The fridge pack (plus one): The unlucky 13 of the decade

There are flops, and then there are….flops. For every success in the most recent decade, there were products coming off so badly, you don’t know how the hell they were even conceived in the first place – you basically had to see it to believe it! If you thought the 2000s version of “The Dirty Dozen” were bad, they have […]

The T Dog Media TV Hall of Shame

No one expected CNN’s Chicagoland to be a love letter to the city – but no one expected it to be a Rahm infomercial either. A critical and ratings flop, Chicagoland is the one of TV’s lowlights in 2014. Recently, the prime-time portion of The Simpsons marathon on FXX attracted more viewers than Chicagoland did. (As of May 2018, the […]

Kevin Reilly out as Fox chief

Fox announced Thursday the resignation of Entertainment President Kevin Reilly, who has held the position for the last seven years. His departure is scheduled at the end of next month. Since coming over from NBC, Reilly was credited for bringing aboard people who created hit shows for the network, including Glee and New Girl, and to a lesser extent, Bob’s […]

“Chicagoland” strikes out with critics, viewers

  With horrible ratings, Chicagoland ranks among one of television’s biggest flops Did Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration manipulate scenes?   I guess Chicago would’ve been better off if we were attacked by a Sharknado. When the dust clears, CNN’s Chicagoland will go down as one of the biggest bombs in the history of television – and one of the worst […]

The T Dog Media TV Hall Of Shame is back…with monkeys!

              The face of TV has changed in the last 40 years…. “Me and The Chimp” (left) to “Animal Practice”. Wow, what an improvement! The hollowed halls of TV badness is back open for business! In the first update in over a year, a whopping 18 21 shows are being inducted into The T […]

The axe swings on FM News in Chicago, New York

It’s safe to say this now: FM News 101.1 is the biggest bomb in the history of Chicago radio. But you knew that already, right? Merlin Media pulled the plug on its all-news stations Tuesday at WIQI-FM (101.1) here in Chicago and WEMP-FM (101.9) in New York City, nearly a year after their underwhelming debuts, which saw them still stalled […]

Fox at 25: The hits and misses

Fox celebrated their 25th Anniversary in prime-time this past Sunday with a two-hour retrospective, featuring clips of past shows and a few cast reunions. While the network officially launched its primetime lineup on April 5, 1987 with three airings each of Married… With Children and The Tracey Ullman Show, the network actually launched on October 9, 1986 with The Late […]

TCA: Fox unveils new animation projects

  The Winter Television Critics Association Press Tour continued to roll along on Sunday with Fox’s turn at the mic. The network has a lot of new shows to roll out in midseason – not to mention the eleventh season of American Idol: – To start off, there was an executive session with entertainment president Kevin Reilly and addressed the crowd. He […]

T Dog’s Six Pack: Bringing in the New Year

It’s the first Six Pack of 2012 and here’s and the list of winners and losers of the new year so far: A Happy New Year Chicago Bulls. With the team off to a strong start this (abbreviated) season, ratings are already soaring for Comcast SportsNet and WGN-TV – not a good thing to hear for the major networks locally, […]

2012: A look ahead

Happy New Year, everyone! There will be a lot going on in 2012 – elections, international summits, the Olympics, and much, much, more! Here’s what to look for in 2012: – Look for CBS to continue their prime-time ratings domination. – With Family Guy running on empty and The Cleveland Show shifting time periods every week, look for Fox’s Animation […]

The Toilet 10 of 2011

And other media misfires of note Scrubbing the commodes for you… the Toilet 10 of 2011 – the worst shows of television and media items sure to make your head stick in one. And away we go. Worst TV Shows of 2011 1. Allen Gregory (Fox). Not only this is the worst show of the year – this is the […]

T Dog’s Six Pack: Short and to the point

A quick wrap-up of the week that was in media: Winners. WGN Radio. Jonathan Brandmeier’s arrival to the storied 720 is sure to bring back the entertainment value back to the station in the morning, a la Wally Phillips and Bob Collins. Now, just don’t screw it up. NBA Fans, TNT, and ESPN. The lockout’s over and pro basketball is […]

The Fox follies continue

Remember when I wrote a think tank on WFLD’s news ratings struggles earlier this year? Well, you’ll be happy to know that things haven’t changed – if fact, they’ve gotten worse: During a report on how the struggling economy was affecting gift-giving during this holiday season on Tuesday night’s 9 p.m. newscast, WFLD co-anchor Robin Robinson obviously blurted out there […]

T Dog’s Six Pack: Expanded edition

It’s been awhile, so let’s do an expanded edition of T Dog’s Six Pack – with an extra item in the winners and losers column this week. It doesn’t get any better than that! Okay, yes it can… Winning. Regis Philbin. After 28 years on daytime television. Regis Philbin steeped down as co-host of the popular morning chatfest Live With […]