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'Witness for the Prosecution' keeps audiences guessing
Actor Gary Coleman pleads guilty in Utah court
Rich Heldenfels: 'Past Life' is unbelievable
Michael Jackson doctor charged with manslaughter
Gary Coleman scheduled for Utah court appearance
'Christmas Story' actor finds challenges behind camera
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Man robbed at Tallmadge Avenue eatery
Four teens restrain man, take items from his Akron home
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Police: Ohio girl dies after fall into snow bank
Cuyahoga Falls residents come home to find burning couch on balcony
Blogs:
First Bell - On Education:
No City of Akron basketball tonight
Pets:
Pet telethon re-airs
The Heldenfiles:
Chipmunks "Squeakquel" on DVD/BD March 30
Akron Zips:
Late surge gives Zips ugly road win
Tribe Matters:
Blogmail response on Hafner
Cleveland Browns:
Stallworth's contract terminated
Balanced Ledger:
QB in Browns future: another mock draft
Kent State Sports:
KSU Notes – February 9
Cleveland Cavaliers:
NBA Power Rankings from Around the Internet
Buckeye Blogging:
Buckeyes grab 18 players on signing day
Varsity Letters:
Garfield at Buchtel basketball
All Da King's Men:
Palin At The Tea Party Convention
Blog of Mass Destruction:
Republican Pre-Conditions
Akron Law Café:
Citizens United v. F.E.C. (Part 4): Kennedy's and O'Connor's Basic Approaches to Constitutional Decisionmaking – Top Down and Bottom Up
Car Chase:
Collector Car Hobby Loses One of the Best—Jim Roll
Let's Talk Real Estate:
Decisions Decisions: Credit Cards or Your Mortgage?
Ohio Travels with Betty:
Loucile is looking for a Lake Erie getaway in June for three kids, ages 1, 3, and 5.
Sound Check:
Talk of the Town – Top entertainment picks for the weekend
HRLite House:
Track HR Research
Akron Gamer:
Makers of 'Castle Crashers' unveil 'BattleBlock Theater'
See Jane Style:
Do IT this week: Layering
By Rich Heldenfels
POSTED: 03:44 p.m. EDT, Sep 08, 2009
Beacon Journal staff writer
Digits. The Nielsen Co. estimates that 99.4 percent of U.S. homes are now able to receive digital signals.
Which doesn't mean you can get all of your local TV stations' digital signals, as so many people have realized.
And where Nielsen's estimation that homes completely unready for DTV are a tiny-sounding six-tenths of a percent of all homes, that still adds up to 710,000 nationwide.
Cleveland-Akron-Canton is slightly above the national average, with 0.69 percent of homes unready. That's a little more than 10,500 homes in the region.
An Insider's View. With Diane Sawyer due to become Charles Gibson's replacement on ABC's World News telecasts around the end of 2009, two of the three major broadcast news programs will be anchored by women. (Katie Couric, of course, is at the helm on CBS.)
But Carole Simpson, the former ABC anchor, says in a commentary on CNN.com that she's not all that excited about the change because ''it took so darned long — and TV news is on life support.''
She notes that there were long gender gaps between Barbara Walters (at ABC) and Connie Chung (at CBS) and Couric's ascent. Now, Sawyer comes in at a bad time, Simpson thinks.
''Millions of Americans still watch network news programs, but they are only a semblance of what they were in terms of quality and content,'' Simpson said. ''With fewer resources and the death knell sounding, why not put women in charge of the network evening news programs? When things couldn't be worse, it's okay for women to be in charge. Sad to say, but I don't believe the evening network newscasts, nor Katie and Diane as the anchors, will be around for very long.''
Sign of Our Combative Times. Time magazine TV critic James Poniewozik watched President Obama's speech to students and joked: ''Who's going to deliver the 'Kids, don't stay in school' rebuttal?''
At least, I hope it was a joke.
We All Make Mistakes. On Regrettherror.com, this item from England's Mirror: ''Our picture accompanying the story 'Mum dies as paramedic refuses to go into pub' was of pub manager Michelle Doherty and not the victim, Melissa Proctor-Blain.''
Gable Stabbed. TMZ.com says Clark Gable III, the grandson of the screen legend, was stabbed in the rib cage at a house party near Los Angeles in August. ''We're told CG3 got into it with some guests after he allegedly called somebody a very bad name,'' says the site. ''A fight broke out and someone plunged a knife into Gable.''
Young Gable reportedly spent a week in the hospital but is recovering. Authorities arrested one person and are looking for another, says TMZ.
The original Clark Gable was born in Cadiz, Ohio. According to the Beacon Journal's archives, in his late teens Gable worked in Akron at a couple of rubber companies and in Akron's Music Hall. He died in 1960.
Rich Heldenfels writes about popular culture for the Beacon Journal, in the HeldenFiles Online blog at http://heldenfels.ohio.com, on Facebook and on Twitter. He can be reached at 330-996-3582 and rheldenfels@thebeaconjournal.com.
Beacon Journal staff writer
Digits. The Nielsen Co. estimates that 99.4 percent of U.S. homes are now able to receive digital signals.
Which doesn't mean you can get all of your local TV stations' digital signals, as so many people have realized.
And where Nielsen's estimation that homes completely unready for DTV are a tiny-sounding six-tenths of a percent of all homes, that still adds up to 710,000 nationwide.
Cleveland-Akron-Canton is slightly above the national average, with 0.69 percent of homes unready. That's a little more than 10,500 homes in the region.
An Insider's View. With Diane Sawyer due to become Charles Gibson's replacement on ABC's World News telecasts around the end of 2009, two of the three major broadcast news programs will be anchored by women. (Katie Couric, of course, is at the helm on CBS.)
But Carole Simpson, the former ABC anchor, says in a commentary on CNN.com that she's not all that excited about the change because ''it took so darned long — and TV news is on life support.''
She notes that there were long gender gaps between Barbara Walters (at ABC) and Connie Chung (at CBS) and Couric's ascent. Now, Sawyer comes in at a bad time, Simpson thinks.
''Millions of Americans still watch network news programs, but they are only a semblance of what they were in terms of quality and content,'' Simpson said. ''With fewer resources and the death knell sounding, why not put women in charge of the network evening news programs? When things couldn't be worse, it's okay for women to be in charge. Sad to say, but I don't believe the evening network newscasts, nor Katie and Diane as the anchors, will be around for very long.''
Sign of Our Combative Times. Time magazine TV critic James Poniewozik watched President Obama's speech to students and joked: ''Who's going to deliver the 'Kids, don't stay in school' rebuttal?''
At least, I hope it was a joke.
We All Make Mistakes. On Regrettherror.com, this item from England's Mirror: ''Our picture accompanying the story 'Mum dies as paramedic refuses to go into pub' was of pub manager Michelle Doherty and not the victim, Melissa Proctor-Blain.''
Gable Stabbed. TMZ.com says Clark Gable III, the grandson of the screen legend, was stabbed in the rib cage at a house party near Los Angeles in August. ''We're told CG3 got into it with some guests after he allegedly called somebody a very bad name,'' says the site. ''A fight broke out and someone plunged a knife into Gable.''
Young Gable reportedly spent a week in the hospital but is recovering. Authorities arrested one person and are looking for another, says TMZ.
The original Clark Gable was born in Cadiz, Ohio. According to the Beacon Journal's archives, in his late teens Gable worked in Akron at a couple of rubber companies and in Akron's Music Hall. He died in 1960.
Rich Heldenfels writes about popular culture for the Beacon Journal, in the HeldenFiles Online blog at http://heldenfels.ohio.com, on Facebook and on Twitter. He can be reached at 330-996-3582 and rheldenfels@thebeaconjournal.com.
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