A Charlie Brown Christmas abruptly exits network TV Details are scarce, but it looks like Snoopy, Charlie Brown, and his flimsy Christmas tree are heading off of linear TV and into the house Steve Jobs built. According to a tweet sent from the official Peanuts account Monday morning, the Halloween special It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown is streaming exclusively […]
A mountain of entertainment awaits the home viewer As the streaming wars continue to heat up, ViacomCBS announced Tuesday it was ditching the CBS All Access name and rebranding as Paramount Plus, or Paramount + beginning in early 2021, with a dedicated website already launched. The move to freshen up the streaming service comes as other big conglomerates have jumped […]
More than a dozen staffers let go, including longtime investigative reporter Pam Zekman [Editor’s Note: This story has been updated.] Pulitzer-prize winning investigative reporter Pam Zekman was one of a dozen staffers let go at CBS-owned WBBM-TV Wednesday as parent company ViacomCBS made 300 to 400 layoffs at CBS Entertainment Group. It appears CBS 2 bore the brunt of the […]
Also: Steve Wilkos and Maury Povich renewed; Kids in the Hall returns; Divorce Court gets a new judge The coronavirus epidemic has now hit Chicago’s media community. As reported by Robert Feder last week, several employees of ABC-owned WLS-TV (ABC 7) have been told to stay home as a few of them may have been exposed to the virus. Four […]
Referred to as “the first lady of Chicago television”, she was a trailblazer for many who followed The Chicago media community is mourning the loss of one of the tremendous pioneers of local television. Lee Phillip Bell passed away Wednesday at the age of 91 in her California home. Bell, along with her husband William, created the soaps The Young And […]
Career spanned ABC, CBS, NBC plus his own production company Media watchers are mourning the death of Fred Silverman, an executive who re-invented CBS and took ABC to the top, and later formed his own production company. Born in the Queens borough of New York, Silverman began his career right here in Chicago at WGN-TV in the early 1960s where […]
Also: Tribune Publishing’s union employees petition Alden Group; Sinclair backs away from political commentary; Steve Harvey resumes his talk show via Facebook (Updated December 16 to add more information.) In yet another shocking twist at the end of Wednesday night’s Survivor, controversial contestant Dan Spilo was removed from the game after he was accused again of sexual harassment, this time […]
But local ratings down from last prime-time outing The last time the Chicago Bears faced the Dallas Cowboys at Soldier Field on Thursday Night Football, the game aired only on NFL Network, was on opposite a live production of Peter Pan, and protesters denouncing the police shootings of Eric Gardner and Michael Brown were marching on Lake Shore Drive (Chicago’s […]
Welcome to the 14th annual T Dog Media Turkey Awards – celebrating the worst in media, sports, and life in general. We have 17 recipients to announce, so let’s get gobblin’: Survivor. The way CBS handled – or mishandled the latest Survivor controversy leaves a lot of be desired. An extra side turkey is given to Jeff Probst for what […]
Latest controversy tells us the show’s producers aren’t willing to learn their lesson on social issues When a contestant named Colton Cumbie exhibited racist behavior on Survivor: One World, this blog called out the show, Hollywood, and the media business in general for failing hard on diversity in a business that’s overwhelmingly white and male. Nearly eight years later, the […]
Also: Big 3 add overnight news repeats; Fox renews three daytime shows; Disney + signs ten million users; two prime-shows pink-slipped We have an update on the latest with the Cubs’ new Marquee Network and Dish…and I’m guessing those negotiations aren’t going well. In an interview with the Tribune’s Eric Zorn (a rather pointed opinion piece urging Dish not to […]
Viewers, syndicators prepare for regular daytime TV schedules to be disrupted (Editor’s Note: This post will be continuously updated with any information on who is carrying the impeachment hearings. – T.H.) If you are a fan of daytime TV, get ready for a serious reality check. Beginning Wednesday, the major broadcast networks and cable news channels will begin carrying impeachment […]
1st District Congressman not happy with nation’s largest cable company In a huge broadside against one of the country’s biggest cable operators, Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) slammed Comcast for their role in a lawsuit involving one of the nation’s most successful African-American media entrepreneurs and may lead the company to be broken up. In a letter to Comcast CEO Brian […]
Local TV stations already shunning ads; Juul halts all advertising (Editor’s Note: This story was originally published on September 22 and has been updated.) With complaints from viewers increasing on social media and users being hospitalized (including a few in the Chicago area), three major media companies announced they were no longer accepting advertising for vaping products and e-cigarettes. WarnerMedia, […]
Bears, Truibsky cream Redskins, Dancing, and that Bob show The 2019-20 television season is officially underway, but Chicagoans weren’t ready for the new shows….they were ready for Mitch Trubisky. The Chicago Bears thrashed the Washington Redskins on Monday night Football 31-15, with the Bears offense – struggling as of late – put up 28 points in the first half and […]
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