T Dog’s Grab Bag: Robin Robinson likely out at WFLD

A bunch of items in this week’s Grab Bag: – Is Robin Robinson on her way out at Fox-owned WFLD? Sure looks like it: According to a report surfacing a little over a week ago at Chicagoland Radio and Media, Robinson is expected to depart when her contract expires later this year. Robinson is the longest-tenured anchor at WFLD, being […]

Grab Bag: NATPE edition

The National Association of Television Programming Executive – or NATPE convention begins Monday in Miami and as always, there’s syndication news to report on. Here’s the latest: – CBS-owned WBBM-TV in Chicago and twelve other CBS markets have cleared TNT’s Leverage for weekend off-network syndication beginning next fall from Trifecta Entertainment, which acquires the syndication rights from executive producer Dean […]

Life After Oprah

              Anderson Cooper’s new syndicated talk show began on Monday.   Welcome to Life… After Oprah. Monday marked a new era in syndication as repeats of The Oprah Winfrey Show came to an end on Friday (her last original episode aired on May 25) as the broadcast business is without the queen of talk […]

CW scores an upset with "90210" premiere

The CW scored its highest ratings ever with the two-hour premiere of 90210 Tuesday night, the anticipated sequel to Beverly Hills 90210, which ran on Fox for ten seasons (1990-2000.) Courtesy of PIFeedback.com, here are the results: – Households (3.9/6, #3); Adults 18-34 (3.0/9, #1); Women 18-34 (4.3/12, #1); Adults 18-49 (2.6/7, #1); Women 18-49 (3.6/9, #1); persons 12-34 (2.7/8, […]

ION unveils new lineup for Fall 2008

Thanks to major acquistions as of late, the ION network is no longer known as the “infomercial network” or the “Mama’s Family Network.” The net formerly known as PAX unveiled its new lineup on Thursday at its upfront presentation at the New York Public Library, and it consists of newly acquired off-network fare including Ghost Whisperer, ER (seasons 11-14), Criminal […]

Must Flee TV

With the NBA Finals and Stanley Cup Finals, two events that also tanked in the ratings, at least you had teams compete for a championship. But the Chicago White Sox aren’t even close to doing that this year – and games on Comcast SportsNet are averaging a 1.6 Nielsen rating – down 40 percent from last year (last item). It’s […]

New name, same old stuff

The “i” network, which changed from PAX two years ago, is changing its name again – to MyNetworkTV2! Actually, its changing its name to ION, named after the company who now controls the network. Many industry insiders have joked that the “i” in the “i” network stood for infomericals, referring to the high number of paid programs that air on […]