“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 […]

Media Notepad: WLS-AM’s “Big John” shifts to afternoons

Plus… big day for Bears as they beat rival; Channing Dungey heads to Netflix; Extra adds Fox stations in large markets With Steve Dahl set to depart Cumulus-owned WLS-AM this Friday, the station announced last week it was shifting Big John Howell to afternoons from mornings starting January 3, from 5 to 7 p.m. weekdays. In a statement, the thirty-year […]

Shonda Rhimes heads to Netflix

The former south suburban University Park resident scores deal with SVOD service Talk about extracting quick revenge. Last week, Disney announced come 2019, it was pulling its movies off of Netflix to start its own streaming service. The news sent both stocks descending on Wall Street. On Sunday night, Netflix decided to raid the Mouse House and nab Shonda Rhimes […]

Scrubs may move from NBC to ABC

Scrubs could be soon in the same company with the likes of Peter Gunn, Let’s Make A Deal, Get Smart, Scooby-Doo, Family Matters, JAG, The Hogan Family, Step by Step, The Critic, Diff’rent Strokes, Taxi, and Buffy, The Vampire Slayer: series that has aired on more than one network. ABC is reportedly picking up Scrubs for next season, which has […]

Touchtone Television becomes ABC Television Studio

In a move that will also likely mean the end of the Touchtone and Buena Vista names (as far as television is concerned,) The Walt Disney Co. has renamed its network TV unit ABC Television Studio and its Buena Vista Games video game unit to Disney Interactive Studios. This comes as Disney wants to streamline its media properties to fall […]