Unclear on the Concept: - FishbowlLA

LAT In 90 Seconds

Greg — Thu, 15 May 2008 12:59:57 +0000

Unclear on the Concept: A note to the latimes.com headline writers. You can’t say “Spoiler Alert” and then follow that up with a colon and the actual spoiler. That’s not an alert. That’s a headline that tells you exactly what’s going to happen on American Idol before you’ve had a chance to watch it. Sheesh.

New Deal Catapults CBS To One Of The Top 10 Internet Companies: CBS Corp. agreed to buy CNET Networks Inc., the Internet news and entertainment company, for $11.50 per share, or about $1.8-billion in cash.

This Never Woulda Happened On Friendster: A federal grand jury in L.A. indicted a 49-year-old woman of fraudulently using a MySpace account to “cyber-bully” a Missouri teenager “who later hanged herself because she believed she was being rejected by a 16-year-old boy she met on the social networking website.” Yeah. Try living with that.

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LAT In 90 Seconds

Greg — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 07:00:00 +0000

Re-Run: You’ve read it everywhere else already, but here’s the paper of record’s straight-news take on show runners throwing their weight behind the WGA strike.

Reagan’s Misplaced Belt Buckles: The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library is missing about 80,000 artifacts. If you want to make a distasteful Alzheimer’s joke, go right ahead. We won’t stop you. You’ll burn in hell, but we won’t stop you.

Unclear On The Concept: The LAT’s message boards are a far more fun read than the paper. Take, for instance, this misinformed rant from a guy named John:

“As is evident by now, the wga does not have the public on its side and there’s no outcry among the viewing public for them to get back to work. By and large, apart from a few shows, people don’t miss network tv, which is becoming increasingly irrelevant. Growth is now in cable, dvd’s the web etc. In addition, these writers are wealthy, pampered people living in a part of the country that the rest of us have little in common with. And one unanswered question: Can’t the late night talk show hosts, who are supposed to be commedians, WRITE THEIR OWN MATERIAL FOR A COUPLE OF DAYS! Jeez.”

Jeez, indeed. Aren’t Midwesterners cute?

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LAT in 90 Seconds

Greg — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 09:00:42 +0000

Stories That Make Reporters Happy: We can practically hear Richard Winton’s British giggles of glee while he was writing this piece about drug dealers who accidentally called 911. Particularly at the kicker: “It was the second bizarre crime in Pomona in recent days. Last week, a man who allegedly used a chain and pickup truck to yank a 1,500-pound automated teller machine from the Pomona Ranch Market was foiled in his escape attempt when his prosthetic leg fell off.”

Deal or No Deal … It Doesn’t Much Matter: NBC sees it’s lowest weekly audience in Nielsen history.

Unclear on the Concept: Randy Lewis criticizes American Idol for lacking depth. Next week he takes a giraffe to task for failing at limbo.

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LAT in 90 Seconds

Greg — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 08:40:33 +0000

Unclear on the Concept: Girls Gone Wild slimepig Joe Francis is sentenced to jail. But even when he’s getting locked up, he can’t help but pimp his brand: “This judge has gone as far as to call me the devil and an evildoer,” he said. “It is a case of a judge gone wild.” In response, the judge flashed Francis his manboobs.

Long Gone John … is gone.

An Actor For President? Seems like every Republican running for office tries to remake himself in Regan’s image. So, it’s only fitting that actor/U.S. Senator Fred Thompson is thinking about running.

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