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The broadcast spectrum became a little less crowded this week. The owners of the fifth and sixth networks - UPN and The WB - announced they're joining forces to create a single network: The CW. When UPN and The WB were born, the idea was to target urban youth. But the new network will focus simply on youth. What will that mean for the future of programming created by African-Americans? As media scholar Kristal Brent Zook tells Brooke, not as much as you may think.
After seven years, NBC will retire The West Wing in May. From the beginning, the show that brought the Oval Office into your living room was unusual network fare - the dialogue a little faster, and the characters a little smarter than nearly anything else on the air. Time magazine TV critic James Poniewozik joins Brooke for a West Wing "exit interview."
The cameras were focused squarely on Sam Alito this week. But if he's confirmed as Supreme Court Justice, the hearings will have been TV viewers' last chance to see him in action. Unless, of course, the current rules are changed to allow video cameras in the Supreme Court. C-SPAN founder Brian Lamb tells Brooke why he's been campaigning for that change for almost 20 years.
Swapping identities is one of Reality TV's favorite themes. And so it was probably only a matter of time before a show came along that applied the device to Race in America. In March, FX will debut Black.White., which features two families - one black and one white - who are made-up to look like they're of the opposite race. Bob speaks with New York Times critic Margo Jefferson about the history of "passing" as a subject of American entertainment.
The Arab world, it seems, is awash with public opinion polls. Where we used to get anecdotal reporting about the "Arab street," we increasingly have numbers to back those impressions up. A recent Zogby poll set out to learn not only what Arabs think about world news, but how those opinions are forged, and asked people what channels they turn to most for international news. Brooke discusses the results with Arab media scholar Marc Lynch.
Shortly after midnight on Tuesday, a lethal injection was administered to Stanley "Tookie" Williams by the State of California. The execution was preceded by days of feverish speculation on cable TV about whether or not Governor Schwarzenegger would grant clemency. Bob reflects on the elements of a made-for-TV morality play
The holidays are upon us, but not everyone is celebrating. Prominent members of the Fox News Channel's anchor chair are frothing-mad about a supposed liberal plot to ban Christmas and everything it stands for. And they are taking to the airwaves to fight back. Salon senior writer Michelle Goldberg tells Bob about the long history of anti-anti-Christmas hysteria.
Despite millions of dollars in television advertising, beer sales have gone flat in recent years. Meanwhile, market share for both spirits and wine has crept up. Bob Lachky, executive vice president for global industry development at Anheuser-Busch, is trying to organize the Beer Institute and other brewers into a media campaign to fight back. He tells Bob that beer relies too much on one message, and too much on the small screen.
