CNN Enjoys Satire Too!!!!

I knew it has been a pretty crappy week for the people in the US this week with the stock marlet woes so I thought I would lighten the mood tonight.

If you caught "Saturday Night Live" this past weekend you would have caught the Tina Fey/Amy Poehler skit of Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton. I personally thought it was fantastic and am sure it will go down as a classic to be seen many years to come. Well the folks at CNN sure enjoyed the skit too. Who said CNN does not enjoy satire from time to time.

Rick Sanchez and Campbell Brown along with Erica Hill enjoy some bits from the skit on Monday.

Anderson Cooper and Erica Hill discuss the Palin skit during Monday night's Shot

I end tonight with a tip: If you ever get the opportunity to be on CNN this is one thing not to do. My hat's off to Allan Chernoff for being an constant professional and Kiran Chetry who tired to explain what the veiwers saw on the screen.

All content, unless otherwise cited, is © All Things CNN and may not be used without consent of the blog administrator.

Sanjay's Busy Weeks and Clips

Dr. Sanjay Gupta has a full schedule for the next couple of weeks according to two CNN press releases.

CNN’s Fit Nation Team Steps Up to Build New Orleans Playground
CNN, Cox Communications Provide Money, Manpower to KaBOOM! to Fix Katrina-Damaged Playground

CNN and Cox Communications New Orleans recently made a contribution to KaBOOM!, a national non-profit organization that empowers communities to build playgrounds, to continue their long-term commitment to the renewal of the New Orleans community after Hurricane Katrina. CNN’s Fit Nation, a multi-platform initiative to stop obesity, will launch its first activity in 2008 at Pontiff Park in Metairie, La., to emphasize the benefits of a healthy lifestyle as the region continues its recovery from nearly three years ago.

As part of that contribution, CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta and other CNN employees will join volunteers from the community and Cox Communications New Orleans to rebuild the playground at Pontiff Park on Saturday, June 28, from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. (CT). The park design is based on drawings provided by children from the community who attended a KaBOOM! “Design Day” event in April.

Gupta will also tape House Call with Dr. Sanjay Gupta from the build site, interviewing local community leaders who come out to help. House Call is a program dedicated to the latest health and medical developments and airs on Saturdays and Sundays from 7:30 to 8 a.m. (CT).
“I had the opportunity to see the destruction Katrina caused first-hand while I was reporting from New Orleans after the hurricane,” Gupta said. “I’m glad that Fit Nation can contribute to the rebuilding of the Gulf Coast region by creating a space for the community to use in achieving an active lifestyle.”
Hurricane Katrina damaged the park when five feet of water covered the grounds for nearly two weeks. The new playground will provide more than 10,000 children annually with a place to play in Jefferson Parish.

Video excerpts of the build will appear on www.CNN.com/FitNation, which also includes an interactive special section featuring fitness success stories, tips for staying fit and weekly updates from Gupta and CNN’s medical unit.

The playground build marks the first Fit Nation activity in 2008. CNN’s Fit Nation initiative began in 2006 as an ongoing multi-platform initiative to stop obesity and encourage healthier lifestyles. Over the past two years, Fit Nation and Gupta have traveled across the country engaging people in their own communities to get more active and develop local programs to meet the challenges of being overweight. In July and August, the Fit Nation mobile tour will visit cities across the United States, including Dallas, Seattle, Minneapolis, Minn., and Columbus, Ohio.


CNN to Focus Spotlight on Saving World’s Children with Global Broadcast
Dr. Sanjay Gupta Anchors July 6 Special with UNICEF Ambassador Lucy Liu, Musician Joel Madden

CNN will focus a lens on the world’s children in harm’s way and examines child survival issues in-depth during its global broadcast, The Survival Project: One Child at a Time. Anchored by CNN’s chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta, the special will focus on healthcare, education, water sanitation and protection from violence for children. UNICEF ambassador Lucy Liu and Good Charlotte musician Joel Madden join Gupta as panelists for the program and speak about their experiences with UNICEF. Following recent crises in Myanmar and China, CNN viewers moved by the devastating stories and images are looking for ways to help. In May, the month of the devastating natural disasters in both nations, the “Impact Your World” special section on CNN.com more than doubled the previous month’s page view numbers for users looking for information on how to help. Shot in high-definition television before an audience at the Alliance Theater inside Atlanta’s High Museum of Art, The Survival Project: One Child at a Time will premiere on Sunday, July 6, at 8 p.m. and will replay at 11 p.m. and 2 a.m. All times Eastern. The broadcast will be simulcast on CNN and CNN International.

Clay Aiken, Dayle Haddon, Joel Madden, Ne-Yo, Nicole Ritchie, Al Roker, Marcus Samuelsson and Amare Stoudemire appear in special video diaries of their volunteer experiences and encourage viewers to help children around the world.

For the first time since the United Nations began tracking child mortality, the number of children who die each year before their fifth birthday has dropped below 10 million. Bringing the stories of these children to CNN viewers from four continents, Gupta and international correspondents Wilf Dinnick, Jill Dougherty and Dan Rivers will brief viewers on the challenges that remain to save more lives through the innovative works of organizations such as UNICEF. The United Nations Children’s Fund operates in more than 150 countries in an effort to reduce the child mortality rate everywhere.

Gupta will report on the 1,500 children who live with HIV/AIDS in Peru, as well as those orphaned by the disease. From Laos, Rivers will report on the impact of the second largest worldwide killer of children under age five – a lack of clean drinking water. Dougherty will report from Baghdad on children who have been displaced due to war and conflict. Dinnick will report from Ethiopia on how vaccinations and nutritional supplements are saving the lives of children and pregnant women.

ATC sends belated birthday wishes to Rob Marciano who celebrated his birthday on Wednesday June 25th.

Time for clips from CNN programming this week.

Betty Nguyen, TJ Holmes and Fredricka Whitfield during Saturday's News Room discussed the possibility of clothing optional newscast.

On Sunday's Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer, Wolf ended his show by fulfilling a request from Luke Russert, son of the late Tim Russert.

During the tease for Situation Room on Monday Kyra Phillips and Don Lemon asked Wolf about his love for dogs. After the tease Susan Lisovicz joined the conversation.

During Situation Room, Jack Cafferty shared with Wolf what he did on his day off. Sounds like Jack did not enjoy this activity as much as I did when I did it.

Thursday's American Morning had John Roberts, Kiran Chetry and Allen Chernoff discuss gas and beer. I have to agree with John's remedy but to be honest the Canadian beer from John's yesteryear would probably work better.

All content, unless otherwise cited, is © All Things CNN and may not be used without consent of the blog administrator.

Green Day

HBO has a movie premiering Sunday night about the 2000 Florida recount and subsequent Supreme Court ruling that gave us the current Bush presidency. The movie, Recount, is largely based on Jeffrey Toobin's book Too Close to Call and stars Kevin Spacey. On Thursday, Kevin and Jeffrey were on Charlie Rose's program to discuss the movie, you can watch that program here. And on Friday during The Situation Room, Wolf showed an interview he recorded with Kevin while in NYC:

(Jeffrey was also a guest on Bill Moyers' Journal last night, speaking not about the movie but about a column he wrote this week for The New Yorker magazine about the types of judges that John McCain would likely appoint to the Supreme Court. That interview -- and it should be must-see-TV for anyone considering a vote for McCain -- can be seen here.)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

So last week there was this race between Jamie McIntyre (in his car), Zain Verjee (riding the Metro), and Tom Foreman (on his bike) to see who could get to the DC bureau first. Phebe posted the clip of the race itself over on ATA, but after the clip played throughout the morning, they did some interviews with the participants. First up, John Roberts and Kyra Phillips talk to Zain Verjee:

During Issue #1, Ali Velshi spoke with all three of them -- Zain doing her Best Impression of a Presidential Candidate, Tom doing his Best Impression of a 3-Year-Old Whose Mommy is Trying to Talk on the Phone, and Jamie just trying not to get run over! (But Jamie still gets the style points for his Best Impression of a '70s Private Eye Leaping Into His Convertible!)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Wednesday on Issue #1, Allan Chernoff did a piece on those oil company commercials that tout how environmentally friendly they are... just how green is Big Oil, really? (Are you at all surprised that the answer is "Not very"?)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Miles O'Brien had a piece on CNN Saturday Morning today about the Mars vehicle that will hopefully land safely on the red planet tomorrow. (CNN will have Miles covering the landing live at 7pmET.)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Where in the World...?

Sunday, Suzanne Malveaux was in Frankfort, Kentucky. Monday, Candy Crowley was in Lexington, Kentucky; Dana Bash was in DC.

Tuesday, Suzanne was in Des Moines, Iowa; Candy was in Louisville, Kentucky; Wolf Blitzer was in NYC for the primary coverage. Wednesday, Candy was in Coral Gables, Florida; Dana was in North Bend, Washington.

Thursday, Candy was in DC; Anderson Cooper hosted AC360 from DC; Sanjay Gupta was in Phoenix, Arizona.

Nobody was anywhere on Friday... guess they all took off for the long weekend! But on Saturday, Suzanne was on from San Juan, Puerto Rico (above) -- she got the Hawaii primary, she got the Puerto Rico primary... nice job if you can get it!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

On Monday, CNN will re-air the AC360 special "Shock and Awe: 5 Years Later" at 5pmET. If you missed this when it aired in March, be sure to set your DVR. It is an incredible look at the war in Iraq through the eyes of the CNN reporters who have covered the story.

I hope everyone has a very peaceful and safe Memorial Day weekend. Our thoughts and prayers are with all the men and women serving in the Armed Forces, their loved ones back home, and those who served and gave their lives in past wars, conflicts, and during times of peace.

Also, our happiest of wishes go out to John King and Dana Bash today!

All content, unless otherwise cited, is © All Things CNN and may not be used without consent of the blog administrator.

Issues, Pizza, Dancing, & Friends

Issue #1 is the economy. Issue #1 starts... IF you've been watching CNN US at noon ET this past week, you've seen Issue #1 which is zeroing in on how the economic slow down and credit/ financial institution failure will impact your wallet. Here’s a clip from the opening of Monday’s program:

This week, the program included a mixture of stories about the impact of the financial crises on individuals’ as well expert analysis and a panel of experts in the studio to answer viewer questions.

There were reports from: Bill Schneider, Dan Simon, Barbara Starr, Allan Chernoff, Kate Bouldan, Jessica Yellin, ElaineQuijano, Greg Hunter, Ed Henry, Suzanne Malveaux, Thelma Gutierrez, Melissa Long, Poppy Harlow, and TJ Holmes to name a few.

Dan Simon reported about the next gold rush. To see the report click here.

Wednesday's program even included lunch. Pizza was used as an economic indicator, since prices are expected to rise along with the rising cost of wheat. Ali Velshi got to enjoy a slice while Allan Chernoff's report aired.

Time for some TV math- if CNN = Politics and CNN = Money, does Politics = Money?

I don’t think Wolf Blitzer can dance. That’s the theory that I’ve come up with. Why else has he not taken Ellen up on her offer to come on her show? It has to be the dancing. Ok, so he is on the air for 17+ hours a week for CNN (and that doesn’t include the analysis that he does during other folks time slots, the election coverage or subbing for other anchors) and he has had those debates to prepare for… but… there had to have to have been time at some point. He was even in the right city….one of the debates took him to LA! Why have I brought this up again? Ellen got tired of waiting for Wolf and decided that Chris Matthews would do. His dancing swept Ellen off her feet! Here’s a clip of the preview & the of course the dancing…

Anyone want to be friends with Howard Kurtz? MediaBistro's FishbowlDC had this interesting article about Kurtz's friends:

Howard Kurtz added 26 Facebook friends this week, bringing his total to 1,302. His actual total is apparently 1,365 but due to various privacy settings only 1,302 appear on his list. For what it's worth.

He also had two status updates this week, which included:

Howard is wondering how many more girlfriends David Paterson has and where he finds the time.

Howard is wondering how many more pictures of Ashley are out there and how rich she's going to get from doing the guv.

If you'd like to add Howard as a friend, click here.

All content, unless otherwise cited, is © All Things CNN and may not be used without consent of the blog administrator.