So last night, I was stuck watching Entertainment Tonight and subjected to watching nearly three segments of completely inappropriate video that they paid (its rumoured to be a million buckeroonies)lots of dough for.
This video, which is NSFW (which is a term I have NEVER USED ON MY BLOG EVER), and generally not worth clicking to see, it links a YouTube video from Gawker, just in advance so you know where you are clicking to. This video is Anna Nicole's cesearean. Its not good. Not good at all. I actually encourage you no I emplore you to not click it to be honest. Do not feed the machine. But its your choice. I am not the boss of you. But you should know what made me so nuts. Nuts enough to write a letter.
I wrote the letter(which is at the bottom of this post) to the General Manager of the local station that airs Entertainment Tonight.
He wrote back almost immediately. This kicks major ass I must say. He also forwarded my responce to several people at Paramount. Nice. And that shows me some real care. This is a sign of a good manager. Keep that in mind if you ever are having any interaction with anyone in the public arena... attention to concerns is important. This is a sign of a person that cares about his viewers. It actually honestly shocked me just a little bit.
And even more so, he later also followed up with the responce that came from one Paramount rep. I would copy the comment here but I don't have her permission to publish them directly, and I respect that they responded (poorly in my opinion, but I have to say I respect them for not apologizing) at all, but the jist is basically they emailed lines from the script dialouge of what Mark Steines said before the second segment, which was “But we warn you while it's beautiful it is also uncensored.”
I think they feel that one line excuses them. Sorry... ET... it is NOT at all beautiful to an outside viewer that isn't related and SHAME ON YOU for paying a million for it (or anything actually), true or not, you are exploiting assholes and you suck. And not in the nice way either. Leave the salicious papparazzo video and this type of crap to TMZ and AOL. Put the video up on your website you freaks and tease the viewer watching the tv show to go to your site, increase your web traffic, sell direct advertising before the video (surely someone would advertise before that shanda) and make your money back, what is the rate one cent per click/ad... whatever...if someone actively wants to see the video, they could sit through a :30 second ad for advil or ford trucks or who ever else you shill to. Or don't buy it at all, how about that.
Paramount, you dumped Tom Cruise dump your Anna Nicole coverage already, lets talk about some real celebrity news, like Oprah and Bono shopping in Chicago for (red) merch and the fact that they have generated enough word of mouth to provide enough income to prevent millions (yes MILLIONS) of women who are pregnant and infected with HIV from transmitting the disease to their unborn children and other devastaing and yet curable diseases in this world. Talk about that Mary Hart. I fucking DARE YOU. Who really cares about things that do nothing more than put money in Anna's checkbook? There are children in this world that are in much worse shape and could use the attention, children that have no parents at all because diseases that are curable killed their parents because there hasn't been any medication available, women in this world that are starving, men in this world have have lost their limbs mining the diamonds that you Mary Hart wear. ET do the right fuckin' thing already. I wish I could have sent that in my responce to them but I couldn't, I was much more polite. But such niceties aren't necessary here.
ET sucks, but Mr. Cornetta at KUSA deserves a big hug and all your neilson votes should you have that capacity. And if you don't have a neilson box how about going and buying some non-perishable food and donating to their annual food drive. Make a difference, do something positive. And if you aren't local to Denver, try and do something where you are or buy (red) or any of the other valuable organizations that sponser consumerism as benefit. Anna can't so why don't you. Make a difference in this world, Paramount won't in any productive way so why don't you?
And also huzzah on a more political note to the loss of Rick Santourum from the Senate. There is hope on the horizon. Too bad at this point (midnight) we can't say the same for Marilyn Musgrave (yet... )(I hope).
Here is the letter just so you can see I can be a shade more eloquent:
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11/7/2006
General Manager
KUSA, Channel 9 news, Gannet Broadcasting
VIA EMAIL:
Good Morning Mr. Cornetta:
I want to thank you first for the time you are taking to read this email and my concerns over last night's episode of Entertainment Tonight.
I know that KUSA's programmers are sensitive to the concerns of the viewers as evidenced by the moving of Law and Order SVU last week to 3:30 a.m. This wasn't an invisible choice and I am sure for some people this change was more than appreciated. It was considerate. Airing Entertainment Tonight without disclosure about the content that they had last night was not. This is disappointing as well, I always made Channel 9 and KUSA my choice for programming and news as I have believed strongly that the management took great care to treat the viewer with respect and present their programming with class and with great taste. This is the perceived image that I ha ve had of your station. Had is the operative word.
Airing an episode with four separate segments showing with full audio and video Anna Nicole Smith having a cesarean birth was not only completely inappropriate during the dinner hour, doing so with out any warning that the program would consist mainly of those visuals and audio was sorrid and in extremely bad taste. Entertainment Tonight should be ashamed, as well, for buying the footage in the first place and KUSA should consider the salacious nature in which this show is turning when it’s re-negotiating its syndication contract. Entertainment Tonight feeds the “thin myth� and generates income for paparazzo, while despicable; I know is something viewers want to see. That being said, your television station with the reputation it has, should do better and choose other programming.
I have made a conscious decision to not watch this show in my home, but my parents do watch it, and that is where I was having dinner last night, along with my very lucid 96 year old Grandfather (who simply said¦"this is the best that Channel 9 can do? Shameful?..."). We turned the television off when we saw that the segment was beginning only to turn the program back on in a few minutes to be subjected to it again and again and again.
I know that celebrity news and gossip is an industry and a commodity. I understand the interest people have in listening to their favorite "stars"? talk about their latest movie. With full disclosure, I worked for Paramount as a Production Assistant (the Production company that produces Entertainment Tonight) and for 8 years for KBDI Channel 12 producing Teletunes (which produced many Press Junket segments similar to what Kirk Montgomery and Entertainment Tonight do), so I know and clearly understand the revenue stream that Entertainment Tonight brings and the interest in "Celebrity News"?. I also know that KUSA is in no shape or form in control of the content Entertainment Tonight presents during its show.
What KUSA does have control of is disclosure. What should have been done, is provide the viewer with a little knowledge that the entire show would have these graphic segments during the dinner hour and throughout the show. Entertainment Tonight only did so prior to the second segment, but the damage was already done. There was plenty of opportunity to do so on KUSA's part, both in the news cast prior to the show but in the commercial time slots before the segments aired.
In the future I would appreciate KUSA/Channel 9 taking the time to screen the content of its programming enough to warn your viewers of objectionable content. I know what a difficult job this is, but it has been done and can be done. I don't know what time your feed comes in for Entertainment Tonight but clearly someone should have had the common sense to realize 6:30 pm is not the right time to air a program with unedited footage of a cesarean birth, whether it is a person of some celebrity (I use that term so very loosely) or not. It is your responsibility as a content provider to provide programming but it is also your responsibility to do with respect and class.
Please know that I am disappointed in KUSA and its programmers for allowing this to air with only the disclaimer by a smiling and somewhat enticed Mark Steines (the anchor on Entertainment Tonight after the images have aired but as a disclaimer going into a segment). I would say that considering letters to advertisers during the program about who they are advertising with would be an option, but in the political climate and the fact that only one in six ads were not political and national ones at that (Advair for example), the point is mute. I only request in the future that viewers are warned and that KUSA lives up to the reputation for class and dignity that up until last night (in my opinion) you had.
Thank you again for your time,
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