Ben Stein - TVNewser

Sam Donaldson on Co-Anchor ‘Jealousies’ and Why ‘The News Business Has Moved On’

Gail Shister — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 09:29:24 +0000

There is no trick involved in tonight’s Halloween treat for Boomer news junkies — Sam Donaldson and Cokie Roberts really are co-anchors again.

The hosts of ABC’s ‘This Week’ from 1996 to ’02, Donaldson and Roberts have reunited to front ‘Primary Issues,’ a four-part election series that launches tonight at 9pmET on RLTV. It continues each night through Thursday.

Donaldson and Roberts will host from Washington, with business journalist Consuelo Mack in New York and former ‘Today’ regular John Palmer in the field. Ben Stein will provide commentary.

Donaldson, 77, who owns a ranch in New Mexico, says it was easy to get back in the saddle with Roberts, 67.

“Cokie and I have a mutual respect,” he tells TVNewser. “One of the problems with co-anchors is that jealousies sometimes show up on the air. I can’t deny that I’ve had some of that in the past, but never with Cokie. We never had a dispute. We shared everything.”

A 42-year ABC veteran, Donaldson works mostly in the radio division. He just re-upped with

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Sam Donaldson, Cokie Roberts and John Palmer to Host New Political Program… On RLTV

Alex Weprin — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 10:45:20 +0000

RLTV (formerly Retirement Living TV) has picked up a political news and commentary program–”Primary Issues”– to be hosted by former ABC News journalists Sam Donaldson and Cokie Roberts, as well as former NBC News correspondent John Palmer — who joined RLTV in 2006 — and PBS host Consuelo Mack. Fox News Channel regular Ben Stein will contribute regular commentary pieces to the program, which will debut Monday at 9pmET and run through November 3.

More information, after the jump.

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Remembering John Hughes

Chris Ariens — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 10:26:58 +0000

When the news of the death of writer and director John Hughes broke yesterday, anyone who was born between, say, 1967 and 1973 (Update: my younger colleagues are correcting me with a cut-off date of 1984) paused to reflect on his body of work, and what his movies, including the trio of suburban teen-angst hits “Sixteen Candles,” “The Breakfast Club” and “Pretty in Pink,” meant to them.

As the “Good Morning America” story on Hughes put it: “John Hughes didn’t just direct movies. He directed a generation.”

One of the most memorable lines from one of Hughes’ most oft-quoted films, “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” was delivered by a man who is now a cable news regular. Ben Stein, who yesterday told FBN’s Neil Cavuto, Hughes “was a wonderful man. A genius. A poet:”

Watch the latest business video at FOXBusiness.com

> More: Vote for your favorite Hughes movie over at FishbowlDC…

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Ben Stein With The Final Word on Cramer/Stewart

Chris Ariens — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 22:42:56 +0000

TV news bulwark Ben Stein is sticking up for his “longtime friend Jim Cramer of CNBC” in what may be (but probably won’t be) the last word on Cramer/Stewart. Stein’s column in Sunday’s NYTimes ends with:

I DON’T blame Mr. Cramer for trying to act as if he knows the future. That’s his gig. But the most that economic seers can do is apply broad, generally acceptable principles to current situations and try to go from there. When I stray far from that, I hope that thoughtful readers will call me to account.

Life is deeply, terrifyingly uncertain. I applaud a comedy guy from Comedy Central for calling us all to account.

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Jenna Lee Looks To Avoid “Money Honey”-Like Nickname

SteveK — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 17:29:21 +0000

Ben Stein once creepily referred to her as “ultrayoung and cute.” EXTRA thinks she’s one of “America’s Most Eligible.”

But FBN’s Jenna Lee wants to be known for one thing — her work. She tells Chuck Barney of the Contra Costa Times in a profile today, “It does take away from the content. But that only makes me work harder. Going into a story, I feel like I have to be 200 to 300 percent prepared in order to offset that kind of branding.”

Lee has been with FBN since it began, now more than a year ago. “It’s hard to believe it has been a year already,” she said. “I remember on my first day, there were cement floors and wires hanging from the ceiling. It has been a remarkable experience to be involved with something from the ground up.”

• FBN anchor Liz Claman is profiled in the Boston Herald.

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Joshi: “No Such Thing As Fluffy Business News”

SteveK — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 07:02:46 +0000

Fox Business Network correspondent Shibani Joshi is profiled in this month’s issue of Oklahoma Today, and the Oklahoma City native traces her path to the business network.

Joshi was hired from ABC News by FBN EVP Kevin Magee. “I hired Shibani because she impressed me by the fact that she didn’t want to be on TV as much as she wanted to be in business news journalism,” he said. “She comes to the table with very good skills at taking an issue and breaking it down so we can all understand it.”

Joshi was one of the FBN “Money Honey”‘s (obligatory Maria Bartiromo shout out) drooled over by Ben Stein in a recent Best Life Magazine article, and Joshi responds to Stein and others.

“It’s flattering but I try not to focus on that too much,” she says. “It distracts me from doing what I care about — bringing an intelligent and insightful perspective to the table. There is no such thing as fluffy business news.”

(image courtesy of Best Life Magazine)

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