"Legend of the Seeker" seeking new outlets

Disney/ABC’s weekly action-adventure hour Legend of the Seeker is going to have an adventure of its own – trying to find new outlets after a major station group carrying the show declined to renew it. In a memo obtained by TV By The Numbers, Tribune Broadcasting said it would not renew the sci-fi/fantasy action hour after two seasons. Tribune is […]

Local Feburary "sweeps" good as Gold for WMAQ and WCIU

NBC-owned WMAQ-TV won the Gold when it came to Olympic ratings, but it was WLS-TV that grabbed the medal where it really counts: late news. And WCIU-TV came home with some Gold itself. The February “sweeps” period ended on Wednesday, but this ratings period won’t be as important because of the heavy skew of the Winter Olympics. Some stations (notably […]

ESPN becomes The Bowl Network

When it comes to December and January, ESPN should rename themselves BPN: The Bowl Programming Network. ESPN announced Thursday it has acquired yet another Bowl game – this time the Gator Bowl, a longtime ABC staple which recently had stops at ESPN, NBC, and most recently, CBS. The game is played at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium, which was one known as […]

T Dog’s Four Pack – Olympic sized fun

A midweek edition of T Dog’s Four Pack: What’s not – and what’s not: Worthy of Gold Olympic hockey. Nothing hokey about it – most watched program ever in Canada, third most-watched hockey game in history in the United States – and we had four Blackhawks in the game! Undercover Boss. Whaaa? This is the surprise Sunday Night 8 p.m. […]

"Access: Hollywood" coming to you live!

Get ready, one of syndication’s top-rated prime access magazine shows is getting ready to coming at you live! NBC Universal Television Distribution has announced it is launching Access: Hollywood Live, an one-hour daytime “brand extension” of its prime-access magazine show on six NBC O&O stations, including WMAQ-TV in Chicago. The other five markets are New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, […]

WCIU hails "Cash Cab" and boards "Stargate: Universe"

The next time you hail a cab in New York City, you might be on a game show and not even know it. Call it a game show – on wheels. Discovery Channel’s New York-based game show Cash Cab has been picked up by WCIU-TV in Chicago for airing this fall as a weekday strip on a straight barter basis. […]

Canada-USA Gold Medal game scores in Chicago – and everywhere else

What’s the best part of the Winter Olympics? Seeing one of the best hockey tournaments in the world. And this Olympics proved no different. The Gold Medal Game in Men’s Hockey between the United States and Canada drew the largest audience for any hockey game in 30 years on this side of the border and the largest audience ever for […]