Jon Stweart re-ups with Comedy Central

This was a very good day for fans of The Daily Show. Not only Jon Stewart has re-upped with the show until 2010 in a contract extension, but The Daily Show website also got a complete overhaul, including the sweetest thing – every video clip from the show’s existence is available online, dating all the way back to 1999, when […]

NLCS bombs in the ratings

No surprise here: The National League Championship Series between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Colorado Rockies averaged an anemic 2.8 rating and 6 share on TBS, down 61 percent from last year’s series between the New York Mets and the St. Louis Cardinals, which aired on Fox. This year’s NLCS ended in a four game sweep with the Rockies sweeping […]

Hannity & Idiot

It’s St. Petersburg (Tampa) Times TV critic Eric Deggans getting shouted down by Alan Colmes on Fox News’ Hannity & Colmes over Don Imus returning to radio soon. Wait a minute, isn’t Colmes the liberal one? Lucky for Colmes it wasn’t PTI’s Michael Wilbon sitting in that chair, or Colmes would’ve gone home crying to mommy. As for this program, […]

Fox makes midseason shifts

The new television show based on The Terminator movie franchise debuts on Monday, Jan. 14 at 7 p.m. (CT) Titled The Sarah Connor Chronicles, the action-adventure program focuses on the character and her son. Sarah Connor will lead in to 24, which begins its new (and hopefully better) season at 8 p.m. Fox announced at the upfronts that Sarah Connor […]

Three way battle for off-net supremacy

A big race is shaping up for off-network sitcom supremacy. Yours truly has been following the syndication business since 1984, and I haven’t seen a race like this since The Cosby Show, The Golden Girls, Roseanne, and Married… With Children were all battling for the crown in the early ’90’s. Three sitcoms – Warner’s Two and a Half Men, Twentieth’s […]

"Online Nation" first casualty of season

The CW has axed the little-watched Online Nation after four episodes, making it the first official cancellation of the 2007-08 season. The program had an anemic 0.2 last week in the 18-49 demographic in the Sunday 6:30 p.m. (CT) time slot. Replacing it will be same-week repeats of Aliens in America. Nashville, a docu-soap that aired on Fox Friday nights […]

Stephen Colbert to run for President

What you see above is not a typo. He is running for president. His character, that is. I think. And he is running only in South Carolina as a Democrat and a Republican. Maybe his running mate is Pat Paulsen. Or Scooby-Doo. Man, yours truly wishes he lived in South Carolina so he could vote for Colbert. And no, that’s […]

WGN-AM sweeps Chicago summer book

A clean sweep of every major daypart kept WGN on top of the ratings in Arbitron’s summer book. WGN’s dominance started with Spike O’Dell in the mornings and went through John Williams and Cubs baseball in the afternoon. Other news of note: Mornings: – WGCI paid dearly for replacing top-rated (in 18-34) Howard McGee with syndicated Steve Harvey, with WVAZ’s […]

Sports broadcasts continue to struggle in the ratings

If you thought Chicago sports teams were having a bad year… ratings for live sports broadcasts are still struggling just as badly, and no wonder: – The National League Championship Series between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Colorado Rockies on TBS had a household rating of 2.2 for Game 1. Colorado swept the series from Arizona 4-0 with last night’s […]

Happy "They are who we thought they were" day

On October 16, 2006, Dennis Green created that famous phase after the Cardinals lost to the Bears 24-23 in an amazing game. Here’s a Coors Light parody (not the commercial that’s on the air now, but created a few months after Green’s press conference.)

WLS, WGCI big losers in book

Both down a full point since last summer, while WGN blows out the competition (like the Colorado Rockies, WGN may never lose a book again!) For the complete results, click here. Update (10-16-06): No Feder today for some reason, so the daypart breakdowns will have to wait. In the meantime, here’s a Tribune story on the numbers, which contains some […]

WADL steps up in the Motor City

After years of crummy programming (infomercials, home shopping, etc.), Adelll-owned WADL-TV in Detroit is making a serious bid to compete for those TV advertising dollars with the other stations in town – by targeting the market’s African-American population. The station, which signed on in 1985, had been airing mostly paid religious fare and infomericals. At one time, the station was […]

Samantha What?

News and notes, all wrapped up into one: – Leno appears to be unhappy about being forced out of the famed 10:35 p.m. (CT) time slot for Conan O’Brien in 2009. Late shift, part II? – Christiana Applegate returns to the network that launched her career (1986’s Heart of the City) and is the lead in Samantha Who? In it, […]

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 […]