Memo to the crew: Acknowledge your days off
Dear MJ Morning Show crew:
This is something that has bugged me for a while now. The reason I'm bringing it up is because it happened again on Monday, Aug. 30.
In the last year or so, MJ and the crew have taken days off without acknowledging that they will be out. Listeners are then left hanging, not knowing whether the crew is on vacation, is out for personal business or because of some other reason. We all know the entire crew has other obligations in life. Things come up that have to be taken care of. It happens to all of us. And in all honesty, I really don't care what they are doing on these days off. It is none of my business to know, either, unless of course they talk about it on the show like they usually do after their long vacations.
But I do have one simple request to pass along to my favorite morning show crew: can you guys at least tell us when you are going to be gone and a best-of show (or music on Z1077) is going to air instead? For big fans of the show, it is very disappointing to wake up hearing bits from months ago. But at least that disappointment can be eased slightly if we as listeners can expect to hear repeats and know that they are coming. Surprise best-of shows are no fun, period. Thank you for your consideration.
Signed,
Greg Lindberg
Your #1 fan
It's official: Pitchmen episode to air Aug. 26
My apologies for posting several different dates on here about when the Pitchmen episode with the MJ Morning Show crew will air. A final date has been set: the episode will run on Thursday, August 26 at 9 p.m. Eastern on Discovery Channel (with repeats at midnight the same night and on Sept. 4 at 3 p.m. ET).
You might recall that last November, MJ and the crew held a giant pitch-a-thon called "InventorQuest" at the Ritz Carlton in Tampa. They worked with pitchman extraordinaire Anthony "Sully" Sullivan, who was the sidekick of the late great Billy Mays on their very own show on Discovery that premiered last summer. The network has already started airing season 2 of the show that takes viewers behind the scenes of inventing, pitching and marketing cool products on TV. The network shot a bunch of footage at the event and in the MJ Morning Show studio. The footage is scheduled to air during the second episode of the second season. The title of this episode is "Heart Wrench" because it includes footage of a 16-year-old boy who has had five heart surgeries and came up with a new wrench invention. The show will follow a new episode of Deadliest Catch - one of the highest-rated shows on cable. According to Sully, this is great news because this episode was supposed to run later in the season. He said there will also be footage from the morning show event featured in another episode.
So mark your calendar and set your TiVo for a rare national TV appearance by the morning show crew. Apparently MJ, Fester and Meredith (whom Sully allegedly dated) will get the most face time during the episode.
MJ plans to race the interns again
Remember "The Race" between MJ (age 42 at the time) and Unitard the Intern (age 20) from the summer of 2008? That is what the video above is of - and clearly you can see MJ beating Unitard by a mile in this special 66-yard dash in the radio station parking lot.
Now, MJ has been challenged by Stephanie and Vicky the Interns to another race. Will it actually happen? Let's hope so. We will see if MJ is still in tip-top shape like he was two years ago and if these girls can do better than Unitard did in representing their intern status on the show. Stay tuned for more details on what will hopefully be another fun race to watch. Fester suggested doing it at a school track so they have more room.
Fester's wife's feet will be in a commercial
Fester's wife Allison seems to be much less of a broadcasting personality than her husband. But believe it or not, she will star in an upcoming national TV commercial - although her face probably won't be visible in it. Instead it will be her feet that will appear in a spot for "Heel-Tastic" - a moisturizing roll-on balm that is supposed to help and prevent dry, cracked heels. According to Fester, the commercial will have a winter theme to it, and Allison and others will be walking through "snow" in order to demonstrate the product's effectiveness. He said to shoot the commercial, the production team had her stand in front of a white backdrop and then asked her questions about the product and how well it works. She really does use "Heel-Tastic" and loves the product because of her flakey feet, so it's not something she is doing for show. The commercial is supposed to hit the airwaves in the next few months. Anthony Sullivan is also involved in marketing the product.
Allison is not new to the TV business. Several years ago, she used to be a model on the Home Shopping Network based in St. Petersburg, Fla. where she showed off jewelry and other products on camera. If her skills at HSN are as good as the ones she has in this new foot commercial, it should be a hit.
