LeBromination: Papers
react to King's 'Decision'
Other shorts: Time.com walls off print content
By Louisa Ada Seltzer
Jul 9, 2010
LeBromination: Papers react to King's 'Decision'
Media reaction to the departure of LeBron James from Cleveland to Miami was swift, harsh and almost scornful last night, with nearly as much of the vitriol directed at ESPN, which hosted the special ("The Decision") during which the coveted free agent announced his decision, as at the NBA player himself, who is leaving his home state after seven years of playing for the Cavaliers. The newspaper front pages in Cleveland, Miami and cities that James snubbed, including New York, where the Knicks lobbied him hard, made no attempt at objectivity. The Cleveland Plain-Dealer's entire front page showed a picture of James from behind in his Cleveland uniform under the headline "Gone," alongside a snarky caption noting the lack of NBA championship rings on James' fingers. The Miami Herald ran an all-LeBron front page showing King James with his arms stretched heavenward with the simple headline "Jackpot!" The New York Post branded James "LeBum!" and "Son of a Beach!" But there were just as many jabs at ESPN, which was sharply criticized for covering the James decision as though it was a major world event instead of a basketball player picking a new team. Tsk-ed the New York Times' Richard Sandomir, "[Interviewer Jim] Gray’s deliberate, four-corner teasing cynically dragged out a now-annoying drama. … Gray could not stop the inane foreplay and turned a simple Q&A into a tortured interview."
Time.com walls off print content
There was no formal announcement, a la the Times of London, or year-long countdown, a la the New York Times, but Time.com has definitely slipped behind a paywall. This week the newsweekly quietly stopped posting full stories from its weekly print edition, instead posting shorter summaries and directing readers to either the magazine or the iPad edition to read the complete article. There is still plenty of free content available on Time.com, including news, columns and blogs that aren't available in the print edition. And if you don't mind waiting a couple weeks, you can read the full articles for free when they are archived. Still, it's a major development for a magazine in a category that's still very much trying to figure out how to navigate the electronic age, which has made the traditional newsweekly format obsolete. After the move was noted by media writers earlier this week, Time has said the site will tweak what it does and doesn't post in the coming months, depending on users' preferences.
'Rock's' Baldwin: I'm retiring in two years
. Really this time.
It appears NBC is losing another one of its standout sitcom stars, albeit not until 2012. Outspoken “30 Rock” star Alec Baldwin told CNN this week that he’ll leave the comedy when his contract expires in 2012, saying, “I know that I would love to have a different life. A private life. I think that doing this now for a living has become really, really hard. I would rather go do other things, and [with] whatever amount of time I have left in my life, have a normal life.” Of course, Baldwin has hinted at leaving the show, which revived his career with a string of Emmys and universal critical acclaim, several times before. In 2008 he told “The View” that he asked NBC to let him out of his contract so he could focus on his divorce litigation; then last year, when asked by Playboy magazine how long he’d stay with “30 Rock,” he said, “I’ve got three more years to go.” Baldwin may be following another star who's just as critical to the success of his show, “The Office's” Steve Carell, out the door at NBC. Carell last month said he will leave the comedy after the upcoming season.
Poll: 'L&O' will be most-missed canceled show
Word broke earlier this week that AMC is mulling a revival of NBC’s canceled-for-now “Law & Order,” and apparently for good reason: it stands as the axed drama TV viewers will miss most. Among TV dramas, 26 percent of Americans say they will miss “L&O” most, according to a survey from Rasmussen Reports, more than double the 12 percent who said they’ll miss Fox’s “24” the most. Those two programs were followed by USA’s “Monk” (9 percent), ABC’s “Lost” (8 percent), CBS’s “Ghost Whisperer” (7 percent), CBS’s “Numb3rs” (5 percent) and NBC’s “Heroes” (4 percent). In the comedy category, 27 percent claimed the show they’d miss most wasn’t on Rasmussen Reports’ list. Among those who did answer, 13 percent will miss “The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien” the most, with “The Jay Leno Show” coming in second at 12 percent. But those respondents shouldn't fret. Leno remains on the air in his old “Tonight” hosting gig and O’Brien launches a new show on TBS this fall.
'Today:' Same-sex couples can enter contest
Same-sex couples can't marry in New York, but they can on "Today," which is filmed there. The longtime No. 1 morning news show said yesterday that it will allow gay and lesbian couples to enter its annual wedding contest for the first time after meeting with representatives from the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. GLAAD requested the meeting last week, after learning from members that the NBC show was excluding same-sex couples from the contest in which viewers help plan one wedding each summer. Four couples compete to become the "Today" wedding recipients, and "Today" extended the deadline for applications for the contest until Monday to allow gays and lesbians to enter. The show said it had not allowed same-sex couples before because they are not allowed to marry under New York law. However, GLAAD suggested the couples could get a wedding license from another state and still have their ceremony in NYC. NBC said it heard feedback from lots of gay and lesbian couples before making the decision.
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