"Judge Hatchett" to end production

Sony Pictures Television’s Judge Hatchett daytime strip will end original production after eight seasons, but instead will pitch “best of” theme weeks to TV stations for next fall. Hatchett airs locally on Fox-owned WFLD-TV. Since there are so many episodes produced of Hatchett over the years, Sony says the move makes economical sense – there are well over 1000 episodes […]

Get reacqainted with WPWR

An article written in the Sun-Times today (how come Feder didn’t get a chance to write this?), mentions four call letters you’d better get reacquainted with – WPWR. Of course, Fox-owned WPWR-TV (Channel 50), a former UPN affiliate now-turned My Network TV affiliate has the Bears-Redskins game Thursday night, which is carried on NFL Network, which of course, you can’t […]

WCIU grabs "Scrubs"

Good news for local fans of the TV series Scrubs: WCIU-TV has acquired the second cycle of the hit NBC comedy from Disney/ABC Domestic Television beginning in the fall of 2009. The move means the program will stay in broadcast syndication and not head for an exclusive deal on cable, which many off-network sitcoms have recently done (i.e. Home Improvement, […]

WCIU snags ‘Chris’

Weigel Broadcasting’s Chicago independent WCIU-TV scored another urban sitcom coup by acquiring CBS Television Distribution’s Everybody Hates Chris. The program will air in off-network syndication as a strip beginning in the fall of 2009, assuming the CW renews the show for next season. WCIU is likely to pair Chris with Debmar’s Tyler Perry’s House of Payne, another urban sitcom that’s […]

A dark horse in the off-network race

While Two and a Half Men tied the weekly CSI: Miami for top off-network show, there is a surprise strong performer in the race: Warner Bros.’ other new off-net sitcom, The George Lopez Show. The sitcom, which aired on ABC until this past season, averaged a season-high 2.7 household rating in the latest Nielsen report. Lopez’s performance is strong thanks […]

Home games on for Hawks

Hawks also looking for over-the-air broadcast partner The Chicago Blackhawks and Comcast SportsNet held a press conference yesterday to announce the home-game schedule that will air on the regional sports net. Click here to view the official press release and the schedule. The first of these games airs this Sunday, with the Hawks hosting the Detroit Red Wings at 6 […]

Syndication notes

– As reported here last week, CBS Television Distribution’s new hour-long medical talk show The Doctors (working title) has cleared 50 percent of the country, and has been declared a firm go for next fall. It has been confirmed that Weigel’s WCIU-TV has picked up the show, but in a surprise move, the program will air in Chicago at 5 […]

"Dr. Phil" spinoff clears half of the country

CBS Television Distribution has cleared a spin-off of Dr. Phil called The Doctors in 50 percent of the country. Among station groups clearing the show include CBS, Belo, Gannett, Scripps, and Cox. Stations grabbing the strip include WCBS-TV in New York, KCAL-TV in Los Angeles, KYW-TV in Philadelphia, KTVU-TV in San Francisco, WSB-TV in Atlanta (which will likely replace Montel […]

Update to WCIU’s fall schedule

Scroll down or click here to read post, with updated information on two shows (Becker, Girlfriends) that are no longer on the schedule (actually, it’s information that I wrote on this blog before – this is WCIU’s explanation of it…)

WCIU’s fall schedule

Weigel-owned independent WCIU is out with its fall schedule. To see it, click here (Adobe Acrobat required.) Pretty stable schedule, particularly in daytime…. Notables: -Jury Duty, a new syndicated courtroom show (yeah, we need another one of those) with C-list celebrities serving as jurors, airs at 9 a.m., beginning Sept. 17. –CBS Television Distribution’s Half & Half, a former UPN […]

The Fall of Me

Thanks to Sitcoms Online, we’ve got the complete fall lineup for Weigel’s retro TV station WWME-TV, or MeTV. To see the schedule, click here. As mentioned before, new to the schedule are The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Cosby Show, and Cheers (which is now airing on sister WCIU.) Bonanza and Taxi (debuts 10/1) are also joining the weekday schedule, […]

"Insider "moved back to 5 p.m.

This move must have bombed in the ratings: WCIU is moving The Insider back to 5 p.m. from 6 and to 11 p.m. from 10:35 p.m. next Monday (Aug. 27) instead of waiting for Sept. 10 when newly syndicated repeats of The George Lopez Show takes over at 6 p.m. Girlfriends, which is being withdrawn from broadcast syndication nationwide on […]

"Girlfriends" syndication runs to end

Star Trek’s weekly run to get better time slot in the NYC This despite the fact that The CW renewed the sitcom for another season on Monday nights (it’s not on WWOR’s weekday fall schedule – scroll down to see). CBS Paramount has decided to end local station deals on Sept. 7, meaning it’s going to be buried on BET’s […]

NBC O&Os to start 7 p.m. newscasts

(Editor’s Note: The links in this story are provided by TV Newsday. Registration may be required.) The news expansion continues: Two NBC owned-and-operated stations in New York (WNBC-TV) and Miami (WTVJ) will be launching 7 p.m. weeknight newscasts, beginning on September 10. WNBC had a 7 p.m. network newscast until several years ago, when it moved NBC Nightly News to […]

"Insider" moves east

CBS Television’s nightly syndicated magazine show The Insider will have Los Angeles-based host Pat O’Brien move to New York to join Laura Spencer at the program’s Times Square studios. The program will also get an updated look comes Sept. 10, when the show begins its fourth season. The program has seen some good luck lately, with The Insider in New […]