm doing more radio today. 

First up, Walt Bodine at 10 a.m. CT on KCUR-FM. (Podcast to come.)

Then, Barbara Crist at 6 p.m. CT on KKFI-FM. (Podcast only if I remember to record it at home.)

Both are streamable from the left sidebar of their respective web sites' home pages. Both are hourlong chats.  I'm earning my keep this week.

The new KMBC-9 set

The first (and, for a while at least, only) high definition local TV news operation in Kansas City will sign on this week. Here are some photos I took during a recent picture, along with my story from Sunday's Star.

Coming attractions

1. I'm traveling today, and can't get the story from Sunday's A&E section about Channel 9's new high-definition digs onto TV Barn quite yet.  Coming later today. In the meantime, here's how it appeared at kansascity.com.

2. If you missed out on your chance to Watch the Pilots with me — we gave out a few hundred passes at the web site and on KCMO-FM — there will be one last chance for you on Tuesday. Keep it here for details.

3. A couple of things to set your DVR to this week, on the jump.

Kyle Chandler NOT leaving "FNL" ... false alarm

Some of you have written in expressing concern that Kyle Chandler's character was leaving "Friday Night Lights," as mentioned in a news item linked to in the TV Barn Ticker. I am happy to report that this was an error. The Ticker is compiled by contributors, and goofs are rare, and usually somebody catches them quickly. That didn't happen. Obviously this is the other shoe dropping after Coach Taylor announced he was taking a job out of town. For how long, no one knows — but in the meanwhile someone's got to coach the Panthers, and that someone is played by one of my favorite character actors, Chris Mulkey (anyone else remember "Any Day Now"?).

Above is a photo from last month's press tour as proof that Chandler is still on the show (and here's my writeup, if you missed it).

In actual "FNL" news, I have in my hands the DVD of the first season of Friday Night Lights, and I should caution hardcore fans that it should not be considered a substitute for the NBC companion website. Yes, the deleted scenes made it to the box set, as did a 22-minute "making of" featurette that appears to be new because there's a sequence in it from the final episode of the season (it's actually relevant to this post: Connie Britton gets on the phone with showrunner Jason Katims and debates whether Kyle's character would really stay behind in Dillon because his wife is pregnant; after all, this is Texas and he is a football coach). But there are a couple dozen extras on the website that I don't see here. More disappointingly, there are no audio commentaries on the DVD.

And here is the promotional sheet that fell out of the DVD. More proof that Kyle is front and center even when he's not in town.

"Local" coffee shops to sell "Best" of "SNL"

Later this month, when you walk into your local Starbucks (and I realize that's like saying “jumbo shrimp”), you can buy “Saturday Night Live: The Best of '06/'07” on DVD. The coffee chain is selling the disc exclusively, for a while at least.

I sampled the DVD today and I must say, I am impressed — all the highlights of “SNL” packed into one 89-minute commercial-free program! Kinda begs the question “why watch it on NBC,” doesn't it?  (For those of you who prefer your "SNL" commercial-filled, on Aug. 25 NBC will be rerunning the "Best of 06/07" broadcast that first aired last May as episode #21 of the regular season. Yes, an actual episode of an allegedly live comedy program was a clip reel. If Lorne Michaels were in hog processing, he'd figure out a way to package the squeal.)

However, the DVD is not without its charms: Included are a couple of deleted sketches, a “Weekend Update” dress rehearsal (where the fun is watching untested jokes go down in flames) and the unbleeped version of the Justin Timberlake music video "Dick in a Box," at higher resolution than you'll find at YouTube.

Watch Dan tonight

OK, all you doubters and haters, you folks who thought Mark Cuban was just giving Dan Rather a soft landing at a bargain basement price when he left CBS News. Tonight "Dan Rather Reports" will air a report on electronic voting machines and the problems with them that will turn your stomach.

For those of you who don't get the HDNet channel, and thus can't watch "Dan Rather Reports," here's a 13-minute clip from tonight's episode. And here's a preview from our good good friend, Frazier Moore.

You know I've been rough on Dan, and for good reason -- he waited too long to apologize for the shoddy work on Memogate, and even then failed to acknowledge his own arrogance in the matter. But journalists deserve second chances, and third, and in my case hundredth chances, and so with that I commend to you the work of a lion in winter.

KMBC's new digs: First look

On Friday I visited the new home of KMBC-TV and KCWE-TV, in an office park next to Swope Park. (Well, near Swope Park and next to Time Warner Cable.) Later this month, KMBC is scheduled to start broadcasting the news in high-definition from there — the first HD newscast in Kansas City.

The stations are in the process of moving out of downtown, where Hearst-Argyle had to spread out operations over six floors  of the Lyric Opera offices and a second building across the street.  Here they'll be on two floors, and much more efficiently arranged.

I took these pictures as visual notes. They aren't very good and the two I've chosen don't include the newsroom — we'll have much nicer pics in the paper in a few days — but these will give you a taste of what you'll be seeing in the background on Channel 9 news in the near future.