By RODNEY HO/ rho@ajc.com, originally filed Thursday, August 4, 2016
Atlanta-based Up TV is going to air every episode of the original run of "Gilmore Girls" leading up to the Netflix revival in November.
It will start Friday, Nov. 18 at 6 p.m. and run through Friday, Nov. 25 at 3 a.m. Netflix's four-part return will air at 3:01 a.m. right after Thanksgiving.
The show aired on the WB (then briefly on the CW) from 2000 to 2007. The four part series will cover four seasons and feature most of the original players. Edward Herrmann, who played Lorelai Gilmore's patrician dad, passed away in 2014.
Of course, if you have Netflix, you can watch any episode at any time right now.
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Daymond John, the famed FUBU entrepreneur and "Shark Tank" investor, flew into Atlanta last week to judge a Miller Lite Tap the Future regional entrepreneur contest at Opera Nightclub in Midtown.
I caught him briefly by phone soon after he landed.
John, who has appeared in about two-thirds of the "Shark Tank" episodes, was not obligated to try to invest in any of the companies, who have a shot at $200,000 in a national contest. He has already placed his own money in about 40 companies from the show.
In his best-selling book earlier this year "The Power of Broke," he noted he lost $750,000 after investing in companies from season one of "Shark Tank" without understanding he was throwing bad money after good. He began vetting companies better after that season and hired people to oversee his "Shark Tank" portfolio. He tries to maintain good relations with many of the people involved in the companies, even if they fail because sometimes they try something else that works out better.
Overall, he said, his experience on "Shark Tank" has been "invigorating, fascinating and extremely educational." He said companies nowadays can scale up much faster than they used to. And hearing from younger entrepreneurs keeps him fresh and on his game.
"The only challenge now is everybody has the same opportunities," he said. "The idea can be great. But the fundamentals of the business better wake up fast before everyone else."
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Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
CNN continued its ratings dominance on the final night of the Democratic National Convention last week, drawing 7.5 million during the 10 p.m.-11:40 p.m. period when Chelsea and Hillary Clinton spoke.
It won every night, beating all cable and broadcast networks.
But Donald Trump drew a higher collective audience of 30 million last Thursday vs. 27.8 million for Hillary. Her audience skewed older than that of Pres. Obama when he accepted the nomination in 2008.
This week, Variety wrote a flattering profile of Jeff Zucker, who has run CNN the past three-plus years. It is one of the few interviews he has done since joining the Atlanta-based news network (that is in many ways now a New York-based news network under Zucker. Let's stop kidding ourselves.)
The story notes that CNN has closed the gap with Fox News, especially in the key 25-54 demo, with ratings at a 15-year high fueled in part to the heated presidential campaign. The network is set to have a record year in profits and revenues. Employees quoted in the story said he has invigorated a network whose morale was at low ebb leading into 2013.
It also defined his three-prong approach to fixing the operations. Boost the digital operation (which has more unique monthly visitors than any other news operation), build up more original series for slow times and "flood the zone" with the top news of the day on the main network while providing more comprehensive news on cnn.com and CNN International. He hired Jake Tapper to boost political coverage and moved Don Lemon from Atlanta to New York and gave him a prime-time show.
The reporter noted that he was cautious, not biting on a question about Roger Ailes' departure. And he deflected a question about Anderson Cooper possibly joining Kelly Ripa. He defended the hire of Corey Lewandowski, Trump's former campaign manager, before Lewandowski brought up the whole birther issue today. And he mocked Buzzfeed and Vice as "native advertising shops" more than news operations.
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Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Decatur native David Cross is wearing one of those infamous "F- Cobb County" T-shirts in this video below where he tries out hot wings.
A former GPB producer in 2014 was fired for creating these particular shirts following the surprise announcement of the Atlanta Braves moving to Cobb County. I do warn you that the entire F-word is shown in the video.
Cross has a major Netflix comedy special out on August 5 titled "Making America Great Again!" No doubt the name Donald Trump will come up a few times.
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