A new CBS series will show the dirty side of upstate NY, literally. The new CBS reality show Undercover Boss, which premieres Sunday after the Super Bowl follows real-life corporate executives as they work anonymously among the rank and file.
The debut episode follows Waste Management President Larry O’Donnell, who pretends he’s Randy Lawrence, a construction worker wanting to break into the trash disposal business and is being filmed in a documentary. He shadows employees in Rochester, Syracuse, southern Florida and Houston, while learning firsthand how physically demanding and mentally exhausting such work really is.
“I’m going to be a different manager because of that,” O’Donnell said Monday on The Oprah Winfrey Show. He praised all the staffers he encountered for their warm welcomes and genuine desire to help him succeed.
On Ugly Betty Friday night, during episode 4.6, entitled ‘Backseat Betty’, Syracuse got a bit of a shout out.
Hilda set Betty up with Larry (Archie’s nerdy bookkeeper) but Betty left dinner halfway through to hang out with the much more dangerous and intriguing Bobby. But, before she leaves, Hilda mentions that Larry had visited his family in Syracuse!
You can read more about the episode here.
There isn’t much information yet about the Con yet but they have announced the dates and they did get a decent turn out of guests at last year’s event so it may be something to keep an eye on. Below is a link to their website where they should be announcing an official line-up soon:
Syracuse Heroes Expo
On September 23rd, former One Day at a Time star Mackenzie Phillips appeared on The Oprah Show to reveal a shocking family secret she’d kept for years. She told Oprah that she’d carried on a sexual relationship with her father, John Phillips, the founder of the Mamas & the Papas, for approximately 10 years.
On Friday, her half-sister, Chynna Phillips, also appeared on Oprah to give her side of the story. Chynna says she learned about Mackenzie’s sexual relationship with John about 12 years ago. Mackenzie told her over the phone, and Chynna says she believes her sister. “Who’s going to go out of their way to say, ‘I had sex with Dad’?” she says. Chynna added that when Mac first contacted her about the relationship she was at LAX getting ready to fly to Syracuse.
Chynna is married to actor William Baldwin whose mother lives in Syracuse. No doubt Chynna was on her way to visit the in-laws when she got the devastating news about her own family.
Good Morning America is filming a segment at Dinosaur Bar-B-Que in Syracuse today. Dinosaur was voted one of The Top 4 BBQ joints in the U.S. by Good Morning America viewers. The segment should air on Saturday and the winner of the best BBQ in America will be announced Sunday.
This year’s Syracuse International Film Festival starts Thursday and includes a line-up of over 100 films from around the world. Highlights of the fest include a screening of Appoloosa with one of the film’s stars, Tom Bower, and the closing night gala featuring World’s Greatest Dad, starring Robin Williams. The movie’s director Bobcat Goldthwait will be on hand to discuss the film as well. Tickets to most screenings are only $8 and are available at the SYRFILM website.
Yesterday, Syracuse University held an all-day event focusing on the current state of television and its future in the digital age. The symposium was dedicated to Fred Silverman, the only person ever to have run programming at all three original television networks — ABC, CBS and NBC.
In one session, Silverman was interviewed by Steve Kroft, a longtime correspondent for CBS news magazine “60 Minutes” and fellow SU alumni. The event kicked off with a montage of programming that Silverman helped develop that included MASH, Hill Street Blues, Roots, All in the Family, and The Mary Tyler Moore Show.
Silverman obviously has a great deal of insight when it comes to network television and how it can survive against cable, the internet, and a new on-demand mentality that dominates media consumption today.
“I think the big problem is people keep picking the wrong shows; they keep developing the wrong shows. People aren’t taking a chance. If you want to make a hit, you have to take a chance,” he said.
When asked what he would do to remedy the problems the networks are facing, Silverman suggested, “There should be an active effort to put shows on that reflect the world we live in.”
Silverman also predicted that there would be more local programming on the networks and that within the next five years every home will have a new viewing device that integrates the internet and television flawlessly.
The fictitious Syracuse New Times was mentioned this week on Castle. In the episode, Castle’s latest book is released to rave reviews but his mother, trying to keep him down to earth, finds a bad review in the Syracuse New Times. Of course, the paper (albeit fake paper) is not viewed in the best light as Castle and his daughter ponder how long it took her to “dig that up”. Castle, starring Nathan Fillion, is a new ABC drama about a murder mystery writer who shadows a female detective he is modeling his next character after. If you missed it, you can watch it now at Hulu.com.
