Scaramucci Media Tour

Anthony Scaramucci, the Wall Street sleaze employed as a temp worker in the Trump White House, will be interviewed on Sunday by George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s This Week and on Monday by Stephen Colbert on CBS’s Late Show with Stephen Colbert. While the Colbert appearance might be more amusing, the Mooch, who was President Trump’s Communications Director for 10 days, has something in common with Stephanopoulos, President Clinton’s Communications Director for a whopping 138 days.

As we know from The New Yorker‘s Ryan Lizza, Mr. Scaramucci gives one hell of an interview.

Resistance Radio

“At SXSW in Austin last week, as part of a marketing campaign for ‘The Man in the High Castle,’ Amazon launched ‘Resistance Radio,’ a fake Internet-based radio station broadcast by the fictional American ‘Resistance’ from the show.

‘Hijacking the airwaves, a secret network of DJs broadcast messages of hope to keep the memory of a former America alive,’ the website said. Click through, and an interactive image of an antique, dual-knob radio appears while mod tunes drift through your computer’s speakers. In between songs, DJs on three different stations speak about how to fight the ‘Reich’ in America.

Soon #ResistanceRadio, the campaign’s sponsored hashtag, spread like wildfire on Twitter. Some Trump supporters seemingly mistook it for an anti-Trump radio station and expressed their displeasure. (Amazon founder Jeffrey P. Bezos owns The Washington Post.)”

— “Amazon launched a fake radio station to promote ‘The Man in the High Castle.’ Angry Trump supporters thought it was real.” Travis M. Andrews, Washington Post

More: 

“The High Castle’s anti-Nazi radio station,” Sean O’Neal, A.V. Club

Resistance Radio: Tune in here.

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How a TV Show Is Made

The making of a TV show, from showrunner to script to screen, explained by Caroline Framke of Vox:

It’s Beginning ….

On the shelves of Retail America, it began to look like Christmas the day after Halloween. The perfume and electric shaver ads began appearing a few weeks later, and we’ve already had two weeks of commercial-heavy seasonal TV specials. Try to dig yourself out of the blizzard of consumerist frenzy.

Fraud Squad!

Fraud Squad! Starring Anders Holm, Minka Kelly, and Luis Guzman. Directed by Joss Whedon. Inspired by D.J. Trump. There’s no crime show like it.

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‘I Took Me Some Steel ….’

1956 Dodge TV commercial, via Jeff Quitney. Great scenes of 1957 model year cars and the Chrysler assembly plant.

There’s not much singing on the Ford assembly line these days, of course. Robots don’t sing, they whirr:

As Seen on TV: Rx Drugs

The American Medical Association wants the FDA to ban direct-to-consumer prescription drug TV commercials. Joss Fong explains what 20 years of drug commercials are doing to Americans’ health.

More:

 “American Medical Association urges ban on TV drug ads,” Wm. Justin Moyer, Washington Post

“Influence of Patients’ Requests for Direct-to-Consumer Advertised Antidepressants,” Richard L. Kravitz, MD et al., JAMA, April 27, 2005

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Trump: The TV Network

Donald J. Trump reportedly has a Plan B for that awkward period after he loses the election to Hillary Clinton: The Trump TV Network.

“According to several people briefed on the discussions, the presumptive Republican nominee is examining the opportunity presented by the ‘audience’ currently supporting him. He has also discussed the possibility of launching a ‘mini-media conglomerate’ outside of his existing TV-production business, Trump Productions LLC. He has, according to one of these people, enlisted the consultation of his daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who owns the The New York Observer. Trump’s rationale, according to this person, is that, ‘win or lose, we are onto something here. We’ve triggered a base of the population that hasn’t had a voice in a long time.’ For his part, Kushner was heard at a New York dinner party saying that ‘the people here don’t understand what I’m seeing. You go to these arenas and people go crazy for him.’”

— Is Donald Trump’s Endgame the Launch of Trump News?” Sarah Ellison, Vanity Fair

We look forward to a a full schedule of reality shows, post-fact news, stream-of-consciousness commentary, Ivanka’s fashion forecasts, pro wrestling, beauty pageants, and celebrity golf, all punctuated with commercials for Trump Steaks, Trump Vodka, Trump Ice, and leftover red baseball caps.

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Image (“Trump on TV, with apologies to Dalton Avalos Ramirez“) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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Make America Grapenuts Again

Fix America’s crumbling infrastructure with Kellogg’s Whole Wheat Pep Flakes Cereal. Superman says so. It’s the American Way.

h/t: Ira Gallen

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DC Politics: Underwood, Underground

Navy Yard Metro Station, March 3, 2016.

Update:

“’House of Cards’ Season 4 Is Less Vulgar Than Real Politics,” Ian Crouch,” The New Yorker

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Snapshot by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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