Monday, Oct. 17
The Radio-Television News Directors Association has handed out scads of Edward R. Murrow Awards—which we like to think of as the ERMies—since the prize for excellence in electronic journalism was founded in 1971. At this year’s RTNDA love-fest alone, they’re passing out 72 pieces of the hardware. No doubt past winners still cherish memories of their special night, but this year’s gala is especially special, dusted as it will be with Hollywood magic: The star of
Edward R. Hero, er, Good Nigh , and Good Luck, is coming. George Clooney schmoozing the RTNDA? Uh, no. But as the flackogram says, “ David Strathairn, who plays Murrow, will attend the dinner and speak briefly.” Meanwhile, the prize for excellence in fake electronic journalism, apparently, is your own show: The Colbert Report starts tonight on Comedy Central (11:30 p.m. ET), with former Daily Show senior correspondent Stephen Colbert doing a faux cable news chat show.
Tuesday, Oct. 18
The Museum of Television & Radio, West Coast division, hosts an MT&R Industry Forum Luncheon today at the museum’s Beverly Hills HQ.Lauren Zalaznick, president of
Bravo and Trionetworks, is the guest speaker. And be warned: The invitation says the 15 minutes from 12:45 to 1 p.m. are reserved for “check-in and networking.” In other words, once Ms. Zalaznick’s through, you’ve finished dessert and everyone’s milling around before bolting back to the office, don’t try to give her your business card and discuss how you’d fix Battle of the Network Reality Stars.
Wednesday, Oct. 19
Yeah, yeah, we know network branding is important and everything, but it’s good to see TNT loosening up a little tonight and straying from its mirthless “We Know Drama” motto. Cedric the Entertainer hosts the Black Movie Awards (10 p.m. ET). Aside from the acting, writing and directing awards (Cedric is up for best actor, thanks to his performance in The Honeymooners; sorry, Ced, but our money’s on Don Cheadle for Crash), the BMA Hall of Fame is honoring Sidney Poitier for Distinguished Career Achievement. After the awards, TNT returns to its regularly scheduled dramatic programming (The Color Purple, 11:30 p.m. ET).
Thursday, Oct. 20
Reps from Cablevision, Charter, Comcast,
Cox and even some cable operators that don’t begin with “C” are convening in Atlanta’s Busbee Center today and tomorrow for the Interactive ’05 Conference. The gathering, co-sponsored by itaas Inc. and Scientific-Atlanta(the media sponsors are B&C and our sister pub, Multichannel News), brings together applications developers and the cable crowd to brainstorm the future of interactive TV. We’d use the industry’s iTV shorthand, but ITV’s lawyers in London might get cranky.
Friday, Oct. 21
We’ll just let the contest announcement tell it: “ABC.com is looking for you and your juiciest confessions. You could be the star of Confessions of a Desperate Housewife, a series of video montages to air on ABC.com and wirelessly this fall.” The deadline for submitting the homemade confessional videotapes is Monday at midnight. Check the Web site for the numbing details. Our confession: We suspect Eva Longoria is going to be this year’s winner of the Teri Hatcher Overexposure/Jealous Backbiting Award
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