Friday, March 29, 2024

CBS Sunday Morning Sandbags Woody Allen, Labels Him a “Bad Actor” on Free TV, Relegates His Interview to Paid Streaming Service

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Everyone thinks of “CBS Sunday Morning” as this sort of kind, generous TV show for smart adults. And a lot of the time it is is like big comfy sofa.

But they make mistakes a lot of the time and don’t do a lot of vetting. This morning they featured a book called “1974” which was about music from 1972 and TV shows that started in 1970. All they had to do was Google it.

They also sandbagged Woody Allen. They took an unaired interview from last July and put it on CBS’s paid streaming service, Paramount Plus. You wanna know what Woody thought last July? Well, cough up some dough.

Meanwhile, Erin Moriarty, who I really liked back when she was on Channel 2 in New York, ran a crazy piece about separating artists from their bad behavior. She labeled Woody a ‘bad actor’ and not in the theatrical sense but as a bad person, smearing him with no evidence– just he’s a bad guy. There was a passing graphic about Woody’s adopted daughter, Dylan Farrow, who’s been conned into saying bad things about him by Mia Farrow.

Also smeared: Michael Jackson. Like Woody, never convicted of anything. (Woody was never arrested for anything, either.)

Not mentioned: that CBS’s former chief Les Moonves left the network in disgrace, and so did their Charlie Rose. They also each accomplished great things in broadcasting but had personal habits. But let’s not go there.

“CBS Sunday Morning” is often very selective. They take a lot of information at face value without doing a lot of research. Most of the time it works. This morning, it didn’t. (I did like their piece on Brenda Vaccaro, but how could you go wrong with her?)

As for Woody, Paramount Plus costs $5.99 a month. I’ll try and get the free trial to watch Woody, and then cancel my subscription. That would seem fair and balanced, right?

Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.
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