Tributes Pour in for Tim Russert
The floodgates opened just moments after Tom Brokaw took to the air Friday afternoon to inform the TV-watching nation that his longtime friend and NBC colleague Tim Russert had died suddenly at the age of 58.
Out poured an endless number of heartfelt, albeit stunned, tributes from fellow journalists, network executives and, of course, the politicians whom Russert made it his business to fire the tough questions atall of whom he could also count as friends. (Well, if they weren’t all his friends, at the very least he had their deepest respect.)
Here’s a sampling:
Barack Obama: “I’ve known Tim Russert since I first spoke at the convention in 2004. He’s somebody who, over time, I came to consider not only a journalist but a friend. There wasn’t a better interviewer in TV, not a more thoughtful analyst of our politics, and he was also one of the finest men I knew.”
John McCain: “I am very saddened by Tim Russert’s sudden death. Cindy and I extend our thoughts and prayers to the Russert family as they cope with this shocking loss and remember the life and legacy of a loving father, husband and the preeminent political journalist of his generation.”
Bill and Hillary Clinton: “We were stunned and deeply saddened to hear of the passing today of Tim Russert…Always true to his proud Buffalo roots, Tim had a love of public service and a dedication to journalism that rightfully earned him the respect and admiration of not only his colleagues but also those of us who had the privilege to go toe to toe with him.”
George W. Bush: “Laura and I are deeply saddened by the sudden passing of Tim Russert. Those of us who knew and worked with Tim, his many friends, and the millions of Americans who loyally followed his career on the air will all miss him. As the longest-serving host of the longest-running program in the history of television, he was an institution in both news and politics for more than two decades.”
Arnold Schwarzenegger: “Tim was an American icon in the world of political journalism who could relate to everybody. His insightful commentary and tough but fair interviews helped millions of Americans better understand our political system…But Tim was not only one of the top journalists of his generation; he was a close friend, a warm and generous person and a wonderful family man.”
Maria Shriver: “Tim Russert was one of my closest friends and he was like a brother to me. He was not only a professional confidant but a personal one. He was always the first person to call me whenever anything happened with my family. And he always called me just to check in and see how I was doing and to encourage me.”
Diane Sawyer: “No one could see Tim in a room and not smile. He brought so much joy and curiosity and sheer vitality to all our lives. As a journalist, he would set out like a great explorer. You couldn’t wait to see what he discovered every day in the new world. He was a defining American newsman.”
Dan Rather: Tim had become an important part of our political process. He will be especially missed in this historic presidential election year. Tim Russert was a beacon of quality journalism. At a time when quality journalism is in increasingly short supply, Tim Russert was a leader for what is best in American journalism. He was tough but fair, pulled no punches, played no favorites. As an interviewer, he had few, if any, peers.
Here’s a clip of Russert on the other side of the table for a change, discussing his most recent book, Wisdom of Our Fathers, on The Daily Show:
Dog the Bounty Hunter gets a new “leash” on life
Dog the Bounty Hunter will be finding its way back to the A&E network. The network executives who are his masters have decided to give Duane “Dog” Chapman a second chance after he was caught on tape saying racial slurs about one of his son’s girlfriends. A&E spokeman Michael Feeney even said that he believed Chapman wasn’t a racist.
The show involves Chapman and his crew (which includes his fifth wife Beth and some of his kids) chasing down bail jumpers in Hawaii and other states. He previously had gotten in trouble with the Mexican government for his actions (bounty hunting is illegal in that country).
When I think of Dog the Bounty Hunter, I tend to think of the satire done on an episode of South Park when Cartman played Dog (loved it when Cartman parodied the philosophical rhetoric of Chapman which he does while taking prisoners to jail). Reruns will begin on A&E on June 25th with original episodes starting a few weeks later.
Things I Hate About TV: The Crossover
vspace="4" border="1" />Dear television viewer:
In an effort to further drain you of all your energy, tonight’s episode of Extremely Popular TV Drama will
involve a cliffhanger to be resolved next week on an episode of That Other Extremely Popular TV Drama which
airs on a different night and time. We hope you enjoy.
Your friends, The Insane Network Executives.
Am I the only one who hates this? For whatever reason, it really bugs me when TV worlds collide. I just can’t deal
with the notion that, just maybe, Jack Bauer and Sydney Bristow work down the street from each other. Someone who works
on a much higher floor than me thinks this is great idea though. Joel
Festivus post from a few weeks ago, but I’ve got a whole rant in me.
It’s been going on for years though, and while I may be slightly young to recall all the instances, I think I can peg
enough to make my point. Law and Order did it relentlessly (well at least twice anyway I think) with
Homicide. So much so, that when Law and Order: Special Victims Unit premiered in 1999, Richard Belzer
was able to reprise his Homicide Det. John Munch and it made perfect sense. This just doesn’t seem right to me.
What if I just walked into my neighbor’s house and pretended to be their new son? I don’t think they’d be
like, "Because you’ve lived next door for so long this makes all the sense in the world!" See what I’m
saying?
But it didn’t stop there. Belzer also played Munch in episodes of The X-Files, Law and Order: Trial by
Jury, and that crappy UPN show The Beat. The only other actors to have played the same character on as
many series are George Wendt and John Ratzenberger who’ve played Norm and Cliff on Cheers, St.
Elsewhere, The Tortellis, Wings, Frasier and The Simpsons. I can’t take this
melting pot of merging shows and connecting storylines. My head hurts.
NBC seems to be the biggest culprit though. They’ve also pulled off crossovers with
returned to the show and more recently with Las Vegas and Crossing Jordan. Giving Jerry
O’Connell a spot on one show was bad enough. But as crossover poster boy Belzer demonstrated with his jumps to FOX
and UPN, networks aren’t boundaries for crossovers. David E. Kelley pulled off a crossover with his shows
connection between the ABC and FOX shows. In what may be one of the more logical examples of late, CSI: Miami
and CSI: NY connected a few months ago.
I’m sure I’m missing some, but I think I said what I wanted to say. It just seems weird to me when one show
suddenly has characters from another show in it. Good for publicity and as a sweeps stunt I suppose, but things like
that aren’t generally good. They’re just made to get your attention.
NBC renews Friday Night Lights with the help of DirecTV
Fans of the perpetually unwatched but much-loved NBC show Friday Night Lights have a reason to rejoice this morning: the show has been renewed for a third season, according to Nikki Finke.
NBC executives had been looking for a way to renew their low-rated show, mostly through cost-sharing deals with other networks. They finally found a partner: DirecTV. No details of the deal were given; all we know right now is that the satellite company and the Peacock folks will share the costs of producing the show and will both air the show across multiple platforms.
Give the NBC brass some credit: They knew how good FNL was and they went to great lengths to keep the show going. It’ll probably never get stellar ratings, but it’s doing well enough in the 18-to-34 and 18-to-49 demos to not be a total loss for the network.
Finke speculates in the article that the execs may have picked up FNL to counteract “airing crap like that remake of Knight Rider,” but I’m not so sure. Since when do network executives sacrifice money for the sake of quality?