Tag Archive for 'tim russert'

Luke Russert Starts Trend, Jenna Bush Follows: Pathfinders for Ayla Brown

Published on May 5, 2010 in Baby Boomer. 3 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , .

Because NBC has done so well with the spawn of Tim Russert, Luke, and the offspring of Dubya, Jenna Bush, CBS has snagged Massachusetts Republican  Sen. Scott Brown’s 21-year-old daughter Ayla Brown.  She has graduated from American Idol, but has yet to earn a college degree, to be a correspondent for the CBS Early Show.

From American Idol to CBS Morning News

Ayla Brown is still a student at Boston College and from her qualifications, will  serve CBS News in a most capable fashion:

  • she’s hot
  • she’s a basketball jock
  • she’s connected
  • she’s hot
  • she is in college
  • she was on American Idol
  • she’s hot
  • she has a Mom who is a Tee Vee reporter
  • she has been a radio jock
  • she’s hot
  • she is the “Anthem Girl”

… she has sung “The Star-Spangled Banner” at dozens of events. The most notable venue at which she has performed the anthem was the 33rd annual Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular on the Esplanade alongside Boston’s Charles River on July 4, 2006. The performance garnered national attention and was watched by hundreds of thousands both in attendance and on television.

CBS says they have the next Katie Couric in Ayla Brown…

“You can’t create the next Katie Couric,” executive producer David Friedman tells AP. “You just have to find talent that you think can develop into something.”

Tell me again that network news isn’t entertaining?

Tim Russert is Still Dead; Newseum Prepares his Chapel

Published on October 8, 2009 in Baby Boomer. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .
An undated photo provided by the Newseum shows Tim Russert in his office at NBC News in Washington. Russert's office will be reassembled in an exhibit opening next month at the Newseum in Washington and will be on view through 2010. The longtime "Meet the Press" moderator died June 13, 2008 of a heart attack at work.

An undated photo provided by the Newseum shows Tim Russert in his office at NBC News in Washington. Russert's office will be reassembled in an exhibit opening next month at the Newseum in Washington and will be on view through 2010. The longtime "Meet the Press" moderator died June 13, 2008 of a heart attack at work.

Tim Russert is still dead.

Tim Russert, the guy from NBC’s Meet the Press. Tim Russert, whose death launched the skyrocketing career of his son Luke Russert and other famous inside-the-beltway kids. Tim Russert who is being canonized by newsers in preparation for his ascension to sit a the right hand of Huntley-Brinkley.

Here’s what I said when he died:

Hyperbole. Over and over and over. Why did Russert have to die at the beginning of the weekend when news is slow? Can we be far from St. Tim of Buffalo? Most bigwigs have settled into a “he was a great journalist” reaction…

Tim Russert has been dead for 18 months. Yet the beltway media dopes just can’t dump enough accolades on his rotting flesh.

“And here children, you see the workspace of a media giant, St. Tim of Buffalo, aka Tim Russert whose life and work brought immense value to the American way of life and who shall be remembered for ever and ever as one of the great pioneers of television journalism talk shows.”

How Sweet, NBC hires Jenna Bush After Wild Success with the Russert Kid

Published on August 30, 2009 in Entertainment, Money and Politics. 3 Comments Tags: , , , , .

JennaBushTodayShowThe “Today” show has hired Jenna Bush Hager to work for them.

The twinster daughter of ex-President Bush (love how that sounds) will work on just about what ever she wants. Kind of like Luke Russert.

NBC: home of the ordinary Xers with extraordinary connections.

Jenna Bush will work out of the Washington bureau, jumped at the chance to drag down a nice salary and work in Tee Vee.

Here is the ringing endorsement of her qualifications by her new boss:

“I think she can handle it,”

Is this a dream job for Jenna Bush Hager? Hardly, she said:

“It wasn’t something I’d always dreamed to do,” “But I think one of the most important things in life is to be open-minded and to be open-minded for change.”

Jenna Bush-Hager won’t have to give up her part time teaching job. Did I mention she will be covering education?

Sound familar? It’s the same deal offered to Luke Russert, the kid of St. Tim Russert. He was supposed to offer his worldly insights on the political scene.

NBC put Jenna Bush through a rigorous audition. She walked in, stood and read from a prompter and was offered the job.

When she came here for a handful of appearances, she knocked it out of the park.” She “just sort of popped to us as a natural presence, comfortable” on the air.

I guess that’s about the same qualifications as most females of her age group that have network Tee Vee jobs. Except she is missing the beauty queen title that most hotties of the news have.

NBC: Home of the Hotties or the Unnervous.  Tee Vee news marches on.

Tim Russert is Still Dead; Young Luke Russert is MIA

Published on May 11, 2009 in Entertainment and Politics. 4 Comments Tags: , , .

Luke Russert is a punk.

His dad, Tim Russert, was just another inside-the-beltway blowhard that died at a young age.
NBC apparently felt some compulsion to hire Young Luke, even though he registered zero on the network television experience-o-meter.

Luke Russert is a punk because he got a sweet job and apparently is blowing it off.

“He was hired last year to be the youth correspondent — he got a great contract and was supposed to cover youth issues, blog and bring in young viewers, but he’s been MIA for a while. It’s like, ‘Well, that’s what you get for nepotism.’ “

Luck (oops, Freudian typo) Russert told MediaBistro, he was aware of the nepotism surrounding his hiring and said, “Did my name get my foot in the door? Absolutely, I’ll be the first to admit that.

Now young Luke Russert has stopped contributing to NBC. No face time, no blog (his last one was 12/08) and he doesn’t even generate 140 characters for Twitter.

Young Luke Russert, a man with no talent, collecting a big paycheck, and doing no work.

St. Tim would must be so proud.

Television Critics Finally Get to Analysis of Tim Russert Coverage

Published on June 17, 2008 in Holy Shit! Lookit This!. 1 Comment Tags: .

Slate: The Canonization of Saint Russert hmmm, where have I read those words before?

As if all the NBC News airtime isn’t enough, MSNBC plans to broadcast a private memorial service for Russert from the Kennedy Center on June 18 at 4 p.m.

I’m not surprised. I predicted it.

As interim coverage, prior to his burial, the insiders are speculating on who will replace Russert. Again, my feelings are: “who cares?” – except for the inside-the-beltway cousins.

Russert apparenly was a great guy. But – this is for those of you who didn’t read earlier posts – he was just that, a guy, on TV, talking politics. Important to no one but his family.

The Washington Post tv critic writes today about how critics are panning the seemingly constant eulogies, but the viewers love it.

Poynter Institute’s Al Tompkins spanked NBC Universal for the “hour upon hour that NBC and MSNBC devoted to coverage of his death.” 

Balloon Juice:

Tim Russert was a newsman. He was not the Pope. This is not the JFK assassination, or Reagan’s death, or the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion. A newsman died. We know you miss him, but please shut up and get back to work.

Tompkins adds that the subscription only site NewsBlues.com said this yesterday.

The sudden death Friday of Washington Bureau Chief Tim Russert rattled through NBC with such ferocity that the stunned network briefly lost its journalistic equilibrium, transforming the entire “NBC Nightly News” into a self-serving eulogy for its fallen comrade.