Salon.com > CBS http://www.salon.com Wed, 22 May 2013 13:50:01 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 ABC’s Benghazi problem festers http://www.salon.com/2013/05/17/abcs_benghazi_problem/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/17/abcs_benghazi_problem/#comments Fri, 17 May 2013 15:00:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13301397 What did they know and when they did they know it? That question has been posed to the White House a lot this week -- but it should also be put to ABC News, which has been caught reporting as fact emails about the Benghazi controversy that, it turns out, were doctored by Republican aides. There's no indication that ABC and its reporter, Jonathan Karl, knew the emails were manipulated before reporting them, of course. But the network may run into trouble for overplaying its hand in claiming it had "obtained" emails that, we learn today from CBS News, were actually notes taken by GOP aides being briefed on the emails.

That might be less of a problem if the characterization of the emails was accurate. It was not.

Here's a timeline of ABC's role in the matter:

Friday, May 10 - Morning: Karl's explosive report that ABC had obtained 12 different versions of the administration's talking points on the Benghazi attack quickly made the controversy the top news item of the day as every other news organization rushed to aggregate and digest his report (including Salon).

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/17/abcs_benghazi_problem/feed/ 24 Neil Patrick Harris to host 2013 Tony Awards http://www.salon.com/2013/05/09/neil_patrick_harris_to_host_2013_tony_awards_ap/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/09/neil_patrick_harris_to_host_2013_tony_awards_ap/#comments Thu, 09 May 2013 16:29:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13293892  

NEW YORK — Neil Patrick Harris will be back for his fourth turn as host of the Tony Awards.The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing, joint producers of the show that honors the best of Broadway, said Thursday the 67th annual awards will be broadcast live by CBS from Radio City Music Hall on June 9.

In a statement, Harris said he was excited to be back hosting the Tonys, adding: “The show will rock!”Harris previously hosted the Tonys last year and in 2011 and 2009.

Last year’s telecast at the intimate Beacon Theatre was seen by 6 million viewers, down significantly from 2011’s 6.9 million. It was also the second-lowest ratings for the Tony Awards since 1988, though it was up against the season finale of AMC’s “Mad Men.”

The 39-year-old Harris has starred in three Broadway productions, including “Assassins,” ‘’Proof,” opposite Anne Heche, and as the exuberant master of ceremonies in “Cabaret.” He currently stars as dapper ladies’ man Barney Stinson on CBS’ sitcom hit “How I Met Your Mother.”

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/09/neil_patrick_harris_to_host_2013_tony_awards_ap/feed/ 5 Sunday shows dissect the Boston attacks http://www.salon.com/2013/04/21/sunday_shows_dissect_the_boston_attacks/ http://www.salon.com/2013/04/21/sunday_shows_dissect_the_boston_attacks/#comments Sun, 21 Apr 2013 17:27:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13277815 Today’s Sunday shows, like everyone else, tried to pick apart the details of how and why the terrorist attacks occurred in Boston this week. On CBS’s “Face the Nation” Bob Schieffer interviewed Rep. Mike McCaul (R.-Texas), Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee.

“My theory is [Tamerlan Tsarnaev] was radicalized by 2009, 2010,” McCaul said. “Reports show the Russian Intelligence Service reach out to our law enforcement to interview this individual, which they did. He was on the radar, then he got off the radar. Then he travels overseas. I would assume the Russians would have some intelligence on this individual.”

Although he lacks direct evidence McCaul appeared to suggest that Tamerlan, who reportedly had a bomb strapped to his chest when he was shot, had ties to international terrorist networks. “I think another important point [is] the tools of trade craft used here,” McCaul said. “This pressure cooker device is very similar to what the Taliban in Pakistan use. The idea that they could make pipe bombs and then there are reports they had suicide vests, all point to the fact that this was…”

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/04/21/sunday_shows_dissect_the_boston_attacks/feed/ 3 The sprinting, sloppy TV news coverage of the Boston manhunt http://www.salon.com/2013/04/19/the_sprinting_sloppy_tv_news_coverage_of_the_boston_manhunt/ http://www.salon.com/2013/04/19/the_sprinting_sloppy_tv_news_coverage_of_the_boston_manhunt/#comments Fri, 19 Apr 2013 20:35:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13276692 If you woke up after 7:30 EDT this morning, there have been no new developments in the manhunt for Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, the white-hat-wearing 19-year-old suspect in the Boston bombing, since you got out of bed. If you have been following the story closely on television — or Twitter — it most certainly feels like this could not be the case. Over the past nine hours, news coverage has been in a flat-out sprint, continuous and unending, huffing and puffing to supply us with the latest news when there is no new latest news. The news networks are treading water but trying to make it look like they are free-styling by hysterically flailing their arms in a forward motion. At one of the rare moments when there is a huge, breaking news story, TV news is having just as rocky, sloppy and manipulative a time filling its schedule as when it is struggling to find stories to cover. How can this be?

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/04/19/the_sprinting_sloppy_tv_news_coverage_of_the_boston_manhunt/feed/ 18 Let’s decide the budget ourselves http://www.salon.com/2013/03/27/lets_decide_the_budget_ourselves_partner/ http://www.salon.com/2013/03/27/lets_decide_the_budget_ourselves_partner/#comments Wed, 27 Mar 2013 16:33:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13253532 Next New Deal It has been nearly a month since the sequester went into effect, yet little is being done to reverse the deep cuts. It is a sad fact that our new normal is the inability to come to a compromise in Washington.

Washington has failed the American people over and over again, and yet at each manufactured crisis we cross our fingers and hope that things will be different the next time. With such intense gridlock, it's no wonder that Americans have thrown up their hands. According to a 2011 CBS News poll, 80 percent of those surveyed believe that Congress is more interested in serving the needs of special interest groups than the constituents they purport to represent.

So why do Americans simply hope for the best? Why do we not stand up and demand a change? Perhaps it is because the idea of changing the culture of Washington is too daunting, too impossible. But Americans can start building a new system from the ground up that incorporates their voices into the political process.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/03/27/lets_decide_the_budget_ourselves_partner/feed/ 1 David Gregory irate about soda, meh on civil rights http://www.salon.com/2013/03/25/does_tv_news_care_more_about_soda_than_civil_rights/ http://www.salon.com/2013/03/25/does_tv_news_care_more_about_soda_than_civil_rights/#comments Mon, 25 Mar 2013 13:10:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13250760 In New York City, Mayor Michael Bloomberg's NYPD is stopping large numbers of innocent people walking down the street each day -- questioning them as to their whereabouts and invasively frisking their bodies in a hunt for weapons and drugs. The stops are almost entirely (nearly nine in 10) targeting young black and Latino men. The overwhelming majority of those stopped are doing nothing wrong (just 6 percent of stops lead to arrests, and a small fraction of those are ever prosecuted). And it's having a deleterious effect on the psyche of the targets (as well as community relations with police).

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/03/25/does_tv_news_care_more_about_soda_than_civil_rights/feed/ 13 Sunday show roundup: Immigration, guns and money http://www.salon.com/2013/03/10/sunday_show_roundup_immigration_guns_and_money/ http://www.salon.com/2013/03/10/sunday_show_roundup_immigration_guns_and_money/#comments Sun, 10 Mar 2013 17:34:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13224617 Here are the highlights from today's political gabfests:

Jeb Bush

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush made a full-fledged assault on the Sunday shows today attempting to clarify his position on immigration. Last week he said there should not be a “path to citizenship” for undocumented immigrants, a view he expressed in his new book, “Immigration Wars,” which was written before Mitt Romney got thumped in November and the Republican Party immediately decided that its hard-line immigration stance was not going to fly given current demographic trends. On "Face the Nation," Bush calibrated his stance to bring it more in line with mainstream GOP opinion or what mainstream GOP opinion could become:

I haven't changed. The book was written to try to create a blueprint for conservatives that were reluctant to embrace comprehensive reform, to give them perhaps a set of views that they could embrace. I support a path to legalization or citizenship so long as the path for people that have been waiting patiently is easier and costs less, the legal entrance to our country, than illegal entrance.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/03/10/sunday_show_roundup_immigration_guns_and_money/feed/ 7 Salon’s 2013 Grammy Awards liveblog http://www.salon.com/2013/02/11/salons_2013_grammy_awards_liveblog/ http://www.salon.com/2013/02/11/salons_2013_grammy_awards_liveblog/#comments Mon, 11 Feb 2013 00:55:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13195018 [liveblog id=63]

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/02/11/salons_2013_grammy_awards_liveblog/feed/ 0 Networks order pilots for “Beverly Hills Cop” remake and more Seth MacFarlane http://www.salon.com/2013/01/23/networks_order_pilots_for_beverly_hills_cop_remake_and_more_seth_macfarlane/ http://www.salon.com/2013/01/23/networks_order_pilots_for_beverly_hills_cop_remake_and_more_seth_macfarlane/#comments Wed, 23 Jan 2013 14:05:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13179447 Fox, NBC, ABC and CBS have lunged into the new year by picking up 22 pilot orders, Variety reports, initiating the next intense wave of competition to land a series deal among show producers, writers and actors.

NBC has ordered the most, at seven, including three dramas and four comedies from the likes of "Law and Order's" Dick Wolf and "Arrested Development's" Jason Bateman. Bateman will co-produce an as-of-yet untitled family-oriented comedy by D.J. Nash. Wolf, known mostly for crime dramas, will this year produce a comedy based on "Girlfriend in a Coma" by Douglas Coupland, about a 34-year-old woman who awakens from a long coma to learn she has a 17 year-old daughter. One of the most novel concepts in the network's lineup, however, comes from "Lost's" Cartlon Cuse: "The Sixth Gun," which TVGuide describes as "a supernatural Western that follows the story of six mythical guns" is based on the eponymous best-selling graphic novel.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/01/23/networks_order_pilots_for_beverly_hills_cop_remake_and_more_seth_macfarlane/feed/ 1 The CNET-CBS TV technology debacle http://www.salon.com/2013/01/14/the_cnet_cbs_tv_technology_debacle/ http://www.salon.com/2013/01/14/the_cnet_cbs_tv_technology_debacle/#comments Mon, 14 Jan 2013 21:54:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13171068 What did the online technology news network CNET get for sending a 90-strong legion of reporters, editors and other staff to the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas? A big fat conflict-of-interest mess. Staffers are quitting in protest, executives at both CNET and its corporate parent, CBS, are coming off as craven tools, and a story that CNET should own -- the future of TV -- has turned around and bitten the network on its ass.

The Verge's Joshua Topolsky has the most details of a debacle that is both awful and kind of hilarious. Last week, 40 CNET staffers gathered together to vote on their official "Best of CES winner." The prize went to the Dish Hopper, an every-bell-and-whistle-possible DVR cooked up by the Dish Network that does all kinds of neat things, like stream shows to your iPad.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/01/14/the_cnet_cbs_tv_technology_debacle/feed/ 31 Why didn’t anyone ask Christie about climate change? http://www.salon.com/2013/01/10/why_didnt_anyone_ask_christie_about_climate_change/ http://www.salon.com/2013/01/10/why_didnt_anyone_ask_christie_about_climate_change/#comments Thu, 10 Jan 2013 14:13:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13166938 If you watched any news on television Wednesday, you almost certainly caught a glimpse of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie during his stunning five -- yes five! -- national television interviews about Hurricane Sandy. The interviews with ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC and Fox Business, not surprisingly, featured plenty of 2016 presidential speculation, some conversation about the state of the Republican Party and a bit of discussion about how hard the New Jersey shoreline was hit by the storm.

However, did you happen to notice that something was missing? Yeah, me too. Somehow, in interviews with every major national television news organization about an unprecedentedly severe weather event, Christie wasn't asked about climate change. That's right, he wasn't asked about whether Hurricane Sandy changes his views on climate change or whether Hurricane Sandy means we should address climate change more urgently. He wasn't asked whether homes should be rebuilt in New Jersey's climate-change-threatened areas. He wasn't even asked why he didn't mention climate change in his first state of the state following the hurricane.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/01/10/why_didnt_anyone_ask_christie_about_climate_change/feed/ 9 CBS drama “Hawaii Five-0″ plans choose-your-own ending episode http://www.salon.com/2013/01/03/cbs_drama_hawaii_five_0_plans_choose_your_own_ending_episode/ http://www.salon.com/2013/01/03/cbs_drama_hawaii_five_0_plans_choose_your_own_ending_episode/#comments Thu, 03 Jan 2013 21:36:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13161228 The reimagination of the 1968-1980 show "Hawaii Five-O," called "Hawaii Five-0" (zero), has announced that, for the first time ever, a prime-time drama will allow audiences to decide how an episode ends in real time.

On Jan. 14, viewers will log into CBS and Twitter to vote for one of three alternate endings in an episode that investigates the death of an Oahu State University professor. “I've always felt the most fun aspect of watching a mystery is trying to figure out ‘whodunit,’” executive producer Peter Lenkov said.  “Now the 'Hawaii Five-0' viewers will actually get the chance to tell us who they think committed the crime and we will listen. I love that our dedicated and attentive fans will actually play a part in resolving our story.”

But wait -- isn't the best part of a murder mystery being surprised by the reveal? Well, let's hope that the move to involve the audience is not part of a wider social experiment that results in a twisted new genre of scripted reality TV shows reality scripted TV shows.

CBS plans to publish all three alternate endings on CBS.com after the episode airs. Watch the promo below:

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/01/03/cbs_drama_hawaii_five_0_plans_choose_your_own_ending_episode/feed/ 0 Frank Luntz: “I don’t think the NRA is listening” http://www.salon.com/2012/12/26/frank_luntz_i_don%e2%80%99t_think_the_nra_is_listening/ http://www.salon.com/2012/12/26/frank_luntz_i_don%e2%80%99t_think_the_nra_is_listening/#comments Wed, 26 Dec 2012 15:38:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13154791 On "CBS This Morning," GOP pollster Frank Luntz said "I don’t think the NRA is listening" to Americans on gun control.

“The public wants guns out of the schools, not in the schools,” he said. “And they're not asking for a security official or someone else. I don’t think the NRA is listening. I don’t think they understand most Americans would protect the Second Amendment rights and yet agree with the idea that not every human being should own a gun, not every gun should be available at any time, anywhere, for anyone."

Watch:

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/12/26/frank_luntz_i_don%e2%80%99t_think_the_nra_is_listening/feed/ 13 Don’t sell out progressives, Barack! http://www.salon.com/2012/12/18/dont_sell_out_progressives_barack/ http://www.salon.com/2012/12/18/dont_sell_out_progressives_barack/#comments Tue, 18 Dec 2012 21:06:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13148978 Next New Deal That didn’t last nearly as long as I had hoped. I put on my Obama baseball cap – the one I picked up from a street vendor walking to the inauguration four years ago – a few weeks before the November election. I’ve worn it every day since, to both celebrate his victory and cheer on the president for keeping to a progressive promise in the fiscal negotiations. Part of that promise was telling the DesMoines Register that Social Security benefits should not be cut. But it looks like my cap is going back on the shelf if reports that Obama is willing to cut Social Security benefits prove to be true.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/12/18/dont_sell_out_progressives_barack/feed/ 15 2013 Grammy nominees announced http://www.salon.com/2012/12/06/2013_grammy_nominees/ http://www.salon.com/2012/12/06/2013_grammy_nominees/#comments Thu, 06 Dec 2012 04:09:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13116526 Rapper LL Cool J and six-time Grammy winner Taylor Swift co-hosted tonight's Grammy nominations concert in Swift's hometown of Nashville. In addition to honoring the Grammy nominees, the show paid tribute to folk legend Johnny Cash and hosted performances by Maroon 5, fun. ft. Janelle Monae, the Band Perry and Dierks Bentley, Luke Bryan, Ne-Yo and the Who.

Country singer Hunter Hayes sang the nominees for Pop Vocal Album:
Kelly Clarkson, "Stronger"
Florence + the Machine, "Ceremonials"
fun., "Some Nights"
Maroon 5, "Overexposed"
P!nk, "The Truth About Love"

Grammy winner Sheryl Crowe and country singer Chris Young announced Record of the Year:
The Black Keys, "Lonely Boy"
Kelly Clarkson, "Stronger"
fun. ft. Janelle Monae, "We Are Young"
Gotye ft. Kimbra, "Somebody That I Used to Know"
Frank Ocean, "Thinkin Bout You"
Taylor Swift, "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together"

It was around this time, 30 minutes into the performance, that Bieber fans started collectively sweating, scared that the artist wouldn't win a coveted nomination (#BieberForGrammy and #JustinDeservesAGrammy were both trending in the U.S.):

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/12/06/2013_grammy_nominees/feed/ 6 Charlie Sheen says “Two and a Half Men” is cursed http://www.salon.com/2012/11/28/charlie_sheen_says_two_and_a_half_men_is_cursed/ http://www.salon.com/2012/11/28/charlie_sheen_says_two_and_a_half_men_is_cursed/#comments Wed, 28 Nov 2012 17:18:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13109260 Former "Two and a Half Men" star and public disaster Charlie Sheen has officially weighed in on his former co-star's bizarre outburst, in which Angus T. Jones called the show "filth" and urged viewers not to watch the show that Jones stars in. Jones has since apologized and Sheen said the outburst was uncharacteristic. “Obviously, not having been there for some time, the Angus T. Jones that I knew and still love is not the same guy I saw on YouTube yesterday," he said to TMZ.

But Sheen, himself a walking hyperbole, blamed the show's creator, Chuck Lorre, for Jones' "Hale-Bopp-like meltdown," saying, “I dare anyone to spend 10 years in the laugh-track that is Chuck Lorre’s hive of oppression and not suffer some form of an emotional tsunami.”  Sheen told E! Online, "It is radically clear to me that the show is cursed."

 

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/11/28/charlie_sheen_says_two_and_a_half_men_is_cursed/feed/ 2 How Mitt suckered his fat-cat donors http://www.salon.com/2012/11/21/how_mitt_suckered_his_fat_cat_donors/ http://www.salon.com/2012/11/21/how_mitt_suckered_his_fat_cat_donors/#comments Wed, 21 Nov 2012 13:58:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13104614 AlterNet The big chin-scratching story in the aftermath of the 2012 campaign is that the Romney-Ryan campaign was “shell-shocked” by its loss to Barack Obama. "I don't think there was one person who saw this coming," a senior adviser to the campaign told CBS. “There's nothing worse than when you think you're going to win, and you don't,” said another. “It was like a sucker punch."

The most likely explanation for that yawning disconnect is that the campaign figured it was better to appear to be entirely clueless about the race than acknowledge that it had been bullshitting its fat-cat donors about Romney's chances of winning in order to keep the cash spigot open.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/11/21/how_mitt_suckered_his_fat_cat_donors/feed/ 20 Must-see morning clip: Chris Christie’s multitasking http://www.salon.com/2012/11/21/must_see_morning_clip_chris_christies_multi_tasking/ http://www.salon.com/2012/11/21/must_see_morning_clip_chris_christies_multi_tasking/#comments Wed, 21 Nov 2012 13:31:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13104587 David Letterman had nothing but praise for Chris Christie on his show last night, and was particularly impressed with how the New Jersey governor multitasks, talking about the future of the Republican Party along with his Thanksgiving prep. Watch:

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/11/21/must_see_morning_clip_chris_christies_multi_tasking/feed/ 0 Tens of thousands already without power http://www.salon.com/2012/10/29/tens_of_thousands_already_without_power/ http://www.salon.com/2012/10/29/tens_of_thousands_already_without_power/#comments Mon, 29 Oct 2012 17:17:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13056288 At just before 1pm EST, CBS News reported that tens of thousands of homes along the Eastern Seaboard have already lost power because of Hurricane Sandy. Over 67,000 customers have experienced outages in Virginia, Delaware, New Jersey, and several other states. Via CBS:

Connecticut

Connecticut Light & Power (which offers outrage reports in both map and table formats) says about 16,200 customers were without power Monday.

Delaware

Delmarva reports about 1,500 customers without power.

Maryland

BGE reports restoring service to about 4,000 customers Monday; about 2,300 are still without power.

Additional scattered outages were reported by Mon Power and Potomac Edison, and by PEPCO.

Massachusetts

NStar reported about 2,500 outages Monday morning. National Grid had fewer than 1,000 outages, down from about 5,200 earlier in the morning.

New Jersey

More than 24,400 customers in the Garden State are without power.

Public Service Electric & Gas, which is tweeting outage information, says 2,100 customers are offline. Jersey Central Power & Light, which publishes map of outages, is reporting 16,800 homes are without power. Atlantic City Electric has about 5,500 outages,

New York

LILCO reports more than 21,000 customers on Long Island were without power Monday morning. Con Edison reports at least 2,000 customers in New York City and in Westchester County are without power.

In Upstate New York NYSE&G reports 3,900 customers affected.

North Carolina

Duke Energy reports more than 4,100 customers without power. Progress Energy reports more than 1,100 customers without power Monday morning.

Pennsylvania

PPL Electric Utilities reports more than 2,100 customers without power in eastern Pennsylvania.

Rhode Island

National Grid says about 2,600 customers had lost power by around 9 a.m. Monday.

Virginia

Dominion Virginia says it has restored power to about 3,000 customers by early Monday; about 2,000 remain without service.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/10/29/tens_of_thousands_already_without_power/feed/ 0 Gluten-fueled meltdown http://www.salon.com/2012/10/23/jennifer_espositos_140_character_fight_against_gluten/ http://www.salon.com/2012/10/23/jennifer_espositos_140_character_fight_against_gluten/#comments Tue, 23 Oct 2012 20:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13049947 It's not unusual for an actor to go off on a Twitter rant, to instigate a feud in 140 characters. Hell, it's pretty much expected behavior. But "Blue Bloods" actress Jennifer Esposito's recent feisty display of tweet rage is unique. First, it's because she dared to break the first rule of show business and publicly engage in a dispute with her network, calling CBS "shameful" for placing her on an unpaid leave from the show. And second, because this may be the first recorded war over gluten.

Deadline reported on Saturday that the actress was taking a leave from her series, and quoted a CBS statement that "Jennifer has informed us that she is only available to work on a very limited part-time schedule. As a result, she’s unable to perform the demands of her role and we regretfully had to put her character on a leave of absence. She is a wonderfully talented actress and we hope that she will be able to return at some point in the future."

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