Daily News from New York, New York • 114

114 Friday, June 18, 2010 DAILY NEWSNYDailyNews.com Spill-Cam gives crude awakening David Hinckley Coverage of the congessional hearings juxtaposed shot of oil spill with testimony of BP chief Tony Hayward (top). A TELEVISION picture was worth way more than a thousand words yesterday at the BP oil spill hearings. Nothing spoken by witnesses, inquisitors or commentators in the day-long marathon came close to the impact of the silent Spill-Cam. It showed thousands of barrels of crude pouring into the Gulf, even as congressional representatives and the chairman of BP sparred over who's responsible. Those pictures also gave a voice to the party that often feels unrepresented in these major TV events: the viewer, the civilian, the proverbial average person who cares way less about the nuances of corporate culture at BP than about just stuffing a cork inthatpipe.

Now, multi-split screens can be annoying, and as the day wore on, several networks started to subdivide the screen into four or five boxes, making each image too small to have any real impact. But earlier, when most networks simply spotlighted Hayward next to darkened waters, oil-drenched pelicans and the gushing pipe, it was the right call, and a very effective one. It was also telling how all the networks ended up taking pretty much the same approach. That included CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, Fox Business and CNBC. anything that would reduce the spill by a single drop.

So the whole discussion was academic, which gave television a tragic but golden opportunity to remind us the real problem is anything but. It did so without using a single word proving that even as BP has continuously revised its numbers upward on the volume of the spill, perhaps it's time also to revise the value of a single TV image upward. In this case, maybe from a thousand words to a million. dhinckleynydailynews.com C-Span scheduled it on C-Span3, which is not available on many cable and satellite systems. The size of the Hayward inset varied, usually from a quarter to half the screen.

The other images also varied, with Fox News sometimes more prone to aerial shots of oil in the water and CNN a little more focused on the Spill-Cam. All those images, however, even ones like the Spill-Cam that we've seen for weeks, felt fresher than the verbal exchanges. We knew from the opening gavel that no one testifying, questioning or commenting could say Isn't there one brilliant scientist out there, one multimillion-dollar corporate executive, who candothat? Juxtaposing BP chief Tony Hayward with the Spill-Cam, whether it was intended as journalistic commentary or just a way to get some visual variety onto the screen, very effectively made the point that even by the normal standards of congressional hearings, yesterday's talk was especially cheap. 'Gates' looks long in tooth 'Cleveland' has Betty good start Betty White means white "Hot." The 88-year-old actress' new project, TV Land's "Hot in Cleveland," had nearly 5 million viewers for its Wednesday premiere, a network record. "Hot in Cleveland" also stars Valerie Bertinelli, Wendie Malick and Jane Leeves as three Los Angeles women New Seinfeld calling: Mets voice New York Mets fanatic Jerry Seinfeld will help call the Mets-Detroit game Wednesday night at 7 from Citi Field.

His wife, Jessica, as a Father's Day gift, reached out to SNY anchor and friend Gary Apple, who then took it to executive producer Curt Gowdy Jr. to WITH THE new summer series "The Gates," ABC may have taken TV's vampire infatuation a fang too far. The Gates itself is a community built to ensure the comfort and safety of all those within. It's an affluent haven SUNDAY AT10P.M., ABC BY DAVID HINCKLEY arrange the visit, which will start in the third inning. Seinfeld will join Keith Hernandez and Gary Cohen in the broadcast booth and help call the game.

Ron Darling, who is usually in the booth with Hernandez and Cohen, will not work the game Wednesday. Seinfeld is expected to do some play-by-play and talk and no one, including some of Nick's officers, seems concerned. And wouldn't you know, the woman who last saw the contractor happens to be Sarah's new pal, Claire. The characters aren't uninteresting. The problem is that we've seen them before, just like we've been to this town before.

It's Wisteria Lane, but with Gaby lethal, instead of funny. It's the small town in every horror movie at the point where we may be running out of ways to explore where concerned parents bring families to protect them from all the bad and trouble of the outside world. Nick Monohan (Frank Grillo) has just been hired as the new police chief. He's expecting a downshift from Chicago, where he worked homicide and left under cloudy circumstances, to a place where he's been assured a crime wave is someone forgetting to separate plastics in the recycling. If the Gates were really that placid, of course, there whose plane crash-lands in Cleveland.

They are lured by the city's Midwestern charms and decide to stay and restart their lives there. White plays a sassy caretaker at the home the women rent. She has had a banner year, hosting "Saturday Night Live" and receiving the Screen Actors Guild's lifetime achievement award. And it's only June. Cristina Kinon JERRY SEINFELD Rhona Mitra and Johnny Messner in "The Gates" about the game and the sport.

His visit could be extended through several innings or even the entire game. If not, well, he'll have fodder for his next standup. The broadcast also will have some "Seinfeld" clips on hand, specifically some involving Hernandez, who hasn't worked with the comic since he made appearances on the classic sitcom. Richard Huff Dots all Hugo Balta, who had been vice president of news at Telemundo's WNJUCh. 47 for six years, has been named managing editor of WCBSCh.

2. He'll start the new gig July 6. Before Ch. 47, Balta was a producer at WNBC Ch. 4 and WTVJ in Miami.

the humanity in fictional creatures who were created to drink our blood and rip us to shreds. "The Gates" could get scary, and the gated-community setting creates a decent enough metaphorfor the privileged life. The show just doesn't add enough fresh blood to dramas and situations we may wouldbenoshow. So even as Nick's wife, Sarah (Marisol Nichols), starts making suburban chitchat with neighbor Claire (Rhona Mitra), and the Monohan kids, Charlie and Dana, start settling into their new school, Nick senses something is wrong. Nothing big, just an outside contractor and his truck mysteriously disappearing simply have seen too often..