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“The White House Plumbers” Return to The Watergate

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The Watergate Hotel became ground zero once again this time for HBO’s actors, producers, and crew to recreate the break-in orchestrated by President Richard Nixon’s Watergate plumbers, with G. Gordon Liddy portrayed by Washington native Justin Theroux and E. Howard Hunt played by Woody Harrelson.

Justin Theroux as G. Gordon Liddy and Woody Harrelson as E. Howard Hunt, set in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.

Theroux and Harrelson flank Judy Greer as Mrs. Frances Liddy and Lena Headey as Mrs. Dorothy Hunt.

From HBO:  “Based in part on public records and the book Integrity by Egil “Bud” Krogh and Matthew Krogh, the five-part limited series The White House Plumbers will tell the true story of how Nixon’s own political saboteurs and Watergate masterminds, E. Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy, accidentally toppled the presidency they were trying to protect.”

David Bernad, executive producer of the HBO hit “White Lotus,” developed the show with “Veep” writers Peter Hyuck and Alex Gregory. David Mandel, executive producer of “Veep” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” is also an executive producer and the director of all “White House Plumbers” episodes. Frank Rich of “Succession” and “Veep” fame is also an Executive Producer.

HBO “The White House Plumbers” Executive Producer and Director Dave Mandel reunites with “Veep” consultant Tammy Haddad while shooting at the Old Executive Office Building

“The White House Plumbers” producers, writers, and crew on site-survey for Lincoln Memorial sequence

“The White House Plumbers” actor Ike Barinholtz, consultant Tammy Haddad, and G. Gordon Liddy star Justin Theroux with rescue Kuma on the roof of The Watergate

Justin Theroux as G. Gordon Liddy and Woody Harrelson as E. Howard Hunt with Dannia Hakki at Prettyman Courthouse

White House Plumbers Show Jacket

Former HBO Films president and show producer Len Amato and Justin Theroux on Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House.

Axios and HBO Team Up for News Series

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Axios’ Mike Allen interviewing Assistant to the President, Ivanka Trump.

Washington-based news media startup Axios has partnered with premium television network HBO for a new series that, according to a statement from Axios’ Mike Allen, who just last week scored a rare interview with First Daughter Ivanka Trump, “will feature breaking news, interviews with the world’s most influential leaders, and short documentaries on the topics that matter most.”

The limited run series, out this fall, will be covering the midterm elections across America as well as “politics, technology and culture with a combination of breaking news, short documentaries and high-profile interviews.”

Producers of the series include broadcaster Perri Peltz and filmmaker Matthew O’Neill. Axios CEO Jim VandeHei said in a statement, “The world needs new, smarter ways to better understand the dominant personalities and definitive trends changing politics, business, technology and our lives.”

While the premiere date is still TBD, you can sign up for the Axios AM newsletter for more updates about the show here.

CNN Reporter Kaitlan Collins Banned from White House Open Press Event

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CNN Reporter Kaitlan Collins, Photo Courtesy AP

Kaitlan Collins, a CNN reporter, was barred from covering an open press event with President Donald Trump in the Rose Garden on Wednesday, July 25th, by Bill Shine, the former FOX News exec and current deputy chief of staff of communications. After shouting what Shine considered an “inappropriate” comment at an earlier press pool, Collins was told she would not be allowed to attend the event between Trump and European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker.

Bill Shine, who joined the Trump administration in recent weeks, later pushed back on reports Collins had been banned from the event, claiming the reporter was simply “disinvited” from attending.

The question Collins was flagged for posing to the president concerned Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen. In the same open press event, she asked about the delayed meeting between Vladimir Putin and President Trump. Both questions went unanswered.

The White House Correspondents’ Association decried the move in a statement, sat that the move was a “misguided and inappropriate decision.”

Olivier Knox, this year’s president of the White House Correspondents Association, said “this type of retaliation is wholly inappropriate, wrong-headed, and weak,” and that “it cannot stand.”

FOX News president Jay Wallace condemned the move from the White House saying, “We stand in strong solidarity with CNN for the right to full access for our journalists as part of a free and unfettered press.”

Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders addressed the controversy during a press briefing Wednesday evening. “At the conclusion of a press event in the Oval Office a reporter shouted questions and refused to leave despite repeatedly being asked to do so. Subsequently, our staff informed her she was not welcome to participate in the next event, but made clear that any other journalist from her network could attend.”

HHS Secretary Alex Azar Addresses Family Separations at Washington Post Health Event

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HHS Secretary speaks with Paige Winfield Cunningham at the Washington Post Health 202 Live event

The Trump administration policy forcing asylum seekers entering to US to split up with their children has sparked outrage around the world. As part of the Washington Post’s Health 202 Live event, health policy reporter Paige Winfield Cunningham spoke to HHS Secretary Alex Azar about his role in shaping the president’s policies, including immigration and child separation, as well as lowering insurance costs, and Medicare reform on Wednesday, June 20th.

On the controversial issue Azar said, “Nobody has ever desired to separate children from their families but, just like you or me, if you are arrested, your kids aren’t going to be with you. If you want to remain with your children, don’t come across the border illegally… Present yourself at a legal border crossing.”

Azar added, “Once members of Congress—the one who have actually visited facilities and toured it as opposed to those who are just talking about it—I think have been impressed. We take the mission quite seriously.”

House of Cards Resumes Production on Sixth Season Without Kevin Spacey

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Michael Kelly, star of House of Cards. Photo courtesy Haddad Media

The political drama House of Cards will return for a final eight-episode season in early 2018 without actor Kevin Spacey.

Netflix content chief Ted Sarandos announced Monday that the sixth season of the show will feature Robin Wright.

“We are excited to bring closure to fans,” Sarandos said.  “We’re excited for the 370 people who make ‘House of Cards’ and have done the best work of their lives on that show; for the 2,000 people in Baltimore who have come to depend on that show for their jobs. And so we’re really excited that we were able to come to a good creative conclusion to the show.”

Late October, actor Anthony Rapp told Buzzfeed News that Spacey had tried to sexually assault him in 1986, when Rapp was 14 years old.  Several others then came forth with additional allegations of sexual misconduct by Spacey, including more than 20 people at the Old Vic theater in London, where Spacey was artistic director from 2004 through 2015.

In early November, Netflix severed ties with Spacey.

“Netflix will not be involved with any further production of ‘House of Cards’ that includes Kevin Spacey,” a Netflix spokesperson said in a statement on November 3.  “We will continue to work with [Media Rights Capital] during this hiatus time to evaluate our path forward as it relates to the show.”

During the first five seasons of House of Cards, Spacey played the character of Frank Underwood, a ruthless Southern politician that ultimately ascends to the White House.  Wright plays Claire Underwood, Frank’s wife.  At the end of season five, Frank resigned from the presidency in disgrace and Claire became president.

Media Stars Support Non-Profit Journalism On #GivingNewsDay

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Fox News Bret Baier and Wolf Blitzer in Washington, DC

November 28th is #GivingNewsDay, a day to give back to the hundreds of nonprofit newsrooms across the country. Donations up to $1000 will be doubled by NewsMatch, a national campaign to support nonprofit, local, and investigative news organizations. News Match 2017 was launched by Democracy Fund, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and the MacArthur Foundation to give people an easy way to find quality newsrooms in their region.

Thousands have already gone on social media to promote and discuss nonprofit news, as well as encouraging others to join in this year’s efforts.

Visit NewsMatch.org to find a nonprofit newsroom and invest in quality journalism. NewsMatch will double your impact.

Production for Final Season of “Veep” Postponed, Accommodating Louis-Dreyfus’ Cancer Treatment

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Chris Godsick, MPAA Chairman Chris Dodd, Senator AL Franken, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Richard Plepler and Frank Rich. Photo courtesy Haddad Media

Production for the final season of HBO’s smash comedy Veep has been postponed, as six-time Emmy Award winner Julia Louis-Dreyfus undergoes treatment for breast cancer.

“Julia is undergoing treatment for breast cancer, and we’re obviously postponing production of the show — we were supposed to have started now – while she’s in treatment,” executive producer Frank Rich said on SiriusXM’s Press Pool. “But the expectation is that we will shoot again. We have one more season we’re doing, which we’re incredibly excited about. Rather impressively, while we wait for her to gather her full strength, around her treatment, we’ve been having with the cast in Los Angeles, table reads of scripts for the final season as they’re ready.”

Louis-Dreyfus announced in September – just one day after tying the record of legendary actress Cloris Leachman for most Emmys won by a performer – she had breast cancer.

“1 in 8 women get breast cancer. Today, I’m the one,” Louis-Dreyfus told fans in an Instagram post. “The good news is that I have the most glorious group of supportive and caring friends, and fantastic insurance through my union.”

Rich said that he had just seen Louis-Dreyfus on set 10 days before, as he “watched her just be hilarious playing Selina Meyer. With the cast all around her playing the assorted group of idiots that Selina has to deal with on a weekly basis on the show. So she’s got a great support system. She’s a very strong person and we can’t wait to welcome her back at full speed.”

News Network Ratings Thrive in Age of Trump

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Photo courtesy Pixabay.

Cable news continues to thrive during the Trump administration, with all three major networks showing healthy ratings last month.

Fox News ended the month of October as the most-watched basic cable network overall, coming in first with both total day and prime time viewers.  Fox had lost the top slot in prime time recently to sports network ESPN, although the network has continued to hold the most total day ratings for eight weeks in a row.  Five of the channel’s programs also were listed in the top 10 cable telecasts in total viewers, including Tucker Carlson Tonight, Hannity, and newly-added The Ingraham Angle.

MSNBC came in at third place among total viewers in basic cable for the week, behind Fox News and ESPN.  Measuring total day viewers, the news network was in second place among all networks, only behind competitor news channel Fox News.  The network had two shows in the top ten total viewed programs: The Rachel Maddow Show coming in third place and Last Word With Lawrence O’Donnell in eighth place.

CNN also earned healthy ratings, landing in 10th place for the top ten basic cable networks for prime time viewers.  Among total day, CNN lept to sixth place in the top ten ratings.  CNN had no programs in the top ten most viewed shows, where the network’s most-watched program, Anderson Cooper 360 coming in 25th in total viewers.  (The show ranked 11th among viewers in the critical 25-54 year old demographic.)

Even so, all three cable news networks have witnessed varying declines in net primetime viewers for the month of October compared to 2016, the final full month of the presidential year election campaign.  Fox News saw a 28% decline in total viewers over last year, and CNN down 52%.  MSNBC fared best in the yearly comparison, only declining 6%.

 

Fox News Rejects Democratic Mega-Donor’s Television Commercials

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Fox News building on 6th Avenue in NYC. Photo courtesy Jim Henderson via Wikimedia Commons.

Fox News has cancelled a contract to broadcast advertisements on the network that were purchased by a Democratic mega-donor as part of a $10 million national campaign demanding the impeachment of President Donald Trump.

Californian hedge fund manager and activist Tom Steyer confirmed on Friday that Fox News informed him October 31 it was discontinuing his ad entitled “Join Us,” which urged viewers to sign an online petition demanding Congress begin impeachment proceedings.

Brad Deutsch, an attorney for Steyer, claimed Fox News was in breach of contract after agreeing “unconditionally” on October 27 to air the ads for a second week.  Deutsch stated the network’s actions on pulling the ads early showed “a profound failure of journalistic integrity, a suppression of constitutionally protected speech, and likely a consequence of inexcusable political pressure.”

The ad campaign was the focus of a tweet sent from President Trump on the same day, saying Steyer was “[w]acky & totally unhinged.”

Deutsch wrote in a letter to Fox that “It is no coincidence that the Cancellation of the Advertisement, in the second week of its run, came on the heels of a tweet from President Trump criticizing the spot and Mr. Steyer personally.”

Steyer criticized the decision of the network, saying “[m]illions of Americans have raised their voices in opposition to Donald Trump.  If Fox News is siding with Trump and trying to silence us, they must be afraid of what we have to say.  It shows no respect for democracy.”

Fox News’s co-president Jack Abernathy said the decision to pull the ads was reached due to the “strong negative reaction” by the network’s viewers.

“Due to the strong negative reaction to their ad by our viewers, we could not in good conscious take their money,” Abernathy said.

 

CNBC’s Sharon Epperson Back On Air After Brain Aneurysm

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CNBC Studio.  Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

CNBC senior personal finance correspondent Sharon Epperson is back on the air at CNBC after a 13 month absence.

One morning in September 2016, Epperson went to the hospital after complaints of a severe headache while exercising.  There, she was diagnosed with a brain aneurysm, leading to emergency surgery and two weeks recovering in the ICU.  Following release, she faced months of rehabilitation, including again learning to walk and maintain her balance.

After several months of work and perseverance, Epperson decided she was well enough to return to CNBC after completing the 4th Annual TeamCindy 5K Run for Research, which benefits the Brain Aneurysm Foundation.

“I really missed engaging with my viewers and readers,” Epperson said in a recent interview.  “Real life involves a lot of insecurities surrounding saving for retirement, paying off debt, putting kids through college, taking care of aging parents — all while trying to advance our careers.  It’s not easy.”

Epperson returned to CNBC with an appearance on the half-hour Saturday broadcast of “On the Money.”