TV lights its Jacko lantern
Newsmags, VH1 prep specials
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Just in time for the tail end of the November sweeps, the Michael Jackson Show is once again ready for primetime -- as well as daytime, early fringe and just about any other daypart in need of a ratings boost.
Network newsmags and music cabler VH1 are readying special hours on Jacko. All three network evening newscasts led with the Santa Barbara district attorney's decision to charge Jackson with child molestation. Local stations, particularly in Los Angeles, switched into O.J.-style overdrive to cover the spectacle.
Ironically, the one official Jacko event slated for sweeps -- a CBS spec designed to hype the singer's new "Number Ones" disc -- has been indefinitely shelved. It's the second time in as many weeks the Eye has ditched a sweeps month event, having previously yanked "The Reagans."
"Given the gravity of the charges against Mr. Jackson, we believe it would be inappropriate at this time to broadcast an entertainment special," CBS said in a statement released Wednesday. "However, we are very mindful that Mr. Jackson is innocent until proven guilty. We will consider broadcasting the special after the due process of the legal system runs its course."
Meanwhile, a Brit paper said ITV pulled documentary "The Michael Jackson Story," which had been due to air Wednesday night. ITV Controller Steve Anderson told the Mirror, "An appreciation of Michael Jackson's music seemed a little inappropriate in the light of events so we decided to postpone."
The bad news for the Eye was a godsend for other media outlets, particularly cable news channels and local stations looking to pump up Nielsen numbers in the final week of the all-important November sweeps.
For the broadcast nets, Jacko's trouble came during something of a hectic news week, making it difficult to scramble the sked and throw together a breaking special.
By late Wednesday, there were hurried discussions within CBS News about the possibility of airing a "48 Hours" newsmag special on Jackson Saturday or next week, when the now-yanked Jackson entertainment was supposed to have aired.
ABC News quickly decided to devote Wednesday's edition of "Nightline" to coverage of the Jackson story, rather than to President Bush's trip to Buckingham Palace and the ongoing crisis in Iraq. All the Big Three evening newscasts led with the story, while the ayem newsshows were expected to give plenty of airtime to the woes at Neverland today.
The only primetime newsmag on the air Wednesday was CBS News' "60 Minutes," which did not preempt previously planned segments to cover Jackson. One of those segs included Dan Rather's much-touted interview with Democratic presidential candidate Wesley Clarke.
Devoted to Jacko
NBC News' "Dateline" was the first primetime newsmag to announce it would devote its next edition on Friday entirely to Jacko's legal saga.
Tonight, ABC's primetime lineup already included a long-planned, two-hour news special on the 40th anniversary of John F. Kennedy's assassination. Still, ABC News could feasibly use Friday's edition of newsmag "20/20" to weigh in on Jackson, with execs saying late Wednesday that such might be the case.
Cable news nets turned their full attention to the story Wednesday afternoon, interrupted only by live coverage of President Bush's state dinner at Buckingham Palace. This morning, cable news will likely be in its full glory as it covers Jackson turning himself in.
On Sunday, VH1 will premiere the primetime half-hour news special "VH1 News: Michael Jackson Sex Scandal" to be followed at 10 p.m. by an exclusive re-airing of the two-hour Granada TV-produced docu "Living with Michael Jackson" with British journo Martin Bashir.
ITV1's Bashir spent eight months with Jackson, including time at Neverland Ranch and the night the star made worldwide headlines by dangling his baby over a Berlin hotel balcony.
Docu originally aired on ABC during February sweeps, snapping up 27.1 million total viewers -- the net's best Thursday numbers in 12 years. (Original British airing of "Jackson" on Granada TV drew 15 million viewers, more than half the British TV audience.)
Not surprisingly, local newsies went wacko for Jacko -- particularly those in Los Angeles.
"It's got all the ingredients," said KTLA news director Jeff Wald. "You've got the tabloid aspect, the celebrity aspect, the human aspect of child molestation accusations, and he's an interesting figure, to say the least. Obviously, it lends itself to TV. And viewers can't seem to get enough."
Wald said KTLA had three reporters on the Jackson story, including one in Las Vegas and one at the singer's Neverland ranch. The story was a shoo-in to lead the station's 10 p.m. report.
Despite the surprise nature of the Jackson charges, and the sheer number of other stories ongoing in Los Angeles, Wald said his staff wasn't taxed.
"We're prepared for it, it's been this way before many times," he said. "This is California. You never know what will happen next, be it floods, fires or earthquakes."
KNBC news director Bob Long, meanwhile, said he continues to receive emails from East Coast colleagues stunned at the recent avalanche of news coming out of the Southland. In addition to Jackson, the recent wildfires, labor strife and recall mania have kept reporters busy.
As for Jackson, Long said KNBC had assigned five reporters on the story, with several others handling behind the scenes research.
"It's a big story," he said. "But it's not the kind of thing you want to take your eyes off what's going on in Sacramento."
And with the Jackson story a sure thing to become the next big media spectacle, both Wald and Long said they were taking extra precaution to make sure they're not swept up in the tabloid wave.
"As reporters we can't stop being skeptical," Wald said. "There are all kinds of innuendo and stuff going on. Another side of me says, 'Let's not rush to judgment.' Every story is a challenge, particularly a story dealing with these elements that lend to tabloid-style journalism.
"I remind our reporters and producers every time we do a story of this caliber and nature that we have to be careful," he said.
Long said he hopes to rely on a "strong internal identity" to keep its Jackson coverage from getting caught up in the circus.
"If a newsroom knows who it is, who it serves, what its mission is, it's a lot easier to avoid the distraction of gossip columnists and paparazzi parachuting in. We know what our job is, and that's to give a full and accurate account of what's going on with this thing and to do it soberly.
"We have a pretty strict hierarchy here -- don't think you'll find us wallowing in the tabloid aspects of any story," he said.
(Pamela McClintock and Denise Martin contributed to this report.)
