ABC released its fall schedule today, and you can view it by clicking here(all times Eastern; programs air one hour earlier in Chicago and the rest of the Central and Mountain time zones.) Not much in the way of changes: ABC announced only two new shows this fall with Life on Mars and Opportunity Knocks on the sked. Also, Boston […]
The latest from the Upfronts: Here is what you won’t see on the fall schedules – i.e. the programs that have been canceled: ABC: Men in Trees, Miss Guided, October Road, Women’s Murder Club. CBS: Cane, Welcome to the Captain (Wait a minute. This show was on the air?) FOX: Back to You, Canterbury’s Law, New Amsterdam, The Return of Jezebel James […]
No surprise here: Blackhawks play-by-play man Dan Kelly was fired by the Chicago Blackhawks on Monday, which could pave the return of Pat Foley, who handled the chores for a little over twenty years before being unceremoniously dropped for Kelly in 2006. Foley currently is the play-by-play man for the Chicago Wolves (Chicago’s AHL franchise.) Even Wolves owner Don Levin […]
Trouble ahead: It looks like the party’s over for ABC’s Ugly Betty, as the series appears to heading for a ratings free fall. Last Thursday’s episode hit a season low, earning a 2.3 rating and 7 share in the Adults 18-49 money demo, and 7.9 million total viewers. The results were down 30 percent in total viewers and 35 percent […]
You want to know what I thought of the Clinton-Obama debate? Worst. Debate. Ever. If Comic Book Guy watched the debate Wednesday night on ABC, he would’ve said this: “Worst. Debate. Ever.” Of course, he more was likely to be watching NBC and the 26 suitcase models on the “Spring Break” episode of Deal or No Deal. I’m surprised more […]
In the magazine’s TV Managers of the year, Midwest division -apparently, being number one for 22 years (as well as capitalizing on your competitors’ mistakes – and there are a lot of them) doesn’t hurt, either. And yours truly thinks this is obviously the right choice. Dominant ABC affiliates in Philadelphia (WPVI-TV), Dallas (WFAA-TV), and Atlanta (WSB-TV) and NBC affiliate […]
Hitting a season-low in the money demo (adults 18-49) for an episode that was … well, let’s just say the Housewives writers should have stayed on the picket line. But the big story here is a first-run episode of The Simpsons beat Oprah‘s Big Give in the ratings last night head-to-head. D’oh!
Here’s another Channel 2 that can’t get arrested in news. ABC affiliate WMAR-TV in Baltimore has been the long-time ratings laggard in this market. The Scripps-owned station hoped it could inject some ratings juice into the also-ran by switching from NBC to ABC in 1995. The moves sent WJZ-TV to CBS (as part of a larger CBS-Westinghouse affiliation deal) and […]
It’s official: Tribune’s KSWB-TV – the market’s San Diego CW affiliate (and former WB affiliate) will switch to Fox effective this August. It was a rumor branded around TV circles the last few weeks, after new Tribune boss Sam Zell mentioned in a video on the company’s Baltimore Sun website (which has been since taken down) that he struck a […]
This Sam Zell video posted on Trib-owned Baltimore Sun’s website (click on “Sam 5” to see video) may hint at a possible affiliation switch for KSWB, going from CW to Fox (why are they still called KSWB to begin with?) So what happens to current Fox affiliate XETV based in nearby Tijuana, Mexico? It could be deja vu all over […]
The New York ABC-owned station is considering axing the program from its 10 a.m. time slot due to mediocre ratings, according to this article in the New York Post. Or is it because ABC parent Disney wants to reclaim the time period for its own fare (remember Wayne Brady’s and Tony Danza’s talk shows? Works of masterpiece right there.) If […]
Oprah Winfrey’s new prime-time reality show on ABC was a big hit last night, with the program finishing first in total viewers, adults 18-49, and in households, despite the fact critics ultimately panned the show (so much for that extra promotion – but does the queen of daytime TV really even need them?) Meanwhile, Fox’s The Simpsons scored the highest […]
Last week, two programs reminded us how much the words “vertical integration” meant to the TV business. The possible renewals of tired sitcoms According to Jim and Scrubs. Both come from the same studio (ABC Studios) and both are being considered for pickups by ABC next season, despite the fact both have drawn less and less viewers over the last […]
Affiliates – who depend on their network’s prime-time programs to draw viewers to their late newscasts – suffered ratings declines during the just-concluded February sweeps as the writer’s strike forced the networks into reruns and were forced to air less-appealing reality shows. Judging by the few markets available for review, NBC affiliates seemed to be affected less, thanks to a […]
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 […]
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