MTV’s Skins sheds viewers. Audiences join advertisers in dissing the sexually-charged show (featuring minors among its cast) currently caught in a storm of child porn allegations. Only about half its initial viewers returned for its second episode. Meanwhile, Hollywood Reporter notes that the ad flight is costing the network up to $2 million a show and is putting its entire scripted development in jeopardy. 

Father Alberto Cutié to host syndicated talk show. The former Catholic priest-turned-Episcopal minister will host an Oprah-like program that, as he puts it, will be about “everything from sex to salvation.” The telegenic clergyman is also an author of self-help books and an experienced radio host. He left the Catholic Church in 2009 to marry the woman he loved.
Hollywood Reporter notes that Father Cutié (you gotta love the name) is probably the only clergyman to be tapped to host a national TV show since Bishop Fulton Sheen began his run on Life is Worth Living in the 1950’s. The show is set for a summer test run on some Fox stations around the country.
BTW: A DVD chronicling the life of Bishop Sheen (part of an effort making the case for his canonization) is available through the Archbishop Fulton Sheen Foundation. For more information go to SheenFilm.org.

Aaron Sorkin to tackle cable news. The left wing creator of The West Wing whose adapted screenplay for The Social Network just received an Oscar nomination plans to tackle a TV series about cable news. Word is he may even have his pal Keith Olbermann write up some nice anchor rants for the show. Hey, Aaron, if you really want to be fair and balanced, I’ve written and produced countless segments for both CNN and Fox. I’ve got stories. Call me.

Harvey Weinstein may re-edit The King’s Speech. The idea is get it a PG rating rather than its current R so that more families can see the movie. Personally, I saw the film.  While one scene contained a bit of cursing (that actually was integral to the story), I don’t see why the uplifting film received an R rating to begin with. The movie was excellent. While I also enjoyed The Social Network and Inception, I’m rooting for it to win the Oscar. Sorry, Aaron. I hope this doesn’t cost me my writing gig on your show.

Regis Philbin honored with NATPE’s Brandon Tartikoff Award. In receiving his award from the National Association of Television Program Executives, Philbin, who is soon retiring from his daily talk show grind, recalled how the late NBC programming chief fired him from his half-hour network morning gig way back in the early eighties.
After a tough period Reege, of course, more than landed on his feet. From all accounts I’ve heard from people I’ve worked with over the years, his eventual success couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.
Tartikoff, who died of Hodgkin’s Disease in 1997, also had a reputation as one of Hollywood’s truly nice guys. On top of that, he was also a master showman, giving television such memorable hits as as Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law, ALF, Family Ties, The Cosby Show, Cheers, Seinfeld, Miami Vice, The Golden Girls, Knight Rider, The A-Team, St. Elsewhere, Night Court, Hunter, Highway to Heaven, Matlock, Remington Steele, A Different World, 227 and Empty Nest.

Personal Note: On a couple of occasions, Tartikoff actually offered me some professional encouragement. Back in my college days, I managed to get a proposal for an hour-long series to him. The proposed show (called The Paper Boys) was loosely based on my experiences as editor of my campus newspaper. He liked the idea enough to have an NBC executive contact me about it. A pilot was never actually shot but I was given lots of encouragement regarding my writing.
Flash forward to the nineties when a friend of my mine and I had the audacity to take Headliners, a comedy news show we produced for cable access TV, to the NATPE convention in New Orleans. There we met Brandon (I didn’t actually meet him during the Paper Boys period). He expressed interest in Headliners and gave us his contact information. Unfortunately, it was fairly soon after that that he fell ill and died.  He was nice to me and open to my ideas. For that, I am forever grateful. Partially because of Headliners, I went on to work as a writer and segment producer at CNN.