I Am A TV Junkie

Laura Ling's Next Act Takes Her to E!? What a Step Down!

Sometimes you just shake your head and wonder why.

So Laura Ling spends months in North Korean custody and gets sprung by Bill Clinto so that she can do a show at E! about (for example) Lotto winners and missing persons?

At her last gig at Current TV (which I'm guessing couldn't afford too keep her on staff) she did long form journalism about prison life, the Mexican drug wars, foreclosures in Vegas, product counterfitting, migrant workers and of course human trafficking, the story that brought her to the North Korean border area in the first place.

What she tells the NY Times today:

Ms. Ling, 33, said in a separate interview that E! was “really focused on dipping deep.” She spoke by phone from Cincinnati, where she had been reporting the teenage suicide program. It had already taken her to Miami and Phoenix.

“The fact that E! is committed to this type of show — that they believe that their audience is just as interested in watching substantive programs that cover substantive issues as they are in watching the Kardashians — is thrilling to me because I’ve always been trying to reach a younger audience,” she said.

Yeah, she used the words thrilling and Kardashians in the same sentence.

I'm sure the money's good but what of her career arc? I think people who looked at her work on Current and were hopeful about the future of investigative journalism will be sad to hear that her new show could be sandwiched between those pitifully stereotypical assholes on The Spin Crowd and that drunk slut Chelsea.

To see what Laura is leaving behind, click over to the Current Vanguard homepage and watch some of her old work. At this link.

RIP The Rotten Tomatoes Show -- Current's Movie Review Show Folded Into infoMania

This sucks. I blame all of you who didn't watch. I watched but I'm so out of their demo it probably didn't count. In fact I think my watching actually results in ratings points being taken away from the show.

So I guess my idea for Current to do a TV show about TV called The TV Show is out of the question?

Fuck, I was counting on that money for when Social Security goes belly up.

I'm guessing that Ellen Fox will be the face of the segment on infoMania since Brett has his Viral Video Film School segment already.

If there's no money for this show, what about SuperNews? That must cost more: animators, voice talent, the people who make the mouths move to the words ... go watch some at this link. Maybe the $0.0000003 per viewing Current makes will fund a second of The Douchebags.

RIP The Rotten Tomatoes Show. The segment will live on as well as the site, of course, which was there first after all. If you like, watch the final episode, it's posted after the jump.

Video -- infoMania is Right, We Need a Skype Moratorium on TV

Why? Because most of the time it sucks. I'm guessing that some of it is dependent on the speed of the computer one is using and we know a lot of people have slow computers in their homes, but it's the most frustrating thing in the world to be watching a show and have them throw to a bad Skype connection.

You'll love the freeze frame of Bethenny Frankel from the NY Housewives show during this clip, it happened while talking to Hoda and KLG as well and that should be punishment enough for the new mom.

(Bethenny's in my opinion the only one of those Housewives people that is even tolerable, but not tolerable on Skype and certainly not in this instance.)

Check out the clip from Current's infoMania by clicking this link. Watch the whole show sometime this weekend as it runs on an almost-constant loop on the channel or check it out at their site or Hulu or YouTube or ... well, just check that bottom drawer of your dresser, I betcha you can watch it there, too.

They're everywhere. Just like Jesus ... and gay people. Good morning!

Preview Video -- Go Viral in Water (Eww) with @Current's Brett Erlich Tonight at 10

Video -- Everything You Need to Know About Katherine Heigl is in Her Five Favorite Films

Heigl was on Current's The Rotten Tomatoes Show promoting her upcoming trainwreck Killers starring her and Ashton Kutcher.

I love the headline on the HuffPo Entertainment splash page regarding the movie, it reads: How HORRIBLE is This Movie?

If someone tells you that their five fave films are these (click this link, watch the clip) just imagine how badly they choose their OWN projects.

Watch Brett Erlich and Ellen Fox on TRTS on Current Thursdays at 10:30 eastern .

If you really need to see the trailer for her new movie, click this. I warned you, though.

Video from @Current -- Teen #Werewolves in Texas?

Or are these kids just the "street team" for the PR firm MTV has hired to promote their series based on the movie?

I so want it to be that, but I'm pretty sure it isn't.

Kids, you're starting to concern me. It's only a movie. That Lautner guy isn't really a werewolf he's just an 18-year-old actor with a six-pack and, imho, just a bit of a gay affect.

Just a bit, maybe it's just his age.

Better chance he's a friend of Dorothy than a real werewolf, though.

Watch this bit of local Texas news from last night's episode of infoMania from Current TV last night. Your host is Conor Knighton, also not a werewolf. Click this.

Full Episode Video -- @Current TV & @MarianaVZ in Uganda to Examine Criminalization of Homosexuality

First thing you need to do is read Mariana Van Zeller's blog post about Harvey Milk Day and the connections she makes between the U.S. Evangelical movement and the anti-gay bill being discussed in Uganda. That's at this link.

Then click this link and watch the whole hour of Current Vanguard ahead of its TV premiere.

Then call all your friends and neighbors and family members and tell them to watch.

Then we'll talk about it.

So get clickin', folks.

Video -- If You Watch One #LauraLing Interview, Watch This One Tonight on @Current TV

Why? Because it only stands to reason that her home network will have the footage you want to see from Laura's and Euna Lee's trip to the China/North Korea border and their subsequent incarceration, and she'll be most comfortable talking to her work colleague Mariana Van Zeller.

It's tonight at 10 eastern on Current TV. Check your cable or satellite program grid.

Of course the following Wednesday at 10 is the premiere of the new season of Current Vanguard which takes us to Uganda where anti-gay radical religious zealots from the US including a nasty li'l guy named Scott Lively traveled to affect policy in another country and make it a crime punishable by death to do the thing that makes one gay or lesbian.

See a preview at this link.

And they did so using the lies of people like Richard Cohen the alleged ex-gay therapist (unlicensed, unqualified, but therapy still ...) that Rachel Maddow raked over the coals a few months ago.

(You can check out my post on that interview and the whole interview by Maddow at this link.)

Though of course, as usual, most of the attention was on the purported horror which is sex between two men.

And sure, sometimes it is a horror, but it has nothing to do with the sex act. Some guys just aren't good in bed and I think that's horrible. Thank you, I'll be here all week, please tip your waiters and waitresses.

Let's Get @Current #Vanguard's @MarianaVZ On @Maddow Re: Uganda Anti-Gay Law,

In 2009 Mariana Van Zeller's work for Current TV won a Webby award. This past year her documentary for Current Vanguard, The OxyContin Express (watch it at this link) won the Peabody award.

Next month, Current Vanguard returns for a new season and opens with Van Zeller's piece on that Uganda anti-gay legislation that was promoted in the country by American Fundamentalist Christians and so-called ex-gays.

(Ex-gays ... don't get me started, you know how I feel about that but if you don't click this to see Rachel Maddow rip into Richard Cohen the uncredited unqualified therapist that says he can "cure the gay" in part by hitting couch cushions with bats. Seriously. I know, it's ridonkulous.)

 Up until now Maddow has been the rare broadcast outlet for this story so I'm looking forward to seeing what Van Zeller finds once she arrives in the country to talk with people on both sides of the story.

Watch a short clip via Hulu by clicking here.

Now about the Maddow thing ... I'd love to see Rachel have Van Zeller on her show before the episode airs. Wouldn't you?

The Maddow show email address is Rachel@msnbc.com and I think if enough of us actually sit down and write to the show and suggest this it might happen.

Van Zeller tells me via Twitter that one of the people she interviewed for the piece sent her home with something for Rachel so there's that, too.

Whaddaya think, wanna help me out? Write to Rachel, help me make this happen.

@CurrentTV's @ConorKnighton Mentions (but doesn't answer) My Burning Question

Watch the host of infoMania on Current (Thursdays at 10 eastern, right before Ellen and Brett on The Rotten Tomatoes Show.

He immediately mentions my question, then refuses to answer.

Something to hide, Knighton? 

Catch it by clicking the window above.

They said burning questions ... I couldn't resist.

A #PeabodyAward For @CurrentTV, Mariana van Zeller's The #OxyContin Express

Haven't I told you all to set your DVRs for Current Vanguard? Huh?

Now, you must. You should be seeing this stuff when it premieres, not when it wins awards, that puts you right in the midst of the zeitgeist.

Again, from the Peabody Awards site, "With tales of drug-dealing MDs in Florida and Appalachian “pill-billies,” the documentary makes clear the enormity of the prescription-drug epidemic." 

Hey, I wonder if Druggy Limbaugh has seen this? Remember when he used to send his housekeeper Wilma Cline out to the Denny's parking lot to score his Oxy from drug dealers? Ah, good times, huh?

Watch the whole episode by clicking here.

Note to Florida's Governor, Charlie Crist ... how about crackin' down on this shit, huh? Yeah, just get outta the tanning booth (or the bus station bathroom -- allegedly, allegedly, people!) and do something to stop people from abusing this killer drug.

@infoMania on @currenttv -- Well Of Course Johnny Weir Isn't Too Gay for Figure Skating

I might not wanna watch a blond-wigged fop cavort in a bathtub with his trust fund baby pals while imitating Russian call girls but I would never suggest that he were too "anything" for "anything."

Too gay to skate? The ghost of Toller Cranston could do you some serious harm if he heard that.

Watch Bryan Safi's That's Gay segment from last night's infoMania on Current TV, just click this link.

(If you're lucky, you'll see a commercial that features Fringe producers/writers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci.)

The Sundance Channel has lots of Johnny Weir for you at this link.

And here's a clip from that show for those so disposed, the preview clip for episode five featuring Evgeni Plushenko.

I just joined this Plushenko Facebook group, you might like it too, it's called Evgeni Plushenko is a Jerk and you can find it at this link.

If you're planning to click away without watching those Toller Cranston clips behind the link in the secong paragraph you will be seriously hurting my feelings.

Clip Bonanza -- Marge & Homer, Stephen Colbert ... The Cool Kids Are Curling! Learn More Here

Since all of your favorite TV types are enjoying the sport of the moment ... and who would have ever thought it would be curling ... I thought maybe you might be interested in knowing something more about it than Homer and Marge got a chance to teach you Sunday night (full episode video from Hulu at this link).

You know it's a hot sport when Stephen Colbert is into it (link to his curling team tryouts video).

But before you click around the net looking for your own curling gear (LINK) I thought you might like some more explanation, so I found THIS from Time Magazine's YouTube acct. that will give you the proper insight, whether you're just watching or wanna get involved like Stephen.

And, this year's Olympic curling starts today, look for some coverage from NBC on the prime time show, they love their quixotic sporting events. More on curling from Current TV at this link called Curling is Crack.

Video -- The Douchebags of Current TV (No, Not You Brett Erlich)

No, not you Brett, we like you.

We are a little freaked out that all the PAs who did a recent hour with Ben Hoffman look just like you, though. What's that all about?

Seriously, I paused the TV and walked closer to the screen just to examine the similarities.

I'm talking about THE Douchebags from SuperNews. See them, above? They ARE douchebags.

(And they kinda remind me of the Jersey Shore guys.)

Watch 'em by clicking here and here, and you really should be watching the Current TV Thursday Night Block Party starting at 10 eastern. Or at least record it.

It includes infoMania, The Rotten Tomatoes Show and this li'l piece of animated gold from Josh Faure-Brac and his crew.

Or catch them all at the Current website, or Hulu, or YouTube.

SuperNews, btw, features the best Obama impersonation out there, belonging to former Mad TV star Jordan Peele. Catch a sample by clicking here.

Video -- These Law & Order Fans Aren't Counted By Nielsen?

What? No canine demographic? No wonder all the networks are trying to get together and create a new method for TV metrics.

From Current TV's infoMania, Thursdays at 10 eastern, check your cable grid because it replays often. How often? It's playing in my head right now, that's how often.

Good morning TV junkies ... and you too, dogs of America. And please send Homer (above) a people meter, he feels left out.

Video -- Current TV's Sarah Haskins Goes BTS (Back to School, Y'all!)

I haven't posted a Sarah clip from infoMania, my second favorite TV clip show (after The Soup, I'll reassess once Joel leaves next year -- just a prediction not a fact) since that segment of hers I posted that included the commercial with the subliminal "Oprah" in cleaner suds.

(I swear there was a subliminal Oprah, check it at this link.)

InfoMania homepage at this link where you can watch full episodes, including Sergio's White Hot Top 5 and Viral Video Film School with Brett Erlich. 

And Bryan Safi's That's Gay (more on Bryan at this link).

Sarah's very popular Twitter page is at this link. InfoMania airs almost constantly on Current, but it's new each Thursday at 10 eastern, right before The Rotten Tomatoes Show.

Just DVR them and they'll be there when you want them. And with a DVR, you can watch so much more TV (and s0 much less advertising).

I wrote this whole post just to exclude Ben Hoffman so that he could develop a complex about people ignoring him.

But I'm ultimately too nice for that, so click here to see his segment from this week where he goes to a cougar convention.

Current TV's Lee and Ling Issue First Public Statement

I imagine the reason I was redirected to the page the statement is on when I clicked over for something very trivial by comparison (that Megan Fox will NOT be Catwoman, DAMN!) that they want you to see the statement, so I'm linking to it.

Click this to read it.

Video -- In Which I Introduce You to Current TV's Bryan Safi

Ever since some magazine's blog (probably the Vulture blog at New York Magazine, maybe Gawker) told me that the headline device "In Which ..." was overdone, I can't resist it.

So Current's infoMania program has a white guy (Conor Knighton), a Latino guy (Sergio Cilli), a woman, another white guy (Brett Erlich), another white guy (Ben Hoffman) and another white guy (Bryan Safi), who's also gay.

Still no African-American guy, but ... well how about that Current?

But back to the white guy who's gay, as this is the post titled "In Which ..." -- sorry, we did that already.

Ahem! Bryan's segment on infoMania is called That's Gay, and it is in the real sense that it's not just three minutes of Lady GaGa walking through Heathrow wearing a thong leotard, fishnets, heels and a leather jacket.

That's not gay, that's just something we gays just can't stop talking about and thinking about and wishing we were there for, and I have a theory about that, but that's another post for another time.

His most recent segment is after the jump.

I wrote about the same issue, at this link, in a post I called "Heroes and 90210 Adding 'Hot Lesbian Storylines' for 2009-10." 

These are the times I think I should reintroduced my theory on girl-on-girl porn and straight guys and how ... well, maybe I should save that.

Video -- Laura and Euna Just Want to Say Thanks

You need nothing from me on this one.

LINK

The Awesome Power of Oprah (Even in Reruns), Montel Williams Climbs Google Trends

I'm serious, check this link t0 Google Trends and look at the graph. As I write this he's #18

Not even a first run episode, Oprah turns Montel's usual day into a powerhouse of interest with a repeat of the episode about dealing with chronic disease.

That's some power. Kind of scary that one person has that much power, huh?

I mean, she could stumble on a word and instead of buying that book The Secret I might end up at the bookstore standing in line with The Secretion, which is an entirely different book altogether that Craig Ferguson optioned for a movie by mistake seven times.

Also trending upward are searches about the reportedly pardoned and released Current TV journalists Lee and Ling. Just clicked over to Current, who are running a bunch of Lisa's Current Vanguard pieces right now with a yellow ribbon in the upper right hand corner of the screen.

One of her best was Narco War Next Door which I posted a while back at this link.

And, note that my Charlie Rose post with Jason Kilar from Hulu guesting is obsolete now as Charlie will be talking about the Clinton trip to North Korea.

I'm trying to figure out how to manipulate Google Trends to spit out a list of the top television-related searches each day. Does anyone out there have skills in that area? If you do and you can help send a note to the address below.

After the jump, kittens, which according to my current issue of Entertainment Weekly are a trend. I chose a clip from our online pal and FORMER Walter Bishop of Fringe stalker Kevin Nalty because, well ... because I recognized his name in the YouTube scroll.

I think Kevin might be over his Walter obsession. It was at its peak last season, check this clip for details from his concerned daughter.

Breaking: Current TV's Lee & Ling Pardoned After Clinton Arrival and Bolton Protest

BBC News:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has issued a special pardon to two detained US journalists, the country's state news agency reports.

Laura Ling and Euna Lee had been found guilty of entering illegally in March.

The news comes on the day that former US President Bill Clinton made a surprise visit to Pyongyang on what was described as a private mission.

So, what was it that the Washington Post printed from former UN ambassador and general asshole John Bolton about this issue this morning?

It was this:

While the United States is properly concerned whenever its citizens are abused or held hostage, efforts to protect them should not create potentially greater risks for other Americans in the future. Yet that is exactly the consequence of visits by former presidents or other dignitaries as a form of political ransom to obtain their release.

So, Bill Clinton went to North Korea as a private citizen and moments later the two reporters were pardoned. And this is a bad thing because ...

.. oh, that's right, just talking to people is a gift according to the conservative movement. Funny, I can find a whole lot of people in DC that will tell you that listening to John Bolton is nothing like a gift and more like a prison sentence.

How this guy got to be anything in the diplomatic sphere is remarkable. Wouldn't have happened without George W. Bush, I'll tell you that.

No one wants to talk to John Bolton. No one. I doubt even his family members have any interest.

Send a welcome home message to Laura at this link.

To Euna at this link.

And if you see John Bolton, tell him it's called diplomacy and he should read something about it.

Video -- Current Rotten Tomatoes Host Erlich Pimps His Show Michael Dorsey-Style

Oh c'mon, you remember Michael Dorsey, struggling New York actor who spends more time waiting on tables and did an entire evening of vegetables and fruit, including a tomato (which he also played in a commercial), in repertory?

You don't? Well, click here, you'll get it after watching the clip at YouTube.

Brett Erlich and Ellen Fox were at Comic-Con, and Aaron Barnhart, TV critic for the Kansas City Star found him walking the floor in a giant tomato costume to promote his Current's Rotten Tomatoes Show and shoot some promos and interstitial video for the show.

Ellen was dressed as Ellen Fox. Someone didn't get the damn memo, at least that's what I betcha Brett said as he walked away mumbling. She tweeted something about a wearing a Public Enemies t-shirt, but he was totally wearing a Public Eneny (as in the rap group) t-shirt.

Yes, Ellen, per your tweet it's more than apparent that you know nothing about hip hop. Get with Sergio (host of InfoMania's White Hot Top Five) and he'll learn you up.

Yes, I watch Current TV. I DVR three shows; InfoMania, Ellen and Brett's show and Vanguard. And sometimes I check out the bromance between Max and Jason in late night.

And yes, I'm not in any demo that they're interested in, but they can't stop me from watching, can they? Could you imagine Demo Police? Swooping down from the sky when they see me listening to Kelly Clarkson or watching America's Best Dance Crew or snatching some gizmo out of my hand because I'm not part of the core group?

Sounds very Minority Report to me.

Monday is World Press Freedom Day

Their site is at this link.

From the White House statement in support:

Even as the world recognizes the central and indisputable importance of press freedom, journalists find themselves in frequent peril.  Since this day was first celebrated some sixteen years ago, 692 journalists have been killed.  Only a third of those deaths were linked to the dangers of covering war; the majority of victims were local reporters covering topics such as crime, corruption, and national security in their home countries.  Adding to this tragic figure are the hundreds more each year who face intimidation, censorship, and arbitrary arrest – guilty of nothing more than a passion for truth and a tenacious belief that a free society depends on an informed citizenry.  In every corner of the globe, there are journalists in jail or being actively harassed: from Azerbaijan to Zimbabwe, Burma to Uzbekistan, Cuba to Eritrea.  Emblematic examples of this distressing reality are figures like J.S. Tissainayagam in Sri Lanka, or Shi Tao and Hu Jia in China.  We are also especially concerned about the citizens from our own country currently under detention abroad:  individuals such as Roxana Saberi in Iran, and Euna Lee and Laura Ling in North Korea.

From the Secretary of State Clinton's statement:

Freedom of the press is protected by the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and is a hallmark of every free society. Wherever media freedom is in jeopardy, all other human rights are also under threat. A free media is essential to democracy and it fosters transparency and accountability, both of which are prerequisites for sustained economic development.

Those who seek to abuse power and spread corruption view media freedom as a threat. Instead of supporting an open press, they attempt to control or silence independent voices. The methods they use against news organizations and journalists range from restrictive laws and regulations to censorship, violence, imprisonment, and even murder. Such tactics are not new, and cannot go unanswered.

We are especially concerned about the citizens from our own country currently under detention abroad: individuals such as Roxana Saberi in Iran, and Euna Lee and Laura Ling in North Korea.

Sign the petitions at the Reporters Without Borders site at this link and at FreeRoxana.net at this link.

Obama Abandoning Current TV's Laura Ling, Euna Lee? Must Be Today's RNC Meme to All the Sheep

It must be in the daily talking points that will eventually get downloaded into the very outdated computer mechanism that is Elisabeth Hasselbeck's brain.

First of all, it's not true. Secondly, it probably wouldn't be so much of a problem if the Bush Administration hadn't spent eight years threatening North Korea instead of carrying out the mission, which is diplomacy.

Then again, George W. Bush thought diplomacy was best done at the end of a weapon. Idiot.

So far I've found two instances of this, and I'm most disappointed with former woman's activist and NOW President Tammy Bruce, who after Dennis Miller is the weirdest shift to the hard right that I've ever seen among people who previously employed sense and rationality in their public proclamations.

She has a column these days at the Fox News website and I guess it gets distributed to the best of the bird cage floors too, since I can't imagine what good it is otherwise.

Back in March she called Michelle Obama trash. So she's certainly not operating in the rational sphere. Actually might be pretty standard for her, back in the days of the O.J. trial, the first one, she was censured by NOW and eventually had to leave that post because of racially insensitive things she said about black people during that trial.

Shoulder? Meet chip.

(And this image above left with the revolver? It's one of her publicity photos, believe it or not. Who does PR pics with a gun in their hand? People really trying to boost their NRA credentials, actors on cop shows and ... crazy people!)

About this situation she says (and I apologize in advance for linking to the Fox Noise website, but it's the only place I can find this, her personal site with her columns doesn't seem to be working):

When you abandon Americans held by terrorists, and then reward terrorists who trained with Al Qaeda, some might argue it’s more than priorities that are screwed-up in the White House.

So, why has the Obama administration allowed these kidnappings of Saberi, Ling and Lee to stand? The hostage-taking of these women is no different than the kidnapping of the Maersk Alabama’s Captain Phillips by terrorists on the high seas. Obama’s mob has made pathetic noise about Saberi’s kidnapping, noting Obama was “disappointed” when Iran announced they had found her guilty of a sham crime by a sham trial.

Allowed to stand? What, we can wave a wand and make it go away? Sheesh.

Maybe it's because we don't have any avenue for diplomacy with either of these nations. Might have something to do with that Axis of Evil shit that Bushie was yelling about for all those years.

Yeah, we can get people out of harm's way using ships and guns and Navy SEALS. But Tammy, and you know this (or, you just write with half the information at your grasp, which is just as bad as being stupid when the info is available), North Korea is a nuclear nation that has been testing rockets and spouting all kinds of warning crap.

And in Iran (where Roxana Saberi is being held) we are hamstrung by the Bush administration's failure to prosecute the Iraq War in a way that didn't strengthen the ties between the Maliki government in Iraq and the clerics in Iran.

Moves in either area of the nature you are suggesting would come with bad complications.

So, because of the failures of the Bush administration, who have been gone 101 days today, Tammy Bruce is willing to say that our new President is abandoning women reporters that are held in two nations that make up 67% of her preferred president's Axis of Evil.

Disingenuous, sloppy, ill-informed, and ultimately using those three journalists (two who work for Al Gore, to whom I know she can't have an ounce of good feeling) to advance her own career, which also makes her ... revolting. But, you know, she has books to sell. And if she doesn't have something new to say she can't get those tasty bookings with Bill-O and Manatee on Fox.

Hey, next time you're on with Hannity why don't you also offer to be waterboarded. By then maybe Lee and Ling and Saberi will be back and they'll get to "do you." It's the least we can do for them after all the zazz you're getting from their incarceration.

Reporters Without Borders Statement Re Current TV's Ling & Lee

I'm printing the complete release here from the group Reporters Without Borders because as far as I can tell it's the most complete accounting of exactly what went on the day Lee and Ling were taken by the North Korean authorities and it includes a petition link that I encourage you all to click:

Reporters Without Borders and the International Women’s Media Foundation (www.iwmf.org) have jointly launched a petition for the immediate and unconditional release of reporters Laura Ling and Euna Lee, who have now been held in North Korea for an entire week.

“Laura Ling and Euna Lee were taken into custody on the Chinese-North Korean border while reporting on the fate of North Korean refugees, and, more specifically, on the practice of trafficking in women. Pyongyang authorities have no reason to hold them or to accuse them of illegal activities. They should be freed at once,” the two organizations urged.

Sign the petition

On March 27, 2009, Reporters Without Borders and the International Women’s Media Foundation launched a petition on behalf of Laura Ling and Euna Lee. The two reporters are currently being held in Pyongyang by the authorities, who have accused them of being spies who entered North Korea illegally. The North Korean government has allegedly affirmed that they were being well-treated, though independent sources have been unable to confirm it.

According to information gathered by Reporters Without Borders in South Korea and on the Chinese border, the two journalists, their cameraman, Mitch Koss, and their Chinese guide, were on a reporting assignment for media outlet Current TV. At this moment, it is impossible to say whether they actually crossed the border and were heading for North Korea.

During a meeting with a Reporters Without Borders delegation, former South Korean president Kim Dae Jung stated on March 26 that he was certain “North Korean authorities would soon release the two U.S. journalists.”

Mitch Koss, Current TV’s American cameraman, was allowed to leave China after Chinese authorities had held him for several days. He was with Euna Lee and Laura Ling at the time of their arrest on March 17, but managed to escape from the North Korean border guards. Their guide-a Chinese citizen of North Korean origin, is apparently still being held by the Chinese police.

The two women were supposedly transferred to Pyongyang on March 18.

I'm absolutely shocked at the print press in our country. They are practically ignoring this issue. Every day there's opportunity to discuss the taking of Lee and Ling in their reporting on North Korea's nuclear moves of the last few days and they just don't.

Including this article in this morning's Los Angeles Times. Shame on you, Los Angeles Times.

Please click over to the petition link and sign.

Update -- Current TV Reporters Held Hostage in North Korea Will Be Tried For "Hostile Acts"?

You gotta wonder exactly what that little guy with the really bad hair think hostile acts are? Didn't he just test a rocket and deliver veiled threats of use against US interests?

Oh, that's right, it's only a hostile act when it is perceived to be against Kim Jong Il. That must be the totalitaristic view of the rest of the world.

NY Times:

Pyongyang’s decision to put Laura Ling and Euna Lee on trial signaled that the regime has no intention of freeing them soon.

Their indictment comes amid heightening tension between Pyongyang and Washington over a North Korean plan to launch a rocket by Wednesday next week. United States officials consider a possible rocket launch a provocative test of theNorth’s long-range missile technology.

Ms. Ling and Ms. Lee, reporters for Current TV, a San Francisco-based media venture founded by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, were arrested by the North Korean military on March 17 on charges of illegally crossing the border from China. They were in China to report the plight of North Korean refugees who fled hunger at home and were living in hiding there.

I've also checked the State Dept. website today and there are no updates there.

This isn't Current's first look at this totalitarian state where just getting enough to eat is an almost-impossible task. They've done more coverage on this issue than almost any other channel lately, picking up outside video and having their reporters from the Vanguard series, not just Lee and Ling but also Adrian Baschuk & Jaron Gilinsky, report on the issues there. However, it seems Current has taken down the latter team's pod (that's what they call their stories at Current) called Three Days in North Korea.

However, there is some other coverage from outside journalists that has run on the channel that is still live on the web.

After the jump from Google Video is a 58-minute doc called Welcome to North Korea that I think will be very eye-opening for anyone who doesn't quite understand what the regime in charge is doing to their people.

It also will introduce you to the issues at play and the process of being a western journalist even attempting to report on the country.

They have nukes but no food. People just die in the streets as they walk along from malnutrition.

It's criminal.

More of Lee and Ling on a regular basis, this issue has been haunting me.

More about Laura Ling at her Current TV page at this link.

Euna Lee's page at the site is at this link.

Finally, I was clicking around the web yesterday and came across a blog written by a person who was obviously interested in this issue because of their own religious ferver and a desire to provide "religious freedom" to the country.

(Of course, what that usually means is that the person is an Evangelical that wants to convert all those people. Numbers do equal power in organized religion, after all.)

They are asking people to pray for Euna and Laura. I responded in their comments, "Prayer is wonderful, but diplomacy brings these women home."

Call your member of Congress and make sure this issue becomes their issue.

A statement from the Committee to Protect Journalists is at this link. And, I'm adding their site to my links list in the left column.

Update of Current TV Journos Laura Ling and Euna Lee Held in North Korea

It was reported last week that two of Current's reporters, including Lisa Ling's sister Laura and Euna Lee were taken by North Korean authorities while shooting video on the Chinese border and thought to be collecting intelligence for ... well, I'm not sure who Kim Jong Il think they were doing, but he didn't like it, grabbed these young women and is now holding them hostage.

Just got off the phone with Current TV's PR dept. and asked why there was no mention on their website about this situation.

What I got from them is that they can't comment right now.

It's a matter of world diplomacy with a hostile actor in the region, I get that, and I would bet the fact that a former US VP (Al Gore) is the big big cheese at Current, also plays into the delicacy of the situation.

On March 30, HuffPo had this:

Two American journalists detained at North Korea's border with China two weeks ago will be indicted and tried, "their suspected hostile acts" already confirmed, Pyongyang's state-run news agency said Tuesday.

The Korean Central News Agency report did not say when a trial might take place but said preparations to indict the Americans were under way as the investigation continues.

"The illegal entry of U.S. reporters into the DPRK and their suspected hostile acts have been confirmed by evidence and their statements," the report said, referring to the country by its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

The report did not elaborate on what "hostile acts" the journalists allegedly committed.

Lee and Ling were working on a report for the Vanguard series on Current, which does address very sensitive issues. I started watching the show earlier this year and now it's on my DVR.

During  Sunday's This Week with George Stephanopoulos (via transcript), UN Ambassador Susan Rice said:

RICE: George, we're very concerned about the circumstances of these two journalists. We are communicating directly through the -- a third country that represents our interests in North Korea our concern for these Americans in taking every possible action that we can to ensure their safe and swift release.

STEPHANOPOULOS: And do you have any guarantees?

RICE: Of course we have no guarantees.

STEPHANOPOULOS: And do you believe they're going to put on trial?

RICE: We don't have any reason to be certain that they'll put on trial. We remain hopeful that their release may be possible swiftly and safely.

STEPHANOPOULOS: But they're safe?

RICE: To the best of our knowledge, George.

I will continue to follow this. 

Ling pictured with her sister Lisa above right.

Cartoon Obama from SuperNews -- Financial System a "Phony Baloney Carnival Run By Bloodsucking Clowns"

Whoever is doing Obama's voice here? He's the best I've heard! From Current TV's SuperNews and Josh Faure-Brac.

I think Barack speaks the truth. "We should check ourselves before we wreck ourselves." Rahm scares me a little.

LINK

Video -- Russell Brand Hosts a Half Hour on Current

And what we love about Current (Hi Al Gore!) is that everything on the channel is embeddable.

Don't miss this, there's Russell, there's Current pods from the UK and the US, there's Russell plugging his memoir, and discussion of The Queen, Helen Mirren, R. Kelly, peeing, Russell's upcoming movies (a remake of Arthur among them), and there's a lot of Russell talking about the MTV VMAs last year and all that Jonas Bros./Jordin Sparks purity ring stuff and where he likes to wear is purity ring (not on his finger, kids!).

Russell on drugs ... "Drugs were invented by Ebeneezer Drugs." My favorite line, sometimes things just strike you funny. The clip about the spiders after that joke is especially worth watching.

Another clip during the half hour is on Broke Ass Stuart's Goddman Website, filled with cheap or free stuff to do in different cities across the country. Good for the current environment.

More Russell on TV, please.

All of it, in a clip after the jump.

3 Clips -- Russell Brand For a Half Hour on Current Thursday at 9 Eastern

Man, have I warmed up to this guy. I can't get enough of him now.

First the MTV Awards with him dissing the purity ring thing? The BBC-Jonathan Ross thing with Andrew Sachs from Faulty Towers? ... Sarah Marshall?

I am totally in. You got Russell on your air? I'm watching.

Current has him for a half hour Thursday night, not sure what will happen but it must be a promo appearance in conjunction with his memoir which is now for sale in the US called My Booky Wook. It's getting some nice reviews here and should pave the way for more Russell on your TV.

After the jump he talks about emerging from his mother's womb, breastfeeding and the special in a promo from the cable channel.

Also, I have a couple clips from Russell's recent Comedy Central special from their site Jokes.com, the special is also available on DVD him you need all Russell all the time.

Here's a piece from the Onion AV Club from this week as well.

I now love this guy. Didn't take long. Anyone who will take a comedy sledgehammer to the conventions of society is okay by me.

Video Proof -- I Found Subliminal "Oprah" in a Lime-A-Way Ad Thanks to Current's Sarah Haskins

So I'm innocently laying here next to Homer on the bed the other night when I clicked over to Sarah Haskins' Project Woman clip show (albeit with stunning new wraparound content that really freshened the whole thing up -- kinda, but it WAS a clip show) and I see this above.

Now, that's just a still, but after the jump (and I have to put it there because there's so much crap on the homepage, sorry) watch her segment on the marketing of cleaning products to women and steel yourself at about 1:38 into it, because at 1:41 you'll see a hand cross right to left spraying Lime-A-Way and you can clearly see that they've added FX to make it read Oprah.

Why Oprah? Oprah hasn't cleaned her own bathroom tile in ages, she has people who do that.

Oprah and cleaning. Maybe it's just that Oprah is something women who buy cleaning supplies trust and admire, so thinking about her while seeing the product work reinforces it's worth?

I think Sarah needs to revisit this. Do you agree? If so, send a copy of this post to Sarah@Current.com.

And someone tell Oprah. Do any of you have Gayle's cell number?

Full Episode Video -- Current TV's Narco War Next Door

Before you scoff and say this is only happening in TJ and doesn't matter 'cause you go to Cabo and Cancun? Read this from the LA Times the other day:

The suspect cruised around in an SUV that had been reported stolen. He toted corrido music glorifying drug smugglers and hit men, and allegedly helped them operate in this beach resort.

And until a few weeks ago, he was Cancun's police chief.

Now Francisco Velasco is in custody in Mexico City while federal authorities investigate whether he took part in the killing last month of a retired army general who had been hired to revamp the city's police force.

Simply put, things be getting mucho sketchy south of the border.

When you click over to the rest of that Times article it gets even scarier.

Cancun. Not TJ, not Juarez, but Cancun.

Now this episode of Current Vanguard feels a lot more relevant, huh?

 It's reported by Laura Ling (Lisa's sister) and there are moments during the thing that you actually fear for her safety.

And it's not just the violence but it's the vast massive corruption and the breakdown of social constructs and the possibility that we could eventually have a failed state right next door.

You know, like Afghanistan, only within walking distance.

Watch it, after the jump. And, as a Spring Break special, I'll have delightful stuff on the Mexican drug war all week just to scare the bejeebies outta you.

(Actually, because everyone has something and it's gonna quickly be news that affects us.)

It's after the jump. And if it's not there at first, be patient. I've been testing it and I don't see it loading quite yet. You can always click the link above the screen and go directly to it.

Full Episode Video -- Current Vanguard: Blood Roses and Deadly Diamonds

There are two Current shows on my DVR Series Manager. One is InfoMania, because I'm watching the career trajectory of Conor Knighton.

(He should have a talk show in ... wait, I'm looking at my watch ...)

And it's not just Knighton, I like the group of twenty-somethings that they've grouped with him to make the show. Especially the music guy, Sergio, who is just the right combination of fun, self-referential and self-loathing.

These Current "pods" (at least some of them) used to run willy-nilly throughout the day but now that they're grouped into this very tight li'l half hour. I can record just the one show and see it all.

The other show is Current Vanguard. And honestly I did start watching it the week they had an Adam Yamaguchi (below) story about robots. Robots? Adam Yamaguchi? I'm in!

After that I set the DVR to record the show and I haven't been disappointed since.

They go places where the rest of the TV press don't really care to go and they report on stuff like the conflict diamonds issue in Sierra Leone that you probably won't see from a TV network that runs those "A Diamond is Forever" ads constantly before Valentine's Day.

I didn't know about the situation in Colombia, however, where the chemicals that they're using to on the flowers that they import to the US and other nations are destroying the health of the women who handle them and the health of their potential children. They're only granting the flower handling jobs to women who have tubal ligation (fallopian tubes tied).

Don't get me wrong, it's great that Colombia is growing something other than Coca plants, but they gotta get with the green thing and the human rights thing. This is the problem with signing trade agreements that don't protect workers. Just because it's a Colombian 19-year-old woman and not a freshman at Emory doesn't mean I care less.

This is why Mariana Van Zeller calls the episode after the jump your Valentine's Day buzzkill.

Really worth watching either online or on the tube. The episode after the jump will be running on Current, or cable and satellite, for the rest of the week.

Short Attention Span Film School -- The Aesthetic For Best Viral Clips from Current.com

From Brett Erlich at Current, who is also the voice of Dennis Kucinich and John Edwards on the channel's Super News segment.

Not so much a how-to as it is an overview of a particular segment of the field, involving the wild kingdom.

Hey, I just saw this story from India at the Current site and I had to add it, so the clip is now after the jump.

Get this:

After rumors that there was a solar image of the Virgin Mary in the sun, believers looked to the sky in the hope that they would be blessed by the miracle, but as science predicts, staring at the Sun can cause blindness. The Kottayam district in India was the venue where at St Joseph’s Eye Hospital 48 cases of vision loss were recorded due to photochemical burns on the retina.

“All our patients have similar history and symptoms. The damage is to the macula, the most sensitive part of retina. They have developed photochemical, not thermal, burns after continuously gazing at the sun,” Dr Annamma James Isaac, the hospital’s ophthalmologist, said.

The victims are mainly women with people as young as 12 damaging their eyes in search of the miracle.

People, don't be looking directly into the sun, I don't care if Britney and Karl Rove are performing oral sex on the 3rd Infantry Division while standing on the face of the sun, do not look at it directly expecting to see stuff if you ever want to see anything else ever again.

Current TV's SuperNews on the Democratic Nominees

We've posted Josh Faure-Brac's SuperNews from Current before. This one is called The Democratic Messiah.

The woman here sounds a little too much like a strident Dem nominee that I'm having a lot of problems hearing only because, ironically, she so wants me to hear her.

Well, at least my choices don't involve an old rich white guy. Oh, that's right, it's Cindy McCain that has all the money ... never mind.

Clip after the jump. Look for a cameo from God (he voted for Kucinich).

(The clip wasn't loading when I originally posted, if there's still no clip here, please email me and let me know. Joe@IAmATVJunkie.com.)

SuperNews on the YouTube Debate

Now this is funny. From Josh Faure-Brac through the folks at Current.tv:

Watch!!! -- 60 Seconds With Cameron Diaz (and With You, Join Her!)

Cameron wants you to participate at Current.tv, so get moving!

LINK