It was one of those classic live TV moments on Tuesday's installment of Channel 6's "Real Milwaukee," when ebullient field reporter Tony Clark approached a table of folks eating breakfast at The First Watch in Brookfield.
"Let's find out what they're going to order," he said into his microphone. "This is always fun."
That's when the "real" fun began, as he started talking to the group, something he's pretty good at on live TV.
"Do you watch 'Real Milwaukee'?" he asked, getting no sign of recognition. "The show you're on now?"
Clark – who some radio listeners may remember as "Tony Zamboni" from WXSS-FM (103.7) – kept plowing through, even though the woman he was talking to first answered "no" as to whether she watched the show.
Finally, she seemed to recognize the program.
"I do see that," she said.
"Do you know who's on it, by any chance?" Clark continued. "Can you name one person?"
Back in the studio, co-host Katrina Cravy let loose with a "Don't do that."
"Fay..." came the answer, "Molly."
And then came the sound of a game show buzzer, and groaning from Cravy and her co-hosts.
Molly Fay, of course, co-hosts "Morning Blend," the Channel 4 show that airs opposite "Real Milwaukee." She was a Channel 6 morning anchor, but left the Fox station years ago and now hosts "Morning Blend" with Tiffany Ogle.
The shows are different animals – "Blend" is a unique hybrid of advertising and interviews, while "Real" is a more conventional morning entertainment show.
But they are competitors, and you don't want the name of one of your competitors broadcast on your airwaves.
For a viewer, it was an entertaining bit of live TV, handled in a funny way by Clark.
Bring on more, please.
A new channel launches: Weigel Broadcasting, which owns Channel 58 and Channel 49, has launched Bounce TV on digital subchannel 49.2.
The first free over-the-air digital channel targeting African-Americans, it features movies, programs like "Soul Train" and college sports. Charter Cable has agreed to add the new channel to its lineup early next month.
Here's a sample of Bounce TV:
Tonight's new TV stuff: Wednesday night's network premieres include ABC sitcoms "Suburgatory" at 7:30 p.m., and the season premiere of a revamped "Happy Endings" at 8:30, all on Channel 12.
Here's a peek at "Suburgatory":
On TV: Even though it doesn't debut on Starz until Oct. 21, the premium cable channel has ordered a second season of Kelsey Grammer's "Boss."
- Fox bet a lot on Monday's premiere of the elaborate (and expensive) "Terra Nova" and it came in third in its time period with 9 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research. Not a complete flop, but not a good number.
- Meanwhile, CBS' "Two and a Half Men" only lost 30 percent of its premiere audience with Monday's episode, very good news for the sitcom that now stars Ashton Kutcher.
- Lifetime has ordered a second season of "Dance Moms."
The Milwaukee Film Festival continues: Getting a lot of buzz at this year's Milwaukee Film Festival is "Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life," which has a couple more screenings this week, including tonight at 7:15 at the Marcus Ridge Cinema, and 7:15 p.m. Friday at the Marcus North Shore.
The French-language film tells the story of the loves of singer Serge Gainsbourg as told by graphic novelist turned director Joann Sfar.
Here's a look at "Gainsbourg":
Tim Cuprisin is the media columnist for OnMilwaukee.com. He's been a journalist for 30 years, starting in 1979 as a police reporter at the old City News Bureau of Chicago, a legendary wire service that's the reputed source of the journalistic maxim "if your mother says she loves you, check it out." He spent a couple years in the mean streets of his native Chicago, and then moved on to the Green Bay Press-Gazette and USA Today, before coming to the Milwaukee Journal in 1986.
A general assignment reporter, Cuprisin traveled Eastern Europe on several projects, starting with a look at Poland after five years of martial law, and a tour of six countries in the region after the Berlin Wall opened and Communism fell. He spent six weeks traversing the lands of the former Yugoslavia in 1994, linking Milwaukee Serbs, Croats and Bosnians with their war-torn homeland.
In the fall of 1994, a lifetime of serious television viewing earned him a daily column in the Milwaukee Journal (and, later the Journal Sentinel) focusing on TV and radio. For 15 years, he has chronicled the changes rocking broadcasting, both nationally and in Milwaukee, an effort he continues at OnMilwaukee.com.
When he's not watching TV, Cuprisin enjoys tending to his vegetable garden in the backyard of his home in Whitefish Bay, cooking and traveling.
