I'm not at all surprised by those ranking for "Primetime" viewing. We rarely watch anything but scripted network programming during Primetime. During all other times though, we rarely watch the networks. Why would I watch HGTV during Primetime when I know I can catch any HGTV episode muliple times otherwise but can only catch the network stuff on a given day in a given timeslot? Heck, they don't even show all episodes during rerun season anymore. :)

Gee, I wonder how ESPN can afford $600 million for the #41 ranked show (16 nights a year). That would be enough to produce almost ten 22-episode seasons of the most expensive show on TV (LOST - $2.8 million {est.} per episode)

$1.1 Billion would seem even tougher to justify - but no, they should turn a profit :rolleyes:

Perhaps it is another reason Disney is so admanantly against a la carte.

Let' see, (for ESPN alone) $2.60 a month for 90 million subs = $174 million a month!

Or $2.09 billion per year.

And then there is more: ESPN2, and ESPN News, and ESPN Classic....

Critic’s Notebook
On the set of “Surface”



In this city by the sea, dubbed Hollywood East for its two-decade history in the film industry, "Surface" producers can find countless spots that will pass for coastal California, where much of the series' action takes place.
Well, I would give this a maybe, sort of...It wouldn't fool folks who live near the area portrayed in the show, but probably does for most of the country that hasn't never visited the areas. The scene on the "dock by the restaurant" where everyone was filming the sea monster coming into the "harbor" fed by the Russian River was particularly interesting as none of that area has or looks like what was portrayed in the program. I sort of wish it did though, it looked kind of nice.. :D

A Critical View:
Despite three speakers, “Nightline” lacks voice

How a trio is replacing a Koppel

By Paul Brownfield Los Angeles Times Staff Writer December 12, 2005

They say "Goodnight, America" now at the end of "Nightline." All three of the new anchors say it — Cynthia McFadden, Terry Moran, Martin Bashir — they trade off. They also sometimes say: "Jimmy Kimmel is next."

It is a symbolic if small shift in the post-Ted Koppel broadcast. Koppel, a guardian of the firewall between the news and entertainment divisions at his former network ABC, wouldn't tease to Kimmel, just as he didn't tease to "Politically Incorrect With Bill Maher" in the years that Maher's more compatible series followed "Nightline."

After 25 years, Koppel signed off his last broadcast, Nov. 23, saying to viewers, "You've always been very nice to me, so give this new anchor team at 'Nightline' a fair break. If you don't, the network will just put another comedy in this time slot. And then you'll be sorry."

Is two weeks a fair break? "Nightline," a slicker-looking news package piloted from Times Square in New York, isn't some end-of-the-world devolution from Koppel. But it's just a respectable if slightly overheated newsmagazine now, well produced, with good bookings.

They cover two or three or four stories where Koppel would burrow into one. The result is faster and less substantive, lacking a voice. It opts for movement from hard news into features, the involving story about female soldiers dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder gliding into the sit-down with George Clooney about his film "Syriana," McFadden asking the movie star teasingly: "Is George Clooney trying to save the world?"

It turned out he isn't.

Two weeks ago, accompanying "Nightline's" new debut, the show dispatched Moran to Baghdad to file a week of segments on whether the U.S. should stay in Iraq or pull its troops. But it did this without also delving into the renewed political heat this question has on Capitol Hill. Moran, meanwhile, did a day-in-the-life piece on U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad, went on a hunt for insurgents with U.S. troops and Iraqi police in Baqubah — a policeman in a lead vehicle was killed by a roadside explosive device — and held a "town-hall" meeting in the U.S.-controlled Green Zone in Baghdad.

It was serviceable — feature stories with raw feeds, at times slightly oversold (a "historic TV gathering," "Nightline" trumpeted the town-hall meeting).

Friday night, McFadden moderated an hour with Ohio mothers of fallen soldiers. But it's hard to imagine this show reading off the names of the war dead in Iraq, as Koppel did last year, prompting the conservative Sinclair Broadcast Group to pull the episode from affiliates.

"Nightline" was his show, its gestures his gestures; now, you sense, it's been returned to the network, as the departures of Jennings-Brokaw-Rather have left nightly news in a place of youth-driven flux, no longer shepherded by history-tested stewards of the public trust.

The reason to watch "Nightline," even if you could go away from it for a day or two — or 20 — was to see an old hand like Koppel fix his gaze on a political topic and root out the subtext, not letting his guest off the hook. No guest is on the new "Nightline" long enough to move much beyond a talking-points memo. "Will troops be in Iraq a year from now?" McFadden asked Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. When he estimated they would be, she asked, "Two years from now? Five years from now?"

He didn't want to guess, and you wondered who these questions were for, the anchor or the audience? Within the last few days, the story mix bounced from reports of CIA-run prisons for terror suspects in Eastern Europe, to the U.S. soldier who kept secret from his wife the valor that earned him a silver star, to the last day of freedom for Victor Conte, who was convicted of giving illegal steroids to top athletes as head of the Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative.

Bashir handled that story; he'd already interviewed Conte previously, on "20/20." Now his segment was dubbed, Geraldo style, "one man's journey from success to the slammer." "I don't think I've ever seen you without your Rolex," Bashir said to Conte as he prepared to drive to prison.

Bashir, it seems, will handle such intimacies with controversial folks. He is, after all, the outsider who famously found a way to earn Michael Jackson's trust in Neverland. But "Nightline" would do well to keep the acronym "WWTD" displayed prominently somewhere: "What would Ted do?"

The loss of Koppel is the loss of a filter, a star, in a time of wider transition following the departures of Peter Jennings, Tom Brokaw and Dan Rather. ABC gave "World News Tonight" to the more telegenic Elizabeth Vargas and Bob Woodruff after it was thought the "Good Morning, America's" Charles Gibson was the front-runner, while rumors are swirling that Katie Couric will take over the "CBS Evening News." None of these are ascendancies, they're casting choices in an industry that finds itself now having to move beyond the shadows of departed giants.

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-et-nightline12dec12,0,7927631,print.story?coll=cl-tvent

I'm not at all surprised by those ranking for "Primetime" viewing. We rarely watch anything but scripted network programming during Primetime. During all other times though, we rarely watch the networks. Why would I watch HGTV during Primetime when I know I can catch any HGTV episode muliple times otherwise but can only catch the network stuff on a given day in a given timeslot? Heck, they don't even show all episodes during rerun season anymore. :)

You can't really look at daytime shows because while they may garner a larger national rating, they likely still are not beating the local affiliate's syndicated programming. Those can't really be measured head-to-head because the timeslots and markets vary.

However, even if you disregard the local affiliate programming and included all cable programs (daytime and primetime) the only changes to the Top 100 list fredfa posted would be from #84 and below - the bottom of the list would like something like this:


80 MONK USA 3.52
81 STACKED FOX 3.46
82 HAPPY ELF NBC 3.45
83 WWE ENTERTAINMENT USA 3.21
84 SPONGEBOB NICK 3.2
85 NFL PRIME TIME L ESPN 3.05
86 FAIRLY ODD PARENTS NICK 3.0
87 KILLER INSTINCT FOX 2.92
88 EVERYBODY HATES CHRIS UPN 2.88
89 REUNION FOX 2.82
90 WWE SMACKDOWN! UPN 2.82
91 REAL WORLD XVI REUNION MTV 2.8
92 SPONGEBOB NICK 3.2
93 SPONGEBOB NICK 3.2
94 FAIRLY ODD PARENTS NICK 3.0
95 SPONGEBOB NICK 3.2
96 FELICITY AM GIRL-WB WB 2.49
97 GIRLFRIENDS UPN 2.45
98 WWE SMACKDOWN! SP- 11/29 UPN 2.36
99 AVATAR: SIEGE OF THE NORT NICK 2.29
100 ALL OF US UPN 2.26

CP:
If you include some non prime-time network programming along with syndicated shows (week of Nov 21, 2005) you get this list.
Since many of the syndicated programs run five days a week, I have also cut back the cable week day shows (like Oprah, Wheel, ET, etc) to just a single slot in this list:
# / Program / Network / Household Rating
1 DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES ABC 15.74
2 MNF: Steelers at Colts ABC 14.81
3 CSI CBS 14.49
4 GREY'S ANATOMY ABC 13.01
5 CSI: MIAMI CBS 12.92
6 LOST ABC 12.30
7 60 MINUTES CBS 11.57
8 SURVIVOR: GUATEMALA CBS 11.45
9 NCIS CBS 11.26
10 LAW AND ORDER:SVU NBC 11.15
11 TWO AND A HALF MEN CBS 10.60
12 WITHOUT A TRACE CBS 10.16
13 E.R. NBC 10.13
14 CSI: NY CBS 10.08
15 CRIMINAL MINDS CBS 9.85
16 BIGGEST LOSER 2 NBC 9.70
17 EXTREME MAKEOVER:HOME EDITION ABC 9.54
18 COLD CASE CBS 9.03
19 HOUSE FOX 9.01
20 OPRAH WINFREY SHOW (AT) 9.0
21 BARBARA WALTERS: 10 FASCINATING PEOPLE '05 ABC 8.96
22 COMMANDER IN CHIEF ABC 8.80
23 LAW AND ORDER NBC 8.74
24 OUT OF PRACTICE CBS 8.59
25 RUDOLPH-RED-NOSE-REINDEER CBS 8.57
26 MEDIUM NBC 8.31
27 WHEEL OF FORTUNE 8.3
28 CROSSING JORDAN NBC 8.26
29 KING OF QUEENS CBS 8.20
30 HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER CBS 7.87
31 LAW AND ORDER:CRIM INTENT NBC 7.83
32 APPRENTICE 4 NBC 7.48
33 LAS VEGAS NBC 7.45
34 NBC Nightly News 7.4
35 PRISON BREAK FOX 7.22
36 JEOPARDY 6.5
37 INVASION ABC 6.39
38 CHRISTMAS-ROCKEFELLER CEN NBC 6.31
39 LAW & ORDER:SVU-SAT-RPT NBC 6.26
40 ABC World News Tonight 6.2
41 SURFACE NBC 6.13
42 EVERBODY LOVES RAYMOND-SYN 6.1
43 GHOST WHISPERER CBS 6.01
44 20/20-FRI ABC 5.95
45 CRIMINAL MINDS TUE SPC CBS 5.74
46 AMER FUNN HOME VIDEOS ABC 5.65
47-t CBS Evening News 5.6
47-t NFL RAIDERS/CHARGERS ESPN 5.60
49 WIFE SWAP ABC 5.57
50-t ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT 5.5
50-t CSI-SYN 5.5
52 AMER FUNN HM VIDEOS-12/2 ABC 5.48
53 DATELINE SUN-7PM NBC 5.47
54 GEORGE LOPEZ ABC 5.44
55 AMAZING RACE 8 CBS 5.43
56 SEINFELD (AT) 5.4
57 SIMPSONS FOX 5.39
58-t DR. PHIL SHOW 5.3
58-7 SEINFELD-WKND 5.3
60 FREDDIE ABC 5.27
61 POPE JOHN PAUL II, PART 1 CBS 5.20
62 KNOTS LANDING REUNION CBS 5.10
63 ACCORDING TO JIM ABC 5.07
64 RODNEY ABC 5.04
65 WILL & GRACE NBC 5.04
66 ACC CHAMPIONSHIP ABC 5.02
67 JUDGE JUDY 5.0
68 40TH ANNVRSRY OF THE ACMS CBS 4.89
69 JOEY NBC 4.85
70 WEST WING NBC 4.85
71 FRIENDS 4.8
72 ESPN NFL REGULAR SEASON 4.8
73 MEDIUM 12/3 NBC 4.71
74 HAVE NO FEAR:LIFE-POPE J. PAUL ABC 4.62
75-t SANTA CLAUS COMIN' TO TWN ABC 4.60
75-t BONES FOX 4.60
77 PRIMETIME ABC 4.59
78 FAMILY GUY FOX 4.49
79 TRADING SPOUSES FOX 4.38
80 THAT '70S SHOW FOX 4.37
81 PRISON BREAK ENC-MON 8P FOX 4.31
82-t WAR AT HOME FOX 4.26
82-t AMW: AMERICA FIGHTS BACK FOX 4.26
84 APPRENTICE:MARTHA NBC 4.24
85 THAT 70S SHOW-MF-SYN 4.2
86 AMERICAN DAD FOX 4.00
87 EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND-WKD-SYN 4.0
88 CROSSING JORDAN 12/3 NBC 3.97
89 THREE WISHES NBC 3.97
90 COPS FOX 3.96
91 O.C. FOX 3.91
92 7TH HEAVEN - WB WB 3.88
93 KING OF THE HILL FOX 3.84
94 INTERROGATION ROOM SP FOX 3.83
95-t WHEEL OF FORTUNE WKND 3.8
95-t INSIDE EDITION 3.8
97-t AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL 5 UPN 3.60
97-t Saturday Night Live NBC 3.6
98 DATELINE FRI 12/2 NBC 3.57
99 MONK USA 3.52
100 STACKED FOX 3.46

In addition, all Sunday CBS and Fox NFL broadcasts, "Good Morning America", the ABC and CBS NCAA football games, (and NBC's Notre Dame coverage) would also be included in the broadcast list.
They would drop the cable shows even farther down the ratings food chain.

Translating US TV Abroad
How do you say 'D'oh!' in Arabic?

”The Simpsons” travels to the Middle East and undergoes a few changes along the way
By Ashraf Khalil and Jailan Zayan Los Angeles Times Staff Writers December 12, 2005

CAIRO -- Bald, chubby underachiever Omar Shamshoon works each day at the local nuclear power plant owned by vulture-like millionaire Mahrooey Bey (Mr. Burned). Every evening, Omar comes home to a family that includes his blue-haired wife, Mona, hyper-smart daughter, Beesa, and troublemaking son, Badr.

Along the way, wacky high jinks invariably ensue, involving the moronic police chief, Maarmish (Crunchy) the television clown and Omar's disturbingly perfect neighbor.

Sound familiar?

This, however, may not: Omar doesn't drink beer. That is not a misprint.

Instead, he spends time with his buddies at a local coffee shop. At home, he pops open frosty cans of Duff brand juice.

"The Simpsons" fans in the Middle East reacted with skepticism when MBC, an Arabic satellite channel, announced it would begin showing culturally modified, Arabic-dubbed versions of the iconic animated show.

The Arabic dialogue laid over existing shows is actually fairly faithful to the original script. Nothing seems censored, but episodes such as those featuring Homer's gay roommate or the visit to the Duff brewery are unlikely to be chosen for translation.

And many of the more American inside jokes are simply glossed over.

Ned Flanders, the devout Christian neighbor, is now merely annoying — with no hint of religion. And needless to say, the relationship between Mr. Burns and his assistant, Smithers — make that Salmawy — has become strictly professional.

One month after the premiere of "Al Shamshoon," voiced by some of Egypt's top actors, many are asking whether this particular cultural divide can ever truly be bridged.

"They managed to make one of the funniest shows ever into something that is terribly unfunny, and one of the smartest shows around into something incredibly dumb," ranted an Egyptian blogger who goes by the name Sandmonkey and who wants the show canceled. "Us Simpson lovers can't take this abomination any longer."

Others take a kinder view. Tarek Atia and Inas Hamam have turned the nightly viewings into a family event, watching raptly with their sons, Omar, 7, and Ali, 4.

"When I first saw it ... I thought, there's no way they're going to pull this off. But now I think it might be funnier in Arabic," said Hamam, marketing manager for American University in Cairo.

Executives at Dubai-based MBC sounded a little bemused by the strong, sometimes outraged, reactions to their venture among hard-core fans. Spokesman Michel Kostandi acknowledged that they had underestimated the depth and passion of the fan base.

"We're fascinated ourselves to see how this works," he said, adding that the show's translators were "determined to keep the exact spirit and heart of 'The Simpsons.' "

Well, not quite: There's that little matter of Homer's favorite pastime.

"What's Homer without beer?" Sandmonkey told The Times, preferring to be identified by his blogger name. "This is a fundamental issue!"

The show was one of the flagships of MBC's Ramadan lineup. During the Islamic holy month, which fell mostly in October this year, television channels compete heavily for the attention of Arab families digesting huge meals after their all-day fast.

MBC spared no expense, promoting "Al Shamshoon" nonstop and recruiting A-list film stars to dub the voices. Egypt's top comedian, Mohamed Heneidy, provides the voice of Omar.

For local fans of the original "Simpsons," it's a wasted effort. The show's real appeal, they say, depends on the multilayered dialogue, the often biting takes on American society and politics.

Without an understanding of that cultural depth, what remains for the audience here is mere slapstick, said Marwan Nasher, managing director of AK Comics Inc., which produces a line of Arab superhero comic books.

"It's just a cartoon now," Nasher said. "I wasn't really impressed. You don't know if they're trying to show American culture or Arab culture. They've kind of lost the message."

Hind Radwan, a cartoon director and editor who oversees dubbings of Disney cartoons into Arabic, echoes this view. "In the U.S., when making cartoons, there is a lot of thought about the children's psychology and what is or isn't culturally appropriate for them. Here we just take those cartoons and translate them; it ends up confusing the child's identity," she said.

Radwan said it was a question of simple economics. In Egypt, cartoon production lacks the prestige it has in other parts of the world and therefore receives little money and attention, so importing cartoons for dubbing is simply easier.

"One minute of dubbing is much cheaper than one minute of production," she said.

Western programming is hardly new to the Middle East. Even before the advent of satellite channels, shows such as [B]"The Six Million Dollar Man," "Falcon Crest" and[B] "MacGyver" were staples of state television.

The explosion of Arab satellite television brought dedicated channels showing subtitled Western movies, cop shows and sitcoms — including the original "Simpsons."

"You'd be surprised by the exposure to the Western media that our audience has," said Kostandi, the MBC spokesman.

Recent attempts to adapt Western programming for a Middle East audience have met with mixed results. "Who Will Win a Million" was a huge hit, but an Arabic version of "Big Brother" was canceled last year after just one week because of protests over male and female contestants sharing a house.

Still, "Al Shamshoon" may yet find its audience.

Playing on the TV screen at the Red Sea resort of Hurghada, "Al Shamshoon" set off belly-laughs from one satisfied viewer: 9-year-old Farida Hassan. Quizzed about her favorite bits, she said shyly, "I don't understand anything, but it's funny."

In Atia and Hamam's home in suburban Cairo, the whole family gathers every evening at 6:30 to watch the show.

For young Omar and Ali, it's a fun, silly cartoon about strange-looking people doing strange things to one another. Omar's favorite character: Badr, because "he's naughty." The parents, meanwhile, enjoy it on a completely different level. Both were born in Egypt, but Atia grew up in suburban Washington and Hamam in London. They dissect the translations, recall the originals and debate what jokes do or do not work in Arabic.

The two are fascinated by the dialogue translations, which are largely verbatim with subtle modifications throughout. Badr likes to shout "rewesh" (cool); Omar, in a flashback to his youth, listens to a classic song by Egyptian singer Ahmed Adawiya.

Atia, a journalist who runs the political and cultural news website cairolive.com notes the significance of the characters speaking the distinctive Egyptian dialect instead of the more stilted formal Arabic normally heard in dubbed children's cartoons. Decades of dominance of Arabic movies and films has made Egyptian slang the lingua franca of the Middle East, and Atia feels its choice is the saving grace of "Al Shamshoon."

"It's the only Arabic colloquial language that's understood by everyone and has that casual, comfortable, potentially cynical feel that's needed for this show," he said.

But some aspects still seem destined to go over the head of anyone without a knowledge of American culture and media. One "Al Shamshoon" episode contained lengthy homages to "Twilight Zone: The Movie" and the legend of the Monkey's Paw. Another centered on baseball, with Mahrooey Bey recruiting major league stars such as Darryl Strawberry and Wade Boggs for the company team.

Atia suspects a hidden pattern in the choices of which episodes to translate — a sort of subliminal America 101 course.

"They've chosen an episode about Thanksgiving, an episode about Halloween and even an episode about the writing of the Declaration of Independence," Atia said. "They seem to have chosen these episodes that really touch on Americana."

To which his wife responded: "I think they've eliminated the ones that feature Homer in a bar, and these are what's left."

But the show isn't a hit with all families. Atia remembers a recent evening with other young Egyptian couples and their kids. The group had to be persuaded to watch it — with the adults saying that cartoons were for kids.

In the end, it bombed, he said: "Even the kids didn't watch it."

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-et-simpsons12dec12,0,566881,print.story?coll=cl-tv-top-right

Winter Olympics Schedule

The full list of events for the XX Winter Olympics has been finalized.

(So if anyone reading this thread is looking for the final few reasons to convince a spouse that a new HDTV is a good idea this holiday season, here is some possible ammunition.)

NBC has not yet announced its broadcast schedule (but it promises massive, if not all, NBC network coverage in same-day HD ).
Here are the major scheduled events day-by-day:

Friday, Feb. 10
Opening Ceremony

Saturday, Feb. 11
Freestyle skiing
Speed skating
Men's luge
Ski jumping
Pairs figure skating

Sunday, Feb. 12
Men downhill
Speed skating
Short track speed skating
Men's luge final
Ski jumping

Monday, Feb. 13
Men's snowboard halfpipe
Speed skating
Women's luge
Pairs figure skating final

Tuesday, Feb. 14
Women's snowboard halfpipe
Speed skating
Women's luge final
Men's figure skating short program

Wednesday, Feb. 15
Women's downhill
Speed skating
Short track speed skating
Doubles luge final

Thursday, Feb. 16
Men's snowboard X
Speed skating
Men's figure skating final
Women's skeleton

Friday, Feb. 17
Women's snowboard X
Ski jumping
Ice dancing
Men's skeleton

Saturday, Feb. 18
Men's super G
Speed skating
Short track speed skating
Men's bobsled
Ski jumping
Cross country skiing

Sunday, Feb. 19
Women's super G
Speed skating
Men's bobsled
Ice dancing
Cross country skiing

Monday, Feb. 20
Men's grand slalom
Women's hockey Bronze and Gold Medal matches
Women's bobsled
Ski jumping team final
Ice dancing final

Tuesday, Feb. 21
Women's slalom
Speed skating
Women's bobsled
Women's figure skating short program
Nordic combined

Wednesday, Feb. 22
Freestyle aerials
Speed skating
Short track speed skating
Men's hockey quarterfinals

Thursday, Feb. 23
Women's curling final
Women's figure skating final

Friday, Feb. 24
Women's giant slalom
Men's curling final
Speed Skating
Four-man bobsled
Figure skating: exhibition
Men's hockey semifinals
Cross country skiing

Saturday, Feb. 25
Men's slalom
Speed skating
Men's hockey - Bronze Medal match
Four-man bobsled
Sunday, Feb. 26
Men's hockey Gold Medal match
Closing Ceremony

You can get a complete, day-by-day, full-color schedule (suitable for framing!) here:

http://www.torino2006.org/ENG/IDF/calendario_gare.pdf

The 2005-2006 TV Season
Ask Matt

(from the Ask (TV Critic) Matt (Roush) column at TVGuide.com

Question: Do you think there is some gender bias involved in the outright hatred many Lost fans have for Ana Lucia? For my money, she is the first female character to match the emotional baggage and personal flaws that the best of the male characters on that show bring to the table. People adore Locke (who is kind of unbalanced and whose actions led indirectly to the death of Boone), Sawyer (needlessly aggressive at times and a former con artist), and Sayid (has tortured people as recently as a month and a half ago), but Ana Lucia has been vilified almost from the start. I think the fact that her character is deeply flawed and has already made some huge mistakes on the island makes her an interesting character to watch: not a villain, but a compelling and captivating dramatic character. But to hear many fans talk about her, I keep hearing the word "bitch" thrown around, and I have a hard time believing the outrage would be so pointed if there was a badass new guy on the show. Am I totally off base here, or is there some truth to this? — Ryan J.

Matt Roush: Ooh, what a great love/hate debate. I was rather taken aback by how much hate mail I got about the character (much of it personally aimed at the actress, Michelle Rodriguez), and I agree that one thing Lost needed (and now has) is another female character besides Kate (another source of constant bickering) — one who can literally take prisoners and yet, for those with open minds, who may eventually be able to earn viewers' sympathy. I find her intriguing, not nearly as off-putting as so many seem to. But Ryan isn't alone.

From Karen B.: "I disagree with Jennifer C.'s comment that the Ana Lucia character is 'written and played so broadly.' Whether or not Michelle Rodriguez deserves to win an award, I've known people who were very much like her. To draw on my introductory psych course (cough), she seems to have a borderline personality disorder, and having known a couple of people who have the same, I'd say it's a fairly realistic depiction. These people tend to see things in black and white, become very angry at people who disagree with them at all, and tend to try to get what they want through rage or charm or whatever it takes, but they are also deeply unhappy people. Sound familiar? Of course, this is Lost, so what we think we know about a character now can often change after a few episodes." Well, that much is true.

From Lauren: "Sure, she had to be tough on a lot of people, but that toughness of hers just may have saved everyone's lives. So why is there so much hate directed towards her?"

From Joyce L.: "I get the feeling that a lot of the viewers are transferring their dislike of Michelle Rodriguez and the characters she's played in her movies to this character. I had no preconceived notions because I had never heard of her until they made such a big deal over her being added to the cast. Anyway, I've tried to give her a chance based on what her group of survivors have gone through since the plane crash. Someone had to step up and take the lead so the group would survive. The backstory on the next episode after "The Other 48 Days" explained her issues but didn't make me feel warm and fuzzy about the character. I think she will shake things up a bit and add something to the mix of characters we know. Not sure I'd want to be around her all the time, though. And whoever wondered why none of our people have hit back yet was right. She needs a dose of chill pills. Now, the character who does intrigue me is Mr. Eko. Can't wait until they tell us more about him. And Desmond, too. They're both really great additions to the cast."

Couldn't agree more about Eko, and it sounds like they've already started working on his backstory as well.
________________________________________
Question: Since Stephanie March is going to be on NBC's Conviction playing her Law & Order: Special Victims Unit character, and since they're using old Trial by Jury sets, do you think Dick Wolf will retitle the spin-off Law & Order: Conviction? Or will he realize that a little distance from "just another Law & Order spin-off" might be necessary? Also, in last week's column, you shied away from talking about Michelle Rodriguez's dreadful character, saying you would rather focus on the good in watching Lost. Uh, isn't it your duty as a TV critic to look at the good and the bad, and "criticize" it? — D.J.

Matt Roush: To continue the Ana Lucia debate: Uh, I thought I made it clear in that column that I didn't have the problems others were having with her, and I still don't. And while it is my job to criticize, I often find I do it best by not rushing to judgments, by not nitpicking every little flaw, especially in a show I love, and certainly by not piling on. I was trying to be honest by confessing to a blind spot where Lost is concerned. Agree with it or not, at least I'm not pretending otherwise.

As for Conviction, Dick Wolf seems very determined, despite the Stephanie March casting, for this show to have a very separate identity from the other Law & Order shows. He doesn't consider this a spin-off, so I doubt we'll see those words in the title. (If those clanging between-scene transitions are missing, that will be the real test.) Because Conviction will feature much more plot-driven material about the characters' personal lives, Wolf has even coined a hideous new term to describe this show: "charactercedural." Let's hope the show is better than that sounds.
________________________________________
Question: I know CBS has won every week of the season. I bet they'll win every week until ABC's Bowl season starts. I bet they'll also win every week, with the exception of the Super Bowl week and the two weeks of the Olympics. Should CBS really celebrate this? Of course! However, once people get tired of the crime dramas, the whole schedule will collapse. I mean, they have nine procedurals on their schedule (excluding Saturday repeats of, you guessed it, more procedurals), so it's bound to happen. I hope that it does. I can't even watch CSI anymore because of how much I now hate procedurals. But to my Question: Do you think that the same thing that happened to ABC with its multiple airings of Millionaire will happen to CBS? If so, when? Because I can't wait! — Luis A.

Matt Roush: I'm not quite as bloodthirsty about the prospect as you seem to be. But to me the most depressing outcome of the season so far has not been the cancellations of promising shows like Threshold and Just Legal (most of the others deserved it), or the woes of Arrested Development and Kitchen Confidential on Fox. What really irks me is the success of Criminal Minds, one of the most generic, uninspired and criminally mundane shows CBS has presented in a long while, with performances that veer from mannered (Mandy Patinkin) to wooden (just about everyone else). This is a show that reinforces the cliché that the CBS viewer will watch just about anything as long as there are dead bodies in it.

The glut of crime dramas has gotten to the point where I'm beginning to get a reputation as a curmudgeon where procedurals are concerned, and that bothers me. I still enjoy the original CSI, Without a Trace and Cold Case, I think Numbers is clever on those rare Fridays when I'm home to watch, Close to Home makes sense to me (though I don't feel the impulse to TiVo it), I'm loving Bones, and so on. But to answer your basic Question: There is a long-standing belief that everything in TV is cyclical, and when the passion cools for procedurals — an event that appears to be nowhere in sight yet — CBS will be in desperate straits unless it sees the end coming early and prepares with at least a few shows that veer from the formula. I'm especially worried about the prospects for CBS' mid-season comedy-drama Love Monkey, mainly because no one dies in it. Yet.
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Question: Hi, Matt. Great column. Some great shows have seen the ax lately, but one of my absolute favorite shows (perhaps, at this point, my overall favorite of the season) is one that doesn't come up all that frequently: NCIS — or, as I mockingly referred to it in the first season, "Navy Criminal Investigation Service." What I love about the show is the characters and the great chemistry the cast seems to have, particularly with the addition of Cote de Pablo this season. In a lineup stuffed with all-too-boring procedurals, this is the only one that can make me laugh. — Brian

Matt Roush: May I also point you towards Fox's Bones, which will soon be moving away from direct competition with NCIS? What sets both of these shows apart is a strong reliance on character-based humor amid the mysteries. NCIS has exploded in popularity this season, and we have acknowledged that with several features (and more to come) in the magazine itself. And since it doesn't appear that the shocking departure of Sasha Alexander (her choice) has had a negative impact on the show's fortunes, I'm happy to give it a plug here.
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Question: What's this talk I hear about an Alias spin-off starring the current bad guys? Do you have any intel. on this? Would Amy Acker be involved? My greatest wish would be a spin-off starring Amy Acker and David Anders, because I don't think you can get any better than Peyton and Sark working closely together to do evil. That would be hot. — Spacegirl

Matt Roush: Spacegirl? Really? Anyway, this possibility of a bad-guy spin-off (also featuring Sloane, naturally) was discussed in the Dec. 12 issue of TV Guide (on stands now), but it's awfully preliminary and, I agree, awfully tempting — though I would be honestly surprised if it gets much beyond the talking stage. ABC is flying high these days, and spinning off a show past its prime seems counterintuitive. But yes, it would be hot. And I would watch.
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Question: After watching this past week's hilarious episode of Fox's Kitchen Confidential, I am officially hooked on the show. At first, it felt raw and unfocused, with mediocre scripts, but the show has been getting better and better and the characters have become more defined and comfortable with their roles. It seems to have a lot of potential, with the interesting setting inside of a top New York restaurant, and with the zany, roguish, flawed characters and the many story possibilities that come with a new batch of patrons every night.

Sexy, edgy 30-minute comedies like this are rare, and most are just retreads of the same old idea. With Fox's announcement of the show's cancellation, is there any chance that the show will be picked up by another network or reupped if the ratings get better and the DVD sells (à la Family Guy)? Even if there isn't, I would like your take on why shows with a great premise, luxurious setting and sexy cast aren't nurtured by the networks. It seems that as Arrested Development's lead-out, Kitchen suffered the same scheduling difficulties and lack of publicity as the earlier show. Can Fox really think that it's given this show a chance, when it took at least a whole season for audiences to catch on to Seinfeld? — Albert S.

Matt Roush: I'm sure Fox doesn't believe it did all it could for Kitchen, but I'm not convinced the network really cares, either. Given the tone of most of Fox's more successful comedies, Kitchen Confidential would probably have trouble fitting in anywhere on the schedule. Kitchen might have had better luck on NBC, which has a track record with more sophisticated comedies, but the chances of anyone coming to this show's rescue are about as slim as my getting a reservation to a restaurant as hot as Jack's.
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Question: What did you think of the Knots Landing reunion? It had very much the same setup as the Dallas one, but I think this one was a lot more successful. Maybe it's because the cast seemed to genuinely like each other. Seeing the clips really made me miss it, and as much as I love Desperate Housewives, it can't compete with Knots. As crazy as the plots could sometimes get, the characters were always believable, and I think that is what put it above the rest. — Chris

Matt Roush: The Knots reunion was indeed better than the Dallas debacle, but then, the show itself was better than Dallas through most of their concurrent runs. Knots was always my favorite of the classic '80s prime-time soaps, and even when I was alone on that critical limb, I was never ashamed to declare myself a fan. It was the most consistent, the most sustained, the best acted and written and (within reason) the most realistic of the evening soaps, yet also deliciously campy when it chose to be. There's little question that Desperate Housewives owes a stylistic debt to Knots, which in its prime was also a model of clever construction and barbed dialogue, albeit not nearly as satirical or broadly comic.

On a similar theme, Adam K. writes: "I've been watching Pasadena in syndication on SoapNet, and I've quickly come to the realization that Desperate Housewives owes everything to this show. The mixture of humor, mystery, and American Beauty pathos is just teeming from this short-lived show. And Dana Delany basically channels all four Desperate Housewives women in one. Would you agree with this assertion?"

Talk about your lost treasures. If Fox had aired the full 13 episodes of Pasadena, Dana Delany would likely have another Emmy on her shelf: She was that great. Kudos to SoapNet for resurrecting this show, which got better and weirder in the episodes after Fox yanked it. That said, Pasadena's quick fade means that it probably had little to do with the genesis of Housewives, but watching it now, it clearly was ahead of its time. If it were being pitched and produced today, chances are it might actually have succeeded.
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Question: Since its premiere, Invasion has been developed in a very slow way. However, I love the show's family concept, the acting is consistent in each episode, and the story is mesmerizing (even with a slow pace). I am very worried about Invasion's chances for a second season, since it hasn't been able to capture Lost's audience, and ABC is so hot right now that it may not need Invasion around after this first year. Commander in Chief is another possible casualty beyond its first season, because House is winning the competition so far this year. ABC has so much buzz and so many good shows that I don't know if they would rather trust Invasion and Chief, or just look for bigger hits (Grey's Anatomy and Desperate Housewives). I know it's a little early to start next year's predictions, but Invasion is not winning new viewers and Chief is losing important numbers. You were right when you predicted Invasion's full-season order, so now I am looking for some perspective on two of my favorite shows. Thanks for a great column each week. — Glenda

Matt Roush: You're welcome, and thanks for the question. It is probably too early to start worrying about renewals — both of these shows still have the second half of a full season to produce. But after a gut-check, I would be surprised if ABC doesn't renew Commander in Chief as a prestige property, unless the numbers completely collapse on American Idol on Tuesdays. As strong as ABC is these days, it can't win every ratings battle, and being a solid No. 2 or even No. 3 — counterprogramming to a different audience and demographic than those that watch House — may be enough to keep it around a while. Invasion I'm less sure about. Yes, it loses a lot of Lost's audience — almost anything would — but given ABC's track record in that time period, ABC is doing better than I ever would have expected with this quietly but increasingly unnerving series. As is often the case, much depends on the quality of ABC's development for next season. If ABC believes it has come up with a better show to pair with Lost, then Invasion could be in real trouble (or, possibly worse, shipped off to Thursday next season). If not, maybe ABC will accept Invasion for what it is. I'm hoping for a good result, but am not especially confident just yet.
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Question: I've recently discovered that I have psychic powers of prediction. Here is my prediction for March 2005: Prison Break will return on Fox. The ratings will be abysmal. Longtime viewers will get to see the end of Season 1 (thankfully) but the show will not continue. I've seen it happen before. Remember how Farscape's ratings dropped after Sci Fi pulled it off of the air for seven straight months without reruns (four episodes from the end of Season 3)? Nine-tenths of TV viewers — and it seems like ten-tenths of Nielsen families — are creatures of habit. How many people still care after a hiatus that long? The answer: only the die-hards — the ones who suffer again and again when networks pull this dren. What's your opinion on my psychic forecast? — David G.

Matt Roush: Sorry to burst your crystal ball, but I think Prison Break will do just fine when it returns. Yes, it's a long break, but not as long as initially rumored, and Fox will go all out promoting the one-two punch of a Prison Break-24 action night starting in March. Given where the story was left hanging, it won't take much to get the shows' fan bases caught up in the action. There will be a huge desire to see how the escape plan plays out, and pairing these episodes with 24 is genius. But then, I could be wrong. Maybe 24 will be a letdown this year, and that could depress the numbers for Prison Break upon its return. Not that I truly believe that for an instant. (As for how Prison Break fares in a second season — and I believe there will be one — is anyone's guess.)
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Question: I just wanted to write you a brief thank-you note. I've come to respect your opinions about television during the last few years, and I've seen you rave about the reimagined Battlestar Galactica series, as well as Veronica Mars. So within the last two months, I picked up the DVD sets containing the first seasons of each show, completely blind, and solely based on the positive buzz both these shows have attracted. I was blown away by how amazing these shows are. It really takes the sting out of losing Alias in the spring. It just goes to prove that when one door closes, another one opens. Incidentally, that might be something helpful to pass along to your readers: Don't be afraid to try new television shows. Always strive to sample what might interest you. If you'd told me a year ago that I'd be watching and loving Veronica Mars and the new Battlestar Galactica this Christmas, I'd have scoffed. Don't you agree that it pays off to constantly try to sample new shows? — Michael C.

Matt Roush: I'd be fired if I said I didn't. I'm ending the column on this optimistic note because, no matter how frustrating it gets to have favorite shows canceled or jerked around, there's always the chance that another great show is right around the corner, and every so often (My Name Is Earl, Lost, The X-Files, Northern Exposure, to name a few), good things happen to those risk-taking shows that deserve it.

http://tvguide.com/tv/roush/askmatt/

The fight over a la carte gets serious
”Family Friendly” Plan Sets Cable Rift

FCC Heat Spawns Talk Of New Tier of Channels; Weighing a Financial Hit
By JOE FLINT, PETER GRANT and AMY SCHATZ Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL December 12, 2005

A split has developed within the entertainment industry as several major cable operators signaled their willingness to give in to regulatory pressure by providing a so-called family-friendly package of programming, despite resistance from many cable programmers.

The nation's two largest cable operators, Comcast Corp. and Time Warner Inc., indicated they are considering creating a "tier" of cable channels that would exclude channels airing risqué programs. Two smaller operators, Cox Communications Inc. and Insight Communications Co., hinted they are ready to do the same.

The cable operators' statements come after weeks of pressure from Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin, who wants to find a way for consumers to avoid seeing television programming they find objectionable. The FCC only last month ratcheted up pressure on the cable industry by reversing its position on the pricing of pre-packaged bundles, suggesting instead that consumers may be better off buying channels individually or in themed tiers.

In showing willingness to play ball with Mr. Martin, the cable operators are breaking ranks with the major entertainment companies that own most of the country's cable and broadcast channels. The entertainment companies are concerned about the impact of a family-friendly tier on their revenue and who would determine what qualifies as a family-friendly channel. They also worry about what would happen to channels that don't meet that qualification.

The escalating tensions likely will have broad repercussions in an industry where relations between cable operators and cable channels are never easy.

Operators and entertainment companies frequently bicker over terms for carriage of TV channels: in some extreme cases, disputes lead to TV channels being taken off the air for a few days.

Entertainment companies have several concerns about a family-friendly tier. For starters, there are worries about how such a tier would hurt channels they own that are decidedly not family friendly.

Even if a few million consumers decided to drop their current cable service and sign on for only family-friendly channels, that could have big financial ramifications. Walt Disney Co.'s ESPN, for example, costs cable operators about $2.50 per-subscriber per-month. If ESPN wasn't a part of a family-friendly tier and lost three or four million of its 90 million subscribers, that could translate into tens of millions of dollars it would have to replace. An ESPN spokeswoman declined to comment.

Other cable networks would likely face similar scenarios. Cable operators could see their monthly bills drop by $10 for people who subscribe to only a family-friendly tier, added one senior executive at a major cable operator.

Another big issue is just who would decide what makes one channel family friendly and another not family friendly, said executives at several major cable programming services. Further complicating this is that there likely wouldn't be a one-size-fits-all family-friendly tier. Each cable operator would create its own package and have to negotiate with programmers, an executive at a large cable operator said.

Spokeswomen for Viacom declined to comment while a Fox Cable official didn't respond to requests for comment.

Comcast Executive Vice President David Cohen said the company is considering a family tier in response to consumer demand.

In recent months cable operators and the entertainment companies tried to agree on a set of voluntary decency standards to appease Mr. Martin's concerns, but talks broke down. Some of the largest cable companies were ready to adopt voluntary decency standards, people familiar with the matter say, but because of opposition from several large entertainment companies, including Viacom Inc. and News Corp.'s Fox, a consensus couldn't be reached.

The final attempt to reach an accord came late last month during a conference call involving many of the country's leading programmers that was organized by Kyle McSlarrow, chief executive of industry lobbying group the National Cable and Telecommunications Association. Mr. McSlarrow has been told to come back to Capitol Hill today to provide Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R., Alaska) and other senators with a progress report of the industry's attempts to find a solution to indecency concerns.

Channel owners worry that decency standards would require them to tone down programming on cable channels. The companies also are opposed because of their experience dealing with decency standards in broadcast television, specifically with what they see as unclear regulations on what is or isn't indecent programming.

The industry talks centered on decency standards that would be similar to those already required of broadcast television stations, people involved in the talks said. Entertainment executives don't relish the idea of having to apply those same rules to cable.

What entertainment companies can do to stop cable operators creating a new tier of programming isn't clear. One possibility, industry executives said, is that network owners could contend tiers were in violation of their contracts with cable operators. In the future, large entertainment companies that own numerous networks will likely fight fiercely to get them on family tiers, using their most popular channels as leverage.

Mr. Martin put pressure on cable operators by making it clear that the family-tier issue could influence the FCC's consideration of Time Warner and Comcast's agreement to buy the assets of Adelphia Communications Corp. Last week the FCC asked Time Warner and Comcast for extensive follow-up information which some observers interpreted as a sign that the commission was considering a number of conditions to approving the deal.

An FCC official with knowledge of the staff's review, however, said the information request was routine and it's too early to speculate on what conditions, if any, the commission might require.

'Martha' settles in for second season

The Hollywood Reporter

LOS ANGELES -- It looks like daytime is a good thing for "Martha."

NBC Universal Domestic Television Distribution is set to announce Monday (December 12) that it has sold the Martha Stewart-hosted daytime show in more than 90 percent of the country for its upcoming second season.

http://channels.netscape.com/news/story.jsp?id=2005121201060002211543&dt=20051212010600&w=RTR&coview=

Sports On TV
TV poker about to reach new heights

By Michael Hiestand USA Today

In retrospect, it seems inevitable that the popularity of TV poker would lead to the erection of a Pokerdome for a new poker series in which cards will carry computer chips and the marquee event offers the winner $60 million — a payday billed as the biggest ever in sports.

Sounds like satire. But Fox Sports Net will announce Monday the creation of the Mansionpoker.net Pokerdome Series, a sort of case study in wretched excess that also seems like a promising TV property.

Take the so-called Pokerdome, which Fox will build in Las Vegas and use only for the series. It will be in a mall or hotel — not a casino — for the same reason TV poker only associates with online poker sites that don't charge and don't offer actual gambling: TV networks like to show they have scruples.

Players will be encased in one-way, mirrored glass with microphones everywhere so fans seated around the dome can hear and see everything, without being seen or heard. George Greenberg, executive vice president of FSN, made up of Fox's 20 owned or affiliated regional sports channels, says the dome "will be a Cone of Silence, as Maxwell Smart would say."

Cards will carry computer chips, so fans know what cards are discarded. And the series, starting in May, will include new "speed poker," giving players 15 seconds to act or lose immediately. That, says Greenberg, will be "poker with a shot clock."

Greenberg says sponsor Mansion, a Gibraltar-based online gambling company, also will get a big "brand awareness" show July 12 at an Australian casino, where six players put up $10 million apiece — winner take all. Greenberg says he has three entrants, whom he declined to name, and the event might be on the Fox broadcast network.

Big dance: ABC's second season of Dancing with the Stars, where celebrities waltz and fox trot with pro dancers on live TV as home viewers vote to eliminate couples, begins Jan. 5 with a lineup including George Hamilton, Tia Carrere, Jerry Rice, Tatum O'Neal, teen rap star Romeo — and ESPN's Kenny Mayne.

Your first reaction has to be that Mayne is on some sort of quest, a real-life Flashdance in which he dares to dream that his pulsing gyrations can somehow free him from a life of talking about sports on TV.

But no. He says he's worried about just making it past the first round, where he'll do the cha-cha in a costume "sort of like the puffy shirt in the Seinfeld episode" — a look that sounds hard to pull off unless you have, say, Hamilton's tan.

"I'm a terrible dancer," said Mayne, calling from an appearance Sunday at a Disney store in Manchester, N.H., where he says nobody recognized him. "In terms of 'let's go dancing,' I haven't done it since my last wedding, and I might not have done it then."

He says "it wasn't just the humiliation" that caused him to "wrestle with whether to do it." But, then, it is "found money," and it doesn't hurt to score points with ABC's entertainment division, which might remember Mayne the next time it casts a sitcom about, say, an extraterrestrial stuck in the suburbs.

Mayne has beaten long odds before. Before joining ESPN in 1994, Mayne assembled garbage cans and sold prepaid legal insurance — after he'd quit an on-air job at a Seattle TV station over creative differences. And in a society obsessed with winning, Mayne knows his toe-pointing will be about much more than scoring points: "I'll be honored just to represent my nation."

Angry: On CBS on Sunday, New Orleans Saints quarterback Aaron Brooks said the team, displaced by Hurricane Katrina, was treated unfairly and "a lot of it has been swept under the rug."

He blames NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue for not visiting the team right after the storm, and says he told Tagliabue to "get the hell off the football field" at the team's so-called home opener in New York. Said CBS' Boomer Esiason about Brooks: "He's making $6.6 million. I am sympathetic to the fact they are uncomfortable. But what about those other people who are displaced?"

Spice rack: Ugueth Urbina, who has pitched 11 big-league seasons, is a free agent. But in real life he's jailed on charges of attempted murder in his native Venezuela. In a taped interview with ESPN on Sunday, Urbina said "people" accuse him of the crime "so that they can get money." Said Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, a Venezuelan: "I swear to God, I'd rather be dead than be in jail in Venezuela." ...

The Texas men's basketball team wore black jerseys, at sponsor Nike's request, in their loss to Duke on CBS on Saturday. "I don't think that's in the best interests of college basketball," said CBS' Billy Packer. "But that's where we are. Like Willie Sutton said, you rob banks because that's where the money is."

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/columnist/hiestand-tv/2005-12-11-hiestand-poker_x.htm

“Night Stalker” Just Won’t Die

By Jim Benson Broadcasting & Cable

After ABC pulled the plug last month on Night Stalker, the update of the 1970s series about a ghoul-hunting reporter, it looked like danger-seeking journalist Carl Kolchak had met his demise—done in by six low-rated episodes.

But NBC Universal’s Sci Fi Channel is expected to announce it has acquired all nine episodes produced and will air them at 7 p.m. Fridays next summer. Press reps for Sci Fi and Stalker producer Touchstone Television declined to comment last week.

Touchstone is believed to have fetched only $15,000-$50,000 per episode, and competitors think Stalker may fall on the lower end of that scale, since there were so few episodes produced and Sci Fi was its only logical cable home.

Only one of the three unaired episodes has so far appeared on iPods as part of an overall programming agreement announced in October between Disney and Apple’s iTunes. The two remaining unaired episodes are slated to be available for downloads later.

The Sci Fi sale does raise a conundrum for Touchstone: whether it will have to pay broadcast or much lower cable residuals.

Critic’s Notebook
TV critic is holiday flick collector

By Ellen Gray Philadelphia Daily News Posted on Mon, Dec. 12, 2005

I love Christmas like a child, but as a TV critic I've been known to get a little Scroogelike this time of year, with so many shows in reruns and bad made-for-TV movies piling up like yellow snow.

Once I've guilted my younger son - now a strapping eighth-grader - into watching "A Charlie Brown Christmas" with me, I'm pretty much done for the season, professional obligations aside.

My friend (Newsday TV Columnist) Diane Werts, on the other hand, often has three or four recorders going at once in December, just so she won't miss a single one of the holiday episodes the networks start serving up the minute the Thanksgiving dishes are cleared.

She's been at it for years and estimates she's collected about 800 episodes.

"I just like them," she said last week. "I didn't even realize I had this obsession until I started taping them and the stack got so big."

The line between obsession and expertise can be a fine one, but thanks to Werts' new book, "Christmas on Television" (Praeger, $39.95), the Newsday TV columnist has made it safely over to the expert side, with a detail-rich exploration of television's long love affair with Christmas that brought back more good memories than I'd have thought some old TV shows held for me.

With commentary on everything from "The Sopranos' " Christmas episode - remember the Big Mouth Billy Bass Meadow gave Tony? - to "South Park," she's also kept faith with the Ghost of Christmas Present.

She even explains how Frank Capra's 1946 film "It's A Wonderful Life" went from box-office flop to beloved classic through the magic of a lapsed copyright that for about 20 years, starting in the mid-'70s, had "every TV station that could get its mitts on a copy" playing the Jimmy Stewart movie all the time.

Now that it's legally locked up again, NBC, she said, shows it only twice a year. (It ran this past Saturday and will air again on Christmas Eve.)

"I'd like to say it's made it a little bit special, but what made it special was that it was on all the time," Werts said. "This binge viewing has actually become a big thing, with DVDs" and cable-network marathons.

Marathons on Turner-owned stations also helped make a hit of the quirky 1983 film "A Christmas Story" - this year's 24-hour marathon on TBS starts at 8 p.m. Christmas Eve - even though when it was released, according to Werts' book, "audiences unsure what to make of this little mutt stayed away in droves."

Not even the "Christmas on Television" expert can explain, though, why most of the made-for-TV holiday movies are such dogs.

"The movies tend to be real syrup," she said. Modeled after "A Christmas Carol," "they tend to be just the greedy developer or the greedy businessman" who wants to do something bad and who's made to see the error of his ways while finding the "true" spirit of Christmas.

" 'A Christmas Carol' is really a lot harder-edged than most people think, and the hard edge is usually what's missing" in these movies, she added. "The CBS movies are the worst. God bless them for doing TV movies at all... but they do three or four Christmas movies a year and they're almost all bad."

Still, they keep making them, and showing them earlier every year.

"They've kind of gone nuts since the advent of cable," she said. And she should know, having not yet closed the book on her passion for holiday TV.

"I've got three recorders going again," she said Thursday. "And it's more than two weeks till Christmas."

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/entertainment/television//13387234.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

Sports On TV
NHL Endures Remote Outpost

Hockey is trying to get comfortable with its place on cable TV's OLN,
where being a big fish still means dealing with weak ratings

By Helene Elliott Los AngelesTimes Staff Writer December 12, 2005

The NHL, returning from a season lost to a lockout, needed a cable TV outlet that would give it star billing instead of the bit-player status it had received at ESPN.

OLN, known as a hunting-and-fishing haven during the lulls between Lance Armstrong's Tour de France triumphs, wanted to change its image from a quaint and quirky sportsman's paradise to a home for testosterone-fueled competitive sports.

And so was born an unlikely partnership between the NHL, desperate to grab a chunk of a fragmented TV audience, and OLN, known as the Outdoor Life Network when it was known at all beyond its narrowly focused, heavily male audience. So far, their alliance has had some on-air missteps and is producing feeble ratings, but neither side is measuring success by conventional standards.

Their convergence, sealed in August with a deal that's worth $135 million over two years and could last three or six years depending on a variety of options, occurred at a pivotal time in their history.

Plagued by weak TV ratings and an unappealing, defense-oriented game, the NHL had been forced to accept a profit-sharing deal for over-the-air telecasts on NBC. When ESPN declined to pick up a $60-million option for this season but suggested it might consider a profit-sharing model — and then declined to match OLN's offer — the NHL took its puck home.

League executives said they felt insulted by ESPN, which had used hockey to establish its legitimacy. They wanted ESPN's cachet but wouldn't grovel for it. Their cable package "was probably undervalued before that, and we were not prepared for further undervaluing of the product," said Bill Daly, NHL deputy commissioner.

Enter OLN, owned by cable giant Comcast, which owns a two-thirds stake of the Philadelphia Flyers. Under Gavin Harvey, a UCLA business school graduate who had a marketing background and became OLN's president in March 2004, the network had moved away from its outdoorsy roots by adding the Dakar Rally, Iditarod, America's Cup yacht race, Boston marathon and reruns of CBS' "Survivor" series.

"Our mission at that point was to start to expand the middle," Harvey said. "To get people to watch as destination, people who don't know the difference between carbon fiber and titanium as a benefit to your bike or couldn't argue entomology for fly-fishing.

"We need more men, for more minutes, more often. And they don't have to be hikers or bikers or campers or hunters. They just have to be guys. Who are the guys watching the NFC championship? Because it's a big event? I want those guys watching our programming."

The NHL gets in on the beginning of a dream, much as it did on ESPN. OLN, which plans another name change next year to reflect its wider aim, gets to piggyback on the NHL's history and mainstream status while still giving its core fans mano-a-mano battles. Instead of man vs. beast, as in its Professional Bull Riders events, or man against the sea, it's shooter against goalie.

"The evolution of OLN was a big part of what we talked about," Daly said. "The most important part was they were prepared to make us a priority, which I think they've done."

Harvey declined to say whether OLN will use the NHL as a foothold to pursue TV rights of other sports leagues, but that's not farfetched.

"We have never said that we want to take on ESPN because ESPN is a great channel. It's an institution," he said. "It's simply that we've been trying to make this channel better. Our distributors have asked for it, our advertisers have asked for it. Viewers are responding to it."

Perhaps so. But not in huge numbers. And the NHL is discovering that being a big fish in a small pond has its drawbacks.

OLN reaches 63 million homes; ESPN goes to 90 million and ESPN2 to 89 million. In addition, OLN was dropped by Cablevision for several weeks at the start of the hockey season, eliminating about 3 million homes, and OLN remains off EchoStar's Dish network because of a dispute over EchoStar's placement of OLN on a higher-priced channel package. OLN pulled its NHL telecasts because that channel isn't seen by 40% of the system's viewers, the minimum set by OLN for providing games.

OLN is delighted with its internal viewer measurements. Compared to a year ago in the same time periods, it has more than doubled impressions among its target groups of men 18 to 34, men 18 to 49 and men 25 to 54. Overall numbers, though, are small. Its first NHL telecast drew a 0.4 rating and 353,439 households and didn't return to that level until Nov. 16. Through the same period of the 2003-04 season, ESPN averaged a 0.5 rating and 476,384 households, and ESPN2 averaged a 0.2 rating and 196,000 homes.

However, ESPN2's telecasts were not exclusive, meaning they were not seen in the markets of the teams involved. OLN telecasts are seen in the local markets, which account for nearly 80% of OLN's national audience. Without the local markets, OLN's ratings would be microscopic. Through last week, they were averaging a rating of 0.24, slightly down from a 0.3 last month.

"We're getting numbers that are very comparable to ESPN last year. We anticipate the numbers will get better as we build a relationship with them and as viewers know where to look for the NHL," Daly said. "Next year they will have exclusive windows where they will have the only game. With proper lead time, we can build a schedule around our broadcast partners.

"The timing was not ideal. We signed the agreement six weeks before the season was to start and signed with a network that had never done a major sports league. It continues to be a work in progress and we're pleased with the progress Comcast and OLN are making."

Marc Fein, OLN's senior vice president for programming and production, called hockey the network's "crown jewel," adding, "On the distribution side it helps elevate OLN into a must-have network," although he said that "in a couple of months, in straight-up profit and loss terms, you can't assess" the deal's impact.

Harvey said OLN is "impatient for growth" but happy with results so far. "We're starting to see OLN is less and less the story and the NHL and the game is the story," he said. "It's a new network, and again, everybody was, 'What's it doing on that network?' They didn't quite get the connection. Hockey fans found it right away.

"I think you'll get the bigger growth as more and more people are attracted to the game and the heavy lifting the league and players have done by getting the game back on the ice. That's what we're sort of starting to see, and when the games are really good, the fans are coming. And again we're only in the first couple of months. It's just back. It's a question of people finding us, getting reconnected with their teams, getting reconnected with some of their favorite players who have moved to other teams, and a question of our distribution."

Viewers who found OLN's first few telecasts often had trouble hearing the fuzzy audio feeds. The set for the intermission shows, with ESPN recruit Bill Clement as host, looked like something assembled in a garage by a bunch of kids on a rainy day. "I couldn't figure out if I was going to go bald or gray first," Fein said of the audio woes. "It was upsetting. We felt terrible."

Harvey acknowledged that "there were definitely things we're not proud of that were going on" and attributed the technical problems to a rush to get on the air. He said the set will be improved and telecasts will be enhanced with player profiles and other efforts to "demystify" the sport and its athletes. OLN aired its first doubleheader last Monday and ventured west of the Central time zone for the first time; it plans several more doubleheaders and additional games involving West Coast teams.

"One of the issues in televising hockey is that there's so much in-arena excitement that doesn't always translate to television. Of all the majors, it's toughest to translate the speed and athleticism," Fein said.

"Fox, NBC and ESPN are all very good networks with a lot of talented people. Our hope and intention is that we can grow it to that higher level over time."

Harvey said he's sure that day will come.

"I think now we are in the good part," he said. "We definitely turned the corner."

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-sp-oln12dec12,0,4215922,print.story?coll=cl-tv-features

“Reunion” ends at a cliffhanger
...
Who killed Samantha?
...
"Reunion" fans may never know.
...
Shame on someone. But who exactly is to blame?You know, hindsight is 20:20, but am I the only one who saw this as a very real possibility before the season ever started? I said at the time that surely FOX had committed to the entire season. Surely they wouldn't create a mystery and then not solve it.

"Shame on who?" Shame on FOX.

Don't get me wrong, we watched two episodes and dumped the show. We didn't like it.

But the point is that FOX has now told us in no uncertain terms that they are willing to hook us and then screw us. Tru Calling was left hanging. But this one takes the cake.

I will remember this the next time FOX introduces anything remotely resembling a serial show...and I won't watch. I may even drop a line to FOX letting them know why I'm not even watching the pilot. And I may copy their advertisers.

Xesdeeni

Shame on FOX - however, this exact scenario was brought up to the creators when the show was picked up and they said they would accelerate the plot should this happen. If this is a case of the Reunion folks pouting - shame on them as well.

Sunday’s prime-time ratings – and Media Week Analyst Marc Berman’s analysis of what they mean -- have been posted at the top of Ratings News the second post in this thread.

TV Ratings Finale bounce for sagging 'Survivor'

By Diego Vasquez MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Dec 12, 2005, 11:28

The latest season of “Survivor” was the lowest-rated in the show’s 10-season history, but the franchise hasn’t lost its juice entirely.

Last night’s two-hour finale of “Survivor: Guatemala,” won by Danni Boatwright, averaged a 7.6 overnight rating among viewers 18-49, up 3 percent versus the 7.4 last fall’s “Survivor” finale earned.

It was also flat versus the 7.6 “Survivor” earned this spring for its two-hour finale, but even that marked a turnabout after a season of decline.

Last night’s finale bettered last December’s season-ender even though the overall season had shown a significant decline in ratings. Through mid-November, “Survivor” was averaging a 6.3 final rating among viewers 18-49, according to Nielsen Media Research, down 15 percent versus the show’s 7.4 rating through the same period a year earlier.

Presumably many former viewers who didn’t watch the regular season did come back for the finale.

Part of last night’s success came because ABC didn’t air an original episode of “Desperate Housewives” head-to-head with the “Survivor” finale as it had the previous two seasons. It instead aired a special two-hour edition of “Extreme Makeover; Home Edition.”

The one-hour “Survivor” reunion show that followed the finale was about on par with the last two. It averaged a 6.8 overnight rating among 18-49s, even with last December’s reunion show and down slightly from the 6.9 the spring season’s reunion show averaged in May.

Last night’s finale was also up in total viewers versus May, at about 21.7 million total viewers to 20 million last spring.

“Survivor” helped CBS to a rare Sunday night first-place finish among 18-49s, averaging a 7.1 rating and a 17 share. Usual winner ABC fell to second at 5.2/12, followed by Fox at 4.0/10, NBC at 2.4/6 and the WB at 0.9/2.

http://medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/printer_1793.asp

Telco David Takes on Goliaths
California-Based Pioneer in Video Delivery Achieves 20% Penetration

By Daisy Whitney TVWeek.com

The day before Thanksgiving, a small California telephone company conducted a trial of high-definition television services, running a feed of Discovery HD Theater on two 50-inch-plus Panasonic HDTV sets side by side. One set received the channel's signal from a satellite provider and the other received it via the phone company's own Internet protocol infrastructure.

The result?

The little guy won.

The IPTV version of Discovery HD Theater delivered by Sacramento-area telephone company SureWest actually looked better than the satellite one. The picture was crisper, brighter and clearer around the edges, as judged by this reporter. The telco's engineers were pleased. After all, the delivery of video services has become a cutthroat business, with new competitors cropping up daily, threats rising from every corner of the wired world and all of the players looking to grab a slice, or even a sliver, of the potentially lucrative market for delivering entertainment services to ravenous consumers. Providers will take any edge they can get, including a slightly better HD signal.

As a smaller telco, SureWest, which has offered video for three years in the fast-growing Sacramento area and plans to add about 17 HD channels in the next few weeks, doesn't command the attention that behemoths with swagger and might, such as AT&T, BellSouth and Verizon, do in the telco TV world.

But SureWest, in its own way, is a major player.

"SureWest is by far the leader in deploying [IPTV in the U.S.]," said Jeff Heynen, an analyst for broadband and IPTV at Infonetics Research.

SureWest got started early, has been progressive with technology and has been able to capitalize on somewhat of a "feel-good" opportunity because it's the local telephone company rather than a massive regional Bell operating company, Mr. Heynen said.

By year-end, SureWest will have poured about $200 million into its fiber-optic broadband system.

And it's starting to pay off. SureWest offers 260 channels of video to nearly 85,000 customers via its fiber infrastructure and has almost 20 percent video penetration.

Those hearty numbers are indicative of the potential for smaller phone companies to battle incumbent cable and satellite operators. That 20 percent penetration is particularly powerful given some analyst estimates of take rates for all telcos. Brahm Eiley, an analyst with Convergence Consulting in Toronto, predicts that by the end of 2009 phone companies as a whole will have taken only 5 percent of the pay TV market. Cable companies, meanwhile, will capture 20 percent of the residential phone market, he said.

That makes SureWest a bit of an anomaly. But it has achieved a relatively high penetration rate for a variety of reasons, said Fred Arcuri, SureWest senior VP and chief operating officer. There's strong population growth in the region and the bundle of services is attractive, he said. Most customers opt for at least two to three services from SureWest, and the company also offers cellular, giving it a quadruple play. Customers receive a discount when they sign up for more than one service.

SureWest offers voice, video and data for about $110 a month, Mr. Arcuri said, about 15 percent less than local competitors AT&T (formerly SBC) and Comcast.

That lower price is a good selling point because the vast majority of consumers care most about the price of services rather than bells and whistles, Mr. Eiley said. "[Telcos] have to be highly competitive on prices," he said. "The truth of the matter [is that] for most consumers, what [they get] for the price is really the key to get into the market."

So SureWest is going for the pocketbook, but at the same time it is preparing for the future, when the bells and whistles will likely become more important to consumers.

Mr. Arcuri knows full well that his company can't compete right now on many advanced services. SureWest doesn't have access to CBS's 99-cent on-demand prime-time shows, which competitor Comcast will offer. Nor does it have the depth of VOD content that Comcast has with its 3,800 programs comprising 2,200 hours. SureWest's VOD library is sparse in comparison-about 400 hours, mostly consisting of movies.

If telcos do want to compete for the higher-end consumer, they still have a ways to go, said Paul Rule, president of VOD research firm Marquest Research. "A bare-bones VOD offering can hardly be expected to peel away upper-end cable subs," he said. According to a recent Marquest study, 79 percent of higher-end customers-those with digital cable and broadband-said they believe the cable company would do the best job of offering a bundled triple play of services, while only 11 percent thought the phone company would do best. The other choices were spread among Internet service providers (7 percent), satellite operators (2 percent) and the electric company (1 percent).

Mr. Arcuri acknowledged that SureWest isn't ready to play the high-end game yet. But the telco is shoring up its advanced services with HD this year and plans to offer an integrated DVR in the first quarter of 2006. Furthermore, he contends that SureWest's advantage lies in the triple play because Comcast has yet to offer IP voice service in the area.

Comcast believes it has other advantages. It offers a dual-tuner hi-def DVR, 14 HD channels, broadband, more than 250 basic and premium channels, more than 50 channels of commercial-free music, and multicultural programming, said Erica Smith, spokeswoman for Comcast in Sacramento.

SureWest has a hefty international lineup too, with 38 international channels and 24 pay-per-view international channels, as well as local Hispanic-oriented programming.

SureWest started out as Roseville Telephone in 1914, operating as a small rural telephone company until the mid-1990s when it migrated into additional services such as data.

The company entered the video market in 2002, when it purchased assets from bankrupt overbuilder WinFirst. WinFirst was among a crop of overbuilders that entered the scene earlier this decade with ambitious plans to build fresh cable plants from the ground up. But the company bit off more than it could chew and went belly-up.

SureWest landed a foothold in video with WinFirst's 20,000 "marketable" video homes. About 4,500 of those already were video customers. In three years, SureWest basically quadrupled those numbers, rising to 85,000 marketable homes and nearly 16,000 video customers.

Mr. Arcuri thinks SureWest's success is due to several factors.

First, it already had the infrastructure in place in the way of trucks, technicians, a call center and billing support.

It's also operating in the sweet spot. Sacramento is one of the fastest-growing areas in the country, as San Francisco and Bay Area residents escape escalating home costs and move north, where property still approaches affordability. According to U.S. Census Bureau population estimates released in June, two Sacramento-area cities were ranked among the 10 fastest-growing cities: Elk Grove was second and Roseville 10th.

That influx of people means the market opportunity increases and the cost to pass homes decreases. As new homes are built it's easier for a service provider to lay fiber in the "open trenches" instead of digging up the ground around existing homes.

Also, as customers move into new homes they are in a shopping and buying mode for services.

A recent study by home builder Lennar Communications Ventures found that half of all new home buyers upgrade and switch communications providers. They are also heavy users. About 69 percent of new home buyers are broadband users, compared with 38 percent of the general public. In addition, 38 percent of new home buyers own HD sets, compared with 13 percent nationwide. "These people's minds are open. These customers are really in play," said David Kaiserman, president of Lennar Communications Ventures in Miami.

Mr. Arcuri said SureWest has partnered with local builders to market its services.

Like many smaller telcos, SureWest has chosen to rely on a combination of equipment from various technology providers. While many large telcos have said they will use Microsoft's end-to-end solution, Microsoft isn't targeting small phone companies.

So smaller operators opt for a best-of-breed approach, which affords flexibility in architecture and pricing, said Bill DeMuth, chief technology officer for SureWest. That also means if a piece or part doesn't work it can easily be jettisoned or replaced.

That makes all the difference for a small company, because it provides leverage the company otherwise would not have.

SureWest's headend, housed inside an air-conditioned room in its headquarters, is a testament to that open philosophy, peppered with racks of equipment bearing the names of vendors such as Kasenna, Minerva, Irdeto, Big Band and Cisco.

"It is a completely open architecture," Mr. DeMuth said. "We can mix and match various pieces of a network based on our needs and what we feel is most cost-effective."

Nor does SureWest want to use the same equipment as its competitors. The set-top boxes it uses from Amino look nothing like the clunky boxes most cable customers have in their homes. The Amino boxes are the size of a thick sandwich.

SureWest has become something of a model for other telcos. Mr. DeMuth said more than 100 telephone companies internationally, including Korean Telephone and Verizon, have visited the lab in Roseville.

The lab is not glamorous. It consists mostly of plywood walls with dozens of mundane-looking pieces of equipment and boxes from various vendors. Soon that lab will be testing MPEG4 equipment. SureWest wants to start transitioning next year to MPEG4 compression, considered the next-generation TV format because it allows a service provider to deliver more channels using less bandwidth.

More bandwidth also means SureWest will be able to offer more of those increasingly important bells and whistles.

http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=9024

This story contains details and comments on “The Survivor” finals.

If you still haven’t seen it and don’t want to know, skip by it.

I didn’t post it last evening because I suspected some of you might have TiVo’d “Survivor”.

The grace period can only last so long! :)

Critic’s Notebook
Way to give away a million bucks, Rafe!

By Maureen Ryan [B]Chicago Tribune December 11, 2005

For Stephenie LaGrossa, making it to the final round in her second "Survivor" go-round wasn’t enough.

LaGrossa, who also competed on the previous edition of the long-running CBS reality show, made a lot of enemies on her way to the final two on "Survivor: Guatemala," which broadcast its live finale Sunday.

The final competitors on "Survivor: Guatemala" were two women, LaGrossa, who was on "Survivor: Palau," and Danni Boatwright. Those on the jury, many of who had been voted out by LaGrossa and her followers, awarded the million-dollar "Survivor" prize to Boatwright.

"Your strategy was just to backstab," said Judd Sergeant as the two women defended their game-playing strategies to the members of the "Survivor" jury. Boatwright, on the other hand, was well-liked and flew under the radar for much of the game.

She was helped in her quest to win the ultimate prize by Rafe Judkins, who ended up in the final three with LaGrossa and Boatwright. Judkins and Boatwright had had a pact to go to the final two together, but Judkins released her from that promise late in the game. It was a costly decision, as Boatwright ended up taking the less liked LaGrossa to the final two.

Some other "Survivor: Guatemala" highlights:

• Rafe, what were you thinking? You released Danni from her promise to take you to the final two, then later said that you thought she was "the one person who would take me to the final two and [she] didn’t." Uh, that’s because you let her out of her promise to take you to the final two! Don’t whine about her decision if you were the one that allowed it! Sheesh.

• The final four survivors’ decision to eat the chicken that was used in a Mayan ritual at the end of the game was understandable but still a little ooky; as soon as they’d finished chowing down, the heavens opened up and the competitors were pelted with a massive thunderstorm. Then again, the one person who didn’t eat the chicken, Rafe, also made the dumbest decision in the game. Go figure.

• Stephenie was pretty dopey for helping to vote Lydia out. Why on Earth did Steph say she wasn’t sure whether the final challenge would be "mental" or "physical"? Jeez, it’s always a physical endurance thing, everyone knows that! And Steph obviously knew that Lydia wasn't a great physical competitor. Honestly, Steph. Give me a break.

• It was truly lovely to see Gary Hogeboom say that he would judge Danni and Steph based on how honest they were. How about admitting that you’re not really just a landscaper, but also a former pro football player? Nobody’s entirely honest on "Survivor," can we all just accept that and move on?

• Same thing goes for Judd, man. Don’t get all hacked off about Stephenie and her lying, man, when you lied too, man, about where the immunity idol was, man.

• By the way, I tried to count how many times Judd said "man" in his final anti-Steph tirade, but I kept losing count. I just couldn’t do it. Man.

http://tempo.typepad.com/entertainment_tv/

Isn't it incredible what just a little exposure can do in a couple of weeks?
Virtually no one in the national media had covered the a la carte question at all until FCC Chairman Martin mentioned it in late November.
Then coverage turned into a flood.
In the past cable had always dismissively shrugged when asked about tiering family channels.
But, now, in just a few days, it has caved in.
And this won't be the end.
It seems to me that the simple question of "why should we pay for channels we don't watch?" has quite a bit of resonance in the media, if not yet on Capitol Hill.

Cable Ops Offer Family Tiers, Says McSlarrow
By John Eggerton & John M. Higgins Broadcasting & Cable

It was a case of tiers to head off fears.

National Cable & Telecommunications Association President Kyle McSlarrow Monday outlined preliminary plans for a number of cable operators voluntarily to start selling "family tiers." The move is an attempt to head off government-mandated tiering or a la carte cable lineups.

In a Senate Commerce Committee indecency hearing Monday, McSlarrow said that operators representing over half the nation's subs are ready to offer some family-friendly tiers. They are: Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Advance-Newhouse, Brennan, Insight, and Midcontinent.

He said there would be announcements from one or two of those in the next couple of weeks, and that more operators were considering similar moves. He also said first quarter 2006 is a target for launching some of these tiers, though he said there were still technical issues to be worked out.

Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) said the sooner the better because Congress is under pressure from family groups to move legislation that would mandate tiering.

McSlarrow said the individual operators would define family-friendly differently, saying there would be anti-trust issues involved in coming to group decisions on those.

He said he could not say exactly what the tiers would look like, but that it would be a case of the mandatory basic service--broadcasters and public access channels--then a choice of the traditional 70 or 80 channels of expanded basic or a digital family tier, though he did not know what form that would take, or how it would be priced.

McSlarrow said he hoped that government-mandated tiers would now be off the table because he said the government would "get it wrong."

He also cautioned that the decisions by the individual operators "were not easy decisions, nor is this an easy place," he said, "because marketplace negotiations have produced the greatest single engine for diversity or compelling content in the world. That should not be lightly trod upon."

It's not clear what networks might be included in the tiers, particularly whether the most popular ones -- Nickelodeon and Disney Channel -- will be sold in small tiers that could dramatically limit their reach.

At the same hearing, former Motion Picture Association of America President Jack Valenti said he had held three meetings with industry in the past two weeks (since an earlier indecency forum), and that the conclusion was to simplify the TV ratings and give parents more information about them.

Valenti said what government mustn't do is step and try to tell people what to see and hear.

Commerce plans to hold another hearing Jan. 19 and Stevens said he hoped McSlarrow could by then be able to hold a demonstration of how the family-friendly tier would work.

Stevens thanked McSlarrow for taking what he called a "leadership position" on the issue, and Valenti for coming out of retirement to head up the ratings effort.

Minority Groups Oppose A La Carte
By John Eggerton Broadcasting & Cable

Led by the National Congress of Black Women (NCBW), 16 organizations representing minority interests have written the leadership of the House and Senate Commerce Committees opposing any attempt at a la carte cable legislation.

The issue of encouraging, or forcing, cable programmers and operators to unbundle cable channels has been roiled up by the indecency issue and brought to a boil by FCC Chairman Kevin Martin's advocacy for more cable choice, including a family-friendly tier of service. One cable company, Cablevision, has already weighed in in support of such a tier.

"According to overwhelming evidence on the public record," wrote the groups "such 'pay-per-channel' regulations would likely result in price hikes for consumers while decimating minority and other new cable programmers who are now able to air programming focused on African-American and Hispanic audiences."

Among other things, they cite an FCC study that concluded that "new cable television programmers depend on their inclusion on the so-called 'expanded basic' programming tier for their very survival."

Martin has recently said that study was one-sided and erroneous. "The staff is now finalizing a report that concludes that the earlier report relied on problematic assumptions and presented incorrect and incomplete analysis," he told the Senate Commerce Committee at an indecency forum two weeks ago.

"[A] la carte pricing regulations could have devastating effects on Hispanic and African-American programmers," the groups concluded. "Were such regulations in place previously, networks such as BET, TV One, Sí-TV and others could not have survived."

The Senate Commerce Committee is holding a follow-up indecency forum Monday, Dec. 12. Former Motion Picture Association of America President Jack Valenti and National Cable Telecommunications Association President Kyle McSlarrow are the two witnesses, with a simplified TV-ratings system expected to be a topic of conversation, though a la carte and famly-friendly tiers will likely come up as well.

Among the groups signing on to the letter were the National Council of La Raza, the Minority Media & Telecommunications Council, and the Cleveland chapter of the NAACP.

Critic’s Notebook
''Survivor: Anticlimax''
By Rich Heldenfels Akron Beacon Journal

There was a Christmas music concert at my church tonight, so I didn't get home until about 9, just in time to see Lydia voted out. (Thank goodness for football overruns.) The only remaining suspense involved the last immunity challenge and whom Stephenie might take with her to the final if she won immunity. But if either Rafe or Danni won, taking Stephenie seemed a no-brainer; she had enough enemies on the jury to put her at a huge disadvantage against anyone else, and it's been that way for several weeks.

So all of Danni's agonizing after she won immunity seemed pointless, and Rafe's ''I release you from your PROMISE'' gambit was transparent. The smart move was to take Stephenie. So Danni did, and it paid off for her. The jury deliberations made clear there were at least four votes against Steph that were unmoving, and only sure vote for her (Rafe's). So it was just a question of how big a blowout it could be.

Not that I let myself rest entirely. I kept waiting for one of those stunning twists where everyone goes, shoot, Stephenie played ''Survivor'' exactly the way you're supposed to play it, so why not vote for her? I think she probably did a lot to kill those votes by telling all the jurors she had outwitted them; you're supposed to let them figure that out on their own.

Also, when the solution to ''Survivor'' seems obvious to me, I start to rethink, because I am so bad at picking winners.

The fact that even I knew Danni could beat Steph -- and had sensed awhile back that Steph probably couldn't beat anyone left but Judd -- tells me that this was, finally, a disappointing series of ''Survivor.''

The ending should feel more dramatic. There should be greater doubt in the air. And Stephenie never should have come back to the show; any good will she built up on her first go-round was wiped out by her machinations and ruthlessness this time. It wasn't just the jury she ticked off. It was a lot of us viewers.

http://blogs.ohio.com/beacon_tv/

Critic’s Notebook: Best of 2005
Culture Awards :TV

By John Leonard New York Magazine

Six Feet Under croaked, Doogie Howser was reborn (he’s the new Chandler!), and Jon Stewart kept doing what he does best, except now with an 11:30 sidekick. But this year the biggest news in TV was less about what people were watching than where they were watching it—namely, everywhere, including right beside you on the subway.

Best Drama
‘Cold Case’
Every week on this CBS drama, a brand-new ghost story haunts Philadelphia homicide detective Kathryn Morris and her police squad that actually practices teamwork. The music is superbly cued to the moment, from Bessie Smith to The Rocky Horror Picture Show. And at the end of each hour, an avenged ghost waves good-bye.

2 ‘House’
(Fox) Never mind the tedious business between ex-lovers Hugh Laurie and Sela Ward—this medical show is more about death than love. What makes it so riveting is the acting (especially Laurie), the writing (high-speed, even highbrow, with compound sentences when required), and the odd cases themselves (guaranteed to flummox everybody, including Dr. House, until the last ten minutes).

3 ‘Bones’
(Fox) I really, really like the screwball romance between forensic anthropologist Emily Deschanel and FBI homicide detective David Boreanaz—a romance made even better because neither of them is doing anything about it.

Best Comedy

‘The Daily Show’
It’s so daily you can sometimes see it five times every 24 hours on Comedy Central, with the occasional family-friendly bleep, but otherwise as intelligent, insouciant, and insolent as Jon Stewart insists on being. Nobody does incredulity better than Stewart, and he’s not bad at contempt, either.

2 ‘Weeds’
(Showtime) Getting to spend half an hour with Mary-Louise Parker every Monday night is, like the Paris of Henri IV, worth a Mass, much less this year-end vote of thanks.

3 ‘Las Vegas’
(NBC) Notice that these women working in James Caan’s casino, wearing as little as possible over their various moving parts, are nonetheless the ones with brains. This is bikini television with a smart mouth.

Best Actor

Michael Kitchen
From understatement and minimal gesture, hesitation and the slamming of a door, Kitchen—as a British detective-superintendent on Foyle’s War, under the PBS Mystery! umbrella—has for three astonishing seasons conveyed anguish, contempt, despair, and something unremitting but always tethered to a moral compass.

2 William Petersen
The CSI: Las Vegas bugman, is the gravity holding these forensic graces together, a kind of martyr to the scientific method.

3 Hugh Laurie
His line readings on House feature an accent here of Shakespeare, a seasoning there of Beckett, plus a rant of mouthy Mamet. He is our very own Philoctetes; his genius and his wound depend on each other.

Best Actress

S. Epatha Merkerson
She probably deserves it for her noble service on Law & Order, but she blew the windows off the boarding house on Lackawanna Blues on HBO. As earth mother “Nanny” Crosby, Merkerson—with her fierce loyalty, raucous humor, and supple cunning—tended to a houseful of refugees who sought sanctuary and found healing.

2 Mary-Louise Parker
As if there were ever anybody else. Well, there was, from Glenn Close in The Shield to Kristen Bell in Veronica Mars to Emily Deschanel in Bones, but I am nothing if not loyal, which I hope stops short of stalking.

3 Kyra Sedgwick
Who, on TNT’s The Closer, proved to be the best interrogator this side of Helen Mirren on Prime Suspect.

Best Nonfiction

‘Destination America’
David Grubin’s richly textured four-hour PBS documentary on immigration takes in, among many others, migrant workers from south of the border; modern dancers from Taiwan; and women who flee second-class citizenship or servitude in Guatemala, the Middle East, and even Italy. This is the sort of television that puts faces on stats, but it’s also almost elegiac: These are the doors we are bolting behind us.

2 ‘Death in Gaza’
(HBO) Award-winning documentarian James Miller and reporter Saira Shah began with the stories of three Palestinian children growing up in godforsaken Gaza, but before they got to interview a similar selection of Israeli children, Miller was shot to death by an Israeli tank. This is not the story anyone wanted to bring home, but doesn’t it bring home a story, anyway?

3 ‘Bearing Witness’
(A&E) Documentarian Barbara Kopple followed five female foreign correspondents—all of whom eventually converged on Baghdad—and who, between them, won dozens of awards and lost many relationships, several husbands, and one eye.

Best Debut

The Trampoline Bear from 'Pardon the Interruption’
That bear: We kept seeing it over and over again on Pardon the Interruption, the ESPN sports yak show. The bear escaped from either a circus or a zoo, I can’t remember which. It climbed a tree in some backyard, and they set up a trampoline under the tree, shot the bear with sedative darts, and the bear flopped down and hit the trampoline and then went up, up, and away again, but this time when the bear came down, it missed the trampoline, and the Earth shook, and Tony Kornheiser couldn’t stop laughing and Mike Wilbon pretended not to, but they must have shown the same footage a thousand times, until finally I videotaped it myself. And I am heartily ashamed.

2 Tyler James Williams
Williams is terrific in Everybody Hates Chris, not only playing Chris Rock but playing him at age 13 in a Bed-Stuy junior high.

3 Bob Schieffer
Sitting in for Dan Rather on the CBS Evening News, Schieffer looked like the only person in prime time old enough to tell us what’s wrong with the world tonight.


The Short List


Best One-Liners
Jeremy Piven as Ari Gold in Entourage (HBO), whose best lines are highly quotable, if highly unprintable. His jokes aren’t funny on paper anyway, yet Piven’s turned Gold into TV’s foulest zinger machine.

Best Impromptu One-Liner
America’s Next Top Model (UPN) contestant (and New Yorker) Kim Stolz, who, after making out with one of the other female contestants on the show’s premiere, announced, “One down, eleven to go.”

Best Couple (Comedy)
Marshall (Jason Segel) and Lily (Alyson Hannigan), on How I Met Your Mother (CBS). Cool enough to be worth hanging out with, irritating enough to be believable.

Best Couple (Melodrama)
Dr. Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey) and Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo), on Grey’s Anatomy (ABC), which has evolved into an addictive, high-end cross between General Hospital and ER. Okay, so they didn’t end up a couple—Shepherd decided to stick it out with his straying wife—but they should have. There’s always next season.

Best Villain
The reptilian T-Bag on Prison Break (Fox), a slippery southern pedophile who slithers around like a cross between Hannibal Lecter and Truman Capote.

Best Incredibly Complicated Plot That Hasn’t Unraveled—Yet
Prison Break’s plot details are ludicrous: The lead has the entire prison’s blueprint tattooed over his torso (hidden in a gothic pattern only he and schizophrenics can discern), and he’s so resourceful with discarded toothpaste tubes he’s like some sort of cellblock MacGyver. But against the odds, the show’s remained internally consistent—and ridiculously addictive.

Best Drawn-Out Tease
The numbers 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42—which will mean nothing to you, unless you’ve been watching Lost (ABC), in which case this mysterious string of figures has been driving you mad for months.

Best ‘Lost’ Rip-Off
Invasion (ABC), a creepy mash-up of hurricanes and aliens, and the real standout in this season’s crop of spooky one-word-title dramas (Threshold, Surface, Supernatural).

Best Show You Probably Never Watched
Starved (F/X), a show set among an eating-disorders support group. In a year of HBO-inflected, high-concept premises (suburban marijuana dealers!), this cringe-inducing setup yielded a surprisingly sharp—and funny—comedy.

Best Programming Decision
NBC is going to move My Name Is Earl and The Office to Thursday night—while putting the dismal Joey and the foundering The Apprentice in deep freeze—in an effort to recapture the network’s must-see-TV mojo.

Best Stunt Casting
Wink-wink celebrity cameos have gotten out of hand, but drafting Scott “Chachi” Baio to replace Henry “Fonzie” Winkler as the family lawyer on Arrested Development (Fox) was absolute genius.

Best Humiliation
The four-person firing on The Apprentice (NBC). Not that they all got fired but that the quartet then had to squeeze into one cab to the airport. That’s cold.

Best On-Air Evolution
The rapidly improving The Colbert Report (Comedy Central), in which Stephen Colbert is getting comfortable enough in his blowhard persona to occasionally, and hilariously, shrug it off.

Best Encore
In a year notable for great comebacks both inevitable (Neil Patrick Harris, after a few great film cameos, on How I Met Your Mother) and shocking (90210-er Brian Austin Green on Freddie), one actor returned as the same character we fell in love with way back when: Chris Noth as Detective Mike Logan, back on the beat on Law & Order (NBC).

Best Rapprochement
Oprah finally, finally, finally agrees to appear on The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS).

Best Use of Pinteresque Pauses in Television
The Office (NBC), which is starting to get the hang of the painful, prolonged silences that made the BBC original so achingly great.

Best Elegant Ending
The flash-forwards in the finale of Six Feet Under (HBO), in which we got to see how all the characters eventually expire. A perfect endnote to a vital, if at times maddening, show.

http://newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/arts/cultureawards/15287/

Indeed, he's quite good, and we're lucky to have him in Northeast Ohio...

You are not kidding.

I must read 50 TV critics on a regular basis, and Rich Heldenfels of the Akron Beacon Journal is at the very top of any list I'd make.

He is likes TV and is interested in how it works (many critics seem to look down their noses at prime-time programming) and very, very timely. His weblog frequently has stories way ahead of the more well-known writers.

He is truly a gem.

McSlarrow Says Family Tiers in Works at Six Cable Operators

By Doug Halonen TVWeek.com

In an effort to appease critics of cable's programming, six of the nation's major multiple system operators-including Comcast and Time Warner Cable-hope to roll out family-friendly programming tiers for their digital subscribers early next year.

That was the word from Kyle McSlarrow, president and CEO of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, during a public meeting with Senate Commerce Committee leaders on Monday. Mr. McSlarrow said the six cable MSO's-the others being Bresnan Communications, Advance/Newhouse Communications, Midcontinent Communciations, and Insight Communications-together serve more than half of the nation's cable TV subscribers, and that other cable MSOs are considering following suit.

Mr. McSlarrow said he was not privy to pricing plans. But under the general concept, cable customers would still have to subscribe to cable's basic tier, and then have a choice whether to subscribe to the system's enhanced basic tier or the new family-friendly one. Mr. McSlarrow also made clear that the industry is hoping that its offering of a family tier, along with ongoing industry efforts to improve awareness of TV ratings and technology enabling parents to control what their children see, will enable the industry to avoid federal regulation.

"I really hope we can take mandates off the table," Mr. McSlarrow said.

Jack Valenti, the former chief of the Motion Picture Association of America, said during the session that industry leaders have been meeting to consider ways to better educate the public about the v-chip and other technology that parents can use to control the programming that comes into their homes.

Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, chairman of the committee, said that if the industry adopts a "meaningful" ratings system, he will hold off pending legislation to beef up indecency regulation while the public evaluates the voluntary efforts.

"As far as I'm concerned, none [of the pending bills to beef up indecency regulation] have enough support for us to move as long as this process is moving on," Sen. Stevens said.

Mr. Valenti said surveys have shown that while many consumers object to some TV programming, the vast majority-from 70 percent to 80 percent-don't want the government to decide what they can see and hear. "You cannot allow a few loud voices outside the Congress to try to entice the government to go where the people plainly do not want this government to go," Mr. Valenti said.

In a follow-up session with reporters, Mr. Valenti said concerns about programming were being stirred up by the Parents Television Council's L. Brent Bozell and "a few loud voices"-people, according to Mr. Valenti, "who really don't want anything on television except Bible stories."

http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=9026

“Daily Show” suicide

An employee of the Comedy Central program "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" has committed suicide, leading the network to suspend production of Monday night's episode of the program, a spokesman confirmed.

--The Hollywood Reporter

Am I the only one who is just a little concerned about our government listening to a guy like Jack Valenti...? The movie industry poster boy for government intervention with regards to copyright rules and protections..? Jack, just go back home and stay retired, please.

OTOH, Stevens is pretty much a Neanderthal when it comes to things digital anyways..dinosaurs travel in groups I guess...

Somehow I missed this Rick Kushman column Friday. It isn’t really dated and he makes some important points.

Critic’s Notebook
Celeb news - and what matters

By Rick Kushman Sacramento Bee TV Columnist

Thinking out loud here. A week ago, Oprah Winfrey visited David Letterman, drew about 13.5 million viewers and ended a 16-year string of avoiding "Late Show with David Letterman."

What she did not end was the Dave-Oprah feud. Because there was no feud. Winfrey said it. Letterman said it. And before last week, they'd been saying it for years. N-O F-E-U-D.

Oprah just said she didn't like the kidding she got on "Late Show." And Letterman used that to, really, make fun of himself. It's what he does. But Winfrey invited Letterman to appear on her show, and both said generous things about each other in public.

So here's the thing. If you look at the reporting before the appearance, and even after that night when they both said they never held a grudge or a feud or an anything, it was as if the entertainment media lives on its own planet.

In truth, it does, but, jeez, quote your victims accurately.

The high-decibel "Entertainment Tonight" and "Access Hollywood" shows burbled inside and out about the feud. But it wasn't just them.

Here's a headline from an early wire story from the New York Times: "Winfrey and Letterman end 16-year feud."

Here's a headline from the Associated Press: "Letterman welcomes Oprah as guest after 16-year feud."

What's the point? Well, it's not poor Dave and Oprah. They'll be just fine, seeing as they're two of the richest, most powerful forces in show business. Probably doesn't matter to them, either way.

But it matters to us, because it's a reminder of how easily information gets distorted.

Look, Dave's relationship with Oprah is spectacularly insignificant. Also, those papers, and the legitimate TV news operations, take a bit more care with genuinely serious stories. This isn't so much about mistakes.

It's about how information bells get rung in our society and stay rung. It's about how difficult it is to correct an error or a misinterpretation, particularly when the mistake is simple and sounds right. Or it sounds like something we want to believe.

That is one of the dangers of our multimedia world. There's no central gathering place, no Walter Cronkite-like presence, to put a careening story on the right path.

Would we be better off if there were? If these were the days of the three dominant news networks and a few major newspapers setting the tone? I dunno. Probably not. More voices is generally a good thing.

The problem is, in this wild media environment, it's so easy for misreadings and mistakes to get repeated and repeated, because everybody is reporting what everybody else reported - and there is just so much of it. (It's also very easy to spread lies, but that's an argument for another day.)

For what it's worth, we just saw what a few, more or less, central news focus points can do to keep stories on the right rail. During early coverage of Hurricane Katrina, it was basically CNN, Fox News and NBC/MSNBC who kept correcting mistakes and political spin. They were there in New Orleans and most of us watched.

But that was pretty rare. Day to day, whether it's on important events or lightweight subjects, our attention is spread across the wide map of TV, radio, cable and the massive Web. We tend to go to places that reaffirm our beliefs, or simply take the tones we like.

The result is that every development, nearly every utterance, is reported a thousand ways and gets near-infinite analysis. Sometimes the bulk of it - like the Letterman-Winfrey's "feud" - is wrong. It's also entirely constitutional. The First Amendment would seem to take the side of many voices and many truths.

All of this is neither complaint nor praise for this brave, ever-new media world. It's more a heads-up, or a reminder to keep our heads up.

Our country and our world are changing. There's no going back because there just isn't. Whether we are progressing or regressing is open to interpretation, but either way, technology is pushing us in new directions at light speed.

And in this complicated life, everything new comes in shades of both good and bad, and with the law of unintended consequences running wild.

My point, finally, would be this: The most important thing to understand is that no one voice says it all. And any time we get a simple, one-tone interpretation, you can bet it's incomplete and maybe flat-out wrong. We just don't work that way anymore.

http://www.sacbee.com/content/lifestyle/columns/kushman/v-print/story/13953890p-14788327c.html

You know, hindsight is 20:20, but am I the only one who saw this as a very real possibility before the season ever started? I said at the time that surely FOX had committed to the entire season. Surely they wouldn't create a mystery and then not solve it.

"Shame on who?" Shame on FOX.

Don't get me wrong, we watched two episodes and dumped the show. We didn't like it.

But the point is that FOX has now told us in no uncertain terms that they are willing to hook us and then screw us. Tru Calling was left hanging. But this one takes the cake.

I will remember this the next time FOX introduces anything remotely resembling a serial show...and I won't watch. I may even drop a line to FOX letting them know why I'm not even watching the pilot. And I may copy their advertisers.

Xesdeeni


Nice to see you posting again-- it has been a while -- I though we might have lost you!

Critic’s Notebook
Move over, mister; Women are rising as anchors, stars

By David Zurawik Balitmore Sun Television Critic

What was being bemoaned (seemingly endlessly) by television industry analysts and critics as the end of the anchorman era, last week may have morphed into the dawning of the age of anchorwomen.

Last Monday, Elizabeth Vargas and Bob Woodruff were named replacements for the late Peter Jennings at the anchor desk of ABC World News Tonight. A few days later, NBC held a news conference in part to squelch rumors that its leading newswoman, Katie Couric, was considering jumping networks - to be anchorwoman at CBS.

NBC's efforts convinced few. As has been widely reported, CBS determinedly is pursuing NBC's Today show co-host Couric to be solo anchor of its flagship nightly newscast, the CBS Evening News. If she accepts, her salary is expected to be $20 million annually - $10 million more than is made by anyone else in network TV news. Only syndicated talk show host Oprah Winfrey, who owns and produces her program, takes home more.

In some ways, the past year has been a banner one for women on television - even those who play fictional characters. An atypically large number of prime-time shows present women portraying strong, intelligent, often powerful characters - and many of the series are finding an audience.

Commander in Chief, which features Oscar-winner Geena Davis as the first female president of the United States, is the highest-rated new series of the year, with a weekly audience of about 15 million viewers. More important in a society where money equals power, the drama is also No. 1 in upscale households (annual incomes of $50,000-plus).

As the TV season heads into Christmas break and the networks decide which freshman shows to keep, programs featuring women dominate the list of those getting the green light. CBS recently ordered a full season for Close to Home, starring Jennifer Finnigan as a Type-A prosecutor with a perfect conviction record and a new baby. The series consistently wins its Friday night time period with an audience of 12 million viewers.

It is the same story at all four major networks and cable: Fox renewed Bones, a drama starring Emily Deschanel as a forensic anthropologist who writes best-sellers on the side. NBC is sticking with Surface, which features Lake Bell as an oceanographer and single mom. Both characters hold doctoral degrees in science and supervise teams of highly trained specialists - making them figures of authority. Ditto on cable, where Kyra Sedgwick's Deputy Police Chief Brenda Johnson commands an elite unit of homicide investigators on TNT's new hit, The Closer.

Despite all the developments in recent weeks, the rise of women on network TV is not an overnight event. ABC, for example, made a business decision three years ago to create series with a strong female point of view to fill what network executives saw as a programming void, according to Francie Calfo, an ABC executive vice president involved in developing Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy and Commander in Chief.

Desperate Housewives, with its sexually charged look at the secret lives of four suburban women, was the No. 1 show on television last week - seen by 25.4 million viewers. ABC's Grey's Anatomy, starring Ellen Pompeo as the doctor daughter of a famous female surgeon, was the fifth-highest-rated show with an audience of 20.6 million. The popularity of series like Grey's Anatomy and Commander in Chief, along with the prominence of newscasters like Vargas and Couric, is seen by some as a reflection of changing attitudes toward women.

"When we started the White House Project eight years ago, one of the things we felt is that we were moving into a period when women were going to be leading. And if you look at trends, that has actually started to happen both here and in other countries," says Marie C. Wilson, co-founder of Take Our Daughters to Work Day and president of the White House Project, a national and non-partisan organization dedicated to advancing women's leadership.

"You have real women who are being talked about as candidates for president in this country. You have women who have just run and won in Liberia and Germany. We have had eight to 12 years of women involved in foreign policy, the United Nations and national security - as secretary of state. And it's not lost on the public that there are women dying in a war. One in seven people in Iraq is a woman, and because there are no front lines in this war, everybody who is over there is a soldier."

Wilson says such social change has helped "normalize" the idea of women in nontraditional roles - women as corporate or national leaders or experts in matters of national security, economics and government. "The success of women in the last decade as governors, mayors, senators, secretaries of state and soldiers means that the country is more familiar with women in such roles and they aren't going to sit there when Elizabeth Vargas or Katie Couric reads a report about Iraq and say, 'Oh, my God, shouldn't she be talking about the weather?'"

Television both mirrors what's happening in reality and fosters further change by presenting to 15 million viewers week after week a chance to imagine women in positions of power. "It's getting more normal to see women in these empowered roles on TV, which is just what we want," Wilson says.

That's not to say that everyone agrees that real progress has been made. "I don't know about Desperate Housewives," says Marguerite Moritz, a professor of journalism at the University of Colorado who specializes in depictions of gender. "Yes, it's great that you have women in starring roles in a hit show, but look at the roles that they're playing. I mean, the show can be incredibly entertaining, and certainly the ratings reflect that. But is that somehow a breakthrough for women or a reflection that women are attaining something larger, bigger, whatever in society?"

And despite the growing ranks of powerful female detectives like Sedgwick's Deputy Chief Johnson, women are still predominantly depicted as sex objects and victims in cop dramas and police procedurals. So, there is much progress to be made.

Nonetheless, the courting of Couric and the money being offered may be a harbinger of genuine change, Moritz says.

"Fundamentally, that conversation is going on for economic reasons. There's some hard number crunching being done and executives at CBS saying, 'Look, she's been a huge success in the morning slot, maybe she can help us at night - even though we've always had a man as the face of CBS News.' I don't know if that's empowerment for women, but I'm certainly happy to see it happen. It's about time."

http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/news/bal-ae.eye11dec11,1,6876890.story?coll=bal-tv-utility

DirecTV to Pay $5 Million to Settle Probe

By Jay Sherman TVWeek.com December 12, 2005

DirecTV will pay $5 million to 22 states to settle a probe into the satellite operator's marketing and advertising practices.

The agreement, which was reached with New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and announced Monday, wraps up an inquiry that began in March 2003 into a series of complaints from DirecTV subscribers. The subscribers' issues included claims of poor reception, allegations that they did not receive channels that were promised and accusations that some customers were charged for canceling services during free programming offer periods that had not yet expired.

DirecTV also agreed to pay restitution to certain customers who were charged a fee for not activating DirecTV's service in a timely way, did not receive all of the local channels they had expected to receive or were charged the cancellation fee during those free-offer periods.

In addition to New York, the states included in the settlement are Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont and West Virginia.

http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=9028

Verizon Pops Texas Six-Pack

By Linda Haugsted Multichannel.com

Parts of six more Texas communities will see the launch of Verizon Communications Inc.'s Verizon FiOS TV Monday.

The telephone company is expanding into areas of communities closest to its initial market, Keller. Areas that can order service as of Monday are northern Carrollton, eastern Coppell, central Flower Mound, northern Fort Worth, northern Irving and central Lewisville.

Verizon said it will now pass 400,000 north Texas households by the end of 2006, or 33% of its landline customers in the state.

New markets in 2006 will be Allen, Colleyville, Denton, Double Oak, Garland, Grapevine, Hebron, Highland Village, Lucas, Murphy, Parker, Plano, Rowlett, Sachse (where the rollout is governed by a local franchise negotiated before this year's passage of statewide operating authority), Southlake, St. Paul, Westlake (also locally franchised) and Wylie.

The actual launch times will be based on local completion of the telco's fiber-to-the-premises network in each community.

I made this comment today on the Grey's Anatomy thread, but perhaps it can persuade you to try a show you probably haven't heard much about. If you are looking for something new you might enjoy, try this:

"Related" (9 PM ET/PT Mondays) on the WB started off as a pale, poorly-written, shallow, PG-rated version of "Sex In The City". Critics generally savaged it., And rightly so.

But the writing has improved dramatically, and one of the recent episodes (with Dana Delany seen in flashbacks as the mother of the four sisters) was one of the best-written shows of episodic TV I have seen in years.

It has made my top-five list in recent weeks. And with a meaningless NFL game tonight, and repeats (I believe) on the other networks, at least record it. Give it a try, I think you'll enjoy it.

(And if you don't, I am pretty sure the wife/SO and/or daughters will.)

Weep a tear or two for “Three Wishes”
Friday finale for NBC good-works reality show

By Diego Vasquez MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Dec 12, 2005

Buyers had high hopes for NBC and Amy Grant’s feel-good show “Three Wishes,” and for good reason. The show mimicked the formula that has worked so well for ABC’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” mixing sad real-life stories and tear-inducing efforts to help turn lives around.

But “Three Wishes” never caught on, and most of the blame lies with its Friday timeslot, a place where families, the target viewers of such a program, would never find it.

Friday, almost a month after NBC cut its season order, “Three Wishes” went quietly off the air with a series-low rating. The series finale earned a 1.8 among viewers 18-49s, down 18 percent from the disappointing 2.2 overnight rating the show averaged over its first nine episodes.

Buyers had tabbed “Three Wishes” as a potential breakout hit since the May upfront, with several picking NBC to win Friday nights because of it. Grant hosted the show, which traveled to small towns across the country and granted three wishes at each stop.

But the timeslot simply didn’t work. The networks long ago abandoned family fare on Friday nights, with more sophisticated fare like CBS’s “Ghost Whisperer” and “Numb3rs” now the current hits.

Family-oriented shows do much better on Sundays, as seen with “Home Edition,” and Mondays, where NBC’s “Fear Factor” thrived.

NBC considered moving “Three Wishes” to Wednesday temporarily to see what sort of bump it might have, but once “E-Ring” started performing better there, the network had no reason to keep trying. With NBC’s ratings as a whole down, it made no sense to stick with a flailing program no matter what its seeming potential.

What’s perhaps most surprising out of all of this is that it took this long for a “Home Edition” knockoff to surface. Fox did air “Renovate My Family” the last two summers, and it did OK, but “Three Wishes” was the first to ape the emotional aspect of the show.

Based on its quick demise, however, another imitation may be a while away.

http://medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_1786.asp

Sports on TV
Sports heroes: USC's mighty BCS save

Ratings for the Rose Bowl should be way up

By Toni Fitzgerald MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer

Two years ago, USC nearly killed the Bowl Championship Series. Now it may have revived it.

After getting shut out of the BCS title game in 2003, despite being ranked No. 1 in one poll, USC is now poised to play in its second straight BCS title game on Jan. 4 against Texas. Spurred by excitement over strong seasons by the Trojans, Longhorns and traditional powers like Penn State and Notre Dame, college football ratings have soared this season, and BCS advertising sales also are up.

But perhaps most important, as the BCS readies to move from ABC to Fox next year, the long-maligned BCS system is no longer in question. After two years of sinking ratings for the title game, this year’s Rose Bowl could be the highest-rated in BCS history.

That sets up Fox very nicely. Already this year ABC has seen year-to-year ad rate increases of up to 6 percent, to $1.8 million, for a package of 30-second spots on the four BCS games.

With a bump in ratings this year, Fox could reap even greater pricing in 2007 after purchasing BCS rights for $330 million over four years.

NCAA football ratings were up this year on ABC, ESPN and ESPN2. ABC’s 14 weeks of games averaged a 4.1 household rating, up 8 percent over last year’s 3.8 average.

ESPN rose 4 percent to 1.72 million total viewers, up from 1.65 million last year and the network’s best average in six years. ESPN2 set a season record with 928,000 average viewers, bettering last year’s 867,000.

And ratings for USC and Texas’ final regular-season games were up more than 25 percent over last year, showing just how excited people are about their impending matchup.

Last year at this time, a college football renaissance seemed unlikely. Complaints about the BCS system had reached a crescendo after an undefeated Auburn squad was left out of the national championship game, following 2003’s USC debacle. That prompted several off-season changes in how the top two teams in the country were picked.

In the end, that wasn’t necessary. USC and Texas are Division I’s only undefeated squads, ensuring their one-two rank in the BCS computers.

BCS critics have nonetheless whined all week, saying that this year’s matchup was a no-brainer, and thus we don’t need the BCS. That’s simply not true.

Those critics are forgetting that under the old system, the Pac-10 champion Trojans would have been obligated to play in the Rose Bowl against the winner of the Big 10, No. 3 Penn State.

Texas would have faced No. 4 Ohio State, No. 5 Notre Dame or some other team in another bowl, meaning no one-two matchup and vindicating the BCS formula.

Meanwhile, in other sports ratings for the week ended Dec. 4, ABC’s “Monday Night Football” matchup between the Indianapolis Colts and Pittsburgh Steelers was the week’s top event, averaging a 14.8 household rating. More than 22 million total viewers watched the game, the most since 2000.

CBS’s annual Army-Navy football game was up 25 percent over last year, from a 2.4 household rating to a 3.0.

On cable for the week ended Nov. 28, the New Orleans Saints-New York Jets “Sunday Night Football” game on ESPN ranked No. 1 with a 4.7 household rating. Though that was more than double the next-highest-rated program, ESPN’s “SportsCenter,” it was down 11 percent from the previous week’s Kansas City Chiefs-Houston Texans game.

http://medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_1768.asp

Cablers to Offer Family Tiers

By Todd Shields MediaWeek.com DECEMBER 12, 2005 -

Operators reaching roughly half the nation's cable customers will offer a family-friendly programming tier beginning early next year, a top cable official told a congressional hearing on indecency on Monday.

Kyle McSlarrow, president and CEO of the National Cable & Telecommunications, said companies that are to offer the tier include Comcast, Time Warner, Advance Newhouse Communications, Insight and Midcontinent Media. The tiers are to begin early next year, following negotiations between each cable operator and its programmers, McSlarrow said.

The announcement comes as cable struggles to ward off pressure from lawmakers and others to reduce childrens’ potential exposure to rough language and sexually suggestive programming.

Suggestions have included government mandating family tiers; requiring that customers may choose only the channels they want rather than accepting broad programming packages; and applying to cable programming the indecency regulations that now affect only broadcast TV and radio.

McSlarrow said he hoped the family-friendly tiers would bring an end to calls for mandatory measures.

Stevens in remarks to reporters called the tiers a good first step, and indicated he would not seek to advance legislation while the family tiers are introduced.

The House early this year passed legislation to steeply increase fines for broadcast indecency, but there has been no action in the Senate.

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001658734

Sports on TV
ESPN/ABC Uses Rose Bowl Final to Drive Ads to Other Games

By John Consoli MediaWeek.com DECEMBER 12, 2005 -

With about 10 percent of its ad inventory left to sell for ABC’s Jan. 4 prime-time Rose Bowl telecast presented by Citi, ESPN/ABC Sports will aim to maximize sales of the remaining units by packaging in-game spots with advertising across ESPN properties.
“We’re not looking to just sell in-game spots,” said Ed Erhardt, president of ESPN/ABC Sports Customer Marketing and Sales.

“The USC-Texas matchup [both teams are undefeated] could be one of the highest-rated college football games ever, so we plan to use it to help drive advertising to our other media platforms.”
Last year, the Orange Bowl was the Bowl Championship Series game and produced a household rating of 13.7—the highest-rated prime-time telecast of that week. The four BCS games totaled a 43.0 household rating. In the year prior, the Sugar Bowl was the BCS championship game and produced a 14.5 household rating, and the 2003 Fiesta Bowl BCS championship produced a 17.2 rating.

Erhardt said many of the other platforms in the packages will have synergy with the Rose Bowl. For example, ESPN The Magazine, in its Jan. 2 issue, will offer a BCS preview.

Thirty-second spots in the Rose Bowl were selling for between $1.5 million to $1.8 million per unit prior to the USC-Texas matchup being determined. Erhardt said about 70 percent of the units were sold as part of multiyear, multigame packages to the Bowl sponsors and to advertisers like Cingular and Home Depot, who bought ads across all four BCS telecasts—Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, FedEx Orange Bowl and Nokia Sugar Bowl, in addition to the Rose Bowl. Another 20 percent of the units were sold during the upfront as strips with ads in all four BCS games.

“We want advertisers to buy the entire BCS, not just one game,” Erhardt said.

One new major BCS advertiser, Erhardt said, will be Texas Instruments, which will be airing commercials touting high definition.

Erhardt said audience guarantees were given to those who bought multiyear packages or in the upfront, but no guarantees will be given to advertisers buying the remaining inventory. Given the magnitude of the Rose Bowl matchup, Erhardt said he believes ratings guarantees will be met.

In addition to the Rose Bowl, which will air at 8 p.m. on Jan. 4, the Fiesta Bowl (Ohio State vs. Notre Dame) will air at 4:30 p.m. on Jan. 2; the Sugar Bowl (West Virginia vs. Georgia) will air at 8 p.m on Jan. 2; and the Orange Bowl (Penn State vs. Florida State) will
air at 8 p.m. on Jan. 3.

The BCS bowl games, while having declined in ratings, are still among the highest-rated prime-time programs during the first week in January.

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001658168

Critic’s Notebook
Critic has treats for some, lumps of coal for others

By Charlie McCollum San Jose Mercury News Posted on Mon, Dec. 12, 2005

Some thoughts, comments and (I hope) snappy one-liners as the TV world starts winding down for the holidays:

• Back in May, who would have thought that ``Grey's Anatomy'' -- which was supposed to be a four-week fill-in for ``Boston Legal'' -- would turn out to be more consistently entertaining than ``Desperate Housewives''? And have you noticed that its weekly audience is closing in on 21 million, making it a top-five show most weeks?

• At least ``Housewives'' seems to be back on track in recent weeks after a sluggish start this season. Gotta love Sister Mary Bernard (Melinda Page Hamilton) and her battle with Gabrielle (Eva Longoria). That's the kind of stuff that made the show click with viewers in Season 1.

• The only real problem I have with ``Lost'' this season is that the cast has become so large, some good characters have gone missing for big chunks of time. The series is such a terrific bit of TV that I can live with that, but other fans of the show sure are starting to complain about it.

• If it weren't for the occasional good scene from Maura Tierney, Parminder Nagra and Linda Cardellini, there would be absolutely no reason to watch ``ER'' these days. Even John Leguizamo is floundering as the new doc.

• Setting aside the anchor issue, you have to like the fact that the new, post-Peter Jennings ``World News Tonight'' will offer a live, updated version for the West Coast starting Jan. 2. The network newscasts often feel really stale by the time they hit the airwaves in our time zone.

• In the same week last month, ``Arrested Development'' and ``Kitchen Confidential'' got the ax from Fox while ABC's ``Freddie'' and CBS's ``Out of Practice'' got full seasons. Ain't no justice in that.

• I'm not sure it's going to be a big hit, but based on the pilot, CBS's new ``Love Monkey,'' which debuts Jan. 17, looks like a fun, engaging show with a terrific lead performance from Tom Cavanagh (``Ed'') as a music producer looking for romance.

• I have absolutely no conclusive evidence, but reading various tea leaves, you have to think this season of ``The West Wing'' is going to be its last. Point one: Viewership is down, way down. Point two: Rob Lowe says he is returning as Sam Seaborn for the season's final episode -- which practically screams ``The End.''

• Best new show during November sweeps? The Cartoon Network's ``The Boondocks,'' based on the Aaron McGruder comic strip. This is one funny show.

• I'm not getting involved in the ``is `Curb Your Enthusiasm' having a bad year?'' debate. Much as I admire the comedy, its tone and attitude have never been my cup of the caustic. The question may be moot anyway, since the show's recent ``season finale'' looked an awful lot like a series finale.

• My new late-night default, now that ``Nightline'' is a shadow of its former self: ``The Colbert Report'' on Comedy Central. Funny stuff and a good match with ``The Daily Show.''

• You would think that since Fox's now-canceled ``Reunion'' will remain on the air until early February, the producers could wrap up the murder mystery that is the show's main story line. But noooooo. The creators say the series was designed to go 22 episodes, not 13, and the resolution is too complex and involves too many as-yet-unintroduced characters to shoehorn into the last episode. So viewers are just going to be left hanging.

• In the six years I've been doing this job, there's never been a spectacular train wreck quite like this season's NBC schedule. Not even on ABC after the collapse of ``Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.''

• I can think of worse ideas than Katie Couric taking over the CBS News anchor chair once held by Walter Cronkite and Dan Rather, but not many. Couric has many virtues as a broadcaster, but none of them immediately translates into the gravitas and authority needed for the anchor job.

• Although I hate to admit it, maybe the executives at the WB were right when they moved ``Smallville'' and ``Everwood'' to Thursdays -- a schedule shift that looked really, really stupid a few months back. Now, the network is actually drawing an audience on TV's most lucrative advertising night.

• Speaking of mistakes: Yeah, I was one of the few TV writers to say kind things about the WB's ``Related'' when it made its debut. What was I thinking?

• ``The O.C.'' is looking more and more like a 1 1/2-season wonder -- in Year 3. The show just hasn't had any real pop this year.

• And finally: I've probably gone to this well way too often, but . . . can we please show some love for UPN's ``Veronica Mars,'' the best series on TV too few people are watching? How about this? Everybody who can prove they tuned in this week gets a free holiday turkey. Oh, never mind. My editors say that isn't in the budget.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/entertainment/columnists/charlie_mccollum/13387974.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

A Critical View:
Pure Elton is key to “Piano”

*** (out of four)

By David Bianculli New York Daily News TV Editor Monday, December 12th, 2005

"Elton John: The Red Piano," the name of both tonight's NBC special and the singer's current concert show at Caesars Palace, turns out to be a fairly accurate piece of co-star billing.

Other than Elton and his red piano, and some projected films and oversized stage props, there's not much else in the mix.

Not that there needs to be.

Oh, the band behind Elton John provides solid musical support, and even takes the highest notes on the harmony vocals, for six of the hour's eight songs.

But in NBC's one-hour version of "The Red Piano" (at 8 PM ET/PT), there's no effort to tart up the songs with Las Vegas, or even Broadway, dancers and other stage personnel.

It's a slight disappointment, for example, that during the opening "Bennie and the Jets" number, there are no imposingly tall showgirls acting out the song as visual aids, strutting in their "electric boots" and "mohair suits."

After all, this is a Vegas show.

The Vegas audience, though, seems to love every minute of it. They applaud whenever Elton stands up from his piano stool - and on one song, I swear they applaud a key change.

Reaction shots show some female audience members singing along with every word, and wiping away tears of excitement.

Then again, the same type of reaction shots were visible at last weekend's live Showtime TV concert by Eminem.

Since NBC viewers aren't paying the Caesars admission fee, it's a bit churlish to complain that all the extracurricular energy in "The Red Piano" comes from music-video-type films projected in giant wraparound screens above the pianist, or from neon lights and giant inflated legs, hot dogs and ice cream cones.

And fans can't be let down by the show's set list, which contains seven classic Elton John-Bernie Taupin collaborations and one cover ("Pinball Wizard," which Elton sang in Ken Russell's movie version of the Who rock opera "Tommy").

Outlandish fashion photographer and director David LaChapelle provides the videos accompanying most of the songs.

"Daniel" brings to the forefront the song's wounded war-veteran theme; "Rocket Man" recycles Justin Timberlake's impersonation of a young Elton, and "Candle in the Wind" uses photo-shoot footage and other outtakes to return the song to the source of its original inspiration, Marilyn Monroe.

The biggest visual effect of the night, though, comes when Elton John is upstaged by kaleidoscopic repeating images of Pamela Anderson - dressed in white boots, a boa and a few centimeters of material short of a wardrobe malfunction - pole dancing to the tune of "The Bitch is Back."

Director Dave Mallet chooses his camera angles and edits very judiciously, but leaves enough to preserve the hour's most Vegas-worthy moment.

The remaining numbers are "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" and Elton's signature tune, "Your Song" - which, like "Candle in the Wind," he performs for this occasion unaccompanied by the band.

Almost all the songs come from the salad days of the 38-year collaboration between Elton and Taupin, but the audience didn't seem at all tired of them.

Neither did the man performing them, which is much more to the point - and is what makes "The Red Piano" a satisfying TV special.

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/v-pfriendly/story/373916p-317879c.html

CBS Inks Content Deal With Mobile Provider Amp'd

By Jay Sherman TVWeek.com December 12, 2005

CBS said Monday that it has struck an agreement with Amp'd Mobile to distribute CBS and UPN content through the wireless provider's cellphones.

Amp'd will carry behind-the-scenes footage, previews and interviews from a number of CBS prime-time series, including "CSI: NY," "The King of Queens," "Numb3rs" and "Late Show with David Letterman." The pact also includes a number of UPN programs, including "America's Next Top Model," "Everybody Hates Chris" and "Girlfriends." Financial terms were not disclosed.

The agreement comes on the eve of Amp'd's launch of its cellular service later this year. The company's aims to take advantage of the convergence taking place between entertainment content and broadband wireless technology and target the youth market.

Digital TV Info for all 210 Nielsen DMAs

The people at HDTV Magazine have supplied this link. (It is also listed in post 4 at the top of this thread.) It tells who in each market is broadcasting digitally, from where and with how much power:

http://www.hdtvmagazine.com/programming/broadcast.php

FCC’s Martin Asked To Re-Examine Retransmission consent rules

By John Eggerton Broadcasting & Cable

Eight members of the House energy & Commerce Committee have sent a letter to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin asking him to take a new look at retransmission consent as the FCC reconsiders the economics of family-friendly tiers and a la carte cable.

Martin said two weeks ago that an initial FCC study putting the kibosh on a la carte from an economic standpoint was flawed and one sided and that the commission was coming out with new one that suggests it may be bottom-line as well as family friendly.

In a letter dated Monday (Dec. 12), Nathan Deal (R-Ga.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and six other members wrote of their concerns that retrans deals--in which broadcasters negotiate compensation for carriage of their TV stations on cable--have helped drive the bundling of family-friendly and unfriendly channels.

Big broadcast groups also frequently have co-owned cable nets that become part of package station/cable channel deals.

"As you know," they wrote, "the Committee on Energy & Commerce, at the request of Representative Nathan Deal, requested the initial study as a part of the Satellite Home Viewer Extension and Reauthorization Act of 2004."

"The purpose of the study was to assist the Committee’s effort to better understand the costs and benefits of the current regulatory regime which governs programming and its delivery to consumers.

"In particular, claims have been made that retransmission consent agreements allow the tying of family friendly channels to those undeniably inappropriate for children and raises rates for consumers.

"We have heard that some networks mandate that to gain carriage for children’s programming often requires carriage of adult content on the same tier.

"That situation seems questionable at best and may be one of the core reasons our constituents are not satisfied with their viewing options."

"Consequently, our goal is to investigate whether today’s market structure provides consumers with the best mechanism possible to satisfy their ability to protect their families from objectionable content as well as to help control the prices they pay."

The legislators, which, according to a Deal Deputy Chief of Staff Todd Smith, also included John Shimkus (R-Ill.), Ted Strickland (D-Ohio), Charles Norwood (R-Ga.), Joseph Pitts (R-Pa.), Barbara Cubin (R-Wyo.), and Charles Bass (R-N.H.) concluded: "An accurate and unbiased report from the Commission will greatly assist us in our on-going efforts."

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6290746

At least they're tacking on the "pricing" argument along with the "decency" argument. Although some might say (by some, I mean me) that the way we are being gouged, for content we could care less about, is the most indecent thing about the current situation.

CP,

I think the whole argument boils down to one simple point, how much will the channels I want cost me under ala carte? I support ala carte as a concept and I lean toward supporting it in actual use, even though I think I'll have to pay more for the wide array of channels I want if I try to keep them all. I can certainly delete over half the channels I currently receive, but there is no way I'll believe that will cut my cable bill in half, and I'm not even sure it will cut it at all.

If nothing else, I think the bundling that is currently being foisted on cable/sat will lessen, if not be banned outright. Unfortunately, without full ala carte, I'm not sure that won't end up costing us more in the short term.

I'm actually willing to pay more in the short term to get ala carte off the ground because I support paying for what I want while not subsidizing what others want, and I think prices will stabilize lower over time. ESPN, cartoon networks, alternate language channels, etc., have no appeal for me, so why should I have to pay to receive them?

Dave, a question.
I was looking at the Phoenix area digital TV map and see that Channel 15 broadcasts with about 10% of the digital power of the other stations. Do you get al Phoenix stations OTA well?
Thanks.

That does seem really low for such a high RF channel.

Yup. 73 kW, when everyone else is in the 800-1,00 range seems pretty low to me.

Here in LA, KABC is something like 160, with the other O&Os 650-1,000, (and I thought my antenna has gotten misaligned whern ABC went squirelly.)

To Promote a Cable Network, a Plan to Inundate the Internet

By STUART ELLIOTT The New York Times December 12, 2005

The MSNBC cable network plans to flood the Internet this week with its largest concentrated online pitch, running advertising on hundreds of Web sites and blogs. The cost of the campaign, to promote three prime-time programs, is estimated at just under $1 million.

MSNBC, owned by Microsoft and the NBC Universal division of General Electric, will promote the shows - with their hosts, Keith Olbermann, Rita Cosby and Joe Scarborough - in ads that are to start appearing tomorrow and continue all day Wednesday. Some ads will promote segments on the shows about life online, like how marketers sponsor "viral" video clips that consumers can forward to each other.

MSNBC will take over every pixel of ad space on Wednesday on three Web sites: newsweek.com, slate.com and washingtonpost.com. It is the first time the three sites will all run ads for the same sole advertiser on the same day, said Caroline Little, chief executive and publisher at Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive, part of the Washington Post Company. "Consumers will see the campaign has a lot of oomph behind it," Ms. Little said.

MSNBC is also using search engine marketing, buying keywords on Google, like "viral videos." Computer users searching for articles with such words will see ads alongside their search results with links to MSNBC.com.

"We want to find out something we haven't known before," said Frank Radice, senior vice president for the East Coast office of the NBC Agency, the internal unit that works on behalf of networks like MSNBC, NBC and Sci Fi Channel. "Can we drive traffic from the Internet to the cable channel?"

Val Nichols, vice president for the creative services group at MSNBC, estimated the campaign would get 114 million viewings in total. Among the 800 blogs that will run the ads are Adrants, Althouse, Curbed, Daily Kos, Gothamist, IndieWire, Largehearted Boy, Talking Points Memo and TV Newser. Buying ads on 800 blogs is a major commitment to that fledgling medium. Budget Rent A Car bought ads last month on 177 blogs, and Audi bought ads this summer on 286. STUART ELLIOTT

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/12/technology/12msnbc.html?pagewanted=print

Dave, a question.
I was looking at the Phoenix area digital TV map and see that Channel 15 broadcasts with about 10% of the digital power of the other stations. Do you get all Phoenix stations OTA well?No, I use Cox Cable, but they get all the locals via OTA and the power output doesn't seem to be a problem. Also, I think that data may be out of date, but I'm not sure. Actually, FOX gives folks more problems than ABC. You would think Phoenix would be easy for OTA, but we have a lot of multipath problems and it takes some work to get OTA in some areas, and not necessarily the areas you would think. Also, some folks right below the transmitter mountain can't get 1 or 2 stations at all. Digital is so much different than analog. I could get one more channel OTA, UPN, but they aren't doing HD yet, so I'm quite happy with cable. We have a few folks doing OTA only and of course the D* folks are eager for HD LiL. :)

CP,

I think the whole argument boils down to one simple point, how much will the channels I want cost me under ala carte? I support ala carte as a concept and I lean toward supporting it in actual use, even though I think I'll have to pay more for the wide array of channels I want if I try to keep them all. I can certainly delete over half the channels I currently receive, but there is no way I'll believe that will cut my cable bill in half, and I'm not even sure it will cut it at all.

If nothing else, I think the bundling that is currently being foisted on cable/sat will lessen, if not be banned outright. Unfortunately, without full ala carte, I'm not sure that won't end up costing us more in the short term.

I'm actually willing to pay more in the short term to get ala carte off the ground because I support paying for what I want while not subsidizing what others want, and I think prices will stabilize lower over time. ESPN, cartoon networks, alternate language channels, etc., have no appeal for me, so why should I have to pay to receive them?

There's no question that if the cable nets attempt to maintain a constant revenue, that prices will go up (per channel prices). That constant revenue assumption is what's fueling these high estimates. Even the ESPN estimate of $15, while high (and used as a scare tactic), is based on the rough estimate that 20% of subs watch ESPN - and is probably pretty accurate to maintain revenue.

However, that is a bluff number that can't stand up to any deeper scrutiny. The fact is that approx. 20% of subs watch ESPN - but that is in its current state as a "free" channel. At $15 a month, they'd be lucky to get 10% to subscribe. So theoretically, the price would be raised to $30 - and they'd then be lucky to get 5%, etc., etc., etc.

They (as well as all channels) will have to reduce expenses to match the demand, or they will have to subsidize the programming in order to build demand.

If the powers that be determine that the cable nets have been unfairly reaching into our pockets (via the MSOs) in order to extract whatever funds required to fund new programming aquisition and new channel startups - the last thing that they should do is allow the cable nets to use projections that insure that they can maintain that "unearned" revenue.

If ESPN gets their $15 from the 20% - more power to them. But don't call any restructuring "not viable" just because there's no guarantee that ESPN will be able to extract $3 billion a year from the system.

I agree.

Just like it appears the cable "concession" to allow a family tier will probably be very expensive. That, of course, will "prove" that a la carte won't work.

I am encouraged by the letter eight members of the Commerce Committee sent to FCC Chairman Martin today asking him to revisit the is of retransmission consent rules. That is where the problem began -- with the networks holding up cable companies and forcing carriage of their cable channels in exchange for the retrans consent.

Really, would any cable company have bothered with MSNBC if GE-NBC didn't force them to? (Or before that America's Talking?)

Allow maybe one channel to be tied to retrans, and if it is, there would be no payment for carriage of the network signal. Get that roadblock removed, and a la carte will come rather easily.

But I must admit, I am stunned how fast this a la carte snowfall has turned into a blizzard. Two months ago I hoped for a la carte some day, now I believe it is inevitable within the next couple of years. People just aren't going to tolerate the government, in effect, allowing the cable.dbs and telco companies to charge them for channels they don't want. And, I am convinced, the FCC won't tolerate the cable companies gouging folks who choose a la carte.

I am sure those who choose a package of many channels will pay less per channel. I feel relatively sure that my own bill might drop...slightly. But the point is to allow the consumer to make the decision best for him or her, and not to have us all subsidizing channels we don't like, or even worse, find offensive for whatever reason.

No, I use Cox Cable, but they get all the locals via OTA and the power output doesn't seem to be a problem. Also, I think that data may be out of date, but I'm not sure. Actually, FOX gives folks more problems than ABC. You would think Phoenix would be easy for OTA, but we have a lot of multipath problems and it takes some work to get OTA in some areas, and not necessarily the areas you would think. Also, some folks right below the transmitter mountain can't get 1 or 2 stations at all. Digital is so much different than analog. I could get one more channel OTA, UPN, but they aren't doing HD yet, so I'm quite happy with cable. We have a few folks doing OTA only and of course the D* folks are eager for HD LiL. :)


Thanks for the reply Dave.

The cable offer seems to be meeting with some wariness.
Here is how Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal is reporting the maneuvering:

“…It remains to be seen whether the family-friendly tier idea will be as warmly embraced by consumers and programming companies. One of toughest issues will be how to define family-friendly channels at a time when many children's channels run programming aimed at more mature viewers in the evenings.

Furthermore, cable operators will face a balancing act in how appealing to make the family package: They must include enough channels to allow their family-friendly tiers to pass muster with regulators, but they may not want to make them so appealing that consumers might opt for them over a more expensive expanded-basic programming tier.

"It has to represent value to our customers," says Tom Simmons, vice president of public policy at Midcontinent Communications, a Sioux Falls, S.D.-based cable operator with about 200,000 customers. The company is looking at essentially eliminating any channels from its expanded basic package officials that could be considered offensive to its customers. "Programmers are going to have to make a case about why they should be in a family-friendly tier."

Some consumers who want the family package will have to initially pony up a few extra dollars to take advantage of the deal, since they'll need a set-top digital cable box to receive the channels. However, their monthly bill may not rise because the family tier would cost less.

Programmers, meanwhile, aren't too thrilled at the prospect of being moved around in various tiers of service. Cable networks usually have very specific deals with the operators that carry them that dictate whether they can be offered as part of what is known as expanded basic, which is the most popular platform with about 70 channels and an average monthly cost of about $45. Operators may face having to renegotiate deals with channels that they wish to make part of a family tier.

"Anyone who doesn't discuss this is stepping on a land mine," says one senior executive at a major cable programmer, who adds moving channels without the programmers' consent would be a "mistake."

Even defining what qualifies as a family-friendly channel will be tricky. Viacom Inc.'s Nickelodeon channel, the No. 1 cable network among children, would seem ideally suited for such a designation, but it has drawn the ire of some conservative groups who question the sexual orientation of "SpongeBob SquarePants," one of the network's biggest cartoon stars.

Having family in your name also may not make you a family-friendly channel. Walt Disney Co.'s ABC Family Channel could be a tough sell because it carries reruns of shows that can explore controversial issues. The show "Grounded for Life" is telecast weekday afternoons and this week's episodes include "Don't Fear the Reefer," "Smoke on the Daughter" and "I Saw Daddy Hitting Santa Claus."

Another question: Must a cable channel be kid-appropriate all day long, or simply from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., when the FCC says children are generally watching TV? "There is no set standard," says Maureen Huff, a spokeswoman for Bresnan Communications, a White Plains, N.Y.-based cable operator that has committed to offering a family package to its roughly 300,000 customers.

So with all those caveats, what would be available on a family-friendly tier of about 15 channels? One cable programming executive said it would likely include channels such as Food Network, Home & Garden Television, some Discovery Communications Channels such as Animal Planet or Discovery Kids and some animation channels. Whether such a package would be appealing to lawmakers or consumers remains to be seen.

Already, the parent-advocacy groups that have argued most strongly for a la carte programming are dismissing the new family bundles. "It's not going to work. It's not the right answer. The only solution is to let parents decide what family-friendly programming is. I don't think Hollywood should decide for parents what they're family should see," says L. Brent Bozell, president of the Parents Television Council…”

There's no way ABC "Family" will stay on a family tier for long if they keep showing stuff like Alias.

Agreed.

Perhaps ABC should have changed the name of the channel.

Critic’s Notebook
The Journey of Leo McGarry

By Rich Heldenfels Akron Beacon Journal

''The West Wing'' has been about a lot of people. President Bartlet, a little-seen figure in the series pilot, has constantly stepped center-stage. Josh has had a lot of emotional moments, and I hope we haven't seen the last of Toby.

But when we sit down to write the complete history of ''The West Wing,'' Leo should be at the center.

We saw that again Sunday night, where Leo was featured not only as a vice-presidential candidate but as the ultimate Democratic party pro, always the smartest guy in the room when the issue is politics, the one man who can validate anyone and end any argument.

Yes, there is a huge fantasy at work in the show, including the idea that someone with Leo's terrible past could end up getting the vice-presidential candidate. But even that selection played off the notion that, if anyone had to hold the hand of an underdog and maverick presidential nominee in a rough campaign, then Leo was the one to do it.

Can't say I really liked Sunday's episode, and not just because I'm watching it HD, which has been brutal to Mary McCormack. Entertaining stuff here and there, including Josh's tortured expression and Barlet's phone tantrum.

And every time John Spencer, who plays Leo, gets onscreenw with Martin Sheen as Bartlet, it's just a joy to watch.

But the campaign stories are still much more interesting than anything the White House has going now; the show keeps having to pound war drums, like a real-life president trying to get attention by starting a war somewhere.

So for all the wedding business, I wanted to be back in the rooms with Josh and Santos -- and, of course, Leo.

http://blogs.ohio.com/beacon_tv/

If anyone thinks family friendly will take off in the procedural crime drama age we live in, I have one word for you : PAX!

More details on this sad story, posted earlier today:

"Daily Show" halts production following suicide

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - An employee of the Comedy Central program "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" has committed suicide, leading the network to suspend production of Monday night's episode of the program, a spokesman confirmed.

Bill Clarey, 25, took his own life over the weekend, according to the network. A former "Daily Show" intern, Clarey also worked as a receptionist at the program's offices in New York.

"Bill Clarey, a young staff member of 'The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,' passed away over the weekend. He was a wonderful and dedicated employee and all of us at Comedy Central and 'The Daily Show' are devastated by his loss. Our hearts and prayers go out to his family and friends," the network said in a statement.

Comedy Central has sent grief counselors to the "Daily Show" set to help its employees, sources said, who first learned of the suicide upon coming to work Monday. The network was scheduled to shoot a week's worth of new episodes before shutting down for the final two weeks of the year. The network will air a "Daily Show" repeat instead of the regularly scheduled episode.

http://channels.netscape.com/news/story.jsp?id=2005121218230002276547&dt=20051212182300&w=RTR&coview=

Cable Relents on Channels for the Family

By KEN BELSON and GERALDINE FABRIKANT The New York Times December 13, 2005

Yielding to pressure from regulators, lawmakers and interest groups, the country's biggest cable companies say they expect to introduce packages of family-friendly channels as early as the first quarter of 2006.

Kyle McSlarrow, the head of the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, which represents cable companies and programmers, told lawmakers yesterday that at least six cable companies, including the two largest, Comcast and Time Warner Cable, were developing packages of channels that would appeal to parents who want to shield their children from potentially offensive shows.

Mr. McSlarrow said each cable company would come up with its own family-oriented packages and that they would be purchased like other bundles. He did not say how much the bundles would cost and added that cable operators still must solve some technical problems and revisit their contracts with programmers.

The move is the latest effort by cable companies to head off pending legislation that might obligate them to block certain programming or sell channels to consumers on an à la carte basis. The cable industry has long opposed efforts to regulate its offerings and has argued that technology already in place lets parents filter out unwanted shows.

The industry has also fought calls from advocacy groups that want to pay only for the channels they want to watch. Cable operators say that the amount of programming would shrink if consumers bought only a few channels, because the most popular networks effectively subsidize the less popular ones.

But in recent weeks, Kevin J. Martin, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, and several congressmen have pressured the cable industry to remedy the concerns of advocacy groups that oppose sex, violence and profanity on the airwaves.

In acceding to that pressure, the cable industry may have addressed the decency debate that has percolated at least since Janet Jackson's breast was bared on national television during the halftime show at the 2004 Super Bowl. But the cable industry may have unwittingly taken a step toward offering more à la carte programming, not less.

The problem, industry analysts say, is that one home's definition of family-friendly programming can be very different from another's. One family, for instance, may want to buy a bundle of cartoons, while another may want religious programs and yet another may not want violent movies.

For now, cable companies are expected to devise a few types of family packages to appease them. But inevitably, advocacy groups and lawmakers are expected to push cable companies to give consumers even more options to pick their channels.

Yesterday's announcement was a move by the cable industry "to fend off à la carte for as long as possible and wrap itself in the flag of family friendliness," said Ford Cavallari, an analyst at Adventis, a telecommunications consultant. "But the fraying of the family-friendly package could lead to an à la carte world."

The Parents Television Council, one of the loudest voices calling for à la carte programming, yesterday called the industry's offer to introduce family-friendly tiers a "red herring." The industry would determine what is family friendly and their control would be the equivalent of "the fox guarding the henhouse," said L. Brent Bozell, council president.

Mr. Cavallari said the splintering of family packages was just one reason cable companies were likely to sell more programs on an à la carte basis in the future.

Already, major studios like Disney are selling individual programs for the Apple iPod. Yesterday, Sprint Nextel said it would start streaming full-length movies to its customers' mobile phones for $6.95 a month.

Cable operators overseas have introduced an à la carte model and found that they have not lost money and that viewers prefer it, Mr. Cavallari said.

Still, the cable industry and television channels, which have been trying for months to head off calls for à la carte programming, are unlikely to give in easily. Cable network executives say à la carte offerings would make it harder to develop niche programming because there would not be enough subscribers to pay the cost. "C-Span could not survive," said Paul Colichman, the chief executive of "Here," a subscription video-on-demand service for gays and lesbians. "It is one thing to have a gay and lesbian à la carte channel with a community that is wealthy enough to support it. But other minority groups may not be so fortunate."

Still, skeptics argue that à la carte service will not save consumers money because they will end up paying almost as much for a handful of individual channels as they would for a standard plan of 60 or 70 channels.

Other executives, including Ken Solomon, the chief executive of the Tennis Channel, say that consumers will not want to choose a few channels from a list of hundreds and will end up choosing an existing package, just as they do now.

"If consumers had to sit down and choose the channels themselves, they would end up overwhelmed and be confused about the choices," he said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/13/business/media/13cable.html?pagewanted=print

A Critical View:
“Nightline”: Like Gaul, Divided in 3 Parts

By Alessandra Stanley The New York Times

It is a little painful watching Cynthia McFadden, Terry Moran and Martin Bashir on ABC's new "Nightline." They look like Kerensky's provisional government right before the October Revolution - well meaning but doomed.

Probably sooner than later, the 11:35 slot that Ted Koppel held on to for 25 years is bound to fall to a late-night entertainment show. And now, there is no real reason to bemoan that loss.

The new "Nightline" isn't terrible, and some of the more recent segments have been quite good. But over all, the revised show is surprisingly ordinary, a flimsy, fast-moving magazine show like "20/20" that omits the kind of sustained, intelligent inquiry that turned Mr. Koppel's "Nightline" into a landmark.

Most nights, the half-hour is divided into three parts to give all three anchors a chance to be on air, which results in short, hurried segments - even on nights when one of them is off on assignment. There isn't much even Mr. Koppel could do in a five-minute interview, but his successors don't try very hard. Ms. McFadden kept looking down at what seemed to be notes during her perfunctory interview with Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

In the premiere show, Ms. McFadden appeared to cling to preselected questions about a new Vatican document banning homosexuals from ordination, even when one of her guests, a gay Roman Catholic priest, the Rev. Fred Daley, said, "And so, it's, I think, a sad day for the many gay priests and bishops and cardinals of the church who are struggling to live good lives."

Many gay cardinals? Really? It's the kind of remark that begs amplification, but Ms. McFadden was so wedded to her script and time limit she did not appear to even hear it.

ABC News clearly seeks security in numbers. Unable to decide on a single person with sufficient pizazz to replace Peter Jennings, who died last summer, the network settled on two anchors: Elizabeth Vargas and Bob Woodruff. It is a compliment to Mr. Koppel that his bosses figured it would take three people to replace him. But it was fuzzy math, because if Mr. Koppel proved anything it was that less is more. His was a bare-bones operation, with visual effects that were about as dazzling as radio. Yet Mr. Koppel had a gift for asking incisive questions in a conversational tone, then zeroing in on tendentious or contradictory replies with a sneaky follow-up question.

"Nightline's" new anchors are more like United Nations interpreters: they smoothly ask questions, nod knowingly at the reply, no matter how fatuous, then move onto the next topic on their scripts.

Mr. Moran, who began his first week reporting from Baghdad, tries a little harder, but not much more effectively. He recently did a portrait of the Iraqi deputy prime minister Ahmad Chalabi. Mr. Moran tried to prompt him to admit he misled the United States government about Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction, but lacked the time and determination to break the old pro's tough hide. Instead, he resorted to sarcasm. When Mr. Chalabi said, "We liberated Iraq," Mr. Moran snapped back: "We? You, and what army?"

Mr. Bashir, most famous for his unctuous, unsettling 2003 interview with Michael Jackson, has so far chosen to lie low, doing heartwarming feature pieces on a team of deaf football players and Christian themes in the movie "Narnia."

Some of the best reports have been from seasoned ABC correspondents. Last week, Brian Ross, ABC's chief investigative correspondent, was on "Nightline" with an exclusive look at a security-camera tape of a terrorist attack in 2004 on an American consulate in Saudi Arabia that took the lives of five consular employees. The contents of the tape and its significance could have easily filled the full half-hour.

Ms. McFadden experimented with a version of Mr. Koppel's famous town meetings, devoting last Friday's episode to "Mothers of the Fallen," a gathering of women whose sons have died in Iraq; some support the war, others do not.

There are few sights sadder than a bereaved parent, and Ms. McFadden did a good job of handling the raw emotion in the room, but she didn't quite match Mr. Koppel's skill at eliciting debate as well as feeling.

It is of course a bit churlish to compare newcomers to a revered predecessor; a bit like Mrs. Danvers snakily reminding the heroine of "Rebecca" that she is not at all like "the first Mrs. de Winter." But at its best, "Nightline" was different from all other shows. Now, it is too much like everything else.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/13/arts/television/13stan.html?pagewanted=print

TV critic Rich Heldenfels of the Akron Beacon Journal needs our input. Please email him with your suggestions.

(Personally, I'd ,love it if you would let him know you get to read him [and pretty regularly!] here at "Hot Off The Press".)

If you'd also send him the url, that would be really nice of you:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=440744

Now, enough with the plugs, here is his blog note asking for help:

Critic’s Notebook
Great Team Players

By Rich Heldenfels Akron Beacon Journal TV blog

I'm working on a list of great supporting performers on TV shows. Feel free to contribute in the comment section below. (And hello to everyone who has linked over from TV Tattle.)

Here are the rules. I'm not interested in lead characters, but supporting ones. So, if a show is called ''Everybody Hates Chris,'' don't suggest the guy who plays Chris.

I'm only interested in characters/actors on shows that premiered this year (for example, Neil Patrick Harris on ''How I Met Your Mother'') or brand-new characters in returning shows (example: Charisma Carpenter on ''Veronica Mars''). Although the people should work well in an ensemble, they get extra points if you're watching a show for them instead of for the lead.

Among the people I've been thinking about are Terry Crews and Tichina Arnold, who play Chris's parents on ''Everybody Hates Chris,'' Ethan Suplee and Jaime Pressly on ''My Name Is Earl,'' Harris, Jason Segel and Alyson Hannigan on ''How I Met Your Mother'' and Carpenter on ''Veronica Mars.'' Also, everyone on ''Kitchen Confidential'' except Bradley Cooper -- not that he's bad, just that he's the lead.

And yes, I know that there's a ''Buffy'' all-supporting squad there, with Hannigan, Carpenter and Nicholas Brendon from ''KC.'' You might even throw in David Boreanaz, who is very good on ''Bones,'' but is kind of a co-lead (prominently pictured in ''Bones'' promotional material). I'd give more consideration to Michaela Conlin, Eric Millegan and T.J. Thyne on the show.

You can either endorse some of those choices in your comments, or offer suggestions of your own. Please include why you're making your picks. I may then use some of your comments in the story -- duly credited, of course. You can also e-mail ideas to me at rheldenfels@thebeaconjournal.com.

http://blogs.ohio.com/beacon_tv/

Its time again for my periodic reminder of something I think you will really find interesting:

Check It Out!

If you haven’t yet heard AVS Radio, which offers two new shows a week, what are you waiting for?

It is produced by The HTGuys for AVS Forum and offers news, interviews, and HT topics that are sure to make you a weekly listener.

This week show is described by AVS Founder David Bott:

"We have talked a lot about our desire to store our media content on a central server and deliver it to other areas of the home. Solutions exist that can get the job done but they are usually very expensive. Today we highlight four reasonably priced products that claim to be able play audio and video from a network connected PC (or Mac)."

So now that your interest has hopefully been piqued, grab the headphones, sit back and click here to listen:

http://www.htguys.com/audio/2005/HDTV-2005-12-12.mp3

Critic’s Notebook
Midseason's greetings!

By Marisa Guthrie The New York Daily News Monday, December 12th, 2005

It's midseason, and the broadcast networks are gearing up for their second acts - good news for viewers, because it brings relief from the scourge of reruns that can clog the winter months.

The midseason is when networks pull tired series, rest the strong ones for later in the year and try shows to anchor next fall.

Here's a sample of what's ahead:

A B C
• "Dancing With the Stars," Jan. 5, 8 p.m. Despite producers' promises of A-list talent, the contestants for the second cycle of this show are suspiciously similar in pedigree to those of the first season. This time we'll watch Tatum O'Neal, Jerry Rice, George Hamilton, Tia Carrere, Nick Lachey's younger brother Drew, Lisa Rinna, Giselle Fernandez, the WWE's Stacy Keibler, ESPN's Kenny Mayne and rap star Romeo.

• "Crumbs," Jan. 12, 9:30 p.m. Jane Curtin and William Devane play divorced parents of grown sons (Fred Savage and Eddie McClintock). Did we mention that Mom has recently been released from psychiatric care?

• "Emily's Reasons Why Not," Jan. 9, 9 p.m. Heather Graham stars as as a quirky single woman whose bad choices in men have given her a major case of commitment-phobia.

• "In Justice," Jan. 1, 10 p.m. Kyle MacLachlan plays an oily lawyer on the righteous side of the system, working to free the wrongly convicted.

C B S

• "Love Monkey," Jan. 17, 10 p.m. Tom Cavanagh plays a a music executive who finds that dating in New York City is not for the faint of heart.

• "The Jenna Elfman Show," Jan. 23, 9:30 p.m. Elfman plays a single workaholic trying to figure out what goes on in the minds of the men in her life, including Dad (Dabney Coleman).

N B C

• "Four Kings," Jan. 5, 8:30. This sitcom stars Seth Green, Shane McRae, Josh Cooke and Todd Grinnell as friends sharing a big house in New York

• "Book of Daniel," Jan. 6, 9 p.m. This limited-run series stars Aidan Quinn as an Episcopalian minister with a ne'er-do-well brother, a gay son and a monkey on his back. He also talks to a guy calling himself Jesus. The show has a two-hour premiere.

UPN

• "South Beach," Jan. 11, 8 p.m. Jennifer Lopez adds TV-series producer to her résumé with this drama. It chronicles the adventures of pals Marcus Coloma and Chris Johnson, who ditch grimy Brooklyn for sizzling Miami.

• "Get This Party Started," Jan. 24, 9 p.m. Kristin Cavallari ("Laguna Beach") is milking her 15 minutes, hosting this reality show with Ethan Erickson ("Extra"). The two shadow an elite team of event planners as they seek out deserving folks in dire need of a party. Call it "Extreme Makeover: Keg-Stand Edition."

Fox

• "Skating With Celebrities," Jan. 23, 8 p.m. The only truly new midseason offering on Fox will be the "Dancing With the Stars" ripoff on ice, which starts on a Monday but moves to Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on Jan. 25.

• "24" and "American Idol" return in January, and "Prison Break" comes back in March.

The WB


• "Beauty and the Geek," Jan. 12, 9 p.m. A new crop of pocket-protector-wearing pointyheads gets a chance to rub shoulders with intellectually challenged pretties when this reality show returns to the WB.

The network has yet to announce premiere dates for "Bedford Diaries," about college students in a sexuality class; "Pepper Dennis," starring Rebecca Romijn as a bungling television reporter; the Jerry Bruckheimer comedy "Modern Men," and the Jane Leeves sitcom "Misconceptions."

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/v-pfriendly/story/373914p-317876c.html

Dick Wolf lightens the legal load

By Nellie Andreeva The Hollywood Reporter Dec. 13, 2005

"Law & Order" chief Dick Wolf is taking a lighter approach to the legal system, teaming with "My Wife & Kids" co-creator Don Reo for a comedy project for NBC.

Former prosecutor Marcia Clark of O.J. Simpson trial fame and writer-producer Cathy LePard (WB Network's "7th Heaven") also are attached to the show, produced by Wolf Films and NBC Universal Television Studio.

The half-hour, which has received a script commitment, is set at a small courthouse in the Los Angeles area and centers on a hot up-and-coming prosecutor sent there by the district attorney who perceives her as threat and a public defender who has seen better days.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/television/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001659060

“Bones” star aims for realism

By William Keck USA TODAY

NEWHALL, Calif. -As non-stop gunfire pounds eardrums at the Oak Tree Gun Club, a firing range 40 minutes north of Los Angeles, a handsome father lifts his unflinching 31/2-year-old son up onto his shoulders. "This is a hobby," he tells the boy as he points to the shooters. "These gentleman are safe and responsible adults."

Dad is 36-year-old TV heartthrob David Boreanaz, who played Sarah Michelle Gellar's bloodsucking lover boy, Angel, for seven years on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its Angel spinoff. Boreanaz now helps identify bodies and catch killers as FBI special agent Seeley Booth on Fox's Bones (Tuesday, 8 ET/PT).

Like Angel, who once terrorized Europe as a murderous vampire, Booth, a former government sniper, is atoning for past sins. His intention: to catch as many murderers as the number of lives he took.

As Boreanaz's son, Jaden, climbs rocks under the supervision of Boreanaz's nanny, assistant and publicist, the actor takes position behind a barricade and aims a .40-caliber Glock 35 handgun at a target. To authenticate his role, Boreanaz trains with real-life homicide detective Mike Grasso of Nine-One-One film technical advisers.

Grasso, who also has helped Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone and Nicolas Cage fire guns, says, "Schwarzenegger can really shoot, but David has picked it up faster than everybody else."

As Grasso positions Boreanaz's body, he tells him, "Bring your elbow into your body and straighten out your left leg. ... You want a minimum amount of your body exposed to the target."

"The whole trick," Grasso explains, "is for David to look like he's got 15 years' experience doing this. The gun should just be second nature."

Tuesday night's (Dec. 13th) episode of Bones will introduce Booth's 4-year-old son, Parker. To up the stakes during training, Grasso advised Boreanaz to envision a scenario in which his own son was in jeopardy. Primed with that discomforting incentive, Boreanaz hit his target dummy between the eyebrows for the first time. "Mike made it personal for me," Boreanaz says. "I was shaking the gun a lot more, but it worked."

Boreanaz is trying to ensure that Jaden adopts the same values he learned growing up in Philadelphia with his TV weatherman dad, Dave, and mom, Patti. "I want to teach him, like my father taught me, to respect people and be responsible. Bringing him here today is not about going to a shooting range; it's about being with his dad."

On several occasions, Boreanaz has had to stand up in public to protect the honor of Jaden's mom: Boreanaz's wife of four years, Jaime Bergman, 30, a former Playboy Playmate and St. Pauli Beer girl who now works as a Prudential real estate agent and comedian. They met five years ago at a Valentine's Day party. If anyone disrespects her, Boreanaz says, he "deals with it as any Italian would. I fight with fists, not guns. I'm a lover, not a fighter."

But Boreanaz has not ruled out the possibility of purchasing a gun for personal protection. "Doing this role is research in getting an understanding of how comfortable I am with a gun in my hand. You want to protect your family from anything that comes into your home so that your child is there the next day and not an intruder."

http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2005-12-12-boreanaz_x.htm

The TV Column
Cable, Getting in a Family-Friendly Way

By Lisa de Moraes The Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, December 13, 2005; C07

File under Irony: On the day that six of the country's cable operators, including one of its largest, announced they would offer "family-friendly" tiers of networks to subscribers by spring, the numbers came out on WB's broadcast of the Seventh Annual Family Television Awards.

Not pretty.

It was very likely the least watched original broadcast of last week. Though, in fairness, its audience of 2.6 million is up considerably from last year's 1.6 million.

The Family Television Awards are put on by a bunch of advertisers who call themselves the Family Friendly Forum and give seed money to develop scripts for programming they deem family friendly.

The effort has resulted in some successful shows, such as "The Gilmore Girls," but also some ratings stinkers, such as "Savages," about a single dad trying, without much result, to raise his sons, and "Clubhouse," about a teenage boy who takes a job as a batboy for a professional baseball team in New York.

This year's honorees included Reba McEntire, star of WB's "Reba"; Jim Belushi, of ABC's "According to Jim"; ABC's drama series "Lost"; CBS's comedy "King of Queens" (still chuckling over that episode in which Kevin James accidentally stapled the family-friendly jewels to his leg); WB's prime-time soap "7th Heaven"; UPN's "Everybody Hates Chris"; CBS's reality series "Amazing Race" (which got lots of press earlier this year when contestant Jonathan Baker routinely abused his wife verbally and shoved her when she picked up his backpack, causing her to stumble); and the TNT teleflick "The Wool Cap. "

Yesterday, Time Warner Cable was among the companies that said they would offer "family choice" tiers, probably by spring. Comcast, the other of the country's two largest cable operators, said yesterday it was mulling the whole family-friendly-tier thing.

These cable companies are going to offer, or are considering, the tier concept in hopes it will calm some in the government who advocate allowing viewers to order cable networks "a la carte."

The news was unveiled in Washington to the Senate Commerce Committee by Kyle McSlarrow, president and CEO of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, which is the trade group for the big cable industry.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Comedy Central, looking for ways to create the missing "bumpers" for the aborted third season of "Chappelle's Show," may ask some people who appeared on the show to fill in for the comic.

Traditionally, Dave Chappelle appeared onstage to kick off each episode. But none of those bumpers had been shot for the third season before Chappelle took a powder.

So the cable network is pondering whether to do "Chappelle's missing" bumpers, using show regulars. Among those being discussed: Chappelle's writing partner Neal Brennan and Charlie "Eddie's Brother" Murphy.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Good news, you 20 fans of ABC's "Night Stalker." Touchstone -- the TV producing division of Disney, which also owns ABC -- has sold rerun rights to the seven episodes the broadcast network already aired to cable's Sci Fi Channel.

Here's the good part: Sci Fi also gets to premiere the three as-yet-unseen episodes.

Here's the bad part: starting next summer.

Here's the badder part: If, by episode No. 10, you expect answers to any of the show's pressing questions -- Who or what is committing these heinous crimes? Why do some victims end up with a strange red mark in the shape of a snake on their hands? Why does Kolchak always have a sexy if skeptical fellow reporter in tow? (oh wait, we can actually answer that one) -- think again.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Martha Stewart has gone down in flames in prime time but will live on in daytime syndication.

"Martha" will be back for a second season in the fall, NBC Universal announced yesterday, having already sold it to markets accounting for more than 90 percent of the country.

"The spontaneity of working in front of a participatory audience is exciting for me and the viewers," Stewart said in a prepared statement that oozed spontaneity and excitement.

"In addition, I have the pleasurable challenge of teaching many new things to a daytime audience, which craves great solutions, ideas, recipes and crafts."

Lacking the pleasurable challenge of teaching the prime-time audience great solutions, ideas, recipes and crafts, Martha's edition of ”The Apprentice" flopped, averaging fewer than 7 million viewers a week. It will be put out of our misery Dec. 21.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

ABC News has named "This Week" anchor George Stephanopoulos its chief Washington correspondent.

This means he will show up more often on "World News Tonight," "Nightline" and "Good Morning America."

He will also oversee the network's coverage of Congress; reporter Linda Douglass, who had that responsibility, is leaving that post.

But most important, ABC News was pitching yesterday, the new title gives Stephanopoulos the same stature as his Sunday morning competitors. Bob Schieffer is chief Washington correspondent for CBS News and Tim Russert is Washington bureau chief for NBC News.

Now if he can just get in line with his Sunday morning competitors' ratings.

"This Week" finishes third in the ratings, but division President David Westin noted to the Associated Press that the show had its best November sweeps performance in three years. Which is interesting because we thought that over at ABC News, they didn't even know when the sweeps were.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/12/AR2005121201564_pf.html

Nice to see you posting again-- it has been a while -- I though we might have lost you!Nah. I've just been too busy watching TV :-)

Xesdeeni

Verizon Pops Texas Six-Pack

By Linda Haugsted Multichannel.com

Parts of six more Texas communities will see the launch of Verizon Communications Inc.'s Verizon FiOS TV Monday.

The telephone company is expanding into areas of communities closest to its initial market, Keller. Areas that can order service as of Monday are northern Carrollton, eastern Coppell, central Flower Mound, northern Fort Worth, northern Irving and central Lewisville.

Verizon said it will now pass 400,000 north Texas households by the end of 2006, or 33% of its landline customers in the state.

New markets in 2006 will be Allen, Colleyville, Denton, Double Oak, Garland, Grapevine, Hebron, Highland Village, Lucas, Murphy, Parker, Plano, Rowlett, Sachse (where the rollout is governed by a local franchise negotiated before this year's passage of statewide operating authority), Southlake, St. Paul, Westlake (also locally franchised) and Wylie.

The actual launch times will be based on local completion of the telco's fiber-to-the-premises network in each community.I don't have broadband at home yet [cue for everyone to gasp in horror]. I'm in one of the communities listed above, so FiOS is an option. But at $35/mo (for 5 Mbps), it's difficult to justify the cost when I go many days without even turning on my computer at home (when you use it all day at work, you tend to spend more time with your family at home).

Anyway, I'm curious whether the alleged 400,000 number is the number of homes that COULD get FiOS, or the number that DO get it.

And we'll see what kind of reaction I get from Verizon when I try to sign up for DSL at $15/mo (768Kbps, but still 15x what I get now with dialup). One of the notes in the FiOS info says they'll upgrade your land-line to fiber optics when you sign up for FiOS. There's no discount or other benefit, so why do I care?

Xesdeeni

So I tried to record The Grinch that Stole Christmas on the Cartoon Network last night. According to my TV guide (small g, from the newspaper), here in this thread, and on the PVR's schedule grid, it started at 7:00PM (central time). When I checked the recording, it was ending. They showed it at 6:30PM instead! Weird!

Xesdeeni

...Anyway, I'm curious whether the alleged 400,000 number is the number of homes that COULD get FiOS, or the number that DO get it...Xesdeeni

Homes passed is a term that means potential customers, not actual.

Critic’s Notebook
Much to watch...

By Ellen Gray Philadelphia Daily News Posted on Tue, Dec. 13, 2005

So much TV, so little time:

• Yet another thing we learned from CBS' "Survivor": No matter how hungry you are, you never eat the sacrificial chicken.

Or at least don't be the one who suggests eating it.

Yes, disrespected Mayan deities, not the contestants whose bodies she stepped over on her way to the final two, cost Glenolden, Delaware County, native Stephenie LaGrossa "Survivor's" $1 million top prize on Sunday night.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

• Speaking of Stephenie, I'm with Newark Star-Ledger critic Alan Sepinwall, who last week begged, in an "open letter" to "Survivor" exec producer Mark Burnett, that he "please, please, please never bring back another former contestant to compete a second time, because it always makes me like them less."

Couldn't have said it better (OK, I might have been less polite), but after Sunday, I somehow doubt it's going to be a problem ever again.

True, Steph's "Survivor: Palau" disappointments took on a different cast in "Survivor: Guatemala" - could she be (gasp) just a sore loser? - but if she thought she had a target on her back this time, just imagine what would happen to the next returnee, now that someone with a second chance has actually made it to the final two.

• "Survivor" contestant I'd least like to see recycled: North Jersey hotel doorman - and all-around boor - Judd Sergeant.

• NBC's "The West Wing," once one of the most popular shows on television, has morphed into one of those pitiful "best shows you're not watching" since moving from Wednesdays.

Still, on any given Sunday night, it's a pretty good hour, of which several minutes were devoted this week to the political rite of passage known as the Philly cheesesteak.

No mention of Pat's or Geno's, but at least candidate Matt Santos (Jimmy Smits) was warned to skip the Swiss - there's Swiss? - and go for the Cheez Whiz.

It might have been better, though, if the writers had also skipped the reference to Eagles fans.

Or saved it for a better year.

• I don't think I can repeat Tina Fey's "Saturday Night Live Weekend Update" line about "Brokeback Mountain," but I did get a kick out of the Upper Darby High grad blaming it on Dad: "That joke was sent to me by my 72-year-old father, Don Fey."

Go, Don.

• I haven't watched much "SNL" this season - more and more it feels like a party where I don't know anyone - but Saturday's show was a perfect example of why they keep asking host Alec Baldwin back: He's not only funnier than most hosts, but when he's there, everyone around him seems funnier, too.

• Can't stop watching ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" (no relation, really). And even when I'm asking myself if it's possible for surgical residents to hook up this often - and in the hospital, no less - I'm believing everything I see because of Dr. Miranda "The Nazi" Bailey (Chandra Wilson), whose on-the-job pregnancy should have working mothers everywhere wincing in recognition.

Given what they're up to on "ER" these days, she may be the only TV doctor we can still trust.

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/entertainment/television//13394815.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

Well, count me as a potential, but not an actual. I should have guessed that if they offer FiOS, they wouldn't also offer DSL (although their web page indicated they did). So it's $35/mo or no broadband. I guess 50Kbps it is.

I let their sales rep know I'd be interested in a slower and cheaper tier, and I e-mailed them the same feedback. I specifically mentioned that while $35/mo is certainly competitive with the alternatives, that's not who they are competing with for my $$$. They need to compete with my judgement of cost vs. worth (use). $15 sounded great. $20 would be OK. I might even deal with $25, depending on the speed. But $35/mo for their service, or $40/mo for cable, no matter how fast, isn't worth it to me. I have broadband and a CD burner at work, and I have dialup at home.

Xesdeeni

Times Square In HD!
Happy 2006, High Def Fans!

(ABC Press Release)

Mariah Carey, No. 1 Artist of 2005 Makes History by Becoming First Singer to Perform Live from New York on the Program Since “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” Inception 34 Years Ago

History will be made when international superstar Mariah Carey performs live from Times Square on “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve 2006,” SATURDAY, DECEMBER 31 on the ABC Television Network. Her performance will mark the first time in the 34-year history of the program that a singer will perform from the famed New York landmark, before nearly a million fans in Times Square and millions more across the nation. Ms. Carey will join hosts Dick Clark and Ryan Seacrest as the final minutes of the year are counted down, climaxed by the traditional ball drop.

What a way to cap off an amazing year! This year’s eight-time Grammy Award nominee, Mariah Carey is riding high on the success of her five-times RIAA platinum album, ”The Emancipation of Mimi,” which has sold more than seven million copies around the world and spun off three smash hit No. 1 singles -- “We Belong Together,” “Shake It Off” and “Don't Forget About Us.” In early September,

Mariah made music history when she became the first female lead artist in the 47 years of the Billboard Hot 100 ever to occupy the No. 1 and No. 2 chart positions in the same week, with “We Belong Together” and “Shake It Off,” respectively. With 16 No. 1 career singles to her credit, Mariah is the only active artist with the hit-making potential to match or surpass the all-time records of the Beatles (with 20 No. 1’s) and Elvis Presley (18 No. 1’s).

Also appearing on the show is actress/recording star Hilary Duff who will preside over segments of the show from Hollywood and introduce top recording artists The Bangles, Chris Brown, Sean Paul, The Pussycat Dolls, Sugarland, 3 Doors Down and 311. Duff will also perform. Additionally, “Good Morning America Weekend’s” Marysol Castro will report on other happenings in and around NYC.

ABC’s special holiday programming that evening will include “Dick Clark’s Primetime New Year’s Rockin’ Eve 2006,” which will air from 10:00-11:00 p.m. (ET & PT), with “live” reports on the festivities in Times Square, a look back at the past year and highlights of some of the year’s biggest concert tours, including Duran Duran and Green Day. That will be followed by “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve 2006, Part 1,” which airs from 11:35 p.m. – 1:05 a.m. (ET & PT) and features performances by all of the musical talent. Wrapping the night’s activities will be “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve 2006, Part 2,” which airs from 1:05 a.m. – 2:05 a.m. (ET & PT), featuring more hit songs from the musical acts.

The specials are presentations of dick clark productions, inc. Dick Clark, Allen Shapiro and Ryan Seacrest are the executive producers. Larry Klein produces and Barry Glazer directs. New York segments are directed by Bob McKinnon. Writer is Barry Adelman. Production designer is Bruce Ryan. Executive in charge of production is Bob Bardo. Executive in charge of talent is Amy Striebel. Fran La Maina is executive in charge. The specials will be broadcast in HDTV with stereo sound and Spanish subtitles via secondary closed captioning.

Awards Season
Golden Globe TV Nominations

From the 2005 NOMINATIONS PRESS RELEASE here are the nominees in the TV categories:

The 63rd Annual Golden Globe Awards will take place Monday, January 16, 2006 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel with a live telecast airing on NBC at 8 PM ET (tape delayed in the west). Here are this year’s nominees in the television categories:

BEST TELEVISION SERIES - DRAMA
a. COMMANDER IN CHIEF (ABC)
b. GREY’S ANATOMY (ABC)
c. LOST (ABC)
d. PRISON BREAK (FOX)
e. ROME (HBO)

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES - DRAMA
a. PATRICIA ARQUETTE MEDIUM
b. GLENN CLOSE THE SHIELD
c. GEENA DAVIS COMMANDER IN CHIEF
d. KYRA SEDGWICK THE CLOSER
e. POLLY WALKER ROME

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES - DRAMA
a. PATRICK DEMPSEY GREY’S ANATOMY
b. MATTHEW FOX LOST
c. HUGH LAURIE HOUSE
d. WENTWORTH MILLER PRISON BREAK
e. KIEFER SUTHERLAND 24

BEST TELEVISION SERIES - MUSICAL OR COMEDY
a. CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM (HBO)
b. DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES (ABC)
c. ENTOURAGE (HBO)
d. EVERYBODY HATES CHRIS (UPN)
e. MY NAME IS EARL (NBC)
f. WEEDS (SHOWTIME).

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES - MUSICAL OR COMEDY
a. MARCIA CROSS DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES
b. TERI HATCHER DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES
c. FELICITY HUFFMAN DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES
d. EVA LONGORIA DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES
e. MARY-LOUISE PARKER WEEDS

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES - MUSICAL OR COMEDY
a. ZACH BRAFF SCRUBS
b. STEVE CARELL THE OFFICE
c. LARRY DAVID CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM
d. JASON LEE MY NAME IS EARL
e. CHARLIE SHEEN TWO AND A HALF MEN

BEST MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
a. EMPIRE FALLS (HBO)
b. INTO THE WEST (TNT)
c. LACKAWANNA BLUES (HBO)
d. SLEEPER CELL (SHOWTIME)
e. VIVA BLACKPOOL (BBC AMERICA)
f. WARM SPRINGS (HBO)

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MINI-SERIES OR A MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
a. HALLE BERRY THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD
b. KELLY MacDONALD THE GIRL IN THE CAFÉ
c. S. EPATHA MERKERSON LACKAWANNA BLUES
d. CYNTHIA NIXON WARM SPRINGS
e. MIRA SORVINO HUMAN TRAFFICKING

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MINI-SERIES OR A MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
a. KENNETH BRANAGH WARM SPRINGS
b. ED HARRIS EMPIRE FALLS
c. JONATHAN RHYS MEYERS ELVIS
d. BILL NIGHY THE GIRL IN THE CAFÉ
e. DONALD SUTHERLAND HUMAN TRAFFICKING

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A SERIES, MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
a. CANDICE BERGEN BOSTON LEGAL
b. CAMRYN MANHEIM ELVIS
c. SANDRA OH GREY’S ANATOMY
d. ELIZABETH PERKINS WEEDS
e. JOANNE WOODWARD EMPIRE FALLS

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A SERIES, MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
a. NAVEEN ANDREWS LOST
b. PAUL NEWMAN EMPIRE FALLS
c. JEREMY PIVEN ENTOURAGE
d. RANDY QUAID ELVIS
e. DONALD SUTHERLAND COMMANDER IN CHIEF

http://www.hfpa.org/news/id/13

Critic’s Notebook
Interrupted seasons can be annoying, can't they?

By Mike Brantley Mobile Register Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Invariably, just when you get into the groove of a favorite TV show, along comes a few weeks of reruns to douse your interest and frustrate your newly re-established viewing habits.

As I explained to a inquiring reader who telephoned me the other day with worry that her favorite show had been canceled, they only make 22 of these things in a year -- at most. By my count, that's 30 weeks without fresh episodes for most shows. It's worse on cable, where an original series may deliver barely more than a baker's dozen of new episodes in a season and the gaps between seasons can stretch beyond a year.

Just ask anyone awaiting the new episodes of "The Sopranos." (They're coming in March on HBO.)

But I know it's frustrating to have so many preemptions and reruns during the course of a season. I'd like to watch a new episode of ABC's "Commander in Chief" tonight, for example, but there won't be another one on the air until Jan. 15.

At least you can figure on reruns being banished during the ratings sweeps months of November, February and May. The summer sweeps period during July is less predictable.

One thing good about the cable model, though: The seasons, while frequently too short and too far apart, are seldom interrupted by anything less than a major holiday. When "The Sopranos" finally does resume a prime-time schedule of new installments, we'll be able to gorge on them over a three-month period.

Sometimes broadcasters follow part of the cable model, and I like it when they do. I'm thinking of Fox's "24," an always-thrilling drama that is heightened when its episodes are televised without preemption. Following the pattern for this show established by Fox in the past, the new season of "24," when it begins next month, will air without any annoying weeks off.

Here, in fact, is the plan: The fifth season of "24" -- which will chronicle in real time another harrowing day in the life of Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) -- will start with a four-hour, two-night season premiere on Sunday, Jan. 8 and Monday, Jan. 9. The second hour on Jan. 9 will be the series' 100th episode, by the way.

Thereafter, the series will then unfold on a weekly basis, at 8 p.m. Mondays, without repeats or preemptions all the way until the season finale.

I like the plan, and I don't mind a months-long wait before a possible sixth season of "24," as there will be other shows to watch in the interim. "Deadwood" on HBO will be back next summer, for instance. When it's finished, along with whatever else of interest will come our way around then, I'll be ready to move on to some other set of shows for the fall.

Meanwhile, my Tuesday night is disrupted while Geena Davis as President Mackenzie Allen is not in the Oval Office. When the show resumes next month, I'll have to work a little bit to get back into its groove.

http://www.al.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/entertainment/113446914920540.xml&coll=3

Monday’s prime-time ratings – and Media Week Analyst Marc Berman’s analysis of what they mean -- have been posted at the top of Ratings News the second post in this thread.

Overnights
Sad song for NBC's Elton John special

By Diego Vasquez MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Dec 13, 2005

Network TV concert specials haven’t done particularly well this holiday season. Just ask Faith Hill, Kenny Chesney, and now Elton John.

His NBC special “Elton John: The Red Piano” averaged just a 2.5 overnight rating among viewers 18-49 in the 8 p.m. timeslot last night, down significantly from “Surface,” which usually airs in that timeslot.

“Red Piano” was off 17 percent versus a 3.0 overnight average for the last four original episodes of “Surface,” and the show had improved in each of those four weeks.

The concert special wasn’t lacking in holiday glitz. NBC used 36 high-definition cameras to capture John’s Las Vegas stage show. But that wasn’t enough to pique the interest of viewers, who similarly shunned country stars Faith Hill and Kenny Chesney last month in separate specials the night before Thanksgiving.

On that night, Chesney’s ABC special averaged a 2.6 overnight rating in the 8 p.m. timeslot on ABC, leading into “Lost,” while Hill’s averaged just a 1.9 on NBC during the 9 p.m. slot, head-to-head with “Lost.”

This does not seem to bode well for John’s recently released new Christmas album, “Elton John’s Christmas Party.” It includes John’s favorite songs from other artists, such as Bruce Springsteen, as well as a new duet between him and Joss Stone entitled “Calling It Christmas.”

http://medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/printer_1821.asp

Critic’s Notebook
Schieffer hoping CBS names Couric his successor

By Gail Shister Philadelphia Inquirer Columnist

In today's installment of "As Katie Couric Turns," Bob Schieffer says he's wild about the Today star.

Schieffer, "interim" anchor of CBS Evening News since March, would do a happy dance if the network signed Couric as his successor when her NBC contract expires in May.

Couric "is a big-time journalist. I'm hoping we can get her," says Schieffer, scheduled to anchor Evening News from the National Constitution Center tomorrow, eve of the world premiere there of the traveling Ben Franklin exhibition. (CBS's KYW is a sponsor.)

Like his new boss, Sean McManus, and his boss, Les Moonves, Schieffer waxes rhapsodic over Couric.

"She's a great interviewer, people know who she is, and she has enormous credibility. People believe her. They take her seriously. She's also a very nice person to have around this place. She would make us a better news department."

After months of post-Memogate turmoil, "things are finally starting to move, at long last," says Schieffer, 68. "I can see a light at the end of the tunnel... . It will only be a matter of months before we get all the pieces in place."

The key piece, of course, is Couric. Many think that at 48, she's the right person to compete against NBC's Brian Williams and ABC's newly named Elizabeth Vargas and Bob Woodruff - all fortysomethings.

Timing is crucial. Mired in third place for a decade, Evening News is just starting to show signs of Nielsen life, and CBS wants to capitalize on that momentum.

McManus, also head of CBS Sports, has said repeatedly that he's going after anybody and everybody in the industry. Schieffer compares his zeal for on-air talent to that of legendary ABC News-Sports czar Roone Arledge, McManus' mentor.

"When Roone got David Brinkley [from NBC], he didn't know what to do with him. He just wanted him on the team. Then he reinvented Sunday television [with This Week]. Sean's the very same kind of leader. He's a player.

"This is just like baseball. When you send out the word that you're going after big-salary players, it means you're serious about trying to win the World Series. That's the feeling around here."

In Schieffer's view, TV news has evolved to the point where gender isn't a factor in choosing a solo anchor. (Like CBS would be this hot for Ken Couric? Right.)

"It's no longer a case of whether it's a man or a woman. It's who it is.... Putting together the best news team is not about formats. You get the best people you can find, and the format evolves out of that."

Anchor (or anchors) aside, Schieffer says that younger correspondents such as Lara Logan, Trish Regan, Lee Cowan, Byron Pitts and Jim Axelrod will play "a major role" in the revamped broadcast.

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/entertainment/television//13393380.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

Cable industry: Look, our family menu
Offering Congress an alternative to a la carte

By Greg Siedschlag for MediaLifeMagazine.comDec 13, 2005

Mention a la carte in Washington, and most people's thoughts turn to dinner. The cable industry's thoughts turn to panic.

A la carte is a thinly veiled code word for Congress's lastest stratagem for forcing the industry to cleanse its channels of sex and violence. Under a la carte, consumers would be able to subscribe to individual channels, rather than the full load of basic channels. It would mean economic mayhem for cable providers.

Yesterday, intent on siderailing al a carte, a representative for six major cable operators appeared before Congress to propose a new cable offering, a family tier of programming. Subscribers would received only networks with squeaky clean, or nearly squeaky clean, programming.

The move by the cable industry, led by Time Warner and Comcast, would effectively negate any call or need for a la carte, while essentially ending any push to regulate cable in the fashion of the broadcast networks.

At first blush, it looks like it worked. Kevin Martin, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission and an open critic of sex and violence on TV, promptly issued a statement:

"For several years, I have been urging the cable and satellite industry to give parents additional tools to help them address the increasing amount of coarse programming on television. Offering a family-friendly package has always been one of the options I supported."

That cable industry's family plan would put family-friendly networks such as Nickelodeon, Disney and the like all into one package while eliminating usual cable package stalwarts such as MTV and FX, which many parents do not want their kids exposed to.

The plan, which could be available as early as next quarter, would give parents the power to stop objectionable networks from entering their homes, an option not currently available with most cable packages.

The wisdom of an a la carte option has been debated in Washington for months, arising out of last year’s indecency flap and championed by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), among others.

The plan of course introduces a whole range of new questions, such as who determines what is and isn’t kiddie-friendly content. Details of the plan have yet to be worked out.

Yesterday’s family tier plan was revealed by Kyle McSlarrow, president of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, before the Senate Commerce Committee, whose chairman, Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) has been one of the strongest critics of the cable industry.

He and others in Washington, including the FCC's Martin, seemed very pleased with the plan, but another hearing is slated for Jan. 19, when cable operators will appear to explain how the plan would work.

Still, it is difficult to imagine that there will be any new revelations in this hearing and there are many questions ahead, despite the apparent compromise.

For starters, who will determine what’s family friendly? Many cable networks are difficult to define as strictly family or adult in nature. Networks such as Nickelodeon or Discovery Kids are easily placed in the former category, and MTV and Comedy Central are just as easily placed in the latter.

There are also networks like HGTV and the Food Network that offer adult programming that is non-offensive and family-friendly. These are all quite easy to classify.

But there are also other networks, Cartoon Network, TNT and even ABC Family come to mind, that fall in a vast expanse of middle ground, offering more mature programming at night. They will be far harder to classify.

The family tier, while seemingly a well-intentioned idea, lacks the one appeal of a la carte, which is the opportunity for parents to determine what is offensive and what is not. Congress may embrace the family tier. The question is whether families will.

Similarly, parents who do choose the tier will in many cases have to give up their own favorite networks. Will they actually do it?

In the end, though, that might not matter all that much. Simply by offering the tier, the cable industry will be removing a huge public burden, and so will Congress if it goes along. Both will be able to point to the choice consumers didn't have before.

http://medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_1820.asp

Critic’s Notebook
Still game despite loss

By Richard Huff New York Daily News TV Editor Tuesday, December 13th, 2005

Stephenie LaGrossa said "Survivor" was made for her.

She should know.

Sunday night, she came thisclose to winning the $1 million prize for "Survivor - Guatemala" and that was her second time on the show.

"It's a mental game," LaGrossa told The Daily News yesterday. "I'm very strong mentally. I love to compete physically. I grew up with all boys, I was a tomboy my whole life. I love trying new adventures."

Boy, does she.

LaGrossa, "Survivor" buffs will recall, appeared in "Survivor: Pulau," and stood out because at one point she was the only member of her tribe still in the game. In fact, in one episode she was left outside, over night, alone.

Soon after that show ended - she didn't make it to the finals in Palau - producer Mark Burnett called asking if she wanted to go to Guatemala.

"People don't get the opportunity to be on one," she said. "I was lucky enough to be asked. I didn't get far enough the first time. 'Survivor' was a game made for me."

When filming for the show was complete last summer, only LaGrossa, a former pharmaceutical sales representative who lives in Toms River, N.J. and Danni Boatwright, a Kansas sports radio host, remained. More than 21 million viewers saw Boatwright crowned the latest "Survivor" Sunday.

The back-to-back shows presented LaGrossa with a huge physical challenge, though. Before Palau, she tried to bulk up on muscle. During the show, she lost a ton of weight, some of which she recovered before going to Guatemala.

"It's a roller coaster - physically, mentally and emotionally," she said. "Your body is completely up and down."

She lost about 15 pounds during production in Guatemala. She also took home $100,000 as runnerup.

"I've already put back on 25 pounds," she said, adding she's still recovering from the trip.

"I'm still really bad with the whole food thing," she said. "I have a ton of scarring from all the big bites."

As for the future, LaGrossa doesn't expect to appear on any other reality shows. Well, almost none.

"My plan is not to be a reality-show junkie," she said, noting she would entertain a shot at "Amazing Race."

Away from TV, she has become a partner in swimwear and sports apparel company called 2B Brazil, she has signed with an agent for speaking engagements and, there's likely a wedding within the next year.

That said, she'll still have to deal with the fans who recognize her from being on the popular reality show.

"It's so weird," she said. "I'm just a regular person. It's fun, so much fun, but sometimes you just want to get in and out of Target."

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/ent_radio/v-pfriendly/story/374172p-318082c.html

The cable offer seems to be meeting with some wariness.
Here is how Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal is reporting the maneuvering:

“…It remains to be seen whether the family-friendly tier idea will be as warmly embraced by consumers and programming companies. One of toughest issues will be how to define family-friendly channels at a time when many children's channels run programming aimed at more mature viewers in the evenings. "

LOL ... you see the thing that annoys *me* about cable/satellite is that for years and years, I've been forced to pay for "family friendly" (not to mention religious ... and sports) programming that I never watch.

I think a little parity is in order here. :)

Network weekly ratings

CBS scored a massive and across-the-board win in last week’s weekly prime-time ratings.

The network beat second-place ABC by 5.4 million viewers in the total viewers category, had a 1.4 million edge over ABC in the 18-49 demo and an even bigger 1.9 million lead in the 25-54 demographic.

The new numbers are at the top of Ratings News the second post in this thread. The complete program rankings will be posted a little later in the day.

Last week’s network prime-time ratings are at the top of RATINGS NEWS the second post in this thread.

LOL ... you see the thing that annoys *me* about cable/satellite is that for years and years, I've been forced to pay for "family friendly" (not to mention religious ... and sports) programming that I never watch.

I think a little parity is in order here. :)

Don't worry, if SpongeBob is "too gay" to be "family friendly" - I don't think they will ever get a universally acceptable family tier put together. You have the "morality" groups, "think of the children" groups, and most consumer groups that will all come to the same conclusion - the only solution is a la carte.

Earlier today I posted this message – in case you missed it. At the bottom I have added my reply to Rich with suggestions about a few of the supporting performers whose work I enjoy. (Remember, it is only for new shows this years, so I assume even the marvelous Chandra Wilson of “Grey’s`Anatomy” is ineligible.)

------------------------------------------------------------------

TV critic Rich Heldenfels of the Akron Beacon Journal needs our input. Please email him with your suggestions.

(Personally, I'd ,love it if you would let him know you get to read him [and pretty regularly!] here at "Hot Off The Press".)

If you'd also send him the url, that would be really nice of you:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=440744

Now, enough with the plugs, here is his blog note asking for help:

Critic’s Notebook
Great Team Players

By Rich Heldenfels Akron Beacon Journal TV blog

I'm working on a list of great supporting performers on TV shows. Feel free to contribute in the comment section below. (And hello to everyone who has linked over from TV Tattle.)

Here are the rules. I'm not interested in lead characters, but supporting ones. So, if a show is called ''Everybody Hates Chris,'' don't suggest the guy who plays Chris.

I'm only interested in characters/actors on shows that premiered this year (for example, Neil Patrick Harris on ''How I Met Your Mother'') or brand-new characters in returning shows (example: Charisma Carpenter on ''Veronica Mars''). Although the people should work well in an ensemble, they get extra points if you're watching a show for them instead of for the lead.

Among the people I've been thinking about are Terry Crews and Tichina Arnold, who play Chris's parents on ''Everybody Hates Chris,'' Ethan Suplee and Jaime Pressly on ''My Name Is Earl,'' Harris, Jason Segel and Alyson Hannigan on ''How I Met Your Mother'' and Carpenter on ''Veronica Mars.'' Also, everyone on ''Kitchen Confidential'' except Bradley Cooper -- not that he's bad, just that he's the lead.

And yes, I know that there's a ''Buffy'' all-supporting squad there, with Hannigan, Carpenter and Nicholas Brendon from ''KC.'' You might even throw in David Boreanaz, who is very good on ''Bones,'' but is kind of a co-lead (prominently pictured in ''Bones'' promotional material). I'd give more consideration to Michaela Conlin, Eric Millegan and T.J. Thyne on the show.

You can either endorse some of those choices in your comments, or offer suggestions of your own. Please include why you're making your picks. I may then use some of your comments in the story -- duly credited, of course. You can also e-mail ideas to me at rheldenfels@thebeaconjournal.com.

http://blogs.ohio.com/beacon_tv/

-------

My note to Rich Heldenfels:

Christine Ebersole “Renee” on The vastly improving “Rekated”. In my mind, this show was a mess the first several weeks. Only because I had a TiVo season pass did I bother to go back after episode 2.

But then, it began to get better. And better.

And the Thanksgiving episode I(broadcast Nov. 14th as I recall) with Kim Delany shown as the girls’ dead Mom in a series of flashbacks was arguably one of the best written TV episodes in recent years. The show has fleshed out the characters, and Christine Ebersole has turned into a fascinating character. The show is definitely worth a second look.

Kyle Howard (as the young man who pines for youngest sister Rose) is also quite a winner.

Matthew Gray Gubler, Dr. Spencer Reid on “Criminal Minds”. His perfect pitch in playing a sensitive yet brilliant geek is fun to watch.

Ryan Hurst, agent Jimmy McGloin in “Wanted”. He’s been all over the screen for a while: a strong guest appearance on “House” last month and a memorable stop on “Medium” as Allison’s just-passing-through-to-California brother back in February. His intensity can be riveting, but his acting level is far beyond his (29, I believe) years.

G.W. Bailey, Det. Lt. Provenza, “The Closer”. His slow acceptance of Kyra Sedgwick’s character made the summer’s best series even better. His performance was subtle and very effective.

Ever Carradine as press secretary Kelly Ludlow on “Commander In Chief”. Her transformation into a power player mirrors that of her “boss”. And the addition of Mark-Paul Gosselaar as a potential romantic interest might give here even more good scenes starting next month. Yummy.

Harry Lennix as a conflicted Chief Of Statt on “CIC” is also a key character who probably is pretty underrated.

Natasha Henstridge, Templeton's (former) aide Jayne Murray in “CIC”. A great role for a terriffic and understated actress. Hopefully she’ll be back.

Kyle Secor, first husband, “CIC”. Wonderful portrayal of a very difficult role.

---------------------------------------------------

So, whether to actually email Rich Heldenfels or not, who are some of your unsung favorites in TV series?

Feel free to mention discuss those in new and old series here on the thread.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES - MUSICAL OR COMEDY[/FONT]
a. MARCIA CROSS DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES
b. TERI HATCHER DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES
c. FELICITY HUFFMAN DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES
d. EVA LONGORIA DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES
e. MARY-LOUISE PARKER WEEDS


Wow, now there are some bold choices. :rolleyes: Why do they insist on calling DH a comedy and its stars comedians? It's clearly a drama first with comedic elements. Mary-Louise should win this by default, but it's a shame so many other talented comedic actresses in so many other real comedy series are left out because of the steamroller hype surrounding this very average show.

Don't worry, if SpongeBob is "too gay" to be "family friendly" - I don't think they will ever get a universally acceptable family tier put together. You have the "morality" groups, "think of the children" groups, and most consumer groups that will all come to the same conclusion - the only solution is a la carte.

And no matter what, we will end up paying more than we are now! :mad:

The cable company's will NOT end up losing money on this.

So, whether to actually email Rich Heldenfels or not, who are some of your unsung favorites in TV series?



Lauren Holly in NCIS
Lara Flynn Boyle in Las Vegas (even though she's blown away)

I agree with Ever Carradine also.

Don't worry, if SpongeBob is "too gay" to be "family friendly" - I don't think they will ever get a universally acceptable family tier put together. You have the "morality" groups, "think of the children" groups, and most consumer groups that will all come to the same conclusion - the only solution is a la carte.

I was raised Christian, and am proud of my Christian values, but very little of my TV watching reflects my values. While I don't care for a lot of the content on TV these days (referring to the lack of Christian values), almost NONE of the "Christian" programming interests me.

What I'm getting at, and what has already been stated is that a "Family-Friendly" tier will be difficult since a lot of channels offer family programming during the day, and more mature/immature programming at night... not to mention that everybody's idea of "family" is different...

Also, people with several kids would also have channels that might have appropriate programming for them (9-13 for instance), but that you wouldn't want your little children to watch.

While I like the idea of a la carte (but fear the idea of my bill going up), I don't see how someone can do a "family-friendly tier" that will truly be "family-friendly".

As far as "Spongebob Squarepants" goes, that still remains one of the stupidest accusations I've ever heard. "Seduction Of The Innocent", anyone?!

~Alan

The cable company's will NOT end up losing money on this.

That's OK - let them pad their margins. At least the cableco's have D* and E* that will aggressively compete with them and hold or reduce those margins in short order.

Right now there's no real competition for the vast majority of our television expense.

Times Square In HD!
Happy 2006, High Def Fans!

(ABC Press Release)
What a way to cap off an amazing year! This year’s eight-time Grammy Award nominee, Mariah Carey is riding high on the success of her five-times RIAA platinum album, ”The Emancipation of Mimi,” which has sold more than seven million copies around the world and spun off three smash hit No. 1 singles -- “We Belong Together,” “Shake It Off” and “Don't Forget About Us.” In early September,

Mariah made music history when she became the first female lead artist in the 47 years of the Billboard Hot 100 ever to occupy the No. 1 and No. 2 chart positions in the same week, with “We Belong Together” and “Shake It Off,” respectively. With 16 No. 1 career singles to her credit, Mariah is the only active artist with the hit-making potential to match or surpass the all-time records of the Beatles (with 20 No. 1’s) and Elvis Presley (18 No. 1’s).

This may be a bit off topic and I'm not a Mariah Carey fan, but this is pretty amazing. It makes yoo laugh at all of the crap about mp3 downloading affecting music sales. Look what happens when you put out a quailty product!

I guess the question has to be, KenA, how many units sold does it take to be #1 now as compared with before the mp3 days?

(At any rate, Times Square on New Year's Eve in HD! Great news.)

Good point, but I was more referring to her seven million sales. That's damn impressive.

"Weeds" Lights Up for a Second Season

By Anne Becker Broadcasting & Cable

Showtime has picked up another season of its marijuana-centered comedy Weeds. The single-camera comedy series, starring Mary-Louise Parker as a single suburban mom who sells pot to support her family, will be back for a 12-episode second season this summer, the network announced today.

New episodes of the series, produced by Lions Gate Television in association with Tilted Productions, will begin production in L.A. this spring.

Weeds debuted in August to critical acclaim and today picked up three Golden Globe nominations—a best actress nod for Parker, a best supporting actress nod for co-star Elizabeth Perkins and a nomination for best television series, musical or comedy.

Good point, but I was more referring to her seven million sales. That's damn impressive.

You bet it is.

And despite the rough year he's had physically, it shows you the reach Dick Clark still has in the music business.

Mariah is a pretty damned fine "get" for New Year's Eve -- with her popularity crossing a wide range of demographics.

Have you ever wondered how TV executives explain their successes and, (sadly, all too often) their failures?
Reading the weekly press releases trying to spin the Nielsen numbers is a way to at least begin to understand.
We’ll start with last week’s big winner, CBS:

CBS Explains Last Week’s Ratings

CBS Press Release

CBS Tops the Competition in Adults 18-49, Adults 25-54 and Even Adults 18-34

With a season highs for CSI, the largest audience for a final tribal council since May 2004, series high ratings for freshman drama CLOSE TO HOME and the largest audience for 60 MINUTES in more than five years, CBS topped the competition in viewers and key demographics in the week ending Dec. 11, week 12 of the 2005-2006 season.

CBS won the week in both households (8.8/14) and viewers (13.95m) for the 12th time this season. This is the first time one network has won the first 12 weeks of the television season in viewers since NBC won weeks 1-12 in the 1988-89 season.

For the week in viewers, CBS (13.95m) topped ABC (9.55m), NBC (9.37m) and FOX (5.73m). Season-to-date, CBS (13.47m) is followed by ABC (10.98m), NBC (9.42m) and FOX (8.25m).

For the week in households, CBS (8.8/14) enjoyed a +42% advantage over NBC (6.2/10), +47% over ABC (6.0/10) and +151% over FOX (3.5/06). Season-to-date, CBS (8.7/14) is outpacing ABC by +23% (7.1/11), NBC by +38% (6.3/10) and FOX by +64% (5.3/08).

Among viewers, CBS was first on Monday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday, and second on Saturday.

For the week in key demographics, CBS was first in adults 25-54 (5.5/13), adults 18-49 (4.4/12) and adults 18-34 (3.3/10). This is CBS's best adults 18-34 delivery of the season and matched the season's second best weekly delivery in adults 18-49. Compared to the same week last year, CBS was up +6% each in households, adults 25-54 and adults 18-34 and +2% in adults 18-49.

CBS has won nine of the last 10 weeks in adults 25-54 and seven of the last 10 in adults 18-49. Season-to-date, CBS is first in adults 25-54 (5.2/12) and tied for first in adults 18-49 (4.1/11, with ABC).

• On Thursday, CBS posted season high deliveries in households (14.8/23), viewers (24.36m), adults 25-54 (10.2/23), adults 18-49 (8.2/21) and adults 18-34 (6.2/18).

• CSI: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION was first in households (18.8/28), viewers (30.95m), adults 25-54 (13.1/28), adults 18-49 (10.6/25) and adults 18-34 (8.2/22) in the 9PM time period. CSI beat NBC, ABC and FOX combined in households (vs. 12.9/20, +46%), viewers (vs. 20.18m, +53%), adults 25-54 (vs. 9.4/19, +39%), adults 18-49 (vs. 8.5/20, +25%) and adults 18-34 (vs. 7.8/22, +5%).

• This is the best households and viewer delivery for CSI since 11/18/04 (the program's all-time high) and 5th best overall. CSI hit season highs in adults 18-34, adults 18-49 and adults 25-54. This CSI broadcast becomes the most watched program this season and the first prime program to average more than 30 million viewers. Of the top 10 broadcast this season ranked by viewers in primetime, nine are episodes of CSI.

• WITHOUT A TRACE was first in households (13.9/22), viewers (21.76m), adults 25-54 (8.7/20) and adults 18-49 (7.0/18). This is WITHOUT A TRACE's best delivery this season in viewers, adults 18-49 and adults 25-54.

• GHOST WHISPERER won its time period in households (7.5/13), viewers (11.53m), adults 25-54 (4.4/13) and adults 18-49 (3.2/10). GHOST WHISPERER has won its time slot every week this season in households and viewers, placed first in adults 18-49 and adults 25-54 every week this season with a first run episode.

• CLOSE TO HOME won its time period in households (8.2/14), viewers (12.80m), adults 25-54 (4.6/13) and adults 18-49 (3.3/10). CLOSE TO HOME posted series high delivery in viewers and adults 25-54, and scored its second best adults 18-49 performance. CLOSE TO HOME was the night's top program in viewers, adults 18-49 and adults 25-54.

• NUMB3RS was first for the 11th consecutive airing in households (8.2/14), viewers (12.53m), adults 25-54 (4.5/12) and first for the 10th time in 11 broadcasts in adults 18-49 (3.2/10).

• On Sunday, CBS was first in households (12.3/19), viewers (20.90m), adults 25-54 (8.8/19), adults 18-49 (7.3/17) and adults 18-34 (5.2/14). This is CBS's best households, viewers, adults 18-49 and adults 25-54 delivery since 1/23/05 and best adults 18-34 performance since 2/13/05.

• 60 MINUTES (7:40-8:23 PM) was first from 7:30-8:30PM in households (12.4/19), viewers (19.72m), adults 25-54 (7.0/16) and adults 18-49 (5.6/15). This is 60 MINUTES best household delivery since 10/31/04, best viewer total since 3/12/00, best adults 18-49 performance since 12/28/03 and best adults 25-54 ratings since 1/16/00.

• SURVIVOR: GUATEMALA -- THE MAYA EMPIRE FINALE (S) (8:23-10:32pm) posted an 11.9/17 with 21.18m viewers, 9.3/19 in adults 25-54, 7.7/17 in adults 18-49 and 5.3/13 in adults 18-34. From 8:30-10:30PM, CBS was first in households, viewers, adults 25-54 and adults 18-49. This is the best delivery for a SURVIVOR finale in households, viewers and adults 25-54 since 5/9/04 ("Survivor: All Stars").

• SURVIVOR: GUATEMALA -- THE REUNION (S) (10:32-11:23pm) posted a 9.2/15 with 15.21m viewers, 6.9/16 in adults 25-54, 5.7/14 in adults 18-49 and 4.0/11 in adults 18-34.

• The CBS EVENING NEWS WITH BOB SCHIEFFER increased its total viewers by +970,000 viewers (8.27 million from 7.30 million) and its household delivery by +10% (5.7/11 from 5.2/10) for the week, while NBC and ABC decreased in both categories compared to last year. The CBS EVENING NEWS is also the only network evening newscast to post gains for the week, as well as season-to-date, in total viewers and households. For the week, the CBS broadcast narrowed the gap with ABC by more than one million viewers (1.03 million) compared to the same period last year.

And now for second place ABC. Its story is a bit harder to sell, but still has many bright spots.

ABC Explains Last Week’s Ratings

ABC Press Release

Primetime Ratings Report For the week of December 5-11, 2005

WEEK No. 12:

During the week of December, 5, 2005, the first full week outside of the 2005 November Sweep, ABC earned second place in viewers (9.6 million) and in each of the adult demographics: AD18-34 (2.8/9-tie), AD18-49 (3.4/9) and AD25-54 (3.9/9). Showing competitive balance, although some of its major series were in repeat, ABC took either first or second place on 5 of 7 nights of the week in the key Adult 18-49 sales demo (No. 1 on Monday & Wednesday and No. 2 on Friday, Saturday and Sunday).

Disney-owned ABC stood as the No. 1 broadcaster for the week among Kids 2-11 (2.3/9), delivering its highest-rated week among kids in nearly 3 years – since the w/o 1/20/03.

• So far this season (12 complete weeks), ABC is the only network to grow its Adult 18-49 audience from the same point a year ago (+5% - 4.1/11 vs. 3.9/10). Each of the other broadcasters are either down (CBS, NBC, Fox and WB) or flat (UPN) in the key young adult demographic. ABC is also up 7% among Total Viewers (11.0 million vs. 10.3 million), representing the biggest increase among the networks from the same point last season. In fact, ABC’s year-to-year gains are being driven by its success with regular entertainment series, where the Net has seen its numbers grow by 14% in Total Viewers (11.6 million vs. 10.2 million) and by 13% in Adults 18-49 (4.5/12 vs. 4.0/10), as compared to the same point year ago.

Rankings: ABC aired 4 of the week’s Top 15 television programs among Adults 18-49: “Grey’s Anatomy” – No. 3, “NFL Monday Night Football” – No. 9, “A Charlie Brown Christmas” – No. 12 and “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” – No. 13. ABC’s telecasts of “Grey’s Anatomy” (No. 7) and “A Charlie Brown Christmas” (No. 8) each finished the week among the week’s Top 10 most-watched shows. Although its regular lead-in was pre-empted (“Desperate Housewives”) and it competed directly with the season finale of CBS’ “Survivor: Guatemala” in its time period, ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy” qualified as the No. 2 TV program during with week among Adults 18-34, Women 18-49 and Women 18-34, behind only CBS’ Thursday night “C.S.I.” ABC claimed the Top 3 broadcast television programs for the week among Kids 2-11, with “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” “I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown” and “Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” respectively.

Monday

ABC was the No. 1 network on Monday evening among Total Viewers (13.7 million) and in each of the adult demographics: AD18-34 (4.3/13), AD18-49 (5.1/13) and AD25-54 (5.8/14). ABC has ranked No. 1 on Monday evening among Adults 18-49 on 13 of the last 14 weeks, including 6 consecutive weeks.

“Wife Swap” (8:00-9:00 p.m.)

ABC’s repeat telecast of “Wife Swap” earned second place in its time period among Adults 18-49 (2.8/8). The show ranked No. 1 among Kids 2-11 (1.2/5).

• “Wife Swap” continues to bring ABC substantial improvement to the time period. Compared to ABC’s delivery last season in the slot with regular programming during the run of “Monday Night Football,” “Wife Swap” has grown the hour for the Network by 2.8 million viewers (7.6 million vs. 4.8 million) and by 88% in Adults 18-49 (3.0/8 vs. 1.6/5).

• “Monday Night Football: Seattle at Philadelphia” (9:07 – 11:57 p.m.)

ABC’s telecast of the “NFL Monday Night Football” game between the Seattle Seahawks and the Philadelphia Eagles drew an average audience of 15.1 million viewers and a 5.7 rating, 15 share among Adults 18-49. The game was a blow-out, with Seattle leading by 35-0 at halftime and winning the game by a score of 42-0.

• ABC’s “MNF” ranked as the No. 1 TV show of the evening among all key adult demographics: AD18-34 (5.0/14), AD 18-49 (5.7/15) and AD25-54 (6.4/15).

Tuesday

• “A Charlie Brown Christmas” (8:00-9:01 p.m.)

On the show’s 40th Anniversary, ABC’s annual rebroadcast of “A Charlie Brown Christmas” won its hour in Total Viewers (15.3 million), across all key adult demographics (Adults 18-34 – 4.3/13, Adults 18-49 – 5.5/15 and Adults 25-54 – 6.4/15), Teens 12-17 (3.0/10) and Kids 2-11 (7.5/23). In fact the 1965 animated PEANUTS special topped its nearest competition in the time period by 1.3 million viewers and by 67% in Adults 18-49 (CBS = 14.0 million viewers & 3.3/9 in Adults 18-49).

• “A Charlie Brown Christmas” delivered its best numbers ever on ABC among viewers, in the adult demos and among kids – it has been airing on the Net since 2001. The show surpassed its previous highs on ABC by 1.6 million viewers and by 15% in Adults 18-49 (13.7 million & 4.8/13 on 12/7/04).

• “A Charlie Brown Christmas” posted ABC’s largest non-sports audience and top Adult 18-49 number in the time period in over 2 years – since 11/4/03. In addition, ABC saw its best Kids 2-11 rating in the hour in over 4 years – since 10/30/01.

Wednesday

ABC stood as the No. 1 network on Wednesday night among Adults 18-49 (3.2/8).

• “George Lopez” (8:00-8:30 p.m.)

ABC’s “George Lopez” outdrew its comedy competition in the time period, “That ‘70s Show,” by 1.3 million viewers (8.1 million vs. 6.8 million).

• “George Lopez” produced its top Adult 18-49 number (2.9/8) in 6 weeks – since 10/26/05.

• “Freddie” (8:30-9:00 p.m.)

Building on its lead-in by 7% among young adults, ABC’s “Freddie” beat Fox’s comedy “Stacked” at 8:30pm by 2.3 million viewers (7.4 million vs. 5.1 million) and by 41% among Adults 18-49 (3.1/8 vs. 2.2/6).

• “Freddie” has built on its lead-in across the adult demographics on all 8 of the series’ telecasts: AD18-34/AD18-49/AD25-54.

• “Lost” (9:00-10:00 p.m.)

Although it faced original competition in the 9 o’clock hour, ABC’s “Lost” replay beat second-place Fox by 3.5 million viewers (11.0 million vs. 7.5 million) and by 21% in Adults 18-49 (4.1/10 vs. 3.4/8 – Fox’s “Trading Spouses”). In fact, the encore telecast of “Lost” stood as Wednesday’s No. 1 TV show among Adults 18-49.

• “Lost” was up from its most recent rebroadcast airing by 2.7 million viewers and by 28% in Adults 18-49 (8.3 million & 3.2/8 on 11/2/05).

• “Alias” (10:00-11:00 p.m.)

In its new time period, ABC’s “Alias” posted a season-high rating among Adults 18-49 (2.6/7).

Friday

ABC took second place on Friday night among Adults 18-49 (2.2/7).

• “I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown” (8:00-9:00 p.m.)

ABC’s rebroadcast of “I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown” drew an average audience of 8.9 million viewers and a 2.5 rating, 8 share among Adults 18-49, finishing second in the hour in both measures. The animated special drew the Net’s highest Total Viewer count in the hour in 10 months – since 2/25/05.

• Delivering its best performance ever among Kids 2-11 (5.3/16), “I Want a Dog a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown” won its hour and stood as the top-ranked network show of the evening in the Kid 2-11 demo.

Saturday

• “ABC Saturday Movie of the Week: Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas” (8:30-11:00 p.m.)

The “ABC Saturday Movie of the Week, ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas’” won it time period among Adults 18-34 (2.4/9), Teens 12-17 (2.4/9) and Kids 2-11 (3.9/15). In addition, the 2000 theatrical delivered ABC’s highest ratings in the time period this season in all three Nielsen measures.

Sunday

Competing against the season finale of CBS’ “Survivor: Guatemala” during primetime, ABC delivered a solid second place on the night in Total Viewers (12.7 million) and Adults 18-49 (5.0/12), and ranked No. 1 on the evening among Women 18-34 (6.2/16) and Kids 2-11 (2.9/10). Despite facing an NFL football overrun and the season closer of “Survivor,” both on CBS, ABC gained audience during each half-hour of primetime, ranking No. 1 in Total Viewers and Adults 18-49 by 10:30 p.m.

• “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” (8:00-10:00 p.m.)

From 8:00-10:00 p.m., ABC’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” drew an average audience of 13.0 million viewers and earned a 5.0/11 in Adults 18-49 during its 2-hour time period. The show earned second place to the “Survivor” finale in the time period in Total Viewers and Adults 18-49, while the broad based unscripted show won its slot with Women 18-34 (6.5/16) and Kids 2-11 (3.6/12).

• From its first half-hour to its final half-hour, “Home Edition” saw its audience surge by 3.2 million viewers (11.3 million to 14.5 million) and by 44% in Adults 18-49 (4.1/10 to 5.9/13).

• “Grey’s Anatomy” (10:00-11:00 p.m.)

Surging from its “Home Edition” lead-in, ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy” won the 10 o’clock hour in Adults 18-49 (7.2/16) and Adults 18-34 (7.0/18).

• “Grey’s Anatomy” increased its Total Viewer (15.4 million to 16.0 million) and Adults 18-49 audience (7.0/16 to 7.3/17) from beginning to end, finishing out the night (10:30-11:00 p.m.) in the No. 1 position on both Nielsen measures.

And how does third-plac NBC see the week?

NBC Explains Last Week’s Ratings

NBC Press Release

BURBANK, Calif. - Dec. 13, 2005 - NBC averaged a 3.1 rating, 8 share in adults 18-49 and 9.4 million viewers for the week of Dec. 5-11, according to in-home viewing figures from Nielsen Media Research.

Primetime averages for the week of Dec. 5-11 in adults 18-49 were CBS (4.4/12), ABC (3.4/9), NBC (3.1/8), Fox (2.6/7), UPN (1.5/4`) and WB (1.2/3). In overall total viewers the weekly averages were CBS (14.0 million), ABC (9.6 million), NBC (9.4 million), Fox (5.7 million), UPN (3.6 million) and WB (3.1 million).

NBC highlights for the week of Dec. 5-11:

• On Tuesday, "My Name is Earl" was a decisive #1 with its top 18-49 rating since Oct. 4 and its highest total viewership since its series premiere on Sept. 20. "Earl" delivered the highest 18-49 rating for any half-hour comedy on any network in nine weeks and is currently television's #1 half-hour comedy, #1 Tuesday series and #1 new series this season in adults 18-49.

• Also on Tuesday, "The Office" recruited its highest total viewership ever for a regular-slot telecast and tied its highest regular time period 18-49 rating ever. "The Office" was #1 in adults, men and women 18-34 and all key adult male demographics and finished one-tenth of a rating point out of first place in adults 18-49.

• NBC won Tuesday night in adults 18-49 for the 10th time in 12 weeks so far this season, paced by" My Name is Earl" and "Law & Order: SVU," which were tied as the highest-rated shows on television Tuesday in adults 18-49 and as the #7-ranked shows of the week (out of a total 114 programs).

• On Wednesday, "Law & Order" ranked #1 in adults 18-49, total viewers and other key measures versus CBS' "CSI: NY" encore and an original telecast of ABC's "Alias."

• On Thursday, "Will & Grace" matched its highest 18-49 rating since its live season premiere on Sept. 29. Also on Thursday, "ER" ranked #6 among all 114 network programs this week in adults 18-49.

Additional NBC highlights for the week of Dec. 5-11:

• On Monday, Dec. 5 at 9 p.m. ET, "Las Vegas" averaged a 4.2 rating, 10 share in adults 18-49 and 12.6 million viewers overall, collecting a time-period win in women 18-34. At 10 p.m. ET, a rebroadcast "Medium" (3.2/8 in 18-49, 8.9 million viewers overall) was the top-rated regular time period "Medium" encore to-date in adults 18-49, up 23 percent in the demographic versus NBC's performance on the same night last year.

• On Tuesday, Dec. 6 at 9 p.m. ET, "My Name is Earl" (5.8/14 in 18-49, 14.0 million viewers overall) was a decisive #1, hitting its highest 18-49 rating since Oct. 4 and its highest total viewership since its premiere on Sept. 20. "Earl" won its slot in every key ratings category, posting a 49 percent margin of victory in 18-49 (5.8 vs. 3.9 for "Amazing Race" in that half-hour). "My Name is Earl" delivered the highest 18-49 rating for any half-hour comedy on any network since Oct. 4 and is the season's #1 half-hour comedy, #1 Tuesday series and #1 new series in 18-49.

• Tuesday at 9:30 p.m. ET, "The Office" (4.3/10 in 18-49, 9.7 million viewers overall) tied its highest regular-slot rating ever in 18-49 and delivered its largest total viewership ever for a regular time period telecast. "The Office" finished within one-tenth of a rating point of the 18-49 lead and was #1 in adults, men and women 18-34 and in all key adult male demographics.

• Also on Tuesday, at 10 p.m. ET, "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (5.8/15 in 18-49, 16.3 million viewers overall) dominated its time period in all key ratings categories. It was the night's top-rated telecast (tied with "My Name is Earl") in adults 18-49 and also Tuesday night's "most-watched" program with 16.3 million viewers overall. "SVU" ranked #6 of 114 shows this week in total viewers.

• On Wednesday, Dec. 7 at 10 p.m. ET, "Law & Order" (3.8/10 in 18-49, 12.1 million viewers overall) built on its lead-in by 52 percent in 18-49 to rank #1 for the hour in adults 18-49, total viewers and other key measures versus CBS' "CSI: NY" encore and an original special "Alias" on ABC. At 8 p.m. ET, "E-Ring" (2.5/7 in 18-49, 9.4 million viewers overall) ranked #1 in total viewers. At 9 p.m. ET, "The Apprentice: Martha Stewart" (2.5/6 in 18-49, 6.6 million viewers overall) delivered its highest 18-49 and total viewer results since Nov. 2.

• On Thursday, Dec. 8., at 8 p.m. ET, "Joey" (3.2/9 in 18-49, 7.8 million viewers overall from 8-8:30 p.m. ET) matched its highest regular slot 18-49 rating since March 24, finishing a decisive #2 in its competitive time period. At 8:30 p.m. ET, "Will & Grace" (3.8/10 in 18-49, 8.8 million viewers overall) matched its highest 18-49 rating since its live season premiere on Sept. 29. "Will & Grace" built on its 18-49 lead-in by 19 percent to keep NBC solidly #2 in the time period, more than a full 18-49 rating point ahead of the third-place competitor (3.8 vs. a 2.7 in that half-hour for Fox's "The O.C.").

• Thursday at 9 p.m. ET, "The Apprentice" (5.0/12 in 18-49, 11.3 million viewers overall) matched its second-highest 18-49 rating of the season, while recruiting its second-highest total viewership. "The Apprentice" ranked #2 for the hour, outperforming the #3 program by a 178 percent margin (5.0 vs. 1.8 for ABC's "Head of State").

• And at 10 p.m. ET, "ER" (6.5/16 in 18-49, 15.3 million viewers overall) ranked #6 out of 114 network programs this week in adults 18-49. "ER" whittled the lead of CBS' "Without a Trace" down to 8 percent in 18-49, though "Trace" benefited from a 112 percent lead-in advantage from "CSI." Among adults 18-34, "ER" won the hour (5.5 vs. 5.1 for "Trace"), overcoming an 88 percent lead-in advantage for "Trace."

• On Saturday, Dec. 10, from 8-11 p.m. ET, NBC's 18th primetime telecast of the 1946 classic film "It's a Wonderful Life," directed by Frank Capra and starring Jimmy Stewart, averaged a 1.9/6 in 18-49 and 5.9 million viewers overall.

• On Sunday, Dec. 11 at 10 p.m. ET, "Crossing Jordan" delivered a 3.3/7 in 18-49 and 11.4 million viewers overall. "Jordan" increased by 18 percent in adults 18-49 versus its lead-in.

Lauren Holly in NCIS
Lara Flynn Boyle in Las Vegas (even though she's blown away)

I agree with Ever Carradine also.
Ever Carradine is good although every time I see her it reminds me how old I am. When in my late 20's my friends and I would occasionally end up riding motorcycles with Carradine brothers, Robert and Keith on Mulholland Drive out by the Rock Store(this was before it got famous) and to think she is Robert's daughter, man, I'm getting old.. :p :D

On topic, one of my favorites is Diane Farr on Numbers, great actress and she has really fleshed out a character that during the first season was played rather flatly by Sabrina Lloyd.

Regarding Lara Flynn Boyle, I want the "old" Twin Peaks Lara back, this new version just doesn't work for me.

Wow, now there are some bold choices. :rolleyes: Why do they insist on calling DH a comedy and its stars comedians? It's clearly a drama first with comedic elements. Mary-Louise should win this by default, but it's a shame so many other talented comedic actresses in so many other real comedy series are left out because of the steamroller hype surrounding this very average show.
I agree, I would have thought the Golden Globes would have been more discerning in their choices. Agree with Parker choice as well and the news Weeds is coming back for another season is good indeed.

“CBS Evening News” Gains Ground

By Michele Greppi TVWeek.com December 13, 2005

"CBS Evening News With Bob Schieffer" is on the grow, gaining more than 970,000 viewers in the past year, according to Nielsen Media Research data for the week of Dec. 5-9, while its competitors in the race among flagship newscasts posted viewership losses year to year.

"I couldn't be happier," said Mr. Schieffer, who has continued to moderate CBS News' "Face the Nation" since he took the "Evening" anchor chair on a lengthening interim assignment when Dan Rather stepped down a year early in March.

He said feedback from viewers indicates that some of the increase is due to lapsed viewers who have returned and some to new viewers.

He credits the fact that "Evening News" reporters are talking more and memorizing less. "We are reporting the newscast, I hope, in language people can understand. I think that helps in our credibility," the anchor said, quickly stressing that his comment was not a reflection of anything or anyone who preceded his involvement in "Evening News."

Mr. Schieffer reiterated his comments, published Tuesday in the Philadelphia Inquirer, in praise of the journalistic heft of "Today" co-host Katie Couric, who is presumably weighing a big-bucks offer for her to move to CBS and anchor "Evening News."

"I hope we can get her," Mr. Schieffer said. "She's a great interviewer, people know who she is and she has enormous credibility."

"And I believe that," Mr. Schieffer said Tuesday.

However, he said, "Maybe we'll get Katie and maybe we won't." Either way, he said, "We have spent the last five years just sort of standing still" and new CBS News President Sean McManus "is determined to move this organization. He is trying to identify the people inside and the people outside this news organization that can make this a first-class team."

The growth of "Evening News" brought the longtime third-place newscast to within 1.15 million viewers of second-place "ABC World News Tonight," which was down 60,000 viewers from the comparable week in 2004.

"NBC Nightly News With Brian Williams" was down 30,000 viewers from the comparable week in 2004 -- a big week in which Tom Brokaw passed the baton to Mr. Williams -- but enjoyed a lead of nearly 1.10 million viewers over "World News."

In the demographic regarded as the core news audience, viewers 25 to 54 years old, "Nightly" was up 4 percent while "World News" and "Evening News" were up 9 percent.

In total viewers for the week, "Nightly" averaged 10.51 million viewers, "World News" averaged 9.42 million, and "Evening News" averaged 8.27 million viewers.

For the season to date, "Nightly" has shown year-to-year decreases for the past 11 consecutive weeks and "World News" has shown decreases the past nine consecutive weeks.

"Evening News" has shown year-to-year increases in the past seven consecutive weeks, and nine of the 12 weeks this season.

http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=9037

Critic’s Notebook
TNT To Repeat First Season of "The Closer"

By Kevin Thomspon Palm Beach Post Television Writer

You know, I hate when I really get into a new show for the first few episodes then fail to watch the whole season 'cause, well, I just can't watch everything. ”The Closer”fits into that category.

I was immediately smitten with Golden Globe nominee Kyra Sedgwick who plays Brenda Johnson, a CIA-trained Atlanta detective who now handles high-profile murder cases for the LAPD. Johnson's specialty is getting low-life perps to talk. Confess. Sing like a canary. In other words, she knows how to close the deal.

Hence the show's title. Johnson is also one tough babe who takes guff from no one. I like that. In the pilot, a macho male cop didn't like being bossed around by a woman and called the brash Johnson the B-word...to her face!

Johnson smiled politely, like all Southern gals seem to do, and purred in a comely Georgia accent that would melt even the coldest of hearts, "Excuse me, lieutenant, but if I liked being called a b---h to my face, I'd still be married."

You go, girl!

I caught the first few episodes, which I enjoyed, but missed most of the rest 'cause, well, I just can't watch everything.

Thankfully TNT is giving me a second chance. The cable network announced on Tuesday that the entire 13-episode first season will air again starting Dec. 27. The Closer is scheduled to air on Tuesdays at 10 p.m.

Trust me, this time I intend to, uh, close the deal and watch every episode of The Closer.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/palmbeach/thompson/entries/2005/12/tnt_to_repeat_f.html

FCC’s Copps: Keep Pressuring Cable on Indecency


By Todd Shields MediaWeek.com DECEMBER 13, 2005 -

A top federal regulator on Tuesday said Washington needs to keep pushing the cable industry on indecent programming, even as major cable companies roll out programming packages designed to be inoffensive.

The comments from Michael Copps, a Democratic member of the Federal Communications Commission, came as he and prospective new FCC member Deborah Tate appeared at a confirmation hearing before the Senate Commerce Committee.

"Trust but verify," Copps said of the cable companies' plans announced Monday. "I don't think we're anywhere near the point where we say, 'We don't need legislation.'"

Companies serving half of the nation's cable customers said they would offer a family-friendly programming tier beginning early next year. The offer is designed to ward off pressure for mandatory measures such as a la carte channel offerings or bringing cable under the indecency regime that now encompasses only broadcast.

Copps, 65, a longtime indecency hawk, has been nominated by the White House for a second term. Tate, 49, a Tennessee utilities regulator, told senators she hoped to bring her skills as a mediator to bear upon the sometimes fractious agency. Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), the Commerce Committee chair, told reporters he hoped to steer both nominees through the Senate quickly.

After Copps and Tate are seated, the FCC still will be short one member, and therefore shy of a working Republican majority.

Stevens said White House officials earlier Tuesday told him they were working on providing a nominee for the fifth member to the FCC, a five-member body which by law is to have a majority drawn from the president's party. One seat has been open since Michael Powell stepped down from the chairman's position early this year.

A Republican member stepped down from the commission on Friday, giving rise to the curiosity of a commission with a 2-to-1 Democratic majority in Republican-dominated Washington. Tate's arrival would restore partisan parity.

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001659367

Critic’s Notebook
Golden Globes: Interesting TV contests

By Ed Bark The Dallas Morning News Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Here's television critic Ed Bark's take on the five most interesting TV contests.

Drama series

Nominees: Commander in Chief, ABC; Grey's Anatomy, ABC; Lost, ABC; Prison Break, Fox; Rome, HBO.

Bark's take: Lost lost out last year to Nip/Tuck, which isn't nominated this time. That makes this the easiest category of the night, with the cast of Lost jubilantly shouting, "Down the hatch!" at the post-Globes victory party of their choice.

Actor (drama)

Nominees: Patrick Dempsey, Grey's Anatomy; Matthew Fox, Lost ; Hugh Laurie, House; Wentworth Miller, Prison Break ; Kiefer Sutherland, 24.

Bark's take: Three docs square off in a category that's oddly without any of last year's still-eligible nominees, even incumbent winner Ian McShane of Deadwood. Will it be Matthew Fox of Lost , Hugh Laurie of House or Patrick Dempsey of Grey's Anatomy? Here's hoping that under-appreciated Kiefer Sutherland of 24 finally prevails. The others save patients; he saves the world they live in.

Musical or comedy series

Nominees: Curb Your Enthusiasm, HBO; Desperate Housewives, ABC; Entourage, HBO; Everybody Hates Chris , UPN; My Name is Earl, NBC; Weeds, Showtime.

Bark's take: This is an incredibly competitive category, with last year's winner, Desperate Housewives, in a catfight with two stellar newcomers (My Name is Earl and Everybody Hates Chris ) and second-time nominee Entourage. A three-way tie – begone DH – would be great.

Actress (musical or comedy)

Nominees: Marcia Cross, Teri Hatcher, Felicity Huffman and Eva Longoria, all of Desperate Housewives; Mary-Louis Parker, Weeds .

Bark's take: Five strong-willed suburban femmes vie for the prize, but dope-peddling Mary-Louise Parker of Weeds likely will find that the grass is greener on Wisteria Lane. Who will emerge victorious among the four Desperate Housewives nominees? Sentiment says the previously snubbed Eva Longoria. But reality might overrule in Felicity Huffman's favor.

Miniseries or movie

Nominees: Empire Falls, HBO; Into the West, TNT; Lackawanna Blues, HBO; Sleeper Cell, Showtime; Viva Blackpool, BBC America; Warm Springs, HBO.

Bark's take: HBO as usual has the lion's share of nominations, with Lackawanna Blues its best bet. Still, BBC America's magical musical mystery tour, Viva Blackpool, is the sleeper pick, even over Showtime's Sleeper Cell.

http://www.guidelive.com/sharedcontent/dws/ent/columnists/ebark/stories/DN-ggtv_1214gl.State.Edition1.102fe19c.html

Critic’s Notebook
Characters move beyond “Law & Order”

By Marc Schwarz Bergen Record Staff writerSTAFF WRITER

No one leaves the "Law & Order" family permanently, except George Dzundza's Detective Max Greevey and Jill Hennessy's Assistant District Attorney Claire Kincaid.

Just about everyone else has a chance for a second life.

The latest rebirth comes with last week's announcement that Stephanie March will reprise her role as ADA Alexandra Cabot in the NBC midseason drama "Conviction."

While "Conviction" is not officially a member of the "L&O" world, it comes from producer Dick Wolf and certainly belongs in the same universe. It's described as "a fast-paced, character-driven series focusing on young ADAs in New York who often tackle tough high-profile cases."

March, who was the first regular ADA on "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" before leaving two years ago, heads a cast that includes Eric Balfour, Anson Mount and Julianne Nicholson. When last seen - on an "SVU" episode last February - Cabot had emerged from the Witness-Protection Program to testify against her would-be hit man.

Dzundza and Hennessy never will return unless "Law & Order" does a crossover with "Medium." Wolf killed off Greevey when the L.A.-based Dzundza asked out of his contract after season one of "L&O," and he dispatched Kincaid in a car accident in the 1996 season finale. However, everyone else has a chance. Richard Brooks, who played ADA Paul Robinette for the first three seasons of "L&O," returned in a November episode as a defense attorney. Maybe Elisabeth Rohm's Serena Southerlyn will pop up again as an attorney fighting for gay marriage.

Here's a look at March and the other Wolf returnees:

Stephanie March
Character: ADA Alexandra Cabot.
Original show: "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," 2000-03.
Returning show: "Conviction," will debut early 2006. She'll be the bureau chief of young ADAs who handle tough, high-profile cases.

Chris Noth
Character: Detective Mike Logan.
Original show: "Law & Order," 1990-95.
Returning show: "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," September 2005. Teams with Annabella Sciorra's Detective Carolyn Barek to do alternating weeks, with the original team of Vincent D'Onofrio and Kathryn Erbe handling the other half.

Dann Florek
Character: Capt. Donald Cragen.
Original show: "Law & Order," 1990-93.
Returning show: "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," 1999-present. After a six-year absence, returned as Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni's boss.

Jerry Orbach
Character: [/B]Detective Lennie Briscoe.
Original show: [/B]"Law & Order," 1992-2004.
Returning show: [/B]"Law & Order: Trial by Jury," 2005. Died from cancer after shooting only the first two episodes of the short-lived spinoff.

Carey Lowell
Character: ADA Jamie Ross.
Original show: "Law & Order," 1996-98.
Returning show: "Law & Order: Trial by Jury," 2005. After making two guest appearances on "L&O" in November 1999 and May 2001, she appeared in two episodes as Judge Ross.

Richard Belzer
Character: Detective John Munch.
Original show: "Homicide: Life on the Street," 1993-99. During his time on Tom Fontana's Baltimore-based drama, he appeared in crossovers with his "Law & Order" counterparts.
Returning show: "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," 1999-present. When "Homicide" was cancelled, Wolf relocated Munch, who also has appeared in "The X-Files," "The Beat" and "Law & Order: Trial by Jury."

http://www.bergen.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkxNjcmZmdiZWw3Zjd2cW VlRUV5eTY4MzM1MjUmeXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk3

THE CHANGING NATURE OF TV
For “24,” a DVD bonus powered by the marketers

A box set of the show's fourth season includes a new 10-minute interim segment made for true fans — and to showcase sponsor Toyota's cars

By Maria Elena Fernandez Los Angeles Times Staff Writer December 14, 2005

The last time "24's" hero Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) was seen — in the fourth season finale — he was presumed dead by most of the people in his life and literally walking off into the sunset to begin his life as a fugitive.

With the fifth season premiere still a month away, fans can learn what Jack's life on the road has been like on a DVD of the show's fourth season, which has a prequel containing material that will never air on television. It's also a way of linking content and commerce — in this case Toyota, which sponsors the show and the special DVD segment. (So guess what kind of car Bauer is driving in the prequel.)

The DVD set, which was released last week, includes a prequel to the fifth season that gives a taste of what life on the run was like for a disheveled, longhaired Bauer. More important, it offers a glimpse into a medium that is changing faster than any day in Bauer's life and one that increasingly gives control of its viewing to the audience, whether it's on DVRs, iPods, the Web or DVD.

"The moment that the season finale aired, the fans were on the website beginning to think about what Season Five could be," said Gary Newman, co-president of 20th Century Fox Television, which co-produces the show. "So we looked at this as kind of an opportunity to reward the people who are spending a lot of money on the DVD to give them something extra and to generate excitement for the next season."

Newman noted that new ways of providing TV programming to consumers are being announced on an almost daily basis.

"I think '24' should give comfort to the content providers that if you're making a great show, people are going to want to watch it, and the distribution systems will adapt themselves to fill in consumer demand.... I think as long as you have compelling shows you're going to be in the game."

But where the idea for the prequel originated is as telling as the 10-minute episode itself: Toyota and Fox marketers, who wanted to make the most out of the automobile company's sponsorship and create a special segment that would showcase its cars. Like most writers who tend to cringe at ideas inspired by the promotional machine, executive producer and show-runner Howard Gordon said he wasn't in favor of it at first.

"Right now I don't feel taken advantage of or used in any way," Gordon said. "I do think the first litmus test in these things always has to be the integrity of the show. If you can do it within parameters that don't violate the integrity of the show, it's great."

There's a typical car chase in the episode, but instead of driving a macho SUV, Bauer is behind the wheel of a silver Toyota Avalon, which beats a BMW. His colleague Chloe, who meets him clandestinely, shows up in a blue Toyota Prius.

"The only thing we really had to do was highlight the car," said Jon Cassar, who directed the prequel and many other "24" episodes. "Once we know what the people need from the product placement, then we tell them what we can do that is still within a '24' story. This has never bothered me that much because I've never been put in the situation where someone said the actor has to hold this can of Coke right beside his face while he does the line. That would be a problem."

Cassar says he sees the writing on the wall: As more viewers tune into their favorite shows commercial-free, more producers are going to have to give into the product placers.

"If you look at the future, anyone who is watching what's happening today in television realizes that this is the way people are going to advertise," Cassar said. "Everyone's kind of ignored it. But now with Mac and iPod and shows without commercials, everyone's starting to realize, well, if it's going down that road, then the only way to sell things is to put them right in the show. We're just on the brink of very new television and features."

Shot in two days and set in Chicago, the prequel repeats the last moments of the fourth season and begins with a Jack and Chloe rendezvous during which she warns him that her computer has been hacked into and others might know he is alive. After Chloe leaves, the bad guys arrive and the Toyota-BMW showdown ensues.

"We really ended up doing a small movie," Gordon said. "Jack looks a little scary, he looks a little desperate. It was a nice little story, and it was fun for Kiefer to try that on for size — that hunted kind of haunted look."

But it's a look only those who pay almost $70 for the DVD will see. When Season Five begins, nearly 18 months have passed since Jack has been on the run, and his long locks are gone. But fans who miss the prequel will not be at a disadvantage.

The fifth season kicks in with two nights of two-hour episodes on Jan. 15 and 16. The series was nominated for 11 Emmys last year, including best drama and best actor for Sutherland, and ranked 30th among all shows on television with an average 12 million viewers, the largest audience in the show's history.

Fans who appreciated the show's heart-stopping clock counter will appreciate that the new season "starts off hard and fast," noted Gordon.

"It's old-school '24,' Gordon said. "We've gone about as big as we can go as far as what threat we can loom over Los Angeles. So the tone this year is much more thriller. It's a very different season opener. Rather than building, it starts off with a sprint.”

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-et-24dvd14dec14,0,2814389,print.story?coll=cl-tv-top-right

Critic’s Notebook
A Comic Walks Into a TV Studio, and He Turns to Another Comic...

By Peter Keepnews The New York Times December 14, 2005

You might say that "Sit Down Comedy With David Steinberg," which begins a six-episode run tonight on TV Land, is to comedians what "Inside the Actors Studio" is to actors.

Well, you might. David Steinberg would not.

Superficially, at least, the resemblance is unmistakable: both shows feature a knowledgeable host talking to a well-known guest for an hour, in front of a studio audience, about the guest's life and work.

But Mr. Steinberg, 63, the veteran stand-up comic turned producer and director who is the show's creator as well as its host, insists that the seeds for "Sit Down Comedy" were planted long before "Inside the Actors Studio" was a gleam in James Lipton's eye. The initial inspiration came, he says, from eating lunch with Bob Newhart.

Mr. Steinberg was a director of the early-80's sitcom "Newhart." And, he recalled, one of the highlights of working on that set was the chance to eat lunch with Mr. Newhart and other funny people - including Mr. Newhart's friend and fellow comedian Don Rickles, who would often drop by - and to sit back and listen to them talk, joke and reminisce about life in the comedy business.

"That was almost my childhood ideal of what show business would be, those lunches," Mr. Steinberg said in a telephone interview from his home in Beverly Hills, Calif. "That kind of experience is so memorable, and so rare."

He tried to recapture that experience, he said, when he was asked to interview Mr. Newhart onstage at the 2001 U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colo. He kept it in mind two years later when he and Billy Crystal took a similar act on the road - if two men sitting on a stage and talking to each other can be called an act - for a short tour that later evolved into Mr. Crystal's hit one-man stage show, "700 Sundays."

Not long after that, TV Land, the Nick at Nite offshoot that specializes in reruns of beloved old series, began looking for producers to add original programming to its lineup and approached Mr. Steinberg. Various ideas were kicked around, he said, "and then they said, 'Why don't you do what you did at Aspen?' It was that casual."

"Casual" is the watchword for the series itself. In contrast to "Inside the Actors Studio" and its scholarly, well-prepared host, "Sit Down Comedy With David Steinberg" is concerned less with serious analysis than with giving Mr. Steinberg and fellow comedians - some, like Mr. Newhart and Martin Short, old friends; others, like George Lopez and Jon Lovitz, performers he admired but did not know personally - the chance to riff off of each other.

"I'm not interested in the craft of comedy," Mr. Steinberg said. "I don't think that's interesting to an audience. I just wanted to show the audience how funny these people can be."

Citing his "inherent laziness," Mr. Steinberg acknowledged, with what sounded like pride, that he did little if any research and avoided the "preinterviews" that are standard procedure on the late-night talk shows. "I don't want to do too much preparation," he explained, "because I want the audience to sense the improvisation."

As an example of the "comedy gold" that can result from his seat-of-the-pants approach, he pointed to his interview with Mike Myers, a flamboyant performer but by his own admission something of an introvert when not playing a character. On his segment of "Sit Down Comedy," which kicks off the series tonight (at 10, Eastern and Pacific times; 9, Central time), Mr. Myers is anything but introverted or, for that matter, polite: he aggressively needles Mr. Steinberg, mocking him for not doing his homework and for talking too much about himself. ("What else did you do, David? Because this is about you now, isn't it?")

Mr. Steinberg said: "When I walked onstage with Mike, a little director instinct kicked in. I told him, 'Don't respect me in any way.' It wasn't an idea 30 seconds before we went out, but he went with it. And there was nothing he didn't get a laugh out of."

A similar looseness marks next week's interview with Larry David, the creator and star of "Curb Your Enthusiasm," one of many high-profile comedies Mr. Steinberg has directed in recent years. "Curb" fans expecting to see the sour misanthrope they know from HBO will be surprised (although at one point Mr. David says the version of himself he plays on television is "the guy I really want to be"). What they will see instead is a relaxed and genial exchange between two colleagues - including, yes, their thoughts on the craft of comedy.

Mr. David does not do a lot of interviews, but says he gladly agreed to this one. "I knew I'd be on safe ground talking with David Steinberg," he said. "He's such a comfortable guy, easy to be around, never at a loss for words. And he has such an intuitive understanding of everything - particularly of me - that you never have to worry about being misunderstood. He's always going to bring out what you have to offer."

Whether "Sit Down Comedy" has a future beyond these six episodes depends on its ratings, but both Mr. Steinberg and TV Land are already thinking about what other guests they would like to book. Their wish list includes the expected big names, like Jerry Seinfeld and Ellen DeGeneres, as well as everyone from newcomers to borscht-belt veterans. And Mr. David says he will gladly offer his services as a recruiter.

"If anybody calls me and asks, I'll give a recommendation," he said. "If you enjoy being interviewed, this is the nicest way to do it."

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/14/arts/television/14come.html?pagewanted=print

A Critical View:
“Sit Down Comedy”: Funny Business

By Tom Shales Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, December 14, 2005; C01

Considering the enormous amount of slavish, fawning hype with which television pollutes the American mainstream, there's something automatically refreshing about an interview show in which a guest snaps at the host, "What's your next question, dirtbag?"

Of course, it's asked playfully and even affectionately, but still, when Mike Myers blurts it out during the premiere of "Sit Down Comedy With David Steinberg," at 10 (PM ET/PT) tonight on TV Land, it serves as welcome irreverence, a poke in the eye of showbiz sanctimony.

As a matter of fact -- if I might ask your kind indulgence (I may? Oh, thank you), it reminds me, in a reverse sort of way, of an interview show that former Washington Post film critic Rita Kempley and I concocted years ago: "Fess Up," on which the guest would be seated between Rita and me and forced to answer intrusive and impertinent questions. If they refused, they would be beaten soundly about the head and shoulders by the hosts -- using harmless pillows or a rolled-up newspaper.

Rita and I would become convulsed with laughter contemplating this bold step to be taken against TV's hokey phoniness. Unfortunately, nobody would give us a million dollars and so we abandoned the idea, at least until the next time we thought of it and started laughing again. Ah, but you see what I have done here (for illustrative purposes only): I have cunningly shifted the focus away from David Steinberg and onto myself.

And that's what Steinberg sometimes seems yearning to do, or actually does, in the course of the one-on-one interviews. In fact, Myers catches him at it, and after a Steinberg anecdote about Steinberg, Myers sarcastically asks: "What else did you do, David? Because this is about you now, isn't it?" On the series's third show, a chat with Bob Newhart (to air Dec. 28), Steinberg talks quite a bit about Steinberg, but that's largely because Newhart is reluctant to talk about Newhart.

Newhart came up so short that the episode is only a half-hour. Happily, the premiere with Myers and next week's encounter with Larry David are an hour each.

Steinberg envisioned the show as a series of conversations, as opposed to the kind of quasi-journalistic interviews that the insufferable but efficient James Lipton does on Bravo's faded "Inside the Actors Studio." As Myers points out, Steinberg isn't loaded with background poop, instead going about the task much more informally, to the point of looking, on occasion, severely unprepared.

Steinberg, however, also appears to be having a good time, and that helps a lot. Maybe there's nothing we really need to know about Myers, or David, or future guest Martin Short (who can do a dead-on Steinberg impression), but it's gratifying to find out that these people are amusing as well as funny. Steinberg doesn't let them get away with doing old material and passing it off as spontaneous chitchat.

Nor is subject matter limited to "the art of comedy," thank heaven, because few topics lend themselves so ironically to deadliness. Myers starts out talking about his, and Steinberg's, native Canada, a country so blandly "nice," Myers says, that "we make the Swiss look sexy."

Myers recalls that as a child actor, he once made a commercial with Gilda Radner, whom he idolized. He vowed that someday he would be a member of the "Saturday Night Live" cast and of course, he would later serve with great distinction, even though "I constantly thought I was going to get fired," he says.

Myers once said that his insane and hilarious "Austin Powers" movies grew out of his father's love of James Bond films, but he tells Steinberg that his mother was also an inspiration. She served in the RAF during the war, and he speaks touchingly of their relationship. He also wanted the films to evoke "the wrong '60s" -- not the decade of peace and love but the one that was also the last gasp of the swingin' cocktail lifestyle, a sex-obsessed time marked by "the inappropriate assigning of everything to be libidinous."

Hey, this guy's not just funny -- he's smart!

Next week's hour with Larry David is also a great big treat, even though David is coming off probably the worst season in the history of his HBO comedy series "Curb Your Enthusiasm." Fortunately, the worst season of that show is still better than the best season of many a standard, played-by-the-rules sitcom. David says that the obsessively disputatious crank he plays on the show is the Larry David he wishes he really were -- and what a scary thought that is.

We happy few who are die-hard, laugh-hard fans of the show -- episodes of which Steinberg has directed -- can dissect it to bits, but David's own explanation of its origins and his character is a model of oddball simplicity: "There's nothing that strikes me funnier than people calling me the vilest of names." It follows, somehow, that when David made his living (just barely) as a quixotic stand-up comic, he loved doing a bit in which he played "a dairy lobbyist," and he liked to begin by asking the audience whether he could address it "in the tu form" rather than the less intimate "you."

Crowd pleasers not. But he kept doing them.

David knew he wasn't cut out for stand-up because "I didn't want to travel . . . I don't like packing." What better reason for a career choice? David doesn't do anything so brash as calling Steinberg a name, but he does complain that he wasn't given dinner as part of the arrangement: "I need a meal. . . . I'm starving!"

A TV Land spokeswoman says there'll be more "Sit Down" sessions next season if the response is good over the next six weeks, and that female stand-ups will be included. Steinberg's status in the comedy world and his ability to call on friends for favors clearly play a part in being able to land such great guests. It wouldn't be fair to say there's never a dull moment, but there are few. Comedians can be funny even when they are not officially comeding; what Steinberg's guests have in common isn't professionalism or a formal skill, but something in the DNA.

They were born to be funny. They can't help it. It's their gift and their curse and our -- dare we say it? Yes, we dare -- blessing.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/13/AR2005121301898_pf.html

Happy New Year:
“KTLA Roses To The Occasion
By Allison Romano Broadcasting & Cable

KTLA Los Angeles, a Tribune Broadcasting-owned WB station, is rolling out the rosy carpet for the 2006 Tournament of Roses Parade.

KTLA plans to air the entire parade live in high-definition Jan. 2 and include a Spanish-language simulcast. The program will repeat four times later in the day. This is the 8th year that KTLA has aired the Rose Parade in HD.

It is also commercial-free.

Viewers outside the Los Angeles market will be able to tap into its coverage as well.

KTLA’s feed will be picked up by stations including KRON San Francisco, KDAF Dallas, WBZL Miami, KSWB San Diego, KTWB Seattle and WTTV Indianapolis. In addition, the Travel Channel and Discovery HD Theater will simulcast KTLA’s coverage.

The parade has become something of a test event for broadcast technology that can better capture the "pop" of the poppies and brilliance of the begonias. More than a decade ago, it got a 3-D telecast as well.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6291225

Tuesday’s prime-time ratings – and Media Week Analyst Marc Berman’s analysis of what they mean -- have been posted at the top of Ratings News the second post in this thread.

Showtime may book “Arrested”

By Nellie Andreeva The Hollywood Reporter

Will the pay TV environs of Showtime be a friendlier place for the Emmy-winning comedy "Arrested Development"?

Word around town this week is that Showtime is in talks with "Arrested" producers 20th Century Fox TV and Imagine TV about picking up the comedy from creator/executive producer Mitch Hurwitz. Sources stressed that the talks are still exploratory and that it would be a big financial commitment on Showtime's part to pick up the show in its current form with a large ensemble cast that includes Jason Bateman, Jeffrey Tambor, Portia de Rossi, Jessica Walter and Will Arnett.

"Arrested" was an instant hit with critics following its debut on Fox in late 2003, but the show never could pull in much of a crowd during its run on Fox Broadcasting Co., even after it won the Emmy for best comedy series in 2004.

Last month, Fox threw in the towel, cutting its episode order for "Arrested's" third season from its initial 22-episode ticket to 13 (HR 11/11).

Reps for Showtime, 20th and Imagine declined comment late Tuesday.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/television/brief_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001659656

Inside Move: Nets keen to get “Arrested”
Ratings-challenged laffer's third-season order recently cut

By DENISE MARTIN, JOSEF ADALIAN Variety.com

Fox still hasn't officially canceled "Arrested Development," but if it does, other networks are interested in the show.

Both ABC and Showtime have had conversations with 20th Century Fox TV and indicated they're open to making a deal for new episodes of the critically beloved, Emmy-winning comedy from creator Mitch Hurwitz. No formal negotiations have taken place, and there are still numerous hurdles that might prevent such a move -- including the show's hefty pricetag.

That said, those familiar with the talks described them as serious, with Showtime said to be in particularly hot pursuit of the ratings-challenged laffer, now on life support at Fox. Skein's third-season order was recently cut to 13 episodes.

Showtime could be a good place for "Arrested." Skein's subversive humor and heavily serialized storylines always made it a tough sell as a mass-appeal broadcast series. What's more, Showtime already has a potential companion for "Arrested" in "Weeds," which just received a second-season pickup. That show is a suburban satire centered on a drug-dealing soccer mom played by Mary-Louise Parker.

Network entertainment topper Robert Greenblatt has made an aggressive push to make Showtime a player in the comedy biz. He's greenlit several since his arrival -- including "Fat Actress" and "Barbershop" -- and "Arrested" could be the piece de resistance. If even half of the skein's Fox viewers -- last averaging around 4 million per episode -- watched on Showtime, "Arrested" would be an instant cable hit.

ABC, meanwhile, is also looking to make its mark in comedy, having already established itself as the home of TV's most buzzworthy dramas ("Lost," "Desperate Housewives," "Grey's Anatomy"). Net has high hopes for upcoming laffers, such as "Emily's Reason's Why Not," "Crumbs" and "Sons and Daughters," as well as a sophomore contender, "Jake in Progress."

Since Fox has yet to officially cop to canceling "Arrested," 20th can't formally make any deals with another net. There are other barriers to setting the show up elsewhere, however.

Studio has already deficited millions in order to produce the show, which costs about $1. 6 million per half-hour to produce. It's believed 20th deficits about $400,000 per episode.

Even if ABC or Showtime stepped up with the same license fee Fox now forks over for the show, 20th execs will have to decide whether it's worth it to sink more money into a show that isn't a proven ratings winner. That's one reason the studio might push for at least a 22-episode (or greater) commitment from a net.

Studio needs 36 episodes to get "Arrested" to the magic number of 88 episodes required for syndication. But even if it gets to syndication, there's no guarantee of a rich payday in the off-net market.

On the other hand, "Arrested" is a winner in the DVD market, and more episodes mean more DVD sales. Skein could also take off if given mass exposure on a cabler such as Showtime -- particularly now that the feevee cabler is part of Leslie Moonves' CBS Corp. family.

Moonves certainly knows something about making lemons out of lemonade. One of his first acts upon taking over CBS was picking up a show from NBC called "JAG." Skein ran for nearly a decade on the Eye and spawned the successful spinoff "NCIS."

Studio, Showtime and ABC declined comment.

COMMENTARY
Your kids, your cable, your problem

By Richard Huff New York Daily News TV Editor Tuesday, December 13th, 2005

People, it's time you learned to program your cable boxes.

Yes, you.

Stop looking for outside help from Congress or watchdog groups to clean up, clear up and make safe the programming your kids watch.

That's a ridiculous notion.

This week, the major cable operators said they would start offering "family-friendly" or à la carte packages so parents can get services that won't offend them.

That's a bunch of poop, too.

The cable operators are running scared. They're afraid that if they don't kowtow to a few loudmouth politicians and watchdog groups who say content needs to be cleaned up, then cable programming will be regulated.

The companies have seen how the saber-rattling got broadcast and radio network executives shaking in their Kenneth Coles.

If parents want to have a handle on what their kids watch, well, then, they've got to take control of the situation. Sorry, that's the truth. Stop looking for someone else to blame.

First, the argument was the world needed a TV ratings system to tell parents - if they cared - about the content. Then came along the V-chip, to block said programming. Most cable boxes give parents the ability to block out certain levels of programming they don't want their kids seeing. Most don't use it.

I do. With a 12-year-old and a 6-year-old, I worry about having to deal with sexually charged programming hitting them. Me, I want it. So their sets are programmed to block out shows rated PG-13 and beyond.

I - not Congress, not a watchdog group - program the box.

Cable companies, say the "family-friendly" programming will be offered to digital subscribers, or those who have the newfangled boxes that can already block shows.

And what constitutes a "family-friendly" lineup?

ABC Family? That channel airs reruns of the WB's "Gilmore Girls." Don't tell anyone, but there was an episode where the mother and daughter argued over who had bigger boobs.

Nickelodeon? Well, in the evenings it reruns "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" and "Roseanne," two good shows that occasionally dealt with real-life, not-so-pleasant family issues.

The news channels? They're not rated. But what well-meaning family lineup would leave out a news channel? Sports? Sorry, ESPN has that, and if you watch closely, most "SportsCenter" highlights include clips of a guy mouthing the F-word.

Trouble is, if you were going to limit any of these channels, you'd miss out on some wonderful programming dealing with all aspects of family life, such as Nick's "Dora" and ABC Famiy's "Wildfire."

The same holds true with the idea of à la carte channel-buying. What happens the first time you want to watch something like Sundance's "Iconoclast" or FX's "Rescue Me" or "Nip/Tuck," and you don't have it?

The idea of limiting channel lineups is as crazy as the arguments being made to clean up TV in general. It's born of the same mentality that requires the producers of a commercial with a car climbing the side of a building to warn viewers not to try it themselves.

Here's my advice: Get all the programming you can for the price you can afford. Give yourself options. And if you're seriously concerned about blocking content, take control and use the tools at hand.

The last thing you want is for someone else to make those decisions for you.

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/col/v-pfriendly/story/374772p-318333c.html

Wow. This guy must have read my mind. I agree with every single point.

Major fizzle for returning “Fear Factor”
Gross-out reality show down 26 percent in 18-49s

By Abigail Azote MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer

How many more bugs and animal entrails can “Fear Factor” contestants eat before the gross-out factor grows stale? Not too many more, apparently.

Though the show returned for its sixth season last week with several minor tweaks to its format, the changes would seem to have been too little and too late.

“Factor’s” season debut in its new 8 p.m. Tuesday timeslot last week, the week ended Dec. 11, averaged a 3.1 18-49 rating. Not only was it off 26 percent from its 4.2 average last season, but the original episode also ranked third in its timeslot behind repeats of CBS’s “NCIS” and ABC’s “Charlie Brown Christmas.”

Among total viewers, “Factor” averaged 8.2 million, down 20 percent from last season’s 10.2 million average Mondays at 8 p.m. And that was already down 27 percent from the year before. Compared to its fourth season in 2003-’04, “Factor” has fallen off 41 percent. “Factor” aired 125 episodes before taking a seven-month break in May and is now also airing in syndication.

“The show itself is probably becoming over-saturated, losing the specialness of it,” says Tom Weeks, entertainment director at Starcom Entertainment.

But Weeks notes too that the show is likely also being hurt by NBC's overall decline in ratings. When a network experiences an overall decline, as NBC has, its most popular programs often lose viewers who tuned in simply out of habit after watching other shows on the network.

In an effort to reinvigorate “Factor,” the show returned with just as many scantily clad contestants but less emphasis on the stomach-churning eating games that it is well-known for. Instead, producers have tapped a stunt team with experience in films like “The Matrix Revolutions” and “Kill Bill, Vol. 2” to come up with bigger and badder stunts.

Another new addition is the “Home Invasion” segment, where host Joe Rogan goes to people’s homes and challenges them to attempt a stunt for a $5,000 credit card prize.

But whether the changes will help is another matter. One media researcher tells Media Life that he sees the recent decline in ratings as the beginning of a downward trend, the show having run its course.

http://medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_1824.asp

Sinker finale for CBS's “Amazing Race'”
Family funk? Drops 31 percent from last season.

By Diego Vasquez MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Dec 14, 2005

Adding celebrity couples to CBS’s “The Amazing Race” worked splendidly last season, spurring big ratings. Adding families this year had quite the opposite effect.

Last night’s two-hour season finale of “The Amazing Race: Family Edition” averaged a 4.6 overnight rating among viewers 18-49, down 31 percent versus the 6.7 overnight rating season seven’s finale earned last spring.

Last season “Race,” which had been on the rise since summer 2004, featured “Survivor’s” Rob and Amber, and viewership grew as the season progressed, with viewers tuning in to see if the dynamic duo could be defeated. They were bumped out in the season finale.

This year “Race” played with the formula again, sending family teams of four people trotting around the globe instead of the usual two. But this time the result was a bust.

“Family Edition” averaged a 4.2 overnight rating among 18-49s through 11 episodes this season, off 21 percent versus the Rob and Amber season.

“Family Edition” was also off compared to the last non-Rob and Amber season of “Race.” Last night’s 4.6 overnight for the finale was down 12 percent versus a 5.2 for season six’s finale last fall.

Viewers never warmed to the family format, with one common complaint being the challenges weren’t as exciting as past editions of “Race.” People also did not like having kids on the show, a frequent gripe about reality TV.

Last night’s episode was the highest-rated of the season, and up 24 percent from the 3.7 overnight rating the show had averaged over its previous three episodes.

http://medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_1852.asp

By Richard Huff New York Daily News TV Editor Tuesday, December 13th, 2005

"The same holds true with the idea of à la carte channel-buying. What happens the first time you want to watch something like Sundance's "Iconoclast" or FX's "Rescue Me" or "Nip/Tuck," and you don't have it?"

You order the channel, moron. :rolleyes:

That's what happens when channels develop compelling original programming - people want those channels and will pay for them.

I think his point is how do you know you want it until you've seen it, and how do you see it unless you have it. HBO's Sopranos (et al) has faced the issue, but that's one of a handfull of shows on a very few networks. What happens when it's almost all of them? Free previews help for HBO, Showtime, Cinemax, etc. But what happens when every channel is separate? The coordination of free previews for 50+ networks seems pretty daunting to me. But I'm sure not going to pony up a sub fee for a channel because I think I might be interested in a show, only to find I'm not.

Xesdeeni

Sports On TV
Unique bowl look: No games on New Year's Day

By Michael Hiestand USA Today

Putting together the college bowl TV schedule is always a jigsaw puzzle. But the bowl lineup — 28 games starting Dec. 20 with the New Orleans Bowl — has a few extra pieces. Like the number of bowl games that will be played on New Year's Day: Zero.

"We work around what the NFL gives us," says Dave Brown, vice president of programming and acquisitions for ESPN/ESPN2, which will carry 25 bowl games. (ABC carries the four Bowl Championship Series games, including the title game in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 4, as well as the Capital One Bowl on Jan. 2. CBS carries the Sun Bowl on Dec. 30. NBC has the Gator Bowl, and Fox has the Cotton Bowl, both Jan. 2.)

On New Year's Day, the NFL will play a full schedule on its final regular-season Sunday. And on New Year's Eve, it will play a late-afternoon and prime-time game — meaning no bowl games will appear in those time slots, too.

And while the NFL usually avoids games on Christmas, it will have two this year because Christmas falls on a Sunday. That means no bowl games will played then either. Says Brown: "Most bowl directors don't want to play on Christmas Day anyway. But they rate well."

Bowl game time slots, Brown says, were made final after the NFL released its schedule last spring. Meaning, there is also some luck involved in the quality of brand-name matchups in prime time.

The most promising big-name matchups on ESPN prime time: Michigan-Nebraska in the Alamo Bowl on Dec. 28; Oregon-Oklahoma in the Holiday Bowl on Dec. 29 and LSU-Miami (Fla.) in the Peach Bowl on Dec. 30. The Peach Bowl matchup, Brown says, "could be a BCS game."

But that Peach Bowl pairing, like most for bowl games, results simply from set pecking orders rather that premonitions from TV programmers: The Peach Bowl gets the fifth pick from the Southeastern Conference and the third from the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Fox foray: For the bowl games after the 2006 season, there will be an unprecedented anomaly added to the TV mix: One network, waiting in the wings all season, stepping in to handle the marquee action of the BCS games.

Fox will air four BCS games — ABC has a separate deal for the Rose Bowl — even though it won't carry regular-season action.

Tuesday, Fox Sports president Ed Goren said the network is looking at adding new wrinkles to BCS coverage, such as moving the pregame crew used for the title game to each of the other BCS games instead of staying at the site of the final.

Fox has made no secret of its desire to expand its college football presence beyond the BCS. But that will take time, given that the Big Ten is the next big conference whose TV rights are up for grabs — and then starting only with the 2007 season. Neal Pilson, a TV consultant and ex-CBS Sports president, expects Fox "to become a player" in college football, partly to effectively sell ad time: "It's pretty tough to sell four games. You need a slightly larger game package."

Then there's the question of who will form Fox's on-air BCS crew. Fox likely will start from scratch since other networks aren't likely to lend their familiar faces. Goren says it's "a possibility" that Fox NFL analysts —Terry Bradshaw is a voter in a poll used in BCS rankings and Jimmy Johnson coached Miami to a national title — could be used.

And they'll likely get practice on Fox Sports Net's game cablecasts: "You want to give your production team an opportunity to work out the kinks."

On tap: The World Baseball Classic, making its debut in March with various major leaguers playing for their native countries, is a rare TV rookie. Although new events almost always begin in obscurity, the major league stars committed to play in this one suggest it could get decent ratings right off the bat.

Consultant Pilson says it's going to be an "exciting TV property," partly because it will get plenty of hype from the sports media, "and you can't pay for that kind of promotion. Every baseball fan will know what it is."

ESPN likely will wind up with the event, since it has lots of hours to fill and often does so with events that draw small ratings. Other networks likely will wait and see. Says Fox's Goren: "It could evolve into a very special event."

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/columnist/hiestand-tv/2005-12-14-hiestand-bowls_x.htm

I think his point is how do you know you want it until you've seen it, and how do you see it unless you have it. HBO's Sopranos (et al) has faced the issue, but that's one of a handfull of shows on a very few networks. What happens when it's almost all of them? Free previews help for HBO, Showtime, Cinemax, etc. But what happens when every channel is separate? The coordination of free previews for 50+ networks seems pretty daunting to me. But I'm sure not going to pony up a sub fee for a channel because I think I might be interested in a show, only to find I'm not.

Xesdeeni

I face the same problem with the current system. No way to check out everything on 50 - 100 channels. If it is heavily promoted and peaks my interest - or word of mouth or good press might compel me to tune in.

Battlestar got my interest and if I didn't have SciFi, I'd have ordered it to see that show. If the show sucked, I would have canceled the next month. We shouldn't be paying through the nose just so the networks can pick up a handful of viewers that stumble on the channel via surfing.

I think his point is how do you know you want it until you've seen it, and how do you see it unless you have it. HBO's Sopranos (et al) has faced the issue, but that's one of a handfull of shows on a very few networks. What happens when it's almost all of them? Free previews help for HBO, Showtime, Cinemax, etc. But what happens when every channel is separate? The coordination of free previews for 50+ networks seems pretty daunting to me. But I'm sure not going to pony up a sub fee for a channel because I think I might be interested in a show, only to find I'm not.

Xesdeeni

Obviously I disagree with Richard Huff, but like to post all kinds of opinions here.

That being said, I think he missed a key point: it isn't just about protecting the tender eyes and minds of the kiddies. It is about being forced to pay for programming you never watch.

The bonus of being able to tune into (or, more routinely speed past) channels I don't care about would be more than offset by paying only for those channels I do watch.

Frankly, I agree with his basic point: parents should get more involved in what their kids watch. He just stopped short there.

If the cable companies want me to sample networks, give me a really cheap way to do it. Turn them all on the first week of each quarter. Let the networks stack their best programming in those weeks so I can surf through them.

There are answers, and relatively easy ones. But the cable companies, and more importantly, the program suppliers, don't want to even think about them. They just want us to pay for channel after channel -- all the while telling us they are giving us "freedom".

The real freedom, of course, would be a simple pay-as-you-go system.

Sports On TV
More Details on NBC’s NFL Plans for 2006

(NBC Press Release)

NEW YORK, Dec. 14, 2005 -- NBC's "Football Night in America" studio show will be produced by David Neal and Sam Flood, who between them have won 32 Emmy Awards at NBC Sports, making them one of the most honored sports production teams working today. The announcement was made today by Dick Ebersol, Chairman, NBC Universal Sports & Olympics and executive producer of NBC's "Football Night in America." Neal is Executive Producer, NBC Sports and Executive Vice President, NBC Olympics, and Flood is Coordinating Producer, NBC Sports. Both were promoted to their current positions in July.

"Football Night in America" will encompass more than four hours of NFL coverage on Sunday nights-hosted by 17-time Emmy Award winner Bob Costas, the most acclaimed sportscaster of his generation-including the primetime studio show at 7 p.m. ET followed by the premier primetime game of the week "NBC's Sunday Night NFL Football," beginning with the 2006 NFL season.

"Through the years, network studio shows have only been able to serve as previews to the upcoming afternoon games." said Ebersol. "'Football Night in America' will be network television's first primetime football studio show. It will be the destination for viewers to gather for their first complete look at all the day's games, and be the first to react to news and issues generated that day and to provide highlights and in-depth analysis of the games of the day.

"David and Sam have the passion, creativity and leadership to drive the studio show to a new level, and I know they welcome the challenge. David provides the overall leadership for our Olympics and sports production units. Sam has been the leader of our NASCAR production team for the past five years. It is an absolute privilege for us to have the production leadership of NBC Sports also leading the 'Football Night in America' studio show."

Neal's next production challenge will be the Torino Olympic Winter Games beginning Friday, Feb. 10. Flood will produce the NHL on NBC beginning Saturday, Jan. 14, then shift gears to the Daytona 500 on Sunday, Feb. 19, followed by the Torino Winter Olympics Closing Ceremony on Sunday, Feb. 26.

"Football Night in America"

"Football Night in America" is the National Football League's premier primetime television package. Ebersol negotiated the unprecedented six-year NFL deal, which includes innovative flexible scheduling and continues through the 2011 season with Super Bowls in 2009 and 2012.

For each of the six seasons, NBC kicks off the NFL regular season with a Thursday night primetime game. The first regular season game of the new agreement, NBC's "NFL Kickoff 2006," launches the NFL regular season on Thursday, Sept. 7, 2006 in primetime.

The agreement calls for 16 regular season Sunday night games, each season's "NFL Kickoff" Thursday night primetime game, two postseason Wild Card games and three preseason games in primetime. NBC also will broadcast Super Bowl XLIII in 2009 in Tampa, Fla., and XLVI in 2012, and Pro Bowls in the same years.

Under the new agreement, the NFL provides flexible game scheduling over the final seven weeks of the regular season. The flexible game selection, offered for the first time by the NFL, will strengthen the schedule of Sunday night games over the final seven weeks of the season when many teams' playoff chances are at stake.

NBC's "Football Night in America" will broadcast an NFL studio show from 7-8 p.m. ET followed by the kickoff of "NBC's Sunday Night NFL Football" at 8:15 p.m. ET. Both the game and studio show will be aired in high definition.

Critic’s Notebook
“Criminal Minds”

By Charlie McCollum San Jose Mercury News

One of the more interesting developments this TV season has been the unexpected success of this new crime drama (one of the few not produced by Jerry Bruckheimer) opposite the ratings juggernaut that is ABC's ``Lost.'”, 9 PM ET/PT CBS.

Proving that you can have two hit shows in the same period, ``Minds'' has been pulling nearly 15 million viewers in recent weeks even as ``Lost'' is snagging more than 20 million.

And the series is pretty solid to boot, although -- as in tonight's new episode -- it can get a bit gruesome. The acting is interesting, the writing is refreshingly literate and the show has come up with some engrossing stories.

Since ``Lost'' is a repeat, you might want to spin over to ``Minds'' tonight and see what the fuss is about.

I face the same problem with the current system. No way to check out everything on 50 - 100 channels. If it is heavily promoted and peaks my interest - or word of mouth or good press might compel me to tune in.

Battlestar got my interest and if I didn't have SciFi, I'd have ordered it to see that show. If the show sucked, I would have canceled the next month. We shouldn't be paying through the nose just so the networks can pick up a handful of viewers that stumble on the channel via surfing.Please don't get me wrong. On principal, I agree with a-la-carte. But I think you gloss over the issue by saying you have the same problem today. Sure, there are a number of networks that you don't get if you have a lower tier. But there are a bunch that you do get. And you can sample those networks any time you want, since you are already paying for them. I think his point (and I believe a valid one that I'm sure can...but hasn't really been addressed) is that this will be the case for EACH AND EVERY channel.

Take a moment to decide which channels you would buy, forgetting the cost (which we don't know at present) for the moment (i.e. a few dollars). How many are on that list? And how many channels have you left off that have one or two programs you've watched over the past year? Would you have actively subscribed to those networks to watch those occasional shows? I wouldn't. And that means $0 for those networks. And that means they'll probably go away.

The point is that a-la-carte sounds good. But I think all of the criticisms are valid. Small networks will be squeezed out, and many will go under. Larger networks may become even more commercial, in an attempt to make back what they lose by wishy-washy, gray-area fans like me, who probably would watch them if they are part of the package, but wouldn't pay for the priviledge (think using IE instead of paying for Opera). And the cable companies will make even more money, because they'll be able to sell 10 channels individually for more than the 50 they sell me now.

Perhaps it's odd, but I'd rather see a-la-carte implemented and see what really happens, bad or not. But let's all be careful what we wish for. Reality and prinicpal sometimes don't meet without a collision.

Xesdeeni

Sure, I tune into some channels only occasionally - and only because something on the guide caught my eye. But that doesn't mean that those channels are channels I would be willing to pay for.

That's like someone leaving a dozen Krispy Kremes on your desk every morning and deducting it from your paycheck every week. Just because you ate one of them a month ago, doesn't mean you couldn't or shouldn't be able to go without.

...
Take a moment to decide which channels you would buy, forgetting the cost (which we don't know at present) for the moment (i.e. a few dollars). How many are on that list? And how many channels have you left off that have one or two programs you've watched over the past year? Would you have actively subscribed to those networks to watch those occasional shows? I wouldn't. And that means $0 for those networks. And that means they'll probably go away...Xesdeeni

Study after study have shown the average household watches an average of 12-19 channels (including the OTA stations available).

But the average package from DBS or cable is over 100 channels.

I agree some channels would go away under a la carte. But why should the vast majority who don't care about them have to pay for them to prop them up artificially?

By the way, here is my list:
CNN, CNBC, FNC, Weather Channel, CSPAN 1-3, ESPN HD, ESPN2 HD, USA, TNT, RSNs (2), Comedy Channel, HD Tier, locals, perhaps HBO (when "The Sopranos" returns.
In this particular case, even at $1 apiece (far more than they charge now for carriage) I could get the first four for $4. The CSPANs are free..cable and satellite pay for them.
ESPN HD channels would probably be about $8-15, the RSN another $7.50 or so. USA, TNT, Comedy would probably run about $1 a channel (again far more than now); let's say the HD Tier is $12, HBO $12, Local tier $10.

Total: (probably far higher than competition would eventually make it) would be $55+.

That is not appreciably more than I pay now (though I now, admittedly, get more channels). But my money would go to support channels I want to support, If I want ESPN, why should me neighbor have to subsidize me? And with competition looming with cable/telco,satellite and soon internet delivery available, someone will offer the channels I paricularly want as loss leaders and I probably could put together a better deal.

And as CPanther has pointed out a number of times, the scary per month costs we are being threatened with would probably come down dramatically as the channels found out to keep a high sub base (for ad revenue) they needed to cut their prices.

At any rate, it is not about money, or keeping the kids safe, or maintaining the decades-old business model of the cable biz perking along.

It is, plainly, about freedom to choose what I want to pay for, and what programming I want to support with my money.

Great HD Options in the Future?
HD Begins at Home for Charter, Allies

Matt Stump multicahannel.com

Paul Allen-controlled Charter Communications Inc. is joining Mitsubishi Digital Electronics America, NBC Universal, Samsung Corp. and Sun Microsystems Inc. in forming the High Definition Audio Video Network Alliance (HANA).

The HANA companies aim to create standards-based design guidelines for secure high-definition audio and video networks that would include control protection.

The founders say they want in-home devices to be able to view, pause and record five or more high-definition channels simultaneously without compromising service quality, and to view, pause and record HD anywhere in the home through one set-top box. The group also wants to allow for the sharing of personal content from PCs to audiovisual devices, and to allow for the control of AV devices via a single remote.

HANA said it is in discussions with such standards bodies as the Consumer Electronics Association, CableLabs, the Motion Picture Association of America, the Advanced Television Systems Committee, the UWB Forum and the 1394 Trade Association.

HANA hopes to have compliant HDTVs, DVD players, digital video recorders, set-top boxes and home-theater products in the market by the second half of 2006.

From CED Broadband Direct,

RCN offers to test a la carte pricing;

Cable firm relents following Senate decency hearings

12/14/2005 10:59:00 AM

Copyright 2005 Globe Newspaper Company
The Boston Globe
December 14, 2005 Wednesday
THIRD EDITION
By Keith Reed, Globe Staff
From LexisNexis

RCN Corp., a cable company with subscribers in Massachusetts, yesterday offered to test a pricing plan that would give subscribers greater flexibility to choose the channels they want, another sign that the cable industry's decades-long united front against a la carte pricing may be crumbling.

Responding to a week of hearings in the Senate over decency standards in cable programming, RCN chief executive Peter D. Aquino said yesterday that he supported Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin's view that cable companies should voluntarily adopt more "family-friendly" programming options. He endorsed the idea of selling channels by theme as a way to achieve that goal.

Martin and some legislators have indicated they would seek to impose controls on cable programs, including legislation that would impose a la carte pricing, if the industry does not limit access to programs filled with sex and violence on their systems.

"RCN believes that themed-tier a la carte would allow cable operators to offer consumers smaller programming tiers, limited to the kind or categories of programming they most value," Aquino said in a statement the company issued yesterday afternoon.

His comments could mean that a la carte pricing would become an option for local subscribers. RCN has more than 70,000 subscribers in Massachusetts, according to data from the state Department of Telecommunications and Energy.

The cable industry has long rejected a la carte letting subscribers choose channels instead of prepackaged lineups arguing that that model would make programming more expensive and limit consumers' choices.

But that stance weakened last week when Charles Dolan, chairman of Cablevision, the country's fifth-largest cable company, said in a Senate hearing that a la carte was a viable option for the industry. Also forcing the cable industry's hand is looming competition from phone companies like Verizon Communications Inc., which plans to launch a fiber-optic based television service in Massachusetts next year and has said it supports a la carte pricing.

Aquino stopped short of endorsing a total a la carte model, instead saying that RCN would like to test selling themed tiers of programming, such as family channels in one grouping and sports in another, as soon as it could. A spokeswoman for the company said last night that no dates for a potential trial had been set.

Bruce Leichtman, president of telecommunications research firm Leichtman Research Group in Durham, N.H., said he is not convinced a la carte will be a reality in the near future.

"Can it physically be done? Yes it can. Will it? No way," he said. "Certainly there's a segment that wants less and to pay less for it, but a la carte is not going to lower rates, so what we might see is some family-friendly tiers."

Wow.
Very interesting. And very significant.
The cable monolithic resonse against a la carte seems to be crumbling rapidly.
Thanks for the post, Jim.

It is, plainly, about freedom to choose what I want to pay for, and what programming I want to support with my money.

The below quotes are from an article in the SF Chronicle from today linked below, bold type done by me,
Kenney pointed out that music players like the iPod essentially allow consumers to unbundle albums and buy only the songs they want.

"The whole trend in media is very selective consumer choice, and then marketing to you based on the choice you've made," she said. "Cable is the dinosaur in this regard."
"There aren't a lot of businesses that would want to rewrite their entire economic model just to see if it would work," Rodriguez said.

Apple's Steve Jobs might have a thing or two to say about that, as would numerous others in Silicon Valley.
Indeed.


http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/12/14/BUGF0G7H8H1.DTL
Tiny step toward a la carte

I must say, Jim, as much as I (obviously) favor a la carte, I am stunned at how fast cable seems to be caving.

After years and years of ignoring the requests, telling Congress it couldn't be done, refusing to even discuss it -- it just took one appearance by FCC Chairman Martin before Congress and the whole house of cards seems to be tumbling down.

It is akin to the schoolyard bully finally getting his nose bloodied and running home, crying, to Mommy.

As I said, the whole spectacle is nothing less than amazing to me.

I can remember some spirited discussions I had with foxeng about a year ago, where he said a la carte would never happen. I said it might, but it would take quite a while. (Despite the arguments, I must say I feared he was right.) Now I suspect a la carte will be available to many Americans by next year at this time -- and to some far sooner than that.

But it seems clear that someone in some cable companies is finally understanding that if they don't provide the kinds of service viewers want, there will very soon be all kinds of folks (especially including the programmers themselves) who will be perfectly happy to bypass them entirely.

All it apparently all it took was to reframe the entire argument was to change the basic a la carte question to a simple, very understandable one: "Why should we pay for programming we don't want?"

RCN on a la carte

(RCN Corp. Press Release)
RCN Comments on Senate Testimony About the Viability of A La Carte 'Family Package' Programming; Company Volunteers to Market Test Themed A La Carte Cable Programming; Fair Pricing Needed for Greater Consumer Choice

HERNDON, Va., Dec 13, 2005 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- President & CEO Peter D. Aquino of RCN Corporation (NASDAQ:RCNI), a leading provider of triple play cable, high-speed internet and phone services, today commented on U.S. Senate testimony yesterday regarding a la carte family programming. He reaffirmed RCN's longstanding support of FCC Chairman Kevin Martin's position that cable operators should voluntarily adopt more family and consumer-friendly programming options. In addition, he said offering cable programming in a true a la carte manner would give consumers more choice over which programs they purchase.

However, Aquino cautioned against a pre-packaged family bundle created by the programming conglomerates and cable operators who own content. Instead, cable operators should have the flexibility and capability to develop customized packages that their customers want.

According to Aquino, "RCN continues to migrate to all-digital platforms within the next year, at which time it is prepared to participate in a voluntary market test of themed tiers of a la carte programming, assuming existing contractual restrictions and other impediments imposed by program suppliers have been overcome." RCN was the first company to volunteer to conduct a market trial of themed, mini-tier a la carte programming offerings. In comments filed with the FCC in 2004, RCN said that a la carte programming options implemented on a voluntary, market-supported basis, have the potential to address some of the most important and currently unmet consumer demands, namely: competition, choice, and control."

"Themed tier a la carte is an excellent model for offering consumers the ability to choose the categories of programming they most value, and to reject programming that they find either too expensive or indecent as long as pricing is on an even footing with competitors," Aquino explained. "RCN believes that themed tier a la carte would allow cable operators to offer consumers smaller programming tiers, limited to the kind or categories of programming they most value, while still supporting programming diversity, because less-widely viewed niche programming could continue to be bundled with similar, but more widely-viewed channels."

Aquino said that if RCN is to be able to test consumer reaction to themed program tiers on its digital systems, the company needs help from the FCC and Congress to overcome existing impediments to such consumer-friendly programming.

"Programmers with excessive market power such as broadcasters, vertically integrated cable MSOs and other media conglomerates currently impose contractual distribution restrictions, tying arrangements, and artificially inflated rates on smaller distributors like RCN. This ties our hands and prevents us from offering the more tailored programming packages that consumers might desire," Aquino emphasized. "Congress and the FCC must address this problem by requiring more transparency so RCN can know among other things what are the true rates that programmers charge themselves and each other. This would enable RCN to negotiate fair pricing and terms to provide more choice to its customers."

http://investor.rcn.com/ReleaseDetail.cfm?ReleaseID=181885

It is rather amazing how fast this has exploded. What was it a few weeks ago that Martin brought the subject up and we already have a cable company being bold enough to say, okay, we will give it a shot. That is very impressive for an industry that historically moves like molasses when it comes to customer satisfaction.

RCN has a small footprint here in the bay area I believe as an overbuilder in a Comcast area, it will be very interesting to watch and see how the competition develops in that area between the 2 companies should the a-la-carte RCN speaks about is implemented here.

I like the below statement from the RCN PR also, you have to think that the FCC is going to have something to say about it.

"Programmers with excessive market power such as broadcasters, vertically integrated cable MSOs and other media conglomerates currently impose contractual distribution restrictions, tying arrangements, and artificially inflated rates on smaller distributors like RCN. This ties our hands and prevents us from offering the more tailored programming packages that consumers might desire," Aquino emphasized. "Congress and the FCC must address this problem by requiring more transparency so RCN can know among other things what are the true rates that programmers charge themselves and each other. This would enable RCN to negotiate fair pricing and terms to provide more choice to its customers."

COMMENTARY
Your kids, your cable, your problem

By Richard Huff New York Daily News TV Editor Tuesday, December 13th, 2005

People, it's time you learned to program your cable boxes.

Yes, you.

Stop looking for outside help from Congress or watchdog groups to clean up, clear up and make safe the programming your kids watch.


This guy should be FCC Chairman!

(If you want to see the names of the nominated writers, go to the link at the bottom of the press release.)

2006 Writers Guild Awards Television Nominees Announced

(Writers Guild Press Release)

LOS ANGELES, NEW YORK -- The Writers Guild of America, East and the Writers Guild of America, west have announced nominations for outstanding achievement in television writing during the 2005 season.
TELEVISION NOMINEES
For the first time in the history of the guilds, three new television award categories will recognize overall excellence in writing of episodic series. These new awards — Outstanding Achievement in Writing for a Dramatic Series, Comedy Series, and New Series — will be presented to all the writers of the winning series. The nominated series in these categories were voted on by the memberships of both guilds.

DRAMATIC SERIES
DEADWOOD, HBO
GREY’S ANATOMY, ABC
LOST, ABC
SIX FEET UNDER, HBO
THE WEST WING, NBC

COMEDY SERIES
ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT, Fox
CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM, HBO
ENTOURAGE, HBO
MY NAME IS EARL, NBC
THE OFFICE, NBC

NEW SERIES
EVERYBODY HATES CHRIS, UPN
GREY’S ANATOMY, ABC
MY NAME IS EARL, NBC
THE OFFICE, NBC
ROME, HBO

EPISODIC DRAMA — any length — one airing time
AUTOPSY (House), Fox
A GOOD DAY (The West Wing), NBC
GRAVE DANGER (CSI: Crime Scene Investigation), CBS
NORMAL IS THE WATCHWORD (Veronica Mars), UPN
RHEA REYNOLDS (Nip/Tuck), FX
SINGING FOR OUR LIVES (Six Feet UnderHBO

EPISODIC COMEDY — any length — one airing time
DIVERSITY DAY (The Office), NBC
EXILE ON MAIN STREET, Pilot (Kitchen Confidential), Fox
MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKER (Malcolm in the Middle), Fox
NEXT (Desperate Housewives), ABC
PILOT (My Name Is Earl), NBC
YOU CAN’T MISS THE BEAR, Pilot (Weeds), Showtime

LONG FORM — ORIGINAL — over one hour — one or two parts, one or two airing times
DIRT, Showtime
THE LIBRARIAN: QUEST FOR THE SPEAR, TNT
THE READING ROOM, Hallmark
WARM SPRINGS, HBO

LONG FORM — ADAPTED — over one hour — one or two parts, one or two airing times
THE COLT, Hallmark
LACKAWANNA BLUES, HBO
THE LIFE AND DEATH OF PETER SELLERS, HBO
OUR FATHERS, Showtime

ANIMATION — any length — one airing time
THE FATHER, THE SON AND THE HOLY GUEST STAR Fox
THE GIRL WHO SLEPT TOO LITTLE (The Simpsons), Fox
MOMMIE BEEREST (The Simpsons), Fox
THANK GOD IT’S DOOMSDAY (The Simpsons, Fox
THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT MARRYING (The Simpsons), Fox

COMEDY/VARIETY — MUSIC, AWARDS, TRIBUTES — SPECIALS — any length
THE 59th ANNUAL TONY AWARDS, CBS
2004 THE KENNEDY CENTER HONORS, CBS

COMEDY/VARIETY — (including talk) SERIES
LATE NIGHT WITH CONAN O’BRIEN, NBC
PENN & TELLER: BULLSHIT!, Showtime
REAL TIME WITH BILL MAHER, HBO

In television, the nominated scripts were originally broadcast between December 1, 2004, and November 30, 2005. The winners will be announced at the 2006 Writers Guild Awards on Saturday, February 4, 2006, with ceremonies held on both coasts: in Los Angeles at the Hollywood Palladium and in New York at the Waldorf=Astoria. The WGAw’s awards ceremony is executive produced by Emmy-winning writer/producer Cort Casady.

The Writers Guild of America, west and the Writers Guild of America, East represent writers in the motion picture, broadcast, cable, and new media industries in both entertainment and news. The unions conduct numerous programs, seminars, and events throughout the world on issues of interest to, and on behalf of, writers.

http://www.wga.org/subpage_newsevents.aspx?id=1493

I mentioned this to you a day or so ago – the deadline is approaching. If you email Rich with your suggestions, please tell him you heard about his column here at avsforum!

Rich Heldenfels Deadline
As I mentioned in (an earlier) ''team players'' posting… I'm writing a piece about favorite supporting actors on prime-time TV shows.

I'm focusing on shows that premiered in 2005, or on new actors who joined returning shows. (You can find a longer explanation in that previous posting.) Several people have e-mailed suggestions to rheldenfels@thebeaconjournal.com . You can do likewise, or simply post your ideas as a comment here. I'm writing the story tomorrow, so this is your last chance to talk up your favorites.

http://blogs.ohio.com/beacon_tv/

“Will & Grace” Goes Live Again
(NBC Press Release) December 14, 2005

BURBANK, Calif. -- December 14, 2005 -- NBC's Emmy Award-winning "Will & Grace" will welcome 2006 with the second live episode of its eighth and final season on Thursday, Jan. 12 (8-8:30 PM ET/PT in its new time period) as Karen (Megan Mullally) throws a birthday party and ends up staying in the bathroom with her friends for virtually the entire episode.

As he did with the season premiere, multiple Emmy-winning director James Burrows will direct the live episode, which is only the series' second in its entire run.

As before, two versions will be telecast, one live for the East Coast and one for the West Coast, resulting in different jokes to be used in each separate broadcast. The first show will shoot at 5 p.m. (PT) for the East and again at 8 p.m. (PT) for the West.

In the storyline, all of New York's high society has been invited to Karen's birthday party ? but the affair disintegrates when Will (Eric McCormack), Grace (Debra Messing) and Jack (Sean Hayes) all embarrass themselves and wind up crammed together in Karen's bathroom with the birthday girl.

The September 29 live telecast of the comedy's premiere drew a 4.4 rating and 11 share among adults18-49 -- and 9.8 million viewers overall. It scored the show's top 18-49 and total viewer results of this season. It was also the highest "Will & Grace" 18-49 rating since February 17 and biggest overall viewer total since February 24. The live telecast built on its 18-49 lead-in by a season-high 47 per cent.

This guy should be FCC Chairman!

We have had a succession of hands-off chairman who agreed entirely with Huff.

Critic’s Notebook
Bah, humbugs! Characters that'll turn a TV critic into Scrooge


By Kevin Thomspon Palm Beach Post Television Writer

Ah, the holidays. 'Tis the season for joy, laughter and good feelings.

Well, forget that for a moment while I spread a dash of Bah! Humbug! and present to you the 10 TV characters — plus one reality-show host — who make me feel like Scrooge whenever I watch 'em.

BAH! HUMBUG!

1. Horatio Caine (David Caruso), CSI: Miami
The character: Intense crime-scene investigator.
What bugs me about him: Caine's Super CSI pose — you know, hands firmly planted on hips after solving yet another grisly murder — has long worked my last nerve. Then there's his annoying habit of spitting — no, whispering — every line like he's in a Shakespearean tragedy instead of one of CBS' 45 crime dramas. Even a simple introduction ("The name is Caine. Horatio. CSI Miami") is delivered with such unnecessary intensity and bravado, it borders on the ridiculous.
How I'd change him: Get him some female companionship. Horatio needs a steady, someone to take his mind off the job and dead bodies. And that woman, if she's smart, will tell him just how self-righteously silly he looks with his hands on his hips.

2. Robert Goren (Vincent D'Onofrio), Law & Order: Criminal Intent
The character: Eccentric New York City homicide detective
What bugs me about him: He twists his body like Gumby and gesticulates like a crazy person whenever he's going in for an interrogation kill. He's a smug know-it-all. In school, Mr. Smarty Pants Goren was probably that kid who raised his hand for every question so he could show off in front of his classmates. I'm guessing Goren probably got beat up a lot. Now, Goren can show off his keen intellect and varied interests — he speaks fluent German and loves Impressionist art — to a bunch of low-life perps. Good for him. Bad for us.
How I'd change him: Put him in a straitjacket for interrogations so he can't move as much. Make Eames smack that smug look off Goren's face in a "very special" sweeps episode. Hey, what else does Eames have to do?

3. Susan Mayer (Teri Hatcher), Desperate Housewives
The character: Fortysomething divorcée living with her teen daughter
What bugs me about her: She always looks like she just finished crying for nine hours. Sometimes neurotic is cute, but in Susan, it's downright grating. She would drive any man to drink — or leave... with skidmarks (See Mike Delfino). And Susan's klutzy escapades — falling off a mechanical bull, setting Edie's house on fire and running around butt-naked in public — have become weary. And so unfunny.
How I'd change her: Give her charm lessons so she could learn how to walk and talk at the same time without bumping into a tree, or something. Make her more self-assured, less neurotic. Buy her a large case of Visine.

4 and 5. Lorelai and Rory Gilmore (Lauren Graham, Alexis Bledel), The Gilmore Girls
The characters: Forever-talking mother and daughter who act more like sisters
What bugs me about them: They yap. And yap. And yap. But that's not all. They yap and yap and yap at frightening warp speed. In fact, sometimes, they yap like they're on speed. They yap about Rory's decision to drop out of Yale and move in with her grandparents. They yap about Lorelai's fractured relationship with her mother. They yap about their hurt feelings. They yap about, well, you get the point. If any show screams "Turn on the close-captioning!" Gilmore Girls is it. But who could read that fast?
How I'd change them: Simple — tell 'em not to talk as much. Or as fast. If that doesn't work, there's always medication.

6. Ana Lucia (Michelle Rodriguez), Lost
The character: Steely-eyed leader of the Tailies
What bugs me about her: She's too bossy and the ultimate control freak. She's angry all the time. She has a quick trigger finger, which island "Barbie" Shannon unfortunately found out after getting shot dead in the jungle. She knows way too much about military-issue knives. I'm sorry, but that type of intimate knowledge about lethal objects makes me kinda nervous. And then there's Ana Lucia's... overbite. What? OK, I'm done.
How I'd change her: Keep her away from firearms, for starters. E-mail Oprah or Dr. Phil on the hatch's doomsday computer so Ana Lucia can get much-needed therapy.

7. Marissa Cooper (Mischa Barton), The O.C.
The character: Super-spoiled teen who's had some rough times of late
What bugs me about her: Let's start with Marissa's don't-hate-me-'cause-I'm-beautiful pout. Well, honey, we do hate you 'cause you're beautiful. And spoiled. And scary thin. And whiny. And silly. And stupid. I think that's enough for now, don't you?
How I'd change her: Pay Barton to take, like, acting lessons so, like, she could make the forever tortured Marissa, like, more believable and sympathetic.

8. Matt McNamara (John Hensley), Nip/Tuck
The character: Christian Troy's troubled son
What bugs me about him: Before going all skinhead, freaky Matt looked way too much like freaky Michael Jackson. And that's not a good thing. Plus, we all know teens get all mopey and moody, but Matt has become totally obnoxious and unlikable. All the signs of Rebelliousness 101 are there: He curses at his parents, shacks up with a racist chick and explores his sexuality in disturbing ways.
How I'd change him: Well, that's a tough one. Sometimes, teens need to go off and find themselves. I'd let Matt do just that and keep my fingers crossed that he's simply going through a phase.
Mischa Barton, with Benjamin McKenzie, on The O.C. Acting lessons would help make Barton, like, less irritating on this prime-time soap.

9. Toni Childs (Jill Marie Jones), Girlfriends
The character: An all-about-me super diva
What bugs me about her: Just about everything. The new 'do is horrid. The diva thang is beyond played out. She calls her friends "b——-es" too much. But the topper is how Toni misguidedly believes calling her newborn baby "heifer" is the best way to bond with her. Girlfriend, puleeze!
How I'd change her: Make her find the Lord. Sometimes solutions are that simple.

10. Martha Stewart, The Apprentice: Martha Stewart
The character: Robotic reality-show host
What bugs me about her: For someone who has been in front of television cameras as much as Stewart has, she always looks uncomfortable and like she's reading cue cards. Maybe she is. And that's worse because now the world knows Martha reads verrrrrrrr-eeee sloooooooooooooow-leeeeee.
How I'd change her: Tell Martha to stick to cooking and home decorating. Oops. Too late. NBC did that already when it decided not to bring Stewart's Apprentice back for a second season.

11. Gil Grissom (William Petersen), CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
The character: Intense crime-scene investigator
What bugs me about him: On some levels, I like Grissom. You gotta respect a man whose single-minded purpose is collaring bad guys through science. On the flip side, he can be a top-grade jerk. Just ask new recruit Greg, whom Grissom recently made walk 20 blocks to recover a city-load's worth of machine-gun shells. The wound-too-tight Grissom is also a little creepy. You get the sense he could be one of those serial killer bad guys if he wasn't spending every waking moment staring into microscopes.
How I'd change him: See CSI: Miami's Horatio Caine. But disregard the hands-on-the-hips part.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/tv/content/accent/epaper/2005/12/13/a1e_bahhumbug_web_1213.html

The Injury Bugs Hits!
It’s Sub Time at “Dancing With The Stars”


(ABC Press Release)

RAP ARTIST AND MUSIC MOGUL P. MILLER (MASTER P) AGREES TO STEP IN FOR SON (ROMEO), ON ABC’S “DANCING WITH THE STARS”

Due to an untimely basketball injury, teen rap sensation Romeo has dropped out of training for the upcoming second season of “Dancing with the Stars,” which premieres THURSDAY, JANUARY 5 (8:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT) on the ABC Television Network.

Romeo’s father, himself a rap artist and music industry mogul, P. Miller (Master P), has agreed to take his son’s place in the celebrity dance competition.

Master P has sold over 75 million records.

Also an accomplished athlete, P. Miller played last summer for the Sacramento Kings. He played on the semi-professional team The Las Vegas Rattlers in their ABA debut season -- where he scored an average of 20 points per game -- as well as for the ABA All-Star team.

He will be partnered with Ashly Delgrosso.

We have had a succession of hands-off chairman who agreed entirely with Huff.

Then why am I seeing articles about the current chairman pushing cable on indecency in this very thread?

Critic’s Notebook
Weird science

By Alan Sepinwall Newark Star-Ledger Wednesday, December 14, 2005

There are days where I start to wonder if NBC is less a TV network than a series of psychological experiments. When I look at its schedule, it's not hard to imagine a group of men in white lab coats strolling through the Burbank offices asking each other, "How many people will actually stick with 'Joey' through two seasons?" or "If we tell Lorne Michaels to put that brilliant 'Glengarry Glen Ross' parody at the very end of the Alec Baldwin episode, can we trick viewers into watching all 90 minutes of 'SNL' the following week?"

The network's treatment of "Scrubs," which got renewed for a full season and then left off the fall schedule, is like one giant Skinner Box: the large cast and crew of a well-liked but not very popular comedy left alone to see how they work for six months with no audience feedback of any kind.

And, frankly, the lab rats sound a little tired of it.

"In the fifth year it is weird to be doing all these shows and have none of them air," Jersey native Zach Braff said during a press conference call. "We've all gotten a little bit batty and silly."

So when the hospital comedy returns with back-to-back episodes on Jan. 3, expect even more absurdity than usual.

"I think there was an attitude of, 'if we're not going to be on the air, let's take this a little bit further,'" said Braff. "I think we were a little extra wacky and silly, and the scripts were a little more surreal, and as a result, people are going to see a slightly different season."

How much more surreal? Well, "Scrubs" creator Bill Lawrence described one upcoming episode that "will be a sign of how weird the show has gotten on some level."

After Braff guest-starred on Fox's doomed "Arrested Development" last spring, Jason Bateman agreed to return the favor, and will play a patient who refuses to thank Braff's J.D. for saving his life. J.D. and Turk (Donald Faison) try to break into Bateman's gated home to demand a thank-you, and are attacked by a flock of pet ostriches.

As he and Braff were trading tips on ostrich-wrangling, Lawrence paused and said, "I just picture the journalists on this call listening in silently as we're laughing at this."

"That sums up 'Scrubs,'" Braff agreed. "We crack each other up as the rest of the country goes 'Hmm ....'"

Being a comedy with an admittedly odd sense of humor was a handicap back when NBC was top dog, but now that the network's in a distant fourth place, Lawrence thinks its niche appeal almost becomes a bonus. There may not be an enormous number of "Scrubs" fans, but the ones they have love the show.

"Because 'Scrubs' has fallen in between a cult hit and a giant hit, we just came to the determination that we can write and do what we think is funny, and it's not going to affect the show one way or the other," he said. "We don't have to worry about what will play everywhere as opposed to what will make my friend from college laugh."

Two other pieces of good news during the long off-season: The show finally got several major Emmy nominations, including one for Braff. (Lawrence called it a "vote of confidence from our peers" that helped keep everyone productive and happy while episodes were piling up on the shelf.) DVD sets of the first two seasons both sold well, which can often benefit first-run network episodes. (Braff was also nominated for a Golden Globe yesterday.)

Major changes await the characters in January. Elliot (Sarah Chalke) will be working at another hospital for five or six episodes, Turk and Carla (Judy Reyes) will argue about having children, and J.D., now an attending doctor, will get his own staff of bumbling interns to teach and haze.

"We're obsessed with those TV shows where people stay in high school for 12 years," said Lawrence, "so here we let people's lives change and evolve."

("I really don't appreciate the indirect dig at ("Beverly Hills 90210" actress) Gabrielle Carteris," Braff sniffed.)

Braff's girlfriend, Mandy Moore, will guest star in several episodes, and Braff, still hot off directing "Garden State," was drafted to helm the show's 100th episode. It's an extended "Wizard of Oz" homage where, according to Lawrence, "Turk's looking for a heart for a heart transplant, Elliot needs a brain for a lecture she's supposed to give, Carla needs courage about having kids, and J.D.'s stuck at the hospital and just wants to go home."

The best thing about being off the air for so long, Lawrence added, "is that people truly had a chip on their shoulder here as far as the quality of stuff to put out here. We wanted to be able to say, 'We're not on TV, but the show is better than any of the other comedies that were picked over us to be on TV.'"

And, in case the NBC psych department asks, what was the toughest mental health hazard about the whole experiment?

"The biggest trap is to not kill each other," said Lawrence. "Or to get lazy. We plan to do that the sixth year and really just mail it in."

http://www.nj.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/columns-0/1134539382136100.xml&coll=1

Critic’s Notebook
Bah, humbugs! Characters that'll turn a TV critic into Scrooge



Funny stuff.. :D

I think he is completely off the mark with "Robert Goren" though, my perception of the character is that "showing off" is not even in his makeup, not even capable of it. He is just being himself with no intent to impress others around him.

Critic’s Notebook
Weird science

By Alan Sepinwall Newark Star-Ledger Wednesday, December 14, 2005

There are days where I start to wonder if NBC is less a TV network than a series of psychological experiments.
http://www.emotipad.com/newemoticons/Crowd-Grin.gif

TELEVISION REVIEW
When stars' “Own Words” are used against them

The punch lines, such as they are, come from celebrities' life stories but are read by others
By Robert Lloyd Los Angeles Times Staff Writer December 14, 2005

"Celebrity Autobiography: In Their Own Words," which premieres Thursday night (10 PM PT) on Bravo, is a one-hour special in which comic actors read passages from the memoirs of the likes of Sylvester Stallone, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Mr. T, Vanna White, 'N Sync and Burt Reynolds (intercut with ex-wife Loni Anderson). Object: hilarity.

Based on a local live show that ran for years in the bar above the now defunct Farfalla on La Brea Avenue, it's the sort of thing that might be great fun in a crowd, with an Appletini or even a festive Shirley Temple on the table in front of you, but in this incarnation — even though it's shot cabaret-style before a live audience — it is never more than mildly amusing, and at times tiresome.

The premise seems promising, but perhaps it's not as promising as all that. Given that this is the product of long preparation, this may be as good as it can get. Co-creator-performer Eugene Pack and company highlight the frequent absurdities of such tomes, in which trivialities are often elevated into major events, and odd notions presented as insights. But just because a thing is absurd does not make it funny.

It's not as if the cast isn't talented; any hour of television that includes Fred Willard, Cheryl Hines, Doris Roberts, Jay Mohr, Andrea Martin, Laraine Newman, Kel Mitchell and Kevin Nealon can count itself lucky indeed. For the most part, the performers use a neutral delivery — mugging is largely avoided — yet from the start the enterprise is awash in unavoidable ironical knowingness. The humor depends on our feeling that we're smarter than the celebrity scribes — or at least smart enough to keep our mouths shut.

And yet in our zillion-blog world, celebrities are not the only people telling more than the world needs to know, in less than perfect prose. Certainly I could live my life happily not knowing that Kathie Lee Gifford's child Cody was conceived on "a five-day cruise off the French and Italian rivieras in early July" or the explicit details of David Cassidy's "semi-aborted sexual experience" with "Partridge Family" costar Susan Dey. But my own reaction was sympathy for the lampooned, who are, after all, being taken out of context. We hear Hines as Anderson say, "The wedding was a total blast. Jim Nabors sang 'Our Love Is Here to Stay,' " and the laugh depends on her saying no more than that. But presumably this was not all she wrote.

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/reviews/cl-et-celebrity14dec14,0,3997983,print.story?coll=cl-tvent-util

Critic's Notebook
The Crime-Fighting Working Mom
By Ginia Bellafante The New York Times December 15, 2005

The legal drama "Close to Home" revolves around an attractive assistant district attorney with a 100 percent conviction rate, an infant daughter, a carpenter husband and a home life so equitably organized that she would seem to be the one working mother in the country exempt from the double shift.

Annabeth Chase, her name offered as assurance of her prosecutorial resolve, is the sort of law enforcement figure at once indignant and fair-minded, obdurate and soft of heart, a careerist permitted full access to all of her womanly inclinations. Though she might have come from the fantasy musings of a Stanford women's studies professor, she is the product of Jerry Bruckheimer's ever-growing television empire, the magnet in a series intended for women for whom staff meetings and pediatricians' appointments present themselves in daily contest.

The series, which can be seen on Fridays on CBS and claims more viewers than any other show in its time period, is a form of domestic noir, though one that ignores some of the genre's elemental suppositions. Unable to sit comfortably with the idea that white houses on pretty streets harbor all manner of psychological malignancy, the show pushes and pulls to convince us, broodily supplying the link between intimacy and ill will almost every week. Annabeth (Jennifer Finnigan) telegraphs the shock the viewer long ago stopped feeling, reacting to each new crime of passion, case of bigamy and matricide or patricide as if she had just received confirmation that a family of wild boars was running the World Bank.

But the incredulous tone is merely the most obvious of the show's peculiarities. At a time when the principles of first-wave feminism have never seemed more out of vogue, "Close to Home" is committed, however inadvertently, to the idea that the most important thing a woman can do with her life is work.

The series draws its offenders and victims disproportionately from the ranks of middle-class women, lost, misdirected or dismissive of their potential. By the show's burrowed moral reasoning, the occupationally ambitious (like Annabeth) are consigned to good fortune, while those less rigorously motivated seem destined to suffer: women with too much time on their hands; women addicted to the attentions of men; women who, for one reason or another, literally or metaphorically, never leave the house.

The series began with Annabeth's return from maternity leave, and though we are made to think that her life will spiral into a series of conflicts over the various obligations of home and office, those conflicts never substantially surface. She seems to work all the time, and is able to do so because she has the sort of husband (Christian Kane) who is endlessly willing to assume responsibilities at the high chair when the men from homicide need his wife on a Sunday. (He loves her friskily, too; sometimes he'll just start nibbling on her ear.) Her colleagues are equally solicitous. The Indianapolis district attorney's office turns out to be utopia as Redbook magazine might render it, her boss (John Carroll Lynch) having purchased her a mini-fridge so she can store her pumped breast milk. Annabeth is cared for, thin and happy.

Fewer blessings rain on people like Terry, a well-dressed, imperious woman of about 40 who materialized in a recent episode as a defendant who snootily asks Annabeth where she went to law school.

"Yale?"

"No," Annabeth says.

"Columbia."

No again.

"Oh, a state school."

Terry rightly assesses her adversary's background, the irony being that she, in fact, has squandered her own Ivy League legal training. Too lazy, presumably, to have applied her skills to a clerkship or a partner-track position, Terry faces a jail sentence for running a ring of suburban prostitutes, most of them matrons selling themselves because they have nothing else to do and their husbands have stopped reminding them that they are sexy. Eventually sent to prison, Terry, who proclaims she would like to write a book, as Heidi Fleiss did, fares better than one of her recruits, Shannon, a pretty woman who turns tricks in her lovely home after she packs her children off to school. Shannon takes her own life when her neighbors and husband discover how she has been passing her weekdays.

It is part of the show's accidental ideology that the powers of the patriarchy, the authority and failings of individual average men, serve as the forces driving female sexual misconduct. Shannon is only partially responsible for her fate. She had no job but turned to prostitution because her husband couldn't find lucrative work and the family needed money.

Similarly, idealized standards of beauty, say, may be held accountable for a woman's decision to sleep with a married man, allow herself to be talked into running his wife over with an Oldsmobile and say it was all a mistake - something to do with drowsiness and cold medicine and maybe faulty brakes. In an episode a few weeks ago, Lisa, a plain-looking clerical assistant without much going on in her life, falls prey to the affections of Randy, a heavy-set man who always gives her flowers but who also has an ex-wife, a new wife and, concurrently, a fiancée. Randy persuades Lisa to murder the spouse of the moment in a mall parking lot. Unable to fathom why anyone would date an such unseemly character, Annabeth asks her why she became involved with him in the first place.

"Someone like you could never understand," Lisa responds in her prison uniform. "Not everybody looks like you. I thought for sure I'd end up alone, always had been, so I didn't have much choice, did I?"

Cindy didn't feel as if she has much free will either. The defendant in a murder case that Annabeth is trying, Cindy stabbed her husband in the back three times on the couple's suburban lawn, while wearing a printed cotton dress. Cindy, a stay-at-home wife, killed her husband because she couldn't bear the thought of his leaving her, as he had been planning, even though she had disgraced herself by complying with his wish to join him at swingers' clubs and participate in group sex. And so we are left to conjecture that none of these miseries would have befallen her had she only been able to draw on greater reserves of self-reliance.

Sex, in this world, is inimical to the modern woman's progress, and here "Close to Home," for all of its melodrama, begins to feel like something in line with the teachings of Valerie Solanas and her Society for Cutting Up Men. In an episode that seemed to serve as a baroque allegory for the show's ethos, a smart and successful high school student, unusually in command of her own sexual agency, decides that the one boy she must have is her adopted brother. She pursues him; her parents are horrified and, in the midst of her lust and obsession, she determines that she must have them killed.

Every aspect of the show's contining morality play is laid out: families are dangerous; sex is destructive; studiousness and toil are their own salvation. Had the girl kept her head in her physics text, she might have gone to M.I.T.; she might have written code. Then again, she might have become a madam.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/15/arts/television/15clos.html?pagewanted=print

Critic's Notebook
“Commander” caught in ratings quicksand

By David Hiltbrand Knight Ridder Newspapers

Can this administration be saved? We're talking about the presidency of that Connecticut Yankee played by Geena Davis in ABC's "Commander in Chief."

The show started with massive approval ratings. Thanks to the 16 million viewers who tuned in for the debut, "Commander in Chief" was the only new series this season to crack the Nielsen Top 10. But the polls, um, ratings, have been trending down.

On Nov. 29, the massively promoted addition of Mark-Paul Gosselaar to the cast swelled the audience back to 13.6 million. But "CiC" finished third in its 9 p.m. slot behind NBC's "Biggest Loser" finale and Fox's "House."

So what's the rub? It's obvious people were drawn to the concept of a female chief executive. They wanted to like the show. But the weekly serving of hokum and sanctity is proving tough to swallow.

After a gripping pilot in which Mackenzie Allen (Davis) inherited the Oval Office, "CiC" devolved into a dull and predictable mix of international and very domestic affairs. "How do you expect me to root out that terrorist camp in Lebanon when my teenager just got caught cribbing his history paper off the Internet?"

The show's creator, Rod Lurie, clearly envisioned "CiC" as an exploration of a woman trying to balance her career and her home life on the world's largest stage. But making her such an involved mom also makes her a rather implausible leader.

How does she find time at the end of the day to check on the kids' homework and boost her daughter's self-esteem? Shouldn't she be sitting next to the sultan of Bhutan in the East Room, listening to Yo-Yo Ma saw away on the cello?

The other sticking point is that President Allen and her staff all seem so faultlessly noble and principled. That simply doesn't jibe with the Washington we know, where if you're not under indictment, you're clearly not trying very hard.

Maybe the saintly quality of her character explains why Davis seems to be having trouble getting a handle on the role. She delivers her lines so stiffly, it sounds as if she just underwent a dental procedure requiring novocaine.

Meanwhile, the show was failing on two fronts. Neither the political nor the personal stories were very interesting. After a handful of bland episodes, ABC deposed Lurie and replaced him with veteran TV producer Steve Bochco ( "Hill Street Blues"). This was the week in which Bochco's influence was supposed to emerge.

The most salient change was bringing in Gosselaar as political consultant Dickie McDonald. (Think James Carville without the swampy Nosferatu vibe.) When your audience is 61 percent female, as "CiC's" is, it makes sense to augment the stud quotient.

Let's hope they give Gosselaar more to do in subsequent weeks. His primary focus in his debut was ordering up a beauty makeover for press secretary Kelly Ludlow (Ever Carradine, in what may be prime time's most laughably miscast role).

Other changes include moving the stories involving the first children onto a remote back burner and inviting the president's battle-ax mother (Polly Bergen) to live at the White House.

A number of flaws have yet to be addressed. The president is still too good to be true. Recently, she threw over a fiercely held political policy because someone gave her a sappy, handwritten greeting card. Imagine how quickly she'd cave if Cindy Sheehan camped on her lawn.

And the whole show needs to be opened up to reflect the complexity of Washington and the constant demands on the president. As it is now, the entire federal government consists of Donald Sutherland. One man, a thousand votes.

The network's stated reason for dismissing Lurie was that he was tardy in delivering finished episodes. That problem apparently hasn't been fixed, judging by Nov. 29's Thanksgiving-themed show. You missed the holiday by about a week, fellas.

Well, you won't have "CiC" to kick around anymore. Not for a while anyway. The next fresh episode isn't scheduled until Jan. 10.

Maybe ABC is pursuing the Rose Garden strategy

http://www.bergen.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkxNjcmZmdiZWw3Zjd2cW VlRUV5eTY4Mzc4MDMmeXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk3

Was wondering how long it would take for "House" to knock off "CiC".

Critic's Notebook
Why all the mystery & confusion of scheduling?

By Ellen Gray Philadelphia Daily News

So “Variety's” now reporting that ABC and Showtime have both had "conversations" with Fox about picking up "Arrested Development" should the network ever get around to officially canceling it.

And I probably should be enormously cheered by this - we could be talking about a miracle, or as Bill O'Reilly insists I call it, a Christmas miracle - but like Charlie Brown, I'm instead a little depressed.

I'd already begun saying goodbye to "Arrested Development" even before Fox cut its episode order to 13 this season, and even as I continue to watch it (on the weeks they bother to air it).

I'd warned friends (and readers who e-mailed) not to believe the rumors that other networks might ride to the rescue, because these things so seldom work out.

And I'd told myself that 2 ½ seasons is a good run for a show with such a small audience, however loyal it might be.

So now there might be hope, and I have no idea what to do with it.

Except to wonder why networks make such a mystery of what's up with their schedules at a time when people have more choices than ever.

Every day, I get e-mails announcing new shows, shows that have been renewed for the rest of the season and shows that are switching to new time slots.

Many of those announcements mean the death - or deferral - of some other show, but often that show's not even mentioned, as if publicists don't want to spoil their upbeat announcements with the whiff of death.

Thing is, though, that few people ever call, e-mail or stop me on the street to ask about a show they haven't seen yet. What they want to know is where the show they've been watching every week has disappeared to.

Or, in the case of "Arrested Development," why the show they keep reading is just about dead, is still on. Oh, and how much longer will they be able to count on seeing it?

Darned if I know.

I'm also not sure why ABC, whose ratings expectations are higher than they were a couple of years ago, would want to pick up a show that hasn't been so much overlooked by most viewers as it has been rejected by them.

And while I know why Showtime might see "Arrested's" notoriously rabid fan base as a means of driving subscriptions, I'm afraid I keep hearing from people who'd really, really like to be able to watch "Sleeper Cell" and "Weeds."

If only they were on HBO.

"Arrested's" not the only source of confusion.

Recently, I was able to explain that ABC's "Invasion" had not been canceled, even though "Alias" has moved into its 10 p.m. Wednesday time slot - a move whose temporary nature wasn't exactly stressed in ABC's promos - and after consulting TVGuide.com, I was even able to predict that it would be back on Jan. 11. I think.

I wasn't even that certain, though, about the answer to someone else's question about Fox's "Killer Instinct," a show I honestly thought was canceled some time ago but which apparently aired an original episode earlier this month.

And please don't ask me to explain why anyone at all should continue to watch Fox's already-canceled "Reunion" now that the producers have said they're never going to say whodunit.

Right now, all we can really do is take the TV schedule the way the networks seem to - one day at a time.

Which means that tonight, I'm counting on Fox's "The O.C." (8 PM), which has had a disappointing season so far, to nevertheless deliver on its promise of "the best Chrismukkah ever."

Just don't tell O'Reilly.

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/entertainment/television//13412872.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

Critic's Notebook
Fox kills “Reunion” — again?

By Maureen Ryan Chicago Tribune December 15, 2005

I reported here two weeks ago that Fox planned to air several "Reunion" episodes in 2006 -- despite the fact that the show's producers have said that the canceled "Reunion" will never reveal the killer in the show's central murder mystery.

Well, now that plan may have been killed. A secret source close to Fox says that the four episodes the network planned to air between Jan. 12 and Feb. 2 of next year are now toast. The source says the network will run repeats of "That '70s Show" and "Stacked" in "Reunion's" Thursday slot those weeks.

So it sounds like today's "Reunion" episode may be the last one that ever airs.

I've asked Fox for comment, and will update this entry when I hear back from the network.

Many "Reunion" watchers, including myself, had stopped watching the soapy show when the show's creator, Jon Feldman, released a statement saying the show's central mystery -- who killed Samantha? -- would not be solved by the time the completed episodes finished airing. I mean, what's the point of watching a semi-cheesy show about a murder mystery when the murder mystery won't be solved?

It'd be nice if Feldman put out something on the Web someday, to fill us in on who did what and why Sam died. But at this point, I'm not holding my breath.

http://tempo.typepad.com/entertainment_tv/

Alarming spill for “Tony Danza Show”
Down 15 percent and losing key timeslots

By Abigail Azote MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer

When Buena Vista brought “The Tony Danza Show” back for a second season, it hoped that the talk show would build on its respectable freshman outing.

But the show is losing audience fast, and with the loss of two key clearances in top markets next year, “Danza’s” future looks ever more doubtful.

“Danza” is averaging a 1.1 household rating 11 weeks into the season, down 15 percent versus the comparable period last year, when the show averaged a 1.3 rating.

Worse, the returning show is being outpaced by this year’s freshman entrants. During the recently concluded November sweeps, “Danza” averaged a 1.2 rating, 29 percent less than “Tyra’s” 1.7 and 33 percent less than “Martha’s” 1.8.

The latest blow came last week with the news that “Danza” will be bumped from its highly favorable timeslots in No. 1 market New York and No. 4 Philadelphia next season to make way for the new King World lifestyle show hosted by Food Network star Rachael Ray. “Danza” had been performing well in those markets, airing at 10 a.m. out of "Live With Regis and Kelly," making the loss an even bigger blow.

All that spells a questionable future for the sophomore show.

“It does not look very good at this stage,” says Jordan Breslow, director of broadcast research at MediaCom. “There’s just so much talk out there that there’s so much competition for the same audience.”

Next season at least four new talk shows are slated to debut, including Ray’s. Buena Vista does not have any new ones slated, however.

Judging simply from the ratings, Breslow says "Danza" doesn’t seem strong enough to bring back next season, but with Buena Vista lacking a suitable replacement, the company might consider sticking with it for one more year. Regaining a spot in those top markets will be key.

“For any syndicated program, if you’re not in New York you’re in trouble,” says Bill Carroll, director of programming at Katz TV Group.

For now, Buena Vista is sticking behind the show and is busily looking for new timeslots in New York and Philadelphia.

“How successful they are in doing that will decide whether the show will go forward or not,” Carroll says.

http://medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_1854.asp

Wednesday’s prime-time ratings – and Media Week Analyst Marc Berman’s analysis of what they mean -- have been posted at the top of Ratings News the second post in this thread.

Then why am I seeing articles about the current chairman pushing cable on indecency in this very thread?

I repeat, we have had a sucession of FCC chairmen who agree with Huff.

This current chairman, who too office a few months ago, apparently doesn't.

The congolmerates who run the entertainment business are having a very hard time trying to deal with even the concept of a federal regulator who might question their practices.

And there is a very interesting question about Chairman Martin: is he pushing for a la carte because he is truly concerned about indecent programming?

Or is he making waves about indecent programming because as apparently a true conservative (whose wife is a top aide to Vice President Cheney) he wants to see a free market place decide the fate of cable channels?

Weekly Ratings Notes
Peanuts gang still popular

By Gary Levin USA TODAY

•Christmas cheer. The 40th annual airing of holiday classic A Charlie Brown Christmas Tuesday averaged 15.3 million viewers, its biggest total since ABC claimed the Peanuts franchise from CBS in 2001.

•Rivals don't fear it. The season premiere of NBC's Fear Factor was no match for Charlie: The shock-reality series clocked its least-watched episode with 8.2 million opposite the Peanuts gang.

•Fittest. Though Survivor: Guatemala was the reality hit's lowest-rated season, Sunday's finale (21.2 million) edged out both Palau and Vanuatu to rank as the top finish since Survivor: All Stars (24.8 million) in May 2004. Lead-in 60 Minutes, abbreviated by an NFL overrun, averaged 19.7 million, its biggest total since March 2000.

•Model looks. The fifth wind-up of UPN's America's Next Top Model (6.4 million) also had that series' biggest crowd since last December's third-cycle finale (6.5 million). And it spurred companion Veronica Mars to its second-best showing with 3.4 million.

•Bandmade. The season finale of MTV's Making the Band 3 scored 4.6 million viewers Thursday, a series high since the reality series migrated from ABC.

•Earl's a pearl. NBC's My Name Is Earl (14 million) had its biggest audience since the series premiere. The comedy was helped by the absence of Fox's House, pre-empted by the Billboard Music Awards, which set a record low with 6.4 million viewers.

•Three sides. Sci Fi Channel's three-part miniseries The Triangle delivered 4.3 million viewers Monday and Tuesday, and 3.9 million for Wednesday's conclusion, marking the channel's biggest week since five-night miniseries Taken aired three years ago.

•Runway slowdown. Bravo's Project Runway started slow, with 354,000 viewers last season, but finished with an impressive climb to 2 million. Nonetheless, the buzz didn't last: Wednesday's second-season debut averaged 925,000.

•Daisy dukes. The premiere of TBS travel-comedy series Daisy Does America managed a modest 1.2 million viewers Tuesday

http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2005-12-14-nielsen-analysis_x.htm

The Wall Street Journal is reporting today that an agreement has been reached that could end those annoying West Coast sports blackouts on Saturday mornings.


“…Entertainment companies and child-advocacy groups reached agreement on new rules for digital television that will require broadcasters to carry children's programming and would set new limits on related Internet sites for kids, people close to the negotiations said.

The deal could end broadcasters' threats to challenge children's television obligations as unconstitutional and could settle a dispute over whether the Federal Communications Commission has the authority to impose regulations on digital broadcasts and the Internet. More broadly, it sets a framework for what obligations broadcasters must meet as they offer new digital channels.

The deal was presented to FCC officials yesterday, these people said.

Under the agreement, the cable-TV industry would get relief from a current FCC rule that counts promos for other children's shows within the 10.5 or 12-minute limit on commercials allowed during an educational broadcast. Broadcasters would get more latitude to pre-empt some children's programming for sporting events -- a particular concern for West Coast stations. Programmers, meanwhile, would be barred from directly linking Internet sites for children to sites that sell related merchandise….”

Critic’s Notebook
Longoria's Globe nod well deserved

By Jeanne Jakle San Antonio Express-News Posted: 12/15/05 10:43 AM CST

As we get closer to Christmas, television's Santas — and Grinches — keep filling our stockings with both cheery gifts and lumps of coal.

This week's Golden Globe announcements brought smiles to a previously snubbed TV face — and undoubtedly her San Antonio Spur boyfriend — as well as to this critic, who felt gratified by this and other nominations.

Meanwhile, pre-emptions of favorite shows by holiday specials, along with December rerun after rerun, are causing viewers to wail, "Bah, humbug." Here's a list — and I'm checking it twice — of latest ups and downs:

Gift: Eva Longoria, S.A.'s adopted celeb and yearlong squeeze of Tony Parker, finally — and deservedly — got a best-actress nomination for her role in "Desperate Housewives."

Longoria, for no logical reason, was the only one of the "Housewives'" central quartet not to garner an Emmy nod last summer. She took it well, theorizing that she may be too much of a newcomer to be noticed.

She's certainly being noticed now ... big time. Her character, Gabrielle Solis, brought some of the juicier moments to viewers in a "Housewives" season that's been generally lackluster. If anyone on the show deserved a Golden Globe nod — for best actress in a TV musical or comedy series — it's Longoria. Teri Hatcher, Felicity Huffman and Marcia Cross also were nominated, but to tell you the truth, the only one out of the four who really showed her chops this season was Eva.

It would be an added treat to Spurs fans, of course, if she brought her "honey bunny," as she called Parker on "Saturday Night Live," to the January awards show. Constantly pictured in celebrity magazines exuberantly cheering her beau on (check her pic during the Dallas-San Antonio game on Page 12 of the Dec. 19 issue of People), it would be great to watch Parker respond in kind during the Globes.

Gift: To yours truly from the Globes for recognizing two of TV's sleeper offerings of the year that I simply adored. Yes, we all expected network and cable biggies such as "Lost" and "Curb Your Enthusiasm" to get recognition. But when I saw the "movie or miniseries" nods for two less ballyhooed gems — the quiet and very moving HBO political movie "Girl in the Café" and BBC America's "Viva Blackpool," one of the most innovative combinations of music, spectacle and meaty drama ever brought to TV, I almost wept with joy.

Coal: To viewers, such as William Parnell, who are feeling let down this month by network decisions to put their best stuff on hold during the holidays and fill their slots with specials or reruns. Parnell wrote in frustration when he saw his favorite TV offering, ABC's "Commander in Chief," first in a rerun and, more recently, pre-empted altogether by back-to-back half-hours of "According to Jim."

According to KSAT spokesman David Cuccio, however, fans won't have to wait long for a return of the new White House drama starring Geena Davis. Original episodes begin again on Jan. 10. Most of the other hot series also will entertain again once the holidays have passed.

Gift: To everyone involved with Showtime's smoking summer delight, "Weeds." This includes actress Renée Victor, a San Antonio native who attended Providence High; she plays the no-nonsense housekeeper in the suburbia comedy about a widowed mom who sells marijuana in her high-end neighborhood. Tuesday, the premium channel announced it has given the green light to a second season of "Weeds." Could the decision be linked to the multiple Golden Globe nods that were announced the same day?

Coal: To NBC for inflicting on viewers a new prime-time series, that should, at best, have been relegated to the daytime hours. "Deal or No Deal" is a game show of chance that makes the old "Let's Make a Deal" look like "Citizen Kane." In the limited hourlong 7 p.m. show, which starts Monday and ends Thursday, host Howie Mandel confronts contestants with 26 sealed briefcases filled with cash amounts, ranging from $1 to $1 million. Watching the contestants give in to the worst greed, while Mandel plays irksome cat-and-mouse games with them may be a kick for five minutes. But being exposed to it any longer than that amounts to sheer torture.

Gift: From WOAI to Ellen DeGeneres, who amazingly benefited from the station's rescheduling of her daytime talk show here; this season, she was moved from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m., pitting DeGeneres against the almighty"Oprah." Turns out, though, that her ratings against "Oprah" have actually seen an upswing from her ratings against "Dr. Phil."

Of course, it could be that the"Ellen" show has just had more time to catch on. Whatever the case, it's heartening to see the improvement, and I'll be curious to see how well the talented DeGeneres does here when KENS picks up her show next fall and runs it, once again, opposite "Dr. Phil."

Gift or coal? After a season that veered all over the place — and attracted some critics' ire — it'll be interesting to see if "Nip/Tuck" ultimately delivers with its long-anticipated finale at 9 p.m. Tuesday on FX. Creator Ryan Murphy has promised to unmask the horrific "Carver" character who has attacked and disfigured many a victim — including both of the main plastic surgeon characters, Dr. Christian Troy and Dr. Sean McNamara.

Much speculation has surrounded the identity of "The Carver" — with most guessers figuring him/her to be a primary character. Will it be Sean; fired doctor Quentin Costa; anesthesiologist Liz; Christian's ex-fiancée Kimber?

http://www.mysanantonio.com/entertainment/columnists/jjackle/stories/MYSA121505.5P2.jakle.10dd9141.html

Do you want to see how goofy Madison Avenue can get with ratings?
Here is a whole report centered around last night's viewership in the 2-11 demographic!

“Overnights” Report
Kiddies go bonkers over the “Grinch”
Ratings surge 550 percent among the 2-11 set

By Diego Vasquez MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Dec 15, 2005

“How the Grinch Stole Christmas” is no “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” but it’s still quite popular among kids 2-11.

Airing at 8 p.m. on the WB last night, the 30-minute “Grinch” posted a 2.6 overnight rating among viewers 2-11, way up from its usual timeslot average.

Last night’s rating was up 550 percent versus the 0.4 “One Tree Hill” averaged among 2-11s in that timeslot over the previous three Wednesdays.

The WB easily took the 8-8:30 p.m. slot among 2-11s, finishing ahead of the 1.6 Fox grabbed for “That ‘70s Show.” It also finished second among teens with a 1.5 and men 18-34 with a 1.4.

Still, the 39-year-old animated Dr. Seuss special lagged far behind the other kids’ Christmas specials on the bigger broadcast networks. CBS earned an 8.8 for “Rudolph” a couple weeks ago and ABC averaged a 7.4 last week for “A Charlie Brown Christmas.”

The fourth in the grand slam of holiday specials, “Frosty the Snowman,” airs on Saturday night at 8 p.m. on CBS.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6725802#post6725802

Fighting to get “Arrested”?

By Michael Starr The New York Post

December 15, 2005 – “Arrested Development" could have a second life on ABC or Showtime.

"Conversations are ongoing with both networks," an industry insider told The Post yesterday.

Both networks are contemplating picking up the quirky, Emmy-winning Fox series, according to trade reports.

ABC "is having preliminary conversations" about acquiring the show, a network spokesman told The Post yesterday.

"Arrested Development" hasn't been officially canceled by Fox, but isn't expected to return after its third-season order was cut from 22 episodes to 13 episodes.

The show is co-produced by Hollywood powerhouse Ron Howard, who provides the voiceover narration, and has been a critical favorite since premiering in 2003. It won an Emmy in 2004.

But it's never caught on with viewers and has averaged roughly 4 million viewers this season. That would be a terrific viewership number for cable's Showtime, but wouldn't cut-the-mustard on ABC.

A sticking point, at least for Showtime, appears to be the cost of the show, particularly the economics of paying its large cast of "name" stars (including Jason Bateman, Portia de Rossi, Jeffrey Tambor and Jessica Walter), who would demand higher salaries because of their visibility.

But it's believed that Showtime could bookend the show with its critically acclaimed comedy "Weeds," which has been renewed for a second season this week and received several Golden Globe nominations, increasing its cachet.

However, if ABC were to acquire "Arrested," it wouldn't be the first time a current series has switched broadcast networks, often with good results.

Some of the recent examples include "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," which jumped from The WB to UPN and, more famously, "JAG," which enjoyed a long run on CBS after moving over from NBC.

Showtime officials had no comment yesterday.

http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/59705.htm

Critic’s Notebook
Everybody loves a marathon

By Maureen Ryan Chicago Tribune December 14, 2005

All next week, UPN will be airing "Everybody Hates Chris" episodes at 7 p.m. each night. It's a great way to catch up with the comedy if you haven't been watching it. And if you haven't been watching it, well, start.

Much credit to "How I Met Your Mother's" Nov. 28 episode, "The Pineapple Incident," which prominently featured a Cheap Trick song. The coolest thing was that they didn't use a well-known (and worthy) hit such as "Surrender" but used the very cool "Voices" instead. Sweet.

Want to see Jamie Bamber speak with his real British accent? Check out the Jan. 2 "Sci Fi Inside" special on "Battlestar Galactica"; the program itself returns on Jan. 6. The preview special is only half an hour long, and it attempts to get folks up to speed on the season and a half of "Battlestar" that's already aired. Yeah, good luck with that. A better bet is to just watch all of "Battlestar's" first season on DVD, and catch one of the Season 2 marathons on Sci Fi -- Season 2 marathons air on both Dec. 20 or Jan. 5 (check out scifi.com's schedule for details).

The special's much too short, but it's nice to see the "Battlestar" actors all cleaned up and in playful moods. Some tidbits from the special (spoiler alert! Don't read this if you want to be in the dark on Season 2!): Tricia Helfer says that No. 6 kills a Cylon, Mary McDonnell intimates that President Roslin suspects Baltar may be a Cylon and Apollo ends up in a suicidal mood. Yikes. Also, TV Guide's Michael Ausiello reports that Lucy Lawless, who's played a journalist on "Battlestar," returns twice to the show.

• You have to love NBC's "Scrubs" promos. Love in the sense of hate, that is. The promos, which herald the comedy's Jan. 3 return, announce, "'Scrubs' fans, your pain is almost over!" Well now, who caused that pain? Who might that be? It's you, NBC! You caused the pain that you are now advertising the end of! Yeesh. I swear.

• Speaking of Sci Fi, the network has picked up all 10 episodes of "Night Stalker," the seven episodes that aired on ABC and three episodes that didn't air because the show was canceled. "Night Stalker" will air on Sci Fi in the summer.

• Here's a little teaser from an interview I did with Greg Garcia, creator of "My Name Is Earl": In an episode in the new year, Jon Favreau will guest star as the very disgruntled manager of a fast-food joint where Earl gets a job. More from Garcia will be posted here in coming days.

http://tempo.typepad.com/entertainment_tv/

Critic’s Notebook
Just accept it, enjoy the show

By Scott D. Pierce Salt Lake City Deseret Morning News

I hate to break this to you, but scripted TV shows are not real life.

If you want to see real life, look out the window. Spy on your neighbors. (OK, don't do that.)

But even the most realistic of scripted programs are just that — scripted. And you have to accept their version of reality.

Take, for example, the Fox series "Prison Break." Before the show premiered, the show's basic premise was questioned by one of my cynical TV-critic colleagues.

(Imagine that! A cynical TV critic!)

My colleague wondered whether we were supposed to believe that, in order to break his brother out of prison, the main character would actually commit a crime, intentionally get caught and then get sent to exactly the same prison as that incarcerated sibling.

After fussing around a bit with explanations of how a convicted criminal can request a prison assignment (although it's no sure thing), creator/writer/executive producer Paul Scheuring got to the heart of the matter: "If we didn't have that, then we might not have this show."

And the same can be said of any scripted television show, be it comedy or drama. If you don't accept certain conceits in the premise, you don't have a show.

Pick a show — any show — and that holds true. "Everybody Loves Raymond" often reflected real-life family dynamics, but if you were bothered by the fact that Ray never actually seemed to go to work or that he was a sportswriter despite apparently having no knowledge of the English language, the show didn't work.

All the "CSIs" (and the CSI clones) depend on speed-of-light technology that doesn't exist. (At least not at the speed of light.) Legal dramas dating back to the start of television compress events and shorten trials in ways that defy reality.

And that's easy to accept compared to the monsters that populate shows ranging from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" to "Supernatural."

Hey, Jack Bauer is about to save The World As We Know It for the fifth time in a single day when the new season of "24" premieres in January.

You need look no further than "24" for a show that proves that suspension of disbelief is required. I love the show, but if you step off that roller-coaster ride and look at it logically, it's ridiculous. Particularly when it's all supposed to take place in one 24-hour period.

So a guy gets hit in the face with a shovel one hour, but he's feeling pretty much better the next. Jack's heart stops one hour, the next he's back to saving the world. And those are but two minor examples.

None of this is meant as criticism. If a show is true to its own reality, it has done what it should do. Back when Buffy and her friends were still in high school, they were the most believable teenagers on TV — far more than those phony teens on "90210" — but they also just happened to fight vampires and demons, while worrying about the prom.

The problems come when shows deviate from their own rules and norms. Or when viewers (or critics) think too hard about stuff that's supposed to be entertainment, not documentary.

I'm reminded of the defense offered by producer Glen Morgan back in the mid-'90s when the premise of his sci-fi series "Space: Above and Beyond" was questioned. "The reality of science is that it takes four years to get to Jupiter," he said. "And that's a dull show."

Exactly.

http://www.desnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,635168510,00.html

Critic's Notebook
Fox kills “Reunion” — again?


You know, when it was first announced that the show was canceled, and the creator said that there was no way to have a conclusion in the remaining episodes, for the life of me I couldn't understand why they would even bother running the rest of the episodes, who's going to watch it..? What advertiser would want their ads on a show that is guaranteed to have almost no viewers...This announcement makes sense.

From Multichannel News,

Time Warner Spells Out Family Tier

By R. Thomas Umstead 12/15/2005 12:15:00 PM

Time Warner Cable Thursday became the first cable company to define its new family-friendly tier, featuring 15 channels, including Time Warner Inc.-owned CNN Headline News.

The “Family Choice” tier, to be rolled out across its service area in the first quarter of 2006, will cost consumers $12.99 above the cost for the MSO’s broadcast-basic service tier.

It will include kids’ services Boomerang, Discovery Kids, Disney Channel, Toon Disney and Nick Games & Sports. The other services are The Science Channel, DIY Network, Fit TV, Food Network, Home & Garden Television, La Familia, The Weather Channel, C-SPAN-2, C-SPAN 3 and Headline News.

Broadcast basic costs an average of $12 per month, a company spokesman said. A digital set-top costs $7.95 per month. All of the channels are currently distributed on Time Warner Cable systems.

National Cable & Telecommunications Association president Kyle McSlarrow told a Senate committee Monday that Comcast Corp., Time Warner and other MSOs serving about 50% of all cable subscribers will offer a Family Choice tier, probably in the first quarter of next year, as their response to concerns about indecent content across the cable dial.

“Our customers have always had the tools to actively exclude any channel or program they might find objectionable for their families,” Time Warner Cable chairman and CEO Glenn Britt said in a press release. “This new family tier will offer our customers yet another way to obtain kid-friendly programs without the need for them to take an active role in monitoring shows and deciding on which ones to proactively block from their TV set.”

TV Review
A fitting swan song for Jennings

By Verne Gay Newsday Staff Writer December 15, 2005

Frame by frame, Peter Jennings reported a vast number of documentaries - more than 60 according to Charles Gibson, who introduces tonight's opus posthumous of the legendary newsman. Yet this little-known fact became a mere asterisk in the obits that chronicled his life and death in August because far too many of those aired late on some hot August night when most viewers were likely to be asleep.

What a shame, considering so many of these programs often revealed Jennings at his very best - as a remarkably thoughtful newsman and reporter of the first order. Therefore, it's entirely fitting that Jennings' last official act for ABC, as it were, should be tonight's "Peter Jennings Reporting," (10 PM ET/PT) which he worked on in the months before his diagnosis for lung cancer in April. He couldn't narrate the program (although he is seen on-screen). An unnamed soul who almost perfectly captures the clean cadences of Jennings' delivery does the honors - but Jennings' deft touch is evident throughout.

There is no hellfire or damnation in "Crisis" about a subject that has drawn both; instead Jennings and producer Keith Summa present a (mostly) thorough, intelligent and balanced hour on a subject of vast importance while the conclusion veers perilously close to this: The country's health care crisis, in which over 40 million-and-counting are uninsured while insurance rates continue their unabated rise, is the fault ... of us. That may not be the culprit we'd prefer, but "Crisis" offers a compelling reason why it's the logical one.

Of necessity, the broadcast is consumed with statistics, though they are so skillfully wedded to the narrative that they never threaten to derail the story Jennings is telling. To condense just a few here: There are 46 million people without health insurance, while 174 million people get their insurance through work and another 27 million purchase individual policies. This broadcast is mostly preoccupied with the 174 million, because their habits have adversely affected the fortunes of those without - and as their plight worsens, the framework holding up the 174 million grows ever creakier.

A handful of experts help to explain this complicated snowball effect, but "Crisis" works best when relying on numbers. Did you know that General Motors will spend more on health care costs ($5.6 billion) than on steel ($2.7 billion) this year? Or that the nation's insurers use 87 cents of ever dollar to pay for health care, while just 13 cents for administration - or the exact same ratio as 30 years ago.

What's to blame for spiraling insurance costs? Spiraling insurance claims - or, our obsession with expensive (and often unnecessary) tests and expensive (and often unnecessary) drugs, "Crisis" argues. Jennings looks at a health food chain in Austin, Texas, that incentivizes employees to cut back on both, while an expert at Dartmouth advises that by curtailing some practices, consumers wouldn't be "rationing" their health care, but improving it.

"Crisis" seems to end far too perfunctorily - so quickly that it doesn't even bother to collar another well-known culprit, the vast and burgeoning malpractice lawsuit industry and the attendant costs associated with that. It's a bizarre omission, but one suspects Jennings had other things to worry about by the time this went into post-production.

And how, by the way, does Jennings look during this hour? Never better. Never better.

http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/tv/ny-ettel4550708dec15,0,1954852,print.story?coll=ny-television-headlines

Time Warner Launches Family Tier

By John M. Higgins & John Eggerton Broadcasting & Cable
Now we know what Time Warner thinks is family-friendly.

Hoping to placate regulators, Time Warner Cable said Thursday it would launch a tier of family programming.

While the 15-channel tier will include one top network --The Disney Channel -- it is composed largely of spinoffs of cable's most popular networks.

The new Family Choice tier will include:
Boomerang
C-SPAN 2
C-SPAN 3
CNN Headline News
The Science Channel
Discovery Kids
Disney Channel
Toon Disney
DIY Network
FIT-TV
Food Network
HGTV
La Familia
Nick Games & Sports, and
The Weather Channel.

Notable absences from the tier are the major news networks, kids channel Nickelodeon, Time Warner's own Cartoon Network (which also carries adult content) and Discovery Channel.

The networks are all considered "G-rated" by Time Warner Cable executives, and they do not have live entertainment programming.

The tier will be rolled out during the first quarter of 2006 and cost $12.99 monthly. The tier is a digital cable package requiring many subscribers to pay more for a new converter for many customers.

Subscribers will still have to buy the broadcast basic tier for around $12 monthly. But they will not have to buy enahanced basic or any other digital tier.

“Our customers have always had the tools to actively exclude any channel or program they might find objectionable for their families,” Glenn Britt, chairman and CEO of Time Warner Cable, said in a statement. “This new family tier will offer our customers yet another way to obtain kid-friendly programs without the need for them to take an active role in monitoring shows and deciding on which ones to proactively block from their TV set.”

National Cable & Telecommunications Association President Kyle McSlarrow Monday told the Senate Commerce Committee during an indecency hearing that operators representing over 50% of U.S. subs would be announcing family-freindly tiers, some within the next week or so, saying that should take mandated a la carte off the table.

Commerce Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) was hoping the effort would obviate the need for regulation and placate cable critics, but several groups, including Parents Television Council, Concerned Women for America and Consumers Union, said Thursday the tiers are not sufficient unless the channels are chosen by the viewers in customized packages (a la carte), not by the operators or programmers.

The B&C story on the Time Warner "family tier" (if it is accurate) shows how cynical TWC is being on this whole issue.

The TW plan amounts to little but a not-so-subtle "screw-you" to Congress and FCC Chairman Martin.

Many major kids networks are left off the tier. What a surprise. But TW's own CNN Headline News is not. Again, what a surprise.

The total cost of the channels included is probably no more than $2.50-$3.

Nice markup, TWC!

If this is the best the cable geniuses at TWC can do, true and total a la carte is clearly the only answer.

So get to work, Congress and Chairman Martin.

Fewer reality shows next summer?
ABC, CBS Pursue Summer Telenovelas

By A.J. Frutkin MediaWeek.com DECEMBER 15, 2005 -

The latest programming trend to hit stateside won't come from across the Atlantic --it will arrive from south of the border. Both ABC and CBS reportedly are looking to create English-language telenovelas to air as early as next summer, with the hour-long melodramas airing anywhere from two to five times a week.

Hoping to make good on promises to air more original scripted fare during the summer season, CBS is developing five scripts, including projects from Jackie Collins, Jonathan Prince and Rama Stagner (American Dreams); and producer Denise DiNovi with writers Jim and Diane Stanley (Knots Landing).

ABC reportedly has collected 45 telenovela bibles, in hopes of translating for American viewers an already produced format.

To make the programming financially viable over the less-watched summer months, programmers at both networks are intent on producing cost-effective programs that sacrifice little in terms of production values.

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/networktv/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001699304

TV Review
“Nightline” Ups the Star Power but Delivers Less Wattage

By Tom Shales The Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, December 15, 2005; C01

ABC's "Nightline" might as well be retitled "Night Light," but not because it's illuminating. No. The late-night news program now is simply more about style than content, and the style isn't all that special.

Obviously it is no easy task to follow Ted Koppel and the old "Nightline." Having evolved from a series of reports about the Mideast in crisis, the program survived a shaky start to become a true broadcast of distinction. It represented a double breakthrough, covering a single topic in depth on most editions and featuring Koppel's thoughtful, penetrating interviews with newsmakers of the moment.

There were numerous production innovations and a good deal of ambitious risk-taking in the ensuing decades.

It should please Koppel that it's taken three people to replace him since he left the show last month and even then, the roster seems deficient. Cynthia McFadden and Terry Moran do good anchor work, but the team's third member, Martin Bashir, might as well be from south Pluto. He is jarringly incompatible with his colleagues, and he slows the program with the old-fashioned formality of his questioning. He also manages to combine solemn pretentiousness with a hefty trace of the tabloid.

After all, Bashir first came to America's attention two years ago with a lengthy Michael Jackson interview that was highly watchable but also on the sleazy side. You couldn't feel all that good about having seen it.

In a "Nightline" segment devoted to the legacy of the late comic icon Richard Pryor that aired Monday, Bashir assumed a grimly serious demeanor as he put very studied, whither-thou questions to Whoopi Goldberg. Bashir: "How did he help define the role of the black comedian?" Goldberg (emphatically): "I don't know."

She went on to say that although Pryor's work had special significance for African Americans, she thought of him as a pioneer for all comedians, a "storyteller" who influenced comics regardless of their ethnicity. She appeared to resent, and rightly, the notion of implicitly limiting Pryor's identity and impact through the shaping of the questions.

That was the third of the usual three segments on the program, traditionally the spot for news of the pop-culture scene -- a plug for George Clooney's film "Syriana" was the attraction on another night. Then comes each night's flippant little postscript, a gimmicky smirker called "Sign of the Times" that deals superficially with some item in the news that might not be a sign of the times at all.

After the Goldberg appearance, for instance, the "Sign of the Times" piece was some nonsense about a "dress code" for players in the NBA. Even though it arguably had nothing to do with the subject at hand, footage of a 2004 brawl involving Indiana Pacer Ron Artest and other players was shown for approximately the thousandth time, a cheap and, at this point, probably ineffective way of grabbing a viewer's attention.

Then came a list of new rules -- about on- and off-court apparel (including those long, saggy-baggy shorts) -- that the NBA imagines it can impose on players. That was about that, except for Bashir returning to say philosophically into the camera, "Shorter shorts -- a sign of the times?" Probably not.

On the next night's show, the "Sign of the Times" had to do with an increase in bank robberies, especially bizarre ones. The peg for this was the arrest of the sophomore class president at Lehigh University for allegedly having pulled a bank job. There was also footage of the kooky cell-phone bandit, and that was pretty much that. As with many of the segments that have aired during the post-Koppel program's first two weeks, these closing pieces were utterly devoid of substance and sometimes surprisingly unsophisticated.

Often viewers might think they've just seen the introductory portion of a piece and then discover that, au contraire, they've seen the whole thing. That's all there is, there isn't any more. Tuesday night's program opened with a solid investigative report by Chris Bury (rhymes with "furry") on the ever-growing matrix of political contribution scandals on Capitol Hill. Bury concentrated on allegations concerning Rep. Robert W. Ney (R-Ohio), who allegedly enjoyed such funsy outings as a golf trip to Scotland financed by a corporate sugar daddy.

Moran unfortunately felt the need to follow the report with a sappy sentiment that sounded like something out of an old radio crime show. "Congressman Bob Ney," Moran said sternly, "seems to have a lot of explaining to do." Oh, no! Constant Viewer almost fell off his couch.

Moran sounded similarly specious Monday night with a report he taped in Iraq. "It's not the place you see on TV every night," he said. "Much of the media coverage here is one-dimensional." So then, what? We should put on our 3-D glasses? "Nightline" was going to show all the bad boys of broadcasting how to do it? Moran's report wasn't revolutionary and didn't justify his lecturing others in the TV news business.

The report perhaps could have used more context, but it also could have used more report. It took up two segments, yet still seemed cut short. McFadden's piece on "The War at Home" -- mainly about an activist coping in her own way with her husband's having to serve in Iraq -- was good but also seemed over too soon. Clearly, this hit-and-run stuff is part of a strategy to make "Nightline" appeal to younger audiences, the goal of virtually every show on television, but viewers who don't have MTV attention spans might feel downright cheated.

There's a sort of edgy glitz to the show's new opening, computer animation of a runaway comet, or maybe a jet-propelled Tinker Bell (Disney owns ABC, after all), zooming through a neon Manhattan on its urgent way to the Times Square studios of ABC News.

The three-anchor format, meanwhile, is mainly just irritating. You never know who'll pop up from where after a commercial break. It would be nice to see the anchors side by side in the same room once in a while; otherwise, it appears they aren't on speaking terms.

Bashir's windy performance clashes so sharply with his colleagues' that one has to wonder if a two-anchor format might not be better. And Bashir's stiff British accent -- "shed-yuled" instead of "scheduled" -- is off-putting on a nightly telecast. Craig Ferguson gets away with a Scottish brogue on the CBS "Late Late Show," but he's in the comedy business.

The reaction to the new "Nightline" heard most often around the office has been that it's "just another magazine show." In fact, just another magazine show is ipso facto more desirable than just another talk show in the 11:35 time slot. As much as one might be rooting for ABC News to hang on to the time period and not surrender it to the entertainment division, however, "Nightline" has to improve for it to have real value. If not "Night Light," then it's "Night-Lite," a sallow shallow shadow of its former splendid self.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/14/AR2005121402498_pf.html

Programming notes
NBC's new Sunday night

Goodbye, “NFL Primetime.” Hello, “Football Night in America. ” Starting next September, when NBC takes over rights to “Sunday Night Football” from ESPN, the network will run a 75-minute highlights show prior to the game’s 8:15 p.m. kickoff. Bob Costas will host the hour-long pregame show beginning at 7 p.m., John Madden will be an on-air analyst, and Cris Collinsworth will comment from the studio.

According to the new deal, NBC has exclusive rights to the day’s NFL highlights, meaning ESPN will not be able to run a Sunday night highlights show. ESPN takes over “Monday Night Football” this fall after a 35-year run on ABC.

In other programming news:,

A&E has renewed three series: "Dog the Bounty Hunter," "Inked," and "Criss Angel Mindfreak." It's apparently axing third-year shows "Growing up Gotti" and "Airline." "Dog" is the highest-rated show on A&E and will start a run of 26 episodes in February.

And CBS has ordered a mini-series prequel to "Lonesome Dove" called "Comanche Moon," to be written by "Dove's" Larry McMurtry.

http://medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/cat_index_31.asp

Critic’s Notebook Making book on celeb bios

By Marisa Guthrie The New York Daily News

Stars mulling the merits of penning their autobiography may find Eugene Pack's "Celebrity Autobiography" instructive.

The show, tonight at 10 PM ET on Bravo, has actors including Cheryl Hines, Jay Mohr, Kevin Nealon and Doris Roberts reading from the autobiographies from the likes of Joan Lunden, 'N Sync, Madonna, Kathie Lee Gifford, Sylvester Stallone and David Cassidy.

Talk about being hoisted on your own petard.

"You couldn't make this stuff up," said Pack.

And yet it is rather unbelievable to know that Stallone wrote meticulously about the contents of his refrigerator, or that Lunden thought readers would like to know her technique for laying out her clothes the night before or that Gifford deemed a poem to her unborn son Cody worthy of mass distribution. ("His little boy thoughts are a mystery to me, Long before I know him, my little Co-dy.")

And, they also read from David Cassidy writing, very graphically, about getting intimate with fellow "Partridge Family" castmate Susan Dey.

"It is amazing the things that people write," said Hines, who reads from Gifford's book as well as Loni Anderson's "My Life in High Heels."

None of these books even approaches the classification of literature; excerpted and read aloud, they sound absurd.

"You see these people writing about the details of their life as if we really need to know every detail of their lives," said Pack. "But maybe we do want to know these details - for some strange reason."

The show is a popular staple on the Los Angeles comedy club circuit. Tonight's special was taped at Room 5. Pack is hopeful that Bravo will want to do more.

Some of the funniest segments are group readings including the classic Elizabeth Taylor/Richard Burton and Debbie Reynolds/Eddie Fisher quagmire. And Hines, Fred Willard and Andrea Martin read from the autobiographies of Anderson, Burt Reynolds and Elaine Blake Hall, respectively. Yes, Reynolds' longtime assistant wrote a book too; "Burt and Me: My Days and Nights with Burt Reynolds."

"I am not the kind of person that reads celebrity autobiographies," said Hines. "For me, you know, I don't want it to be mean. But then I have to struggle with myself because some of the things you're saying are so ridiculous."

Pack said he is not really trying to skewer self-involved celebrities who write about the minutiae of their lives.

"We're making merry of the celebrity autobiography form and what it is in our culture rather than anyone specific," he said.

Pack hasn't received any cease and desist missives from lawyers - yet.

"Then again," he said, "it's never been on TV before."

At any rate, he does have the truth on his side.

"Nobody is making anything up," he said. "They wrote it. How can you dispute that?

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/ent_radio/story/374892p-318570c.html

Paramount Chief Said to Be Wooing Top TV Producer


Chairman Brad Grey is trying to lure J.J. Abrams to the studio, according to sources
By Meg James and Claudia Eller Los Angeles Times Staff Writers December 15, 2005

Fresh from landing the biggest name in movies, Steven Spielberg, Paramount Pictures Corp. Chairman Brad Grey is aggressively pursuing the hottest young producer in television, according to three sources close to the talks.

Grey, who this week reached an agreement to buy DreamWorks SKG, the company Spielberg co-founded in 1994, has simultaneously been wooing J.J. Abrams, these sources said. Abrams, 39, is the co-creator of two of the most high-profile shows on TV: the island mystery "Lost" and the cult favorite "Alias," both of which air on ABC.

Abrams has been based for seven years on the Burbank lot of ABC's parent company, Walt Disney Co. But for the last several months, he has been working for Paramount, where he is now editing the studio's $175-million "Mission Impossible: 3."

The movie, which stars Tom Cruise and marks Abrams' feature directorial debut, has given Grey an opening. According to two sources close to the discussions, the studio chief is tempting the writer-producer-director with an all-encompassing deal to make movies, television shows and possibly even video games and take part in Internet ventures for Paramount.

Grey has had several conversations with Abrams and his representatives about relocating his production company, Bad Robot, to the studio's Melrose lot, according to sources who, like several interviewed for this story, declined to be quoted because discussions were continuing.

These sources stressed that the parties did not expect to begin contractual negotiations until early next year. Grey declined to comment, and Abrams did not return calls.

Abrams' current deal with Disney, which covers only TV projects, expires in July. Disney executives know about Grey's overtures but have talked to Abrams only about extending his TV deal, not about expanding it to include feature films, according to two sources.

Grey has made clear that he wants to shore up Paramount's TV production business. The purchase of DreamWorks for $1.6 billion, which is expected to close by the end of January, includes a small TV operation with such shows as "Spin City" in its library and several projects in development.

But luring Abrams to the Paramount lot would be a coup for Grey — and a major loss for Disney. In addition to "Lost" and "Alias," Abrams is launching a new ABC drama, "What About Brian," which is tentatively scheduled to air in March.

Grey knows more about TV than he does about movies. He built his career as a talent manager and TV producer of such shows as "The Sopranos" and "Just Shoot Me." Since coming to the studio in March, he has also drafted Gail Berman, who used to run the entertainment division at News Corp.'s Fox network, as Paramount president and his second in command.

Abrams and his representatives are expected to make a business proposal to Paramount, Disney and other interested studios and networks early next year, sources said. That proposal could launch a bidding war among the rival media companies, including Fox and General Electric Co.'s NBC Universal, which privately have said they would jump at the chance to bring Abrams and his company into their fold.

Grey has repeatedly asked to see the proposal, sources said, including making a call to Abrams' representatives this week, sources said. That call came just days after Paramount swooped in to snatch DreamWorks out of the hands of NBC Universal.

Grey has worked for months to foster a good working relationship with Abrams. Last summer, just weeks before the latest "Mission Impossible" was supposed to begin production in Italy, Grey threatened to pull the plug amid concerns of a budget bloated in part by Cruise's lucrative profit-sharing arrangement.

Grey argued that when combined with Cruise's deal, the film's proposed budget of more than $185 million made Paramount's investment too risky. Over and above that total was more than $30 million in pre-production shutdown costs that Paramount had incurred after the film's production was postponed in 2004.

After an intense week of haggling with Cruise and his producing partner Paula Wagner, Grey emerged from the closely watched standoff with a slimmer budget and an agreement from Cruise to take a smaller cut. And Abrams got to make his movie.

Production began July 18, and Paramount plans to release the movie May 5, the start of the summer blockbuster season.

After taking the reins at Paramount, Grey quickly began bringing fresh talent to the studio, including his former management client Brad Pitt and film director Mark Waters, whose credits include "Mean Girls" and "Freaky Friday."

Grey's interest in TV, meanwhile, appears linked to the imminent breakup of the studio's parent, Viacom Inc. Within weeks, the media giant will split into two publicly traded companies: Viacom — which includes Paramount, MTV Networks and soon DreamWorks — and CBS Corp.

CBS will get all of Viacom's current TV operations, including CBS Paramount Television, which produces the "CSI" franchise, "Everybody Hates Chris," "Entertainment Tonight" and "Dr. Phil," as well as King World, which syndicates "Oprah" and "Wheel of Fortune."

The son of successful TV-movie producer Gerald Abrams, J.J. Abrams got his start screenwriting in the late 1980s when Disney bought his first screenplay, "Taking Care of Business." The 1990 movie starred Jim Belushi and Charles Grodin.

Abrams went on to write several features, including co-writing 1998's "Armageddon." That same year, Abrams created the TV series "Felicity," which was co-produced by Disney's Touchstone Television and ran for four seasons on the WB network, which is owned by Time Warner Inc. and Los Angeles Times parent Tribune Co.

His cult hit "Alias," about a gorgeous young spy (played by Jennifer Garner) who works as a double agent for the CIA, secured Abrams' status as a TV producer to watch. And last year, his status was cemented when he and Damon Lindelof created "Lost," one of the most popular and lucrative shows on television.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-brad15dec15,1,458856,print.story?coll=la-headlines-business

Critic’s Notebook
Faces of the Dead

By Rich Heldenfels Akron Beacon Journal TV blog

Television can be like a scrapbook, and not a well organized one. Think of the channels as different pages holding bits of your past, little reminders that you either seek out or come across without expecting them.

When you do what I do, that scrapbook can be even more startling, because over the last 20-plus years I have been in the presence of a lot of actors who have since died.

Some of them are people I have talked to directly. The other day I was channel-hopping and glimpsed a movie with Gregory Hines. In 1997 he starred in a sitcom for CBS. The show had some good things, but was not successful, lasting only one season. Still, I remember talking to Hines at a CBS party, and enjoying the conversation, and so feeling a deeper pang of sadness when Hines died in 2003.

All of this leads up to ''Peter Jennings Reporting: Breakdown -- America's Health Insurance Crisis,'' which airs (tonight 10 PM ET/PT) on ABC. As you all know, Peter Jennings is dead. This program consists of reporting he did before being diagnosed with lung cancer; Jennings is seen on-camera during interviews, although his health problems kept him from narrating the special.

The documentary is solid enough, and I expect to have something about it in the Beacon Journal later this week. But I couldn't help watching it on a couple of different levels.

One, of course, was a serious news documentary -- the sort of thing ABC News is promising to keep doing even if Jennings himself is gone. (At least, that's what Charles Gibson says at the end of the special. Gibson, who reportedly came close to getting Jennings's job after the anchorman's death, also introduces the program.)

The other, though, involved watching just Jennings, whom I had met and interviewed here and there over the years. I thought again about the man, and how he might have been happy that people got another reminder that he loved his work. And -- couldn't help myself -- I looked for signs of the health crisis he was about to face. During one interview, he seems to struggle for breath for a moment, and does so again later in the same interview. Is that it? I wondered. Is that a sign of what he is about to face?

Some of you may look at the show in the same way, and some of you may tune in just because it's a last, lingering look at Jennings. I know that's a big reason why I watched it. I don't review a lot of news specials, after all. But I felt the need to turn to this page in the TV scrapbook.

http://blogs.ohio.com/beacon_tv/

Time Warner Cable Launches First Family-Friendly Tier

By Anthony Crupi MediaWeek.com DECEMBER 15, 2005 -

Time Warner Cable threw down the gauntlet Thursday, becoming the first cable company to hash out an official family-friendly tier.

Under the banner of “Family Choice,” the MSO has put together a package of 15 networks, including: Boomerang, Discovery Kids, The Science Channel, Disney Channel, Toon Disney, Nick Games & Sports, DIY Network, Fit TV, Food Network, HGTV, La Familia, The Weather Channel, C-SPAN-2, C-SPAN 3 and Headline News.

The tier, which goes wide starting in the first quarter of 2006, will add $12.99 to what Time Warner charges for its broadcast basic service package. Subscribers opting to buy into the tier will thereafter be shut out of other network programming, including widely-distributed channels like TNT, ESPN and USA Network.

Time Warner Cable spokesman Keith Cocozza said that the networks selected for the tier were subjected to four basic criteria before the package was finalized. The four guiding principles are as follows:

1) The network must carry G-rated programming 24 hours a day, with the rating having been determined by each network’s self-described programming standards and the language in their individual carriage agreements with the MSO.

2) If the programming is not rated -- as is the case with HGTV, for example –– then “that programming has to be generally perceived as non-objectionable,” Cocozza said.

3) The channels cannot contain live programming. “After all, that’s what got us into this situation in the first place,” Cocozza noted, in a nod to the infamous Janet Jackson breast-baring incident during the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show.

4) The channels should be widely distributed and thereby “recognizable” to Time Warner subs.

Although he elected to not comment on specific networks that were shut out of the deal, Cocozza said that any channel that was not included in the family-friendly package “most likely did not meet at least one of the criteria.” In other words, Cartoon Network didn’t make the cut because of the edgy fare the channel offers during its Adult Swim daypart.

The new tier can perhaps be characterized as the path of least resistance for cable, which has been offered two other wildly unappealing scenarios by the Federal Communications Commission. Neither an a la carte programming model nor mandated federal network decency standards are a palatable choice for programmers and operators looking to offer their customers the widest variety of viewing options.

“We’ve been offering parental controls for years and yet there were still some consumers that felt that they didn’t want to have to monitor their children’s TV viewing and they didn’t want to set controls on their own,” Cocozza said. “This was clearly our most attractive option.”

Comcast reportedly has also been looking into developing its own family-friendly tier, although representatives could not be reached for comment (Thursday) afternoon.

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001699352

The total cost of the channels included is probably no more than $2.50-$3.

Nice markup, TWC!

If this is the best the cable geniuses at TWC can do, true and total a la carte is clearly the only answer.

Does this surprise anyone?!

Even a la carte won't help: If the current basic tier is say $30 for 60 channels, you can bet that the most watched channels will cost $10 each, the next highest channels will fetch $5-8 each and so on. Big business will NEVER lose money. The consumer will always take it on the chin.

Good luck! ;)

Does this surprise anyone?!

Even a la carte won't help: If the current basic tier is say $30 for 60 channels, you can bet that the most watched channels will cost $10 each, the next highest channels will fetch $5-8 each and so on. Big business will NEVER lose money. The consumer will always take it on the chin.

Good luck! ;)

A la carte legislation would obviously not allow MSOs to have $8 per channel pricing or $40 for 60 channels. That would be an obvious skirting of the intent of a la carte if a channel that costs the MSO currently $0.60 would be priced at $8.00 under a la carte. And frankly, as long as the legislation forbids the cable networks from bundling in their contracts (including separate pricing for a la carte customers) I don't really care if the cable company prices Oxygen at $8 per sub. At that level, there is competition and I guarantee D* or E* will cut that ridiculous markup and they'll go back and forth until the pricing is much more reasonable.

The title of this article is just too funny given the player and the network involved.. :D :D

From Broadcasting and Cable,

NBC Names Zucker CEO of Tweaked TV Group

By John M. Higgins -- Broadcasting & Cable, 12/15/2005 2:36:00 PM

Despite the problems at NBC, Jeff Zucker is getting a bigger job at NBC Universal, becoming CEO of a reorganized TV group. Zucker had previously been president of NBC U Television Group, responsible for broadcast and cable networks, the company's TV studio and first-run syndication.

The new group will include divisions that had been run in separate units: television stations, operations, ad sales and distribution.

One executive affected is President, NBC Universal Television Networks Group, Randy Falco, who had reported directly to NBC U Chairman Bob Wright and was in charge of sales, broadcast-affiliate relations, cable distribution, production operations, research, information technology, and Spanish-language network Telemundo. Falco will now report to Zucker but have more turf, most notably NBC's owned-and-operated TV stations.

Jay Ireland, president of NBC Universal Television Stations, had reported to Wright but will now report to Falco.

Making a return to NBC U is Beth Comstock, once the top public-relations executive. Comstock moved up to NBC U parent General Electric, where she was most recently chief marketing officer. She will now serve in a newly created post, president, NBC U digital media and market development, reporting to Wright.

A la carte legislation would obviously not allow MSOs to have $8 per channel pricing or $40 for 60 channels.

Why not? This is a free market society. The legislation won't forbid bundling, just add the option of a la carte. The cable co's know which channels people are most likely to buy and those will be priced in such a way that unless you only watch a few channels or the most obscure ones you'll still be better off with the bundle.

The best we could hope for is if they start getting more creative with the bundling or allow a bundle AND a la carte. THAT would be nice. Take the base package plus the only channel you like from one of the upper tiers. If we get that then declare victory and move on.

Because the legislation could require that the channel be sold to the distributors (at whatever price they want) at a single price without a separate price based on what type of customer is buying that channel. That would not put any unfair restrictions on the free market.

If Viacom wants to price MTV at $12 per month per sub - fine. But they should not be able to charge the cable company $0.85 a month if their customer is buying the expanded tier - and $12 if their customer is an a la carte customer.

If the cable or DBS company wants to trim their margins and offer a deal on a tier - that's fine. As long as those tiers are created at a level in which competition exists. The MSOs are at that level - the cable nets are not.

I suspect that if a la carte is adopted, it will end up being something along the lines of you'd pick a set package of how many channels you want, say 12 channels or 20 or 50 or whatever, at different price points, and then be able to fill in the channels you want. Possibly, the channels themselves will be grouped into different pricing tiers....ESPN, well known for their extortion tactics, will cost considerably more than The History Channel, for example, and be part of a higher priced group from which you would select channels to populate your customized tier. The History Channel would be part of a lower priced tier.

So, say I choose a 20 channel package at, say, $40. I would then be able to pick 5 channels from the top-priced tier, 5 from the middle tier, and 10 from the bottom. I think something along those lines is more likely to emerge from all this than a straight a la carte pricing structure.

One thing's for certain: the cable/DBS companies will not institute anything that might possibly reduce their net profits. The protection, and potential expansion, of their current profit margins will be the overriding criteria in whatever system they adopt.

Big business will NEVER lose money. The consumer will always take it on the chin.

Good luck! ;)

Just look TWA,Ford, Delta, RCA, United, Pan Am, GM, US Steel, Zenith and thousands of other once dominant United States companies.

When a quality, low-cost alternative is available, big business must change its model -- or die. The problem now is that under the table agreements between media conglomerates are keeping the marketplace from being free.

All that most a la carte proponents are asking for is the ability to freely choose. Once the current must-be-on-basic contracts are forbidden, with the choice available (now and far more so in the near future) someone will offer far less expensive TV viewing.

It could be cable (TW is seeking rights to serve all of Texas), it could be satellite, it could be telco. But someone will come up with a far lower-cost alternative once the predatory (and secret) pricing tactics of the programmers is outlawed.

Those who laugh at the idea probably laughed at Herb Kelleher when he had three airplanes and Southwest Airlines was know mainly for its "peanuts" fares.

The title of this article is just too funny given the player and the network involved.. :D :D

From Broadcasting and Cable,

NBC Names Zucker CEO of Tweaked TV Group



This must be a happy day at CBS, ABC, Fox, UPN and the WB.

It is truly mazing how results get so quickly and handsomely rewarded in TV.

Sports On TV
CBS Bests Fox's NFL Pre-Game Show

By Jon Lafayette TVWeek.com December 15, 2005

CBS Sports' NFL pre-game show Dec. 11 beat Fox's show for the first time since 1998, according to Nielsen Media Research figures released Thursday.

CBS's "The NFL Today" drew a 3.9 average national rating and a 10 share, compared with a 3.4/9 for "Fox NFL Sunday." Season to date, "Fox NFL Sunday" is averaging a 3.3/9 versus 2.5/7 for "The NFL Today."

http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=9056

OK, It is Show Of Hands Time

How many of you emailed Rich Heldenfels of the Akron Beacon Journal with your suggestions about the best new second-tier characters this year on TV?

NBCU's SLEUTH POPS THE CORK ON NEW YEAR'S DAY

(Sleuth Press Release)

Premiere of 24-Hour Sleuth to Uncover Pilots "From the Beginning of Crime" Beginning with "The A-Team," "Knight Rider" and "Simon & Simon" Followed by Others Including "Miami Vice," "Columbo," "The Rockford Files" and "Magnum, P.I."

"Miami Vice" Unfurls Two-hour Pilot During Seven-hour Marathon on January 2 and 3

BURBANK, Calif. -- December 15, 2005 -- Late-night New Year's revelers can ring in both 2006 and the launch of Sleuth from NBC Universal Cable Entertainment when the 24-hour channel -- dedicated to the crime, mystery and suspense genres -- pops the cork beginning on Sunday, January 1 at 6 a.m. (ET) with the pilots of "The A-Team," "Knight Rider" and "Simon & Simon," followed by other favorites such as "Miami Vice," "Columbo," "The Rockford Files" and "Magnum, P.I.," among others

The announcement was made by Jeff Gaspin, President, NBC Universal Cable Entertainment and Cross-Network Strategy.

"The premiere of Sleuth will be enhanced by using these treasured pilots of such favorite crime dramas," said Gaspin. "It makes for a wonderful introduction to many series that broke new ground for all those that followed and retain a dedicated audience that will only grow starting January 1."

Dan Harrison, Senior Vice President, Emerging Networks who oversees Sleuth, also said: "We can't wait to launch Sleuth on New Year's Day. It's a great day to start a network that offers some of the most enduring and popular television genres of all time. We're starting with the pilots of some classic crime dramas from NBC Universal's enormous library. We will give some classic programs new life as loyal fans mix with a new generation who can enjoy them all day and continuing throughout Sleuth's first week."

Starting on New Year's Day and continuing through the week, SLEUTH will debut with the pilots of "The A-Team" (6-7 a.m. ET); "Knight Rider" (7-8 a.m. ET); "Simon and Simon" (8-9 a.m. ET); "Karen Sisco" (9-10 a.m. ET); "Homicide: Life on the Street" (10-11 a.m. ET); "Easy Streets" (11 a.m.-12 noon ET).

The "From The Beginning Of Crime" theme continues through the week with a "Miami Vice" marathon from Monday, Jan. 2-3 (8 p.m.- 3 a.m. ET) that includes the revolutionary drama's high-octane, two-hour pilot starring Don Johnson and Phillip Michael Thomas.

The classic crime-drama pilots continue on Tuesday, January 3 with the two-hour 1968 pilot for "Columbo" ("Prescription: Murder"), starring Peter Falk in his immortal title role as the rumpled police detective, from 9-11 p.m. (ET). Then on Wednesday, Jan. 4 (9-10 p.m. ET) is the initial episode from "The Rockford Files," starring James Garner as the sardonic private detective.

On Thursday, Jan. 5 (9-10 p.m. ET), "Magnum, P.I." rides the Hawaiian waves starring Tom Selleck in the series pilot that made him a star.

After a night of theatricals on Friday, January 6, SLEUTH salutes with the two-hour, 1995 pilot of "JAG," starring David James Elliott from 5-7 p.m. (ET).

(Other information regarding the balance of the first week of SLEUTH's programming lineup will be released soon).

SLEUTH will be the first network to offer a digital triple pack service, which features a standard definition digital channel (SD), hi-definition simulcast channel (HD), and a video-on-demand (VOD) channel offered as a digital bundle. The SD digital channel will be available January 1, 2006, with the VOD and HD offerings available later in 2006.

At launch the network will have more than 5 million subscribers through distribution deals with Time Warner Cable, the first affiliate to carry SLEUTH.

If you think you'll be a little hung over following the holiday (or College bowl) season, the WB has a plan to wake you up....

Trade football for geeks?
(The WB Press Release)
START THE NEW YEAR OFF WITH A WALL-TO-WALL WEEK OF “BEAUTY AND THE GEEK”
THE WB TO AIR “GEEK-A-THON” FEATURING THE FIRST SEASON OF THE HIT REALITY SHOW FROM ASHTON KUTCHER AND JASON GOLDBERG
Burbank, CA December 15, 2005--Admit it, you kind of miss Richard Rubin. You never got enough of watching Lauren Bergfeld do math – well, trying to do math. You can't help but smile just thinking about that time the geeks pitched a tent.
Well, you're in luck. The WB has the cure for your New Year's hangover: a week that will feature all six episodes of the first season of the hit social experiment BEAUTY AND THE GEEK, warming up television sets all over the country for the second season of the reality show, which premieres on Thursday, January 12 (9:00-10:00 p.m. ET).
Every frame of the series’ first season will get the encore treatment so you can see it all, from the tire-changing to the massaging, the runway show to the rocket launch. Watch those geeks go shopping and you will no longer be scared by your tour of duty among the Christmas crowds.
The schedule is as follows: (All times ET/PT)
Monday, January 2, 9:00-10:00 p.m. Episode 101
Tuesday, January 3, 9:00-10:00 p.m. Episode 102
Wednesday, January 4, 9:00-10:00 p.m. Episode 103
Thursday, January 5, 9:00-10:00 p.m. Episode 104
Friday, January 6, 8:00-10:00 p.m. Episodes 105 and 106

Critic’s Notebook
ABC tribute to Jennings

Anchorman tackles medical insurance crisis in America in tonight's special.
It was his last before cancer diagnosis
By R.D. Heldenfels Akron Beacon Journal Posted on Thu, Dec. 15, 2005

There's a point in a new TV special where the host pauses to catch his breath. And I couldn't help but wonder, ``Was that a warning sign?''

Now, maybe I was seeing something that wasn't there. And maybe I shouldn't have been looking, since the show I was watching was not specifically about how the host was feeling.

But the host was Peter Jennings, the ABC News anchor who died in August after battling lung cancer. And the show, Peter Jennings Reporting: Breakdown -- America's Health Insurance Crisis, includes his last work before his cancer was diagnosed.

So forgive me if my attention strayed. I suspect some of you will watch the show not because you're drawn to the topic, but because you want a last look at Jennings.

ABC is, after all, presenting the special at 10 PM ET/PT Thursday as a tribute to the anchorman, who relished reporting and especially the 60 hourlong documentaries he made during his ABC years.

Charles Gibson -- who came close to being named Jennings' successor -- introduces and closes the program. He explains that Jennings had done most of the reporting just before his diagnosis. An ABC announcement says the program was written and edited while Jennings was being treated.

``Peter wanted this to go forward,'' executive producer Tom Yellin recently told the Washington Post. ``We talked during his illness about how to handle things, like what if he couldn't narrate it. We'd bring him screeners and we had his comments. He was just being Peter, who cared deeply about the work.''

The anchorman's health problems did ultimately keep him from doing the narration. (``Peter's voice was not strong enough,'' Yellin said in an ABC statement.) Filling that job is actor Paul Hecht, who has worked a great deal in Canada, Jennings' homeland. According to ABC, Jennings and Hecht knew each other when both worked for the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.

Gibson also says in the program that ABC is committed to more documentaries like this one, and that's a good thing. Breakdown was meant to be the first of several by Jennings on America's health-care system, and there's plenty more to talk about.

Still, Breakdown is not flashy or alarmist. It tries not to focus on scandals and inefficiencies, looking instead at the larger forces and causes at work.

The program carefully goes through a series of steps, explaining what the insurance crisis is, how it is spreading (notably as businesses scale back the health insurance they provide employees) and, most importantly, why it has come to pass.

The final point may be the most surprising, as it considers whether the rising cost of health care is a function of people wanting more care. And the program wonders whether that extra health care really helps the people who get it.

That will probably stir up some viewers, and get them talking and arguing about the issue at hand. Jennings most likely would have enjoyed the fight. You can't deal with a big issue if you don't think about it, after all.

As for those of you who care not a bit about the issue, but do care about Jennings, you can see him one last time -- dapper, relaxed and ingratiating as he digs information out of interview subjects.

And you can see how television can be like a scrapbook. Think of the channels as different pages holding bits of your past, little reminders that you either seek out or come across without expecting them.

It is a scrapbook holding many faces of the dead, and it can be a surprise sometimes to come across them once again. But it's by no means a surprise without pleasure. It can be good to see people again, full of vigor, doing what they love.

http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/entertainment/columnists/rd_heldenfels/13411878.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

NBCU's SLEUTH POPS THE CORK ON NEW YEAR'S DAY


Sigh...and Universal-HD continues to mold and decay from a lack of new programming... :rolleyes:

The programming on UHD has become so repetitious that it may cause burn-in on some displays.. :p :D

Now NBC/U will (by next summer, at least) have two channels showing old TV shows in HD.

Most likely over and over and over and over.....

Winners of 2006 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Broadcast News Awards

(Columbia University Press Release)

Columbia University today announced 13 winners of the 2006 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards for broadcast journalism including, for the first time in duPont Award history, a sports program. HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel will be honored with a silver baton for its report, The Sport of Sheikhs, an investigation of child slavery connected to camel-racing in the United Arab Emirates .

Six of the winners are investigative reports produced by networks, cable news and local television stations reporting on hard-hitting issues of the day, such as terrorism, Wal-Mart's business practices, and corruption in municipal government. Awards also go to CNN and ABC News for live coverage of international events, the 2004 tsunami disaster and the death of Pope John Paul II. Three public radio organizations are honored for their distinctive programming about poverty, stem cell research, and cultural aspects of food.

"HBO really expanded the focus of sports programming to examine a human rights issue child slavery," said Jury Chairman David A. Klatell. "They tackled an unknown international story in a sport with traditions that are centuries old, and they included the ticklish diplomatic side¡ hat the United Arab Emirates is a close American ally in the Middle East," he added.

Chosen from a pool of 628 radio and television news entries that aired in the United States between July 1, 2004, and June 30, 2005, the winners will be presented with silver batons, the symbol for excellence in television and radio journalism, at an awards ceremony on January 18 at Columbia University . Hosting the ceremony will be Bob Schieffer, anchor of The CBS Evening News and moderator of Face the Nation. Joining him in presenting the silver batons will be Michel Martin, ABC News correspondent, Columbia University President Lee C. Bollinger and Journalism School Dean Nicholas Lemann. A one-hour documentary about the winners, Telling the Truth: the Best in Broadcast Journalism, hosted by Michel Martin, will be broadcast nationwide on PBS stations beginning Tuesday, January 24.

Selected from 628 submissions, the 13 award winners are:
• ABC NEWS for Live Coverage of the Death of Pope John Paul II and the Election of Pope Benedict XVI

• CNBC for The Age of Wal-Mart: Inside America's Most Powerful Company

• CNN for Coverage of the Tsunami Disaster in South Asia

• FRONTLINE and WGBH, BOSTON, for Al Qaeda's New Front on PBS

• FRONTLINE, WGBH, BOSTON, and The New York Times for The Secret History of the Credit Card on PBS

• HBO for Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel: The Sport of Sheikhs

• North Carolina Public Radio-WUNC, Chapel Hill, for North Carolina Voices: Understanding Poverty

• PRI,WGBH, BOSTON, and BBC WORLD SERVICE