MeTV Toons launches today

  On Tuesday, the Toons take over WCIU Channel 26.7 Judging by the large number of YouTube videos, Chicago-based Weigel Broadcasting’s new MeTV Toons arriving Tuesday is perhaps the most highly-anticipated digital subchannel in quite some time, if not ever. After all, some of the content MeTV Toons plans to carry hasn’t been on broadcast television in a long time […]

Weigel launches MeTV Toons

New digital subchannel and streamer to feature Bugs, Daffy, Scooby, and more  Your favorite cartoon characters are returning to broadcast television. Chicago-based Weigel Broadcasting announced Thursday it is launching a new, 24/7 classic animation channel in conjunction with Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns the classic Warner Bros. Loony Tunes and Hanna-Barbera libraries. “We are honored to work with the amazing […]

Comic-Con….@Home

Pandemic wipes out annual San Diego fanfest but the show must go on Every in-person event this year (ranging from Lollapalooza to the Chosen Few DJs Picnic) has been wiped out due to an villain far more vicious than The Joker, The Riddler, and The Penguin combined: the Covid-19 pandemic. And this includes the annual San Diego Comic-Con, which would’ve […]

Boomerang to launch OTT service

The latest service to be featured “over the top” is one featuring several beloved classic cartoon characters. Time Warner announced this week a new Internet-only version of its classic animated channel Boomerang. The service plans to exclusively offer 5,000 hours of classic library material from the Warner Bros. and Hanna-Barbera catalog, featuring characters such as Bugs Bunny, Scooby-Doo, and Fred […]

AT&T, TimeWarner propose merger

AT&T to purchase TimeWarner for $85 billion Opponents to deal already lining up Bugs Bunny, Sheldon Cooper, and Scooby Doo are getting ready to reach out and touch someone – a lot of people, that is. While Chicago and the rest of America (except in the St. Louis area) was busy celebrating the Cubs’ advancing to the World Series for […]

“South Park” scores renewal deals with Comedy Central, Hulu

New deal takes Cartman and Co. through 2019 and also renews Hulu pact South Park fans received some good news Wednesday as Comedy Central renewed the half-hour animated comedy for three more seasons and thirty episodes, thru the 2019-20 television season. Creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone continue to write, produce, and edit each episode. The renewal takes South Park through […]

T Dog’s Grab Bag: Sports-talk war escalates with Finfer defection

* The first shot has been fired in the Chicago’s new sports-talk wars: Robert Feder reports that Tribune’s new Game has stolen Ben Finfer away from CBS’ The Score (WSCR), where he’ll serve as producer – but also as show host, being paired with David Kaplan at Noon and then joins Alex Quigley and Howard Griffith from 1-3 p.m. Finfer […]

Comic-Con: Animation Special

Of course, it’s not Comic-Con without some animation being presented, right? From adult favorites to kids’ fare (a.k.a. programming that also attracts the stoner crowd), many panels were held for fans over the four-day event. Here’s a quick synopsis on what went down: – Though this time without Seth MacFarlane or Mila Kunis, Family Guy made the trek to Comic-Con […]

New “Star Wars” animated series in works

Miss The Clone Wars? Well, don’t fret: “the force” is creating a new animated series to ease the pain. Lucasfilm announced Monday it was launching a new animated series called Star Wars: Rebels, which will have a one-hour launch special on the Disney Channel in the fall 2014 and then move to Disney XD as a regular half-hour series. Rebels […]

The Grab Bag: “Extra” renewed through ’17

But several others get the ax, including “America’s Most Wanted” and “Scooby Doo, Mystery Incorporated” – Warner Bros. has renewed syndicated entertainment news magazine Extra through 2017, covering 85 percent of the country, including WMAQ-Ch.5 here, who airs the series weekdays at 4 p.m. The deal includes WMAQ and seven other NBC-owned stations, in addition to outlets in the CBS, […]

Lucasfilm to end production on “Clone Wars”

In a rather confusing press release, Lucasfilm announced on Monday it was halting production of animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars after five seasons as the company is pursuing a “new direction” for its Star Wars television animated projects. But the company also announced it was working on some “additional story arcs” for the series as “bonus content”. Lucasfilm […]

“Clone Wars” cable network switch likely

It looks like the first fallout from The Walt Disney Co.’s purchase of Lucasfilm came sooner than we thought… As first reported by The Hollywood Reporter Friday, Lucasfilm-produced half-hour animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars, is expected to end its five-year run on Cartoon Network and is expected to land on Disney XD if Lucasfilm decides to continue the […]

T Dog’s Grab Bag: RIP Sherman Hemsley, Chad Everett

There is other media news besides the Olympics and the Television Critics Association Press Tour – including a new morning show for the new i101 and the return of a bad Scooby-Doo reboot. And we once again mourn the loss of a television great – in fact two of them. – Sherman Hemsley, who is best known as George Jefferson […]

The Grab Bag: Chicago welcomes new Hubbard overlords

The Voice finds… its “voice”…  Looney Tunes returns… and other news of note – It’s official: the sale of Bonneville’s radio stations in Chicago and a few other cities is now complete: Twin Cities (Minneapolis-St. Paul) -based Hubbard Broadcasting has officially taken over The Mix (WTMX), The Drive (WDRV), and WILV-FM on May 2. The formats and management who served […]

"Aqua Teen" changes name, format

Can a sequel work with an existing cast of a TV show? Adult Swim is gambling it could. On Wednesday, Adult Swim and the producers of Aqua Teen Hunger Force announced the veteran series is undergoing both a format and a name change. When the series returns to the lineup on May 8, Hunger Force will now be known as […]