Austin360 blogs > TV Blog > Archives > 2005 > September > 06 > Entry
Next for Katrina coverage?
Like millions of other Americans, I continued to be glued to Katrina coverage over the weekend.
Ratings for cable news networks were up 300 percent, and the prime-time specials on the broadcast networks out-performed previous installments of “Dateline,” “Primetime Live” and “60 Minutes.”
It will be interesting to see how long the wall-to-wall coverage continues on cable — and how the TV cameras will handle the recovery phase of this rescue-and-recovery mission.
If officials in New Orleans are right, there could be 10,000 bodies on the ground after the flood water is pumped out of the city. The pictures could be beyond grim, and I bet executives are pondering right now how much will be too much.
This is a much more gruesome task than the 9/11 aftermath. Most of the thousands of dead were virtually disintegrated in the blasts.
New Orleans and coastal Mississippi are another story entirely. We’ve already seen quick shots of bloated corpses floating in the streets. And we’ve seen the huge tents that have been set up for medical examiners to try to identify the dead. The worst is yet to come.
Out of sensitivity to survivors who have already been through too much, let’s hope the graphic images are minimal.
Sick of Andy’s mojo?
When I wasn’t watching Katrina coverage over the Labor Day weekend, I was watching coverage of the U.S. Open Tennis Championship on CBS (daytime) and USA Network (prime time).
About 9 p.m. on Friday, I became officially sick of Andy Roddick. Not Andy Roddick the tennis champ and part-time Austin resident. I could watch that Andy Roddick smash fuzzy yellow balls all day.
But Roddick was bumped in the first round of the Open. What remains of him now is constant commercials, the most annoying of which is an American Express spot with a guy who identifies himself as Andy’s missing mojo.
The mojo ad has run so many times it’s ridiculous. During one half-hour period on Sunday, CBS ran the spot five times. USA loves the spot even more.
I am this close to cutting up my American Express card.
Roddick apparently thinks this ad is tons of fun, and he has a “where’s Andy’s mojo” contest on his Web site.
The Lexus ads aren’t as frequent or as annoying, but doesn’t this All-Andy-All-the-Time just draw attention to his early exit?
So far, no Andre Agassi or James Blake ads, but that could change this week.
Permalink | | Categories: News coverage
