|
Comments:
Laura - 2005-03-10 12:40:31 Bill Bonds is featured prominently in Eminem's new music video for his song "Mockingbird." "Smack dab in the middle of Eminem�s new video for the hit song "Mockingbird" is an unforgettable face that defines Detroit television news. "In the video for the song, Bill Bonds will be a part of Eminem�s intimate footage, which fans will see for the first time. The video includes home movies with his daughter, niece, and ex-wife. "He said to his crew and a great crew, all people about your age, very talented men and women, that I was part of his growing up, because your mom (7 anchor Diana Lewis) and I were on television together, and he wanted me to be part of his story," Bonds said Friday. "They called and said that Eminem is doing something special. This is kind of the story of his life: his ups, his downs, his victories, his defeats, his version of the America in which he grew up." "It�s an America that Bill says is much different from his younger days, and Eminem is just the mockingbird to sing about it. "I was really very thrilled and very complimented because this is a very gifted kid," Bonds said. "This kid is a one-man Motown." * * * * * * * * * * * * Anna - 2005-03-10 13:30:37 I remember when he looked straight at the camera and said made a long rambling editorial about kids these days being bad. I can't remember what triggered it, just that I was watching with jaw on the ground, it just surprised me so much. When I first started watching the news in Michigan I thought I was hallucinating because he'd been the news anchor in the local NYC station when I was a kid and I assumed he was still there. That's true, right? That he spent time as a local anchor in New York?* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-03-10 13:33:51 Weird. And I never knew he'd worked in NYC (can't answer your question as to whether that's true since I don't know). What brought him to Detroit? You would think that NYC post would be more desirable.* * * * * * * * * * * * Anna - 2005-03-10 13:38:25 After hearing about his antics, I assumed he'd been fired in NY and Detroit took him back (without a doubt NYC is a much better job -- they rate how good the jobs are by how big the market is, and the NY market is much bigger than the Detroit one -- and you get paid accordingly and have a better chance of moving into a major network job from a huge market like that).* * * * * * * * * * * * yd - 2005-03-10 13:40:11 I wonder if he gets his pet squirrels at from the same place Donald Trump gets them.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-03-10 13:41:51 Anna: Hmm...Google is silent; now I'm dying to know. YD: forgive me, YD, my brain is broken--I am completely baffled by your observation; what do you mean, please?* * * * * * * * * * * * Anna - 2005-03-10 13:42:06 Here's a story about him -- there's a brief mention of stints in NY and LA not working out: http://www.aidsinfobbs.org/articles/wallstj/91/157* * * * * * * * * * * * yd - 2005-03-10 13:43:06 His pet squirrell on his head.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-03-10 13:44:32 There we go. I knew I was missing something, as usual. Thanks YD. Yes, it is lovely. * * * * * * * * * * * * Anna - 2005-03-10 13:45:35 *laugh* I was baffled by both comments... for a second... until I got it. Cute.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-03-10 13:47:20 Yes, originally it sounded very Zen to me. Or like an accusation that someone might make to your face in a not so good part of town. "I just bet you get your pet squirrels from the same place that Donald Trump does!"* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-03-10 13:50:29 At any rate. Sorry YD. Thank you for that link, Anna.* * * * * * * * * * * * yd - 2005-03-10 13:59:50 Fade Up From Black To Channel 7 Action News set circa 1980. Bill Bonds stands at a desk as the hourly update logo plays. Cut to Bill: BONDS: This is Bill Bonds. We keep reporting that the economy is improving but the long lines for new jobs are still forming in this Metropolitan Detroit Area, Today hundreds of people are expected to apply for car selling positions with Ford dealers. Also today some poor people in Detroit are without a place to go. Tough shit. (Laughter comes from off-camera crew) BONDS (Cont'd): What the fuck does that mean? (Looking off camera for help) What the fuck? Kill this fucking thing! Fade To Black - Audio Continues Crewmember1: Aw, come on Bill, we gotta do this. BONDS: (exasperated) I can't - well, I don't know what it means! What the fuck does it mean? "Are without a place to go"? Fuck 'em! Let 'em go hungry! Crewmember2: Come to your place! BONDS: What is all this shit? What is, what are those two fucking things mean? What the fuck does that mean!?! Tell 'em to go down! If they're fuckin' short, tell 'em to go up! Fade Up to Bonds who puts on glasses and reads copy. BONDS: What the fuck do those two first things mean? Crewmember2: No place to live. Crewmember1: I would assume that's what they mean. Crewmember2: No place to live. (reading) Tim Fritz finds out what's being done to give them shelter. BONDS: Aw shit....Jesus Fuckin' H. Christ! What the fuck is wrong with a short declarative sentence like... (takes off glasses for effect) Good evening, this is Bill Bonds. Nothing is new. Good night. (Off camera laughter) Crewmember3: That's a keeper! Crewmember1: You ready Bill? BONDS: (defeated) Yeah, I'm ready. Crewmember1: I'd roll but I want to wait 'till this is over with before we (garbled) straightened again. You all set Bill? BONDS: Yeah, I'm all set. God damn it. Fade To Black BONDS: I could write this whole fucking thing in eight minutes. Twenty Seconds of black and silence. Fade Up To Channel 7 Action News set. Logo plays while Bill stands at his desk speaking inaudibly to someone off screen. He appears agitated. Cut To Bill: BONDS: This is Bill Bonds. The American economy is getting better. Car sales are up and so is profit. But there are still a lot of people unemployed in this Detroit area. Long lines forming today, hundreds of people expected to apply for (pauses) selling jobs with Ford dealers. Also today, poor people in this Detroit area who, really, are kind of hopeless. Bill pauses, sucks at his teeth and makes a wide display of unusual faces. Crewmember2: That it? Bill crosses his arms and looks skyward, perhaps in search of divine inspiration. BONDS: I mean, you've gotta change so much of it.... By the time I finish this fucking thing I'll be out of a job. Crewmember2: That's true. (Off screen laughter) BONDS: I'll be covering my own story. No, Rich Fisher will be covering me. I'll be in the fucking unemployment lines. Doris [Biscoe - ed.] will be saying (in best Ebonics imitation) "I wanted the blue-eyed mutha fucka to get fired." Crewmember4: Boy, you got that right! BONDS (laughing): Shit! Fuckin'.... (gains composure and fixes his tie) Can you imagine if they had switched those stories and I hadn't caught those numbers? (Bill is VERY impressed with himself although the numbers that he refers to are a mystery. Bill stews in his own praise for a few minutes, nodding and eyeing the crew knowingly. Whistles). Fade To Black - Audio Continues Crewmember4: No question about it, Bill, you're indispensable to the news team. (pauses) You ready? (Laughter from crew) (Smarmy laughter from Bonds) Crewmember1: Okay, let's see if he's got one more in him here. BONDS: Good evening. Seven news is off today. We're attending Terry's funeral. Bill killed him last night for a smart remark and for that remark cost Terry his fucking life. Fade Up To News Footage of two soldiers sitting on a tank while a woman reporter speaks inaudibly behind a pile of sand bags. BONDS (Cont"d): His mother is throwing a party. She hated the little bastard from the day he caused her the stretch marks - Cut from News Footage to Bill BONDS (cont'd) - that ruined her temporary beauty. (Smirks) Crewmember1: Speaking of temporary beauty, you ready Billy? BONDS: Yeah. Crewmember1: All right, let's try it. Nine seconds of Black and Silence. Fade up to Action News set. Logo plays and then cut to Bill. BONDS: This is Bill Bonds. The economy is picking up. It is getting better. But there are a lot of people unemployed in this area. Long lines for new jobs are forming in this Detroit Metropolitan Area. Today hundreds of people are expected to line up trying to get jobs with Ford dealers. Also today, some poor people in Detroit (pauses) are homeless. Channel 7's Tim Fritz will find out what's being done to shelter these people. And the Tigers? They keep winning. So do those Baltimore Orioles. Those stories and the weather tonight at five right here on 7. Cut to final logo, Action News theme ends. Fade to Black* * * * * * * * * * * * tom - 2005-03-10 14:31:19 I remember Bill would sometimes ask street reporters some completely off-the-wall question, and they would simply point to their headsets and pretend that they couldn't hear him. Bill would mumble something about technical problems and go on to the next item. I also remember going to Winnipeg on business once, flipping on the hotel television, and who should be reading but Bill Bonds. Turns out Winnipeg got their ABC feed from Channel 7. Didn't do much for Detroit's image.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-03-10 14:44:16 YD: Wow. That is amazing. Great read, thanks for posting it. Why did he waste so much of everyone's time? Are there more scripts floating around that people can read? In the end he nailed it, despite all the preceding stupidness. * * * * * * * * * * * * Anna - 2005-03-10 14:51:15 Well, he was well-known to be alcoholic. The above makes him sound drunk, so maybe that's why he wasted everyones' time. BTW, what prompted this post about Bonds? Did he just die or something?* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-03-10 14:52:30 Not to my knowledge. YD had left the original story in another thread and, because it was a good story & as Bonds is something of a cultural touchstone, I re-posted it.* * * * * * * * * * * * raymond - 2005-03-10 15:00:33 Bill continues to pump out the good news regarding overstuffed furniture in Gardner-White commercials on tv.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-03-10 15:00:52 Tom: that's interesting...sounds like they were used to just (politely) blowing off particularly weird questions. I hope those weren't live broadcasts...otherwise it'd become apparent.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-03-10 15:02:43 Raymond: Ah, yes. I knew he'd done something with some furniture store--I dimly remembered that from former TV-watching. I remember how confidently and dramatically he spoke about the furniture. Wasn't there a Gardner-White tagline of some kind? "You can't do any better" or something like that?* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-03-10 15:04:32 Or maybe "You could do worse"? Anyways, can't remember.* * * * * * * * * * * * tom - 2005-03-10 15:18:54 Laura, they were live broadcasts, and it was apparent.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-03-10 15:20:12 Tom: Wow. Then I wonder how he lasted so long on the air...* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-03-10 15:36:51 It must be said, amid all these comments, that his comments about Eminem were kind and humble.* * * * * * * * * * * * yd - 2005-03-10 15:43:00 September 18, 2001 The back-door comeback of Bill Bonds as a TV news commentator ended abruptly Monday when Gardner-White pulled a pair of 30-second commercial spots that allowed the former TV newsman to deliver a pointed take on the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Warren-based Gardner-White and its West Bloomfield ad agency, TV Works, declined to release the text of the two ads. But according to those who saw them, the tone was inflammatory -- one snippet had Bonds telling terrorism suspect Osama bin Laden he just bought himself "a one-way ticket to hell." They aired over the weekend on WXYZ-TV (Channel 7), WJBK-TV (Channel 2) and WDIV-TV (Channel 4). * * * * * * * * * * * * tom - 2005-03-10 16:20:59 Laura, for whatever reason, people watched Bill, maybe just to see what he would do next. Ratings rule.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-03-10 16:23:24 Wow--never knew that, thanks YD. Tom: Yes..."to see what he'd do next" sounds right, based on the portrait sketched above. Not the worst reason in the world, actually.* * * * * * * * * * * * lynne - 2005-03-10 18:39:28 I think the most funny interviews *ever* were the Bill Bonds / Coleman Young interviews. I cant even imagine the stuff that didnt get aired!* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-03-10 18:47:25 Lynne, I'll have to say I've never seen those. What was so funny about them, may I ask?* * * * * * * * * * * * lynne - 2005-03-10 18:47:44 I found this link which says that Bonds worked in NYC and LA. It also mentions the time he challenged Young to a boxing match. Coleman's response? "Just because he's sick, doesn't mean I'm crazy"* * * * * * * * * * * * lynne - 2005-03-10 18:51:03 They were funny because they were both men who didnt care what people thought about what they said. They both are famous for saying whatever they think no matter how un PC it is. And they disagreed a lot. * * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-03-10 18:52:25 Hm. Sounds pretty appealing, actually. The saying what they thought/non-PC part.* * * * * * * * * * * * Dan Arbor - 2005-03-10 18:53:36 Bill Bonds is both a Detroit institution, as well as a kind of local joke. He was part of a sort of power ABC news team (incl. John Kelly, Jack LeGoff, Jerry Hodak) that dominated this market in the 1970's. He went to New York about that time because ABC, I guess, felt he was ready for the national scene. Then, he was suddenly back in Detroit. The details of his return are unknown to me, but based on his later antics, I could take a guess. He was always kind of out there, but it was after his daughter died that his drinking really took off. His appearances on local TV became less and less frequent, and when he did appear, no amount of lighting or visine could cover up those beet-red eyes. Things finally came to a head when, after several drunk drinving arrests, and court-ordered driving restrictions, he screwed up again. Because of who he was, his arrests were public news, as were the details of his driving restrictions. So he was very much in the spotlight, and everyone was watching and waiting for the inevitable fall. One night, his Jaguar was spotted weaving erratically down Orchard Lake Road. He pulled into a gas station, filled up (obviously drunk), and was recognized by a citizen who later recalled that Bill, seeing his own reflection in his rearview mirror, winked and gave himself that sort of half-thunbs-up, half-pointing finger-gun salute. Then, he pulled out into Orachard Lake Road again. The citizen followed, calling the cops on a mobile phone. He was tailed all the way up Orchard Lake and into Bloomfield by the citizen, then by the cops, who arrested him, again, near his home. He left ABC after that, and surfaced a few years later as the Gardner-White shill. For the most part, I have to say that I feel sorry for the guy. Especially after reading that description of him looking into his rearview. Clearly, he was diconnected from reality. His behavior obviously stemmed from some very serious personal problems, and, for whatever reason, he was not getting the help he needed. Hell, maybe he didn't want it. I don't know. But I do know that he was not always the cartoonish person hawking furniture that you see today. And that, to me, is a very sad story. * * * * * * * * * * * * ingrid - 2005-03-10 18:57:09 Why did Bonds stop working for Channel 7? I can vaguely remember something about a gas station? Does anyone remember the details?* * * * * * * * * * * * H. Pylori - 2005-03-10 19:11:08 Bill Bonds - a true 'merican, unafraid to speak with candor? Or an alcohol-swilling beligerent sensationalist blowhard? * * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-03-10 20:36:16 Both, which makes Dan Arbor's last line very poignant: "But I do know that he was not always the cartoonish person hawking furniture that you see today." Which is probably what most people think about themselves, in so many words, at midlife. Bill Bonds is an Everyman, which is one (of several) reason why just the mention of him generated piles of comments in just a few hours. In my opinion.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-03-10 20:38:14 Ingrid, is the gas station you refer to the one in Dan Arbor's story (with subsequent final arrest)?* * * * * * * * * * * * h. pylori - 2005-03-10 22:43:12 Two els in belligerent. My apologies.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-03-10 23:40:17 No apology necessary Mr. P. Inadvertent typos are endemic to "comments." No big deal. At any rate.* * * * * * * * * * * * raymond - 2005-03-11 07:56:24 We speak Typo here. I saw the Bonds post 9/11 tirade. It was vengeful, inflammatory, and jingoistic. Yet look at subsequent US military excursions and the burgeoning police state. It's a wonder he hasn't been appointed Secretary of Disinformation.* * * * * * * * * * * * Ingrid - 2005-03-11 08:35:55 Yes, the gas station story I'm thinking of is the one recounted by Dan Arbor-which I failed to see for some reason last night.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-03-11 09:11:28 Raymond: I'm sorry I missed his post-9/11 speech. Dan's description of BB giving himself the little "hey, you're cool" salute to himself in the rearview mirror is sticking with me.* * * * * * * * * * * * Dan Arbor - 2005-03-11 09:41:53 Yeah, it stuck with me, too. Just seemed to epitomize a total disconnect with his situation. * * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2005-03-11 19:18:38 And a good deal of self-absorption...but overall just sad.* * * * * * * * * * * * yd - 2005-03-12 14:15:07 Bill Bonds would make a great president.* * * * * * * * * * * * add your comment: |