Robert MacNeil, the trusted son of a Canadian naval officer who spent two decades alongside Jim Lehrer delivering the nightly news to PBS viewers, died Friday, PBS announced. He was 93.
MacNeil died of natural causes at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, his daughter, Alison MacNeil, told the Associated Press.
MacNeil and Lehrer first teamed to cover the Senate Watergate hearings in 1973, and their live coverage earned them an Emmy. In 1975, they launched a half-hour program that would become The MacNeil/Lehrer Report; it covered a single story in depth and collected more than 30 awards, including a Peabody, a DuPont and several Emmys.
The program in 1983 became The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, the nation’s first 60-minute evening news program. Rather than concentrate on one topic, it provided comprehensive coverage and analysis of the day’s important stories.
On the eve of his retirement from the broadcast in October 1995 to concentrate on writing, he was asked...
MacNeil died of natural causes at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, his daughter, Alison MacNeil, told the Associated Press.
MacNeil and Lehrer first teamed to cover the Senate Watergate hearings in 1973, and their live coverage earned them an Emmy. In 1975, they launched a half-hour program that would become The MacNeil/Lehrer Report; it covered a single story in depth and collected more than 30 awards, including a Peabody, a DuPont and several Emmys.
The program in 1983 became The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, the nation’s first 60-minute evening news program. Rather than concentrate on one topic, it provided comprehensive coverage and analysis of the day’s important stories.
On the eve of his retirement from the broadcast in October 1995 to concentrate on writing, he was asked...
- 4/12/2024
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
If you are in your late forties to seventies and older, you remember a time when cable did not exist and news was delivered nightly and analysis given by the likes of Walter Cronkite or the Huntley-Brinkley Report with Chet Huntley and David Brinkley. News anchors did their best to remain unbiased and it was very hard to glean what their political leanings were. They surely never did Times Square New Years’ Eve coverage with the Kathy Griffins of their day. People listened to them, and believed them.Brian Williams, currently embroiled in the career ending scandal of his life, is […]...
- 2/8/2015
- by April Neale
- Monsters and Critics
The assassination of President John F. Kennedy forced television news to come of age, along with its reporters ... including Tom Brokaw.
The veteran journalist puts his perspective on Friday, Nov. 22, 1963, and its aftermath as the new NBC special "Where Were You: The Day JFK Died Reported by Tom Brokaw" airs - fittingly - on Friday, Nov. 22. People from various walks of life, some famous (Dan Rather, Steven Spielberg, etc.) and others not, discuss their memories of that day and the impact of losing Kennedy and his intentions for the U.S.
"We kept encountering the dilemmas of 50 years later," Brokaw admits to Zap2it of planning the special. "What is it that younger audiences want and need to know, and what are older audiences that were alive at the time looking for? And what more do we know now that we didn't know then? That's a big, big piece of this,...
The veteran journalist puts his perspective on Friday, Nov. 22, 1963, and its aftermath as the new NBC special "Where Were You: The Day JFK Died Reported by Tom Brokaw" airs - fittingly - on Friday, Nov. 22. People from various walks of life, some famous (Dan Rather, Steven Spielberg, etc.) and others not, discuss their memories of that day and the impact of losing Kennedy and his intentions for the U.S.
"We kept encountering the dilemmas of 50 years later," Brokaw admits to Zap2it of planning the special. "What is it that younger audiences want and need to know, and what are older audiences that were alive at the time looking for? And what more do we know now that we didn't know then? That's a big, big piece of this,...
- 11/22/2013
- by editorial@zap2it.com
- Zap2It - From Inside the Box
Julian Goodman, a former president of NBC who tussled often with the Nixon administration and signed Johnny Carson to a record-breaking contract to remain on The Tonight Show, died Monday in Florida. He was 90. The NY Times said he died of kidney failure. Goodman became NBC’s president in 1965 and with other network bosses worked to end the Fairness Doctrine, which required broadcasters to give equal time to opposing political opinions. He also was the network chief who advocated for David Brinkley and Chet Huntley to anchor the 1956 Democratic and Republican national conventions, a team that went on to anchor NBC’s newscasts for 14 years. Goodman also had to apologize to viewers after NBC cut away from a national broadcast of an NFL game so the network could air the movie Heidi as scheduled — the network cut away from a game the Oakland Raiders won in the final minutes, angering sports fans watching the contest.
- 7/3/2012
- by THE DEADLINE TEAM
- Deadline TV
New York (AP) — Former NBC president Julian Goodman, who helped establish Chet Huntley and David Brinkley as a well-known news team and led the network from 1966 to 1974, died Monday. He was 90.
Goodman died in Juno Beach, Fla., where he lived after retiring as chairman of NBC's board in 1979, according to NBC.
Goodman, a native of Glasgow, Ky., joined the network at the night news desk in Washington in 1945. He rose through the ranks to become executive vice president of NBC News at the time Huntley and Brinkley were competitors to Walter Cronkite on CBS.
As network president, he later gave Johnny Carson a long-term contract to stay on the "Tonight" show and helped make the American Football League a force by broadcasting the upstart league. NBC televised the 1969 Super Bowl, in which the New York Jets beat the highly favored Baltimore Colts. Goodman was also at the helm during an...
Goodman died in Juno Beach, Fla., where he lived after retiring as chairman of NBC's board in 1979, according to NBC.
Goodman, a native of Glasgow, Ky., joined the network at the night news desk in Washington in 1945. He rose through the ranks to become executive vice president of NBC News at the time Huntley and Brinkley were competitors to Walter Cronkite on CBS.
As network president, he later gave Johnny Carson a long-term contract to stay on the "Tonight" show and helped make the American Football League a force by broadcasting the upstart league. NBC televised the 1969 Super Bowl, in which the New York Jets beat the highly favored Baltimore Colts. Goodman was also at the helm during an...
- 7/3/2012
- by AP
- Huffington Post
Brian Williams cracked up "30 Rock" fans with his sketch on a live episode of the show on Thursday.
The show did one live version for the East Coast and another for the West Coast. Williams, who has made cameo appearances on "30 Rock" before, did a parody of "The Huntley–Brinkley Report" for audiences on the West Coast.
In it, he posed as legendary newsman David Brinkley opposite Alec Baldwin as co-anchor Chet Huntley. The two of them play sexist newscasters who have a hard time understanding that their reporter Jamie Garnett — who was played by Tina Fey — is actually a woman.
"Look honey, you have a dynamite shape, but you're gonna have to shut up and let a man tell us what's happening," Williams said. "Now, is your father or a policeman nearby?"
The episode consisted of sketches, and was based on Kenneth describing his favorite moments on live TV.
The show did one live version for the East Coast and another for the West Coast. Williams, who has made cameo appearances on "30 Rock" before, did a parody of "The Huntley–Brinkley Report" for audiences on the West Coast.
In it, he posed as legendary newsman David Brinkley opposite Alec Baldwin as co-anchor Chet Huntley. The two of them play sexist newscasters who have a hard time understanding that their reporter Jamie Garnett — who was played by Tina Fey — is actually a woman.
"Look honey, you have a dynamite shape, but you're gonna have to shut up and let a man tell us what's happening," Williams said. "Now, is your father or a policeman nearby?"
The episode consisted of sketches, and was based on Kenneth describing his favorite moments on live TV.
- 4/27/2012
- by Katherine Fung
- Huffington Post
Brian Williams cracked up "30 Rock" fans with his sketch on a live episode of the show on Thursday.
The show did one live version for the East Coast and another for the West Coast. Williams, who has made cameo appearances on "30 Rock" before, did a parody of "The Huntley–Brinkley Report" for audiences on the West Coast.
In it, he posed as legendary newsman David Brinkley opposite Alec Baldwin as co-anchor Chet Huntley. The two of them play sexist newscasters who have a hard time understanding that their reporter Jamie Garnett — who was played by Tina Fey — is actually a woman.
"Look honey, you have a dynamite shape, but you're gonna have to shut up and let a man tell us what's happening," Williams said. "Now, is your father or a policeman nearby?"
The episode consisted of sketches, and was based on Kenneth describing his favorite moments on live TV.
The show did one live version for the East Coast and another for the West Coast. Williams, who has made cameo appearances on "30 Rock" before, did a parody of "The Huntley–Brinkley Report" for audiences on the West Coast.
In it, he posed as legendary newsman David Brinkley opposite Alec Baldwin as co-anchor Chet Huntley. The two of them play sexist newscasters who have a hard time understanding that their reporter Jamie Garnett — who was played by Tina Fey — is actually a woman.
"Look honey, you have a dynamite shape, but you're gonna have to shut up and let a man tell us what's happening," Williams said. "Now, is your father or a policeman nearby?"
The episode consisted of sketches, and was based on Kenneth describing his favorite moments on live TV.
- 4/27/2012
- by Katherine Fung
- Aol TV.
Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin, Tracy Morgan and the rest of the cast of "30 Rock" did it again -- took their show live two times in one night -- and, as expected, hilarity ensued.
As the show moved from their normal location to the set of "Saturday Night Live," it only seems appropriate that the episode was closer to a sketch comedy with a through line than anything else.
The 2012 version upped the ante from 2010's live show, featuring some outstanding guest stars including Jon Hamm, Donald Glover and Amy Poehler. Unlike last time around, there were no nipple slips and only a few gaffes.
Just as they did the first time, there were two versions, one for the East Coast and one for the West Coast. Because we have an eagle eye and a DVR, we decided to point out the differences between the two shows.
Walk on
During the East Coast broadcast,...
As the show moved from their normal location to the set of "Saturday Night Live," it only seems appropriate that the episode was closer to a sketch comedy with a through line than anything else.
The 2012 version upped the ante from 2010's live show, featuring some outstanding guest stars including Jon Hamm, Donald Glover and Amy Poehler. Unlike last time around, there were no nipple slips and only a few gaffes.
Just as they did the first time, there were two versions, one for the East Coast and one for the West Coast. Because we have an eagle eye and a DVR, we decided to point out the differences between the two shows.
Walk on
During the East Coast broadcast,...
- 4/27/2012
- by editorial@zap2it.com
- Zap2It - From Inside the Box
“Live television? Who cares?” Kenneth cares! And so do I. Tina Fey & Co. totally delivered on their second installment of the 30 Rock live show, and it featured special guests galore: Amy Poehler, Jon Hamm, Jimmy Fallon, Donald Glover, Fred Armisen, and even Sir Paul McCartney. You know, because anything can happen on live TV! But on to the plot: In ”Live From Studio 6H” Jack broke the news to Liz that it was no longer financially practical to continue shooting Tgs live. Instead, they’d shoot the entire season of the show in two weeks. You know, like Wheel of Fortune or Fox News.
- 4/27/2012
- by Breia Brissey
- EW.com - PopWatch
Edwin Newman, who served NBC News for 32 years and was one of the most respected journalists in broadcast news, has died, the network announced Wednesday. He was 91.
Newman died peacefully of pneumonia Aug. 13 in Oxford, England, his lawyer Rupert Mead told Reuters. His wife and daughter wanted to wait before announcing his death to come to terms with the loss, Mead said.
Newman was regarded as a master journalist -- a newsman, a commentator and an esteemed critic. He received the George Foster Peabody Award in 1966 for "wit and depth of understanding" for his radio news broadcasts.
Beginning in 1961 and until his retirement in 1984, Newman was an indefatigable force in network news. In addition to his commentary, he narrated numerous documentary specials for NBC -- at one point, he acknowledged that he had, perhaps, made more TV docs than anyone. He also moderated two presidential debates: Ford vs. Carter in 1976 and Reagan vs.
Newman died peacefully of pneumonia Aug. 13 in Oxford, England, his lawyer Rupert Mead told Reuters. His wife and daughter wanted to wait before announcing his death to come to terms with the loss, Mead said.
Newman was regarded as a master journalist -- a newsman, a commentator and an esteemed critic. He received the George Foster Peabody Award in 1966 for "wit and depth of understanding" for his radio news broadcasts.
Beginning in 1961 and until his retirement in 1984, Newman was an indefatigable force in network news. In addition to his commentary, he narrated numerous documentary specials for NBC -- at one point, he acknowledged that he had, perhaps, made more TV docs than anyone. He also moderated two presidential debates: Ford vs. Carter in 1976 and Reagan vs.
- 9/15/2010
- by By Duane Byrge
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
I had been expecting the JFK assassination to become part of the Mad Men storyline from the moment they showed us the invitation for Margaret Sterling's wedding on November 23, 1963. Expectations are one thing. Watching the way the national tragedy was depicted was quite another. As I watched the scenes unfold, I was riveted to the screen - and that was a surprise to me because on Fox the Yankees and the Phillies were locked in a very tight World Series game, and I cared about the outcome.
But I found myself unable to turn away from Mad Men. It wasn't pleasant to watch those black and white images of anchormen Walter Cronkite and Chet Huntley. The moment I saw the flickering images behind Harry and Pete in the Sterling-Cooper office, I knew what was happening. It was terrific storytelling, by the way, for the viewer to know, but for Pete and Harry to be oblivious.
But I found myself unable to turn away from Mad Men. It wasn't pleasant to watch those black and white images of anchormen Walter Cronkite and Chet Huntley. The moment I saw the flickering images behind Harry and Pete in the Sterling-Cooper office, I knew what was happening. It was terrific storytelling, by the way, for the viewer to know, but for Pete and Harry to be oblivious.
- 11/3/2009
- by Allison Waldman
- Aol TV.
Industry remembers Walter Cronkite
Walter Cronkite, who earned the accolade “the most trusted man in America” for his earnest and stalwart style as the anchorman of the “CBS Evening News” for nearly two decades, died Friday. He was 92.
CBS vice president Linda Mason says Cronkite died at 7:42 p.m. Et after a long illness with his family by his side.
Cronkite, recruited by Edward R. Murrow from the United Press wire service, joined CBS News in 1950. He served as “Evening News” anchor and managing editor of CBS News from April 16, 1962, to March 6, 1981. Beginning in 1937, his career spanned more than six decades in radio, print and TV.
During a period of great national stress -- like the one brought on by the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963 -- Cronkite’s demeanor soothed a nation whose sense of reality had been threatened. With his pipe in...
Walter Cronkite, who earned the accolade “the most trusted man in America” for his earnest and stalwart style as the anchorman of the “CBS Evening News” for nearly two decades, died Friday. He was 92.
CBS vice president Linda Mason says Cronkite died at 7:42 p.m. Et after a long illness with his family by his side.
Cronkite, recruited by Edward R. Murrow from the United Press wire service, joined CBS News in 1950. He served as “Evening News” anchor and managing editor of CBS News from April 16, 1962, to March 6, 1981. Beginning in 1937, his career spanned more than six decades in radio, print and TV.
During a period of great national stress -- like the one brought on by the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963 -- Cronkite’s demeanor soothed a nation whose sense of reality had been threatened. With his pipe in...
- 7/17/2009
- by By Duane Byrge
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
With titles like "The Defilers", "She Freak", "The Notorious Daughter of Fanny Hill" and "The Flesh Merchant" to their credit, it's unlikely that veteran producers-showmen Dan Sonney and David Friedman will be subjects of an AFI tribute anytime soon.
But that doesn't stop TV writer-producer Ted Bonnitt from giving these sexploitation pioneers their due in "Mau Mau Sex Sex", an affectionate if insubstantial portrait of the artist as a dirty old man that unspooled at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival.
There's certainly no shortage of archival naughty bits on display, and the two subjects are bona fide characters themselves, but Bonnitt is content to merely scratch the surface. He passes up a terrific opportunity to put their eyebrow-raising work in any satisfying historical or sociological context, limiting any outside commentary to horror film director-archivist Frank Henenlotter.
Instead, Bonnitt mainly trains his camera on these now-retired purveyors of the "nudie cutie" as they take the viewer on a fond trip down mammary lane. Definitely the Felix to Friedman's Oscar, Sonney was the son of a famed lawman who was featured in a series of films that documented his rapid-fire agility with a pair of handcuffs.
Friedman, once billed as "the world's greatest carny," was able to parlay a fair share of his freak show know-how into the picture business. For example, take the intriguing title, which refers to a 1950 news documentary about the rise of the East African Mau Mau resistance movement narrated by Chet Huntley. Deciding it needed a little more oomph, they snuck in some additional footage of "sex-mad natives" -- which was actually shot in South Central Los Angeles -- before it hit the drive-in.
In the early '60s, when those innocent nudist camp volleyball games were no longer packing 'em in, they turned to edgier fare, including the disturbing "roughies," in which female characters were unpleasantly victimized (again, some form of social commentary would have been appreciated here), leading up to 1963's "Blood Feast", the first of director Herschell Gordon Lewis' cult splatter films, which opened in Peoria and became a smash hit.
Of course, the advent of video and the death of the drive-in effectively rendered their particular brand of showmanship obsolete. In a bit of irony, Friedman and Sonney take Bonnitt on a tour of their old San Fernando Valley stomping grounds only to discover their former production offices have been taken over by an Asian Presbyterian church.
It's the only part of "Mau Mau Sex Sex" where no additional comment is necessary.
MAU MAU SEX SEX
7th Planet Prods.
Director-producer: Ted Bonnitt
Screenwriters: Eddie Muller, Ted Bonnitt
Director of photography: Ted Bonnitt
Editors: Ted Bonnitt, Christopher Rowland, Eddie Muller
Color/stereo
With: Dan Sonney, David Friedman, Frank Henenlotter
Running time-- 80 minutes
No MPAA rating...
But that doesn't stop TV writer-producer Ted Bonnitt from giving these sexploitation pioneers their due in "Mau Mau Sex Sex", an affectionate if insubstantial portrait of the artist as a dirty old man that unspooled at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival.
There's certainly no shortage of archival naughty bits on display, and the two subjects are bona fide characters themselves, but Bonnitt is content to merely scratch the surface. He passes up a terrific opportunity to put their eyebrow-raising work in any satisfying historical or sociological context, limiting any outside commentary to horror film director-archivist Frank Henenlotter.
Instead, Bonnitt mainly trains his camera on these now-retired purveyors of the "nudie cutie" as they take the viewer on a fond trip down mammary lane. Definitely the Felix to Friedman's Oscar, Sonney was the son of a famed lawman who was featured in a series of films that documented his rapid-fire agility with a pair of handcuffs.
Friedman, once billed as "the world's greatest carny," was able to parlay a fair share of his freak show know-how into the picture business. For example, take the intriguing title, which refers to a 1950 news documentary about the rise of the East African Mau Mau resistance movement narrated by Chet Huntley. Deciding it needed a little more oomph, they snuck in some additional footage of "sex-mad natives" -- which was actually shot in South Central Los Angeles -- before it hit the drive-in.
In the early '60s, when those innocent nudist camp volleyball games were no longer packing 'em in, they turned to edgier fare, including the disturbing "roughies," in which female characters were unpleasantly victimized (again, some form of social commentary would have been appreciated here), leading up to 1963's "Blood Feast", the first of director Herschell Gordon Lewis' cult splatter films, which opened in Peoria and became a smash hit.
Of course, the advent of video and the death of the drive-in effectively rendered their particular brand of showmanship obsolete. In a bit of irony, Friedman and Sonney take Bonnitt on a tour of their old San Fernando Valley stomping grounds only to discover their former production offices have been taken over by an Asian Presbyterian church.
It's the only part of "Mau Mau Sex Sex" where no additional comment is necessary.
MAU MAU SEX SEX
7th Planet Prods.
Director-producer: Ted Bonnitt
Screenwriters: Eddie Muller, Ted Bonnitt
Director of photography: Ted Bonnitt
Editors: Ted Bonnitt, Christopher Rowland, Eddie Muller
Color/stereo
With: Dan Sonney, David Friedman, Frank Henenlotter
Running time-- 80 minutes
No MPAA rating...
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