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Monday, November 24, 2008
11/25: People are watching more TV than ever, got more “Housewives of Atlanta” info
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
With so many new distractions this decade, especially stemming from the Internet, people are reading fewer books, reading fewer magazines and newspapers and watching fewer movies in theaters.
But TV? It’s more popular than ever. Some reasons why: there are more choices on TV (including on-demand and more cable networks) and the growth of “time shifting” DVRs.
The average U.S. household watched 8 hours and 18 minutes a day of TV, according to Nielsen from September 2007 to September 2008, the most since Nielsen began measurements in the 1950s.
The average person watches four hours and 45 minutes of TV a day. That’s more than anything except sleep and work. In 1998-99, the average person watched 4 hours a day. So viewing is up nearly 19 percent in less than a decade. And just think: that means millions watch more than four hours and 45 minutes a day.
DVRs only represent 4.5 percent of total viewing but that’s up from 3 percent a year ago.
- More flotsam from the Web and TV on “Real Housewives of Atlanta,” which has its reunion show tonight at 9 p.m.:
Jimmy Baron (formerly of 99X) subbed in for Tommy Sullivan on “Atlanta & Company” Monday and while interviewing Rosie O’Donnell, discovered she’s a fan of “Real Housewives of Atlanta” and had met NeNe. “She’s going to be a star,” she said. “She’s got something about her!”
After Baron called the women “abhorrent,” she didn’t quite agree but did say she didn’t relate to these women at all: “It’s like I’m watching people from Neptune.”
Plus, please check out my colleague Richard Eldredge’s hilarious piece interviewing businesses featured on the show here.
A sampling: Jan Smith, the vocal coach who told Kim Zolciak she really can’t sing well, commented to Richard:
“I’ve been featured on MTV, VH1 and BET. But I’ve never gotten the level of reaction that I’ve gotten with this silly show. I did this as a favor to [producer and friend] Dallas [Austin]. The good thing is, the people who saw it, saw me being honest with her. They saw me doing what I actually do at work. Someone had to tell her. To me, the show is despicable. Total buffoonery.”
E! Online interviewed breakout star NeNe. Here’s a scary note:
Anderson Cooper really can’t stop talking about you. He was talking about you the other night with Jay Leno. Jay even showed a picture of you.
He showed a huge photo of me. I screamed in my bedroom. I was like, Whoa! I really need to get on Leno now!
- Bonnie Hunt and comic Niecy Nash [mock Kim and NeNe in this clip from the “Bonnie Hunt Show” Monday. It’s pretty darn funny.:
-And look! More dirt on Kim Zolciak!
The New York Post cited a Hartford Courant piece noting that she had a high-profile affair with a police chief named John MacDougald when she was 16 or 17 the romance began and allegedly a witness in a criminal investigation at the time.
McDougald, a 25-year veteran of the police department, copped to the affair-but insisted that the relationship started after the case was closed.
The scandal helped touch off an internal investigation in the Windsor Locks [Ct.] police department-where allegations of secret tapings, sexual-assault charges and cover-ups flew.
It names the real-estate investor who is Big Papa (though since we don’t have direct proof here, I’m told not to reveal his name.)
And the newspaper found records of Sheree being arrested for theft in 1989 at age 19.
The paper also gripe that they aren’t technically in Atlanta, which is true, but they’re close enough. And according to the Post, Zolciak purchased her home in Myers Park, a townhome community in Duluth, for $486,000 in 2006. From a New York standpoint, that’s cheap. In Atlanta, that’s not half bad.
And it noted that Gregg Leakes, NeNe’s hubby, was recently evicted from a rental home in Sugarloaf. The home is owned by Shenaz Ali Kajani.
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11/24: “Real Housewives of Atlanta” Kim Zolciak and Lisa Wu Hartwell interviews
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
My shameless flogging of “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” continues unabated
The reunion show Tuesday at 9 promises even more fireworks. Bravo has been teasing to run-ins between NeNe Leakes and Kim Zolciak and the seemingly inflappable Lisa Wu Hartell and (again) Zolciak.
Wu Hartwell said late last week that she was upset when she heard through friends that Zolciak was bad-mouthing her, saying she had to relinquish custody of her two children from her first marriage to Keith Sweat because of drug problems. (Although Wu Hartwell admits losing custody in a very bitter divorce case, she says she still sees her two older children “all the time.”)
“I just lost it,” Wu Hartwell says. “A lot happened off camera. I’ve never done drugs. You can’t go around saying things like that.”
Zolciak denies spreading such rumors and was surprised by Wu Hartwell’s angry voicemails to her as well as her outburst in tonight’s reunion show, taped two weeks ago. “It was bizarre,” Zolciak says. “I was mortified. Her children are her business. I’m a mother, too. I never said that.”
And despite Leakes’ mockery of Zolciak’s singing in that infamous drunken limo scene, Zolciak insists things are okay between her and Leakes.
“She made a public statement with People apologizing,” Zolciak says. And she heard through mutual friends how bad Leakes felt. (Oddly, she says Leakes has never given her a direct apology.)
Still, Zolciak admits that watching the actual video of NeNe making fun of her “reopened some wounds.” At the same time, she thought “it was pretty funny. My [oldest] daughter had a hard time with it, though.”
But why didn’t Zolciak meet with Leakes to discuss it? “I didn’t confront her because I was hurt,” she said. “I didn’t want to entertain the negative energy. In hindsight, I should have called her but I don’t know if she would have been completely honest. I shut her out and moved on.”
She also said she didn’t fight back against NeNe during the finale episode’s Pacific Kitchen dinner because her kids were in earshot. “I wanted to say so much,” she said. “I couldn’t.”
For the sake of a likely second season, she can’t really move on. “We’ll sit down and talk when things calm down,” Zolciak said.
Then there’s “Big Papa,” the mysterious boyfriend. Zolciak acknowledges the end of their relationship of three years — not seven months as noted on the TV program. She also says they were engaged for a time and that she recently broke it off.
“I need to focus on Kim,” she says. “I have to focus on my kids.”
She also fended off rumors of his identity, saying he is not Quincy Jones or Dallas Austin. When the name of a local real estate developer was posed, she said, “Nice try.” She admits that Big Papa is a married man but says he had been estranged from his wife for years. Dating him for so long, “is that morally correct?” Zolciak muses. “I don’t have that answer.”
So how will she pay for her lifestyle without Big Papa? (She says she’s currently not dating.) “I’m a smart girl with my money. I will continue to provide for myself,” she says, adding that she’s in talks with Playboy to be a cover model. “It’s a very classy magazine,” she said.
And what is Zolciak’s take on her own singing ability? “I never claimed to be the best singer,” she says. “Is there work to be done? Absolutely. But my single will speak for itself.”
She referred to the reunion show when asked about her hair (which includes some level of fakery to it). See video below of her breaking down and claiming cancer to boot.
She also defended her 8 and 11 year old daughters sleeping in her bed at night. “It’s my girl and me at night,” she said. “We laugh and joke and talk about our day. It’s my favorite part of the day.”
And she didn’t believe anybody was booing her at that Hawks game I attended November 1. I heard it it loud and clear. She didn’t.
Getting back to Lisa, here are some highlights from that interview:
On NeNe: “None of them are like any of my friends who hang out with me. I do speak with NeNe. She’s a character. She’s funny. With NeNe, what you see is what you get. You can appreciate that.”
On Kim and Sheree skipping DeShawn’s party without even saying why: “To my face, they gave me different stories. When I saw it on tape, I found out they lied. I was just, wow!”
On her outburst on the reunion show: “I’ve apologized to my fans. I tell them you really don’t know what happened behind the scenes. I let her get under my skin. My kids are very dear to me.”
On her current relationship to Keith Sweat, who refused to let him or his kids on the show. “We have never been on good terms. It was an unfortunate situation when we parted. Hopefully we can be friends in the future and raise our children.*
On Ed’s football career: “People ask me why I’m not supportive of his career. He’s been injured. I don’t want to see him hurt. I want him to be able to walk when he’s 50 years old. The money’s not everything.” [He was signed to the Raiders in May, let go in August because, Lisa said, the team was concerned about a bad knee.]
Did producer Jazzy Phe buy that house?: No. “He was actually sold on the house. But it was too far from Atlanta, at least one hour and 15 minutes away. If I could have picked up the house and moved it to where he wanted, he would have taken it.”
How’s her real estate business going? “It’s been okay. I have 12 or 13 agents. The athletes and entertainers on the high end aren’t as affected yet. I have cut some of my fees. I’m going to show a house that was originally $4 million. Now the owner is asking for $3 million. You see a lot of major builders shutting down. It’s crazy!”
On her movie career “I’m putting a film together here in Atlanta called ‘Root of All Evil.’ I’m looking for talent right now.”
On Tyler Perry: Lisa said she was friends with Tyler Perry back in the 1990s, before he broke it big. She hasn’t been able to get in touch with him in ages but wouldn’t mind doing so.
On doing a second season: “The second season would be totally different. I’ve learned who they are. I believe there’s good in everybody. Sometimes they’re not. Sometimes people have ill intentions. I never thought people were like that. They’d conjure up plans to take you down. People like that are insecure.”
On TV
“Real Housewives Atlanta” reunion show airs Tuesday at 9 on Bravo TV.
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11/24: Cledus T. Judd ousted from 94.9/the Bull
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
When morning hosts get fired, they typically disappear off the airwaves as if they never existed.
That may just be the case with Cledus T. Judd, the host for 94.9/The Bull who grew up in Cartersville and now lives in that area. He was not on the air this morning and his image has been pulled from the site. In other words, he’s a goner. (I left a message with Cledus. Cledus’ wife Amy Cameron said he’s in Nashville today and in meetings. “He’s doing great,” she said but didn’t provide any details of his emotional state.
Judd released this statement
I appreciate the opportunity to have gotten to come home to my hometown and broadcast in the greatest city in the greatest State in America, Georgia. I will always be indebted to Clay Hunnicutt for giving me the opportunity to broadcast in my hometown. There are wonderful people in the Clear Channel building and there’s a part of me that feels like I let them down, but it was not from a lack of giving it all I had. I wish those people at 94.9 The Bull nothing but the best in the future, and again, am sincerely grateful to have gotten to come home and be with my friends and family. I will continue on my journey to whatever opportunities lie ahead. Right now, I’m just going to concentrate on time with my family, focus on my songwriting, prepare myself for whatever the future holds and enjoy the holidays.
As expected, Cledus’ former boss Clay Hunnicutt was mum on why he let Cledus go. “He’s going to write some music, that kind of stuff,” Hunnicutt said. “The rest of it is kind of personal.” son.
The Bull really tried to pump Cledus up with billboards and TV ads in the spring. But ratings never picked up. He ranked an abysmal 20th in the summer and early fall numbers under the new (presumably more accurate) people meter system were no better. I doubt it was anything more than that.
Kristen Gates, who joined the show a couple of months ago from Kicks 101.5, remains at the Bull. (He had already gone through Jamie Massey, Slam Duncan and Paul Koffey.)
“I’m pleased with how our station has done,” said rival general manager for Kicks Paul O’Malley. “Our morning show ratings are up. I couldn’t be happier with the PPMs over here. [That’s the new ratings system instituted in September.] I have empathy for anybody losing their jobs in this economy. But Clear Channel management made a business decision.”
Do you think he deserved the plug after less than a year with the Bull? (He started on air at the station in January.) Do you think this is a precursor to the entire country format being dumped by Clear Channel, which owns 94.9? 94.9 will probably go Christmas on Wednesday so we may not know a new format until after the holidays.
The Bull boss Hunnicutt said he’s seeking a replacement to Cledus, is committed to the country format and won’t say what the station will do for the Christmas sea
Clear Channel launched the Bull before Christmas in late 2006, alienating a lot of people by doing so before Santa’s sleigh dropped. The station has played second fiddle to Kicks ever since.
This move comes just a couple of weeks after another newbie Zakk Tyler was ousted from Dave FM after eight months on the air. Interpretation: radio companies are less and less patient in developing new talent. If numbers don’t pop immediately, a show is gone. The problem: most current big shows did not get huge numbers out of the gate. It took both the Regular Guys and the Bert Show two years to really draw a following. These firings often come before the budgetary year starts—thus, right before Thanksgiving or Christmas.
And whither the Morning Mess?
