Change in the Weather

The holidays are over and now the post-holiday blues are ready to set in - and this year (thanks to the writer's strike) there's not going to be much new TV to help pull one out of the funk.

But, we shall endeavor to persevere.

I've had several opinions over the last month, but not nearly enough time to post.

The most troubling development in TV (beyond the strike, which MAY just cripple broadcast TV for a long time) is Thursday's announcement that the Weather Channel is for sale.

The Weather Channel (TWC) and weather.com, up until now, have been fiercely independent. TWC isn't part of any massive vertically integrated congolmerate.

Yet.

The company most interested in TWC? Why, it's NBC/Universal.

Yep. The man who has ruined so much of so many cable and broadcast entities, Jeff Zucker, may be getting his hands on a channel that is uniquely positioned in the cable world.

In a time when Sci-Fi shows wrestling, and History explores UFOs ad nauseum, TWC has managed to pretty much cover THE WEATHER 24/7.

Two things could happen if NBCU gets TWC.

First, we could see program changes. Perhaps some weather related disaster films produced in Canada, TWC meteorologists doing forecasts for NFL Sunday night games, maybe a variety show featuring The Weather Girls or guest celebrity forecasts featuring the briefcase girls from DEAL OR NO DEAL.

Second, the hideous force-fed Green Week on NBCU channels will be aggressively expanded. You see, the company that controls NBCU is General Electric. It is GE's stated goal to promote the concept of global warming in order to promote compact fluorescent bulbs, along with other 'green' technologies that would not be adopted without mountains of propaganda.

Imagine the outcry if Exxon controlled NewsCorp.

Meanwhile, the FCC is going ahead with its plan to change the rules about cross ownership of TV stations and newspapers.

Soon we will be exposed only to the messages that GE, Disney, Coke, McDonald's and Rupert Murdoch want us to see.

None of this is good news.

Stay tuned.

Fox News Gets an F

OK, I'm a conservative. I admit it. I'm not ashamed of it.

I listen to Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly and Glenn Beck.

I get most of my news online, though I do enjoy SPECIAL REPORT WITH BRIT HUME on Fox News. I check in on Brit's 'Grapevine' segment and the roundtable discussion every day that my schedule allows.

I believe for the most part, Fox News follows it's motto of "We report, you decide." fairly faithfully. Their dominance in the 24 hours news market is certainly something the Suits at other cable news channels salivate over.

Last week, FNC made a rather serious blunder with the premiere of THE 1/2 HOUR NEWS HOUR, a conservative DAILY SHOW knockoff.

I haven't seen the show - but I did peek at a couple of minutes of it online.

It ain't funny. And while that's a problem all its own, my beef is simply this: it's on the wrong channel.

Irreverent commentary by the host of a discussion program is one thing. But a 30 minute comedy show that skewers one side of the aisle 100% of the time has no business on a 'fair and balanced' news network.

If Rupert Murdock feels a need to air a program like this, he needs to clear a time slot on FX and let FNC do more reporting so I can do more deciding.

At least that's the way I see it.....