"Cleveland" off to good start

The new Family Guy spin-off got some good sampling last night. Fox’s premiere of The Cleveland Show, featuring the next-door neighbor of The Griffins who moved to Virginia to start a new life drew 9.4 million viewers and a 4.9 rating in adults 18-49, growing 17% from its Simpsons lead-in. The premiere of Cleveland coincided with the season premieres of […]

T Dog’s Groovy Grab Bag

Back to the future with KOFY Granite Broadcasting has decided to bring back the KOFY calls to Channel 20 in the Bay Area. The call letters were in use on the frequency between 1986 and 1998. The independent station, which serves the San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose market, was previously known as KBWB-TV, a holdover of when it was a WB affiliate. […]

Can syndication find the next hit?

Quick, when was the last true first-run syndicated hit? Though many syndicators would argue, it was six years ago with Dr. Phil averaging a 4.4 Nielsen rating in its freshman season. Before that, you would have to go all the way back to June 1996 for the last breakout hit – Warner Bros.’ The Rosie O’Donnell Show. And if you […]

TCA: More ABC

Highlights from the second day of ABC’s portion of the TCA tour: ABC Showrunner fest ABC had the showrunners from its popular dramas on a panel, incluidng those from Lost, Grey’s Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, and Ugly Betty. University Park native Shonda Rhimes assured everyone there is no feud between her and Katherine Heigi, who critized the writing staff of the […]

"Desperate Housewives" comes back with a mighty thud

Hitting a season-low in the money demo (adults 18-49) for an episode that was … well, let’s just say the Housewives writers should have stayed on the picket line. But the big story here is a first-run episode of The Simpsons beat Oprah‘s Big Give in the ratings last night head-to-head. D’oh!

ABC to bring back its shows

In fact, the Mouse of House renewed nine of them for next season, including Samantha Who, Private Practice, and Dirty Sexy Money (all of which will not return until then) while also-renewed Grey’s Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, Ugly Betty, and Brothers & Sisters will be back with new episodes this spring. Boston Legal will resume production as well, but it has […]