What’s happening to the cherished genre these days isn’t funny as it could be reduced to nothing Seven weeks ago, CNN launched The History Of The Sitcom – an unnecessary eight-part documentary on a subject covered to death through books, PBS, and other media celebrating the form stretching from the days of I Love Lucy on your black-and-white mono […]
A mountain of entertainment awaits the home viewer As the streaming wars continue to heat up, ViacomCBS announced Tuesday it was ditching the CBS All Access name and rebranding as Paramount Plus, or Paramount + beginning in early 2021, with a dedicated website already launched. The move to freshen up the streaming service comes as other big conglomerates have jumped […]
NBC 5, Telemundo also announce layoffs At a time when the Covid pandemic has hammered advertising revenues, it isn’t surprising media companies are making cuts. And it hit home today with Comcast’s NBCUniversal division announcing layoffs with NBC Sports’ regional sports networks taking the hardest hits. NBC Sports Chicago laid off several personnel Tuesday on-air and off as Leah Rahimi […]
Chicago viewers will get to see Liz Lemon & Co. reunite. Outside of Chicago? It depends on where your live – and who owns your NBC station. [Updated Thursday at 4:25 p.m.] Are you excited about the 30 Rock reunion Thursday night? If you live outside of the Chicago area, you might have to delay your enthusiasm until Friday morning […]
Fox announced Thursday the resignation of Entertainment President Kevin Reilly, who has held the position for the last seven years. His departure is scheduled at the end of next month. Since coming over from NBC, Reilly was credited for bringing aboard people who created hit shows for the network, including Glee and New Girl, and to a lesser extent, Bob’s […]
What this means for fans of the long-running franchise, its syndicator and the show itself In news first reported by TV Guide’s Michael Schneider Monday, the longest-running series in primetime TV history is expected to be sold by Twentieth Television to a cable network this year for airing in the fall of 2014. Possible cable contenders include Turner Broadcasting (TBS, […]
A night after more than 60 million tuned in to the Presidential Debates, viewer levels were back to normal Thursday night with CBS dominating the evening once again. All ratings are from the adult 18-49 demo, unless otherwise noted: – First hour of prime-time: the CBS Thursday Night Comedy Power Hour remains just that as The Big Bang Theory (4.9/16, […]
This week’s Retro Friday takes a short trip back to 2008 when NBC aired a promo for its fall programming during the Opining Ceremonies of the Beijing Olympic Games, featuring the song “Make Some Noise”. Shown are clips from modest hits 30 Rock, Heroes, Chuck, and Deal Or No Deal, featuring Alec Baldwin, Zachery Levi, Howie Mandel, and Greg Grunberg. […]
NBC unveiled its 2012-13 schedule on Sunday, a day before its upfront presentation in New York City (I guess a little something called Mother’s Day didn’t stop them.) In all, there are six new series with changes on five nights – many of those changes quite questionable. NBC is introducing twelve new series in their 2012-13 campaign, with seven of […]
NBC renews four shows for next season; ABC renews ten In the “this doesn’t come as a surprise” department, Fox has renewed Family Guy and American Dad for two more seasons through 2014. However, no decision has been made on The Cleveland Show past 2013. All three shows are part of Fox’s Animation Domination Sunday night block. The moves come […]
The Grab Bag today includes a revival of a classic game show – with a hip-hop bent; a local time slot change for syndicated reruns of 30 Rock; and Chicago lands another reality TV show: – Oprah and Rosie are long gone from the Windy City, but believe it or not, television production is expanding in Chicago – of the […]
Anderson renewed for a second season; Bill Cunningham is putting up solid numbers for WGN – but not in his home market of Cincinnati. It seems like syndicators are ready to party like its 1995 again, when a slew of Ricki Lake– talk show knockoffs flooded the market. Well, here we go again as already four talk shows have been […]
How To Be A Gentleman – or just how to be a lame idiot. It’s the first week full week of October and already the networks are cleaning house and sending a slew of nominees to The T Dog Media TV Hall Of Shame as four series were canceled this week and another series likely […]
The Simpsons has been renewed for two years. Let’s go to Moe’s to celebrate! That is, if he let us… In news that has dominated TV news headlines all week long, there was drama on whether The Simpsons‘ voice actors would agree to take a 45 percent pay cut – or cancel the […]
Anderson shows some growth; other new first-run entries struggle The race for freshman off-network sitcom supremacy began yesterday with several new entries. Warner Bros. The Big Bang Theory – which stations paid big bucks for – and the all-barter 30 Rock from NBCUniversal opened to mostly tepid results. According to numbers provided by Broadcasting & Cable (and buried deep within […]