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9/4: “Hometeam” Brandon Leak out at 790/The Zone. Kaedy Kiely in at 97.1/The River Iky
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
After just a few months on the air, the “Afternoon Saloon” at 790/The Zone has already lost one patron: “Hometeam” Brandon Leak.
I have no details but he’s no longer on the Web site.. He had worked at the station for eight years. He has a MySpace page which doesn’t look like it’s been updated in ages.
The show’s two main hosts, Chuck Oliver and Mike Bell, remain. Andrew Saltzman wouldn’t say why they cut Leak per se but he noted that 680/The Fan has five local full-time hosts while the Zone still has 10 local full-time hosts. He wouldn’t characterize the move as budgetary but in this day and age, virtually all cuts have something to do with finances.
-Kaedy Kiely, off the air since Z93 became Dave FM in 2004, has found a new gig at 97.1/The River. She replaces Lexie Kaye as the morning host, according to program director Chris Miller. Details forthcoming once I get a hold of Kaedy.
I did a “whatever happened to” on her last November. You can read up on her here.
Kiely worked for 22 years on air in Atlanta including 96rock and Z93, neither of which exists anymore. She had been doing production work at 790/The Zone the last I had checked in on her.
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Project Runway: A foreign affair
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The high: Some nice prints in tonight’s episode.
The low: Blayne’s headband(s).
Here I sit, surrounded by fat September issues of fashion magazines and nursing a burning desire to haul out cashmere sweaters and tall boots. Ah, fall!
It’s too early for sweaters, so I have to get my fashion fix elsewhere. Using a movie as sartorial inspiration is a wonderful idea — except tonight’s “Project Runway” episode gave little indication that the designers actually watched the movie (Billy Wilder’s Oscar-nominated “Foreign Affair”) that inspired their challenge. Did anyone bother to research ’30s fashions or Marlene Dietrich beyond Diane von Furstenberg’s look book?
Shanghai, Berlin, the rest is all white noise — well, at least they got the gist of it. While Blayne continued his love affair with unflattering breeches for women (right, courtesy Bravotv.com), Kenley found a champion in von Furstenberg but failed to pull off the one challenge that she should have nailed. (Note to designers: When everybody else says, “You’re not going to make three pieces?” you might want to go with that flow.)
Final Four prediction? Korto, Leanne, Terri and Kenley. Yes, an all-girl finale. I like Korto to win, though. She has an innate sense of how to handle fabric, the willingness to experiment with shape, and the ability to innovate with texture (leather and linen; vinyl and kale). She also has few flubs on her record and no close calls at all. Unless she goes way off course, Season 5 should be hers. Leanne’s her closest competition.
For Season 6, Lifetime Network should air “Project Runway All-Stars,” pitting the best and most interesting designers of the past five seasons. My picks would include the five winners, as well as Mychael Knight, Uli Herzner, Wendy Pepper, Austin Scarlett, Santino Rice, Sweet P and Jack Mackenroth.
Whaddya think? Who would top your All-Star list?
The last word: Blowout. “Project Runway” ended in just enough time to catch veep candidate Sarah Palin’s new subdued ‘do at the GOP convention.
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9/2: “90210” redux a guilty pleasure, Atlanta group Kazual ousted from “America’s Got Talent”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The CW, in its make or break year, is hoping its savior is a reimagining or revamp or whatever you call it of “Beverly Hills 90210.” And since everyone now knows what that zip code stands for, the new shows is merely called “90210.”
Since TV writers were not given advance copies of this show, I’m live blogging (or close enough since I’m doing it via DVR tonight).
Though when advancers are withheld from movie writers, it usually means the film stinks. In this case, I’m not sure that is the case. In effect, it’s breezy and fun and doesn’t take itself too seriously. Is it fine art? Or Emmy material? Not even close. These aren’t deep, complex characters along the lines of those in “Friday Night Lights.” The plots are incredibly “been there, done that” and not remotely complicated. You could talk on the phone, fix up your Facebook page and text your buddies all at the same time and still follow the show without missing anything. Take it for what it’s worth and it’s a pleasant diversion.
I’m curious to see how ratings are and whether this can save the network. I doubt it but hey, stranger things have happened.
Brenda Walsh fans had to wait awhile. She does not turn up until one hour and 28 minutes in and isn’t given much to do — yet. Still, there’s plenty of grist for fans of the original.
First of all, the setup is similar. A family moves to Beverly Hills, fish out of water. Except now it’s 2008 instead of 1990 so you have Sidesteps and mochachinos instead of old-fashioned telephones and coffee . The theme song is revved up but otherwise, the opening credits evoke the original. Rob Estes’ character Harry Wilson moves his family back from the MIdwest to Beverly Hills to take care of his mom. He also happens to be principal of West Beverly Hills High. He has a daughter Annie and an adopted black son Dixon, the Brandon and Brenda Walshes of this show. (And making Dixon black is a way to add some diversity to the proceedings. But still, not a lot of Asians or Hispanics at this school - at least non yet with speaking roles.)
“It’s like the Oscars and everybody is Scarlett Johanssen!” says Annie Wilson (Shenae Grimes) as she enters campus.
There are inside jokes, too, for fans of the original. A gal playing a character named Hannah Zuckerman-Vasquez anchors the school broadcast news. One teacher remarks, “How old is that girl? Like 30?” Gabrielle Carteris, who played journalist Andrea Zuckerman in the original, was 29 years old when she started the show playing a 16 year old.
Naomi, played by former Atlantan AnnaLynne McCord, enters with that “bad girl” aura she exuded quite nicely on the last season of “nip/tuck.” At minute seven, Jennie Garth, the original Kelly Taylor and not far removed from four years on the sitcom “What I Like About You,” arrives with a Flock of Seagulls reference.
It doesn’t take long for Naomi to clash with Annie over the hot lacrosse boy Ethan, Annie’s boyfriend and the guy Annie conveniently kissed a couple summers earlier while visiting her grandma. (He plays lacrosse because that fits the “90210” ouvre more than the cliche of football.)
In most worlds outside of TV, Annie would be the earnestly hot girl. In TV land, she’s dorky, unfashionable and basically an outcast. Annie quickly finds a friend named Silver, bonding over an obscure rock band, who also does videos on line skewering folks at the school. Annie then uncomfortably (and temporarily) bonds with Naomi, whose mom dated Annie’s dad when they were in high school. (Of course!) Silver is displeased and skewers Annie online with a cow reference. (“Naomi is the anti-Christ,” Silver says, none too subtly. She later explains she used to be friends with Naomi, who broke her trust.) Conveniently, Silver is the sister of Jennie’s character, kind of like “What I Like About You,” given the massive age difference.
Joe E. Tata and his reprised, modernized Peach Pit arrive at minute 17 with his Nat character bitching about an expresso machine. “Whatever happened to regular coffee?” he asks (although Starbucks was very much in vogue by the time the original “90210” signed off in 2000.)
Quickly, the two newbies get in trouble. Dixon gets in a fight with a jealous lacrosse player who starts the fight but Ethan, who saw that Dixon did not start it, lies to the principal and fingers Dixon. Then Annie gives Naomi a paper for her to get “ideas from” but naturally, Naomi copies it word per word. Duh. That was telegraphed like the Batman symbol on a cloud.
The scriptwriters choose not to make Naomi out to be a total witch. Coddled, yes. Spoiled? Naturally. But smart, too. Still, they have to ensure Naomi is no longer “friends” with Annie to set up future conflicts.
As the first hour ended, the principal finds out his ex girlfriend had a son who was adopted. Same plotline used on “October Road” last year. But this time, the son is yet unseen. I’d say, mission accomplished in terms of hour one.
Hour two doesn’t quite work as well. Annie quickly gets introduced to an obvious love interest Ty Collins, a lead in the play, a player who can fly her to San Francisco on a private plane for dinner. She lies about it to her mom, gets caught, loses trust. Shannen Doherty, er… Brenda, shows up to hug Nate and says whenever twin Brandon thinks of him, he craves a megaburger. “We should spend more time together,” Kelly says. Aww… a reunion!
Naomi makes Ethan jealous. Dixon tries to gain the trust of the team as the principal’s son by masterminding a prank. Least interesting character is Naomis’ friend Adrianna, who steals, takes drugs and tries to audition for roles for the sake of her mom instead of herself. Yawn. Ethan breaks up with Naomi. Annie kisses Ty. Naturally, Ethan sees this. Eye roll. Yes, the producers here are not exactly pulling a “Sixth Sense” on us.
So fans of the original, how did you like it? Is this worth a second look? I’ll give it a try for awhile and see how it plays out.
-Not surprisingly, Atlanta singing quartet Kazual are out on “America’s Got Talent.” That means no Atlantans made the top 20. Oh, well. Kazual got virtually no air time before last Wednesday and needed to kill it to make the top 5. They didn’t kill it. They looked good, danced well, harmonized okay but three of the four soloists lacked power and finesse. When the show producers paired them with Queen Emily, it was obvious Kazual were goners. Four of the five acts that made it through were singers. America still loves singers and generally prefers them over dancers or magicians or whatever. The season one winner was a singer. Season two was a singer, took, albeit a ventriloquist, too.
The drag queen opera singer Shequida? Like fingers on a chalkboard, that chalkboard being my brain. But I thoroughly enjoyed the music teacher opera singer. Not karaoke to me. All heart. And the baton twirler Jonathan just amped his game up several notches. Wow! I was also a fan of Sarah Lenore, who brought surprising edge to the Dixie Chicks song “Ready To Make Nice.” Disappointing: everybody else.
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9/2: Surprisingly big numbers for TNT’s “Raising the Bar”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Steve Bochco’s latest drama “Raising the Bar” opened at an impressive 7.7 million viewers Monday night, according to Nielsen estimates.
Atlanta-based TNT says that’s the biggest ratings ever for a new series on a ad-supported cable. That excludes broadcast TV, non ad-supported cable such as Disney and pay cable such as HBO.
Despite generally poor reviews, the drama about the interaction between the Los Angeles public defenders’ office and the district attorney’s office found an initial audience thanks to two factors: a lead in monster by the name of “The Closer” and the lack of competition over on the broadcast networks, which were airing a mix of political convention news and hurricane updates. And surprisingly, a lot of people do watch TV on Labor Day. It’s not a holiday where viewing drops off sharply like some other days.
“Raising the Bar” was the second largest show on TV Monday night, beaten only by NBC’s ” Deal or No Deal,” which drew more than 10 million people for its first one million dollar winner after more than 180 shows. It even beat the fourth season debut of Fox’s “Prison Break.”
Whether this show has the makings of a genuine hit depends on how it does in coming weeks.
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9/1: Back to politics on the news channels
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Cable news channels, prepping for a repeat of Hurricane Katrina courtesy of Gustav, readied to cut back on the Republican National Convention Sunday. All the big shot anchors (Brian Williams, Anderson Cooper) flew to New Orleans, bracing for the worst.
But on Labor Day, as Hurricane Gustav skirted west of New Orleans, they pivoted back to the convention, especially with Sarah Palin’s daughter coming into play.
As the afternoon wore on, Gustav took less and less time and the convention took over, even with a scaled back opening day. And at the convention, officials made multiple calls for disaster relief.
Tonight, it appears a bulk of CNN/Fox News/MSNBC coverage will be back to politics and the Republicans appear to be going back to a normal schedule as well.
The New York Times noted that the hurricane may have overshadowed the Palin controversy Monday, which otherwise would have dominated coverage.
But the story of her daughter’s pregnancy is still alive on TV. At 1:45 p.m. today, CNN is talking about Palin. And so is MSNBC, with a “right to life debate.” And Fox News is airing Joe Biden commenting on it by saying, “Children are off limits,” repeating Barack Obama’s statement yesterday. When Fox News got around to a brief update on damage west of New Orleans, they shrunk the correspondent to include live shots of the convention, even though nothing is really happening in St. Paul right now. Fox News at 1:55 p.m noted they have whopping 500 people at St. Paul.
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8/30: Radio station Labor Day theme weekends
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
While Praise, Smooth Jazz and Hot used Labor Day weekend to cut some actual labor costs, a few stations are dabbling in theme weekends on Labor Day weekend. It’s the theory of just throwing out a lot of “oh wow!” songs. Great stuff!
-B98.5 is doing an alphabetical song list, including many songs that have not been on their regular playlist in ages. In the “B’s as I’m writing this, I’ve heard Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run” and “Born in the U.S.A,” Supertramp’s “Breakfast in America,” Mr. Mister’s “Broken Wings” and Rolling Stones’ “Brown Sugar.”
-Star 94, which has been skewing a bit younger since Steve & Vikki left, is doing something odd: playing songs from the 80s and 90s. I’ve heard some songs that were hits at the time but haven’t been played in ages, which I guess is the point. As I was driving home from the Human Regeneration tour with Naked Eyes, Flock of Seagulls, ABC, Belinda Carlisle and Human League, I heard ABC’s “Poison Arrow,” Joan Jett’s “I Love Rock ‘n Roll,” OMC’s “How Bizarre,” Lou Gramm’s “Say You Will” and Madonna’s “Causing a Commotion,” and Arrested Development’s “Mr. Wendel.”
-Rock 100.5 is playing the top 500 rock songs of all time. It’s all over the map, which is the point, I fathom. The midnight hour includes Metallica’s “Nothing Else Matters,” Better than Ezra’s “Good,” Thin Lizzy’s “Jailbreak,” the Clash’s “Should I Stay or Should I Go,” Def Leppard’s “Rock! Rock! Till You Drop!” 3 Doors Down’s “It’s Not My Time,” Ted Nugent’s “Cat Scratch Fever,” Van Halen’s “Top of the World,” Creed’s “My Own Prison,” Led Zeppelin’s “When the Levee Breaks,” Tom Petty’s “You Wreck Me.”
-I also got the final count for WSB-AM’s Care-a-thon for the Aflac Cancer Center and Blood Disorders Service of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.: $1.23 million. That’s comparable to the past two years, impressive given the current economic downturn.
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8/29: Rickey Smiley deal not final, cuts at Praise & Smooth Jazz
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Today, I got a hold of Kevin Watson, Rickey Smiley’s manager. He said any deal between Smiley and Hot 107.9 is not final and still in negotiations. Still no word from the bosses at Hot in Atlanta. So what I thought was definitive yesterday was not. But it makes total financial sense.
Smiley for the past year has had a syndicated show now heard in 20 markets including Dallas and Miami and is owned by Radio One, which owns Hot and Smiley’s syndication deal. So the company has a major incentive to leverage a major asset (being Smiley) and add him in another top 10 market.
So until the deal is set, Hot will keep the “A Team” in the mornings with Beyonce, Rashan Ali and Emperor Searcy but minus Griff and Akini. Since Hot got rid of Maria More in mid-days and E4Real in afternoons (keeping Mizz Shyneka), this leaves openings that could be filled by Rashan from 10 to 2 and Searcy from 2 to 6 with Mizz Shyneka.
Radio One, which also owns Smooth Jazz and Praise, cut a couple of jocks from those station as well: Rene Miller, long-time jock at Smooth Jazz who had been doing afternoons, and Sonja Hamm, mid-day jock at Praise.
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8/28: Hot 107.9 dropping the A Team, possibly replaced by Rickey Smiley
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I just heard that Hot 107.9 today got rid of the morning show, the A Team, consisting of Rashan Ali, Griff, Beyonce, Akini and Emperor Searcy. (From two sources, I hear Rashan will do mid-days and Searcy will go back to late afternoons, but I’m not sure what happens to Beyonce and Akini. Griff’s publicist confirmed that he is out.)
UPDATE: The Web site was updated in the evening to show Beyonce still having a shift on the weekends. That bodes well for her. And Mizz Shyneka and Durrty Boyz seem fine for now. But no sign of E4Real. Temporarily, it appears Rashan and Searcy will do the mornings without Griff for now.
Here’s Griff’s official statement: “The last 3 years and 6 months at Radio One have been a life changing experience. I thank my spiritual Father for the friends that I’ve met and worked with because I’ve learned so much and have grown as a person here in Atlanta. I’m excited about my future, I have a strong team of people helping to take me to new heights, and I will continue to make people laugh all over Atlanta at events and comedy clubs, while serving the community through my foundation, Positive Vibes. When I got home today, I read a book that said: ‘On this day the will of God is done in my life.’ That was all the closure I needed.”
Hot is expected to replace them with a syndicated show led by Rickey Smiley, the comic who was just in town at the Civic Center on Saturday. Ironically, I interviewed him a few days back and joked with him about entering the Atlanta market. At the time, he said he felt he had enough of a following to take on Steve Harvey and Tom Joyner here. He didn’t betray any sense he knew this was coming but maybe he did.
Smiley is in 20 markets including Dallas and Miami with a big push earlier this year. And if you like prank calls on the Morning Mess, just wait til Smiley comes in. He loves them!
Maria More, the mid-day host for six months, said she was let go but couldn’t comment further. The person who answered the phone at Hot 107.9 said he couldn’t talk about it either. I left a message with the Hot boss Bruce Demps, who was in a meeting. I also haven’t reached Steve Hegwood, the operations manager. I left voicemail messages with Rashan, Griff, Akini and Searcy but no answers back.
The station, ratings wise, seems to be doing fine, finishing regularly top 3 among 18 to 34 year olds. But revenues in radio (as well as other media) have been dropping sharply this year and perhaps Radio One, the station owners, is looking to cut budget. It doesn’t hurt that Radio One’s syndication arm just happens to own the Rickey Smiley show. That fact alone actually has fueled rumors over the past year that the A Team would be replaced but given the A team’s performance and its local bent, nobody quite believed Radio One would pull the trigger.
Hot doesn’t beat V-103 but has been a solid No. 2 or 3 among younger listeners. It managed to survive the loss of Ryan Cameron in late 2004 although the A Team, while solid, has never achieved his best ratings.
Ultimately, syndication is almost always cheaper than a local show. And Steve Harvey and Tom Joyner have proved that the African-American audience is willing to take a national show. (The rock crowd has been tougher. Witness the local demise of Bob & Tom, the Greaseman and the like.)
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8/28: How did Atlanta’s Kazual stack up on “America’s Got Talent”?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Atlanta quartet Kazual performed tonight with nine other groups on TV’s biggest summer show ‘America’s Got Talent.” We hadn’t seen much of them so far so they had to kill it. And up to this point, I’ve only heard them a capella and they sound great together.
But I didn’t quite “feel it” tonight when they sang “Can You Feel It.” The foursome looked and danced like pros. The problem: the solo vocals didn’t stand out. Another problem: nobody was ID’ed as the lead singer. Only one of the four (EJay) really carried the charisma and vocals to be the lead. The other solos were weak, one getting swallowed up by the backing tracks. Again, when the four of them sang together, Kazual sounded solid. That may not be good enough for them to survive into the next round. We’ll learn their fate on Tuesday.
Piers Morgan echoed my sentiments exactly, as did Sharon Osborne. “You were nervous,” said David Hasselhoff. “But you pulled it together in the end… I hope America gives you a second chance.” David said to make EJay the lead. True that!
I enjoyed quite a few of the acts including the finale singers both nights. Neal E. Boyd, the insurance salesman, did a solid job on “Somewhere” and *Queen Emily&* did a solid job with “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.” But my problem is both songs are so cliched an dtired. I wasn’t nearly as wowed by either of them. And honestly, I think LaKisha Jones was better than Queen Emily but she has a great back story. So does Boyd. The judges are hyping both to high heaven. Both are guaranteed slots in the top 20.
Night one was stronger than night two. My favorites that first night (besides Boys) were the Extreme Dance FX cloggers (big improvement), the James Gang (very unusual!), the gal who fights her dad in the group Elite (daddy issues? She just missed the top 5), Ronnie B. (this year’s Boy Shakira, who didn’t make it to the top 20), and the magician Shimshi with the card trick (more fun than it sounds but he missed the top 5 as well). The drummers didn’t do it for me and the cowboys were middling talent goofballs.
My night two favorites were Paul Salos, the Sinatra impersonator; Zooperstars (good for pot smokers, I fathom), the Wright Kids (more adorable than great singers); trombonist Jonathan Arons (simply fun, even if his trombone playing sucked). I agreed with Piers—the Slippery Kittens were a bore and Jason the Giant was a joke.
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Project Runway: Recycling Saturn
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The high: Could someone really be named Ratbones?
The low: We felt guilty choosing fashion over politics.
OK, I absolutely hated the idea of this automotive challenge, but I thought it really showed the innovation that these designers are capable of. None of the designs, except for one or two, looked like it was even made from Saturn parts. The only thing that was uninteresting was the complete lack of color; maybe somebody could have experimented with brights in some way. Then again, maybe Banana Republic will buy some of those designs as is.
Right: Leanne’s leather: Would you drive this dress? (Photo: Bravotv.com)
In a way, recycling Saturn also reminded me of the grocery store challenge, where everybody used tablecloths and the designs ended up looking kind of similar. Seat belts, in this case, are the new tablecloth.
The winner: Leanne. An overdue win, though I thought she borrowed the silhouette from Kenley’s Episode 3 dress (the turquoise nightmare with the hip pouf, which, by the way, also won).
The loser: Keith. He lost because he tried to manipulate the competition by playing to what he thought the judges wanted. The back of the dress was messy, and what’s the point of a skirt if you can’t move around in it?
Plus, Keith’s little runway rant probably cemented his exit. Still, it was a close call for Stella, who may be on borrowed time, entertaining though she is.
Anybody been to the Michael Kors Lifestyle store in Lenox Square? It opened Aug. 21 with his clean-looking, very American, MILF-y designs.
The last word: Wackadoodle.
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I can’t believe that 790 cut Hometeam. If anyone on that show had to go it should have been Mike Bell. Even though I like Mike he is the one on that show that knows the least about sports. He even admits himself that he knows nothing about basketball.... read the full comment by David | Comment on 9/4: "Hometeam" Brandon Leak out at 790/The Zone. Kaedy Kiely in at 97.1/The River Iky Read 9/4: "Hometeam" Brandon Leak out at 790/The Zone. Kaedy Kiely in at 97.1/The River Iky
I usually keep 790 on in the car and listen to it throughout the day. I heard the intro for the Afternoon Saloon come on and I just heard Mike’s and Chuck’s names. Then Mike came on and introduced him and Chuck and never mentioned Hometeam.... read the full comment by Bonnie | Comment on 9/4: "Hometeam" Brandon Leak out at 790/The Zone. Kaedy Kiely in at 97.1/The River Iky Read 9/4: "Hometeam" Brandon Leak out at 790/The Zone. Kaedy Kiely in at 97.1/The River Iky
Leanne’s design was dead-on with the 1930’s design aesthetic. No research was necessary for her: that girl knows her design history: feminine, soft and gentle. My only complaint was that von Furstenberg is known for her fabric patterns and Leanne used solid... read the full comment by lisa | Comment on Project Runway: A foreign affair Read Project Runway: A foreign affair
Kaedy Kiely is back on the air in Atlanta radio? That’s the best thing to happen to radio in this town in ages! Welcome back Kaedy! Atlanta radio needs you now more than ever…... read the full comment by Greg | Comment on 9/4: "Hometeam" Brandon Leak out at 790/The Zone. Kaedy Kiely in at 97.1/The River Iky Read 9/4: "Hometeam" Brandon Leak out at 790/The Zone. Kaedy Kiely in at 97.1/The River Iky