Feb 2013
Uncle Barky's Mailbag (Feb. 11)
11/02/13 12:24
Presenting the first edition of Uncle Barky's mailbag, a forum for your emailed comments. Some are edited for length.
@unclebarkycom
Post Grammy conclusions:
I really like LL Cool J, but keep those NCIS: Los Angeles ratings up. Just be retired and talk about your music career. Do not even try to compete with Justin Timberlake and crew. I hate to see someone I like embarrass themselves. Good job on the emcee work, though.
I became a Kelly Clarkson fan. (Big Time).
Adele apparently is the new Momma Cass.
Jack Grady
I have been reading your thoughts on Good Morning Texas and I would like to know why WFAA continues to do the same thing over and over, expecting different results. The demographics of Dallas are changing and GMT has not gotten on board. The show with the current host is unwatchable. WFAA probably needs to review what goes into that time slot.
Brian Harts
That (post on I'm Dickens . . . He's Fenster) was another trip down memory lane for me. I remember that we had just one television, a monstrous 200 lb. Philco. There were only three channels and the entire family watched whatever show my dad wanted to watch. I can still hear him telling me to get up and change the channel. The channel changer was stiff and clicked with each number, like a new combination on a bank vault. If I turned it too quickly, the internal plastic parts would eventually break off. I recall at times we had a set of pliers sitting on top of the set to change the channels. Even though my dad was well-off, he was notoriously cheap when it came to calling repairmen.
I don't remember I'm Dickens . . . He's Fenster, but I do remember Have Gun, Will Travel. It was an unusual concept to have a good guy playing a hired gun. Sometimes I catch one of those old-time shows on a nostalgia station. Two things that strike me: many of the secondary characters were famous actors early in their careers and how poorly made and cheaply constructed the shows actually were. I've seen a few Have Gun episodes recently and they are simply unwatchable today.
Danny Kunsch
Do you think CBS11 is doing the "Watch and Win" because of sweeps? I recall when I worked at Channel 39 in the '80s we would have similar contests during sweeps. Frankly, I have not seen such a hokey gimmick over the past 20 years. Why would they, in this day and age, have such an unimaginative promotional campaign? It's kind of like those stupid text polls that all stations do ad nauseum.
Nick Anich
Always read with interest your local ratings recaps for sweeps. It seems with some regularity that CBS11 is in the unenviable position of winning total viewers but losing advertiser-craved demos owing to the mostly older-skewed Wheel of Fortune and perennially challenged-for-younger-viewers primetime offerings. Hasn't CBS always been home to the older demos since Walter Cronkite? So you're young and watch something else until your 40s and then suddenly watch CBS? Never understood that.
Oak Park Studio
@unclebarkycom
Post Grammy conclusions:
I really like LL Cool J, but keep those NCIS: Los Angeles ratings up. Just be retired and talk about your music career. Do not even try to compete with Justin Timberlake and crew. I hate to see someone I like embarrass themselves. Good job on the emcee work, though.
I became a Kelly Clarkson fan. (Big Time).
Adele apparently is the new Momma Cass.
Jack Grady
I have been reading your thoughts on Good Morning Texas and I would like to know why WFAA continues to do the same thing over and over, expecting different results. The demographics of Dallas are changing and GMT has not gotten on board. The show with the current host is unwatchable. WFAA probably needs to review what goes into that time slot.
Brian Harts
That (post on I'm Dickens . . . He's Fenster) was another trip down memory lane for me. I remember that we had just one television, a monstrous 200 lb. Philco. There were only three channels and the entire family watched whatever show my dad wanted to watch. I can still hear him telling me to get up and change the channel. The channel changer was stiff and clicked with each number, like a new combination on a bank vault. If I turned it too quickly, the internal plastic parts would eventually break off. I recall at times we had a set of pliers sitting on top of the set to change the channels. Even though my dad was well-off, he was notoriously cheap when it came to calling repairmen.
I don't remember I'm Dickens . . . He's Fenster, but I do remember Have Gun, Will Travel. It was an unusual concept to have a good guy playing a hired gun. Sometimes I catch one of those old-time shows on a nostalgia station. Two things that strike me: many of the secondary characters were famous actors early in their careers and how poorly made and cheaply constructed the shows actually were. I've seen a few Have Gun episodes recently and they are simply unwatchable today.
Danny Kunsch
Do you think CBS11 is doing the "Watch and Win" because of sweeps? I recall when I worked at Channel 39 in the '80s we would have similar contests during sweeps. Frankly, I have not seen such a hokey gimmick over the past 20 years. Why would they, in this day and age, have such an unimaginative promotional campaign? It's kind of like those stupid text polls that all stations do ad nauseum.
Nick Anich
Always read with interest your local ratings recaps for sweeps. It seems with some regularity that CBS11 is in the unenviable position of winning total viewers but losing advertiser-craved demos owing to the mostly older-skewed Wheel of Fortune and perennially challenged-for-younger-viewers primetime offerings. Hasn't CBS always been home to the older demos since Walter Cronkite? So you're young and watch something else until your 40s and then suddenly watch CBS? Never understood that.
Oak Park Studio