August 2009 Archives

By,

Jeff Hoover, Segment Producer

 

Legendary actor and entertainer Mickey Rooney and his wife Jan are in town to promote his 89th birthday show at the Arcada Theater this Sunday afternoon at 4PM. Yes, 4PM. Who sees a show at 4? Nevermind. I know who you are. Bless you.

Mickey is always a memorable guest whether he is on camera or off. Today, he kept grabbing my arm tightly and whispering "Senior Family Fun Time." He tried to explain the idea to me, but all I could get out of it was that it involved wristbands, T-shirts and a cruise ship.

I first met Mickey Rooney back in the early 90's. (No, not the 1890's, smartypants.)

Ah, yes, I'll never forget meeting Mickey. I was a producer for The Jonathon Brandmeier Radio Showgram. I was asked to greet him at the elevator. The doors opened and out sprang a gnome-like creature in baggy pants, untucked shirt and wrinkled overcoat. It's eyes bugged out at me beckoning me to say something.

"Goodmorning, Mr. Rooney. We are very happ..."

Mickey interrupted me before I could finish my rehearsed welcome and said rather sharply, "No one calls me Mr. Rooney. Everybody calls me Mickey."

With that he threw his coat at me and began hustling his way to the door to the radio studio. I panicked thinking that he might barge in on Johnny. I yelled, "Mr. Rooney ! If you would come this way, I will..."

He stopped in his little tracks and did a slow burn turn around and said,

"Mickey! No one calls me Mr. Rooney."

Mikey, Mickey, Mickey I repeated to myself. That's strike two. One more slip up and Mickey is going for my jugular.

"Right this way, Mickey. Let me take you to the green room."

As we're walking down the hall, another radio producer from another show, walks by us and says, "Goodmorning, Mr. Rooney."

"Call me Mickey ! No one calls me Mr. Rooney!," barked Mickey as I tried not to laugh. I mean, this was kind of fun to me now. I mean, it's common courtesy and respectful to greet a legend properly, right?

As soon as he sits down on the green room couch, Carol, our executive producer walks in and says, "It is so nice to have you here, Mr. Rooney. Can we get you anything to eat or drink?"

I wince. I mean, I almost yelled "MICKEY!" This is gonna be good I thought.

Mickey got up from the couch and kindly shook her hand and said, "Thank you, dear. But I am fine right now."

Well, how about that? I guess some people do get to call him Mr. Rooney.

If you go to see Mickey's show, try your own luck calling him Mr. Rooney. Oh, and ask him to explain "Senior Family Fun Time." Then, let me know what happens.

We received a few complaints this week about our coverage of health care reform. People thought we let Sen. Durbin off easy.   One viewer thought the story about President  Obama's  response to Palin's "Death Panel"  comments was not fair, saying we made Palin sound like a nut instead of further explaining her position.  The reality is, there is no media conspiracy here.  If  a politician wants to spew canned, vague soundbites there is only so much we can do in a live, three-minute interview.   If I had 15 minutes like they do on MSNBC or FOX, or if it was a taped interview,  I could  really hammer a politician into answering the damn question, but it doesn't always work in a three-minute live interview.     In regards to Palin---again---it was a 15 second story, not much time to get beyond the  "he said this"  and "she said that." 

I have heard complaints that the "liberal media" is focusing on these town hall meetings that are critical of the president but failed to focus on liberals protesting Obama with the same anger.   My response?  We can't win.  If we focused on the liberal protestors than we're "giving them a voice"  if we don't focus on them then "we're hiding the embarrassment."   You can't win.  It's not biased media--it's a biased media consumer.

 

  In our morning meeting,  I suggested that instead of focusing on the  "event"  (people angry at town hall meetings) as the cable networks had done for days, that we focus on the "content;"  what is actually in this health care bill?   Some of it is so vague  (probably by design---to avoid derailing it early)  that people have taken it upon themselves to interpret what the legislation "could" do or "might" do.   Is the Death Panel a board of government bureaucrats that will decide whether to pull the plug on Grandma or is it simply counseling on living wills?
Limbaugh, Gingrich and Palin have all supported the idea of living wills, but perhaps they believe government bureaucrats would at least twist Grandma's arm in hopes of saving some of the government funded tax dollars that would be spent in the final years of someone with serious illness.    Perhaps Democrats feel if taxpayer dollars are going to be used for healthcare, that counseling about living wills would be an efficient approach to health care management.   

 

 Now, a look at a democratic argument.  Democrats say a new government health care plan  won't add to the deficit, but most government programs tend to grow rapidly.   In the end, we can't know people's motivation---all we know is what comes out of their mouth, and lately it's been vitriolic or confusing.  

 

 If you're not in the "center" but rather you are loyal to the left or right, it might serve you well to stop being so loyal to the media outlet that makes you feel comfortable.  Conservatives should read the NY Times editorial page and liberals should read the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal.  This will give you a better  appreciation of the other side, beyond the yelling and screaming of cable networks and the town hall meetings they cover.   It might not be that what Fox (right) or MSNBC (left) tells you is wrong....it is that they're often selective in  their focus.   You are always going to get "part" of the story.   The other side (in their attempt to be 'fair and balanced') is twisted, or simply gets left out. 

 

Here are a couple of links that might help you sort out the health care mess:

 

 

http://factcheck.org/2009/08/seven-falsehoods-about-health-care/

 

www.PolitiFact.com

 

Have a great weekend.

Next week:  Flavor Flav,  Brad Pitt, Mike Tyson and Billy Ray Cyrus. (I don't think they're in the same segment.)

 

 

 

First off, thanks to everyone for watching my appearance on "LIVE with Regis and Kelly." My goals going in were modest- don't drool, and don't pass wind while on the air (commercial breaks were OK). I met both of them, and even spoke in complete sentences. So, I'd say it was a success.

Also, I apologize if I haven't yet responded to your e-mails, Facebook messages or Twitter bulletins (I don't say "Tweets"). But thank you for the kind words, as well as insulting comments. Do I really have a shifty eye?

Now, onto business. I have taken a few days off lately, and will be off all of next week, as well as a few more days during the rest of the month. Surprisingly, I'm not being punished for blowing air horns at cabs, or telling people I "own them." I've actually been rewarded for it! I'm working on a network show with Shaquille O'Neal that will debut on August 18th. And by "working with" Shaq, I mean I say "what's up" when we film our one scene together. I am one of the co-hosts of "Shaq Vs," which some of you may have read about already. I will not go into great detail about it, as it is not a WGN show, and this station is graciously allowing me the time off to do it.

BUT, you can read more about it by clicking HERE!

Anyway, I just didn't want anyone to think I'd flaked out, or I'd contracted Swine Flu.

See you soon!

BEHIND THE  SCENESE NOTES

You may have noticed Val was not here for the Kids Fair.  That is because she was at the NABJ conference---The National Association of Black Journalists.  This infuriated Paul, who has been trying to find a way out of doing the Kids Fair for years. (He has a phobia of children.)   Starting next week he will be starting a new organization: The Local Association of Austrian Weathermen.  Next year's conference will be either in Rio or Paris during the week of the Kids Fair, so Paul will be missed.  

If you thought you saw Wink Winkle picking up trash after the show---you were right.  He bathed in a tub of anti-bacterial gel after the post-show meeting.

Next year, we need a new security person at the front gate---preferably someone who works at WGN and can distinguish between the general public, and the General Manager.

To accomodate autograph-seekers, Pat Tomasulo has volunteered to set up a booth from 5-10am to make sure no one leaves empty-handed.