TV Newser: Fox News Channel continued its ratings dominance in the just concluded second quarter. Compared to Q2 '08 FNC is up an astonishing 33% among Total Viewers and up 44% in the A25-54 demo in Total Day (Monday-Sunday). In primetime (Monday-Friday) the numbers are even more impressive: up 35% in Total Viewers and up 54% in younger viewers. FNC is on-track to have the highest rated year in the network's 13 year history.
In primetime, Fox News has more Total Viewers and younger viewers than MSNBC and CNN combined.
Fox News occupies the Top 10 spots on cable news among Total Viewers:
8pm - O'Reilly Factor — 3,188,000
9pm - Hannity — 2,341,000
5pm - Glenn Beck — 2,053,000
10pm - On the Record — 1,950,000
6pm - Special Report — 1,889,000
7pm - Fox Report — 1,757,000
11pm - O'Reilly Factor — 1,579,000
9am - America's Newsroom — 1,399,000
4pm - Your World — 1,389,000
3pm - Studio B — 1,169,000
Fox News is the #3 basic cable network in primetime - behind USA and TNT. CNN is #23 and MSNBC is #25.
But wait, there's more!
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Charles In Charge
In: Franken
The White House is "pleased."
Mark Sanford: One Toke Over The Line
Here's Maria's sole appearance holding a phallic TV mike 8 years ago:
Jolly Roger
Trail Mix
The Washington Post is mighty pissed that Michael Jackson has wiped Republican senator and adulterer John Ensign and Republican Governor Mark Sanford off the media landscape: "The complementary scandal of fellow Republican Mark Sanford, the governor of the fine Palmetto State of South Carolina, who has single-handedly lent new euphemistic meaning to the phrase "hiking the Appalachian Trail," has taken some of the public spotlight off Ensign. But it also has twinned the two, perhaps in perpetuity.
The Post doesn't spare Sanford in "A Scandal Beyond Sex": The passionate-but-doomed love affair is a part of life we all want to touch but not hold; it's the existential car wreck you want to watch but not experience. It's Antony and Cleopatra, Héloise and Abélard. In fiction, it's "Love in the Time of Cholera," it's "The English Patient." Great love stories. Happy endings, not so much.
Usually it's men who lose it in these things. Sanford certainly appeared helpless at his press conference Wednesday. He babbled on about the Appalachian Trail, a Bible study group, said he'd cheated on his wife, talked about how he admired his "dear friend" [left] in Argentina and apologized all over the place. It was like watching a man taking a dive off the skyscraper of his career.
The Post doesn't spare Sanford in "A Scandal Beyond Sex": The passionate-but-doomed love affair is a part of life we all want to touch but not hold; it's the existential car wreck you want to watch but not experience. It's Antony and Cleopatra, Héloise and Abélard. In fiction, it's "Love in the Time of Cholera," it's "The English Patient." Great love stories. Happy endings, not so much.
Usually it's men who lose it in these things. Sanford certainly appeared helpless at his press conference Wednesday. He babbled on about the Appalachian Trail, a Bible study group, said he'd cheated on his wife, talked about how he admired his "dear friend" [left] in Argentina and apologized all over the place. It was like watching a man taking a dive off the skyscraper of his career.
Young Buck
If John Edwards were a Republican would the New York Times run this on page A 11? A man who was one of former Senator John Edwards’s closest aides has a deal to write a book claiming that Mr. Edwards said he “would be taken care of for life” in return for falsely claiming he was the father of the baby carried by Mr. Edwards’s mistress, Rielle Hunter.
The aide, Andrew Young, sold his book proposal to St. Martin’s Press for an undisclosed price late last week. In his proposal, Mr. Young quotes Mr. Edwards, a Democrat who was his party’s vice-presidential nominee in 2004 and ran for president last year, as begging him to confess to fathering Ms. Hunter’s baby.
“ ‘You know how much I love you,’ Edwards said. ‘You know I’d walk off a cliff for you, and I know you’d walk off a cliff for me,’ ” Mr. Young wrote in the book proposal. “ ‘I will never forget this. And I will always be there for you.’ ” The proposal was shared with The New York Times by a book publishing industry executive. Portions of it were reported over the weekend by The Daily News of New York.
Federal prosecutors are investigating whether any of Mr. Edwards’s campaign money was improperly used with regard to his affair or efforts to keep it from becoming public. Mr. Young wrote that he had been questioned by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and had been subpoenaed to speak before a grand jury.
A spokeswoman for the United States attorney in Raleigh, N.C., would not comment. Mr. Edwards has issued statements saying he is confident his campaign acted properly.
After news of Mr. Edwards’s affair and Ms. Hunter’s pregnancy first surfaced in the National Enquirer in fall 2007, a lawyer for Mr. Young said his client was the father. Mr. Edwards was preparing for the Iowa presidential caucuses at the time.
Mr. Edwards denied being the father after admitting the affair last summer, and there is yet to be DNA testing. A spokeswoman for Mr. Edwards’s legal team, Joyce Fitzpatrick, said Mr. Edwards had not seen the book proposal, and she would not comment on it. A lawyer for Ms. Hunter, Robert J. Gordon, said he no longer represented her.
Mr. Young’s proposal states that he was writing the book because he had become disillusioned with Mr. Edwards’s behavior and recklessness, which he said included participating in the production of a sex tape with Ms. Hunter that Mr. Young later discovered.
Get The Hercules Hook For Billy Mays
Even the Awesome Auger couldn't unclog Billy Mays's hardened arteries. He would've checked off the planet even if he hadn't got whacked in the head when that airplane landed in Tampa. Communiques from low level spirits hovering near the Earth plane claim Billy exited in a huge Orange Glo.
Discovery Channel may have to pitch "Pitchmen."
Supreme Court: White is Right
Breaking News! Donald Duck Is Gay!
INT. White House East Room: Obama: "...and that real transformative change never begins in Washington..."
(Cell phone starts quacking like Donald Duck.)
Obama: "Where do you guys get these ring tones?" (Did he say "guys" or "gays?")
Guy/Gay in audience: "White House."
Obama: (not missing a beat): "That's the story for the moment for fairness and equality. Not just for those who are gay..."
(Cell phone starts quacking like Donald Duck.)
Obama: "Where do you guys get these ring tones?" (Did he say "guys" or "gays?")
Guy/Gay in audience: "White House."
Obama: (not missing a beat): "That's the story for the moment for fairness and equality. Not just for those who are gay..."
Monday, June 29, 2009
Michael Media Toast-Mortem
Of course, 23 minutes later TMZ would become the first outlet to announce the singer’s death. What came next was a surprise. Before the RIPs and the “he touched us all” jokes, many users began posting jabs aimed at CNN -- more specifically, its irrelevance as a news source. One person joked that TMZ ought to write an obituary about CNN’s death. Another user suggested that CNN spend more time reporting and less time advertising its Twitter page."
Billy Mays: Stairway To Heaven
Billy Mays's last Twitter Saturday: "Just had a close call landing in Tampa. The tires blew out upon landing. Stuck in the plane on the runway. You can always count on US Air."
The TV pitchman was supposed to still be on Planet Earth today for a hip replacement. Instead Billy's dazed and confused on the Other Side the day after something fell on his head during the aforementioned plane landing.
As my friend, Radio Hall of Famer Jim Bohannon points out, last week wasn't a good week to be 50.
Today also isn't a good day to be Bernie Madoff but that's another story...
Related: Top ten Billy Mays commercials
Snyderman: I'm a doctor and I play one on TV
"I feel the pressure to do something that's smart. You won't be watching breast implant stories." NBC's medical babe Dr. Nancy Snyderman on her new MSNBC show debuting today at noon.
We'll see...
NYDN TV editor Richard Huff says Michael Jackson's demise couldn't have come at a better time for the kickoff of Snyderman's new show: "Is it more salacious, more headline-grabbing - yes." Snyderman said of the death. "Is it a teachable moment? Absolutely." Plans for today's show include several topics raised by Jackson's death, including risk factors for heart attacks, parenting and custody issues, and being addicted to plastic surgery.
My friend of 22 years, Dr. Scott Spear, chairman of plastic surgery at Georgetown University told the Washington Post's Courtland Milloy that Jackson didn't like the man in the mirror: "He had the nose of a black male, and he didn't want one. He was a black man who wanted to look like a white Diana Ross." That's not a cut, just a clue. Spear's diagnosis: acute body dysmorphic disorder, from the Greek dys, meaning bad or ugly, and morphos, meaning shape or form. "He probably had at least four or five, if not 10, cosmetic procedures on the nose," Spear said. I asked if that was because the doctors couldn't make it right. "No, it's because Michael Jackson could not be made happy."
Jackson wouldn't have liked how he looked to the world post-mortem. No hair, grotesque multiple plastic surgery scars, collapsed nose on one side.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Sanfordized
"He got into trouble as a man and tried to get out as a woman.... The Republican Party will never revive itself until its sanctimonious pantheon — Sanford, Gingrich, Limbaugh, Palin, Ensign, Vitter and hypocrites yet to be exposed — stop being two-faced."
Flying Fickle Finger of Fate Dan Rowan: "Go to your room."
The former staffer John Edwards falsely fingered as the father of his love child is telling all in a new book. If Edwards has any ideas of reinventing himself he should think again. Andrew Young claims mistress Rielle Hunter - a filmmaker Edwards hired to produce video of him during the presidential campaign - produced not only a daughter but a tape of Edwards's night moves.
Resigned over prostitution ex-NY Governor Eliot Spitzer thinks he's better than SC Governor Mark Sanford. "I didn't fall in love with any of them."
Caption This
Jackson WAS black until he started taking baths in Clorox. Check out the photos.
Caption: "Why won't you pretend I'm white, blond, blue-eyed, and ten?"
Glenn Beck Comes Out
FOX's Glenn Beck bragged last week that his tome "Common Sense" was debuting at #1 on Sunday's NYT best seller list. Hmmm. It's not even ON the list. Oh, that's the HARDCOVER non-fiction where Mark Levin is king. Beck. Paperback. Second week. #1 this week.
Joe Scarborough's "Last Best Hope" enjoys a second week at #7.
Katie Bars The Whores
Saturday, June 27, 2009
"Detroit Council Member Pleads Guilty to Accepting Bribes for Vote"
New York Times headline of the day. What if the lady council member had been married to a REPUBLICAN member of Congress? Write the headline.
Michael Jackson's body hadn't even been released to his family as the financially ailing NYT seized upon an opportunity to make a buck by hawking framed and unframed "commemorative" front page trumpeting the King of Pop's demise.
The 18 x 24 framed runs $194.95.
The 18 x 24 framed runs $194.95.
Contessa Brewed By Starf**ks
Who is Contessa Brewer blowing to keep her anchor gig on MSNBC. Contessa slides her dainty derriere into the 2p chair just as the musical chairs has stopped with two more bodies. ICN got the scoop.
In The Tank For Obama
Good clean fun, eh, after in-your-face Obama press sec Robert Gibbs sez he falls asleep at night to FOX News.
Paybacks are hell. Pressies get back at the sneering Robert Gibbs. This is how it all went down - literally.
Watch the video of Robert Gibbs in a dunk tank on WH grounds.
Isn't It Rich? Isn't It Queer?
Why did the NYT assign a columnist named Blow to write about Mark Sanford's affair with Little Latin Lupe Lu?The Times is so impressed with scorned wife Jenny Sanford's anti-Stepford stance: "Jenny Sanford, the first lady of South Carolina, left her husband alone to burble at length about his yearlong affair with a woman from Argentina. Instead Mrs. Sanford released a statement that was hard hitting and to the point: she said she wanted her marriage to continue but demanded nothing less, as her price, than her husband’s “repentance.” On Friday, she told reporters she had known of the affair since January but had waited for her children’s school year to end before separating from him.
For thousands of women, responding on the Internet and Twitter, Mrs. Sanford’s decision to hold her husband accountable provided a catharsis, a kind of public exorcism of the ghosts of political wives past.
“Wasn’t it grand!”
Isn't it rich?
Are we a pair?
Me here at last on the ground,
You in mid-air.
Send in the clowns.
Isn't it rich?
Isn't it queer?
Losing my timing this late
In my career?
And where are the clowns?
There ought to be clowns.
Well, maybe next year...
Related: "Governor's Wife Is Hurt But Unbowed" NYT
Michael Jackson: CNN's Defibrillator
CNN 8PM 4,046,000
CNN 7PM 3,916,000
CNN 9PM 3,913,000
CNN 10PM 3,681,000
FOXNEWS 8PM 3,423,000
FOXNEWS 7PM 3,379,000
CNN 6PM 3,098,000
FOXNEWS 9 PM 2,872,000
FOXNEWS 6PM 2,816,000
FOXNEWS 10PM 2,266,000
MSNBC 8PM 1,916,000
MSNBC 9M 1,540,000
Massive Drugs Sent Jacko To Netherland
Related: "Jacko Went Out In A Drug Daze" NYP "Dead Celebrities Dis-Honored" NYP
Friday, June 26, 2009
Maria Bartiromo Stops Breathing During Interview. Cuts Oxygen To Brain.
Oh, FOX, Demerol was spelled wrong on a crawl in Bret Baier's "Special Report." Not "Demoral." Or perhaps it was intentional. De-moral.
Vinney, Chickaboomer's head joke writer: "Last time I saw arms like that they came with hot sauce."
House Rules
And That's The Way It Is
Let's go to the Obama FCC where a Republican woman has been appointed to ally with veteran FCC commish Robert McDowell.
Westwood One shareholders vote today (a slam dunk) on bankruptcy-avoiding juggling.
Another reason to dump SIRIUS: Rosie O'Donnell just got a talk show on the satellite radio network.
The NYT confirms the National Enquirer's story that Walter Cronkite is close to planetary exit...
Narciso Rodriguez's Inspiration For $3,000 Frocks
Black widow graphic h/t Vinney, Chickaboomer's head joke writer
Separated At Birth: Why Keith Olbermann Can't Get It Up
His departed Mommy Marie. When Olbermann looks into the mirror momma stares back. No wonder he locks himself in a MSNBC closet.
MSNBC blowhard Keith Olbermann refuses to face his own liberal community - some of whom are upset over his attacks on SC Governor Mark Sanford's problem named Maria.
Olbermann - who has had email issues of his own - read the hot emails between the lovers [purported photo of Maria Belen Shapur below] on the air Tuesday on his show:
NewsMax: "If you think [Gov.] Sanford's news conference was remarkable, how 'bout those e-mails?"
Olbermann then proceeded to read private communications from Sanford published by The State, a newspaper in Columbia, S.C. He punctuated Sanford's heartfelt missives with sneers, eerie background music, and mocking asides. By Wednesday, even critics on the left said Olbermann had gone too far.
"Keith Olbermann made Rush Limbaugh look like Albert Schweitzer tonight on his program," wrote Larry Wohlgemuth on The Daily Kos site. "Have you no decency man?"
Wohlgemuth made his dislike for Sanford plain, calling him "the worst of what the Republican Party has to offer and the antithesis of anything this country might need." Yet he lambasted Olbermann for not considering that Sanford's wife and children might well be watching his program.
"It was the kind of childish and hurtful thing done by 12-and 13-year olds, and Olbermann should know better," he wrote.
Related: NYP Andrea Peyser "Our Horndogs Can't Match Dixie Tricks" National Press Club hides Eliot Spitzer's picture
Beat It: How Anderson Cooper Got Gay
Anderson Cooper: "I actually met Michael Jackson when I was a little kid... ten. For some odd reason I went to Studio 54 with Michael Jackson and a bunch of people."
And the notorious pedophile blew him in the bathroom?
And the notorious pedophile blew him in the bathroom?
NBC's David Gregory Pulls Rank on MSNBC's Joe Scarborough
Joe Scarborough's book pimp on rival ABC had legs thanks to "Morning Joe" co-host Mika Brzezinski until Dancing David Gregory cut them off at the knees.
Page Six: MSNBC host Joe Scarborough was all set to appear this Sunday on ABC's "This Week" with George Stephanopoulos until yesterday, when Scarborough canceled because David Gregory, the host of NBC's "Meet the Press," allegedly threw a fit. "What is David Gregory so afraid of?" asked one network insider. Stephanopoulos was first pitched to have Scarborough as a guest by Scarborough's "Morning Joe" co-host on MSNBC, Mika Brzezinski. "About three weeks ago, George got a handwritten note in the mail and a copy of Scarborough's book, 'The Last Best Hope,' " said our source. "The note said, 'Would you consider putting Joe on your show?' " Last week, the booking was finalized. "She [Brzezinski] said she checked with all the high-ups at NBC," said our source. But on Wednesday night, Stephanopoulos was alerted there might be a problem. Scarborough is said to have informed him, "I'm terribly sorry, but David Gregory had a fit." Yesterday morning, Scarborough canceled his appearance, leaving Stephanopoulos scrambling to find a replacement guest.
Stephanopoulos declined to comment, but an ABC source said, " 'Meet the Press' has lost more than half a million viewers on David Gregory's watch. That explains his tantrum, but it does not excuse it." Since Gregory took over on "Meet the Press" last December after Tim Russert's death, viewership of the still top-rated Sunday morning show has plummeted. "Meet" topped "This Week" by 2.2 million a year ago, compared to 240,000 this past Sunday. An NBC rep told Page Six: "NBC News never approved an appearance by Joe on George's show. But it's flattering to know that when ABC needed a smart political analyst, they turned to us. As far as any issue between David and Joe, he's hosting a book party for Joe [last] night in DC."
I Want You Back
Within the last 10 years the NYT has been forced to quote the National Enquirer - long ridiculed for sensationalism and credibility. Those same charges stuck to the Gray Lady during the 2008 presidential campaign.
In January of this year the Enquirer reported that Michael Jackson's friends feared he wasn't long for this world. The supermarket rag detailed Michael's illnesses and drug abuse history. It appears that the National Enquirer was right. Again.
A Week of Heartburn
Curry could melodramatize a report on pork bellies, so of course she anchored the two special back-to-back editions of "Dateline" in a state of high solemnity.
On ABC, Martin Bashir, co-anchor of "Nightline," was drafted into service to eulogize Jackson and Fawcett, an apt choice since he conducted a now-famous interview and report, "Living With Michael Jackson," in 2003. Said Bashir of that interview, in a takes-the-cake moment of sheer hubris: "It was perhaps one of the greatest moments in my own journalistic career."
ABC's coverage of Jackson, 50, was the best, if only because it seemed to have access to the largest cache of archival material, with NBC being second-best and CBS unfortunately relying on such lowbrow syndicated tabloid fare as "Entertainment Tonight" and "Inside Edition." In the case of Fawcett, who died of a rare form of cancer at 62, NBC was able to air clips from the recent documentary blockbuster "Farrah's Story" on its special repeat -- and will re-air the show tonight.
Ever since CBS failed to lead its "Evening News" with the death of Elvis Presley on that sad day, Aug. 16, 1977, and wore egg on its face for weeks, networks have been panicky about possibly underplaying pop-cultural landmarks. Thus, all the time accorded Jackson and Fawcett -- with Jackson's the most easily justified because of his musical influence and the tawdriness of his many public scandals involving children as sleepover pals.
It was one of dozens of memorable clips aired on the report s; Ryan O'Neal wept as he told Walters of his love for Fawcett. Coverage would continue on "Nightline" and, of course, will likely dominate newscasts today.
MSNBC: Shame On You!
A Twitterer observes: "MSNBC brought Olbermann on early for the Michael Jackson story. Which, admittedly, is a lot more important than last Saturday in Iran."
MSNBC was roundly slammed for running an ancient taped "MSNBC Investigates" fronted by the two-years-gone John Seigenthaler rather than going live with the escalating Iranian protests.
FOX dumped the pre-taped Huckabee show and brought in A-lister Shep Smith at 8p. During the 8p hour CNN was still running some taped financial thing but got with the program later on.
This was the MSNBC spin earlier this week: "We were monitoring the situation closely and decided that we would cover the situation with hourly updates. We had an anchor and crew standing by." He also dismissed the suggestion that the coverage plans were dictated by financial considerations, although he did not provide specifics. As for the taped shows, "these programs generate higher viewership for us on weekends" than other types of programming, Gaines added. But given the intensity of the reaction elsewhere, MSNBC's decision over the weekend struck many as puzzling.
Cryptome has a raft of Tehran protest photos - some graphic.
MSNBC was roundly slammed for running an ancient taped "MSNBC Investigates" fronted by the two-years-gone John Seigenthaler rather than going live with the escalating Iranian protests.
FOX dumped the pre-taped Huckabee show and brought in A-lister Shep Smith at 8p. During the 8p hour CNN was still running some taped financial thing but got with the program later on.
This was the MSNBC spin earlier this week: "We were monitoring the situation closely and decided that we would cover the situation with hourly updates. We had an anchor and crew standing by." He also dismissed the suggestion that the coverage plans were dictated by financial considerations, although he did not provide specifics. As for the taped shows, "these programs generate higher viewership for us on weekends" than other types of programming, Gaines added. But given the intensity of the reaction elsewhere, MSNBC's decision over the weekend struck many as puzzling.
Cryptome has a raft of Tehran protest photos - some graphic.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Off The Wall
The UK Sun reports the pain killer addict shot up Demerol and then stopped breathing.
It's truly presumptuous of me to speculate like a cable TV talking head, but I will: it is not beyond the realm of possibility that Michael Jackson died of either an accidental or intentional drug overdose.
Related: TIME mag "The Talent and the Tragedy"
TMZ which broke Jackson's death owns this real estate...
Wash Post has a good piece on Jackson's professional and personal lives. The LA Times is all Jackson all the time.
Michael Jackson Is Not Alone
Thousands are gathering at UCLA Medical Center where Michael Jackson died today to honor the music genius who rose from gritty Gary, Indiana after Motown queen Diana Ross discovered the Jackson 5 when Michael was still in single digits.
"He was approaching his 51st birthday that he will never see." MSNBC's Keith Olbermann marvels after airing home video shot of the emergency vehicle taking Jackson to UCLA Medical Center where he was pronounced dead a short time later.
The cable TV networks - even CNBC - are wall-to-wall Michael Jackson. FOX anchor Shep Smith seamlessly segued into the dumped Bill O'Reilly show after commandeering the coverage at 7p.
FOX ran Michael Jackson's "You Are Not Alone" video between 7:30 and 8p with a nearly naked Michael and then-wife Lisa Marie Presley full screen until the second shot and then went to a split screen. I don't think it was screened for content before FOX ran it.
"Thriller" came out in 1982. At the very least you have to be in your late 30s to have witnessed the frenzy firsthand as Jackson and MTV changed the landscape of music delivery.
"He was approaching his 51st birthday that he will never see." MSNBC's Keith Olbermann marvels after airing home video shot of the emergency vehicle taking Jackson to UCLA Medical Center where he was pronounced dead a short time later.
The cable TV networks - even CNBC - are wall-to-wall Michael Jackson. FOX anchor Shep Smith seamlessly segued into the dumped Bill O'Reilly show after commandeering the coverage at 7p.
FOX ran Michael Jackson's "You Are Not Alone" video between 7:30 and 8p with a nearly naked Michael and then-wife Lisa Marie Presley full screen until the second shot and then went to a split screen. I don't think it was screened for content before FOX ran it.
"Thriller" came out in 1982. At the very least you have to be in your late 30s to have witnessed the frenzy firsthand as Jackson and MTV changed the landscape of music delivery.
Sanford's Squeeze
I give it a 70. Nice beat. Easy to dance to.
Michael Jackson: Never Can Say Goodbye
No matter what you thought of Michael Jackson, the man was an amazing talent. The last time I saw THE KING IS DEAD headline was in 1977 when Elvis died.
I was an anchor at an NBC affiliate in Michigan at the time and my male co-anchor - a Ron Burgundy in every way - did the tease and buried the lede by not leading off with Elvis's death.
A couple of generations grew up on Michael Jackson. The Jackson 5 in the 1970s. Moonwalk in the 1980s with the killer album "Thriller" that copped eight Grammys and sold 26 mil copies. My favorite song of all-time: "Never Can Say Goodbye."
I culled the Moonwalk videos and found this one where Jackson does his traditional crotch grab and moonwalk to "Billie Jean":
Jackson leaves this planet an icon like Elvis, James Dean, Marilyn Monroe and others.
Watch his 1982 Thriller video set in a cemetery.
The foulest stench is in the air
The funk of forty thousand years
And grizzly ghouls from every tomb
Are closing in to seal your doom
And though you fight to stay alive
Your body starts to shiver
for no mere mortal can resist
the evil of the thriller
I was an anchor at an NBC affiliate in Michigan at the time and my male co-anchor - a Ron Burgundy in every way - did the tease and buried the lede by not leading off with Elvis's death.
A couple of generations grew up on Michael Jackson. The Jackson 5 in the 1970s. Moonwalk in the 1980s with the killer album "Thriller" that copped eight Grammys and sold 26 mil copies. My favorite song of all-time: "Never Can Say Goodbye."
I culled the Moonwalk videos and found this one where Jackson does his traditional crotch grab and moonwalk to "Billie Jean":
Jackson leaves this planet an icon like Elvis, James Dean, Marilyn Monroe and others.
Watch his 1982 Thriller video set in a cemetery.
The foulest stench is in the air
The funk of forty thousand years
And grizzly ghouls from every tomb
Are closing in to seal your doom
And though you fight to stay alive
Your body starts to shiver
for no mere mortal can resist
the evil of the thriller
Michael Jackson Beats It
Michael Jackson has died. He was 50. Michael suffered a cardiac arrest earlier this afternoon at his Holmby Hills home and paramedics were unable to revive him. We're told when paramedics arrived Jackson had no pulse and they never got a pulse back.A source tells us Jackson was dead when paramedics arrived. Once at the hospital, the staff tried to resuscitate him but he was completely unresponsive.We're told one of the staff members at Jackson's home called 911. La Toya ran in the hospital sobbing after Jackson was pronounced dead. Michael is survived by three children: Michael Joseph Jackson, Jr., Paris Michael Katherine Jackson and Prince "Blanket" Michael Jackson II.
TV news is dancing all around the rumors... FOX News Shep Smith is now reporting the LA Times says Jackson's in a coma. The paper's website is so overloaded I couldn't get on it. Same for Shep.DRUDGE has the headline in red THE KING IS DEAD with this photo (right). 629p Shep just quoted the Associated Press and LA Times reporting that Jackson did indeed die and was pronounced dead at 6:15 EDT 3:15 Pacific...
ABC's Prime Time Obama Health Care Collaboration Flatlines
Near-death ratings.
ABC's Jake Tapper: "Did Obama Make His Case?"
The "infomercial" was moderated by Diane Sawyer and Charlie Gibson.
Michelle Obama Hitting the Bottle?
No wonder she's gained so much weight. Living in a mansion with a private chef, 24/7 room service, and 60 servants doing your bidding would drive anyone to drink.
Easy Mark
Salon: Now there are rumors running rampant that Sanford's mistress, Maria, is a former Argentinian model who is tall, knockout brunette who may even be a body builder and a former actress. A user on DemocraticUnderground wrote: "Sanford met her on some GOP junket in either Hawaii or in the Caribbean. His staff and others close to him all knew about it and were waiting for the shoe to drop on the affair. They all knew he was visiting her in Argentina and didn't bother to tell the Lt. Governor while there was a forest fire crisis in South Carolina."
It is a sure bet that his staff knew ALL. This Appalachian Trail hike was pure BS.
FOX News: South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford's mistress is a 43-year-old employee of an international agriculture company who speaks several languages and lives in an upscale apartment building in Buenos Aires, Argentina, local media there are reporting.
Though details are sparse, Terra Noticias reported Thursday that the woman's name is Maria Belen Shapur and she works for the international agribusiness firm Bunge y Born.
The newspaper, along with Buenos Aires Continental Radio, reported that she lives next to the Buenos Aires Zoo in a 14-story building. A witness who works in the building described her as a beautiful brunette with big eyes who plays tennis on a nearby lawn and runs every morning in her neighborhood.
The witness told the radio station that Sanford arrived at the complex, alone, with a small sports bag last week and asked to go inside the building.
The Columbia, SC State newspaper which broke the story after a lady reporter ambushed Sanford at Atlanta's airport as he landed from Argentina broke website visitor records.
Angel of Death Claims Farrah Fawcett
UPDATE: Walters' thing is running tonight (Thursday) at 10p while NBC serves up a dueling piece on Dateline at the same time. But nobody will be watching now that divine justice intervened and TV News is 24/7 on Michael Jackson's untimely (for ABC and NBC) death Thursday afternoon in LA.
People mag quotes O'Neal lamenting there wasn't enough time to get married.
Huff Post has more. Gawker has a respectful obit.
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