US Election
Trump gets equal time during NBC NASCAR race after Harris SNL appearance
Republican candidate Donald Trump was seen in an election spot that aired at the end of NBC’s NASCAR Xfinity 500 race coverage Sunday, an equal time make-good after his Democratic challenger Kamala Harris made a surprise cameo the night before on Saturday Night Live.
NBC declined to comment on specifics. But NBC stations filed paperwork with the Federal Communications Commission on Sunday noting that Harris “appeared without charge on NBC’s Saturday Night Live (‘SNL’) for a total period of 1 minute and 30 seconds on November 2, 2024.”
The pre-recorded 60-second Trump spot aired around 6 p.m. ET on Sunday, toward the end of NBC Sports’ live coverage of the race held in Martinsville, Va. NBC may need to provide Trump with another spot during the next 24 hours to match the comparable amount of time that the “SNL” platform afforded to Harris.
The West Wing: A fictional president just endorsed Kamala Harris
In a powerful show of support, members of the iconic television show The West Wing have reunited to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris in her bid for the presidency, reports CNBC.
The endorsement comes in the form of a new advertisement created in collaboration with The Lincoln Project, a prominent pro-democracy organisation.
The cast members, including Allison Janney, Bradley Whitford, Dulé Hill, Janel Moloney, Joshua Malina, Martin Sheen, Mary McCormack, and Richard Schiff, released a heartfelt statement explaining their decision to back Harris. They reflected on their experiences working on the show and the importance of the upcoming election.
In their statement, the cast laid emphasis on the significance of the election on November 5, highlighting that democracy itself is at stake. They expressed their deep pride in America’s ideals and underscored symbolic importance the White House has a beacon of freedom, decency, and hope.
The SMH editorial: She’s not perfect but, unlike Donald Trump, there is nothing to fear about Kamala Harris
The editor of The Sydney Morning Herald, Bevan Shields, told Mediaweek he would be publishing an editorial nominating a favoured candidate in the US presidential race. That editorial starts:
American politics came from revolution, and elections redefine the American nation, but Donald Trump has suborned the idea of renewal to his own authoritarian character and taken his country and the world into uncharted territory.
His ugly persona has not only overwhelmed us all, but with Americans voting in their most polarised presidential elections, it is clear Trump is no longer their problem alone. He threatens our world, too.
[The editorial ends]
We are told seven states will decide the US election and they represent a remarkable cross-section of American society, with large Hispanic, black and white populations. Given this lop-sided contest between innocuous good and palpable evil, we can only repeat Michelle Obama’s question: “Why on earth is this race even close?”
Unlike Trump, there is nothing to fear about Kamala Harris. She is a sane choice. Regrettably, she has yet to define herself properly, and it remains unclear how she would be different to Biden. Nor has she talked enough about the economy and national security. But it would be wonderful to finally break the glass ceiling and to end the Trump era for good.
The West Australian: Challenges ahead for US, regardless of outcome
An editorial in The West Australian comments:
Whichever way the US election falls, it’s difficult to see an outcome that doesn’t result in an America more deeply divided than ever before.
Should Kamala Harris win, expect immediate chaos.
Donald Trump has given every indication that he will not accept a loss. He has already made allegations of voter fraud in Pennsylvania, the largest of the crucial swing states, laying the groundwork for a potential challenge should the count go against him.
The challenge for whoever triumphs will be to keep the nation united, for the good of the entire world. Neither have so far shown they are capable of doing so.
The New York Times: Trump cannot be trusted with the power and responsibility of the presidency
The New York Times editorialised way back on September 30 that Kamala Harris was “the only patriotic choice for president”.
An election eve editorial in the newspaper starts with “Every Vote in Every State Matters”:
Trump has demonstrated that he lacks the character, temperament and commitment to the Constitution necessary to be trusted with the power and responsibility of the presidency. He was impeached twice in his first term for actions in flagrant defiance of his duties. He was criminally indicted on felony charges related to his efforts to overturn the election. Yet many of the former president’s worst instincts never came to pass in his previous administration. That’s not because he moderated those instincts once in power, as some of his reluctant supporters now suggest. The most important factor limiting the damage done by Mr. Trump’s urges has always been others stepping in to stop him, from his own appointees to members of the House and the Senate.
Business of Media
Eddie McGuire to Seven to host late night talk show? You wouldn’t believe it
In six months in the role, Seven news and current affairs boss Anthony De Ceglie has cut a swath through that organisation’s sacred cows, reports The AFR’s Myriam Robin.
Think horoscopes amidst the news stories (apparently it’s a ratings hit). Comedy from erstwhile ABC funnyman Mark Humphries.
But really: is there a thing as too surprising a face on the news bulletin? Because this one would be really something.
De Ceglie was in Melbourne last week addressing the city’s Press Club. While he was in town, he was spotted outside the Toorak offices of Eddie McGuire’s production company, JAM TV. Eddie is best known for his work with Channel 9 but Jam TV does do some work for Seven so this is unsurprising. But the visit came amidst feverish speculation De Ceglie wants to hire McGuire to host a late-night talk show.
The rumours, we’re told, are true. They were meeting in part to discuss the prospect. Lock it in, Eddie? Well, for one reason or another, sources suggest he isn’t keen.
The TV watching habits of Australians (in three charts)
Teenagers can spend so much of their spare time glued to their phones scrolling social media feeds that it can be a relief for parents when their offspring opt to watch TV on a streaming platform such as Netflix or Binge, reports The AFR’s Edmund Tadros,
But the draw of these services waned with Gen Z in 2024.
New data shows 16- to 24-year-olds cut the time they spent watching streaming services by an average of three hours a week – or an episode of a sitcom a day – to 7 hours and 45 minutes a week.
Every other age group also cut back the time they spent watching streaming services.
The overall average time spent watching streaming fell from an average of almost 11 hours a week in 2023 to almost nine hours a week this year, according to Deloitte’s annual survey of Australian media consumption habits.
The consulting firm speculated the fall could be due to factors such as price hikes, alternative entertainment options such as live sport or the “temporary dip in quality content following last year’s Hollywood strikes”.
Another striking finding from the research, which is based on a survey of 2000 Australians, was how little time the young spend watching live free-to-air television compared to the many hours that retirees aged 75 and older spend lounging in front of their TVs.
Bundle of products help The New York Times to boast 11 million subscribers
The New York Times added roughly 260,000 paid digital subscribers in the third quarter of the year, the company said on Monday, crossing the threshold of 11 million total subscribers for the first time, reports the newspaper.
The company’s adjusted operating profit for the quarter, which ran from July through September, rose 16.1 percent to US$104.2 million, from $89.8 million a year before. Overall revenue increased 7 percent to $640.2 million, compared with the same period in 2023.
The Times has a stated goal of reaching 15 million subscribers by the end of 2027. It had 11.09 million subscribers at the end of the third quarter, 10.47 million of which were to digital products only, not the print newspaper.
Meredith Kopit Levien, the president and chief executive of The New York Times Company, said in a statement accompanying the earnings announcement that more than five million of the 11 million subscriptions were now either for multiple Times products, which include digital news, Cooking, Games, Wirecutter and The Athletic, or for a bundle of all products offered.
Social Media
NRL star Terrell May prepares to take legal action against online fan groups
Sydney Roosters star Terrell May is preparing to launch legal action against online fan groups spreading ‘damaging’ rumours in the wake of the shock revelation that he is unwanted at the Bondi club, report Fatima Kdouh and Brent Read.
The Australian reports Terrell’s manager David Rawlings and his lawyers have issued three cease and desist notices to popular Facebook supporter groups in recent days.
May’s team is preparing to take further legal action against at least one of the NRL fan pages on social media.
May was sensationally tapped on the shoulder last week by the Roosters, telling the 25-year-old he is free to explore the open market about an immediate move away from Bondi just six months after he agreed to a two-year extension.
The shock development sent the rumour mill into overdrive, creating speculation that coach Trent Robinson’s willingness to offload May had to do with off-field issues rather than a desire to reshape his roster.
Radio
Jackie O Henderson reveals life inside $11m Woollahra mansion
KIIS breakfast radio star Jackie O Henderson’s autobiography The Whole Truth has revealed the reason for her move from Woollahra to Clovelly, reports News Corp’s Jonathan Chancellor.
Her passion for property comes through the 284 pages with initial references to living with her then photographer husband, Lee Henderson in her “dream home” in Vaucluse which she aptly references as “the Father of the Bride house.” They had built on Cambridge Avenue after paying $2.7m in 2012.
“We were in our groove with work, and our daughter was flourishing, and that keeps you in place for years,” she wrote.
“You hear a voice in your head saying things aren’t right, and then it goes away, and it comes back again, and goes away again.”
The couple separated in August 2018, after their 15-year marriage, when she moved into an apartment on Bondi Beach, but without their daughter, Kitty. The couple sold their five-bedroom house for $6.675m in March 2020.
“I found a house in Woollahra, a modern recent build at the top of Cooper Park, and it was a fortress.”
It cost $11m in June 2020.
Jackie O opens up about shock substance abuse battle
Radio personality Jackie Henderson has opened up to A Current Affair about her struggle with drug addiction, revealing she was surprised she survived the years-long battle with substance abuse.
Despite being half of the most successful breakfast duo in Australian FM history, “Jackie O” said her life was falling apart when she checked herself into the Betty Ford rehab in California in 2022.
The catalyst was the end of her 18-year marriage to Lee Henderson and not seeing her daughter Kitty, now 13, as often.
“I mean, I just thought the answer was, ‘oh, I’ll have a drink instead’,” Henderson said.
“And then that drink, you know, obviously became a drink with a pill and it just went from there.
“It was a horrible existence of just not remembering, not wanting to think, feel, do.”
In her tell-all memoir, Henderson revealed at the height of her addiction she would take up to 24 Panadeine forte and 10 to 12 Stilnox – a powerful sleeping tablet.
“I don’t know how I woke up. ..I really don’t,” Henderson told A Current Affair.
“I’d see all those empty packets, and I would go…’You know you could die, but you still keep doing it’.”
Henderson kept her battle with addiction so close that not even co-host and “dear friend” of 25 years, Kyle Sandilands, knew she had gone to rehab until she shared an excerpt from her book on-air late last month.
Television
Day of the Jackal remake is one of the best TV shows of the year
Anyone who remembers the masterful 1973 film about a master assassin and a plot to kill French President Charles de Gaulle (a plot inspired by real events in 1962) will fear the worst from this new adaptation. But rest easy. While it’s not faithful to the details of the plot, it is utterly in the spirit of Frederick Forsyth’s 1971 novel – both in the tale and its attention to detail. And the result is simply one of the best TV shows of the year.
The assassin (Eddie Redmayne) gives himself the codename Jackal when hired by a shadowy group to take out tech entrepreneur Ulle Dag Charles (Khalid Abdalla). UDC, as he is known by an adoring public, has written a piece of software called River, with which he promises to lay bare the financial dealings of the world’s richest people. Yes, he’s among them, but he has nothing to hide, he tells a TV interviewer. The people who want him dead, and River blocked, can’t say the same thing.
Michael Caine, Colman Domingo, LL Cool J and More Remember Quincy Jones: ‘Music Would Not Be Music Without You’
Tributes are rolling in for late music legend Quincy Jones, who died on Sunday night at the age of 91, reports Variety.
Over the course of his 70-year career, Jones was an artist, bandleader, composer, arranger and producer. He won 28 Grammys and most notably shaped the career of Michael Jackson, beginning with his breakthrough 1979 album Off the Wall.
“Tonight, with full but broken hearts, we must share the news of our father and brother Quincy Jones’ passing,” the Jones family said in a statement announcing his death. “And although this is an incredible loss for our family, we celebrate the great life that he lived and know there will never be another like him. He is truly one of a kind and we will miss him dearly; we take comfort and immense pride in knowing that the love and joy, that were the essence of his being, was shared with the world through all that he created. Through his music and his boundless love, Quincy Jones’ heart will beat for eternity.”
He made his mark on TV as executive producer of the 90s NBC sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, which brought rapper Will “Fresh Prince” Smith to prominence as an actor. In addition to the 2022 reboot of Bel-Air, he later exec produced the comedy skeins “In the House” and “MadTV”; the 10-hour 1995 documentary “The History of Rock ‘N’ Roll”; the 2014 documentary “Keep on Keepin’ On”; and the 2023 adaptation of The Color Purple directed by Blitz Bazawule.
Sports Media
Renowned sports broadcaster saddles up for eighth Melbourne Cup call
Very few people have the power to have the nation hanging off every word, reported A Current Affair on Cup Eve.
But on Tuesday afternoon, race caller Matt Hill will have the ear of Australians as he saddles up for his eighth Melbourne Cup call.
The renowned sports broadcaster stared down the barrel of death in 2008 when he contracted a rare illness while commentating on the Beijing Olympics.
As he told A Current Affair, it’s made the 43-year-old all the more eager to make his Tuesday shift at Flemington racecourse’s broadcaster’s booth count.