Monday, Aug. 13
Everyone who's anyone finds themselves up in Aspen, as the Forum on Communications and Society goes down through Wednesday. Offered by the Aspen Institute, today features The New Media Paradigm, with Michael Eisner talking about television and Arianna Huffington on newspapers. It's at the Institute's Aspen Meadows campus. Speaking of being a mile high, Weeds has its season-three premiere at 10 p.m. ET. The sleeper hit, featuring Mary-Louise Parker as a ganja-slinging housewife, is followed by the series premiere of Californication, starring David Duchovny as a vice-addled novelist. It worked as a Red Hot Chili Peppers song—will Californication score as a TV series? Find out at 10:30. On the opposite coast, On2 Technologies CEO Bill Joll is in Manhattan to unveil new video compression products.
Tuesday, Aug. 14
While we've still got video encoding on the brain, the Glacier/Teton chapter of the Society of Cable Telecommunications holds its technical session “Grooming, Encoding and Transport for Video” at the Bresnan Communications Office in Cheyenne, Wyo. Elsewhere in the Wild West, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin does the keynote at the Aspen Institute wingding, then over lunch, New York Times chairman Arthur Sulzberger and Craigslist chief Craig Newmark discuss The Future of the Newspaper. Further west, Jamie Kellner and Acme Communications announce second quarter results from HQ in Santa Ana—and perhaps shed light on whether they'll make a deal for their CW outlets.
Wednesday, Aug. 15
The Hollywood Radio & Television Society holds its annual Kids Day salute to children's programming. HRTS members and their spawn celebrate at the Grand Ballroom of Hollywood & Highlands, where Kyle Massey, star of Cory in the House on the Disney Channel, is master of ceremonies. Meanwhile, back in Aspen, FCC commissioners Jonathan Adelstein and Deborah Taylor Tate run the panel Moving Forward: The Role of Government. And, on the topic of californication, MTV trots out a new batch of West Coast hotties with the season premiere of Newport Harbor: The Real Orange County at 10:30.
Thursday, Aug. 16
Geez, is anyone not in Aspen besides us? Early Show weather ace Dave Price's peripatetic summer vacation puts him in the Rockies resort town this morning. Elsewhere in the US of A, the Twin Cities chapter of American Women in Radio & Television has its Fall TV Preview at the Minneapolis Library, co-moderated by Star Tribune TV critic Neal Justin and Campbell Mithun TV wiz John Rash; while Women in Cable Telecommunications members get a chance to meet local Time Warner Cable operators in Irving, Texas. And it being an August Thursday and all, there's a new episode of Famous on Biography Channel. Tonight's the premiere of Famous: Dustin Hoffman at 11. (Maybe the seven-time Best Actor nominee is in Aspen, too?) Also on the late-night circuit, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) explains his war chest woes on The Daily Show on Comedy Central.
Friday, Aug. 17
Michael Cera, that funny, dorky kid who played the painfully earnest George Michael Bluth on Arrested Development, resurfaces as a funny, dorky and painfully earnest kid in Superbad, the Judd Apatow flick that hits theaters today. Speaking of talented kids, the Little League World Series kicks off in Williamsport, Pa.. The Southeast faces the Northwest on ESPN at 8. Let's hope parental behavior ranks slightly better than superbad.
