New Website, "Late Night TV"

I made a website that looks at the history of late night TV in America. It profiles 20 late night TV hosts. Some had shows that were short-lived, like Magic Johnson, Chevy Chase and Pat Sajak. Others have been around for years, like Johnny Carson and David Letterman. 5 pages are dedicated to the man who will forever be the king of late night, Johnny Carson. The site has about 120 pictures, you tube videos and information about the different shows. Click here to access the site.

20th Anniversary for Food Network

One basic cable channel that has been growing in popularity is Food Network. It started in 1993 and has evolved in many ways. Some shows are similar to those that were on the air when the network premiered, and others are unique and groundbreaking. When the network started, budgets were tight, the staff was small, and most shows were just people cooking and talking to the camera for 30 minutes. Emeril Lagasse and Bobby Flay were two of the early stars of the channel. In 1999, Alton Brown's Good Eats aired its first episode. Yes, it's a cooking show, but it's also about the science and chemistry of food. It is a show with humor and the way it is shot is evidence of Brown's early days as a cinematographer, making TV commercials. Also in 1999, Tyler Florence's Food 911 started and it showed Tyler traveling the country and helping people with food "emergencies". Into the new millennium, the channel continued to be about food but also integrated some travel aspects to the show. Rachael Ray's $40 a Day showed her going to a specific city for an episode and having a budget of $40 per day for breakfast, lunch and dinner. This show was really entertaining since it showed the unique restaurants and attractions in different cities. I have noticed that Travel Channel has picked up on the popularity of shows that combine food with Travel. Adam Richman's Man vs. Food and Bizarre Foods with Anthony Zimmern have been popular for Travel Channel. Food Network celebrities such as Paula Deen, Giada Delaurentiis, Ina Garten and Robert Irvine have become mainstays of the network's lineup. I think that a real turning point happened in 2005 when a Japanese show called Iron Chef was made into an Americanized version called Iron Chef America. The show has chefs battling against one another, with time constraints, using one special ingredient that they must include in their dishes. Celebrity judges evaluate the dishes and a winner is determined. This show is different since it has a studio audience. I think this is the first show that made cooking into a spectator sport with an audience cheering them on, as if it was a football game or a basketball game. After this, Food Network incorporated more competition shows into their schedule, including Food Network Star. That show has many contestants living together and competing in contests to determine who gets their own show on Food Network. The winner of the inaugural season was Guy Fieri who has become a popular star of the network with his rock-and-roll attitude and enthusiasm. Chopped, The Great Food Truck Race, Worst Cooks in America and other shows have competition as key parts of their appeal to viewers.

Late Night TV Demographics

Different groups of people tend to watch different late night TV shows. Letterman and Leno tend to get older viewers, whereas Fallon and O'Brien tend to skew younger. The late night TV landscape seems to be constantly shifting. Even basic cable channels like Comedy Central and E! have had success with shows like The Daily Show and Chelsea Lately. Soon, Leno will step aside as Jimmy Fallon will take over the coveted Tonight Show gig, following in the footsteps of Johnny Carson, Steve Allen and Jack Paar. SNL alum Seth Myers will get the 12:35 am slot on NBC. This link looks at late night audience composition. http://theinterrobang.com/2013/11/your-guide-to-whos-watching-whose-late-night-show/

The Late Night TV Wars Heat Up

ABC has had the news program Nightline at 11:35pm for many years. Jimmy Kimmel has his ABC show at 12:05am. It is a good show, but he has never gone head-to-head with Leno and Letterman, instead starting 30 minutes after them. Starting in January of 2013, Nightline will move to 12:35am and Kimmel will start at 11:35pm. So, we'll see how it affects the late night TV landscape with the 3 major networks all starting their late night comedy shows at the same time. NBC has recently cut staff at Jay Leno's show and Leno took a pay cut himself. Since Comcast purchased NBC/Universal they have cut costs to increase profits. Starting in March of next year Nightline will move to primetime. Kimmel has a good chance to get more viewers since Nightline averages 3.89 million viewers and Kimmel currently averages 1.8 million. Leno leads in ratings, averaging 3.71 million and Letterman averages 3.22 million. It always seemed like the audience for Nightline and Jimmy Kimmel would be different. The ratings for Kimmel will depend on the ratings for the local 11pm news on local affiliates I would think.

Source: http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2012-08-22/kimmel-moving-into-thick-of-late-night-fight

Film Analysis: Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing (1989)

Above photos: the top photo is the official movie poster, showing Spike Lee as Mookie and Danny Aiello as Sal. The second picture shows Radio Raheem and his love and hate jewelry. The two emotions are juxtaposed in the film which had themes of love versus hate, racial tension and whether or not violence is justified, and under what circumstances.

Often times Spike Lee is not mentioned as a top American filmmaker, but he deserves to be. Way back in 1989 he made what many consider to be his best work, Do the Right Thing. It was nominated for 2 Oscars, one for Lee’s writing and one for Danny Aiello, best supporting actor. He has directed 50 films, dating back to 1977. His commercially released films previous to Do the Right Thing included She’s Gotta Have It and School Daze. His other works include; Mo’ Better Blues, Jungle Fever, Malcolm X, Summer of Sam, Bamboozled and so many more.

Writer, producer, director... Spike Lee
Mookie... Spike Lee
Sal... Danny Aiello
“Da Mayor”... Ossie Davis
Mother Sister... Ruby Dee
Radio Raheem... Bill Nunn
Jade... Joie Lee
Pino... John Tuturro
Buggin’ Out... Giancarlo Esposito
Tina... Rosie Perez
Mister Senor Love Daddy... Samuel L. Jackson
Cee... Martin Lawrence

A prominent song in the soundtrack is Fight the Power by the popular 1980s rap group, Public Enemy. This is no coincidence. The opening credits show Rosie Perez dancing to this song, at times wearing boxing gloves. A major theme of the film is the distrust of authority, especially the police. The film also has an underlying racial tension that builds up to a violent crescendo. It deals with conflict in the Brooklyn area of Bedford-Stuyvesant between blacks, whites, Puerto Ricans and Asians. It's the hottest day of the year in Bed-Stuy. The temperature is on the rise and so is conflict.

Mister Senor Love Daddy (Samuel L. Jackson), is kind of like the narrator for the film, as he surveys the neighborhood from his radio studio. He is the DJ for “We Love Radio”, last on your dial but first in your heart. One of his many catchphrases is “That’s the truth, Ruth”.

Lee plays Mookie, a pizza delivery guy for Sal’s Famous Pizzeria. In his Jackie Robinson Brooklyn Dodgers jersey, he delivers pizza to all in the neighborhood. The pizza parlor is owned by Sal (Danny Aiello). One day a friend of Mookie’s, called Buggin’ Out, notices the Wall of Fame in the pizza parlor. Sal has photos of all of his Italian American idols such as Frank Sinatra, Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro and more. Buggin’ Out asks why there are no “brothers” on the wall. Sal says that it is his business and he can have pictures of whoever he wants on the wall. Buggin’ Out is outraged and demands that people boycott Sal’s pizza until he gets photos of blacks on the wall. Sal has a son who is racist but Sal reminds him that the people in the neighborhood have been their customers for years, allowing the business to survive.

The late 1980s was a period of popularity for boom boxes, portable stereos that would blast radio, cassettes and CDs. One of the guys in the ‘hood is Radio Raheem, who blasts Public Enemy’s Fight the Power at full volume as he walks the streets. He gets mad at the Korean owner of the corner store when he does not understand the request to buy new batteries. He tells him to learn how to speak English. Sal gets angry with Radio Raheem when he blasts the music in his pizzeria.

Smiley is a character in the neighborhood who stutters severely and sells photos of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King. Mookie buys a photo from him when he gets his paycheck. Late in the film, Smiley has a key scene.

Buggin’ Out and Radio Raheem come into Sal’s with Public Enemy blasting and demanding that Sal put pictures of “brothers” on the wall. Sal refuses and smashes Radio Raheem’s boom box with a bat. Radio Raheem jumps the counter and attacks Sal. The fight escalades and goes outside onto the sidewalk. The cops show up and put Radio Raheem into a stranglehold, until he stops breathing. They throw him in the back of a cop car and take off. Mookie decides to get involved and he throws a trash can through the plate glass window at Sal’s. People begin looting the pizzeria, tearing it apart. Smiley sets it on fire and people run out. The Korean grocer across the street is afraid that his business will be destroyed. He swings a push broom at the crowd and says “I black...me, you, the same!”

Smiley goes into the pizzeria as it burns and puts a picture on the wall of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. The only criticism I have of this film is that it should have neded with that shot. It did not, it showed the aftermath of the fire, the next day as Mookie walked to the pizzeria to get his paycheck from Sal.

Before the credits roll, there are 2 quotes that appear on screen. One is from Martin Luther King Jr. The essence of it is the quote “Violence is impractical and immoral”. Then a quote from Malcolm X is shown that in part says, “I don’t call it violence when it is self defense, I call it intelligence.” Which leaves us to ponder, when is violence justified? I think that this film is a landmark in the career in Spike Lee, and it addresses important questions about race and violence in America.

*Some information from imdb.com