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News and Notes from Press Tour

Rick Porter, Daniel Fienberg and Brill Bundy | Zap2It.com

PASADENA, Calif. - Every July, the producers and stars of all the new fall TV series, and the network executives who greenlit them, descend on a hotel in Southern California to tell a roomful of ornery critics that this is gonna be their year. Sometimes, they're even right.

It's called press tour, and Zap2it will be on hand to cover both the big news (which appears elsewhere on the site) and the little asides from the nonstop parade of press conferences and parties in and around the Ritz-Carlton in Pasadena (which sounds glamorous, and is probably very nice for the out-of-town critics staying there. Unfortunately, we have to drive every day).

Check in early and often for the latest from what's known as "the Death March with cocktails."

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    Tuesday, July 25

    AMW: America's Most Wacky

    "Now, I don't want to sound like a vigilante. That's something that I don't believe in..."

    Those words are spoken by John Walsh, whose "America's Most Wanted" series specifically urges viewers at home to take the law into their own hands in apprehending violent criminals.

    The vast majority of critics skip John Walsh's Tuesday panel, figuring that pool time would be more valuable than another session for a show that's been on the air forever and probably doesn't much rely on positive reviews to stir up its audience.

    One thing they didn't count on: John Walsh has become Batman, and not necessarily DC Comics' old school moody, but noble Batman. I'm talking Frank Miller-style Scary Batman, where you know the guy is probably on the side of moral righteousness, but it's hard not to be terrified anyway. Some choice quotes:

  • "I said I was kidding when I was talking to the Senate and I said they were talking about electronic monitoring, which is big and unwieldy for the sex offenders, and that some of these guys, no matter what the law in their state was, would have to wear one for 20 years or whatever. I said implant it in their anus and if they go outside the radius, explode it and that would send a big message. It was a joke. Nobody thought it was funny."

  • "I'm all for criminals doing their time, all for rehabilitation, all for a second chance." followed almost immediately by "I say put the pedophiles down in the yard. Put them in there. Let them do the time with the rest of the guys. Let them see what it's like to be terrorized by a 250-pound guy."

    Things got more heated, though, when a photographer under FOX's employee elected to get into an extended and rather intense conversation with Walsh about marking sexual offenders. They were on so much on the same page that when Walsh mentioned bracelets for perpetrators, the photographer replied, "Not bracelets, not bracelets. The bracelets bulls***. The bracelets bulls***, John, you know that. It's BS." Walsh then suggested putting embedded GPS chips, to which the photographer said, "I'll say bury it deep inside them, is what I say. I don't care how big it is," which earned Walsh's scary reply, "I love your attitude."

    The microphone was eventually removed from the photographer, a long-time freelancer for the network. He was later lectured by people both within the TCA and within the network and relieved of his duties. The Walsh session was, not surprisingly, cut short.

    -DF

    • Related topic galleries: Mick Jagger, Natural Disasters, Health and Safety at School, Film Festivals, Ving Rhames, Harry Potter, Swimming

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