What’s happening to the cherished genre these days isn’t funny as it could be reduced to nothing Seven weeks ago, CNN launched The History Of The Sitcom – an unnecessary eight-part documentary on a subject covered to death through books, PBS, and other media celebrating the form stretching from the days of I Love Lucy on your black-and-white mono […]
WGN-TV picks up show in Nexstar deal. Also: Access: Hollywood renewed through 2025 Are you ready to put up with Young Sheldon five nights a week? You’d better be. Already airing on Nick at Nite, the Big Bang Theory prequel has been sold in 90 percent of the country by Warner Bros. to broadcast stations this fall, including Nexstar stations […]
Huge change means uncertainty at Black Rock The end has come for one of media’s most known media executives due to sexual harassment complaints. Les Moonves was officially forced out as Chairman, President, and CEO of CBS Corporation after 23 years with the company as a sexual harassment scandal surrounding him continues to grow. The move came as a second […]
Could be a liability for some local stations Bottom Line With Bill may be coming to a station near you. Reports are surfacing once again regarding Bill O’Reilly heading to Sinclair Broadcasting. According to NBC news’s Claire Atkinson, Sinclair is in talks with the former Fox News host as he could anchor a two-hour block on their stations – including those […]
Also: Dennis Welsh wades into soda tax controversy while his station profits off pro-soda tax ads; Tom Joyner returns to Dallas as Classic Hip-Hop format’s future is questionable; Fox’s late night plans may not include off-network sitcoms The star has fallen: organizers of New Year’s Eve celebration Chi-Town Rising threw in the towel Thursday and announced they would not bring […]
Deal with CBS takes sitcom to 2019; becomes longest-running sitcom in network’s history…and two cast members get a significant raise More Bazinga ahead: CBS has renewed The Big Bang Theory for two more seasons at 24 episodes each, through the end of the 2018-19 season. This brings the episode count to 279 over twelve seasons. Big Bang now joins an […]
Discussion on Chicago violence draws over a million viewers; also, news on CBS, The Bulls, and Big Bang As gun violence continues to plague Chicago, the national spotlight on the city isn’t dimming anytime soon with MSNBC’s All In With Chris Hayes the latest television program to come here to discuss the issue. Despite a last-minute scheduling change (originally scheduled […]
AT&T to purchase TimeWarner for $85 billion Opponents to deal already lining up Bugs Bunny, Sheldon Cooper, and Scooby Doo are getting ready to reach out and touch someone – a lot of people, that is. While Chicago and the rest of America (except in the St. Louis area) was busy celebrating the Cubs’ advancing to the World Series for […]
Off-network series premieres in syndication in fall 2017 WGN-TV has bolstered its schedule by adding off-network reruns of CBS’ hit comedy Mom, starting next fall. Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution has sold the show in syndication on a cash-plus-barter basis to seventeen Tribune markets, including the newly independent WGN-TV. Many Tribune stations plan to pair Mom with Two And A Half […]
Get ready for another reboot…with a big change. Former CBS sitcom One Day At A Time is being revived for Netflix, but with a major overhaul: the series is being recasted with Hispanic leads. Here’s the pitch: instead of an divorced mother from Indianapolis raising her two daughters, this would be a Cuban-American female servicewoman raising her two kids – a […]
According to Variety, Craig Ferguson is in “advanced talks” to host a new talk show produced by Tribune Media. But instead of the show being targeted for daytime, early fringe, or late night time slots, which usually is the case for most programs in this genre, Ferguson’s show would be targeted to prime access, generally 6-8 p.m., depending on what […]
CBS unveiled its 2014-15 primetime schedule at an upfront presentation in New York Wednesday and introduced eight new series to the world. Among the announcements made at the conference call was the (not-so-surprising) end to Two And A Half Men in May 2015 after twelve seasons – the longest running live-action sitcom since My Three Sons, which also lasted twelve […]
Super Fun Night has Super Fun ratings Crazy Ones decline; NBC Thursday sitcom block flops Judging by all the viewing parties held nationwide for this show (yours truly even got an invitation to one,) you’d think Scandal would be the hottest thing since the advent of the pancake. You’d be right. Scandal skyrocketed in popularity over the past year thanks […]
But 36 percent ratings drop out of Big Bang is concerning The first major Thursday night ratings skirmish of the season took place with the return of two back-in-the-day TV icons battling it out: Robin Williams in CBS’ The Crazy Ones and Michael J. Fox in his own self-titled new sitcom for NBC. The first hour of primetime saw complete […]
Tiffany network looking to maintain dominance CBS released its 2013-14 primetime schedule Wednesday morning ahead of its presentation later in the afternoon – and believe it or not, there were a few surprises in the lineup. For one, CBS is creating a two-hour comedy block on Thursday nights, based on the success of The Big Bang Theory. CBS has slotted […]