The Russo brothers are the best people ever, and they cast me in 'Happy Endings.' I did text Joe Russo to say, 'I don't think my character dies, so if you need a local news cameraman to show up in 'Captain America 2'... I know it doesn't make sense, but just hear me out on this!' He was really cool about it and turned me down right away.
I started in local news in South Carolina, so viewers there supported me. We had a morning show that we put to No. 1, and then I moved to San Antonio, Texas, and we became the No. 1 morning show there, too.
Even the alternative weekly newspapers, traditionally a bastion of progressive thought and analysis, have been bought by a monopoly franchise and made a predictable shift to the right in their coverage of local news.
Something's happened in our society which I don't think is beneficial, and that's that you see the public being fed box-office news. Newscasts now, every local station - I've been traveling around the country a lot, and you see the local news, and they give box-office reports.
I've always been a firm believer in local news, because it's an opportunity to connect with the community where you live.
I use Facebook on a daily basis to share information about my work in Congress and across our great district. I put information about constituent meetings, video of various Congressional hearings, and share local news stories from around our region.
I worked in three local news markets and in every single one of them, they said: 'You're a lousy anchor. We would love to renew your contract and have you be our lead reporter here, but we're not going to have you anchor.'
Whether people care enough about local news to pay for it is, sadly, an entirely different question than whether our democracy requires a strong watchdog function at the local level to ensure safeguards against abuse, chicanery, and outright dishonesty.