"Rewind" with Anna Davlantes

Given all what's going in Chicago lately, I guess there's a need for another public-affairs program (one show can't cover it all...)

WTTW is debuting a new review-of-the-week show this Friday night at 8:30 p.m., aptly titled Rewind. The new program is hosted by WMAQ-TV anchor and reporter Anna Davlantes.

Though the program plans to be somewhat similar to Chicago Week in Review, which airs Fridays at 7:00 p.m., a stark difference is instead of notable media people appearing to talk about the issues of the week, Rewind's panelists are basically everyday people. Panelists are urged to apply through WTTW's website.

In an e-mail to the Trib's Phil Rosenthal, Davlantes stated that Rewind is going to be different from other public-affairs shows by targeting a younger audience who may be shutting out "certain content". At the end of each show, the panelists are invited "to talk about an issue, they feel, was under-reported, misreported or missed altogether by the media. Again, it's a chance for people to have a voice. That's the focus."

Rewind is part of a Friday night local programming block for the popular PBS station, which includes Review, The Friday Night Show (both under the Chicago Tonight umbrella), Check Please, and now Rewind.

It's a good alternative for those who don't want to see Howie Mandel do anything (besides host Deal) or watch lame, worn-out network programming on this lackluster night, which includes need-to-expire fare such as Everybody Hates Chris, Wife Swap, and Supernanny.

Did you know?: Rewind was the title of a Fox sitcom in 1996 starring Scott Baio, which never got on the air.

TCA News

From the Winter Press Tour:

- BET isn't going to pass up a history-making event as this one. The network is going to be there front and center for President-elect Barack Obama's Inauguration. BET will air special programming beginning this Saturday, including extended coverage of Obama's Inauguration on Jan. 20. Click here to read more.

- HBO is launching a new show shot entirely in Africa. Titled The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, it stars Grammy Award winner Jill Scott and Anika Noni Rose running a detective agency in the country. The series is based on the best-selling book series by Alexander McCall Smith.

For the record, the last drama shot in Africa was CW's short-lived Life is Wild, which ran during the 2007-08 season.

- After crowning a new Miss America (can anyone tell me who the last one was? Anybody?), TLC debuts a new series called NASCAR Wives, which goes behind the scenes of "the other half" of race car drivers.

For more TCA items, including those on Comedy Central, Starz, and Nick, click here.

TD Jakes shelved until 2010

Wendy Williams goes forward.

CBS Television Distribution has decided to shelve preacher T.D. Jakes' new syndicatedtalk show until 2010, according to the distributor. The reason given was the tough economic conditions stations and advertisers are facing this year.

Meanwhile, Debmar-Mercury's new Wendy Williams syndicated talk show is going forward, clearing 70 percent of the country.

Report: Sony cancels "Judge David Young" and "Judge Karen"

Broadcasting & Cable is reporting that two Sony-distributed courtroom strips (Judge David Young and Judge Karen) are expected to be canceled soon. Young will exit after two seasons and Karen after only one. The possible moves come as the tough economy has taken a toll on the first-run syndication business, as ratings and revenue coming in are very low for many daytime shows currently on the air.

Young airs on WFLD-TV locally at 1 p.m. and Karen airs at 2 p.m. on WCIU, where it has often finished second in its time period, beating syndicated talk shows hosted by Rachael Ray and Bonnie Hunt.

The moves come as the courtroom genre has been overcrowded for years (with more than ten shows), and the shakeout has now only begun. And the genre is also a tougher sell to advertisers - especially for some of the more lower-rated programs, compared to more ad-friendly talk shows such as Oprah and Regis & Kelly, and even Martha Stewart's talk show - which despite low ratings - was recently renewed for another season.

Two more freshmen strips (Program Partners' Family Court and Debmar-Mecury's Trivial Pursuit) are expected to leave stations' schedules as well come September.

Also, Merv Griffin's Crosswords, which went on production hiatus last summer and was expected to return with new episodes this calendar year, now may not return at all. Many stations that carried the strip from Program Partners last season dropped the show at the start of the 2008-09 season.

Earlier this week, Twentieth Television pulled the plug on The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet.

Updated at 11:00 p.m.

T Dog's Groovy Grab Bag

The first four-post day in a long time! Here's some more news...

- From Chicagoland Radio and Media: WGN-TV news anchor Allison Payne is expected to return to the desk Monday evening. She has been sitting out off and on for the last year or so recovering from a set of mini-strokes.

- The contestants for the new season of Celebrity Apprentice were announced today. So, where are the celebrities?

- TCA Update: The TCA Winter Press Tour has kicked off in Los Angeles earlier this week. Click here for the latest to see what cable nets We, National Geographic, Sundance, and IFC are up to.

- A follow-up to a story yours truly posted yesterday on a cable standoff in Kansas involving... well, a lot of parties. ABC affiliate KTKA-TV is now back on Dish Network in the Topeka area, after a week of being off the satellite system (However, Kansas City stations KMBC-TV and KCWE-TV were still MIA from Sunflower Broadband's cable system...)

KTKA is owned by Free State Communications, a wholly-owned subsidary of The World Company - which happens to be Sunflower's corporate parent.

Patrick Knorr, the COO of Sunflower Broadband, blamed the "faulty regulatory system for retransmission consent that creates an environment in which customers are put in the middle of negotiations."

Really... How about the greedy corporate giants who have basically done the same thing? Hey Mr. Knorr, did your wife let you back in the bedroom yet?

- As you heard by now, Apple announced a new three-tier pricing for songs in its iTunes store, with songs being priced at $. 69, $.99, and $1.29 - as well as stripping out the dreaded Digital Rights Management, or DRM for short. An interesting item in page 3 of today's Chicago Tribune showed what it would be like if the world at large were priced in the new iTunes system. In the category of "TV shows in which attractive women are inexplicably attracted to fat guys", priced at $1.29 was The King of Queens, priced at $.69 was The Price Is Right (um... I don't get it) and priced at $. 99 was According to Jim.

Funny, I thought According to Jim was only worth five cents.

Digital switch may be put off

In a move certain to make a lot of people angry, the digital TV switchover may not take place on Feb. 17 as planned.

The new Obama administration wants to postpone the switch because money to fund those digital converter box coupons have run out. The possible move is being supported by the four major networks.

With all the time, money, and TV commercials devoted to this transition, why are they now deciding to postpone the switch? Thank you Kevin Martin, FCC, and the federal government, you've done it again. I guess the Chicago Bears and Detroit Lions aren't the only sorry organizations who are thoroughly mismanaged... Maybe the government should hire Lovie Smith and Matt Millen to run this now-wasteful program... it would make no difference.

"My Name is Earl" clears WPWR

More Twentieth Television news: The syndicator has cleared NBC sitcom My Name Is Earl in 47 percent of the country beginning this fall, including nine out of the top ten markets.

Fox-owned My Network TV stations are part of the deal, including WPWR-TV in Chicago. The program is also expected to run on sister station WFLD-TV.

Earl has also cleared stations owned by CBS, Tribune, Local TV, and WPCH-TV in Atlanta. Midwest clearances include WKBD-TV in Detroit, WDAF-TV in Kansas City, WITI in Milwaukee, KTVI in St. Louis, and WTTV/WXIN in Indianapolis.

Among non Fox O&O stations, the biggest sale was to WPSG-TV in Philadelphia, a market where Fox owns a station (WTXF).

My Name Is Earl is about a crook (Jason Lee) who wins the lottery, gets hit by a car, develops a belief in something called karma while in the hospital, then later finds the ticket, and makes a list of things he has to do to make up for all of his wrongs. Comedy hilarity ensues.

Twentieth cancels "Morning Show with Mike and Juilet"

In what may be a harbinger for things to come regarding first-run syndicated fare, Twentieth Television has canceled The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet after a two-season run.

The daytime strip, which competed with Live with Regis & Kelly in most markets (including Chicago until WFLD-TV expanded its morning newscast), averaged an season-to-date 0.8 Nielsen household rating, putting it twelfth out of thirteenth talk shows in syndication.

Despite performing well in several markets, The Morning Show fared poorly in others, particularly in larger ones.

Twentieth blamed economic conditions as the reason why the series is ending production, which comes in June. The program ends its run on September 11.

The Morning Show originally launched as a limited-test run series on 26 Fox O&O markets (which since has slimmed down to 18) before launching nationwide in syndication.

Over the last fifteen years, Twentieth has had a hard time launching a successful first-run talk strip. The casualty list includes Bertice Berry, Gordon Elliott, Gabrielle Carteris, Terry Bradshaw, Forgive and Forget, and Earvin "Magic" Johnson. Twentieth plans to focus on renewing its stock of courtroom shows for next fall.

T Dog's Groovy Grab Bag

- Station swap: Raycom and Local TV are trading stations with each other and maybe one to be named later... Raycom has traded CBS affiliate WTVR in Richmond, Va. to Local TV for Fox affiliate WBRC-TV in Birmingham. Raycom, which is based in Alabama, will now have a presence in most of the state. Earlier, the Justice Department rejected Raycom's sale of WTVR to Sinclair Broadcasting after Sinclair planned to sell Fox affiliate WRLH-TV to a third party, but would continue to operate it.

Raycom had to sell WTVR after it purchased Jefferson-Pilot's TV stations, including cross-town rival NBC affiliate WWBT-TV, which it couldn't keep because of anti-trust regulations.

Previous owners for WBRC (who had past affiliations with NBC, CBS, and then ABC) included Storer, Taft, Great American, New World, and Fox itself. Local TV acquired WBRC in an eight station deal a year ago.

- WUSA-TV, the CBS affiliate in Washington, D.C., is dumping its low-rated weekend morning newscasts later this month and is replacing them with - you guessed it, infomercials. The station may also fill the slots with some local programming. Once the market's top-rated station in the 1980's (whose schedule at the time included The Oprah Winfrey Show and Wheel of Fortune), WUSA is now in fourth place overall, including news.

- Turning back to the Windy City, WLS-TV reporter Dan Ponce has ditched his reporting gig to pursue a music gig. He's in a vocal group titled Straight No Chaser (yes, this is the name of the group.) Dan Ponce is the son on WTTW-TV's Chicago Tonight host Phil Ponce and the brother of WMAQ-TV reporter Anthony Ponce.

Dan is also an avid Simpsons fan. Let's hope he watched the episode (Bart Gets Famous) where Homer was attacked by a monkey while he was in an one-man band playing "Tighten Up"(or at least trying to.) Funny Stuff.

Talk about your conflict of interest....

An interesting item from TV Barn: Sunflower Broadband (or Cable, or whatever they want to be called), which serves northeastern Kansas, dropped two Hearst-Argyle owned Kansas City stations from its channel lineup because they were asking too much money from them to be carried on Sunflower's cable system. So Sunflower Broadband COO Patrick Knorr replaced departed ABC affiliate KMBC-TV from K.C. with Topeka's ABC affiliate, KTKA-TV. However, CW affiliate KCWE-TV was not replaced with another CW outlet (Oh, dear! No Gossip Girl or 90210. What's a young girl to do?)

Recently, KTKA was dropped by Dish Network in the Topeka area. Why? Because Sunflower Broadband - whose parent company is the owner of KTKA - was asking too much money from Dish Network to carry them! And guess who the general manager of KTKA is... Knorr's wife, who happens to fighting Dish on the comp issue. (Whaaa?) Gee, does Mr. Knorr sleep on the couch every night? He must scarfing down bags of Keebler cookies and Fig Netwons every day at work and browsing through Maxim during his "downtime" at his office with the door closed because we all know he ain't getting any... The hypocrisy is really, really getting thick in here...

In the words of The Score's Boers and Bernstein... Patrick Knorr, Who are you Crappin'?

"Odd Couple" returns to local TV

For the first time in... I don't know... many years, repeats of The Odd Couple are back on TV.

On Thursday (an odd day to start airing a TV show on a "strip" basis), WWME-TV (or Me-TV) began airing The Odd Couple weeknights at 11:30 p.m. The sitcom, based on the Neil Simon play (and also spun off a 1968 theatrical featuring Walter Mattheau and Jack Lemmon) debuted in 1970 on ABC and ran five years (with six time period changes) before going into off-net syndication in 1976.

The series featured Tony Randall (as Felix Unger) and longtime dramatic actor Jack Klugman (Oscar Madison) as mis-matched divorced roommates in New York. You know the deal, Unger was the neat photographer, Madison was the sloppy sportswriter and tried to co-exist without driving each other crazy (and as it would turn out, make great comedy.)

The television version was developed by Garry Marshall, who of course, went on to create one of the most successful programs of that era, Happy Days and Laverne and Shirley.

The show was a longtime staple of WGN-TV's lineup until 1987, when it moved to WPWR-TV for a even more successful run. Even though Me-TV recently picked up the show, it has been running for years at Tribune's WPIX-TV in New York, where it is still immensely popular (it drew a 4 household share last October in its 2 a.m. weeknight time slot.)

The Odd Couple, originally produced and distributed by Paramount, is now syndicated by CBS Television Distribution.

Now, if you thought the recent remakes of Knight Rider and 90210 were bad, take a trip back to 1982 and you'll find The New Odd Couple on ABC. Only this time the roles of Felix Unger and Oscar Madison were by black actors Ron Glass and Demond Wilson, respectively. It turned out some the scripts used in the new version of Couple were recycled from the original (I'm all for recycling, but come on...) The show expired after thirteen episodes.

Crisis at RTN - Film at 10

A feud between Equity Media Holdings and Luken Communications left RTN off the air for close to four hours on Sunday morning. The spat came after a breakdown in an extension of an agreement on the use of Equity's automated system to uplink customized local schedules to RTN's 80+ affiliates.

After failing to come to an agreement, Luken officials decided to move master control operations from Little Rock, Ark. to Chattanooga, Tenn, therefore knocking the network off the air Sunday morning. Because of other issues of need to iron out, all RTN stations will be running the same satellite-fed schedule, at least for the time being.

However, Equity-owned stations (WPXS-TV in Mt. Vernon, IL, serving the St. Louis market and WNGS-TV in Buffalo) have dropped the RTN network entirely.

Equity owned RTN but it was sold to shareholder Henry Luken last spring. Equity recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection - the same day Tribune filed for theirs.

Retro Television currently carries a lineup of classic TV shows mostly from NBC Universal's library and formerly carried programming from CBS' library. But a dispute with CBS over unpaid debt led them to pull its show from the channel last summer.

Critic's corner: Yay, "Mad Men"

The semi-annual TV Critics Poll from TV Week is out, and it has AMC's Mad Men as the best show and Fox's Do Not Disturb as the worst. Yours truly has been reading lists from TV Week/Electronic Media for nearly 20 years, and its'always a fun read, whether I agree with them or not. Some observations:

- Cable made its presence known on the Best TV list, with eleven series representing.

- Also showing some muscle was CBS, with How I Met Your Mother and The Big Bang Theory.

- It appears J.J. Abrams still has the golden touch: His new sci-fi drama Fringe made a solid debut showing at No. 21. But the most impressive debut came from HBO's True Blood, which came in fifth.

- Can anyone tell me why Chuck shot all the way to number ten in the poll? It should have been lower.

- As for the worst shows, no arguments here, but why is Heroes missing? The chapter titled Villains was by far the worst piece of television to air this fall (through it's hard to argue against Do Not Disturb. Or if you live in Detroit, Lions football games.)

You can access both lists by clicking here.

Local area critics who took part in the poll included the Chicago Tribune's Maureen Ryan and the South Bend Tribune's Jerry D. Bonfigilo.

WLIT rocks around the PPM tree in December

Winners:

WLIT-FM (The Lite), WBBM-AM, WVAZ-FM (V103)

Losers:

Well, since this month's survey is an anomaly because of Christmas music, let's give this a pass.

WLIT dominated the PPMs in December with the Holiday Lite, a.k.a. Christmas Music. Their success pretty much lowered ratings for other stations in the Chicago market, with The Lite jumping five points from last month in 2+ numbers. WLIT also swept all major demos in the PPM survey.

Not only that, WLIT ranked first in the country with the most listeners for the holiday format among digital and Internet streams, according to Arbitron.

Whether this translates to more listeners for the station throughout the year remains to be seen.

While WLIT plummeted its competitors, a few did manage to increase their audience among 2+: WVAZ-FM, WGCI-FM, and public broadcaster WBEZ-FM.

To see the 2+ numbers for December, click here.

To read the breakdowns in the 18-34 demo, click here.

To read the breakdowns in the 25-54 demo, click here.

Winter Classic shoots and scores in ratings

The third annual NHL Winter Classic which featured an outdoor game played at Wrigley Field between the Chicago Blackhawks and Detroit Red Wings drew an 2.9 Nielsen overnight household rating for NBC on New Year's Day, up 12 percent from the 2007 Classic between Buffalo and Pittsburgh.

Here in Chicago, WMAQ-TV notched an 11.8 household rating and 21 share - the highest mark for a Chicago Blackhawks game locally in known memory (Hawks games averaged around a 3.5 rating locally on Fox in 1995 and 1996, the first two years of the network's contract with the NHL. Remember the glowing puck? Yikes.)

WDIV-TV in Detroit averaged a 10.5 household rating and 20 share, and the third highest-rating came in Buffalo, where WGRZ-TV notched a 10.1 rating and 20 share. The game was also carried in Canada by CBC, and additional viewers in Detroit and Buffalo may have checked the game out on the public broadcaster, given both cities' proximities to our neighbor to the North.

As for the broadcast, NBC did a great job on covering Thursday's game, with a professional looking presentation, and good job done by Dave Strader and Eddie Olczyk on calling the game. Wrigley Field looked great and it looked even better in HD. Even the intermission segments were terrific, especially the one where Blackhawk players went out of their way to pay their last respects to Hawks GM Dale Tallon's late father in the middle of a long road trip last fall. The only thing yours truly didn't like was the outcome: The Hawks lost 6-4.

Related link: Restore the Roar

2008's Toilet 10

I've noticed that hardly anyone has come up with a worst TV show list for 2008 (too easy, perhaps?) Maybe the economy was bad enough not to talk about any bad TV...

Anyhoo, here are the worst, the inane, the horrible, horrible, stench of what was left behind in 2008 in terms of media - and remember, we're not just listing TV shows here:

1. Heroes: Villains (NBC). After finishing second in the 2006 Excellent 10 list, it is no surprise this program finishes first among this year's worst media items. In just two years, it has gone from one of the best shows on TV to one of the worst, thanks to poor writing, abandoned storylines, bad acting, too many characters, shoddy special effects, and ratings half of what they were for Chapter Two, which aired in 2007. For all the money spent on this crap, Villains looked like a low-budget 1950's monster movie.

2. The FCC. From blaming Worlds of Warcraft on the college dropout rate to being a mouthpiece for right-wing groups, and from Chairman Kevin Martin's proposal for a porn-free broadband service to bungling the transition to digital TV, this is just more proof the agency is being run by incompetent idiots, with Martin being the biggest idiot of them all. These morons couldn't run a Dairy Queen let alone a major agency which handles our nation's telecommunications.

3. The Detroit Lions. Staff who get their jobs through nepotism, a front office who could care less about the public, and leaders who are complete clowns. No, this isn't Illinois politics we're talking about (but it ought to be), but the 0-16 Detroit Lions - the first winless NFL team in 32 years. This team is a complete utter embarrassment, even for Detroit. The people running this team (including head clown William Clay Ford and former coach clown Rod Marinelli) should be in jail with Mayor Kilpatrick for perpetrating this fraud of a team on the citizens of Detroit.

4. Rosie Live (NBC) This made The Star Wars Holiday Special look like Masterpiece Theatre.

5. Do Not Disturb (Fox) Yeah, a real cinch to make this list.

6. Nine-FM. After four years of failing to find an audience, what took Newsweb so long in pulling the plug on this inane format? (Nine-FM has returned to the airwaves on a Kankakee station.)

7. The Return of Mancow and Delilah. Radio's two answers to questions nobody asked - or want - return to Chicago. Oh, and Mike North's back as well, co-hosting a new show with Dan Jiggetts on Comcast SportsNet. All of this proves you don't need to have an advanced degree - or brains - to get on-air work in Chicago. Is Mariotti not too far behind?

8. The Cable News Networks (CNN, Fox News, MSNBC.) From "terrorist fist jabs" to "breaking news" regarding Obama breaking a nail, from using holograms to news personalities sniping at each other on-air... Good grief. Look, if you want serious journalism or serious analysis on World issues, go to NPR, the BBC, or even Channel 20 locally in Chicago - not these guys. The cable news channels offer little of any substance or anything remotely useful. Cable news' style and presentation is really no different from that of local news - loud and very annoying.

9. Retread Hell (NBC's Knight Rider and CW's 90210.) Who here really wanted these two shows back? And moreover, who really cares about Shannen Doherty and Jennie Garth and their aging, aloof characters anymore? Talk about being typecast. And now remakes of Melrose Place and The Partridge Family are in the works. Are you kidding me? No wonder the major nets are losing audiences. What's next, a new version of The Monkees? Wait a minute...

10. Momma's Boys (NBC). Outside of Flavor of Love, this has to be the worst reality show to ever air on television. Another dumb project green lighted by Ben "Bulls Ballboy" Silverman.

DISHONORABLE MENTIONS: According to Jim (ABC), Bret Michaels: Rock of Love (VH-1), Celebrity Family Feud (NBC), The Ex-List (CBS), I Survived a Japanese Game Show (ABC), Star Wars: The Clone Wars (Cartoon Network).

And here are some more dishonors:

YOUR DAD IS DEAD BITCH, SO GET OVER IT: Corrinne from Survivor: Gabon made a nasty comment regarding a fellow contestant's deceased father during Tribal Council. Asked during the reunion show, Corrinne refused to apologize for making the remarks.

Well, I guess her nasty attitude more than qualifies her to become a part of Mancow's Morning Madhouse - a gig just a step above the $5-an-hour job she currently holds at the local chicken shack. My prediction for 2009: Corrinne will join the cast of The View, where she'll sit beside "the ditzy blond" who is also from Survivor and also a pain in the ass.

TAKEN FOR A SAP, PART I: Sam Zell's purchase of the Tribune Co. Yours truly supported the move at first, thinking it would save jobs, improve local news coverage, and restore the media company to greatness. Well... Tribune filed for Chapter 11, hundreds of people were laid off, and introduced a moronic "Breaking News" section on all of its Chicago web properties - which features mostly crime blotter stories. Oops.

TAKEN FOR A SAP, PART II: Heroes creator Tim Kring criticized fans of his show who watched it "live" (a.k.a. watching it on your TV set every Monday night at 8 p.m.) as opposed to on DVD and DVR, calling them "saps" and "dipshits". So if Mr. Kring claims to be smarter than the rest of us, why is he still working in television?

SCROOGED: Radio companies who fire people before the holidays. Ask Lisa Greene, Eddie & JoBo, and Steve Dahl.

WORST EXECS OF THE YEAR: NBC's Ben "Bulls Ballboy" Silverman, The CW's Dawn Ostroff, Clear Channel Chicago's Darren Davis, Matt Millen, and anyone else running the Bears, Bulls, Lions, and Oklahoma City Thunder. Sure, I can list some more, but because of space limitations...

WORST TITLED TV SHOW: New York Goes to Hollywood. Huh?

WORST FALL: WGN-AM's shocking ratings slide in key demos after the new Portable People Meter became currency for radio measurement in Chicago.

MOVIE THAT REALLY, REALLY, LIVED UP TO ITS NAME: The flick Disaster Movie. Enough said.

THE RECORD BUYING PUBLIC. For making Britney Spears a success again, and the continued successful careers of Chris Brown and 'Lil Wayne. If anyone needs to rot in a jail cell besides Governor Blago and Mayor Kilpatrick, it's these fools who keep buying this crap they call "music".

AND THE LAST WORD: Sadly, 2009 could hold more of the same mediocrity in movies, music, government, and media. In other words, Momma's Boys will probably be renewed and we can expect a sequel to Disaster Movie. Happy New Year!

2008's Excellent 10

Happy New Year, everyone!

Instead of listing just TV shows, yours truly has decided to include items other than TV shows in the annual Excellent 10 and Toilet 10 lists across this year. Two history-making events happening in 2008 - Michael Phelps' Olympic Gold Medal run and Barack Obama's acceptance speech here in Chicago after becoming the first African-American President in history - made great television, even better than shows who didn't deserve to be on the list this year (notably Chuck, Family Guy and The Simpsons, who were Number One in 2007... and then this happened.) So, let's count them down... the best of 2008 (and yes, even two NBC shows made the list...)

10. The Big Bang Theory (CBS). Hey, we nerds can be funny too.

9. The Biggest Loser (NBC). This inspirational reality show (a rarity - and no Christian themes or sappy Ty Pennington to boot), this show definitely does not live up to its name.

8. Saturday Night Live (NBC) The election and Tina Fey as Sarah Palin gave this venerable late night show its' best ratings in years.

7. Mad Men (AMC) First critically acclaimed, now an Emmy winner. Now if the program can only get some viewers...

6. Battlestar Galactica (SciFi) What the frak? Hey broadcast networks, this is how a remake should be done.

5. The Mentalist (CBS) Though it gets no respect (because it features no hot chicks the press can fantasize about - or screw), this new show is clearly a smash hit with an average of 17 million viewers per episode.

4. South Park (Comedy Central) Sorry, Family Guy and Simpsons, but with episodes like Guitar Queer-O and Major Boobage, Matt and Trey's brand of satire reigns supreme this year by a large margin.

3. Michael Phelps. An amazing Olympic performance with a record breaking eight Gold medals. Watching him swim made great TV.

2. Survivor: Palau (CBS) Hands down, one of the best editions ever.

1. Barack Obama's acceptance speech. As newly-elected President Obama said, "We are not a nation of red states and blue states." I couldn't agree more, and his speeches are always must-see TV.


Honorable Mentions: The Amazing Race (CBS), The Doctors (syndicated), Ugly Betty (ABC), King of the Hill (Fox).

Here are more honorable mentions...

BEST TEAM: The Boston Celtics. The 2008 NBA Champions are even more dominant this year, thanks to the play of Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, and ex-Chicagoan Kevin Garrett. Doc Rivers (another ex-Chicagoan) is doing a great job as head coach. I see another NBA Championship in 2009 in the cards...

BEST PODCASTS: Tie between Football Today (ESPN) and Buzz Out Loud (CNET). Though excessively long at times, both are entertaining and fun to listen to. If you're a fan of football and technology, this makes your workday - or any day - a lot more fun. A close third is Marc Berman's Programming Insider Podcast, which is especially good when Michael Burgi is on.

BEST PROMOTION: Those "campaign" ads featuring Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane of the Chicago Blackhawks dueling with each other while getting out the vote for the upcoming NHL All-Star Game. And I approve this message.

BEST FIRINGS: Joe Ahern getting canned at CBS-owned WBBM-TV and Jay Mariotti leaving the Sun-Times. May they never return.

BEST MOVE BY A CHICAGO RADIO STATION: They haven't started yet, but WBBM-FM's pairing Jamal "J-Niice" and Julian Nieh for a new morning show replacing the legendary Eddie & JoBo (in fact, it's the ONLY good move made by a local radio station ALL YEAR.)

BEST MEDIA OUTLETS: ABC-owned WLS-TV continued its dominance in Chicago's Nielsen ratings, but The Drive (WDRV-FM) takes the crown thanks to their ratings surge under Arbitron's new Portable People Meter system.

Coming up next: The Worst of 2008.

J Niice and Julian named new B96 morning hosts

Contemporary-hit music outlet WBBM-FM (B96) has named Jamar "J-Niice" McNeil and Julian Nieh as the station's new morning hosts, replacing Eddie Volkman and Joe Bohannon, who were let go from the CBS-owned radio station on Novemeber 21.

McNeil had previously been the station's midday jock, while Nieh was working on the evening shift.

Both men are alums of WIHT-FM in Washington, D.C., where they once worked together. McNeil later worked for Clear Channel's WHYI-FM (Y-100) before moving to the midday slot at B96 this past spring, while Nieh was named B96's evening host two years ago.

The move is already drawing praise from many on Internet message boards, given the two men show more proise than the current afternoon duo (Stylz and Roman), who, according to some, were also considered for the job.

Rebecca Ortiz is replacing McNeil in the midday slot for the time being, and Andrew Wojtowicz fills in for Nieh on an interim basis in the evenings.

J Niice & Julian On The Radio airs weekdays from 5:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. beginning Monday on both B96 and B96.com.

Thought: Certainly, Chicago radio has made so many wrong moves in 2008. This isn't one of them (surprise!) Given both men - who knew each other beforehand in D.C - is going to work in their advantage. While they have big shoes to fill, McNeil and Nieh should have no problem getting up to speed quickly.

Though J Niice and Julian will have to prove themselves in morning drive, they have a very good chance to be better quality-wise than the tired Eddie & JoBo show (especially with Erica "Cousin Oliver" Cobb in the mix.) Don't me wrong - yours truly didn't like the way they were shoved out the door - but it was time for them to go.

Here's to the J Niice and Julian morning era at B96! Hopefully, they'll find the same success Eddie & JoBo have had in their long careers in the same morning slot.

T Dog's Grab Bag - The Christmas Edition

The last bag before Christmas - unfortunately, it contains some not-so-groovy items:

- Majel Barrett Roddenberry, who was a part of Star Trek as much as her husband Gene, died last week at the age of 79. Barrett appeared in all five Star Trek shows and did voiceover work on Star Trek: The Animated Series and as the voice of the USS Enterprise in most Star Trek movies.

- Midday personality Lisa Greene is out at WCFS-FM (Fresh 105.9.; scroll down.) The CBS-owned radio station cut her for budget reasons, and it leaves just two personalities at the beleagured outlet.

On a few lighter notes:

- The Washington Post Co. has called off its purchase of WTVJ-TV in Miami after the FCC stalled on the deal and the current economic climate worsened after the deal was announced last July. The deal also faced opposition from three congressional South Florida members of Congress.

Washington Post already owns ABC affiliate WPLG-TV and planned to buy WTVJ from NBC to create an English-language duopoly - the second such one in the market.

- TV Week has the eight stories that shaped TV in 2008, and not surprisingly, the lead story was the collapse of the pathetic Heroes, whose most recent season is equivalent to the Detroit Lions' 0-15 record (likely soon to be 0-16). You know something's wrong when Tim Kring hires Lions coach Rod Marinelli as the show's head writer.

- One quick Bah Humbug: You know those Lexus ads where you have kids telling us how their back-in-the-day Christmas gifts (Big Wheel, Atari, ponies, etc.) were "the best presents ever" and then flash to the present day as adults and say the exact same thing - about a Lexus?

Oh, spare me. Whoever wrote this unimaginable crap should also write for the Lions' PR department.

Let's hope Lexus doesn't go to Washington begging for a bailout. Based on these dumb commercials, it's just another reason to get a DVR. Now that makes a better Christmas gift than a stupid Lexus (and you don't have to look at some dumb kid bragging about great his Big Wheel was. And who gives cars as Christmas presents in this fragile economy when people aren't buying them? Get real.)

The T Dog Media Blog is off for the Christmas Weekend, but will resume Monday with the latest happenings in television, radio, media, and more - not to mention the annual Top 10 list of the best and the worst in media of 2008. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy Kwanzaa!

T Dog's Think Tank: How NOT to promote your new host

Dr. Jeremy Levitt, we hardly knew ye.

WVON-AM's choice to replace Roland Martin as morning drive-time host was mysteriously replaced last week by fill-in hosts Matt McGill and Perri Small, at least temporarily.

According to Chicagoland Radio and Media's website, the person they hired to replace Martin turned out to be owner Melody Spann-Cooper's brother-in-law and Pervis Spann's (Melody's father) son-in-law.

When Leavitt left to go on vacation two weeks ago, McGill & Small filled in for him, until December 12. Last week, the vacation became permanent and the duo were still "filling in" for him, though Dr. Leavitt was not mentioned on-air anymore and his profile was removed from the station's website.

Usually when a new on-air personality debuts on a station, the show is promoted intensely. But in a rather odd departure, WVON decided to keep the new name of the host a secret - even up to the very day the individual debuted (October 20) and hoped the suspense would build.

But the gamble didn't payoff. When listeners found out it was someone they never heard of before, they were proabably turned off - especially if the person was replacing someone with the name recognition of Roland Martin, who left to join the syndicated Tom Joyner Morning Show. And the person already had to fill those shoes Martin left behind.

Even worse, Martin's successor may have been a result of nepotism - after all, how else can you explain the Leavitt was related to the Spanns? It may work in Chicago politics (believe me, it does), but not in radio, which has its own image problems.

WVON officials flunked Marketing 101 in radio and television programming by forgetting a simple rule: don't keep your listeners and/or viewers in the dark about anything, especially when it comes to new talent. It's like a major network announcing they have a new show featuring a "mystery A-list star". When the audience tunes in for the first episode and the finds the "A-star" is not Brad Pitt or George Clooney but Tom Arnold, they'll flee for the exits faster than you can say canceled, and they'll feel alienated and disappointed. It's just bad marketing, and if you plan to do something like this, you can also plan to send your resume out.

When WVON looked at those November PPM numbers - they knew it was over for Leavitt as quickly as it began. You can't fool the audience. And despite his crednitals, they don't apply in broadcasting. The audience just doesn't care. What matters is being engaging enough to bring in an audience and keeping them. Sure, Geena Davis is a Mensa member, but her status didn't bring viewers to her Geena Davis Show, whose brand of comedy was about as dumb as Caroline in the City.

But the good news is, Matt McGill and Perry Small are a promising duo and have a fresh perspective on the news every morning and what the African-American community is talking about (and believe me, there is a lot to talk about.) Though the numbers are likely to remain low, they'll likely bring in more listeners than Dr. Leavitt brought in. And that may be enough to keep them in the morning slot permanmently.

Syndication update

As the NATPE convention draws closer and closer (next month in Vegas - assuming it doesn't snow), you'll be seeing these updates more and more here. So, here we go...

- TNT's The Closer has been sold to all Fox-owned stations for weekend play, including WFLD/WPWR here, as Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution hopes Closer's success on TNT will translate into syndication. Closer's track record is an impressive one: It is the highest-rated original cable hour drama of all-time, according to TNT.

- NBC Universal's Law & Order: Special Victims Unit is converting from a weekend off-net offering to a daily one next fall. The off-net strip has been sold to 92 percent of the country, including WPWR. The other Law & Order strip in syndication (Criminal Intent) is being offered for a second cycle in syndication next fall.

Hopefully, NBC Universal could also serve up the original Law & Order in syndication as soon as it is able to.

- Program Partners is bringing back Degrassi: The Next Generation for not just one, but two years through 2011: The program has been renewed in nine Tribune markets, including WGN-TV here for weekend plays. Degrassi has also been renewed on ACME-owned outlets and CW Plus stations, for total coverage thus far to 60 percent of the country.

Degrassi provides these stations E/I programming, which the FCC requires broadcast outlets to air three hours a week.

Degrassi has its roots in The Kids of Degrassi Street (1982-86), Degrassi Junior High (1987-89) and Degrassi High (1989-91), all three of which aired on CBC in Canada and the latter two series airing on PBS (often edited for content) in the U.S. New episodes of Degrassi: The Next Generation currently airs on CTV in Canada and on The N in the U.S.

Rick Dees heads to ABC Radio Networks

Venerable radio personality Rick Dees is heading back to ABC Radio Networks after signing a development deal with the company.

Dees, who was the morning personality at Top 40 outlet KIIS-FM in Los Angeles for 23 years (until he was replaced by Ryan Seacrest in 2004) and now is in the same capacity at Emmis' KMVN-FM (Movin 93.9), will develop original content for a varied set of demos, including the 18-49 audience.

As part of the deal, Rick Dees' longtime countdown show (The Weekly Top 40) is being syndicated by Citadel-owned ABC Radio Networks. The program was previously syndicated by Dial Global, which has handled distribution since 2005.

The move is actually a homecoming of sorts for Dees as ABC Radio (then under Capital Cities ownership) purchased The Weekly Top 40 in 1994 to replace the then-ailing American Top 40, which was canceled by the network as a result (Shadoe Stevens was the host of AT40 at the time, which steadily lost affiliates after host and creator Casey Kasem left the show six years earlier in a contract dispute with ABC.)

When KIIS was acquired by Clear Channel Communications in 1998, the company's Premiere Radio Networks took over syndication of The Weekly Top 40 and distributed it until 2004, when Dees left KIIS. Ironically, Premiere also took over the second incarnation of American Top 40 two years later (whose hosting duties were taken over from Casey Kasem in 2004 by - you guessed it, Ryan Seacrest.)

Did you know?: Before he signed with ABC Radio in 1994, Dees had a short-lived turkey of a late night show on the television side of the network titled Into the Night with Rick Dees, which he hosted from July 1990 to July 1991, and then staggered on for three months as Into the Night after Dees left.

Into the Night of course, is in the prestigious T Dog Media Blog TV Hall of Shame. Is your show a member? Ryan Seacrest - oh, there's that name again - get ready for your new lame reality show to be inducted...

Andy Shaw retires

Longtime political reporter Andy Shaw is retiring from ABC-owned WLS-TV after 25 years.

Shaw has covered the political beat at WLS since 1983, when he covered Harold Washington's rise to history when he became Chicago's first African-American mayor and ending with Barack Obama becoming the first African-American President - not to mention the fall of Governor Rod.

Shaw began his television career at NBC-owned WMAQ-TV in 1976 as an education reporter and editorial director. He left the station in 1982.

Shaw has been part of WLS's rise to dominance in local news. When he joined WLS in 1983, the news operation was a distant third place. Shaw became well known by many Chicago politicans - and he wasn't afraid to ask them a harsh question or two.

For a short time, Shaw even worked on the crime beat at WLS in addition to his political reporting duties.

With Shaw retiting, WLS' new politcal reporter is Charles Thomas, a sixteen-year veteran who has been a general assignment reporter.

T Dog's Groovy Grab Bag

From the bag today:

- Comcast SportsNet announced it is splitting its signature sports news show SportsNite into two half-hours at 10 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. (Yours truly thought they were already separate.)

- It looks like an Obama-led FCC could steer the focus away from indecency, which has been the focus of the agency over the last few years. Under the "leadership" of Kevin Martin, the FCC has become nothing more than a PR agency for the Parents Television Council.

And the latest absurdity from the FCC came recently, when commissioner Deborah Tate blamed the online game sensation World of Warcraft addiction for the huge college drop-out rate. Um... maybe because it has something to do with high tuition and the struggling economy instead? (as a caller on Boers and Bernstein would say... Deborah Tate, Who Ya Crappin?) Please Obama, get Martin and his merry band of twits out of here!

- A problem with its analog transmitter may force Fox-owned WFXT in Boston to go all-digital early, while KCWE-TV in Kansas City has already pulled the analog plug. The digital transition happens February 17, when all full-power analog signals shut down forever.

- Howard Stern on his former boss (Kevin Metheny), who landed a new job as program director of WGN-AM:

"Pig Virus landed on his feet again. I don't spend my day thinking about Pig Virus, but it is amazing how guys we know who are pretty unoriginal keep landing on their feet. … Pig Virus really undermined everything I tried to do at NBC and hated me. And then after he got bounced from NBC and the other places he worked, he started programming radio stations and tried to replicate what I did on the radio."

Remember the old saying "time heals all wounds"? Not in radio, my friend.

Detroit's papers to cut back on delivery

Detroit's two main newspapers (The Free Press and News) are scaling back their delivery due to the worsening economic conditions.

Beginning in March, both papers will be delivering to homes only three days a week, while being exclusively on newsstands and retail outlets the other four in a slimmed-down version. Both papers are refocusing on their respective online sites, with an emphasis on offering more on the Web.

Both The Free Press and News are published jointly, but owned by different companies. (Gannett owns The Free Press; The News is owned by MediaNews.)

The move is expected to open up opportunities for Detroit three local television news operations, including grabbing more available advertising dollars. However, those dollars are becoming harder and harder to come by as many national advertisers have stopped buying local spot time in the market. According to TVNewsday, local spots make up a whopping 65 to 70 percent of a station's revenue in the Detroit market.

Fox-owned WJBK dominates in the morning, while NBC affiliate WDIV and ABC affiliate WXYZ-TV slug it out in other time periods throughout the day. Under Fox's current ownership, WJBK has become a bigger player in news, more so than the days when it was a CBS affiliate when its newscasts would often lose to The Jetsons in the ratings (I'm not making this up.)

CBS-owned WWJ-TV still does not have a news operation. WWJ (on Channel 62) became a CBS outlet in 1994 after the Fox-New World deal ousted CBS from its longtime home at WJBK, which was owned by New World at the time. WWJ shut it news operation in 2002.

Meanwhile, WMYD-TV (My Network TV) launched a new 10 p.m. newscast last July to compete with WJBK's, but it's produced by Independent News Network in Iowa.

Detroit's economy has been battered for decades, and has gotten worse in the last few years, thanks to the Big Three automaker's woes, massive job losses, and a political scandal featuring the city's mayor which gave Detroit a black eye nationally (though the recent pay-for-play scandal featuring Governor Arrogant hurting Chicago's image may even top that.)

Worse, political spending froze after John McCain condeded Michigan to President-Elect Barack Obama in the recent election.

And, the Detroit Lions may become the NFL's first 0-16 team. On the other hand, the Detroit Red Wings won the Stanley Cup last June, the Detroit Tigers went to the World Series two years ago, and the Detroit Pistons remain competitive on the hardwood four years after winning their third NBA Chamionship.

With the auto industry in decline, Detroit's stations has had to refocus on other ad categories. While media outlets have been successful in filling holes left by the automakers, the revenue coming in is nowhere near what the car companies brought in. Like newspapers, local television and radi outlets are hoping a beefed-up online presence will ease the revenue pain.

While the economic slowdown is hurting cities from coast-to-coast, this is proof it is hurting more cities than others.

T Dog's Groovy Grab Bag

- NATPE Time: It's that time of year again - the annual programming conference is taking place next month in Las Vegas, though scaled down in size from recent years because of the economy. Here's a list of projected programs (courtesy of TV Week) due out in syndication for 2009 and beyond. Among the list of shows offered for next fall is a second cycle of Law and Order: Criminal Intent and a return of Star Trek: The Next Generation repeats to broadcast syndication (yes!)

- Despite some reports some first-run syndicated strips may get axed because of ultra-low ratings, NBC Universal has renewed The Martha Stewart Show for a fifth season next fall covering 60 percent of the country despite averaging a rating of 0.7 in November, down from last year. So, can anyone tell me how the economic model of this show works with a rating this low? Is it the same one that somehow keeps Q101 around?

- Good news for fans of Dr. Horrible: The DVD version of Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog is available Dec. 19, just in time for Christmas, featuring the Rodney Dangerfield of mad scientists. The bad news: It's not available in stores or even though an 1-800 direct marketing offer from Time-Life (get a free Hoveraround chair with each order!) It's only available though Amazon. But it has a boatload of extra features including two commentary tracks and "A Making Of..." featurette. So order yours today and watch the mailbox...

- Survivor: Gabon concluded Sunday with Bob winning the million and another $100,000, awarded by fans of the show via Sprint. While Gabon was not as good as the previous edition of Survivor, it was still entertaining and better than the glorified crap served up as Survivor: China last year. But the group of people in this edition are the most pathetic bunch of losers I have ever seen assembled on any reality show, particularly Randy and Corrinne.

Corinne became the ultimate heel after making nasty comments about a contestant's dead father. She has the kind of crappy attitude that makes her more than qualified to become the next Governor of Illinois. And when she's elected (because we all know how smart Illinois voters are), she'll wind up going to jail. Works for me!

Restore the roar

Yes, it's still hard to believe, but it's amazing how the Chicago Blackhawks have changed their fortunes - on and off the ice.

At a time when a few NHL teams are struggling financially and the Arena Football League is ceasing operations for the 2009 season, the Blackhawks are thriving at the gate. After years of being in the bottom five in total attendance in the league, the Hawks has bolted first so far this season, with season ticket sales zooming from 3,400 last year to more than 14,000 this season. Ratings are also up this season on Comcast SportsNet.

All of this is due to marketing - a sport team's best friend. After owner Bill Wirtz died last year, the team was taken over by his son Rocky - and he implemented a marketing plan that took effect almost immediately. This included hiring John McDonough away from the Cubs to run the marketing department, centering around the team's two young stars - Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, and televising all the team's games for the first time - including home games, something Bill Wirtz staunchly was opposed against. The team also struck a deal to carry games on WGN-TV and brought back Pat Foley as play-by-play.

The team's media coverage has increased as well, with both the Tribune and Sun-Times recently introducing blogs on the Blackhawks.

And the team is playing better since coach (and former Hawks player) Dennis Savard was dropped for Joel Quinnville.

Now the Blackhawks are getting ready to hit the big time - they will play their arch nemesis Detroit Red Wings in the NHL's second Winter Outdoor Classic on January 1 from Wrigley Field, airing on NBC in the U.S. and CBC in Canada. Bob Costas is anchoring the event, with Mike Emerick and Hawks commentator Eddie Olczyk calling the game. Last year's inaugural Winter Classic between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Buffalo Sabres at Rich Stadium in Orchard Park, N.Y. - the first regular-season game held outdoors in the U.S. - was a ratings hit.

This year's classic will likely do better, given the fan bases of Detroit and Chicago and their longtime rivalry.

Kiernan named news director at WBBM-TV

Jeff Kiernan has been named the new news director at CBS-owned WBBM-TV (CBS 2), being charged of cleaning up the mess former news director Carol Fowler left.

Kiernam is a native of nearby Munster, Ind., and has been in charge of news operations for CBS O&Os stations in Minneapolis (WCCO-TV) and Boston (WBZ-TV.) While at WCCO, Kiernan kept WCCO competitve with NBC affiliate KARE-TV, often dueling for the number one spot. In Boston, Kiernan improved WBZ-TV's news ratings, which had been lagging since its switch from NBC to CBS in 1995.

Tribune bankruptcy could affect syndication business

The ongoing saga of Tribune bankruptcy will have a big effect on the syndication business.

Tribune owes four major syndicators money: Warner Bros., NBC Universal, Disney-ABC, and Twentieth. As a result of the Chapter 11 filing (with Tribune restructuring debt), the studios aren't going to see a dime of the cash anytime soon.

This puts some stress on the studios' bottom line, which may force them to write-off the payments they were supposed to receive.

And if other broadcasting groups file for Chapter 11, they will likely ask for the same thing, according to experts close to the matter.

Tribune is a major buyer of syndicated fare for its' 23 television stations, including WGN-TV in Chicago. Programming includes Two and A Half Men, Jerry Springer (though not on WGN), Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, Live with Regis & Kelly, Family Guy, and The Simpsons. One show it bought for its station group (CBS' T.D. Jakes project) has now been put on hold and may not launch as planned.

Despite the filing, Tribune has plenty of cash on hand to help with operating expenses and to pay the bills. But it may not shop aggressively for first-run and off-network programming as in years past.

Of course, this isn't the first time a station group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, though Tribune may be the biggest. In 1986, Grant Broadcasting, owners of three TV stations (including WGBO-TV here) filed Chapter 11 after spending too much money on programming and not seeing any successful returns from them - particularly from WGBO, whose ratings were disastrous (WGBO's average total-day share in 1988 was a 2.) The three stations later went into receivership, with creditors running the stations under the name Combined Broadcasting.

WGBO was sold to Univision in 1994 and flipped to Spanish-language programming, while Paramount (now CBS Corp.) bought the other two stations (WGBS-TV in Philadelphia, now WPSG and WBFS-TV in Miami) in 1995.

Though its unlikely Tribune will face the type of situation Grant Broadcasting did, it nonetheless make the studios quite nervous.

Post No. 1500! Celebrate by ushering in new PDs at WLS-AM and WGN-AM

1500 posts, Yay! Alright, put away the champagne and let's get down to business...

WGN-AM and WLS-AM both have new program directors this evening.

WGN hired Kevin Metheny, who previously ran Clear Channel's cluster of radio stations in Cleveland (including rock outlet WMMS-FM "The Buzzard"), as their new program director. He replaces Bob Shomper, who now moves to the same capacity at WLS-AM, replacing Kipper McGee in the process.

Methany was once PD at WNBC-AM in New York City in the early 1980's, and the boss of Don Imus and Howard Stern - the latter referring to Metheny as "Pig Virus" (now you tell me if that's positive or negative...)

WGN is entering a new era today, as John Williams took over the morning drive from now-retired Spike O'Dell.

And the number one show in African-American households is...

No surprise here, it's Tyler Perry's House of Payne.

But there is a surprise when compared to other programs in the viewer's landscape: When you take the rating from its' syndication airings and its cable runs on TBS, Payne tops everything else among African-Americans in all of television among adults 18-34, 18-49, and 25-54, including network prime-time, beating Grey's Anatomy and The Game.

House of Payne is a big hit here in Chicago, airing on independent WCIU-TV weeknights at 7 and 7:30 p.m. In October, the program outperformed My Network TV programming on WPWR-TV and is competitive with CW programming on WGN-TV [1]. Payne is also strong in other urban markets including Detroit, Atlanta, Cleveland, Charlotte, and Baltimore.

It is the number one show in syndication among African-Americans, topping perennial favorites The Oprah Winfrey Show, Wheel of Fortune, and Judge Judy. Payne also topped runner-up Family Guy (yes, Family Guy) in prime-time and in syndication among African-American adults 18-34.

In the top 25 list of most-watched cable TV programs among African-Americans the week ending Dec. 7, Payne claimed six of those spots - including the top three.

Payne's dominance comes as programs featuring mostly African-American casts have faded from the airwaves, thanks mainly from the folding of UPN and WB, which featured such shows.

Last year's top show in black households (Girlfriends) was unceremoniously dumped by CW, a casualty of the writer's strike - but would likely would've been canceled anyway. The program spent six seasons at UPN before moving to CW for its' final two seasons.

And the successes come even as the program is salvaged by critics - though a lot of fare usually is and is also popular with audiences. That's been the case since the beginning of TV. Keep in mind while programs like The Brady Bunch, Full House, and Three's Company were wildly popular with audiences, they never were with critics, as are current shows Family Guy and Gary Unmarried, among others.

So the next time TBS airs one of those promos claiming House of Payne is the most watched cable sitcom of all-time, don't scoff: because it's actually true.

Debmar-Mercury distributes House of Payne in syndication and Twentieth Television handles barter ad sales.

Source: Nielsen, Katz Programming Newsletter Multi-Day Grids, October 2008 [1].

WPWR scores big with Bears

Fox-owned WPWR-TV and the NFL Network scored big with Thursday night's telecast of the New Orleans Saints-Chicago Bears game.

Locally, the game scored a combined 25.2 rating on both outlets. In October, WPWR (as a My Network TV affiliate), finished seventh among English-language households in prime-time, behind WCIU-TV's House of Payne and The Bernie Mac Show and CW programming on WGN-TV.

Nationally, the game earned a 6.2 household rating - the second highest rated game this year on the NFL Network.

While play-by-play man Bob Papa was better than Bryant Gumbel, listening to Cris Collinsworth was like listening to nails on a blackboard.

T Dog Media Blog Flashback (from December 2007): Get reacquainted with WPWR ; Gumbel sucked as much as game did

T Dog's Groovy Grab Bag

An extended version of The Bag. Here what's been going on the last couple of days:

- Spike O'Dell signs off: The WGN-AM host wrapped up his eight-year stint in morning drive today with a live show at the Metropolis Theater in Arlington Heights. The building was sold out for the show, as people were lining up as early as 1 a.m. The show was a stop on the station's Hometown Voices Tour. John Williams replaces O'Dell next week.

- Doctors get second season: CBS Television Distribution's The Doctors has been picked up for a second season - basically easy because most stations signed on for two-year contracts. This comes as the medical advice strip recently tied Deal or No Deal as this season's top-rated syndicated rookie.

- Litton Entertainment has announced it will launch a new one-hour variety show in syndication next fall featuring R&B and pop star Brian McKnight. The program features comedians, musicians, and other entertainers.

This is the second time Litton has tried a variety show - it produced a syndicated hour featuring "fly jock" Tom Joyner during the 2005-06 television season.

- Layoff watch: The cannings continue courtesy of NPR and Raycom, who laid off a staggering fifteen employees at NBC affiliate WMC-TV in Memphis.

- Kansas City station dumps sports from news: I knew the Chiefs and Royals were bad, but man... CBS affiliate KCTV in Kansas City has completely dropped its sports segments from its newscasts after the station did not renew its agreement with Metro Sports, the video production company that produced the segments for the Meredith-owned station (can you imagine a newscast in Chicago without any sports segments? Impossible.)

Metro Sports plans to continue producing pre-season Chiefs games for KCTV, but with the team in the crapper, good luck getting an audience. Earth to coach Herm Edwards: "Hello... you play to win the game!"

- Don't forget: The second installment of Jonathan Brandmeier's Almost Live airs this weekend over WMAQ-TV. You can catch it Sunday after the station's sports show (around 11:15 p.m.)

Did you know? Almost Live was also the title for KING-TV's long-running, Emmy-winning sketch comedy/talk show in Seattle from 1984-99, running before Saturday Night Live at 11:30 p.m. Reruns of the series can still be seen on the NBC affiliate. Alumni included Ross Schafer and Bill Nye "The Science Guy".

Think Tank Flashback: Grow up

With the national media - and everyone else shitting on Chicago in the aftermath of Governor Arrogant's arrest, I thought I would revisit this Think Tank from May 19, 2007 titled Grow Up, Chicago.

Though it deals mostly with then-WSCR-AM windbag Mike North feuding with White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, the antics are just part of the dysfunctional culture we as Chicagoans must deal with on a daily basis.

I guess in the year-and-a-half since this article was written, we still have a very long way to go toward respectability - and despite helping to elect the next President from the United States who is from here, it has done little to change the image some people have about Chicago (I'm afraid getting rid of Jay Mariotti isn't enough.)

In other words, we're closer to Detroit than we are to Paris or Rome. And I don't mean just by distance.

This says it all....

Mine and everyone else's sentiments exactly.

WFLD, WBBM-AM scores with Blago coverage

Score one for Chicago's perennial news underdog: Fox-owned WFLD-TV's coverage of the arrest of Governor Arrogant finished first in the ratings among adults 18-49 and second in adults 25-54 with its continuous coverage from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Moreover, they beat archrival WGN-TV at noon in adults 18-49.

Also, all-news WBBM-AM's website surged on Tuesday with page views jumping 253 percent from the usual averageand daily unique users were up 204 percent.

Jay Leno to stay with NBC - at 9 p.m. Central

And that's 9 p.m. every weeknight.

In a stunning and historic announcement, NBC is keeping Jay Leno by giving him a hour a night - in primetime.

Leno is expected to take over the 9 p.m. time slot (that's 10 p.m. Eastern and Pacific) every weeknight as a strip beginning next fall. Excluding special events (and My Network TV's short-lived telenovela attempt), this marks the first time in television history a single television program has been stripped five nights a week in the same time slot in primetime on a major television network.

The format of the show is expected to retain some the elements of the program Jay Leno is currently hosting.

Leno became Tonight Show host in 1993, succeeding the late Johnny Carson. Leno agreed to step down in May 2009 so Conan O'Brien - who took over late night from David Letterman in 1993 when he left for CBS - can become host of the Tonight Show (the saga of NBC choosing Leno over Letterman for Carson's throne was wonderfully documented in Bill Carter's The Late Shift book.)

The move is being greeted as a way to cut down on expenses and become less reliant on the network's entertainment division, as parent NBC Universal is grappling with layoffs and a company-wide restructuring. Plus, NBC is considering giving

Leno's move to prime-time is seen as a victory for NBC, who was being wooed by ABC, Sony, and Fox.

Thought: Yours truly is a hard-core writer, and you are probably thinking, "Oh, Terence must be against this deal because it takes food out of writers' mouths by eliminating five-nights of scripted programming."

Um, no. And besides, the five hours of scripted fare would have sucked anyway, if more fare like My Own Worst Enemy were being churned out.

I actually think it's a good idea - not from an expense and bean-counter standpoint, but from a creative and counter-programming one. Think about this: at 9 p.m. Central - or 10 p.m. for those of you who don't live in the middle part of the country - the networks put on either crime dramas, female-targeted dramas, or some newsmagazine.

But don't forget - the 9 p.m. hour is also where cable networks bring out their best programming - Comedy Central airs South Park, SciFi airs Battlestar Galactica, Bravo with Project Runway, and so on. The good news for Leno is, these shows air once a week and their seasons are rather short.

Plus Fox, CW, and My Network TV affiliates and independents air either syndicated programming or local news at 9. WGN-TV and WFLD-TV have local newscasts, while WCIU airs syndicated repeats of Fraiser and WPWR airs Malcolm in the Middle and Scrubs in the hour (no Raymond? What gives?).

In New York, WNYW (Fox), WPIX (CW), and WWOR-TV (My) all air news at 10 p.m.

Their are plenty of options to choose from in the last hour of prime-time. So why not air a talk show? There is precendent: In the 1990's Montel Williams' issues-oriented daytime talk show had a successful run at 9 p.m. on WPWR - though Vibe - an urban-oriented nighttime talk show featuring the awful Chris Spencer (in the first few weeks before he was mercifully replaced by Sinbad) which replaced Montel in 1997 - faltered in the time period.

The one concern I have is what kind of effect this will have on NBC affiliates' local late news. While Leno does well in the 25-54 demo, will he attract news viewers to newscasts? Since local news also attracts large numbers of 25-54 viewers, the flow is not a given. On the other hand, Leno could give NBC affils struggling in news - notably KSHB-TV in Kansas City and WLWT in Cincinnati - a boost, given both stations' ratings are about as bad as their pro sports teams.

While Leno averages 5 million for NBC late night, he could actually attract more viewers, who aren't interested in news, crime dramas, or anything cable has to offer. Leno adds to the wide variety of genres in the time period available to viewers. Aaron Barnhart of the Kansas City Star points out higher HUT levels may also benefit Leno.

And perhaps the best news of all - it gives NBC exec Ben Silverman five hours less to screw up in primetime.

Tribune files bankruptcy

In a move that comes as surprising and shocking, The Tribune Co. - home to the Chicago Tribune, WGN-TV and WGN-AM and the Chicago Cubs, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

It's no secret Tribune has been under heavy debt load since the company was taken over by Sam Zell for $8.2 billion and was taken private last year. Under Zell, Tribune assumed more than $13 billion in debt.

But with the economy continuing to go south and the worsening credit crisis, Tribune had no choice but to file for Chapter 11, as the prognosis for its newspapers, television businesses, and WGN-AM are growing worse by the day.

It is possible some television stations in markets outside of the ten largest and WGN America could be sold. But with the ongoing credit crisis, it would be impossible to make such deals.

But despite that, Tribune continues to operate its businesses normally. The Chicago Cubs and Wrigley Field are not part of the bankruptcy filing.

Zell purchased Tribune, but had to get waivers from the FCC to keep in television stations in markets where it also owns newspapers, which were New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago (Newsday in New York has since been sold to Cablevision owner James Dolan.) Despite objections from media activists, the FCC approved the waivers in a 3-2 partisan vote.

Thought: Well, this what happens when Big Media gets - well, too big. We knew the sharks were circulating the water when Tribune bought the Los Angeles Times a few years ago. And Tribune, which 18 years ago had just six television stations, now has 23 (at one time, they had 26.)

And so what happens when you expand and buy, buy, buy? You go deeper and deeper into debt. Then when the economy goes south like it just did recently, your ass is up the creek without a paddle. It's as simple as that.

Too bad the Federal Communication Commission didn't get the message. The three Republicans on the board, including Kevin Martin, voted to approve the deal in a very partisan vote. He and his ilk thought bigger was better. While Chicago Democrats and Illinois politicians initially supported the deal, they didn't say a word when the sale became final - though fellow Dems Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein had plenty to say.

Interestingly enough, Martin - who is more concerned about protecting children from dirty words on television rather than keeping a competitive balance in the marketplace - had nothing to say about Tribune's bankruptcy.

And now, look at the media business. Along with the rest of corporate America - which sold out to Wall Street instead of Main Street - you have firings, mass layoffs, downsizings, and now bankruptcies. In fact, another station group owner filed for bankruptcy today (Equity Media Holdings.)

How many layoffs and firings have their been the last two years in Chicago? Too many to count. Though some deserved it (Joe Ahern and Carol Fowler of WBBM-TV come to mind), others did not. And a few others (Eddie & JoBo, Steve Dahl, and "Crazy" Howard McGee) were highly paid radio stars whose large contracts and declining ratings were no longer justified in keeping them on the air, at least as far as their employers is concerned - though you don't need declining ratings to get canned. Ask Mr. McGee, who was fired from WGCI last year - despite being in the top five in morning drive.

While yours truly admittedly supported the deal at first, I thought the sale would keep jobs in Chicago, keep the media conglomerate together, and serve all of Chicagoland better. Boy, was I wrong on the first (Tribune has made numerous layoffs since) likely wrong on the second, and definitely wrong on the third (the "Breaking News" section full of mostly crime blotter stories on the Trib's website is not what I call serving Chicagoland better.) It's more proof Zell took us for a bunch of saps and dips (maybe Tim Kring has a point...)

And look at WGN-AM. The station has gone from a top dog to just a dog, as the new Portable People Meter surveys show the station falling to seventh place overall and failing to show up in key demos - especially the all-important 25-54 age bracket in November.

Zell thought he could take a mountain load of debt and make it work, taking a huge gamble in the process - a gamble he now has clearly lost.

And now, Tribune may be facing even more layoffs and firings. May I suggest they start - and end - with the editorial board, who endorsed media consolidation - and Zell himself. But that's wishful thinking, right?

Report: Tribune may consider bankruptcy

And the media heartbreak continues... It is possible Tribune Co. may file for bankruptcy as soon as this week. The move could come after a huge third-quarter loss this year.