Access Atlanta > Entertainment > Radio Talk > Archives > 2007 > October > 12
Friday, October 12, 2007
10/13: Rocco Dispirito at Taste of Atlanta
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I spoke with New York food expert Rocco Dispirito earlier this week by phone before Taste of Atlanta at Atlantic Station. Here’s what I wrote for Peach Buzz (this is an extended version):
After his dispiriting experience with Rocco’s 22nd Street, documented by the 2003 NBC reality show “The Restaurant,” Rocco Dispirito has stayed out of the restaurant business, opting to be more of a food personality.
This means writing books (“Rocco’s Real-Life Recipes” out November 6), making TV appearances (“The Today Show,” “Top Chef”) and doing food demonstrations at events such as Taste of Atlanta at Atlantic Station Saturday.
Buzz talked to him by phone earlier this week:
On his book: “We found that Americans don’t use the recipes for soups, salads and side dishes as much as entrees. So this book is all entrees focused on America’s favorite proteins, 10 ingredients or less and done in under 30 minutes.”
What he learned from “The Restaurant”: “You can only do so many things and do them well. I was stretched too thin.”
Shortcut foods: “Frozen peas are good. Frozen corn is horrible. Chicken stock is good. Canned beef froth is horrible. Chopped garlic in a tube is good. Chopped garlic in a jar is bad.”
On the “Top Chef” winner Hung Huynh and accusations by rivals he lacked heart: (Dispirito guest judged for one episode and did sous chef work for Hung during the finale.) “He’s all heart all the time. He might have too much passion. But he reminds me a bit of what I was like when I was 29. I was pretty fearless and so is Hung. He’s a major talent. I’ve had two or threee Hungs in my life out of thousands I cooked with. It’s the magical combination of skills and a real strong point of view plus the courage to face any challenge.”
On the favored “Top Chef” contestant Casey Thompson, who choked on the finale: “Some people don’t know themselves or have developed a point of view. They can perform well when options are limited but when it’s opened up the way they did on the finale, her plan simply wasn’t well thought out.”
On Saturday morning, I’m meeting with Ted Allen, another “Top Chef” host best known for his role on Bravo’s “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.” He’s also doing demonstrations at Taste of Atlanta. I’ll post a fresh blog entry about him later this weekend.
Permalink | |
10/13: TV ratings - Practice up, Bionic down
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
An alarming 42 percent of Atlantans who sampled the debut of NBC’s “Bionic Woman” skipped out the second week.
The remake of the ’70s drama drew a solid 363,000 Atlantans two weeks ago but only brought in 211,000 on Oct. 3. Nationally, the show — which has received mixed reviews — dropped to a lesser degree, from 13.9 million viewers to 11.1 million.
But ABC’s “Private Practice,” the “Grey’s Anatomy” spinoff that aired at the same time as “Bionic,” saw its audience grow from 223,000 week one to 247,000 Oct. 3. The show finished at 12.5 million, down from 14.4 million week one, a fairly typical dropoff for a new show.
ABC also got good numbers out of its critically acclaimed new series “Pushing Daisies,” which ranked 14th nationwide with 13 million viewers, landed at No. 9 locally , finishing with 290,000 viewers.
Here are the top 10 primetime shows in metro Atlanta from the week of Oct. 1, 2007:
Show Network Date Viewers (national ranking)
“House” Fox Oct. 1 496,000 (6)
“Dancing With the Stars” ABC Oct. 1 467,000 (2)
“College football (Florida at LSU)” CBS Oct. 6 448,000 (48)
“Grey’s Anatomy” ABC Oct. 7 400,000 (3)
“Dancing With the Stars (results)” ABC Oct. 2 334,000 (8)
“CSI” CBS Oct. 4 320,000 (1)
“Desperate Housewives” ABC Oct. 7 318,000 5)
“Law & Order: SVU” NBC Oct. 2 295,000 (21)
“Pushing Daisies” ABC Oct. 3 290,000 (14)
NFL Sunday Night Football NBC Oct. 7 289,000 (4)
Source: Nielsen Media Research
Nationally, here are some other winners and losers:
WINNERS:
Bravo’s “Top Chef” — The finale pulled in 3.1 million viewers, down from the 3.6 million of the finale from season two, but still an excellent total for Bravo. Hung Hunyh beat Casey Thompson, the favorite coming into the finale, after she basically choked. He may not have been as likable as Casey or the other finalist, Dale, but he definitely brought his A game to the last challenge.
NBC’s “The Office” — The hilarious sitcom in its fourth season is one of the few that has seen any ratings growth year over year, averaing 9 million viewers vs. 8.5 million a year ago at the same point. Although the one-hour episodes so far seem a bit bloated (there’s one more next week), the show is doing amazingly well considering it’s up against top 5 shows “CSI” and “Grey’s Anatomy.”
NBC’s “Deal or No Deal” — This rapidly aging game show has seen a spark of life recently thanks to the show adding extra $1 million cases in the mix in hopes of getting someone to that vaunted $1 million level. The show drew 12.5 million viewers Wednesday, its best performance since March.
LOSERS
NBC’s “E.R.” — This decrepit drama is in critical condition, its status falling fast as it hit yet another record ratings low of 8.6 million last night. Ouch. Even “Big Shots” did better on ABC.
**Bravo’s “Tim Gunn’s Guide to Style” — Gunn is hot on “Project Runway” but this makeover show saw its audience evaporate last week to just 278,000 viewers from 911,000 on Sept. 20 before broadcast competition started taking its toll.
CBS’s “Kid Nation” — Four weeks in and ratings have fallen off every week from 9.1 million the first to 6.9 million last night.
NBC’s “Chuck” — The preposterous conceit of this dramedy isn’t sticking with audiences as the show dropped from 9.2 million Sept. 24 to just 7 million this past Monday.
10/12: Avril, Elliott Yamin on Star’s Jingle Jam lineup
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Avril Lavigne, who has cranked out a fairly consistent stream of hits the past five years, will be the headliner for this year’s Star 94 Jingle Jam Monday December 10 at the Gwinnett Arena.
“Idol” finalist Elliott Yamin (“Wait For You”) starts at 7, followed by Colbie Caillat (“Bubbly”) at 7:45 a.m., the Jonas Brothers at 8:35 p.m. and Avril at 9:50 p.m. I guess it’s not surprising why Star has been promoting Colbie so heavily in recent weeks. Star 94 was the first station in town to play Lavigne’s breakout hit “Complicated” in 2002 and had her as a performer on “On the Bricks” in the summer of 2003.
Tix are $27 to $57 and go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday October 20 through www.star94.com, the Arena or Ticketmaster. The concert has sold out the past couple of years so grab them quickly or you’ll have to try to win them free or go to a ticket broker.
For comparison, last year’s Jingle Jam lineup was K.T. Tunstall, Hinder, the Fray and Goo Goo Dolls. In 2005, the lineup featured Jason Mraz, Switchfoot, Gavin DeGraw, Howie Day and James Blunt.
Permalink | |
10/12: Rhubarb says all is good
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Rhubarb Jones said the recent cutback in his hours at Eagle was a mutual agreement between him and his boss Victor Sansone. At age 56, he wanted to spend more time with his young children and after 36 years in radio, “it’s giving me a break.”
Sansone got angry when I speculated yesterday that this was a sign of Jones perhaps being “phased out” and leaving the scene eventually.
In a sense, that’s not true. But Jones today said he isn’t even sure if he’ll re-sign a new contract when the time comes. “I don’t know if I would want to do another five years,” he said. “What do I have to prove at this point in my career?” As for Sansone, “he’s been terrific to me, just terrific.”
Rhubarb — who has been on the 106.7 signal for 22 years as Atlanta’s longest-running morning host and was recently inducted into the Georgia Radio Hall of Fame — didn’t get back to me yesterday because he was at an event at Kennesaw State. Usually he gets back to me pronto so that made me wonder what was really going on.
Rhubarb noted that Eagle is choosing to play more music even when he is on live because “there’s so much bloody chatter going on” on other stations. “We’re tightening it up, making it sound better.”
In yesterday’s blog entry, I dubbed this a “strange” arrangement, at least strange to me because I hadn’t seen it before in this town. Although WSB-AM’s Scott Slade ends his show at 8:30 a.m. and cedes to Neal Boortz from 8:30 to 1 p.m., those are separate shows. Ditto with the Bull’s Big D and Bubba from 5 to 8 and Paul Koffy from 8 to 2. In this case, the show on Eagle is advertised as the Rhubarb and Dallas show from 5 to 10 a.m. and I found it unusual that Rhubarb isn’t actually on the entire time.
Former Eagle radio consultant Joel Raab (who has 20 clients and 7 in top 20 markets) said while this isn’t an every day occurence, it’s been done before to accommodate veteran radio jocks. In fact, Raab is working an arrangement out with a country morning host in another market.
“Johnny Carson wasn’t on half the time the last 10 years he was on,” Raab noted. As for Rhubarb, “this speaks to his star status by giving him an easier schedule.”
