The “Pyramid of Fun” returns

ABC’s acquisition of $100,000 Pyramid for primetime  brings game show back to network and New York for the first time in 36 years  Plus, other TCA news of note ABC has added another classic game show to its summer lineup. Ten episodes of The $100,000 Pyramid from Sony Pictures Television has been ordered by the network for a prime-time slot. The […]

Comic-Con: “Heroes: Reborn” takes center stage

NBC’s relaunch of the 2006-10 series is massive – and actually impressive It was back in 2006 when a 73-minute pilot called Heroes was screened at the San Diego Comic-Con. The episode blew fans away as the success of the screening burned up the Internet (and this was when Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube were in their infancy.) Anticipation was built […]

“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 […]

“Law & Order: SVU” continues to perform in Season 15

To quote the late singer Aaliyah, “Age Ain’t Nothing But A Number.” But to Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, putting up fantastic numbers at its age 15 is a huge feat. According to Wednesday night numbers released by Nielsen, the special two-hour premiere of SVU earned a 2.7 rating among adults 18-49, up 29 percent from the 14th season […]

Bubble Bustin’ Friday

Over the last few years, the Friday before upfronts became quite crazy, with the announcement of pilot pickups – and a huge batch of cancellations. 2013 was no different: Friday afternoon and Friday evening with social media abuzz with the latest pickups and cancellations, as those “bubble shows” fate were finally decided. Well, the bubble burst for a whopping seventeen […]

TCA: ABC prepares new dramas to launch

The ABC Portion of the tour kicked off with ABC Family’s Bunheads and Pretty Little Liars, then descended into the executive session, where network president Paul Lee blundred and stumbled explaining why the network didn’t do well (finishing fourth in primetime), admitting defeat and the work ABC needs to do. Lee also admitted this past All-Star cycle of Dancing With […]

T Dog’s Six Pack: A second term

The T Dog Media Six Pack is back! Yes the roundup of winners and losers in the media business has an election theme as the race for the White House is over… Landslide victories Barack Obama. Okay, it wasn’t exactly a walk in the park for our 44th President, but his defeat of challenger Mitt Romney to win a second […]

“Arrow” gets solid sampling

New dramas Nashville, Chicago Fire battle it out head-to-head Put a hold on The CW’s funeral, poindexter. Arrow, the new highly-anticipated drama based on the DC Comics character Green Arrow, drew a 1.3 adult 18-49 demo rating, making it the highest-rated premiere on CW since The Vampire Diaries in 2009, and the highest adults 18-49 demo in two years. Arron’s […]

“Modern Family” rocks, “Animal Practice” flops

When yours truly watched Animal Practice, I was looking to see if Randy Michaels’ name was anywhere in the credits… The results for the first Wednesday night of the 2012-13 season are in the books and it was a huge night for recent Emmy winner Modern Family, a so-so debut for new sitcom The Neighbors, and as expected, DOA numbers […]

ABC at TCA: Trying to get out of the basement

The Television Critics Association Press Tour rolled on Thursday and Friday with ABC up. We’ll start with Friday and work our way backward to Thursday as the juicier stuff is up front: – ABC executive session: Entertainment Chief Paul Lee addressed the press at TCA on friday, and was unapologetic about ripping off CBS’ Big Brother with The Glass House, […]

ABC unveils 2012-13 schedule

ABC’s 2012-13 campaign has changes on four nights in a schedule released Tuesday morning before its upfront presentation later in the afternoon. (In addition, fellow Disney property ESPN also held an upfront on Tuesday. Information is at the end of the ABC analysis.) ABC plans to debut five new series this fall, with another five scheduled for midseason. Like Fox […]

The Upfronts Selection Show

The week before the upfronts are always crazy: you have networks canceling shows and picking up pilots to series for either this fall or for midseason. Welcome to The Upfronts Selection Show, where choices are made and bubbles are burst. Call this the television business’ version of March Madness. All of this hubbub this place before the big show kicks […]