Category: Media

Good Days of Our Lives

It is always the children who are affected the most.

Good Day Sacramento has been in quite the transition this summer. First, it was the move of their set over to CBS13’s locale. Fortunately, the transition went off relatively smooth. One wonders however, the stress this put on Good Days’ own 40+ year old child, Mark S. Allen.

As the CoolOne brought to you some days ago, MSA was recently pulled over at the airport by the County cops, on the suspicion of being drunk. This morning, the “on-scene” reporter at the Cal Expo plant sale intimated that there were “special plants in the back” for MSA that the reporter could not identify on the air. Not to mention the fact that other Good Day personalities are exposing themselves in public…what’s going on over there? Are these desperate cries for help?

While it wouldn’t surprise anyone if MSA was in fact drunk or had some kind of problem with narcotics (perhaps he’s ODing on teeth bleach), could his turning to the bottle be a symptom of more than just a man in his 40s who still shops at Pacific Sunwear in a version of Peter Pan Syndrome?

I submit to you, dear reader, that there is something more going on.
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YouTube phenoms Smosh on News10

A friend just sent me this link to a YouTube clip from News10 about the two Del Campo grads whose videos posted to YouTube as “Smosh” are some of the most popular entertainment among those with whom YouTube is popular entertainment. Apparently they have the #2 watched clip on there. My YouTube just keeps blinking “12:00” so what do I know.

Warning: watching a clip of TV news on YouTube in which you watch a clip on YouTube is only 2 layers away from smoshing your brain.

His hair registered a “point one oh”

Speaking of current and former Good Day Sacramento talent, a helpful reader emailed me just now and reminded me to point out an item Graswich included in his column today, which I will copy and paste in its entirety in case you didn’t see it:

Fly away: Rough weekend for Channel 31 Good Day Sacramento star Mark S. Allen. The TV personality was stopped by Sacramento County sheriff’s deputies while driving through Sacramento Intergalactic Airport. Deputies called the Highway Patrol to test Allen’s sobriety, and he was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence. Allen can be wild and crazy on TV, but he behaved himself in custody, CHP Officer Lizz Dutton said. No comment from Mark. …

All emphasis R.E.’s except Highway Patrol, which I have bolded because I thought it would be funny in a Jackie Harvey way.

(Completely beside the point: Even Graswich makes fun of SMF’s International status? I don’t know why people don’t understand this: You can fly to Mexico, which is another nation, meaning you can travel between 2 nations, which is the definition of the word international. I looked it up. I don’t want to hear anybody making fun of it anymore.)

The sorry state of local sports guys

Local sports broadcasting is at a sorry state, is it not? Most of the broadcasts have new guys right now and most of them are awkward and terrible. Danny Pommells? Arran Anderson and Keith Norton? Maybe they just need a few years under their belts. The only straight up sports guy left is Jim Crandall, and that’s pretty sad. It looks like Del Rogers is pulling double duty on KCRA and KQCA, but I’ve only seen Pommells on KCRA lately. News 10 only has Brian May.

It’s not just the new guys’ overall lack of local exposure that’s contributing to the suckification, it’s the way the new guys are being used. CBS13 (I hear good things!!) seems to almost exclusively use Norton and Anderson outside the studio, doing stupid on-the-spot reporting from behind the wheel of a racecar, stuff like that which smacks of media contracts and PR (I’m talking out my arse here but that’s the feeling I get).

While I’m on the subject of local news…
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CBS13 feeling The Rag’s heat?

Happened to be watching the CBS 13 newscast at 10 pm last night, and heard Sam and Pallas announce some big changes on the newscast coming soon, mostly schedule related but also regarding their coverage of local news. No word on whether the big blue set is going away, but I couldn’t help but have a moment of self-centeredness and think that this here Website might have made some people think.

Oh, and Kurtis Ming has to go. Like, far away.

Break-up of the year

After more than a decade together, declining Arbitron ratings has caused the break-up of my favorite morning show duo, Shawn and Jeff. A loyal listener since they first started on KWOD in 1993, I made the switch to The Zone with them in 2002, despite my much stronger preference of KWOD’s playlist. For those of you who haven’t listened to The Zone, they’re about three months behind the curve as far as songs go. Before it got sold to a broadcasting corporation, the then-independently-owned KWOD would play a song for months, then The Zone would pick it up and tout it as “brand new!” and play the heck out of it when you were already so sick of it.

For years, Shawn and Jeff provided me with the ideal start to my day — they kept things light, didn’t cause much controversy, and let listeners into their personal lives as they each got married and started their own families. There are morning radio shows on the air whose programming is more cerebral, but I really don’t want to think too hard when making the sleep-wake transition since I have the rest of the day to concern myself with reality.
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Joncich is Cleveland-bound

As reported in today’s Bee, the crowd favorite Paul Joncich is Cleveland-bound to take the helm of anchorman at a local news station.

One of my favorite jokes, “Did you hear that there was an earthquake in Cleveland?” “No, really?” “Yeah, it did $10 million in improvements!”

Actually, I’m sure it’s a fine fine city and probably gets more snark than it deserves. We’ll have to alert our ClevelandRag.com brethren that Paul is on his way.

Are Sacramentans mean?

Been reading Bee reporter Cynthia Hubert’s series following a child with cancer. The series is heartbreaking. And yet, in reading the comments from readers I am stunned by how many people are critical of the child’s mother, some suggesting she’s enjoying her “fame,” others criticizing her for buying her dying child a video game while accepting donations to pay medical bills.

These sort of comments stike me as mean-spirited and devoid of empathy. Depressing to think so many nasty people are my neighbors here. Are we meaner than people in other places, or is this just par for the course everywhere these days?