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For Fox's Rivals, American Idol Remains a 'Schoolyard Bully' (NYT)
Listening to the Fox network's competitors describe what American Idol has done to the television landscape is not unlike listening to a group of quavering readers offer a synopsis of a Stephen King novel: Once a year an unrelenting monster invades a town, and all the townspeople, cowed by years of being crushed under its massive claws, have to pay it fealty or run off and hide until it goes back into a six-month hibernation. Kelly Kahl, chief scheduler for CBS, summed up the Idol factor this way: "This is a big monolith sitting out there. It's the ultimate schoolyard bully."

ABC Commits to Kimmel (B&C)
ABC and Jimmy Kimmel are close to a multi-year extension that would keep ABC's late-night franchise in place beyond the 2009 season. Significantly, that's when NBC's Conan O'Brien is scheduled to supplant Jay Leno, a move sure to send tremors throughout the late-night schedule. The pending deal indicates that ABC is solidifying its bet on Kimmel, whose ratings are up double digits in both adults 18-49 (17%) and total viewers (13%) season-to-date.

Obamas Can 'Sell The Heck Out Of A Magazine' (Politico)
Beware, Brangelina. Barchelle has your number. The Obamas (Barack + Michelle) steamed up newsstands recently as Ebony's "hottest couple" in 2007 — gracing the cover of the magazine's February issue. And if recent sales are any indication, Barack can do more than draft legislation and make campaign stump speeches. He (and his wife) can sell the heck out of a magazine. Journal-isms: How journalists are covering Obama in South Carolina.

Nike Wins Swoosh Injunction (Guardian)
Nike has won a legal injunction against an ad campaign by a rival sports brand that subverts its famous "swoosh" logo and criticises its sponsorship strategy. Nike pursued legal action against Skins, the Australian high-performance apparel company, through the high court in London, claiming the use of the logo was copyright infringement.

Why Advertisers Keep Cozying Up to Oscar (AdAge)
The Oscars broadcast — long regarded as the Super Bowl for women — is today proving more popular with many marketers than the football-focused TV phenom, even for some of those looking to cross the gender divide. At $1.7 million a spot, it's a less expensive buy — saving CMOs those glares from the procurement department — for a less cluttered ad environment.

Airbrushing Burt (WWD)
Amid the teasing bikini shots, readers of Sports Illustrated's swimsuit issue this year were faced with another, different titillating image: Burt Reynolds, spread in naked, hirsute glory across a bear rug. The iconic image first appeared as a centerfold in Cosmopolitan in 1972 and was revived for a DirecTV ad. But the TV company and its ad agency airbrushed out the cigarette that originally dangled from Reynolds' lips as well as a nearby ashtray. "We were just trying to be politically correct and not promote smoking," said Michael Kadin, group creative director of Deutsch Los Angeles, which created the ad.

Newspapers' Online Video: Better Than TV News? (New York)
Kurt Andersen: At their best, the newspapers' online videos are, minute for minute, superior to TV news. As I write, CNN is airing a live press conference by Anna Nicole Smith's lawyer and a loop of Smith vamping, while a significant breaking news story — the U.S. claim that Muqtada al-Sadr has left Iraq for Iran — is running in tiny type across the bottom of the screen. Given the dumb-and-dumber choices, I can easily imagine newspapers' Web-video portals becoming the TV-journalism destinations of choice for smart people.

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