On May 20, yours truly sent out a tweet stating the local stations did a good job on NATO coverage. Well, I’ve re-thought that statement – particularly after reading this brilliant guest commentary from Rich Jasculca at Crain’s Chicago Business’s website, and the feedback section (except for one comment) was also spot on. As Jasculca pointed out, the media coverage […]
NBC unveiled its 2012-13 schedule on Sunday, a day before its upfront presentation in New York City (I guess a little something called Mother’s Day didn’t stop them.) In all, there are six new series with changes on five nights – many of those changes quite questionable. NBC is introducing twelve new series in their 2012-13 campaign, with seven of […]
Fox celebrated their 25th Anniversary in prime-time this past Sunday with a two-hour retrospective, featuring clips of past shows and a few cast reunions. While the network officially launched its primetime lineup on April 5, 1987 with three airings each of Married… With Children and The Tracey Ullman Show, the network actually launched on October 9, 1986 with The Late […]
The first post for the month of March deals with the last two weeks of February. Here’s the scorecard: Winners Tyler Perry. Okay, so Tyler Perry’s TV shows suck. And so does his movies. And yours truly is so not a fan (he’s about as funny as Jim Belushi.) But you have to give him props for donating nearly $100,000 […]
Remember when I wrote a think tank on WFLD’s news ratings struggles earlier this year? Well, you’ll be happy to know that things haven’t changed – if fact, they’ve gotten worse: During a report on how the struggling economy was affecting gift-giving during this holiday season on Tuesday night’s 9 p.m. newscast, WFLD co-anchor Robin Robinson obviously blurted out there […]
No, it didn’t. Even though yours truly provided lukewarm support for the Chicago 2016 effort, I am just as shocked and stunned as everyone else in our inability to land the Olympic games. It kind of reminds me of a rather laugh-free Simpsons episode where Bart did an offensive stand-up routine at Springfield’s Olympic Presentation where International Olympic Committee members […]
Haven’t done it for awhile, so let’s bring it back! It’s another edition of T Dog’s Four Pack: Winners. – Diane Sawyer to World News Tonight. She replaces the retiring Charles Gibson, and she certainly has the ability to anchor a major network evening newscast – unlike a certain former Today co-host (and the ratings more than tells that story.) […]
ABC axes According to Jim after eight seasons. So, what do you do to mark the occasion?CELEBRATE! Goodbye to bad TV. Don’t hit your ass out the door, Jim!
It is sad I could barely scrape up four positive items to put in this week’s four pack. It just goes to show you how bad this business has really become. T Dog’s Fab Four: – Bones. The procedural’s move to Thursday nights finally puts Fox on the map with a 3.2 A18-49 rating, defeating ABC’s Ugly Betty. – NCIS. […]
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 […]
How about this for anti-climatic: As expected, both Mad Men and 30 Rock took home Emmys for best drama and comedy, respectively (really, do you think Two and a Half Men was going to win? Ha!) And the idea for five people to host the Emmys… don’t let it happen ever again. The opening was absolutely atrocious. They said they […]
Well, that was quick. Forty-eight hours after Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper announced their departure from At the Movies, Disney-ABC Domestic Television Distribution has named new co-hosts for the weekly syndicated movie review show – and announced a new format as well. Ben Lyons – the son of New York film reviewer Jeffrey Lyons (who coincidentally co-hosts a competing syndicated […]
Good thing you didn’t take my advice. Yours truly did watch WGN’s celebration and it turned out to be well done. Jim Belushi actually did a decent job of hosting (yes, I’m surprised myself) – though he was a little wooden. Personally, I would’ve preferred Dean Richards or Bill Murray, but Belushi did an alright job. (This blog praising Jim […]
WARNING: Contains spoilers. It’s a time-honored tradition among animated comedies to rip on Canada, so it’s no surprise South Park put the entire country on strike in last Wednesday’s episode to poke fun at the WGA labour (yes, labour) mess. When the South Park boys found out Deal or No Deal host Howie Mandel (who’s Canadian) was replaced by 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 […]
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