The week that was: T Dog’s Fab Four – Jay Mariotti leaves the Sun-Times. Yes! Oh God, Yes! -Barack Obama’s Acceptance Speech. Drew just as many viewers as the opening ceremonies of the recent Summer Olympics. – The U.S. men’s and women’s basketball team. The ladies brought home the Gold and the Redeem Team did likewise. Way to go! – […]
Tribune’s KPLR-TV in St. Louis is moving its half-hour 9 p.m. newscast to 7 p.m. and expanding it to a hour beginning on Sept. 8. This means CW primetime fare currently airing at 7 p.m. is shifting to 8 p.m., with KPLR taking the Mountain Time feed. For example, when 90210 airs in St. Louis (8 p.m. Central), it’ll air […]
In the “don’t hit your behind out the door” department… ABC inane I Survived A Japanese Game Show didn’t survive the ratings Tuesday night as the two-hour season finale notched a 1.8 rating and 5 share in adults 18-49, down 22 percent from last week. The program only drew 4.5 million viewers and did not register any significant rating increases […]
Anyone watching the new summer fare here in Chicago? You know, shows like I Survived a Japanese Game Show, Celebrity Family Feud, Swingtown, Duel, and Wanna Bet? Didn’t think so (in fact, no one is watching them anywhere else, either.) What people are watching in the Windy City are the Cubs – and on Monday night, the Cubs-Brewers game dominated […]
Before TCA began, Broadcasting & Cable held a critics’ roundtable on what would they do if they ran the networks. Critics who participated included the Chicago Tribune’s Maureen Ryan and the Kansas City Star’s (and TV Barn’s) Aaron Barnhart. Among the observations: – ABC needs more comedies closer to Roseanne and Home Improvement, and not According to Jim and The […]
Cable cleaned up in the 2008 Emmy nominations, with 85 nominations for HBO (but none for Best drama series) and nominations for Best Drama landing in Mad Men’s and Damages‘ lap — marking the first time two basic cable series competed in the category. Despite ABC nabbing 76 nominations – the most of any of the broadcast nets – its […]
The first of the Big Three started its’ presentation today at the TCA Press Tour. First up, ABC and its two-parter: – Odd sight: A reporter for the “Sarasota N.Y. newspaper” asks if ABC is courting Jay Leno. Turns out the reporter is… Jimmy Kimmel! He dashes about before real journalists asked him about… well, you know… – ABC chief […]
The Osbournes hosting a variety show? Yes, it’s true… Fox has ordered six episodes of a variety show hosted by Ozzy, Sharon, Kelly, and Jack from producer FremantleMedia, set to air next year. The Osbournes of course, headlined their own reality show on MTV from 2002 to 2005. Thought: Remember the last segment that aired on The Simpsons’ 138th Episode […]
For the first time ever in Chicago, viewers will have a real option to the network evening newscasts. As expected, Tribune-owned WGN-TV has signed former WMAQ-TV and WFLD-TV Mark Suppelsa, renewed the contract of longtime veteran Steve Sanders and is expanding the station’s newscasts. Suppelsa left Fox-owned WFLD in a contract dispute a few months ago and was slated to […]
The Boston Celtics won their first NBA championship in 22 years, and ABC scored its highest ratings for NBA in their current broadcast deal. The 131-92 blowout win by the Celtics over the Lakers averaged 17 million viewers and a 6.9 Nielsen rating among adults 18-49 and a 7.1 among adults 25-54 (from 8 p.m. to 11:01 p.m. CDT), according […]
Game 3 of the NBA Finals between the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers continue to shoot excellent three-pointers behind the line, according to Nielsen: – The game drew a total of 14,5 million viewers for the entire game, up 55 percent from last year’s Cavs-Spurs series. – The program easily won among adults 18-49, 18-34, and 25-54 in […]
The man best known for telling us about “the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat” passed away at his home in Maryland on Saturday.Jim McKay brought us sports of all sorts from around the world on ABC’s Wide World of Sports every Saturday for decades. Whether if it’s hitting a golf ball over the Great Wall of China, […]
Game 1 of the NBA Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics drew 9.5 million viewers in prime time and a 3.7 rating in adults 18-49, according to Nielsen, up 28 percent from last year’s Game 1 (Cavs-Spurs.) In all, 13.4 million viewers tuned in to the game from 8 p.m. to 10:59 p.m. (Central Time.) Meanwhile, CBS’ […]
Independent studio Media Rights Capital unveiled its Sunday night schedule for The CW, and is as follows (all times Central:) – 5:30 p.m.: In Harm’s Way, a reality show in the mold of fare seen on Discovery and TLC. – 6:30 p.m.: Surviving Suburbia, A new sitcom whose creator wrote a script, tucked it away, and forgot all about it […]
The excitement of Upfront week. The new shows. The glitz. The glamour. The parties. But not this year. Or maybe ever again. This year’s upfronts had about as much excitement as a Kansas City Royals-Baltimore Orioles game, and if you read the Chicago Tribune this week, you wouldn’t even know the upfronts were taking place. That’s a far cry from […]
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