Grab Bag: “Last Man Standing” stands tall

        Plus other news of note, including Rosie Show results; Brandmeier’s return; and a new game show in an unusual time slot. – Viewers welcomed back Tim Allen to network TV Tuesday night with open arms with strong sampling of his new sitcom Last Man Standing. On Tuesday, the series opened with  13.1 million viewers and grew […]

T Dog’s Six Pack: Dewey defeats Dallas

It’s like saying Power 92 is #1 in the Streets! Yep, it’s been a week of mistakes for some – ask the Miami Herald and the Toronto Star who declared some teams champions last week when they weren’t, and for anyone who went into Downtown Vancouver Wednesday evening. It’s not just some bizarre universe where Dewey defeated Truman for President […]

WLS-TV names new morning show hosts

WABC-TV in New York City reveals Oprah replacement – a newscast. ABC-owned WLS-TV has finally chosen its hosts for its new morning show to succeed The Oprah Winfrey Show at 9 a.m. – WLS weekend sports anchor Ryan Chiaverini and WGN-TV morning news reporter Valerie Warner. The series’ working title is Morning Rush and is expected to debut sometime around […]

TCA, Part 3: We OWN you

Obviously the biggest highlight of the Winter version of Television Critics Association Press Tour was a rare appearance by the Queen of Talk, Oprah Winfrey. She was at the press tour to promote her new cable network, The Oprah Winfrey Network, or OWN, which launched January 1 in place of Discovery Health. Discovery Communications owns half of the new joint […]

Mary Hart exits "Entertainment Tonight"

After a 29-year run, longtime Entertainment Tonight anchor Mary Hart has decided to step down next year. The move marks an end of an era for the long-running syndicated strip, which has been on the air since September 15, 1981. Hart joined the CBS Television Distribution program in 1982. According to The Wrap, The Insider’s Lara Spencer has been named […]

Tribune to go ahead with "Big Willie"

CBS to launch The Talk to replace As The World Turns Despite anemic ratings, poor reviews, and Twitters unanimously dissing it, Tribune Broadcasting is apparently going ahead with Bill Cunningham’s new talk show, which is now targeted for a Fall 2011 launch. During the four-day test, the program averaged an 1.1 Nielsen household rating in seven markets, including Chicago. While […]

WLS-TV to replace "Oprah" with live, local morning show

In news first reported Tuesday morning on Robert Feder’s blog at Vocalo, ABC-owned WLS-TV has announced plans to replace The Oprah Winfrey Show, which departs first-run syndication on September 9, 2011: The station is developing a live, local morning show to take her place. There is no word yet on a host or format, but it is expected to be […]

Analysis: The real winners and losers in the CoCo lottery

The drawing in the Conan O’Brien lottery took place Monday, and it was Turner Broadcasting who turned up the lucky winner. So what does TBS actually win? Young demos. A proven name. An increased profile. And a new car – advertiser or two. But it seems a lot of players in this saga appear to winners – TBS, Conan O’Brien, […]

The Grab Bag: WGN Radio Changes, Local 18-49 numbers

– Put ’em up: It’s an afternoon at the fights! In this corner, its WLS-AM’s Roe Conn and new partner Richard Roeper… and in the other corner, its Conn’s former partner and friend – Garry Meier on WGN-AM. Beginning Monday, Conn & Roeper are on from 2-6 while Garry Meier is on from 3-7 (on days when the Cubs aren’t […]

Come on and do the "Simpsons" flop

A T Dog Media Blog Flashback Okay, a lot has been made about last Sunday’s episode (The Greatest Story Ever D’ohed) which turned out to be the worst Simpsons produced since That ’90’s Show, when the writers completely rewrote the backstory to give us another wonderful Homer- f’s- up – Marge-gets-mad storyline for the sake of attracting more younger viewers. […]

T Dog’s Four Pack

Here’s the recent list of winners and losers of the last week-in-a-half  – plus an extra-long rant at the end… What worked for yours truly… Winners Conan O’Brien. His final “Tonight Show” drew 10.3 million viewers, with one of the classiest send-offs I’ve ever seen from a host. The result: new found respect from the public, including yours truly. Chicago […]

Living Well HD is doing… um, well

ABC’s new high-definition subchannel network titled Live Well HD is certainly doing well in this tough economy (believe it or not, it’s already profitable.) So much so, it has expanded its programming lineup effective yesterday. In addition to the six health-and-beauty related programs to its lineup, the nine-month old channel adds Mary Talks Money, a show produced by ABC-owned WPVI […]