You won't have to miss 24 to catch Chris Owens’ TV show. At least for now.

Owens, a former Democratic Congressional Candidate and son of former Congressman Major Owens, is the host and executive producer of Inside the Congressional Black Caucus (iCBC, the lower case "i" is intentional and part of the show's logo) which was originally to premiere at 9 PM on Monday April 30 on the Black Family (BFC). That's the same time slot as 24, that addictive TV show that glorifies torture.

However, BFC is now being acquired by the Gospel Music Network and will cease programming next week.

But iCBC won't be homeless long. Owens is close to a deal with a cable property owned by one of the world's largest media companies.

Stay tuned for more info.

mole333 mentioned Chris Owens's TV show, Inside the Congressional Black Caucus (iCBC, the lower case "i" is part of the logo and intentional), in a December blog, but the launch was delayed until now.

iCBC airs Mondays 9 PM and Midnight Eastern Standard Time on the Black Family Channel (152 on Time Warner in NYC, see your local listings elsewhere). iCBC is scheduled to premiere on April 30 with footage of California Congressperson Maxine Waters and Michigan representative John Conyers and an interview with the Rev Jesse Jackson.

Chris Owens, the Harvard and Princeton educated son of former Brooklyn, NY Congressperson Major Owens and a 2006 Congressional Candidate himself in the frequently discussed in the Daily Gotham 11th CD race, is the co-host and executive producer. Chris isn't the only Owens with a TV career, brother Geoffrey played Elvin on the Cosby show.

iCBC is a joint production effort of the Black Educational Network (BEN, Which he co-founded) through iCBC Productions LLC and historically black college University of the District of Columbia, UDC). UDC is also provides production facilities for Washington DC Cable Channel 98.

Chris is also negotiating with ION Television, the new name for the Pax Network, and CoLoursTV to broadcast the show.

This should be muy, muy fun.

The man who slapped down Sue Kelly for not wanting to debate John Hall has requested our presence in his show. Yes people : Richard French of RNN's Real Live Politics wants to have me and other notables share their insight about 2006's highs (and lows) in New York politics and what we forsee for the new year.

I have a good idea where to start. I will be pulling out links to our most excellent stash of posts for 2006 --and boy do we have embarrasment of riches in our archives.

At random I can think of my calling first Hillary Clinton's run for the presidency after she hired Peter Daou. We also called here Havesi's win and eventual resgination. How about our stellar coverage of CD-11?

I still want to hear from you. What do you think are the highs and lows of politics in New York state? And what do you see in your crystal ball?

Oh and by the way, if you want to enjoy French at his snarkiest, we've got it after the jump.

And here you have it, courtesy of Marc: Steve Harrison on Hardball.

I was late to tonight's debate (of course), but from what I'm hearing, our man Steve is doing quite well; meanwhile, Bush poodle Vito Fossella was said to be "tired" and "sweaty". But then again, running away from your constituents and your record can take it out of you.

On the web: Steve Harrison.

Karol over at Alarming News (as an aside, can anyone explain to me how any Soviet emigré can vote republican? What, you're not happy unless your government maintains gulags and tortures people?) approvingly quotes this oblivious drool from Roger Ailes, the chief propagandist of Fox "News":

“We haven’t had to fire our executives or our reporters or our anchors or anybody else for making up the news,” Ailes continued. “Maybe we’re a little too in-your-face at times. But basically what we do is cover the story, and we haven’t been forced to eat our words because we’re actually telling people what’s going on. Sometimes there’s more than one point of view, and we try to reflect that.”

Ailes must have an Olympic pool filled with spiked Kool-Aid, or perhaps a truly remarkable control over his facial tics, to be able to publicly utter this kind of delusional drivel. Here, take a look at the Wikipedia entry titled "Fox News channel controversies".

Photocopied memos from Fox News executive John Moody instructed the network's on-air anchors and reporters to use positive language when discussing pro-life viewpoints, the Iraq war, and tax cuts, as well as requesting that the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal be put in context with the other violence in the area [3]. Such memos were reproduced for the anti-FOX News film Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism, which included Moody quotes such as, "[T]he soldiers [seen on FOX in Iraq ] in the foreground should be identified as 'sharpshooters,' not 'snipers,' which carries a negative connotation." Former Fox News producer Charlie Reina explained, "The roots of Fox News Channel's day-to-day on-air bias are actual and direct. They come in the form of an executive memo distributed electronically each morning, addressing what stories will be covered and, often, suggesting how they should be covered. To the newsroom personnel responsible for the channel's daytime programming, The Memo is the Bible. If, on any given day, you notice that the Fox anchors seem to be trying to drive a particular point home, you can bet The Memo is behind it."

I don't know about you, but I am damned sick of the right wing nuts exploiting 9/11 for their own benefit. This year they plan to do it again and ABC is hosting it. From Truthout:

Clinton, 9/11 and the Facts
By William Rivers Pitt
t r u t h o u t | Perspective

Wednesday 30 August 2006

The fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks is less than two weeks away...ABC intends to mark the occasion in far more grand a fashion. Starting September 10th and ending September 11th, the network will show a miniseries titled "The Path to 9/11." According to reports from early screenings, the writer/producer of the miniseries, Cyrus Nowrasteh, has crafted a television polemic intended to blame the entire event on President Clinton.

Nowrasteh, an outspoken conservative...spoke last year at the Liberty Film Festival, described by its founders as Hollywood's first conservative film festival. Govindini Murty, actress, writer, and co-director of the Liberty Film Festival, wrote a review of "The Path to 9/11" for the right-wing online news page FrontPageMag.com.

In the review, Murty states, "'The Path to 9/11' is one of the best, most intelligent, most pro-American miniseries I've ever seen on TV, and conservatives should support it and promote it as vigorously as possible. This is the first Hollywood production I've seen that honestly depicts how the Clinton administration repeatedly bungled the capture of Osama bin Laden."

A friend of mine, Chris Owens, is a co-host of a brand new program (started this month) called "Inside the Congressional Black Caucus." Chris is son of Brooklyn Congressman Major Owens (one of the few Congress Critters who voted AGAINST the Patriot Act and AGAINST the invasion of Iraq) and brother of a member of the Cosby Show cast. He is also a candidate for Congress himself. Below is Chris' announcement (slightly belated) of the airing of this new show. Check it out!

It is my pleasure and honor to announce the launch of "Inside The Congressional Black Caucus", a one-hour public affairs program, making its debut on the CoLoursTV network this Sunday, December 18 at 9:00 am.

ICBC will be bringing information about the 43 members of the Congressional Black Caucus and their work to the American people.  Yours truly [Chris Owens] is the Executive Producer of ICBC as well as one of the hosts.

The first two episodes of ICBC will feature presentations by CBC members and special guests made during the 2005 Annual Legislative Conference this past September.  And, as we all would expect,

the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina is the primary topic.  These first two episodes (aired on 12/18 and 12/25) will repeat on 1/1/06 and on 1/8/06.

ICBC is a joint production of the Black Education Network, Inc., and Coppin State University (Baltimore, MD).  As many of you know, ICBC is a show some nine years in the making.

We are proud to bring you an excellent and entertaining program that will soon be a great current affairs and educational program available on different networks.

CoLoursTV is currently carried on Dish TV (Channel 9407) as well as some Comcast and Adelphia cable systems.  Check the cable schedule in your area.  If you cannot get CoLoursTV where you live, call

your cable carrier and tell them "I want my ICBC!"

I apologize for the short notice.  Your feedback on the show is encouraged (commentary@icbc.tv).

My wife and I miss NWI, which was our main TV news source. But, we decided to give the new Gore TV channel, Current, a try.

First off, we are NOT the demographic it is aimed at. We are nerdy, post-35 parents struggling to maintain a nice home in a nice neighborhood. The demographic of Current is young, "hip" kids.

We didn't much like the format. Too disjointed and the hosts were irritating, almost like Frat boys. I particularly didn't find myself sucked in at first. But then...

My wife observed that, as it intends, Current TV IS kind of like surfing the internet. Not that you have much control over what you find, but it is that kind of addictive, short-attention span, disjointed sufing feel. We WERE sucked in the same way we were sucked into web surfing. So it succeeds in that.

Then there was content. Some segments (they call them "pods" which I kind of like) just seemed silly and sensationalist, like the one trying to track down Japanese people in Tokyo who had signed online suicide pacts. But two segments in particular made me realize what Gore is up to. He really is trying to give quality (if short-attention-span friendly) progressive TV to the youth. One segment followed a reporter covering the anti-Globalization demonstrations in Miami who got shot in the face by riot police. It showed the whole thing on camera. Police brutality of demonstrators caught on film and actually covered by the media. THAT is something you don't see everyday and THAT is why Gore is doing this.