Amid all the product tie-ins, movie was a snooze. I guess the best thing to acknowledge Sharknado’s first two movies was the guilty pleasure aspect of it… the campness – you know, it was so bad it was good. It was the type of flick ready to be mocked by the Mystery Science Theater 3000 crew. But Sharknado 3: Oh […]
Chicago’s news stations might want to rethink their news presentations. An analysis of May local news sweeps numbers in the adult 25-54 demographic in the nation’s ten largest DMAs from TVNewsCheck showed Chicago’s local newscasts losing ground faster than those in New York and Los Angeles. In fact, Chicago’s 21 percent drop overall was second only to Boston (down 23 percent.) […]
(Editor’s note: under circumstances not under my control, the videos for Jay Levine’s story have since been removed. You’ll just have to take my word for it. – T.H.) – In the latest incident of TV news personnel being attacked on (or off camera), WBBM-TV’s Jay Levine was attacked by a crazed protester in a live shot outside a restaurant […]
Tribune Broadcasting scores a hat trick of good ratings Sunday and Monday Is no-longer-bankrupt Tribune Broadcasting becoming a “must watch” destination? Chicago’s WGN-TV lit the ratings lamp twice with a Blackhawks game Sunday night and Monday morning news coverage. Meanwhile, a few Tribune stations outside of Chicago lit the ratings lamp of their own Monday with the premiere of a […]
If there was one name associated with sports television in Chicago, it would be Jim Corno. Sadly, Corno passed away Tuesday at the age of 66 due to complications resulting from cancer. Corno’s career spanned more than forty years in the television industry, most notably for successfully running four sports channels in Chicago, known today as “regional sports networks”, or […]
[Editor’s Note: The first item contains profanity. Reader discretion is advised.] In the latest episode of the sitcom that never ends – Everybody Loves Mancow – the IQ-deficient shit jock in a Chicago Tribune interview Monday announced he sold his Lincoln Park condo and is moving to the suburb of Wilmette. He called the city “unlivable” and ripped the city’s […]
– Tech difficulties or something else behind the scenes? Mike McConnell’s new online venture at WGN Radio doesn’t seem to be going well. McConnell’s online show and subsequent podcast has been offline for a week due to “tech issues”. But it looks like McConnell may be headed back to Cincinnati: it appears a tentative agreement has been reached on the […]
When you think of Svengoolie these days, you think of Rich Koz, the personality behind the character. But to a generation of Chicago TV viewers back in the 1970’s, Svengoolie went by the person who originally created and played the character for Screaming Yellow Theater: Jerry G. Bishop. Bishop, whose real name was Jerry Ghan, died Sunday in San Diego at […]
Tribune adds stations from Cleveland, Milwaukee, and Memphis to its stable About a year or so ago, there was speculation on whether or not Tribune Broadcasting, planning to exit Chapter 11, would stay in the broadcast business. Consider this a definite answer. Chicago-based Tribune announced Monday it was acquiring Newport, Ky.-based Local TV LLC for $2.7 billion. The […]
In what is believed to be one of the biggest deals in at least a decade, McLean, Va.-based Gannett, Inc. announced Thursday morning their intent to buy Dallas-based Belo, Inc. for $2.2 billion, plus the assumption of debt. The deal should close at the end of the year, pending regulatory approval. The sale increased Gannett’s station count to 43; outside […]
Editor’s Note: This is an updated version of a story that originally ran on June 3. – T.H. In a project announced late Friday, Telepictures productions, a unit of TimeWarner, announced a new daytime talk show featuring five young females of ethnic backgrounds in a format resembling The View and The Talk. Titled The Real, the series is getting a […]
As per the course for this time of year – and right before the NATPE gathering in Miami – syndicators are announcing renewals left and right. Here’s the latest: – CBS Television Distribution decided to reward Dr. Phil’s recent ratings increase by renewing the show through the 2016-17 season, with thirteen of CBS owned-and-operated stations on board, including CBS 2 […]
It’s time to get Cozi. As first scooped by Time Out Chicago’s Robert Feder on October 17, NBCUniversal confirmed today it was changing the name of its dot-two digital subchannels from NonStop to CoziTV, adding classic TV shows and movies from the NBCUniversal library and other studios to the mix, while retaining the lifestyle programming NonStop is currently airing, with […]
Local stations, syndicators shuffle the deck As we enter year two in the post-Oprah era, things are finally changing in the syndication marketplace, as five new syndicated talk shows – the most in 17 years – make their debut. As for off-network sitcoms, the pickings are rather slim – just two new entries this year, compared to five in 2011. […]
The Jeff Probst Show finally clears Chicago, landing at WBBM-TV Due to a busy schedule covering and analyzing Upfront Week, there were a lot of notable media stories mentioned in the past week: – First mentioned in Robert Feder’s Time Out Chicago blog last week, ABC-owned WLS-TV has acquired Live With Kelly beginning in September 2013, falling in line with […]
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