Lots and lots of reaction in the past week to Dave, Cos and Kathie Lee. But first, let's pass along something that happened last week on Mike Bullard's "Open Mike" show from Toronto, as related to us by a reader named Sonny: "On Thursday, the portly host came back from commercial to announce that he realized how precious life was earlier in the week. He then stated, If I can get serious for a moment folks ... earlier this week David Letterman scored one of his highest ratings ever when he returned from by-pass surgery. Nineteen million people tuned in on Monday to see if Dave had recovered. Now I don't want you to think that I am trying to copy him, but when he introduced his surgical team, it occurred to me that there are some people here whom I have never acknowledged and who deserve my eternal gratitude. Ladies and gentleman, I would like to introduce you to the most important people in my life: the people who work at the kitchen here at the show.
At that point, members of his writing staff entered and lined up like Dave's medical staff. Bullard then introduced each one in the same way that Dave did: the supposed head chef as 'Leonardo De Vinci with a spatula,' 'Clint Miller' (actually head writer Laurence Morgenstern) as 'the best nine fingered butcher working today,' etc. Then, his voice choked with emotion, Bullard said: These are the people who put their lives on hold to make my lunch. I guess that is not the point. The point is they do it seven times a week, eight or nine times a day. And sometimes when you sit down at a big lunch you think, 'Hey, I am not going to get through this.' But you do get through it because people like these get you through it. If you ever have to have lunch, by God, I hope you are blessed to have a team like this. With that, he walked over to them and shook their hands and hugged them as they went to commercial."
Picks to click ... for the week of Feb. 28 are here ... Also, it's not too late to start watching NBC's 10-hour miniseries epic "The 10th Kingdom." As you'll read in this review in Sunday's Kansas City Star, the best is still to come. "The 10th Kingdom" continues through March 6.
The daily digest ... for March 1, 2000: In case you weren't watching the show on Monday when it was announced, George W. Bush has responded to David Letterman's "Campaign 2000" challenge and will be on "Late Show" tonight, via satellite from Missouri ... Allow us to be among the first to float the name of Caroline Rhea as your next Kathie Lee. Tom Heald uncovered this five-month-old story from the New York Post in which the "Sabrina" co-star states her ambitions to host a daytime talk show, which, wrote Michael Starr, "stem from her occasional guest-hosting appearances on Disney's 'Live with Regis & Kathie Lee.' Ratings for 'Live' have been solid on the days when Rhea has substituted for Kathie Lee Gifford opposite co-host Regis Philbin" ...
During a conference call Tuesday, I asked CBS prexy Leslie Moonves if he was worried that his two summer game shows, "Survivor" and "Big Brother," might not be a case of right programs, wrong network. How was TV's oldest broadcaster going to attract an MTV crowd to these shows? "We've cast 'Survivor' and it's interesting — the people range in age from their 20s to their 70s. So the demos of the people participating go across the spectrum. clearly one of our goals is to get younger, but with these contestants we feel we can get younger and hold onto our core audience." Being able to cross-promote the shows on its new sister channel MTV, Moonves added, is a plus ... Hearst Entertainment will almost certainly green-light its new series, "Famous Homes and Getaways," after signing up the NBC-owned stations to carry the show this fall, sez Variety ...
As you'll read in the Pick to Click for Wednesday (above), Temple Grandin is Errol Morris' profile in the debut tonight of his Bravo-Channel Four program "First Person." What you won't know, from surfing Bravo's lame-o Web site, is that there are plenty of ways to learn more about the fascinating Grandin. She's got her own Web site which includes the first chapter of her book, and there's this 1995 interview she gave to NPR's "Fresh Air." Steve Rhodes, who supplied the links, grumbles, "There was a full-page ad in the Chicago Tribune TV guide along with a color strip promoting the show attached to the cover. Both included the bravotv.com URL, but no info is on the site. Maybe something will go up on Wednesday but by then many people will have visited the site."
Previously on TV Barn:
29 Feb: Kathie Lee quits
28 Feb: Kathie Lee triumphs
24 Feb: Reader mail
23 Feb: More games to come
22 Feb: "X-Files" meets "Cops"
21 Feb: Dave is back!
18 Feb: Reader mail
17 Feb: "Who Wants to Marry a Multimillionaire?"
16 Feb: Mediachannel.org
15 Feb: Dave's coming back
10 Feb: Tom Joyner
9 Feb: Game show gossip
8 Feb: Daytime TV nuttiness
On this date... in 1982, Adam Ant, Pat Benatar, David Bowie, Mick Jagger, Stevie Nicks, The Police, and Pete Townshend are all annoyed that their local cable company operators have yet not made the decision to add to their channel lineups a certain network devoted to rock 'n' roll. Such is the premise of the highly infectious ad campaign launched on this day: "I Want My MTV!" -- Tom Heald
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