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 […]

The Media Notepad: Party’s over for Chi-Town Rising

Also: Dennis Welsh wades into soda tax controversy while his station profits off pro-soda tax ads; Tom Joyner returns to Dallas as Classic Hip-Hop format’s future is questionable; Fox’s late night plans may not include off-network sitcoms The star has fallen: organizers of New Year’s Eve celebration Chi-Town Rising threw in the towel Thursday and announced they would not bring […]

The state of syndication in 2017

Few first-run series being offered this year as veteran shows – even low-rated ones – continue to roll along As the National Association Of Programming Executives gathering began Tuesday in Miami, stations are firming up their schedules for next fall as first-run and off-network series are being rolled out onto the marketplace. But what has been the norm in previous years, […]

T Dog’s Media Notepad: US 99 rounds out new lineup

– US99 rounds out new lineup – Another CHR vet gets prime morning gig – Politically divided FCC keeps cross-ownership rule – Thomas Gibson out at Criminal Minds – Larry Wilmore’s Nightly Report canceled CBS-owned country radio station WUSN has completed its makeover by hiring another new personality for its vacant nighttime slot – the latest hire is Kimmie Caruba, […]

T Dog’s Media Notebook: HBO cancels “Vinyl”

What the Good Lord giveth, can also taketh: In a reversal, HBO has canceled freshman drama Vinyl – despite renewing it for a second season four days after it premiered. Despite a stellar cast in front the camera and behind the scenes, the series never gained traction with viewers or critics (though it seemed Vinyl only registered with the elitist […]

WGN-TV returns news to 10 p.m.

Expands to 10 p.m. to compete with Big Three Here we grow again: WGN-TV’s popular local newscasts are adding yet another half-hour – and this time, the Tribune Media-owned station is taking on the Big Three owned-and-operated stations with the launch of a local half-hour newscast at 10 p.m. beginning October 5. WGN’s current 9 p.m. anchor team – Mark Suppelsa, Micah […]

Jon Stewart exits “The Daily Show”

In news considered a shocker, Daily Show host Jon Stewart announced Tuesday evening he was exiting Comedy Central’s late-night satire news program after sixteen seasons. Five years after his syndicated talk show tanked (a last-minute replacement for the original Arsenio Hall Show), Stewart took over after the departure of Craig Kilbourn in 1999 and turned the program into a destination […]

Can Steve Dahl do it again?

We’ll find out for sure soon enough as one of Chicago’s radio legends returns to the airwaves Monday for the first time in five years. The last time Steve Dahl was regularly employed at WLS-AM, the artists the station had in rotation were Whitney Houston, Tears For Fears, Mr. Mister, Prince, and Pat Benetar. The Cosby Show was the top-rated […]

WGN-TV slots “Celebrity Name Game” at 10 p.m.

Also: Hollywood Daily Live, Daily Helpline debut to microscopic audiences In a rather unusual move, Tribune-owned WGN-TV has slotted Craig Ferguson’s new game show, Celebrity Name Game from Debmar-Mercury at 10 p.m., starting September 22. As first reported by Robert Feder, Name Game would replace the failed revival of The Arsenio Hall Show, which was canceled in May. While other […]

Viewers flee Chicago’s evening, late newscasts

Chicago’s news stations might want to rethink their news presentations. An analysis of May local news sweeps numbers in the adult 25-54 demographic in the nation’s ten largest DMAs from TVNewsCheck showed Chicago’s local newscasts losing ground faster than those in New York and Los Angeles. In fact, Chicago’s 21 percent drop overall was second only to Boston (down 23 percent.) […]

T Dog’s Grab Bag: WCIU expands “You and Me” to three hours

Also: Tyra Banks plans returns to daytime TV – Good news for fans of WCIU’s  You and Me in The Morning (and for local television overall): the two-hour morning strip hosted by former Chicago radio personalities Melissa Forman and Jeanne Sparrow is expanding to a third hour in September. Now airing from 6 to 8 a.m. weekdays, the show is extending […]

“Arsenio Hall” canceled

Once again, Arsenio’s “bark” has lost its “bite”. To the surprise of some since it was renewed for a second season (but not others), CBS Television Distribution canceled The Arsenio Hall Show Friday after nine months on the air, official ending his comeback attempt – twenty years after he departed his original show. This comes after several station groups belonging […]