CBS upfront: Trying not to be smug, taking digs at NBC's 'Drama'

(Strong language in second paragraph)

By Tim Molloy

NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) - CBS tried not to look "smug" Wednesday as it told advertisers a simple story: We're No. 1.

The network delivered its upfront presentation to ad buyers a day after ABC's Jimmy Kimmel called CBS executives "smug motherf-----s" at his own network's upfront. CBS CEO Les Moonves jokingly pledged to try to be less smug Wednesday, but couldn't resist a sharp dig at NBC's morning and late-night "drama."

Moonves said his network believes drama belongs in primetime - "not at 7 in the morning or 11:30 at night." As he spoke, an image of Matt Lauer and a sobbing Ann Curry appeared behind him, followed by a shot of Jay Leno and incoming "Tonight Show" host Jimmy Fallon.

In response to the shakeup in the rest of late night, CBS surprised advertisers with a surprise guest appearance from David Letterman. As he took the Carnegie Hall stage, he gave Moonves a long hug, joking, "I'm honored to be here for your pledge drive."

Advertisers gave a warm response to most of CBS's 2013-14 lineup, from the dramas "Hostages" and "Intelligence" to the new sitcoms "Mom" and "The Millers." CBS suggested the David E. Kelley advertising comedy "The Crazy Ones," starring Robin Williams and Sarah Michelle Gellar, might be especially popular with advertisers.

Williams took the stage to say he hasn't been on TV regularly since "Mork & Mindy" 30 years ago. He said the television landscape has changed so much since then that now there's a network for everyone.

"If you're a little child who wants to be transported to the land of make-believe, there's Fox News," he said, scoring big laughs.

As part of its pledge not be smug, CBS made a big show of how subtly it was touting its first-place status this season in total viewers. For the first time in two decades, it is also first in the key 18-49 demo.

"Relax. We're not going to give you a hard sell, because at CBS, we don't need to," said CBS president of network sales Jo Ann Ross. As she spoke, statistics and arrows highlighting the network's success were beamed on her skirt.

That wasn't the end of the self-praise.

"When you Google 'Big Bang Theory,' you get our show, not the creation of the entire universe," said CBS entertainment chief Nina Tassler.

Why all the confidence? Because CBS is the only network this season that isn't down in total viewers. It's up slightly.

But its first-place status in the 18-49 demographic has more to do with its competitors' failures than its own success. All of the four biggest networks - including CBS - are down in the demo this season. CBS is just down the least, which allowed it to surpass Fox at No. 1 as "American Idol" has lost viewers this season.

That didn't stop CBS from boasting that it no longer deserves its reputation as the old folks' network. (Kimmel said Wednesday he would stop joking about the age of CBS's audience when "my grandmother throws away her 'Mentalist' hemorrhoid donut.")

"The network that programs to everyone is number one in 18-49," Moonves told ad buyers. "When making your buys, please: Don't hold our youth against us."

Moonves said his network struggles to find new ways to make its pitch to advertisers, which he summarized as, "No. 1, No. 1, No. 1, up, up, up, the world is a beautiful place."

He said the network could further condense it into a tweet: "Upfront message easy. CBS wins everything, #dropthemic."

CBS was modest about one thing, joking about the partial blackout at the Superdome during the Super Bowl. But it was obviously misplaced modesty: As advertisers knew, the outage was the fault of the venue, not the network.

The network opened its upfront by noting the final season next year of "How I Met Your Mother." The cast sang "One More Year" to the tune of "One More Day" from "Les Miserables."

It was the second time advertisers have heard the song this week: At NBC's upfront Monday, Fallon and Leno dueted on it -- partly to prove again that there's no "drama" between them.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/cbs-upfront-trying-not-smug-taking-digs-nbcs-014251033.html

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Fox schedule includes '24' return

In this Saturday, Oct. 1, 2011 photo, Seth MacFarlane poses for a portrait in Los Angeles. Fox, facing the ebbing ratings power of "American Idol," is betting big on its first miniseries and shows from heavyweight producers MacFarlane and J.J. Abrams to invigorate its schedule. The network is making its largest original-programming investment yet with a crop of 11 new series along with the miniseries from filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan for the 2013-14 season, Kevin Reilly, Fox Entertainment chairman, said Monday, May 13, 2013. That's more than double the five series it announced last year. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles)

In this Saturday, Oct. 1, 2011 photo, Seth MacFarlane poses for a portrait in Los Angeles. Fox, facing the ebbing ratings power of "American Idol," is betting big on its first miniseries and shows from heavyweight producers MacFarlane and J.J. Abrams to invigorate its schedule. The network is making its largest original-programming investment yet with a crop of 11 new series along with the miniseries from filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan for the 2013-14 season, Kevin Reilly, Fox Entertainment chairman, said Monday, May 13, 2013. That's more than double the five series it announced last year. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles)

NEW YORK (AP) ? Jack Bauer is coming back.

Fox executives said Monday that its drama "24" is returning next May for a limited run that will stretch into the summer. The adventure series with Kiefer Sutherland starring as Jack Bauer ended its original run in 2010.

Fox programming chief Kevin Reilly said creators had been thinking about doing a feature film with the original cast. But when Fox announced it was interested in doing a big event miniseries, they realized it was the perfect format.

Reilly made the announcement as part of Fox's unveiling of a new schedule for the upcoming season.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-05-13-US-TV-Fox-Schedule/id-f264364a95504ab98504e23b0e57afdb

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Shannon Brown and Monica Expecting a Baby

The R&B singer-songwriter and husband Shannon Brown are expecting their first child together this fall.

Source: http://feeds.celebritybabies.com/~r/celebrity-babies/~3/Li743r8KK5o/

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No, Conservatives, People Aren't Gaming the Disability Benefits ...

No, Conservatives, People Aren?t Gaming the Disability Benefits System

By: Deborah FosterMay. 12th, 2013more from Deborah Foster

?

Recently, the buzz among right wingers is that people are abusing disability benefits. They claim that people are gaming the system, shirking work, and qualifying for benefits without having a legitimate disability. Their complaints are based on the overall increase in the number of recipients over the past decade. News outlets ranging from the esteemed NPR to the worthless FOX ?news? channel have been calling the increases in people qualifying for disability benefits ?startling? and ?astonishing.? The fact that NPR was sucked into the analysis-free zone is disappointing. In response to the story they carried about disability benefits, eight former commissioners of the Social Security Administration penned an open letter criticizing the sensationalism NPR had engaged in. They pointed out that actuaries have long been predicting the increase in people receiving Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) as a function of demographic shifts.

The huge generation of baby boomers has moved into the ages most highly associated with disability. People who are 50 years old are nearly twice as likely to be disabled as those who are 40, and people who are 60 are twice as likely to be disabled as those who are 50 [1]. The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities also attributes the growth in recipients of disability benefits to the substantial increase of women in the workforce and the increase in the eligibility age for Social Security from 65 to 66 [2]. In previous decades, women did not accumulate the number of years of work necessary to quality for SSDI. This is no longer true. As for the increase in the retirement age, that one year change from 65 to 66 created a pool of so many people on disability that they represent 5% of recipients. Once these individuals turn 65, they will be transferred over to Social Security retirement benefits.

Another consideration is the economic conditions that country has faced for the past five years. When employment is readily available, people with disabilities can locate work more easily. However, when the economy goes into recession, jobs are harder to come by, and people with disabilities are not as likely to be hired as their counterparts without disabilities [3]. They are also likely to be the first fired.

Conservatives also try to argue that children are receiving SSI at alarming and growing rates. The reality is that the growth in SSI for children has been measured with a gradual increase over the past decade [4]. Over this same time period, the rise in children diagnosed with neurodevelopmental or mental disabilities, such as autism, has been significant and most of the increase has been seen among wealthier families [5]. According to Serena Gordon,

?Families with incomes 300 percent above the federal poverty level ? around $66,000 for a family of four ? had a 28 percent increase in children with disabilities. Families whose income levels exceeded the poverty level by 400 percent ? about $88,000 ? saw a 24 percent increase in the number of children with disabilities.? [6]

Fortunately, the rates of physical disability among children have fallen over the past decade, but mental disability among children has seen increases of as much as 16%. If there were a financial motive for obtaining a diagnosis for one?s child, one would expect the increases in rates of disability to rise among low-income individuals, because upper income people do not qualify for SSI. Children in poverty still have the highest rates of disability, yet, there has been little increase in the diagnosis of disability among poor children over the past 10 years. The upturn in children with disabilities qualifying for SSI can be attributed to the recession. This is because more families have slipped into poverty, making them eligible to receive the benefit.

With the growth in the number of adults and children receiving disability benefits, there has been the conservative claim that people who are not really disabled are receiving benefits. For example, Shannon Bream, a Fox ?News? talking head grumbled that 8.8 million people were scamming the system by receiving benefits despite not being disabled. It just so happens that 8.8 million is the total number of Americans receiving SSDI. In other words, Ms. Bream is telling the Fox audience that every single person on SSDI is not disabled, representing a 100% fraud rate. Her words were echoed by Megyn Kelly who insisted that there is substantial fraud in the SSDI and SSI programs, despite the fact that the General Accounting Office (GAO) found no evidence of significant fraud [7]. She showed additional ignorance by endorsing the idea that people with physical disabilities were legitimately receiving benefits, but people with mental health disabilities, such as major depression, were essentially lazy and trying to use excuses not to work.

But even more mainstream voices like Joe Klein of Time magazine claim that too many people who could be working are receiving disability benefits instead. He wants to put everyone who claims to have a disability into public service jobs, because he feels more people can work than the system recognizes. His estimation that it is too easy to get SSDI or SSI is way off base. And he is not alone. Fox?s Steve Doocy is spreading the misinformation that it is ?relatively easy? to get disability payments. Charles Lane of the Washington Post echoed these sentiments by saying the benefits were too easy to get and payments were too high. Anyone who works with people attempting to get disability benefits knows that the process often takes years, and applicants have to file multiple appeals before finally being accepted into the program [8]. Today, 1 in 5 Americans or 56.7 million people have a disability, but only 14 million receive SSDI or SSI. The Social Security Administration rejects the applications of 53% of those seeking SSDI benefits, including those who file multiple appeals [9]. Only an average of 28% of applicants is accepted into the SSDI program the first time they apply with a rejection rate of 61%. The numbers are similar for SSI with a rejection rate of 54%. Showing their degree of ill health, people on SSDI or SSI are more than three times as likely to die as the rest of the population without disabilities.

There are certainly other myths perpetuated by the right wing including that SSI doesn?t really help children with disabilities or that other countries have set up better disability benefit systems than our own. The truth is that the number of people receiving disability benefits is precisely what one would expect given the country?s age demographics, poverty level, and employment rate. There is very little fraud in the program. People receive relatively meager benefits, and the process for getting these benefits is actually quite arduous. But, conservatives won?t let a few facts get in the way of their narrative.

H/T Media Matters

No, Conservatives, People Aren?t Gaming the Disability Benefits System was written by Deborah Foster for PoliticusUSA.

? PoliticusUSA, May. 12th, 2013. All Rights Reserved

Source: http://www.politicususa.com/no-conservatives-people-gaming-disability-benefits-system.html

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'Gatsby' gives 'Iron Man 3' a run for its money

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Gatsby looks almost as great as a superhero at the weekend box office.

Leonard DiCaprio's "The Great Gatsby" partied like it was the Roaring '20s with a $51.1 million debut that made it a surprisingly strong runner-up to comic-book blockbuster "Iron Man 3."

Studio estimates Sunday put "Gatsby" at No. 2 behind Robert Downey Jr.'s superhero sequel, which pulled in $72.5 million domestically to raise its total to $284.9 million after just 10 days in U.S. theaters.

With an additional $89.3 million in its third weekend overseas, "Iron Man 3" lifted its international total to $664.1 million and its worldwide haul to $949 million.

"The Great Gatsby" far exceeded expectations by distributor Warner Bros. of a $35 million to $40 million opening weekend.

Director Baz Luhrmann's 3-D adaptation of the F. Scott Fitzgerald classic was a rare box-office smash for films aimed at older adults during the youth-minded summer season. According to Warner Bros., viewers over 25 made up 69 percent of the film's audience.

"It answers the question that you and I hear all the time from people over 50, 'There's nothing for me to see,'" said Dan Fellman, the studio's head of distribution. "While every studio has the $200 million tentpoles in the marketplace, you still have those who feel that it's not directed at them, which is true. So that's why I think counterprogramming like this is very important."

The weekend's other new wide release, Lionsgate's romantic comedy "Peeples," flopped at No. 4 with just $4.9 million. Produced by Tyler Perry, the movie stars Craig Robinson and Kerry Washington in a meet-the-parents-style farce.

Getting a head start on its domestic launch Friday, "Star Trek: Into Darkness" opened with $31.7 million in seven international markets. Its overseas debut included $13.3 million in Great Britain, $7.6 million in Germany and $5.5 million in Australia.

Starring DiCaprio in the title role as 1920s mystery millionaire Jay Gatsby, the latest Fitzgerald update co-stars Carey Mulligan as his lost love and Tobey Maguire as the friend chronicling their doomed romance.

It was by far the biggest debut ever for filmmaker Luhrmann, whose previous best was $14.8 million for "Australia." In just one weekend, "The Great Gatsby" nearly matched the $57.4 million domestic haul that Luhrmann's top-grossing film, the musical "Moulin Rouge!", managed in its entire run.

"Gatsby" also gave DiCaprio his second-biggest debut, behind the $62.8 million take for "Inception."

The film's success follows a bumpy road to theaters. Originally scheduled for release last December, Warner Bros. pushed it back to summer to give Luhrmann more time to finish his elaborate visual spectacle.

How well the film holds up in coming weeks depends on word-of-mouth from fans. Reviews for "The Great Gatsby" have been so-so, with many critics saying it sacrifices drama and substance for style and dazzle, including Lurhmann's elaborate party scenes backed by a contemporary soundtrack featuring Jay-Z, Beyonce and Lana Del Rey.

"Iron Man 3" was down a steep 58 percent from its opening weekend haul, no surprise given that its $174.1 million domestic debut was the second-biggest ever. The only film to do more business was Downey and company's ensemble adventure "The Avengers," which topped $200 million in its premiere last year.

"The Avengers" held up better in its second weekend with $103.1 million, a drop of only 50 percent. But "Iron Man 3" is on its way to becoming the biggest solo superhero hit worldwide and the second-biggest comic-book adaptation, behind the $1.5 billion "Avengers" payday.

"This is on a trajectory like no other individual superhero movie we've ever seen," said Paul Dergarabedian, an analyst for box-office tracker Hollywood.com. "In less than three weeks, this thing is honing in on a billion dollars. It's just a testament to the incredible popularity of this character."

The movie already has far surpassed the franchise best of $624 million worldwide for "Iron Man 2."

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Where available, latest international numbers are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

1. "Iron Man 3," $72.5 million ($89.3 million international).

2. "The Great Gatsby," $51.1 million.

3. "Pain and Gain," $5 million.

4. "Peeples," $4.9 million.

5. "42," $4.7 million.

6. "Oblivion," $3.9 million ($11.7 million international).

7. "The Croods," $3.6 million ($17.3 million international).

8. "The Big Wedding," $2.5 million ($2 million international).

9. "Mud," $2.4 million.

10. "Oz the Great and Powerful," $802,000.

___

Estimated weekend ticket sales at international theaters (excluding the U.S. and Canada) for films distributed overseas by Hollywood studios, according to Rentrak:

1. "Iron Man 3," $89.3 million.

2. "Star Trek: Into Darkness," $31.7 million.

3. "The Croods," $17.3 million.

4. "Oblivion," $11.7 million.

5. "Les Profs," $3.7 million.

6. "Boomerang Family," $3.6 million.

7. "Scary Movie 5," $2.7 million.

8. "Evil Dead," $2.6 million.

9. "Hanni and Nanni 3," $2.3 million.

10. "The Big Wedding," $2 million.

___

Online:

http://www.hollywood.com

http://www.rentrak.com

___

Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney, Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are owned by News Corp.; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by AMC Networks Inc.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/gatsby-gives-iron-man-3-run-money-152258050.html

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Despite 100 million licenses sold, Windows 8 install base estimated at 59 million

Gotham's gentry has met its nemesis: shareable bikes. The long-awaited Citibike bike-sharing program is scheduled to debut in New York on May 27, when dozens of empty bike stations already installed throughout Manhattan and west-central Brooklyn will fill up with blue, Citibank-branded bikes. Like similar (and quite successful) programs in D.C., Paris, and Minneapolis, riders will be able pick up a bike at one station and drop it off at any of the rest, making it a healthy alternative, in many cases, to riding the subway.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/despite-100-million-licenses-sold-windows-8-install-035924937.html

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Bloomberg bars reporters from client activity

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Financial data and news company Bloomberg LP says it has corrected a "mistake" in its newsgathering policies and cut off its journalists' special access to client log-in activity on the company's ubiquitous trading information terminals after Goldman Sachs complained about the matter last month.

A person familiar with the matter said Friday that Goldman Sachs became concerned about outside access after a Bloomberg reporter, investigating what she thought was the departure of a Goldman employee, told the securities firm that the employee had not logged into a Bloomberg terminal for a number of weeks.

The person was not authorized to speak publicly and gave the information on condition of anonymity.

Separately, the Federal Reserve is looking into whether Bloomberg journalists tracked data about terminal usage by top Fed officials, a spokeswoman said. The agency has contacted Bloomberg to learn more, she said.

On Saturday, CNBC reported that a former Bloomberg employee said he accessed information about terminal usage by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and former Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

The Fed spokeswoman wouldn't comment on the CNBC report. A Treasury spokesman couldn't be reached for comment.

In a memo sent to staff Friday, Bloomberg CEO Daniel Doctoroff said the company had "long made limited customer relationship data available to our journalists," but added, "we realize this was a mistake."

After the complaint last month, Bloomberg "immediately" turned off its journalists' special access and limited it to what clients can see themselves, he said.

The dispute was earlier reported by The Wall Street Journal.

Bloomberg News reporters had been able to see when any of the company's 315,000 paying subscribers, mostly stock and bond traders, had last logged into the service. They could also view the types of "functions" individual subscribers had accessed.

For instance, reporters could see if subscribers had been looking at top news stories, or if they had been gathering data on stocks or bonds, but not which stories or bonds and stocks they had looked up, said Ty Trippet, a Bloomberg LP spokesman. He said reporters could also see if subscribers were using "message" or "chat" functions to send messages to each other over the terminals, but not the recipient of the messages or their content.

Reporters were mostly getting contact information for subscribers, like telephone numbers and email addresses, Trippet said.

In his staff memo, Doctoroff said that access did not extend to "trading, portfolio, monitor, blotter or other related systems or our clients' messages."

He said senior executive Steve Ross had been appointed to the new position of client data compliance officer to review Bloomberg's policies.

No reporters have been fired over the matter, Trippet said. He declined to comment on whether any other disciplinary measures have been taken or if the company had plans to do so.

Although Goldman's concerns caused the change, JPMorgan Chase & Co. had also expressed concerns about Bloomberg journalists' access to sensitive data.

A person familiar with the matter at JPMorgan said multiple Bloomberg reporters had used the data to try to break news in the last several years. The person said Bloomberg journalists used their access attempting to find out whether disciplinary action had been taken against Bruno Iksil, a JPMorgan trader nicknamed the "London whale" who was blamed for a $6 billion trading loss last year.

One reporter knew details about the log-in times of multiple traders on a single desk and called daily to ask about potential layoffs, the person said. JPMorgan complained to the reporters about the technique but Bloomberg managers weren't made aware of a formal complaint.

The person was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter and requested anonymity.

Bloomberg's Trippet said he was unaware of complaints from JP Morgan to reporters or editors.

It's not clear exactly how long Bloomberg reporters have been accessing subscriber information.

"Limited customer relationship data has long been available to our journalists," Trippet wrote in an email. The access dates back to the 1990s, when Bloomberg's news operation began. Journalists would join sales representatives on calls to clients, he said, to explain how Bloomberg's news functions work.

Bloomberg journalists are renowned for aggressive techniques in a competitive field. Bloomberg LP, whose main business is selling terminals to clients in the financial industry, employs more than 2,400 journalists.

In November 2010, the news service reported on the earnings of The Walt Disney Co. and NetApp Inc. well before the companies' scheduled releases by guessing the unprotected website addresses of the press releases before they were made public.

The public relations gaffes, which resulted in immediate but fleeting dips in the stock prices of both companies, resulted in the companies taking action to prevent a recurrence.

__

AP Business Writer Bernard Condon in New York and AP Economics Writer Christopher Rugaber in Washington contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bloomberg-bars-reporters-client-activity-174947142.html

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