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Hollywood - Here I don’t come…

This is a picture from the The Casual Historian BlogI suppose Hollywood will have to wait.  For a fleeting minute, we were all going to be famous, names in the lights, national celebrities, limo riding stars and starlets, but in the end, common sense and judgment prevailed and my debut as a star in a reality TV show went down the drain.  Easy come.  Easy go.

It all started last week when I received a call from the producer of “Making News Texas Style”, a reality show produced by the TV Guide Network.  They are considering next season’s show and called WMBB to see if we would be interested in allowing them to shoot several episodes at our station.  This past season was taped at a CBS affiliate in Odessa/Midland.  You can check out the past shows at this address: 

http://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/making-news-texas-style

So, when word spread that we were under consideration, our young staff became somewhat giddy.  No more donuts, burgers, and pizzas.  The dieting was beginning in earnest.  I was blowing the dust off of my Everitt Junior High 9th grade drama award to show the producers.  I have acting experience!

I could see the marketing promise for the new season:  “Tonight on Making News Florida Style.  See how the world’s best news director gets young reporters to seek the truth, give voice to the voiceless, and hold the powerful accountable.” Oh boy!  This is big!  Really big!

Some of our veteran staff members viewed the news a bit more skeptically. After all, we have spent a lot of time and effort cultivating images in our newsroom.  One episode capturing one bad day could forever alter the images we have so carefully crafted.  Let’s be honest.  We don’t want our internal rifts and occasional rude comments to be plastered all over network TV.  Do we? 

Then, I thought about my own image.  After working in news management for 27 years, do I really want to expose all of my incompetencies.  The TV Guide network isn’t interested in painting a portrait of professionalism, courage under fire, journalistic passion, and so forth.  They are looking for back biting and scandals and disagreements and office romances to exploit. I love our staff dearly, but we all know every newsroom has plenty of “Jerry Springer” material.

Even so, I promised to contact the corporate office for guidance.  The reply was much like asking Mama and Daddy for permission to go on a drinking binge.  “We won’t stop you from being irresponsible, or making yourself sick or dropping out of school, or not doing your homework, or losing focus on what is important in your life, and we will be awfully disappointed in you, but the decision is yours.” OK. I get it!

So, I emailed the producer from the TV guide network and told him that we would bow out.  I told him how honored we were that we would be considered but we are broadcast journalists, not reality TV stars, and the distraction could create a disservice to our audience. 

Here is what I expect the marketing promise to be now.  “Tune in to Making News Florida Style, starring Lee Sullivan.”

I suppose I should call my agent and tell him the bad news.  Here is the worst part.  I really, really, wanted to meet Paris Hilton. 

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Posted on Sep 10, 2007 - 11:14 AM by Larche Hardy
Page 1 of 1 pages

 

About Me

The life of any News Director is stressful most days... so, when the weekend rolls around I find myself on the back roads of our bountiful and beautiful part of the state looking for bluegrass music, interesting things to do, and, of course, fried chicken. I will try to share some of these "finds" with you. There are a thousand stories left to be told or simply remembered. Don't expect to find them all here; maybe just a little stroll down memory lane or maybe a little skewed insight into topical issues.
Larche Hardy,
News Director

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