Ed Sharpe 2007 Rocky Mountain Emmy(R) Award

Photo: Ed Sharpe of CouryGraph Productions/ Glendale Daily Planet / KKAT-IPTV with 2007 Rocky Mountain Emmy(R) Award for the production of "The Laura Graff Hit and Run Accident - Search For The Driver" .(Photo by Julie Sharpe)

Ed Sharpe 2007 Rocky Mountain Emmy(R) Award
by LeeAnn Sharpe

Last month I turned on the television just in time to catch the second half of the Emmys and cheered when Robert Duvall won for Broken Trail.

It’s a long way from Hollywood and The National Television Academy Rocky Mountain Southwest Chapter awards that cover Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and parts of California and Wyoming. Still the Emmy® Statuettes represent the highest honor bestowed in the television industry, making them the most coveted awards in broadcasting. So when Glendale broadcaster Ed Sharpe told me he had been nominated I said, “No way!” But he was, and he won!

Ed Sharpe of CouryGraph Productions / Glendale Daily Planet / KKAT-IPTV in Glendale, AZ was awarded a 2007 Rocky Mountain Emmy(R) Award for his production of "The Laura Graff Hit and Run Accident - Search For The Driver". He won in a new internet IPTV category that was recently added to the awards. In fact, he held all four of the nominations in the category.

The new category displays how important the internet has become, not just in local news, but in the ability of the public to view local TV from anywhere in the world. The web TV lists over 300 stations around the world who broadcast on the internet. And that doesn’t even include the thousands of independent broadcasters like Sharpe.

Sharpe has always been a leader in innovative ideas and on the cutting edge of technologies. In his history he has seen the next wave and jumped aboard to ride until the trend becomes mainstream. As a computer entrepreneur Sharpe was one of the first to educate the pubic about scanning, lasers and inkjet printing. He recently has been an advocate of government funded public access WIFI. His KKAT-IPTV produces hundreds of hours of local news and public service footage posted to his site www.glendaledailyplanet.com.

Sharpe says, "Many people have taken time to teach me videography, editing, writing, ethics in journalism and I appreciate the people who were great sounding boards to discuss ideas."

Glendale Police Chief Steven Conrad stated: "I would like to congratulate Ed on his latest Emmy! Ed is committed to providing our community with information about the efforts of public safety. This video is a great example of a great police-media relationship."

Officer Matt Barnett, Glendale Police Department PIO, who narrated the Hit and Run segment congratulated Ed Sharpe "I have worked with him many times in the past and Mr. Sharpe is a pleasure to work with and is asset to the local journalistic community."

Sharpe took his wife Bette, and daughter Julie to the presentation on the evening of October 6th at the recently completed plush Renaissance Hotel and Resort Conference Center located near the University of Phoenix stadium in Glendale Arizona.
The video can be viewed online at http://www.glendaledailyplanet.com/media/Barnett%20police%20motorcycle-3.wmv

Fall TV Promising

My entire life September has been a time to look forward to the new fall lineup on television. There was excitement in deciding which new shows would be hits and which would go bust. Much had to do with their time slot and what show was against another on one of the three networks, the local station and one public broadcast station in Phoenix.
But now we have literally hundreds of channels from which to select, seasons starting at various times, preseason series, and summer series. It’s all so confusing! And it’s so easy for a good show to get lost in mass of television.
Recently TV critics completed an 18-day network preview. According to many this is the best development season TV has had in 12 years.
One even advised, “ If you have been putting off purchase of a high-def television or a recorder to capture two shows at the same time, this would be the time to take the plunge.”
Monday nights this fall "CSI: Miami" on CBS will go up against the most highly touted new drama, NBC's "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip." It’s been called a backstage look at the making of a show (like SNL) from "West Wing" creator Aaron Sorkin. And for a cable premiere check out BBC America is airing "Life on Mars" and Bravo airs "Tabloid Wars".
Tuesday nights has the two best new comedies of the season, both on ABC - robbery-high-jinks caper "The Knights of Prosperity" and self-help spoof "Help Me Help You". CBS has "The Unit," and NBC moved "Criminal Intent" and Fox has the hostage drama, "Standoff." CW' has the cult hit "Veronica Mars": Probably the best Tuesday night line up in years.
Friday night has the ABC sweetly sophisticated comedy "Ugly Betty" up against "Ghost Whisperer" and "Crossing Jordan" .
NBC, has plenty of great new shows including "Heroes," about young people just discovering their superpowers; and "Friday Night Lights," where small-town dramas are set against high-school football.
Sunday Aug. 20, Fox starts their season with "Justice," a dazzling new crime show. Victor Garber (late of "Alias") and his all-star defense team will see about find some defendants aren’t always the guilty party. TLC's "The Messengers" will also air on Sunday’s with search for the best new inspirational speakers.

The nice thing about some good shows not making it past the first season is they can usually be seen on cable somewhere like ABC Family, ABC.com or on DVD. In the old days you missed it and it was gone. Unless TVLand picked it up and is rerunning it now!

Whats good on TV?

What’s on TV?
This week, (and repeating frequently the entire month of August), HBO airs Ridley Scott's epic masterpiece "Kingdom of Heaven" which takes place around 1184 A.D. in Jerusalem. Jews, Christians and Muslims all wanted to claim the city, site of religious their shrines. Crusaders, mainly European Christians, were promised Heaven for spilled blood as they mounted several Crusades to "liberate" the Holy Land from Muslims, Arabs and Jews. Sounds a lot like Middle Eastern fanaticism in today’s world. So little has changed.
In this 2½-hour story Orlando Bloom, portrays a blacksmith, Balian, bastard son of the great knight Godfrey of Ibelin (played by Liam Neeson – who delivers an exceptional performance). His father arrives just as Balian’s life has been turned upside down with the loss of a son (stillborn) and his wife (suicide). In his grief he has murdered a priest. His father has offered him an opportunity for a new life in Jerusalem.
Jerusalem is about to experience change as the fragile leper King Baldwin, who rules Jerusalem, is near death. Guy de Lusignan (Marton Csokas) marries the King’s beautiful sister Sibylla (Eva Green), positioning for the throne. He and a band of allies among the brutish Knights Templar, including leader Reynald de Chatillon (Brendan Gleeson), hunger for war and make it happen the moment the king has died.
Balian who has engaged in a love affair with Sibylla before her marriage, survives an attempt on his life by Guy’s gang. Holding no grudge, or at least in his concern for the fate of the armies, Balian warns Guy and his advisors that marching to engage King Saladin in the waterless desert would be a death march. He suggests it would be better to take a defensive stand in the city. He finds allies in his father's aide and counselor, known as the Hospitaler (David Thewlis) and the king's advisor Tiberias (Jeremy Irons) and even Guy's wife, Sibylla. But Guy and his allies march anyway, and of course, those who don’t die of thirst are slaughtered by Saladin.
Fresh with success King Saladin (Ghassan Massoud) is determined to take back Jerusalem and all the Holy Land from the outsiders. With his 200,000 Muslim soldiers there’s little question he will win, but at what price. In the end, Balian proves a worthy opponent, and the fight more difficult than Saladin had expected. Balian and Saladin must come face to face and decide whether to keep the blood flowing or end the slaughter. It’s a question that echos today as the violence continues. Some critics have suggested Scott went too far to draw the parallel.
In general, critics were uncomplimentary and the film has not received the acclaim expected. Scott attributes the poor reception to revisions based on preview audience criticism. He has made a new directors cut for the DVD release. On a scale of 10, "Kingdom of Heaven" rates a strong 8 in my opinion. Ridley Scott's "Kingdom of Heaven" is a beautiful epic with exceptional photography and CG to generate the massive battle scenes. His filming the movie in Morocco required extreme security (Moroccan Army was also used as extras) to protect the cast and crew from Islamist death threats. Some characters were a little short on development, as can happen when the action speaks so boldly to tell the story. Regardless, it’s a great film worth your time. Other Scott films include “Gladiator," "Black Hawk Down," "Alien," "Blade Runner (also being revised in a new DVD directors cut)," and "Thelma and Louise".
Sidebar
Director Ridley Scott and writer William Monahan have woven real history, real people, actual battles, and events together to create a fascinating epic. But how much is true and how much is fiction.
According to www.christianitytoday.com, “history says that Balian did in fact play a crucial role as a Crusader noble in the events surrounding the fall of Jerusalem in 1187 to the Muslim sultan Saladin. But Balian never had to travel to the Holy Land—as he does in the movie—because he was already part of the nobility there. His father Balian the Old (not Godfrey) fathered three sons, Hugh, Baldwin, and Balian, all of whom were legitimate and recognized as such. Long before Saladin made his masterful invasion of the Holy Land, Balian and his elder brother Baldwin had established their reputations as competent members of Palestine's feudal nobility. Indeed, Balian was married to royalty even before the events Scott portrays—and he wasn't at all romantically involved with the princess Sibylla, sister to the king of Jerusalem. (Actually Balian's brother Baldwin was the one who had a love interest in Sibylla.)” You can read more about Balian and his interesting history online.