Only three new shows on fall schedule; Thursday Night Football to give another big boost NBC released its new 2016-17 schedule to the public Sunday morning and to advertisers at its upfront presentation Monday. Much like last year, the network is withholding the bulk of its new series until midseason, despite having an advantage of the Summer Olympics in Rio […]
Networks pull plug on underperforming shows. Ten shows axed; Supergirl changes networks For the last several years, the major networks have made decisions on “bubble shows” on the Thursday and Friday before the upfronts – thus, “Bubble Bustin’ Thursday” and “Bubble Bustin’ Friday”. These two days are brutal for the prime-time TV business; decisions are made on what pilots are picked up […]
With the upfronts a week away, it’s time to take a look at what was hot and what was not in the 2015-16 television season. This roundup not only is about primetime broadcast TV, but other programming as well from local news to local sports. These are not listed in any particular order. Winners. – Cable dramas. While the news has […]
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 […]
Disney’s “Live” blunder the latest in management woes To understand the brouhaha over Kelly Ripa, Michael Strahan, and ABC executives’ handling of this Live crisis, you have to go back 20 years. In 1995, the financial interest and syndication rules – or fin-syn as it was called – expired after 25 years, once again letting the major broadcast networks […]
But Michael Strahan’s exit moved up to May 13th Upon her return to Live Tuesday morning, Kelly Ripa joked “Our long national nightmare is over.” She might have referred to the 2015-16 Chicago Blackhawks season, which ended Monday night with a Game 7 loss to the St. Louis Blues. Or more likely, she was referring to the drama surrounding her […]
Michael Strahan’s unexpected departure from Live stuns industry insiders – and Kelly Ripa The announcement of Michael Strahan’s departure from Disney-ABC Domestic Television’s Live With Kelly and Michael stunned the entertainment world Tuesday – perhaps none other than co-host Kelly Ripa herself, who reportedly wasn’t happy about the news. The NFL Hall Of Famer and former New York Giants defensive back accepted an […]
Cubs ratings; Carsey-Werner comedies head to LAFF; Media Life radio survey and more The Chicago Cubs have started off the 2016 season in style and viewers are watching: Monday’s home opener against the Cincinnati Reds drew a whopping 11.4 household same-day live rating, easily finishing as the most-watched program of the evening topping ABC’s Dancing With The Stars (always popular […]
Early fringe newscasts at WMAQ, WFLD on tap Like it or not Chicagoans, get ready for more newscasts in the afternoon. As first reported by Robert Feder Monday, NBC-owned WMAQ is expected to launch a 4 p.m. newscast later this summer. WMAQ would compete with WLS-TV and WGN-TV in the time slot, with each station having a newscast […]
WGN adds Wood and Dempster, plus Manley’s idiotic comment Media Life magazine article on iHeart causing a stir Empire roars back BET to add “Soul Train” WGN-AM has recruited former Cubs pitchers Kerry Wood and Ryan Dempster to provide weekly baseball analysis on Thursdays for the Tribune Broadcasting-owned radio station. Beginning this week, Ryan Dempster will talk baseball with Steve Cochran […]
In an indication of how quick Fox wants to get rid of the show, American Idol is ending its fifteen-season run on Thursday, April 7, rather than dragging it out through the May sweeps, which the show usually wrapped up on the final night of the TV season. While yours truly was never a fan of the show (“loathed” is more appropriate), […]
Comedian known for “It’s Garry Shandling Show”; “Larry Sanders” left legacy The comedy world is mourning the sudden, shocking loss of Garry Shandling, a stand-up comic and sitcom writer who died Thursday at the age of 66. Paramedics were called to his Los Angeles home for “a medical emergency” […]
Hello, and welcome back to T Dog Media! Here are some notable news and notes from the last two weeks: Tom Doerr has resigned as news director of Fox-owned WFLD-TV here in Chicago after just three years and six years overall at the station. Doerr is heading back to Florida to deal with personal family issues. During his tenure, ratings […]
Northwest Indiana’s local news show shutters after 25 years While local stations are adding more news than there is hours of the day, here’s an oddity: a station eliminating its news department. As first reported by nwi.com, Merrillville, Ind. -based PBS station WYIN has pulled the plug on Lakeshore Report after 25 years on the air. The last episode aired January […]
Also: CBS cancels Angel In Hell As first reported by Broadcasting & Cable, Scientific Games announced Tuesday it is ceasing production of Monopoly Millionaires Club. The syndicated game show, hosted by Mike & Molly’s Billy Gardell and shown locally on WGN-TV, was cut from an hour in its abbreviated first season to a half-hour this season. According to the article, […]
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