Last Thursday, as soon as I heard that Michael Jackson died, I knew I had to get home before traffic became ridiculous here in LA as undoubtedly there would be roads backed up from Westwood to Hollywood. And on the way home, all I heard coming out of people’s cars, and on half of the radio stations, were Jackson’s standards. And just like that day when he dominated the radio waves, he’s since dominated TV like he hasn’t done since his his 2005 trial for molestation charges.
For instance, according to dual articles (here and here) in Variety, Jackson is splashed all over the channels, from a BET Awards modified to honor him, to special editions of Entertainment Tonight and The Insider. Said exec producer of both shows, Linda Bell Blue: “I do expect it to dominate the headlines for quite a while…There are a lot of unanswered questions: Who gets custody of the
children? What about his will? Who gets the assets of his estate? Where
will he be buried?”
There was also a special Larry King Live and continuous coverage on CNN and Fox. CNN even got a rare ratings win with their coverage. There’s also a planned re-airing of the 2003 Martin Bashir doco, Living With Michael Jackson, which just happened to directly lead to the aforementioned molestation charges. An edited version will be on NBC, and no less than a dozen airings have and will air on sister station MSNBC. However, the most astounding situation to arise is that MTV was actually playing music videos…for a day or so at least. MTV2, VH1 and VH1 Classic ran videos all weekend also. Additionally, TV Land ran the 1992 miniseries The Jacksons: An American Dream on
Sunday, while E! Entertainment TV ran the singer’s “True Hollywood
Story edition throughout the weekend. It also had several other
specials on tap. And not to be outdone in reruns, MyNetworkTV is planning a re-airing of the World Music Awards, which featured a tribute to Jackson, for this Wednesday.
So if you were a fan of Michael Jackson, or had a morbid interest in his Bizarro World life, then there’s plenty on tap for you. If not, you might want to use the time to catch up on your DVR-ed programming.