Strollerderby : FOX

FOX Considers Staging Fake Kidnappings

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 20:00:00 GMT

A Minnesota FOX News affiliate is taking an intensely hands-on approach to reporting the news. To answer the question, “How easy is it to abduct a child?,” Fox 9 News planned to…try to abduct children. Reporters were going to drive around in an unmarked SUV and ask kids for directions. How’s that for hard-hitting investigative journalism?

I think they were planning to stop at the actual abduction part—kind of a, “You’re a candid camera!” type stunt—but I’ve been surprised many a time at how far FOX is willing to go in the service of the news (read: sensationalism and fear-mongering).

Fortunately, parents and school administrators have a lot more commonsense than the good folks who bring us the news. After FOX informed police of their intentions—the last thing these hard-working reporters need is to get arrested for kidnapping, after all—police sent a message to the local school. The principal, in turn, sent out an email to parents, which read, in part:

This message details information about a "news" story KMSP Fox 9 will be "creating". Thanks...

Molly Anderson of the Edina Police Department just informed the district that KMSP Fox 9 will be driving around Edina neighborhoods between 2:00-4:30 p.m. today to "ask children for directions." She indicated that the reporter, Trish Van Pilsim will be driving a 2004 silver Ford Explorer or Expedition.

The police indicated while there is nothing illegal with this, they do not endorse this activity.

As you can imagine, the parents of Edina did not endorse this activity either, and they flooded FOX with complaints, succeeding in getting the station to abandon the story.

Thank goodness. I don’t even want to imagine how terrifying it would be for a child to be approached by a stranger in a truck on his way home from school. Not to mention that trying to abduct a kid, then saying, “Just kidding! We’re actually the news,” is not the best way to instill stranger safety in children. FOX News, ever heard of a little story called The Boy Who Cried Wolf?

Image: Fox 9 News

FOX News Hates Kids In Political Videos--Except When They Don't

Morning News - iPhone Gets Feature Other Phones Already Have

Brett Singer — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 13:00:00 GMT

Updating yesterday's Natasha Richardson story: an autopsy reveals that she died of bleeding in the brain and "she might have survived had she received immediate treatment." The thing is, people with this sort of injury typically feel fine at first. So sad.

NBC is launching a show to compete with "American Idol." Simon Cowell probably thinks this is a "horrible" idea. ("Horrible" is one of the words he uses a lot, right?) On "Idol", Alexis Grace went home. She was shocked. Shocked. Why are they always so surprised? I guess you have think you're a major talent to get on TV and sing like that but just once it'd be fun to hear someone say, "Yeah, I suck. It was only a matter of time before I got the boot."

Why is Steve Wozniak on "Dancing With The Stars"? Based on this quote from his website, I guess the reason is because people said he wouldn't be able to do it. I wonder if Apple fans will keep voting for him the way football fans did with Jerry Rice. Woz has definitely been keeping in touch with his audience, accusing "Dancing" producers of rigging the voting in order to goose the ratings, then apologizing, all via his Facebook page. If this keeps up, I might actually have to watch the show.

Speaking of Apple, the new iPhone software will include bleeding edge features like the copying and pasting of text. What's that, your phone has been able to do that for years? Mine too. The iPhone is nifty but certain omitted features prove that Steve Jobs could probably sell water to a drowning Apple fan if it had that logo on it. (Personally, until the iPhone has an actual keyboard, I won't even consider buying one.)

Financial news update: stocks tanked and it wasn't CNBC's fault. Are you happy, Jeff Zucker?

Austrian monster dad Josef Fritzl was sentenced to life in a psych hospital. Life in prison would be better, but even though he could be paroled in 15 years, it's not likely to happen. The speed of the trial was kind of impressive; in the U.S., these things seem to take a lot longer. I'm sure there's a reason for that but I don't know what it is.

And finally, there were a heck of a lot of babies born in 2007. Madeline points out that it wasn't Octomom's fault -- "she only gave birth to one baby that year."

That's all for now. Have a great weekend and we'll see you on Monday.

Image: Woz.org

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Bart Simpson-Scientologist

Brett Singer — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 21:00:00 GMT

Telemarketing is annoying. Robocalls, telemarketing via robot, even more so. But a robocall that promotes a cult using the voice of a cartoon character popular with kids?

Very very bad.

Nancy Cartwright is the voice of Bart Simpson. She is also a Scientologist who reportedly gave more than $10 million to the religion/cult in 2007. (Wow. Voice acting pays better than I thought.) If she wants to give her money to an organization that promises to rid her body of aliens (or whatever it is that Scientologists believe), that's her right.

Nancy, however, wants more people to realize the benefits of Dianetics and giving your money away. Listen to this:

First I have to say that I have no idea what the hell she is talking about (man). "I'm now auditing on new OT VII." "OT" doesn't mean "occupation therapy"; it stands for "Operating Thetan." Which is "a spiritual state above Clear." Which means... you know what? I'm going to stop there because I don't even want to know. This stuff makes my brain hurt.

Why even write about this? Because it annoys me that Cartwright is using a character that kids might identify with to promote this nonsense. Personally, I think Scientology is a cult. But even if you give them the benefit of the doubt and call it a religion, it's still wrong. Obviously she thinks that using Bart's voice on the call is the equivalent of a kid running for student council president putting "Free Beer! Now That I Have Your Attention..." on her posters. (Which I think was something Homer did in a Simpsons episode.) Who is likely to be intrigued by hearing that voice? A kid who likes The Simpsons, right? "Hey dad! I just heard that the lady who does Bart Simpson's voice is going to be appearing someplace. Something about aliens. Sounds cool. Can we go?"

Is this line of thinking overwrought? Maybe. But Fox disavowed the call, so they clearly saw something wrong with it. I don't know if they can do anything to Cartwright; she didn't release a video with Bart's image or something else that was obviously a copyright violation. I hope that somebody sits Nancy down and explains to her that she's entitled to believe whatever she wants, but when she starts using Bart's voice to convince other people to believe in the same thing, she may find out that there are a lot of actors who can do a damn fine Bart Simpson impression.

(For lots of reasons why people think Scientology is not only creepy but dangerous, check out this site.)

Source: Gawker , Village Voice

Image: The Sun

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Nine-Year-Old Lothario Gets Movie Deal

Brett Singer — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 18:00:00 GMT

Alec Greven is either a genius or the luckiest little kid ever. At least if you only consider his success in the entertainment business.

Alec is the author of "How To Talk To Girls", a book about fishing. Psych! It's really about how to talk to girls. (A little nine-year-old humor for you. Thank you. Tip your waitress.) That book has now been optioned for a film.

Yes, a film. How they plan to dramatize a 46-page book that features such gems as "Comb your hair and don't wear sweats," I have no idea. But that didn't stop Fox (which is owned by News Corp., same as the book's publisher Harper Collins) from handing over a decent chunk of cash – "low-to-mid six figures", according to the Hollywood Reporter. That'll buy a lot of candy and comic books.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go speak to my children. I thought I would have to wait until they were older for them to start earning their keep. But screw that. The older one can pen "How To Talk About Pokémon," the younger kid can do "How To Talk Constantly". I see TV series, coffee mugs… the possibilities are endless.

Source: Hollywood Reporter

Image: New York Post

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Bernie Mac dies for real

Brett Singer — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 14:00:00 GMT

The Chicago Tribune is reporting that Bernie Mac died this morning at the age of 50. The cause was complications from pneumonia. He was admitted to Northwestern Hospital in Chicago to receive treatment for sarcoidosis, a rare autoimmune disease.

Weirdly, a viral text message that made the rounds last week caused many people to believe he was already dead. That was revealed to be a hoax.

I always liked Bernie Mac. His sitcom was somewhat unique in that he wasn't the father of the children he was raising; he took his sister's kids when she entered rehab. He also, if memory serves, was a stay at home "dad"; his wife worked as an executive I think, and he was a stand-up comic. (Thanks to the commenter for this correction. My point wasn't that he didn't work, but that he was a father who was home with the kids, which is still not the norm on TV.) Mac wasn't shy about threatening to smack the kids around, which some found controversial, but I thought it was (a) realistic and (b) funny. He also had some film success with appearances in the "Ocean's 11, etc." remakes, among other roles.

His most recent headlines came because of a joke he told during a Barack Obama fundraising event. Mac used the word "ho" and Obama told him he didn't like it.

On TV, Bernie Mac had no children of his own, but in real life he had a wife, daughter, and a grandchild. 50 is too young to go but at least he knew some success in his life. Funny guy, very sad.

source/photo: Chicago Tribune

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'Baby Borrowers': Not Going Anywhere Anytime Soon

Jen Chaney — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 20:01:00 GMT

Mike's post last week about NBC's new reality show, "The Baby Borrowers," got some commenters fired up. Apparently it also fired up the Nielsen ratings.

"Borrowers," which debuted last Wednesday at 9 p.m., attracted 7.9 million viewers, enough to put it in second place for its time slot. The show that beat it? Fox's "So You Think You Can Dance?" Hmmm. Maybe NBC should change the name of the show to "So You Think You Can Parent?" That might put it over the top.

I won't go into all the reasons this show seems completely absurd since Mike already did a fine job of covering that. Instead I'll just say this: I know it's summertime. I know all the truly solid TV series -- "Lost," "Friday Night Lights," "The Office" -- are on hiatus. But please, I beg you: Find something else to do after the kids go to sleep that doesn't involve watching reality television. Read a great novel. Build a diorama. Stare at the walls and ponder the reasons why someone thought it was necessary to turn Holly Hobbie into a vapid preteen.

Or, if you must watch TV, get a DVD of a decent show you may have missed and watch that instead. Remember: Only you can prevent high ratings for craptastic TV shows.

Image: NBC Via Variety

Political Nanny: Snippet from Hillary/O'Reilly Interview

Madeline Holler — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 20:36:00 GMT

He goes there. But then, we all knew he would. Here's Bill O'Reilly baiting Hillary to talk about Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

Notice, he asks her "as an American ...," he says "you're an American, I'm an American, he's an American." I guess the appropriate response is: an therefore protected by the 1st Amendment (lucky for you Bill). Alas, that was not her response.

We'll bring other highlights as they come. Or watch tonight yourself (no, don't give FOX the ratings).

For a real Q&A, go here.

[via TPM]