Oprah Winfrey will announce on her show Friday that "The Oprah Winfrey Show" will come to an end on Sept. 9, 2011, after 25 years, according to ABC's Chicago affiliate KABC.
The announcement would put an end of weeks of speculation that Winfrey may leave daytime syndication and possibly move her show to OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network, Winfrey's joint venture with Discovery Communications.
Harpo Prods., which produces the "The Oprah Winfrey Show," could not be reached for comment Thursday.Oprah Winfrey will announce on her show Friday that "The Oprah Winfrey Show" will come... more
Jorge Carreon blogs on how Oprah Winfrey is preparing to make the formal announcement that she will end her groundbreaking chat show in September 2011.
..Leonardo da Vinci researcher, Ben Sweeney, now claims that Leonardo da Vinci had webbed left hand.Sweeney said that the artist's own hand was used as the model for the hand on the Christ figure in da Vinci's "The Last Supper."
After viewing Sweeney's findings,Joseph Upton MD, A Harvard Syndactyly specialist, agreed that da Vinci's left hand -- the hand primarily responsible for his famous artworks -- was abnormal , fused third and fourth finger. http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=2832319&page=1
Leonardo da Vinci hand research at www.leonardoshands.com..Leonardo da Vinci researcher, Ben Sweeney, now claims that Leonardo da Vinci had... more
As fans of the hit ABC television series LOST watch the riveting drama about a group of airplane crash survivors on a mysterious island they often ponder questions of love, fate and survival. What exactly is the Dharma Project? and What do those numbers mean? are questions almost every LOST fan has asked themselves. They inevitably also ask Where exactly are all these gorgeous tropical scenes filmed?
The vast majority of LOST was set in various locations around Hawaii. Even many of the locations that were supposedly not on the survivor’s island were shot in the Aloha State. The Sydney airport? In LOST that was really the Hawaii Convention Center in Honolulu.
Here’s a roundup of the best Hawaii LOST filming locations. Each are worthy Hawaii travel destinations, for LOST fans and fans-in-waiting who have (yet) to see the show:
Jorge Carreon blogs on how The Weinstein Company has pacted with Disney and ABC to give its movie musical "Nine" the kind of media exposure reserved for big summer tentpole features. First up, a big number on the Nov. 17 episode of "Dancing with the Stars."
Conor Knighton takes a look at Kate's recent interview special as part of his weekly roundup of the week in media. Also includes Al Roker getting humped and playing pranks, 'The Girls Next Door,' Bill O'Reilly, V's Obama references, H1N1 victims, Oscars news, 'I Want To Work For Diddy,' 'Tool Academy,' 'Styl'd' and Levi Johnston.
infoMania is a half-hour satirical news show that airs on Current TV. The show puts a comedic spin on the 24-hour chaos and information overload brought about by the constant bombardment of the media. Hosted by Conor Knighton and co-starring Brett Erlich, Sarah Haskins, Ben Hoffman, Bryan Safi and Sergio Cilli, the show airs on Thursdays at 10 pm Eastern and Pacific Times and can be found online at http://current.com/infomania/ or on Current TV. And make sure to check out our facebook profile for special features at http://infomaniafacebook.com.Conor Knighton takes a look at Kate's recent interview special as part of his weekly... more
Just seconds after telling us that he makes disaster movies because he hates sequels, director Roland Emmerich spilled all about his new ABC TV series 2013, that picks up after the waves part. It sounds epic.
**Spoiler warning.**
At the end of 2012 the cast members who have survived the massive floods and volcanic destruction on Earth head over to Africa, the new center of the world. What happens next has just been picked up by ABC as a television series that Emmerich is helping out with. We got the chance to find out more about his post-post-apocalypse series at the 2012 press day.
Talk about your alien invasions! Jorge Carreon blogs that ABC's "V" scored one of the biggest debuts of the Fall TV season last night. An estimated 14 million viewers tuned into the reboot of the camp classic series.
As the mother of an autistic child, Marie Myung-Ok Lee is navigating uncharted territory as she struggles to manage her son's condition. She has bravely come forward to share her son's battle with this mysterious disorder, and to discuss how medical marijuana has brought them both back from the brink of despair.
During what Marie calls the "dark phase," her son J had unpredictable mood swings that could erupt into fitful rages. Her 9-year-old would scream during lengthy tantrums, he refused to eat and threw his food on the floor. J broke plates, windows, and other household items as a way of expressing his pain and frustration. The family would hide out within the confines of their home until the darkness passed.
J's behavior disrupted his school performance and terrified the staff. "The teachers were wearing tae kwon do arm pads to protect themselves against his biting," Marie said. The school monitored J's daily outbursts on an "aggression chart" that documented as many as 300 episodes in one day that involved hitting, kicking, biting, or pinching another person.
With her son in crisis, Marie had no choice but to perform an intervention. But the only solution offered by child psychiatrists came in a pill bottle. "His school tried to force us to medicate him," says Marie, who feared the risk of dangerous side effects associated with commonly prescribed antipsychotic drugs like Risperdal. Many of the FDA-approved drugs on the market used to treat symptoms of autism have no proven safety track record for use in children.
Despite the unknown risks, more kids are using prescription drugs than ever before. The number of children on psychiatric meds has skyrocketed in recent years, according to reports in medical journals such as Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. Prescription drug use is growing faster among children than the elderly and baby boomers. But when it comes to medicating kids with marijuana, the issue becomes taboo.
"There's no such thing as a harmless drug, but marijuana is much less harmful than other drugs," said Lester Grinspoon, M.D., a professor emeritus of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Grinspoon is a leading expert in the field of medical marijuana, who has authored several books on the subject. "No one in the world has died from marijuana," insists Grinspoon, who has spent four decades researching the illicit drug.
Undeterred by the social stigma, Marie pursued this more natural approach to calm J's demons. After discussing her wishes with J's pediatrician, Marie decided to check out Marinol, a synthetic form of THC, which is the primary cannabinoid in marijuana. After fine-tuning J's dosage, she began hearing praises like, "J was a pleasure to have in speech class," instead of complaints about his violent episodes.
After a few months, J built up a tolerance to the drug and his unruly behavior returned. "The drawback of taking Marinol is that it's only THC. That's the most powerful cannabinoid, but it may not be the most relevant," said Mitch Earleywine, Ph.D., an associate professor of psychology at the State University of New York at Albany. Earleywine says there are about 70 different cannabinoids in the marijuana plant, many of which have medicinal value. Marie decided to take a chance on the real deal.
All it took was a signed prescription and a background check for J to become the youngest person in Rhode Island to obtain a license for pot. After buying some marijuana-infused olive oil, Marie made a batch of pot cookies. That night, J ate half of one cookie and "he was tired and conked out," said Marie, who checked hourly on his sleep, "half-expecting some red-eyed ogre from Reefer Madness to come leaping out at us." To her relief, J slept soundly and appeared happy and mellow the next day.
Over the past four months, Marie has documented her son's progress in an online blog entitled, Why I Give My 9-Year-Old Pot, Part II. While she doesn't believe marijuana is a cure for autism, it "allows J to participate more fully in life without the dangers and sometimes permanent side effects of pharmaceutical drugs." Dr. Grinspoon has seen positive results with a number of his autistic patients who are undergoing pot therapy. "I can confidently say to a parent that marijuana relieves some types of pain. It's not going to hurt them if you use it responsibly," Grinspoon says. Ingesting the drug works better because the effects can last up to eight hours. "A little goes a long way," says Earleywine, who reminds parents that the drug can take up to an hour and a half to kick in, "so wait a little while before administering any more."
While a growing number of distressed parents are turning to the herbal remedy, many moms with autistic kids are skeptical. "I feel it does more harm than good," says Trish, the mother of a 7-year-old boy with autism. "You are sedating the child, not treating the cause of the rage." Trish believes that medicating kids with pot is a cop-out. "Nobody said parenting was going to be easy, or that the solution to every problem is to get our children stoned."
The mainstream medical community shuns the subject, and the government refuses to fund any research that would legitimize marijuana use in treating autism or aggression disorders. "Marijuana is a very loaded subject," says Cara Natterson, M.D., a pediatrician and mother of two. "As a parent and as a pediatrician, I feel a responsibility to know that what I am putting into a child -- mine or someone else's -- is safe and tested."
The American Academy of Pediatrics opposes the legalization of marijuana, but does support further research into the potential medical benefits of cannabis. "We need to make sure the treatment is safe -- we haven't done that," Natterson adds. The doctor can sympathize with parents who desperately want to help their child. "But wanting to advocate for your child and making sure your child is safe are two different things," Natterson said.
Marie is confident that she has made the right choice when she sees J's transformation. "He doesn't look stoned. He just looks like a happy little boy."
One of the most talked about previews at this year's Comic-Con event, ABC's reboot of the campy sci-fi series " V " has finally arrived. Jorge Carreon blogs on the show's charismatic new star, Morena Baccarin.
WHAT. Unfortunately, even though the Olympics are on NBC, ABC will be taking a short hiatus in the middle of the (final!) season of Lost, so it won't clash.
I think /Film put it most eloquently when they said “F*ck the Olympics.”WHAT. Unfortunately, even though the Olympics are on NBC, ABC will be taking a short... more
To promote its new alien-invasion series, ABC is creating the shock of something inexplicable appearing in the skies over New York. Starting Friday, October 23, 2009, the Giant Red Letter V-- written by skywriting planes-- will begin to appear over New York landmarks like the Statue of Liberty, the network says, to promote "V," a remake of the 1980s miniseries that begins next month. ABC won't specify which landmarks will be getting the giant V treatment, but it will go on for several days. New Yorkers can expect to see the sky graffiti overhead early Sunday October 25, 2009 and again on Halloween October 31, 2009.
Cities being subjected to the campaign include New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, and Philadelphia. Both New York and Los Angeles are set to be “V’d” several times.
There’s been so much turmoil around the release of V, an ABC sci-fi series based on a 1980s NBC show and mini-series, that I started to dismiss it. ABC broke up the premiere so that the show would debut as a mini-series before going to full series in the spring. That news came after production came to a halt for a complete series overhaul. Something was going very wrong.
At least ABC’s marketing team seems confident enough in the show to pull out all the stops, promo-wise. THR reported yesterday on a skywriting promo that will feature a red “V” over US cities. Now ABC has released the list of cities, including New York, Boston, Minneapolis and Los Angeles. (Not shockingly, Cleveland is absent from the list. Oh well.)
Check out the complete list of cities after the jump.
October 23 — 9:00 a.m. Boston, MA
October 23 — 9:00 a.m. Minneapolis, MN
October 24 — 9:00 a.m. San Francisco, CA
October 24 — 9:00 a.m. Seattle, WA
October 24 — 9:00 a.m. Orlando, FL
October 25 — 9:00 a.m. Chicago, IL
October 25 — 12:00 p.m. Hollywood, CA
October 25 — 9:30 a.m. New York, NY
October 25 — 2:15 p.m. Philadelphia, PA
October 26 — 12:00 p.m. Tempe, AZ
October 26 — 9:00 a.m. Atlanta, GA
October 27 — 12:00 p.m. Dallas, TX
October 28 — 4:15 p.m. Austin, TX
October 28 — 9:00 a.m. Las Vegas, NV
October 31 — 12:00 p.m. Hollywood, CA
October 31 — 12:10 p.m. Hollywood, CA
October 31 — 12:20 p.m. Los Angeles, CA
October 31 — 12:00 p.m. Santa Monica, CA
October 31 — 9:00 a.m. New York, NY
October 31 — 9:15 a.m. New York, NY
October 31 — 9:30 a.m. New York, NY
October 31 — New York, NY (throughout the morning)
November 3 — 12:00p.m. Hollywood, CA
November 3 — 12:10 p.m. Hollywood, CA
November 3 — 12:20 p.m. Los Angeles, CA
November 3 — 12:00 p.m. Santa Monica, CA
V premieres Tuesday, Nov. 3, at 8 p.m. on ABCTo promote its new alien-invasion series, ABC is creating the shock of something... more
6-year-old Falcon Heene is now safe after authorities believed that he was trapped in a hot air balloon yesterday. Many are now questioning if the incident was a stunt set up by the family. The Heene family, no stranger to TV exposure (they have appeared on ABC's "Wife Swap") have been described by ABC as "storm chasers" and "alien buffs". Falcon was found in a box in his attic late yesterday and authorities later realized that he had not been in the hot air balloon at all. When his father asked him why he did this in one of several morning-TV interviews, he answered, "You had said we did this for a show".6-year-old Falcon Heene is now safe after authorities believed that he was trapped in... more
Here below the first official teaser poster of Lost Season 6, the final season of Lost: http://teaser-trailer.com/2009/10/lost-season-6.htmlHere below the first official teaser poster of Lost Season 6, the final season of... more
"The Laramie Project — one of the most-performed plays of the last decade — is based on the true story of Matthew Shepard, the young man who, in October 1998, was savagely beaten and left to die in Laramie, Wyo. Almost instantly, Shepard's name became a kind of grim rallying cry for those drawing attention to hate crimes committed against gays.
Now there's an epilogue to The Laramie Project, and tonight more than a hundred theaters around the country will perform readings of the new play. Together with the first one, it constitutes a powerful version of Matthew Shepard's story.
But it's not the only version — and that's a big part of why the epilogue exists.
Matthew Shepard's savage killing was used to strengthen the argument for hate-crimes legislation. But meanwhile, another version of his story was gathering steam.
Six years after the crime, the ABC newsmagazine 20/20 set out to debunk the idea that Shepard was murdered because he was gay. Like The Laramie Project, the one-hour episode included interviews with Shepard's friends, as well as investigators assigned to the case. ABC's Elizabeth Vargas interviewed Shepard's killers, Aaron McKinney and Russ Henderson, both serving life sentences.
Shepard, 20/20 reported, may have used methamphetamine. The report said that McKinney had been a dealer. "Meth is what made the world go around in Laramie," a friend of McKinney's and a former dealer told Vargas.
20/20 also reported that McKinney and Henderson had been on a meth binge in the days before meeting Shepard. And prosecutor Cal Rerucha told 20/20 that "the methamphetamine just fueled this point where there was no control. So, it was a horrible, horrible, horrible murder. But it was a murder that was driven by drugs."
Playwright Moises Kaufman believes the 20/20 story was "terrible journalism" that "changed the nature of the dialogue." So one of his goals with the new Laramie Project epilogue was to debunk the 20/20 story.
Kaufman and his Tectonic colleagues went back to Laramie last year, re-interviewing many of the people they'd met a decade ago — as well as talking to some new sources.
"One of the things we do in the play," says Kaufman, "is we go back and ask investigators ... and we go back over trial transcripts, and we prove that it was a hate crime."
The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later includes the comments of Rob Debree from the Albany County Sheriff's Office in Laramie.
"We've proven that there were no drugs on board with McKinney and Henderson — just none," Debree declares. And what about the claim that Shepard's murder was a robbery and drug deal gone bad? "That's some kind of massive denial," one openly gay Laramie resident tells Tectonic Theater.
Laramie police commander Dave O'Malley, who also appears in the 20/20 episode, says: "It angered me more than anything the things [ABC] didn't say — the things they left out."""The Laramie Project — one of the most-performed plays of the last decade — is... more
"A cynical, mercenary, demagogic press will produce in time a people as base as itself"
- Joseph Pulitzer
"The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country."-Edward Bernays, Propaganda
"That great whistleblower Tom Paine warned that if the majority of the people were denied the truth and the ideas of truth, it was time to storm what he called the Bastille of words.
That time is now. " - John Pilger
1. US Congress Sells Out to Wall Street
2. US Schools are More Segregated Today than in the 1950s
3. Toxic Waste Behind Somali Pirates
4. Nuclear Waste Pools in North Carolina
5. Europe Blocks US Toxic Products
6. Lobbyists Buy Congress
7. Obama’s Military Appointments Have Corrupt Past
8. Bailed out Banks and America’s Wealthiest Cheat IRS Out of Billions
9. US Arms Used for War Crimes in Gaza
10. Ecuador Declares Foreign Debt Illegitimate
11. Private Corporations Profit from the Occupation of Palestine
12. Mysterious Death of Mike Connell—Karl Rove’s Election Thief
13. Katrina’s Hidden Race War
14. Congress Invested in Defense Contracts
15. World Bank’s Carbon Trade Fiasco
16. US Repression of Haiti Continues
17. The ICC Facilitates US Covert War in Sudan
18. Ecuador’s Constitutional Rights of Nature
19. Bank Bailout Recipients Spent to Defeat Labor
20. Secret Control of the Presidential Debates
21. Recession Causes States to Cut Welfare
22. Obama’s Trilateral Commission Team
23. Activists Slam World Water Forum as a Corporate-Driven Fraud
24. Dollar Glut Finances US Military Expansion
25. Fast Track Oil Exploitation in Western Amazon
“Look who the corporate media is today. The beneficiaries of 9/11 – the biggest beneficiaries have been Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, the Carlyle Group, Boeing, Halliburton, the military industrial contractors, each of those have had 300 to 400 percent increase in their stock value in the last five years, and when we look at those groups and the memberships of their boards, Carlyle has someone sitting on the New York Times board, Bechtel sits on NBC, Boeing sits on ABC, Halliburton sits on ABC, Lockheed Martin sits on Gannett. They’re interconnected.” - Peter Phillips / Project Censored http://www.projectcensored.org/
Meanwhile...
"We are watching a poorly staged rendition of Wag the Dog , interpreted for the morbidly stupid and performed by the criminally insane." - Jules Carlysle
PS : If you think today's media is hiding a few things; America's history, as a whole, has effectively disappeared from the nation's consciousness.
Check this for size... http://mtwsfh.blogspot.com/
MAKING THE WORLD SAFE FOR HYPOCRISY
THANKS MINDFUCK INC. !"A cynical, mercenary, demagogic press will produce in time a people as base as... more
Even though this story broke years ago, ABC surprised to learn about "Dead Peasant" insurance from Michael Moore's "Capitalism: A Love Story"Even though this story broke years ago, ABC surprised to learn about "Dead Peasant"... more
NBC may be happy with the new “Jay Leno Show,” but some of the other networks definitely are not.
ABC and CBS have been discouraging their talent from booking appearances on the funnyman’s new primetime show, Leno said on Tuesday when Julia Louis-Dreyfus appeared on his program.
“Yes, there was a little pressure because as you know, you’re now on primetime and I’m on a different network,” the “New Adventures Of Old Christine” star told Leno earlier this week.
The funny lady, an NBC “Seinfeld” vet who reunited with her old cast for an upcoming episode of HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm” (airing this Sunday, Oct. 4), said she chose to appear on Leno’s show because of their relationship.
“Obviously, I committed to doing your show and we’re friends,” she said. “I wanted to honor my commitment to you.”
According to one network executive, Leno’s new show airing in primetime has caused some tension among the networks.
“In prime time, the stakes are higher and you have to protect your flank,” the unnamed exec told the Los Angeles Times.
Leno’s new 10 p.m. show has cut the need for as many scripted dramas on network television, something that has hit home with writers and producers.
“I wish NBC and Jay Leno well; personally, he’s a very nice guy, but I hope he falls flat on his face and we get five dramas back,” former “ER” and “West Wing” producer John Wells previously told the Los Angeles Times.
While Leno may not be seeing stars of the “CSI” franchise on his show any time soon, the comedian has seen some movement from FOX. Hugh Laurie from “House” stopped by last Friday. “House,” however, is produced by Universal, which is part of NBC.
But while primetime stars aren’t wearing the “Jay Leno Show” floors thin, a host of non-NBC A-list actors have already made appearances including Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz, Miley Cyrus, Mel Gibson, Vince Vaughn and Drew Barrymore.NBC may be happy with the new “Jay Leno Show,” but some of the other networks... more
Doug Savant’s real wife, Laura Leighton, is floating lifeless in the pool over at Fox’s new “Melrose Place.”
Meanwhile, his TV wife, Felicity Huffman on ABC’s “Desperate Housewives,” is expecting twins—again—and his character, Doug Scavo, a man whose sperm definitely swim, is in the doghouse—again—for that and so many other reasons.
AUDIO EXCERPT: “There’s a picture in Entertainment Weekly, the fall television preview, where (my wife, Laura Leighton, star of ‘Melrose Place”) is kissing Thomas Calabro playfully on the cheek. And I gotta tell you, I don’t like it! Nope! I want her kissing me, not somebody else. I love her enough to be a little possessive!”
Is it any wonder the man is choosing to hide out here, on Mr. Media Radio, for the next 15 minutes, to talk about the importance of Listerine, good dental hygiene, fresh breath, and a book of laughs?
You can LISTEN to this interview with DOUG SAVANT, Esquire star of "DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES," by clicking the BlogTalkRadio.com audio player above!By BOB ANDELMAN
Doug Savant’s real wife, Laura Leighton, is floating lifeless in... more
“Cougar,” as used to describe an older woman with an interest in younger men, is one of my least favorite words (right after “coleslaw,” right before “moist.”) The idea that a woman’s desire is akin to a snarling murderous animal with claws and teeth, who hides behind rocks and then rips your face off, is both unflattering and outrageously sexist. I’ve heard there are some who claim to see this word as empowering, but I think they’re men. Men, after all, whether their desire for younger women is a matter of evolution or personal preference, do not get tagged as “mountain lions” or “wombats.” And as the term “cougar” has caught on in our lexicon, my impression is that it’s not so much intended to specifically describe a woman with a taste for younger partners, but simply any older woman (i.e., any woman 35 plus) who is not yet married and still actively dating. Cameron Diaz, who spoofed her cougarsome self on Saturday Night Live, was labeled as such when she was just thirty one, after she begin dating a younger Justin Timberlake. Ewwwwwwww, right!!!!! How could he kiss such a terrifying hag!!! OMG!
So now we have Cougar Town (ABC, Wednesdays at 9:30), a show about Jules (Courteney Cox), a just divorced 40-year-old woman who’s torn between two fears --being alone for the rest of her life, and being “one of them,” as she whines to her friend; “them” being, you know, those horrifying, salivating crones who seem to live only sparsely in the real world and yet dominate the imagination of the male comedy writer. And therein lies the real problem of the show. While worries about aging and dating after divorce are legitimate, Jules seems less haunted by her own insecurities than by the threat of being lumped in with the town’s other desperate (ex)housewives, who make a spectacle of themselves at, say, high school football games. These women, by the way, are never actually called “cougars,” nor is the Jules character—it’s a reference to the school mascot. Which is a massively cheap, cynical cheat by the show.
What we end up watching is a female character driven by what is essentially a male hysteria. While her physical insecurity is slightly annoying (Cox, at forty five, is still a knockout, and yet the show begins with her standing in front of the mirror picking apart some imaginary microscopic flab; but in fairness, there are lots of insecure beautiful women) it’s not nearly as insidious as her shame about her own desire. She’s openly bitter towards her fortyish male neighbor for bedding twenty-something girls, and yet at no point in the pilot do we see her pursuing someone her own age. When she does end up with a younger man, her reaction isn’t so much “Yippee!” as a series of humiliating mumbles about her c-section scar and an offer to make him snacks, the way she does for her son. Any kind of sexual pursuit seems to reduce her to hunched embarrassment, the same state I was in while watching this show. To see a woman so desperately bereft of any pride in herself is beyond depressing. And yes, this is an essay about what’s supposed to be a comedy.
The jokes, such as they are, are mostly crude sexual double entendres. Her teenaged son, after catching his mother fellating a younger man, snatches away her banana the next morning with an angry “You’re not allowed to eat these anymore.” Really, Cougar Town? Penis equals banana? Thank you.
At one point Jules asks her son, “Why don’t you laugh at my jokes?” He responds, “Because your jokes make me sad.”
I couldn’t have said it any more clearly myself.
by Jessi Klein“Cougar,” as used to describe an older woman with an interest in younger men, is... more
![Roland Emmerich On 2012 Sequel[ABC Series]: It's Lost Meets District 9](http://i2.crtcdn.net/images/asset/901/015/20/J13523_60x45.jpg)
