Chicago - A message from the station manager

Local TV Notes: Giuliana Ranic And Truth In Advertising Are Oxymorons

By Steve Rhodes

1. Hard Not To Conclude That Giuliana Rancic Deserved The Treatment Russell Crowe Gave Her. (“Are you excited to be here?”)
2. Former Chicago Comic Writes For Awful Chicago-Based “Comedy” Sirens.
3. “Truth In Advertising” An Oxymoron?
“Advertising watchdog TruthInAdvertising.org will launch its first national advertising campaign early next week aiming to get consumers to report false advertising and marketing.

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Posted on March 27, 2014

Don Lemon Is At It Again

By Steve Rhodes

Former NBC Chicago anchor Don Lemon is a national joke to those who follow broadcast news and still manage to have half a brain, but he’s recently been rewarded by CNN with a prime-time show of his own where he can ask the really tough questions like if Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 was sucked into a black hole.

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Posted on March 25, 2014

Cracking The Chicagoland Code 3: Our Fact-Challenged Heroes

By Tuffy And The Angry Aussie

The producers have lost any semblance of a plot they may have had, and in the process delivered diminishing returns – even for those of us who think the program sucks. We stlll found a lot to talk about though, from the outrageous lack of fact-checking to more Rahm hagiography.

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Posted on March 24, 2014

Kevin Trudeau’s Jailhouse Jig

By Steve Rhodes

“Meanwhile, in a rambling post on his Facebook page, a message attributed to Trudeau updates his followers on his new life, and speaks of his affection for the judge who gave him such a stiff sentence,” Phil Rogers reports for NBC Chicago.

“Had a great nights sleep after the sentencing!” he wrote. “Mandela got 28 years, I was blessed to get only 10.”
“I have deep love and appreciation for the Judge and the prosecutors,” the post continues. “Please send them love.”

They don’t want love, they want the truth!
But Trudeau’s Facebook posts portend either a man who has already embarked on a new scheme – he includes a fundraising appeal (checks payable to Winston & Strawn) – or who is merely extending his old one; either way, he’s far more Oprah than Mandela.
To wit:

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Posted on March 20, 2014

Smoking Stinks

By The Museum Of Classic Chicago Television

“Here’s a public service announcement from the American Cancer Society for the ‘Smoking Stinks’ campaign featuring take-offs on well-known fairy tales such as Rapunzel, The Frog Prince, and Sleeping Beauty,” the Museum of Classic Chicago Television says in a video upload this week.
“This aired on local Chicago TV on Tuesday, July 4, 1978.”

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Posted on March 19, 2014

Local TV Notes: Kevin Trudeau Could’ve Been President

Plus: The Problem With Chicago PD

“Best-selling American author Kevin Trudeau, whose name became synonymous with late-night TV pitches, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for swindling consumers through infomercials for his book about weight loss,” AP reports.
“As he imposed the sentence prosecutors had requested, district judge Ronald Guzman portrayed 50-year-old Trudeau as a habitual fraudster from early adulthood. So brazen was Trudeau, the judge said, he once even used his own mother’s social security number during a scam.”
If he’d gone into politics, he’d be president!
Seriously. He’s an amazingly persuasive performer. And he’s got all the character traits of our best pols.

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Posted on March 18, 2014

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