Commentary

TV's 'Scandal' Or Trump's?

Can you believe the political headlines -- in fictionalized or in reality content missives? Scandal is in the air.

First on the TV front, ABC’s announced it was restarting two big former network hit shows: “American Idol” and “Roseanne”  -- as well as reality show looking for the next big “Boy Band.”

On the political front, The New York Times says on February 14, President Trump asked for the room to talk to FBI director James Comey alone. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Vice President Mike Pence slowly departed.

Then comes the pitch by Trump: Stop investigating ousted National Security Advisor Michael Flynn (forced out on February 13) because he has done nothing wrong, that he is "a good guy." The Trump Administration denies all this.

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This comes just days after an NBC News interview, in which Trump said he was thinking of "this Russia thing" when he decided to fire Comey. The “Russia thing” is the ongoing FBI investigation.

Scripted TV? Reality TV? Or just plan news on TV? Should we be laughing, crying, shrugging our shoulders, turning off our TVs -- or turning up our TVs? TV viewers can be a jaded bunch.

Focus more on TV --  especially fictionalized accounts of Washington, D.C. activities. During its upfront presentation, ABC said it is ending its Washington, D.C./politically-centric show, “Scandal” after next season.

ABC is moving on but what about actual TV viewers -- possible actual U.S. voters -- who have been following the show about a crisis management firm, Olivia Pope & Associates? Many will be hungry for more stuff.

All this came after reports, earlier in the day, that Trump may have divulged classified information to a known adversary -- Russia -- without briefing CIA, or other security agencies.

The story has grabbed the nation's attention.  Cable TV news channel ratings are still soaring -- with some channels changing positions, such as Fox News Channel, which some have now said is “vulnerable.”

On Monday night, surging MSNBC was narrowly was beaten by Fox News Channel, which posted 2.530 million overall viewers to MSNBC’s 2.528 million. But MSNBC bested Fox in key 25-54 news viewers that advertiser buy -- 662,000 to 499,000. CNN was at 1.634 million total viewers and 608,000 in 25-54.

And that begs the question as fiction closely follows reality: If ABC is ending “Scandal,” will there be a spinoff?

1 comment about "TV's 'Scandal' Or Trump's?".
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  1. Chuck Lantz from 2007ac.com, 2017ac.com network, May 17, 2017 at 1:38 p.m.

    You buried what should have been the lede; ... Fox News beaten by both MSNBC and CNN in 25-54, with MSNBC just 2,000 viewers behind Fox News overall.  

    I realize that it's only one night, but it's a large step in the right direction (small "r").

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