Something about the first uses of video tape...

April 28, 1958
Los Angeles

As The Times noted in November 1957, NBC planned to introduce videotaped programs with the switch to daylight saving time.

Although the time switch didn't occur until April 27 in 1958, we have already rolled the clocks ahead, so this seems to be a good time to focus on the technology that revolutionized television.

Arye Michael Bender (who worked under the name Leslie Michael Bender) worked at WBKB-TV in Chicago at a young age as mail room clerk, freelance publicity photographer and entrepreneur filmmaker. He attended Columbia College of Broadcasting while in high school in 1959. From 1960 to '63, he worked his way through college as a staff director for WSIU-TV in Carbondale, Ill. He began working with videotape at ABC in Los Angeles in 1963. He shares his recollections of the early days:

Got into editing when a microscope was added to the razor blade and mylar tape system.

The fourth season of one of ‘Project Runway’ debuted last night and overall it made me miss the first three seasons. The Bravo Network has been advertising heavily for the premiere by featuring the contestants saying cleverly scripted sound bites, but my gut reaction about them panned out during the first episode – most are reincarnated freak show exhibits.

It’s not that I mind the eccentric personality of two, but this season is top heavy with them. There is Sweet P, the ex-biker chick whose forearms scare the hell out of me. Accompany her tattoos with the clichéd baby doll dresses and you have a taste of her sweetness.

Kit claims that life is too short to wear ugly clothes so I suspect she only has a month to live (in lieu of flowers, please send donations to your nearest Salvation Army donation box).

Carmen was an ex-model who has fuglied herself up post catwalk career.

Just added an article to a motion picture and television database. It may shine a tiny bit of light on some ancient talk show history. Although my purpose was to correct a casting error in the database, I got carried away, again. Despite that, you may find it interesting...

The L.A. Times has a story today about the violent disappearance of the "family hour" of television - that vaunted time from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. where mom, dad and the kiddies would sit down and watch good-hearted shows with morals, lessons and other tolerable plot themes (for me, this was The Cosby Show, among others). I guess not everyone's a fan of 24 for the 9-year-olds. The report (Kudos to the Times for actually posting it) says sex and violence have taken over the watching hours after school and work, and shows like Kiefer Sutherland's modern-day MacGuyver (let's be honest) among others have soiled a formerly pristine time for TV. Even The Simpsons and Family Guy (especially the latter) have made a mess of the subset.
 

Written by Judith Blakley

Note: This article contains information that may or may not appear on the television show. This article does contain spoilers and videos from the live feeds that people have posted online concerning these events. Several of the video clips contain uncensored language that some people may find offensive

Whether you have been watching this season's Big Brother reality television show or not, you will enjoy learning how one person has managed to compromise the integrity of this show.

The Basics

Big Brother Slop is a bland food substance that various members of the household must eat as a penalty for losing food competitions. A food competition takes place weekly. Jen is shown here making slop: www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxJmioET-18 (YouTube video posted by: itybitymom)

Fascism is in fashion today, hey hey...

In today's San Francisco Chronicle, Steve Winn writes about a reappearing segment of television's Dateline NBC which regularly shows the entrapment of sexual predators. Here is an excerpt:

It's time "To Catch a Predator."

Did not know Tom Snyder, the man. But like so many millions, I knew him from TV; first as an anchor on KNBC in Burbank, then from late night. So my comment is on his act only.

He was a master of pomposity, greater even than James Lipton. Also Snyder (unlike Lipton) never seemed to 'get' what was going on just below the surface. His interviews were mega-shallow, while attempting to appear deep. Sorta like Larry King today.

Snyder may not have been the King, but was much more fun to watch.

- Arye Michael Bender -

This is America, land of print so tiny and so confusing that you need to hire a lawyer to understand. This is America, a land where radio announcers speak so fast at the end of a spot, nobody can comprehend whatever it was they said. This is America, where television commercials place a disclaimer on the screen for a third of a second with print so dense that by time you see it, it's gone.

This is America, land of the free... Oh wait... Just a minute. Seems like while we were trying to make sense of that contract, our freedoms were sold to the highest bidder.

Never mind.

- Arye Michael Bender -

The following is from my screenplay, 'WeatherGirl.' It is a drama about how media twists truth, and the terrible consequences of deceit. It is based on real events, and a persistent urban legend.

Written by: Judith Blakley

The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission has announced a voluntary recall on over 400,000 TV stands manufactured by Sauders Woodworking Co. of Archbold, Ohio, and sold in Walmart stores nationwide.

This product was sold at Walmart stores nationwide and online through January 2005 until May 2007. They were sold for an average of ninety dollars.

Consumers are asked to stop using this product immediately due to the possibility of collapse. The TV stand may collapse if the fasteners that connect the legs to the shelving unit are not tightened completely.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission states: "The TV stand can collapse if the fasteners used to connect the metal legs to the lower shelf are not completely tightened during assembly, posing a risk that the TV set can fall onto children or adults."