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 […]
Gary Coleman, who is best known for one of America’s most famous catch phrases, died today at the age of 42 from complications of a fall earlier in the week. Coleman was known to utter the phrase “What’cha Talking About” on Diff’rent Strokes, a sitcom he starred in and ran on NBC from 1978-85 and ABC from 1985-86. The Zion, […]
WFLD/WPWR picks up show as part of ten-market Fox deal Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution has sold The Big Bang Theory to Fox-owned stations and Turner Broadcasting for a fall 2011 start. The cable deal has TBS paying a record-breaking $1.5 million per episode (for a cable network) for the rights to air the show in primetime four or […]
Are these guys worth $4 million per episode? You bet your behind it is. Is the high-priced off-network sitcom on its way back? With the upcoming sale of The Big Bang Theory, we may soon find out. Not since the days of Friends, Seinfeld, The Simpsons, and The Cosby Show have we seen a sitcom come close to the $4 […]
Not even the mighty Winter Olympics could slow down American Idol, which is now the undisputed ruler of the Nielsen Kingdom (with the expection of the Super Bowl, of course.) Tuesday night’s ratings showdown featured Idol, the Olympics, and a new episode of Lost. Idol won the 7-9 p.m. time slot with a 9.1/22 rating/share among adults 18-49 (and 24 […]
Soon, “Family Guy” will have TWO places to call home in Chicago. In a rather odd twist to a renewal deal, Tribune-owned WGN-TV has renewed syndicated repeats of Family Guy for a second cycle in a new four-year deal through 2015, which kicks in on September 12, 2011. But as a part of the deal, Weigel-owned independent station WCIU-TV […]
Good thing you didn’t take my advice. Yours truly did watch WGN’s celebration and it turned out to be well done. Jim Belushi actually did a decent job of hosting (yes, I’m surprised myself) – though he was a little wooden. Personally, I would’ve preferred Dean Richards or Bill Murray, but Belushi did an alright job. (This blog praising Jim […]
Katie, Brian, and Charles: you met your match. Beginning Monday, Harvey Levin’s syndicated celebrity gossip paparazzi show TMZ will face off against network newscasts in Chicago with the show moving to 5:30 p.m. on Fox-owned WFLD-TV. The program currently airs on sister station WPWR-TV at 6:30 p.m. TMZ will continue to air at 11:35 p.m. on WFLD. Fox-owned stations in […]
A big race is shaping up for off-network sitcom supremacy. Yours truly has been following the syndication business since 1984, and I haven’t seen a race like this since The Cosby Show, The Golden Girls, Roseanne, and Married… With Children were all battling for the crown in the early ’90’s. Three sitcoms – Warner’s Two and a Half Men, Twentieth’s […]
Thanks to Sitcoms Online, we’ve got the complete fall lineup for Weigel’s retro TV station WWME-TV, or MeTV. To see the schedule, click here. As mentioned before, new to the schedule are The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Cosby Show, and Cheers (which is now airing on sister WCIU.) Bonanza and Taxi (debuts 10/1) are also joining the weekday schedule, […]
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