Jarrett-Carter.com

Because they keep Emmitt Smith on the air.

Look, we respect Emmitt Smith the football player. We respect him as a human being. But we just can’t respect him as a public speaker, or someone who gets paid to speak without a script. To Smith, subjects and verbs go together like refried beans and milk.

And yet, ESPN allows this humiliation to continue. They put him in prime time slots, like Monday Night Football, despite his lack of preparation, and I’ll say it, his lack of education.

Why? Is it humorous to give somebody a job for everyone to see he’s not qualified for it? Is it funny that his grinning and marveling at his insight, while most of us have to replay his statements in our mind just to figure out what he was trying to say?

What is the reason, ESPN? Because it can’t be for what’s at face value.

God bless his soul, Emmitt Smith is trying. For every slip up, someone dives in to make it right, or he gets that quick talking to and tries to make it right. For instance, on the topic of University of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow breaking Smith’s school touchdown record this morning, Smith said, “You did it in four, I did it in three.”

Problem is, Tebow is a junior, so he will likely do it in three.

It’s mistakes like this that show ESPN’s non-caring attitude towards credibility. I could care less if they report anything about Brett Favre cheating, but its not credible to put someone out there as an expert just because he played football. He has to be able to coherently communicate his insight to the viewing/listening audience, and if that’s impossible, then what benefit to we stand to receive in listening to him?

Emmitt knows he’s bad. We know he’s bad. ESPN knows he’s bad. Two of these groups have the power to do something, but only one of them is willing to admit it. And that’s what is so disheartening. Smith, unwittingly, plays into so many stereotypes about athletes, about black people, and about television culture.

So who’s more at fault for this regular display of inadequacy? Smith, who appears to be the old dog unaware of any new tricks? Or ESPN, who’s turning a trick on Smith and the rest of the viewing audience?

He’s already got the ball, now all he needs is a Swoosh T-Shirt, a Neptunes beat, and Tiger Woods standing by nodding in approval.

Charles S. Dutton, whom most of us affectionately know as “Roc,” has confirmed that he is working on six-part mini-series on the life of Louis Armstrong, to be broadcast on HBO.

The interesting thing about Louis Armstrong is very few musicians did as much as he did to advance black culture through music, and yet, he is usually regarded as a background figure among the great champions of our history. People in New Orleans, and hardcore jazz enthusiasts know him well, but for a person who tied his art and talent to social and political movements and was still beloved by the masses to not receive recognition, makes this project that much more meaningful.

Many of his day regarded him as an Uncle Tom; a willing party to social segregation and a silent observer of Southern injustice. But looking back, you could say that Armstrong’s life was forged out of the hardening experience of poverty and exploitation. Truly, he worked diligently for civil rights and equitable treatment around the country, but it must’ve been hard to take a grinning, dark-skinned trumpet player seriously in his times of dark clarity and somber substance.

I’m looking forward to watching the mini-series, not for musical purposes but for the insight into the life of a man who became a funny little legend among black folks.

In another sign that Cita’s World was a virtual experiment gone horribly wrong, a rumor is making significant rounds in the blogosphere about BET distancing itself from black woman as programming hosts.

I got it from BlackPerspective.net, who got it from SOHH.com. Here’s the scoop:

This unconfirmed yet shocking report doesn’t seem SOHH far fetched if you look at all of BET’s current female hosts. Sharon Carpenter, who is half Indian and half White, has been given a show to host (BET News). Rocsi, the co-host of 106 and Park is of Honduran decent and Julissa, the host of the now defunct “College Center” was Puerto Rican. At the present time there is no all black female currently hosting any BET program.

I don’t watch BET, so I can neither confirm or deny the accuracy of this story from a viewer’s perspective. What I can say is that I don’t watch BET, and rumors like these do not surprise me.

Aside from broadcasting the Million Man March and Donnie Simpson, BET has little impact on the social, cultural or political progression of Black America. You are more likely to hear about Blueprint 3 rumors than possible vice-presidential candidates for Barack Obama, and has gotten better shout outs on ‘The Boondocks‘ than in the national media.

BET sucks. Point blank, period. They have the resources to break new musical talent and sustain existing icons, to report news and features that will help change the course of legislation that , and promote awareness on a level unseen before in the country’s mass media. Yet, they don’t and the won’t. The fact that full-blooded sisters are not a part of it should shock no one.

If the rumors are true, Laurence Fishburne may be up for the role in CBS’ popular CSI series. This usually happens when an entrenched actor leaves a show; another talented name gets thrown into the mix.

But you can definitely see Fishburne in a role like this. He usually does well in enigmatic, intriguing roles, and that’s right up CSI’s alley. It would likely make the show even more popular with African-American viewers, who loved Fishburne in timeless classics like Hoodlum, Boyz n The Hood, Akeelah and the Bee, and this classic:

Like we said, a perfect match for CSI.

For all of its bluster, ESPN will be but a blip on the media radar of this summer’s Olympic Games in Beijing. Because the World Wide Leader is not a paid up broadcaster of the games, reporters and anchors that will be dispatched to Beijing will not be permitted to interview athletes inside the Games, or show highlights prior to the conclusion of NBC’s coverage.

From the USA Today report:

Like ESPN, which will deploy just eight staffers in Beijing — including Jeremy Schaap and George Smith as its only on-air types — trying to see what it can rustle up. It won’t be easy. Non-rights holders, even if they can get into official venues such as competition sites — where “mixed zones” allow athletes and media members to mingle — cannot bring in any recording devices — including cameras. The exception is the Games’ main press, but their footage or audio cannot be aired live. (And each day, ESPN can only air event highlights after NBC’s prime-time coverage ends — and then no more than six minutes on a news show.)

Talk about a slap in the face. The network that saturates our highlights, opinions and sports viewing habits can’t get into the world’s largest sports competition?

Oh well, guess there’s more time for the network to find ‘Titletown.‘

Talk about a shocker. Tim Russert died today from a heart attack. He was 58.

As a life-long fan of ‘Meet the Press,’ it’s sad to even write that one of the great political journalists of the last 50 years is gone. I always loved the way he asked the hard questions, and verbalized what the pulse of the voting public was on the real issues.

What makes it sadder, is that many political journalists are being raised in a culture where celebrity notoriety and shouting style dominates how the messages are delivered. Partisan politics infiltrate real answers being sought and spoken to. Russert was above all of that.

And now he’s above it all.

We couldn’t rely on BET to do it, and the jury is still out on T.V. One. Should we look to J.C. Watts to deliver on the promise of a news channel with a focus on minority issues?

I get the distinct feeling that the channel won’t be slanted toward conservative views, but with media culture today, you never know which way the dollar can spin a network. Either way it goes, I’m sure he’ll do a lot better than Col. Sanders.

You might hear a lot of people heaping superlatives upon the HBO series, “The Wire.” It’s no small exaggeration to call the show one of the most important productions in television history, as it has captivated audiences across a broad range of cultural and racial borders and shown all of us what we truly are.

But you know how it goes with good things, and so the same fate must befall “The Wire.” It will live on in syndication, but the grittiness will surely be washed thoroughly through the network filters for general consumption. Oh, what a moral society we are; protecting ourselves from the vulgarities on the airwaves, even as we served as the greatest inspiration for it’s content.

The Wire showed many arching themes over a number of sultry, and sometimes frightening backdrops. In five years, you could tie every story, every resolution to one common theme of selfishness and self-preservation. No matter who’s side you were on, who you rooted for, you knew that the object of your adulation wasn’t in it for anyone else but themselves.

And yet, there was a redeeming quality through everyone involved with this series. The fulfillment of greater expectations, and burning desire to escape complacency. Even in the flaws of each and every character, they were searching for a way to be more than they inevitably knew they would turn out to be. That’s admirable. That hits home.

Would it be a stretch to say that within the African-American community specifically, “The Wire” finale will rank up there with some of the most important moments in television history? No, it’s not the “I Have A Dream” speech. It’s not Tommie Smith and John Carlos in 68′. It’s certainly not ‘Roots’ and it’s just behind the final episode of the ‘Cosby Show.’ But each of those moments in black television history are all about promise. About what we could and should be as a proud people.

“The Wire” is an unapologetic look at where we are right now. And while it may be exaggerated for cinematic value, there’s nothing poetically redeeming about the crisis in the black community, and certainly no exaggerations about its generational effects.

You can lament the license the writers take with the characters’ violent and wart-covered morality, but you can’t discount their contribution to an honest dialog on the urban emergency. Television will probably never see another character like Omar; a homosexual murderer who preys on drug dealers. Has there ever been more of an honorable black male character in the American one-hour drama? Has there ever been a black male character more deserving of our attention? No, a gay black man deserves it. Imagine that.

For as much as the story is told through violence, degradation and dishonor, there’s that specific glimmer of hope that they will get their act together one day and get it right.

And then they don’t.

Fortunately, we get to watch it to the end and continue hoping. In the hopes that one day, we’ll get it right.

I generally hate to watch the early episodes of American Idol. I don’t suffer fools that aren’t paid for their comedy outside of my family, and I really hat to see people genuinely trying to sing that are just plain horrible. Once the people with true talent hit the floor, then I can get into it.

But there was one contest who gave me one of the hardest laughs I’ve ever had in life. Martik Manoukian aka “Excentric” aka “Panther Man.” If you don’t remember it or haven’t seen it…

An absolutely ridiculous audition and dumb ass dance. I wouldn’t even have given it a second look for the Gong Show. But it has created a small following of imitators on youtube, so for your enjoyment…

And the most uncanny imitation…

Please believe, this isn’t to mock the Panther or his fans. It’s more to congratulate him on truly believing in and following his dream. For you see, the Panther is still on the prowl.

Homey even got himself a producer/collaborator.

And this just goes to show you, any entertainer’s ultimate destination shouldn’t be Hollywood, but the heart of his fans.