This Is Only An Exhibition. This is Not A Competition. Please, No Wagering

When Dave took a few questions from the audience, Helaine asked about his makeup.

“My boyfriend is a weatherman in Buffalo…”

ed-sullivan-pano

After 33 years on nighttime TV, David Letterman calls it quits tonight. He’s pretty much admitted to no longer being contemporary in this era of YouTube clips and Twitter memes. Sad.

I was a Letterman fan from Day One, back when he was a young stand-up comedian appearing on Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show. He was edgy and vital, always willing to bite the hand that fed him.

I was in Buffalo when Dave started in late night. It was a show we, an NBC affiliate, didn’t carry. Vicky Gregorian, our program director, heard my pleas to clear “Late Night” nearly every day.

It took time, but we did finally air him. My kvetching probably had little to do with it in the long run.

David Letterman autographed photoThe photo on the left was an early 80s gift from my girlfriend, Helaine. It’s an autographed Happy Birthday greeting from Dave, standing on 5th Avenue across from St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

David Letterman was so strong at one point I forced myself to stop watching! I was inadvertently doing my Letterman impression on-the-air.

Helaine and I first visited the show in 1982. Andrea Martin was a guest. Maybe July 11?

We’d gotten tickets through a friend, were brought in early, sat up front and schmoozed with Biff Henderson. When Dave took a few questions from the audience, Helaine asked about his makeup.

“My boyfriend is a weatherman in Buffalo…”

geoff-at-ed-sullivan-theaterLetterman answered her question, started the show, then referred back to his conversation with Helaine.

“Sir, Where are you a weatherman?” Letterman asked coast-to-coast.

“Buffalo,” I shouted in my network debut (voice only).

I’ve been back to see Dave a few times since. The latest was when Matt Scott invited me to the Christmas show with Darlene Love. Dream fulfilled.

I rooted for Dave when Carson decided to retire. Dave was shafted. Everyone knew it. Alas, the revenge we all hoped for, Dave beating Jay Leno, never came.

Dave was the cutting edge. No more. That’s the saddest part for me. He had it, but let it slip away. As a performer I work hard every day making sure my flame is always lit, my passion always there. Dave seemed to have given up.

Though I no longer watch as often, I will miss knowing Letterman is there. Like his hero, Johnny Carson, Dave will probably fade into the woodwork out-of-the public eye.

Dave is my hero.

I Almost Fell For It!

If you fell for this, here’s what happened. Your Google password is owned. You’ve installed software that probably also controls your computer and owns your other passwords.

I don’t want to hurt myself patting my own back, but I’m pretty good at sniffing out scams. Today I came perilously close to falling for one. Bravo to the scammers. You’re getting better.

It started with an email from a friend I haven’t spoken to in a long time. Actually, the email said I had a message from her via Whats App. I have Whats App installed, but don’t use it.

So far, plausible.

We-missed-you---geoff.fox-gmail

I clicked the green “Play” button and was asked to sign in to my Gmail account. Again, this is something that happens… but I don’t give up my password easily. I looked closely and noticed the password page didn’t have a green lock next to it.

Bad sign!

Gmail (and Facebook and Twitter) always have a green lock. The green lock assures you the connection is secure and from the company listed.

Gmail-w1920-h1400

I continued to log in but with a phony password. I wanted to see where this led.

YouTube-w1920-h1400

Next screen was an install page for Flash. If the flashing red lights weren’t already going off, this would do it!

If you fell for this, here’s what happened. Your Google password is owned. You’ve installed software that probably also controls your computer and owns your other passwords.

I opened up the web pages. They’re reasonably well written code. All the images are served from their rightful owners websites. In other words, Google, Twitter and Whats App (among others) are paying for the bandwidth to run this scam!

How the hell did this get past Gmail’s filters? At least it didn’t get past mine.

Bill O’Reilly And The Truth

It’s not like O’Reilly made this stuff up out of whole cloth. He almost did those things he’s claimed… almost.

bill o reilly   Google Search

I have been trying to avoid the Bill O’Reilly story. It’s tough to keep away. It’s compelling. He’s compelling.

I don’t think he’s been telling the truth.

Let accept one fact first: On-the-air O’Reilly is masterful.

There are few, maybe none, who do what he does better. It disappoints me we’re usually on the opposite side of his political arguments, but that doesn’t take away his TV talents.

Did O’Reilly lie or strongly exaggerate when he talked about his experience in the Falklands War? Yes. I have no doubt.

Did he stretch the truth when in his book “Killing Kennedy” he claimed:

As the reporter knocked on the door of de Mohrenschildt’s daughter’s home, he heard the shotgun blast that marked the suicide of the Russian, assuring that his relationship with Lee Harvey Oswald would never be fully understood.

By the way, that reporter’s name is Bill O’Reilly.

Again. the evidence indicates Bill’s version doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.

Should he be punished? Brian Williams certainly was for his exaggerations and self inflating fiction.

I wish the O’Reilly answer was a resounding yes, but I’m not so sure. As someone who was harshly punished, I know it doesn’t always fit the crime.

Don’t we all inflate our resume just a little? Have you ever embellished a story to make it better? It’s not like O’Reilly made this stuff up out of whole cloth. He almost did those things he’s claimed… almost.

If O’Reilly does get smacked around it will be because he pushed back too hard. Instead of apologizing or backtracking he mounted attacks against the original reporter of the story and a New York Times reporter later trying to advance it.

During a phone conversation, he told a reporter for The New York Times that there would be repercussions if he felt any of the reporter’s coverage was inappropriate. “I am coming after you with everything I have,” Mr. O’Reilly said. “You can take it as a threat.”

That’s pretty low.

Bill O’Reilly was once sued for sexual harassment. He claimed, as he does now, to be innocent. He said he would fight the charges. In the end he quietly settled for millions.

I’ll be interested to see this play out.

Jon Stewart And Brian Williams

Today’s outcome for both Jon Stewart and Brian Williams saddens me. And, in the end, shouldn’t it be all about the viewer?

williams-stewart

A real one-two punch today. Brian Williams suspended for six months, then Jon Stewart announcing he’s leaving The Daily Show. I’ll start with Stewart.

Shocked!

There was no way I saw this coming. It would be different if Rosewood, his directorial debut, had gotten rave reviews. He is walking away from the goose tha lays the golden egg!

Today Jon Stewart is a powerful political force. Attention from The Daily Show can swing public opinion.

He undoubtedly understands the powerful voice he commands doesn’t leave the show with him. Just ask Glenn Beck, Howard Stern or Oprah. They left over-the-air broadcasting for positions with less visibility and influence.

Fifteen years is a long time. Stewart, especially after the movie, doesn’t seem as passionate. There are more movie star interviews and fewer examples of Stewart as TVs only interviewer who actually read the book. Better to quit before that lack of drive becomes too obvious?

I will miss The Daily Show. It’s the only show I watch even if I can’t fast forward through the ads.

Selfishly, I’ll be sad.

Brian Williams situation is a little more complex. NBC says he’s suspended for six months without pay. He’s a union employee. Suspensions only happen like this if negotiated with Williams’ full agreement and everyone signs off.

I’ve never met Brian Williams, but I know folks who’ve worked with him. I’ve never heard a bad word–and I would have. He’s always been cited as the kind of guy you want in your newsroom.

We all fall victim to puffery. Everyone inflates their resume a little. This is more than most. Maybe it is an actionable offense?

However, Brian Williams deserves to have his transgressions weighed against the total of his professional life. There’s a little Geoff self pity in that last sentence.

Should Brian Williams’ penalty be a life sentence? I don’t think so, but not strongly enough that my opinion might not change over time.

Today’s outcome for both Jon Stewart and Brian Williams saddens me. And, in the end, shouldn’t it be all about the viewer?

When TV Asks For Your Help

Would viewers have supported CBS had they known this is how their support would be used? Did CBS have an obligation to tell the viewers this was their agenda?

dish fox oreilly

​With carriage battles between TV stations/networks and cable/satellite distributors becoming more vicious, viewers are being called upon to help save their favorite stations/networks.

In the abstract that seems fine. However, after CBS enlisted their viewers help against DISH, they then negotiated a partial neutering of Dish’s Hopper feature. Hopper allows viewers who record shows to skip the commercials.

From the NY Times December 6: ​”​As part of the agreement, people will not be able to skip commercials with the Hopper service for CBS-owned network stations and affiliates for the first seven days after a program is televised. Television networks have been pushing advertisers to buy commercial time based on ratings from that seven-day period.​”​

Would viewers have supported CBS had they known this is how their support would be used? Did CBS have an obligation to tell the viewers this was their agenda?

Fox is currently in a similar dispute with DISH. During this weekend’s NFL playoffs I watched Megyn Kelly and Bill O’Reilly asking for support for Fox News Channel, accusing DISH of “censoring​” FNC.

My (rhetorical) question to them is, are you ​too ​asking your viewers to help you achieve something that’s not in those viewers best interests?​ Will your viewers support cost those same viewers cash, convenience or access to technology?

Is censorship really the sticking point in this business dispute?

A Captioned World

IMAG1977The TV’s on. So is the captioning. For my dad it’s a godsend. He reads a lot better than he hears.

For me it’s a bit of a distraction. A worthy distraction, but a distraction.

Live captions follow live speech by five seconds or more. It removes the dialog from the action. You watch the touchdown and the replay before you read about it.

When it’s live, words are misspelled or a similarly sounding word is substituted for the correct on. Watching captions isn’t like listening. Context is missing.

The Tender Trap is on TCM at the moment. TCMs captions are great. Nicely formatted. In sync with the on-screen dialog. Out of the way at the very bottom of the screen.

When captions are on it’s hard not to look at them instead of the film. I find myself having to consciously move my eyes back to the actors.

All this is small peanuts. For my dad, for whom hearing is difficult, captions work.

Now Casting For Weathermen

weather contest

I just got an email from… well, I’ll let her tell you.

Hey There!

My name is Mandi Rogers and I am a casting producer seeking America’s next meteorologist for a major network television show!

Are you a meteorologist with a big personality? Do you think you have what it takes to be “America’s Next Weatherman?” Emmy award winning production company is now casting weathermen and women for a major network! Are you a passionate climatolgist? Do you love everything about the weather and ready for your big debut? This could be your chance to For more details submit yourself now with a breif bio, location, website (if applicable), contact number and photo.

I have attached a flier for more information on how to apply and would love if you could help us get the word out to your weathercaster family, co-workers, interns and social media following. Feel free to share on Facebook, Twitter, E-mail or just hang up a flier.

***If you have the personality and bravery to report in any climate, then we want you!

“I’ll show you how to stalk,” Stef offered. She then followed the breadcrumbs until we found the show’s producer. “I’ve sent emails like this.” She has.

Email like mine are sent early in the development process. Usually things stall. Not always. This show might hit the air.

Not with me.

You’ll Never Guess Who I Ran Into?

He was not hired for his chiseled good looks nor his “J” school pedigree.

geoff-dad-and-irv-weinstein

My dad and I went to the movies this afternoon to see Chris Rock’s “Top Five.” The real story happened before we went into the theater. I heard my name, “Geoff?” It was Beth Krom.

Beth is friends with my Irvine Fox cousins and very active politically. Oh… and her father is like a god to me. No, really.

Whomever you grew up watching on TV news, Irv Weinstein was bigger! WKBW Eyewitness News dominated Buffalo television in a way impossible today. Irv’s newscasts normally beat the other stations combined. I worked for the competition. It was humbling.

Irv was known for his staccato delivery of alliteration laden news copy. He was not hired for his chiseled good looks nor his “J” school pedigree. Yet he was everything a news anchor should be, which is why so many chose to watch. Irv took responsibility for everything that hit air.

I ran into Irv thirty years ago as I was considering the offer that brought me to Connecticut. We were at Chef’s, an old school Buffalo Italian restaurant where he often had dinner. He took me aside and gave me some fatherly advice.

He didn’t have to. He was a big deal and I was just starting out. He was that kind of guy. The people of Buffalo understood this viscerally.

I walked over to Beth, who introduced me to her family and said her father would soon be there!

He looks great. He sounds great. He has lost nothing off the fastball. Like me, Irv ditched winter for Irvine.

I took this picture with Irv, my dad and me. I’ve never felt so tall in my life!

Porky’s Railroad

There’s a scene in the movie where a railroad telegrapher is sending a message in Morse Code… which I can copy. I pulled out a pad and rewound.

porky-pig

I just finished watching “Porky’s Railroad,” a 1938 Looney Tunes classic.

Why did I watch it? Because, Internet.

Sequence 01.Still001There’s a scene in the movie where a railroad telegrapher is sending a message in Morse Code… which I can copy. Landline guys wouldn’t have used the Morse variant I understood, but this was obviously being sent by a radio guy. I pulled out a pad and rewound.

QST QSL LEON SCHLESINGER HOLLYWOOD FOR PICTURE OF PORKY

QST and QSL are telegrapher’s abbreviations. QST originally meant calling all stations. QST was in 1938 and is still the name of the ham radio magazine of record. QSL asks for verification of reception. Leon Schlesinger was the producer. The rest is obvious.

The code was very rough and ‘sparky,’ which even by 1938 was disappearing from real radio communications.

This is really obscure. I wonder if I’m the first to discover it?

The Future Of TV… Though Not Yet

Watching shows on the net today reminds me of watching UHF pre-cable. It was there, but a hassle. It’s more likely I’d watch on my PC where there’s a fuller multimedia presentation through your browser.

cbsn

When Amazon briefly marked its brand new Fire Stick down to $20, I bought one. It now joins my Roku and Chromecast as ancillary TV receivers. It’s TV over the Internet instead of over the air. Some ‘channels’ are linear others totally on demand.

Definitions are getting blurry. Are they channels? Is ComediansInCarsGettingCoffee a channel or show or both or neither? That’s still being decided.

cbsn-logoI downloaded an app to watch CBSN, the new all news offering from CBS.

It’s available only via the net.

It looked pro. They’ve gone for warmth with a tie-less anchor and brick walled studio. The production seemed a little thin. 24/7 is a lot of time with few additional bodies. TV can be done inexpensively. The product is almost as good.

It is well written and serious–CBS’ish.

Screenshot 2014-12-02 21.26.07They play an animated “We’ll be right back” bumper. Really? In 2014? These are early problems which will be solved.

I probably won’t watch CBSN much on the big TV in the loft. Too many steps. Using the big TV for shows on the net today reminds me of watching UHF pre-cable. It was there, but a hassle. It’s more likely I’d watch on my PC where there’s a fuller multimedia presentation through the browser.

What happens to the incumbents–newspapers and local TV news outfits as more and more services set out to the Internet? They adapt or perish.

Some adapt, still perish.

Have you read a newspaper with a hyphenated name? The Journal-Courier, Courier-Journal, Star-Ledger, Times-Picayune, Times-Herald-Record, Post-Gazette, Post-Dispatch? Consolidations and shakeouts happen.

When I was a kid, New York City had seven citywide English language newspapers with additional dailies in Brooklyn, Staten Island and Queens. Not anymore.

This market, Orange County, is greatly under-served. Maybe some clever video news provider will shake-in? Alas, the bigger trend is in the other direction.

Addendum: I am considering sending the Fire Stick back. It is unstable or unusable on the two sets I’d like to use it on. I believe the problem has to do with DHCP, a method of digital rights management and these individual sets. Will Amazon fix the problem? It’s stopping me from using their product.

News At The Speed Of Internet

On Twitter itself I saw someone complain Fox News and CNN had dropped the ball. I guess he was expecting them to have crews standing by in Tallahassee in case anything ever happened at midnight.

There’s a new boss in breaking news.

CNN is on with news from Tallahassee. People have been shot in the FSU library.

CNN didn’t break this story. I first got the news on Twitter. That’s becoming more rule than exception.

FSUShootingInternal640Florida State’s original tweet about a DANGEROUS SITUATION caught fire! News like this explodes through social media. It becomes unavoidable.

Meanwhile, it’s still the traditional news sources we turn to once we get the tipoff. That’s why the TV went on. But their resources pale in comparison to crowd sourcing. Right now it’s social media CNN is relying on!

I saw someone complain Fox News and CNN had dropped the ball. I guess he was expecting them to have crews standing by in Tallahassee in case anything ever happened at midnight.

There’s a new boss in breaking news.

Stefanie Fox: Celebrity Encounter

As they approached, Roxie made a high pitched mumble. The man looked down, then up at Stef.

“Nice wiener,” he said.

hollywood-from-GowerCelebrity sightings are common in LA. You’re supposed to take it in stride. Stef’s very good at that having worked on the red carpet during last year’s awards season.

Tonight while walking her dachshund Roxie, she saw a man in the distance saying goodbye to a group of friends. He looked familiar, but she couldn’t make a connection.

As they approached, Roxie made a high pitched mumble. The man looked down, then up at Stef.

“Nice wiener,” he said.

It was Ron Jeremy.

Has Anyone Started A Roger Goodell Pool Yet?

roger-goodellHow long until Roger Goodell exits the NFL? This month? This week? This evening? I suspect his time is short.

I don’t have to rehash this story. What Ray Rice did was inexcusable.

The question now is, did Roger Goodell do the inexcusable too? I think so.

Forget AP’s revelation for a moment. Nothing in the tape released by TMZ offers anything the commissioner didn’t know earlier. Rice, as reported, was up front about the fight. He was charged with a violent crime. He knocked his girlfriend unconscious with his fist!

How did seeing the TMZ elevator video change that? The only difference was now we could see what the NFL already knew! That was their worry — not what Rice had done, but that we knew.

And, again, this is regardless of whatever tape they did or didn’t see. They knew this was a brutal act by a 206 pound athlete based on Rice’s own admission.

Goodell will leave the NFL a wealthy man. I just saw a report he made $29 million in 2011. Don’t cry if he loses his job.

Violence against women is a scourge which must be stopped. If Rice’s punishment serves as a warning to others, so be it. The same goes for any punishment Goodell receives in his role as whitewasher and enabler.

The Map Adjacent To These Words Is Absolutely, Positively False!

If you’re here because someone snookered you with this phoney map, please consider sharing my post of Facebook or Twitter to let your friends know too.

Meteorologists-Predict-Record-Shattering-Snowfalls-Coming-Soon-Bread-Milk-Prices-Expected-To-Soar-

Someone posted the map at the top of this entry to my Facebook page. It’s bull. There’s no truth to it.

It was published by Empire News. Click a little farther and you learn what Empire News is.

Empire News is a satirical and entertainment website. We only use invented names in all our stories, except in cases when public figures are being satirized. Any other use of real names is accidental and coincidental.

But that’s not how it’s presented. Each story is a series of lies, but without the irony or other elements normally associated with satire.

In the Onion, for instance, there’s a certain point in every story when you say, “I get it.” There’s no “I get it” moment at Empire News. There is no clever.

It’s awful because this is actionable information presented as if it was a fact. This is just sport lying. It’s quite legal, protected by our constitution, but it’s wrong.

There are ways to earn a living I’d never consider because they’re so distasteful. Empire News is an example.

On-The-Air On-The-Web

There was a time when astronomers felt this asteroid had a plausible chance of hitting Earth in 2049. That’s only 35 years.

geoff on slooh

I spent part of the night on-the-air. Is that right? Does on-the-air still apply? I spent a good part of the night on-the-web doing a broadcast for slooh.com.

Slooh is the “Community Observatory.” They maintain three telescopes, one in Chile and two on the Canary Islands. Slooh members individually assign the telescopes’ “missions.”

000259p652617_20140826_003136_0_7078_lIt’s a very cool idea. Timeshare telescopes, better than what most could afford, in locations astronomers covet. You view is via the Internet. Members look at comets, asteroids, planets, galaxies and, of course, stars.

That’s a shot of Comet Jacques on the left. I took it last week on one of the Canary Island telescopes.

As part of the company’s outreach, we produce shows on the Internet. It’s me as host, astronomer Bob Berman and observatory director Paul Cox. Tonight we had Lindley Johnson, who runs the show for the Near Earth Object program at NASA. Our show centered on Asteroid 2002 CU11.

Tonight 2002 CU11 passed within .03 AU of Earth. that’s 3% of the distance to the Sun. In space terms, close.

There was a time when astronomers felt this asteroid had a plausible chance of hitting Earth in 2049. That’s only 35 years away!

Since the first prediction 2002 CU11’s orbit has been recalculated with more precision. We’re off the hook for now, but time is on the asteroid’s side.

I love doing these shows. I work with two very smart guys. Bob is encyclopedic in his astronomy knowledge. Paul is just smart. I’m not sure what he’s not smart in. I haven’t seen it. And the British accent makes him sound smarter–unfair.

Usually we do shows from home. Bob is near Woodstock, NY. Paul lives in England. I’m here in SoCal. Our director/producer sits in East Hartford, CT. How cool is that?

I’m in my office using a webcam and headset. It doesn’t quite look like network TV, but it’s obviously pro.

Good TV needs chemistry. It took a few broadcasts to understand each other’s timing and pace.

My job is to be the dumb guy. That’s not to say I don’t know anything about space and astronomy, but these guys are the experts. I ask questions viewers would like answered and make sure we stay on topic. Think of me as a batting practice pitcher.

I am lucky to once again do a show with substance. Not everyone can say that.