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MediaEye #2

By Ron Wynn

Editor, Everything Underground

    Last season’s television powerhouse was the Fox network show,  24. That program included a prominent African-American presence thanks to   Dennis Haysbert, who played President David Palmer and Penny Johnson Jerald,  who portrayed his estranged wife. But both these actors may be out in the cold when the new season starts. The final episode saw Haysbert¹s character poisoned in a biological assassination attempt. No one knows whether  his character survived, and Jerald¹s contract was up and hasn¹t yet been renewed. However, Jerald¹s currently moved onto another project. She¹s playing National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice in a film tentatively titled “The Big Dance”.  

    With Beyonce Knowles solo album rushed ahead from July 1 to being  out on the market right now, the busy vocalist continues denying rumors that  she's engaged. Knowles admits that the two are a couple, but stops far short of admitting they¹re preparing for marriage. It¹s interesting that many of  the people who predicted that Destiny¹s Child would be a short-lived  success now lie in wait for something Knowles does to flop. While she didn't exactly bowl anyone over as an comic actress in the final, Austin Powers,  she continues to rate very highly among fans as a singer and personality.  While the Destiny¹s Child reunion looks further and further away, Knowles continues to be touted as the DIVA  of the moment.  

    It seems that Bob Johnson isn¹t ready yet to completely drop out of  the media wars. The owner of the new Charlotte expansion team, Johnson has largely confined himself these days to overseeing the start of his basketball squad and not made many comments regarding television, the  FCC or his former company Black Entertainment Television. But when a competitor essentially called BET a teen channel last week, Johnson came out firing. He told the Starcom Media Vest Group that ratings showed BET was the number one cable network among black adults ages 18-34 and 18-49 in total daytime viewing and also number one in primetime viewership.

 “Bet has never  shied away from competition,” Johnson said. “Even with the myriad of choices  intelevision and off-network entertainment, I¹m happy to say BET is still  thenumber one destination. And we have no plan of relinquishing that  position.”     Johnson and company evidently are feeling the heat from the new  network being formed by a coalition of Radio One, the nation’s top  African-American broadcasting company and Comcast. That¹s probably why he’s avoided  commenton the FCC decision giving conglomerates even more chances to grab upoutlets and franchises. It¹s already tough for startup companies to get channel space on current cable systems, while BET¹s firmly entrenched  in every system and in every city. Even places where Comcast has the franchise might be hard-pressed to ensure space for the new venture, unles  Comcast is willing to play hardball with its franchisees.    Still, it’s quite interesting that BET feels threatened already,  whenthe new network isn’t even operational.   

    Reaction seems mixed thus far to the new (Orlando Jones)show.  Froman attitude standpoint, Jones definitely doesn¹t try and be something he’s not, a professional emcee. He keeps the jokes to a minimum, and the absence of a band is most welcome. The skits and use of animated characters has  been a very mixed bag. His guest list has been good, if not exceptional, and  he has attracted some bands that seldom make it onto the other late-night shows.    What’s missing so far is the kind of excitement and buzz that accompanied the early days of the Arsenio Hall Show. Apparently,  there’s less interest now in late-night television generally, and in what he’s trying to do specifically. But it’s still early, and possibly Jones can  make more impact in the fall, when viewer levels increase. But after about 1 1/2 weeks, there doesn¹t seem to be any groundswell for his program.

(Sources include the EUR Report, Blackvoices.com, Black Enterprise, and

other media publications and journals).