Gary Papa’s Emotional Moment

Hey, so here’s Action News‘ Gary Papa on the 6 o’clock news last night, getting emotional after Eagles coach Andy Reid visits CHOP. Aww, Gary! After the commercial break, though, Jim Gardner makes it all better by joking that Gary was just upset because someone repossessed his car.

Also notable is Reid’s comment to the media on the kids at Children’s Hospital of Phialdelphia: “They’re fired up and ready to go.” He can’t even stop using sports clichés during off hours! I can only imagine he followed that up with, “They really gave it 110 percent, took it one game at a time. Injuries: Well, this one kid has leukemia, another has cancer–clears throat–time’s yours.”

If YouTube is blocked at your work, here’s a Redlasso clip.

Oh! Issues! Those!

Ooh, look at this! The intro to Action News at 6 p.m. was everything right and wrong with America. It was about the debate, and Jim Gardner summarized the election so far: Obama’s bitter comment, Jeremiah Wright’s comments, Clinton lying about sniper fire. And then he says, “There are the issues.” Yes! The issues! Those!

Gardner then throws it to veteran reporter Vernon Odom, who explicitly admits they might be fooled by the spinmasters after the debate. But he’s so honest! Really, I want more Vernon Odom covering the election, ABC. Make this happen.

Video after the jump.

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TV Show Solves All Your Dating Problems

Erin O’Hearn’s weekly “Right Now On The Net” feature has showcased Brad Maule’s work on Phillyskyline and, last night, it showcased… online dating! This whole segment is worth is just to see the awkward interaction between Jim Gardner and O’Hearn at the end.

CBS 3, 6 ABC In Dead Sweeps Heat (I Guess)

Have the rumors of Alycia Lane bikini photos brought Alycia Lane and Larry Mendte — the photos are of Alycia — to the top of the news charts? Laura Nachman has the preliminary sweeps numbers as of Tuesday and CBS 3 trails 6 ABC by just 1 share point (whatever that is) on the 11 p.m. newscast.

Action News — who seems to have been amping up its Erin O’Hearn commercials recently, if you’ve noticed — leads in the 11 p.m. ratings with an 8 rating/16 share, while CBS 3 trails just behind with an 8 rating/15 share. (Each ratings point equals one or two old people falling asleep after the weather. Each share equals nothing.) NBC 10 has a 5 rating/10 share. (The lead-ins are important, too, with CBS beating ABC beating NBC. I’m pretty sure the Peacock doesn’t even have a prime-time lineup anymore; it just runs infomercials.)

At 6 p.m., Jim Gardner (6 ABC) is way ahead with a 12 rating/22 share; Tim Lake (NBC 10) has a 4 rating/8 share and Mendte and Lane have a 4 rating/7 share. Obviously, viewers know if Alycia’s going to show her bikini, it’ll be at 11 p.m.

The Nach Attack: NBC 10 Muffs 11 p.m. Sweeps [The Daily Examiner]

Leftovers: Keeping You Cool

• We’ll note this again tomorrow, but for now a brief update on the Jim Gardner/Wikipedia snafu: The NYPD has no record of any arrests. So, uh, who the hell would do that? Like, Photoshop an image of Jim Gardner being arrested, then insert a fake line about an arrest on Wikipedia. And why would a local blog pick it up? (Oh, wait, I know the answer to that one.) It’s kind of too strange. These Internets are dangerous things.

• Now that the Inquirer and Daily News are under local ownership, it’s time to take a look at the tale of The Santa Barbara News-Press, which was acquired by a local owner in 2000. And, the results: “Staffers have been marching out the door, accusing her of interfering with their editorial independence. When she published her explanation of the departures as an expression of bias in the reporting staff on Thursday, even more quit. On Friday, her staff — or what remained of it — held a rally outside the newspaper building, where some 30 reporters and editors, dressed in black, put duct tape over their mouths, to represent the owner’s gag order issued last week.” Oh. Brian Tierney suddenly looks awesome. [New York Times]

• The Philadelphia Business Journal has news of a tour of Philadelphia. Of course, by “Philadelphia” here, we mean “A Small Stretch Of The North End of the Boulevard.” Here’s the itinerary: Best Western Hotel (on the Boulevard), Palace Roller Skating Rink (right next to Best Western), Franklin Mills (off Woodhaven) and Dave and Buster’s (at Franklin Mills). And, of course, no Liberty Bell. [Philebrity/PBJ]

• A Rehobeth man braved Jellyfish and cold water temperatures (?) and swam across the Delaware Bay today, claiming to be the first man to ever swim across the entire bay. [AP/Philly.com]

• And, finally, Bobby Abreu is hustling. This might be stranger than that Jim Gardner thing. [Daily News]

Who Has A Vendetta Against Jim Gardner?

UPDATE: The NYPD has no record of Jim Gardner being arrested. This is actually more confusing than if he actually had been. But, hey, our hunch that “Someone was playing a really effing strange prank” was right! More on this tomorrow, etc.

Last week, I looked into the the inexplicable image on Wikipedia, which showed a newscaster in New York reporting on the arrest of Action News anchor Jim Gardner.

Obviously, I thought it was a prank, since I hadn’t heard of Jim Gardner — or his real name, James Goldman — being arrested, and how would I (and every other media outlet in town) miss that? But this brought up another question: Who doesn’t like Jim Gardner? And, even if someone doesn’t like Jim Gardner, who would dislike him so much to Photoshop him into a random New York City anchor’s image on Wikipedia? What the hell is going on here?

Well, today, there are more developments. First, the Wikipedia page of Mary Calvi — where we first saw the image — has been changed with a photo of Calvi reporting on a building explosion. But here’s where it gets weird. From the “WPVI Personalities” Wikipedia page, the last line of Jim Gardner’s bio:

On June 18, 2006, Goldman was arrested by the New York City Police Department in Manhattan for soliciting a prostitute. He faces a court date in New York City Criminal Court in October.

There are two references to this. One is a New York Sun article that doesn’t exist, and another is the original image on Philadelphia Will Do.

So it’s fake. Right. The Sun, if you didn’t know, is kind of like NYC’s version of The Evening Bulletin, i.e. a conservative broadsheet with a small circulation. And, so, how could that scoop all the other NYC papers? Okay, the Sun has some pretty good reporters, but it seems like the other papers (in NYC or Philly) would pick up on it had the Sun reported on it.

But that brings us back to our original question: Who hates Jim Gardner? And who hates Jim Gardner so much that he’d go onto Wikipedia and make it seem like he was arrested? And how would that even hurt Jim Gardner in any way at all? (Aside from being written up on Philadelphia Will Do, which I consider an honor.)

We’re so confused that I actually picked up the phone. I have a call into the New York City Police Department. Frankly, I think it’s more confusing that it’s (assumedly) fake. As they say on the Internets, DEVELOPING…

Jim Gardner [6 ABC]
Mary Calvi [Wikipedia]
WPVI-TV Personalities [Wikipedia]
July 12: Inexplicable Image Of The Week

Inexplicable Image Of The Week

An alert reader found this on the Wikipedia page of WCBS (New York) reporer Mary Calvi. The caption says it’s from June 2006. And, yes, the man in that graphic appears to be longtime Action News reporter Jim Gardner.

A quick Internet search reveals, uh, no news stories about Jim Gardner being arrested in June 2006 — and, I mean, come on, we would have heard of this, right? Right? So it’s a Photoshop. But, uhh, what a random thing to do.

We’d call 6 ABC to get a comment, but as we all know, they don’t talk to the press. (And I don’t like to do any actual work.) Naturally.

UPDATE: This, and the followup, were hoaxes. But that seems actually stranger than if Jim Gardner had actually been arrested.

Mary Calvi [Wikipedia]
Jim Gardner [6 ABC]