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All JonBenet, all the time!
It is more like projectile vomiting than TV coverage of a breaking news story, isn’t it?
Since Wednesday — and especially on Thursday — cable news was all JonBenet, all the time, and even the sometimes stodgy broadcast newscasts scrapped their nightly terrorism stories for the murdered beauty-pageant child.
John Mark Karr, he of the creepy gaze and skinny neck, was everywhere Thursday, confessing his love for JonBenet Ramsey and confessing that he also, by the way, “accidentally” killed her. His perp walk in Thailand turned into the gaping, air-sucking event of the summer news season.
The decade-old, unsolved murder even got booked into prime-time specials last night. ABC dragged out every shot they’d ever banked of Barbara Walters quizzing JonBenet’s parents John and Patsy about whether or not they offed their adorable tyke on Christmas night.
And all those disturbing (to some of us) shots of JonBenet prancing around in Vegas show-girl outfits with big hair and full makeup surfaced once again.
It was tabloid TV at its tackiest. Sure, TV was just catering to the public’s apparently unquenchable fascination with the murdered tot. And with the new images of this walking sexual perversion in khakis and polo shirt (was anybody else reminded of Ed Grimley?) to feed on, the frenzy was intense.
We were cautioned, from time to time, to consider that Karr may be making all this up to garner his grotesque time in the limelight. He may be super creepy but he may not be a child rapist and murderer. DNA tests, we were reminded, should settle this dispute. Stay tuned.
But until such evidence is in, we are left with floating images of JonBenet strutting through beauty pageants and Karr posing for cameras. The frenzy continues …
“Talent” winner terrified
I stumbled upon the conclusion of NBC’s red-hot summer reality show “America’s Got Talent” last night and suddenly became desperately worried about the winner.
Bianca Ryan, an 11-year-old singer with a boozy Janis Joplin voice, won the $1 million prize. Fine. But she looked like she was about to faint, have a heart attack or simply drop dead right there on live TV. It was not amusing. It was scary.
Host Regis Philbin looked concerned as he tried, unsuccessfully to get her to say (a) if she was OK and (b) how she felt about winning.
“You all right? Bianca, how do you feel, darling? You OK?”’ Philbin pleaded with a worried brow.
The poor girl quivered and stood there stone-faced. No smile. And then it was over. “America’s Got Talent” returns in January; steel yourself.
Austin’s Access TV opens its doors
Public Access Community Television (PACT) is hosting an open house 10 a.m. to noon Saturday at the facility at 1143 Northwestern Ave.
With the guidance of new management, the city is re-building and expanding Austin’s community access TV facility. It will house a new playback system capable of delivering programs to Time Warner and Grande channels 10, 11, and 16, and simultaneously streaming content on the Internet.
People can tour the TV studios and speak out live on Cable Channel 10 on PACT’s open-mic “Soapbox.” The open house is part of a three day Public Access TV Reunion and Free Speech Forum.
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