The Media Notepad: ABC, The CW announce 2024-25 lineups

Also: The Drive reclaims the top spot in Chicago radio ratings; Young Sheldon redeems himself   [Editor’s Note: The second item of this piece was updated on May 21.] Wrapping up the upfronts: ABC released its fall schedule last week as part of a Disney upfront presentation that hardly mentioned the network. And little wonder – there isn’t much to talk […]

The Media Notepad: NBC, Fox announce fall schedules

Also: Roku Channel to air Sunday MLB baseball  While back to normalcy is the word at Upfronts week after years of interruptions (from labor unrest and Covid), unfortunately so are the stupid and awful presentations to advertisers with Jimmy Fallon headlining NBC’s and Fox featuring Rob Lowe and new Fox Sports football analyst Tom Brady.  One tradition that didn’t return […]

The Media Notepad: Fox (finally) releases fall schedule

Also: iCrime debuts this fall; another syndicated show calls it quits; TV/radio stations shifting to the burbs?  Catching up on some news:  After deciding to delay for a few weeks, Fox released their 2022-23 schedule on June 6 without much fanfare. As expected, much of the lineup remained intact, including The Masked Singer on Wednesdays, Smackdown on Fridays, and the […]

Bears blow out competition – on the field and off

Bears, Truibsky cream Redskins, Dancing, and that Bob show  The 2019-20 television season is officially underway, but Chicagoans weren’t ready for the new shows….they were ready for Mitch Trubisky. The Chicago Bears thrashed the Washington Redskins on Monday night Football 31-15, with the Bears offense – struggling as of late – put up 28 points in the first half and […]

“Empire” cast stands by Jussie Smollett

(Editor’s Note: Updated to add ratings information from last night’s episode.) While Jussie Smollett’s tenure on Empire this season wound down Wednesday night, the battle on whether or not he returns to the show is just beginning. Earlier in the day Wednesday, the cast of the Fox show sent a letter to numerous executives at Disney and Fox as reported by […]

Charges dropped against Jussie Smollett

Prosecutors abandon case, many questions remain In a strange twist of fate, charges against Empire cast member Jussie Smollett were dropped Tuesday morning in a move stunning everybody. Smollett claimed he was attacked by two people wearing “Make America Great Again” hats on the morning of January 29, and said the men put a noose around his neck. Many felt […]

Monday ratings roundup: Viewers flood “Neighborhood”

ESPN scores with MNF, tiebreaker baseball Note: All numbers are adult 18-49, unless noted CBS premiered two new multi-cam sitcoms Monday night with the heavily promoted The Neighborhood and Happy Together as part of their effort to retool their Monday night lineup. The results were positive for Neighborhood with the Cedric The Entertainer vehicle earning a 1.3 rating/6 share, while […]

Monday night ratings roundup: “Manifest” rocks, “Magnum” tanks

Big Bang, Young Sheldon erode from last year’s premieres (Note: All numbers are in the adult 18-49 demo, unless noted.) The 2018-19 television season began in earnest yesterday and for the major broadcast networks, provided a mixed bag of results. The surprise of the night came from NBC’s new drama Manifest, who premiered with a 2.2 rating/9 share, and drew […]

Fox brings familiar faces back for 2018-19

Tim Allen? Vicki Lawrence? The once edgy Fox brand is history as the network retools to attract older audiences Fox announced its 2018-19 schedule and it is a radical departure from what it was in years past. In the 1990s, Fox was synonymous with “hip, edgy programming” with The Simpsons, Beverly Hills 90210, In Living Color, and Melrose Place dominating […]

Fox announces 2017-18 schedule

Struggling network goes heavy on sci-fi, picks up Seth MacFarlane show Fox released its 2017-18 schedule this morning in advance of its upfront presentation Monday afternoon and has considerable changes throughout the schedule. The biggest move, Wednesday night sees the once-hot Empire move an hour earlier to accommodate the return of Star, the show that temporally replaced it last winter. […]