Found dead in Orlando-area hotel room In stunning news, Bob Saget – who was a prominent presence on television in the 1980s and 1990s, was found dead in his hotel room Sunday at the age of 65 in unincorporated Orange County, Fla., near Orlando. Saget was on tour performing stand-up comedy and was in Jacksonville Saturday night before arriving in […]
Cubs, Bears score strong in Chicago Note: All numbers are 18-49 unless otherwise noted. These are finals. In a very contentious time in America, viewers needed a friend. And they found one Sunday night. CBS received strong sampling with new drama God Friended Me Sunday night, with a 1.3 rating/5 share and 10.2 million viewers. The series is about an […]
Makes aggressive changes; brings comedies back to Friday nights ABC released its 2018-19 schedule Tuesday morning in advance of its upfront presentation on Tuesday, and there are some numerous changes. For one, long-running series Once Upon A Time, Scandal and The Middle have retired and Agents of SHIELD was picked up at the last-minute only to get burned off next […]
WGN morning show sports anchor gets his own show He may not own – or maybe even drive – his own car, but he now has his own TV show. Tribune Broadcasting’s WGN-TV announced last week the creation of a weekly late-night comedy show centered around WGN Morning Show sports anchor Pat Tomasulo. Titled Man Of The People, the series […]
Fourteen new series on tap; many scheduling moves ABC announced its 2017-18 schedule in front of ad buyers during its annual upfront presentation on Tuesday – fourteen new series on tap, including many midseason entries. But the big news (other than the acquisition of American Idol) is the return of Roseanne to the schedule for the first time in nearly […]
Pickups, renewals take place before upfront week. As has been the case the last few years, the major networks are clearing the deadwood and making last-minute renewals on many shows the week before upfront presentations take place in New York. From the looks of things, Fox is likely to overhaul its lineup: five shows so far have gotten the ax: Rosewood, […]
The broadcast networks saw erosion from the previous week Sunday night as cable entries – notably the MLB playoffs on TBS and the premiere of Steel Magnolias on Lifetime – made an impact on the ratings. Meanwhile, Family Guy tied Once Upon A Time as the highest rated scripted show of the evening. Here’s a snapshot of the results (all […]
ABC’s 2012-13 campaign has changes on four nights in a schedule released Tuesday morning before its upfront presentation later in the afternoon. (In addition, fellow Disney property ESPN also held an upfront on Tuesday. Information is at the end of the ABC analysis.) ABC plans to debut five new series this fall, with another five scheduled for midseason. Like Fox […]
The week before the upfronts are always crazy: you have networks canceling shows and picking up pilots to series for either this fall or for midseason. Welcome to The Upfronts Selection Show, where choices are made and bubbles are burst. Call this the television business’ version of March Madness. All of this hubbub this place before the big show kicks […]
Oh goody. A staple of 1980’s and 1990’s television, the blooper show is poised to make a comeback. Trifecta Entertainment and Dick Clark Productions announced Monday they were launching a brand new version of Bloopers for weekly first-run syndication in the form of two half-hours a week. Up to 120 episodes are planned – which would make it a […]
ABC released its 2011-12 season schedule this morning in advance of its upfront presentation to advertisers this afternoon in Manhattan with twelve new series. Seven of those premiere this fall, and the list includes the return of Tim Allen to the network and and also Charlie’s Angels, in a reboot of the late 1970’s series which was a huge part […]
A deal to sell for Chicago-based Weigel Broadcasting to sell three low-power TV stations to WSBT owner Schurz Communications in South Bend has fallen through. Weigel, who owns ABC affiliate WBND-TV, CW affiliate WCWW-TV and My Network TV affiliate WMYS-TV planned to sell the trio to Schurz, who in addition to the ratings-dominant CBS affiliate also owns the South Bend […]
CBS Television Distribution surprised many in the industry today by launching a last-minute syndicated show titled Smash Cuts, a weekly hour featuring viral video clips. The all-barter weekly hour has quickly cleared more than 90 percent of the country, including stations from the Tribune and CBS groups. In Chicago, the program will air locally over WGN-TV. Usually, syndicated programs are […]
A lot of items in The Grab Bag today: – Warner Bros. and HBO has sold the sitcoms Entourage and Curb Your Enthauism to the Tribune station group for late-fringe time periods begining in 2010 on all-barter basis (meaning stations don’t have to pay a dime – just surrender half of their ad inventory to the syndicator.) Locally, you can […]