News and notes, all wrapped up into one: – Leno appears to be unhappy about being forced out of the famed 10:35 p.m. (CT) time slot for Conan O’Brien in 2009. Late shift, part II? – Christiana Applegate returns to the network that launched her career (1986’s Heart of the City) and is the lead in Samantha Who? In it, […]
The Daily Southtown lays into Major League Baseball, calling the new deal that puts most playoff games on cable TV isn’t friendly to fans, particularly to those of the Chicago Cubs, whose team may make the postseason, and fans without cable or satellite are out of luck. When ESPN had the rights to the divisional series in the past, they […]
It’s worst enough the Chicago media has been angering everyone with the shenanigans over the Amy Jacobson- Craig Stebic controversy, and now ESPN has decided to join in, at least angering White Sox fans. In a SportsNation poll, ESPN asked viewers “Which sports team do you most associate with Chicago?” and listed were the Bulls, Cubs, Bears, and even the […]
He hasn’t been on the TV version of ESPN much lately, if hardly at all, so we didn’t see this coming? As rumored last week, Dan Patrick is leaving his radio show at “The Worldwide Leader in Sports” (or as some would put it, “The Worldwide Leader in B.S.”) on August 17. In Chicago, Patrick airs on WMVP-AM from noon […]
Dan McNeil of ESPN-owned WMVP-AM has been suspended for three days for calling a female Comcast SportsNet producer a bad name on the “Mac, Jurko, & Harry” show on Tuesday. He slammed her for showing that fan running on the field at Wrigley Monday Night during a Cubs-Rockies game (Perhaps McNeil didn’t see highlights of that Argentina soccer riot on […]
Despite declining ratings for the NBA Finals, the NBA extended its television and digital platform rights until the 2015-16 season for ESPN, ABC, and TNT. The new deals gives ESPN and TNT the rights to stream NBA material onto its digital broadband platforms, including ESPN360 and TNT Overtime.
The Jazz-Spurs NBA Western Conference Final was a ratings flop, and the San Antonio Spurs advancing to the Finals won’t help the NBA or ESPN. But at least they won’t have the numbers the NHL and NBC will have for the Ducks-Senators Stanley Cup matchup. Sadly for the NBA, that’s the only positive thing out of all this. Meanwhile, the […]
In honor of ESPN’s ridiculously overhyped NFL Draft coverage (yes, I checked the calendar – it’s still March, where we are supposed to be consumed with MARCH MADNESS), we’re putting every post on the clock… from noon today until noon tomorrow, every post title will be “on the clock”, including this blog. This is being done to point out the […]
Joel Hollander’s behind just got shoved out the door… Dan Mason, a CBS Radio veteran, is returning to the fold to replace Hollander as president and CEO of CBS Radio, Inc. Meanwhile, Joke Theissman, er, I mean Joe Theissman is out after 20 years working on ESPN’s football games. This past season, he worked alongside Mike Trico and Tony Kornhiser […]
Another one of Mark Shapiro’s prodigies goes bust: Michael Irvin is out as analyst on ESPN.
The Q’s are out… Bravo dumps Queer Eye for the Straight Guy after five seasons, while ESPN cancels Quite Frankly after two. Rest assured these shows won’t be missed. (Let’s hope Stephen A. stays away from daytime TV… There are already too many bombastic personalties in that field already.)
Welcome to Pardon the Interruption! Filling in for Tony and Mike today, I’m your host, T Dog. The hell with headlines, let’s get to our game today – Toss Up! Let’s go to the producer… Producer: Who is the biggest moron? Jay Mariotti or Bill O’Reilly? Hmmm. That’s a tough one. One is an asshole. The other is an asshole. […]
I know it’s unusual for me to post on a Sunday… but I had to alert everyone on this…Tomorrow night’s guest in the booth on ESPN’s Monday Night Football game between the Bears-Rams is talent-free Chicago actor Jim Belushi of According To Jim. Why him? Why not other famous Chicagoans? What about Bernie Mac? Jenny McCarthy? Kanye? Even anyone from […]
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