"Cavemen" gets sampled amptly

Cavemen and Carpooling had solid sampling last night, with Cavemen tying for #1 at 7 p.m. (CT) in adults 18-49 and winning the slot in adults 18-34.

Given the fact Britney Spears' Gimme More is number one on iTunes, it's official - the dumbing down of America is complete.

Have an annoying turd wake you up

This is the most moronic idea anyone has come up with. Of course, anything the Sun-Times does these days is pretty much considered moronic. More proof that big media is run by a bunch of dum-dums. Go away Sun-Times. Please, go bankrupt and just die.

CW out of kids' business

The CW is discontinuing Kids' WB and handing over the time over to 4KidsTV. The futures of many Kids WB shows (Tom & Jerry Tales, Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get A Clue, etc.) are up in the air.

"Family Guy" new off-net champ

Victory is mine!

Family Guy has surged ahead of Everybody Loves Raymond to become the top-rated off-network sitcom in syndication for the week ending Sept. 23. Twentieth's Family Guy surged 20 percent in the ratings to nab a 4.2, while CBS' Raymond fell 3 percent to a 3.7. Warner Bros.' Two and a Half Men finished with a 3.3, ahead of Warner's Friends but behind Sony's Seinfeld, which had a 3.5.

As for the new first-run rookies, Warner's TMZ was tops at a 2.0 rating (that number is being reprocessed however), doubling NBC Universal's Steve Wilkos Show, which had a 0.9.

Meanwhile, NBC's Law & Order: Criminal Intent nabbed a 1.3 rating as a strip, but its sister show Special Victims Unit got a 2.1 as a weekend show.

They are who we thought they were!

Aliens in America is exactly who we thought they were - a ratings loser. Meanwhile, Dancing With the Stars seems to be the only show deservingly labeled a winner (in the ratings dept. only), while it's yucksville for the rest of prime-time with the exception of the Padres-Rockies tiebreaker game, a true classic. Other observations:

- Heroes is down in the ratings from last week and last year. Like the Bears, this show is having a subpar season. Time to replace the quarterback?

- Like the New Orleans Saints, K-Ville continues its rapid downward spiral.

- The Game recorded growth from its Girlfriends lead-in and scored a 2.7 in women 18-34. Both shows are sure to be at least in the top five in African-American households this week. (Again, I ask: why did CBS pull Girlfriends from syndication?)

- The Bachelor still sucks. Period. The performance is even worse than last year, and they keep letting them off the hook!

Carpooling Cavemen

Only two premieres tonight, Cavemen and Carpooling, and they are the pick to definitely skip. These shows suck so bad... If you might have not noticed, these two shows have no laugh track. That's probably because there are no laughs in either. You can put this crap on the board, no!

Plus, Cavemen is set in San Diego. Hasn't the city suffered enough with the Padres and Chargers?

WCKG next in line for format switch?

After a number of format flips of CBS FM Talk stations around the country, it looks like low-rated WCKG-FM could be next. An long-overdue makeover is reportedly in the works. The only question is what to do with Steve Dahl, who has a long-term contract with the station.

Gentlemen, start your speculation engines.

Cubs fans not happy with playoffs on TBS

And the fact that games one and two are on at 9 p.m, Game 4 on Sunday at noon, etc. (just be grateful your team made the playoffs, okay?) This article from the Trib is about TBS getting the divisional series and the NLCS on an exclusive basis (no over-the-air broadcasts) per the new deal.

Chicago (city proper, excluding the 'burbs) has the lowest cable penetration rate in the country, but remember that cable TV came late to Chicago (1987 in fact), and you can thank the Chicago City Council (particularly those 29 aldermen) for holding the cable TV contracts hostage during the Council Wars era.

Interesting that yours truly didn't remember anybody complaining when most Bulls playoff games were only available on cable TV, even during the Michael Jordan era. Don't you just love selective outrage?

Fraud FM is dead

Free FM is almost officially done with the next-to-last Fraud FM station, WKRK-FM in Detroit flipping to sports and simulcasting WXYT-AM. This means that the Opie and Anthony Morning Show is gone from that station, too.

Meanwhile, CBS' Pittsburgh FM Talk outlet is toast as well. The last Free FM station remaining is KLSX-FM, Los Angeles.

"Aliens in America" - best sitcom ever?

"You want to crown them, then crown their ass!"
- Dennis Green

Can the CW finally get on the map with this show? It may be another program in which the critics love but the audience won't watch (i.e. Party of Five, I'll Fly Away, Arrested Development). Though yours truly dismissed this premise last spring, yours truly feels the pain of being unpopular and being awkward (is this sitcom the story of my life, or what? Well, except the foreign exchange student part and the sister...) I'll make this the pick to click. Sadly, I don't think too many people will do the same.

By tomorrow, we'll see if Aliens in America is who we thought they were...

The Tube shuts down

Digital music video channel The Tube has ceased operations. The network, which was seen over WGN's second digital channel here in Chicago, has been struggling financially since its launch. The Tube suffered a huge blow last year when original partner Sinclair Broadcasting pulled out over a dispute regarding three-hour FCC mandated children's educational programming on the music channel.

The Tube's other partners were Tribune Broadcasting (owner of WGN) and Raycom (owners of WOIO/WUAB in Cleveland.) The music channel was broadcast over the digital sub-channels of their owned stations.

No word on what will replace The Tube on WGN's second digital channel.

The final music video played on The Tube was Woke Up This Morning (Chosen One Mix) by A3 (how appropriate), at 10:55 p.m. (CT). It was the theme to The Sopranos, a program that ended its run last June with its infamous "fade to black" ending.

After the music video was played, The Tube did exactly that.

updated 12:11 a.m. on 2007-10-01

Wide Open West, RCN strike deal for Big Ten Network (updated)

In a huge victory for the Big Ten Network, Wide Open West, which serves much of Chicago area (the same territory as Comcast), has signed a deal with the fledging sports net to carry the network on an expanded basic cable package in the eight states where there are Big Ten schools.

Later in the day, BTN also struck a deal with RCN Cable, which serves Chicago's lakefront from Rogers Park on the north to Hyde Park on the south. RCN will also carry the sports net on expanded basic.

BTN is already being carried on Dish Network and Direct TV, as well as many smaller cable operators.

This no doubt will put even more pressure on Comcast, Time Warner, and Charter - the three major cable operators that still refuse to carry the network on their systems.

So come on you three - what are you waiting for? For you all to lose business?

updated 2:22 on 2007-09-29

Returning shows dominate on Thursday

Thursday's ratings race showed established returning shows picking up where they left off - grabbing lots of viewers. Here's a quick analysis (all times Central):

7 p.m: Four of the five shows had something to crow out, with Survivor winning in adults 18-49 and total viewers. NBC's hour-long season premiere of My Name Is Earl also did well, particularly among men. Fox's 5th Grader and CW's Smallville also did respectively well, at least with staying on course with year-ago ratings levels. Ugly Betty on the other hand, dropped substantially among total viewers and adults 18-49. Freshman hangover?

8 p.m. - CBS' CSI and ABC's Grey's Anatomy : CSI won in total viewers (24.85 to Grey's 20.48), but Grey's won in adults 18-49 (8.7 to 8.0). NBC's The Office and Fox's Don't Forget the Lyrics! also did respectively well, with The Office notching a 5.1 in the 18-49's, and improving over Earl's lead-in.

9 p.m. CBS' Without a Trace won in 18-49's and total viewers, defeating ER handily. ABC's new Big Shots (not a click to pick), did finish second, but was down substantially from its Grey's lead-in in total viewers and in 18-49's. Do we need to see Christopher Titus in another show after Titus? Sorry, Stacy Keach will always be your dad to me.

Copps against Tribune, XM/Sirius deals

Democratic FCC commissioner Michael Copps has voiced his opposition against two pending media deals: Sam Zell's acquisition of Tribune and the XM/Sirius merger. Tribune would need a waiver from the FCC so the deal can go through - and that Tribune can keep it radio/TV/newspaper combo intact in Chicago.

No broadcast TV for Cubs playoff games - unless they go to the World Series

The Daily Southtown lays into Major League Baseball, calling the new deal that puts most playoff games on cable TV isn't friendly to fans, particularly to those of the Chicago Cubs, whose team may make the postseason, and fans without cable or satellite are out of luck.

When ESPN had the rights to the divisional series in the past, they let local stations in the markets playing in the games to simulcast this feed, but that won't happen this time as new rightsholder TBS has exclusive rights (Fox still has rights to one of the championship series and the World Series.)

While the Daily Southown's stance is dated (circa 1986), they do have a point. But don't forget that Fox dumped part of the postseason so they can run their regular programming (and to please ad buyers.) And ratings for playoff baseball have fallen over the last several years, making that attraction much more lucrative. I guess the Southtown forgot to point that out...

If there is any consolation, The NBA and NHL have the majority of their playoff games on cable, and the ratings have stunk.

Wilkos leads first-run syndicated rookies...

with a huge, huge, gigantic 0.9 rating. Meanwhile, Family Guy finished ahead of Friends and Seinfeld among off-network sitcoms and finished only behind Everybody Loves Raymond, whose rating fell thanks in part to downgrades by several stations (including WGN-TV here) into the wee hours because of an expiring contract that comes next spring. In other words, Raymond is in "lame duck" status on these stations.

Keep in mind, though that cable runs are a part of the numbers for all of these shows, and Turner (through TBS and Adult Swim) run "Family Guy" a lot.

Warner, NBC O&O's come to long-term deal

It doesn't give them TMZ, but it does give the ten O&Os a new talk show hosted by Chicagoan Bonnie Hunt for fall 2008 (with the exception of WCAU in Philly); a renewal for Extra through 2012; and a renewal for Ellen through 2011. Both programs air on NBC-owned WMAQ-TV in Chicago.

"Private", "Bionic" score

NBC's Bionic Woman scored an upset over ABC's Private Practice in the 18-49 demo, 5.5 to 5.1 (though Private drew more viewers, 14.24 to Bionic's 13.59.) CBS' Criminal Minds also was strong in the 8 p.m. (CT) time period, so that may be bad news for CW's Gossip Girl and Fox's Kitchen Nightmares, both turning in less than spectacular ratings in week two of their existence.

Otherwise, Dancing With the Stars dominated the ratings (as usual) while America's Next Top Model and Deal or No Deal's better days seem to be behind them. You also have to ask why Fox did not slot Back to You between Sunday powerhouses The Simpsons and Family Guy.

Steve & Garry reunite on TV

Current WCKG hosts and radio legends Steve Dahl and Garry Meier (both have separate shows at the station) appeared together on WGN-TV's morning news today, promoting a charitable event they are co-hosting with the Sun-Times Susanna Hoffman and Gilda's Club Chicago on Friday called "A Night of a Thousand Noogies" at the Park West (it's located at 322 W. Armitage.)

A letter to Jay Mariotti

Usually yours truly doesn't devote a space here to attack someone (yeah, right), but I have to give attention to Jay Mariotti's latest column from the Daily Onion regarding the death of Chicago Blackhawks owner Bill Wirtz...

From: T Dog

To: Jay Mariotti, Chicago Sun-Times

Dear Moron:

Who do YOU THINK YOU ARE when you tell us how to behave? Sure, people are cruel, and yes, unfortunately people are going to say nasty things on talk radio about someone's death. But I can't control their emotions, and neither can you. All of this means that for the first time in decades, Hawks fans actually have some hope after seeing Wirtz drive this franchise into the ground for the last forty years. Yes, the comments are cruel, but there is nothing you can do about it.

And now you have the nerve telling us how to behave, particularly after you have made a living being rude, crude, and outright distasteful?

And when was the last time you wrote anything about the Blackhawks anyway? When it's convenient for you? You paint Jerry Reinsdorf as the city's worst sports owner, but yet he has seven championships and we get to see Bulls and White Sox games on home TV, while you have barely mentioned Wirtz or the Blackawks and their struggles over the past two years.

Maybe you should have attended last week's FCC hearing here in Chicago and see why the public in general is fed up with big media. You, and well as all of Chicago's major media outlets and their cronies, regularly do a disservice to our city with your crap.

You, Skip Bayless, Bill O'Reilly, Glenn Beck, Steve Harvey... it doesn't matter. As long as big media gives them a platform to say THEY are right and WE are wrong. WE the public, who reluctantly pay your salaries.

You represent big media to a lot of Chicagoans, and people don't like being told how to do this, or how to do that. Big media is the "parent" and we are their "children". It doesn't work like that. Oklahoma State football coach Mike Gundy was right when he said on Saturday that newspapers were garbage.

You are producing nothing but a propaganda machine with your "column" and your "blog". You and your paper are an embarrassment to Chicago. I'm certain when you drop dead, there will be far more negative comments about you after you die than for Mr. Wirtz (believe it or not.) I, and a lot of other Chicago sports fans, can't wait for that day.


T Dog