T Dog’s Grab Bag

Glee is off to a hot start – 5.5 adults 18-49 rating for its second season premiere. – The new fall season is underway, and here’s the storylines so far… Dancing With The Stars and Glee are in peak form; Hawaii Five-O had a successful debut; Mike & Molly was amply sampled; and all of Fox’s new shows (Lonestar, Raising […]

Roger Ebert revives "At The Movies"

The title card of the new Roger Ebert Presents At The Movies. Get your popcorn ready – because the balcony is re-opening and there’s going to be a show. One of the principals behind Sneak Previews/At The Movies is bringing the series back to its original home of PBS. Chicago Sun-Times movie critic Roger Ebert announced on his website today […]

Chicago stations in for political ad revenue windfall

With Mayor Richard M. Daley’s decision not to run for a seventh term, it could mean good news for local television and radio outlets in the terms of revenue in the form of increased political advertising. While the rest of us will being running to our nearest electronics store to buy Tivos, the announcement would mean a huge influx of […]

4:30 a.m. news: The sensation that’s sweeping the nation

It’s no longer a rush to get into the 4:30 a.m. news business – it’s a stampede. Consider this – a recent search of TVNewsCheck of “4:30” turned up a whopping 115 items., with most of the stories featuring stations starting 4:30 a.m. newscasts in the past year, or so. This isn’t a rush – it’s a stampede. Get the […]

T Dog’s Grab Bag: Exit, stage left…

..and other media news of note: – Kevin Manno is exiting his afternoon gig at alt-rock WKQX-FM (Q101) to take a job hosting a yet-to-be named weekday show on MTV according to CRM. The new show debuts on September 20 and is scheduled to air weekdays at 5 p.m. Manno’s old shift is being filled temporarily by James VanOdsol. This […]

WBBM-TV cancels "Monsters"

What’s surprising about Monsters and Money in the Morning is the program actually outlived The Jay Leno Show – by one month. In what could be considered the biggest bomb in local television history, CBS-owned WBBM-TV canceled future T Dog Media Blog TV Hall of Shame inductee Monsters and Money in the Morning after six-and-a-half months of ultra-low ratings to […]

Tribune to go ahead with "Big Willie"

CBS to launch The Talk to replace As The World Turns Despite anemic ratings, poor reviews, and Twitters unanimously dissing it, Tribune Broadcasting is apparently going ahead with Bill Cunningham’s new talk show, which is now targeted for a Fall 2011 launch. During the four-day test, the program averaged an 1.1 Nielsen household rating in seven markets, including Chicago. While […]

Bill Kurtis, Walter Jacobson reunite at WBBM-TV for 6 p.m. newscast

The boys are back in town. The duo who are synonymous with serious, professional journalism are back for another run. CBS-owned WBBM-TV announced today it was reuniting the anchor duo of Bill Kurtis and Walter Jacobson for its 6 p.m. newscast, effective Sept. 1. The reunification of Kurtis and Jacobson has been rumored for several months. Kurtis and Jacobson were […]

WLS-TV jumps into the 4:30 a.m. news derby

Remember when yours truly said an expansion for local news at 4:30 a.m. was inevitable in the Chicago market? Well, the race to have the first newscast of the day is getting awfully crowded. Just two weeks after Tribune’s WGN-TV announced it was expanding its morning newscast to 4:30 a.m. on August 16, ABC-owned WLS-TV announced yesterday it was expanding […]

WFLD revamps Good Day Chicago… again

In a long due overhaul, Fox-owned WFLD-TV has decided to revamp its low-rated Good Day Chicago morning news program with the announcement of two new anchors to take over the show – reporter Anna Davlantes and sports anchor Corey McPherrin, effective August 2. News of a possible anchor change first surfaced on July 14 in Robert Feder’s blog at Vocalo […]

WBBM-TV names new 10 p.m. co-anchor

CBS-owned WBBM-TV is undergoing yet another change with its 10 p.m. weeknight newscast by pairing current anchor Rob Johnson with Kate Sullivan, a morning anchor at sister station WCBS-TV in New York City, also a CBS O&O. The report first surfaced Wednesday on Robert Feder’s blog at Vocalo. The change is expected to take place in September. Johnson had been […]

"Big Willie" not so big

The one thing that was good about Bill Cunningham’s daytime stint last week was he proved he can actually host a TV talk show. Too bad it was the only good thing. The four-episode test of Big Willie, which ran on six Tribune Broadcasting-owned stations and one Raycom outlet (Fox affiliate WXIX-TV in Cincinnati) stumbled out of gate. According to […]

WLS-TV to replace "Oprah" with live, local morning show

In news first reported Tuesday morning on Robert Feder’s blog at Vocalo, ABC-owned WLS-TV has announced plans to replace The Oprah Winfrey Show, which departs first-run syndication on September 9, 2011: The station is developing a live, local morning show to take her place. There is no word yet on a host or format, but it is expected to be […]

WGN-TV begins 4:30 a.m. newscast

Tribune-owned WGN-TV is adding yet another half-hour of news later this summer, this time at 4:30 a.m. Following a trend many local stations have been doing across the country for the past year, WGN is adding the 4:30 a.m. newscast to take advantage of commuters getting up earlier to go to work (or as we say in the trade, increasing […]

Everybody Loves Mancow

Mancow’s shtick is so laughable, it could pass itself off as a pathetic sitcom. Welcome to Everybody Loves Mancow, starring Mancow Mueller! In this show, Mancow thinks the whole world only evolves around him and only him – and everybody who works with him suffers for it. In this latest episode, Mueller talks about Tuesday’s Federal Court ruling on indecency […]