Performances are key to entertainment. Case in point: Sunday night’s Grammy Awards that aired on CBS featured a number of them.
The overnight ratings numbers are in and the show, like most live events, did well. The overall proof will be in the finalized numbers that take into account time-shifting viewers – people who recorded it and watched it later.
It also helped that the only football available was the NFL Pro Bowl, offering the potential of a ratings boost.
As far as the night went, the awards were plentiful and the performances featured a number of collaborations. One need to not look further for the glowing version of the news report from CBS News where LL Cool J said: "Music has the power to bring people together like nothing else in this world. Today we're making musical history."
However, taking a day to take in the spectacle, more critical eyes can point a few things out. The easiest parts of the broadcast to pick on are the musical performances themselves. But I find those usually draw in compliments and complaints based on people’s musical tastes.
Did we need to hear Robin Thicke perform with Chicago? Did we give a free pass to Ringo Starr for sounding terrible because he came over to the U.S. with the Beatles 50 years ago?
Many online didn’t like the fact that the rock performance at the end of the show with Nine Inch Nails, Dave Grohl, Queens Of The Stone Age and Lindsey Buckingham was cut off early to get sponsorship notes in. The show was already running late and it had to end at some time. As a rock fan, I was upset. But, as a person who had to get up the next morning, I’m thinking that was as good of point as any to stop the broadcast.
One place that always makes people upset is the in memoriam section. It always seems to me that the producers here never do enough research. For instance, Cory Monteith from the Fox show "Glee" was honored among the other musical artists that were lost in the last year. Unlike a number of others, I’m not upset at this.
However, when the producers missed Clive Burr from Iron Maiden, Jan Kuehnemund of Vixen and Jeff Hanneman from Slayer – a band that won multiple Grammy Awards – that was inexcusable. For a production that wanted to be all-inclusive, it is sloppy work like this that eliminates all of the good things done with the presentation.
The CBS-owned team at "Entertainment Tonight" TVGN did a really nice job with the pre-show coverage. If your world is pop culture, fashion and music, they had it all covered.
STATE OF THE UNION: Fox Business Network will present live coverage of President Obama’s State of the Union address beginning at 7 p.m. on Tuesday night.
FBN won’t be alone with its coverage as each of the major networks such as ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and PBS will also cover the speech.
On Fox Business Network, Neil Cavuto will anchor the coverage and will be joined by a number of economists, business executives and political experts, along with FBN’s Peter Barnes and Rich Edson reporting live from Washington.
Following the address, FBN’s John Stossel will host a special edition of "Stossel" at 10 p.m. and FBN’s Kennedy will host a live edition of "The Independents" at 11 p.m. to provide a discussion in response to President Obama’s speech.
For the first time since being named "PBS NewsHour," co-anchors Gwen Ifill and Judy Woodruff will lead PBS’ live broadcast coverage of the speech and the Republican response by Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers. Joining them will be syndicated columnist Mark Shields, New York Times columnist David Brooks, and a panel of mayors from cities across the country, including: Scott Smith (R), Mesa, Ariz.; Mike Cornett (R), Oklahoma City; Marilyn Strickland (D), Tacoma, Wash.; and Pedro Segarra (D), Hartford, Conn.
Other policy advocates will also appear on "NewsHour," with Angela Glover Blackwell, a founder and CEO of Policy Link, a national research and action institute advancing economic and social equity and Michael Tanner, a senior fellow at the CATO Institute, a libertarian think tank.
Livestream video of both speeches will be available at the "PBS NewsHour" website and on the show’s iPhone app.
FOX News Channel will present live coverage of the State of the Union address and the Republican response from Washington around 7:55 p.m., the network reported. But knowing how Fox News covers events like this, the on-going analysis started sometime earlier today.
Bret Baier of "Special Report" will anchor the primetime coverage with contributions from a rotating team of commentators, including Charles Krauthammer, Kirsten Powers, George Will and A.B. Stoddard.
Chief White House correspondent Ed Henry and Chief Congressional correspondent Mike Emanuel will provide live reports from the White House and Capitol Hill. Shannon Bream will report on Bing Pulse results, highlighting the key moments of the address throughout the evening.
On Fox channels, Shepard Smith will anchor separate live coverage beginning at 8 p.m. as "Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace will join Smith to provide analysis of the address and the Republican response.
On the radio, the stations carrying the Fox News Radio network will have live coverage and analysis of the State of the Union address anchored by Lisa Brady. She will be joined by correspondent Jared Halpern and political analyst Jeff Birnbaum.
Media is bombarding us everywhere.
Instead of sheltering his brain from the onslaught, Steve embraces the news stories, entertainment, billboards, blogs, talk shows and everything in between.
The former writer, editor and producer in TV, radio, Web and newspapers, will be talking about what media does in our community and how it shapes who we are and what we do.