I spent the weekend in Nashville visiting family and got bombarded with media coverage there of the murder of retired NFL quarterback Steve McNair, which pushed Michael Jackson's death off the radar. But today I'm back in the thick of it as Jackson's memorial airs live on the broadcast networks, prompting seemingly every elderly viewer in SW Pa. to call me and ask what happens to "Young & the Restless," "Guiding Light, etc. (Why these people never call the TV stations that air the programs is a Pittsburgh phenomenon I will never understand.)
I'll be live blogging TV coverage of Jackson's funeral through the afternoon. For those who miss it, TV Guide network will re-air the memorial in its entirety tonight at 8. Several networks will also have highlight programs, including CBS (10 p.m.) and NBC (10 p.m.).
Check back for updates throughout the afternoon...
12:07 p.m.: Jeffrey Toobin on CNN compares potential finances for Michael Jackson's song book royalties to Elvis Presley, "who made more dead than when he was alive." Nice place to dip into memorial service coverage: Money.
12:14 p.m.: Shepard Smith on Fox News Channel: "It was widely reported that Liz Taylor and [Jackson] shared some of the same dependencies and some of his dependencies on prescription drugs and alcohol may have been similar to hers and she might have been an enabler. I can't confirm that but is there anything to that?"
12:21 p.m.: Shades of O.J.: Chopper shots follow Jackson's hearse as it travels through the streets of Los Angeles as it travels to Forest Lawn Cemetery to the Staples Center.
12:39 p.m.: Important news from TMZ: Jackson's body is in the casket!
12:41 p.m.: Viewer contribution (H/T Lin): I'm watching TMZ's feed, which jumps
from station to station. I don't know which station was on (at this point), but
an anchor was listing the famous celebrities that are buried in Forest Lawn and
will be Michael's "neighbors" (should he actually be buried there). The guy went
"Clark Gable is there, Humphrey Bogart, Carole Lombard, Jimmy Stewart, Ed
McMahon, [other celeb names] ......and Benji"
BENJI??????? Sorry, but that just struck me as pretty
funny!
12:44 p.m.: CNN shows Jesse Jackson on the equivalent of the red carpet at the memorial, posing for photos in front of a backdrop that identifies it as the MJ memorial, just like a movie premiere!
12:49 p.m.: MSNBC shows a skywriting plane drew a heart in the sky over the Staples Center. Nancy O'Dell describes it as "a circus-like atmosphere" with people hawking memorabilia.
12:52 p.m.: Found a Pew Research Center report that says people are sick of all this coverage that I'm now watching. Report even ranks public interest in celeb deaths. MJ falls behind: 1) Princess Diana, 2) President John F. Kennedy; 3) Steve Irwin, "The Crcodile Hunter."
1 p.m.: NBC's Brian Williams begins coverage defending the hoopla, saying "750 million to a billion people around the world" will watch the memorial in part or whole.
1:03 p.m.: Nancy O'Dell was prescient: CBS shows tape of elephants entering the Staples Center for MJ's memorial!
1:08 p.m.: What is up with ABC's shaky picture of a reporter inside Staples Center? Looks like it was shot on cell phone from a war zone.
1:09 p.m.: ABC's Robin Robers: "No one's moonwalking around here. People are dressed respectfully."
1:12 p.m.: Ceremony has begun. ABC somehow missed the start. Smokey Robinson is already reading letters from famous figures.
1:16 p.m.: And now there's a lull. Williams talking about how cost of this will impact the Calif. budget.
1:22 p.m.: CBS reporter in London says "excuse me" to a child (or small person) who cross in front of him and mostly out of camera shot during a live report. You can hear Katie Couric giggle.
1:27 p.m.: CNN's Anderson Cooper: "People felt connected to Michael Jackson because of his vulnerability."
1:31 p.m.: More vamping. Guy on CNN says 2,200 journalists credentialed for the service. Much as I'm tired of all this stuff, I kinda like the song in the video from Jackson's final rehearsal. Not sure if it's new or old but it's catchy.
1:33 p.m.: Choir sings, ceremony resumes. Pallbearers bring casket in to the tune "We are going to see the king." (Double meaning intended?)
1:36 p.m.: There's a lull. Audience member screams, "We love you Michael!" More people scream similar things.
1:38 p.m.: Jackson family pastor: "As long as we remember him, he will be there forever to comfot us."
1:40 p.m.: Mariah Carey singing "I'll Be There." Now that the anchors have stopped chattering (at least on CNN), it's a much better broadcast.
1:43 p.m.: CNN and MSNBC are not running a news ticker along bottom of screen but Fox News is. Tacky. HLN has viewer e-mail about MJ, which is at least related.
1:45 p.m.: Queen Latifah says she's there to represent all the fans. Gives a shout-out to Pittsburgh in a litany of places where people are missing MJ. She rhymed Johannesburg with Pittsburgh.
1:52 p.m.: Lionel Richie sings. Berry Gordy of Motown Records speaks. And speaks and speaks and speaks... Finally, the applause line: "He is, quite simply, the greatest entertainer who's ever lived."
2:08 p.m.: Steve Wonder is at the piano.
2:16 p.m.: Kobe Bryant and Magic Johnson eulogize MJ. CNN slow to post lower-third IDs. Are people there scratching their heads the way I am? I don't know music or sports people, so I was stumped. Johnson tells amusing story of eating KFC with Jackson.
2:21 p.m.: Jennifer Hudson sings "Will You Be There."
2:23 p.m.: I wish the networks would just let the focus stay on the ceremony and not go out to show reactions in churches or street corners -- especially during the performances. Those are actually entertaining, unlike some of the speechifying.
2:25 p.m.: Speaking of speechifying.... now here's The Rev. All Sharpton! Uh-oh, he's getting really worked up: "Michael out-sang the cynics... every time he got knocked down he got back up! Michael never stopped! Michael never stopped! Michael never stopped!"
2:30 p.m.: My stomach sank when I read the subject line on an e-mail from PBS's "NewsHour": "JUDY WOODRUFF ANCHORS PBS SPECIAL COVERAGE..." Et tu, PBS? Nope. Not MJ coverage: "... OF SUPREME COURT NOMINEE SOTOMAYOR'S HEARINGS BEFORE SENATE - Starting July 13, 2009"
2:34 p.m.: CBS's Katie Couric just can't let a little silence pass. She begins narrating the down time. Time to switch channels. John Mayer performs "Human Nature." Does he have a connection to MJ I'm unaware of (entirely possible; again, not the music guy)?
2:38 p.m.: Charles Gibson is talking too. BE QUIET! Brooke Shields, looking teary, discusses being labeled part of an "odd couple" when they were photographed together in public. "We had a bond. Maybe it was because we both understood what it was like to be in the spotlight from a very young age," Shields says, tearing up. She comes across as quite genuine.
2:42 p.m.: Shields: "This was the night before Elizabeth Taylor's wedding..."
Barb Vancheri and I in unison: "Which one?"
2:47 p.m.: Which is worse, the news ticker on FNC, which doesn't have any anchors chattering between speakers, or watching on a network with blathering anchors?
2:48 p.m.: Jermaine Jackson, along with the other pallbearers, wears one glittering glove. He sings "Smile," referenced in Shields' remarks.
2:50 p.m.: Still waiting on that Bubbles and/or Macaulay Culkin cameo. Maybe Emmanuel Lewis? Nope, but we do get Corey Feldman, dressed as Jackson!
2:52 p.m.: Martin Luther King III quotes his father. Woman in green suit looks on. Turns out she's Bernice King. OK, so let's add the children of political figures to the list of those Rob will not recognize (joining athletes and musicians).
2:59 p.m.: Thank you, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee for identifying yourself up front! I wouldn't have been able to ID you either. Oh, she went there with the whole "innocent until proven guily" bit. Audience applauds. House Resolution 600 will proclaim Jackson as an American icon, Lee says. Can that resolution maybe get in line behind health care, confirming a new Supreme Court justice, repealing Don't Ask Don't Tell, important stuff like that?
3:08 p.m.: Usher performs. Approaches and touches MJ's golden casket. Usher's choking up seemed a little too perfectly timed for when it hit in the song.
3:13 p.m.: Smokey Robinson jokes about MJ stealing his song. This is a Hollywood funeral.
3:19 p.m.: Some kid is singing. No idea who he is. FNC IDs him as Shaheen Jafargholi. Ah, now it makes more sense.
3:23 p.m.: Choreographer Kenny Ortega says Jackson had invited Shaheen to join him in London on his world tour that was supposed to have begun soon.
3:25 p.m.: "We Are the World." Many people on stage. Don't recognize most of them. MJ's kids may be up there. Not sure.
3:30 p.m.: "Heal the World" is the closing number. Jermaine and other brothers offer final words. Family has a final group hug. Daughter Paris speaks: "Ever since I was born, daddy has been the best father you could ever imagine, and I just want to say I love him so much." All craziness of the day aside, the scene of MJ's daughter in tears was terribly, terribly sad. That's the moment newscasts will replay ad nauseum.
3:41 p.m.: Jermaine: "Thank you and good night.
Posted
Jul 07 2009, 11:45 AM
by
Rob Owen