T Dog's Think Tank: Worst debate ever?

You want to know what I thought of the Clinton-Obama debate? Worst. Debate. Ever.

If Comic Book Guy watched the debate Wednesday night on ABC, he would've said this:

"Worst. Debate. Ever."

Of course, he more was likely to be watching NBC and the 26 suitcase models on the "Spring Break" episode of Deal or No Deal. I'm surprised more people didn't, given the sloppy debate.

But certainly, the Obama-Clinton debate was more critically panned than an episode of The Beverly Hillbillies (yours truly didn't watch - this simpleton was too busy ogling the suitcase women from Deal on the other channel) - the first 45 minutes consisted of questions including Obama's link to Jeremiah Wright and whether or not he wore an American Flag label pin.

You got to be kidding me. An American Flag label pin? Who moderated this debate, ESPN's Chris Berman and Skip Bayless? (considering how ABC handled the debate, I was surprised the Mouse House didn't ask its sister cable network to lend those two louts to be moderators.)

But this article from TV Week tells you all you need to know. Look at the comments section. One person blasted Obama for not wearing the lapel pin and for not covering his heart during the national anthem.

So this is more important than the War in Iraq, escalating gas prices, rising unemployment, and the mortgage crisis? Okay, let's pass a law requiring every American to wear an American Flag pin! Totally ridiculous. And instead of issues, the debate is now more notable for creating the most annoying catch phrase in years - "Gotcha!" Did Chris Berman (the master of annoying catch phrases) create this one, too? Yours truly hopes this one doesn't go "all the way".

So its no surprise the same people who bring up these kind of issues are the same ones who don't have a problem with media consolidation - the ones who think this is a joke and don't take it seriously or don't care. The same people who want to avoid the real issues in this country and want to talk about tabloid ones instead, like whether or not Obama and Clinton are real Americans and if they are part of the KGB or KAOS. No, the establishment thinks it's more important to dodge problems they helped create.

And so, the debate attracted 10.7 million viewers. And many came away disgusted. In fact, the crowd booed Charlie Gibson as they went into yet another commercial toward the end of the debate (Why did ABC decide to sell ads during the debate in the first place?) Is it any wonder why people are so disinterested in politics? Thank you, Big Media. At PIFeedback.com, not one poster talked about Wednesday's bland debate (while yours truly bashed Top Model. Again.)

The debate moderators felt it was more important to discuss the candidates' gaffes for nearly an hour instead of an honest discussion regarding the problems facing America right now. I guess yours truly didn't miss anything, considering he saw this coming. Why should anyone sit there for two hours and have their intelligence insulted by the media's arrogance regarding politics?

And all we got out of it is a stupid catch phrase. Ay, carumba.

Did I mention those 26 models on Deal never looked sweeter as they did Wednesday night? Yeah, I may be a simpleton for watching the ladies - but yours truly was smart enough to stay away from a train wreck and decided to watch another one instead.

"Survivor's" back, baby!

WARNING: Contains spoilers. If you haven't seen the episode, don't scroll down...


Although ratings are down slightly from a year ago, there's no denying Survivor is back from the dead.

If you can recall (here's hoping you don't), yours truly ripped the program for being too bland and predictable last fall (most of the profanity from that post is gone, too.) And yours truly also voiced some skepticism regarding Fans Vs. Favorites. But this cycle of Survivor has exceeded all expectations and is destined to become just as memorable as the first Survivor, set in Borneo.


SPOILER ALERT






If you saw Thursday night's episode, Ozzy (who was in the Survivor where they split the tribe among race), was ousted in a surprising power play led by Cirie who convinced players to vote for the biggest threat instead of Jason, who quit an immunity challenge on the word of other players who promised not to vote him out (dumb move.)

And the reaction from Eliza on the jury when all of this was unfolding at Tribal Council (she was ousted last week) was totally priceless.

Currently, Survivor is the best reality show on TV right now (much better than Top Model, which has become predictable and stale). However, keep in mind reality shows are cynical. What is up one cycle - could be down the next.

If you have missed Survivor this season, you've missed a lot. But we here at The T Dog Media Blog have your back. Click here and you can watch the episodes from this current season to catch up.

These guys have listened to Herman Edwards. They are here and they are playing to win the game! (though maybe Herm needs to take his own advice regarding the Chiefs...)

President Bush to appear on "Deal or No Deal"

No, not as The Banker (although that role suits him just fine...) but he'll be there via videotaped message on Monday's show. A simpleton of a President appears on a game show for simpletons. Make sense to me!

WFIE on the air during the quake

Check this out from Raycom's NBC affiliate in Evansville, Ind. No panic here...

Larry Wert promoted (updated)

WMAQ-TV general manager Larry Wert has been promoted to president, Central and Western region, of the NBC Local Media Division.

Among the stations Wert will be overseeing include WMAQ (which he'll continue in his role as GM) and fellow NBC O&Os KNBC-TV Los Angeles, KXAS-TV Dallas, KNTV San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose, and KNSD-TV San Diego.

NBC also named a new GM for WNBC-TV in New York, with Tom O'Brien taking over from Frank Comeford, who was promoted to president of platform development and commercial operations.

UPDATE: Frank Whittaker, current VP of news at WMAQ, is now the new station director.

updated at 6:57 p.m.

PTC rips NBC "Family Hour" pledge

Regarding the peacock network's Thursday night comedies. And this after the organization praised NBC for setting aside the 7-8 p.m. hour (Central) for family shows. And what about last night's Deal or No Deal (another show they endlessly praise), which featured a rather raunchy Spring Break episode? If the PTC has to change their story, then this group clearly has no credibility (they never had any to begin with.)

As for the Emmy-winning 30 Rock, while the show is creative and out-of-the box (yours truly loves programming like that), these guys are no South Park (but its' close.) The animated comedy has done satire somewhat better than Tina Fey & Co., though give 30 Rock credit for trying, plus props for filming the show in New York City. Let's hope 30 Rock is on for years to come.

Now.... MILF stands for what? Not these ladies, unless I had a blindfold on...

Top Chef: Chicago called out for profanity

The usually solid cooking reality show is being criticized for its excessive use of profanity in this current cycle (and ironically, not from the PTC or Rev. Pflager), which forced the lead chef and judge on the show (Tom Colicchio) to apologize on his blog for last week's salty episode.

Maybe we swear a lot in Chicago because, well, let's see... high taxes, inferior transit service, lousy city services, Daley, and of course - the program that pioneered bleepfests - our own Jerry Springer.

Hmmm... Maybe the chefs on this show have a point. You think they can settle this on Springer? Daley better hope the Olympic Committee aren't regular viewers of Top Chef.

Collins, Lujack honored by different HOFs

The late Bob Collins was nominated to the Radio Hall of Fame in a long overdue move, while another Chicago radio legend (Larry Lujack) gets his induction into the National Association of Broadcasters' Hall of Fame (scroll down.)

Nooooooooo, boyeeeeeeeeee!

You know the sign of the apocalypse is coming when Flavor Flav gets a sitcom on My Network TV and Perez Hilton gets his own three minute celebrity segment on WBBM-FM's already unlistenable Eddie & JoBo morning show.

Send in the clowns...

WLS-TV wins TV Week award

In the magazine's TV Managers of the year, Midwest division -apparently, being number one for 22 years (as well as capitalizing on your competitors' mistakes - and there are a lot of them) doesn't hurt, either. And yours truly thinks this is obviously the right choice.

Dominant ABC affiliates in Philadelphia (WPVI-TV), Dallas (WFAA-TV), and Atlanta (WSB-TV) and NBC affiliate KING-TV in Seattle also won big in their respective divisions.

WCIU gets "Punk'd"

But it's no trick: WCIU-TV acquired the rights to air MTV's Punk'd with Ashton Kutcher to strip five nights a week beginning in September from Trifecta Entertainment. The proram cleared 80 percent of the U.S. with WNYW-TV in New York and KTLA in Los Angeles also on board.

This comes as Trifecta and Litton Entertainment announced a strategic partnership last week which brings together both syndicators' sales operations to maximize sales for their expanding slate of series. Trifecta is handling ad sales while Litton will handle domestic distribution, but both companies are expected to continue to operate independently under their own monikers.

"Desperate Housewives" comes back with a mighty thud

Hitting a season-low in the money demo (adults 18-49) for an episode that was ... well, let's just say the Housewives writers should have stayed on the picket line. But the big story here is a first-run episode of The Simpsons beat Oprah's Big Give in the ratings last night head-to-head. D'oh!

Wild romps in ratings

The beast known as American Idol has finally fallen - at least in Minneapolis-St. Paul.

A Minnesota Wild NHL playoff game topped Idol last Wednesday night with Game 1 of the Western Conference Quarterfinal series against the Colorado Avalanche earning a 11.3 household rating and a 22 household share on independent KSTC-TV with Idol on Fox-owned KMSP-TV nabbing a 10.3/19.

The Wild game surged to a 16.0/33 from 10:30-10:45 p.m.

Meanwhile, The Twins beatdown of the White Sox earned a 8.9 household rating on My Network TV affiliate WFTC (certainly higher than the MNT programming that usually runs there) while a NBA game featuring the very lackluster Timberwolves on FSN North bottomed out with a 0.1 household rating and 0 share.

And you thought the Bulls were awful... Don't you wish the ratings were that bad here? (it'll certainly send a message... wink, wink.)

And if you read the comments section in this story and here, be thankful the Blackhawks didn't pick WPWR-TV (Channel 50) as their over-the-air partner, as fans clearly don't want to sit through promos for fourth-rate programming.

The Wizard of Oz (corrected)

Look! It's Oprah behind the curtain...

Harpo Productions is preparing for a launch of a new talk show in September 2009 featuring Dr. Memhet Oz, who regularly appears on The Oprah Winfrey Show. The launch is being prepared the same way Dr. Phil was launched in 2002.

Keep in mind that CBS Television Distribution is launching a talk show this fall featuring not one but five doctors: simply called The Doctors.

CORRECTION: On April 9, this post incorrectly stated that CBS Television Distribution was involved in the possible launch of the new project regarding Dr. Oz. Harpo is currently shopping the project through several syndicators with Twentieth Television and Disney mentioned as possible homes for the talk show. CBS is not involved with the Dr. Oz project at this time.

The T Dog Media Blog regrets and apologizes for the error.

All together now... D'oh!

T Dog's Think Tank: Can you smell what the mayor is cookin' ?

Usually the T Dog Media Blog doesn't devolve into local politics since this is a media blog (it says that in the name!) and not a political one. But yours truly can't pass up an opportunity to take this on since it involves those wonderful bedrocks of journalism, the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times (yes, I'm being sarcastic...)

Last Friday, Mayor Richard M. Daley of Chicago blasted the Tribune and Sun-Times for criticizing his plan to move the children's museum to Grant Park and selling the naming rights to the venue to an insurance company.

So, Da Mayor blasts Big Media for criticizing his plan for Grant Park.

Oh, now he gets it. Did he just fall out of a tree or something?

Don't pay any attention to the man behind the curtain, or in Daley's case, the idiot. The only time he criticizes Big Media is only at his convenience - when they rip a self-serving idea of his.

Listen to his comments, from Friday's Daily Onion - um, I mean Sun-Times:

"They're advising me what to do with the city and they're going right in the tank. I love that. The Sun-Times is in there, too. This is unbelievable. They're giving us advice constantly on how to run the city," [while] their stock is going down,".

"They're [The Tribune] selling Wrigley [naming] rights. They want to develop the whole area, tear Wrigley Field down and build high-rises. It's like, aren't they in Chicago? Don't they know they have elected officials? They have community groups out here? No. Talk about arrogance."

Another typical clueless politician. Is it any wonder why the public hates them so much? If Mayor McCheese cared to do any research on why both newspapers' circulation are declining, it's because of market forces, not because the city's residents are critical of the rags' thinking. At least give the people of Chicago some credit. And arrogance? Oh, boy! Daley wrote the book on it. He makes Vince McMahon look like a responsible human being (yeah, I'm stretching it a bit.)

Let's face it: Daley could give less than a rat's ass about media consolidation, or the dwindling number of media voices in the marketplace.

While yours truly is not a fan of the Tribune or Sun-Times or their sometimes ludicrous editorials (the Tribune seems to have a problem with warm weather in January), I am also not a fan of pols who use the issue of media consolidation to only benefit themselves and their "causes", which in this case, is a stupid children's museum (It's all about the children. Yeah, right.) Daley's more powerful than the Trib and Sun-Times put together anyway, so what's he complaining about?

Where was Daley on the night of Sept. 20 last year when the FCC was in town at Operation PUSH discussing media consolidation and its effect on the city's residents?

He was nowhere to be found.

Did Daley say anything when the Tribune was sold to Sam Zell and the FCC let the company keep the paper, TV station, and radio station?

He didn't say a word.

So if anyone thinks Daley is going to join the bandwagon against media consolidation, they are only fooling themselves. There's a better chance of South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone heaping praise on Family Guy than Daley taking up any cause. He and other politicians only care about themselves and whine like children when they don't get their way.

And since he's pushing a children's museum, don't be surprised Daley is the first person honored with a statue at the place since he acts like a child.

So the next time Daley opens his yapper about the media, he should take advice from former wrestler The Rock... Know your role and shut your mouth!

Tavis Smiley out at the TJMS

No, he didn't have a meltdown like Artie Lange did on Howard Stern's show yesterday. But longtime contributor Tavis Smiley has exited from The Tom Joyner Morning Show. The reasons are coming to a "he said, he said" situation: Smiley said he left because of other commitments (he hosts a nightly show on PBS.) But Joyner said the real reason Smiley left because he was hating on Presidential candidate Barack Obama too much, and listeners lit him up like a Christmas tree.

PTC to Hip-Hop: You're next

The boisterous group is now targeting MTV and BET, in a really pathetic attempt to act like they care about the African-American Community (but it might not help given the Parents Television Council is also targeting the equally grating Tyra Banks and her "reality" show.)

Can you tell them apart?

Cartman and J.R. Ewing. Separated at birth?


Television has a rich history of evil TV characters fans love to hate. From J.R. Ewing to Montgomery Burns, their scheming ways have made memorable storylines.

So what happens when you combine J.R. and Burns and toss in a little Archie Bunker, and what do you get?

The perfect heel character in Eric Cartman from South Park. Much like J.R. back in the day on Dallas, Cartman has become the star on the animated Comedy Central series, as this NPR article explains - succeeding in his evilness where other characters (notably Stewie Griffin from Family Guy and Dr. Smith from Lost in Space) have failed.

Artie Lange out at Howard Stern's show

Yep, he gone. And the biggest surprise here is the incident wasn't staged.

Newest inductee into The T Dog Media Blog TV Hall of Shame

You don't need a ceremony to be the newest inductee into the T Dog Media Blog TV Hall of Shame - all you have to do is debut a new show that's bad right off the bat - and get canceled after one episode. And that's exactly what happened with CBS' Secret Talents of the Stars.

Enter the The T Dog Media Blog TV Hall of Shame (at your own risk!) and scroll way down.

Tough year for CBS... First the Kid Nation debacle, then Viva Laughlin, ratings for Survivor and Big Brother are starting to sag, the layoffs at CBS-owned radio and TV stations, and now Katie Couric may be leaving. Hate to be Les Moonves right now!

Katie Couric out at CBS?

According to the Wall Street Journal. CBS denies the reports, but look - we all know the handwriting's on the wall when you get beaten in the ratings by reruns of According to Jim (ugh.)

Inside the CBS job cuts

"The message being sent is, if you succeed in your job, you succeed in your craft, look out! You're too expensive."

- Tom Petner, TVSpy.com, quoted in "CBS layoffs signal in a financial squeeze on TV stations" article in the Los Angeles Times today.

That quote can be attributed to any industry these days, but nowhere where it rings more than true is in TV journalism. This article looks inside the recent CBS job cuts, which eliminated 160 jobs in 13 markets over the last few weeks, including 18 at WBBM-TV in Chicago.

With the cuts, it may be harder for the struggling station group to attract viewers to its newscasts - for one, KCBS-TV in Los Angeles fell 40 percent in household ratings in February for its perennial last-place 11 p.m. newscast, compared to the same time month in 2007, thanks in part to the writers' strike. KCBS recently cut long-time anchors anchors Harold Greene and Ann Martin.

'XRT format lands in L.A.

Bonneville's new acquistion, KRBV-FM (100.3) didn't change its call letters, but the station once known for Scott Shannon's "Pirate Radio" and "The Beat" is now known for "The Sound".

KRBV launched an Adult Album Alternative (a.k.a AAA, or Triple A) format on Tuesday, similiar to heritage outlet WXRT-FM in Chicago and Bonneville's WDRV-FM, The Drive (listed on R&R as a Classic Rock station.) 

Core arists include Bruce Springsteen, Los Lonely Boys, Talking Heads, The Police, and The Doors.

Meanwhile, the syndicated fare which used to be on KRBV before the switchover (when it was known as Urban AC- formatted V100) has moved to KDAY-FM, and it includes programs from TD Jakes and Donnie McClurkin, as well as KRBV's events, including "The Taste of Soul" and "Superfest". KDAY also picked up a new syndicated midday show featuring Monique (The Parkers) beginning this summer. 

It's like rooting between a giant douche and a turd sandwich

America's Next Top Model is under fire again - this time from the Parents Television Council, for nudity. The title of this post pretty much says it all.

"Ellen" coming to town

The hokey daytime talk show will be in Chi-Town for one day during May sweeps, taping an episode on May 3. No word on any guests (forget Oprah and Jerry), but I'm certain a Chicago Cub or two may show up. The show is likely to tape at NBC Tower, given Ellen's affiliate here (WMAQ-TV) airs the program at 3 p.m. each weekday.

Ellen has been gaining on Oprah in the ratings the last few months, and was recently upgraded to 4 p.m. in New York at WNBC (until the fall).

Suggestion: Here's a guest for Ellen's Chicago visit... How about Steve Dahl? He'll put a stop to any disco dancing nonsense she may try...

Support your local TV critic

A vanishing breed in the business nowadays, TV critics are being the odd individuals out in newspaper cutbacks (with an example being the recent departure of Sun-Times critic Doug Elfman.) If this keeps up, we might not have enough critics to participate in the semi-annual TV Critics' Poll in TV Week...

While Hollywood may be happier over this, a local perspective is clearly being lost - although many critics write about the same programs over and over, while ignoring what's going on in their local market, which is unfortunate. The Arizona Republic TV critic (Bill Goodykoontz) is the best example of this, who is the absolutely the worst (or was - they moved him to the pop culture beat.)

The force won't be with us

A special Star Wars Deal or No Deal edition is scheduled to air April 28. As a Star Wars fan, this saddens me. Thank goodness I won't be home this night to participate in the funeral. Is there anything on earth this game show hasn't destroyed? What's next, a special Simpsons edition? I can see it now, with Mr. Burns as The Banker. Excellent.

Spike gets "Married" (and mysteries, too)

More cable news: Male-oriented cable network Spike has acquired the rights to air all 259 episodes of the former Fox comedy Married... With Children beginning in September in a deal worth $12 million.

Married... was Fox's first-ever prime time series (premiering on April 5, 1987), and was the first Fox sitcom to be sold in syndication.

The deal with Sony Pictures Television is for five years with the Viacom-owned cable network paying around $50,000 per episode. Spike plans to run the show in daytime, early fringe, and late fringe time periods.

The program currently airs on FX, but also had a few local broadcast deals, including Fox's duopoly in Los Angeles (where it ran as much as four times a day at one point) and WCIU-TV here in Chicago.

All of those existing contracts end in August, as Spike picks up exclusive rights to the show, plus streaming rights on Spike.com and 40 six-minute "webisodes".

Spike also acquired the rights to Unsolved Mysteries, the former NBC and CBS series once hosted by Robert Stack. Chicagoan Dennis Farina will host the new wraparound segments, which will update the stories. Mysteries moved to Lifetime in 2000, where it ran repeat and first-run episodes.

Trivia: Married... With Children (1987-97) was a raunchy family comedy you can pretty much call the "Family Guy" of its day - hated by TV critics, parents (namely a Michigan housewife), and many others - but loved by fans.

When the program was sold into syndication in 1990, NBC-owned WMAQ-TV became the first network affiliate in a major market to purchase a off-network sitcom for airing in "prime access" (6:30 p.m.) since the Prime Time Access Rule (PTAR) went into effect in 1971, which barred network affiliates in the 50 largest markets from airing off-network fare in the hour before prime-time (PTAR was repealed in 1996.) Fox was not considered a network at the time by the FCC, because it did not program more than fifteen hours a week in prime per the Financial Interest and Syndication Rules (fin-syn), which barred the Big 3 networks from the syndication business from 1970 until the rules' demise in 1995.

Married... entered syndication in 1991 and was a huge hit for WMAQ, but was dropped from the station in March 1995 due to a cost-cutting move, which sent the program packing to WGN-TV. The program airs on WCIU today.

The dysfunctional family influence of Married... has lived on in comedies ranging from Everybody Loves Raymond to Family Guy, from That '70's Show to The Bernie Mac Show. For better or for worse, the Bundys changed the way we looked at family comedies forever.

"Project Runway" moves to Lifetime

NBC sues to keep show on Bravo

In a move that surprises everyone in the industry, Lifetime snared the rights to Bravo's hot reality fashion series Project Runway, in a five-year deal with the show's production company, The Weinstein Co.

NBC Universal, the owner of Bravo, has filed suit against the move, saying it had the right of first refusal of the show, and claims it did not get an opportunity to match the offer.

Weinstein said the suit is "without merit".

Runway recently concluded its fourth season on Bravo March 5, where it drew 5.8 million viewers total and drew 4.3 million among adults 18-49.

Project Runway is hosted by former supermodel Heidi Klum.

The sad state of local TV

Last week's purge at the CBS O&Os is just another reminder of how tough things are going on the local TV level, especially in the newsrooms. This article from the Baltimore Sun details how things are really going in the market's local station community, where CBS' WJZ-TV laid off four people last week and ABC affiliate WMAR-TV axed three employees.

Strange thing about it, the GM at market leader WBAL-TV (NBC) says television viewing is at record levels...

T Dog's Think Tank: NBC encourging you to become a pirate

A deal was struck this week that may encourage people to join the Pirates.

No, not the Pittsburgh Pirates, though they need all the help they can get.

I'm talking about the world of download piracy.

NBC last week renewed Friday Night Lights for a third season. The critically-acclaimed drama has struggled in the ratings for the past two seasons on both Tuesday and Friday nights.

But there's a catch. A huge catch. The third season will appear exclusively on satellite TV service Direct TV in the fall while NBC will start airing the program in February.

Huh?

That's right. NBC struck a deal with Direct TV for the satellite service to air 13 episodes, in order to share production costs.

This deal is not without precedent. Last year, NBC struck a deal with Direct TV to air the daytime soap Passions, which the peacock network canceled last season.

Your truly thinks it's great Friday Night Lights is able to come back for a third season. But I have some reservations about this deal.

Why? Well, for one thing, NBC could've put the program on USA or Bravo, for one thing, since NBC owns both networks. NBC already has new episodes of Law & Order: Criminal Intent on USA first with a later run on NBC. Don't know if that move would cut production costs, but if Monk and Psych can run on USA, then maybe Friday Night Lights could as well.

And then, think of all the poor saps who subscribe to Dish Network... No Friday Night Lights for you.

And so, fans who are shut out will now have to wait until February to watch Friday Night Lights.

Or not.

If new episodes aren't streamed on NBC.com or Hulu this fall, viewers will likely resort to downloading the program illegally - via BitTorrent and other file-sharing services, which could erode NBC's viewership for the show when it comes back. The studios have been fighting against such activities, which amounts to piracy.

The bottom line is, NBC should have made a better deal than this. Now it's going to head to Direct TV, which shuts out the majority of the fans - many of which are now going to illegally download the show - making NBC Universal look like hypocrites, and further endangering the future of the show. Futhermore, this move undermines the studios' effort on combating piracy.

What is it with this Country Club mentality all of a sudden? Just because you don't have a certain satellite service, you're being shut out of your favorite TV show? Having just cable isn't good enough anymore? There should be a level of concern raised here.

But what else you expect from Ben "Bulls Ballboy" Silverman, with a 2008-09 lineup that is mediocre at best.

Some fans who don't have Direct TV are not going to wait around for Friday Nights Lights. They will find some way to get those episodes by any means necessary - except signing up with Direct TV. No one is going to get satellite or switch from cable just to watch a single TV show.

So the next time the major studios whine about illegal downloading and piracy, maybe they should whine to one of their own. After all, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

Blame Canada

WARNING: Contains spoilers.

It's a time-honored tradition among animated comedies to rip on Canada, so it's no surprise South Park put the entire country on strike in last Wednesday's episode to poke fun at the WGA labour (yes, labour) mess.

When the South Park boys found out Deal or No Deal host Howie Mandel (who's Canadian) was replaced by Jim Belushi, they quickly sprung into action (all right, I made that up - I just wanted to take another shot at According to Jerk boy...)

They made an video featuring Meg Griffin - oops, I mean Robert Barone - oops, again - I mean Butters, put it on a popular video website, and made a lot of money to give to Canada so they can settle the strike and watch new episodes of their favourite Canadian comedy, Terrance & Phillip (that's still on? Must be in its' 19th season...)

The boys later met with the World Canadian Bureau, whose initials - for some strange reason - were WGA.

Reaction to this episode was mixed at best, while yours truly thought this episode was somewhat disjointed (last week's episode with the title Major Boobage was actually funnier.) However, it got the job done when it took a shot at the WGA heads.

Did you catch this?: In a scene when the boys were channel surfing, they landed on a rather familiar show in which Cartman raced to the set and quickly turned it off. Guess he doesn't care for Wait Til Your Father Gets Home either... (LOL... was that Chris Griffin or Chet Boyle?)

It's King of this Hill

While the other animated comedies have been hit-or-miss this season (quite often on the miss side), there is one under-the-radar show that has been consistent.

Fox's King of the Hill is coming back for its thirteenth season with thirteen episodes. All the show's principals are returning, including creator Mike Judge.

Hill doesn't garner the same type of attention The Simpsons, South Park and Family Guy gets, but that's just fine with the cast and the show's fans.

Blackhawks sign with WGN-TV

The Chicago Blackhawks announced on Tuesday that the team's entire 82-game schedule will be shown on television.

And this is not - I repeat, not - an April Fool's joke.

The Blackhawks signed a deal with WGN-TV on Tuesday, making 20 or so games available to the Tribune-owned station, marking the first time since 1980 games have been made available to local broadcasters.

WGN plans to carry the games in HD, but there are no WGN Superstation broadcasts planned.

However, it is not known if some of the games will end up on WCIU-TV, which WGN produces games for on occasion. WGN plans to produce the 20 games.

The Blackhawks were courting WGN as well as WPWR-TV for a local broadcast outlet.

The deals reverses a long-standing policy regarding telecasts of home games, which were forbidden because of fear of affecting attendance. In recent years, only a handful of home telecasts were allowed, including all playoff games.

WGN carried Hawks road games in the 1960's and early 1970's, including the Stanley Cup clincher in 1961. The Hawks also made stops at WFLD-TV and WSNS-TV before migrating to subscription TV service ON-TV in 1980 and later, SportsVision and SportsChannel Chicago. Blackhawks games currently air on Comcast SportsNet.

The move also marks a reversal of sorts as many NHL teams have left local broadcasters behind for exclusive cable deals. Among teams with exclusive cable TV rights include the Los Angeles Kings, Boston Bruins, Detroit Red Wings, Colorado Avalanche, Florida Panthers, and five of the six Canadian teams. (CHRO-TV in Pembroke, Ontario is the only local station in all of Canada that has a local broadcast deal with an NHL team - the Ottawa Senators.) Canadian teams though, are featured prominently on CBC's Hockey Night In Canada.

Teams that have a hybrid cable/broadcast deal include the Dallas Stars (KDFI and FSN Southwest), Minnesota Wild (KSTC and FSN North) and the St. Louis Blues (KPLR and FSN Midwest.) The cable nets usually produces the games for the local broadcaster.

Channel 2 shuffles anchor decks

In light of the departures of Diann Burns, Mary Ann Childers, and Mark Malone, CBS-owned WBBM-TV has realigned its anchor lineup. To read about the changes, click here.

NBC announces new lineup for 2008-09 season

For the first time in 30 years, a network has made an early announcement of their fall line-up.

NBC announced its 2008-09 lineup early, which features several new (and old) programs, including a revival of Knight Rider and a spin-off of The Office, which it and the mothership are landing plush slots after the Super Bowl.

The last new show to launch after the Super Bowl was Family Guy in 1999.

The causality list included Bionic Woman (good riddance) and 1 vs. 100 (why, NBC?), while ER is ending after fifteen seasons next spring (thankfully.)

Among the notables items, Heroes returns on Sept. 15 with a three-hour extravaganza. Plus, a half-hour version Saturday Night Live will air in a Thursday night time slot for four weeks, with sketches skewered toward the Presidential election.

There are three sets of schedules: one for autumn 2008 (with only four new shows), one for winter/spring 2009, and one for summer 2009.

NBC changed its development process this year, forgoing expensive pilots and decided not to hold a traditional upfront presentation.

To see the new schedule and to find out what the new shows are, click here.

Welcome back, Allison!

Longtime WGN-TV anchor Allison Payne returns to the anchor chair at 9 p.m. beginning on Monday after suffering a series of mini-strokes that has kept her off the air for the last three months.

Tribune hires Compton for new TV post

Another hiring to report (now that's more like it...)

The Tribune Co. has hired radio veteran Sean Compton to senior VP of programming and entertainment for the 23-station Tribune group, which includes WGN-TV.

Compton replaces Marc Schacher, who is stepping down after 29 years with the company. Schacher was behind the Tribune group purchases of programs such as Friends, Two and a Half Men, Family Guy, and most recently, the new action hour Wizard's First Rule from Disney-ABC Domestic Distribution.

Brant Miller returns home

After the last few days, it's great to announce a hiring for a change!

WMAQ-TV meteorologist Brant Miller is returning to his roots at the frequency he used to work show. Miller has been hired as morning personality at Oldies outlet WZZN-FM (94.7) starting Monday, where he will hold down the 6 to 10 a.m. shift (Miller will continue in his meteorologist role at the NBC-owned station.)

Miller was evening personality at WLS-AM in its Top 40 heyday, beginning in 1977. Beginning in the mid-1980s, he was also heard on a simulcast with WLS-FM. He jumped to the FM side full time in early 1986 when WLS-FM split from its AM sister and became WYTZ-FM (Z95), a CHR/Top 40 outlet designed to compete more effectively with WBBM-FM (B96), which had the same format. He left the station in 1991 when WYTZ changed formats and joined WMAQ-TV as a part-time meteorologist (he also had a two year stint beforehand in the same role at WFLD-TV.)

Miller also hosted a local countdown show at WYTZ.

Even more layoffs at CBS

This is really getting sad...

- Chicago: This time, coming from the radio side: two female on-air personalities are out at WBBM-FM (B96) - overnighter Candi Gomez and midday jock Roxanne Steele, with their contracts not being renewed. A new personality from Miami is going to take Steele's place, while the overnight position is not being filled.

Anyone want to take any bets regarding Edde & JoBo's future at the station? Their contract is up in 2009. And right now, it's not looking so good...

- Los Angeles: KCBS-TV and KCAL-TV have sent longtime Los Angeles anchors Harold Greene and Ann Martin packing after their contracts expire later this spring, with two others from the on-air news team also out and union technical personnel are being offered buyouts.

Much like what happened here in Chicago with WBBM-TV, KCBS hired Greene and Martin from a popular ABC outlet (in this case KABC), and tried to rebuild their ratings with familiar personalities. Despite improved ratings, KCBS' newscasts trails still trails those of KABC.

Meanwhile, CBS News is laying off, with The Early Show losing five employees.

More layoffs at CBS O&Os

Back to serious business: The causality list at CBS just keeps on coming. In addition to the cuts at WBBM-TV on Monday:

- New York: WCBS-TV (which was home to "Black Wednesday" in 1996 when seven on-air personalities were laid off) dropped two correspondents, and canceled its Sports Sunday wrap-up show.

- Dallas: More layoffs at KTVT/KTXA, where several more were let go (scroll down) and there was nothing positive about public-affairs program Positively Texas getting positively canceled, with the market's first African-American female news anchor in Dallas (Iola Johnson) getted axed as well.

- San Francisco: KPIX-TV laid off fourteen people there, including veteran reporters Manny Ramos and Bill Schechner.

- Boston: Ratings-challenged WBZ-TV axed a whopping 30 employees, with the layoffs cutting across all departments, including the newsroom, interactive, promotions, sales, and engineering.

- Pittsburgh: KDKA-TV and WPCW-TV cut ten people (third item)

- Denver: KCNC-TV let six people go, with possibly more coming in the engineering department.

-Sacramento - KOVR-TV and KMAX-TV let two reporters go, as well as several other employees.

Our little prank for the day

Click on the image to see the little prank I pulled on April Fools' Day. This website "was taken over by Jim I think radio is dead Cramer." Oh, the horror!

And another thing...

And on a personal note: The comments section in the Tribune over the Channel 2 layoffs has turned into a free-for-all, with yours truly joining in the fray (scroll way down. Flame war, baby!) Don't know how Family Guy and Adult Swim came up in all of this... but if yours truly is one of those responsible for sending the country downhill, I am so freaking proud of it. Obviously, the freedom of speech and the freedom of choice isn't important to a lot of people.

People like Kevin Martin of the FCC.

People like The Parents Television Council.

People like The American Family Association.

People who want to control the viewing habits of others.

People like those in Big Media.

And apparently, 98 percent of the idiots who post comments on the Tribune and Sun-Times websites (except those who bash Jay Mariotti.)

Now, you tell me who is really sending the country down the toilet.

So, if I am sending the country downhill, good. But keep in mind there is a man in the White House and his administration who has had an eight-year head start.

Sweeping changes at Channel 2, CBS (updated)

Burns, Childers, Malone out at Channel 2; layoffs at other CBS O&Os

The ax fell at CBS-owned WBBM-TV on Monday, with eighteen people either laid off or their contracts not being renewed. The causalities include on-air veterans Mary Ann Childers, Diann Burns, and Mark Malone.

Burns was the highest-paid anchor at the station, making a reported $2 million per year.

The hirings on the three on-air personalities were heralded as a strategy to bring more viewers to the perennially ratings-challenged station by using familiar faces. But the numbers continued heading south, with WBBM's 10 p.m. newscasts often losing to WFLD's 10 p.m. news show among adults 18-49.

The firings are reminiscent of the "Black Wednesday" firings at sister station WCBS-TV in New York back on October 2, 1996, when a total of seven on-air personalities were fired.

"Black Monday" at WBBM was the largest purge of employees at any television station in a single day Chicago history.

This comes as major media companies across the country are making major cutbacks. A few weeks ago, Citadel laid off staff at WLS-AM & WZZN-FM and other stations across the country.

WBBM isn't the only CBS O&O station to feel the pinch:

- Dallas: KTVT let three people go, including longtime investigative reporter Robert Riggs.

- Minneapolis: WCCO-TV dropped a weekend anchor.

- Sacramento: CBS' duopoly of KOVR-TV and KMAX-TV laid off an unspecified number of employees.

- Denver: Employees at KCNC-TV are being told layoffs are coming this week, and one video editor has already been let go.

Classic Think Tank: The mess at Channel 2

Power 92 morning co-host exits

More firings: Say au revoir to Kendra G as her time is up at WPWX-FM (Power 92). The co-host of Chicago's only local morning program targeted to an urban audience is out after three years at the station, where she was on The Trey Choklit Jok Morning Jumpoff. Power 92 is now looking for a replacement.

Despite the fact Power 92's morning show has a distinct advantage in being a local voice, the program continues to trail the The Steve Harvey Snore n' Bore Morning Yawnfest on WGCI.

Game shows are hot again

After Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! became major successes in the mid-1980's, games shows became a hot property in syndication. By 1988, more than ten of them were on the air, including Win Lose or Draw, and Wipeout!, and successful revivals of Hollywood Squares, The Dating Game, and Family Feud.

But the game show boom went bust by 1991 after several highly anticipated game shows flopped. A total of twelve games were canned in syndication over a two-year period, claiming veterans (Win Lose or Draw), freshman entries (Remote Control, Talkabout, The Challengers) and revivals (The Joker's Wild, Tic Tac Dough and The Krypton Factor) alike. Even Donald Trump had his name on a game show, aptly named Trump Card. And that flopped, too.

When the carnage cleared, there were only five game shows on the air. Total. And none of them were in prime-time (of course), and only The Price Is Right and Classic Concentration were on networks' daytime schedule. Even Bill Cosby's jump into the fray with the revival of classic game show You Bet in Life in 1992 was a bust.

Fast forward to today, where it is a completely different story. Game shows aren't only prospering in syndication - they're prospering in prime-time as well - something we haven't seen since the 1950's, pre-game show scandals. Last Thursday, NBC's Deal or No Deal drew 11 million viewers - even without the Million Dollar Mission episodes. The Price Is Right may have a shot of CBS' fall schedule for the first time after its prime-time specials have been deemed a success (and this comes after two syndicated nighttime versions failed.) And more are in development.

In syndication, Wheel and Jeopardy! continue their two-and-a-half decade dominance in the ratings, while the weekday strip version of Deal or No Deal and Trivial Pursuit debuts this fall and joins other successful games (Millionaire and Family Feud) and a mediocre-performing one (Merv Griffin's Crosswords).

This TV Week article details this and more, and why game shows are hot in syndication again.

"Quincy" sues NBC Universal

Jack Klugman, who starred in the NBC crime drama Quincy, is suing the network over the show's profits.

Klugman has filed a lawsuit against NBC Universal over the program's revenue, and claims the studio is being dishonest over the issue. In the contract, Klugman and his production company was entitled to a quarter of the profits. Klugman claimed his agent "lost" the copy of the contract and NBC has refused to issue their copy.

Universal Television produced Quincy for NBC between 1976 to 1983 for NBC. In 2004, NBC and Universal merged to become NBC Universal.

Quincy is the forerunner to future forensic programs such as DaVinci's Inquest and the current trio of CSI dramas, and has been successful in off-net syndication since the early 1980s. It was still so popular that CBS-owned KCBS-TV in Los Angeles replaced the low-rated The Joan Rivers Show in its 3 p.m. weekday time slot with Quincy reruns in March 1991.

Quincy currently airs on MeTV (WWME-TV) in Chicago.

Klugman is a noted dramatic actor - in addition to playing Quincy, he also had roles on Naked City and The Twilight Zone, but he's best remembered for playing opposite Tony Randall on ABC's sitcom The Odd Couple from 1970 to 1975.

"Celebrity Apprentice" wins Thursday

And Piers Morgan (who?) wins the whoring-for-Trump competition, which beat CBS' NCAA Tournament coverage, which means America treasures its sleazy TV as much as it does Mom, Apple Pie, and foreign cars (it used to be Chevrolet...)

And this has-been TV critic raves so much about this show, you think he was working for NBC's PR department...

Big Media does it again!

On Tuesday, I had a post up on a story in which Jay Mariotti bashes Cubs fans, and the Sun-Times feedback section below was filled with anti-Mariotti comments. Late Tuesday evening, the feedback section disappeared not only from the Cubs article, but all of Mariotti's articles (All other articles had their comments section intact.)

In today's Sports TV/Radio column in the Chicago Tribune, Teddy Greenstein reports that Mariotti asked Sun-Times management to have the comments section removed from his column online (third item), and they did.

I guess the Reader Alienation Plan continues at the Chicago Daily Onion, who proudly boasts that they are the most-read paper in Chicago. Who' s writing the marketing slogans at the paper, NBC? Or is it Donald ("The Apprentice is the number one show on TV!") Trump?

So now, we can't criticize a slimeball like Jay Mariotti? Did he became a member of the Bush Administration overnight?

Look, jackasses. You either do a feedback section for your website, or not. This is so typical of Big Media. The Parents Television Council wants to squash free speech and so does Big Media.

We should be afraid. Very afraid.

WCIU fined for kids' ad violations

This dates way back when WCIU-TV carried Kids' WB programming, and this is the price they paid for it: The Weigel-owned independent station was fined $16,500 for kids' ad violations by the FCC, regarding Pokemon product placement on Eggo waffles and Fruit By The Foot fruit roll-ups (perhaps this is one of reasons why WCIU dropped Kids' WB from the station in 2004. The animated program block later moved to WGN-TV.)

In other words, don't look for Pokemon to be WCIU's mascot anytime soon.

CW affiliate WNAB-TV in Nashville was also hit by the FCC for failing to properly maintain their public inspection files.

More on Wally Phillips' death

Two wonderful articles here from The Trib's Phil Rosenthal and the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel's Tim Cuprisin (it turned out Wally Phillips also had listeners in the Milwaukee area.)

New boss at CBS Television Distribution

And his name is John Nogawski, who'll oversee the world's largest syndication company as president of CBS Television Distribution, whose massive programming library runs the gamut from Everybody Loves Raymond to Everybody Hates Chris and everything in between.

Nogawski steps into a role that was occupied by the legendary Roger King, who died on Dec. 8.

Also, Robert Madden becomes the senior executive vice president of CBS Television Distribution. In the newly created position, he'll oversee the existing relationships CBS has with Sony regarding Wheel of Fortune and Jeporady! and Harpo Productions regarding The Oprah Winfrey Show (and his number one task should be keeping Ms. O in the ranks past 2011 - that's when her contract to do her talk show expires.)

WPWR launches new public affairs show

WPWR also secures rights to Chicago Fire games

Fox-owned WPWR-TV is launching a new public affairs show called Perspective, which will air Sundays at 12:30 p.m. beginning March 30. This marks the first new public-affairs program to air on WPWR under Fox's ownership. Before Fox took over the station, WPWR ran public affairs programming such as Dimensions: Northwest Indiana and a weekly talk show hosted by comedian Aaron Freeman.

The program is hosted by Monique Caradine, and she will interview newsmakers and trendsetters from all walks of life on a variety of topics, ranging from politics to entertainment. The debut episode this Sunday focuses on the controversy surrounding Rev. Jerimah Wright - Barack Obama's former minister, which has been the story here on Chicago's South Side.

Meanwhile, WPWR has secured the rights to air eighteen Chicago Fire MLS soccer games beginning Saturday with a game against Real Salt Lake (FYI, that's the MLS franchise in  Salt Lake City, Utah.) To see the complete schedule, click here.

Chicago radio legend Wally Phillips dies

Photo: Chicago Sun-Times

The undisputed king of Chicago morning radio from the 1960's to the 1980's has passed away at the age of 82.

Wally Phillips began his legendary Chicago radio career at WGN in 1956 and became the station's morning personality in 1965 and had the market's top rated morning show from 1968 until he left for afternoons in 1986. He retired from WGN in 1998 after an incredible 42-year run at the station (however, he did come out of retirement to do a weekly talk show for WAIT-AM a year later.)

To prove how powerful he was in this market, he attracted an average of 1.5 million each day at his peak. In 1986 -the last full ratings book in morning drive, he had a 15 share!

More recently, Phillips had been living in Naples, Fla. and had been battling Alzheimer's disease for the last four years.

Among his numerous accomplishments, Phillips was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1993 and the National Association of Broadcasters' Hall of Fame in 1997.

This team is about as bad as the Orioles

Here's another Channel 2 that can't get arrested in news.

ABC affiliate WMAR-TV in Baltimore has been the long-time ratings laggard in this market. The Scripps-owned station hoped it could inject some ratings juice into the also-ran by switching from NBC to ABC in 1995.

The moves sent WJZ-TV to CBS (as part of a larger CBS-Westinghouse affiliation deal) and WBAL-TV back to NBC (it was a peacock network affiliate until 1981, when CBS had enough of WMAR's frequent pre-emptions of network programming and hooked up with WBAL.)

The same year, WMAR made the really smart decision not to renew The Oprah Winfrey Show (it landed on WBAL.)

The outcome? WJZ ratings remained constant, WBAL vaulted to the top of the ratings, and WMAR - is still in third place. The 5 p.m. newscast crown the station won when Oprah was its' lead-in? It went to WBAL.

But Scripps has a plan in place to make the station competitive again. Here's a story on how WMAR plans to get back into the race.

"Golden Girls" shift to Hallmark

The Golden Girls is shifting from long-time cable home Lifetime to the Hallmark Channel, effective early next year.

The off-network sitcom has been a constant performer on Lifetime, drawing new generations of viewers that never saw the program during its original seven-season run on NBC (1985-92.) However, ratings have been declining over the years, and Lifetime felt the program has run its course.

Girls had been airing on Lifetime since March 1997. Prior to that, Buena Vista Television (now Disney-ABC Domestic Television) had the program in broadcast syndication from 1990 to 1996, where it often ranked as the top-rated off-network sitcom.

"Family Feud" headed back to prime-time

For the first time in 25 years, Family Feud is headed to prime-time.

A celebrity edition of the syndicated game-show strip is being planned by Fremantle for NBC in prime-time, although it's being proposed as a series of specials. If you recall, ABC aired prime-time specials in the 1970's and 1980's, which pitted celebrity casts of shows for charity, i.e., The Eight Is Enough cast against The Love Boat cast. Another edition pitted members of the Philadelphia Phillies against the Kansas City Royals (in 1980, when both teams met in the World Series.)

Celebrity editions also popped up in the second incarnation of the series on both the CBS daytime version (1988-93) and in syndication (1988-95).

Most recently, a special WWE edition and a special NBA edition has aired on the current syndicated version.

Feud is currently in its tenth season in syndication, and is distributed by Debmar-Mercury. The first incarnation of Feud premiered in daytime on ABC in 1976 and in first-run nighttime syndication in 1977 (first as a weekly, then a nightly strip by 1979.) Both versions lasted until 1985.

"South Park" now available for streaming

More Cartman and Timmy than you bargained for. Not a bad thing.

No more going to iTunes and paying $2 for an episode (or getting it free from BitTorrent) - now every episode of South Park ever made is now available for streaming at a revamped SouthParkStudios.com, thanks to Comedy Central and the V of Doom (Viacom.)

Of course, there's the buffering problems and the pausing and the crashing and the such...

Pols not happy with DOJ approval of XM-Sirius merger

Some in Washington are not happy with XM-Sirius merger, with the FCC all but certain to approve the deal (Republican majority... hello?) Some politicians are angry with the Department of Justice's decision, while others think it is good deal.

Here is a Think Tank I wrote last year regarding the approval of the deal, and my support of it at the time. However, yours truly admits the Think tank was more of an anti-NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) piece than anything else. While some satellite radio fans support the merger, are they willing to possibly pay higher prices for their product and support advertising, particularly in an economy that's continuing to sink? The deal was approved with no conditions, which could mean the new company may not lower prices or offer a la carte service like they proposed to do if this merger happened.

Many listeners have also complained about Sirius' lackluster programming (outside of Howard Stern) and excessive DJ talk and XM's music channels, not to mention XM's Internet streams, which are not known for its quality.

Is the FCC willing this approve the deal for the sake of approving mergers? The FCC under the Bush administration has been known as anti-consumer and pro-corporate.

And if XM and Sirius are allowed to merge, who else? CBS and Clear Channel? Entercom and Cumulus? Direct TV and Dish Network? Comcast and RCN? In the media business, the days of a rivalry have long passed, especially when the bottom line is involved. The NAB and other groups will likely demand what remains of any government rules regarding media properties be thrown out. And if McClain gets into the White House, it is almost a certainty.

So, is the merger a good idea? We'll have to wait and see. If the new service becomes anything like terrestrial radio, then you know what the answer is. And if Mel Karmazin (one of those who helped destroy terrestrial radio) ends up running this combined company, then the answer will come sooner than we think.

And the Think Tank I wrote? Well, there's that "delete" button...

More on the Fox-KSWB deal

From The San Diego Union-Tribune's TV Critic Karla Peterson, and the San Diego Business Journal. Phil Rosenthal from the Chicago Tribune also weighs in.

Radio One bats out of L.A.

Radio One has sold its struggling Urban AC KRBV-FM to Bonneville for $138 million. The station, once known as Urban/Hip-Hop formatted The Beat (100.3, KKBT) has tumbled in the ratings over the years, flipping to a Urban AC format two years ago. With Bonneville taking over, a format change is all but certain, as Bonneville does not program urban formats.

In Chicago, Bonneville owns Hot AC WTMX-FM, Classic Rock WDRV-FM (The Drive), and whatever-the-heck-format WILV-FM is playing.

NBC buys, destroys, sells WTVJ

That's according to Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel TV Critic Tom Jicha, who is dead on correct about NBC, who bought WTVJ (a CBS affiliate) in 1987, switched its long-time affiliation from WSVN-TV two years later, then traded in a strong channel position (Channel 4) to CBS for a weak one (Channel 6) in 1995 so they can own WCAU-TV (another former CBS O&O) in Philadelphia.

And what became of WSVN you ask? Well, they hooked up with Fox, expanded local news, caught fire with American Idol, and has beaten WTVJ ever since. (click here and scroll up for my take on the WTVJ mess - and why it was CBS' fault as much as it was NBC's. And no, I do not live in Lincolnwood...)

Justice Department approves XM-Sirius merger

The Justice Department approved the XM-Sirius deal, which clears another hurdle for the two to hook up (only the FCC stands in the way now.)

It's official: KSWB to switch to Fox

It's official: Tribune's KSWB-TV - the market's San Diego CW affiliate (and former WB affiliate) will switch to Fox effective this August. It was a rumor branded around TV circles the last few weeks, after new Tribune boss Sam Zell mentioned in a video on the company's Baltimore Sun website (which has been since taken down) that he struck a deal with Fox to change KSWB's affiliation.

KSWB gains popular prime-time programming including American Idol, House, Family Guy (which the station already airs in syndicated repeats), and The Simpsons. KSWB also will re-launch a news operation instead on relying on outside sources. It has done so since 2005, when Tribune shut down its news department in a cost-cutting move.

KSWB signed on as KTTY (Channel 69) in 1984, and became a WB affiliate in 1995. Tribune has owned the station since 1996.

The deal means Fox is leaving XETV (Channel 6), a founding affiliate which was among the first outside the original six-station Metromedia group to sign on with the fourth network in 1986. In fact, XETV was the first Fox station in the country to "foxify", by creating an on-air identity known as "Fox 6". XETV is licensed across the border in Tijuana, Mexico and has a transmitter there, but the station's offices and studios are in San Diego. XETV is owned by Televisa/Entravision, while programming is handled by Bay City Television.

Tribune will now own seven Fox affiliates, including WXIN-TV in Indianapolis and WXMI-TV in Grand Rapids, Mich. Tribune will continue to own twelve CW affiliates, including WGN-TV in Chicago and WXIN's sister station in Indianapolis, WTTV. Despite disappointing ratings and reported dissension between the two, Tribune executives appear to be committed to The CW.

No word on where the CW will land in San Diego, or what future program plans XETV has on the horizon after Fox departs.

Deja Vu with an X

This is not the first time XETV has lost an affiliation. In 1972, XETV lost ABC to UHF outlet KCST-TV (Channel 39, now NBC-owned KNSD), after the FCC ruled that foreign stations over the border cannot transmit network programming from a border city when there was an American television station available and as a result, XETV became an independent. (What goes around, came around - unhappy with being forced onto an UHF station, ABC struck a deal to affiliate with then-NBC affiliate KGTV in 1977. The peacock network - in the Nielsen basement at the time - wound up on KCST.)

In 1994, XETV's Fox affiliation was threatened over live broadcasts of sporting events. Fox acquired rights to air NFL games that year, and FCC regulations prohibited foreign stations from airing live programs into the United States. XETV and Fox applied for and got waivers, but not without a legal challenge from KUSI-TV, which tried to wrest away Fox from XETV. The waivers later became permanent.

Thought: While it seems Fox is taking a step down by affiliating with a lower-rated station with a higher channel number at KSWB, this apparently is not the case - This is not the Fox-New World affiliation swap from 1994, when Fox scored a coup by affiliating with twelve VHF New World-owned Big Three network affiliates, which knocked those networks onto UHF dial positions in many markets, with CBS the hardest hit by losing longtime affiliates in Detroit, Cleveland, Atlanta, and Milwaukee, among others.

VHF and UHF won't matter in the digital age as analog broadcasting shuts down next year, with digital broadcasting's ability to deliver stronger and sharper pictures across the board. Plus, don't forget that the San Diego area has a very high cable and satellite penetration rate - Tribune brands KSWB as "CW5" (the cable channel the station occupies on most systems.) not "CW 69", its over-the-air analog channel number.

As a result, San Diego's UHF stations are very competitive with VHF outlets XETV, KFMB-TV (CBS) and KGTV. In fact - KNSD - on OTA Channel 39 and cable channel 7 - regularly wins the 11 p.m. news race. Louisville's WLKY-TV - on Channel 32 - is that market's top-rated station, ironically scoring ratings success after losing ABC to WHAS in 1990 and signing up with CBS. Louisville is another market with high cable penetration.

On the other hand, UHF network affiliates involved in the New World swap - notably local news-less KDNL-TV (ABC) in St. Louis and WWJ-TV (CBS) in Detroit, and well as WOIO-TV (CBS) in Cleveland and WGCL-TV (CBS) in Atlanta - have yet to enjoy overall ratings success.

Trivia: Instead of receiving programs via satellite, Fox and XETV had to rely on a "bicycling" arrangement from 1986-94 - i.e. physically delivering a program to a station, which was commonplace with first-run syndicated programming before the 1980's. Fox programming was transmitted via satellite to a U.S. receiving station, and tapes were made to physically transport across the border to XETV's facilities in Tijuana.

-Around 5:00a.m. every morning, XETV plays the American and Mexican national anthems before the start of the programming day, as well as technical information in English and Spanish. You can view a clip by clicking here.

T Dog's Think Tank: Bashing the South Side

The last few topics I dealt with on the Think Tank involved Homer Simpson Jumping the Shark and Jim Belushi. Yikes. Now there's some issues that really require some thought. But this piece is a lot more serious, given I live here. I may step on a few toes, but I'm kind of pissed, and this must be told.

It seems the media has issues with Chicago's South Side, a place I'm proud to call home (until I move to L.A. and get this screenwriting career started - whenever that happens.) This part of town, as well as the south suburbs, and Northwest Indiana, doesn't get any respect from the media elite. To Big Media, these areas are portrayed as "the ghetto" (even the middle-and upper-class areas), because the residents are majority African-American and Hispanic. It's just another worn-out stereotype that's been used since the 1950's. Not even the Chicago White Sox's 2005 World Series Championship has changed that.

It's worst enough the local media only comes down here when there is an accident, shooting, murder investigations, and other mayhem. Now, the South Side is focus again, thanks to presidential candidate Barack Obama's pastor making controversial remarks - remarks that were made several years ago.

As you know by now, the recently retired Rev. Jeremiah Wright, pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in the Washington Heights neighborhood - about 3 miles from where I live no less - made controversial comments regarding race and America back several years ago. A video of him making those comments recently turned up on various media outlets - and the video were played over and over again on those cable news channels - mainly because Obama is his pastor, and he's running for president.

And predictably, some Chicagoans and others who don't live here - are having a field day bashing the South Side and the African-Americans who do. All you have to do is look at the comments made on the Chicago Tribune's website.

And that's not all. Take a look at any crime story from the Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times and click the comments section - they are filled with mostly racist dialog (recently, both the Sun-Times and Tribune have added "crime blotters" to their websites, officially cementing their papers as a joke.) In fact, just click on any story regarding the South Side - whether if it's building a shopping center in a middle-class black neighborhood or some person making a positive difference - it's the same thing.

And it's not just limited to the Chicago papers. Last summer, yours truly clicked on a story regarding a Chicago White Sox-Cleveland Indians game on The Sporting News website - again, more racist bashing of the South Side, this time from Indians fans. A few weeks later on the same site, many suburban Detroit residents decided to take their turn (guess they got tired of bashing their own city.)

Oh no, it's not just North Side Cub fans bashing the South Side anymore (at least they keep race out of it.) It seems to be the hip thing to do.

Stop. Just stop it. What the media doesn't tell you (or won't tell you) is that Chicago's South Side is filled with hard working and decent people who are trying to get by day after day in this game we call life. Many have strong, solid family values - as well as faith that keep them going, even through the toughest of times. They work to make their community and the world - a better place.

But Big Media doesn't care about that. The ministers of misinformation continue to stick it to minority communities, not only in Chicago, but across the country, by focusing on only the bad people who live there.

And of course, the simpletons lap it up. They rely on the misguided information the media puts out every day. Whether it's the yuks on the cable news channels, the network newscasts, or the comedians on right-wing talk radio, it's basically the same thing. They trust these people because they feel those guys know everything - which they usually don't. These simpletons don't have a mind of their own, anyway - they are always looking for someone to tell them what to do or what to think.

As for Trinity, the church does a lot of good things for people in the African-American community, such as AIDS awareness programs and canned food drives. Unfortunately, these actions don't sell newspapers, generate web site hits, or boost TV ratings.

So the media focuses on Rev. Wright's inflammatory comments because it sells. It's no different than a box of laundry detergent. Of course the cable news networks were going to run the clip over and over again - there's a hidden message the media wants to sink in to its audience. And we all know what that is. Racial harmony in this country? Nah, it won't sell. Hate? Hell, yeah! Sign me up for a thousand boxes of that!

Sadly, race and politics packaged together sells in this country, much like a combo meal at Happy Burger. Instead of a honest dialog regarding both, we get a mish-mash of sound bites, partisan commentary, and heat and emotion from both sides of the debate. It's something we know all too well in Chicago - all you have to do is look back at the awful media coverage of Harold Washington's mayoral campaign 25 years ago - not to mention the racially divided "Council Wars" of that era. The local media profited from "Council Wars", without providing any analysis or insight whatsoever.

The really sad part is, all of this reminds us how racially divided this nation still is. For example, a story on Girlfriends cancellation on BlackVoices.com a month or so ago featured commenters that were mostly divided among race - most African-Americans posters were mourning the death of the show (and blasting the networks for abandoning the African-American audience), while white posters were barely containing their glee. But apparently, having a voice of reason is too much to ask.

Of course, this is the agenda of Big Media - to incite and divide. This makes them more money - through higher ratings and increased web site hits. They don't care about the South Side of Chicago - or anywhere else for that matter. News is basically entertainment nowadays anyway - there is really no difference between the content of Sun-Times, Fox News, TMZ.com, and the National Enquirer.

Residents from all over the city complained about this and more at last year's FCC hearing at Operation PUSH. But some of the commissioners were so bored by all of this, they couldn't keep their selfish heads up (particularly FCC Chairman Kevin Martin.) Many African-Americans and Hispanics complained about how the local media covers their neighborhoods, but the complaints fell on deaf ears, as usual. If the FCC doesn't care, why should Big Media? (if the issue was indecency, I bet ya the FCC would wake up real quick!)

But at least there has been some improvement in the way the media handles urban issues. Last year, CNN and Anderson Cooper came to Chicago to try to get to the bottom of Chicago's high violence rate, especially among young people. As some of you recall, 16 year-old Blair Holt was gunned down on a CTA bus in Washington Heights nearly a year ago. Cooper came to town and reported on how Chicago residents were coping with violence in their neighborhoods day after day and how they were determined on stopping it. The stories were well done and were fair and balanced (take that, Fox News.)

ABC-owned WLS-TV in Chicago aired a half-hour special last spring regarding violence in Chicago communities - in prime-access no less, pre-empting the popular Wheel of Fortune for one night. It featured a round-table discussion on the escalating youth homicide rate, and trying to find solutions to the problem (CBS affiliate WOIO-TV in Cleveland also aired a similar special last year, though in a town-hall setting.)

It's a start, but more of this kind of coverage needs to take place in the media community, both of the local media level and the national media one.

Yours truly wonders if these controversies will hurt Chicago's image. I addressed these issues in a think tank last May, regarding Chicago's 2016 Olympic bid and the behavior of its residents and its "stars". A lot of people here, including yours truly, do not want to go back to the "Beirut on the Lake" days of the 1980's, when Chicago's racial divisions were wide out in the open for America to see. With race now front and center in the presidential campaign, are we headed down this path again, with America in tow? To answer this, here's a quote from a Simpsons episode titled "Marge vs. the Monorail", where in this scene, when the crowded Monorail train goes out of control, Homer (who's the conductor) asks this question to his son, Bart:

Homer: Are we gonna die, son?

Bart: Yeah, but at least we're going to take a lot of innocent people with us.

All aboard!