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Watch out Beaumont, Texas, “Cops” is coming to town

Attention all bad boys: What ya gonna do?

The Beaumont (Texas) City Council silently voted to allow the long-running “reality” TV show, “Cops” to film local police for the next eight weeks.

Yes, “Cops” will follow Beaumont police officers around while exposing a few of the more than several dregs of society the city has to offer. Perhaps the show will get a good shot of police flailing the hell out of a “perp.” In case you don’t know, at least here, a perp is a black or Latino between the age of 18 and 60. No, I’m just kidding most of the cops here don’t do that any more. You know them civil lawsuits get expensive the more times they get filed.

I had some hopes for the Beaumont PD leadership when Chief James Singletary took command in October 2011. I have been personally disappointed about a couple of things the police did to my displeasure, but I will not mention them.

A few things do appear somewhat better though. It seems less wrongful use of force has been called to our attention. At least on the outside this police administration also seems to do a good job connecting with the media and the public. They send out news releases which are the very same ones that the local TV and newspaper receive and rewrite verbatim or make the release sound dramatic, somewhat, on TV. The local media has not, at least in the last several years, made any effort to investigate stories on their own. That is unless it is something that the white, wealthy or semi-wealthy, minority are up in arms over. For instance, we have the case of the black electrician who allegedly stole $3 million — I say allegedly even though he was convicted — from the Beaumont school district. I use the form of alleged because it may be more than that amount which was stolen or he might have a successful appeal.

The asshole who shot and killed an elderly woman from Newton County in March 2012 at the Jefferson County Courthouse, Bartholomew Granger, was convicted just this afternoon in Galveston. He also wounded a couple of others including his daughter, whom he also ran over. Sweet guy. He will probably be executed.

I mention that because that was about the biggest crime story around last year, that I can remember. Of course, “Cops” don’t need a big shootout to film. They can watch the Beaumont police bust some knucklehead, with his pants halfway down his ass, for a chunk of crack — cocaine that is. Or they might film some meth heads, all without shirts, being swept up in a commando-style raid in which the meth guy’s 3-year-old daughter ends up going to Child Protective Services. Sad. Yes, we’ve seen all this before. But we have not seen it in Beaumont on national TV.

One sight you will be sure to see is some good ol’ boy with his big belly hanging out from his wife-beater and as well as hanging a ways over his jeans. This ol’ boy might have two teeth at the most and a southern drawl. But what the hell? It’s good publicity for the department and a morale booster for the police officers, says Singletary.

The city has spent a considerable sum of money to spruce up areas of town. Tourists are coveted here by the local convention and visitors bureau to take in our museums, old houses, Gator Country and the birthplace of the oil industry. “Texas With a Little Extra” is the motto du jour. Or maybe that should be “Texas With a Little Extra Crime.”

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Happy 8-0 Willie, no matter what day your birthday may be

Willie Nelson turns the big 8-0 today. Or tomorrow. There apparently is some dispute over what day The Red-Headed Stranger was born. Supposedly, he says today and the state of Texas says tomorrow (April 30, 2013.) Somehow, I think Willie might just light up a big ol’ reefer and say: “Who cares.”

There is no dispute that this extremely talented individual was born in Abbott, Texas, in Hill County. That is about five miles north of West, the small town struck with unimaginable destruction on April 17. In the wake of that devastation was left 15 dead and more than 150 injured.

Birthday Boy.
Birthday Boy.

All of this has to do with Willie in case you asked. Well, not the explosion but the man who seems to perpetually have a twinkle in his eye made his birthday party gig at the Bee Cave near Austin a benefit for the West volunteer firefighters and others who lost so heavily on that day. Some 12 of the 15 dead were first responders.

No matter that Willie Nelson is a “big old star” he is a country boy at his roots. And country people take care of their own. They might know yours and everyone else’s business and be judgmental as Roy Bean. But they take care of their own, by God.

“It’s been rough and rocky travelin’/But I’m finally standing upright on the ground/After takin’ several readings/I’m surprised to find my mind is fairly sound.” — “Me and Paul”

Willie has sang every kind of song, on every kind of stage, in cities big, small and in between. I first saw him, a clean cut replacement for Marty Robbins at a rodeo in Jasper, Texas. Then I saw him in his trademark short, cutoff blue jeans with a pony-tail and scraggly old red beard and hair. The hair was a lot less gray back in Santa Barbara in 1978.

There are so many songs of his I love: “Remember Me,” with his soulful singing, his wandering guitar and Sister Bobbie Nelson’s honky-tonk style piano. “The Red-Headed Stranger,” the concept album on which both the former and the title track may be heard. A hellacious cover version of Bob Wills’ “Stay a Little Longer.” You name it. Willie plays it.

Willie used to party a lot. Now, I understand he is a health-food nut. Yep, probably drinks only the best organic whiskey. He goes running, still I guess. Of course, he also has probably smoked enough ganja in his life to bring Bob Marley back from the dead.

He’s had highs in his life and he’s had lows. When I say “highs” I’m not talking about his well-known pot propensity. But he’s finally standing upright on the ground, just as he sung in the previously quoted tune “Me and Paul.” The “Paul” is Paul English, Willie’s long-time drummer, who is about the same age as Willie. Bobbie is two years older than her brother. Perhaps a bit of meanness is inside me but I would like to see a “Beer Rules” volleyball game between the Nelson clan and the Rolling Stones. Of course, Mick and the boys would probably get teased as “the youngsters.”

At any rate, if Willie Nelson isn’t my favorite musician, then he’s pretty damn close. Hope you have had a Happy Birthday Willie Hugh Nelson! Whenever you want to have it.

 

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The first day on the job went swell, Ma. That is until I opened my mouth.

Remember your first day on the job?

You come in bright and early. Your new boss shows you where the coffee is which you find out comes out of a machine after depositing two quarters. A bit later you go to Human Resources and the 100-year-old and still bitchy empress has you sign about 150 pages of future additions to your permanent work history. After finishing the paper work and making sure the HR gal still has a pulse, you head to what you fear will be the first of many meetings. Some of the “guys” from your section take you to lunch. You return and take a three-hour class on sexual harassment, as if you didn’t already know how to sexually harass someone. Then, everyone bids you well for the evening as you are allowed to go home an hour or so early. You head to the subway thinking: “That didn’t go so bad did it?”

Maybe not, unless you were A.J. Clemente.

A.J. probably had plenty of high hopes as he began his first job as a local TV news anchor. Then the camera went live, thus ending quite probably the shortest career in TV news.

The 5 p.m. broadcast at KFYR-TV news in Bismarck, N.D. started with its serious-sounding music. Co-anchor Van Tieu then introduced the new talking head, A.J., the latter of whom was muttering something or other. What’s that you say,  A.J.?:

“F—ing s–t!”

If you are going to go bad going live, go for the gusto.

A.J. was fired, not surprisingly. He hardly had time to find the restroom with the motion-activated hand towel dispenser sitting handily on the wall.

My boss was in from the regional office today. I told him about the dilemma of poor A.J. The boss had not heard about it. I also told him a story about what was almost an equally disastrous first day on the job.

This happened at a paper where I once worked but the event took place a few years before I arrived. It seems this woman showed up for her first day on the job at the newspaper as the new police beat reporter.

The intrepid reporter made it to the police station. She found it with no problem. Then, she smashed the hell out of a police cruiser. Was it a case of nerves? No, it was more like a case of Budweiser. It turned out the new hire was drunk as a skunk on her first day.

Both stories are good cautionary tales. If you think you might say during your initial broadcast, two of the seven words you can never say on TV; If you think you may get f—ed up as soup sandwich prior to your first assignment at work, then you might as well just go home. Or maybe, when you sober up, go to the local employment office.

 

 

 

 

 

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Excuse me, are you a reporter or just someone with an iPhone?

If you write using the media of the day — the Internet, etc. — you have no shortage of possible topics. I am talking about the two three explosions in Boston including two near the Boston Marathon finish line. Two are dead and 28 are hurt, so far. You know the drill. The first reports are always wrong.

Yes, it is horrible. Yes, yes, our thoughts are with the people there and their families. All of those are on the check list. I’m sorry. That probably sounds exceedingly cynical. That is the way it goes these days.

The media, both during such incidents and in retrospect, talk about the use of the instant means to transmit the news. Unfortunately, what we see so often isn’t necessarily news being shot out into the Internetsophere. (Yes, that is real word that I just made up!)

Checking Twitter, some possible eyewitnesses are commenting on what’s happening. On Facebook, my big city TV reporter friend is reaching out to his friends to find connections in Boston or those who are in Boston.

All that is great, seriously. I would have given my left hand — I’m right-handed — had the technology now available been handy when I worked in a newsroom. Oh, you had the people who sent nasty-grams, just not much of real help in reporting a story back then.

“There was a third explosion,” Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis just said. “There was an explosion that occurred at the JFK Library.”

Wow, that plus all the unexploded bombs supposedly found.

I am watching a news conference on CNN. They still do these “things” good.

My point is that all the technology wave has brought is great. I would just say: “Be careful.” Don’t buy into the simplicity that every person with an iPhone is a reporter. That isn’t the case. One only has to watch or read work by some of the actual working reporters already out there. Some of those people aren’t even reporters.

It’s just something I thought should be mentioned.

We now return to our breaking news coverage.

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Will Zucker save CNN from itself?

A headline from The Washington Post “Style” section online today asks the question: “Jeff Zucker is remaking CNN. Are viewers tuning in?” The outcome of that query appears to be somewhere between “no” and “someday perhaps.”

The Harvard-schooled Zucker — who was named at age 26 the youngest executive in the “Today” show history — still seems a TV industry wunderkind despite his rapid ascent taking some 25 years. He nonetheless is credited to many of the successes over the years at NBC and NBC Universal. That industry in now holding its breath to see if Zucker can deliver a bit of fresh O² to the first 24-hour news channel as he did to Oxygen and other NBC International products. Zucker seems to have a huge task ahead.

Ratings have fallen for a number of CNN time slots over the years. Some of these can be attributed to remarkable timing, such as that of Fox News rise during a Republican boom during the two terms of W. Bush. Fox also can thank distinctive right-wing propagandists like Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity and, until he just went too far off the farm, Glenn Beck.

CNN can also blame itself for the turnover of the channel’s various talent and likely an absence of strong leadership like that of the visionary CNN founder Ted Turner.  The list of “new” network anchors are hardly inspiring: Ashleigh Banfield, recycled from the early 2000’s, is an example. While her news credentials look good on paper she often exhibits a grating delivery on her 10 a.m. Central newscast. Banfield comes off too combative and too opinionated for a show that one assumes is for news rather than opinion. Of course, other CNN anchors seemed to have crossed over to the commentary street long ago as well.

Banfield is just a personal dislike as is Piers Morgan and Erin Burnett even though the latter is certainly prettier that just another pretty face. Other newer CNN hires are likewise disagreeable to me. Jake Tapper and Andrew Cuomo have what appear to be solid news chops but both leave me waiting for some breaking story to happen so the anchors might come alive.

I also see a lot of Northeastern college on resumes of many top CNN personnel. Certainly nothing is wrong with that part of the country but I have seen before the damage a lack of geographic diversity can bring to regional or national news.

One new show I am anxious to see is the Sunday night preview of “Parts Unknown” hosted by chef, writer and traveler Anthony Bourdain. His Travel Channel series “No Reservations” and “The Layover” belong in the Top 10 of TV overall in recent years. Well, the latter below that even though it was excellent as well. Bourdain is a character whose taste might not please all. He brings more of a writer’s perspective and a narrator’s voice to the small screen while his shows provide excellent visuals. His frank exposure of drug usage which included heroin and cocaine may also prove a turnoff to some. But he certainly brings lifesaving measures needed by CNN.

No conclusions are here just as nothing solid comes from the Post’s headline. As always we will have to just tune in to see.