If you remember, in my exclusive story yesterday regarding the future of the “Atlas Shrugged” trilogy, we learned the following:

The most interesting development, however, is that in their effort to expand television advertising, MSNBC, CNN and CNBC “have all rejected a 15-second ad for ‘editorial’ reasons [with] no further explanation provided.”

“This unforeseen censorship effectively puts the brakes on our follow-up marketing efforts where we were trying to reach millions of people unaware of the movie being in theaters now,” Kaslow wrote. “We are continuing with the theatrical release because we have great word of mouth and awareness for the movie increases daily.”

Just a few minutes ago, the producers were good enough to send along a YouTube of the rejected ad with this note: “Here’s the ad.  It’s very simple and certainly in no way offensive[.]”  

See for yourself:

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From Mediaite:

Fox News’ 3amET comedy/news hybrid Red Eye is in a league of its own when it comes to cable news shows. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t a player in the ratings.

Despite its late (or early, depending on your sleep habits) start time, the ratings for the show continue to improve, and surprisingly, top some cable news competition you might not expect.

Last week we were forwarded this message board post on ActivityPit.com – Red Eye’s online community that feeds its dedicated base of fans. Here’s a part: (more…)

I received Michael Covel’s new documentary, Broke: The New American Dream [trailer - website] in the mail about a week ago, and watched it in one sitting.  The film describes itself as “a vivid, honest, often humorous and always insightful look at our struggle with investments and retirement.”  The film is vivid and often humorous – it is peppered with slivers of good advice from 1950s financial films and cartoons – and, in the mold of documentarians like Michael Moore, it focuses mainly on people and less on specifics.  That said, Broke isn’t a complete breakdown of what happened and how we got here, or how we’ll get out of it. 

Broke is an ambitious movie, covering ground from the subprime meltdown to the relationship between the stock market and the “irrational exuberance” targeted by Professor Robert Schiller.  For all its ambition, the film does come off as a bit scattered, mixing personal stories with broader (and often vaguer) points about the nature of the financial markets.  If you’re looking for a detailed analysis of real estate finance or an explanation of the mismanagement by the federal government and Wall Street, you’re not likely to find it here – this is more of a media critique, and a critique of the American mindset that we should “get rich quick” through the market rather than doing our research.  (more…)

Every time I have started to write a follow-up to last week’s piece about the evolving Jon Stewart, Rick Santelli, Jim Cramer CNBC massacre, new information that altered the narrative slid in over the transom. The newest part of that story comes from a self described progressive (leftist) group called “Fix CNBC” which has seized on Stewart’s gold standard sophomoric schlock attacks to publicly call for CNBC to start being Wall Street’s watch dog instead of its public relations puppy. That ain’t likely to happen and some personal disclosure of my own a bit later will illustrate why. (more…)

Last week, Jim Cramer had to be asking himself, “Why me? Why now? Why did Pop Culture’s King Jester choose this point and time to turn me into a national joke for doing what I’ve been doing forever?”

It’s been a few days, so you have to wonder if Cramer’s figured it out yet — or if someone’s explained it to him. He certainly hadn’t pieced it together during his appearance on the “Daily Show” where he looked liked a fighter who didn’t see the punch coming – and he didn’t. Why would he? Through months and months of recession, Cramer’s been on the air doing what he’s been doing for years:  Ranting, raving, predicting, promoting, suggesting, picking, pointing, and putting himself across as some kind of Market Seer –just like so many others out there, only he uses action figures. (more…)

Something didn’t sound quite right when I listened to Jon Stewart’s set-up for his sarcastic blast of CNBC’s Rick Santelli as a hypocrite who thinks federal bailout money for corporate America is just fine while a helping hand from Uncle Sam (a bailout by another name) for strapped mortgage holders isn’t. So I reverted to the method I’d come to rely on while an investigative reporter when I could not follow what a fast talking con artist was actually saying: I transcribed what he said. And sure enough, the words on paper revealed Stewart’s sophistry that my ears could not pinpoint: (more…)

There’s a new gold rush on but you don’t have to head to the hills of California to be part of it.  All you have to do is tune in to talk radio and jot down an “800″ number where a few of the big syndicated shows pimp for the gold merchants.  The ads for these companies are all over radio and television.

I have no problem with a host or show taking advertising from any product.  If Rush wants to run a few Obama ads, no problem. If Dr. Savage can sell ads to the ACLU, I say he should give his sales staff a bonus. I’m a capitalist all for making a nickel who believes in the old saying, caveat emptor – buyer beware.  Yet, it’s different when the host reads the commercial live.  This signifies a level of approval beyond “we let this guy buy ads on our show.” (more…)