Jane Genova: Speechwriter - Ghostwriter

Ratings: Late-night comics losing to gravitas "Nightline"

A mashup of factors could account for the decline in ratings for Jay Leno and David Letterman.  In THE NEW YORK TIMES, Bill Carter reports that Leno lost 4% of viewers from last year and Letterman 15%.  Meanwhile "Nightline" is up 7%.

One major reason for the fading popularity of the late-night comics is that the genre is getting very long in the tooth.  Jack Paar started it.  Johnny Carson made it an art.  Leno and Letterman added some fresh features.   But, in entertainment, a mature show is in a dangerous place.  Often it can't be revived, at least not in a sustainable way.  The hit "Desperate Housewives" tried gimmicks.  Those just wore us out.  One of the few shows to be able to have enduring comebacks has been "Nightline."  Sure, it had its brushes with stale but could climb out of that.

 
Another factor is the paradigm shift taking place in America the optimist.  Given the three downturns since the beginning of the 21st century, we are becoming darker aka European in our world view.  That predisposes us to the serious content of "Nightline."

The third reason is tied to success.  Successful entities have a hard time taking risks. They tend to keep trying harder at making the old formulas work.  When they finally realize that a turnaround is needed, it's usually too late.  Too many viewers have gone elsewhere and established new TV preferences.

Julian Assange: Book sales as barometer of like/don't like

Book sales, because Amazon.com numbers allow us all to track them in real time, have become a sort of barometer of public opinion.  Given that only 644 copies of the unauthorized autobiography of Julian Assange sold in the three days it was out there, one would conclude that the world just isn't into this wikileaker any more.

In THE BOOKSELLER, Philip Stone reports that, on the one hand, the book "Julian Assange: The Unauthorised Autobiography" has been talked about.  However, sales are poor.   In the new frugality people are indicating "like" or "don't like" with their pocketbooks.  Sure, they will talk but they won't belly up to the Amazon.com virtual check-out counter.

Assange came and he went.  His rapid fall might provide a template to other seeming fame-seekers that in this era of media attention is easy to get but hard to sustain.

 
Julian Assange?  Did he invent a vaccine for mumps?

"The Rogue" - Buzz, excerpts could kill sales

An author such as Joe McGinniss might ask himself if he wants influence or money.  Maybe he can't have both.  The buzz surrounding his expose "The Rogue" got him plenty of attention for his contentions about Sarah Palin.  And the excerpts from the book went viral. 

In its first week out the book sold about 6000 copies [Source: Nielsen Bookscan].  However, reports Burgess Everett in POLITICO, all the early publicity could convince readers that they already know plenty and there's no need to buy the book.  McGinniss might find book sales soon in a slump.

Chris Christie: GOP Pile-on for Run

By Monday, opines the NEW YORK POST, New Jersey Republican governor Chris Christie could announce that he is running for president.  He is plainspeaking and has a track record for courage, such as standing up to the public-sector unions.

 
Voters could fall in love with a candidate who's, well, different

According to the NEW YORK POST, there was a pile-on of GOP bigs such as Henry Kissinger and Nancy Reagan pushing him to enter the race.  That was when Christie delivered a talk at the Reagan Library.  Such a push means, of course, that the funding for Campaign 2012 will be there.

Politics, it's now increasingly observed, is entertainment.  Christie, with his bluntness and signature size, puts on a compelling show.  In most of America, his earthy New Jersey body language, facial expressions, and rhetoric could seem novel enough to promise something different in leadership.  Most Americans are unhappy with the status quo. 

UPDATE

Newsy is an online news service which creates short videos from multiple sources on topical subjects.  It provided this blog this video on Christie's weighy matter. Here you can click it on. 

Trade Media: Just the facts, ma'am

Trade media, ranging from ADWEEK to CORPORATE COUNSEL, functions to keep those in the business up-to-date on developments in the industry, ranging from people moves to emerging trends.  If they go high-profile it's through their ability to break news.  And, the publication, print/online, stays in that box: presenting the news, not jumping out of that box to exploit it as does legal tabloid Abovethelaw.com.

That's why, observes Hamilton Nolan in GAWKER, provocative thinker and communicator Michael Wolff might have been wrong for trade publication ADWEEK.  Wolff pulls attention to his analysis and opinions.  That's not a good fit for a trade.  It's expected that ADWEEK will announce that, after about a year, Wolff will be moving on.

 
Not here at a trade, buddy.

"Criminal Minds" - Spencer enraged about Prentiss hoax

"Criminal Minds" tonight, like the first episode this season of "The Good Wife," focused on relationships.  The crime part of the program was so over-the-top that some of us couldn't take it seriously.  Clearly, our attention was supposed to be on how members of the unit were handling the Prentiss hoax. 

There Prentiss was, back on the job, after the unit, with the exception of Hotchner and JJ, had gone through months of grieving her death.  In fact, Spencer would go regularly to JJ's house to cry about the loss.  It turns out he was so bereft that he was toying with the idea of returning to drugs.

Morgan has somehow managed to respond with an attitude of gratitude that Prentiss is at least back with them.  He was the one who helped carry her coffin.

Rossi tells Hotchner that he had a hunch that maybe Prentiss wasn't dead.  It's his business to be suspicious.

But Spencer is enraged at both JJ and Prentiss.  An extremely sensitive guy, he feels betrayed. 

The rage get muted some - we won't know how much until future episodes - when Rossi invites the unit over to his home for a lesson in making the perfect pasta.   Spencer is on the fence about coming but finally he does show up late.  It is a sign that he at least is making an effort to accept that the people closest to him lied to him and allowed him to suffer.

Will Spencer distance himself from the team?  Will he return to drugs?  Will he decide to leave the unit? 

There could be big shifts this season in how members of the team relate to each other and to themselves.  Because of his suffering, Spencer could be growing emotionally.  He is less the geek and more a human being who is deciding what he will tolerate and what he won't.

It's amazing how the best shows like "Criminal Minds" and "The Good Wife" decide that the gold is in concentrating on how people relate to one another.  Crime-solving and defending clients in court seem to fade into a prop on the set.

Eva Longoria: Doing good, maybe wind up doing well

Eva Longoria, star on "Desperate Housewives," is doing her civic duty supporting President Barack Obama in Campaign 2012.   Given that politics has become almost pure entertainment, it's no surprise that the influential POLITICO reports on this development.

Through doing good Longoria might also wind up doing well.  "Desperate Housewives," already long in the tooth, is now pitted against the wildly popular "The Good Wife" in the Sunday night 9:00 P.M. slot.  Longoria could be hunting for her next gig.  Supporting Obama gives her the exposure she needs.  In the past few years, the plot line on "Desperate Housewives" has become so gimmick-filled that the pull power it had had had ended.  The girls on Wisteria Lane seem downright cartoonish.

Facebook Timeline & Don Draper's Musing about Nostalgia

A brilliant pulling together of the Facebook Timeline and Don Draper's musings from "Mad Men" about nostalgia, a video captures the the power of the new feature of the social network.  What becomes obvious is that Timeline creates the ability for any ordinary person to time travel.  The social nature of Facebook also allows everyone else to go along on that trip.  My hunch is that paranormal groups such as The Smoking Gun Research Association [SGRA] which scientifically explore subjects like time travel will become mainstream. 

 In MASHABLE,  Jennifer Van Grove reports that the video was created by technology expert Eric Leist at Allen & Gerritsen.  Leist took material from Draper's presentation for Kodak's carousel at the ad agency.  In it, Draper points out that "nostalgia" is a word derived from Greek, meaning pain.  Adults, hammers Draper, ache to return to a place which once was, where we felt loved. The diverse collection of photos allows just that.

Given so many Baby Boomers and aging Generation Xers, Timeline could become the preferred way to manage this flight from the present to the past.  Marketers and political messengers, especially in Campaign 2012, can piggyback on the pull of emotion-laden memories. 

The more creative among them will play around with the theme.  For example, at SGRA, founder Jon Nowinski lectures on the peril of time travelers who get stuck in the past or future and can't return to the present.  The Democrats can make a mashup video for YouTube with the GOP stuck in time at the first tea party at Boston Harbor.   A paranormal scientist like Nowinski will be put on contract to get them back before the Republican National Convention.

"Unforgettable" - Poppy Montgomery plays another wounded detective

In "Unforgettable," Poppy Montgomery moves on from the wounded Sam of "Without a Trace" to the wounded Carrie Wells.   Wells, like Sam, is a detective.  In "Unforgettable," when she was a child, her older sister had been murdered.  She is haunted by that memory.  Actually, she lives haunted by all memories.  She has this rare medical condition in which she can't forget anything.

Like Sam, she seems jinxed in love.  Her colleague is her former lover.  As yet, we don't know why they broke up and he's now involved with a psychologist.  At the ending of the series "Without a Trace," Jack Malone "released" Sam to try to make a relationship with the father of her son.  But we who understood Jack didn't count on his leaving Sam to pursue happiness.

We can expect plenty of emotional suffering on "Unforgettable."

Andy, we hardly knew ye

At age 92, Andy Rooney, curmudgeon commentator on "60 Minutes," is calling it a wrap.  He will announce that this Sunday as part of his regular diatribe about annoying trends such as Lady Gaga.

Clearly this represents the end of an era.  We Baby Boomers, whose medium was television, should stand up for Rooney's entire presentation.  He is embedded in our memory bank, along with Dick Van Dyke and Howdy Doody.