Remembering Regis Philbin

Iconic television personality dies at 88 Television fans are mourning the loss of Regis Philbin, who was one of the most beloved hosts in the medium. Not only he successfully re-invented morning television with his Live franchise with Kathie Lee Gifford and later Kelly Ripa, but also “saved ABC” as host of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. He holds […]

“Millionaire” returns to ABC to celebrate (belated) 20th anniversary

Jimmy Kimmel takes over with new format Well, that didn’t take long. Just mere months after airing its final episode in syndication, ABC announced Wednesday at the Winter TCA Tour it is bringing back Who Wants To Be A Millionaire as a series of prime-time specials starting April 8, the same night Modern Family is airing its final episode. Handling […]

T Dog’s Think Tank: ABC did right thing by dumping “Roseanne”

Decision was made to protect their business interests after she became unhinged – but she never should have been rehired in the first place As one who refused to join the chorus of praise regarding the Roseanne reboot – and this person has had his fill of “reboots” already, ABC indeed “did the right thing” by cancelling the show after […]

Chris Harrison named new “Millionaire” host

Is there now a Millionaire hosting curse? Disney-ABC Domestic Television on Monday named Dallas native Chris Harrison as the new host of its syndicated Who Wants To Be A Millionaire game show. Harrison replaces Brooklyn Nine-Nine star Terry Crews, who just replaced Cedric The Entertainer this season. Cerdic was named host of the show in 2013 to replace Meredith Vieira, […]

More Grab Bag: Jim Richards exits WLUP, WKQX

Cedric also leaves Millionaire, but new host already lined up Fox cancels Almost Human – On Wednesday, Gallup released a poll showing half of Illinois’ residents would move out of the state if they could. Well, one lucky resident just hit the jackpot. Jim Richards, who was the operations manager for classic rock WLUP-FM and alternative WKQX, is being transferred […]

Grab Bag: Craig Ferguson exits “Late Late Show”

– The other shoe has dropped: Craig Ferguson announced Monday he was stepping down as host of CBS’ Late Late Show, effective at the end of 2014. The news comes as David Letterman (who is the executive producer of the show and controls the 11:35 p.m. weeknight time slot), announced his retirement three weeks ago. With this move, he also […]

The 2013 T Dog Media Turkey Awards

It’s a blizzard of turkeys! Welcome to the 2013 T Dog Media Turkey Awards, where every Thanksgiving, we serve up turkeys of bad TV, bad radio, and bad decision making in media for the eighth consecutive year. This year, we have 24 turkeys to hand out. So batten down everyone, because here they come! Crowd Goes Wild. Fox Sports 1’s […]

Fox Sports to launch new national cable network

Move over ESPN, you’ve got some competition. Fox Sports announced Tuesday at a upfront presentation the launch of a brand-new national all-sports network known as Fox Sports 1. The “worst kept secret” was unveiled at an upfront presentation to the media and advertisers in New York City. The net plans to debut in 90 million homes on August 17, replacing […]

Meredith Vierra exits “Millionaire”

In a surprise announcement, Meredith Vierra has called it quits as host of Who Wants To be A Millionaire. Up to this point, she was host of the syndicated series’ entire run, which spanned eleven seasons. Vierra, who also was a Today co-host during Millionaire’s run, plans to devote more time to other projects, including a film she is currently […]

NATPE’s winning again

  The National Association of Programming Executives (NATPE, for short) convention is winning again, and what better way to celebrate than have Charlie Sheen show up. Yes, NATPE is now “winning”! A gathering that was once written off for dead several years ago is back with a vengeance – this year’s convention is being held at the Foutainebleau Resort in […]

T Dog’s Six Pack: Expanded edition

It’s been awhile, so let’s do an expanded edition of T Dog’s Six Pack – with an extra item in the winners and losers column this week. It doesn’t get any better than that! Okay, yes it can… Winning. Regis Philbin. After 28 years on daytime television. Regis Philbin steeped down as co-host of the popular morning chatfest Live With […]

“Regis” finale scores for WGN-TV

Regis Philblin’s departure from Live with Regis & Kelly on Friday drew big ratings for Tribune-owned CW affiliate WGN-TV. According to numbers obtained from Marc Berman at TV Media Insights, WGN scored a 6.9 Nielsen household rating and a 22 share with Regis’ farewell, and coasted past ABC-owned WLS-TV’s local morning show Windy City Live, which replaced departing The Oprah […]

Katie Couric heads to the Mouse House

After flopping out at CBS, Katie Couric is looking to shine at ABC. In a deal announced today, The Walt Disney Company has signed the former Today and CBS Evening News personality to a multi-year, multi-platform deal, which includes a daily syndicated talk show and beginning this summer, a regular contributor to ABC News. Ms. Couric departed as anchor of […]

NATPE kicks off in Miami

The 47th annual National Association of Television Program Executives convention kicked off today in a new location: The Fontainebleau in Miami, Fla. on the East Coast after years of being based in the western U.S. In the past, NATPE has been held in San Francisco, Houston, New Orleans, and Las Vegas, where it was held for the last several years. […]

"Millionaire’s" revamp – Jump the question or the shark?

When Who Wants To Be A Millionaire returns to begin its ninth syndicated season on September 13, the show will go under a dramatic overhaul so stringent, the only thing you may recognize is host Meredith Vierra. To stem declining ratings, the series is changing the way how it plays the game. And if you thought it was tough to […]