Starting in January, ABC’s “Lost” will air 16-episode arcs for three years straight with no repeats. Last time they granted a three-season renewal to anything was to the inane Drew Carey Show. Will the quality continue to suffer? Stay tuned right here on Lame Duck Theater.
Diane Wets of Newsday says that tonight’s “laugh n’ sniff” promotion of tonight’s My Name Is Earl is a joke (of the pathetic sense) and today’s sitcoms are hardly the caliber of past Must See TV sitcom successes. When you think about it, the state of the sitcom is pretty much like the state of the Chicago Blackhawks – Both […]
The girls are sent a packin’ after seven seasons…. The program averaged a 1.8 ratings in the money demo (A 18-49), which is strong for the CW, but doesn’t cut it for a REAL network (which it needs to be.) As for who will replace the Gilmores- Let the speculation begin. Get your message boards ready…
Interesting notes from Feder’s column today: * The game show Let’s Play Crosswords won’t be done in Chicago after all. After the producers decided to shoot the program without a studio audience, Program Partners’ new syndicated strip will originate in Los Angeles. Meanwhile, daytime soap star Ty Treadway has been tapped as host. * The FreeFM (or FraudFM) slogan at […]
The Dolan family have decided to buy out Cablevision for a bid of $10.6 billion, which founded and currently controls the company. Earlier this week, Cablevision sold off its stakes in FSN New England and FSN Bay Area to Comcast. Cablevision owns the MSG Network and FSN New York as well as the New York Knicks and New York Rangers.
Best known for roles in Mork & Mindy, Newhart, and Family Matters, Mr. Poston dies at the age of 85.
The Chicago Bulls may not be burning up the ratings nationally like they used to (after all, this is a country that now would rather watch a bunch of cars race around a track all day), but they are a hit locally – Game 4 between the Bulls and the Miami Heat – a game that capped off a sweep […]
Comcast Corp. has bought out Cablevision’s share in the FSN Bay Area and FSN New England sports nets for $570 million. Comcast will get 60 percent of the stake in FSN Bay Area (with Fox owning the other 40 percent) and 50 percent in FSN New England, giving it full control. FSN Bay Area carries San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose sports teams, […]
The ratings for Major League Baseball games are up 20 percent on regional cable networks, according to Nielsen, and advertisers are clearly benefiting from the strong start. Some of them, like Fox’s Detroit and Houston’s regional sports networks, are averaging better ratings than the local CW and MyNetworkTV affiliates in prime time. Meanwhile, Fox’s Saturday Game of the Week (which […]
Independent station CHCH-TV in Hamilton, Ontario (outside of Toronto) is converting its’ entire programming schedule (sans news and prime-time programming) to E! programming, beginning Sept. 1. This marks the first time that a U.S. cable network is taking over a broadcast station and its’ repeaters in Canada. CHCH owner CanWest has pledged to continue airing Canadian content on the station, […]
Twentieth Television has cleared Family Guy in 90% of the country for syndication this fall, with 150 markets on board and 24 of the top 25 markets. Outside of the core Tribune group, recent markets cleared included San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose, Tampa-St. Petersburg, Phoenix, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Cleveland, Orlando, Pittsburgh, and Kansas City. (The press release misidentified one of the Orlando stations. […]
Rosie O’Donnell announced that she is leaving The View today, after failing to come to contract agreement with ABC. She is expected to leave in mid-June. Her arrival to the talk show brought increased ratings for ABC, but also controversy, as she has feuded with Donald Trump, and has frequently criticized the Bush administration. O’Donnell is weighing many options, including […]
The struggling MyNetworkTV will not be at the lavish network upfronts next month – instead, it will hit the road to New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago for one-on-one meetings with media buyers.That’s the smartest move MyNetworkTV has made all year. The network will completely abandon its soap operas by September (it launched with a all-telenovela format last September) in […]
Chicago sports fans are going to be in a tizzy trying to find their games tonight, as the Bulls, Cubs and White Sox are in action all at the same time. Comcast SportsNet will air Game 2 of the Bulls-Heat quarterfinal (also available on TNT), while the Cubs-Brewers game will be on CLTV (or Comcast SportsNet Plus), and the White […]
Continuing in the tradition of picking up events nobody else wants (Miss USA, the NHL), NBC has agreed to a three-year deal with U.S. Figure Skating to air figure skating events. ABC and ESPN has held the rights for the last 12 years, but passed on the upcoming contract. Hey NBC, Miss America is now available… make it a hat […]
ABC ABC-Owned Stations ABC 7 Chicago American Idol CBS CBS Chicago CBS Media Ventures CBS News And Stations Chicago Bears Chicago Blackhawks Chicago Bulls Chicago Cubs Chicago White Sox ESPN Family Guy FCC Fox Fox 32 Fox Television Stations Los Angeles Milwaukee NBC NBC 5 NBC Owned Television Stations NBCUniversal Syndication Studios New York City Nexstar Media Group Radio Ratings Sinclair Inc. Syndication The Big Bang Theory The CW The Simpsons Tribune Media Warner Bros. WBBM-TV Chicago WCIU Chicago WFLD Chicago WGN-TV Chicago WGN Radio WLS-AM Chicago WLS-TV Chicago WMAQ Chicago WPWR Chicago