Date Archives → August 2017

Robservations: Steve Harvey dredges up that infamous email

Steve Harvey (Photo: Willy SanJuan)

Robservations on the media beat:

I thought it was all over. But apparently Steve Harvey didn’t. Last week he decided to dredge up an embarrassing email I posted here May 10 in which Harvey lambasted his Chicago production staff for daring to approach him in the hallways or his dressing room. At an appearance before the Television Critics Association to promote his upcoming talk show, Harvey said he thought his memo was “cute” — even if no one else did. "That email," he said, "I learned two things from that email. Number one, I can't write, and number two, I should never write. It was something I wrote a year ago. And somebody didn't get a job coming to L.A., and they got pissed and they sent it to [Robert] Feder in Chicago. I was OK until I saw it on CNN, and that's when I knew I was in a lot of trouble. It’s not a big deal to me. I’m a congenial guy.” Harvey, who never apologized for writing the memo, acknowledged earlier: “I probably should’ve handled it a little bit differently.” Continue reading →

Kathy O’Malley’s ‘Girlfriends’ verse strikes a chord

Kathy O'Malley

Although “The Kathy & Judy Show” has been off the air since February, Kathy O’Malley and Judy Markey still have a powerful connection with their audience.

No wonder O’Malley and Markey’s legion of fans — a loose-knit sorority known as “The Girlfriends” — was so disappointed when the duo was dropped from the Saturday lineup on WGN AM 720. (It was the second time they’d been canceled by the Tribune Broadcasting news/talk station. Their first run together ended in 2009 after 20 years in middays.) Continue reading →

Robservations: Hosea Sanders ‘excited to return’ to ABC 7

Hosea Sanders and Roz Varon (Photo: Roz Varon)

Robservations on the media beat:

Longtime WLS-Channel 7 news anchor Hosea Sanders, who’s been out since February for treatment of prostate cancer, returned to the ABC-owned station Wednesday. He was expected back on the 7 p.m. weeknight newscast he co-anchors with Cheryl Burton, produced by ABC 7 for Weigel Broadcasting’s WCIU-Channel 26. “While I still have a long way to go on this current cancer battle, I'm excited to return to sharing your company and telling your stories,” he wrote on Facebook. “Thanks for your continued and much-appreciated support!” Sanders, 60, a 23-year veteran of ABC 7, also is slated to co-host live coverage of the 88th annual Bud Billiken Parade August 12 along with Burton and Jim Rose. Continue reading →