sixty minutes
Gold Medal Deathmatch As Rival Networks Try To Ruin Seven’s Party
8:55AM Clem Bastow | It was bound to happen: tired of pumping out ads with a not-so-subtle “just wait until after the Olympics because we’re not going to waste our A game while you’re watching the Greco-Roman Wrestling heats” subtext, Channel Seven’s rivals (which for the most part means Channel Nine, as ABC are too busy being seriose cats and Channel Ten are off packing bowls and hanging ten, or something equally hip and youthful) have started coughing up the mad bucks to get gold medalists on their shows – and, naturally, Seven is pissed.
“This is unprecedented, the level of desperation, the underhandedness and ugliness that went on,” a source said.
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Nation Shocked To Hear ‘60 Minutes’ May Not Be The Bastion Of Journalistic Excellence We Once Thought They Were!
8:21AM Clem Bastow | Having a go at 60 Minutes now seems almost passé; like, it’s not as though they haven’t been churning out utter drivel and questionable ethics for some time now.
However, perhaps inspired by but not limited to the John and Jenny Deaves blow-up, the critics are coming out hard and fast against Nine’s flagship Sunday night program, with everyone from George Negus to Nine’s own head of news calling it out on shonky journalistic techniques and iffy-at-best story choices.
News chief John Westacott said “on balance” the flagship news show should have included the fact that the father and daughter couple from Adelaide had a previous son, Jackson, in 2001, who died of a heart defect at four days.
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Channel Nine Investigated Over Claims Of Paying Incest Couple For Story; We’ll Make No ‘Boning’ Gags Here, Thanks
1:50PM Clem Bastow | Well, just as we were rejoicing in the aisles over some happy Channel Nine-related news, it looks as though it’s back to black – and then some – for the beleaguered television behemoth, with word that police are investigating claims incest couple John and Jenny Deaves may have pocketed mad 60 Minutes cash for telling their story.
And, as we all now know, they may be “in love”, but they are also father and daughter, which makes them criminals.
The couple was convicted in the South Australian District Court in Mount Gambier last month of two counts each of incest relating to the conception of Celeste, and another baby who died in 2001 from a congenital heart defect.
Convicted criminals cannot profit directly from their crimes under Australian law.
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Channel Nine: The Happy Network!
4:12PM Clem Bastow | We like nothing more than a royal spaz out at a special occasion from someone who should know better, and we particularly like it when it involves the ill-fated Channel Nine, whose year is about as ‘two-thousand-and-great’ as a punch in the face.
Apparently 60 Minutes reporter Liam Bartlett cracked it hardcore – for no real reason – at a farewell function for Ray Martin, who quit the station earlier this year. Amongst his amusing reported outbursts:
As the party drew to a close, Bartlett’s colleagues say he launched into an random attack on the return 60 Minutes episode, describing it as “s***” and cursing producers for allowing former Nine CEO Eddie McGuire to be a part of the show.
During the rant, which colleagues said “came out of nowhere” he is said to have referred to McGuire’s interview with his AFL friend Sam Newman as “not a story”.
Rumours of the rant were rife around Nine’s Willoughby camp last night but if the claims turn out to be true he will reportedly be “in big trouble” with management, a source said.
Bartlett is said to have taken aim at the ratings the show attracted.
“If you guys are satisfied with 1.2 million (viewers), you’re f******” Bartlett apparently told colleagues.
We love this shit! Someone should give Bartlett his own late night talk show, or make him the new Sam Kekovich and just let him rant at inappropriate moments during otherwise unrelated telecasts.
Bang bang, you’re f-cked, indeed! More » 