“Celebrity Name Game” canceled

          Series lasted three seasons in syndication Although the major broadcast networks had been slow in cancelling shows, one show outright got the ax in syndication. Debmar-Mercury and Fremantle North America announced Friday it was ending Celebrity Name Game after three seasons. Premiering in 2014, the game show was hosted by Craig Ferguson and was created […]

T Dog’s Media Notepad: Chicago radio stations to carry Mayor Emanuel interview

Also: Conviction canceled, becomes first casualty; NFL ratings continue to decline; WLIT to flip to Christmas music Thursday; PlaysttionVue drops Viacom channels Fresh after a bruising election season, Chicago radio listeners are going to subjected to a half-hour with Mayor Rahm Emanuel – whether they like it or not. On Monday, over 40 radio stations in the Chicago area are airing a half-hour interview […]

WGN-TV dominates Cubs parade coverage ratings

But who finished second in adults 25-54 is a surprise Tribune-owned WGN-TV has been the home of Chicago Cubs baseball since 1948 – and their exposure through the former WGN Superstation helped expose the team to a nationwide audience. So it is appropriate that WGN would be the station most viewers turned to for their historic World Series parade. According […]

Cubs World Series’ victory is also one for all involved

Fox, WFLD, MLB, advertisers also have reason to pop out the bubbly The Chicago Cubs’ World Series win is historic in many ways – and not just for the team. Wednesday night’s achievement – the first championship for the team since 1908, brought dividends for Fox, advertisers, the game of baseball, and over-the-air television in general. For one – the edge-of-your-seat, […]

World Series rolls on with the Cubs

First two games show massive viewership increases as Chicago viewers turn out in droves As expected, the Chicago Cubs’ appearance in the World Series gave a lift to Fox and drew throngs of viewers to Fox-owned WFLD-TV. According to Nielsen, game two of the Cubs-Indians series drew a local 35.4 live-plus-same day household rating, up from the 34.1 drew the […]

T Dog’s Think Tank: What’s wrong with the NFL?

Ratings for the NFL are off this year. Why?  Over the last few weeks, you have read about why the NFL’s ratings are declining, with answers ranging from noncompetitive matchups to national anthem protests. Well, now it’s my turn to weigh in. So what’s wrong with the NFL? Well, let’s start locally as the Chicago Bears continue to drive away viewers […]

Second Presidential Debate draws less than the first

Viewers may be getting tired of rhetoric Are you tired of hearing that racist, sexiest, woman-groping, Chicago-hating, wannabe rapist running as the Republican nominee for President? Yours truly know he is. And so are millions of Americans. Sunday night’s second debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump drew 66 million viewers, down from the record 84 million the first had on […]

Cubs post-season run begins

Media outlets looking for boost – even those who aren’t carrying games For better or worse, the worldwide spotlight on Chicago lately hasn’t been a positive one: the city continues to make headlines for its gun violence epidemic, as Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump has name-dropped Chicago every chance he got as a symbol of what’s wrong in America – […]

“Designated Survivor” off to strong start

Kiefer Sutherland gets to do something he was never able to do on 24 – become President of The United States. And he didn’t even battle Dennis Haysbert for the job. The biggest debut of the night was the premiere of Designated Survivor, the Kiefer Sutherland vehicle where he plays the President Of The United States – getting the position […]

“This Is Us”, ‘Bull” rams through competition

New dramas get strong sampling; The Voice continues to dominate; S.H.I.E.L.D. skids off radar The first Tuesday of the new season bought more ratings riches for both CBS and ABC while ABC and Fox struggled to remain competitive. Obviously, the story of the night is the successful debuts of CBS’ Bull and NBC’s This is Us. The latter show benefited […]

Bears bomb on field and in ratings

  If you thought the Chicago White Sox had a bad season…you ain’t seen nothing yet Maybe we should send Chris Sale to cut up some Bears jerseys in the locker room. Monday night certainly wasn’t football night for Bears fans as the team put up the worst performance in at least two seasons as the team was blown out […]

Cubs score one for the record books

Cubs destroy competition off the field, including the once-mighty NFL – setting a cable TV record in the process Despite loss, Cubs clinch NL Central Even with a loss last night against the Milwaukee Brewers, the Cubs continue to roll with a dominant ratings performance on Comcast SportsNet Chicago. According to a press release, the Brewers-Cubs telecast Thursday night on […]

Ratings roundup: “Harry” off to decent start

Cubs score; NFL slides a bit (Editor’s Note: The YouTube video in this post was deleted.) With the new season a week away, new programming is already popping up – and getting decent sampling. The launch of Harry Connick Jr.’s daytime talk show Monday met ratings expectations, drawing a 1.4 household rating/4 share in 56 metered markets, according to Nielsen. […]

Cleveland! Cavs’ title win also one for ESPN, ABC

Highest-rated NBA contest since 1998 In terms of Cleveland media, the last time the city won a championship, WJW-TV was still a CBS affiliate, and the KYW call letters – now used for CBS’ TV and radio stations in Philadelphia – were owned by Westinghouse and used for its TV and radio properties here. And so the Cleveland Cavaliers – […]