From the bag today: – Comcast SportsNet announced it is splitting its signature sports news show SportsNite into two half-hours at 10 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. (Yours truly thought they were already separate.) – It looks like an Obama-led FCC could steer the focus away from indecency, which has been the focus of the agency over the last few years. […]
An extended version of The Bag. Here what’s been going on the last couple of days: – Spike O’Dell signs off: The WGN-AM host wrapped up his eight-year stint in morning drive today with a live show at the Metropolis Theater in Arlington Heights. The building was sold out for the show, as people were lining up as early as […]
Yes, it’s another edition of the Bag. Reach in… – It’s the 2008 version of an Edsel: NBC has announced it has halted production of its revival of the television series Knight Rider, meaning the show is finishing its run in February, then likely vanish never to be seen again. It may have been worse: NBC might have tried to […]
NBC Universal recently unveiled details of its new Deal or No Deal strip hosted by Howie Mandel (who continues hosting the prime-time version.) The daily half hour is being assembled along the lines of the version that airs in the United Kingdom. Among the changes: – The top prize won in the syndicated version is $500,000. – There are only […]
(Editor’s Note: A rough draft appeared earlier here by mistake, resulting in an error in the second paragraph which has since been corrected. In other words, the word “repeat” should have been where “new” was. – T.H.) Maybe yesterday’s White Sox-Royals brawl may serve as an indication people in Kansas City (and certainly Minnesota) may be sick of anything coming […]
WTMJ-TV in Milwaukee and several other stations are scheduled to air a live, one-hour syndicated special originating from Las Vegas on March 18 called Better at Night, celebrating Better TV’s first year on the air. Better TV airs at 3 p.m. weekdays on the NBC affiliate, and airs on stations primarily owned by Meredith (such as KCTV in Kansas City) […]
So, who won and lost in the just-concluded writer’s strike? Aaron Barnhart of TV Barn breaks it all down. One notable winner: Nikki Finke of LA Weekly and her Deadline Hollywood Daily blog, which proved more reliable than the trades (notably Variety) and the mainstream media in breaking the latest developments in the strike. One notable loser: David Letterman. All […]
The man who provided many voices for numerous Hanna-Barbera cartoons and acted on TV series such as The Brady Bunch, The Phil Silvers Show, and Archie Bunker’s Place has passed. Kansas City, Mo. native Allan Melvin died of cancer Thursday in his Los Angeles home. He was 84. Melvin was best known for the role of Sam the Butcher on […]
Fox Sports is launching a new sports cable network featuring the Kansas City Royals as its centerpiece.The new FSN Kansas City will feature 140 Royals games a year, and also feature Big 12 collegiate sports, featuring the likes of Missouri, Kansas, and Kansas State. The channel replaces FSN Midwest in the Kansas City area. For the Royals, the network replaces […]
News Corp. had made good on its promise to sell eight of its Fox TV stations, and it did to the newly-formed Local TV group headed by private equity firm Oak Hill Partners for $1.1 billion. The proceeds from the sale gives News Corp. the cash it needs to purchase the Wall Street Journal. In a separate development, Tribune and […]
The new version of local TV – you know, the one in which advertisers pay money to have their product or service plugged on the show – has taken a hit with the dissolvement of Kansas City Live, KSHB-TV’s low-rated one-hour infotainment program. The Hour Magazine clone, which airs at 10 a.m. on the Scripps-owned NBC affiliate, is being replaced […]
CBS Television Distribution has cleared a spin-off of Dr. Phil called The Doctors in 50 percent of the country. Among station groups clearing the show include CBS, Belo, Gannett, Scripps, and Cox. Stations grabbing the strip include WCBS-TV in New York, KCAL-TV in Los Angeles, KYW-TV in Philadelphia, KTVU-TV in San Francisco, WSB-TV in Atlanta (which will likely replace Montel […]
So did everybody else, it appears. But what you’d expect when not one show on this network – created by News Corp. after the WB and UPN merged – has been memorable? This story from B&C is about several My Network TV affiliates deciding to take matters into their own hands, as Meredith’s KSMO in Kansas City decided to do. […]
News Corp. has announced it will sell nine of its Fox owned-and-operated stations in these markets: Cleveland (WJW), Denver (KDVR), St. Louis (KTVI), Kansas City (WDAF), Milwaukee (WITI), Salt Lake City (KSTU), Birmingham (WBRC), Memphis (WHBQ), and Greensboro-Winston-Salem-High Point (WGHP). This is part of a trend in which major networks are selling their O&Os in smaller markets. CBS and NBC […]
This petition comes from some dopes in the Kansas City market, complaining that their CBS programming is being interrupted by something unimportant as a severe weather alert.
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