Playoff fever: Catch it!

Bulls’ and Blackhawks’ victories not just limited to the arena Forget Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler, the top prime time star as far as Chicago is concerned is Derrick Rose. Comcast SportsNet dominated the ratings with an iron first Thursday night with a Quarterfinal doubleheader featuring both the Chicago Bulls and the defending Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks, setting records […]

The Grab Bag: Ricki returns (and unfortunately, so does Paul Reiser)

Twentieth’s game shows canceled, and other news of note  For the first time in a long time, it’s time for The Grab Bag – items not good enough for individual posts – but good enough to be written here: – Ricki returns. In a report confirmed by B&C and TVNewscheck, Ricki Lake signed a deal with Twentieth Television to launch […]

"Bob’s Burgers" back for a second season

“Futurama” syndie clearances reach 90% Serving up burgers in a restaurant is just as hard as serving up laughs – but Bob’s Burgers may have made it work. In a surprise move, Fox has picked up thirteen more episodes of Burgers for its second season, which is likely to commence early next year. While ratings for the series does lag […]

T Dog’s Six Pack: Winning and Losing

Harry Teinowitz: “I’m winning.”  Okay, so Charlie Sheen is “winning” – if your definition of winning is being fired off a hit show, having police raid your house, and jumping the shark on Twitter after only a week. But the winners and losers this week are for real: They’re really winning and losing, not some dopey sham job Sheen is […]

CSN Chicago shutters Bulls’ ratings record – thanks to tiger blood

In case you haven’t heard, the Chicago Bulls have what newly unemployed actor Charlie Sheen says they have – that tiger blood. What does that mean? According to Mr. Sheen, they’re winning! And what does winning bring boys and girls? Higher ratings! Comcast SportsNet Chicago – now part of NBCUniversal – hit a winning (yes, winning) basket Monday with the […]

Chicago tunes out election coverage

“I’m CEO of Chicago, b-tch!” Chicago elected new mayor Rahm Emmanuel in a historic election – the first in 22 years without the name Daley on the ballot. But in the end, the ratings for Chicago’s broadcast TV stations looked like what you normally find on a Tuesday night as low voter turnout morphed into a huge viewer tuneout. WGN-TV […]

One for the record books – again

The NFL was on fire this season with high ratings and record-breaking performances. And this year’s Super Bowl XLV between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Green Bay Packers was expected to set an all-time viewership record – and it did not disappoint (even though most of the commercials and the halftime show did – but that came as no surprise, right?) […]

Bears flop on field, but score in the ratings

On the field in the NFC Championship Game, the Chicago Bears was much like The Cape. But in the ratings, they came up like American Idol (and in fact, outdrew it.) Sunday’s game between the Bears and arch rival Green Bay on Fox-owned WFLD drew an astonishing local household rating of 50.6 and a household share of 80, with more […]

T Dog’s Six Pack: Pigskin!

Today’s six-pack has somewhat of a football theme in honor of today’s big game! Time for kickoff… Touchdown! WFLD. Yes, you read this right! According to Chicago Business, Fox-owned WFLD scored a whopping 43.2 household rating for last Sunday’s Divisional Playoff between the Seattle Seahawks and the Chicago Bears, and the number should certainly go higher for this Sunday’s NFC […]

WISN expands 10 p.m. newscast

In a first for a Midwest Big Three (ABC, CBS, NBC) affiliate, Hearst’s WISN-TV in Milwaukee is expanding its 10 p.m. newscast from 35 minutes to an hour beginning January 24. The move sends NBC Universal’s Access: Hollywood (the current 10:35 p.m. occupant) to 12:30 a.m., after Jimmy Kimmel Live. Nightline retains the 11:05 p.m. slot, but now gets to […]

WLS-TV dominates households in November

ABC’s “Dancing With The Stars” was Chicago’s top entertainment (non-sports) program in November.  November sweeps came and went and as usual, ABC- owned WLS-TV won the 10pm news race, and also dominated the market overall (thank you Oprah and Dancing With The Stars.) While household numbers were only available at this time, look for WLS to dominate in all key […]

T Dog’s Six Pack: The new season so far

Since we’re three weeks into the new fall season, here’s how things are shape up in TV land in this edition of T Dog’s Six Pack: Three Up NFL Football. The quality of play is down, but ratings are up? It’s true – viewers are tuning in droves to NFL Football with CBS, Fox, ESPN and NBC all posting year-to-year […]

Monday Night Fights

(Courtesy: Chicago Tribune) Bears-Packers, Dancing destroy competition in Chicago – and everywhere else It was a huge face-off on Monday night. Wait, you thought I was just talking the Bears and the Packers? Ratings in Chicago for the game were phenomenal – the Bears beat the Packers 20-17. But Dancing with the Stars was just as phenomenal (in its own […]

Lions-Bears leads Sunday TV fare

  The Lions’ Calvin Johnson catches a pass in Sunday’s game against the Chicago Bears (Photo: AP/Charles Rex Arbogast/ESPNChicago.com) But ratings down 25% from year ago season opener The Chicago Bears may have lucked themselves into a victory on Sunday, but at least did the job in the ratings department. According to Crain’s Chicago Business, the Bears season opener at […]

Chicago stations in for political ad revenue windfall

With Mayor Richard M. Daley’s decision not to run for a seventh term, it could mean good news for local television and radio outlets in the terms of revenue in the form of increased political advertising. While the rest of us will being running to our nearest electronics store to buy Tivos, the announcement would mean a huge influx of […]