WILLIAM PETERSEN LEAVING CSI AT MIDSEASON

WILLIAM PETERSEN

Veteran actor William Petersen, whose character, Gil Grissom, was the backbone of the CSI tv series, is quitting the popular show. And, as at least one article explained, this is not the “I’m-off-10-weeks-to-do-a-play” gone that Petersen has pulled in the past. Petersen will leave the show after this season’s 10th episode.

Petersen’s departure seems to be a combination of boredom on his part (he’s been playing Gil Grissom for eight years) and cheapness on the part of CBS (unwilling to pay their franchise player franchise money.)

BILLY PACKER IS FINALLY GONE

BILLY PACKER

We speculated about this in April. According to the Miami Herald, After years of making sexist, racist and idiotic remarks CBS Sports has fired basketball announcer Billy Packer. Packer spent 27 years at the network. He had broadcast 34 consecutive Final Fours.

Sponsor complaints finally did Packer in. Several reportedly complained about his performance during this year’s NCAA Tournament. Packer will be replaced on the broadcasts by longtime CBS studio host and former college and NBA player Clark Kellogg.

INSIDE THE NFL DUMPS COSTAS AND MARINO

JAMES BROWN

PHIL SIMMS

Inside the NFL, which ran on HBO for 31 years, is changing networks. The football highlight show, which uses footage from NFL Films, starts a new season on Showtime beginning in August.

Obviously, HBO wasn’t going to let announcer Bob Costas move to a show on their top pay-channel competitor. Costas is being replaced by veteran studio host James Brown. There’s also going to be a quarterback change for the show. Phil Simms is replacing Dan Marino.

TIM RUSSERT DEAD

TIM RUSSERT

The New York Post and several other new sources are reporting that NBC journalist Tim Russert died today of a heart attack.

NO MORE TV FOR MIKE WALLACE

MIKE WALLACE

Veteran tv journalist Mike Wallace, who rose to fame with the tv news magazine “60 Minutes,” is not coming back to television. The announcement was made by Wallace’s son, tv newsman Chris Wallace.

The elder Wallace turned 90-years-old this month. He had retired from “60 Minutes” in 2006 and was working as a “Correspondent Emeritus” with CBS.

Wallace was probably the toughest interviewer in television history. He won 20 Emmy Awards in his career including a Lifetime Achievement award. Wallace was famous for his ambush interviews at “60 Minutes.”

Wallace began his career as a radio voice for shows like The Green Hornet. His primary source of income in the early 60′s was doing commercials for Parliament cigarettes.

BROADCAST PIONEER JIM McKAY DIES AT 86

 

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ARCHIVE OF AMERICAN TELEVISION INTERVIEW AND TRIBUTE

 

 

JIM McKAY

Television pioneer, Jim McKay, one of the most influential broadcasters in sports history, died today of natural causes. He was 86-years-old.

McKay was the host of ABC’s Wide World of Sports and the first sportscaster to win an Emmy Award. However, most Americans remember McKay for his Olympic coverage on ABC, particularly his reporting on the hostage crisis at the 1972 games in Munich. It was most of the country’s introduction to terrorism some 29 years before 9/11.

Arab terrorists captured a group of 11 Israeli athletes and held them hostage in the Olympic Village. McKay was on the air for 16 hours straight covering the event. All of the hostages were eventually killed. It was McKay who delivered the news of their deaths to a stunned world.

SHOT OF ARAB TERRORIST AT 72 MUNICH OLYMPICS

“INSIDE THE NFL” SAVED AT LAST MINUTE

Pro Football Talk is reporting that the long-running highlight show Inside the NFL is being picked up by Showtime. The program had been dropped by HBO this offseason following a three decade run.

Profootballtalk.com says the series will be produced by CBS Sports and NFL Films and air Wednesday nights during the football season. It’s not currently known what on-air talent will appear on the show. It’s certainly doubtful that HBO would let Bob Costas host a program on such a direct competitor.

KATIE COURIC SUCKS

KATIE COURIC: $39 MILLION BUST

Last week the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric set the record for the program’s all-time lowest ratings and viewers in the history of the network.

For the week ending May 19, just 5,330,00 people watched the CBS network news broadcast. That’s the third time CBS has set a new low for their news ratings this spring.

F-BOMB DROPPING NEW YORK ANCHOR GETS PROMOTION

Just a week ago people were howling for the head of WNBC tv anchorwoman Sue Simmons after she accidentally dropped the f-word on the 11:00 news.

Now, Simmons is getting a promotion. Simmons (and the co-anchor she screamed at) are being given an additional broadcast shift by WNBC. They are returning to the 6:00 p.m. timeslot.

According to the New York Times media blog “tvdecoder,”

 

“Chuck and Sue” currently anchor the station’s 11 p.m. newscast. WNBC, the flagship New York affiliate of NBC, thinks the duo could improve its audience share at 6 p.m., leading into “NBC Nightly News” at 6:30.”

TIM RUSSERT SUPPOSEDLY FARTS ON THE AIR

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