The Oscars As A Synergistic Social Media Triumph

oscar selife

Did you watch the Oscars? We did. I suspect numbers will be up this year. It has little to do with Ellen’s performance or anything on-the-show, though she and it were very entertaining.

The Oscars has written the playbook on leveraging social media. It is the synergistic wunderkind! Truly a two screen show.

If you’re on Twitter you can’t not watch the Academy Awards. It our common experience. We’re watching TV together as a family. Welcome back to the sixties.

Of course the Oscar telecast has to bring something to this stew. It’s live. It’s unpredictable. It’s enthusiastically embraced its marriage with the second screen.

Don’t underestimate that last move. Few have done it as effectively or with the ease shown by Ellen tonight.

There were Twitter references everywhere. Ellen set up the selfie you see atop this entry during the show.

Long before midnight Sunday, the photo had been retweeted more than 2 million times, breaking a record set by President Barack Obama with the picture of him hugging First Lady Michelle Obama after his re-election in 2012. Twitter also sent out an apology because all of the retweeting disrupted service for more than 20 minutes after 10 p.m. ET. – AP via npr.org

She took another with Liza Minnelli. And then there was the (real) pizza oscar pizza guydelivery guy. It’s a good night to be @BigMamasNPapas.

My last few years in TV saw a push to engage viewers via social media. We were trying to make you more ‘sticky.’

The fact I have so many followers on Facebook and Twitter speaks to my belief in that. We never did it this effectively.

Has anyone?

Dinner At Pink’s

Helaine and I drove to Hollywood last night. Helaine had some goodies for Stef. It’s a 55 mile drive. An hour and a half last night. LA traffic is as advertised.

Stef met us after work.

She’s been to the Golden Globes, SAG and Grammys. She’ll be on the Red Carpet at the Oscars too. Stef’s part of the team that produces the ‘pre-game’ and ‘post-game’ shows on E!. They’ll be live seven hours at the Oscars.

OK, I’m her father. I’m biased. It sounds like a pretty cool job.

I’m especially glad she’s involved in live TV. It’s a rush when you’re on and there’s no turning back. I tried to explain the feeling before she started. Alas, you can’t properly describe an experience.

We brought Doppler along, which limits where we can go. Who cares? She’s an excellent traveler.

We ended up at Pink’s on La Brea. It’s a hot dog stand, built in 1946, still rocking it’s 1946 style. Pink’s is a reflection of LA’s early adoption of cars versus public transport. You could drive up, get out of your car and get a dog!

I had the “HUELL HOWSER DOG – 2 hot dogs in ONE bun – mustard, chili, cheese & onions.” Huell was a well known TV personality whose segments on LA’s quirky native culture are still played, long after his death.

I also had a Dr. Brown’s Cherry. That brings me back to Flushing, as a kid. The taste hasn’t changed. It was magical.

Pink’s no Glenwood! Will someone please tell Rob I said that.

Our drive home was much faster–a little less than an hour.

We’re very lucky to live so close to Stef. It’s a trip we enjoy taking.

Compliments To Mother Nature

My spring fever is now in full bloom. I’ve got the Phillies on the computer/radio. Helaine said, “There’s nothing more meaningless than spring training.”

Compliments to Mother Nature who I suspect reads this blog. Nice job today. Blue skies, comfortable temperatures.

My spring fever is now in full bloom. I’ve got the Phillies on the computer/radio. Helaine said, “There’s nothing more meaningless than spring training.”

Yeah. But it’s not the game itself that’s meaningful as much as what it says. Spring training means winter is almost over.

I actually get to experience a little of this splendor later today. Because of the Oscars Sonia, Darren and I will be on-the-air tonight. Maybe I’ll drop the top on the convertible? Probably not.

Here’s What Oprah Should Have Announced

Only Oprah could make this choice and produced an immediate impact. Only Oprah could immediately make the Internet a viable platform for modern day broadcasting.

oprah.jpgLater today Oprah Winfrey plans to make public the announcement she made to her staff Thursday: “Oprah” will end its broadcast TV run in 2011 and she will concentrate her efforts on OWN (Oprah Winfrey Network), a new cable network. Oprah is making a mistake! She should have gone direct-to-net.

First, a few givens. The local stations that currently run her show will be the biggest losers. Oprah has delivered killer lead-ins to local news for years. Oprah’s influence has been so strong it’s rumored many stations run the show as a loss leader knowing they’ll make it up during the news.

Second, Oprah will move to a new cable channel with no track record and currently no clearances. She will be on a channel t-b-a, but certainly not with the dial position and complementary programming (and promotion) she currently has.

As much as is possible when you’re the world’s best known TV host, Oprah will start from zero.

Establishing a new cable channel, even for someone of Oprah’s stature and means will not be easy. If anyone can make this a success she can, but there’s much more room for success if Oprah had blazed the path to direct Internet distribution.

To more and more people the Internet is a perfectly acceptable substitute for TV. With the ubiquity of high speed Internet picture quality is no longer a real concern. Hulu and Netflix have shown that. Even Youtube is getting ready to deliver HD quality videos.

Bandwidth costs, the deciding factor on video quality, continue to drop.

Going on the Internet gives Oprah a boatload of options.

  • The show could be served both live and on-demand to multiple platforms at multiple bandwidths.
  • Live events could be covered live without any worry about interfering with other scheduled programming. Imagine Oprah at the Oscars or at any compatible event.
  • Recorded shows could be served full and as smaller mini-episodes.
  • No need to share revenue with a cable channel or cable operators (by way of local spot breaks).
  • The total control that the Internet affords would allow more creative viewer interaction and sponsor opportunities. Spots don’t have to be the end all be all anymore.
  • The audience could be expanded to reach more working women via office computers and smartphone apps

My friend Brian Lapis points out Howard Stern’s diminution of reach and power since leaving terrestrial radio for Sirius. Stern went to a technology with a small installed base and then hid behind a paywall. Oprah doesn’t need to do that. I believe she can reach more people over the long run via the Internet than she could on TV simply by making herself available at more times and on more platforms.

Only Oprah could make this choice and produced an immediate impact. Only Oprah could immediately make the Internet a viable platform for modern day broadcasting.

Opportunity lost.

Make Politics Less Like The Prom

New rule: If a politician is speaking from a podium he/she may thank no more than two people.

obama-queen.jpgI just watched President and Mrs. Obama walk into Buckingham Palace for an audience with the Queen. With all due respect your highness, waste of time.

The older I get and the more I see of our complex world the more I realize we spend much-too-much time on pomp and circumstance. Too much effort is spent by governmental leaders doing meaningless crap.

New rule: If a politician is speaking from a podium he/she may thank no more than two people. Even the Oscars have figured out we don’t need to/want to all those damn names. The person running the PA should have some ‘play-off’ music cued up. We all know it’s just butt kissing anyway.

Unless someone convinces me otherwise we can do without military bands too. As a trade-off U-2 and Bruce Springsteen will be disarmed. Let’s throw in Ted Nugent for good measure.

I feel this way about inaugural balls and political conventions too. I feel this way about most meetings out of politics. Many people feel process equals progress–it does not. My experience with meetings has not made me a believer.

In the past I have daydreamed of being a congressman (for some reason it’s Representative Fox, not Senator Fox). My district’s seat is safely held by the well loved Rosa DeLauro, so this is just a daydream–no more. Every time I think about it I also think about all the traditions which are kept that a pol must endure. Waste of time. My blood boils.

Who are these dozens on minions standing behind Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi when they speak (or John Boehner and his posse). Don’t they have something better to do?

Political life needs to be less like the prom.

We’re Watching The Oscars

We saw a lot of movies this year. My most spoken line to Helaine is “Who is that?”

We are watching the Oscars. Yeah, I know.

We saw a lot of movies this year. It makes no difference. My most spoken line to Helaine is “Who is that?”

Hugh Jackman is very likable. Very talented. He disappeared in the second half of the show.

Heath Ledger’s family is walking up to accept his Oscar. “They couldn’t have gotten better seats,” asked Helaine?

Ben Stiller–funny as Joaquin Phoenix. I am surprised that single appearance on Letterman was considered enough of a universal experience to use it.

I miss Billy Crystal.

I miss Jon Stewart.

Sorry Dave.

Jerry Lewis looked frail and in pain.

Whenever anyone says something good about Slumdog Millionaire (a movie we both enjoyed) I am fearful people will go without knowing how violent and depraved some parts are. And, by the way, why is that movie now being heavily promoted with the totally meaningless credit roll dance scene? It isn’t really part of the movie.

Oh Jennifer Aniston. Helaine says Jennifer Aniston has too much personal baggage for me. Not quite an unbiased view, is it?

You don’t want to know how much time you can save by watching the Oscars on a DVR five days after the fact.

Watching The Oscars

Overheard moments ago at the Fox house –

Geoff: “Is it me, or are the Oscars dragging this year?”

Helaine: “Every year.”

We’re still watching, but they’re making it very difficult.

Free Stuff To The Wrong People

Usually, when I wake up, the first thing I do is turn on the TV. The news channels are adjacent to each other on the cable, so I pop between 59 and 63 for a few minutes to see if anything is going on.

Hint: The words “BREAKING NEWS” on the screen do not necessarily mean there is breaking news.

Today, as I got to Channel 60 (CNBC), I caught a man who I believe is the president of the company that makes Ugg boots. Uggs were in, then out, now in again.

This is way out of my expertise. I had to look up how Ugg was spelled before I wrote this.

As it turns out (and this has been confirmed by Steffie, with a post graduate level education in footwear) Ugg boots became popular because of this photo. In case you’re not clicking, it’s Pamela Anderson on the beach in a skin tight red bathing suit, wearing Ugg boots.

Hey – come back. It’s only a photo. OK – I’ll wait.

The guy from Ugg admitted they give their product to celebs. Tonight at dinner, Steffie expanded on that.

If I’m reading our conversation correctly, once you’ve made it in Hollywood, purchases of any kind of apparel are unnecessary. Clothes come to you for free!

This must seem reasonable in a world where goody bags, worth tens of thousands of dollars, are given out at the Oscars and Emmys. Stop it. It’s not. You’re moochers.

These people are already rich. Why must the rich continue to be on the dole? In football these actions, the well to do accepting gratuities, would draw a flag for piling on.

I have similar experiences and they make me uncomfortable at best. Mine concern food, not clothing.

If you’re reading this from outside Connecticut, a little background is in order. I have been on TV here every night for over 20 years. In my little world, I am known. When you’re known, people tend to be nice.

Tonight, Helaine, Stef and I went to dinner together. Halfway through the meal the manager came to the table with a beautiful platter – compliments of the house. This happened at our last family dinner too.

I try and be gracious. After all, these people are only trying to be nice. How can that be a fault? Still, I try and explain, they shouldn’t do this… at least not for me.

In some cases, where a restaurateur wanted to comp my meal or greatly reduce the cost, I’ve told them that’s the best way to keep me from coming back! I mean that. There are nice places I no longer eat at.

Afterward, Helaine and I always have the same discussion. Where were these people when we were struggling financially? Right now, it’s my good fortune to make enough to pay my own way.

Maybe I’m the one who’s naive? Maybe Pam Anderson and Paris Hilton and dozens of other celebs are right?

I am honored that people think enough of me to make this offer. But that’s as far as it should go. And I don’t make a fraction of what these ‘real’ celebrities make.

They should just be ashamed of themselves.

Blogger’s addendum: When food has already been prepared and sent to my table, I do not send it back. In this uncomfortable situation, that would be rude. I try and make sure it won’t happen again without hurting anyone’s feelings.

Jon Stewart On The Oscars

My friend Farrell has already written me four or five times on this subject. The last time, attaching an article, he wrote the single word, “Ouch!”

Jon Stewart was a major disappointment at the Oscars.

I guess the good news is, he was a disappointment because he’s normally so good. The bad news is, for many people, this is their introduction – and possibly their final impression.

Tom Shales was brutal in today’s Washington Post – but Shales specializes in being brutal&#185.

It’s hard to believe that professional entertainers could have put together a show less entertaining than this year’s Oscars, hosted with a smug humorlessness by comic Jon Stewart, a sad and pale shadow of great hosts gone by.

I wonder what’s going through Stewart’s mind today? Is he having second thoughts about he approached the broadcast? Has he just tossed it off and moved back to his ‘real’ life?

&#185 – After I put this online, Farrell called and questioned my characterization of Shales.

Shales does not specialize in being brutal. He writes better than anyone on the subject of television period. He’s honest, frank. Likes TV and when he sees something good, he praises it. When he sees something bad, he’ll write and say so. And you can quote me, WeatherBoy&#153!

Continue reading “Jon Stewart On The Oscars”

The Oscars

All week long I watched as Matt Drudge tried his best to stir up controversy with this year’s Oscar host, Chris Rock. Even after Rock opened the show, getting a standing ovation (sort of shooting Drudge’s concerns in the foot) and then asking the audience to put their asses in their seats, Drudge felt compelled to rail again. The show was still in progress and he was going off on Rock!

The must be some sort of Drudge grudge at work here.

I’m a big Chris Rock fan and I thought his opening monologue was great. OK, maybe he hit Jude Law a little hard, but the rest was really funny and I laughed aloud though I was watching in a room by myself. Of course the very stuff I liked was creamed in USA Today and lambasted last night by one of my co-workers, who was not favorably impressed.

The rest of the show was watched by me in ‘collapsed’ form off the DVR.

It was a fairly lackluster telecast. I was disappointed there wasn’t more of Rock in his other appearances during the evening. He needed to do more than hit and run. There needed to be one or two more extended pieces with him. That being said, I hear the ratings were very, very good. So, obviously, I’m not as good a judge as I’d like to be.

I was touched by the acceptance speeches of Morgan Freeman, Hillary Swank (“I’m just a girl from a trailer park who had a dream”) and Jamie Foxx. Then, this morning on CNN Headline News, I heard someone say Foxx had given the virtually same acceptance speech at two other awards shows. That’s not right.

Winner of the “David Niven Funniest Ad Lib Award” went to Jeremy Irons. Chris Rock introduced him, as “comedy superstar,” to which Irons replied, “It’s so good to be recognized at last.”

Then, as he was delivering his nominations, a sound… something like a gunshot, rang out. Without missing a beat, Irons said, “I hope they missed.” His timing was perfect.

Last night’s taped pieces, including the Johnny Carson tribute and annual “death medley,’ weren’t as good as I wanted, or had come to expect from the Oscars. Whoopie Goldberg was used in the Carson package, but why not Billy Crystal and Steve Martin, two recent hosts who had a lot of contact with Johnny.

I was also stunned that “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” won an Oscar. As I had written last April, it was one of the worst movies I had ever seen. What were they thinking when they made it and voted on it?

What strikes me as most interesting as bout the show was the rise in the ratings this year even on a night where few movies produced any kind of passionate following.

I wonder if Billy Crystal will be back next year?

Seventeen Years Ago Today

Steffie was born 17 years ago today. I remember Helaine telling me to come right home after the newscast. She knew the time was right.

Earlier in the day Helaine had gotten out of the house as the exterminator did his thing. She stooped in our tiny front yard in Branford, planting impatiens. I couldn’t figure out how she was doing it. I still can’t

Now, with me home, she was getting ready to call the obstetrician. He listened to her signs and told her, “not yet.” We turned on the TV.

I’m not sure if every program on “Nick at Nite” that night was the Mary Tyler Moore Show, but it seemed that way. We sat and watched and wondered. Even if Helaine would have seen a foot sticking out of her, she wouldn’t have called the doctor back. Luckily, she didn’t have to.

Somewhere in the middle of the night the phone rang. It was the doctor. Go to the hospital – they’ll be waiting.

Helaine was having moderately intense contractions by this time (who am I to say they’re moderate – let’s face it, if guys had contractions, we’d just pass out on the spot). Branford was deserted, as was I-95 and Route 34. I ran the only red light I hit… not because we had to, but because my wife was having a baby. It was my right to do as I wished on the road.

I’m not going to go into details about what happened when we got to the hospital. That’s not because it was gory or bad, but because Helaine has worked it into a stand-up comedy routine worthy of 6 minutes on Letterman. Least it to say, Helaine feels the receptionist was more interested in my celebrity than her pregnancy.

Labor was not easy for Helaine. I believe Steffie was auditioning for Cirque du Soleil in there – twisting and turning and getting caught up in her own umbilical cord. It was very scary as doctors and nurses scurried around and prepared Helaine for the emergency C-section they never had to perform.

It wasn’t until mid afternoon that Steffie thought enough was enough, and out she came. She was, and still is beautiful. She was, and still is our baby. This, of course, is a bone of contention between father and daughter.

I know it’s difficult for her to understand, at age 17 when it seems she should be a grown-up, but we can still close our eyes and see her wrapped up tight with the little stocking hat (which we still have). I can feel her in my arms as the nurse handed her to me and our feelings of joy and relief that she had ten fingers, ten toes and all the standard equipment.

The photo, the one with me holding Steffie just a few minutes after her birth, is one of my proudest possessions. Of course Helaine did all the hard work, but I get some credit too.

So today is Steffie’s day. I just hope she’ll take a cue from the Oscars and Emmys and thank the people behind the scenes who made it all possible.

It’s the Artsy Me

My job affords me a lot of interesting opportunities. I’ve just been invited to host the Asbury Short Film Festival program in New London.

This is a night of films you never hear of, except on the night of the Oscars. They’re short films, experimental films, films with no possible chance of profitability. It sound intriguing.

I had two concerns. First, this is a moneymaking organization (though the films themselves aren’t). Normally, I only appear for charities or service organizations. I thought I’d make an exception because it is such an out of the ordinary event – something you seldom see in SE Connecticut.

My second worry is content. I’d hate for someone to show up because they saw my name, thought it was fine, and then were shocked by the movies. I looked at what I was promised was the most ‘racy’ of the films. It was very funny, though certainly not for kids.

So, I look forward to seeing the films in New London. Even if I don’t see you there, I’ll let you know my opinion of what was on the screen.

Billy Crystal – King of Comedy

Though I worked tonight, I made sure to stay home long enough between shows to see Billy Crystal open the Oscars. Now, after work, I’m watching it again.

Billy Crystal is the King of Comedy. He has an amazing presence and comic sense. The fact that he doesn’t do the Academy Awards in consecutive years seems to only make him better, as in “absence makes the heart grow fonder.”

I noticed tonight that Billy was getting rim shots during jokes on his opening performance.

Meanwhile, I really did look forward (for weeks) to his opening movie and song. They were worth waiting for… and re-watching.