Recently, The Tribune station group invited almost every syndicator in the business – CBS Television Distribution, Disney/ABC Domestic Television, Program Partners, and more – to discuss new programming strategies with new Tribune COO Randy Michaels in its Tribune Tower offices in Chicago. The station group is considering overhauling its’ daytime lineup – or at least stepping back from the fare […]
The excitement of Upfront week. The new shows. The glitz. The glamour. The parties. But not this year. Or maybe ever again. This year’s upfronts had about as much excitement as a Kansas City Royals-Baltimore Orioles game, and if you read the Chicago Tribune this week, you wouldn’t even know the upfronts were taking place. That’s a far cry from […]
As promised, here is my take on Chicago media’s coverage of the city’s minority neighborhoods in the aftermath of a recent crime spree… Wait a minute… Haven’t I written about this before? In fact, I have. I was getting ready to write this Think Tank about media coverage of crime in minority communities, but I realized I would be only […]
Cartman. A Twentieth Television Production. Debmar-Mercury has replaced Tribune Entertainment with Twentieth Television as national advertising representative for syndicated reruns of South Park, meaning Twentieth will now sell the national barter ad time for Cartman and friends, effective immediately. Tribune helped clear the off-Comedy Central sitcom in several markets in 2004 and 2005. But the ironic thing here is, South […]
This dates way back when WCIU-TV carried Kids’ WB programming, and this is the price they paid for it: The Weigel-owned independent station was fined $16,500 for kids’ ad violations by the FCC, regarding Pokemon product placement on Eggo waffles and Fruit By The Foot fruit roll-ups (perhaps this is one of reasons why WCIU dropped Kids’ WB from the […]
The T Dog Media Blog has reached its 1,000th post. And in those one thousand posts, what has we learned? Well… – Jim Belushi still has no talent whatsoever. – Chicago celebrities in Hollywood can be just as much as a jerk as anyone else – except the one who won the Oscar last year. – If you a guy, […]
For the second year in a row, The T Dog Media Blog picks the best and worst commercials that aired during the Super Bowl. Here are the five best and the five worst: (Click the link to watch the commercial) Best 1. Dwayne Wins (T-Mobile) This ad featuring Charles Barkley and the Miami Heat’s Dwayne Wade was funny as hell. […]
The “Whopper Freakout” campaign boosted sales of the sandwich for Burger King, which features angry customers demanding Whoppers after being told that the chain’s doesn’t sell them anymore. It’s all a gag of course. (Here is the Web version:) The campaign drew 250,000 vistors to its WhopperFreakout.com website, according to ComScore, and grew to 1.5 million views in January. The […]
From #10 to #1, the best TV shows of 2007… 10) Chuck (NBC) Computer geek who works at a big-box is also a spy. Great concept. 9) Mad Men (AMC). Realistic look at ad agency business in the 1960’s, far more accurate than what you saw on Bewitched. On Mad Men, nobody becomes impotent from spells cast by Endora. 8) […]
There were a lot of forgettable moments in media in 2007, and we have them right here… First, let’s start off with the year’s worst TV, from #10 to #1: 10) The O’Reilly Factor (Fox News): This show still sucks. 9) Around the Horn (ESPN) Ditto. 8. Chicago Sports (various channels) What a great year for Chicago Sports! The Cubs […]
And that phrase is not just coming from Chicago sports fans. Expenditures were down across the board for traditional media for the first nine months of 2007 (with the exception of cable) according to TNS. Not a good year for ad spending on TV, particularly with Spot sales and syndication (thank you, Macy’s.)
Before the Charmin Bears and before the “roll-in-a-half” commercials of the 1980’s (shivers…), there was Mr. Whipple – always remind us not to squeeze the Charmin. Well, the actor who portayed him in those ads (Dick Wilson) passed away a few weeks ago, and Proctor & Gamble takes us back in time with this thoughtful tribute.
With the Pumpkin Pie Awards for Excellence Welcome to the second annual T Dog Media Blog Turkey Awards. Once again, we’re here to serve up the disasters in media in 2007. I have nineteen turkeys to hand out… so let’s get gobbling! And this year’s awards go to… – The Chicago Bears. A Super Bowl hangover this year. And especially Rex […]
To: Our Readers Over the last fourteen months, I have had the pleasure of writing about TV and radio to you, and we’ve had some fun along the way. But let me tell you something. When people – notably those who hate the media business (radio and TV) and say I’m wasting my time writing this blog, I say to […]
Writers Held Hostage: Day 2 The latest: – The walkout has shut down numerous shows in Hollywood until notice, notably sitcoms shot in front of studio audiences. Back to You, Two and a Half Men, ‘Til Death and The Big Bang Theory have gone dark (however, CW sitcoms Girlfriends and The Game are reportedly still in production.) – The Writer’s […]
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