PTC to Fox:
Step away from Howard Stern
Other shorts: AFL passes from NBC and ESPN to NFL Network
By Louisa Ada Seltzer
Feb 12, 2010
PTC to Fox: Step away from Howard Stern
Well, this seemed inevitable from the moment word leaked that Fox was even considering Howard Stern as a judge on "American Idol." The Parents Television Council is just outraged. The advocacy group put out a statement Wednesday demanding that Fox repudiate reports that Stern, the outrageous Sirius XM Radio shock jock, is being eyed as a replacement for exiting judge Simon Cowell. PTC president Tim Winter called Stern "one of the most profane, sexually explicit and anti-family performers in the history of the broadcast medium" in a statement, and the group has launched a petition to keep Stern off the show at http://www.parentstv.org/PTC/action/HowardStern/main.asp. Just how serious Fox is about Stern is not clear. Stern himself made it sound like he was being pursued, but a Daily Beast report this week indicated that he's just one of a large range of options "Idol" producers are considering. The show is the No. 1 program on television, regularly doubling the next-highest-rated show in its timeslot.
AFL passes from NBC and ESPN to NFL Network
The Arena Football League will be back in action in 2010, with a new television partner. After sitting out the 2009 season because of financial woes, the league will resume play in April. Games will be telecast every Friday night on the NFL Network, which will also carry playoff games in August and the Arena Bowl Championship at month's end. The AFL never drew particularly high ratings on ESPN or NBC, where games aired during the league's most recent seasons. But the programming probably makes more sense for the NFL Network, whose ratings plunge during the NFL offseason with only marginally relevant original content outside of the NFL draft. There's also a logical chance for cross promotion. A small number of AFL players, including former NFL MVP Kurt Warner, played in the AFL before moving to the NFL. By giving the NFL a chance to hype those players early in their careers, both leagues could benefit.
Playboy's big scoop: John Mayer is a jerk
There's being edgy, and then there's being a moron. Singer John Mayer was trying to be edgy, but really he's a moron. Mayer has caused an uproar over an interview he gave to Playboy for its March issue, in which he compared his penis to a white supremacist because he doesn’t date black women, described former girlfriend Jessica Simpson as “sexual napalm,” and at one point used the N-word. He also went on at length about his meeting with blogger Perez Hilton: “I remember seeing Perez Hilton flitting about this club and acting as though he had just invented homosexuality. All of a sudden I thought, I can out-gay this guy right now. I grabbed him and gave him the dirtiest, tongue-iest kiss I have ever put on anybody — almost as if I hated f--s.” The interview was a hot topic online this week, with some bloggers calling the singer a racist. The frequent Twitterer has since apologized via several tweets that read: “Re: using the 'N word' in an interview: I am sorry that I used the word. And it's such a shame that I did because the point I was trying to make was in the exact opposite spirit of the word itself. It was arrogant of me to think I could intellectualize using it, because I realize that there's no intellectualizing a word that is so emotionally charged.”
Programming notes: 'Lights' out for NBC show
The lights are about to dim on DirecTV and NBC’s “Friday Night Lights.” The football drama will end its run following next fall's fifth season, according to Entertainment Weekly’s Michael Ausiello. Though no official word has been put out, the cast of the series has been advised to look for other work after shooting for season five ends in June. Season four of “Lights” ended its DirecTV run this week and will re-air on NBC April 30 in accordance with their production agreement. Season five will premiere on DirecTV this fall. Meanwhile, in other programming, HBO has ordered the five-hour miniseries “Mildred Pierce,” which stars Kate Winslet as a Great Depression-era mother living in Los Angeles. Casting for the project’s other roles has already begun. TLC has picked up six episodes of “Cupcake Sisters,” a reality series about a pair of sisters who run a cupcake shop. The show will premiere in July. On March 14 ESPN Deportes will launch “Frente al Reto,” an eight-episode documentary program. The series will follow eight Mexican soccer players as they get ready for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. On April 5 Bravo will premiere “Double Exposure,” a reality series following fashion photographers Markus Klinko and Indrani and stylist GK Reid. Part of the show’s focus will be on how former couple Klinko and Indrani manage their professional relationship. And on broadcast, ABC has ordered a second season of “Shaq Vs.,” in which basketball star Shaquille O’Neal takes on athletes in their own sports. Six new episodes of the program will air this summer.
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