New name reflects additional responsibilities in addition to selling to TV stations After fourteen years as CBS Television Distribution, ViacomCBS’ syndication arm announced Monday it was rebranding as CBS Media Ventures. The decision to rebrand comes as the company feels it’s more than just a syndicator serving traditional TV outlets but also to streamers and creating digital content and running […]
Numerous off-network sitcoms are receiving a second life thanking to the proliferation of streaming service, reconnecting viewers with past laughs. But not all sitcoms have shared in the streaming fortune. Some off-sitcoms – mainly targeted to Black audiences, have been left out despite the fact those shows being were quite popular in the 1990s and 2000s. But all of that […]
Also: Bill O’Reilly out at Fox; Sinclair buys a TV station group (but it’s not who you think); WCIU lays groundwork for new morning show; black-ish heads to syndication via multiple outlets In more bad ratings news for CSN Chicago, the Bulls recorded the lowest regular-season ratings in nearly ten years, according to Nielsen and reported by Crain’s. The Bulls […]
(Editor’s Note: This piece contains… oh, you know the drill. Reader discretion.) You thought I was done? Another has-been celeb gets into the ring with T Dog Media After eight years, T Dog Media is finally making a name for itself. In the most asinine way possible, of course. And believe it or not, that’s a good thing. Last week if you […]
(Note: This is a refurbished and retooled version of a post yours truly wrote on July 1, 2009 – updated to include more recent information, including today’s announcement of “The Game” returning to television. Yes, I’m now recycling posts!) BET announced today at its upfront presentation to advertisers in New York that canceled CW comedy The Game will make a […]
Could canceled CW comedy The Game make a return? According to TV Guide, CBS Television Studios (formerly CBS Paramount Television) and Black Entertainment Television (BET) are negotiating a lower license fee so CBS can produce the series for cable. If negotiations are successful, The Game would become the first former live-action network sitcom to be revived on basic cable since […]
It looks like Ugly Betty may be down for the count. ABC has decided to replace the low-rated one-hour dramedy with two half-hour comedies: The new In The Motherhood and the returning Samantha Who? in its’ Thursday night (7 p.m. CT) time slot. The move is effective March 26, but the plan is to put Ugly Betty on hiatus and […]
No surprise here, it’s Tyler Perry’s House of Payne. But there is a surprise when compared to other programs in the viewer’s landscape: When you take the rating from its’ syndication airings and its cable runs on TBS, Payne tops everything else among African-Americans in all of television among adults 18-34, 18-49, and 25-54, including network prime-time, beating Grey’s Anatomy […]
Chicago contributes to programs’ decent start The new 2008-09 season in syndication began on Monday with the debut of five new strips – and all got off to a decent – if not spectacular start: Program RTG SHR Lead-In TP 9/07 Bonnie Hunt 1.1 3 -21% 0% Deal or No Deal 1.3 3 -13% -7% The Doctors 1.6 4 -11% […]
In the Chicago area, a lot of people wonder how the mayor, the governor, and the Cook County Board President keep their jobs. In television circles, people pretty much feel the same way about CW network chief Dawn Ostroff. Ostroff recently held an executive Q&A with reporters during the network’s portion of the TCA Press Tour. And in the true […]
As CW prepares its post-strike future, many of its popular shows (and I’m stretching “popular” quite a bit here) are returning with new episodes this spring, including Smallville, Supernatural, One Tree Hill, and Reaper, while others including Gossip Girl and Everybody Hates Chris will return with new episodes in the fall. But two shows won’t return at all: The ultra […]
Aliens in America is exactly who we thought they were – a ratings loser. Meanwhile, Dancing With the Stars seems to be the only show deservingly labeled a winner (in the ratings dept. only), while it’s yucksville for the rest of prime-time with the exception of the Padres-Rockies tiebreaker game, a true classic. Other observations: – Heroes is down in […]
Scroll down or click here to read post, with updated information on two shows (Becker, Girlfriends) that are no longer on the schedule (actually, it’s information that I wrote on this blog before – this is WCIU’s explanation of it…)
This move must have bombed in the ratings: WCIU is moving The Insider back to 5 p.m. from 6 and to 11 p.m. from 10:35 p.m. next Monday (Aug. 27) instead of waiting for Sept. 10 when newly syndicated repeats of The George Lopez Show takes over at 6 p.m. Girlfriends, which is being withdrawn from broadcast syndication nationwide on […]
Star Trek’s weekly run to get better time slot in the NYC This despite the fact that The CW renewed the sitcom for another season on Monday nights (it’s not on WWOR’s weekday fall schedule – scroll down to see). CBS Paramount has decided to end local station deals on Sept. 7, meaning it’s going to be buried on BET’s […]