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This is what I’m thinking:
* Eyewitness News made a startling choice as its lead at 11 p.m. Thursday.
It didn’t go with the Muzzammil “Mo” Hassan trial.
That ordinarily might have been worthy of applause by those (including me) who believe extensive coverage of the bizarre trial has exceeded its news value and importance.
But Thursday was the day the murder defendant in the beheading case took the stand and claimed his late wife was actually the abuser and he was the victim.
One can’t wait until the prosecution gets to cross-examine him. Well, actually it appears we’re going to have to wait since Hassan seems to be conducting a filibuster rather than a defense.
Still, Thursday wasn’t exactly the night to move the trial down to second place in the list of stories covered.
Besides, it wasn’t like the choice for the lead was high-minded news. It was the sad story of the 24-year-old Buffalo native who was the apparent victim of a serial killer downstate. According to the Buffalo News, authorities have said she might have been a stripper and an escort.
Channel 2 didn’t cover the press conference her parents gave Thursday until after the first news break. Naturally, it spent several minutes at the top of the newscast on the Hassan trial.
* The TV stations seemed to think it was a big deal that about 40 citizens lined up Thursday to hear Hassan testify. Considering all the coverage the trial has gotten for days, 40 people who are that interested in the trial didn’t sound like that much to me.
* Many Buffalo viewers had to enjoy the start of NBC’s “Today” this morning, which included a report on all the snow this winter in Eastern cities. The report listed the five snowiest cities in reverse order – Worcester, Mass., Boston, Hartford, Rochester and Syracuse. Assuredly, many national viewers had to wonder, “what about Buffalo?”
* Marcia Mule, a 1985 graduate of Buffalo State College who has gone on to a highly successful career in reality TV that includes Kathy Griffin’s Life on the D List and Celebrity Poker Showdown, has a new job. She is the head of programming at Engel Entertainment in New York City. Engel has had several shows on the History Channel, A&E, TLC and Discovery.
* No matter how hard one tries, it is hard to avoid writing about Fox News analyst Sarah Palin. Her latest embarrassing media moment came when she critiqued President Obama’s State of the Union address about Winning the Future and said the acronym WTF was “spot on” for several elements of his speech,
On this morning’s “Today” show, co-host Meredith Vieira (see above) noted that Palin’s initials stood for What the ….. Well, you know what word the F stands for. Vieira couldn’t say it (and I won’t write it).
Palin’s acronym would have been clever if it had been written by a sophomoric satirist or a “Saturday Night Live” writer. But it’s hard to believe anyone supposedly interested in becoming president would use it, especially if they are conservative. Can’t wait until “SNL” gets a hold of that one.
* Speaking of WTF moments, there were harsh Twitter remarks made by NFL players and commentators last Sunday questioning the toughness of Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler after he left the NFC title game with Green Bay in the second half with a knee injury.
Cutler’s coaches and teammates defended him. That’s enough for me.
Over the years, injuries to several Buffalo athletes have been questioned. The most famous incident involved Buffalo Sabres goaltender Dominik Hasek, who didn’t have the support of his teammates.
I also remember fans and some teammates questioning the length of time it took Bills receiver Andre Reed to recover from a severe hamstring injury in the mid-1990s. And Reed was one of the toughest Bills in history and now is a serious candidate for the Hall of Fame.
So I wouldn’t take much stock in the early speculation that Cutler will never live the tweets down. By mid-week, Cutler was being defended and becoming a sympathetic figure.
* WNY native Jeff Glor gave a shout out to Mighty Taco this week on CBS’ “The Early Show” after the morning program ran a story about the controversy surrounding how much meat there is in Taco Bell tacos. “Never heard of it,” said co-anchor Erica Hill of Mighty Taco. “Can you say road trip?”
Alan Pergament was the television critic for The Buffalo News for 28 years. He currently is an adjunct professor at Buffalo State College and Medaille College, teaching courses in communications. He also writes a monthly column on the media for Buffalo Spree magazine.
