Warner Bros. pulls plug on long-running “Judge Mathis”, “People’s Court”

Departure of “Mathis” leaves Chicago without a nationally daily syndicated show for the first time since 1986 Warner Bros. Discovery announced late Friday it was ending long-running courtroom shows Judge Mathis and The People’s Court after 24 and 26 seasons respectively. While Court was taped in Connecticut, Judge Mathis‘ cancellation leaves Chicago without a national daily program to call home […]

Remembering the NBC “Checkerboard”

On September 14, 1987, NBC’s owned-and-operated stations decided to launch a bold experiment, airing a different sitcom every weeknight leading in to prime-time. It was a disaster.   Before streaming, where you can watch what you want when you want – or what day you want, there was a time where local stations did something called “checkerboarding”. As you know, prime-time […]

The Media Notepad: ABC 7 holds on to late-night news ratings lead

Plus…DeDe McGuire returns to Chicago airwaves via syndication; Konkol returns; Judge Steve Harvey? Despite the well-publicized departure of Mark Giangreco earlier this year, viewers are still tuning in to ABC 7’s (WLS-TV) newscasts and is handily beating their competition.  Even though 25-54 numbers haven’t been released yet and the following only measures total viewers, ABC 7 easily won the 10 […]

Report: AT&T sells “TMZ” to Fox

Move adds more programs to Fox’s syndication portfolio In a surprising move reported last month, WarnerMedia parent AT&T is in talks to sell its TMZ franchise to Fox Corp. Today, the deal became official according to Deadline.  TMZ consists of the gossip website and the two syndicated television shows they spun off of, TMZ (alternatively titled TMZ on TV) and […]

The Media Notepad: WGCI announces new evening personality

Also: Jonathan Brandmeier returns with a podcast; daytime talkers perform from home; changes at Tamron Hall. Even though iHeartMedia and other radio companies are either furloughing or laying off employees due to the loss of advertising revenue caused by COVID-19, one station did manage to announce a promotion: iHeart’s WGCI announced last Tuesday that Zach Boog is the new evening […]

Fox-owned stations renew Warner Bros.’ syndicated shows in multi-year deal

Group renews quartet of shows and forces format change (Editor’s Note: This story has been edited as an accompanying YouTube video was deleted.)  In a massive deal, the Fox-owned station group renewed four Warner Bros.’ first-run shows currently on its stations. But the deal come with some changes that you, the viewer will notice. Four shows from the AT&T-owned syndicator: […]

WCIU unveils new look, logo

With Weigel Broadcasting’s WCIU set to become Chicago’s only locally-owned broadcaster once Sinclair’s purchase of Tribune Media is done, the company’s two local stations are putting a fresh coat of paint on the place. On Monday, WCIU and sister station The U Too (WMEU-CD, channels 26.2 and 48.1) unveiled new on-air logos and a revamped website. The independent’s rebranding effort […]

“Hot Bench” renewed for second season; shifts to WBBM-TV

  In an unusual move, at least in this day and age, freshman first-run strip Hot Bench is changing stations locally in the middle of the season. As part of a CBS O&O deal, Hot Bench – syndicated by co-owned CBS Television Distribution – is shifting to WBBM-Ch.2 where it will air weekdays at 2 p.m effective as of March […]

Could CBS remove “Judge Joe Brown” from the bench?

Another long-time face in first-run syndication could disappear – or not. Former Memphis judge Joe Brown, whose syndicated courtroom show is currently in its fifteenth season, could be removed from the bench if CBS Television Distribution doesn’t come to terms on a new contract, Broadcasting & Cable’s Paige Albinak reported exclusively on Wednesday. While the show itself is renewed on […]

“Jeremy Kyle” canceled

And other syndication news of note With NATPE looming around the corner, activity in the first-run syndication business for 2013 has certainly picked up. Here’s the latest: -As reported by Broadcasting & Cable Tuesday, Debmar-Mercury pulled the plug on first-run syndicated talker “conflict” talker The Jeremy Kyle Show after two low-rated seasons. Kyle, a British personality who does a similar […]

"Judy" tops the syndication charts

Nearly two weeks ago, Judge Judy join an elite club of programs that did the impossible: knock off perennial ratings champ Wheel of Fortune. According to Nielsen Media Research, Judy topped Wheel for the week ending April 24, with a 3% advantage over the long-running game show to become the top-rated show in syndication. Judy also passed over Jeopardy!, The […]