MeTV Toons launches today

  On Tuesday, the Toons take over WCIU Channel 26.7 Judging by the large number of YouTube videos, Chicago-based Weigel Broadcasting’s new MeTV Toons arriving Tuesday is perhaps the most highly-anticipated digital subchannel in quite some time, if not ever. After all, some of the content MeTV Toons plans to carry hasn’t been on broadcast television in a long time […]

Time to “Toon In With Me” – MeTV adds classic animated shows

One hour weekday block to launch with Bill Leff, plus three hours on Saturday mornings On the same day Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and the Peanuts gang packed up their bags and headed to Apple TV’s streaming service, there was another announcement – one returning classic Merrie Melodies and Looney Tunes cartoons back to broadcast television.  Weigel Broadcasting’s MeTV announced Monday […]

T Dog’s Media Notepad: B’s rule

News on Blackhawks; Bob’s Burgers, and Bethenny Frankel. Oh, and the soda tax is dead. Are you ready for some hockey? Chicagoans sure are. Thursday night’s home opener against the Stanley Cup-defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins drew a eye-opening 5.1 Nielsen household rating for the newly renamed NBC Sports Chicago channel (formerly CSN Chicago). The number is impressive given the amount […]

T Dog’s Think Tank: Won’t someone please think of the children?

A major blunder took place Saturday involving a local TV station – and for once it wasn’t in Chicago. And it wasn’t even a network-owned one. Nope, it took place at San Diego’s CBS affiliate, KFMB. The Midwest Television-owned station decided to pre-empt an hour of the third-round NCAA Tournament game between Michigan and Virginia Commonwealth (VCU) at 9 a.m. […]

Fox at TCA: Mariah Carey joins “American Idol” as a judge

Fox became the first broadcast network to hold their presentation at the Television Critics Association Press Tour on Monday, with panels on Fox’s three new shows, a X Factor press conference, and an introduction of a new judge on American Idol. – Fox executive session: Entertainment chief Kevin Reilly met the press on Monday and revealed that Mariah Carey will […]

Comic-Con, Day 3: Marvel and more

Last week, Comic-Con descended on San Diego for four days for non-stop fanboy (and fangirl) fun. Last Saturday (July 14) was the busiest day of the convention, with a lot of TV, movie, and video game panels. While yours truly won’t be able to go through all of them due to time and space constraints, here’s a quick (and snarky) […]

Happy Yabba Dabba Doo Day!

In honor of The Flintstones 50th Anniversary today, here’s a clip of the opening theme: When The Flintstones premiered on ABC on September 30, 1960, the “Meet The Flintstones” theme song didn’t even exist! It used an instrumental piece for the first two seasons, though it was replaced in syndication with the more well-known theme. Here’s a clip of the […]

2009 Emmy nominations announced

Here they are, the 2009 Emmy nominations. Click here to see the list. Among the biggest surprises of the day was Family Guy getting nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series, the first to do so since The Flintstones in 1961, when it lost to Jack Benny. The Emmy Awards takes place Sept. 20 at 7 p.m. (CT) on CBS. Thought: This […]

Harvey Korman dies

The Chicago-born comedian, best known for his roles on The Carol Burnett Show, has died at the age of 81. The comedian died after suffering complications from the rupture of an abdominal aortic aneurysm. Korman won four Emmys and a Golden Globe award on Carol Burnett, and also appeared in numerous films, including Blazin’ Saddles and the Pink Panther movies. […]

Allan Melvin, R.I.P.

The man who provided many voices for numerous Hanna-Barbera cartoons and acted on TV series such as The Brady Bunch, The Phil Silvers Show, and Archie Bunker’s Place has passed. Kansas City, Mo. native Allan Melvin died of cancer Thursday in his Los Angeles home. He was 84. Melvin was best known for the role of Sam the Butcher on […]

Yabba Dabba Doo!

Boomerang is airing an 83-hour Flintstones marathon, beginning July 4 at 5 a.m. (CT) The marathon consists of all 166 episodes of the prime-time series, which ran on ABC from 1960-66, then launched a number of Saturday morning spin-off shows (Pebbles & Bamm-Bamm, The Flintstones Comedy Hour, Flinstone Kids, etc.) To see at a 1963 ABC promo for The Flintstones, […]