How to get away with a hit show

Viola Davis and her students murder the competition The good news continued to roll on for the broadcast networks (except Fox) in the young television season thus far with ABC scoring a hat trick victory last night among entertainment fare, led by the successful premiere of How To Get Away With Murder. The debut of the Shonda Rhimes-produced show drew […]

“Black-ish” off to strong start

South Park beats Fox’s entire Wednesday night lineup  One of the season’s most anticipated – and most controversial sitcoms premiered last night to strong numbers. ABC’s new Black-ish scored a 3.3 rating among adults 18-49, down from its Modern Family lead-in (3.9), but matched it in total viewers, earning 11.1 million viewers. The sitcom is about an African-American father of […]

Strong returns for opening night

Everyone’s a winner in the first night of the TV season!  Well, almost… The first night of the 2014-15 got underway Monday night and judging by the numbers, DVRs are going to be working overtime this week. Despite heavy competition, many shows were amply sampled, including heavily-hyped new entries Gotham and Scorpion. Meanwhile, The Big Bang Theory dominated its competition on […]

Tribune, Fox headed for a Showdown In Seattle

Could have implications for Chicago’s WPWR  A brewing affiliation fight in Seattle could have implications for a local Chicago TV station. According to a story in Tuesday’s edition of the New York Post, Fox is expected to yank the affiliation from Tribune Media’s KCPQ in Seattle-Tacoma. As it was reported in local media circles over the last few weeks, Fox […]

Growing opposition to dropping sports blackout rule

  Illinois’ Black Caucus latest to voice objection With the NFL now selling out stadiums coast-to-coast with the increased popularity of the league, the logic would be the rule that blacks out home National Football League games on TV 72 hours before a game is sold out would be outdated. You might want to think again. Led by FCC Democratic […]

Indianapolis to get new CBS affiliate

In a surprise move, CBS announces its moving its affiliation to WTTV, ending a 58-year relationship with WISH-TV The current battle over retransmission money has claimed another victim – and ended a longtime relationship. Tribune Broadcasting and CBS Corporation announced a new affiliation deal which shifts CBS from LIN Broadcasting’s WISH-TV – which has been a CBS affiliate since 1956 […]

TCA Summer Tour 2014: Fox: “We need some hits”

Fox came into the 2014 press tour finishing the most recent season in  fourth place – despite airing the Super Bowl. With new entertainment presidents Dana Walden and Gary Newman not yet ready to take the reigns, somebody had to take one of the team – and that someone was Peter Rice. – Executive session: Rice came out and talked […]

Supreme Court to Aereo: You’re Out

Ending months of wondering and worrying, the nation’s major broadcasters dodged a major bullet Wednesday when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of them in their case against Aereo (ABC v. Aereo), an Internet startup company which took (or some say stole) broadcasters’ signals and allows subscribers to watch on their laptops, smartphones, and other devices – without Aereo […]

T Dog’s Grab Bag: WCIU expands “You and Me” to three hours

Also: Tyra Banks plans returns to daytime TV – Good news for fans of WCIU’s  You and Me in The Morning (and for local television overall): the two-hour morning strip hosted by former Chicago radio personalities Melissa Forman and Jeanne Sparrow is expanding to a third hour in September. Now airing from 6 to 8 a.m. weekdays, the show is extending […]

Chicago Cubs to leave WGN Radio; head to WBBM-AM

Welcome the newest member of the CBS family – the Chicago Cubs. After 56 years, the Chicago Cubs are moving to a new radio home – Newsradio 780, or WBBM-AM, which is long been speculated. A press conference has been scheduled for Thursday morning at Wrigley Field to announced the new, seven-year deal between the team and the CBS-owned radio […]

Kevin Reilly out as Fox chief

Fox announced Thursday the resignation of Entertainment President Kevin Reilly, who has held the position for the last seven years. His departure is scheduled at the end of next month. Since coming over from NBC, Reilly was credited for bringing aboard people who created hit shows for the network, including Glee and New Girl, and to a lesser extent, Bob’s […]

Fox unveils 2014-15 sked

Fox Monday unveiled its 2014-15 schedule, featuring twelve new series – five of them debuting this fall. Of the five, three are dramas – the highly anticipated Gotham, Red Band Society, and Gracepoint; one comedy (Mulraney); and one reality show (Utopia). With the revamped schedule, there is a scheduling change every night (except Saturday) – including the dismantling of Fox’s […]