Think Tank Express: Lucas with the lid off: Lakefront plan derails

Special interest group hijacks and derails plan – a situation we’re all too familiar with in the media business The Lakefront project Star Wars creator George Lucas wanted to build has been zapped by something more sinister than Darth Vader: An organization who claims they serve the “public interest”. On Tuesday, Lucas was dealt a blow to build his new […]

San Diego Comic-Con gears up

SyFy to broadcast from Comic-Con; new SVOD platform with Lionsgate ramps up The last few years, television coverage from San Diego’s Comic-Con has been hard to come by. But this year, that’s going to change. Recently, SyFy announced it would be broadcasting live from the 47th annual pop culture celebration, which runs from July 21-24. The cable net coverage titled Syfy […]

“X-Files” return does it for Fox

    Strong football numbers power X-Files return (Editor’s Note: Contains spoilers.) The Truth is still out there. The X-Files‘ return Sunday night was as good as gold as the return of the Emmy-winning 1993-2002 series paid dividends for Fox. According to Nielsen, the “10th season premiere” of the series starring David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson scored a 15.1 household […]

Welcome Back: MST3K to return

Thanks to Kickstarter, a cult classic rises again In this era of reboots and revivals comes an unlikely name surfacing: Mystery Science Theater 3000. And so it shall be done. Thanks to a Kickstarter campaign, the movie mocking series Mystery Science Theater 3000 – or MST3K, for short, is indeed coming back with fourteen new episodes – thanks to a […]

Comic-Con: “Heroes: Reborn” takes center stage

NBC’s relaunch of the 2006-10 series is massive – and actually impressive It was back in 2006 when a 73-minute pilot called Heroes was screened at the San Diego Comic-Con. The episode blew fans away as the success of the screening burned up the Internet (and this was when Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube were in their infancy.) Anticipation was built […]

Comic-Con Notepad: It’s A Marvel (or a DC)

  Attendees were still jackin’ it in San Diego as the 2015 Comic-Con extravaganza continued with more costumes, more cosplay (whatever that is), and more panels of your favorite TV shows, movies, and comics. More highlights: – Even though Marvel Studios’ film studios sat out Comic-Con, its television division held plenty of panels – including Marvel Television Presents on Friday, with […]

Think Tank Express: Random thoughts

Oh, when are the upfronts? It’s been slow here at the T Dog Media newsdesk. So here are some random thoughts: – Dr. Oz said, for some reason “We will not be silenced” in response to some Columbia University doctors questioning his credentials. But would silence him is low TV ratings. – Instead of reporting the news, CNN and Fox try […]

Net neutrality sails through the FCC

In what has to be the most politically divided vote at the Federal Communications Commission since the Sirius/XM merger of nearly seven years ago, the government agency passed new Net Neutrality rules on Thursday, a victory for open-Internet activists and the defeat of ISPs and telecoms, notably Verizon, AT&T, and Comcast. The three-to-two vote came among party lines: Democrats Mignon […]

Leonard Nimoy dies

The entertainment world is mourning the loss of Leonard Nimoy, who passed away Friday morning at the age of 83 from complications due from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, attributed to years of smoking, a habit he gave up three decades ago. Nimoy was best known for playing Lt. Spock on the TV series Star Trek and the numerous movies spun […]

2015: A look ahead

With 2014 now behind us, here’s what to expect in 2015: 1. The Cubs’ new media homes. This year, the Cubs enter a new era: a new over-the-air TV home (WLS-TV/ABC 7) and WBBM-AM, after 90 years with WGN-AM. What’s left unresolved is a package of 45 games, whose TV home is yet to be determined. 2. As the WGN […]

The best and worst content of 2014

Instead of an “Excellent 10” and “Toilet 10” TV show list like yours truly has done in the past, this year I’m breaking it down as “Best Content” and “Worst Content” of 2014, because let’s face it – media content isn’t just on TV anymore… it’s on other platforms such as Amazon, Netflix, and the Internet in general (and plus, the monikers […]

T Dog Media’s Comic-Con mess

Due to unfortunate circumstances not under my control and time constraints, yours truly has had to suspend Comic-Con coverage on T Dog Media. I’m not happy about this, and Comic-Con is one of those big media events (TCA and NATPE are the others) that I cover very extensively on this blog. This is truly disappointing. But good news: if its […]

Supreme Court to Aereo: You’re Out

Ending months of wondering and worrying, the nation’s major broadcasters dodged a major bullet Wednesday when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of them in their case against Aereo (ABC v. Aereo), an Internet startup company which took (or some say stole) broadcasters’ signals and allows subscribers to watch on their laptops, smartphones, and other devices – without Aereo […]

Sorry…not sorry

When snarking goes wrong No apology from T Dog Media coming Over the eight years T Dog Media has been in operation, I’ve attracted a lot of fans who support this endeavor due to my love of writing, especially about the media business (and I thank you for it.) But along the way, yours truly has also made some enemies. Mancow. Mark […]

T Dog’s Grab Bag: Alternative rock returns to 101.1

It’s official: the alternative rock format, which vanished from the 101.1 frequency in 2011 after Merlin Media took over, returned Friday morning at 9 a.m. prompt, simulcasting sister station WKQX/87.7 FM for a period of 30-45 days.  The move came a week after Cumulus announced it was taking over operations of three Merlin Media stations in Chicago. According to Radio […]