T Dog’s Media Notebook: HBO cancels “Vinyl”

What the Good Lord giveth, can also taketh: In a reversal, HBO has canceled freshman drama Vinyl – despite renewing it for a second season four days after it premiered. Despite a stellar cast in front the camera and behind the scenes, the series never gained traction with viewers or critics (though it seemed Vinyl only registered with the elitist […]

T Dog’s Media Notepad: Ron Magers exits in style

WLS-TV (ABC 7) sent Ron Magers off in style Wednesday night as viewers tuned in en masse to see him anchor his final newscast, earning a time-period winning 10.0 rating in live-plus-same day households according to Robert Feder. ABC 7 Also won the May sweeps at 10 p.m., but finished behind NBC-owned WMAQ (NBC 5) at 10 in the 25-54 demo. Another […]

Metheny, Laski out at WGN Radio

Cue the cute sitcom laugh track: Awwww….. (Photo courtesy of Robert Feder) This farce starring Randy “Court Jester” Michaels and Kevin “Pig Virus” Metheny running WGN Radio would equal a sitcom where everyone is a boob and feature a laugh track. In fact, there was such a sitcom: WKRP in Cincinnati was certainly one of the best sitcoms of its […]

"Big Willie" not so big

The one thing that was good about Bill Cunningham’s daytime stint last week was he proved he can actually host a TV talk show. Too bad it was the only good thing. The four-episode test of Big Willie, which ran on six Tribune Broadcasting-owned stations and one Raycom outlet (Fox affiliate WXIX-TV in Cincinnati) stumbled out of gate. According to […]

The Grab Bag: "Entertainers with Garry Meier"

Here’s what going on: – WGN-AM’s Garry Meier is starring in his own TV special, set to air on WCIU July 11 at 10:30 p.m, titled The Garry Meier Special. Among the featured interviews: George Wendt (Cheers), Cubs broadcaster Len Kasper, Richard Lewis (Anything But Love), Tim Kazurinsky, and the lady who pick the lottery numbers. This sounds awfully like […]