Play ball! In honor of Major League Baseball’s Opening Weekend, it’s a baseball-themed edition of The Six Pack: Home Run! Mobbed. Someone in a certain publication tagged this as a “loser” on Friday. But here at The T Dog Media Blog, I’m declaring Howie Mandel’s reality special after American Idol a “winner” because a 3.8 adult 18-49 demo rating and […]
With the induction of Fox’s “Brothers”, it marks the first time two series with the exact same name are in The T Dog Media Blog Hall Of Shame. Both programs are unrelated to each other, except for the fact both are sitcoms and they both suck. Above, from top: Showtime’s version of “Brothers”, from […]
As have been speculated for the last few weeks, MGM announced today it will team up with Weigel Broadcasting to distribute MeTV nationally. MGM’s domestic television sales department will handle national distribution of the channel and national advertising sales. MeTV airs product from CBS Television Distribution, Twentieth Television, Paul Brownstein Productions, and a few independent producers. Classic shows […]
Santa’s been good to these guys: David Kaplan (left), with Chicago Blackhawk Johnathan Toews (Courtesy CSN) Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Everyone! Santa Dog here with presents for those who were nice and coal and maybe some cyanide for those who were naughty (NaOnka, Pig Virus, and Randy “Court Jester” Michaels – I’m looking at you!) Ho! Ho! Ho! Time to […]
MeTV goes national on December 15 Brace yourself “U” and “Me” viewers – you’re going to be in for a lot of changes. Beginning on December 15 – a Wednesday (a rather odd day of the week to begin programming changes since Mondays are usually more ideal) – four of Weigel’s channels are ushering in new schedules […]
In a humongous move, Weigel Broadcasting sent out a teaser on major changes coming to MeTV and MeToo, the company’s local classic TV channels. In like… MeTV is going national. Weigel plans to announce on Tuesday it will seek to distribute the MeTV concept nationally via a digital subchannel. Weigel’s forthcoming announcement means they are throwing their hat in the […]
This past week, we saw the passing of two classic TV stars. Last Saturday, actress Barbara Billingsley passed away at the age of 94. Billingsley was best known for playing June Cleaver in Leave It To Beaver, which premiered on CBS on October 4, 1957 and moved to ABC in 1958, where it ran for five more seasons. Billingsley also […]
Well, we have our first blatant ripoff of Chicago’s MeTV and Retro Television Network. Tribune announced today it is launching a new classic TV digital network titled Antenna TV on January 3, 2011. The network plans to air classic series from the Sony library and from syndicator D.L. Taffner, Ltd., which (still!) holds the rights to sitcoms Three’s Company and […]
It’s no longer a rush to get into the 4:30 a.m. news business – it’s a stampede. Consider this – a recent search of TVNewsCheck of “4:30” turned up a whopping 115 items., with most of the stories featuring stations starting 4:30 a.m. newscasts in the past year, or so. This isn’t a rush – it’s a stampede. Get the […]
The semi-annual Television Critics Association Press Tour got underway this week at the Beverly Hills Hilton Hotel in this upscale section of Los Angeles. Many critics complained about the air conditioning in the ballroom and lackluster wi-fi connection, which rivals the poor signal one usually gets at the Harold Washington Library in the Loop. The only difference is the security […]
Me-TV, the home of classic sitcoms (and a few educational and first-run weeklies) has revamped its schedule, effective this Monday. The most notable change is the removal of raunchy sitcoms Married… With Children and That’s ’70’s Show from the schedule and airing Scrubs at 12:30 a.m. – a half-hour before its regularly scheduled 1 a.m. WCIU showing. And speaking of […]
Soon, “Family Guy” will have TWO places to call home in Chicago. In a rather odd twist to a renewal deal, Tribune-owned WGN-TV has renewed syndicated repeats of Family Guy for a second cycle in a new four-year deal through 2015, which kicks in on September 12, 2011. But as a part of the deal, Weigel-owned independent station WCIU-TV […]
Weigel Broadcasting, owner of independent WCIU-TV in Chicago and classic TV stations Me-TV (WCIU-DT, 26.2) and Me-Too (WMEU-TV and WCIU-DT 26.3) has released its fall schedules for the 2009-10 season. Click the links to view each schedule, all in PDF form: WCIU 2009 Fall Schedule Me-TV Fall Schedule Me-Too Fall Schedule Similar to what Turner has done to TBS and […]
For the first time in… I don’t know… many years, repeats of The Odd Couple are back on TV. On Thursday (an odd day to start airing a TV show on a “strip” basis), WWME-TV (or Me-TV) began airing The Odd Couple weeknights at 11:30 p.m. The sitcom, based on the Neil Simon play (and also spun off a 1968 […]
What’s “this” you ask? This TV. The new classic movie digital channel from MGM and Weigel finally debuts on Saturday on WCIU digital channel 26.4, WDJT digital channel 58.3 in Milwaukee, and in 30 other markets. The channel features movies from MGM libraries (not the pre-1986 library, which is owned by Warner Bros./Turner Entertainment) as well as a handful of […]
ABC ABC-Owned Stations ABC 7 Chicago American Idol CBS CBS Chicago CBS Media Ventures CBS News And Stations Chicago Bears Chicago Blackhawks Chicago Bulls Chicago Cubs Chicago White Sox ESPN Family Guy FCC Fox Fox 32 Fox Television Stations Los Angeles Milwaukee NBC NBC 5 NBC Owned Television Stations NBCUniversal Syndication Studios New York City Nexstar Media Group Radio Ratings Sinclair Inc. Syndication The Big Bang Theory The CW The Simpsons Tribune Media Warner Bros. WBBM-TV Chicago WCIU Chicago WFLD Chicago WGN-TV Chicago WGN Radio WLS-AM Chicago WLS-TV Chicago WMAQ Chicago WPWR Chicago