New shows dot local schedules The new television season outside of prime-time begins Monday and you will see some new faces and new places. For one, Jay Leno is returning to daily TV seven years after he left The Tonight Show for a second time. Now, he’s taking his act to earlier time slots with his new You Bet Your […]
Only two new shows in syndication this fall (Editor’s Note: This post has been updated. See below.) If you love the true crime genre, you are going to be happy with what’s going to air on local stations this fall. In fact, their are just two new shows: CBS Television’s Face The Truth and Debmar-Mercury’s Caught In Providence, featuring an […]
Rachael Ray returns to WGN; “Mom” gets the shaft in top markets (Editor’s Note: Hurricane Irma coverage may impact the debut of shows in some areas.) The 2017-18 television season doesn’t begin until September 25, but outside of primetime, new programming and schedule changes are occurring as soon as Monday. The biggest news is the debut of Steve Harvey’s new […]
Yours truly is testing a brand new feature titled Quick Hits and Bits, a quick roundup of the latest and not-so-latest television, radio, and Internet news – along with a few editorial quips. This is not meant to replace “The Grab Bag” column I’ve been writing about for the last few years, but wanted to get more media items on […]
RTV: The R stands for “ruined”. – Good news for fans of Richard Roeper and Roe Conn – the duo at WLS-AM signed a three-year contract extension to continue their successful afternoon show through the year 2014. The move come as Cumulus is about to take over Citadel Communications, owners of WLS-AM and FM in a merger. If you want […]
Anderson Cooper has entered The Race To Replace. Welcome to The Race To Replace! This fancy catch phrase yours truly created (patent pending) is to describe the hysteria over the departure of Oprah Winfrey’s talk show in September and the number of vacated time periods she leaves behind for syndicators – or someone else – to fill. Here is the […]
– Tuesday night’s Major League Baseball All-Star Game drew 14.6 million viewers to Fox, according to Nielsen. Locally, the game drew a 12.8 household rating and 21 household share – a big number despite the fact only two players from Chicago’s baseball teams were represented. In St. Louis (where the game was held), the contest drew a whopping 37 rating […]
Here’s a look at some of the new syndicated programs and how they are faring thus far, based on info culled from Broadcasting & Cable and TV Week: Legend of the Seeker. Disney-ABC’s first syndicated scripted hour in a decade has made a strong impression in the ratings, with a 2.9 Nielsen household rating and 4.2 million viewers for its […]
– The ALCS Game 7 between the Boston Red Sox and the Tampa Bay Rays on TBS last night drew a record-setting 13.4 million viewers, making it the highest-rated baseball game in cable TV history. Boston made a historic comeback in Game 5 being down 7-0 and winning the game 8-7, and winning Game 6. But the Rays beat Boston […]
The new five first-run strips debuting in syndication last week entered the new world of expectations – holding the lead-in and at least matching the year-ago time period share. The five programs are Deal or No Deal from NBC Universal Television Distribution; The Doctors from CBS Television Distribution; Family Court with Judge Penny from Program Partners; The Bonnie Hunt Show […]
Quick, when was the last true first-run syndicated hit? Though many syndicators would argue, it was six years ago with Dr. Phil averaging a 4.4 Nielsen rating in its freshman season. Before that, you would have to go all the way back to June 1996 for the last breakout hit – Warner Bros.’ The Rosie O’Donnell Show. And if you […]
Headlines from the world of radio & TV: – The Raleigh News & Observer has a story on WNCN-TV, the NBC affiliate in Raleigh, N.C. whose news ratings have gone up since ownership transferred from NBC to Media General in 2006 – but not enough to eclipse top rivals WRAL-TV (a CBS affiliate owned by Capitol Broadcasting) and ABC-owned WTVD. […]
The New York ABC-owned station is considering axing the program from its 10 a.m. time slot due to mediocre ratings, according to this article in the New York Post. Or is it because ABC parent Disney wants to reclaim the time period for its own fare (remember Wayne Brady’s and Tony Danza’s talk shows? Works of masterpiece right there.) If […]
The latest from the convention: WCIU picks up Judge Penny: Independent WCIU-TV in Chicago picks up its first-ever syndicated program from Program Partners by acquiring the company’s new first-run courtroom strip Family Court with Judge Penny. The program has cleared 70 percent of the country, including Fox-owned stations in New York and Los Angeles. Additional clearances include CBS/CW stations in […]
The latest from the convention: – In a coup for small syndie Program Partners, the company signed Marie Osmond to host a one-hour talk show strip for fall 2009. Marie Osmond last co-hosted a talk show with her brother Donny back in the late ’90’s for Sony. – MGM has decided to bring back Gladiators 2000, a teen-oriented game show […]