Santa’s been good to these guys: David Kaplan (left), with Chicago Blackhawk Johnathan Toews (Courtesy CSN) Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Everyone! Santa Dog here with presents for those who were nice and coal and maybe some cyanide for those who were naughty (NaOnka, Pig Virus, and Randy “Court Jester” Michaels – I’m looking at you!) Ho! Ho! Ho! Time to […]
The new cast of “American Idol” for 2011, minus Simon Cowell. Fox unveiled its new mid-season lineup late Friday and by doing so, caused a huge stir throughout the industry. The biggest move of course, is American Idol, which now will air Wednesday night and Thursday night. The move means Idol will no longer air on Tuesday – avoiding a […]
ABC’s presentation at the Television Critics Association Press Tour was dominated by talk of the sudden departure of its longtime entertainment chief (Stephen McPherson) after six years. But while there was talk about it, there was none of it coming from ABC brass – they consider the matter closed. In comes Paul Lee who was named new entertainment chief, who […]
NBC spoke to the critics at the Television Critics Association Press Tour on Friday and held numerous panels. The peacock network unveiled seven new shows for the 2010-11 season, in hopes of getting the network out of fourth place, where it’s been for five years. Here is the what they said at the press tour: Executive session with Jeff Gaspin […]
The semi-annual Television Critics Association Press Tour got underway this week at the Beverly Hills Hilton Hotel in this upscale section of Los Angeles. Many critics complained about the air conditioning in the ballroom and lackluster wi-fi connection, which rivals the poor signal one usually gets at the Harold Washington Library in the Loop. The only difference is the security […]
Three up, three down: The best and worst in media during the past week: What’s Hot. The Final Answer: Pay up, Mickey Mouse. A grand jury ruled in favor of Celador after The Walt Disney Co. skimmed the Who Wants To Be A Millionaire producer out of millions of dollars, thanks to “Hollywood Accounting.” The jury awarded Celador $269 million, […]
The most aggressive moves front the upfront didn’t come from the three other major networks – it came from the front runner, CBS. CBS unveiled its 2010-11 lineup Wednesday in front of advertisers in New York City, and it came with some surprises: the biggest one of them all is the move of hot comedy The Big Bang Theory to […]
Here’s who is scoring goals – and who isn’t – it’s a hockey-themed T Dog’s Four Pack: Lighting the lamp: Family Guy. No, you don’t see this show in the winner’s circle too often, but Sunday’s night episode – despite some rather uncomfortable dialogue in the first act – was the best of the season and perhaps ever, on a […]
ABC is relaunching FlashForward this Thursday night after a nearly four month hiatus. But does anyone care? The sci-fi drama debuted last September 24 with the premise of the everyone in the world blacking out for two minutes and when everyone woke up, chaos ensued. The event gave the FBI a mystery to solve: What caused the blackout? Who’s behind […]
Last week, A memo Tribune CEO Randy Michaels sent through WGN-AM News Director Charlie Meyerson, had a list of 119 words and phrases his employees at WGN should not say on the air in order to “improve the product”. And if they say any of these “forbidden” words, other employees can “rat them out” by noting the precise date and […]
A midweek edition of T Dog’s Four Pack: What’s not – and what’s not: Worthy of Gold Olympic hockey. Nothing hokey about it – most watched program ever in Canada, third most-watched hockey game in history in the United States – and we had four Blackhawks in the game! Undercover Boss. Whaaa? This is the surprise Sunday Night 8 p.m. […]
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 […]
Remember two weeks ago when yours truly made up a “tweets” page for Ugly Betty as a response to her “blog”? Here’s the newest tweet from Ms. Suarez: – Mode closing. Sad. Readership fell off; ad pages dropped. Out of work like a lot of Americans. :-( Yes, even fictional Mode magazine isn’t immune from the problems plaguing the media […]
In his 2008 speeches, President Barack Obama talked about change. Well, in the media world, change arrived in the 2000s. And boy, did it ever! When the decade started, who knew we would be watching clips on YouTube, or friending people on Facebook, or watching network TV shows online? Or how broadcast television and terrestrial radio would both have trouble […]
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 […]
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