Producer_Bill's Blog

I’m the entertainment producer for Good Day L.A. I’m the guy Dorothy’s referring to when she talks about (belittles, shames, emasculates, take your choice) Producer Bill on the air. My job as her producer is to scour the news wires, the internet, the trades, the newspapers, the tabloids, the late night shows in search of entertainment stories and then turn those stories into mildly amusing fluff each morning from 7 to 10 am. But mostly we just watch American Idol.

“Fame is fleeting, but obscurity is forever.”
--with apologies to Napoleon Bonaparte

Most people come to Hollywood to for the fame. And I guess that’s what keeps me employed. Britney. Paris. Lindsay. The Big Three. The Axis of Terror.

                        

If it wasn’t for them, I swear we wouldn’t have a show. With the TMZification of Hollywood, there’s a cynical, snarky, approach to coverage of entertainment news these days. But I always try to keep in mind that these are real people. With real feelings. And real Chihuahuas.

“The way to become famous fast is to
throw a brick at someone who is famous.”
--Walter Winchell

I try not to throw bricks. We all have our personal feelings, biases and opinions. I try to keep mine out of my stories. But sometimes, working with Dorothy—God love her—is like working with a megaphone. If you say something to her quietly over there…it comes out very loudly over here. An off-color joke told privately in the newsroom, often has a way of finding its way into the live broadcast. So I’ve learned to edit myself. But news people are a passionate bunch and a newsroom is a place for a free and frank exchange of ideas. And few entertainment stories generate more discussion around the water cooler than…American Idol.

“I can't bear political correctness. I don't
like a rule driven life and I hate the fact that
you can't criticize a fat person.”
--Simon Cowell

Everyone who watches Idol has their favorites, the ones they want to win and, more importantly, the ones they don’t. In the newsroom, I made no secret of the fact that I was not a fan of one of this year’s contestants, Danny Noriega. We pointed out on the air how he bore a strange resemblance to Jessica Alba.

                             

Dorothy also mentioned his vitriolic Christmas rant about Santa Claus that was posted on the internet--in which Danny said he hoped Santa would do unspeakable things to your mother. Nice. And Dorothy also repeated what I had said to her in the newsroom, that I was glad he was voted off the show.

To see and hear Dorothy actually said, click here: http://www.myfoxla.com/myfox/pages/ContentDetail?cont
entId=6149079

Some viewers thought we had crossed the line. Cheering for someone to succeed is alright. Hoping they don’t, isn’t.

I received e-mails from two viewers who were patently outraged by my opinion. (Until now, I’ve only ever received one other viewer e-mail, from a woman who saw me briefly on camera. That e-mail read simply: “Who is Producer Bill??? He’s HOTTTT!!!!” I swear it did not come from my mother.)

Avoid popularity if you would have peace.
--Abraham Lincoln

In her e-mail, Brittany wrote: “This producer Bill, and the News Reporter doing the segment were both very inappropiet (sic) …There is no need to laugh at him, or make fun of him, on the news. He was a talented kid, and your Producer Bill needs to learn that all of LA does not care about what he thinks about Danny.”

(I just think it's funny she knew my name and not the News Reporter's!)

Jennie wasn’t too happy either. She wrote: “Shame on you for being so unprofessional and make fun of a person like that…He does not deserved (sic) to be ridiculed like that by rude and disrespectful people like you. He has an amazing voice, and a fun and humorous personality to go with it, which is opposite of your rude and vile one.”

And then she added: “You all make me sick.”

See, opinions are just like belly buttons….everyone has one. It’s just that mine was repeated on the television airwaves. I’m sorry for the offense. The truth is, we had Danny as a guest on Good Day LA. the morning after he was voted off American Idol. He told us he was a big fan of our show. Even Danny knows one of the oldest axioms of Hollywood:

There’s no such thing as bad publicity.