PUBLIC FORUM : MARKETING, DOWNSIZING ARE HOSTILE TO QUALITY TV.Several years back, the industry slowly began its love affair with MBAs in marketing, and as the '90s evolved, marketing concepts became the driving force in the motion picture industry, which, of course, spread to its copycat little brother, television broadcasting. The problem is, there is nothing to ``market.'' To further complicate matters, as networks and entertainment companies merge and gobble 1. gobble - To consume, usually used with "up". "The output spy gobbles characters out of a tty output buffer." 2. gobble - To obtain, usually used with "down". "I guess I'll gobble down a copy of the documentation tomorrow." See also snarf. each other up, lawyers and bean counters are now running the business and they are only interested in profit-and-loss statements to keep the stockholders happy. As a result of what is pure and simple greed, when networks and large entertainment companies get into trouble, the first thing they do is downsize Downsize Reducing the size of a company by eliminating workers and/or divisions within the company. Notes: When a company downsizes, it is attempting to find ways to improve efficiency and increase profitability. It is sometimes referred to as trimming the fat. . Along with marketing, downsizing (1) Converting mainframe and mini-based systems to client/server LANs. (2) To reduce equipment and associated costs by switching to a less-expensive system. (jargon) downsizing is the other scourge of the '90s. Downsizing is like a disease and it spreads quickly among all the show business companies. It has become the legal way to get rid of people, especially those you don't like, and as such, seasoned professionals are systematically being eliminated from every corner of operations. Then, far less experienced people, usually lawyers, accountants or marketing people, with as much vision and creativity as a brick wall, are brought in. They are younger and they cost less in salaries. You cannot market a product if there is no product, and it doesn't matter what technology you try to force down the public's throat. If that product looks and feels like every other product out there, you lose. What American television needs are men and women of vision - not MBAs in marketing or technology - people who are not afraid to take real chances, people who are not inhibited by the lawyers and bean counters, people who are willing to try new concepts or for that matter bring a few of the tried and true concepts back. For example, the good old-fashion variety show. Have you seen one recently? Instead what we have today, and why American television and movies are losing, are people so caught up in marketing and new technologies that these once solid avenues of enlightenment and entertainment are an affront to people's intelligence. To use a very famous movie line, ``I am mad as hell and I'm just not going to take it anymore.'' - Joseph DiSante Burbank I monitor TV more than view it. Admittedly a channel surfer, I long for a program that offers some intelligent content. Hurray for KCET KCET Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo (Japan) KCET Kamaraj College of Engineering and Technology , BRAVO and A&E. Almost every mindless sitcom is replete with sexual innuendoes from start to finish. The majority consists of ``bedroom conquest'' scripts. Does the viewing public really demand these scenarios or is it the TV moguls that think they do? - Earl D. Horwitz North Hills The new ABC ABC in full American Broadcasting Co. Major U.S. television network. It began when the expanding national radio network NBC split into the separate Red and Blue networks in 1928. program, ``Nothing Sacred,'' is the most blatantly bigoted big·ot·ed adj. Being or characteristic of a bigot: a bigoted person; an outrageously bigoted viewpoint. big anti-Catholic program that has ever been put on the airwaves. The priest, Father Ray, denounces the church's teachings on contraception, homosexuality, abortion and sexual promiscuity Promiscuity See also Profligacy. Anatol constantly flits from one girl to another. [Aust. Drama: Schnitzler Anatol in Benét, 33] Aphrodite promiscuous goddess of sensual love. [Gk. Myth. . In a deliberate slap at the solemn Sacrament of Penance (Reconciliation), this priest tells a young woman confessor CONFESSOR, evid. A priest of some Christian sect, who receives an account of the sins of his people, and undertakes to give them absolution of their sins. 2. to make up her own mind on whether or not to have an abortion. There isn't a bishop in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. who would not fire such a priest; and there isn't a seminary which would have allowed him to stay and be ordained or·dain tr.v. or·dained, or·dain·ing, or·dains 1. a. To invest with ministerial or priestly authority; confer holy orders on. b. To authorize as a rabbi. 2. if they knew of his attitude. I am sure that a significant number of your readers disagree with Catholic teaching in these areas. The point is that to have a Catholic priest teach what no Catholic priest would ever teach is an insult to the hundreds of thousands of Catholic priests the world over. Almost 50 percent of the population of Los Angeles is Catholic. They are as outraged as I am, and they are going to do something about it, too. Certainly a comparable program of anti-Semitic or anti-African-American bigotry would be chased off the air promptly. I, and the Catholic community, demand the cancellation of sponsorship of ``Nothing Sacred'' by any and all of the businesses that expect to get Catholic customers. We intend to teach ABC a lesson that it is not likely to forget. - George Noonan Sylmar Anthem deserves respect My wife and I are devoted tennis fans and attend tournaments whenever possible. As with all sporting events, an individual is selected by someone to sing ``The Star-Spangled Banner'' prior to the event. In recent years, this once-patriotic, thrilling experience has degenerated into a contest between vocal gymnasts to see who can yodel yodel or yodle (both: yō`dəl), type of wordless singing, joyous in nature, usually associated with the Swiss. It is, in fact, practiced throughout the Alps and, as an importation, in the mountains of Kentucky. and scream up and down the scale and introduce the most notes that were never meant to be a part of that wonderful anthem. I vividly recall one event, a baseball game, when a fat lady in overalls stood at home plate and literally screeched and howled that glorious song while scratching her privates before 35,000 people. I watched in disbelief as the fans in the stands cheered her. What's wrong with Americans? It's one thing to be able to laugh at ourselves, but it's a completely different thing to allow the symbols of our great country to be desecrated des·e·crate tr.v. des·e·crat·ed, des·e·crat·ing, des·e·crates To violate the sacredness of; profane. [de- + (con)secrate. , be they material or musical. I sincerely hope the day will come when all events that open with ``The Star-Spangled Banner'' will require the soloists to dress suitably for the very solemn occasion and to sing the song as written, their plaudits earned by their purity of tone and vocal quality. Those requirements alone will eliminate the yodelers, screamers and itchy itch·y adj. Having or causing an itching sensation. fat ladies. - H. L. Bradbury Granada Hills Pierce council replies As chair of the Los Angeles Pierce College
As your readers may know, Pierce College, along with most of the other eight mcolleges in the Los Angeles Community College District The Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) is the community college district serving Los Angeles, California and some of its neighboring cities. In addition to typical college aged students, the LACCD also serves adults of all ages. , is facing very severe budget cuts. At our meeting Aug. 26, the council, which is composed of all the constituent groups on campus, voted to ask the district to issue requests for proposals so we can see if a golf driving range, which was originally proposed in 1993, would be feasible for us. That is all the council has done at this point. The council, not just the administration, believes seeking information from contractors is prudent to see if we should go forward with this form of income generation. Wouldn't your readers agree that we would be remiss re·miss adj. 1. Lax in attending to duty; negligent. 2. Exhibiting carelessness or slackness. See Synonyms at negligent. in our duties if we didn't request information? When the proposals come in, the council will examine them very carefully and the entire campus and the community will have input on them. Let's collect information now and help Pierce restore our financial ability. As chair of the council, I have neither heard nor seen any proposals to abolish the Agriculture Department. Indeed, the department is part of the fabric of our very identity as a campus. We sincerely appreciate the community's suggestions for ways to generate income, and we wish to provide the community with full information when we have collected it so our friends, too, can help us reach informed decisions. We especially appreciate it when students enroll in our high-quality programs. Pierce offers excellent education at very low costs. - Dr. Richard J. Follett Professor of English Chair, Pierce College Council Woodland Hills Hayden rebutted In his commentary on the Civic Center plan for downtown, ``Rethinking the Heart of L.A.,'' (Daily News, Aug. 16), Sen. Tom Hayden argues for ``decentralizing'' the city but overlooks some important considerations. As a major city in a large metropolitan area, Los Angeles demands and deserves a strong central civic point where government can remain accessible to all the residents of Los Angeles. The Civic Center is an important place where civic discourse abmout the entire city can take place. At the center of this hugely diverse region, a healthy, vital, accessible downtown remains a critical link in the economic development strategies to keep Los Angeles on an economic growth track. A strong Civic Center is one more way to make sure Los Angeles keeps getting better for the benefit of all its residents. We fail to see how a strong Civic Center would be bad for neighborhoods. In the same commentary, Hayden, D-Los Angeles, questions the Community Redevelopment Agency's mission. In fact, the agency's mission and resolve have never been stronger. The true goal of the Community Redevelopment Agency - a strong civic presence for 50 years - is the revitalization of communities and neighborhoods in Los Angeles, including downtown, but encompassing areas in the city from San Pedro and Watts to Crenshaw cren·shaw also cran·shaw n. A variety of winter melon (Cucumis melo var. inodorus) having a greenish-yellow rind and sweet, usually salmon-pink flesh. [Origin unknown.] , the east side, Hollywood and earthquake-damaged portions of the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. . Currently, the CRA See Community Reinvestment Act. is involved in more than 30 project areas throughout the city of Los Angeles
- John E. Molloy Administrator Community Redevelopment Agency Los Angeles Catholicism misconstrued Woodrow Hughes (Public Forum, Sept. 11) builds a ``straw man'' argument in denigrating den·i·grate tr.v. den·i·grat·ed, den·i·grat·ing, den·i·grates 1. To attack the character or reputation of; speak ill of; defame. 2. Mother Teresa. Hughes readily endorses contraception, sterilization sterilization Any surgical procedure intended to end fertility permanently (see contraception). Such operations remove or interrupt the anatomical pathways through which the cells involved in fertilization travel (see reproductive system). and abortion for a problem of population density - not his Malthus-induced ``problem'' of overpopulation overpopulation Situation in which the number of individuals of a given species exceeds the number that its environment can sustain. Possible consequences are environmental deterioration, impaired quality of life, and a population crash (sudden reduction in numbers caused by . Hughes totally generalized and misconstrued the principles of Catholicism in support of his ``straw man.'' - Rich Hodulik Burbank Mahony's `Taj Mahal' Practice what you preach Practice what you preach may refer to:
While Cardinal Roger Mahony advocates that followers should do as Mother Teresa, he simultaneously is planning to build a ``Taj Mahal'' cathedral in Los Angeles while children are starving. - Fred Reitz Agoura |
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