The Media Notepad: “Man Of The People” set for season two

Also: WCIU to air Black History special; Record ratings for radio stations airing Christmas music; St. Louis anchor suspended for racial slur. In a battle for local TV and comedy justice, The Man Of The People defeated the evil Captain Chesapeake from Baltimore. WGN-TV announced last week the renewal of locally-produced comedy Man Of The People hosted by WGN morning […]

“The Orville” flies into turbulence

Poor writing, poor acting dooms Orville’s mission As one who used to watch Family Guy way back when, yours truly was a Seth MacFarlane fan. I even attended a live reading for the show ten years ago. But oh my, how times have changed. Outside of the brilliant Cosmos remake from a few years ago, he hasn’t done anything of […]

T Dog Media’s Notepad: ABC 7 leads in social media rankings

Tamron Hall seeking talk show; Hulu strikes deal for Bob’s Burgers, Futurama, and more; DuckTales returns on Aug. 12   Now you can add social media to ABC 7’s dominance: according to Share Rocket data over the last thirty days, the ABC-owned station ranks first in social media usage with an overall share of 33.8, followed by Fox 32’s 31.2, and […]

Bubble Bustin’ Friday (and Saturday)

Bubble Bustin’ Friday – which even extended to Saturday – sure lived up to its name as the major networks – namely ABC, NBC, and CBS – began to clear out the deadwood as they prepare for the upcoming week’s upfront presentations. Some of the moves were expected; others (notably the cancellation of Community) generated a firestorm of controversy on […]

Luck quickly runs out for “Lucky 7”

ABC canceled hour-long drama Lucky 7 on Friday after two low-rated episodes and became one of the shortest-lived dramas in the network’s history. The Tuesday drama premiered on Sept. 24, with a 1.3 adult 18-49 demo and dropped to a 0.7 in its second airing, declining 46 percent week-to-week and drawing just 2.6 million viewers opposite CBS’ Person Of Interest, […]

“Breaking Bad” breaks the competition

Forget the major networks, Sunday night belonged to Walter White. The series finale of AMC’s Emmy-winning drama Breaking Bad after eight seasons was the most watched entertainment show of the evening, drawing 10.3 million viewers and a 5.3 rating among adults 18-49, translating to about 6.7 million viewers. Bad finished only behind the finales of HBO’s Sopranos (11.9 million in […]

Analysis: “Simpsons” finally headed to cable

What this means for fans of the long-running franchise, its syndicator and the show itself In news first reported by TV Guide’s Michael Schneider Monday, the longest-running series in primetime TV history is expected to be sold by Twentieth Television to a cable network this year for airing in the fall of 2014. Possible cable contenders include Turner Broadcasting (TBS, […]

Comic-Con: Animation Special

Of course, it’s not Comic-Con without some animation being presented, right? From adult favorites to kids’ fare (a.k.a. programming that also attracts the stoner crowd), many panels were held for fans over the four-day event. Here’s a quick synopsis on what went down: – Though this time without Seth MacFarlane or Mila Kunis, Family Guy made the trek to Comic-Con […]

New “American Dad” episodes shift to TBS in 2014

Hold the flag high and be proud, kids: In a joint announcement made by Fox and Turner Tuesday, new episodes of American Dad are moving off broadcast television after next season and heading to TBS during the 2014-15 season. Older seasons of Dad already airs in repeats on sister network Adult Swim, and will also get the rights to new […]

Sunday ratings: NBC dominates, but cable’s presence is felt

The broadcast networks saw erosion from the previous week Sunday night as cable entries – notably the MLB playoffs on TBS and the premiere of Steel Magnolias on Lifetime – made an impact on the ratings. Meanwhile, Family Guy tied Once Upon A Time as the highest rated scripted show of the evening. Here’s a snapshot of the results (all […]

Sunday ratings: NFL, Ryder Cup rules

Now that’s more like it. The first Sunday night is in the books as footabll ruled prime-time once again as the New York Giants took on the Philadelphia Eagles in the city of Brotherly Love (or hate.) Meanwhile, NBC also got ratings mileage Sunday afternoon thanks in part to the historic collapse of the U.S. team in the Ryder Cup […]

Comic-Con, Day 3: Marvel and more

Last week, Comic-Con descended on San Diego for four days for non-stop fanboy (and fangirl) fun. Last Saturday (July 14) was the busiest day of the convention, with a lot of TV, movie, and video game panels. While yours truly won’t be able to go through all of them due to time and space constraints, here’s a quick (and snarky) […]