The 2007 T Dog Media Blog Turkey Awards

With the Pumpkin Pie Awards for Excellence Welcome to the second annual T Dog Media Blog Turkey Awards. Once again, we’re here to serve up the disasters in media in 2007. I have nineteen turkeys to hand out… so let’s get gobbling! And this year’s awards go to… – The Chicago Bears. A Super Bowl hangover this year. And especially Rex […]

Hawks win on ice, but lose in the TV ratings

Last night’s first Chicago Blackhawks home game against the Detroit Red Wings averaged a household rating of 0.8, according to Nielsen Media Research. While that number seems disappointing (after all, it’s hockey), it was an improvement over the 0.4 rating it has averaged so far this season, it tied an October 31 game against Dallas for the season high (0.8), […]

The moving game

Look for more late-afternoon Bears games – like it or not. No, the Chicago Bears did not relocate to L.A. (the way they played this season, they could’ve joined the writers, who are also out on strike.) But the NFL and CBS moved the Denver Broncos-Chicago Bears game to 3:15 p.m. (CT) from its original noon time slot. This comes […]

The ultimate season of loneliness

With the Bears and Bulls going down the drain and a writer’s strike that seems to be getting worse by the minute, it’s going to be a long, cold winter in Chicago. Only thing I can say is… Go Hawks! I can’t believe I just said that. But it may be the only thing worth watching on TV (thanks to […]

Bears out, Patriots in

As expected, NBC has dumped the Bears-Seahawks game from Sunday Night Football on November 18 for what else? The undefeated New England Patriots against some team that will lose against them. I guess NBC doesn’t want another sinking ship on its schedule (it already has Heroes.) Bears-Seahawks has been rescheduled for 3:15 p.m. (CT) on Fox.

"Heroes" and the Writer’s Strike

James Hibberd of TV Week talks about both, and how they relate to each other. Of course, the recent shelving of the Heroes spin-off may have something to do with the program’s lackluster second season more than anything else. Entertainment Weekly said Heroes is struggling because of sloppy writing and “myriad worldwide locales that all look like the backlot of […]

Bears may not be good enough for prime-time

The Chicago Bears-Seattle Seahawks game scheduled for NBC on Nov. 18, may be switched out to accomedate a more competitive football game under the league’s “flexible scheduling arrangement” with the Peacock network. Both teams, who met in the playoffs last year, are struggling this season – the Bears are 3-5 and the Seahawks are 4-3. NBC has an agreement with […]

"Heroes" spin-off shelved; "Samantha Who?" picked up for full season

– NBC has shelved plans to launch a spin-off of the TV series Heroes indefinitely. The move comes as a looming writers’ strike plans to wreak havoc with the networks’ schedules. The toast of the 2006-07 season, both Heroes and Ugly Betty are not having great sophomore seasons, with both programs down in the ratings from last year and both […]

Sports broadcasts continue to struggle in the ratings

If you thought Chicago sports teams were having a bad year… ratings for live sports broadcasts are still struggling just as badly, and no wonder: – The National League Championship Series between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Colorado Rockies on TBS had a household rating of 2.2 for Game 1. Colorado swept the series from Arizona 4-0 with last night’s […]

Happy "They are who we thought they were" day

On October 16, 2006, Dennis Green created that famous phase after the Cardinals lost to the Bears 24-23 in an amazing game. Here’s a Coors Light parody (not the commercial that’s on the air now, but created a few months after Green’s press conference.)

Time to do the "Chicago Huddle"

A new local TV show is debuting this weekend on ABC affiliate WLS-TV. Starting this Saturday night, the station will air a new sports-variety show called Chicago Huddle, which is being taped at ESPN Zone in Chicago’s River North area. The program will air Saturday nights after the station’s late news, at 11:05 p.m. (time approximate.) WLS-TV, ABC, and ESPN […]

Bears lose

Bears lose to the Colts 29-17 in Super Bowl XLI. A Chicago team loses in a Championship game for the first time since in 15 years (Blackhawks lost to Penguins in Game 4 of Stanley Cup Finals at Chicago Stadium.) Congrats to the Colts, and hats off to MVP Peyton Manning for playing a good game, and especially to head […]

Bears Super Bowl Fun Facts

Here how much has changed since the Bears last went to the Super Bowl: Number of broadcast networks: 1985: 3 Today: 7 Format of 94.7FM: 1985: WLS-FM (Rock/Top 40) Today: WZZN-FM (Oldies – the format and call letters of this frequency would change numerous times between 1985 and 2005)Cost of a candy bar: 1985: 39 cents Today: 89 cents Top […]

Super Bowl Watch: Stations are ready to cover the game

(First off, I’ll be posting mainly in the late-night hours this week because of other commitments that have popped up during other hours of the day…. But I will post breaking news when I feel its warranted…. On that note…) Stations in Illinois and Indiana are gearing up to cover the big game: – The CBS affiliates in the home-team […]