Bungled Late Night Programming… Again

In Australia we are somewhat distant to the wars of late night television in America. We have developed no real culture for the genre that became an institution through the legendary late Johnny Carson. NBC owned late night because of Johnny Carson and later on David Letterman came on to follow with his show at 12.30

It was the early 90’s and the retirement of Carson was imminent. No one had any idea what had been going on behind closed doors, not even Johnny Carson.

To cut a long story short, Jay Leno, a regular guest host had already signed a deal to take over the tonight show after some dirty tricks by his manager, unbeknown to Letterman who had been auditioning for the top job for the last 10 years.

Mistake after mistake from NBC executives led to Letterman leaving to do a similar show at rival station, CBS. They really didn’t manage the situation well from the beginning.

Well it happened again, you’d think they learned something from those events captured so well in the book, ‘The Late Shift” by Bill Carter.

Since 1994, Jay had been doing well despite Letterman dominating the timeslot for his first few years on CBS. NBC approached Jay in 2007 and said that Conan O’Brien, who had taken over Letterman’s old show, had received offers from other networks. NBC executives didn’t want to lose him and wanted to give him the Tonight show as they thought Jay was on the wane and could not sustain his ratings that had been very good up to that stage.

Conan was to take over the tonight show in 2009, but Jay was to stay as he was still under contract and NBC stated he was still a valuable asset despite effectively firing him from the show he had hosted continuously for 15 years. Jay moved to prime time and Conan was on Tonight.

Ratings weren’t good for Jay at 10pm and Conan was not maintaining Jay’s old ratings. Affiliate stations were disappointed and demanded something be done to rectify the situation.

The original idea by the NBC executives to please the affiliates was to put Jay at 11.30 for a half hour show and the Conan to do the Tonight show at 12, even though technically it is no longer tonight.

Conan quite rightfully didn’t go for that. This put NBC in a sticky situation that they wanted to just go away. It did go away, only after Conan was payed out $32 million. Jay would once again host the Tonight show.

The good side of this very avoidable set of events is the comedy gold that has been demonstrated in David Letterman’s opening monologues. He now feels somewhat vindicated for getting out of NBC.

Save Us From Your Followers

“Lord, Save Us From Your Followers”

by Dan Merchant

Spotted this DVD in Koorong. It was the title that attracted me to it. I had not heard anything about it and the rest of the cover was slightly mysterious. It was discounted so I felt like it would be worth trying. I watched it first on my own then wanted to get some opinions from others.

The main theme was how Christians are portraying themselves poorly and in a very public way. Being quick to condemn instead of understand and being no more than a big mouth instead of the true, loving body of Christ.

In America they have a lot of televangelists that love to put their opinion to something when they choose, e.g. Hurricane Katrina, Haiti, even Heath Ledger’s death. Unfortunately they seem more concerned about being right and really have no idea how they sound to others.

Of course the media loves the big mouths, they create good headlines. Meanwhile news of the good works from Christian groups that are helping people instead of talking condemnation does not get seen. Except for those being helped, which is probably most important anyway. These people are doing the true work of Jesus.

Sometimes bad things happen. People die, property is damaged, and lives are thrown into disarray. Cameras go wherever there is loud hailer and a preacher proclaiming that God’s wrath has brought this event and he is judging those who are now suffering. They talk at you and not with you. There is no open dialogue with these people.

I hope to never meet a Christian like this but I ever do I would like to ask him, “Do you realise what you are doing?”

I don’t think what is portrayed in this movie is occurring in such prevalence in Australia. But it is still here and it can be used as a gentle wake up call to realise who is out there and how they might are able to be reached for Jesus.

Introduction to Matthew Reilly

“Hell Island” by Matthew Reilly

This book was originally an impulse buy. I was at Dymocks purchasing another book when I saw this on the counter. I had heard of Reilly’s reputation but wasn’t sure if I would be keen on his books. I figured that instead of buying one of his 500 page novels that this 100-page novella would be a great introduction. Plus it was only $5.

It still took me a while to read it. It became one of my on the job books as it fit nicely in my pocket. It quickly became a book that I couldn’t put down.

As I told my colleague what was happening the premise of the book sounded familiar to him. It didn’t matter that the plot was slightly spoilt, as it was about the journey Reilly took me as the reader.

Like any good suspenseful story there were twists throughout the book to keep me guessing what was to happen. I had a suspicion that the main character, nicknamed ‘Scarecrow’, would win out at the end but I had to wait until the last few pages to know for sure.

I’m not sure if this novella is still available or if it was just a special promotion. However upon reading this book I will move onto his full-length books.

Atheist Myth Busting

After reading The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins I needed something else to read in order to make some sense out his writings. Originally I just wanted to read ‘The Dawkins Delusion’ but it was not available when I went looking. The result being that I bought two other books and later on found my intended purchase. I have since read all three of these books. They unsurprisingly make the same points yet are still different enough that people might prefer one over the other two.

The Dawkins Delusion – Alistair McGrath

McGrath is a scientist of high standing, like Dawkins. Except he has been converted from Atheism to Christianity. He respects Dawkins as a brilliant scientist but points out four main themes where he makes errors in his claims on Christianity. About 70 pages long and easy to read.

The Dawkins Letters – David Robertson

Robertson originally wrote an open letter to Richard Dawkins and posted it on his website. His first letter made it’s way onto Dawkins’ own website resulting in much vitriol from his atheist followers. Robertson was unperturbed, rather he was inspired to write further letters covering the themes of the chapters in order. There are ten letters that are relatively short and easy to read.

As these are letters the writing style is very different from the other two, interesting nonetheless. Robertson asks a lot of rhetorical questions with some rebuttal on his false doctrine.

The God Reality – Rob Slane

Like McGrath, Slane was an atheist who had been converted to Christianity. Like McGrath’s book he covers the main themes of Dawkins. However I found Slane’s book a bit easier to read than McGrath’s. Might have been McGrath’s more intellectual background. Slane was briefer, easier to read and the layout was more aesthetically pleasing.

All that being said, I enjoyed reading all three and would recommend all three. My favourite, though, was The God Reality by Rob Slane as he simplified the difficult concepts that Dawkins puts forward.

I am undecided on whether a reading of The God Delusion is necessary before reading any of these rebuttals. Perhaps reading Dawkins would provide a greater balance and understanding. Although Dawkins can be difficult to read as it becomes very obvious early in his book that he has a false view of religion and it has nothing to do with science more his own philosophy of the world. Reading from his perspective might give the rebuttals more strength. Also if in conversation with an atheist I have found that they are impressed when they find out you have read a popular atheist book.

For the sake of your own sanity if you just have a curious interest then read one of the above. If you are up for a challenge then go the whole hog.

Titans – Book Review

“Titans” by Michael Stephens

This is a children’s book that I won in 1993 for an essay I wrote on vandalism and it has taken me this long to read it. If it weren’t a prize then I probably would have sent it to the local church fete.

As a child I was never a big reader of books and preferred Roald Dahl or Paul Jennings anyway. That is if I wasn’t reading the latest footy magazine.

It’s a shame I didn’t read it earlier as it actually is a pretty good story. It’s hard to appreciate it fully now as an adult as I haven’t thought like a child for a long time.

It had suspense and adventure, two great features in a book for a young boy. Dahl and Jennings were masters at it.

The good thing with reading a children’s book is that it takes next to no time to read it. Despite being 150 pages it had large writing with generous spacing as well as the odd illustration. I still prefer Dahl or Jennings, mainly because I had grown up with them. But this book is definitely a keeper and will take it’s rightful place alongside the Dahl and Jennings collection for future Haynes generations to read.