T Dog’s Groovy Grab Bag – The X Edition

– CBS X’s out The Ex List – Yeah, the lead in this show is hot. And I mean very hot. But that alone won’t bring the viewers to the set. CBS dropped The Ex List from its Friday after four episodes, and is being replaced by NCIS repeats. But man, I wish I was on her “Ex List”… Somebody, […]

T Dog’s Four on the Floor – Edition 8

In this week’s edition, we have a renewal, a couple of layoffs, and two firings… T Dog’s Fabulous Four Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill. Say what you want about The CW (I know I have), but last Monday’s duo finished second in its time period among women 18-34 (with One Tree finishing first among women 12-24), doing what the […]

Opportunities run out for ABC’s "Knocks"

After three episodes, the opportunities have run out for Opportunities Knocks. ABC pulled the plug on the Ashton Kutchner-produced game show after languishing in its Tuesday night time slot against CBS’ NCIS, NBC’s The Biggest Loser, Fox’s House, and The CWs 90210. The program was hosted by J.D. Roth, who also hosted the kids’ game show Fun House, which ran […]

T Dog’s Groovy Grab Bag

Back to the future with KOFY Granite Broadcasting has decided to bring back the KOFY calls to Channel 20 in the Bay Area. The call letters were in use on the frequency between 1986 and 1998. The independent station, which serves the San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose market, was previously known as KBWB-TV, a holdover of when it was a WB affiliate. […]

Welcome to Floptober

Forget the goat, it’s this guy’s fault the Cubs didn’t win. There’s only one Floptober… Remember when I said Darkmane (from those X Games spots) couldn’t foil the X Games but could show up at Wrigley to foil the Cubs chances at going to the World Series? Not only he succeeded, but he also managed to find time to show […]

Minneapolis, Cleveland TV stations worry about LPMs

If you think radio stations in Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles are worrying about Arbitron’s Portable People Meters – then you haven’t seen anything yet. Television executives in Minneapolis-St. Paul and Cleveland are sweating it out over the next several months as Local People Meters – or LPMs, become the standard of measurement for television ratings measured by Nielsen. […]

CW scores an upset with "90210" premiere

The CW scored its highest ratings ever with the two-hour premiere of 90210 Tuesday night, the anticipated sequel to Beverly Hills 90210, which ran on Fox for ten seasons (1990-2000.) Courtesy of PIFeedback.com, here are the results: – Households (3.9/6, #3); Adults 18-34 (3.0/9, #1); Women 18-34 (4.3/12, #1); Adults 18-49 (2.6/7, #1); Women 18-49 (3.6/9, #1); persons 12-34 (2.7/8, […]

Who’s in your four, Edition III

The week that was: T Dog’s Fab Four – Jay Mariotti leaves the Sun-Times. Yes! Oh God, Yes! -Barack Obama’s Acceptance Speech. Drew just as many viewers as the opening ceremonies of the recent Summer Olympics. – The U.S. men’s and women’s basketball team. The ladies brought home the Gold and the Redeem Team did likewise. Way to go! – […]

KPLR shifts CW primetime to 8 p.m.

Tribune’s KPLR-TV in St. Louis is moving its half-hour 9 p.m. newscast to 7 p.m. and expanding it to a hour beginning on Sept. 8. This means CW primetime fare currently airing at 7 p.m. is shifting to 8 p.m., with KPLR taking the Mountain Time feed. For example, when 90210 airs in St. Louis (8 p.m. Central), it’ll air […]

CBS, Time Warner to The CW: We got your backs

Memo to all CW employees from Time Warner and The Church of Tisch: We have you backs. By the power and the salvation of the almighty dollar, The CW will be saved from a fate worst than anything: cancellation, thanks to Pastor Les Moonves and Deacon Dawn Ostroff. WBBM General Manager Joe Ahern will now make the rounds with the […]

Now the real fun begins for San Diego

Comic-Con ended on Sunday, but now the next event for San Diego is on the horizon, and it happens this Friday. For the first time in 31 years, an affiliation switch is set to take place, with founding Fox affiliate XETV heading to CW and Tribune’s KSWB-TV moving over to Fox. The deal was struck last March. Both stations are […]

More Comic-Con news

Recapping Day 3 and Day 4: – More panels: The two shows that are promoted the least (because they have nothing to do with rich teens) on CW had back-to-back panels at the Con: Smallville and Supernatural. To read more on what’s on tap for their new seasons, click here. – A trio of Fox dramas had panels over the […]

The TCA Post-Game show : Critics’ roundtable

Before TCA began, Broadcasting & Cable held a critics’ roundtable on what would they do if they ran the networks. Critics who participated included the Chicago Tribune’s Maureen Ryan and the Kansas City Star’s (and TV Barn’s) Aaron Barnhart. Among the observations: – ABC needs more comedies closer to Roseanne and Home Improvement, and not According to Jim and The […]

T Dog’s Think Tank: The incredibly bumbling, stumbling CW

In the Chicago area, a lot of people wonder how the mayor, the governor, and the Cook County Board President keep their jobs. In television circles, people pretty much feel the same way about CW network chief Dawn Ostroff. Ostroff recently held an executive Q&A with reporters during the network’s portion of the TCA Press Tour. And in the true […]

TCA: The CW takes center stage

The CW took center stage at the TCA Press Tour on Saturday, with perhaps the biggest breaking news of the tour thus far: Shannen Doherty returns to 90210. Yes, bad girl Shannen Doherty will appear in “multiple episodes” of the new version of 90210. She’ll reprise her Brenda Walsh character, joining Jennie Garth and Tori Spelling, who’ll also reprise their […]