Bubble Bustin’ Thursday

With the network upfronts a few days away, the bubble has burst for those “bubble shows”: – NBC canceled four series: freshmen series 1600 Penn and Guys With Kids, and two others: Whitney (no surprise) and Up All Night, which was supposed to be retooled, but the idea never materialized. On Wednesday, NBC canceled Deception after one poorly-rated season. – […]

“Animal Practice” boards the cancellation bus

Beep! Beep! The cancellation bus is here for Animal Practice to take the show to the television graveyard (and The T Dog Media TV Hall Of Shame.) In the surprise of the year (not), NBC canceled Animal Practice Thursday after just four weeks on the air. The show was essentially a throwback to other failed chimp shows, including The Hathaways, […]

T Dog’s Think Tank: A second look at NATO coverage

On May 20, yours truly sent out a tweet stating the local stations did a good job on NATO coverage. Well, I’ve re-thought that statement – particularly after reading this brilliant guest commentary from Rich Jasculca at Crain’s Chicago Business’s website, and the feedback section (except for one comment) was also spot on. As Jasculca pointed out, the media coverage […]

T Dog’s Think Tank: Dan Harmon, “Community”, their fans, and you

As you know by now, Community creator and executive producer Dan Harmon was fired by the studio who produces the show (Sony Pictures Television) on the evening of Friday May 18. I’m sure you’ve read the reasons why he was fired, including from Harmon himself. Fans of Community took to social media and the Internet to express their outrage over […]

NBC unveils 2012-13 lineup

NBC unveiled its 2012-13 schedule on Sunday, a day before its upfront presentation in New York City (I guess a little something called Mother’s Day didn’t stop them.) In all, there are six new series with changes on five nights – many of those changes quite questionable. NBC is introducing twelve new series in their 2012-13 campaign, with seven of […]

The Upfronts Selection Show

The week before the upfronts are always crazy: you have networks canceling shows and picking up pilots to series for either this fall or for midseason. Welcome to The Upfronts Selection Show, where choices are made and bubbles are burst. Call this the television business’ version of March Madness. All of this hubbub this place before the big show kicks […]

TCA: NBCUniversal unveils many big projects

The Winter Television Critics Association Press Tour kicked off last week from Pasadena, Calif. and up first among the Big Media companies were the networks of Comcast/NBCUniversal, which includes Bravo, E!, and NBC itself. This portion covers two days (Friday and Saturday), and what’s listed here is not listed chronologically, but by order of network: NBC – The fourth-place network’s […]

The Toilet 10 of 2011

And other media misfires of note Scrubbing the commodes for you… the Toilet 10 of 2011 – the worst shows of television and media items sure to make your head stick in one. And away we go. Worst TV Shows of 2011 1. Allen Gregory (Fox). Not only this is the worst show of the year – this is the […]

The T Dog Media 2011 Turkey Awards

            Allen Gregory: Worst. Sitcom. Ever. Welcome to the 6th annual T Dog Media Turkey Awards! Every year around Thanksgiving, yours truly hashes out the worst in the media business – in television, radio, and sports. So bring out the stale stuffing and expired cranberry sauce! It’s time to go gobbling! And the “winners” are… […]

Big diginet fun

      NBC to launch Non-Stop Network; Bounce expands to N.Y. and L.A. Significant developments regarding digital subchannels on Thursday: – Don’t you wish it would stop? NBC announced it was overhauling its strategy for its nine-station Non-Stop digital subchannels, which is on the .2 (Channel 4.2, Channel 5.2, etc.) of all-NBC-owned stations except the Hartford/New Haven market, where […]

Bears-Lions tackles competitors onto turf

ESPN’s Monday Night Football tilt between the Chicago Bears and Detroit Lions was a success for ESPN and the city of Detroit – but not for the Bears. The game on WCIU earned a 13.4 household rating and a 20 share while ESPN pulled a 18.8/27, combining for an overall 32.2/47, easily outdrawing other series in the Chicago market, including […]

The Unfantastic Four

          How To Be A Gentleman – or just how to be a lame idiot. It’s the first week full week of October and already the networks are cleaning house and sending a slew of nominees to The T Dog Media TV Hall Of Shame as four series were canceled this week and another series likely […]

NBC cancels “The Playboy Club”

          NBC picks up Whitney and Up All Night for full season If you had NBC’s The Playboy Club in the-first-show-to-be-canceled-of-the-season pool, you win! The low-rated shot-in-Chicago drama became the first cancellation of the 2011-12 television season after three episodes, joining other embarrassments that lasted just as long, including 1978’s The Waverly Wonders with Joe Namath […]

The Big Big Bang gets bigger

            Sorry girls, but Charlie’s Angels isn’t “winning”.   If anyone thought CBS’ The Big Bang Theory would lose any stream since moving from Mondays to thursdays last year, they are now considered offically wrong. The fifth-season sitcom – which entered syndication this week as an off-network strip – scored the night’s highest rating in […]