The Man Who Made Football, Saving Us From Us, and The Next Big Thing

 "The View From the Phlipside" is a media commentary program airing on WRFA-LP, Jamestown NY.  It can be heard Tuesday through Friday just after 8 AM and 5 PM.  The following are scripts which may not exactly match the aired version of the program.  Mostly because the host may suddenly choose to add or subtract words at a moments notice.  WRFA-LP is not responsible for any such silliness or the opinions expressed.  You can listen to a live stream of WRFA or find a podcast of this program at wrfalp.com.  Copyright 2012 by Jay Phillippi.  All Rights Reserved.  You like what you see?  Drop me a line and we can talk.

Program scripts from week of September 24, 2012



My name is Jay Phillippi and I've spent my life in and around the media.  TV, radio, the movies and more.  I love them, and I hate them and I always have an opinion.  Call this the View from the Phlipside. 

The Man Who Made Football                                                                                              

My normal practice when I note the passing of someone from the world of media is to try and stick to folks who don’t get the splashy coverage from the mainstream media.  Those folks w
ho made a difference but don’t get the A list star treatment at the time of their deaths.  This week is a slight variation from that policy.

The reality is that the sports networks carried lots of coverage about the death of Steve Sabol long time leader of NFL Films.  In the larger sense however I still think people overlook the importance of what Sabol did during his career.  Quite simply I believe that Steve Sabol along with his father Ed made the National Football League.

Not founded it, the NFL goes back to 1920 as the American Professional Football Association but made it.  The argument can be made that pro football was already on its way to being the highest attended sports event in the world based on average attendance but I’m not sure it works its way into our collective psyches the way it has without NFL Films.

The company was founded by Ed Sabol in 1962 as the Blair Motion Picture Company.  They won the bid to film the ‘62 NFL championship game (it wasn’t the Super Bowl until 1967) and proceeded to create a film like no one had ever seen before.  Two years later the NFL bought the Sabols out but left them in change.  That may be the smartest thing the league has ever done.

What Steve Sabol and his father did was create pro football, a sport once sneered on and considered something no self respecting athlete would be involved in.  Using brilliant photography, a profound love and understanding of the sport and helped in no small part by the magnificent voice of the late John Facenda (who joined NFL Films in ‘65) Sabol took a game and made it legendary.  A sport known for brute force was suddenly displayed as graceful.  Games were given the veneer of tragedy and comedy.  Football was suddenly high art.  I know that in my own case I fell in love with the NFL because of what Sabol father and son did far more than what the awful Steeler teams of the late ‘60s did.

Steve Sabol was 69 years old.

Saving Us From Us                                                                                               

There are times when the cure just might be worse than the disease.  We’ve talked a lot about old line media trying to figure out how to survive in a new media environment.  One of the other old line groups that is struggling with the new media world is government.  When the media that is being used is no longer necessarily physically present in one particular nation how do you go about regulating it?  And how do protect your citizens from folks that are trying to hurt them?  It’s a question that is still very much up in the air all over the world.

The newest attempt at trying to figure this out is taking place just to our south here in the southern tier.  The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is trying to take a shot at making Facebook a little bit safer place for its citizens.   House Bill 2249 is legislation that would make it a crime to impersonate someone on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.  It would also outlaw doing the same thing with fake email addresses and text messages. The intent to make online bullying a criminal offense.

Now that sounds all well and good but even the bill’s sponsor, State Representative Katharine Watson, is aware of the pitfalls of trying to do this.  She notes that she is not attempting to outlaw people just being stupid.  The idea is to control those folks who are actively trying to abuse and rob folks through the Internet.  Questions have already be raised about issues like parody, satire and well, commentary.

When I was a student at Edinboro my Criminal Justice professor defined a bad law as one that couldn’t be enforced.  Not only because it was a waste of time but because it diminishes the standing of all laws.  I’m afraid this law looks very much like a bad law.
I’m not quite sure how you enforce laws against what amounts to adult cyber-bullying.  We already have laws against fraud and theft and slander.  Given that Facebook and Twitter and the like are globe girdling media monsters what do you do if the person making your life miserable is in Colorado, or Ceylon?  How does a state law in Pennsylvania help you much at all?

How much and what kind of law and order we need slash want in the Wild West of the Internet is still an open question.  Well meaning but ultimately useless laws like this aren’t the answer.

The Next Big Thing

I am old enough to remember the early days of cable TV.  It was the next big thing even though there were plenty of doubters who wondered if anyone would pay for television when they could get it for free with an antenna.  The nay sayers lacked the vision to realize how much more there might be in that Next Big Thing.  Well the next Next Big Thing might just be lifting its head over the horizon on how we get our television fix.

It’s called cutting the cord.  Now to a lesser degree those of us who are on satellite systems or have gone to watching TV online have already begun the process of cutting that cord.  But once again the first look may not be the most interesting one.  There are a couple of things out there that are really interesting.

For example in Scandanavia HBO has announced that viewers will not have to pay a TV subscription to watch the network online.  That differs from the model here in North America where if you want to watch HBO GO you need to be a current HBO subscriber.  The move is to take on Netflix which is already a major player with this kind of business model elsewhere in the world.  It is a major shift in business model.

The other interesting bit is from an Israeli company called Vidmind.  They are marketing an Android based set top box that will allow independent Internet based virtual cable operators to distribute programming not just to TVs but tablets and smartphones as well.  All without having to string any cable or launch any satellites.  Just the way that the world wide web has become the home for locally based challengers to radio stations this could offer the same kind of ability to TV distribution as well.
If the question you’re asking is why would these companies do this just think about how often we hear of service provides like Comcast and Direct TV getting into fights with networks like AMC or HBO.  Setting up systems like these would allow the networks to completely circumvent the whole question of carriage fees and the fights that go with them.

The reality is that the big boys still have too much money in the game to make it likely that we’ll see the change too soon here in the U.S.  But if it works elsewhere I think it’s inevitable here as well.

Get ready for the Next Big Thing.

Call that the View From the Phlipside.

Books Ellery Queen and Roger Zelazny

Ellery Queen - Five Complete Novels by Ellery Queen - I've somehow never managed to read any of this series before.  Queen is a rather strange duck in the annals of the fictional detective.  First he gets his own byline on his novels.  Archie Goodwin writes the stories of Nero Wolfe and John Watson those of Sherlock Holmes.  In both cases the actual authors get their names on the spines of the books.  But then the actual authors of Ellery Queen went by pseudonyms themselves!  Daniel Nathan and Manford Lepofsky (two cousins from NYC) wrote and edited as Frederic Dannay and Manford Bennington Lee.  The character of Ellery Queen went through it's own permutations over the years as well.  This much remains the same pretty much through out - Queen solves his mysteries the same way that Wolfe and Holmes did, through the application of a massive intellect.
   The five novels in this collection are "And on the Eighth Day", "The Player on the Other Side", "Inspector Queen's Own Case" "Cat of Many Tails" and "Double, Double".  Even here it's not simple.  Inspector Queen's Own Case in fact doesn't feature Ellery at all, only his father NYPD Inspector Richard Queen.  The Player on the Other Side wasn't written by the cousins but by science fiction great Theodore Sturgeon.  Meanwhile And On the Eighth Day was written by  fantasy and crime writer Avram Davidson.
   All of these novels were written between 1949 and 1964.  The only one I found difficult to get into was And on the Eighth Day which features Queen leaving Hollywood (one of his permutations has him writing scripts in Hollywood for a while) and running into a strange religious community and a murder.  The beginning is strange because Queen is not himself and suffering some delusions.  Other than that the characters are interesting and the mysteries fun to try and puzzle out.  There is a curious sense of removal from the events that is consistent apparently throughout the Queen spectrum.  It feels a little odd at times even in comparison to the other two great detectives noted before.  Other than that it was a good read.
Rating *** Good Read

Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny - This is a Hugo award winning novel.  And that defintely means something. At the same time this book just struck me as a little weird.  The story is set in the future, a future where the "gods" have decided that man came too soon to technology and so has wiped it out.  They continue to wipe it out whenever it re-appears, waiting till humanity is ready.  Now in this case these folk have created themselves in the figures of the Hindu gods - Brahma, Vishnu, Kali etc. They are survivors of the human race who used technology to save their lives and expand their talents thereby making themselves gods.  To be honest a lot of this back story slipped by me the first time through.  Enter "Sam" (who has many names including Siddhartha, Buddha, Kalkin and more) who thinks that humanity should be given its head and technology and have at it.  Eventually push comes to shove and war breaks out.
   I am a big Zelazny fan.  Once I read the Amber books I was hooked.  He does exactly this kind of epic deconstruction of epics as well as anyone.  He has total command of the material.  The characters leap off the page even when you're not quite clear who they are and what they are doing in the grand scheme.  In the end I guess the ultimate accolade I can give the book is that it wouldn't let me give up on it no matter how confused I was.

Rating - *** Good Read

Book - Our Game by John le Carré

Our Game by John le Carré (1995) - When it comes to spy novels there is John le Carré and Ian Fleming and then everyone else.  The two at the top of my list take a very different approach to the subject.  In fact they take diametrically opposed approaches.  For the serious spy novel no one touchs le Carré.  Especially when it comes to the career Intelligence officers for Her Majesty's government he has set the tone that everyone else must follow.

You may notice in this review that I'm a little bit of a fan.

What makes his books great are his characters.  Characters that live their lives inside their own heads.  Always gathering information, always analyzing, always questioning.  Questioning the data, the analysis and themselves.  They are as far from James Bond as they can be these cerebral, wounded, gray men.  In "Our Game" we live inside the head of Timothy Cranmer (good Anglican name but I digress), recently retired agent runner for "The Office" one of England's secret services.  But a quiet retirement with an inherited vineyard and a beautiful young mistress isn't in the cards for Cranmer.  The double agent that he ran forces his way back into Tim's life by suddenly disappearing.  What begins as a routine police investigation eventually sends Cranmer fleeing the police and his former employers accused of helping to steal millions of dollars from the Russian Government.  His shared history, dating back to their days in school, with his former agent has made him a suspect in the theft along with the mistress.  The story will carry him deep into the bowels of underground resistance to the Russian authorities and the civil unrest in the former Soviet republics in the Caucasus mountains.

This is really classic story telling from le Carré.  Cranmer fights his own memories and demons as he carefully assembles the clues he needs.  Then the action takes off at a gallop as he tries to figure out who is involved and who is likely to kill him as soon as answer questions.  Happy endings are not really the stock in trade for the great spy writer but satisfying endings are.  Cranmer will face the final question and make a profound decision about who he is meant to be.  The reader can only hang on for the ride.  In the end my thought was "What else could he have done?"

If you want a feel for the reality of intelligence work of a certain time and place you won't want to miss this one.
Rating - **** Recommended Read

Rise of the Tablet, You Could Look It Up (A Rant), and Historical Trend

 "The View From the Phlipside" is a media commentary program airing on WRFA-LP, Jamestown NY.  It can be heard Tuesday through Friday just after 8 AM and 5 PM.  The following are scripts which may not exactly match the aired version of the program.  Mostly because the host may suddenly choose to add or subtract words at a moments notice.  WRFA-LP is not responsible for any such silliness or the opinions expressed.  You can listen to a live stream of WRFA or find a podcast of this program at wrfalp.com.  Copyright 2012 by Jay Phillippi.  All Rights Reserved.  You like what you see?  Drop me a line and we can talk.

Program scripts from week of September 17, 2012

My name is Jay Phillippi and I've spent my life in and around the media.  TV, radio, the movies and more.  I love them, and I hate them and I always have an opinion.  Call this the View from the Phlipside. 





The Rise of the Tablet                                                                                               

 I am fascinated by the impact that is being felt all across the media world with the meteoric rise of the tablet computer.  Folks have been trying to make a go the tablet concept for years now and none of them have managed to hit the sweet spot of versatility, ease of use and price that tablets seem to have found in just the last couple years.  Even Apple’s first attempt, the Newton, crashed and burned.  They’ve done it by making being a computer secondary to being a media delivery system.  In barely two years tablet computers have become the most powerful force for change in the popular technology world.  Think I’m over stating my case?  Let’s take a look.

One of the big movements in how we deal with media is the fact that more and more of us are doing it on multiple screens now.  This is especially profound on how we watch television.  Take a look at the number of television shows and even commercials that invite you get involved with the program by checking into the show’s forum or Twitter feed or Facebook page.  This is not television leading the way (it almost never leads the way) it’s TV reacting to what’s already going on.  There are so many people already cyber-chatting about their favorite shows that the networks are just climbing on the band wagon.

Even more than that now you don’t even need the television any more.  More folks are choosing to watch programming on their tablets on the move.  

You can’t do that with a desktop and it’s even awkward with a laptop or a netbook.  But it’s a piece of cake with a tablet.  Yes, smart phones play a huge role in this as well but smart phones and tablets are headed toward an inevitable collision right now.  And the tablet is going to win because it’s a better experience of the media we’ll be watching than a phone screen.

Still don’t think that tablets are going to take over your future?  Then check out this - Toys R Us is launching the Tabeo.  A tablet computer aimed at children.  Pre-loaded with over 50 apps and with a library of six thousand educational programs and games.  All for $149.  And it’s a serious tablet.

Why would there be a market for that?  Easy.  If the kid has their own tablet they won’t keep trying to borrow yours.  And that means you can keep telling your friends how awesome the latest episode of “Breaking Bad” is.

You Could Look It Up                                                                                                

The following is a rant.  Pure and simple.  Some folks out there have finally pushed me over the edge and I just can’t take it any more.  You have been warned.

We live in a age where billions upon billions of bits of information at our very finger tips.  We are surrounded by it and with our computers we have access to it in just a matter of seconds.  Now I need to also note that our computers give us access to millions of pieces of junk as well.  Rumors, hoaxes, opinion masquerading as fact and imagination run wild.  If you’ve spent more than 10 minutes out there you would know that.

Well you’d know that if you bothered to pay any attention.  Here’s the problem as I see it.  Too many people are just lazy.  And with that I’m being kind because the more cynical, angry side of me wants to say that they’re just stupid.  But I’ll behave myself and stick with lazy.

So what is it that has finally pushed my button and gotten on my last nerve?  People who don’t take a couple seconds to check on something before accepting something on blind faith.  In the last two weeks we’ve had hoaxes concerning the death of beloved comedian Bill Cosby and iconic actor Morgan Freeman.  Now I want you to know I double checked both of those items.  In fact let me do it right now.  Minimize the window where I’m recording this program, open my browser, open Google, type in Morgan Freeman.  Hit enter.

And Google tells me 10 personal results. 76,500,000 other results.  Boom, just that simple.

So explain to me why people just blindly follow along on things like this?  Why do they continue to click on links that claim Microsoft (or any of a dozen other companies) will give away money every time you click?  Why do the repeat absurd claims about celebrities, politicians or religious groups?

I think I know the answer.  Because it’s easier than thinking.  It’s easier than exercising our critical thinking muscles.  It’s because we’re lazy.

All that information at our finger tips and we still want to believe that Mr. Rogers was a Marine Corps sniper or that in December the universe will align in such a way that will result in a world wide blackout.

Really?  Really?  Try a little mental exercise instead.
Rant over.

Historical Trend

There are a couple of movies coming out between now and the end of the year if memory serves that I am very interested in getting a look at.  First because they involve characters about whom I am profoundly interested, second because they involve actors for whom I have great respect and third because they are not the kind of movie we generally get from Hollywood these days.  They are historical stories involving two of America’s great Presidents.

The first one I heard about was “Hyde Park on the Hudson” which tells the story of the visit by King George VI of England and his wife Queen Elizabeth (parents of the current queen) to the Roosevelt home in 1939.  The meeting was of great historic importance coming just before the war.  This is the same king we saw in the movie “The King’s Speech” two years ago (portrayed by a different actor of course).  But what really grabbed me was discovering that comedian Bill Murray had been cast as Franklin Delano Roosevelt.  The trailer for the movie shows Murray at his absolute best disappearing into the role.  The movie debuts here on December 7.

Alone that might have been an interesting aberration.  When you add in Daniel Day Lewis as Abraham Lincoln in the movie “Lincoln” suddenly you have an interesting mini-trend.  The trailer for this movie also shows the actor doing a wonderful turn as the former President.  Because Lincoln lived before the advent of audio recording we don’t know the sound of his voice the way we do FDR’s.  That may be the easiest part of taking on the role of an American icon.  “Lincoln” debuts November 16.

The real question for me is what will the audience reaction be?  Coming right after the election will we be too exhausted by politics to want to hear any more?  “Lincoln” will focus on the intense pressures on a President of a nation split by Civil War.  Or will the return to a simpler time and supposedly simpler issues have an appeal?  

Once upon a time biographical pictures like this of the great figures in our history were more common.  The history they portrayed was not always very accurate.  My hope is that a couple great movies with great casts and hopefully decent history could re-ignite an interest in our own history that seems sadly lacking these days.  It almost makes me wish that these movies had come out BEFORE the election.  Now is the time when we could all use a clearer understanding of our roots.

Call that the View From the Phlipside.

Movie - Sunshine Cleaning

Sunshine Cleaning (2008) - A good cast can sometimes (not always) overcome a weak script.  Amy Adams and Emily Blunt manage to do just that with an otherwise predictable sweet story.

Rose and Norah are single women trying and mostly failing to make it in this world. Their mother killed herself when they were small and their father (Alan Arkin, who is always fun) is a well meaning man who is long on ideas and short on success.  Rose is trying to hang on to her memories of being the star cheerleader in high school but in reality she's just trapped in a dead end affair with her now married high school boyfriend.  Norah has basically never gotten over her mother's death and wanders through life angry.

Then somebody suggests they go into crime scene cleaning.  It's something that most of us never think about but someone has to clean up the blood and gore left by violent crime.  There's an entire industry out there taking care of other people's messes.  And the ladies decide they can do it too.

It's a silly idea for which they are utterly unprepared but they almost make a go of it.  There are a couple really good ideas that the script touches on but never really explores.  Consequently any depth to the story is just left unexplored.  Inspired by a true story of two friends in Seattle who get into the bio-hazard clean up industry the plot is pitifully thin.  What saves it are the two stars.  They make you care about the sisters and bring just enough honest emotion to overcome the general triteness.

An OK little movie that is perfect for a lazy afternoon that needs filling.

Rating - *** Worth a Look

Movies - Last King of Scotland, Letters From Iwo Jima and Better Off Dead

Last King of Scotland (2006) - Based on the facts of the rule of Idi Amin in Uganda this is the fictional story of a young Scots doctor who gets pulled into the dictator's inner circle.  James McAvoy is wonderful as the footloose, ethically challenged young man who is running away from his life at home and picks Uganda by spinning a globe and putting a finger down to choose (after rejecting Canada on the first try).  But the absolute star of this movie is Forrest Whitaker as Idi Amin.  The volatility, the child like wonder, the utter brutality are all woven into a fascinating single persona.  His Oscar for the performance was certainly deserved.  I always feel like Whitaker gets overlooked for his acting chops.  He has done some truly amazing stuff  usually with small roles.  Nice to see him get a chance to stretch it out a little.

Not quiet, family night entertainment but definitely a movie worth watching.
Rating - **** Highly Recommended

Letters From Iwo Jima (2006) Clint Eastwood doing what he does best, telling stories (not speaking at political conventions).  This is an amazing look at one of the deadliest battles ever fought by American forces from the point of view of the other guys.  This is the Japanese story of the battle that raged from February 19 to March 26, 1945.  U.S. military command had expected the battle to be over in 5 days. The losses on both sides were enormous.  22,000 Japanese troops held off over 70,000 combined U.S. Army and Navy personnel.  In the end only 216 Japanese soldiers would be taken prisoner.  (A small handful would continue fighting for several years.  The last two were captured in 1949, AFTER the war had ended)  Eastwood reminds us that the Japanese were human beings fighting for the same things the Americans were.  The clash of cultures is striking as well.  Ken Watanabe is brilliant as General Kuribayashi, the military mind who made Iwo Jima the military challenge it turned out to be.  There is a dubbed English version of it but I'm glad I watched the sub-title version.  If I have one small complaint Eastwood doesn't really give you  a feel for the difference in numbers between the forces or the length of time it took.  I think that's unfortunate.  And the only real complaint I have.

Again not fun with the family entertainment but a great movie and educational piece.
Rating - **** Highly Recommended

Better Off Dead (1985) - This is the kind of movie with one solid performance(John Cusack) and some iconic, memorable lines ("Now that's a real shame when folks be throwin' away a perfectly good white boy like that.", "Two dollars!", "Gee, I'm real sorry your mom blew up, Ricky.") that makes want to believe it's a good movie.  But this isn't.  It's a story of a high school student named Layne (Cusack) who is obsessed with  a pretty if vacuous  girl at school.  There's all the usual suspects doing all the usual things with all the usual outcomes.  Only not particularly interesting as they do it.  In 1986 "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" would come out and show what a high school movie could look like.  Sharp and witty with truly iconic point of view Better Off Dead shows itself to be a lame, clichéd re-hash of a 100 movies before it.  It's not even as good as the second tier of this movie category, things like Weird Science or Revenge of the Nerds.  Cusack has apparently said in interviews that he hates this movie.  I'm on his side.

It's better than doing housework.
Rating - ** Not Impressed

Book Review - The Maid and the Queen

The Maid and The Queen - The Secret History of Joan of Arc by Nancy Goldstone - This is a fascinating background history of a woman who was deeply involved in the events surrounding the Maid of Orleans,  Yolande of Aragon, Queen of Sicily.  Yolande was one of the great powers "behind the throne" in the closing decades of the Hundred Year War.  Without her Joan would not have had the circumstances she needed to inspire France to victory at Orleans and posthumously over the English.  Yet Yolande has been largely forgotten by history.  This book will do much to return her to her proper place in the history of that time.
  Inevitably such a history will diminish Joan at least a little.    While Goldstone never dismisses Joan's visions entirely she is quick to point out how the Maid could have ended up where she did through the help of the Queen and others.  At the same time she recognizes that Joan served as an immensely important symbol for France and that without that inspiration the Hundred Years War likely would have had a very different outcome.  The reader can make up their own mind about the intersection of the Divine and the political.
  The section detailing Joan's treatment in the hands of the English leading up to the foregone conclusion of her burning is disturbing.  As was common in that time (or perhaps any time if we're honest) rules were made to be followed only when convenient.  The English examiners knew what they wanted from Joan and pressured and abused her till they got what they wanted.  In the end she was burned for largely for wearing men's clothes and consorting with faeries.  Seriously.
The first question for me when someone recommends a history is "Did a writer or an historian write it?".  The difference is readability.  Some historians are good story tellers but too often the historian's version is done in a very academic style and format that works for the technical needs of historians but it just a struggle for the regular reader.  Goldstone is a fine story teller and that makes the history something you WANT to read.
(It's worth reading Goldstone's bio for the fascinating story of how she became an author.  Really amazing)
A truly enjoyable read and a great addition to the history of the age.
Rating - ****Recommended Read

Chris Berman, The Future of Radio and Winning Advertising

 "The View From the Phlipside" is a media commentary program airing on WRFA-LP, Jamestown NY.  It can be heard Tuesday through Friday just after 8 AM and 5 PM.  The following are scripts which may not exactly match the aired version of the program.  Mostly because the host may suddenly choose to add or subtract words at a moments notice.  WRFA-LP is not responsible for any such silliness or the opinions expressed.  You can listen to a live stream of WRFA or find a podcast of this program at wrfalp.com.  Copyright 2012 by Jay Phillippi.  All Rights Reserved.  You like what you see?  Drop me a line and we can talk.

Program scripts from week of September 10, 2012

My name is Jay Phillippi and I've spent my life in and around the media.  TV, radio, the movies and more.  I love them, and I hate them and I always have an opinion.  Call this the View from the Phlipside. 


Chris Berman                                                                                                          

ESPN decided to make a big announcement last week.  You may not have noticed but the last year or two have been a little rough at the World’s Leader in Sports.  They’ve had some high profile folks leave, there have been complaints about how female staffers are treated, just a few small details like that.  So what do you do when folks are talking about everything other than your product?  You make a big announcement.

And true to the sports world model that they cover ESPN went with the announcement of a big contract extensions for one of their stars.  Oh let’s be honest, it’s a contract extension for thier equivalent of the starting quarterback, the home run king power hitter, fill in your favorite sports figure here, Chris Berman.

Like him or hate him, and there are plenty of people in both camps, Berman is The Man at ESPN.  And why not?  He’s outlasted pretty much any other contender to the throne.  Berman was hired just a month after ESPN launched and has been the mainstay, voice and face of the network pretty much ever since.

As I read the coverage of the story I thought to myself “That’s not Chris Berman’s only claim to fame.  He’s also responsible for the mess that sports journalism is in right now”.  That’s right I believe Chris Berman is responsible for everything that’s wrong in sports media today.

Once upon a time sports coverage was about, here’s a novel thought, SPORTS!  The games themselves and the people who played them.  Unfortunately today the games appear to exist only to give an entire industry of talking heads something to rant and rave about.  It would be one thing if we were getting some intelligent conversation out of it.  Instead we get Jim Rome and the cadre of wannabe’s following in his footsteps who are making a living out of being the person we all hate at the games.  The loud mouth know it all who won’t just shut the bleep up.

Once upon a time you only noticed the sportscaster when they did a really good job describing the action.  Today too often we can’t get them to get out of the way so we can even see the action.  The transitional step between the days of Vin Scully and Jim Rome?  I’m afraid that would be Chris Berman.

Hey Chris for this new contract how about making it be about the game again?

The Future of Radio                                                                                                

I had a very interesting conversation the other day with a friend of mine who is still toiling in the media mines of Radio.  It backed up something I’d come across from “Professional Music Geek” and blogger Alan Cross.

Cross points out that radio is slowly killing itself.  Not through programming choices or the slow erosion of aging technology or even by being stuck in an old business model.  Radio is killing itself because it’s leaving nowhere for the next generation of radio stars to be born.  When my buddy and I were talking we had both noted that it was hard to encourage young broadcasting students about careers in radio because neither of us see much room to build a career in radio.

Let me use my own career as a model.  I started at a day time only Country station in southwestern PA.  I did the local news for the first half of the day.  Then I got the chance to try my hand at my own program.  I next moved up to Erie PA as a copywriter and production director.  I made a lot of mistakes there but had the room to learn and grow.  Another station put me back on the air, then I was hired here in Jamestown as a swing shift announcer.  That’s the bottom of the barrel.  No regular shift, you work when you’re needed.  I got lucky, a full time slot on a certain radio station opened up and it was full speed ahead from there.

The problem is that most of the jobs I did on my way to full time in a drive time slot don’t exist any more.  Small market stations have largely eliminated local news, sales people write their own copy and with more automation there are fewer slots to learn and grow in.  It’s not even a safe haven to be the “established star” (certain folks here in Jamestown being the exception to the rule) because lots of those people are being cut for budget reasons.

So where will the next generation of radio stars learn their craft?  A lot of folks think it’s easy to be a radio DJ.  That’s basically true.  It is very, very, very HARD to be a good one.  Like anything it takes practice, dedication and a clear understanding of the ins and outs of creating a great product.

The industry as a whole appears to be happy turning out cookie cutter mediocre radio.  Doing great radio requires taking a chance.  Sometimes it’s taking a chance on a young, untested announcer who just might grow up to be something special.  Not many places to learn how to do great radio any more.

Fake Reality

Any time I hear someone deciding to try something that’s worked before I hear Doc Brown’s words to Marty McFly as he talks about going back to the future.  Relying on the past is not always the best decision but if you choose your spots it just might work.

For example if you’re a nationally advertised product right now you know you’re up against a couple different problems.  First of all most media consumers just don’t like commercials as a general rule.  Second we now live in a era where you can avoid them if you want.  Between people recording programs and watching them later (called time shifting) and fast forwarding through the commercials to the newest technology which allows you to do basically the same thing with live broadcasts the advertiser has to find some way of making sure their message gets heard.

So a tip of the lid to the folks at Aleve, the over counter pain killer.  They’ve taken a cue from broadcasting history to make sure their message is heard on the syndicated program Jeopardy.   Now in the old days a company would simply sponsor the entire program.  There’s a reason why soap operas are called that.  Laundry soap companies paid the freight for the program.  Pretty much no one does that any more.  But Aleve has a new variant.

They provide the cash for the second and third place contestants, insuring their name gets mentioned.  They buy a ton of ads on each show all week and they buy the very last slot just before the Final Jeopardy answer is revealed.  They then mimic the Final Jeopardy screen and insert a product related question and answer.  In the end you are going to find it very hard to avoid the product.  And that is the function of advertising.

This is an example of a company taking a look at the reality of the market in which they have to compete.  No whining about how hard it is or unfair.  They find a model that offers them the best results they can get and they commit to it.

In the past or in the future that’s almost always a winning formula.

Call that the View From the Phlipside.

Star Trek Continues, Michael J Fox and Fake Reality

 "The View From the Phlipside" is a media commentary program airing on WRFA-LP, Jamestown NY.  It can be heard Tuesday through Friday just after 8 AM and 5 PM.  The following are scripts which may not exactly match the aired version of the program.  Mostly because the host may suddenly choose to add or subtract words at a moments notice.  WRFA-LP is not responsible for any such silliness or the opinions expressed.  You can listen to a live stream of WRFA or find a podcast of this program at wrfalp.com.  Copyright 2012 by Jay Phillippi.  All Rights Reserved.  You like what you see?  Drop me a line and we can talk.

Program scripts from week of September 5, 2012

My name is Jay Phillippi and I've spent my life in and around the media.  TV, radio, the movies and more.  I love them, and I hate them and I always have an opinion.  Call this the View from the Phlipside. 


Star Trek Continues                                                                                             

I’ve said it here before I am not a fan of relaunches, remixes or reboots of classic movies, books, TV series, whatever.  I find them generally disrespectful of the original artists and ideas too often.  Plus I think it’s a cheap way of trying to avoid coming up with some a little more original.

But I may have to make an exception.

Let me start by noting that this week (Saturday in fact) marks the anniversary of the debut of Star Trek in 1966.  What Trekkies call “TOS” or The Original Series, that which began it all.  It’s easy to forget that TOS only ran for three seasons.  And that’s where this new idea finds its starting point.

“Star Trek Continues” is a web based video show that aims to finish out the initial “five year mission”.  The trailer currently available picks up in the final moments of the final episode.  The set and costumes appear to be top flight and the cast would seem to be quite acceptable.

This apparently is the brain child of big time video game and animation voice over actor Vic Mignogna through his company Farragut Films.  Mignogna will star as Capt. Kirk.  What will really jump at most people is Mythbusters Grant Imihara as Sulu and Chris Doohan, son James Doohan, stepping into his father’s uniform as Montgomery Scott.

The whole thing is just mind blowing from so many different directions.  First of all the company avoids my major complaint with these kinds of projects.  They clearly LOVE the original Star Trek and are not interested in giving it some new spin.  The sets and costumes are straight out of the ‘60s original and the actors are clearly trying to create faithful versions of the originals.  That’s not a small task, to be faithful to the originals without it becoming a parody or caricature.  I’m not sure how they managed to overcome the legal hurdles or where they got such precise replicas of scenery and costumes but it looks like a top quality job.

“Star Trek Continues” hits home for this long time Trekkie.  It may finally complete that original mission that has always felt like it was stolen from us.  For that reason alone they deserve a chance to win our hearts and minds and to allow us to boldly go just one more time.

Return of Michael J. Fox                                                                                               

I need to take a slightly personal moment right here and talk about something that has very close ties to my life.  It’s still about the media and it’s really about the courage of other people.

For as much as I have dumped on the Peacock network the last couple years they are willing to take a chance on something that hasn’t been done much if ever on popular TV.  Starting next fall NBC will debut a new series starring Michael J. Fox.  Fox already has two massively popular TV series on his resume “Spin City” and “Family Ties” plus the mega-hit “Back to the Future” movies.  Even though he stepped away from his acting career 12 years ago he remains immensely popular with audiences.

The reason why he stepped away is also what makes this new TV series so interesting.  Fox has Parkinson’s disease, a degenerative disorder of the nervous system.  And so will the character that he will be playing on the show.  That’s what really made me sit up and take notice.  If there is one sure fire truism for our culture it’s that we don’t like to talk about people who are sick.  When we do it’s usually to make them either tragic heroes taken too soon by their disease or victorious heroes that triumph over their adversity.  The base outline for this new show seems to be neither.  Michael J. Fox will play a character not unlike himself.  Father of 3, husband, working in New York City.  And suffering from Parkinson’s.

Here’s where I need to acknowledge my personal connection to this story.  I am the child of someone who suffered from Parkinson’s disease.  Over the final years of my father’s life I watched this horrible disease take it’s toll.  An intelligent, articulate vital man was reduced to a shuffling, mumbling shadow of himself.  I applaud Fox for his work over the last decade to raise the profile of this disease, and his willingness to put that into public view through this show.  I also applaud NBC for the decision to move forward with an idea that might be a little uncomfortable.

In Michael J. Fox they have the perfect actor to take America by the hand and introduce them to living with Parkinson’s.  If he can bring to bear the sharp wit and fun loving personality that made him famous it might just be the most important show out there next fall.

Fake Reality

Seems like I commented on this before but I don’t think I was doing this program the last time the concept of fake reality rolled around.  

Now let me be clear that I understand that all of TV and the movies are in fact “fake reality”.  They are intended to look real but they aren’t.  This includes the last decade’s worth of “reality tv” which by and large is really not all that real.  How many times have we heard after the show is over, even on one of my favorites - “Biggest Loser”, that what looked like major conflict on the screen was much more a creation of the editing room rather than the ranch?

No, what I’m talking about now goes beyond even that.  How about a reality show that isn’t a reality show?  It’s been tried once before (or maybe twice) back in 2003 on Spike with a show called “The Joe Schmo Show”.  The other possible precursor was around that same time with Fox’s “The Millionaire” where women competed for the affection of a guy who it turned out wasn’t really a millionaire.

But “The Joe Schmo Show” was the really amazing one.  It featured an unsuspecting contestant who thinks he’s on a reality show searching for the next great bounty hunter.  Except he’s not.  He doesn’t know it but everyone around him is an actor.  Think the “Truman Show” but slightly more cynical.  I’ve maintained for years that the underlying allure of virtually all reality TV is the reassurance to the viewer that “At least I’m not them”.  It’s designed to make us feel better about ourselves by giving us someone we can feel superior to, with or without any justification for that feeling.

But I’m just not sure that I can push myself to go that extra mile for the the announced return of Joe Schmo on Spike some time soon.  On all the other shows the contestants know that they’ve signed up for something that will drag them through a variety of humiliations for the public’s entertainment.  The concept for this show sounds way too much like the worst kinds of high school hazing of the new kid.  Set him up on a date with the Prom queen and then yank his pants down in front of everyone.

If this is what entertainment looks like in the 21st Century maybe I’ll start watching more stuff from Netflix.

Call that the View From the Phlipside.

August Books

This month's reading -

Constantine's Codex by Paul L. Maier - Buried in the basement of Greek monastery ancient documents are found that may be long lost parts of the Bible.  The discovery raises tensions through the Christian world and it grows worse when Islamic fanatics steal the documents in an attempt to discredit Christianity.

Maier is attempting what the publisher refers to as a "theological thriller".  The problem is that it's just not particularly thrilling.  The background and history is fascinating (as it should be given that the author is a respected Ancient History scholar and educator).   But there's very little "action" in the traditional thriller sense.  Unless you find garbage dump searches particularly thrilling. I was interested to note that he has written no less than 7 children's books because that pin pointed what bothered me about the book.  The story and characters were overly simple and the overall writing struck me as being written for early teens.  In the end a good concept gets left behind.
Rating - ** Not Impressed

Map of Bones by James Rollins - The alleged bones of the Christmas story Magi have disappeared.  A secret U.S. operations team joins forces with the Vatican and the Italian police to hunt down the ancient order that has designs on world domination through the powers of the Magi.

If you love books like the "Da Vinci Code" this will work for you as well.  The action is quick and non-stop. The characters are solid and engaging.  As with the best of this genre Rollins begins with the factual (there are in fact bones alleged to belong to the Magi in a golden sarcophagus in the Cologne Cathedral and much of the technology described exists as well) and then takes off at rocket speed from there.  Twists, turns, politics, betrayal and more will carry you through to the end before you know it.  And like the best in this class it leaves you wanting more.  Which means that you'll be happy to know that the author has a whole series waiting for you.  Perfect summer reading or any time you want a real thrill ride of a read.
Rating - **** Recommended Read

Black Out by  John Lawton  - I worry when I see an artist being compared to one of the greats.  Back my radio days there was nothing worse than hearing a new band being called "The next Beatles".  It's just a death sentence.  So I worried when I saw folks comparing John Lawton to John le Carré.  Having read the book I'm not sure I'd put Lawton in that class but the argument can certainly be made he's climbing that direction.

The story takes you to London just before D-Day.  Amid the bombings bodies begin to appear.  Bodies of people not killed by the Germans.  Detective Sergeant Frederick Troy follows the clues that will lead him deep into the secret war of the O.S.S. and the many factions in that war.
Black Out is a fascinating combination of police procedural and spy thriller.  The characters have that wonderful just off center quality that has made le Carré the master that he is.  Troy is the classic flawed yet dedicated hero unwilling to let go until his sense of right has been satisfied.  Best of all Lawton keeps you on your toes to the very end.  I was positive he had wrapped it all up only to discover there was another 70 pages to go and more surprises in store.  A best of both worlds murder mystery/espionage thriller.
Rating - **** Recommended Read

If it looks like I didn't do much reading this month that's not entirely correct.  I started several books that I haven't finished yet plus I tried several books that I decided NOT to finish.  I generally will not review books that are so bad I don't want to finish them.  I can not recommend "State of Confusion" by Paul Jury.  Since I'd had kind of run of "Meh" I am currently re-reading an old favorite which I'll include in September's reading list.

August Movies

The Dark Knight Rises - (2012) - Yes, I actually got out and saw a current movie in the theater!  The latest Batman film has generated all kinds of commentary.  For some it is just the latest in a beloved story cycle while for others it is a disjointed shambles of a movie.  When I go into to see a comic book hero film I have a specific set of expectations, many of which are what I DON'T expect.  For this Batman movie there were a variety of annoyances.  Bain, the primary villain, has a funky looking mask that covers his mouth and most of his face.  For some reason they decided that leaving a fair amount of his dialogue unintelligible was a good idea.  We also miraculously transport Bruce Wayne to the other side of the planet without disrupting the pace of Bain's evil plot for Gotham City as well.  There are a variety of other bumps and gurgles in the story as well.  But hey if you want coherent plot lines you probably shouldn't be going to comic book hero movies in the first place.

 Gotham and the Caped Crusader are facing some serious problems.  Bruce Wayne is literally getting too old for this Batman schtick, Commissioner Gordon has gone over to the Big Lie to fight crime, and just for fun Bain wants to bring back the Reign of Terror right here in Gotham City.  Oh and let us not forget, yet another movie maker takes a shot at bringing Cat Woman to the big screen.  Like his predecessors Christopher Nolan can't resist playing up the kinky side of the character but does manage to give us one with more depth and real character than we've seen before.  The movie is grandiose and loud and cynical.  It makes for an interesting political commentary on our times and a half way decent comic book movie.  It's so dark and grim that I'm not sure I'd be in a big hurry to see it again.  So I'm going to split the difference on a rating.  Depending on what you want it could slide either way.  God knows there are better comic book movies but likewise God knows there are worse.
Rating - *** 1/2  Definitely Worth A Look

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) and Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011) - Call these Pooh Bear movies.  Movies of very little brain.  To enjoy the Transformer movies you will need to be in touch with your inner 12 year old boy,have no understanding of basic physics and not be hung up by things like good writing and plot.  If you can do that you'll probably enjoy the simplistic story lines, the high quality of production of the battle scenes and the middle school humor.  The Transformers alternate between high tech virtually invulnerable dreadnoughts and tinkertoys that can be brought down by simple automatic weapons fire and who have some of the worst aim I've ever seen.   All led by the Rocky Balboa of robots Optimus Prime who seems to get his butt kicked movie after movie. I am fascinated by a movie where the male lead spends large amounts of time screaming like a 12 year old girl (and I work with 12 year old girls so I know that sound).  Add in Leonard Nimoy as the voice of the villain in Dark Side of the Moon and there is enough there to fill a weekend with mindless silly fun.
Rating - *** Worth A Look

One For the Money (2012) - This movie pretty much got savaged by the critics and I guess I'm a little puzzled by that.  I've read ALL the Stephanie Plum novels by Janet Evanovich.  Loved 'em.  So when I see people talking down Katherine Heigl's job as Plum I'm surprised.  I thought she brought the perfect blend of well meaning incompetence to the role.  Daniel Sunjata didn't thrill me as Ranger (his look rather than his acting) and while Debbie Reynolds is fun as Grandma Mazur her look is also wrong.  So was it a great movie?  No.  But let's be honest, Evanovich's books are great fun rather than great literature.  The movie follows the trend.  And the author seems to have been happy with the movie too.  But between the reviews and the fact that it didn't make a lot of money we may never see another.
Rating - *** Worth A Look

The Good Shepherd (2006) - Over the years I have had three subjects that have fascinated me - Organized Crime (especially the Mafia), Terrorism and Spies.  Must be something about people with secret lives.  So I was looking forward to this movie about the early days of the CIA.  The actual history is filled with intrigue, deception and plenty of illegality (there's a very good argument that the agency is itself illegal).  Add in a cast that includes Matt Damon, Robert DeNiro (who also directs), Angelina Jolie, Alec Baldwin, William Hurt, Timothy Hutton, Michael Gambon and even a short bit with Joe Pesci (as a Mafiosi!) and I was primed.  What I got was a ponderous, wandering tedious monster that runs almost 3 hours.  And I'm not sure it was worth the investment.
Rating - ** Not Impressed

Ali (2001) - After about an hour of this biopic I found myself spending less time watching the movie and more time trying to come up with a word to describe it.  Ponderous would be a good place to start.  And that's sad.  I am of the age where Muhammad Ali was one of the biggest figures in popular culture.  Count me among those who hold The Champ (and there's only one) in highest respect and esteem.  The greatest heavyweight of all time for me.  The injustice by the U.S. government and the boxing world against Ali is tragic. The story is epic. Sadly the movie isn't.  It wanders sluggishly and too often feels like it lacks focus.  Filled with great performers and a pretty decent turn by Will Smith as Ali the movie just never puts it together.  The best scenes in the movie, just like in real life, are the ones between Ali and Howard Cosell (played by Jon Voight).  The Champ deserved better.
Rating - ** Not Impressed

Cowboys and Aliens - 2011 - I am certain this movie sounded like a great idea.  An alien vessel arrives in the Wild West of the late 1800's.  And then it's simply movie icon time.  I mean COWBOYS and ALIENS! Plus Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford!  Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

Um, no.

Over 160 million dollars later they ended up with a movie that can't make up its mind what it really wants to be - cowboy movie, sci-fi, serious, tongue in cheek.  It tries a little of all of it and ends up with a mess.  A mess that might have been so much more.
Rating - ** Not Impressed

The Kids Are All Right - (2010) - Another one that should have been so much more.  Great cast (Annette Bening, Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Josh Hutcherson) and an amazing concept (Lesbian couple family where both kids were the results of artificial insemination from the same donor.  Kids want to know more about who their biological father is.  Lots of issues to mine there).  Sadly the movie never decides what it wants to be.  It flips from standard sitcom dialogue to intense dramatic moments with a series of illogical, unreasonable and gratuitous sex scenes sprinkled in.  By the end of the movie there's a whole series of issues, none of which are resolved.  Which is really this family's problem.  They all run away from the problems preferring a shallow surface "happiness" to any kind of reality.

The basic set up of the movie is pretty standard.  The fact that the parents are two moms in a long term relationship really gave this the chance to be an important moment in the movies.  And I think it dropped the ball.  The performers are good enough to carry it along but not enough to save it.  Apparently shot in just 27 days I wonder if it wouldn't have been better if they'd had more time to work the material over a little more.  A Best Picture Oscar nominee that I think got by because people wanted this movie to be a success rather than on its intrinsic quality.
Rating - *** Worth A Look

Lost Horizon - (1937) - Here's a classic movie with a behind the scenes story almost as interesting as the movie itself.  Frank Capra took James Hilton's best selling novel "Lost Horizon, filmed large portions of it in an ice locker and turned it into a 6 hour monstrosity that ran grossly over budget.  It ruined Capra's relationship with Columbia's mogul Harry Cohn who did the final edit himself.  But the movie had a twisted history even after it's release.  It took years to pay back its cost and it was adapted to meet FDR's propaganda needs at the beginning of the Second World War.  The movie continued to be edited until by 197,0 when it was given to the American Film Institute for restoration, there was no longer a complete version of the film to be found.  The version here has 7 more minutes of audio then it does video (which they solve with various production and publicity photos over the soundtrack).  There are also sections where the only available footage was so bad that even the best digital restoration could only make it passably clean.

The story itself is of a small group of people who end up in a sheltered valley high in Tibet.  They are confronted with a society of peace and a people granted exceptionally long lives.  Each of them confront the issues differently.  There are difficult decisions to be made, decisions that might be pivotal in the survival of mankind.  This is a great cast - Ronald Coleman, Sam Jaffe, Jane Wyatt, Edward Everett Horton and H.B. Warner.  Visually this movie has some stunning sequences and the overall look is beautiful. The final cut is still a pretty fair length (2 hours 14 minutes) but it's certainly worth the investment.
Rating - **** Recommended Viewing

Ken Burns' Prohibition - (2011) - I am a huge Burns fan and I'm working my way through all the backlog of his documentaries.  He has a wonderful way of bringing history alive.  Prohibition should be taught as a watch word in America for the bankruptcy of trying to legislate morality.  Making liquor illegal resulted in more crime and more drinking.  It increased corruption and made us a nation of hypocrites.  The documentary mini-series introduces us to all the players behind the 19th Amendment and the Volstead Act.  It takes us through the issues that gave rise to the Temperance Movement and what led to its inevitable failure.  The usual great stuff from Burns.
Rating - **** Recommended Viewing

Paul - (2011) It's a geek movie.  It's a sci-fi geek movie and a movie geek movie.  And it's just a lot of fun.  You should know that the script writers use obscenity like 12 year olds away from their parents for the first time(Note - I watched the Unrated version.  The Theater version is probably MUCH cleaner).  It gets a little tiresome (although it's kind of funny with Kristen Wiig's character who has never sworn before and is quite, um, creative at it).  It is an absolute quote fest and is filled with little tributes to other movies. Is Paul a great movie?  Not even close.  Is it fun and funny and a helluva lot of laughs.  Great Saturday afternoon movie.
Rating - *** Worth A Look