popular thinking

My pet peeve with tape delay rears its ugly head and wags its tail behind it with the special half-hour Nightline devoted to Jeopardy and contestant Ken Jennings. Jennings lost on his 75th appearance on the game show, which aired today. But the episode was taped almost a full three months earlier. Yes, that's right. ABC had interviews, profiles and footage from the show taped in September, yet waited until the night it aired to broadcast. ABC News and its high-profile news program, bowing to KingWorld, the company (owned by CBS) that distributes Jeopardy. Of course, this is not shocking to anyone who pays attention to news about entertainment. From the recent Sharon Reed nudie show to any "entertainment news" profile of an upcoming film or TV episode, it's all taped and stored away. All of those "exclusives" from the set of Alexander or the latest CSI? Those were taped weeks -- nay, even months ago. But it's brought to you right before screening as if it were news.

And people wonder why bloggers are becoming more popular...they're actually delivering more news than the so-called news organs!

Here is all of the media already lined up to pay tribute to Jennings and his vanquisher, Nancy Zerg, according to Jeopardy's own Web site...

Dec. 1: 6:45 a.m. WABC live interview with Ken.
7-8 a.m. Good Morning America Ken appears with Nancy Zerg.
8-8:15 a.m. Ken interviewed on ABC Radio.
9-10 a.m. Live with Regis and Kelly featuring Ken.
9-10 a.m. Nancy Zerg appears on CBS Early Show.
7 p.m. Ken appears on CNN 360 degrees. (TBD?)
Biography hour-long special on Ken Jennings and JEOPARDY! contestants.
Dec. 2: CBS Early Show airs interview with Ken & Nancy.
Dec. 3: People Magazine feature runs.
Dec. 5: VH1 Big in 2004 Awards show broadcast including Ken as nominee in Big Entertainer category.
Dec. 8: Barbara Walters Special, “10 Most Fascinating People of 2004” with Ken Jennings.
Dec. 9: Vanity Fair “Best of 2004” issue includes Ken Jennings.