Walter E. Smithe Furniture recently released a two-minute commercial honoring the 22-year legacy of Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley. Among those who appeared in the ad were local celebrities like George Wendt, Eric Ferguson from WTMX’s Eric & Kathy, fictional Alderman Ed Bus (from the 53rd Ward), and a few other Chicago dignitaries. Oh, and there were some local news […]
Conan’s excited to be on TBS. Monday finally marked former NBC late-night host Conan O’Brien venture into basic cable on a network which was once stood as a momument to Ted Turner. Conan’s conquest of the Turner Broadcasting System started in essence with an overnight rating of 2.8 for his Monday premiere. But it gets better: – The program drew […]
Don’t hit your… out the door… In news that will make TV junkies across the land jubilant, NBC Universal Chairman Jeff Zucker exited the network today after 24 years. But just how he left is a matter of what publication you read: Broadcasting & Cable’s headline was Zucker leaves NBC; but on the Deadline Hollywood site, the headline splashed on […]
It’s the 2010-11 Turner upfront presentation, and you know who is the man of the hour. I’m talking about Conan O’Brien, TBS’ new late night star, who stopped yesterday at the event to say hi to media buyers (and to convince him he’s the real deal in a daypart dominated by David Letterman and Jay Leno.) O’Brien woke the quasi-sleepy […]
Stan wasn’t the only one up in arms about Comedy Central taking a hatchet job to a recent episode of “South Park.” For the last few weeks, cable was on a hot streak: SyFy acquired Friday Night Smackdown, stealing it away from My Network TV, while Turner Broadcasting snared both Conan O’Brien and part of the NCAA Tournament. But on […]
The winners and losers of the week: The stamp of approval: The Chicago Blackhawks (before Friday’s night’s loss): The Mighty Blackhawks are mighty once again thanks to record-breaking regular season ratings. The Hawks are in the playoffs against the Nashville Predators, which continue Sunday night. Go Hawks! Conan moving to TBS. Fox getting out-foxed by Conan. While Murdoch and the […]
The drawing in the Conan O’Brien lottery took place Monday, and it was Turner Broadcasting who turned up the lucky winner. So what does TBS actually win? Young demos. A proven name. An increased profile. And a new car – advertiser or two. But it seems a lot of players in this saga appear to winners – TBS, Conan O’Brien, […]
– It appears CoCo has caused a casualty on TBS’ schedule, and its Comcastic! E! and the Style network have acquired all 94 (yes, count ’em – 94) episodes of Sex And the City, beginning in the fall of 2011. Both E! and Style are both owned by Comcast. The former HBO series currently runs on TBS at midnight, but […]
Are these guys worth $4 million per episode? You bet your behind it is. Is the high-priced off-network sitcom on its way back? With the upcoming sale of The Big Bang Theory, we may soon find out. Not since the days of Friends, Seinfeld, The Simpsons, and The Cosby Show have we seen a sitcom come close to the $4 […]
You’d think with recently disposed former NBC talk show host Conan O’ Brien possibly headed to Fox, you think the news would thrill affiliates, right? Well, think again. With news yesterday of Fox and O’Brien negotiating a deal to host a late-night talk show – something the network hasn’t had on a nightly basis since the debacle of Chevy Chase’s […]
It all began on January 7, when a website reported that NBC had canceled The Jay Leno Show. It ended on January 22, with Conan O’Brien leaving The Tonight Show. Welcome to The Late Shift 2: The Screwjob Continues. Based on New York Times writer Bill Carter’s book (and later HBO movie), this is a sequel to the mid 1990s […]
Here’s the recent list of winners and losers of the last week-in-a-half – plus an extra-long rant at the end… What worked for yours truly… Winners Conan O’Brien. His final “Tonight Show” drew 10.3 million viewers, with one of the classiest send-offs I’ve ever seen from a host. The result: new found respect from the public, including yours truly. Chicago […]
So now that Conan O’Brien has wrapped up his tenure at NBC in late night after sixteen years, what’s next for the once low-key talk show host? Mr. O’Brien could have offers from other competing networks from several cable networks and at least one broadcast network. And he may have helped his cause on Friday night: Ratings for his final […]
Conan O’Brien will exit NBC tomorrow with a lot of dough. Due to his exit from NBC’s Tonight Show, Mr. O’Brien will collect a total severance of $45 million, with $4.5 million going to his executive producer, and the rest to be split up among 200 employees of the show. As part of the deal, Mr. O’Brien also agrees to […]
A lot of wacky stuff has been going on Late Night Land – too wacky, in fact. In the last few days, we saw Leno caught in a lie, Kimmel slam Leno – on his show no less, an NBC exec rips into Conan O’Brien, and even a protest taking place outside of WMAQ-TV’s studios in support of “CoCo”: – […]
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