Spike Lee - TVNewser

The Best Of ‘My First Big Break’ In 2012

Alex Weprin — Sat, 29 Dec 2012 11:23:13 +0000

Early this year mediabistroTV launched a brand new video series called “My First Big Break.” The premise was simple: sit down with big names in the media business, and have them explain what their first big break was. We spoke to a number of huge names, including Ken Burns, Spike Lee and Dan Rather. Below is a selection of some of the best “Breaks” we saw this year. And stay tuned for “My First Big Break: Christiane Amanpour” coming Wednesday. Enjoy.

The very first episode of the series featured “NBC Nightly News” anchor Brian Williams:

Fox News anchor Shepard Smith told us about his local news days:

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Spike Lee: My First Big Break

Alex Weprin — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 14:31:26 +0000

In the latest episode of mediabistroTV’s “My First Big Break,” we talk to legendary filmmaker Spike Lee.

While Lee is well-known for his movies, did you know that if it wasn’t for NBA superstar Michael Jordan and a pair of Nike Air Jordan sneakers, Lee–and Nike–might not be the icons they have become today? It all came down to a risky commercial shoot.

“So Michael Jordan could easily have said, ‘I can’t take a chance on this young gun, this young boy, just give me the reels of the top guys on Madison Avenue.’ But Michael Jordan didn’t do that,” the Red Hook Summer director recalls. “For some reason, he decided to give me a shot. And the commercial I did with Michael Jordan ended up being some of the greatest campaigns ever in the history of advertising and Nike took off.”

For more videos, check out our YouTube channel and follow us on Twitter: @mediabistroTV

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Wolf Shakes his Groove Thing at BET Party

Chris Ariens — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 12:50:10 +0000

According to Page Six:

CNN’s Wolf Blitzer busted his best moves on the dance floor at the BET Honors after-party in Washington, DC, on Saturday. The Wolfman was spotted dancing with wife Lynn Greenfield and schmoozing at the National Portrait Gallery fete with Spike Lee and Common. BET anchor T.J. Holmes chilled in the Hennessy Lounge, and, a spy says, Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin, “breezed through stopping for no one” and “left five minutes later.”

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NFL Network Airing Two CFL Games Per Week This Season

Marcus Vanderberg — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 14:36:06 +0000

The Canadian Football League and the NFL Network reached an agreement to broadcast two CFL games per week in the United States this season.

The NFL Network has the option to broadcast additional regular season games along with the CFL Playoffs and the Grey Cup championship game.

“This is very positive news for our CFL fans living in the United States,” said Michael Copeland, chief operating officer of the CFL. “And it’s a very positive development for our football operations as it will continue to expose our product to prospects across the U.S.”

The games will be produced by TSN. Last year, the NFL Network carried 14 CFL games. continued…

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Reggie Bush To Appear on Reality Show

Cam Martin — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 07:19:29 +0000

Reggie Bush is no stranger to reality television, having appeared on several shows starring former girlfriend Kim Kardashian. This time. however, the focus will be on Bush, who is making an appearance on a new CBS show called “Same Name,” which features celebrities switching places with people with the same name. Bush, a running back for the New Orleans Saints, is swapping lives with a construction worker in Danville, Illinois for a week this summer, so that the construction worker gets to experience the life of an NFL player during a lockout. Hopefully this won’t raise the odds that the construction worker gets arrested.

The experiment will air on CBS in July.

(Source: Los Angeles Times)

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MSNBC Enters Phase Two of ‘Lean Forward’

Alex Weprin — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 12:12:04 +0000

MSNBC is entering the second phase of its “Lean Forward” branding campaign, its first without former 8 PM host Keith Olbermann.

Director Spike Lee is returning to helm the new ads, along with a new director of photography: Matthew Libatique, best known for his work on the film “Black Swan.”

The new ads focus on Chris Matthews, Lawrence O’Donnell, Rachel Maddow and Ed Schultz, and are set at various locales across the country, like the Hoover Dam:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

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MSNBC’s Ed Schultz gets his own Spike Lee promos

Chris Ariens — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 09:49:35 +0000

Remember last summer when Ed Schultz yelled in the middle of the MSNBC newsroom, “I’m going to torch this [bleep]ing place” for not being included in election night promos?

Well, that was so six months ago.

Not only is Big Ed getting his own promos they’re going go be directed by Spike Lee. Schultz is heading to his hometown of Norfolk, VA today where he’ll tape some “Lean Forward” promos.

HamptonRoads.com reports Lee will, “showcase Schultz in a series of ads focusing on jobs, outsourcing and unions. The ads will be unscripted and shot like documentaries, an area for which Lee has also garnered acclaim.”

The promos will begin running next month.

> Earlier on TVNewser: The MediaBeat interview with Ed Schultz: “I’ve always had a philosophy of, I want to be the best employee in the building.”

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Former NBC Correspondent Tiki Barber Returning To The NFL

Marcus Vanderberg — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 15:35:51 +0000

Former NBC correspondent Tiki Barber is coming out of retirement and returning to the NFL for the 2011 season.

Barber retired in 2007 after 10 seasons with the New York Giants. He walked away from football in order to pursue a career in television, where he was a correspondent for Today and Sunday Night Football.

According to his agent Mark Lepselter, they have informed the Giants of Barber’s intentions and that “there are interested parties.”

“After seeing my brother still have fun at our age, it reignited the fire,” Tiki Barber told FOXSports.com. “I’m really looking forward to the challenge of seeing if I can get back to the level of where I was. I started working out again recently. It kind of shocked myself. I still had a lot of the strength I had before. I’m really looking forward to making a return.” continued…

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Did the NFL Hurts its Negotiating Position?

Noah Davis — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 10:55:12 +0000

On Thursday, word leaked that ESPN would pay the NFL almost $2 billion per year for the television rights to Monday Night Football. Win, win, win, right?

Eh, maybe not. There’s that whole labor negotiation thing, and one of the major arguments coming out of the owners camp is that they aren’t making enough money. It gets harder to make that case when the Worldwide Leader hands over a 40-percent increase in fees.

“It’s a good news/bad news situation for the owners,” said one insider told the New York Post. “The owners are crying poor and it’s going to strengthen the Players Association’s stance that the owners aren’t as bad off as they say they are. “The owners are, in essence, demanding that the players take an 18-percent pay cut across the board. For them to turn around and get this [money], they definitely don’t come off looking good in this.”

The deal is good news for the players, who get 60 percent of the fees. But there are a lot of players and not a lot of owners. A lot of 40 percent is much more than a little of 60 percent. Bob Kraft can cry poor all he wants, but it will fall upon deaf ears.

Enjoy these playoffs, ladies and gentlemen. It’s going to be awhile before you see NFL uniforms again.

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Phil Griffin: ‘Lean Forward’ Campaign ‘Is Going to Define Us As MSNBC’

Alex Weprin — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 17:00:16 +0000

What exactly does it mean to “lean forward?” As MSNBC rolls out its new branding campaign, regular cable news viewers may be asking that very question.

When concveiving the tagline however, MSNBC executives decided to ask themselves a different question: what is MSNBC?

“We talked about all the attributes that make MSNBC what it is,” MSNBC preident Phil Griffin tells TVNewser. “It is active, it is positive, it is about making tomorrow better than today, a discussion about politics and the actions and passions of our time.”

Hence the first two commercials, which heavily promote the idea of progress, without mentioning any of MSNBC’s shows or hosts. MSNBC CMO Sharon Otterman says those two ads are mean to own “the idea of Lean Forward, the overarching brand of the network.”

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

The next six commercials will each focus on an MSNBC personality, with Joe Scarborough, Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann, Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O’Donnell each getting a close-up.

Even Ed Schultz, who allegedly threw a temper tantrum after not being included in last year’s election night promos, is getting featured, with his ad following him as he walks through New York City to the MSNBC studios. Despite the eventual focus on talent, the campaign is meant to be about branding the network, not the personalities that populate it.

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Spike Lee Directs Spots for MSNBC’s ‘Lean Forward’ Campaign

Molly Stark Dean — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 12:41:52 +0000

Spike Lee directs MSNBC’s new marketing campaign, branded: “Lean Forward.” The advertising campaign officially launches Monday and will be seen on MSNBC cable, msnbc.com and other NBCU platforms.

So what does it mean to “Lean Forward?”

“In its simplest form, it’s a tagline,” said MSNBC president Phil Griffin. “You will see it on-air, in promotions and in advertisements. In the broader sense, however, Lean Forward captures the spirit of everything we do and everything we believe. It’s about celebrating the best ideas, no matter where they come from; that tomorrow can, in fact, be better than today.”

The campaign, which will include MSNBC anchors, comes as MSNBC has topped CNN for four consecutive quarters in both A25-54 and Total Viewers.

To check out one of Spike Lee’s MSNBC joints continued…

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‘That’s the Way it Was: Remembering Walter Cronkite’ to Air Sunday on CBS

Chris Ariens — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 21:37:40 +0000

CBS will preempt 60 Minutes this Sunday for a special on the life of Walter Cronkite, who died earlier this evening in New York.

Some of the biggest names in politics, news and entertainment – including Pres. Barack Obama, CBS News colleagues Mike Wallace, Morley Safer and Don Hewitt, Katie Couric, George Clooney, Robin Williams and Spike Lee will share their own memories of the industry’s elder statesman as part of the special.

Susan Zirinsky, who once produced for Cronkite, is the executive producer of “That’s the Way it Was: Remembering Walter Cronkite.”

Click continued for more details…

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Dance Party at CNN Grill

SteveK — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 18:11:26 +0000

The CNN grill has been a hotbed of activity during the Democratic National Convention.

Jamie Foxx and Ashley Judd caused a stir when they stopped by last night, and Spike Lee took up an afternoon seat outside. Even non-CNN tvnewsers frequent the Grill — we’ve spotted CBS’ Jeff Greenfield multiple times.

And last night, around 1amET, CNN commentators Donna Brazile and Roland Martin started up their own dance party, courtesy of the Jackson 5. Click continued to see the action (and to see another CNN commentators reaction)…

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