|
|---|
Saturday, September 18, 2010
A close call with Oprah three weeks ago reminded us all about the flakey nature of the media.
Back in New York, Roo Yori was all packed up and about to put homeboy Hector on a plane to meet Oprah in Chicago when a last-minute call came in from show producers who said: "Never mind."
Hector - who'd been recruited for the show by O's people - had just been stood up after a whirlwind of phone calls, planning and flight arrangements.
Oprah's producers had already invested in a film crew who shot Jonny Justice in a CA library doing his work as a reading assistant dog, but then put the kabash on the entire Vick dog story the morning of the show's taping with Hector.
We were disappointed in a "it figures" way. Canceling guests in the final hour is apparently commonplace with the Oprah Show, although we speculate that bailing on this particular story had something to do with the subject matter. It's common knowledge that Oprah is leery of pit bulls, so the topic of dogs once destined to fight now employed as cuddle buddies might've been too big of a stretch for someone who may not have noticed how normal the dogs have been acting since they came home.
Producers told us that there were "big debates" going on between staff about this story, one of them being whether or not to show sensationalistic fight footage in connection with the warm/fuzzy parts of the story. No wonder they were confused.
The bigger disappointment was felt by the kids, their parents and the staff of the Brisbane library who all re-arranged heaven and earth to get cameras in on a Sunday. That group of people, including Jonny's dad Cris Cohen, kicked into high gear to give Oprah's crew a sneak peek into the J-Man at work with a clip that would've been aired alongside Hector's on-stage appearance. Not easy, but when the world wants to hear the story of bust dog redemption, you make it work, right? Cris told us, "I wrote quite a few sad emails this afternoon to all the folks that banded together to get the library open on a Sunday, and the volunteers that rounded up all the kids. I'm ok with getting cut, but I feel for them. Everyone was so excited about this."
The stinky part? Oprah's crew sent the cancellation notice to Cris and Jonny second hand - no personal phone call, apologies for the near miss or thank yous for accommodating their need-it-now film crew. Poor form, Oprah. You may not get any tail wags from us, but we know our dogs would forgive you.
Below, a photo of Ava, one of the kids who put on her cutest outfit and came out to help tell the story of the little bust dog who could. Thanks for your help Ava. You're truly a star to all of us!
CBS Early Show
On Monday morning - Sept 20 - Jonny Justice and others were highlighted on the CBS Early Show with Dr. Debbye Turner.
LINK
They did a great job!
Oprah's producers had already invested in a film crew who shot Jonny Justice in a CA library doing his work as a reading assistant dog, but then put the kabash on the entire Vick dog story the morning of the show's taping with Hector.We were disappointed in a "it figures" way. Canceling guests in the final hour is apparently commonplace with the Oprah Show, although we speculate that bailing on this particular story had something to do with the subject matter. It's common knowledge that Oprah is leery of pit bulls, so the topic of dogs once destined to fight now employed as cuddle buddies might've been too big of a stretch for someone who may not have noticed how normal the dogs have been acting since they came home.
The bigger disappointment was felt by the kids, their parents and the staff of the Brisbane library who all re-arranged heaven and earth to get cameras in on a Sunday. That group of people, including Jonny's dad Cris Cohen, kicked into high gear to give Oprah's crew a sneak peek into the J-Man at work with a clip that would've been aired alongside Hector's on-stage appearance. Not easy, but when the world wants to hear the story of bust dog redemption, you make it work, right? Cris told us, "I wrote quite a few sad emails this afternoon to all the folks that banded together to get the library open on a Sunday, and the volunteers that rounded up all the kids. I'm ok with getting cut, but I feel for them. Everyone was so excited about this."
The stinky part? Oprah's crew sent the cancellation notice to Cris and Jonny second hand - no personal phone call, apologies for the near miss or thank yous for accommodating their need-it-now film crew. Poor form, Oprah. You may not get any tail wags from us, but we know our dogs would forgive you.
Below, a photo of Ava, one of the kids who put on her cutest outfit and came out to help tell the story of the little bust dog who could. Thanks for your help Ava. You're truly a star to all of us!
CBS Early Show
On Monday morning - Sept 20 - Jonny Justice and others were highlighted on the CBS Early Show with Dr. Debbye Turner.
LINK
They did a great job!
0 Comments:
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
