Making The Best Show … Not An Infomercial

How do you get a nation of folks on the day after a huge election excited about watching the outcome of an industry election? If the Republicans sweep you will have one mood, if it’s a standoff then another. It’s going to take an Olympian effort to get people to tune in to the CMA Awards.

ABC going into the night always has trouble beating the NBC “Chicago” shows and CBS’s long running “Survivor.” Will this year be any different? They have to make the CMAs “must-see TV” to have a chance.

Doing a tribute to Alan Jackson is a good star. The Loretta Lynn tribute is a no brainer. Morgan Wallen being released from the doghouse won’t hurt either. Peyton Manning and Luke Bryan are a wild card as hosts.

The big touring, marquee young stars are booked: Luke Combs, Old Dominion, Miranda Lambert and Carrie Underwood all have their following. Can the others draw streamers away from their playground? We shall see.

Still think you pull out all the cards that night. The A-list folks over 40 should be front and center. You should not have to ask someone in the room, “Now who’s that?”

The label politics, ABC desires, etc., are real world producing issues, but you have to find a way to get the non-nominee past winners on the show. You need the star power. The baby acts can barely fill a theater, you need the big guns.

Big gun Garth Brooks’ “The Anthology Part 2” comes out on November 15th with music from 1996 to 2001. The Garth world is waiting for his downtown bar to open, and who knows what else he has planned.

Do you think everyone expects to see Dolly Parton at the CMAs? Reddit folks this week wrote amazing things about Dolly. She’s a national treasure, etc. … Dolly and Santa Claus, the only folks EVERYONE seems to like!

Craig Morgan has a new video and song, “How You Make A Man.” He’s an underrated singer! Solid guy too … nice video!

The People’s Choice show used to be a highly rated big deal. What happened?

And what can be said about TMZ’s screwup this week, saying Jerry Lee Lewis was dead when he was not. When you get these calls, it can be mission impossible trying to confirm.

This was a mess similar to the Tony Dow premature announcement and the coach Joe Paterno one. It is terrible when this happens. Publicists as a group should try to help this. Who do you call when so and so dies? Maybe an on-call publicist who can find someone to ask?