NBC O&Os get daytime act together

Chicago’s WMAQ fares better than New York and Los Angeles counterparts The NBC-owned-and-operated stations are blowing up their daytime schedules this fall, with two new programs (and possibly a third) coming this fall while three shows are exiting. NBC Local Media chief John Wallace explains in a recent TVNewscheck article on how the station group is preparing for the massive […]

WMAQ cleans up on Olympics

NBC-owned WMAQ-TV is having a blast this month, thanks to the Vancouver Winter Olympics. Ratings for the games have more than tripled its nearest competitors in prime-time – none of which have come even close, proving the games are a big draw in Chicagoland. For example on Saturday, the Olympics drew a 15.2 rating (share not available) on Saturday night […]

What’s next for Conan O’Brien

So now that Conan O’Brien has wrapped up his tenure at NBC in late night after sixteen years, what’s next for the once low-key talk show host? Mr. O’Brien could have offers from other competing networks from several cable networks  and at least one broadcast network. And he may have helped his cause on Friday night: Ratings for his final […]

Tribune’s WGN-TV renews "Family Guy" – with WCIU in tow

  Soon, “Family Guy” will have TWO places to call home in Chicago. In a rather odd twist to a renewal deal, Tribune-owned WGN-TV has renewed syndicated repeats of Family Guy for a second cycle in a new four-year deal through 2015, which kicks in on September 12, 2011. But as a part of the deal, Weigel-owned independent station WCIU-TV […]

2009’s Excellent 10 – and more

Despite a down year (or decade, depending on your point of view) 2009 has had some good moments too! Here is the best of the best – the Top 10 items of 2009, count them down from ten to one – remember, this list includes not only TV shows, but events as well… The Excellent 1010. Glee (Fox). A surprise […]

2009’s Toilet 10 – and more

Over the next week, we will be reviewing the year in television and other things – the best and worst – as well as the events and issues that helped define the decade. We’ll start at the absolute bottom – with the worst shows and other items in the annual year-end lineup of the Toilet 10 – with a few […]

Macon, Ga. station dumps ABC affiliation

Is it retransmission consent? Or is it content? (no, I’m not confusing the two.) Yours truly doesn’t usually report on the happenings in the Macon, Ga. media world (because, hell there isn’t anything to report, given the market’s CBS affiliate has dominated the ratings since Adam took a bite of that apple.) But this one caught this one’s eye… ABC […]

NBC affiliates buck the trend in Detroit, D.C.

Believe it or not, there are places where NBC affiliates actually won late news despite having The Jay Leno Show as its lead-in. What’s notable is these two NBC affiliates – WRC-TV in Washington, D.C. and WDIV in Detroit, rose in the ratings ranks as recently as ten years ago, when NBC was enjoying ratings dominance – surpassing former market […]

WBBM-TV 10 p.m. news soars in the ratings

Leno hampering NBC affiliates’ late news; other November “sweeps” notes ABC-owned WLS-TV dominated the ratings in households and key demos in the just concluded November “sweeps” period (do we still have those in this LPM era?) but it was the two other network O&Os who made headlines. NBC-owned WMAQ-TV slipped to third place in households at 10 p.m., behind a […]

T Dog’s Four Pack -The Oprah Winfrey Edition

Welcome to a special edition of T Dog’s Four Pack (special because this is a bit serious in tone.) On Thursday, Oprah Winfrey announced she was leaving her syndicated daytime talk show after 25 years and ending the program on September 9, 2011. She is focusing on launching her new cable network with Discovery Communications, which goes live in January […]

T Dog’s Four Pack – Put ’em up

It’s a mid-week edition of T Dog’s Four Pack – the winners and losers of the past week: And to describe the contestants, they are split into two groups: Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto.  If you follow boxing, you already know which one is the winner.(if you don’t, click the link.) Floating like Pacquiao – WBBM-TV brings back Bill Kurtis […]

Bears slide in the ratings

But the Bengals rock the ratings in Cincy No matter how much Ed Sherman of Chicago Business paints a rosy picture of it, the Chicago Bears’ ratings on Sunday were an expected disappointment given the rather unexpected 45-10 blowout of the team by the Cincinnati Bengals. The game, which started at 3:15 p.m. Central and ran until about 6:20 p.m., […]

Follow up: Is Leno killing late local news?

Remember back last December when yours truly wrote how stripping The Jay Leno Show was a creative counter-programming idea? I think I might want to retract that statement. Since it debuted September 14, The Jay Leno Show has been a hot topic of debate in television circles across the country – especially in newsrooms, where Leno leads in to late […]

,NBC local stations on Leno: Flat is the new up

It appears Jay Leno’s new 9 p.m. (Central) show isn’t having the drag many affiliates feared it would have on their late local newscasts. While ratings in the key 25-54 audience were down 12 percent from NBC affiliates and O&Os, ratings declines were also clocked in at ABC and CBS stations as well. To sum it up – ratings for […]