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Monday, June 23, 2008
Austinites battle on ‘Gladiator,’ Brokaw to temp for Russert
Geez, you take off one lousy week, and it takes forever to catch up. Piles of mail, hundreds of e-mails … but very few phone calls. Apparently people don’t reach out and touch any more. OK by me.
Leaping right in (enough whining), “American Gladiators” tonight features an Austin couple who spent their honeymoon on that rough-and-tumble reality show.
My colleague and editor Michael Barnes wrote about Ally and Jeff Davidson in his blog last week.
Who would actually choose to spend quality romantic time with Hulk Hogan and Laila Ali? Well, apparently these two. Ally even auditioned on her wedding day, which seems pretty extreme.
Ally, 25, was a teen jock at Westwood High before playing college basketball for Ole Miss and Texas State. Jeff, 29, also is a jock-type who attended the University of Texas.
NBC describes tonight’s episode (at 7 p.m. on KXAN) thusly: “Tension builds as two sets of married couples compete in the arena, but only one man and one woman can move on to the semifinals.”
Jeff and Ally together? One of the Davidsons with one of the other folks? Jeff and Ally out altogether? A viewing party is being held at Pluckers at Lakeline. Cluck and cheer.
HBO signs up more appointments for “In Treatment”
It wasn’t readily apparent whether HBO’s drama “In Treatment” would survive to fight another season, but Hollywood trade papers indicate Dr. Paul Weston (Gabriel Byrne) will return — but not until 2009.
And, of course, Paul couldn’t possibly return without help from his own shrink, played by Dianne Wiest.
The roster of patients will be different, with occasional visits from previous troubled souls played by Melissa George, Blair Underwood, Mia Wasikowska, Josh Charles and Embeth Davidtz. And the production will move from Los Angeles to New York.
No word on whether the show will be stripped (airing five nights a week) or run once a week.
Irreplaceable Tim Russert
No surprise that Tim Russert’s best pal Tom Brokaw will be filling in for the late newsman on the NBC analysis program “Meet the Press.”
But Brokaw has made it clear that he will not stay past the November general election. When he retired as anchor of “NBC Nightly News,” he gave up the weekly grind for good.
Brokaw will do fine, but NBC will have a tough time finding a permanent replacement. Russert’s sudden death June 13 left the network and the long-running program with a big hole during this historic election season.
The of role of “Meet the Press” moderator calls for someone with gravitas, lots of experience and a deep knowledge of American politics.
Who’s in the running? NBC has some fine political reporters — David Gregory, Andrea Mitchell and Kelly O’Donnell. But none of them fits the role.
I can’t come up with a likely name from the NBC roster, but I can tell you who should NOT get the job:
Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann or anyone else from MSNBC. They’re all too loud and too opinionated. “Meet the Press” needs a host capable of balance and insight. And manners.
Brian Williams. No, he’s too calm, doesn’t push hard enough for answers and hasn’t yet acquired the gravitas needed.
So who’s left? Maybe someone from another networks should be brought in — maybe Gwen Ifill from PBS ot Ted Koppel from wherever the heck he is these days (Discovery Channel?).
NBC has time to consider, so let’s hope the network considers carefully.
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