Article published in NY Daily News re bullfighting demo
we did:
'GMA' GIVES BIRTH TO NEW STUNT:[SPORTS FINAL Edition]
New York Daily News. New York, N.Y.: Jan 31, 2001. pg.
78
In a sweeps stunt to end all others, ABC's "Good
Morning America" is on a quest to air a live birth during its Feb. 6.
telecast.
The date falls in the all-important February sweeps, a
key ratings period used by stations around the country to set advertising
rates.
To achieve the feat, ABC will have cameras going in
three hospitals during the show's regular airtime of 7 a.m. to 9 a.m.
"We originally planned to do this a couple months ago,"
said "GMA" executive producer Shelley Ross. "We were all set and then the
election story happened."
The idea came from last year's prime-time documentary
"24/7," which followed a team of doctors. This piece, Ross said, will track
the new generation of obstetricians and their patients.
The story will begin to unfold on today's telecast with
an on- air countdown. Then on Tuesday, the show will have cameras ready at
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Parkland Memorial Hospital
in Dallas and Methodist Hospital in Baylor, Texas.
In the past, the morning shows have relied on trips
around the country - and the world - to boost sweeps ratings. This time, "GMA"
wanted to try something new, Ross said.
Ross realizes she's gambling that a baby will happen
during the broadcast. "If there's no baby, there will be a baby the next
day," she said.
ACTIVISTS CRY FOUL ABC's "The Mole" has animal-rights
activists hopping mad.
Members of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
and In Defense of Animals say a lesson in bullfighting last week on the game
show was "cruel and unacceptable."
As part of an on-air test, contestants tried to
replicate the moves of a Spanish matador by yanking a bull calf to the
ground by its tail.
"They were dragging the calf around and yanking its
tail and it's just unacceptable," said Kiley Blackman of the New York-based
In Defense of Animals.
PETA's Amy Rhodes fired off a letter to "Mole"
producers Stone Stanley Entertainment last Friday, saying the group was
"dismayed that a notoriously cruel event like bullfighting was glorified on
your show and that players were allowed to act inhumanely toward the
animals."
Stone Stanley spokesman Matthew Marcus said that "no
animal was harmed or injured" in last week's show and that "all precautions
were taken by our company to insure the safety of the animals in the show."
In "The Mole," players travel to different cities and
compete in challenges that pay off in cash and improve their positions. The
catch is that one member of the group is a saboteur or "mole," who aims to
scuttle the players' ability to advance.- Donna Petrozzello
REALITY WRAP-UP Comedian Kathy Griffin can't stop
talking about reality shows and MTV viewers soon will be able to hear what
she has to say on a new weekly series, "Kathy's So-Called Reality," starting
Sunday, Feb. 4 at 10 p.m. Griffin will show clips from the week's reality
fare and talk about it with an assorted cast of celebrities, friends and
relatives.
"I'm such a reality freak, I even watched 'Big
Brother,' which tells you that I'll watch almost anything that falls under
reality," said Griffin, best known as Brooke Shields' acerbic co-worker on
"Suddenly Susan."
"With the reality craze underway in full force, MTV
feels like it's time to take a look at the shows out there and have a little
fun dissecting the genre," said MTV programming president Brian Graden. -
D.P.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner.
Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission.
Fair Use Notice: This document may contain
copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the
copyright owners. We believe that this not-for-profit, educational use on
the Web constitutes a fair use of the copyrighted material (as provided for
in section 107 of the US Copyright Law). If you wish to use this copyrighted
material for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain
permission from the copyright owner.
