The Duck Disease, The March of Time, Next On Tonight

 "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 2013 by Jay Phillippi.  All Rights Reserved.  You like what you see?  Drop me a line and we can talk.

Program scripts from week of March 11, 2013



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 Duck Disease                                                                                                         

I have confessed here before my guilty pleasure in a lot of “reality” television.  Some of it is compelling because of the nature of the activity like “Ice Road Truckers” or “Deadliest Catch”.  Never really thought about either of those jobs and I come away with a deeper respect for the people who make their living doing those kinds of dangerous and difficult work.

At the other end I have also enjoyed things like “Storage Wars” and “Swamp People” because of the personalities involved.  Nothing like some really over the top people to make sure that a show hooks me.

But my latest favorite in this category has gone somewhere that no other show of its kind has ever done.  Last year I stumbled on “Duck Dynasty” and fell in love hook, line and sinker.  If you haven’t seen the A&E network hit it’s pretty simple.  The show follows the Robertson family and their company Duck Commander.  They make duck calls, which right up front doesn’t sound like a very exciting TV show.  But the family and their employees are right up there on the personality charts.  Father and company founder Phil who was a good enough college quarterback to keep Terry Bradshaw as his backup.  His brother Si who is, well beyond description.  Miss Kay is the matriarch of the family and a classic southern lady.

Put them all together with a bunch of sons, daughters-in-law, grandchildren and assorted others and you get some classic TV gumbo.

I’m not the only one to have caught the duck disease.  When the third season debuted just a couple weeks ago the audience was huge.  Big enough to tie for first place in that time slot with shows on ABC and Fox.  Remember this is on A&E, what we rather archaically call a “cable station” competing with the big boys.  The two half hour episodes grabbed over 8.6 million viewers that night.

What makes this show about a family of crazy redneck duck call manufacturers so compelling?  I think because it feels real.  These could be your crazy relatives.  But it’s also about family.  Each episode ends with the Robertsons et al gathered around the dinner table saying a prayer of thanks and love for one another.

It’s the kind of reality most of us would love to have a little more of in our lives.

The March of Time                                                                                                       

I’ve mentioned before that in real life I work with teenagers.  It’s mostly in the context of church youth ministry plus some work with groups like the Eastside YMCA.  It means that I’ve spent a lot of time with young people over the last decade.  It’s out of that experience that today’s commentary grows.  You see I think that the folks at Apple may be in need of someone with my background.

Apple has seen some of it’s sales numbers dip a little recently.  The rise of Android based phones have put a dent in the iPhone’s dominance.  Other tablets are beginning to crimp the iPad as well.  So, not surprisingly, Apple is looking for the next big thing.  They have a great brand and a retail arm that needs hot new products.  The near term idea is in the arena of a smart television.  It’s the long range plan that I have doubts about.

You see the next idea down the line is apparently a smart watch.  Now the first problem I have is that you say smart watch and the first thing I think of is from the days of the old Dick Tracy cartoon.  The real problem that I see comes from my experience with teens.  You see the one thing that most of those teens don’t have any more is a watch.  When they need to check the time they look at their phone.  So Apple is going to have to fight up a hill that they helped to create.

Now I’m aware that the watch industry is still perking along.  Last year it was a 60 billion dollar industry with a 60% profit margin.  And there are plenty of people who wear them, young and old.  I own two myself.  Add into that Apple’s track record for creating products that we didn’t even know we wanted and there’s always a chance for success.

At the same time I just can’t help thinking about a generation that hasn’t been raised relying on their wrist for time.  So what can you offer that makes them want to strap one on?  Watching TV on it would be awkward, don’t know that it would be a huge improvement to listening to music over the smaller ipods.  I know I’m working from a small sample size versus Apple but I just don’t get a real good feeling from this one.

At the same time it’s not the worst tech idea I’ve heard this week.  That would be Google’s talking shoe technology.

I’ll take Dick Tracy over Maxwell Smart any day.

Next On Tonight

So here we go again.  We can only hope that the principal players have learned their lesson and do a better job this time.

The story that is going into reruns this time is the Jay Leno retiring story.  You may remember the first viewing of this particular classic.  Leno was the king of late night TV.  Conan O’Brien wanted to be the heir apparent when the time came.  So his new contract in 2004 guaranteed the spot to him.  Five long years later Jay Leno decides to move from late night to prime time and Conan moves into the most historic and coveted seat in late night television.  The host of “The Tonight Show”.  The problem was that Leno (as predicted here) was a complete bomb in prime time.  Suddenly we have a problem.  One seat.  Two hosts.  There was a suggestion of inserting Leno into a new program and moving the “Tonight Show” back.  Which was just dumb and Conan knew it.  A deal was made and he eventually landed on TBS.  To be honest while Leno has re-taken the number one slot it’s a lot closer than it was before he left.

So now the rumor begins that Jay is thinking about actually retiring.  The situation is a little different in a variety of ways.  First there’s more competition than before.  Conan is now out there.  The real wild card is that ABC has moved into the network late night wars with Jimmy Kimmel Live.  And no I haven’t forgotten Letterman.  The competition breaks down into two groups, the old and the young.  Letterman is actually older than Leno while Conan and Kimmel draw a decidedly younger audience.

The early word is that NBC will follow the pattern that they’ve kind of created recently with Jimmy Fallon moving up from
“Late Night”.  The Peacock network is in an interesting position.  The last couple years have been awful.  The current season has shown signs of a real renewal for them but it’s still a delicate balance.  Add in that suddenly the long time king of MORNING TV “The Today Show” has slipped from its perch as “Good Morning America” on ABC has moved by them.

Fallon would seem to be the obvious next choice for that historic host slot. To avoid the kind of train wreck that happened in 2010  NBC needs to make the commitment to Fallon and Leno needs to walk away and keep on walking.
There’s no guarantee that any of those moves will be winners but anything else is sure to be a catastrophe.

Call that the View From the Phlipside

View From the Phlipside Radio - Silly Siri

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.

There are days when I am just astounded by some of the things I read.  Apple debuted the iPhone 4s just over a month ago.  One of the hot new apps for the fifth generation smart phone was a little something called Siri.  Now Siri is interesting from a variety of points of view.  Siri is a personal assistant app that allows you to talk with the phone and have her (the app has a female voice so it’s inevitable that it will be referred to as she) answer you.  This voice activated control system is interesting in that it grew from work done by DARPA ( Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the folks who brought us the Internet among many other things) as part of the ongoing research into what is called Artificial Intelligence.  The idea is that you can put your phone to work without having to invest your total attention to it.  I guess that’s a good idea.

But here’s the part that just astounds me.  Last week the Siri service stopped working.  For about 5 hours.  Seems that it was so popular right off the bat that the Apple servers that are the backbone for this application just couldn’t handle the traffic and crashed.  OK, I mean Apple lists Siri as a beta project which means they are still working on it and that it’s not in its final form.  There hasn’t really been an application like this before and it’s brand new.  What amazes me isn’t that the service crashed.  That’s not surprising.  No what’s amazing is how hysterical some users became over the service drop.  People were quoted talking about how they couldn’t live without Siri.  And were just cringing at the thought they might actually have to use their Google app again.  This is for a service that max they’ve had use of for a month.  And it’s not like the multi day service drop that folks with Blackberries recently endured.  I’m hoping this is just carefully selected fanboy and fangirl reactions in order to fluff up an otherwise lackluster story.  Because the alternative is just too appalling to consider.

Siri might just be the opening shot of the silliest of silly seasons.

Call that the View From the Phlipside

View From the Phlipside Radio - Steve Jobs

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.

Visionary, egomaniac, pioneer, loose cannon.  The greatest innovator of the last 25 years or the worst boss on the planet.  Love him or hate him (and plenty of people fall into either of those categories) Steve Jobs has been a pivotal part of our recent history.  The latest chapter in that history was written last week when Jobs announced he was stepping down as CEO of Apple,the company he helped found, because he was no longer able to fulfill his duties.

A thumbnail sketch of Jobs life is the best I can do on a program this short.  He was an adopted child who later dropped out of college after only a single semester.  With a few friends he founded a computer company called Apple in 1976.  Jobs brought a vision of what a computer should look like that was decidedly different.  He focused on the aesthetics and how the user interacted with the computer.  He was, and largely remains, a perfectionist much the dismay of some of his employees.  Jobs also plays to win and is an intimidating business rival much to the dismay of just about everyone in the world not working at Apple.  For Apple fanatics every pronouncement from Steve Jobs has the impact of Moses coming down the mountain with stone tablets.  He has been the spirit, the voice and the face of Apple Incorporated.

Which is not to say that all has been peaches and cream.  In 1985 Jobs lost a power struggle and left Apple.  While he was gone he created several innovative and/or successful companies while Apple gradually lost momentum and direction.  His triumphant return helped put Apple on course to becoming one of the most valuable companies in the world.

So where does that leave us in the course of finding Jobs place in history?  I’ve criticized his heavy handed decision making on more than a couple occasions here.  The reality is that like any of the great captains of industry Steve Jobs has gone his own way, demanded that world bend to his will, and made it stick.  His impact on the world we live in right now with smartphones, personal computers and digital music has his fingerprints all over it.  When history looks back at this time whether it is technology, business or social influence I think Steve Jobs name will get prominent mention.

And that is exactly as it should be.  Be well Mr. Jobs and thank you.

Call that the View From the Phlipside

The View From the Phlipside - Apple Daddy

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.

I have mentioned before that I have a difficulty with Apple Corporations rather paternalistic attitude toward those of us who buy their product.  Once upon a time Apple was the fiesty little renegade against the big, bad corporate monster over at Microsoft.  Now that Apple has become one of the, if not THE primary force in popular digital hardware it seems like they have decided to exercise their big corporate muscles.

Steve Jobs has made no bones about the fact that he and his company get to decide what their users get to use on Apple products.  Steve doesn't like Flash so you can't use flash.  Apple gets to decide what kind of apps you'll have access to for your iPhone.  If they decide that you don't need access to that kind of information or those kinds of services then you just can't go there.  Somewhere the idea that I'm an adult capable of making my own decisions has gotten shuffled off to the side.  

It may have finally come to a head now with Apple not only trying to dictate to their users what they can do but telling other companies how they can run their businesses.  Apple has now informed several European newspapers that they will not be permitted to offer free electronic versions on the iPad.  Two Dutch newspapers (and I'll spare you my attempt at saying the Dutch names) were offering their print subscribers free subscriptions to the electronic iPad version.  Not any more says Apple.  The reason is pretty obvious.  Apple wants their cut.  Currently Apple gets about a third of the payment for any subscription or purchase made through the Apple store.  Well if the newspapers are giving the electronic subscription away there's no profit for Apple.  So they simply inform other companies how they will run their businesses on the iPad.  Other publishers including American magazines and newspapers are having similar problems with Apple's determination to control every aspect of the experience and the business models of iPad services.

From the users point of view someone wants to give us something for free and Apple is deciding we can't have it.  And to be honest I'm getting sick and tired of it.  I love my iPod and I like my iPhone.  At the moment they are the last Apple products I'm likely to buy.  Because for all their faults it appears that the big bad corporate types over at Microsoft have more respect for me than Apple does.  And I'll remember that.

Call that the View From the Phlipside.

"The View From the Phlipside" airs on WRFA-LP Jamestown NY.  You can listen to WRFA online HERE
Copyright - Jay Phillippi 2010

View From the Phlipside - iPhone 4

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.

Have to admit the most recent furor in the electronic communications world took me a little by surprise. Not the positive furor that came when Apple launched the iPad and the iPhone 4. That’s so ordinary that it’s really rather boring. We expect Apple to come with something new and cool and we expect the Apple sycophants to go totally gaga over them. Yawn.


But this, this is rather stunning. Turns out that iPhone 4 may be, well I shudder to even say this, flawed. They may have gotten something, gulp, wrong. In case you haven’t heard there’s some kind of problem with the reception in some areas on the new Apple phone. Critics claim its a defective antenna, Apple responded by saying it was just a long standing glitch in the software. That’s when I started to grow puzzled. You see NEITHER answer is particularly helpful. If it’s a long standing problem and apparently well known, then why didn’t they fix it? Instead the apparent fix is to hand out free cases for the phone that get you around the whole antenna problem. If that is the problem. Which no one is really admitting just yet.


But the problems just keep piling on. Like when Consumer Reports, arguably the most respected consumer products review publication in the world, decided NOT to recommend the new iPhone. They’d given the thumbs up to all previous iterations but not this one. You can count Consumer Reports in the faulty antenna camp as well. They took a pass on both the software answer and the more quietly bandied about “blame it on AT&T” explanation. Nope, this is all Apple’s fault.


But my favorite line in all of this came from someone at Microsoft. Relations between Apple and Microsoft have always been a bit, shall we say, touchy. Had to hit the “Like” button when I saw the comment that said the iPhone 4 is Apple’s version of Windows Vista. Ouch.


While it’s a great line and very funny it’s also probably a pretty good comparison. Vista started with problems which were relatively quickly solved but no one seems to have taken much notice of that. Everyone remembers the problems.


Call that the View From the Phlipside.


"The View From the Phlipside" airs on WRFA-LP Jamestown NY.  You can listen to WRFA online HERE
Copyright - Jay Phillippi 2010