As of this writing, the "Groovy" is being dropped from "Grab Bag" title - but it is still newsworthy nonetheless:
...The Winter Television Critics Association press tour is currently taking place in Pasadena, Calif. Among the non-Jay Leno/Conan O'Brien items going on:
- Simon Cowell made an appearance at TCA today to officially announce his departure from American Idol to focus on the his new X-Factor talent show, which will also appear on Fox. It is scheduled to debut in 2011.
- Fox has also renewed hit freshmen series Glee for a second season.
- CBS has officially canceled Three Rivers, but is introducing a new Friday night medical drama Miami Medical. Also, Rules of Engagement will return to CBS' Monday night line-up soon, replacing Accidentally On Purpose, which moves to Wednesday to replace Gary Unmarried, which now goes on hiatus.
- NBC has picked up eighteen pilots for developement, and is in talks to develop a Law and Order series set in L.A. (but yet, they cut Southland loose. Typical NBC...) Also, America's Got Talent has replaced David Hasslehoff with Howie Mandel as the third judge on the show. This leaves Piers Morgan as the only person associated with the show from the start, which consisted of judges Hasslehoff, Brandy Norwood (since replaced by Sharon Osbourne) and host Regis Phillbin (since replaced by Jerry Springer - and in turn, replaced by Nick Cannon.) Talent returns this summer.
- Speaking of NBC, its New York City station has clearly seen better days. WNBC-TV's newscast finished third in households at 11 p.m. last month (thanks to Leno, of course), and in essence, letting former perennial doormat WCBS-TV finish first for its newscast - for the first time since the early 1990's.
Meanwhile, here's what's going on locally...
- WLS-AM dropped Amy Jacobson from Roe Conn's program on Friday. As first reported by Chicagoland Radio and Media, Ms. Jacobson was being moved to a reporter position with the radio station in anticipation of adding Cisco Cotto to Mr. Conn's show, effective today. Cotto comes from WIND-AM, where he was paired with John Howell.
Last month, WLS-AM severed ties with WLS-TV anchor Ron Magers, who did news reports and made contributions to Conn's program.
- Fox-owned WFLD-TV has added Sun-Times columnist Bill Zwecker and sports anchor Lou Canellis to its news team. This is Zwecker's second tour of duty with WFLD, where he was from 2000-03. He left for CBS-owned WBBM-TV where he contributed to the station's morning show from 2004-09. Zwecker will be the entertainment reporter for WFLD, mainly focusing on American Idol.
- On a sad note, WVON's Wesley South died Saturday at his Hyde Park home. He was 95. Born in Oklahoma, Mr. Smith came to WVON in 1963 and hosted a very popular call-in talk show simply titled Hotline, which ran for several years. The program was especially instrumental in the days after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968, which sparked rioting on Chicago's West Side. He and Pervis Spann teamed up to buy WXOL-AM in the mid-1970's (in a split-signal arrangement with WCEV at 1450AM) and flipped the format to all-talk in 1986. (WVON's call letters were actually still at the 1390 frequency until 1984 when then-owner Gannett changed them to WGCI-AM. Meserrs. South and Spann reclaimed the WVON calls and moved them to the 1450 frequency shortly thereafter.)
The wake will be this Saturday at Good Shepard on 5700 S. Prairie in Chicago at 10 a.m., with the funeral taking place shortly thereafter.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Sunday, January 10, 2010
It's official: "Leno" out of prime-time
In news predicted by me (and just about anyone else) since Thursday, NBC announced it is moving Jay Leno's prime-time show back to late night (at 10:35 p.m. Central) and cutting it to a half-hour. The move also means Conan O'Brien goes to 11:05 p.m. and Jimmy Fallon heads to 12:05 a.m. The moves begin after the Winter Olympics.
The news was made official today at the Winter Television Critics Association press tour in Pasadena, Calif. by Jeff Gaspin, who heads NBC Universal's entertainment division.
While the move gets Leno out of prime-time, it comes at the expense of both Conan O'Brien and Jimmy Fallon. Leno's move to 10:35 p.m. pushes Conan O'Brien's and Jimmy Fallon's into lower homes-using-television, or HUT time periods.
Despite the announcement, both Mr. O'Brien and Mr. Fallon have yet to sign off on the deals, which take effect immediately after the Winter Olympics conclude. There are reports Mr. O'Brien isn't too keen about being bumped back a half-hour.
Affiliates seemed to be pleased by this move, as many of them were unhappy with Leno's show leading into their late newscasts. However, they are appreciative of Leno's program and hard work ethic.
Still, no word on what will fill the last hour of prime-time at NBC.
The news was made official today at the Winter Television Critics Association press tour in Pasadena, Calif. by Jeff Gaspin, who heads NBC Universal's entertainment division.
While the move gets Leno out of prime-time, it comes at the expense of both Conan O'Brien and Jimmy Fallon. Leno's move to 10:35 p.m. pushes Conan O'Brien's and Jimmy Fallon's into lower homes-using-television, or HUT time periods.
Despite the announcement, both Mr. O'Brien and Mr. Fallon have yet to sign off on the deals, which take effect immediately after the Winter Olympics conclude. There are reports Mr. O'Brien isn't too keen about being bumped back a half-hour.
Affiliates seemed to be pleased by this move, as many of them were unhappy with Leno's show leading into their late newscasts. However, they are appreciative of Leno's program and hard work ethic.
Still, no word on what will fill the last hour of prime-time at NBC.
Saturday, January 09, 2010
Chicago ratings box
Here are some notable ratings items:
- Lewis Lazare's Sun-Times column noted ABC-owned WLS-TV's continued ratings dominance in the month of December. According to the ratings "book", WLS finished first at 10 p.m. in households, followed by CBS-owned WBBM-TV and NBC-owned WMAQ-TV, which continues to suffer from having Jay Leno as a news lead-in (though that may not be the case for not much longer.)
The 9 p.m. news race still has WGN-TV way ahead of Fox-owned WFLD-TV, as viewers have not flocked to Anna Davlantes, who now appears on the newscast regularly.
One thing bugs me about this part of the article: Lazare says that strong competition from prime-time programming has affected WGN's 9 p.m. newscasts. What, from Leno? From Castle and Eastwick? CBS is the only network providing strong ratings in the last hour of prime-time. Lazare also did not mention other reasons: the increasing use of DVRs in the time period; and viewers who are watching fare on the cable nets such as Monday Night Football, where the Vikings-Bears game on Dec. 28 (also simulcast on WLS) did a huge number.
Just how did he get this job writing about media again?
- Hot Hawks. The Chicago Blackhawks are so hot right now, they are melting the ice they play on! The team is winning in the standings - and in the ratings race, too. Thursday night's game - a road contest against the Boston Bruins - drew a record 3.43 household rating for Comcast SportsNet, opposite the Texas-Alabama BCS Championship football game on ABC.
As for the BCS football game, the matchup between the #2 ranked Texas Longhorns and the #1 Alabama Crimson Tide, the game drew a whopping 28 million viewers.
- Lewis Lazare's Sun-Times column noted ABC-owned WLS-TV's continued ratings dominance in the month of December. According to the ratings "book", WLS finished first at 10 p.m. in households, followed by CBS-owned WBBM-TV and NBC-owned WMAQ-TV, which continues to suffer from having Jay Leno as a news lead-in (though that may not be the case for not much longer.)
The 9 p.m. news race still has WGN-TV way ahead of Fox-owned WFLD-TV, as viewers have not flocked to Anna Davlantes, who now appears on the newscast regularly.
One thing bugs me about this part of the article: Lazare says that strong competition from prime-time programming has affected WGN's 9 p.m. newscasts. What, from Leno? From Castle and Eastwick? CBS is the only network providing strong ratings in the last hour of prime-time. Lazare also did not mention other reasons: the increasing use of DVRs in the time period; and viewers who are watching fare on the cable nets such as Monday Night Football, where the Vikings-Bears game on Dec. 28 (also simulcast on WLS) did a huge number.
Just how did he get this job writing about media again?
- Hot Hawks. The Chicago Blackhawks are so hot right now, they are melting the ice they play on! The team is winning in the standings - and in the ratings race, too. Thursday night's game - a road contest against the Boston Bruins - drew a record 3.43 household rating for Comcast SportsNet, opposite the Texas-Alabama BCS Championship football game on ABC.
As for the BCS football game, the matchup between the #2 ranked Texas Longhorns and the #1 Alabama Crimson Tide, the game drew a whopping 28 million viewers.
Friday, January 08, 2010
Head for the shelf
It's shelving day, as several projects are being either delayed or scrapped altogether:
- Fox has indefinitely delayed the premiere of Our Little Genius, the new game show featuring child prodigies answering questions in a new twist on the old Quiz Kids show. The move came after producer Mark Burnett requested Fox pull the first few episodes because he was not satisfied with them, which means several of them will likely be re-shot. No word on when the series will premiere.
- NATPE Update: While Program Partners has decided to green-light Canadian talk show Steven & Chris, two proposed strips aren't going to see the light of the TV screen this fall: Warner Bros. has shelved MomLogic, a new daily talk show targeted to mothers with the program remaining in development. Meanwhile, Twentieth Television has decided not to bring out National Geographic Channel's Dog Whisperer, after failing to secure enough clearances.
Two other off-cable series may also be delayed due to weak responses from TV stations: Debmar-Mercury's True Hollywood Story and MGM's Cash Cab, though the latter's financial problems could prevent the series from coming to market altogether.
Off-cable reality programming may face an upcoming backlash from local broadcasters, as the fare is mostly used as cheap time period filler and outlets now want to steer away from that type of programming.
- Fox has indefinitely delayed the premiere of Our Little Genius, the new game show featuring child prodigies answering questions in a new twist on the old Quiz Kids show. The move came after producer Mark Burnett requested Fox pull the first few episodes because he was not satisfied with them, which means several of them will likely be re-shot. No word on when the series will premiere.
- NATPE Update: While Program Partners has decided to green-light Canadian talk show Steven & Chris, two proposed strips aren't going to see the light of the TV screen this fall: Warner Bros. has shelved MomLogic, a new daily talk show targeted to mothers with the program remaining in development. Meanwhile, Twentieth Television has decided not to bring out National Geographic Channel's Dog Whisperer, after failing to secure enough clearances.
Two other off-cable series may also be delayed due to weak responses from TV stations: Debmar-Mercury's True Hollywood Story and MGM's Cash Cab, though the latter's financial problems could prevent the series from coming to market altogether.
Off-cable reality programming may face an upcoming backlash from local broadcasters, as the fare is mostly used as cheap time period filler and outlets now want to steer away from that type of programming.
Thursday, January 07, 2010
Report: Leno headed back to 10:35 pm
With the Jay Leno-Conan O'Brien saga unfolding hourly it seems, here is the latest:
- According to the New York Times, it looks like NBC is expected to move Jay Leno back to 10:35pm (Central Time), beginning perhaps as soon as the Winter Olympics is over.The show is expected to be cut back a half-hour.
- This means Conan O'Brien's and Jimmy Fallon's late night programs will slide back a half-hour - Conan's at 11:05 p.m., and Fallon's at 12:05 a.m.
- If all of this comes together, look for NBC to drop Later With Carson Daly (don't worry... he has that new gig in morning drive at CBS Radio's KAMP-FM in Los Angeles - which he'll screw up sooner or later)
- NBC wants this new late-night plan implemented by January 21, when the affiliates' meetings take place. The affiliates have been the most vocal in voicing their displeasure about Leno's performance since his show lead into their late night newscasts.
- There is no word on what will replace Leno in prime-time. Some options are being considered to fill the vacated slot, including reruns of Law & Order, new episodes of Dateline NBC, and perhaps borrowing a few shows from NBC's cable networks.
-All of this could change in the change in the next few days - or even hours - so stay tuned.
- According to the New York Times, it looks like NBC is expected to move Jay Leno back to 10:35pm (Central Time), beginning perhaps as soon as the Winter Olympics is over.The show is expected to be cut back a half-hour.
- This means Conan O'Brien's and Jimmy Fallon's late night programs will slide back a half-hour - Conan's at 11:05 p.m., and Fallon's at 12:05 a.m.
- If all of this comes together, look for NBC to drop Later With Carson Daly (don't worry... he has that new gig in morning drive at CBS Radio's KAMP-FM in Los Angeles - which he'll screw up sooner or later)
- NBC wants this new late-night plan implemented by January 21, when the affiliates' meetings take place. The affiliates have been the most vocal in voicing their displeasure about Leno's performance since his show lead into their late night newscasts.
- There is no word on what will replace Leno in prime-time. Some options are being considered to fill the vacated slot, including reruns of Law & Order, new episodes of Dateline NBC, and perhaps borrowing a few shows from NBC's cable networks.
-All of this could change in the change in the next few days - or even hours - so stay tuned.
Is Leno coming back to the "Tonight Show"?
It's been an interesting day on the buzz and speculation front regarding the futures of Jay Leno's prime-time show and Conan O'Brien's Tonight Show.
First, NBC denied a report suggesting the network has canceled The Jay Leno Show. In fact, network officials released a statement this morning saying they were in full support of the show and working with affiliates to improve the program.
But later in the day, the network did not deny a report from the "ever-reliable" TMZ that Leno would get his 10:35 p.m. time slot back.
As you recall, NBC made a deal with Conan O'Brien in 2004 to take over The Tonight Show from Jay Leno in 2009 to avoid a situation that occurred in 1992, when NBC passed over David Letterman and chose Leno to host The Tonight Show, which resulted in Letterman to jump to CBS two years later to host a late-night gabber of his own.
Leno soon had buyer's remorse about his "retirement" and to lower costs in prime-time, NBC gave him a weeknight strip to air at 9 p.m. weeknights. But the results have been disasterous for some affiliates' late news - WMAQ-TV's 10 p.m. has dropped to third place in households in the most recent sweeps period.
Right now, if NBC does give Leno the Tonight Show back, it would still have to pay Conan O'Brien what is owed through his contract. Much like the situation with Bears coach Lovie Smith, replacing him would indeed be costly. And it would be vice versa if O'Brien got his Late Night slot back, pushing Jimmy Fallon out.
Meanwhile, NBC announced its support for Conan O'Brien in a just-released statement (as of 6:50 p.m. CT.)
And then if this move happened in the short term (like right after the Winter Olympics next month), what would NBC fill the 9 p.m. time slot with on such short notice?
The first hint dropped regarding Leno's future came yesterday, when NBC ordered 18 pilots for next season.
But after today's shenanigans, one thing is certain: Leno will not return in prime-time next season. NBC's press release basically was just saving face and spin control. The peacock network knows when its licked. The only question now is, will Leno make it through the rest of the season? Hell, will he even make it through the winter?
First, NBC denied a report suggesting the network has canceled The Jay Leno Show. In fact, network officials released a statement this morning saying they were in full support of the show and working with affiliates to improve the program.
But later in the day, the network did not deny a report from the "ever-reliable" TMZ that Leno would get his 10:35 p.m. time slot back.
As you recall, NBC made a deal with Conan O'Brien in 2004 to take over The Tonight Show from Jay Leno in 2009 to avoid a situation that occurred in 1992, when NBC passed over David Letterman and chose Leno to host The Tonight Show, which resulted in Letterman to jump to CBS two years later to host a late-night gabber of his own.
Leno soon had buyer's remorse about his "retirement" and to lower costs in prime-time, NBC gave him a weeknight strip to air at 9 p.m. weeknights. But the results have been disasterous for some affiliates' late news - WMAQ-TV's 10 p.m. has dropped to third place in households in the most recent sweeps period.
Right now, if NBC does give Leno the Tonight Show back, it would still have to pay Conan O'Brien what is owed through his contract. Much like the situation with Bears coach Lovie Smith, replacing him would indeed be costly. And it would be vice versa if O'Brien got his Late Night slot back, pushing Jimmy Fallon out.
Meanwhile, NBC announced its support for Conan O'Brien in a just-released statement (as of 6:50 p.m. CT.)
And then if this move happened in the short term (like right after the Winter Olympics next month), what would NBC fill the 9 p.m. time slot with on such short notice?
The first hint dropped regarding Leno's future came yesterday, when NBC ordered 18 pilots for next season.
But after today's shenanigans, one thing is certain: Leno will not return in prime-time next season. NBC's press release basically was just saving face and spin control. The peacock network knows when its licked. The only question now is, will Leno make it through the rest of the season? Hell, will he even make it through the winter?
Wednesday, January 06, 2010
Tribune's WGN-TV renews "Family Guy" - with WCIU in tow
Soon, "Family Guy" will have TWO places to call home in Chicago.
In a rather odd twist to a renewal deal, Tribune-owned WGN-TV has renewed syndicated repeats of Family Guy for a second cycle in a new four-year deal through 2015, which kicks in on September 12, 2011. But as a part of the deal, Weigel-owned independent station WCIU-TV will also strip the series in another daypart.
In addition, WCIU picks up American Dad as a strip for fall 2011, and to air as an one-hour all-barter block this fall.
This is a part of a larger syndication deal Twentieth Television made with stations yesterday involving both Seth MacFarlane-produced shows. Twentieth has renewed Family Guy on incumbent Tribune and Fox stations covering 40 percent of the country, along with American Dad. Tribune stations renewing Family Guy include WPIX-TV in New York, KTLA in Los Angeles, WPHL-TV in Philadelphia, KDAF-TV in Dallas, and KIAH-TV in Houston.
On the Fox O&O side, renewals include WFTC in Minneapolis-St. Paul, WRBW-TV in Orlando/Daytona Beach, and KUTP in Phoenix. All three are affiliated with My Network TV.
The deals for Family Guy are for cash/barter - a huge plus for the syndication business, which has seen an abundance of all-barter deals thanks to the sagging economy. In all-barter deals, stations pay no cash, but give up half of their commercial inventory to the syndicator so it can be sold to national advertisers. The commercial split for Family Guy remains the same - three 30-second spots per day withheld by Twentieth for national ad sales; stations get eleven 30 second spots to sell themselves for local or spot advertising.
Family Guy currently ranks second among all off-network sitcoms with barter, behind only Warner Bros. Two and a Half Men. The program does very well with young audiences, particularly in hard-to-reach male demos.
As for the Chicago deal, it marks the first time two competing stations (excluding duopolies) will share the rights for a fairly recent-to-market off-network sitcom. But while the occurrence is unusual, two broadcast stations sharing syndicated programming has actually happened before in other markets.
In 1990, Boston's ABC affiliate (WCVB-TV) and then-syndicator Viacom sold-off The Cosby Show to Fox-owned WFXT for the reminder of its five-year deal, with the program being stripped on WFXT weeknights while WCVB retained a weekly episode to air in prime-time. The Hearst-owned station bought Cosby reruns in 1986, but suddenly had nowhere to put it when it debuted in syndication in 1988. So, it ran the program on weekends in vertical blocks for two years, losing more than $2 million - on top of the tens of thousands of dollars it already paid for the pricey sitcom (in a rather ironic twist, Cosby Show recently returned to WCVB's schedule, where it airs at 2:06 a.m.)
In 1992, CBS affiliate WRAL-TV in Raleigh, N.C. - which stripped Cosby Show at 5 p.m. with little success - scaled back its airings of the program and let WLFL-TV carry the show while retaining a weekly airing until its contract was up a year later.
A few examples of first-run sharing: In the 1990s, Warner Bros. let ABC-owned WPVI-TVand WPHL share weekday airings of Jenny Jones' talk show for a brief period.
In the 2000s locally, CBS-owned WBBM-TV and then-UPN affiliate WPWR-TV shared airings of Judge Judy for about a year or so.
Currently, WGN and Weigel's Me-TV share rights to CBS Television Distribution's The Andy Griffith Show, with WWME airing the uncut version in various dayparts while WGN airs the standard syndication version in overnight hours (WGN has aired Andy Griffith since 1971.)
Sunday, January 03, 2010
T Dog's Fridge Pack: The twelve items that made the decade
In his 2008 speeches, President Barack Obama talked about change.
Well, in the media world, change arrived in the 2000s. And boy, did it ever!
When the decade started, who knew we would be watching clips on YouTube, or friending people on Facebook, or watching network TV shows online?
Or how broadcast television and terrestrial radio would both have trouble adjusting to the changes and now find themselves on the verge of possible obsoleteness?
If this was the decade of change - the 2000s were it. The T Dog Media Blog now takes a look at a twelve can pack of items that shook up Chicago - and beyond:
- YouTube. Invented in 2005 by three former Paypal employees, the new website was one where users can upload videos they shot and share them all over the world. The success of the site made individuals like LonelyGirl15 and a skateboarding dog viral video favorites. In addition, long-lost clips of television shows, music videos, and other material gave users an instant trip into pop culture's past. Movie studios and other producers have used the site to promote their material - while others (notably Viacom) have kept their material off because of copyright infringement.
In 2006, YouTube was purchased by Google.
- The Internet. Okay, this went mainstream in the '90's, but came of age in the 2000s. Today, people can gets their news, watch most of their favorite television shows, listen to radio, go shopping - and a lot of other things - at the expense of traditional media. Some of the biggest news stories have broke on numerous sites, including TMZ and Twitter.
- Mac vs. PC. This campaign from Apple featured Justin Long (as "Apple") and John Hodgeman (as "PC") as dueling "computers" bragging about which one was better. The results? Hilarious ads too good to skip with a DVR.
- Electronic measurement. With the introduction of the Local People Meters fro television (LPMs) and the Portable People Meters for radio (PPMs), tracking who's watching what - and who's listening to what - has never been more accurate. And the implementation of the devices have shook up local marketplaces all over the nation.
- WDRV, The Drive. On March 15, 2001, longtime classical outlet WNIB-FM bid adieu and in came WDRV-FM (The Drive), which Bonneville International purchased a year earlier. Appealing to an older demo with timeless classics and deep album cuts. The Drive has been one of Chicago's most successful - and profitable - radio stations - even in an era where youth is everything.
- Breaking curses. Heading into sports, the 2004 Boston Red Sox and the 2005 Chicago White Sox ended their long World Series droughts - while the Cubs...can we say Bartman?
- The Chicago Bears' 2006 Super Bowl run. Even though they didn't win Super Bowl XLI, the ride was the most fun Chicago has had since the wonderful 1985 season.
- The Chicago Blackhawks finally righting the ship. Once named the worst professional sports team by ESPN, the Chciago Blackhawks blossomed after owner Bill Wirtz's death. In late 2007, new management (led by Rocky Wirtz, Bill's son), lifted the decades-old home television blackout and brought a new audience to the team - just in time to discover the awesome play of young stars Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews. As a result, the Chicago Blackhawks - who were once outdrawn by the Circus at the United Center and on TV by reruns of Sanford and Son - has seen huge increases at the box office and in the Nielsens.
- American Idol. Turning to television... whether you love this show - or hate it (count me in the latter category), you can't deny the phenomenon this show created. This show has saved two struggling entities at the same time - the television and the music industries, with millions and millions of viewers tuning to Fox every week to see the brighest upcoming superstars and made household names of judges Randy Jackson, , Paula Abdul, and Simon Cowell - not to mention host Ryan Seacrest. Idol also made Fox a legitimate competitor, after fifteen years of being known as "the coat-hanger network".
Idol launched the careers of winners Kelly Clarkson, Fantasia Barriano, Carrie Underwood, and even of those who didn't win - Jennifer Hudson, Clay Aiken, and Chris Daugherty. On the other hand, careers of a few Idol winners (Rueben Studdard, Taylor Hicks, and Kris Allen) have sputtered.
- Desperate Housewives. When ABC debuted this show in 2004, it was one of the most original dramas to hit television in a long time. The crazy antics of five married women in suburbia brought viewers in every week (and continues to do so), with the perfect blend of comedy and drama.
- Survivor. This show would re-define "reality TV", which up until 2000, consisted of Cops, America's Most Wanted, The Real World, and any Geraldo Rivera special. Survivor made a big splash for CBS that summer, which brought in young viewers the network sorely needed - and would bring "immunity idol" and "voted off the island" into pop culture lexicon. Today, Survivor is still a ratings force to reckon with, if the outrage regarding the recent screwjob of Russell is any indication.
- The DVR. First, it was the VCR that put the viewer in charge. And now, you have the Digital video Recorder - or the DVR - that put the viewer in even more control. The individual not only can record programs, he or she can pause live programming and skip commercials - striking fear into everyone on Madison Avenue.
Honorable Mentions.
- Family Guy's triumphant return to TV. In the past, letter-writing campaigns have gotten a few programs back on the air. But Family Guy did one better - after being canceled by Fox - twice - the show returned due to strong DVD sales of the program's first 49 episodes - a historic feat. Meanwhile, strong DVD sales convinced Twentieth Television to also revive Futurama for Comedy Central this coming year.
- Lost. Little anyone know this program would become a pop culture phenomenon when it debuted in 2004. Who would've thought the island the survivors landed on after a plane crash would become as much a star of the show as they are?
- The Office. The "mockumentary" style of this show was groundbreaking (though the British version of this show did it first), though it inspired a few bad knockoffs (Parks & Recreation, notably)
- Battlestar Galactica. Can robots and humans get along? Just more than an update of the 1980 ABC sci-fi drama, this show went deeper than any other.
Others: The Daily Show With Jon Stewart (Comedy Central), Everybody Loves Raymond (CBS - also, the off-network hit of the decade), and CBS (the network of the decade), iPod (and its legitimate children, the iPod Touch and iPhone.), and Jump The Shark (website of the decade - before it was sold to TV Guide who later shuttered it. )
Well, in the media world, change arrived in the 2000s. And boy, did it ever!
When the decade started, who knew we would be watching clips on YouTube, or friending people on Facebook, or watching network TV shows online?
Or how broadcast television and terrestrial radio would both have trouble adjusting to the changes and now find themselves on the verge of possible obsoleteness?
If this was the decade of change - the 2000s were it. The T Dog Media Blog now takes a look at a twelve can pack of items that shook up Chicago - and beyond:
- YouTube. Invented in 2005 by three former Paypal employees, the new website was one where users can upload videos they shot and share them all over the world. The success of the site made individuals like LonelyGirl15 and a skateboarding dog viral video favorites. In addition, long-lost clips of television shows, music videos, and other material gave users an instant trip into pop culture's past. Movie studios and other producers have used the site to promote their material - while others (notably Viacom) have kept their material off because of copyright infringement.
In 2006, YouTube was purchased by Google.
- The Internet. Okay, this went mainstream in the '90's, but came of age in the 2000s. Today, people can gets their news, watch most of their favorite television shows, listen to radio, go shopping - and a lot of other things - at the expense of traditional media. Some of the biggest news stories have broke on numerous sites, including TMZ and Twitter.
- Mac vs. PC. This campaign from Apple featured Justin Long (as "Apple") and John Hodgeman (as "PC") as dueling "computers" bragging about which one was better. The results? Hilarious ads too good to skip with a DVR.
- Electronic measurement. With the introduction of the Local People Meters fro television (LPMs) and the Portable People Meters for radio (PPMs), tracking who's watching what - and who's listening to what - has never been more accurate. And the implementation of the devices have shook up local marketplaces all over the nation.
- WDRV, The Drive. On March 15, 2001, longtime classical outlet WNIB-FM bid adieu and in came WDRV-FM (The Drive), which Bonneville International purchased a year earlier. Appealing to an older demo with timeless classics and deep album cuts. The Drive has been one of Chicago's most successful - and profitable - radio stations - even in an era where youth is everything.
- Breaking curses. Heading into sports, the 2004 Boston Red Sox and the 2005 Chicago White Sox ended their long World Series droughts - while the Cubs...can we say Bartman?
- The Chicago Bears' 2006 Super Bowl run. Even though they didn't win Super Bowl XLI, the ride was the most fun Chicago has had since the wonderful 1985 season.
- The Chicago Blackhawks finally righting the ship. Once named the worst professional sports team by ESPN, the Chciago Blackhawks blossomed after owner Bill Wirtz's death. In late 2007, new management (led by Rocky Wirtz, Bill's son), lifted the decades-old home television blackout and brought a new audience to the team - just in time to discover the awesome play of young stars Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews. As a result, the Chicago Blackhawks - who were once outdrawn by the Circus at the United Center and on TV by reruns of Sanford and Son - has seen huge increases at the box office and in the Nielsens.
- American Idol. Turning to television... whether you love this show - or hate it (count me in the latter category), you can't deny the phenomenon this show created. This show has saved two struggling entities at the same time - the television and the music industries, with millions and millions of viewers tuning to Fox every week to see the brighest upcoming superstars and made household names of judges Randy Jackson, , Paula Abdul, and Simon Cowell - not to mention host Ryan Seacrest. Idol also made Fox a legitimate competitor, after fifteen years of being known as "the coat-hanger network".
Idol launched the careers of winners Kelly Clarkson, Fantasia Barriano, Carrie Underwood, and even of those who didn't win - Jennifer Hudson, Clay Aiken, and Chris Daugherty. On the other hand, careers of a few Idol winners (Rueben Studdard, Taylor Hicks, and Kris Allen) have sputtered.
- Desperate Housewives. When ABC debuted this show in 2004, it was one of the most original dramas to hit television in a long time. The crazy antics of five married women in suburbia brought viewers in every week (and continues to do so), with the perfect blend of comedy and drama.
- Survivor. This show would re-define "reality TV", which up until 2000, consisted of Cops, America's Most Wanted, The Real World, and any Geraldo Rivera special. Survivor made a big splash for CBS that summer, which brought in young viewers the network sorely needed - and would bring "immunity idol" and "voted off the island" into pop culture lexicon. Today, Survivor is still a ratings force to reckon with, if the outrage regarding the recent screwjob of Russell is any indication.
- The DVR. First, it was the VCR that put the viewer in charge. And now, you have the Digital video Recorder - or the DVR - that put the viewer in even more control. The individual not only can record programs, he or she can pause live programming and skip commercials - striking fear into everyone on Madison Avenue.
Honorable Mentions.
- Family Guy's triumphant return to TV. In the past, letter-writing campaigns have gotten a few programs back on the air. But Family Guy did one better - after being canceled by Fox - twice - the show returned due to strong DVD sales of the program's first 49 episodes - a historic feat. Meanwhile, strong DVD sales convinced Twentieth Television to also revive Futurama for Comedy Central this coming year.
- Lost. Little anyone know this program would become a pop culture phenomenon when it debuted in 2004. Who would've thought the island the survivors landed on after a plane crash would become as much a star of the show as they are?
- The Office. The "mockumentary" style of this show was groundbreaking (though the British version of this show did it first), though it inspired a few bad knockoffs (Parks & Recreation, notably)
- Battlestar Galactica. Can robots and humans get along? Just more than an update of the 1980 ABC sci-fi drama, this show went deeper than any other.
Others: The Daily Show With Jon Stewart (Comedy Central), Everybody Loves Raymond (CBS - also, the off-network hit of the decade), and CBS (the network of the decade), iPod (and its legitimate children, the iPod Touch and iPhone.), and Jump The Shark (website of the decade - before it was sold to TV Guide who later shuttered it. )
Friday, January 01, 2010
T Dog's Fridge Pack: The dirty dozen of the decade
The 2000s brought with us a decade of change on how we consume media - whether if its at home or on the go.
But it also brought a decade of flops - some which you have to see - or hear - to believe.
Here are the T Dog Media Blog's twelve biggest media blunders of the decade, in no particular order or ranking:
- The Zone. In November 2000, ABC Radio dumped the Classic Rock format from WXCD-FM (94.7) and launched a gimmicky all- '80's format called The Zone and changed its calls to WZZN-FM. In September 2001, it flipped to alternative rock and morphed into active rock two years later. Ratings improved a bit, but it was too late. WZZN flipped to Oldies in September 2005 as part of The True Oldies Channel, where it remains to this day, only now as WLS-FM.
- Steve Dahl's stint at JACK FM. Chicago radio legend Steve Dahl was a success at WCKG-FM in his weekday afternoon slot. But when CBS Radio decided to drop the talk format for the Fresh FM music format in 2007, the company moved him to morning drive at WJMK-FM, which had the JACK FM format (WJMK was previously oldies.) After a few months - and the switch to PPM - it was curtains for Dahl, who now does podcasts for his website while still under contract with CBS Radio.
- WGCI fires morning personality "Crazy" Howard McGee. So what happens when your discjockey's morning show finishes on or near the top year after year overall and in key demos? They fire you. This is what Urban Contemporary WGCI-FM did in 2007 when it dropped Mr. McGee's local morning show in favor of the nationally syndicated Steve Harvey show. Ratings in the time period dropped off - even more so in younger demos - and earlier this year, Steve Harvey's show moved to WVAZ-FM, where the program fits better rather than on younger-skewing WGCI.
As for WGCI, it returned to a local morning show this year with The Morning Riot.
- Nine-FM. Broadcast over three Newsweb-owned suburban FM sticks (WDEK, WKIE, and WRZA), this was a great idea at first: the concept of "We Play Everything" was a novel idea created to give Chicago-area radio listeners who were disenchanted with corporate FM radio stations a fresh alternative. But when Sky Daniels departed the station in late 2005, the playlists tightened and became a mess, the commercial load increased, and started airing more brokered programs like the shelf life-expired Dance Factory and high school football games. In the process, Nine FM lost key personalities as Johnny Mars was dumped and Joey Fortman fled for the exits, which forced the station to rely on voicetracking and automation. In essence, Nine FM became what it rallied against - bland corporate radio.
I pointed all of this (and more) out in a Think Tank in September 2007, titled "Nine-FM's Not An Alternative."
The format moved to WKIF-FM in Kankakee in 2008 while the three former "Nine-FM" stations are simulcasting sister station WCPT-AM during the day while contractually obligated to carry Dance Factory at night.
- Satellite Radio. It was supposed to be cable for the radio set - premium programming delivered via satellite for a monthly fee with a choice of two providers: Sirius and XM. When Howard Stern came to Sirius in 2005, it was a boon for the fledgling industry. But with the high-priced talent became a drain on both Sirius and XM's finances. So, both companies merged, with the blessing of a partisanally divided FCC - and they still bled red ink, filing for Chapter 11 in the process (it has since been bought by Liberty Media.) Seemed like a good idea at first. But then came the price increase (which it and the merger sent consumers fleeing for the exits) - then the tightened playlists on most of its music channels - and now the possibility Stern might not come back when his deal expires.
Today, Internet radio provides more variety and endless channels - and it's free. And when Internet access is finally available in cars (though WiMax), it should be the death knell for a once-promising medium - done in by greed and Mel Karzamin - the same elements who decreased the value of terrestrial radio.
- Viva Laughlin. Turning to television, this 2007 CBS flop - a musical series about a guy who runs a casino in Nevada (wow, what a plot) - lasted just two episodes in four days.
- According to Jim. It wasn't a flop, but it deserved to be - Jim Belushi's laugh-free sitcom somehow managed to last eight years - most of the time at the bottom of the Nielsen ratings.
- My Network TV and The CW. In an era of YouTube, video-on-demand, and the Internet, these two networks were obsolete the day they premiered. Left from the ashes from the closure of The WB and UPN in 2006 came The CW - merging the "best" of both networks. Well, it didn't exactly pan out that way - The CW's ratings were below those of the now-defunct networks and now has reinvented itself as a young-skewing female network - which is still struggling in the ratings.
Meanwhile, those who were left out of The CW bonanza formed a network of their own - My Network TV, with the 10 former UPN affiliates owned by Fox as a launching base. They started out with English-language telenovelas - which bombed. So they went to reality TV programming and a Flavor Flav sitcom titled Under One Roof. They bombed, too. And now they are the home of mostly syndicated repeats.
- Windows Vista. Moving to the tech world, Microsoft's stab at reinventing the operating system took a hit when it came out with Windows Vista in 2007 - the successor to the very successful Windows XP operating system. Plagued with numerous problems - including security flaws and a heavy reliance on Digital Rights Management, users failed to adopt Vista and stuck with XP.
- HD-DVD. Toshiba's attempt to compete with Sony for the next generation of DVD players in high-definition didn't exactly work out the way they wanted. Toshiba corraled NBC Universal, Paramount, and a few others into their camp, but when Warner Bros. (which did both formats) and a few others switched sides to Blu-Ray, it was quickly over for HD-DVD.
- XFL. Moving to sports, WWE honcho Vince McMahon wanted a football league to bring "smashmouth football" back. So he launched the XFL in 2001. But the venture was too gimmicky, and wound up on the trash heap after just three months (hint: it's not a good idea to bring out WWE stars The Rock and The Undertaker to badmouth the NFL on its first telecast.)
And you knew it would go wrong on its first night: instead of the Chicago Enforcers at Orlando Predators game, locally we got the New York-Las Vegas game - and so did viewers in Orlando. At least one game set an all-time ratings low for prime-time network television.
- The 2008 Detroit Lions. And finally... up until 2008, no professional sports team has gone an entire season winless. Then came the Detroit Lions, who set a record for futility by going 0-16 (Editor's note: forgot about the 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who became the first winless team in their inaugural season coming in at 0-14.)
Runners-up
- Who Wants To Marry A Multi-Millionaire? .. or more to the point, who wants to marry a fraud? The "multi-millionaire" on this Fox special from 2000 was Rick Rockwell, who nurse Darva Conger married on the show - and it lasted only a few weeks. It was later revealed Rockwell wasn't really a multi-millionaire- and he had a history of domestic abuse.
- Carol Marin's 10 O'Clock News - WBBM-TV attempt at a serious newscast with Carol Marin at the helm in 2000 was a surprise flop lasting only a few months. On the newscast's first night, instead of leading with the Wells St. sewer collapse (which truly personally witnessed) - which impacted traffic throughout the Loop, Marin started the newscast with a rather pointless interview with waiting-to-be-convicted treasurer Mariam Santos.
- King of the Hill's off-network run. Now languishing on Adult Swim, broadcast stations spent $3 million per episode on syndicated repeats on this long-running Fox show hoping it would become the next Simpsons or Seinfeld. But results were disappointing and a FX cable run was also a ratings disappointment. Other off-network syndicated busts of the decade included Malcolm in the Middle and Will & Grace.
Coming up next: The twelve most successful items of the decade
But it also brought a decade of flops - some which you have to see - or hear - to believe.
Here are the T Dog Media Blog's twelve biggest media blunders of the decade, in no particular order or ranking:
- The Zone. In November 2000, ABC Radio dumped the Classic Rock format from WXCD-FM (94.7) and launched a gimmicky all- '80's format called The Zone and changed its calls to WZZN-FM. In September 2001, it flipped to alternative rock and morphed into active rock two years later. Ratings improved a bit, but it was too late. WZZN flipped to Oldies in September 2005 as part of The True Oldies Channel, where it remains to this day, only now as WLS-FM.
- Steve Dahl's stint at JACK FM. Chicago radio legend Steve Dahl was a success at WCKG-FM in his weekday afternoon slot. But when CBS Radio decided to drop the talk format for the Fresh FM music format in 2007, the company moved him to morning drive at WJMK-FM, which had the JACK FM format (WJMK was previously oldies.) After a few months - and the switch to PPM - it was curtains for Dahl, who now does podcasts for his website while still under contract with CBS Radio.
- WGCI fires morning personality "Crazy" Howard McGee. So what happens when your discjockey's morning show finishes on or near the top year after year overall and in key demos? They fire you. This is what Urban Contemporary WGCI-FM did in 2007 when it dropped Mr. McGee's local morning show in favor of the nationally syndicated Steve Harvey show. Ratings in the time period dropped off - even more so in younger demos - and earlier this year, Steve Harvey's show moved to WVAZ-FM, where the program fits better rather than on younger-skewing WGCI.
As for WGCI, it returned to a local morning show this year with The Morning Riot.
- Nine-FM. Broadcast over three Newsweb-owned suburban FM sticks (WDEK, WKIE, and WRZA), this was a great idea at first: the concept of "We Play Everything" was a novel idea created to give Chicago-area radio listeners who were disenchanted with corporate FM radio stations a fresh alternative. But when Sky Daniels departed the station in late 2005, the playlists tightened and became a mess, the commercial load increased, and started airing more brokered programs like the shelf life-expired Dance Factory and high school football games. In the process, Nine FM lost key personalities as Johnny Mars was dumped and Joey Fortman fled for the exits, which forced the station to rely on voicetracking and automation. In essence, Nine FM became what it rallied against - bland corporate radio.
I pointed all of this (and more) out in a Think Tank in September 2007, titled "Nine-FM's Not An Alternative."
The format moved to WKIF-FM in Kankakee in 2008 while the three former "Nine-FM" stations are simulcasting sister station WCPT-AM during the day while contractually obligated to carry Dance Factory at night.
- Satellite Radio. It was supposed to be cable for the radio set - premium programming delivered via satellite for a monthly fee with a choice of two providers: Sirius and XM. When Howard Stern came to Sirius in 2005, it was a boon for the fledgling industry. But with the high-priced talent became a drain on both Sirius and XM's finances. So, both companies merged, with the blessing of a partisanally divided FCC - and they still bled red ink, filing for Chapter 11 in the process (it has since been bought by Liberty Media.) Seemed like a good idea at first. But then came the price increase (which it and the merger sent consumers fleeing for the exits) - then the tightened playlists on most of its music channels - and now the possibility Stern might not come back when his deal expires.
Today, Internet radio provides more variety and endless channels - and it's free. And when Internet access is finally available in cars (though WiMax), it should be the death knell for a once-promising medium - done in by greed and Mel Karzamin - the same elements who decreased the value of terrestrial radio.
- Viva Laughlin. Turning to television, this 2007 CBS flop - a musical series about a guy who runs a casino in Nevada (wow, what a plot) - lasted just two episodes in four days.
- According to Jim. It wasn't a flop, but it deserved to be - Jim Belushi's laugh-free sitcom somehow managed to last eight years - most of the time at the bottom of the Nielsen ratings.
- My Network TV and The CW. In an era of YouTube, video-on-demand, and the Internet, these two networks were obsolete the day they premiered. Left from the ashes from the closure of The WB and UPN in 2006 came The CW - merging the "best" of both networks. Well, it didn't exactly pan out that way - The CW's ratings were below those of the now-defunct networks and now has reinvented itself as a young-skewing female network - which is still struggling in the ratings.
Meanwhile, those who were left out of The CW bonanza formed a network of their own - My Network TV, with the 10 former UPN affiliates owned by Fox as a launching base. They started out with English-language telenovelas - which bombed. So they went to reality TV programming and a Flavor Flav sitcom titled Under One Roof. They bombed, too. And now they are the home of mostly syndicated repeats.
- Windows Vista. Moving to the tech world, Microsoft's stab at reinventing the operating system took a hit when it came out with Windows Vista in 2007 - the successor to the very successful Windows XP operating system. Plagued with numerous problems - including security flaws and a heavy reliance on Digital Rights Management, users failed to adopt Vista and stuck with XP.
- HD-DVD. Toshiba's attempt to compete with Sony for the next generation of DVD players in high-definition didn't exactly work out the way they wanted. Toshiba corraled NBC Universal, Paramount, and a few others into their camp, but when Warner Bros. (which did both formats) and a few others switched sides to Blu-Ray, it was quickly over for HD-DVD.
- XFL. Moving to sports, WWE honcho Vince McMahon wanted a football league to bring "smashmouth football" back. So he launched the XFL in 2001. But the venture was too gimmicky, and wound up on the trash heap after just three months (hint: it's not a good idea to bring out WWE stars The Rock and The Undertaker to badmouth the NFL on its first telecast.)
And you knew it would go wrong on its first night: instead of the Chicago Enforcers at Orlando Predators game, locally we got the New York-Las Vegas game - and so did viewers in Orlando. At least one game set an all-time ratings low for prime-time network television.
- The 2008 Detroit Lions. And finally... up until 2008, no professional sports team has gone an entire season winless. Then came the Detroit Lions, who set a record for futility by going 0-16 (Editor's note: forgot about the 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who became the first winless team in their inaugural season coming in at 0-14.)
Runners-up
- Who Wants To Marry A Multi-Millionaire? .. or more to the point, who wants to marry a fraud? The "multi-millionaire" on this Fox special from 2000 was Rick Rockwell, who nurse Darva Conger married on the show - and it lasted only a few weeks. It was later revealed Rockwell wasn't really a multi-millionaire- and he had a history of domestic abuse.
- Carol Marin's 10 O'Clock News - WBBM-TV attempt at a serious newscast with Carol Marin at the helm in 2000 was a surprise flop lasting only a few months. On the newscast's first night, instead of leading with the Wells St. sewer collapse (which truly personally witnessed) - which impacted traffic throughout the Loop, Marin started the newscast with a rather pointless interview with waiting-to-be-convicted treasurer Mariam Santos.
- King of the Hill's off-network run. Now languishing on Adult Swim, broadcast stations spent $3 million per episode on syndicated repeats on this long-running Fox show hoping it would become the next Simpsons or Seinfeld. But results were disappointing and a FX cable run was also a ratings disappointment. Other off-network syndicated busts of the decade included Malcolm in the Middle and Will & Grace.
Coming up next: The twelve most successful items of the decade
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
2009's Excellent 10 - and more
Despite a down year (or decade, depending on your point of view) 2009 has had some good moments too! Here is the best of the best - the Top 10 items of 2009, count them down from ten to one - remember, this list includes not only TV shows, but events as well...
The Excellent 10
10. Glee (Fox). A surprise success - mixing music and drama... okay, Fame did it first in the 1980's... but it's nice to see another show carrying on the tradition.
9. Family Guy (Fox) Seth McFarlane still has a pulse on what's hilarious.
8. Dr. Oz (syndicated) Another surprise success here - Dr. Memhet Oz has a warm, friendly personality and does a very good job projecting it on screen - and the audience has responded. The guy is smart and he knows what he's talking about. The biggest hit of the 2009-10 season in syndication.
7. Battlestar Galactica (SyFy) The series closes out its run on a high note. Thank you, Ronald Moore & Co. for the wonderful ride.
6. Mad Men (AMC). It may not be a show that earns great ratings, but it continues to generate plenty of buzz - even Sesame Street has parodied it!
5. The Chicago Blackhawks (Various channels) One of the year's best TV shows came from one of the most exciting hockey teams to grace Chicago in a long time. Led by young stars Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, and Patrick Sharp, this group will be Stanley Cup contenders for years to come. Go Hawks!
4. Dexter (Showtime). Your protagonist is a serial killer? An original, interesting concept - and well written, too. Broadcast networks, are you listening?
3. Mark Buehrle's Perfect Game (Comcast SportsNet, FSN Florida). On July 23 against the Tampa Bay Rays, Mark Buehrle of the Chicago White Sox did something very few pitchers do - pitch a perfect game. But the most dramatic moment of this contest was win Dewayne Wise made a wall-climbing catch in left field in the ninth inning to save Buehrle's perfection. One of the best baseball games ever.
2. The NHL Winter Classic - Chicago Blackhawks vs. Detroit Red Wings at Wrigley Field (NBC, CBC). Wrigley Field looked great as the two Original Six rivals took it outdoors for a regular-season game on New Year's Day that was a lot of fun! (Unfortunately, the Hawks fell to the Red Wings 6-4.)
1. The Big Bang Theory (CBS). Yours truly started watching this sitcom this year - and it is the funniest program on television. Cleverly well-written and well-acted, the nerdy antics of Sheldon and Leonard are certain to go down with other CBS comedy legends like Lucille Ball, Jackie Gleason, Dick Van Dyke, Mary Tyler Moore, Archie Bunker, and that Raymond guy. Take that, Parks and Recreation!
HONORABLE MENTIONS: South Park (Comedy Central), Aqua Teen Hunger Force (Adult Swim), The Office (NBC), Men of a Certain Age (TNT), Survivor: Tocantins (CBS).
Here are more goodies from 2009:
PPM? WHAT PPM? What's all this talk about Arbitron's Portable People Meter not accurately measuring African-American targeted stations? Don't tell this to WVAZ-FM, or V103. The Urban Adult Contemporary station had a great year, finishing in the top five in several key demographics -and this despite the departure of The Tom Joyner Show from the Clear Channel-owned station when it replaced it with The Steve Harvey Show (which got a very nice ratings boost as a result.)
THE MIX IS IN THE MIX: Lead by morning personalities Eric & Kathy, Bonneville's WTMX-FM continues to be Chicago's few radio success stories.
STILL THE ONE: ABC-owned WLS-TV continues its ratings dominance over its competitors in news, and non-network time periods in a streak that has been alive for 23 years - and 2009 was no different.
YOU GOT SCOOPED: Both the New York Times (on Todd Stroger through the Chicago News Cooperative) and ESPNChicago.com (on Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro) scooped both the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times on major stories, pretty much proving their irrelevance.
BACK TO THE GOOD 'OL DAYS - FOR ONE NIGHT ONLY: On November 13, CBS-owned WBBM-TV reunited legendary anchors Bill Kurtis and Walter Jacobson to fill-in for Rob Johnson during the night's 10 p.m. newscast. The end result was a ratings smash - and reminded us of how local news in Chicago used to be done.
THE TALK SHOW WITH MAYBE TOO MUCH EXCITEMENT: Wendy Williams' new syndicated daytime talker - and boy, does she knows now to engage an audience.
THE MUPPET SHOW, ONLY DARKER: Believe it or not, those Nike Commercials featuring LeBron James and Kobe Bryant - as puppets - were whacked at first, but have grown on yours truly as of late.
BEST SHOW YOURS TRULY SAW LIVE: Seeing Aqua Teen's Matt Mellariro and Dave Willis perform live at the Lakeside Theater.
OUR LONG NATIONAL NIGHTMARE IS OVER: ABC finally cancels According to Jim after eight unfunny seasons.
AH....SATISFACTION. The Pittsburgh Penguins' stunning Game 7 defeat of the hated Red Wings 2-1 on June 12, handing Sidney Crosby his first Stanley Cup and the organization's third.
Coming up next: The top 12 things that made this decade... and the worst.
The Excellent 10
10. Glee (Fox). A surprise success - mixing music and drama... okay, Fame did it first in the 1980's... but it's nice to see another show carrying on the tradition.
9. Family Guy (Fox) Seth McFarlane still has a pulse on what's hilarious.
8. Dr. Oz (syndicated) Another surprise success here - Dr. Memhet Oz has a warm, friendly personality and does a very good job projecting it on screen - and the audience has responded. The guy is smart and he knows what he's talking about. The biggest hit of the 2009-10 season in syndication.
7. Battlestar Galactica (SyFy) The series closes out its run on a high note. Thank you, Ronald Moore & Co. for the wonderful ride.
6. Mad Men (AMC). It may not be a show that earns great ratings, but it continues to generate plenty of buzz - even Sesame Street has parodied it!
5. The Chicago Blackhawks (Various channels) One of the year's best TV shows came from one of the most exciting hockey teams to grace Chicago in a long time. Led by young stars Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, and Patrick Sharp, this group will be Stanley Cup contenders for years to come. Go Hawks!
4. Dexter (Showtime). Your protagonist is a serial killer? An original, interesting concept - and well written, too. Broadcast networks, are you listening?
3. Mark Buehrle's Perfect Game (Comcast SportsNet, FSN Florida). On July 23 against the Tampa Bay Rays, Mark Buehrle of the Chicago White Sox did something very few pitchers do - pitch a perfect game. But the most dramatic moment of this contest was win Dewayne Wise made a wall-climbing catch in left field in the ninth inning to save Buehrle's perfection. One of the best baseball games ever.
2. The NHL Winter Classic - Chicago Blackhawks vs. Detroit Red Wings at Wrigley Field (NBC, CBC). Wrigley Field looked great as the two Original Six rivals took it outdoors for a regular-season game on New Year's Day that was a lot of fun! (Unfortunately, the Hawks fell to the Red Wings 6-4.)
1. The Big Bang Theory (CBS). Yours truly started watching this sitcom this year - and it is the funniest program on television. Cleverly well-written and well-acted, the nerdy antics of Sheldon and Leonard are certain to go down with other CBS comedy legends like Lucille Ball, Jackie Gleason, Dick Van Dyke, Mary Tyler Moore, Archie Bunker, and that Raymond guy. Take that, Parks and Recreation!
HONORABLE MENTIONS: South Park (Comedy Central), Aqua Teen Hunger Force (Adult Swim), The Office (NBC), Men of a Certain Age (TNT), Survivor: Tocantins (CBS).
Here are more goodies from 2009:
PPM? WHAT PPM? What's all this talk about Arbitron's Portable People Meter not accurately measuring African-American targeted stations? Don't tell this to WVAZ-FM, or V103. The Urban Adult Contemporary station had a great year, finishing in the top five in several key demographics -and this despite the departure of The Tom Joyner Show from the Clear Channel-owned station when it replaced it with The Steve Harvey Show (which got a very nice ratings boost as a result.)
THE MIX IS IN THE MIX: Lead by morning personalities Eric & Kathy, Bonneville's WTMX-FM continues to be Chicago's few radio success stories.
STILL THE ONE: ABC-owned WLS-TV continues its ratings dominance over its competitors in news, and non-network time periods in a streak that has been alive for 23 years - and 2009 was no different.
YOU GOT SCOOPED: Both the New York Times (on Todd Stroger through the Chicago News Cooperative) and ESPNChicago.com (on Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro) scooped both the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times on major stories, pretty much proving their irrelevance.
BACK TO THE GOOD 'OL DAYS - FOR ONE NIGHT ONLY: On November 13, CBS-owned WBBM-TV reunited legendary anchors Bill Kurtis and Walter Jacobson to fill-in for Rob Johnson during the night's 10 p.m. newscast. The end result was a ratings smash - and reminded us of how local news in Chicago used to be done.
THE TALK SHOW WITH MAYBE TOO MUCH EXCITEMENT: Wendy Williams' new syndicated daytime talker - and boy, does she knows now to engage an audience.
THE MUPPET SHOW, ONLY DARKER: Believe it or not, those Nike Commercials featuring LeBron James and Kobe Bryant - as puppets - were whacked at first, but have grown on yours truly as of late.
BEST SHOW YOURS TRULY SAW LIVE: Seeing Aqua Teen's Matt Mellariro and Dave Willis perform live at the Lakeside Theater.
OUR LONG NATIONAL NIGHTMARE IS OVER: ABC finally cancels According to Jim after eight unfunny seasons.
AH....SATISFACTION. The Pittsburgh Penguins' stunning Game 7 defeat of the hated Red Wings 2-1 on June 12, handing Sidney Crosby his first Stanley Cup and the organization's third.
Coming up next: The top 12 things that made this decade... and the worst.
Vikings-Bears score in the ratings
Well, well, well... I guess the Bears are still relevant in Chicago after all.
Despite a losing season, Bears fans turned out by the boatload for Monday night's game between the Brett Favre-led Minnesota Vikings and the Chicago Bears.
Locally, ABC-owned WLS-TV averaged a 20.6 Nielsen household rating for its ESPN simulcast of the game. ESPN itself added 10.5 rating points to bring the total to a whopping 31.1
Nationally, the game drew a 12.0 household rating - beating all fare on both the broadcast networks (who were heavy in reruns) and cable outlets. Overall, the Vikings-Bears game drew 17 million viewers - ranking it the sixth most watched cable television program of all time.
While Favre was the main attraction, it was the Bears who stole the show - Jay Cutler threw the winning touchdown pass in overtime to beat the Vikings 36-30 in a thrilling game.
Despite a losing season, Bears fans turned out by the boatload for Monday night's game between the Brett Favre-led Minnesota Vikings and the Chicago Bears.
Locally, ABC-owned WLS-TV averaged a 20.6 Nielsen household rating for its ESPN simulcast of the game. ESPN itself added 10.5 rating points to bring the total to a whopping 31.1
Nationally, the game drew a 12.0 household rating - beating all fare on both the broadcast networks (who were heavy in reruns) and cable outlets. Overall, the Vikings-Bears game drew 17 million viewers - ranking it the sixth most watched cable television program of all time.
While Favre was the main attraction, it was the Bears who stole the show - Jay Cutler threw the winning touchdown pass in overtime to beat the Vikings 36-30 in a thrilling game.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Comedy Central cancels "The Jeff Dunham Show"
'Tis the season for cancellations....
A day after Tyra Banks announced she was ending her talk show, Comedy Central decided to pull the plug on The Jeff Dunham Show after only two months on the air, making it one of the shortest-lived cable shows in television history.
The critically-panned sketch comedy show featured ventriloquist Jeff Dunham, who took his puppets out and about in Los Angeles and interacting with real-life people (are you laughing already?)
When Dunham debuted on October 22, he scored the highest rating for a Comedy Central premiere in the network's history, drawing an eye-popping 5.3 million viewers (even higher than South Park, which debuted in 1997.) But the ratings have been in a free fall since, with new episodes this month drawing only around 1.5 million. Obviously, viewers did not like what they saw, and went fleeing for the exits.
The decline is similar to ABC's much-hyped sci-fi drama FlashForward, which lost a third of its audience since its premiere. A recent outing earlier this month drew only a 2.1 rating among adults 18-49. The program is currently being "retooled" and is expected to return in March.
The timing of the decision to end Tyra Banks' and Jeff Dunham's programs is quite unusual - and perhaps suspect - for this time of year, as a lot of people in the industry are on vacation and perhaps the purpose of these announcements was to bury the news while no one is paying attention.
Despite the cancellation of his show, Jeff Dunham will continue to be featured in Comedy Central specials.
Thought: So Jeff Dunham's show gets canned, but not My Mother The Car descendant Secret Girlfriend... the worst program in television history? While Dunham's show clearly earned its cancellation stripes, Comedy Central should have made this a "two-fer Tuesday" - and should've dumped the similarly low-rated Girlfriend as well.
A day after Tyra Banks announced she was ending her talk show, Comedy Central decided to pull the plug on The Jeff Dunham Show after only two months on the air, making it one of the shortest-lived cable shows in television history.
The critically-panned sketch comedy show featured ventriloquist Jeff Dunham, who took his puppets out and about in Los Angeles and interacting with real-life people (are you laughing already?)
When Dunham debuted on October 22, he scored the highest rating for a Comedy Central premiere in the network's history, drawing an eye-popping 5.3 million viewers (even higher than South Park, which debuted in 1997.) But the ratings have been in a free fall since, with new episodes this month drawing only around 1.5 million. Obviously, viewers did not like what they saw, and went fleeing for the exits.
The decline is similar to ABC's much-hyped sci-fi drama FlashForward, which lost a third of its audience since its premiere. A recent outing earlier this month drew only a 2.1 rating among adults 18-49. The program is currently being "retooled" and is expected to return in March.
The timing of the decision to end Tyra Banks' and Jeff Dunham's programs is quite unusual - and perhaps suspect - for this time of year, as a lot of people in the industry are on vacation and perhaps the purpose of these announcements was to bury the news while no one is paying attention.
Despite the cancellation of his show, Jeff Dunham will continue to be featured in Comedy Central specials.
Thought: So Jeff Dunham's show gets canned, but not My Mother The Car descendant Secret Girlfriend... the worst program in television history? While Dunham's show clearly earned its cancellation stripes, Comedy Central should have made this a "two-fer Tuesday" - and should've dumped the similarly low-rated Girlfriend as well.
2009's Toilet 10 - and more
Over the next week, we will be reviewing the year in television and other things - the best and worst - as well as the events and issues that helped define the decade.
We'll start at the absolute bottom - with the worst shows and other items in the annual year-end lineup of the Toilet 10 - with a few programs inducted into The T Dog Media Blog TV Hall Of Shame - and some extra special dishonors as well:
The Toilet 10
1. Secret Girlfriend (Comedy Central) No suspense here on who's number one. Hands down, the worst television show of all time. This steaming pile of crap makes My Mother The Car look like The Dick Van Dyke Show (Mr. Van Dyke's brother Jerry was in My Mother The Car.)
2. Chicago Sports (excluding the Blackhawks). Watching Jay Cutler and the Bears were worse than watching anything on NBC and The CW. Both came up as huge disappointments in 2009, even bigger than Jay Leno's show. And the same could be said for the Bulls, Cubs, and White Sox. When it comes to bad TV, our town's sports teams have the market cornered.
3. The Jay Leno Show (NBC). Speaking of bad TV, I guess stripping this five nights a week - in prime-time - wasn't such a good idea after all...
4. Osbournes: Reloaded (Fox). A six-episode tryout turned out to be a very forgettable 35-minute special.
5. Brothers (Fox). What's worse? The 1984-89 Showtime cable series? Or this unrelated show with the same title from 2009? And yes, there's a stinker of a movie with the same title. Enough, Hollywood, Enough.
6. Heroes (NBC). Is this still on the air?
7. WNUA-FM flipping to Spanish Pop. As Dr. Phil would say, "How's that working out for ya?" (he would say it Spanish, but he doesn't know how.) In May, this station flipped to a Spanish format and it has yet to pay dividends.
8. I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here! (NBC) With Patti Blagoveich in the mix, the program's ratings were highest in guess where? That's right, Chicago. It's no surprise, we're used to watching crap (see #2.)
9. Kris Allen's signing career. He won American Idol last spring, remember? Apparently you don't as his new CD sold less than 80,000 copies. His runner-up? He sold more than 200,000. As for Idol itself, the show lost Paula Abdul but added Ellen DeGeneres (debit), and Simon Cowell may be leaving next year. It really doesn't matter - Chicago viewers have already tuned out Idol before the rest of the nation apparently does.
10. Sit Down, Shut Up (Fox). Hey, you thought this animated show was funny? Sit down and shut up.
DISHONORABLE MENTION: Jon & Kate, Plus Eight (TLC) - and their tabloid antics; Celebrity Apprentice (NBC), FlashForward (ABC), The Beautiful Life (CW), Melrose Place (CW), Parks & Recreation (NBC), The Real Housewives of...any city, county, state, or province - especially Atlanta (Bravo).
And now, the items that made media in 2009 quite unbearable:
LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT THE NIGHT CHICAGO DIED... Boy, that song was played a lot this year... Not a good year for Chicago... Aside from most of our sports teams stinking up the joint, there was ... President Obama took office - and fell on his face... Chicago did likewise with its Olympic bid... The city's public image took a beating with Governor Rod Blagoveich being impeached and a viral video of a major fight between teenagers in Roseland resulting in the death of Derrion Albert... Jennifer Hudson's Christmas special bombed in the ratings, while she, Oprah Winfrey, Steve Wilkos, and Jerry Springer all fled the Windy City... while our own Kanye West made a jackass out of himself by interrupting Taylor Swift's acceptance speech at the Video Music Awards.... Whew! 2009 is a year to forget if you're a Chicagoan. And yours truly sums it all up here... and here.
CHICAGO MEDIA. Meanwhile, Chicago journalism continues to be a laughingstock with this inane editorial from The Tribune - and this one, while Tera Williams of WFLD-TV showed her journalism skills are lacking when she ambushed Mayor Daley with an inappropriate question at a news conference. Meanwhile, technical snaufs were the norm at that station and WMAQ-TV. In other news Mike Barz of WFLD's Good Day Chicago was shown the door while unfortunately, the grating Jan Jeffcoat was not. Meanwhile, viewers continue to tune out the 10 p.m. newscasts. Gee, I wonder why?
NOT A BEAUTIFUL THING: Chicago Sports Webio's internet radio station and website went under in June after investor David Hernandez was discovered to be involved in a ponzi scheme. Mike North (who was also an investor in the venue) and his on-air partner (Dan Jiggetts) had their Monsters in the Morning show canceled and now head to WBBM-Channel 2 in the sure-to-fail Monsters And Money In The Morning Show.
CHAPTER 11 FOLLIES: Citadel (owners of WLS-AM and FM) and NextMedia (owners of several suburban radio stations) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. But don't worry - it literally means nothing, given the crowd screwing up the Tribune Company (lead by uber-morons Sam Zell and Randy Michaels) are keeping their jobs.
IT"S JUST AS BITTERSWEET THE SECOND TIME AROUND: Jonathan Brandmeier leaves WLUP-FM for the second time - and takes a shot (or a dump) at his former employer in this funny video.
STILL IRRELEVANT EVEN AFTER ACQUIRING THE BIGGEST NAME IN URBAN RADIO: Crawford seemed headed for a huge boost after WSRB-FM (Soul 106.3) acquired The Tom Joyner Morning Show after it left its longtime WVAZ-FM home, and WPWX-FM (Power 92) was closing the gap on its Urban rival (WGCI-FM), which it would actually live up to its slogan ("#1 in the streets") for the first time. At year's end however, Soul 106.3 continued to struggle and after a ratings drop, Power 92 returned to "obscurity in the streets".
CHEAP CHANNEL DOES IT AGAIN: Adult Contemporary WLIT-FM fired morning personality Melissa Forman (for a second time - notice a theme here?) replaced by Sean Valentine's voice-tracked show.
DISAPPOINTMENT OF THE YEAR: A tie been the Bears' Jay Cutler and ABC's much hyped FlashForward. Both were clearly huge letdowns.
YOU'VE BEEN SCREWED: Mya Harrison from Dancing With The Stars and Russell Hantz from Survivor: Samoa were the best contestants on their respective shows this season - but were screwed over and lost at the end, thanks to a system we know all too well in Chicago.
ARE THESE GUYS STILL RELEVANT? NATPE suffered a 14 percent drop in attendance this year in Las Vegas, which executives avoided like the plague. Instead of moving the convention to Los Angeles so they can be near the Hollywood community, NATPE decided to move it to Miami for 2011. Just great. But give them credit - an even worst move would've been to Chicago.
ARE THESE GUYS STILL RELEVANT, PART 2: My Network TV ceases to be a network to become a "programming service". Were they even a network to begin with?
TWO BECOMES ONE AND WE'RE ALL BETTER FOR IT: The first full year of Sirius/XM was beget with narrower playlists, a price increase, shuttering of music channels (all from the XM side), canceling the 1980's version of American Top 40 and replacing it with a lame countdown hosted by former MTV VJs, and now Howard Stern may be walking out the door. Once again, Mel Karmazin proved he couldn't find a medium he can single-handily destroy.
NBC. Limo-for-a-Lam-O finally drives away from the fourth-place network, but Jeff Zucker gets a contract extension. NBC's new owner (Comcast) probably would've been better off if it gave Lovie Smith the job. Meanwhile, the local O&O fared no better, with its now-retired longtime news anchor proving himself to be a major douchebag (and the situation provided this blog with one of the best posts I have ever written) and canceling long-time political news show City Desk for something called The Talk.
Let's hope 2010 is much better than this.
Monday, December 28, 2009
Tyra Banks' talk show to end
In a move that comes as quite surprising, Tyra Banks announced today she is ending her talk show after five seasons on the air, despite doing respectable numbers in key demos.
The Tyra Show was traded to The CW last September from first-run syndication, where it spent the last four years - for Judge Jeanne Pirro, which aired on the network last year. It looks like first-run got the better end of the deal, as the Chicago-based courtroom show was recently renewed for two more seasons. Both shows are produced by Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution.
The CW has aired back-to-back episodes of Tyra from 3 to 5 p.m. in all time zones this season. Locally, the program airs on WGN-TV with the last four years being spent at WPWR-TV. Next season, her show will air in repeats from 3 to 4 p.m. only, with CW holding off on a decision to fill the 4 to 5 p.m. slot for now (keep in mind these plans may change - remember last year when CW said they were programming Sunday for the long haul and wound up giving the night back to affiliates? The same could happen here.)
Even though the program was salvaged by critics (including yours truly), Ms. Banks' show did well among young females, though the numbers pale in comparison to what Ricki Lake's talk show did in those same demos during her heyday.
Ms. Banks plans to devote more time to developing more projects for her Bankable Productions, including feature films, and of course America's Next Top Model.
With the move, The CW continues to find reliable programming in early fringe elusive since ends the Kids' WB afternoon animated block in 2005 (when it was known as The WB.), and provides yet another headache for the struggling network.
The Tyra Show was traded to The CW last September from first-run syndication, where it spent the last four years - for Judge Jeanne Pirro, which aired on the network last year. It looks like first-run got the better end of the deal, as the Chicago-based courtroom show was recently renewed for two more seasons. Both shows are produced by Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution.
The CW has aired back-to-back episodes of Tyra from 3 to 5 p.m. in all time zones this season. Locally, the program airs on WGN-TV with the last four years being spent at WPWR-TV. Next season, her show will air in repeats from 3 to 4 p.m. only, with CW holding off on a decision to fill the 4 to 5 p.m. slot for now (keep in mind these plans may change - remember last year when CW said they were programming Sunday for the long haul and wound up giving the night back to affiliates? The same could happen here.)
Even though the program was salvaged by critics (including yours truly), Ms. Banks' show did well among young females, though the numbers pale in comparison to what Ricki Lake's talk show did in those same demos during her heyday.
Ms. Banks plans to devote more time to developing more projects for her Bankable Productions, including feature films, and of course America's Next Top Model.
With the move, The CW continues to find reliable programming in early fringe elusive since ends the Kids' WB afternoon animated block in 2005 (when it was known as The WB.), and provides yet another headache for the struggling network.
Friday, December 25, 2009
A reminder about commenting on posts, Part 2
Hoping you are enjoying your holidays, but there's a serious issue I have to bring up. Over the last few weeks, the comments section of this blog has been hit by spammers. Worst, some of the spam is in various foreign languages. Just a friendly reminder that any spam on this blog WILL NOT BE TOLERATED - IN ENGLISH OR ANY OTHER LANGUAGE AND WILL BE PROMPTLY REMOVED. If this continues, I'll have no choice but to require registration to comment on stories. Yours truly can't update this blog if he has to spend all freakin' day removing spam! This is a place to provide feedback, not to sell worthless shit. Please click on and read "A reminder about commenting on posts" on the sidebar just below the Twitter Updates. Keep your comment in relation to the subject matter. If you are a spammer - keep on walkin' and don't hit your ass on the way out. You are not wanted here.
I appreciate your feedback - in fact, I more than encourage it - but please behave.
Thanks for understanding, and Happy Holidays!
Terence
I appreciate your feedback - in fact, I more than encourage it - but please behave.
Thanks for understanding, and Happy Holidays!
Terence
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
T Dog's Four pack - The Santa edition
Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Everyone! Terry Claus is here to deliver some goodies to the good little children... and coal to those who are not-so-good! Who won and who lost...
Gifts under the tree
- The Doctors. Christmas came early for the one hour medical talk show strip with seasons three and four cleared in 85 percent of the country.
- Entertainment Magazines. A note of thank you from Tiger Woods, whose sexcapades have boosted ratings for syndicated news magazines, E!, and sleazy tabloid websites galore. To thank them, Tiger sent all female reporters at those shows a bouquet of flowers - and a card urging them to come to his estate in Orlando and "Party With the Tiger."
Personally, I'm glad Mr. High and Mighty finally got pulled down, aren't you? Yours truly never really liked him.
- Dexter. The season finale of the hour-long psychodrama recently gave Showtime its highest ratings in the history of the premium channel. You don't want to see him in a Santa Claus suit. Trust me.
- Stan Lee. A special gift for Marvel Comic fans this Saturday: Stan Lee, the legendary Marvel icon, will voice a character in a new episode of The Super Hero Squad Show on Cartoon Network airing at 6:30 p.m. (CT) . In the story, Lee voices the mayor of Super Hero City in a plot that can be described as very Chicago-like when it comes to politics (special thanks to ComicFanBoyz for the Twitter post)
Coal in their stockings:
- The Survivor Screwjob. First, there was the Montreal Screwjob. Then the Dancing With The Stars Screwjob. And now, we have the Survivor Screwjob. The jury picked Natalie White as the winner of Survivor: Samoa - never mind Russell Hentz (annoying as he was, but entertaining to watch) was the best player in the show all season. You think Natalie corralled Todd Stroger, Mayor Daley, and Governor Roddy to convince the jury (with dolla, dolla bills y'all) to decide the winner "The Chicago Way". Somewhere, Vince McMahon, Donny Osmond, and a lot of machine politicians are smiling.
- The Chicago Bears and Chicago Bulls. Being in this part of the column says it all.
- Jennifer Hudson: I'll Be Home For Christmas. Unfortunately, our town's woes even extended to Jennifer Hudson, whose Chicago-filmed special did not generate any interest when it aired on December 7. The special only drew five million viewers for ABC (which hardly promoted the special), finishing a distant fourth in its time period and even finished behind The Jay Leno Show in adults 18-49. Maybe our town should step out of the national spotlight for awhile...
- Citadel and NextMedia file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy - within 48 hours of one another. Overspend, overspend, overspend so we can get big, bigger, and even more bigger. File for Chapter 11, schuck and jive to the bankruptcy judge, the key personnel who f***ed up the stations get to keep their jobs while laying off everyone else and its back to normal in a year or two. Worked for Tribune, didn't it?
In Memoriam
- Brittany Murphy died on Sunday due to natural causes at the age of 32. Murphy was best known as the voice of Luanne Platter on King of the Hill, but also appeared in the films Just Married, 8 Mile, Clueless, and The Dead Girl. She also provided voices to characters in the movie Happy Feet. Other television credits included Fraiser, Blossom, Almost Home, and Murphy Brown.
Gifts under the tree
- The Doctors. Christmas came early for the one hour medical talk show strip with seasons three and four cleared in 85 percent of the country.
- Entertainment Magazines. A note of thank you from Tiger Woods, whose sexcapades have boosted ratings for syndicated news magazines, E!, and sleazy tabloid websites galore. To thank them, Tiger sent all female reporters at those shows a bouquet of flowers - and a card urging them to come to his estate in Orlando and "Party With the Tiger."
Personally, I'm glad Mr. High and Mighty finally got pulled down, aren't you? Yours truly never really liked him.
- Dexter. The season finale of the hour-long psychodrama recently gave Showtime its highest ratings in the history of the premium channel. You don't want to see him in a Santa Claus suit. Trust me.
- Stan Lee. A special gift for Marvel Comic fans this Saturday: Stan Lee, the legendary Marvel icon, will voice a character in a new episode of The Super Hero Squad Show on Cartoon Network airing at 6:30 p.m. (CT) . In the story, Lee voices the mayor of Super Hero City in a plot that can be described as very Chicago-like when it comes to politics (special thanks to ComicFanBoyz for the Twitter post)
Coal in their stockings:
- The Survivor Screwjob. First, there was the Montreal Screwjob. Then the Dancing With The Stars Screwjob. And now, we have the Survivor Screwjob. The jury picked Natalie White as the winner of Survivor: Samoa - never mind Russell Hentz (annoying as he was, but entertaining to watch) was the best player in the show all season. You think Natalie corralled Todd Stroger, Mayor Daley, and Governor Roddy to convince the jury (with dolla, dolla bills y'all) to decide the winner "The Chicago Way". Somewhere, Vince McMahon, Donny Osmond, and a lot of machine politicians are smiling.
- The Chicago Bears and Chicago Bulls. Being in this part of the column says it all.
- Jennifer Hudson: I'll Be Home For Christmas. Unfortunately, our town's woes even extended to Jennifer Hudson, whose Chicago-filmed special did not generate any interest when it aired on December 7. The special only drew five million viewers for ABC (which hardly promoted the special), finishing a distant fourth in its time period and even finished behind The Jay Leno Show in adults 18-49. Maybe our town should step out of the national spotlight for awhile...
- Citadel and NextMedia file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy - within 48 hours of one another. Overspend, overspend, overspend so we can get big, bigger, and even more bigger. File for Chapter 11, schuck and jive to the bankruptcy judge, the key personnel who f***ed up the stations get to keep their jobs while laying off everyone else and its back to normal in a year or two. Worked for Tribune, didn't it?
In Memoriam
- Brittany Murphy died on Sunday due to natural causes at the age of 32. Murphy was best known as the voice of Luanne Platter on King of the Hill, but also appeared in the films Just Married, 8 Mile, Clueless, and The Dead Girl. She also provided voices to characters in the movie Happy Feet. Other television credits included Fraiser, Blossom, Almost Home, and Murphy Brown.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
CBS makes post-Super Bowl slot decision
The Church of Tisch has done it again.
CBS announced it will slot Undercover Boss in the coveted post-Super Bowl time slot on February 7. Undercover Boss is a new reality show which features a supervisor who goes undercover to see if can do a real job at his company.
This marks the first time in over a decade a new program is being launched in the post-Super Bowl slot. Fox launched Family Guy after Super Bowl XXXI on January 31, 1999 as a special preview. The series returned three months later.
Thought: This sounds like a plot from some B-level sitcom - in fact, it is - Diff'rent Strokes aired an episode during the 1984-85 season in which Mr. Drummond disguised himself as a worker in one of his factories. (The episode was titled Blue Collar Drummond, and it aired on March 9, 1985.) Good grief, is this where ideas for television shows are coming from now? Can't wait for the reality show featuring kids hanging out a bicycle shop just waiting to be molested by the owner.
In one of the most incoherent posts yours truly has ever wrote on a message board (believe me, there have been many), here's what I had to say about the matter on PI Feedback (scroll down):
"Congratulations to The Church of Tisch on such a great move! Pastor Moonves and his flock must really feel good about themselves... using an unproven reality show instead of "The Big Bang Theory", "The Mentalist", or the new edition of "Survivor" to launch after the Super Bowl... to perform worst than "Three Rivers". Boy, oh boy, you guys made ol' Larry Tisch proud! I can hear him celebrating in hell... in which the broadcast networks will be headed thanks to moves like these. Oh, oh... here comes the collection plate to pay for Nina Tassler's lunch. Imbeciles."
CBS announced it will slot Undercover Boss in the coveted post-Super Bowl time slot on February 7. Undercover Boss is a new reality show which features a supervisor who goes undercover to see if can do a real job at his company.
This marks the first time in over a decade a new program is being launched in the post-Super Bowl slot. Fox launched Family Guy after Super Bowl XXXI on January 31, 1999 as a special preview. The series returned three months later.
Thought: This sounds like a plot from some B-level sitcom - in fact, it is - Diff'rent Strokes aired an episode during the 1984-85 season in which Mr. Drummond disguised himself as a worker in one of his factories. (The episode was titled Blue Collar Drummond, and it aired on March 9, 1985.) Good grief, is this where ideas for television shows are coming from now? Can't wait for the reality show featuring kids hanging out a bicycle shop just waiting to be molested by the owner.
In one of the most incoherent posts yours truly has ever wrote on a message board (believe me, there have been many), here's what I had to say about the matter on PI Feedback (scroll down):
"Congratulations to The Church of Tisch on such a great move! Pastor Moonves and his flock must really feel good about themselves... using an unproven reality show instead of "The Big Bang Theory", "The Mentalist", or the new edition of "Survivor" to launch after the Super Bowl... to perform worst than "Three Rivers". Boy, oh boy, you guys made ol' Larry Tisch proud! I can hear him celebrating in hell... in which the broadcast networks will be headed thanks to moves like these. Oh, oh... here comes the collection plate to pay for Nina Tassler's lunch. Imbeciles."
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
"Springer" heads to WCIU
NBC Universal's Jerry Springer, the wild and willy daytime talk show that hasn't met a taboo it can smash (or a chair), is moving in the Chicago market to WCIU-TV in September 2010.
No time slot has been determined yet, but the program is expected to be paired up with The Steve Wilkos Show, a show spun-off from Springer in 2007 which WCIU acquired this season from WGN-TV, after two unproductive seasons.
Springer had been airing on Fox-owned WPWR-TV in a variety of time periods over the years, and ratings for the show have been nearly non-existent. In the last year or so, the program ranked dead last in households and key demos - a very far cry from the ratings it used to do in its 2 p.m. time slot on NBC-owned WMAQ-TV in 1997 and 1998, where household numbers of 9 and 10 were quite common.
After the Rev. Michael Pflager threatened a boycott of WMAQ because of the show's violent content, general manager Larry Wert dropped the show and was picked up by WFLD-TV for airing at 11 a.m. But as ratings declined over the years, the program was dumped onto WPWR's lower-rated schedule.
In the October book, Springer did a 0.4 household rating and a 2 share and a 0.6/2 at 11 a.m. and 12 p.m., respectively [1]. Once a staple of several Fox-owned stations' daytime lineups, only two are left who are currently airing Springer - WPWR and KUTP in Phoenix.
According to Robert Feder blog's at Vocalo, Weigel plans to install a web camera at Springer's studio in Stamford, Connecticut (I'm not making this up), where it and Wilkos re-located from Chicago earlier this year, joining Maury, which moved from New York City.
A month ago, Springer, Wilkos, and Maury were all renewed through 2012 by NBC Universal, which 51 percent of the company is in the process of being acquired by Comcast.
Even though Springer is tame today compared to a lot of reality TV programming (see Flavor of Love, Jersey Shore, and Bad Girls Club), the program is still on a lot of advertisers' hit lists and national advertising consists of mostly direct-response spots.
[1] - "Special Edition #2" ratings for October 2009, Katz Media Group. Retrieved 2009-11-05.
No time slot has been determined yet, but the program is expected to be paired up with The Steve Wilkos Show, a show spun-off from Springer in 2007 which WCIU acquired this season from WGN-TV, after two unproductive seasons.
Springer had been airing on Fox-owned WPWR-TV in a variety of time periods over the years, and ratings for the show have been nearly non-existent. In the last year or so, the program ranked dead last in households and key demos - a very far cry from the ratings it used to do in its 2 p.m. time slot on NBC-owned WMAQ-TV in 1997 and 1998, where household numbers of 9 and 10 were quite common.
After the Rev. Michael Pflager threatened a boycott of WMAQ because of the show's violent content, general manager Larry Wert dropped the show and was picked up by WFLD-TV for airing at 11 a.m. But as ratings declined over the years, the program was dumped onto WPWR's lower-rated schedule.
In the October book, Springer did a 0.4 household rating and a 2 share and a 0.6/2 at 11 a.m. and 12 p.m., respectively [1]. Once a staple of several Fox-owned stations' daytime lineups, only two are left who are currently airing Springer - WPWR and KUTP in Phoenix.
According to Robert Feder blog's at Vocalo, Weigel plans to install a web camera at Springer's studio in Stamford, Connecticut (I'm not making this up), where it and Wilkos re-located from Chicago earlier this year, joining Maury, which moved from New York City.
A month ago, Springer, Wilkos, and Maury were all renewed through 2012 by NBC Universal, which 51 percent of the company is in the process of being acquired by Comcast.
Even though Springer is tame today compared to a lot of reality TV programming (see Flavor of Love, Jersey Shore, and Bad Girls Club), the program is still on a lot of advertisers' hit lists and national advertising consists of mostly direct-response spots.
[1] - "Special Edition #2" ratings for October 2009, Katz Media Group. Retrieved 2009-11-05.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Macon, Ga. station dumps ABC affiliation
Is it retransmission consent? Or is it content? (no, I'm not confusing the two.)
Yours truly doesn't usually report on the happenings in the Macon, Ga. media world (because, hell there isn't anything to report, given the market's CBS affiliate has dominated the ratings since Adam took a bite of that apple.) But this one caught this one's eye...
ABC affiliate WPGA-TV in Macon - a city about 100 miles southeast of Atlanta - announced it was dropping the network on January 1, 2010 and becoming independent, partly because the station failed to come to terms over retransmission content money the network is demanding and the elimination of compensation.
As a result of the disaffiliation of ABC, Cox is bumping WPGA off Channel 6 on its cable system and replacing it with one of WGXA-TV's subchannels, which will carry the ABC affiliation, with a deal now pending (the main channel carries Fox programming.) WGXA was an ABC affiliate from 1982 until 1996, when it switched to Fox in the Fox-New World affiliation swap era (WGXA was never owned by Fox, though.)
But WPGA officials said the station will stay on Channel 6 on Cox's cable systems after the switch and may threaten legal action if it is removed. Cox counters it has a right to remove WPGA off the channel because the station's decision to drop ABC - and WPGA failed to certify its "must-carry" status prior to the transition. Must-carry status is when a station (like WJYS-TV here in Chicago) declines compensation in exchange for carriage on a cable system, which doesn't cost them a penny.
Other cable companies in the Macon area plan to keep WPGA in its Channel 6 position because of its must-carry status.
But another reason why WPGA may be dropping its affiliation with ABC is because of - get this... the network's risque programming. You heard right. The station plans to run more "family-friendly" shows, including programming from Retro TV Network and This TV, in addition to existing syndicated fare.
Lowell Register - who is President of Register Communications, the station's owner - said ABC's programming is too raunchy for his station. In October, this is what he told The Macon Telegraph: "I had somebody tell me they're running a good bit of gay and lesbian stuff on it. That's really just in-your-face, so to speak, and I'm not sure that's appropriate. That's happening in prime time. I'm not really happy with it."
But yet, one of the station's syndicated programs is The Ellen DeGeneres Show, which runs on WPGA weekday mornings at 9 a.m. and is moving to 5 p.m. beginning in January, when the station drops ABC. I guess Mr. Register doesn't know Ms. DeGeneres is a lesbian.
And if he's talking about running more "family-friendly programming", I don't see it in a syndicated lineup consisting of Law & Order: SVU, The A-Team, TMZ, and weekend reruns of Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy, and Cold Case. In fact, if Mr. Register is complaining about ABC prime-time programming - which is home to Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy, why does he still have them in his station's lineup in syndication? (besides contractual obligations.)
And if he's talking about ABC airing inappropriate programming, maybe he should take a look at Fox and CW, whose programming is far raunchier than ABC's. I guess Mr. Register thought Gossip Girl and Family Guy were both ABC shows - after all, the idiot had someone tell him what was airing on his own station, since he didn't know himself.
The case he's making for why he had to drop ABC from his station's lineup are reasonable, given the looming battles between stations, cable operators, and the major networks over retransmission consent. But adding an unnecessary reason - because of "risque" shows and "gay and lesbian stuff" is moronic, bigoted, stupid, and lacks merit. If word of these comments makes it back to Ms. DeGeneres, she and Warner Bros. should demand her show be taken off this station in Macon and moved to a more deserving outlet.
Trading in popular ABC programming for retreads from the 1960's and 1970's isn't what I call good business sense (he could have signed on with My Network TV - even the fare they're running is better than what he has planned for prime-time.) I guess there is a reason CBS affiliate WMAZ-TV has dominated the ratings in this market for decades - and not just because it was the only VHF station in the market in the analog era. Their dominance was so overwhelming, both WPGA and NBC affiliate WMGT-TV suspended their news operations for a time.
And it's hard to feel sorry for him and his station when he talks about being "squeezed by the big guys" - but behaves just like them when it comes to poor decision-making. Big media companies certainly don't have a monopoly on the practice.
So for those of you who thought Chicago was the only media market whose media outlets are run by incompetent buffoons - think again. Somewhere in North America, there's always a place where media outlets are run by buffoons who are even more incompetent.
Yours truly doesn't usually report on the happenings in the Macon, Ga. media world (because, hell there isn't anything to report, given the market's CBS affiliate has dominated the ratings since Adam took a bite of that apple.) But this one caught this one's eye...
ABC affiliate WPGA-TV in Macon - a city about 100 miles southeast of Atlanta - announced it was dropping the network on January 1, 2010 and becoming independent, partly because the station failed to come to terms over retransmission content money the network is demanding and the elimination of compensation.
As a result of the disaffiliation of ABC, Cox is bumping WPGA off Channel 6 on its cable system and replacing it with one of WGXA-TV's subchannels, which will carry the ABC affiliation, with a deal now pending (the main channel carries Fox programming.) WGXA was an ABC affiliate from 1982 until 1996, when it switched to Fox in the Fox-New World affiliation swap era (WGXA was never owned by Fox, though.)
But WPGA officials said the station will stay on Channel 6 on Cox's cable systems after the switch and may threaten legal action if it is removed. Cox counters it has a right to remove WPGA off the channel because the station's decision to drop ABC - and WPGA failed to certify its "must-carry" status prior to the transition. Must-carry status is when a station (like WJYS-TV here in Chicago) declines compensation in exchange for carriage on a cable system, which doesn't cost them a penny.
Other cable companies in the Macon area plan to keep WPGA in its Channel 6 position because of its must-carry status.
But another reason why WPGA may be dropping its affiliation with ABC is because of - get this... the network's risque programming. You heard right. The station plans to run more "family-friendly" shows, including programming from Retro TV Network and This TV, in addition to existing syndicated fare.
Lowell Register - who is President of Register Communications, the station's owner - said ABC's programming is too raunchy for his station. In October, this is what he told The Macon Telegraph: "I had somebody tell me they're running a good bit of gay and lesbian stuff on it. That's really just in-your-face, so to speak, and I'm not sure that's appropriate. That's happening in prime time. I'm not really happy with it."
But yet, one of the station's syndicated programs is The Ellen DeGeneres Show, which runs on WPGA weekday mornings at 9 a.m. and is moving to 5 p.m. beginning in January, when the station drops ABC. I guess Mr. Register doesn't know Ms. DeGeneres is a lesbian.
And if he's talking about running more "family-friendly programming", I don't see it in a syndicated lineup consisting of Law & Order: SVU, The A-Team, TMZ, and weekend reruns of Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy, and Cold Case. In fact, if Mr. Register is complaining about ABC prime-time programming - which is home to Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy, why does he still have them in his station's lineup in syndication? (besides contractual obligations.)
And if he's talking about ABC airing inappropriate programming, maybe he should take a look at Fox and CW, whose programming is far raunchier than ABC's. I guess Mr. Register thought Gossip Girl and Family Guy were both ABC shows - after all, the idiot had someone tell him what was airing on his own station, since he didn't know himself.
The case he's making for why he had to drop ABC from his station's lineup are reasonable, given the looming battles between stations, cable operators, and the major networks over retransmission consent. But adding an unnecessary reason - because of "risque" shows and "gay and lesbian stuff" is moronic, bigoted, stupid, and lacks merit. If word of these comments makes it back to Ms. DeGeneres, she and Warner Bros. should demand her show be taken off this station in Macon and moved to a more deserving outlet.
Trading in popular ABC programming for retreads from the 1960's and 1970's isn't what I call good business sense (he could have signed on with My Network TV - even the fare they're running is better than what he has planned for prime-time.) I guess there is a reason CBS affiliate WMAZ-TV has dominated the ratings in this market for decades - and not just because it was the only VHF station in the market in the analog era. Their dominance was so overwhelming, both WPGA and NBC affiliate WMGT-TV suspended their news operations for a time.
And it's hard to feel sorry for him and his station when he talks about being "squeezed by the big guys" - but behaves just like them when it comes to poor decision-making. Big media companies certainly don't have a monopoly on the practice.
So for those of you who thought Chicago was the only media market whose media outlets are run by incompetent buffoons - think again. Somewhere in North America, there's always a place where media outlets are run by buffoons who are even more incompetent.
T Dog's Four Pack
The past week's winners and losers... Kool-Aid Man style.
Oh, yeah.
Roe Conn. Roe Conn? Yes, you read right. Despite less-than-stellar numbers, Roe Conn is expected to sign a contract renewal with WLS-AM for a lower salary, despite parent company Citadel becoming the latest media company to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader. In an item in Marc Berman's Programming Insider last week, the syndicated version of this former Fox prime-time show has averaged an eye-popping 2.1 HH rating season-to-date, easily topping the fading Family Feud and Deal or No Deal. The program ranked fourth among all syndicated game shows in HH, and third in Women 18-49 and Women 25-54, again ahead of Feud and Deal- and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.
The Closer. The season premiere of the TNT drama drew 6.1 million viewers on December 7, leading in to the premiere of new drama Men of a Certain Age, which drew 5.4 million in its first outing.
Real Housewives of Atlanta may shred two cast members. The bitchy Nene Leakes and overbearing Kim Zolciak may be headed out the door. Obscurity, here they come!
Oh, no. (a round of Wyler's punch for everybody)
Prime-time TV in Chicago. The December 6 Bears-Rams game outdrew most prime-time shows in Chicago? Bulls' ratings are up from last year? Yes, we'll watch bad sports teams, but draw the line at Parks and Recreation, Heroes, Jay Leno, and just about any reality show.
Daytime Soaps. With the cancellation of As The World Turns, this genre may finally be on its way out.
Over-the-air broadcast TV. On both sides of the 49th parallel, there's talk of doing away with free, over-the-air TV - in Canada because the broadcasters want retrans fees and may cease to exist if they don't get it; and in the United States, broadcasters need more of it - plus, a looming threat to reclaim the spectrum for wireless and broadband use. This sucks, but will anyone miss it? It looks like the greed of these companies who own these outlets has finally caught up with them.
The word "shout-out". You hear it on Pardon The Interrution every day, and I've read it in stories on Broadcasting & Cable's website. Enough with the urban slang. If Tom Joyner doesn't do shout-outs, why should you guys?
Oh, yeah.
Roe Conn. Roe Conn? Yes, you read right. Despite less-than-stellar numbers, Roe Conn is expected to sign a contract renewal with WLS-AM for a lower salary, despite parent company Citadel becoming the latest media company to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader. In an item in Marc Berman's Programming Insider last week, the syndicated version of this former Fox prime-time show has averaged an eye-popping 2.1 HH rating season-to-date, easily topping the fading Family Feud and Deal or No Deal. The program ranked fourth among all syndicated game shows in HH, and third in Women 18-49 and Women 25-54, again ahead of Feud and Deal- and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.
The Closer. The season premiere of the TNT drama drew 6.1 million viewers on December 7, leading in to the premiere of new drama Men of a Certain Age, which drew 5.4 million in its first outing.
Real Housewives of Atlanta may shred two cast members. The bitchy Nene Leakes and overbearing Kim Zolciak may be headed out the door. Obscurity, here they come!
Oh, no. (a round of Wyler's punch for everybody)
Prime-time TV in Chicago. The December 6 Bears-Rams game outdrew most prime-time shows in Chicago? Bulls' ratings are up from last year? Yes, we'll watch bad sports teams, but draw the line at Parks and Recreation, Heroes, Jay Leno, and just about any reality show.
Daytime Soaps. With the cancellation of As The World Turns, this genre may finally be on its way out.
Over-the-air broadcast TV. On both sides of the 49th parallel, there's talk of doing away with free, over-the-air TV - in Canada because the broadcasters want retrans fees and may cease to exist if they don't get it; and in the United States, broadcasters need more of it - plus, a looming threat to reclaim the spectrum for wireless and broadband use. This sucks, but will anyone miss it? It looks like the greed of these companies who own these outlets has finally caught up with them.
The word "shout-out". You hear it on Pardon The Interrution every day, and I've read it in stories on Broadcasting & Cable's website. Enough with the urban slang. If Tom Joyner doesn't do shout-outs, why should you guys?
"Doctors" renewed until 2012
Weigel stations pick up show for third and fourth seasons
CBS Television Distribution has renewed The Doctors for its third and fourth seasons.
CBS has also renewed the show in more than 85 percent of the country, including CBS-owned stations that currently carry the show with WCBS-TV in New york City and KCBS-TV in Los Angeles upping the show for two years.
Here in Chicago, Doctors airs on Weigel's WCIU-TV, which apparently has renewed the show, as did its sister station in Milwaukee, CBS affiliate WDJT-TV.
Currently in its second season, The Doctors has been a surprise success for CBS Television Distribution and all involved, including Dr. Phil McGraw (whose Dr. Phil talk show has already been renewed until 2014) and his son Jay, who heads Stage 29 Productions, the outfit who produces the show. The program uses a panel format to discuss medical issues and demonstrate medical procedures.The show also answers questions sent in by viewers.
The mixture is working - ratings for the show are up 18 percent from last year.
The Doctors could also be in line for some upgrades with Oprah Winfrey hanging up her mic in September 2011.
The Doctors premiered on September 8, 2008, and is seen in Canada, Finland, and Sweden. The series is not related to the former NBC daytime soap opera of the same name, which ran from 1963 to 1982.
CBS Television Distribution has renewed The Doctors for its third and fourth seasons.
CBS has also renewed the show in more than 85 percent of the country, including CBS-owned stations that currently carry the show with WCBS-TV in New york City and KCBS-TV in Los Angeles upping the show for two years.
Here in Chicago, Doctors airs on Weigel's WCIU-TV, which apparently has renewed the show, as did its sister station in Milwaukee, CBS affiliate WDJT-TV.
Currently in its second season, The Doctors has been a surprise success for CBS Television Distribution and all involved, including Dr. Phil McGraw (whose Dr. Phil talk show has already been renewed until 2014) and his son Jay, who heads Stage 29 Productions, the outfit who produces the show. The program uses a panel format to discuss medical issues and demonstrate medical procedures.The show also answers questions sent in by viewers.
The mixture is working - ratings for the show are up 18 percent from last year.
The Doctors could also be in line for some upgrades with Oprah Winfrey hanging up her mic in September 2011.
The Doctors premiered on September 8, 2008, and is seen in Canada, Finland, and Sweden. The series is not related to the former NBC daytime soap opera of the same name, which ran from 1963 to 1982.
Tuesday, December 08, 2009
CBS stops the globe on "As The World Turns"
After 54 years on CBS' daytime schedule, the globe will stop spinning on As The World Turns come September 17 of next year.
The cancellation was made official today by CBS, and as a result, Procter & Gamble Productions is likely no more.
As The World Turns began on April 2, 1956 as a thirty-minute serial - the same day another P&G-produced soap (The Edge of Night) premiered on CBS. The program began broadcasting in color in 1967 and expanded to a full hour in December 1975 to fill the vacant half-hour left after The Edge of Night departed for ABC, becoming the first soap to move to a rival network (Night would end its run in late 1984.)
In 1963, As The World Turns was in progress - being performed live - when it was interrupted for a very important news bulletin - the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
Throughout its long run, As The World Turns racked up numerous Daytime Emmy Awards, with the last Outstanding Drama Award win coming in 2003.
The program had been airing in the 2 p.m.Eastern/1 p.m. Central time slot since March 1987, and has been cleared in-pattern with a strong 99 percent clearance rate. But since sister series Guiding Light left the airwaves on September 18 after a 72-year run (on both radio and TV), Turns has fallen into the soap opera ratings basement, with just a little over 2 million viewers per day.
With the departure of Turns, Procter & Gamble has no daytime serials left, with one after the other leaving the airwaves: in addition to Edge of Night leaving in 1984, Search For Tomorrow exited in 1986, followed by Another World in 1999, and Guiding Light this year.
As The World Turns' departure means there will be only six daytime serials left on the broadcast networks' sked next fall - the fewest at this point in television history. Twenty years ago, there were as many as twelve soaps on the networks' schedules.
CBS - which has been the daytime leader for more than 20 years - will replace Turns with either a game show or a talk show, which are cheaper to produce than scripted soapers. Those plans are bad news for syndicators, who have an abundance of product and are looking for timeslots for the 2010 season.
The move comes only a day after Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution pulled the plug on The Bonnie Hunt Show, after two seasons.
The cancellation was made official today by CBS, and as a result, Procter & Gamble Productions is likely no more.
As The World Turns began on April 2, 1956 as a thirty-minute serial - the same day another P&G-produced soap (The Edge of Night) premiered on CBS. The program began broadcasting in color in 1967 and expanded to a full hour in December 1975 to fill the vacant half-hour left after The Edge of Night departed for ABC, becoming the first soap to move to a rival network (Night would end its run in late 1984.)
In 1963, As The World Turns was in progress - being performed live - when it was interrupted for a very important news bulletin - the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
Throughout its long run, As The World Turns racked up numerous Daytime Emmy Awards, with the last Outstanding Drama Award win coming in 2003.
The program had been airing in the 2 p.m.Eastern/1 p.m. Central time slot since March 1987, and has been cleared in-pattern with a strong 99 percent clearance rate. But since sister series Guiding Light left the airwaves on September 18 after a 72-year run (on both radio and TV), Turns has fallen into the soap opera ratings basement, with just a little over 2 million viewers per day.
With the departure of Turns, Procter & Gamble has no daytime serials left, with one after the other leaving the airwaves: in addition to Edge of Night leaving in 1984, Search For Tomorrow exited in 1986, followed by Another World in 1999, and Guiding Light this year.
As The World Turns' departure means there will be only six daytime serials left on the broadcast networks' sked next fall - the fewest at this point in television history. Twenty years ago, there were as many as twelve soaps on the networks' schedules.
CBS - which has been the daytime leader for more than 20 years - will replace Turns with either a game show or a talk show, which are cheaper to produce than scripted soapers. Those plans are bad news for syndicators, who have an abundance of product and are looking for timeslots for the 2010 season.
The move comes only a day after Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution pulled the plug on The Bonnie Hunt Show, after two seasons.
Monday, December 07, 2009
Warner Bros. cancels "Bonnie Hunt"
Chicago-born comedian Bonnie Hunt has lost her talk show.
Ms. Hunt announced to her staffers today that The Bonnie Hunt Show would not return for a third season. The program had two-year contracts with the NBC owned-and-operated stations (including WMAQ-TV here in Chicago), but it appears NBC has passed on renewing the show on its owned stations for a third season.
Ratings were definately not on her side - recently, the show averaged a 0.8 Nielsen household rating, ranking it near the bottom of syndicated talk shows, only ahead of NBC Universal's The Martha Stewart Show, which also airs on those same NBC O&Os (with the exception of WRC-TV in Washington, which does not air Martha.)
Warner Bros. had no comment. There was talk if Hunt's talk show was renewed for a third season, it possibly could move production to her hometown of Chicago.
With Hunt out of the picture, NBC stations' could pick up MomLogic from Warner for a replacement, but the renewal chances of both Martha and Deal or No Deal - another ratings laggard - have suddenly gone up - and both shows' syndicator being NBC Universal doesn't hurt, either. Last week, Martha had an 0.6 rating; Deal an 1.1.
NBC-owned stations have picked up off-cable repeats of The Real Housewives... for this fall and could easily plug that show into Hunt's former slots.
Ms. Hunt announced to her staffers today that The Bonnie Hunt Show would not return for a third season. The program had two-year contracts with the NBC owned-and-operated stations (including WMAQ-TV here in Chicago), but it appears NBC has passed on renewing the show on its owned stations for a third season.
Ratings were definately not on her side - recently, the show averaged a 0.8 Nielsen household rating, ranking it near the bottom of syndicated talk shows, only ahead of NBC Universal's The Martha Stewart Show, which also airs on those same NBC O&Os (with the exception of WRC-TV in Washington, which does not air Martha.)
Warner Bros. had no comment. There was talk if Hunt's talk show was renewed for a third season, it possibly could move production to her hometown of Chicago.
With Hunt out of the picture, NBC stations' could pick up MomLogic from Warner for a replacement, but the renewal chances of both Martha and Deal or No Deal - another ratings laggard - have suddenly gone up - and both shows' syndicator being NBC Universal doesn't hurt, either. Last week, Martha had an 0.6 rating; Deal an 1.1.
NBC-owned stations have picked up off-cable repeats of The Real Housewives... for this fall and could easily plug that show into Hunt's former slots.
NBC affiliates buck the trend in Detroit, D.C.
Believe it or not, there are places where NBC affiliates actually won late news despite having The Jay Leno Show as its lead-in.
What's notable is these two NBC affiliates - WRC-TV in Washington, D.C. and WDIV in Detroit, rose in the ratings ranks as recently as ten years ago, when NBC was enjoying ratings dominance - surpassing former market leaders WUSA-TV (CBS) and WXYZ-TV (ABC), respectively.
- In Washington, D.C. NBC-owned WRC won the 11 p.m. news race despite having Leno as a lead-in, with the rating increasing dramatically when his talk show ended for the evening. WRC also dominated other news time slots as well.
Despite several controversial reports on breast cancer - which featured women giving themseleves exams with the breast obscured - and hometown favorite Mya competing in the finals of ABC's Dancing With The Stars, WJLA-TV could only muster up a second-place finish behind WRC at 11 p.m. The station also finished second in other dayparts as well.
Fox's WTTG finished third at 5 and 6 p.m., and its 10 p.m. newscast finished ahead of 11 p.m. news programs on WJLA and WUSA. Twenty years ago, WUSA was the market's most dominant station.
-In Detroit, WDIV finished first at 11 p.m, despite Leno as its' lead-in, beating WXYZ even with a stronger prime-time lineup. Even better for WDIV, its late newscast topped all other NBC affiliates late news in households in the top 20 markets and was up 12 percent from last year.
WDIV also dominated newscasts at 5 and 6 p.m., and its syndicated programming lineup of Ellen, Dr. Oz, Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! all won their time periods in households and key demos.
Meanwhile, Fox-owned WJBK-TV won mornings with its newscasts ranking first in households from 4:30 a.m. to 10 a.m.
Also, NBC affiliate KSL-TV in Salt Lake City stayed on top of the 10 p.m. news race in that market even with Leno as a lead-in. Bonneville-owned KSL is an institution in Salt Lake City, which has finished on top for decades - whether it was affiliated with CBS (which it was until 1995) or NBC.
What's notable is these two NBC affiliates - WRC-TV in Washington, D.C. and WDIV in Detroit, rose in the ratings ranks as recently as ten years ago, when NBC was enjoying ratings dominance - surpassing former market leaders WUSA-TV (CBS) and WXYZ-TV (ABC), respectively.
- In Washington, D.C. NBC-owned WRC won the 11 p.m. news race despite having Leno as a lead-in, with the rating increasing dramatically when his talk show ended for the evening. WRC also dominated other news time slots as well.
Despite several controversial reports on breast cancer - which featured women giving themseleves exams with the breast obscured - and hometown favorite Mya competing in the finals of ABC's Dancing With The Stars, WJLA-TV could only muster up a second-place finish behind WRC at 11 p.m. The station also finished second in other dayparts as well.
Fox's WTTG finished third at 5 and 6 p.m., and its 10 p.m. newscast finished ahead of 11 p.m. news programs on WJLA and WUSA. Twenty years ago, WUSA was the market's most dominant station.
-In Detroit, WDIV finished first at 11 p.m, despite Leno as its' lead-in, beating WXYZ even with a stronger prime-time lineup. Even better for WDIV, its late newscast topped all other NBC affiliates late news in households in the top 20 markets and was up 12 percent from last year.
WDIV also dominated newscasts at 5 and 6 p.m., and its syndicated programming lineup of Ellen, Dr. Oz, Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! all won their time periods in households and key demos.
Meanwhile, Fox-owned WJBK-TV won mornings with its newscasts ranking first in households from 4:30 a.m. to 10 a.m.
Also, NBC affiliate KSL-TV in Salt Lake City stayed on top of the 10 p.m. news race in that market even with Leno as a lead-in. Bonneville-owned KSL is an institution in Salt Lake City, which has finished on top for decades - whether it was affiliated with CBS (which it was until 1995) or NBC.
Saturday, December 05, 2009
T Dog's Four Pack - We'll have a grand old time
It's been two weeks, so a T Dog Media Blog Four Pack is long overdue... with a little bit of a Flintstones twist...
Hanging out with Fred and Barney. Yabba Dabba Doo!
-V103. The most (and only) surprising item in the recently concluded Arbitron PPM November survey is the strong performance of Urban AC WVAZ-FM, who ranked second in 12+ and ranked at or near the top in every major demo, including a strong performance from Steve Harvey's morning show (who made not one, but TWO trips to Chicago recently, including an appearance a Kmart in the West Lawn neighborhood on Chicago's Southwest Side.) WVAZ even re-hired former midday personality Troi Tyler for Sunday nights and other fill-in work. V103 is making all the right moves - and yes, it's still owned by Clear Channel.
TNT cancels Raising The Bar. I've never seen a drama that couldn't live up to its title.
Turner Sports fires Chip Caray. More good news from Turner: The cable network also severed ties with former Cubs broadcaster Chip Caray. Why? This is all you need to know..."Line drive. Base hit. Caught out there. The runner tags. Throw to the plate. On target. And in time. A double play!"
Fox. A first-ever November sweeps victory in adults 18-49 - with an assist from the 2009 World Series Champion New York Yankees - three World Series games aired during the sweeps.
Hanging out with Joe Rockhead
- The Loop.What's the opposite of the success of V103? Try The Loop, or Emmis-owned WLUP-FM (97.9). They fired morning personality Jonathan Brandmeier this past week after four years at the station (in addition to the first fifteen he spent there) and decided to focus more on playing music in morning drive. Like wow, this means they can play Pearl Jam, Aerosmith, and Def Lepperd ten more times per day. Yabba Dabba Don't.
- Monsters and Money In The Morning. So the management at The Church of Tisch think Mike North and Dan Jiggetts can replicate its "success" at Comcast SportsNet. This will be about a successful as the other"experiment" going on at NBC regarding Jay Leno in primetime - both will be gone by September. Hell, WBBM-TV would've been better off hiring Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble to front their morning show.
- Fall Finales. So fans of Glee, V, and FlashForward (um... are there even any FlashForward fans left?) have to wait three to four months to see new episodes? Do we have a second summer season now? And you wonder why network prime-time television is dying.
- Donny Osmond "wins" Dancing With The Stars. Let's see. Donny Osmond wins over a much more deserving Mya. Dancing usually does its best ratings in Chicago. We're know internationally for letting people "vote early and often", and even the dead can vote (which may account for a large amount of Osmond's fan base.) Coincidence? The "Chicago Way" strikes again, where the best candidate doesn't win, but the worst. To yours truly, Mya will always be the winner of the ninth season of Dancing With The Stars (and course, looking so fine doesn't hurt either...)
Hanging out with Fred and Barney. Yabba Dabba Doo!
-V103. The most (and only) surprising item in the recently concluded Arbitron PPM November survey is the strong performance of Urban AC WVAZ-FM, who ranked second in 12+ and ranked at or near the top in every major demo, including a strong performance from Steve Harvey's morning show (who made not one, but TWO trips to Chicago recently, including an appearance a Kmart in the West Lawn neighborhood on Chicago's Southwest Side.) WVAZ even re-hired former midday personality Troi Tyler for Sunday nights and other fill-in work. V103 is making all the right moves - and yes, it's still owned by Clear Channel.
TNT cancels Raising The Bar. I've never seen a drama that couldn't live up to its title.
Turner Sports fires Chip Caray. More good news from Turner: The cable network also severed ties with former Cubs broadcaster Chip Caray. Why? This is all you need to know..."Line drive. Base hit. Caught out there. The runner tags. Throw to the plate. On target. And in time. A double play!"
Fox. A first-ever November sweeps victory in adults 18-49 - with an assist from the 2009 World Series Champion New York Yankees - three World Series games aired during the sweeps.
Hanging out with Joe Rockhead
- The Loop.What's the opposite of the success of V103? Try The Loop, or Emmis-owned WLUP-FM (97.9). They fired morning personality Jonathan Brandmeier this past week after four years at the station (in addition to the first fifteen he spent there) and decided to focus more on playing music in morning drive. Like wow, this means they can play Pearl Jam, Aerosmith, and Def Lepperd ten more times per day. Yabba Dabba Don't.
- Monsters and Money In The Morning. So the management at The Church of Tisch think Mike North and Dan Jiggetts can replicate its "success" at Comcast SportsNet. This will be about a successful as the other"experiment" going on at NBC regarding Jay Leno in primetime - both will be gone by September. Hell, WBBM-TV would've been better off hiring Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble to front their morning show.
- Fall Finales. So fans of Glee, V, and FlashForward (um... are there even any FlashForward fans left?) have to wait three to four months to see new episodes? Do we have a second summer season now? And you wonder why network prime-time television is dying.
- Donny Osmond "wins" Dancing With The Stars. Let's see. Donny Osmond wins over a much more deserving Mya. Dancing usually does its best ratings in Chicago. We're know internationally for letting people "vote early and often", and even the dead can vote (which may account for a large amount of Osmond's fan base.) Coincidence? The "Chicago Way" strikes again, where the best candidate doesn't win, but the worst. To yours truly, Mya will always be the winner of the ninth season of Dancing With The Stars (and course, looking so fine doesn't hurt either...)
Thursday, December 03, 2009
Comcast and NBC Universal announce merger
With Comcast's $13.75 billion dollar deal for NBC Universal practically complete, it looks like big media is only going to get bigger - whether we like it or not.
The deal climaxes weeks of speculation, as NBC owner General Electric recently bought out Vivendi's 20 percent share in NBC Universal, paving the way for Comcast Corp. to acquire 51 percent of the struggling broadcast network and its vast array of media properties ranging from local stations in 10 markets (including WMAQ-TV in Chicago) to cable channels to Universal Studios. GE would keep a 49 percent stake in the studio.
Also included in the deal is NBC Universal's TV library, which includes current shows like Heroes, Deal or No Deal, The Office, and The Jerry Springer Show and classic television properties Magnum P.I., The A-Team, Quincy, Coach, Gimme A Break!, and Leave it to Beaver.
Universal itself has gone under numerous ownership changes before NBC and GE bought the film studio in 2004: it was once owned by Matsushita Electric Co. and Seagram.
The theory here is Comcast wants to jump on the Hollywood content bandwagon, though the Philadelphia-based cable operator already owns a handful of cable nets including E!, Style, Versus, and G4. With NBC Universal's purchase, Comcast would also own Bravo, Oxygen, USA, and MSNBC, among others.
Comcast would also own the broadcaster network itself, the ten NBC owned-and-operated stations, NBC Plus, and Universal Sports.
The deal will no doubt raise regulatory flags as the FCC would have to approve the deal, since it involves the transfer of station licenses of the ten O&Os - meaning the process could take up to a year. While some say the Obama administration could frown on the deal, Comcast-NBC would likely pass regulatory muster, despite the FCC having a 3-2 Democratic majority (and if the FCC won't approve it, there's a outside chance Congress could.)
Another concern is Comcast's stance against net neutrality, and NBC's participation in online video service Hulu, which competes with Comcast's on-demand pay service. These concerns has raised the ire of many public interest and consumer groups, in which they fear Comcast - which is the nation's largest cable and ISP provider - would control too much content, especially online. While some Democrats will be sympathetic to the group's concerns, it is not likely to be enough to stop the merger.
NBC Universal Chairman Jeff Zucker would remain with the newly merged company, despite the problems he's had with the broadcast side of the network. Though NBC has faltered under his watch the last few years (especially with the move of Jay Leno to prime-time five nights a week), he's put together a string of successful cablers.
NBC came known to prominence as a pioneering radio broadcaster owned by the one-time largest radio manufacturer, RCA. NBC developed two radio networks - red and blue, with the latter one being divested and became the American Broadcasting Company. RCA later developed an all-electronic television system and developed the first-ever test pattern. Of course, it needed programming to fill the new technology, so it formed the NBC Television Network.
RCA then developed color TV and NBC soon began airing the majority of its programming in color. The peacock network was so successful with the new technology, it was able to lure Walt Disney and his weekly TV series away from ABC in 1961 so be can produce the shows in color (in fact, the title was "Disney's Wonderful World of Color" until 1969. Disney shows would be on NBC until 1981.)
General Electric bought RCA and NBC in 1986, and wound up with more people who had expertise in light bulbs, microwave ovens, and defense contracts than running a TV network. GE was often the target of jokes by one-time employee David Letterman.
With this deal ready to be offically announced Thursday, some are lamenting the huge changes in the industry. Who would have ever thought a cable company would wind up owning a major broadcast network? Cable - the entity at one time people used to only get a clear picture into their homes and when it was able to add channels, they mostly consisted of old movies and bullfights. Many feel with this change, the prestige of free, over-the-air television no longer exists. It would now play a second fiddle to cable. Oh my, how times have changed.
Updated at 7:37 p.m.
Wednesday, December 02, 2009
WBBM-TV to handle Monsters and some Money in the Morning
In a surprise move, CBS-owned WBBM-TV announced it is dropping its current morning show and has hired Mike North, Dan Jiggetts, and financial analyst Terry Savage to host Monsters and Money In The Morning, beginning on February 1.The program is scheduled to run from 5 to 7 a.m., leading-in to the network's Early Show.
The program once again reunites North and Jiggetts, who recently fronted Monsters In the Morning on Comcast SportsNet, which is ending its run at the end of this month. As you recall, Monsters was produced by North's production company and tied in with ChicagoSportsWebio.com, an Internet sports radio station. But it all became unglued in June when the financier in the web venture (David Hernandez) was arrested for operating a ponzi scheme.
The new show will feature North and Jiggetts discuss sports headlines, with Sun-Times columnist Terry Savage and CNBC host Mike Hegedus discussing financial matters. Susan Carson will handle news headlines and traffic, and Mary Kay Kleist handles the weather.
WBBM-AM (a CBS-owned sister station) is also expected to contribute to the new morning program.
General Manager Bruno Cohen stated the station wanted to target an underserved audience - those who are sports fans and those who want to keep up with their money and finances.
Currently, the station ranks last among households and in key demos in the 5 to 7 a.m. time slot.
Thought: Remember 12 months ago where yours truly said NBC moving Jay Leno to primetime as a weeknight strip was a good idea and predicted the move would work and provide an alternative to scripted dramas at 9pm?
Yeah, look how that turned out. Oh lordy, I'm not making that mistake again....
While Monsters and Money In The Morning seems to look good on paper, it's not likely to work, given North and Jiggetts did not draw an audience on Comcast SportsNet, and it's not likely they will draw one on WBBM-TV either.
But yours truly is interested in seeing how this project is executed, and it may not be as bad as people think. Then again, I said the same thing about Leno's show...
If Monsters and Money In The Morning fails (and it will), you think Channel 2 can hire Leno to front the morning show? We all know he'll be unemployed soon...
The program once again reunites North and Jiggetts, who recently fronted Monsters In the Morning on Comcast SportsNet, which is ending its run at the end of this month. As you recall, Monsters was produced by North's production company and tied in with ChicagoSportsWebio.com, an Internet sports radio station. But it all became unglued in June when the financier in the web venture (David Hernandez) was arrested for operating a ponzi scheme.
The new show will feature North and Jiggetts discuss sports headlines, with Sun-Times columnist Terry Savage and CNBC host Mike Hegedus discussing financial matters. Susan Carson will handle news headlines and traffic, and Mary Kay Kleist handles the weather.
WBBM-AM (a CBS-owned sister station) is also expected to contribute to the new morning program.
General Manager Bruno Cohen stated the station wanted to target an underserved audience - those who are sports fans and those who want to keep up with their money and finances.
Currently, the station ranks last among households and in key demos in the 5 to 7 a.m. time slot.
Thought: Remember 12 months ago where yours truly said NBC moving Jay Leno to primetime as a weeknight strip was a good idea and predicted the move would work and provide an alternative to scripted dramas at 9pm?
Yeah, look how that turned out. Oh lordy, I'm not making that mistake again....
While Monsters and Money In The Morning seems to look good on paper, it's not likely to work, given North and Jiggetts did not draw an audience on Comcast SportsNet, and it's not likely they will draw one on WBBM-TV either.
But yours truly is interested in seeing how this project is executed, and it may not be as bad as people think. Then again, I said the same thing about Leno's show...
If Monsters and Money In The Morning fails (and it will), you think Channel 2 can hire Leno to front the morning show? We all know he'll be unemployed soon...
Tuesday, December 01, 2009
WBBM-TV 10 p.m. news soars in the ratings
Leno hampering NBC affiliates' late news; other November "sweeps" notes
ABC-owned WLS-TV dominated the ratings in households and key demos in the just concluded November "sweeps" period (do we still have those in this LPM era?) but it was the two other network O&Os who made headlines.
NBC-owned WMAQ-TV slipped to third place in households at 10 p.m., behind a surging WBBM-TV, which finished second at 10 p.m.
Under anchor Rob Johnson and an improved news product, the CBS-owned station was up 40 percent from November 2008's numbers. Fueling the rise was the one-night only reunion of former anchors Bill Kurtis and Walter Jacobson, who drew a 7.3 HH (household) rating on November 13.
Thanks to The Jay Leno Show as its lead-in, WMAQ's 10 p.m. newscast was down from year-ago time period averages.
In the 9 p.m. news race, WGN-TV beat Fox's WFLD, but both finished the month with less-than-impressive numbers. Both stations were down from last year- WGN down 27 percent; WFLD down 8 percent. Booth stations appear to be hurt by the high number of DVR usage in the time period, which is also affecting Leno's show.
Overall, this was a pretty weak survey for late news in Chicago, with everyone except WBBM down from last year.
Meanwhile, "The Leno effect" is hurting NBC stations coast-to-coast: A brief synopsis of Novemeber late-fringe news races from across the country:
Philadelphia: Similar to Chicago: ABC's WPVI sweeps the competition. Again. But CBS-owned KYW-TV shows gains while NBC's WCAU-TV takes it on the chin.
Thought: On a side note, the linked article in this story is the worst I've ever read regarding ratings. We don't need a history lesson regarding WPVI and KYW (who the writer is overly biased toward), and not once the writer mentioned Jay Leno as one of the main reasons WCAU is faltering in late news. This "journalist" even makes Lewis Lazare look good. Oh, Ellen Gray and Gail Schister, where are you?
Dallas-Fort Worth: CBS-owned KTVT wins at 10 p.m., besting Belo's ABC affiliate WFAA in HH - but not in 25-54s, where WFAA rules. NBC-owned KXAS finishes a distant third at 10 p.m. in households, but finished second at 5 and 6 p.m.
Fox-owned KDFW finished second in the 25-54 demo in most other time periods, and finished first at 5 p.m. At 9 p.m., it beat Tribune's KDAF-TV head-to-head in households and 25-54 and both outdrew the 7-to-9 p.m. newscasts on indie KTXA in both categories.
Click here and here for more info.
Thought: WFAA is the weakest of ABC affiliates and O&Os in the nation's ten largest markets and this book proves it. (Dallas-Fort Worth is #5.)
Boston: Hearst's WCVB (ABC) wins at 11 p.m., with CBS-owned WBZ taking second. WHDH (thanks to Leno) finishes third in HH and 25-54's. Fox's WFXT wins at 10 among 25-54s.
Pittsburgh: No sweeping changes, with CBS-owned KDKA finishing first in the Steel City in all news time slots (except at 5 and 6 a.m.) in HH and 25-54's. Hearst's WTAE (ABC) generally finished second in households and demos.
But the station that really took it on the chin was Cox's NBC affiliate, WPXI. Not only the station was off a full rating point in the 25-54 demo at 11 p.m. (thank you Leno), but in the same demo, its 6 p.m. newscast was tied with reruns of Two And A Half Men on Fox affiliate WPGH for third place, while My Name Is Earl reruns on the same channel beat NBC Nightly News at 6:30 p.m. Wait a minute... you mean Everybody Loves to Friend Around With Earl is beating Brian Williams? What is going on?
Orlando: Similar results to Chicago: Cox's ABC affiliate (WFTV) dominates news among 25-54 ahead of WESH (NBC) and WKMG (CBS) - but its WKMG gaining viewers at 11 p.m., finishing second.WESH. In a major upset, indie WRDQ-TV's newscasts (WFTV's sister station) beat Fox-owned WOFL in 25-54s at 10 p.m.weeknights.
The following metered markets' ratings are measured by household only.
Milwaukee: Leno claims another victim: Journal Communications' WTMJ slipped into second-place at 10 p.m., behind Hearst's WISN-TV (ABC), which finished first. CBS affiliate WDJT-TV (owned by Chicago-based Weigel Broadcasting) came in third at 10, up from last year, with Fox affiliate WITI bringing up the rear.
Providence: In a stunning upset, CBS affiliate WPRI beat NBC affiliate WJAR in 11 p.m. news in households for the first time in 16 years. WJAR is usually the most dominant station in the Providence-New Bedford market, and has been for the last 50 years. And once again, you can thank Jay Leno for WJAR's loss.
WPRI was up 20 percent at 11, WJAR plunged 35 percent in the same time period. WJAR still won most other locally programmed time periods, including news.
Longtime laggard WLNE-TV (ABC) finished third at 11 p.m. and most other locally programmed time periods, but ratings at 11 were up 27 percent from last year.
Buffalo: And here, Leno's effect was felt here too: NBC affiliate WGRZ-TV slipped to third place in households at 11 p.m., with ABC affiliate WKBW-TV taking second at 11 for the first time in eight years (WGRZ did win at 6 a.m. with its morning newscast.)
CBS affiliate WIVB-TV swept the market's news races (except at 6 a.m.), placing first.
ABC-owned WLS-TV dominated the ratings in households and key demos in the just concluded November "sweeps" period (do we still have those in this LPM era?) but it was the two other network O&Os who made headlines.
NBC-owned WMAQ-TV slipped to third place in households at 10 p.m., behind a surging WBBM-TV, which finished second at 10 p.m.
Under anchor Rob Johnson and an improved news product, the CBS-owned station was up 40 percent from November 2008's numbers. Fueling the rise was the one-night only reunion of former anchors Bill Kurtis and Walter Jacobson, who drew a 7.3 HH (household) rating on November 13.
Thanks to The Jay Leno Show as its lead-in, WMAQ's 10 p.m. newscast was down from year-ago time period averages.
In the 9 p.m. news race, WGN-TV beat Fox's WFLD, but both finished the month with less-than-impressive numbers. Both stations were down from last year- WGN down 27 percent; WFLD down 8 percent. Booth stations appear to be hurt by the high number of DVR usage in the time period, which is also affecting Leno's show.
Overall, this was a pretty weak survey for late news in Chicago, with everyone except WBBM down from last year.
Meanwhile, "The Leno effect" is hurting NBC stations coast-to-coast: A brief synopsis of Novemeber late-fringe news races from across the country:
Philadelphia: Similar to Chicago: ABC's WPVI sweeps the competition. Again. But CBS-owned KYW-TV shows gains while NBC's WCAU-TV takes it on the chin.
Thought: On a side note, the linked article in this story is the worst I've ever read regarding ratings. We don't need a history lesson regarding WPVI and KYW (who the writer is overly biased toward), and not once the writer mentioned Jay Leno as one of the main reasons WCAU is faltering in late news. This "journalist" even makes Lewis Lazare look good. Oh, Ellen Gray and Gail Schister, where are you?
Dallas-Fort Worth: CBS-owned KTVT wins at 10 p.m., besting Belo's ABC affiliate WFAA in HH - but not in 25-54s, where WFAA rules. NBC-owned KXAS finishes a distant third at 10 p.m. in households, but finished second at 5 and 6 p.m.
Fox-owned KDFW finished second in the 25-54 demo in most other time periods, and finished first at 5 p.m. At 9 p.m., it beat Tribune's KDAF-TV head-to-head in households and 25-54 and both outdrew the 7-to-9 p.m. newscasts on indie KTXA in both categories.
Click here and here for more info.
Thought: WFAA is the weakest of ABC affiliates and O&Os in the nation's ten largest markets and this book proves it. (Dallas-Fort Worth is #5.)
Boston: Hearst's WCVB (ABC) wins at 11 p.m., with CBS-owned WBZ taking second. WHDH (thanks to Leno) finishes third in HH and 25-54's. Fox's WFXT wins at 10 among 25-54s.
Pittsburgh: No sweeping changes, with CBS-owned KDKA finishing first in the Steel City in all news time slots (except at 5 and 6 a.m.) in HH and 25-54's. Hearst's WTAE (ABC) generally finished second in households and demos.
But the station that really took it on the chin was Cox's NBC affiliate, WPXI. Not only the station was off a full rating point in the 25-54 demo at 11 p.m. (thank you Leno), but in the same demo, its 6 p.m. newscast was tied with reruns of Two And A Half Men on Fox affiliate WPGH for third place, while My Name Is Earl reruns on the same channel beat NBC Nightly News at 6:30 p.m. Wait a minute... you mean Everybody Loves to Friend Around With Earl is beating Brian Williams? What is going on?
Orlando: Similar results to Chicago: Cox's ABC affiliate (WFTV) dominates news among 25-54 ahead of WESH (NBC) and WKMG (CBS) - but its WKMG gaining viewers at 11 p.m., finishing second.WESH. In a major upset, indie WRDQ-TV's newscasts (WFTV's sister station) beat Fox-owned WOFL in 25-54s at 10 p.m.weeknights.
The following metered markets' ratings are measured by household only.
Milwaukee: Leno claims another victim: Journal Communications' WTMJ slipped into second-place at 10 p.m., behind Hearst's WISN-TV (ABC), which finished first. CBS affiliate WDJT-TV (owned by Chicago-based Weigel Broadcasting) came in third at 10, up from last year, with Fox affiliate WITI bringing up the rear.
Providence: In a stunning upset, CBS affiliate WPRI beat NBC affiliate WJAR in 11 p.m. news in households for the first time in 16 years. WJAR is usually the most dominant station in the Providence-New Bedford market, and has been for the last 50 years. And once again, you can thank Jay Leno for WJAR's loss.
WPRI was up 20 percent at 11, WJAR plunged 35 percent in the same time period. WJAR still won most other locally programmed time periods, including news.
Longtime laggard WLNE-TV (ABC) finished third at 11 p.m. and most other locally programmed time periods, but ratings at 11 were up 27 percent from last year.
Buffalo: And here, Leno's effect was felt here too: NBC affiliate WGRZ-TV slipped to third place in households at 11 p.m., with ABC affiliate WKBW-TV taking second at 11 for the first time in eight years (WGRZ did win at 6 a.m. with its morning newscast.)
CBS affiliate WIVB-TV swept the market's news races (except at 6 a.m.), placing first.
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