Kirk Fox is trading in the peace, tranquility, and the small-town values of Pawnee, Ind. for baby mama drama in the big city. The Parks & Recreation star and stand-up comic has taken a rather unusual job – being a mediator in a new fall 2013 show called The Test, a conflict-resolution talk show where DNA evidence and lie-detector resolves […]
And other syndication news of note With NATPE looming around the corner, activity in the first-run syndication business for 2013 has certainly picked up. Here’s the latest: -As reported by Broadcasting & Cable Tuesday, Debmar-Mercury pulled the plug on first-run syndicated talker “conflict” talker The Jeremy Kyle Show after two low-rated seasons. Kyle, a British personality who does a similar […]
Station group plotting future without off-network fare in key time periods? Tribune Broadcasting announced last week it has cleared a new weekend scripted hour series from Trifecta Entertainment titled Rescue 3, created by former Baywatch showrunner Gregory J. Bonann. Clearances include WGN-TV Chicago, WPIX New York, KTLA Los Angeles, WPHL Philadelphia and KDAF Dallas. As first reported by Broadcasting & […]
It looks like its back to the beach for Phyllis Schwartz. The WFLD vice president and news director exited the station Tuesday after nearly a year. She replaced Carol Fowler in the same capacity on January 6. A former WLS-TV and WMAQ-TV executive, Schwartz returned to Chicago from San Diego where she ran her own consulting company and was previously […]
Also: Wheel and Jeopardy! renewed by WLS-TV, other ABC O&Os until 2016 It’s not even the end of October, and already seeing some major shakeups in daytime syndication for next fall: – In news first reported by Deadline, CBS’ owned-and-operated station group has picked up Queen Latifah’s new talk show from Sony Pictures Television for September 2013, clearing sixteen markets, […]
It’s a four-for-one-special in this edition of T Dog’s Think Tank – thoughts on four subjects in one post. What a deal! – Is Fox’s incompetence at its local Chicago stations spreading to the network? Last week, the network scheduled X Factor to Wednesday, but game three of the NLCS between San Francisco and St. Louis (which started earlier in […]
Ricki Lake changes EPs on her newly relaunched show WFLD and four other Fox-owned stations announced they were slotting Warner Bros.’ TMZ Live, a spin-off of the popular half-hour strip beginning Monday. TMZ Live features TMZ creator and executive producer Harvey Levin talking to his staff about the day’s entertainment stories in an expanded, hour-long format. Launched in 2007 as […]
It’s a done deal: after a successful six-week test run at a few Fox-owned stations this summer, Bethenny Frankel’s new talk show from Warner Bros. has been cleared on the rest of the group in seventeen markets, including WFLD-TV in Chicago and is now going forward with a national launch in 2013. The former Real Housewives star was tested in […]
Dish Nation bombs in debut Thanks to prized time slots on ABC-owned and ABC affiliates, Katie blew out her two freshmen rivals who premiered Monday. In info obtained from B&C, Katie Couric’s new show from Disney-ABC Domestic Television debuted with a 2.8 hosuehold rating and an 8 household share – the highest rated-debut for a show since Rachael Ray’s debut […]
Reach out and touch someone…. No, not there. Or there. The Grab Bag: – CBS AT&T . CBS Corp. and AT & T have signed a brand new retransmission consent deal, covering all CBS-owned stations (which includes CBS, CW, and independent stations), Showtime, The Smithsonian Channel, and CBS Sports Network. Locally, the deal covers CBS-owned WBBM-TV over all AT&T U-Verse […]
Oh Oh. Charlie Sheen’s “winning” again. FX and Debmar-Mercury announced on Wednesday the ninety-episode pickup of Sheen’s new sitcom Anger Management, with production beginning in September and new shows airing in January. With the pickup, the series is now being prepped for an off-network broadcast syndication debut for 2014. In order to get the ninety-episode pickup, Management had to meet […]
Chicago News and Weather | FOX Chicago News We have a new name for Retro Friday – its now The Retro Friday Time Machine (Retro Friday was a temporary name… and Michael Schneider’s Franklin Ave. blog already was using it.) In this week’s edition, we celebrate WFLD’s 25th anniversary in the news business – going back to August 1987 when […]
– Robin Robinson is going to stay at Fox-owned WFLD after all: first mentioned by Robert Channack at the Chicago Tribune last Thursday and verified by Time Out Chicago’s Robert Feder the following day, Ms. Robinson has signed a one-year contract extension to continue co-anchoring the station’s 9 p.m. newscast alongside Bob Sirott. According to the Tribune, the deal was […]
On the old PI Feedback forums at the former Mediaweek.com, a poster named “Twins12” often referred to the hit reality TV series Dancing With The Stars as Dancing With The Has-Beens, noting the program’s inability to land A-list celebrities, but those whose best days were behind them. In Chicago media, being a has-been can be beneficial – even if no […]
A lot of stuff in this grab bag this week: – What’s this? A historic low for WGN Radio? The Tribune-owned talker . Even with Cubs baseball (and the you know the team sucks this year), WGN finished behind WVAZ (V103) and WTMX (The Mix) and also behind WBBM-AM and WDRV (The Drive). Other May PPM highlights include WGCI’s return […]
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