TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV stories to read from TVwithThinus - 11 April 2018.

Here's the latest news about TV that I read and that you should read too:

■ Trashy TV reporter AJ Bayatpour assaults a competitor at an American football game.
And an unhinged idiot punched a TV reporter in New York


■ Ant dumped: ITV's alcoholic presenter Ant McPartlin who's back in rehab over drugs and drinking problems has been dumped from the latest season of ITV's Britain's Got Talent with Declan Donnelly who will be presenting on his own.
ITV sends Ant "all our love". It comes after the co-presenter of Saturday Night Takeaway on ITV Choice (DStv 123) was arrested last month on drunk driving charges and also vanished from that show.


■ German TV is starting to sanitise its television series by not wanting to portray the true evil of Nazi Germany.

■ Zimbabwe students at the Harare Institute of Technology (HIT) are furious after their DStv is cut off, start protest action over their lack of entertainment.


■ In a leaked recording of a tense staff meeting of CNN International (DStv 401) in London, managing director Tony Maddox said he is "surprised by this, shocked and disappointed" by the results of an internal gender pay gap survey as CNN executives were confronted by female employees, including Christiane Amanpour over being paid less than men at CNN.


■ Catt Sadler who left E! for not wanting to pay her as much as much as her male co-anchor Jason Kennedy, says she should have asked E! Entertainment (DStv 124) for more money much earlie from the NBCUniversal Networks channel that's one of the places mired in a gender pay gap controversy.
She's also wrote a must-read essay for Vanity Fair over equal pay E! was asked to comment but refused.


■ FOX Networks Group's offices in West-London raided by European Commission investigators who seized documents and computers and who will remain on the premises on Wednesday and Thursday. The reason for the raid isn't clear. FNG says it iscooperating with the inspection.

■ What viewers would like to see more of in the second season of Being Bonang on 1Magic (DStv 103).

■ Let this sink in: Netflix does a Los Angeles premiere for its new TV show Lost in Space (for a TV show, not a movie) at the Cinerama Dome with the cast and full press in attendance where the show is previewed with reviews from TV critics coming out hours later. Meanwhile e.tv can't get its act together for a proper launch for its new local drama series Imbewu. How very sad.

E! dumps 12-year veteran red carpet producer Aileen Gram-Moreno who says E! fired her because she failed to prevent Eva Longoria from talking about E!'s unequal pay and Catt Sadler on air.

The look keeps getting worse and uglier for E! Entertainment (DStv 124) with E! that has fired a producer who has been working on its red carpet coverage for the past 12 years and who says she was replaced by a man because she allowed Eva Longoria on-air to slam E! about its lack of equal pay for Catt Sadler.

Amidst Hollywood's #MeToo movement and controversy swirling around Ryan Seacrest with allegations of sexual harassment that's not going away, The New York Times reports that E! fired producer Aileen Gram-Moreno for not properly sanitising and censoring E!'s coverage of celebrities like Eva Longoria who at the Golden Globe awards called E! out over its trash treatment of Catt Sadler.

Aileen Gram-Moreno says she was supposed to prevent clips from being broadcast on the NBCUniversal channel that was seen globally - including South Africa and Africa, of other stars and Eva Longoria who at the Golden Globe awards said "We support gender equity and equal pay. And we hope that E! follows the lead with Catt as well. We stand with you, Catt."

Aileen Gram-Moreno has now filed a complaint with America's Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, saying that she has been unfairly terminated and replaced by a man.

In her complaint, Aileen Gram-Moreno reveals how E! allegedly pre-censors its red carpet coverage to prevent celebrities from saying things E! and NBCUniversal don't want viewers to hear.

Aileen Gram-Moreno says that after Debra Messing sharply criticised E! over its unequal pay with Catt Sadler, E! executives told her to scan all interviews before broadcast to "weed out" any further mentions of Catt Sadler.

"The said, if there's any mention of Catt Sadler in the preshow, make sure you flag it. Aileen Gram-Moreno told The New York Times that E! is "censoring celebrities; it’s just not a good idea in my humble opinion. But it wasn’t my decision."

Aileen Gram-Moreno in her complaints says she was fired 5 days after the Golden Globes from all upcoming shows she had been booked for, including the Screen Actors Guild Awards, the Grammys and the Oscars. "No-one discussed the issue with me before making the decision to terminate me."

Adam Stotsky, E! president, admitted to The New York Times that E! pre-screened and wanted to know ahead of time about any Catt Sadler mentions and said "We don’t agree with Debra Messing’s assertion" and that E! "is not in the business of being a megaphone for an inaccurate story."

Adam Stotsky told The New York Times that Aileen Gram-Moreno was fired because "of a pattern of poor performance".

Weirdly E! and NBCUniversal never once in the past 12 years complained about Aileen Gram-Moreno's work, and actually gave her a performance -based raise 5 years ago.

E! in a statement says "For the past decade Aileen Gram-Moreno was a freelancer who worked an average of 20 days per year solely for our red carpet coverage. After the Golden Globes, she was asked not to return due to job performance issues. Following an attempt to force E! to pay for her silence Aileen Gram-Moreno is now spreading misleading and inaccurate information."

Aileen Gram-Moreno’s attorney, Katherine Atkinson in a statement says "In the 12 years Aileen has been working on red carpet shows for E! they never once raised a performance issue."

"That is a convenient excuse for covering up attempts to silence women speaking out. Employers often attack women speaking out about discrimination - so I am disappointed in E! but not surprised."

"E! can’t have it both ways. They support their position that they were not censoring references to Catt Sadler by pointing to the Eva Longoria interview. But they fired my client for failing to censor that very interview."

"If you attempt to censor, and then fire the person for not catching the speech you intended to censor for letting it go through, you can’t then claim that you aren’t so bad after all because you 'let' it air. Their argument defies logic."

SHOCKER. Lying E! boss, Frances Berwick, says Catt Sadler who quit E! over pay disparity was getting paid less than Jason Kennedy because Catt 'was daytime' and Jason 'is on prime time' - only Catt was actually co-hosting E! News in prime time.

The lying Frances Berwick, president of NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment’s lifestyle networks that includes E! Entertainment (DStv 124), shocked on Tuesday when she said that Catt Sadler didn't deserve equal pay with Jason Kennedy because Catt Sadler was "daytime" and Jason Kennedy was "prime time".

Last month Catt Sadler decided to quit E! Entertainment after E! and NBCUniversal refused to pay her equal to her male counterpart on E! News, revealing that Jason Kennedy earned almost double what she did.

E! didn't want to talk about it then, or since, saying only in a statement that "E! compensates employees fairly and appropriately based on their roles, regardless of gender".

On Tuesday Frances Berwick - a woman - had the audacity to say that "there's a lot of misinformation out there" when she addressed the media at the Television Critics Association's press tour during an E! session in Pasadena, California.

E! has had ample time to clear up the issue with more information and to prevent so-called "misinformation" but Frances Berwick and NBCU cohorts decided not to, but now wanted to complain about "misinformation". Why did she not talk sooner?

On Sunday E! was awkwardly dragged and shamed on-air before a global audience on E! Entertainment itself, when several actresses like Debra Messing called out E! for its trashy treatment and payment inequality during E!'s red carpet coverage of the 75th Golden Globe awards and saying “I was so shocked to hear that E! doesn’t believe in paying their female co-host the same as their male cohost.”

Frances Berwick - as the issue of unequal pay for women compared to men continues to swirl in Hollywood - must not not be actually watching E! Entertainment and E! News on a day-to-day basis (or is that a night-to-night basis?) where Catt Sadler as E! News co-host appeared next to Jason Kennedy for years during prime time.

In fact, Catt Sadler has been on E! News during the night time and prime time for years before Jason Kennedy ever showed up, with Frances Berwick only embarrassing herself in front of the media with her hilariously inept statements.

E! News is a prime time show broadcast in the United States during the evening, as well as on NBCUniversal International Networks's E! channel feeds in South Africa, across Africa and the Middle East.

In South Africa for instance, any given's day's episode from the United States is shown on MultiChoice's DStv the day after, during prime time - the same "day"-part on the schedule as where it is shown in America.

Speaking to the press, Frances Berwick had the audacity to tell the media that "Jason Kennedy and Catt Sadler had different roles, and therefore different salaries".

"Catt was focused on daytime; Jason Kennedy is on prime evening news, plus red carpet. Our employees’ salaries are based on their roles and their expertise, regardless of gender. So we wish Catt well, but I hope that sets the record straight on that."

Dear Fran - it doesn't.

Stop the incompetence and being an embarrassment to E!, love, and switch on your TV set if you have one.

Put it on E!, and pull some episodes from the E! News archives before you go before the press who cover television and spout non-sensical trash.

E! Entertainment's awkward, tone-deaf 75th Golden Globe Awards red carpet coverage, asking only women about sexual harassment and the #MeToo cause - but not men.

E! Entertainment's (DStv 124) pre-show red carpet coverage of the 75th Golden Globe awards on Sunday night in Los Angeles was unbalanced (meaning unequal - not crazy), awkward, cringe-worthy and coming across as out of touch and tone-deaf - raising questions about the extent to which E! and the NBCUniversal people running E! News are really still in touch with how Hollywood has changed and is changing.

The coverage of the 75th Golden Globes on E! late on Sunday night and in the early hours of Monday morning - South African and African time - was quite insightful for the way in which E! showed on E! how distant and somehow detached the NBCUniversal pay-TV channel that covers the world of entertainment, has seemingly become.

For a channel that for years has made as if it has the "inside track" on Hollywood's entertainment biz, E!'s Sunday night Golden Globe coverage showed E! to not just be somehow "out of the loop", but even worse: part of the problem.

Whose to blame for this? Ryan Seacrest Productions? Co-hosts Giuliana Rancic and Ryan Seacrest who haven't been a day-to-day part of E! and E! News for years but who now only parachute in for red carpet coverage?

Or the litany of unqualified "showbizzy" quacks E! lets loose to screech and squeal for 4 hours without substance?

NBCUniversal and E!'s Golden Globes red carpet coverage team for its Countdown to the Red Carpet: The 2018 Golden Globe Awards seemed wholly - wholly - unprepared, unqualified and lazy for this year's awards ceremony, unable to substantively cover it in a new way, given how the atmosphere and themes in Hollywood - and impacting on the Golden Globes - had changed.

As women (and men) wore black as part of the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements and campaigns, E! didn't seem to have any real interest, or any real plan on covering it comprehensively or properly - as if E! executives have put zero thought into it. It showed.

E!'s Giuliana Rancic said E! would ask this year "why you wearing black tonight? instead of "who you wearing" - odd, because it's not supposed to be a binary issue.

E! should be able to ask lots of different questions of Hollywood celebrities. It's not necessary for anything to be either a "just this" or a "just that" case.

If anything, E! should simply (have been) able to broaden its own scope by including an exploration of the issue of sexual harassment in Hollywood for a deeper perspective, instead of going for an overly-fixated focus on one issue (which it didn't even do), and discarding another.

E! should be able to - and can - ask people about their clothes and their causes.

Even with that said, E!'s Live From the Red Carpet: 2018 Golden Globes came across as reluctant to even really explore and ask celebrities about #MeToo and #TimesUp and was very one dimensional in its approach.

While Giuliana Rancic - very robot-like as if it's the one default, go-to question she remembers - asked some women, Ryan Seacrest couldn't even be bothered to try and ask any men.

E! peppered actress after actress with questions about workplace discrimination, sexual misconduct and gender disparity - but with a kind of heavy-handed approach, lacking any organic subtlety.

Yet E! and especially Ryan Seacrest - himself accused of misconduct and under investigation - couldn't get himself to ask a single man questions around the same topics.

E! seemed weirdly lost on Sunday night, or at the very least "behind" the times.

Then of course there were Debra Messing, Eva Longoria, Laura Dern, Sarah Jessica Parker and others also took to E! to slam E! during its live coverage, about its refusal to pay women as much as men for doing the same job and over how badly E! treated Catt Sadler who decided to quit because of NBCUniversal's gender pay gap at E!.

Interestingly celebrities spoke more on E! about the pay disparity between men and women - an issue where E! is part of the problem - than what E! has been willing to talk about since December 2017.

Some unknown person named Justin Sylvester was one of the B-grade presenters roped in by E! to do its backdoor coverage. Of course if you hire amateur, you get amateur, and the B-graders didn't disappoint, making E!'s Golden Globe red carpet coverage look oddly off-kilter.

E!'s Kristin Dos Santos who was also in the "skybox" again this year remains imminently qualified, knowledgeable and experienced to do red carpet coverage at a TV and film awards ceremony.

The problem is the other who-are-they's that E! has fanning out for red carpet titbits and who are neither skilled, not informed.

"Our coverage is woke!" exclaimed the one called Justin Sylvester, clueless about the irony of just how out-of-touch he made E! look as the gaggle of up-and-comers huddled at the drop-off area where the stars' limousines stop before they start their red carpet walk.

Will NBCUniversal and E! executives, as well as E! News staffers go and sit and do a post mortem to try and improve and better align future red carpet coverage with how the showbiz world as an industry but also the world at large is and has been changing? They really should.

E! seems to wants to do red carpet coverage like how Joan Rivers did it in her heydays. There's nothing per se wrong with that, but E! either missed the memo or refuses to read like Donald Trump, while the world has changed.

Should NBCUniversal and E! look at upskilling and possibly trying to find better people with the right knowledge and tact to do better red carpet coverage at awards shows where presenters have to know enough, and know what to do, as well as be able to tread water waiting for celebrities to arrive?

Definitely, if it wants to remain relevant.

E!'s robocall-like, one dimensional Golden Globe coverage was phlegmy and its lack of questions about #MeToo to men, very self-evident of how ingrained its own gender disparity issues actually are at E!.

The world has changed and it's time for E! to wake up and to adapt; to change and organically broaden its red carpet coverage.

E! seems yet to realise that its award show coverage will become irrelevant if it continues to hark on with the same-old, same-old, instead of purposefully strategising on how to realign itself with how the red carpet - and those who walk on it - has evolved.

E! can - and must - look at itself, and evolve to do better.

Will & Grace’s Debra Messing and other actresses drag E! Entertainment on E!'s own red carpet at the 75th Golden Globe Awards over its pay gap disparity and refusing to pay women as much as men.

The Will & Grace star Debra Messing walked the red carpet on Sunday evening at the 75th Golden Globe Awards and dragged E! Entertainment (DStv 124) on its own red carpet with red carpet co-host Giuliana Rancic, slamming E! for its pay gap disparity and for refusing to pay women as much as men.

Several women wore black on Sunday to the 75th Golden Globe Awards in keeping with the theme of "Time's Up" that was also used as a social media hashtag, to draw attention to the fight over gender and racial inequality.

Laura Dern and Eva Longoria also called out and slammed E! Entertainment for its pay inequality and paying women less than men uring E! Entertainment's red carpet coverage.

When Giuliana Rancic asked Debra Messing why she is wearing black, Debra Messing said "I am wearing black to thank and honour all of the brave whistle-blowers who came forward and shared their stories of harassment and assault".

Then Debra Messing continued to slam E! for the way E! Entertainment is treating women, following the revelation last month that the E! News co-presenter Catt Sadler had quit since E! refused to pay her as much as Jason Kennedy, and that E! was paying Jason Kennedy almost double what she earns.

The NBCUniversal pay-TV channel doesn't want to talk about the issue and why women are being paid less, with E! that in a statement only said "E! compensates employees fairly and appropriately based on their roles, regardless of gender".

Debra Messing told Giuliana Rancic in her E!'s red carpet interview that "I was so shocked to hear that E! doesn’t believe in paying their female co-hosts the same as their male co-hosts".

"I miss Catt Sadler. We stand with her. And that’s something that can change tomorrow – we want people to start having this conversation that women are just as valuable as men.”

Giuliana Rancic said she agrees with Debra Messing, saying "this is really what this movement is all about".

“Absolutely. I think that that is really what this movement is all about, right? We have an amazing platform here. You know, there are a lot of big, great voices here tonight who can speak on behalf of people around, not just the country, around the world, who don't have those voices.”

Eva Longoria told Ryan Seacrest on E! Entertainment that "“We support gender equity and equal pay and we hope E! follows that lead with Catt as well,” while she stood alongside Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman. “We stand with you Catt.”

Sarah Jessica Parker told Ryan Seacrest on E! that she knows that paying women less and pay inequality has “affected your network”,  saying “parity, equality and safe work environments shouldn’t be controversial. And it’s across all industries”.

Catt Sadler out at E!, slams the network for paying co-presenter Jason Kennedy 'double' her salary.

Catt Sadler (43) is out at E! Entertainment (DStv 124) where she was the co-anchor of its daily E! News and is slamming E!, saying her decision to leave was because she discovered that co-anchor Jason Kennedy (36) was making almost double her pay and E! was unwilling to pay her more.

Catt Sadler has been with E! Entertainment for 12 years and appeared on E! News for the past 7, stepping in as co-anchor after first Giuliana Rancic left and then Maria Menounos left because of cancer.

Besides co-anchoring E! News, Catt Sadler, a divorced single mom since last year, also became a panelist on The Daily Pop since May.

Her last appearance was supposed to be on Wednesday but Tuesday turned out to be her abrupt E! on-air farewell. 

In the last moment of E! News on Tuesday Catt Sadler said goodbye and told Jason Kennedy: "It has been an honor sharing this room with you my friend".

E! said "We will miss having Catt on set and appreciate her many contributions".

Now in a statement on her official website, The CattWalk, Catt Sadler is slamming E! and revealing why she quit, blaming E! for discriminating against women and pay discrepancies between what the entertainment network from NBCUniversal pays women and men doing the same jobs.

Catt Sadler says it's important for her to explain why she was forced to leave E!, and that she wanted to stay on with E! but the NBCUniversal channel didn't want to pay her more.

Catt Sadler says Jason Kennedy has been making almost double what she earns, for the past several years.

E! in a statement about the pay disparity says "E! compensates employees fairly and appropriately based on their roles, regardless of gender. We appreciate Catt Sadler’s many contributions at E! News and wish her all the best following her decision to leave the network".

Catt Sadler says "an executive from E! brought something alarming to my attention - namely that there was a massive disparity in pay between my similarly situated male co-host and myself".

"More recently, when E! reached out to renew and extend my deal, I learned that he wasn't just making a little more than I was."

I have two decades experience in broadcasting and started at the network the very same year as my close friend and colleague that I adore. But how can I operate with integrity and stay on at E! if they're not willing to pay me the same as him? Or at least come close?"

"How can I accept an offer that shows they do not value my contributions and paralleled dedication all these years?  How can I not echo the actions of my heroes and stand for what is right no matter what the cost?"

"How can I remain silent when my rights under the law have been violated?"

Catt Sadler says she asked E! "for what I know I deserve and were denied repeatedly".

Here is Catt Sadler's full statement:

"I know first hand that dreams do come true. For the past twelve years, I’ve been living mine out loud as one of the hosts on E! television."

"For more than a decade I’ve walked through the doors at E! and traveled into people’s living rooms around the world.

"I’ve reported from a royal wedding, the Olympics, and the Oscars. I’ve been to film festivals in France, movie premieres in Rio, and fashion week in Paris. I’ve gotten chased by the paparazzi on camera while shopping with Kris Jenner, co-hosted shows with Khloe, Kim and Kourtney, and interviewed Kendall and Kylie back in those early Keeping Up days when no one could remember their names.

"It has been unpredictable, intoxicating, rewarding and hard work. Five days a week since February 2006. First, for The Daily 10 and later for E! News.

"Then, this year happened. Daily Pop was born. I was named host which meant double duty. Hosting a live, two-hour daytime show while also hosting E! News most nights.

" It was creatively challenging but genuinely one of the most fulfilling years of my professional career. Coincidentally, around this same time an executive from E! brought something alarming to my attention - namely, that there was a massive disparity in pay between my similarly situated male co-host and myself.

"More recently, when E! reached out to renew and extend my deal, I learned that he wasn’t just making a little more than I was. In fact, he was making close to double my salary for the past several years.

"Information is power. Or it should be. We are living in a new era. The gender pay gap is shrinking, although admittedly we have a long way to go. And well, I learned this first hand. My team and I asked for what I know I deserve and were denied repeatedly.

"Know your worth. I have two decades experience in broadcasting and started at the network the very same year as my close friend and colleague that I adore. I so lovingly refer to him as my “TV husband” and I mean it.

"But how can I operate with integrity and stay on at E! if they’re not willing to pay me the same as him? Or at least come close? How can I accept an offer that shows they do not value my contributions and paralleled dedication all these years?

"How can I not echo the actions of my heroes and stand for what is right no matter what the cost? How can I remain silent when my rights under the law have been violated?

"It’s scary. I am a single mother of two boys. The unknown can be terrifying, but it can also be the most beautiful gift. Countless brave women have come forward this year to speak their truth. Females refuse to remain silent on issues that matter most because without our voices, how will we invoke lasting change? How can we make it better for the next generation of girls if we do not stand for what is fair and just today?

"It was my desire to stay at my job. To continue entertaining our loyal viewers around the world. To keep working alongside some of the best writers, directors, and producers in the game. 

"Everyone from the studio crew, hair and makeup artists, to the security at the front door are true friends of mine. They have been my work family and I love them dearly. Unfortunately, however, my decision was made for me and I must go.

"I will find more work. I will create content with meaning. I will continue to pursue my passions while making my children proud. The way I see it, I have an obligation to be an agent for change.

It was important for me to explain my departure.

"I did not want to disappear from your television screens and have you wonder why. Thank you for your precious time all these years. Thank you for the support. Thank you for the constant exchange of ideas on social media as well. This chapter is over and a new one begins.

"Big big love, Catt"