Archive for the ‘TV’ Category
Wednesday, March 17th, 2010
Lovely “Helicopter Hero” Aimee Garcia had a mishap a few days back in San Francisco while filming a scene for new (and improved?) Trauma.
As she recently related to NBC’s Natalie Morales:
“I was doing a scene where my ex-military boyfriend gets in a fight, and it was scripted that I just stand there … I just got involved. I pulled one actor off of another and they loved it. They said, ‘Keep doing it.’ We did it 12 times and I didn’t realize on the first take I broke my finger.”
Here’s the video from the Today Show.

A finger mishap always makes for good TV of course, especially when you don’t lie about it.
Let’s hope Aimee can get her left hand back on that giant twirlypopper’s collective control sooner rather than later.
Courage.
Tags: 1.4/3, 94612, Aimee Garcia, all's fair, amy chozick, Anastasia Griffith, angela bromstad, Anna Bloom, apology, backlash, bad day at work, bagel, beaucoup explosions, big bang, Billy Lush, Boone, bowl, broken, busted, ca, cancelled, CAS, Cast, casting, choppers, chuck, Cliff Curtis, concourse, Credits, cut, Dario Scardapane, death watch, deathwatch, Derek Luke, district, doctors, Dr. Joe, drinking, dunnes, emt, emts, episode, executive, Executive Producer, filbert, film, Film 44, film commission, filming, finger, fran drescher, fresno, Friday Night Lights, game, gigs, golden gate park, green, helicopters, hollywood, horrible, hospital, ICCNC, idiot box, idiot panel, injury, interview, Islamic Cultural Center of Northern California, Jamey Sheridan, jay leno, Jeff Reiner, just horrible, justin herman, Kevin Rankin, liar, LLC, Marissa, nancy, natalie morales, nbc, nbc's, new york times, north beach, Oakland, open 4 business, open 4 business productions, open for business, open4business, parks and recreation, party, Peter Berg, pilot, plaza, plot, police, police department, Producers, Productions, rabbit, ratings, sam, San Francisco, Sarah Aubrey, Scene in San Francisco, september, set, SFPD, show, southland, st., street, studio, suck. ems, sucks, Tags: 2009, television show, today, tonight show, trauma, tut, TV, twirlypopper, Tyler, Universal Media Studios, Writer
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Thursday, March 11th, 2010
Oh, it’s on. It’s going to be Coco a Gogo when Conan O’Brien’s “half-assed“ 32-city “Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour 2010“ comes to the Nob Hill Masonic Auditorium April 22-23. It’ll be just like 2007 all over again.
“Full Price Tickets” from TicketMonster are going right now for $74, all up. And for just $695 you can get in on the Meet and Greet Package- wouldn’t you like a photo of you and Coco to put on the FaceBook for all your “friends” to see? Sure you would.

I don’t know, maybe you can score some cheaper ticks by using your AmEx card or going to the box office or something.
See you there!
All the tour locations, after the jump
(more…)
Tags: 2010, 22, 23, ab, andy richter, andy ricjter, april, Atlanta, Atlantic City, austin, Austin Music Hall, az, BC, Borgata Spa, boston, boulder, Brady Theater, ca, calfiornia, canada, casino, chicago, Co., conan o'brien, conan obrian, Constitution Hall, CT, D.C., Dallas, denver, Dodge Theatre, Ellie Caulkins Opera House, Enoch, Eugene, Event Center, Fox Theatre, ga, Gibson Amphitheater, Grand Sierra Resort, greet, half-assed, hall, Hult Center for the Performing Arts, IL Chicago Theatre, INB Performing Arts Center, jay leno, Kansas City, las vegas, legally prohibited, legally prohibited from being funny on television, legally prohibited from being funny on tv, leno, Ma, Mackey Auditorium, manchester, Marion Oliver McCaw, masonic, masonic auditorium, masonic center, Massey Hall, McFarlin Memorial Auditorium, meet, Memorial Auditorium, Midland Theatre, Minneapolis, MN, MO, Mohegan Sun Arena, nbc, new york, NJ, nob hill, NV, ny, OK, on, OR, Orpheum Theatre, pa, Pearl Concert Theatre, phoenix, Radio City Music Hall, Reno, Resort, River Cree Resort, sacramento, san diego, San Diego Civic Theatre, San Francisco, san jose, San Jose State, seattle, show, SMU Campus, Spokane, street, television, The Palms, ticketmaster, ticketmonster, TN Bonnaroo Music Festival, Toronto, tour, Tower Theatre, Tulsa, TV, tx, Uncasville, universal, Universal City, University Events Center, Upper Darby, Vancouver, WA, WA Seattle Center, Wang Theater, Washington
Posted in TV, events | No Comments »
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010
Take a look for yourself to see dude just drive off the Bay Bridge due to a moment’s inattention in last night’s episode of NBC’s Trauma serial. (Do you think you’d survive after falling so far inside a Jeep Cherokee Classic? I don’t think it’d be possible, but maybe the breast implants inside the car softened the jolt or something.)
Yesterday’s relaunch, debuting the first new ep since November 2009, earned ratings of 1.4/3, which are 22% lower than last year’s average for the show.
Shooting in North Beach as it looked last year near the top of Kearny Street, the most-filmed block on any street in Northern California:

Anyway the bad ratings add up to trouble, according to The Wrap:
“The problem started at 9 p.m., with the previously sorta-canceled “Trauma” (1.4/3) returning from the grave as a Nielsen zombie. It hit its lowest rating yet, falling 22 percent from its fall average and 13 percent from its last original. It wouldn’t be shocking if NBC decided to quickly replace “Trauma” in the timeslot. That’s because “Trauma” tainted “L&O,” which managed a third-place 1.5/4 at 10 p.m. — down 25 percent from last week, when NBC aired a double dose of the drama from 9-11 p.m. Worse, “L&O” was actually off 6 percent from what “The Jay Leno Show” had been averaging at 10 p.m. Mondays.
“NBC — which actually did quite well last week, given the fact that it had to fill 5 hours of primetime post-Jay– does not want to see any negative Leno-to-scripted comparisons at 10 p.m. Period.”
Not saying I would or could do a better job, but maybe the whole concept of shooting this kind of old-school TV show on location on the Streets of San Francisco was a bad idea? Is that possible?
On It Goes. How much longer will this Great San Francisco Nielsen Zombie last?
Tags: 1.4/3, 94612, Aimee Garcia, all's fair, amy chozick, Anastasia Griffith, angela bromstad, Anna Bloom, apology, backlash, bad day at work, beaucoup explosions, big bang, Billy Lush, Boone, bowl, ca, cancelled, CAS, Cast, casting, choppers, chuck, Cliff Curtis, concourse, Credits, Dario Scardapane, death watch, deathwatch, Derek Luke, district, doctors, Dr. Joe, drinking, dunnes, emt, emts, episode, executive, Executive Producer, filbert, film, Film 44, film commission, filming, fresno, Friday Night Lights, game, gigs, golden gate park, green, helicopters, hollywood, horrible, hospital, ICCNC, idiot box, idiot panel, Islamic Cultural Center of Northern California, Jamey Sheridan, jay leno, Jeff Reiner, just horrible, justin herman, Kevin Rankin, LLC, Marissa, nancy, nbc, nbc's, new york times, north beach, Oakland, open 4 business, open 4 business productions, open for business, open4business, parks and recreation, party, Peter Berg, pilot, plaza, plot, police, police department, Producers, Productions, rabbit, ratings, sam, San Francisco, Sarah Aubrey, Scene in San Francisco, september, set, SFPD, southland, st., street, studio, suck. ems, sucks, Tags: 2009, television show, trauma, tut, TV, twirlypopper, Tyler, Universal Media Studios, Writer
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Friday, February 26th, 2010
San Francisco-based Virgin America Airlines has its own “docu-series” starting up on March 24th at 9:30 PM on the CW – it’s called Fly Girls (and it’s not to be confused with the In Living Color/Jennifer Lopez kind of Fly Girls from the 90’s).
Take a look. Meet Mandalay, a local “girl” who’s a Virgin America flight attendant based out of SFO in real life. Listen to her go on about the “romance of aviation” and the benefits of choosing Virgin America, the only California-based airline left by the way.
Barbie, Skipper, and the ”ethnic girlfriends of Barbie“ (or, more politely, a ”mini- United Nations of races and ethnicities“) are coming soon to KBCW-TV channel 44 / 45 and all the CW stations across America. Oh yes, their “real” names (or “reel” names) are Tasha, Louise, Mandy (or Mandi), Nikole and Farrah:

Doesn’t this promo shot from the CW Network of former beauty queen Nikole look just like a Virgin America ad?

This show is going to be something like eight half-hour Virgin America infomercials complete with 30-second commercials for shampoo and cosmetics. Nevertheless, it’s going to be better than NBC’s high-budget San Francisco-based Trauma serial, that’s a given from the get-go. (Wonder if cheeky Virgin Airlines founder Sir Richard Branson will make an appearance or two…)
Just discovered that my aging Trinitron (that could be older than you) actually receives channel 44 so I’ll be sure to tune in to check out the debut.
Excelsior, Ever Upward.
Now, meet the Fly Girls and get more deets after the jump.
Farrah Williams
Hometown Airport: LAX
Must Have Travel Accessories: Lip balm and a camera
Travel Tips: “Be nice to fellow travelers and flight attendants. It makes for a more pleasant experience all the way around.”
Security Checkpoint Tips: “Don’t make eye contact. Strip down quick so you’re not holding up the line.”
Years with Virgin America: 2 ½
Louise Nguyen
Hometown Airport: LAX (currently SFO)
Must Have Travel Accessories: Moisturizer and lip balm
Travel Tips: “While on the plane, always wear your shoes in the restroom!”
Security Checkpoint Tips: “Get in line behind someone who has already taken their shoes off, and who is not juggling a ton of things in their hands, and then do the same.”
Years with Virgin America: 2
Mandy Roberts
Hometown Airport: PHX (currently SFO)
Must Have Travel Accessory: A big, soft pashmina that can be used as a pillow or blanket.
Travel Tips: “Drink an endless amount of water.”
Security Checkpoint Tips: “Wear slip-on shoes with socks, if possible. It’s yucky to wait in line with bare feet on the dirty floor.”
Years with Virgin America: 2
Nikole Rubyn
Hometown Airport: SMF (Sacramento)
Must Have Travel Accessory: Visine
Travel Tips: “Always wear or bring socks with you to walk through security!”
Security Checkpoint Tips: “Don’t wear all of your jewelry to the airport, keep it in small bags and put it on after you get through security.”
Years with Virgin America: 2
Tasha Dunnigan
Hometown Airport: SMF (Sacramento)
Must Have Travel Accessory: Cell phone
Travel Tips: “Don’t forget your common sense at home.”
Security Checkpoint Tips: “Have all of your things in order and pay attention.”
Years with Virgin America: 2
“Fly Girls” is from Collins Avenue Productions, with executive producers Jeff Collins (“Bridezilla 3, 4 & 5,” “The Exterminators”) and Colin Nash (“The Hills,” “The City”) and co-executive producers Larry Bond and Porter Gale.
(more…)
Tags: "ethnic girlfriends of Barbie, 12, 2010, 24, 4.4, 45, 6005, ad, advertising, airlines, airport, Alternative Programming, Ambhar Tequila, America, Banana Republic, Barbie, based, bay area, Belvedere Vodka, c. w., cable, channel, Colin Nash, Collins Avenue, Collins Avenue Productions, doc, docu, docu-series, docudrama, documentary, doll, drama, Elevate, Farrah, Farrah Williams, film, filming, flight, flight attendants, florida, fly girls, hometown, hub, info, infomercial, Jeff Collins, Kristen Vadas, la, Lagasse's Stadium, Larry Bond, las vegas, launch party, lax, los angeles, Louise, Louise Nguyen, mandalay, Mandi, Mandy, Mandy Roberts, march, mercial, miami, network, nevada, new york, nichole, Nikole, Nikole Rubyn, Palazzo, phx, Porter, Primetime Fare Sale, Productions, reality, red, red carpet, richard branson, sacramento, San Francisco, Senior Vice President, series, SFO, show, sir, Skipper, smf, stew, stewardess, stewardesses, Tasha, Tasha Dunnigan, teammates, television, The CW, The Hills, TV, TY KU, VeeV, VeeV Acai Spirit, VeeVa La Fly Girls, virgin, virgin america, VX, wednesdays, wifi
Posted in TV, advertising, airlines | No Comments »
Tuesday, February 16th, 2010
Why, it’s almost as if the people behind NBC’s Trauma serial have figured out a thing or two. Comes now Cliff Curtis, the New Zealand star who plays “cocky” helicopter pilot Rabbit, to say:
“The characters weren’t developed properly at first.
We took a lot of creative license, but learned from it.
We listened to the audience and to critics, and were able to satisfy a lot of complaints about the characters.
We improved the humor and the action on the front line.”
It’s almost like they’re shooting a whole new show! Good on you, Rabbit. Remember how excited people were when gorgeous Jennifer Siebel Newsom was in the pilot episode? Maybe we can get some of that back.

NBC/Universal
Now, while we’re remembering last autumn, wasn’t that the time when co-star Aimee Garcia was spinning this tale?
O.K., hold on to that one. Now, try this on for size, per a recent interview with
Cliff Curtis:
At The Length Truth Will Out. Moving on…
Shooting for, what shall we call it,
Trauma II: This Time We Mean It moves to the East Bay tomorrow. Actually, they were looking for extras with Pakistani heritage just the other day. But keep in mind that when you’re an extra working on Treasure Island you get paid $1.79 more per hour than when you’re an extra working in Oakland. Why? It all has to do with the minimum wage. Anyway, you might be too late for this, but there could be other gigs coming up:
Take heart, extras - I can recall a time when the minimum wage was a lot less than $64/8-hour day. Oh well.
And of course the
TV addicts are, once again, talking about how, once again,
Trauma is a “goner”.
No matter, re-re-newed filming should continue ’til March or April, and then we’ll just have to wait and see, huh?
Tags: 1433 Madison, 94612, Aimee Garcia, all's fair, amy chozick, Anastasia Griffith, angela bromstad, Anna Bloom, apology, backlash, bad day at work, beaucoup explosions, big bang, Billy Lush, Boone, bowl, ca, cancelled, CAS, Cast, casting, choppers, chuck, Cliff Curtis, concourse, Credits, Dario Scardapane, death watch, deathwatch, Derek Luke, district, doctors, Dr. Joe, drinking, dunnes, emt, emts, episode, executive, Executive Producer, filbert, film, Film 44, film commission, filming, fresno, Friday Night Lights, game, gigs, golden gate park, green, helicopters, hollywood, horrible, hospital, ICCNC, idiot box, idiot panel, Islamic Cultural Center of Northern California, Jamey Sheridan, jay leno, Jeff Reiner, just horrible, justin herman, Kevin Rankin, LLC, Marissa, nancy, nbc, nbc's, new york times, north beach, Oakland, open 4 business, open 4 business productions, open for business, open4business, parks and recreation, party, Peter Berg, pilot, plaza, plot, police, police department, Producers, Productions, rabbit, ratings, sam, San Francisco, Sarah Aubrey, Scene in San Francisco, september, set, SFPD, southland, st., street, studio, suck. ems, sucks, Tags: 2009, television show, trauma, tut, TV, twirlypopper, Tyler, Universal Media Studios, Writer
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Friday, February 12th, 2010
The Winter Olympics are going to get going tomorrow after tonight’s ceremony, but San Francisco doesn’t have an NBC affiliate so there you go. (I think the closest city of license for NBC is Fun Jose or Fresno or someplace Down South.) Here’s the rule – if you can’t see Mount San Bruno from your residence, chances are your rabbit ears won’t either.
All right then, you can always keep up at nbcolympics.com, and at the same time get your fill of ads for WalMart and the 2010 Census.
Or, alternatively, you can check out the less spammy website of the United State Olympic Committee complete with all the Web 2.0 connections you kids crave.
Your choice.

via Robert Sanzalone
Tags: 2010, antenna, canada, digital, KNTV, mount, mountain, nbc, Olympics, san bruno, San Francisco, san jose, TV, Vancouver, whistler, winter
Posted in TV, sports | No Comments »
Wednesday, January 20th, 2010
Conan O’Brien’s trauma, that whole deal where he’s losing his Tonight Show gig, is helping to keep NBC’s horrible Trauma serial a few paces ahead of the grim reaper. News just came out about how NBC is ordering four more shows to help fill the prime-time hole left by Jay Leno moving from 10:00 PM back to 11:35 PM.
That means that Season One will end up with 20 episodes at the very least.
Will there be a Season Two for Trauma? Only Time Will Tell.
Rest assured, twirlypopper pilot / couch potato Aimee Garcia will still maintain her official website regardless of when Trauma gets cancelled.

Click to expand
Look for more filming around town soon. You’ll have ten fresh episodes available on your idiot panel after the 2010 Olympics end.
Just bide your time until 9:00 PM on Monday, March 8. 2010…
Tags: 2009, Aimee Garcia, all's fair, amy chozick, Anastasia Griffith, angela bromstad, Anna Bloom, backlash, bad day at work, beaucoup explosions, big bang, Billy Lush, Boone, bowl, cancelled, CAS, Cast, casting, choppers, chuck, Cliff Curtis, concourse, Credits, Dario Scardapane, death watch, deathwatch, Derek Luke, district, doctors, Dr. Joe, drinking, dunnes, emt, emts, episode, executive, Executive Producer, filbert, film, Film 44, film commission, filming, fresno, Friday Night Lights, game, gigs, golden gate park, green, helicopters, hollywood, horrible, hospital, idiot box, idiot panel, Jamey Sheridan, jay leno, Jeff Reiner, just horrible, justin herman, Kevin Rankin, LLC, Marissa, nancy, nbc, new york times, north beach, open 4 business, open 4 business productions, open for business, open4business, parks and recreation, party, Peter Berg, pilot, plaza, plot, police, police department, Producers, Productions, rabbit, ratings, sam, San Francisco, Sarah Aubrey, Scene in San Francisco, september, set, SFPD, southland, street, studio, suck. ems, sucks, television show, trauma, tut, TV, twirlypopper, Tyler, Universal Media Studios, Writer
Posted in TV | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, January 20th, 2010
Like these guys.
It would take forever to make it up the stairs to the top of controversial landmark Sutro Tower, so a swaying elevator car is the preferred method.
Click to expand to get a closer look at a sunnier, more colorful San Francisco:

Take the tour.
Tags: 11, 12, 14, 2, 2009, 29, 30, 34, 4.4, 41, 42, 45, 5, 65, 66, 7, 9, ABC, analog, analogue, antenna, antennae, antennas, association, auxilliary, AZT, bay area, broadcast, c. w., cable, cbs, digital, dt, DTV, elevator, Forest Knolls Neighborhood Organization, forrest, Forrest Knolls, Forrest Knolls Neighborhood Organization, fox, gump, High, hill, home, Improvement, inc. sutro tower inc, incorporated, ion, KBCW, KDTV, KFSt TEL, kgo, KKPX, KNTV, KPIX, kqed, KRON, KTNc, ktvu, low, Midtown Terrace, Midtown Terrace Home Owners Association, mount, nbc, neighborhood, nimbies, nimby, nimbys, Owners, pbs, power, radio, re-scanning, red, rescanning, San Francisco, scan, scanning, stairs, sutro, sutro tower, television, tons, twin peaks, Twin Peaks Improvement Association, UNI, white, workers
Posted in TV, architecture | 3 Comments »
Thursday, November 19th, 2009
Not that you’d really be able to tell, though. Sutro Tower Inc. has just finished a project that had some of the digital TV broadcast antennas (not “antennae” – that plural term is only used for bugs in our silly English language) gaining a higher altitude.
Not much howver, maybe a seven-percent increase, max. Does that make a big difference? No, not for most people, but at least STI is trying.
Here’s the antenna of KPIX-TV (OMG, that’s the home of Eye on Blogs – big ups, Brittney Gilbert!) a way up top, like 1700 feet above sea level. Now Channel 5 is as high as possible:

Click to expand
The Future is Now, and what’s labeled “CURRENT” is history:

From this:

To this:

Well, they were still wrapping the KPIX, KRON, KTVU antenna assembly, but you get the idea.
So it looks like we’re all set with the Great Digital TV Conversion of 2009. As long as Sutro Tower doesn’t get hit by a shooting star….

…we’ll be all right.
Tags: 11, 12, 14, 2, 2009, 29, 30, 34, 4.4, 41, 42, 45, 5, 65, 66, 7, 9, ABC, analog, analogue, antenna, antennae, antennas, association, auxilliary, AZT, bay area, broadcast, c. w., cable, cbs, channel 2, channel 4, channel 5, channel 7, chronicle, Chronicle Publishing, clarendon, conversion, Cox Broadcasting, digital, dt, DTV, emf, Examiner, Forest Knolls Neighborhood Organization, forrest, Forrest Knolls, Forrest Knolls Neighborhood Organization, fox, gump, High, hill, home, Improvement, inc. sutro tower inc, incorporated, ion, KBCW, KDTV, KFSt TEL, kgo, KGO-TV, KKPX, KNTV, KPIX, kqed, KRON, KTNc, ktvu, law school, low, Midtown Terrace, Midtown Terrace Home Owners Association, mount, nbc, neighborhood, nimbies, nimby, nimbys, Owners, pbs, Peace and Love and Noticing the Details, pelosi, power, radio, re-scanning, red, rescanning, ronald, San Francisco, scan, scanning, Stephen R. Barnett, STI, sutro, sutro tower, Sutro Tower Inc, television, tons, tower, TV, twin peaks, Twin Peaks Improvement Association, UNI, USF, Westinghouse Broadcasting, white
Posted in TV | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, November 18th, 2009
You know United States Congresswoman Jackie Speier (D - CA 12th District), right? She represents the people in San Francisco’s Sunset District (in addition to a lot of folks down San Mateo County way). Well won’t they be proud when they see how she acquitted herself against the likes of Stephen Colbert of the Colbert Report.
Check out the video interview over at Capital Notes, courtesy of KQED’s John Myers.
Is she skateboarding the Halls of Congress? Yes.

Go Jackie, go!
“Being gay is not a disease,” responded Speier sternly. “It’s a sexual orientation. So there is nothing to fix.”
Tags: advocate, colbert report, comedy channel, congress, county, Democrat, district, halls, interview, jackie speier, representative, San Mateo, skateboard, stephen colbert, sunset, youtube
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