Fox dumps syndicated shows – and possibly Jennifer Hudson, too

Pictionary, Person Place Or Thing, and Dish Nation to end as Fox’s TV stations plan to make significant changes next season In a surprise shellacking, Fox First-Run canceled three syndicated half-hour shows Tuesday: Person Place Or Thing, Pictionary, and the long-running Dish Nation, according to TVNewsCheck as Fox’s owned stations – including Fox 32 (WFLD) and Fox Chicago Plus (WPWR), […]

The Media Notepad: Chicago Public Media to offer buyouts to selected employees of WBEZ, Sun-Times

Also: Meteorologist loses job due to social media post; new game show announced; Trump Country returns to SW Florida With revenues falling short of expectations, WBEZ and Sun-Times owner Chicago Public Media announced Wednesday it was offering buyouts to certain employees, including journalists at the paper and business employees from the radio station. In a staff meeting Wednesday, newly installed […]

Report: “You Bet Your Life” with Jay Leno canceled

First casualty of Writer’s Strike; Fox readies replacements for stations  The ongoing Writer’s Strike in Hollywood has claimed its first victim – a game show strip. A piece in TVNewscheck published last Wednesday revealed a little nugget – the end of Jay Leno’s revival of You Bet Your Life after two seasons as the strike shut down production of the […]

Fox renews four syndicated shows

Re-ups take time periods off the board for potential newbies The CW is known for renewing everything (except Katy Keene obviously) so Fox First-Run decided to do likewise and renew its entire its entire catalog of first-run syndicated shows for next season. The shows are Dish Nation, Divorce Court, You Bet Your Life, and 25 Words or Less. Three months ago, […]

Detroit’s WWJ-TV gets back in the news game

CBS-owned station was one of only two Big 3 network affiliates in the 50 largest markets without a local news operation After nearly twenty years without local news, WWJ-TV is back in the business, launching a new hyper-local effort in late summer/early fall of 2022 with the operation being branded as CBS News Detroit. Reflecting the sign of the times, […]

Report: AT&T sells “TMZ” to Fox

Move adds more programs to Fox’s syndication portfolio In a surprising move reported last month, WarnerMedia parent AT&T is in talks to sell its TMZ franchise to Fox Corp. Today, the deal became official according to Deadline.  TMZ consists of the gossip website and the two syndicated television shows they spun off of, TMZ (alternatively titled TMZ on TV) and […]

The Media Notepad: WBEZ hires Sasha Anne-Simons as new midday host

Also: Charlie Brown returns; Fox renews syndicated shows; Sinclair to rebrand RSNs after Bally’s Chicago Public Media’s WBEZ-FM has filled its open midday position.  Her name is Sasha Anne-Simons and she’ll take over from the since-departed Jenn White on December 14 as host of Reset, which aired weekdays  from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. For the last few months, the […]

The Media Notepad: Marquee’s future getting on Dish looks very bleak

Also: Big 3 add overnight news repeats; Fox renews three daytime shows; Disney + signs ten million users; two prime-shows pink-slipped We have an update on the latest with the Cubs’ new Marquee Network and Dish…and I’m guessing those negotiations aren’t going well. In an interview with the Tribune’s Eric Zorn (a rather pointed opinion piece urging Dish not to […]

Fox-owned stations renew Warner Bros.’ syndicated shows in multi-year deal

Group renews quartet of shows and forces format change (Editor’s Note: This story has been edited as an accompanying YouTube video was deleted.)  In a massive deal, the Fox-owned station group renewed four Warner Bros.’ first-run shows currently on its stations. But the deal come with some changes that you, the viewer will notice. Four shows from the AT&T-owned syndicator: […]

“Dish Nation” renewed; “Millionaire” axed

Millionaire runs out of lifelines as game show comes to an end (Editor’s Note: This story has been updated.) Friday was the ultimate final answer for the fate of two long-running syndicated shows. According to TVNewscheck, Dish Nation was renewed for an eighth season, taking the show through September 2020. “Yeah eight seasons,” said Stephen Brown, Fox’s executive vice president […]