Tropical Storm Alberto hovered off the South Carolina and Georgia coasts Sunday, canceling tourist cruises, producing showers along the coast and serving as a reminder that the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season is just around the corner.NEW YORK – Queen Latifah called Michael Jackson “the biggest star on Earth,” and it was hard to argue when his memorial service united TV networks as diverse as ABC, MTV, Fox News Channel, BET and ESPN News.
They all carried at least part of the Los Angeles ceremony Tuesday, a mix of music and remembrances capping an extraordinary dozen days of coverage since the pop star’s death June 25.
It was a celebrity send-off unique in scale, unifying TV networks in a manner not seen since the aftermath of the 2001 terrorist attacks. Millions watched worldwide on TV screens or on computers, although a backlash simmered among people who wondered whether it was too much for an entertainer.
The ceremony, which was more than two hours, saved its emotional wallop for the end, when Jackson’s 11-year-old daughter, Paris-Michael Katherine, approached the microphone with a tearful goodbye.
“If nothing else about this got you,” NBC’s Lester Holt said, “all of us can understand the grief of a girl who has lost her father.”
ABC was the first of the major broadcasters to commit to televising the event. But unlike CBS’ Katie Couric and NBC’s Brian Williams, chief ABC anchor Charles Gibson did not go to Los Angeles. He led the coverage from a New York studio. NBC had initially said it wasn’t televising the memorial, but executives changed their minds Sunday and sent Williams.
The cable news networks each carried the ceremony, although Fox News Channel kept its eye on the outside world by continuing to run a crawl on the bottom of the screen.
CNN’s Larry King was in the third row on the Staples Center floor, an invited guest of the family. He was almost bubbly when Anderson Cooper debriefed him, asking about Jackson’s casket.
“Very expensive, obviously,” King said. “It looked like pure gold.”
MTV had a black ribbon affixed to the station’s insignia on the bottom of the screen. MTV’s airing of such hits as “Beat It” and “Thriller” in the 1980s sent Jackson’s career into the stratosphere, but only after Jackson changed MTV: The network didn’t air videos by black artists until “Billie Jean” desegregated music TV.
