WCIU upgrades "Insider", "King of Queens"

WCIU-TV has upgraded CBS' entertainment magazine (and ET/Hard Copy clone) The Insider and Sony's off-network King of Queens into access.

The moves are being made so WCIU can become more competitive with other stations in town, as WGN-TV is ready to roll out Family Guy and Two And A Half Men this fall, and Everybody Loves Raymond shifts to WFLD-TV and/or WPWR-TV in access next spring.

WCIU itself picks up the second syndication cycle of That's '70's Show in 2008.

Starting this week, The Insider moves from 5 to 6 p.m. and King of Queens shifts from 10:35 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. (Don't worry, Bart. You can still watch The King of Queens at 10.) Meanwhile, The Insider's second run moves to 10:30 p.m. from 7 p.m. (Is a second run even necessary? It's repulsive watching it the first time around.)

The moves sends the recent access occupants, Girlfriends to 5 p.m. and The Bernie Mac Show to 7 p.m. (subject to preemptions from White Sox games.)

NBC cutting originals on Fridays?

Is NBC getting ready to dump original programming on Fridays? NBC entertainment co-chairman Marc Graboff says in an interview with Fortune that declining ratings and increasing costs may force the network to dump original programming on Fridays, where HUT levels on that night have been declining for years. Friday nights are the second-least watched of the week, behind Saturday, which the networks abandoned long ago.

Last Friday, WWE Smackdown on the CW won the night in adults 18-49. However, its ratings in that demo are usually lower than many prime-time shows on other nights. Smackdown usually does better in the hard-to-get male and teen demos.

Friday nights have been a longtime dumping ground for shows that were on their last legs (or shows the networks renewed despite low ratings and didn't know what to do with), such as Star Trek, and more recently, Malcolm in the Middle and The Bernie Mac Show, thus coining the phrase The Friday Night Death Slot.

Despite that, all the networks have had success one time or another on Fridays, with ABC airing The Brady Bunch and The Odd Couple and NBC airing Sanford and Son in the 1970's, Dallas, Falcon Crest, and Miami Vice's success in the 1980's (Dallas, in fact was TV's number one show at one time), and ABC's TGIF block in the '90's. Fox also had success with The X-Files on that night in its' early years.

But ratings have declined in the last few years as the total number of viewers continues to shrink on the night.

This fall, NBC will have scripted series Las Vegas and Friday Night Lights on Fridays this fall.

A move to scrap originals on Fridays may have the potential to anger NBC affiliates, which are already unhappy with the network's ratings and comments made by NBC exec Jeff Zucker last year about dropping scripted series in the first hour of prime time. Scrapping Fridays may hurt local affiliates' late news numbers, which for the most part, are sold on a Monday through Friday basis.

Oh Thank Heaven for the Kwik-E-Mart

Twelve 7-Eleven convenience stores - including one here in Chicago - have converted themselves into "Kwik-E-Marts" - the real-life prototype of the store Apu runs on The Simpsons.

In the stores you will find prototypes of products that are seen on the animated show, including Buzz Cola, Krusty O's, and Squishees (really Slurpees).

But you won't find four week-old hot dogs at the store, which the fictional Kwik-E-Mart carries.

And no Duff Beer will be sold, which is the liquor of choice for Homer Simpson.

All of this of course, is a movie tie-in for The Simpsons Movie, which comes out in theaters July 27 .

7-Eleven has partnered with The Simpsons before. In the summer of 1995, they had a promo tie -in to the "Who's Shot Mr. Burns" cliffhanger in which Mr. Burns was shot by a assailant in the sixth-season season finale and would not be solved until the seventh-season premiere that September, in a nod to the "Who Shot J.R." cliffhanger that had people talking 15 years earlier. (In case you've forgotten, it was Maggie... yes, the baby....)

The 7-Eleven in Chicago that's being made into a Kwik-E-Mart is located at 6754 W. 63rd Street in the Clearing neighborhood on the Southwest Side (adjacent to suburban Bedford Park and Summit.) For you South Side-impaired, here's a map...

Here's more from today's Daily Southtown, and the paper notes that the Kwik E-Mart is a big hit with customers.

She's gone, so now we can gossip about her

Is this one of the the reasons Vanessa Minnillo is now a former correspondent for Entertainment Tonight? (another may be those controversial photos with gal pal Lindsey Lohan...) Interesting how she and boy toy Nick Lachey blast the tabloids - by speaking to one.

Charter latest to pull plug on analog

First it was Comcast switching to all-digital in Chicago, now its Charter Communications that is dumping the old cable analog boxes in St. Louis.

Charter, the dominant cable provider in the St. Louis area, will no longer service analog cable boxes as of July 17th.

Unlike what Comcast did last month in Chicago, in which it shut off its analog service and switched to all-digital, Charter isn't shutting off the service until February 2009, when all analog service ends and switches to digital. If the older boxes work, consumers can keep them, but if they break, they have to exchange the boxes for digital ones.

Burns lawsuit nearing end

WBBM-TV anchor Diann Burns' lawsuit against an contractor may be nearing an end. The anchor and her husband, Marc Watts, sued the contractor for shoddy work done to their $3 million home in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood - and because they were African-American. The contractor contersued for the racism allegations.

The parties will meet with a Cook County judge on Monday to possibly work out a deal.

The controversy has became a public relations headache for the CBS-owned station. Despite ample prime-time lead-ins from CBS, the station still lags behind competitors at 10 p.m.

Though other CBS affiliates have also struggled for news ratings (WGCL in Atlanta, WOIO in Cleveland, and CBS-owned WWJ-TV - which doesn't have a news operation at all - come to mind), CBS' ratings for news in top markets - notably WCBS in New York and KCBS in Los Angeles, have shown improvement recently, while WBBM's news continues to lag behind.

Recently, Antonio Mora was replaced at 10 p.m. with Rob Johnson, raising ire with several critics and viewers, essentially making Mora a scapegoat for the station's poor late news showing.

Some have suggested that a decision to remove Burns could rankle some in the African-American community. The station certainly does not want a repeat of what happened in 1985 when the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Operation Push called for a boycott against WBBM and CBS, after the station demoted longtime anchor and reporter Harry Porterfield (who's now at WLS-TV.)

WBBM-TV, which was number one in the ratings back then, fell to third a year later and still hasn't recovered (though much of the credit goes to the exploding popularity of newcomers at ABC-owned WLS-TV- Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy!, not to mention someone at the station named Oprah Winfrey. The popularity of those shows drew new viewers to the station - and to its newscasts, and they've been number one ever since.)

"Kimmel" to finally air in Charlotte and Atlanta

Cox's ABC stations in Atlanta (WSB) and Charlotte (WSOC) have finally agreed to clear The Jimmy Kimmel Show effective July 10 in Atlanta and July 17 in Charlotte at 12:05 a.m. after Nightline.

Now if only WLS-TV - an ABC O&O - can move Kimmel to its rightful 11:05 p.m. Central Time slot... Do we really need an Oprah repeat?

Can The Big Ten Network win?

Teddy Greenstein in today's Trib talks about the soon-to-launch Big Ten Network and how it is struggling to get carriage among the Midwest's biggest cable operators, including Comcast, Time Warner, Wide Open West, and Charter systems. The Big Ten Network also wants to be on an expanded sports tier, and not a pay-for-play sports tier.

BTN officials point that the channel would be more valuable than the two current sports on Comcast's systems in Chicago - The Golf Channel and Versus, the latter drawing very poor ratings in the Chicago market (which isn't good for the NHL, who has a deal with Versus and needs its struggling Chicago Blackhawks franchise to become a powerful force in the league again. The NHL draft on June 22 drew just 4,000 viewers in Chicago, even behind dud - say it with me everybody - National Bingo Night.)

The network plans to air collegiate Big Ten sports, including football, basketball, volleyball, soccer, and Olympic sports, plus a nightly sports show.

Meanwhile, Michigan congressman John Dingell (D-Mich.) has asked the Big Ten Network for information on negotiations BTN is having with cable operators in his home state. Constituents have complained to him that no cable systems in Michigan are carrying BTN, meaning that Michigan and Michigan State fans may be shut out of watching some football and basketball games.

McDonald gets a break today

Four time Tony-winner Audra McDonald is replacing Merrin Dungey in the role of Dr. Naomi Bennett in ABC's new Grey's Anatomy spinoff Private Practice. Yeah, great move ABC. Like the move you guys made last week in renewing According To Jim.

WTBS to become Peachtree TV

It is well known that one of the perks of living in Atlanta was getting first-run TBS shows for free - including My Boys, House of Payne, Ten Items or Less - not to mention World Premiere Movies.

Well, now they will have to pay up like the rest of us.

WTBS-TV the Turner/Time Warner-owned station in Atlanta, is becoming Peachtree TV, or WPCH-TV, beginning Oct. 1. The station will return to its roots as an general-market independent station.

WTBS is carried on over-the-air Channel 17 and local cable Channel 7 on most systems in Atlanta.

The national cable feed of TBS would not be affected. It will be offered to Atlanta cable and satellite viewers for the first time starting this fall, as well as the new WPCH. First-run TBS shows will no longer be offered on over-the-air, or broadcast television in Atlanta.

The move was made to attract more local Atlanta advertising spot dollars to the station - and to possibly prop the station up for a future sale, since WPCH would be Time Warner's only broadcast outlet. A possible seeker may be Fox, which has many duopolies in several key big markets, with the second station a MyNetworkTV affiliate. Fox owns WAGA-TV in Atlanta.

WPCH will carry reruns of some shows that are currently on WTBS including Family Guy, The Cosby Show, Steve Harvey, Friends, Seinfeld, and The King of Queens, and add other fare including The Jeffersons (which ran on TBS before), Diff'rent Strokes, and Fraiser.

The station will also carry 45 Atlanta Braves games a year, beginning in 2008. TBS will no longer carry Braves games on its national feed after this year because of Turner's new deal with Major League Baseball.

Other shows on WTBS that are not currently or were formerly syndicated (to broadcast stations) - like Dawson's Creek, Yes Dear, and Home Improvement - will likely leave the schedule.

The station also plans to air weeknight prime-time movies, a staple independent stations did before the Fox, UPN, and WB networks came along.

WPCH will also be able to bid on first-run syndicated programming - something WTBS was mostly shut out of because of its super station status. The last first-run strips WTBS carried (and among the very few it ever aired) were failed talk shows Ask Rita in 2004 and The Megan Mulually Show last fall.

Currently, WTBS carries a simulcast of the national feed, with the exception of national spots (local commercials are inserted instead), Saturday mornings (E/I and public-affairs programming airs in its place), and parts of its early afternoon lineup. WTBS also carries Headline News at 6 a.m. weekday mornings.

The move will leave WGN as the only national super station left. EMI folded WWOR's (New York) superstation in 1996.

Several cable systems in Canada carries the local Atlanta version of WTBS instead of the national version. No word on how this move will affect viewers north of the border.

Fast facts on WTBS:

-Some people think that WTBS was founded by Ted Turner. It actually was founded as WJRJ in 1967 by former owner John Rice. Turner bought the station in 1970 and renamed it WTCG. It was renamed WTBS in 1979.

-Turner held a telethon in order to save the station from going under.

-R&B legend James Brown hosted a Friday night dance show called Future Shock on WTCG in the mid-1970's. WTBS later aired another Friday night music show - a music video program called Night Tracks, in the 1980's and early 1990's.

- WTCG carried some NBC network daytime shows, including Jeopardy!, that now-former affiliate WSB-TV refused to clear.

-Turner bought the Atlanta Braves in 1976 and put them on WTCG. The Braves are now owned by Liberty Media.

- WTCG became the nation's first "Superstation" in 1976, available to homes across the country via cable. Turner would later acquire and air Atlanta Hawks games.

-WTCG aired a overnight newscast called 17 Update in the Morning, which was anchored by Bill Tush. The newscast would often take a comedic tone. Tush would get his own weekly late night comedy show on TBS in 1980. He would later go on to work for CNN.

- WTBS instituted what was called Turner Time - programs starting :05 and :35 past the hour. This practiced ended in 1997 with the sale of TBS to Time Warner.

-WTBS was instrumental in the formation of what would be later known as WCW. The station aired wrestling for 30 years from 1971 until 2001, when the WWE bought the WCW from Turner.

- Before TBS was branded as "very funny" in 2004 to emphasize its off-network sitcoms and first-run comedy projects, WTBS aired first-run comedy programs in the 1980's, including Down to Earth, Rocky Road, and a new version of Leave it to Beaver (which was lured from the Disney Channel.)

- Among the more popular signature programs WTBS aired included The Andy Griffith Show, which was often used for counter-programming against the Super Bowl. TBS dropped Griffith in 1999.

-Other popular programs TBS aired in the past included I Love Lucy, Sanford and Son, The Banana Splits, Brady Bunch, Perry Mason, Matlock, and The Flintstones (a 4:05 p.m. staple for years.)

- WTBS also carried the Goodwill Games, which were created by Ted Turner in response to the political turmoil surrounding the Olympics in the 1980's. But the games were a huge money-loser and a ratings disaster. The Goodwill Games were finally disposed of in 2001.

- House of Payne's test syndicated run last year in a few markets also included WTBS in Atlanta, where it performed very well.

- One of TBS' most notorious flops was the comedy/reality/contest series The Real Gilligan's Island, based on the 1960's sitcom which staggered on the air in 2004 and 2005. TBS ran the original series (a lot) during the 1980's and 1990's.

B 96 Summerbash bashed

Ah... the typical radio station outdoor concert... where fights break out, people mysteriously die and adult items are passed out to twelve-year olds.

And yes, there was plenty of teen drinking and drug use at the bash.

And this parent who was "outraged"... save your phony act for To Catch A Predator.

Not to mention the biggest headliner (Akon) couldn't finish his set because Toyota Park shut down at 11 p.m. due to a Bridgeview noise ordinance.

And there were reports that the acoustics sucked and many of the artists lip-synched their songs.

And of course, the brain trust at B96 and Toyota Park will hold this again next year in Bridgeview. And they will screw it up again next year.

Yes, the show was mediocre... Pretty much like radio and the music industry itself.

Yabba Dabba Doo!

Boomerang is airing an 83-hour Flintstones marathon, beginning July 4 at 5 a.m. (CT) The marathon consists of all 166 episodes of the prime-time series, which ran on ABC from 1960-66, then launched a number of Saturday morning spin-off shows (Pebbles & Bamm-Bamm, The Flintstones Comedy Hour, Flinstone Kids, etc.)

To see at a 1963 ABC promo for The Flintstones, click here.

Chicago's weather wars

An article in Crain's Chicago Business this week details the ongoing weather wars between Chicago's television news operations. Competitors are taking aim at each other, particularly at Fox-owned WFLD-TV and new weather bunny Amy Freeze.

The weathermen at other local stations are taking their shots at her and her station, with one weatherman saying that WFLD's breaking into regular programming for weather alerts is nothing but ratings desperation, and one competitor dismissed the station's "Ten Day at Ten" weather forecast as a gimmick. (Of course, one could wonder if competitors are trying to tie WFLD's news operations to the Fox News Channel, whose style irritates Chicago news bosses...)

Why so much emphasis on the weather? Because that's what most people turn into local news for (it isn't for the content, that's for sure), and 40 percent of local stations' revenues are derived from local news (especially important today, given the market for off-network programs have dried up, and first-run syndicated fare like Oprah is quite expensive while most newer syndicated fare, like The Megan Mulually Show, fails.)

Meanwhile, the hubbub over the weather hasn't really affected the ratings much, where ABC-owned WLS-TV still wins all local newscasts head-to-head. WFLD's 9 p.m. newscast is still behind CW affiliate WGN-TV, despite the fact that Fox's prime-time lineup provides a much bigger ratings lead-in than the upstart CW does (I told you we use our remotes more frequently in Chicago... After all, the remote was invented here.)

McNeil suspended from WMVP. Again.

Dan McNeil of ESPN-owned WMVP-AM has been suspended for three days for calling a female Comcast SportsNet producer a bad name on the "Mac, Jurko, & Harry" show on Tuesday. He slammed her for showing that fan running on the field at Wrigley Monday Night during a Cubs-Rockies game (Perhaps McNeil didn't see highlights of that Argentina soccer riot on ESPN the other night. That was a hell of a lot worse.) Then he goes on vacation for a few weeks, then he'll return. Maybe.

McNeil was suspended for 19 shows last year for getting into a verbal altercation with co-host Harry Teinowitz.

A total disgrace

It's a shame that Chicago's historic black newspaper is being treated this way. The Chicago Defender has now been cut back from publishing daily to only a few days a week, and its website, which hasn't been updated since June 8 (and only has been sporadically updated before that) is being neglected. Despite all the promises this bozo from Detroit is making (why is a Chicago paper's website even being handled from there?), the Defender will continue to struggle (or perhaps even cease operations) unless someone from Chicago buys the paper and invests in it.

After all, no one wants the Sun-Times- a paper run by clowns - to become the voice of the black community. It would be a sad day if that ever happened.

Derrick Brown named PD of V103; Tom Joyner comin' to town

Chicago native Derrick Brown has been named program director of Clear Channel's urban adult WVAZ-FM (V103), effective July 16. He replaces Elroy Smith in the role, who stepped down several weeks ago.

Meanwhile, The Tom Joyner Morning Show, which airs on V103, is coming back to town for the first time in three years. The live "Sky Show" will originate from the Chicago Theater Friday morning from 5 a.m to 9 a.m. To a lot of Chicagoans, Tom Joyner is fondly remembered as the "fly jock" who shuttled between jobs at WGCI-FM here in Chicago and KKDA-FM in Dallas between 1985 and 1993.

Chicago is TJMS' largest radio market and the largest non-Radio One radio station in the country that airs the show. TJMS does not air in New York or Los Angeles. TJMS is syndicated by Reach Media on 115 radio stations across the country.

Well, if the CW can bring back "The Game"...

... ABC can bring back According to Jim. Yep, sitcoms are still dead.

Must Flee TV

With the NBA Finals and Stanley Cup Finals, two events that also tanked in the ratings, at least you had teams compete for a championship. But the Chicago White Sox aren't even close to doing that this year - and games on Comcast SportsNet are averaging a 1.6 Nielsen rating - down 40 percent from last year (last item). It's embarrassing when your team is being outdrawn by ratings dud National Bingo Night. One could wonder if Ozzie would be better off as a bingo caller on a lousy game show?

The Chicago Cubs meanwhile, has drawn better ratings on the channel with a 3.1 Nielsen rating, including a season high 5.0 rating on Monday night, outdrawing most network and cable shows in prime time, including NBC's idiotic reality programs. The Cubs are hot lately, winning six in a row.

However, like the White Sox, the Cubs have also experienced erosion in the ratings - the Cubs' are down 10 percent. Much like other sporting events this spring and summer (and television in general), ratings are down due to DVR use, fragmentation of the audience, the Internet (YouTube), video games, and competition from other programs that draw young males (IFL, UFC, TNA, etc.)

As for the White Sox, if the losing continues, one could wonder if the games on CSN will be soon outrated by Build a Better Burger on the Food Network and reruns of Mama's Family on ION. If that happens, look for the White Sox to exchange their uniforms for ones with the Blackhawks logo.

NBA extends pacts with ESPN and TNT

Despite declining ratings for the NBA Finals, the NBA extended its television and digital platform rights until the 2015-16 season for ESPN, ABC, and TNT.

The new deals gives ESPN and TNT the rights to stream NBA material onto its digital broadband platforms, including ESPN360 and TNT Overtime.

FEMA screws up again

This morning, Chicagoland radio and TV outlets were interrupted by the Emergency Alert System, then dead air, and then the voice of WGN-AM's Spike O'Dell, who wondered what the heck was going on.

The cause? a FEMA contractor's installation of the state's Emergency Alert System satellite receiver in Springfield as part of a nationwide upgrade.