Phil Rosenthal has a short story today in the Tribune about the continuing sagging fortunes of MyNetworkTV and Fox’s station operations president Dennis Swanson insistence that the brand will be big – someday. In the article, Mr. Swanson points out that his stations need prime-time network programming (Translation: our stations aren’t paying anything for prime-time-unlike the CW and independent stations, […]
Last night’s AFC Championship Game between the New England Patriots and the Indianapolis Colts, was the highest-rated program of the season, topping the debut of American Idol. The game (which the Colts won 38-34), featured the biggest comeback of all time in a championship game, led by the Colts’ Peyton Manning. The Bears won earlier in the day in the […]
The latest from the tour: -The CW announced that its is streaming programs from cwtv.com shortly after their airdate, beginning immediately. The programs include all of the net Monday’s comedies, Gilmore Girls, Veronica Mars, Beauty and the Geek, and Supernatural. -Meanwhile, the network is planning to premiere two new reality shows in the next few weeks: Crowned, a mother-daughter beauty […]
Good news for fans of quality shows – and for TV stations looking for off-network sitcoms in 2009. NBC has renewed My Name Is Earl and The Office (and Law & Order: SUV), and the CW has renewed Everybody Hates Chris for next season -all show should be available for off-network syndication in 2009, a year after there will be […]
Here is the latest going on at NATPE in Las Vegas and TCA press tour in Pasadena, Calif.: -Warner Bros. has pulled its proposed new show, Celebrity Jury– for now. Warner Bros. was unable to come to an agreement with the Fox-owned stations on the program, but may be launched at a later date. Meanwhile, the chances for Dr. Keith […]
Michael Wilbon of PTI may not have been watching, but the rest of America was: American Idol drew 37.3 million viewers, the second-highest total in the program’s history-a 15.7/38 rating/share among the money demo (A 18-49) and a 20.3/30 among households (In Chicago, Idol drew a 20.1/30, about average.) Meanwhile, way, way, waaaaaaaaayyyyyy on the opposite end of the ratings […]
Two shows have been called out at the plate: ABC’s anemic Big Day, and NBC’s Passions. The latter, a modern-day Dark Shadows, is being replaced in the NBC daytime lineup by a fourth hour of Today.
For the second year in a row, Chicago Bears offensive linesman-turned-broadcaster Tom Thayer has been selected to become the official spokesperson of the city of Joilet, a suburb southwest of Chicago. The response to the ad campaign has been overwhelmingly positive, according to city officials. Thayer, part of the 1985 Super Bowl Champion team, was a hometown football standout at […]
It’s been a rough December in the entertainment business, where it seems like legends are dying every few days. Now, another death – this time the person who co-founded CBS with William Paley, Frank Stanton, dies at 98.
Bart Simpson: (c) Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. All rights reserved. That’s right. You heard me. Bart Simpson this week is picking NFL games on FoxSports.com. (If you’re a gambling man, don’t take his advice. He thinks the Chiefs play in St. Louis.) He said he once drove to Cincinnati (no doubt to loot in the 2001 race riots), and […]
The Broadcasting & Cable TV Critics Poll is out, and HBO’s The Wire topped the charts for best overall show of 2006. The runner-ups included freshman sensation Heroes in second place, and 24 came in third. For best comedy they picked The Office, best drama went to The Wire, and best reality show went to The Amazing Race. As for […]
Yes! Fox’s King of the Hill is back in its original time slot where it launched in January 1997, the plum slot after The Simpsons. This means that American Dad, which has occupied that slot, is moving back to its 8:30 pm (Central Time) slot, all effective January 28. Family Guy’s time slot remains unchanged. King of the Hill will […]
It’s unusual to have this much news break late on a Friday, so I’ve decided to summarize all the late breaking news into one post: Update: ABC has now decided to yank low-rated and critically blasted game show Show Me the Money off the air immediately, meaning it’s gone for good. The program was to move to Tuesday nights beginning […]
Yay! The network pulled the plug on the six additional episodes that were ordered. The low-rated program will run on Tuesdays in January as planned, but those are episodes already ordered. Good Riddance.
The CW actually had a successful November book, according to this article in Mediaweek. According to analysts, at the end of the season, the new network could match the ratings of its predecessor, the WB.
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