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5/14: WXIA’s Clarence Reynolds leaves, CBS cancels “Moonlight,” “Shark,” saves “Old Christine,” “Rules of Engagement”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Clarence Reynolds, an anchor at WXIA-TV the past three years, has left the building.
His last day was last Thursday. He was the morning news anchor with Jill Becker for more than two years but was bumped to weekends earlier this year, which didn’t bode well for his future. I left a message on his cel and am awaiting a response. Karyn Greer ended up taking his slot.
-Despite a rabid following, Friday night freshman vampire drama “Moonlight” has bitten the dust. And CBS also slayed James Woods’ “Shark.” Both were getting passable, if not spectacular, ratings in their respective time slots. (Those “Moonlight” fans might end up sending vials of blood to CBS in protest or perhaps big wooden stakes.)
But all the sitcoms that have aired on Monday nights will be back (“Big Bang Theory,” “Rules of Engagement, “Two & a Half Men,” “New Adventures of Old Christine” and “How I Met Your Mother.”)
-In other renewal news, ABC has given “Boston Legal” a final 13 episodes. David E. Kelley will write all of them.
-And surprisingly, Oprah decided not to do another “Oprah’s Big Give.” Ratings were borderline disappointing but ABC had been willing to give it another shot, according to Hollywood Reporter.
-Plus, MTV”s “The Real World” has passed on Atlanta again for its 21st incarnation, opting for Brooklyn. And instead of 26 half-hour episodes, they will instead do 13 one-hour episodes.
-And yes, that second appearance by Britney Spears Monday night on “How I Met Your Mother” felt a bit forced and while mildly amusing at points, felt glommed onto the rest of the plotlines. The ratings bump the second time was more modest, too, as the show hit 9 million viewers compared to 10 million-plus the first time she showed up. Let’s just say that’s the end of that. Or we can only hope so.
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5/13: ABC’s fall schedule features only two new shows
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
With the 100-day-old writers strike crimping development of new shows earlier this year, ABC has opted to keep it safe this fall with just two new shows. Typically, the network would introduce at least six but several shows that might not have made it otherwise got a break thanks to the strike i.e. “Boston Legal,” “Eli Stone” and “Dirty Sexy Money.”
The first and only scripted new series, “Life on Mars,” is a actually a remake of a BCC series. The second, “Opportunity Knocks,” is a reality show produced by Ashton Kutcher.
Otherwise, familiar names this fall are “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” “Boston Legal,” “Brothers & Sisters,” “Dancing With the Stars,” “Desperate Housewives,” “Dirty Sexy Money,” “Eli Stone,” “Extreme Makeover,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Private Practice,” “Pushing Daisies,” “Samantha Who?” “Supernanny,” “Ugly Betty,” “Wife Swap,” and “20/20.”
ABC is also picking up NBC’s “Scrubs” for midseason along with a show called “Goode Family” and another reality show that Kutcher and Tyra Banks are working on.
Midseason will also feature the return of “The Bachelor,” “Lost,” “Primetime: What Would You Do?” and inexplicably, “According to Jim,” the show that won’t die.
This fall, shows are sticking to their old time slots. “Eli Stone” is set to air at 10 p.m Tuesdays while “Opportunity Knocks” nabs Tuesday at 8 p.m. and “Life on Mars” at 10 p.m. Thursday after “Grey’s Anatomy.”
“Life on Mars” revolves around Sam Tyler, a modern-day detective, who lands in 1973 after a car crash.
“Opportunity Knocks” invades people’s homes and they will be quizzed on their lives for prizes.
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5/13: More TV production coming to Atlanta, Cumulus Media deal falls apart
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Here’s a story I wrote for the print edition today about a new tax incentive package to encourage more TV, film and videogame production in the state of Georgia. This doesn’t directly impact the average TV viewer but Georgians might end up seeing more film crews floating around in the coming months:
By RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com
Lights, camera, tax breaks!
Gov. Sonny Perdue signed a tax incentive bill that will give Georgia’s film, TV and videogame production companies as much as a 30 percent tax break, matching or exceeding many other states trying to lure movies and TV shows.
To qualify, businesses need to spend at least $500,000 in Georgia. So a fictional company who expends $10 million in a given year and owes $3 million in taxes won’t pay a penny in Georgia taxes as long as they embed an animated, logo-bearing Georgia commercial within the project. If not, they would get a 20 percent break and owe $1 million.
The previous incentive plan, passed in 2005, provided a 9 percent break so this theoretical company will save $2.1 million under the new law. On the flip side, it means $2.1 million less in the tax coffers.
But Perdue said more production work equals more jobs and more potential tax money from other sources.
“It means hotel rooms are booked,” Perdue said at a press conference at Turner Studios Monday. “It means catering companies have work. It means money flowing to Georgia businesses big and small alike.”
Bill Thompson, deputy commissioner of Georgia’s Film, Music & Digital Entertainment office, said 30 to 40 projects were waiting in the wings for this bill to pass. Most of them, he said, would have gone elsewhere without the added incentives.
Anthony Morris and his partner John Gibson are working on a film version of their hugely successful local play “Peachtree Battle.” These incentives, Morris said, “will make the sale of Atlanta as a site for the film much easier.”
Dan Darling, Turner’s chief information officer, said Turner Studios has already doubled its studio space in Atlanta over five years, adding 40,000 to 50,000 square feet. “This will help continue our growth here in Georgia,” he said.
Georgia was a popular spot for films in the 1970s and 1980s, but projects began drying up in the 1990s when Canada and states such as Louisiana began offering financial incentives.
The 2005 tax incentive package helped revive some production in Georgia, including the Matthew McConaughey film “We Are Marshall” and the ABC TV drama “October Road.” But actor Ric Reitz, who helped design the latest bill, said states such as New Mexico, Louisiana and South Carolina upped the ante once again in 2006, causing business to slow again last year.
Reitz said if states continue to throw even more money to film and TV production companies, he doubts Georgia will go any further than this bill. “We do have to draw the line in the sand,” he said.
Some active production companies that already do plenty of business in Georgia, such as those run by Tyler Perry and Alton Brown, will benefit greatly from this bill.
-In another business-related move, efforts by Atlanta-based Cumulus Media, which owns Q100 and Rock 100.5, to go private fell through yesterday.
Its CEO Lew Dickey and Merrill Lynch Global Private Equity could not complete the $1.3 billion deal, which was first announced last July. More details here.
Blame the credit crunch, which has helped hurt several leveraged buyouts. Cumulus has the second most radio stations in the country with about 344 stations in 67 markets.
“Our business remains fundamentally sound and we intend to continue to operate it aggressively and explore opportunities to create and deliver value for our shareholders,” Dickey said in a statement on Monday, without providing details.
-The winner of the Q100 “Who Do You Know?” contest in which the person who got a big name to call in to the Bert Show won $10,000 and the celebrity got $5,000 for the charity. The winning celebrity, after an extensive debate, was Justin Timberlake. He beat out Muhammad Ali, who was favored by Bert and Jeff Dauler, while the women favored Timberlake. The argument was that Justin is more of a current pop culture icon while Ali is more a legend. Others seriously considered were Sean Connery, Morgan Freeman and Jimmy Carter.
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5/13: “Survivor” winner Parvati Shallow interview, Boortz, nixed & renewed TV shows
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Parvati Shallow, her voice hoarse from talking all day with media, checked in with me at about 5 p.m. EST today, about 19 hours after she was crowned the winner of “Survivor: Micronesia.”
Shallow, a graduate of Sprayberry High School (2000) and the University of Georgia (2004), now lives in Los Angeles. She gave kudos to her fellow players, who she dubbed “fierce competitors.” She herself was a fierce competitor, a tough cookie with a cute smile who left her real emotions at home and played to win.
Why do you think Amanda lost to you?
I think they thought she was faking [when she cried before getting rid of Cirie.]. She had just pulled off an Academy Award winning performance [the week earlier to save her own hide.]
Honestly, do you think Amanda was faking the crying?
No, I think she was genuine.
How come she didn’t just point out to the jury that she had gone 78 days back to back in two consecutive “Survivors” and make that a selling point?
I don’t think she was thinking straight. She wasn’t clearheaded. She was ready for it to be over.
How about you? Were you clearheaded at that point?
My head was in the game all the way until that final question Ozzie asked. Then as soon as it was done, I went all to pieces… I was walking down that bridge and at the camp, they give you water and candy. I just started bawling. Every emotion that had been pent up in me came pouring out. I don’t even remember what candy I ate. I was just shoveling it in my mouth.
And what was it with Natalie’s question about your sex life?
I was so confused. It was a weird game. I don’t know what she was trying to do. I couldn’t tell if she was trying to shake me up or ask me on a date!
Why did they cut out the fact you found the immunity idol on Exile Island but didn’t bother to bring it back?”
They had so much to put in that one episode. It was such a huge episode with Erik and the [immunity] necklace. It didn’t work with the story.
How did it all play out that you came up with that ridiculous story to bamboozle Erik?
We were all sitting around. Natalie was saying you guys will tell me if it will be me. We knew if Erik hadn’t won immunity, he’d be gone. Cirie said, what if Erik gave Natalie the necklace. We all put in our two cents and came up with this elaborate plan. Natalie at first thought we were making fun of her. We said, if anybody could pull it off, it’s you. Natalie could sell ice to an Eskimo! Once she was given a chance to play, she really pulled through. I give her a lot of credit.
You said you felt you had no choice but to play a more aggressive game than you did on Cook Islands. Why?
If I hadn’t, I would have been the first one voted out! Jonathan was trying hard to get me out the second we landed in Micronesia. We had played together in Cook Islands adn he had an alliance. I convinced his alliance to vote him out before me. He wanted to outlast me and get me out. He knew I was good at convincing people to do things.
You were lucky Jonathan had to leave because of that knee injury!
I told him yesterday in New York when I saw him that I voted for him to win the $100,000. [James got that prize again!] He would have made my life so much more miserable if he had stuck around. He was out to get me. He was a fighter. It was hard to see him out that way.
Same with James, right?
I was super upset when James got taken out. It was so out of nowhere with his infected finger.
I spoke with your friend Kelly Basinger [she dated him at UGA and they’re still friends.]. He said you had a much harder time in Micronesia compared to Cook Islands.
It was so much worse [in Micronesia.] Cook Islands was beautiful. Micronesia was nasty. There were bugs, bats, rats. It was raining all the time. You could never be dry. It was much harsher.
We saw your legs got pretty beat up!
It was disgusting. They showed a shot of me on Exile Island panning up my leg. That was so gross. It was not sexy seeing that puss coming out.
How do your legs look now?
There are still scars from all those bug bites. Battle scars! I’m proud to show them off.
Any clue what you’re going to do with the $1 million, or $550,000 after taxes?
I don’t now yet.
Did you think you were going to win?
I thought I had a chance. I had calculated the odds. I thought it might have ended up as a tie. [She beat Amanda 5 to 3.]
It was close with Amanda. Did you have any idea what would happen if it had been a tie?
I don’t know. They keep that a secret. I have no idea!
Let’s get back to Erik. You said at the time that this was the biggest blunder in Idol history. Still believe it?
Absolutely! The guy made some blunder! He took the cake. It was way worse than Ozzy.
So who voted for Amanda?
Ozzy, James and Eric. She was a lot closer to Ozzy and Eric than I was. And James, too, because they both were on China. [That’s “Survivor: China” last fall.]
But you were close to James until you ousted Ozzy, right?
James honestly felt a kindred spirit in Amanda. He felt he owed it to vote for her.
You got all the girls!
I think those girls appreciated that I played a very aggressive game. I didn’t make any apologies for the moves I made: outwit, outlast, outplay. That’s how I worked.
Any boxing for you since the taping ended?
I’ve been doing PR for the boxing charity I helped start. We provide scholarships and boxing training for underprivileged girls. I haven’t been training very hard myself. I’ve been kind of taking it easy.
Can you blame her?
In other radio/TV news:
-Neal Boortz is being harassed.
-Fox cancelled Kelsey Grammer’s sitcom “Back To You.”. Grammer believes the show was on the wrong network. Indeed, it should have been on CBS. And “New Amsterdam” gets no new life either.
-On the CW, “Aliens in America” is cancelled but “Reaper” was renewed..
-CBS has renewed “How I Met Your Mother” and “The Unit.”.
-On ABC, “Miss Guided” joins “Cashmere Mafia” and “Women’s Murder Club” on the nixed list. Too bad about “Miss Guided” though I was no fan of “Cashmere.”. Good news for “Eli Stone:” the sweetly strange drama featuring a prophet-lawyer got a renewal, along with David E. Kelley’s “Boston Legal.”.
-“The Electric Company” is coming back!.
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5/12: Former Atlantan Parvati Shallow wins “Survivor: Micronesia”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sprayberry High School and UGA grad Parvati Shallow Sunday night won “Survivor: Micronesia,” the first person with local ties to win the long-standing CBS reality show. She pockets a neat $1 million.
This was arguably the best “Survivor” season in years, thanks to a series of strategic blindsides during tribal council, more than any other series to date. This culminated in what is now known as the dumbest move in the show’s history, as Parvati noted: doe-eyed Leif Garrett lookalike Erik Reichenbach believed that giving up his immunity idol would help him gain respect with the ladies when in fact it simply exposed him to being voted off last week.
Parvati, 25 and now living in Los Angeles, came in sixth during “Survivor: Cook Islands” in the fall of 2006. She was known as the flirt and was popular among viewers.
So when producers were compiling a list of “fan favorites” to compete against “Survivor” fans, she made the final list and came back, planning to play a more aggressive, strategic game.
In the end, she did. She quickly set up an alliance with two other favorites: “Panama” fourth-place finisher Cirie Fields and “China” third-place finisher Amanda Kimmel. And she stuck with it, although she also hooked up with two popular, physically imposing players James Clement and Ozzy Lusth.
Partway through the game, though, Parvati realized Ozzy and James were real threats to her making it to the final three. So when the opportunity came to get rid of Ozzy, she ran with it and Ozzy was blindsided — with an immunity idol tucked in his bag, unused. She had done the flirt-thang with James but was also ready to throw him over the boat when necessary. Fortunately for her, James had an infection in a finger and had to be medically taken off the show.
Near the end, Parvati helped orchestrate the infamous Erik blindside. And though she made some enemies, her moves ultimately helped her win five of the eight votes from the tribal jury over Amanda, despite the fact Amanda won the last two immunity challenges. I personally thought Amanda had the votes but was wrong. Clearly, her weaker ability to socialize and connect with the other players compared to that of Parvati hurt her in the end. It’s the same problem Amanda had in China when she only got one vote from the jury.
UGA fans had to love the fact she wore a Georgia cap for much of the final episode. There, she was a broadcast journalism major, class of 2004, with a specialty in public relations. She was part of the Alpha Omicron Pi sorority. She became a boxer and waitress in Los Angeles afterwards and has since become a charity organizer, according to her label on the show. She moved to the Atlanta area at age 11 after growing up on a commune in Vero Beach, Fla. and graduated Sprayberry High in 2000.
Here’s Parvati’s MySpace page..
Amazingly, “Survivor” has been on eight years and gone through 16 incarnations, spawning dozens of imitators, from “The Apprentice” to “Big Brother” to “The Amazing Race.” Ratings have been drooping in recent years with this season averaging about 13 million viewers, down from 21 million three years ago. But CBS has given the show a green light for another two cycles in 2008-09 and it’s still a top 15 show.
I plan to interview some of her friends and hopefully, Parvati herself, in the next couple of days and will post their reactions.
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5/9: Real Housewives coming to Atlanta?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Tthere have been rumors galore that camera crews are floating around Atlanta for a possible spinoff of Bravo’s “Real Housewives” reality show. So far, the show has focused on rich women from Orange County and New York, with New Jersey forthcoming. Bravo’s publicists haven’t been terribly forthcoming though they say they do test out shows by shooting material that may or may not become an actual show.
R&B singer Monica is possibly one of the housewives, according to Mediatakeout.com..
If anybody has seen or heard anything, email me at rho@ajc.com.
-WSB-AM’s Neal Boortz is recovering from knee surgery and says he’s now “hopped up” on pain meds. Boortz joked that callers are wondering if they can help him get him more pills.
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5/9: Alton Brown’s Variety Playhouse appearance
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“Good Eats” host and “Iron Chef America” commentator Alton Brown was worried he’d not get much of a crowd for his book signing because past signings in Atlanta have been underwhelming.
But not to worry: more than 600 people showed up at the Variety Playhouse in Little Five Points Thursday evening to ask him questions, meet the Marietta resident, buy his book “Feasting On Asphalt” and prove him wrong.
Here are photos I took during the signing:
ABOVE: Puppeteer and entertainer Lucky Yates, who helps out Brown on “Good Eats” on occasion, goofs around with Savannah and Fred Woodruff of Southern Pines, N.C. The family drove down six hours to see Brown for Savannah’s 13th birthday.
During the Q&A, Brown was his typical droll self, using his quick wit and faux exasperation to mine laughs. Many of his answers were self deprecating.
“What’s your take on Food Network?” “I don’t really watch,” he answered. “I don’t know anything about the television business. [That’s not true!] I make the gosh darn thing, I see a check. End of story. I make ‘Iron Chef.’ There’s lots of smoke, I got home. They make shows people want to see. I’m not going to second guess them, especially with a microphone in my hand!”
Someone asked him if her father adding salt to coffee was something worth doing. “Your father was doing drugs, clearly!” he said, noting he had never done it. Then several others in the crowd backed her up, vouching a pinch of salt improved coffee, saying it was a Southern thing.
“I’ve heard that if people from the North add salt,” Yates joked, “they’ll explode!”
On audience member noted, “Didn’t you say salt makes everything better?”
“So does butter!” Brown noted.
*ABOVE: “Good Eats” contributor Bart Hansard gabs with Brown fan Danny Woodruff
One person in the audience noted her eight year old was obsessed with the Food Network and was wondering how to get her on the network.
“She should open her own restaurant,” he said, in his usual tart way. “She sounds like she already has the skills. She can do better than the Food Network.” Pause. “At least Oxygen.”
His tongue-in-cheek advice? “If she can complete your family’s Thanksgiving dinner al by herself by the time she’s 10, she’ll get her own food show. A child’s place is in the kitchen. Children give us heartache until we die. I say they should be cooking our food!”
ABOVE: Brown hands a book back to Daniel Irvin, a roofer from Valley, Alabama.
At one point, he spied a guy yawning. “You’re yawning!” he said sternly but without anger. “Get him an expresso!”
When someone asked what he would do if he competed on “Iron Chef America” instead of providing color commentary, he rationalized why he shouldn’t: “Riddle me this. Who would get my job? I got to tell you. I don’t want anybody to have a shot at that job. It’s a sweet gig! So long as I don’t compete, no one will have that shot.”
ABOVE: Brown hands Danny Woodruff a souvenir.
One person asked why couldn’t the show be added to an education curriculum. “Good Eats is better for you than homework,” he deadpanned. “Pull your kids out of school, get them the full DVD set!”
Another wondered what his background was: “I’m a Nobel-winning chemist,” he joked.
“How much chemistry background do you have?” she followed up.
“I failed chemistry twice in high school. I dropped it twice in college,” Brown said. “I used to blame myself. But now I blame the teachers. It was their fault for not making the information more compelling.”
A young gal asked him if he liked the Scottish dish haggis, something he made on an episode of “Good Eats.”
“If there’s no other food anywhere,” he said dryly, “and it hasn’t been for some number of days, it’s very good indeed… I’d eat the haggis before chitlins.”
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5/8: Hannah Montana’s ratings, The Hills coming back, casting call for MTV show
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Is Miley Cyrus already passe among the tween set? Her first new “Hannah Montana” in two months last Sunday drew 3.1 million viewers, 14 percent fewer viewers than the last new episode in March. Cyrus has been doing a virtual nonstop publicity tour since then, showing up on “Idol,” on talk shows, in Vanity Fair, et. al. She got a top 10 hit “See You Again” that Star 94 and Q100 play frequently. As we all know, tweens are extremely hard to keep around. They’re always on to the next best thing. Maybe Miley is already trying to find an exit strategy to adulthood, even at the tender age of 15. Or it may just be because it’s spring and fewer people tend to watch TV in the evenings than in the winter.
-Shocking no one, MTV has renewed the misadventures of Lauren, Spencer and Heidi on “The Hills” even before the third-season finale. And AMC has given a second season to “Breaking Bad,” the dour dark comedy/drama starring Bryan Cranston as a chemistry teacher dying of cancer who works the crystal meth route to raise some cash for his family before he dies.
-And when is a gift too much to take? When it’s an “Extreme Makeover” home given to a dude who lives on a small pension. Victor Merrero, in Pennsauken, N.J., can’t afford the taxes and briefly put the donated home up for sale.
-Former Star 94 traffic gal Wendy Threatt is now working with WSB-AM.
-Former WAGA reporter Doug Richards, in his “Live Apartment Fire” blog, has been harping on the fact WXIA lacks enterprise reporting compared to WAGA-TV and WSB-TV. They pretty much cover crimes and meetings, he says.
The weird thing is this: WXIA presents fewer minutes of news each evening than any other station. Its staff, all smart folk, can barely wedge its way into its two half-hour shows (compared with two hours each for WAGA and WSB). WXIA has the resources to come up with cool, one-of-a-kind stories every night. So, why doesn’t it?
Any fans of WXIA-TV’s news coverage? Is this a fair observation?
-Q100’s final day for its “Who Do You Know?” celebrity contest in which the person who gets a big-name celeb to call in wins $10K and the celeb gets $5K for their charity. Today, they got Jennifer Garner, Bette Midler, Chase Crawford, John Schneider and right under the wire, Ben Affleck (they interrupted Paula Abdul for Ben). They are going to have to compete with the likes of Jimmy Carter, Muhammad Ali, Justin Timberlake, Morgan Freeman and Sean Connery. Not a bad list! Bert is supporting Muhammad Ali.
-Check out “Oprah” today to see Cher and Bette Midler at Caesar’s Palace in Vegas. Mara Davis of Dave FM nabbed front-row seats and told Richard Eldredge her story in today’s Peach Buzz..
-We received this email from Shannon Powers, casting director of MTV’s new show “Model Maker.”:
I am working on a new show for MTV called Model Maker. Basically we are seeking girls who are 30 - 70 lbs overweight who would like to shed the pounds “boot camp” style and walk away with $100,000 cash prize as well as a possible modeling contract. I feel very close to this particular show as I have just shed 67 lbs and I feel great. These girls will be provided with the best of the best. Nutritionists, dieticians, stylists, trainers and so on to help these girls be the best that they can be and potentially walk away with a new life.
BTW, the show is produced by Cris Abrego who is the Exec.Producer of Surreal Life,Flavor of Love, Rock of Love and I Love New York.
We are having an open call:
Monday, May 12, 2008, 2pm - 5pm, Torrid , Towne Center Cobb, Kennesaw
If people want to pre-interview with us and cant make the casting call… please have them email MTVModelMaker@gmail.com.
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5/7: What’s on Jovita Moore’s purse? And WABE-FM’s spring fundraising results
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Although sweeps are more or less irrelevant in Atlanta now that advertisers can get accurate local ratings 12 months a year, the TV stations still reflexively bring out the wackier stories in February, May and November.
Right now, WSB-TV is heavily promoting a story called “How Clean Is Your Purse?”
They swabbed women’s purses to see what was on them? Here’s the online story.
“We had several of them that came back with fecal contamination,” said Beau Rollins, a microbiologist with Nelson Labs.
You read that correctly. Fecal matter was found on a lot of the purses we tested, including Jovita Moore’s. Needless to say, the women who let us test their purses were shocked to hear that.
Gotta love it, eh?
-Despite the shaky economy and rising gas prices crowding out spending, WABE-FM’s listeners came through this spring and pledged the stated goal of $920,000, even exceeding it by a few thousand dollars, according to general manager John Weatherford.
“We’re deeply gratified by the generosity of our listeners,” he said. He was also happy to see a record spring number of new members — 2,200.
A year ago, WABE-FM cut its pledge days from 10 to 9 and fell short of its pledge goal for the first time in several years. Since last fall (WABE does pledges twice a year), the station went back to 10.
The most popular pledge gift item? The recyclable grocery totes.
-While the Steve & Vikki and Cletus T. Judd TV ads keep airing full force, Q100 recently rolled out a bunch of ads for its Bert Show. It features a fans (or actors pretending to be fans) saying how much they love the show, then the quartet turning pieces of paper saying the Bert Show 99.7. Then they laugh uproariously. Do you like the ad if you’ve seen it?
Speaking of the Bert Show, they are holding a contest that Steve & Vikki did many years ago — get celebrities to call in for a chance for money for their charity. So far, the Bert Show has gotten Gwyneth Paltrow, Justin Timberlake, Morgan Freeman, Sean Connery, Muhammad Ali and Jimmy Carter as the biggest names I’ve heard so far. Others who have called so far include Trisha Yearwood, Dallas Austin, Big Boi, Melissa Etheridge, Dan Akroyd, George Takei, Fran Drescher, JIm Davis (founder of Garfield) and Jessica Biel. Thursday is the final day.
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5/7: Alton Brown coming to Variety Playhouse
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
One of the biggest Atlanta-based TV stars is Alton Brown from the Food Network. But despite his long-time ties to the area, he doesn’t do as well here with book signings compared to other major cities.
“I can do shows to standing-room-only crowds in St. Louis, but not here,” he said, calling in from a gourmet food show in Las Vegas earlier this week. “I’m not sure why.”
So he decided to jazz things up for Atlanta to promote his new “Feasting on Asphalt” travelogue/recipe book, based on the Food Network series last summer. On the show, he rode a motorcycle along the Mississippi River checking out mom-and-pop shops along the way.
Instead of holding his signing at A Capella Books, he’s hosting it at Little Five Points’ Variety Playhouse, a far bigger venue than a bookstore. Check him out at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 8. The $29.50 ticket includes a copy of the book.
How is this going to be different from your typical book signing?
They’ll be a talk, a lot more questions and answers, a lot more interaction with the crowd. People will be able to take pictures with some of the motorcycles from the trip. They’ll be food available, video from the show. And since it’s a school night, families with school children will get to the front of the line. Typically, 25 percent of the people at my events are kids.
Why do you think you draw so many kids?
I’ve been doing “Good Eats” for 10 years now and our kid audience has grown and grown. This show wasn’t designed for kids but it really appeals to them. I’m proud that we cover such a wide demographic.
Last November, you weren’t sure if you were going to sign a renewal with the Food Network. What happened?
They asked me back. I was kind of up in the air last year because I never assume anything will ever continue. It wasn’t done until it was done. I’m glad they still want me. I’m old guard now.
Any new shows on the horizon?
We’ve got a very open-ended deal. I’m still doing “Good Eats” and “Iron Chef.” We’ll start new shows when I have the capabilities to do so. We will continue the “Feasting” brand. This year, I shifted from “Feasting on Asphalt” to “Feasting on Waves.” We traded in our motorcycles for sailboats. We went to the Caribbean. It’s a very different type of show. It’s still about real people. My goal was to discover what Columbus discovered. The Caribbean was the first culinary melting pot on the planet. [The series is set to air again in September.]
What’s your favorite recipe from the “Feasting on Asphalt” book?
I really love the Kool-sicle, which I found in the Delta. That’s a dill pickle cured and concentrated in a Cherry Kool-Aid solution. It sounds hideous. It makes these pink things that look like they came from somebody’s body. But when cold and placed on a stick and eaten like a popsicle, you won’t believe how good they are!
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The staff of the Bert Show totally embarrassed themselves with this stunt/contest. This is further proof of their collective cultural ignorance. Very sad.... read the full comment by brothermanonline | Comment on 5/13: More TV production coming to Atlanta, Cumulus Media deal falls apart Read 5/13: More TV production coming to Atlanta, Cumulus Media deal falls apart
The staff of the Bert Show totally embarrassed themselves with this stunt/contest. This is further proof of their collective cultural ignorance. Very sad.... read the full comment by brothermanonline | Comment on 5/13: More TV production coming to Atlanta, Cumulus Media deal falls apart Read 5/13: More TV production coming to Atlanta, Cumulus Media deal falls apart