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.
