Home Page  

Issue # 2,901
Thursday, March 29, 2012

After years of chatter and online rumors, a sequel to the 2004 cult comedy “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy” has finally come together. Will Ferrell has signed on to reprise his role as 1970s news anchorman Ron Burgundy.

Ferrell appeared in character on last night's Conan O’Brien TBS talk show. “I want to announce this to all of our friends in the Americas, Spain, Turkey and the U.K. — including England — that as of 0900 mountain time, Paramount Pictures and myself … have come to terms on a sequel to ‘Anchorman,’” Ferrell said to audience applause. “There will be a sequel.”

“Anchorman” co-stars Steve Carell and Paul Rudd will also return as dim-witted Brick Tamland and fashionable lead field reporter Brian Fantana. The original film grossed more than $90 million worldwide.

“Anchorman” followed the often surreal and outrageous adventures of Burgundy, the top-rated anchorman in San Diego in the 1970s, and his gang of out-of-touch buddies as they delivered the news in the then male-dominated world of broadcasting.

The film had been a DreamWorks production, but Paramount took over the project after DreamWorks 2.0 departed the studio.

“Anchorman 2" will be produced by comedy king Judd Apatow, along with Ferrell, and Adam McKay’s Gary Sanchez Productions. McKay will direct, and he and Ferrell will write the script. The two are still “kicking around ideas” for the sequel, according to Deadline.com. 

“We didn't expect a week ago that this thing was going to get greenlit," said Ferrell. "It’s been alive and dead so many times.”

Stay classy, sequel lovers. The film will go into production later this year with release planned for 2013.

<<<>>>

That Couric girl will fill in for Robin Roberts next week on ABC's "Good Morning America." Gawker sources say "this is a diabolical decision by an executive Disney goon squad done to further taunt 'Today' and its flat ratings."

<<<>>>

That Oprah woman will appear on "CBS This Morning" on Monday, where her pal Gayle King now labors.

<<<>>>

NORTHERN EXPOSURE

Sarah Tressler, the society reporter for the Houston Chronicle who moonlights as a stripper and blogs about it, could parlay the sudden swirl of attention into a career move.

“Some of the best writers of our time have done unusual things in their lives," said Clifford Pugh, the editor-in-chief at CultureMap Houston. "She’s probably going to get a book deal or a Lifetime movie. It may be the best career move she's ever made."

From the New York Daily News to Jezebel to the United Kingdom's Daily Mail, media from across the globe have picked up on the sensational story, piecing together Tressler's background and postulating on her motives based on posts from her thinly-veiled blog. 

Tressler was a guest on Thursday's "Good Morning America." "What to wear?" she tweeted. "One of my brilliant friends suggested clear heels."

Tressler's blog "Diary of an Angry Stripper" has gone private and now requires passwords.

<<<>>>

John Bolaris, the former chief meteorologist at Fox-owned WTXF-29 in Philadelphia (Market #4), who "mutually agreed" to part ways with the station in January, has been interviewed for an upcoming episode of ABC's "20/20." He will discuss being drugged and fleeced by two Eastern European hotties. No air date for the segment has been set.

Bolaris starts in two weeks as a meteorological consultant in New Orleans on a film about Hurricane Katrina called "Hours." 

<<<>>>

BE ADVISED

With a thickening Trayvon Martin media storm swirling over Central Florida, the city of Sanford yesterday politely threatened to arrest reporters for stalking.

Media Advisory
For Immediate Release, March 28, 2012

Sanford, Fla – The City of Sanford kindly requests that members of the media refrain from approaching, phoning or emailing city employees when they are in their roles as private citizens. It has come to light that there have been a few incidents where city staff were followed and approached at their home or in settings outside of working hours.

Law enforcement officials will not hesitate to make an arrest for stalking.

<<<>>>

Cops as anchors? After the Baltimore Police recently launched a live stream newscast with police officers delivering department news, the Memphis Police Department says it is considering a daily newscast with "positive stories" and "photos of individuals of concern or interest." We wonder if the anchors will shed the cop-talk. Would it be called PDTV?

<<<>>>

REPORTER ATTACKED

Jettie (far left) remains in quarantine in Grapevine, TX, after he attacked and bit Janet St. James, a medical reporter for WFAA-8-ABC in Dallas (Market #5), and her border collie, Emmy (yes, Emmy).

"I was walking my 14-year-old dog as I always do, and as we turned a corner, I saw an un-collared pit bull run down the street," St. James recalled. "It looked like it was chasing something, then saw us and came straight at us. My dog was screaming and I was screaming for anyone to come help us."

A neighbor hit Jettie with a tire iron. He retreated, but Emmy was badly injured. Because of previous incidents, Jettie was declared "dangerous." If a judge elects to release the dog from custody, the owner will be required to take out a $100,000 insurance policy, house the dog in a kennel with high fences and a combination lock, and put a muzzle on it any time it leaves the property.

<<<>>>

A California judge has rejected CNN's attempt to dismiss a lawsuit brought by The Greater Los Angeles Agency on Deafness (GLAD) over the news organization's refusal to caption videos uploaded to its website.

<<<>>>

CNN's "unmitigated disaster" morning shows, "Early Start" and "Starting Point" (or is that "Starting Point" and "Early Start"?), aren't the network's only headache. "Piers Morgan Tonight" first quarter ratings were down 40% in the target 25-54 demo and down 36% overall from the previous year.

<<<>>>

Haley Harrison, a reporter at WJLA-7-ABC in DC (Market #8) for a little more than a year, starts soon as a reporter at Hearst Television's KMBC-9-ABC in Kansas City (Market #31). She's just five years out of the University of Kansas and got her start at crappy little WHSV-3-ABC in Harrisonburg, VA (Market #178).

The station has also hired Stephanie Ramos, a morning anchor and reporter WIBW-13-CBS in Topeka (Market #136). Ramos is a captain in the U.S. Army Reserves and was deployed to Baghdad in 2008.

Like Tim Tebow, KMBC News Director Sherrie Brown is excited. “We’re excited to add Haley and Stephanie to our team,” she said.

<<<>>>

Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. is taking steps to start a national cable sports network aimed at challenging Disney’s ESPN, according to people with knowledge of the situation.

<<<>>>

BOOTED FROM THE LOCKER ROOM

We told you yesterday that Larry McCarren, the longtime sports director of Nexstar's WFRV-5-CBS in Green Bay (Market #69), will sign off tomorrow, ending 24 years with the station. We reported that his contract wasn't being renewed.

WFRV General Manager Joe Denk offered a slightly different spin. "Larry declined an offer to stay," said Denk. "It was our intention to have him stay on board. While we certainly respect his wishes and wish him well, we had hoped that he would stay on board and made every effort to do that, but he declined."

Station insiders claim McCarren was asked to take a significant pay cut, a subject Denk declined to discuss. "I'm not going to go into details," he said.

In the meantime, "Larry McCarren's Locker Room" is being rebranded as "Locker Room."

<<<>>>

Dawn Jones, a former reporter and anchor at WJRT-12-ABC in Flint-Saginaw (Market #69), who quit in 2009 to become communications director for city hall, has been hired back as the noon and 4:00 p.m. news anchor. She'll help fill the gap left by Karen Gatlin, who is retiring.

<<<>>>

After a little more than a year on the job, Herbie Smith is out as a reporter at KATC-3-ABC in Lafayette, LA (Market #124), according to a tipster. She was hired a year ago January from crappy little WOAY-50-ABC in Oak Hill, WV (Market #156).

<<<>>>

The deal to sell WMFE-24-PBS in Orlando (Market #19) to a group affiliated with a Texas evangelist collapsed when the FCC received more than 530 letters and submissions protesting the sale.

<<<>>>

INSIDE OUT AND BACK AGAIN

Carole Nelson was a broadcasting pioneer in more ways than she intended.

In the mid-1970s, she was the first female primary news anchor in Orlando, sitting opposite then-co-anchor Bob Jordan at WFTV-9-ABC, as the station went from last to first place in less than a year. For more than a decade, she was one of the most visible faces on local television, well-respected and well-paid.

Then, in 1989, at age 50, the station dropped her. No one explained why she was fired, but she suspects it was because consultants found her persona abrasive and too dominant for her male co-anchors.

In the ensuing years, the divorced mother of three lost her house and car and declared bankruptcy. She moved in with her mother and collected unemployment. "I was now the poster woman for a new word: 'downsizing,'" she said. "I wanted to get out of town. I was tired of Carole Nelson."

One of her sons had a home in Bremerton, an hour west of Seattle. "I went from a gorgeous home in Florida to living in my son's computer room with a sheet for a door," she tells the Orlando Sentinel.

Her struggle to redefine herself in the world outside television is a cautionary tale that should be required reading for beginning broadcasters who expect long careers in front of a camera.

Now 74, Nelson says TV turned her inside out. "I was constantly trying new hairdos, new this, new that. You can forget who you are." 

These days, she teaches writing at Daytona State College and says she's never been happier. "I remember thinking, 'This is Carole talking,'" she said. "I'm not looking at a script. I don't have to please anybody. This is the person I am. That's why I'll always be grateful for the adventure."

<<<>>>

MRS. BLUEZETTE'S GRAMMAR YAMMER
"A PBS mind in an MTV world."

As promised, Mrs. B has another list of soundalikes for you to save and refer to.

a matter of principle (not principal)

 

rack (not wrack) one's brain

to give free rein (not rain/reign)

to pay rapt (not rapped/wrapped) attention

with reckless (not wreckless) abandon

to wreak (not reek/wreck) havoc

 

rite (not right) of passage

a shoo-in (not shoe-)

to sic (not sick) the dog on someone

 

sleight (not slight) of hand

dire straits (not straights)

a tough row (not road) to hoe

a tow-headed (not toe-) boy

to toe (not tow) the line

to swear like a trooper (not trouper)

to whet (not wet) your appetite

to wit (not whit)

Learning is like rowing upstream: not to advance is to drop back.--Chinese proverb