By Steve Rhodes

“My Boys is back, and so are the Chicago in-jokes,” Thomas Conner writes in the Sun-Times.
Hoo-boy!
Says the show’s “star” Jordana Spiro: “I was just speaking with someone who was really excited about the Ed Debevic’s scenes.”
Yes, probably a reporter from the Trib!
It turns out, as we learned in last night’s opening episode, that Spiro’s poorly constructed character, PJ Franklin, used to hang out at Ed Debevic’s. I mean, does anyone hang out at Ed Debevic’s? Please.
It got worse.

Read More

Posted on July 26, 2010

By Steve Rhodes

Last in a series. For now.
The last time Comcast turned off my cable service instead of that of the person moving out of my building, they offered me a $2.10 credit for my troubles (including a couple days without service.)
If I hadn’t followed my instinct, those troubles would have included driving across town to replace a perfectly fine cable box and returning home to find myself still without service.
This happens every time. I know it, but somehow Comcast doesn’t.
And you wanna run NBC?

Read More

Posted on July 23, 2010

By The Beachwood Public Access Affairs Desk

Let us now take a break from our hammering away at Comcast to praise their commercials. We’ll return to hammering tomorrow.
1. I love the Slowskys. But how did they get a mortgage?

–

Read More

Posted on July 20, 2010

By Barbara Popovic

Editor’s Note: Here is the testimony from last week’s FCC hearing held at Northwestern of Barbara Popovic, the executive director of Chicago’s public access television network, CAN TV.
The FCC recently asked over 40 questions as part of its Future of Media proceeding. That proceeding started with the assumption that many of the challenges encountered in today’s media environment will be addressed by the market without government intervention.
It’s not happening.
Comcast has made public interest assertions about the merger. The Alliance for Communications Democracy has filed comments indicating the numerous ways that those assertions fail to protect the public interest in relation to PEG Access.

Read More

Posted on July 19, 2010

By Steve Rhodes

Let us count the ways.
1. For some reason, every month . . .

–

Read More

Posted on July 16, 2010

By Steve Rhodes

The FCC held a forum on Tuesday at Northwestern on the proposed Comcast-NBC Universal merger (see “Stop Comcast!“). The local media appears to have ignored it. Here’s a smattering of the coverage elsewhere.
1. “The merger between Comcast and NBC Universal would present the cable TV giant with both incentives and ability to discriminate against competitors, especially in the emerging market of online video, a cadre of detractors argued Tuesday,” Variety reports.
“The occasion was an FCC field hearing held at Chicago’s Northwestern U. Law School, where two expert panels discussed the impact of the proposed merger on distributors of online video and multichannel video programming. A majority of the first panel voiced views that the combined entity would decrease choice, investment and diversity in video entertainment. No reps from Comcast or NBC U participated in the panels at the hearing.”

Read More

Posted on July 15, 2010

By Steve Rhodes

When NBCChicago.com removed a post of mine about Tribune Company CEO Randy Michaels at the request of “someone” at Tribune, one of the explanations bandied about by my local handlers was that the upper management types in New York were worried about the company’s proposed merger with Comcast.
I never quite understood what that meant, exactly, except that maybe no one there wanted another major media company pulling strings behind the scenes to dash the deal as well as nerves about folks keeping jobs – let’s not do anything powerful people may not like and risk our new overlords tossing us out on the streets.
So, at least in one small way, you can see that the proposed deal has already been bad for journalism. Can a completed deal be any better?

Read More

Posted on July 12, 2010

By The Beachwood Public Access Affairs Desk

Editor’s Note: Barbara Popovic and her husband, Radoje, own the building I live in.
The Alliance for Community Media (ACM) honored Barbara Popovic, Chicago Access Network Television (CAN TV) Executive Director, with the Dirk Koning-George Stoney Leadership Award at its annual conference in Pittsburgh this July. This award is given to an organization or individual for making an outstanding contribution to championing the growth and experience of humanistic community communications.
In her acceptance speech, Popovic described how Chicago residents and groups create programs through CAN TV about public health, jobs, immigration, educational opportunities, and the arts. “These dynamic public access channels open a whole new frontier of communications on television. The people who are living it are telling it,” says Popovic.

Read More

Posted on July 9, 2010

By 15 Gigs

“Bo and Wyatt, two unemployed 20-something stoners, spend their lives sitting on the couch watching reruns of their favorite 80s detective show, Derringer P.I.. Faced with a mountain of overdue bills and back rent, our boys’ foggy but overactive imaginations conjure a version of their hero into their living room. Derringer P.I. takes the slackers under his wing and shows them how to deal with partners in too deep, mafia run amok, and territorial drug lords. Undercover goes under the influence.”
–
Sixth in a series.
–
Tonight’s special episode: Ode To Wyatt.

Read More

Posted on July 8, 2010

By 15 Gigs

“Bo and Wyatt, two unemployed 20-something stoners, spend their lives sitting on the couch watching reruns of their favorite 80s detective show, Derringer P.I.. Faced with a mountain of overdue bills and back rent, our boys’ foggy but overactive imaginations conjure a version of their hero into their living room. Derringer P.I. takes the slackers under his wing and shows them how to deal with partners in too deep, mafia run amok, and territorial drug lords. Undercover goes under the influence.”
–
Fifth in a series.
–
Tonight’s episode: Bill Me.

–

Read More

Posted on July 1, 2010