TCA Notes

The major broadcast networks made their presentations at the Television Critics Association’s Winter Press Tour this week. Among the highlights: NBC – NBC announced Conan O’ Brien’s final night on Late Night will be on Feb. 20, just three months before he is scheduled to take over The Tonight Show from Jay Leno in Los Angeles. Replacing him is Jimmy […]

T Dog’s Groovy Grab Bag

A new size for the Trib; A new FCC Chairman (hooray!); Stargate Atlantis exits with a bang; Fox cancels Prison Break. – One advantage the Chicago Sun-Times had over the Trib was its tabloid-like size and the ease of reading it on the bus or on the “L”. Now, that’s gone. Oh-oh… Chicago Tribune introduces a new size: The paper […]

T Dog’s Groovy Grab Bag

The first four-post day in a long time! Here’s some more news… – From Chicagoland Radio and Media: WGN-TV news anchor Allison Payne is expected to return to the desk Monday evening. She has been sitting out off and on for the last year or so recovering from a set of mini-strokes. – The contestants for the new season of […]

T Dog’s Groovy Grab Bag – The X Edition

– CBS X’s out The Ex List – Yeah, the lead in this show is hot. And I mean very hot. But that alone won’t bring the viewers to the set. CBS dropped The Ex List from its Friday after four episodes, and is being replaced by NCIS repeats. But man, I wish I was on her “Ex List”… Somebody, […]

T Dog’s Groovy Grab Bag

Back to the future with KOFY Granite Broadcasting has decided to bring back the KOFY calls to Channel 20 in the Bay Area. The call letters were in use on the frequency between 1986 and 1998. The independent station, which serves the San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose market, was previously known as KBWB-TV, a holdover of when it was a WB affiliate. […]

See ya! Don’t want to be ya!

In the “don’t hit your behind out the door” department… ABC inane I Survived A Japanese Game Show didn’t survive the ratings Tuesday night as the two-hour season finale notched a 1.8 rating and 5 share in adults 18-49, down 22 percent from last week. The program only drew 4.5 million viewers and did not register any significant rating increases […]

Report: Mark Suppelsa headed to WGN-TV

Mark Suppelsa, the anchor who left Fox-owned WFLD-TV last March, is rumored to join Tribune’s WGN-TV later this summer, replacing Steve Sanders alongside Allison Payne on the station’s 9 p.m. newscast. Suppelsa is technically still under contract to WFLD – the station has a right to match any offer a competitor offers until June 17. WGN is likely to make […]

ABC unveils new 2008-09 lineup

ABC released its fall schedule today, and you can view it by clicking here(all times Eastern; programs air one hour earlier in Chicago and the rest of the Central and Mountain time zones.) Not much in the way of changes: ABC announced only two new shows this fall with Life on Mars and Opportunity Knocks on the sked. Also, Boston […]

Fox renews "Til Death", cancels "Back to You"

Fox has renewed Til’ Death, putting the Sony Television Pictures production on the track for an off-network syndication debut in fall 2010, while canceling Back to You and picking up a new comedy called The Inn. Twentieth Television is shopping Back to You to several networks, including CBS. Thought: Chalk up Back to You’s demise to several factors: Expensive production, […]

Katie Couric out at CBS?

According to the Wall Street Journal. CBS denies the reports, but look – we all know the handwriting’s on the wall when you get beaten in the ratings by reruns of According to Jim (ugh.)

T Dog’s Think Tank: Thank you, Jim

Last week, two programs reminded us how much the words “vertical integration” meant to the TV business. The possible renewals of tired sitcoms According to Jim and Scrubs. Both come from the same studio (ABC Studios) and both are being considered for pickups by ABC next season, despite the fact both have drawn less and less viewers over the last […]

ABC to bring back its shows

In fact, the Mouse of House renewed nine of them for next season, including Samantha Who, Private Practice, and Dirty Sexy Money (all of which will not return until then) while also-renewed Grey’s Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, Ugly Betty, and Brothers & Sisters will be back with new episodes this spring. Boston Legal will resume production as well, but it has […]

Syndication Box

News and notes from the world of syndication today: -Media Life reports that TMZ, the top freshman strip in syndication, is drawing more men than the other fluff-entertainment programs. 41.8 percent of its audience was men, and among the men 18-34 demo, the program pulled a 0.9 rating. Perhaps the reason this show is doing well among men because TMZ […]

Chicago is "Family Guy’s" kind of town

It looks like Family Guy has succeeded where The Simpsons succeeded. According to numbers supplied by Twentieth Television (from a banner ad that appeared on TV Week’s website), Family Guy’s airing at 10 p.m. on WGN-TV finished number one in the time period between Sept. 17 and Sept. 21 among men 18-34 (2.2) and women 18-34 (2.6). It beat not […]

Adrienne the nut at it again

This time, the former Top Model star gored former Partridge Family and Loop star Danny Bonaduce into a fight with former Survivor contestant Johnny Fairplay (or Dalton, or whatever) at the Reality TV Awards (and I thought this stuff only happened at the hip-hop awards…) Note the word “former” in this post. It’s used a lot. Maybe Ms. Curry should […]