The Sun-Times is a disgrace to Chicago. Again.

  Does the headline of this post look familiar to you? Well, aside from the “again” part. It should. I wrote this headline five years ago when the Chicago Sun-Times decided to put then-Chicago Bear Greg Olsen on the front page of the newspaper amid the controversy over a rap song he participated in while at the University of Miami, […]

TCA: NBCUniversal unveils many big projects

The Winter Television Critics Association Press Tour kicked off last week from Pasadena, Calif. and up first among the Big Media companies were the networks of Comcast/NBCUniversal, which includes Bravo, E!, and NBC itself. This portion covers two days (Friday and Saturday), and what’s listed here is not listed chronologically, but by order of network: NBC – The fourth-place network’s […]

Bears-Lions tackles competitors onto turf

ESPN’s Monday Night Football tilt between the Chicago Bears and Detroit Lions was a success for ESPN and the city of Detroit – but not for the Bears. The game on WCIU earned a 13.4 household rating and a 20 share while ESPN pulled a 18.8/27, combining for an overall 32.2/47, easily outdrawing other series in the Chicago market, including […]

T Dog’s Think Tank: Rewarding failure

“I failed at doing the CBS Evening News. Now ABC is going to reward me with a big contract for doing a talk show no one will watch. Suckers!! “ On Monday, Katie Couric joined The Walt Disney Company as a syndicated talk show host in what has to be the worst syndicated deal ever. The multi-year, multi-platform deal also […]

ABC rolls out 2011-12 schedule

ABC released its 2011-12 season schedule this morning in advance of its upfront presentation to advertisers this afternoon in Manhattan with twelve new series. Seven of those premiere this fall, and the list includes the return of Tim Allen to the network and and also Charlie’s Angels, in a reboot of the late 1970’s series which was a huge part […]

T Dog’s Six Pack: A lot to be "Glee"-ful about

It was a tumulus past week in the media world, highlighted by the exit of Tribune Court Jester Randy Michaels and the possibly of the Parents Television Council going bust. Is that a cause for celebration, or what? Winners Robert Feder. His coverage of the saga at Tribune Tower was exceptional work – truly a wonderful job by Chicago’s best […]

Lee Abrams: The rise and fall of

The resignation of Tribune executive Lee Abrams on Friday was pretty much expected, and came as no surprise. Abrams sent a company-wide e-mail on Monday featuring Not Safe for Work videos and angering employees company-wide, and was suspended Wednesday for doing so. Some of the videos featured stuff you would normally find on a Girls Gone Wild DVD.  And all […]

T Dog’s Think Tank: Better days ahead for NBC (2000th post)

The party’s over for Doogie and Partyman. Post number 2000. Yes, yours truly is finally written his 2000th post after four years. And what better way to celebrate by writing a Think Tank regarding the departures of biggest boobs to ever grace – or disgrace a media corporation’s executive suite outside of Laurence Tisch. I’m talking about Jeff Zucker and […]

T Dog’s Think Tank: The Late Shift 2: The Screwjob Continues

It all began on January 7, when a website reported that NBC had canceled The Jay Leno Show. It ended on January 22, with Conan O’Brien leaving The Tonight Show. Welcome to The Late Shift 2: The Screwjob Continues. Based on New York Times writer Bill Carter’s book (and later HBO movie), this is a sequel to the mid 1990s […]

T Dog’s Think Tank: The white flag

On Monday, the Chicago White Sox traded veterans Jim Thome to the Los Angeles Dodgers and Jose Contreras to the Colorado Rockies, bringing back memories of the July 1997 White Flag Trade which sent Wilson Alvarez and two others to the San Francisco Giants. The move was sent as a signal the White Sox has given up on the season […]

T Dog’s Think Tank: Limo-for-a-Lame-O Jr. finally drives away

How does it feel to become the second Silverman in history to screw up a network – in fact, the SAME network ? Goodbye, Mr. “Party All The Time”. Don’t hit your head when you get in that limo… Yours truly doesn’t know if the departure of Ben Silverman will immediately improve NBC’s fortunes. But it is a start. Yes, […]

T Dog’s Four Pack – The Summit

There have been some conflicts in the media world lately. So let’s have a T Dog’s Four Pack Beer Summit – where we can hash out our differences and make the world a better place. Or not… A four pack worthy of Budwesier and Miller Genuine Draft – Mark Burhele’s Perfect Game. The first Chicago pitcher to throw a perfecto […]

Anna Davlantes out at Channel 5

Yours truly was celebrating when Ben “Party All The Time” Silverman left NBC Monday. Now comes the bad news: it appears Anna Davlantes is following him out the door. Ms. Davlantes exited NBC-owned WMAQ-TV today after failing to come to a contract renewal agreement with the station. WMAQ’s station manager (Fran Whitaker) put out a short statement thanking her for […]

Ben Silverman out at NBC

The long national nightmare is over – the Bulls Ballboy is moving on. NBC Entertainment Co-Chairman Ben Silverman resigned today after two years to start a new company with Barry Diller’s IAC. He’s essentially returning to his entrepreneurial roots: he founded production company Reville, producers of The Office and Ugly Betty. His replacement is Jeff Gaspin, who will now add […]