I DVRed the best show (well, it's my favorite show at least) on network television, "Studio 60" last night and sat down to watch it at about 9:30 p.m. Happily halfway into the live broadcast (the show airs at 9 p.m.), I thought I could safely avoid the ads and have a pleasant viewing experience. Not.
Channel 4 decided to frame out much of the program with school closings, weather advisories and other "breaking" news. Now I certainly realize that cold weather can be harmful and people must know about closings, but did the ticker really have to run for the entire program and as such a large image?
But the real point of this blog is this -- if a local news station is going to air cancellations all night at least spell the word "canceled" correctly. Every other listing/closing spelled the word differently. This school was canceled and the next was cancelled. What is it, one l or two?
According to the Associated Press (AP) Stylebook, the bible for editors and writers, the word is spelled with only one l. It's simply "canceled." And, before you scream and yell, canceled is American usage and cancelled is British, typically. I know that. You say colour, I say color. Get it? But still, choose one spelling and go with it. Why confuse and irritate us even more?
So, I ask the fine folks at local TV two things: please spell words correctly (or at least consistently) and if you must scroll cancellations please don't use the entire program duration and so much of my precious TV screen.
You've already forced many of us to view shows online. Keep this up and soon you'll be canceled!
A life-long and passionate community leader and Milwaukeean, Jeff Sherman is a co-founder of OnMilwaukee.
He grew up in Wauwatosa and graduated from Marquette University, as a Warrior. He holds an MBA from Cardinal Stritch University, and is the founding president of Young Professionals of Milwaukee (YPM)/Fuel Milwaukee.
Early in his career, Sherman was one of youngest members of the Greater Milwaukee Committee, and currently is involved in numerous civic and community groups - including board positions at The Wisconsin Center District, Wisconsin Club and Marcus Center for the Performing Arts. He's honored to have been named to The Business Journal's "30 under 30" and Milwaukee Magazine's "35 under 35" lists.
He owns a condo in Downtown and lives in greater Milwaukee with his wife Stephanie, his son, Jake, and daughter Pierce. He's a political, music, sports and news junkie and thinks, for what it's worth, that all new movies should be released in theaters, on demand, online and on DVD simultaneously.
He also thinks you should read OnMilwaukee each and every day.
