Posted on 08/12/2007 10:01:47 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Former Senator Fred D. Thompson of Tennessee segued neatly from Congress back to an acting career in 2002, when he joined the cast of NBC’s long-running crime series “Law & Order.”
Now that Mr. Thompson seems poised to re-enter politics as a Republican presidential candidate, his career will take another twist. In May, he asked NBC to release him from further “Law & Order” commitments; more recently, NBC said it was ready to stop showing reruns of the episodes he appears in because of federal equal time regulations for presidential candidates.
“If Fred Thompson formally announces his intention to run for president, NBC will not schedule any further repeats of ‘Law & Order’ featuring Mr. Thompson beyond those already scheduled,” which conclude on Sept. 1, NBC said in a statement.
Mr. Thompson’s final original episode of “Law & Order” was repeated on Aug. 5, and he has appeared in 115 episodes in all, according to the Internet Movie Database. He has also played in nearly 20 films (including “In the Line of Fire” and “The Hunt for Red October”), often depicting a sober-minded government authority figure.
Needless to say, Hollywood has had plenty of experience grappling with the Federal Communication Commission’s equal time regulations, which specify that candidates may request equal access to the public airwaves. During Ronald Reagan’s campaign for president in 1980, stations did not broadcast his films or television appearances. During Arnold Schwarzenegger’s California gubernatorial campaign in 2003, there was a similar moratorium.
“Law & Order” is syndicated on TNT, which does not have to follow the equal time rules because cable systems do not use public airwaves. But, like NBC, TNT may remove Mr. Thompson’s episodes from its rerun schedule to avoid complaints. Cable networks did remove Mr. Schwarzenegger’s films during his 2003 campaign.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Or Hillary as the Bionic Gender Non-Specific Individual...
OTH, if it were Hitlery , it would be all Hitlery 24/7 from September until the election.....
Fred’s appearances in this mostly liberal talking points show disguising as a drama, 10 years past its prime, are best left unseen.
Dole’s only constituency in the party was the mink coat and Haband slacks crew. He had no loyal national group of supporters.
Fred feels different, I don’t see the pitchfork crowd (I was one) staying home this time.
Veep may be critical, I’d like to see Watts or Tancredo.
“The Anti-Federalists failed....so will the Anti-Frederalists”
You should capitalize FREDeralists in your tag line, because it’s a name.
I’ll consider that. I sort of like the subtly of how it is now.
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