– Twentieth Television has signed Jeff Foxworthy to host the syndicated version of Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? The daily syndicated strip version of the Fox prime-time game show bows in fall 2009.
– Fringe, the new Fox drama from Lost creator J.J. Abrams, averaged just 9.1 million viewers for its premiere Tuesday night, which many consider a disappointment. At least it wasn’t Do Not Disturb … the new Fox comedy – which makes According to Jim an Emmy winner by comparison – drew only 4.8 million in its debut last night. Even worse, HBO’s new vampire drama True Blood could not grab an audience, nabbing only 1.4 million viewers. Dark Shadows this isn’t.
– WBBM-FM nighttime personality Julian Nieh has been selected as the tenth panel memeber for Jacobs Media Summit 13’s Presidents of Radio session, being held in Austin, TX Sept. 18.
– The Doctors continues to chug along as the top new syndicated strip after three days of results. The CBS Television Distribution program averaged a 1.4 household metered market rating so far, ahead of NBC Universal’s second-place Deal or No Deal. But the program droppped 7 percent from Tuesday to Wedensday.