Air Waves
by Laura Nachman
Philadelphia Metro
July 7, 2005



For the most part, WPVI-6 succeeded in its coverage of “Live 8” Saturday and
“The Philadelphia Freedom Concert” Monday.



For the “Live 8” show, WPVI-6 showcased its new weekday morning team of
Tamala Edwards and Matt O’Donnell.  Both were solid in anchoring the
proceedings.  Edwards, who arrived from the ABC network a few months ago
seems to be settling into her position here.



WPVI-6 was telling viewers all day long that since it was an ABC affiliate,
it would get “exclusive” backstage interviews.  The “gets” included an
overexposed Paula Abdul and Philadelphia native Maria Bello, whose name was
misspelled by WPVI most of the morning.  Nothing special.



For the older-skewing “Philadelphia Freedom Concert” on July 4th, WPVI-6
depended on veterans Dave Roberts and Cecily Tynan to anchor the
proceedings.



Though WPVI-6 couldn’t control the performances (Bryan Adams singing the
icky “All for Love” and Eagles’ linebacker Dhani Jones inserting himself
into Patti LaBelle’s act), it could’ve shown a better variety of cutaway
shots as the same groups of people in the crowd were seen several times.



WPVI-6 dominated ratings-wise.  On "Live 8" Saturday, the 6 p.m. news had a
5.7 rating/14 share compared to a pair of 2.9 rating/7 shares on Channels 3
and 10.



On Monday, the 4th of July celebration on WPVI led with a 10.3 rating from
7-11 p.m.  Channels 3 and 10 combined didn’t get to that number (Macy’s did
a 3.6 and Boston Pops did a 4.9 rating).  The Elton John portion of the show
that began at 10:20 p.m. did a 13 rating.



Give a gold star to WPVI-6’s Karen Rogers, who was the backstage reporter
for both events.



Tonight is another chance to see “Being Bobby Brown” on Bravo at 10 p.m. The
thing that struck me from the premiere episode is how sad Brown’s wife
Whitney Houston appeared.  The former superstar is a shell of herself – too
thin, no makeup, and usually with a frown on her face.  Maybe we should go
back to the days of “show business,” which means putting on a show, and not
seeing the “real” aspects of the entertainers.  I’ll be watching again this
week of course.  It got great ratings, as it was the highest rated Thursday
program premiere in the history of Bravo with an average of 1.1 million
viewers.



This weekend, VH1’s new batch of “Celebreality” shows kick off with “Surreal
Life” featuring Omarosa from “The Apprentice,” Jose Canseco, and Bronson
Pinchot, “Celebrity Fit Club 2,” with Jackee, Victoria Jackson, Willie
Aames, and Gary Busey, and “Hogan Knows Best” with Hulk Hogan and his
family.