T Dog’s Media Notepad: WMAQ may add more news

Formerly known as T Dog’s Groovy Grab Bag, T Dog’s Grab Bag and The Grab Bag and maybe 100 other ridiculous names – Is WMAQ looking to add a 4 p.m. newscast? A report on FTVLive.com Monday suggests several NBC-owned stations may be looking to add another hour of news at 4 p.m. in 2016 in order to take advantage […]

Comic-Con: “Heroes: Reborn” takes center stage

NBC’s relaunch of the 2006-10 series is massive – and actually impressive It was back in 2006 when a 73-minute pilot called Heroes was screened at the San Diego Comic-Con. The episode blew fans away as the success of the screening burned up the Internet (and this was when Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube were in their infancy.) Anticipation was built […]

San Diego Comic-Con is here

Geeks, man your positions – it’s Comic-Con time. The 46th annual comics, gaming, and media convention stepped off Thursday in San Diego. Thanks to several movie studios bowing out, television is front and center panelwise with over 100 shows – related to sci-fi, fantasy, or not – being represented. Animated product also is taking center stage, with Minions and new […]

Think Tank Express: Rauner’s Super PAC-MEN chomps up spots

Illinois broadcasters take the quick cash. But are they driving viewers away from live TV? If you thought 2015 would be free of political advertising – think again. Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner – you know, the one who headed GTCR – the investment firm who funded Randy Michaels’ Merlin Media, and Sam Zell – the one who destroyed the Chicago Tribune – […]

The Upfronts Post-Game Show

What we learned: – The sitcom is almost dead – Too much drama – Greg Berlanti is now the most powerful person on TV Now that the parties have been held, the red carpet has been rolled up, and the song and dance routines have been performed, it’s time to get to serious business: sell suckers… er… I mean advertisers on […]

CBS unveils new 2015-16 season schedule

CBS announces seven new series – five for fall CBS announced its new 2015-16 season lineup for next season, with the network renewing 22 programs and bringing on seven new series – five of which will debut in the fall. Here’s the night-by-night throwdown: – Monday: Once again, Thursday Night Football is forcing some temporary changes, with The Big Bang […]

Oh, Darling

Led by rookie goalie, Blackhawks score huge ratings Sunday and Tuesday  Other Chicago teams see ratings increases It’s playoff season and Chicago viewers are showing up in droves. Last Sunday’s third game in the first-round Stanley Cup Playoff series between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Nashville Predators scored a whopping 12.0 household live-plus-same day rating locally for NBC’s WMAQ, easily trouncing […]

Chicago is “Empire’s” kind of town

Chicago-produced hip-hop drama is city’s top-rated show Despite its New York setting, Chicago is becoming Empire’s kind of town. While the locally-shot Fox drama is showing unprecedented ratings growth (at least in this day and age), more and more Chicago viewers can’t get enough of the Lyons. In a ratings report as part of an overall look at the Chicago market […]

CBS cancels “The Millers”

The sophomore season’s surprise cancellation leaves the sitcom genre in a tailspin In a surprise move, CBS on Friday canceled The Millers just five episodes into its second season. The multi-cam comedy, which had The Big Bang Theory as a lead-in on Thursday night last season, recently made a disastrous move to Monday. Replacing The Millers in its Monday time […]

Bears bumble, stumble, and fumble in the ratings

Loss to Miami Dolphins cements team as a punchline; ratings plunge  If you were to compare sitcoms to NFL teams, the Dallas Cowboys would be like The Big Bang Theory (accurate given both are successful and bring out a lot of distractors) and the New England Patriots would resemble Modern Family. As for the Chicago Bears? The team is looking more like Mulaney. Or […]

T Dog’s Grab Bag: Sunday belonged to Cutler, “Walking Dead”

– Also: other Sunday, weekend rating results – The Game to stick around, while another The Game ends – Goodbye, Everybody Loves Mancow Jay Cutler and the Chicago Bears’ winning performance Sunday also translated to a ratings victory – the game against the Atlanta Falcons drew a 31.5 Nielsen household rating according to Lewis Lazare at Chicago Business Journal – […]

Strong returns for opening night

Everyone’s a winner in the first night of the TV season!  Well, almost… The first night of the 2014-15 got underway Monday night and judging by the numbers, DVRs are going to be working overtime this week. Despite heavy competition, many shows were amply sampled, including heavily-hyped new entries Gotham and Scorpion. Meanwhile, The Big Bang Theory dominated its competition on […]

Indianapolis to get new CBS affiliate

In a surprise move, CBS announces its moving its affiliation to WTTV, ending a 58-year relationship with WISH-TV The current battle over retransmission money has claimed another victim – and ended a longtime relationship. Tribune Broadcasting and CBS Corporation announced a new affiliation deal which shifts CBS from LIN Broadcasting’s WISH-TV – which has been a CBS affiliate since 1956 […]