Once an LA Times reporter, Variety TV critic Brian Lowry shares an Op Ed today about the sad synergy lessons imparted by the 2000 union of Tribune Co. and Times Mirror.

Although Lowry admits that Sam Zell and corporate mismanagement have had a lot to do with the disappointing results, he also suggests that there has always been a fundamental difference in the “selection, tone and style” of stories pursued by major daily newspapers and local TV stations. He also argues that local TV has gone in an even fluffier direction since the Tribune deal was done, helping lead him to a surprising shift:

Perhaps that’s why even some of us who railed against concentrated media ownership in the past derive little terror or righteous indignation from the prospect of easing the aforementioned [FCC] guidelines. In fact, given the financial strains local print and broadcasting face, it seems like a reasonable attempt to ensure their viability–and frankly might come as too little, too late.

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The Twitter account for Quentin Tarantino‘s next movie threw out a casual query this afternoon, asking for possible Django Unchained taglines. Faster than you can type “Duck, You Sucker!”, the first round of suggestions is in.

The winner at this early stage is venerable Hollywood Reporter journo Gregg Kilday. His proposed tagline is, “Makes Mandingo Look Like Uncle F*cking Tom.”

Second prize for Round One goes to Jim Vejoda of IGN, thanks to “Django: It’s Belgian Gypsy for Bad Muthaf****r.”

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Former Survivor producer Bruce Beresford-Redman is dropping his extradition order to Mexico in the death of his wife, Monica Beresford-Redman.

“He feels he is not going to prevail on appeal and he’d like to get moving on proving his innocence,” said Beresford-Redman’s attorney Richard Hirsch.

The 40-year-old is currently being held in a Los Angeles federal prison and could be sent to Mexico within 60 days, according to The Associated Press.

The couple went to Cancun last year in order to save their marriage when the 42-year-old Monica Beresford-Redman was found dead in a sewer cistern.

If convicted of aggravated homicide in Mexico, Beresford-Redman faces up to 30 years in prison.

Looking for a new way to kill some time on the Los Angeles Times website?

The newspaper has signed a deal with Arkadium Games, providing more than two dozen games at latimes.com/games.

The LAT is hoping to boost their advertising revenue while their 17 million unique visitors waste time at work and home playing Sparks, Monkey Gems and Mahjongg.

“Given the ever-rising popularity of casual games, adding Arkadium’s titles allows us to further engage latimes.com’s users and entice previously untapped gaming enthusiasts to visit our site throughout the day,” Jennifer Collins, the Times’ vice president for digital revenue products, said in a statement. “We are also creating a previously unavailable opportunity for our advertisers to reach Southern California’s casual gaming audience and in the process establish another digital monetization platform.”

Sunday’s Chicago Bulls vs. Los Angeles Lakers game on ABC scored a 6.5 overnight rating, the third highest-rated NBA regular season game on the network.

Locally, the season-opening 88-87 loss averaged a 12.1 metered market rating, ABC’s fourth highest-rated NBA regular season game in the market.

The Lakers have now been a part of the three highest-rated NBA regular season games on ABC. In 2004, Lakers-Heat earned a 7.9 rating and in 2010, Lakers-Heat earned a 7.3 rating.

MovieCityNews.com maestro David Poland has never been one to mince words. In a December 26 Op Ed, he decries “the bastardization of journalism” that is the coverage of this year’s purported domestic theatrical box office slump and berates the “profoundly undereducated media group covering the film beat.”

He argues that because the studios do not report ancillary revenues the way they do weekly theatrical box office, a film’s full earning curve is rarely documented or even properly understood. Poland also points out that from April through September of 2011, domestic grosses for Hollywood were actually up. Writes Poland:

Would it surprise you, amidst all this slump talk, that two of the six Hollywood majors were up for this year, and a third will end up about even?…

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Former Saturday Night Live writer Joe Bodolai was found dead at the Re-Tan Hotel in Hollywood of an apparent suicide, as first reported by TMZ.

The 63-year-old was found by the cleaning crew and a bottle of antifreeze and Gatorade were discovered in the hotel room, according to Los Angeles County Coroner’s Chief of Operations Craig Harvey.

Prior to Christmas, Bodolai wrote an entry on his blog entitled, “If This Were Your Last Day Alive, What Would You Do?”

Bodolai co-wrote the first draft of Wayne’s World with actor Mike Myers and was a producer on The Kids in the Hall.

He’s been in control of the San Diego Union-Tribune for less than a month. But Douglas Manchester apparently likes it so much, he’s looking to buy another SoCal paper. Voice of San Diego reports Manchester is sizing up the North County Times, a daily which covers Del Mar to Riverside County.

From VoSD:

Lee Enterprises, the Times’ parent company, filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this month, struggling under the weight of nearly $1 billion in debt.

Manchester said he hasn’t made an offer for the paper, but has discussed how it could allow the Union-Tribune to expand.

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Heading into the Christmas holiday, Voice of America reporter Tara Hadavi found the perfect subject for an uplifting journalist profile—31-year-old ESPNLA.com writer Arash Markazi.

The Iranian-American sports reporter (pictured) has beaten cancer on two separate occasions, coming out of his arduous recoveries with a positive outlook on life. In the article and accompanying video piece, Markazi explains how he came to know about his condition:

“I had done a story about a basketball player that had Hodgkin’s. I didn’t even know what it was. I had to do research. The parents were crying and I said, ‘this is exactly why I got into sports journalism so I wouldn’t have to cover stories like this.’ I didn’t want to talk about kids getting cancer or anything like that. And then lo and behold, like a year later I get the same kind of cancer.”

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Disgraced journalist Stephen Glass, who was the subject of the 2003 film Shattered Glass, is back in the news. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that Glass, who fabricated more than 40 stories between 1996 and 1998, is now working as a clerk at a Beverly Hills law firm, and is attempting to get the state of California to approve his attorney’s license. He passed the bar in 2007 but was turned down due to doubts about his ethics. Glass appealed his denial and found a host of character witnesses to testify to his redemption. Even Glass’ former New Republic editor Martin Peretz went to bat for him in court.

From the Chronicle:

Glass appealed to the independent State Bar Court, which ruled 2-1 in his favor in July. The majority found “overwhelming evidence of Glass’ reform and rehabilitation” since 1998 and noted he had impressive character references from 22 witnesses, including two judges who had employed him, two psychiatrists who treated him, and the former editor in chief of the New Republic, where most of the fabricated articles appeared.

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