End of an era: David Letterman exits late-night TV

Wednesday not only marks the end of another sweeps period, but also the end of an era. 68 year-old David Letterman hangs up his mic tonight, after 33 years in the late fringe daypart – 22 of those years at CBS, where he moved to in August 1993. The Indianapolis-born comedian went from bagging groceries to a weatherman for the […]

"Smackdown" moves to SyFy

In a move which illustrates once again the declining clout of broadcasters – and the growingpower of cable, Vince McMahon and the WWE have announced the departure of Friday Night Smackdown from Fox’s My Network TV and is moving it to NBC Universal-owned cable channel SyFy effective October 1. SyFy smacked down Fox with a $30 million offer to WWE, […]

KPRC changes doctors

Your station has a ratings problem. So if the person in charge of the time period isn’t doing the job of tending to it, what would you do? Change doctors. That’s what KPRC did. KPRC-TV, Post-Newsweek’s NBC affiliate in Houston, has replaced CBS Television Distribution’s Dr. Phil, with Sony Television’s new hotcomer Dr. Oz at 3 p.m., which was effective […]

It’s Late Night with Jimmy Fallon

Jimmy’s got the moves. Jimmy has the style. And now, Jimmy has a talk show. As expected, Jimmy Fallon gets the post-Tonight Show slot in 2009, succeeding Conan O’Brien, who of course, is taking over for Jay Leno’s Tonight Show job in this same time frame. NBC made the announcement official in New York today. O’Brien, a former Simpsons writer, took […]

Jimmy’s hosting a talk show

Jimmy Fallon is succeeding Conan O’ Brien in the post-Tonight show slot effective in 2009, according to sources. NBC plans to announce the former Saturday Night Live star’s new gig at its upfront presentation (yes, they are having another one) on May 12. O’ Brien is succeeding Jay Leno as host of The Tonight Show next year, and plans to […]

Leno, Conan return to NBC late night

Taking a page from Johnny Carson’s playbook in 1988 during the last writer’s strike, NBC announced Monday that Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien will return to work with new episodes of their respective late-night shows on January 2, in lieu of writers. Meanwhile, Letterman’s production company (Worldwide Pants) is negotiating with its writers to return The Late Show with David […]

Writer’s Guild Strike Roundup – 11/9/07

Writers Held Hostage: Day 5 – NBC is planning to lay off its Tonight Show and Late Night staff next week, but may rely on guests hosts on those shows beginning Nov. 19. Meanwhile, The Late Show with David Letterman will be in repeats next week. – Ellen DeGeneres is under fire for crossing the picket line to work on […]