"To The Point" on the writers' strike

On Friday I was one of five guests stacked up like planes for takeoff at O'Hare on the Public Radio International program "To The Point." You can hear the full show at kcrw.org — here are my seven minutes with guest host Lawrence O'Donnell, a writers' guild member discussing the writers' guild strike.

Download to_the_point_clip_12282007.mp3

Playing "Hardball" on the writers' strike

Why do they call this show "Hardball with Chris Matthews"? Listen to this audio of me and Howie Kurtz on the Dec. 12 broadcast and I think you'll agree, it should be named "Fastball."

Download Hardballaudio_12122007.mp3

"Jesus Camp" and "Fall from Grace"

Two recent documentaries filmed around here, both airing on national TV this week, shine a light in a couple of little-seen corners of Christianity. Given intimate access to movements that are often associated with intolerance and even bigotry, these filmmakers succeeded in putting a human face -- though not necessarily a smiley face -- on them. Both films are on TV this week and, if you miss them, are recommended DVD rentals.

Letterman does a deal

On a slow news night, the deal between a company with the word "Pants" in its name and the Writers' Guild leads the CBS Radio News. I'm the expert.

Download CBSWorldNews20071228.mp3

The Top 15 things I reviewed in 2007

Jim Broadbent in "Longford"

In alphabetical order:
Al Jazeera English
Andy Barker, P.I. (the first five episodes)
Bad Blood
Chuck
Damages
Independent Lens
Jonestown
Kansas to Kandahar
Longford
Mad Men
Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project
Sin City Law
Torchwood
The Winner
Women's Murder Club

My top 5 TV stories of 2007

1. Writers' strike shuts down the season. The final two months of 2007 saw TV and movie soundstages go dark in Hollywood and New York as 12,000 members of the Writers Guild of America declared, "Pencils Down!" The strike immediately shuttered all the late night comedy shows, while networks hoarded their dwindling number of scripted prime-time series episodes in hopes of a quick resolution. Alas, the strike looks to be a long one, and will likely scuttle the first half of 2008, except for programs that were filmed in advance of strike — and, of course, reality shows like "American Idol," which don't use Guild writers.

It's official! Local TV buys WDAF

Nice job there by Oak Hill Capital Partners, the private-equity firm, waiting until Saturday of Christmas weekend to drop this bit of news on Kansas City — Fox 4 is a Fox-owned-and-operated station no longer. Local TV, the station group owned by Oak Hill, finally confirmed the rumors by snapping up eight TV stations that News Corp. no longer wanted (because they were in midsize markets where Fox did not have a duopoly).

The deal instantly resizes LTV from a small-to-middlin' station group into a solid midsize player, with holdings in Denver, Salt Lake, St. Louis, Milwaukee, Cleveland and Birmingham as well as WDAF-TV, the station founded in 1949 by the Kansas City Star.

Earlier: WDAF on the sale block, and this time they mean it
Earlier: Newschannel 4 to become Fox 4 (literally my first byline as a staff writer for the Star, Jan. 4, 1997)

Writers' strike update

The late-night shows are coming back without writers. Is this silliness ever going to end? I talked with Dave Williams of KNX NewsRadio in Los Angeles this morning.

Download KNX20071221.mp3

TV's Craig Ferguson: "I'll have to speak without thinking, which I think everybody knows I can do"

The host of the "Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" called in to help promote his standup performance in January in Kansas City. He said it's the first time he's talked to a media type person since the Writers Guild of America went on strike two months ago. Naturally, I wanted to know what he's planning to do when his employer, David Letterman, returns to work in January — and how a guy who sounds like he's talking off the top of his head will function without writers. I mean, will anybody notice?

The New York Review of Barnhart

(UPDATE: Olbermann story pushed back to Dec. 28.)

My postings from NYC are starting to get out of hand. So for the sake of convenience — not to mention self-promotion — here's a handy guide to my 48 hours in the Big Apple:

Early Wednesday afternoon I received my handsome glass plaque and schmoozed with Tim Brooks (pictured) and other honorees at the first annual CableFAX 100 luncheon, held to celebrate the industry publications "power list" for 2007.

Later, during the entertainment portion of the program, I flexed some of my newfound power by single-handedly transferring 50 bucks from "Cash Cab" host Ben Bailey to this Charter cable executive, by feeding him the answer to a news question that he should've known (pssst! "John Malone"!).

Later Wednesday afternoon I headed over to MSNBC to interview Keith Olbermann, his producer Izzy Povich and his boss Phil Griffin for a story (running Thursday) on his "Countdown" show. MSNBC has recently moved into new digs at 30 Rock after spending the first 11 years of its existence in a New Jersey warehouse where someone could easily have shot a season of "24." (His new book is out later this month..)

Wednesday evening I headed over to ... MSNBC again, where I did my first "Hardball" panel. Chris Matthews berated me and Howie Kurtz as to whether the politicians were getting a "free pass" from the late night talk shows during the writers' strike (watch).

Thursday morning I trudged in a circle with 170 other striking WGA-East writers in sleet, snow and temps right around freezing, then wrote about it for Saturday's Kansas CIty Star. I also shot three videos: the key one was with several writers for "Late Show With David Letterman" (watch); another was with "Late Show" co-head writers Eric and Justin Stangel (watch); and the third with Steven Schirripa (watch), making his first ever visit to the WGA-East picket line.

Thursday afternoon I had a cup of coffee with Brian Stelter at his new employer's new headquarters and was asked about my rubbers by a nice Italian lady. (Must read to believe.)

And on Thursday evening my HBO publicist friend, Kat Pongracz, and I took in Aaron Sorkin's new Broadway play, "The Farnsworth Invention," which I hope to have reviewed in the next few days. I won't discourage you from seeing it but I will say I hope that the process of adapting someone else's work — as Sorkin did with "Charlie Wilson's War" — gets him out of his own head for a while, and that he comes back to TV with something new to say.

(No, seriously, don't let me rain on your parade! Uhh, but make sure you buy the half-off tickets. And act quickly, if you know what I mean.)

On Friday I caught my flight home with three minutes to spare. On a personal note, I'd like to thank the gate agent for American Airlines at Newark Airport for waving me through.

On Monday I yakked about my week with Chip, Dave and Shari. (Or click on the Podcasts jukebox in the sidebar.)

What NBC should be airing this week

Hint: It was the greatest show in NBC history. And hundreds of its best hours are sitting in a cave in central Kansas, doing nothing.

Download WBAL20071217.mp3

Bobby Bacala on strike

Steven R. Schirripa — best known as Uncle Junior's model-train-loving handler Bobby Bacala on "The Sopranos" — joined the picket line of the WGA-East for the first time last week, during a sleety snowy day in New York's Times Square, outside Viacom HQ.

Stangel brothers on strike

Eric Stangel and Justin Stangel, brothers and co-head writers for "Late Show with David Letterman," took time out from being pelted by sleet, snow and rain last week to talk to me at the WGA-East picket outside Viacom headquarters.

Writers' strike update

This morning I spoke with Dave Williams, morning drive anchor for KNX NewsRadio in Los Angeles.

Download KNX20071217.mp3

Lettterman writers on strike

On KOGO Radio today, I recapped my time in New York last week interviewing striking writers with "Late Show With David Letterman" while Chip Franklin tried to fill my head with all kinds of malarkey about writing jokes for TV.

Download KOGO20071217.mp3

The Tony Mendez Show (Unauthorized Strike Edition)

Letterman writers on strike: Un film de Aaron Barnhart

Writers' strike, East: Cold truths in NYC

(Pictured above: Me and "Late Show" co-head writer Justin Stangel. That's my video camera in the plastic bag, keeping dry. The strike button was to keep my business card pinned to my coat; nothing else was working. However, I can say I support lateshowwritersonstrike.com)

NEW YORK — Hollywood seems a nice enough place to live. But if you're looking for weather metaphors to capture the mood of the TV and movie writers' strike, now in its sixth week, you need to go east.

Specifically, to Times Square on a miserable Thursday morning, where the Writers Guild of America-East was picketing the headquarters of Viacom, the media giant that runs MTV, VH1, Comedy Central and many other media outlets.

True tales of the city

After I let Mother Nature have at me most of Thursday morning, I went back to where I was staying, changed clothes, and went to the shiny new New York Times building to meet up with Brian Stelter (above), the original Mr. TVNewser and now one of that paper's young turks of new (and old) media.

While we were sitting in the cafeteria, a long train of very well dressed people came through, as though on a tour. There was a guy with a TV camera on his shoulder tracking their every move.

Later in the lobby, after I'd said goodbye to Brian, one of the tour group came up to me, a beautifully dressed woman in a long coat with furry trim, necklace — she looked important.

"What are those?" she said, pointing down.

"They're .... rubbers," or maybe I said "galoshes," wanting to avoid the double entendre.

"Where did you get them?" she asked, excitedly.

I was briefly speechless, so I vamped: "Well, I'm from the Midwest ... and ... I got them at a shoe store." And then I explained how they fit over my dress shoes and protected them against the elements.

"Those are wonderful!" she declared.

Now it was my turn to ask a question: "Your party looks very distinguished," I said. "Where do they come from?"

"We are a delegation of the Republic of Italy," she said.

And I said that if such a good looking Italian woman is complimenting me on what I'm wearing, that was a fine compliment indeed. And I walked away thinking: But, still. Rubbers?

Below, a picture of my feet, fully sheathed and standing inside the "glass piston" elevator at the midtown Manhattan Apple Store.

New KMBC news director

All I know about Sherrie Brown is what I read in the press release, on the jump.

My first thought is that someone from Oklahoma City is coming in to make Channel 9 more competitive in weather.

My second thought is: Maybe it was just time for her to move up.