Paula Froelich
May 2012
70 posts
The next worst reality show that just got picked up
Chardonnay fits of violence
Brides of NJ:
This dramatic docu-series is based in Bijou Bridal, a high-end full-service bridal store inNew Jersey run by two sisters and their Irish mother with a sharp tongue and short patience. One daughter, Joyce, is a type-A personality just like her mom and consistently puts business and personal pleasure over her own family. The younger daughter, Julie, is emotionally unstable and prone to Chardonnay influenced outbursts but needs to be taking more responsibility in running the shop as the family begins to franchise their business by opening stores in Pennsylvania and Hawaii.
The real problem with the #WHCD and political coverage
1. Politicians have become the new celebrities
2. Like celebrity coverage, political coverage has become fawning, facile and obsequious, so that the organization or reporter cn brag about their “connections” or who they had dinner with.
3. Back when I was at page six, if someone wanted to work there I would always ask, “are you friends with any celebrities? Do you want to be?” if the answer was in the affirmative, the candidate wouldn’t get the job because if they. Are your friend, or want them to be YOU CAN’T COVER THEM
4. There should be a THICK line, not a thin one, between a reporter and their subject.
5. Real questions aren’t being asked for fear of not getting another interview. I would rather have a tv show with no guests than ones with idiotic, pandering questions full of half truths.
Play
Im Obsessed With The Crouch Family: The Epitome of Elegance
I once spent a Christmas with the flu in Orange County - and after watching eight hours of TBN and the Crouches - went to the TBN Cathedral - where I was locked in, treated to a movie about Jesus and got to talk a walk through “old Jerusalem” … it was genius.
I always wanted to go their theme park, The Holy Land Experience, in Orlando - despite its dodgy tax returns. But now the gig might be up. the NY TImes is reporting a family split - and allegations of stealing (NO!) embezzling (WHAAA? NOT THE CROUCHES!) and their weird, yet separate lifestyle (Paul once paid $425K to a male lover in hush money).
read it all here - with a bowl of popcorn and some Tang. They make the Bakkers look like paupers.
@CNN salaries by the numbers - #Media FIASCO
Anderson Cooper- all in, $11 million, but with roughly $4mill coming from CNN
number of viewers: 522,000 TOTAL viewers
avg cost per viewer that CNN is paying: $21
Piers Morgan - $4 million
number of viewers: total viewers 567,000
avg cost per viewer: $7
Wolf Blitzer - $3 million
Total number of viewers: 548,000
avg cost per viewer for CNN: $5.47
John King -circa $2 million
total # of viewers: 435,000
avg cost per viewer for CNN: $4.59
Erin Burnett - circa $2 million
Total viewers: 409,000
avg cost per viewer for CNN: $4.89
Dear @CNN: Heres Some Helpful Hints
So today CNN finally got ripped a new one by the Huffington Post - and a softball rip by the NY Times - for being a comical shadow of it’s former self. It aint nothing we havent been saying for years but now that its in TWO national pubs they will pay attention. So, in that spirit, here we go:
Dear CNN,
I say all the below out of love and longing for what you used to be and what you could be. This time it’s free advice. Next time I’ll send you a bill.
1. The NEWS should be the stars.. not the “stars” whom you pay millions to for meager returns. They are more comet dust than stars. That $ should be taken from them - everyone given a nice basic AFTRA $250K salary - and the remainder used to do what you used to do best - place reporters all over the world and report on things! You have almost no Africa coverage (the continent, not the country), despite Al Quaeda setting up camp in the Sahara, nothing from South Asia, India or well, anywhere else.
2. Stop trying to be MSNBC. I get it =- there’s an election coming up. But THERE IS UNILATERAL EXHAUSTION WITH THIS CRAP. there’s also elections in France, germany, etc. This election is like Back to the Future 1980: with talk of gloria steinem, birth control, abortion, commies and Mitt Romney’s Reagan hair.
3. Fill the vacuum- nobody but al Jazeera and BBC are doing international news - and most people dont have access to them. When there is a gap, someone should fill it - and you used to do it so well. Americans want to know what else is going on in the world. Look at how the BBC covered Putin’s $1 billion house - hell yes, my Aunt Dee in Ohio wants to know about some corrupt jackhole, who is scuppering America’s plans at every turn, and has a billion dollar house!
4. Get creative.There are ways to cover stories that are already “dead” - stories like OWS - boring yes - but get somebody to look at their tax returns (it is tax season and they did collect hundreds of thousands of dollars)… Have somebody ride with the rebels in Mali, oh and our neighbor HONDURAS was just named the murder capital of the world and its a two hour flight away! people would watch this. They dont want to watch Anderson, wolf, and the other Deal or No Deal girls you got on blathering into infinity while talking to holograms and tweeting.
5. Your website is an embarrassment. If I wanted to know about Kim Kardashian - trust. I’ve heard it from 900 other places.
6. AMERICANS CANT UNDERSTAND A BRITISH ACCENT. Seriously. That is why few people with charming accents have ever gotten long lasting jobs on TV - because my family in Ohio and Kentucky dont understand them. And again - enough with Brits cheekily interviewing Celebs. we have too many of them.
7. get a few decent reporters who know how to find a story and set them loose. I can find five decent stories in Podunk Kentucky within an hour (that people would people would actually watch), so why cant you?
8. Stop hiring off of padded ivy league resumes and broadcasting schools. Get some real reporters who dont care if they have to travel with a hair, makeup and personal staff.
9. anchors are anchors. They are news readers. They stay behind a desk. Reporters go out in the field. You cant do both and still have the company make $.
10. You clearly think we in the flyover states are stupid. I would take your top execs, hand them $1000 cash and a KIA (and take their credit cards) and make them drive cross country for 2 weeks, meeting real people. Maybe then they’d realize we’re not stupid and dont take kindly to being talked down to. Say what you will about Fox, but they dont assume the people out there are stupid and they dont talk down to them. Maybe thats why the people watch.
Stop with the entertainment - make news again.
Am Kind of Obsessed With Putin's Billion Dollar Mansion
The BBC has all the deets on the manse - including video!
Originally conceived, it is said, as a modest holiday house with a swimming pool, it now boasts a magnificent columned facade reminiscent of the country palaces Russian tsars built in the 18th Century.
The massive wrought-iron gates into the courtyard are topped with a golden imperial eagle. Outside are formal gardens, a private theatre, a landing pad with bays for three helicopters, and accommodation for security guards.
It belongs to an “obscure private company owned by Putins BFFs - I’d love to see those tax returns.
more pics from inside/outside… just proving money cant buy taste
