London Olympics is the most watched event of all time For seventeen days, we shared a moment with the world. Unfortunately, Chicagoans for the most part, chose not to. Average household ratings are out for the entire 2012 London Summer Olympics, and it showed Chicago tied for 26th place with four other markets: New York, Phoenix, Knoxville, and Tulsa with […]
It’s finally here! On Thursday, the 43rd annual Comic-Con kicked off Thursday in San Diego. Once held in a basement of a downtown hotel, Comic-Con expanded over the decades and now takes place at the city’s convention center. Certainly, Comic-Con is a far better and more enjoyable experience to cover than some overrated, overblown, overhyped, and over-covered event that took […]
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 […]
In a first for a Midwest Big Three (ABC, CBS, NBC) affiliate, Hearst’s WISN-TV in Milwaukee is expanding its 10 p.m. newscast from 35 minutes to an hour beginning January 24. The move sends NBC Universal’s Access: Hollywood (the current 10:35 p.m. occupant) to 12:30 a.m., after Jimmy Kimmel Live. Nightline retains the 11:05 p.m. slot, but now gets to […]
Don’t hit your… out the door… In news that will make TV junkies across the land jubilant, NBC Universal Chairman Jeff Zucker exited the network today after 24 years. But just how he left is a matter of what publication you read: Broadcasting & Cable’s headline was Zucker leaves NBC; but on the Deadline Hollywood site, the headline splashed on […]
Yours truly is pleading to the powers that be – enough with the press conferences. This past week saw the most stupid, contrived, and ridiculous publicity stunts known to man. It reminded yours truly of those phony press conferences the WWE used to have back in the day with Randy “Macho Man” Savage and the Ultimate Warrior nearly coming to […]
Yours truly had to do a double take when John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer reported last week that Fox affiliate WXIX-TV in Cincinnati was dumping off-network sitcoms Seinfeld and Family Guy for… Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy? It is indeed true – the Raycom-owned station in Cincinnati has purchased the older-skewing game shows for airing beginning in September 2012, […]
After a 29-year run, longtime Entertainment Tonight anchor Mary Hart has decided to step down next year. The move marks an end of an era for the long-running syndicated strip, which has been on the air since September 15, 1981. Hart joined the CBS Television Distribution program in 1982. According to The Wrap, The Insider’s Lara Spencer has been named […]
What a ride it was. The 2010 Stanley Cup Final goes down as one Chicago fans will never forget as the Blackhawks win their first championship since 1961. Here are the winners – and losers – of the Stanley Cup Final, noting the biggest winner of them all are of course, the Chicago Blackhawks. WinnersPatrick Kane and Jonathan Toews. They […]
It’s been a little while since yours truly has done a Grab Bag of news and notes – so here’s what’s going on in the world of media today: – Was yours truly wrong on Undercover Boss? People are still tuning in, and Ben Grossman of B&C offers up a great defense of the show and reality TV in general […]
Chicago’s WMAQ fares better than New York and Los Angeles counterparts The NBC-owned-and-operated stations are blowing up their daytime schedules this fall, with two new programs (and possibly a third) coming this fall while three shows are exiting. NBC Local Media chief John Wallace explains in a recent TVNewscheck article on how the station group is preparing for the massive […]
This is retroactive to last week (I’ll post this week’s edition on Friday), so here it goes: T Dog’s Fabulous Four – The Insider cans Pat O’Brien. He was fired after sending e-mails to staffers at the show and Entertainment Tonight, criticizing the programs. O’ Brien, who was demoted to special correspondent for this season after a stint in rehab […]
Since it worked so well the first time around… NBC-owned WNBC-TV in New York has upgraded (or downgraded?) Warner’s Ellen to 4 p.m., pitting the talk show once again against Oprah on WABC-TV and Judge Judy on WCBS-TV in a move that begins next Monday (and during a sweeps period no less.) This knocks Program Partners’ Crosswords and NBC Universal’s […]
The first station to make a move in the new fall season is NBC-owned WNBC-TV in New York, which is dropping its soft news-oriented News4You, and replacing it with a traditional newscast at 5:30 p.m. Ratings for the show were behind ABC-owned WABC-TV, which ranks number one at 5 and 5:30 p.m. WNBC has also removed the second half-hour of […]